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Books > Humanities > History > European history > General
Modern society has a negative view of youth as a period of storm
and stress, but at the same time cherishes the idea of eternal
youth. How does this compare with ancient Roman society? Did a
phase of youth exist there with its own characteristics? How was
youth appreciated? This book studies the lives and the image of
youngsters (around 15-25 years of age) in the Latin West and the
Greek East in the Roman period. Boys and girls of all social
classes come to the fore; their lives, public and private, are
sketched with the help of a range of textual and documentary
sources, while the authors also employ the results of recent
neuropsychological research. The result is a highly readable and
wide-ranging account of how the crucial transition between
childhood and adulthood operated in the Roman world.
This book examines the rhetorical force of certain key words in the
discourses of Russian state, political thought, and literature. It
shows how terms for cultured conduct (kul'turnost'), political
affection (love, liubov', joy-radost' etc.), personhood
(lichnost'), truth (pravda) and geographical integrity (tsel'nost')
assumed almost sacral meaning. It considers how these terms took on
a life of their own, imposing the designs of the Russian state and
defining the hopes of educated society in the process. By exploring
the usage of these words in a wide range of texts, Richard Wortman
provides glimpses into the ideas and feelings of leading figures
and thinkers in Russian history, from Peter the Great to Alexander
Herzen and Nicholas Berdiaev, as well as writers like Mikhail
Lermontov, Ivan Turgenev, and Fedor Dostoevsky, giving a sense of
the intellectual and emotional universe they inhabited. The Power
of Language and Rhetoric in Russian Political History provides both
students and scholars with a specific focus through which to
approach Russian culture and history. This book is essential
reading for students of Russian government, thought, literature and
political action.
This book investigates relations between humans and animals over
several centuries with a focus on the Middle Ages, since important
features of our perceptions regarding animals have been rooted in
that period. Elucidating various aspects of medieval human-animal
relationships requires transdisciplinary discourse, and so this
book aims to reconcile the materiality of animals with complex
cultural systems illustrating their subtle transitions 'between
body and mind'.
Told with humor, intrigue, and a shrewd eye for detail, this
riveting short biography sheds much-needed light on the life of
nineteenth-century Russian icon Grigory Rasputin.
Grigory Rasputin, a Siberian peasant turned mystic and court sage,
was as fascinating as he was unfathomable. He played the role of
the simple man, eating with his fingers and boasting, "I don't even
know the ABC." But, as the only person able to relieve the symptoms
of hemophilia in the Tsar's heir Alexei, he gained almost hallowed
status within the Imperial court.
During the last decade of his life, Rasputin and his band of
"little ladies" came to symbolize all that was decadent, corrupt,
and remote about the Imperial Family, especially when it was
rumored that he was not only shaping Russian policy during the
First World War, but also enjoying an intimate relationship with
the Empress...
Rasputin's role in the downfall of the tsarist regime is beyond
dispute. But who was he really? Prophet or rascal? A "breath of
rank air...who blew away the cobwebs of the Imperial Palace," as
Beryl Bainbridge put it, or a dangerous deviant?
Writing for historical aficionados and curious readers alike,
Frances Welch turns her inimitable wry gaze on one of the great
mysteries of Russian history.
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The Others
(Paperback)
Raul Garrigasait; Translated by Tiago Miller
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R397
R358
Discovery Miles 3 580
Save R39 (10%)
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Ships in 9 - 15 working days
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In 1837, at the height of the Carlist Wars and a time of conflict
between the past and future, a young Prussian man crosses the
Pyrenees to fight for the 'Order'. Finding himself trapped in the
ruins of an abandoned city, his bewilderment at the war and what it
means increases. Friendship, family, religion and politics:
everything is distorted, transformed or destroyed. The Others
oscillates masterfully between humour and tragedy and is a novel
full of music, eccentric characters and extraordinary scenes.
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The Burning Souls
(Hardcover)
Leon Degrelle; Translated by Rollo Of Gaunt
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R1,145
R914
Discovery Miles 9 140
Save R231 (20%)
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The book examines the nexus between political and religious thought
within the Prussian old conservative milieu. It presents
early-nineteenth-century Prussian conservatism as a phenomenon
connected to a specific generation of young Prussians. The book
introduces the ecclesial-political 'party of the Evangelische
Kirchenzeitung' (EKZ), a religious party within the Prussian state
church, as the origins of Prussia's conservative party post-1848.
It traces the roots of the EKZ party back to the experiences of the
Napoleonic Wars (1806-15) and the social movements dominant at that
time. Additionally, the book analyses this generation's increasing
politicization and presents the German revolution of 1848 and the
foundation of Prussia's first conservative party as the result of a
decade-long struggle for a religiously-motivated ideal of church,
state, and society. The overall shift from church politics to state
politics is key to understanding conservative policy post-1848.
Consequently, this book shows how conservatives aimed to maintain
Prussia's character as a Christian and monarchical state, while at
the same time adapting to contemporary political and social
circumstances. Therefore, the book is a must-read for researchers,
scholars, and students of Political Science and History interested
in a better understanding of the origins and the evolution of
Prussian conservatism, as well as the history of political thought.
Conceived in the 1850s and opened to navigation in 1869, the Suez
Canal's construction coincided with Italy's path to unification and
its first foray into nineteenth-century globalization. Since then,
the history of Italy and the Canal have intertwined in many ways,
throughout in peace and war. This edited collection explores the
fundamental technical, diplomatic and financial contributions that
Italy made to the production of the Canal and to its subsequent
development, from the mid-nineteenth century to the Cold War.
Drawing from unpublished public and private archival sources, this
book is the first comprehensive account of this long and
multifaceted relationship, providing innovative perspectives on
Italy's diplomatic, economic, social, colonial and cultural
history. An insightful read for those studying maritime, diplomatic
or Italian history, this book contributes to a growing body of
research on the Canal, which has largely emerged from international
business, labour and social history, and offers new insights into
the Euro-Mediterranean region.
Fashioning Socialism is the first history of communist fashion in
East Germany. Using clothing as a lens to read society, the author
unveils wider tensions between the regime and the population and
within the regime itself. In telling the surprising - and often
bizarre - story of communist haute couture, fashion shows, seasonal
clearance sales, the textile and garment industries, and everyday
consumer practices, this book explores the paradoxical causes,
forms, and consequences of East Germany's attempt to create a
communist consumer culture during the Cold War. In attempting to
compete with capitalism on the West's terms, East Germany
unwittingly bred disgruntled consumers - consumers who ultimately
tore down the Wall. Topics covered include gender and consumption,
Americanization and Sovietization, women as consumer-citizens, and
much more. A rare glimpse into consumerism under state socialism,
this book offers unique insights into the Cold War, the dynamics
and collapse of communism, and modern consumption.
This book investigates the demobilization and post-war readjustment
of Red Army veterans in Leningrad and its environs after the Great
Patriotic War. Over 300,000 soldiers were stood down in this
war-ravaged region between July 1945 and 1948. They found the
transition to civilian life more challenging than many could ever
have imagined. For civilian Leningraders, reintegrating the rapid
influx of former soldiers represented an enormous political,
economic, social and cultural challenge. In this book, Robert Dale
reveals how these former soldiers became civilians in a society
devastated and traumatized by total warfare. Dale discusses how,
and how successfully, veterans became ordinary citizens. Based on
extensive original research in local and national archives, oral
history interviews and the examination of various newspaper
collections, Demobilized Veterans in Late Stalinist Leningrad peels
back the myths woven around demobilization, to reveal a darker
history repressed by society and concealed from historiography.
While propaganda celebrated this disarmament as a smooth process
which reunited veterans with their families, reintegrated them into
the workforce and facilitated upward social mobility, the reality
was rarely straightforward. Many veterans were caught up in the
scramble for work, housing, healthcare and state hand-outs. Others
drifted to the social margins, criminality or became the victims of
post-war political repression. Demobilized Veterans in Late
Stalinist Leningrad tells the story of both the failure of local
representatives to support returning Soviet soldiers, and the
remarkable resilience and creativity of veterans in solving the
problems created by their return to society. It is a vital study
for all scholars and students of post-war Soviet history and the
impact of war in the modern era.
Released for the first time in the English language, and marking
the centennial of Albania's independence, Serbs and Albanians
delivers an at once refreshing and comprehensive insight into the
cultural composition of Southeast Europe. A wider audience can now
appreciate the work of Milan ufflay, a controversial figure of his
time whose assassination was denounced by leading intellectuals,
Albert Einstein and Heinrich Mann. With a measured and often poetic
voice, ufflay takes us on a journey through the Middle Ages as it
unfolded on a land where opposing cultures were distilled and
interwoven, dynasts and whole cities upturned and reborn.
These two accounts of the battle of Sedan in 1870 have been
combined for good value to enable readers to gain a balanced
overview of the action from different perspectives. What makes
these accounts particularly interesting is that they were written
not only by authors who were able to view the events without the
impediment of national bias, but because both were present on the
field of battle itself. So this excellent book offers the reader a
history, an analysis, first-hand eyewitness accounts, the accounts
and views of other witnesses and participants and a number of
anecdotes including those concerning General Sheridan. This most
significant of battles of the Franco-Prussian War came about as the
numerically superior French Army under MacMahon attempted to
relieve the siege of Metz. That attempt failed as the French were
defeated at Beaumont. Moltke, Bismarck and the king, Wilhelm I,
subsequently cornered the French at Sedan and surrounded them. The
Emperor, Napoleon III, was with the French forces and, unable to
escape, suffered the humiliation of both defeat and personal
capture. This battle typified the pattern of the Franco-Prussian
War which, following the lessons of the American Civil War, took
armed conflict on its first steps into the industrial age. All of
those lessons had been learnt by the Prussians and very few of them
by the French, whose view of warfare and especially of the
Prussians remained, to their cost, rooted in the experiences of
another Napoleon and entirely different French and Prussian Armies
in the days of the First Empire. Times had changed the French had
been out-planned, out-organised, out-manoeuvred and
out-gunned.
Leonaur editions are newly typeset and are not facsimiles; each
title is available in softcover and hardback with dustjacket; our
hardbacks are cloth bound and feature gold foil lettering on their
spines and fabric head and tail bands.
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