Showing titles in 17th Century

Over a remarkable career Bernard Bailyn has reshaped our understanding of the early American past. Illuminating History is the most personal of Bailyn's works. It is in part an intellectual memoir of the significant turns in an immensely productive and influential scholarly career. It is also alive with people whose actions touched the long arc of history: a struggling Boston merchant tormented by the tensions between capitalist avarice and a constrictive Puritan piety; a charismatic German Pietist who founded a cloister in the Pennsylvania wilderness; and more.

The outcome of the English Civil War was no doubt unthinkable to many across Europe before it actually happened, and the Battle of Edgehill represented the first sign that things might not go according to the typical plan. That year, the unthinkable happened when the king and Parliament broke with each other, raising their standards of war. The divinely appointed order was broken, and the result was bloodshed, terror, and chaos. Most notably, Edgehill would make clear that things might not simply go the king’s way.

In the 14th century, a ruthless killer stalked the streets of England, wiping out up to 60 percent of the terror-stricken nation's inhabitants. This invisible and unforgiving terminator continued to harass the population for hundreds of years, but nothing could compare to the savagery it would unleash three centuries later. This conscienceless menace was none other than the notorious bubonic plague, also known as the "Black Death".

Building on and connecting histories of food and work, literary criticism of the pastoral and georgic, histories of elite and vernacular science, and histories of reading and writing practices, among other areas of inquiry, Digging the Past offers fine-grained case studies of projects heralded as innovations both in the 17th century and in our own time: composting and soil amendment, local food, natural wine, and hedgerows.

Distinguished British historian Geoffrey Parker spent 15 years writing this ambitious history of the tumultuous 17th century, when nations were in the grip of what was known as the General Crisis. First published in 2013, Global Crisis reveals that freak weather was a key reason why the people of the 1600s lurched between droughts, famines, and countless wars.

London was a tinderbox waiting to ignite. An unusually hot and dry summer had drained the city’s water supplies, and without an organized firefighting force, its citizens were left to fend for themselves. The stage was set for catastrophe, and in the early hours of Sunday, September 2, 1666, the spark was struck. A seemingly inconsequential fire ignited in a baker’s shop on Pudding Lane. Unchecked and underestimated, it would grow to become one of the most devastating disasters London had ever faced.

The Involuntary American demonstrates how even indi­viduals of humble circumstances were swept into the mael­strom of the First Global Age. It expands our understanding of immigration to the colonies, colonial servitude, the link­ages and tensions between Europe, Massachusetts Bay, and America's northeastern frontier, and of New England socie­ty in the early colonial period.

A continent divided. A war that reshaped the world. The Thirty Years War (1618–1648) began as a bitter religious conflict within the fractured Holy Roman Empire—but it would erupt into one of the most devastating and transformative wars in European history. What started as a clash between Protestant and Catholic states soon spiraled into a brutal struggle for power, drawing in the great kingdoms of Europe and leaving millions dead.

Saint-Simon fut souvent considéré comme l'un des plus grands écrivains de la langue française. Il fut contemporain de Louis XIV et ses Mémoires, écrites en vingt volumes, constituent un témoignage essentiel de ce que fut cette époque et nous offrent une plongée fascinante dans l'univers du Roi Soleil, le plus célèbre de tous les rois. Les pages qui suivent sont issues d'une sélection effectuée au cœur de ces mémoires dont la teneur résume, sans avoir besoin de lire l'ensemble de l'œuvre, l'atmosphère qui régnait à la Cour du Roi.

THE TRUE STORY OF A CROSSDRESSING, TRANSATLANTIC ADVENTURER WHO ESCAPED FROM A SPANISH CONVENT IN 1599 AND LIVED AS A MAN—GAMBLING,FIGHTING DUELS, AND LEADING SOLDIERS INTO BATTLE Named a New York Times Book Review Notable Book One of the earliest known autobiographies by a woman, this is the...

Wallensteins Soldaten aus vielen Ländern erzählen von ihrer Hingabe zu ihrem Heerführer, der außerordentlich erfolgreich ist und seine Soldaten gewähren lässt. Doch es droht Ungemach: Wallenstein soll auf des Kaisers Geheiß einen Teil seiner Armee abtreten - an den Kaiser von Spanien. Unmut regt sich bei den Soldaten - und der Grundstein für Wallensteins Sturz wird gelegt.

Pirates dominate movie box-office profits, they are theme park entertainment, and they occupy a place in popular culture that has outlasted the era when they originally ruled the seas. Contemporary audiences who are safe from the pistols and cutlasses of the men who sailed the Caribbean, Indian, and Atlantic Oceans to prey upon ships and claim their cargo may find it hard to reconcile the perceived glamour of Captain Jack Sparrow with the authentic bloodlust and greed of the real pirates who killed without conscience, and ravaged, bribed, and robbed their way into legend.

A book about a tiny island with a huge history, from a New York Times bestselling author of the forthcoming book, Valiant Ambition (May 2016) “For everyone who loves Nantucket Island this is the indispensable book.” —Russell Baker In his first book of history, Away Off Shore, New York...

Although the ideology of judging a person for the color of their skin has infected much of the planet today, this series is focused on the origin, distribution, and perpetuity of this deceptive scourge. According to Margret Hunter of Mills College, her studies of Colorism in America and around the world is, “However, dark-skinned people of color are typically regarded as more ethnically authentic or legitimate than light-skinned people. Colorism is directly related to the larger system of racism in the USA and around the world.”

Untamed Waters: The Golden Age of Piracy is a captivating and thoroughly researched exploration of history's most notorious era, delving into the thrilling world of pirates and their daring exploits on the high seas. From the sun-kissed shores of the Caribbean to the treacherous waters of the Indian Ocean, this book unravels the motivations behind piracy and its impact on global trade and politics. With meticulous citations, it serves as both an engaging listen for history enthusiasts and a valuable academic resource.

The history of China as a single nation began more than 2,000 years ago, when Qin Shi Huangdi first united a group of warring kingdoms into a single empire. China was then ruled by a series of imperial dynasties until the last one—the Qing Dynasty—fell in 1912. The 275-year period of Qing rule saw China becoming a world superpower, gaining dominance over present-day Korea, Tibet, and Vietnam, as well as becoming the center of global trade.

Aber die Inquisition, welche jetzt gemeint ist, kam aus dem Westen von Europa, anders in ihrem Ursprung und anders an Gestalt. Der letzte maurische Thron war im fünfzehnten Jahrhundert in Granada gefallen und der saracenische Gottesdienst endlich dem überlegenen Glück der Christen gewichen. Aber neu und noch wenig befestigt war das Evangelium in diesem jüngsten christlichen Königreich, und in der trüben Mischung ungleichartiger Gesetze und Sitten hatten sich die Religionen noch nicht geschieden.

Bloomsbury presents Spain by Robert Goodwin, read by Jeremy Clyde. In the sixteenth century, the Spaniards became the first nation in history to have worldwide reach—across most of Europe to the Americas, the Philippines, and India. The Golden Age of the Spanish Empire would establish five...

Lord Brora - mellem venner kaldet Tally - er en meget charmerende ung mand, der som tidligere officer er vant til at bestemme farten og kommandere, så da hans udkårne, den feterede Melia Melchester, hæver sin forlovelse med ham, fordi hun pludselig har fået andre jern i ilden, bliver han ikke så meget rystet som rasende. Og da lille Jean MacLeod tilfældigvis betror ham, at hun er i den samme situation, får han en idé til en kampagne mod de to frafaldne.

Peter von Scholten, generalguvernør på De Vestindiske Øer gennem mere end tyve år, var i alt, han gjorde, drevet af kærlighed: kærlighed til kvinder, til penge og magt, til øerne og deres sorte befolkning. Men den mand, der i 1848 endelig satte danskernes slaver fri, var og forbliver et mysterium. Hvordan kan man forklare Peter von Scholtens usandsynlige lynkarriere fra ydmyg vejermester i Charlotte Amalie på St. Thomas til den mægtigste post i Dansk Vestindien? Hvorfra stammede hans nære forhold til kong Frederik den 6.