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Showing 101 - 120 of 3890 items
By Philip Zelikow. 2021
During a pivotal few months in the middle of the First World War all sides-Germany, Britain, and America-believed the war…
could be concluded. Peace at the end of 1916 would have saved millions of lives and changed the course of history utterly. Two years into the most terrible conflict the world had ever known, the warring powers faced a crisis. There were no good military options. Money, men, and supplies were running short on all sides. The German chancellor secretly sought President Woodrow Wilson's mediation to end the war, just as British ministers and France's president also concluded that the time was right. The Road Less Traveled describes how tantalizingly close these far-sighted statesmen came to ending the war, saving millions of lives, and avoiding the total war that dimmed hopes for a better world. Theirs was a secret battle that is only now becoming fully understood, a story of civic courage, awful responsibility, and how some leaders rose to the occasion while others shrank from it or chased other ambitions. "Peace is on the floor waiting to be picked up!" pleaded the German ambassador to the United States. This book explains both the strategies and fumbles of people facing a great crossroads of history. The Road Less Traveled reveals one of the last great mysteries of the Great War: that it simply never should have lasted so long or cost so much. spanBy Erik Larson. 2015
#1 New York Times Bestseller From the bestselling author and master of narrative nonfiction comes the enthralling story of the…
sinking of the Lusitania On May 1, 1915, with WWI entering its tenth month, a luxury ocean liner as richly appointed as an English country house sailed out of New York, bound for Liverpool, carrying a record number of children and infants. The passengers were surprisingly at ease, even though Germany had declared the seas around Britain to be a war zone. For months, German U-boats had brought terror to the North Atlantic. But the Lusitania was one of the era's great transatlantic "Greyhounds"—the fastest liner then in service—and her captain, William Thomas Turner, placed tremendous faith in the gentlemanly strictures of warfare that for a century had kept civilian ships safe from attack. Germany, however, was determined to change the rules of the game, and Walther Schwieger, the captain of Unterseeboot -20, was happy to oblige. Meanwhile, an ultra-secret British intelligence unit tracked Schwieger's U-boat, but told no one. As U-20 and the Lusitania made their way toward Liverpool, an array of forces both grand and achingly small—hubris, a chance fog, a closely guarded secret, and more—all converged to produce one of the great disasters of history. It is a story that many of us think we know but don't, and Erik Larson tells it thrillingly, switching between hunter and hunted while painting a larger portrait of America at the height of the Progressive Era. Full of glamour and suspense, Dead Wake brings to life a cast of evocative characters, from famed Boston bookseller Charles Lauriat to pioneering female architect Theodate Pope to President Woodrow Wilson, a man lost to grief, dreading the widening war but also captivated by the prospect of new love. Gripping and important, Dead Wake captures the sheer drama and emotional power of a disaster whose intimate details and true meaning have long been obscured by history. — ALA 2016 Notable Books List (Year's best in Fiction, Non-fiction, and Poetry named by RUSA readers' advisory experts) — Amazon, celebrity picks for their top reads of the year, chosen by Ina Garten and Carl HiaasenBy Ted Barris. 2007
National BestsellerAt the height of the First World War, on Easter Monday April 9, 1917, in early morning sleet, sixteen…
battalions of the Canadian Corps rose along a six-kilometre line of trenches in northern France against the occupying Germans. All four Canadian divisions advanced in a line behind a well-rehearsed creeping barrage of artillery fire. By nightfall, the Germans had suffered a major setback. The Ridge, which other Allied troops had assaulted previously and failed to take, was firmly in Canadian hands. The Canadian Corps had achieved perhaps the greatest lightning strike in Canadian military history. One Paris newspaper called it "Canada’s Easter gift to France." Of the 40,000 Canadians who fought at Vimy, nearly 10,000 became casualties. Many of their names are engraved on the famous monument that now stands on the ridge to commemorate the battle. It was the first time Canadians had fought as a distinct national army, and in many ways, it was a coming of age for the nation. The achievement of the Canadians on those April days in 1917 has become one of our lasting myths. Based on first-hand accounts, including archival photographs and maps, it is the voices of the soldiers who experienced the battle that comprise the thrust of the book. Like JUNO: Canadians at D-Day, Ted Barris paints a compelling and surprising human picture of what it was like to have stormed and taken Vimy Ridge.By Barbara W. Tuchman. 2008
In this Pulitzer Prize–winning classic, historian Barbara Tuchman brings to life the people and events that led up to World…
War I. This was the last gasp of the Gilded Age, of kings and kaisers and czars, of pointed or plumed hats, colored uniforms, and all the pomp and romance that went along with war. How quickly it all changed—and how horrible it became. Tuchman masterfully portrays this transition from the nineteenth to the twentieth century, focusing on the turning point in the year 1914, the month leading up to the war, and the first month of the war. With fine attention to detail, she reveals how and why the war started and why it could have been stopped but wasn't, managing to make the story utterly suspenseful even when we already know the outcome. A classic historical survey of a time and a people we all need to know more about, The Guns of August will not be forgottenBy Patricia Fara. 2018
Science historian presents a profile of the work of women scientists during World War I and the ways their work…
impacted the suffrage movement in the United Kingdom. Topics examined include the traditional roles of women, routes to power through science, wartime work, post-war readjustment, and more. 2018By Garrett Peck. 2018
A reexamination of America's role on the global stage during World War I and the significant political and social changes…
that took place within the nation as a result. Also discusses some of the global consequences of the war. 2018By Tammy M. Proctor, Mary Thorp, Sophie De Schaepdrijver. 2017
The diary of Mary Thorp, an Englishwoman who worked as a governess in German-occupied Brussels during World War I. Beginning…
in 1916, the entries describe the daily strains of life under foreign occupation. 2017By Will Englund. 2017
An account of events of importance that took place across a single month. Discusses America's entrance into World War I,…
Czar Nicholas II's abdication, and more. Draws on diaries, memoirs, newspaper accounts, and oral histories to provide details. 2017By Robert Gerwarth. 2016
An examination of the legacy left by the First World War, particularly its long-lasting effects on Europe's future. Countries on…
both sides of the conflict were left devastated, and the author traces numerous postwar conflicts to the effects of the war. 2016By David M. Lubin. 2016
Professor of art examines the impact of American involvement in World War I on twenty-four painters, designers, photographers, and filmmakers…
between 1914 and 1933. Highlights works by Man Ray, John Singer Sargent, Anna Coleman Ladd, and James VanDerZee, among others. 2016Specialist in thyroid and autoimmune diseases, who herself had Graves' disease, explains that thyroid dysfunction can be the hidden cause…
of a wide array of health issues and why doctors often misdiagnose it. Includes a twenty-eight-day program she developed to address thyroid problems. 2016By Martin Luck. 2014
Explains what hormones are and what they do, from regulating blood pressure to controlling the female reproductive cycle. Discusses hormone-related…
disorders such as diabetes and thyroid disease, recent developments in endocrinology, and ethical issues such as athletes' use of steroids to improve performance. 2014By Michael Howard. 2007
Oxford and Yale historian describes Europe's geopolitical landscape before World War I began in 1914 and recounts the war's great…
battles, the United States' entry into the conflict in 1917, and Germany's surrender and its consequences. 2002By David M. Kennedy. 2004
Historian analyzes America's participation in World War I, as well as the impact on the home front. Discusses isolationist mentality,…
justifications for entering the war, the draft system, soldiers' experiences, and the role of the United States in the postwar political landscape. 1980By Ian Kershaw. 2015
Author of Hitler, 1889-1936 (DB 51683) and Hitler, 1936-1945 (DB 51684) profiles the political, social, and cultural upheavals in Europe…
from 1914 to 1949. Examines prominent personalities and day-to-day life, and places events in historical context. Discusses the impact of two world wars on the populace. 2015By Neal Barnard, Bryanna Clark Grogan. 2007
A medical doctor outlines a program that grew out of his research on repairing insulin function, as well as reversing…
and preventing type 2 diabetes. He discusses how his advice differs from conventional treatment. He also includes menus and recipes built around generous portions of vegetables, fruits, whole grains, and legumes. 2007By Tim Butcher. 2014
Journalist retraces the steps of Gavrilo Princip, the teenager whose killing of Archduke Franz Ferdinand sparked the beginning of World…
War I. Butcher visits Princip's childhood home in a feudal frontier village, interviews surviving relatives, examines school records, and more, in an attempt to illuminate Princip as an individual. 2014By Eugene Rogan. 2015
In 1914, the Ottoman Empire was depleted of men and resources after years of war. But not even the Middle…
East could escape the Great War, which spelled the end for the Ottomans. Rogan depicts the aftermath of the war and its effects on the empire. 2015By Sara Gottfried. 2015
Gynecologist explains how female weight gain is the result of misfires involving seven metabolic hormones--estrogen, insulin, leptin, cortisol, thyroid, growth…
hormone, and testosterone. She outlines her three-week program of three-day bursts that address each of these hormones in turn through dietary changes. 2015By David Reynolds. 2014
Professor of history at Cambridge University posits that World War I, one of the most violent conflicts in the history…
of civilization, has been strangely forgotten in American culture. He assesses the lasting impact of the Great War across the twentieth century. 2014