Showing results by narrator "Colin Fluxman" in All Categories

While Squanto's name could have meant "the rage of the Manitou" in his native language, there was nothing rageful about this man who, in spite of a lifetime of hardship and mistreatment, nonetheless had the strength of character to help a small group of starving English families survive their first winter in the "New World." At the same time, one of the obstacles in understanding Squanto's life is the fact that almost everything now known about him is based on information recorded by others who had a certain stake in what they wrote.

The First World War came at an unfortunate time for those who would fight in it, and while the role of Japan in World War II is widely known, Japan’s important role in the First World War is mostly overlooked...Japan and World War I: The History of the Japanese Empire’s Participation in the Great War analyzes the actions of the forgotten ally, and how Japan’s participation helped set the stage for its expansion across the Pacific. Along with pictures of important people, places, and events, you will learn about Japan and World War I like never before.

England is an ancient land steeped in history and tradition, filled with prehistoric ruins, majestic castles, and a countryside sculpted from human habitation. For centuries, people have told tales of ghosts stalking its historic buildings, primeval forests, and ancient sites. The Ghosts of England: A Collection of Ghost Stories Across the English Nation offers a sampling of the many strange ghost stories and unexplained phenomena that make England such an intriguing place.

Scotland Yard. The name itself conjures up a mental picture of old-time detectives in trench coats snooping around a crime scene with a giant magnifying glass. Indeed, over the years, the Metropolitan Police Force in London has become an inspirational icon, and the setting of countless literary masterpieces, films, television shows, music, and other works of art.

Perhaps the most famous epic poems ever written, the Iliad and the Odyssey have been read for nearly 3,000 years, making them the oldest written works in the Western world. The poems made characters like Paris, Helen, Odysseus, Achilles, Hector, and Ajax instantly recognizable, and they also influenced other ancient poets like Virgil, whose Aeneid is clearly modeled after them.

Well beyond the breadth of human existence, major land masses have through the ages reformed into disparate configurations on an inevitable path toward apocalyptic continental collisions. Within that process, our present tectonic reality shows no sign of slowing. Speculation holds, for example, that the African continent will in time overrun what is now the south of Europe. As an aid to perspective, population centers such as Venice and other iconic present-day cities are unlikely to survive what is to us an interminably lengthy natural process.

Tolkien's expertise with language and history inform the story, but The Lord of the Rings is a staggering, complex work for adults, not children. Tolkien took the themes from The Hobbit and revisited them, but this time he went even deeper. The corruptive nature of power and the many forms of bravery are once again front and center as major themes. Working together and the environmental degradation of industrialization and war are also themes woven through the work.

So starts one of Western literature's most epic journeys, The Hobbit, a fantasy novel that has delighted adults and children alike since it was published in 1937 by professor J.R.R. Tolkien. Ostensibly, The Hobbit is an adventurous tale about hobbit Bilbo Baggins, who leaves the cozy comforts of his home to try to win a share of a treasure, guarded by a dragon named Smaug. The novel follows Bilbo and an assorted cast of magical characters and creatures.

The modern world has the ancient Romans to thank for the origins of many modern technologies, conveniences, and ideas, from running water, baths, and republican-style government to roads. Similarly, by the third century BCE, the Romans were prodigious monument builders, so much so that the memory of the great Roman Republic and the Roman Empire continues to exist within a cityscape of stone. Rome’s public spaces were filled with statues, arches, temples, and many other varieties of monumental images, and each of these structures had its own civic or religious function.

The Imperial German Army: The History and Legacy of Germany’s Armed Forces During World War I chronicles the German military in the years after the German Empire’s formation and World War I. You will learn about Germany’s army in World War I like never before.

The United Kingdom is an ancient land steeped in history and tradition, filled with prehistoric ruins, majestic castles, and a countryside sculpted from millennia of human habitation. Its rolling countryside is dotted with prehistoric burial mounds and stone circles. Medieval churches have elaborate stained glass windows and gruesome carvings, reflecting a mixture of hope and darkness. Every hamlet and village has tales that go back centuries, and folk festivals with roots in pagan times. Thus, it is not surprising that many believe the area is filled with ghosts.

The 1919 World Series was one that baseball fans would never forget, but the memories are hardly fond. The Chicago White Sox were favored 5:1 to beat the Cincinnati Reds, and for the first time since 1903, the Series would be a best-of-nine format. However, at a time when players were treated as second class, some sought a payday beyond what they made in the leagues, and the White Sox players were some of the most poorly paid in the league.

Throughout the annals of history, there have been few men as reviled as Marcus Junius Brutus the Younger. To this day he is associated with murder, betrayal, violence, and infamy, so much so that in modern English his name provides the root for the words "brute" and "brutal", as it does in several other Romance languages. Indeed Brutus' reputation was so infamous that when Dante composed his timeless Divine Comedy, he relegated Brutus to the very nethermost depths of hell.

Although he is unquestionably one of the most studied leaders of the 19th century, Simón Bolívar remains today as enigmatic as he was two centuries ago, when his vision and presence largely inspired the overthrow of the Spanish Empire in the New World.

During the Age of Exploration, some of the most famous and infamous individuals were Spain's best known conquistadors. Naturally, as one of the best known conquistadors, Francisco Pizarro (1471/6-1541) is also one of the most controversial. Like Christopher Columbus and Hernan Cortés before him, Pizarro was celebrated in Europe for subduing the Inca Empire, a culture that fascinated his contemporaries.

In 1884, Otto von Bismarck, the German chancellor, brought the plenipotentiaries of all major powers of Europe together, to deal with Africa's colonization in such a manner as to avoid provocation of war. This event—known as the Berlin Conference of 1884-1885—galvanized a phenomenon that came to be known as the Scramble for Africa.

When the Spartans' famous stand at the Battle of Thermopylae ended during the Second Persian War, the Athenian fleet was forced to fall back, and Xerxes' massive Persian army marched into Greece before advancing on Athens. The Greek armies were scattered and unable to face the might of Persia, so Athens was forced to evacuate the entire population of the city to Salamis, from where the Athenians watched in horror as Xerxes' troops plundered the defenseless city, set it aflame, and razed the Acropolis.

Fidel Castro is one of the most influential and controversial men of the last 50 years, equally revered and reviled by people across the globe. To the West, Castro has long been one of the prominent faces of Communism, and the main reason Cuba has been ostracized by many liberal democracies, particularly the United States. On the other hand, Castro has been admired by those who despised capitalism, and despite the fact the political platform Castro advocated has been almost universally repudiated and only maintains a weak hold even in Cuba.

To this day, we feel the influence of imperial Rome. After all, imperial Rome was one of the first successful “melting pots” of cultures. The Romans took what worked and discarded what didn’t work, showing that it was possible to have a stable, centralized government over an extremely large area.

The End of Democracy in Liberia looks at how the 1980 coup changed the country's direction, and the tumultuous decade that followed. You will learn about the end of democracy in Liberia like never before.