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Gertrude Bell's moment in the Middle East : a reappraisal
Lukitz, Liora
I.B. Tauris
, 2025
; English
; 249 Pages
An explorer, archaeologist, scholar, writer, and policymaker, Gertude Bell was a colourful figure who played an outsize role in the history of the Middle East in the early twentieth century.
This book carefully examines Bell's published and unpublished letters, diaries, notes, and publications to reconstruct and reevaluate Bell's intentions and legacy in the Middle East in the aftermath of the First World War. It focuses on her correspondence with senior figures to examine the well-networked Bell as a policymaker in waiting. It also reappraises Bell's role in the formation of the Kingdom of Iraq, assessing her public statements in support of Faisal, Iraq's future king, against the doubts she expressed in private. Centering her own experience and reflections in the context of wider events, it adds nuance to perceptions of Bell as an agent of the British Empire and explores the legacy of her actions in Iraq today.
Lukitz, Liora
I.B. Tauris
, 2025
; English
; 249 Pages
An explorer, archaeologist, scholar, writer, and policymaker, Gertude Bell was a colourful figure who played an outsize role in the history of the Middle East in the early twentieth century.
This book carefully examines Bell's published and unpublished letters, diaries, notes, and publications to reconstruct and reevaluate Bell's intentions and legacy in the Middle East in the aftermath of the First World War. It focuses on her correspondence with senior figures to examine the well-networked Bell as a policymaker in waiting. It also reappraises Bell's role in the formation of the Kingdom of Iraq, assessing her public statements in support of Faisal, Iraq's future king, against the doubts she expressed in private. Centering her own experience and reflections in the context of wider events, it adds nuance to perceptions of Bell as an agent of the British Empire and explores the legacy of her actions in Iraq today.
eBook
Alexander von Humboldt: a concise biography
Daum, Andreas W.; Savage, Robert
Princeton University Press
, 2024
; English
; 217 Pages
An engaging account of the life and work of the legendary polymath Alexander von Humboldt
In this lucid biography, Andreas Daum offers a succinct and novel interpretation of the life and oeuvre of Alexander von Humboldt (1769―1859). A Prussian nobleman born into the age of European Enlightenment, Humboldt was a contemporary of Napoleon, Simón Bolívar, and Charles Darwin. As a naturalist and scholar, he traveled the world, from the Americas to Central Asia, and recorded his observations in multiple volumes. Humboldt is still admired today for his interdisciplinary outreach and ecological awareness.
Moving beyond the conventional views of Humboldt as either intellectual superhero or gentleman colonizer, Daum's incisive account focuses on Humboldt in the context of the tumultuous period of history in which he lived. Humboldt embodied the contradictions that marked the age of Atlantic Revolutions. He became a critic of slavery and embraced the emerging civil society but remained close to authoritarian rulers. He dedicated his life to scientific research yet was driven by emotional impulses and pleaded for an aesthetic appreciation of nature. Daum introduces a man passionately striving to establish a "cosmic" understanding of nature while grappling with the era's explosion of knowledge.
This book provides the first concise biography of Humboldt, covering all periods of his life, exploring his personality, the vast range of his works, and his intellectual networks. Daum helps us understand Humboldt as a seminal historical figure and illuminates the role of science at the dawn of the global world.
Daum, Andreas W.; Savage, Robert
Princeton University Press
, 2024
; English
; 217 Pages
An engaging account of the life and work of the legendary polymath Alexander von Humboldt
In this lucid biography, Andreas Daum offers a succinct and novel interpretation of the life and oeuvre of Alexander von Humboldt (1769―1859). A Prussian nobleman born into the age of European Enlightenment, Humboldt was a contemporary of Napoleon, Simón Bolívar, and Charles Darwin. As a naturalist and scholar, he traveled the world, from the Americas to Central Asia, and recorded his observations in multiple volumes. Humboldt is still admired today for his interdisciplinary outreach and ecological awareness.
Moving beyond the conventional views of Humboldt as either intellectual superhero or gentleman colonizer, Daum's incisive account focuses on Humboldt in the context of the tumultuous period of history in which he lived. Humboldt embodied the contradictions that marked the age of Atlantic Revolutions. He became a critic of slavery and embraced the emerging civil society but remained close to authoritarian rulers. He dedicated his life to scientific research yet was driven by emotional impulses and pleaded for an aesthetic appreciation of nature. Daum introduces a man passionately striving to establish a "cosmic" understanding of nature while grappling with the era's explosion of knowledge.
This book provides the first concise biography of Humboldt, covering all periods of his life, exploring his personality, the vast range of his works, and his intellectual networks. Daum helps us understand Humboldt as a seminal historical figure and illuminates the role of science at the dawn of the global world.
eBook
The food adventurers : how around-the-world travel changed the way we eat
Bender, Daniel E.
Reaktion Books
, 2023
; English
; 352 Pages
From mangosteen fruit discovered in a colonial Indonesian marketplace to caviar served on the high seas in a cruise liner's luxurious dining saloon, The Food Adventurers narrates the history of eating on the most coveted of tourist journeys: the around-the-world adventure. This book looks at what tourists ate on these adventures, as well as what they avoided, and what kinds of meals they described in diaries, photographs and postcards. Daniel E. Bender shows how circumglobal travel shaped popular fascination with world cuisines, and leads readers on a culinary tour from Tahitian roast pig in the 1840s, to the dining saloon of the luxury Cunard steamer Franconia in the 1920s, to InterContinental and Hilton hotel restaurants in the 1960s and '70s
Bender, Daniel E.
Reaktion Books
, 2023
; English
; 352 Pages
From mangosteen fruit discovered in a colonial Indonesian marketplace to caviar served on the high seas in a cruise liner's luxurious dining saloon, The Food Adventurers narrates the history of eating on the most coveted of tourist journeys: the around-the-world adventure. This book looks at what tourists ate on these adventures, as well as what they avoided, and what kinds of meals they described in diaries, photographs and postcards. Daniel E. Bender shows how circumglobal travel shaped popular fascination with world cuisines, and leads readers on a culinary tour from Tahitian roast pig in the 1840s, to the dining saloon of the luxury Cunard steamer Franconia in the 1920s, to InterContinental and Hilton hotel restaurants in the 1960s and '70s
eBook
Verskin, Alan
Stanford University Press
, 2023
; English
; 214 Pages
In 1524, a man named David Reubeni appeared in Venice, claiming to be the ambassador of a powerful Jewish kingdom deep in the heart of Arabia. In this era of fierce rivalry between great powers, voyages of fantastic discovery, and brutal conquest of new lands, people throughout the Mediterranean saw the signs of an impending apocalypse and envisioned a coming war that would end with a decisive Christian or Islamic victory. With his army of hardy desert warriors from lost Israelite tribes, Reubeni pledged to deliver the Jews to the Holy Land by force and restore their pride and autonomy. He would spend a decade shuttling between European rulers in Italy, Portugal, Spain, and France, seeking weaponry in exchange for the support of his hitherto unknown but mighty Jewish kingdom. Many, however, believed him to favor the relatively tolerant Ottomans over the persecutorial Christian regimes. Reubeni was hailed as a messiah by many wealthy Jews and Iberia's oppressed conversos, but his grand ambitions were halted in Regensburg when the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V, turned him over to the Inquisition and, in 1538, he was likely burned at the stake.
Diary of a Black Jewish Messiah is the first English translation of Reubeni's Hebrew-language diary, detailing his travels and personal travails. Written in a Hebrew drawn from everyday speech, entirely unlike other literary works of the period, Reubeni's diary reveals both the dramatic desperation of Renaissance Jewish communities and the struggles of the diplomat, trickster, and dreamer who wanted to save them.
Verskin, Alan
Stanford University Press
, 2023
; English
; 214 Pages
In 1524, a man named David Reubeni appeared in Venice, claiming to be the ambassador of a powerful Jewish kingdom deep in the heart of Arabia. In this era of fierce rivalry between great powers, voyages of fantastic discovery, and brutal conquest of new lands, people throughout the Mediterranean saw the signs of an impending apocalypse and envisioned a coming war that would end with a decisive Christian or Islamic victory. With his army of hardy desert warriors from lost Israelite tribes, Reubeni pledged to deliver the Jews to the Holy Land by force and restore their pride and autonomy. He would spend a decade shuttling between European rulers in Italy, Portugal, Spain, and France, seeking weaponry in exchange for the support of his hitherto unknown but mighty Jewish kingdom. Many, however, believed him to favor the relatively tolerant Ottomans over the persecutorial Christian regimes. Reubeni was hailed as a messiah by many wealthy Jews and Iberia's oppressed conversos, but his grand ambitions were halted in Regensburg when the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V, turned him over to the Inquisition and, in 1538, he was likely burned at the stake.
Diary of a Black Jewish Messiah is the first English translation of Reubeni's Hebrew-language diary, detailing his travels and personal travails. Written in a Hebrew drawn from everyday speech, entirely unlike other literary works of the period, Reubeni's diary reveals both the dramatic desperation of Renaissance Jewish communities and the struggles of the diplomat, trickster, and dreamer who wanted to save them.
eBook
Fearless : Harriet Quimby, a life without limit
Dahler, Don
Princeton Architectural Press
, 2022
; English
; 338 Pages
In the spirit of the bestseller Fly Girls comes the definitive and compelling true story of Harriet Quimby, the first American woman to receive a pilot's license.
In the early twentieth century, headlines declared that "the era of women has dawned." Against this changing historical backdrop, Harriet Quimby's extraordinary life stands out as the embodiment of this tumultuous, exciting era—when flight was measured in minutes, not miles.
This untold piece of feminist history unveils Quimby's incredible story: rising from humble beginnings as a dirt-poor farm girl to become a globe-trotting journalist, history-making aviator, and international celebrity. With her tragic death in 1912 at the age of thirty-seven, her story faded, with her many accomplishments—the first woman to fly solo over the English Channel among them—overshadowed by major events, including the sinking of the Titanic.
With black and white illustrations throughout, Fearless is the definitive biography of the first licensed female American pilot: one of the most inspiring hidden figures of history.
Dahler, Don
Princeton Architectural Press
, 2022
; English
; 338 Pages
In the spirit of the bestseller Fly Girls comes the definitive and compelling true story of Harriet Quimby, the first American woman to receive a pilot's license.
In the early twentieth century, headlines declared that "the era of women has dawned." Against this changing historical backdrop, Harriet Quimby's extraordinary life stands out as the embodiment of this tumultuous, exciting era—when flight was measured in minutes, not miles.
This untold piece of feminist history unveils Quimby's incredible story: rising from humble beginnings as a dirt-poor farm girl to become a globe-trotting journalist, history-making aviator, and international celebrity. With her tragic death in 1912 at the age of thirty-seven, her story faded, with her many accomplishments—the first woman to fly solo over the English Channel among them—overshadowed by major events, including the sinking of the Titanic.
With black and white illustrations throughout, Fearless is the definitive biography of the first licensed female American pilot: one of the most inspiring hidden figures of history.
Audiobook
Delia Akeley and the Monkey: A Human-Animal Story of Captivity, Patriarchy, and Nature
McCalman, Iain; Moore, Daniel
Blackstone Publishing
, 2022
; English
On an East African hunting expedition in 1909, Delia Akeley, a forty-year-old American woman, casually captured a baby female monkey, never dreaming this act would overturn both their lives. Delia's life was isolated and often lonely in an overpoweringly masculine world. She decided to name the monkey JT Jr and study her interactions with humans; a long-frustrated desire to adopt a child led her to also lose her heart to this lovable animal.
This relationship with a feisty, intelligent Vervet unlocked Delia's latent talents of research and observation, anticipating both Jane Goodall's chimpanzee writings and Margaret Mead's Samoan ethnographies. It illuminates much about human-animal relations and the tyranny of gender inequality by reinstating an obscured story of a dedicated amateur primatologist.
Iain McCalman uses records, official and informal, to build a story of passionate love and hate among women, men, animals, and museums that predates our times but speaks to our present.
McCalman, Iain; Moore, Daniel
Blackstone Publishing
, 2022
; English
On an East African hunting expedition in 1909, Delia Akeley, a forty-year-old American woman, casually captured a baby female monkey, never dreaming this act would overturn both their lives. Delia's life was isolated and often lonely in an overpoweringly masculine world. She decided to name the monkey JT Jr and study her interactions with humans; a long-frustrated desire to adopt a child led her to also lose her heart to this lovable animal.
This relationship with a feisty, intelligent Vervet unlocked Delia's latent talents of research and observation, anticipating both Jane Goodall's chimpanzee writings and Margaret Mead's Samoan ethnographies. It illuminates much about human-animal relations and the tyranny of gender inequality by reinstating an obscured story of a dedicated amateur primatologist.
Iain McCalman uses records, official and informal, to build a story of passionate love and hate among women, men, animals, and museums that predates our times but speaks to our present.
Audiobook
Lindbergh, Charles; Getman, Tim
Blackstone Publishing
, 2022
; English
We is the personal account of Charles A. Lindbergh and his historic transatlantic flight from New York to Paris. Published mere months after he completed the journey, his memoir includes his thoughts about the future of aviation and his life leading up to that solo journey.
Taking off from Long Island in the Spirit of St. Louis on May twentieth, less than thirty-six hours later he landed in Le Bourget Field in Paris. And over night he transformed from anonymous mail pilot to American hero. New York City threw him the biggest ticker tape parade to date, and he was even awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross.
In his own words, We brings to life one of the most dramatic events in aviation history and allows us a glimpse into one of the most daring solo journeys of the twentieth century.
Audiobook
Lindbergh, Charles; Getman, Tim
Blackstone Publishing
, 2022
; English
We is the personal account of Charles A. Lindbergh and his historic transatlantic flight from New York to Paris. Published mere months after he completed the journey, his memoir includes his thoughts about the future of aviation and his life leading up to that solo journey.
Taking off from Long Island in the Spirit of St. Louis on May twentieth, less than thirty-six hours later he landed in Le Bourget Field in Paris. And over night he transformed from anonymous mail pilot to American hero. New York City threw him the biggest ticker tape parade to date, and he was even awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross.
In his own words, We brings to life one of the most dramatic events in aviation history and allows us a glimpse into one of the most daring solo journeys of the twentieth century.
Audiobook
Lawrence, T. E.; Lister, Ralph
Blackstone Publishing
, 2022
; English
The Seven Pillars of Wisdom is T. E. Lawrence's memoir of his involvement in leading a portion of the Arab revolt against the Ottoman empire during the first World War. The Ottomans had joined the side of Germany and the Central Powers in the war, and Britain hoped that a successful revolt would take them out of the war effort. Britain had also promised the Arabs that England would recognize a single Arab state. With the support of Emir Faisal and his tribesmen, T. E. Lawrence helped organize and carry out attacks on the Ottoman forces from Aqaba in the south to Damascus in the north.
This memoir is a travelogue, philosophy treatise, and an action novel. It details Lawrence's movements and actions during his two year involvement in the Arab revolt, and his thoughts—and doubts—during that time. It's a gripping tale made famous by the movie Lawrence of Arabia, and one that Winston Churchill called "unsurpassable" as a "narrative of war and adventure."
Audiobook
Lawrence, T. E.; Lister, Ralph
Blackstone Publishing
, 2022
; English
The Seven Pillars of Wisdom is T. E. Lawrence's memoir of his involvement in leading a portion of the Arab revolt against the Ottoman empire during the first World War. The Ottomans had joined the side of Germany and the Central Powers in the war, and Britain hoped that a successful revolt would take them out of the war effort. Britain had also promised the Arabs that England would recognize a single Arab state. With the support of Emir Faisal and his tribesmen, T. E. Lawrence helped organize and carry out attacks on the Ottoman forces from Aqaba in the south to Damascus in the north.
This memoir is a travelogue, philosophy treatise, and an action novel. It details Lawrence's movements and actions during his two year involvement in the Arab revolt, and his thoughts—and doubts—during that time. It's a gripping tale made famous by the movie Lawrence of Arabia, and one that Winston Churchill called "unsurpassable" as a "narrative of war and adventure."
Audiobook
Earhart, Amelia; Almand, Pamela
The Captain's Voice
, 2022
; English
Amelia Earhart captured the hearts and imaginations of people around the world when she became the first woman to cross the Atlantic by airplane. This audiobook, her personal account of the historic flight, sparkles with her high-spirited charm and adventurous determination.
Narrated by a fellow female pilot with a voice reminiscent of Earhart's mid-West twang, this audiobook includes logbook entries from the historic flight, as well as an autobiographical account of her young adult life and fascination with airplanes and a serious-minded discussion of the future of flight and the important role of women in aviation. 20 Hrs. 40 Min. remains a classic tale of adventure to this day.
Includes a bonus PDF with illustrations and photos, including photos of actual logbook pages from Amelia's flight
Earhart, Amelia; Almand, Pamela
The Captain's Voice
, 2022
; English
Amelia Earhart captured the hearts and imaginations of people around the world when she became the first woman to cross the Atlantic by airplane. This audiobook, her personal account of the historic flight, sparkles with her high-spirited charm and adventurous determination.
Narrated by a fellow female pilot with a voice reminiscent of Earhart's mid-West twang, this audiobook includes logbook entries from the historic flight, as well as an autobiographical account of her young adult life and fascination with airplanes and a serious-minded discussion of the future of flight and the important role of women in aviation. 20 Hrs. 40 Min. remains a classic tale of adventure to this day.
Includes a bonus PDF with illustrations and photos, including photos of actual logbook pages from Amelia's flight
Audiobook
Banvard's Folly, Revised Edition: Thirteen Tales of People Who Didn't Change the World
Getman, Tim
Blackstone Publishing
, 2022
; English
The historical record crowns success. Those enshrined in its annals are men and women whose ideas, accomplishments, or personalities have dominated, endured, and most important of all, found champions. John F. Kennedy's Profiles in Courage, Giorgio Vasari's Lives of the Artists, and Samuel Johnson's Lives of the Poets are classic celebrations of the greatest, the brightest, the eternally constellated.
Paul Collins' Banvard's Folly is a different kind of book. Here are thirteen unforgettable portraits of forgotten people: men and women who might have claimed their share of renown but who, whether from ill timing, skullduggery, monomania, the tinge of madness, or plain bad luck—or some combination of them all—leapt straight from life into thankless obscurity. Among their number are scientists, artists, writers, entrepreneurs, and adventurers, from across the centuries and around the world. They hold in common the silenced aftermath of failure, the name that rings no bells.
Collins brings them back to glorious life. John Banvard was an artist whose colossal panoramic canvasses (one behemoth depiction of the entire eastern shore of the Mississippi River was simply known as "The Three Mile Painting") made him the richest and most famous artist of his day … before he decided to go head to head with P. T. Barnum. René Blondot was a distinguished French physicist whose celebrated discovery of a new form of radiation, called the N-Ray, went terribly awry. At the tender age of seventeen, William Henry Ireland signed "William Shakespeare" to a book and launched a short but meteoric career as a forger of undiscovered works by the Bard—until he pushed his luck too far. John Symmes, a hero of the War of 1812, nearly succeeded in convincing Congress to fund an expedition to the North Pole, where he intended to prove his theory that the earth was hollow and ripe for exploitation; his quixotic quest counted Jules Verne and Edgar Allan Poe among its greatest admirers.
Collins' love for what he calls the "forgotten ephemera of genius" give his portraits of these figures, and the other nine men and women in Banvard's Folly, sympathetic depth and poignant relevance. Their effect is not to make us sneer or revel in schadenfreude; here are no cautionary tales. Rather, here are brief introductions—acts of excavation and reclamation—to people whom history may have forgotten, but whom now we cannot.
Getman, Tim
Blackstone Publishing
, 2022
; English
The historical record crowns success. Those enshrined in its annals are men and women whose ideas, accomplishments, or personalities have dominated, endured, and most important of all, found champions. John F. Kennedy's Profiles in Courage, Giorgio Vasari's Lives of the Artists, and Samuel Johnson's Lives of the Poets are classic celebrations of the greatest, the brightest, the eternally constellated.
Paul Collins' Banvard's Folly is a different kind of book. Here are thirteen unforgettable portraits of forgotten people: men and women who might have claimed their share of renown but who, whether from ill timing, skullduggery, monomania, the tinge of madness, or plain bad luck—or some combination of them all—leapt straight from life into thankless obscurity. Among their number are scientists, artists, writers, entrepreneurs, and adventurers, from across the centuries and around the world. They hold in common the silenced aftermath of failure, the name that rings no bells.
Collins brings them back to glorious life. John Banvard was an artist whose colossal panoramic canvasses (one behemoth depiction of the entire eastern shore of the Mississippi River was simply known as "The Three Mile Painting") made him the richest and most famous artist of his day … before he decided to go head to head with P. T. Barnum. René Blondot was a distinguished French physicist whose celebrated discovery of a new form of radiation, called the N-Ray, went terribly awry. At the tender age of seventeen, William Henry Ireland signed "William Shakespeare" to a book and launched a short but meteoric career as a forger of undiscovered works by the Bard—until he pushed his luck too far. John Symmes, a hero of the War of 1812, nearly succeeded in convincing Congress to fund an expedition to the North Pole, where he intended to prove his theory that the earth was hollow and ripe for exploitation; his quixotic quest counted Jules Verne and Edgar Allan Poe among its greatest admirers.
Collins' love for what he calls the "forgotten ephemera of genius" give his portraits of these figures, and the other nine men and women in Banvard's Folly, sympathetic depth and poignant relevance. Their effect is not to make us sneer or revel in schadenfreude; here are no cautionary tales. Rather, here are brief introductions—acts of excavation and reclamation—to people whom history may have forgotten, but whom now we cannot.
