European history: medieval period, middle ages Books

Book SynopsisPresents a study of how the climate of fear in Nazi Germany affected Hitler's advisers and shaped the decision making process. This work also explores the key foreign policy decisions from the Nazi seizure of power up to the hours before the outbreak of World War II.Trade Review"This book could be titled "What Hitler Did Not Know." . . . the book demonstrates just how Hitler's decision making was handicapped by a "frenetic system which he himself created Recommended. All levels and collections."-- Choice"The frightening yet fascinating story of the inner workings of Nazi Germany's diplomatic corps during the years leading up to World War II. Shore...presents a graphic picture of Hitler's Reich that heretofore has been largely ignored"-- Library Journal"A superb, scholarly and fascinating study of decision-making in Nazi foreign policy between 1933 and 1939. Focused on the battle for the control of information around Hitler, it confirms what we knew about the frequent disorganization and chaos of his regime, it shows how the battles of clans and rivals increased the riskiness of his policies, and it scrupulously points out how much remains to be known. Zachary Shore's first book proves what a penetrating and elegant historian he is."--Stanley Hoffmann, Harvard University"With a wealth of fascinating new material, Zachary Shore shows that a key to Nazi Germany's foreign policy was the struggle over the intelligence that flowed within the regime and especially to the top. This perspective challenges much of our received wisdom about Hitler's choices."--Robert Jervis, Columbia University"Intriguing"-- Washington Monthly

Read more less

Book SynopsisIn The First Crusade, Thomas Asbridge offers a gripping account of a titanic three-year adventure filled with miraculous victories, greedy princes, and barbarity on a vast scale. Beginning with the electrifying speech delivered by Pope Urban II on the last Tuesday of November in the year 1095, readers will follow the more than 100,000 men who took up the call from their mobilization in Europe (where great waves of anti-Semitism resulted in the deaths of thousands of Jews), to their arrival in Constanstinople, an exotic, opulent city--ten times the size of any city in Europe--that bedazzled the Europeans. Featured in vivid detail are the siege of Nicaea and the pivotal battle for Antioch, the single most important military engagement of the entire expedition, where the crusaders, in desparate straits, routed a larger and better equipped Muslim army. Through all this, the crusaders were driven on by intense religious devotion, convinced that their struggle would earn them the reward of eTrade ReviewRousing....Asbridge knows this territory well. In 1999, he even walked 350 miles of the crusaders' route. * Christian Science Monitor *Combines fast-paced history writing, evocotive prose and lucid research for a first-rate history of the First Crusade.... Brilliantly re-creates the three-year history of the First Crusade, chronicling its difficulties and victories, not downplaying its brutality but emphasizing its genuinely religious impulse. * Publishers Weekly *Asbridge, in keeping with his aim to produce a popular history, writes with maximum vividness. Some of this gets a little hokey * there are cliff-hangers galorebut I am grateful that he stooped to entertain us. Mad Hugh and Basil the Bulgar-Slayer were fun to read about. There is also a note of comedy in the competition among the knights, with their nasty little treacheries, and with the lesser soldiers running back and forth between tents to figure out who's on topand therefore whom they should ally themselves withtoday.Joan Acocella, The New Yorker *Although well researched, the book wears its scholarship lightly and reads like a work of fiction, complete with vivid characters. * The Herald (Glasgow) *Asbridge achieves vivid characterization and gripping storytelling without sacrifice of scholarship. Interweaving analysis, narrative, evocative description and occasional wry humor, he tells us * as no other book on the subject really doeswho the crusaders were, how they behaved, how they killed and died and, most surprisingly of all, how they survived and triumphed.Felipe Fernández-Armesto, author of Millennium and Civilizations *By focusing on two dozen of the most famous of these crusaders, the author keeps the telling manageable and accessible, and includes eyewitness accounts that describe events with compelling realism. * Curriculum Connections *Balances persuasive analysis with a flair for conveying with dramatic power the crusaders' plight throughout the nine-month siege of Antioch...should revitalize the study of this fascinating period in European history. * The Financial Times *

Read more less

Book SynopsisQuarrelsome and quirky, a disheveled recluse who ate little, slept less, and yet had an iron constitution, Isaac Newton rose from a virtually illiterate family to become one of the towering intellects of science. Now, in this fast-paced, colorful biography, Gale E. Christianson paints an engaging portrait of Newton and the times in which he lived. We follow Newton from his childhood in rural England to his student days at Cambridge, where he devoured the works of Copernicus, Kepler, and Galileo, and taught himself mathematics. There ensued two miraculous years at home in Woolsthorpe Manor, where he fled when plague threatened Cambridge, a remarkably fertile period when Newton formulated his theory of gravity, a new theory of light, and calculus--all by his twenty-fourth birthday. Christianson describes Newton''s creation of the first working model of the reflecting telescope, which brought him to the attention of the Royal Society, and he illuminates the eighteen months of intense labTrade ReviewProf. Christianson has done a great service to the science community and many others including students and the educated public. He has written an easy to read, enjoyable short biography on Newton that will that will attract not only students of science but also many others. * Current Engineering Practice *

Read more less

Trade ReviewHazareesinghs splendid book ... tells us much about the personality and ideology of de Gaulle, about modern France and its political culture, nd about the creation of great men in history. * Robert Aldrich, Australian Journal of Politics and History *For the author of this fascinating investigation, which is as much about France as it is about the general, de Gaulle represents 'the highest point of the French national myth'. * Contemporary Review *The best book on de Gaulle. * Le Magazine des Livres *A wide-ranging and personal essay. This is not simply a book about de Gaulle. Rather, it seeks to show how de Gaulle evoked certain quasi-religious images concerned with salvation, liberation, fatherhood, and martyrdom. * Times Literary Supplement *A fascinating study of the De Gaulle myth ... his book is a model of recent French historiography in the tradition of Pierre Nora and Maurice Agulhon. He is also a political scientist, intrigued by the general's stake in his own myth-making as a means of empowerment and self-justification ... When he strays from the rich world of myth and memorialisation to consider De Gaulle the man, Hazareesingh's judgements are beautifully measured. * Jeremy Harding, London Review of Books *In this formidable work, Sudhir Hazareesingh explores the depths and contours of this imprint, showing its creation, its manifestations and its legacies. * Ludivine Broch, European History Quarterly 44(2) *A scintillating piece of work. The great interest of Sudhir Hazareesinghs remarkable book on the gaullian myth lies in the disentangling of what, in the cult of the General, has been swept up from the tides of History and what is the patient product of political craftsmanship. * Le Point *In this perceptive and richly-documented work, Hazareesingh analyzes the fascination of the French for the General, and shows how the gaullian myth is both malleable and multi-faceted. * Le Monde *In this inspiring and brilliant work, Sudhir Hazareesingh tracks the progressive emergence of Frances last great secular religion. He concludes that de Gaulle combined in his person the four great figures of political heroism: the Liberator, the prophet, the legislator, and the sage. * LExpress *Always contested as a statesman, Charles de Gaulle has now become the greatest political legend of contemporary France. Sudhir Hazareesingh demonstrates how the General has become the incarnation of France. * Ouest-France *Sudhir Hazareesingh has been working on the political uses of memory for several years. His specialization in napoleonic history makes him the ideal person to tackle the gaullian legend, and he delivers brilliantly in this book. * Nonfiction *This study of the representations of General de Gaulle is constructed by combining a chronological approach with a thematic structure. The very rich content of the book highlights the complexity of the gaullian figure. * Etudes *Sudhir Hazareesingh brings his great expertise of the mythical foundations of modern France to bear on this magnificent study of the Gaullian myth. Powerful catalyst of a movement of national reconciliation, de Gaulles legend furnished France in the second half of the twentieth century with the ideals it needed to confront modernity. * La Recherche *This historical essay, drawing on a rich harvest of public archives and private correspondance, enables us to understand how de Gaulle has become a national political myth, in the same iconic league as Joan of Arc, Louis XIV, and Napoleon. * LAgitateur dIdées *This book should be read above all because of the original light it sheds on the subject. It is undoubtedly as an admirer that Sudhir Hazareesingh paints the portrait of the last great Frenchman but an admirer who knows how to handle irony, and who sticks as closely as possible to the historical facts. * Mediapart *An incisive analysis. * Libération *Hazareesingh has given us an indispensable book about an essential dimension of contemporary French political culture. * Andrew Knapp, H-France Review *Table of ContentsPrelude: April 20th 2009, In the Courtyard of the Invalides ; 1. De Gaulle, a French Passion ; 2. Hail to the Liberator ; 3. Sentiment and Reason ; 4. The Spirit of the 18th of June ; 5. Father of the Nation ; 6. Pilgrimages to Colombey ; Conclusion: The Last Great Frenchman ; Sources and Bibliography

Read more less

Book SynopsisSocial psychologist James Waller uncovers the internal and external factors that can lead ordinary people to commit extraordinary acts of evil. Waller offers a sophisticated and comprehensive psychological view of how anyone can potentially participate in heinous crimes against humanity. He outlines the evolutionary forces that shape human nature, the individual dispositions that are more likely to engage in acts of evil, and the context of cruelty in which these extraordinary acts can emerge. Eyewitness accounts are presented at the end of each chapter. In this second edition, Waller has revised and updated eyewitness accounts and substantially reworked Part II of the book, removing the chapter about human nature and evolutionary adaptations, and instead using this evolutionary perspective as a base for his entire model of human evil.Trade Review"...offers a psychological explanation as to why some human beings are so deliberately harmful to others...A fascinating glimpse of evolutionary psychology is presented... an eyewitness account of inhumanity."--Journal of American Medicine AssociationTable of ContentsPART I. WHAT ARE THE ORIGINS OF EXTRAORDINARY HUMAN EVIL?; PART II. HOW DO ORDINARY PEOPLE COMMIT GENOCIDE AND MASS KILLING?; PART III. WHAT HAVE WE LEARNED, AND WHY DOES IT MATTER?

Read more less

Book SynopsisIn his Bellum Catilinae, C. Sallustius Crispus or Sallust (86-35/34 B.C.E.) recounts the dramatic events of the year 63 B.C.E. when a disgruntled and impoverished nobleman, L. Sergius Catilina, after two electoral defeats, made himself the leader of a group of heavily indebted young aristocrats and the Roman poor and tried to kill his rival Cicero and overthrow the government. With his trademark archaizing style, Sallust skillfully captures the drama of the times, including an early morning raid and the emotionally charged debate in which Caesar and Cato the Younger fight over the lives of the arrested conspirators. Sallust wrote while the Roman Republic was being transformed into an empire during in the turbulent first century BCE. The work is well-suited for second-year or advanced Latin study and gives a fair idea of the richness of Latin literature while also pointing the way to a critical investigation of late-Republican government and historiography. Ramsey''s introduction and coTrade ReviewThis excellent edition is an indispensable resource for anyone studying this work * Hilary Walters, The Journal of Classics Teaching *Table of ContentsMaps & Plans List of Divergences from OCT Edition INTRODUCTION I.: Life of Sallust Date of Birth Family and Boyhood Political Career Service under Caesar Retirement from Public Life II.: The Writings of Sallust The Genuine Works Time of Writing III.: Sallust's Contribution to Roman Histiography State of Roman Historiography before Sallust Choice of Topic Sources of the BELLUM CATILINAE IV.: Sallust's Style Influence of Thucydides Debt of Cato Sallustian Traits: Brevity, Vocabulary, Grammar and Syntax, Inconcinnitas V.: The Textual Tradition VI.: Summary of the Catilinarian Conspiracy VII.: Structure of the BELLUM CATILINAE Variations from the Texts of Ernout and Kurfess SIGLA TEXT COMMENTARY APPENDICES I.: Catilinae's Birth Date and Early Career II.: Evidence for the "First Catilinarian Conspiracy" SELECTED BIOGRAPHY I.: Texts and Commentaries II.: Books and Articles INDEX NOMINUM INDEX RERUM INDEX VERBORUM

Read more less

Book SynopsisAt the start of the twentieth century, British intelligence agents began to venture in increasing numbers to the Arab lands of the Ottoman Empire, drawn by the twin objectives of securing the route to India and finding adventure and spiritualism in an antique land. But these competing objectives created a dilemma: how were they to discreetly and patriotically gather facts in a region they were drawn to for its legendary inscrutability and promise of fame and escape from Britain? Spies in Arabia tracks the intelligence community''s tactical grappling with this dilemma and its myriad cultural, institutional, and political consequences during and after the Great War. Arguing that violence and culture were more closely allied in imperial rule than has been recognized, it tells the story of an imperial state dependent on equivocal agents groping through a fog of cultural notions and an interfering mass democracy towards a new style of covert empire centered on a brutal aerial surveillance Trade Reviewa significant addition to the historiography of the First World War beyond Europe... [An] impressive study... * Nadia Atia, History Workshop Journal *[An] impressive work which ambitiously seeks to explore the cultural space within which political, military and intelligence personnel operated. * Keith Jeffery, Asian Affairs. *This book is nuanced, challenging, nicely written, interesting and thought-provoking... rich and rewarding... It is a book that is sure to be well received and it will further our understanding of Britain and the Middle East. * Matthew Hughes, History *Table of ContentsPART I: WAR AND HOPE; PART II: PEACE AND TERROR

Read more less

Book SynopsisIn this important work of deep learning and insight, David Brundage gives us the first full-scale history of Irish nationalists in the United States. Beginning with the brief exile of Theobald Wolfe Tone, founder of Irish republican nationalism, in Philadelphia on the eve of the bloody 1798 Irish rebellion, and concluding with the role of Bill Clinton''s White House in the historic 1998 Good Friday Agreement in Northern Ireland, Brundage tells a story of more two hundred years of Irish American (and American) activism in the cause of Ireland. The book, though, is far more than a narrative history of the movement. Brundage also effectively weaves into his account a number of the analytical themes and perspectives that have transformed the study of nationalism over the last two decades. The most important of these perspectives is the imagined or invented character of nationalism. A second theme is the relationship of nationalism to the waves of global migration from the early nineteenth Trade Review[P]rovides ample stimulus for students of Irish as well as American history. ... Kevin Kenny predicted in print, at an early stage of its composition, that Brundage's book 'promises to be one of the most important works in the field'. How right he was. * J. J. Lee, English Historical Review *In this concise but substantive work, historian David Brundage examines the protean subject of Irish American nationalism in a thorough and judicious manner ... Is a convincing account of the way in which diasporic nationalism could serve as a unifying cause rather than a splintering distraction for those on the margins of American society. As such, Irish Nationalism in America deserves a place of pride on American history bookshelves as well as Irish ones. * Matthew O'Briens, Canadian Journal of Irish Studies *Brundage succeeds in providing a readable and persuasive analysis that draws on an impressive body of research while addressing the diverse secondary literature on the topic ... This will be the starting point for future studies of Irish nationalism in the US for some time. Brundage ties together a long and complex history by close attention to the people and personal conflicts involved. He is also thoroughly familiar with the secondary literature. The book will work well in courses on Irish history as well as on Irish America and the Irish diaspora generally. The bibliography is a resource in itself. * CHOICE *This is an ambitious book ... overall this book is an excellent addition to both transnational history and the place of the Irish in American society. * Dr. Gillian O'Brien, Journal of American Studies *David Brundage's Irish Nationalists in America is an excellent survey of how Irish nationalists within the United States played an important role in developments on both sides of the Atlantic ... Throughout the book, Brundage explores the diversity in Irish American nationalists' views ... An impressive achievement. My students will be reading it for many semesters to come. * John Day Tully, American Historical Review *a sharp and well-written book, and the narrative that Brundage tells is compelling and neatly contextualised by shorter sections on political developments in Ireland itself. He forces us to appreciate the ways in which nationalism was perceived, not unjustly, as a liberating force by many in the 19th century without himself succumbing to romanticisation. * David Sim, Reviews in History *Brundage's ambitious focus of two hundred years of complex and nuanced history across two, and at times multiple, transnational arenas, does much to bring renewed analysis to the account of the Irish America diaspora and Irish nationalist progress within it. Yet the work's sheer range of focus also lays the foundation for further study on Irish nationalism's complex history in both America and beyond over the course of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. * Catherine Bateson, Irish Studies Review *This beautifully and concisely written book marks key phases in Irish American history, and Brundage navigates his way through the maze of organisations in a clear and focused manner ... this public act of publishing and remembering history puts different eras in context so that all of the histories fall into place and make sense. * Úna Ní Bhroiméil, History *Table of ContentsAcknowledgments Introduction Chapter 1: The Transatlantic Odyssey of Theobald Wolfe Tone Chapter 2: Irish Exiles in a New Republic, 1798-1829 Chapter 3: Repeal, Rebellion, and American Slavery, 1829-1848 Chapter 4: The Fenian Movement, 1848-1878 Chapter 5: The New Departure in America, 1878-1890 Chapter 6: Home Rulers and Republicans, 1890-1916 Chapter 7: The Irish Revolution, 1916-1921 Chapter 8: The Long Wait, 1921-1966 Chapter 9: The American Connection, 1966-1998 Epilogue Notes Bibliography Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisIn the historical and literary imagination, the Balkans loom large as a somewhat frightening and ill-defined space, often seen negatively as a region of small and spiteful peoples, racked by racial and ethnic hatred, always ready to burst into violent conflict. The Balkans in World History re-defines this space in positive terms, taking as a starting point the cultural, historical, and social threads that allow us to see this region as a coherent if complex whole. Eminent historian Andrew Wachtel here depicts the Balkans as that borderland geographical space in which four of the world''s greatest civilizations have overlapped in a sustained and meaningful way to produce a complex, dynamic, sometimes combustible, multi-layered local civilization. It is the space in which the cultures of ancient Greece and Rome, of Byzantium, of Ottoman Turkey, and of Roman Catholic Europe met, clashed and sometimes combined. The history of the Balkans is thus a history of creative borrowing by local peoTrade ReviewWachtel has an eye for the telling artifact, poem, ritual, linguistic feature, and custom, not simply the seminal event. He also has a fine sense of how much of the story has to be left out if a tight, fluent narrative is to be maintained. * Foreign Affairs *A remarkable concoction. In a seemingly impossible bit of synthesis...this slim masterpiece gracefully navigates potential nationalist objections with a slight of pen few could hope to accomplish...the author offers the targeted audience a first-class compliment to the world history textbooks taught in universities today. * Journal of World History *Wachtel's book not only dispels the myth of the Balkans as a land of violence and ancient hatreds, but also focuses on the gradual transformation of the region from a land in-between and borderland into contemporary Southeast Europe. * Slavic and Eastern European Journal *Table of ContentsINTRODUCTION: THE BALKANS AS A HISTORICAL AND CULTURAL MELTING POT ; NOTES ; CHRONOLOGY ; FURTHER READING ; WEBSITES ; INDEX

Read more less

Book SynopsisPaul C. H. Lim offers an insightful examination of the polemical debates about the doctrine of the Trinity in seventeenth-century England, showing that this philosophical and theological re-configuration significantly impacted the politics of religion in the early modern period.Through analysis of these heated polemics, Lim shows how Trinitarian God-Talk became untenable in many ecclesiastical and philosophical circles, which led to the emergence of Unitarianism. He also demonstrates that those who continued to embrace Trinitarian doctrine articulated their piety and theological perspectives in an increasingly secularized culture of discourse. Drawing on both unexplored manuscripts and well-known treatises of Continental and English provenance, he unearths the complex layers of the polemic: from biblical exegesis to reception history of patristic authorities, from popular religious radicalism during the Civil War to Puritan spirituality, from Continental Socinians to English anti-triniTrade Reviewthis is a very fine study * Carl Trueman, English Historical Review *This is a well-researched book and there is good discussion of the detail. * Stephen Copson, Baptist Quarterly *Both the breadth of Lim's research and his innovative arguments make for highly stimulating reading. This is a great contribution to our knowledge of the intellectual history of early modern England. * David S. Sytsma, Calvin Theological Journal *Professor Paul Lim's erudite analysis of the seventeenth-century debates over the doctrine of the Holy Trinity draws on a range of primary literature that is exceptionally adequate to the purpose, and enables him to contribute significantly to the historiography of the period. * Richard Conrad , Scottish Journal of Theology *Table of ContentsAcknowledgements ; Abbreviations ; Introduction ; 1. Anti-trinitarian theology and trajectory of Paul Best and John Biddle ; 2. Antinomian and Antitrinitarian? The fate of the Trinity, c. 1640-1660 ; 3. Many weapons, one aim: pro-trinitarian reactions to John Biddle in context ; 4. Polemical and Practical? The spirituality of Cheynell and Owen in context ; 5. Bishops Behaving Badly? Hobbes, Baxter, and Marvell on the Problem of Conciliar History and the Nature of Heresy ; 6. Platonic Captivity, or Sublime Mystery? The Trinity and the Gospel of John in early modern England ; Conclusion ; Notes ; Bibliography ; Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe Baader-Meinhof Group--later known as the Red Army Faction (RAF)--was a violent urban guerilla group which terrorized Germany in the 1970s and ''80s, killing 47 people, wounding 93, taking 162 hostages, and robbing 35 banks--all in an attempt to bring revolution to the Federal Republic. Stefan Aust''s masterful history of the Group presents the definitive account, capturing a highly complex story both accurately and colorfully. Much new information has surfaced since the mass suicide of the Groups'' leaders in the 1980s. Some RAF members have come forward to testify in new investigations and formerly classified Stasi documents have been made public since the fall of the Berlin Wall, all contributing to a fuller picture of the RAF and the events surrounding their demise. Aust presents the complete history of the RAF, from the creation in 1970 to the breakup in 1998, incorporating all of the new information. For instance, there is growing evidence that the German secret service eavesdropped on Baader, Meinhof, and the other RAF members imprisoned in Stammheim and that they knew that the terrorists planned a mass suicide, but did nothing to prevent it. Also, there is new information about the role of the RAF lawyers (among them Otto Schily who later was Minister of the Interior in Gerhard Schröder''s cabinet), and the roles of the different RAF members and the rivalry between them. The volume will also contain numerous photos.Terrorism today is never far from most people''s thoughts. Baader-Meinhof offers a gripping account of one of the most violent terrorist groups of the late twentieth century, in a compelling look at what they did, why they did it, and how they were brought to justice.Trade ReviewA Wall Street Journal Standout Selection Book of 2009Chosen as a Best Book of 2009 by Seattle Times readersExcellent. * Christopher Hitchens, Vanity Fair *"Riveting." * Washington Post *In this comprehensive history of the group, German reporter Stefan Aust incorporates new information to present a full portrait of the group, based on testimonies by former group members to investigators and formerly classified Stasi documents. * Perspectives on Terrorism *"There has never been an account as authoritative, or as gripping, as 'Baader-Meinhof,' which has the advantage of being related by a journalist who was once so close to the action that the gang targeted him for death... a riveting portrait of the gang and its two leaders, Andreas and Ulrike Meinhof.... Mr. Aust tells the Baader-Meinhof story with journalistic care but also with an acute sense of drama... 'Baader-Meinhof" might seem an unlikely book to recommend * after all, it's about far-away and long-ago antiwar radicalism. But it is also a clear-eyed look at the inner workings of a group driven by violent fanaticism, and on that score Mr. Aust's indispensable work could not be more timely.Wall Street Journal *Meticulously researched. * Kurt Loder, MTV.com *"This is one of the best books I've read this year in any genre." * John Wilson, Christianity Today *Riveting. * Regina Weinreich *Aust writes about his subject with admirable dispassion and clarity and in exacting detail, tracking the cat-and-mouse movements between the group and the German police and its political leaders not just over several years, but down to the hour... one could not ask for a better guide to this story, and baring some significant new revelations, "Baader-Meinhof" is certain to be the final word on the subject. * The Seattle Times *Exhaustively detailing the group's exploits from 1970 until the prison suicides of the leaders in 1977, Aust offers fascinating insights into both the spectacular and the mundane aspects of life in a terrorist cadre. He also offers includes new information obtained from Stasi files released after Germany's reunification... this fast-paced account allows readers to peer into the minds of actors engaged in committing horrific acts of violence with the goal of advancing a political agenda * a timely subject in the age of global terrorism.Library Journal *Among Germany's many chronicles of its homegrown terrorists, Stefan Aust's 1985 600-page Baader-Meinhof Komplex stands out as the classic.... The 2008 reworked translation of Aust's book, Baader-Meinhof: The Inside Story of the R.A.F., provides English readers with the German Autumn story, updated with Aust's latest findings. * Washington Monthly *

Read more less

Book SynopsisIn the spring of 1945, as the German army fell in defeat and the world first learned of the unspeakable crimes of the Holocaust, few would have expected that, only half a century later, the Germans would emerge as a prosperous people at the forefront of peaceful European integration. How did the Germans manage to recover from the shattering experience of defeat in World War II and rehabilitate themselves from the shame and horror of the Holocaust? In After Hitler, Konrad H. Jarausch seeks to answer this question by analyzing how civility and civil society, destroyed by the Nazi regime, were restored during the post-war period. Unlike other intellectual inquiries into German efforts to deal with the Nazi past, After Hitler primarily focuses on the practical lessons a disoriented people drew from their past misdeeds, and their struggle to create a new society with a sincere and deep commitment to human rights. After Hitler offers a comprehensive view of the breathtaking transformation of the Germans from the defeated Nazi accomplices and Holocaust perpetrators of 1945 to the civilized, democratic people of today''s Germany.Trade ReviewAfter Hitler is a detailed and comprehensive study of foreign and domestic efforts to "recivilize" Germany following World War II. * Arthur B. Gunlicks Holocaust and Genocide Studies *...impressive book...Jarausch writes in a lively, engaging fashion, and this book will surely reach a broad audience extending well beyond academic specialists. Its clearly laid-out narrative will also be of enormous use to anyone seeking to find an organisational framework for a course on Germany since 1945. * Robert G. Moeller The English Historical Review *[an] impressive and wide-ranging [book]... allows many fresh and original insights [and] it will undoubtedly inspire new research * Frank Biess, German History *A work of seasoned learning, judicious intelligence, and wide empirical range, After Hitler tells the complex and uneven story of a ruined society's long-term moral and political reconstruction. Holding in view the attainment of a 'civilized society' as a workable ideal, Konrad Jarausch surveys Germany's divided histories between 1945 and the present to draw a careful and persuasive balance. Even in the most catastrophically damaged society, he shows us, certain basic values of democratic political culture may be painfully reclaimed. * Geoff Eley, author of A Crooked, From Cultural History to the History of Society *What an extraordinary challenge! Konrad Jarausch asks us to think of postwar German history - of West and East Germany in tandem - as a 'civilizing process,' as the lengthy and contorted effort of learning to live in empathy, where enmity had reigned supreme and a literally murderous war had destroyed the foundations of civility. Needless to say, this endeavor was not self-evident nor was it unequivocally chosen or, for that matter, plainly successful. How would you measure success in any case? Jarausch brings postwar history alive with these and similar questions. But his most important contribution is to put the question of civility and 'civil' society - of the sense and sensitivity of civilization--at the center of his inquiry into German history. * Michael Geyer, University of Chicago *As a history of the German post-war period this account will become a standard work in German schools - and one can only wish that for this book. * Deutsche Allgemeine Zeitung *Jarausch's thoughtful study offers more than just a thesis-driven contemporary history that provides stimulating insights; it also presents a political and moral perspective which is impressive through its liberal cosmopolitanism. * Die Zeit *Table of ContentsPREFACE ; INTRODUCTION: RUPTURE OF CIVILIZATION ; PART I: FORCED REORIENTATION ; 1. Renouncing War ; 2. Questioning the Nation ; 3. Rejecting the Plan ; PRECONDITIONS OF FREEDOM ; PART II: CONTRADICTORY MODERNIZATION ; 4. Embracing the West ; 5. Arriving at Democracy ; 6. Protesting Authority ; PARADOXES OF MODERNITY ; PART III: CHALLENGES OF CIVIL SOCIETY ; 7. Abandoning Socialism ; 8. Searching for Normalcy ; 9. Fearing Foreignness ; IMPLICATIONS OF UPHEAVAL ; CONCLUSION: CONTOURS OF THE BERLIN REPUBLIC ; INDEX

Read more less

Book SynopsisThis accessible introduction surveys the land and peoples who gave us the Labyrinth, the Acropolis, the Iliad and Odyssey, Herodotus and Thucydides, Sappho and Sophocles, Aphrodite and Aristotle, and so much more. Using the full range of resources of art history, archaeology, and philology, this book details the familiar--mythic heroes and heroines, famous philosophers and poets, as well as classical art and architecture--and introduces the less-well-known aspects of ancient Greece, notably the civilizations of the Bronze and Dark Ages and even the earliest form of written Greek--Linear B. In addition, Stephanie Lynn Budin offers a full history of how the study of classical Greece has evolved from ancient times through the Middle Ages and the Renaissance to the present day. She covers ongoing questions and new directions in Greek studies, including Minoan religion, the role of women in early Greek cultures, the historical accuracy of Homer and Herodotus, and the role of Greece amongst Table of ContentsSeries Editor's Preface ; Preface and Acknowledgments ; PART 1: INTRODUCTION ; 1. Introduction ; What Did the Greeks Contribute to Modern Society? ; PART 2: GREEK CIVILIZATION ; 2. Location of Greek Civilization and Environmental Setting ; The Greek Mainland ; Crete ; Cyclades ; Asia Minor's West Coast ; Cyprus ; 3. Historical and Chronological Setting ; The History of Greek Studies ; Sources for the Study of Greek History ; Chronology ; 4. Origins, Growth, and Decline of Greek Civilization ; Crete ; The Mainland ; The Dark Age ; The Eighth-Century Renaissance and the Archaic Age ; The Classical Period-From the Persian Invasions to the Death of Alexander ; The Rise and Fall of the ; 5. Hellenistic Kingdoms: 323-30 B.C.E. ; Palace Economics of the Aegean Bronze Age ; Trade in the Late Bronze Age ; The Dark Age ; The Early Emporia ; Archaic and Classical Greece ; 6. Social Organization and Social Structure ; Divisions ; Unions ; Groups ; 7. Politics ; Minoan Crete: Kings? Queens? Priestesses? Priests? ; The Dark Age and "Epic" Kingship ; The Archaic Age: Synoecism, Aristocracy, and Tyranny ; Forms of Rule in the Classical Period: Oligarchy and Democracy ; Politics beyond the Polis ; Alexander and the Hellenistic ; Monarchies ; Ancient Greek Law ; 8. Religion and Ideology ; Minoan Religion ; Mycenaean Religion ; Greek Religion in the Historical Periods ; 9. Material Culture ; Architecture ; Sculpture ; Pottery ; Clothing ; Arms and Armor ; The Art of Death ; 10. Intellectual Accomplishments ; Literature ; Science ; Philosophy ; PART 3: CURRENT ASSESSMENTS ; 11. Major Controversies and Future Directions in the Study of Greek Civilization ; Excavation ; Linear A ; Minoan Deities ; The Dark Age ; Non-Athenian Culture ; Foreign Relations ; Women in Ancient Greece ; Glossary ; Chronology ; Resources for Further Study ; Index ; About the Author

Read more less

Book SynopsisImagining the Balkans examines how an innocent geographic appellation was transformed into a powerful and widespread pejorative designation. In a new afterword, Maria Todorova discusses the reaction to her dubbing of the term Balkanism and recent events in the Balkans.Trade ReviewOutstanding. * Misha Glenny, London Review of Books *Passionate, learned, entertaining, polemical, ambitious, courageous. * Slavic Review *Contains many brilliant insights and always displays the author's enormous erudition. * CHOICE *Todorova's book is a passionate, provocative, and necessary attempt to retrace the construction of a pejorative image of the Balkans. * Nicholas J. Miller, Journal of Interdisciplinary History *Full of challenging ideas, forcefully presented opinions, references for further reading, and enlightening observations. * Gale Stokes, H-Net *By far the best work of historiography on the region. * Tomislav Z. Longinovic, Lingua Franca *[Imagining the Balkans] gained the status of a classic and it can certainly be regarded as one of the most influential books about (Southeast) European history of the past decades ... Maria Todorova's book has not lost in importance in the 20 years since it was published. It was a 'must-read' when it came out and it remains so today. * Hannes Grandits, Reviews in History *Table of ContentsPREFACE; CONCLUSION; AFTERWORD TO THE UPDATED EDITION; NOTES/ BIBLIOGRAPHY/ INDEX

Read more less

Book SynopsisNamed by Moscow Times the History Book of the Year, The Ghost of Freedom combines riveting storytelling with insightful analysis, in the first general history of the modern Caucasus, stretching from the beginning of Russian imperial expansion up to the rise of new countries after the Soviet Union''s collapse. In evocative and accessible prose, Charles King reveals how tsars, highlanders, revolutionaries, and adventurers have contributed to the fascinating history of this borderland, providing an indispensable guide to the complicated histories, politics, and cultures of this intriguing frontier. Based on new research in multiple languages, the book shows how the struggle for freedom in the Caucasus has been a perennial theme over the last two hundred years, shining valuable light on the origins of modern disputes, including the ongoing war in Chechnya, conflicts in Georgia and Azerbaijan, and debates over oil from the Caspian Sea and its impact on world markets. The paperback edition fTrade ReviewKing picks and chooses events and themes seemingly designed to give proper depth to an understanding of the fiery, violent decade and a half since the collapse of the Soviet Union.--Foreign AffairsIt is a bold historian who writes a history of the Caucasus.... Some forty mutually unintelligible languages are spoken. Worse for anyone trying to present a coherent narrative, these disparate peoples have very different histories, and only two, the Georgians and Armenians (some would add the Azeris), have a history of statehood consistent enough to be retold as one would retell the history of a West European country.The different reactions of Caucasian nations to the conquests of the early nineteenth century - complicity and acceptance by the Georgians, relief by the Armenians and Ossetians, desperate surrender or flight by the Circassians, resistance to the death by Chechens and Dagestanis - are the best insight that King can offer into the diverse cultures that were incorporated into the Russian Empire or wiped out by it."-- Donald Rayfield, The Times Literary SupplementRecently, a few books have been published about the Caucasus,... but King's is the most comprehensive, weaving in the history of all the events from the past two centuries that shaped czarist, Soviet, and Russian relations with the region.--Library JournalCharles King's Ghost of Freedom is a work that's gripping and important, scholarly and wonderfully readable. It not only explains and analyzes one of our world's most strategic regions but also delivers all the exotic and romantic turbulence of these flamboyant warriors and poets and the extraordinary peoples of the Caucasus."-- Simon Sebag Montefiore, author of Young StalinTable of ContentsIntroduction ; 1. Empires and Boundaries ; 2. Rule and Resistance ; 3. The Imaginary Caucasus ; 4. Nations and Revolutions ; 5. Time of Troubles ; Epilogue: Continental Shift ; Bibliographic Essay

Read more less

a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

Read more less

Book SynopsisWinner of the David H. Pinkney Prize of the French Historical SocietyWinner of the Frances Richardson Keller-Sierra Prize of the Western Association of Women HistoriansWinner of the Award for Best Scholarly Work of the National Huguenot Society The Edict of Nantes ended the civil wars of the Reformation in 1598 by making France a kingdom with two religions. Catholics could worship anywhere, while Protestants had specific locations where they were sanctioned to worship. Over the coming decades Protestants'' religious freedom and civil privileges eroded until the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, issued under Louis XIV in 1685, criminalized their religion.The Robillard de Champagné, a noble family, were among those facing the Revocation. They and their co-religionists confronted the difficult decision whether to obey this new law and convert, feign conversion and remain privately Protestant, or break the law and attempt to flee secretly in what was the first modern mass migration. In this sweeping family saga, Carolyn Chappell Lougee narrates how the Champagné family''s persecution and Protestant devotion unsettled their economic advantages and social standing. The family provides a window onto the choices that individuals and their kin had to make in these trying circumstances, the agency of women within families, and the consequences of their choices. Lougee traces the lives of the family members who escaped; the kin and community members who decided to stay, both complying with and resisting the king''s will; and those who resettled in Britain and Prussia, where they adapted culturally and became influential members of society. She challenges the narrative Huguenots told over subsequent generations about the deeper faith of those who opted for exile and the venal qualities of those who remained in France. A masterful and moving account of the Hugenots, Facing the Revocation offers a deeply personal perspective on one of the greatest acts of religious intolerance in history.Trade ReviewBuilding her book on decades of research and the unflagging pursuit of family papers, Lougee offers a detailed account of the varied responses of one extended family of Huguenot nobles to Louis XIV's revocation of the Edict of Nantes. The author effectively blends an intimate family portrait of the Robillard de Champagné with a broader historical account that offers a new perspective on the fate of the Huguenots and the limitations of the Sun King's power....In the end, each individual wrestled with the choice to convert or flee with considerations of family, property, class consciousness, and faith. Local officials appeared reluctant to enforce the royal prohibition against flight. The Champagné joined communities of Huguenot expatriates to rebuild their social network....Highly recommended. * CHOICE *This a compelling, if complicated history. Lougee conveys it with compassion and purpose, all the while maintaining an enquiring eye and critical distanceâShe relates with care and nuance the story of Marie de La Rochefoucauld, a Reformed matriarch whose determination and dedication combined with careful planning and financial acumen to not simply save, but in fact advance her family amid the appalling circumstances of religious oppression. The result is a highly original set of insights into the uncertainties and burdens that French Protestants encountered as they confronted the royal proscription of their ancestral religion....Throughout her study, Lougee reveals and investigates the female voice, which has so long been muted (though not entirely absent) in accounts of the Revocation and the Refuge. * Raymond Mentzer, Reviews in History *Carolyn Chappell Lougee's book sheds light on the complex experiences which led one French noble family to fragment in response to the Revocation, compelling many of them to start new lives (or end them) in the Netherlands, England and Ireland...The afterword, where Lougee tells the reader how she came across the first fragments of the archive that she has so lovingly reconstructed...is an absorbing narrative which wins the reader's admiration for her persistence in tracking down the papers, which had become as scattered as the Huguenots themselves. * Diarmaid MacCulloch, London Review of Books *Thanks to Lougee's relentless archival digging this book succeeds like no other in capturing the human voice of the Huguenot exile experience...Lougee's deeply moving account of their decisions and experiences provides an unparalleled and personal insight into the complexities faced by Huguenots that is so often lacking in current scholarship on early modern refugees * David van der Linden, Journal of Modern History *A masterful study of a provincial nobility and a Protestant communityâLougee's tracing of the Champagnés into exile rewrites our understanding of the RefugeâReading this excellent book in the midst of the world's current refugee crisis gives it a particular resonance. Of course, addressing that issue is not Lougee's purpose, but one can only hope that, in time, modern refugees will find as thorough and gifted an historian as she. * Keith P. Luria, Journal of Social History *A significant scholarly contribution that holds rich rewards for readers, and a compelling account of the experiences of one family among so many confronting a pivotal moment in early modern French history. * Susan Broomhall, H-France *The Champagné family are unusually well documented. This is partly the luck of survival, but finding this material and interpreting it required truly remarkable scholarship. Lougee's dissection of both Protestant and Catholic narratives is brilliant. Both technically and stylistically, this is superb historical writing....The story is wonderfully told, skillfully combining historical empathy with incisive, no-nonsense analysis of motives and of the consequences of individual decisions. Lougee challenges or nuances a number of myths that remain current in Huguenot memory and in some scholarly works: the emphasis on state persecution and on purely religious motivations for departure from France; the belief that the Protestant nobility massively abandoned the Reformed religion; and the idea that emigration marked a complete break with the past. * David Garrioch, American Historical Review *With rare sensitivity, Carolyn Lougee has pieced together from scattered and difficult sources the remarkable and previously unknown story of one extended aristocratic family confronted with the wrenching choice between migration and accommodation that faced nearly a million French Huguenots when Louis XIV revoked the Edict of Nantes. Authoritatively situating the story of the Champagné family within local, national, and international contexts, Lougee entirely recasts our understanding of the character and human experience of the Revocation and the wider world of the Huguenot diaspora. * Philip Benedict, University of Geneva *A triumphant blend of meticulous archival research and storytelling. Lougee has sleuthed her way through European archives and dazzles with the results, yet she also captures the poignancy of a tale of one noble Protestant family riven by indecision, conflict, and betrayal, whose experience provides a more complex picture of the Huguenots' reaction to the Revocation. This is the story of a history-making family in a history-making book. * Ruth Whelan, National University of Ireland Maynooth *In this remarkable book, Carolyn Chappell Lougee explores the complexities of exile through the lens of one Huguenot family. Her story illuminates the messy, mixed-up reality in which individuals made complicated decisions, and the ambiguous and ambivalent experience of exile, from how it was lived to how it was remembered. This is history at its most human, its most dispassionate, and its most compelling. * Mark Greengrass, author of Christendom Destroyed *Combining the scope of a microhistory with the investigative tension of a thriller, Carolyn Lougee's book dramatically challenges accepted ideas about the impact of the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes on the French Protestant milieu. By reconstructing the destiny of the Champagnés, a Protestant noble family, Lougee reveals the plurality of choices made within the same household, demonstrating that those who chose abjuration were no less attached to their faith than those who decided to flee abroad. * André Burguière, École des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales *To flee or not to flee? Carolyn Chappell Lougee's deeply personal and learned quest to recover the fates of Huguenot noble families in the Saintonge is an exemplary study of the consequences of terrorizing persecution for those who were being defined as heretical. Lougee depicts an embarrassingly poignant moment in French history that henceforth must always be remembered. * Orest Ranum, The Johns Hopkins University *Table of ContentsPrincipal Personages Glossary Introduction Part One: The Champagné in Saintonge Chapter 1: A Family of the Charentes in Distaff Chapter 2: Faith of the Fathers and Will of the King Chapter 3: Marie in Jeopardy Chapter 4: Aunt Madelene's Offensive Chapter 5: Families Endure Part Two: Escaping from France Chapter 6: Preparing the Escape Chapter 7: Chancing Escape Part Three: Those Who Stayed Chapter 8: Thérèse's Guardian Chapter 9: Caring for Thérèse Chapter 10: Cousins Part Four: Resettling Abroad Chapter 11: Into the Refuge Chapter 12: Experiencing Exile Chapter 13: Marie at the Head of the Family Conclusion: History and Story Afterword: Retelling the Champagné Story Appendix: Family Trees Notes Bibliography Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe collected papers of the late Elizabeth Rawson, a specialist in the history, society and culture of the later Roman Republic and Augustan period. Topics covered include the workings of human politics and society, historical thinking at Rome, and literary and cultural criticism.Trade Review`Rawson's writing is dense, provocative, and highly interpretive, with all the rewards and risks such an enterprise entails. But enterprising she was, and the success of that enterprise is fully revealed in this fine collection, valuable indeed for all those interested in the development and characterization of the "Roman" mentality.' History`Above all, these articles make clear her commitment to the traditions of intellectual history ... and her ability to comprehend with great sensitivity what Romans of the Late Republic and Early Empire thought, and what were the distinctive qualities and limitations of their intellectual and cultural concerns.' History`Elizabeth Rawson ... had established herself as a leading historian of the Roman Republic. The publication of the thirty-one papers in the present volume is a valuable service to students of ancient Rome, who may through them see the intellectual journey of a gifted ancient historian ... a fine volume which will be of the first importance to all students of Roman social, political and intellectual history.' Mark Morford, University of Virginia, Classical Journal'Elizabeth Rawson had a talent for selecting topics difficult and fascinating - or perhaps it was her talent to turn the subjects she had selected into things fascinating to read ... stimulating and original' J. Linderski, University of North Carolina, Ploutarchos 9 (1992)'The collection contributes greatly to our understanding of an important historical period. It is a fitting tribute to the memory of an anima candida.' Paul Mackendrick, Madison, Wisconsin, Classical World'Finding, sorting out, and making sense of the multifarious evidence for the complex realities of history is what R. did supremely well, and with a modesty that was not at all ironical. Full of fascinating material, beautifully produced, and well-indexed to provide access to the riches within, this book is a worthy memorial to an exceptional scholar, and one who is sorely missed.' T.P. Wiseman, University of Exeter, The Classical Review, Vol. XLIV, No. 1, 1994'Both the printer and the editor, Fergus Millar, are to be praised for a nearly faultless product; a 'General Index' and 'Index of Persons' to all the pieces round off the volume. Reading these historical essays evokes envy for their consummate learning: at each step in the argument no problem is shirked and on almost every page a tiny riddle is solved or a new suggestion made. The cumulative effect of these pieces is astonishing... Perhaps the greatest testaments to a scholar's work are only the solid foundations on which it allows others to build but the spur and inspiration it provides for the work of later enquirers. R. will always be remembered as a scholar uniquely gifted in both these ways. Thomas H. Tarver, Journal of Roman StudiesTable of ContentsProdigy lists and the use of the "Annales Maximi"; L.Crassus and Cicero - the formation of a statesman; the literary sources for the pre-Marian army; Cicero the historian and Cicero the antiquarian; Scipio, Laelius, Furius and the ancestral religion; the eastern "Clientelae" of Clodius and the Claudii; the interpretation of Cicero's "De Legibus"; religion and politics in the late second century BC at Rome; Caesar's heritage - Hellenistic kings and their Roman equals; architecture and sculpture - the activities of the Cossutii; the Ciceronian aristocracy and its properties; "Homo Novus Arpinas ex M.Crassi familia"; more on the "Clientelae" of the patrician Claudii; the first Latin annalists; the identity problems of Q.Cornificius; Caesar, Etruria, and the "Disciplina Etrusca"; the introduction of logical organization in Roman prose literature; M.Aeficius Calvinus and his "grammaticus"; Caerellii, Juno Populona, and Aquinum; L.Cornelius Sisenna and the early first century BC; chariot-racing in the Roman Republic; history, historiography, and Cicero's "exposito consiliorum"; "Crassorum Funera"; the life and death of Asclepiades of Bithynia; Cicero and the Areopagus; theatrical life in Republican Rome and Italy; Cassius and Brutus - the memory of the Liberators; "Discrimina Ordinum" - the "Lex Julia Theatralis"; Sallust on the '80s; "Speciosa locis morataque recte"; the antiquarian tradition - spoils and representations of foreign armour.

Read more less

Book SynopsisExamining the problematic relation between Seneca's prose works and his career as a first-century Roman statesman, this work first reconstructs his career by using outside sources and his political works. It then studies Seneca's treatment of subjects of political significance.Trade Review`Griffin's book is an outstanding contribution to our knowledge of the intellectual climate and the political history of the principate of Nero, and is bound to become a standard work on the complex and elusive personality of Seneca.' Journal of Roman Studies`This is a painstaking effort at reconstruction which surpasses in detail and penetration any previous biographical study ... Her work is a substantial contribution to the study not only of Seneca but of the whole Julio-Claudian period and should be required reading well beyond the circle of Senecan scholars.' Classical Review'Miriam Griffin's book on Seneca has made a wecome transfer to paperback. This book provides useful material for those studying the history of the Principate in the first century AD. It is also useful for its exxploration of the philosophical background to matters that were important at this time. J. Hutchinson. JACT Review

Read more less

Book SynopsisOxford Scholarly Classics is a new series that makes available again great academic works from the archives of Oxford University Press. Reissued in uniform series design, the reissues will enable libraries, scholars, and students to gain fresh access to some of the finest scholarship of the last century.

Read more less

Book SynopsisA Historical Commentary on Arrian's History of Alexander Volume I. Books I-III

Read more less

Book SynopsisA comprehensive re-examination of all the literary and epigraphic evidence, old and new, relating to the nature of Athenian imperialism in the fifth century BC.

Read more less

Book SynopsisAn analysis of the interplay of tradition and innovation in the development of kinship from the prehistoric to the medieval period. Kinship was, and remains, a central element in all human societies. This is an historical account of the forms it took in Celtic societies.Trade Review'Charles-Edwards's erudition is formidable and constantly illuminating ... his vindication of the pioneering scholarly achievement of Eoin MacNeill is striking ... Charles-Edwards's work raises questions and offers insights that should command the attention of students of early medieval societies less well documented than Ireland and Wales.' Times Literary Supplement'The fruit of many years of labour, this is undoubtedly a substantial contribution to early medieval studies.' Colmán Etchingham, St Patrick's College, Maynooth, EHR Jun. 94'authoritative study' Matthew Stout, History Ireland, Winter 1994this erudite book is the fruit of painstaking study, over manyu years, of the relevant legal texts of the two countries ...it makes an important contribution to the study of the laws of the Irish and the Welsh, and it will be a standard work of reference for years to come on the many topics with which it deals * Tomás Ó Cathasaigh, Harvard University, Cambrian Medieval Celtic Studies, Number 33 Summer 1997 *Table of ContentsList of maps; List of genealogical tables; Note on terminology; Part I. Irish Kinship: The structure of Irish kinship; Irish ruling kindreds; Part II. Welsh Kinship: The shape of Welsh kinship; The Gwely and the Gafael; Part III. Claims to Land by Virtue of Kinship: Irish Tellach; Welsh Dadannudd; Part IV. Kin and Lord; The half-free in Ireland; Irish clientship; Kinship and lordship in Wales; Part V. Kinsman and Neighbour: Kinship and neighbourhood in Ireland; Kinship and neighbourhood in Wales; Conclusion and further reflections; Appendices; Bibliography; Glossary; Index.

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe great depression of the years between the World Wars is widely held to have led to the collapse of democracy in many countries. This study of Greece, which recovered quickly from the economic crisis, argues that there is no simple correlation between economic and political crisis.Trade Review'masterly, and very well-written ... Mazower's book provides the indispensable economic context of the slide towards authoritarianism in 1930s Greece, a development that was paralleled in the other countries of the Balkans.' Times Higher Education Supplement`closely researched study, ... it is an authoritative analysis of Greek politicians in their social and economic context and of the interplay of domestic political, economic and social forces. Nigel Clive, The Times Literary Supplement'a splendid study ... a well-written and thoroughly researched book, one valuable to the scholar and interesting and enlightening to the general reader. It should become an indispensable reading for all students of modern Greek history. Mazower has produced a good book.' John A. Koumoulides, Ball State University, History'Thanks to his knowledge of the language, Mazower makes good use of a wealth of information available in Greek.' Thanos Veremis, University of Athens, European History Quarterly'this pathbreaking study will do much to attract interest to a previously neglected area ... It is the first scholarly work on Modern Greek economic history to appear in English ... Meticulously researched ... and accompanied by a wealth of illuminating tables ... this volume will be of interest to more than economic historians, and the author has clearly made great efforets to make the book accessible to all readers ... This is a volume that provides what has long been the missing economic dimension in the history of inter-war Greece; as such, it will be essential for anyone looking at Greece's political history.' Erik Goldstein, University of Birmingham, MGS 11:2, October 1993The author has made extensive use of Greek sources and recent Greek research and he brings out the ebb and flow of Greek politics as well. * English Historical Review *Table of ContentsList of abbreviations; Introduction; Politics and social change; The wartime inheritance; Reconstruction and recovery; The export crisis; The financial crisis; Abandoning the Gold Standard; The new trade regime; Domestic recovery and the state; Conclusion; Tables; Appendix 1. Debt default of the periphery; Appendix 2. The impact of import restrictions; Bibliography; Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisThis book is the first in English in more than half a century to survey this history of a great Mediterranean federation whose homelands were Catalonia and Aragon. Based on recent research, it seeks to convey a sense of the energy, drama, and colour of a creative and expansionist people between the twelfth and the fifteenth centuries. T. N. Bisson lays due stress on individual achievement and personality, while at the same time providing a balanced survey of political and dynastic evolution, institutional foundations, economic and cultural matters, and the socio-economic weaknesses which led eventually to a crisis in the federated realms of the late Middle Ages.Trade Review`Professor Bisson has multiplied his claims upon our gratitude by presenting us with The Medieval Crown of Aragon ... a masterly synthesis of recent research which deserves a warm welcome.' English Historical Review`An excellent, succinct and readable history of the Medieval Crown of Aragon which takes on board all recent research, particularly of Catalan scholars.' British Bulletin of Publications on Latin America, The Caribbean, Portugal and Spain`will be welcome by all interested in the history of medieval Spain ... successful both as an introductory survey ans as an essay of synthesis' American Historical Review`perceptive and scholarly ... a most welcome addition to the rather scanty historical literature in English on medieval Spain' Journal of Medieval History`We need an introductory history of the Crown of Aragon and Professor Bisson is a good choice to write it for us.' History`excellent and useful survey ... work which, with a long and intelligently descriptive bibliography at the end, will serve as an introduction to its complex and difficult subject for many years to come.' David J. Wasserstein, Mediterranean Historical ReviewTable of ContentsList of illustrations; List of maps; Prologue; Before the union; The age of the early count-kings (1137-1213); James the Conqueror (1213-1276); Mediterranean expansion (1276-1336); Peter the Ceremonious and his sons (1336-1410); The Trastámaras (1412-1479); Prosperity and crisis in the later middle ages; Epilogue; Note on the translation of proper names; Glossary; Geneological tables; Bibliographical notes; Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisA comprehensive study of the closure of communication in modern British history, right up to 1998. The text seeks to understand why secrets have been kept, and how the systems of control have been constructed and challenged over the past 160 years.Trade ReviewThis is the best book ever written on the history of official secrecy in Britian ... it ranges much wider than the Whitehall machine and investigates secrecy in other areas of British public life. It is this aspect of David Vincent's work that provides a range of perspective that is so often missing from other accounts of secrecy. * Clive Ponting, THES 3/3/00 *Table of ContentsBibliography ; Index ; 1. The Problem of Secrecy ; 2. Honourable Secrecy 1832-1870 ; 3. The Road to Regulation, 1870-1911 ; 4. Public Knowledge, 1911-1945 ; 5. Citizenship and Secrecy, 1945-1972 ; 6. Secrecy and Reform, 1972-1989 ; 7. The British Way ; Afterword

Read more less

Book SynopsisThis classic study of a single community in early modern England has had a major influence on the interpretation of the social dynamics of the period. It opens with a chapter establishing this small Essex parish in the national context of economic and social change in the years between 1525 and 1700. Thereafter the chapters examine the economy of Terling; its demographic history; its social structure; the relationships of the villagers with the courts of the church and state; the growth of popular literacy; the impact of the reformation, and the rise in puritanism. The overall process of change is then characterized in a powerful interpretive chapter on the changing pattern of social relationships in the parish.This revised edition has a new chapter, ''Terling Revisited'' which addresses the debate occasioned by the book, notably over kinship relations in early modern England, and the impact of puritanism on local society. In both cases a new interpretive synthesis is attempted and the argument of the first edition is defended, elaborated, and advanced in the light of subsequent research.Trade ReviewFrom reviews of the hardback: `This book is one of the best of its kind. Wrightson and Levine have produced a powerful model to which all later studies will refer.' American Historical Review

Read more less

Book SynopsisJohn Taylor was a prolific and colourful popular writer who gives us a unique picture of England from James I to the civil war through the eyes of a London waterman. This is the first full study of the self-styled `King's Water-Poet' who carved out a pioneering role for himself as a `media celebrity' and became a national institution.Trade ReviewClearly written and tightly organised, it provides a model of sound argument based on an impressive range of reading...this short but thoughtful book makes a distinctive contribution to the social and cultural history of early modern England * Sixteenth Century Journal *Bernard Capp's informative new book analyzes the life and writings of one seventeenth-century "Amphibium," ... Taylor emerges from Capp's lucid, richly detailed study as a man who strove to create an identity for himself by negotiating the divided and distinguished worlds of early modern English society and culture. Literary scholars will be most interested by Capp's account of Taylor's struggle to gain respect as an author. * Marjorie Swann, University of Kansas, Albion, Winter '95 *

Read more less

Book SynopsisIn this volume an international team of scholars builds up a comprehensive analysis of the fiscal history of Europe over six centuries. It forms a fundamental starting-point for an understanding of the distinctiveness of the emerging European states, and highlights the issue of fiscal power as an essential prerequisite for the development of the modern state.Trade Reviewthe fifteen contributors have published much in their fields, and their collective scholarly authority lends value to this book. It deserves, indeed, the approbation of the European Union, and the Presses universitaires de France might proudly and promptly publish it in French * American Historical Review (Oct 2000) *By covering such an extended range of 'states' this volume presents a unique guide to national fiscal institutions and a basis for comparing their different character and evolution. * G. L. Harris, EHR *The overall organisation and breadth of this collection on Europes fiscal history are as impressive as the authors credentials ... this is a fine book. * A.Barrett, Choice, July/Aug 00, Vol.37, No.11/12. *Table of ContentsIntroduction ; 1. England in the Middle Ages ; 2. England 1485-1815 ; 3. France in the Middle Ages ; 4. France 1494-1815 ; 5. Castile in the Middle Ages ; 6. Castile 1516-1808 ; 7. The Holy Roman Empire in the Middle Ages ; 8. The Low Countries to 1569 ; 9. The United Provinces 1579-1806 ; 10. The Swiss Confederation ; 11. The Papacy and the Papal States ; 12. Venice ; 13. The Italian States after c.1600 ; 14. Poland-Lithuania before Partition ; 15. Russia 1200-1815 ; Index

Read more less