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Books > Humanities > History > European history > General
This book explores the evolution of the role of the heirs to the
throne of Italy between 1860 and 1900. It focuses on the future
kings Umberto I (1844-1900) and Vittorio Emanuele III (1869-1947),
and their respective spouses, Margherita of Savoia (1851-1926) and
Elena of Montenegro (1873-1952). It sheds light on the soft power
the Italian royals were attempting to generate, by identifying and
examining four specific areas of monarchical activity: firstly, the
heirs' public role and the manner in which they attempted to craft
an Italian identity through a process of self-presentation;
secondly, the national, royal, linguistic and military education of
the heirs; thirdly, the promotion of a family-centred dynasty
deploying both male and female elements in the public realm; and
finally the readiness to embrace different modes of mobility in the
construction of italianita. By analysing the growing importance of
the royal heirs and their performance on the public stage in
post-Risorgimento Italy, this study investigates the attempted
construction of a cohesive national identity through the crown and,
more specifically, the heirs to the throne.
Anglo-Danish Empire is an interdisciplinary handbook for the Danish
conquest of England in 1016 and the subsequent reign of King Cnut
the Great. Bringing together scholars from the fields of history,
literature, archaeology, and manuscript studies, the volume offers
comprehensive analysis of England's shift from Anglo-Saxon to
Danish rule. It follows the history of this complicated transition,
from the closing years of the reign of King AEthelred II and the
Anglo-Danish wars, to Cnut's accession to the throne of England and
his consolidation of power at home and abroad. Ruling from 1016 to
1035, Cnut drew England into a Scandinavian empire that stretched
from Ireland to the Baltic. His reign rewrote the place of Denmark
and England within Europe, altering the political and cultural
landscapes of both countries for decades to come.
In an era when women were supposed to be disciplined and obedient, Anna proved to be neither. Defying 16th-century social mores, she was the frequent subject of gossip because of her immodest dress and flirtatious behavior. When her wealthy father discovered that she was having secret, simultaneous affairs with a young nobleman and a cavalryman, he turned her out of the house in rage, but when she sued him for financial support, he had her captured, returned home and chained to a table as punishment. Anna eventually escaped and continued her suit against her father, her siblings and her home town in a bitter legal battle that was to last 30 years and end only upon her death. Drawn from her surviving love letters and court records, The Burgermeister's Daughter is a fascinating examination of the politics of sexuality, gender and family in the 16th century, and a powerful testament to the courage and tenacity of a woman who defied the inequalities of this distant age.
This book is the history of the Eastern Vikings, the Rus and the
Varangians, from their earliest mentions in the narrative sources
to the late medieval period, when the Eastern Vikings had become
stock figures in Old Norse Romances. A comparison is made between
sources emanating from different cultures, such as the Roman
Empire, the Abbasid Caliphate and its successor states, the early
kingdoms of the Rus and the high medieval Scandinavian kingdoms. A
key element in the history of the Rus and the Varangians is the
fashioning of identities and how different cultures define
themselves in comparison and contrast with the other. This book
offers a fresh and engaging view of these medieval sources, and a
thorough reassessment of established historiographical grand
narratives on Scandinavian peoples in the East.
This open access book uncovers one important, yet forgotten, form
of itinerant livelihoods, namely petty trade, more specifically how
it was practiced in Northern Europe during the period 1820-1960. It
investigates how traders and customers interacted in different
spaces and approaches ambulatory trade as an arena of encounters by
looking at everyday social practices. Petty traders often belonged
to subjugated social groups, like ethnic minorities and migrants,
whereas their customers belonged to the resident population. How
were these mobile traders perceived and described? What goods did
they peddle? How did these commodities enable and shape trading
encounters? What kind of narratives can be found, and whose? These
questions pertaining to daily practices on a grass-root level have
not been addressed in previous research. Encounters and Practices
embarks on hidden histories of survival, vulnerability, and
conflict, but also discloses reciprocal relations, even
friendships.
The comparison of early Italy's and Japan's colonialism is without
precedence. The majority of studies on Italian and Japanese
expansion refer to the 1930-1940s period (fascist/totalitarian era)
when Japan annexed Manchuria (1931) and Italy Ethiopia (1936). The
first formative and crucial steps that paved the way for this
expansion have been neglected. This analysis covers a range of
social, political and economic parameters illuminating the
diversity but also the common ground of the nature and aspirations
of Japan's and Italy's early colonial systems. The two states
alongside the Great Powers of the era expanded in the name of
humanism and civilization but in reality in a way typically
imperialistic, they sought territorial compensations, financial
privileges and prestige. A parallel and deeper understanding of the
nineteenth century socio-cultural-psychological parameters, such as
tradition, mentality, and religion that shaped and explain the
later ideological framework of Rome's and Tokyo's expansionist
disposition, has never been attempted before. This monograph offers
a detailed examination of the phenomenon of colonialism by
examining the issue from two different angles. The study
contributes to the understanding of Italy's and Japan's early
imperial expansion. In addition, it traces the origins of these
states' similar and common historical evolution in late nineteenth
and the first half of the twentieth century.
In this introductory guide, Knud Jespersen traces the process of
disintegration and reduction that helped to form the modern Danish
state, and the historical roots of Denmark's international
position. Beginning with the Reformation in the sixteenth century,
Jespersen explains how the Denmark of today was shaped by wars,
territorial losses, domestic upheavals, new methods of production,
and changes in thought. Focusing on the interplay between history,
politics and economics, this illuminating text offers an insider's
view of Danish identity formation over the last centuries. This
engaging textbook is an ideal resource for undergraduate and
postgraduate students taking courses on Danish, Scandinavian or
Nordic History. Concise and accessible, it will also appeal to
anyone interested in gaining a clear understanding of the
development of Denmark.
With respect to public issues, history matters. With the worldwide
interest for historical issues related with gender, religion, race,
nation, and identity, public history is becoming the strongest
branch of academic history. This volume brings together the
contributions from historians of education about their engagement
with public history, ranging from musealisation and alternative
ways of exhibiting to new ways of storytelling.
SUNDAY TIMES NUMBER ONE BESTSELLER 'The most important book of the
year' Daily Mail The brilliant and provocative new book from one of
the world's foremost political writers 'The anti-Western
revisionists have been out in force in recent years. It is high
time that we revise them in turn...' In The War on the West,
international bestselling author Douglas Murray asks: if the
history of humankind is one of slavery, conquest, prejudice,
genocide and exploitation, why are only Western nations taking the
blame for it? It's become perfectly acceptable to celebrate the
contributions of non-Western cultures, but discussing their flaws
and crimes is called hate speech. What's more it has become
acceptable to discuss the flaws and crimes of Western culture, but
celebrating their contributions is also called hate speech. Some of
this is a much-needed reckoning; however, some is part of a larger
international attack on reason, democracy, science, progress and
the citizens of the West by dishonest scholars, hatemongers,
hostile nations and human-rights abusers hoping to distract from
their ongoing villainy. In The War on the West, Douglas Murray
shows the ways in which many well-meaning people have been lured
into polarisation by lies, and shows how far the world's most
crucial political debates have been hijacked across Europe and
America. Propelled by an incisive deconstruction of inconsistent
arguments and hypocritical activism, The War on the West is an
essential and urgent polemic that cements Murray's status as one of
the world's foremost political writers.
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