Best of
European-History
1998
Ancient Future
Wayne B. Chandler - 1998
This book is an attempt to re-create this holistic experience in hopes that a synthesized view of life will become reality in the 21st century.
Between Dignity and Despair: Jewish Life in Nazi Germany
Marion A. Kaplan - 1998
Answering the charge that Jews should have left earlier, Kaplan shows that far from seeming inevitable, the Holocaust was impossible to foresee precisely because Nazi repression occurred in irregular and unpredictable steps until the massive violence of Novemer 1938. Then the flow of emigration turned into a torrent, only to be stopped by the war. By that time Jews had been evicted from their homes, robbed of their possessions and their livelihoods, shunned by their former friends, persecuted by their neighbors, and driven into forced labor. For those trapped in Germany, mere survival became a nightmare of increasingly desperate options. Many took their own lives to retain at least some dignity in death; others went underground and endured the fears of nightly bombings and the even greater terror of being discovered by the Nazis. Most were murdered. All were pressed to the limit of human endurance and human loneliness.Focusing on the fate of families and particularly women's experience, Between Dignity and Despair takes us into the neighborhoods, into the kitchens, shops, and schools, to give us the shape and texture, the very feel of what it was like to be a Jew in Nazi Germany.
Faust's Metropolis: A History of Berlin
Alexandra Richie - 1998
In this powerful historical narrative, Oxford historian Alexandra Richie follows Berlin from its Medieval foundation to the nation-building dreams of Frederick the Great and Bismarck. Most important, she concentrates on the city during the twentieth century's upheavals: the Weimar Republic's decadent capital; Hitler and Goebbels's fascist metropolis; the city divided by the Cold War. Published to international acclaim, Faust's Metropolis is history at its most enthralling. "Brilliant work . . . the material is all fascinating, and Richie is an excellent descriptive writer." - New York Review of Books "Thoroughgoing and engrossing" - Peter Gay, author of My German Question "Outstanding . . . brilliantly written" - Michael Howard, Times Literary Supplement "Magnificent . . . should be required reading for anyone with any curiosity about where Europe has been and where it is going" - Piers Paul Read, Sunday Telegraph "A compelling narrative" - Philadelphia Inquirer "Absorbing" - Wall Street Journal
Memory and the Mediterranean
Fernand Braudel - 1998
Moving with ease from Mesopotamia and Egypt to the flowering of Crete and the early Aegean peoples, and culminating in the prodigious achievements of ancient Greece and Rome, Braudel conveys in absorbing detail the geography and climate of the region over the course of millennia while brilliantly explaining the larger forces that gave rise to agriculture, writing, sea travel, trade, and, ultimately, the emergence of empires. Impressive in scope and gracefully written, Memory and the Mediterranean is an endlessly enriching work of history by a legend in the field.
Hitler: 1889-1936 Hubris
Ian Kershaw - 1998
One truth prevails: the sheer scale of the evils that he unleashed on the world has made him a demonic figure without equal in this century. Kershaw's Hitler brings us closer than ever before to the character of the bizarre misfit in his 30-year ascent from a Viennese shelter for the indigent to uncontested rule over the German nation that had tried & rejected democracy in the crippling aftermath of WWI. With extraordinary vividness, Kershaw recreates the settings that made Hitler's rise possible: the virulent anti-Semitism of prewar Vienna, the crucible of a war with immense casualties, the toxic nationalism that gripped Bavaria in the 20s, the undermining of the Weimar Republic by extremists of the Right & the Left, the hysteria that accompanied Hitler's seizure of power in 1933 & then mounted in brutal attacks by his storm troopers on Jews & others condemned as enemies of the Aryan race. In an account drawing on many previously untapped sources, Hitler metamorphoses from an obscure fantasist, a drummer sounding an insistent beat of hatred in Munich beer halls, to the instigator of an infamous failed putsch &, ultimately, to the leadership of a ragtag alliance of right-wing parties fused into a movement that enthralled the German people. This volume, 1st of two, ends with the promulgation of the infamous Nuremberg laws that pushed German Jews to the outer fringes of society, & with the march of the German army into the Rhineland, Hitler's initial move toward the abyss of war.
When The East Wind Blows: A World War 2 Novel Based on a True Story
Barbara H. Martin - 1998
It brings to life the dramatic experiences of a woman caught between a ruthless government and the will to survive with her children during the last six months of World War 2 in Nazi Germany as she flees the incoming Russian front in the East and right into the carpet bombing in the West. This book brings this war down to a human level in a way that will leave the reader with a stunning new perspective never told in America and represents the missing link in the historical annals of this time. A sequel called WEST WIND is being written at this time and deals with the chaotic aftermath of the collapse of the Third Reich and the survival of Elisabeth, her four children and Helga, the maid. It also describes her husband's experiences in an American prison camp in the south of France. Quote by Elisabeth Wendell, Professor of American Literature, University of Duesseldorf, Germany: “Barbara Martin is a very talented story teller and has captured a dark period of German history during the holocaust with sincere honesty and deep understanding for the people caught up in it. The book makes for great reading enjoyment!”
Palace of Tears
Anna King - 1998
If finding her mother Nellie in hospital after a savage beating from her husband wasn’t enough, Emily’s plight deepens when she yields to the advances of Tommy, a young soldier, and becomes pregnant with his child.Not for nothing is Victoria station nicknamed the ‘palace of tears’. As trainloads of men leave for the Western Front, and Emily says goodbye to Tommy, she is left contemplating the life of a single mother. Yet amidst the devastation, happiness still lies within her grasp…
A classic saga of World War One, Palace of Tears is a perfect read for fans of Carol Rivers, Sally Warboyes, and Annie Murray.
To the Last Man: Spring 1918
Lyn Macdonald - 1998
From the trenches to the battle lines, in bold advances and fighting retreats and courageous stands, this oral chronicle of World War I by award-winning historian Lyn Macdonald brings to life the massive German offensive of Spring 1918 that became the Second Battle of Somme. As moving as it is monumental, the volume recounts the devastating assault in the words of the men who survived it -- from the commanders to the war-weary British Tommies, the eager German foot soldiers, and the as-yet-untested doughboys fresh from the U.S. Unforgettably, To the Last Man puts a human face on the armies in the field as it gives voice to the soldiers who together held their position against the foe-resisting, as the Allied command had ordered, "to the last round and the last man."
Love Thine Enemy
Nora Fountain - 1998
Paris has always been one of her favourite places, but as she walks down the street on her first day and sees a tall stranger with cornflower blue eyes and hair the colour of wheat, she is hit by what the French call un coup de foudre, and her life is changed forever. Maximilian von Engelberg is a German, but despite being proud of Germany, he is against the Nazis, unlike his brother Herman, who is with the SS. He, too, hopes war can be averted, but knows it is a matter of time. He also knows he should stay away from Helen Latimer, but he can’t help himself. Christian Meursault is the Count of Clemenceau, and owns a chateau in Normandy. He has his friends for a weekend, including Helen and Max, and as they play in the pool and eat fabulous food, no one can imagine war. But soon, Hitler invades Poland, and war is inevitable. As Helen’s brother Charles calls her home, Max’s brother Herman insists he return to the Fatherland as well. But when Helen discovers she is pregnant, Max decides they will marry, and escape to Portugal, a country that is neutral. But fate has other plans for them, and Max ends up in Germany. Soon they are both married to other people, as war rages around them. But despite impossible odds, this is not the end of the story for Max, who ends up based in Normandy, and Helen, who starts to work for the French Resistance when her beloved brother Charles is shot down over the English Channel. With so much death, who knows who will survive, and at what cost? Rich in history and filled with the joy of life, Love Thine Enemy is a satisfying read brimming with romance and love during a very dark time. Praise for Nora Fountain ‘Love conquers all in this moving historical romance’ – Holly Kinsella Nora Fountain is a professional novelist and translator. Her short stories have been published in many magazines in the UK and abroad. She writes both contemporary and historical romance, and loves to paint. Nora has served on the committee of the Romantic Novelists Association and is a member of the Society of Authors and the Chartered Institute of Linguists. She lives in Dorset, where she finds Thomas Hardy country and the people who live there, an inspiration.
The Burden of Responsibility: Blum, Camus, Aron, and the French Twentieth Century
Tony Judt - 1998
Judt focuses particularly on Blum's leadership of the Popular Front and his stern defiance of the Vichy governments, on Camus's part in the Resistance and Algerian War, and on Aron's cultural commentary and opposition to the facile acceptance by many French intellectuals of communism's utopian promise. Severely maligned by powerful critics and rivals, each of these exemplary figures stood fast in their principles and eventually won some measure of personal and public redemption.Judt constructs a compelling portrait of modern French intellectual life and politics. He challenges the conventional account of the role of intellectuals precisely because they mattered in France, because they could shape public opinion and influence policy. In Blum, Camus, and Aron, Judt finds three very different men who did not simply play the role, but evinced a courage and a responsibility in public life that far outshone their contemporaries."An eloquent and instructive study of intellectual courage in the face of what the author persuasively describes as intellectual irresponsibility."—Richard Bernstein, New York Times
Athene Palace
R.G. Waldeck - 1998
Arriving at the crowded Athene Palace on the day Paris fell in 1940, the American journalist Rosa Goldschmidt Waldeck watched, for the seven months, all the events and the international figures that made Romania Europe's last sensational hotbed of intrigue and color.
Europe and Western Civilization in the Modern Age
Thomas Childers - 1998
IntroductionEurope in the "Modern Age" 2. Social and Political Life Under the Ancien Regime 3. Intellectual and Cultural LifeThe Challenge of the Enlightenment 4. The Origins of the French Revolution 5. The Outbreak of the Revolution and the Monarchist Response 6. The Terror and Its Aftermath 7. The Rise of NapoleonHeir of the Revolution or New Form of Tyranny? 8. Napoleonic EuropeAn Epoch of War 9. The Restoration and Reactionary Conservatism 10. The Challenge of Liberal Nationalism 11. Liberal Capitalism and the Industrial RevolutionThe English Experience 12. The Social Impact of the Industrial Revolution 13. The Revolution in France 14. Revolution in Central Europe 15. The Political Implications of the Revolution 16. The Unification of Germany 17. The Unification of Italy 18. The New Imperialism 19. Race, Religion, and GreedExplaining European Expansion 20. Marx and the Challenge of Socialism 21. The Social Problem and the Crisis of Liberalism 22. A New ConservatismAnti-Modernism and the Origins of Fascism 23. European Cultural and Intellectual Life 24. Social Norms, Social Strains in the Belle Epoque 25. The International System, 1871-1890 26. The Breakdown of the International System and the Slide Toward War 27. Nationalism and Ethnic Conflict in the Multi-national Empires of Central and Eastern Europe 28. The July Crisis and the Outbreak of War 29. The War to End All WarsThe Experience of the Trenches 30. The Treaty of Versailles and the Failed Peace 31. The Bolshevik Revolution 32. Civil War and the Establishment of the Soviet State 33. The Soviet System Under Stalin 34. Mussolini and the Emergence of Italian Fascism 35. The Democracies in Crisis 36. Hitler and the Rise of Nazism in Germany 37. TotalitarianismThe Third Reich 38. The Third ReichIdeology and Domestic Policy And another 10
Stopped at Stalingrad: The Luftwaffe and Hitler's Defeat in the East, 1942-1943
Joel S. A. Hayward - 1998
In response, he launched Operation Blau, a campaign designed to protect Nazi oilfields in Rumania while securing new ones in the Caucasus. All that stood in the way was Stalingrad.Most accounts of the Battle of Stalingrad have focused on the dismal fate of the German Army. Joel Hayward now chronicles Luftwaffe operations during that campaign, focusing on Hitler's use of the air force as a tactical rather than strategic weapon in close support of ground forces. He vividly details the Luftwaffe's key role as flying artillery, showing that the army relied on Luftwaffe support to a far greater degree than has been previously revealed and that its successes in the East occurred largely because of the effectiveness of that support.Hayward analyzes this major German offensive from the standpoint of cooperation between ground and air forces to attain mutually agreed objectives. He draws on diaries of both key commanders and regular airmen to recreate crucial battles and convey the drama of Hitler's frustrations and reckless leadership. Ultimately, Hayward shows, the poorly conceived strategies of Hitler, Goering, and others in Berlin doomed the efforts of air commander Wolfram von Richthofen, a courageous and resolute leader attempting to come to grips with an increasingly impossible situation.Stopped at Stalingrad is a dynamic case study in combined arms warfare that fills in many of the gaps left by other studies of the eastern war. By reconsidering the campaign in the light of a wider body of documentary sources and analyzing many previously ignored events, Hayward provides military historians and general readers a much deeper and more complete understanding of the Battle of Stalingrad and its impact on World War II.
Sissi: Elisabeth, Empress of Austria
Brigitte Hamann - 1998
The volume contains extracts from Elisabeth's diaries and includes relevant pictures from original pictorial documentation.
Wagner Without Fear: Learning to Love—and Even Enjoy—Opera's Most Demanding Genius
William Berger - 1998
He tells you all you need to know to become a true Wagnerite--from story lines to historical background; from when to visit the rest room to how to sound smart during intermission; from the Jewish legend that possibly inspired Lohengrin to the tragic death of the first Tristan. Funny, informative, and always a pleasure to read, Wagner Without Fear proves that the art of Wagner can be accessible to everyone.Includes:- The strange life of Richard Wagner--German patriot (and exile), friend (and enemy) of Liszt and Nietzsche- Essential opera lore and "lobby talk"- A scene-by-scene analysis of each opera- What to listen for to get the most from the music- Recommended recordings, films, and sound tracks
Georgia: In the Mountains of Poetry
Peter Nasmyth - 1998
It covers the country region by region, taking the form of a literary journey through the transition from Soviet Georgia to the modern independent nation state. Peter Nasmyth traveled extensively in Georgia over a period of 5 years, and his lively and topical survey charts the nation's remarkable cultural and historical journey to statehood. This authoritative, lively and perceptive book is based on hundreds of interviews with modern Georgians, from country priests to black marketeers. Georgia: Mountains and Honour will be essential reading for anyone interested in this fascinating region, as well as those requiring an insight into the life after the collapse of the old Soviet order in the richest and most dramatic of the former republics.
Dark Continent: Europe's Twentieth Century
Mark Mazower - 1998
"A useful, important book that reminds us, at the right time, how hard [European unity] has been, and how much care must be taken to avoid the terrible old temptations." --Los Angeles TimesDark Continent provides an alternative history of the twentieth century, one in which the triumph of democracy was anything but a forgone conclusion and fascism and communism provided rival political solutions that battled and sometimes triumphed in an effort to determine the course the continent would take.Mark Mazower strips away myths that have comforted us since World War II, revealing Europe as an entity constantly engaged in a bloody project of self-invention. Here is a history not of inevitable victories and forward marches, but of narrow squeaks and unexpected twists, where townships boast a bronze of Mussolini on horseback one moment, only to melt it down and recast it as a pair of noble partisans the next. Unflinching, intelligent, Dark Continent provides a provocative vision of Europ's past, present, and future-and confirms Mark Mazower as a historian of valuable gifts.
Hearts Grown Brutal: Sagas of Sarajevo
Roger Cohen - 1998
The disintegration of Yugoslavia and the civil war that followed during the post-Cold War era is seen through the lives of four families representing various factions in the struggle.
Greek Thought, Arabic Culture: The Graeco-Arabic Translation Movement in Baghdad and Early Abbasid Society
Dimitri Gutas - 1998
Dimitri Gutas draws upon the preceding historical and philological scholarship in Greco-Arabic studies and the study of medieval translations of secular Greek works into Arabic and analyses the social and historical reasons for this phenomenon.Dimitri Gutas provides a stimulating, erudite and well-documented survey of this key movement in the transmission of ancient Greek culture to the Middle Ages.
The Banality of Evil: Hannah Arendt and 'The Final Solution'
Bernard J. Bergen - 1998
Bergen, the questions that preoccupied Arendt were the meaning and significance of the Nazi genocide to our modern times. As Bergen describes Arendt's struggle to understand 'the banality of evil, ' he shows how Arendt redefined the meaning of our most treasured political concepts and principles_freedom, society, identity, truth, equality, and reason_in light of the horrific events of the Holocaust. Arendt concluded that the banality of evil results from the failure of human beings to fully experience our common human characteristics_thought, will, and judgment_and that the exercise and expression of these attributes is the only chance we have to prevent a recurrence of the kind of terrible evil perpetrated by the Nazi
Ancient Greek Civilization
Jeremy McInerney - 1998
Greece and the Western World 2. Minoan Crete 3. Schliemann and Mycenae 4. The Long Twilight 5. The Age of Heroes 6. From Sicily to SyriaThe Growth of Trade and Colonization 7. Delphi and Olympia 8. The Spartans 9. Revolution 10. Tyranny 11. The Origins of Democracy 12. Beyond GreeceThe Persian Empire 13. The Persian Wars 14. The Athenian Empire 15. The Art of Democracy 16. Sacrifice and Greek Religion 17. Theater and the Competition of Art 18. Sex and Gender 19. The Peloponnesian War, Part I 20. The Peloponnesian War, Part II 21. Socrates on Trial 22. Slavery and Freedom 23. Athens in Decline? 24. Philip, Alexander, and Greece in Transition
Witness: Images of Auschwitz
Alexandre Oler - 1998
The text for the book has been carefully recreated by Olere's son, based on his father's memoirs.
Men of Steel: The Ardennes and Eastern Front 1944-45
Michael Reynolds - 1998
Aware of the need to create more divisions for his army and under constant pressure from Heinrich Himmler for more troops, Adolf Hitler chose this moment to order the formation of a new SS Panzer corps. This meticulously researched book documents the actions of the Corps throughout the last offensives of the war. Strongly recommended for those interested in the personality of Hitler's most trusted armored and armoured-infantry field commanders.
The Weimar Republic 1919-1933
Ruth Henig - 1998
The author includes: * an examination of the legacy of the First World War and the Treaty of Versailles* discussion of the early years of crisis culminating in the Ruhr Invasion and the Dawes Settlement* assessment of the leadership of Stresemann and Bruning* exploration of the circumstances leading to the rise of Hitler* an outline of the historiography of the Weimar Republic.
German Home Towns: Community, State, and General Estate, 1648-1871
Mack Walker - 1998
After his opening chapters on the political, social, and economic basis of town life, Mack Walker traces a painful process of decline that, while occasionally slowed or diverted, leads inexorably toward death and, in the twentieth century, transfiguration. Along the way, he addresses such topics as local government, corporate economies, and communal society. Equally important, he illuminates familiar aspects of German history in compelling ways, including the workings of the Holy Roman Empire, the Napoleonic reforms, and the revolution of 1848.Finally, Walker examines German liberalism's underlying problem, which was to define a meaning of freedom that would make sense to both the movers and doers at the center and the citizens of the home towns. In the book's final chapter, Walker traces the historical extinction of the towns and their transformation into ideology. From the memory of the towns, he argues, comes Germans' ubiquitous yearning for organic wholeness, which was to have its most sinister expression in National Socialism's false promise of a racial community.A path-breaking work of scholarship when it was first published in 1971, German Home Towns remains an influential and engaging account of German history, filled with interesting ideas and striking insights--on cameralism, the baroque, Biedermeier culture, legal history and much more. In addition to the inner workings of community life, this book includes discussions of political theorists like Justi and Hegel, historians like Savigny and Eichhorn, philologists like Grimm. Walker is also alert to powerful long-term trends--the rise of bureaucratic states, the impact of population growth, the expansion of markets--and no less sensitive to the textures of everyday life.
National Geographic Eyewitness to the 20th Century
National Geographic Society - 1998
Organized conveniently by decade, each section begins by highlighting a prevailing issue of the day--America and Big Business, Women's Suffrage, the 1924 Immigrations Restriction Act, the Great Depression, the Atomic Age, McCarthyism, Civil Rights, the Explosion of Mass Culture, the Rise of Conservatism, and the End of the Cold War. The 20th century brought forth the most dramatic advances ever made in a single century. No one tells it better than National Geographic Society.
East of the Storm: Outrunning the Holocaust in Russia
Hanna Davidson Pankowsky - 1998
Ten-year-old Hanna Davidson’s father, Simon, and older brother, Kazik, had been drafted to defend Warsaw. Hanna and her mother, Sofia, found themselves subjected to Hitler’s efforts to dehumanize Poland’s Jewish population. There seemed no choice but to submit to a ruthless tyranny.Learning that Simon and Kazik were alive in the Soviet-occupied zone of Poland, Hanna and her mother decided to risk a harrowing escape from Nazi Poland into safer Soviet territory. With only the clothes on their backs, they fled their apartment to face a daunting crossing and the threat of persecution under Stalin's regime.As recounted by Hanna, the Davidsons’ journey into the Soviet interior makes for an extraordinary story. More than a memoir of survival, their story is clearly one of a family whose spirit could not be destroyed by persecution, war, famine, or political oppression.
Eagles over the Alps: Suvorov in Italy and Switzerland, 1799
Christopher Duffy - 1998
Although his entire lifetime (1729-1800) was spent under the czars, such was his fame that the Order of Suvorov was one of Soviet Russia's highest decorations. The dramatic campaign in Switzerland and italy of 1799-1800 was his last, and one of his finest, performances.Out of favor with the eccentric Czar Paul, the seventy-year-old Suvorov was recalled to active duty during the War of the Second Coalition (1799-1800). The most active theater of the War was northern Italy where Russian and Austrian forces faced the French. Both sides were hampered by unreliable allied contingents and political interference.Despite his age, Suvorov planned to defeat several separate French armies before they could combine, by a series of forced marches across some of the most difficult terrain in Europe. Plagued by less-than-able Austrian generals and constant interference from Vienna. Suvorov nevertheless won some brilliant victories. An Austrian defeat at Zurich, however, eventually made his situation untenable and he was forced to withdraw. A convenient scapegoat for the failure of the campaign, he was dismissed by Czar Paul and died in disgrace the following year.Upstart French Revolutionary generals lead a ragtag army across the Swiss and Italian Alps to do battle with the armies of the far-flung Austrian and Russian empires in this dramatic story. Special maps, complete orders of battle, and fulldetails of the military units involved back up the gripping main narrative.
The New Bach Reader
Hans T. David - 1998
In The New Bach Reader, Christoph Wolff has incorporated numerous facsimiles and added many newly discovered items, reflecting the current state of scholarship about the composer's life and music. The readings in this volume provide an accurate and vivid picture of Bach's world and of his far-reaching influence.
The Hidden Pope: The Untold Story of a Lifelong Friendship That Is Changing the Relationship Between Catholics and Jews: The Personal Journey of John Paul II and Jerzy Kluger
Darcy O'Brien - 1998
Set in the perspective of monumental reconciliation between Christianity and Judaism, this is a portrait of John Paul II that describes him as only his closest friends know him and as no pope has ever been portrayed before. Readers will come to know the Holy Father as a man and to understand his most controversial ideas as expressions of his dramatic experience of life.
On the Trail of William Wallace
David R. Ross - 1998
The author pieces together the jigsaw of Wallace's life through his travels.
Cold War
Jeremy Isaacs - 1998
600 illustrations, 100 in color. 7 maps.
The Irish Civil War
Tim Pat Coogan - 1998
And during the eleven months the conflict lasted, brother fought against brother, sundering families for generations, and opening a divide in the country's politics that only now is beginning to fade. This unrivaled pictorial record and remarkable history of the war's passage pays poignant testimony to the courageous men and women prepared to fight to the death for what they believed morally right. It also serves as a sober reminder of the excesses of political zeal and how they came to haunt future generations.
The Nazis' Last Victims: The Holocaust in Hungary
Randolph L. Braham - 1998
The result of the 1994 conference at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum on the fiftieth anniversary of the deportation of Hungarian Jewry, this anthology examines the effects on Hungary as the last country to be invaded by the Germans. The Nazis' Last Victims questions what Hungarians knew of their impending fate and examines the heightened sense of tension and haunting drama in Hungary, where the largest single killing process of the Holocaust period occurred in the shortest amount of time. Through the combination of two vital components of history writing-the analytical and the recollective-The Nazis' Last Victims probes the destruction of the last remnant of European Jewry in the Holocaust.
Ancient Gold: The Wealth of the Thracians
Ivan Marazov - 1998
In the Iliad, Homer described the Thracians as formidable enemies of the Greeks in the Trojan War, and their mountainous country gave birth to legendary poets such as Orpheus. But the Thracians had no written language, and until recently little was known about this enigmatic people.
Target Switzerland: Swiss Armed Neutrality In World War II
Stephen P. Halbrook - 1998
This book provides an objective, year-by-year account of Switzerland's military role in World War II, including her defensive strategies, details of Nazi invasion plans, and Switzerland's moral, material and humanitarian links to the Allies. Swiss neutrality in World War II has been criticized in recent years, but the country was entirely surrounded by Axis powers and managed, as revealed here, to render considerable assistance to the Allies.
A Century of Horrors: Communism, Nazism, and the Uniqueness of the Shoah
Alain Besançon - 1998
Today, it sometimes seems as if the former is all but forgotten, at least among Western elites, while our cultural memory of the latter is an inextinguishable fire. This inequality is surprising and calls out for explanation, a task the French political thinker Alain Besançon attempts here in a wise and elegant meditation. In examining the horror and destruction caused by both of these terrible ideologies, Besançon finds that recourse to theology is necessary if we are to achieve even feeble illumination. He also explains why, even with the full knowledge of the extent of communism’s crimes, the uniqueness of the Shoah ought to be accepted without reservation.
Annushka's Voyage
Edith Tarbescu - 1998
In her lively text, Edith Tarbescu communicates the hopes and fears of the two young immigrants. Expressive illustrations capture the many extraordinary moments of the sisters' transatlantic journey including their glorious reunion with Papa, made possible with the help of a pair of special Sabbath candlesticks.
Fishbourne Roman Palace
Barry Cunliffe - 1998
Professor Barry Cunliffe's historic excavation of the site unfolds the history of the palace, its military beginnings, and its final destruction.
Hungary at War: Civilians and Soldiers in World War II
Cecil D. Eby - 1998
Originally allied with Germany to defend itself against Bolshevism, Hungary saw its army decimated in 1943 and was subsequently invaded - and occupied - by the Soviets. Now fifty years after the closing of the Iron Curtain, the memories of those who endured those years can finally be shared. Cecil Eby has compiled a historical chronicle of Hungary's wartime experiences based on interviews with nearly a hundred people who lived through those years. Here are officers and common soldiers, Jewish survivors of Auschwitz and Bergen-Belsen concentration camps, pilots of the Royal Hungarian Air Force, Hungarian prisoners of war in Russian labor camps, and a host of others. We meet the apologists for the Horthy regime installed by Hitler and the activists who sought to overthrow it, and we relive the Red Army's siege of Budapest during the harsh winter of 1944-45 through the memories of ordinary citizens trapped there.
A Reunion of Trees: The Discovery of Exotic Plants and Their Introduction Into North American and European Landscapes
Stephen A. Sponberg - 1998
This work provides a travel story of trees and shrubs, recounting the journeys and work of explorers who were responsible for introducing exotic plants into the landscapes of North America and Europe.
Free and Faithful: My Life in the Catholic Church
Bernard Häring - 1998
This autobiography by Bernard Haring, one of the pioneers of 20th century Catholic thought and theology, is an utterly absorbing account of a life that speaks volumes about a theology that has a biblical and liturgical dimension, a life of witness to Jesus.
Gender and History in Western Europe (Arnold Readers in History)
Mary Vincent - 1998
The editors of this new reader have taught courses in this subject; they know what does and does not work in an undergraduate seminar of this sort. This anthology, which begins with an introduction to vital issues of theory and method, makes accessible some of the most influential articles ever published on gender in European history. The papers included herein show why gender has sparked such excitement within the historical profession of late, for they demonstrate that gender not only offers an enhanced understanding of the history of women--and a new way of thinking about the history of men--but has also afforded new ways of understanding such disparate areas of history as science, religion, and politics.
Iroquois in the War of 1812
Carl Benn - 1998
The Iroquois in the War of 1812 proves that, in fact, the Six Nations' involvement was 'too significant to ignore.'Benn explores this involvement by focusing on Iroquois diplomatic, military, and cultural history during the conflict. He looks at the Iroquois' attempts to stay out of the war, their entry into hostilities, their modes of warfare, the roles they played in different campaigns, their relationships with their allies, and the effects that the war had on their society. He also details the military and diplomatic strength of the Iroquois during the conflict, despite the serious tensions that plagued their communities.This account reveals how the British benefited more than the Americans from the contributions of their Iroquois allies, and underscores how important the Six Nations were to the successful defence of Canada. It will appeal to general readers in both Canada and the United States and will have relevance for students and scholars of military, colonial, and Native history.
The Marriage Exchange: Property, Social Place, and Gender in Cities of the Low Countries, 1300-1550
Martha C. Howell - 1998
At the center of the transformation was a shift from a marital property regime based on custom to one based on contract. In the former, a widow typically inherited her husband's property; in the latter, she shared it with or simply held it for his family or offspring. Howell asks why the law changed as it did and assesses the law's effects on both social and gender meanings but she insists that the reform did not originate in general dissatisfaction with custom or a desire to disempower widows. Instead, it was born in a complex economic, social and cultural history during which Douaisiens gradually came to think about both property and gender in new ways.
The Handbook Of British Archaeology
Roy A. Adkins - 1998
Covering all types of archaeological finds from bones to pottery, armour to jewellery, this text provides a complete and detailed picture of every major period from the Palaeolithic to the medieval.
The Foreign Policy of Russia: Changing Systems, Enduring Interests
Robert H. Donaldson - 1998
This edition includes new coverage of ongoing issues connected with NATO expansion, the status of Kosovo and Georgia, terrorism, Islamism, and access to petroleum and other natural resources. The basic framework used is a modified realism that stresses the balance of power and the importance of national interest, and identifies several factors (both internal and external) that condition Russian policy. The interpretations are original and based on a mix of primary and secondary sources.
Titanic: Women and Children First
Judith B. Geller - 1998
The passengers' own voices are recorded in diaries, letters, and newspaper stories. Each passenger section (first class, second class, and third class) is introduced with a brief overview on the conventions of society at the turn of the twentieth century, when survival in life, as on this doomed ship, depended too often on social class.Also assembled here are fascinating color photographs of recently recovered artifacts, linked to their owners wherever possible, as well as period postcards, advertisements, and pictures. This book contains the most up-to-date passenger list yet published; a chart of the women and children who perished or were saved presented by class; and a comprehensive index which make this not just a moving chronicle of a uniquely painful event but also an invaluable resource.
Unfabling the East: The Enlightenment's Encounter with Asia
Jürgen Osterhammel - 1998
In this panoramic and colorful book, Jürgen Osterhammel tells the story of the European Enlightenment's nuanced encounter with the great civilizations of the East, from the Ottoman Empire and India to China and Japan.Here is the acclaimed book that challenges the notion that Europe's formative engagement with the non-European world was invariably marred by an imperial gaze and presumptions of Western superiority. Osterhammel shows how major figures such as Leibniz, Voltaire, Gibbon, and Hegel took a keen interest in Asian culture and history, and introduces lesser-known scientific travelers, colonial administrators, Jesuit missionaries, and adventurers who returned home from Asia bearing manuscripts in many exotic languages, huge collections of ethnographic data, and stories that sometimes defied belief. Osterhammel brings the sights and sounds of this tumultuous age vividly to life, from the salons of Paris and the lecture halls of Edinburgh to the deserts of Arabia, the steppes of Siberia, and the sumptuous courts of Asian princes. He demonstrates how Europe discovered its own identity anew by measuring itself against its more senior continent, and how it was only toward the end of this period that cruder forms of Eurocentrism--and condescension toward Asia—prevailed.A momentous work by one of Europe's most eminent historians, Unfabling the East takes readers on a thrilling voyage to the farthest shores, bringing back vital insights for our own multicultural age.
Christianity and European Culture
Christopher Henry Dawson - 1998
Commended by T. S. Eliot, Arnold Toynbee, and many others for his sophisticated approach to history, Dawson integrated a providential vision with traditional historical analysis. Many of his works focused on the important relationship between religion and culture. This volume is the first edited collection of Dawson's works to appear in several decades. It includes the full text of The Historic Reality of Christian Culture (1960) and features selections from numerous works, including The Making of Europe (1932), The Judgment of the Nations (1943), and Medieval Essays (1959).
The Women of Paris and Their French Revolution
Dominique Godineau - 1998
Here, for the first time in English translation, Dominique Godineau offers an illuminating account of these female revolutionaries. As nurturing and tender as they are belligerent and contentious, these are not singular female heroines but the collective common women who struggled for bare subsistence by working in factories, in shops, on the streets, and on the home front while still finding time to participate in national assemblies, activist gatherings, and public demonstrations in their fight for the recognition of women as citizens within a burgeoning democracy. Relying on exhaustive research in historical archives, police accounts, and demographic resources at specific moments of the Revolutionary period, Godineau describes the private and public lives of these women within their precise political, social, historical, and gender-specific contexts. Her insightful and engaging observations shed new light on the importance of women as instigators, activists, militants, and decisive revolutionary individuals in the crafting and rechartering of their political and social roles as female citizens within the New Republic.
A Wee Guide to William Wallace
Goblinshead - 1998
Maps, battle plans and photos.
The Treaty of Versailles: A Reassessment After 75 Years
Manfred F. Boemeke - 1998
It illuminates events from the armistice in 1918 to the signing of the treaty in 1919, and scrutinizes the motives, actions, and constraints that informed decision making by the French, American, and English politicians who bore the principal responsibility for drafting the peace settlement. It also addresses German reactions to the draft treaty and the final agreement. A detailed examination of the proceedings from the point of view of the main protagonists forms the core of the investigation.
Forgetful of Their Sex: Female Sanctity and Society, ca. 500-1100
Jane Tibbetts Schulenburg - 1998
The result is a unique depiction of the lives of these strong, creative, independent-minded women who achieved a visibility in their society that led to recognition of sanctity."A tremendous piece of scholarship. . . . This journey through more than 2,000 saints is anything but dull. Along the way, Schulenburg informs our ideas regarding the role of saints in the medieval psyche, gender-specific identification, and the heroics of virginity." —Library Journal"[This book] will be a kind of 'roots' experience for some readers. They will hear the voices, haunted and haunting, of their distant ancestors and understand more about themselves." —Christian Science Monitor"This fascinating book reaches far beyond the history of Christianity to recreate the 'herstory' of a whole gender." —Kate Saunders, The Independent
Early Analytic Philosophy: Frege, Russell, Wittgenstein
William W. Tait - 1998
The papers do not reflect a single perspective, but rather express divergent interpretations of this controversial intellectual milieu.
Poisoning the Minds of the Lower Orders
Don Herzog - 1998
So argues Don Herzog in this arrestingly detailed exploration of England's responses to the French Revolution. Poisoning the Minds of the Lower Orders ushers the reader into the politically lurid world of Regency England.Deftly weaving social and intellectual history, Herzog brings to life the social practices of the Enlightenment. In circulating libraries and Sunday schools, deferential subjects developed an avid taste for reading; in coffeehouses, alehouses, and debating societies, they boldly dared to argue about politics. Such conservatives as Edmund Burke gaped with horror, fearing that what radicals applauded as the rise of rationality was really popular stupidity or worse. Subjects, insisted conservatives, ought to defer to tradition--and be comforted by illusions.Urging that abstract political theories are manifest in everyday life, Herzog unflinchingly explores the unsavory emotions that maintained and threatened social hierarchy. Conservatives dished out an unrelenting diet of contempt. But Herzog refuses to pretend that the day's radicals were saints. Radicals, he shows, invested in contempt as enthusiastically as did conservatives. Hairdressers became newly contemptible, even a cultural obsession. Women, workers, Jews, and blacks were all abused by their presumed superiors. Yet some of the lowly subjects Burke had the temerity to brand a swinish multitude fought back.How were England's humble subjects transformed into proud citizens? And just how successful was the transformation? At once history and political theory, absorbing and disquieting, Poisoning the Minds of the Lower Orders challenges our own commitments to and anxieties about democracy.
Letters from Freedom: Post–Cold War Realities and Perspectives
Adam Michnik - 1998
His imprisonment by Poland's military regime in the 1980s did nothing to quench his outpouring of writings, many of which were published in English as Letters from Prison. Beginning where that volume ended, Letters from Freedom finds Michnik briefly in prison at the height of the "cold civil war" between authorities and citizens in Poland, then released. Through his continuing essays, articles, and interviews, the reader can follow all the momentous changes of the last decade in Poland and East-Central Europe. Some of the writings have appeared in English in various publications; most are translated here for the first time.Michnik is never detached. His belief that people can get what they want without hatred and violence has always translated into action, and his actions, particularly the activity of writing, have required his contemporaries to think seriously about what it is they want. His commitment to freedom is absolute, but neither wild-eyed nor humorless; with a characteristic combination of idealism and pragmatism, Michnik says, "In the end, politics is the art of foreseeing and implementing the possible."Michnik's blend of conviction and political acumen is perhaps most vividly revealed in the interviews transcribed in the book, whether he is the subject of the interview or is conducting a conversation with Czeslaw Milosz, Vacláv Havel, or Wojciech Jaruzelski. These face-to-face exchanges tell more about the forces at work in contemporary Eastern Europe than could any textbook. Sharing Michnik's intellectual journey through a tumultuous era, we touch on all the subjects important to him in this wide-ranging collection and find they have importance for everyone who values conscience and responsibility. In the words of Jonathan Schell, "Michnik is one of those who bring honor to the last two decades of the twentieth century."
Animal Rights: Political and Social Change in Britain since 1800
Hilda Kean - 1998
Parliamentary debates, protests against fox hunting and television programs like AnimalHospital all focus on the way in which we treat animals and on what that says about our own humanity. As vegetarianism becomes ever more popular, and animal experimentation more controversial, it is time to trace the background to contemporary debates and to situate them in a broader historical context.Hilda Kean looks at the cultural and social role of animals from 1800 to the present – at the way in which visual images and myths captured the popular imagination and encouraged sympathy for animals and outrage at their exploitation. From early campaigns against the beating of cattle and ill-treatment of horses to concern for dogs in war and cats in laboratories, she explores the relationship between popular images and public debate and action. She also illustrates how interest in animal rights and welfare was closely aligned with campaigns for political and social reform by feminists, radicals and socialists."A thoughtful, effective and well-written book"—The Scotsman"It could hardly be more timely, and its wonderful material is bound to provoke ... reflection"—The Independent"A work of great interest"—Sunday Telegraph"Lively, impressively researched, and well-written ... a book that is timely and valuable"—Times Literary Supplement"A pleasing balance of anecdote and analysis"—Times Higher Educational Supplement
The Bible, Protestantism, and the Rise of Natural Science
Peter Harrison - 1998
He shows how both the contents of the Bible, and more particularly the way it was interpreted, had a profound influence on conceptions of nature from the third century to the seventeenth. The rise of modern science is linked to the Protestant approach to texts, an approach that spelled an end to the symbolic world of the Middle Ages, and established the conditions for the scientific investigation and technological exploitation of nature.
Hegel's Idea of a Phenomenology of Spirit
Michael N. Forster - 1998
In Hegel's Idea of a Phenomenology of Spirit, Michael N. Forster advances an original reading of the work. His approach differs from that of previous scholars in two crucial ways: he reads the work, first, as a whole—not piecemeal, as it has usually been analyzed—and second, within the context of Hegel's broader corpus and the works of other philosophers.The Phenomenology of Spirit emerges as an extraordinarily coherent work with a rich array of important and original ideas. These include a diagnosis of the ills of modernity in terms of its commitment to a series of dualisms, and a project for overcoming them; a sweeping naturalism; a deep rethinking of and response to problems of skepticism; subtle arguments for social theories of meaning and truth; and ideas based on the insight that human thought changes in fundamental ways over the course of history. Forster's unique and compelling reading unlocks the mysteries of Hegel's seminal work.
Late Antiquity: A Guide to the Postclassical World
Glen W. Bowersock - 1998
In eleven comprehensive essays and in over 500 encyclopedic entries, an international cast of experts provides essential information and fresh perspectives on the history and culture of an era marked by the rise of two world religions, unprecedented political upheavals that remade the map of the known world, and the creation of art of enduring glory.By extending the commonly accepted chronological and territorial boundaries of the period--to encompass Roman, Byzantine, Sassanian, and early Islamic cultures, from the middle of the third century to the end of the eighth--this guide makes new connections and permits revealing comparisons. Consult the article on "Angels" and discover their meaning in Islamic as well as classical and Judeo-Christian traditions. Refer to "Children," "Concubinage," and "Divorce" for a fascinating interweaving of information on the family. Read the essay on "Barbarians and Ethnicity" and see how a topic as current as the construction of identity played out in earlier times, from the Greeks and Romans to the Turks, Huns, and Saxons. Turn to "Empire Building" to learn how the empire of Constantine was supported by architecture and ceremony.Or follow your own path through the broad range of entries on politics, manufacturing and commerce, the arts, philosophy, religion, geography, ethnicity, and domestic life. Each entry introduces readers to another facet of the postclassical world: historic figures and places, institutions, burial customs, food, money, public life, and amusements. A splendid selection of illustrations enhances the portrait.The intriguing era of late antiquity emerges completely and clearly, viewed in a new light, in a guide that will be relished by scholars and general readers alike.
Byzantine Empresses: Women and Power in Byzantium Ad 527-1204
Lynda Garland - 1998
It presents and analyses the available historical data in order to outline what these empresses did, what the sources thought they did, and what they wanted to do.
The Oxford History of the British Empire: Volume I: The Origins of Empire: British Overseas Enterprise to the Close of the Seventeenth Century Vol 1
Nicholas Canny - 1998
It shows how and why England, and later Britain, became involved with transoceanic navigation, trade, and settlement during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The chapters, by leading historians, both illustrate the interconnections between developments in Europe and overseas and offer specialist studies on every part of the world that was substantially affected by British colonial activity. As late as 1630, involvement with regions beyond the traditional confines of Europe was still tentative; by 1690 it had
Qpb Treasury Of North American Folktales
Catherine Peck - 1998
Ranging from Native American love stories to Davy Crockett's account of killing a bear with a knife, from Brer Rabbit's mischief to Johnny Appleseed's good deeds, from hilarious yarns about killer mosquitoes to eerie encounters with the devil, A Treasury of North American Folk Tales overflows with the bounty of American tradition.
Day of Destiny: The Photographs of D-Day
L. Douglas Keeney - 1998
Day of Destiny includes more than one hundred rare photographs never before assembled to provide a visual narrative of one of the century's most pivotal events.
Bosnia: A Cultural History
Ivan Lovrenović - 1998
Why did Bosnians who spoke the same language fracture along religious and ethnic lines? Is there a distinct Bosnian nation and Bosnian culture? What does it mean to be Bosnian if one is Serbian or Croatian? And what does the future hold for artistic and intellectual life in Bosnia?In Bosnia: A Cultural History, Ivan Lovrenovic provides a complex and detailed account of Bosnian history from a unique and often overlooked perspective. Focusing on the changes in religious, cultural, and ethnic influences from Paleolithic times to the present, Lovrenovic's analysis probes deep into the Bosnian past and helps to enlighten the reader as to the present and potential future of this troubled land.The evolution of the Bosnian Church distinct from the Greek Orthodox and Roman Catholic Churches, the role of Islam and Judaism, religious and secular architecture, ancient and modern prose and poetry, music, radio, film and television are all discussed to offer a comprehensive portrait of Bosnian culture.
Freedom and Terror in the Donbas: A Ukrainian-Russian Borderland, 1870s-1990s
Hiroaki Kuromiya - 1998
A little-known former Cossack land, the Donbas remained a haven for fugitives, providing freedom to whoever needed it. As a result, Stalin's Terror was extraordinarily harsh in the Donbas. Drawing on much new information from formerly closed archives in Ukraine and Russia, the book paints a detailed yet panoramic picture of the tumultuous history of the Donbas and analyzes critical events in modern Ukrainian and Russian history from a regional perspective.
Archaic Greece: New Approaches and New Evidence
Nick Fisher - 1998
750-480 BC) is being transformed by exciting discoveries and interpretations. In fourteen original studies from a distinguished international cast, this book explores many aspects of a rapidly changing Greek world. Detailed re-interpretation of archaeological material reveals diversity in patterns of settlement, sanctuaries and burial practices, and shows motivations underlying the expanding exchange of goods and the settlement of new communities. Local studies of archaeology and iconography revise our image of the peculiarity of Spartan society and East Greek cult. Texts, from Homer and Hesiod to a newly-found poem of Simonides, are given fresh interpretations. And there are new studies of developments in maritime warfare, the roles of literacy and law-making in Crete, the emergence of a less violent Greek life-style, and the articulation of political thought.
The Scottish War of Independence
Evan M. Barron - 1998
Its special novelty is the attempt to prove that the War of Independence was the achievement, not of Teutonic, but of Celtic Scotland. Mr. Barron's work is based on a close study of contemporary documents; its able research deserves consideration from historical students, and its lively style should ensure it popularity with the general reader.