|
|
Books > History > General
This volume in the Problems in European Civilization series
features a collection of secondary-source essays focusing on
aspects of the Holocaust. The essays in this book debate the
origins of the Holocaust, the motivations of the killers, the
experience of the victims, and the various possibilities for
intervention or rescue.
Through its extensive use of primary source materials and
invaluable contextual notes, this book offers a documented history
of one of the most famous adventures in early American history: the
Lewis and Clark expedition. This book is the first to situate the
Lewis and Clark expedition within the political and scientific
ambitions of Thomas Jefferson. It spans a forty-year period in
American history, from 1783–1832, covering Jefferson's early
interest in trying to organize an expedition to explore the
American West through the difficult negotiations of the Louisiana
Purchase, the formation of the "Corps of Discovery," the
expedition's incredible journey into the unknown, and its
aftermath. The story of the expedition is told not just through the
journals and letters of Lewis and Clark, but also through the
firsthand accounts of the expedition's other members, which
included Sacagawea, a Native American woman, and York, an African
American slave. The book features more than 100 primary source
documents, including letters to and from Jefferson, Benjamin Rush,
and others as the expedition was being organized; diary excerpts
during the expedition; and, uniquely, letters documenting the lives
of Lewis, Clark, Sacagawea, and York after the expedition.
‘Beautifully written, sumptuously illustrated, constantly
fascinating‘ The Times On 26 November 1922 Howard Carter first
peered into the newly opened tomb of an ancient Egyptian boy-king.
When asked if he could see anything, he replied: ‘Yes, yes,
wonderful things.’ In Tutankhamun’s Trumpet, acclaimed
Egyptologist Toby Wilkinson takes a unique approach to that tomb
and its contents. Instead of concentrating on the oft-told story of
the discovery, or speculating on the brief life and politically
fractious reign of the boy king, Wilkinson takes the objects buried
with him as the source material for a wide-ranging, detailed
portrait of ancient Egypt – its geography, history, culture and
legacy. One hundred artefacts from the tomb, arranged in ten
thematic groups, are allowed to speak again – not only for
themselves, but as witnesses of the civilization that created them.
Never before have the treasures of Tutankhamun been analysed and
presented for what they can tell us about ancient Egyptian culture,
its development, its remarkable flourishing, and its lasting
impact. Filled with surprising insights, unusual details, vivid
descriptions and, above all, remarkable objects, Tutankhamun’s
Trumpet will appeal to all lovers of history, archaeology, art and
culture, as well as all those fascinated by the Egypt of the
pharaohs. ‘I’ve read many books on ancient Egypt, but I’ve
never felt closer to its people‘ The Sunday Times
A compelling account of the personal experiences of groups who were
affected by World War II, both on and off the battlefields.
Personal Perspectives: World War II brings to life the experiences
of specific segments of soldiers and civilians as they were
affected by the conflict, capturing special characteristics of each
group and the unique ways they experienced the war. Twelve essays
written by top international scholars portray what it was really
like to experience the war for groups ranging from marines, naval
aviators, and liberators of concentration camps to prisoners of
war, refugees, and women in factories. Of interest to both students
and nonexperts, the book tells the stories of Japanese Americans
forced into internment camps and African Americans who experienced
intense discrimination, the call to activism, and opportunity in
the armed forces. It offers the perspectives of Navajo "code
talkers," diplomats like U.S. ambassador to Poland Anthony J.
Biddle, who fled his post to avoid death, and scientists who worked
on the Manhattan project, thereby introducing the most destructive
form of warfare known to humanity.
Middle Tennessee State University was founded in 1911 as a two-year
training school for teachers and has since evolved through myriad
changesain name, in size, in administration, and in academic and
athletic resources. Change has also swept through the campus with
the ebb and tide of the American climate during some of the
twentieth centuryas most turbulent eras, including World Wars I and
II, the New Deal period, and the Civil Rights Movement. What has
remained steadfast through the years at this revered Tennessee
institution is a commitment to excellence, and a faculty, staff,
and student body in constant pursuit of the rewards of higher
education. Located on a 500-acre campus in Murfreesboro, Middle
Tennessee State University boasts a wide array of opportunities for
a student population of nearly 20,000. Courses in everything from
agriscience to aerospace, from criminal justice to the recording
industry offer budding scholars a chance to explore a wide variety
of disciplines, while they also enjoy participating in team sports,
academic societies, and social organizations. Within
these pages, students, alumni, and friends of the university will
travel down memory lane through a unique photographic tribute to
the Blue Raiders. Images of dormitories in the 1920s, World War II
campus drills, the first Greek organizations, General MacArthuras
visit, homecoming floats, band performances, and early sports teams
illuminate the schoolas colorful history.
Tracing China chronicles forty years of fieldwork. The journey
began from exploring rural revolution and reconstitutions of
community in South China; it spans decades of persistent
rural-urban divide and eventually uncovers China's global reach and
Hong Kong's cross-border dynamics. Siu traverses both physical and
cultural landscapes, examines how political tumults transform into
everyday lives, and fathoms the depths of human drama amid China's
frenetic momentum toward modernity. She highlights complicity,
portraying how villagers, urbanites, cadres, entrepreneurs, and
intellectuals-laden with historical baggage-venture forward. The
question is: Have they become victims of the circumstances created
by their own actions? The essays are woven together by key themes
in historical anthropology-culture, history, power, place-making,
and identity formation, informed by critical social theories, and
characterized by a careful scrutiny of fieldwork encounters and
archival texts. Stressing process and contingency, Siu argues that
culture and society are constructed through human actions with
nuanced meanings, moral imagination, and contested interests. She
challenges the perception that social/political changes are merely
linear historical progressions. Instead, she traces layers of the
past in present realities.
In 1871 Mississippi Governor James L. Alcorn recommended that the
state legislature support the formation of Alcorn University. The
campus of Oakland
College, a school founded by the Presbyterian Church in 1830, had
been abandoned after the Civil War and was purchased for forty
thousand dollars and designated for the education of black youth.
The school became Alcorn Agricultural and Mechanical College in
1878, and Alcorn State University in 1974. In this unique pictorial
retrospective, over one hundred years of growth and change at
Alcorn are explored and celebrated. Included within these pages are
vintage photographs of the students and faculty that have shaped
the schoolas history. From early classes and sporting events to
distinguished alumni and prominent leaders, the images depict a
university continually striving to educate, train, and inspire
young African Americans. Alcornas picturesque campus, with
moss-draped trees and scenic
lakes, provides a setting where, for over a century, students have
been given a multitude of opportunities to grow. The first
land-grant institution for blacks in the United States, Alcorn is a
public university committed to academic
excellence. The challenges faced by its students and faculty in its
earliest days brought forth an unyielding determination to succeed,
which is still evident today among its diverse student body.
The Chinese system is like no other known to man, now or in
history. This book explains how the system works and where it may
be moving. Drawing on Chinese and international sources, on
extensive collaboration with Chinese scholars, and on the political
science of state analysis, Stein Ringen concludes that under the
new leadership of Xi Jinping, the system of government has been
transformed into a new regime radically harder and more ideological
than the legacy of Deng Xiaoping. China is less strong economically
and more dictatorial politically than the world has wanted to
believe. By analyzing the leadership of Xi Jinping, the meaning of
"socialist market economy," corruption, the party-state apparatus,
the reach of the party, the mechanisms of repression, taxation and
public services, and state-society relations, The Perfect
Dictatorship broadens the field of China studies, as well as the
fields of political economy, comparative politics, development, and
welfare state studies.
Drawing on a wide range of sources, this book exposes Andrew
Jackson's failure to honor and enforce federal laws and treaties
protecting Indian rights, describing how the Indian policies of
"Old Hickory" were those of a racist imperialist, in stark contrast
to how his followers characterized him, believing him to be a
champion of democracy. Early in his career as an Indian fighter,
American Indians gave Andrew Jackson a name—Sharp Knife—that
evoked their sense of his ruthlessness and cruelty. Contrary to
popular belief—and to many textbook accounts—in 1830, Congress
did not authorize the forcible seizure of Indian land and the
deportation of the legal owners of that land. In actuality, U.S.
President Andrew Jackson violated the terms of the Indian Removal
Act of 1830, choosing to believe that he was not bound to protect
Native Indian individuals' rights. Sharp Knife: Andrew Jackson and
the American Indians draws heavily on Jackson's own writings to
document his life and give readers sharp insight into the nature of
racism in ante-bellum America. Noted historian Alfred Cave's latest
book takes readers into the life of Andrew Jackson, paying
particular attention to his interactions with Native American
peoples as a militia general, treaty negotiator, and finally as
president of the United States. Cave clearly depicts the many ways
in which Jackson's various dishonorable actions and often illegal
means undermined the political and economic rights that were
supposed to be guaranteed under numerous treaties. Jackson's own
economic interests as a land speculator and slave holder are
carefully documented, exposing the hollowness of claims that "Old
Hickory" was the champion of "the common man."
Canada's first prime minister, Sir John A. Macdonald (1815-91)
had a forty-seven year career in Parliament that permanently shaped
the course of Canadian political life. Sir John A.; An Anecdotal
Life of John A. Macdonald gives us the man behind the legend.
Lively and revealing anecdotes about Sir John A.'s political and
parliamentary life are set against stories of his private joys and
sorrows-the death of his brother at the hands of a drunken servant;
his rebellious youth; the illness of his beautiful first wife, and
her addiction to opium; his courtship and second marriage; the
tragedy of his only daughter, born with hydrocephalus; his
womanizing; and his life-long battle with alcohol. Stories of
patronage, of political campaigns, of loyal supporters and bitter
opponents take readers through many of the major events of the
nineteenth-century Canada, from the building of the CPR to the Riel
Rebellions, to name only a few.
Celebrated as a trading port, Hong Kong was also Britain's "eastern
fortress." Likened by many to Gibraltar and Malta, the colony was a
vital but vulnerable link in imperial strategy, exposed to a
succession of enemies in a turbulent age and a troubled region.
This book examines Hong Kong's developing role in the Victorian
imperial defence system, the emerging challenges from Russia,
France, the USA, Germany, Japan and other powers, and preparations
in the years leading up to World War II. A detailed chapter offers
new interpretations of the Battle of Hong Kong of 1941, when the
colony succumbed to the Japanese invasion. The remaining chapters
discuss Hong Kong's changing strategic role during the Cold War and
the winding down of the military presence. The book focuses on
policies and events, but also explores the social life of the
garrison in Hong Kong, the struggles between military and civil
authorities, and relations between armed forces and civilians.
Drawing on original research in archives around the world,
including English, Japanese, and Chinese sources, this is the first
full-length study of the defence of Hong Kong from the beginning of
the colonial period to the end of British military interests East
of Suez in 1970. Illustrated with photographs and detailed maps,
Eastern Fortress will be of interest both to students of history
and to the general reader.
When Hong Kong fell to the Japanese on Christmas Day 1941, Macao
was left as a tiny isolated enclave on the China Coast surrounded
by Japanese-held territory. As a Portuguese colony, Macao was
neutral, and John Reeves, the British Consul, could remain there
and continue his work despite being surrounded in all directions by
his country's enemy. His main task was to provide relief to the
9,000 or more people who crossed the Pearl River from Hong Kong to
take refuge in Macao and who had a claim for support from the
British Consul. The core of this book is John Reeves' memoir of
those extraordinary years and of his tireless efforts to provide
food, shelter and medical care for the refugees. He coped with
these challenges as Macao's own people faced starvation. Despite
Macao's neutrality, it was thoroughly infiltrated by Japanese
agents. Marked for assassination, he had to have armed guards as he
went about his business. He also had to navigate the complexities
of multiple intelligence agencies -- British, Portuguese, Japanese,
Chinese Nationalist -- in a place that was described as the
Casablanca of the Far East.
On December 20, 1999, the city of Macau became a Special
Administrative Region of China after nearly four hundred and fifty
years of Portuguese administration. Drawing extensively on
Portuguese and other sources and on interviews with key
participants, this book examines the strategies and policies
adopted by the Portuguese government during the negotiations. The
study sets these events within the larger context of Portugal's
retreat from empire, the British experience with Hong Kong, and
changing social and political conditions within Macau. A weak
player on the international stage, Portugal was still able to
obtain concessions during the negotiations, notably in the timing
of the retrocession and continuing Portuguese nationality
arrangements for some Macau citizens. Yet the tendency of
Portuguese leaders to use the Macau question as a tool in their
domestic political agendas hampered their ability to develop an
effective strategy and left China with the freedom to control the
process of negotiation.
Public radio stands as a valued national institution, one whose
fans and listeners actively support it with their time and their
money. In this new history of this important aspect of American
culture, author Jack W. Mitchell looks at the dreams that inspired
those who created it, the all too human realities that grew out of
those dreams, and the criticism they incurred from both sides of
the political spectrum. As National Public Radio's very first
employee, and the first producer of its legendary "All Things
Considered," Mitchell tells the story of public radio from the
point of view of an insider, a participant, and a thoughtful
observer. He traces its origins in the progressive movement of the
20th century, and analyzes the people, institutions, ideas,
political forces, and economic realities that helped it evolve into
what we know as public radio today. NPR and its local affiliates
have earned their reputation for thoughtful commentary and
excellent journalism, and their work is especially notable in light
of the unique struggles they have faced over the decades. More than
any other book published on the subject, Mitchell's provides an
accurate guide to public radio's development, offering a balanced
analysis of how it has fulfilled much of its promise but has
sometimes fallen short. This comprehensive overview of their
mission will fascinate listeners whose enjoyment and support of
public radio has made it possible, and made it great.
A unique and a definitive guide to every street in Shanghai and
its former allowing historians, researchers, tourists and the just
plain curious to navigate the city in its pre-1949 incarnation.
This A-Z includes the former International Settlement, French
Concession, External Roads area with an extensive index, detailed
map and alphabetical entry for every road.
|
|