Peter Furtado

Now in paperback, thisglobal bestseller is anengaging and informativeread on the history of adiverse array of countries. Global histories tend to be written from the limited viewpoint of a single author and a single perspective, which results in an inevitable bias. In this book, however, twenty-eight different writers and scholars from around the world contribute, giving engaging, often passionate accounts of their own nation's history. The countries featured in Histories of Nations have been selected to represent every continent and type of state: large and small; mature democracies and religious autocracies; states that have existed for thousands of years and those born as recently as the twentieth century. Each of these countries has a different relationship with history. In the United States, for example, the myth of the nation's "historylessness" remains strong, but in China history is seen to play a crucial role in legitimizing three thousand years of imperial authority. "History wars" over the content of textbooks rage in countries as diverse as Australia, Russia, and Japan. Some countries, such as Iran or Egypt, are blessed--or cursed--with a glorious ancient history that the present cannot equal; others, such as Germany, must find ways of approaching and reconciling the pain of the recent past. Original, thought-provoking, and handy in its new paperback format, Histories of Nations is a crucial primer for the Global Age.

How Their Identities Were Forged

Histories of Nations

Great Cities Through Travellers' Eyes

A compelling day-by-day glimpse of highlights from 2,500 years of human history through 366 quotations.

366 Voices from the Past

History Day by Day

A wide-ranging anthology of travelers' accounts in thirty-eight of the world's most fascinating cities, from ancient times through the twentieth century.

Great Cities Through Travelers' Eyes

Voices from History

Plague, Pestilence and Pandemic

An eye-opening anthology from the bestselling editor of Histories of Nations, exploring how people around the globe have suffered and survived during plague and pandemic, from the ancient world to the present. Plague, pestilence, and pandemics have been a part of the human story from the beginning and have been reflected in art and writing at every turn. Humankind has always struggled with illness; and the experiences of different cities and countries have been compared and connected for thousands of years. Many great authors have published their eyewitness accounts and survivor stories of the great contagions of the past. When the great Muslim traveler Ibn Battuta visited Damascus in 1348 during the great plague, which went on to kill half of the population, he wrote about everything he saw. He reported, "God lightened their affliction; for the number of deaths in a single day at Damascus did not attain 2,000, while in Cairo it reached the figure of 24,000 a day." From the plagues of ancient Egypt recorded in Genesis to those like the Black Death that ravaged Europe in the Middle Ages, and from the Spanish flu of 1918 to the Covid-19 pandemic in our own century, this anthology contains fascinating accounts. Editor Peter Furtado places the human experience at the center of these stories, understanding that the way people have responded to disease crises over the centuries holds up a mirror to our own actions and experiences. Plague, Pestilence and Pandemic includes writing from around the world and highlights the shared emotional responses to pandemics: from rage, despair, dark humor, and heartbreak, to finally, hope that it may all be over. By connecting these moments in history, this book places our own reactions to the Covid-19 pandemic within the longer human story.

Plague, Pestilence and Pandemic: Voices from History

Fully updated for 2021, this is a comprehensive guide to those extraordinary moments that defined human history, written by respected figures from the fields of science, history, and journalism.

1001 Days That Shaped the World

Revolutions hold a distinct place in the popular imagination. This may be because their rhetoric, such as liberty, fraternity, equality, articulates aspirations with which we identify; or because we are shocked by the destructive forces unleashed when social conventions break down. Yet each revolution is unique a product of its time, its society, its people and the outcomes vary dramatically, from liberal reform to cruel dictatorship. Twenty-four leading historians, each writing about their country of origin, consider revolutions from Englands Glorious Revolution of 1688 to the Arab Spring of 2011, reflecting not only on their causes, crises and outcomes, but also their long-term legacies and their changing, sometimes contested, meanings today. They reflect on key questions, such as: What were the reasons for the revolution? What were the main events and dominant ideologies, and who were the leading protagonists? How is it considered today and what is its ideological legacy? Whether as inspiration or warning, the legacies of these revolutions are not only important to those interested in protest, political change and the power of the people but also impact on virtually every one of us today.

Peter Furtado

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