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Books > Humanities > History > World history > From 1900
The accepted narrative of the interwar U.S. Navy is one of
transformation from a battle-centric force into a force that could
fight on the ""three planes"" of war: in the skies, on the water,
and under the waves. The political and cultural tumult that
accompanied this transformation is another story. Ryan D. Wadle's
Selling Sea Power explores this little-known but critically
important aspect of naval history. After World War I, the U.S. Navy
faced numerous challenges: a call for naval arms limitation, the
ascendancy of air power, and budgetary constraints exacerbated by
the Great Depression. Selling Sea Power tells the story of how the
navy met these challenges by engaging in protracted public
relations campaigns at a time when the means and methods of
reaching the American public were undergoing dramatic shifts. While
printed media continued to thrive, the rapidly growing film and
radio industries presented new means by which the navy could
connect with politicians and the public. Deftly capturing the
institutional nuances and the personalities in play, Wadle tracks
the U.S. Navy's at first awkward but ultimately successful
manipulation of mass media. At the same time, he analyzes what the
public could actually see of the service in the variety of media
available to them, including visual examples from progressively
more sophisticated - and effective - public relations campaigns.
Integrating military policy and strategy with the history of
American culture and politics, Selling Sea Power offers a unique
look at the complex links between the evolution of the art and
industry of persuasion and the growth of the modern U.S. Navy, as
well as the connections between the workings of communications and
public relations and the command of military and political power.
Focusing on a decade in Irish history which has been largely
overlooked, Youth and Popular Culture in 1950s Ireland provides the
most complete account of the 1950s in Ireland, through the eyes of
the young people who contributed, slowly but steadily, to the
social and cultural transformation of Irish society. Eleanor
O'Leary presents a picture of a generation with an international
outlook, who played basketball, read comic books and romance
magazines, listened to rock'n'roll music and skiffle, made their
own clothes to mimic international styles and even danced in the
street when the major stars and bands of the day rocked into town.
She argues that this engagement with imported popular culture was a
contributing factor to emigration and the growing dissatisfaction
with standards of living and conservative social structures in
Ireland. As well as outlining teenagers' resistance to outmoded
forms of employment and unfair work practices, she maps their
vulnerability as a group who existed in a limbo between childhood
and adulthood. Issues of unemployment, emigration and education are
examined alongside popular entertainments and social spaces in
order to provide a full account of growing up in the decade which
preceded the social upheaval of the 1960s. Examining the 1950s
through the unique prism of youth culture and reconnecting the
decade to the process of social and cultural transition in the
second half of the 20th century, this book is a valuable
contribution to the literature on 20th-century Irish history.
Raymond Lodge's death from shell shrapnel in 1915 was unremarkable
in a war where many young men would die, but his father's response
to his untimely death was. Sir Oliver Lodge, physicist, scientist,
part inventor of the wireless telegraph and the spark plug, could
not let go of Raymond and went on a controversial and bizarre
journey into the realm of life after death. Following Sir Oliver's
journey, Dear Raymond, explores the untapped topic of spirituality
pre- and post-war, the influence that a national tragedy can have
on a nation's belief system and the long lasting effects from this
time that we still feel today. Alongside Lodge were some of the
great names of the day, as a member of the Ghost Club and the
Fabian Society he was in contact with famous men such as Sir Arthur
Conan Doyle, who went on his own mission into the afterlife after
losing a son. Lodge's exploration and the controversy it exploded
opens our eyes to how modern religion has been shaped and changed
by the conflicts of the Twentieth Century.
This book provides a holistic overview of the history of
sustainable development in Denmark over the last fifty years,
covering a host of issues central to the Sustainable Development
Goals (SDGs): ending poverty; ensuring inclusive and equitable
education; reducing inequality; making cities and settlements
inclusive, safe and resilient; and fostering responsible production
and consumption patterns, to name a few. It argues for a new
framework of sustainability history, one that is truly global in
outlook. As such, it explores what truly global sustainable
development would look like. It considers how economic growth has
been the driver for prosperity in the global north, and considers
whether sustainable development and continued economic growth are
irreconcilable, and what the future of sustainable development
initiatives in Denmark might look like.
Now It Can Be Told comprises of Philip Gibbs recollections
regarding the First World War, in which he served as an officially
commissioned war reporter. Titled in reference to the relieving of
censorship laws following the conclusion of World War One in 1918,
this book is noticeably different from the censored or dumbed-down
accounts published under Gibbs' byline in popular newspapers as the
conflict wore on. In this book, the full scale of the horror
wrought in Europe is told unflinchingly with the aim of showing the
depravity of conflict and the destruction that results. Early in
the war, Gibbs' frank and accurate accounts of the carnage of
modern warfare unnerved the British government, who were concerned
his accounts would demoralize citizens and turn them against the
war effort. Gibbs was ordered home; on refusing to cease reporting,
he was arrested and forcibly brought back to Britain.
This comprehensive volume tells the rarely recounted stories of the
numerous foreign air forces that supported the German Luftwaffe as
part of the Axis' quest to dominate the European and Pacific
theaters-a highly compelling and often overlooked chapter of World
War II history. The Axis Air Forces: Flying in Support of the
German Luftwaffe presents an untold history of that global
conflict's little-known combatants, who nonetheless contributed
significantly to the war's outcome. While most other books only
attempt to address this subject in passing, author Frank Joseph
provides not only an extremely comprehensive account of the "unsung
heroes" of the Axis fliers, but also describes the efforts of Axis
air forces such as those of the Iraqi, Manchurian, Thai or
Chinese-specific groups of wartime aviators that have never been
discussed before at length. This book examines the distinct but
allied Axis air forces of Western Europe, Eastern Europe, the
Middle East, and Asia. An extensive introduction provides coverage
of Luftwaffe volunteers from Greece, Lithuania, Holland, Denmark,
Norway and even the United States. Detailed descriptions of the
personnel themselves and the aircraft they operated are portrayed
against the broader scope of combat missions, field operations, and
military campaigns, supplying invaluable historical perspective on
the importance of their sorties. Photographs of the aircraft
described in the text A comprehensive bibliography lists source
materials
In today's world, we can point to many international disputes and
interstate conflicts fueled by past events. Historical resentments
or memories of past suffering or fame are often used to justify
political, economic and even territorial demands. Inter-state
disputes and historical conflicts should be understood as evidence
of political and social tensions related to active, serious
differences in the assessment of the common past. The book explains
the role of such conflicts in international relations and suggests
ways of classifying them. It presents examples of the
internationally relevant instrumentalisation of history from
different regions of the world and outlines ways of overcoming
them.
Again available in paperback is Eric Sevareid's widely
acclaimed Not So Wild a Dream. In this brilliant first-person
account of a young journalist's experience during World War II,
Sevareid records both the events of the war and the development of
journalistic strategies for covering international affairs. He also
recalls vividly his own youth in North Dakota, his decision to
study journalism, and his early involvement in radio reporting
during the beginnings of World War II.
The Bosnian war of 1992-1995 was one of the most brutal conflicts
to have erupted since the end of the Second World War. But although
the war occurred in 'Europe's backyard' and received significant
media coverage in the West, relatively little scholarly attention
has been devoted to cultural representations of the conflict.
Stephen Harper analyses how the war has been depicted in global
cinema and television over the past quarter of a century. Focusing
on the representation of some of the war's major themes, including
humanitarian intervention, the roles of NATO and the UN, genocide,
rape and ethnic cleansing, Harper explores the role of popular
media culture in reflecting, reinforcing -- and sometimes
contesting -- nationalist ideologies.
Early in 1945 the British Liberation Army (BLA), who had battled
their way from the Normandy beaches to the borders of Germany,
embarked on Operation Eclipse. This was the 'end-game' of the
Second World War, the unique military campaign to invade and
conquer Hitler's Third Reich and liberate 20 million enslaved
nationals from Holland, Denmark and Norway; to free multitudes of
displaced persons (DPs) or slaves; and inter alia to free the
survivors of twenty concentration camps and many Allied POW camps.
The Allied Military Government (AMG) brought law and order to 23
million German nationals in the allocated British zone of
occupation (BAOR) and appropriate retribution too. A thrilling race
with Stalin's Red Army ensued to reach the Baltic. A matter of a
few hours and Denmark and Norway would have been swept into the
evil Soviet empire. The author fought vigorously as a junior RHA
officer in the five great river battles - Rhine, Dortmund-Ems,
Weser, Aller and the Elbe. Soon after VE Day he was the junior
officer in War Crimes Tribunals in Hamburg and Oldenburg and
witnessed Mr Alfred Pierrepoint administering the hanging of prison
camp guards.
Today, 1913 is inevitably viewed through the lens of 1914: as the
last year before a war that would shatter the global economic order
and tear Europe apart, undermining its global pre-eminence. Our
perspectives narrowed by hindsight, the world of that year is
reduced to its most frivolous features--last summers in grand
aristocratic residences--or its most destructive ones: the
unresolved rivalries of the great European powers, the fear of
revolution, violence in the Balkans.
In this illuminating history, Charles Emmerson liberates the world
of 1913 from this "prelude to war" narrative, and explores it as it
was, in all its richness and complexity. Traveling from Europe's
capitals, then at the height of their global reach, to the emerging
metropolises of Canada and the United States, the imperial cities
of Asia and Africa, and the boomtowns of Australia and South
America, he provides a panoramic view of a world crackling with
possibilities, its future still undecided, its outlook still open.
The world in 1913 was more modern than we remember, more similar to
our own times than we expect, more globalized than ever before. The
Gold Standard underpinned global flows of goods and money, while
mass migration reshaped the world's human geography. Steamships and
sub-sea cables encircled the earth, along with new technologies and
new ideas. Ford's first assembly line cranked to life in 1913 in
Detroit. The Woolworth Building went up in New York. While Mexico
was in the midst of bloody revolution, Winnipeg and Buenos Aires
boomed. An era of petro-geopolitics opened in Iran. China appeared
to be awaking from its imperial slumber. Paris celebrated itself as
the city of light--Berlin as the city of electricity.
Full of fascinating characters, stories, and insights, "1913: In
Search of the World before the Great War" brings a lost world
vividly back to life, with provocative implications for how we
understand our past and how we think about our future.
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