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Books > History > British & Irish history
Aberdeen have competed on the European stage since season 1967/68
and have enjoyed some epic encounters along the way, culminating in
the club's greatest ever victory - beating Real Madrid 2-1 in the
1983 Cup Winner's Cup final. Ally Begg charts a path through
Aberdeen's storied history in Europe, vividly brining to life the
most interesting, exciting, and unforgettable games by interviewing
players from Aberdeen and their rivals and augmenting them with his
own richly rendered memories. Aberdeen European Nights takes the
reader on a nostalgic romp around the continent, crossing beyond
the Iron Curtain and building a fortress at home at Pittodrie.
Humorous, quirky and insightful, it is the perfect book for
Aberdeen fans, young and old.
Great Britain unearths the hidden legends, laws, landscapes,
discoveries, adventures and locations that have shaped Britain's
compelling, and at times, tumultuous past. Explore how Britain was
formed - its geology and climate, the quirky characters and events
of its history and the origin of British institutions, such as
public schools, fish and chips and driving on the left hand side.
Brief, accessible and entertaining pieces on a wide variety of
subjects makes it the perfect book to dip in to. The amazing and
extraordinary facts series presents interesting, surprising and
little-known facts and stories about a wide range of topics which
are guaranteed to inform, absorb and entertain in equal measure.
In Harold Nicolson's own words 'This study of Lord Curzon
represents the third volume of a trilogy on British diplomacy
covering the years from 1870 to 1924. The first volume of that
trilogy was a biography entitled Lord Carnock: A Study in the Old
Diplomacy. The second volume was a critical survey of the Paris
conference called Peacemaking, 1919.' All three volumes are
reissued in Faber Finds. Curzon himself, not a modest man it must
be admitted, rated highly the work of his final years. In his
'Literary Testament' dictated only a few hours before his death he
said, 'As to my work as Foreign Secretary from 1918 to 1924 - a
period of unparalleled difficulty in international affairs and of
great personal worry and sometimes tribulation . . . - I court the
fullest publicity as to my conduct in those anxious years and can
imagine no better justification than the publication of any or all
the telegrams, despatches, minutes and records of interviews for
which I was responsible.' Some of the chapter headings alone remind
us of what an eventful period it was: Armistice, The Eastern
Question, Smyrna, Persia, Egypt, Reparation, Chanak and Lausanne.
It is perhaps a pity that Harold Nicolson didn't write the official
biography of Lord Curzon (he was a candidate) but what we have here
is a work that is, in the words of David Gilmour, another
biographer of Curzon, 'acute, jaunty, readable and sympathetic.'
Hadrian's Wall is the largest, most spectacular and one of the most
enigmatic historical monument in Britain. Nothing else approaches
its vast scale: a land wall running 73 miles from east to west and
a sea wall stretching at least 26 miles down the Cumbrian coast.
Many of its forts are as large as Britain's most formidable
medieval castles, and the wide ditch dug to the south of the Wall,
the vallum, is larger than any surviving prehistoric earthwork.
Built in a ten-year period by more than 30,000 soldiers and
labourers at the behest of an extraordinary emperor, the Wall
consisted of more than 24 million stones, giving it a mass greater
than all the Egyptian pyramids put together. At least a million
people visit Hadrian's Wall each year and it has been designated a
World Heritage Site. In this book, based on literary and historical
sources as well as the latest archaeological research, Alistair
Moffat considers who built the Wall, how it was built, why it was
built and how it affected the native peoples who lived in its
mighty shadow. The result is a unique and fascinating insight into
one of the Wonders of the Ancient World.
Witchcraft holds a continued fascination for readers around the
world, and the Scottish witch hunts have recently received renewed
media attention, especially with the BBC 2 show Lucy Worsley
Investigates, bringing attention to Edinburgh's witches. Expert
Mary Craig explores the unusual story of Agnes Finnie, a middle
class shopkeeper who lived in the tenements of Edinburgh. After
arrest, most witches were tried within a matter of days but not
Agnes. Her unusual case took months with weeks of deliberation of
the jury. Mary explains why and gives her expert insight into the
political and religious tensions that led to her burning. The book
will interest a variety of readers, academics and non-academics
alike - those interested in witchcraft, British and Scottish
history, religious studies and women's studies. Mary Craig works as
a historian with museums, archives and schools and hosts regular,
well-attended events on the subject of witchcraft in the Scottish
Borders. We expect strong media coverage. The Witches of Scotland
campaign has recently gained traction and the attention of first
minister Nicola Sturgeon, calling for a pardon and apology to those
accused during the witch hunts.
Packed with violence, political drama and social and cultural
upheaval, the years 1913-1923 saw the emergence in Ireland of the
Ulster Volunteer Force to resist Irish home rule and in response,
the Irish Volunteers, who would later evolve into the IRA. World
War One, the rise of Sinn Fein, intense Ulster unionism and
conflict with Britain culminated in the Irish war of Independence,
which ended with a compromise Treaty with Britain and then the
enmities and drama of the Irish Civil War. Drawing on an abundance
of newly released archival material, witness statements and
testimony from the ordinary Irish people who lived and fought
through extraordinary times, A Nation and not a Rabble explores
these revolutions. Diarmaid Ferriter highlights the gulf between
rhetoric and reality in politics and violence, the role of women,
the battle for material survival, the impact of key Irish unionist
and republican leaders, as well as conflicts over health, land,
religion, law and order, and welfare.
One of the most approachable and useful books on the period. Life
in the two decades after the Great Exhibition.
Prime Ministers delves into the premiership's 300 year history and
unearths a host of fascinating, intriguing and little-known facts
about some of the best-known characters in British history, lifting
the lid on the top job. Find out about the Prime Minister who only
lasted 100 days, another who served for 21 years, or how Downing
Street came to be the Premier's residence. Brief, accessible and
entertaining pieces on a wide variety of subjects makes it the
perfect book to dip in to. "The Amazing and Extraordinary Facts
series" presents interesting, surprising and little-known facts and
stories about a wide range of topics which are guaranteed to
inform, absorb and entertain in equal measure.
The geology of the Cairngorms was created on a timeline that
stretches back hundreds of millions of years. Much of the land is
underlain by granite that formed deep within the Earth's crust and
'surfaced' as the overlying layers of rock were stripped away by
ice, wind and water. The bedrock is hard, and although the area has
been heavily glaciated, still boasts 18 Munros, the highest of
Scotland's peaks. The area attracts climbers, walkers and assorted
adventurers who want to pit themselves against some of the most
challenging conditions to be found anywhere in the UK. The plants
and animals of the Cairngorms need to be hardy to survive the
severe winter conditions. The higher reaches of the mountains are
rich in montane vegetation such as lichen-rich heath and other
habitats support many rare species.
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