The London mob

Sample

David Loades

"'Henry VIII' focuses on the fluctuating, often fraught relationship between the king and his court, his Church and his people -- and with the other powers of continental Europe, relations with whom were thrown into turmoil by Henry's successive marriages. It explores Henry's policies and strategies and his manipulation of key players such as Wolsey, Cromwell, Fisher and More, as well as the shaping of his royal image over decades of change. It also probes the intriguing nature of the man behind the monarch, especially his complex religious beliefs that determined the shape of England's reformation. David Loades, an authoritative historian of Tudor England, begins by explaining how historians have treated Henry and the expectations contemporaries had of the Renaissance prince who ascended the throne. He describes the ensuing reign in detail, taking in the wars, law enforcement, the succession question, the court, the rebellions and the problem of Ireland, illustrating the narrative with original National Archives documents and full colour portraits of those involved.The author concludes by considering the ambiguous but still tangible legacy that this most high-profile of monarchs has left us."--Bloomsbury Publishing.

Sample

Martha Vicinus & Bea Nergaard

Letters trace Florence Nightingale's work on behalf of British soldiers, hospital reform, and professional nursing, and shares her views on the role of women.

Sample

Richard F. Welch

"This is the first full-length account of one of the most aggressive, dynamic, and successful combat leaders produced by either side in the Civil War. Based heavily on primary source material, the work chronicles the transformation of the self-assured son of a broken Bosten Brahmin family from a young, militarily inexperienced lawyer into a formidable warrior.". "Born into the Unitarian-Transcendentalist circle, which dominated New England intellectual and cultural life before the Civil War, Barlow attended the school run by the famous Brook Farm commune. From an early age he was noted for fearlessness in both speech and action - two characteristics that marked his conduct and affected his later careers. Barlow's unquestioning sense of his own intellectual and moral superiority was the source of his success as a combat officer during the war. He trained and drove his men hard, and they became one of the army's elite units in the process. Barlow's steadfast belief in himself led him to command from the front, winning respect of his troops, recognition from his superiors, public acclaim, and, often, success for his cause. Possessing innate self-confidence and almost heedless bravery in equal measure, Barlow rose from private to major general. He was heavily engaged in almost all the major battles of the Army of the Potomac beginning as a regimental colonel on the Peninsula in 1862 and finishing his career as commander of the first division in the vaunted II Corps during Grant's campaigns against Richmond in 1864. Throughout his military career, Barlow carved out a record as a fighting man that few could match and none could excel.". "Twice wounded, first at Antietam and then Gettysburg, Barlow consistently took his men into the hottest spots in most pivotal actions during Grant's bloody campaign against Lee.". "After the war, Barlow alternated a legal career with service in New York State government. As New York's attorney general he initiated suits against the Tweed Ring and other corrupt malefactors. Barlow's unfiltered forthrightness and unyielding ethics placed him at a disadvantage in the rough-and-tumble democratic politics of the late nineteenth century. His candid report exposing corruption involved in the successful Republican campaign to win the White House for Rutherford B. Hayes in 1876 cost him whatever hopes he had for a further political career. Barlow returned to private life, pursued a successful legal career, and died relatively unknown in 1896."--BOOK JACKET.

Sample

Kate Davies

"Catharine Macaulay and Mercy Otis Warren were radical friends in a revolutionary age. They produced definitive histories of the English Civil War and the American Revolution, attacked the British government and the United States federal constitution, and instigated a debate on women's rights which inspired Mary Wollstonecraft, Judith Sargent Murray, and other feminists. Drawing on new research (including recently discovered correspondence) this is the first book to consider Macaulay and Warren in the context of the revolutionary Atlantic. In a series of detailed interdisciplinary studies. Davies suggests the centrality of both women to transatlantic political cultures between the middle of the eighteenth century and the turn of the nineteenth."--BOOK JACKET.