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Books > Humanities > History
Finally Fyreback settles into a proper job. Bringing rough justice
to all who are oppressed in these troubled times, and the Law such
as it is, has no legal jurisdiction. He learns a few extra skills
on the way, diplomacy doesna t seem to be one of them, but be sure
his Cleaver plays ita s part. Will this be the wind down to a
stable married life and family. Again who can say, now possessing a
Wife and Child with another to yet be born, peace and quiet will
return to the Border with a new Monarch to rule both Scotland and
England under one Crown, but that is still a few years ahead.
On 2 September 1944, a German Wehrmacht Liaison Officer was
captured by the Russians in Bucharest. His name was
Lieutenant-Colonel Heinz-Helmut von Hinckeldey and he was to remain
a "war convict" of the Soviets until 1955. For 11 years,
Heinz-Helmut von Hinckeldey had to endure the deprivation - both
physical and psychological - of imprisonment; the filth and squalor
of the cells, in which he was kept; the agony of isolation and
repeated self-examination; and the pain of ignorance, of not
knowing if his motherland (Germany) still existed or whether those
he loved, ever realized that he was alive. The personal Story that,
like countless others, would never have been told, had it not been
for the admiration and fascination built up over time by the
Author, Charles Wood
The British Colonial Record to 1939 This history of British
colonial rule in Nyasaland, now Malawi, from 1891 up to the
outbreak of the Second World War, is based on extensive research in
government archives as well as information obtained from newspapers
and missionary letters. It briefly tracks how the territory came
under British rule and then focuses in more detail than previous
studies on how Whitehall treated this highly individual but easily
neglected territory and how this fitted into the broader British
African context. At the local level there is also closer
examination, both critical and sympathetic, of the personalities
and performances of successive Governors and their administrative
staff in relation to economic, social and security policy, within
cripplingly small budgets. The activities of the small European
commercial, planting and missionary community are also closely
followed for their political influence and contribution to the
colonial economy. Although the small Indian community had little
political voice, its position as a regular petty commercial element
in the country is also considered. Crucially, this history
incorporates the political, social and economic impact of
colonialism on the African population, including the shock of the
First World War. David Thompson is an amateur historian whose first
and probably only book this is. His career at GCHQ spanned 38
years, with a late year attached to the Ministry of Defence. He
lives in Cheltenham.
Andre Laurendeau was the most widely respected French-Canadian
nationalist of his generation. The story of his life is to a
striking degree also the story of French-Canadian nationalism from
the 1930s to the 1960s, that period of massive societal change when
Quebec evolved from a traditional to a modern society. The most
insightful intellectual voice of the nationalist movement, he was
at the tumultuous centre of events as a young separatist in the
1930s; an anti-conscription activist and reform-minded provincial
politician in the 1940s; and an influential journalist, editor of
the Montreal daily Le Devoir, in the 1950s. At the same time he
played an important role in Quebec's cultural life both as a
novelist and playwright and as a well-known radio and television
personality. In tracing his life story, this biography sheds
indispensable light not only on the development of Laurendeau's own
nationalist thought, but on his people's continuing struggle to
preserve the national values that make them distinct.
This book provides new and exciting interpretations of Helen
Keller's unparalleled life as "the most famous American woman in
the world" during her time, celebrating the 141st anniversary of
her birth. Helen Keller: A Life in American History explores
Keller's life, career as a lobbyist, and experiences as a
deaf-blind woman within the context of her relationship with
teacher-guardian-promoter Anne Sullivan Macy and overarching social
history. The book tells the dual story of a pair struggling with
respective disabilities and financial hardship and the oppressive
societal expectations set for women during Keller's lifetime. This
narrative is perhaps the most comprehensive study of Helen Keller's
role in the development of support services specifically related to
the deaf-blind, as delineated as different from the blind. Readers
will learn about Keller's challenges and choices as well as how her
public image often eclipsed her personal desires to live
independently. Keller's deaf-blindness and hard-earned but limited
speech did not define her as a human being as she explored the
world of ideas and wove those ideas into her writing, lobbying for
funds for the American Federation for the Blind and working with
disabled activists and supporters to bring about practical help
during times of tremendous societal change. Presents
well-researched, factual material in an easy-to-understand writing
style about a complex, iconic American woman, Helen Keller, who
inspired generations of people worldwide because of her lifelong
quest for knowledge and her ability to communicate ideas despite
being deaf-blind Humanizes and demonstrates the diversity of the
deaf-blind community, which has historically been the smallest
minority in the United States at less than 1% of the population
Positions Keller in the panorama of American history, economics,
politics, and popular culture, challenging the existing narrative
created by her teacher-guardian-promoter Anne Sullivan Macy
Re-envisions Keller within the world of ideas where she experienced
and expressed individuality through dialogs constructed from her
writings and the work of those who informed her thinking Includes
10 images that provide an intimate look into Keller's personal and
public life
Unitarians established a church in the nation's capital in 1821,
and the first Universalist sermon in Washington was presented at
city hall in 1827. Since these beginnings, Washington-area
Unitarians and Universalists have created congregations that affirm
ideals of religious liberalism: a commitment to religious freedom,
a reasoned approach to faith, a hopeful view of human capacities to
create a better world, and the belief that God is most
authentically known as love. Images of America: Unitarians and
Universalists of Washington, D.C. features prominent figures such
as Robert Little, an English Unitarian who fled his native land and
became minister of First Unitarian Church of Washington; political
rivals John Quincy Adams and John C. Calhoun, both founding members
of the congregation; and Clara Barton, who organized the American
Red Cross after her experiences on the battlefields during the
Civil War. In 1961, Unitarians and Universalists joined together,
and the story continues as Unitarian Universalists interpret the
values of religious liberalism for each new generation.
a Call Them the Happy Yearsa recounts at first hand the first 40
years of the life of Barbara Everard in her own words, augmented,
now in this second edition, with her elder son, Martina s boyhood
memories of some of those years. From a privileged early childhood
as a daughter of a wealthy Sussex farming family, Barbara grew up
through the depression desperate to become an artist, an ambition
that she achieved with award-winning success as one of the worlda s
foremost botanical artists. But this followed some years of
colonial life in Malaya and the horrors of war both in Singapore
and England, described in graphic detail as is her husband, Raya s
story as a Japanese PoW on the infamous Siam railway.
Local prosecution associations were a method of controlling crime
which was devised in the second half of the eighteenth century,
fifty years before the introduction of police forces. They were a
national phenomenon, and it is estimated that by the end of the
1700s around 4000 of them existed in England, but this book tells
the story of one particular society: the Hathersage Association for
the Prosecution of Felons and Other Offenders. Hathersage is a Peak
District village which recently came top in a Country Living poll
to determine the '20 best hidden gems in the UK'. The tourists who
now visit the village in their thousands each year come as walkers,
climbers, and cyclists. Its grimy history of wire and needle
manufacturing is almost forgotten. In addition to telling the story
of its ancient prosecution organisation, this book seeks to
illuminate some of the less conspicuous aspects of Hathersage's
social history by shining a light from the unusual direction of
minor crime and antisocial behaviour. It also describes the lives
of some of the residents of the village: minor gentry;
industrialists; clergy; and farmers, in addition to the mill
workers and labourers. With access to hand-written records going
back to 1784 which had never been studied before, the author has
drawn on contemporary newspaper articles and census returns to
assemble a montage which depicts the life of the village,
particularly during the 19th century. Many of these original
records have been reproduced in order to offer reader an
opportunity to interpret the old documents themselves. While
striving for historical accuracy throughout, the author has
produced a book which is both entertaining and informative. Any
profits from the sale of this book will go to the Hathersage
Association and will, in turn, be donated to the local charities
which the Association supports. Those charities include Edale
Mountain Rescue, the Air Ambulance, Helen's Trust, Bakewell &
Eyam Community Transport, and Cardiac Risk in the Young.
By day Percy Monkman (1892 to 1986) worked in the same Bradford
bank for 40 years, ending up as chief cashier. Everything else
about Percy was totally unconventional. By night, at weekends, on
holidays he transformed himself into an entertainer, actor, artist
and cartoonist whose work was regularly acclaimed by the public and
held in great respect by colleagues. Percy was highly creative,
talented and energetic, a man who achieved high standards in all
his artistic activities. The eldest of five boys, he was born into
a humble working-class family and attended school until he was
nearly 14. After a couple of office jobs, at 16 he passed a banking
examination and started to work at Becketts Bank (later acquired by
the Westminster Bank). Unexpectedly, the First World War gave Percy
an opportunity for a new life that he grasped firmly with both
hands. He spent much of the war as a comedian in an entertainment
troupe that ran concert party shows for soldiers just behind the
front line. Back in civilian life he continued his entertainment
career with great success throughout the interwar years. In the
Second World War he was back at entertaining the troops, this time
groups of returning servicemen across Yorkshire. In 1935 Percy
joined the Bradford Civic Playhouse and became a fixture in the
cast for over 20 years. Here, in one of the best amateur theatres
in the country, he played in many diverse productions, usually in
comic roles. Alongside entertaining and acting, Percy developed his
third creative passion of watercolour painting. He took advantage
of every opportunity to paint, usually landscapes of the Yorkshire
Dales. When he retired from the bank in 1952, he was able to devote
all his time to this passion, which he described as 'fanatic,
dedicated and impulsive'. Largely self-taught, he believed strongly
in being part of a community of like-minded painters so that he
could learn from them. The Bradford Arts Club gave him this network
for all his adult life. He exhibited widely and sold most of his
paintings. When the mood took him, he was also a talented
cartoonist whose works were sometimes published. A committed family
man, Percy also built a large number of life-long friends, who were
a fascinating mixture of people from all walks of life, with
similar passions for entertaining, acting and painting, often
eccentrics and sometimes very well connected in Bradford society.
His most significant friendship was with JB Priestley, his exact
contemporary and England's most famous man of letters in the 20th
century. Percy's extraordinary life of achievement is a unique
record of social history, reflecting life in 20th century Bradford.
Sadly, this is now largely a lost world. This affectionate and
comprehensive biography by his grandson, illustrated with over 90
images, is both a visual delight and a joy to read, including high
quality reproductions of some of Percy's most famous paintings.
Through reconstruction of oral testimony, folk stories and poetry,
the true history of Hausa women and their reception of Islam's
vision of Muslim in Western Africa have been uncovered. Mary Wren
Bivins is the first author to locate and examine the oral texts of
the 19th century Hausa women and challenge the written
documentation of the Sokoto Caliphate. The personal narratives and
folk stories reveal the importance of illiterate, non-elite women
to the history of jihad and the assimilation of normative Islam in
rural Hausaland. The captivating lives of the Hausa are captured,
shedding light on their ordinary existence as wives, mothers, and
providers for their family on the eve of European colonial
conquest. From European observations to stories of marriage, each
entry provides a personal account of the Hausa women's encounters
with Islamic reform to the center of an emerging Muslim Hausa
identity. Each entry focuses on: BLFemale historiography BLThe
importance of oral history BLNew methodoligical approaches to the
oral culture of popular Islam BLThe raw voice of Hausa women. The
comprehensive history is easy to read and touches on an era that no
other scholar has dissected.
Theatre of the Book explores the impact of printing on the European theatre, 1480-1880. Far from being marginal to Renaissance dramatists, the printing press played an essential role in the birth of the modern theatre. Looking at playtexts, engravings, actor portraits, notation systems, and theatrical ephemera as part of the broader history of theatrical ideas, this illustrated book offers both a history of European dramatic publication and an examination of the European theatre's continual refashioning of itself in the world of print.
South Carolina's Indian-American governor Nikki Haley recently
dismissed one of her principal advisors when his membership to the
ultra-conservative Council of Conservative Citizens (CCC) came to
light. Among the CCC's many concerns is intermarriage and race
mixing. According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, in 2001 the
CCC website included a message that read "God is the one who
divided mankind into different races.... Mixing the races is
rebelliousness against God. " Beyond the irony of a CCC member
working for an Indian-American, the episode reveals America's
continuing struggle with race, racial integration, and race mixing.
The Color Factor shows that the emergent twenty-first-century
recognition of race mixing and the relative advantages of
light-skinned, mixed-race people represents a "back to the future "
moment--a re-emergence of one salient feature of race in America
that dates to its founding. Each chapter addresses from a
historical perspective a topic in the current literature on
mixed-race and color. The approach is economic and empirical, but
the text is accessible to social scientists more generally. The
historical evidence concludes that we will not really understand
race until we understand how American attitudes toward race were
shaped by race mixing.
In May 2022 Bradford was awarded the honour of being UK City of
Culture 2025. Bradford is one of the most fascinating places in the
country. This history provides a unique reference of what Bradford
has already achieved and how it can now build on that foundation.
It grew in the 19th century from a small market town to one of the
UK's largest cities. It built its new wealth on factory production
of woollen goods, a classic case study of the Industrial
Revolution. This book is no conventional narrative of Bradford's
history. It celebrates each day in the year with some important
story from 1212 to 2020 - the impact of a strong-minded or talented
individual, a critical event of success or disaster, or an
important moment in the development of the city, its buildings or
its institutions. Bradford has experienced good and bad times,
periods of growth, decline and regeneration, and several waves of
immigration. Often rising above adversity and strife, many
individuals have made outstanding contributions to the city and the
nation. They feature businessmen such as Sir Titus Salt and Samuel
Lister, who made large fortunes through hard work and innovation,
and creative giants with international reputations such as JB
Priestley and David Hockney. Many mill-owners became very wealthy,
but many more workers suffered from poverty and ill-health. Not for
nothing did Friedrich Engels describe Bradford as a 'stinking hole'
or TS Eliot refer to silk hats on Bradford millionaires in his most
famous poem. The stories cover a wide range of topics - industry,
commerce, politics, arts, leisure, sport, education, health etc.
They include social issues such as the extreme poverty and squalor
in the 19th century and women's rights and multi-culturalism in the
20th. The accent, however, is on the positive - the unusual, the
brave, the eccentric and the amazing. Never before have such
stories about everyday life in and around Bradford across the
centuries been brought together in one volume. Martin Greenwood has
built a remarkable kaleidoscope of life in his home city from
medieval times to the current day.
The nineteenth-century middle-class ideal of the married woman was
of a chaste and diligent wife focused on being a loving mother,
with few needs or rights of her own. The modern woman, by contrast,
was partner to a new model of marriage, one in which she and her
husband formed a relationship based on greater sexual and
psychological equality. In Making Marriage Modern, Christina
Simmons narrates the development of this new companionate marriage
ideal, which took hold in the early twentieth century and prevailed
in American society by the 1940s.
The first challenges to public reticence to discuss sexual
relations between husbands and wives came from social hygiene
reformers, who advocated for a scientific but conservative sex
education to combat prostitution and venereal disease. A more
radical group of feminists, anarchists, and bohemians opposed the
Victorian model of marriage and even the institution of marriage.
Birth control advocates such as Emma Goldman and Margaret Sanger
openly championed women's rights to acquire and use effective
contraception. The "companionate marriage" emerged from these
efforts. This marital ideal was characterized by greater emotional
and sexuality intimacy for both men and women, use of birth control
to create smaller families, and destigmatization of divorce in
cases of failed unions. Simmons examines what she calls the
"flapper" marriage, in which free-spirited young wives enjoyed the
early years of marriage, postponing children and domesticity. She
looks at the feminist marriage in which women imagined greater
equality between the sexes in domestic and paid work and sex. And
she explores the African American "partnership marriage," which
often included wives' employment and drew more heavily on the
involvement of the community and extended family. Finally, she
traces how these modern ideals of marriage were promoted in sexual
advice literature and marriage manuals of the period.
Though male dominance persisted in companionate marriages,
Christina Simmons shows how they called for greater independence
and satisfaction for women and a new female heterosexuality. By
raising women's expectations of marriage, the companionate ideal
also contained within it the seeds of second-wave feminists'
demands for transforming the institution into one of true equality
between the sexes.
Fourteenth-century Japan witnessed a fundamental political and
intellectual conflict about the nature of power and society, a
conflict that was expressed through the rituals and institutions of
two rival courts. Rather than understanding the collapse of Japan's
first warrior government (the Kamakura bakufu) and the onset of a
chaotic period of civil war as the manipulation of rival courts by
powerful warrior factions, this study argues that the crucial
ideological and intellectual conflict of the fourteenth century was
between the conservative forces of ritual precedent and the ritual
determinists steeped in Shingon Buddhism. Members of the monastic
nobility who came to dominate the court used the language of
Buddhist ritual, including incantations (mantras), gestures
(mudras), and "cosmograms" (mandalas projected onto the geography
of Japan) to uphold their bids for power. Sacred places that were
ritual centers became the targets of military capture precisely
because they were ritual centers. Ritual was not simply symbolic;
rather, ritual became the orchestration, or actual dynamic, of
power in itself. This study undermines the conventional wisdom that
Zen ideals linked to the samurai were responsible for the manner in
which power was conceptualized in medieval Japan, and instead
argues that Shingon ritual specialists prolonged the conflict and
enforced the new notion that loyal service trumped the merit of
those who simply requested compensation for their acts. Ultimately,
Shingon mimetic ideals enhanced warrior power and enabled Shogun
Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, rather than the reigning emperor, to assert
sovereign authority in Japan.
In late November 1864, the last Southern army east of the
Mississippi that was still free to maneuver started out from
northern Alabama on the Confederacy's last offensive. John Bell
Hood and his Army of Tennessee had dreams of capturing Nashville
and marching on to the Ohio River, but a small Union force under
Hood's old West Point roommate stood between him and the state
capital. In a desperate attempt to smash John Schofield's line at
Franklin, Hood threw most of his men against the Union works,
centered on the house of a family named Carter, and lost 30 percent
of his attacking force in one afternoon, crippling his army and
setting it up for a knockout blow at Nashville two weeks later.
With firsthand accounts, letters and diary entries from the Carter
House Archives, local historian James R. Knight paints a vivid
picture of this gruesome conflict.
a In late 2019 early 2020 word was coming out of Wuhan, China of a
highly infectious virus being detected in the population, which
sparked concern for what was about to become a global pandemic.
Meanwhile in typically British fashion the general public started
stockpiling pasta and toilet rollsa |why I have no idea! But it did
prompt me to pick up my drawing pencil and sketch the first Corona
cartoon of 2 dinosaurs stockpiling loo rolls while the meteorite
plummeted to earth! Since that first toon I have drawn (and am
still drawing) an account of a |.all the stupidity, heroics,
tragedy, political and medical successes and failures, and the
ludicrous nature, at times, of the human conditiona |..and a |.era
|.Trump and Boris! A diary, a record, a chronicle, if you like, of
what we all went through on our continuing quest to defeat the
virus and get back to relative normalitya |a |with shelves full of
pasta and toilet rolla |. Sometimes brutal sometimes thought
provoking but, I hope, always amusing this is a book to keep and
look back ona |. and perhaps to let your children and grandchildren
read as one persona s view of life in the times of Covid. It was my
way of keeping myself sane and as it turned out it helped many of
my friends who in turn supported the daily Facebook toons. Read a
The Corona Chroniclesa and think of those who surviveda |.and sadly
those who didna ta |a |this book and ita s story belongs to all of
us and serves as cautionary tale for the futurea
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