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Books in History

Spanning global eras and themes, this extensive history collection features scholarly narratives, primary sources, and thematic studies. Supporting researchers, educators, and students, it delves into societal transformations, political movements, and cultural developments across centuries. Emphasizing critical analysis and interdisciplinary approaches, these resources foster a nuanced understanding of past events and their influence on contemporary society.

BooksJournals

    • Science, Technology & Society in the Time of Alfred Nobel

      Nobel Symposium 52 Held at Björkborn, Karlskoga, Sweden, 17-22 August 1981
      • 1st Edition
      • Carl Gustaf Bernhard + 2 more
      • English
      The papers contained in this volume were presented at the Nobel Symposium which marked the eightieth anniversary of the first award of the Nobel prizes in 1901. Leading scholars from many different fields of science and technology exchange viewpoints across interdisciplinary boundaries. Participants were chosen for their special knowledge of science and technology in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and papers cover the period from the 1860s to the outbreak of the First World War.

    • Cathedrals of Learning

      Great and Ancient Universities of Western Europe
      • 1st Edition
      • Blaise Cronin
      • English
      Cathedrals of Learning: Great and Ancient Universities of Western Europe provides a conspectus of the great Western European universities, pithily tells their life stories, showcases their architectural heritage, and describes the art, literary, and natural history collections they have accumulated over the centuries. This book profiles the ancient universities and their distinctive organizational cultures, reveals their customs, ceremonies, and traditions, their quirks and quiddities, recounts their complicated histories, describes their architectural wonders (libraries, museums, anatomy theaters, botanical gardens) and treasures (rare manuscripts, antiquities, paintings, and objects d’art of all kinds), and introduces their famous alumni, distinguished scholars, Nobel Prize-winning scientists, and famously eccentric personalities. It is a book for scholars, researchers, and anyone interested in these ancient institutions that remain centers of learning in the contemporary world.

    • The Transformation of Political Culture 1789-1848

      • 1st Edition
      • Volume 3
      • F. Furet + 1 more
      • English
      This third volume in a much praised series on The French Revolution and the Creation of Modern Political Culture examines the way in which the Revolution has been portrayed in European thought and its impact upon the development of political philosophy in the nineteenth century. Opening with the influence of Burke and other contemporaries of the Revolution and the ensuing debate over the question "Why the Terror?", this volume explores such diverse themes as the legacy of the Revolution on the political and social evolution of Germany, England, Italy and Russia; the crisis it brought about in the Catholic Church; and the difficulties encountered in determining the end of the Revolution. By showing that the upheaval in European politics and philosophy caused by the French Revolution continued to shape nations, peoples and thought, the texts brought together in this volume permit a better understanding of the event's extraordinary complexity.

    • Regiomontanus: His Life and Work

      • 1st Edition
      • Volume 1
      • E. Zinner + 1 more
      • English
      The 500th anniversary of Regiomontanus's birth has occasioned this depiction of his life and work. It is the first English translation of Ernst Zinner's monumental biography, plus a number of specially-written supplementary articles which help paint a more comprehensive picture of the current state of knowledge about Regiomontanus. The articles show the high regard in which the biography is still held by the community of scholars doing work on the mathematics of the Renaissance.Zinner's biography is a mine of information about early printing, astrolabes, tables of eclipses and the world of Henry of Langenstein, Johann of Gmunden, Georg Peuerbach, Cardinal Bessarion, Nicholas of Cusa and the extraordinary itinerant scholar, Johannes Müller of Königsberg — Regiomontanus. His contributions to mathematics are discussed (for example, he may have discovered the fifth and sixth perfect numbers) as well as the mysteries surrounding his life and death.

    • Maya Subsistence

      Studies in Memory of Dennis E. Puleston
      • 1st Edition
      • Kent V. Flannery
      • English
      Maya Subsistence: Studies in Memory of Dennis E. Puleston presents studies on the history and development of Maya subsistence in honor of Maya archaeologist Dennis E. Puleston (1940-1978). The discussions are organized around four themes: ecological models for early Maya adaptations; archaeological investigations of Pre-classic and classic Maya subsistence; contributions of geography and soil science to an understanding of ancient Maya subsistence; and Maya subsistence in the post-classic, colonial, and modern eras. Comprised of 15 chapters, this book begins with an analysis of Puleston's career and a review of the history of inquiry into Maya subsistence. Maya subsistence from the earliest Pre-classic period up to the present day is then examined, with emphasis on agriculture, hunting, wild plant collecting, animal husbandry, and trade. In particular, cultural development in the Valley of Guatemala from 1500 B.C. to the Spanish Conquest is discussed, along with the resources of the tropical lowlands and actual prehistoric cornfields miraculously preserved by volcanic ashfall in El Salvador. The book also presents evidence for Maya soil and water conservation over the entire area from Yucatan to Chiapas and central Guatemala, and looks at the traditional role of women and animals in lowland Maya economy. This monograph will be of interest to archaeologists and anthropologists.

    • Selected Speeches and Writings

      • 1st Edition
      • Konstantin Chernenko
      • English
      Selected Speeches and Writings contains Konstantin Chernenko's selected speeches and writings. Some of his writings are entitled, "The Leninist Strategy of Peace in Action," "Communists in the USSR," "For Lasting Peace and Dependable Security in Europe," and "Trust and Cooperation among Nations-The Guarantee of Peace and Security." His speeches include those presented at a ceremonial meeting on the occasion of awarding the Order of the Red Banner to the borderguard unit of the Red Banner Eastern Border District, on August 16, 1979. Other speeches presented at a Soviet-Bulgarian friendship meeting at the telephone and telegraph equipment factory in Sofia, on December 5, 1979, and at a meeting in Havana with students and teachers of the Lenin Boarding School are included as well.

    • Historical Foundations of the Common Law

      • 1st Edition
      • S. F. C. Milsom
      • English
      Historical Foundations of the Common Law provides a general overview of the development of the common law. The book is comprised of 14 chapters that are organized into four parts. The first part deals with the institutional background and covers the centralization of justice; the institutions of the common law; and the rise of equity. The second part deals with land properties, while the third part talks about legal obligations. The last part details criminal administration and law. The text will be of great use to individuals who have an interest in the development of the common law.

    • Mediaeval and Renaissance Logic

      • 1st Edition
      • Volume 2
      • Dov M. Gabbay + 1 more
      • English
      Starting at the very beginning with Aristotle's founding contributions, logic has been graced by several periods in which the subject has flourished, attaining standards of rigour and conceptual sophistication underpinning a large and deserved reputation as a leading expression of human intellectual effort. It is widely recognized that the period from the mid-19th century until the three-quarter mark of the century just past marked one of these golden ages, a period of explosive creativity and transforming insights. It has been said that ignorance of our history is a kind of amnesia, concerning which it is wise to note that amnesia is an illness. It would be a matter for regret, if we lost contact with another of logic's golden ages, one that greatly exceeds in reach that enjoyed by mathematical symbolic logic. This is the period between the 11th and 16th centuries, loosely conceived of as the Middle Ages. The logic of this period does not have the expressive virtues afforded by the symbolic resources of uninterpreted calculi, but mediaeval logic rivals in range, originality and intellectual robustness a good deal of the modern record. The range of logic in this period is striking, extending from investigation of quantifiers and logic consequence to inquiries into logical truth; from theories of reference to accounts of identity; from work on the modalities to the stirrings of the logic of relations, from theories of meaning to analyses of the paradoxes, and more. While the scope of mediaeval logic is impressive, of greater importance is that nearly all of it can be read by the modern logician with at least some prospect of profit. The last thing that mediaeval logic is, is a museum piece. Mediaeval and Renaissance Logic is an indispensable research tool for anyone interested in the development of logic, including researchers, graduate and senior undergraduate students in logic, history of logic, mathematics, history of mathematics, computer science and AI, linguistics, cognitive science, argumentation theory, philosophy, and the history of ideas.

    • Science, Churchill and Me

      The Autobiography of Hermann Bondi
      • 1st Edition
      • Hermann Bondi + 1 more
      • English
      Recounts the experiences, appointments and achievements of this eminent scientist. Dealing systematically with Bondi's childhood in Austria, arrival in Cambridge and his important contributions to the field of mathematics before his appointment as Master of Churchill College, Cambridge, the book conveys how an initially strictly academic career led to a range of positions in the public sector finishing with a return to academia.

    • A History of Psychology in Metascientific Perspective

      • 1st Edition
      • Volume 53
      • K.B. Madsen
      • English
      Two fields of interest are combined in this volume: the history of science and the theory, or philosophy, of science (metascience). The result is a history of psychology with emphasis placed upon a metascientific analysis of the work of fourteen psychologists from various periods.Each analysis is set in historical context; a period or school is discussed in each chapter, together with a metascientific analysis of some major works from the respective period or school. The author employs a metascientific descriptive system or `systematology' developed during more than 30 years of work on comparative, metascientific studies of about 50 psychological theories. The results of those studies have been published in previous works.These analyses are also used here for verifying T.S. Kuhn's much-debated theory about the `revolutionary' development of sciences. The author revises Kuhn's theory and shows that it can be applied to the history of psychology. Thus, in a Kuhnian sense, psychology may be said to have had two `normal periods' and two `periods of crisis' leading to school formation.