Download or read book A Labyrinth of Kingdoms written by Steve Kemper and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2012-05-29 with total page 441 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A true story that rivals the travels of Burton or Stanley for excitement, andsurpasses them in scientific achievements.
Download or read book A Labyrinth of Kingdoms 10 000 Miles through Islamic Africa written by Steve Kemper and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2012-06-25 with total page 521 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Kemper’s majestic account of Barth’s journey restores the reputation of an explorer who was as passionate about science as he was about rigorous travel. It’s an enthralling adventure, captivatingly told." —Ziauddin Sardar, Times (London) In 1840 Heinrich Barth joined a small British expedition into unexplored regions of Islamic North and Central Africa. One by one his companions died, but he carried on alone, eventually reaching the fabled city of gold, Timbuktu. His five-and-a-half-year, 10,000-mile trek ranks among the greatest journeys in the annals of exploration, and his discoveries are considered indispensable by modern scholars of Africa. In this historical adventure, the first book about Barth in English, Kemper goes a long way toward rescuing this fascinating figure from obscurity.
Download or read book The Fortunes of Africa written by Martin Meredith and published by PublicAffairs. This book was released on 2014-10-14 with total page 770 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A sweeping history the fortune seekers, adventurers, despots, and thieves who have ruthlessly endeavored to extract gold, diamonds, and other treasures from Africa and its people. Africa has been coveted for its rich natural resources ever since the era of the Pharaohs. In past centuries, it was the lure of gold, ivory, and slaves that drew merchant-adventurers and conquerors from afar. In modern times, the focus of attention is on oil, diamonds, and other rare earth minerals. In this vast and vivid panorama of history, Martin Meredith follows the fortunes of Africa over a period of 5,000 years. With compelling narrative, he traces the rise and fall of ancient kingdoms and empires; the spread of Christianity and Islam; the enduring quest for gold and other riches; the exploits of explorers and missionaries; and the impact of European colonization. He examines, too, the fate of modern African states and concludes with a glimpse of their future. His cast of characters includes religious leaders, mining magnates, warlords, dictators, and many other legendary figures-among them Mansa Musa, ruler of the medieval Mali empire, said to be the richest man the world has ever known.
Download or read book Fortunes of Africa written by Martin Meredith and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2014-09-11 with total page 768 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this vast and vivid panorama of history, Martin Meredith, bestselling author of The State of Africa, follows the fortunes of Africa over a period of 5,000 years. With compelling narrative, he traces the rise and fall of ancient kingdoms and empires; the spread of Christianity and Islam; the enduring quest for gold and other riches; the exploits of explorers and missionaries; and the impact of European colonisation. He examines, too, the fate of modern African states and concludes with a glimpse into their future. This is history on an epic scale.
Download or read book The Storied City written by Charlie English and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2018-05-01 with total page 434 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Timbuktu is a real place, and Charlie English will fuel your wanderlust with true descriptions of the fabled city’s past, present, and future.” –Fodor’s Two tales of a city: The historical race to “discover” one of the world’s most mythologized places, and the story of how a contemporary band of archivists and librarians, fighting to save its ancient manuscripts from destruction at the hands of al Qaeda, added another layer to the legend. To Westerners, the name “Timbuktu” long conjured a tantalizing paradise, an African El Dorado where even the slaves wore gold. Beginning in the late eighteenth century, a series of explorers gripped by the fever for “discovery” tried repeatedly to reach the fabled city. But one expedition after another went disastrously awry, succumbing to attack, the climate, and disease. Timbuktu was rich in another way too. A medieval center of learning, it was home to tens of thousands—according to some, hundreds of thousands—of ancient manuscripts, on subjects ranging from religion to poetry, law to history, pharmacology, and astronomy. When al-Qaeda–linked jihadists surged across Mali in 2012, threatening the existence of these precious documents, a remarkable thing happened: a team of librarians and archivists joined forces to spirit the manuscripts into hiding. Relying on extensive research and firsthand reporting, Charlie English expertly twines these two suspenseful strands into a fraught and fascinating account of one of the planet's extraordinary places, and the myths from which it has become inseparable.
Download or read book Desert Edens written by Philipp Lehmann and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2022-10-25 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How technological advances and colonial fears inspired utopian geoengineering projects during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries From the 1870s to the mid-twentieth century, European explorers, climatologists, colonial officials, and planners were avidly interested in large-scale projects that might actively alter the climate. Uncovering this history, Desert Edens looks at how arid environments and an increasing anxiety about climate in the colonial world shaped this upsurge in ideas about climate engineering. From notions about the transformation of deserts into forests to Nazi plans to influence the climates of war-torn areas, Philipp Lehmann puts the early climate change debate in its environmental, intellectual, and political context, and considers the ways this legacy reverberates in the present climate crisis. Lehmann examines some of the most ambitious climate-engineering projects to emerge in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Confronted with the Sahara in the 1870s, the French developed concepts for a flooding project that would lead to the creation of a man-made Sahara Sea. In the 1920s, German architect Herman Sörgel proposed damming the Mediterranean in order to geoengineer an Afro-European continent called “Atlantropa,” which would fit the needs of European settlers. Nazi designs were formulated to counteract the desertification of Eastern Europe and Central Asia. Despite ideological and technical differences, these projects all incorporated and developed climate change theories and vocabulary. They also combined expressions of an extreme environmental pessimism with a powerful technological optimism that continue to shape the contemporary moment. Focusing on the intellectual roots, intended effects, and impact of early measures to modify the climate, Desert Edens investigates how the technological imagination can be inspired by pressing fears about the environment and civilization.
Download or read book The Life and World of Francis Rodd Lord Rennell 1895 1978 written by Philip Boobbyer and published by Anthem Press. This book was released on 2021-01-20 with total page 424 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is a biographical study of the geographer/explorer and banker Francis Rodd, the second Lord Rennell of Rodd (1895-1978). Rodd’s life is interesting for the way it connected the worlds of geography, international finance, politics, espionage, and wartime military administration. He was famous in the 1920s for his journeys to the Sahara and his study of the Tuareg, People of the Veil (1926). A career in banking included a stint at the Bank of England, before he became a Partner in the merchant bank Morgan Grenfell—where remained for most of his working life (1933-1961). During the war he worked for the Ministry of Economic Warfare (1939=40), before getting closely involved in the sphere of military government (civil affairs). In 1942, he was War Office’s Chief Political Officer in East Africa. He was then appointed head of the first Allied Military Government in occupied Europe (Chief Civil Affairs Officer of AMGOT). In civil affairs, he was drawn to the principles of indirect rule. A generalist in an age of growing specialisation, he was also a mixture of traditionalist and moderniser. A product of Eton and Balliol College, Oxford, and elevated to the peerage in 1941, he was well-connected socially, and his life is a window onto British society at a time of great change.
Download or read book Exploring Deserts written by Karen Sirvaitis and published by ABDO Publishing Company. This book was released on 2014-01-01 with total page 146 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Throughout history, people have always explored new frontiers. Adventure, fame, and scientific discovery have all driven humans to forge into the unknown. This title examines the exploration of deserts. Easy-to-read, engaging text takes readers to the Sahara and beyond, examines the explorers who journeyed to these vast, arid landscapes, and traces the development of the technology and techniques that made this exploration possible. Well-placed sidebars, vivid photos, helpful maps, and a glossary enhance readers' understanding of the topic. Additional features include a table of contents, a selected bibliography, source notes, and an index, plus a timeline and essential facts. Aligned to Common Core Standards and correlated to state standards. Essential Library is an imprint of Abdo Publishing, a division of ABDO.
Download or read book Late Victorian Heroic Lives in the Writings of Frank Mundell written by Moniez Baptiste and published by Cambridge Scholars Publishing. This book was released on 2017-08-21 with total page 270 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This study explores the work of Frank Mundell, a late-Victorian author for the Sunday School Union. Mundell focused on heroism and represented various kinds of heroic deeds and figures, regardless of gender, in his books. Writing for educative, as well as entertaining, purposes, he avoided the use of didacticism and he endeavoured to combine the traditional and the modern in the stories he chose to tell. Mundell’s favourite format was that of the prosopography, putting together several heroic lives or incidents. He was careful to dedicate each of his volumes to one topic in particular, thus distinguishing the different types of heroic deeds from one another. His writings belong to four series, or collections, each highlighting a specific version of heroism, from instances of the mundane performed in a familial context to extraordinary deeds. He wrote about such bold acts as those featuring in the stories of brave firemen fighting devouring flames, fearless sailors in tempestuous seas, determined miners risking their lives to save their comrades, or intrepid explorers facing perils in the wide world. This book analyses each of his publications, highlighting the elements belonging to his representation of heroism as a whole.
Download or read book For the Sake of Peace written by Charles L. Chavis and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2020-06-23 with total page 232 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For the Sake of Peace examines racism and injustice in the United States through the eyes of those of African descent. Historically America has promoted itself as the moral police promoting democracy across the globe, offering her perspectives and ideas to combat poverty and racial and ethnic violence. The rise of overt political racism and intolerance has made visible, for a global audience for the first time since the Civil Rights Movement, the deeply rooted systems of discrimination and identity-based conflicts in the United States, that gives rise to structural and direct violence. African Americans, like other minorities, find themselves in a unique position in this age as new forms of race lynching continue to go unchecked; voting rights continue to be suppressed; prisons continue to serve as a mechanism for disenfranchising minorities and the poor. This volume centers around an understanding of peace that is concerned with justice and racial equality. Highlighting the prevailing impact of anti-black racism and injustice, authors offer prescriptive and descriptive insight that will aid in understanding and overcoming these historical and contemporary obstacles to peace focusing on specific themes including civil rights, education, white supremacy, structural violence, ritual, reparations, and human rights. Interdisciplinary in perspective, the essays are written by leading and emerging scholars, activists, and practitioners from the viewpoints of history, conflict analysis and resolution, anthropology, ethics, theology, and philosophy. A foreword by The Rev. Canon Nontombi Naomi Tutu, daughter of Nobel Peace Prize–winner Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Cathedral Missioner for Racial and Economic Equity at The Cathedral of All Souls in Ashville, NC, highlights the importance of Africana perspectives in the global pursuit of peace and equality.
Download or read book The Literary Review written by and published by . This book was released on 2012 with total page 790 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book A Splendid Savage The Restless Life of Frederick Russell Burnham written by Steve Kemper and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2016-01-25 with total page 448 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Rich, detailed, and pitch-perfect, with the witty and wonderful skipping off every page." —Maxwell Carter, Wall Street Journal Frederick Russell Burnham’s (1861–1947) amazing story resembles a newsreel fused with a Saturday matinee thriller. One of the few people who could turn his garrulous friend Theodore Roosevelt into a listener, Burnham was once world-famous as “the American scout.” His expertise in woodcraft, learned from frontiersmen and Indians, helped inspire another friend, Robert Baden-Powell, to found the Boy Scouts. His adventures encompassed Apache wars and range feuds, booms and busts in mining camps around the globe, explorations in remote regions of Africa, and death-defying military feats that brought him renown and high honors. His skills led to his unusual appointment, as an American, to be Chief of Scouts for the British during the Boer War, where his daring exploits earned him the Distinguished Service Order from King Edward VII. After a lifetime pursuing golden prospects from the deserts of Mexico and Africa to the tundra of the Klondike, Burnham found wealth, in his sixties, near his childhood home in southern California. Other men of his era had a few such adventures, but Burnham had them all. His friend H. Rider Haggard, author of many best-selling exotic tales, remarked, “In real life he is more interesting than any of my heroes of romance.” Among other well-known individuals who figure in Burnham’s story are Cecil Rhodes and William Howard Taft, as well as some of the wealthiest men of the day, including John Hays Hammond, E. H. Harriman, Henry Payne Whitney, and the Guggenheim brothers. Failure and tragedy streaked his life as well, but he was endlessly willing to set off into the unknown, where the future felt up for grabs and values worth dying for were at stake. Steve Kemper brings a quintessential American story to vivid life in this gripping biography.
Download or read book The African and Middle Eastern World 600 1500 written by Randall L. Pouwels and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2005-08-25 with total page 184 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Details the history, empires, discoveries, art, peoples, and religions of Asia, Africa, and the Middle East from 600 to 1500 C.E.
Download or read book Inventing the American Astronaut written by Matthew H. Hersch and published by Springer. This book was released on 2012-10-08 with total page 404 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Who were the men who led America's first expeditions into space? Soldiers? Daredevils? The public sometimes imagined them that way: heroic military men and hot-shot pilots without the capacity for doubt, fear, or worry. However, early astronauts were hard-working and determined professionals - 'organization men' - who were calm, calculating, and highly attuned to the politics and celebrity of the Space Race. Many would have been at home in corporate America - and until the first rockets carried humans into space, some seemed to be headed there. Instead, they strapped themselves to missiles and blasted skyward, returning with a smile and an inspiring word for the press. From the early days of Project Mercury to the last moon landing, this lively history demystifies the American astronaut while revealing the warring personalities, raw ambition, and complex motives of the men who were the public face of the space program.
Download or read book The Lost Kingdoms of Africa written by Jeffrey Tayler and published by Abacus Software. This book was released on 2006 with total page 274 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is the account of a journey through realms of Africa so remote, so geographically and culturally isolated that their frontiers have rarely been breached. The Sahel region of the lower Sahara - whipped by ferocious winds, shrouded in secrets and home to a vast Muslim population - is the southernmost outpost of Islam's dominance in Africa. Comprising the southern Saharan regions of Chad, northern Nigeria, Niger, Mali and Senegal, they once witnessed the emergence of Africa's wealthiest and most exotic kingdoms and empires. To this day they produce some of the continent's leading writers, musicians and artists. But now, perilous and poverty-stricken, they rarely see travellers.Yet Jeffrey Tayler, crossing 2,500 miles across the Sahel by truck, taxi, bus and boat, uncovers this lost area of continent, revealing it as beset by ethnic rebellion and sectarian violence, rife with Islamic fundamentalism, yet home to people of extraordinary hospitality and fortitude.
Download or read book Our Man In Tokyo written by Steve Kemper and published by HarperCollins. This book was released on 2022-11-08 with total page 520 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Winner of the American Academy of Diplomacy’s Dillon Book Award "Gripping history, offering both drama and suspense." —Wall Street Journal A riveting, behind-the-scenes account of the personalities and contending forces in Tokyo during the volatile decade that led to World War II, as seen through the eyes of the American ambassador who attempted to stop the slide to war. In 1932, Japan was in crisis. Naval officers had assassinated the prime minister and conspiracies flourished. The military had a stranglehold on the government. War with Russia loomed, and propaganda campaigns swept the country, urging schoolchildren to give money to procure planes and tanks. Into this maelstrom stepped Joseph C. Grew, America’s most experienced and talented diplomat. When Grew was appointed ambassador to Japan, not only was the country in turmoil, its relationship with America was rapidly deteriorating. For the next decade, Grew attempted to warn American leaders about the risks of Japan’s raging nationalism and rising militarism, while also trying to stabilize Tokyo’s increasingly erratic and volatile foreign policy. From domestic terrorism by Japanese extremists to the global rise of Hitler and the fateful attack on Pearl Harbor, the events that unfolded during Grew’s tenure proved to be pivotal for Japan, and for the world. His dispatches from the darkening heart of the Japanese empire would prove prescient—for his time, and for our own. Drawing on Grew’s diary of his time in Tokyo as well as U.S. embassy correspondence, diplomatic dispatches, and firsthand Japanese accounts, Our Man in Tokyo brings to life a man who risked everything to avert another world war, the country where he staked it all—and the abyss that swallowed it.
Download or read book Most Dangerous Book in the World written by S. K. Bain and published by Trine Day. This book was released on 2012-09-01 with total page 376 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this shocking exposé, investigative researcher and author S. K. Bain reveals the truth behind the mass-murdering psychopaths responsible for the events of September 11, 2001, and reconstructs the occult-driven script for this Global Luciferian MegaRitual. As Bain uncovers, the framework for the entire event was a psychological warfare campaign built upon a deadly foundation of black magick and high technology. The book details the sinister nature of the defining event of the 21st century and explains the vast scope of the machinery of oppression that has been constructed around us.
