In AD 79, the beautiful Bay of Naples was rocked by the dramatic fiery eruption of Mount Vesuvius. Pompeii and Herculaneum--and countless nearby farms, estates, and villages--were completely buried under pumice and super-heated ash. It was arguably the most widely recognized volcanic eruption in recorded history, and the ruins it left behind are our most valuable archaeological record of day-to-day life in the Roman empire. This magnificently...