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The gripping true story of the bold and determined museum curators who saved the priceless treasures of China's Forbidden City in the years leading up to World War II and beyond.
Spring 1933: The silent courtyards and palaces of Peking's Forbidden City, for centuries the home of Chinese emperors, are tense with fear and expectation. Japan's aircrafts drone overhead, its troops and tanks are only hours away. All-out war between China and Japan is...
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The death of a chief executive, regardless of the circumstances-sudden or expected, still in office or decades later-is always a moment of reckoning and reflection. Mourning the Presidents brings together renowned and emerging scholars to examine how different generations and communities of Americans have eulogized and remembered United States presidents since George Washington's death in 1799. Over twelve individually illuminating chapters, this...
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In the turbulent world of Chicago politics, Boss dives deep into the captivating life and legacy of Richard J. Daley, the influential politician and mastermind behind the city's Democratic Party machine.
Mike Royko's scathing and meticulously researched account follows Richard J. Daley's rise to power, from his inauspicious youth on Chicago's South Side through his rapid climb to the seat of power as the city's mayor.
This engrossing biography brings...
4) The Race to the Future: 8000 Miles to Paris – The Adventure that Accelerated the Twentieth Century
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The racers battle over steep inclines, through narrow mountain passages, and across the arid Gobi Desert. Competitors endure torrential rain and choking dust. There are barely any roads, and petrol is almost impossible to find.
More than its many adventures, the Peking-to-Paris Motor Challenge took place on the precipice of a new world. As the twentieth century dawned, imperial regimes in China and Russia were crumbling, paving the way for the rise...
5) Sabotage!: An In-Depth Investigation of the 1943 Liberator Crash that Killed Polish General Sikorski
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On the night of July 4, 1943, transport aircraft Liberator AL523 took off from Gibraltar's North Front tarmac and within moments crashed into the sea with only one survivor, the pilot. The commander-in-chief of the Polish army and prime minister of the Polish government-in-exile, General Wladyslaw Sikorski, was dead.
Rumors as to the cause of the crash abounded. Was it pilot error? Was it, as officially classified, merely an accident, or was it,...
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Dickensian London is brought to real and vivid life in this innovative, accessible social history, revealing the true character of this place and time through the stories of its street denizens-shortlisted for the Wolfson History Prize 2023
London, 1857: A pair of teenage girls holding a sign that says "Fugitive Slaves" ask for money on the corner of Blackman Street. After a constable accosts them and charges them with begging, they end up in court,...
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Piers has long been unashamedly vocal about the fundamental problems we face as a society, which only became clearer in the midst of the pandemic. Yet just as Coronavirus exposed our flaws, it also showcased our strengths. We saw selfless bravery in the heroic efforts of our health-care staff while thousands flocked to parks for picnics. As stockpilers revealed our extraordinary levels of self-interest, we also witnessed inspiring, noble acts from...
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Richard Phillips Feynman (May 11, 1918 - February 15, 1988) was an American theoretical physicist, known for his work in the path integral formulation of quantum mechanics, the theory of quantum electrodynamics, and the physics of the superfluidity of supercooled liquid helium. In 1965, Feynman received the Nobel Prize in Physics jointly with Julian Schwinger and Shin'ichirō Tomonaga.
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Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913 - April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was the 36th vice president from 1953 to 1961 under President Dwight D. Eisenhower. His five years in the White House saw reduction of U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War, détente with the Soviet Union and China, the...
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Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913 - April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was the 36th vice president from 1953 to 1961 under President Dwight D. Eisenhower. His five years in the White House saw reduction of U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War, détente with the Soviet Union and China, the...
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Marcus Garvey (August 17, 1887 - June 10, 1940) was a charismatic Jamaican-born political leader, publisher, journalist, entrepreneur, and orator. He organized the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League (UNIA-ACL) and acted as its President-General. In 1916 he moved to New York City where his prominence grew. By 1919 he was considered to be the "Black Moses," and he claimed a following of over 2 million people. This...
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Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (October 14, 1890 - March 28, 1969 was an American military officer and statesman who served as the 34th president of the United States from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, he served as Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force in Europe and achieved the five-star rank as General of the Army.
13) A Rare Recording of Poet Robert Frost Reading "The Gift Outright" at President Kennedy's Inauguratio
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In 1961, poet Robert Frost was invited to read at the inauguration of President John F. Kennedy. It would be the first by a poet for an inaugural ceremony. President-elect Kennedy asked Frost to recite the poem "The Gift Outright" unless the poet planned to write a poem especially for the occasion. Frost did, in fact, write a new poem for the day entitled "Dedication." However, when the time came to read, the wind and sun's glare made this impossible,...
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Mahatma Gandhi (October 2, 1869 - January 30, 1948) was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist, and political ethicist who employed nonviolent resistance to lead the successful campaign for India's independence from British rule. He inspired movements for civil rights and freedom across the world.
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Golda Meir (May 3, 1898 - December 8, 1978) was an Israeli politician who served as the fourth Prime Minister of Israel from 1969 to 1974. She was Israel's first and only female head of government, the first female head of government in the Middle East, and the fourth elected female head of government or state in the world. She has been described as the "Iron Lady" of Israeli politics, with a reputation for being down-to-earth and a persuasive speaker....
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Malcolm X (born Malcolm Little, later Malik el-Shabazz; May 19, 1925 - February 21, 1965) was an American Muslim minister and human rights activist who was a prominent figure during the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 60s. A spokesman for the Nation of Islam until 1964, he was a vocal advocate for Black empowerment and the promotion of Islam within the Black community. On February 21, 1965, he was assassinated in New York City. Three Nation...
17) The Ring of Nine
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The Soviets. Allies during the war, enemies shortly after. One of them talks about one of the most harrowing chapters of human history in general and World War Two in particular - the Siege of Leningrad.
The Ring of Nine is a first-person account of the Leningrad Blockade during World War II, translated by Maria K. This work started off as a series of journals written by Maria's late grandfather, Vasily Petrovich Kuznetsov, as he experienced these...
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In this remarkably moving memoir Ariana Neumann dives into the secrets of her father's past: years spent hiding in plain sight in war-torn Berlin, the annihilation of dozens of family members in the Holocaust, and the courageous choice to build anew.
In 1941, the first Neumann family member was taken by the Nazis, arrested in German-occupied Czechoslovakia for bathing in a stretch of river forbidden to Jews. He was transported to Auschwitz. Eighteen...
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In the wake of World War II, with Britain's empire collapsing and Stalin's on the rise, US officials under new Secretary of State George C. Marshall set out to reconstruct western Europe as a bulwark against communist authoritarianism. Their massive, costly, and ambitious undertaking would confront Europeans and Americans alike with a vision at odds with their history and self-conceptions. In the process, they would drive the creation of NATO, the...
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POLITICIAN • PRISONER • PARENT
A portrait of one of the most charismatic, but unknown, world leaders
Aung San Suu Kyi, Nobel Peace Prize laureate and crusader for democracy in Myanmar, is once again behind bars. Her resounding victory at the polls, and re-election to office as civilian head of state, were overturned by the February 2021 military coup—a move with ruinous consequences.
Aung San Suu Kyi has been here before. The first half of...
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