Ebooks de historia, página 17 de 2153

In seguito all’insurrezione della città di Venezia contro il governo austriaco, il 22 marzo 1848 in Piazza San Marco nasce la Repubblica Veneta. L’ideatore della sommossa nonché figura chiave della n

Con sapienza lautrice Matilde DellOro Hermil (1843-1927), in questo testo espone quanto conosce o, per meglio dire, quanto presume di conoscere intorno alla bassa e alta valle di Susa; dalle origini dei suoi piu antichi abitanti, ai miti, alle leggende che vi si preservano nonche al carattere dei suoi montanari chiamando allappello imperatori, maghi, streghe, frati dellAbbazia di Novalesa, ciarlatani e apparizioni sinistre.Gradita lettura a coloro che, mediante le intuizioni dellegregia scrittrice, vogliano approfondire le origini e le vicende dei popoli primitivi che abitarono le falde del Roc-Maol.Testo originale del 1893 (digitalizzato).

Written in 1869, "Army Life in a Black Regiment" is a stirring account of wartime experiences from the leader of the first regiment of emancipated slaves.Excerpt:"...These pages record some of the adventures of the First South Carolina Volunteers, the first slave regiment mustered into the service of the United States during the late civil war. It was, indeed, the first coloured regiment of any kind so mustered, except a portion of the troops raised by Major-General Butler at New Orleans. These scarcely belonged to the same class, however, being recruited from the free coloured population of that city, a comparatively self-reliant and educated race..."

In "Inferno", the psychologically disturbed narrator sets forth on a journey through an earthly hell and emerges purified of his sins.Alchemy, schizophrenia, witchcraft, and religious fanaticism, all leavened with a knowing wink of humour, "Inferno", by Swedish author August Strindberg is an early example of the unreliable narrator literary device, in which the reader learns that the storyteller is seeing things from a distorted perspective. It is also deliciously macabre."Inferno" is for the most part based on a diary that Strindberg kept between 1896 and 1908 - undoubtedly the most troubled period of his life.

"Homage to Catalonia" is perhaps the seminal work in English about the Spanish Civil War. Written in Orwells admirably spare yet wonderfully evocative prose, its a searingly honest book, almost a rite of passage. It talks of the realities of the trenches and of the politics and of the feelings.George Orwells "Homage to Catalonia" was first published in 1938 and is a first-person narrative relating his personal experiences as an infantry soldier fighting on the Republican side of the conflict, from December 1936 through June 1937 in or near Catalonia and Aragon.In December, 1936, George Orwell leaves his English home for Spain, a country in the midst of a brutal civil war. Like most international observers, Orwell sees the war in Spain as a struggle between democracy and Fascism. He volunteers to fight on the side of the Republicans (a coalition of pro-democracy, leftwing parties) against the Nationalists (a conservative, Catholic, rightwing group led by General Franco).Upon his arrival in Barcelona, he is amazed to find that a large-scale social revolution has taken hold in the city. Communist and Anarchist flags hang on all the buildings, shops have been collectivised, and everyone treats each other with an air of perfect equality. The bourgeois, it seems, have all but disappeared, and the working class appear in complete control of the city. The atmosphere of equality and freedom that reigns strengthens Orwells conviction that he has made the right decision to fight for such a noble cause.He soon joins the POUM militia, a Marxist group affiliated with the Anarchists, and is sent to the front...

Born into slavery in 1818, Frederick Douglass would escape and gain his freedom by his 20th birthday. But rather than be content with his own liberty, he worked to gain attention for the cause of abolition, or the end of slavery. He was particularly gifted in his use of both the written and spoken word, making many doubt that he was ever a slave. "My Bondage and My Freedom", published in 1855, is an example of a genre of literature known as the slave narrative. This genre flourished from around 1760 and though the first few decades after the abolition of slavery. One of the most famous examples is the interesting "Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano", but the most famous writer of a slave a narrative almost certainly has to be Frederick Douglas. So much did the iconoclastic Douglass have to share about the reality of slavery that "My Bondage and My Freedom" is actually his second publication. The firstand more famousis his groundbreaking "Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave: Written by Himself".Technically, "My Bondage and My Freedom" is considered a revised and expanded version of that original publication in that it serves to update readers on what has occurred in the decade since the earlier narrative was published. These additions are primarily focused on his encounter with racism in the northern states, his activism in the name of abolition, most significantly, his decision to break away from William Lloyd Garrison and the white abolitionist leaders to establish the primacy of the black voice in the call to end slavery.Central to this slave narrative if Douglass fervent expression of his contention that the institutions of slavery corrupts and dehumanises not just the slave, but the slaveowner and non-slaveholder who condones the practice.

"War in the Garden of Eden", first published in 1919, is a journal recounted by Kermit Roosevelt, of his military experiences during World War I in Mesopotamia (Modern-day Iraq).Kermit Roosevelt was an American businessman, soldier, explorer, and writer. The son of Theodore Roosevelt, the 26th President of the United States, Kermit was a graduate of Harvard University, served in both World Wars (in World War I with both the British and American armies), and explored two continents with his father. He fought a lifelong battle with depression and committed suicide while serving in the U.S. Army in Alaska during World War II. (Source: Wikipedia)

Le profezie e le polemiche contenute nel suo diario sono fucilate e cannonate che sincrociavano nei lunghi giorni e nelle notti eterne di combattimento. Anche li, nelle trincee, il caporale dei bersaglieri Mussolini ci appare grandissimo. Egli osserva, scruta, intuisce guerreggia in trincea e fradicio e gelato dalla pioggia e dalla neve racconta tutto il tormento della trincea. Da questultima scrive articoli di fuoco per il Popolo dItalia che svegliano gli indifferenti e che illuminano gli inconsapevoli. Il 12 luglio 1917, quando era ancora convalescente di innumerevoli ferite, prodotte da una bomba a mano mentre addestrava i suoi commilitoni a sconfiggere il nemico scriveva sul popolo dItalia Gia da qualche spiraglio di azzurro sintravede tra le nuvole. Il meriggio solatio non e lontano. Presto, le nuove generazioni dItalia andranno al colle di S. Giusto e al castello di Trento, per compiervi il rito della ricordanza e della purificazione ripetendo Mentre tutto intorno la tempesta infuria, il sereno verra.Al diario sono state aggiunte delle famose frasi di Benito Mussolini nonche immagini inerenti il suo passato in guerra oltre a numerosi collegamenti ipertestuali per rendere piu comprensibile la lettura.

In "The House of the Hidden Places", first published in 1895, Walter Marsham Adams clearly lays out evidence that the Great Pyramid at Giza corresponds architecturally to the initiation ritual detailed in the Egyptian Book of the Dead (which Adams preferred to call what he felt was its rightful title, "The Book of the Master")."The House of the Hidden Places" was the first book to go beyond the current speculations on the astronomical purpose of the pyramid to reveal its deeper meaning.

"A Journal of Impressions in Belgium" (1915) makes no attempt to be anything more than a journal: a lucid, simple, heart-breaking account of war at first hand.In 1914, at the age of 51, the novelist and poet May Sinclair volunteered to leave the comforts of England to go to the Western Front during the First World War, joining the Munro Ambulance Corps ministering to wounded Belgian soldiers in Flanders. Her experiences in the Great War, brief and traumatising as they were, permeated the prose and poetry she wrote after this time. Witness of great human pain and tragedy, Sinclair was in serious danger of her life on multiple occasions.

Nel 1990 Renato e Clara sono sposati da quarantanni e si preparano a festeggiare lanniversario con la famiglia. In Italia ce atmosfera di festa per i mondiali di calcio ma mentre la Nazionale e le altre squadre si danno battaglia per la coppa, Renato e Clara entrano in crisi.I fantasmi della seconda Guerra Mondiale tornano a insinuarsi nella coppia: lui e un fascista convinto, lei una ex-partigiana e poi ce quella storia di Pietro, una vecchia fiamma. Le vite dei tre tornano a intrecciarsi dopo anni di silenzio.

In 1869, Empson Edward Middleton, an English ex-soldier and man of means, built himself a 23-foot sailboat and set about becoming the first man to single-handedly circumnavigate England. He chose the most difficult route he could think of, one of poorly charted sea lanes and powerful tides, and recorded his remarkable feat in this book, which served as his log and diary. The Cruise of the Kate is an incredible tale from the days when all a navigator had to steer by was the compass and the stars, along with the occasional landmark and passing vessels. Middletons lively, detailed account of his daring but successful voyage brings to life the condition of solo ocean sailing more than a century ago.

"Fusang" (Or, "The Discovery of America by Chinese Buddhist Priests in the Fifth Century"), was first published in 1875 and analyses the limited evidence from the works of early Chinese historians that explorers from China had discovered a country they called Fusang possibly western America, and in all probability Mexico. The original document on which Chinese historians based their accounts of Fusang was the report of a Buddhist monk called Hoei-shin, who, in the year 499 AD, returned from a long journey to the east.

First published in 1926, "Seven Pillars of Wisdom" by T. E. Lawrence is the story of the Arab Revolt against the Turkish Empire and Lawrences role in it. Lawrence, educated at Oxford, begins by working for a museum on an archaeological dig in the Middle East at the outbreak of the First World War. He is commissioned into the British Army while at the Euphrates and is attached to the Hejaz Expeditionary Force with Lawrence functioning as the British soldier attached to the Arab leadership in the revolt against the Turks. The Arab region is a part of the Ottoman Empire at the opening of the book. Turkey is an ally of Germany in the war and England feels that helping the Arabs defeat the Turks helps England in her war against Germany."Seven Pillars of Wisdom" is an unusual and rich work. It encompasses an account of the Arab Revolt against the Turks during the First World War alongside general Middle Eastern and military history, politics, adventure and drama. It is also a memoir of the soldier known as Lawrence of Arabia. Lawrence is a fascinating and controversial figure and his talent as a vivid and imaginative writer shines through on every page of this, his masterpiece. "Seven Pillars of Wisdom" provides a unique portrait of this extraordinary man and an insight into the birth of the Arab nation.

Battle for the Solomons is Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Ira Wolferts dazzling account of the fierce land, sea, and air fighting in the Solomon Islands during 1942. Wolfert was in the thick of it, facing death alongside the troops, and he reproduces events as they happen in real time, making for a tense, suspenseful read. Wolfert risked his life for the sake of authenticity, and survived to write this, one of the most remarkable combat memoirs of World War 2.

"The Norse Discovery of America" is a collection of texts relating to the voyages of the Norse west to America. A thousand years ago, nearly half a millennium before Columbus, the Norse extended their explorations from Iceland and Greenland to the shores of Northeastern North America, and, possibly, beyond.This volume from the Norroena collection contains all known sagas and documentary fragments which relate to this legendary exploration. It also contains analysis of the texts which should be read with a critical eye. While it is now certain that the Norse reached Nova Scotia, the claims in this book that they reached as far south as Boston--not to mention Georgia or South Carolina--are still controversial. There is also tangential discussion of whether the Irish managed to get to America prior to the Norse, an even more contentious assertion.Regardless, the texts in this three-part volume open up a window into a vivid era, and give glimpses of religion, society and travel in the period when the Norse were actively exploring the North Atlantic. They contain one of the only detailed descriptions of a pagan womens divination ritual, and deal with the expansion of Christianity from both sides. There are bone-chilling stories of disease, murder and jealousy in the small communities on the leading edge of Viking colonization. Reading these sagas inspires deep understanding of the life and motivations of the Scandinavian sea rovers and respect for their accomplishments in the field of exploration.

Can You Forgive Her?, first published in serial form in 1864 and 1865, is the first in a series of six Trollope novels (known as the Palliser series) dealing broadly with 19th Century English political scene. It introduces the reader to Plantagenet and Glencora Palliser, as they court, marry, and as Plantagenet sets out on his political career, which is carried on in the foreground or background throughout the series. Each novel has a focus on other particular characters, as well. In this one, it is the dilemma of Alice Vavasor, who is a young woman choosing between two suitors: one who has all the best qualities, but who prefers a retiring private life, and another, whose qualities are doubtful, but who is ambitious for public office. There is also a comic subplot involving a widowed aunt, who also must choose between two suitors: Mr. Cheeseacre, a dull but stable farmer, and Capt. Bellfield, a charming but somewhat erratic retired military man.Novels in the Palliser series:1- Can You Forgive Her? (1864)2- Phineas Finn (1869)3- The Eustace Diamonds (1873)4- Phineas Redux (1874)5- The Prime Minister (1876)6- The Dukes Children (1879)The series overlaps with Trollopes Chronicles of Barsetshire, also a series of six novels, which deal with life in the fictional county where the Palliser family is politically important.

John Robison was a Scottish scientist, who late in life wrote the one of the definitive studies of the Bavarian Illuminati, "Proofs of a Conspiracy". He was a contemporary and collaborator with James Watt, with whom he worked on an early steam car, contributor to the 1797 Encylopedia Britannica, professor of philosophy at the University of Edinburgh, and inventor of the siren.Although Robison was very much an advocate of science and rationalism, in later life, disillusioned by the French Revolution, he became an ardent monarchist. In this work, "Proofs of a Conspiracy", Robison laid the groundwork for modern conspiracy theorists by implicating the Bavarian Illuminati as responsible for the excesses of the French Revolution. The Bavarian Illuminati, a rationalist secret society, was founded by Adam Weishaupt in 1776 in what is today Germany. They had an inner core of true believers, who secretly held radical atheist, anti-monarchist and possibly proto-feminist views, at that time considered beyond the pale. They recruited by infiltrating the numerous (and otherwise benign) Freemasonic groups which were active at the time on the continent. Necessarily they had a clandestine, compartmentalized, hierarchical organizational form, which has led some modern conspiracy theorists to identify them as the original Marxist-Leninist group. However, this is most likely simply a case of parallel evolution.

"In the Heart of Africa" is a classic African explorer biography by Samuel White Baker. The story developed during "In the Heart of Africa" is summarised at the beginning of the novel by the narrator and protagonist:"In March, 1861, I commenced an expedition to discover the sources of the Nile, with the hope of meeting the East African expedition of Captains Speke and Grant, that had been sent by the English Government from the South via Zanzibar, for the same object. I had not the presumption to publish my intention, as the sources of the Nile had hitherto defied all explorers, but I had inwardly determined to accomplish this difficult task or to die in the attempt."

"The Amazons", written by Guy Cadogan Rothery in 1910, is one of the very few books ever published on these legendary female warriors. The world of the Amazons lies scattered between legend and historical fact. Greek writings give many details about the geography, history and anthropology of the Amazon nation and the Athenians in particular were most insistent about the historical reality of a nation consisting only of women warriors.