Historiske og politiske biografier

PHILIP SNOWDEN was a proud Yorkshireman, a founding father of the Labour Party, its first Chancellor of the Exchequer and eventually was seen as a traitor by the movement he did so much to build. Growing up in the poverty of a weaving village in the Pennines, Snowden was paralysed in his twenties but overcame his disability by teaching himself to walk again with the aid of two sticks. He came to socialism in the 1890s and helped build Labour from a fringe sect into a governing party. Snowden was LabourâEUR(TM)s undisputed economic expert for decades and served as chancellor three times in the 1920s and 30s. He would be expelled from the party for joining Ramsay MacDonaldâEUR(TM)s controversial National Government in 1931 and has been condemned as a turncoat ever since. A gifted orator, Snowden was regarded as the archetypal Yorkshireman; strong-willed and straight-talking, caustic and biting in his criticism but warm in friendship. He earned the moniker âEUR¿Iron ChancellorâEUR(TM) after doggedly standing up to the French during tense negotiations, with one Paris journal bawling, âEURœThere is only one thing left âEUR" we must occupy Yorkshire!âEUR? SnowdenâEUR(TM)s infamous 1931 election broadcast, in which he condemned LabourâEUR(TM)s programme as âEURœBolshevism run madâEUR?, played a major role in the National Government winning the biggest landslide in British electoral history. In 1934, Snowden wrote his autobiography. It is one of the most readable memoirs of the period, packed with SnowdenâEUR(TM)s characteristic wit and sarcasm. SnowdenâEUR(TM)s portrait of his youth in the rural Yorkshire of the 1870s is a unique window into a lost world, while his narrative of the pioneering days of the Labour movement is passionate and vivid. In describing his long career in parliament and government from 1906-1932, the great men of the age jump off the page as we encounter Asquith, Lloyd George, Churchill, Baldwin and MacDonald among others in this tumultuous period of British history. SnowdenâEUR(TM)s story is both an absorbing account of a fascinating time and an invaluable source for students and scholars.

This book is a biography of a Scottish missionary worker, Alexander Wylie, a classical nineteenth century artisan and autodidact. He made significant contributions to knowledge transfer, both to and from China: in missionary work; as a teacher, and as a writer in English and an internationally recognised major sinologist.

A historical biography of the life of James Holland Walker, a White Star Line hero with a focus on maritime history.

A captivating and poignant biography of a Coldstream Guardsman in World War Two which looks at the hardships faced during battle by a man on the front line.

In Modi 3.0, renowned psephologist, journalist and bestselling author Pradeep Bhandari provides an incisive and in-depth account of how India votes and why Narendra Modi remains unchallenged and will return with a bigger, higher and stronger mandate.

Sweden's Enlightenment genius and his lessons for a world in crisis

The life of the influential Sir John Vanburgh and his role in defining the architectural landscape of England

Alexander Kinghorne was a child of the Scottish Enlightenment, an agricultural innovator, surveyor, civil engineer and incurable romantic. But at the age of 54, driven by adversity and hope, he chose to take his family to the penal colony of New South Wales. Would he succeed in this new land? Would he rescue his children and restore them to the prominence in society he was sure was enjoyed by his shadowy forbears? Alexander's achievements extended beyond these things to a more intangible legacy of humanity and support for others.

This book aims to debunk these notions. It is based on the collected works of Patel and attempts to fill in the gap created by the absence of any significant academic work on his life and work.

A biography of Beatrice and Sidney Webb

An enthralling portrait of Queen Catherine of Braganza, wife of Charles II, which brings her struggles vividly to life and reveals her forgotten place in British history.

The story of one man's escape from Stalin's genocide to heroism in the skies

Exploring Tom Rolt's many landscapes, and legacy, through a series of linked essays

A family-authorised biography of Pat Hughes, one of the top-scoring aces of the Battle of Britain.

A fascinating and moving biography of Colin Anson, the German refugee who became an elite British commando

The second volume in an acclaimed biography of Oliver Cromwell, from the capture of Charles I to the expulsion of the Long Parliament

The dramatic biography of a slaveship turned freedom-fighter—which brings new insights into Britain’s involvement in the end of the trade in enslaved people

An illustrated history of the SAS

The name BUGATTI is legendary in the history of the motor car. "ELITE CARS FOR THE ELITE" was his own claim.When people talk about BUGATTI they always mean ETTORE BUGATTI, the technical genius. But if we draw aside the heavy veil of the BUGATTI MYTH, the spotlight falls for the first time on his equally gifted son JEAN BUGATTI. He crated the most beautiful cars in history such as the T41 ROYALE and the T57 ATLANTIC.This historical novel reveals the difficult, indeed tragic, relationship between these two great personalities. At the same time it is a love story and a mystery story.JEAN BUGATTI only lived to be 30. Wikipedia records an accidental death: "Driving at over 200 kmph JEAN BUGATTI had to avoid a cyclist ... and crashed into a tree".This documentary novel disproves that story. It will cause outrage and denial among BUGATTISTS all over the world - or stimulate their curiosity!

The Ratana movement gains national coverage every February as politicians make the pilgrimage to its headquarters near Whanganui, yet the history and workings of the religion are less widely recognised. In this new edition of his standard biography, Keith Newman reveals the life and times of Tahupotiki Wiremu Ratana and the movement he founded in 1918, tracing its activities and influence up to the present-day community of some 50,000 followers. Extensively illustrated colour and black & white photographs.

This dual biography of Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter, the thirty-ninth President and his wife, chronicles their personal and professional relationships, business and political success, and rise to national power. With a colourful cast of relatives and politicians, it is a blueprint of how they would win the presidency and govern the nation.

In the 14th and 15th centuries, the Majapahit kingdom reigned supreme in eastern Java, and its influence stretched far and wide, throughout present-day Indonesia, parts of the Malay peninsula and the island of Tumasek, now Singapore.

Hersch effectively uses his fatherâEUR(TM)s unusual story to convey the horrors of the Holocaust. A valuable addition to Holocaust literature. - Publishers WeeklyHersch's amazing tale is told for the first time by his son Jack who has retraced his footsteps for his new book. - The Daily MailIn a warm and emotionally engaging story, Jack digs deeply into both his father's life and his own, revisiting - and reflecting on - his father's time at the hands of the Nazis during the last year of the Second World War, when more than mere survival was at stake - the fate of humanity itself hung in the balance. - GoodReadsIn June 1944, the Nazis locked eighteen-year-old Dave Hersch into a railroad boxcar and shipped him from his hometown of Dej, Hungary, to Mauthausen Concentration Camp, the harshest, cruelest camp in the Reich. After ten months in the granite mines of MauthausenâEUR(TM)s nearby sub-camp, Gusen, he weighed less than 80lbs, nothing but skin and bones. Somehow surviving the relentless horrors of these two brutal camps, as Allied forces drew near Dave was forced to join a death march to Gunskirchen Concentration Camp, over thirty miles away. Soon after the start of the march, and more dead than alive, Dave summoned a burst of energy he did not know he had and escaped. Quickly recaptured, he managed to avoid being killed by the guards. Put on another death march a few days later, he achieved the impossible: he escaped again. Dave often told his story of survival and escape, and his son, Jack, thought he knew it well. But years after his fatherâEUR(TM)s death, he came across a photograph of his father on, of all places, the Mauthausen MemorialâEUR(TM)s website. It was an image he had never seen before âEUR" and it propelled him on an intensely personal journey of discovery. Using only his fatherâEUR(TM)s words for guidance, Jack takes us along as he flies to Europe to learn the secrets behind the photograph, secrets his father never told of his time in the camps. Beginning in the verdant hills of his fatherâEUR(TM)s Hungarian hometown, we travel with Jack to the foreboding rock mines of Mauthausen and Gusen concentration camps, to the dust-choked roads and intersections of the death marches, and, finally, to the makeshift hiding places of his fatherâEUR(TM)s rescuers. We accompany JackâEUR(TM)s every step as he describes the unimaginable: what his father must have seen and felt while struggling to survive in the most abominable places on earth. In a warm and emotionally engaging story, Jack digs deeply into both his fatherâEUR(TM)s life and his own, revisiting âEUR" and reflecting on âEUR" his fatherâEUR(TM)s time at the hands of the Nazis during the last year of the Second World War, when more than mere survival was at stake âEUR" the fate of humanity itself hung in the balance.