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Showing 21 - 40 of 15156 items
By John B. Bury. 1998
This classic biography first appeared in 1905 and still offers a valuable resource to scholars, theologians, and others interested in…
Irish history. The well-documented study depicts St. Patrick's early life in 4th-century Britain during the Roman occupation, his abduction by Irish raiders, his conversion to Christianity, and his lifelong efforts to convert pagans and found churches.By David Mccullough, Michael Hill. 2012
This is the remarkable and inspiring story--told largely in his own words-- of American diplomat Elihu Washburne, who heroically aided…
his countrymen and other foreign nationals when Paris was devastated by war and revolutionin1870-71. Elihu Washburne rose from a hardscrabble existence in New England and the Midwest to become a congressman and diplomat. A confidante of Lincoln and Grant during the Civil War, Washburne was appointed Minister to France by Grant in 1869, arriving in Europe shortly before the outbreak of the Franco- Prussian War. When Bismarck ordered the Prussian army to lay siege to Paris, intent on forcing the French to surrender, Minister Washburne--alone among major power diplomats--remained at his post, determined to protect Americans and German nationals trapped in Paris. After the French capitulation, new horrors struck Paris. The government was toppled by a band of violent revolutionaries, known as the Commune, who embarked on a reign of terror that filled the streets with blood. Once again, Washburne stepped forward to help wherever he could until the Commune collapsed and its bloody orgy ended. During his ordeal Washburne endured cannon bombardments, brutally cold weather, dwindling food supplies, bouts of ill health, and long separations from his family. He witnessed the plight of starving women and children, riots in the streets, senseless executions, and countless acts of unspeakable violence and bloodshed. In the midst of it all, Washburne kept a remarkable personal diary that chronicled the monumental events swirling about him. He knew he was at the center of history and was determined to record what he saw. The diary--and letters he wrote to family and officials in Washington--provides a vivid personal account of life during some of Paris's darkest days. Filled with political and military insight, Washburne's writings also have an unmistakable charm, at times blending homespun expressions with quotations from Shakespeare and the Bible. Michael Hill provides essential background information and historical context to the excerpts from Washburne's diary and letters, which are drawn from the original manuscript sources and collected into one volume for the first time. Through his own words, we come to know and admire Washburne as he struggles to stay alive, perform his duty, and not let his country down. The story of Elihu Washburne is a great American story--the tale of an American hero rising to greatness in the midst of difficult and extraordinary times.By Laurent Dubois, Jorge Cañizares-Esguerra, Karen Ordahl Kupperman, Joseph C. Miller, Vincent Brown. 2015
Between the fifteenth and nineteenth centuries, the connections among Africa, the Americas, and Europe transformed world history--through maritime exploration, commercial…
engagements, human migrations and settlements, political realignments and upheavals, cultural exchanges, and more. This book, the first encyclopedic reference work on Atlantic history, takes an integrated, multicontinental approach that emphasizes the dynamics of change and the perspectives and motivations of the peoples who made it happen. The entries--all specially commissioned for this volume from an international team of leading scholars--synthesize the latest scholarship on central themes, including economics, migration, politics, war, technologies and science, the physical environment, and culture.Part one features five major essays that trace the changes distinctive to each chronological phase of Atlantic history. Part two includes more than 125 entries on key topics, from the seemingly familiar viewed in unfamiliar and provocative ways (the Seven Years' War, trading companies) to less conventional subjects (family networks, canon law, utopias).This is an indispensable resource for students, researchers, and scholars in a range of fields, from early American, African, Latin American, and European history to the histories of economics, religion, and science.The first encyclopedic reference on Atlantic historyFeatures five major essays and more than 125 alphabetical entriesProvides essential context on major areas of change:Economies (for example, the slave trade, marine resources, commodities, specie, trading companies)Populations (emigrations, Native American removals, blended communities)Politics and law (the law of nations, royal liberties, paramount chiefdoms, independence struggles in Haiti, the Hispanic Americas, the United States, and France)Military actions (the African and Napoleonic wars, the Seven Years' War, wars of conquest)Technologies and science (cartography, nautical science, geography, healing practices)The physical environment (climate and weather, forest resources, agricultural production, food and diets, disease)Cultures and communities (captivity narratives, religions and religious practices)Includes original contributions from Sven Beckert, Holly Brewer, Peter A. Coclanis, Seymour Drescher, Eliga H. Gould, David S. Jones, Wim Klooster, Mark Peterson, Steven Pincus, Richard Price and Sophia Rosenfeld, and many moreContains illustrations, maps, and bibliographiesBy Miguel. 2008
Galicia es sin duda alguna la nacionalidad hist rica de la que menos suelen ocuparse los medios…
de comunicaci n pese a tratarse de una de las m s singulares Para despejar esas brumas Miguel-Anxo Murado ofrece al lector un recorrido mapa en mano de la historia la sociolog a la pol tica y la geograf a gallegas Se trata de un recorrido moderadamente heterodoxo y en muchas ocasiones sorprendente en el que desechando los t picos acumulados sobre este pa s tanto por sus visitantes como por los propios gallegos se lanza una mirada fresca a fen menos como la emigraci n el caciquismo el supuesto conservadurismo de su sociedad o incluso los malentendidos acerca de su clima y su paisaje Son los gallegos realmente celtas Por qu en Galicia apenas se venden productos contrala cal de las lavadoras Qu hac a el rey castellano Alfonso X escribiendo su poes a en gallego Este libro desmitificador ir nico y ameno procura dar respuesta a muchas de las preguntas que el lector pueda haberse planteado alguna vez sobre Galicia y sobre todo a aquellas que ni siquiera se hab a planteado hasta ahoraBy David Lederer. 2017
This is a collection of essays from three of the world s pre-eminent historians of Germany which…
consider German history in global and transnational contexts It is well known that transnationalism has exploded in the last decade or so as a new academic subfield of international and global history What the transnationalism literature often ignores or downplays however is the role of the nation-state in making the transnational possible in the first place as noted in its very etymological origins This volume traces this dynamic from a different vantage-point namely the relationship between German history and transnationalism Each essay applies a transnational framework in fresh and original ways in order to illuminate different facets of the connections between Germany and the wider world in the modern period Together they will encourage the rethinking of assumptions about key moments and developments in the history of modern Germany and foster reflection on the evolving nature of German history as a subject studied in the twenty-first centuryBy Sean Mcglynn. 2013
Sean McGlynn investigates the reality of medieval warfare. For all the talk of chivalry, medieval warfare routinely involved acts which…
we would consider war crimes. Lands laid waste, civilians slaughtered, prisoners massacred: this was standard fare justified by tradition and practical military necessity. It was unbelievably barbaric, but seldom uncontrolled.Such acts of atrocity were calculated, hideous cruelties inflicted in order to achieve a specific end. Sean McGlynn examines the battles of Acre and Agincourt, sieges like Béziers, Lincoln, Jerusalem and Limoges as well as the infamous chevauchées of the Hundred Years War that devastated great swathes of France. He reveals how these grisly affairs form the origin of accepted ¿rules of war¿, codes of conduct that are today being enforced in the International Court of Justice in the Hague.By Bill Niven, J. K. Thomaneck. 2001
A concise introduction to the process which led to the division of Germany in 1949, and its unification in 1990,…
this book also explores the economic, social and cultural divisions between and east and west, which still exist in post-unification Germany. Dividing and Uniting Germany covers all important aspects of the subject including: the role of the allies in the post-war division of the country the integration of West and East Germany into their respective blocs the problems of integrating east and west after 1990 Germany's Nazi and socialist past.By Marie-Louise Sjoestedt. 2000
Noted French scholar and linguist discusses the gods of the continental Celts, the beginnings of mythology in Ireland, heroes, and…
the two main categories of Irish deities: mother-goddesses -- local, rural spirits of fertility or of war -- and chieftain-gods: national deities who are magicians, nurturers, craftsmen, and protectors of the people.By Mark Cornwall. 2012
Legend has it that twenty miles of volcanic rock rising through the landscape of northern Bohemia was the work of…
the devil, who separated the warring Czechs and Germans by building a wall. The nineteenth-century invention of the Devil’s Wall was evidence of rising ethnic tensions. In interwar Czechoslovakia, Sudeten German nationalists conceived a radical mission to try to restore German influence across the region. Mark Cornwall tells the story of Heinz Rutha, an internationally recognized figure in his day, who was the pioneer of a youth movement that emphasized male bonding in its quest to reassert German dominance over Czech space. Through a narrative that unravels the threads of Rutha’s own repressed sexuality, Cornwall shows how Czech authorities misinterpreted Rutha’s mission as sexual deviance and in 1937 charged him with corrupting adolescents. The resulting scandal led to Rutha’s imprisonment, suicide, and excommunication from the nationalist cause he had devoted his life to furthering. Cornwall is the first historian to tackle the long-taboo subject of how youth, homosexuality, and nationalism intersected in a fascist environment. The Devil’s Wall also challenges the notion that all Sudeten German nationalists were Nazis, and supplies a fresh explanation for Britain’s appeasement of Hitler, showing why the British might justifiably have supported the 1930s Sudeten German cause. In this readable biography of an ardent German Bohemian who participated as perpetrator, witness, and victim, Cornwall radically reassesses the Czech-German struggle of early twentieth-century Europe.During a career lasting nearly half a century, Meister Frantz Schmidt (1554-1634) personally put to death 392 individuals and tortured,…
flogged, or disfigured hundreds more. The remarkable number of victims, as well as the officially sanctioned context in which they suffered at Schmidt's hands, was the story of Joel Harrington's much-discussed book The Faithful Executioner. The foundation of that celebrated work was Schmidt's own journal--notable not only for the shocking story it told but, in an age when people rarely kept diaries, for its mere existence. Available now in Harrington's new translation, this fascinating document provides the modern reader with a rare firsthand perspective on the thoughts and experiences of an executioner who routinely carried out acts of state brutality yet remained a revered member of the local community, widely respected for his piety, steadfastness, and popular healing. Based on a long-lost manuscript thought to be the most faithful to the original journal, this modern English translation is fully annotated and includes an introduction providing historical context as well as a biographical portrait of Schmidt himself. The executioner appears to us not as the frightening brute we might expect but as a surprisingly thoughtful, complex person with a unique voice, and in these pages his world emerges as vivid and unforgettable.Studies in Early Modern German HistoryBy Shlomo Avineri. 1981
An expanded edition of a classic intellectual history of Zionism, now covering the rise of religious Zionism since the 1970sFor…
eighteen centuries pious Jews had prayed for the return to Jerusalem, but only in the revolutionary atmosphere of nineteenth-century Europe was this yearning transformed into an active political movement: Zionism. In The Making of Modern Zionism, the distinguished political scientist Shlomo Avineri rejects the common view that Zionism was solely a reaction to anti-Semitism and persecution. Rather, he sees it as part of the universal quest for self-determination. In sharply-etched intellectual profiles of Zionism's major thinkers from Moses Hess to Theodore Herzl and from Vladimir Jabotinsky to David Ben Gurion, Avineri traces the evolution of this quest from its intellectual origins in the early nineteenth century to the establishment of the State of Israel. In an expansive new epilogue, he tracks the changes in Israeli society and politics since 1967 which have strengthened the more radical nationalist and religious trends in Zionism at the expense of its more liberal strains. The result is a book that enables us to understand, as perhaps never before, one of the truly revolutionary ideas of our time.By Guy Verhofstadt. 2016
In the heart of Europe's current crisis, one of the continent's foremost statesmen issues a clarion call to radically remake…
the European Union in the mold of the United States' own federal governmentEurope is caught in its greatest crisis since the Second World War. The catalog of ills seems endless: an economic crisis spread through most of Europe's Mediterranean tier that has crippled Greece and driven a wedge between northern and southern Europe; terrorist attacks in Paris, Cologne, Brussels, and Nice; growing aggression from Russia in Ukraine and the Baltic states; and refugees escaping war-torn neighbors. The European Union's inability to handle any of these disasters was a driving factor in Great Britain voting to leave, and others may soon follow. The result won't just be a continent in turmoil, but also a serious threat to American and British security-the Atlantic, let alone the Channel, simply isn't big enough to keep European troubles in Europe. For everyone's sake, Europe must survive.The question is how. In Europe's Last Chance, Guy Verhofstadt-former prime minister of Belgium and current leader of the liberal faction in the European Parliament-provides the essential framework for understanding Europe today, laying bare the absurdity of a system in which each member state can veto legislation, opt in or out of the Euro, or close borders on a whim. But Verhofstadt does not just indict the European Union, he also offers a powerful vision for how the continent can change for the better. The key, argues Verhofstadt, is to reform the European Union along the lines of America's federal government: a United States of Europe strong enough to stand with the United States of America in making a better, safer world.A visionary book from one of today's luminaries of European leadership, Europe's Last Chance is a clarion call to save the European Union, one of the world's greatest chances for peace and prosperity.By Thomas Weber. 2017
An award-winning historian charts Hitler's radical transformation after World War I from a directionless loner into a powerful National Socialist…
leaderIn Becoming Hitler, award-winning historian Thomas Weber examines Adolf Hitler's time in Munich between 1918 and 1926, the years when Hitler shed his awkward, feckless persona and transformed himself into a savvy opportunistic political operator who saw himself as Germany's messiah. The story of Hitler's transformation is one of a fateful match between man and city. After opportunistically fluctuating between the ideas of the left and the right, Hitler emerged as an astonishingly flexible leader of Munich's right-wing movement. The tragedy for Germany and the world was that Hitler found himself in Munich; had he not been in Bavaria in the wake of the war and the revolution, his transformation into a National Socialist may never have occurred. In Becoming Hitler, Weber brilliantly charts this tragic metamorphosis, dramatically expanding our knowledge of how Hitler became a lethal demagogue.By Mike Rapport. 2017
In The Unruly City, historian Mike Rapport offers a vivid history of three intertwined cities toward the end of the…
eighteenth century-Paris, London, and New York-all in the midst of political chaos and revolution. From the British occupation of New York during the Revolutionary War, to agitation for democracy in London and popular uprisings, and ultimately regicide in Paris, Rapport explores the relationship between city and revolution, asking why some cities engender upheaval and some suppress it.Why did Paris experience a devastating revolution while London avoided one? And how did American independence ignite activism in cities across the Atlantic? Rapport takes readers from the politically charged taverns and coffeehouses on Fleet Street, through a sea battle between the British and French in the New York Harbor, to the scaffold during the Terror in Paris.The Unruly City shows how the cities themselves became protagonists in the great drama of revolution.By Marilyn Yalom. 2018
An eminent scholar unearths the captivating history of the two-lobed heart symbol from scripture and tapestry to T-shirts and text…
messages, shedding light on how we have expressed love since antiquityThe symmetrical, exuberant heart is everywhere: it gives shape to candy, pendants, the frothy milk on top of a cappuccino, and much else. How can we explain the ubiquity of what might be the most recognizable symbol in the world?In The Amorous Heart, Marilyn Yalom tracks the heart metaphor and heart iconography across two thousand years, through Christian theology, pagan love poetry, medieval painting, Shakespearean drama, Enlightenment science, and into the present. She argues that the symbol reveals a tension between love as romantic and sexual on the one hand, and as religious and spiritual on the other. Ultimately, the heart symbol is a guide to the astonishing variety of human affections, from the erotic to the chaste and from the unrequited to the conjugal.By Geoffrey Wawro. 2014
By Larry Elliott, Dan Atkinson. 2016
A timely and provocative account of why the euro has failed and why, as a result, the Union will unravel…
Europe's center-left is rapidly falling out of love with the European single currency. Fifteen years after its creation, British journalists Larry Elliott and Dan Atkinson assess its performance to show why. Looking at a range of key indicators the authors show how the euro has failed to deliver on its promise of more jobs, more growth and greater equality. Instead it has undermined the European Union. Elliott and Atkinson compare the European Central Bank to the Federal Reserve, arguing that the architects of the euro subjugated economic measures to political considerations. Consequently, countries that didn't meet the economic convergence criteria were still allowed entry. The end result is a dysfunctional currency union that is unable to cope with difficult economic circumstances. Assessing the situations in Greece, Germany, Italy, France, Ireland, and Iceland, as well as Britain, they show that the current policy of kicking the can down the road and hoping that something will turn up is proving increasingly unpopular with the currency's one-time fans in progressive politics. This engaging and accessibly written volume will be widely read by economists, pundits, and policymakers as Britian considers its future relationship with Europe.By John Merriman. 2014
The Paris Commune lasted for only 64 days in 1871, but during that short time it gave rise to some…
of the grandest political dreams of the nineteenth century—before culminating in horrific violence. Following the disastrous French defeat in the Franco-Prussian War, hungry and politically disenchanted Parisians took up arms against their government in the name of a more just society. They expelled loyalists and soldiers and erected barricades in the streets. In Massacre, John Merriman introduces a cast of inimitable Communards—from les pétroleuses (female incendiaries) to the painter Gustave Courbet—whose idealism fueled a revolution. And he vividly recreates the Commune’s chaotic and bloody end when 30,000 troops stormed the city, burning half of Paris and executing captured Communards en masse. A stirring evocation of the spring when Paris was ablaze with cannon fire and its citizens were their own masters, Massacre reveals how the indomitable spirit of the Commune shook the very foundations of Europe.By Rick Steves, Steve Smith. 2015
You can count on Rick Steves to tell you what you really need to know when traveling in Normandy. Rick…
Steves and Steve Smith cover the essentials of Normandy, including Rouen, Honfleur, Bayeux, Mont St. Michel, and Dinan. Visit the Big Clock in Rouen that dates back to the Renaissance, or cross the causeway towards Mont St. Michel. You’ll get Rick’s firsthand advice on the best sights, eating, sleeping, and nightlife, and the maps and self-guided tours will ensure you make the most of your experience. More than just reviews and directions, a Rick Steves Snapshot guide is a tour guide in your pocket. Rick Steves Snapshot guides consist of excerpted chapters from Rick Steves European country guidebooks. Snapshot guides are a great choice for travelers visiting a specific city or region, rather than multiple European destinations. These slim guides offer all of Rick’s up-to-date advice on what sights are worth your time and money. They include good-value hotel and restaurant recommendations, with no introductory information (such as overall trip planning, when to go, and travel practicalities).By Cornel Zwierlein. 2016
In this major new study, the history of the French and British trading empires in the early modern Mediterranean is…
used as a setting to test a new approach to the history of ignorance: how can we understand the very act of ignoring - in political, economic, religious, cultural and scientific communication - as a fundamental trigger that sets knowledge in motion? Zwierlein explores whether the Scientific Revolution between 1650 and 1750 can be understood as just one of what were in fact many simultaneous epistemic movements and considers the role of the European empires in this phenomenon. Deconstructing central categories like the mercantilist 'national', the exchange of 'confessions' between Western and Eastern Christians and the bridging of cultural gaps between European and Ottoman subjects, Zwierlein argues that understanding what was not known by historical agents can be just as important as the history of knowledge itself.