Badass Page 26

  —HENRY ROLLINS

  My sincerest gratitude goes out to the following people who aided me on my epic quest:

  First and foremost to my wife, the illustrious Hot Andrea. I could never have done this without her constant support and endless patience. Even on my most hopeless days I always know that I can count on her for a good laugh, a word of encouragement, and as a second player in all my favorite video games.

  To my brother Clay, for helping me in every stage of the process and talking me through some of the most difficult creative and stylistic decisions I had to make. From article selection to proofreading, he put in countless hours of reading, rereading, re-rereading, and editing to help me ensure that the final product was the best it could possibly be.

  To my family—my dad for getting me interested in history from an early age, my mom for always convincing me that I can achieve anything, my grandmother for always being supportive of all my endeavors, and my brother John, who is the biggest badass I know in real life. To J. Matt for all the hard work he put in helping me edit and improve the book, and to all my friends who gave me encouragement along the way: Matt, Andrew, Jess, Rick, Bill, Tom, Chris, BLT, Mike, Evan, Sarah, Brian, Maria, and John; my in-laws Manoli, Suella, James, and Sophia; the Classical Studies faculty at Boston University; the SMU Sports Information Office and Meadows School Dean’s Office; the UWSOM Dean’s office; and everyone else who assisted me throughout this process. To Sir Lucius et Algerion Diamond, First of His Name and Champion of Righteousness, aka Michael Roy. He didn’t get a chance to see this book published, but his memory will continue to live on in the hearts of those who knew him.

  To my agent, Farley Chase of the Waxman Agency, for believing in this project from the beginning; to my editor, Matthew Benjamin at HarperCollins, for advocating on my behalf, guiding me through the entire process, and letting me know when my crazy run-on sentences and obscure 1990s pop culture references were getting way too over the top; to Jessica Deputato of HarperCollins, for warning me when my off-color remarks might cause an international incident; to my copy chief, Amy Vreeland, for fixing my terrible grammar; to designer Lorie Pagnozzi, for making the finished product look appropriately badass; and to Lance Rosen, Bob Woody, and Sandy Mallenbaum, for helping me sort out all of the appropriate legal issues.

  To my illustrators, Thomas Denmark, Miguel Coimbra, Matt Haley and Steven Belledin, all of whom produced amazing work. Their art makes these characters come alive in a way that words could never do, and I am sincerely in awe of their incredible talent.

  To Whitney, Rose, and the rest of the staff at the Marriott Residence Inn in Seattle, for finding the flash drive containing the only electronic copy of this book both times I lost it in the hotel computer lab.

  And last but certainly not least, to all of the fans of the website, not only those who have e-mailed me suggestions and kind words but also all those who simply gave their silent approval by visiting the page each and every week. Without you, none of this would have been possible.

  ILLUSTRATION CREDITS

  Steven Belledin (www.stevenbelledin.com): Cover art, Alexander, William, Vlad, Bonny, Francisco, Ness.

  Miguel Coimbra (www.miguelcoimbra.com): Caesar, Surena, El Cid, Tomoe, Genghis Khan.

  Thomas Denmark (www.studiodenmark.com): Leonidas, Liu Ji, Justinian, Peter the Great, section maps, and the warrior battles along the bottoms of the pages.

  Matt Haley (www.matthaley.com): Ramses, Chandragupta, Agrippina, Alaric, Khalid, Martel, Wolf, Harald, Musashi, Blackbeard, Nelson, Agustina, Reeves, Tesla, Richthofen, Johnson, Churchill, Sebrova, Gurung, Patton, Hathcock, Lee, Netanyahu, and everything else.

  About the Author

  BEN THOMPSON graduated cum laude from the honors program at Florida State University with degrees in history and political science, and has run the war hammer of a website, badassoftheweek.com, since 2004. Even though he’s never flown a jetpack over the Atlantic Ocean or punched someone so hard that his head exploded, he is considered by many to be the world’s foremost expert on badassitude.

  www.badassoftheweek.com

  Visit www.AuthorTracker.com for exclusive information on your favorite HarperCollins author.

  Credits

  Cover design by Milan Bozic

  Cover art by Steven Belledin

  Copyright

  BADASS. Copyright © 2009 by Ben Thompson. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

  Adobe Digital Edition September 2009 ISBN 978-0-06-195917-2

  10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

  About the Publisher

  Australia

  HarperCollins Publishers (Australia) Pty. Ltd.

  25 Ryde Road (PO Box 321)

  Pymble, NSW 2073, Australia

  http://www.harpercollinsebooks.com.au

  Canada

  HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.

  55 Avenue Road, Suite 2900

  Toronto, ON, M5R, 3L2, Canada

  http://www.harpercollinsebooks.ca

  New Zealand

  HarperCollinsPublishers (New Zealand) Limited

  P.O. Box 1

  Auckland, New Zealand

  http://www.harpercollins.co.nz

  United Kingdom

  HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.

  77-85 Fulham Palace Road

  London, W6 8JB, UK

  http://www.harpercollinsebooks.co.uk

  United States

  HarperCollins Publishers Inc.

  10 East 53rd Street

  New York, NY 10022

  http://www.harpercollinsebooks.com