The Burren is one of those rare and magical places where geology, glacial history, botany, zoology and millennia of cultural history have converged to create a unique landscape of extraordinary natural history interest. It is without equal to any other area in Ireland or Britain.
This New Naturalist volume provides a much-anticipated overview of these fascinating birds – the first book on the natural history of British and Irish terns since 1934.
Most Americans don't look far beyond Christopher Columbus when it comes to the discovery of America, yet the simple fact that we bear the name of Amerigo Vespucci suggests there is more to the story. And indeed, there is: a trio of young Italian pioneers who were merchants more than explorers and who, while in search of glory and vast profits, battled to become the first to cross the western ocean. David Boyle reveals in Toward the Setting Sun, that the race for America was as much about commerce as it was about discovery and conquest. When Constantinople fell to the Ottoman Empire in 1453, the long established trade routes to the East became treacherous and expensive forcing merchants of all sorts to find new ways of obtaining and trading their goods. Enterprising young men took to the sea in search of new lands, new routes, and of course, new fortune. The careers of three young men--Columbus, Vespucci and Giovanni Caboto (known to us as John Cabot) would change not only their personal destinies, but that of the New World. Contrary to popular belief, the three not only knew of each other, they were well acquainted--Columbus and Vespucci at various times worked closely together; Cabot and Columbus were born in Genoa about the same time and had common friends who were interested in Western trade possibilities. They collaborated, knew of each other's ambitions and followed each other's progress. The intersection of their dreams and business ventures led the way to our modern world and ushered in the end of the medieval age. David Boyle skillfully brings together for the first time the three stories that shaped the race for America and in doing so adds a unique economic and business dimension to the earliest days of our country.
From the beginning of history to the present, a sweep of the world's oceans and seas and how they have shaped the course of civilization. From the author of the acclaimed The Great Sea, ("Magnificent . . . radiates scholarship and a sense of wonder and fun," Simon Sebag Montefiore; Book of the Year, The Economist), David Abulafia's new book guides readers along the world's greatest bodies of water to reveal their primary role in human history. The main protagonists are the three major oceans--the Atlantic, the Pacific, and the Indian--which together comprise the majority of the earth's water and cover over half of its surface. Over time, as passage through them gradually extended and expanded, linking first islands and then continents, maritime networks developed, evolving from local exploration to lines of regional communication and commerce and eventually to major arteries. These waterways carried goods, plants, livestock, and of course people--free and enslaved--across vast expanses, transforming and ultimately linking irrevocably the economies and cultures of Africa, Europe, Asia, and the Americas. Far more than merely another history of exploration, The Boundless Sea shows how maritime networks gradually formed a continuum of interaction and interconnection. Working chronologically, Abulafia moves from the earliest forays of peoples taking hand-hewn canoes into uncharted waters, to the routes taken daily by supertankers in the thousands. History on the grandest scale and scope, written with passion and precision, this is a project few could have undertaken. Abulafia, whom The Atlantic calls "superb writer with a gift for lucid compression and an eye for the telling detail," proves again why he ranks as one of the world's greatest storytellers.
From the Bristol Voyages of the Fifteenth Century to the Pilgrim Settlement at Playmouth: The Exploration, Exploitation and Trial-and-Error Colonization of North America by the English
From the Bristol Voyages of the Fifteenth Century to the Pilgrim Settlement at Playmouth: The Exploration, Exploitation and Trial-and-Error Colonization of North America by the English
First published in 1974, England and the Discovery of America places the early explorations of the English in North America in the broad context of 15th and 16th century history. Marshalling evidence that cannot be pushed aside and sifting a mass of fascinating detail (including problems of cartography and the Vinland Map controversy), Professor Quinn presents circumstantial indications pointing to 1481 as the date or the discovery of America by Bristol voyagers – fishermen seeking new sources of cod, and merchant sailors with maps carrying promise of unexploited Atlantic islands. Whereas England did little to follow up her early lead, Quinn demonstrates that English initiatives from the 1580s onward, though slow, were of great importance. He brings to life the men involved in a variety of rash and heroic experiments in colonization and casts new light on their fates. He makes it clear that it was this very profusion of trial and error and trail again, as well as the conviction that settlement in temperate latitudes in North America could be effective if tenaciously enough sought, that enabled the English to strike and maintain routes in their new American world. This book will be of interest to students of English history, American history, colonial history and naval history.
Pulitzer Prize–winning author David J. Garrow’s stirring and essential history of the politics of abortion and America’s battle for the right to choose In 1973, the Supreme Court handed down its landmark Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion, and more than forty years later the issue continues to spark controversy and divisiveness. But behind this historic legal case lie the battles women fought to establish their rights to use contraceptives and choose to have an abortion. Liberty and Sexuality traces these political and legal struggles in the decades leading up to Roe v. Wade—including the momentous 1965 Supreme Court ruling in Griswold v. Connecticut that established a constitutional “right to privacy.” Garrow personalizes the struggles by detailing the vital contributions made by dozens of crusaders who tirelessly paved the way. This expansive and substantial work also addresses the threats to sexual privacy and the legality of abortion that have risen since Roe v. Wade. With abortion still a contentious subject on the national political landscape, Liberty and Sexuality is not just a historical account of the right to choose, but an indispensable read about preserving a freedom that continues to divide America.
Route 128 traces its origins to the late 1920s, when the Massachusetts Department of Public Works cobbled together a makeshift network of existing roads through Boston's suburbs. Between 1947 and 1956, during a statewide push to build new highways, Route 128 was reconstructed as a major regional expressway. The new highway immediately fueled explosive growth in many of the region's once bucolic suburbs. What was once "the road to nowhere" quickly became a major commercial nexus for eastern Massachusetts and a critical link in the region's highway network. The visionary highway project vigorously promoted by William F. Callahan permanently altered the character of the two dozen towns through which it passed. Building Route 128 vividly documents the highway's construction and its impact on towns such as Waltham, Dedham, Lynnfield, and Gloucester. Drawing on previously unpublished images from the Massachusetts Department of Public Works and archives from many of the cities and towns affected, Building Route 128 tells the story of a region forever changed by the highway's construction.
Un western català que esdevé un homenatge a la família, als lligams indestructibles que hi ha entre quatre germans i una mare. La Míriam Cabot, que per a la gent del poble sempre ha estat una forastera, es queda vídua amb quatre fills. Són temps d'una gran sequera al sud de Catalunya. La dona, però, lluitarà per les seves terres i per mantenir unida la família. El seu llegat serà una pregària, una promesa: «Passi el que passi, estigueu sempre junts i cuideu els uns dels altres». Una desgràcia farà que el Jacob, el fill gran, hagi d'assumir la voluntat de la mare fins a les últimes conseqüències, obligant-lo a allunyar-se dels germans. Dotze anys més tard, il·lusionat, anirà a retrobar el Dylan, el Jona i el Samuel. Però el que es trobarà en tornar a casa no serà, ni per casualitat, el que havia esperat. Amb moments plens de tendresa i d'altres d'hilarants, Els germans Cabot és un homenatge a la família, als lligams indestructibles entre quatre germans i una mare. A la lluita de tots els suds del món.
This book will delve into how the Tudors exerted their control over their empire and domains, stretching from the Old War to the colonies of the New. The Tudors remain one of Britain’s most fascinating royal dynasties. Their thirst for control surged due to the family’s paranoid obsession about being interlopers who were never destined to be monarchs. Throughout the sixteenth century, the Tudors added more and more territories to their portfolio, but this growth came at a bloody cost. Each monarch attempted to expand their control of the kingdom: Henry VII consolidated his authority across the realm, Henry VIII had visions of a French empire, and Elizabeth I oversaw the travels and travails of the seadogs in the New World. This book will delve into how the Tudors exerted their control over their empire and domains, stretching from the north of England, Wales, Ireland, Cornwall, all the way to European possessions, as well as fresh colonies in the New World. It utilizes contemporary sources with further engagement in wider historical debate to provide an accessible introduction into this era for readers.
The National Book Award–winning biography that tells the story of how young Teddy Roosevelt transformed himself from a sickly boy into the vigorous man who would become a war hero and ultimately president of the United States, told by master historian David McCullough. Mornings on Horseback is the brilliant biography of the young Theodore Roosevelt. Hailed as “a masterpiece” (John A. Gable, Newsday), it is the winner of the Los Angeles Times 1981 Book Prize for Biography and the National Book Award for Biography. Written by David McCullough, the author of Truman, this is the story of a remarkable little boy, seriously handicapped by recurrent and almost fatal asthma attacks, and his struggle to manhood: an amazing metamorphosis seen in the context of the very uncommon household in which he was raised. The father is the first Theodore Roosevelt, a figure of unbounded energy, enormously attractive and selfless, a god in the eyes of his small, frail namesake. The mother, Mittie Bulloch Roosevelt, is a Southerner and a celebrated beauty, but also considerably more, which the book makes clear as never before. There are sisters Anna and Corinne, brother Elliott (who becomes the father of Eleanor Roosevelt), and the lovely, tragic Alice Lee, TR’s first love. All are brought to life to make “a beautifully told story, filled with fresh detail” (The New York Times Book Review). A book to be read on many levels, it is at once an enthralling story, a brilliant social history and a work of important scholarship which does away with several old myths and breaks entirely new ground. It is a book about life intensely lived, about family love and loyalty, about grief and courage, about “blessed” mornings on horseback beneath the wide blue skies of the Badlands.
Take a walk through the biggest events, the wars, the economic, political, and social forces, the presidents, and lesser-known personalities as well as the sports, music, and entertainment that created, changed, and built the United States! From Washington to the microchip, Columbus to modern terrorist threats, the Anasazi to the iPhone, The Handy American History Answer Book traces the development of the nation, including the impact of the Civil War, the discovery of gold in California, the inventions, the political and economic crises, and the technology transforming modern culture today. It answers nearly 900 commonly asked questions and offers fun facts about American, its history, and people, such as: What were the first crops developed by the early Indian cultures? What was the Lost Colony? When did the first Africans arrive in the British colonies of North America? What was the Stamp Act? Did the American colonies have the death penalty? Why did Elbridge Gerry, Edmund Randolph, and George Mason refuse to sign the Constitution? What were the Lincoln–Douglas debates? What Civil War nurse later founded the American Red Cross? Who were the robber barons? Who invented the sport of basketball? How bad was the San Francisco earthquake of 1906? What was the Harlem Renaissance? Who were the “Four Horsemen”? Was the U.S. mainland attacked during World War II? When did the Cold War begin and why? How was Earl Warren crucial to the Brown v. Board of Education decision? What caused the Vietnam War? What was Reaganomics? What impact did the Challenger disaster have on the U.S. space program? What record producer co-founded Def Jam? Who became the first space tourist? This fun, fact-filled primer is a captivating, concise, and convenient history of America and Americans. The Handy American History Answer Book also includes a helpful bibliography and an extensive index, adding to its usefulness.
Within a generation of Columbuss first landfall in the Caribbean, Spain ruled an empire in central and south America many times the size of the home country. In stark contrast, after a century of struggle, and numerous disasters, English colonising efforts further north had succeeded in settling the banks of one waterway and the littoral of several bays. How and why progress was so slow and laborious is the central theme of this thought-provoking new book. It argues that this is best understood if the development of the English colonies is seen as a protracted amphibious operation, governed by all the factors that traditionally make for success or failure in such endeavours – aspects such as proper reconnaissance, establishing a secure bridgehead and timely reinforcement. Invading America examines the vessels and the voyages, the unrealistic ambitions of their promoters, the nature of the conflict with the native Indians, and the lack of leadership and cooperation that was so essential for success. Using documentary evidence and vivid first-hand accounts, it describes from a new perspective the often tragic, sometimes heroic, attempts to settle on the American coast and suggests why these so often ended in failure. As this book shows, the emergence of a powerful United States was neither inevitable nor easily achieved.
David John Malloy was bo in St. John's in 1954 and attended Bonaventure College in his youth. Later, he studied at several secondary schools in Nova Scotia before enrolling at Dalhousie University. In 1976 he received a BSc (Honours in Psychology) and went on to study architecture at the technical University of Nova Scotia, receiving his bachelor of architecture in 1980. He also studied in Copenhagen and traveled extensively throughout Europe. After practicing architecture with several firms in Nova Scotia and Newfoundland, he joined the department of Municipal Affairs in St. John's, where he now works with municipalities in developing indoor and outdoor recreational facilities. The story of ten of the province's most historic lighthouses, each chapter highlights one of these magnificent places. Tales of heroic rescues and tragic shipwrecks are laced with descriptions of Newfoundland's coastal flora and fauna. Travel back in time to touch the weathered stone and iron towers, which still encircle Newfoundland's rugged coastline.
1776, Brave Companions, The Great Bridge, John Adams, The Johnstown Flood, Mornings on Horseback, Path Between the Seas, Truman, The Course of Human Events
1776, Brave Companions, The Great Bridge, John Adams, The Johnstown Flood, Mornings on Horseback, Path Between the Seas, Truman, The Course of Human Events
Perfect for David McCullough fans and history lovers alike, this ebook boxed set features all of his bestselling titles, from 1776 to Mornings on Horseback. This ebook box set includes all of David McCullough’s bestselling titles: 1776 is the riveting story of George Washington, the men who marched with him, and their British foes in the momentous year of American independence. Brave Companions contains profiles of the exceptional men and women who shaped history, among them Alexander von Humboldt, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and Charles and Anne Lindbergh. The Great Bridge is the remarkable, enthralling story of the planning and construction of the Brooklyn Bridge, which linked two great cities and epitomized American optimism, skill, and determination. John Adams is the magisterial, Pulitzer Prize–winning biography of the independent, irascible Yankee patriot, one of our nation’s founders and most important figures, who became our second president. The Johnstown Flood is the classic history of an American tragedy that became a scandal in the age of the Robber Barons, the preventable flood that destroyed a town and killed 2,000 people. Mornings on Horseback is the brilliant National Book Award–winning biography of young Theodore Roosevelt’s metamorphosis from sickly child to a vigorous, intense man poised to become a national hero and then president. Path Between the Seas is the epic National Book Award–winning history of the heroic successes, tragic failures, and astonishing engineering and medical feats that made the Panama Canal possible. Truman is the Pulitzer Prize–winning biography of Harry Truman, the complex and courageous man who rose from modest origins to make momentous decisions as president, from dropping the atomic bomb to going to war in Korea. A special bonus is included: The Course of Human Events. In this Jefferson Lecture in the Humanities, David McCullough draws on his personal experience as a historian to acknowledge the crucial importance of writing in history’s enduring impact and influence, and he affirms the significance of history in teaching us about human nature through the ages.
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