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European history, History, Politics and government
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How war gave birth to revolution in the 19th centuryThe Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71 introduced new military technologies, transformed the…
organization of armies, and upset the continental balance of power, promulgating new regimented ideas of nationhood and conflict resolution more widely. However, the mass armies that became a new standard required mass mobilization and the arming of working people, who exercised a new power through both a German social democracy and popular insurgent French movements. As in the Russian Revolution of 1917, the Paris Commune of 1871 grew directly from the discontent among radicalized soldiers and civilians pressed into armed service on behalf of institutions they learned to mistrust. If this militarized class conflict, the brutality of the Commune's subsequent repression not only butchered the tens of thousands of Parisians but slaughtered an old utopian faith that appeals to reason and morality could resolve social tensions. War among nations became linked to revolution and revolution to armed struggle.
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European history, Christianity
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From one of the foremost medievalists of our time, a groundbreaking work on history and memory that goes well beyond…
the life of this influential saint. Elected bishop of Milan by popular acclaim in 374, Ambrose went on to become one of the four original Doctors of the Church. There is much more to this book, however, than the captivating story of the bishop who baptized Saint Augustine in the fourth century. Trace and Aura investigates how a crucial figure from the past can return in different guises over and over again, in a city that he inspired and shaped through his beliefs and political convictions. His recurring lives actually span more than ten centuries, from the fourth to the sixteenth. In the process of following Ambrose&’s various reincarnations, Patrick Boucheron draws compelling connections between religion, government, tyranny, the Italian commune, Milan&’s yearning for autonomy, and many other aspects of this fascinating relationship between a city and its spiritual mentor who strangely seems to resist being manipulated by the needs and ambitions of those in power.
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Politics and government biography, Women biography, European history, History
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A major new biography of the iconic Austrian empress that challenges the many myths about her life and ruleMaria Theresa…
(1717–1780) was once the most powerful woman in Europe. At the age of twenty-three, she ascended to the throne of the Habsburg Empire, a far-flung realm composed of diverse ethnicities and languages, beset on all sides by enemies and rivals. Barbara Stollberg-Rilinger provides the definitive biography of Maria Theresa, situating this exceptional empress within her time while dispelling the myths surrounding her.Drawing on a wealth of archival evidence, Stollberg-Rilinger examines all facets of eighteenth-century society, from piety and patronage to sexuality and childcare, ceremonial life at court, diplomacy, and the everyday indignities of warfare. She challenges the idealized image of Maria Theresa as an enlightened reformer and mother of her lands who embodied both feminine beauty and virile bellicosity, showing how she despised the ideas of the Enlightenment, treated her children with relentless austerity, and mercilessly persecuted Protestants and Jews. Work, consistent physical and mental discipline, and fear of God were the principles Maria Theresa lived by, and she demanded the same from her family, her court, and her subjects.A panoramic work of scholarship that brings Europe's age of empire spectacularly to life, Maria Theresa paints an unforgettable portrait of the uncompromising yet singularly charismatic woman who left her enduring mark on the era in which she lived and reigned.
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European history, Politics and government
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In the tradition of Why Nations Fail, this book solves one of the great puzzles of history: Why did the…
West become the most powerful civilization in the world?Western exceptionalism—the idea that European civilizations are freer, wealthier, and less violent—is a widespread and powerful political idea. It has been a source of peace and prosperity in some societies, and of ethnic cleansing and havoc in others.Yet in The Invention of Power, BruceBueno de Mesquita draws on his expertise in political maneuvering, deal-making, and game theory to present a revolutionary new theory of Western exceptionalism: that a single, rarely discussed event in the twelfth century changed the course of European and world history. By creating a compromise between churches and nation-states that, in effect, traded money for power and power for money, the 1122 Concordat of Worms incentivized economic growth, facilitated secularization, and improved the lot of the citizenry, all of which set European countries on a course for prosperity. In the centuries since, countries that have had a similar dynamic of competition between church and state have been consistently better off than those that have not.The Invention of Power upends conventional thinking about European culture, religion, and race and presents a persuasive new vision of world history.
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History, European history
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Details the Battle of Hastings between William I, Duke of Normandy, and Harold II, the last Anglo-Saxon King of England,…
in October 1066. Discusses the Bayeux Tapestry, the Domesday Book, and other primary sources. Analyzes the consequences of William's victory, which laid the foundation for modern-day Great Britain. 2012
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European history
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Canon law touched nearly every aspect of medieval society, including many issues we now think of as purely secular. It…
regulated marriages, oaths, usury, sorcery, heresy, university life, penance, just war, court procedure, and Christian relations with religious minorities. Canon law also regulated the clergy and the Church, one of the most important institutions in the Middle Ages. This Cambridge History offers a comprehensive survey of canon law, both chronologically and thematically. Written by an international team of scholars, it explores, in non-technical language, how it operated in the daily life of people and in the great political events of the time. The volume demonstrates that medieval canon law holds a unique position in the legal history of Europe. Indeed, the influence of medieval canon law, which was at the forefront of introducing and defining concepts such as 'equity,' 'rationality,' 'office,' and 'positive law,' has been enormous, long-lasting, and remarkably diverse.
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European history, Criticism, General non-fiction
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Although many depictions of the city in prose, poetry, and visual art can be found dating from earlier periods in…
human history, Obsession, Aesthetics, and the Iberian City emphasizes a particular phase in urban development. This is the quintessentially modern city that comes into being in the nineteenth century. In social terms, this nineteenth-century city is the product of a specialist class of planners engaged in what urban theorist Henri Lefebvre has called the bourgeois science of modern urbanism. One thinks first of the large scale and the wide boulevards of Baron Georges von Haussmann&’s Paris or the geometrical planning vision of Ildefons Cerdà&’s Barcelona. The modern science of urban design famously inaugurates a new way of thinking the city; urban modernity is now defined by the triumph of exchange value over use value, and the lived city is eclipsed by the planned city as it is envisioned by capitalists, builders, and speculators. Thus urban plans, architecture, literary prose and poetry, documentary cinema and fiction film, and comics art serve as windows into our modern obsession with urban aesthetics. This book investigates the social relationships implied in our urban modernity by concentrating on four cities that are in broad strokes representative of the cultural and linguistic heterogeneity of the Iberian peninsula. Each chapter introduces but moves well beyond an identifiable urban area in a given city, noting the cultural obsession implicit in its reconstruction as well as the role of obsession in its artistic representation of the urban environment. These areas are Barcelona&’s Eixample district, Madrid&’s Linear City, Lisbon&’s central Baixa area, and Bilbao&’s Seven Streets, or Zazpikaleak. The theme of obsession—which as explored is synonymous with the concept of partial madness—provides a point of departure for understanding the interconnection of both urbanistic and artistic discourses.
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History, European history
Human-narrated audio
Chronicles England from the prehistoric Mesolithic era of 10,000 B.C.E. through the Roman, Viking, Saxon, and Norman conquests to the…
death of the first Tudor king in 1509. Discusses the evolutions in government, religion, laws, climate, and everyday life. 2011
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Travel and geography, History, Politics and government, Customs and cultures, European travel and geography, European history
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The evolution of the city of Paris from its medieval French past to the celebrated "City of Light." Explores the…
seventeenth-century urban planning that created Europe's first great walking city and the diverse social, political, and artistic forces that gave birth to the modern metropolis. 2014
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History, European history, Customs and cultures, General non-fiction
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British historian uses primary sources to portray everyday life during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558-1603). Describes the people,…
landscape, religion, homes, food, fashion, medicine, law, and entertainment of the era. Companion to The Time Traveler's Guide to Medieval England (DB 77509). 2012
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Politics and government biography, History, European history, Royalty biography, Historical biography
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Historian granted rare access to royal archives examines the life of England's king Edward VII (1841-1910), known to his intimates…
as Bertie. Explores Edward's relationships with women, including his mother--Queen Victoria--and his wife, sisters, daughters, and mistresses. Offers what the author calls a revisionist account of Edward's reign. 2013
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United States history, War, European history, Politics and government
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Historian chronicles the British campaign--and subsequent failure--to subdue the American colonies. Profiles ten of the decision makers, including George III,…
prime minister Lord North, brothers General and Admiral Howe, and commanders Clinton and Cornwallis. Explains the circumstances that led to defeat despite the competency of the leaders. 2013
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War, History, Politics and government, World War I, European history
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Analysis of European affairs from 1900 to 1914 portrays the many leaders and crowned heads of state--including Kaiser Wilhelm II,…
Emperor Franz Joseph, and King Edward II--who, after years of peace, failed to prevent the continent's descent into war. 2013
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History, European history
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Historian examines the evolution of the USSR, from the famine that ravaged Russia in 1891 until the dissolution of the…
Soviet state in 1991. Details the rise of the Bolsheviks, the consolidation and expansion of the nation in the Stalin years, and the Cold War confrontation with the West. 2014
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Folklore, fables and fairy talesReligion, General non-fiction, European history
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Traces the diffusion of the Olympian deities across the globe and the evolution of Greek mythology in the distinct personalities and conflicts of twelve gods and goddesses. 2014
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History, European history
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Acclaimed British writer explores the history of the Tudor dynasty in England, from Henry VIII's (1491-1547) cataclysmic break with Rome to the epic rule of Elizabeth I (1533-1603). 2012
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History, European history, Politics and government
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Beginning with the 1437 marriage between Henry V's widow Catherine and Welsh commoner Owen Tudor, UK historian de Lisle recounts…
the dysfunctional Tudor dynasty's history, touching on every member, including the often overlooked women. 2013
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United States history, General non-fiction, History, Canadian history, European history
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Chronicles the early settlement of North America by European peoples of myriad social backgrounds and religious affiliations. Explores the often…
brutal conflicts with native tribes, African slaves, and among the immigrants themselves as they sought to survive and prosper in the New World. Violence. 2012
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Literature biography, Bestsellers (Non-fiction), Journals and memoirs, European history
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Author of City Boy (DB 71333) chronicles moving to Paris in 1983 and remaining in France for the next fifteen…
years. Reflects on lovers, life as an American expatriate, and friends such as Marie-Claude de Brunhoff, who helped him navigate the country. Some descriptions of sex. Bestseller. 2014
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War, Biography, History, Literature biography, Arts and entertainment, Fine arts biography, European history, Criticism
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Traces the intertwined destinies of three influential couples in the turmoil of Madrid in 1936: author Ernest Hemingway and journalist…
Martha Gellhorn; photographers Robert Capa and Gerda Taro; and the Spanish Foreign Press Office's Arturo Barea and Ilsa Kulcsar. Violence. 2014