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After the calamity of the Great War, there was a desire in Britain for escapist fun - the lights of the Jazz Age, radio comedies and the pictures were a welcome respite from the grim reality of the Great Depression. Yet the storm clouds were gathering, and Britain between the wars was a turbulent, restless place - and where the foundations of the modern nation were laid.Combining cultural, social and political history, A Shellshocked Nation is the next instalment in Alwyn Turner''s highly original history of the twentieth century, sketching a portrait of the interwar nation through its entertainments and scandals, its people and political crises. From the General Strike to the BBC, Irish Home Rule and the rise of fascism, this is the definitive story of Britain''s most anxious era.

Ever wondered what goes on behind the scenes in hotels? Hotels represent nations, hosting visiting monarchs, politicians, and diplomats. Hotels underpin global networks of travel and communication, on which national and international prosperity have increasingly depended since the end of the First World War. Yet hotels are also places where people can be anonymous; where murderers and thieves mix with adulterers and con artists; and where prejudice finds expression in who is refused access, and in the forms of ‘service’ provided by staff in the lowest-paid roles. The Secret Life of the Hotel: Sex, Crime and Protest in British Guesthouses Since 1918 is the first book to uncover how hotels entrenched inequality, prejudice, and exploitation in Britain’s tourist sector, and in wider society and culture, during the 20th century. Eloise Moss delves into hotel murders, swindles, and scandals, including the history of Agatha Christie’s disappearance in 1926, the ‘Margate Hotel Murder’, and the divorce of Wallis Simpson in 1936 so she could marry King Edward VIII. Moss’s exploration of the hotel also shines a light on the fight against the colour bar, the formation of the British civil rights movement, and the visit to London of Martin Luther King Jr. The Secret Life of the Hotel uniquely tells the story of Britain’s relationship with the world during the 20th century through the prism of its hotels, showing how their infrastructure and ‘welcome’ had profound consequences for women, people of colour, LGBTQ+ citizens, and people with disabilities.

Science, Religion, and the Human Future: Conflict, Collusion, and Consequences demonstrates that the myth of an inevitable conflict between science and faith is based on a misunderstanding of history, with potentially adverse consequences for human futures. The work focuses first upon ancient, medieval and Islamic scholars and the intimate connections they made between theology and the investigation of the natural world-and why we know so little about them. Moving into the modern era, it argues that one of the most concerning features of the science-faith relationship was their collusion in defining and validating the 'civilising mission' of Western imperialism. This collusion recontextualises the creation of the conflict thesis. Turning to the present day, the book investigates episodes of scientific controversy in which effective science communication was hindered not as a result of a clash between science and faith but because of a close and unexamined entanglement between the two. In cases ranging from space colonisation to AI, climate change to Covid-19, the problem is not so much science's split from faith as the unexamined and problematic theologies that remain implicit within it. Learning from these examples, the book outlines some productive and non-conflict-based frameworks for talking about science and faith in the future.

Ironic plot twists and colorful characters abound in Afshin Matin-Asgari's accessible history of relations between the United States and Iran. The missionaries and educators who descended on Iran in the early nineteenth century made way for the next century's oilmen, CIA agents, scholars, and arms dealers in the assertion of US imperial priorities. Whether Iran resisted or succumbed to US interests, it couldn't fail to be shaped by the superpower. Matin-Asgari offers fresh takes on familiar topics: America's rise as a Middle East hegemon during the Cold War; the special relationship between Washington and the shah; the Iranian Revolution and hostage crisis; the Iran-Iraq war; the Islamic Republic's peculiar anti-imperialism; the decades of onerous American sanctions; Israel's intervention in Iran-US relations; the ascendance of Trump; and the 2025 attempt by the United States and Israel to bring regime change to Tehran. A labyrinthine tale of American imperial misadven­tures, Axis of Empire incorporates and challenges scholarly narratives while offering a sophisticated yet highly readable account of Iran-US history.

The Great Sphinx has guarded the Giza Plateau in Egypt for many thousands of years. Despite there being relatively little direct evidence, it is generally assumed that this iconic monument is some 4500 years old, built at the same time as Giza’s great pyramids. This book challenges the established history of the Giza Necropolis to present the only comprehensive, evidence-led account of the history and ritual meaning of the Great Sphinx. After re-examining the archaeological evidence and then considering the important role of geology, the book concludes that the Great Sphinx and a number of related monuments, were built at Giza in the earliest stages of the Pharaonic Era – in the period before Egypt’s first pyramids were built. Perhaps more surprisingly, evidence emerges that the Great Sphinx may not have been the first monument built at Giza, with indications of ritual activity at this important site, which pre-dates Egypt’s first pharaohs. By answering these uncertainties regarding the age of the Great Sphinx, a new picture unfolds of what the concept of the human-headed lion meant to the people that originally built it.

America’s bestselling biographer reveals the origins of the most revolutionary sentence in the Declaration of Independence, the one that defines who we are as Americans—and explains how it should shape our politics today. To celebrate America’s 250th anniversary, Walter Isaacson takes readers on a fascinating deep dive into the creation of one of history’s most powerful sentences: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.” Drafted by Thomas Jefferson and edited by Benjamin Franklin and John Adams, this line lays the foundation for the American Dream and defines the common ground we share as a nation. Isaacson unpacks its genius, word by word, illuminating the then-radical concepts behind it. Readers will gain a fresh appreciation for how it was drafted to inspire unity, equality, and the enduring promise of America. With clarity and insight, he reveals not just the power of these words but describes how, in these polarized times, we can use them to restore an appreciation for our common values.

Giuseppe Garibaldi is Italy’s greatest national hero, the man most responsible for creating the modern, unified country we know today. The unique idea of this book is to tell his incredible story by means of a journey to cities and towns that were central to Garibaldi’s life. The path across Italy follows in chronological order his actions, recounting his immense courage amid bloody battles, his often-turbulent private affairs, his clashes with authority that put him in jail several times. The book, however, begins in London, to which he travelled 160 years ago and was feted by an incredible half a million people on the streets around Trafalgar Square.''Via Garibaldi'' is for history lovers, travellers, Italophiles, and anyone who relishes an adventure story. It is an excellent companion for people going to Italy, providing insights and ideas far beyond the information in travel guides.

A fun and fascinating history of an island best known for tropical rainforests and captivating wildlife—but with a much bigger story to tell.The world’s third-largest island, and the only one administered by three different sovereign nations, Borneo is something of a mystery. Home to an incredibly diverse indigenous population, once infamous for headhunting; a hotbed of military activity during World War II; a poster child for the ecological movement even as its rainforest is destroyed; and the host of Indonesia’s planned new capital city, Nusantara—Borneo’s past, present and future are nothing if not eclectic.But hidden under its enigmatic façade is an extraordinary island at the centre of world affairs in ancient times, yet often aloof from them. From early visitors bringing new religions to the island, to a fluctuating relationship with China, to a time when piracy ruled, Olivier Hein’s sweeping tale uncovers the little-known events that shaped not only Borneo but the whole Malay Archipelago.Linking Indonesian, Malaysian and Bruneian history, Hein brings together, for the first time, all the elements that make this island so unique. With Borneo sitting uncomfortably in the firing line of today’s great global power shift from Trans-Atlantic to Trans-Pacific, and now attracting millions of visitors a year, the story of this rich and complex island has never been more relevant.

This is the story of the first ten years of SAMS and the remarkable reputation quickly acquired by its graduates, educated in a pre-World War II horse cavalry stable at Fort Leavenworth. It is also the story of the doctrinal revolution in which SAMS played an important role—a doctrinal shift that energized how the U.S. Army thought about and fought its wars. It may be claimed that the combination of a new, offensively oriented doctrine and educated practitioners significantly raised the level of tactical and operational understanding in the U.S. Army from 1983 to 1994. The book explores the interrelationship between the School of Advanced Military Studies, the introduction of operational art into U.S. Army doctrine, and how graduates of the school sought to translate education and doctrine into action. It begins with the decisions that led to the founding of SAMS and reviews the conditions at the end of the Vietnam War and the challenges the Army faced at that time. It then examines the development of operational-level war as the essential bridge between tactical actions on the battlefield and strategic objectives derived from national security policy. The narrative continues with a close look at the school in the years leading up to Operations Just Cause and Desert Shield/Storm, and how it was evolving to meet emerging demands. It then analyzes how SAMS graduates approached these early combat operations, using operational-level doctrine to frame and guide the conduct of war. The story also includes three key events from the turbulent period following Operation Desert Storm, as graduates applied doctrine in an era shaped by the collapse of the Soviet Union and shifting global realities. The book concludes with a study of how the school changed in response to both internal dynamics and external pressures, particularly those arising from combat operations and missions other than war. It contrasts the visions of the school’s first and sixth directors to illuminate how SAMS adapted over its first decade. Central to the narrative is the argument that, despite these changes, the school’s fundamental purpose remained constant—and understanding why offers insight into how SAMS and its graduates contributed to the Army’s evolution in tactical and operational thought.

'An exhilarating exploration of how we've been touched by the cosmos across human history' LEWIS DARTNELL'Combines scientific expertise with vivid storytelling and a childlike wonder that shines on every page' TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENTWhat draws us to the night sky and how can we make sense of all that lies ther? n this unique synthesis of science and culture, former astrophysicist and writer Joanne Baker charts the global history of humanity’s relationship with the cosmos. Starting with the nearby Moon before venturing through the solar system to the stars and beyond, she unveils a rich mosaic of stories and research that illuminate the significance of celestial bodies in our everyday lives. It is a history that transcends borders and cultural traditions, taking us from Mesopotamian moon worship to the science fiction of H. G. Wells and the discovery of black holes. Driven by a personal quest to understand the universe as more than just an abstract mathematical realm, Baker also includes her own sparkling first-hand experiences – from watching a total solar eclipse in Idaho to visiting an ancient observatory in Samarkand. Starwatchers invites readers on an extraordinary journey through space that interrogates the boundaries of our earthly existence and encourages us to reflect on how we project meaning onto the skies.

Egypt, Greece, and Rome is regarded as one of the best general histories of the ancient world, having sold more than 80,000 copies in its first two editions. It is written for the general reader and the student coming to the subject for the first time and provides a reliable and highly accessible point of entry to the period. Beginning with the early Middle Eastern civilizations of Sumer, and continuing right through to the Islamic invasions and the birth of modern Europe after the collapse of the Roman empire, the book ranges beyond political history to cover art and architecture, philosophy, literature, society, and economy. A wide range of maps, illustrations, and photographs complements the text.This third edition has been extensively revised to appeal to the general reader with several chapters completely rewritten and a great deal of new material added, including a new selection of images.

A detailed re-examination of Midway, one of the most significant battles in the Pacific Theater of World War II. In April 1942, the Combined Fleet of the Imperial Japanese Navy was at the zenith of its power. It had struck a severe blow against the US Navy at Pearl Harbor in December 1941, before spearheading the Japanese advance through Southeast Asia and rampaging across the South Pacific. Only a few months later, in June 1942, the US Navy managed to inflict a decisive defeat on this mighty force off Midway Atoll and the strategic initiative in the Pacific Theater passed to the US Navy. Midway is one of the most mythologized battles of World War II. The traditional view of the battle, popularized in its immediate aftermath and surviving through to the present day, is of a heavily outnumbered American force snatching victory in the face of overwhelming odds. This view is simplistic and, in many respects, wrong. Pacific War expert Mark E. Stille provides a detailed analysis of this pivotal battle, and argues that Midway was neither a miraculous American victory, nor a product of good fortune, but that the plans, personalities, doctrines, ships and weapons of the two sides meant that a Japanese defeat was the more likely outcome. This up to date study provides an unparalleled level of insight and thorough analysis into one of the decisive moments of the Pacific War.

The reign of James II was a dramatic failure in Wales. He became King when Welsh loyalty to the crown and church was strong. But his attacks on the church and his own adherents in Wales meant that loyalty to him quickly drained away. James’s treatment of the Welsh gentry, lawyers and politicians stimulated a spirit of opposition that strengthened as his Catholicising policies became more strident. Clergy members were at the forefront of resistance to the King; Bishop William Lloyd of St Asaph became one of the conspirators who sought to overthrow James and replace him with William of Orange; and, when it came, the Revolution of 1688 was much more turbulent in Wales than in England. This comprehensive study of a ruined reign shows the ways in which opinion turned against James in Wales, providing an account of a neglected period in Welsh history.

The extraordinary civilization of ancient Egypt could not have existed without the Nile, which rises in the Ethiopian Highlands and sub-Saharan Africa. In life, the ancient Egyptians were tied to an area of at most a few kilometres either side of the great river. Even in death, the Ancient Egyptians where never far from the river. Many of the most famous archaeological sites – the pyramids at Giza, the Valley of the Kings, the step pyramid at Saqqara, and the royal cult temples at Deir al-Bahri – lie within, beside, or on top of the cliffs created by the immense past flows of the River Nile. Ancient Egypt: A Journey Down the Nile follows the course of the river from south to north, illuminating ancient Egyptian history through the patchwork of temples, tombs and pyramids to either side. The Egyptian state began with unification under southern Egyptian kings around 3100 BC and it started its final decline in the north around the great city of Alexandria, established in 331 BC by Alexander the Great. Engaging and illustrated throughout with more than 180 photographs, Ancient Egypt: Journey Down the Nile is a vivid pictorial exploration of 4,000 years of Ancient Egyptian civilization from the river that gave life to the region.

The ancient Near East is known as the "cradle of civilization" - and for good reason. Mesopotamia, Syria, and Anatolia were home to an extraordinarily rich and successful culture. Indeed, it was a time and place of earth-shaking changes for humankind: the beginnings of writing and law, kingship and bureaucracy, diplomacy and state-sponsored warfare, mathematics and literature.This Very Short Introduction offers a fascinating account of this momentous time in human history. The three thousand years covered here - from around 3500 BCE, with the founding of the first Mesopotamian cities, to the conquest of the Near East by the Persian king Cyrus the Great in 539 BCE-represent a period of incredible innovation, from the invention of the wheel and the plow, to early achievements in astronomy, law, and diplomacy. As historian Amanda Podany explores this era, she overturns the popular image of the ancient world as a primitive, violent place. We discover that women had many rights and freedoms: they could own property, run businesses, and represent themselves in court. Diplomats traveled between the capital cities of major powers ensuring peace and friendship between the kings. Scribes and scholars studied the stars and could predict eclipses and the movements of the planets.Every chapter introduces the reader to a particular moment in ancient Near Eastern history, illuminating such aspects as trade, religion, diplomacy, law, warfare, kingship, and agriculture. Each discussion focuses on evidence provided in two or three cuneiform texts from that time. These documents, the cities in which they were found, the people and gods named in them, the events they recount or reflect, all provide vivid testimony of the era in which they were written. About the Series:Oxford''s Very Short Introductions series offers concise and original introductions to a wide range of subjects--from Islam to Sociology, Politics to Classics, Literary Theory to History, and Archaeology to the Bible. Not simply a textbook of definitions, each volume in this series provides trenchant and provocative--yet always balanced and complete--discussions of the central issues in a given discipline or field. Every Very Short Introduction gives a readable evolution of the subject in question, demonstrating how the subject has developed and how it has influenced society. Eventually, the series will encompass every major academic discipline, offering all students an accessible and abundant reference library. Whatever the area of study that one deems important or appealing, whatever the topic that fascinates the general reader, the Very Short Introductions series has a handy and affordable guide that will likely prove indispensable. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.

How climate change ushered in the collapse of one of history’s mighty empiresIn 1644, after close to three centuries of relative stability and prosperity, the Ming dynasty collapsed. Many historians attribute its demise to the Manchu invasion of China, but the truth is far more profound. The Price of Collapse provides an entirely new approach to the economic and social history of China, exploring how global climate crisis spelled the end of Ming rule.The mid-seventeenth century witnessed the deadliest phase of the Little Ice Age, when temperatures and rainfall plunged and world economies buckled. Timothy Brook draws on the history of grain prices to paint a gripping portrait of the final tumultuous years of a once-great dynasty. He explores how global trade networks that increasingly moved silver into China may have affected prices and describes the daily struggle to survive amid grain shortages and famine. By the early 1640s, as the subjects of the Ming found themselves caught in a deadly combination of cold and drought that defied all attempts to stave off disaster, the Ming price regime collapsed, and with it the Ming political regime.A masterful work of scholarship, The Price of Collapse reconstructs the experience of ordinary people under the immense pressure of unaffordable prices as their country slid from prosperity to calamity and shows how the market mediated the relationship between an empire and the climate that turned against it.

How late medieval Middle Eastern peasants adopted Arab cultural identities and formed village clansDuring the later Middle Ages, peasants in Egypt and Greater Syria came to view themselves as members of Arab clans that had originated in the Arabian Peninsula. They expressed their Arab identity by wearing Arab headgear, adopting an Arab dialect, and circulating a new genre of popular epic that told heroic tales of pre-Islamic Arabia. In Becoming Arab, Yossef Rapoport argues that this proliferation of Arab village clans did not come about through mass migration and displacement but reflected an internal transformation. Drawing on extensive documentary, literary, administrative, and material evidence, Rapoport shows that the widespread formation of Arab village clans in late medieval Egypt and Greater Syria was a gradual process, the result of mass rural conversion to Islam and a new landholding regime in which peasants shifted from being landowners to being tenants. After the eleventh century, Rapoport contends, Middle Eastern villagers were turning Arab. These Arab village clans were not merely administrative regimes imposed from above; villagers enthusiastically embraced their new identities. New converts to Islam adopted Arab lineages to claim status and as a counter-identity to urban-based Turkish elites. Arab identity was used by clans to mobilize rural uprisings against the ruling sultans and to resolve disputes among villagers. Challenging traditional historiography of the Middle East, which views Arab clansmen as pastoralists whose identity separated them from that of the wider peasantry, Rapoport argues that the pervasive establishment of Arab village clans was the most important development in the history of the Middle Eastern countryside in the Islamic era.

This textbook provides a comprehensive scholarly introduction to Classical Chinese and its texts. Classical Chinese is the language of Confucius and Mencius and their contemporaries, who wrote the seminal texts of Chinese philosophy more than 2,000 years ago. Although it was used as a living language for only a relatively short time, it was the foundation of Chinese education throughout the Imperial age, and formed the basis of a literary tradition that continues to the present day. This book offers students all the necessary tools to read, understand, and analyse Classical Chinese texts, including: step-by-step clearly illustrated descriptions of syntactic features; core vocabulary lists; introductions to relevant historical and cultural topics; selected readings from classical literature with original commentaries and in-depth explanations; introductions to dictionaries and other reference works on the study of ancient China; and a guide to philological methods used in the critical analysis of Classical Chinese texts. The extensive glossary provides phonological reconstructions, word classes, English translations, and citations to illustrate usage, while the up-to-date bibliography serves as a valuable starting point for further research.

For most of their history, the people around the Persian Gulf littoral were socially intertwined and economically interdependent. But the twentieth century ushered in nationalization projects, British imperial intervention, and border regulations, all of which posed challenges to everyday mobility in this oceanic world. Those crossing the water became the primary foil for bordering spaces, restricting and regulating movement, and defining difference more generally. Belonging on Both Shores tells the story of people's struggles to move freely between Iran and the Arab shores of the Gulf as the unregulated mobility that had characterized everyday life in the nineteenth century was increasingly policed in the twentieth.   Using a wide range of Arabic, Persian, and English sources, Lindsey Stephenson demonstrates how state officials refined notions of territorial belonging against the movement of Iranians, the most visible mobile "group" in the Persian Gulf arena. Engaging migrant voices, Stephenson narrates how Iranians challenged a perceived requirement to belong to a single place and highlights the techniques these migrants employed to remain connected to both shores. Tracing the movement of Iranians across and around the Persian Gulf and investigating how the technologies of state and mobility transformed fluidity and people's understanding of movement, this book tells a new story of how the modern Gulf was formed.