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  Native American Code Talker in...

  Ed Gilbert

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  'Were it not for the Navajo Code Talkers the Marines would never have taken Iwo Jima and other places' (Anonymous, Marine Corps signal officer). Ed Gilbert uses personal interviews with veterans to tell their fascinating story. Beginning with the first operational use of Native American languages in World War I, he explores how in World War II the US again came to employ this subtle, but powerful 'weapon.' Despite all efforts, the Japanese were never able to decode their messages and the Navajo code talkers contributed significantly to US victories in the Pacific. Approximately 400 Navajos served in this crucial role. Their legend of the 'code talker' has been celebrated by Hollywood in films, such as Windtalkers, and this book reveals the real-life story of their extraordinary involvement in World War II.

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  The Famine Ships

  Edward Laxton

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  Between 1846 and 1851 more than a million Irish people, the famine claimed a million lives. The Famine Ships tells the sory of the courage and determination of those who crossed the Atlantic in leaky, overcrowded saiilng ships and made new lives for themselves, among them William Ford, father of Henry Ford, and twenty-six-year-old Patrick Kennedy, great-grandfather of John F. Kennedy.

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  The Peasants' Revolting Lives

  Terry Deary

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  The author of the Horrible Histories series tells the unpleasant truth about what the poor have endured in this sharp-witted, pull-no-punches book.   British prime minister Benjamin Disraeli once described the rich and poor as “two nations between whom there is no intercourse and no sympathy; who are as ignorant of each other’s habits, thoughts, and feelings, as if they were dwellers in different zones, or inhabitants of different planets.”   Today we’re well aware of the habits, thoughts, and feelings of the rich, because historians write about them endlessly. The poor, though, are largely ignored and, as a result, their contributions to our modern world are forgotten. Here, Terry Deary takes us back through the centuries with a poignant but humorous look at how life treated the ordinary people who scratched out a living at the very bottom of society. Their world was one of foul food, terrible toilets, danger, disease and death—the last usually premature. Wryly told tales of deprivation, exploitation, sickness, mortality, warfare, and religious oppression fill these pages—the teacher turned child-catcher who rounded up local waifs and strays before putting them to work; the agricultural workers who escaped the clutches of the Black Death only to be thwarted by lordly landowners; the hundreds of children who descended into the inky depths of hazardous coal mines.   You’ll discover ingenuity: how cash-strapped citizens used animal droppings for house building, how sparrow’s brains were incorporated into aphrodisiacal brews, and how extra money was made by mixing tea with dried elder leaves—and learn how courtship, marriage, sport, entertainment, education, and, occasionally, achievement briefly illuminated the drudgery. The Peasants’ Revolting Lives explores, commemorates, and celebrates the lives of those who endured against the odds. From medieval miseries to the idiosyncrasies of being a twenty-first-century peasant, tragedy and comedy sit side by side in these tales of survival in the face of hardship.

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  The Peasants' Revolting Crimes

  Terry Deary

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  The bestselling author of Horrible Histories “lays bare the kind of crimes peasants would be committing throughout modern history . . . fascinating!” —Books Monthly   Popular history writer Terry Deary takes us on a light-hearted and often humorous romp through the centuries with Mr. & Mrs. Peasant, recounting foul and dastardly deeds committed by the underclasses, as well as the punishments meted out by those on the “right side” of the law.   Discover tales of arsonists and axe-wielders, grave robbers and garroters, poisoners and prostitutes. Delve into the dark histories of beggars, swindlers, forgers, sheep rustlers and a whole host of other felons from the lower ranks of society who have veered off the straight and narrow. There are stories of highwaymen and hooligans, violent gangs, clashing clans and the witch trials that shocked a nation. Learn too about the impoverished workers who raised a riot opposing crippling taxes and draconian laws, as well as the strikers and machine-smashers who thumped out their grievances against new technologies that threatened their livelihoods.   This entertaining book is packed full of revolting acts and acts of revolt, revealing how ordinary folk—from nasty Normans to present-day lawbreakers—have left an extraordinary trail of criminality behind them. The often gruesome penalties exacted in retribution reveal a great deal about some of the most fascinating eras of British history.   “It will tickle your funny bone for hours on end, so much so you will never put it down! In conclusion, this is a great book for children and adults alike. It is not only comedy but it also used 100% historically accurate.” —History . . . The Interesting Bits!

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  The Roots of Ireland's Troubles

  Robert Stedall

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  The author of Elizabeth I’s Secret Lover“places Ireland into a much wider context and takes it beyond the simplistic Catholic v Protestant dichotomy” (The British Empire Blog).   Over the course of three decades in the late twentieth century, Northern Ireland was embroiled in the Troubles, a conflict characterized by the violent and bitter struggle between nationalists and unionists.   Many books in recent years have attempted to make sense of the Troubles. Primarily political and nationalistic, it also had a sectarian dimension. Undeniably it was fueled by historical events, and yet most only look so far back as the 1916 uprising. In The Roots of Ireland’s Troubles, Robert Stedall argues that we need to take a longer historical view to truly understand the complex factors at play in Ireland’s history that ultimately led to the Troubles. Comprehensive in its approach, it ranges from Plantagenet intervention among the warring Gaelic chieftains, to Cromwell’s restoration of British rule following the English Civil War and William Pitt’s resignation over the Irish Catholic’s Emancipation question.   Inextricably linked with the history of Britain, Stedall guides the reader through Ireland’s turbulent but rich history. To understand the causes behind the twentieth-century conflict, which continues to resonate today, we must look to the long arc of history in order to truly understand the historical roots of a nation’s conflict.   “A very readable and direct account of the complex issues at the heart of Anglo-Irish relationships since the Reformation . . . a totally absorbing book.” —Michael McCarthy, Battlefield Guide

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  Socrates in Love - The Making of...

  Armand D’Angour

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  An innovative and insightful exploration of the passionate early life of Socrates and the influences that led him to become the first and greatest of philosophers 
   
  Socrates: the philosopher whose questioning gave birth to the ideas of Western thought, and whose execution marked the end of the Athenian Golden Age. Yet despite his pre-eminence among the great thinkers of history, little of his life story is known. What we know tends to begin in his middle age and end with his trial and death. Our conception of Socrates has relied upon Plato and Xenophon – men who met him when he was in his fifties and a well-known figure in war-torn Athens. 
    
  There is mystery at the heart of Socrates' story: what turned the young Socrates into a philosopher? What drove him to pursue with such persistence, at the cost of social acceptance and ultimately of his life, a whole new way of thinking about the meaning of existence? 
    
   In this revisionist biography, Armand D'Angour draws on neglected sources to explore the passions and motivations of young Socrates, showing how love transformed him into the philosopher he was to become. What emerges is the figure of Socrates as never previously portrayed: a heroic warrior, an athletic wrestler and dancer – and a passionate lover. Socrates in Love sheds new light on the formative journey of the philosopher, finally revealing the identity of the woman who Socrates claimed inspired him to develop ideas that have captivated thinkers for 2,500 years.

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