European history Books
De Gruyter The Courts of Philip II and Alexander the Great: Monarchy and Power in Ancient Macedonia
Book SynopsisRecent scholarship has recognized that Philip II and Alexander the Great adopted elements of their self-fashioning and court ceremonial from previous empires in the Ancient Near East, but it is generally assumed that the advent of the Macedonian court as a locus of politics and culture occurred only in the post-Alexander landscape of the Hellenistic Successors. This volume of ground-breaking essays by leading scholars on Ancient Macedonia goes beyond existing research questions to assess the profound impact of Philip and Alexander on court culture throughout the ages. The papers in this volume offer a thematic approach, focusing upon key institutional, cultural, social, ideological, and iconographical aspects of the reigns of Philip and Alexander. The authors treat the Macedonian court not only as a historical reality, but also as an object of fascination to contemporary Greeks that ultimately became a topos in later reflections on the lives and careers of Philip and Alexander. This collection of papers provides a paradigm-shifting recognition of the seminal roles of Philip and Alexander in the emergence of a new kind of Macedonian kingship and court culture that was spectacularly successful and transformative.
£18.50
Woodfield Publishing A Tankie's Travels
Book Synopsis
£17.59
Woodfield Publishing Nobody's Hero: An RAF Policeman's Experiences at Home and Abroad in World War 2
£17.59
C Hurst & Co Publishers Ltd Europe's Balkan Muslims: A New History
Book SynopsisThere are roughly eight million Muslims in south-east Europe, among them Albanians, Bosniaks, Turks and Roma -- descendants of converts or settlers in the Ottoman period. This new history of the social, political and religious transformations that this population experienced in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries -- a period marked by the collapse of the Ottoman, Austro-Hungarian and Russian Empires and by the creation of the modern Balkan states -- will shed new light on the European Muslim experience. Southeast Europe's Muslims have experienced a slow and complex crystallisation of their respective national identities, which accelerated after 1945 as a result of the authoritarian modernisation of communist regimes and, in the late twentieth century, ended in nationalist mobilisations that precipitated the independence of Bosnia-Herzegovina and Kosovo during the break-up of Milosevic's Yugoslavia. At a religious level, these populations have re--mained connected to the institutions established by the Ottoman Empire, as well as to various educational, intellectual and Sufi (mystic) networks. With the fall of communism, new transnational networks appeared, especially neo-Salafist and neo- Sufi ones, although Europe's Balkan Muslims have not escaped the wider processes of secularisation.Trade Review‘This is an excellent contribution to the study of both Islam and Muslims in post-communist lands. … Clayer and Bougarel present their findings in an entirely accessible manner and the volume will appeal to a broad audience with diverse interests.’ -- Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations'Written by two of the most distinguished French scholars of Southeastern Europe and Islam, and appearing here in an outstanding translation from French, this is the most comprehensive existing survey of the Balkan Muslims in the last two centuries. Its interpretative strength lies in the rare combination between sophisticated historiographical analysis and clarity of exposition.' -- Maria Todorova, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign'This welcome translation of this collaborative work ... helps introduce readers to an important clarification of European Islam that has evolved over centuries ... [An] excellent study...' -- Dr. Isa Blumi, Senior Lecturer and Associate Professor of Turkish Studies, Stockholm University, CHOICE
£40.50
C Hurst & Co Publishers Ltd Sarajevo: Biography of a City
Book SynopsisRobert. J. Donia explores the city's history from its founding in the fifteenth century to the present. In its Ottoman heyday Sarajevo was synonymous with learning, its skyline punctuated by the minarets and domes of mosques and madrasas. Under Tito it was a haven of multiculturalism where Yugoslavs lived and worked together, irrespective of their ethnic or religious affiliations. The Siege of Sarajevo (1992-5) and its aftermath receive particular attention in Donia's compelling account, the most detailed to appear in English to date.Trade Review'Donia's Sarajevo: A Biography is an exceptionally significant work, the result of years of research, archival exploration and scholarly interest in Sarajevo and its history. A work of comprehensive scholarship, it is also profoundly personal, and the tale of the city's history unwinds like a novel. As a biography of the city in the true sense of the word, it is an extraordinary achievement. The author's innovative approach treats Sarajevo from a wholly different perspective, not only as the setting for historical events but as a primary hero in a biography.' * The Association of Publishers and Booksellers of Bosnia-Herzegovina *'Dr. Robert Donia has written the best book in any language on the recent history of Sarajevo-one of the most complex, fascinating, and misunderstood cities in the world. Dr. Donia has known Sarajevo intimately since the 1970s, and understands the richness, and the sometimes tragic complexity of its multi-cultural heritage. "Sarajevo: A Biography" is informed by a profound historical understanding and a broad human sympathy. It is mercifully free from ethno-religious bias or political partisanship, although, precisely for that reason, it will no doubt be attacked by bigots and and chauvinists of several persuasions.' * Prof. William Hunt, Department of History, St. Lawrence University, Canton, New York *'This is not just a biography, but a labor of love that is evident throughout this engaging and erudite account. Nobody knows more than Donia about Sarajevo's storied past, its rich legacy of multiethnic coexistence, and the challenges that have been imposed upon it by the alien forces of ethnic nationalism.' * Charles Ingrao, Professor of History, Purdue University *
£19.99
Woodfield Publishing Wot! No Engines?: Military Gliders, RAF Pilots and Operation Varsity, 1945
£18.00
CONNELL PUBLISHING LTD The Connell Guide To The French Revolution
Book Synopsis
£8.54
Pen & Sword Books Ltd The Isles of Scilly in the Great War
Book SynopsisThe first book to detail the forgotten work of the Royal Navy Auxiliary Patrol Station on the Isles of Scilly.
£12.34
Simon & Schuster The Richest Man Who Ever Lived
Book SynopsisIn the days when Columbus sailed the ocean and Da Vinci painted the Mona Lisa, a German banker named Jacob Fugger became the richest man in history. Fugger lived in Germany at the turn of the sixteenth century, the grandson of a peasant. By the time he died, his fortune amounted to nearly two percent of European GDP. In an era when kings had unlimited power, Fugger dared to stare down heads of state and ask them to pay back their loans, with interest. It was this coolness and self-assurance, along with his inexhaustible ambition, that made him not only the richest man ever, but a force of history as well. Before Fugger came along it was illegal under church law to charge interest on loans, but he got the Pope to change that. He also helped trigger the Reformation and likely funded Magellan’s circumnavigation of the globe. His creation of a news service gave him an information edge over his rivals and customers and earned Fugger a footnote in the historyTrade Review“Fugger was the first modern plutocrat. Like his contemporaries Machiavelli and Cesare Borgia, he knew the world as it was, not how he wanted it to be. This is the absorbing story of how, by being indispensable to customers and ruthless with enemies, Fugger wrote the playbook for everyone who keeps score with money. A must for anyone interested in history or wealth creation.” -- Bryan Burrough, author of Days of Rage and co-author of Barbarians at the Gate"Greg Steinmetz has unearthed the improbable yet true story of the world’s first modern capitalist. Born in fifteenth-century Germany, Jakob Fugger overcame a common birth to build a fortune in banking, textiles, and mining that, relative to the size of the economy of that era, may be the greatest fortune ever assembled. Schooled in Renaissance Venice, he became a banker to successive Hapsburg emperors and kings in the dynamic decades when duchies and principalities were clawing to independence from the grasping clutches of the Holy Roman Empire. Steinmetz not only depicts the rise of novel industrial trends from metallurgy to mercantilism, he shows us the nation-state in its early, tentative incubation. At the story’s center is Fugger, a wily lender and capitalist who courted risk, defied potential bankruptcy, and made kings his virtual dependents. He emerges from this solidly researched and briskly narrated biography as surprisingly recognizable—a moneymaker from a distant time that, one suspects, would be thoroughly at home with the Midases of today." -- Roger Lowenstein, author of When Genius Failed and Buffett: The Making of an American Capitalist“Jacob Fugger was the Rockefeller of the Renaissance. He was a capitalist genius who, in Greg Steinmetz, has finally found the English-language biographer he deserves. Steinmetz’s fast-moving tale—of money-making, religious tumult, political chicanery and violent clashes between the disciples of capitalism and communism—is one for all time, but especially for our time.” -- James Grant, author of The Forgotten Depression: 1921, the Crash That Cured Itself"One of the most influential financiers who ever lived, Jacob Fugger has long been shrouded in mystery. If you want to understand this visionary (he backed Magellan's circumnavigation of the globe), controversial (he vigorously challenged Martin Luther), and daring money man, read Greg Steinmetz's captivating, clear-eyed account. You'll be richer for it." -- Laurence Bergreen, author of Columbus: The Four Voyages and Over the Edge of the World: Magellan's Terrifying Circumnavigation of the Globe"Greg Steinmetz has rescued from the footnotes of history the Renaissance equivalent of a modern day Zelig. Master money man Jacob Fugger pops up at virtually every critical moment of his era. Kings, emperors and popes all knew him. Now, thanks to this remarkably researched and fascinating book, we do, too." -- Steve Stecklow, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist"Enjoyable . . . readable and fast-paced." * The Wall Street Journal *"The tale of Fugger's aspiration, ruthlessness and greed is riveting." * The Economist *"Provides a fascinating and useful cautionary tale of the dangers of unbridled capitalism, particularly in economies dominated by autocratic rulers." * The New York Times *"A colorful introduction to one of the most influential businessmen in history." * The New York Times Book Review *"Who says the biography of a German Renaissance banker has to be as dense and as dull as the Fed’s latest annual report? Certainly not journalist and Wall Street securities analyst Greg Steinmetz. In his first full-length history, a biography of a Renaissance industrialist and financier named Jacob Fugger, Steinmetz is witty, highly knowledgeable and always entertaining. . . . [A] brilliantly written story. . . . pure reading pleasure." * The Buffalo News *"Makes a persuasive case that Fugger was 'the most influential businessman of all time.' " * The New York Post *“[Steinmetz] writes about Fugger in thoroughly modern terms . . . a swift and compelling read.” * BookPage *"Steinmetz makes a convincing case for the value of studying enigmatic banker Jacob Fugger. . . . A straightforward, engaging look at this 'German Rockefeller.'" * Kirkus Reviews *"Fascinating." -- Andrew Ross Sorkin * The New York Times *"Steinmetz lays out the fascinating story of a man who shaped modern business practices and the borders of Europe." * The New Yorker *
£12.34
Yale University Press Spartas Second Attic War
Book SynopsisTrade Review“Throughout, discussions of treaty negotiations in particular are excellent. The reader is left with a clear sense of the stakes, the skulduggery and machinations, and the full implications of the final terms reached. Rahe’s prose is engaging and dramatic.”—Thomas O. Rover, International Journal of Military History and Historiography“Written in a rich, rewarding style…Its coverage of ancient sources and modern literature in the notes is impressively exhaustive and it includes numerous and very good maps. Related to this, topography is Rahe’s strong point – several passages have benefitted from his detailed personal knowledge of the landscape.”—Pavel Nývlt, Eirene, Studia Graeca et Latina“The general reader will find the narrative stimulating, while, even if scholars disagree with some of R.’s conclusions, they will find them provocative, intriguing and cogently argued.”—David Stuttard, Classics for All“[Enriches] the existing literature by providing a fresh and convincing argument about the importance of domestic politics in international conflict”—Konstantinos Xypolytos, Strife JournalWinner of the Themistocles Prize awarded by the University of Piraeus“Paul Rahe stands out as one of the world’s leading scholars on the Peloponnesian War. His latest volume on Sparta’s protracted struggle with Athens, Sparta’s Second Attic War, provides insight into enduring problems of politics and strategy in wartime, into why and how peoples fight, both in the ancient world and in our own troubled times.”—John H. Maurer, Naval War College“The West’s victory in the Cold War may not have been the equal of the early 5th century Greek victory over the Persians. But, as Paul Rahe’s Sparta’s Second Attic War explains in elegantly crafted language, the notion of resolving global-sized confrontations is a modern conceit. Based on an understanding that equals that of any contemporary strategic thinker, Rahe examines the upheavals in the Hellenic world that followed Persia’s defeat, the roots of dissension in the geography of Sparta and Athens, and the influence of domestic policy on the contestants’ diplomatic and military maneuvers.”—Seth Cropsey, former deputy Undersecretary of the Navy“Rahe’s far-reaching and audacious reconstruction of ancient Greek history proceeds apace. This is more than military history, more than diplomatic history. It exhibits not only his magisterial command of a vast, complicated body of facts, but his comprehensive understanding of the larger context of strategic thinking then and now.”—Ralph Lerner, The University of Chicago
£30.88
British Museum Press The Lewis Chessmen
Book SynopsisMade from walrus ivory some time between AD 1150 and 1200, the Lewis Chessmen are iconic artefacts from the early medieval period. This concise book provides a guide to the history of these chess pieces including the story of their discovery in 1831, followed by skulduggery, deception and controversy as they were sold off to various parties including the British Museum, where most of them are found today. Issues of the raw materials used, the skill of the craftsmen, their place of origin, stylistic features are placed within the context of the game of chess in medieval Europe.
£6.00
Verlag Herder Claus Schenk Graf Von Stauffenberg: Biografie
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£16.17
Focus Publishing/R Pullins & Co Daily Life in Ancient Rome: A Sourcebook
Book Synopsis
£24.29
Princeton University Press A Thirst for Empire
Book SynopsisTrade Review"Winner of a 2018 Gourmand World Cookbook Award, U.S. National Winner in “Tea”""Winner of the 2018 PCCBS Book Prize, Pacific Coast Conference on British Studies""Co-Winner of the 2018 ASFS Book Award, Association for the Study of Food and Society""Winner of the 2018 Jerry Bentley Prize in World History, American Historical Association"
£20.90
John Wiley & Sons Hitlers Ostkrieg and the Indian Wars Comparing
Book SynopsisAs he prepared to wage his war of annihilation on the Eastern Front, Adolf Hitler repeatedly drew parallels between the Nazi quest for Lebensraum in Eastern Europe and the US's westward expansion under the banner of Manifest Destiny. Edward Westermann examines the validity, and value, of this claim in this volume.Trade ReviewThis thoughtful, provocative book compares the Nazi occupation of Eastern Europe with the United States's conquest of the American West. Its insights and conclusions are sure to stimulate new debates among a broad array of scholars."" - Robert Wooster, author of The American Military Frontiers: The United States Army in the West, 1783 - 1900""…this sensitive and incisive book…has set a high standard for future work on mass violence and genocide."" - American Historical Review
£17.06
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC Syracuse City of Legends A Glory of Sicily
Book SynopsisThis vivid and engaging book weaves together the history, architecture and archaeology of Syracuse and is an essential companion for anyone visiting the city. Dubbed 'the greatest Greek city and the most beautiful of them all' by Cicero, Syracuse also boasts the richest history of anywhere in Sicily. This is the first modern historical guide to the city, exploring Syracuse's place within the island and the wider Mediterranean and revealing why it continues to captivate visitors today, more than two and a half millennia after its foundation. Over its long and colourful life, Syracuse has been home to many creative figures, including Archimedes, the greatest mathematician of the ancient world, as well as host to Plato, Scipio Africanus, conqueror of Hannibal, and Caravaggio, who have all contributed to the rich history and atmosphere of this beguiling and distinctive Sicilian city. Generously illustrated, Syracuse, City of Legends offers detailed descriptions of the principal monumenTrade ReviewFor newcomers exploring Sicily for the first time, as well as for returning visitors, Jeremy Dummett’s Syracuse, City of Legends is a welcome travelling companion whose enthusiasm is catching. Dummett offers a rich trove of information about its deep past, which he helpfully links to the places that can be visited today, including the more intimate places off the beaten path. -- Judith Harris, author of Pompeii AwakenedAt last Syracuse is receiving the attention it deserves. Congratulations to Jeremy Dummett for his celebration of this Sicilian gem. Don’t leave for Sicily without this guide. -- Jordan Lancaster, author of In the Shadow of Vesuvius: A Cultural History of NaplesTable of ContentsList of Illustrations Preface Acknowledgements Prologue Part 1. The Story of Syracuse: From Greek City State to Modern Times 1. Foundation and the Rule of Gelon and Hiero I 2. The Athenian Expedition to Sicily 3. Dionysius I: Tyrant and Warlord 4. Five More Tyrants 5. Hiero II and the Roman Siege 6. Cicero and the Rise of Rome 7. Santa Lucia and the Early Christians 8. Byzantium and the Arab Siege 9. Outline to 1945 10. Modern Syracuse Part 2. The Principal Monuments: A Commentary 11. The Greek Era 12. The Roman Era 13. The Early Christian Era 14. Baroque Syracuse 15. Other Important Monuments Notes Further Reading Bibliography Chronological Table Glossary Index
£15.29
Stanford University Press Homes Away from Home: Jewish Belonging in
Book SynopsisHow did Jews go from lives organized by synagogues, shul, and mikvehs to lives that—if explicitly Jewish at all—were conducted in Hillel houses, JCCs, Katz's, and even Chabad? In pre-emancipation Europe, most Jews followed Jewish law most of the time, but by the turn of the twentieth century, a new secular Jewish identity had begun to take shape. Homes Away From Home tells the story of Ashkenazi Jews as they made their way in European society in the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries, focusing on the Jewish communities of Paris, Berlin, and St. Petersburg. At a time of growing political enfranchisement for Jews within European nations, membership in the official Jewish community became increasingly optional, and Jews in turn created spaces and programs to meet new social needs. The contexts of Jewish life expanded beyond the confines of "traditional" Jewish spaces into sites of consumption and leisure, sometimes to the consternation of Jewish authorities. Sarah Wobick-Segev argues that the social practices that developed between 1890 and the 1930s—such as celebrating holydays at hotels and restaurants, or sending children to summer camp—fundamentally reshaped Jewish community, redefining and extending the boundaries of where Jewishness happened. Trade Review"Drawing on a stunning array of sources, Sarah Wobick-Segev transports readers through the spaces and places of Jewish life in three European cities, showing the centrality of new sites of leisure and consumption to modern Jewish identities and sensibilities. A fresh and original contribution to several fields, Homes Away from Home challenges the once intractable divide between Eastern and Western European experiences, showing how Jews and Jewish communities responded to the opportunities and challenges of modernity." -- Paul Lerner * University of Southern California *"Sarah Wobick-Segev's brilliant combination of spatial history with how Jews felt about these spaces offers readers an entirely new lens through which to understand evolving Jewish identities in Western, Central, and Eastern Europe." -- Marion Kaplan * New York University *"Wobick-Segev explores the ways in which modern Jews slowly became members of European society while maintaining a Jewish identity. She focuses on 19th- and 20th-century Jews in France, Germany, and Russia, and her study is a welcome addition to the immense literature on Jewish assimilation. Working through both primary and secondary sources in German, French, and Yiddish, Wobick-Segev examines ways that Jewish communities met the twin challenges of the modern world: greater acceptance by society was accompanied—seemingly paradoxically—by increased hostility. She covers a lot of ground cogently and concisely. Recommended." -- G.R. Sharfman * CHOICE *"[A] pleasure to read. Engaging and well-written, Homes Away from Home draws from a wide array of archival source materials in different languages, shedding light on urban Jews forging modern identities and sensibilities. It is a welcome addition to the fields of Jewish Studies, urban and spatial history." -- Saskia Coenen Snyder * H-France *Table of ContentsContents and AbstractsIntroduction chapter abstractPointing to the larger claims of the book, the introduction argues that the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries were a key moment in the creation of the Jewish individual—a moment when forms and structures of religious, familial, and communal authority were subsumed under the needs and concerns of the individual. As a result, personal desire increasingly defined the limits and scope of Jewishness, resulting in the creation of voluntary Jewish communities. Critically, the emergence and evolution of the Jewish individual occurred roughly at the same time as another pivotal social and cultural development: Leisure sites, including cafés, restaurants, hotel halls, and sports clubs, were gaining increased popularity in European society as available free time increased. The Introduction explores the relevant historiographic and theoretical debates connected to the spatial turn and highlights how they would become important for the Jewish communities of Berlin, Paris, and St. Petersburg. 1A Room of Their Own: Friendship, Fellowship, and Fraternity chapter abstractThe first chapter explores how Jews integrated into European society while at the same time used leisure and consumer places to maintain senses of group cohesion and collective identity. In aiming to preserve but also in effect to recreate a sense of collectivity, an increasing number of Jewish individuals turned to new social spaces to make and nurture friendships and solidify networks and solidarity. The chapter is thus about boundaries: the boundaries between Jews and non-Jews and the boundaries between different Jewish groups as they were expressed in social spaces. In particular, the chapter explores how writers, intellectuals, artists, immigrants, and the working classes used cafés to create friendship and fraternity, and how they used hotels and restaurants for new forms of conviviality and community building. 2A Place for Love: Autonomy, Choice, and Partnership chapter abstractThe second chapter examines the transition from arranged to companionate marriages among Ashkenazic Jews in the three cities and, in particular, as a reaction to the expanding market of leisure spaces in the process. The formation of the contemporary Jewish family underwent a dramatic shift as the notions of individual autonomy came to supersede the predominant influence of the extended family. In the process, the changing needs and expectations of the Jewish family imposed new expectations on the community as a whole regarding how and where the Jewish family was to be formed. 3Room to Grow: Children, Youth, and Informal Education chapter abstractChapter 3 examines the growing anxiety over the future of Judaism and Jewishness as it was expressed toward children and youth. Vacation camps and youth movements were seen as ideal venues for formal and informal education. Their creators and organizers hoped that such spaces would create bonds between Jewish children and instill in them a sense of Jewish belonging. Parents, too, had a role to play in this story. Just as they had come to use leisure and social spaces to solidify belonging with other Jews and to find a spouse, they hoped that children and youth would develop a sense of Jewish self-identification through social and leisure practices. Together, parents and leaders wanted children to develop a sense of Jewish belonging and for this reason encouraged them to participate in Jewish organizations and play in Jewish environments. 4A Space for Judaism: Rites of Passage and Old-New Jewish Holy Days chapter abstractChapter 4 explores how the largely Ashkenazic Jewish community began to alter the ways in which it celebrated holy days, weddings, and bar mitzvahs. The chapter examines the ways in which Jewish celebration patterns were changed as they were moved out of traditional Jewish spaces and into consumer and leisure spaces. Through an examination of these religious practices, the chapter reveals debates between religious authorities and lay members of the community. Religious leaders sought both to infuse rituals with new meaning and create new practices that would strengthen individuals' connection to the synagogue and to Judaism. The final part of the chapter explores how different Jewish groups began to change the celebration of Jewish holidays by taking a look at the popularization of holiday balls as a new means to celebrate Jewish holidays. 5Rebuilding After the Shoah: The Challenges of Remembering and Reconstruction chapter abstractChapter 5 demonstrates that the patterns developed before World War II were vital to the reconstruction of Jewish communities after the Shoah, especially in Paris and Berlin. By this time, the Jewish public had come to expect a wider social and cultural program that would cater to different guises of Jewish belonging beyond strict religious definitions. Individuals wanted Jewish sociability based not only on the synagogue but also on youth groups and children's summer camps and on social groups that met at local cafés or restaurants. At the same time, this chapter assesses the vast and critical changes wrought by the Holocaust and explores its repercussions in the postwar communities. Beyond pointing to these important historical continuities, however, this final chapter explores why these patterns were not replicated in Leningrad, despite periodic attempts to recreate public Jewish sociability in the former capital along similar models. Epilogue chapter abstractThe epilogue returns to the theme of community building and the contexts under which Jewish life can and has flourished. It argues strongly against narratives in which persecution is seen as the cement that binds Jewish communities together over time. Instead, the Epilogue asserts that Jewish belonging thrives in places of choice and that Jews find more reasons and ways to remain connected to their culture and to each other in cities and countries with multiple viable options. It also asks an open-ended question regarding the future of Jewish belonging in a time of continued individualistic belonging. Taking an optimistic approach, the Epilogue concludes with a call for increased and pluralistic contexts for the perpetuation of Jewish belonging and self-identification.
£56.95
Hackett Publishing Co, Inc Theban Plays
Book SynopsisThis volume offers the fruits of Peter Meineck and Paul Woodruff''s dynamic collaboration on the plays of Sophocles'' Theban cycle, presenting the translators'' Oedipus Tyrannus (2000) along with Woodruff''s Antigone (2001) and a muscular new Oedipus at Colonus by Meineck. Grippingly readable, all three translations combine fidelity to the Greek with concision, clarity, and powerful, hard-edged speech. Each play features foot-of-the-page notes, stage directions, and line numbers to the Greek. Woodruff''s Introduction discusses the playwright, Athenian theatre and performance, the composition of the plays, and the plots and characters of each; it also offers thoughtful reflections on major critical interpretations of these plays.
£14.24
Johns Hopkins University Press Elephant Trails
Book SynopsisWhy have elephantsand our preconceptions about thembeen central to so much of human thought?From prehistoric cave drawings in Europe and ancient rock art in Africa and India to burning pyres of confiscated tusks, our thoughts about elephants tell a story of human history. In Elephant Trails, Nigel Rothfels argues that, over millennia, we have made elephants into both monsters and miracles as ways to understand them but also as ways to understand ourselves.Drawing on a broad range of sources, including municipal documents, zoo records, museum collections, and encounters with people who have lived with elephants, Rothfels seeks out the origins of our contemporary ideas about an animal that has been central to so much of human thought. He explains how notions that have been associated with elephants for centuriesthat they are exceptionally wise, deeply emotional, and have a special understanding of death; that they never forget, are beloved of the gods, and Trade Review[Rothfels] captures the ache and cruelty of colonization and enslavement; it is, at times, a gruesome read but a sobering one. This book will appeal to those fascinated by the mythology and legacy of elephants, as well as animal lovers who fight for the liberation of all living creatures.—Jen Cox, Scientific AmericanTable of ContentsAcknowledgmentsIntroduction. Blind Men's ElephantsChapter 1. First among MonstersChapter 2. Afraid of Mice Chapter 3. A Serpent for a HandChapter 4: The Most Friendly CreatureChapter 5: A Descendant of MastodonsChapter 6: The Last of Its KindChapter 7: Trails of HistoryNotesFor Further ReadingIndex
£31.50
Little, Brown Book Group The Kings Bed
Book SynopsisTo refer to the private life of Charles II is to abuse the adjective. His personal life was anything but private. His amorous liaisons were largely conducted in royal palaces surrounded by friends, courtiers and literally hundreds of servants and soldiers. Gossip radiated throughout the kingdom. Charles spent most of his wealth and his intellect on gaining and keeping the company of women, from the lowest sections of society such as the actress Nell Gwyn to the aristocratic Louise de Kérouaille. Some of Charles'' women played their part in the affairs of state, colouring the way the nation was run. Don Jordan and Michael Walsh take us inside Charles'' palace, where we will meet court favourites, amusing confidants, advisors jockeying for political power, mistresses past and present as well as key figures in his inner circle such as his ''pimpmasters'' and his personal pox doctor.The astonishing private life of Charles II reveals much about the man he was and Trade ReviewEntertaining history of the antics of the libidinous King Charles II and his licentious court ... tells you everything you need to know about 17th-Century sex -- Sebastian Shakespeare Tatler The King's Bed violates all the po-faced standards of serious scholarship, but that's precisely what makes it so enjoyable -- Gerard DeGroot The Times Don Jordan and Michael Walsh share an unerring nose for a good subject ... These romps through Charles's bed-chamber are wonderfully lively ... Narrating a libertine's life with a gusto tempered by sound common sense, they have produced a book that is as pleasantly addictive as might be suggested by its racy title -- Miranda Seymour Sunday Times While showing that 'never again would an English royal court reverberate with such fun and vigour, so much youthful swagger and sexuality', the book makes clear that Charles's sex addiction had its darker side Mail on Sunday In a tone of breezy bravado in keeping with their concept of their subject's character, Don Jordan and Michael Walsh have written a swashbuckling life of Charles II ... the stuff of a TV mini-series ... the authors have a keen eye for memorable anecdotes which consistently hold the reader's attention Spectator This hugely entertaining book gives the low-down on the many mistresses who shared [Charles II's] bed Mail on Sunday
£8.99
St Martin's Press To Hell and Back
Book SynopsisThis is the memoir of Audie Murphy, who was the most decorated American soldier during World War II. Desperate to see action but rejected by both marines and paratroopers because he was too short, Murphy eventualy found a home with the infantry.
£13.81
Random House USA Inc The Pope and Mussolini
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£16.00
Cornell University Press Becoming a Woman in the Age of Letters
Book SynopsisOver the course of the eighteenth century, increasing numbers of French women, from the wives and daughters of artisans and merchants to countesses and queens, became writers-not authors, and not mere signers of names, but writers of letters. Taking...Trade Review"From paintings and novels through paper, ink, and exquisite desks to the words of women who poured their hearts out to each other, Dena Goodman takes us on a dazzling tour of the world of eighteenth-century female letter-writers. Goodman makes a convincing case that these French women did not just record their thoughts on paper; they invented their very selves through the rituals and pleasures of correspondence." -- Sarah Maza, Jane Long Professor of Arts and Sciences, Northwestern University"Reading Dena Goodman's creative exploration of French culture and gender history is always a treat. In Becoming a Woman in the Age of Letters, Goodman turns her attention to the iconic Enlightenment practice of letter writing and plunges deep into the intimate material details of how four particular women in eighteenth-century France experienced the culture of reading and writing letters. Interpreting a broad variety of cultural artifacts from portraits of female letter writers to letter-writing manuals, inkwells, stationery, and writing desks, Goodman reveals a detailed picture of how female letter writers participated in both the burgeoning material and consumer culture of eighteenth-century France and the domestic sphere of family and friendship. Engaging an important set of questions in both cultural studies and feminist historiography about subjectivity, empowerment, and writing, Goodman argues that women experienced writing as an activity that both provided an autonomous space for self-reflection and control and a connected space in which they enacted identities as mothers, daughters, and female friends." -- Jennifer Jones, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey"This wonderful book is essential reading for anyone interested in women and the Enlightenment. Dena Goodman brings together diverse areas of inquiry to focus on the issue of letter writing and its role in the formation of a woman's sense of self in eighteenth-century France. Becoming a Woman in the Age of Letters, which is based on truly impressive original research, is written in an elegant, accessible style." -- Mary Sheriff, W. R. Kenan, Jr., Distinguished Professor of Art History, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill"We might expect a book on girls and young women writing letters to tell us about their education and the instruction given by their mothers, but Dena Goodman takes us to many more surprising places too: to the shops where inkstands, fine Dutch paper, and fashionable writing desks were sold, to female painters choosing how to depict women writing letters, and ultimately to the hard-won sense of self gained in the act of pressing quill to paper. Goodman recaptures a world we have forgotten and recovers aspects of it we never knew." -- Lynn Hunt, Eugen Weber Professor of Modern European History, UCLA, author of Inventing Human Rights
£29.45
Hackett Publishing Co, Inc Florence in the Age of the Medici and Savonarola,
Book SynopsisSet within the context of the struggles in the Florentine Republic over the distribution of political power and the search for stability, Florence in the Age of the Medici and Savonarola, 1464–1498: A Short History with Documents illuminates a key moment of fifteenth-century Florentine history with a focus on the monumental personalities and actions of Lorenzo de’Medici and Fra Girolamo Savonarola.Trade Review"A brief narrative overview of the mainly political history of Florence to the end of the fifteenth century that also offers an attractive collection of illustrative documents, aimed to engage student interest and discussion." —Melissa Bullard, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill"Bartlett cuts through the political complexities of fifteenth-century Florence to offer students an engaging and accessible narrative supplemented by a wide range of relevant primary documents. This story of a key turning point in Florentine history continues to have much relevance in our own society.” —Brian J. Maxson, East Tennessee State University
£42.50
Oneworld Publications Posh Boys: How English Public Schools Ruin
Book Synopsis‘The latest in the series of powerful books on the divisions in modern Britain, and will take its place on many bookshelves beside Reni Eddo-Lodge’s Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race and Owen Jones’s Chavs.’ –Andrew Marr, Sunday Times ‘In his fascinating, enraging polemic, Verkaik touches on one of the strangest aspects of the elite schools and their product’s domination of public life for two and a half centuries: the acquiescence of everyone else.’ –Observer In Britain today, the government, judiciary and military are all led by an elite who attended private school. Under their watch, our society has become increasingly divided and the gap between rich and poor is now greater than ever before. Is this the country we want to live in? If we care about inequality, we have to talk about public schools. Robert Verkaik issues a searing indictment of the system originally intended to educate the most underprivileged Britons, and outlines how, through meaningful reform, we can finally make society fairer for all.Trade Review'Verkaik comprehensively demolishes [public school] claims.' * Peter Wilby, New Statesman *‘The latest in the series of powerful books on the divisions in modern Britain, and will take its place on many bookshelves beside Reni Eddo-Lodge’s Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race and Owen Jones's Chavs.’ * Andrew Marr, Sunday Times *‘Does a fine job of reminding us how powerful a hold the elite schools have over public life.’ * The Times *'An illuminating and hugely enjoyable read, packed full of eye-opening facts... At a time when the gap between rich and poor is widening, we need to talk seriously about the role of public schools in our society. Posh Boys is a welcome catalyst for that debate.' * Sunday Herald *'In his fascinating, enraging polemic, Verkaik touches on one of the strangest aspects of the elite schools and their product’s domination of public life for two and a half centuries: the acquiescence of everyone else.' * Observer *'A trenchant j’accuse against the old-boy chumocracy... Posh Boys is, for a book about public schools, decidedly comprehensive.' * Guardian *‘You cannot understand Britain without understanding this – the story of how we became a nation obsessed with elite education that continues to stack the odds against fairness and progress, and the cultural forces it has unleashed upon us all. Robert Verkaik tells it with clarity, and makes a powerful call for change.’ -- Afua Hirsch, author of Brit(ish)‘Inspired, committed, careful and kind.’ -- Danny Dorling, author of Inequality and the 1%
£12.74
MP-KAN Uni Press of Kansas From Defeat to Victory The Eastern Front Summer
Book Synopsis
£44.06
Princeton University Press The Rise and Fall of Classical Greece
Book SynopsisTrade ReviewWinner of the 2016 Douglass C. North Research Award, Society for Institutional and Organizational Economics (SIOE) Shortlisted for the 2016 Ralph Waldo Emerson Award, Phi Beta Kappa Society One of Flavorwire's 10 Must-Read Academic Books for 2015 One of HistoryBuff.com's 10 Can't-Miss History Books of 2015 "Superb."--Armand Marie Leroi, New York Times "In the late fourth century B.C., Aristotle and his students collected the constitutions of more than 150 [...] city-states. The scholar who would today follow in Aristotle's footsteps has to deal with a far more formidable mass of data. Few of today's scholars control more of this data, or write about it more insightfully, than Josiah Ober. [T]hose willing to put in the effort will learn much from the deep meditations of an expert historian and political philosopher."--James Romm, Wall Street Journal "[T]his could turn out to be Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire for classical Greece."--Jonathan Sturgeon, Flavorwire "Ober marshals a wealth of new data to make the case for a much different view of Greek history ... there was something distinct about the Greek world, he argues. What set the Greeks apart, he says, was their choice of a particular kind of order--and the cultural attitudes that went with it. Citizen self-government. Equality of standing among persons. Fair and open institutions. These ideas, unusual in history, were well developed in the Greek world, Ober notes. If we care about them, he says, we should pay attention."--Marc Parry, Chronicle of Higher Education "[Ober's] central argument is that the achievements of Greek civilization were rooted in its prosperity, and that was the result of a rough economic and political equality... [He] ranges over a half millennium of Greek history, from the 8th to the 3rd centuries BCE, seeking the roots of Greek "efflorescence"--its material and cultural flourishing... [The Rise and Fall of Classical Greece] is rife with parallels to the present."--Brian Bethune, Macleans "An attractive, informative, and timely picture of Greece from Homer to Aristotle... It's an absorbing story full of excitement, drama and hope."--Evaggelos Valiantos, Huffington Post "A sharp and insightful economic history."--Daisy Dunn, History Today [The Rise and Fall of Classical Greece] is by far [Ober's] most ambitious work to date, a magisterial tour of the successes and failures of various city-states throughout the Greek world from the archaic through the Hellenistic periods... The thrust of the book is not just provocative but persuasive."--Adriaan Lanni, The New Rambler "This book is a groundbreaking examination of what Ober (political science, Stanford) calls the 'efflorescence' of ancient Greece, which, divided into some 1,100 city-states as it was, developed a unified, dominant culture."--Choice "His narrative history of Greek efflorescence is engaging and full of insights."--Richard Seaford, Literary Review "A thought-provoking book with great depth. As the great political theorists of the modern era have always known, the ancient Greek experience provides immense empirical material to mine for insights into political science: how we design rules of politics to secure human freedom and well-being. We ignore the experience of classical civilization to our own disadvantage."--Jason Sorens, The American Conservative "This challenging book is like no other history of the ancient world... [Ober] produces some engaging and striking analyses of familiar historical episodes."--American Historical Review "Intriguing... [Y]ou can think of this book as how an economist might think about ancient Greece."--Tyler Cowen, Marginal Revolution "[Ober's] work will be of interest to anyone who is serious about the history of political economy, or who wants to know more about the relationship between democracy, economic growth, and human flourishing, whether in the ancient or modern world... The Rise and Fall of Classical Greece ... will richly reward a serious lay reader. One of its most appealing qualities is its multidisciplinary approach, which is the fruit of Ober's extensive and generously acknowledged collaboration with scholars from around the world as well as with his Stanford colleagues in a number of fields, including the sciences. In this respect, it points in a direction that future humanities scholars will need to go if they, too, wish to flourish."--David Wharton, Weekly Standard "A fresh and vigorous account about the roots of democracy."--Brian A. Pavlac, Canadian Journal of HistoryTable of ContentsList of Images and Tables xi Preface xiii Acknowledgments xxi Abbreviations xxv 1 The Efflorescence of Classical Greece 1 2 Ants around a Pond: An Ecology of City-States 21 3 Political Animals: A Theory of Decentralized Cooperation 45 4 Wealthy Hellas: Measuring Efflorescence 71 5 Explaining Hellas' Wealth: Fair Rules and Competition 101 6 Citizens and Specialization before 550 BCE 123 7 From Tyranny to Democracy, 550-465 BCE 157 8 Golden Age of Empire, 478-404 BCE 191 9 Disorder and Growth, 403-340 BCE 223 10 Political Fall, 359-334 BCE 261 11 Creative Destruction and Immortality 293 Appendix I: Regions of the Greek World: Population, Size, Fame 317 Appendix II: King, City, and Elite Game, Josiah Ober and Barry Weingast 321 Notes 329 Bibliography 367 Index 401
£15.29
Harvard University Press From Pompeii
Book SynopsisThe calamity that proved lethal for Pompeii inhabitants preserved the city for centuries, leaving behind a snapshot of Roman daily life that has captured the imagination of generations, including Renoir, Freud, Hirohito, Mozart, Dickens, Twain, Rossellini, and Ingrid Bergman. Interwoven is the thread of Rowland’s own impressions of Pompeii.Trade ReviewIts historical breadth and richness notwithstanding, From Pompeii is a surprisingly intimate book. Rowland begins with her first encounter with Herculaneum as an 8-year-old with a Brownie Starmite camera… From Pompeii is thus a personal, even idiosyncratic, introduction to Pompeii in the mode of, say, the novelist E. M. Forster’s Alexandria: A History and a Guide… If you have any interest in Pompeii, or in entertaining scholarship, or in Italian culture, you’ll want to set aside a few evenings for this deeply engaging work of popular history. -- Michael Dirda * Washington Post *[Rowland’s] book is a personal, indeed highly selective, account of what many researchers, cultivated visitors, archaeologists and even urban reformers have made of the site and the modern town of Pompeii: It reads, all told, like a collection of entertaining essays. She handles her theme with an ease and authority that should please others who are fond of Campania, the Neapolitan region, an area of great beauty and equally great social and environmental problem… Rowland covers a wide range of topics, including the creation of the modern town of Pompeii, the musings of tourists like Dickens and Mark Twain, and diverse aspects of Neapolitan folklore. -- Dan Hofstadter * Wall Street Journal *Elegant, witty and beautifully produced… It is less a guide than an overtly aesthetic appreciation of the site and its environs, poetic in its sense of connections over time… It is more the gap between individual drama and universal catastrophe, both inside Pompeii and looking on from outside, that Rowland’s account so powerfully conjures up. -- Emily Gowers * The Guardian *[A] lively book… For Pompeii is not really frozen in time. The achievement of Rowland’s book is precisely to show it at the heart of a turbulent, ever-changing region, where the landscape and people are forever caught up in transformation and drama—whether geological, political, technological or cultural. She beautifully evokes the connections between the local, the international, the spiritual and the seismic… For Rowland, Pompeii is the fount from which innumerable rivulets of history flow, and her fluent and engaging writing follows them where it will… This is a vivid and stimulating account of the history of a corner of the earth where there seems too much colorful humanity ever to be adequately captured in a single book. Rowland’s brimming pages show there are plenty more treasures to be excavated from the fertile volcanic soil of its history. -- Rebecca Langlands * Times Higher Education *There’s probably no one more qualified to have a go at this subject than Rowland… She possesses unsurpassed knowledge of whatever she takes up, and this work is no exception… It will delight any reader who likes the serious laced with the macabre and bizarre, the ancient with the modern… We never tire of her deeply knowledgeable entertainment… [A] genial, learned travelogue… It’s one of the pleasures of Rowland’s tour that we get to meet with Pompeii’s visitors over the centuries, as varied a cast of characters as might be dreamed up… While this is in no sense a guidebook to Pompeii and Herculaneum, anyone planning to visit Italy’s southwest coast will gain from taking Rowland’s fast-paced historical tour beforehand… [A] splendid book. -- James M. Banner, Jr. * Weekly Standard *This is a book difficult, even impossible, to summarize… Rowland’s enthusiasm for her subject and her knowledge of history are such that many will find interest and pleasure in dipping into it, pulling out a plum here or there. -- Allan Massie * Literary Review *Visitors to Pompeii have long marveled at the town’s perfectly preserved scenes of Roman life, but interpretations of those scenes have varied widely over the years. Rowland writes about a selection of those visitors, some famous—like Renoir, whose painting style was influenced by the town’s erotic frescoes—others less well known—like a priest named Father Kircher, who risked the wrath of the Inquisition when he suggested that the eruption of Vesuvius was ‘in response to gigantic cycles within the earth itself rather than God’s pique at individual sinners.’ Each story speaks to the way in which Pompeii reveals the hopes and the desires of the individuals and of societies. -- Andrea DenHoed * New Yorker *[Told] in rich and fascinating detail… When Rowland tells us that a visit to Pompeii can change a person’s life, she is speaking from personal experience. -- Tom Holland * The Spectator *From Pompeii is immensely lively and thought-provoking… The book is crammed with telling details and entertaining snippets. -- Chloe Chard * Sunday Telegraph *The book is an entertaining canter through two millennia of history, deeply learned without succumbing to stuffiness or superiority… Rowland is a lively writer and her tale of Pompeii’s rediscovery and excavation is engaging. She skillfully brings to light details of the world unearthed at Pompeii—the various styles of painting identified by art historians, the social purpose of the god Priapus—and splices these into her narrative of discovery. In the process she never loses sight of the relationship between this recovery of antiquity’s physical remains and the 18th century’s vibrant neo-classicism. The former clearly nourished the latter, but the story turns out to be more complicated than first thought. -- Luke Slattery * Sydney Morning Herald *[An] engaging look at the allure of an ancient city. -- Vanessa Bush * Booklist *The book is an enjoyable read that encompasses an exciting range of topics in political and social history… Recommended for general readers who want to know more about a place that continues to haunt the imagination of nearly everyone who visits it. -- Linda Frederiksen * Library Journal *[Rowland] constructs an overview of Pompeii’s history by collecting the opinions and work of famous figures: artists, writers, musicians, actors, and royalty, including Renoir, Mozart, Ingrid Bergman, and Crown Prince Hirohito of Japan. All of the individuals included experienced Pompeii and its environs firsthand—though some, like Mark Twain and Charles Dickens, did not always see them in a positive light. Rowland’s work, replete with lyrical verse and beautiful descriptions of Southern Italy, highlights potential problems with preservation, and…it wistfully captures the atmosphere of a place both beautiful and dangerous. * Publishers Weekly *Ingrid D. Rowland’s richly learned From Pompeii is a wonderfully well-written, funny, fascinating, and oddly poignant tour through the many afterlives of the ancient city. This is a brilliant book about the pleasures and perils of archaeology, historical preservation, and cultural tourism, stumbling over one another in a quixotic search for the traces of the dead. -- Stephen Greenblatt, author of The Swerve: How the World Became ModernOriginal, highly illuminating, and fun—brimming with ideas and observations—and many surprises for those familiar with Pompeii as well as for new visitors to the Bay of Naples. This is classic Rowland! -- Kenneth Lapatin, J. Paul Getty Museum
£24.26
Faber & Faber Defiance The Life and Choices of Lady Anne
Book SynopsisPoet and musician, artist and hostess, Lady Anne Barnard lived at the heart of Georgian society. High-born yet egalitarian, she travelled to France to observe the Revolution, rejected numerous suitors, and lived independently. Her curious ways attracted gossip right into her final years when she raised an illegitimate child at her home in Berkeley Square. Written with full access to her previously unseen private papers and unpublished memoirs, Defiance shows Lady Anne to be one of the unheralded chroniclers and pioneering women of her time.
£8.54
Harvard University Press Jealousy of Trade International Competition and
Book SynopsisThis collection explores 18th-century theories of international market competition that continue to be relevant for the 21st century. “Jealousy of trade” refers to a particular conjunction between politics and the economy that emerged when success in international trade became a matter of the military and political survival of nations.Trade ReviewThese are very remarkable essays and it is invaluable to have them published in collected form. Dr. Hont has for many years been working on the interaction of political economy and political theory in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and his knowledge of this field is unrivalled. He is able to study it in Central European, French, and British settings and perspectives, and his familiarity with recent (often Cambridge-inspired) developments in the methodology of intellectual history equips him especially well to present it to English speaking scholars. He is authentically a master in this field, and it is an exciting prospect to have his works in a single volume. -- J.G.A. Pocock, Johns Hopkins University, author of The Machiavellian MomentIstvan Hont, a prominent member of the influential "Cambridge School" of the history of ideas, is one of the most able and respected historians of early modern political thought and political economy writing today. This collection brings together Hont's most important work of the past 22 years, work that has helped to re-shape our understanding of Enlightenment thought, particularly the attempt by a wide range of philosophers and social theorists to comprehend the dynamics and evaluate the moral standing of emerging market societies in the West. -- E.J. Hundert, The University of British Columbia, author of The Enlightenment's Fable: Bernard Mandeville and the Discovery of SocietyIstvan Hont's book treats the most decisive transformation in the modern understanding of politics with unique intellectual boldness and unmatched depth of scholarship. He shows far more clearly than any previous interpreter just how and why the nature and consequences of international trade have come to set the agenda for coherent political action for every modern population. This is the intellectual backdrop to the chaotic and hazardous politics of today and tomorrow. Mastering it is a prerequisite for any possibility of a more orderly and dependably benign political future. -- John Dunn, University of Cambridge, author of Setting the People Free: The Story of Democracy[A] major new study...Jealousy of Trade is a collection of pioneering essays in the history of political and economic thought, focused on a period extending from the seventeenth to the nineteenth centuries...Hont presents his argument with an absorbing combination of scholarly erudition and analytical force. But his project remains a deliberately historical one. Its aim is to rewrite the history of modern liberalism, beginning with its foundations...Hont departs from the revisionist projects of Pocock and Skinner. In opposition to them, he seeks neither to recover nor to renovate traditions of political thought occluded by the subsequent triumph of liberalism. His purpose, instead, is to restore to the long history of liberalism its properly sceptical foundations. He begins by debunking the liberal legend of the benign progress of modern liberty. At the same time, Hont refuses to endorse the counter-mythologies of Marxism and socialism. In striving to maintain this disabused perspective, Jealousy of Trade provides an account of the development of modern political argument freed from the ideological distortions bred by party-polemical zeal. Its ambition here is conspicuous, but so too is its intellectual energy and imagination. It is a landmark contribution to its field. -- Richard Bourke * Times Literary Supplement *Hont's painstaking work on Enlightenment political and economic discourse is historically invaluable, because it reveals the epoch-making impact of emergent global commercial empires, and forces us to recognize that the histories of individual European nation-states are really the products of a transnational (and ultimately global) process at once political and economic. -- David W. Bates * International History Review *What this book in any case shows is that eighteenth-century political and economic thought still holds a [many] secrets and unexplored territory that, if dealt with carefully, can enrich present-day reflection on the challenges of global markets and international peace. Not in the least, the message of Jealousy of Trade implies a forceful argument addressed to economic theorists not to disregard the international political conditions under which eighteenth-century thinkers developed political economy, as well as those under which their nineteenth-century equivalents turned it into a science. -- Koen Stapelbroek * Storia del Pensiero Economico *
£26.06
John Wiley and Sons Ltd The Portuguese Empire in Asia 15001700
Book SynopsisFeaturing updates and revisions that reflect recent historiography, this new edition of The Portuguese Empire in Asia 1500-1700 presents a comprehensive overview of Portuguese imperial history that considers Asian and European perspectives.Trade Review"This masterful history of Europe's first great Early Modern maritime empire goes well beyond the limits of traditional nationalistic and Eurocentric interpretations. Integrating European and Asian sources, Subrahmanyam's new edition is a synthetic, interpretative and at times speculative book that sets the Portuguese Indian Ocean empire in the context of Asian and World history. There is no book in English that provides a better introduction to this topic." (Expofairs.com, 23 October 2013) Table of ContentsAbbreviations x Maps xi Tables xii Acknowledgments xiv Preface to the Second Edition xv Preface to the First Edition xvii Introduction: The Mythical Faces of Portuguese Asia 1 1 Early Modern Asia: Geopolitics and Economic Change 11 Fifteenth- and Sixteenth-century States 13 The Circulation of Elites 22 Towards a Taxonomy 27 Long-term Trends 30 2 Portuguese State and Society, 1200-1500 33 Crown and Nobility 33 In Search of a Bourgeoisie 40 Mercantilism and Messianism 48 Summing Up 55 3 Two Patterns and Their Logic: Creating an Empire, 1498-1540 59 The Early Expeditions 60 From Almeida to Albuquerque: Defining the First Pattern 67 The Second Pattern: East of Cape Comorin 74 The Logic at Work: Portuguese Asia, 1525–40 78 Towards the "Crisis" 83 Notes 85 4 The Mid-Sixteenth-century "Crisis" 87 The Dilemmas of Joanine Policy 88 S´as, Sousas, and Castros: Portuguese Asian Officialdom in the Crisis 96 The Mid-century Debate 104 The Far Eastern Solution 107 The Estado in 1570 113 Notes 114 5 Between Land-bound and Sea-borne: Reorientations, 1570-1610 115 Trade and Conquest: The Spanish View 116 Spain, Portugal, and the Atlantic Turning 120 Girdling the Globe 124 The “Land” Question 130 The Maritime Challenge 141 Concessions and Captains-Major 145 The Beginnings of Decline? 150 6 Empire in Retreat, 1610-1665 153 Political Reconsolidation in Asia, 1570-1610 154 Syriam and Hurmuz: The Beginnings of Retreat 160 Reform and Its Consequences 167 The Decade of Disasters: Portuguese Asia in the 1630s 172 Restoration, Truce, and Failure, 1640-52 181 The Retreat Completed, 1652-65 186 Asians, Europeans, and the Retreat 188 Notes 189 7 Niches and Networks: Staying On, 1665-1700 191 The Cape Route and the Bahia Trade 192 The Vicissitudes of the Estado: The View from Goa 198 Mozambique, Munhumutapa, and Prazo Creation 206 The Portuguese of the Bay of Bengal 211 Survival in the Far East: Macau and Timor 217 The Portuguese, Dutch, and English: A Comparison 222 8 Portuguese Asian Society I: The Official Realm 227 The Problem of Numbers 228 The World of the Casado 236 Networks, Fortunes, and Patronage 243 "Portuguese" and "Foreigner" 250 Rise of the Solteiro 253 The Impact on Portugal 257 9 Portuguese Asian Society II: The Frontier and Beyond 261 Renegades and Rebels 262 Mercenaries, Firearms, and Fifth Columnists 269 Converts and Client Communities 274 A Luso–Asian Diaspora? 279 10 Conclusion: Between Banditry and Capitalism 285 Glossary 295 A Note on Quantitative Data 303 Bibliography 307 Maps 323 Index 333
£71.96
Taylor & Francis Ltd Rome in Africa
a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.
£43.99
Debolsillo La guerra civil espanola
Book Synopsis
£14.73
Gibson Square Books Ltd The King's Henchman: Henry Jermyn
Book SynopsisCharles II's succession to the throne came at a time of national turbulence: his father had been beheaded, Oliver Cromwell had usurped his right to reign. England was at sea among Europe's constantly shifting allegiances. But Henry Jermyn, a Suffolk commoner, lover to the queen mother and possibly even father to the king, was there to keep the royal family together. Jermyn's deft way of secretly manipulating government and raising an army almost prevented Civil War. He was instrumental in saving the monarchy and set in motion the rise of the British Empire. A duellist, soldier and spymaster, Jermyn was close to the great men of the 17th century: Francis Bacon (his kinsman), Louis XIV, Cardinal Richelieu, Inigo Jones, Samuel Peypys, Christopher Wren and Thomas Hobbes (whose Leviathan he inspired). The King's Henchman is a story of love, family, regicide, adversity and last-minute escapes, set against the backdrop of bloody Civil War. It is also the remarkable love story of a commoner and a royal who together shared a vision for Britain and created St James's Square and Greenwich Park as its first grand expression.Trade Review'Enticing - well-written - interesting.' Michael Braddick, TLS 'Energetic and original - A character as flamboyant as Henry Jermyn deserves to be rescued from history, a task that Anthony Adolph relishes - Adolph could hardly have done him more justice - Fascinating.' John Cooper Literary Review 'A rich and heady brew that gallops along at a cracking pace.' 4 stars, Dan Cruickshank Mail on Sunday Review 'Cracking.' A Non-Fiction Book of the Year, Daily Express 'The hidden power behind Charles II's throne.' Spectator Online 'A visual feel for the age and a rare gift for conveying it.' Blair Worden, Spectator 'One of the Britain's leading genealogists.' Sunday Express 'Brilliant.' Gillian Tindall 'A moving love story between a commoner and a royal, as well as a breathtakingly fresh window into the courts of Charles I and Charles II, and the foundation of London's West End.' Fiona MountainTable of ContentsPedigrees: The Jermyns of Rushbrook The Killigrews of Arwenack Stuarts and Bourbons Foreword Prelude: The great coach (Thursday, 12 September 1678) 1 Education of a courtier (1605-22) 2 The Madrid embassy (1622-23) 3 Courting the Louvre (1624-28) 4 Two disputed cases of paternity (1628-35) 5 Sir William D'Avenant's dream of Madagascar (1635-37) 6 'Speak with Mr Jermyn about it' (1637-40) 7 'Do something extraordinary' (1641) 8 Colonel Lord Jermyn (1641-43) 9 'The strongest pillar in the land' (1644) 10 'Some succour for England' (1644-45) 11 The 'Great Hell-Cat' (1645-46) 12 'The Louvre Presbyter' (1646-1649) 13 'Our own condition is like to be very sad' (1649-56) 14 The Chateau of Colombes (1656-60) 15 Restoration! (1660-62) 16 'Grand Master of the Freemasons' (1662) 17 Somerset House (1662-63) 18 The Second Anglo-Dutch War (1664-66) 19 The road to Breda (1666-67) 20 The Grand Design (1667-68) 21 Saint-Denis (1669) 22 The Secret Treaty of Dover (1669-78) 23 'Joining together to surpass all others' (1678-85) 24 'The Funeral of Glory'? (1685 - present) 317 Elegy: (Wednesday, 2 January 1684) 329 Appendices: 335 The calendar in the seventeenth century Red herrings Acknowledgements Bibliography 337 Notes on sources Index 359
£999.99
The University of Chicago Press The First World War
Book SynopsisA century after it began, we still struggle with the terrible reality of the First World War, often through republished photographs of its horrors: the muddy trenches, the devastated battlefields, the maimed survivors. Due to the crude film cameras used at the time, the look of the Great War has traditionally been grainy, blurred, and monochrome-until now. The First World War presents a startlingly different perspective, one based on rare glass plate photographs, that reveals the war with previously unseen, even uncanny, clarity. Scanned from the original plates, with scratches and other flaws expertly removed, these oversized reproductions offer a wealth of unusual moments, including scenes of men in training, pictures of African colonial troops on the Western front, landscapes of astonishing destruction, and postmortem portraits of Belgian soldiers killed in action. Readers previously familiar with only black-and-white or sepia-toned prints of the hostilities will be riveted by the book's many authentic color photographs, products of the early autochrome method. From children playing war games to a wrenching deathbed visit, these images are extraordinary not only for their subject matter, but also for the wide range of emotions they evoke. Accompanied by a preface from celebrated writer Geoff Dyer and an essay by historian David Van Reybrouck, the photographs here serve both as remarkable witnesses to the everyday life of warfare and as dramatic works of art in their own right. These images, taken by some of the conflict's most gifted photographers, will radically change how we visualize the First World War.
£46.55
Penguin Putnam Inc Venice
Book SynopsisA spellbinding new portrait of one of the world’s most beloved cities, from the author of IstanbulLa Serenissima. Its breathtaking architecture, art, and opera ensure that Venice remains a perennially popular destination for tourists and armchair travelers alike. Yet most of the available books about this magical city are either facile travel guides or fusty academic tomes. In Venice, renowned historian Thomas F. Madden draws on new research to explore the city’s many astonishing achievements and to set 1,500 years of Venetian history and the endless Venetian-led Crusades in the context of the ever-shifting Eurasian world. Filled with compelling insights and famous figures, Venice is a monumental work of popular history that’s as opulent and entertaining as the great city itself.
£999.99
Historic England An Archaeological Map of Hadrian's Wall: 1:25000
Book SynopsisPlease note: This product is a map. It was more than just a wall: it was a whole military zone designed to control movement across the northern frontier of the Roman province of Britannia. Great earthwork barriers survive, along with the remains of forts and temporary camps; watch-towers and fortified gates; civilian settlements, temples, cemeteries, bath-houses, roads and bridges. Stretching across the spine of England from the North-East coast to the Irish Sea, the line of the frontier extends for over 100 miles through every type of landscape: from the streets of urban Tyneside, through arable fields; along the crags of the wild Whin Sill; to the sands of the Solway, and down the coast of Cumbria. Drawing upon the extensive expertise and unrivalled archives of English Heritage, and those of its partners, this map depicts the fruits of modern archaeological research: in field survey, geophysics, excavation, and the analysis of aerial photographs. Using Ordnance Survey 1:25,000 data - the ideal scale for walkers - this revised new map shows with great clarity all the elements of Hadrian’s Wall, and distinguishes between those features that are visible and those that have been levelled through time. A brief text explains the remains on the ground, and how to use the map to find them – including the museums and the best places to visit. This World Heritage Site is now more accessible than ever before, so see the landscape through new eyes.Trade Review'The most detailed guide published yet ...'The Daily Telegraph
£14.11
The University of Chicago Press What Soldiers Do
Book SynopsisPresents a devastating new perspective on the Greatest Generation and the liberation of France, one in which the US military use the lure of easy, sexually available French women to sell soldiers on the invasion, thus unleashing a tsunami of male lust among the war-weary GIs.Trade Review"Roberts has amassed an enormous amount of detailed information and her... book provides a refreshing view of the price of liberation." (Literary Review) "In this vivid account of GIs in wartime France, Roberts documents how the Greatest Generation was sometimes as badly behaved beyond the battlefield as it was brave in combat. What Soldiers Do is not a conventional history. It deeply-and often colorfully-textures our understanding of the experiences of men at war, the contours of mid-twentieth-century sexual (and racial) mores, and the frequently ignorant and even lurid attitudes toward other peoples that attended America's ascent to global hegemony." (David M. Kennedy, author of Freedom from Fear: The American People in Depression and War) "This clear-eyed examination of what randy American soldiers got up to in France from D-Day through 1946 strips away the sentimentality from the overworked, cliched portrayal of the Greatest Generation." (Publishers Weekly)"
£19.00
Picador When Churchill Slaughtered Sheep and Stalin
Book SynopsisMore addictive and mind-blowing true tales from history, told by Giles Milton-one of today's most entertaining and accessible yet always intelligent and illuminating historiansIn When Churchill Slaughtered Sheep and Stalin Robbed a Bank, the second installment in his outrageously entertaining series, History's Unknown Chapters, Giles Milton shows his customary historical flair as he delves into the little-known stories from history, like when Stalin was actually assassinated with poison by one of his inner circle; the Russian scientist, dubbed the Red Frankenstein, who attempted to produce a human-ape hybrid through ethically dubious means; the family who survived thirty-eight days at sea with almost no water or supplies after their ship was destroyed by a killer whale; or the plot that served as a template for 9/11 in which four Algerian terrorists attempted to hijack a plane and fly it into the Eiffel Tower.
£15.30
Pen & Sword Books Ltd The British on the Somme 1916 Images of War Rare
Book SynopsisPrimary source engravings, drawings and paintings with 100 images from the Great War period.
£11.24
Hackett Publishing Co, Inc The Essential Homer
Book SynopsisSelections from both the Iliad and the Odyssey, made with an eye for those episodes that figure most prominently in the study of mythology.Trade Review"A good idea—its utility far outweighs qualms purists have about students not reading every last item in the catalogue of ships. The translation is vigorous and readable." —Andrew Ford, Princeton University"Not only does one get an excellent translation of both Homer's Iliad and Odyssey under one cover, but the selections included are infinitely better and longer than what one normally gets in anthologies of Greek literature. For courses in which entire texts cannot be used, this is by far the best choice available today." —Kostas Myrsiades, Westchester University"The Essential Homer fills a long-felt need for an edition that offers a sizable selection of the books and passages most likely to be used in undergraduate courses. It's a wonderful help." —Richard P. Martin, Stanford University"This is a wonderful translation—readable, lively, preserves the essential spirit. Students get caught up in it. The abridgment is a good text for general classes." —Nicolle Hirschfeld, California State University, Long Beach"A fine poetic translation that today's students can understand. The selections are very well chosen for a course in which time limitations prevent reading the whole of either epic." —Lillian Doherty, University of Maryland
£18.99
Broadview Press Ltd Prisons And Prisoners: Some Personal Experiences
Book SynopsisPrisons and Prisoners is the autobiography of aristocratic suffragette Constance Lytton. In it, she details her militant actions in the struggle to gain the vote for women, including her masquerade and imprisonment as the working-class “Jane Warton.” As a member of a well-known political family (and grand-daughter of the famous novelist Edward Bulwer-Lytton), Lytton's arrests garnered much attention at the time, but she was treated differently than other suffragettes because of her class—when other suffragettes were forcibly fed while on hunger strikes, she was released. “Jane Warton,” however, was forcibly fed, an act that permanently damaged Lytton’s health, but that also became a singular moment in the history of women’s and prisoner’s rights.This Broadview edition includes news articles, reviews, and illustrations on women’s suffrage from the periodicals of the time.Trade Review“Women’s enfranchisement and prison reform combine powerfully in Prisons and Prisoners, Constance Lytton’s 1914 memoir of brutal incarcerations for her participation in the militant Suffragette movement. The ‘pent-up feelings of indignation and revolt’ in this book first published on the eve of the First World War resonate no less provocatively nearly a century later, as questions of detention, hunger strikes, forcible feeding, and torture underwrite local and everyday challenges to global advocates for human rights and social justice. As Lytton concludes her account, ‘I hear the cry go up from all parts of the country, How long? How long?’” — Barbara Harlow, University of Texas at Austin“Jason Haslam’s edition of Prisons and Prisoners provides an excellent context for Lytton’s work. The introduction is comprehensive in its discussion of Lytton’s biography, the women's suffrage movement, and the state of penology at the time. Particularly significant is its consideration that Lytton’s goal of giving voice to female inmates raises complex issues of class and privilege. The front matter and appendices are extremely relevant and helpful. The context offered by the readings in the appendices makes the edition very appropriate for both classroom study and serious research. The bibliographies are very thoughtfully planned, offering a wealth of complementary material linking to Prisons and Prisoners from a variety of perspectives.” — Judith Scheffler, West Chester UniversityTable of ContentsAcknowledgementsIntroductionConstance Lytton: A Brief ChronologyA Note on the TextPrisons and Prisoners: Some Personal ExperiencesAppendix A: Glossary of NamesAppendix B: Other Suffragette Writing by Constance Lytton “Woman Suffrage,” The Times (14 July 1909) From “The Prison Experiences of Lady Constance Lytton,” Votes for Women (28 January 1910) From “A Speech by Lady Constance Lytton. Delivered at the Queen’s Hall, January 31, 1910,” Votes for Women (4 February 1910) Appendix C: Suffrage Material Concerning Lytton From “The Outlook,” Votes for Women (28 January 1910) Emmeline Pethick Lawrence, “Lady Constance Lytton,” Votes for Women (28 January 1910) From “The ‘Liverpool Courier’ on ‘Jane Warton’s’ Imprisonment”; “Some Press Comments,” Votes for Women (4 February 1910) From Victor Lytton, “The House of Lords and Women’s Suffrage: Speech by The Earl of Lytton in the Debate in the House of Lords,—May 6th, 1914” (1914) Appendix D: Reviews of Prisons and Prisoners “‘Prisons and Prisoners’: Some Reviews of LadyConstance Lytton’s Book,” The Suffragette (27 March 1914) From Christabel Pankhurst, “A Prisoner’s Book,” The Suffragette (13 and 20 March 1914) “Views and Comments,” The Egoist: An Individualist Review (15 May 1914) Appendix E: Material Concerning Suffragettes and Prison “Suffragist Women Prisoners,” Home Office Papers and Memoranda 1889–1910 (1910) From Kate Lilley, Prisoners and Prison Life (1912) Appendix F: Photographs and Suffragette Cartoons and Sketches Portrait of Constance Lytton (1914) Portrait of Jane Warton (1914) “Forcible Feeding in Prison” (28 January 1910) “Suffragettes at Home” (14 April 1909) “The Suffragette that Knew Jiu-Jitsu: The Arrest” (6 July 1910) Select Bibliography
£24.26
Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group Provence AZ
£14.36
Skyhorse Publishing The Wooden Horse: The Classic World War II Story
Book SynopsisEric Williams, Royal Air Force bomber captain, was shot down over Germany in 1942 and imprisoned in Stalag Luft III, the infamous German POW camp. Digging an underground tunnel hidden beneath a wooden vaulting horse, he managed to escape after ten months and, accompanied by a fellow officer, made his way back to England. In this thinly fictionalized retelling, Williams relates his story in three distinct phases: the construction of a tunnel (its entrance camouflaged by the wooden vaulting horse in the exercise yard) and hiding the large quantities of sand he dug; the escape; and the journey on foot and by train to the port of Stettin, where Williams and his fellow escapee stowed away aboard a Danish ship, the Norensen. From painstakingly digging the tunnel to secretly depositing the dirt and gravel around the camp to dodging searchlights and search dogs and climbing barbed wire fences, this is an escape story hard to beat. For sheer heroism, courage and perserverance, this classic is arguably the most ingenious POW escape of WWII. The Wooden Horse became a legend among servicemen long before its publication in 1949 and remained one ever since.
£14.21
Hackett Publishing Co, Inc Four Tragedies Electra Philoctetes Ajax The Women
Book SynopsisTrade ReviewIn these new translations Meineck and Woodruff have struck a near-ideal balance between accuracy and readability, formality and colloquialism. Their versions are simply a pleasure to read, conveying with remarkable vividness the powerful characterizations and poetic variety of the originals. The addition of succinct but illuminating notes makes this an exemplary volume for anyone interested in Sophocles' dramatic art. --Andrew Szegedy-Maszak, Department of Classics, Wesleyan University[T]his sequel to the same pair's well-received translation of the Theban plays hits an appropriate mean . . . a text that I could happily adopt for teaching. --Malcolm Heath in Greece and RomeTable of ContentsIntroduction; Notes on the Translations; Map: Sophoclean geography; House of Pelops Family Tree; Ajax; Women of Trachis; Electra; Philoctetes; Endnotes.
£13.29
Harvard University Press Fragments of the Histories. Letters to Caesar
Book SynopsisThe Histories of Sallust (86–35 BCE), while fragmentary, provide invaluable information about a crucial period of history from 78 to around 67 BCE. In this volume, John T. Ramsey has freshly edited the Histories and the two pseudo-Sallustian Letters to Caesar, completing the Loeb Classical Library edition of his works.
£23.70
£15.57
Yale University Press Martin Luther
Book SynopsisTrade Review"[A] richly detailed portrait."—D.G. Hart, Wall Street Journal"Hendrix has written a scholarly but vivid portrait of a man who, in a spiritual crisis, peered deep into St. Paul’s words about the righteous living by faith, and thought he had found there a new purpose for himself, his friends, his country and all true Christians."—Michael Duggan, Catholic Herald"There is a plenty of detail in this well-researched study with its extensive cast of characters, and attention to matters as diverse as Luther’s ability to play the lute and his vulnerability to bouts of depression. . . . Luther’s very real humanity emerges in these accounts."—Martin Wellings, Methodist Recorder"Hendrix covers Luther’s life, outlines his thought and assesses his theology. Crucially though, theology is not allowed to dominate and we see Luther’s ideas against the background of his life and his personal relationships."—Paul Richardson, Church of England Newspaper"[Hendrix] has given us a Luther who is not only an extraordinary theologian, but also a firm friend, a demanding colleague, an energetic administrator, a mediocre politician, and a loving, if sometimes heavy-handed, husband and father . . . What keeps it together is Hendrix’s sharp insights, his easy style and his unfailing eye for telling facts or quotations."—Dr. Alec Ryrie, Church Times"Scott Hendrix is a veteran insider historian from the American Protestant tradition, with the worthy aim of tackling some of the complacent myths all families build up about their founding fathers… an efficient performance."—Diarmaid Mac Culloch, London Review of Books"Hendrix here offers not only a biography of Luther, but a history of the early Lutheran Reformation. This is indeed a good Luther biography. As 2017 approaches, it will be by no means the last, but the breadth and depth of insight of Hendrix’s biography will make it very difficult to match."—Charlotte Methuen, Theology“[Hendrix’s] intention in writing this volume, he says, was to provide a readable, up-to-date, comprehensive but not too long account of Luther’s life. . . he has certainly achieved this. . . A comprehensive account, and one which is likely to become a standard reference.” —Kenneth Austin, Huguenot Society Journal "One of the best things about this humane and sensitive biography is that it sets Luther in context. Rather than the tormented hero of romantic myth, we have a busy scholar, teacher, preacher and writer surrounded by colleagues, friends and family, responding to the myriad unforeseen challenges that his epoch-changing insights had brought down on him. Enlivening circumstantial details ensure that Scott Hendrix’s Luther truly inhabits his cultural, political and spiritual world."—Euan Cameron, author of The European Reformation"I did not expect to learn much from reading yet another Luther biography. But I was wrong. Scott Hendrix’s Luther is in many respects a primus inter pares—establishing a point of view that is not, in my opinion, the least of Hendrix’s achievements in this important biography."—David Steinmetz, author of Luther in Context
£16.14