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Simon Mann: The Real Story
By Sue Blackhall. 2011
It had all the ingredients of a best-selling thriller the clandestine activities of mercenaries, an impossibly dare-devil plot to topple…
the regime of one of the worlds most corrupt countries; the boys own approach by arrogant old public school pupils and the controversy and intrigue from within governmental departments. Add in high-profile figures embroiled in the plot and the far-reaching repercussions and you have what was to become one of the most talked-about exploits of the twenty-first century. In retrospect, the attempted coup on the tiny African country of Equatorial Guinea was always destined to fail. Even the coups leader, Simon Mann was forced to admit it. This story is about those who dared to involve themselves in change of a country which did not want to be changed; which did not want to find itself the focus of global interest. But far from achieving their aim, those who embarked on the coup found that their own lives would never be the same again. The penalties were high. What was to be nicknamed the Wonga Coup carried a price which could never have been anticipated. Men were at the mercy of the very man whose brutal leadership they had tried to terminate. They found themselves incarcerated in a jail where many before them had been tortured and from where opposers to the regime had mysteriously disappeared. The multi-million pound reward for their endeavors evaporated leaving all feeling cheated, some betrayed and others totally alienated from the outside world. Those, like Simon Mann, the pivotal character in the plot, who finally won freedom have been wary to talk about their ordeal. It is no wonder, for self-preservation is still paramount. They will always have to look over their shoulder. And, just like all good thrillers, there remains an element of suspense.Once There Were Titans: Napoleon's Generals and Their Battles, 1800–1815
By Kevin F. Kiley. 2007
The first serious investigation of Napoleon's generals Covers the well known to the relatively obscure Provides a fresh insight into…
the periodThis is a masterly study of generalship in Napoleon's Grande Arme. Napoleon arguably had the greatest collection of military talent to ever serve one man working for him during the period 1800-15. The role of the Marshals of the Empire has been covered many times, and due credit is also given to them here; however, for the first time Kevin Kiley also examines in depth the contribution of the generals who never made that rank. Fifty-two general officers are examined using the battles they fought to illustrate just how valuable they were. From Marengo in 1800 to Ligny in 1815, both French victories and defeats are studied in meticulous detail, each chapter covering a battle fought and the generals who commanded them. Diverse source material has been consulted in the preparation of this volume, including after-action reports, memoirs and correspondence from officers including Senarmont, Eble, Drouot, Teste, Marmont, and Davout, as well as from lesser-known characters such as the artillerymen Boulart and Nol, and the Polish cavalryman Niegelewski, who led the final dash up the pass of Somosierra. Furthermore, those closest to Napoleon such as Fain and Marchand give their piece and provide invaluable information. Taken individually, this material paints a vivid picture of the Grande Arme and those who led it into fire. Taken as a whole, it provides an invaluable source and tells the story of the officers without whom Napoleon could never have achieved as much.For the 2020 Exam! AP® U.S. History Crash Course®A Higher Score in Less Time! At REA, we invented the quick-review…
study guide for AP® exams. A decade later, REA’s Crash Course® remains the top choice for AP® students who want to make the most of their study time and earn a high score. Here’s why more AP® teachers and students turn to REA’s AP® U.S. History Crash Course® than any other study guide of its kind:Targeted Review - Study Only What You Need to Know. REA’s all-new 5th edition addresses all the latest test revisions. Our Crash Course® is based on an in-depth analysis of the revised AP® U.S.History course and exam description and sample AP® test questions. We cover only the information tested on the exam, so you can make the most of your valuable study time.Expert Test-taking Strategies and Advice. Written by a veteran AP® U.S. History teacher, the book gives you the topics and critical context that will matter most on exam day. Crash Course® relies on the author’s extensive analysis of the test’s structure and content. By following his advice, you can boost your score.Practice questions – a mini-practice test in the book, a full-length practice exam online. Are you ready for your exam? Try our focused practice set inside the book. Then go online to take our full-length practice exam. You’ll get the benefits of timed testing, detailed answers, and automatic scoring that pinpoints your performance based on the official AP® exam topics – so you can count down with confidence to test day.When it’s crunch time and your Advanced Placement® exam is just around the corner, you need REA’s Crash Course® for AP® U.S. History!Waterloo is probably the most famous battle in military history. Thousands of books have been written on the subject but…
mysteries remain and controversy abounds.By presenting more than 200 previously unpublished accounts by Allied officers who fought at the battle, this collection goes right back to the primary source material. In the letters the Allied officers recount where they were and what they saw. Gareth Glover has provided historical background information but lets the officers speak for themselves as they reveal exactly what happened in June 1815.Originally sent to, and at the request of, Captain W Siborne, then in the process of building his famous model of the battle, these letters have remained unread in the Siborne papers in the British Library. A small selection was published in Waterloo Letters in 1891 but much of vast historical significance did not see the light then and has remained inaccessible until now. Glover now presents this remarkable collection which includes letters here by Major Baring, George Bowles, Edward Whinyates, John Gurwood and Edward Cotton as well as letters by Hanoverian and King's German Legion officers.This is a veritable treasure trove of material on the battle and one which will mean that every historian's view of the battle will need correcting.Lord Robert Cecil: Politician and Internationalist
By Gaynor Johnson. 2013
Lawyer, politician, diplomat and leading architect of the League of Nations; Robert Cecil, 1st Viscount Cecil of Chelwood, was one…
of Britain's most significant statesmen of the twentieth century. His views on international diplomacy cover the most important aspects of British, European and American foreign policy concerns of the century, including the origins and consequences of the two world wars, the disarmament movement, the origins and early course of the Cold War and the first steps towards European integration. His experience of the First World War and the huge loss of life it entailed provoked Cecil to spend his life championing the ethos behind and work of the League of Nations: a role for which he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1937. Yet despite his prominence in the international peace movement, Cecil has never been the focus of an academic biography. Cecil has perhaps been judged unfairly due to his association with the League of Nations, which has since been generally regarded as a failure. However, recent academic research has highlighted the contribution of the League to the creation of many of the institutions and precepts that have, since the Second World War, become accepted parts of the international system, not least the United Nations. In particular, Cecil and his work on arms control lay the basis for understanding this new area of international activity, which would bear fruit during the Cold War and after. Through an evaluation of Cecil's political career, the book also assesses his reputation as an idealist and the extent to which he had a coherent philosophy of international relations. This book suggests that in reality Cecil was a Realpolitiker pragmatist whose attitudes evolved during two key periods: the interwar period and the Cold War. It also proposes that where a coherent philosophy was in evidence, it owed as much to the moral and political code of the Cecil family as to his own experiences in politics. Cecil's social and familial world is therefore considered alongside his more public life.The Hundred Years War: The Hundred Years War
By Timothy Venning. 2013
Continuing his exploration of the alternative paths that British history might so easily have taken, Timothy Venning turns his attention…
to the Hundred Years War between England and France. Could the English have won in the long term, or, conversely, have been decisively defeated sooner? Among the many scenarios discussed are what would have happened if the Black Prince had not died prematurely of the Black Death, leaving the 10-year-old Richard to inherit Edward IIIs crown. What would have been the consequences if France's Scottish allies had been victorious at Neville's Cross in 1346, while most English forces were occupied in France? What if Henry V had recovered from the dysentery that killed him at 35, giving time for his son Henry VI to inherit the combined crowns of France and England as a mature (and half-French) man rather than an infant controlled by others? And what if Joan of Arc had not emerged to galvanize French resistance at Orleans? While necessarily speculative, all the scenarios are discussed within the framework of a deep understanding of the major driving forces, tensions and trends that shaped British history and help to shed light upon them. In so doing they help the reader to understand why things panned out as they did, as well as what might have been in this fascinating period that still arouses such strong passions on both sides of the Channel.When Time Stopped: A Memoir of My Father's War and What Remains
By Ariana Neumann. 2020
In this remarkably moving memoir Ariana Neumann dives into the secrets of her father&’s past: years spent hiding in plain…
sight in war-torn Berlin, the annihilation of dozens of family members in the Holocaust, and the courageous choice to build anew.In 1941, the first Neumann family member was taken by the Nazis, arrested in German-occupied Czechoslovakia for bathing in a stretch of river forbidden to Jews. He was transported to Auschwitz. Eighteen days later his prisoner number was entered into the morgue book. Of thirty-four Neumann family members, twenty-five were murdered by the Nazis. One of the survivors was Hans Neumann, who, to escape the German death net, traveled to Berlin and hid in plain sight under the Gestapo&’s eyes. What Hans experienced was so unspeakable that, when he built an industrial empire in Venezuela, he couldn&’t bring himself to talk about it. All his daughter Ariana knew was that something terrible had happened. When Hans died, he left Ariana a small box filled with letters, diary entries, and other memorabilia. Ten years later Ariana finally summoned the courage to have the letters translated, and she began reading. What she discovered launched her on a worldwide search that would deliver indelible portraits of a family loving, finding meaning, and trying to survive amid the worst that can be imagined. When Time Stopped is an unputdownable detective story and an epic family memoir, spanning nearly ninety years and crossing oceans. Neumann brings each relative to vivid life. In uncovering her father&’s story after all these years, she discovers nuance and depth to her own history and liberates poignant and thought-provoking truths about the threads of humanity that connect us all.Medical Consulting by Letter in France, 1665–1789 (The History of Medicine in Context)
By Robert Weston. 2013
Ailing seventeenth- and eighteenth-century French men and women, members of their families, or their local physician or surgeon, could write…
to high profile physicians and surgeons seeking expert medical advice. This study, the first full-length examination of the practice of consulting by letter, provides a cohesive portrayal of some of the widespread ailments of French society in the latter part of the early modern period. It explores how and why changes occurred in the relationships between those who sought and those who provided medical advice. Previous studies of epistolary medical consulting have limited attention to the output of one or two practitioners, but this study uses the consultations of around 100 individual practitioners from the mid-seventeenth century to the time of the Revolution to give a broad picture of patients and physicians perceptions of illnesses and how they should be treated on a day-to-day basis. It makes a unique contribution to the history of medicine, as no other study has been undertaken in the consulting by letter of surgeons, as opposed to physicians. It is shown that the well-known disputation between physicians and surgeons tells only a part of the history; whereas in fact, necessity required that these two 'professions' had to work together for the patients' good.Medieval and Renaissance Lactations: Images, Rhetorics, Practices (Women And Gender In The Early Modern World Ser.)
By Jutta Gisela Sperling. 2013
The premise of this volume is that the ubiquity of lactation imagery in early modern visual culture and the discourse…
on breastfeeding in humanist, religious, medical, and literary writings is a distinct cultural phenomenon that deserves systematic study. Chapters by art historians, social and legal historians, historians of science, and literary scholars explore some of the ambiguities and contradictions surrounding the issue, and point to the need for further study, in particular in the realm of lactation imagery in the visual arts. This volume builds on existing scholarship on representations of the breast, the iconography of the Madonna Lactans, allegories of abundance, nature, and charity, women mystics' food-centered practices of devotion, the ubiquitous practice of wet-nursing, and medical theories of conception. It is informed by studies on queer kinship in early modern Europe, notions of sacred eroticism in pre-tridentine Catholicism, feminist investigations of breastfeeding as a sexual practice, and by anthropological and historical scholarship on milk exchange and ritual kinship in ancient Mediterranean and medieval Islamic societies. Proposing a variety of different methods and analytical frameworks within which to consider instances of lactation imagery, breastfeeding practices, and their textual references, this volume also offers tools to support further research on the topic.Valkyrie: The USA's Ill-fated Supersonic Heavy Bomber
By Graham M. Simons. 2014
During the 1950s, at the time Elvis Presley was rocking the world with Hound Dog and the USA was aiming…
to become the worlds only superpower, plans were being drawn at North American Aviation in Southern California for an incredible Mach-3 strategic bomber. The concept was born as a result of General Curtis LeMays desire for a heavy bomber with the weapon load and range of the subsonic B-52 and a top speed in excess of the supersonic medium bomber, the B-58 Hustler. If LeMays plans came to fruition there would be 250 Valkyries in the air; it would be the pinnacle of his quest for the ultimate strategic bomber operated by Americas Strategic Air Command. The design was a leap into the future that pushed the envelope in terms of exotic materials, avionics and power plants. However, in April 1961, Defense Secretary McNamara stopped the production go-ahead for the B-70 because of rapid cost escalation and the USSRs newfound ability to destroy aircraft at extremely high altitude using either missiles or the new Mig-25 fighter. Nevertheless, in 1963 plans for the production of three high-speed research aircraft were approved and construction proceeded. In September 1964 the first Valkyrie, now re-coded A/V-1 took to the air for the first time and in October went supersonic.This book is the most detailed description of the design, engineering and research that went into this astounding aircraft. It is full of unpublished details, photographs and firsthand accounts from those closely associated with the project. Although never put into full production, this giant six-engined aircraft became famous for its breakthrough technology, and the spectacular images captured on a fatal air-to-air photo shoot when an observing Starfighter collided with Valkyrie A/V-2 which crashed into the Mojave Desert.The loss of the $750 million aircraft and two lives stopped future development, although there were several attempts to redesign it as an airliner to compete against the European Concorde.The British Field Marshals: 1736-1997: A Biographical Dictionary
By T. A. Heathcote. 2012
Whether any advantage or benefit will be drawn from the suspension or effective abolition of the rank of Field Marshal…
is debatable. What is certain, however, is that Dr. Tony Heathcotes idea of compiling a definitive biographical dictionary of holders of this illustrious rank since its introduction by George II in 1736, is opportune and inspired.Those readers who anticipate a dry recitation of bare facts and statistics are in for a disappointment. A reference work this may be but the author, by dint of his depth of knowledge, has created a shrewd and highly readable commentary as well.As General Sir Charles Guthrie (the first soldier to be denied promotion to Field Marshal on appointment to Chief of Defense Staff) observes in his Foreword, this book embraces the history of the British Army over the last 250-300 years. It covers not only the careers of key individuals but provides an understanding of their contribution to the successes and failures of our military past. The diversity of personalities, who have only the honor of wearing the coveted crossed batons in common, is fascinating. Alongside the household names of the great strategists and distinguished leaders lie little known and forgotten figures, who gained their exalted rank by either luck, accident of birth or diplomatic gesture.The British Field Marshals merits a place on the bookshelf of any military historian but is likely to be found on his or her bedside table. Whether or not the rank is ever resurrected, as it has been in the past and as many will hope it will be again, this delightful and useful book will remain the authoritative guide to all those who have held the highest military rank in the British Army.Historia de la Educación en Chile (1810 - 2010): Tomo I. Aprender a leer y escribir (1810 - 1880)
By Sol Serrano, Macarena Ponce de Léon, Francisca Rengifo. 2013
En la primera mitad del siglo XX, la educación expandió la democracia, pero no logró modificar la estructura social: los…
más pobres se mantuvieron excluidos y el sistema económico apenas contribuyó a la movilidad social. Por ello, en este libro se sostiene que el sistema educacional fue una exitosa tarea política y cultural, más que social y económica. Entre 1880 y 1930 la educación fue el centro de las transformaciones sociales y se constituyó en el principal agente democratizador de la sociedad chilena. La cobertura escolar creció a un ritmo inusitado, no obstante las dificultades inherentes a la pobreza de la población. Así, la Ley de Educación, que estableció la obligatoriedad escolar, inauguró las políticas sociales en el país. La escuela pública se institucionalizó, llegó a más niños, y estos aprendieron más y mejor. La educación también permitió el ingreso de nuevos actores al espacio público: las mujeres se incorporaron a la educación secundaria, el movimiento obrero creó sus propias escuelas y los niños mapuches, aunque pocos, pudieron reivindicar sus derechos.The Royal Norfolk Regiment is one of the oldest and most distinguished fighting forces in the British army. Its line…
of descent can be traced back for over three centuries, all the way from modern Afghanistan to Monmouths rebellion in 1685.Throughout these years, and many campaigns, the regiment has maintained a marked local loyalty and tradition which remain strong today. This sense of local identity is celebrated by Jon Sutherland and Diane Canwell in this highly illustrated history of the regiment which describes, in graphic detail, the exploits of Norfolk soldiers who have made a notable contribution to the British army in every major conflict the country has faced.A Woman's Place: The Inventors, Rumrunners, Lawbreakers, Scientists, and Single Moms Who Changed the World with Food
By Stef Ferrari, Deepi Ahluwalia, Jessica Olah. 2019
Discover the trailblazing women who changed the world from their kitchens. If "a woman's place is in the kitchen," why…
is the history of food such an old boys' club? A Woman's Place sets the record straight, sharing stories of more than 80 hidden figures of food who made a lasting mark on history. In an era when women were told to stay at home and leave glory to the men, these rebel women used the transformative power of food to break barriers and fight for a better world. Discover the stories of: Georgia Gilmore, who fueled the Montgomery Bus Boycott with chicken sandwiches and slices of pie Hattie Burr, who financed the fight for female suffrage by publishing cookbooks Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay, who, with just a few grains of salt, inspired a march for the independence of India The inventors of the dishwasher, coffee filter, the first buffalo wings, Veuve Clicquot champagne, the PB&J sandwich, and more. With gorgeous full-color illustrations and 10 recipes that bring the story off of the page and onto your plate, this book reclaims women's rightful place--in the kitchen, and beyond.The Last Great Cavalryman: The Life of General Sir Richard McCreery GCB KBE DSO MC
By Richard Mead. 2012
Dick McCreery was commissioned into the 12th Royal Lancers in 1915 and served on The Western Front, winning the MC…
and surviving wounds.In 1938 he joined the staff of 1st Division under Alexander before being given command of 2 Armored Brigade. He won the DSO for his leadership during the retreat to Dunkirk Man/June 1940.In North Africa McCreery was sacked by Auchinleck, with whom he had major differences, but, while waiting for a plane home, he was spotted by Alexander who made him his Chief of Staff. He is credited by many (but not Montgomery the two did not get on) for the solution to the El Alamein victory.He was promoted to command X Corps at Salerno which he commanded during the advance to the Gothic Line. He relieved Leese as Commander 8th Army in September 1944 and it was his brilliant plan that seized the Argenta Gap and drove the Germans back across the River Po into Austria.He became British High Commissioner in Austria, C in C British Army of the Rhine and British Military Representative at the UN, retiring in 1949.Although not a public figure, McCreery was key figure in the development of armored warfare, a brilliant tactician and among the most important British fighting generals of the Second World War. This is an overdue acknowledgment of his contribution to victory.The Last Winter of the Weimar Republic: The Rise Of The Third Reich
By Rüdiger Barth, Hauke Friederichs. 2019
A thrilling day-by-day account of the final months of the Weimar Republic, documenting the collapse of democracy in Germany and…
Hitler’s frightening rise to power. November 1932. With the German economy in ruins and street battles raging between rival political parties, the Weimar Republic is on its last legs. In the halls of the Reichstag, party leaders scramble for power and influence as the elderly president, Paul von Hindenburg, presides over a democracy pushed to the breaking point. Chancellors Franz von Papen and Kurt von Schleicher spin a web of intrigue, vainly hoping to harness the growing popularity of Adolf Hitler’s Nazi Party while reining in its most extreme elements. These politicians struggle for control of a turbulent city where backroom deals and frightening public rallies alike threaten the country’s fragile democracy, with terrifying consequences for both Germany and the rest of the world. In The Last Winter of the Weimar Republic, Barth and Friedrichs have drawn on a wide array of primary sources to produce a colorful, multi-layered portrait of a period that was by no means predestined to plunge into the abyss, and which now seems disturbingly familiar.From the illustrator of Herstory (a Publishers Weekly Best Book of 2018) comes a fascinating and touching book about fifty…
extraordinary animals that made human history!Discover these amazing true tales of wild and wonderful lives—animal lives, that is! We often read heroic stories of brave people who made their mark on history. But did you know there are some pretty courageous creatures in our world, too? This captivating collection gathers fifty heartwarming, surprising, and powerful true stories of animals around the world who displayed immense bravery, aided in groundbreaking discoveries, and showed true friendship. Featuring a range of animals—from heroes to helpers, adventurers to achievers, and many more—young readers will discover some of the most unforgettable animals of all time. Compelling and gorgeously illustrated, WildLives is the perfect introduction to some of the amazing animals whose wild lives have made history.Seduction: A History From The Enlightenment To The Present
By Clement Knox. 2020
A brilliantly original history that explores the shifting cultural mores of courtship, told through the lives of remarkable women and…
men throughout history. If sex has generally been a private matter, seduction has always been of intense public interest. Whether the stuff of front-page tabloid news, the scandal of nineteenth-century American courts, or the stuff of literature across the eras, we are fascinated by stories of seduction and sex. In the first history of its kind, Clement Knox explores seduction in all its historical and cultural incarnations. Moving from the Garden of Eden to the carnivals of eighteenth-century Venice, and from the bawdy world of Georgian London to the saloons and speakeasies of the Jazz Age, this is an exploration of timeless themes of power, desire, and free will. Along the way we meet Mary Wollstonecraft, her daughter Mary Shelley, and her friend Caroline Norton, and reckon with their fight for women’s rights and freedoms. We encounter Jack Johnson, the first black heavyweight champion of the world, who became entangled in America's labyrinthine and racialized seduction laws. We discover how tall tales of predatory vampires, hypnotists, and immigrants were mobilized by Nazis and nativists to help propel them to power. We consider how after seduction seemingly vanished from view during the Sexual Revolution, it exploded back into our lives as The Game became a multi-million bestseller, online dating swept the world, and the ongoing male fascinating with manipulating women was exposed. In a big-thinking cultural history told through an extraordinary range of stories and sources, Knox explores how our ideas about desire and pursuit have developed in step with the modern world. This is a bold, modern charter of seduction, from the birth of the Enlightenment to the explosion of romantic literature and right up to our contemporary moments of reckoning around “incel” culture and #MeToo.Dressed for a Dance in the Snow: Women's Voices from the Gulag
By Monika Zgustova. 2017
A poignant and unexpectedly inspirational account of women's suffering and resilience in Stalin's forced labor camps, diligently transcribed in the…
kitchens and living rooms of nine survivors.The pain inflicted by the gulags has cast a long and dark shadow over Soviet-era history. Zgustová's collection of interviews with former female prisoners not only chronicles the hardships of the camps, but also serves as testament to the power of beauty in face of adversity. Where one would expect to find stories of hopelessness and despair, Zgustová has unearthed tales of the love, art, and friendship that persisted in times of tragedy. Across the Soviet Union, prisoners are said to have composed and memorized thousands of verses. Galya Sanova, born in a Siberian gulag, remembers reading from a hand-stitched copy of Little Red Riding Hood. Irina Emelyanova passed poems to the male prisoner she had grown to love. In this way, the arts lent an air of humanity to the women's brutal realities.These stories, collected in the vein of Svetlana Alexievich's Nobel Prize-winning oral histories, turn one of the darkest periods of the Soviet era into a song of human perseverance, in a way that reads as an intimate family history.The Lost Book of Adana Moreau: A Novel
By Michael Zapata. 2020
A Boston Globe Most Anticipated Book of 2020A Most Anticipated Book of 2020 from The Millions“A stunner—equal parts epic and…
intimate, thrilling and elegiac.”—Laura Van den Berg, author of The Third HotelThe mesmerizing story of a Latin American science fiction writer and the lives her lost manuscript unites decades later in post-Katrina New OrleansIn 1929 in New Orleans, a Dominican immigrant named Adana Moreau writes a science fiction novel. The novel earns rave reviews, and Adana begins a sequel. Then she falls gravely ill. Just before she dies, she destroys the only copy of the manuscript.Decades later in Chicago, Saul Drower is cleaning out his dead grandfather’s home when he discovers a mysterious manuscript written by none other than Adana Moreau. With the help of his friend Javier, Saul tracks down an address for Adana’s son in New Orleans, but as Hurricane Katrina strikes they must head to the storm-ravaged city for answers.What results is a brilliantly layered masterpiece an ode to home, storytelling and the possibility of parallel worlds.