Biographies & history

New England's culinary history is marked by a varying array of chowders. Early forms were thick and layered, but the adaptability of this beloved recipe has allowed for a multitude of tasty preparations to emerge. Thick or thin, brimming with fish or clams or corn, chowder springs up throughout the region in as many distinctive varieties as there are ports of call. It remains the quintessential expression of New England cuisine. Food writers and chowder connoisseurs Robert S. Cox and Jacob Walker dish out the history, flavors and significance of every New Englander's favorite comfort food.

Based on the author's more than 50 years of experience as a professional historian in academic and other capacities, Being a Historian is addressed to both aspiring and mature historians. It offers an overview of the state of the discipline of history today and the problems that confront it and its practitioners in many professions. James M. Banner Jr. argues that historians remain inadequately prepared for their rapidly changing professional world and that the discipline as a whole has yet to confront many of its deficiencies. He also argues that, no longer needing to conform automatically to the academic ideal, historians can now more safely and productively than ever before adapt to their own visions, temperaments, and goals as they take up their responsibilities as scholars, teachers, and public practitioners. Critical while also optimistic, this work suggests many topics for further scholarly and professional exploration, research, and debate.

Birthright Citizens tells how African American activists radically transformed the terms of citizenship for all Americans. Before the Civil War, colonization schemes and black laws threatened to deport former slaves born in the United States. Birthright Citizens recovers the story of how African American activists remade national belonging through battles in legislatures, conventions, and courthouses. They faced formidable opposition, most notoriously from the US Supreme Court decision in Dred Scott. Still, Martha S. Jones explains, no single case defined their status. Former slaves studied law, secured allies, and conducted themselves like citizens, establishing their status through local, everyday claims. All along they argued that birth guaranteed their rights. With fresh archival sources and an ambitious reframing of constitutional law-making before the Civil War, Jones shows how as the Fourteenth Amendment constitutionalized the birthright principle, black Americans' aspirations were realized.

The oracle and sanctuary of the Greek god Apollo at Delphi were known as the "omphalos"―the "center" or "navel"―of the ancient world for more than 1000 years. Individuals, city leaders, and kings came from all over the Mediterranean and beyond to consult Delphi's oracular priestess; to set up monuments to the gods; and to take part in competitions. In this richly illustrated account, Michael Scott covers the history and nature of Delphi, from the literary and archaeological evidence surrounding the site, to its rise as a center of worship, to the constant appeal of the oracle despite her cryptic prophecies. He describes how Delphi became a contested sacred site for Greeks and Romans and a storehouse for the treasures of rival city-states and foreign kings. He also examines the eventual decline of the site and how its meaning and importance have continued to be reshaped. A unique window into the center of the ancient world, Delphi will appeal to general readers, tourists, students, and specialists.

Mirages have long astonished travelers of the sea and beguiled thirsty desert voyagers. Traditional Chinese and Japanese poetry and art depict the above-horizon, superior mirage, or fata morgana, as exhalations of clam-monsters. Indian sources relate mirages to the “thirst of gazelles,” a metaphor for the futility of desire. Starting in the late eighteenth century, mirages became a symbol in the West of Oriental despotism—a negative, but also enchanted, emblem. But the mirage motif is rarely simply condemnatory. More often, our obsession with mirages conveys a sense of escape, of fascination, of a desire to be deceived. The Waterless Sea is the first book devoted to the theories and history of mirages. Christopher Pinney navigates a sinuous pathway through a mysterious and evanescent terrain, showing how mirages have impacted politics, culture, science, and religion—and how we can continue to learn from their sublimity.

Steve Irwin meets David Attenborough in this jaw-dropping account of studying the world’s most venomous creatures.  Venomologist Bryan Grieg Fry has one of the most dangerous jobs on earth: he works with its deadliest creatures. He’s been bitten by twenty-six venomous snakes, been stung by three stingrays, and survived a near-fatal scorpion sting while deep in the Amazon jungle. He’s received more than four hundred stitches and broken twenty-three bones, including breaking his back in three places, and had to learn how to walk again. But when you research only the venom you yourself have collected, the adventures—and danger—never stop.

What is the big deal about cannabis? This modern book covers everything from botany to the historical uses of marijuana to common misconceptions about the use of cannabis, with a primary focus on the political process of prohibition and legalization of cannabis in the United States. • Clearly presents the facts on how cannabis prohibition started and why cannabis prohibition is ending • Identifies and challenges the common misconceptions about cannabis on both sides of this hot-button issue • Provides a current perspective on the state trends toward legalization that explains the who, why, and how of the issue • Explains the complex relationship between state marijuana legalization and the federal government, including findings from the executive, legislative, and judicial branch

A gorgeously observed chronicle about getting out of the city and living life on the land, in the tradition of Anne Dillard’s Pilgrim at Tinker Creek. When acclaimed novelist Brad Kessler started to feel unsatisfied by his Manhattan lifestyle, he opted to tackle his issues of over-consumption and live a more eco-friendly life. He and his wife moved to a seventy-five acre goat farm in a small southern Vermont town, where they planned to make a living raising goats and making cheese. They never looked back. Now Kessler adds to his numerous accomplishments (winner of the 2007 Dayton Literary Peace Prize, 2007 Whiting Award for Writers of Exceptional Promise, and a 2008 Rome Prize) an array of cheeses that have already been highly praised by Artisanal, the renowned cheese restaurant in New York City. 

A PERFECT PLAN FOR THE PERFECT SCORE Score-Raising Features Include: •6 full-length practice exams, 3 in the book + 3 on Cross-Platform •Hundreds of practice exercises with thorough answer explanations •Comprehensive overview of the AP U.S. History exam format with step-by-step explanations •Practice questions that reflect both multiple choice and free-response question types, just like the ones you will see on test day •Extensive glossary of key terms •Proven strategies specific to each section of the test BONUS Cross-Platform Prep Course for extra practice exams with personalized study plans, interactive tests, powerful analytics and progress charts, flashcards, games, and more! (see inside front and back covers for details) The 5-Step Plan: Step 1: Set up your study plan with three model schedules Step 2: Determine your readiness with an AP-style Diagnostic Exam Step 3: Develop the strategies that will give you the edge on test day Step 4: Review the terms and concepts you need to achieve your highest score Step 5: Build your confidence with full-length practice exams

Brent focuses on the reformation of republican religion and the exercise of political authority in Augustan society. Augustus' revolution involved a reformation also of republican religion that provided legitimation for the exercise of political authority. The iconography of the Ara Pacis, for example, shows that Augustus as augur was making a metaphysical claim, namely to have secured the peace of the gods not simply throughout the civil organization of the empire but also in nature itself. What republican religion had failed to do, his reformed religion had succeeded in doing. Thus Augustan society had reached a formally similar position to the world of the late twentieth century with its own version of the 'end of history' (Fukuama) in which not simply all other practical political alternatives seem to have been excluded but ideological (or metaphysical) ones as well. How was Christianity, if it were to achieve transformation of contemporary society, to respond to such an apparently unassailable position? How indeed was it to develop both the aim and the strategy for so doing? It needed to shed its original apocalyptic solution in which the certainty of the imminence of the second advent meant that there was no need for actions with political implications in this world. Such a process bears comparison with the way in which Marxists active in Western democracies refused involvement in normal political processes whilst they awaited the 'inevitable' collapse of 'capitalism.' It needed to turn from a perspective of inner soul-culture that had no interest in the transformation of wider society (Gnosticism). Such is paralleled by a kind of charismatic fundamentalism in the present. It needed to produce a 'project' that would be effective in transforming its values into a form that bore convincing parallels to the values of the dominant culture that its was endeavoring to influence in order to secure wide support for its access to power.

TRANS-MISSISSIPPI THEATER BOOK OF THE YEAR (BATTLES AND CAMPAIGNS) – CIVIL WAR BOOKS AND AUTHORS The Sand Creek battle (or massacre) occurred on November 29-30, 1864, a confrontation between Cheyenne and Arapaho Indians and Colorado volunteer soldiers. The affair was a tragic event in American history, and what occurred there continues to be hotly contested. Indeed, labeling it a “battle” or a “massacre” will likely start an argument before any discussion on the merits begin. Even questions about who owns the story, or how it should be told, are up for debate.

Eddy Merckx. Fausto Coppi. Jacques Anquetil. Bernard Hinault. Beryl Burton. Marianne Vos. A sole cyclist battling over a pass high in the mountains is one of the most romantic of sporting images. In the past 150 years road cycling has been dominated by a series of iconic people who have redefined endurance and fortitude. Every decade has pushed human limits, until limits were extended by inhuman pharmacology. And these battles have not been fought over just one race, but an annual series beginning with the Spring Classics and then culminating in the three great tours - the Giro d'Italia, Vuelta d'Espagne and the Tour de France - before the cyclists retire to lick their wounds and start on another winter of training.

The Routledge History of Literature in English covers the main developments in the history of British and Irish literature, with accompanying language notes which explore the interrelationships between language and literature at each stage. With a span from AD 600 to the present day, it emphasises the growth of literary writing, its traditions, conventions and changing characteristics, and includes literature from the margins, both geographical and cultural. Extensive quotations from poetry, prose and drama underpin the narrative. The third edition covers recent developments in literary and cultural theory, and features: a new chapter on novels, drama and poetry in the 21st century; examples of analysis of key texts drawn from across the history of British and Irish literature, including material from Chaucer, Shakespeare, John Keats and Virginia Woolf; an extensive companion website including extra language notes and key text analysis; lists of Booker, Costa and Nobel literature prize winners; and an A-Z of authors and topics. The Routledge History of Literature in English is an invaluable reference for any student of English literature and language.

The term “Caucasian” is a curious invention of the modern age. Originating in 1795, the word identifies both the peoples of the Caucasus Mountains region as well as those thought to be “Caucasian”. Bruce Baum explores the history of the term and the category of the “Caucasian race” more broadly in the light of the changing politics of racial theory and notions of racial identity. With a comprehensive sweep that encompasses the understanding of "race" even before the use of the term “Caucasian,” Baum traces the major trends in scientific and intellectual understandings of “race” from the Middle Ages to the present day. Baum’s conclusions make an unprecedented attempt to separate modern science and politics from a long history of racial classification. He offers significant insights into our understanding of race and how the “Caucasian race” has been authoritatively invented, embraced, displaced, and recovered throughout our history.

This is the first full-color history of the world-famous toy soldiers to chart the whole story of their development from Victorian table toy to 21st Century collectable. Prior to 1893 the family toy business of the Britain family was struggling as the toy industry was dominated by German manufacturers and importers. Then came the fateful decision first to import, then to design and manufacture, toy soldiers, an area the German firms were particularly strong in. Britains Toy Soldiers were born and soon their boxes stamped with the slogan 'Best Quality English Make' were being eagerly opened by little boys across Britain and then around the world. The rest, as they say is history and it is all captured here by James Opie, the world's leading expert on the subject, as he lovingly traces the varying fortunes of arguably the most famous British toy company. Illustrated with lavish color photographs, many of them featuring items from the author's own collection, the book includes feature sections such as collectors' favorites and prices, high-value and famous sets, artistic highlights, quirks and mysteries. It is without doubt the most authoritative book on the subject and will be welcomed by the thousands of devoted collectors world wide as well as many more with fond memories of childhood battles with these beautiful toys.

An ancient fishing ground, vital shipping passage and final resting place for those unable to navigate its rocky shoals, Nantucket Sound--bordered by Martha's Vineyard, Cape Cod and, of course, Nantucket--remains one of New England's most historic waterways. Here, the first rays of morning sunlight touch the United States before sweeping westward. In fact, the area's early inhabitants were called Wampanoag: People of the Dawn." From whaling culture and infamous shipwrecks to legends of Vikings, sea gods and John Smith, local author Theresa Mitchell Barbo unearths the stories hidden beneath these rough waves. At once unforgiving and generous, Nantucket Sound has seduced countless seafarers with its siren song but still overflows with diverse marine life."

Iconoclasm, or the destruction of images and other symbols, is a subject that has significant resonance today. Traditionally focusing on examples such as those from late Antiquity, Byzantium, the Protestant Reformation and the French Revolution, iconoclasm implies intentioned attacks that reflect religious or political motivations. However, the evidence highlights considerable variation in intentionality, the types and levels of destruction and the targets attacked. Such variation has been highlighted in recent iconoclasm scholarship and this has resulted in new theoretical frameworks for its study. This book presents the first analysis of iconoclasm for prehistoric periods. Through an examination of the themes of objects, the human body, monuments and landscapes, the book demonstrates how the application of the approaches developed within iconoclasm studies can enrich our understanding of earlier periods in addition to identifying specific events that may be categorised as iconoclastic. Iconoclasm and Later Prehistory combines approaches from two distinct disciplinary perspectives. It presents a new interpretative framework for prehistorians and archaeologists, whilst also providing new case studies and significantly extending the period of interest for readers interested in iconoclasm.

In Counter-History of the Present Gabriel Rockhill contests, dismantles, and displaces one of the most widespread understandings of the contemporary world: that we are all living in a democratized and globalized era intimately connected by a single, overarching economic and technological network. Noting how such a narrative fails to account for the experiences of the billions of people who lack economic security, digital access, and real political power, Rockhill interrogates the ways in which this grand narrative has emerged in the same historical, economic, and cultural context as the fervid expansion of neoliberalism. He also critiques the concurrent valorization of democracy, which is often used to justify U.S. military interventions on the behalf of capital. Developing an alternative account of the current conjuncture that acknowledges the plurality of lived experiences around the globe and in different social strata, he shifts the foundations upon which debates about the contemporary world can be staged. Rockhill's counter-history thereby offers a new grammar for historical narratives, creating space for the articulation of futures no longer engulfed in the perpetuation of the present.

Walking around London is one of life's great pleasures. There is a huge amount that you can only see on foot—but sometimes it is hard to know where to look. This book takes the reader on a series of stimulating original walks through different areas of central London, focusing on one particular period of history, the Victorian, so ubiquitous that we take it for granted, and yet so astonishing and so far reaching in its variety, imagination, ambition and detail. Discover the remarkable 300-foot bell tower you never knew was there, the extraordinary fairytale house where the Mikado was inspired, the best Victorian loos in the world, a hidden chapel described by Oscar Wilde as "the most delightful private chapel in London," London's best preserved high class Victorian shop, and an almost complete Victorian townscape boasting the world's oldest surviving mansion block.

Rise of the Modern Hospital is a focused examination of hospital design in the United States from the 1870s through the 1940s. This understudied period witnessed profound changes in hospitals as they shifted from last charitable resorts for the sick poor to premier locations of cutting-edge medical treatment for all classes, and from low-rise decentralized facilities to high-rise centralized structures. Jeanne Kisacky reveals the changing role of the hospital within the city, the competing claims of doctors and architects for expertise in hospital design, and the influence of new medical theories and practices on established traditions. She traces the dilemma designers faced between creating an environment that could function as a therapy in and of itself and an environment that was essentially a tool for the facilitation of increasingly technologically assisted medical procedures. Heavily illustrated with floor plans, drawings, and photographs, this book considers the hospital building as both a cultural artifact, revelatory of external medical and social change, and a cultural determinant, actively shaping what could and did take place within hospitals.