Historiske og politiske biografier

" Mèlé à tous les grands événements qui, depuis plus de trente années, se sont déroulés dans son pays, associé avec des fortunes diverses aux plus émouvantsépisodes de la vie nationale, tour à tour professeur, orateur politique, homme d¿État, tantôt vaincu, tantôt vainqueur, il est une cause que M. Jules Simon n¿a jamais désertée ni trahie, cause sainte entre toutes, la cause de la liberté. Il la défendait dans la chaire de la Sorbonne, à l¿aurore de sa brillante carrière, comme il la défend sur le soir de sa laborieuse existence, à la tribune du Luxembourg."

" Il y a un an à peine que l¿une des plus célèbres cantatrices italiennes du commencement de notre siècle se mourait à Milan, dans la ville même qui fut le théâtre de ses premiers succès. Le nom de Mme Grassini brille d¿un éclat tout particulier parmi les virtuoses et les artistes distingués qui ont fait l¿ornement de la cour de Napoléon. Amenée en France par le vainqueur de l¿Italie, après la bataille de Marengo, Mme Grassini a cessé de chanter en public à la chute du maître du monde, dont elle avait été une des plus charmantes conquêtes. Après Mme Catalani, dont nous avons ici même apprécié l¿aimable talent et le noble caractère, Mme Grassini a sa place marquée parmi les cantatrices célèbres de notre siècle ; elle appartient à la même période de l¿art, au même groupe d¿artistes d¿élite, et forme avec sa brillante contemporaine un contraste des plus heureux."

" La destinée de l¿Égypte a toujours été de se faire oublier pendant des siècles, et de reparaître tout à coup pour devenir le théâtre d¿un de ces grands évènemens qui laissent leurs traces dans la vie de tous les peuples. Alexandre, César, Napoléon, marquent jusqüici les trois grandes phases de son histoire ; qui sait si, dans quelques semaines, le sort de l¿Europe entière ne va pas se décider sur les bords du Nil ? La vieille et immobile Égypte ne semblait pas réservée à un pareil avenir."

" De l¿Église romaine dans ses rapports avec les États. L¿Église de Rome est une puissance à la fois spirituelle et temporelle. Elle fonde ses droits à la souveraineté de l¿Univers sur les évangiles canoniques, sur la tradition de l¿Église primitive, sur la donation de Constantin, sur les sacrés canons et les sacrées décrétales.Qüelle possède un territoire ou n¿ait qüun palais pour domaine, l¿Église de Rome est un État. C¿est une puissance temporelle qui diffère des puissances avec lesquelles elle communique en ce que celles-ci mettent des limites à leur souveraineté, tandis que l¿Église n¿en saurait reconnaître à la sienne sans démentir son origine, altérer son caractère, se trahir et se renier elle-même. Au contraire des autres puissances qui, parce qüelles sont dans l¿humanité, acceptent les conditions où l¿homme et la nature les réduisent et plient leur volonté, leur courage et leurs lois à la force des choses, l¿Église ne peut rien abandonner des pouvoirs qui, selon sa doctrine constante, lui ont été remis comme un dépôt sacré ni renoncer à des droits qüelle prétend tenir du Ciel."

Franz Leichter's Reminiscences: An Autobiography begins when he is smuggled out of Nazi-occupied Austria as his caretaker's son. Escaping the Holocaust, he arrived in the United States as a refugee at age ten with his father and older brother. His mother was murdered by the Nazis. The family had no means of support and spoke no English. Embracing his new country, Franz worked his way through Swarthmore College and Harvard Law School. He became politically active and was elected to the New York State Legislature with the backing of First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt and Governor Herbert Lehman. As a Senator, Franz exposed the reemergence of sweatshops and sought their closure. He disclosed real estate moguls' large contributions to New York City's elected officials who voted on their projects. He sponsored New York's groundbreaking abortion rights law in 1969 and fought for its passage in 1970, which was followed three years later by the Supreme Court's landmark decision in Roe v. Wade. Franz earned a reputation as a maverick and the conscience of the Legislature. During this time, he maintained an active law practice that took him to Europe, Asia, and South America. Later he was chosen by Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush to be a Director of the Federal Housing Finance Board. Franz has lived in New York City since 1940. He has two children and four grandchildren.

The world's oldest still-active war correspondent shares the real stories behind half a century of headlines from the front lines.

A new appraisal of how key policy decisions made by the United States led to the loss of the Vietnam War.

Marines of 3/5 on the advance on Baghdad in 2003, and how the Iraq War changed their lives.

Through his thirty years in politics, Jason Kenney successfully shifted Canada's political discourse to the right. To do so, he cultivated a burgeoning right-wing populist movement, of which he ultimately lost control, leading to his downfall.

The great and the good rarely, if ever, accomplish all they wish to achieve without the able assistance of many skilled men and women. To have a very capable person beside you acting as guide, confidant and adviser is essential. Even better when it is someone with a depth of knowledge equal to, or even better than your own. If all these skills can be combined in one trusted, assistant so much the better. To a leader such a person may be valued 'beyond rubies', because they have the ability to take ideas, add something and help make them a reality.For Herbert Nigel Gresley, CME of the LNER, Bert Spencer was just such a man. As Gresley triumphed his faithful, introverted and highly talented assistant remained resolutely in the background playing an unsung yet key role in the development of Gresley's outstanding Pacifics and his many other memorable locomotives. For sixteen vibrant years Spencer sat beside his greatly admired leader witnessing and participating in all that happened adding much to an emerging legend that still resounds with us today.Here, for the first time, is Spencer's fascinating story, much of it in his own words. This was made possible by the thoughts and memories he recorded in letters to friends, papers he wrote for the Institution of Locomotive Engineers, official documents and much more. All this has been edited together to produce a unique and important personal narrative of his life and work.

In 1883, a young Irishwoman named Nellie McAuliffe ascended from the belly of a steamship in Boston Harbor and took her first steps in America. Leaving behind abject poverty, she had bravely set out for Nebraska, where she would meet and marry an industrious Scotsman, William Kinnear. They put down roots in the heart of South Omaha's booming Stockyards. In this family memoir, author David J. Krajicek uses interviews and American and European records to explore the lives of his maternal ancestors, weaving rich stories about his colorful kin and the gritty places they lived, including South Omaha's smudgy meatpacking district and the greasy railyards across the Missouri River in Council Bluffs, Iowa, where his people inhabited shacks on the wrong side of the tracks. As with his earlier memoir, Dear Mama, Krajicek uses a discerning eye and vivid storytelling to breathe life into his family's triumphs, tragedies, and quirks.

Through his letters home, combat reports, and extensive interviews with author Bill Cullen, Bob Harper describes his harrowing experiences on board the Flying Fortresses of the Eighth Air Force.

A first-person historical account of being deployed to Afghanistan in 2009 as a midlevel, bourbon-drinking helicopter pilot

'Exhilarating and immensely valuable' Priyamvada Gopal, Professor, University of Cambridge'Captivating ... captures the resolute vision of revolutionary women in anti-colonial, anti-capitalist and anti-imperialist struggles' Shahrzad Mojab, Professor, co-author of Revolutionary Learning'Powerful, complex and compassionate ... a meaningful intervention - not only in women's and revolutionary history, but in world history' Dilar Dirik, author of The Kurdish Women's MovementRosa Luxemburg, Claudia Jones and Leila Khaled may have joined Lenin, Mao and Che in the pantheon of twentieth-century revolutionaries, but the histories in which they figure remain unjustly dominated by men.She Who Struggles sets the record straight, revealing how women have contributed to revolutionary movements across the world in endless ways: as leaders, rebels, trailblazers, guerrillas and writers; revolutionaries who also navigated their gendered roles as women, mothers, wives and daughters.Through exclusive interviews and original historical research, including primary sources never before translated into English, readers are introduced to largely unknown revolutionary women from across the globe. The collection presents a hidden history of revolutionary internationalism that will be a must read for activists and anyone interested in feminist, anticolonial and anti-racist struggle today.Marral Shamshiri is a historian and activist. She is a doctoral researcher at the London School of Economics and managing editor of the journal Cold War History. Sorcha Thomson is a historian and an associate research fellow at Birkbeck, University of London. She is co-editor of the book Palestine in the World and an editor of the History Workshop magazine.

"A welcome gift ... Highlighting Lenin's flexibility and cultivation of collective leadership, Le Blanc brings out the practical activism and revolutionary patience crucial to organizing the oppressed on a rapidly over-heating planet" Jodi Dean, author of Comrade"Crackling with intellectual life" Lars T. Lih, author of Lenin Rediscovered"A wonderful sketch of Lenin's life and times ... Perhaps the best introduction available in English" Michael D. Yates, author of Can the Working Class Change the World?Vladimir Lenin lies in a tomb in Moscow's Red Square. History has not been kind to this Russian leader, his teachings reviled by modern mainstream politics. But in today's capitalist society, riven by class inequality and imperialist wars, perhaps it is worth returning to this communist icon's demand for "Peace, Land and Bread", and his radical understanding of democracy.Lenin was wrestling with the question of "what is to be done?" when facing the catastrophes of his own time. Against the odds, the Bolshevik party succeeded in rejecting both the corrupt and decaying Romanov dynasty, as well as the capitalist economic system which had started to take root in Russia.To understand how this happened, and what we can learn from him today, Paul Le Blanc takes us through Lenin's dynamic revolutionary thought, how he worked as part of a larger collective and how he centered the labor movement in Russia and beyond, uncovering a powerful form of democracy that could transform our activism today.Paul Le Blanc is an activist and acclaimed American historian teaching at La Roche University, Pennsylvania. He is the author of many books.

James Tyson was born in 1819, the seventh child of William and Isabella Tyson. Even though the forty acres they lived on was a free grant to William, it was seized to pay debts.William applied for and obtained a further grant of fifty acres in the unsettled area of East Bargo, near Sydney. The nearest neighbour was a very long walk away.They were beside a small stream, be it of indeterminant flow, but, at least it was water at hand.The family struggled to survive on that poor soil but the babies kept coming. William died when James was six so he had to start work early. Whether he wanted or was coerced to add to family finances, he did so.After a few years he went West for experience in dry land grazing of cattle. The frugality lessons he learnt never left him, so soon he had a little saved as capital for his own "station", while still bearing the weight of a patriarch.At age twenty-six he joined his elder brother to go further West to claim a selection in the face of fierce opposition from powerful stablished land holders.Through hard work, extreme risks, steely determination and application he became the richest person in Australia - owningmore land (either by leasehold or purchase) than any other Australian.As many people who do not know him think he became rich by unfair, ugly means, this book has a collection of writings by those who knew him. It not only convinced me he was a good man, it introduced me to an extraordinary person with amazing talents.John Charles Tyson

Memoir of William Watts McNair, Late of "Connaught House," Mussooree, of the Indian Survey Department, the First European Explorer of Kafiristan, has been regarded as significant work throughout human history, and in order to ensure that this work is never lost, we have taken steps to ensure its preservation by republishing this book in a contemporary format for both current and future generations. This entire book has been retyped, redesigned, and reformatted. Since these books are not made from scanned copies, the text is readable and clear.

"This book investigates the life and world of Bede (c. 673-735), foremost scholar of the early Middle Ages and 'the father of English history'. It examines his notable feats, including calculating the first tide-tables; playing a role in the creation of the Ceolfrith Bibles and the Lindisfarne Gospels; writing the earliest extant Old English poetry and the earliest translation of part of the Bible into English; and composing his famous Ecclesiastical History of the English People, with its single dating system. Despite never leaving Northumbria, Bede also wrote a guide to the Holy Land. Michelle P. Brown, an authority on the period, describes new discoveries regarding Bede's handwriting, his research programme and his previously lost Old English translation of St John's Gospel, dictated on his deathbed."--Publisher's website.

Isaac Newton, tüm zamanlar¿n en etkili bilim insanlar¿ndan biri olarak kabul edilen ¿ngiliz matematikçi, astronom ve fizikçiydi. En çok hareket yasalar¿ ve evrensel yerçekimi teorisiyle tan¿nan Newton, ke¿iflerinin bilim dünyas¿ üzerinde büyük etkisi olan tutkulu bir bilim insan¿yd¿. Sadece 50 dakika içinde, arät¿rmas¿n¿n dünyay¿ anlama biçimimizi nas¿l temelden de¿i¿tirdi¿ini ke¿fedecek ve kendisinden sonra gelen bilim insan¿ nesilleri üzerindeki derin etkisini ö¿reneceksiniz. Bu basit ve bilgilendirici kitap, Newton'un sonsuz küçükler hesab¿ yöntemi, optik üzerine çal¿¿malar¿ ve en önemli bulgusu olan evrensel yerçekimi teorisi de dahil olmak üzere en önemli bäar¿lar¿ ve ke¿ifleri hakk¿nda kapsaml¿ bir tart¿¿ma sunmaktad¿r. Ayr¿ca tam bir biyografi, dönemin bälam¿na dair de¿erli bir giri¿ ve ke¿iflerinin bilim camias¿ üzerindeki etkisine dair bir de¿erlendirme de içeren kitap, modern bilimin bu devi hakk¿nda ihtiyac¿n¿z olan tüm temel bilgileri size sunuyor.