Description Details
This is volume 4 chapter 17 of a series of books written by the Baron Macaulay (1800-1859) in the 19th century. It starts with a brief resume of the history of England up until the Stuart kings and then starts to delve into a little more detail. Macaulay is primarily fascinated by ending of any claim to divine right of kings and the growing role of Parliament in the governing of the country. He sees the accession of William and Mary (Dutch, Protestant royalty) to the British throne as a key moment in the history of the British Isles. This is a book delightful for the literary gifts of the author and intriguing for his view of 18th century English and world politics. (Jim Mowatt)...

Excerpt Details
History

Description Details
This chapter of Macaulay’s, History of England is concerned, for a large part, with insurrection against James II and his manoeuverings to suppress these. Argyle has been sheltering in Holland and returns to raise an army against James. Although brave and quick witted, he was no leader of men and the army became a confused rabble and were dispersed. Argyle was captured and died bravely. Monmouth had also been sheltering in Holland and he landed at Lyme and declared himself king on 20th June 1685. He was defeated at the battle of Sedgemoor and eventually caught and executed. Monmouth is a fine romantic and of course ultimately tragic figure. The chapter comes to an end with the Bloody Assizes and the very bloody Judge Jeffries. Summary by Jim Mowatt...

Excerpt Details
History

Description Details
A sketch of the second regiment of Connecticut volunteer heavy artillery, originally the Nineteenth Volunteer Infantry, in the Civil War.

Excerpt Details
History

Description Details
In chapter 11 William and Mary have been crowned and settle down to the task of ruling England. An endless succession of British noblemen jockey for position and all feel frustration at Williams’ preference for his own countrymen in positions of resonsibility in the British government and armed forces....

Excerpt Details
History

Description Details
Mr. Desjardins was driven to write this work to refute statements uttered by the nationalist Henri Bourassa, which the former feared painted all Quebecers with the same unpatriotic brush in respect to their contribution to the Great War. (Summary by Cathy Barratt)...

Excerpt Details
History

Description Details
The Wars of the Jews (or The History of the Destruction of Jerusalem, or as it usually appears in modern English translations, The Jewish War - original title: Phlauiou Iôsêpou historia Ioudaïkou polemou pros Rhômaious bibliona) is a book written by the 1st century Jewish historian Josephus. It is a description of Jewish history from the capture of Jerusalem by the Seleucid ruler Antiochus IV Epiphanes in 164 BC to the fall and destruction of Jerusalem in the First Jewish-Roman War in AD 70. The book was written about 75, originally in Josephus's paternal tongue, probably Aramaic, though this version has not survived. It was later translated into Greek, probably under the supervision of Josephus himself. The sources of knowledge that we have of this war are: Josephus's account and from the Talmud (gittin 57b) and in midrash Eichah....

Excerpt Details
History

Description Details
The First Anglo–Afghan War was fought between British India and Afghanistan from 1839 to 1842. It was one of the first major conflicts during the Great Game, the 19th century competition for power and influence in Central Asia between the United Kingdom and Russia, and also marked one of the worst setbacks inflicted on British power in the region after the consolidation of British Raj by the East India Company. (Summary by Phil)...

Excerpt Details
History

Description Details
Rawlings follows the development of printing from the origins of writing to modern printing. Some of the earliest records are ancient Egyptian, Greek and Roman recordings on papyrus and wax tablets. However, Rawlings acknowledges the sparse nature of this first fragile evidence, and limits speculation. Later, libraries of religious books grew in Europe, where monks copied individual books in monasteries. The block printing technique began with illustrations carved in wood blocks, while the text needed to be written by hand. Eventually, entire pages were printed as combinations of illustrations with text. The Biblia Pauperum, or “Bible of the Poor,” demonstrates this first time saving method. Later chapters focus on printing developing as an industry, especially after the invention of movable type. Two inventors are contested as the first inventor, Johann Gutenberg of Mentz in Germany, and Laurenz Coster of Haarlem in Holland. Rawlings describes the evidence for each side, along with stories and legends that grow around their names. Since many of the medieval books were meant to be admired as art by the illiterate majority and read o...

Excerpt Details
History

Description Details
The subject of our policy on the North-West frontier of India is one of great importance, as affecting the general welfare of our Eastern Empire, and is specially interesting at the present time, when military operations on a considerable scale are being conducted against a combination of the independent tribes along the frontier. It must be understood that the present condition of affairs is no mere sudden outbreak on the part of our turbulent neighbours. Its causes lie far deeper, and are the consequences of events in bygone years. (From the author's Preface, 1897)....

Excerpt Details
History

Description Details
This is chapter 1 of volume 1 of a series of books written by the Baron Macaulay in the 19th century. It starts with a brief resume of the history of England up until the Stuart kings and then starts to delve into a little more detail. Macaulay is primarily fascinated by ending of any claim to divine right of kings and the growing role of Parliament in the governing of the country. He sees the accession of William and Mary (Dutch, Protestant royalty) to the British throne as a key moment in the history of the British Isles. This is a book delightful for the literary gifts of the author and intriguing for his view of 18th century English and world politics. (Summary by Jim Mowatt)...

Excerpt Details
History

Description Details
This work tells the history of smoking in England from the social point of view. Thus it does not deal with the history of tobacco growing or tobacco related manufacture, but is rather the story of how smoking has fitted in with the fashions and customs throughout the ages, and the changes in the attitude of society towards smoking. (Summary by Maikki)...

Excerpt Details
History

Description Details
The world, if we choose to see it so, is a complicated picture of people dressing and undressing. The history of the world is composed of the chat of a little band of tailors seated cross-legged on their boards; they gossip across the centuries, feeling, as they should, very busy and important. As you will see, I have devoted myself entirely to civil costume—that is, the clothes a man or a woman would wear from choice, and not by reason of an appointment to some ecclesiastical post, or to a military calling, or to the Bar, or the Bench. Such clothes are but symbols of their trades and professions, and have been dealt with by persons who specialize in those professions. (Summary excerpted from Introduction.)...

Excerpt Details
History

Description Details
FRANCES CALDERON DE LA BARCA, born in Edinburgh, 1804, the daughter of William Inglis. After her father's death she settled in America, where she married the Spanish diplomat, Don Angel Calderon de la Barca. She accompanied him on his various appointments to Mexico, Washington, and finally to Madrid, where she was created Marquesa de Calderon de la Barca by Alfonso XII and died in 1882. The present work is the result of observations made during a two years' residence in Mexico, by a lady, whose position there made her intimately acquainted with its society, and opened to her the best sources of information in regard to whatever could interest an enlightened foreigner. It consists of letters written to the members of her own family, and, really, not intended originally--however incredible the assertion—for publication. Taken from text itself and part of preface....

Excerpt Details
History

Description Details
The Histories of Herodotus of Halicarnassus is considered the first work of history in Western literature. Written about 440 BC, the Histories tell the story of the war between the Persian Empire and the Greek city-states in the 5th century BC. Herodotus traveled extensively around the ancient world, conducting interviews and collecting stories for his book. The rise of the Persian Empire is chronicled, and the causes for the conflict with Greece. Herodotus treats the conflict as an ideological one, frequently contrasting the absolute power of the Persian king with the democratic government of the Greeks. (Summary adapted from Wikipedia.)...

Excerpt Details
History

Description Details
The name Acadia, which we now associate with a great tragedy of history and song, was first used by the French to distinguish the eastern or maritime part of New France from the western part, which began with the St Lawrence valley and was called Canada. Just where Acadia ended and Canada began, the French never clearly defined. In course of time, as will be seen, this question became a cause of war with the English--but we shall not be much at fault if we take a line from the mouth of the river Penobscot, due north to the St Lawrence, to mark the western frontier of the Acadia of the French. This volume covers the period of hostility between the Acadians and the British Crown....

Excerpt Details
History

Description Details
Elia Peattie was an outspoken journalist and social activist who gave her attention to such areas as orphanages, charity hospitals, the Wounded Knee massacre, capital punishment, and the like. The Precipice is partially based on the life of her close friend Katherine Ostrander, a social work pioneer, and tells of the evolution of Kate Barrington after her college years and with it the evolution of society as a whole and women in particular in pre-World War I America. Friendship, romance, betrayal, searchings of the soul, dreams, and shattered hopes -- all the stuff of life -- bring Kate to full realization of her true self. (Introduction by Mary Schneider)...

Excerpt Details
History

Description Details
This is volume 4 chapter 20 of a series of books written by the Baron Macaulay (1800-1859) in the 19th century. It starts with a brief resume of the history of England up until the Stuart kings and then starts to delve into a little more detail. Macaulay is primarily fascinated by ending of any claim to divine right of kings and the growing role of Parliament in the governing of the country. He sees the accession of William and Mary (Dutch, Protestant royalty) to the British throne as a key moment in the history of the British Isles. This is a book delightful for the literary gifts of the author and intriguing for his view of 18th century English and world politics. (Jim Mowatt)...

Excerpt Details
History

Description Details
The Amendments to the Constitution of the USA are a continuously modified document that attempts to secure all basic and other rights for American citizens. The most recent amendment was made in the early 1970's during the Vietnam war; this amendment lowered the voting age to 18. The first ten amendments (A.K.A. the Bill of Rights) was made by the founding fathers shortly after the actual constitution was made. The Bill of Rights covers all those things that the settlers found wrong with the rule of King George III of England. Such as: Quartering of soldiers, Freedom of speech, and Search and seizure. (Summary by Shurtagal)...

Excerpt Details
History

Description Details
The Histories of Herodotus of Halicarnassus is considered the first work of history in Western literature. Written about 440 BC, the Histories tell the story of the war between the Persian Empire and the Greek city-states in the 5th century BC. Herodotus traveled extensively around the ancient world, conducting interviews and collecting stories for his book. The rise of the Persian Empire is chronicled, and the causes for the conflict with Greece. Herodotus treats the conflict as an ideological one, frequently contrasting the absolute power of the Persian king with the democratic government of the Greeks. (Summary adapted from Wikipedia.)...

Excerpt Details
History

Description Details
This is volume 4 chapter 19 of a series of books written by the Baron Macaulay (1800-1859) in the 19th century. It starts with a brief resume of the history of England up until the Stuart kings and then starts to delve into a little more detail. Macaulay is primarily fascinated by ending of any claim to divine right of kings and the growing role of Parliament in the governing of the country. He sees the accession of William and Mary (Dutch, Protestant royalty) to the British throne as a key moment in the history of the British Isles. This is a book delightful for the literary gifts of the author and intriguing for his view of 18th century English and world politics. (Jim Mowatt)...

Excerpt Details
History