An old man enriched the lives of his grandchildren with the sights and sounds o the past. Now one grandson presents these stories for the next generation to enjoy: The first of the grandfather's tales is two stories in one. A KNIGHT'S TALE: THE COLORFUL LIFE AND TIMES OF SIR WALTER RALEIGH traces the life of a swashbuckling Renaissance man in Elizabethan England, and THE SHIFTING SANDS OF THE NORTH CAROLINA COAST spell trouble for England's first colonists in the wilderness of North America. The second is HOW LOUIS BRANDEIS GOT APPOINTED TO THE SUPREME COURT. Well, we couldn't have nine ardent conservatives on the Supreme Court forever. Sooner or later a "progressive" was bound to slip through. This is the story of how a reluctant United States Senate approved the appointment. Number three, THE SHORT LIFE OF TITUS, EMPEROR OF ROME, is a story of how Titus and his family rose to power in Rome. Dispatched to Judea in 66 AD to put down a nationwide revolt of the Jews, young Titus defeated the rebels and returned to Rome in triumph with a Jewish princess, the love of his life, at his side. Meanwhile, Rome was in turmoil as one emperor after another was assassinated. Titus and his father restored order and his family ruled the Roman Empire for the next 27 years. Next, STORIES ABOUT PERSIA are taken from the work of the first Greek historian, Herodotus. From him we learn how an empty banquet hall, with platters of rich Persian food and goblets of wine, became a deadly trap for Persia's enemies. And how the selection of one Persian Emperor was decided by a single whinny from a horse. And more. THE EFFECTS OF STALIN'S PURGES ON THE SOVIET PEOPLE explains why Josef Stalin is considered one of the top villains of all time. In ALCIBIADES AND THE FALL OF THE ATHENIAN EMPIRE, citizens succumb to mob rule and Athens is brought down not by the Persians or by the Spartans but by the Athenian form of government, democracy. The final story, ROBERT PRINGLE, CHARLES TOWN MERCHANT, is about the good life in early Charles Town - unless you happened to be a slave. And how an enterprising young Scottish immigrant became a wealthy merchant while climbing to the top of the social ladder in colonial Charleston.