History

Michigan’s small towns have great stories.

Little Michigan presents 100 towns with populations under 600. From the state’s long mining history to its Civil War heritage, each community is charming and unique. With full-color photographs, fun facts, and fascinating details about every locale, it’s almost as if you’re walking down Main Street, waving hello to folks who know all of their neighbors.

Plus, these small towns have their share of surprises. Do you know which crime scene inspired the famous film Anatomy of a Murder or where you will find the infamous “Naughty Cow” statue—and how it got its nickname? The locations featured in this book range from quaint to historic, and they wonderfully represent the Great Lakes State. Little Michigan, written by lifelong resident Kathryn Houghton, is for anyone who grew up in a small town and for everyone who takes pride in being called a Michigander. They may be small towns, but they have huge character!

Robberies, murders, kidnappings - Minnesota has been home to several notorious crimes. Some were committed by infamous lawbreakers: the James-Younger gang, John Dillinger, Bonnie & Clyde and others. But not all misdeeds have been done by career criminals. Take a closer look at more than two dozen unlawful acts that rocked Minnesota and often grabbed headlines across the country.

Over six hundred years ago a woman known as Julian of Norwich wrote what is now regarded as one of the greatest works of literature in English. Based on a sequence of mystical visions she received in 1373, her book is called Revelations of Divine Love.

Julian lived through an age of political and religious turmoil, as well as through the misery of the Black Death, and her writing engages with timeless questions about life, love and the meaning of suffering. But who was Julian of Norwich? And what can she teach us today?

Medievalist and TV historian Janina Ramirez invites you to join her in exploring Julian’s remarkable life and times, offering insights into how and why her writing has survived, and what we can learn from this fourteenth-century mystic whose work lay hidden in the shadows of her male contemporaries for far too long.

'... I have sailed the seas and come
To the holy city of Byzantium.'
W. B. Yeats

From the foundation of Constantinople in 330 to its fall in 1453, this brief history explores the key components of Byzantine Christianity, including the development of monasticism, icons and iconoclasm, the role of the emperor in relation to church councils and beliefs, the difficult relationship with the papacy and the impact of the Crusades.

The book also considers Byzantine Christianity as a living force today: the variety and vitality of Orthodox churches, the role of the Church in Russia and the enduring relevance of a spirituality derived from the church fathers.

Food is always a hot topic - Food waste, food banks, food miles, local versus imported. As we all need food, we can't ignore it.

But as some families struggle without enough food to live on, others are challenged to consider how much they throw away, or how to make the food they have go further.

Which is why Claud Fullwood set herself the challenge of living on World War Two rations for Lent. It opened her eyes not only to issues of hunger and waste, but also to the many ways in which we have the power to fix our groaning food system, make our families stronger and our communities whole again.

The Rations Challenge takes the wisdom of World War Two and looks at how it can help us revolutionise how we live now. By learning the lessons our parents and grandparents lived by in the '30s and '40s, we can build a future that works for everyone.

'In another world it is otherwise, but here below to live is to change, and to be perfect is to have changed often.'
From An Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine (1903)

Canonized by Pope Francis in October 2019, Saint John Henry Newman (1801-90) was one of the most controversial and influential thinkers of his day. He is now recognized as one of the finest prose stylists of modern times, as well as a popular poet and hymn-writer. His spiritual autobiography, Apologia Pro Vita Sua, is a modern classic, and his many theological writings continue to be widely read and highly regarded by Christians of all traditions.

As Eamon Duffy brilliantly demonstrates in this fresh assessment of Newman's life and achievement, other theologians of his time are now largely of historical interest whereas Newman is still very much our contemporary.

'This splendid book... expertly illuminates every aspect of Newman's life [and] work.'
Wall Street Journal

'Some books have to be written . . . Defying the Holocaust will make your heart pound.' - Steve Chalke MBE

During the Second World War, Christians from many nations and denominations stepped forward with courage, ingenuity and determination to protect and rescue Jews from the Holocaust. In Defying the Holocaust, Tim Dowley shares the stories of ten of these extraordinary women and men.

From the Most Unorthodox Nun: Mother Maria of Paris to Committed Swedes: Pastors Erik Perwe and Erik Myrgren, Tim Dowley introduces an array of brave Christians, and tells the reader about the incredible lengths they went to in order to help rescue the Jews.

In Defying the Holocaust each of their stories is accompanied by photos of the individuals themselves and further photos to add context to their stories. Christians and those fascinated by stories about the Holocaust will find Tim Dowley's book to be incredibly inspiring, a reminder that these ten brave men women and men stood up to the cruelty of the times.

"The go-to text for Christians and others wanting to understand what is really happening in the Middle East."
Jeremy Moodey, former Chief Executive, Embrace the Middle East

The conflict between Israel and the Palestinians has profoundly affected the Middle East for almost eighty years, and shows no sign of ending.

With two peoples claiming the same piece of land for different reasons, it remains a huge political and humanitarian problem. Can it ever be resolved? If so, how? These are the basic questions addressed in this revised and expanded sixth edition of Colin Chapman's highly acclaimed book.

Having lived and worked in the Middle East at various times since 1968, Chapman explains the roots of the problem and outlines the arguments of the main parties involved. He also explores the theme of land in the Old and New Testaments, discussing legitimate and illegitimate ways of using the Bible in relation to the conflict.

This new and fully updated edition covers developments over the past ten years, including the war that broke out between Israel and Hamas in October 2023.

'An original, and in some areas unexpected, way of shedding light on this critical subject.'
Edward Stourton, journalist and presenter of BBC Radio 4's The World at One

Why is the Russian Church supporting Putin in his war against Ukraine?
Why does the Patriarch of Moscow believe that history is on Russia's side?
And what are the implications for Christianity and Christian culture in the West?

These are among the vital questions addressed in Holy Russia? Holy War? Written by Katherine Kelaidis, an internationally respected historian who is also an Orthodox believer, this timely book examines the way history and religion are being used to justify Putin's 'special military operation' in Ukraine.

Kelaidis shows how Russia's understanding of its past continues to shape and direct the way it sees its future. This, she argues, is not only a problem for Ukraine, but also a problem for all who value freedom, democracy, tolerance, and the defence of human rights.

Reading Holy Russia? Holy War? will enhance your knowledge of why the defence of Ukraine is also the defence of Western freedom and values. It will also help you to see how differing views of the past can radically affect what happens in the present, how religion can so easily become corrupted at the service of militant nationalism, and how we must guard against it, wherever it appears.

Contents
PART ONE: Shadows of the past
PART TWO: Who is Patriarch Kirill and why is he dangerous?
PART THREE: This is not just a problem for Ukraine
PART FOUR: The war will end but the causes and consequences will remain, so what can be done?
CONCLUSION: Two modern Russian saints

'Compelling reading' - Alison Weir

'A fresh and admirably unsentimental account' - Peter Marshall

The voyage of the Mayflower in 1620 has come to typify those qualities that many believe represent the best of America and the values it holds up to the rest of the world. And yet, if they lived today, the courageous men, women and children who made that journey would not recognize themselves in the romantic retelling of their story in popular books and movies of the last century or so.

So what were the motivating forces behind this momentous voyage? Derek Wilson strips away the over-painting from the icon to discover the complex range of religious, political and commercial concerns that led this group of hopeful but fallible human beings to seek a new life on the other side of the world.

- Ever wonder if there was light after Dark Ages?
- This history of the Church from the 15th to the 18th centuries is explored with insight and inquisition
- Starting with the aftermath of the Reformation, this book is a must for knowing the Church's roots

After a historiographical and interpretative introduction, the book falls into two parts, both referencing the 'Invisible Worlds' of the title, and representing different angles of vision on aspects of early modern belief that today seem particularly strange and disturbing, even to believing Christians.

The first five chapters consider the intellectual and cultural consequences of the Reformation's assault on established beliefs about the afterlife, and the experience of souls there. They show how debates about the existence of purgatory, and related matters such as the nature of hell-fire, acted as unwitting agents of modernization, but also provided scope for ordinary people to practise a kind of vernacular theology.

The second part looks at deeply-held beliefs around angels, ghosts and fairies, and how these were re-appropriated and reimagined when cut from their traditional theological moorings.

One of the best-known figures of British history, collective memory of Henry VIII presents us with the image of a corpulent, covetous, and cunning king whose appetite for worldly goods met few parallels, whose wives met infamously premature ends, and whose religion was ever political in intent.

1536 - focusing on a pivotal year in the life of the King - reveals a fuller portrait of this complex monarch, detailing the finer shades of humanity that have so long been overlooked. We discover that in 1536 Henry met many failures - physical, personal, and political - and emerged from them a revolutionary new king who proceeded to transform a nation and reform a religion.

A compelling story, the effects of which are still with us today, 1536 shows what a profound difference can be made merely by changing the heart of a king.

Women’s songs of the grind mill are among the oldest oral traditions in South Asia. They have been sung to accompany a daily household labor, making flour using a stone hand mill, for many centuries. Even today, grind mill songs are still well known in Maharashtra, testifying to the endurance of a remarkable genre. Yet these songs have long been understood through sociological or anthropological lenses, treated as entirely separate from literary culture.

This groundbreaking book shows that women’s songs of the grind mill played a foundational role in the vernacular turn to making literature in Marathi between the thirteenth and eighteenth centuries. Madhuri Deshmukh demonstrates that women’s songs developed alongside and in intimate conversation with Marathi written literature, shaping the poetic structures and motifs of the bhakti tradition. Drawing on aesthetic categories from the songs themselves, she calls for understanding these artfully crafted compositions as oral poetry in a lyric mode, underscoring that women describe their songs as an “unraveling of the heart” while they compare written poetry to weaving. Deshmukh argues that women poets, Mahadaise and Janabai, were at the forefront of vernacularization, challenging common literary-historical narratives that neglect the role of communities excluded by elite regimes of writing. Considering what songs say about texts and what texts say about songs, The Unraveling Heart offers new insight into the importance of labor and gender to aesthetics and develops a novel approach to the concept of the literary.

In 1948, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea is founded by General Kim Il-sung.

In 1978, North Korea celebrates the thirtieth anniversary of its founding, and Kim Jong-il, who at the time is the head of the Propaganda and Agitation Department, orders the kidnapping of the greatest South Korean movie star, the actress Madame Choi, and her ex-husband, the famous film director Shin Sang-ok.

In 2008, North Korea celebrates its sixtieth anniversary, and Magnus Bärtås and Fredrik Ekman take a bizarre, heavily guided tour to the world’s most isolated country.

In All Monster Must Die, authors Magnus Bärtås and Fredrik Ekman weave together these three stories to create a mosaic of North Korea, past and present: from the Japanese occupation to the demarcation of the border at the 38th parallel and the Korean War, the development of North Korean Juche ideology, the establishment of the Kim dynasty’s cult of personality, and the aggressive manufacturing of political propaganda, which motivated the kidnapping of South Korea’s most famous film couple. Intelligent and shocking, this book offers a rare and fascinating window into the “hermit kingdom,” and includes an updated chapter on the passing of Kim Jong-il and the declaration of his son, Kim Jong-un, as supreme leader.

Staking Claims to a Continent is a highly readable examination of how Jefferson Davis, Abraham Lincoln, and Sir John A. Macdonald took part in a daring game of nation building that has impacted the global order to the present day.

Three political leaders presided over the reshaping of the North American continent during the fiery 1860s. Jefferson Davis and Abraham Lincoln were both born in Kentucky, Davis in June 1808 and Lincoln the following February. John A. Macdonald was born in Glasgow, Scotland, in January 1815. All were Protestants; none came from a wealthy family. In an earlier era, such men would not have risen to political heights. They personified an age of social and economic transformation, thrust to the top by the very forces that tore the continent apart.

Davis tried to create a country by ripping the South out of the United States and establishing the Confederate States of America during the Civil War. Lincoln’s crusade to save the Union honed the industrial-military power that would one day dominate the world. Macdonald led the drive to shepherd the diverse British North American provinces into a federal state that would secure the northern half of the continent and keep Canada out of American hands.

In a high stakes game, these three national projects competed to create viable nation states. And the success or failure of the projects would have consequences — not only for the long-term future of the continent but also for the entire global order.

Discover Toronto’s wild, weird history and the 100 unique beers it inspired!

Did you know that Babe Ruth hit his first home run in Toronto? Or that the city’s first taxi service was operated by a former slave from the American South? Or that, during the Second World War, anti-submarine technology was developed in a carriage house at Casa Loma? These are the sorts of stories Henderson Brewing Company has been celebrating with their monthly “Ides” series: unique brews that pay tribute to just-as-unique moments in Toronto’s history.

Toronto in 100 Beers is more than a history of Henderson’s limited releases, it’s a history of the city itself—a city that has nurtured the lives and legends of artists, golfers, boxers, prog rockers, prestidigitators, hockey legends, and even a few ghosts. This book collects their stories and those of the beers dreamt up in their honour. Toronto is a wild, weird city whose rich history is worthy of celebration—so raise a glass to Toronto and to the Henderson Brewing Company.

Now available in paperback, Tecumseh and Brock is a powerful and compelling new work on the War of 1812, from bestselling author, historian, political scientist, and scholar James Laxer.

At the dawn of the nineteenth century, the British Empire is engaged in a titanic war with Napoleonic France for global supremacy. The American Republic is quickly expanding its territory along the western frontier, while native peoples struggle to protect their lands from the relentless wave of new settlers.

James Laxer offers a fresh and compelling view of this decisive war, by bringing to life two major contests: the native peoples’ Endless War to establish nationhood and sovereignty on their traditional territories and the American campaign to settle its grievances with Britain through the conquest of Canada. At the heart of this story is the unlikely friendship and political alliance of Tecumseh, the Shawnee chief and charismatic leader of the native confederacy, and Major General Isaac Brock, defender and protector of the British Crown. Together, these two towering figures secured what would become the nation of Canada.

Vividly rendered and passionately depicted, Tecumseh and Brock is a highly engaging, impeccably researched, and powerful work of history.

The CBC Massey Lectures, Canada's preeminent public lecture series, are for many of us a highly anticipated annual feast of ideas. However, some of the finest lectures, by some of the greatest minds of modern times, have been lost for many years -- unavailable to the public in any form.

This is the second volume of recovered lectures, a follow-on to The Lost Massey Lectures, and features: Nobel Peace Prize recipient Willy Brandt on the dangerous inequities between developing and industrialized nations in Dangers and Options: The Matter of World Survival; George Grant on the worsening predicament of the West through an examination of the thought of Friedrich Nietzsche in Time as History; Claude Levi-Strauss on the nature and role of myth in human history in Myth and Meaning; Frank Underhill on the deficiencies of the Canadian constitution in The Image of Confederation; and Barbara Ward, in the very first Massey Lecture, on the origin and predicament of underdeveloped countries in The Rich Nations and the Poor Nations.

More Lost Massey Lectures includes an introduction by Bernie Lucht, who has been the executive producer of CBC Radio's Ideas and the Massey Lectures since 1984.

The fascinating story of Toronto’s experimental Rochdale College’s rise and fall, now reissued in a handsome A List edition.

Toronto’s Rochdale College began as an experiment in living and learning, and ended as a symbol of the flower-child sixties, a financial and social controversy. In his well-researched and entertaining account, David Sharpe tells the fascinating story of the college’s seven-year rise and fall.

Sharpe examines the contradictions of the Age of Aquarius squeezed into one stark skyscraper on Bloor Street in Toronto. He looks at the financing and the internal government of the college, as well as its creative achievements over the years and its contribution to the community. Rochdale: The Runaway College provides a lively, detailed picture of the day-to-day life of the college residents: the peace parties and joyful live-ins, as well as the police raids and the drug overdoses of the dark days.

A colourful illustrated history of the buildings in Vancouver’s Chinatown, celebrating the richness, diversity, and vibrancy of the Chinese community.

Buildings are more than just bricks and mortar; they are keepers of secrets and history. With more than seventy vibrant illustrations, writeups on the buildings, interviews with community members, and select archival photographs, Chinatown Vancouver celebrates the invaluable contributions of the Chinese to Canada. The colourful illustrations portray Chinatown during its thriving days as a commercial hub when iconic businesses such as Cathay Importers, Ho Inn Restaurant, Ming Wo Cookware, and Ho Ho Restaurant were pillars in the community.

Early Chinese settlers in Vancouver demonstrated immense resilience and perseverance in creating a self-sustaining safety net to weather racial hostility, discrimination, and segregation from broader Canadian society. The protection of cultural sites like Chinatown helps us understand our connection to place, the past, and the future. In showcasing the unique architecture, Chinatown Vancouverhonours the neighbourhood as an irreplaceable living heritage site and cultural asset for all Canadians.

Part of the CBC Massey Lectures Series

In History’s People internationally acclaimed historian Margaret MacMillan gives her own personal selection of figures of the past, women and men, some famous and some little-known, who stand out for her. Some have changed the course of history and even directed the currents of their times. Others are memorable for being risk-takers, adventurers, or observers. She looks at the concept of leadership through Bismarck and the unification of Germany; William Lyon MacKenzie King and the preservation of the Canadian Federation; Franklin Delano Roosevelt and the bringing of a unified United States into the Second World War. She also notes how leaders can make huge and often destructive mistakes, as in the cases of Hitler, Stalin, and Thatcher. Richard Nixon and Samuel de Champlain are examples of daring risk-takers who stubbornly went their own ways, often in defiance of their own societies. Then there are the dreamers, explorers, and adventurers, individuals like Fanny Parkes and Elizabeth Simcoe who manage to defy or ignore the constraints of their own societies. Finally, there are the observers, such as Babur, the first Mughal emperor of India, and Victor Klemperer, a Holocaust survivor, who kept the notes and diaries that bring the past to life.

History’s People is about the important and complex relationship between biography and history, individuals and their times.

Finalist for the 2023 Trillium Book Award

The world is desperate for cobalt. It drives the proliferation of digital and clean technologies. But this “demon metal” has a horrific present and a troubled history.

The modern search for cobalt has brought investors back to a small town in Northern Canada, a place called Cobalt. Like the demon metal, this town has a dark and turbulent history. 

The tale of the early-twentieth-century mining rush at Cobalt has been told as a settler’s adventure, but Indigenous people had already been trading in metals from the region for two thousand years. And the events that happened here — the theft of Indigenous lands, the exploitation of a multicultural workforce, and the destruction of the natural environment — established a template for resource extraction that has been exported around the world. 

Charlie Angus reframes the complex and intersectional history of Cobalt within a broader international frame — from the conquistadores to the Western gold rush to the struggles in the Democratic Republic of Congo today. He demonstrates how Cobalt set Canada on its path to become the world’s dominant mining superpower.

From the birth of Berlin’s railway network to the time when the bombs of the Second World War and the concrete slabs of the Wall changed the city forever, the Prussian and later German capital counted eight major railway stations. These were beacons in the city: impressive monuments, magnificently built for the bygone rituals of arrival and departure, yet tightly woven into a distinct part of town.

Railway stations are magical, meaningful places, allowing for escape as well as promise, nostalgia as well as novelty. They process all sorts of people, from well-to-do business types to unfortunates forced to live on the fringes of society. There is a nervous energy around them, created by those looking forward to their journey, others trying to get oriented in a place that is new to them, and some facing the drudgery of yet another commute.

And if pre-World War 2 Berlin was anything, it was energetic. Building an adequate transport infrastructure for Europe’s fastest-growing city proved to be a continuous challenge that required flexibility and adaptation and touched the city in ways that can still be seen today. This is the history of Berlin’s railway stations, the people that used them, and the way the city was shaped by them.

The GDR always claimed it was a sovereign state. Did it provide for its own security, or to what extent did it depend on Soviet guarantees and military support? This is one of the guiding questions orienting this volume.

A chronological overview, placing the essential stages of the GDR’s military history within the context of the period, is followed by a systematic analysis of the most relevant aspects: the book covers, among other topics, the organization of the armed forces, the military as an educational agency, or the effects of the hypermilitarization on the East German state’s economy and society.

Finally, the book asks why all the armed formations together failed to protect the GDR’s Socialist Party regime when, in 1989, the citizens took to the streets and demanded reforms.

It is meant for students who need a swift introduction into the topic, and for a general readership interested in GDR history and military history.

An der Nahtstelle zwischen Literatur und Geschichtswissenschaft überlappen sich Interessen. Die politischen Notwendigkeiten zwingen förmlich dazu, neue Resonanzräume für die Auseinandersetzung mit Migration und Remigration zu öffnen. Wenn über die Konsequenzen von Flucht, Vertreibung, Asyl und Exil verhandelt wird, tritt der existenzielle Bruch in Lebensgeschichten in den Hintergrund. Zur Zeit der großen Migration nach Amerika mahnte und ermutigte die Freiheitsstatue die Ankömmlinge, Amerikaner zu werden. Doch daneben waltete die Einwanderungsbehörde von Ellis Island mit ihren Schrecken, ihrer Abschreckung.

Im scharfen Licht der Gegenwart, die sich in jedem Augenblick dramatisch verdunkeln kann, untersucht Ursula Krechel in ihrer Handreichung Stationen, Widersprüche und Konsequenzen der Migration im 20. und 21. Jahrhundert. Im besten Fall ist Migration eine freiwillige Selbstentwurzelung. Und die Rückkehr? Schlüssel, Pass, Fluchtboot spürt den Bedingungen nach, unter denen Hitler-Flüchtlinge aus ihren Exilländern zurückgekommen sind – oder zu einer zweiten Emigration aufbrachen: fremd im eigenen Land. Politischer Gestaltungswille, Idealismus oder schlichtweg Heimweh, Sehnsucht nach Menschen und Landschaften: das sind die Beweggründe einer Remigration, die diesen Namen verdient.

In the decades that followed World War II, cheap and plentiful oil helped to fuel rapid economic growth, ensure political stability, and reinforce the legitimacy of liberal democracies. Yet waves of price increases and the use of the so-called “oil weapon” by a group of Arab oil-producing countries in the early 1970s demonstrated the West’s dependence on this vital resource and its vulnerability to economic volatility and political conflicts. Oil and Sovereignty analyzes the national and international strategies that American and European governments formulated to restructure the world of oil and deal with the era’s disruptions. It shows how a variety of different actors combined diplomacy, knowledge creation, economic restructuring, and public relations in their attempts to impose stability and reassert national sovereignty.

Over the course of its history, the German Empire increasingly withheld basic rights—such as joining the army, holding public office, and even voting—as a form of legal punishment. Dishonored offenders were often stigmatized in both formal and informal ways, as their convictions shaped how they were treated in prisons, their position in the labour market, and their access to rehabilitative resources.  With a focus on Imperial Germany’s criminal policies and their afterlives in the Weimar era, Citizens into Dishonored Felons demonstrates how criminal punishment was never solely a disciplinary measure, but that it reflected a national moral compass that authorities used to dictate the rights to citizenship, honour and trust.

In an era of rapidly increasing technological advances and international exchange, how did young people come to understand the world beyond their doorsteps? Focusing on Germany through the lens of the history of knowledge, this collection explores various media for children—from textbooks, adventure stories, and other literature to board games, museums, and cultural events—to probe what they aimed to teach young people about different cultures and world regions. These multifaceted contributions from specialists in historical, literary, and cultural studies delve into the ways that children absorbed, combined, and adapted notions of the world.

While German unification promised a new historical beginning, it also stirred discussions about contemporary Germany’s Nazi past and ideas of citizenship and belonging in a changing Europe. Minority Discourses in Germany Since 1990 explores the intersections and divergences between Black German, Turkish German, and German Jewish experiences, with reflections on the evolving academic paradigms with which these are studied. Informed by comparative approaches, the volume investigates social and aesthetic interventions into contemporary German public and political discourse on memory, racism, citizenship, immigration, and history.

As a Slavic-speaking religious and ethnic “Other” living just a stone’s throw from the symbolic heart of the continent, the Muslims of Bosnia and Herzegovina have long occupied a liminal space in the European imagination. To a significant degree, the wider representations and perceptions of this population can be traced to the reports of Central European—and especially Habsburg—diplomats, scholars, journalists, tourists, and other observers in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. This volume assembles contributions from historians, anthropologists, political scientists, and literary scholars to examine the political, social, and discursive dimensions of Bosnian Muslims’ encounters with the West since the nineteenth century.

Kharkiv is Ukraine’s second largest city and its former capital. Situated within 40 km of the Ukrainian-Russian border it is one of those East-Central European “liminal” cities which became a center of modernization and pluralization in the borderland area, playing a prominent role in the process of nation building. Volodymyr Kravchenko’s expanded edition of Kharkov/Kharkiv, now in the English-language and including a new chapter on the reconfiguration of the Ukrainian-Russian borderland during and after the watershed Euromaidan event, uniquely uncovers the city’s long history, from the 17th century to today. Addressing issues of regional and national identities, Ukrainian-Russian relations, mental mapping, historical narratives and the ensuing de/reconstruction of national mythologies, this book, fills a unique gap in the literature on Kharkiv.

The field of memory studies has typically focused on everyday memory and commemoration practices through which we construct meaning and identities. The Right to Memory looks beyond these everyday practices, focusing instead on how memory relates to human rights and socio-legal constructs in order to legitimize and protect groups and individuals. With case studies including Polish Holocaust Law, the Indian origins of Amartya Sen’s capability theory approach, and the right to memory through digital technologies in Brazilian and British museums, this collected volume seeks to establish the right to memory as a foundational topic in memory studies.

Arguably the most important—and influential—German woman writer of the last century, Christa Wolf was long heralded as "die gesamtdeutsche Autorin," an author for all of Germany; but, after 1989 in unified Germany, Wolf found herself suddenly embroiled in controversies that challenged her integrity and consigned her to an ideologically suspect identity as "DDR Schriftstellerin” (GDR writer) or “Staatsdichterin” (state poet). What Remains: Responses to the Legacy of Christa Wolf asks the question of what truly remains of her legacy in the annals of contemporary German culture and history. Unlike most of what appeared in the wake of Wolf’s death, however, the contributions to this international volume seek neither to monumentalize her nor to dismantle her stature, but to employ a range of methodologies—comparative, intertextual, psychoanalytic, historical, transcultural—to offer sensitive assessments of Wolf’s major literary texts, as well as of her lesser known work in genres such as film and essay.

In 2015, both Portugal and Spain passed laws enabling descendants of Sephardi Jews to obtain citizenship, an historic offer of reconciliation for Jews who were forced to undergo conversions or expelled from Iberia nearly half a millennia ago. Drawing on the memory of the expulsion from Sepharad, the scholarly and personal essays in Reparative Citizenship for Sephardi Descendants analyze the impact of reconciliation laws on descendants and contemporary forms of citizenship.

Historians of immigration and ethnicity in the United States have typically devoted little attention to Greek Americans, while popular narratives depict them as indifferent or hostile to political and social radicalism. From acclaimed historian Kostis Karpozilos, Red America provides an alternative narrative of the Greek American experience. Focusing on the history of the Greek American Left from the beginning of the twentieth century to the Cold War, this volume uncovers the threads that bound notions of radical social change to everyday immigrant life, tracing ethnic radicalism from the boundaries of a specific community to the epicenter of American social and political history.

Following World War II, Germany was faced not only with the practical tasks of reconstruction and denazification, but also with the longer-term mission of morally “re-civilizing” its citizens—a goal that persisted through the nation’s 1949 split. One of the most important mediums for effecting reeducation was television, whose strengths were particularly evident in the thousands of television plays that were broadcast in both Germanys in the 1950s and 1960s. This book shows how TV dramas transcended state boundaries and—notwithstanding the ideological differences between East and West—addressed shared issues and themes, helping to ease viewers into confronting uncomfortable moral topics.

As in a number of France’s major cities, civil war erupted in Lyon in the summer of 1793, ultimately leading to a siege of the city and a wave of mass executions. Using Lyon as a lens for understanding the politics of revolutionary France, this book reveals the widespread enthusiasm for judicial change in Lyon at the time of the Revolution, as well as the conflicts that ensued between elected magistrates in the face of radical democratization. Julie Patricia Johnson’s investigation of these developments during the bloodiest years of the Revolution offers powerful insights into the passions and the struggles of ordinary people during an extraordinary time.

For over a century, the Middle East has weathered seemingly endless conflicts, ensnaring political players from around the world. And perhaps no nation has displayed a greater range of policies toward, and experiences in, the region than Germany, as this short and accessible volume demonstrates. Beginning with Kaiser Wilhelm’s intermittent support for Zionism, it follows the course of German-Mideast relations through two world wars and the rise of Adolf Hitler. As Steininger shows, the crimes of the Third Reich have inevitably shaped postwar German Mideast policy, with Germany emerging as one of Israel’s staunchest supporters while continuing to navigate the region’s complex international, religious, and energy politics.

During the division of Germany, law became the object of ideological conflicts and the means by which the two national governments conducted their battle over political legitimacy. Legal Entanglements explores how these dynamics produced competing concepts of statehood and sovereignty, all centered on citizens and their rights. Drawing on wide-ranging archival sources, including recently declassified documents, Sebastian Gehrig traces how politicians, diplomats, judges, lawyers, activists and intellectuals navigated the struggle between legal ideologies under the pressures of the Cold War and decolonization. As he shows, in their response to global debates over international law and human rights, their work kept the legal cultures of both German states entangled until 1989.

Across the medieval and early modern eras, new rulers were celebrated with increasingly elaborate coronations and inaugurations that symbolically conferred legitimacy and political power upon them. Many historians have considered rituals like these as irrelevant to understanding modern governance—an idea that this volume challenges through illuminating case studies focused on the eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Habsburg lands. Taking the formal elasticity of these events as the key to their lasting relevance, the contributors explore important questions around their political, legal, social, and cultural significance and their curious persistence as a historical phenomenon over time.

Though long associated with a small group of coffeehouse elites around the turn of the twentieth century, Viennese “modernist” culture had roots that reached much further back and beyond the rarefied sphere of high culture. In Comical Modernity, Heidi Hakkarainen looks at Vienna in the second half of the nineteenth century, a period of dramatic urban renewal during which the city’s rapidly changing face was a mainstay of humorous magazines, books, and other publications aimed at middle-class audiences. As she shows, humor provided a widely accessible means of negotiating an era of radical change.

Located on the border of present-day Romania and Ukraine, the historical region of Bukovina was the site of widespread displacement and violence as it passed from Romanian to Soviet hands and back again during World War II. This study focuses on two groups of “Bukovinians”—ethnic Germans and German-speaking Jews—as they navigated dramatically changed political and social circumstances in and after 1945. Through comparisons of the narratives and self-conceptions of these groups, Resettlers and Survivors gives a nuanced account of how they dealt with the difficult legacies of World War II, while exploring Bukovina’s significance for them as both a geographical location and a “place of memory.”

In an era defined by daily polls, institutional rankings, and other forms of social quantification, it can be easy to forget that comparison has a long historical lineage. Presenting a range of multidisciplinary perspectives, this volume investigates the concepts and practices of comparison from the early modern period to the present. Each chapter demonstrates how comparison has helped to drive the seemingly irresistible dynamism of the modern world, exploring how comparatively minded assessors determine their units of analysis, the criteria they select or ignore, and just who it is that makes use of these comparisons—and to what ends.

Allein unter vielen – das waren Kinder in den Krippen der DDR. Zum Teil ab frühester Kindheit in staatlichen Tages-, Wochen- oder Dauereinrichtungen untergebracht, mussten sie den Aufbau des Sozialismus am eigenen Leib erfahren. 1950 hatte das SED-Regime aus ideologischen und ökonomischen Gründen mit dem Ausbau des Krippensystems begonnen, das schon bald in eine schwere Krise geraten sollte. Medizinische Forschungen zeigten die negativen Auswirkungen der Institution auf die Kinder. Konnte die SED-Diktatur die Wissenschaft sanktionieren und lenken, mussten trotzdem Lösungen für die konkreten Alltagsprobleme gefunden werden. Der Staat setzte dabei, teilweise vergeblich, auf Konzepte der Pädagogik, um Entwicklungsverzögerungen zu vermeiden und die Kinder zu „sozialistischen Persönlichkeiten" zu erziehen. Mit kritischem Blick untersucht Carolin Wiethoff Alltag, Ausbau und Krise der Kinderkrippen in der DDR bis in die späten 1960er Jahre.

Is it possible to conceive of the American diet without bagels? Or Star Trek without Mr. Spock? Are the creatures in Maurice Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are based on Holocaust survivors? And how has Yiddish, a language without a country, influenced Hollywood? These and other questions are explored in this stunning and rich anthology of the interplay of Yiddish and American culture, edited by award-winning authors and scholars Ilan Stavans and Josh Lambert.

It starts with the arrival of Ashkenazi immigrants to New York City’s Lower East Side and follows Yiddish as it moves into Hollywood, Broadway, literature, politics, and resistance. We take deep dives into cuisine, language, popular culture, and even Yiddish in the other Americas, including Canada, Argentina, Cuba, Mexico, and Colombia. The book presents a bountiful menu of genres: essays, memoir, song, letters, poems, recipes, cartoons, conversations, and much more. Authors include Nobel Prize–winner Isaac Bashevis Singer and luminaries such as Grace Paley, Cynthia Ozick, Chaim Grade, Michael Chabon, Abraham Cahan, Sophie Tucker, Blume Lempel, Irving Howe, Art Spiegelman, Alfred Kazin, Harvey Pekar, Ben Katchor, Paula Vogel, and Liana Finck.

Readers will laugh and cry as they delve into personal stories of assimilation and learn about people from a diverse variety of backgrounds, Jewish and not, who have made the language their own. The Yiddish saying states: Der mentsh trakht un got lakht. Man plans and God laughs. How Yiddish Changed America and How America Changed Yiddish illustrates how those plans are full of zest, dignity, and tremendous humanity.

Winner of Asymptote Journal’s 2016 Close Approximations Translation Contest and Shortlisted for the Ryszard Kapuscinski Prize, History of a Disappearance is the fascinating true story of a small mining town in the southwest of Poland that, after seven centuries of history, disappeared.

Lying at the crucible of Central Europe, the Silesian village of Kupferberg suffered the violence of the Thirty Years War, the Napoleonic Wars, and World War I. After Stalin’s post-World War II redrawing of Poland’s borders, Kupferberg became Miedzianka, a town settled by displaced people from all over Poland and a new center of the Eastern Bloc’s uranium-mining industry. Decades of neglect and environmental degradation led to the town being declared uninhabitable, and the population was evacuated. Today, it exists only in ruins, with barely a hundred people living on the unstable ground above its collapsing mines.

In this work of unsparing and insightful reportage, renowned journalist, photographer, and architecture critic Filip Springer rediscovers this small town’s fascinating history. Digging beyond the village’s mythic foundations and the great wars and world leaders that shaped it, Springer catalogs the lost human elements: the long-departed tailor and deceased shopkeeper; the parties, now silenced, that used to fill the streets with shouts and laughter; and the once-beautiful cemetery, with gravestones upended by tractors and human bones scattered by dogs. In Miedzianka, Springer sees a microcosm of European history, and a powerful narrative of how the ghosts of the past continue to haunt us in the present.

The Israeli Republic "suggests how the Iranian and Israeli leaders who feel such intense mutual hostility today actually mirror one another in certain ways, particularly in their foundational attitudes toward religious authority, political and economic populism and the West. That a writer such as Al-e Ahmad, guru to the ayatollahs, liked Israel now seems touching. What he liked about Israel seems cautionary." —Bernard Avishai, Foreign Affairs

Written by a preeminent Iranian writer who helped lay the popular groundwork for the Iranian Revolution, The Israeli Republic should be required reading for anyone interested in the history and current political landscape of the Middle East. Documenting Jalal Al-e Ahmad’s two-week-long trip to Israel in February of 1963, his account “Journey to the Land of Israel” caused a firestorm when it was published in Iran, upsetting the very revolutionary clerics whose anti-Western sentiments Al-e Ahmad himself had fueled. Yet, in the thriving Jewish State, Jalal Al-e Ahmad saw a model for a possible future Iran.

Based on his controversial travelogue, supplemented with letters between the author and his wife, Simin Daneshvar (the first major Iranian woman novelist), and translated into English for the first time, The Israeli Republic is a record of Al-e Ahmad’s idealism, insight, and ultimate disillusionment toward Israel. Vibrantly modern in its sensibility and fearlessly polemical, this book will change the way you think about the Middle East.

The Longest Night tells the captivating story of Chinese Trotskyism in its later years, including after Mao Zedong's capture of Beijing in 1949.

The book covers the three main periods of Chinese Trotskyism: the founding generation around Chen Duxiu, Zheng Chaolin, Wang Fanxi, and Peng Shuzhi, who joined the Opposition after their expulsion from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP); the first generation of those who (after 1931) did not first pass through the ranks of the CCP before becoming Trotskyists; and those who became Trotskyists after 1949, mainly in Hong Kong and the diaspora.

A unique comparative look at two of the most influential historical figures of the nineteenth century: Karl Marx and Frederick Douglass.

The Communist and the Revolutionary Liberal in the Second American Revolution is a timely and urgent work of comparative political analysis. Juxtaposing the political thought and activism of Karl Marx and Frederick Douglass, who approached politics from very different theoretical and political perspectives, Nimtz and Edwards make insightful observations and conclusions about race and class in America. The book reveals how two still competing political perspectives, liberalism and Marxism, responded to the biggest breakthrough in the quest for democracy since the French Revolution: the abolition of chattel slavery in the United States. In doing so, Nimtz and Edwards connect debates about the most contentious issues of the nineteenth century to today’s struggles for democracy, freedom, and emancipation.

Riding with the Revolution tells the gripping story of American radicals and revolutionaries who stood in solidarity with the Mexican Revolution.

A towering work of historical scholarship, this book is both a re-assessment of the Mexican Revolution and an ode to international solidarity. Between 1900 to 1925 many American leftists—including anarchists, socialists and communists—expressed their solidarity with the Mexican Revolution. Indeed, John Reed actually saddled up and rode with Pancho Villa. Later, American war resisters crossed the Rio Grande into Mexico where they helped found the Communist Party, the Industrial Workers of the World, and a Feminist Council. Protestant ministers, the Socialist Eugene Debs, Samuel Gompers head of the AFL, the anarchist Emma Goldman, and Communists John Reed, Louis Fraina, Bertram Wolfe, as well as foreign politicos M.N. Roy, Sen Katayama, and Alexander Borodin all took an interest in the Mexican labor movement.

The fourth issue of the yearbook History of Intellectual Culture (HIC) features a thematic section on the production of knowledge related to the Holocaust. The contributions focus on the circulation of knowledge via letters and other forms of written communication within and among survivor historical commissions after the Second World War with an emphasis on the interplay of gender and other differences. Although more women than men were involved in these efforts, women typically held subordinate roles to men and have largely been invisible in the historiography of these endeavors. This thematic section addresses this lacuna by exploring aspects of the “unseen labor” behind these documentation efforts that remain underexplored and marginalized in studies on the production, circulation, and history of knowledge, as well as of intellectual culture.

The nineteenth century in the United States witnessed the end of slavery and the expansion of another form of confinement: the asylum. How did enslaved and free Black people encounter psychiatric institutions? How were notions of mental disability used to reinforce slavery and Jim Crow? And how did Black people express alternative ideas about individual and communal mental health?

Diana Martha Louis explores Black experiences and views of mental disability in the nineteenth century, shedding light on the lives and struggles of the “colored insane.” She demonstrates how psychiatric discourses made Blacks “mad” both by inflicting real psychological harm within asylums, plantations, jails, and society writ large and by constructing mental disorders according to prevailing notions of race, class, gender, and sanity. Yet even as white medical professionals pathologized the enslaved as suffering from “drapetomania” (runaway slave syndrome), portrayed slavery as beneficial to Black mental health, or cast African-derived spiritual beliefs and practices as signs of madness, Black people developed their own complex perspectives on mental disability.

Louis considers the lives and writings of Black intellectuals and cultural figures including James McCune Smith, Harriet Jacobs, Harriet Tubman, and Charles Chesnutt, as well as a group of Black women who were incarcerated in Georgia Lunatic Asylum, showing how mental disability was entangled with questions of freedom, spirituality, and self-determination. Combining literary and historical analysis, Colored Insane is a rich account of nineteenth-century Black Americans’ experiences of mental illness and wellness.

Written in 13th-century Iceland by the poet and historian Snorri Sturluson, The Prose Edda is part cosmic origin story, part poetic handbook, and part mythic encyclopedia. It’s our richest surviving source of Norse mythology—the strange, brutal, radiant tales of Odin, Thor, Loki, and the twilight of the gods.

But The Prose Edda is more than legend. It is a deliberate attempt to preserve a dying world: a pagan past reimagined for a Christian age, cast in prose to explain poetry, and passed down to ensure that the old stories outlive their time. Within its pages, the Norse cosmos opens like a riddle—wild, cold, and profound.

Snorri writes with clarity and cunning, arranging the raw materials of oral tradition into a coherent, almost literary architecture. The result is both source and scripture: a guide to the poetic language of the skalds, and a sacred relic of the northern imagination.

Indigenous Peoples in Canada have experienced coerced sterilization under eugenics legislation since the 1930s, and the violence has never stopped, even though eugenics fell into disrepute. In The Genocide Continues, Karen Stote traces the historical, political, economic and policy context informing the coerced sterilization of Indigenous women from 1970 onward. She shows how a powerful idea paved the way for the expanded violations of Indigenous People’s bodies and futures. That idea was population control — a concern with who occupied land and how resources were distributed — and it was a central thread guiding public health interventions from eugenics to family planning.


The Genocide Continues offers new insights to show how federal, provincial and corporate activities intersected to criminalize and regulate Indigenous reproduction. Saskatchewan, which first established family planning policies in the 1970s and is now the province with the highest number of Indigenous women coming forward with experiences of coerced sterilization, is Stote’s case study to demonstrate why family planning activities consistently targeted Indigenous women.

Stote weaves compelling archival evidence with principled storytelling to connect violence against Indigenous bodies to violence against Indigenous lands. Unless and until colonialism, extractivism and dispossession are addressed, a genocide against Indigenous peoples will continue.

This book chiefly approaches Irish nationalist references to “Iran” as a conceptual lens for probing a broad array of developments in Irish nationalist formulations of Irish history (from ancient times to post-Norman conquests), as well as formulations of Irish identities and modes of “collective” nationalist recollection. Key thematic examples in the book range from the late eighteenth-century antiquarian debates on Irish origins to the “Iran/Erin” interchange in Irish nationalist poetry of the likes of Thomas Moore and James Clarence Mangan in the first half of the nineteenth century, the coverage of the Anglo-Iranian War of 1856–1857 in the Irish nationalist press, studies on Irish folklore by the likes of Lady Jane Wilde in the second half of the century, the emergent Aryanist discourse in some Irish nationalist circles after the mid-nineteenth century, Irish nationalist responses to the Iranian “Great Famine” of 1870–1872, references to Iran in the context of Irish Literary Revival at the turn of the twentieth century, Irish nationalist advocacy of the Iranian Constitutional Revolution of 1906–1911, and cross-territorial expressions of solidarity during and after the First World War. The only exception to the general timeline covered in the book is the section on James Joyce’s Finnegans Wake (1939), which serves as a means of interrogating the post-1922 shrinking world horizon of nationalist historiography and politics in the Irish Free State.

• In its specifically “Iran”-themed approach, this book highlights both the greater centrality of Iran in Irish nationalist antiquarianism after the late eighteenth century and in subsequent Irish nationalist folklore studies than hitherto acknowledged. At the same time, this book goes beyond explorations of Irish nationalist appropriations of “Iran” (past and contemporary) as reflected in a wide spectrum of debates ranging from antiquarian theories of Irish origins to studies on Irish folklore and mythology, as well as the manifold utilizations of Iran in Irish nationalist literature. Additionally, this book examines sporadic Irish nationalist interest in contemporary developments in Iran after the middle of the nineteenth century, most notably in the form of the protracted and multivalent Irish nationalist advocacy of Iranian sovereignty from 1907 to 1921. In the process, this book also highlights the persistently “worlded" framework of Irish-nationalist self- imaginations.

In 9/11 Imaginaria: Writing Catastrophe, Memory, and the War on Terror, Robert Moscaliuc explores how literature and cultural narratives have shaped and been shaped by the events of September 11, 2001, and the subsequent “War on Terror.” In an effort to move beyond conventional discussions of trauma and representation, Moscaliuc introduces the concept of the selfish event—a cultural phenomenon so overwhelming that it absorbs and reshapes surrounding narratives to ensure its dominance in collective memory.

Divided into two parts, the book first examines post-9/11 fiction, tracing how the attacks disrupted storytelling and perception by drawing from works by Don DeLillo, Cormac McCarthy, Mark Doten, and others. The second part shifts to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, presenting the proximal-ancillary coverage continuum, a framework that differentiates between immediate media-driven representations and reflective literary accounts by authors like Elliot Ackerman, Phil Klay, Michael Pitre, Roy Scranton, and others.

Moscaliuc’s work ultimately explores the intersections of fiction, memory, and power, challenging readers to reconsider how literature not only represents catastrophe but also actively shapes its meaning.

The Israeli destruction of Gaza has returned the idea of genocide to the centre of world politics, with sharp conflicts between protesters and international lawyers who invoke it and Western governments and media that deny it.


The idea has now been part of global politics and intellectual life for eighty years, but attitudes to it have waxed and waned according to political circumstances and intellectual fashion, with its meaning becoming unclear and contested. Recently, influential thinkers have argued that the term has become redundant.


This book, by the foremost sociological theorist of genocide, defends the concept and argues that in the current period it is urgent to make it more coherent, restoring it to a central place in thinking about mass atrocities. Examining genocide in Gaza, in the Russian attempt to eliminate Ukraine, and the longer histories of Palestine and British complicity, together with the problem of ‘political groups’ as targets, this book brings the debate up to date and is essential reading for all concerned with the problem.

Pocas civilizaciones son tan fascinantes como la romana, dos mil años después el legado de Roma es la base de la cultura occidental.

Hay pocos temas históricos universales con tanto interés bibliográfico o cinematográfico como la unión de los pueblos itálicos bajo la hegemonía del Imperio romano. Del mito fundacional de Rómulo y Remo hasta la disolución del imperio, esta Historia de Roma contada para escépticos reúne todos los ingredientes para convertirse en uno de los libros más exitosos de Juan Eslava Galán. Con la maestría que le caracteriza, Eslava no se limita a la narración cronológica de hechos históricos. Su objetivo es entretener, y para eso dota al relato de personajes ficticios que se mezclan con los emperadores, los soldados, las mujeres, los patricios y los gladiadores reales de la antigua Roma. Por supuesto, como marca de autor, no faltan los enredos de amor, las borracheras, y las motivaciones de poder o de sexo de unos personajes que, al final y por encima de todo, se mueven por pasiones humanas.

ENGLISH DESCRIPTION

Few civilizations are as fascinating as the Roman Empire. Even two thousand years later, Rome’s legacy remains the foundation of Western culture.

There are few historical topics as universally compelling—both in literature and film—as the unification of the Italic peoples under Roman rule. From the founding myth of Romulus and Remus to the fall of the empire, Historia de Roma contada para escépticos brings together all the elements that make it one of Juan Eslava Galán’s most successful books. With his signature mastery, Eslava goes beyond a simple chronological recounting of historical events. His goal is to entertain, and he does so by weaving fictional characters into the narrative alongside real emperors, soldiers, women, patricians, and gladiators of ancient Rome.

Of course, as is characteristic of the author, the book doesn’t shy away from tales of romance, drunken escapades, and the relentless pursuit of power and desire—because, in the end, these characters, above all else, are driven by deeply human passions.

Antigua Roma al Día S P Q R

Aunque a veces no nos demos cuenta, somos herederos directos de Roma, de su cultura y de su forma de concebir aspectos tan determinantes como las leyes, la estructura social o el mismo paso del tiempo.

Este último nos servirá de guía para adentrarnos en el mundo romano, a través de su calendario, con sus meses, días, horas y los principales hitos que marcaban la vida cotidiana.

Vive ahora de primera mano lo que pudo ser un año cualquiera en la antigua Roma, del 1 de enero al 31 de diciembre, en un viaje a través de su historia y tradiciones, donde asistirás a sus fiestas, sus ceremonias civiles y religiosas y sus ocupaciones cotidianas. Desde el emperador al esclavo, del mercader al senador, del soldado al labrador, todos ellos tienen su lugar en esta obra, que abarca más de mil doscientos años de historia de esta extraordinaria civilización en la que se hunden nuestras raíces.

ENGLISH DESCRIPTION

Ancient Rome, Day by Day – SPQR

We may not always realize it, but we’re direct heirs of Rome—its culture, its laws, its social structure, and even its way of measuring time.

This concept of time will guide us as we step into the Roman world, exploring its calendar—its months, days, hours, and the key events that shaped everyday life.

Experience firsthand what an ordinary year in Ancient Rome might have been like, from January 1st to December 31st. Travel through its history and traditions, where you’ll witness its festivals, civil and religious ceremonies, and daily routines. From emperors to slaves, merchants to senators, soldiers to farmers—they all play a part in this journey, spanning over twelve hundred years of a civilization that shaped the world as we know it.

Por fin vas a entender la Historia.

Juan Eslava Galán, que nos deleitó con su ya mítica Historia de España contada para escépticos, nos sorprende ahora con una historia del mundo igualmente ágil y divertida, provocadora y didáctica, que entre sonrisas o francas carcajadas nos conducirá en breves y sustanciosos capítulos desde el Big Bang que provocó el origen del universo hasta la globalización y las crisis de nuestros días.

Un libro sin desperdicio en el que no falta su habitual estilo sarcástico y siempre provocativo, que despeja cuestiones tan «candentes» como por qué era irresistible Cleopatra o por qué Franco permaneció en el poder gracias a Stalin.

ENGLISH DESCRIPTION

History will finally make sense to you.

Juan Eslava Galán, who captivated readers with his now-classic Historia de España contada para escépticos, returns with an equally engaging and provocative history of the world. Through short and compelling chapters, he takes us from the Big Bang to globalization and the crises of our time—mixing humor, sarcasm, and sharp wit along the way.

This is a book that doesn’t waste a single word, tackling fascinating historical questions such as why Cleopatra was irresistible or how Franco remained in power—thanks to Stalin.

In the wake of the September 11 attacks, US officials identified the so-called battle for hearts and minds as the “second front” in the war on terror. A wave of funding flowed into public diplomacy in the Middle East, seeking to change views of the United States through Arabic-language communications—often while hiding the traces of American origins. To what extent did this vast propaganda apparatus sway Arab public opinion? Which ideas and actors shaped American public diplomacy in this period? What are the lessons for information strategy today?

This groundbreaking book tells the story of American propaganda campaigns in the Middle East after 9/11, drawing on in-depth interviews with key players and previously classified documents. Nathaniel Greenberg shows how the United States tried to control perceptions of its response to 9/11 through news and entertainment, and reveals that Arab governments and unofficial actors were involved—knowingly or not—in distributing US propaganda. He explores the institutions, strategy, and rhetoric deployed in the war on terror, placing them in the context of American and Soviet influence campaigns during the Cold War. Greenberg argues that US government-backed broadcasting laid the groundwork for global information warfare, such as the rise of competing Russian and Chinese state media operations. Shedding light on the ideological underpinnings of American propaganda in Arabic after 9/11, The Long War of Ideas offers new insight into soft power in the twenty-first century.

The 19^th Century British novel continues to delight readers and populate syllabi of survey courses as well as specialized electives. Because there is such a tremendous volume of literature that emerged from England during this century, this volume offers a guided, chronological tour through the century, featuring authors including Charles Dickens, George Eliot, Joseph Conrad, and many more.

This volume is meant to provide a reading list for students and educators interested in these texts, including excerpts, images (some of which are taken from the novels themselves), external online resources, and appendices. In addition, this volume features links to essays by 19^th century authors contemplating their own work and position in their moment, as well as suggested reading lists for contemporary scholarship on the novel broadly construed.

As an educational resource, this volume contains many of the tools and texts that are important for new readers of the 19^th century British novel as well as educators building survey courses or specialized electives with an eye towards accessibility and convenience.

The 20th Century Queer American History Reader is an innovative resource designed to guide scholars, students, and enthusiasts through the field of queer studies. This reader serves as a guide to exploring both queer history and the ongoing narrative of LGBTQ+ experiences.

At the heart of this reader is a curated collection of detailed guides to various queer archives throughout the United States and the greater Boston area. These summaries provide essential insights into each archive's holdings, special collections, and unique materials, making it easier to locate and access pivotal documents and artifacts that chronicle the queer community's history.

Accompanying this guide is a queer history timeline. This feature allows users to highlight the critical periods, events and milestones that have shaped the queer movement. From the early days of advocacy to recent legislative victories and cultural achievements, the timeline offers a structured and engaging way to understand the evolution of queer rights and identities. Moreover, 20th Century Queer American History Reader includes an extensive compilation of secondary sources encompassing a wide array of scholarly works and interpretations of queer history.

Jackie Young was born in 1941 in Austria. He was a child survivor of Theresienstadt concentration camp where he spent two years and eight months before liberation by the Soviet Army in May 1945. He came to England at nearly four years old and was adopted by a loving couple, the Janofskys, who told him nothing about his background.

Jackie learned he was adopted at age nine when a boy at school told him and he started to understand why he always felt different from everyone else. Jackie’s life since has been a 70 year-long quest to find out the truth.

Bit by bit, Jackie has uncovered the missing pieces of his background. He learned his mother was killed at 32 at Maly Trostenets near Minsk, most likely shot by the Nazis along with a further estimated 200,000 Jews. He also feared his father was a Nazi as his mother was unmarried, he went on the TV show ‘DNA Family Secrets’ in 2022 to discover the truth.

Now a retired London taxi driver, Jackie has been married to the love of his life Lita for 60 years and has many treasures now – their two daughters and three grandchildren.

Jackie's book is part of the My Voice book collection, a stand-alone project of The Fed, the leading Jewish social care charity in Manchester, dedicated to preserving the life stories of Holocaust survivors and refugees from Nazi persecution who settled in the UK. The oral history, which is recorded and transcribed, captures their entire lives from before, during and after the war years. The books are written in the words of the survivor so that future generations can always hear their voice. The My Voice book collection is a valuable resource for Holocaust awareness and education.

Der Band führt in die Frühe Kaiserzeit ein, eine besonders gut dokumentierte Phase der römischen Geschichte (ca. 30 v. Chr. bis ca. 120 n. Chr.). Er bietet sozial-, kultur-, und imperiengeschichtliche Perspektiven auf die Entstehung und Entwicklung der römischen Monarchie und den Wandel der wichtigsten Institutionen in Rom und im Reich wie etwa des Senats oder der Armeen.

Tommy was born in Berlin, Germany, in 1938, just after Kristallnacht. At that time there were already a lot of restrictions for Jews, and they had to wear a Star of David.

In August 1939, three days before the declaration of war, baby Tommy and his parents left Berlin by train, arriving at Waterloo Station, London, with only 10 shillings and a case full of nappies. The family then moved to Manchester in 1943.

Despite his parents struggling in the early years, Tommy had a beautiful childhood. At 19, Tommy left Manchester and returned to Germany, having been offered a 3-year apprenticeship, learning all about the textile business in one of the largest mail order companies in Germany. This was just the start of his colourful and successful business career.

Growing up as an only child, Tommy learnt that much of his family perished in the concentration camps. Tommy has since discovered he has relatives in America, Argentina, Israel and France. Had it not been for the Holocaust, he would have had a large family. Having his sons, grandchildren, and relatives around the world, reminds Tommy how lucky his life has been, despite the hardship his parents and ancestors went through.

Tommy's book is part of the My Voice book collection, a stand-alone project of The Fed, the leading Jewish social care charity in Manchester, dedicated to preserving the life stories of Holocaust survivors and refugees from Nazi persecution who settled in the UK. The oral history, which is recorded and transcribed, captures their entire lives from before, during and after the war years. The books are written in the words of the survivor so that future generations can always hear their voice. The My Voice book collection is a valuable resource for Holocaust awareness and education.

Helen Stein was born in Strasbourg on 28 December 1930, the eldest of 3 children. When war broke out, Helen and her family were evacuated to the free zone of St-Junien, near Limoges. However, in November 1942, the Germans crossed the line and the region was occupied.

Helen and her siblings fled to Switzerland led by Marianne Cohn, who had already smuggled many children over the border to safety. They all had false papers and Helen became Helene Blanchet.

Unfortunately, when they were almost at the Swiss border, they were arrested by the Germans. At aged 13 Helen found herself in the Prison du Pax in Annemasse, terrified and looking after her younger siblings. They expected to be killed or sent to Auschwitz.

After the war, Helen and her siblings were reunited with her parents. However, none of her mother or father’s relatives survived the war.

In 1953 Helen married Leo Stein, a survivor from Germany who had settled in Manchester, and they had two children. Helen has never forgotten Marianne Cohn, who died rather than betray her colleagues and the children. Helen’s book is dedicated to Marianne.

Helen's book is part of the My Voice book collection, a stand-alone project of The Fed, the leading Jewish social care charity in Manchester, dedicated to preserving the life stories of Holocaust survivors and refugees from Nazi persecution who settled in the UK. The oral history, which is recorded and transcribed, captures their entire lives from before, during and after the war years. The books are written in the words of the survivor so that future generations can always hear their voice. The My Voice book collection is a valuable resource for Holocaust awareness and education.

Lydia Tischler was born in Ostrava in what was then Czechoslovakia. Her story takes her from childhood innocence to the horrors of the ghetto-camp of Theresienstadt, where she spent two years before volunteering to go to Auschwitz after learning that her mother and sister were being transported there.

After liberation in 1945, Lydia came to England in a Wellington bomber aircraft as one of The Windermere Boys. Lydia has gone onto to live a fulfilled, meaningful life, working as a child psychotherapist for over 65 years and marrying Salo Tischler in November 1975.

Lydia’s book is part of the My Voice book collection, a stand-alone project of The Fed, the leading Jewish social care charity in Manchester, dedicated to preserving the life stories of Holocaust survivors and refugees from Nazi persecution who settled in the UK. The oral history, which is recorded and transcribed, captures their entire lives from before, during and after the war years. The books are written in the words of the survivor so that future generations can always hear their voice. The My Voice book collection is a valuable resource for Holocaust awareness and education.

Ivor was born in 1931 and grew up in the village of Barsana, Romania, with his parents and siblings.

In August 1940, the village was occupied by the Hungarians, allies of Nazi Germany, and began to pass anti-Jewish laws. Jewish men and children were beaten up and Ivor couldn’t go to school without children chasing after him, calling him, ‘a dirty Jew.’

In 1944, at 12 years old, Ivor was forced onto a cramped cattle train to Auschwitz, where he was shaved, tattooed, and witnessed the worst cruelty imaginable. His father was killed, after sustaining a hand injury. Later, Ivor and his brother were taken to Bergen-Belsen where they were liberated by the British Army.

In October 1945, Ivor was flown to Southampton, and he later settled in north-west London, starting a business from nothing with his brother, manufacturing bags, which soon flourished. Ivor met his wife, Marion, and they had two sons. Ivor now has quite a legacy, with seven grandchildren and 17 great-grandchildren.

Ivor's book is part of the My Voice book collection, a stand-alone project of The Fed, the leading Jewish social care charity in Manchester, dedicated to preserving the life stories of Holocaust survivors and refugees from Nazi persecution who settled in the UK. The oral history, which is recorded and transcribed, captures their entire lives from before, during and after the war years. The books are written in the words of the survivor so that future generations can always hear their voice. The My Voice book collection is a valuable resource for Holocaust awareness and education.

Lady Milena was born Milena Fleischmann in 1929 in Prague, Czechoslovakia. Living with her socialist-leaning grandparents, Milena was exposed to anti-Nazi ideology. Her father organised papers that would allow Thomas Mann, a renowned writer who had been cast out of Germany, to obtain honorary Czech citizenship.

In March 1939, life changed when Milena’s father Rudolf was warned of his impending arrest for being both a Jew and a supporter of Thomas Mann.

In March 1939, after being baptised for ‘safety’, Milena and her sister Eva were sent on the last Kindertransport train to England, where they were taken in as foster children.

Through music, art and education Milena has ensured that a part of the Czech Holocaust is not forgotten. She was proud to be depicted in the 2023 film ‘One Life’ starring Sir Anthony Hopkins. Milena has used her voice to promote knowledge of the Holocaust and its subsequent power to ensure that this dark period of history is not repeated.

Lady Milena's book is part of the My Voice book collection, a stand-alone project of The Fed, the leading Jewish social care charity in Manchester, dedicated to preserving the life stories of Holocaust survivors and refugees from Nazi persecution who settled in the UK. The oral history, which is recorded and transcribed, captures their entire lives from before, during and after the war years. The books are written in the words of the survivor so that future generations can always hear their voice. The My Voice book collection is a valuable resource for Holocaust awareness and education.

Harry Olmer was born in 1927 in Sosnowiec, Poland. He and his five siblings had a happy childhood, staying with their grandmother Rochel Leah every summer in Charsznica, a rural area surrounded by woods.

When war broke out, the Germans took over Sosnowiec. In 1942, Harry was taken to a concentration camp in Plaszów, working 12-hour shifts at a railway embankment on a small cup of coffee and lump of bread.

Gruelling labour at Buchenwald and Schlieben left Harry dreadfully ill and liberation couldn’t come soon enough. In 1945, he came to England as one of the 'Windermere Boys’. Despite arriving in the UK with nothing, Harry built a successful life, studying dentistry at Glasgow University, marrying Margaret Lunzer, having four children and eight grandchildren and retiring as a dentist at 86.

Harry's book is part of the My Voice book collection, a stand-alone project of The Fed, the leading Jewish social care charity in Manchester, dedicated to preserving the life stories of Holocaust survivors and refugees from Nazi persecution who settled in the UK. The oral history, which is recorded and transcribed, captures their entire lives from before, during and after the war years. The books are written in the words of the survivor so that future generations can always hear their voice. The My Voice book collection is a valuable resource for Holocaust awareness and education.

Jack Aizenberg was born into a Jewish family in 1928 in Staszow, Poland. On 1 September 1939, Nazi Germany attacked Poland and soon began targeting Poland’s 3.5 million Jews, looting homes, burning properties, publicly humiliating them and sending many to forced labour camps. In 1942, living in the last Polish town to be evacuated of all its Jews, Jack went into hiding; parting reluctantly from his parents and brother.

Upon discovery of Jack’s hiding place, he was sent to work in a German munitions factory in Kielce and later experienced the harrowing conditions of Buchenwald and Colditz.

By February 1945, Jack, along with 600 other concentration camp inmates, was forced on a 200 mile death march, towards Theresienstadt in Czechoslovakia.

Jack was finally liberated in Theresienstadt on 27 April 1945 and was brought to England to recuperate in Windermere. He later settled in Manchester, creating a thriving business and loving family.

Jack's book is part of the My Voice book collection, a stand-alone project of The Fed, the leading Jewish social care charity in Manchester, dedicated to preserving the life stories of Holocaust survivors and refugees from Nazi persecution who settled in the UK. The oral history, which is recorded and transcribed, captures their entire lives from before, during and after the war years. The books are written in the words of the survivor so that future generations can always hear their voice. The My Voice book collection is a valuable resource for Holocaust awareness and education.

Packed with fascinating facts, compelling images, and little-known nuggets of information, this new go-to illustrated guide to the history of the Library of Congress will appeal to history buffs and general readers alike. It distils over two hundred years of history into an engaging read that makes a Washington icon relevant today.

Eva (then known as Maidi) was born in 1929 in the town of Szolyva in the Carpathian Mountains.

Eva appears in some of the photographs that are the only visual evidence of the mass murder at Auschwitz. She was shaved, tattooed and give a uniform to wear. She felt so dehumanised and alone.

A job in 'Canada' (a place of safety within the camp) enabled her to pinch food, clothes and on one occasion, diamonds. This possibly saved her life. In January 1945, Eva was forced to march from the camp - the ‘death march’ to Bergen-Belsen, and then to Berlin. Those who could not continue were shot.

After the war, Eva hitch-hiked through Europe, and was later introduced to a Hungarian businessman, Leopold Neumann who had escaped to Britain before the war. Eva and Leo married in 1950 and raised a family in Manchester. Eva has 25 grandchildren, almost a hundred descendants in all.

In her later years, Eva has devoted much of her energy to telling her story. Many have been inspired by her message of hope and kindness, her resilience, her warmth and her wisdom.

Eva's book is part of the My Voice Project book collection, a stand-alone project of The Fed, the leading Jewish social care charity in Manchester, dedicated to preserving the life stories of Holocaust survivors and refugees from Nazi persecution who settled in the UK. The oral history, which is recorded and transcribed, captures their entire lives from before, during and after the war years. The books are written in the words of the survivor so that future generations can always hear their voice. The My Voice book collection is a valuable resource for Holocaust awareness and education.

Rosel Siev was born in Aurich, North west Germany in June 1921. She grew up in a very religious Jewish family and had a happy childhood. She was one of five children and the family were very close.

In later life, Rosel lived in Fulda and Frankfurt where she experienced Kristallnacht. She remembers walking in the street and seeing Jewish places of interest burning and being destroyed. Close non-Jewish friends turned against her and her family which impacted her greatly. Her parents thought it would be good for her to come to the UK.

She arrived in Cardiff in 1938 when she was 17 but relocated to Manchester soon after, where she was a student nurse at Crumpsall Hospital for seven years, and became a staff nurse.

Rosel married Arthur in 1947 and had two daughters. Sadly, Arthur died suddenly in April 1969. Rosel was introduced to her second husband, Asher who had also been widowed, and married him in 1971. She went to live with him in Dublin. Rosel has many grandchildren and great grandchildren.

Sadly Rosel’s parents and two younger brothers were killed in concentration camps, along with many of her extended family. However, her sisters Hannelore and Hildegard survived the camps.

Rosel's book is part of the My Voice book collection, a stand-alone project of The Fed, the leading Jewish social care charity in Manchester, dedicated to preserving the life stories of Holocaust survivors and refugees from Nazi persecution who settled in the UK. The oral history, which is recorded and transcribed, captures their entire lives from before, during and after the war years. The books are written in the words of the survivor so that future generations can always hear their voice. The My Voice book collection is a valuable resource for Holocaust awareness and education.

A Love Letter to the Many is both an in-depth account of how and why the politics of national liberation in South Africa failed, and a bold call for a new praxis-centered transformative politics.

South Africa was once the hope of the world with its impressive and rich tradition of left politics. At the heart of post-apartheid democracy-making was a revolutionary nationalist ANC, the oldest Communist Party in Africa, the SACP, and one of the most militant labour union federations in the world, COSATU. But the country is at a crossroads and many are deeply concerned about its future. Drawing from political economy and ecology, Vishwas Satgar offers a new approach to left politics in South Africa based on social and climate justice.

Brings together geographies and methodologies often kept apart by the difficulties of researching such a broad-ranging topic as the war

Shots in the Dark offers cutting-edge scholarship across different subfields in World War II history, revealing new insights into how this crucial conflict was planned, experienced, and fought. Twelve chapters demonstrate the broad scope of wartime innovation and how the war functioned as a global turning point, driving change at all levels of human society, from government institutions to individual identities.

Contributors collaborated in a vibrant workshops series sponsored by the North American branch of the Second World War Research Group (SWWRGNA), an organization that emerged to nurture scholarship on the global war and unite scholars fragmented in narrower regional and methodological “stovepipes” to consider the war as a whole. The SWWRGNA and this volume showcase the work of diverse historians across subfields—operational, cultural, gender, social, intelligence, and diplomatic history. This approach exposes the Second World War as a catalyst for overlapping global changes that revolutionized the world after 1945. These scholars reveal continuities and parallels in wartime experiences that would remain invisible in narrowly focused projects.

The volume establishes three frameworks for understanding and interpreting changes the war provoked: 1) institutional adaptation, 2) “totalization,” or the militarization of civilians, and 3) cultural transformation. Each of the three frameworks is explored from four vantage points. Geographies are deliberately contrasted within each framework to examine the broad scope of that level of war-driven change.