History Books

Book SynopsisThis highly original book is both a study of emotional discourse in the Early Middle Ages and a contribution to the debates among historians and social scientists about the nature of human emotions.Trade Review"This is a landmark book, not only for the early middle ages but also for the emerging field of the history of emotions. Barbara H. Rosenwein evaluates with superb intelligence the strengths and weaknesses of the various methods that have been applied in this field, and fashions an approach of her own that will serve as a useful model for many other researchers. Using this carefully constructed method, she is able to bring to life for us, as no other scholar has, the emotional communities whose existence is implied in the scattered texts and epigraphs of the sixth, seventh, and eighth centuries. A real tour de force." -- William M. Reddy, William T. Laprade Professor of History and Professor of Cultural Anthropology, Duke University"Thoroughly discrediting the view of many scholars that medieval people, in contrast to modern ones, were 'emotionally childish, impulsive, and unrestrained,' Barbara H. Rosenwein ably develops and deploys the concept of 'emotional communities' to investigate several groups in early Medieval Europe whose members adhered to 'the same norms of emotional expression and valued—or devalued—the same or related emotions.'." -- Stephen D. White, Candler Professor of Medieval History, Emory University"What did people 1400 years ago mean when they told a woman that they 'were moved by her tears,' or found an event 'hell raising'? Historians have always been puzzled by medieval descriptions of emotions. They interpreted them in simplistic terms, or at best explained displays of emotion as ritual performances quite unconnected to what people really felt. Barbara H. Rosenwein, using recent psychological theory, opens doors to a completely new understanding of past emotions. Instead of a general and necessarily blurred picture of a 'typical' medieval set of emotions, she subtly reconstructs feelings and attitudes,'emotives' and passions shared by specific 'emotional communities.' Various languages of emotion connected stereotypes and metaphors with inner feelings. The book opens fascinating new ways of access to a 'dark age,' and should be read not only by medieval historians but also by anyone interested in the study of emotions past or present." -- Walter Pohl, Professor of Medieval History, University of Vienna, and Director, Institute for Medieval Research, Austrian Academy of Sciences"With her original book, Emotional Communities in the Early Middle Ages, Barbara H. Rosenwein opens new perspectives on the history of emotions. This includes a persuasive critique of Norbert Elias's influential notion of the civilizing process. Proposing that people lived (and live) in emotional communities, each having its own particular norms and emotional expressions, Rosenwein has written a groundbreaking book that is highly important to historians as well as to social scientists working on the history of emotions." -- Ingrid Kasten, Freie Universitët Berlin"With this book Barbara Rosenwein has made the emotions an essential component of our approach to the changing social history." -- Jacques Le GoffTable of ContentsIntroduction1. The Ancient Legacy2. Confronting Death3. Passions and Power4. The Poet and the Bishop5. Courtly Discipline6. Reveling in RancorConclusionSelected BibliographyIndex

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Book SynopsisFrom clay tablets to the printing press. From the pencil to the internet. From the Epic of Gilgamesh to Harry Potter. This is the true story of literature -- of how great texts and technologies have shaped cultures and civilizations and altered human history. The inventions of paper, the printing press and the world wide web are usually considered the major influences on the way we share stories. Less well known is the influence of Greek generals, Japanese court ladies, Spanish adventurers, Malian singers and American astronauts, and yet all of them played a crucial role in shaping and spreading literature as we know it today. The Written World tells the captivating story of the development of literature, where stories intersect with writing technologies like clay, stone, parchment, paper, printing presses and computers. Central to the development of religions, political movements and even nations, texts spread useful truths and frightening disinformation, and have the power to change lives. Through vivid storytelling and across a huge sweep of time, The Written World offers a new and enticing perspective on human history.

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Book SynopsisBy the spring of 1645, civil war had exacted a terrible toll upon England. Disease was rife, apocalyptic omens appeared in the skies, and idolators detected in every shire. In a remote corner of Essex, two obscure gentlemen began interrogating women suspected of witchcraft, triggering the most brutal witch-hunt in English history.Witchfinders is a spellbinding study of how Matthew Hopkins, ''the Witchfinder General'', and John Stearne extended their campaign across East Anglia, driven by godly zeal. Exploiting the anxiety and lawlessness of the times, and cheered on by ordinary folk, they extracted confessions of satanic pacts resulting in scores of executions.

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Book SynopsisA magisterial survey of Irish history from the end of the ice age to the peace settlement in Northern Ireland.

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Book Synopsis1856. Eighteen-year-old chemistry student William Perkin's experiment has gone horribly wrong. But the deep brown sludge his botched project has produced has an unexpected power: the power to dye everything it touches a brilliant purple. Perkin has discovered mauve, the world's first synthetic dye, bridging a gap between pure chemistry and industry which will change the world forever.From the fetching ribbons tying back the hair of every fashionable head in London to the laboratories in which scientists developed modern vaccines against cancer and malaria, Simon Garfield tells the story of how the colour purple became a sensation.Trade ReviewA book about science which also happens to be a miniature work of art * * Daily Telegraph * *Intriguing and elegant * * Guardian * *Thoroughly researched and beautifully written * * New Scientist * *By bringing Perkin into the open and documenting his life and work, Garfield has done a service to history * * Chicago Tribune * *Simon Garfield's history of the synthetic dye industry mixes chemistry and social history into quite a colourful tale * * Observer * *A one-man Blue Peter team for intelligent adults, a great British explainer * * Observer * *Witty, erudite and entertaining * * Esquire * *Garfield has a talent for being sparked to life by esoteric enthusiasm and charming readers with his delight * * The Times * *A sort of museum between hard covers . . . as good as pop history gets * * Sunday Express * *Simon Garfield has made his name as an author who can spin fascinating narratives out of subjects that seem, on the face of it, narrow to the point of being dull * * Financial Times * *

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Book SynopsisOffers a methodological and analytic opening to the affective registers of imperial governance and the political content of archival forms. This title identifies the social epistemologies that guided perception and practice, revealing the problematic racial ontologies of that confused epistemic space.Trade Review"[E]legance, energy, and perspicuity has long been a hallmark of Stoler's scholarship, but in this book, Stoler's aim is particularly true... Along the Archival Grain is a call to arms from one of the most forceful practitioners of our discipline. The passions that haunt are of more than passing interest: they have done much to shape our contemporary world. In facing up to this reality, Ann Stoler has provided us with a new way of conceptualizing what students of the colonial can and should do."--Danilyn Rutherford, Journal of Colonialism and Colonial History "Along the Archival Grain ... sheds new light on the nature of the colonial state... Stoler takes the lessons of colonial discourse analysis first opened by Edward Said to new heights... Along the Archival Grain is also an indispensable and innovative ethnography of the colonial state that dismantles the state's epistemic power and self-representation."--Julian Go, Pacific Affairs "This book has raised the benchmark for archival investigation and established a powerful model for new cultural geographies of colonialism that deserves to be read and debated by those beyond the fields of colonial studies and historical research methodology and theory."--Stephen Legg, Environment and Planning "The author presents a nuanced and meticulous reading of official nineteenth- and twentieth-century Dutch colonial archives and decenters how postcolonial scholars, feminist scholars, and historians have characteristically approached colonial texts."--Meredith Reifschneider, Current Anthropology "Stoler's historical examples are both fascinating and choice... Scholars of Dutch colonialism will naturally need to read [this book], but its significance and appeal will matter to nearly everyone working in postcolonial studies and provide an important retort to those 'students of colonialism' (in Stoler's stern phrase) who treat the colonial as an unproblematic term or a given."--John Mcleod, Interventions "As a significant contribution to the historiography of affect, this monograph will find places of honor in colleagues' bookcases, on research library shelves, and amid graduate seminar reading lists. Beyond the academy, thoughtful readers will find its insights valuable in considering personhood in the new digital age."--Elizabeth Bishop, Ab Imperio QuarterlyTable of ContentsList of Illustrations ix Appreciations xi Chapter One: Prologue in Two Parts 1 Chapter Two: The Pulse of the Archive 17 Part I: Colonial Archives and Their Affective States 55 Chapter Three: Habits of a Colonial Heart 57 Chapter Four: Developing Historical Negatives 105 Chapter Five: Commissions and Their Storied Edges 141 Part II: Watermarks in Colonial History 179 Chapter Six: Hierarchies of Credibility 181 Chapter Seven: Imperial Dispositions of Disregard 237 Appendix 1: Colonial Chronologies 279 Appendix 2: Governors-General in the Netherlands Indies, 1830-1930 285 Bibliography 287 Index 309

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Book SynopsisFascism, communism, genocide, slavery, racism, and imperialism - the West has no shortage of reasons for guilt. And, indeed, since the Holocaust and the end of World War II, Europeans in particular have been consumed by remorse. This title argues that obsessive guilt has obscured important realities.Trade Review"The Tyranny of Guilt is one of the landmark books of our time. With humour, depth, breadth, restraint and great insight Bruckner diagnoses an infuriating era... Pascal Bruckner's short book is one of the most vital published in recent years. If the civilisation which it explains survives then I suspect his book will have played as important a part as any piece of writing could in determining that outcome."--Douglas Murray, Literary Review "That Bruckner's talents defy classification might help to account for the relatively understated reception of his work on this side of the Atlantic. This situation is likely to change soon: along with The Tyranny of Guilt, Princeton University Press will also publish Perpetual Euphoria... Bruckner is a bold and eloquent and important thinker."--Richard Wolin, New Republic "[The Tyranny of Guilt] is a work of bracing lucidity and exhilarating perception... Europe needs to rethink its attitude towards its past if it is to build a more inclusive and dynamic future. As this exceptional book so emphatically shows, guilt is a luxury we can no longer afford."--Andrew Anthony, The Observer "When it comes to the sweaty metabolism of guilt, Bruckner is perhaps the most accomplished anatomist since Nietzsche. (He is also, like Nietzsche, an extraordinary stylist, commanding a sinewy, memorably epigrammatic prose.) ... Ferociously intelligent, passionately argued, stylistically brilliant."--Roger Kimball, National Review "As a result of his literary background and immersion in the fiery French essayist tradition, he writes in a sparkling prose, captured well here by his translator, Steven Rendall. The resulting tone is redolent for Anglo-Saxon readers of an earlier era, when social critics like Marx or Nietzsche conveyed their ideas with combative gravitas. Beneath Bruckner's eloquence is a serious message: we remain prisoners of a white guilt whose victim is its supposed beneficiary... [T]his is a stirring and important book."--Eric Kaufmann, Prospect "Mr. Bruckner cites literary figures, journalists and intellectuals throughout the Western world making the case that whatever punishment the West has been made to suffer--e.g., the horrors of 9/11--are merely well deserved."--Wall Street Journal "Bruckner's book is controversial at times, but he does a wonderful job of combining passionate writing with a well-argued critique of modern Europe."--Library Journal "[Pascal Bruckner's] angry book could change a whole civilization's opinion, if only that civilization had sense enough to pay attention."--Robert Fulford, National Post "In the end, Bruckner's real theme is something deeper and broader: Western guilt and the resulting lack of self-belief. Again, he sees the origins of this in a guilty conscience, and there is an echo here of debates sixty or more years ago over Communism."--Geoffrey Wheatcroft, National Interest "[M]agnificent."--Standpoint Magazine "These provocative statements undergird Bruckner's brilliant polemic arguing that European remorse for the sins of imperialism, fascism, and racism has gripped the continent to the point of stifling its creativity, destroying its self-confidence, and depleting its optimism."--Daniel Pipes, National Review Online "Bruckner shows how selective we are about teaching history and how our media is obsessed with only one struggle (Israel/Palestine) while ignoring others (Sudan/Darfur). The essay, translated into clear American English, is provocative, scholarly and accessible."--Julia Pascal, The Independent "In Pascal Bruckner's recent essay The Tyranny of Guilt, we finally get an argument that should move those ready away from the masochistic acceptance of blame for every bad thing in the world."--Stanley Crouch, Daily Beast "Bruckner's originality lies in taking the narcissism of Western guilt and using the old distinction between repentance, where one resolves to find absolution by doing better, and remorse, where one wallows in perpetual penitence, to create a synthesis of great explanatory power."--Nick Cohen, The Australian "As the Obama administration and congressional Democrats work to make the United States a more European-style society, The Tyranny of Guilt arrives at the right time (and kudos to Princeton University Press for publishing such a bracing, politically incorrect book). Pascal Bruckner, who remains a man of the left in some sense, recognizes the true genius of the West--and the capacity of its brightest minds to forget that genius or, worse, condemn it."--Brian Anderson, New Criterion "[Bruckner's] basic thesis is that the entire western world is addicted to wallowing in guilt about the past, and that the root of it all is roughly religious--stemming from the notion of original sin. Bruckner's most vivid illustration of our addiction to guilt is that so many thinkers and commentators could greet the murder of 3,000 people on September 11, 2001, with cries of 'we had it coming.'"--Irish Independent "Bruckner, a French intellectual, argues brilliantly if controversially it's high time the West lighten up, bring historical perspective to itself, celebrate its more prosperous institutions, and stop hamstringing its relations with other groups."--Miriam Cosic, Australian "It's no put-down of Pascal Bruckner's latest book to say I enjoyed it in the same way I enjoyed the Daily Express, although his canvas is bigger and his style more literary and erudite... In this work, [Bruckner] has many shrewd insights into contemporary Europe."--Tara McCormack, Spiked "Pascal Bruckner has written a passionate meditation that many, especially on the Left, will find provocative. One might even hope that this little book will awaken European thinkers from their dogmatic slumber and lead them to consider the advantages and disadvantages of history for European civic life."--Daniel DiSalvo, SocietyTable of ContentsIntroduction 1 Chapter One: Guilt Peddlers 5 The Irremediable and Despondency 6 The Ideology That Stammers 9 The Self-Flagellants of the Western World 13 A Thirst for Punishment 22 Chapter Two: The Pathologies of Debt 27 Placing the Enemy in One's Heart 28 The Vanities of Self-Hatred 33 One-Way Repentance 40 The False Quarrel over Islamophobia 47 Chapter Three: Innocence Recovered 57 How Central Is the Near East? 59 "Zionism, the Criminal DNA of Humanity" 62 Unmasking the Usurper 67 A Delicate Arbitrage 74 America Doubly Damned 80 Chapter Four: The Fanaticism of Modesty 87 A Tardy Conversion to Virtue 88 The Empire of Emptiness 90 The Pacification of the Past 93 The Guilty Imagination 96 Recovering Self-Esteem 100 The Twofold Lesson 106 Chapter Five: The Second Golgotha 111 Misinterpretations of Auschwitz 113 Hitlerizing History 117 The Twofold Colonial Nostalgia 127 Chapter Six: Listen to My Suffering 139 On Victimization as a Career 140 Protect Minorities or Emancipate the Individual? 148 What Duty of Memory? 157 Chapter Seven: Depression in Paradise: France, a Symptom and Caricature of Europe 167 A Universal Victim? 168 The Wild Ass's Skin 176 Who Are the Reactionaries? 179 The Triumph of Fear 183 Metamorphosis or Decline? 186 Chapter Eight: Doubt and Faith: The Quarrel between Europe and the United States 193 To Be or to Have 194 The Troublemakers in History 199 The Archaism of the Soldier 203 The Swaggering Colossus 207 Conclusion 215 Postscript to the English Translation 223 Index 229

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"Excellently documented... [O]ne of the best pictures that has ever been put together of the twelve men who made up [the] Committee of Public Safety... There is fine scholarship here."--New York Times "An excellent book on the administration of France by the great Committee of Public Safety... [Palmer] has made the members of the Committee living characters and the events of the period real occurrences."--American Political Science Review "A wonderful collective portrait of the Committee of Public safety; from the first sight of the room where they met at the Tuileries, you are plunged into the drama of their adventure."--Biancamaria Fontana, Times Higher EducationTable of ContentsList of Illustrations vi Foreword to the Princeton Classic Edition vii Preface to the Bicentennial Edition xvii 1 Twelve Terrorists to Be 3 2 The Fifth Summer of the Revolution 22 3 Organizing the Terror 44 4 The Beginning of Victory 78 5 The "Foreign Plot" and 14 Frimaire 108 6 Republic in Miniature 130 7 Doom at Lyons 153 8 The Missions to Alsace 177 9 The Missions to Brittany 202 10 Dictated Economy 225 11 Finding the Narrow Way 254 12 Ventose 280 13 The Culmination 305 14 The Rush Upon Europe 335 15 The Fall 361 Epilogue 388 Bibliographical Essay 397 Index 405

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Book SynopsisAfter the collapse of the Han dynasty, China divided along a north-south line. Lewis traces the changes that underlay and resulted from this split in a period that saw China's geographic redefinition, more engagement with the outside world, significant changes to family life, literary and social developments, and the introduction of new religions.Trade ReviewAn original, useful, and very timely book, China between Empires is arguably the first single-volume comprehensive treatment for general readers of Chinese history between AD 220 and 589. Lewis writes clearly and with conviction and marshals an impressive array of evidence--historical, religious, technological, literary, and archaeological. It is a remarkable achievement, especially considering the extreme complexity of the period. -- Lothar von Falkenhausen, University of California, Los AngelesThe book is wide-ranging in scope and interspersed with interesting ideas. -- V. C. Xiong * Choice *This series on China, brilliantly overseen by Timothy Brook, is a credit to Harvard University Press. Above all, it encourages us to think of China in different ways. -- Jonathan Mirsky * Literary Review *Table of Contents* Introduction * The Geography of North and South China * The Rise of the Great Families * Military Dynasticism * Urban Transformations * Rural Life * China and the Outer World * Redefining Kinship * Daosim and Buddhism * Writing * Conclusion * Dates and Dynasties * Pronunciation Guide * Notes * Bibliography * Acknowledgements * Index

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Book SynopsisRising '44 is a brilliant narrative account of one of the most dramatic episodes in 20th century history, drawing on Davies' unique understanding of the issues and characters involved. In August 1944 Warsaw offered the Wehrmacht the last line of defence against the Red Army's march from Moscow to Berlin. When the Red Army reached the river Vistula, the people of Warsaw believed that liberation had come. The Resistance took to the streets in celebration, but the Soviets remained where they were, allowing the Wehrmacht time to regroup and Hitler to order that the city of Warsaw be razed to the ground. For 63 days the Resistance fought on in the cellars and the sewers. Defenceless citizens were slaughtered in their tens of thousands. One by one the City's monuments were reduced to rubble, watched by Soviet troops on the other bank of the river. The Allies expressed regret but decided that there was nothing to be done, Poland would not be allowed to be governed by Poles. The sacrifice was in vain and the Soviet tanks rolled in to the flattened city. It is a hugely dramatic story, vividly and authoritatively told by one of our greatest historians.Trade Review[His] knowledge and his passion are displayed in this notable book. His research among Polish and Soviet sources is exhaustive -- Max Hastings * Sunday Telegraph *Davies reveals a comprehensive design, tremendous narrative power, a remarkable gift for compression, and a shrewd sense of overall balance * The New York Review of Books *Davies has been widely recognised as the historian of that benighted country. Now he has used the forthcoming 60th anniversary of the uprising not only to provide a comprehensive account but to make us rethink the central trauma of the 20th century - the conflict between democracies and the totalitarian fantasies of fascism and communism. * Guardian *Much more than the story of the Warsaw uprising. It is one of the most savage indictments of Allied malfeasance yet leveled by a historian. Unsparing in his depictions of the slaughter of the Polish fighters and the destruction of their capital, Davies challenges the popular assumption that World War II was entirely the triumph of good over evil. * New York Times *

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Book SynopsisA gripping biography of the Paston family set against the turbulent background of the Wars of the Roses from bestselling historian Helen Castor, author of She-WolvesThe Wars of the Roses turned England upside down. Between 1455 and 1485 four kings, including Richard III, lost their thrones, more than forty noblemen lost their lives on the battlefield or their heads on the block, and thousands of the men who followed them met violent deaths. As they made their way in a disintegrating world, the Paston family in Norfolk family were writing letters - about politics, about business, about shopping, about love and about each other, including the first valentine.Using these letters - the oldest surviving family correspondence in English - Helen Castor traces the extraordinary history of the Paston family across three generations. Blood & Roses tells the dramatic, moving and intensely human story of how one family survived one of the most tempestuous periods in English history.Trade Review"'Sharply written, impeccably documented, structured with the trip and pace of a good thriller' Hilary Spurling Daily Telegraph"

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Book SynopsisMesopotamia produced one of the best-known ancient civilizations, with a literate, urban culture and highly-developed political institutions. In this fully revised and expanded edition of her classic text, Sumer and the Sumerians, Harriet Crawford reviews the extraordinary social and technological developments in the region from 3800 to 2000 BC. Drawing on the most up-to-date historical and archaeological sources, she provides a thematic exploration of this ancient civilization, examining its physical and historical background, changing settlement patterns, public and private architecture and cultural developments of the period. In this new edition, the chapter on Manufacturing Industries and Trade has been enlarged and divided into two chapters. In addition, a new chapter on the contemporary developments in Upper Mesopotamia is included. The final chapter reflects on the future of the heritage of Iraq in the aftermath of the second Gulf War.Trade Review'the real achievement of this slim book is that Crawford does not over-generalise, but leaves the reader with an understanding of both the broad patterns as well as the differences between regions in Mesopotamia and through time.' Bibliotheca OrientalisTable of Contents1. The rediscovery of the ancient Near East: the physical environment; 2. History, chronology and social organization; 3. Patterns of settlement and agriculture; 4. Town planning and temple architecture; 5. Public buildings and private housing; 6. Upper Mesopotamia; 7. Life, death and the meaning of the universe; 8. Manufacturing industries; 9. Trade; 10. Writing and the arts; 11. Conclusions.

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Book SynopsisIn 1942, Lieutenant-Commander Ian Fleming was personal assistant to the Director of Naval Intelligence - the dynamic figure behind James Bond''s fictional chief, ''M''. Here, Fleming had a brilliant idea: why not set up a unit of authorised looters, men who would go in hard with the front-line troops and steal enemy intelligence?Known as ''30 Assault Unit'', they took part in the major campaigns of the Second World War, landing on the Normandy beaches and helping to liberate Paris. 30AU''s final amazing coup was to seize the entire archives of the German Navy - thirty tons of documents. Ian Fleming flew out in person to get the loot back to Britain, where it was combed for evidence to use in the Nuremburg trials. In this gripping and highly enjoyable book, Nicholas Rankin, author of the best-selling Churchill''s Wizards, puts 30 Assault Unit''s fascinating story in a strategic and intelligence context. He also argues that Ian Fleming''s Second Wor

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Book SynopsisRoman Ungern von Sternberg was a Baltic aristocrat, a violent, headstrong youth posted to the wilds of Siberia and Mongolia before the First World War. After the Bolshevik Revolution, the Baron - now in command of a lethally effective rabble of cavalrymen - conquered Mongolia, the last time in history a country was seized by an army mounted on horses. He was a Kurtz-like figure, slaughtering everyone he suspected of irreligion or of being a Jew. And his is a story that rehearses later horrors in Russia and elsewhere. James Palmer''s book is an epic recreation of a forgotten episode and will establish him as a brilliant popular historian.

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Book Synopsis'An epic tale . . . told relentlessly well. If you want to read a serious account of the price of Zionism, and a sobering review of Israel's new role as conqueror and occupier, then Hirst is your man.' Christopher HitchensA myth-breaking general history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, The Gun and the Olive Branch traces events right back to the 1880s to show how Arab violence, although often cruel and fanatical, is a response to the challenge of repeated aggression.Banned from six Arab countries, kidnapped twice, David Hirst, former Middle East correspondent of the Guardian, is the ideal chronicler of this terrible and seemingly insoluble conflict. The new edition of this 'definitive' (Irish Times) study brings the story right up to date. Amongst the many topics that are subjected to Hirst's piercing analysis are: the Oslo peace process, the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza, the destabilising effect of Jewish settlement in the te

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Book SynopsisPliny the Elder produced in his Natural History a vast compendium of Roman knowledge. Topics included are the mathematics and metrology of the universe; world geography and ethnography; human anthropology and physiology; zoology; botany, agriculture, and horticulture; medicine; minerals, fine arts, and gemstones.

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Book SynopsisNearly all the works Aristotle (384–322 BC) prepared for publication are lost; the priceless ones extant are lecture-materials, notes, and memoranda (some are spurious). They can be categorized as practical; logical; physical; metaphysical; on art; other; fragments.

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Book SynopsisFrom the 17th to the early 20th century, the population of Martha’s Vineyard manifested an extremely high rate of hereditary deafness. In contrast to the experience of most Deaf people, Deaf Vineyarders were thoroughly integrated into the daily life of the community. How was this possible?Trade ReviewBeautiful and fascinating… I was so moved by Groce’s book that the moment I finished it I jumped in the car, with only a toothbrush, a tape recorder, and a camera—I had to see this enchanted island for myself. -- Oliver Sacks * New York Review of Books *Fascinating… Groce accomplishes much just by pointing out that ‘handicaps’ are something a culture creates, and thus the joint responsibility of us all. That’s what places this book squarely within the best tradition of anthropological writing, and makes it both moving and encouraging. * Village Voice *Brilliantly argued and lively… [Groce’s] information consists of the oral history she herself garnered from some 50 witnesses, almost all more than 75 years old, and the documents in print and in manuscript that cross-check and extend their first-hand accounts. Human genetic theory, ethnographic counterparts and a clear-eyed account of social attitudes are the analytic tools that form her brief and telling work… [A] persuasive and compassionate investigation. * Scientific American *It must become essential reading for all concerned with the psychosocial aspects of deafness and for anyone interested in the history of hearing problems. Furthermore, for anyone with a serious interest in the hearing impaired and their problems it will make fascinating and valuable reading… The most readable of books. * British Journal of Audiology *[Groce] illuminates and challenges the assumption that discrimination has existed always and everywhere. [She] has made a major contribution to our understanding of deafness, disability and handicap as socially meaningful, dynamic categories. * Qualitative Sociology *When is deafness neither handicap nor stigma? When, as this remarkable book recounts, the entire hearing community learns from childhood to be bilingual in conventional speech and sign language, and when the deaf are wholly integrated into the community’s social, economic, religious, and recreational life… A vivid ethnography of a hearing community’s full acceptance of, and adaptation to, deafness. Groce also constructs a fascinating ethnohistory of this genetic disorder. * Choice *Table of Contents1. "They Were Just Like Everyone Else" 2. The History of Martha's Vineyard 3. The Origins of Vineyard Deafness 4. The Genetics of Vineyard Deafness 5. The Island Adaptation to Deafness 6. Growing Up Deaf on the Vineyard 7. Deafness in Historical Perspective 8. "Those People Weren't Handicapped" Appendix A. Oral and Written Sources Appendix B. Perceived Causes of Vineyard Deafness Notes Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisVolume VIII of the nine-volume Loeb edition of Early Greek Philosophy includes the so-called sophists Protagoras, Gorgias, Prodicus, Thrasymachus, and Hippias, along with testimonia relating to the life, views, and argumentative style of Socrates.Trade ReviewIn brief, André Laks and Glenn Most give us a brilliant and beautiful reference work that can, at the same time, be easily enough read straight through. And spending a few months doing so gives the reader almost all that she needs (perhaps along with Loeb #258, Greek Elegiac Poetry) to reconstruct for herself the origins of the discipline of philosophy. I should want any graduate student or colleague in ancient philosophy or intellectual history to acquire and make their way through it. -- Christopher Moore * Classical Journal *The publication of the Loeb Classical Library’s nine-volume set, Early Greek Philosophy, gives us a new edition of the original texts, with fresh translations. It is a monumental achievement—the result of many years of dedicated work on the part of the two editors/translators André Laks and Glenn W. Most… We owe a profound debt of gratitude to the editors/translators for their thorough and impeccable scholarship, and to the publishers for their usual high standards of production. If you can afford them, don’t hesitate: you will be all the richer for having these volumes on your shelves. -- Jeremy Naydler * Minerva *André Laks and Glenn W. Most have made available to the world of scholarship in early Greek philosophy a resource of immense value. Every study of a thinker or of an issue within the thematic ambit of Early Greek Philosophy must henceforth start by canvassing and taking into account the appropriate selections in the Loeb set. -- Alexander P. D. Mourelatos * Bryn Mawr Classical Review *The publication of a Loeb Classical Library edition of the evidence for early Greek philosophy is a major event in classical scholarship…The editors and their assistants are to be commended for their exemplary execution of such a vast and difficult task. They have succeeded in producing what is far and away the best available edition of the texts of the early Greek philosophers with accompanying English translation…More than that, their edition effectively supersedes Hermann Diels and Walter Kranz’s Die Fragmente der Vorsokratiker, which has long held sway as the standard edition of the Presocratics, but it only does so because Laks and Most have respectfully taken Diels-Kranz as their model…Laks and Most have set such a high standard with this work that it is hard to imagine that we will see a better general collection on early Greek philosophy in our lifetimes…Laks and Most’s philological acumen, judiciousness as editors, and excellence as translators is evident on every page. -- John Palmer * Arion *

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Book SynopsisIn letters to his friend Atticus, Cicero (106–43 BC) reveals himself as to no other of his correspondents except perhaps his brother, and vividly depicts a momentous period in Roman history, marked by the rise of Julius Caesar and the downfall of the Republic.

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Book SynopsisThe surviving works of the Roman Emperor Julian “the Apostate” (AD 331 or 332–363) include eight Orations; Misopogon (Beard-hater), assailing the morals of the people of Antioch; more than eighty Letters; and fragments of Against the Galileans, written mainly to show that the Old Testament lacks evidence for the idea of Christianity.

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Book Synopsis“As good a second-by-second reconstruction of the assassination and its aftermath as I’ve read.” Bryan Burrough, The New York TimesTrade Review"...the inclusion of a detailed timeline and extensive interviews make Parkland a valuable resource." -- Glasgow Herald

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Book SynopsisAsks us to re-orient our views away from Eurocentrism - to see the rise of the West as a mere blip in what was, and is again becoming, an Asia-centered world. This title is suitable for those interested in Asia, in world systems and world economic and social history, in international relations, and in comparative area studies.Trade Review"A stimulating and thoughtful book that should be read by all serious students of the modern world system." * American Journal of Sociology *"Frank justifiably calls this his best book. . . . [He] gives world history new sophistication and new challenges." * Journal of Interdisciplinary History *"This stunning synthesis by a veteran world historian looks sure to land in reading guides, figure in seminars, and be the subject of conferences. It is written with verve and enthusiasm in a conviction of novelty that reaches prophetic fervor." * American Historical Review *"No scholar can afford to ignore this serious book." * Journal of World History *This is a provocative book, for it challenges the conventional wisdom in historiography and social theory." * Review of Politics *"This marvelously ambitious and erudite historical take on the global economy has resonance within multiple contexts." * Millennium: Journal of International Studies *"A giant leap toward applications of world systemic apparatus to historical inquiry and makes significant historiographical and theoretical contributions to the field." * World History Connected *Table of ContentsPREFACE I Introduction to Real World History vs. Eurocentric Social Theory Holistic Methodology and Objectives Globalism, not Eurocentrism Smith, Marx, and Weber Contemporary Eurocentrism and Its Critics Economic Historians Limitations of Recent Social Theory Outline of a Global Economic Perspective Anticipating and Confronting Resistance and Obstacles 2 The Global Trade Carousel 1400-1800 An Introduction to the World Economy Thirteenth- and Fourteenth-Century Antecedents The Columbian Exchange and Its Consequences Some Neglected Features in the World Economy World Division of Labor and Balances ofTrade Mapping the Global Economy The Americas Mrica Europe WestAsia The Ottomans Safavid Persia India and the Indian Ocean North India Gujarat and Malabar Coromandel Bengal Southeast Asia Archipellago and Islands Mainland Japan China Population, Production, and Trade China in the World Economy Central Asia Russia and the Baltics Summary of a Sinocentric World Economy 3 Money Went Around the World and Made the World Go Round World Money: Its Production and Exchange Micro- and Macro-Attractions in the Global Casino Dealing and Playing in the Global Casino The Numbers Game Silver Gold Credit How Did the Winners Use Their Money? The Hoarding Thesis Inflation or Production in the Quantity Theory of Money Money Expanded the Frontiers of Settlement and Production In India In China Elsewhere in Asia 4 The Global Economy: Comparisons and Relations Quantities: Population, Production, Productivity, Income, and Trade Population, Production, and Income Productivity and Competitiveness World Trade 1400-1800 Qualities: Science and Technology Eurocentrism Regarding Science and Technology in Asia Guns Ships Printing Textiles Metallurgy, Coal, and Power Transport World Technological Development Mechanisms: Economic and Financial Institutions Comparing and Relating Asian and European Institutions Global Institutional Relations In India In China 5 Horizontally Integrative Macrohistory Simultaneity Is No Coincidence Doing Horizontally Integrative Macrohistory Demographic; Structural Analysis A "Seventeenth-Century Crisis"? The 1640 Silver Crises Kondratieff Analysis The 1762-1790 Kondratieff"B" Phase: Crisis and Recessions A More Horizontally Integrative Macrohistory? 6 Why Did the West Win (Temporarily)? Is There a Long-Cycle Roller Coaster? The Decline of the East Preceded the Rise of the West The Decline in India The Decline Elsewhere in Asia How Did the West Rise? Climbing Up on Asian Shoulders Supply and Demand for Technological Change Supplies and Sources of Capital A Global Economic Demographic Explanation A Demographic Economic Model A High-Level Equilibrium Trap? The Evidence: 1500-1750 The 1750 Inflection Challenging and Reformulating the Explanation The Resulting Transformations in India, China, Europe, and the World In India ln China In Western Europe The Rest of the World Past Conclusions and Future Implications 7 Historiographic Conclusions and Theoretical Implications Historiographic Conclusions: The Eurocentric Emperor Has No Clothes The Asiatic Mode of Production European Exceptionalism A European World-System or a Global Economy? 1500: Continuity or Break? Capitalism? Hegemony? The Rise of the West and the Industrial Revolution Empty Categories and Procrustean Beds Theoretical Implications: Through the Global Looking Glass Holism vs. Partialism Commonality/Similarity vs. Specificity/Differences 3 Continuity vs. Discontinuities Horiwntal Integration vs. Vertical Separation Cycles vs. Linearity Agency vs. Structure Europe in the World Economic Nutshell Jihad vs. McWorld in the Anarchy of the Clash of Civilizations? REFERENCES INDEX

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Book SynopsisThis profusely illustrated book offers a comprehensive look at the social and cultural history of Aborigines from the origins to the present.Trade Review'An ideal resource for secondary students looking at indigenous cultures … I found it fascinating' - School Library AssociationTable of Contents1. The Last Continent; 2. A Culture Celebrating Life; 3. An Empty Land? 4. We Have Survived!

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Book SynopsisThe Codex of Justinian is, together with the Digest, the core of the great Byzantine compilation of Roman law called the Corpus Iuris Civilis. The Codex compiles legal proclamations issued by Roman emperors from the second to the sixth centuries CE. Its influence on subsequent legal development in the medieval and early modern world has been almost incalculable. But the Codex has not, until now, been credibly translated into English. This translation, with a facing Latin and Greek text (from Paul Krüger''s ninth edition of the Codex), is based on one made by Justice Fred H. Blume in the 1920s, but left unpublished for almost a century. It is accompanied by introductions explaining the background of the translation, a bibliography and glossary, and notes that help in understanding the text. Anyone with an interest in the Codex, whether an interested novice or a professional historian, will find ample assistance here.

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Book SynopsisYassin al-Haj Saleh is a leftist dissident who spent sixteen years as a political prisoner and now lives in exile. He describes with precision and fervour the events that led to Syria's 2011 uprising, the metamorphosis of the popular revolution into a regional war, and the 'three monsters' Saleh sees 'treading on Syria's corpse': the Assad regime and its allies, ISIS and other jihadists, and Russia and the US. Where conventional wisdom has it that Assad's army is now battling religious fanatics for control of the country, Saleh argues that the emancipatory, democratic mass movement that ignited the revolution still exists, though it is beset on all sides. 'The Impossible Revolution' is a powerful, compelling critique of Syria's catastrophic war, which has profoundly reshaped the lives of millions of Syrians.Trade Review'Saleh’s personal tragedy reveals him as an authentic voice trying to understand how the genuine, progressive revolt he supported went so horribly wrong.' -- New York Review of Books'Reading The Impossible Revolution, a Western audience has the opportunity to eavesdrop on the conversation that has been going on between Syrians since the beginning of the conflict ... If Saleh had been read by Westerners at the time of his writing, for example, ISIS would not have come as such a surprise.' -- Times Literary Supplement'"Where is cool-headed, clear thinking to be found, in a world of al-Sada, jinn, and ghosts?" ... One might say it is to be found in the pages of [Saleh's] book, where he examines the origins of the violence, delves into the ideology of the Ba'ath Party that has ruled the country since 1963, methodically dissects the phases of the revolution, and charts the lurch into sectarianism ... [in] carefully modulated prose' -- The New York Review of Books'Yassin al-Haj Saleh [is] arguably Syria’s most important living intellectual . . . [a] luminous volume of essays.'‘A nuanced look at the Syrian struggle from one of Syria’s foremost leftist thinkers.’ 'Yassin al-Haj Saleh is one of Syria's most important contemporary political theorists and public intellectuals. Saleh, whose work is widely known and circulated in Arabic, has been a hugely influential participant in important debates concerning modernity, governance, identity, and society in Syria. Since the start of the Syrian uprising, Saleh's influence and his role as an incisive critic of extremism, dictatorship, and the effects of mass violence on Syrian society have offered powerful and compelling responses to the traumas that define the contemporary Syrian experience.' * Steven Heydemann, Professor of Middle East Studies at Smith College and the author of Authoritarianism in Syria: Institutions and Social Conflict, 1946-1970 *‘In its lucidity, erudition, range and percipience, the book is worthy of a Gramsci. In its method, rigour and predictions, it is an intellectual achievement of extraordinary significance . . . Yassin al-Haj Saleh, one of Syria's most celebrated intellectuals . . . writes with remarkable dispassion and objectivity . . . Saleh's work will stand as an imperishable reminder of the circumstances through which this impossible revolution endured.’ 'A subjective but insightful account of how totalitarianism has destroyed civil society and wrecked Syria.' -- Bloomberg'Penetrating analysis . . . indispensable.''A searing and heartfelt critique of a crisis which is no longer just Syria’s, but the world’s. Born in Raqqa and imprisoned under the Assads for sixteen years, Yassin al-Haj Saleh is now recognised as ‘the conscience of the Syrian Revolution.’ No other voice has such clarity or integrity.' -- Diana Darke, author of 'My House in Damascus: An Inside View of the Syrian Crisis''Saleh takes us on a personal journey through the ecstasy and the heartbreak of Syria’s revolution and the many struggles the country has faced since. Syria’s revolution began as an organic peaceful movement seeking simple and reasonable goals, but as Saleh explains, it soon spawned conflicting, violent and dangerous complexities that sadly now dominate public discourse and on-the-ground dynamics. There is no better voice to tell this book’s many important stories and Saleh’s words are likely to live on for years to come.' -- Charles Lister, author of 'The Syrian Jihad: Al-Qaeda, The Islamic State and the Evolution of an Insurgency''The appearance of Yassin al-Haj Saleh’s work in English has been long awaited. It’s vitally important to listen to Syrian voices on the events which are happening in their country. Yassin is one of Syria’s most engaging revolutionary thinkers, and he provides valuable context to a democratic revolution and vicious counter-revolution which has often been wilfully misunderstood by commentators in the West. Expert analysis and powerful personal testimony are interwoven in this book which is indispensable for anyone wishing to further their understanding of the Syrian tragedy.' -- Leila Al Shami, co-author of 'Burning Country: Syrians in Revolution and War'

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewDazzling… [Purdy’s] book is, among other things, a panoramic tour of what he calls the ‘American environmental imagination.’ …Purdy hopes that climate change might spur yet another change in how we think about the natural world, but he insists that such a shift will be inescapably political… For a relatively slim volume, this book distills an incredible amount of scholarship—about Americans’ changing attitudes toward the natural world, and about how those attitudes might change in the future. -- Ross Andersen * The Atlantic *For Purdy, one of the key challenges of the Anthropocene is to use the law in ways that adopt the best rather than the worst of each vision of nature: to integrate concern for human work and meaning into an ecological framework; to set standards for action on climate change; to make transparent the sources of our food and our treatment of animals…Purdy thinks we need to learn the core political lesson of his story—which at its heart is not about the politics of nature, but about democracy. This is a history in which democracy is constantly evaded, decision-making is removed from collective politics by appeals to ‘natural systems,’ and anti-politics creeps back in. -- Katrina Forrester * The Nation *Jedediah Purdy has written a big book, taking up a set of profound environmental questions and offering sweeping answers… The strengths of After Nature are significant and make this a must-read book for all who are struggling with how to reinvigorate environmental protection in the face of political breakdown in America and troubling global trends, including the emerging risk of climate change… The journey he maps is illuminating. In fact, perhaps the greatest strength of After Nature is its intellectual history of American environmentalism… With this book, Purdy shows himself to be a deep thinker on the nature of Nature… Purdy offers a provocative ecological vision and ethical argument that deserves to be reckoned with. He has established himself among the top tier of environmental philosophers of our day. -- Daniel C. Esty * Los Angeles Review of Books *After Nature argues that we will deserve the future only because it will be the one we made. We will live, or die, by our mistakes. -- Christine Smallwood * Harper’s *After Nature takes the reader on a smart and eloquent tour of the history of conservation movements, the rise of the study of ecology (and its flourishing in the wake of the Vietnam War) and the gradual expansion of environmental law, but Purdy is at his most insightful and persuasive when writing about the first of his ‘major realms,’ economy—and the subtle ways money has been shaping nature for centuries to suit its own needs… In the previous year, there’ve been many studies of the deeper meaning of the Anthropocene and the future of humanity, studies ranging from the impenetrable to the inconsolable. After Nature is by a wide margin the best of these books; in its passion, intelligence, and persistent thread of hope, it may very well be the Silent Spring of the 21st century. -- Steve Donoghue * Open Letters Monthly *Offers a powerful reckoning with our bewildering present… Its great value lies in its sophisticated, lucid study of the evolving American environmental imagination. Purdy…brings impressive intellectual and literary chops to bear on a history of American attitudes toward nature, and how those attitudes have manifested in tangible modifications of the air, land, and water… The book aims to show how our shared philosophical premises inform our laws, our behavior, and ultimately our world. -- Rebecca Tuhus-Dubrow * Los Angeles Review of Books *[Purdy] argues that our democracy is too beholden to the influence of money, that the processes we use to produce energy and food should be made more transparent to the public, and that technological solutions are unreliable and will not bring about the greater change of consciousness that is necessary to solve our most pressing problems. He urges an ethic of self-restraint and a new worldview in which human beings are no longer ‘the figure at its center.’ -- Nathaniel Rich * New York Review of Books *A profound vision of post-humanistic ethics. * Kirkus Reviews *It’s good to have as powerful a mind as Professor Purdy’s taking on these questions so central to our modern life. Every page has insights that will help people struggling to understand how we got here and where we’re headed. -- Bill McKibben, author of The End of NatureDeeply considered and finely laid out… To begin reading it is to open and decipher a compressed and encrypted file on a history of ideas about what nature means at the heart of the Anthropocene. Purdy draws on law, letters, philosophy, science, social science, politics, and aesthetics; from Locke, Rousseau, and Burke, through Jefferson, all the way to the recent past of the ecological age’s beginnings, the urgent catastrophe of Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring (1962), and our contemporary moment, after ‘crisis had become the normal state of affairs,’ closing with ideas about nature and the posthuman from Rosi Braidotti, among others. Somewhere in between, Purdy manages to give a history of private property—how ‘each version of nature has its economy.’ If the ominous political near past and the planet’s environmental emergency feel present on every page, so, too, does a sense of the role we each have in shaping the future. -- Liz Larner * Artforum *

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Book SynopsisKyla Schuller unearths the forgotten, multiethnic sciences of impressibility—the capacity to be affected—to expose the powerful workings of sentimental biopower in the nineteenth-century United States, uncovering a vast apparatus of sensory regulation that aimed to shape the evolution of the national population.Trade Review"[Schuller's] terminology here may act as a springboard for additional theorizations of race. . . . An ambitious, conscientious history." -- Joshua Falek * Cultural Studies *"The importance of this book to nineteenth-century studies cannot be understated: it fundamentally rewrites the history of sentimentalism, an affective and cultural formation that dominated norms of comportment and embodiment across the period. . . . " -- Kyla Tompkins * American Quarterly *"The Biopolitics of Feeling takes a refreshingly head-on approach to the historical entanglement of race and sex in the United States. . . Stunningly convincing . . . Readers will find an abundant resource of theoretically informed readings of postbellum and Progressive Era science and literature throughout the study, but they will be also unable to ignore Schuller’s urgent warning about feminism’s embeddedness in the machinations of biopower." -- Britt Rusert * Catalyst *"Impressibility and sentimentalism combine in this book to form a rubric assessing a broad and fascinating archive. . . . Schuller offers a broad view of how nineteenth-century Americans were given repeated exposure to the logic of impressibility and affective fitness, to the point where both became unconscious components of civic life." -- Sheila Liming * Legacy *"An impressive synthesis of historical and theoretical work. . . . A well-documented critique of society and valuable contribution to scholarship on biopolitics that addresses persistent issues that can spark intellectual discussions. The book would be useful for scholars across disciplines such as Philosophy, Health Studies, Critical Race Studies, Ethnic Studies and Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies." -- Rosemary Onyango * Journal of International Women's Studies *Table of ContentsAcknowledgments ix Introduction. Sentimental Biopower 1 1. Taxonomies of Feeling: Sensation and Sentiment in Evolutionary Race Science 35 2. Body as Text, Race as Palimpsest: Frances E. W. Harper and Black Feminist Biopolitics 68 3. Vaginal Impressions: Gyno-neurology and the Racial Origins of Sexual Difference 100 4. Incremental Life: Biophilanthropy and the Child Migrants of the Lower East Side 134 5. From Impressibility to Interactionism: W. E. B. Du Bois, Black Eugenics, and the Struggle against Genetic Determinisms 172 Epilogue. The Afterlives of Impressibility 205 Notes 215 Bibliography 247 Index 271

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Book SynopsisHitler gave voice to a cry that came from the heart of a nation. Originally published in 1943, Darkness over Germany is a poignant and timely reminder of how high youth unemployment and the disenfranchised working class gave Hitler a savage worship. Between 1934 and 1938 Buller interviewed hundreds of men and women in Germany. This book is the result as Buller explores the deep sense of injustice felt by hundreds of German men and women which led to the ensuing Nazi ideology, and which could have been written today.

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Book Synopsis1993 to 2008 (all rally cars), The Subaru Impreza first appeared on the World Rally scene in 1993, taking a hat-trick of World Rally Manufacturers' Championships, in 1995, 1996 and 1997. The list of drivers who have competed in Imprezas includes Marku Alen, Ari Vatanen, Colin McRae, Carlos Sainz, Richard Burns, Juha Kankkunen, Petter Solberg and Tommi Makinen, with McRae, Burns and Solberg all winning the World Rally Drivers' Championship in 'works' Imprezas., The rallying Impreza is the car that transformed the public perception of Subaru from a purveyor of quirky four-wheel-drive cars used primarily by farmers, into a global brand. This Manual concentrates on the competition history and anatomy of the Group A rally Imprezas which competed between 1993 and 1996, with insight from drivers and co-drivers, and looks at what is involved in running a Group A Impreza today., Author: Andrew van de Burgt is an award-winning journalist, who has been working in motorsport for over 15 years. For 10 of those he was the Editor and then Editor-in-Chief of Autosport, during which time he covered everything from F1 to NASCAR to WRC. He has written a number of books, including a biography of Lewis Hamilton, and Haynes Brabham BT52 Manual.

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Book SynopsisEdward's private world is revealed in this exciting new work by John Ashdown-Hill, author of The Mythology of Richard III

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Book SynopsisFollowing the raid on Pearl Harbor and the entry of the United States into World War II, President Franklin D. Roosevelt identified the European theatre as his country''s priority. Their first joint operation with the British was an amphibious invasion of French North Africa, designed to relieve pressure on their new Soviet allies, eliminate the threat of the French navy joining the Germans, and to shore up the vulnerability of British imperial possessions and trade routes through the Mediterranean.Operation Torch was the largest and most complex amphibious invasion of its time. In November 1942, three landings took place simultaneously across the French North African coast in an ambitious attempt to trap and annihilate the Axis'' North African armies between the invading forces under General Eisenhower and British Field-Marshall Montgomery''s Eighth Army in Egypt. Using full-color artwork, maps, and contemporary photographs, this is the thrilling story of this compl

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Book SynopsisBuilt around AD122, Hadrian''s Wall was guarded by the Roman army for over three centuries and has left an indelible mark on the landscape of northern Britain. It was a wonder of the ancient world and is a World Heritage Site. Written by a leading archaeologist who has excavated widely on the Wall, this is an authoritative yet accessible treatment of the archaeological evidence. The book explains why the expansion of the Roman empire ground to a halt in remote northern Britain, how the Wall came to be built and the purpose it was intended to serve. It is not a guidebook to the remains, but an introduction to the Wall and the soldiers and civilians, men, women and children, who once peopled the abandoned ruins visited by tourists today.

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Book SynopsisWinner of the Jewish Book of the Year AwardThe first comprehensive yet accessible history of the state of Israel from its inception to present day, from Daniel Gordis, one of the most respected Israel analysts (The Forward) living and writing in Jerusalem.Israel is a tiny state, and yet it has captured the world’s attention, aroused its imagination, and lately, been the object of its opprobrium. Why does such a small country speak to so many global concerns? More pressingly: Why does Israel make the decisions it does? And what lies in its future?We cannot answer these questions until we understand Israel’s people and the questions and conflicts, the hopes and desires, that have animated their conversations and actions. Though Israel’s history is rife with conflict, these conflicts do not fully communicate the spirit of Israel and its people: they give short shrift to the dream that gave birth to the state, and to the vision for the Jewish people that was at its core. Guiding us through the milestones of Israeli history, Gordis relays the drama of the Jewish people’s story and the creation of the state. Clear-eyed and erudite, he illustrates how Israel became a cultural, economic and military powerhouse—but also explains where Israel made grave mistakes and traces the long history of Israel’s deepening isolation. With Israel, public intellectual Daniel Gordis offers us a brief but thorough account of the cultural, economic, and political history of this complex nation, from its beginnings to the present. Accessible, levelheaded, and rigorous, Israel sheds light on the Israel’s past so we can understand its future. The result is a vivid portrait of a people, and a nation, reborn.

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Book SynopsisExploding the assumption that black women's only important musical contributions have been in folk, jazz, and popTrade Review"A reliable, well-written, and scholarly reference text." --Wisconsin Public Radio"This excellent and beautifully produced publication will immediately interest those working in music history and women's studies. It is an exemplary study of significant composers born between 1904 and 1956. . . . Essential." --Choice

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"Korda clearly has command of his subject...[Clouds of Glory] is well-considered and amply documented. Military buffs will find much to feast on." -- Christian Science Monitor "Masterful...Korda delivers the goods." -- Kirkus Reviews (starred review) "Superbly engaging." -- Publishers Weekly (starred review) "Monumental." -- BookPage "Lively, approachable, and captivating...Llike Lee himself, everything about Clouds of Glory is on a grand scale." -- Boston Globe

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Book SynopsisBeginning in January 1692, Salem Village in colonial Massachusetts witnessed the largest and most lethal outbreak of witchcraft in early America. Villagers--mainly young women--suffered from unseen torments that caused them to writhe, shriek, and contort their bodies, complaining of pins stuck into their flesh and of being haunted by specters. Believing that they suffered from assaults by an invisible spirit, the community began a hunt to track down those responsible for the demonic work. The resulting Salem Witch Trials, culminating in the execution of 19 villagers, persists as one of the most mysterious and fascinating events in American history. Historians have speculated on a web of possible causes for the witchcraft that stated in Salem and spread across the region-religious crisis, ergot poisoning, an encephalitis outbreak, frontier war hysteria--but most agree that there was no single factor. Rather, as Emerson Baker illustrates in this seminal new work, Salem was a perfect storm: a unique convergence of conditions and events that produced something extraordinary throughout New England in 1692 and the following years, and which has haunted us ever since.Baker shows how a range of factors in the Bay colony in the 1690s, including a new charter and government, a lethal frontier war, and religious and political conflicts, set the stage for the dramatic events in Salem. Engaging a range of perspectives, he looks at the key players in the outbreak--the accused witches and the people they allegedly bewitched, as well as the judges and government officials who prosecuted them--and wrestles with questions about why the Salem tragedy unfolded as it did, and why it has become an enduring legacy.Salem in 1692 was a critical moment for the fading Puritan government of Massachusetts Bay, whose attempts to suppress the story of the trials and erase them from memory only fueled the popular imagination. Baker argues that the trials marked a turning point in colonial history from Puritan communalism to Yankee independence, from faith in collective conscience to skepticism toward moral governance. A brilliantly told tale, A Storm of Witchcraft also puts Salem''s storm into its broader context as a part of the ongoing narrative of American history and the history of the Atlantic World.Trade ReviewHis rock solid historical work and lively, engaging prose made this book both an indispensable contribution to scholarship and a delight to read. I suspect that this is the book on Salem witchcraft for this generation." * Scott D. Seay, Christian Theological Seminary *...[A] cogent, readable, and comprehensive analysis of the literature on the Salem witch trials.... His emphasis on the choices made by individuals - to take action or remain passive - makes this work a welcome addition to our attempts to understand the significance of the Salem events of 1692. * Journal of American History *Of many books about the Salem witch-trials, only a few really matter. This is one of them. Combining deep learning and clear-sighted good sense, A Storm of Witchcraft retells a story that has long managed to be familiar yet puzzling and misunderstood. Emerson Baker's masterly dissection of events is both genuinely original and utterly persuasive, not least because the importance of political circumstance, legal expediency and personal relationships seems obvious once it is pointed out. Baker reminds us that witchcraft was above all a religious crime, which took on terrifying significance at a time of extreme danger in New England's history. But his analysis of Salem's causal roots and painfully enduring ramifications does more than just demystify the trials: it illustrates universal truths about human emotions and their place in modern society. * Malcolm Gaskill, author of Witchfinders: a Seventeenth Century English Tragedy *Baker, professor of history at Salem State College, places the trials in the larger context of American and English history, examining not only their prominent place in our collective memory, but also what made them so different from other witch trials of the era. Baker convincingly demonstrates that the trials were a pivotal point in American history and presents the mass hysteria surrounding them in very poignant terms. * Publisher's Weekly *This extraordinarily researched, expertly written, and convincing study is suitable for and will appeal to a wide audience. * Library Journal *By almost any measure, Emerson W. Baker's new history, A Storm of Witchcraft, is a masterpiece. Few volumes pass the exacting standards needed to be described as such. Baker's does.... Anyone interested in the Salem witch trials and the shaping of the nation should treat themselves to this book. * Maine Sunday Telegram *an excellent survey of the state of knowledge and opinion concerning the Salem witch trials and their implications. * Clive Holmes, English Historical Review *Table of ContentsIntroduction: An Old Valuables Chest Chapter One: Satan's Storm Chapter Two: The City upon a Hill Chapter Three: Drawing Battle Lines in Salem Village Chapter Four: The Afflicted Chapter Five: The Accused Chapter Six: The Judges Chapter Seven: An Inextinguishable Flame Chapter Eight: Salem End Chapter Nine: Witch City?

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Book SynopsisSelected by NYU as one of the century's best books of American journalism.Gathered in this volume are seven long-form articles that John Steinbeck wrote in 1936 for The San Francisco News about the plight of migrant farmworkers during the Dust Bowl, accompanied by photographs by Dorothea Lange and others. Steinbeck toured the squatters' camps and Hoovervilles of California, creating unforgettable portraits of once strong, independent farmers reduced to misery. The inquisitiveness and outrage of an investigative reporter combined with the expressive powers of a novelist in his prime fueled The Harvest Gypsies, which in turn furnished the factual and emotional roots for The Grapes of Wrath and has long been hailed as an American classic in its own right.Trade Review"Written in the best tradition of advocacy journalism … Steinbeck moves among the migrants, pen in one hand, fruit pail in the other, alternately picking and penning his way to literary glory."—The Village Voice"Contains some of Steinbeck's best journalism."—The Nation"Steinbeck's potent blend of empathy and moral outrage was perfectly matched by the photographs of Dorothea Lange, who had caught the whole saga with her camera—the tents, the jalopies, the bindlestiffs, the pathos and courage of uprooted mothers and children."—San Francisco Review of Books"Steinbeck's journalism shares the enduring quality of his famous novel."—Publishers Weekly

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Book SynopsisNelson's history has been written from every possible angle, but this is not so with his ships. Such information as there is about the ships is buried in contemporary books on naval architecture; only the expert can sift it and present it in a usable form. In doing this, Dr. Longridge's 1955 work quickly became a veritable treasure trove for the naval historian and ship modeler. H.M.S. Victory is the supreme example of the ships of the period, and fortunately she is still in existence. The original draughts of 1765 have been preserved, as have also the drawings used in the restoration of the ship in 1922. The author was thus able to compile from authentic sources and his model of the Victory now occupies a prominent position in the Science Museum at South Kensington. The illustrations are a unique feature. They include a set of photographs showing the interior construction of H.M.S. Victory and H.M.S. Implacable, the latter being taken only a few days before she was scuttled. The book features over 180 line drawings, designed by E. Bowness, A.R.I.N.A., and executed by G.F. Campbell, Assoc. M.R.I.N.A., ranging from elaborate perspective drawings of the complex gear at the fore top and crosstrees to the simplest detail. The folding plates by G.F. Campbell (which measure 560 x 400 mm and 235 x 450 mm) include lines, inboard and outboard profile, deck plans of the hull, standing and running rigging plans, and a complete belaying pin plan. Such an analysis of the ship of this period had never before been attempted.Table of ContentsPreface. Part One - The Hull: Construction of Ships of the Period. Framing of the Model. Planking and Coppering. Decks and Other Details. Head and Stern. Upper Deck. Guns and Deck Details. Quarter Deck. Other Hull Details. Assembly. Part Two - The Rigging: Masts and Spars. Rigging. Standing Rigging. Running Rigging.

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Book SynopsisAcknowledged as one of the greatest achievements of modern scholarship, Arnold Toynbee's A Study of History is a ten-volume analysis of the rise and fall of human civilizations. Contained in two volumes, D.C. Somervell's abridgement of this magnificent enterprise preserves the method, atmosphere, texture, and, in many instances, the very words of the original.Trade Review'McNeill's book will be read, and enjoyed, for its own sake. I hope it will revive interest in Toynbee.' The Advertiser, AustraliaTable of ContentsPreface VI. Universal States VII: Universal Churches VIII. Heroic Ages IX. Contacts Between Civilizations in Space X. Contacts Between Civilizations n Time XI. Law and Freedom in History XII. The Prospects of the Western Civilization XIII. Conclusion Index

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Book SynopsisBritain's precipitous and ill-planned disengagement from India in 1947--condemned as a shameful flight by Winston Churchill--had a truly catastrophic effect on South Asia, leaving hundreds of thousands of people dead in its wake and creating a legacy of chaos, hatred, and war that has lasted over half a century. Ranging from the fall of Singapore in 1942 to the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi in 1948, Shameful Flight provides a vivid behind-the-scenes look at Britain's decision to divest itself from the crown jewel of its empire. Stanley Wolpert, a leading authority on Indian history, paints memorable portraits of all the key participants, including Gandhi, Churchill, Attlee, Nehru, and Jinnah, with special focus on British viceroy, Lord Louis Mountbatten. Wolpert places the blame for the catastrophe largely on Mountbatten, the flamboyant cousin of the king, who rushed the process of nationhood along at an absurd pace. The viceroy's worst blunder was the impetuous drawing of new borTrade Review"The independence of India and Pakistan in 1947 was a historical watershed that marked the end of the colonial era and the beginning of the liberation of the rest of Asia and of Africa. In his admirable account of this seminal event, Wolpert makes the compelling case that whereas independence and partition were inevitable, the horrible cost in the destruction of lives was not. He attributes the latter to a failure of political leadership, especially the British through its representative Viceroy Mountbatten, whose compulsive and egotistical conduct constituted a major contribution to the massive human disaster. This is a clinically powerful study of triumph and tragedy by a distinguished historian who is also a great humanitarian."--Jamsheed Marker, Former Ambassador of Pakistan and former Special Adviser to the Secretary General, United Nations "In this engrossing, but very controversial, book, Wolpert considers the responsibility of the leaders, both British and Indian, for the immediate consequences of the partition in 1947 of British India into India and Pakistan when hundreds of thousands were killed in riots and millions became homeless refugees. Shameful Flight is sobering reading for anyone interested in the rise and fall of Western imperialism."--Ainslee Embree, Columbia University "Wolpert's book is a delightful read and will shine for its stellar quality of scholarship among the growing body of partition literature that has surfaced in the last two decades. It will be of great interest to anyone curious about whatever happened to the great British Empire and those who often wonder why Indians and Pakistanis endlessly fight with each other."--Dilip Basu, University of California, Santa Cruz "An entertaining and highly controversial account of the British transfer of power in India."--The International History Review "A lively...account of the end of the British Raj...The text is well crafted."--H-Net

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Book SynopsisOne of the most original and successful filmmakers, Oscar Micheaux was born into a rural, working-class, African-American family in mid-America in 1884. Micheaux's work was founded upon the concern for class mobility, or uplift, for African Americans. This book is a critical assessment of Micheaux's accomplishment in the art of cinema.Trade ReviewUntil recently the name Oscar Micheaux might have provoked the question Oscar who? But scholars have now begun to look at this pioneering African American moviemaker. This volume joins Betti Carol VanEpps-Taylor's biography Oscar Micheaux: Dakota Homesteader, Author, Pioneer Filmmaker (1998) and Pearl Bowser and Louise Spence's Writing Himself into History: Oscar Micheaux, His Silent Films, and His Audiences (CH, Mar'01), attesting to the intellectual rigor of this trend. Though Green's study is most in the mold of a literary critique, the paucity of Micheaux sources obligates all three authors to write as historians, cultural critics, anthropologists, and decoders. In the absence of script drafts, interoffice memos, gossip columns, memoirs, reviews, and handy prints of films—the stuff of mainstream cinema history—Green (Ohio State Univ.) sets up a critical landscape that allows the reader to sense the density of the culture out of which Micheaux's work arose while also citing sources of his own theoretical modeling. That said, any Micheaux film demands a great deal of creative dissection, which Green provides. He makes uncommonly good use of frame enlargements and stills and provides a thoughtful index and a thorough bibliography. For serious undergraduate students and scholars. -- T. Cripps * formerly, Morgan State University , 2001mar CHOICE. *Table of ContentsContentsAcknowledgmentsIntroduction1. Micheaux v. Griffith2. Micheaux's Class Position3. Twoness and Micheaux's Style4. Negative Images5. The Middle Path6. Middle?Class Cinema7. White Financing8. Stereotype and Caricature9. Revising Caricature10. Interrogating Caricature as Entertainment11. Interrogating False Uplift12. Passing and Film Style13. Racial Loyalty14. Micheaux and Cinema TodayAppendix One: On Class and the ClassicalAppendix Two: FilmographyAppendix Three: Selections from the Black PressAppendix Four: BibliographyNotesIndex

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Book SynopsisWhen the Roman Empire split in the 4th century AD into the Western and Eastern empires, the boundary between the two stretched from the Montenegrin coast up the river Drina to the confluence of the Slava and the Danube and then further north. This boundary has remained virtually unchanged for 1500 years: the European, Catholic west and the Orthodox east meet on Slav territory. With Croatia having become an independent state in the 1990s, this text traces the history of the region and its people. It is divided into major sections on: the early medieval Croatian state (until 1101); the periods of union with Hungary (1102-1526) and with Austria (1526-1918); incorporation in Yugoslavia (1918-91); and the creation of a sovereign state.

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Book SynopsisAdrian Gilbert is the author and independent publishing consultant. In 1991 he set up Solos Press, a small publishers specialising in Christian Mysticism, Gnosticism and the Hermetic tradition of Egypt. He has been researching Ancient Egypt for over twenty years and regards th discoveries contained in The Orion Mystery as crucial to our understanding of the pyramid age.Robert Bauval was born in Egypt in 1948. A construction engineer, his interest in Egyptology is long standing, having lived in Egypt and elsewhere in the Middle East for much of his life. In the 1980s he developed a line of study linking the pyramids and the so-called Pyramid Texts with astronomy. He has published several papers on this subject and his findings have been presented at the British Museum. His is the co-author of three international bestsellers: The Orion Mystery and Keeper of Genesis and more recently The Secret Chamber.Trade ReviewAbsorbing and fascinating... how they reach their conclusions is clearly and rivetingly told... highly an compulsively readable * Sunday Times *A discovery about the pyramids that could change our whole view of human history * Evening Standard *Persuasive and scholarly * Observer *

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Book SynopsisForever linked in the public mind with the Pol Pot tyranny, Phnom Penh only became Cambodia's permanent capital in 1866. Long neglected by Western travellers, in the sixteenth century it was home to Iberian missionaries and freebooters who briefly held Cambodia's fate in their hands. It faded in significance until France established a colonial protectorate over Cambodia in 1863. As the colonialists robbed the Cambodian king of his temporal power, their protection enhanced his symbolic importance, setting the scene for the emergence of one of the most intriguing rulers of the twentieth century, King Norodom Sihanouk. The city Sihanouk ruled from 1941 to 1970 was a mix of traditional palaces, Buddhist temples and transplanted French architecture. In the 1960s Phnom Penh deserved its reputation as the most attractive city in Southeast Asia.But after 1970 all this was to change, and a terrible civil war was followed by the Khmer Rouge's capture of the city in 1975. Since the defeat of Pol Pot in 1979, Phnom Penh has slowly recovered, once again attracting perceptive travellers. It is a city of royalty and colonizers - Kings, courts and battles with French administrators; royal ceremonies, dancers and elephants; foreign intrigue and carpetbaggers who sought and failed to find riches. It is a city of culture - A rich local culture that became a headache for French officials; traditional architecture and colonial buildings that remain today; notable literary visitors from Somerset Maugham to Andre Malraux. It is a city of evil and rebirth - The terrible rule of Pol Pot; the Tuol Sleng extermination centre where 17,000 men, women and children were tortured and killed as "enemies of the state"; the return to a fragile normality.Trade Review"As described by Milton Osborne, who has known it for 50 years, Phnom Penh does so deserve first-rank writing." -- The Guardian

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Book SynopsisA fascinating and evocative account of the Peasants' Revolt from the acclaimed author of Agincourt.Trade ReviewJuliet Barker's thorough, clear-eyed and intelligent new volume adds much to the field: packed with vivid pen portraits of the rebels and the men they hunted . . . a vivid and exciting portrait of a country in angry upheaval. It is as timely subject matter as ever -- Dan Jones * Sunday Times *A richly detailed account of the England of 1381 based on painstaking detective work * The Times *Fine and thoughtful . . . Barker brilliantly picks through the toxic brew of grievances that would, in 1381, boil over . . . a serious and valuable book -- Helen Castor * Literary Review *Timely and comprehensive . . . We could argue all day over our favourite turning points in England's history. Barker shows that, without doubt, the turmoil of 1381 cannot be left off anyone's list -- Paul Kingsnorth, Booker-nominated author of The Wake * New Statesman *Barker brings order to the patchwork of uprisings England, Arise purposely slows down the vertiginous speed of the revolt's progression to a more deliberate pace, in order to explore not that main events of the rebellion but their hinterland. In this, it is a considerable achievement, a meticulous anatomy of this most resonant of uprisings -- Thomas Penn * Guardian *A riveting new study of the rising * Mail on Sunday *Barker gives a richly detailed account of the England of 1381 based on painstaking detective work and resurrects from obscurity the ordinary men and women who enflamed the country * The Times *A thoroughly researched, engagingly written account of a moment when the world was - almost - turned upside down * BBC History *

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