Besieged examines the most important sieges in history-the actions and motivations of attackers and defenders along with conditions inside and outside the city walls. From Joshua's assault on Jericho in the 15th century B.C. to the Russian attack on the Chechen capital of Grozny at the end of the 20th century, siege warfare has been a recurring theme in the human story. Again and again, engineers have built supposedly impregnable fortifications, only to see them overrun by an ingenious enemy. In Besieged, military historian Paul F. Davis analyzes the most crucial sieges in world history, such as the siege of Leningrad, which weakened the Nazi forces in World War II, and that of the Alamo, which culminated in independence for Texas. He also describes important sieges unfamiliar to most readers, such as that of Arcot, where a British victory halted the French takeover of southern India. In engaging, accessible language, Davis tracks the invention of new technologies, analyzes innovative tactics, and tells the human story of conditions both inside and outside the city walls. Examines 100 great sieges, from Jericho in 1405 B.C. to Grozny in 1997 Establishes the historical background of each siege, describes the siege itself in both military and human terms, and analyzes the results Provides more than 75 maps as well as tactical diagrams, archival photographs, and artworks Includes a glossary explaining unfamiliar military terms, from abatis to zig-zags

From the early forms of loans to farmers to present day credit cards, consumer credit has always been part of human life and economics. However, ever since the Bible, controversy has reigned as to its legitimacy. It is the history of this controversy that is presented here by the authors. Outlining significant developments in different aspects of consumer credit from the Hammurabi Code through to current questions such as household overindebtedness, they shed some historical light on modern debates.

Many books have been written about Tin Pan Alley--the colloquial name assigned to popular music before the advent of rock 'n' roll--yet little is available about the individual songs defining this enormously significant style of American music. This encyclopedia of over 1,200 songs written from the middle of the 19th century through the 1950s provides information and commentary on the music embraced by the American public.

No other single volume contains as much information on the subject. Author Thomas Hischak provides an exhaustive yet highly readable guide to the songs, their periods, their styles, and their performers. His study explains in layman's language how this music survived over time, and how it came to play such an influential role in American popular culture. Ideal for researchers and browsers alike, this encyclopedia is a long overdue examination of an American musical institution.

These songs were not written for stage or screen, but for saloons, singalongs, dance orchestras, sheet music, piano player rolls, recordings, nightclubs, concerts, and radio broadcasts. They colored the fabric of American popular culture for centuries, from early American folk songs to Civil War melodies, 19th-century sentimental ballads, minstrel songs, ragtime, and jazz.

Napoleon's youngest brother, Jerome, has over the centuries been portrayed as a military commander who was completely incompetent and unimportant to his famous sibling. This first biography of Jerome by an American author utilizes many firsthand accounts ofJerome's abilities that have never before been available to readers in English, as well as archival material that has never been published in any language, to challenge this view. Focussing on the lesser-known theaters of operation from 1800 to the Russian campaign in 1812, this study completes the gaps in the military history of the Napoleonic Wars. As Lamar demonstrates, Jerome was not responsible for the failure of Napoleon's early maneuvers during the invasion of Russia, nor did he lose the Battle of Waterloo in 1815.

Jerome's relationship with Napoleon was affected by his position as the youngest member of the Bonaparte family. Much of Emperor Napoleon I's true nature can be seen through his dealings with Jerome and his naval career. After discussing Jerome's experiences as the only Bonaparte to serve in the navy, Lamar detailsJerome's involvement in land campaigns, in such varied places as Silesia, Russia, and Waterloo. Another important aspect of Jerome's career was his leadership role as King of Westphalia. This objective account sheds new light on the life and accomplishments of one of the most maligned figures of the Napoleonic era.

Camillo Agrippa's widely influential "Treatise on the Science of Arms" was a turning point in the history of fencing. The author - an engineer by trade and not a professional master of arms - was able to radically re-imagine teaching the art of fencing. Agrippa's treatise is the fundamental text of Western swordsmanship. Just as earlier swordsmanship can be better understood from Agrippa's critiques, so too was his book the starting point for the rapier era. Every other treatise of the early-modern period had to deal explicitly or implicitly with Agrippa's startling transformation of the art and science of self-defense with the sword. Likewise, all of the fundamental ideas that are still used today - distance, time, line, blade opposition, counterattacks and countertime - are expressed in this paradigm-shifting treatise. This is a work that should be on the bookshelf of anyone interested in the history, practice or teaching of fencing. His treatise was also a microcosm of sixteenth-century thought. It examines the art, reduces it to its very principles, and reconstructs it according to a way of thinking that incorporated new concepts of art, science and philosophy. Contained within this handy volume are concrete examples of a new questioning of received wisdom and a turn toward empirical proofs, hallmarks of the Enlightenment. The treatise also presents evidence for a redefinition of elite masculinity in the wake of the military revolution of the sixteenth century. At the same time, is offers suggestive clues to the place of the hermetic tradition in the early-modern intellectual life and its implications for the origins of modern science. Camillo Agrippa's "Treatise on the Science of Arms" was first published in Rome in 1553 by the papal printer Antonio Blado. The original treatise was illustrated with 67 engravings that belong to the peak of Renaissance design. They are reproduced here in full. "Mondschein has at last made available to English-speaking readers one of the most important texts in the history of European martial arts. Agrippa marks a turning point in the intellectual history of these arts.... Mondschein's introduction to his work helps the reader understand Agrippa - and the martial practices themselves - as pivotal agents in the evolving cultural and intellectual systems of the sixteenth century. Above all, Mondschein's translation is refreshingly clean and idiomatic, rendering the systematic clarity of the Italian original into equally clear modern English - evidence of the author's familiarity with modern fencing and understanding of the physical realities that his author is trying to express. Mondschein's contextualization of his topic points the way for future scholarly exploration, and his translation will doubtless be valued by both students of cultural history and practitioners of modern sword arts." - Dr. Jeffrey L. Forgeng, Paul S. Morgan Curator -Higgins Armory Museum, Adj. Assoc. Prof. of Humanities, Worcester Polytechnic Institute First English translation. Hardcover, 234 pages, 67 illustrations, introduction, bibliography, glossary, appendix, index."

African Proverbs as Epistemologies of Decolonization calls for a rethinking of education by engaging African proverbs as valuable and salient epistemologies for contemporary times. The book addresses the pedagogic, instructional, and communicative relevance of African proverbs for decolonizing schooling and education in pluralistic contexts by questioning the instructional, pedagogic, and communications lessons of these proverbs and how they can be employed in the education of contemporary youth. It presents a critical discursive analysis of proverbs from selected African contexts, highlighting the underlying knowledge base that informs these cultural expressions. Explore alongside the book the ways in which these Indigenous teachings can be engaged by schools and educators to further the objective of decolonizing education by providing a framework for character education. This character-based framework equips the learner to be knowledgeable about power, equity, ethics and morality, and to develop a conscience for social responsibility, as well as to embrace traditional notions of self-discipline, probity, and hard work. This text goes beyond the mere documentation of proverbs to tease out how embedded knowledge and cultural referents in these knowledge bases and systems are critical for transforming education for young learners today.