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Books > History > World history > From 1900
A wide-ranging political biography of diplomat, Nobel prize winner,
and civil rights leader Ralph Bunche. A legendary diplomat,
scholar, and civil rights leader, Ralph Bunche was one of the most
prominent Black Americans of the twentieth century. The first
African American to obtain a political science Ph.D. from Harvard
and a celebrated diplomat at the United Nations, he was once so
famous he handed out the Best Picture award at the Oscars. Yet
today Ralph Bunche is largely forgotten. In The Absolutely
Indispensable Man, Kal Raustiala restores Bunche to his rightful
place in history. He shows that Bunche was not only a singular
figure in midcentury America; he was also one of the key architects
of the postwar international order. Raustiala tells the story of
Bunche's dramatic life, from his early years in prewar Los Angeles
to UCLA, Harvard, the State Department, and the heights of global
diplomacy at the United Nations. After narrowly avoiding
assassination Bunche received the Nobel Peace Prize for his
ground-breaking mediation of the first Arab-Israeli conflict,
catapulting him to popular fame. A central player in some of the
most dramatic crises of the Cold War, he pioneered conflict
management and peacekeeping at the UN. But as Raustiala argues, his
most enduring achievement was his work to dismantle European
empire. Bunche perceptively saw colonialism as the central issue of
the 20th century and decolonization as a project of global racial
justice. From marching with Martin Luther King to advising
presidents and prime ministers, Ralph Bunche shaped our world in
lasting ways. This definitive biography gives him his due. It also
reminds us that postwar decolonization not only fundamentally
transformed world politics, but also powerfully intersected with
America's own civil rights struggle.
Back from 44 - The Sacrifice and Courage of a Few. Nick Bentas,
Staff Sergeant US Army Air Force, finds himself in a severely
crippled B-26 Marauder, trying to return to base, he remembers the
different times in his life that led him up to this point. From
enlistment to basic training to saying goodbye to his new wife, he
remembers his deadly missions around France, Germany and the wider
Mediterranean. Experience how it was first hand to encounter enemy
flak and fighter attacks, while dealing with the emotional impact
of losing close friends. Back From 44 is an in-depth look into the
bravery and sacrifice of ordinary men who did extraordinary things
during WWII.
What is it to practice history in an age in which photographs
exist? What is the impact of photographs on the core
historiographical practices which define the discipline and shape
its enquiry and methods? In Photographs and the Practice of
History, Elizabeth Edwards proposes a new approach to historical
thinking which explores these questions and redefines the practices
at the heart of this discipline. Structured around key concepts in
historical methodology which are recognisable to all
undergraduates, the book shows that from the mid-19th century
onward, photographs have influenced historical enquiry. Exposure to
these mass-distributed cultural artefacts is enough to change our
historical frameworks even when research is textually-based.
Conceptualised as a series of 'sensibilities' rather than a
methodology as such, it is intended as a companion to 'how to'
approaches to visual research and visual sources. Photographs and
the Practice of History not only builds on existing literature by
leading scholars: it also offers a highly original approach to
historiographical thinking that gives readers a foundation on which
to build their own historical practices.
In the early hours of November 10, 1938, Nazi storm troopers and
Hitler Youth rampaged through Jewish neighborhoods across Germany,
leaving behind them a horrifying trail of terror and destruction.
More than a thousand synagogues and many thousands of Jewish shops
were destroyed, while thirty thousand Jews were rounded up and sent
to concentration camps. Kristallnacht--the Night of Broken
Glass--was a decisive stage in the systematic eradication of a
people who traced their origins in Germany to Roman times and was a
sinister forewarning of the Holocaust.
With rare insight and acumen, Martin Gilbert examines this
night and day of terror, presenting readers with a meticulously
researched, masterfully written, and eye-opening study of one of
the darkest chapters in human history.
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