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By Eve Zibart. 2006
This irresistible read is packed with fun facts and tasty tidbits about Disney, from stories about the entertainment empire's founding…
family to the inspiration for many of the popular theme park attractions. Memorable dates include: May 11, 1904 - The great surrealist painter Salvador Dali was born in Igueras, Catalonia. His 1946 collaboration with Walt Disney was one of the most unusual partnerships in the entertainment industry. December 2, 1929 - The Haunted House, in which Mickey Mouse takes shelter from the storm in what turns out to be a well populated mansion, was released in theaters. This movie was the first time animators created what was to become a popular Disney setting. January 9, 1937 - The release of Donald Duck's second film, Don Donald, proved that Donald was capable of carrying a series without any help from Mickey. It also served as the debut vehicle for a ducky girlfriend called Donna, who was later renamed Daisy.Released to coincide with the company's 18-month-long 50th anniversary celebrations, Today in History: Disney has something for Disney fans of every generation.By Margaret Macmillan. 2013
As the 100th anniversary of World War I approaches, historian Margaret MacMillan compares current global tensions--rising nationalism, globalization's economic pressures,…
sectarian strife, and the United States' fading role as the world's pre-eminent superpower--to the period preceding the Great War. In illuminating the years before 1914, MacMillan shows the many parallels between then and now, telling an urgent story for our time. THE BROOKINGS ESSAY: In the spirit of its commitment to high-quality, independent research, the Brookings Institution has commissioned works on major topics of public policy by distinguished authors, including Brookings scholars. The Brookings Essay is a multi-platform product aimed to engage readers in open dialogue and debate. The views expressed, however, are solely those of the author.By Juliet Gardiner, May Smith. 2012
May Smith is twenty-four at the outbreak of World War Two; at night, the sirens wail, and the young men…
of the village leave to fight. But still, ordinary life goes on: May goes shopping, plays tennis, takes holidays and even falls in love - while recording it faithfully in her diary.'May is simply a joy, a bright spark in dark times' The TimesBy Rachel Seoighe. 2017
This book begins from a critical account of the final months of the Sri Lankan civil war, tracing themes of…
nationalism, discourse and conflict memory through this period of immense violence and into its aftermath. Using these themes to explore state crime, atrocity and its denial and representation, Seoighe offers an analysis of how stories of conflict are authored and constructed. This book examines the political discourse of the former Rajapaksa government, highlighting how fluency in international discourses of counter-terrorism, humanitarianism and the 'reconciliation' expected of states transitioning from conflict can be used to conceal and deny state violence. Drawing on extensive interviews with activists, academics, politicians, state representatives and international agency staff, and three months of observation in Sri Lanka in 2012, Seoighe demonstrates how the Rajapaksa government re-narrativised violence through orchestrated techniques of denial and mass ritual discourse. It drew on and perpetuated a heightened majoritarian Sinhala-Buddhist nationalism which consolidated power under Sinhalese political elites, generated minority grievances and, in turn, sustained the repression and dispossession of the Tamil community of the Northeast. A detailed and evocative study, this book will be of special interest to scholars of conflict studies, political violence and critical criminology.By Rebecca Jenkins. 2008
In the summer that saw the first successful flight of the Zeppelin, a 140 acre site of scrubland in West…
London was transformed into the White City, which housed the 1908 Franco-British Exhibition - and a state-of-the-art stadium built to house the first London Olympics. The Olympics were organised by volunteers in just 18 months and at a fraction of the cost of the modern Olympics and yet, just as today, the sport was overshadowed by doping scandals and caused international uproar. The ferocious competitiveness of a US team dominated by New York Irish Americans led to a succession of 'scandals' culminating in the historic marathon when Italian confectioner baker Dorando Pietri's heroic efforts at the limits of exhaustion so entranced on-lookers that track officials helped him across the finish line. Coinciding with the 100th Anniversary of the first London Olympics, this delightful social and sporting history - illustrated with over 70 contemporary images - provides a thought-provoking contrast to the forthcoming 2012 Olympic Games.By Martyn Johnson. 2012
'I've turned boys into men and policemen into coppers,' said the Sergeant. 'Policemen have got brains, but coppers, they've got…
brains and common sense.'No two days were ever the same for bobby-on-the-beat Martyn Johnson. Come rain or come shine, he patrolled his patch with a sharp eye for troublemakers and a kind word for those in need of a friend. Whether he was pursuing unlikely coal thieves, tracking down peacocks gone AWOL or investigating mysterious flying saucers over Sheffield, PC Johnson faced every new challenge with a smile and a healthy dose of his copper's common sense. In his charming and funny memoir, Martyn Johnson recalls the rogues, cheats and scoundrels - as well as the many friends - who made his life on the beat so unforgettable.By Daniel Lord Smail. 2008
When does history begin? What characterizes it? This book dissolves the logic of a beginning based on writing, civilization, or…
historical consciousness and offers a model for a history that escapes the continuing grip of the Judeo-Christian time frame.By Taylor Downing. 2011
SPIES IN THE SKY is the thrilling, little-known story of the partner organisation to the famous code-breaking centre at Bletchley…
Park. It is the story of the daring reconnaissance pilots who took aerial photographs over Occupied Europe during the most dangerous days of the Second World War, and of the photo interpreters who invented a completely new science to analyse those pictures. They were inventive and ingenious; they pioneered the development of 3D photography and their work provided vital intelligence throughout the war.With a whole host of colourful characters at its heart, from the legendary pilot Adrian 'Warby' Warburton, who went missing while on a mission, to photo interpreters Glyn Daniel, later a famous television personality, and Winston Churchill's daughter, Sarah, SPIES IN THE SKY is compelling reading and the first full account of the story of aerial photography and the intelligence gleaned from it in nearly fifty years.By Danny Danziger. 2011
300 million cubic miles of ocean.Stealthy, and deadly, the nuclear submarines of the Royal Navy lie in wait in the…
depths of the world's oceans, ready to listen, intercept, and attack wherever they may be needed - from the coastline of Libya to the ice caps of the Arctic. If the UK is hit by a devastating nuclear strike, they'll be the last military force standing.200 million pounds of hardware.Award-winning journalist Danny Danziger has been allowed unprecedented access to the elite crew of one of the UK's attack class submarines, joining them on operations and hearing their stories. Unrestricted, and uncompromising, Sub paints a vivid picture of this fascinating, little-known branch of our armed forces.One incredible hunter-killer.In an increasingly unstable world, these are the people who keep us safe. It is time for the silent service to be heard.By Danny Danziger. 2012
Mayday. Mayday. Mayday . . . Every member of the Goldfish Club has been forced to broadcast these terrifying words…
from a stricken aircraft, making them one of the most unusual fellowships in the world. Formed during the Second World War to foster comradeship among pilots who had been forced to bail out over water, the Goldfish Club has taken on new airmen (and one woman) ever since and there are hundreds of tales to be told. All are different. All are utterly gripping.Award winning journalist and author Danny Danziger has brought together some of the most powerful stories of this extraordinary brotherhood. A few will leave you open-mouthed, others may reduce you to tears, but all are a fascinating testament to the resilience of the human spirit.By Colin Shindler. 2012
Permission to speak, Sah!In the aftermath of the Second World War, over two million men were conscripted to serve in…
Britain's armed services. Some were sent abroad and watched their friends die in combat. Others remained in barracks and painted coal white. But despite delivering such varied experiences, National Service helped to shape the outlook of an entire generation of young British males.Historian Dr Colin Shindler has interviewed a wide range of ex-conscripts, from all backgrounds, across all ranks, and spanning the entire fourteen years that peacetime conscription lasted, and captured their memories in this engrossing book. From them, we experience the tension of a postwar Berlin surrounded by Russians, the exotic heat and colour of Tripoli in 1948, the brief but intense flashpoint of the Suez Crisis, and the fear of the Mau Mau uprising in Kenya. But we also hear about the other end of the scale, the conscripts who didn't make it outside the confines of their barracks, or in one case, beyond his home town.Through these conversations we learn as much about the changing attitudes of servicemen as war became more of a distant memory as we do about the varied nature of their experiences. We see, too, the changing face of British society across these pivotal years, which span everything from the coronation of Elizabeth II, to the birth of rock 'n' roll, to the beginning of the end of the Empire. The stories within these pages are fascinating. And they deserve to be told before they are lost forever.For nine hundred years the British aristocracy has considered itself ideally qualified to rule others, make laws and guide the…
fortunes of the nation. Tracing the history of this remarkable supremacy, ARISTOCRATS is a story of wars, intrigue, chicanery and extremes of both selflessness and greed. James also illuminates how the aristocracy's infatuation with classical art has forged our heritage, how its love of sport has shaped our pastimes and values - and how its scandals have entertained the public. Impeccably researched, balanced and brilliantly entertaining, ARISTOCRATS is an enthralling history of power, influence and an extraordinary knack for survival.By Allan Zullo, Mara Bovsun. 2005
The accounts are based exclusively on personal, lengthy interviews conducted with or about each person featured in this book. Using…
real names, dates, and places, the stories are written as factual and truthful versions of the heroes' recollections, although some of the dialogue has been re-created.By John Muir. 1993
This latest addition to the John Muir Library -- our ongoing program to reissue the complete works of the first…
great conservationist author -- combines adventures in the Arctic North with Muir's perceptions. Founder of the Sierra Club, Muir did more than any other individual to shape the 20th-century conservation movement.By Philip Mansel. 2006
Philip Mansel's highly acclaimed history absorbingly charts the interaction between the vibrantly cosmopolitan capital of Constantinople - the city of…
the world's desire - and its ruling family. In 1453, Mehmed the Conqueror entered Constantinople on a white horse, beginning an Ottoman love affair with the city that lasted until 1924, when the last Caliph hurriedly left on the Orient Express. For almost five centuries Constantinople, with its enormous racial and cultural diversity, was the centre of the dramatic and often depraved story of an extraordinary dynasty.By Kelly Lytle Hernandez. 2010
This is the untold history of the United States Border Patrol from its beginnings in 1924 as a small peripheral…
outfit to its emergence as a large professional police force. To tell this story, Kelly Lytle dug through a gold mine of lost and unseen records stored in garages, closets, an abandoned factory, and in U.S. and Mexican archives.By Vera Brittain. 2008
This collection of Vera Brittain's poetry and prose, some of it never published before, commemorates the men she loved -…
fiancé, brother and two close friends - who served and died in the First World War. It draws on her experiences as a VAD nurse in London, Malta, and France, and illustrates her growing conviction of the wickedness of all war.Illustrated with many extraordinary photographs from Brittain's own albums, and edited with a new introduction by Mark Bostridge, Because You Died is an elegy to men who lost their lives in a bloody conflict, and a volume of remembrance to mark the ninetieth anniversary of the Armistice.By Nigel Cawthorne. 2011
Throughout history the English have been a warlike lot. Often we fight among ourselves - there have been a good…
few civil wars - and when we were not slaughtering each other, we practiced on our neighbours, the Scots, the Irish, the French... When that got too easy, we set off around the world to find other people to fight. This was usually done with a hubris that invited some ludicrous pratfall. In The Beastly Battles of Old England, Nigel Cawthorne takes us on a darkly humorous journey through some of our ill-advised military actions. From the war over a severed ear to a general seeking out his rival's mistresses to even the score, it is a miscellany of insufferable arrogance, reckless gallantry, stunning stupidity, massive misjudgements and general beastliness.By Will Hutton. 2011
The suddenness and depth of the recession has raised questions about the workability of capitalism not seen since the 1930s.…
One of the constraints on recovery is the growing belief that if the old model did not work there is no new one on offer. This book sets out to provide one, arguing that reconstructing a bust financial system is not just a technical question. It cannot be done without a wholescale revision of the wider system and values on which it is based. And fairness must be placed at the heart of the new capitalism if our society is to recover its values.Will Hutton's new book musters brilliant, convincing arguments which will lend favour on both right and left. It is set to be a book which captures the mood of the moment in the same way that THE STATE WE'RE IN did.By Mckay Jenkins. 2003
When World War II broke out in Europe, the American army had no specialized division of mountain soldiers. But in…
the winter of 1939–40, after a tiny band of Finnish mountain troops brought the invading Soviet army to its knees, an amateur skier named Charles Minot “Minnie” Dole convinced the United States Army to let him recruit an extraordinary assortment of European expatriates, wealthy ski bums, mountaineers, and thrill-seekers and form them into a unique band of Alpine soldiers. These men endured nearly three years of grueling training in the Colorado Rockies and in the process set new standards for both soldiering and mountaineering. The newly forged 10th Mountain Division finally faced combat in the winter of 1945, in Italy’s Apennine Mountains, against the seemingly unbreakable German fortifications north of the Gothic Line. There, they planned and executed what is still regarded as the most daring series of nighttime mountain attacks in U. S. military history, taking Mount Belvedere and the sheer, treacherous face of Riva Ridge to smash the linchpin of the German army’s lines. Drawing on unique cooperation from veterans of the 10th Mountain Division and a vast archive of unpublished letters and documents, The Last Ridge is written with enormous warmth, energy, and honesty. This is one of the most captivating stories of World War II, a blend of Band of Brothers and Into Thin Air. It is a story of young men asked to do the impossible, and succeeding. From the Hardcover edition.