Best of
World-History

1965

The Washing of the Spears: A History of the Rise of the Zulu Nation Under Shaka and Its Fall in the Zulu War of 1879


Donald R. Morris - 1965
    Filled with colorful characters, dramatic battles like Isandhlwana and Rorke's Drift, and an inexorable narrative momentum, this unsurpassed history details the sixty-year existence of the world's mightiest African empire; from its brutal formation and zenith under the military genius Shaka , through its inevitable collision with white expansionism, to its dissolution under Cetshwayo in the Zulu War of 1879.

The Proud Tower: A Portrait of the World Before the War, 1890-1914


Barbara W. Tuchman - 1965
    Tuchman brings the era to vivid life: the decline of the Edwardian aristocracy; the Anarchists of Europe and America; Germany and its self-depicted hero, Richard Strauss; Diaghilev’s Russian ballet and Stravinsky’s music; the Dreyfus Affair; the Peace Conferences in The Hague; and the enthusiasm and tragedy of Socialism, epitomized by the assassination of Jean Jaurès on the night the Great War began and an epoch came to a close.

Gandhi on Non-Violence


Mahatma Gandhi - 1965
    The Gandhi text follows that established by the Navaijivan Trust with sections dealing with "Principles of non-violence", "Non-violence, true and false", "Spiritual dimensions of non-violence". "The political scope of non-violence", and "The purity of non-violence".

The Prophet: The Life of Leon Trotsky


Isaac Deutscher - 1965
    His extraordinary life and extensive writings have left an indelible mark on the revolutionary consciousness. Yet there was once a danger that his life and influence would be relegated to the footnotes of history. Published over the course of ten years, beginning in 1954, Deutscher’s magisterial three-volume biography turned back the tide of Stalin’s propaganda, and has since been praised by everyone from Tony Blair to Graham Greene. In this definitive work, now reissued in a single volume, Trotsky’s true stature emerges as the most heroic, and ultimately tragic, character of the Russian Revolution.

Larousse World Mythology


Pierre Grimal - 1965
    The book analyzes the expression of such serious concerns as the creation of the universe and of human life, the evolution of society, and agricultural fertility cycles.

The Ghost-Dance Religion and the Sioux Outbreak of 1890


James Mooney - 1965
    He visited Wovoka, the Ghost Dance prophet, at his home in Nevada and traced the progress of the Ghost Dance from place to place, describing the ritual and recording the distinctive song lyrics of seven separate tribes. His classic work (first published in 1896 and here reprinted in its entirety for the first time) includes succinct cultural and historical introductions to each of those tribal groups and depicts the Ghost Dance among the Sioux, the fears it raised of an Indian outbreak, and the military occupation of the Sioux reservations culminating in the tragedy at Wounded Knee. Seeking to demonstrate that the Ghost Dance was a legitimate religious movement, Mooney prefaced his study with a historical survey of comparable millenarian movements among other American Indian groups. In addition to his work on the Ghost Dance, James Mooney is best remembered for his extraordinarily detailed studies of the Cherokee Indians of the Southeast and the Kiowa and other tribes of the southern plains, and for his advocacy of American Indian religious freedom.

A History of Political Thought: The Middle Ages (Pelican)


Walter Ullmann - 1965
    

Maps of the Ancient Sea Kings: Evidence of Advanced Civilization in the Ice Age


Charles H. Hapgood - 1965
    He has found the evidence in the Piri Reis Map that shows Antarctica, the Hadji Ahmed map, the Oronteus Finaeus and other amazing maps. Hapgood concluded that these maps were made from more ancient maps from the various ancient archives around the world, now lost. Not only were these unknown people more advanced in mapmaking than any other prior to the 18th century, it appears they mapped all the continents. The Americas were mapped thousands of years before Columbus and Antarctica was mapped once its coasts were free of ice.

Selected Poems and Prefaces


William Wordsworth - 1965
    This volume brings together a rich selection from the most creative period of Wordsworth’s life—from “Tintern Abbey,” an ode on the restorative powers of nature written during his intense friendship with Coleridge, to excerpts from his epic autobiographical poem, The Prelude. Also included are much-loved short works such as “I wandered as lonely as a Cloud,” “Composed Upon Westminster Bridge,” and the poignant “Lucy Gray.” These poems demonstrate Wordsworth’s astonishing range, power, and inventiveness, and the sustained and captivating vision that informed his work.The inaugural volume in a new program of selected poetry especially commissioned for Penguin Classics Includes a chronology, suggestions for further reading, explanatory notes, and an index of titles and first lines In his introduction, Wordswort biographer Stephen Gill examines the personal and political events that shaped the poet's career and traces the major themes that run through his work

Science and Civilisation in China, Volume 4: Physics and Physical Technology, Part 2: Mechanical Engineering


Joseph Needham - 1965
    The first part of Volume 4, already published, deals with the physical sciences; the second with the diverse applications of physics in the many branches of mechanical engineering; and the third will deal with civil and hydraulic engineering and nautical technology. With this part of Volume 4, then, we come to the application by the Chinese of physical principles in the control of forces and in the use of power; we cross the frontier separating tools from the machine. We have already noticed that the ancient Chinese concept of chhi (somewhat similar to the pneuma of the Greeks) asserted itself prominently in acoustics; but we discover here that the Chinese tendency to think pneumatically was also responsible for a whole range of brilliant technological achievements, for example, the double-acting piston-bellows, the rotary winnowing-fan, and the water-powered metallurgical blowing-machine (ancestor of the steam-engine); as well as for some extraordinary insights and predictions in aeronautics.

The Human Prospect


Lewis Mumford - 1965
    

The Murder of Admiral Darlan: A Study in Conspiracy


Peter Tompkins - 1965
    Jean Louis Francois Darlan, was assassinated in Algiers, which had been occupied by the Allies only a few weeks earlier. An enigmatic figure, he'd reached a position of power, almost equal, in the hierarchy of Vichy France, to that of Marshal Petain himself. He was an obstacle to the plans of many people, all of whom breathed a sigh of relief as the news came of his death. But who murdered him & for what reasons? Tompkins, a former OSS agent & author of A Spy in Rome, was in Algiers at the time. He has sought for the answers to these questions in the memoirs, diaries & hitherto classified documents of the major figures in the conspiracies leading to the murder. The result is an account of Allied intrigue & espionage before, during & after the Torch invasion of N. Africa. He's unraveled the complex web of plots that linked Darlan to many of the men who led the European underground Fascist movement--figures who came & went between Allies & Nazis, seeking to maintain their privileges, whichever side won the war. He's revealed the events that led many now~famous public figures into the murky waters of betrayal, conspiracy, terrorism & assassination with disastrous results. His background is N. Africa, where the French fought among themselves, fought against the Allies & finally fought against the Germans, some obeying the orders of Darlan & Vichy, some following the instructions of deGaulle, others seeking to cooperate with the USA or to follow the dictates of their own conscience in a moment when loyalty & authority were subverted. The Murder of Admiral Darlan is an important work of history.

An Intellectual & Cultural History of the Western World 3: From the 19th Century to the Present Day


Harry Elmer Barnes - 1965
    

The Ardennes: The Battle of the Bulge


Hugh M. Cole - 1965
    This offensive was called Unternehmen Wacht am Rhein (Operation Watch on the Rhine) by the German armed forces (Wehrmacht). It was officially named the Battle of the Ardennes by the U.S. Army, but it is known to the general public simply as the Battle of the Bulge.