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Richard Henry Dana (1815-1882) of Boston left his studies at Harvard in 1834 in the hope that a sea voyage would aid his failing eyesight. He shipped out of Boston as a common seaman on board the brig Pilgrim bound for the Pacific, and returned to Massachusetts two years later. Completing his education, Dana became a leader of the American bar, an expert on maritime law, and a life-long advocate of the rights of the merchant seamen he had come to know on the Pilgrim and other vessels. Two years...

The outbreaks and collective violence arising from the tensions existing within society have long been themes in the study of British social history. This book, first published in 1983, attempts to survey the whole range of these rural riots, to compare and contrast them, and to draw general conclusions. Seventy-five maps are included in this volume, each with an accompanying commentary written by an authority on the particular subject. Taken together, the maps show how the distribution of pro...

This superb and comprehensive book details the foreign units which formed such an important part of Napoleon's forces. It examines each non-French unit in turn, giving an overview of the unit's origins, its organizational and combat history, its uniforms and standards, and details of the unit's eventual fate. Colourful accounts, taken from contemporary reports and memoirs, emphasize the qualities of the unit and throw light on what life was like for many of the foreign soldiers recruited into th...

On October 25, 1836, the sidewheel steamer Royal Tar caught fire in Maine's Penobscot Bay. On board was a small circus menagerie returning to Boston from a summer-long tour of the Canadian Maritimes. Plagued by gale-force winds and rough seas, the usual overnight trip from Saint John, New Brunswick, stretched out to four days and, on the fourth day, disaster struck off the island of Vinalhaven. Thirty-two people and all of the circus animals perished in the tragedy. Mark Warner explores the eve...

In 1795 - the year Napoleon Bonaparte was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the French army in Italy - the seventeen-year-old Jean-Nicolas-Auguste Noel entered the Artillery School at Chalons. A year later, with Napoleon proclaiming himself the liberator of Italy, Noel was appointed second lieutenant in the 8th Regiment of Horse Artillery. Written in 1850, With Napoleon's Guns is his remarkable memoir of two decades in the Emperor's service. A trained artilleryman himself, Napoleon dramatically t...

This book examines the nexus between religion and politics, considered in one of its most controversial aspects. The starting point is the 2001 attack on the United States, which a Canadian commentator ingeniously described as the 'passion of America'. This designation suggested an interesting inquiry into other so-called national passions: the notion of the Christ-nation crucified by evil powers because of its higher virtue. . . . This motif is explored by analysing five modern nationalisms tha...

Originally published in 1814. A glance at the Index reveals that Aiton took the opportunity to range far and wide over the affairs of the people of Ayrshire, apologising for the lack of space which prevented a complete military and archaeological review. Living conditions and issues of the day occupy his attention, with the theme of agriculture as the canvas round which his stories are woven. Far more informative than the Statistical Account in terms of the reality of early nineteenth century li...

This book tells the fascinating story of the war between England and China that delivered Hong Kong to the English, forced the imperial Chinese government to add four ports to Canton as places in which foreigners could live and trade, and rendered irreversible the process that for almost a century thereafter distinguished western relations with this quarter of the globe-- the process that is loosely termed the ""opening of China."" Originally published by UNC Press in 1975, Peter Ward Fay's...

Drawing on primary sources, the author describes the campaigns in the Peninsula and later into France and thence on to Waterloo through the records of the 27th (Inniskilling) Regiment. The diary of Lieutenant Charles Crowe of the 2nd Battalion proves the most helpful and graphic but the records of others help fill in the gaps. The result is a rich portrait of the period which brings to life the routine of everyday campaigning.

Mary Elizabeth Braddon, one of the most prolific authors of the Victorian period, remains best known for her sensation fiction, but over the course of a long career contributed to a multitude of literary genres, working as a journalist, short story writer and editor, as well as authoring more than eighty novels. This exciting new collection of essays reappraises Braddon's work and offers a series of new perspectives on her literary productions. The volume is divided into two parts: the first con...

During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the Dutch Republic was one of the main centers of media in Europe. These media included newspapers, pamphlets, news digests, and engravings. Early Modern Media and the News in Europe brings together fifteen articles dealing with this early news industry in relation to politics and society, written by Joop W. Koopmans in recent decades. They demonstrate the important Dutch position within early modern news networks in Europe. Moreover, they address...

This thematic history of the world from 1780 to the onset of the First World War reveals that the world was far more 'globalised' at this time than is commonly thought. This book: explores previously neglected sets of connections in world history; reveals that the world was far more 'globalised', even at the beginning of this period, than is commonly thought; sketches the 'ripple effects' of world crises such as the European revolutions and the American Civil War; shows how events in Asia, Afric...

Smuggling along the Chinese coast has been a thorn in the side of many regimes. From opium and weapons concealed aboard foreign steamships in the Qing dynasty to nylon stockings and wristwatches trafficked in the People’s Republic, contests between state and smuggler have exerted a surprising but crucial influence on the political economy of modern China. Seeking to consolidate domestic authority and confront foreign challenges, states introduced tighter regulations, higher taxes, and harsher en...