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showing 528 library results for '2016'

Slavery hinterland : transatlantic slavery and continental Europe, 1680-1850 /edited by Felix Brahm and Eve Rosenhaft. ''Slavery Hinterland explores a neglected aspect of transatlantic slavery: the implication of a continental European hinterland. It focuses on historical actors in territories that were not directly involved in the traffic in Africans but linked in various ways with the transatlantic slave business, the plantation economics that it fed and the consequences of its abolition. The volume unearths material entanglements of the Continental and Atlantic economies and also proposes a new agenda for the historical study of the relationship between business and morality. Contributors from the US, Britain and continental Europe examine the ways in which the slave economy touched on individual lives and economic developments in German-speaking Europe, Switzerland, Denmark and Italy. They reveal how these 'hinterlands' served as suppliers of investment, labour and trade goods for the slave trade and of materials for the plantation economies, and how involvement in trade networks contributed in turn to key economic developments in the 'hinterlands'. The chapters range in time from the first, short-lived attempt at establishing a German slave-trading operation in the 1680s to the involvement of textile manufacturers in transatlantic trade in the first quarter of the nineteenth century. A key theme of the volume is the question of conscience, or awareness of being morally implicated in an immoral enterprise. Evidence for subjective understandings of the moral challenge of slavery is found in individual actions and statements and also in post-abolition colonisation and missionary projects.''--Provided by the publisher. 2016. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 306.3/62094
An American in London : Whistler and the Thames /Margaret F. MacDonald, Patricia de Montfort. In the 1860s and 1870s Whistler produced a body of work based on the Thames. Pivotal to his career, this beautiful group of paintings, prints and drawings permits a detailed examination of his approach to composition, subject and technique. The earliest paintings, notably Brown and Silver: Old Battersea Bridge, produced soon after his arrival in London, mark one of his most profound and successful challenges to the art establishment of the time. As well as allowing a detailed study of the evolution of an artist, these works show the Thames under contrasting climatic conditions, from Chelsea in Ice to the lovely Nocturn: Grey and Gold - Westminster Bridge, which depicts the deep blue of warm summer evenings. They bring to life Victorian London: the workers and women who frequented the Thames-side wharves and pubs, the shipping that thronged the Pool, the barges that navigated the perilous passage under the bridges, and the steamboats and ferries crowded with daytrippers. The Nocturns of the 1870s mark an important breakthrough in Whistler's art: his shift from French Realism to sophisticated harmony, based on mood and atmosphere, but still rooted in a literal rendering of the Thames waterside. The famous Blue and Gold - Old Battersea Bridge is the culmination of his bridge paintings; here the influence of Japanese prints reached its fullest form. This comprehensive and handsomely illustrated study presents the definitive examples of Whistler's radical new aesthetic approach to the time-honoured subject of the city and river. In addition, the works reveal to us his world - the exhibitions, the personalities, the buildings, the style, and the atmosphere which inform his art and root this American cosmopolitan securely in the ranks of artists inspired by London and the Thames. 2013. • FOLIO • 1 copy available. 7WHISTLER
Slavery, geography and empire in nineteenth-century marine landscapes of Montreal and Jamaica / Charmaine A. Nelson. "Slavery, Geography and Empire in Nineteenth-Century Marine Landscapes of Montreal and Jamaica is among the first Slavery Studies books - and the first in Art History - to juxtapose temperate and tropical slavery. Charmaine A. Nelson explores the central role of geography and its racialized representation as landscape art in imperial conquest. One could easily assume that nineteenth-century Montreal and Jamaica were worlds apart, but through her astute examination of marine landscape art, the author re-connects these two significant British island colonies, sites of colonial ports with profound economic and military value. Through an analysis of prints, illustrated travel books, and maps, the author exposes the fallacy of their disconnection, arguing instead that the separation of these colonies was a retroactive fabrication designed in part to rid Canada of its deeply colonial history as an integral part of Britain's global trading network which enriched the motherland through extensive trade in crops produced by enslaved workers on tropical plantations. The first study to explore James Hakewill's Jamaican landscapes and William Clark's Antiguan genre studies in depth, it also examines the Montreal landscapes of artists including Thomas Davies, Robert Sproule, George Heriot and James Duncan. Breaking new ground, Nelson reveals how gender and race mediated the aesthetic and scientific access of such - mainly white, male - artists. She analyzes this moment of deep political crisis for British slave owners (between the end of the slave trade in 1807 and complete abolition in 1833) who employed visual culture to imagine spaces free of conflict and to alleviate their pervasive anxiety about slave resistance. Nelson explores how vision and cartographic knowledge translated into authority, which allowed colonizers to 'civilize' the terrains of the so-called New World, while belying the oppression of slavery and indigenous displacement."--Provided by the publisher. 2016. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 326.1
Operation Dynamo : the evacuation from Dunkirk, 26th May - 4th June 1940 /edited by Tim Benbow. "In May 1940, as France collapsed in the face of the German blitzkrieg, the British army and some French forces fell back on the Channel coast. The advancing Germans pushed them back and then briefly paused, confident that this cornered remnant of the allied forces was trapped. Yet the German command had failed to appreciate just what sea power could do to deny them the full fruits of their apparent victory; at short notice an evacuation was improvised which, it was initially thought, might if all went well last two days and rescue 45,000 men. The heroic rear guard action of the troops ashore against the renewed German advance, the ability of the RAF to provide just enough air cover, the tireless efforts of naval crews and those manning the priceless 'little ships', and the organisational genius of Vice Admiral Bertram Ramsay saw Operation Dynamo succeed beyond all realistic expectation: two days became nine, and over 338,000 men were saved. Operational disaster in the Battle of France did not become strategic defeat in the war, and albeit at great cost to the Navy, the British army survived to be rebuilt. Above all, Britain could continue to fight. This volume reproduces the complete text of the Battle Summary written shortly after the war by the Admiralty historical staff, comprising a detailed and authoritative account of these dramatic events. This is accompanied by a comprehensive introduction, newly written for this volume, that explains the context for the operation as well as an overview of further reading on the subject."--Publisher website. 2016. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 940.542.1"1940"
Polaris : the chief scientist's recollections of the American North Pole expedition, 1871-73 /Emil Bessels ; translated from the German: Die amerikanische Nordpol-Expedition (Leipzig: Verlag von Wilhelm Engelmann, 1879), by William Barr. "Emil Bessels was chief scientist and medical officer on George Francis Hall's ill-fated American North Pole Expedition of 1871-73 on board the ship Polaris. Bessels' book, translated from the German in its entirety for the first time, is one of only two first-hand accounts of the voyage, and it is the only first-hand account of the experiences of the group which stayed with the ship after it ran afoul of arctic ice, leaving some of its crew stranded on an ice floe. Bessels and the others spent a second winter on shore in Northwest Greenland, where the drifting, disabled ship ran aground. Hall died suspiciously during the first winter, and Bessels is widely suspected of having poisoned him. Bill Barr has uncovered new evidence of a possible motive. Polaris: The Chief Scientist's Recollections of the American North pole Expedition, 1871-73 includes considerable detail which does not appear elsewhere. It is the only account of the expedition which includes rich scientific information about anthropology, geology, flora and fauna. It provides much more information than other accounts on the Greenland settlements Polaris visited on her way north. Bessels' is the only published first-hand account of the second wintering of part of the ship's complement on shore at Polaris House, near Littleton Island, and of that party's attempt at travelling south by boat until picked up by the Scottish whaler Ravenscraig. The same applies to the cruise aboard the whaler, Arctic, after Bessels and his companions transferred to that ship."--Provided by publisher. 2016 • BOOK • 1 copy available. 910.4(98)"1871/1873"
A passion for exploring new countries : Matthew Flinders & George Bass /Josephine Bastian. "'Australian history ... does not read like history', Mark Twain complained in 1897, 'but like the most beautiful lies ... It is full of surprises and adventures, incongruities, and contradictions, and incredibilities; but they are all true, they all happened.' He might have been thinking of Matthew Flinders and George Bass, two obscure young men from Lincolnshire, who had arrived in Sydney in 1795 determined to achieve greatness. Flinders wanted to be an explorer 'second only to Cook', Bass a naturalist, another Sir Joseph Banks, and a rich Sydney trader. For eight years these two pursued their destiny. Their voyage changed the map of Australia, and Flinders gave it its name. They were ready for even greater ventures. And then it was all over. Bass had set out on a voyage he would never finish. His life ended when he was thirty-two years old. Flinders was standing bareheaded and bedraggled before the governor of Ile de France (Mauritius), who told him that his claim to be the commander of a great expedition of discovery was frankly incredible, all lies; he was thrust into prison as a spy and detained for six and a half years. His career as an explorer ended when he was twenty-nine years old. But a strange new adventure was just beginning... Their incredible story is all true - everything in it did happen. This book is historically rigorous, yet its protagonists' fascinating and contrasting characters, the powerful background of the Napoleonic War, and the extraordinary events of their lives make it as gripping as any novel."--Provided by the publisher. 2016. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 919.40420922
British naval weapons of World War Two : the John Lambert collection /edited and introduced by Norman Friedman. "John Lambert was a renowned naval draughtsman, whose plans were highly valued for their accuracy and detail by modelmakers and enthusiasts. By the time of his death in 2016 he had produced over 850 sheets of drawings, many of which have never been published. These have now been acquired by Seaforth and this is the first of a planned series of albums on selected themes, reproducing complete sheets at a large page size, with an expert commentary and captioning. The initial volumes will concentrate on British naval weaponry used in the Second World War, thus completing the project John Lambert was working on when he died. His interest was always focused on smaller warships and his weapons drawings tend to be of open mountings - the kind that present a real challenge to modelmakers - rather than enclosed turret guns, but he also produced drawings of torpedo tubes, underwater weapons, fire-control directors and even some specific armament-related deck fittings. This volume covers all such weapons carried by British destroyers of this era, with additional appendices devoted to earlier guns still in service, and destroyer-calibre weapons only mounted in larger ships. The drawings are backed by introductory essays by Norman Friedman, an acknowledged authority on naval ordnance, while a selection of photographs add to the value of the book as visual reference. Over time, the series will be expanded to make this unique technical archive available in published form, a move certain to be welcomed by warship modellers, enthusiasts and the many fans of John Lambert's work."--Provided by the publisher. 2019. • FOLIO • 3 copies available. 623.4(42)"1939/1945"
In defence of Emma : 'scheming adventuress' or 'radiant presence'? /Sylvia K. Robinson. "Emma, Lady Hamilton, the subject of this new and important biography, has been roundly maligned in previous biographies and repeatedly criticised in the many biographies of her husband, Sir William Hamilton and those of Admiral Lord Nelson, her lover. The aim of the long overdue re-assessment of her life is to defend her reputation against the unwarranted and unsubstantiated allegations commonly made against her. She is most often portrayed as 'infamous' and 'notorious'. However, it is universally acknowledged that she was one of the most beautiful women in Europe at the time. Her absorbing, enthralling and ultimately tragic story is told here in her own words through the prolifics correspondence exchanged between her and the significant people in her life, most especially Hamilton and Nelson. Few authors give Emma credit for her achievements. Born into inauspicious circumstances, she yet mastered several languages, rose to acclaimed success in singing and acting, became and valued friend and confidante of Queen Maria Carolina of Naples, and played and politically pivotal role in those desperate years during which Napoleon attempted to conquer Europe. This meticulously researched narrative is a penetrating study of Emma's life and influence. The story unfolds through an extensive and impartial examination of the letters, wills, bank accounts and further extant documentation. Particular attention is paid to the financial details that reveal the full extent of Emma's tragic end. The author presents an intriguing new approach to Emma's legacy, successfully defending her against her dishonourable and undeserved reputation."--Inside cover 2016. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 92HAMILTON, EMMA
The Kaiser's battlefleet : German capital ships 1870-1918 /Aidan Dodson. "The battleships of the Third Reich have been written about exhaustively, but there is little in English devoted to their predecessors of the Second Reich. This new book fills an important gap in the literature of the period by covering these German capital ships in detail and studying the full span of battleship development during this period. The book is arranged as a chronological narrative, with technical details, construction schedules and ultimate fates tabulated throughout, thus avoiding the sometimes disjointed structure that can result from a class-by-class approach. Heavily illustrated with line work and photographs, many from German sources, the book offers readers a fresh visual look at these ships, beyond the limited range of images available from UK sources. A key objective of the book is to make available a full synthesis of the published fruits of archival research by German writers found in the pre-WW2 books of Koop & Schmolke, Grossmer's on the construction programme of the dreadnaught era, Forstmeier & Breyer on WW1 projects, and Schenk & Nottelmann's papers in Warship International. As well as providing data not available in English-language books, these sources correct significant errors in the 'standard' English sources. This entirely fresh study will appeal to historians of WWI German naval developments as well as to enthusiasts and model makers." --Provided by the publisher. 2016. • FOLIO • 1 copy available. 623.821(43)"1871/1918"
The War in the north sea : The Royal Navy and the Imperial German Navy 1914-1918 /Quintin Barry "For years before the outbreak of the First World War, it was the expectation of most officers of the Royal Navy and the Imperial German Navy that very shortly thereafter, a decisive fleet action would be fought. This had a major impact on the strategic thinking on both sides of the North Sea. In fact, the unalterable geographic situation meant that for the Grand Fleet in its Scottish bases, the correct course to follow was not to seek a major fleet encounter. Essentially, it was by staying where it was that it could neutralise the High Seas Fleet and enforce an economic blockade of Germany. The history of the war in the North Sea between 1914 and 1918 is a record of the attempts to break the deadlock - and it is also the history of the men who led the British and German navies. On both sides, the stresses of the huge burden which they bore led to a serious breakdown of trust in each other on the part of the admirals charged with the responsibility. Still more serious was the mutual loss of confidence between the admirals on the one hand and the politicians on the other; their letters and diaries reveal the bitter personal disputes that arose between them. The principal naval battle of Jutland occurred when the two most powerful fleets that the world had ever known clashed, almost by accident, in the North Sea on 31 May 1916. The outcome of the battle has prompted a minute examination of the tactics employed by the commanders, and a continuous debate as to who won, as well as a bitter controversy between the supporters of Sir John Jellicoe (the commander-in-chief of the Grand Fleet) and Sir David Beatty (the commander of the battle cruisers). Most British historians claim the battle as a British victory - a view which this book questions. It has been often suggested that after Jutland, the High Seas Fleet remained in harbour for the rest of the war, but as this book shows, the underrated Admiral Reinhard Scheer (its commander-in-chief) subsequently launched a number of major sorties. It was a series of chances that had determined the outcome of Jutland - and it was chance that repeatedly intervened to prevent a decisive encounter subsequently. This book reviews the entire course of the war in the North Sea, from the first contacts between the fleets in the early days, to the ambitious (but abortive) mission planned at the end of the war for the High Seas Fleet - and, as a dramatic epilogue, its scuttling in Scapa Flow."--Provided by the publisher. 2016. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 940.45(261.1)"1914/1918"
Faces of the Civil War Navies : An album of Union and Confederate sailors /Ronald S. Coddington "During the American Civil War, more than one hundred thousand men fought on ships at sea or on one of America's great inland rivers. There were no large-scale fleet engagements, yet the navies, particularly the Union Navy, did much to define the character of the war and affect its length. The first hostile shots roared from rebel artillery at Charleston Harbor. Along the Mississippi River and other inland waterways across the South, Union gunboats were often the first to arrive in deadly enemy territory. In the Gulf of Mexico and along the Atlantic seaboard, blockaders in blue floated within earshot of gray garrisons that guarded vital ports. And on the open seas, rebel raiders wreaked havoc on civilian shipping. In Faces of the Civil War Navies, renowned researcher and Civil War photograph collector Ronald S. Coddington focuses his considerable skills on the Union and Confederate navies. Using identifiable cartes de visite of common sailors on both sides of the war, many of them never before published, Coddington uncovers the personal histories of each individual who looked into the eye of the primitive camera. These unique narratives are drawn from military and pension records, letters, diaries, period newspapers, and other primary sources. In addition to presenting the personal stories of seventy-seven intrepid volunteers, Coddington also focuses on the momentous naval events that ushered in an era of ironclad ships and other technical innovations. The fourth volume in Coddington's series on Civil War soldiers, this microhistory will appeal to anyone with an interest in the Civil War, social history, or photography. The narratives and photographs in Faces of the Civil War Navies shed new light on a lesser-known part of our American story. Taken collectively, these "snapshots" remind us that the history of war is not merely a chronicle of campaigns won and lost, it is the collective personal odysseys of thousands of individual life stories."--Provided by the publisher. 2016. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 355.49"1861/1865"(73)
Cod and herring : the archaeology and history of medieval sea fishing /James H. Barrett "Quests for cod, herring and other sea fish had profound impacts on medieval Europe. This interdisciplinary book combines history, archaeology and zooarchaeology to discover the chronology, causes and consequences of these fisheries. It crosscuts traditional temporal and geographical boundaries, ranging from the Migration Period through the Middle Ages into early modern times, and from Iceland to Estonia, Arctic Norway to Belgium. It addresses evidence for human impacts on aquatic ecosystems in some instances and for a negligible medieval footprint on superabundant marine species in others (in contrast with industrial fisheries of the 19th-21st centuries). The book explores both incremental and punctuated changes in marine fishing, providing a unique perspective on the rhythm of Europe's environmental, demographic, political and social history. The 21 chapters, by experts in their respective fields, cover a range of regions and methodological approaches, but come together to tell a coherent story of long-term change. Regional differences are clear, yet communities of the North Atlantic Ocean and the Baltic, North and Irish Seas also followed trajectories with many resonances. Ultimately they were linked by a pan-European trade network that turned preserved fish into wine, grain and cloth. At the close of the Middle Ages this nascent global network crossed the Atlantic, but its earlier implications were no less pivotal for those who harvested the sea or profited from its abundance."--Provided by the publisher. 2016. • FOLIO • 1 copy available. 639.2