D'autres livres qui pourraient vous intéresser

• 

  A Rare Recording of Edwin Hubble

  Edwin Hubble

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  Edwin Powell Hubble (November 20, 1889 - September 28, 1953), born in Marshfield, MO, was an American astronomer who played a crucial role in establishing the fields of extragalactic astronomy and observational cosmology. Hubble proved that many objects previously thought to be clouds of dust and gas and classified as "nebulae" were actually galaxies beyond the Milky Way. Hubble's name is most widely recognized for the Hubble Space Telescope, which was named in his honor. The following is a 1945 recording of Hubble's lecture at the New York Philharmonic.

  Voir livre

• 

  Hope and Fear - Modern Myths...

  Ronald H. Fritze

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  A myth-busting journey through the twilight world of fringe ideas and alternative facts. 
   
   
    
  Is a secret and corrupt Illuminati conspiring to control world affairs and bring about a New World Order? Was Donald Trump a victim of massive voter fraud? Is Elizabeth II a shapeshifting reptilian alien? Who is doing all this plotting? 
   
   
    
  In Hope and Fear, Ronald H. Fritze explores the fringe ideas and conspiracy theories people have turned to in order to make sense of the world around them, from myths about the Knights Templar and the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel, to Nazis and the occult, the Protocols of Zion and UFOs. As Fritze reveals, when conspiracy theories, myths, and pseudo-history dominate a society's thinking, facts, reality, and truth fall by the wayside.

  Voir livre

• 

  Venezuela - Economic Crises and...

  Anya Solace

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  Venezuela’s history is one of dramatic shifts, from its early days as a Spanish colony to its emergence as one of the world’s largest oil producers. The country’s vast natural resources positioned it as a regional economic powerhouse, yet mismanagement, political instability, and external pressures have contributed to repeated cycles of crisis. Today, Venezuela stands as a cautionary tale of how wealth, when poorly managed, can lead to economic collapse and social turmoil. Understanding the nation’s historical trajectory is essential to grasping its current struggles and the possibilities for recovery.  
    
  Venezuela’s path to independence followed the broader wave of Latin American liberation movements. Gaining independence from Spain in 1821 under the leadership of Simón Bolívar, the country initially experienced political turbulence as it transitioned from colonial rule. The 19th and early 20th centuries were marked by military dictatorships and internal conflicts, preventing the establishment of a stable government. However, the discovery of vast oil reserves in the early 20th century would drastically reshape Venezuela’s economic and political landscape.  
    
  With the discovery of oil in the 1910s, Venezuela saw rapid economic expansion, attracting foreign investment and transforming Caracas into one of the most modern cities in Latin America. By the mid-20th century, the nation was one of the wealthiest in the region, boasting a growing middle class and infrastructure that rivaled its neighbors. Yet, with prosperity came vulnerability. The economy became overwhelmingly dependent on oil revenues, leaving it exposed to fluctuations in global energy markets. Instead of using its wealth to diversify industries and strengthen institutions, successive governments spent recklessly, often prioritizing short-term political gains over long-term stability. 

  Voir livre

• 

  The Zong - A Massacre the Law &...

  James Walvin

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  The first full review of the mass murder by crew members on the slave ship Zong and the lasting repercussions of this horrifying event 
   
   
   
  On November 29, 1781, Captain Collingwood of the British ship Zong commanded his crew to throw overboard one-third of his cargo: a shipment of Africans bound for slavery in America. The captain believed his ship was off course, and he feared there was not enough drinking water to last until landfall. This book is the first to examine in detail the deplorable killings on the Zong, the lawsuit that ensued, how the murder of 132 slaves affected debates about slavery, and the way we remember the infamous Zong today. 
   
   
   
  Historian James Walvin explores all aspects of the Zong's voyage and the subsequent trial—a case brought to court not for the murder of the slaves but as a suit against the insurers who denied the owners' claim that their "cargo" had been necessarily jettisoned. The scandalous case prompted wide debate and fueled Britain's awakening abolition movement. Without the episode of the Zong, Walvin contends, the process of ending the slave trade would have taken an entirely different moral and political trajectory. He concludes with a fascinating discussion of how the case of the Zong, though unique in the history of slave ships, has come to be understood as typical of life on all such ships.

  Voir livre

• 

  Battle of Cannae and the Battle...

  Editors Charles River

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  Certain foreign policy decisions led to continuing enmity between Carthage and the burgeoning power of Rome, and what followed was a series of wars which turned from a battle for Mediterranean hegemony into an all-out struggle for survival. Although the Romans gained the upper hand in the wake of the First Punic War, Hannibal brought the Romans to their knees for over a decade during the Second Punic War. While military historians are still amazed that he was able to maintain his army in Italy near Rome for nearly 15 years, scholars are still puzzled over some of his decisions, including why he never attempted to march on Rome in the first place. 
  Cannae is still considered one of the greatest tactical victories in the history of warfare, and the fact the battle was a complete victory resulting in the wholesale annihilation of the enemy army made it the textbook example for military commanders to try to duplicate. Of course, others usually were unsuccessful. Cannae was the kind of complete victory that every commander from Caesar to Frederick the Great to Napoleon to Robert E. Lee sought, and that few generals save Caesar and Napoleon bagged whole armies is a testament to the near impossibility of achieving a victory like Cannae. 
  On October 19, 202 BCE, on the plain of Zama in modern Tunisia, battle was joined, and for the first time in one of the battles of the Second Punic War, Hannibal had the infantry advantage and Rome had the cavalry advantage. The result would decide the fate of the Second Punic War and the course of history. 
  Not surprisingly, after the serious threat Hannibal posed during the Second Punic War, the Romans didn’t wait much longer to take the fight to the Carthaginians in the Third Punic War, which ended with Roman legions smashing Carthage to rubble. As legend has it, the Romans literally salted the ground upon which Carthage stood to ensure its destruction once and for all.

  Voir livre

• 

  Nazi Germany and World War II:...

  Charles River Editors

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  "My good friends," the mustached, bony man with thick eyebrows and large, strong teeth somewhat reminiscent of those of a horse, shouted to the crowds from the second-floor window of his house at 10 Downing Street, "this is the second time in our history, that there has come back to Downing Street from Germany peace with honor. I believe it is peace for our time."  
  	The man addressing the crowd, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, had just returned from the heart of Nazi Germany following negotiations with Adolf Hitler, and the crowd gathered outside the English leader's house on September 30, 1938 greeted these ringing words with grateful cheers. The piece of paper Chamberlain flourished exultantly seemed to offer permanent amity and goodwill between democratic Britain and totalitarian Germany. In it, Britain agreed to allow Hitler's Third Reich to absorb the Sudeten regions of Czechoslovakia without interference from either England or France, and since high percentages of ethnic Germans – often more than 50% locally – inhabited these regions, Hitler's demand for this territory seemed somewhat reasonable to Chamberlain and his supporters. With Germany resurgent and rearmed after the disasters inflicted on it by the Treaty of Versailles following World War I, the pact – known as the Munich Agreement – held out hope of a quick end to German ambitions and the return of stable, normal international relations across Europe.  
  	Of course, the Munich agreement is now notorious because its promise proved barren within a very short period of time. Indeed, it effectively signed away Czechoslovakia's independence to Hitler's hungry new Third Reich, and within two years, most of the world found itself plunged into a conflict which made a charnelhouse of Europe and left somewhere between 60-80 million people dead globally. 

  Voir livre