The product of six years of collaborative research, this fine biography offers new interpretations of a pioneering figure in anesthesiology, epidemiology, medical cartography, and public health. It modifies the conventional rags to riches portrait of John Snow by synthesizing fresh information about his early life from archival research and recent studies. It explores the intellectual roots of his commitments to vegetarianism, temperance, and pure drinking water, first developed when he was a medical apprentice and assistant in the north of England. The authors argue that all of Snow's later contributions are traceable to the medical paradigm he imbibed as a medical student in London and put into practice early in his career as a clinician: that medicine as a science required the incorporation of recent developments in its collateral sciences--chiefly anatomy, chemistry, and physiology--in order to understand the causes of disease. Snow's theoretical breakthroughs in anesthesia were extensions of his experimental research in respiratory physiology and the properties of inhaled gases. Shortly thereafter, his understanding of gas laws led him to reject miasmatic explanations for the spread of cholera, and to develop an alternative theory in consonance with what was then known about chemistry and the physiology of digestion. Using all of Snow's writings, the authors follow him when working in his home laboratory, visiting patients throughout London, attending medical society meetings, and conducting studies during the cholera epidemics of 1849 and 1854. The result is a book that demythologizes some overly heroic views of Snow by providing a fairer measure of his actual contributions. It will have an impact not only on the understanding of the man but also on the history of epidemiology and medical science.
Stepping Westward is the first book dedicated to the literature of the Scottish Highland tour of 1720-1830, a major cultural phenomenon that attracted writers and artists like Pennant, Johnson and Boswell, William and Dorothy Wordsworth, Coleridge, Scott, Hogg, Keats, Daniell, and Turner, as well as numerous less celebrated travellers and tourists. Addressing more than a century's worth of literary and visual representations of the Highlands, the book casts new light on how the tour developed a modern literature of place, acting as a catalyst for thinking about improvement, landscape, and the shaping of British, Scottish, and Gaelic identities. It pays attention to the relationship between travellers and the native Gaels, whose world was plunged into crisis by rapid and forced social change. At the book's core lie the best-selling tours of Pennant and Dr Johnson, associated with attempts to 'improve' the intractable Gaidhealtachd in the wake of Culloden. Alongside the Ossian craze and Gilpin's picturesque, their books stimulated a wave of 'home tours' from the 1770s through the romantic period, including writing by women like Sarah Murray and Dorothy Wordsworth. The incidence of published Highland Tours (many lavishly illustrated), peaked around 1800, but as the genre reached exhaustion, the 'romantic Highlands' were reinvented in Scott's poems and novels, coinciding with steam boats and mass tourism, but also rack-renting, sheep clearance, and emigration.
As the Second World War progressed and defeat for Hitler’s Third Reich in all theatres became ever more certain, the tight Abwehr network, built so effectively by its head, Admiral Canaris, began to unravel. High-level defections to the Allies and bitter disputes with the Sicherheitsdienst (SD) added to a collapse in morale. Most notably was the increasing opposition within the officer ranks of the Army to Hitler fermented by Canaris and his deputy Generalmajor Hans Oster. The final years of the Abwehr were marked by the Abwehr’s efforts to undermine the regime, which came to a bloody conclusion following the Valkyrie assassination attempt of 20 July 1944. This saw the arrest of many Abwehr officials and the execution of Canaris and Oster. In this penetrating study of the final years of the Abwehr, Nigel West, a world-renowned specialist in the field, pieces together the gradual decline in the organization’s role and importance with Hitler and his acolytes paying little heed to reports that were increasingly cautionary. Among the many previously undisclosed stories are details gleaned from recently opened files which tell of a hitherto unknown spy-swap. This was the exchange of Berthold Shulze-Holthus, a German spy detained in Iran, for Ferdinand Rodriguez, a British radio operator captured in France. This was the only such exchange that took place during the whole of the Second World War – though the fact that the swap took place at all suggests that a previously unsuspected degree of communication existed between the Allies and Nazi Germany. Perhaps most tantalizingly of all, is the new night light thrown upon the role the British Secret Intelligence Service, MI6, had, in league with the Abwehr, in the Valkyrie bombing which almost killed Hitler.
Past Master tells the story of Patrick, Master of Gray, in the era of Queen Elizabeth I and Mary Queen of Scots, and of his remarkable daughter Mary. With the end of Elizabeth I's long reign in sight, Patrick, Master of Gray, is determined that James VI should succeed to the English throne. Nothing can be allowed to stand in his way - not even his own daughter's happiness. And so Mary Gray and her lover, Ludovick, Duke of Lennox, are to be caught up in a savage game of power politics, shaped by personal ambition and religious bigotry. 'Through his imaginative dialogue, he provides a voice for Scotland's heroes' Scotland on Sunday
When bigotry and power-mania take control, disaster always follows for ordinary people - even when the power is wielded by the Church. Witchcraft, of course, was seen as devil-worship. Those accused - over 100,000 people, mainly women, between 1450 and 1750 - were subjected to the most bestial tortures and usually executed. Witch Hunt examines the real facts of this persecution and the religious hysteria that inspired it, tracing it back to its source. It tracks its wildfire-spread across Europe and the US until scientific reason began to challenge old beliefs and it began its long-awaited decline.
Tasmania's Beaconsfield is nationally known for its gold. Few people realise that before the gold rush of 1877, the Beaconsfield district was the centre of Australia’s iron industry. It was here the largest iron smelter in the southern hemisphere was built on the west bank of the Tamar River – forty years before BHP Newcastle! Is it true Beaconsfield was where iron ore was first discovered in Australia? Who came here and what did they find? Is this where the Australian mining industry began? This book documents the events and introduces the people who explored the region from the first settlement in 1804. We uncover the lives of forgotten pioneers who made many of Australia’s first mineral discoveries and created industries to extract them and build our nation.
Known as “the Great War,” the world’s first truly global conflict is remarkable in what might now be termed modern espionage. World War I was witness to plenty of ”firsts.” Apart from the contribution made by aerial reconnaissance and the interception of wireless telegraphy, telephone and cable traffic, there was the scientific aspect, with new machines of war, such as the submarine, sea-mine, torpedo, airship, barbed wire, armored tank and mechanized cavalry in a military environment that included mustard gas, static trench warfare, the indiscriminate bombardment of civilian population centers and air-raids. Large-scale sabotage and propaganda, the manipulation of news and of radio broadcasts, and censorship, were all features of a new method of engaging in combat, and some ingenious techniques were developed to exploit the movement of motor and rail transport, and the transmission of wireless signals. The hitherto unknown disciplines of train-watching, bridge-watching, airborne reconnaissance and radio interception would become established as routine collection methods, and their impact on the conflict would prove to be profound. The Historical Dictionary of World War I Intelligence relates this history through a chronology, an introductory essay, an appendix, and an extensive bibliography. The dictionary section has over 400 hundred cross-referenced entries on intelligence organizations, the spies, and the major cases and events of World War I. This book is an excellent access point for students, researchers, and anyone wanting to know more about the world of intelligence in World War I.
When bigotry and power-mania take control, disaster always follows for subjugated persons - even when the power is wielded by the Church. Witchcraft was viewed as devil-worship. Between 1450 and 1750, one hundred thousand people were accused, subject to the most bestial tortures and usually executed. Witches examines the wildfire-spread of witch hunting across Europe and America, revealing the disturbing and brutal realities of these witch hunts and their roots in misogyny and religious persecution. It includes: • Letters and trial testimonies from those charged with witchcraft, as well as some from self-proclaimed witches • Biographic detail of key witch hunters, such as Matthew Hopkins (the so-called Witchfinder General) who was responsible for hundreds of executions • Accounts of famous witch trials, from Chelmsford to Salam Nigel Cawthorne doesn't shy away from the violent details of this persecution, exploring the events as they transpired, the contexts that triggered them and tracing it back to its source. Please note: This title contains descriptions of a violent and sexual nature and is not intended for younger readers. Discretion is advised.
George Whitefield proclaimed the Christian message to more people in history than anyone else, before or since, who spoke with an unaided voice. A preacher of revival almost from his childhood, when he prophesied his own destiny, he had a profound impact on the social, religious and political life of both Britain and America. He crossed the Atlantic thirteen times, and merged as a celebrity figure, whose message captivated both rich and poor alike. Whitefield heralded a new kind of revival that was both spiritually powerful and entertaining at the same time. He was also a man of contradictions. He loved the Anglican liturgy but would happily break canon law. He was a devoted Puritan yet he was also able to befriend those with more liberal morals, Above all, Whitefield was a driven man, and his overwhelming passion was to preach New Birth in Christ - the theme he was to speak on over a thousand times. He valued education, opposed slavery, cared for orphan children and changed the course of both British and American history.
This richly illustrated history of Cape Town under Dutch and British rule tells the story of its residents, the world they inhabited and the city they made - beginning in the seventeenth century with the tiny Dutch settlement, hemmed in by mountains and looking out to sea, and ending with the well-established British colonial city, poised confidently on the threshold of the twentieth century. This social history of Cape Town under Dutch and British rule traces the changing character of the city and portrays the varied lives and experiences of its inhabitants e" black and white, rich and poor, slave and free, Christian and Muslim. The story told in these pages is both immensely readable and endlessly interesting, and is sure to remain for long the definitive history of the city. The volume is illustrated throughout with a wealth of paintings, maps and photographs. The book is written for the general reader as well as academics.
In 1460, when clan feuds were rife, and the threat of English invasion was ever-present, James III, one of Scotland's weakest monarchs, came to the throne. Before long, John, Lord of Douglas, a born leader and a man of conscience and vision, found himself wishing that James' wise and strong-minded sister Princess Mary had succeeded in her brother's place. A fact compounded by the feeble king's habit of ignoring high-born nobles, and succumbing instead to the influence of the astrologer and alchemist William Sheves, Archdeacon of St Andrews, one of the cleverest and most unscrupulous individuals in Scotland's history. Continuing the story of Princess Mary Stewart that began in Price of a Princess, Lord in Waiting is a gripping tale of 15th century Scotland by Nigel Tranter, master of Scottish historical fiction.
Admiralty Jurisdiction and Practice is the definitive work on litigation in the Admiralty Court. It provides unrivalled commentary and analysis of the key principles of admiralty law, from jurisdiction and procedure to forms and precedents, and is firmly established as the leading reference guide for today’s maritime practitioner. The authors also deal with several topics not covered elsewhere, including the impact of insolvency, the interplay between jurisdiction and practice, limitation periods, the role of international conventions, and collision action rules. The fifth edition has been fully updated to include new case law and vital changes in Commercial Court practice and procedure. It also includes brand new material on the topical jurisdictions of Hong Kong and South Africa, including a comparison to English law and expert commentary on important issues such as ship arrest. This book is a first choice for all those concerned with admiralty law.
Eighteenth-century Europe witnessed monumental upheavals in both the Catholic and Protestant faiths and the repercussions rippled down to the churches’ religious art forms. Nigel Aston now chronicles here the intertwining of cultural and institutional turmoil during this pivotal century. The sustained popularity of religious art in the face of competition from increasingly prevalent secular artworks lies at the heart of this study. Religious art staked out new spaces of display in state institutions, palaces, and private collections, the book shows, as well as taking advantage of patronage from monarchs such as Louis XIV and George III, who funded religious art in an effort to enhance their monarchial prestige. Aston also explores the motivations and exhibition practices of private collectors and analyzes changing Catholic and Protestant attitudes toward art. The book also examines purchases made by corporate patrons such as charity hospitals and religious confraternities and considers what this reveals about the changing religiosity of the era as well. An in-depth historical study, Art and Religion in Eighteenth-Century Europe will be essential for art history and religious studies scholars alike.
The author of The Kompromat Conspiracy shares the history of MI5, from its beginnings in 1909 to 1945 and its role in the Second World War. MI5 is arguably the most secret and misunderstood of all the British government departments. Its enigmatic title—much more than its proper name, the Security Service—stands in the public mind for the dark world of the secret services. In reality it has a very specific responsibility: counterintelligence. Its purpose is to combat espionage and subversion directed against the UK. Nigel West’s book traces the history of MI5 from its modest beginnings in 1909 until 1945, focusing on the important role it played in World War II. This includes the story of the sixteen enemy agents rounded up in Britain who were either hanged or shot; the manipulation of the Axis espionage networks by the use of “turned” Abwehr agents (the famous Double Cross System) and the all-important check on its success provided by the intercepted German signals decoded at Bletchley; and the various deceptions practiced on the German High Command. Laced with true anecdotes as bizarre and compulsively readable as any John Le Carré novel, this book is the fruit of years of painstaking research. West has traced and interviewed more than a hundred people who figure prominently in the story: German and Soviet agents, counterintelligence officers, and even more than a dozen double agents. In this newly revised edition, Nigel West details the organizational charts which show the structure of the wartime security apparatus, in the most accurate and informative account ever written of MI5 before and during the Second World War.
Robert Burns and Pastoral is a full-scale reassessment of the writings of Robert Burns (1759-1796), arguably the most original poet writing in the British Isles between Pope and Blake, and the creator of the first modern vernacular style in British poetry. Although still celebrated as Scotland's national poet, Burns has long been marginalised in English literary studies worldwide, due to a mistaken view that his poetry is linguistically incomprehensible and of interest to Scottish readers only. Nigel Leask challenges this view by interpreting Burns's poetry as an innovative and critical engagement with the experience of rural modernity, namely to the revolutionary transformation of Scottish agriculture and society in the decades between 1760 and 1800, thereby resituating it within the mainstream of the Scottish and European enlightenments. Detailed study of the literary, social, and historical contexts of Burns's poetry explodes the myth of the 'Heaven-taught ploughman', revealing his poetic artfulness and critical acumen as a social observer, as well as his significance as a Romantic precursor. Leask discusses Burns's radical decision to write 'Scots pastoral' (rather than English georgic) poetry in the tradition of Allan Ramsay and Robert Fergusson, focusing on themes of Scottish and British identity, agricultural improvement, poetic self-fashioning, language, politics, religion, patronage, poverty, antiquarianism, and the animal world. The book offers fresh interpretations of all Burns's major poems and some of the songs, the first to do so since Thomas Crawford's landmark study of 1960. It concludes with a new assessment of his importance for British Romanticism and to a 'Four Nations' understanding of Scottish literature and culture.
Although China’s intelligence activities may not have been well documented, they can be traced back to the ancient writings of Sun Tzu, and espionage has been a characteristic of Chinese domestic politics and international relations ever since. The People’s Republic of China has long engaged in espionage, but relatively little is known about Chinese techniques, methodology, personnel, and organizations in comparison with what the West has learned about other more conventional intelligence agencies that conduct operations across the world. Whereas most intelligence services have suffered damaging defections, the number of Ministry of State Security professionals who have switched sides is relatively small, further limiting outside knowledge. The Historical Dictionary of Chinese Intelligence covers the history of Chinese Intelligence from 400 B.C. to modern times. This is done through a chronology, an introductory essay, an extensive bibliography, and an index. The dictionary section has over 400 cross-referenced entries on the agencies and agents, the operations and equipment, the tradecraft and jargon, and many of the countries involved. This book is an excellent access point for students, researchers, and anyone wanting to know more about Chinese Intelligence.
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