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Books > Sport & Leisure > Transport: general interest
The voyage of the 'coffin ship' Ajax, from Dublin to Grosse Ile,
the Canadian quarantine station as described in the contemporary
diary of one of the passengers, Robert Whyte. Whyte was a
Protestant gentleman of education and position, as well as being a
professional writer who intended to publish his diary. The diary
appeared in 1848. It is signed in the author's own handwriting and
features vivid descriptions of the spectacular scenery along the
way and the striking delineations of the passengers, the crew and
the suffering travellers.
This well-illustrated work by a distinguished social historian
narrates the epic of the great age of railway history and
development. It sets this in the context of the social history and
its contemporary impact on society as a whole. It shows
authoritatively how the railways revolutionised everything - being
the most spectacular change of the Industrial Revolution. This
impact continues to shape our life today, as the railways
transformed the economic life of whole nations and transformed the
quality of life itself. The author shows how railways helped break
down class barriers, and established quite new ones which persist
today.;The railways radically altered the pattern of leisure, too,
in upper, middle, and working class life. And they made possible
the growth of vast suburban areas, and ushered in the computer age.
In so many ways the railways formed the social structures of
today's industrial advances, as the author shows. This is a very
readable and highly individual social history full of valuable
insights.
This well-illustrated work by a distinguished social historian
narrates the epic of the great age of railway history and
development. It sets this in the context of the social history and
its contemporary impact on society as a whole. It shows
authoritatively how the railways revolutionised everything - being
the most spectacular change of the Industrial Revolution. This
impact continues to shape our life today, as the railways
transformed the economic life of whole nations and transformed the
quality of life itself. The author shows how railways helped break
down class barriers, and established quite new ones which persist
today. The railways radically altered the pattern of leisure, too,
in upper, middle, and working class life. And they made possible
the growth of vast suburban areas, and ushered in the computer age.
In so many ways the railways formed the social structures of
today's industrial advances, as the author shows. This is a very
readable and highly individual social history full of valuable
insights.
Over many centuries, wars have been lost due to lack of food and
proper supplies for the troops. Without a way to survive, the
troops had to retreat rather than stay and fight. The same need
applied to ships at sea. "New York to Okinawa Sloooooowly" is the
true story of a soldier who served on one of the supply ships that
were vital to the survival of the troops in battle during Wolrd War
II.John Barnes graduated from high school in 1941. While many of
the kids in his class headed off to college, that was not John's
plan. He wanted to join the marines, but when he discovered that
his mother would not sign the papers, he set his sights on the US
Coast Guard, the same service as his favorite cousin, Frank. After
his basic training, he and his shipmates headed out on a journey
that would ultimately take them to Okinawa. Through the severe
storms, typhoons and enemy aircraft attacks, they got the job done
come hell or high water.
Beginning in 2010, Essex, Massachusetts shipbuilder Harold Burnham
took on the challenge of constructing a wooden sailing vessel using
traditional techniques. He cut the trees himself from his woodlot,
and milled them himself at his boatyard. Using volunteer labor from
hundreds of friends, acquaintances, and community members, and
recycled and repurposed materials he constructed, in just under a
year, the schooner Ardelle at a cost of less than $20,000. The
Shipwriight and the Schooner is an exploration into traditional New
England shipbuilding, and it is a journey of discovery for both the
author, who has spent his life building wooden boats, and the
photographer, who had his first experiences in the boatyard. The
book chronicles in words and stunning color photographs the
construction, launch, and subsequent season of sailing aboard the
Ardelle. The vessel is a testament to community involvement and a
badge of honor in the age of mass production. It is a reminder of
simpler times, when things were meticulously crafted by hand, and
of a lifeway that has mostly vanished.
Throughout the 1920s and 1930s, the newly formed country of
Czechoslovakia built an ambitious national rail network out of what
remained of the obsolete Habsburg system. While conceived as a
means of knitting together a young and ethnically diverse
nation-state, these railways were by their very nature a
transnational phenomenon, and as such they simultaneously
articulated and embodied a distinctive Czechoslovak
cosmopolitanism. Drawing on evidence ranging from government
documents to newsreels to train timetables, Iron Landscapes gives a
nuanced account of how planners and authorities balanced these two
imperatives, bringing the cultural history of infrastructure into
dialogue with the spatial history of Central Europe.
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