Najnovšie - Knihy - História strana 22 z 25

UPLIFTING, PRACTICAL AND SURPRISING WISDOM FROM THE MILLION-COPY BESTSELLING CLASSICIST'Wonderful. Thoughtfully chosen, carefully explained and beautifully expressed' NATALIE HAYNES'A literary phenomenon' TLS'She leaves her readers inspired, invigorated and sincerely grateful' TELEGRAPHWhy do some loves endure while others fade? Is happiness something we can learn? Why do some things feel like work and others like leisur? very new page of Consolations offers a thought-provoking idea about life - from friendship and family arguments to ageing and narcissism. Renowned classicist Irene Vallejo shows us how each of these ideas has its roots in ancient times, drawing on the wisdom of Aristotle and Seneca, as well as lesser known philosophy and history. Each entry brings a surprising insight, and helps us to think differently about our daily life. These are fascinating little gems to read every day, and to savour slowly.

Fully illustrated, this study examines the US Army and Japanese troops who fought for control of the Philippine Islands in the climactic months of World War II. In October 1944 the Sixth US Army landed on Leyte in the Japanese-held Central Philippine Islands, initiating a series of battles that became the largest contest between the US and Japanese armies. Determined to liberate the Philippines, General Douglas MacArthur’s forces confronted the Japanese troops intent on extracting a bitter price from their adversaries, amid challenging terrain ranging from the urban streets of Manila to the mountains and jungles of Leyte. Featuring specially commissioned artwork, archive photographs, and full-color mapping, this book examines three important battles of the Philippines campaign. The IJA’s 1st Division faced the US Army’s 24th Division as it attacked toward the port of Ormoc (Breakneck Ridge, November 3–11, 1944), in a fight that pitted one of Japan’s crack divisions against prewar US Regular units. The US 38th Division battled the reinforced 39th Infantry Regiment at Zig-Zag Pass (February 1–13, 1945), an action that saw a relatively green US division facing IJA veterans located in highly defensible terrain. Finally, Gregg Adams examines the battle for the Ipo Dam (May 6–21, 1945), where the veteran US 43d Division fought the Kawashima Force. This absorbing study casts light on the fighting men on both sides.

Stafford’s history can be traced back to an Anglo Saxon settlement, when it became the county town of Staffordshire. The Normans built a castle in the town and a priory was founded nearby. The two mediaeval churches in the centre of the town also survive from this period. Stafford was fought over during the Civil War and was eventually captured by Parliamentary forces. In later centuries Stafford’s wealth grew from industries such as shoemaking and later engineering, and the arrival of the canal network through the River Sow Navigation and the railway in the nineteenth century. Stafford’s history also features its military connections, the story of crime and its punishment in the town and recreation, not least the foundation of the Stafford Rangers Football Club in 1876 and the opening of Victoria Park in 1908.Illustrated throughout, this accessible historical portrait of the transformation that Stafford has undergone through the ages will be of great interest to residents, visitors and all those with links to the area.

In 1805 the antiquarian and astronomer Sir Henry Englefield wrote a beautifully illustrated walking tour leading readers through the streets of Southampton. He offered insights into the city’s fascinating historical past, including some fanciful stories about the buildings he was exploring. Since then, much of the fabric of the city has changed with many of the elements he highlighted having been removed through the slum clearances of the twentieth century and bombing during the Second World War. In this book, we retrace Sir Henry’s footsteps and examine key city sites, such as the Bargate, Watergate, the town walls, Church of All Saints, Holy Rood Church, the medieval friary and sugar house, and the medieval vaults, as well as other curiosities he mentions, such as a cannon of Henry VIII and the arms granted by Elizabeth I.Featuring a vivid selection of fascinating illustrations and 3D images and links to the city’s museum collections, here the Southampton of the past is brought to life. Join us on a walking tour through the historic town and find out how the city of Southampton has changed over the past 200 years.

THE MAJOR NEW BIOGRAPHY OF THE LATE QUEEN: AN INSTANT SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER. 'Impeccably researched . . . Hugo Vickers offers us his piercing insights into the innermost workings of the Royal family' - DAILY MAIL'His knowledge of royalty and aristocracy is encyclopaedic . . . and his deep emotional connection with Elizabeth II and certain members of her family is given full throttle. The detail about a very public woman who, at the same time, was very private, is so remarkable' - TELEGRAPH 5-STAR REVIEW'The closest thing to an authorised life one is likely to read. Intelligent, intuitive and scrupulously researched' - QUADRANT MAGAZINE'A perfect match between subject and writer . . . The level of detail in Queen Elizabeth II: A Personal History is unequalled' - THE TIMES'Vickers is the Tolstoy of royal biography, creating a vast and detailed panorama, the eccentric footnotes a glorious satire of scholarship.' - SPECTATORQueen Elizabeth II occupies a unique place in the hearts of her people, and in this major biography marking the Centenary of her birth, acclaimed royal historian Hugo Vickers sheds new light on the woman behind the greatest reign in British history. Based on six decades of close research into her life and reign, this master work contains not only archival research and close personal observation but many hours of conversation with those who knew and worked with The Queen. After a supremely happy decade of early childhood, a certain gravitas descended with the death of her beloved grandfather, George V, and the Abdication of her uncle Edward VIII. As Vickers reveals in impeccable prose, she accepted her destiny and worked steadfastly to prepare for what was to come, dedicating her life to the service of the Commonwealth. On her twenty-first birthday in 1947, she made a promise to serve and kept it for a remarkable seventy-five years. She was steadfast and conciliatory and presided calmly over decades of change, political upheaval and family tragedy. Described by the Financial Times as 'the most knowledgeable royal biographer on the planet', Vickers is completely at home in the world of Queen Elizabeth II. He has worked with members of her family on various projects and also met with members of her Household. He first met The Queen in 1968 and had his last conversation with her in June 2022. This is his most incisive book yet, decoding hidden patterns in our most iconic monarch's behaviour to illuminate her as never before. -----Queen Elizabeth II was an instant Top 10 Sunday Times bestseller in the w/c 13.04.2026.

With the collapse of the USSR in 1991, the Soviet armed forces were largely disbanded and some of their personnel were distributed among the newly independent republics. With few options, the author joined the Redut organisation which consisted of Russian mercenaries operating abroad. In the years that followed, the rise of Valdimir Putin after he became President led to a strong nationalist sentiment developing in the Kremlin. Two former Soviet republics, initially Chechnya and then Georgia, were the first to be subjected to a growing Russian aggression. Special sabotage teams and assault battalions were created, each based on the Redut group, and the author, who had acquired the call sign ‘Viper’, soon found himself once again in Russian pay. This time, though, he was leading a special forces group in operations in Donetsk in the eastern part of Ukraine. In the autumn of 2021, ‘Viper’ was appointed to command the intelligence unit of the Redut group as part of the GRU. He was given three secret agents. These were Ukrainian special forces officers who had defected to Russia. They were handed a secret mission – to attack the headquarters in Kyiv of the Ukrainian Counter-Intelligence and Security Service, the SBU, and destroy all its files ahead of Putin’s full-scale invasion of the country. Putin's ‘Viper’ Detachment is the first full account by ‘Viper’ himself of this secret operation and how his unit had to fight its way out of Ukraine after the attempt on the SBU headquarters failed. A tense, full-throttle, struggle ensued, which ultimately led the battle-hardened author refusing to fight or kill anymore. He pulled his platoon out of the Ukraine and into Belarus, pursued by Putin’s counter-intelligence officers. Eventually, ‘Viper’ managed to escape Russia and went to the International Criminal Court in Hague to testify about war crimes committed by Putin's government. This is the first time the world will read about this secret operation recounted by the man who led it. In this book, ‘Viper’ reveals true nature of the hidden war in Ukraine.

During winter 1944/45 few German officers believed that the Allies would attack the wooded Reichswald Plug on the narrow neck of land between the rivers Rhine and Maas. Consequently, relying on the natural defences of the forest, the vaunted Siegfried Line had been allowed to peter out. The 84th Infantry Division held field defences that had been worked on all autumn, but the defenders were thinly spread, and most German soldiers now faced the certainty of defeat.Originally hoping to use the frozen winter ground for a speedy assault, days before Operation VERITABLE began a thaw set in and the Allies faced attacking in the worst possible ground conditions. On the morning of 8 February, after protracted bombardment, delays multiplied as vehicles became bogged in saturated fields and shell holes, and roads broke up under heavy armour. However, just enough assault engineer equipment reached the outer German defences, where they found the enemy infantry largely stunned by the bombardment.It took all of the first day to break through the mud and defences into the Reichswald, while to the north, Canadians and Scots struggled across equally sodden open country with the Rhine floods rising fast. Despite the conditions, overnight the Canadians took to the flood waters to seize what were now island villages and the Scots dashed to capture the vital Materborn, which overlooked Kleve.With heavy rain compounding difficulties, mud and flood waters made movement of men and supplies increasingly difficult. Despite this and the arrival of German reinforcements, the Allies fought their way forward, forcing the Reichswald Plug and opening the way into the Rhineland and the final phases of the war.

We take brands for granted: they surround us and pervade our everyday life. But have you ever wondered where they come from, and why they became successfu? he histories are sometimes remarkable: how did Reebook emerge from a town in North West England to become one of the leading athletic apparel brands in the world? Ever wondered how McDonald’s convinced a sceptical British public to eat hamburgers? Or how Hall’s cough drops became the highest-selling sweet in the world? Are you curious as to what really constitutes the secret recipe of Dr Pepper or Lea & Perrins Worcestershire sauc? his book breaks new ground by combining depth with readability, and uncovers previously forgotten facts. At its heart, this is a story about people: brilliant individuals who defied the odds to succeed, and introduced products that have ultimately improved peoples’ lives. The book covers history from the 18th century with the foundation of the Schweppes, Crosse & Blackwell and Gordon’s gin businesses, right up to the present day with modern brands including Greggs and Costa Coffee. If you want to delve beyond the official company histories and learn the truth, to be entertained, educated, amazed and engaged, then this is the book for you!

Pershing’s aim had always been to fight the Germans with an independent American Army (the AEF, the American Expeditionary Forces) instead of dividing his divisions between the allies. When the Germans launched the first attack of their Spring Offensives on 21 March 1918, he was still far away from the creation of this independent army. During the first three months of 1918 only a few divisions could be considered as available for immediate action. On 26 March 1918 Foch was selected as the Supreme Allied Commander. Two days later, to solve immediate allied manpower problems and to check the German assault, General Pershing temporarily placed all American forces at the disposal of Supremo Foch. It was agreed that the availability of American troops would only last so long as was needed to check the German advance.This book deals with three lesser known battles fought by five divisions of the AEF that took place in the Champagne/Marne Region between the City of Reims and the Argonne Forest. The narrative includes actions of the 2nd, 36th, 42nd, 92nd and the 93rd Divisions. The latter two were made up of African-American troops.The five tours are ideal for visitors who have a few hours to spare coming from or going to the St. Mihiel, Meuse-Argonne and Verdun battlefields from one of Paris’s airports. They cover a lesser known area and each tour will not take more than a few hours. The starting points are all situated a little north of the A4, the Paris-Metz motorway. The tours also bridge the gap between the better known Chemin des Dames and Meuse-Argonne battlefields.

One cannot discuss the Renaissance without coming across the name of Desiderius Erasmus. He was renowned for scholarship, views on education, religion, and conduct. Erasmus found himself in the midst of the religious debate in Europe during the sixteenth century and regardless of where his path led he would find himself subject to praise and scrutiny. Desiderius Erasmus: The Folly or Far Sightedness of Renaissance Europe's Greatest Mind will look at the life of a scholar who chose to put his own learning ahead of income, obtained patronage from the wealthy and influenced education for centuries to come.

**Battle Group "Lohse"** - Oberleutnant Heinrich Lohse's memoirs detail his time as a training officer at the 5th Wehrmacht Infantry School in Poznan. When the battle for the city began, he led a reserve battle group and commanded the fortress headquarters' last defence. Lohse is notably critical of General Gonell, the fortress commander and former head of the 5th Infantry School, in this gripping memoir about the fight for the citadel. **Fahnenjunker from Poznan** - Leutnant Jonny Neuwirth recounts his role in the battle of Poznan. After being wounded, he describes the dire conditions in military hospitals, his attempted escape and his experience of being captured by the Polish militia and taken into Soviet captivity. His memoir details his suffering and that of his fellow German soldiers under a ruthless enemy, highlighting the brutal reality of war and its aftermath. **Two Steps to a Mass Grave** - Kurt F. Lange, a pre-war German citizen of Poznan and former Polish Army soldier, faced persecution due to his origins. After the German invasion, he joined the Waffen-SS, serving in the SS "Lenzer" Combat Group. His memoir offers detailed battle accounts from across the besieged city, culminating in the Citadel's defence. Captured, he narrowly escaped execution after being identified as a member of the Waffen-SS.

The ‘Wagner’ mercenary group remained comparatively unknown for years, and only after the beginning of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, did the general public learn about the existence of this shadowy organization. But for years before that, they roamed free in Africa and the Middle East, fighting Russia’s conflicts, protecting dictators and waging war against anyone who was declared to be the enemy of the Russian government. Many journalists have attempted to uncover Wagner’s secrets but, for the first time, we hear the voice of an actual Wagner commander, who participated in some of the organization’s operations. This is Igor Salikov, former Wagner commander and the most high-ranking Russian service member who testified against the Russian regime and its crimes in Ukraine for the International Criminal Court in Hague. Igor was not just a soldier, but a high ranking commander, which gave him a unique insight into the organization, structure, political goals and operational procedures of Wagner. The author witnessed the birth of the group and their first operations in Syria, which in 2018, saw and the first battle between US forces and Russians since the end of the Cold War. Later, Wagner infiltrated into other countries and was one of main assets of Russian armed forces in the war against Ukraine. In 2022, after the failure of the initial invasion of Ukraine, Wagner’s leader received an order to recruit directly from prisons, and convicted rapists, murderers and cannibals joined what once was a small and elite mercenary unit. In 2023, Wagner mercenaries attempted to organize a coup against Vladimir Putin but turned back at the last moment. Soon after, the leaders of the group were killed in an aircraft crash, and Wagner disappeared from the spotlight. This book allows us to look at this group through the eyes of someone who has been there, done that, and witnessed the entire history of the Wagner organization, from its origins to its ignominious end.

Although this is a general history of this multi-dimensional breed the name Border Collie never came into being till 1915. Yet always there was a supernatural Collie servant to farmers shepherds and the people of the land. This dog’s fate was spliced with our own in the battle to survive. Now from our modern perspective, we can see why the Border Collie can diversify into carrying out tasks other than gathering sheep. The beginning of the Border Collie came about on the Borders of England and Scotland when its canine ancestors arrived with the invading Roman legions out of the mists of antiquity. Our Search is deeper into why many say that Border Collies have the supernatural ability to know what their handlers are going to do next. Their sense to predict the movements of sheep or livestock is not limited by their working day. Many owners have commented that their Border Collies know extra things like if someone is not coming home or if there is something wrong. Yet these abilities may well be rooted in its hyper development through selective breeding when standard herding breeds in Britain were forged together to create this super dog. Much of the British economy during the 19th and 20th Century could not have happened without this stalwart servant of the people. The Border Collie has an inner super dog inside its black and white and multi-coloured coat driven not by aggression but by the unconditional love for its human family.

A highly designed, colourful picture book aimed at celebrating traditional names of well-known Australian places such as Gadigal (Sydney) and Lunawuni (Bruny Island), from a popular breakthrough Indigenous artist. I wanted to travel this place to hear some of its old stories ... to learn. Laugh joyfully like a kookaburra in Canberra. Watch your toes turn red in Rubibi. And walk soft under the bunya pines in Meeanjin. From Gudanji/Wakaja artist Ryhia Dank comes Learning Country, a vibrant and contemporary picture book that celebrates the traditional names of well-known Australian places.

The long overlooked, centuries-long, culture of the book in West AfricaPrinted books did not reach West Africa until the early twentieth century. And yet, between the fifteenth and twentieth centuries, literate and curious readers throughout the region found books to read—books that were written and copied by hand. In Writing Timbuktu, Shamil Jeppie offers a history of the book as a handwritten, handmade object in West Africa. Centering his account in the historic city of Timbuktu, Jeppie explores the culture of the “manuscript-book”—unbound pages, often held together by carefully crafted leather covers. He describes the most important and most prolific scholars and their works, the subjects they covered, and ways these books were circulated, collected, and preserved. The authors of the manuscript-books wrote to demonstrate their knowledge to their peers, expound theological and legal opinions, and engage in scholarly disputation. After beginning his account in Timbuktu, Jeppie traces the literary connections among places as distant as Marrakesh in the north and Sokoto in the south, and smaller settlements in between. He chronicles the work of Ahmad Baba in late sixteenth-century Timbuktu and his students in early seventeenth-century Marrakesh; the emergence of writers in the eighteenth century in what today is Mauritania; the writings of the scholar-rulers of Sokoto, northern Nigeria, in the nineteenth century; and the eventual discovery of the manuscript-book world of West Africa by European travelers and French colonial officials. Finally, Jeppie finds that the handwritten text persisted even after the advent of the printed book, and even among writers whose books were in print, including the famous Malian novelist Amadou Hampâté Bâ.

When most Americans think of slavery, they do not picture the colonial or revolutionary eras. Yet, in fact, one of six inhabitants of the thirteen original colonies was enslaved. The Escapes of David George: An Odyssey of Slavery, Freedom, and the American Revolution reveals a remarkable, untold experience of the American revolutionary period—a Black man’s quest for the freedom espoused by our Founders, but denied him and other enslaved people. In 1762, at the age of 19, David George escaped from a plantation in Virginia. Running southwest by night, fording rivers and crossing borders, he embarked on a decades-long journey in and out of captivity that spanned multiple colonies and thousands of miles. George lived among White, Black, Creek, and Natchez settlements, fled to the British Army for the promise of liberty, founded what might have been the first Black Baptist church, helped to hack a settlement for refugees out of the Nova Scotia wilderness, and died as a leader of an experimental anti-slavery community in Sierra Leone. Piecing together archival records and David George’s own brief account of his life—the earliest written testimony by a fugitive enslaved person in North America--Gregory O’Malley presents a thrilling narrative and a unique perspective on our nation’s origins, principles, and contradictions.

In the early morning of 9 April 1940, a fleet of German battleships entered the Oslofjord. Norwegian artillery delayed them long enough for King Haakon VII and his cabinet to escape to England, but there was no stopping the Nazi Blitzkrieg. Norway stood on the cusp of a traumatic five-year occupation whose aftershocks would continue to trouble its national consciousness long after the defeated Germans departed in May 1945. Robert Ferguson tells the extraordinary – and relatively little-known – story of the occupation and its judicial aftermath. He focuses in particular on German attempts to use a Norwegian Nazi administration under Vidkun Quisling to impose a National Socialist revolution on the country, and on the many brave and ingenious ways in which the Norwegians resisted. Ferguson describes the occupation in all its aspects – from Nazi terror to non-violent resistance, from censorship to sabotage – via a series of heterogeneous but interlinked narratives. Key players in the occupation and its wider story – including the pitiless Reichskommissar Josef Terboven, the Norwegian crime writer-turned-SS-strongman Jonas Lie, the principled Lutheran bishop Eivind Berggrav and the enigmatic double agent Gunnar Waaler – are drawn in memorably vivid colours. A riveting account of the Second World War’s forgotten occupation, Norway’s War evokes in moving fashion the moral and physical courage of a people who, faced with the brutal tyranny of a totalitarian invader, refused to be cowed.

Rasputin: visionary, fraud or victim of history? THE INSTANT SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER 'THE GOLD STANDARD OF NARRATIVE HISTORY' DAN SNOW'ONE OF THE GREAT STORIES OF HISTORY, TOLD BY ONE OF OUR GREATEST HISTORIANS' SIMON SEBAG MONTEFIORE'THIS EXTRAORDINARY STORY HAS NEVER BEEN BETTER TOLD' ANTHONY HOROWITZ'A STUNNING BANQUET OF A BOOK' ROSE TREMAINHow could a barely literate peasant from Siberia determine the fate of the world? Undoubtedly, the so-called 'mad monk' Rasputin bewitched Tsar Nicholas II and his wife, Alexandra. Yet their strange and scandalous relationship conceals a riddle, one that casts an intriguing light on the controversial 'great man' theory of history. Rasputin was a devoted monarchist, not a revolutionary. He had no official position, no forces at his command. Nevertheless, he contributed more to the fall of the Romanov dynasty than any other individual. So demoralised was the Tsarist officer corps by stories of corruption, to say nothing of the rumours of his debauchery with the Empress - and even her daughters - that when the February Revolution broke out, not a sword was raised in defence of the regime. Just as Rasputin cast a spell over the Romanovs, his legend has bewitched historians. More than a century later, we still fail to comprehend fully the collapse of the greatest autocracy on Earth. Was there any truth to the wild tales that brought down the empire? Or was his true legacy an unsettling lesson on the potency of myth? From the bestselling author of Stalingrad comes a fascinating and deeply insightful historical post-mortem

Velká ilustrovaná encyklopedie českých panovníků a prezidentů Toto 7. aktuální vydání velké rodinné encyklopedie, s nástěnným plakátem navíc, představuje poutavou formou všechna knížata, krále i prezidenty – od Sáma, přes Velkomoravskou říši, Přemyslovce, Lucemburky a všechny dynastické i nedynastické panovníky až po Habsbursko-Lotrinskou dynastii. Počínaje prezidentem Osvoboditelem, T. G. Masarykem, se dozvíte také o všech prezidentech ČSR, Protektorátu Čechy a Morava, Československa i současné České republiky až po prezidenta Petra Pavla. Každý panovník nebo prezident je přehledně představen pomocí srozumitelných textů, unikátních portrétů od malíře Jana Hory, časových os, infoboxů a dalších vizuálních prvků, které dějiny oživují. Součástí encyklopedie je i nástěnný plakát formátu A1 ideální pro školní třídy, do hodin dějepisu nebo vlastivědy, dětské pokoje i domácí knihovny. Perfektní pomůcka vytvořená v redakci dětského časopisu o historii Časostroj určená pro děti, mládež i dospělé, kterou ocení všichni milovníci historie. Proč sáhnout po encyklopedii Všichni panovníci českých zemí? Kompletní přehled českých dějin – od počátků české státnosti po současnost, prostřednictvím stručných a poutavých životopisů všech vládců, knížat, králů a prezidentů. Atraktivní zpracování – nejen velký plakát, který je navíc, ale také bohaté ilustrace, časové osy a infoboxy dělají z historie napínavé dobrodružství. Historická přesnost – autoři uvádějí mýty na pravou míru a nebojí se zanechat otevřené otázky. Motivace k poznávání – prohlubuje zvědavost a podporuje další bádání o dějinách českých zemí.