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Books > History > History of specific subjects > General
Marginal Comment, which attracted keen and widespread interest on
its original publication in 1994, is the remarkable memoir of one
of the most distinguished classical scholars of the modern era. Its
author, Sir Kenneth Dover, whose academic publications included the
pathbreaking book Greek Homosexuality (1978, reissued by Bloomsbury
in 2016), conceived of it as an 'experimental' autobiography -
ruthlessly candid in retracing the full range of the author's
experiences, both private and public, and unflinching in its
attempt to analyse the entanglements between the life of the mind
and the life of the body. Dover's distinguished career involved not
only an influential series of writings about the ancient Greeks but
also a number of prominent positions of leadership, including the
presidencies of Corpus Christi College, Oxford, and the British
Academy. It was in those positions that he became involved in
several high-profile controversies, including the blocking of an
honorary degree for Margaret Thatcher from Oxford University, and a
bitter debate in the British Academy over the fellowship of Anthony
Blunt after his exposure as a former Soviet spy. This edition of
Marginal Comment is much more than a reissue: it includes an
introduction which frames the book in relation to its author's life
and work, as well as annotations based in part on materials
originally excluded by Dover but left in his personal papers on
this death. Now newly available, the memoir provides not only the
self-portrait of an exceptional individual but a rich case-study in
the intersections between an intellectual life and its social
contexts.
In the early 1800's, on a Hebridean beach in Scotland, the sea
exposed an ancient treasure cache: 93 chessmen carved from walrus
ivory. Norse netsuke, each face individual, each full of quirks,
the Lewis Chessmen are probably the most famous chess pieces in the
world. Harry played Wizard's Chess with them in Harry Potter and
the Sorcerer's Stone. Housed at the British Museum, they are among
its most visited and beloved objects. Questions abounded: Who
carved them? Where? Ivory Vikings explores these mysteries by
connecting medieval Icelandic sagas with modern archaeology, art
history, forensics, and the history of board games. In the process,
Ivory Vikings presents a vivid history of the 400 years when the
Vikings ruled the North Atlantic, and the sea-road connected
countries and islands we think of as far apart and culturally
distinct: Nonrvay and Scotland, Ireland and Iceland, and Greenland
and North America. The story of the Lewis chessmen explains the
economic lure behind the Viking voyages to the west in the 800s and
900s. And finally, it brings from the shadows an extraordinarily
talented woman artist of the twelfth century: Margret the Adroit of
Iceland.
In 1870, a prominent samurai from Tohoku sells his castle to become
an agrarian colonist in Hokkaido. Decades later, a man also from
northeast Japan stows away on a boat to Canada and establishes a
salmon roe business. By 1930, an investigative journalist travels
to Brazil and writes a book that wins the first-ever Akutagawa
Prize. In the 1940s, residents from the same area proclaim that
they should lead Imperial Japan in colonizing all of Asia. Across
decades and oceans, these fractured narratives seem disparate, but
show how mobility is central to the history of Japan's Tohoku
region, a place often stereotyped as a site of rural stasis and
traditional immobility, thereby collapsing boundaries between
local, national, and global studies of Japan. This book examines
how multiple mobilities converge in Japan's supposed hinterland.
Drawing on research from three continents, this monograph
demonstrates that Tohoku's regional identity is inextricably
intertwined with Pacific migrations.
'An intriguing study of the minds of some of rugby's greatest
leaders' - Tom English, BBC Sport An Official Licensed Product of
the British & Irish Lions A British & Irish Lions tour
presents one of the greatest challenges in sport. Rugby is a game
that rewards creative expression, toil, teamwork and a
never-say-die attitude. It can be joyful, vibrant and beautiful.
Equally, it can brutally expose human flaws and frailties - even
more so in the hugely pressurised environment of a Lions tour.
Every team, no matter how talented, will find itself in dark and
difficult situations both on and off the field; the successful ones
are those with a leadership group that can navigate these
challenging moments. In Legacy of the Lions, former Lions captain
Gavin Hastings draws on his own experiences in the famous red
jersey and interviews other greats of the game - including, among
many others, Sam Warburton, Warren Gatland, Paul O'Connell, Brian
O'Driscoll, Martin Johnson, Finlay Calder and Sir Ian McGeechan,
plus a selection of their illustrious opponents, such as Kieran
Read, John Smit and John Eales - to explore how to forge a
successful team in this most rarefied of environments, the
difficulties they each encountered and what leadership lessons they
learned. Inspiring, humorous and illuminating, Legacy of the Lions
casts a unique light on leadership, team-building and elite
performance and reveals a new perspective on touring with - and
playing against - The British & Irish Lions in the modern era.
Although the evolution of human rights diplomacy during the second
half of the 20th century has been the subject of a wealth of
scholarship in recent years, British foreign policy perspectives
remain largely underappreciated. Focusing on former Foreign
Secretary David Owen's sustained engagement with the related
concepts of human rights and humanitarianism, David Owen, Human
Rights and the Remaking of British Foreign Policy addresses this
striking omission by exploring the relationship between
international human rights promotion and British foreign policy
between c.1956-1997. In doing so, this book uncovers how human
rights concerns have shaped national responses to foreign policy
dilemmas at the intersections of civil society, media, and
policymaking; how economic and geopolitical interests have defined
the parameters within which human rights concerns influence policy;
how human rights considerations have influenced British
interventions in overseas conflicts; and how activism on normative
issues such as human rights has been shaped by concepts of national
identity. Furthermore, by bringing these issues and debates into
focus through the lens of Owen's human rights advocacy, analysis
provides a reappraisal of one of the most recognisable, albeit
enigmatic, parliamentarians in recent British history. Both within
the confines of Whitehall and without, Owen's human rights advocacy
served to alter the course of British foreign policy at key
junctures during the late Cold War and post-Cold War periods, and
provides a unique prism through which to interrogate the
intersections between Britain's enduring search for a distinctive
'role' in the world and the development of the international human
rights regime during the period in question.
The 50 Greatest Players in Braves History examines the careers of
the 50 men who made the greatest impact on one of Major League
Baseball's oldest and most iconic franchises. Using as measuring
sticks the degree to which they impacted the fortunes of the team,
the extent to which they added to the Braves legacy--in Boston,
Milwaukee, and Atlanta--and the levels of statistical compilation
and overall dominance they attained while wearing a Braves uniform,
The 50 Greatest Players in Braves History ranks, from 1 to 50, the
top 50 players in team history. Quotes from opposing players and
former teammates are provided along the way, as are summaries of
each player's greatest season, most memorable performances, and
most notable achievements.
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