This book tells the story of the dissident imaginary of samizdat activists, the political culture they created, and the pivotal role that culture had in sustaining the resilience of the oppositional movement in Poland between 1976 and 1990. This unlicensed print culture has been seen as one of the most emblematic social worlds of dissent. Since the Cold War, the audacity of harnessing obsolete print technology known as samizdat to break the modern monopoly of information of the party-state has fascinated many, yet this book looks beyond the Cold War frame to reappraise its historical novelty and significance. What made that culture resilient and rewarding, this book argues, was the correspondence between certain set of ideas and media practices: namely, the form of samizdat social media, which both embodied and projected the prefigurative philosophy of political action, asserting that small forms of collective agency can have a transformative effect on public life here and now, and are uniquely capable of achieving a democratic new beginning. This prefigurative vision of the transition from communism had a fundamental impact on the broader oppositional movement. Yet, while both the rise of Solidarity and the breakthrough of 1989 seemed to do justice to that vision, both pivotal moments found samizdat social media activists making history that was not to their liking. Back in the day, their estrangement was overshadowed by the main axis of contention between the society and the state. Foregrounding the internal controversies they protagonized, this book adds nuance to our understanding of the broader legacy of dissent and its relevance for the networked protests of today.

Contact, Conquest and Colonization brings together international historians and literary studies scholars in order to explore the force of practices of comparing in shaping empires and colonial relations at different points in time and around the globe. Whenever there was cultural contact in the context of European colonization and empire-building, historical records teem with comparisons among those cultures. This edited volume focuses on what historical agents actually do when they compare, rather than on comparison as an analytic method. Its contributors are thus interested in the 'doing of comparison', and explore the force of these practices of comparing in shaping empires and (post-)colonial relations between the sixteenth and twentieth centuries. This book will appeal to students and scholars of global history, as well as those interested in cultural history and the history of colonialism.

This book examines the paradox of collective identity in eastern Germany in the wake of German reunification. Following the fall of the Berlin Wall, citizens of the former German Democratic Republic were confronted with a dilemma: Were they already Germans without qualification, like their compatriots in the West? Or did they remain "East Germans" for the time being, with an identity tied to their distinct past, as if they were foreigners who had migrated without leaving home? How Memory Divides shows that these questions remain unresolved even today, less because of any "incomplete unity" between Germans in West and East, than because of the contradictory ways in which "easterners" themselves have remembered their past. Drawing on a unique study spanning two decades, the author reveals how divergent biographical memories have given rise to life stories with a diverse array of genres and storylines at odds with official accounts of the GDR and its demise. Over time, efforts to effect unity between West and East have reproduced divisions within the East. This book will appeal to scholars and students of sociology and politics with interests in memory, heritage, and identity.

Drawing on sixteenth- to twenty-first-century American, British, French, German, Polish, Norwegian and Russian literature and philosophy, this collection teases out culturally specific conceptions of old age as well as subjective constructions of late-life identity and selfhood. The internationally known humanistic gerontologist Jan Baars, the prominent historian of old age David Troyansky and the distinguished cultural historian and pioneer in the field of literature and science George Rousseau join a team of literary historians who trace out the interfaces between their chosen texts and the respective periods' medical and gerontological knowledge. The chapters' in-depth analyses of major and less-known works demonstrate the rich potential of fiction, poetry and autobiographical writing in the construction of a cultural history of senescence. These literary examples not only bear witness to longue duree representations of old age, and epochal transitions regarding cultural attitudes to the aged; they also foreground the subjectivities that produced some of these representations and that continue to communicate with readers of other times and places. By casting a net over a variety of authors, genres, periods and languages, the collection gives a broad sense of how literature is among the richest and most engaging sources for historicizing the ageing self.

Attention to the issue of disabilities has intensified in recent decades, prompting States and organizations to respond with appropriate measures to promote inclusion of persons with disabilities in all social environments. This book's thesis is that the seeds of this inclusivity were planted by the development of tourism for people with disabilities in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The book explores the development of tourism for people with disabilities in Italy during this time period. It adds an important tessera to the mosaic of international literature that has rarely considered the history of tourism and the history of disabilities in a unified manner. While certainly of great interest to an Italian audience, the discussion of the various responses taking form in Italy to the needs of persons with disabilities, and the role these responses have played in the development of mass tourism generally, is also quite pertinent to international contexts. This book is based largely on unpublished sources. The authors' hope is that the presentation of these new materials combined with the innovative approach of a historical study of tourism through the lens of disabilities will open up international scholarly debate and discussion drawing in contributions from all disciplines.

This is the first scientific biography of Milan Rastislav Stefanik (1880-1919) that is focused on analysing the process of how he became the Slovak national hero. Although he is relatively unknown internationally, his contemporaries compared him "to Choderlos de Laclos for the use of military tactics in love affairs, to Lawrence of Arabia for vision, to Bonaparte for ambition ... and to one of apostles for conviction". He played the key role in founding an independent Czechoslovakia in 1918 through his relentless worldwide travels during the First World War in order to create the Czechoslovak Army: he visited Serbia and Romania on the eve of invasion by the Central Powers, Russia before the February revolution, the United States after it declared war on Germany, Italy dealing with the consequences of defeat in the Caporetto battle, and again when Russia plunged into Civil War. Several historical methods are used to analyse the aforementioned central research question of this biography such as social capital to explain his rise in French society, the charismatic leader to understand how he convinced and won over a relatively large number of people; more traditional political, military, and diplomatic history to show his contribution to the founding of Czechoslovakia, and memory studies to analyse his extraordinary popularity in Slovakia. By mapping his intriguing life, the book will be of interest to scholars in a broad range of areas including history of Central Europe, especially Czechoslovakia, international relations, social history, French society at the beginning of the 20th century and biographical research.

During the last two centuries, ethnolinguistic nationalism has been the norm of nation building and state building in Central Europe. The number of recognized Slavic languages (in line with the normative political formula of language = nation = state) gradually tallied with the number of the Slavic nation-states, especially after the breakups of Czechoslovakia, the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia. But in the current age of borderless cyberspace, regional and minority Slavic languages are freely standardized and used, even when state authorities disapprove. As a result, since the turn of the 19th century, the number of Slavic languages has varied widely, from a single Slavic language to as many as 40. Through the story of Slavic languages, this timely book illustrates that decisions on what counts as a language are neither permanent nor stable, arguing that the politics of language is the politics in Central Europe. The monograph will prove to be an essential resource for scholars of linguistics and politics in Central Europe.

This book examines the influence of architectural design in the conservation of historic buildings by discussing in detail an important building complex in Rome: the Temple of Venus and Rome, the monastery of Santa Maria Nova and the church of Santa Francesca Romana. As the most complete site in the Roman Forum that has reached our times with a rich architectural stratification almost intact, it is a clear product of continuous preservation and transformation and it has not been studied in its complexity until now. The Temple of Venus and Rome and Santa Francesca Romana at the Roman Forum unravels the original designs and the subsequent interventions, including Giacomo Boni's pioneering conservation of the monastery, carried out while excavating the Roman Forum in the early twentieth century. The projects are discussed in context to show their significance and the relationships between architects and patrons. Through its interdisciplinary focus on architectural design, conservation, archaeology, history and construction, this study is an ideal example for scholars, students and architects of how to carry out research in architectural conservation.

The Gulathing Law regulates relations between the social classes, the king and his officers, the clergy, and the peasantry. Parts of the law appear to be a social contract between two parties: on the one hand the people, on the other hand the church and the king. This new edition, in modern English, contains many references to research that has been carried out since the appearance of previous editions in 1935 and 1981. In the Gulathing Law, differing interests are being balanced, and procedures described for solving conflicts. Personal rights are defined, and scales of fines and compensation are set up, graded according to the gravity of the insult, offence, and the social status of the persons involved. Large parts of the law text mirror the internal conditions in the farming community of Western Norway in the High Middle Ages; economic transactions, disputes, damage to life and property, and theft. Accompanied by a translator's introduction and a commentary essay which place the Gulathing Law in a theological and church history perspective, this volume will be useful for both students and specialists of medieval Norwegian legal history and medieval Scandinavian law.

This book studies the making of the bourgeoisie the Baltic Sea region in the nineteenth Century. This region was peripheral in comparison to England and France, with respect to urbanization, economic development, liberalism, and consumption. The bourgeoisie was still a class-to-be. By the end of the Century the bourgeoisie was a self-aware class incorporated in the European bourgeoisie. Their life style was mostly the same as in Western Europe, but there were also some cultural differences. The author argues that in the Baltic Sea area, this life style was shaped by both women and men. Thus, the study deals with the heterosocial life in private homes. Society life became an important instrument for defining and controlling the new social boundaries. This was also where, through the encounters among like-minded people, values and norms were tested, negotiated, and honed. This is studied in the context of the new ideals and morals connected to the bourgeoisie: a bourgeois work ethic based on industriousness and hard work, and the quiet family life of the home. The focus is on the calls, the hub around which society life was formed. No social interaction in the home was possible without morning calls.

This book provides a solid and critical historical examination of the endorsement, development and course of Greek nationalism among the lay/clerical leadership of the Greek Orthodox minority of Istanbul during the last phase of the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire and the first years of the newly established Republic of Turkey. The focus is on the political role played by the ethnocentric communal elite, who actively championed the Greek nationalist plan of the Megali Idea (Great Idea). Based on a comparative investigation and synthesis of a wide array of Greek and British archival sources the book engages with the various stages of Constantinopolitan Greek elite nationalism in Turkey and partly in Greece, and examines its manifestations, its level of success and its consequences on the minority during the crucial period of 1918-1930. The main argument is that the internal dynamics, the policies and the responses of this powerful communal elite vis-a-vis other communal factions as well as Greek irredentism and Turkish nation-building conditioned to a significant degree the construction of specific representations and perceptions of the group's collective identity and determined the status of the Greeks of Istanbul as a national minority in Turkey until nowadays. Providing a thorough analysis of elite politics during and in the aftermath of the Greek-Turkish War and assessing the application of the minority clauses of the Treaty of Lausanne (July 1923), the volume is a key resource for students and academics interested in nationalism and minorities, modern Greek history, Ottoman and Turkish history as well as for policy makers and specialists working in the diplomatic field, the Greek and Turkish public service, international institutions and non-governmental organizations.

This work seeks to offer a new way of viewing the French Wars of 1792-1815. Most studies of this period offer international, political, and military analyses using the French Revolution and Napoleon as the prime mover. But this book focuses on military and civilian responses to French Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars, throughout the rest of Europe and the Americas. It shows how the unprecedented mobilization of this era forged a generation of soldiers and civilians sharing a common experience of suffering, bequeathing the West with a new veteran sensibility. Using a range of sources, especially memoirs, this book reveals the adventure and suffering confronting ordinary soldiers campaigning in Europe and the Americas, and the burdens imposed on civilians enduring rising and falling empires across the West. It also reveals how the wars liberated slaves, serfs, and common people through revolutions and insurgencies.

Writing Russia offers the first systematic analysis of Anglophone national histories of Russia. By deconstructing preeminent historical works on the history of Russia, this book provides insight into the hidden ideological underpinnings of the texts and their representations of Russia in the West. It demonstrates that historians employ a range of literary techniques to smooth over contradictions in their narratives of Russia, generating a seemingly cohesive depiction of Russia as a liminal, Other nation. This is a process that this book theorises as "discordus", representing an original conceptual framework for examining national history texts. It identifies patterns in the language and emplotment of Anglophone Russian histories across several defining historical epochs from the Mongol conquests to the Putin presidency, revealing the extent to which historians wield the narrative power to "make or break" nations. Postmodern in approach, the work pushes the boundaries of historiography and calls into question the nature of history.

This pioneering book elevates the senses to a central role in the study of food history because the traditional focus upon food types, quantities, and nutritional values is incomplete without some recognition of smell, touch, sight, hearing, and taste. Eating is a sensual experience. Every day and at every meal the senses of smell, touch, sight, hearing, and taste are engaged in the acts of preparation and consumption. And yet these bodily acts are ephemeral; their imprint upon the source material of history is vestigial. Hitherto historians have shown little interest in the senses beyond taste, and this book fills that research gap. Four dimensions are treated: * Words, Symbols and Uses: Describing the Senses - an investigation of how specific vocabularies for food are developed. * Industrializing the Senses - an analysis of the fundamental change in the sensory qualities of foods under the pressure of industrialization and economic forces outside the control of the household and the artisan producer. * Nationhood and the Senses - an exploration of how the combination of the senses and food play into how nations saw themselves, and how food was a signature of how political ideologies played out in practical, everyday terms. * Food Senses and Globalization - an examination of links between food, the senses, and the idea of international significance. Putting all of the senses on the agenda of food history for the first time, this is the ideal volume for scholars of food history, food studies and food culture, as well as social and cultural historians. Putting all of the senses on the agenda of food history for the first time, this is the ideal volume for scholars of food history, food studies and food culture, as well as social and cultural historians.

Based on extensive original research, this book tells the astonishing story of early Soviet Abkhazia and of its leader, the charismatic Bolshevik revolutionary Nestor Lakoba. A tiny republic on the Black Sea coast of the USSR, Abkhazia became a vacation retreat for Party leaders and a major producer of tobacco. Nestor Lakoba became the unquestioned boss of Abkhazia, constructing a powerful local ethnic "machine" that became an influential component of Soviet patronage politics, provoking along the way accusations of nepotism, corruption, blood feuds, embezzlement, racketeering, and extrajudicial murder on a scale that shocked even hardened Communist Party investigators. Lakoba and his group faced a series of trials, investigatory commissions, and tribunals over allegations of malfeasance, yet they were repeatedly able to convince their powerful patrons of their irreplaceability, until at last they were destroyed through a public show trial during the peak of the Stalinist Terror. Through the prism of tiny Abkhazia, this book provides invaluable insights into the nature of the early Soviet system and the governance of Soviet national republics.

This monograph explores the economic consequences of the Cold War, a polarised world order which politicised technology and shaped industrial development. It provides a detailed archival-based history of the Finnish shipbuilding industry (1952-1996), which f lourished, thanks to the special relationship between Finland and the Soviet Union. Overall, it shows how a small country, Finland, gained power during the Cold War through international economic and technological cooperation. The work places Finland in a firmly international context and assesses the state-industry relationship from five different angles: technopolitics, trade infrastructure, techno-scientific cooperation, industrial reorganisation, and state aid. It presents a novel way to analyse industrialisation as an interaction between institutional stabilisation and f luctuation within a techno-economic system. In so doing, it makes empirical, theoretical, and methodological contributions to the history of industrial change. A History of Cold War Industrialisation will be of interest to advanced students and scholars in economic history, maritime history, Cold War history, and international political economy.

Edmond Fleg and Jewish Minority Culture in Twentieth-Century France, the first critical biography of the leading French writer Edmond Fleg (1874-1963), explores his role in forging a modern French Jewish identity before and after the Second World War. Through his writings - plays, novels, poems, and essays based on Jewish and Christian texts - Fleg fashioned a minority identity within the context of French Third Republic universalism. At the heart of his work we find a radical ecumenism, a rejection of exclusive and homogenous nationalism, and a deep understanding of the necessity of supporting vibrant minority subcultures within the context of a liberal democratic republic. This account is both individual and social, pointing to the ways in which Fleg acted within the possibilities and constraints of his milieu and used his writing to engage with and shape the discursive fabric of twentieth-century French culture. This book appeals to a number of scholarly audiences, including historians and literary critics who work on modern France and Jewish and religious studies and those who focus on issues of identity and difference, as well as a more general audience interested in Modern France and/or modern Jewish history.

Build, reinforce and assess students' knowledge throughout their course; tailored to the 2016 CCEA specification and brought to you by the leading History publisher, this study and revision guide combines clear content coverage with practice questions and sample answers. - Ensure understanding of the period with concise coverage of all Unit content, broken down into manageable chunks - Develop the analytical and evaluative skills that students need to succeed in A-level History - Consolidate understanding with exam tips and knowledge-check questions - Practise exam-style questions matched to the CCEA assessment requirements for every question type - Improve students' exam technique and show them how to reach the next grade with sample student answers and commentary for each exam-style question - Use flexibly in class or at home, for knowledge acquisition during the course or focused revision and exam preparation

A riveting history of the city that led the West out of the ruins of the Roman Empire At the end of the fourth century, as the power of Rome faded and Constantinople became the seat of empire, a new capital city was rising in the West. Here, in Ravenna on the coast of Italy, Arian Goths and Catholic Romans competed to produce an unrivaled concentration of buildings and astonishing mosaics. For three centuries, the city attracted scholars, lawyers, craftsmen, and religious luminaries, becoming a true cultural and political capital. Bringing this extraordinary history marvelously to life, Judith Herrin rewrites the history of East and West in the Mediterranean world before the rise of Islam and shows how, thanks to Byzantine influence, Ravenna played a crucial role in the development of medieval Christendom. Drawing on deep, original research, Herrin tells the personal stories of Ravenna while setting them in a sweeping synthesis of Mediterranean and Christian history. She narrates the lives of the Empress Galla Placidia and the Gothic king Theoderic and describes the achievements of an amazing cosmographer and a doctor who revived Greek medical knowledge in Italy, demolishing the idea that the West just descended into the medieval "Dark Ages." Beautifully illustrated and drawing on the latest archaeological findings, this monumental book provides a bold new interpretation of Ravenna's lasting influence on the culture of Europe and the West.

This book is a diplomatic history of Europe and the wider world over a period of 500 years, from the beginning of the sixteenth century to the early twenty-first century - with a crucial aspect. The book reflects upon the development of diplomacy and diplomats in changing from acting solely in the national interests of their respective countries to increasingly engaging in international conflict resolution and peace-making. It will be an invaluable reading for students and practitioners of international history, international relations and international security.

This book shows how Dante Alighieri has been represented in the Italian collective imagination from the late eighteenth century to the present day. Often held to be a precursor of Italian unity, the author of the Divine Comedy has been put forward both as a standard-bearer of a secular, anti-clerical Italy and the embodiment of the concept of a deeply religious and Catholic nation; while he was later adopted by nationalist and fascists as well as a pop icon in the age of the internet and globalization. The book describes this long and fascinating history from a completely original point of view: the centuries-old myth of Dante is analysed from the perspective of cultural history. The sources employed include Dante commemorations, festivals and monuments, pilgrimages to his tomb, films and other media productions about Dante, as well as comic strips, advertisements and other cultural items dedicated to him.

This short collection of essays engages with queer lives and activism in 1970s Poland, illustrating discourses about queerness and a trajectory of the struggle for rights which clearly sets itself apart, and differs from a Western-based narrative of liberation. Contributors to this volume paint an uneven landscape of queer life in state-socialist Poland in the 1970s and early 1980s. They turn to oral history interviews and archival sources which include police files, personal letters, literature and criticism, writings by sexuality experts, and documentation of artistic practice. Unlike most of Europe, Poland did not penalize same-sex acts, although queer people were commonly treated with suspicion and vilified. But while many homosexual men and most lesbian women felt invisible and alone, some had the sense of belonging to a fledgling community. As they looked to the West, hoping for a sexual revolution that never quite arrived, they also preserved informal queer institutions dating back to the prewar years and used them to their advantage. Medical experts conversed with peers across the Iron Curtain but developed their own "socialist" methods and successfully prompted the state to recognize transgender rights, even as that state remained determined to watch and intimidate homosexual men. Literary critics, translators, and art historians began debating-and they debate still-how to read gestures defying gender and sexual norms: as an aspect of some global "gay" formation or as stemming from locally grounded queer traditions. Emphasizing the differences of Poland's LGBT history from that of the "global" West while underscoring the existing lines of communication between queer subjects on either side of the Iron Curtain, this book will be of key interest to scholars and students in gender and sexuality studies, social history, and politics.

Australia, Wilkommen (1990) documents the rich and varying contribution made by Germans in Australia. Originally welcomed as hardy pioneers, German settlers were responsible for discovering and opening up vast tracts of land. German scientists and entrepreneurs played a large role in the Australian economy. But as the German empire expanded into the Pacific, and Britain and Australia were drawn into two world wars, perceptions of Germany and its people changed and immigrants were caught in the crossfire between the old and new worlds. This book examines these issues surrounding German immigration into Australia, and the shifting perceptions of both the immigrants and the nation itself.

Between the late fifteenth and early eighteenth centuries, the State of Muscovy emerged from being a rather homogenous Russian-speaking and Orthodox medieval principality to becoming a multi-ethnic and multi-religious empire. Not only the conquest of the neighbouring Tatar Khanates and the colonisation of Siberia demanded the integration of non-Christian populations into the Russian state. The ethnic composition of the capital and other towns also changed due to Muscovite policies of recruiting soldiers, officers, and specialists from various European countries, as well as the accommodation of merchants and the resettlement of war prisoners and civilians from annexed territories. The presence of foreign immigrants was accompanied by controversy and conflicts, which demanded adaptations not only in the Muscovite legal, fiscal, and economic systems but also in the everyday life of both native citizens and immigrants. This book combines two major research fields on international relations in the State of Muscovy: the migration, settlement, and integration of Western Europeans, and Russian and European perceptions of the respective "other". Foreigners in Muscovy will appeal to researchers and students interested in the history and social makeup of Muscovy and in European-Russian relations during the early modern era.

Examines five early modern novels from the seventeenth century in Spain and France: Cervantes's Don Quijote, Zayas's Desenganos amorosos, Scarron's Roman comique, Cyrano de Bergerac's L'Autre Monde, and Mme. de Lafayette's Zayde. This book enables upper level students and scholars to see how the authors use the developing form of the novel to engage in skeptical inquiry. This book allows students and scholars of early modern literature, history and philosophy to see how the novel can shed new light on the period by exploring how literature becomes a means to express these differences and put them in productive dialogue. By identifying the philosophic stakes of these literary works, this book shows students and scholars how these novels are part of the larger skeptical turn of the late sixteenth and early seventeenth century in Europe enabling them to see the importance of studying literature alongside history and philosophy.