History of science Books

Book SynopsisAfter the fall of Rome, as civilizations collapsed and libraries burned, ancient knowledge that would eventually fuel the Renaissance was at risk of being lost. This thrilling history tracks three crucial books as they were passed hand to hand through seven cities during a perilous thousand-year journey of survival. After the great library at Alexandria was destroyed, Baghdad, Cordoba, Toledo, Salerno, and Palermo were rare outposts of knowledge in a dark world, where dedicated scholars collected, translated, and shared texts. Violet Moller’s The Map of Knowledge takes us into the sparkling intellectual life that flourished there, highlighting the crucial role played by Arab scholars in improving the cornerstone ideas of Western thought. She shows us how foundational works on math, astronomy, and medicine by Euclid, Ptolemy, and Galen eventually reached Venice, the major center of scientific printing, where their legacy was assured—having been rescued by the p

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Book SynopsisThis book explores the development of navigation in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. It examines the role of men of science, seamen and practitioners across Europe, and the realities of navigational practice, showing that old and new methods were complementary not exclusive, their use dependent on many competing factors.Trade Review“The well-written introduction by Rebekah Higgitt and Richard Dunn provides a good overview, and even readers who are not specialists will profit from studying the contents of this important contribution. It opens up many highly interesting research perspectives and can be recommended wholeheartedly.” (Günther Oestmann, ISIS, Vol. 108 (4), December, 2017)“The editors declare an aim of giving depth to the British story by describing analogous activity in other European countries and the transnational linkages that facilitated progress in the theory and practice of navigation. … This volume must find a place in university libraries. It is essential reading for any serious student of the development of marine navigation.” (M. K. Barritt, The Mariner’s Mirror, Vol. 102 (2), April, 2016)“This collection of essays deals with the development and introduction of methods for finding longitude at sea between 1730 and 1850, mainly by non-British nations. … Approaching the issue from a non-British perspective considerably broad-ensour understanding and is no doubt the book’s strongest point. … this volume deserves a place in the bookcase of everyone interested in or studying the history of navigation and astronomy.” (W. F. J. Mörzer Bruyns, The Northern Mariner, Vol. 26 (1), March, 2016)“It has achieved a set of original perspectives on the Board and its work, that were not accessible from the internal study, as well as a rich series of accounts that are valuable in their own right. … Taken together, these papers form an excellent book, which demonstrates that the study of navigation in the period, and perhaps particularly of the longitude problem, has resumed its serious engagement with historical work.” (Jim Bennett, The International Journal of Maritime History, Vol. 28 (4), 2016)Table of Contents1. Introduction; Rebekah Higgitt and Richard Dunn 2. A Southern Meridian: Astronomical Undertakings in the Eighteenth-Century Spanish Empire; Juan Pimentel 3. The Longitude Committee and the Practice of Navigation in the Netherlands, c.1750-1850; Karel Davids 4. From Lacaille to Lalande: French Work on Lunar Distances, Nautical Ephemerides and Lunar Tables, 1742-85; Guy Boistel 5. The Bureau des Longitudes: An Institutional Study; Martina Schiavon 6. Patriotic and Cosmopolitan Patchworks: Following a Swedish Astronomer into London's Communities of Maritime Longitude, 1759-60; Jacob Orrje 7. 'Perfectly Correct': Russian Navigators and the Royal Navy; Simon Werrett 8. A Different Kind of Longitude: The Metrology and Conventions of Location by Geodesy; Michael Kershaw 9. Testing Longitude Methods in Mid-Eighteenth Century France; Danielle M. E. Fauque 10. Navigating the Pacific from Bougainville to Dumont d'Urville: French Approaches to Determining Longitude, 1766-1840; John Gascoigne 11. Navigation and Mathematics: A Match Made in the Heavens?; Jane Wess 12 . Longitude Networks on Land and Sea: The East India Company and Longitude Measurement 'in the Wild', 1770-1840; David Philip Miller

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Book SynopsisThose convicted of homicide were hanged on the public gallows before being dissected under the Murder Act in Georgian England. Yet, from 1752, whether criminals actually died on the hanging tree or in the dissection room remained a medical mystery in early modern society.Table of ContentsPART I: INTRODUCTION.- 1. The Condemned Body Leaving the Courtroom.- 2. Becoming Really Dead: Dying by Degrees.- 3. In Bad Shape: Sensing the Criminal Corpse.- PART II: PREAMBLE.- 4. Delivering Post-Mortem ‘Harm’: Cutting the Corpse.- 5. Mapping Punishment:Provincial Places to Dissect.- 6. The Disappearing Body: Dissection to the Extremities.- PART III: CONCLUSION.- 7. The Anatomical Legacy of the Criminal Corpse.-

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Book SynopsisPreface Introduction PARTI: 1960s-1970s The 'Old': Self-help, Phoenix House and the Rehabilitation of Drug Users The 'New'? New Social Movements and Release Drug Voluntary Organisations and the State in the 1960s and 1970s PART II: 1980s Rolling Back the State? The Central Funding Initiative for Drug Services Activism and Health: The Impact of AIDS PARTII: 1990s-2000s Business Models or the Revival of the State? Users: Service Users and the Drug User Movement Conclusion BibliographyTrade Review'We are lucky that two such talented scholars, with such a wealth of knowledge in the field, have joined together to write this ambitious and analytically rich book.' Catherine Carstairs, University of Guelph, Social History of Medicine, vol 24, no 3, December 2011Table of ContentsPreface Introduction PART I: 1960s-1970s The 'Old': Self-help, Phoenix House and the Rehabilitation of Drug Users The 'New'? New Social Movements and Release Drug Voluntary Organisations and the State in the 1960s and 1970s PART II: 1980s Rolling Back the State? The Central Funding Initiative for Drug Services Activism and Health: The Impact of AIDS PART II: 1990s-2000s Business Models or the Revival of the State? Users: Service Users and the Drug User Movement Conclusion Bibliography

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Book SynopsisThe continent for science is also a continent for the humanities. As this book shows, the tools of literary studies, history, archaeology, and more, can likewise produce important insights into the nature of the modern world and humanity more broadly.Trade Review“The 13 contributing authors provide not only an impressive overview of humanities and social science approaches toward the study of Antarctica, but also clearly demonstrate that Antarctic research is relevant to more than the natural sciences. … Antarctica and the Humanities is recommended for any historian interested in Antarctica, but it would also appeal to a maritime historian interested in more than just ships and maritime technology or trade.” (Ingo Heidbrink, The Northern Mariner, Vol. 27 (1), 2017)“Congratulations to Peder Roberts and his team for developing the concept of representing the humanities in Antarctica with a collection of essays … . This hardcover first edition of Antarctica and the humanities is beautifully presented, with endnotes following each chapter, with maps and illustrations, and an index for the diverse subject matter. It has been deservedly well-received. It is a book which invites further discussion. It is, and will continue to be, a valuable reference.” (Anna Lucas, Polar Record, 2017)Table of ContentsIntroduction - Antarctica: A Continent for the Humanities by Peder Roberts, Lize-Marié van der Watt and Adrian Howkins. - PART I: THE HEROIC AND THE MUNDANE. - 1. Changing the Subject: Antarctic Diaries and Heroic Reputations by Elizabeth Leane. - 2. Beriberi at Kerguelen: A case study of international Antarctic co-operation 1901-1903 by Cornelia Lüdecke. - PART II: ALTERNATIVE ANTARCTICS. - 3. So far, so close. Approaching experience in the study of the encounter between sealers and the South Shetland Islands (Antarctica, 19th century) by Andrés Zarankin and Melisa A. Salerno. - 4. The white (supremacist) continent: Antarctica and fantasies of Nazi survival by Peder Roberts. - 5. The whiteness of Antarctica: race and South Africa’s Antarctic history by Lize-Marié van der Watt and Sandra Swart. - PART III: WHOSE ANTARCTIC?. - 6. Acting artefacts: on the meanings of material culture in Antarctica by Dag Avango. - 7. Finding Place in Antarctica by Alessandro Antonello. - 8. Scott's Shadow: “Proto Territory” in Contemporary Antarctica by Elena Glasberg. - PART IV: VALUING ANTARCTIC SCIENCE. - 9. SCAR as a healing process? Reflections on science and polar politics in the Cold War and beyond. The Case of Norway by Stian Bones. - 10. Emerging from the shadow of science: some thoughts on the challenges and opportunities for Antarctic history by Adrian Howkins. - Concluding Reflections by Aant Elzinga

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Book SynopsisMiles Taylor is Professor of Modern History at the University of York, UK.Jill Pellew is Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of Historical Research, Univeristy of London, UK.Trade ReviewA highly readable, well-informed and authoritative account of a crucial period in the development of higher education in the UK and globally. * Jon Nixon, Visiting Professor, Middlesex University, UK *With so much valuable first-hand insight, this book will undoubtedly serve as a useful reference on the ways in which different countries and their academics responded to the challenge of creating universities for the mid twentieth century, as a starting point for those looking to take a more comparative approach to this period in higher education. * Oxford Magazine *This welcome book brings together the perspectives of several historians who look at higher education’s recent past, back about 60 years. ... Most compelling is the tone of the contributing authors. * Paedagogica Historica: International Journal of the History of Education *By focusing on the new campuses of the 1960s, and seeking to explain how higher education has evolved into the mass phenomenon that it has become today, this book addresses a significant gap. ... [T]his volume is highly recommended to anyone interested in educational development and its politics. * H-Soz-Kult *Utopian Universities is unquestionably an authoritative and key text in the study of post-war higher education and suggests some exciting future directions of inquiry for the field. ... Utopian Universities will be an invaluable foundation to build on. * History Workshop Journal *Table of ContentsAcknowledgements List of Contributors Maps Preface Laurie Taylor (University of York, UK) Introduction Jill Pellew (Institute of Historical Research, University of London, UK) and Miles Taylor (University of York, UK) 1. Keele: Post-War Pioneer Miles Taylor (University of York, UK) 2. Learning From Redbrick: Utopianism and Architectural Legacy of the Civic Universities William Whyte (University of Oxford, UK) 3. Sussex: Cold War Campus Matthew Cragoe (University of Lincoln, UK) 4. The University of East Anglia: From Mandarins to Neoliberalism John Charmley (St Mary’s University, UK) 5. Oxford on the Ouse?: The Founding of the University of York 1960 to 1973 Allen Warren (University of York, UK) 6. Great Expectations: Sloman’s Essex and Student Protest in the 'Long 1960s' Caroline Hoefferle (Wingate University, North Carolina, USA) 7. The New and the Old: the University of Kent at Canterbury Krishan Kumar (University of Virginia, USA) 8. Social History Comes to Warwick Carolyn Steedman (University of Warwick, UK) 9. Innovation and Evolution: Lancaster Learning, 1964-74 Marion McClintock (Lancaster University, UK) 10. Failed Utopia? The University of Stirling from the 1960s to the Early 1980s Holger Nehring (University of Stirling, UK) 11. The New University of Ulster and the Northern Ireland Crisis Tom Fraser and Leonie Murray (Ulster University, UK) 12. Science and the New Universities Jon Agar (UCL, UK) 13. The New British Campus Universities of the 1960s and Their Localities: The Culture of Support and the Role of Philanthropy Jill Pellew (University of London, UK) 14. California Dreaming: Clark Kerr and the State University Christopher Newfield (University of California, Santa Barbara, USA) 15. The Other 60s: Academic Administrators as Agents of Change in Canadian Higher Education Paul Axelrod (York University, Canada) 16. From Progressive Pedagogy to ‘Capitalist Fodder’: the New Universities in Australia Hannah Forsyth (Australian Catholic University, Australia) 17. Jawaharlal Nehru University: A University for the Nation Rajat Datta (Jawaharlal Nehru University, India) and Shalini Sharma (Keele University, UK) 18. From American Dream to Nightmare on The Left: Student Revolts, the ‘Wild Nursery’ and the Slums: The University of Nanterre, 1962-71 Victor Collet (University of Paris X, France) 19. The Reform Universities of West Germany: Bochum, Konstanz and Bielefeld Stefan Paulus (University of Augsburg, Germany) 20. Utopian Universities of the British Commonwealth Miles Taylor (University of York, UK) Afterword Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisThe true story of the government conspiracy to bring down J. Robert Oppenheimer, America's most famous scientist. On April 12, 1954, the nation was astonished to learn that J. Robert Oppenheimer was facing charges of violating national security. Could the director of the Manhattan Project, the visionary who led the effort to build the atom bomb, really be a traitor? In this riveting book, bestselling author Priscilla J. McMillan draws on newly declassified U.S. government documents and materials from Russia, as well as in-depth interviews, to expose for the first time the conspiracy that destroyed one of America's most illustrious scientists. McMillan recreates the fraught years from 1949 to 1955 when Oppenheimer and a group of liberal scientists tried to head off the cabal of hard-line air force officials, anti-Communist politicians, and rival scientists, including physicist Edward Teller, who were trying to seize control of U.S. policy and build ever more deadly nuclear weapons. Trade ReviewPricilla J. McMillan understands that reality and, without patronizing the reader, writes an engrossing narrative that anyone with any level of background—or lack thereof—on this most important of subjects can follow—New York Journal of BooksTable of ContentsForeward, by Martin J. SherwinPrefaceIntroductionPart One1. David Lilienthal's Vacation2. The Maneuvering Begins3. The Halloween Meeting4. The Secret Debate5. Lost OpportunitiesPart Two6. Fuchs's Betrayal7. Fission versus Fusion8. Teller9. UlamPart Three10. Teller's Choice11. The Second Lab12. A New EraPart Four13. Sailing Close to the Wind14. Strauss Returns15. Two Wild Horses16. The Blank Wall17. Hoover18 . The Hearing Begins19 . Smyth20. Borden21. Ceasar's Wife22. Do We Really Need Scientists?23. Oppenheimer24. We Made It-and We Gave It AwayPostludeAcknowledgmentsNotesSelected BibliographyIndex

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