Showing titles in 19th Century

A recent French biography begins, "Who doesn't know Nadar?" In France, that's a rhetorical question. Of all of the legendary figures who thrived in mid-19th-century Paris - a cohort that includes Victor Hugo, Baudelaire, Gustave Courbet, and Alexandre Dumas - Nadar was perhaps the most innovative, the most restless, the most modern. The first great portrait photographer, a pioneering balloonist, the first person to take an aerial photograph, and the prime mover behind the first airmail service, Nadar was one of the original celebrity artist-entrepreneurs.

The bloodiest battle of the Civil War was also its turning point. From this point onwards, the Confederate forces would never gain a hold in the North again. Heroes would be born from places such as Little Roundtop and among the soldiers of Picketts Charge. And later, in the words of Abraham Lincoln, martyrs were created in the aftermath of the conflict, giving reason to a war that no one quite believed in fully until this point.

The Battle of Antietam was a turning point in the Civil War. In the span of several hours, there would be more loss of American life than in any other battle before or since, leaving one in four of the soldiers who took part either dead or wounded by the end of the day. What led to such a disastrous conclusion? And could something positive come from such an appalling massacre? The focus of the war was about to change. So, too, was how the American people viewed war as a whole.

What did 19th-century cities smell like? And how did odors matter in the formation of a modern environmental consciousness? Smell Detectives follows the 19th-century Americans who used their noses to make sense of the sanitary challenges caused by rapid urban and industrial growth.

The War of 1812 is often forgotten when we think about the history of the United States. Yet, the effects of what seems a minor and insignificant conflict are far-reaching, even today. The world settled into the roles it would play out for decades, and the boundaries of the United States and Canada would be set for the next two hundred years. Unlikely heroes would rise, leading to eventual power, while Native Americans play out their own struggle on a backdrop of bloodshed and intrigue.

Das Rom des 16. bis 18. Jahrhundert war die Hauptstadt eines kleinen Staates und zugleich das Herz des christlichen Europa. Botschafter, Kardinäle, Könige aller Länder trafen sich am päpstlichen Hof. Politische Verhandlungen wechselten mit pompösen Festen, eifersüchtig wachten die Vertreter der verschiedenen Nationen über ihre Privilegien oder auch über die stadtbekannten Schönen.

Ein schwäbischer Maurer, ein Dorfschullehrer aus dem Hunsrück, ein Barbier aus der Pfalz: Soldaten unterschiedlichster Herkunft kämpften in den Napoleonischen Kriegen für die politischen Ziele des französischen Kaisers. Wie erlebten sie den Krieg? Karl J. Mayer gibt in diesem Hörbuch den einfachen Soldaten Stimme und Gesicht. Aus Tagebüchern und Briefen entsteht ein facettenreiches Bild vom Alltag der gemeinen Soldaten, angereichert mit Hintergrundinformationen zur Ereignisgeschichte der Zeit. Lesefassung des gleichnamigen Buches aus dem Primus Verlag.

Am 26. Juni 1813 trafen sich im Palais Marcolini in Dresden die großen Kontrahenten Napoleon und Metternich zu einer achtstündigen Unterredung. Nach der Katastrophe in Russland steht für den Kaiser alles auf dem Spiel: Ausgleich mit Österreich oder aber Aufstand Europas und sein Untergang? Napoleon bleibt dem Gesetz des Eroberers treu. Ausmanövriert von Metternich weicht er keinen Schritt von seinen Ansprüchen zurück.

Wallenstein (1583-1634) ist eine Ausnahmefigur, faszinierend wie unerklärlich: Ein begnadetes Militärgenie und kühl kalkulierender Unternehmer, oder aber ein von Horoskopen abhängiger Zauderer? Dem Kaiser und der katholischen Sache treu ergeben oder maßlos egoistisch, ein Verräter? Ihn umgeben bis heute viele Rätsel.

Alles begann im Januar 1891 mit einer Sex-Party im Berliner Jagdschloss Grunewald. Teilgenommen hatten rund 15 adlige Damen und Herren der Hofgesellschaft - einige davon pikanterweise enge Verwandte Wilhelms II. Als ihr sexuelles Treiben in anonymen und mit pornographischen Fotos versehenen Briefen angeprangert wurde und der Inhalt der Briefe an die Öffentlichkeit durchsickerte, zog der Skandal rasch immer weitere Kreise. Als Verfasser der Briefe verdächtigt wurde Zeremonienmeister Leberecht von Kotze.

It has often been said that the greatest invention of all time was the sail, which facilitated the internationalization of the globe and thus ushered in the modern era. Columbus' contact with the New World, alongside European maritime contact with the Far East, transformed human history, and in particular, the history of Africa. It was the sail that linked the continents of Africa, Asia, and Europe, and thus it was also the sail that facilitated the greatest involuntary human migrations in history.

Between the 18th and early 19th centuries, Britain experienced massive leaps in technological, scientific, and economical advancement. This powerful period has since been immortalized as the great Industrial Revolution, during which Britain became a formidable force that boasted unmatched economical growth, drastic changes in living conditions, and even the emergence of a neglected social class. Vast portions of rural lands were transformed into interconnected, complex, and multitasking cities.

For most people, the child's rhyme "London Bridge is falling down" conjures up visions of the tall, majestic, two-towered bridge spanning the River Thames near the Tower of London, with its high footpath providing one of the best views available of the city. The only problem is, this vision is wrong, for the London Bridge of modern times is neither tall nor majestic.

Today, nursing is one of the most ubiquitous professions in the world, and images of war immediately call to mind nursing the wounded, but it was not long ago that such ideas were relatively primitive. Indeed, schoolchildren are still taught about the revolutionary exploits of Florence Nightingale, the war nurse who is often credited as the founder of modern nursing.

On May 14, 1804, a party of explorers dispatched by President Thomas Jefferson set off up the Missouri River into America's newly acquired Louisiana Territory. Under the leadership of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, the men of the Corps of Discovery would cross the continent and into history.

To get a sense of the kind of prestige that Claude Monet's reputation has within the art world, one need only learn that his Le Bassin Aux Nympheás (1919) - from his series of paintings featuring water lilies - sold for the equivalent of more than $70 million. This is an incredibly staggering price, especially considering that early in his life, Monet had been so poor and debt-ridden that some of his paintings were taken from him by creditors.

People love mysteries, which is a good thing since history is so replete with them. This is especially true among seafaring people, and of all the mysteries of the deep, few rise to the level of the Mary Celeste. In many ways, it is a story more suited for an episode of The X-Files than it is for any history book. There is the unlucky ship that began her sailing career under a cloud of bad fortune and accident.

In many ways history is the story of human beings trying to control their destinies by overcoming the effects of their physical surroundings. As too many have learned, the best they could often do was cope with nature, and the various natural disasters produced around the globe. Consider, for example, the year 1816, known as the "Year Without a Summer", which found the working poor in both Europe and America facing starvation caused by factors that few, if any, of them understood.

People love mysteries, which is a good thing, since history is so replete with them. This is especially true among seafaring people, and of all the mysteries of the deep, few rise to the level of the Mary Celeste. In many ways it is a story more suited for an episode of The X-Files than it is for any history book. There is the unlucky ship that began her sailing career under a cloud of bad fortune and accident.

Lives, loves, and loyalties must battle for survival in our fictional story that commences around the time of the potato famine in 1845. Two baby boys are born in a local doctor's house at around the same time of day. One is the son of the lady of the manor, the other is the son of a young Irish peasant woman whose husband works for the lord of the manor.