historical

Traces Caesar's rise to prominence as a brilliant military tactician. Includes his complex relationships with his mentor General Pompey and his second wife Calpurnia. His ideological tiltings with Senator Cato, who advocates democracy over Caesar's dictatorial ambitions. Explains Caesar's violent epileptic seizures, his megalomania, his casually calculated cruelties, and his bigamous relationship with Egyptian queen Cleopatra. His nephew, Brutus, finally kills Caesar at March 15, 44. B.C. (the Ides of March) at the age of 55, starting an era of civil wars.

The Louisiana Purchase: Apritl 12th, 1803. The port of New Orleans has been closed to planters, denying them the ability to sell their produce. United States negotiations with France for the purchase of the Louisiana Territory for the past two years have been unsuccessful. With tensions at a boiling point, President Jefferson sends James Monroe to Paris to negotiate with Ambassador Livingston and Barbe Marbois.

After the Civil War sweeps away the genteel life to which she has been accustomed, Scarlett O'Hara sets about to salvage her plantation home.