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Books > Humanities > History > General
Fintan O'Toole was born in the year the revolution began. It was
1958, and the Irish government-in despair, because all the young
people were leaving-opened the country to foreign investment and
popular culture. So began a decades-long, ongoing experiment with
Irish national identity. In We Don't Know Ourselves, O'Toole, one
of the Anglophone world's most consummate stylists, weaves his own
experiences into Irish social, cultural, and economic change,
showing how Ireland, in just one lifetime, has gone from a
reactionary "backwater" to an almost totally open society-perhaps
the most astonishing national transformation in modern history.
Born to a working-class family in the Dublin suburbs, O'Toole
served as an altar boy and attended a Christian Brothers school,
much as his forebears did. He was enthralled by American Westerns
suddenly appearing on Irish television, which were not that far
from his own experience, given that Ireland's main export was beef
and it was still not unknown for herds of cattle to clatter down
Dublin's streets. Yet the Westerns were a sign of what was to come.
O'Toole narrates the once unthinkable collapse of the all-powerful
Catholic Church, brought down by scandal and by the activism of
ordinary Irish, women in particular. He relates the horrific
violence of the Troubles in Northern Ireland, which led most Irish
to reject violent nationalism. In O'Toole's telling, America became
a lodestar, from John F. Kennedy's 1963 visit, when the soon-to-be
martyred American president was welcomed as a native son, to the
emergence of the Irish technology sector in the late 1990s, driven
by American corporations, which set Ireland on the path toward
particular disaster during the 2008 financial crisis. A remarkably
compassionate yet exacting observer, O'Toole in coruscating prose
captures the peculiar Irish habit of "deliberate unknowing," which
allowed myths of national greatness to persist even as the
foundations were crumbling. Forty years in the making, We Don't
Know Ourselves is a landmark work, a memoir and a national history
that ultimately reveals how the two modes are entwined for all of
us.
By 1650, the spiritual and political power of the Catholic Church
was shattered. Thanks to the twin blows of the Protestant
Reformation and the Thirty Years War, Rome, celebrated both as the
Eternal City and Caput Mundi (the head of the world) had lost its
pre-eminent place in Europe. Then a new Pope, Alexander VII, fired
with religious zeal, political guile and a mania for building,
determined to restore the prestige of his church by making Rome the
must-visit destination for Europe's intellectual, political and
cultural elite. To help him do so, he enlisted the talents of
Gianlorenzo Bernini, already celebrated as the most important
living artist: no mean feat in the age of Rubens, Rembrandt and
Velazquez. Together, Alexander VII and Bernini made the greatest
artistic double act in history, inventing the concept of soft power
and the bucket list destination. Bernini and Alexander's creation
of Baroque Rome as a city more beautiful and grander than since the
days of the Emperor Augustus continues to delight and attract.
Now in B-format paperback, this book describes ten women over the
past three hundred years who have found walking essential to their
sense of themselves, as people and as writers. Wanderers traces
their footsteps, from eighteenth-century parson's daughter
Elizabeth Carter - who desired nothing more than to be taken for a
vagabond in the wilds of southern England - to modern
walker-writers such as Nan Shepherd and Cheryl Strayed. For each,
walking was integral, whether it was rambling for miles across the
Highlands, like Sarah Stoddart Hazlitt, or pacing novels into
being, as Virginia Woolf did around Bloomsbury. Offering a
beguiling view of the history of walking, Wanderers guides us
through the different ways of seeing - of being - articulated by
these ten pathfinding women.
An immensely readable and fascinating account of the city where
South Africa's mining revolution first began. In association with
the Historical Society of Kimberley and the Northern Cape.
Hostilities between Britain and the Boer republics broke out just
two years after the invention of the Folding Pocket Kodak, the
first camera to use cartridge film and that could be afforded by
ordinary men, such as troops serving in foreign territories.
Emmanoel Lees interest in South Africas history and his passion
for photography are combined in this valuable pictorial history of
the Boer War, which is the result of twenty years research in
Britain, South Africa, Holland and the USA. To the Bitter End
emphasizes particular aspects of the Boer War the foreign
volunteers, the concentration camps, the hospital treatment and the
eighteen months of fighting that went on after the war had
officially ended and matches photographic images with historical
documents to give a clear and evocative picture of the war.
The Price of Scotland covers a well-known episode in Scottish
history, the ill-fated Darien Scheme. It recounts for the first
time in almost forty years, the history of the Company of Scotland,
looking at previously unexamined evidence and considering the
failure in light of the Company's financial records. Douglas Watt
offers the reader a new way of looking at this key moment in
history, from the attempt to raise capital in London in 1695
through to the shareholder bail-out as part of the Treaty of Union
in 1707. With the tercentenary of the Union in May 2007, The Price
of Scotland provides a timely reassessment of this national
disaster.
""The Winthrop Woman" is that rare literary accomplishment --
living history. Really good fictionalized history like this] often
gives closer reality to a period than do factual records." -
"Chicago Tribune"
In 1631 Elizabeth Winthrop, newly widowed with an infant daughter,
set sail for the New World. Against a background of rigidity and
conformity she dared to befriend Anne Hutchinson at the moment of
her banishment from the Massachusetts Bay Colony; dared to
challenge a determined army captain bent on the massacre of her
friends the Siwanoy Indians; and, above all, dared to love a man as
her heart and her whole being commanded. And so, as a response to
this almost unmatched courage and vitality, Governor John Winthrop
came to refer to this woman in the historical records of the time
as his "unregenerate niece."
Anya Seton's riveting historical novel portrays the fortitude,
humiliation, and ultimate triumph of the Winthrop woman, who
believed in a concept of happiness transcending that of her own
day.
"A rich and panoramic narrative full of gusto, sentimentality and
compassion. It is bound to give much enjoyment and a good many
thrills." - "Times Literary Supplement"
"Abundant and juicy entertainment." -" New York Times"
Before ‘the greatest showman’, P. T. Barnum, there was Philip
Astley, an Englishman who revolutionised popular entertainment.
This is his extraordinary story. The First Showman is a hugely
entertaining history of the man who created the modern circus:
Philip Astley. There have been many books about aspects of the
circus but little written about its inventor. Here, New York Times
bestselling author Karl Shaw draws on original research to tell the
story of Britain’s Barnum. He brilliantly evokes the time, the
place, the drama, pitfalls, successes, characters and passion
behind Astley’s rise to fame. Born in Newcastle-under-Lyme, ‘Mr
Astley’ is also a local hero for the author, who now lives there.
Astley served as a sergeant major in the British Army where he
learned his horse-riding skills, before becoming a brilliant
innovator of equestrian tricks and spectacles. In April 1768 Astley
staked out a ring at Halfpenny Hatch near Waterloo in London and he
and his wife Patty put on displays of trick horse-riding in the
open air. Two years later, he put a clown in the ring and gave
birth to the modern circus. His circus performers included a
strongman called Signor Colpi and a clown called Mr Merryman. He
established the still-standard diameter of the circus ring, 42
feet. He was invited to perform before European royalty and built
France’s first purpose-built circus building, the Amphitheatre
Anglais, in Paris. Almost incredibly, he built circuses in twenty
European cities. At home, Astley’s Amphitheatre was mentioned in
books by Charles Dickens and Jane Austen. He died on 20 October
1814 and was buried in Pere Lachaise Cemetery, Paris. His life is a
wonderful story of perseverance and flair on the way to achieving
everlasting renown.
Welsh Food Stories explores more than two thousand years of history
to discover the rich but forgotten heritage of Welsh foods - from
oysters to cider, salted butter to salt-marsh lamb. Despite
centuries of industry, ancient traditions have survived in pockets
across the country among farmers, bakers, fisherfolk, brewers and
growers who are taking Welsh food back to its roots, and
trailblazing truly sustainable foods as they do so. In this
important book, author Carwyn Graves travels Wales to uncover the
country's traditional foods and meet the people making them today.
There are the owners of a local Carmarthenshire chip shop who never
forget a customer, the couple behind Anglesey's world-renowned salt
company Halen Mon, and everyone else in between - all of them have
unique and compelling stories to tell about how they contribute to
the past, present and future of Welsh food. This is an evocative
and insightful exploration of an often overlooked national cuisine,
shining a spotlight on the importance - environmentally and
socially - of keeping local food production alive.
By a winner of the Stanford Dolman Award for Travel Writing
"Sayarer is a precise and passionate writer . . . We need writers
who will go all the way for a story, and tell it with fire. Sayarer
is a marvellous example" HORATIO CLARE On the eve of its centenary
year and elections that will shape the coming generations, Julian
Emre Sayarer sets out to cycle across Türkiye, from the Aegean
coast to the Armenian border. Meeting Turkish farmers and workers,
Syrian refugees and Russians avoiding conscription, the journey
brings to life a living, breathing, cultural tapestry of the place
where Asia, Africa and Europe converge. The result is a love letter
to a country and its neighbours - one that offers a clear-eyed view
of Türkiye and its place in a changing world. Yet the route is
also marked by tragedy, as Sayarer cycles along a major fault line
just months before one of the most devastating earthquakes in the
region's modern history. Always engaged with the big historical and
political questions that inform so much of his writing, Sayarer
uses his bicycle and the roadside encounters it allows to bring
everything back to the human level. At the end of his journey we
are left with a deeper understanding of the country, as well as the
essential and universal nature of political power, both in Türkiye
and closer to home.
'A story told with verve and passion' The Times, Book of the Week
'An alternative and engaging biography...accessible and
unpretentious' The Telegraph 'A stunning portrayal of two of the
most powerful women in European history' Tracy Borman 'Exciting and
compelling, packed full of tantalising details of diplomacy and
court life, Paranque succeeds both in bringing history to life, but
also in putting flesh on the bones of these two extraordinary women
and rival queens' Kate Mosse 'A smart and stylish portrait of two
of Europe's most remarkable rulers, a compelling profile of female
power and - that rarest of things - a truly original book about the
Tudor period' Jessie Childs In sixteenth-century Europe, two women
came to hold all the power, against all the odds. They were
Elizabeth I and Catherine de Medici. One a Virgin Queen who ruled
her kingdom alone, and the other a clandestine leader who used her
children to shape the dynasties of Europe, much has been written
about these iconic women. But nothing has been said of their
complicated relationship: thirty years of friendship, competition
and conflict that changed the face of Europe. This is a story of
two remarkable visionaries: a story of blood, fire and gold. It is
also a tale of ceaseless calculation, of love and rivalry, of war
and wisdom - and of female power in a male world. Shining new light
on their legendary kingdoms Blood, Fire and Gold provides a new way
of looking at two of history's most powerful women, and how they
shaped each other as profoundly as they shaped the course of
history. Drawing on their letters and brand new research, Estelle
Paranque writes an entirely new chapter in the well-worn story of
the sixteenth century.
China Miéville's brilliant reading of the modern world's most
controversial and enduring political document: The Communist
Manifesto. 'It's thrilling to accompany Miéville... as he wrestles
– in critical good faith and incandescent commitment – with a
manifesto that still calls on us to build a new world' Naomi Klein
'Read this and be dazzled by its contemporaneity' Mike Davis 'A
rich, luminous reflection of and on a light that never quite goes
out' Andreas Malm 'Reading with [Miéville] today sharpens our
senses to contemporary internationalist movements from below' Ruth
Wilson Gilmore '[Written] with diligence and a ruthlessly critical
eye worthy of Marx himself' Sarah Jaffe In 1848, a strange
political tract was published by two German émigrés. Marx and
Engles's apocalyptic vision of an insatiable system, which
penetrates every corner of the globe, reduces every relationship to
that of profit, and bursts asunder the old forms of production and
of politics, remains a picture of our world. And the vampiric
energy of that system is once again highly contentious. The
Manifesto shows no sign of fading into antiquarian obscurity, and
remains a key touchstone for modern political debate. China
Miéville is not a writer hemmed in by conventions of disciplinary
boundaries or genre, and this is a strikingly imaginative take on
Marx and what his most haunting book has to say to us today. Like
the Manifesto itself, this is a book haunted by ghosts, sorcery and
creative destruction.
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Skara Brae
(Paperback)
Historic Scotland
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R193
R176
Discovery Miles 1 760
Save R17 (9%)
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Ships in 9 - 15 working days
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The Neolithic village known as Skara Brae was continuously occupied
for about 300 to 400 years, before being abandoned around 2500 BC.
Despite severe coastal erosion, eight houses and a workshop have
survived largely intact, with their stone furniture still in place.
This is the best-preserved settlement of its period in northern
Europe, and thousands of artefacts were discovered during
excavations of the site. Who lived here? How did they live? And why
did they ultimately abandon the village? In this lively account, Dr
David Clarke, who led major excavations at Orkney's Skara Brae,
describes the details of the site and explores some of the enigmas
posed by this extraordinary survival.
Soon after 2:00 a.m. on Easter morning 2008, the fishing trawler
Alaska Ranger began taking on water in the middle of the frigid
Bering Sea. While the first mate broadcast Mayday calls to a remote
Coast Guard station more than eight hundred miles away, the men on
the ship's icy deck scrambled to inflate life rafts and activate
beacon lights. By 4:30 a.m., most of the forty-seven crew members
were in the water. Many knew that if they weren't rescued soon,
they would drown or freeze to death.
Two Coast Guard helicopter rescue teams were woken up in the
middle of the night to save the crew of the Alaska Ranger. Many of
the men thought the mission would be routine. They were wrong. The
helicopter teams battled snow squalls, enormous swells, and
gale-force winds as they tried to fulfill one guiding principle:
save as many as possible.
Deadliest Sea is a daring and mesmerizing adventure tale that
chronicles the power of nature against man. Veteran journalist
Kalee Thompson recounts the harrowing stories of both the rescuers
and the rescued while paying tribute to the courage, tenacity, and
skill of the dedicated people who risk their lives for the lives of
others.
The shocking, untold story of how African independence was
strangled at birth by America’s systematic interference. Accra,
1958. Africa’s liberation leaders have gathered for a conference,
full of strength, purpose and vision. Newly independent Ghana’s
Kwame Nkrumah and Congo’s Patrice Lumumba strike up a close
partnership. Everything seems possible. But, within a few years,
both men will have been targeted by the CIA, and their dream of
true African autonomy undermined. The United States, watching the
Europeans withdraw from Africa, was determined to take control.
Pan-Africanism was inspiring African Americans fighting for civil
rights; the threat of Soviet influence over new African governments
loomed; and the idea of an atomic reactor in black hands was
unacceptable. The conclusion was simple: the US had to
‘recapture’ Africa, in the shadows, by any means necessary.
Renowned historian Susan Williams dives into the archives,
revealing new, shocking details of America’s covert programme in
Africa. The CIA crawled over the continent, poisoning the hopes of
1958 with secret agents and informants; surreptitious UN lobbying;
cultural infiltration and bribery; assassinations and coups. As the
colonisers moved out, the Americans swept in—with bitter
consequences that reverberate in Africa to this day.
A provocative and original history of the scientists and writers,
artists and philosophers who took drugs to explore the hidden
regions of the mind “Captivating. . . . A welcome
reconsideration of the role drugs play in life, medicine, and
science.”—Publishers Weekly Until the twentieth
century, scientists investigating the effects of drugs on the mind
did so by experimenting on themselves. Vivid descriptions of drug
experiences sparked insights across the mind sciences,
pharmacology, medicine, and philosophy. Accounts in journals and
literary fiction inspired a fascinated public to make their own
experiments—in scientific demonstrations, on exotic travels, at
literary salons, and in occult rituals. But after 1900
drugs were increasingly viewed as a social problem, and the long
tradition of self-experimentation began to disappear. From
Sigmund Freud’s experiments with cocaine to William James’s
epiphany on nitrous oxide, Mike Jay brilliantly recovers a lost
intellectual tradition of drug-taking that fed the birth of
psychology, the discovery of the unconscious, and the emergence of
modernism. Today, as we embrace novel cognitive enhancers and
psychedelics, the experiments of the original psychonauts reveal
the deep influence of mind-altering drugs on Western science,
philosophy, and culture.
Providing a novel multi-disciplinary theorization of memory
politics, this insightful Handbook brings varied literatures into a
focused dialogue on the ways in which the past is remembered and
how these influence transnational, interstate, and global politics
in the present. With case studies from Africa, East and Southeast
Asia, Europe, South America, and the United States, the Handbook
focuses on the political features of historical memory in
international relations. Chapters examine key concepts of memory
politics, including accountability, commemoration and
memorialization, the Europeanization of memory, and the politics of
trauma and victimhood, as well as analyzing different sites of
memory, from the human body and memorial sites to media, film, and
television. It also answers essential questions such as who and
what determines the relevance of the past in the present; how does
memory become a political question; and what are the political
effects and ethical implications of its mobilization? Exploring the
links between the politics of memory, international ethics, law,
and diplomacy, this stimulating Handbook will be essential reading
for students and scholars of politics and international relations,
cultural studies, history, and transitional justice. Its discussion
of notable agents and practices of memory politics will also be
beneficial for practitioners working in human rights, politics, and
public policy.
A SPECIAL ANNIVERSARY EDITION TO COMMEMORATE 80 YEARS SINCE
THE EXTRAORDINARY EVENTS OF 1943 Sophie Scholl and the White
Rose tells the gripping true story of five Munich
university students who set up an underground resistance
movement in World War II. The thrilling story of their
courage and defiance, brought to life in the Oscar-nominated
film Sophie Scholl - The Final Days, is beautifully told in
this special 80th anniversary edition of Annette Dumbach
& Jud Newborn's critically acclaimed work. Acclaim for Sophie
Scholl and the White Rose: 'The animated narrative reads like a
suspense novel.' New York Times 'Powerful and compelling...
Among the indispensable literature of modern political
culture.' Hans-Wolf von Wietersheim, Das Parlament 'A
dramatic story of courage during the darkest period of the 20th
Century... And it's a story with new chapters unfolding. This book
is a fundamental resource and a memorable read.' Toby
Axelrod, author and reporter
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