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Books > Humanities > History > History of specific subjects > Local history
Harry Potter, A Fish Called Wanda, Inspector Morse, Downton Abbey and X Men are just a few of the films that have become synonymous with the world renowned University City of Oxford. This new Pitkin souvenir guide highlights key sites that have become famously linked to these internationally successful and much loved films and TV specials. Not limited to Oxford city centre, this guide will also include the often-used film location Blenheim Palace, located just outside Oxford. With 15 individual Walks around Oxford, and information on both architecture and filming history, this guide will become a must-have souvenir for every visitor to Oxford.
Television, penicillin, the telephone, A Haverin' History of Scotland. All of these have been created by a Scotsperson, although not all will appear on a tea towel listing great Scottish inventions.* Scotland is as old as any other country - maybe even more so, judging by the state of the pavements. This means that it has a lot of a history. A lot! Some of those whose epic deeds have echoed down the centuries include William 'Braveheart' Wallace, King Robert 'the Bruce' the Bruce and Queen Mary 'Queen of Scots' Queen of Scots. Among many others, they all feature in this concise and relatively cheap history of the country people all over the world call Scotland. Because that is its name. Whether you know your Scottish history, or you think the Lewis Chessmen were a 1960s beat combo, A Haverin' History of Scotland is the unreliable history book for you. *Does anyone still watch television?
Since it was first broadcast on British television in 1997, Midsomer Murders has become one of the most-beloved detective dramas on television, instantly recognisable for its attractive backdrop at the heart of rural England. The real towns and villages of 'Midsomer' are situated in the Chilterns, the Thames Valley and the Vale of Aylesbury, all areas of outstanding natural beauty, and this illustrated book reveals the many stunning key locations for this popular show. Over forty towns and villages have appeared in the long-running television series, ranging from the hill-top village of Brill (also famous for a real crime, the 'Great Train Robbery') to Waddesdon, home of a Rothschild's manor. Chris Behan, a resident of this area for over thirty years, has used his skill and intimate knowledge of the subject to create a book that is a must for fans of Midsomer Murders and all those who love this charming part of rural England.
The definitive history of Jews in New York and how they transformed the city Jewish New York reveals the multifaceted world of one of the city's most important ethnic and religious groups. Jewish immigrants changed New York. They built its clothing industry and constructed huge swaths of apartment buildings. New York Jews helped to make the city the center of the nation's publishing industry and shaped popular culture in music, theater, and the arts. With a strong sense of social justice, a dedication to civil rights and civil liberties, and a belief in the duty of government to provide social welfare for all its citizens, New York Jews influenced the city, state, and nation with a new wave of social activism. In turn, New York transformed Judaism and stimulated religious pluralism, Jewish denominationalism, and contemporary feminism. The city's neighborhoods hosted unbelievably diverse types of Jews, from Communists to Hasidim. Jewish New York not only describes Jews' many positive influences on New York, but also exposes their struggles with poverty and anti-Semitism. These injustices reinforced an exemplary commitment to remaking New York into a model multiethnic, multiracial, and multireligious world city. Based on the acclaimed multi-volume set City of Promises: A History of the Jews of New York winner of the National Jewish Book Council 2012 Everett Family Foundation Jewish Book of the Year Award, Jewish New York spans three centuries, tracing the earliest arrival of Jews in New Amsterdam to the recent immigration of Jews from the former Soviet Union.
A BBC Radio 4 Book of the Week. 'Francis Pryor brings the magic of the Fens to life in a deeply personal and utterly enthralling way' TONY ROBINSON. 'Pryor feels the land rather than simply knowing it' GUARDIAN. Inland from the Wash, on England's eastern cost, crisscrossed by substantial rivers and punctuated by soaring church spires, are the low-lying, marshy and mysterious Fens. Formed by marine and freshwater flooding, and historically wealthy owing to the fertility of their soils, the Fens of Lincolnshire and Cambridgeshire are one of the most distinctive, neglected and extraordinary regions of England. Francis Pryor has the most intimate of connections with this landscape. For some forty years he has dug its soils as a working archaeologist - making ground-breaking discoveries about the nature of prehistoric settlement in the area - and raising sheep in the flower-growing country between Spalding and Wisbech. In The Fens, he counterpoints the history of the Fenland landscape and its transformation - from Bronze age field systems to Iron Age hillforts; from the rise of prosperous towns such as King's Lynn, Ely and Cambridge to the ambitious drainage projects that created the Old and New Bedford Rivers - with the story of his own discovery of it as an archaeologist. Affectionate, richly informative and deftly executed, The Fens weaves together strands of archaeology, history and personal experience into a satisfying narrative portrait of a complex and threatened landscape.
Avebury in Wiltshire is best known as the world's largest stone circle, but surrounding it is a wealth of ancient monuments. Captivated by its unique atmosphere, many visitors form a personal, often spiritual, connection to Avebury and its 'sacred landscape'. What was it that first attracted people to the Avebury area more than 5,000 years ago? Beautifully illustrated with over 400 photographs, maps and diagrams, Exploring Avebury invites us on a journey of discovery. For the first time the importance of water, light and sound is revealed, and we begin to see Avebury through the eyes of those who built it.
Discover one of the world's most fascinating and historic cities through 30 dramatic true stories spanning the rich history of London. Author Kevin Jackson takes readers through more than 2,000 years of British history with exciting essays on topics such as London's origins, Richard the Lion-Hearted, Geoffrey Chaucer, Henry V, Shakespeare, Queen Victoria, Jack the Ripper, Charles Dickens, Oscar Wilde, The Beatles and more. In addition, guided walking tours of London's historic neighborhoods, illustrated with color photographs and period maps, take readers to the places where history really happened.
When Alexander Noble established his boatyard in 1898, he probably didn't realise he was also establishing a new Noble tradition. Alexander's yard would soon be handed over to his eldest son Wilson, who would set up Wilson Noble & Co. to build fishing boats - although he would branch out into minesweepers when needed in the Second World War. Meanwhile, second-youngest son James would break out on his own, thinking that the future of boatbuilding lay in yachts. Altogether, these companies built almost 400 boats, some of which are still working today, and would be a fixture on the Fraserburgh shoreline for nearly a century. Packed with images, interviews and recollections from the crew, The Noble Boatbuilders of Fraserburgh is a thoroughly researched tribute to these men and their boats, and is a fascinating look into an industry that once peppered our island's shorelines.
When the US Army Corps of Engineers began planning construction of The Dalles Dam at Celilo Village in the mid-twentieth century, it was clear that this traditional fishing, commerce, and social site of immense importance to Native tribes would be changed forever. Controversy surrounded the project, with local Native communities anticipating the devastation of their way of life and white settler-descended advocates of the dam envisioning a future of thriving infrastructure and industry. In In Defense of Wyam, having secured access to hundreds of previously unknown and unexamined letters, Katrine Barber revisits the subject of Death of Celilo Falls, her first book. She presents a remarkable alliance across the opposed Native and settler-descended groups, chronicling how the lives of two women leaders converged in a shared struggle to protect the Indian homes of Celilo Village. Flora Thompson, member of the Warm Springs Tribe and wife of the Wyam chief, and Martha McKeown, daughter of an affluent white farming family, became lifelong allies as they worked together to protect Oregon's oldest continuously inhabited site. As a Native woman, Flora wielded significant power within her community yet outside of it was dismissed for her race and her gender. Martha, although privileged due to her settler origins, turned to women's clubs to expand her political authority beyond the conventional domestic sphere. Flora's and Martha's coordinated efforts offer readers meaningful insight into a time and place where the rhetoric of Native sovereignty, the aims of environmental movements in the American West, and women's political strategies intersected. A Helen Marie Ryan Wyman Book
There exist thousands of books covering every theme of Parisian life. Several hundred of these are guide books issued only in the last decade, and a few dictionaries of important Parisian monuments. However, not until now has a single comprehensive work, encompassing not only the existing buildings of this great city but also information about its past and present economic and social institutions, made its appearance. The Historical Dictionary of Paris begins with an extensive historical chapter of the twenty centuries that separate the Gallic farmers and Roman builders of the city through present-day Paris. The dictionary portion of the book contains over 400 entries and deals with various features of life in Paris. It includes brief biographical sketches of well-known Parisian personalities such as Etienne Marcel, Charles Baudelaire, Maurice Chevalier, Coco Chanel, and Jacques Chirac. The book also contains descriptions of the principal districts and monuments of the city, and numerous thematic entries covering a variety of topics, from commercials and cultural activities of the past, to luxury grocery shops and world famous art galleries and bistros. The book concludes with a large bibliography of nearly one thousand titles, most of them recent and in English. Also includes a chronology of Paris, four maps, and sixteen black and white photographs.
Alan Turing is a patron saint of Manchester, remembered as the Mancunian who won the war, invented the computer, and was all but put to death for being gay. Each myth is related to a historical story. This is not a book about the first of those stories, of Turing at Bletchley Park. But it is about the second two, which each unfolded here in Manchester, of Turing's involvement in the world's first computer and of his refusal to be cowed about his sexuality. Manchester can be proud of Turing, but can we be proud of the city he encountered?
This book, originally published in 1981, tells the story of the regular soldiers and reservists of the British Expeditionary Force (B. E. F.) who fought in the first six months of the First World War on the Western Front. This photographic history of the B. E. F. is unique in that the photographs were taken not by official war photographers, but either by the few press photographers who were able to get near the Front or by members of the B. E. F themselves. Complementing the photographs are many first-hand accounts of their experiences by 'Old Contemptibles' and an authoritative text by Keith Simpson.
Step behind the scenes of the biggest mystery of the British Isles Loch Ness is one of the most popular visitor sites in the world. Its stunning beauty draws many, but far more come to experience the mystery of the monster that may lurk in its waters. Known affectionately as 'Nessie', this elusive creature has been chased with great zeal for over a century (it has been seen by over 1000 people) and this enthusiasm shows no sign of diminishing. A new edition, rewritten and with fresh new images, of a Pitkin classic that examines the evidence and the various sitings on this perennial mystery.
'By seeing London, I have seen as much of life as the world can show.' - Samuel Johnson It is the people who make London what it is. The men and women living within its walls, with all their successes and failures, their loves and lies, their dramas and indulgences. Taking us from the sixteenth century to the present day, London author David Long introduces us to fifty of the most eccentric, revolutionary, bloodthirsty and memorable characters to have walked London's streets. Many are familiar names, but others remain largely unknown. From a house lived in by both Handel and Hendrix to Queen Victoria's rat catcher, an emperor in exile and real-life tales of derring-do, A History of London in 50 Lives is a unique take on the English capital and on some of the more remarkable characters who have called it home.
Ian R Mitchell recognises his hometown is an often underloved place, but in Aberdeen: Beyond the Granite he sets out an overwhelming case as to why this sentiment is thoroughly undeserved. An Aberdonian born and bred, Mitchell has lived in Glasgow for almost four decades. Returning to his roots, he delves into Aberdeen's rich and often unseen history and culture from an exile's perspective, revealing a proudly unique city, home to the world's oldest surviving company, the UK's oldest newspaper, and perhaps Britain's oldest Italian restaurant
How did a tiny wren manage to be crowned King of the Birds? Why did giant Finn McCool's favourite dogs change into mountains? What happened to turn a friendly cat into a cruel fiend who plotted to destroy mankind? Irish Animal Tales for Children is packed with ghostly goings-on, weird characters and wonderful animals. Irreverently told by award-winning storyteller Doreen McBride, these stories are not for the faint of heart!
Toba Pato Tucker, who has photographed the Navajo and Zuni Indians of the Southwest, the Shinnecock and Montauk Indians on eastern Long Island and the Pueblo people of New Mexico and Arizona, now creates a record of the Onondaga, the Native people who have inhabited the hills of central New York for fifteen thousand years. Using a simple black backdrop and available daylight, her portraits show the timeless, contemplative images that reify the spirit that has maintained the Onondaga for centuries. Of her work Tucker has said, "Native Americans are an ancient people striving to retain their traditional way of life and integrity while confronting modern society and the dominant culture. I want to record them, for history and for art, at the end of the twentieth century."
The definitive account of the lynching of twenty-three-year-old Matthew Williams in Maryland, the subsequent investigation, and the legacy of "modern-day" lynchings. On December 4, 1931, a mob of white men in Salisbury, Maryland, lynched and set ablaze a twenty-three-year-old Black man named Matthew Williams. His gruesome murder was part of a wave of silent white terrorism in the wake of the stock market crash of 1929, which exposed Black laborers to white rage in response to economic anxieties. For nearly a century, the lynching of Matthew Williams has lived in the shadows of the more well-known incidents of racial terror in the deep South, haunting both the Eastern Shore and the state of Maryland as a whole. In The Silent Shore, author Charles L. Chavis Jr. draws on his discovery of previously unreleased investigative documents to meticulously reconstruct the full story of one of the last lynchings in Maryland. Bringing the painful truth of anti-Black violence to light, Chavis breaks the silence that surrounded Williams's death. Though Maryland lacked the notoriety for racial violence of Alabama or Mississippi, he writes, it nonetheless was the site of at least 40 spectacle lynchings after the abolition of slavery in 1864. Families of lynching victims rarely obtained any form of actual justice, but Williams's death would have a curious afterlife: Maryland's politically ambitious governor Albert C. Ritchie would, in an attempt to position himself as a viable challenger to FDR, become one of the first governors in the United States to investigate the lynching death of a Black person. Ritchie tasked Patsy Johnson, a member of the Pinkerton detective agency and a former prizefighter, with going undercover in Salisbury and infiltrating the mob that murdered Williams. Johnson would eventually befriend a young local who admitted to participating in the lynching and who also named several local law enforcement officers as ringleaders. Despite this, a grand jury, after hearing 124 witness statements, declined to indict the perpetrators. But this denial of justice galvanized Governor Ritchie's Interracial Commission, which would become one of the pioneering forces in the early civil rights movement in Maryland. Complicating historical narratives associated with the history of lynching in the city of Salisbury, The Silent Shore explores the immediate and lingering effect of Williams's death on the politics of racism in the United States, the Black community in Salisbury, the broader Eastern Shore, the state of Maryland, and the legacy of "modern-day lynchings."
Ranging from a short stroll to more strenuous hikes, the 25 walks in this compilation take in the stunning scenery and richness of wildlife found throughout the Lake District. Clear and easy-to-follow maps accompany each walk.
What is the origin of the stories of the Round Table, of Excalibur and the Holy Grail, of Sir Launcelot and Guinevere? And where was Camelot?King Arthur's name has echoed down the centuries, conjuring up rich images of mystery and power, chivalry and romance. But did he exist at all? There is no evidence to prove he reigned in the fifth and sixth centuries; no eye-witness accounts of his coronation and no reliable manuscripts outlining his deeds. This full-colour guide examines the facts of the legends in the tantalising puzzle of King Arthur and his knights. Learn about the origins of the Round Table, the cult of chivalry and conflict between knights, and Arthur's shape-shifting half-sister Moran le Fay. From the origins of Arthurian legend to the new phase in the Arthurian cyce in the romantic revival of the early nineteenth century, read about the tantalizing puzzle that is King Arthur.Look out for more Pitkin guides on the very best of British history, heritage and travel.
On 16 August 2012, the South African police shot dead thirty-four men and injured hundreds more, bringing to an end a week-long strike at the Lonmin platinum mine in Marikana. None of the murdered people posed a threat to any police officer. Existing studies of this nation-shaping and internationally significant event have often overlooked the experiences and perspectives of the striking miners themselves. Now, for the first time, the men’s lives – and deaths – are put at the centre of the story. Placing the strike in the context of South Africa’s long history of racial and economic exclusion, explaining how the miners came to be in Marikana, how their lives were ordinarily lived and the substance of their complaints, Julian Brown shows how the strike developed from an initial gathering into a mass movement of more than 3,000 workers. Drawing on interviews with strikers and their families, he tells the stories of those who embarked on the strike, those who were killed, and the attempts of the families of the deceased to identify and bury their dead. Brown also provides a comprehensive review of the subsequent Commission of Inquiry and points to the politics of solidarity with the Marikana miners that have emerged since.
The son of one of the greatest writers of our time-Nobel Prize winner and internationally best-selling icon Gabriel Garcia Marquez-remembers his beloved father and mother in this tender memoir about love and loss. 'It enthralled and moved me.' Salman Rushdie In March 2014, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, one of the most acclaimed writers of the twentieth century, came down with a cold. The woman who had been beside him for more than fifty years, his wife Mercedes Barcha, was not hopeful; her husband, affectionately known as "Gabo," was then nearly 87 and battling dementia. I don't think we'll get out of this one, she told their son Rodrigo. Hearing his mother's words, Rodrigo wondered, "Is this how the end begins?" To make sense of events as they unfolded, he began to write the story of Garcia Marquez's final days. The result is this intimate and honest account that not only contemplates his father's mortality but reveals his remarkable humanity. Both an illuminating memoir and a heartbreaking work of reportage, A Farewell to Gabo and Mercedes transforms this towering genius from literary creator to protagonist, and paints a rich and revelatory portrait of a family coping with loss. At its centre is a man at his most vulnerable, whose wry humour shines even as his lucidity wanes. Gabo savours affection and attention from those in his orbit, but wrestles with what he will lose-and what is already lost. Throughout his final journey is the charismatic Mercedes, his constant companion and the creative muse who was one of the foremost influences on Gabo's life and his art. Bittersweet and insightful, surprising and powerful, A Farewell to Gabo and Mercedes celebrates the formidable legacy of Rodrigo's parents, offering an unprecedented look at the private family life of a literary giant. It is at once a gift to Gabriel Garcia Marquez's readers worldwide, and a grand tribute from a writer who knew him well. |
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