Biography: historical, political and military Books
MP-KAN Uni Press of Kansas Citizen Sherman Life of William Tecumseh Sherman
Book SynopsisIt was Willaim Tecumseh Sherman who both articulated and practiced the relentless scorched-earth policy that broke the heart of the Confederacy. This work illuminates the emotional as well as the intellectual, ideological and occupational lives of this Victorian American.
£30.43
MP-KAN Uni Press of Kansas Honorable Warrior General Harold K.Johnson and the Ethics of Command
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£32.41
Duckworth Books The Dardanelles Disaster Winston Churchills
Book SynopsisAcclaimed naval military historian Dan van der Vat argues that the disaster at the Dardanelles not only prolonged the war for two years and brought Britain to the brink of starvation, but also led to the Russian Revolution and contributed to the rapid destabilisation of the Middle East.Trade Review'A fascinating account' Nautical Magazine'Dan van der Vat has built a powerful reputation as a naval historian. The Dardanelles Disaster is a thundering assessment of a long-forgotten campaign that was a minefield of diplomacy and a failure of deep consequence that paved the way for the Russian revolution' Oxford Times
£10.44
HarperCollins Publishers (Australia) Pty Ltd The Life and Myth of Charmian Clift
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£22.79
Xlibris Corporation Call The Briefing A Memoir Ten Years In The White House With Presidents Reagan and Bush
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£999.99
Rowman & Littlefield Publishers Voices Carry Behind Bars and Backstage during
Book SynopsisVoices Carry is the moving autobiography of the late Ying Ruocheng, beloved Chinese stage and screen actor, theatre director, translator, and high-ranking politician as vice minister of culture from 19861990. One of twentieth-century China''s most prominent citizens, Ying was imprisoned during the Cultural Revolution and devised unique strategies for survival, including playing pranks on guards and keeping a clandestine notebook. Ying''s memoir opens with his prison years, and then flashes back to his boyhood growing up in a prince''s palace as a member of a progressive Manchu Catholic intellectual family. He also details his experiences as a university student during the heady days when the People''s Republic was being founded, followed by his subsequent experiences on stage, in film, and in politics. A founding member of the Beijing People''s Art Theatre, Ying Ruocheng helped open its doors to Sino-American exchange when he brought Arthur Miller to China to stage Death of a Salesman in 1983, playing the role of Willy Loman in his own translation of the play. Simultaneously a spy for his own government and a cultural ambassador for countless foreigners and fellow countrymen, Ying lived out his life as a bridge between China and the West, gaining a singular perspective on matters related to culture and politics.While suffering from cirrhosis of the liver during the final decade of his life, Ying Ruocheng reflected on his experiences, collaborating with coauthor Claire Conceison to tell his story. Together, they take the reader on an exhilarating journey from Manchu wrestling matches to missionary schools, from behind prison bars to behind the scenes at ground-breaking stage performances, and from public moments of international recognition to private moments of intimacy and despair.Trade ReviewThis 'collaborative autobiography' reveals Ying as a complex and contradictory figure: Catholic and communist, artist and informant, actor and politician. Although Ying's insights from within the Cultural Revolution are fascinating, of equal value are both his view of the US and the echoes of the history of modern China as filtered through his personal history—not to mention his wit and warmth. This book will prove of interest far beyond theater and Asian studies. Highly recommended. * CHOICE *A gem, not to be missed by any student of Chinese culture or politics. . . . The passages on prison are among the most detailed and vivid we have in the literature. And throughout the volume there is a refreshing bluntness. . . . Voices Carry has been a major project for Conceison, a labor of love, persistence, and understanding. She has gone to great lengths to offer context in endnotes for readers who may need them. It is hard to think of any US-PRC literary collaboration more complex and valuable than this one, or to think of a personal cultural bridge between the PRC and the West as active and influential as Ying . . . it is quite clear Ying had his faults, but I found the book totally engaging. -- Ross Terrill, author of Mao, The New Chinese Empire, and Madame Mao * Modern Chinese Literature and Culture *Ying’s vitality, ingenuity, humor, and creativity as an artist and a larger-than-life character are in full display, making the book a great joy to read. . . . Conceison should also be commended for skillfully and fluidly weaving Ying’s life together in the chapters and for corroborating, supplementing, or occasionally correcting Ying’s memories with historical records and/or recounts from family members in her introduction, epilogue, and thirty-five pages of endnotes. . . . Her serious scholarship is augmented by skillful writing and organization. * Theatre Journal *A truly excellent book. It is full of information and insight into the life of a wonderfully generous and learned human being, a most unusual Chinese and man of the theatre, a man who understood the theatre both of his own country and of the West, and who had highly practical and valuable experience in both. As for the author whose job was to transmit this character to a readership, her knowledge and feeling for her subject is exemplary, as is her ability to write that kind of English that conveys his character and views sympathetically and truthfully. This is not only a lively read but also a convincing one. * Asian Theatre Journal *A must-read for anyone interested in the performing arts. Furthermore, [celebrated Chinese actor Ying Ruocheng's] life touched on fascinating aspects of Chinese history and society seldom discussed. What happened to the Manchus after the 1911 revolution? What was it like being a Catholic in those years? How did (and perhaps does) the government collect information on foreigners? How does it treat its political prisoners? How are personnel decisions made? This book is one man’s attempt to make sense of cataclysmic events. * China Review International *For readers unfamiliar with the history of the performing arts in China, Voices Carry provides a window into modern Chinese theatre through the life story of a man integral to its development. For specialists in Chinese drama, Ying’s behind-the-scenes perspective and Conceison’s detailed annotations shed new light on landmark plays like Lao She’s Teahouse (1957). Every reader will have the pleasure of discovering Ying through his own depiction of the key events in his remarkable life. Conceison writes fondly of her time spent with Ying: 'Each of these conversations over the course of a decade was indeed like having a fireside chat with a best friend' (xvii). While I never had the good fortune of meeting Ying Ruocheng in person, Voices Carry enables me to feel that I, too, have enjoyed such a chat. * TDR: The Drama Review *An autobiography of a key figure in post-1949 China is a welcome addition to enrich our understanding of how theatre came to be a vital institution in modern Chinese life. Readers looking for such insights will be intrigued by this idiosyncratic autobiographical account, not least because it sheds new light on Ying Ruocheng’s dual role as government informant and cultural ambassador in East-West relations. * China Quarterly *Ying Ruocheng was an extraordinary individual, a man of integrity and creativity whose story must be more widely known. Through this brilliant collaborative telling with Claire Conceison, we understand how he inspired so many and we learn how the arts can impact world events. -- Ralph Samuelson, Asian Cultural CouncilThis autobiography of Ying Ruocheng offers us a rare treat: a completely new vantage point from which to view twentieth-century China. Ying was a Manchu and a Catholic, an actor and a translator, a political prisoner and a vice minister of culture, as well as being a man of subtlety and wit. Claire Conceison has done us a real service in making this unusual life available to the general reader. -- Jonathan D. Spence, Yale University; author of The Search for Modern ChinaYing Ruocheng is, of course, a star in China. . . . [He] is not only a translator and actor but of necessity a kind of diplomat. . . . He has been my rock, a man of double consciousness, Eastern and Western, literary and show business. -- Arthur Miller, from "Salesman" in BeijingTable of ContentsIntroduction Part I: The Adventures of Prison Life Chapter 1: My First Year Behind Bars Chapter 2: The Prison at Jixian Part II: Family History and Early Education Chapter 3: The Ying Legacy Chapter 4: A Princely Childhood Part III: Professional Life in Arts and Politics Chapter 5: My Stage Career Chapter 6: Cultural Diplomacy Epilogue
£44.00
Montezuma Publishing Patriot Prisoner Survivor An American Family at War
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£32.29
Pluto Press Learning Politics From Sivaram The Life and
Book SynopsisRemarkable account of the life and impact of the activist, journalist and Tamil freedom-fighterTrade Review'Very interesting and original. The concerns he raises have been central to American anthropology for twenty years' -- Thomas Eriksen, Professor of Social Anthropology, University of OsloThis book has been long-awaited by many scholars, and others concerned about the conflict in Sri Lanka. It could become a new exemplar of how anthropology should be done. -- Margaret Trawick, Professor of Social Anthropology, Massey University, New ZealandTable of ContentsNote on Transliteration, Translation, Names and Neutrality Three Prologues 1. Introduction: Why an Intellectual biography of Sivaram Dharmeratnam? 2. Learning Politics from Sivaram 3. The Family Elephant 4. Ananthan and the Readers Circle 5. From SR to Taraki - a 'serious unserious' journey 6. From Taraki to TamilNet: Sivaram as journalist, military analyst and Internet pioneer 7. States, Nations and Nationalism 8. Return to Batticaloa Bibliography Index
£35.39
New Generation Publishing Lovely Little Places The story of the prefabs at Stewards Green Epping
£18.52
AuthorHouse St Thomas More at the Millennium
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£11.67
AuthorHouse Bill Clinton Man of the Public
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£11.67
Random House USA Inc The Real Lincoln
Book SynopsisA New Look at Abraham Lincoln, His Agenda, and an Unnecessary WarMost Americans consider Abraham Lincoln to be the greatest president in history. His legend as the Great Emancipator has grown to mythic proportions as hundreds of books, a national holiday, and a monument in Washington, D.C., extol his heroism and martyrdom. But what if most everything you knew about Lincoln were false? What if, instead of an American hero who sought to free the slaves, Lincoln were in fact a calculating politician who waged the bloodiest war in american history in order to build an empire that rivaled Great Britain''s? In The Real Lincoln, author Thomas J. DiLorenzo uncovers a side of Lincoln not told in many history books--and overshadowed by the immense Lincoln legend. Through extensive research and meticulous documentation, DiLorenzo portrays the sixteenth president as a man who devoted his political career to revolutionizing the American form of government from one that was very limited in scope and highly decentralized—as the Founding Fathers intended—to a highly centralized, activist state. Standing in his way, however, was the South, with its independent states, its resistance to the national government, and its reliance on unfettered free trade. To accomplish his goals, Lincoln subverted the Constitution, trampled states'' rights, and launched a devastating Civil War, whose wounds haunt us still. According to this provacative book, 600,000 American soldiers did not die for the honorable cause of ending slavery but for the dubious agenda of sacrificing the independence of the states to the supremacy of the federal government, which has been tightening its vise grip on our republic to this very day.In The Real Lincoln, you will discover a side of Lincoln that you were probably never taught in school—a side that calls into question the very myths that surround him and helps explain the true origins of a bloody, and perhaps, unnecessary war.
£15.29
Crown Publishing Group (NY) Everybody Was So Young Gerald and Sara Murphy a
Book SynopsisA dazzling biography for readers of The Great Gatsby and other Lost Generation authorsGifted artist Gerald Murphy and his elegant wife, Sara, were icons of the most enchanting period of our time; handsome, talented, and wealthy expatriate Americans, they were at the very center of the literary scene in Paris in the 1920s. In Everybody Was So Young Amanda Vaill brilliantly portrays both the times in which the Murphys lived and the fascinating friends who flocked around them. Whether summering with Picasso on the French Riviera or watching bullfights with Hemingway in Pamplona, Gerald and Sara inspired kindred creative spirits like Dorothy Parker, Cole Porter, and F. Scott Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald even modeled his main characters in Tender is the Night after the couple. Their story is both glittering and tragic, and in this sweeping and richly anecdotal portrait of a marriage and an era, Amanda Vaill has brought them to life as never before (
£17.10
Hopkins Fulfillment Service A Man of Three Worlds Samuel Pallache a Moroccan Jew in Catholic and Protestant Europe
Book SynopsisAt once a sweeping view of two continents, three faiths, and five nation-states and an intimate story of one man's remarkable life, A Man of Three Worlds is history at its most compelling.Trade ReviewA fascinating account of the way in which a Jewish family survived and flourished while living at the heart of three warring cultures... The book illuminates a little-known side of the 17th-century world. Church Times Samuel Pallache has gone down in history as an honorable figure, a slightly less successful version of Disraeli's Jewish hero Sidonia... This fascinating little book, however, based on research in the Dutch, Belgian, Spanish, and Portuguese archives, reveals a very different sort of man-a ruthless adventurer, whose duplicity was only matched by his audacity. Times Literary Supplement Well referenced, with many vignettes that help to paint for the reader a vivid picture of the times. -- Robert Nussenblatt Lettre Sepharade A coherent and revealing picture of [Samuel Pallache's] complex career... Generally judicious in its conclusions and shrewd in its utilization of detail... Along the way, it explores a hitherto unobserved pattern of ties between North African Jews and moriscos active in Christian Europe... A significant contribution to the history of the political information web of early modern Europe and the men behind it. American Historical Review Fascinating... A valuable snapshot of the 'new world order' of global powers and grand alliances at the time, and the way in which the members of a relatively poor and socially marginalized family managed to play them to their advantage. Canadian Journal of History A significant study which opens a window on a culture that was necessarily often submerged. Journal of Jewish Studies Garcia-Arenal and Wiegers have brought to life not only one Jewish merchant in the age of mercantilism but his entire culture. Mediterranean Historical Review A fascinating study. Bibliotheque d'Humanisme et RenaissanceTable of ContentsContents: Foreword Preface Note on Terminology IntroductionChapter 1. From Fez to Madrid Chapter 2. Jews in Morocco Chapter 3. Between the Dutch Republic and Morocco Chapter 4. Privateering, Prison, and Death Chapter 5. After Samuel: The Pallache Family Conclusion Notes Glossary Bibliography Index
£26.50
Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group Before the Trumpet Young Franklin Roosevelt 18821905
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£17.10
St. Martins Press-3PL James Buchanan the American Presidents
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£27.00
St. Martins Press-3PL Ulysses S Grant 18691877 American Presidents
£21.59
Times Books Chester Alan Arthur American Presidents Times
£22.49
£20.69
John Wiley & Sons Caudillos
Book SynopsisIn this volume, the editor presents conflicting interpretations of Spanish American caudillos in essays written by an international group of historians, anthropologists, sociologists, journalists and caudillos themselves.
£24.83
John Wiley & Sons Strangers in Blood
£22.61
John Wiley & Sons James J. Hill
Book SynopsisAn interpretive biography of the builder of the transcontinental railroad. An entrepreneur, Hill spent 15 years building what was to become the Great Northern Railway. His story touches on transportation, agriculture, mining, and town building, as the author explores Hill's complex life.
£17.06
John Wiley & Sons Black Elk
Book SynopsisThis biography of Black Elk is based on extensive interviews with Lucy Looks Twice, the holy man's last surviving child, as well as others who knew him personally. It portrays him as a victim of Western subjugation, doomed to live out his life as a relic of the past.
£17.06
John Wiley & Sons Lone Wolf Gonzaullas Texas Ranger
£17.95
John Wiley & Sons Unlikely Warriors General Benjamin Grierson and His Family
£17.95
John Wiley & Sons Pioneer Days in the Black Hills By One of the Early Day Pioneers
£19.51
John Wiley & Sons In Custers Shadow Major Marcus Reno
£18.00
John Wiley & Sons Custer and Me A Historians Memoir
Book SynopsisThrough lively personal narrative, Robert Utley offers an insider's view of Park Service workings and problems, both at regional and national levels, during the Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, and Carter administrations.
£24.65
Farrar, Straus and Giroux Mother Jones The Most Dangerous Woman in America
£23.46
Random House USA Inc The Heir Apparent A Life of Edward VII the
Book SynopsisNAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW AND THE BOSTON GLOBEThis richly entertaining biography chronicles the eventful life of Queen Victoria’s firstborn son, the quintessential black sheep of Buckingham Palace, who matured into as wise and effective a monarch as Britain has ever seen. Granted unprecedented access to the royal archives, noted scholar Jane Ridley draws on numerous primary sources to paint a vivid portrait of the man and the age to which he gave his name. Born Prince Albert Edward, and known to familiars as “Bertie,” the future King Edward VII had a well-earned reputation for debauchery. A notorious gambler, glutton, and womanizer, he preferred the company of wastrels and courtesans to the dreary life of the Victorian court. His own mother considered him a lazy halfwit, temperamentally unfit to succeed her. When he ascended to the throne in 1901, at age fifty-nine, exp
£19.00
Random House Publishing Group Kingfish The Reign of Huey P Long
Book SynopsisFrom the moment he took office as governor in 1928 to the day an assassin’s bullet cut him down in 1935, Huey Long wielded all but dictatorial control over the state of Louisiana. A man of shameless ambition and ruthless vindictiveness, Long orchestrated elections, hired and fired thousands at will, and deployed the state militia as his personal police force. And yet, paradoxically, as governor and later as senator, Long did more good for the state’s poor and uneducated than any politician before or since. Outrageous demagogue or charismatic visionary? In this powerful biography, Richard D. White, Jr., brings Huey Long to life in all his blazing, controversial glory. White taps invaluable new source material to present a fresh, vivid portrait of both the man and the Depression era that catapulted him to fame. From his boyhood in dirt-poor Winn Parish, Long knew he was destined for power–the problem was how to get it fast enough to satisfy his insati
£14.24
Random House USA Inc Elephant Company
Book SynopsisNEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOKThe remarkable story of James Howard “Billy” Williams, whose uncanny rapport with the world’s largest land animals transformed him from a carefree young man into the charismatic war hero known as Elephant BillIn 1920, Billy Williams came to colonial Burma as a “forest man” for a British teak company. Mesmerized by the intelligence and character of the great animals who hauled logs through the jungle, he became a gifted “elephant wallah.” In Elephant Company, Vicki Constantine Croke chronicles Williams’s growing love for elephants as the animals provide him lessons in courage, trust, and gratitude. Elephant Company is also a tale of war and daring. When Japanese forces invaded Burma in 1942, Williams joined the elite British Force 136 and operated behind enemy lines. His war elephants carried supplies, helped build bridg
£18.00
Random House USA Inc The Written World
Book SynopsisThe story of literature in sixteen acts—from Homer to Harry Potter, including The Tale of Genji, Don Quixote, The Communist Manifesto, and how they shaped world history In this groundbreaking book, Martin Puchner leads us on a remarkable journey through time and around the globe to reveal the how stories and literature have created the world we have today. Through sixteen foundational texts selected from more than four thousand years of world literature, he shows us how writing has inspired the rise and fall of empires and nations, the spark of philosophical and political ideas, and the birth of religious beliefs. We meet Murasaki, a lady from eleventh-century Japan who wrote the first novel, The Tale of Genji, and follow the adventures of Miguel de Cervantes as he battles pirates, both seafaring and literary. We watch Goethe discover world literature in Sicily, and follow the rise in influence of The Communist Manifesto. Puchner
£18.70
MP-FLO Uni Press of Florida James Monroe
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£67.00
LUP - University of Georgia Press From Selma to Sorrow The Life and Death of Viola Liuzzo
Book SynopsisViola Liuzza was the only white woman honoured at the Civil Rights Memorial in Montgomery, Alabama. This biography follows Liuzza through her childhood in the south, adult life in Michigan, to the 1965 voting rights march in Selma, Alabama, where she died in a Klan ambush.
£28.95
University of Hawai'i Press Letting Go The Story of Zen Master Tosui Topics in Contemporary Buddhism
Book SynopsisThis biography concentrates on Tosui's years as a beggar and labourer, recounting episodes from an unorthodox life while at the same time opening a new window on 17th-century Japan.
£18.00
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC Stein
Book SynopsisEdith Stein was beatified in 1987 and canonized in 1998. Sarah Borden presents an overview of St Edith Stein's life and thought, beginning with a biographical chapter and then covering her writings on politics, women, phenomenology, medieval physics, and her spiritual and religious texts.Trade Review"Does Borden succeed? She most certainly does in portraying Stein's intellectual depth and width. Borden shows an intimate knowledge of Stein's corpu ... Borden is also a superb summarizer and organizer of Stein's materials, demonstrating a sound grasp of the intellectual and historical context of Stein's work and the many thinkers who influenced her. She makes light weather of Heidegger and Husserl, thinkers who are not always easy. ... We should be deeply indebted to Borden for helping establish the intellectual achievements of Edith Stein and providing an inspiration to philosophers and theologians who should definitely read this book." -Gavin D'Costa, Reviews in Religion and Theology, Volume 11, Issue 4, September 2004'Many readers perhaps already familiar with Edith's life, will be grateful for the opportunity now to engage with her writings. I consider this book a major contribution to the literature on Edith Stein.' ~ Joanne Mosley, Librorum Aestimationes -- Joanne MosleyTable of Contents1. Life and writings 2. Phenomenology and the person 3. Social and political writings 4. Women and women's education 5. Christian philosophy 6. The metaphysics and epistemology of her later work 7. Spiritual writings 8. Edith Stein since her death: the Jewish-Catholic dialogue
£22.52
Bloomsbury Publishing (UK) Denys the Areopagite Outstanding Christian Thinkers
Book SynopsisThe corpus of Denys the Areopagite appeared in the 6th century and has been deeply influential on Christian thinking in both East and West. This volume examines the traditions on which Denys' work draws, and documents and comments on his vision of the beauty of God's world and revelation.
£32.99
Vanderbilt University Press Jos Marts Liberative Political Theology
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£85.98
Vanderbilt University Press Cervantes in Algiers
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£68.88
Vanderbilt University Press A Courageous Fool
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£86.00
Vanderbilt University Press A Courageous Fool Marie Deans and Her Struggle Against the Death Penalty
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£23.36
£16.59
George Ronald Publisher Ltd Maxwells of Montreal Vol 2 Middle and Late Years 19231952 SC
£27.54
£23.02
£15.11
£17.59
£26.49
