Historiske og politiske biografier

"Thomas S. Foley, a Democratic representative from the traditionally Republican region of eastern Washington, served in Congress for thirty years, from 1964 to 1994. In 1989 he became the first Speaker of the US House of Representatives from a district west of Texas. His experience as a Democrat from a Republican district contributed to his strong commitment to bipartisanship and institution-building. His leadership came to an end with the Newt Gingrich-led Republican "revolution" that ushered in an era of ideological polarization and partisanship. Speaker Tom Foley is a political biography of this important but often ignored and overlooked figure in modern congressional history. In addition to examining the story of Foley's service as Speaker of the House, R. Kenton Bird and John C. Pierce address key themes that emerge from placing his career in the context of both his own life story and congressional politics in the late twentieth century. What emerges is the story of a leader whose strongly held political values motivated him to sustain a vibrant and responsive House of Representatives as an institution, but left him unsuited for the polarized and strident political environment that emerged in the early 1990s, a climate fueled by talk radio and other conservative media and successfully exploited by Gingrich and his fellow partisans. Though he was a reformed in the 1970s, by the 1990s he was seen as part of an "old guard" holding back the House from further reform. His defeat marked a seismic transition in the landscape of American politics"--

"First published in Great Britain in 2022 by Hodder & Stoughton an Hachette UK Company"--t.p. verso.

The varied and rewarding life of a Welsh Guardsman

The remarkable story of how Greek-speaking writers and thinkers sustained and developed the intellectual legacy of Classical Greece under the rule of Rome.In 146 BC, Greece yielded to the military might of the Roman Republic; some sixty years later, when Athens and other Greek city-states rebelled against Rome, the general Lucius Cornelius Sulla destroyed the city of Socratesand Plato, laying waste the famous Academy where Aristotle had studied.However, the traditions of Greek cultural life would continue to flourish - across the eastern Mediterranean world and beyond - during the centuries of Roman rule that followed, in the lives and work of a distinguished array of philosophers, rhetoricians, historians, doctors, scientists, geographers and theologians.Charles Freeman's accounts of such luminaries as the polymathic physician Galen, the soldier-botanist Dioscorides, the Alexandrian geographer and astronomer Ptolemy and the Neoplatonic philosopher Plotinus are interwoven with 'interludes' that counterpoint and contextualise a sequence of unjustly neglected and richly influential lives.This is the story of a vibrant, constantly evolving tradition of intellectual inquiry across a period of more than five hundred years, from the second century BC to the start of the fifth century ad - one that would help shape the intellectual landscape of the Middle Ages and long after. The Children of Athena is a cultural history on an epic scale.

'Puts Cavendish back into the literary history books where she belongs' Kate Mosse'Scholarly, articulate, and never less than fascinating' Alice LoxtonA biography of the remarkable, and in her time scandalous, seventeenth-century writer Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle.'My ambition is not only to be Empress, but Authoress of a whole world.'Margaret Cavendish, then Lucas, was born in 1623 to a wealthy family. In 1644, as England descended into civil war, she joined the court of the formidable Queen Henrietta Maria at Oxford, before following the court into exile in France. It was there that she met her much older lifelong partner, William Cavendish, Marquess of Newcastle-upon-Tyne.Cavendish was a revolutionary writer. At a time when literature was dominated by men, she wrote passionately on gender, science and philosophy, defied convention by publishing under her own name, and advocated for women in work that predates the feminist movement. In 1666, she published The Blazing World, a brilliant, trail-blazing proto-novel thought to be one of the earliest works of science fiction. But her legacy divides opinion. And history has largely forgotten her.In Pure Wit, Francesca Peacock shines a spotlight on the fascinating, pioneering, yet often complex and controversial life of Margaret Cavendish.

Ronald Santangeli presents a text and annotated translation from Neo-Latin of the first biography of the ill-fated Queen, together with an account of the fascinating diplomatic career of its Scottish author George Con.

"A Pea River Progeny: Alabama's Colorful and Controversial Governor James E. "Big Jim" Folsom chronicles the life of a 20th century Deep South politician who left behind a memorable legacy. A Populist who appealed to the common folks, Folsom directly bypassed the state's powerful, long-standing political machine and local power brokers to twice win the Governorship. He was devoted to helping the often-overlooked and less affluent residents of Alabama. Folsom's Progressive but largely unpopular views on civil rights were far ahead of his time.The biography of Folsom is filled with early- to mid-20th century Alabama and Southern history. At the same time, it is Shakespearian-like -- marked with comedy, drama, tragedy, and unfulfilled promises. At six-feet, eight inches tall and weighing 275 pounds, he was a literal and figurative giant. Folsom's compassion and Populism, however, were often tainted by his outrageous antics, progressive descent into alcoholism, and unpopularity with white supremacists.Those who read about Big Jim Folsom will discover his life and times are often stranger and more compelling than fiction.

Much has been said and written about the Azov Regiment, the now infamous volunteer unit formed during the long war in the Donbas. Amid the allegations and sensationalism from both Western and Russian media stands this unique first-hand account of what life was like in the notorious independent battalion.In The Foreigner Group, Swedish volunteer Carolus Löfroos offers in vivid detail his experience from 2014 to 2015 among the motley crew of Azov's foreign fighter wing. Löfroos' insight covers the period from the Euromaidan protests to the rocket attacks on Mariupol, all the way to the skirmishes in post-Soviet backwater villages like Shyrokyne, until the cease-fire agreement in 2015. Contained in this account is an invaluable piece of history which details the long war in the Donbas, setting the stage for the 2022 Russo-Ukrainian War-the latter cannot be fully understood without knowledge of the former.Antelope Hill is privileged to present Carolus Löfroos' colorful war memoir to an international audience. This book provides key insights into an epoch-defining conflict.

A Connecticut Yankee Goes to Washington puts Senator George P. McLean's victory for birds in the context of his distinguished forty-five-year career marked by many acts of reform during a time of widespread corruption and political instability.

A birthday gift book, featuring quotations by Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis

Bryce Wilson writes with warmth and humour of growing up in post-WWII Orkney Islands. Enhanced with full-colour art and featuring tales of friends George Mackay Brown, Ted Hughes and Seamus Heaney, this memoir, records a vanished way of life.

This is the second book in the Family of the Raj series. The first book covered the story of the O'Kinealy family from Co. Cavan in southern Ireland. James O'Kinealy emigrated to India arriving on 2nd February 1862 to join the Indian Civil Service. A graduate from Galway University where he had read science and engineering, he made his name as the prosecutor of the Wahabi Conspirators in 1869/70. He became a High Court Judge in the Bengal Judiciary. His eldest son Frederick studied medicine, joining the Indian Medical Service in 1891. He later became Surgeon General of Bengal and accompanied HRH Edward Prince of Wales as Chief Medical Officer to the tour party of 1921-22 to India and Burma. His detailed diaries of the tour are published for the first time.This second book is the biography of George Morton, the author's father. Born in 1893 of humble origin, he trained as an accountant with Deloitte, Plender and Griffiths, before enlisting in the 11th Royal Fusiliers in 1914. He fought his war in all the major battles of the Somme before being seriously wounded at the Battle of Boom Ravine on 17th February 1917. His letters to his sister tell the story of his experiences from the trenches; he survived 19 months when the average life of a subaltern was measured in weeks.After convalescing from his wounds, which included the loss of half of his right foot, he sailed to India in November 1919 to join Bird and Company in Calcutta, then the largest company in India employing over 100,000 people. His career progressed steadily, becoming chief accountant, before meeting and marrying, in September 1929, the author's mother and Frederick's daughter, Doreen O'Kinealy.Their life in India and the arrival of John and his two elder sisters are celebrated through a number of letters and photos including an account of three major treks into Sikkim and Tibet. George became senior partner in 1939 at the onset of war, becoming Chairman of the Bengal Chamber and Associated Chambers of Commerce, membership of the Indian Defence Council and most of the associated war production liaison groups. He served as Chairman of the Calcutta evacuees Committee, responsible for fielding, housing and feeding over 400,000 refugees from Burma during the first nine months of 1942. He was knighted in the February of that year.He retired in 1946 and was almost immediately recruited by the Foreign Office to serve General Clarke as a member of the Greek Economic Mission in Greece. Returning in April 1947 when the mission handed over its work to the US Porter Mission, he achieved his lifelong dream and established a farm in Ogbourne St. George. A director of several banks and firms in the city, he died of cancer on 13th April 1954, when the author was just seventeen. This book then, an account of his extraordinary life of service to India, completes the second part of a trilogy, A Family of the Raj. These two books cover almost the whole of the 99-year period of the RajA third book is under preparation covering the exploits of the author's father-in-law, Lieut. Colonel R.J.F.A. Lawder, a soldier and noted climber on the North West frontier, initially with the South Waziristan Scouts and later the Kumaon Rifles. It is programmed to be completed next year.

Dearest Darling tells the true story of the WWII romance and marriage of Anthony (Tony) Porto of New York, a Navy aerial photographer aboard the USS Saginaw Bay, and Bernice Hardey of Texas. From a box of letters stored for decades, their daughter-in-law recounts their inspiring life together. Key to the story are Bernice's late-in-life recollections of the letters Tony wrote to her while he was aboard ship in the Pacific during the final battles of WWII. The letters were a lifeline, as Bernice listened to news feeds from Tokyo Rose about supposed Japanese triumphs and worried about Tony's safety amidst the heavy fighting. When Tony died in 2011, Bernice disclosed to the family their lifelong secret, recalling how happy she was the day she finally received the long-awaited letter from Tony disclosing in code that he was finally coming home. Code? What code was she talking about? The code, which neither Tony nor Bernice had ever mentioned before, was his way of letting her know his ever-changing location in the Pacific without arousing suspicion from the Navy censor, who read all outgoing mail. Unraveling the code and reading Tony's elegant letters brings to life Bernice and Tony's deepening love amidst the backdrop of war. The letters chronicle his journey from aerial-photography training to pre-invasion surveillance to photographing the invasion of Iwo Jima. Dearest Darling is more than a classic WWII love story. Bernice's and Tony's postwar lives are inspiring examples of devotion to something bigger than oneself: in their case, faith, family, community, country, and--above all--each other.