The renowned German philosopher and historian Karl Jaspers famously defined an Axial Age as the centuries surrounding 500 BC that uplifted humanity with teachings on morality and love characterized by the Golden Rule. The four major civilizations generated by that Age-Confucian China, Hindu India, the Muslim Middle East, and the Christian West-are currently in a new Axial Age that speaks to power and will. These four civilizations began to significantly interact and proceed toward today in AD 1100. Tales of Invasions and Empires (1100-1400) is the first in a trilogy that brings us to the current day with the four increasingly interrelating. In an approach written for the general public, presented are memorable events and personalities about the four in seventeen tales, including stories about: • A courageous countess who sustained a saint and set Florence on the road to Renaissance • The humiliation of China and the ferocious peasant who brought back the country's glory • A ruthless warlord-whose terror also wrought wonders that still touch us today • The near annihilation of Islam and the dreamer who saw its future • A battle lost that should have been won that sealed the fate of India for 700 years Award-winning author Kent Augustson, trained as an historian and former Federal government executive, has formed very enlightening connections between these centuries and today. To follow in the next six months will be the second work, Tales of Renaissance and Majesty (1400-1700) and later the final piece, Tales of the Great Awakening 1700-2000).