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Books > History > History of specific subjects > Local history
An invaluable primary resource for understanding nineteenth-century
America. As a Georgetown resident for nearly a century, Britannia
Wellington Peter Kennon (1815 - 1911) was close to the key
political events of her time. Born into the prominent Peter family,
Kennon came into contact with the many notable historical figures
of the day who often visited Tudor Place, her home for over ninety
years. Now published for the first time, the record of her
experiences offers a unique insight into nineteenth-century
American history. Housed in the Tudor Place archives, "The
Reminiscences of Britannia Wellington Peter Kennon" is a collection
of Kennon's memories solicited and recorded by her grandchildren in
the 1890s. The text includes Kennon's memories of her mother Martha
Custis Peter and spending time at Mount Vernon with her
grandparents George and Martha Washington. It also includes her
recollections of childhood in Georgetown, life during the Civil
War, the people enslaved at Tudor Place, and daily life in
Washington, DC. Edited by Grant Quertermous, this richly
illustrated and annotated edition gives readers a greater
appreciation of life in early Georgetown. It includes a guide to
the city's streets then and now, a detailed family tree, and an
appendix of the many people Britannia encountered-a who's who of
the period. Readers will also find Britannia's narrative an
essential companion to the incredible collection of objects
preserved at Tudor Place. Notable for both its breadth and level of
detail, A Georgetown Life brings a new dimension to the study of
nineteenth-century America.
Discover hidden gems around Edinburgh 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 Edinburgh
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
A masterpiece of local history, by the Queen of the genre; Gillian
Tindall has acquired a devoted readership through her lovingly
researched works, such as the prize-winning "The House" by the
Thames and "Celestine: Voices from a French Village". A journey
through time: from a scattering of cottages along a pre-roman horse
track, to a medieval parish and staging post for travellers,
onwards into a prosperous Tudor village favoured by gentlemen for
their country seats and an 18th century resort of pleasure gardens
eventually transformed by a warren of railway lines into a thickly
populated working-class district. Fragments of this past can still
be found by the observant eye. This is one of a precious handful of
books (such as Montaillou and Akenfield) that in their precise
examination of a particular locality open our understanding of the
universal themes of the past. In this case it is Kentish Town in
London that reveals its complex secrets to us, through the
resurrection of its now buried rivers and wells, coaching house,
landlords, traders, and simple tennants.
Samora Machel (1933–1986) led his people through a war against their Portuguese colonizers and in 1975, became the first president of the People’s Republic of Mozambique.
His military successes against a colonial regime backed by South Africa, Rhodesia, the United States, and its NATO allies enhanced his reputation as a revolutionary hero.
In 1986, during the country’s civil war, Machel died in a plane crash under circumstances that remain uncertain.
On the 31st of October 1964 a very British institution took its
final bow. That was the night of the Windmill's farewell
performance and when the curtain fell for the last time on London's
world famous little theatre, and the stage door locked shut behind
its keeper, the Windmill's heart stopped beating. All that was left
was the lingering smell of a good cigar, the ghost of a fan dancer,
the last faint echoes of laughter and applause, and then darkness.
After 32 years the Windmill had breathed its last breath. Or had
it? No one could have predicted that half a century later, in the
year 2014, the world would still remember with affection the
Windmill Theatre with its famous comedians and its legendary
Windmill Girls. Fifty years on, in the public's heart, this
particular British institution "Never Closed."This full colour
hardback special edition book commemorates the Windmill on the
fifty year anniversary of the theatre's closure. With over 600
illustrations (photographs and ephemera), stories and contributions
from ex Windmillite Barry Cryer OBE, Windmill girls and boys who
danced on through the blitz and many more, this book will remind
those who were there of the phenomenon that was the Windmill, and
give those who weren't the feeling of having visited the theatre
that famously never closed.
I felt like we had failed, said director of grid operations Jim
Detmers in a pained voice. In my mind, I pictured people stranded
in elevators. I pictured people stranded in stores and checkout
lines. All I could think of was the Inconvenience, and I'm sitting
here thinking...thinking, what rock did we not look under to maybe
prevent this? As the focal point of an unprecedented power crisis
that has tarnished the Golden State, the California Independent
System Operator (California ISO) carries the mixed burden of being
a disaster survivor. Established to maintain electrical system
reliability for the world's fifth-largest economy, California ISO
has been both praised and vilified for its efforts amidst the chaos
of blackouts, price volatility, political backlash, and market
manipulations by Enron and other ruthless competitors. This book
chronicles how the California ISO came to be and what happened
during its first five years. More importantly, though, this is the
story of the people who make up California ISO and give it an
identifiable character and culture--its soul. regulatory record or
media accounts of California's unparalleled power emergency.
"Having written about New Mexico history for more than forty
years," explains the author, "it was perhaps inevitable that in
time I should publish a few articles on Billy the Kid. After all,
he is the one figure from this state's past whose name is known
around the world. The Kid's career, although astonishingly short,
nonetheless, left an indelible mark in the annals of the Old West.
And his name, William H. Bonney, alias Billy the Kid, seems locked
forever into the consciousness of the starry-eyed public. "Upon
request," the author continues, "I was able to assemble a
collection of my varied writings pertaining to some of Billy's real
or imagined deeds. Each section opens a small window on an aspect
of his tumultuous life, or casts light upon others whose fortunes
intersected with his. In this book, I have stalked Billy in an
erratic rather than a systematic way, taking pleasure merely in
adding a few new and unusual fragments to his biography. I trust
that readers who have a fascination with the history and legend of
Billy the Kid will find in these pages something of interest and
value. As Eugene Cunningham wrote more than seventy years ago, 'in
our imagination the Kid still lives--the Kid still rides.'" Marc
Simmons is a professional author and historian who has published
more than forty books on New Mexico and the American Southwest. His
popular "Trail Dust" column is syndicated in several regional
newspapers. In 1993, King Juan Carlos of Spain admitted him to the
knightly Order of Isabel la Catolica for his contributions to
Spanish colonial history.
A bestseller in England and celebrated as one of the great memoirs
in many years, The Road to Nab End is a marvelously evocative
account of growing up poor in a British mill town. From William
Woodruff's birth in 1916 (in the carding room of a cotton mill)
until he ran away to London at the age of sixteen, he lived in the
heart of Blackburn's weaving community in the north of England. But
after Lancashire's supremacy in cotton textiles ended with the
crash of 1920, his father was thrown out of work. From then on,
Billy and his family faced a life blighted by extreme poverty. For
the ordinary families of Lancashire, unemployment was an
ever-present fear: "If you worked you ate. If there was no work you
went hungry." Billy's boyhood was not all misery. Working-class
pride and culture made for tight family and neighborhood bonds and
added savor to the smallest pleasures in life. Mr. Woodruff writes
with an understated lyricism and an eye for telling details that
effortlessly pulls us into another time and place.
Originally published over 100 years ago, LIFE AMONG THE APACHES is
John Cremony's absorbing eyewitness description of pre-reservation
Apache life and culture. Through his years in the military Cremony
fought in the war with Mexico and participated in many Indian
campaigns in the southwest deserts. In 1848 he served as Spanish
interpreter for the U. S. ? Mexico Boundary Commission where he
learned to speak Apache and subsequently wrote a glossary and
grammar of the language. Although he wrote this book with the
intent to encourage more effective military suppression of the
intimidating Apaches, this historical document has all of the
fast-paced action and excitement of a Wild West novel.
History at the intersection of healthcare, labor, and civil rights.
The union of hospital workers usually referred to as the 1199 sits
at the intersection of three of the most important topics in US
history: organized labor, health care, and civil rights. John
Hennen's book explores the union's history in Appalachia, a region
that is generally associated with extractive industries but has
seen health care grow as a share of the overall economy. With a
multiracial, largely female, and notably militant membership, 1199
was at labor's vanguard in the 1970s, and Hennen traces its efforts
in hospitals, nursing homes, and healthcare centers in West
Virginia, eastern Kentucky, and Appalachian Ohio. He places these
stories of mainly low-wage women workers within the framework of
shake-ups in the late industrial and early postindustrial United
States, relying in part on the words of Local 1199 workers and
organizers themselves. Both a sophisticated account of an
overlooked aspect of Appalachia's labor history and a key piece of
context for Americans' current concern with the status of
"essential workers," Hennen's book is a timely contribution to the
fields of history and Appalachian studies and to the study of
social movements.
A unique six-year compilation of British rural news, interspersed
with the author's own observations on birds, mammals, fish, and
aspects of Britain's countryside today. Most rural subjects are
covered in a comprehensive snapshot of country life at the start of
the new Millenium. From December 1999 to February 2006, scores of
different issues are compressed into hundreds of bite-sized, easily
digested articles. From angling to animal rights campaigns,
foxhunting to farming, game shooting to wildlife conservation, a
diverse collection of views, comment and advice is presented. The
batty and the bizarre also get a look-in, as do the controversial
and the downright crazy. With its packed pages, A Country Pillow
Book could become a bedside companion for the rural researcher or a
useful tool for the country-loving insomniac.
St Clement Danes, now the central RAF church in the Strand, is at
the heart of the capital, sandwiched between `theatreland' and
legal London, and connecting the dual historic centres of
Westminster and the City. This book reveals the vibrant cultural,
economic, political and religious life of the parish from the
Restoration to its abolition in 1900.This period was one of rapid
urban transformation in the parish, as the large aristocratic
riverside houses of the 17th century gave way to a bustling centre
of commerce and culture in the 18th. The slums that developed in
the 19th century were then swept away by the grand constructions of
the Royal Courts of Justice and the Victoria Embankment, followed
by the new thoroughfares of Aldwych and Kingsway, which are still
the major landmarks in the area.Characterised by its contrasts, St
Clement Danes was home to a mix of rich and poor residents,
including lawyers, artisans, servants and prostitutes. The history
of this fascinating area introduces a cast of characters ranging
from the Twinings tea-trading family, to the rowdy theatre-going
butchers of Clare Market and from the famous Samuel Johnson, to the
infamous pornographers of Holywell Street. This book also unpicks
the complicated structure of local government in the parish, and
provides detailed accounts of the parish schools and charities.
Lochmaben is situated in the 'debatable lands' on the main route
into Scotland north from Carlisle. The area has historic
connections to the family of Robert the Bruce. This close-knit
community has lost several of its basic amenities in recent years
but the recent community buyout of the Castle Loch has been a great
success with many volunteers coming together. 'Lochmaben Voices', a
project to collect the memories of the town's residents by
recording interviews with them, was set up in 2011. The eldest
interviewee was born in the 1920s and the youngest in 2000s and the
transcriptions reflect the various accents heard in the region. For
this book, three broad categories were identified: Lochmaben, both
as a physical place and a community; personal recollections of
living in the town; memories of the town during the Second World
War, including military connections.
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