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Books > Humanities > History > History of specific subjects
On 10 October 1810, 27 men came together to form the Independent
Order of Oddfellows, Manchester Unity. It was to be the beginning
of an organisation which for the last 200 years has appealed to the
best in people, treated them as capable of exercising
responsibility, and empowered them to face the challenges of life.
All the principles and practices of Oddfellowship developed from
these core values, which still characterise the Society today. The
story of the last two centuries, including many dramatic changes,
is chronicled in this well-researched, readable and lively history,
lavishly illustrated with many wonderful photographs, documents and
commemorative memorabilia. And, as befits a Society which values
its members so highly, there are also contributions from
present-day Oddfellows, whose memories and recollections have been
passed down through families over generations. This wonderful book
vividly portrays the life of the Oddfellows since its birth and is
certain to fascinate all current Society members, for whom it will
be a treasured keepsake. It is also, however, a valuable and
interesting resource for historians, those connected with the study
of friendly societies, and anyone interested in British social
history.
The ultimate guide to Real Madrid. The Real Madrid Handbook is an
entertaining compendium of fascinating facts, match coverage,
stories, personalities and trivia from the biggest club team on the
planet. Rab MacWilliam traces the history of Real Madrid from the
early 20th century, examining its progress in the domestic cup and
league, and analyses the impact that the Republic, the Spanish
Civil War and the repressive authoritarian aftermath had on the
club. He relates how the stunning success in European football in
the mid-1950s to the early 1960s was one of the factors that helped
to ease Spain's integration into Europe and explores the club's
rise to become one of the most skilful and dominant teams in the
global game over the last thirty years. Fascinating, informative,
irreverent and insightful, The Real Madrid Handbook is the perfect
guide to the history of this extraordinary club.
An amusing, fascinating and intriguing description of the origins
of everyday phrases, the titles in the 'Well I Never Knew That '
series reveals how many of our common expressions and sayings came
to be.
What do three murderers, Karl Marx's daughter and a vegetarian
vicar have in common? They all helped create the Oxford English
Dictionary. The Oxford English Dictionary has long been associated
with elite institutions and Victorian men; its longest-serving
editor, James Murray, devoted 36 years to the project, as far as
the letter T. But the Dictionary didn't just belong to the experts;
it relied on contributions from members of the public. By the time
it was finished in 1928 its 414,825 entries had been crowdsourced
from a surprising and diverse group of people, from archaeologists
and astronomers to murderers, naturists, novelists, pornographers,
queer couples, suffragists, vicars and vegetarians. Lexicographer
Sarah Ogilvie dives deep into previously untapped archives to tell
a people's history of the OED. She traces the lives of thousands of
contributors who defined the English language, from the eccentric
autodidacts to the family groups who made word-collection their
passion. With generosity and brio, Ogilvie reveals, for the first
time, the full story of the making of one of the most famous books
in the world - and celebrates to sparkling effect the extraordinary
efforts of the Dictionary People.
'There have always been lighthouses in my life. There has been a
closeness and steadiness to our relationship, as if they have kept
pace and in close contact with me.' Lighthouses punctuate
Scotland's coastline - a stoic presence on the edge of the
landscape. Since the earliest of these hardy structures were
raised, they have been a lifeline for seafarers at the mercy of
treacherous weather and uncertain navigation. Today over 100 of
Scotland's lighthouses are listed buildings. The lighthouse is now
one of many maritime resources which act 'for the safety of all'.
But we are still drawn to the solitary life of the keeper, the
beauty of the lens of the lamp and the calm reassurance of a
flashing light on a distant shore. Donald S Murray explores
Scotland's lighthouses through history, storytelling and the voices
of the lightkeepers. From ancient beacons to the work of the
Stevensons and the Northern Lighthouse Board, and from wartime
strife to automation and preservation, the lighthouses stand as a
testament to the nation's innate connection to the sea. Published
in partnership between Historic Environment Scotland and the
Northern Lighthouse Board.
'Few have a better feel for Argentine rugby than Rex Gowar ... his
experience oozes from every paragraph. A fascinating, educational
read' - Robert Kitson, The Guardian Argentinean rugby is a unique -
and often mysterious - beast. In Pumas, veteran journalist Rex
Gowar digs to the heart of rugby in Argentina to reveal a history
like no other in the sport. Gregarious, colourful, controversial,
violent, shocking, beautiful - these are just some of the words to
describe the stories that emerge in these hair-raising pages as
some of the biggest characters in the game are profiled, famous
matches relived and painful history is scrutinised. In the first
book in English to examine rugby in Argentina in any depth, Gowar
explores how the roots of the game in the early twentieth century
has produced a twisting, astonishing history that has flowered in
the present day as the Pumas have established themselves as one of
the world's powerhouse rugby nations.
'Lucid and damning ... an absorbing - and infuriating - tale of
complicity, coverup and denial' PATRICK RADDEN KEEFE, author of
EMPIRE OF PAIN A groundbreaking investigation of how the Nazis
helped German tycoons make billions from the horrors of the Third
Reich and World War II - and how the world allowed them to get away
with it. In 1946, Gunther Quandt - patriarch of Germany's most
iconic industrial empire, a dynasty that today controls BMW - was
arrested for suspected Nazi collaboration. Quandt claimed that he
had been forced to join the party by his arch-rival, propaganda
minister Joseph Goebbels, and the courts acquitted him. But Quandt
lied. And his heirs, and those of other Nazi billionaires, have
only grown wealthier in the generations since, while their
reckoning with this dark past remains incomplete at best. Many of
them continue to control swaths of the world economy, owning iconic
brands whose products blanket the globe. The brutal legacy of the
dynasties that dominated Daimler-Benz, cofounded Allianz and still
control Porsche, Volkswagen and BMW has remained hidden in plain
sight - until now. In this landmark work, investigative journalist
David de Jong reveals the true story of how Germany's wealthiest
business dynasties amassed untold money and power by abetting the
atrocities of the Third Reich. Using a wealth of untapped sources,
de Jong shows how these tycoons seized Jewish businesses, procured
slave labourers and ramped up weapons production to equip Hitler's
army as Europe burnt around them. Most shocking of all, de Jong
exposes how the wider world's political expediency enabled these
billionaires to get away with their crimes, covering up a
bloodstain that defiles the German and global economy to this day.
WINNER OF THE PULITZER PRIZE IN HISTORY WINNER OF THE LOS ANGELES
TIMES BOOK PRIZE IN HISTORY "Full of...lively insights and lucid
prose" (The Wall Street Journal) an epic, sweeping history of Cuba
and its complex ties to the United States-from before the arrival
of Columbus to the present day-written by one of the world's
leading historians of Cuba. In 1961, at the height of the Cold War,
the United States severed diplomatic relations with Cuba, where a
momentous revolution had taken power three years earlier. For more
than half a century, the stand-off continued-through the tenure of
ten American presidents and the fifty-year rule of Fidel Castro.
His death in 2016, and the retirement of his brother and successor
Raul Castro in 2021, have spurred questions about the country's
future. Meanwhile, politics in Washington-Barack Obama's opening to
the island, Donald Trump's reversal of that policy, and the
election of Joe Biden-have made the relationship between the two
nations a subject of debate once more. Now, award-winning historian
Ada Ferrer delivers an "important" (The Guardian) and moving
chronicle that demands a new reckoning with both the island's past
and its relationship with the United States. Spanning more than
five centuries, Cuba: An American History provides us with a
front-row seat as we witness the evolution of the modern nation,
with its dramatic record of conquest and colonization, of slavery
and freedom, of independence and revolutions made and unmade. Along
the way, Ferrer explores the sometimes surprising, often troubled
intimacy between the two countries, documenting not only the
influence of the United States on Cuba but also the many ways the
island has been a recurring presence in US affairs. This is a story
that will give Americans unexpected insights into the history of
their own nation and, in so doing, help them imagine a new
relationship with Cuba; "readers will close [this] fascinating book
with a sense of hope" (The Economist). Filled with rousing stories
and characters, and drawing on more than thirty years of research
in Cuba, Spain, and the United States-as well as the author's own
extensive travel to the island over the same period-this is a
stunning and monumental account like no other.
An Auschwitz escape thriller, following the life mission of one man - whose survival will have implications for hundreds of thousands of lives.
In April 1944 a teenager named Rudolf Vrba was planning a daring and unprecedented escape from Auschwitz. After hiding in a pile of timber planks for three days while 3,000 SS men and their bloodhounds searched for him, Vrba and his fellow escapee Fred Wetzler would eventually cross Nazi-occupied Poland on foot, as penniless fugitives. Their mission: to tell the world the truth of the Final Solution.
Vrba would produce from memory a breathtaking report of more than thirty pages revealing the true nature and scale of Auschwitz - a report that would find its way to Roosevelt, Churchill and the Pope, eventually saving over 200,000 Jewish lives.
A thrilling history with enormous historical implications, THE ESCAPE ARTIST is the extraordinary story of a complex man who would seek escape again and again: first from Auschwitz, then from his past, even from his own name. In telling his story, Jonathan Freedland - the journalist, broadcaster and acclaimed, multi-million copy selling author of the Sam Bourne novels - ensures that Rudolf Vrba's heroic mission will also escape oblivion.
Vienna is unique amongst world capitals in its consistent
international importance over the centuries. From the ascent of the
Habsburgs as Europe's leading dynasty to the Congress of Vienna,
which reordered Europe after Napoleon, to bridge- building summits
during the Cold War, it is the Austrian capital that has been the
scene of key moments in European and world affairs. History has
been shaped by scores of figures influenced by their time in
Vienna, including: Empress Maria Theresa, Count Metternich, Bertha
von Suttner, Theodore Herzl, Gustav Mahler, Adolf Hitler, Josef
Stalin, John F. Kennedy and many others. In a city of great
composers and thinkers it is here that both the most positive and
destructive ideas of recent history have developed. From its time
as the capital of an imperial superpower, through war, dissolution,
dictatorship to democracy Vienna has reinvented itself and its
relevance to the rest of the world.
The Falklands War, which may prove to be the last 'colonial' war
that Britain ever fights, took place in 1982. Fought 8,000 miles
from home soil, it cost the lives of 255 British military
personnel, with many more wounded, some seriously. The war also
witnessed many acts of outstanding courage by the UK Armed Forces
after a strong Task Force was sent to regain the islands from the
Argentine invaders. Soldiers, sailors and airmen risked, and in
some cases gave, their lives for the freedom of 1,820 islanders.
Lord Ashcroft, who has been fascinated by bravery since he was a
young boy, has amassed several medal collections over the past four
decades, including the world's largest collection of Victoria
Crosses, Britain and the Commonwealth's most prestigious gallantry
award. Falklands War Heroes tells the stories behind his collection
of valour and service medals awarded for the Falklands War. The
collection, almost certainly the largest of its kind in the world,
spans all the major events of the war. This book, which contains
nearly forty individual write-ups, has been written to mark the
fortieth anniversary of the war. It is Lord Ashcroft's attempt to
champion the outstanding bravery of our Armed Forces during an
undeclared war that was fought and won over ten weeks in the most
challenging conditions.
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