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  On Heroes Hero-Worship and the...

  Thomas Carlyle

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  Though uncompromising, polemical and argumentative, Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881) made a lasting impact on 19th-century culture as a multi-talented man of letters. And though his lengthy history of the French Revolution proved his major scholarly legacy, On Heroes, Hero-Worship and the Heroic in History remains perhaps his most popular and accessible work. It presented his deep-seated belief that ‘Universal History, the history of what man has accomplished in this world, is at bottom the History of the Great Men who have worked here’.  
   
  It is with this bold declaration that Carlyle opened the collection of six lectures that comprise ‘On Heroes’. Initially delivered in 1840, he published them a year later in an expanded form, and the book’s popularity gave him the broader national presence to which he aspired. The six lectures covered a wide range of man’s activities, but of particular interest were the categories, as much as the individual figures.  
   
  Lecture I. The Hero as Divinity: Odin. Paganism: Scandinavian Mythology.  
   
  Lecture II. The Hero as Prophet. Mahomet: Islam.  
   
  Lecture III. The Hero as Poet. Dante, Shakespeare.  
   
  Lecture IV. The Hero as Priest. Luther. Reformation: Knox; Puritanism.  
   
  Lecture V. The Hero as Man of Letters. Johnson, Rousseau, Burns.  
   
  Lecture VI. The Hero as King. Cromwell, Napoleon: Modern Revolutionism.  
   
  These categories challenged opinions from the outset: Carlyle’s fundamental approach, breaking away from an overbearing militaristic description of the hero figure in history, was revolutionary. He chose to take a more radical view, less hide-bound by the conventional constraints of his day, placing the poet, the philosopher and the revolutionary where, in popular imagination, the conqueror and the champion held sway. This was reflected further in the individuals he chose to represent the categories. If modern-day sensibilities may take a less emphatic ‘Great Men’ approach to history, Carlyle’s original work continues to provide an engaging template for contemporary revision.

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  Let Me Be Frank - A Book About...

  Tracy Dawson

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  In this entertaining and eye-opening collection, writer, actor, and feminist Tracy Dawson showcases trailblazers throughout history who disguised themselves as men and continuously broke the rules to gain access and opportunities denied them because they were women. 
  “This book will surprise, astonish, and hopefully anger you on the lengths women have had to go to pursue their dreams. Tracy has such a gift for storytelling and making history leap off the page. Her book has a wit that suggests it was written by a man since everyone knows women aren't this funny.”—Kay Cannon, writer, producer, director (the Pitch Perfect films, Cinderella) 
  “A smart, funny journey through history that introduces us to the rule breakers who made history worth traveling through.”—Patton Oswalt, comedian, actor and author 
  “I came up with Tracy as a fellow sketch comedian on the vomit-soaked stages of the Toronto comedy scene. And like the brilliant, resourceful, rule-breaking, damn-well-stubborn sisters in Let Me Be Frank, Tracy is someone who gets the job done, and gets it done well.”—Samantha Bee, Full Frontal with Samantha Bee  
  Let Me Be Frank illuminates with a wry warmth the incredible stories of a diverse group of women from different ethnicities and cultural backgrounds who have defied the patriarchy, refusing to allow men or the status quo to define their lives or break their spirit. An often sardonic and thoroughly impassioned homage to female ingenuity and tenacity, the women profiled in this inspiring anthology broke the rules to reach their goals and refused to take “no” for an answer. These women took matters into their own hands, dressing—sometimes literally, sometimes figuratively—as men to do what they wanted to do. This includes competing in marathons, publishing books, escaping enslavement, practicing medicine, tunneling deep in the earth as miners, taking to the seas as pirates and serving on the frontlines in the military, among many other pursuits. Not only did these women persist, many unknowingly made history and ultimately inspired later generations in doing so. This compendium is an informative and enthralling celebration of these revolutionary badasses who have changed the world and our lives. 
  WOMEN PROFILED INCLUDE: Jeanne Baret * Anne Bonny and Mary Read * Christian Caddell * Ellen Craft * Catalina De Erauso * Louise Augustine Gleizes * Hatshepsut * Annie Hindle and Florence Hines* Pili Hussein * Joan of Arc * Rena “Rusty” Kanokogi * Margaret King * Dorothy Lawrence * Tarpé Mills * Hannah Snell * Kathrine Switzer * Maria Toorpakai * Dr. Mary Edwards Walker * Cathay Williams 
  Supplemental enhancement PDF accompanies the audiobook.

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  Chronicle The - Book Four -...

  Mr Punch

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  Voices from the Past with David Suchet as Lord Nelson writing to his beloved Emma on the eve of Trafalgar, hoping in God that he will live to finish his letter after the Battle, while Harriet Walter as Virginia Woolf hangs about the House of Commons mourning the passing of Edward VIII and the coming of King Albert I.  Winston Churchill is captured and imprisoned by the Boers and Jane Austen sells 'Pride & Prejudice' for £110. Howard Carter discovers the tomb of Tutankhamen, and on Christmas Day, while Alan Clark is amused to find that Lord Byron once rhymed 'intellectual' with 'hen pecked you all'. And not forgetting dear Anthony Powell, who is having considerable trouble with his waterworks. 
   
  “It’s WONDERFUL.  In fact, I would describe it as one of the all-time audio greats... an unmissable five-star production.”  (The Guardian) 
  “I recommend the reader to hunt down and buy this series wherever it may be found.”  (The Spectator) 
    
  Dramatised and performed by a distinguished cast of over 30 actors, including Charles Dance, Harriet Walter, David Suchet, Timothy West, James Bolam, Maureen Lipman, Robert Powell, Jenny Agutter, Joss Ackland, Eleanor Bron, John Sessions, Imogen Stubbs. 
   
  Also available as part of the CHRONICLE BOX SET, over 11 hours of audio bliss.

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  101 Amazing Facts about Tanks

  Merlin Mill

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  Do you know which year most historians agree saw the very first tank partake in battle? Which country first used the combined might of tanks and air power? What percentage of Germany’s Afrika Korps tanks had been destroyed by the end of the campaign? And which tank was nicknamed Queen of the Desert?In this fascinating audiobook, Charles King talks us through more than one hundred amazing facts about tanks, including chapters about their history, the Second World War, tank design and plenty more. Whether you’re a huge fan of tanks or are just interested to find out more about one of the battlefield’s most important assets, this is the perfect audiobook for you.

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  Battle of Flodden The: The...

  Editors Charles River

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  The relationship between Scotland and England has always been rocky. For most of their history they have been at loggerheads and frequently at war, and, even after the Act of Union of 1707 which united the two nations, there were at least four Scottish uprisings. Today, the Scottish threat to separate from the post-Brexit UK is well-known. England has historically viewed the northern nation as a threat, and Scotland for its part has feared, with justification, its richer and more powerful neighbor.  
  	Famous encounters between the two countries include Falkirk (1298), Bannockburn (1314), Solway Moss (1542), Prestonpans (1745) and Culloden (1746), but the Battle of Flodden, or Flodden Field, fought on September 9, 1513, was the largest and perhaps most spectacular of the clashes between the ancient enemies. It involved the deployment of 56,000 men and vies with the 1461 Battle of Towton during the Wars of the Roses as the largest battle ever fought on British soil. The English had never entirely conquered Scotland, and since Bannockburn they had been unable to claim any degree of control, but it was not until 1328 that they finally acknowledged Scotland's independence. 
  On top of that, the nature of political marriages in England, and Europe in general, tied nations together even as they remained enemies. Indeed, throughout the 16th century, Scottish rulers would be eyed with suspicion by English royals who were fully aware that no shortage of Englishmen considered the Scottish royals the true heirs to England’s throne. Flodden Field would be one of the biggest battles in English and Scottish history, yet the two countries would still be at war a generation later. 

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  A Rare Recording of Titanic...

  Frank Prentice

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  RMS Titanic was a British passenger liner, operated by the White Star Line, that sank in the North Atlantic Ocean on April 15, 1912, after striking an iceberg during her maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York City. Of the estimated 2,224 passengers and crew aboard, more than 1,500 died, making it the deadliest sinking of a single ship up to that time. It remains the deadliest peacetime sinking of an ocean liner or cruise ship. Frank Prentice, an assistant purser on the Titanic, offers his account of how he survived the sinking of the ship.

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