Download or read book How Iceland Changed the World written by Egill Bjarnason and published by Icon Books. This book was released on 2021-06-03 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'A joyously peculiar book' - The New York Times 'A fascinating insight into Icelandic culture and a fresh perspective on her global influence. Warning: may well make readers wish they were Icelandic, too.' - Helen Russell, author of The Year of Living Danishly The untold story of how one tiny island in the middle of the Atlantic has shaped the world for centuries. The history of Iceland began 1,200 years ago, when a frustrated Viking captain and his useless navigator ran aground in the middle of the North Atlantic. Suddenly, the island was no longer just a layover for the Arctic tern. Instead, it became a nation whose diplomats and musicians, sailors and soldiers, volcanoes and flowers, quietly altered the globe forever. How Iceland Changed the World takes readers on a tour of history, showing them how Iceland played a pivotal role in events as diverse as the French Revolution, the Moon Landing, and the foundation of Israel. Again and again, one humble nation has found itself at the frontline of historic events, shaping the world as we know it - How Iceland Changed the World paints a lively picture of just how it all happened. 'Egill Bjarnason has written a delightful reminder that, when it comes to countries, size doesn't always matter. His writing is a pleasure to read, reminiscent of Bill Bryson or Louis Theroux. He has made sure we will never take Iceland for granted again.' A.J. Jacobs, New York Times bestselling author of Thanks a Thousand and The Year of Living Biblically 'Bjarnason's intriguing book might be about a cold place, but it's tailor-made to be read on the beach.' - New Statesman 'Egill Bjarnason places Iceland at the center of everything, and his narrative not only entertains but enlightens, uncovering unexpected connections.' Andri Snær, author of On Time and Water 'Icelander Egill Bjarnason takes us on a high-speed, rough-and-tumble ride through 1,000-plus years of history-from the discovery of America to Tolkien's muse, from the French Revolution to the NASA moonwalk, from Israel's birth to the first woman president-all to display his home island's mind-opening legacy.' Nancy Marie Brown, author of The Real Valkyrie and The Far Traveller 'I always assumed the history of Iceland had, by law or fate, to match the tone of an October morning: dark, gray, and uninviting to most mankind. This book challenges that assumption, and about time. Our past, much like the present, can be a little fun.' Jón Gnarr, former mayor of Reykjavík and author of The Pirate and The Outlaw 'How Iceland Changed the World is not only surprising and informative. It is amusing and evocatively animates a place that I have been fascinated with for most of my life. Well worth the read!' - Jane Smiley, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of A Thousand Acres 'An entertaining, offbeat (and pleasingly concise) history of the remote North Atlantic nation ... perfect for a summer getaway read' - The Critic

Download or read book Notes from a Small Island written by Bill Bryson and published by HarperCollins. This book was released on 2015-06-02 with total page 338 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Before New York Times bestselling author Bill Bryson wrote The Road to Little Dribbling, he took this delightfully irreverent jaunt around the unparalleled floating nation of Great Britain, which has produced zebra crossings, Shakespeare, Twiggie Winkie’s Farm, and places with names like Farleigh Wallop and Titsey.

Download or read book One Small Island written by Alison Lester and published by Random House Australia. This book was released on 2019 with total page 42 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Place of publication taken from publisher's website.

Download or read book Big History Small World written by Cynthia Stokes Brown and published by Berkshire Publishing Group. This book was released on 2016-12-30 with total page 314 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The newest way to think about the universe becomes engaging and personal in Big History, Small World: From the Big Bang to You by Cynthia Stokes Brown. Her clear introduction to big history, divided into eight thresholds of time, is the perfect starting point for any reader intrigued by this rich blend of history and science. Big History, Small World is also the first book about big history specifically designed to be used in high school courses and with the free curriculum available from the Big History Project cofounded by Bill Gates and David Christian. Big History, Small World is organized into twelve chapters. In the first chapter, Brown discusses the scientific method. In the last chapter she discusses the different ways people interpret big history and find meaning in it. The other ten chapters are based on eight major turning points, or thresholds, in the cosmic story. One threshold, the emergence of life, gets two chapters, while a discussion of the future fills chapter eleven. This book is not formatted as a traditional textbook, although it can easily be used as one. Each chapter has questions on the frontier of knowledge, as well as suggestions of how the content applies directly to the reader, to answer the perennial question: “Why do I have to learn this?” There are illustrations, charts, diagrams, a glossary and timeline, and short biographies of scientists and historians who have been influential in developing big history. Cynthia Stokes Brown has taught world history in high-school and trained high-school teachers at Dominican University of California, where she piloted big history courses and helped initiate the big history program now required for all freshmen. She is the author of the general-interest book on big history, Big History: From the Big Bang to the Present (New York: New Press, 2nd ed. 2012) and also wrote a university-level textbook with David Christian and Craig Benjamin, Big History: Between Nothing and Everything (New York: McGraw-Hill, 2014). She is a founding member of the International Big History Association and associate editor of its publication, Origins.

Download or read book Small Island written by Andrea Levy and published by . This book was released on 2014 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this delicately wrought and profoundly moving novel, Andrea Levy handles the weighty themes of empire, prejudice, war and love, with a lightness of touch and a generosity of spirit that challenges and uplifts the reader.

Download or read book Small Islands Big Politics written by Hooshang Amirahmadi and published by Palgrave Macmillan. This book was released on 1996 with total page 200 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Small Islands, Big Politics examines a territorial dispute between Iran and the United Arab Emirates over the ownership and control of the Tonbs, three small islands in the Persian Gulf overlooking the strategic Strait of Hormuz. Since 1971, the year British colonialism withdrew from the region, Iran has regained full sovereignty over the Tonbs and has accommodated the UAE in the administration of Abu Musa. Small Islands, Big Politics provides a close reading of the legal and relevant territorial-historical dimensions of the dispute and dissects the intricacies of international law and its application to other territorial disputes in the region. Small Islands, Big Politics is the first book-length analysis of the issue in the English language and will be indispensable reading for anyone interested in Middle East/Persian Gulf politics, history, and international studies. The book also includes a comprehensive bibliography and key documents relating to the issues."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Download or read book Our Island Story written by H. E. Marshall and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2013-02-20 with total page 572 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Our Island Story is the "history" of England up to Queen Victoria's Death. Marshall used these stories to tell her children about their homeland, Great Britain. To add to the excitement, she mixed in a bit of myth as well as a few legends.

Download or read book Land of the Ilich written by Steven Mithen and published by Birlinn Ltd. This book was released on 2021-11-04 with total page 598 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As an archaeologist, Steven Mithen has worked on the Hebridean island of Islay over a period of many years. In this book he introduces the sites and monuments and tells the story of the island's people from the earliest stone age hunter-gatherers to those who lived in townships and in the grandeur of Islay House. He visits the tombs of Neolithic farmers, forts of Iron Age chiefs and castles of medieval warlords, discovers where Bronze Age gold was found, treacherous plots were made against the Scottish crown, and explores the island of today, which was forged more recently by those who mined for lead, grew flax, fished for herring and distilled whisky – the industry for which the island is best known today. Although an island history, this is far from an insular story: Islay has always been at a cultural crossroads, receiving a constant influx of new people and new ideas, making it a microcosm for the story of Scotland, Britain and beyond.

Download or read book A Big History of North America written by Kevin Jon Fernlund and published by University of Missouri Press. This book was released on 2022-12-16 with total page 388 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The special relationship between the United Kingdom, an established and secure power, and the United States, a rising one, began after the War of 1812, as the former enemies sought accommodation with, rather than the annihilation of, one another. At the same time, Mexico, also a rising power, was not so fortunate. Its relationship with Spain, an established but declining power, turned hostile with Spain’s final exit from North America after Mexico’s War of Independence, leaving its former colony isolated, internally unstable, and vulnerable to external attack. Significantly, Mexico posed little threat to its northern neighbor. By the third decade of the eighteenth century, then, the fate of North America was largely discernable. Nevertheless, the three-century journey to get to this point had been anything but predictable. The United States’ rise as a regional power was very much conditioned by constantly shifting transcontinental, transpacific, and above all transatlantic factors, all of which influenced North America’s three interactive cultural spheres: the Indigenous, the Hispano, and the Anglo. And while the United States profoundly shaped the history of Canada and Mexico, so, too, did these two transcontinental countries likewise shape the course of U.S. history. In this ground-breaking work, Kevin Fernlund shows us that any society’s social development is directly related to its own social power and, just as crucially, to the protective extension or destructive intrusion of the social power of other societies.

Download or read book How Iceland Changed the World written by Egill Bjarnason and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2021-05-11 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "[A] joyously peculiar book." -- The New York Times ‘Bjarnason’s intriguing book might be about a cold place, but it’s tailor-made to be read on the beach.’ –New Statesman The untold story of how one tiny island in the middle of the Atlantic has shaped the world for centuries. The history of Iceland began 1,200 years ago, when a frustrated Viking captain and his useless navigator ran aground in the middle of the North Atlantic. Suddenly, the island was no longer just a layover for the Arctic tern. Instead, it became a nation whose diplomats and musicians, sailors and soldiers, volcanoes and flowers, quietly altered the globe forever. How Iceland Changed the World takes readers on a tour of history, showing them how Iceland played a pivotal role in events as diverse as the French Revolution, the Moon Landing, and the foundation of Israel. Again and again, one humble nation has found itself at the frontline of historic events, shaping the world as we know it, How Iceland Changed the World paints a lively picture of just how it all happened.

Download or read book A Big History of Globalization written by Julia Zinkina and published by Springer. This book was released on 2019-04-12 with total page 291 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book presents the history of globalization as a network-based story in the context of Big History. Departing from the traditional historic discourse, in which communities, cities, and states serve as the main units of analysis, the authors instead trace the historical emergence, growth, interconnection, and merging of various types of networks that have gradually encompassed the globe. They also focus on the development of certain ideas, processes, institutions, and phenomena that spread through those networks to become truly global. The book specifies five macro-periods in the history of globalization and comprehensively covers the first four, from roughly the 9th – 7th millennia BC to World War I. For each period, it identifies the most important network-related developments that facilitated (or even spurred on) such transitions and had the greatest impacts on the history of globalization. By analyzing the world system's transition to new levels of complexity and connectivity, the book provides valuable insights into the course of Big History and the evolution of human societies.

Download or read book The Good Allies written by Tim Cook and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2024-09-17 with total page 577 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From our country's most important war historian, a gripping account of the turbulent relationship between Canada and the US during the Second World War. The two nations entered the war amidst rivalry and mutual suspicion, but learned to fight together before emerging triumphant and bound by an alliance that has lasted to this day. When the Second World War broke out in 1939, it set in motion a deadly struggle between the Axis powers and the Allies, but also fraught negotiations between and among the Allies. On questions of diplomacy, economic policy, industrial might, military capabilities, and even national sovereignty, thousands of lives and the fate of the free world depended on back-room deals and desperate trade-offs between soldiers, diplomats, and leaders. In North America, Canada and the US strained to forge a new military alliance to guard their coasts and fend off German U-boats and the menace of a Japanese invasion. Wartime economies were entwined to produce a staggering contribution of weapons to keep Britain and other allies in the war. The defence of North America against enemy threats was essential before the US and Canada could send armies, navies, and air forces overseas. In his trademark style, Tim Cook employs eyewitness accounts to vividly lay bare the brutality of combat and the courage of North Americans under fire. Behind the fighting fronts, the charged and often secret communications between national leaders Churchill, Roosevelt, and King reveal how their personalities shaped the outcome of history’s most destructive war, the fate of the British Empire, and the North American alliance that lives on to this day. The Good Allies is a masterful account of how Canadians and Americans made the transition from wary rivals to steadfast allies, and how Canada thrived in the shadow of the military and global superpower. In exploring this complex and crucial dimension of the Second World War and its legacy, Cook recounts two nations’ story of cooperation, of sacrifice, and of bleeding together to save the world from the fascist threat.

Download or read book A History of Fishing in the Florida Keys written by Bob T. Epstein and published by Arcadia Publishing. This book was released on 2013-05-28 with total page 192 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Since the arrival of Ponce de Leon in the 1500s, the Florida Keys have evolved from a dense, nearly impenetrable jungle full of bears, pumas, snakes, alligators and crocodiles into America's Caribbean islands. And the fish in the region have made the Keys one of the nation's favorite playgrounds for anglers. The Keys are home to more saltwater fishing records than any other angling destination in the world and offer sportsmen an array of amazing fish, from tarpon and Spanish mackerel to mahi-mahi and bonefish. U.S. presidents, celebrities and the world's greatest fishermen and women have cruised the waters of South Florida. Join author Bob T. Epstein on a journey through the storied history of fishing in the Florida Keys.

Download or read book Migrants written by Sam Miller and published by Abacus. This book was released on 2023-02-02 with total page 420 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Migrants cuts through the toxic debates to tell the rich and collective stories of humankind's urge to move. 'Fascinating... Miller's perspective may be just what we need' Daily Telegraph 'Enjoyable, provocative and timely' Spectator 'Timely and empathetic: a rare combination on this most controversial issue' Remi Adekoya, author of Biracial Britain 'Tremendous: blends the personal and the panoramic to great effect' Robert Winder, author of Bloody Foreigners Humans are, in fundamental ways, a migratory species, more so than any other land mammal. For most of our existence , we were all nomads, and some of us still are. Houses and permanent settlements are a relatively late development - dating back little more than twelve thousand years. Borders and passports are much more recent. From the Neanderthals, Alexander the Great, Christopher Columbus and Pocahontas to the African slave trade, Fu Manchu, and Barack Obama, Migrants shows us that it is only by understanding how migration and migrants have been viewed in the past, that we can re-set the terms of the modern-day debate about migration. Migrants presents us with an alternative history of the world, in which migration is restored to the heart of the human story. And in which humans migrate for a wide range of reasons: not just because of civil war, or poverty or climate change but also out of curiosity and a sense of adventure. On arrival, migrants are expected both to assimilate and encouraged to remain distinctive; to defend their heritage and adopt a new one. They are sub-human and super-human; romanticised and castigated, admired and abhorred. Migrants tells us that this is not a new narrative; this is the history of us all, part of everybody's backstory - for those who consider themselves migrants and those who do not.

Download or read book Iowa Off the Beaten Path written by Lori Erickson and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2017-04-01 with total page 193 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Whether you’re a visitor or a local looking for something different, Iowa Off the Beaten Path shows you the Hawkeye State with new perspectives on timeless destinations and introduces you to those you never knew existed––from the best in local dining to quirky cultural tidbits to hidden attractions, unique finds, and unusual locales. So if you’ve “been there, done that” one too many times, get off the main road and venture Off the Beaten Path.

Download or read book Braided Waters written by Wade Graham and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 2018-12-18 with total page 280 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Braided Waters sheds new light on the relationship between environment and society by charting the history of Hawaii’s Molokai island over a thousand-year period of repeated settlement. From the arrival of the first Polynesians to contact with eighteenth-century European explorers and traders to our present era, this study shows how the control of resources—especially water—in a fragile, highly variable environment has had profound effects on the history of Hawaii. Wade Graham examines the ways environmental variation repeatedly shapes human social and economic structures and how, in turn, man-made environmental degradation influences and reshapes societies. A key finding of this study is how deep structures of place interact with distinct cultural patterns across different societies to produce similar social and environmental outcomes, in both the Polynesian and modern eras—a case of historical isomorphism with profound implications for global environmental history.

Download or read book Animation A World History written by Giannalberto Bendazzi and published by CRC Press. This book was released on 2015-11-06 with total page 427 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A continuation of 1994’s groundbreaking Cartoons, Giannalberto Bendazzi’s Animation: A World History is the largest, deepest, most comprehensive text of its kind, based on the idea that animation is an art form that deserves its own place in scholarship. Bendazzi delves beyond just Disney, offering readers glimpses into the animation of Russia, Africa, Latin America, and other often-neglected areas and introducing over fifty previously undiscovered artists. Full of first-hand, never before investigated, and elsewhere unavailable information, Animation: A World History encompasses the history of animation production on every continent over the span of three centuries. Volume III catches you up to speed on the state of animation from 1991 to present. Although characterized by such trends as economic globalization, the expansion of television series, emerging markets in countries like China and India, and the consolidation of elitist auteur animation, the story of contemporary animation is still open to interpretation. With an abundance of first-hand research and topics ranging from Nickelodeon and Pixar to modern Estonian animation, this book is the most complete record of modern animation on the market and is essential reading for all serious students of animation history. Key Features: Over 200 high quality head shots and film stills to add visual reference to your research Detailed information on hundreds of never-before researched animators and films Coverage of animation from more than 90 countries and every major region of the world Chronological and geographical organization for quick access to the information you’re looking for