Cimke: History

Egyptomaniacs : How We Became Obsessed with Ancient Epypt

In Egyptomaniacs: How We Became Obsessed With Ancient Egypt, Egyptologist Dr. Nicky Nielsen examines the popular view of Egypt as an exotic, esoteric, mystical culture obsessed with death and overflowing with mummies and pyramids. The book traces our obsession with ancient Egypt throughout history and methodically investigates, explains, and strips away some of the most popular misconceptions about the Pharaohs and their civilization.

Royal Love Stories : The Tales Behind the Real-Life Romances of Europe’s Kings & Queens

Historically, many royal marriages have represented the unions of dynasties, with true engagements of the heart notable for their rarity. Yet royal couples could fall in love, and this book is full of surprises, from the undying love that the last Tsar of Russia, Nicholas II, felt for his Tsarina, to the unlikely love that flourished between Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette. Amongst them, too, are less happy loves of Crown Prince Rudolph for his 17-year-old lover, Countess Mary Vetsera, or, in the 1940s, of the Prince of Sweden, refused consent to marry the girl he loved she only became his princess over 30 years later.

Evita : The Life of Eva Perón

Eva Peron remains Argentina’s best-known and most iconic personality, surpassing even sporting superstars such as Diego Maradona or Lionel Messi, and far outlasting her own husband, President Juan Domingo Peron himself a remarkable and charismatic political leader without whom she, as an uneducated woman in an elitist and male-dominated society, could not have existed as a political figure.

A Short History of the Normans

The Battle of Hastings in 1066 is the one date forever seared on the British national psyche. It enabled the Norman Conquest that marked the end of Anglo-Saxon England. But there was much more to the Normans than the invading army Duke William shipped over from Normandy to the shores of Sussex. How a band of marauding warriors established some of the most powerful dominions in Europe – in Sicily and France, as well as England – is an improbably romantic idea. In exploring Norman culture in all its regions, Leonie V Hicks is able to place the Normans in the full context of early medieval society.

Magic and Magicians in the Middle Ages and the Early Modern Time: The Occult in Pre-Modern Sciences, Medicine, Literature, Religion, and Astrology

There are no clear demarcation lines between magic, astrology, necromancy, medicine, and even sciences in the pre-modern world. Under the umbrella term’magic,’the contributors to this volume examine a wide range of texts, both literary and religious, both medical and philosophical, in which the topic is discussed from many different perspectives. The fundamental concerns address issue such as how people perceived magic, whether they accepted it and utilized it for their own purposes, and what impact magic might have had on the mental structures of that time.

Jerusalem Throne Games: The Battle of Bible Stories After the Death of David

Presents an individual and thought-provoking exploration of who wrote the Bible (or, indeed Bibles), re-examining the documented evidence for possible individual authors set against the personal, religious, economic and political background of the period of its compilation.

Breaking Japanese Diplomatic Codes : David Sissons and D Special Section during the Second World War

During the Second World War, Australia maintained a super-secret organisation, the Diplomatic (or `D’) Special Section, dedicated to breaking Japanese diplomatic codes. The Section has remained officially secret as successive Australian Governments have consistently refused to admit that Australia ever intercepted diplomatic communications, even in war-time. This book recounts the history of the Special Section and describes its code-breaking activities.

One Step Over the Line : Toward a History of Women in the North American Wests

This eclectic and carefully organized range of essays is the first collection of comparative and transnational work on women in the Canadian and U.S. Wests. It explores, expands, and advances the aspects of women’s history of the borderlands. A must read for those who have been searching for a wide, inclusive perspective on our western past.

Great Ships on the Great Lakes : A Maritime History

In this highly accessible history of ships and shipping on the Great Lakes, upper elementary readers are taken on a rip-roaring journey through the waterways of the upper Midwest. Great Ships on the Great Lakes explores the history of the region’s rivers, lakes, and inland seas—and the people and ships who navigated them. Read along as the first peoples paddle tributaries in birch bark canoes. Follow as European voyageurs pilot rivers and lakes to get beaver pelts back to the eastern market. Watch as settlers build towns and eventually cities on the shores of the Great Lakes. Listen to the stories of sailors, lighthouse keepers, and shipping agents whose livelihoods depended on the dangerous waters of Lake Michigan, Superior, Huron, Erie, and Ontario. Give an ear to their stories of unexpected tragedy and miraculous rescue, and heed their tales of risk and reward on the low seas.

My Music, My War : The Listening Habits of U.S. Troops in Iraq and Afghanistan

In the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, recent technological developments in music listening enabled troops to carry with them vast amounts of music and easily acquire new music, for themselves and to share with their fellow troops as well as friends and loved ones far away. This ethnographic study examines U.S. troops’musical-listening habits during and after war, and the accompanying fear, domination, violence, isolation, pain, and loss that troops experienced.