Welcome to Legacy Books Press

Legacy Books Press is a publisher based in Kingston, Ontario, specializing in non-fiction about history and Classics.  We are dedicated to exploring those interesting corners of history, both modern history and ancient history, that tend to be overlooked, but still shaped the world as we know it today.

We are currently looking for academic and mainstream non-fiction books about all time periods of modern and ancient history.  Please see our submission guidelines for details.

News

  • Statement on AI-Generated Books
    Yesterday, in response to the recent news of Amazon being flooded by AI-written books, I implemented a full ban on AI-generated submissions. Legacy Books Press will not consider any AI-written submission of any kind for publication, now or ever. But, this deserves some explanation. After all, there is an argument to be made that a […]
  • Over $2300 raised for Desert Bus for Hope
    The Legacy Books Press lot just raised a grand total of $2,315.83 for Desert Bus for Hope. All proceeds go directly to the Child’s Play charity. Congratulations to Amp the Dog – please enjoy the books!
  • Re:Apotheosis, spiritual sequel to Re:Creators, goes live on Tapas.io
    (May 31, 2022) Re:Apotheosis, author Robert B. Marks’ spiritual sequel to Rei Hiroe and Ei Aoki’s 2017 anime series Re:Creators, launched on Tapas.io on Friday, May 27. The author of Diablo: Demonsbane, The EverQuest Companion, and co-author of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Agora with R. Drew Griffith and The Eternity […]
  • Legacy Books Press acquires publication rights to Austria-Hungary’s Last War
    (December 6, 2021) Legacy Books Press is pleased to announce that it has acquired the print publication rights to Stan Hanna’s English language translation of Austria-Hungary’s Last War, the official history of the Austrian army in the Great War. Over the next four years, Legacy Books Press will be bringing out deluxe editions of each […]
  • Belated congratulations to Desert Bus for Hope 2021
    (December 6, 2021) A belated congratulations to Desert Bus for Hope, for raising a staggering $1,189,143.00 for Child’s Play this year.

By Michael Kaminski

628 pages

ISBN: 978-0-9784652-3-0

$44.95 Canada
$39.95 U.S.A.
£25.95 U.K.
€31.95 Europe
$47.95 Australia

Star Wars is one of the most important cultural phenomena of the Western world.  The tale of Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, and the fall and redemption of Anakin Skywalker has become modern myth, an epic tragedy of the corruption of a young man in love into darkness, the rise of evil, and the power of good triumphing in the end.

But it didn’t start out that way.

In this thorough account of one of cinema’s most lasting works, Michael Kaminski presents the true history of how Star Wars was written, from its beginnings as a science fiction fairy tale to its development over three decades into the epic we now know, chronicling the methods, techniques, thought processes, and struggles of its creator.  For this unauthorized account, he has pored through over four hundred sources, from interviews to original scripts, to track how the most powerful modern epic in the world was created, expanded, and finalized into the tale an entire generation has grown up with.

Now available from Barnes & Noble; on Amazon in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, France, and Japan; and your local bookstore.  Also available at the low price of $9.99 US for Amazon Kindle and as an Adobe Digital Editions e-book from Powells, Ebookmall, and Diesel E-books.

By R. Drew Griffith and Robert B. Marks

316 pages

ISBN: 978-0-9784652-2-3

$29.95 U.S.A./Canada
£18.95 U.K.
€20.95 Europe
$27.95 Australia

Ancient Greece and Rome aren’t usually remembered for their sense of humour. However, in reality the ancient Greeks and Romans often refused to take themselves seriously. Strange and outlandish activities abounded – including somebody accidentally exposing himself while dancing sideways at his wedding (those wearing bed sheets didn’t wear underwear) and a group of drunk young men thinking their house is sinking at sea, and tossing all their furniture out the windows.

In this new edition, R. Drew Griffith and Robert B. Marks take you on a lively and funny journey through the more bizarre activities of the ancient world, venturing out as far as Egypt, Babylon, and Scandinavia, ranging everywhere from moochers to quacks to shrews to perhaps the oldest laundromat joke in history, and even revealing the most terrible thing you can do to anybody involving a radish.

Now available from Amazon.com in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Japan, from Barnes & Noble, and for order at your local bookstore.  Also available as an Adobe Digital Editions e-book at the low price of $12.95 US from Powells, Ebookmall, Diesel E-books, and Booksonboard.

A New Translation by Aaron Taylor Miedema

172 pages

ISBN: 978-1-927537-07-7

$21.95 Canada
$19.95 U.S.A.
£12.95 U.K.
€14.95 Europe
$22.95 Australia

Rapier fencing and duelling during the 16th and 17th centuries was dominated by the Italian masters, whose systems of sword fighting became increasingly sophisticated. Breaking away from this trend, Nicoletto Giganti developed something different: a frugal system of fencing that cut to the core of what a swordfight was and how to win it. Giganti’s Scola overò Teatro, or The School of the Sword, became one of the most influential systems of fencing across Europe in the seventeenth century.

In this remarkable new translation by historical fencing instructor and historian Aaron Taylor Miedema, author of Bayonets and Blobsticks, Giganti’s work is presented fresh to the modern reader.  Copiously illustrated with redrawings of dozens of Giganti’s original plates, over 60 new photographs, and even a new plate, Giganti’s detailed curriculum is augmented by comprehensive annotation and commentary.  Regardless of whether you are a historian, a casual reader with an interest in the sword, or an accomplished swordsman, Nicoletto Giganti’s The School of the Sword is a fascinating guide to the art of rapier fencing.

Now available from your local bookstore, from Barnes & Noble and Amazon.com.

By Andreas Claudianus
Translated by Kjeld Hald Galster and Rasmus Wichmann

356 pages

ISBN: 978-1-927537-27-5

$24.95 Canada
$22.95 U.S.A.
£17.95 U.K.
€18.95 Europe
$34.95 Australia

In the later years of the 17th century, as England and France fought for dominance in Europe, Ireland became their battlefield. Known as the Williamite War in Ireland, a coalition of the willing from England, Scotland, Holland and Denmark waged a campaign against Jacobite Ireland and the French forces of King Louis XIV. Once the war was over, Ireland would be forever changed.

Remarkable and gripping, this is Andreas Claudianus’ first-hand account of the Danish campaign in Ireland, presented for the first time in a bilingual English and Latin edition. Frank, brutal, and compelling, Claudianus provides a look at 17th century warfare not from the world of generals, princes, and kings, but from the perspective of the common foot soldier.

Available from Barnes & Noble and Amazon.com.