Author: Norman Davies Publisher: Penguin ISBN: 1101630825 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 154
Book Description
The fascinating history of a Baltic empire’s dominance and decline—excerpted from internationally bestselling author Norman Davies’s Vanished Kingdoms Vanished Kingdoms introduces readers to once-powerful European empires that have left scant traces on the modern map. In this excerpt from his widely acclaimed book, Norman Davies tells the ill-fated story of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Founded in the mid-thirteenth century in one of the continent’s first settled regions, where the oldest of its Indo-European languages is spoken, the Grand Duchy at its peak was the largest country in Europe, stretching from the Baltic to the Black Sea, and it commanded yet greater influence after uniting with its western neighbor, the Kingdom of Poland, to form the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The Grand Duchy’s huge territory included the great cities of Kiev, Vilnius, Riga, Minsk, and Brest. Despite being ahead of its time as an elective republic in an age of absolute monarchy, power struggles and foreign incursions led to its ultimate demise and forced partition by Russia, Prussia, and Austria in 1795. In this selection from a work The Boston Globe has called “commendably accessible, magisterial, and uncommonly humane,” Davies chronicles these rich yet unfamiliar chapters in the history of modern Lithuania, Belarus, and Latvia with his signature acuity and verve.
Author: Susan Altstatt Publisher: Dorrance Publishing ISBN: Category : Fiction Languages : en Pages : 510
Book Description
Grunwald: A Novel of the Baltic Crusade By: Susan Altstatt Shortly before marrying her husband, John, the author and he were allowed to go through the two Victorian houses belonging to John’s recently passed Polish grandmother and take what they wanted. In a paper bag, in the basement of a house of treasures, the author discovered, “the most beautiful book I have ever seen.” It was all in Polish, which neither John nor his mother could read. The author could tell it was the 500th anniversary of Grunwald, “but what and where was that?” So, she took to the Stanford Library and taught herself about the conversion of the last pagan people in Europe and the Baltic Crusades, a magnificent, glorious, alternate history. And now, years later, she’s written a book about it.
Author: Andrew Wilson Publisher: Yale University Press ISBN: 0300259212 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 387
Book Description
A comprehensive and revelatory history of modern Belarus - from independence to 2020's contested election In 2020 Belarus made headlines around the world when protests erupted in the aftermath of a fraught presidential election. Andrew Wilson explores both Belarus's complicated road to nationhood and its politics and economics since it gained independence in 1991. Two new chapters reveal the extent of Aliaksandr Lukashenka's grip on power, the growth of the opposition movement and the violent crackdown that followed the vote. Wilson also examines the prospects for Europe as a whole of either Lukashenka's downfall or his survival with Russian support. "Andrew Wilson has done all students of European politics a great service by making the history of Belarus comprehensible and by showing how the future of Belarus might be different than its present."--Timothy Snyder, author of Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin
Author: Aaron T. Hale-Dorrell Publisher: Oxford University Press ISBN: 0190644699 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 345
Book Description
Corn Crusade: Khrushchev's Farming Revolution in the Post-Stalin Soviet Union is the first history of Nikita Khrushchev's venture to cover the Soviet Union in corn, a crop common globally but hitherto rare in his country. Lasting from 1953 until 1964, this crusade was an emblematic component of his efforts to resolve agrarian crises inherited from Joseph Stalin. Using policies and propaganda to pressure farms to expand corn plantings tenfold, Khrushchev expected the resulting bounty to feed not people, but the livestock necessary to produce the meat and dairy products required to make good on his frequent pledges that the Soviet Union was soon to "catch up to and surpass America." This promised to enrich citizens' hitherto monotonous diets and score a victory in the Cold War, which was partly recast as a "peaceful competition" between communism and capitalism. Khrushchev's former comrades derided corn as one of his "harebrained schemes" when ousting him in October 1964. Echoing them, scholars have ridiculed it as an "irrational obsession," blaming the failure on climatic conditions. Corn Crusade brings a more complex and revealing history to light. Borrowing technologies from the United States, Khrushchev expected farms in the Soviet Union to increase productivity because he believed that innovations developed under capitalism promised greater returns under socialism. These technologies generated results in many economic, social, and climatic contexts after World War II but fell short in the Soviet Union. Attempting to make agriculture more productive and ameliorate exploitative labor practices established in the 1930s, Khrushchev achieved only partial reform of rural economic life. Enjoying authority over formal policy, Khrushchev stood atop an undisciplined hierarchy of bureaucracies, local authorities, and farmworkers. Weighing competing incentives, they flouted his authority by doing enough to avoid penalties, but too little to produce even modest harvests of corn, let alone the bumper crops the leader envisioned.
Author: United States. Congress Publisher: ISBN: Category : Law Languages : en Pages : 798
Book Description
The Congressional Record is the official record of the proceedings and debates of the United States Congress. It is published daily when Congress is in session. The Congressional Record began publication in 1873. Debates for sessions prior to 1873 are recorded in The Debates and Proceedings in the Congress of the United States (1789-1824), the Register of Debates in Congress (1824-1837), and the Congressional Globe (1833-1873)
Author: David Tubbs Publisher: iUniverse ISBN: 0595427502 Category : Fiction Languages : en Pages : 172
Book Description
God was not surprised by the sudden acceptance of His proposal. He knew that Abraham would no doubt say yes, but the true trial would be going through with the sacrifice. Seeing Abraham walk away abruptly prompted the Lord to get up as well to try and follow Abraham as he started to walk in any direction other then where he was, but God settled back to His seat noticing that Abraham was walking away for a reason. He wanted to be alone. Abraham answered the question out of haste and was immediately regretting the fact that he said he would do it. He had convinced himself that all he had to do was stall for time and sort out his thoughts. As Abraham walked away, staring in the white distance, his mind rolled over the same question over and over; how could I possibly do this? Coming to the conclusion that he had already agreed to the deed and that he could not deceive the one true God, Abraham put it out of his mind and decided to go along with the sacrifice until he could think of something to get him and Isaac out of harm's way.
Author: Lucjan Dobroszycki Publisher: M.E. Sharpe ISBN: 9781563241734 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 280
Book Description
In this volume, scholars from the United States, Israel and Eastern Europe examine the history of the Holocaust on Soviet territory and its treatment in Soviet politics and literature from 1945 to 1991. Of special interest to researchers will be chapters on some of the major research sources for historical study, including census materials, memorial books, archives and recently released documents.
Author: Norman Davies
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Author: Susan Altstatt
Author: Andrew Wilson
Author: Aaron T. Hale-Dorrell
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Author: United States. Congress
Author: David Tubbs
Author: Lucjan Dobroszycki