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Books > Humanities > History > History of specific subjects > Social & cultural history
The shift in temporal modalities of Romantic Theatre was the
consequence of internal as well as external developments:
internally, the playwright was liberated from the old imperative of
"Unity of Time" and the expectation that the events of the play
must not exceed the hours of a single day; externally, the new
social and cultural conformance to the time-keeping schedules of
labour and business that had become more urgent with the industrial
revolution. In reviewing the theatre of the Romantic era, this
monograph draws attention to the ways in which theatre reflected
the pervasive impact of increased temporal urgency in social and
cultural behaviour. The contribution this book makes to the study
of drama in the early nineteenth century is a renewed emphasis on
time as a prominent element in Romantic dramaturgy, and a
reappraisal of the extensive experimentation on how time
functioned.
Battles were fought in many colonies during the American
Revolution, but New Jersey was home to more sustained and intense
fighting over a longer period of time. The nine essays in The
American Revolution in New Jersey, depict the many challenges New
Jersey residents faced at the intersection of the front lines and
the home front. Unlike other colonies, New Jersey had significant
economic power in part because of its location between the major
ports of New York and Philadelphia. New people and new ideas
arriving in the colony fostered tensions between Loyalists and
Patriots that were at the core of the Revolution. Enlightenment
thinking shaped the minds of New Jersey's settlers as they began to
question the meaning of freedom in the colony. Yeoman farmers
demanded ownership of the land they worked on and members of the
growing Quaker denomination decried the evils of slavery and
spearheaded the abolitionist movement in the state. When larger
portions of New Jersey were occupied by British forces early in the
war, the unity of the state was crippled, pitting neighbor against
neighbor for seven years. The essays in this collection identify
and explore the interconnections between the events on the
battlefield and the daily lives of ordinary colonists during the
Revolution. Using a wide historical lens, the contributors to The
American Revolution in New Jersey capture the decades before and
after the conflict as they interpret the causes of the war and the
consequences of New Jersey's reaction to the Revolution.
Inspired by a true story, this graphic novel follows a Jewish immigrant’s efforts to help his Japanese neighbors while they're incarcerated during World War II.
An evocative and beautiful graphic novel revealing the truth of one man’s extraordinary efforts, We Are Not Strangers converges two perspectives into a single portrait of a community’s struggle with race, responsibility, and what it truly means to be an American.
Marco Calvo always knew his grandfather, affectionately called Papoo, was a good man. After all, he was named for him. A first-generation Jewish immigrant, Papoo was hardworking, smart, and caring.
When Papoo peacefully passes away, Marco expects the funeral to be simple. But he' caught off guard by something unusual. Among his close family and friends are mourners he doesn’t recognize—Japanese American families—and no one is quite sure who they are or why they are at the service. How did these strangers know his grandfather so well?
Set in the multicultural Central District of Seattle during World War II and inspired by author Josh Tuininga’s family experiences, We Are Not Strangers explores a unique situation of Japanese and Jewish Americans living side by side in a country at war.
Following Papoo’s perspective, we learn of his life as a Sephardic Jewish immigrant and his friendship with Sam Akiyama, a Japanese man whose life is upended by Executive Order 9066, which authorized the incarceration of nearly all Japanese Americans and residents of Japanese ancestry. Determined to keep Sam’s business afloat while he and his family are unjustly imprisoned, he and Papoo create a plan that will change the Akiyama’s lives forever.
Touts is a historical account of the troubled formation of a
colonial labor market in the Gulf of Guinea and a major
contribution to the historiography of indentured labor, which has
relatively few reference points in Africa. The setting is West
Africa's largest island, Fernando Po or Bioko in today's Equatorial
Guinea, 100 kilometers off the coast of Nigeria. The Spanish ruled
this often-ignored island from the mid-nineteenth century until
1968. A booming plantation economy led to the arrival of several
hundred thousand West African, principally Nigerian, contract
workers on steamships and canoes. In Touts, Enrique Martino traces
the confusing transition from slavery to other labor regimes,
paying particular attention to the labor brokers and their
financial, logistical, and clandestine techniques for bringing
workers to the island. Martino combines multi-sited archival
research with the concept of touts as "lumpen-brokers" to offer a
detailed study of how commercial labor relations could develop,
shift and collapse through the recruiters' own techniques, such as
large wage advances and elaborate deceptions. The result is a
pathbreaking reconnection of labor mobility, contract law, informal
credit structures and exchange practices in African history.
Concern about the 'decline of community', and the theme of
'community spirit', are internationally widespread in the modern
world. The English past has featured many representations of
declining community, expressed by those who lamented its loss in
quite different periods and in diverse genres. This book analyses
how community spirit and the passing of community have been
described in the past - whether for good or ill - with an eye to
modern issues, such as the so-called 'loneliness epidemic' or the
social consequences of alternative structures of community. It does
this through examination of authors such as Thomas Hardy, James
Wentworth Day, Adrian Bell and H.E. Bates, by appraising detective
fiction writers, analysing parish magazines, considering the letter
writing of the parish poor in the 18th and 19th centuries, and
through the depictions of realist landscape painters such as George
Morland. K. D. M. Snell addresses modern social concerns, showing
how many current preoccupations had earlier precedents. In
presenting past representations of declining communities, and the
way these affected individuals of very different political
persuasions, the book draws out lessons and examples from the past
about what community has meant hitherto, setting into context
modern predicaments and judgements about 'spirits of community'
today.
While in the last twenty years perceptions of Europe have been
subjected to detailed historical scrutiny, American images of the
Old World have been almost wantonly neglected. As a response to
this scholarly desideratum, this pioneering study analyzes
neoconservative images of Europe since the 1970s on the basis of an
extensive collection of sources. With fresh insight into the
evolution of American images of Europe as well as into the history
of U.S. neoconservatism, the book appeals to readers familiar and
new to the subject matters alike. The study explores how, beginning
in the early 1970s, ideas of the United States as an anti-Europe
have permeated neoconservative writing and shaped their self-images
and political agitation. The choice of periodization and
investigated personnel enables the author to refute popular claims
that widespread Euro-critical sentiment in the United Studies
during the early 21st century - considerably ignited by
neoconservatives - was a distinct post-Cold War phenomenon.
Instead, the analysis reveals that the fiery rhetoric in the
context of the Iraq War debates was merely the climax of a
decade-old development.
'This book deserves a place in your bookcase next to Harari's
Sapiens. It's every bit as fascinating and is surely destined to be
just as successful' Julian Norton An addictively free-ranging
survey of the massive impact that the domesticated ungulates of the
genus Ovis have had on human history. From the plains of ancient
Mesopotamia to the rolling hills of medieval England to the vast
sheep farms of modern-day Australia, sheep have been central to the
human story. Starting with our Neolithic ancestors' first forays
into sheep-rearing nearly 10,000 years ago, these remarkable
animals have fed us, clothed us, changed our diet and languages,
helped us to win wars, decorated our homes, and financed the
conquest of large swathes of the earth. Enormous fortunes and new,
society-changing industries have been made from the fleeces of
sheep, and cities shaped by shepherds' markets and meat trading.
Sally Coulthard weaves the rich and fascinating story of sheep into
a vivid and colourful tapestry, thickly threaded with engaging
anecdotes and remarkable ovine facts, whose multiple strands
reflect the deep penetration of these woolly animals into every
aspect of human society and culture. REVIEWS: 'Sally Coulthard's
story of how sheep shaped the human story is full of rich pickings
... She weaves together a detailed story that is full of
fascinating social history' Independent 'I absolutely LOVE this ...
It's a perfect light-hearted informative history' Philippa Sandall
'This is such a great book: I would recommend it to anyone who has
an interest in history or sheep - or simply a passion for reading
captivating and high-quality prose. It's extremely well researched
and written in a very engaging style. It trumped my Clive James
memoir, which I put to one side. I read A Short History of the
World According to Sheep within two days. (And that's impressive
for me. It usually takes me weeks to finish a book.) You'd never
imagine the role sheep have played across the centuries: from the
egregious rampaging of Genghis Khan to the success of the Medici
dynasty during the Renaissance to the Scottish Highland Clearances
of the eighteenth century. The trade in their wool has financed
wars; lanolin from their fleeces has fuelled the huge industry in
beauty products, and ovine intestines even had a hand in
controlling both birth rates and the spread of syphilis. And that's
before we get onto jumpers. Or cheese...' Julian Norton, the
Yorkshire Vet
This volume aims to provide an interdisciplinary examination of
various facets of being alone in Greco-Roman antiquity. Its focus
is on solitude, social isolation and misanthropy, and the differing
perceptions and experiences of and varying meanings and
connotations attributed to them in the ancient world. Individual
chapters examine a range of ancient contexts in which problems of
solitude, loneliness, isolation and seclusion arose and were
discussed, and in doing so shed light on some of humankind's
fundamental needs, fears and values.
The defeat of George Armstrong Custer and the Seventh Cavalry at
the Battle of the Little Bighorn was big news in 1876. Newspaper
coverage of the battle initiated hot debates about whether the U.S.
government should change its policy toward American Indians and who
was to blame for the army's loss--the latter, an argument that
ignites passion to this day. In "Shooting Arrows and Slinging Mud,
"James E. Mueller draws on exhaustive research of period newspapers
to explore press coverage of the famous battle. As he analyzes a
wide range of accounts--some grim, some circumspect, some even
laced with humor--Mueller offers a unique take on the dramatic
events that so shook the American public.
Among the many myths surrounding the Little Bighorn is that
journalists of that time were incompetent hacks who, in response to
the stunning news of Custer's defeat, called for bloodthirsty
revenge against the Indians and portrayed the "boy general" as a
glamorous hero who had suffered a martyr's death. Mueller argues
otherwise, explaining that the journalists of 1876 were not
uniformly biased against the Indians, and they did a credible job
of describing the battle. They reported facts as they knew them,
wrote thoughtful editorials, and asked important questions.
Although not without their biases, journalists reporting on the
Battle of the Little Bighorn cannot be credited--or faulted--for
creating the legend of Custer's Last Stand. Indeed, as Mueller
reveals, after the initial burst of attention, these journalists
quickly moved on to other stories of their day. It would be art and
popular culture--biographies, paintings, Wild West shows, novels,
and movies--that would forever embed the Last Stand in the American
psyche.
Women Activists between War and Peace employs a comparative
approach in exploring women's political and social activism across
the European continent in the years that followed the First World
War. It brings together leading scholars in the field to discuss
the contribution of women's movements in, and individual female
activists from, Austria, Bulgaria, Finland, France, Germany, Great
Britain, Hungary, Russia and the United States. The book contains
an introduction that helpfully outlines key concepts and broader,
European-wide issues and concerns, such as peace, democracy and the
role of the national and international in constructing the new,
post-war political order. It then proceeds to examine the nature of
women's activism through the prism of five pivotal topics: *
Suffrage and nationalism * Pacifism and internationalism *
Revolution and socialism * Journalism and print media * War and the
body A timeline and illustrations are also included in the book,
along with a useful guide to further reading. This is a vitally
important text for all students of women's history,
twentieth-century Europe and the legacy of the First World War.
Youth and Rock in the Soviet Bloc explores the rise of youth as
consumers of popular culture and the globalization of popular music
in Russia and Eastern Europe. This collection of essays challenges
assumptions that Communist leaders and Western-influenced youth
cultures were inimically hostile to one another. While initially
banning Western cultural trends like jazz and rock-and-roll,
Communist leaders accommodated elements of rock and pop music to
develop their own socialist popular music. They promoted organized
forms of leisure to turn young people away from excesses of style
perceived to be Western. Popular song and officially sponsored rock
and pop bands formed a socialist beat that young people listened
and danced to. Young people attracted to the music and subcultures
of the capitalist West still shared the values and behaviors of
their peers in Communist youth organizations. Despite problems
providing youth with consumer goods, leaders of Soviet bloc states
fostered a socialist alternative to the modernity the capitalist
West promised. Underground rock musicians thus shared assumptions
about culture that Communist leaders had instilled. Still,
competing with influences from the capitalist West had its limits.
State-sponsored rock festivals and rock bands encouraged a spirit
of rebellion among young people. Official perceptions of what
constituted culture limited options for accommodating rock and pop
music and Western youth cultures. Youth countercultures that
originated in the capitalist West, like hippies and punks,
challenged the legitimacy of Communist youth organizations and
their sponsors. Government media and police organs wound up
creating oppositional identities among youth gangs. Failing to
provide enough Western cultural goods to provincial cities helped
fuel resentment over the Soviet Union's capital, Moscow, and
encourage support for breakaway nationalist movements that led to
the Soviet Union's collapse in 1991. Despite the Cold War, in both
the Soviet bloc and in the capitalist West, political elites
responded to perceived threats posed by youth cultures and music in
similar manners. Young people participated in a global youth
culture while expressing their own local views of the world.
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