Résultats lu par "Bill Hare" dans Toutes les catégories

Africa may have given rise to the first human beings, and Egypt probably gave rise to the first great civilizations, which continue to fascinate modern societies across the globe nearly 5,000 years later. From the library and Lighthouse of Alexandria to the great pyramid at Giza, the ancient Egyptians produced several wonders of the world, revolutionized architecture and construction, created some of the world’s first systems of mathematics and medicine, and established language and art that spread across the known world.

Like many historical figures, Harun al-Rashid’s biography has become part reality and part myth. A real individual and the fourth caliph of the Abbasid Caliphate, Harun al-Rashid is best known to many individuals because of his role in famous literature like One Thousand and One Nights, not necessarily because of his policy decisions. This is unusual because Harun al-Rashid was perhaps the most influential of the Abbasid caliphs due to his role in bringing economic prosperity.

Europeans had believed in the existence of this Christian kingdom for hundreds of years, making Prester John a fascinating but difficult topic given that his story was entirely one of legend. Given that he was not a real figure, many modern histories either omit him or ignore his story and influence altogether, but as counterintuitive as it may seem, Prester John is important because for over 500 years people thought he was real. As a result, people took very real actions attempting to find them, and they had an impact on the world, as far back as the travels of Marco Polo.

Gnosticism is one of the great mysteries in the history of Western religion. At its core is an ancient Greek word, gnosis, a word prominent in the writings of Plato which refers to a deep personal knowledge or understanding that often transcends the physical world. The Gnostics painted a picture of a fallen, broken world in which physicality was a product of a lesser deity. This deity was created in defiance of the One and in order to trap humans and blind them to the truths of their predicament and divine origins.

The Portuguese Inquisition: The History of the Portuguese Empire’s Religious Persecution of Non-Christians in Portugal and Asia looks at how the Inquisition came to be and how people were persecuted by it over the course of several centuries. You will learn about the Portuguese Inquisition like never before.

Along the way, listeners learn of a man once consumed by rage who learned, through time and practice, as well as the influence of several important mentors, to rein in his anger and use it to change the world. Though born in a sharecropper’s cabin, he corresponded with presidents. Growing up in the shadow of an Olympian older brother, he found his own place in the sun, and, more importantly, Jackie Robinson smoothed the journey to success for countless others.

By the time the Revolutionary War started, military confrontations between the world powers had become so common that combat was raised to the status of a fine art, consuming a large portion of time for adolescent males in training and comprising a sizable component of the economy. Weaponry was developed to a degree of quality not accessible to most North Americans, and European aristocrats were reared in the mastery of swordsmanship with an emphasis on the saber for military use.

Baron Johann de Kalb: The Life and Legacy of the German Major General Who Fought in the American Revolution profiles one of the Revolutionary War’s most famous soldiers. You will learn about de Kalb like never before.

The term “Reconquista” is a Spanish word transferred to the English language to represent the nearly 800 years in which the Moors and Christians struggled against one another for control of the Iberian Peninsula. The Reconquista: The History and Legacy of the Conflicts Between the Moors and Christians on the Iberian Peninsula examines the events that shaped the modern history of Spain and Portugal, as well as the ramifications.

The Marquis de Lafayette: The Life and Legacy of the American Revolution’s Most Famous Foreign Soldier profiles one of the Revolutionary War’s most important figures. You will learn about Lafayette like never before.

After Prussia was victorious in the Austro-Prussian War, Bismarck played a waiting game where the unification of Germany was concerned, as the joining of the southern states - initially resistant to Prussian rule, friendly with Austria, and bent on independence - would have to be overcome. What was needed was “a clear case of French aggression” toward either Prussia or the southern states. Not only would such a move by Emperor Napoleon III trigger the terms of the treaty between the German states, but it would keep the remaining world powers out of the conflict.

The term robber baron has largely fallen into disuse in the 21st century but there was a time when it was a popular epithet that described the kind of man who, it was believed, built his fortune by taking things belonging to others. Of all the men labeled as robber barons during the Gilded Age, few were as influential as Henry Clay Frick, who rubbed shoulders with men like J.P. Morgan and Andrew Carnegie while overseeing some of the era’s biggest companies.

Brantura house sits by the water on the coast, a beckoning retreat for those wanting to get away from the city. But the house and water hold deadly secrets of love lost and minds gone mad. When Toby and his friends rent the house for a few weeks at the end of their university term, they all look forward to peace, quiet, and fun. But they get none of that. The water beckons them in, hoping to repeat its past, entrancing anyone who walks along its shores. The walls of Brantura hold both sadness and evil, and evil wins out.

For much of the past 30 years, Iraq has been one of the world’s greatest hot spots. The 1980s saw Ba’athist strongman Saddam Hussein go to war with Iran as well as the Kurds, who maintained an autonomous region of their own in Northern Iraq. Hussein’s invasion of Kuwait touched off a Gulf War that was followed by biting sanctions. And the 2003 American-led invasion against Hussein’s regime provided the uninformed an all-too-brutal crash course on Iraq’s ethnic and religious divisions and the Middle East’s as a whole.

The Greatest Battles in History: The Battle of Antietam comprehensively covers the fighting, analyzes the decisions made by the battle’s most important leaders, and explains the aftermath of the battle and the legacies that were made and tarnished by the battle.

Along with analysis and anecdotes of important events and people, Israel and Her Enemies is the perfect starting point for understanding how the Middle East conflicts have gotten to where they are at today and what the future may hold.

Serving as both a glossary and primer of the history of the Middle East conflict and the peace process, Decoding the Conflict Between Israel and the Palestinians defines the terms, looks at the region’s history, discusses previous attempts at negotiations like Oslo and Taba, identifies important figures, and explains the arguments and mentalities of each side, showing why the conflict has proven so intractable.

The ancient Greeks used a number of forms of divination to determine the future and seek advice from the gods as to which actions they should take in any given situation. The most popular of these ways to consult the Gods was through a visit to an oracle - usually a person - at a fixed shrine. The oldest of these Greek sites was at Dodona in Epirus, and while it continued to be a major oracle for the Greek world through antiquity, it was quickly overtaken by the oracle at Delphi as the most consulted by kings, politicians, and ordinary Greeks alike.

The most famous battle of the 19th century was undoubtedly Waterloo, and the biggest battle of the Napoleonic Wars was Leipzig, but neither one of those legendary battles was the biggest of the century. That distinction instead belongs to the Battle of Königgrätz, a little known, but decisive conflict in a war between Prussia and Austria. Though it lasted only seven weeks and only had one truly decisive battle, the Austro-Prussian War nonetheless changed the political outlook in Europe forever.

Welcome to Mumbai, one of India’s most bustling, populated, action-packed, creative, and absolutely random cities. Located in Western India in the state of Maharashtra, Mumbai is a natural destination for travelers who are seeking to get a feel for Indian city life and its environs. Experience Mumbai takes listeners to Mumbai’s touristy district and beyond, exposing them to local architecture, art, nature, cuisine, dance, and more in a way that will make a trip to Mumbai an experience unforgettable.