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Books > Humanities > History > History of specific subjects > Local history
Leicester is an old town with a long history reaching back across
two thousand years of human activity and experience. Historically,
it is a very well-documented town. Leicester has a rich antiquarian
record with plenty of other writings and documents that add to our
knowledge of how our predecessors lived and, just as importantly,
what they experienced during their lives. This book details the
various hauntings and lore of Leicester; from the malevolent Black
Annis to the debated involvement of medium Robert James Lees in the
case of Jack the Ripper. It concludes with a guided tour of all the
mentioned locations.
'Folklore and Fables' is a collection of articles on his beloved
Blades, by Sheffield United supporters' liaison officer, club
historian and 'encyclopedia of Blades knowledge', John Garrett. A
lifelong Blade, whose grandfather first watched the Blades in 1892,
John has worked at Bramall Lane for over two decades and began
writing his popular, and award-winning, 'Folklore and Fables'
feature for United's matchday programme almost 10 years ago. This
book is a compilation of his best work, giving his inimitable take
on life at Bramall Lane - featuring his family history, music,
holidays abroad, club legends and, rather occasionally, football...
A microcosm of the history of American slavery in a collection of
the most important primary and secondary readings on slavery at
Georgetown University and among the Maryland Jesuits Georgetown
University's early history, closely tied to that of the Society of
Jesus in Maryland, is a microcosm of the history of American
slavery: the entrenchment of chattel slavery in the tobacco economy
of the Chesapeake in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries; the
contradictions of liberty and slavery at the founding of the United
States; the rise of the domestic slave trade to the cotton and
sugar kingdoms of the Deep South in the nineteenth century; the
political conflict over slavery and its overthrow amid civil war;
and slavery's persistent legacies of racism and inequality. It is
also emblematic of the complex entanglement of American higher
education and religious institutions with slavery. Important
primary sources drawn from the university's and the Maryland
Jesuits' archives document Georgetown's tangled history with
slavery, down to the sizes of shoes distributed to enslaved people
on the Jesuit plantations that subsidized the school. The volume
also includes scholarship on Jesuit slaveholding in Maryland and at
Georgetown, news coverage of the university's relationship with
slavery, and reflections from descendants of the people owned and
sold by the Maryland Jesuits. These essays, articles, and documents
introduce readers to the history of Georgetown's involvement in
slavery and recent efforts to confront this troubling past. Current
efforts at recovery, repair, and reconciliation are part of a
broader contemporary moment of reckoning with American history and
its legacies. This reader traces Georgetown's "Slavery, Memory, and
Reconciliation Initiative" and the role of universities, which are
uniquely situated to conduct that reckoning in a constructive way
through research, teaching, and modeling thoughtful, informed
discussion.
For the first six centuries from the institution's foundation,
Latin was the language spoken and written at the University of
Oxford. It's no surprise, then, to find that the inscriptions
carved into the monuments, colleges and municipal buildings of the
city are for the most part also in Latin. It is also a language
which lends itself to compression, so an inscription in Latin uses
fewer characters than English, for example, saving space and money.
But what do they all mean? For this book Reginald Adams has
assembled, translated and explained a wide selection of Oxford's
Latin inscriptions (and a few Greek ones). These can be found in
many accessible places in both city and university, dating from the
medieval period to the present day. Their purposes range from
tributes and memorials to decorations and witty commentaries on the
edifice that they adorn. The figures commemorated include Queen
Anne, Roger Bacon, Cardinal Wolsey, Cecil Rhodes, T. E. Lawrence
and a kind landlady who provided 'enormous breakfasts', as well as
other eminent scholars and generous benefactors. These evocative
mementos of the past bring insight to the informed observer of
their surroundings and also vividly illustrate the history of
Oxford.
The multicultural Midlands is a unique, interdisciplinary study of
the literature, music and food that shape the region's
irrepressible, though often overlooked, cultural identity. It is
the first of its kind to give serious critical attention to a part
of the world which is frequently ignored by readers, critics and
the culture industries. This book makes a claim for the importance
of the Midlands and evidences this with nuanced close reading of a
multitude of diverse texts spanning so-called 'high' to 'low'
culture; from the Black Country's 'Desi Pubs', to Leicester's
'McIndians' Peri Peri ('you've tried the cowboys, now try the
Indians!'); Handsworth's reggae roots to Adrian Mole's diaries. --
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This is a comprehensive photographic journey through the rich and
vibrant history of Glasgow. It is fully-illustrated throughout with
almost 400 photographs. The POS is available, reviews in local
press and history magazines.Glasgow is a city that has seen great
change. Once the second city of the Empire, it was in 1999 chosen
as the UK City of Architecture and Design. Beneath the veil of
industrial grime, it would seem, was a place of incredible beauty.
In this stunning guide to the city, re-released in paperback due to
popular demand, authors Robert Jeffrey and Ian Johnson illustrate
the history of this transformation. This is a nostalgic look at
Glasgow as it used to be, the Dear Green Place that still sits so
fondly in the hearts of so many.
London was once a city awash with watercourses. Most of these
streams and small rivers have long since disappeared underground
and their void has been filled by myth, legend and an enduring yet
uncertain fascination. The River Effra was one of these vanishings.
In its earlier existence above ground it could only ever have been
a modest tributary of the Thames, but through a vivid subterranean
afterlife it has continued to impose itself on South London's
development history and local mythology. Once fringed by willows
and water meadows, it was the haunt of salmon, eels and herons
until it fell victim to the unregulated development of suburban
South London. The Victorian housebuilder and his tenants
enthusiastically transformed it from a small river into a large
sewer until finally in desperation it was covered up. Yet it still
flows...and occasionally floods.River Effra: South London's Secret
Spine is the first comprehensive account, beginning with its
underlying geology and pre-history and continuing through to the
river's ongoing significance today.The machinations of medieval
landowners seeking to divert its course are uncovered along with
some of the more absurd legends concerning Canute, Queen Elizabeth
and others. For the Victorians it was a public health disaster in
waiting and its ignominious disappearance underground into London's
main drainage system in the 1860s was seen as a triumph of
nineteenth-century civil engineering. In the twenty-first century
its legacy is being approached anew.Richly illustrated with
archival images and crisp contemporary black and white photographs,
which combine to reveal its vanished stream, River Effra combines
geography and geology with social, environmental and engineering
history and sets this alongside a detailed walker's itinerary for
anyone needing to follow the ghost of this watercourse from
Norwood, through Herne Hill, Dulwich and Brixton to Kennington and
Vauxhall.
A wonderfully written and entertaining book which places Britain
under the microscope and asks who we are today and how we've
changed as a nation. 'Entertaining and absorbing' - The Sunday
Times In 1841 there were 734 female midwives working in Britain,
along with 9 artificial eye makers, 20 peg makers, 6 stamp makers
and 1 bee dealer. Fast forward nearly two centuries and there are
51,000 midwives working in the UK and not an eye maker in sight!
For the past two centuries, the National Census has been monitoring
the behaviour of the British: our work-lives, homes lives and
strange cultural habits. With questions on occupation, housing,
religion, travel and family, the Census is a snapshot of a country
at any given epoch, and its findings have informed the economy,
politics and every other national matter for decades that followed.
Now, for the first time ever, the Census findings of the past two
centuries are collected in to a wonderfully written and
entertaining book which places Britain under the microscope and
asks who we are and how we've changed as a nation. On our
occupations, our working lives, relationships; our quirks, habits,
weird interests and cultural beliefs - this book takes the reader
on a journey through the statistical findings of one of the most
valuable pieces of ongoing historical research of modern times, and
asks us what these fascinating numbers tells us about the Britain
in the 21st century.
'Utterly irresistible and joyful - the perfect summer read!'
bestselling author, Faith Hogan 'A gorgeous story of friendship,
community and starting over' Jessica RedlandDreams can come true,
you just have to believe... After 10 years in London, working in a
stressful City firm, Liv O'Neill returns home to Sandycove, a
picturesque seaside village, just outside Dublin to care for her
mother after a fall. Whilst Liv reconnects with friends and family,
she is amazed by Sandycove's thriving community spirit with its
artisan shops, delis and cafes - it's not quite the place she left
behind. As village life begins to creep under her skin, Liv is
forced to confront the things that drove her away. Can Liv balance
her past, present and future and find her own happy place? And will
a handsome young doctor help her make a decision about the life she
really wants? Suddenly her old life in London begins to seem
extremely unappealing and Liv is forced to use her family's past in
order to forge a brand new future.
H. Leslie Moody and Frances Johnson Moody never owned the company
outright, but their dreams shaped North Carolina's Hyalyn
Porcelain, Inc. and drove it forward to the satisfaction of an
emerging, increasingly modern post-World War II America. Hyalyn's
reputation for high quality led to its association with top
designers like Michael and Rosemary Lax, Eva Zeisel, Georges
Briard, Charles Leslie Fordyce, Herbert Cohen, Erwin Kalla, and
Esta Brodey. Before moving to North Carolina in 1945, ceramic
engineer and designer Less Moody prepared to organize and operate
Hyalyn Porcelain, Inc. From Zanesville's Mosaic Tile Company, Ohio
State University's ceramics department, Love Field Pottery,
Abingdon Pottery, San Jose Potteries, and Rookwood Pottery, he
gained expertise in clay formulation, glaze chemistry, product
design, plant operation, project planning, advertising, and
employee management. With the aid of investors, his dream came true
when, in 1946, Hyalyn's first lamp bases and flower containers
emerged from the shop's tunnel kiln. Thoroughly documented and
illustrated with 425 images, hyalyn: America's Finest Porcelain is
a complete history of Hyalyn Porcelain, Inc., and its successors,
Hyalyn Cosco, Hyalyn, Ltd., and Vanguard Studios.
Discover hidden gems around Liverpool with 20 walking routes.
Featuring 20 walks in and around the city, including lesser-known
circuits and details on popular walks. Accompanied by guided
walking instructions and written by a local expert, A-Z Liverpool
Hidden Walks is the perfect way to explore the city in a new light.
Small enough to fit in a bag or pocket, this handy guidebook is
ideal for tourists or locals looking to discover more about the
city. Each route varies in length from 1 to 6 miles (1.6 to 9.6
km), and is clearly outlined on detailed A-Z street mapping. 20
walking routes with instructions and maps Full-colour photographs
of hidden gems and city attractions Key sights and locations
clearly marked on map Information such as start/finish points,
nearest postcodes, distance and terrain included More from the A-Z
Hidden Walks series: A-Z Birmingham Hidden Walks A-Z Bristol &
Bath Hidden Walks A-Z Edinburgh Hidden Walks A-Z London Hidden
Walks A-Z Oxford Hidden Walks A-Z York Hidden Walks A-Z Brighton
Hidden Walks A-Z Cambridge Hidden Walks A-Z Manchester Hidden Walks
A-Z Liverpool Hidden Walks
In twenty-first-century American cities, policy makers increasingly
celebrate university-sponsored innovation districts as engines of
inclusive growth. But the story is not so simple. In University
City, Laura Wolf-Powers chronicles five decades of planning in and
around the communities of West Philadelphia's University City to
illuminate how the dynamics of innovation district development in
the present both depart from and connect to the politics of
mid-twentieth-century urban renewal. Drawing on archival and
ethnographic research, Wolf-Powers concludes that even as
university and government leaders vow to develop without
displacement, what existing residents value is imperiled when
innovation-driven redevelopment remains accountable to the property
market. The book first traces the municipal and institutional
politics that empowered officials to demolish a predominantly Black
neighborhood near the University of Pennsylvania and Drexel
University in the late 1960s to make way for the University City
Science Center and University City High School. It also provides
new insight into organizations whose members experimented during
that same period with alternative conceptions of economic
advancement. The book then shifts to the present, documenting
contemporary efforts to position university-adjacent neighborhoods
as locations for prosperity built on scientific knowledge.
Wolf-Powers examines the work of mobilized civic groups to push
cultural preservation concerns into the public arena and to win
policies to help economically insecure families keep a foothold in
changing neighborhoods. Placing Philadelphia's innovation districts
in the context of similar development taking place around the
United States, University City advocates a reorientation of
redevelopment practice around the recognition that despite their
negligible worth in real estate terms, the time, care, and energy
people invest in their local environments-and in one another-are
precious urban resources.
While canvassing for the Scottish independence referendum in 2014
Neil Findlay made a discovery. Visiting the home that used to be
his grandparents', he was shown a plywood panel where John 'Jock'
Findlay, his grandfather, had written his life's tale. This is
Jock's story. Jock grew up and grew old in the West Lothian village
of Pumpherston - a village dominated by one industry, shale oil
mining. In his own words he describes the good times, and the hard
times, of living and working in Pumpherston. This is a story about
a Scottish industry, a village and, most of all, a community.
From the Sunday Times bestselling author, Carl Chinn The Peaky
Blinders as we know them, thanks to the hit TV series, are infused
with drama and dread. Fashionably dressed, the charismatic but
deeply flawed Shelby family have become cult anti-heroes.
Well-known social historian, broadcaster and author, Carl Chinn,
revealed the true story of the notorious gang in his bestselling
Peaky Blinders: The Real Story and now in this follow-up book, he
explores the legacy they created in Birmingham and beyond. What
happened to them and their gangland rivals? In Peaky Blinders: The
Legacy we revisit the world of Billy Kimber's Peaky Blinders,
exploring their legacy throughout the 1920s and 30s, and how their
burgeoning empires spread across the UK. Delve into the street wars
across the country, the impact of the declaration of War on Gangs
by the Home Secretary after The Racecourse War in 1921, and how the
blackmailing of bookmakers gave way to new and daring opportunities
for the likes of Sabini, Alfie Solomon and some new faces in the
murky gangland underworld. Drawing on Carl's inimitable research,
interviews and original sources, find out just what happened to
this incredible cast of characters, revealing the true legacy of
the Peaky Blinders.
The African American Community in Rural New England is the often
heroic tale of a small group of African Americans who founded and
have maintained their church in a small New England town for nearly
140 years. The church is the Clinton African Methodist Episcopal
Zion Church and the town is Great Barrington, Massachusetts - the
hometown of the leading African American scholar and activist W. E.
B. Du Bois. Du Bois attended the church as a youth and wrote about
it; these writings are one source for this history. The book gives
readers a broad view of the details of the church's history and
recounts the story of its growth. Du Bois plays a crucial role in
the national fight for social justice, of which the church was and
remains an important part.
"Swanson has done a crucial public service by exposing the
barbarous side of the Rangers." -The New York Times Book Review A
twenty-first century reckoning with the legendary Texas Rangers
that does justice to their heroic moments while also documenting
atrocities, brutality, oppression, and corruption The Texas Rangers
came to life in 1823, when Texas was still part of Mexico. Nearly
200 years later, the Rangers are still going--one of the most
famous of all law enforcement agencies. In Cult of Glory, Doug J.
Swanson has written a sweeping account of the Rangers that
chronicles their epic, daring escapades while showing how the white
and propertied power structures of Texas used them as enforcers,
protectors and officially sanctioned killers. Cult of Glory begins
with the Rangers' emergence as conquerors of the wild and violent
Texas frontier. They fought the fierce Comanches, chased outlaws,
and served in the U.S. Army during the Mexican War. As Texas
developed, the Rangers were called upon to catch rustlers, tame oil
boomtowns, and patrol the perilous Texas-Mexico border. In the
1930s they began their transformation into a professionally trained
police force. Countless movies, television shows, and pulp novels
have celebrated the Rangers as Wild West supermen. In many cases,
they deserve their plaudits. But often the truth has been
obliterated. Swanson demonstrates how the Rangers and their
supporters have operated a propaganda machine that turned agency
disasters and misdeeds into fables of triumph, transformed
murderous rampages--including the killing of scores of Mexican
civilians--into valorous feats, and elevated scoundrels to
sainthood. Cult of Glory sets the record straight. Beginning with
the Texas Indian wars, Cult of Glory embraces the great, majestic
arc of Lone Star history. It tells of border battles, range
disputes, gunslingers, massacres, slavery, political intrigue, race
riots, labor strife, and the dangerous lure of celebrity. And it
reveals how legends of the American West--the real and the
false--are truly made.
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