Best of
18th-Century

1995

The Many Lives & Secret Sorrows of Josephine B.


Sandra Gulland - 1995
    is the first in a trilogy of fictional novels tracing the actual rise of a young European noblewoman who would one day stand next to Napoleon. From the heartbreak of lost loves to the horror of revolution to the hope of new days, it's an intimate epic any romance lover will love.

The Prospect Before Her: A History of Women in Western Europe, 1500 - 1800


Olwen H. Hufton - 1995
    How did women in 16th century western Europe cope with the consequences of being considered inherently sinful--as well as being legally and economically subordinate to their fathers, husbands, brothers, and sons? What might become of a woman unable to raise a dowry? What were the difficulties faced by spinsters, single mothers, and widows? In this brilliant investigation into the lives of women from all social strata, Hufton leads us from poor-house to palazzo, from cradle to grave, illuminating what it meant to be female in western Europe during the years 1500 to 1800.

With Musket, Canon And Sword: Battle Tactics Of Napoleon And His Enemies


Brent Nosworthy - 1995
    Battle Tactics of Napoleon and His Enemies

Frederick the Great: A Military History


Dennis E. Showalter - 1995
    Famed for his military successes and domestic reforms, his campaigns were a watershed in the history of Europe - securing Prussia's place as a continental power and inaugurating a new pattern of total war that was to endure until 1916. However, much myth surrounds this enigmatic man - his personality and his role as politician, warrior and king. Showalter's cleverly written book provides a refreshing, multidimensional depiction of Frederick the Great and an objective, detailed reappraisal of his military, political and social achievements.Early chapters set the scene with an excellent summary of 18th century Europe - The Age of Reason; an analysis of the character, composition and operating procedures of the Prussian army; and explore Frederick's personality as a young man. Later chapters examine his stunning victories at Rossbach and Leuthen, his defeats at Prague and Kolin and Prussia's emergence as a key European power.Written with style and pace, this book offers brilliant insights into the political and military history of the 18th century, and one of history's most famous rulers.

Black London: Life Before Emancipation


Gretchen Holbrook Gerzina - 1995
    Because of a paucity of sources from blacks themselves, Gerzina had to rely primarily on glimpses through white eyes, especially those of antislavery advocate Granville Sharp. Gerzina is quite adept at culling evidence of a rich, complex black life, with significant interaction (and intermarriage) with the white community. Although subjected to much discrimination, London blacks never suffered as much as their American counterparts. The author rightly concludes that blacks have played an important role in the life of London for much of its history. A very valuable work; highly recommended for major libraries.

The Female Thermometer: Eighteenth-Century Culture and the Invention of the Uncanny


Terry Castle - 1995
    The Female Thermometer brings together Castle's essays on the phantasmagoric side of eighteenth-century literature and culture. Taking as her emblem the fanciful female thermometer, an imaginary instrument invented by eighteenth-century satirists to measure levels of female sexual arousal, Castle explores what she calls the impinging strangeness of the eighteenth-century imagination--the ways in which the rationalist imperatives of the age paradoxically worked to produce what Freud would later call the uncanny. In essays on doubling and fantasy in the novels of Defoe and Richardson, sexual impersonators and the dream-like world of the eighteenth-century masquerade, magic-lantern shows, automata, and other surreal inventions of Enlightenment science, and the hallucinatory obsessions of Gothic fiction, Castle offers a haunting portrait of a remarkable epoch. Her collection explores the links between material culture, gender, and the rise of modern forms and formulas of subjectivity, effectively rewriting the cultural history of modern Europe from a materialist and feminist perspective.

An Ottoman Statesman in War & Peace: Ahmed Resmi Efendi, 1700-1783


Virginia H. Aksan - 1995
    Subjects touched upon include career development and patronage in the central bureaucracy, increasing knowledge and interest in European diplomacy, and the impact of war on traditional attitudes. Of particular interest is the section on the 1768-74 Russo-Turkish War, a traumatic awakening for the Ottomans, who yielded significant territory, but were also faced with the necessity of reconstructing a polity and ideology which no longer produced results on the battlefield. Ahmed Resmi was the first of a new generation of statesmen who saw real virtue in the rationalization of war and the need for peace within prescribed borders.

Warrior Mountains Folklore: Oral History Interviews


Rickey Butch Walker - 1995
    No price can be put on the stories that he recorded. He captured snapshots of Americana and family history that would have been lost forever. These historical sketches and photographs will be revered forever by the descendants of the families who lived on mountain farms in one of Alabama's most rugged back country. His down-to-earth style of writing is reminiscent of summer afternoons that I have spent in a front porch chair captivated and fascinated by listening to old timers telling of the old days and the old ways. My, the world has changed and maybe not for the better.Lamar Marshall, Cultural Heritage Director, Wild South

William Bartram on the Southeastern Indians


William Bartram - 1995
    Waselkov and Kathryn E. Holland Braund pull together from a variety of published and archival sources Bartram's observations on Southeastern Indians, particularly the Creeks, Seminoles, and Cherokees. . . . With this comprehensive compendium, the scope of Bartram's contributions to the fields of ethnohistory, anthropology, and historical archaeology can finally be understood."-Mississippi Quarterly "An exemplary work. . . . Waselkov and Braund have given scholars and fans of Bartram an invaluable source of his writing on the southeastern Indians and the tools and information with which to interpret and use his work."-American Indian Culture and Research Journal William Bartram on the Southeastern Indians is essential reading for anyone interested in the Native American Southeast. . . . As a primary source, the book is an invaluable collection of information; as a scholarly work, it is unparalleled in its informed presentation and critical review of Bartram's writings."-North Carolina Historical Review Gregory A. Waselkov is a professor of anthropology and director of the Center for Archaeological Studies at the University of South Alabama. He is the author of Old Mobile Archaeology and the coeditor (with Bonnie L. Gums) of Plantation Archaeology at Riviere aux Chiens, Ca. 1725-1848. Kathryn E. Holland Braund is an associate professor of history at Auburn University and the author of Deerskins and Duffels: The Creek Indian Trade with Anglo-America, 1685-1815 (Nebraska 1993).

The Art of Dress: Fashion in England and France 1750 to 1820


Aileen Ribeiro - 1995
    It is also, however, the art that relates most closely to our lives, both as reflection of our self-image and, in the words of Louis XIV, as the mirror of history. This text examines English and French fashion from 1750 to 1820 by studying the art of the period and it shows how changes in dress reflected social, political and cultural developments in the two countries.

The War of American Independence 1775-1783


Stephen Conway - 1995
    Localized at first, the trouble spread and eventually took on the character of a world war. By 1783, Britain had been forced to acknowledge the loss of these colonies and a new polity--the United Statesof America--was born. Conway examines the causes of the conflict and develops an understanding of the war itself that is both global and contemporary. He places the Anglo-American struggle in its broadest possible context by taking account of its Caribbean, European, Indian, and even Africandimensions.

Italian Genealogical Records: How to Use Italian Civil, Ecclesiastical & Other Records in Family History Research


Trafford R. Cole - 1995
    In this book, the author discusses the history and development of Italian record keeping, providing reproductions of typical records and a complete translation and thorough explanation of each. Among the many other topics covered in this book are the significance of Italian surnames and the relevance of Italian noble families in the search for Italian ancestors.

The Military Revolution Debate: Readings On The Military Transformation Of Early Modern Europe


Clifford J. Rogers - 1995
    Scholars have long sought to explain the massive changes in European military techniques and technologies that took place between the end of the Middle Ages and the beginning of the industrial age—changes that transformed the armies and navies of the West into the most powerful war-making entities the world had ever known.Historians have disagreed about and vigorously debated the importance of these changes for European politics, for the process of state formation, for the rise of the West, and for warfare itself. This book brings together, for the first time, the classic articles that began and have shaped this debate, adding important new essays by eminent historians of early modern Europe to further this important scholarly interchange. The contributors consider topics ranging from the battlefield to the gunmaker’s workshop, from England to India, and from the fourteenth to the eighteenth centuries. The Military Revolution Debate will be required reading for anyone interested in what is undoubtedly one of the hottest areas in military history today.

Torrid Zones: Maternity, Sexuality, and Empire in Eighteenth-Century English Narratives


Felicity Nussbaum - 1995
    Describing how women's reproductive labor was harnessed to that task, Nussbaum explores issues such as the production of life, of goods, and of desire. She also considers a variety of cultural practices (usually construed as exotic) in England and the empire, including polygamy, infanticide, prostitution, homoeroticism, and arranged marriages.Torrid Zones includes new readings of significant texts by and about female subjects, including novels by Defoe, Richardson, Johnson, Cleland, Lennox, Sarah Scott, Frances Sheridan, and Phebe Gibbes. It also considers the more broadly defined texts of culture such as travel narratives, medical documents, legal records, and engravings."I take as a central metaphor for the consideration of maternity and sexuality the concept of torrid zones, both the geographical torrid zones of the territory between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn, and the torrid zone mapped onto the human body, especially the female body. A premise of my study is that the contrasts among the torrid, temperate, and frigid zones of the globe are formative in imagining that a sexualized woman of empire is distinct from domestic English womanhood. The general category of 'woman' muddles the binaries between mother and whore, self and Other, center and periphery."—from the Introduction

John Singleton Copley in America


Carrie Rebora Barratt - 1995
    This volume, which accompanies a major exhibition of Copley's work organized by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, focuses on the paintings, miniatures and pastels which Copley produced before he moved to London in 1774.

The Caddo Indians: Tribes at the Convergence of Empires, 1542-1854


F. Todd Smith - 1995
    That encounter marked a turning point for this centuries-old people, whose history from then on would be dominated by the interaction of the native confederacies with the empires of various European adventurers and settlers.Much has been written about the confrontations of Euro-Americans with Native Americans, but most of it has focused on the Anglo-Indian relations of the eastern part of the continent or on the final phases of the western wars. This thorough and engaging history is the first to focus intensively on the Caddos of the Texas-Louisiana border area. Primarily from the perspective of the Caddos themselves, it traces the development and effect of relations over the three hundred years from the first meeting with the Spaniards until the resettlement of the tribes on the Brazos Reserve in 1854.In an impressive work of scholarship and lucid writing, F. Todd Smith chronicles all three of the Caddo confederacies–Kadohadacho, Hasinai, and Natchitoches–as they consolidated into a single tribe to face the waves of soldiers, traders, and settlers from the empires of Spain, France, the United States, Mexico, and the Republic of Texas. It describes the delicate balance the Caddos struck with the various nations claiming the region and how that gradually evolved into a less beneficial relationship. Caught in the squeeze between Euro-American nations, the Caddos eventually sacrificed their independence and much of their culture to gain the benefits offered by the invaders. Falling victim to swindlers, they at last lost their lands and were moved to a reservation. This intriguing new view of a little-known aspect of history will fascinate those interested in the culture and fate of American Indians. Thorough in its research and comprehensive in scope, it offers valuable insight into the differing approaches of the various European and American nations to the native peoples and a compelling understanding of the futility of the efforts of even some of the most sophisticated tribes in coping successfully with the changes wrought.

Crimes of Perception


Leonard George - 1995
    -- Stanley Krippner

Life in Early Philadelphia: Documents from the Revolutionary and Early National Periods


Billy Gordon Smith - 1995
    Life in Early Philadelphia can contribute much to a reasoned discussion by giving readers the rare opportunity to interpret and reconstruct life in the country's premier urban center at a time when Americans struggled to establish their independence and to create a new nation. Covering the period from about 1775 to 1810, these remarkable documents reveal glimpses of the lives of everyday men and women--from the impoverished, imprisoned, and enslaved to the middling sort and the wealthy. Each document is prefaced by a helpful introduction and is extensively annotated. A general introduction, glossary, bibliography, and guide to further reading make the book ideal for students and general readers. Taken as a whole, this collection reveals much about the shaping of American society.

The Forbidden Best-Sellers of Pre-Revolutionary France


Robert Darnton - 1995
    Robert Darnton explores the cultural and political significance of these "bad" books and introduces readers to three of the most influential illegal best-sellers, from which he includes substantial excerpts. Winner of the 1995 National Book Critics Circle Award for criticism.

The People's Rising: Wexford, 1798


Daniel Gahan - 1995
    The story of this tragic and heroic episode in Irish history, in which as many as 30,000 people may have died, is told with authority, passion and attention to detail.

Sexual Slang: A Compendium of Offbeat Words and Colorful Phrases from Shakespeare to Today


Alan Richter - 1995
    As entertaining as it is informative, Sexual Slang is packed with surprising facts, meanings, and insights sure to liven up anyone's language.

Three Novels: The Blue Flower; The Bookshop; Offshore


Penelope Fitzgerald - 1995
    The Blue Flower: Chosen by the New York Times Book Review as one of the eleven best books of 1997, this magical novel recounts the curious obsession of the Romantic poet Novalis for his one "true philosophy" -- the plain and simple twelve-year-old Sophie. "A masterpiece. . . How does she do it?" (A. S. Byatt) "Quite astonishing . . . Her greatest triumph" (New York Times Book Review). The Bookshop: In 1959, Florence Green, a kindhearted widow with a small inheritance, risks everything to open a bookshop -- the only bookshop -- in the seaside town of Hardborough. She must contend with a leaky roof, a poltergeist, and, what's more, ruthless opposition from the self-proclaimed first lady of culture, Violet Gamart. "A brilliant little book" (Boston Globe). Offshore: Winner of the Booker Prize, this acclaimed novel features an eccentric cast of characters living in houseboats on the Thames, rising and falling with the great river's tides. "The novelistic equivalent of a Turner watercolor" (Washington Post).

The Emergence of the Eastern Powers, 1756-1775


H.M. Scott - 1995
    Eastern Europe became pre-eminent and during the 1770s, Poland was partitioned for the first time by its three neighbors, and two--Russia and Austria--also seized territory from the Ottoman empire. Europe's political center of gravity moved sharply eastwards, and by the later 1770s Russia was emerging as the leading continental state. Based on sources in six countries, this study provides the first survey of these crucial events.

Women Before the Bar: Gender, Law, and Society in Connecticut, 1639-1789


Cornelia Hughes Dayton - 1995
    Weaving the stories of individual women together with systematic analysis of gendered litigation patterns, Cornelia Dayton argues that women's relation to the courtroom scene in early New England shifted from one of integration in the mid-seventeenth century to one of marginality by the eve of the Revolution.Using the court records of New Haven, which originally had the most Puritan-dominated legal regime of all the colonies, Dayton argues that Puritanism's insistence on godly behavior and communal modes of disputing initially created unusual opportunities for women's voices to be heard within the legal system. But women's presence in the courts declined significantly over time as Puritan beliefs lost their status as the organizing principles of society, as legal practice began to adhere more closely to English patriarchal models, as the economy became commercialized, and as middle-class families developed an ethic of privacy. By demonstrating that the early eighteenth century was a crucial locus of change in law, economy, and gender ideology, Dayton's findings argue for a reconceptualization of women's status in colonial New England and for a new periodization of women's history.

Haydn, Mozart and the Viennese School: 1740-1780


Daniel Heartz - 1995
    In this fascinating book, Daniel Heartz shows how it actually grew out of Italian Catholicism, combined with current French fashions and local traditions. Haydn and Mozart, who stand at the very center of this study, were viewed as the highest peaks on the musical horizon by their contemporaries. It is that world of perception that Professor Heartz recreates, calling upon the visual arts and the architecture of the period to support his thesis. His focus is on music as a part of cultural history in a particular time and place. Stylistic terms and a priori periods mean less to him than the common denominators of geography, the arts, and political history.The treasure trove of hitherto unseen documents that Professor Heartz uncovered while working in the Viennese archives bears witness to the enormously rich musical life of Vienna during the four decades' reign of the Empress Maria Theresa. This enlightened monarch helped make her capital the musical center of the Western world.

Anatomy of a Naval Disaster: The 1746 French Expedition to North America


James Pritchard - 1995
    He reconstructs the events that contributed to the failure of the expedition - human and institutional weakness, weather, spoiled provisions, disease, and the death of the commanding admiral. Anatomy of a Naval Disaster exposes the ambitions and frailties of men, the arbitrariness of success, and the limits of power in the eighteenth century.