Instead of the dying Old Regime, Schama presents an ebullientcountry, vital and inventive, infatuated with novelty andtechnology--a strikingly fresh view of Louis XVI's France. A NewYork Times bestseller in hardcover. 200 illustrations.

The dust storms that terrorized the High Plains in the darkestyears of the Depression were like nothing ever seen before orsince. Timothy Egan's critically acclaimed account rescues thisiconic chapter of American history from the shadows in a tour deforce of historical reportage. Following a dozen families and theircommunities through the rise and fall of the region, Egan tells oftheir desperate attempts to carry on through blinding black dustblizzards, crop failure, and the death of loved ones. Brilliantlycapturing the terrifying drama of catastrophe, Egan does equaljustice to the human characters who become his heroes, "the stoic,long-suffering men and women whose lives he opens up with urgencyand respect" (New York Times). In an era that promises ever-greaternatural disasters, "The Worst Hard Time" is "arguably the bestnonfiction book yet" (Austin Statesman Journal) on the greatestenvironmental disaster ever to be visited upon our land and apowerful cautionary tale about the dangers of trifling withnature

Whether he is evoking the blind carnage of the Tet offensive,the theatrics of his fellow Americans, or the unraveling of his ownillusions, Wolff brings to this work the same uncanny eye fordetail, pitiless candor and mordant wit that made This Boy's Life amodern classic.

For this rousing,revisionist history, the former head of exhibitions at England'sNational Maritime Museum has combed original documents and recordsto produce a most authoritative and definitive account of piracy's"Golden Age." As he explodes many accepted myths (i.e. "walking theplank" is pure fiction), Cordingly replaces them with a truth thatis more complex and often bl... (展开全部) For this rousing, revisionist history, the formerhead of exhibitions at England's National Maritime Museum hascombed original documents and records to produce a mostauthoritative and definitive account of piracy's "Golden Age." Ashe explodes many accepted myths (i.e. "walking the plank" is purefiction), Cordingly replaces them with a truth that is more complexand often bloodier. 16 pp. of photos. Maps. From the Hardcover edition.

November 11, 1918. The final hours pulsate with tension asevery man in the trenches hopes to escape the melancholydistinction of being the last to die in World War I. The Alliedgenerals knew the fighting would end precisely at 11:00 A.M, yet inthe final hours they flung men against an already beaten Germany.The result? Eleven thousand casualties suffered–more than duringthe D-Day invasion of Normandy. Why? Allied commanders wanted topunish the enemy to the very last moment and career officers saw afast-fading chance for glory and promotion. Joseph E. Persico puts the reader in the trenches with theforgotten and the famous–among the latter, Corporal Adolf Hitler,Captain Harry Truman, and Colonels Douglas MacArthur and GeorgePatton. Mainly, he follows ordinary soldiers’ lives, illuminatingtheir fate as the end approaches. Persico sets the last day of thewar in historic context with a gripping reprise of all that led upto it, from the 1914 assassination of the Austrian archduke, FranzFerdinand

The Gulag--a vast array of Soviet concentration camps that heldmillions of political and criminal prisoners--was a system ofrepression and punishment that terrorized the entire society,embodying the worst tendencies of Soviet communism. In thismagisterial and acclaimed history, Anne Applebaum offers the firstfully documented portrait of the Gulag, from its origins in theRussian Revolution, through its expansion under Stalin, to itscollapse in the era of glasnost. Applebaum intimately re-createswhat life was like in the camps and links them to the largerhistory of the Soviet Union. Immediately recognized as a landmarkand long-overdue work of scholarship, Gulag is an essentialbook for anyone who wishes to understand the history of thetwentieth century.

In 1942, a dashing young man who liked nothing so much as aheated game of poker, a good bottle of scotch, and the company of apretty girl hopped a merchant ship to England. He was Robert Capa,the brilliant and daring photojournalist, and Collier's magazinehad put him on assignment to photograph the war raging in Europe.In these pages, Capa recounts his terrifying journey through thedarkest battles of World War II and shares his memories of the menand women of the Allied forces who befriended, amused, andcaptivated him along the way. His photographs are masterpieces --John G. Morris, Magnum Photos' first executive editor, called Capa"the century's greatest battlefield photographer" -- and hiswriting is by turns riotously funny and deeply moving. From Sicily to London, Normandy to Algiers, Capa experienced someof the most trying conditions imaginable, yet his compassion andwit shine on every page of this book. Charming and profound,Slightly Out of Focus is a marvelous memoir told in words andpictur

In this vivid and compelling narrative, the Seven Years'War–long seen as a mere backdrop to the American Revolution–takeson a whole new significance. Relating the history of the war as itdeveloped, Anderson shows how the complex array of forces broughtinto conflict helped both to create Britain’s empire and to sow theseeds of its eventual dissolution. Beginning with a skirmish in the Pennsylvania backcountryinvolving an inexperienced George Washington, the Iroquois chiefTanaghrisson, and the ill-fated French emissary Jumonville,Anderson reveals a chain of events that would lead to worldconflagration. Weaving together the military, economic, andpolitical motives of the participants with unforgettable portraitsof Washington, William Pitt, Montcalm, and many others, Andersonbrings a fresh perspective to one of America’s most important wars,demonstrating how the forces unleashed there would irrevocablychange the politics of empire in North America.

As the United States marks the 150th anniversary of ourdefining national drama, 1861 presents a gripping and originalaccount of how the Civil War began. 1861 is an epic of courage and heroism beyond the battlefields.Early in that fateful year, a second American revolution unfolded,inspiring a new generation to reject their parents’ faith incompromise and appeasement, to do the unthinkable in the name of anideal. It set Abraham Lincoln on the path to greatness and millionsof slaves on the road to freedom. The book introduces us to a heretofore little-known cast of CivilWar heroes—among them an acrobatic militia colonel, an explorer’swife, an idealistic band of German immigrants, a regiment of NewYork City firemen, a community of Virginia slaves, and a youngcollege professor who would one day become president. AdamGoodheart takes us from the corridors of the White House to theslums of Manhattan, from the mouth of the Chesapeake to the desertsof Nevada, from Boston Common to Alcatraz Isl

This is the story of a small group of soldiers from the 101stAirborne Division’s fabled 502nd Infantry Regiment—a unit known as“the Black Heart Brigade.” Deployed in late 2005 to Iraq’sso-called Triangle of Death, a veritable meat grinder just south ofBaghdad, the Black Hearts found themselves in arguably thecountry’s most dangerous location at its most dangerous time. Hit by near-daily mortars, gunfire, and roadside bomb attacks,suffering from a particularly heavy death toll, and enduring achronic breakdown in leadership, members of one Black Heartplatoon—1st Platoon, Bravo Company, 1st Battalion—descended, overtheir year-long tour of duty, into a tailspin of poor discipline,substance abuse, and brutality. Four 1st Platoon soldiers would perpetrate one of the mostheinous war crimes U.S. forces have committed during the IraqWar—the rape of a fourteen-year-old Iraqi girl and the cold-bloodedexecution of her and her family. Three other 1st Platoon soldierswould be overrun at

At the end of 1618, a blazing green star soared across thenight sky over the northern hemisphere. From the Philippines to theArctic, the comet became a sensation and a symbol, a warning ofdoom or a promise of salvation. Two years later, as the Pilgrimsprepared to sail across the Atlantic on board the Mayflower, theatmosphere remained charged with fear and expectation. Men andwomen readied themselves for war, pestilence, or divineretribution. Against this background, and amid deep economicdepression, the Pilgrims conceived their enterprise of exile. Within a decade, despite crisis and catastrophe, they built athriving settlement at New Plymouth, based on beaver fur, corn, andcattle. In doing so, they laid the foundations for Massachusetts,New England, and a new nation. Using a wealth of new evidence fromlandscape, archaeology, and hundreds of overlooked or neglecteddocuments, Nick Bunker gives a vivid and strikingly originalaccount of the Mayflower project and the first decade of thePlymouth Colon

I Wish I’d Been There brings together twenty of ourmost distinguished historians’ responses to the question “Whatscene or incident in American history would you most liked to havewitnessed—and why?” The answers illuminate crucial moments in ourpast and give readers a front-row seat at some of Americanhistory’s most dramatic events.The Salem witch trials, the raid onHarper’s Ferry, the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, the votingrights march on Selma, the beginnings of the Vietnam War—all ofthese and more are vividly recreated here by a stellar list ofcontributors, including Mary Beth Norton, Joseph Ellis, CarolBerkin, Geoffrey Ward, Robert Dallek, Jay Winik, Robert Cowley,Carolyn Gilman, and William Leuchtenburg, among other luminaries ofthe profession. With imagination, insight, and vivid detail, IWish I’d Been There is an engaging tour through key events inAmerican history. If she could be a fly on the wall at a pivotal moment inAmerican history, Mary Beth Norton would ha

Here is an oral history of the Vietnam War by thirty-threeAmerican soldiers who fought it. A 1983 American Book Awardnominee.

A distinguished psychiatrist from Martinique who took part inthe Algerian Nationalist Movement, Frantz Fanon was one of the mostimportant theorists of revolutionary struggle, colonialism, andracial difference in history. Fanon's masterwork is a classicalongside Edward Said's Orientalism or The Autobiography of MalcolmX, and it is now available in a new translation that updates itslanguage for a new generation of readers. The Wretched of the Earthis a brilliant analysis of the psychology of the colonized andtheir path to liberation. Bearing singular insight into the rageand frustration of colonized peoples, and the role of violence ineffecting historical change, the book incisively attacks the twinperils of post independence colonial politics: thedisenfranchisement of the masses by the elites on the one hand, andintertribal and interfaith animosities on the other. Fanon'sanalysis, a veritable handbook of social reorganization for leadersof emerging nations, has been reflected all too clearly in thecorru

John Keegan, whose many books, including classic histories ofthe two world wars, have confirmed him as the premier miltaryhistorian of our time, here presents a masterly look at the valueand limitations of intelligence in the conduct of war. Intelligence gathering is an immensely complicated and vulnerableendeavor. And it often fails. Until the invention of the telegraphand radio, information often traveled no faster than a horse couldride, yet intelligence helped defeat Napoleon. In the twentiethcentury, photo analysts didn’t recognize Germany’s V-2 rockets forwhat they were; on the other hand, intelligence helped lead tovictory over the Japanese at Midway. In Intelligence inWar , John Keegan illustrates that only when paired withforce has military intelligence been an effective tool, as it mayone day be in besting al-Qaeda.

What is fascism? Many authors have proposed definitions, butmost fail to move beyond the abstract. The esteemed historianRobert O. Paxton answers this question for the first time byfocusing on the concrete: what the fascists did, rather than whatthey said. From the first violent uniformed bands beating up“enemies of the state,” through Mussolini’s rise to power, toGermany’s fascist radicalization in World War II, Paxton showsclearly why fascists came to power in some countries and notothers, and explores whether fascism could exist outside theearly-twentieth-century European setting in which it emerged. The Anatomy of Fascism will have a lasting impact on ourunderstanding of modern European history, just as Paxton’s classicVichy France redefined our vision of World War II. Based on alifetime of research, this compelling and important book transformsour knowledge of fascism–“the major political innovation of thetwentieth century, and the source of much of its pain.”

In 1787, the beautiful Lucia is married off to AlviseMocenigo, scion of one of the most powerful Venetian families. Buttheir life as a golden couple will be suddenly transformed whenVenice falls to Bonaparte. We witness Lucia's painful series ofmiscarriages and the pressure on her to produce an heir; herimpassioned affair with an Austrian officer; the glamour and strainof her career as a hostess in Vienna; and her amazing firsthandaccount of the defeat of Napoleon in 1814. With his brave andarticulate heroine, Andrea di Robilant has once again reachedacross the centuries, and deep into his own past, to bring historyto rich and vivid life on the page.

In the summer of 1846, the Army of the West marched throughSanta Fe, en route to invade and occupy the Western territoriesclaimed by Mexico. Fueled by the new ideology of “ManifestDestiny,” this land grab would lead to a decades-long battlebetween the United States and the Navajos, the fiercely resistantrulers of a huge swath of mountainous desert wilderness.In Bloodand Thunder , Hampton Sides gives us a magnificent history ofthe American conquest of the West. At the center of this sweepingtale is Kit Carson, the trapper, scout, and soldier whoseadventures made him a legend. Sides shows us how this illiteratemountain man understood and respected the Western tribes betterthan any other American, yet willingly followed orders that wouldultimately devastate the Navajo nation. Rich in detail and spanningmore than three decades, this is an essential addition to ourunderstanding of how the West was really won.

“What is the scene or incident in European history that youwould like to have witnessed-and why?” In this companion to I Wish I'd Been There: Twenty HistoriansBring to Life the Dramatic Events that Changed America , some ofour finest historical writers now turn their attention to Europe,with lively and detailed accounts of some of the most dramaticevents in history. Guided by peerless scholars such as PaulKennedy, John Keegan, Ross King, Freeman Dyson, and KatherineDuncan-Jones, readers will be transported to the signing of MagnaCarta, the Versailles Conference, the German surrender in WWII onLuneburg Heath, and other key turning points in the drama ofEuropean history. These essays encompass two millenia and an entirecontinent, addressing issues of politics, law, religion, peace andwar, science and the arts, and social change, all telescoped intofinely observed narratives. The result is an historical pageant ofcharacters and episodes that will attract and delight all readersof history.

The distinguished historian of the Jewish people, Howard M.Sachar, gives us a comprehensive and enthralling chronicle of theachievements and traumas of the Jews over the last four hundredyears. Tracking their fate from Western Europe’s age of mercantilism inthe seventeenth century to the post-Soviet and post-imperialistIslamic upheavals of the twenty-first century, Sachar applies hisrenowned narrative skill to the central role of the Jews in many ofthe most impressive achievements of modern civilization: whether inthe rise of economic capitalism or of political socialism; in thediscoveries of theoretical physics or applied medicine; in “higher”literary criticism or mass communication and popularentertainment. As his account unfolds and moves from epoch to epoch, fromcontinent to continent, from Europe to the Americas and the MiddleEast, Sachar evaluates communities that, until lately, have beenunderestimated in the perspective of Jewish and world history—amongthem, Jews of Sephardic