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Books > History > British & Irish history
More than one million immigrants fled the Irish famine for North
America--and more than one hundred thousand of them perished aboard
the "coffin ships" that crossed the Atlantic. But one small ship
never lost a passenger.
"All Standing" recounts the remarkable tale of the "Jeanie
Johnston" and her ingenious crew, whose eleven voyages are the
stuff of legend. Why did these individuals succeed while so many
others failed? And what new lives in America were the ship's
passengers seeking?
In this deeply researched and powerfully told story, acclaimed
author Kathryn Miles re-creates life aboard this amazing vessel,
richly depicting the bravery and defiance of its shipwright,
captain, and doctor--and one Irish family's search for the American
dream.
The 9th Battalion The Sherwood Foresters (Notts and Derby) was part
of Lord Kitchener's "New Army" made up initially of men from the
north midlands This is their story complete with pictures of many
of the men The 9th Battalion was not an elite force, but a group of
ordinary working men who felt compelled to serve their country but
found themselves in the most extra-ordinary military conflagration
A full colour map, based on digitised OS maps of Alnwick and
Alnmouth of about 1920, with its Anglo-Saxon and medieval past
overlain and important buildings picked out. The map's cover has a
short introduction to the area's history, and on the reverse an
illustrated and comprehensive gazetteer of Alnwick's and Alnmouth's
main sites of historic interest. The back of the map has coloured
early views of buildings, monuments and street scenes of Alnwick
and Alnmouth. The map has been created by a team of people
representing the various historical societies of Alnwick and
Alnmouth, a number of individuals with specific local knowledge and
the curators of local historical collections, including the
extensive archives of both the Duke of Northumberland and
Bailiffgate Museum. Members of the team have previously produced
works on particular aspects of the area's history, including the
town itself, local heritage heroes, the Abbey, the Shrovetide
Football Game and the district during the Great War.
This highly praised study traces the province's history from
partition in 1921 to today's peace process. Widely acknowledged as
the best informed academic observers of Northern Irish politics,
the authors look behind the handshakes on the White House lawn and
provide a fascinating insight into history as it unfolds in the
headlines and on news bulletins.
Just who did the British think they were? For much of the last
1,500 years, when the British looked back to their origins they saw
the looming mythological figure of Brutus of Troy. A
great-great-grandson of the love goddess Aphrodite through her
Trojan son Aeneas (the hero of Virgil's Aeneid), Brutus
accidentally killed his father and was exiled to Greece. He
liberated the descendants of the Trojans who lived there in slavery
and led them on an epic voyage to Britain. Landing at Totnes in
Devon, Brutus overthrew the giants who lived in Britain, laid the
foundations of Oxford University and London and sired a long line
of kings, including King Arthur and the ancestors of the present
Royal Family.Invented to give Britain a place in the overarching
mythologies of the Classical world and the Bible, Brutus's story
long underpinned the British identity and played a crucial role in
royal propaganda and foreign policy. His story inspired generations
of poets and playwrights, including Spenser, Shakespeare, Milton,
Pope, Wordsworth, Dickens and Blake, whose hymn 'Jerusalem' was a
direct response to the story of Brutus founding London as the New
Troy in the west.Leading genealogist Anthony Adolph traces Brutus's
story from Roman times onwards, charting his immense popularity and
subsequent fall from grace, along with his lasting legacy in
fiction, pseudo-history and the arcane mythology surrounding some
of London's best-known landmarks, in this groundbreaking biography
of the mythological founder of Britain.
The Battle of Hastings is one of the key events in the history of
the British Isles. This book is not merely another attempt to
describe what happened at Hastings - that has already been done
supremely well by many others - but instead to highlight two
issues: how little we actually know for certain about the battle,
and how the popular understanding of 14 October 1066 has been
shaped by the concerns of later periods. It looks not just at
perennial themes such as how did Harold die and why did the English
lose, but also at other crucial issues such as the diplomatic
significance of William of Normandy's claim to the English throne,
the Norman attempt to secure papal support, and the extent to which
the Norman and Anglo-Saxon armies represented diametrically opposed
military systems. This study will be of great interest to all
historians, students and teachers of history and is illustrated
with 10 colour and 10 black & white photographs.
In this tribute to the late Diana, Princess of Wales, Karl-Werner
Antrack looks at her life and those that affected it. He looks in
detail at the many conspiracy theories surrounding her death, and
how it has affected those that Diana left behind, and the
'revelations' revealed by those she is said to have trusted while
alive. The state of the world post-Diana is also looked at
including the war on Iraq, and Britain's relations with the US.
Altogether, this book is a useful compilation of much of the hype
which has surrounded the death of Princess Diana, but at the heart
of it we must remember she was a loving mother who cared for all
those less fortunate than herself, and it is hopefully this memory
that shall live on...
Suffolk has been home to monastic communities since St Felix and St
Fursey founded the first monasteries in the seventh century, and
today the county is home to both awe-inspiring monastic ruins and
living communities of men and women devoted to prayer. This first
complete survey of the monastic history of Suffolk traces the
development of monasticism in the kingdom of East Anglia, its
recovery after Viking destruction, and the flourishing of an
extraordinary variety of communities in medieval Suffolk, ranging
from the immensely powerful Abbey of Bury St Edmunds to tiny
friaries and nunneries. The book examines the impact of the
dissolution of the monasteries and the survival of the monastic
dream, against all odds, in post-Reformation Suffolk. Finally, the
book surveys the revival of religious communities in modern Suffolk
to the present day, and provides a comprehensive gazeteer of all
past and present monasteries in the county.
On September 11, 1814, an American naval squadron under Master
Commandant Thomas Macdonough defeated a formidable British force on
Lake Champlain under the command of Captain George Downie,
effectively ending the British invasion of the Champlain Valley
during the War of 1812. This decisive battle had far-reaching
repercussions in Canada, the United States, England, and Ghent,
Belgium, where peace talks were under way. Examining the naval and
land campaign in strategic, political, and military terms, from
planning to execution to outcome, The Battle of Lake Champlain
offers the most thorough account written of this pivotal moment in
American history. For decades the Champlain corridor - a direct and
accessible invasion route between Lower Canada and the northern
United States - had been hotly contested in wars for control of the
region. In exploring the crucial issue of why it took two years for
the United States and Britain to confront each other on Lake
Champlain, historian John H. Schroeder recounts the war's early
years, the failed U.S. invasions of Canada in 1812 and 1813, and
the ensuing naval race for control of the lake in 1814. To explain
how the Americans achieved their unexpected victory, Schroeder
weighs the effects on both sides of preparations and planning,
personal valor and cowardice, command decisions both brilliant and
ill-conceived, and sheer luck both good and bad. Previous histories
have claimed that the War of 1812 ended with Andrew Jackson's
victory at the Battle of New Orleans. Schroeder demonstrates that
the United States really won the war four months before - at
Plattsburgh on Lake Champlain. Through a comprehensive analysis of
politics and diplomacy, Schroeder shows that the victory at Lake
Champlain prompted the British to moderate their demands at Ghent,
bringing the war directly and swiftly to an end before Jackson's
spectacular victory in January 1815.
'A definitive classic field guide [...] Its scope is as magnificent
as our countryside itself.' BBC Countryfile Magazine 'This book is
perfect for anyone who's travelled through the countryside,
scratched their head, and thought, 'what on earth is that thing?'''
Tony Robinson Have you ever driven past a lumpy, bumpy field and
wondered what made the lumps and bumps? Or walked between two lines
of grand trees and wondered when and why they were planted?
Entertaining and factually rigorous, Hidden Histories has the
answers and will help you decipher the story of Britain's landscape
through the features you can see around you. In this spotter's
guide, Mary-Ann Ochota arms amateur explorers with the crucial
information needed to understand the landscape and spot the human
activities that have shaped our green and pleasant land.
Photographs and diagrams point out specific details and typical
examples to help the curious spotter understand what they're
looking at, or looking for. Specially commissioned illustrations
bring to life the processes that shaped the landscape (from
medieval ploughing to Roman road building). Stand-alone capsules
explore interesting aspects of history (like the Highland
Clearances or the coming of Christianity). Feature boxes provide
definitions of jargon or handy references as required (like a
glossary of what different field names mean). Each chapter
culminates in a checklist of key details to look for, other things
it might be, and gives details of where to find some of the best
examples in Britain. From lumps and bumps to stones, lines and
villages, Hidden Histories is the must-have spotter's guide to the
British landscape.
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