Geoffrey Blainey’s Short History of the World, published by Ivan R. Dee in 2002, rapidly became a book of choice on the subject. Jacques Barzun called... it “a unique achievement,” and William L. O’Neill described it as “a delightful read, gracefully written and filled with odd and interesting pieces of information as well as thoughtful comparisons than span both time and space.” Now Mr. Blainey has applied his narrative talents and his scholarly credentials to trace the history of a tempestuous century. A Short History of the Twentieth Century carries some of the excitement of the times as well as the power of unforeseen events. The theme that dominates much of the book is war and peace—a nervous peace—which gripped the attention of most people who lived through a large part of the century. Mr. Blainey’s talent for identifying the telling detail, the crucial event, the key personality makes for masterful storytelling, and his interest ranges wide over the fields of human activity; he is concerned not only with major transformations but also with the everyday experiences of people around the world. Taking the story from the dawn of a century ripe with promise, especially for Europeans, he shows how and why empires soon fell, igniting wars and revolutions that continued intermittently through the period; economic depressions that brought great powers to their knees; totalitarian governments that doled out misery to their citizens; a Middle East in turmoil; and a resurgent Islam. But he has more mundane concerns as well: How were children raised? Why did cities grow so large? How did new machines and technology influence a thousand activities? How did films, radio, and automobiles transform social life? A Short History of the Twentieth Century entertains like a novel, educates and informs like the best of teachers. With 10 maps.

Offering an abbreviated, accessible, and lively narrative history of the United States, this erudite volume contains the essential facts about the... discovery, settlement, growth, and development of the American nation and its institutions. Robert V. Remini explores the arrival and migration of Native Americans throughout the Western Hemisphere and their achievements; the discovery of the New World by Europeans and the establishment of colonies by the Spanish, French, English, and Dutch; the causes of the American Revolution; the founding of a republic under the Constitution; the formation of political parties; the War of 1812 and the resulting economic and cultural changes; the democratic impetus during the Jacksonian era; westward expansion and the Mexican War; the struggle over slavery, which led to the Civil War; Reconstruction and the rise of big business; the emergence of the United States as a world power; the descent into the Great Depression; the global conflicts of the twentieth century; the rise of conservatism; and the outbreak of terrorism here and abroad. In addition, Remini illustrates how former English subjects slowly transformed themselves into Americans, and shows how a collection of sovereign, independent colonies united to create a workable, constantly evolving republican government whose democratic principles reflect the changing mores and attitudes of the citizens it represents. He explains the reasons for the nation's unique and enduring strengths, its artistic and cultural accomplishments, its genius in developing new products to sell to the world, and its abiding commitment to individual freedoms.

Robert V. Remini's A Short History of the United States is an abbreviated, accessible, lively, and erudite narrative history that contains the essential... facts about the discovery, settlement, growth, and development of the American nation and its institutions. Racing across the centuries—from the arrival and migration of Native Americans and the discovery of the New World by Europeans, the American Revolution, the Civil War, the Great Depression, up to the global conflicts of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries—it is a fascinating overview of a great nation's epochs and missteps, and a celebration of its achievements, its unique and enduring strengths, and its abiding commitment to individual freedoms.

Noting that standard accounts of US history often pay little attention to the working class, labour historian Paul Le Blanc presents a colourful,... fact-filled history that concentrates on the struggles and achievements of that often neglected labouring majority. In a blend of economic, social, and political history, Le Blanc shows how important labour issues have been and continue to be in the forging of our nation's history. Within a broad analytical framework he highlights issues of class, gender, race, and ethnicity, and includes the views of key figures of US labour - Cesar Chavez, Eugene V Debs, Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, Samuel Gompers, Woody Guthrie, 'Big Bill' Haywood, Langston Hughes, 'Mother' Mary Jones, Martin Luther King Jr., George Meany, A. Philip Randolph, and Carl Sandburg, among others. In addition to the main narrative, a bibliographical essay directs readers to classic works and cutting-edge scholarship in the field of US labour history as well as to relevant fiction, poetry, and films for further exploration or study. The book's substantial glossary offers clear definitions and thought-provoking mini-essays for almost 200 terms, from the most basic to the most complex and technical.

Here is a compact and affordable edition of J. M. Robert's acclaimed world history. Vividly written and beautifully illustrated, it brings the... outstanding breadth of scholarship and international scope of the larger volume within the grasp of most readers. Completely up-to-date, comprehensive yet succinct, it takes readers on an amazing journey from the first appearance of Homo sapiens to recent chapters in the exploration of space. Informative, beautifully rendered maps, photographs of key archaeological finds, and stunning reproductions of important artwork (some in full color) bring the past to life as Roberts surveys the major events, developments and personalities that have shaped the civilizations of the world.

NOMINATED FOR THE LOS ANGELES TIMES BOOK PRIZEA profoundly moving portrait of the complicated legacies of mothers and daughters, A Short History of... Women chronicles five generations of women from the close of the nineteenth century through the early years of the twenty-first. Beginning in 1914 at the deathbed of Dorothy Trevor Townsend, a suffragette who starves herself for the cause, the novel traces the echoes of her choice in the stories of her descendants—a brilliant daughter who tries to escape the burden of her mother’s infamy; a granddaughter who chooses a conventional path, only to find herself disillusioned; a great-granddaughter who wryly articulates the free-floating anxiety of post-9/11 Manhattan. In a kaleidoscope of characters and with a richness of imagery, emotion, and wit, A Short History of Women is a thought-provoking and vividly original narrative that crisscrosses a century—a book for "any woman who has ever struggled to find her own voice; to make sense of being a mother, wife, daughter, and lover" (Associated Press)

World War I was a bloodletting so vast and unprecedented that for a generation it was known simply as the Great War. Casualty lists reached unimagined... proportions as the same ground -- places like Ypres and the Somme -- was fought over again and again. Other major bloody battles remain vivid in memory to this day: Gallipoli and the Battle of Jutland are but two examples. Europe was at war with itself, and the effect on Western civilization was profound, its repercussions felt even today.World War I saw the introduction of modern technology into the military arena: The tank, airplane, machine gun, submarine, and -- most lethal of all -- poison gas, all received their first widespread use. Professor Stokesbury analyzes these technological innovations and the war's complex military campaigns in lucid detail. At the same time he discusses the great political events that unfolded during the war, such as the Russian Revolution and the end of the Hapsburg dynasty, putting the social and political side of the war into the context of modern European history.A Short History of World War I is the first history of this war to be written in twenty years. It incorporates recent research and current thinking about the war in a highly readable and lively style.

Despite the numerous books on World War II, until now there has been no one-volume survey that was both objective and comprehensive. Previous volumes... have usually been written from an exclusively British or American point of view, or have ignored the important causes and consequences of the War. A Short History of World War II is essentially a military history, but it reaches from the peace settlements of World War I to the drastically altered postwar world of the late 1940's. Lucidly written and eminently readable, it is factual and accurate enough to satisfy professional historians. A Short History of World War II will appeal equally to the general reader, the veteran who fought in the War, and the student interested in understanding the contemporary political world.

Short enough to be synoptic, yet long enough to be usefully detailed, A Short History of Writing Instruction is the ideal text for undergraduate courses... and graduate seminars in rhetoric and composition. It preserves the legacy of writing instruction from antiquity to contemporary times with a unique focus on the material, educational, and institutional context of the Western rhetorical tradition. Its longitudinal approach enables students to track the recurrence over time of not only specific teaching methods, but also major issues such as social purpose, writing as power, the effect of technologies, the rise of vernaculars, and writing as a force for democratization. The collection is rich in scholarship and critical perspectives, which is made accessible through the robust list of pedagogical tools included, such as the Key Concepts listed at the beginning of each chapter, and the Glossary of Key Terms and Bibliography for Further Study provided at the end of the text. Further additions include increased attention to orthography, or the physical aspects of the writing process, new material on high school instruction, sections on writing in the electronic age, and increased coverage of women rhetoricians and writing instruction of women. A new chapter on writing instruction in Late Medieval Europe was also added to augment coverage of the Middle Ages, fill the gap in students’ knowledge of the period, and present instructional methods that can be easily reproduced in the modern classroom.

This volume provides a systematic historical survey of the methods and purposes of writing instruction in Western culture. The book traces the... development of writing curricula from the earliest stages in ancient Greece to the standardization processes of the Roman period which dominated Western schools up to the 18th century. The next major sections outline the shift away from inherited European methods and the emergence of many competing purposes and methods in contemporary America. While some other studies look at particular time periods or at certain issues, this book covers the entire development of writing instruction over a period of 2,500 years up to the present day. The longitudinal approach used enables the reader to track the recurrence over time of not only specific teaching methods but also such major issues as social purpose, writing as power, the effect of technologies, the rise of vernaculars, and writing as a force for democratization. The book concludes with 10 suggestions for further research to deepen understanding of the history of writing instruction.

Hermeneutics defines the rules used to search out the meaning of Scripture. Throughout church history, interpreters have approached biblical... interpretation in different ways, using different tools and methods. This book conveniently and accessibly surveys major biblical interpreters and approaches to hermeneutics from the patristic period to the present days. It provides a theoretical basis for understanding the processes of hermeneutics in different faith traditions.

Contemporary productions on stage and film, and the development of theater studies, continue to draw new audiences to ancient Greek drama. With... observations on all aspects of performance, this volume fills their need for a clear, concise account of what is known about the original conditions of such productions in the age of Pericles. Reexamining the surviving plays of Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, and Aristophanes, Graham Ley here discusses acting technique, scenery, the power and range of the chorus, the use of theatrical space, and parody in their plays. In addition to photos of scenes from Greek vases that document theatrical performance, this new edition includes notes on ancient mime and puppetry and how to read Greek playtexts as scripts, as well as an updated bibliography. An ideal companion to The Complete Greek Tragedies, also published by the University of Chicago Press, Ley’s work is a concise and informative introduction to one of the great periods of world drama."Anyone faced with Athenian tragedy or comedy for the first time, in or out of the classroom, would do well to start with A Short Introduction to Ancient Greek Theater."—Didaskalia

John J. Collins's Introduction to the Hebrew Bible with CD-ROM is a leading textbook in Old Testament studies. With this new, well- tailored abridgement... of that larger work, Collins's erudition is now available to general readers and professors and students who prefer a shorter, more concise introduction to the Hebrew scriptures. New features, especially designed for the college student, include maps, images, and study questions. A companion web site includes special resources for both teachers and students including: PowerPoint presentations, chapter by chapter test banks, study questions, suggestions for further reading, and web site links.

A Short Introduction to the U.S. Census presents a brief seven-chapter overview of the Census, including important information about the... Constitutional mandate, research methods, who is affected by the Census, and how data is used. Additionally, this primer explores key contemporary topics such as race and ethnicity, the family, and poverty.   Note: MySearchLab does not come automatically packaged with this text. To purchase MySearchLab, please visit: www.mysearchlab.com or you can purchase a ValuePack of the text + MySearchLab with Pearson eText (at no additional cost). ValuePack ISBN-10: 0205863566 / ValuePack ISBN-13: 9780205863563

Harrison analyzes the outstanding events and features of Christ's life, combining history, biblical theology, and apologetics in his study of the... theologically significant aspects of Christ's life and work.