General and world history Books

Book SynopsisThough most of us will have enjoyed strolling through beautiful British woodlands, we might not be aware of the ancient and often complex origins of our surroundings. From medieval times, woodlands were carefully managed commodities with hotly contested resources: conflicting demands from landowners, the Crown, the peasantry and local and national wood-based industries have all left their marks on today''s woodland. Ian D. Rotherham here explains the various uses of British woods and their industries, such as coppicing, charcoal-burning, basket-making and bodging, and helps the reader to seek out the clues to their woodland''s past.Table of Contents?Introduction / What is an ‘Ancient’ Wood? / Woods, Parks and Forests / Worked and Working Trees / Woodland Crafts and Other Industries / Woodland Archaeology and Ecology / The Future: Re-discovering the Old Crafts / Further Reading / Places to Visit / Index

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Book SynopsisFollowing the 900th anniversary of the Crusader capture of Jerusalem, it is now time to reflect on how the phenomenon of the Crusades influenced the Muslim world, then and now: militarily, culturally and psychologically.Carole Hillenbrand discusses a group of themes that highlight how Muslims reacted to the alien presence of the Crusaders in the heart of traditional Muslim territory. She examines ideological concerns and the importance of the jihad in the context of the gradual recovery of the Holy Land and the expulsion of the Crusaders.Trade ReviewThis is ground-breaking work, and its value lies not only in the detailed reportage, but also in the way Carole Hillenbrand gives western historians a guide to source material, either unknown to them or available only in partial translation, and introduces her readers to the mindset of medieval Muslims, providing an entirely different angle from which to look at the crusading movement. By putting modern ideas into context the book will enable readers in both the western and Islamic worlds to understand better events which to some extent are shaping the present. -- Jonathan Riley-Smith The Crusades from a Western viewpoint have produced a very rich and abundant bibliography for more than a century. On the other hand, very few studies on the Muslim response to the Crusade have appeared. For the first time the subject is tackled here globally and an attempt is made to explain, through a deep analysis of the Arabic sources, the motives and aims of the Muslims ! This work - which shows very clearly the impact which the Crusades have had in Islamic territory up until our own time - is a remarkable contribution to the history of relations between east and west. -- Anne-Marie Edde Hillenbrand's admirable book, the first comprehensive attempt to pull together the relevant Muslim texts on these wars, lets the sources speak for themselves, and provides intriguing insights into the deeply rooted problems which face us today ! she has done a masterful job, providing us with a whole new way to examine the traditional western material on the Crusades. A magisterial and path-breaking study in its own right ! a veritable treasure trove of material heretofore unavailable to the non-Arabist ! The Crusades is a masterly and welcome contribution to the historiography of the Crusades. Hillenbrand has set an enviable standard of scholarship from which teachers and students of the Crusades, the medieval Middle East, and medieval Europe will long benefit. It is a major contribution !The book is profusely illustrated and the illustrations are on the whole well chosen. This is ground-breaking work, and its value lies not only in the detailed reportage, but also in the way Carole Hillenbrand gives western historians a guide to source material, either unknown to them or available only in partial translation, and introduces her readers to the mindset of medieval Muslims, providing an entirely different angle from which to look at the crusading movement. By putting modern ideas into context the book will enable readers in both the western and Islamic worlds to understand better events which to some extent are shaping the present. The Crusades from a Western viewpoint have produced a very rich and abundant bibliography for more than a century. On the other hand, very few studies on the Muslim response to the Crusade have appeared. For the first time the subject is tackled here globally and an attempt is made to explain, through a deep analysis of the Arabic sources, the motives and aims of the Muslims ! This work - which shows very clearly the impact which the Crusades have had in Islamic territory up until our own time - is a remarkable contribution to the history of relations between east and west. Hillenbrand's admirable book, the first comprehensive attempt to pull together the relevant Muslim texts on these wars, lets the sources speak for themselves, and provides intriguing insights into the deeply rooted problems which face us today ! she has done a masterful job, providing us with a whole new way to examine the traditional western material on the Crusades. A magisterial and path-breaking study in its own right ! a veritable treasure trove of material heretofore unavailable to the non-Arabist ! The Crusades is a masterly and welcome contribution to the historiography of the Crusades. Hillenbrand has set an enviable standard of scholarship from which teachers and students of the Crusades, the medieval Middle East, and medieval Europe will long benefit. It is a major contribution !The book is profusely illustrated and the illustrations are on the whole well chosen.Table of ContentsThe first crusade - the Muslim reaction; Jihad - the evolution of propaganda, 1100-1174; Jihad - military success, 1174-1291; Muslims and crusaders - the ideological divide; Muslims and crusaders - social and cultural relations; warfare - technology, strategy, theory and practice; epilogue - the heritage of the crusades.

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Book SynopsisThis book tells the story of women in the First World War at the front line, under fire, and in combat.Trade Review'Elisabeth Shipton is a stand-out researcher and with this book she stakes a claim as a great writer in her own right.' -- Dan SnowElisabeth Shipton is a stand-out researcher and with this book she stakes a claim as a great writer in her own right. -- Dan Snow

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Book SynopsisThe First World War was the biggest conflict in Irish history. More men served and more men died than in all the wars before or since that the Irish fought in. Often forgotten at home and written out of Irish history, the Irish soldiers and their regiments found themselves more honoured in foreign fields. From the first shot monument in Mons to the plaque to the Royal Irish Lancers who liberated the town on Armistice Day 1918, Ronan McGreevy takes a tour of the Western Front. At a time when Ireland is revisiting its history and its place in the world, McGreevy looks at those places where the Irish made their mark and are remembered in the monuments, cemeteries and landscapes of France and Flanders.Trade ReviewThough a century has passed since the First World War, many in Ireland are discovering its remarkable and continuing legacy for the first time. They are learning that for many on this island it was our war and is our story. Ronan McGreevy’s book helps the ongoing unpacking of that complex story. It is a very opportune and important addition to the growing body of scholarly literature on the Irish in the Great War. Ronan focuses on the monuments the war left behind, providing a useful guide for the growing numbers of visitors to those foreign fields where so many young Irish and many other lives were lost and from where home-coming survivors, for the rest of their lives carried grim memories often too raw to share. -- Mary McAleeseThe superlative and definitive account of Ireland in World War I -- The Irish IndependentThe best of books are those which you never wish to finish and put down. Perhaps even finer are those works which upon finishing you know will return for the magic of its authorship and its content. This is one of the latter. -- David FilsellIt’s a great read. And, unlike many tomes about that war, it’s an easy read. Highly recommended. -- Paddy MurrayMy colleague’s passion for his subject and meticulous research has resulted in a valuable historical work, rich in compassion, documenting the Irish contribution to the Great War. -- Eileen BattersbyA brilliant book -- Professor Patrick GeogheganRonan McGreevy has written a vivid and endlessly informative study of Irish sites of memory of the Great War in France and Belgium, though in the case of nationalist Ireland they are really sites of non-memory. As the memory changes, so new sites are created and old ones rediscovered. The great merit of McGreevy’s book is to demonstrate that process for Ireland’s Great War over the past century. -- Professor John HorneThis is a wonderful interwoven account of the legacy and story of World War I which mixes history, personal stories and contemporary assessment. It is written with the brio and economy of a journalist and is an absorbing account, both moving and at times depressing in terms of the war's sustained and seemingly pointless loss. He has written an utterly absorbing book which brings alive the heroism, drama and struggle of the wider conflagration in Europe - and Ireland's part of it. -- Eamon DelaneyNo better travelling companion is the book Wherever the Firing Line Extends - Ireland and the Western Front which takes you on a journey through the “war to end all wars” by visiting the places where the Irish soldiers made their mark and are commemorated in the monuments, cemeteries and landscapes of France and Flanders. -- Campbell Spray'Wherever the Firing Line Extends' can be used as guide book on the ground, and at the same time is a fine addition to the canon of publications on the double identity of the Irish soldiers in World War I. While the book is focusing on individual stories in the face of industrial scale slaughter, it is the new approach of appreciating the memorials later generations left for these men that makes it a refreshing read. After all it is for us, the living, that these memorials exist. They remind us not to repeat the mistakes of the past. -- Marcel Krueger

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Book SynopsisFor as long as there have been armed forces there have been camp followers – the families who move with the military to stay with their men.

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Book SynopsisA dozen star historians on what might have happened at history''s turning points if the dice had fallen differently.''Stimulating, provocative and playful'' Literary ReviewThroughout history, great and terrible events have often hinged upon luck. Andrew Roberts has asked a team of twelve leading historians and biographers what might have happened if major world events had gone differently? Each concentrating in the area in which they are a leading authority, historians as distinguished as Antonia Fraser (Gunpowder Plot), Norman Stone (Sarajevo 1914) and Anne Somerset (the Spanish Armada) consider: What if?Robert Cowley demonstrates how nearly Britain won the American war of independence. Following her acclaimed GEORGIANA, Amanda Foreman muses on Lincoln''s Northern States of America and Lord Palmerston''s Great Britain going to war, as they so nearly did in 1861. Whether it''s Stalin fleeing Moscow in 1941 (Simon Sebag Montefiore), or Napoleon notTrade ReviewStimulating, provocative and playful, WHAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN, is everything one looks for in a collection of essays * LITERARY REVIEW *A gifted team of authors envisages alternative historical scenarios. As has become the custom of the genre, some of the contributors submit sober and measured assessments, while others spot a chance for playfulness * SUNDAY TELEGRAPH *Roberts himself contributes both the best essay in the collection ... and an affable, perceptive introduction which he deploys to muse on the nature of such virtual historical projections * THE SCOTSMAN *Andrew Roberts has recruited a dozen historians to pose, and answer, some of these What If, and some of their answers are as good as the questions * SPECTATOR *All twelve essasy are good fun, and they will make the reader think - and that is, after all, what all good history, "factual" or "counterfactual", should be about * TLS *The role that chance can play (in history) is well worth reasserting, and it is done here with much vigour and expertise * DAILY TELEGRAPH *An intriguing and entertaining anthology * SUNDAY TIMES *Buy the book and read it for fun * OBSERVER *WHAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN is a highly enjoyable read * SUNDAY BUSINESS POST *Counterfactual history, when deployed as expertly as it is here, reminds us that what seems inevitable is actually often a matter of chance * MAIL ON SUNDAY *The main object of these essays is to entertain, and they do so handsomely. This book is a hymn to the accidental and the erratic -- Philip Ziegler * DAILY TELEGRAPH *Great fun. I enjoyed some of the chapters so much that I shouted praise for its frivolous merits at my television set when a young historian - arguing on Newsnight with my old friend Christopher Andrew - denounced the whole idea of 'alternative history' -- Roy Hattersley * OBSERVER *Thought-provoking entertainment. * DAILY EXPRESS *Antonia Fraser's essay stands out for its intelligence. * THE GUARDIAN *

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Book SynopsisHow the division of the Americas from the rest of the world affected human history.Trade ReviewWatson gathers academic research from numerous disciplines into a comparatively reader-friendly form. * THE HERALD *This is a fascinating doorstopper of a work * THE SUNDAY BUSINESS POST *Watson's fascinating theme compares the two great populations in the Americas and the 'Old World', separated in 15,000 BC, when the ice Age ended and the Bering Strait land bridge became submerged. * THE LADY *

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Book SynopsisThree of Rob Elliott's popular joke books for kids in one hilarious volume sure to have kids of all ages laughing out loud.

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Book SynopsisA dramatic memoir of an American woman who as a child was recruited, bought, and sold as a victim of the sex trade without ever leaving US borders.

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Book SynopsisThis nonfiction book for middle-grade readers celebrates the contributions of 14 Black women in history who have had a profound impact on the lives of all Americans.

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Book SynopsisIncludes a biographical sketch of Jonathan Edwards by Phillip E. Howard Jr. This intensely devotional diary of a young 1740s missionary in the American wilderness inspired the world missions movement.

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Book SynopsisOnce a suicidal atheist, now a Christ-following rock star, Lacey tells her story of finding purpose behind the pain, sharing the many reasons for her hope and helping readers see how valuable they are to God.

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Book SynopsisFormer pastor of a Chinese underground church tells the dramatic story of his imprisonment and escape as well as his tireless fight for freedom and human rights in China.

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Book SynopsisThis is the concluding volume of a three-volume work that culminates the life study of the West''s most distinguished scholar of Japanese history. A straightforward narrative of the development of Japanese civilization to 1867, the three volumes constitute the first large-scale comprehensive history of Japan. Unlike the renowned Short Cultural History, it is concerned mainly with political and social phenomena and only incidentally touches on religion, literature, and the arts. The treatment is primarily descriptive and factual, but the author offers some pragmatic interpretations and suggests comparisons with the history of other peoples.A History of Japan: 1615-1867 describes the political and social development of Japan during the two and half centuries of rule by the Tokugawa Shoguns, a period of remarkable development in almost ever aspects of the national life. Under Ieyasu, the first Tokugawa Shogun, a system of checks and balances to keep the grea

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewFor years, I have longed to be in the same room with Abraham Lincoln and Winston Churchill. And now Lewis Lehrman has given all of us that chance with this sweeping, yet intimate study of the war leadership of both remarkable men. With penetrating insight, Lehrman unfolds the contrasts and similarities between these two leaders: their points of origin, their temperaments, the nature of their ambitions, their leadership styles. I savored every page of this magnificent work. -- Doris Kearns Goodwin, author of the Lincoln Prize-winning Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham LincolnFew men have more profoundly shaped modern history than Abraham Lincoln and Winston Churchill. In this enlightening, original analysis of their leadership, Lewis E. Lehrman not only sheds a bright light on their remarkable achievements but he also deepens our understanding of the nature of statesmanship. How two leaders of such radically different backgrounds and temperaments led their nations to victory in wars of national survival—thus vindicating government of the people, by the people, and for the people—is an inspiring story, based on deep research, told by Lehrman with great skill. Admirers of both leaders, as well as history fans in general, will enjoy this very well written book and wonder why no previous historian has undertaken such an important comparative study. -- Professor Michael Burlingame, Distinguished Chair in Lincoln Studies at the University of Illinois-Springfield and author of Abraham Lincoln: A LifeLewis E. Lehrman’s book brings a laserlike focus to bear on the two greatest English-speaking statesman of the 19th and 20th century—Abraham Lincoln and Winston Churchill. The latter is the grandson of a duke, the former was born in rural poverty . . . one a soldier in early maturity, the other a self-taught lawyer who never served more than one summer in the militia . . . one written down by some as a bounder and a prodigal, the other notable for his humility and thrift. Lehrman's dual examination is a compelling study, beautifully written, about the ideals and temperament of these two very different men—their restless intelligence . . . their wonderful stamina . . . their resilience in the face of defeat and disaster . . . their feel for the power of the English language . . . their mix of calmness and aggression . . . their commitment to free institutions. Lehrman’s book is much more than elegant biography; he has also given us a well-wrought primer on national leadership. This book will amply repay every moment spent studying it. -- Allen C. Guelzo, Henry R. Luce Professor of the Civil War Era at Gettysburg College and author of several prize-winning books on Lincoln and the Civil War, including Gettysburg: The Last Invasion and Abraham Lincoln: Redeemer PresidentIn Lincoln & Churchill:Statesmen at War, Lewis E. Lehrman has accomplished a triumph of interpretation—to unite and to compare the leadership of two great English-speaking statesmen, eight decades apart, engaged in entirely different wars, by showing us what matters about both wars and war leaders, what they had in common, and how they differed. A beautifully written interpretive history, backed by over 1,200 carefully considered footnote-references, Mr. Lehrman illustrates the steel in both war leaders, however vastly they contrasted in upbringing, experience, and personality. This remarkable book is the very first major scholarly effort to compare the greatest English-speaking statesmen of the 19th and 20th centuries. -- Richard M. Langworth, CBE, Founder of the Churchill Centre, Founding Editor of Finest Hour and the Chartwell Bulletin, and author of Churchill in His Own Words, among other Churchill booksThe relationship between biography and general historical writing can be at times fraught. Because the historian is charged with not only telling history but also explaining it, any book structured around a single person will find itself at constant risk of adopting the thrilling but untestable idea that the events of human history are principally driven by a select group of once-in-a-generation “Great Men.” And yet, great men have always existed—men who in select moments make significant contributions to the direction and survival of our civilization. Lewis E. Lehrman’s most recent book tackles the wartime efforts of two such men—Abraham Lincoln and Winston Churchill—but manages to remain cool-tempered and analytical in the process. Though they lived in different eras and nations, both men valiantly led their respective countries through existentially perilous struggles (Lincoln’s Civil War and Churchill’s fight against Hitler’s Germany). The two had drastically different personalities, but held in common a rare gift for oratory, similar war strategies, and, most of all, an undying commitment to core principles of freedom and liberty. * The New Criterion *The enduring fame of Abraham Lincoln and Winston Churchill rests chiefly on their leadership during existential conflicts. And while the American Civil War and World War II differed in scale, strategic difficulty and technological complexity, the two leaders indelibly stamped their respective causes in similar ways, as Lewis E. Lehrman observes in his penetrating new book, Lincoln & Churchill: Statesmen at War. . . . Deeply researched and elegantly written, Mr. Lehrman’s Lincoln & Churchill is a valuable contribution to our knowledge of the past. By expertly conjoining two great leaders in a single volume, he has enhanced our understanding of both. -- Michael F. Bishop * The Wall Street Journal *But rarely does posterity compare and contrast these two historical giants to seek a better understanding of both men. Thankfully, this is what Lewis E. Lehrman has accomplished in his newest book, Lincoln & Churchill: Statesmen at War, an unparalleled examination of war leadership, character, and statecraft by two of the greatest men of their respective generations…. In Lincoln & Churchill, Lehrman offers up a book of inspired insight, impressive erudition, and monumental historical achievement. It is a book worthy of every history lover’s shelf. * American Spectator *

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Book SynopsisJournalist, activist, and adventurer, Jane Wood Reno (1913-1992) was one of the most groundbreaking and colourful American women of the twentieth century. Told by her grandson, George Hurchalla, this is an intimate biography of a free thinker who shattered barriers during the explosive early years of Miami.Trade Review“Brilliant, adventurous, and defiantly determined, Reno is a pioneering woman who should not be overlooked. Readers will be thrilled, and book groups will relish discussions of this amazing life.”—Booklist

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Book SynopsisBernal's response to criticisms to his 1987 book, 'BLACK ATHENA', which argued for an Afro-Asiatic origin for Greek civilisation.Trade Review“Black Athena must be the most discussed book on the ancient history of the eastern Mediterranean world since the Bible. . . . [It] enjoys such continued attention because it raises important scholarly questions, and because it makes a difficult subject available to a large audience.”—Mario Liverani, in Black Athena Revisited“A fascinating and important debate. As a lay reader I find both the scholarly arguments and the human differences very gripping. Bernal tells the story of the process of academic diffusion very vividly and gives us the kind of background we don't usually discover.”—Margaret Drabble“[F]ew books published about the ancient world since World War II have provoked as much interest both inside and outside the discipline of classics as has Black Athena.”—Guy MacLean Rogers, in Black Athena RevisitedTable of ContentsPreface Transcriptions and Phonetics Maps and Charts Introduction I Egyptology 1. Can We We Fair? A Reply to John Baines 2. Greece is Not Nubia: A Reply to David O’Connor II Classics 3. Who is Qualified to Write Greek History? A Reply to Lawrence A. Tritle 4. How Did the Egyptian Way of Death Reach Greece? A Reply to Emily Vermeule 5. Just Smoke and Mirrors? A Reply to Edith Hall III Linguistics 6. Ausnahmslosigkeit über Alles: A Reply to Jay H. Jasanoff and Alan Nussbaum IV Historiography 7. Accuracy and/or Coherence? A Reply to Robert Norton, Robert Palter, and Josine Blok 8. Passion and Politics: A Reply to Guy Rogers 9. The British Utilitarians, Imperialism, and the Fall of the Ancient Model V Science 10. Was There a Greek Scientific Miracle? A Reply to Robert Palter 11. Animadversions on the Origins of Western Science VI Recent Broadening Scholarship 12. Greek Art Without Egypt, Hamlet Without the Prince: A Review of Sarah Morris’s Daidalos and the Origins of Greek Art 13. One or Several Revolutions? A Review of Walter Burkert’s The Orientalizing Revolution: Near Eastern Influence on Greek Culture in the Early Archaic Age 14. There’s a Mountain in the Way: A Review of Martin West’s The East Face of Helicon: West Asiatic Elements in Greek Poetry and Myth 15. Phoenician Politics and Egyptian Justice in Ancient Greece VII. A Popularizing Effort 16. All Not Quiet on the Wellesley Front: A Review of Not Out of Africa Conclusion Notes Glossary Bibliography Index

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Book Synopsis Freedom Time reconsiders decolonization from the perspectives of Aimé Césaire (Martinique) and Léopold Sédar Senghor (Senegal) who, beginning in 1945, promoted self-determination without state sovereignty. As politicians, public intellectuals, and poets they struggled to transform imperial France into a democratic federation, with former colonies as autonomous members of a transcontinental polity. In so doing, they revitalized past but unrealized political projects and anticipated impossible futures by acting as if they had already arrived. Refusing to reduce colonial emancipation to national independence, they regarded decolonization as an opportunity to remake the world, reconcile peoples, and realize humanity’s potential. Emphasizing the link between politics and aesthetics, Gary Wilder reads Césaire and Senghor as pragmatic utopians, situated humanists, and concrete cosmopolitans whose postwar insights can illuminate current debaTrade Review"Freedom Time is an important book. It is also exceptionally scholarly and extremely readable. Such qualities rarely inhere in a single text. And they are rarely bundled into an analysis so passionate and timely that excavates past attempts at human emancipation in order to reveal new pathways into modernization." -- Massimiliano Tomba * Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Anthropology *"Rich, dense, and meticulously researched, Gary Wilder’s book offers nuanced critical reflections on the alternative landscapes of freedom proposed by Aimé Césaire and Léopold Sédar Senghor." -- Kaiama L. Glover * French Studies *"There is an important message here ... for a broad audience, and I sincerely hope that it reaches beyond French Studies, postcolonial, or colonial historical studies. Wilder observes that Césaire, Sédar and their contemporaries in black Caribbean and African thought ‘are rarely included in general considerations of interwar philosophy or postwar social theory’ (9). What Freedom Time does most convincingly is to demonstrate that the social theory studied in European universities is weaker for this omission and that serious engagement with these thinkers is long overdue." -- Lucy Mayblin * Ethnic and Racial Studies *"[A] thoughtful and challenging work on the often maligned Negritude thinkers, poets, and politicians Aimé Césaire and Léopold Senghor." -- Brett A. Berliner * Callaloo *"[A] tremendous achievement in scope and originality. Readers who wish to think about the nation-state from a deeply historical and theoretically sophisticated perspective will be richly rewarded." -- Anuja Bose * Africa Today *"Freedom Time is an engaging book that combines cultural anthropology, political theory and postcolonial theory and offers the reader a detailed intellectual history of Leopold Senghor and Aimé Césaire between 1945 and 1960." -- Frank Gerits * European Review of History *"Gary Wilder’s Freedom Time constitutes an exciting and significant contribution to the field of nation and nationalism study in that he challenges the claim that decolonisation and self-determination can, and should, only lead to one form of state sovereignty: the nation-state." -- Kristin Hissong * Nations and Nationalism *"Wilder provides us with a provocative retelling of the intellectual and political vision of two luminaries of the 20th century, and he does a great service by recasting our attention to these two authors to provoke reflection on the condition of nationhood and sovereignty in the 21st century. The text is always engaging and at times possesses a lyricism that echoes the poetics of Césaire and Senghor.... This book is a welcome addition, providing a substantial contribution to the field of francophone intellectual history." -- Michael Lambert * Anthropological Quarterly *"Freedom Time is a dynamic treatise deftly upholding the Fanonian and Wynterian imperatives to navigate ongoing processes of decolonization and becoming Human betwixt and between the allure of emancipations masking as freedom." -- Neil Roberts * Theory & Event *"Freedom Time is an impressive, inspiring, necessary work. . . . Wilder's lucid, sensitively textured and impressively well-researched book allows us to rethink the meaning of decolonisation and the conceptual nexus surrounding it." -- Deborah Walker-Morrison * Cultural Studies Review *"Wilder’s reading of Senghor and Césaire is subtle and engaging, and challenges the idea that they were cynical – or naive." -- Musab Younis * London Review of Books *Table of ContentsIndex 373 Preface ix Acknowledgments xv 1. Unthinking France, Rethinking Decolonization 1 2. Situating Cesaire: Antillean Awakening and Global Redemption 17 3. Situating Senghor: African Hospitality and Human Solidarity 49 4. Freedom, Time, Territory 74 5. Departmentalization and the Spirit of Schoelcher 106 6. Federalism and the Future of France 133 7. Antillean Autonomy and the Legacy of Louverture 167 8. African Socialism and the Fate of the World 206 9. Decolonization and Postnational Democracy 241 Chronology 261 Notes 275 Works Cited 333

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Book SynopsisFrom Edgar and Liliane’s famous residence, the Frank Lloyd Wright masterpiece called Fallingwater, to the Kaufmann clock, a historic landmark that inspired the expression “meet me under the clock,” to countless fond memories for residents and shoppers, the Kaufmann family made important contributions to art, architecture, and culture.

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Book SynopsisTable of ContentsIntroduction: Reading Literary Modernities on the Horizon of World Literature | 1 1. Literary Modernity and the Emancipation of Voice: Defences of Poetry by Percy Bysshe Shelley and Lu Xun | 23 2. Shakespearean Retellings and the Question of the Common Reader: Charles and Mary Lamb’s Tales from Shakespeare and Lin Shu’s Yinbian Yanyu | 50 3. Estrangements of the World in the Familiar Essay: Charles Lamb and Zhou Zuoren’s Approaches to the Ordinary | 73 4. Between the Theater and the Novel: Woman, Modernity, and the Restaging of the Ordinary in Mansfield Park and The Rouge of the North | 92 Coda | 137 Acknowledgments | 141 Notes | 145 Index | 161

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Book SynopsisThe shell-ravaged landscape of Hill 60, some three miles to the south east of Ypres, conceals beneath it a labyrinth of tunnels and underground workings. This small area saw horrendous fighting in the early years of the war as the British and Germans struggled to control its dominant view over Ypres.

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Book SynopsisBoulogne - 23 May, 1940. A town under siege. A rampant German panzer division hammers at its gates. Panic in the street and chaos on the docks. Air Raids. Frightened refugees and dispirited Allied soldiers scramble to escape. Churchill sends battalions of the Irish and the Welsh Guards, to help the French garrison stem the German tide.

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Book SynopsisAt the end of 1918 one prescient American historian began to write a history of the Great War. What will you call it? he was asked. The First World War, was his bleak response.In Between the Wars Philip Ziegler examines the major international turning points - cultural and social as well as political and military - that led the world from one war to another. His approach is panoramic, touching on all parts of the world where history was being made, examining Gandhi''s March to the Sea and the Chaco War in South America alongside Hitler''s rise to power.It is the tragic story of a world determined that the horrors of the First World War would never be repeated, yet committed to a path which in hindsight was inevitably destined to end in a second, even more devastating conflict.Each chapter bears the unmistakable stamp of Ziegler''s scholarship: a keen eye for the telling anecdote, elegant and fluid prose, and calm and fair judgments. In a world tTrade ReviewA fascinating, panoramic overview . . . In prose of crystalline elegance, Ziegler travels chronologically across countries and continents, discussing global events that range from the complex arguments for Home Rule in Ireland in 1921 to the fascist takeover of Madrid in 1939. -- Juliet Nicolson * Spectator. *Very rewarding, well-written, succinct and full of intelligent judgements. -- Hugh ThomasZiegler is an elegant, unfailingly lucid writer -- Simon Callow.One of the most experienced and versatile biographers of his generation. * Observer. *Ziegler writes with urbanity and wit but is unflinching in his judgments. * Times Literary Supplement. *Fascinating. -- Bill Bryson * on The Black Death. *A skillful historian. * Kirkus Reviews. *

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Book SynopsisIsaac Liu, the son of Brother Yun, tells his own story of growing up under the hostile eyes of the Chinese authoritiesTable of ContentsContents1. Son of an enemy of the state 72. A nervous robber 143. Our village 174. My grandmother’s equation 215. A heroine of the faith 246. I only knew my father from the wanted poster 297. My mother was a very courageous woman 328. Persecuted, but alive and active 359. It’s a good thing you only get baptized once! 3810. Not a little saint 4211. Police and demons 4812. Secret meetings 5413. Forced to flee 6414. Disappointed by God 6815. A guest of the official church 7216. The exam is cancelled 7717. The network of Christian “agents” 8318. In a Chinese Volkswagen among buffalo carts and goats 8819. We leave China 9320. In Burma 9621. My friend Ming 10222. Reading and yet more reading… 10923. Prisoner in a hotel 11424. Fleeing to Thailand 12125. Lufthansa flight to Germany 12526. What’s to become of me? 13027. The “dusty country” 13728. When I think of China… 140

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Book SynopsisChristian Wolmar is Britain's foremost writer and broadcaster on transport matters. He writes regularly for a wide variety of publications including the Independent, Evening Standard and Rail magazine, and appears frequently on TV and radio as a commentator. His previous books include the widely acclaimed The Subterranean Railway, Fire and Steam, Blood, Iron and Gold, Engines of War and The Great Railway Revolution.Trade ReviewChristian Wolmar is Britain's foremost railway historian, with almost a dozen books on railways in Britain and abroad. This is one of his best. Witty, fluent and opinionated, he shows a superb grasp of Russia - its people, history and mindset... Wolmar leaves us in awe of an achievement that has made the Trans-Siberian not only the longest but the greatest railway line ever built. * The Times *Fascinating... An excellent examination of one the most extraordinary engineering feats of the 19th century. * Daily Express *With characteristic clarity, Wolmar argues that no railway has been so geopolitically important. This may be "a heavy burden for a humble iron road" to carry, but his history makes a convincing case. -- Andrew Martin * Mail on Sunday *Does justice to the tale of the world's longest railway... Free of niche anorak jargon, Wolmar's writing is like any self-respecting railway should be: direct, pacey and open to all. * Lonely Planet Traveller *

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Book SynopsisThe almost unbelievable story of how God used one man who really trusted Him.

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Book SynopsisThe first major history of Germany in a generation, a work that presents a five-hundred-year narrative that challenges our traditional perceptions of Germany's conflicted past.Trade Review"Drawing on cartography, literature, travel narratives, and the history of politics, warfare, science, religion, and art, Helmut Walser Smith constructs a magisterial account of the German nation as a history of constant transformation and reinvention. Beautifully written and richly textured, it is essential reading for everyone interested in Germany's past, present, and future." -- Sir Christopher Clark, University of Cambridge"Helmut Walser Smith's Germany is an encompassing history of German efforts to define their nation in all its stunning contradictions through five centuries — pastoral, productive, exalted, for a time murderous, for longer civic, always complex." -- Charles Maier, Harvard University

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Book SynopsisPanzers in Normandy Then and Now is a detailed study of the German panzer regiments in Normandy in 1944 as seen from the German side.

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Book SynopsisAt the age of nine Janina David was leading a sheltered life with her prosperous Jewish family in Poland. One year later they were all facing starvation in the Warsaw ghetto. In her memoirs of a wartime childhood Janina David describes the family's struggle against insurmountable odds. When it became clear that none of them was likely to survive, the thirteen-year-old girl was smuggled out of the ghetto to live with family friends - a Polish woman and her German-born husband. When their home became too dangerous, she was sent with false identity papers to a Catholic convent, where she lived in constant fear of being discovered.Trade Review"impossible to put down" Caroline Moorhead"

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Book SynopsisNewcastle's colourful and sometimes dramatic history is brought to life in this series of varied tales spanning several hundred years. Including some of the most fascinating accounts from his previous books, Newcastle author and historian Ken Smith presents a selection of truelife stories from the city's stirring past.Table of ContentsA New Castle The Old Tyne Bridge The Keelmen's Hospital The Siege of Newcastle A King Attempts to Escape Breakthrough at the Infirmary The Philanthropist Flooded Mines Icebreakers for Russia The Best Little Fellow Town Moor Racing The John Mawson Tragedy The Geordie Lamp Cholera and Fire Chinese Sailors Battling Engineers Great Exhibitions Earl of Newcastle

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Book SynopsisExplore British history as you have never seen it before, with a 3 metre long timeline detailing more than 1000 events - from dinosaurs to the present day

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Book SynopsisExamining the role and influence of news 'fixers' who mediate between foreign journalists and local sources, this book is based on vivid personal accounts and insider perspectives alongside analysis of the role fixers have played in bringing news of Turkey and Syria to international audiences.Trade Review'… a thoughtful and immersive dive into the stories of fixers, the dilemmas they face and how they try to navigate cultural and media expectations.' Usman Butt, Middle East Monitor'In this subtle and reflective book … Arjomand uses novelistic techniques - composite characters in carefully composed circumstances - to both protect his sources and convey a complex and fascinating world with wit, intelligence, and sympathy.' Lisa Anderson, Foreign AffairsTable of ContentsIntroduction: A Tale of Two Fixers; 1. Beginnings; 2. Fitting In; 3. Moral Worlds of Ambivalence and Bias; 4. Translations; 5. From Local to Global; Appendix: Sociological Fiction.

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Book SynopsisDiscusses a medieval African urban society as a product of interactions among African communities who inhabited the region between 100 BCE and 500 CE. Positioned as the gateway into and out of eastern Africa, the Swahili coast became a site through which people, inventions, and innovations bi-directionally migrated, were adopted, and evolved.Table of ContentsPreface: Swahili Worlds: A Medieval African Urban Civilization; 1. Foundations of a Medieval African Urban Civilization; 2. The Rise of the Medieval Swahili State; 3. What Was the Medieval East African World Like?; 4. Global Connections; 5. Asian Connections; 6. Who Were the Medieval East Africans?; Appendices.

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Book SynopsisThe past is constantly present, not least in the study of imperialism and imperial forms of power in international politics. This volume shows how historical trajectories have shaped international affairs covering a wide range of imperial and (post-) colonial settings in international politics, substantiating the claim that imperial and colonial legacies - and how they have transformed over time - are foundational to the historicity of international politics. It contributes to debates on the role of history in International Relations (IR) by combining theoretical arguments on the role of history through the concept of ''historicity'' with concrete empirical analyses on a wide range of imperial and colonial legacies. This volume also advances interdisciplinary perspectives on this topic by fostering dialogue with Historical Sociology and Global History. It will interest scholars and advanced students of IR, historical sociology and global politics, especially those working on the history of international politics, and the legacies of colonialism and imperialism.

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Book SynopsisWhat kind of country is America? Zachary Shore tackles this polarizing question by spotlighting some of the most morally muddled matters of WWII. Should Japanese Americans be moved from the west coast to prevent sabotage? Should the German people be made to starve as punishment for launching the war? Should America drop atomic bombs to break Japan''s will to fight? Surprisingly, despite wartime anger, most Americans and key officials favored mercy over revenge, yet a minority managed to push their punitive policies through. After the war, by feeding the hungry, rebuilding Western Europe and Japan, and airlifting supplies to a blockaded Berlin, America strove to restore the country''s humanity, transforming its image in the eyes of the world. A compelling story of the struggle over racism and revenge, This Is Not Who We Are asks crucial questions about the nation''s most agonizing divides.Trade Review'What would we see if we held a mirror to America? Zachary Shore uses key moments in history to find out. He examines the country at its best and its worst, exploring the roots of both smart and senseless decisions. In the process, he points us toward who we really are.' Dayna Barnes, author of Architects of Occupation: American Experts and the Planning for Postwar Japan'In this elegantly narrated tale, Zachary Shore weaves together a rich tapestry of heroes and villains, some of whom often switch roles. That alone would make for fascinating reading, but the surprises that Shore reveals do more than entertain. They spotlight the moral quandaries that plagued Americans as their wartime thirst for vengeance wrestled with their loftier ideals.' Adam Hochschild, author of To End All Wars: A Story of Loyalty and Rebellion, 1914–1918'As America emerges from the traumas of recent years, it will be important to restore confidence in our common identity and strengthen our social fabric. Zachary Shore's This Is Not Who We Are has arrived just in time to foster thoughtful introspection and meaningful discussion of how our past can help us to understand the present and build a better future.' H. R. McMaster, former US National Security Advisor and author of Battlegrounds and Dereliction of Duty'By examining several difficult decisions made during World War II, Zachary Shore's thoughtful and original book sheds new light not only on wartime policymaking, but also on the deep moral conflicts at the core of Americans' aspirations and experience.' James Sheehan, author of Making the Modern Political Order: The Problem of the Nation State'Zachary Shore is a historian of great humanity and insight, and a gifted writer. He brings all these qualities to this penetrating yet sensitive analysis of the moral dilemmas Americans faced in first perpetrating, and then later confronting, acknowledging and atoning for heinous acts during World War II. Shore's detailed recounting of the complexities and drivers of wartime decisions and events provides the frame for a deeper examination of our country's ongoing struggle to live up to its ideals and aspirations.' Fiona Hill, former Deputy Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Europe and Russia'Full of fascinating historical tidbits and sharp character sketches...this is a potent survey of America's ongoing battle to live up to its ideals.' Publishers Weekly'An instructive history that speaks to the better angels of the American nature.' Kirkus ReviewsTable of ContentsList of figures; Prologue: The Friendship Train; Introduction: From vengeance to virtue; Part I. Enemies:; 1. Concentrate; 2. Sabotage; 3. Coordinate; 4. Cover-Up; 5. Disintegrate; 6. Collude; 7. Deny; 8. Maneuver; 9. Regret; 10. Fallout; 11. Reckoning; Part II. Saviors:; 12. Rescue; 13. Sacrifice; 14. Reform; 15. Revive; 16. Hunger; 17. Resurrect; 18. Uplift; 19. Atone; 20. Afterlife; Acknowledgments; Notes; Select bibliography; Index.

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Book SynopsisThe first in-depth analysis of archival methodologies in the writing of global history, focused on a Japanese migrant steamship in the 1880s-90s. Tracing the ship's journeys between Japan, Hawai'i, Southeast Asia and Australia, Martin Dusinberre analyses labour migration, settler colonialism and resource extraction in the Asia-Pacific world.Trade Review'Martin Dusinberre challenges us to engage critically with the idea of a 'global archive' in writing global history in this fascinating study of the 'Yamashiro-maru', a Japanese steamship which transported Japanese migrants in the Pacific Ocean. This is an innovative and thought-provoking book, sensitively written.' Naoko Shimazu, Yale-NUS College and Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore'In this engaging study, Martin Dusinberre situates migrant Japanese plantation workers, sex workers, and others in relation to imperialism, extractive capitalism, and formations of indigeneity in the Pacific. Challenging the epistemologies of the modern discipline of history, Dusinberre demonstrates how scholars might listen for other voices when assembling their archives.' David Ambaras, Professor of History, North Carolina State UniversityTable of ContentsNote on the Text; Preface; 1. Archival traps; 2. Between the archives; 3. Outside the archive; 4. Archival country, counter claims; 5. The archive and I; 6. The burned archive; Epilogue.

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Book SynopsisThis Element shows that existing models of global slavery derived from sociology rather than history. It argues that we can understand the global history of slavery in ways that historicise the study of history as an institution with a history that changes over time and space. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.Table of Contents1. Models of slavery; 2. New ways of writing the history of slavery; 3. Lived experience; Bibliography.

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Book SynopsisNon-sovereign territories today account for more than half the states in the Caribbean but regional and global histories of the twentieth century tend to exclude them from narratives of protest and change. This book argues that our current understanding of global decolonisation is partial. We need a fuller picture which includes both independent and non-independent states, and moves beyond a focus on political independence, instead conceptualising decolonisation as a process of challenging and dismantling colonial structures and legacies. Decolonisation is neither an inevitable nor a linear process, but one which can ebb and flow as the colonial grip is weakened and sometimes restrengthened, often in new forms. Using the Cayman Islands, the British Virgin Islands, Martinique and Guadeloupe as case studies, Grace Carrington demonstrates that a focus on the processes of decolonisation in these non-sovereign states enriches our understanding of the global experience of twentieth century decolonisation.

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