Ebooks de historia, página 19 de 2176

"My Life" is an amazing story of an amazing life, regardless of your thoughts on Leon Trotskys political views and stances. It is one of the most historically important autobiographies of the past century. Well worth reading and re-reading.This book is not an objective photograph of my life, Trotsky writes in his foreword to "My Life", but a component of it. In these pages I am continuing the struggle to which my whole life is devoted Recounting events, I analyse and appraise them; telling my story, I defend myself, and even more frequently attack.When he wrote these words in 1929, Trotsky was fifty years old. He had left his old name of Lev Bronstein behind twenty-seven years ago, and in that interval he had escaped from Siberia twice, been imprisoned a number of times by a number of governments, met Lenin, fallen out with Lenin, fallen back in with Lenin, led the Petrograd Soviet, founded the Red Army, won the Civil War, produced a vast quantity of journalism, theory and even literary criticism and finally, after years of struggle against the rising Stalinist faction, found himself stripped of all power and exiled from the USSR. Once Lenins friend and equal, he was now reviled. His views, integral to the formation of Bolshevik and then Soviet policy, no longer had any expression. His face was being excised from pictures, his words from pages. His allies were dead, exiled or surrendered. These are the circumstances in which he began to write his memoirs."My Life" is primarily a very carefully constructed testimony. Trotskys life and reputation were at stake. His story had to be watertight, explaining away his class origins (his parents were landowners), smoothing over his early conflicts with Lenin and ensuring that his religious and ethnic origins were not prominent. Every action had to be accounted for, every wrong step justified.

"The Golden Verses of Pythagoras" are a collection of moral exhortations comprising 71 lines written in dactylic hexameter.They present a brief glimpse into the mind and the worldview of Pythagoras and probably formed part of his instructions to his disciples."The Golden Verses of Pythagoras" embody what we know about his teachings today. Besides exhortations to live a moral, simple and contemplative life, these pithy aphorisms allow a glimpse of a bit of the Pythagorean schools deeper knowledge.

"The Education of Henry Adams", the most famous work of its author, was originally intended only for a small audience; after its posthumous publication in 1918, it promptly won the prestigious Pulitzer Prize in 1919, and it is still regarded as a masterpiece of American literature."The Education of Henry Adams" is a brilliant autobiography of this relevant American historian. A member of the Adams political family and descendant of two US presidents, Adams wrote the book in 1905 to reconcile himself to the turn of the century, which was shaping up to be vastly different from the life he knew as a child. The book also provides a pointed critique of educational philosophy and practice of the 19th century.

The rich without deprivation, the intolerant without reception, the programmatic without improvisation, the 5-star hotel tourist without a camping backpack, the chauvinist without identifying himself with what can mean feeling woman, the parent without going down in the infantile sensibility, the pragmatist who never dreams and will never dreams, for sure everyone has in common the good probability of having thwarted part of his existence.

In Patton and His Third Army, Brenton Wallace details the actions of General George S. Patton and the Third Army from its preparations in Britain, to its first engagements with the enemy, through to the major battles countering the German offensives, liberating Paris and breaking across the Moselle into the Nazi heartland to subdue Hitlers forces.

During his lifetime, American educator Booker T. Washington (18561915) was a national leader for the betterment of African Americans in the post-Reconstruction South. He advocated for economic and industrial improvement of Blacks while accommodating Whites on voting rights and social equality. This approach, however, died with Washington, and its success prior to 1915 was largely due to Washingtons adept method of tailoring his speaking and writing to suit the race of his audience."Up from Slavery" tells the life story of Washington, from childhood through the height of his career. First published in 1901, "Up from Slavery" is written in the first person, supplemented with excerpts from letters and newspaper editorials about the authors work.

Francis Bacon had many accomplishments. He was a scientist, a philosopher, and a politician, and he was adept, too, at taking bribes; for this he had been imprisoned. It is, however, as a literary man that he is perhaps best remembered, a writer so competent with the pen that for decades there have been some persons willing to argue that Bacon wrote the plays attributed to William Shakespeare.The essay form is rare in the modern age, although there are some faint signs of its revival. As Bacon used it, the essay is a carefully fashioned statement, both informative and expressive, by which a person comments on life and manners, on nature and its puzzles."The Essays" first appeared, ten in number, in 1597 (by 1612, the number of essays had been increased to thirty-eight). They were immediately popular because they were brief, lively, humane, and well-written. Perhaps they were effective in contrast to the rambling, florid prose written by most writers of the time. A considerable part of their charm lay in their civilised tone. In these essays, Bacon reveals himself as an inquisitive but also an appreciative man with wit enough to interest others. The essays concern themselves with such universal concepts as truth, death, love, goodness, friendship, fortune, and praise. They cover such controversial matters as religion, atheism, custom and education, and usury, and they consider such intriguing matters as envy, cunning, innovations, suspicion, ambition, praise, vainglory, and the vicissitudes of things.

First published in 1906, "The Mirror of the Sea" was the first of Joseph Conrads two autobiographical memoirs.When Joseph Conrad was discharged from the clipper Torrens in London during the summer of 1893, his seafaring career was over. He had travelled the world by then, risen in rank from apprentice to captain, survived shipwreck and turbulent seas. But after nineteen years afloat he longed for the land, and wrote to his cousin of the uniform grey of my existence. Once ashore, however, vivid memories of his past life began to surface. While steam and internal combustion were changing maritime travel forever, Conrad started to reflect on the voyages he had made in the Golden Age of Sail. "The Mirror of the Sea" is a personal meditation on the sea and its meanings by one of the twentieth centurys most important novelists.

First published in 1521, The Art of War is a treatise by the Italian Renaissance political philosopher Niccolo Machiavelli that echoes the Treaty of the Chinese philosopher Sun Tzu.In this, the least known of his works, Machiavelli gives straightforward advice on organising and conducting military operations. "The Art of War"s clear, and concise style is diametrically opposed to that of "The Prince." The book is wholly practical and considers contrasting arguments. Its format is that of a conversation between a military expert and interested citizens. Although the expert, Fabrizio, is obviously Machiavelli himself, the format provides at least an arguable degree of separation between Machiavelli and his advice.

The story of Nero is also the story of much of the Julio-Claudian dynasty. The bloody legacies of the previous emperors Caligula and Claudius are introduced before delving into Neros own reign of intrigue, murder, and atrocities. The women of the family, including Neros mother Agrippina, his wife Poppaea, and the empress Messalina, contribute their share of villainy to the tale. The death of Nero provides a pathetic testimony to the cowardice that often underlies tyranny."The History of Nero" is a thrilling biography written by American author Jacob Abbott in 1853 that offers a glimpse into the life of this spoiled prince who became a royal monster.

At the height of his fame Leo Tolstoy experienced a crisis of meaning. He said that he contemplated suicide and could no longer live unless he could find the meaning of his life. He wrote about the crisis in a short work, A Confession, which was written in 1882 and first published in 1884. Tolstoy was one of the first thinkers to pose the problem of lifes meaning in a modern way.Leo Tolstoy was a Russian writer widely regarded as one of the greatest novelists in all of literature. His masterpieces "War and Peace" and "Anna Karenina" represent some of the best realistic fiction ever penned. He also was known for his literal interpretation of the teachings of Jesus. Tolstoy became a pacifist and Christian anarchist, and his ideas of non-violent resistance influenced Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King. Near the end of his life, he finally rejected his wealth and privilege and became a wandering asceticdying in a train station shortly thereafter.

"The American Prejudice Against Color" is an essential book to understand the racism and segregation in the United States during the 19th century.In 1853, William G. Allen, the "Coloured Professor" of Classics at New York Central College, became engaged to Mary King, a student at the coeducational, racially integrated school and daughter of a local white abolitionist minister. Rumors of their betrothal incited a mob of several hundred men armed with "tar, feathers, poles, and an empty barrel spiked with shingle nails." Allen and King narrowly escaped with their lives, married in New York City, and then fled as fugitives to England and Ireland. Their love story and courageous resistance were recorded in great detail by Allen in the booklet "The American Prejudice Against Color."

"The American Crisis" is a collection of articles by English-American philosopher Thomas Paine that were published during the American Revolution between 1776 and 1783. In this pamphlet Paine expressed his support towards an independent America that would be self-governed. Starting from the first article, he tries to convince the colonists to support the war against Britain.Thomas Paine is considered one of the founding fathers of the United States. His work, which includes "Common Sense" (1776), was key during the American Revolution and for the independence movement.

In 1776, writer Thomas Paine publishes his pamphlet Common Sense, setting forth his arguments in favor of American independence. Although little used today, pamphlets were an important medium for the spread of ideas in the 16th through 19th centuries.Originally published anonymously, Common Sense advocated independence for the American colonies from Britain and is considered one of the most influential pamphlets in American history. Credited with uniting average citizens and political leaders behind the idea of independence, Common Sense played a remarkable role in transforming a colonial squabble into the American Revolution.In the introduction to the pamphlet, Paine says that he knows many will not favor his argument because it challenges the status quo of the colonies and the rule of the British government...Thomas Paine is considered one of the founding fathers of the United States. His work was key during the American Revolution and for the independence movement.

First published in 1861, "Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl," Harriet Jacobs autobiography, is the story of a woman who overcomes the odds to save her family is similar. Under the pseudonym Linda Brent, Jacobs details her life as a woman enslaved at the height of the abolitionist movement.As the narrative opens, Linda Brent recounts the "unusually fortunate circumstances" of her early childhood before she realized she was a slave. Lindas father is a carpenter who because of his extraordinary skills is granted many of the privileges of a free man. The chapter introduces Lindas mother, her brother William, and her Uncle Benjamin, who is sold at age ten. Linda also introduces her maternal grandmother (referred to as Aunt Martha by the white community), a strong-willed, resourceful woman who establishes a bakery to earn money to buy her childrens freedom. She manages to earn $300, which she loans to her mistress, who never repays her.When Linda is six years old, her mother dies. When she is 12, her mistress dies, and Linda is sold to the five-year-old daughter of her mistress sister..."Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl" is the most widely-read female antebellum slave narrative.

First published in 1872, "The Birth of Tragedy" (AKA The Birth of Tragedy from the Spirit of Music) is a work of dramatic theory by the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche."The Birth of Tragedy", Nietzsches first book, defended an aesthetic view of life, which was one of the major themes of all his early writings. Dedicated to Richard Wagner, the book expressed the perspective of the German Romantic movement, glorifying the senses and traditional mythology, with disdain for the Enlightenment traditions emphasis on reason and modern science. Asserting that the ancient Greeks were able to endure the horrors of human existence as a result of their art, particularly their drama and music, Nietzsche praised the tragic dramas of Aeschylus and Sophocles, which presumably had emerged out of the dithyrambs (or emotional songs) devoted to Dionysus, the god of intoxication, spontaneity, impulsiveness, and unrestrained life force. While emphasizing the value of the Dionysian principle, Nietzsche argued that Aeschylus and Sophocles balanced their tragedies with the Apollonian principle, which was personified in the god Apollo, who represented order, sobriety, individualism, and rationality...To conclude, the aim of "The Birth of Tragedy" is to answer the following questions: What is a human culture? Why is it important for human beings to participate in a culture? Are all humans fundamentally of the same type or do they differ in some ways? Under what conditions will a human culture flourish, become idle, or die?He also attempts to answer is life worth living? His answer is no, but a tragic culture can come to overcome this knowledge.

Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso, 43 BC-AD 17) was a Roman poet, sometimes called the first great poet of the Roman Empire, who wrote the literary masterpiece, "Metamorphoses." Written in Latin, "Metamorphoses" is a 15-book narrative poem that gives an account of history from the creation of the world until the death of Julius Caesar in 44 BC. "Metamorphoses" incorporates over 250 classical Greek and Roman myths, seamlessly mixing them with historical events to describe a past of monsters, heroes, and magic that reveals how the ancient Romans understood their world.

"Youth" is the third in Leo Tolstoys trilogy of three autobiographical novels, including "Childhood" and "Boyhood", published in a literary journal during the 1850s. "Youth" is a vibrant account of a young persons emerging awareness of the world, himself, and the people around him, as described through the eyes of Nikolenka. Themes of shyness, self-image and self-improvement permeate the book, yet we are also exposed to a young Tolstoys wider descriptions of nature, art and the workings of the world.

"Childhood", Tolstoys first published work in 1852, is also the first novel in Leo Tolstoys autobiographical trilogy, which also includes "Boyhood," and "Youth." Published when Tolstoy was twenty-three, the book gained immediate notice among Russian writers including Ivan Turgenev, and heralded the young Tolstoy as a major figure in Russian letters. "Childhood" is an expressionist exploration of the internal life of a young boy, Nikolenka, and was a new form in Russian writing, mixing fact, fiction and emotions to render the moods and reactions of the narrator. Themes of shyness, self-image and self-improvement permeate the book, yet we are also exposed to a young Tolstoys wider descriptions of nature, art and the workings of the world.

Marie Dorval (1798-1849) est une très grande artiste dramatique, mais sa gloire sest un peu ternie avec lâge. Sa vie est désormais entièrement tournée vers ses enfants et surtout son petit-fils Georg