Mostrando resultados por narrador "Matthew J-Chandler-Smith" en Todas las categorías

Discover the remarkable life of Isoroku Yamamoto... Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto was one of Japan’s most influential military leaders and a key architect of naval warfare during World War II. Born into an impoverished samurai family, he worked his way to the top by attending the Imperial Japanese Naval Academy, where he consistently ranked among the best in his class. Early in his career, he recognized that the future of naval warfare wasn’t in massive battleships but in aircraft carriers and aviation, an idea that would eventually shape Japan’s military strategy.

In the nineteenth century, historians began to classify the periods of human prehistory into three ages: Stone, Bronze, and Iron. Of these three, the period known as the Bronze Age (lasting approximately from 3300 to 1200 BCE) was the most significant, not just because people began to work metal on a large scale for the first time but because of other changes taking place. People started to live in large, permanent sites that became the first cities. Agriculture replaced hunting and gathering as the principal means of producing food.

Vera Atkins is one of the many unsung heroes and heroines of World War II. She carried out her life with great care and due diligence, quietly becoming the perfect spy when no one was watching. Beneath her polished exterior was a mind built for strategy, secrecy, and survival. But Vera wasn’t just a spy—she was a Spymistress. That’s what her operatives in Britain’s military intelligence unit, the Special Operations Executive, called her.

George Rogers Clark was an American general during the Revolutionary War—the epic conflict in which the newly formed United States of America broke free from British rule. A seasoned frontiersman, he became a leading figure in the expansion of the American frontier into what was then known as the Northwest Territory. Before states like Illinois, Indiana, and Kentucky even existed, Clark was actively charting their course. When the Revolutionary War erupted, George Rogers Clark did not hesitate to answer the call to action.

Oskar Schindler was an unexpected hero. He drank heavily, and some even said he was a womanizer who flaunted his affairs. Yet, in one of history’s darkest hours, he demonstrated an extraordinary capacity for courage and humanity.

Apartheid, a state-sponsored policy of discrimination and segregation, was introduced and brutally enforced in South Africa for more than 40 years. It led to thousands of deaths, mass arrests, torture of prisoners, and to the suspension of the most basic human rights for the majority of Black South Africans. How did this come to be, and how did a modern state come to enact and enforce a series of laws deliberately designed to ensure poverty and lack of opportunity for the majority of its population?

What kind of a man could create the dreaming melodies of the "Moonlight Sonata"? Give birth to the dramatic voice of the "Fifth Symphony"? Compose the "Ode to Joy"? Meet Ludwig van Beethoven, the musical genius, the passionate artist, the incorrigible man, the composer from whose soul music breathed.

Jim Morrison—the name still evokes an image of a rough-hewn rock star, absolutely oozing both profound intellectual wisdom as well as an inordinate amount of cool charisma. Few could encapsulate two ends of the spectrum as well as he did, but Jim Morrison was both the wild man and the soft-spoken poet. He was Mr. Mojo Risin’, ready to party, and that quiet voice searching for soft asylum all at the same time. This book examines both of these dynamic poles of Jim Morrison’s personality and more.

The Apache became one of the best-known of all Native American peoples because they were astonishingly capable guerilla fighters. They fought other Native American tribes, Spanish invaders, the authorities of the new state of Mexico and, from the mid-nineteenth century, increasing numbers of American settlers and soldiers. Under chiefs such as Cochise and Geronimo, they waged wars that struck fear into every new culture they encountered.

The Battle of the Atlantic, the longest campaign of World War II, took place upon the Atlantic Ocean as the Allies traveled back and forth from North America to Great Britain with desperately needed oil, provisions, weapons, and supplies for the embattled forces fighting against Nazi Germany. The efforts of those valiant seafarers would eventually make D-Day possible, but there were times when even Winston Churchill feared that the prowess of the U-boats would imperil the Allies in their battle against the Nazi menace that had conquered Western Europe.

On a December night in 1773, in an iconic act of civil disobedience, American colonists dressed as Native Americans boarded a merchant ship laden with tea. They tossed the tea into the Boston Harbor in protest of taxation without representation. Their motivation at the time was not one of a battle for independence; rather, they sought what they viewed as their constitutional right to representation in the British Parliament.

Alan Turing had a radical and ingenious mind. He is considered one of the fathers of artificial intelligence, and his theories on this matter range from purely mechanical to almost spiritual. During World War II, his decryption of the Nazis’ Enigma codes proved vital for the Allied victory over the Axis powers. Turing’s fingerprints are everywhere, and yet his own country for quite some time failed to acknowledge it.

The Civil Rights Movement in America is a broad term for the movement in the mid-20th century among and for the African American community in pursuit of equal protection and rights under the law. In reality, it began much earlier than the 1950s and continues until this day. What is more, it was about so much more than the extension of universal rights; the Civil Rights Movement is about the story of the long struggle to overcome the legacies of slavery and racism. It is a story of triumph over adversity and perseverance in the face of great hardship.

Albert Speer was the man in charge of designing Adolf Hitler’s Third Reich. Yet he was more than just an architect—he was one of Hitler’s closest confidants and a key player in the Nazi war machine. Born into a wealthy German family, Speer’s life was shaped by privilege and ambition. He rose quickly through the ranks of the Nazi Party after impressing Hitler with his grand architectural visions and sharp organizational skills. Before long, he found himself at the heart of the Third Reich, helping to fuel its war effort and shape its image.

In the 27 years that Kurt Cobain walked this earth, he crafted the songs and the narrative that would become the anthem of a generation. Yet, it was never anything that Cobain set to do deliberately; if anything, he could be called an accidental genius. Cobain’s approach to art as well as life was one flowing stream of consciousness. He never set out to change a generation when he wrote songs like “Smells Like Teen Spirit” or “Come as You Are".

The Industrial Revolution, which took place in Great Britain between the middle of the 18th century and the middle of the 19th, transformed British industry and society and made Great Britain the most powerful nation in the world. The Industrial Revolution didn’t happen due to one, single factor but rather to a number of separate, yet, related developments which interacted to change the world profoundly and completely. Improvements in the production of iron allowed the construction of efficient, reliable steam engines.

A prominent Lakota Sioux chief and medicine man, Sitting Bull was both a man of peace and a man of war as he sought to simultaneously fight and negotiate on behalf of his people during the westward expansion of the United States. His visions inspired and led the Native American warriors to victory in the legendary Battle of the Little Bighorn in 1876. This triumph would, however, be short-lived, and Sitting Bull and his loyal band of followers would be forced to surrender their freedom only five years later. This book reveals his incredible life and legacy in full.

The word "holodomor" derives from a combination of two Ukrainian words: holod (hunger) and mor (extermination). This term is used to describe one of the least-known events of state-sponsored mass starvation: the Great Famine of Soviet Ukraine in 1932-1933. Around four million Ukrainians died during the famine, and yet, the extent of this human catastrophe was virtually unknown in the West. Up to 1991, the Soviet Union refused to acknowledge that any famine had taken place in Ukraine at all.

Richard Pryor was one of the greatest comedic minds of all time, but his stand-up routine was more than just comedy. His deft navigation through the human condition often made it seem like his comic observations were more akin to a cathartic form of group therapy. As Pryor ran through all the ills of human existence, it was as if he were embarking upon a great purging of the psyche for both him and the audience.

The Irish War of Independence, which ended in July 1921, led directly to the agreement of the Anglo-Irish Treaty, an agreement that provided Ireland with a measure of independence. The Irish Free State was created, and Ireland was granted a level of autonomy it had not enjoyed for more than 100 years. However, the treaty contained a clause that was to divide Ireland, literally and politically.