Books by John Lund

This is the first monograph devoted solely to the ceramics of Cyprus in the Hellenistic and Roman Periods. The island was by then no longer divided into kingdoms but unified politically, first under Ptolemaic Egypt and later as a province in the Roman Empire. Submission to foreign rule was previously thought to have diluted - if not obliterated - the time-honoured distinctive Cypriot character. The ceramic evidence suggests otherwise.The distribution of local and imported pottery in Cyprus points to the existence of several regional exchange networks, a division that also seems reflected by other evidence. The similarities in material culture, exchange patterns and preferential practices are suggestive of a certain level of regional collective self-awareness.From the 1st century BC onwards, Cyprus became increasingly engulfed by mass produced and standardized ceramic fine wares, which seem ultimately to have put many of the indigenous makers of similar products out of business - or forced them to modify their output. Also, the ceramic record gradually became less diverse during the Roman Period than before - developments which we today might be inclined to view as symptoms of an early form of globalisation.

The greatest American disaster of the twentieth century, the Vietnam War. President Johnson and Nixon both lied to the American public to gain political advantage over their opponent to win a presidential race.As presidents, neither had a winning strategy to end the Vietnam war as American youth were sucked up in a vortex of deceit to serve a war fought with ill-prepared and deteriorating World War Two naval ships. These naval ships were plagued with personnel shortages, inadequate trained personnel, a lack of critical talent, lists of discrepancies and predictable casualties. I was a enlisted sailor who served on an ill-prepared aircraft carrier, forced to endure extreme mental and physical working, living, social conditions that included extended separation from my wife. The toil, affliction, danger and heartbreak lead to four stolen years of my life.As a youth graduating from high school in nineteen-sixty-seven I had three choices. Wait for a draft notice to arrive in the mail (which was a sure thing), enlist in the military or flea to Canada. Reality, none were good choices.My story details the life of an eighteen-year-old enlisted sailor whose life changed overnight on the day he reported for duty. The extreme working, living and social conditions aboard a naval ship deployed to a war zone where short of inhuman. The politics surrounding the war created untenable conditions I describe during my service aboard the USS Hancock. There are tens of thousands Vietnam veterans that could write a story equal to or worse than the story your about to read.