History Books

Book Synopsis''Reads like the script for a Bond film'' Mail on SundayA groundbreaking book, this unprecedented study is the authoritative account of the best-known intelligence organisation in the world. Essential reading for anyone interested in the history of espionage, the two world wars, modern British government and the conduct of international relations in the first half of the twentieth century, MI6: The History of the Secret Intelligence Service 1909-1949 is a uniquely important examination of the role and significance of intelligence in the modern world.Trade Review‘Extraordinarily useful, endlessly interesting ... Jeffery captured the adventurous, John Buchan side of SIS with as much zest as he revealed the successes and failures of its analysis of events' * John Simpson *'A magisterial account of the two wars in particular, viewed via the prism of secret intelligence. Winningly, it also entertains' * Independent on Sunday *‘Fascinating ... The book is full of examples of the ingenuity and courage shown by all ranks' * Douglas Hurd, Guardian *'Full of episode and personality, without ever succumbing to the swash and buckle that can dazzle those who get close to SIS' * Daily Telegraph *

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Book SynopsisBetween the years 1964 and 1974, Ethiopian post-secondary students studying at home, in Europe, and in North America produced a number of journals. In them, these students explored the relationship between social theory and social change within the project of building a socialist Ethiopia. Ethiopia in Theory examines the literature of this student movement, together with the movement 's afterlife in Ethiopian politics and society, in order to ask a vital question: what does it mean to write today about the appropriation and indigenisation of Marxist and mainstream social science ideas in an Ethiopian and African context? And, further, what does the archive of revolutionary thought in Africa teach us about the practice of critical theory more generally?Trade Review"This superb book will transform all discussions concerning the production of knowledge. Ranging through the archives, moving across philosophy and critical theory, and traversing social history, Ethiopia in Theory frames a stunningly original account of the Ethiopian student movement of the 1960s and '70s as a site for the production of radical social science. Rather than the mere reception of revolutionary theory in an African context, Zeleke shows us the dynamics of its generation. There is truly nothing in the literature that comes close to the depth of this multi-leveled, interdisciplinary study. Zeleke 's outstanding book deserves the widest possible readership in social history, African studies, post-colonial analysis, and Marxist and critical theory in general." --David McNally, Cullen Distinguished Professor of History, University of Houston, author of Monsters of the Market: Zombies, Vampires and Global CapitalismTable of ContentsForeword by Donald L. DonhamAcknowledgmentsAbbreviationsNote on CitationsIntroductionPart 1 Knowledge Production and Social Change in Ethiopia1 The Children of the Revolution: Toward an Alternative Method2 Social Science Is a Battlefield: Rethinking the Historiography of the Ethiopian Revolution3 Challenge: Social Science in the Literature of the Ethiopian Student Movement4 When Social Science Concepts Become Neutral Arbiters of Social Conflict: Rethinking the 2005 Elections in Ethiopia5 Passive Revolution: Living in the Aftermath of the 2005 ElectionsPart 2 Theory as Memoir6 The Problem of the Social Sciences in AfricaBibliographyIndex

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Book SynopsisA major new assessment of the “vanished kingdom” of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth—one which recognizes its achievements before its destructionTrade Review“This astonishing and brilliant revival of independence and creative energy is the subject of Richard Butterwick’s book . . . [which] goes into the details not only of high politics but of people and processes. . . . Butterwick makes a vivid narrative.”—Neal Ascherson, London Review of Books“A brilliantly constructed and complete synthesis. . . . Different threads combine, interweave and result from one another, giving a rich picture of the reality of the time. . . . Probably the first historical synthesis of this epoch in which the author has followed so closely the political situation in this part of Europe, and at the same time shown that, without this knowledge, it is impossible to understand the internal political activities of a state deprived of sovereignty.”—Anna Grześkowiak-Krwawicz, Polish History Museum“Butterwick offers a very valuable and impressively comprehensive account of the important final decades in the history of the Commonwealth.”—Larry Wolff, Slavonic and East European Review“Butterwick is a good narrator, but he manages to transcend mere storytelling. It is no small feat that he explains the complexities of the Commonwealth and its constituent parts, the changing social and economic landscape as well as the complicated confessional issues without ever being dry.”—Orsolya Szakály, European Review of History“A captivating history of the last decades of one of the largest and yet most unknown state structures in Europe. . . . [Butterwick] is able brilliantly to refute the common notion that the history of the Polish-Lithuanian state in the eighteenth century can only be reduced to its decay.”—Ruth Leiserowitz, Historische Zeitschrift“Richard Butterwick . . . has handled this task perfectly. We have a new, conceptual book revealing to readers the complex history of the Polish-Lithuanian state, or more precisely its final stage, lit up not just by the bright aura of the Age of Enlightenment, but also ablaze with ideas of freedom, equality, democracy and constitutionalism just before the state was extinguished. . . . It is also an excellent guide helping readers understand the underlying reasons for geopolitical processes in the context of Russia’s intervention in the sovereign Ukrainian state.”—Ramunė Šmigelskytė-Stukienė, Lithuanian Historical Studies“Brilliant. . . . This is an archivally-rich book that successfully captures the developing destruction of a still-vibrant polity. An important work indeed not only for those interested in Polish history but also in the Enlightenment as practice.”—Jeremy Black, The Critic“One of the many virtues of Butterwick’s book is that . . . on the basis of deep and up-to-date research, the work will facilitate the teaching of eighteenth-century Poland-Lithuania to Anglophone students. . . . It is written with verve and color. . . . An outstanding achievement.”—Robert Frost FBA, The Middle Ground JournalWinner of the Polish Historical Society’s Pro Historia Polonorum prizeFirst distinction in the competition of the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs for the best foreign-language book promoting the history of PolandWinner of the 2021 Oskar Halecki Polish History Award, sponsored by the Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences of America“Masterly. Butterwick’s authoritative and notably well-written account is a major contribution to Polish and European history. As a study of the high politics of the last six decades of Poland-Lithuania’s independent existence, it would be difficult to better.”—Hamish Scott, FBA, Jesus College, University of Oxford“Both scholarly and entertaining, this enthralling account of the decline and fall of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth is a major contribution to the history of Europe in the eighteenth century.”—Tim Blanning, author of The Pursuit of Glory: Europe 1648–1815“Butterwick has succeeded admirably. . . . This compelling history weaves political, ecclesiastical, and international affairs together, demonstrating how the principles of Enlightenment shaped a reforming state and society as they faced the Partitions.”—Frank E. Sysyn, University of Alberta

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Book SynopsisA Short History of the World in 50 Animals provides a new perspective on the grand sweep of our planet’s making, taking readers from the time of the dinosaurs to the time of Dolly, the first cloned mammal. This book will include a great variety of beasts from across the animal kingdom, some well known and others far more surprising, from every continent in the world. Each entry will show the creature’s influence on world development, economy, health, culture, religion and society. The size of the animals range from hulking elephants to tiny bees but each one has made a significant impact on history.A Short History of the World in 50 Animals details the impact, legacy and role of fifty animals that determined the world’s history and shows how many of them are essential for our future survival. Featuring charming black and white illustrations throughout, which celebrate these extraordinary animals.In the same series: A Short History of the World in 50 Places.

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"One of BookAuthority’s Three Best New Robotics Audiobooks To Read in 2019"

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Book SynopsisFeaturing an annotated cutaway and artwork detailing the features of the ships, this book explores the design, development, and deployment of both the Essex and Independence class of light carriers that were at the forefront of many actions in World War II, including the climatic battles of Phillipine Sea and Leyte Gulf in 1944.

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Book SynopsisIt is 2011, and all universities in North Korea have been shut down for an entire year, except for the all-male Pyongyang University of Science and Technology. This is where Suki Kim has accepted a job teaching English. Over the next six months she will eat three meals a day with her young charges and struggle to teach them to write, all under the watchful eye of the regime.Life at the university is lonely and claustrophobic. Her letters are read by censors and she must hide her notes and photographs not only from her minders but also from her colleagues, evangelical Christian missionaries, whose faith she does not share.As the weeks pass she discovers how easily her students lie, and how total is their obedience to Kim Jong-il. She also, bravely, hints at the existence of a world beyond their own: the internet, free travel, democracy, and other ideas forbidden in a country where torture and execution are commonplace. Yet her pupils are also full of boyish enthusiasm, with flashes of curiosity not yet extinguished.Without You, There Is No Us offers a moving and incalculably rare glimpse of life inside the world's most inscrutable country.Trade ReviewStrangely terrifying...A beautifully written book that greatly expands the limited bounds of what we know about North Korea's ruling class -- Barbara Demick, author of Nothing To EnvyThis superb work of investigative journalism is distinguished by its grave beauty and aching tenderness. -- Kiran Desai, author of The Inheritance of LossA rare and revealing insight into the world of this closed nation's "priviligentsia", a sector of society about which very little information is available. * The Times Online *(Suki Kim) lived under constant surveillance, fearful that she might slip up. * Daily Mail *A glimpse into the North Korean mind. * Francis Wheen, Mail on Sunday *

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Book SynopsisIf there is one thing we can be sure of concerning the Saxons, Vikings and Normans who inhabited the medieval world, it is that they were a good deal more advanced than some writings would have us believe. This fascinating book by Terence Wise explores the history, organization, clothing, equipment and weapons of Saxon, Viking and Norman peoples, covering wide-ranging topics such as Anglo-Saxon shields, Viking raiding ships and the organization of Norman armies.The absorbing and readable text is enriched by numerous illustrations and museum photographs with commentaries, plus eight superbly drawn full page colour plates by renowned military artist Gerry Embleton.

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Book SynopsisThe first biography in more than a generation of the father of modern political Zionism and in effect the state of Israel.Drawing extensively on his diaries as well as his published works, this intellectual biographical follows Herzl's transformation from a private person into the founder and leader of a political movement which made the quest for a Jewish state into a player in international politics. Contrary to the conventional view which saw the Dreyfus affair as the trigger for Herzl's loss of belief in the promise of Jewish emancipation, Avineri shows how it was the political crisis of the Austro-Hungarian Habsburg Empire, torn apart by contending national movements, which convinced Herzl of the need for a Jewish polity.In response to the wide resonance for his 1896 THE JEWISH STATE, Herzl convened the first Zionist Congress in Basel in 1897, which established the World Zionist Organization with its representative and elected institutions; this in turn became the foundation for Israel's democratic political system. In his efforts to gain international support for a Jewish state, Herzl met with the Ottoman Sultan, the German Emperor Wilhelm II, Pope Pius X, British, Russian and German ministers, as well as an enormous number of other government and public opinion leaders of most European countries. By the time of his early death in 1904 at the age of 44, Herzl succeeded in putting Zionism on the map of world politics, no longer an esoteric idea held by a small group of Jewish intellectuals in Eastern Europe.Trade ReviewTurning the idea of Jewish nationhood into an organised movement was Herzl's work of genius, which is expounded by Avineri with scholarship, sensitivity and wisdom. -- Oliver Kamm * The JC.COM *How Herzl conjured up the idea of a Jewish state out of the air is the subject of this book. It is a political biography; of Herzl's family life, his loves and his hatreds we learn little. With almost nothing but his will, he wrote, cajoled, talked and organised Zionism into existence. Between 1895 and 1897, in two short years, he provided the movement with its key text (Der Judenstaat), its destination (Palestine) and its organisational birth (the first Zionist Congress in Basle). Then he hawed his ideas around the leaders of Europe, to see if he could make a reality from the dream. These unlikely peregrinations are captured perfectly by Avineri. Without them there would have been no Israel. -- David Aaronovitch * THE TIMES *The great strength of Avineri's immensely readable biography is to deliver Herzl in all his tortured complexity and - something not always given its due - the philosophical clarity of his diagnosis of what had befallen the Jews in the modern age and what might be done about their predicament. He had the beard of a poet but a brain for realpolitik. As one might expect from Avineri, who is first and foremost a powerful historian of political thought, this is the most chewily cogent account yet of Herzl the political thinker and doer. -- Simon Schama * FINANCIAL TIMES *What...Shlomo Avineri, a professor of political sciences at Jerusalem's Hebrew University, offers is a different perspective on Herzl's life. Professor Avineri largely relies on Herzl's own writings, especially his obsessively written diary, rather than so much on secondary sources as many other books do. This device has the advantage of explaining Herzl's thoughts, as well as his actions. -- Alistair Dawber * THE INDEPENDENT *It was Austrian politics, not a French miscarriage of justice [the Dreyfuss case], which moved Herzl towards Jewish separatism, Avineri explains, with a rather more complex story than the one the professor tells us is taught to Israeli schoolchildren. Political liberalism had ended official anti-Jewish discrimination in Austria and widened the franchise; but, to the horror of liberals like Herzl, anti-Semitic demagogues were elected. It seemed that the more democratic Austrian society was, the more anti-Semitic it became. -- Jad Adams * SUNDAY TELEGRAPH *Magnificent -- Daniel Johnson * STANDPOINT *This Herzl remains a charismatic figure whose story is a romance. And so, in some measure, it should be, because that is how Herzl functioned and why he succeeded. He combined Disraeli's charm and political genius, Marx's analytical insight, and the towering authority of his people's lawgiver, Moses. -- Bernard Wasserstein * THE TABLET *In this book Avineri has reclaimed Herzl from the propagandists. -- Colin Shindler * HISTORY TODAY *Herzl [is telling] the story of Zionism from the beginning, one of the strangest, most romantic, most bewildering episodes in modern history, and to this day one of the most bitterly contentious. -- Geoffrey Wheatcroft * THE SPECTATOR *Herzl is an excellent biography of a great man and as such long overdue. -- Lord Mitchell * THE HOUSE *What Avineri gives us is a fine-grained and tender portrait of the Hungarian-born Herzl as a feverish romantic, dodgy dramatist, prolific writer and political organizer, a vibrant man whose energy and devotion to finding a national solution for a Jewish state were palpable and exhausting. -- Duncan Kelly * TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT *Avineri rightly sums up Herzl's work as a 'glorious failure that produced impressive results'. It is Avineri's understanding of the exigencies and difficulties of politics for a mere private individual, without money or official status that makes this book well worth reading. * ANGLO-ISRAEL ASSOCIATION *

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Book SynopsisSPECIAL COMMENDATION in Africa's 100 Best Books of the Twentieth Century. The series is illustrated throughout with maps and black and white photographs.Trade ReviewReviews of the Series: * . *... a real contribution to scholarship. - -- Roland Oliver * the TLS *The General History of Africa was launched in 1970, when an International Scientific Committee of 39 scholars was formed to oversee the writing and publication of a complete survey of the African past, from pre-history to the present. The laudable aim of the project was to break free from the straightjacket of Eurocentrism, and to provide a history that reflected a range of African views without imposing any set historical interpretation. - -- David M. Anderson * INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS *Table of ContentsThe unification of the Maghrib under the Almohads; the spread of civilization in the Maghrib and its impact on Western civilization; the disintegration of political unity in the Maghrib; society in the Maghrib after the disappearance of the Almohads; Mali and the second Mande expansion; the decline of the empire of Mali - the 15th to 16th centuries; the Songhay from the 12th to the 16th century; the peoples and kingdoms of the Niger Bend and the Volta basin from the 12th to the 16th century; the kingdoms and peoples of Chad; the Hausa and their neighbours in the central Sudan; the coastal peoples from Casamance to the Cote d'Ivoire lagoons; from the Cote d'Ivoire lagoons to the Volta; from the Volta to Cameroon; Egypt and the Muslim world from the 12th to the beginning of the 16th century; Nubia from the late-12th century to the Funji conquest in the early 16th century; the Horn of Africa - the Solomonids in Ethiopia and the states of the Horn of Africa; the development of Swahili cilvilization; between the coast and the Great Lakes; the Great Lakes region; the Zambezi and Limpopo basins 1100-1500; Equatorial Africa and Angola - migrations and the emergence of the first states; southern Africa - its peoples and social structures; Madagascar and the neighbouring islands from the 12th to the 16th century; relationships and exchanges among the different regions; Africa in inter-continental relations.

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Book SynopsisThe power of the Roman Empire was at its peak in the second century AD but in fact it started in 753 BC when Rome was founded and only faded in 476 AD.

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Book SynopsisThe French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars encompassed a period when rival European fleets vied for naval supremacy, and naval tactics were evolving. The British Royal Navy emerged triumphant as the leading world sea power, and the epitome of Britannic naval strength was the Ship-of-the-Line. These ''wooden walls'' were more than merely floating gun batteries: they contained a crew of up to 800 men, and often had to remain at sea for extended periods. This book offers detailed coverage of the complex vessels that were the largest man-made structures produced in the pre-Industrial era.

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Book SynopsisWoodman's translation masterfully conveys Tacitus' distinctive and powerful literary style and reflects the best of relevant current scholarship. His introduction provides a wealth of insight into the period about which Tacitus wrote, Tacitus himself, and the principles of translation that have shaped this rendering.Trade ReviewWoodman has produced the most sophisticated English translation of Tacitus' Annals to date, one that will likely remain the standard for years to come. . . . Woodman successfully incorporates into his translation the sense and sound of the author's literary style. His deft rendering into English of Tacitus' word order and sentence structure, mimicking the ancient writer's preference for the unusual word and his propensity to employ metaphorical expressions, alliteration, and an unbalanced syntactic structure, imparts to his translation the artistic texture of this work of history. Woodman's Introduction provides an informative background to Tacitus and an explanation of how the translator has attempted to capture the artistry of the ancient historian. Annotations to the text increase understanding of events and and their participants without burdening the reader or interrupting the flow of the story. In addition to maps and a list of further readings, the work contains useful appendixes, such as a list of political and military terms and a stemma of the Julio-Claudian Emperors. Summing up: Highly recommended. Readers of all levels. --R. I. Curtis, CHOICEAn elegant addition to Tacitean scholarship. . . . The appendices are comprehensive and extremely useful for students, covering political and military terms that are cross-referenced to the text, the deployment of the army which can be confusing in the Annals, Rome, geographical and tribal names, and maps as well as a good index of names. . . . This translation has many eminently practical features, including clear layout, the use of footnotes, and numbering of the text. . . . The Introduction is very accessible and, coupled with the text, will be very useful for students. --Alisdair Gibson, Journal of Classics TeachingThis work is more than a superb translation. It is also in effect a succinct commentary on the whole of the Annals. The section in the Introduction on problems of translation is particularly valuable. --J.N. Adams, All Souls College, Oxford

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Book SynopsisDraws on a variety of eyewitness accounts, letters, and governmental documents to examine the causes of the Haitian Revolution and the impact it had on the eighteenth-century Atlantic world.Trade Review"Not only the best source-book [on the topic] available in English, but also an excellent model of research and interpretation. Geggus's concise account of the Revolution is clear, efficient, and remarkably free of the usual mythologies, hagiographies, and demonizations, while his excellently selected documents outline the story very well on their own. . . . ideal for students who want to learn how the craft of recording history is practiced." --Madison Smartt Bell, Goucher College"This broad-ranging selection of primary-source documents about the Haitian Revolution, based on David Geggus's unmatched knowledge of the subject, is an important resource for both students and readers already familiar with the topic. Students will learn about the conditions that drove slaves and free people of color to revolt in 1791; even scholars in the field will discover new sources and new perspectives on familiar passages." --Jeremy D. Popkin, University of Kentucky"A phenomenal resource. . . [This book] provides a clear and compelling introductory essay and a wonderful array of revealing documents, many drawn from Geggus's own thorough research in multiple archives in Europe and the Americas." --Ada Ferrer, New York UniversityTable of ContentsCONTENTS (tentative): Introduction; The Freedom of a Christian, including dedicatory preface to Hermann Muhlpfort; Introduction to the Related Documents -- The Reception and Impact of (and Contemporary Reactions to) The Freedom of a Christian; An Open Letter to Pope Leo X (1520); How to Use and Properly Acknowledge Christian Freedom (1524); Letter on Christian Freedom to Thomas Neuenhagen, Preacher at Eisenach (1526); Letter on Christian Freedom to Philipp Gluenspiess of Mansfield (1526); The Long-Term Reception of Luther's Concept: Excerpts from the Church Postils; Annotated Bibliography; Index of Scriptural Citations.

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Book SynopsisAn abridgement of Stanley Lombardo's translation of the "Odyssey". It offers more than half of the epic, including all of its best-known episodes and finest poetry, while providing concise summaries for omitted books and passages.

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"It is wonderful to have David Lowenthal's splendid translation of Montesquieu's Considerations on the Causes of the Greatness of the Romans and their Decline back in print. This neglected masterpiece deserves attention from all who are concerned with self-government--whether their focus is on history or on its prospects in our own time." --Paul A. Rahe, University of Tulsa

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Book SynopsisLibrary of History is in three parts: mythical history to the Trojan War; history to Alexander’s death; history to 54 BC. Books 1–5 and 11–20 survive complete, the rest in fragments.

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Book SynopsisPausanias, one of the Roman world’s great travelers, sketches in Description of Greece the history, geography, landmarks, legends, and religious cults of all the important Greek cities. He shares his enthusiasm for great sites, describing them with care and an accuracy confirmed by comparison with monuments that still stand today.

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Book SynopsisClaudian displays poetic as well as rhetorical skill in his diverse set of works. A panegyric on the brothers Probinus and Olybrius was followed mostly by epics in hexameters, but also by elegiacs, epistles, epigrams, and idylls.

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Book SynopsisAelian's Historical Miscellany (Varia Historia) is a pleasurable example of light reading for Romans of the early third century. Offering engaging anecdotes about historical figures, retellings of legendary events, and enjoyable descriptive pieces, Aelian's collection of nuggets and narratives appealed to a wide reading public.Trade ReviewAelian’s Historical Miscellany (Varia Historia) is mainly a potpourri of historical, literary, and other information concerning the Greek past…which apparently entertained educated readers [of the 3rd century] as well as provided them with exempla. Wilson gives us a smooth and very readable translation, syntactically reflecting Aelian’s ‘studied simplicity.’ -- Robert J. Penella * Religious Studies Review *Classicists no longer have an excuse not to check a citation in Aelian, and a general reader who wants to find out what a bedside book from antiquity might have looked like has the means ready to hand… Aelian’s Greek can be quite tricky and with his translation Wilson puts us further in his debt: besides being clear and accurate it is often sprightly and even eloquent. -- A. J. Podlecki * Scholia *

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Book SynopsisAristophanes has been admired since antiquity for his wit, fantasy, language, and satire. Traditional Aeschylus and modern Euripides compete in Frogs. In Assemblywomen, Athenian women plot against male misgovernance. The humor and morality of Wealth made it the most popular of Aristophanes’s plays until the Renaissance.Trade ReviewAs with the three previous volumes, Henderson has edited the Greek text anew, and provided a useful and lively translation. Each play features a general introduction containing a plot summary and discussion of major themes, a note on the text, and a list of major annotated editions… In just over four years Henderson has edited and translated the four volumes of the new Loeb edition of Aristophanes. Every volume is well edited, succinctly annotated, and so translated as to engage the reader in the humor and seriousness of the comedies. It is likely there will be more readers studying Aristophanes rather than fewer ones with the publication of this final volume. -- Carl Anderson * Scholia Reviews *

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Book SynopsisThis is the first extensive study of how anti-Semitism pervaded and shaped Nazi propaganda during World War II and the Holocaust, and how it pulled together diverse elements of a delusionary Nazi worldview. In an era when both anti-Semitism and conspiracy theories continue to influence world politics, Herf offers a timely reminder of their dangers.Trade ReviewHere, practically for the first time, we can see how Germans before and during World War II were at all times in their daily lives confronted with a carefully designed view of the world in which a mythical Jewish enemy was portrayed as threatening Germans and hence had to be killed. No prior study has shown as clearly as this one how central this theme was to German wartime propaganda in all its forms. -- Gerhard L. Weinberg, University of North CarolinaJeffrey Herf has written a brilliant book that reorients our understanding of the Holocaust. Arguing that racial antisemitism, however vicious, was an insufficient basis for genocide, Herf demonstrates that a major shift occurred in Nazi propaganda during the war: Jews were now presented as a political threat to the German nation, and as the instigators, through their puppets, America, England, and the Soviet Union, of a deadly world war against Germany. -- Susannah Heschel, author of Abraham Geiger and the Jewish JesusA commendable and compelling elucidation of the Nazi propaganda which accompanied the Holocaust, indispensable for both students of the Third Reich and general readers. -- Jay W. Baird, author of The Mythical World of Nazi Propaganda, 1939-1945In this impressive book, Jeffrey Herf shows that the omnipresent image of the 'international Jew' as the source of Germany's victimhood was central to the propaganda and political imagination of the Nazi leadership, which made no secret of its intention to destroy European Jewry. -- Anson Rabinbach, Princeton UniversityWith the market so saturated with books that have "Nazi" in their titles, when a path-breaking new work does appear, one that explains the "why"--not just another documentation of the "how"--there is a chance it will slip under many readers' radar. One can only hope that such a fate will not befall Jeffrey Herf's incredibly important The Jewish Enemy, one of those rare works of Holocaust history that poses the most essential question: "Why did European, especially German, antisemitism, which had never led to an effort to murder all of Europe's Jews before, do so between 1941 and 1945 in the midst of World War II? What changed to make anti-Semitism a rationale for mass murder rather than for a continuation of centuries old patterns of persecution?"...[Herf is] the legitimate intellectual heir to [George] Mosse. -- Noah Strote * Forward *Jeffrey Herf's latest book, The Jewish Enemy--dealing with Nazi propaganda during the Holocaust--sheds new light on what happened then in Europe and is a trenchant refutation of those who try to make us believe that antisemitic hate speech is merely a cynical tool employed by politicians...At the beginning of the twenty-first century, the demented discourse of radical antisemitism has resurfaced in different idioms and cultural contexts. It would be complacent to assume that variants on the narrative explored in Jeffrey Herf's brilliant work will not play a part in the future as well...This is a book that should be read widely. -- Karl Pfeifer * Searchlight *What may be the most important book on the Holocaust in a generation...In The Jewish Enemy: Nazi Propaganda During World War II and the Holocaust, [Herf] concedes that hatred and racism were important, but he argues that they don't explain Germany's unique efforts to destroy the Jews...The real answer isn't hate, but fear. Poring through miles of speeches, private comments, journal entries, party memoranda and all 24,000 pages of Goebbel's diaries, Herf concludes that the Nazis really believed that the Jews ran the world and wanted to destroy Germany. They believed that Jews controlled not only the Bolsheviks to the east but the capitalists to the west. -- Jonah Goldberg * Los Angeles Times *Many historians who have tackled Hitler and the Third Reich have found it impossible to take the Führer's rhetoric or Nazi ideology seriously. A. J. P. Taylor was infamous for treating Hitler as an ordinary statesman in the German mould. A succession of historians, including Rainer Zitelmann, Detlev Peukert and Götz Aly, continues to insist that Nazism was a rational modernizing force. It is hard to see how this approach will withstand Jeffrey Herf's patient, incisive and ultimately devasting analysis of the Nazi world-view in The Jewish Enemy. -- David Cesarani * Times Literary Supplement *Which of the major findings of this excellent study is more disturbing: that human beings are capable of inventing and believing the kind of vicious nonsense the Nazis believed about Jews, or that such profoundly irrational beliefs can become the basis of a meticulously devised and implemented program of industrial mass murder? It is indeed the case, to say the least, that 'an examination of modern political culture draws attention to the causal significance of many irrational and illusory ideological perspectives'...The Jewish Enemy is both a revealing, carefully documented historical study and a reminder of the timeless and astonishing human capacity for demented belief, bottomless hatred, and a correspondingly stunning readiness to act upon bizarre convictions and fantasies...This study is also highly informative about the methods and character of Nazi propaganda. The author makes use of sources not widely used before, such as the ubiquitous wall newspapers (also favored in communist states), posters, and archival materials (including directives to the press about the tasks and methods of propaganda), and the diaries of Goebbels, among others. Some striking visual images of 'the Jewish enemy' used in the press and posters are reproduced (remarkably similar to both Soviet anti-capitalist, anti-American propaganda and the images purveyed in Arab anti-Israeli propaganda). -- Paul Hollander * New Criterion *Through a chronological structure that moves seamlessly from an introductory section on pre-1939 Nazi propaganda themes and structures to the shifting narratives of the wartime period, Herf shows convincingly that the attacks on the regime's wartime "enemies" (Britain; after 1941 the Soviet Union and the United States) were underpinned by the same Überbegriff of an alleged "international Jewish conspiracy."...Herf's book adds much-needed intellectual ammunition to the argument that propaganda should be taken very seriously. -- Aristotle A. Kallis * H-Net *Undoubtedly, this is a much-needed study that convincingly demonstrates the centrality of radical anti-Semitic language in the Nazi leadership's thinking and the regime's wartime propaganda. Herf has succeeded in showing how in the minds of the regime's leaders and propagandists the Second World War and the Nazi genocide of the Jews were directly and inherently connected. -- Thomas Pegelow Kaplan * Canadian Journal of History *Herf is meticulous in his scholarship, and the book's vivid detail can certainly hold up to historians' scrutiny...This is a must-read. -- Dave Roy * Curled Up with a Good Book *Herf has made excellent use of many overlooked sources...Most shockingly, he shows the remarkable extent to which the German people were informed by Hitler and his colleagues that the Third Reich was engaged in annihilating Europe's Jews. The overall effect is one of a regime in thrall to its own paranoid fantasies, with devastating consequences that are all too familiar. -- Dan Stone * Journal of Genocide Research *Jeffrey Herf, one of the most prolific and challenging historians of twentieth-century Germany, has written an important book, the first comprehensive work detailing the structure of the Third Reich’s effort to inculcate antisemitism in the German population. This was a propaganda effort, and much of Herf’s book focuses on Joseph Goebbels; but Herf also carefully delineates changes in the antisemitic content of Hitler’s speeches and gives a great deal of attention to Otto Dietrich, the Reich press chief. The result for readers is a nuanced sense of the volume and flow of antisemitic propaganda—and The Jewish Enemy leaves no doubt that antisemitism, indeed murderous antisemitism, was an ideology propagated up front and in public. For some readers, this may seem an obvious point, but a great deal of older research underscored how the Nazis placed antisemitism in the background, emphasizing instead the material gains that ordinary citizens could expect from Nazi rule. Herf shows that nothing could be further from the truth...it is Herf’s significant achievement to gather the antisemitic propaganda of the Third Reich and demonstrate its patterns. For the first time, we have a nuanced account of how state-produced antisemitism changed during the war and how this antisemitism connected to the Holocaust. -- Helmut Walser Smith * Journal of Modern History *Table of ContentsPreface 1. The Jews, the War, and the Holocaust 2. Building the Anti-Semitic Consensus 3. "International Jewry" and the Origins of World War II 4. At War against the Alliance of Bolshevism and Plutocracy 5. Propaganda in the Shadow of the Death Camps 6. "The Jews Are Guilty of Everything" 7. "Victory or Extermination" Conclusion Appendix: The Anti-Semitic Campaigns of the Nazi Regime, as Reflected in Lead Front-Page Stories in Der V&omul;lkische Beobachter List of Abbreviations Notes Acknowledgments Bibliography Bibliographical Essay Index

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Book SynopsisIn twelfth century Languedoc a subversive heresy of Eastern origin flourished to an extraordinary degree. The Albingenses believed that the world was created by an evil spirit, and that all worldly things - including the Church - were by nature sinful.Jonathan Sumption''s acclaimed history examines the roots of the heresy, the uniquely rich culture of the region which nurtured it, and the crusade launched against it by the Church which resulted in one of the most savage of all medieval wars.''[Sumption] never fails to keep his narrative lively with the particular and the pertinent. He is excellent on the tactics and spirit of medieval warfare.'' Frederic Raphael, Sunday Times

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Book Synopsis1606: William Shakespeare and the Year of Lear traces Shakespeare''s life and times from the autumn of 1605, when he took an old and anonymous Elizabethan play, The Chronicle History of King Leir, and transformed it into his most searing tragedy, King Lear.1606 proved to be an especially grim year for England, which witnessed the bloody aftermath of the Gunpowder Plot, divisions over the Union of England and Scotland, and an outbreak of plague. But it turned out to be an exceptional one for Shakespeare, unrivalled at identifying the fault-lines of his cultural moment, who before the year was out went on to complete two other great Jacobean tragedies that spoke directly to these fraught times: Macbeth and Antony and Cleopatra.Following the biographical style of 1599, a way of thinking and writing that Shapiro has made his own, 1606: William Shakespeare and the Year of Lear promises to be one of the most significant and accessible works on Shakespeare in the decade to come

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Book SynopsisSarah Hrdy argues that if human babies were to survive in a world of scarce resources, they would need to be cared for, not only by their mothers but also by siblings, aunts, fathers, friendsand, with any luck, grandmothers. Out of this complicated and contingent form of childrearing, says Hrdy, came the human capacity for understanding others.Trade ReviewIn the study of mothering, Sarah Hrdy has no peer. In Mothers and Others, we are treated to Hrdy's infectious writing, taking the reader on a tour of our evolved history as a cooperatively parenting species. The ideas are big, bold, and brain-bending. -- Marc Hauser, author of Moral Minds: How Nature Designed Our Universal Sense of Right and WrongBoldly conceived and beautifully written, Mothers and Others makes a strong case that we humans are (or should be) cooperative breeders. It is an indispensable contribution to the debate about how and why we came to be the most successful primate of them all. -- Melvin Konner, author of The Tangled Wing: Biological Constraints on the Human SpiritAs was the case for her earlier classic, Mother Nature, Sarah Hrdy's Mothers and Others is a brilliant work on a profoundly important subject. The leading scientific authority on motherhood has come through again. -- E. O. Wilson"What if I were traveling with a planeload of chimpanzees? Any one of us would be lucky to disembark with all ten fingers and toes still attached...Even among the famously peaceful bonobos...veterinarians sometimes have to be called in following altercations to stitch back on a scrotum or penis," Hrdy writes. What she found is that our unique mothering instinct, quite different from gorillas and chimpanzees, meant that the children most likely to survive were those who could relate to and solicit help from others. We evolved to be wired for empathy for, consideration of, and intuition into how others are feeling. -- Jessa Crispin * Smart Set *To explain the rise of cooperative breeding among our forebears, Hrdy synthesizes an array of new research in anthropology, genetics, infant development, comparative biology. -- Natalie Angier * New York Times *For as long as she's been a sociobiologist, Sarah Blaffer Hrdy has been playfully dismantling traditional notions of motherhood and gender relations...Hrdy is back with another book, Mothers and Others, and another big idea. She argues that human cooperation is rooted not in war making, as sociobiologists have believed, but in baby making and baby-sitting. Hrdy's conception of early human society is far different from the classic sociobiological view of a primeval nuclear family, with dad off hunting big game and mom tending the cave and the kids. Instead, Hrdy paints a picture of a cooperative breeding culture in which parenting duties were spread out across a network of friends and relatives. The effect on our development was profound. -- Julia Wallace * Salon *Hrdy's lucid and comprehensively researched book takes us to the heart of what it means to be human. -- Camilla Power * Times Higher Education *Hrdy's much-awaited new book, is another mind-expanding, paradigm-shifting, rigorously scientific yet eminently readable treatise...Mothers and Others lays the foundation for a new hypothesis about human evolution...Mothers and Others is overflowing with fascinating information and thinking. It's a book you read, pausing regularly to consider the full import of what you just read...Sarah Blaffer Hrdy has added another enormous building block to our thinking about our origins with this new book. Our species is lucky to have her. -- Claudia Casper * Globe and Mail *Provocative. [Hrdy] argues that unlike other apes, Homo sapiens could never have evolved if human mothers had been required to raise their offspring on their own. Human infants are too helpless and too expensive in their demands for care and resources. So human females have to line up helpers--sometimes extending beyond their own kin--to raise their young. That requires both males and females to invest heavily in social skills for bargaining with other members of their groups. Hrdy suggests that females in ancestral hunting and gathering groups may have thrived because they were free to be flexible in this way. Female flexibility was reduced when humans established settlements requiring male coalitions to defend them, probably leading to greater control of females by males...The most refreshing aspect of [this] book is the challenge [it] offers to what we thought we already knew. -- John Odling-Smee * Nature *If Sarah Blaffer Hrdy were a male scientist, I might be tempted to say that her new book Mothers and Others arrives like an intellectual time bomb, or that it throws a grenade into accepted notions of human evolution. But those are aggressive, competitive metaphors, and one of the essential points of Mothers and Others is that aggression and competition have been given far too central a place in the standard accounts of how our species came into being. From Charles Darwin onward, those accounts are mostly the work of men, and Hrdy points out in meticulous detail how partial and biased was their understanding of the remote past...Mothers and Others offers enormous rewards. It is not only revolutionary; it is also wise and humane. -- Mark Abley * Calgary Herald *More than a million years ago, somewhere in Africa, a group of apes began to rear their young differently. Unlike almost all other primates, they were willing to let others share in the care of infants. The reasons for this innovation are lost in the ancient past, but according to well-known anthropologist Hrdy, it was crucial that these mothers had related--and therefore trusted--females nearby and that the helpers provided food as well as care. Out of this "communal care," she argues, grew the human capacity for understanding one another: mothers and others teach us who will care and who will not. Beginning with her opening conceit of apes on an airplane (you wouldn't want to be on this flight) and continuing through her informed insights into the behavior of other species, Hrdy's reasoning is fascinating to follow. -- Michelle Press * Scientific American *One of the boldest thinkers in her field...Hrdy's scope is huge...To build her arguments, she expertly knits together research from a variety of fields--fossil evidence, endocrinology, psychology, history, child development, genetics, comparative primatology and field research among hunter-gatherer societies. Her book is at once entertaining, full of apt, often colorful anecdotes, sometimes culled from her own experiences, and rich with information and case studies...Hrdy is not only synthesizing her own research on female reproductive strategies (initially on langur monkeys in India), but that of hundreds of other researchers to create what amounts to a sweeping new meta-paradigm. -- Michele Pridmore-Brown * Times Literary Supplement *In this compelling and wide-ranging book, Hrdy sets out to explain the mystery of how humans evolved into cooperative apes. The demands of raising our slow-growing and energetically expensive offspring led to cooperative child-rearing, she argues, which was key to our survival. -- Alison Motluk * New Scientist *Using evidence from diverse research fields (including ethnography, archaeology, developmental psychology, primatology, endocrinology, and genetics), Hrdy builds an engaging and compelling argument for an evolutionary history of cooperative offspring care that requires us to rethink entrenched views about how we came to be human...Mothers and Others provides a fascinating, readable account of how our hominin ancestors might have negotiated the obstacles to raising offspring. Hrdy presents a well-argued case for human evolutionary history being characterized by cooperative offspring care, which opens fresh avenues of research into the history of our species. In addition, she prompts readers to consider far-reaching questions, such as whether the nuclear family is the "best" unit in which to raise children and how learned parenting practices might determine the future of human evolution. Her thought-provoking book will interest students, specialists, and general readers alike and should focus attention on the neglected roles of mothers and others within human evolutionary theory. -- Gillian R. Brown * Science *Hrdy presents her hypothesis systematically and painstakingly, chapter by chapter, so that the result is compellingly plausible. -- William McGrew * American Scientist *Understanding the evolution of the human mind has become the holy grail of modern evolutionary anthropology and evolutionary psychology, and those who pursue it feel themselves closing in on something big. Mothers and Others is a heroic contribution to this quest. It is an anthropological T(A)E: a theory of (almost) everything, a genre for which I must confess a weakness. It stands above most other examples of the genre, however, for both its scholarship and its craft. Hrdy draws on a broad literature extending beyond the traditional domains of primatology and anthropology, with particular emphasis on developmental psychology, but breadth of scholarship and lucid vision have long been the trademarks of her writing...Hrdy is at least as gifted as a writer as [Stephen Jay] Gould and at least as clear a thinker...This is a very important book, and a beautiful one. It is a book that will delight a broad lay readership coming to it from disparate perspectives. It will be a wonderful book to assign to undergraduates in a range of courses. But most importantly, it is a challenging and provocative book for academics and scientists interested in human cognition and human evolution. Once again, Hrdy has woven together strands of material from many sources into an elegant tapestry of insight and logic, emblazoned with her vision of who we are, and why. -- Peter Ellison * Evolutionary Psychology *The book is an impressive and sustained argument for why, unlike other apes, humans are cooperative breeders...Hrdy offers some fascinating speculations about the problems whose solution might have facilitated the emergence of cooperative breeding. -- Pierre Jacob * International Cognition and Culture Institute blog *Mothers and Others is an engaging book. It is full of fascinating information from diverse fields, imaginatively harnessed to produce a coherent account of our genetic predispositions as a species. Above all, it challenges the pervasively sexist tradition within evolutionary psychology, which routinely highlights aggression and maternal care at the expense of sociability and shared care. In doing so, the book provides a rich foundation for engagement with the social sciences, exploring the articulation between our genetic predispositions and contemporary human societies. -- Michael Gilding * Australian Book Review *Convincing about the importance of alloparenting, [Hrdy] makes a rich case that draws on wide erudition about many primate species and current arguments about human cooperation. -- B. Weston * Choice *In Mothers and Others: The Evolutionary Origins of Mutual Understanding, Sarah Hrdy argues that what makes humans different from other apes is our need to rear children cooperatively. Elegantly written and, to any parent, compellingly argued. -- Morgan Kelly * Irish Times *Sarah Blaffer Hrdy is one of the most original and influential minds in evolutionary anthropology...It is possible to see Hrdy's most recent book, Mothers and Others, as the third in a trilogy that began with The Woman That Never Evolved. It may be the most important...[It's her] most ambitious contribution. In Mothers and Others, she situates this pivotal mother-infant pair not in an empty expanse of savanna, waiting for a man to arrive with his killed game, but where it actually belongs, in the dense social setting of a hunter-gatherer or, before that, an ape or monkey group. Hrdy argues convincingly that social support was crucial to human success, that compared with other primates, humans are uniquely cooperative, and that it was precisely cooperation in child care that gave rise to this general bent...Hrdy's gracefully written, expert account of human behavior focuses on the positive, and its most important contribution is to give cooperation its rightful place in child care. Through a lifetime of pathbreaking work, she has repeatedly undermined our complacent, solipsistic, masculine notions of what women were meant "by nature" to be. Here as elsewhere she urges caution and compassion toward women whose maternal role must be constantly rethought and readjusted to meet the demands of a changing world. Women have done this successfully for millions of years, and their success will not stop now. But neither Hrdy nor I nor anyone else can know whether the strong human tendency to help mothers care for children can produce the species-wide level of cooperation that we now need to survive. -- Melvin Konner * New York Review of Books *Table of Contents* Apes on a Plane * Why Us and Not Them? * Why It Takes a Village * Novel Developments * Will the Real Pleistocene Family Please Step Forward? * Meet the Alloparents * Babies as Sensory Traps * Grandmothers among Others * Childhood and the Descent of Man * Notes * References * Acknowledgments * Index

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Book SynopsisCharles Walker examines the largest rebellion in the history of Spain's American empire, led by Latin America's most iconic revolutionary, Tupac Amaru, and his wife. It began in 1780 as a multiclass alliance against European-born usurpers but degenerated into a vicious caste war, leaving a legacy that still influences South American politics today.Trade Review[This is] the first extended survey of the causes and the course of the Tupac Amaru rebellion to appear in English since 1966… [It] is a lucid and accessible survey in which Walker skillfully blends narrative with explanation to construct a harrowing story of violence and atrocities on an enormous scale… [It] will give Anglophone readers a perceptive and reliable account of the terrible events that occurred far away from what they naturally regard as the principal center of action at that time, the British North American colonies, a mere 322,000 square miles in size, as compared with an Andean surface area approaching two million. -- J. H. Elliott * New York Review of Books *The Tupac Amaru rebellion began in the Spanish viceroyalty of Peru in 1780 and turned into the largest popular uprising in Spain’s imperial history. To this day, its impact resonates in modern Latin American politics. The rebellion receives masterly treatment from Walker. -- Tony Barber * Financial Times *[This] is a coherent and thorough exploration of the causes, dynamics, and outcome of the insurgency. It sheds new light on many important topics and provides overarching interpretive frames… This book at least comes to attend to a very overdue and tangible need: a thoughtful, well-researched, and analytically sophisticated narrative of the most important indigenous insurrection in Andean history. -- Sergio Serulnikov * Hispanic American Historical Review *A solid new history of the Peruvian Indian revolutionary lays out the roots of his rebellion and its bitter legacy… A readable, not‐too‐scholarly story of a significant moment in South American history. * Kirkus Reviews *Walker argues convincingly that Tupac Amaru’s wife, Micaela Bastidas, was his fierce, full partner and confidante, running the rebel camp, overseeing provisions, keeping discipline, and rooting out spies… It’s an interesting and accessible treatment of Peru’s infamously vicious conflict and of its leader, who became a potent symbol for indigenous rights throughout Latin America. * Publishers Weekly *The history of Spain’s conquest and three-century grip on indigenous South America is rife with drama, but nowhere is that clash of cultures more vivid than in the story of Tupac Amaru II and his fierce, stubborn war for independence. Walker recreates the life of this remarkable eighteenth-century rebel with a bold sense of narrative and a careful eye for detail. Here is a fascinating study of the prevailing tensions of Tupac Amaru’s time—between conqueror and conquered, white and brown, city and mountain, Old World and New World—that still vex South America today. -- Marie Arana, author of Bolívar: American LiberatorA masterly and authoritative history of the rebellion. Walker’s empathetic portraits of Tupac Amaru and Micaela Bastidas are nuanced and convincing, and his narrative account of the revolt is both elegantly and engagingly written. His book shows how and why the rebellion and its aftermath continue to reverberate in Andean society today. -- Paulo Drinot, author of The Allure of Labor: Workers, Race, and the Making of the Peruvian StateThe Tupac Amaru Rebellion was a pivotal event in the history of the Americas, yet narrating it clearly and judiciously has evaded generations of Andean historians. Charles Walker seems to have broken the curse, and I have no doubt that this excellent book will instantly become the standard account. -- Kris Lane, author of Colour of Paradise: The Emerald in the Age of Gunpowder Empires

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Book SynopsisThe slave ship was the instrument of history''s greatest forced migration and a key to the origins and growth of global capitalism, yet much of its history remains unknown. Marcus Rediker uncovers the extraordinary human drama that played out on this world-changing vessel. Drawing on thirty years of maritime research, he demonstrates the truth of W.E.B DuBois''s observation: the slave trade was the most magnificent drama in the last thousand years of human history. The Slave Ship focuses on the so-called golden age of the slave trade, the period of 1700-1808, when more than six million people were transported out of Africa, most of them on British and American ships, across the Atlantic, to slave on New World plantations. Marcus Rediker tells poignant tales of life, death and terror as he captures the shipboard drama of brutal discipline and fierce resistance. He reconstructs the lives of individuals, such as John Newton, James Field Stanfield and Olaudah Equiano, and the collective experience of captains, sailors and slaves. Mindful of the haunting legacies of race, class and slavery, Marcus Rediker offers a vivid and unforgettable portrait of the ghost ship of our modern consciousness.Trade Review'A shockingly vivid work . . . from a gifted chronicler of history's lower decks, at home in the unruly Atlantic world of pirates, slavers, sailors, runaways and rebels' * Boyd Tonkin, Independent *'Enlightening and moving . . . Rediker comes closer than anyone so far to recreating the horrifying social reality of the Atlantic slave ship . . . If anyone doubts the reality of that human story, they only need to read Rediker's book' * James Walvin, BBC History Magazine *'Meticulously researched . . . a terrible tale told here with great skill, clarity and compassion' Siobhan Murphy, Metro * Siobhan Murphy, Metro *'The slave ship is a powerful focus for a profound drama' * Iain Finlayson, The Times *'A brilliantly organised and compelling study of the Atlantic slave trade . . . A truly magnificent book' * Sunday Telegraph *'The Slave Ship provides eloquent testimony to the high human drama of Atlantic 'trafficking'; the greed of the few and the manifold misery of the many that was endured in the trivial cause of sweetness' * Ian Thomson, Spectator *'Rediker has made magnificent use of archival data; his probing, compassionate eye turns up numerous finds that other people who've written on the subject, myself included, have missed' * Adam Hochschild, International Herald Tribune *'Rediker has produced a gripping study of one aspect of a great evil' * Sunday Herald *'Gripping drama of human suffering' * Lucy Sholes, Observer *'Brilliant study' * Socialist Review *'The Slave Ship is dramatic, moving and kaleidoscopic' * London Review of Books *'In this compelling books Marcus Rediker extends his widely known and highly respected mastery of the social history of the Anglo-American North Atlantic to the slave ship ... the book is intricately conceptualized and written beautifully' * International Journal of Maritime History *

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Book SynopsisThis is the first history of the Hippie Trail. It records the joys and pains of budget travel to Kathmandu, India, Afghanistan and other ‘points east’ in the 1960s and 1970s. Written in a clear, simple style, it provides detailed analysis of the motivations and the experiences of hundreds of thousands of hippies who travelled eastwards. The book is structured around four key debates: were the travellers simply motivated by a search for drugs? Did they encounter love or sexual freedom on the road? Were they basically just tourists? Did they resemble pilgrims? It also considers how the travellers have been represented in films, novels and autobiographical accounts, and will appeal to those interested in the Trail or the 1960s counterculture, as well as students taking courses relating to the 1960s.Trade Review‘[A] well-written, comprehensive volume, one that can equally serve classrooms, research, and the general reader interested in a fascinating chapter in this important era’Tom Fels, The Sixties, A Journal of History, Politics and Culture -- .Table of ContentsIntroduction: beginning the trail1 Drugs and the trail2 Sex and love on the road3 The hippie as tourist4 The hippie as pilgrim5 Representing the trail: Hideous Kinky and beyondEpilogue: ending the journeyIndex

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Book SynopsisIncludes many acquisitions and discoveries, such as Picasso's Vollard Suite and the intriguing Vale of York Viking hoard, and showcases a selection of more than 250 of the most beautiful and important objects drawn from across the Museum.

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Book SynopsisThis is the untold story of the small group of men who have devised the plans and shaped the policies on how to use the Bomb. The book (first published in 1983) explores the secret world of these strategists of the nuclear age and brings to light a chapter in American political and military history never before revealed.Trade Review“An intensely important subject....Kaplan makes it absorbing, and what is more, comprehensible.”—Barbara Tuchman

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Book SynopsisThis powerful collection of articles, essays, and letters spans the period between Black Skin, White Masks (1952) and The Wretched of the Earth (1961), Fanon’s landmark manifesto on the psychology of the colonized and the means of empowerment necessary for their liberation. These pieces display the genesis of some of Fanon’s greatest ideas — ideas that became so vital to the leaders of the American civil rights movement.

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Book SynopsisThe rise and fall of the business of slave trading - by a bestselling historianTrade ReviewA 'darkly compelling history of the trade'. * MAIL ON SUNDAY *The most impressive single volume history of the subject. Combining grand narrative sweep with vivid, telling detail, Thomas provides an elegant synthesis of contemporary accounts and modern scholarship * LONDON REVIEW OF BOOKS *

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Book SynopsisA highly ambitious and lucid history of ideas from the very earliest times to the present day.''A masterpiece'' NEW STATESMAN''An extraordinary new book ... This is the history of ideas as it has never presented before'' SUNDAY TELEGRAPHIn this hugely ambitious and exciting book Peter Watson tells the history of ideas from prehistory to the present day, leading to a new way of telling the history of the world. The book begins over a million years ago with a discussion of how the earliest ideas might have originated. Looking at animal behaviour that appears to require some thought: tool-making, territoriality, counting, language (or at least sounds), pairbonding. Peter Watson moves on to the apeman and the development of simple ideas such as cooking, the earliest language, the emergence of family life. All the obvious areas are tackled: the Ancient Greeks, Christian theology, the ideas of Jesus, astrological thought, the soul, the self, beliefs about the heavens, the ideas of Islam, the Crusades, humanism, the Renaissance, Gutenberg and the book, the scientific revolution, the age of discovery, Shakespeare, the idea of Revolution, the Romantic imagination, Darwin, imperialism, modernism, Freud right up to the present day and the internet.Trade ReviewThis is a grand book ... The history of ideas deserves treatment on this scale * EVENING STANDARD *A masterpiece of historical writing ... In IDEAS, Watson gives us an astonishing overview of human intellectual development which covers everything... In a book of such vast scope, a reader could easily get lost, but the narrative has a powerful momentum...For those who want something more engaging than the dreary Plato to Nato narrative that dominates conventional histories of ideas, this wide range of reference will be invaluable * NEW STATESMAN *It would be a dull reader that failed to be stimulated either by the questions it raises or by the answers it gives to all sorts of questions that one would never have thought of asking * SUNDAY TELEGRAPH *This lively book may stimulate the intellectually curious as they seek to understand the history of the mind * THE TIMES *Thought-provoking ... comprehensive, incisive and stimulating ... a hugely readable and information-packed tome * CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR *An extraordinary new book ... This is the history of "ideas" as it has never presented before * SUNDAY TELEGRAPH *Watson has an excellent eye for vivid detail and brings dusty names from the archive to life ... One is left gasping in admiration * THE TIMES *A superior specimen, with numerous interesting factoids...thought-provoking short essays * NEW YORK SUN *Here is an original perspective on the history of the world... All the important ideas are discussed, from the Ancient Greeks right up to the present day and the internet. * SUNDAY TELEGRAPH (27/8/06) *

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Book SynopsisAlthough it escaped bombing raids, Blackpool played an important role in the Second World War as a centre for training — with numerous airfields and factories surrounding the area.

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Book SynopsisThe history of the telegraph - the men and women who made it - and its relevance to the current Internet debate.

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Book SynopsisThe Mary Rose was one of King Henry VIII''s favourite warships until she sank during an engagement with the French fleet on 19 July 1545. Her rediscovery and raising were seminal events in the history of nautical archaeology. Apart from the Captain and the Vice Admiral, nothing is known about the crew of the Mary Rose - the only evidence about her complement of 415 men rests with their skeletal remains. In The Men of the Mary Rose A.J. Stirland uses archaeological and skeletal evidence to give the reader a welcome insight into the soldiers of the Mary Rose, from their ages and height to their health, diet and physical condition.This book examines the building, sinking and raising of the Mary Rose and her historical context, before moving on to the examination of what the remain of the crew can reveal to us about the fighting men of that period. Many new findings have been made through analysis of their bones, including the effects of some activities and occup

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Book SynopsisThis book gives a radically new reading of Russia s cultural history. Alexander Etkind traces how the Russian Empire conquered foreign territories and domesticated its own heartlands, thereby colonizing many peoples, Russians included.Trade Review"Thought provoking, at times arguably paradigm shifting" Slavic and Eastern European Journal "Internal Colonization might be said to inject postcolonial theory into Russian studies. This, however, would be to understate the case. Russia, in Etkind's account, is no mere latecomer to the postcolonial feast: in so many ways, it got there first. Etkind has confirmed what Russianists have suspected for a while without quite being able to prove the point: that Russia's peculiarly vocal subalterns have at least as much to bring to 'Western' cultural theory as they stand to gain from it." Times Literary Supplement "The cumulative power of Etkind's argument constitutes an impressive scholarly achievement, offering a coherent yet richly detailed account of Russia's centuries-long experience of internal colonisation." Times Higher Education "A coherent and cogent, as well as an original and witty investigation … the text itself teems with intriguing Tristram Shandean excursions." Journal of European Studies "Etkind highlights what is at the core of the Russian Empire building process. Beyond objective specific facts [Etkind] goes deep into Russian history and culture to emphasize and explain the heuristic idea 'how to colonize oneself'." The Global Journal "A thought-provoking work of scholarship that will inspire both controversies and useful new approaches to Russian history and culture: to paraphrase Levi-Strauss, it is good to think with." The Russian Review "A gripping read. Etkind combines an energetic pace with a multitude of sources … Etkind has succeeded in presenting an entirely readable text that will appeal to anyone interested in Russian imperial history, Russian literature, or the literature and culture of a colonial and postcolonial society." Melbourne Historical Journal "A fresh and entertaining work that is beautifully written … Etkind persuasively demonstrates that post-Soviet postcolonial studies should shift their focus from chasing the unresolvable historical justice to pursuing original, creative and challenging research to support competennt discussion of the controversial issues." Ideology and Politics "Not only useful but also very enjoyable...It is safe to consider this as one of the best books of 2011 in its category and it will definitely have an impact on Russian studies for many years to come." Journal of Eurasian Studies "An exhaustingly original book, beautifully written and crafted so as to be eminently quotable. It will stand for decades to come as the central volume in the larger debates on empire." Nancy Condee, University of Pittsburgh "An erudite and incisive interpretation of Russian history and culture. Indeed, one of the great virtues of this book is its sweeping range, covering several centuries of history and culture. It is well-known that Russia was a great and expansive empire. Etkind provides a striking new lens for seeing Russian culture and history, one that stresses the enduring process of internal colonization. Beyond scholars of Russia, this book should appeal to those interested in questions of colonialism and post-colonialism and in issues of comparative empire." Peter Holquist, University of Pennsylvania "Combining literary and historiographical evidence, Alexander Etkind elucidates the processes of 'self-' or 'internal colonization' the Russian imperial state carried out in its heartland in tandem with colonizing practices deployed in its farthest corners. With wit and erudition, Internal Colonization provides an original and fascinating account of Orientalism's genealogies, the complexity of its global enactments, and the fantasia of its imperial, 'self-colonizing' logic on the newly-illuminated stage of the Second World." Nancy Ruttenburg, Stanford Center for the Study of the NovelTable of ContentsIntroductionPart One. The Non-Traditional OrientChapter 1. Less than One and DoubleChapter 2. WorldlinessPart Two. Writing from ScratchChapter 3. Chasing RurikChapter 4. To Colonize OneselfChapter 5. Barrels of FurPart 3. Empire of the TsarsChapter 6. Occult InstabilityChapter 7. Disciplinary GearsChapter 8. Internal AffairsPart 4. Shaved Man's BurdenChapter 9. Philosophy under Russian Rule Chapter 10. Sects and Revolution Chapter 11. Re-Enchanting the DarknessChapter 12. Sacrificial Plotlines Conclusion

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewAn excellent and richly annotated translation. -- Moss Roberts Journal of the American Oriental Society Users of this magnificent contribution to the study of Chinese thought will find here almost everything imaginable. -- Russell Kirkland Religious Studies Review It is a major accomplishment in every sense of the term. -- Mark Csikszentmihalyi Journal of Chinese Studies In sum, this volume bringing to annotated translation all 21 chapters of the Huainanzi will invaluably ease and enhance the work of future scholars. -- Benjamin E. Wallacker Journal of Asian History [An] epochal achievement... The Huainanzi vibrates with the authors' intellectual confidence... this translation of the Huainanzi is a convenient and reassuring shortcut into the heart of traditional China. -- Barbara Hendrischke Monumenta Serica This English version earns for the Huainanzi the widespread recognition as anepochal classic that it deserves, and at the same time provides a resource forspecialists. The translations are carefully thought out but evocative. China Review InternationalTable of ContentsAcknowledgments Introduction 1. Originating in the Way 2. Activating the Genuine 3. Celestial Patterns 4. Terrestrial Forms 5. Seasonal Rules 6. Surveying Obscurities 7. Quintessential Spirit 8. The Basic Warp 9. The Ruler's Techniques 10. Profound Precepts 11. Integrating Customs 12. Responses of the Way 13. Boundless Discourses 14. Sayings Explained 15. An Overview of the Military 16. and 17. A Mountain of Persuasions and A Forest of Persuasions 18. Among Others 19. Cultivating Effort 20. The Exalted Lineage 21. An Overview of the Essentials Appendix A. Key Chinese Terms and Their Translations Appendix B. Categorical Terms Appendix C. A Concise Textual History of the Huainanzi and a Bibliography of Huainanzi Studies Index

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Book SynopsisAmmianus Marcellinus was the last great Roman historian, and his writings rank alongside those of Livy and Tacitus. The Later Roman Empire chronicles a period of twenty-five years during Marcellinus'' own lifetime, covering the reigns of Constantius, Julian, Jovian, Valentinian I, and Valens, and providing eyewitness accounts of significant military events including the Battle of Strasbourg and the Goth''s Revolt. Portraying a time of rapid and dramatic change, Marcellinus describes an Empire exhausted by excessive taxation, corruption, the financial ruin of the middle classes and the progressive decline in the morale of the army. In this magisterial depiction of the closing decades of the Roman Empire, we can see the seeds of events that were to lead to the fall of the city, just twenty years after Marcellinus'' death.Table of ContentsThe Later Roman EmpirePrefaceIntroductionFurther ReadingFamily Tree of Constantine the GreatIntroductory NoteThe Later Roman EmpireBook 14Book 15Book 16Book 17Book 18Book 19Book 20Book 21Book 22Book 23Book 24Book 25Book 26Book 27Book 28Book 29Book 30Book 31Notes on the TextNote on Officials and their TitlesNotes on PersonsDates of EmperorsGeographical keyMapsGeneral MapMonuments of RomeMap A: Gaul, Germany, and the RhineMap B: The Danube, Italy and ThraceMap C: The East and PersiaMap D: Asia Minor

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Book SynopsisA collection of funerary texts from a variety of sources, dating from the fifteenth to the fourth century BC. It consists of spells, prayers and incantations, and contains the words of power to overcome obstacles in the afterlife. It offers insights into ancient Egypt.

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Book SynopsisA fully revised, expanded and updated edition of this masterly portrayal of contemporary Spain.The restoration of democracy in 1977 heralded a period of intense change that continues today. Spain has become a land of extraordinary paradoxes in which traditional attitudes and contemporary preoccupations exist side by side. Focussing on issues which affect ordinary Spaniards, from housing to gambling, from changing sexual mores to rising crime rates. John Hooper''s fascinating study brings to life the new Spain of the twenty-first century.Trade ReviewUnputdownable . . . A must for anyone . . . who wants to know what Spain is really like. (New Statesman, London)Hooper . . . not only knows where Spain has been in recent decades and centuries, but he also has an impressively authoritative view of where exactly it is today and where it is headed. (The Washington Post)

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Book SynopsisAn updated edition of this unique, bestselling history of the IRA, now including behind-the-scenes information on the recent advances made in the peace process.Tim Pat Coogan's classic The IRA provides the only fair-minded, comprehensive history of the organization that has transformed the Irish nationalist movement this century. With clarity and detachment, Coogan examines the IRA's origins, its foreign links, the bombing campaigns, hunger strikes and sectarian violence, and now their role in the latest attempt to bring peace to Northern Ireland.Meticulously researched, and backed up by interviews with past and present members of the organization, Tim Pat Coogan's book is an authoritative and compelling account of modern Irish history from the point of view of one of its most controversial major participants.Trade Review‘No student of Irish history can afford to ignore this book. No scholar is likely to improve upon it… A fascinating book, of the greatest possible value to us all’TLS ‘A very sensible and fair-minded assessment of a uniquely controversial organization’The Times ‘Remarkably comprehensive’Economist

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Book SynopsisThe untold history of Czechoslovakia's complex relations with Middle Eastern terrorists and revolutionaries during the closing decades of the Cold WarIn the 1970s and 1980s, Prague became a favorite destination for the world's most prominent terrorists and revolutionaries. They arrived here to seek refuge, enjoy recreation, or hold secret meetings aimed at securing training, arms, and other forms of support. While some were welcome with open arms, others were closely watched and were eventually ousted. Watching the Jackals is the untold history of Czechoslovakia's complex relations with Middle Eastern terrorists and revolutionaries during the closing decades of the Cold War. Based on recently declassified intelligence files, Richterova unveils the story of Prague's engagement with various factions of the Palestine Liberation Organization, along with some of the era's most infamous terrorists, including Carlos the Jackal, the Munich Olympics massacre commander Abu Daoud, and the Abu Nidal Organization. In this gripping account, Richterova explains why Cold War Jackals gravitated toward Prague and how the country's leaders reacted to their visits, and she uncovers the role Czechoslovakia's security and intelligence apparatus the StB (Státní bezpecnost) played in these, at times, dangerous liaisons. Drawing on interviews and remarkably detailed records from the former Czechoslovakia (now the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic), Richterova offers readers interested in the intelligence world a fascinating account of how states use their spies to pursue covert policies with violent nonstate actors. The book also introduces new evidence and nuances into old debates about whether the Communist Bloc supported terrorism.

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Book SynopsisA reissue of Simon Schama's landmark study of the Netherlands from 17801813, this is a tale of a once-powerful nation's desparate struggle to survive the treacheries and brutality of European war and politics.Between 1780 and 1813 the Dutch Republic a country once rich enough to be called the cash till of Europe and powerful enough to make war with England was stripped of its colonies, invaded by its enemies, driven to the edge of bankruptcy, and, finally, reduced to becoming an appendage of the French empire an appendage not even the French seemed to value overmuch. Out of these events Simon Schama has constructed a gripping chronicle of revolution and privateering, constitutions and coups, in a tiny nation desperately struggling to stay afloat in a sea of geopolitics.Like his classics The Embarrassment of Riches' and Citizens', Patriots and Liberators' combines a mastery of historical sources with an unabashed delight in narrative. The result confirms Schama as a historian in the Trade Review‘An outstanding work of historical scholarship…Simon Schama writes brilliantly. He can bring a character alive in a sentence…This powerful book reads with the ease of a novel. Every page glitters with intelligence and perception. In every way “Patriots and Liberators” is an extraordinary achievement.’ J.H. Plumb ‘This remarkable book is more than a revision, it is a revelation.’ A.J.P. Taylor, Observer ‘A dramatic story, full of pathos and true comedy. If any book may be said to inhale without sententiousness the clear, calm and steadying air of a European ideal, this is it.’ Michael Ratcliffe, The Times ‘Schama’s book is written in the grand manner, its sweep is as impressive as its erudition and the constant brilliance of its style. He gives the Dutch revolution back to the people to whom it belonged – the Dutch.’ Economist

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