History

A spellbinding and magical narrative, this is the story of modern China through the women who lived through it. At the start of the twentieth century in China, the Hans were married in an elaborate ceremony before they were even born. They went on to have nine children and chose colours portrayed in some of their favourite poems as nicknames for them – Red, Cyan, Orange, Yellow, Green, Green Tangerine, Purple, Blue and Rainbow. Fate, and the sweep of twentieth-century history, would later divide them. Xinran begins with the magic and tragedy of one young couple’s wedding night in 1949, and goes on to tell personal experiences of loss, grief and hardship through China’s extraordinary century. In doing so she tells a bigger story – how traditional Chinese values have been slowly eroded by the tide of modernity and how their outlooks on love, and the choices they've made in life, have been all been affected by the great upheavals of Chinese history.

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A brilliant, concise account of the painting often described as the most important work of art produced in the twentieth century, as part of the stunning Landmark Library series. Pablo Picasso had already accepted a commission to create a work for the Spanish Republican Pavilion in 1937 when news arrived of the bombing of the undefended Basque town of Gernika. James Attlee offers an illuminating account of the genesis, creation and complex afterlife of Picasso's Guernica. He explores the historical and cultural context from which the painting sprang and the meanings it accrued during its travels across Europe and the Americas, as well as its influence on artists both living and dead. Finally, he argues for its continuing importance as a warning of what happens when the forces of darkness go unchallenged. Praise for Guernica: 'Helps you appreciate Guernica's daring and resonance' Literary Review 'An impressive overview of the painting's conception and execution, and its subsequent life as an exhibit and a symbol... Attlee's book succeeds in showing how influential Guernica has been' Sunday Times 'Attlee digs up rich examples of the debate and devotion that invariably attended the painting... Guernica literature abounds; but this book is a worthwhile addition' Spectator

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World’s Worst Historical Disasters examines some of the most significant natural and man-made disasters in world history, from those almost lost in the mists of time, such as the plague in Athens which killed 75 per cent of the population and the earthquake in Corinth that left 45,000 people dead to modern day catastrophes such as the New Delhi air collision and the Samastipur train disaster which both cost hundreds of lives. All kinds of horrendous disasters are covered including plagues, earthquakes, volcanoes, genocides, floods, train crashes and aeroplane crashes. Each fascinating account gives a full and detailed analysis of the events leading up to the disaster, the actual disaster itself and then the extent of the damage and the dreadful aftermath. Learn about the massacre at Milan, the great fire of London and the historic San Francisco earthquake. Each story is highly illustrated bringing every disaster to life, plus key facts outline the most important information and allows the reader the see facts at a glance. Whether the result of mankind or an inevitable and uncontrollable act of nature, World’s Worst Historical Disasters will provide an educational and riveting read.

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The Lockheed Martin Skunk Works was founded in the summer of 1943 to develop a jet-powered high-altitude interceptor for the USAAF, and ever since it has been at the forefront of technological development in the world of aviation. From the XP-80 to the U-2, SR-71, F-117, F-22 and now the F-35, the Skunk Works team has designed aircraft that are the pinnacle of innovation and performance. 75 years of the Lockheed Martin Skunk Works takes us through the history of this legendary facility from its foundation at the height of World War II under the talented engineer, Clarence “Kelly” Johnson, through to the present day. Illustrated with over a thousand photographs and drawings, it details the 46 unclassified programmes developed by the Skunk Works, following them through prototype build-up, first flight and, if they reached the frontline, operational service.

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A history and analysis of one of the most dramatic moments in both air power and naval history. With the sinking of HMS Prince of Wales and Repulse, no battleship was safe on the open ocean, and the aircraft took its crown as the most powerful maritime weapon In late 1941, war was looming with Japan, and Britain's empire in southeast Asia was at risk. The British government decided to send Force Z, which included the state-of-the-art battleship Prince of Wales and the battlecruiser Repulse, to bolster the naval defences of Singapore, and provide a mighty naval deterrent to Japanese aggression. These two powerful ships arrived in Singapore on 2 December - five days before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. But crucially, they lacked air cover. On 9 December Japanese scout planes detected Force Z's approach in the Gulf of Thailand. Unlike at Pearl Harbor, battleships at sea could manoeuvre, and their anti-aircraft defences were ready. But it did no good. The Japanese dive-bombers and torpedo-bombers were the most advanced in the world, and the battle was one-sided. Strategically, the loss of Force Z was a colossal disaster for the British, and one that effectively marked the end of its empire in the East. But even more importantly, the sinking marked the last time that battleships were considered to be the masters of the ocean. From that day on, air power rather than big guns would be the deciding factor in naval warfare.

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During the Seven Years’ War (1755–63), a number of independent light-infantry outfits served under British command and dedicated light companies were added to the British Army’s regular infantry battalions. The light companies were disbanded after the war but the prominent role played by light infantry was not forgotten, and in 1771–72 light-infantry companies were reinstated in every regiment in the British Isles. Although William Howe formed a training camp at Salisbury in 1774 specifically to practise light-infantry doctrine, the outbreak of the American Revolution in 1775 found the British Army wanting, and the light companies were no different. After evacuating Boston in March 1776, Howe began to remodel and drill his army at Halifax, standardizing lighter uniform and emphasizing more open-order tactics. He also brigaded his light companies together into composite battalions, which went on to fight in almost every major engagement during the American Revolution. They spearheaded British assaults, using night-time surprise and relying upon the bayonet in engagements such as Paoli and Old Tappan. They also matched their regular and irregular opponents in bush-fighting, and at times fought in far-flung detachments alongside Native American and Loyalist allies on the frontier. Featuring specially commissioned full-colour artwork, this book offers a comprehensive guide to the formation, uniform, equipment, doctrines and tactics of these elite light infantry companies and battalions, and considers how, over the course of the war they developed a fearsome reputation, and exemplified the psychological characteristics exhibited by crack military units across history.

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A new history of Ottoman TunisThe first Ottoman conquest of Tunis took place in 1534 under the command of Kheireddine Barbarossa. However, it was not until 1574 that the Ottomans finally wrested control of the former Hafsid Ifriqiya (modern-day Tunisia), retaining it until the French occupation of Tunisia in 1881. The Regency of Tunis was thus born as an imperial province, and individuals originating from throughout the vast territory of the Ottoman Empire settled there, rapidly creating a new elite via marriage with women from local notable families. This book studies the former Hafsid territory’s position within the Ottoman world and the social developments that accompanied the genesis of the united Regency of Tunis until the death of Hamouda Pasha.On the social plane, who were these Turko-Ottomans who were able to drive the Hafsid kings from their throne? Were they noble officers, as is so often remembered? The sources paint a different picture: one of rogues from distant Anatolia, and captives of corsairs from across the Mediterranean. These men expanded privateering for their own profit, seizing the country’s riches for themselves and monopolizing exports to Europe.Leïla Blili revisits the conventional historiography of Ottoman Tunisia, widely considered by historians to be an autonomous province ruled by a dominant class of Turko-Ottomans cut off from local society. She shows that the Regency of Tunis was much less autonomous than secondary scholarship has alleged and, through her analysis of the marriages of these Turko-Ottomans, that they were in fact well-integrated into the local population. In doing so, she also illuminates the place of kinship ties in the establishing of inheritances, access to spheres of power, and the very acquisition of titles of nobility.

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World War II was the greatest conflict in the history of mankind. It penetrated into every corner of the globe, from the Arctic to the Pacific Oceans. Immense armed forces engaged one another in battle in every type of environment, from the desert sands of North Africa to the jungles of Burma and New Guinea. The Allied and Axis forces met in brutal encounters ranging from small commando raids to gigantic armoured battles. World War II Illustrated Atlas is a comprehensive visual guide to this complex conflict. It plots the exact course of the land, sea and air campaigns in fine detail, enabling the reader to trace the ebb and flow of the fortunes of both sides. With the aid of over 160 full-colour maps, every theatre of war is covered. Contents include the land campaigns in North-west Europe, Italy, North Africa, Russia, South-East Asia and the Pacific; the naval war in the Atlantic and Mediterranean; the great carrier battles of the Pacific war; and the strategic bombing campaigns of Europe and the Pacific, culminating in the destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. This new edition provides another 25 maps showing the key raids and battles of the war, ranging from the St Nazaire raid in 1942 to the battle for Corregidor in February 1945. The isometric map views give a new perspective on the war, and are accompanied by detailed descriptions of the battles and raids along with photographs from the event. This complete atlas provides an invaluable work of reference for both the general reader and the serious student of World War II.

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World War I might conjure up images of the trenches of the Western Front where the fighting raged for nearly four and half years, but this was only part of what was truly a world war. It was a complex conflict fought in a number of theatres: an air war, a land war fought in the Balkans, Italy, Africa, Turkey and the Middle East, and also a naval war fought in the North Sea, South Atlantic, South Pacific and Indian Oceans. The ‘Great War’ introduced killing on an unprecedented scale and resulted in the loss of millions of lives. World War I Illustrated Atlas is a comprehensive visual guide to this complex conflict. In fine detail, it plots the exact course of the land, sea and air campaigns, enabling the reader to trace the ebb and flow of the fortunes of all sides. With more than 180 full-colour maps, every theatre of war is covered – from the Western Front to Penang, from Gallipoli to Galicia, from Dogger Bank to Dalmatia, from Romania to Rhodesia and from the Falklands to Togo and the Sinai desert. All the maps have been specially commissioned from an expert cartographer. Each map is designed to highlight a particular aspect of the war – thus maps vary in shape and size, with some giving a global perspective while others depict the exact movement of armed forces on land, sea or in the air. Battles such as Jutland, the Somme, Cambrai and the Gallipoli campaign are shown in great detail. All maps are accompanied by an explanatory key. With expert, accessible text and accompanying archival photographs, this complete atlas provides an invaluable work of reference for both the general reader and the serious student of World War I.

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From Snow White to Moana, from Pinocchio to Frozen, the animated films of Walt Disney Studios have moved and entertained millions. But few fans know that behind these groundbreaking features was an incredibly influential group of women who fought for respect in an often ruthless male-dominated industry and who have slipped under the radar for decades.In The Queens of Animation, bestselling author Nathalia Holt tells their dramatic stories for the first time, showing how these women infiltrated the boys' club of Disney's story and animation departments and used early technologies to create the rich artwork and unforgettable narratives that have become part of the American canon. As the influence of Walt Disney Studios grew---and while battling sexism, domestic abuse, and workplace intimidation---these women also fought to transform the way female characters are depicted to young audiences.With gripping storytelling, and based on extensive interviews and exclusive access to archival and personal documents, The Queens of Animation reveals the vital contributions these women made to Disney's Golden Age and their continued impact on animated filmmaking, culminating in the record-shattering Frozen, Disney's first female-directed full-length feature film.

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Published to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the military mission that changed World War II, D-Day Landings: A Travel Guide to Normandy''s Beaches and Battlegrounds is Bradt''s new guidebook to visiting beaches, memorials, museums, battlefields and other sites associated with D-Day and the Battle of Normandy (Operation Overlord). A simple-to-follow, portable guide for independent travellers, it includes maps and driving instructions to help visitors go back in time to explore World War II history. Written by two experienced travel writers who, between them, are experts in France and military history, D-Day Landings is designed for visitors who want to see all or part of Normandy. Covering the ground from the D-Day landing beaches (Sword, Juno, Gold, Omaha and Utah) up to Cherbourg and inland to Falaise, it encompasses every major site and a host of smaller, less well-known locations - venturing well beyond the coast to include sites associated with the capture of Caen and the closi

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This book offers a provocative retelling of Palestinian political history through an examination of the international commissions that have investigated political violence and human rights violations. More than twenty commissions have been convened over the last century, yet no significant change has resulted from these inquiries. The findings of the very first, the 1919 King-Crane Commission, were suppressed. The Mitchell Committee, convened in the heat of the Second Intifada, urged Palestinians to listen more sympathetically to the feelings of their occupiers. And factfinders returning from a shell-shocked Gaza Strip in 2008 registered their horror at the scale of the destruction, but Gazans have continued to live under a crippling blockade. Drawing on debates in the press, previously unexamined UN reports, historical archives, and ethnographic research, Lori Allen explores six key investigative commissions over the last century. She highlights how Palestinians' persistent demands for independence have been routinely translated into the numb language of reports and resolutions. These commissions, Allen argues, operating as technologies of liberal global governance, yield no justice—only the oppressive status quo. A History of False Hope issues a biting critique of the captivating allure and cold impotence of international law.

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Not yet four years old, Gloria was forcibly separated from her baby brother Kevin and entered into the often-brutal world of the Rothwell Children’s Home, where she found occasional moments of caring among the toughest of environments. In this book, we move through Gloria’s childhood and learn of the deep friendship of two ‘aunts’ she meets during the fostering process, the twists and turns in her search for Kevin, her nervous breakdown and her incarceration in an old Victorian-style institution where Gloria is visited by two unfamiliar relatives, with whom she is forced to live. Aged twenty-one, Gloria starts independent living, allowing her to re-establish her friendship with her aunts, who reveal her father’s identity. True love then follows as she meets and marries Robert Urquhart, who supports her unwaveringly in her desperate and passionate quest to find her brother. This powerful memoir sheds light on what life was like in a 1950s children's home and follows the author on her compelling journey to find happiness and a family of her own.

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“Given the current political conditions, these lectures on race, ethnicity, and nation, delivered by Stuart Hall almost a quarter of a century ago, may be even more timely today.”—Angela Y. DavisIn this defining statement one of the founding figures of cultural studies reflects on the divisive, often deadly consequences of our contemporary politics of race and identity. As he untangles the power relations that permeate categories of race, ethnicity, and nationhood, Stuart Hall shows how old hierarchies of human identity were forcefully broken apart when oppressed groups introduced new meanings to the representation of difference.Hall challenges us to find more sustainable ways of living with difference, redefining nation, race, and identity.“Stuart Hall bracingly confronts the persistence of race—and its confounding liberal surrogates, ethnicity and nation…This is a profoundly humane work that…finds room for hope and change.”—Orlando Patterson“Stuart Hall’s written words were ardent, discerning, recondite, and provocative, his spoken voice lyrical, euphonious, passionate, at times rhapsodic and he changed the way an entire generation of critics and commentators debated issues of race and cultural difference.”—Henry Louis Gates, Jr.“Essential reading for those seeking to understand Hall’s tremendous impact on scholars, artists, and filmmakers on both sides of the Atlantic.”—Artforum

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Lost Rickmansworth, Croxley Green and Chorleywood portrays a vivid picture of the many losses and changes that have taken place in this lovely area over the last 100 years, as the reader embarks on a fascinating journey of discovery. Fond memories are evoked of the local cinemas, long since gone, where for a few hours one could escape to the celluloid world of make-believe in the smoky atmosphere of the auditorium. Sadly, industries such as Walker’s boatbuilding, Moussec’s sparkling wine and the John Dickinson paper mills have similarly disappeared, all irreplaceable and much missed. However, many buildings have survived such as Croxley House, The Cedars and Chorleywood House, though all now used for a different purpose to what they were originally. With a wealth of information inside, this book will surely appeal to those who can still recollect much that is lost and now relegated to memory, and those eager to discover the history of this small town and two villages in south-west Hertfordshire.

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Napoleon Bonaparte dominated the public life of Europe like no other individual before him. Not surprisingly, the story of the man himself has usually swamped the stories of his subjects. This book looks at the history of the Napoleonic Empire from an entirely new perspective- that of the ruled rather than the ruler. Michael Broers concentrates on the experience of the people of Europe- particularly the vast majority of Napoleon's subjects who were neither French, nor willing participants in the great events of the period- during the dynamic but short-lived career of Napoleon, when half the European continent fell under his rule. In a new edition of a highly acclaimed book, Broers weaves together a myriad of regional experiences to produce a social history of the Napoleonic Empire with a truly panoramic scope.

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What is Manchester? Moving far from the glitzy shopping districts and architectural showpieces, away from cool city-centre living and modish cultural centres, this book shows us the unheralded, under-appreciated and overlooked parts of Greater Manchester in which the majority of Mancunians live, work and play. It tells the story of the city thematically, using concepts such a ‘material’, ‘atmosphere’, ‘waste’, ‘movement’ and ‘underworld’ to challenge our understanding of the quintessential post-industrial metropolis. Bringing together contributions from twenty-five poets, academics, writers, novelists, historians, architects and artists from across the region alongside a range of captivating photographs, this book explores the history of Manchester through its chimneys, cobblestones, ginnels and graves. This wide-ranging and inclusive approach reveals a host of idiosyncrasies, hidden spaces and stories that have until now been neglected.

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CHRIS HILTON WENT TO HAVANA in the early 2000s to escape the drudgery of everyday life in England—and, boy, did he escape it. Suddenly he found himself mixed up with a variety of gangland chancers, some Cuban, one British, all living on the edge of legality.There was always a risk of their moneymaking schemes getting rumbled by the police but that’s what made it so compelling: the chance, the risk. Office life this wasn’t. And then there was Jamilia—a refugee from rural poverty, who’d come to the big city as a teenager, and been rescued from the streets by an unnerving family of small-time criminals.“A little crazy is good,” Jamilia tells Chris— and a little crazy they become, living hard, loving hard and downing a deal of Cuban rum.But how long can craziness last? And what happens when good fortune turns to bad?

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From royalty to peasantry, every age has its bad eggs, those who break all the rules and rub everyone up the wrong way. But their niggling, anti-social and irritating ways not only tell us about what upset people, but also what mattered to them, how their society functioned and what kind of world they lived in. In this brilliantly nitty-gritty exploration of real life in the Tudor and Stuart age, you will discover:– how to choose the perfect insult, whether it be draggletail, varlet, flap, saucy fellow strumpet, ninny-hammer or stinkard– why quoting Shakespeare was very poor form – why flashing the inside of your hat could repulse someone– the best way to mock accents, preachers, soldiers and pretty much everything else besides Ruth Goodman draws upon advice books and manuals, court cases and sermons, drama and imagery to outline bad behaviour from the gauche to the galling, the subtle to the outrageous. It is a celebration of drunkards, scolds, harridans and cross dressers in a time when calling a man a fool could get someone killed, and cursing wasn’t just rude, it worked!‘Ruth is the queen of living history – long may she reign!’ Lucy Worsley

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Co-winner of the Yad Vashem International Book Prize for Holocaust ResearchThe forgotten story of 200,000 Polish Jews who escaped the Holocaust as refugees stranded in remote corners of the USSR.Between 1940 and 1946, about 200,000 Jewish refugees from Poland lived and toiled in the harsh Soviet interior. They endured hard labor, bitter cold, and extreme deprivation. But out of reach of the Nazis, they escaped the fate of millions of their coreligionists in the Holocaust.Survival on the Margins is the first comprehensive account in English of their experiences. The refugees fled Poland after the German invasion in 1939 and settled in the Soviet territories newly annexed under the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. Facing hardship, and trusting little in Stalin, most spurned the offer of Soviet citizenship and were deported to labor camps in unoccupied areas of the east. They were on their own, in a forbidding wilderness thousands of miles from home. But they inadvertently escaped Hitler’s 1941 advance into the Soviet Union. While war raged and Europe’s Jews faced genocide, the refugees were permitted to leave their settlements after the Soviet government agreed to an amnesty. Most spent the remainder of the war coping with hunger and disease in Soviet Central Asia. When they were finally allowed to return to Poland in 1946, they encountered the devastation of the Holocaust, and many stopped talking about their own ordeals, their stories eventually subsumed within the central Holocaust narrative.Drawing on untapped memoirs and testimonies of the survivors, Eliyana Adler rescues these important stories of determination and suffering on behalf of new generations.

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Winner of the Stanislas Julien PrizeWinner of the Joseph Levenson Prize for Scholarship on Pre-1900 ChinaDreaming is a near-universal human experience, but there is no consensus on why we dream or what dreams should be taken to mean. In this book, Robert Ford Campany investigates what people in late classical and early medieval China thought of dreams. He maps a common dreamscape—an array of ideas about what dreams are and what responses they should provoke—that underlies texts of diverse persuasions and genres over several centuries. These writings include manuals of dream interpretation, scriptural instructions, essays, treatises, poems, recovered manuscripts, histories, and anecdotes of successful dream-based predictions.In these many sources, we find culturally distinctive answers to questions peoples the world over have asked for millennia: What happens when we dream? Do dreams foretell future events? If so, how might their imagistic code be unlocked to yield predictions? Could dreams enable direct communication between the living and the dead, or between humans and nonhuman animals? The Chinese Dreamscape, 300 BCE–800 CE sheds light on how people in a distant age negotiated these mysteries and brings Chinese notions of dreaming into conversation with studies of dreams in other cultures, ancient and contemporary. Taking stock of how Chinese people wrestled with—and celebrated—the strangeness of dreams, Campany asks us to reflect on how we might reconsider our own notions of dreaming.

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The St. Croix–born, Harlem-based Hubert Harrison (1883–1927) was a brilliant writer, orator, educator, critic, and activist who combined class consciousness and anti-white-supremacist race consciousness into a potent political radicalism. Harrison’s ideas profoundly influenced “New Negro” militants, including A. Philip Randolph and Marcus Garvey, and his work is a key link in the two great strands of the Civil Rights/Black Liberation struggle: the labor- and civil-rights movement associated with Randolph and Martin Luther King Jr. and the race and nationalist movement associated with Garvey and Malcolm X.In this second volume of his acclaimed biography, Jeffrey B. Perry traces the final decade of Harrison’s life, from 1918 to 1927. Perry details Harrison’s literary and political activities, foregrounding his efforts against white supremacy and for racial consciousness and unity in struggles for equality and radical social change. The book explores Harrison’s role in the militant New Negro Movement and the International Colored Unity League, as well as his prolific work as a writer, educator, and editor of the New Negro and the Negro World. Perry examines Harrison’s interactions with major figures such as Garvey, Randolph, J. A. Rogers, Arthur Schomburg, and other prominent individuals and organizations as he agitated, educated, and organized for democracy and equality from a race-conscious, radical internationalist perspective. This magisterial biography demonstrates how Harrison’s life and work continue to offer profound insights on race, class, religion, immigration, war, democracy, and social change in America.

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Introducing the Medieval Ass presents a lucid, accessible, and comprehensive picture of the ass’s enormous socio-economic and cultural significance in the Middle Ages and beyond. In the Middle Ages, the ass became synonymous with human idiocy, a comic figure representing foolish peasants, students too dull to learn, and their asinine teachers. This trope of foolishness was so prevalent that by the eighteenth century the word ‘ass’ had been replaced by ‘donkey’. Economically, the medieval ass was a vital, utilitarian beast of burden, rather like today’s ubiquitous white van; culturally, however, the medieval ass enjoyed a rich, paradoxical reputation. Its hard work was praised, but its obstinacy condemned. It exemplified the good Christian, humbly bearing Christ to Jerusalem, but also represented Sloth, a mortal sin. Its potent sexual reputation – one literary ass had sex with a woman – was simultaneously linked to sterility and, to this day, ‘ass’ and ‘arse’ remain culturally-connected homophones. 'In the medieval world, the ass’s reputation – sacred or profane, derided or acclaimed – was codified in fact, fiction and image. However, unusual its binary nature may seem to the modern-day reader, paradoxical rhetoric was a common feature in medieval beast genres, and the fact that the ass had contesting reputations offers multiple avenues for analysis.' - Read more about this on page 3 of the Booklaunch https://edition.pagesuite-professional.co.uk/html5/reader/production/default.aspx?pubname=&edid=eacd7c66-df5c-4335-86ee-cad05c826bda

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In 1944 with the war in Europe turning in the Allies’ favour, Japan still occupied vast swathes of South East Asia and the Pacific. In Burma, the seemly unstoppable Japanese advance was halted at Kohima and Imphal in June and July 1944. Six months later the advances made by British-led forces enabled the re-opening of the supply routes from India to US forces in China. It was not until Spring 1945 that British-led forces seized first Mandalay and then the port city of Rangoon after a year of gruelling fighting. Admiral Nimitz’s and General MacArthur’s forces meanwhile were overcoming fanatical Japanese resistance as they invaded Saipan, Guam, Tinian, Leyte and Luzon in late 1944. Iwo Jima and Okinawa fell to the Allies in early 1945. These successes enabled USAAF Superfortresses to bomb mainland Japan. Late Spring/early Summer 1945 saw the steady recapture of the Northern Solomons and Brunei, Borneo and former Dutch colonies. The Soviets were advancing into Manchuria and Korea. The atomic bomb attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945 finally forced the Japanese to surrender without the inevitable carnage of an invasion of their mainland. The tumultuous events of the final year of the Second World War in the Far East are brilliantly described here in contemporary well captioned images and succinct text.

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The global legacy of mutiny and revolution on the high seas. Mutiny tore like wildfire through the wooden warships of the age of revolution. While commoners across Europe laid siege to the nobility and enslaved workers put the torch to plantation islands, out on the oceans, naval seamen by the tens of thousands turned their guns on the quarterdeck and overthrew the absolute rule of captains. By the early 1800s, anywhere between one-third and one-half of all naval seamen serving in the North Atlantic had participated in at least one mutiny, many of them in several, and some even on ships in different navies. In The Bloody Flag, historian Niklas Frykman explores in vivid prose how a decade of violent conflict onboard gave birth to a distinct form of radical politics that brought together the egalitarian culture of North Atlantic maritime communities with the revolutionary era’s constitutional republicanism. The attempt to build a radical maritime republic failed, but the red flag that flew from the masts of mutinous ships survived to become the most enduring global symbol of class struggle, economic justice, and republican liberty to this day.

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A not-for-the-squeamish journey back through the centuries to urban England, where the streets are crowded, noisy, filthy, and reeking of smoke and decay Modern city-dwellers suffer their share of unpleasant experiences—traffic jams, noisy neighbors, pollution, food scares—but urban nuisances of the past existed on a different scale entirely, this book explains in vivid detail. Focusing on offenses to the eyes, ears, noses, taste buds, and skin of inhabitants of England’s pre-Industrial Revolution cities, Hubbub transports us to a world in which residents were scarred by smallpox, refuse rotted in the streets, pigs and dogs roamed free, and food hygiene consisted of little more than spit and polish. Through the stories of a large cast of characters from varied walks of life, the book compares what daily life was like in different cities across England from 1600 to 1770. Using a vast array of sources, from novels to records of urban administration to diaries, Emily Cockayne populates her book with anecdotes from the quirky lives of the famous and the obscure—all of whom confronted urban nuisances and physical ailments. Each chapter addresses an unpleasant aspect of city life (noise, violence, moldy food, smelly streets, poor air quality), and the volume is enhanced with a rich array of illustrations. Awakening both our senses and our imaginations, Cockayne creates a nuanced portrait of early modern English city life, unparalleled in breadth and unforgettable in detail.

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Zuo Tradition, China’s first great work of history, was completed by about 300 BCE and recounts events during a period of disunity from 722 to 468 BCE. The text, which plays a foundational role in Chinese culture, has been newly translated into English by Stephen Durrant, Wai-yee Li, and David Schaberg in an unabridged, bilingual, three-volume set. This reader arranges key passages from that set according to topic, as a guide to the study of early Chinese culture and thought. Chapter subjects include succession struggles; women; warfare; ritual propriety; governance; law and punishment; famous statesmen; diplomacy; Confucius and his disciples; dreams and anomalies; and cultural others. An introduction explains the nature and significance of Zuozhuan and discusses how to read the text. Section introductions and judicious footnoting provide contextual information and explain the historical significance and meaning of particular events. The Zuo Tradition / Zuozhuan Reader will appeal to readers interested in Chinese and world history, claiming a place on library and personal bookshelves alongside other narratives from the ancient world.

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In the sixteenth-century Atlantic world, nature and culture swirled in people's minds to produce fantastic images. In the South of France, a cloister's painted wooden panels greeted parishioners with vivid depictions of unicorns, dragons, and centaurs, while Mayans in the Yucatan created openings to buildings that resembled a fierce animal's jaws, known to archaeologists as serpent-column portals. In Nature and Culture in the Early Modern Atlantic, historian Peter C. Mancall reveals how Europeans and Native Americans thought about a natural world undergoing rapid change in the century following the historic voyages of Christopher Columbus. Through innovative use of oral history and folklore maintained for centuries by Native Americans, as well as original use of spectacular manuscript atlases, paintings that depict on-the-spot European representations of nature, and texts that circulated imperfectly across the ocean, he reveals how the encounter between the old world and the new changed the fate of millions of individuals. This inspired work of Atlantic, European, and American history begins with medieval concepts of nature and ends in an age when the printed book became the primary avenue for the dissemination of scientific information. Throughout the sixteenth century, the borders between the natural world and the supernatural were more porous than modern readers might realize. Native Americans and Europeans alike thought about monsters, spirits, and insects in considerable depth. In Mancall's vivid narrative, the modern world emerged as a result of the myriad encounters between peoples who inhabited the Atlantic basin in this period. The centuries that followed can be comprehended only by exploring how culture in its many forms—stories, paintings, books—shaped human understanding of the natural world.

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When most people think of the prohibition era, they think of speakeasies, gin runners, and backwoods fundamentalists railing about the ills of strong drink. In other words, in the popular imagination, it is a peculiarly American event. Yet, as Mark Lawrence Schrad shows in Smashing the Liquor Machine, the conventional scholarship on prohibition is extremely misleading for a simple reason: American prohibition was just one piece of a global wave of prohibition laws that occurred around the same time. Schrad's counterintuitive global history of prohibition looks at the anti-alcohol movement around the globe through the experiences of pro-temperance leaders like Thomas Masaryk, founder of Czechoslovakia, Vladimir Lenin, Leo Tolstoy, and anti-colonial activists in India. Schrad argues that temperance wasn't "American exceptionalism" at all, but rather one of the most broad-based and successful transnational social movements of the modern era. In fact, Schrad offers a fundamental re-appraisal of this colorful era to reveal that temperance forces frequently aligned with progressivism, social justice, liberal self-determination, democratic socialism, labor rights, women's rights, and indigenous rights. By placing the temperance movement in a deep global context, he forces us to fundamentally rethink all that we think we know about the movement. Rather than a motley collection of puritanical American evangelicals, the global temperance movement advocated communal self-protection against the corrupt and predatory "liquor machine" that had become exceedingly rich off the misery and addictions of the poor around the world, from the slums of South Asia to central Europe to the Indian reservations of the American west. Unlike many traditional "dry" histories, Smashing the Liquor Machine gives voice to minority and subaltern figures who resisted the global liquor industry, and further highlights that the impulses that led to the temperance movement were far more progressive and variegated than American readers have been led to believe.

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The Japanese invasion of Malaya in December 1941 is one of the more heavily studied military campaigns in World War II. It has led to much controversy over how the British, Australian and Indian troops, well prepared and numerically superior to their Japanese opponents, could so quickly lose the initiative, and then slowly and inexorably lose the campaign. With reinforcements arriving throughout much of the fighting, Arthur Percival, the British commander, was unwilling to risk his forces in a single battle which would determine the victor. After the Allied success at Kampar, followed by a withdrawal, the disaster at Slim River led to the Japanese outmanoeuvring their opponents in Johore, leading to the final battle in Singapore. As well as using accounts by many of the major participants, The Fall of Singapore incorporates recent research and thinking, also showing the effects of the fighting on the many Chinese, Malay and Indian civilians — so often neglected in military histories.

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Born in the Philippines to an American father and a Filipina mother, George Cooper is one of the few surviving veteran pilots who saw action over such fearsome targets as Rabaul and Wewak. Not just another flag-waving story of air combat, Jayhawk describes the war as it really was - a conflict with far-reaching tentacles that gripped and tore at not only the combatants, but also their families, friends and the way they lived their lives. Stout examines the story of Cooper’s growing up in gentle and idyllic pre-war Manila and how he grew to be the man he is. At 100 years old, few men are left alive who can share similar experiences. Stout reviews Cooper’s journey to the United States and his unlikely entry into the United States Army Air Forces. Trained as a B-25 pilot, Cooper was assigned to the iconic 345th Bomb Group and flew strafing missions that shredded the enemy, but likewise put himself and his comrades in grave danger. A husband and father, Cooper was pulled two ways by the pull of duty and his obligation to his wife and daughter. And always on his mind was the family he left behind in the Philippines who were under the Japanese thrall.

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In Romans at War ground-breaking research is presented in an accessible, entertaining, and sumptuously illustrated format, including:• A new consideration of the nature of late Roman military leaders; the author argues they were effectively independent warlords.• Cutting edge research regarding the Severan campaigns to conquer Scotland in the early 3rd century AD.• A new analysis of the nature of late Roman troops, both mounted and foot.The Roman military machine was the pre-eminent in the ancient world, projecting power across the known world over a vast chronology, and an increasing huge and diverse geography. One of the most powerful instruments of war in the history of conflict, it proved uniquely adept at learning from setbacks, always coming back the stronger for it. In so doing it displayed two of the most important traits associated with the world of Rome. Firstly grit, that key ability to remain steadfast and to overcome adversity, even in the most challenging of circumstances, as faced for example by the Republic in the Second Punic War against Hannibal. Secondly, the ability to copy the successful technical and tactical innovations of their enemies, enabling the Roman military to always stay one step ahead of its opponents on campaign and in battle.In this grand tour covering every aspect of the Roman military, leading expert Dr Simon Elliott first provides a detailed background to the Roman Republic and Empire to provide context for all that follows. He then looks specifically at the Roman military in its three key chronological phases: the Republic, the Principate Empire and the Dominate Empire. Next he forensically examines specific examples of the Roman military on campaign and in battle, and of its engineering prowess. Finally, he examines the many enemies faced by the Roman Republic and Empire. This all provides a firm structure to enable the reader to come to grips with this incredible military machine, one whose exploits still resonate in the world to this very day.

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The Battle of Britain was won in 1940 by the squadrons of Fighter Command under the leadership of Air Chief Marshal Dowding who was given no public honour or recognition for this great achievement in saving Britain from Nazi invasion and occupation - here now is a searching and advanced review which justifies Dowding's place of honour in British history.This book is written by a Spitfire pilot who served at readiness and in combat throughout the Battle of Britain in day fighter squadrons. His personal observations of the war during 1939 and 1940 combined with many years of research has produced a penetrating review of the Battle with many of the old myths dispelled.The author tells of the sacrifices of the people of Britain, the great courage and tenacity of our young fighter pilots, always outnumbered by the Liftwaffe bombers and fighters. He courageously exposes and shames the appalling behaviour of the Air Ministry cabal of senior officers who attacked and dishonoured Dowding at this time of great crisis in our history.Questions such as: who controlled the Battle? was it Reichsmarschall Goering or the weather? was there really a Big Wing Philosophy or was it just a Big Wing myth? why were WWI night fighting tactics for slow flying biplanes introduced by the Air Ministry in 1940 as a defence over London against fast flying modern Luftwaffe bombers? why was there a cabal and who were the members, plus many more, are discussed?This is a book telling of honour restored to the people of Britain, our fighter pilots, and Air Chief Marshal Dowding - sadly it also tells of dishonour.

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In spite of being named the first 'Garden City', Letchworth was conceived as a model industrial town built on enterprise and employment. Never intended to be merely a pleasant place to live, it needed to be large enough to encourage the mass movement of manufacturers and their employees from overcrowded cities and to function as a self-supporting new town. In this richly illustrated account, Letchworth Local History Research Group look in detail at the town's foundation in the early 1900s and the energetic organisation and administration that enabled it to get off the ground quickly and successfully. Based on new research into a wealth of source material, the book puts to rest some of the enduring myths about the garden city, revealing a nuanced picture of the founding of a working community. The collaborative efforts of First Garden City Ltd (FGC), the development company for the new town, are a key focus. Extremely well-connected, experienced and highly influential, the senior management of FGC (including Ebenezer Howard), together with a team of engineers as well as architects Barry Parker and Raymond Unwin, were able to provide key infrastructure and sites for development in keeping with a clear strategy. Naturally there were challenges and the need for capital to maintain momentum posed considerable difficulties. But strong leadership saw the fledgling town through some tough periods, including the first world war. The second part of the book comprises a detailed gazetteer of the industries that established themselves in Letchworth in its early years, with rare archive photographs showing both premises and workers. From printing and publishing, to motor manufacture, foundries, clothing and pioneering cinematic companies, the story of Letchworth's early industry is lively and unique.

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Fifteen centuries ago, the island of Saint Andrew (Isola di Sant’Andrea), located in the basin of Lake Loppio, drained in 1956, was the seat of a fortified settlement, and in the Middle Ages a church dedicated to St. Andrew was built on its top. After sporadic discoveries beginning in the 19th century, in 1998 the Archaeology Department of the Rovereto Civic Museum began a research and study project on the site, comprising a series of summer excavation campaigns. The archaeological investigations, completed in 2017, have brought to light a multi-layered archaeological site with finds ranging from the prehistoric age to Late Antiquity, medieval times and even until the First World War. While the first volume (published in 2016) was about the results of the research concerning the 5th-7th century castrum, this second work takes into consideration the results of the archaeological research in the area of the church (Sectors C and C1). Contains contributions by Milena Anesi, Maurizio Battisti, Cinzia Borchia, Roberto Cabella, Florence Caillaud, Sabrina Calzà, Claudio Capelli, Simone Cavalieri, Anna Maria Fioretti, Luca Gardumi, Stefano Marconi, Marco Morghen, Michele Piazza, Alberta Silvestri, Eleonora Tomasini, Fabiana Zandonai.

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MI14 was set up in 1940 as a clearing house for intelligence from and about Nazi Germany. In addition to their own networks and operations, MI14 also had the benefit of intelligence from MI5, MI6 and MI9. The Gestapo was one of the main areas of MI14 interest. Established in 1933 as Department 1A of the Prussian State Police, the Gestapo (a contraction of Geheime Staatspolizei – state secret police) soon became identified as the Nazis’ leading instrument of repression and synonymous with the brutality and terror of the regime. Charged with state security, the Gestapo singled out opponents, real or imaginary, within Germany and the occupied territories, brutally suppressing them with torture and execution, and actively seeking to promote the Nazi state’s perverse policies. This book also reveals that the Gestapo was not as all-powerful as it is often assumed, and was often under-resourced and overstretched, relying to a great extent on the willingness of ‘ordinary Germans’ to provide information on their fellow citizens.

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Godwin and his family dominated English politics for almost half a century, establishing themselves as the most influential and powerful dynasty in Anglo-Saxon England. At the height of its power, it took a matter of weeks for the dynasty to fall. Earl Godwin established himself as Cnut’s most senior advisor and continued that role to become even more influential during the reign of Edward the Confessor, seeing his daughter Edith become queen and his two eldest sons, Swegn and Harold, given earldoms. After Godwin’s death four of his sons held earldoms, and Harold was to emerge as Edward the Confessor’s senior earl and eventually become king of England. This book considers the key events throughout this period, including Godwin’s emergence, the succession dispute after Cnut’s death, the rise to prominence of his eldest children, the family’s exile and dramatic return, the quarrel between Harold and Tostig, and the Norse and Norman invasions. Specific chapters are devoted to Godwin’s involvement in the Anglo-Danish succession, the family’s exiling, Harold’s trip to Normandy, William of Normandy’s claims to the English throne, re-assessments of the accepted Norman landing site and traditional site of the battle of Hastings, and the fate of the remaining Godwinsons post-1066.

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A Spectator Book of the Year 2020 A Times and Sunday Times Best Book of 2020 A Mail on Sunday Book of the Year 2020 ‘Inspired … Lowe’s sensitive, disturbing book should be compulsory reading for both statue builders and statue topplers’ MAX HASTINGS, SUNDAY TIMES What happens when our values change, but what we have set in stone does not? Humankind has always had the urge to memorialise, to make physical testaments to the past. There’s just one problem: when we carve a statue or put up a monument, it can wind up holding us hostage to bad history. In this extraordinary history book, Keith Lowe uses monuments from around the world to show how different countries have attempted to sculpt their history in the wake of the Second World War, and what these memorials reveal about their politics and national identity today. Amongst many questions, the book asks: What does Germany signal to today’s far right by choosing not to disclose the exact resting place of Hitler? How can a bronze statue of a young girl in Seoul cause mass controversy? What is Russia trying to prove and hide, still building victory monuments at a prolific rate for a war now seventy years over? As many around the world are questioning who and what we memorialise, Prisoners of History challenges our idea of national memory, history, and the enormous power of symbols in society today.

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Peter Stanford is an award-winning writer, journalist and broadcaster. His investigations into the history, theology and cultural significance of religious ideas include Judas: The Troubling History of the Renegade Apostle, Martin Luther: Catholic Dissident and Angels: A Visible and Invisible History. He is a former editor of the Catholic Herald, and writes for the Daily and Sunday Telegraph titles, and The Tablet. He is director of the Longford Trust for prison reform.

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