History Books

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Book SynopsisMarine borers, particularly the shipworms, as destroyers of timber, par excellence, are well known from very ancient times. They attacked the wooden hulls of ships with such intensity that the weakened bottom planks broke up even due to a mild impact caused by hitting a rock or any floating objects inducing shipwrecks. Even the survival of sunken ships as wrecks depends on the mercy of wood-destroying organisms, which may turn these ‘port-holes’ to history into meaningless junks. The silent saboteurs, involved in several early shipwrecks, are the molluscan and crustacean borers, aided by bacteria and fungi. This paper presents an account of the marine wood-borers, together with a historical review of literature on their depredation on wooden ships, and on protective methods adopted from antiquity to modern times. The seriousness with which early mariners faced the problem of bio-deterioration and the fear the wood-borers created in their minds have been brought to light with, in some cases, excerpts from their journals and books. The anxiety and concern for protecting the ships from the ravages of wood-borers and for their own safety, as evidenced from their accounts, are discussed. Classification of various groups of marine wood-borers with notes on characters of systematic value and a complete list of species so far recorded in literature have been included under Appendix I and II. Methods employed to prevent damage to the boats included deep-charring, coating with pitch, coal-tar, whale oil and mustard oil with lime; scupper nailing (‘filling’); sheathing with animal skin, hair, tarred paper, wooden boards (untreated or soaked in coal tar, Ferrous sulphate, Copper sulphate or Lead monoxide); sheathing with metals (Lead or Copper sheets); plastic, neoprene coated ply-woods; and painting with Copper oxide, Pentachlorophenol or phenylarsenious oxide. None of these imparts complete protection. Recent archaeological investigations carried out in British waters, especially on ‘Mary Rose’, are also summarised. It is suggested that, though borers are instrumental in inducing ship-wrecks thereby enriching the materials for archaeological studies, excavations at known ship-wreck sites should be augmented to unearth valuable historical data, before they are lost to satisfy the insatiable appetite of these pests.Table of ContentsAbstract; Chapter 1. Introduction; Chapter 2. Historical Evidence; Chapter 3. Marine Wood-boring Organisms and their taxonomy; Chapter 4. Wood-borer distribution; Chapter 5. Recent Findings; Chapter 6. Conclusions; Appendix I; Appendix II; References

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Book SynopsisThe work presents 230 stone carvings of the Hospitaller period in Rhodes (1309-1522), which for various reasons are no longer in their original setting. Most of them are cut in local stone or reused antique marble and belong to three broad groups: decorative architectural elements, funerary slabs and markers, and heraldry from secular and religious buildings and fortifications. Their architectural, artistic, inscriptional and social significance are discussed, providing insights into the way cultural influences from different parts of Western Europe were introduced, maintained and adapted in an Eastern Mediterranean context by the Knights of Saint John, other Westerners the presence of the Order encouraged to travel to Rhodes and even live there and, occasionally, by wealthy Greeks. The study includes a full catalogue and touches upon recent archaeological activity in the historic centre of the town of Rhodes.Table of ContentsIntroduction; Part One: I. Historical background; II. Topography; III. Stone carving and the art of Hospitaller Rhodes; Part Two: IV. Displaced carved pieces and fragments; V. Architectural members; VI. Heraldry from buildings; VII. Inscriptions; VIII. Funerary monuments; IX. Problems and conclusions; Bibliography; Appendix 1: The masters of Rhodes; Appendix 2: Location of listed pieces and fragments (December 2009); Appendix 3: Statistical tables of magistral arms; The Catalogue; Index; Plates and Figures

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Book SynopsisBrass from the Past is not only a history of the use and production of brass, but more broadly an insight into the journey of this important metal in the context of a changing and modernising world. The book follows the evolution of brass from its earliest forms around 2500 BC through to industrialised production in the eighteenth century. The story is told in the context of the people, economies, cultures, trade and technologies that have themselves defined the alloy and its spread around the world. It explores innovations, such as the distillation of zinc, that have improved the quality and ease of production. From national or religious priorities to exhaustion of raw material supplies, the themes from the past are echoed in our own world today. In the later centuries, the book shines a light on some of the more personal aspects of people, businesses and relationships that have influenced industry and its progress. Above all the book reflects the enthusiasm, not just of the author, but of all brass enthusiasts across the world. The search for information has involved scrambling down Bohemian ravines, stumbling over brass-works debris under trees, and studying pre-civil-war artefacts in Virginia. Academics and experts from across the world have provided information, from China to Qatar and the USA to the Czech Republic. Brass is a strong and attractive metal, which has been used to create items of great beauty and utility. It is hoped that the reader will come to value the qualities of this material which has become a passion for so many people around the world.Table of ContentsChapter 1 Experiment and emergence Chapter 2 Medieval Europe and far beyond Chapter 3 The Sacred and the Salesmen Chapter 4 Age of Discovery Chapter 5 Merchants and migrants Chapter 6 Continuity and conflict in Europe Chapter 7 Trade and technology Chapter 8 The turning tide Glossary Bibliography Appendix Metallurgical tables (online) Index

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Book SynopsisThe two volumes bring together the contributions of the members of the International Union of Prehistoric and Protohistoric Sciences (UISPP), to a project launched in 2017, with the support of the International Academic Union (UAI), under the title Human societies facing climate change in prehistory and protohistory : from the origins of Humanity to the beginning of historical times. The second volume concerns protohistory, from the beginning of the Holocene to historical times. In what climate and at what latitudes have the innovations represented by farming and animal husbandry succeeded in sustaining themselves? How did agro-pastoral societies adapt to the progression of Holocene aridity after the exceptional wet period at its beginning? Is nomadic pastoralism a specialization of an agro-pastoral society in the context of increasing aridity and/or an adaptation of animal domestication to steppe and semi-desert areas? How have agro-pastoral societies adapted to multi-century periods of climate change such as those known from protohistoric and historical periods (the crises of 8200 BP, 4200 BP, 1200 BC and 800 BC; the Roman climate optimum; the crisis of the Later Roman Empire and barbarian invasions; the medieval climate optimum; the Little Ice Age)? And how did they survive episodes of adverse weather lasting several years that caused scarcity and famine?Table of ContentsPréface ; Introduction au deuxième volume : Homme et Climat – François Djindjian ; Extinctions animales et changements climatiques au quaternaire – François Djindjian ; The last prehistoric hunters in Europe – Stefan Karol Kozłowski ; Challenges in evaluating the role of the environment in neolithization processes. The case of South-East Europe – Marek Nowak ; Hiatus et recompoitions culturelles dans le neolithique mediterraneen: le climat en cause? – Jean Guilaine ; Cultural adaptations in Libya From Upper Pleistocene to early holocene – Chronology and Stratigraphy from littoral to desert – Barbara E. Barich ; Le rôle du Sahara dans l’évolution humaine en périodes humides, lorsqu’il n’était pas un désert – Miguel Caparros ; Le Tilemsi et ses abords de la préhistoire à nos jours – Christian Dupuy ; Troupeaux Holocène au Sahara – Barbara E. Barich ; L’évènement climatique 4.2 ka BP et la transition du Néolithique à l’âge du Bronze dans le Sud-est de la France dans son context euro-méditerranéen – Olivier Lemercier ; Climat et sociétés à l’âge du Bronze en Europe occidentale – Cyril Marcigny ; Climat et société à l’âge du Fer – Olivier Buchsenschutz ; Discussion et conclusions sur les sociétés humaines face aux changements climatiques des premiers 9000 ans de l’Holocène – François Djindjian

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Book SynopsisAn eye-opening and exceptional view of the Ford presidency by one of his closest and most-trusted advisors. Except for his wife Betty, no one was closer to Gerald Ford during his presidency than Bob Barrett. Bob carried the “nuclear football”—the American nuclear codes—and could not let Ford out of his sight. This nerve-wracking job led to a deep friendship with the First Family and gave Bob an unparalleled view of Ford’s historic and unusual presidency. In his memoir, Inside the President’s Team, Bob takes readers into the White House and the Ford home to show the administration and the couple as few others could see them. Bob gives new insights into why Ford decided to pardon Nixon and how he responded to criticism of it; how Ford chose his own vice president (and another for his run in 1976); and what he did with potentially difficult members of the former administration, such as Al Haig and the now-inf

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Book SynopsisThe account that Butler lays out is very clear and easy to follow. It provides a series of dramatic moments and hits all the key elements of the story of Pearl Harbor that have appeared in the existing literature.The Northern MarinerWhat happened at Pearl Harbor? What really happened?The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor is one of those rare moments where, in the space of a few hours, the hinge of Fate turned and the course of history was utterly changed. Nearly eight decades later, it has become one of those events which almost everyone knows of, but hardly anyone seems to know about. Howand whydid the Empire of Japan and the United States of America collide on blood and flames that Sunday morning when the sun rose and the bombs fell?Pearl: December 7, 1941 is the story of how America and Japan, two nations with seemingly little over which to quarrel, let peace slip away, so that on that day which will live in infamy, more than 350 dive bombers, high-level bombers, torpedo planes, and f

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Book SynopsisWith a new introduction by Wallace Shawn, a classic work of war reportage that describes, with unblinking vision, the systematic leveling of a Vietnamese village by American troops.In January 1967, as President Lyndon Johnson sent more forces to the war in Vietnam, the US military began what was to be the largest ground operation of the entire conflict. Not far from Saigon, the capital of South Vietnam, and close to the Cambodian border was an area known as the Iron Triangle, long under Viet Cong control. Operation Cedar Falls set out to eliminate that guerrilla threat by sealing off the region, emptying its villages, and leveling the surrounding jungle. The local population would be transferred to model "New Life Villages" under US surveillance.The village of Ben Suc was the Americans'' first target, and Jonathan Schell, a reporter at the start of his career, accompanied them there. He witnessed the destruction of the village; the frantic efforts of young soldiers to figure out who was or wasn''t a foe; the destruction of people''s homes and possessions; and the chaotic transfer of women, children, old men, and livestock to a refugee camp where no preparations had been made for their arrival. He described it all in measured tones and unflinching detail. As a cautionary tale about the unintended and devastating consequences of military occupation, The Village of Ben Suc remains unequaled."Schell''s book might have been the crystal ball that could have led American policymakers to realize that quasi-imperial American interventions of this type could not succeed in the contemporary world, and if the policymakers had read Schell''s book and studied it carefully, who knows, maybe a million or more Vietnamese lives could have been saved, along with the lives of fifty thousand American soldiers, along with countless lives in Afghanistan and Iraq." ?From Wallace Shawn''s Introduction.

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Book Synopsis''Turing writes on codebreaking with understandable authority and compelling panache.'' - Michael Smith, bestselling author of Station X. At Bletchley Park, some of Britain''s most talented mathematicians, linguists, and intellectuals were assembled to break Nazi codes. Kept secret for nearly thirty years, we have now come to realise the crucial role that these codebreakers played in the Allied victory in World War II. Written by Dermot Turing - the nephew of famous codebreaker Alan Turing - this illustrated account provides unique insight into the behind-the-scenes action at Bletchley Park. Discover how brilliant and eccentric individuals such as Dilly Knox, Alan Turing and Joan Clarke were recruited, the social life that grew up around the park, and how they dealt with the ever-present burden of secrecy. Including a foreword by Professor Christopher Andrew of Cambridge University, author of MI5''s official history The Defence of the Realm, this book brings to life the stories of the men and women who toiled day and night to crack the seemingly unbreakable enigma code.

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Book SynopsisAn insight into one of the brothers behind the famous chocolate company.

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Book SynopsisBestselling historian Peter Moore traces how Enlightenment ideas were exported from Britain and put into practice in America - where they became the most successful export of all time, the American Dream'Absorbing... fascinating... eloquent' THE TIMES'Engaging and thoroughly reader-friendly' TELEGRAPH'Wonderfully absorbing and stimulating' SARAH BAKEWELL'Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness' is the best-known phrase from the Declaration of Independence, one of the most important documents of the eighteenth century and the whole Enlightenment Age. Written by Thomas Jefferson, it is frequently evoked today as a shorthand for that idea we call the 'American Dream'. But this is a line with a surprising history. Rather than being uniquely American, the vision it encapsulates - of a free and happy world - owes a great deal to British thinkers too. Centred on the life of Benjamin Franklin, featuring figures like the cultural giant Samuel Johnson, the ground-breaking historian Catharine Macaulay, the firebrand politician John Wilkes and revolutionary activist Thomas Paine, this book looks at the generation that preceded the Declaration in 1776. It takes us back to a vital moment in the foundation of the West, a time full of intent, confidence and ideas. It tells a whole new story about the birth of the United States of America - and some of the key principles by which we live to this very day. 'Deft insights and in clear prose' ALAN TAYLOR'A gripping account' STELLA TILLYARD'Rollicking...compulsive readability' WASHINGTON POST'A great read' LADY HALE

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Book SynopsisNo previous book has been devoted to Marine Corps armor in World War II. Gilbert's gripping narrative combines exhaustive detail on Marine armor and combat with moving eyewitness accounts, never before published, of what it was actually like to be a Marine tanker in action in the Pacific.

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Book SynopsisA rare in-depth look at the history, teachings, and wider implications of Wing Chun Wing Chun In-Depth offers an historical overview of the art’s development, it examines how to properly approach training for fighting skills that give you an edge in street defence and it presents Wing Chun’s underlying principles and strategies as a way of life for health and happiness. This work traces the lives and legends of the great masters of Wing Chun, it reveals their training techniques and philosophies, and shows the reader how they can be applied in all aspects of life. Written in an enjoyable and readable way, Wing Chun In-Depth shares profound insights, training drills and martial techniques that will improve your fighting foundation; it connects you to the great masters of Wing Chun—their lives, their martial teachings, and their philosophies. In the end, it is intended to inspire and enrich readers with history, practical skills, and a winning mindset for all of life’s challenges. Contents include Part 1: The Lineage The origins of Wing Chun from its legendary past. Its historical development and its present evolution from Ip Man and Wong, Shun-Leung. Insight into Bruce Lee’s relationship with Wing Chun, Ip Man and Wong, Shun-Leung. Part 2: The System Forms, training drills, and techniques that can be used to develop oneself into a skilled fighter. Part 3: Up Close Master Class Training to fight without fighting Master Class Avoiding a stand off Master Class No technique as technique Part 4: Strategies for Life Explores the strategic and martial fruits of Wing Chun as a practice which provides both skills for combat and strategies for life. Startling truths that enrich life inside and outside the training hall (kwoon). Ip Man’s senior student, Wong Shun-Leung was the man who made Wing Chun famous in Hong Kong’s challenge matches. He was also a close friend and mentor to Bruce Lee. Sifu Loukas Kastrounis, one of the few active teachers of this lineage, is a highly respected Wing Chun teacher who has spent his life honing and developing Wing Chun. “Written at the request, and in collaboration with Sifu Loukas Kastrounis-a third generation master of the Wong Shun-Leung lineage, it is the fruit of over 5 years of my careful observations and research into Loukas’s teachings as both his student and as a professional historian.”—Munawar Ali KarimTrade ReviewAristotle once said, “the most difficult thing in the world is to discover and know yourself.” One way to do this is to interact with a real friend who will play the role of a mirror and help you “see” yourself and assist you in achieving self-realization, self-confidence, and self-control. Reading Plato’s dialogues, we often cannot recognize who is the true author (Aristotle the mas- ter, or Plato the student). This matters less that the content itself. Something similar is happening in this book. What really matters is that Wing Chun is preserved and transferred to future generations. Like Plato, these authors invite you to question and analyze yourself by accepting current circum- stances and remaining focused to find your own truth and to deal with the complexity and chal- lenges of your own life. This book will help you discover your inner self, allowing your skills and abilities to be revealed and your imagination explored. Wing Chun In-Depth begins with the origins and history of the Wing Chun system. It explores the contributions of Ip Man and Bruce Lee through the social and political environments of their times. The authors focus not only on sophisticated martial skills but on principles, mental values, attitudes, and philosophies that these masters taught for success in life. It continues with an exami- nation of Wing Chun skills including the economy of motion, effort, and natural reactions with forward energy. The work is also precisely illustrated with hundreds of enhanced photographs. The authors complete this book by offering the readers various strategies on how Wing Chun’s universal principles can work as a stabilizing force in life. Wing Chun is a way of thinking. It helps overcome anger, stress, bias, and mental blocks. It replaces them with calmness, charm, and intelli- gence so that we can confront the most difficult opponent: ourselves. In Wing Chun, every obstacle is an opportunity to find a natural way. This book will inspire the remarkable journey of Wing Chun and bring out the very best in all who take it. —Vasileios Manousakis Colonel GR (A) If you are looking for a book on Wing Chun that covers both the practical aspects of applying the techniques in combat as well as the philosophical side of the martial art, then this is the book for you. I have read many books on Wing Chun, and this is by far one of the most comprehensive and well-written books I have come across. Loukas Kastrounis has been teaching martial arts for over thirty years to many martial artists of different styles, law enforcement officers, security firms, and the military at home and overseas. He is a highly creative instructor with a unique approach to training that helps students achieve their goals quickly and effectively. Wing Chun In-Depth: Skills for Combat, Strategies for Life is a must-read for anyone passionate about Wing Chun and martial arts. This is one of those books you will be able to reference time and time again. I highly recommend this book for everyone! —Lafayette Harris, Wing Chun martial arts instructor A solidly researched, beautifully narrated deep dive into the philosophical, historical, and tech- nical aspects of Wing Chun. Fascinating history combined with great narration and revealing insights that make Wing Chun relevant for all of life’s challenges. Highly recommended if you love history, martial arts, and strategy. —Erwan Le Corre, author of The Practice of Natural Movement I was fascinated to understand how Wing Chun practitioners can gain mechanical advantages through natural movement and gain freedom through imitation and repetition. It’s as though the practitioner is a work of art [becoming] a masterpiece. Reading the history of Wing Chun practitio- ners drew me in deeply, a veritable who’s-who of Wing Chun. —Eric Brown, former US Navy SEAL, Naval Special Warfare Center Instructor of the Year (1993)Table of ContentsPreface Introduction Part One The Lineage Through the Tempests of History China At the Time of Grandmaster Ip Man’s Birth (1900’s) Alive And Well Bringing Wing Chun Out of Myth and Into History Growing And Continuing Two Legendary Students of Grandmaster Ip Man In The Present and On to The Future From Sifu Wong Shun Leung to Sifu Loukas Kastrounis Part Two The System What’s The Big Idea? A Concise Overview of Wing Chun Siu Nim Tau The First Form, The Last Form Chi Sau The Heart and Soul of Wing Chun Part Three Up Close Master Class 1 Training to Fight Without Fighting Master Class 2 Avoiding the Stand-Off Master Class 3 “No Technique as Technique” Part Four Strategies for Life Beyond Fighting What Wing Chun Can Teach Us About Life Afterword Closing Thoughts on Wing Chun About the Authors 

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Book SynopsisIncreasingly, people are responding to the contemporary crises underwritten by capitalism by exploring the politics of communism. Some have taken a sympathetic, even nostalgic, view of actually existing socialist (AES) societies past and present, including the USSR, China, and Cuba, and the Marxist-Leninist political tradition associated with them. They see these states as a powerful alternative to capitalism, governed by parties genuinely committed to socialism and staunchly resisting Western imperialism. But were these societies really in transition towards a classless, stateless society of freedom - the original communist goal? Is Marxism-Leninism the political approach that should orient people on the left now? Red Flags traces the path from the 1917 Russian Revolution to the construction of the world's first AES society: the USSR. It also looks at the post-revolution societies created along the same lines in China and Cuba. Using the intellectual tools of historical materialism, Red Flags argues that they were not in fact moving towards communism because the social relations remained fixed in class exploitation. The workers were never liberated. At a time of burgeoning anti-communism from both conservatives and liberals, this book is an accessible, vibrant synthesis of the history of communism that draws on the latest research to develop a rigorous analysis of the contradictions and uneasy truths the left needs to confront if it is to build a genuinely liberatory alternative to capitalism.

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Book SynopsisVladimir Lenin, an occasional resident of North London who went on to other things, has been credited with once saying that there are decades where nothing happens but weeks when decades happen. The first two and a half decades of this century in Britain have had plenty of those weeks. Indeed, our recent history has at times resembled an episode of Casualty, the long-running BBC hospital drama in which every hedge trimmer slips, every gas pipe leaks, every piece of scaffolding collapses and everyone ends up in intensive care. In Haywire Andrew Hindmoor makes sense of the deluge of events which have rained down on Britain since 2000, from the Iraq War to financial collapse, austerity to Brexit, as well as more easily forgotten moments such as the MP's expenses scandal. He shows not simply how one crisis has quickly followed another, but how each crisis has compounded the next, so that disaster feels like the new normal. Has Britain simply been the victim of a particularly prolonged run of bad luck which will, sooner or later, come to an end? No. Hindmoor argues that the way the British state is organised has, time and again, made a crisis out of a drama and that it is time to find an alternative before we all go haywire.

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Book SynopsisEnlightening, entertaining and often surprising, Irish Food History: a companion takes you on an unforgettable and expert journey through Ireland's culinary past.Beginning at the end of the Ice age, before reindeer, brown bears, and the giant Irish deer became extinct; this vital and brilliantly researched collection brings us forward from the introduction of farming and livestock, to the delicious world of medieval honey, banqueting, bog butter, whiskey distilling, to eighteenth century feasts, famines, and on to the modernisation, industrialisation, and eventual globalisation of food. Through analysis, storytelling, and mouth-watering descriptions, every dish and moment in time reveals ancient techniques, hidden gems, and innovative cooking seemingly far beyond its time, all of which have shaped Ireland's culinary landscape for centuries. Irish Food History: a companion brings the reader on a gastronomic odyssey from earliest times and the start of the hunter-gatherer community, all the way to the abundant world of modern Irish cooking, safe in the hands of the world's most highly regarded food historians.

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Book SynopsisAn award-winning French journalist’s far-ranging critique of Europe’s betrayal of universal values and equal rights as war and right-wing populism spread worldwide, with a new introduction for U.S. readers.“Europe is a garden…It is the best combination of political freedom, economic prosperity, and social cohesion that the humankind has been able to build…Most of the rest of the world is a jungle, and the jungle could invade the garden.” This is how Josep Borrell, High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, characterized the situation in 2022, several months after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and one year before Israel’s war against Gaza.Europe has a singular image of itself and of the world. It persists in thinking of itself as the cradle of civilization, the incarnation of good and justice, and in believing itself to be threatened by a global environment where savagery, darkness, and evil reign. Clinging to this fantasy inherited from a colonial past, it is lost and misguided, turning its back on the values of humanism and equality to which it nevertheless claims to adhere. As long as Europe and, with it, the political West, have not renounced their desire for power, there will unite against them the resentment of all the peoples who have had the bitter experience of their domination over the last five centuries. Because the “jungle” is Europe’s own creation, produced by the blindness of conquest and exploitation.This powerful essay is an invitation to rebuild a Europe that is truly concerned about the fragility of the world and of life, with an acute awareness of the perils that threaten humanity.

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Book Synopsis1298: Alexander of Wells watches William Wallace's army across the field at Falkirk. Hours later, he would be dead, cut down by the Scots. 1381: Hated collector of the Poll Tax, Robert Hales is dragged from the Tower of London and executed. His head is paraded through the streets before being placed on a spike on London Bridge. The 1490s: John Kendal sends coded letters to the supporters of Perkin Warbeck and hires an astrologer to murder Henry VII. These men were not scheming lords, they were Knights Hospitaller, churchmen dedicated to the crusades and supposedly above war and petty politics. Soldier-monks who fought to defend the Holy Land, the Hospitallers were an international military and charitable organisation, a sort of medieval NATO and Red Cross combined. But in Europe, they were instead drawn into local politics, becoming royal commanders, administrators, and politicians. Hospitallers led armies, attended Parliaments, and joined court intrigues and civil wars. They were part of the most famous episodes of medieval British history, but their role has been overshadowed by their fellow military order the Knights Templar. The Hospitallers' side of the story has not been told before, until now. From the English invasion of Ireland, the Scottish Wars of Independence, and the Hundred Years War, through to Henry VIII's Dissolution of the Monasteries and beyond, the Hospitallers' story in Britain and Ireland sees the brethren drawn into civil war, violent feuds, duels, assassination, and witchcraft. Drawing upon the latest research, and written by an expert historian of the military orders, Warrior Monks reveals the fascinating story of medieval Britain through the eyes of the Knights Hospitaller, a powerful order which made kings and broke them, won battles, and shaped history.

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a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

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a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

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a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

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a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

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a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

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a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

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Book SynopsisUniquely well-informed, all-encompassing and loving.' - Pam Ayres, poetAmazing revelations about my home county.' - Adam Henson, Countryfile presenterDid you know that Sir Peter Scott was named after Peter Pan; a Stroud man invented instant custard; and a Cotswold manor house is designed to look exactly like the Palace of Westminster?Gloucestershire has been at the forefront of world-changing innovation throughout history, has inspired great works of literature and even has its own rhyming slang.Join broadcaster Mark Cummings on a joyful journey exploring the Gloucestershire streets that gave us Scrooge and Long John Silver, find out where classic TV and movie scenes were filmed and feast on delicious nuggets about royalty, rock stars and rugby legends.Walk with Mark to London in the footsteps of Dick Whittington, discover the true meaning behind Gloucestershire's quirky place names, take

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Book SynopsisDiscover the ancient ways of the Samurai and experience the stunning myth of Old Japan

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Book SynopsisThe history of the American continent stretches back over 30,000 years, when the Bering Strait was a land bridge that allowed hunters and gatherers to migrate across. Archeology has revealed the extent of the many cultures that grew in the 4500 years before the European invasions, highlighted in this new edition by historian James Ball.

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Book SynopsisCleopatra had the rare distinction of connecting three great cultures. She was born of an ancient Greek dynasty that stretched back to the time of Alexander the Great, and as the last Pharaoh of Egypt she ruled before the once mighty kingdom became a vassal state under the all-powerful Roman Empire in the first century BCE. She is regarded as an astute, resilient leader who survived at a time of male domination, with her fame also as a wily lover of Julius Caesar and Mark Antony forever immortalized by Plutarch''s Lives and through them, in the plays of William Shakespeare. This new book provides a riveting insight into this famous leader, with a new introduction and fascinating, curated primary and secondary texts.FLAME TREE 451: From myth to mystery, the supernatural to horror, fantasy and science fiction, Flame Tree 451 offers a healthy diet of werewolves and mechanical men, blood-lusty vampires, dastardly villains, mad scientists, secret worlds,

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Book Synopsis'This fascinating and refreshing book is more necessary than ever. A must-read' Thomas Piketty'Fascinating' - New York TimesWINNER OF THE 2024 JACQUES BARZUN PRIZE IN CULTURAL HISTORY Equality is in crisis. Our world is filled with soaring inequalities, spanning wealth, race, identity, and nationality. Yet how can we strive for equality if we don't understand it? As much as we have struggled for equality, we have always been profoundly sceptical about it. How much do we want, and for whom?Darrin M. McMahon's Equality is the definitive intellectual history, tracing equality's global origins and spread from the dawn of humanity through the Enlightenment to today. Equality has been reimagined continually, in the great world religions and the politics of the ancient world, by revolutionaries and socialists, Nazis and fascists, and post-war reformers and activists.A magisterial explorat

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Book SynopsisProphet against Slavery is an action-packed chronicle of a remarkable and radical individual. It is based on the award-winning biography by Marcus Rediker, which prompted the Quaker community that once disowned Lay to embrace him again after 280 years. Graphic novelist David Lester brings the full scope of Lay's activism and ideas to life.Born in 1682 to a humble Quaker family in Essex, England, Lay was a forceful and prescient visionary. Understanding the fundamental evil that slavery represented, he employed guerrilla theatre tactics and direct action to shame slave owners and traders. The prejudice Lay suffered as a dwarf and a hunchback, as well as his devout faith, informed his passion for human and animal liberation. Exhibiting stamina, fortitude, and integrity in the face of the cruelties practiced against his 'fellow creatures', he was frequently a solitary voice speaking truth to power.Lester's beautiful imagery and storytelling, accompanied by afterwords from Rediker and Paul Buhle, capture the radicalism, the humour, and the humanity of this uncannily modern figure. A testament to the impact each of us can make, Prophet against Slavery brings Lay'' prophetic vision to a new generation of young activists who today echo his call of 300 years ago: 'No justice, no peace!'Trade ReviewPraise for The Fearless Benjamin Lay:Admirers of Marcus Rediker's splendid The Slave Ship will be delighted by this historian's new book. Sailor, pioneer of guerrilla theater, and a man who would stop at nothing to make his fellow human beings share his passionate outrage against slavery, Benjamin Lay has long needed a modern biographer worthy of him, and now he has one. -- Adam Hochschild, author of King Leopold’s GhostPraise for The Fearless Benjamin Lay:A modern biography of the radical abolitionist Benjamin Lay has long been overdue. With the sure hand of an eminent historian of the disfranchised, Marcus Rediker has brought to life the wide-ranging activism of this extraordinary Quaker, vegetarian dwarf in a richly crafted book. In fully recovering Lay's revolutionary abolitionist vision, Rediker reveals its ongoing significance for our world. -- Manisha Sinha, author of The Slave’s Cause: A History of AbolitionPraise for The Fearless Benjamin Lay:The unswerving eighteenth-century abolitionist Benjamin Lay, maligned when not ignored for many generations, has at last found his sympathetic biographer. In this captivating must-read book, Marcus Rediker shows that Lay's disfigured body contained a mind of steel and a heart overflowing with compassion for victims of the Atlantic slave trade. Lay's place in the annals of American reform is now secure. -- Gary Nash, author of Warner Mifflin: Unflinching Quaker AbolitionistPraise for The Fearless Benjamin Lay:Lay's antinomian radicalism has been wonderfully excavated by Marcus Rediker in this eloquent testament. -- Catherine Hall, author of Legacies of British Slave-OwnershipPraise for The Fearless Benjamin Lay:This turbulent life of a seafarer, glove maker, and preacher is the stuff of legend, recovered with panache by Rediker. -- John Rees, author of The Leveller RevolutionPraise for The Fearless Benjamin Lay:In this vivid life, Rediker explains how Benjamin Lay, the dwarf, became an iconic prophet of abolitionism. Lay lived in the utmost simplicity in a cave, eating no meat, and wearing only clothes he had made himself. Rediker shows how Lay, despite his modesty, used spectacle to dramatise the cruelty of slavery, and explains why, despite clashes with the wealthy, Lay died at seventy-seven with an estate worth over £500, which he bequeathed to the poor. The Fearless Benjamin Lay offers a master class in eighteenth-century radical micro-history, showing how much is revealed by the scattered details of one man's life, a short man but a political and moral giant. -- Robin Blackburn, author of The American CruciblePraise for The Fearless Benjamin Lay:Like most satisfying biographies, Rediker's is part group biography, offering sketches of the lives with which Lay's intersected. * Times Literary Supplement *Praise for The Fearless Benjamin Lay:It is a pretty safe bet that for every 1,000 people who know of William Wilberforce, no more than the odd one might have heard of Benjamin Lay. But if anyone deserves to muscle in on the mildly self-congratulatory and largely middle-class pantheon of Abolitionist Saints, it is the gloriously improbable and largely forgotten Quaker throwback and hero of Marcus Rediker's generous and absorbing act-his own phrase-of 'retrospective justice'. -- David Crane * Spectator *Praise for The Fearless Benjamin Lay:Rediker has done a valuable service in rescuing Lay from obscurity ... I suspect there will be few readers who won't want to boil a celebratory turnip to salute what Benjamin Lay achieved in the course of his long and remarkable life. -- John Preston * Daily Mail *Praise for The Fearless Benjamin Lay:This is micro-history at its best, a careful concentration on one small man's activities as a way of testing out the limits of what could be thought, known and felt in the hive-mind of early modern America. -- Kathryn Hughes * Guardian (Best biographies of the year 2017) *Praise for The Fearless Benjamin Lay:It is a pretty safe bet that people reading this excellent biography of the Quaker radical Benjamin Lay will not have heard of him or his exploits. Hopefully because of Marcus Rediker's hard work and perseverance more people will now know of this extraordinary figure. -- Keith Livesy * A Trumpet of Sedition *Praise for The Fearless Benjamin Lay:Historian Marcus Rediker's excellent book . illuminates the life of this extraordinary man. -- Eugene Grant * New Statesman *

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Book SynopsisIn Road to October 7, Erik Skare argues that Palestinian Islamism is far more complex and dynamic than generally assumed. The phenomenon has continuously developed through disputes between moderates and hardliners. These struggles have largely been settled by external drivers - intra-Palestinian competition, Israeli violence and repression, or shifts in the regional power balance.

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a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

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a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

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