Showing titles in 19th Century

The Johnson-Gilmor Raid, a gripping tale of desperation and high stakes during the American Civil War, unveils the doomed attempt to free Confederate prisoners of war, shedding light on the intricacies of wartime strategies and the relentless pursuit of liberty.

The fascinating, barely known story of the theft of George Washington’s diary and other irreplaceable historical documents from the Library of Congress in the 1890s, which launched an interstate chase by the Secret Service and a sensational trial, and changed the trajectory of America’s...

A history of the American Civil War naval battle, the first confrontation between two Ironclads, featuring accounts from men who lived through it. "Ironclad against ironclad, we maneuvered about the bay here and went at each other with mutual fierceness," reported Chief Engineer Alban Stimers following that momentous engagement between the USS Monitor and the CSS Virginia (ex USS Merrimack) in Hampton Roads, Sunday, March 9, 1862. The day before, the Rebel ram had obliterated two powerful Union warships and was poised to destroy more.

The discovery of Robert E. Lee's Special Orders No. 191 outside of Frederick, Maryland, on September 13, 1862, is one of the most hotly disputed events of the American Civil War. For more than 150 years, historians have debated if George McClellan, commander of the Union Army of the Potomac, dawdled after receiving a copy of the orders before advancing to challenge Lee's forces. Authors Gene Thorp and Alexander Rossino document in exhaustive fashion how "Little Mac" in fact moved with uncharacteristic energy to counter the Confederate threat and take advantage of Lee's divided forces.

Marie Salomea Skodowska Curie was a Polish-born, naturalized-French researcher and chemist who originated radioactivity research. She was the first woman to win the Nobel Prize, the first and only woman to win it two times, and the only individual to win the Nobel Prize in two different clinical classifications.

D'Ajaccio à Sainte-Hélène, en passant par le Grand-Saint-Bernard, Austerlitz, Moscou, Waterloo, l'île d'Elbe, André Castelot a mis ses pas dans ceux de Napoléon Bonaparte pour respirer et restituer le décor de son prodigieux destin. Exploitant et mettant en valeur, avec son art célèbre du récit qui visualise les événements, les lieux et les personnages, une immense masse d'archives, de mémoires et de correspondance parfois inédits ou oubliés, il a écrit cette monumentale biographie si vivante, si colorée, si passionnante que depuis trente ans, son public se renouvelle sans cesse.

Thinking of Spain as a modern nation state today distorts the complicated reality that the Iberian Peninsula faced in the past. Spain was a nation in progress, consisting of regions united under the Spanish crown, but with strong regional identities based on different historical and cultural experiences. The largest entities were the kingdoms of León and Castile, but Spain also included the kingdoms of Navarre, Andalusia, Granada, Jaén, Aragon, and Valencia.

"Jane Austen's Sailor Brothers" is a fascinating book written by Edith Hubback Brown. The author delves into the lives of Jane Austen's brothers, Francis and Charles, who served as sailors in the Royal Navy during a time of great naval conflicts and exploration. Brown skillfully weaves together historical research and Austen family letters to provide a vivid and insightful account of the Austen brothers' naval experiences.

Sarmiento renunció a la masonería antes de asumir, vivió de prestado en casas de parientes y sufrió un grave atentado por parte del mismo bando que propició el asesinato de Urquiza. Cargó con la epidemia de la fiebre amarilla y la mayor tragedia naval de su tiempo. Completó su mandato en medio de una rebelión militar. Lo trataron de borracho, corrupto, inútil y anticonstitucional. Pero el contexto hostil no le impidió expandir los ferrocarriles y el telégrafo, promover la ciencia y la tecnología, impulsar el uso de maquinaria agrícola.

At one point, the Japanese Empire was one of the largest the world had ever seen, governing almost 20 percent of the total population of the Earth. One of the most striking features of this empire was the rapidity with which it grew. In 1870, Japan was a largely agrarian nation with a culture and society based on feudal values.

Grant at 200: Reconsidering the Life and Legacy of Ulysses S. Grant celebrates the bicentennial of the birth of a man whose towering impact on American history has often been overshadowed and, in many cases, ignored. This collection of essays by some of today's leading Grant scholars offers fresh perspectives on Grant's military career and presidency, as well as underexplored personal topics such as his faith and family life.

It has been said that the number of women who served as soldiers, both North and South, approached 400. It is known that a large number of women disguised themselves and enlisted in the service, for one cause or another. Entrenched in secrecy, and regarded as men, they were sometimes revealed as women, by pregnancy or casualty.

Engines of Empire tells the story of the complex relationship between Victorians and their wondrous steamships, following famous travelers like Mark Twain, Charles Dickens, and Jules Verne as well as ordinary spectators, tourists, and imperial administrators as they crossed oceans bound for the colonies. Rich with anecdotes and wry humor, it is a fascinating glimpse into a world where an empire felt powerful and anything seemed possible if there was an engine behind it.

En las últimas décadas la investigación histórica se ha renovado mucho en la Argentina, con preguntas nuevas y aproximaciones mucho más ricas y diversas que antes. Y sin embargo esos trabajos no han conseguido, en general, abrirse paso en el sentido común más o menos compartido por la sociedad. Al contrario: siguen muy vigentes, en esa "agenda pública", discursos históricos moralizadores, que no se proponen comprender sino juzgar y que simplifican nuestra perspectiva con anacronismos y visiones épicas que dificultan nuestra posibilidad de entender ese pasado colectivo.

¿Cómo era la Argentina entre 1810 y 1824? Hay un montón de sucesos ocultos en los años posteriores a la Revolución de Mayo. Hechos inéditos que no aparecen en los libros tradicionales de historia.

Packend wie ein Thriller – der Beginn der Demokratie in Deutschland. Am 24. Februar 1848 wird in Paris nach 1789 zum dritten Mal Revolution gemacht, die Monarchie gestürzt und die Republik ausgerufen. Und endlich springt der revolutionäre Funke auch über den Rhein. In den 34 deutschen Staaten und 4 freien Städten der Zeit beginnen Aufstände gegen die herrschenden Polizei- und Militärmonarchien, gegen die Willkürherrschaft des Deutschen Bundes.

En el siglo XIX de México suceden, entre otras situaciones, el (desdichado) primer imperio, la ronda de las presidencias malogradas, la invasión norteamericana, la pérdida de una parte (substancial) del territorio, la Reforma liberal, la presidencia de don Benito Juárez, la gran batalla por la definición de lo nacional, las arcas siempre vacías y la mala educación que imparten, por así decirlo, el Padre Ripalda y el odio a la laicidad. Un grupo de liberales talentosos, valientes, lúcidos, construye simultáneamente la literatura y la historia de las nuevas libertades.

When Union and Confederate forces met at the First Battle of Bull Run on July 21, 1861, each side was confident of victory. The Northern and Southern Presidents Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis each hoped for a triumph that would bring a swift and decisive end to the Civil War that split the United States into two warring nations. Union General Irvin McDowell was the first of a succession of commanders who failed to deliver victories for the North. The South could boast of the military brilliance of General Thomas Jackson.

The contemporary lore surrounding the 1879 Alford-White affray--that occurred in Tarrant County, Texas--has celebrated George H. White as a forgotten Fort Worth peace officer killed in the line of duty by horse thieves and desperados. This sensationalized narrative, based on the yellow journalism of the day, has been glamorized in books, has been written about in magazine articles, and has been honored on national and local memorials. Nevertheless, 20 years of research has revealed a different insight.

On a battlefield so littered with dead bodies that General Ulysses S. Grant said it would have been possible to walk across it in any direction without a foot touching the ground, the Union Army notched a brutal but significant victory against the Confederate Army. The two-day battle, with the highest number of casualties recorded in the fighting up to that time, dashed the hopes of a short war. Still, few could have grasped that this battle was only the beginning of a national campaign of slaughter that would see so many Yankee and Rebel deaths.