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Early Modern Genres of History (Early Modern Themes)
By Emil Nicklas Johnsen, Ina Louise Stovner. 2024
Bringing together an international group of literary scholars, intellectual historians, and cultural historians, this book discusses history in its various…
forms, either as texts or images in the early modern period (1500–1800).Early Modern Genres of History explores different genres and representational modes regarded as history before history became a scientific discipline during the nineteenth century. It does not seek to show how the modern discipline of history as an academic study developed, but rather to examine the ways in which historical texts and images became part of a wider field of early modern knowledge formations. This volume demonstrates how history was connected to the developments in the public sphere, how antiquarian historians used genres in their work, how history evolved and functioned in the visual field, and how historical genres travelled across different contexts. Overall, Early Modern Genres of History reveals how the diversity of historical representations in the early modern period has contributed to the broader foundations of history as it is understood in the twenty-first century.This volume is of great use to upper-level undergraduates, postgraduates, and scholars interested in early modern Europe and the history of knowledge across both the history and literature disciplines.The Little Book of Cork (Little Book Of)
By Kieran McCarthy. 2015
The Little Book of Cork is a compendium of fascinating, obscure, strange and entertaining facts about Cork City. Here you…
will find out about Cork’s buildings and businesses, its proud sporting heritage, its hidden corners and its famous (and occasionally infamous) men and women. Through its bustling thoroughfares and down winding laneways, this book takes the reader on a journey through Cork and its vibrant past, recalling the people and events that shaped this great city.A reliable reference book and a quirky guide, this can be dipped into time and time again to reveal something new about the people, the heritage and the secrets of Cork.Waterloo 1815: Wavre, Plancenoit And The Race To Paris
By Peter Hofschröer. 2006
The acclaimed historian sheds new light on the Battle of Waterloo and the defeat of Napoleon with a focus on…
the Prussian Army&’s critical contribution. Histories of the Waterloo campaign that brought an end to the Napoleonic Wars generally concentrate on the battle between the armies of Napoleon Bonaparte and the Duke of Wellington, giving Field Marshal Blücher's Prussian forces only passing attention. But in this fascinating historical analysis of the conflict, Peter Hofschröer provides a full account of the Prussians and their critical but often neglected side of the battle. Hofschröer vividly recounts the grueling Prussian advance towards the battlefield and the ferocious and decisive fight that broke out when they arrived. At every stage, he allows the reader to follow in the footsteps of the Prussian soldiers as they struggled across the Belgian countryside on that fateful day in 1815.The Pendulum of Battle: Operation Goodwood, July 1944
By Christopher Dunphie. 2005
An account of the World War II clash between British and German forces, &“the largest tank battle involving British armor…
ever fought&” (MQ Magazine). Operation Goodwood, the largest tank battle involving British troops ever to have taken place, has been a perpetual subject of controversy. Was it intended as a breakout from the Normandy Bridgehead, or not? Was it a success or failure? Did it lead to a severe crisis in confidence over Field Marshal Montgomery&’s leadership? This book seeks to unearth the true background, reasons, aims and achievement of Goodwood, set in the context of the overall campaign, while bringing the battle to life through personal accounts of some of those involved, both British and German.&“This well-informed account provides an excellent balance between the strategy and tactics . . . Even in a year which is seeing an unprecedented number of books on the Second World War, Pendulum of Battle deserves to be read. It is a serious, yet highly readable study of warfare and can be warmly recommended.&” —MQ MagazineOradour: The Massacre and Aftermath (Battleground South West France)
By Philip Beck. 1979
This WWII pictorial history illustrates a horrifying episode of destruction in Nazi-occupied France. In June of 1944, the Second…
SS Panzer Division Das Reich was stationed in Southern France until it was called north to help stop the Allied advance. On its way toward Normandy, Das Reich destroyed the French village of Oradour-sur-Glane and massacred its population. The brutal event ranks as one of the most notorious atrocities of the Second World War. While the scars left behind will never fully heal, many believe they should remain as a lesson to future generations. Though a new village was built nearby, President Charles de Gaulle ordered the ruins of Oradour to be preserved as a memorial to the victims. This fully illustrated volume recounts the history and legacy Oradour&’s destruction, complete with photographs of the ruins throughoutVictory at Poitiers: The Black Prince and the Medieval Art of War (Campaign Chronicles Ser.)
By Christian Teutsch. 2010
&“Evokes the blood and mud and terror of combat . . . A good primer of the Battle of Poitiers . . . with prose that…
is by turns professional and passionate.&” —De Re Militari On September 13, 1356, near Poitiers in western France, the small English army of Edward the Black Prince crushed the forces of the French King Jean II in one of the most famous battles of the Hundred Years&’ War. Over the centuries, the story of this against-the-odds English victory has, along with Crcy and Agincourt, become part of the legend of medieval warfare. And yet in recent times this classic battle has received less attention than the other celebrated battles of the period. The time is ripe for a reassessment, and this is the aim of Christian Teutsch&’s thought-provoking new account. &“Teutsch describes in vivid detail the Black Prince&’s experiences that led to his horse charge across the countryside of southwest France, and the critical actions of Romorantin and Chatellerault that made Poitiers possible. His narrative culminates with the prince&’s daring ride to draw the French king Jean into battle and the drama of the combat itself. Combined with a selection of over 15 battlefield maps showing the orders of battle, this informative and highly readable account is a compulsive purchase for all with an interest in medieval history.&” —The Lance and Longbow SocietyBritannia's Daughters: The Story of the WRNs
By Ursula Stuart Mason. 2012
A comprehensive history of the Women&’s Royal Naval Service of Great Britain in the twentieth century. The Women&’s Royal Naval…
Service was formed in 1917 when the call was for volunteers to release a man for sea service. At the peak there was over 5,000 women serving in Britain and overseas, but efforts to maintain the service in peace time were unsuccessful. It was to be 1939, when the Second World War threatened, before the Wrens were reformed. Theirs was a different and altogether more demanding role which involved the carrying out of some highly secret and responsible duties, and many more of them served outside Britain. By 1945 there were over 75,000 officers and ratings and when the War ended, and those who wished were demobilized, a permanent Service was set up, providing a career for women alongside men of the Royal Navy. This is their story, often told in their own words, which mirrors the changing place of women in our society in a century of tremendous social progress.Features a forward by HRH The Princess RoyalConquering the Impossible: My 12,000-Mile Journey Around the Arctic Circle
By Mike Horn. 2005
In August 2002, Mike Horn set out on a mission that bordered on the impossible: to travel 12,000 miles around…
the globe at the Arctic Circle - alone, against all prevailing winds and currents, and without motorized transportation.Conquering the Impossible is the gripping account of Horn's grueling 27-month expedition by sail and by foot through extreme Arctic conditions that nearly cost him his life on numerous occasions. Enduring temperatures that ranged to as low as -95 degrees Fahrenheit, Horn battled hazards including shifting and unstable ice that gave way and plunged him into frigid waters, encounters with polar bears so close that he felt their breath on his face, severe frostbite in his fingers, and a fire that destroyed all of his equipment and nearly burned him alive.Complementing the sheer adrenaline of Horn's narrative are the isolated but touching human encounters the adventurer has with the hardy individuals who inhabit one of the remotest corners of the earth. From an Inuit who teaches him how to build an igloo to an elderly Russian left behind when the Soviets evacuated his remote Arctic town, Horn finds camaraderie, kindness, and assistance to help him survive the most unforgiving conditions.This awe-inspiring account is a page-turner and an Arctic survival tale in one. Most of all, it's a testament to one man's unrelenting desire to push the boundaries of human endurance.Royalty, revolution, and scientific mystery---the dramatic true account of the fate of Louis XVII, son of Marie Antoinette, and an…
extraordinary detective story that spans more than two hundred years.Louis-Charles, Duc de Normandie, enjoyed a charmed early childhood in the gilded palace of Versailles. At the age of four, he became the dauphin, heir to the most powerful throne in Europe. Yet within five years he was to lose everything. Drawn into the horror of the French Revolution, his family was incarcerated and their fate thrust into the hands of the revolutionaries who wished to destroy the monarchy.In 1793, when Marie Antoinette was beheaded at the guillotine, she left her adored eight-year-old son imprisoned in the Temple Tower. Far from inheriting a throne, the orphaned boy-king had to endure the hostility and abuse of a nation. Two years later, the revolutionary leaders declared Louis XVII dead. No grave was dug, no monument built to mark his passing.Immediately, rumors spread that the prince had, in fact, escaped from prison and was still alive. Others believed that he had been murdered, his heart cut out and preserved as a relic. As with the tragedies of England's princes in the Tower and the Romanov archduchess Anastasia, countless "brothers" soon approached Louis-Charles's older sister, Marie-Therese, who survived the revolution. They claimed not only the dauphin's name, but also his inheritance. Several "princes" were plausible, but which, if any, was the real heir to the French throne?The Lost King of France is a moving and dramatic tale that interweaves a pivotal moment in France's history with a compelling detective story that involves pretenders to the crown, royalist plots and palace intrigue, bizarre legal battles, and modern science. The quest for the truth continued into the twenty-first century, when, thanks to DNA testing, the strange odyssey of a stolen heart found within the royal tombs brought an exciting conclusion to the two-hundred-year-old mystery of the lost king of France.The Minotaur at Calle Lanza
By Zito Madu. 2024
In the fall of 2020, as the pandemic raged around the globe, Zito Madu traveled to Venice for a writing…
fellowship. There, he found a deserted, silent, but still beautiful city, “one of those extraordinarily strange places in the world.” As he details his walks through a haunted landscape, we learn about his family’s immigration from Nigeria to Detroit, his troubled relationship with his father, his meditations on race and otherness, the small joys of daily life and solitude, and his own rage and regret. With nods to Calvino and Borges, and reminiscent of Teju Cole, The Minotaur at Calle Lanza is an unforgettable travel memoir about the mysterious transformations that may lurk inside us all.Berlin Now: The City After the Wall
By Peter Schneider. 2014
A smartly guided romp, entertaining and enlightening, through Europe's most charismatic and enigmatic cityIt isn't Europe's most beautiful city, or…
its oldest. Its architecture is not more impressive than that of Rome or Paris; its museums do not hold more treasures than those in Barcelona or London. And yet, when citizens of "New York, Tel Aviv, or Rome ask me where I'm from and I mention the name Berlin," writes Peter Schneider, "their eyes instantly light up."Berlin Now is a longtime Berliner's bright, bold, and digressive exploration of the heterogeneous allure of this vibrant city. Delving beneath the obvious answers—Berlin's club scene, bolstered by the lack of a mandatory closing time; the artistic communities that thrive due to the relatively low (for now) cost of living—Schneider takes us on an insider's tour of Germany's rapidly metamorphosing metropolis, where high-class soirees are held at construction sites and enterprising individuals often accomplish more without public funding—assembling a makeshift club on the banks of the Spree River—than Berlin's officials do. Schneider's perceptive, witty investigations on everything from the insidious legacy of suspicion instilled by the East German secret police to the clashing attitudes toward work, food, and love held by former East and West Berliners have been sharply translated by Sophie Schlondorff. The result is a book so lively that readers will want to jump on a plane—just as soon as they've finished their adventures on the page.The Kidnapping: A hostage, a desperate manhunt and a bloody rescue that shocked Ireland
By Tommy Conlon, Ronan McGreevy. 2023
‘Riveting . . . a triumph . . . intertwining personal narratives with wider themes of remembrance, loss, courage and…
blame’ Gary Murphy, Irish ExaminerNovember 1983. Early morning in suburban south Dublin. Businessman Don Tidey is snatched from his car and the IRA has its latest kidnap victim. Weeks later he is tracked down to an isolated Leitrim wood, but in saving Tidey’s life a recruit garda and a soldier lose theirs.The Kidnapping is a brilliantly reported account of this landmark event by two accomplished journalists and Leitrim natives. Delving deep, they provide a chilling account of the lead-up to Tidey’s abduction, the massive manhunt that followed, his bloody rescue, the botched attempts to capture his abductors and the devastating fall-out – personal and national – that followed.At the heart of The Kidnapping revealing interviews with Don Tidey – speaking about his experience in detail for the first time – and with the families of Garda Gary Sheehan and Private Patrick Kelly, provide a startling and moving testimony of the lasting impact of these traumatic events. It is both a gripping read and one that raises profound questions for today’s Ireland.‘Vividly written, deeply insightful, extremely timely’ Business Post ‘A fascinating read . . . beyond that, it’s an important document’ Mick Clifford, The Mick Clifford Podcast‘A harrowing story . . . [but] an enjoyable book’ Irish Mail on Sunday‘An important reminder of our imperfect, contentious past’ Tommy Gorman, Irish Times‘Vivid . . . [shows] a deep understanding . . . insightful and emotional’ Sunday Independent‘A major page-turner . . . fascinating’ Nicola Tallant, Crime World podcastThis is the Life: Days and Nights in the GAA
By Ciarán Murphy. 2023
A provocative look at how grassroots GAA interacts with life in Ireland, from the wittiest Gaelic games pundit at work…
today The GAA is Ireland's largest civil society organisation, woven into the fabric of families and communities - and yet most books about Gaelic games focus on the greatest players and inter-county teams. This is the Life is a book about the 99%: a witty and provocative look at grassroots GAA from the most intelligent and interesting Gaelic games pundit at work today.Ciarán Murphy - of Second Captains and the Irish Times - has an unmatched feel for the timeless elements of this world and a finger on the pulse of change. He looks at the plight of rural clubs that are losing their players to the cities - and he does so not only as a journalist but as a footballer who made the same move himself. He writes about working as an assistant in the clothing shop owned by the family of Jarlath Fallon - both Ciarán's sporting hero and the local postman. And he looks a things we usually prefer not to talk about, like the role of social class in the GAA.This is the Life is a book about the places the GAA comes from, the places it can take a person, and theings that make a local club worth fighting for.Finding North: How Navigation Makes Us Human
By George Michelsen Foy. 2016
Navigation is the key human skill. It's something we do everywhere, whether feeling our way through a bedroom in the…
dark, or charting a ship's course. But how does navigation affect our brains, our memory, ourselves? Blending scientific research and memoir, and written in beautiful prose, Finding North starts with a quest by the author to understand this most basic of human skills---and why it's in mortal peril.In 1844, Foy's great-great grandfather, captain of a Norwegian cargo ship, perished at sea after getting lost in a snowstorm. Foy decides to unravel the mystery surrounding Halvor Michelsen's death---and the roots of his own obsession with navigation---by re-creating his ancestor's trip using only period instruments. Beforehand, he meets a colorful cast of characters to learn whether men really have better directional skills than women, how cells, eels, and spaceships navigate; and how tragedy results from GPS glitches. He interviews a cabby who has memorized every street in London, sails on a Haitian cargo sloop, and visits the site of a secret navigational cult in Greece.At the heart of Foy's story is this fact: navigation and the brain's memory centers are inextricably linked. As Foy unravels the secret behind Halvor's death, he also discovers why forsaking our navigation skills in favor of GPS may lead not only to Alzheimers and other diseases of memory, but to losing a key part of what makes us human.Missing Persons: or, My Grandmother's Secrets
By Clair Wills. 2024
Blending memoir with social history, Clair Wills movingly explores the holes in the fabric of modern Ireland, and in her…
own family story."Clair Wills shines a brilliant, unsparing light into the dark recesses of her family’s history—and the history of Ireland. Missing Persons is a stunningly eloquent exploration of how truth-telling, secret-keeping, and outright lies are part of all family stories—indeed, the stories that unite all communities—and how truths, secrets and lies can both protect and destroy us." —Jeannette Walls, author of The Glass Castle and Hang the MoonWhen Clair Wills was in her twenties, she discovered she had a cousin she had never met. Born in a mother-and-baby home in 1950s Ireland, Mary grew up in an institution not far from the farm where Clair spent happy childhood summers. Yet Clair was never told of Mary’s existence. How could a whole family—a whole country—abandon unmarried mothers and their children, erasing them from history?To discover the missing pieces of her family’s story, Clair searched across archives and nations, in a journey that would take her from the 1890s to the 1980s, from West Cork to rural Suffolk and Massachusetts, from absent fathers to the grief of a lost child.There are some experiences that do not want to be remembered. What began as an effort to piece together the facts became an act of decoding the most unreliable of evidence—stories, secrets, silences. The result is a moving, exquisitely told account of the secrets families keep, and the violence carried out in their name.A Royal Experiment: The Private Life of King George III
By Janice Hadlow. 2014
The Times Best Books of the Year • The Sunday Times Best Books of the Year The New Statesman Book…
of the Year selection by Lucy Hughes-Hallett BBC History Magazine Book of the Year selection by Helen Rappaport"A masterpiece . . . . [T]his heartbreaking narrative of family dysfunction and royal sacrifice is an absolute page-turner." —Amanda Foreman, author of Georgiana: Duchess of Devonshire"[A] fascinating, story-filled account . . . . Each story is a revelation." —Jenny Uglow, The GuardianThe surprising, deliciously dramatic, and ultimately heartbreaking story of King George III's radical pursuit of happiness in his private life with Queen Charlotte and their 15 childrenIn the U.S., Britain's George III, the protagonist of A Royal Experiment, is known as the king from whom Americans won their independence and as "the mad king," but in Janice Hadlow's groundbreaking and entertaining new biography, he is another character altogether—compelling and relatable.He was the first of Britain's three Hanoverian kings to be born in England, the first to identify as native of the nation he ruled. But this was far from the only difference between him and his predecessors. Neither of the previous Georges was faithful to his wife, nor to his mistresses. Both hated their own sons. And, overall, their children were angry, jealous, and disaffected schemers, whose palace shenanigans kick off Hadlow's juicy narrative and also made their lives unhappy ones.Pained by his childhood amid this cruel and feuding family, George came to the throne aspiring to be a new kind of king—a force for moral good. And to be that new kind of king, he had to be a new kind of man. Against his irresistibly awful family background—of brutal royal intrigue, infidelity, and betrayal—George fervently pursued a radical domestic dream: he would have a faithful marriage and raise loving, educated, and resilient children.The struggle of King George—along with his wife, Queen Charlotte, and their 15 children—to pursue a passion for family will surprise history buffs and delight a broad swath of biography readers and royal watchers.Bridge of Words: Esperanto and the Dream of a Universal Language
By Esther Schor. 2016
A rich and passionate biography of a language and the dream of world harmony it sought to realizeIn 1887, Ludwig…
Lazarus Zamenhof, a Polish Jew, had the idea of putting an end to tribalism by creating a universal language, one that would be equally accessible to everyone in the world. The result was Esperanto, a utopian scheme full of the brilliance, craziness, and grandiosity that characterize all such messianic visions.In this first full history of a constructed language, poet and scholar Esther Schor traces the life of Esperanto. She follows the path from its invention by Zamenhof, through its turn-of-the-century golden age as the great hope of embattled cosmopolites, to its suppression by nationalist regimes and its resurgence as a bridge across the Cold War. She plunges into the mechanics of creating a language from scratch, one based on rational systems that would be easy to learn, politically neutral, and allow all to speak to all. Rooted in the dark soil of Europe, Esperanto failed to stem the continent's bloodletting, of course, but as Schor shows, the ideal continues draw a following of modern universalists dedicated to its visionary goal.Rich and subtle, Bridge of Words is at once a biography of an idea, an original history of Europe, and a spirited exploration of the only language charged with saving the world from itself.Bloody Mary
By Carolly Erickson. 1978
Here is the tragic, stormy life of Mary Tudor, daughter of Henry VIII and Katherine of Aragon. Her story is…
a chronicle of courage and faith, betrayal and treachery-set amidst the splendor, pageantry, squalor, and intrigue of sixteenth-century Europe.The history of Mary Tudor is an improbable blend of triumph, humiliation, heartbreak, and devotion-and Ms. Erickson recounts it all against the turbulent background of European politics, war, and religious strife of the mid-1500s. The result is a rare portrait of the times and of a woman elevated to unprecedented power in a world ruled and defined by men.Power and Glory: Elizabeth II and the Rebirth of Royalty
By Alexander Larman. 2024
Alexander Larman, the master chronicler of the House of Windsor, brings his acclaimed trilogy to a dramatic and poignant conclusion.When…
the Royal Family took to the balcony of Buckingham Palace on VE Day in 1945, they knew that the happiness and excitement of the day was illusory. Britain may have been victorious in a painful war, but the peace would be no easier. Between the abdication crisis, the death of King George VI, and the ascension of young Elizabeth II to the throne, the continued existence of the monarchy seemed uncertain. And the presence of the former Edward VIII, now the Duke of Windsor, conniving and sniping from the sidelines in an attempt to regain relevance, even down to writing a controversial and revelatory memoir, could only make matters worse. Still, the question of whether or not Elizabeth could succeed and make the monarchy something that once again inspired international pride and even love remained.In Power and Glory, Alexander Larman completes his acclaimed Windsor family trilogy, using rare and previously unseen documents to illuminate their unique family dynamic. Through his chronicling of events like the Royal Wedding, George VI’s death and the discovery of the Duke of Windsor’s treacherous activities in WWII, Larman paints a vivid portrait of the end of one sovereign’s reign and the beginning of another’s that heralded a new Elizabethan Age which would bring power and glory back to a monarchy desperately in need of it.In the Watershed: A Journey Down the Maumee River
By Ryan Schnurr. 2017
For several years, Ryan Schnurr watched media coverage of Lake Erie algae blooms with a growing sense of unease. An…
Indiana native, he wanted to learn more about role of the Maumee River in the lake's environmental woes: the Maumee is Lake Erie's largest tributary and the center of the largest watershed in the region, spanning more than 6,600 square miles of land. So in the summer of 2016, Schnurr walked and canoed the length of the river from its headwaters in Fort Wayne, Indiana to its mouth in Toledo, Ohio. In The Watershed: A Journey Down the Maumee River is the story of that voyage. As he walks the banks, Schnurr tells us the history of the river, from its formation by glaciers, function in Native American and American history, uses by industry, and role in current economic and environmental issues. Part cultural history, part nature writing, and part narrative, In the Watershed is a lyrical work of non-fiction in the vein of John McPhee and Ian Frazier with a timely and important warning at the core. "What is happening in Lake Erie," Schnurr tells us, "is a disaster by nearly any measure―ecologically, economically, socially, culturally."