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Books > History > History of specific subjects > Local history
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.
Golden Mummies of Egypt presents new insights and a rich
perspective on beliefs about the afterlife during an era when Egypt
was part of the Greek and Roman worlds (c. 300 BCE-200 CE). This
beautifully illustrated book, featuring photography by Julia
Thorne, accompanies Manchester Museum's first-ever international
touring exhibition. Golden Mummies of Egypt is a visually
spectacular exhibition that offers visitors unparalleled access to
the museum's outstanding collection of Egyptian and Sudanese
objects - one of the largest in the UK. -- .
The true story of how federal law enforcement flipped the playbook
and convicted a corrupt unit of Baltimore police. In 2015 and 2016,
Baltimore was reeling after the death of Freddie Gray in police
custody and the protests that followed. In the midst of this
unrest, a violent, highly trained, and heavily armed criminal gang
roamed the city. They robbed people, sold drugs and guns, and
divided the loot and profit among themselves. They had been doing
it for years. But these were not ordinary career criminals. They
were the Baltimore Police Department's Gun Trace Task Force (GTTF).
Formed in 2007 to get the guns and criminals responsible for
Baltimore's high crime rates off the streets, they went rogue and
abused their power to terrorize people throughout the city. On
March 1, 2017, all members of the GTTF were arrested on federal
racketeering charges. In Who Speaks for You?, Leo Wise, the lead
federal prosecutor in the case, tells you how. Wise gives an inside
look into the investigation and prosecution of this group of elite
and corrupt cops. He shares the unbelievable twists and turns of
the case, revealing not only what these officers did but how they
were brought to justice. Wise dramatically recounts how his team
put together their case, what happened during the trial and court
proceedings, and how his team successfully prosecuted these
extraordinary defendants. This is his firsthand story of a
once-in-a-generation police corruption case told by the prosecutor
who was intimately involved in every step of the investigation.
Shortlisted for the 2021 Lakeland Book of the Year Firths and
estuaries are liminal places, where land meets sea and tides meet
freshwater. Their unique ecosystems support a huge range of marine
and other wildlife: human activity too is profoundly influenced by
their waters and shores. The Solway Firth - the crooked finger of
water that both unites and divides Scotland and England - is a
beautiful yet unpredictable place and one of the
least-industrialised natural large estuaries in Europe. Its
history, geology and turbulent character have long affected the way
its inhabitants, both human and non-human, have learnt to live
along and within its ever-changing margins.
Every year, ten men from Ness, at the northern tip of the Isle of
Lewis, sail north-east for some forty miles to a remote rock called
Sulasgeir. Their mission is to catch and harvest the guga; the
almost fully grown gannet chicks nesting on the two hundred foot
high cliffs that circle the tiny island, which is barely half a
mile long. After spending a fortnight in the arduous conditions
that often prevail there, they return home with around two thousand
of the birds, pickled and salted and ready for the tables of
Nessmen and women both at home and abroad. The Guga Hunters tells
the story of the men who voyage to Sulasgeir each year and the
district they hail from, bringing out the full colour of their
lives, the humour and drama of their exploits. They speak of the
laughter that seasons their time together on Sulasgeir, of the
risks and dangers they have faced. It also provides a fascinating
insight into the social history of Ness, the culture and
way-of-life that lies behind the world of the Guga Hunters, the
timeless nature of the hunt, and reveals the hunt's connections to
the traditions of other North Atlantic countries. Told in his
district's poetry and prose, English and - occasionally - Gaelic,
Donald S. Murray shows how the spirit of a community is preserved
in this most unique of exploits.
A history of Reading's iconic gaol: architectural landmark,
cultural emblem and symbol for a community determined to cherish
the town's heritage. Layers of history and art are carefully peeled
back as Peter Stoneley reveals its past as architectural showcase
for Sir George Gilbert Scott's decorative (and expensive!) style,
location for experiments in prison reform, training ground for the
leaders of the Irish Independence movement and, of course, the
inspiration for Oscar Wilde's famous Ballad of Reading Gaol.
Bringing the narrative right up to the present day with the
discussions over its future use, the impact of the ArtAngel
exhibition and Banksy's graffiti, this book is a timely platform
for the building to tell us its story.
The builder of the White House, the hero of Aboukir Bay, a murderer
who inspired Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, a decadent society hostess...
Set in 66 Queen Street, a townhouse in Edinburgh's New Town, this
book tells the story of people and events associated with the house
for 210 years from 1790 and whose lives were empowered by the
Scottish Enlightenment. The diverse characters range from heroes to
villains, and from people of conscience to subjects of tabloid
scandal and moral prurience. Edinburgh emerges from its past to
become the intellectual, banking and professional capital of an
enlightened Scotland. The story reflects how our modern world is
shaped but above all it is about its people; some masters of their
circumstances and others prisoners
A historical overview of Mexican Americans' social and economic
experiences in Texas For hundreds of years, Mexican Americans in
Texas have fought against political oppression and exclusion--in
courtrooms, in schools, at the ballot box, and beyond. Through a
detailed exploration of this long battle for equality, this book
illuminates critical moments of both struggle and triumph in the
Mexican American experience. Martha Menchaca begins with the
Spanish settlement of Texas, exploring how Mexican Americans'
racial heritage limited their incorporation into society after the
territory's annexation. She then illustrates their political
struggles in the nineteenth century as they tried to assert their
legal rights of citizenship and retain possession of their land,
and goes on to explore their fight, in the twentieth century,
against educational segregation, jury exclusion, and housing
covenants. It was only in 1967, she shows, that the collective
pressure placed on the state government by Mexican American and
African American activists led to the beginning of desegregation.
Menchaca concludes with a look at the crucial roles that Mexican
Americans have played in national politics, education,
philanthropy, and culture, while acknowledging the important work
remaining to be done in the struggle for equality.
Essays by the foremost labor historian of the Black experience in
the Appalachian coalfields.This collection brings together nearly
three decades of research on the African American experience,
class, and race relations in the Appalachian coal industry. It
shows how, with deep roots in the antebellum era of chattel
slavery, West Virginia's Black working class gradually picked up
steam during the emancipation years following the Civil War and
dramatically expanded during the late nineteenth and early
twentieth centuries. From there, African American Workers and the
Appalachian Coal Industry highlights the decline of the region's
Black industrial proletariat under the impact of rapid
technological, social, and political changes following World War
II. It underscores how all miners suffered unemployment and
outmigration from the region as global transformations took their
toll on the coal industry, but emphasizes the disproportionately
painful impact of declining bituminous coal production on African
American workers, their families, and their communities. Joe
Trotter not only reiterates the contributions of proletarianization
to our knowledge of US labor and working-class history but also
draws attention to the gender limits of studies of Black life that
focus on class formation, while calling for new transnational
perspectives on the subject. Equally important, this volume
illuminates the intellectual journey of a noted labor historian
with deep family roots in the southern Appalachian coalfields.
What do the traditional plain-living Amish have to teach
twenty-first-century Americans in our hyper-everything world? As it
turns out, quite a lot! It sounds audacious, but it's true: the
Amish have much to teach us. It may seem surreal to turn to one of
America's most traditional groups for lessons about living in a
hyper-tech world-especially a horse-driving people who resist
"progress" by snubbing cars, public grid power, and high school
education. Still, their wisdom confirms that even when they seem so
far behind, they're out ahead of the rest of us. Having spent four
decades researching Amish communities, Donald B. Kraybill is in a
unique position to share important lessons from these fascinating
Plain people. In this inspiring book, we learn intriguing truths
about community, family, education, faith, forgiveness, aging, and
death from real Amish men and women. The Amish are ahead of us, for
example, in relying on apprenticeship education. They have also
out-Ubered Uber for nearly a century, hiring cars owned and
operated by their neighbors. Kraybill also explains how the Amish
function in modern society by rejecting new developments that harm
their community, accepting those that enhance it, and adapting
others to fit their values. Pairing storytelling with informative
and reflective passages, these twenty-two essays offer a critique
of modern culture that is provocative yet practical. In a time when
civil discourse is raw and coarse and our social fabric seems torn
asunder, What the Amish Teach Us uproots our assumptions about
progress and prods us to question why we do what we do. Essays
include: 1. Riddles: Negotiating with Modernity 2. Villages: Webs
of Well-Being 3. Community: Taming the Big "I" 4. Smallness:
Bigness Ruins Everything 5. Tolerance: A Light on a Hill 6.
Spirituality: A Back Road to Heaven 7. Family: A Deep and Durable
Bond 8. Children: At Worship, Work, and Play 9. Parenting: Raising
Sturdy Children 10. Education: The Way It Should Be 11.
Apprenticeship: An Old New Idea 12. Technology: Taming the Beast
13. Hacking: Creative Bypasses 14. Entrepreneurs: Starting Stuff
15. Patience: Slow Down and Listen 16. Limits: Less Choice, More
Joy 17. Rituals: A Natural Detox 18. Retirement: Aging in Place 19.
Forgiveness: Pathway to Healing 20. Suffering: A Higher Plan 21.
Nonresistance: No Pushback 22. Death: A Good Farewell
A well researched and intuitive study into the rise of a Yorkshire
mining town, the effects of subsequent events and crucially, the
responses of the community during the "Great Strike."
Enjoy a nostalgic look back at Allentown, Pennsylvania, during its
"Golden Age," from the late 1890s through the 1950s. During this
period, Allentown's citizens left behind their frugal Pennsylvania
German traditions to take on the social and cultural trappings of
the twentieth century. Capitalizing on a labor force swelled by an
influx of immigrants, local entrepreneurs created many new
businesses and factories. As their fortunes and aspirations grew,
these men built large mansions, hotels, and public parks. Amusement
parks sprang up, theaters were built on Hamilton Street, and
Allentown became an All-American city with an upscale future. Over
360 images of vintage postcards and memorabilia bring this exciting
time in Allentown's history to life.
Piccadilly, London's milelong western artery, was originally known
for its busy coaching inns and magnificent aristocratic palaces,
and, more recently, for its internationally renowned department
stores, theatres, restaurants and hotels. At the junction of five
major roads, Piccadilly Circus became known as the 'Hub of Empire'.
Balancing enterprise, profit and pleasure, it marks the divide
between polite society and a bustling nightlife. In this book,
London historian Stephen Hoare explores how and why 'Dilly' has
always been a haunt for pleasure seekers. It traces the development
of London's West End from its aristocratic origins right through to
its hedonistic heyday, when the Bright Young Things rubbed
shoulders with royalty, film stars, gangsters, pimps and
prostitutes. Today, Piccadilly's traditional institutions, such as
Hatchards, Fortnum and Mason, the Royal Academy and the Ritz, sit
alongside sushi bars, Viennese coffee shops and fashionable
jewellers and boutiques as the neon lights of the Circus continue
to attract visitors from across the globe.
This isn't a history of Forfar. Instead it gives readers an
excerpt, a sample, of what life was like on any given day of the
year in a community that has been both a traditional market town
and a major manufacturing centre for linen and jute. There is no
hierarchy in what has been chosen - World Wars are interspersed
with Church socials and cycling events, the affairs of Forfar
Athletic and Strathmore Cricket club, tennis and golf. The facts
and stories all have something to do with the town, and often its
place in national history. Along the way, the reader will probably
guess that the author is particularly interested in football,
cricket, politics and the Great War. The photographs are augmented
by period advertisements from local traders and tradesmen,
illustrating the development of the businesses - and the demands of
their customers - created by the rise of the major industries.
This book is the product of many years’ research by Lodge, whose Black Politics in South Africa since 1945 (1983) established him as a leading commentator on South African politics, past and present.
2021 will mark the centenary of the foundation of the Communist Party of South Africa (CPSA) and today’s South African Communist Party (SACP, founded in 1953 after the proscription of the CPSA) will be extremely fortunate to have the milestone marked by a scholarly work of this calibre. Since 1994, many memoirs have been written by communists, and private archives have been donated to university and other collections. Significant official archives have been opened to scrutiny, particularly those of South Africa and the former Soviet Union. It is as if a notoriously secretive body has suddenly become confiding and confessional! While every chapter draws upon original material of this sort, such evidence is supported, amplified, illuminated and challenged by the scholarship of others: the breadth of secondary sources used by the author reflects what may well be an unrivalled familiarity with the scholarly literature on political organisations and resistance in twentieth century South Africa.
Lodge provides a richly detailed history of the Party’s vicissitudes and victories; individuals – their ideas, attitudes and activities – are sensitively located within their context; the text provides a fascinating sociology of the South African left over time. Lodge is adept at making explicit what the key questions and issues are for different periods; and he answers these with analyses and conclusions that are judicious, clearly stated, and meticulously argued.
Without doubt, this book will become a central text for students of communism in South Africa, of the Party’s links with Russia and the socialist bloc, and of the Communist Party’s changing relations with African nationalism – before, during and after three decades of exile.
Where else but in America could a Jewish kid from Kansas, son of
self-made, entrepreneurial parents and a grandson of Russian and
Eastern European immigrants, end up as a congressman, secretary of
agriculture, and chief lobbyist for Hollywood? In Laughing at
Myself: My Education in Congress, on the Farm, and at the Movies
Dan Glickman tells his story of a classical family background,
religious heritage, and 'Midwestern-nice' roots, and how it led to
a long and successful career in public service. Dan combines a
steady sense of humor with serious reflection on his rise from the
middle of nowhere to becoming a successful US politician and the
first Jewish secretary of agriculture since Joseph served pharaoh
in biblical times. Dan defines success as a willingness to listen,
an ability to communicate ideas, and a yen for compromise. Dan has
successfully navigated the worlds of congressional politics,
cabinet-level administration, and the entertainment industry and
offers readers the many tricks of the trade he has learned over the
years, which will inform the understanding of citizens and help
aspiring politicians seeking alternatives to the current crisis of
partisanship. Dan is convinced that the toxicity seen in our
current political culture and public discourse can be mitigated by
the principles that have guided his life-a strong sense of humor
(specifically an ability to laugh at himself), respect and civility
for those who have different points of view, a belief system
founded on values based on the Golden Rule, and a steadfast
commitment to solve problems rather than create irreconcilable
conflicts. While these values form the backbone of Dan Glickman's
personal life and professional career, the real key to his success
has been resiliency-learning from adversity and creating
opportunities where none may have originally existed. Even though
you never know what's around the corner, in Laughing at Myself Dan
offers a bold affirmation that America is still a nation built on
opportunity and optimism. Laughing at Myself affirms readers in
their desire to move beyond just surviving to living life with
purpose, passion, and optimism.
This is the extraordinary story of how salt fish from Shetland
became one of the staple foods of Europe, powered an economic boom
and inspired artists, writers and musicians. It ranges from the
wild waters of the North Atlantic, the ice-filled fjords of
Greenland and the remote islands of Faroe to the dining tables of
London's middle classes, the bacalao restaurants of Spain and the
Jewish shtetls of Eastern Europe. As well as following the
historical thread and exploring how very different cultures were
drawn together by the salt fish trade, John Goodlad meets those
whose lives revolve around the industry in the twenty-first century
and addresses today's pressing themes of sustainability, climate
change and food choices.
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