Showing titles in 18th Century

1757 - Harris's List of Covent Garden Ladies, a salacious publication detailing the names and 'specialties' of the capital's prostitutes, eventually became one of the 18th century's most successful literary works as well as an essential accessory for any serious gentleman of pleasure. Beyond its titillating passages lay a glimpse into the sex lives of those who lived and died by the list's profits during the Georgian era. The Covent Garden Ladies tells the story of three unusual characters whose colourful lives were brought together by this publication.

During the Revolution, relatively little consideration had been given to the role of the federal government in the new nation, and the precise role and authority of an overarching entity with responsibility for all states within the union was a major problem. One of the most urgent tasks Washington faced was the establishment of a treasury to oversee the finances of America and regulate its currency. The Panic of 1792 examines the origins of America’s financial system, and how it was disastrously affected so shortly after the Constitution was ratified.

After 20 years in public service, George Washington turned down a third term as president with this memorable farewell address. In it, he implores the American public to be united above all else, putting aside fervor for their political parties and state lines. He also warns against forming long-term partnerships with foreign nations. Originally this was a 32-page document that was read and distributed widely throughout America after its initial publication, and it deserves the same avid listenership today.

Marie Antoinette's dramatic life-story continues to arouse mixed emotions. To many people, she is still 'la reine mechante', whose extravagance and frivolity helped to bring down the French monarchy; her indifference to popular suffering epitomised by the (apocryphal) words: 'let them eat cake'. Others are equally passionate in her defence: to them, she is a victim of misogyny.

Formidable fresque relatant tous les grands épisodes de la Révolution Française ! Entendez Mirabeau, Danton, Robespierre, la déclaration des Droits de l'homme. Vivez la fantastique aventure d'un peuple secouant le joug pour apporter la liberté à l'ensemble des hommes !

St. Petersburg's structures lie over the skeletons of the press-ganged servant workers who worked to build it, giving it the label "the city built on bones". Historians approximate that 100,000 18th-century serfs are buried underneath the city's stunning Italianate estates and large Parisian-style streets. They were drawn from all around the Russian Empire at the time. They dedicated their lives for the magnificence of Imperial Russia, and the city they built, St. Petersburg, stands as a testament to the Russian state's single-mindedness.

What would become the Russian Empire began in the ninth century. In 1682, a new tsar took over the nation that had become known as Russia. Peter I, remembered as Peter the Great, transformed the country, and in 1721, he adopted the title of emperor. A series of powerful rulers, including Catherine the Great, built on the foundations that Peter had created to expand the territory controlled by the Russian Empire until it became one of the largest empires the world had ever seen. At its zenith, the Russian Empire controlled over one-sixth of the total landmass of the Earth

Mention the 18th century Royal Navy and visions come to mind of swashbuckling sailors swinging from rope to rope while a red-faced captain in an even redder coat and a powdered wig shouts order and pitches fits. Such visions naturally fail to do full justice to a group of men who functioned, with little direction and even less support, on the seas for years at a time. Disney may enjoy portraying them sitting down to sumptuous feasts or cavorting with scantily clad native girls, but the opposite was true.

With this audio, you will learn about Thomas Jefferson through a compilation of original readings and commentary, such as the Declaration of Independence, the Louisiana Purchase, the Lewis and Clark Expedition, the Virginia Statute of Religious Freedom, Jefferson's 10 Canons for Observation in Practical Life, his various correspondence and quotes, details on his presidential campaign, and his first and second Inaugural Address. Also included is an overview of his education and early life.

From its opening amid the horrors of the French Revolution, to its unexpected ending on the shores of the English Channel, The Scarlet Pimpernel fizzes with excitement and wit. Dominating the action is the apparently limp-wristed fop, Sir Percy Blakeney, the most unlikely, though the most gentlemanly of heroes. With a happy countenance Sir Percy outwits all the machinations of Chauvelin, the zealous Revolutionary official, to help nobles escape.

Does democracy die in darkness, as the saying suggests? This book reveals that modern democracy was born in secrecy, despite the widespread conviction that transparency was its very essence.

In this sweeping consideration of Britain in the 18th century, Jeremy Black explores the interconnected roles of power and geography in the creation of a global empire. Geography was at the heart of Britain’s expansion into India, its response to uprisings in Scotland and America, and its revolutionary development of railways.

The French Revolution of the late 1790s was one of the critical events in the history of Europe. It was the defining moment—a historic landslide that ushered the world into a completely new different epoch. Alas, all such changes come at a great cost. In the wake of the revolution, a series of large scale conflicts ensued, which are collectively known as the Napoleonic Wars. Their magnitude, their ferocity, and the loss of lives they caused were unprecedented up to that time.

After revolutions in America and France, a wave of tumult coursed the globe from 1790 to 1850. It was a moment of unprecedented change and violence especially for indigenous peoples. By 1850 vibrant public debate between colonised communities had exploded in port cities. Yet in the midst of all of this, Britain struck out by sea and established its supremacy over the Indian and Pacific Oceans, overtaking the French and Dutch as well as other rivals.

In the Shadow of the Empress is the sweeping family saga of beautiful Maria Theresa, the only woman to inherit and rule the vast Habsburg empire in her own name, and three of her remarkable daughters: lovely, talented Maria Christina, governor general of the Austrian Netherlands; spirited Maria Carolina, the resolute queen of Naples; and the youngest, Marie Antoinette, the glamorous, tragic queen of France, perhaps the most famous princess in history.

Rick Atkinson, author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning An Army at Dawn and two other superb books about World War II, has long been admired for his deeply researched, stunningly vivid narrative histories. Now, he turns his attention to a new war, and in this book about the American Revolution recounts the first 21 months of America’s violent war for independence. From the battles at Lexington and Concord in spring 1775 to those at Trenton and Princeton in winter 1777, American militiamen and then the ragged Continental Army take on the world’s most formidable fighting force.

The French Revolution was a period of considerable political and social change in France that started in 1789 with the starting of the Estates General and ended in the month of November 1799 with the development of the French Consulate. Tons of its ideas are now regarded important structures of liberal democracy, while terms like liberté, égalité, and fraternité resurfaced in following revolts, which includes the 1917 Russian Revolution, and stimulated efforts to eliminate oppression and attain universal suffrage.

The West looted millions of priceless relics from China during the colonial era. It's time to give them back. This book tells the story of when they were stolen, who stole them and where they are now. It also offers a way to give China back its treasures which should be acceptable to everyone.

Il 2 giugno del 1793 la Convenzione, da tre giorni in seduta permanente nelle Tuileries, già reggia dei sovrani di Francia, tenta di rompere l'assedio delle sezioni sanculotte parigine ma viene respinta dal popolo in armi. Poco dopo, i ventidue deputati girondini, considerati nemici dalla Comune, vengono espulsi dalla fazione giacobina e arrestati.

Wedlock is the remarkable story of the Countess of Strathmore and her marriage to Andrew Robinson Stoney. Mary Eleanor Bowes was one of Britain's richest young heiresses. She married the Count of Strathmore who died young, and pregnant with her lover's child, Mary became engaged to George Gray. Then in swooped Andrew Robinson Stoney. Mary was bowled over and married him within the week. But nothing was as it seemed. Stoney was broke, and his pursuit of the wealthy Countess a calculated ploy.