History of Europe

ALL SALAMANCA AND ITS PROVINCE
No author given. Color photos illustrate. Condition: 1985 Escudo de Oro, S.A. Trade Paperback, Fourth Edition. Beautiful color photos. Content: The history of this ancient city (Hannibal once conquered it, as did the Celts) in text and color photos. Simply beautiful. [1 copy available]
$ 4.95 + $ 3.15 media shipping.

AND THE WORLD CLOSED ITS DOORS: The Story of One Family Abandoned to the Holocaust
by David Clay Large. B&W era photo section. Condition: NEW 2003 Basic Books hardcover & DJ (in mylar jacket), first edition, first printing. Remainder. Content: Max Schohl's family, including his wife and two teenage daughters, fled Germany for Yugoslavia in 1940. As a Jew, Max was no longer permitted to live and work in his own country. In 1942, Schohl was deported to Auschwitz, where he died the following year. His wife and daughters were sent back to Germany to work as slave laborers. They survived and finally were able to emigrate to the U.S. after World War II. Schohl's youngest daughter, Kathe, now 79 and living in Charleston, West Virginia, provided Large with letters and other documents chronicling the family's efforts to escape. Much of the book is in the form of letters, many of them between Max Schohl and Rudolf Hess. Large describes Germany in the 1920s and 1930s by saying "What I try to do in this narrative is to attach a specific human face and voice to the otherwise bloodless record of political calculations and bureaucratic regulations." More clearly than many other books, Large's account depicts the tragic abandonment of the Jews by Western nations. Questions welcome. [1 copy available]
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ARMIES OF PESTILENCE: The Impact of Disease on History
by R.S. Bray. Condition: NEW 2002 Barnes & Noble hardcover & DJ (in mylar jacket), second printing. Content: Infectious diseases put an end to the Golden Age of Athens, wrecked Justinian the Great's dream of restoring the Roman Empire to its former glory, and played the major role in virtually eliminating the Indians from North America. Yet historians have minimized the role of infectious diseases. Questions welcome. [1 copy available]
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BLACK SEA
by Neal Ascherson. B&W maps illlustrate. Condition: UNREAD, but not perfect, 2001 Hill & Wang Trade papaerback, 5th printing. Light edge wear - not crisp. Content: If Ascherson cannot pinpoint precisely where Xenophon's 10,000 soldiers were when, lost on the march home from Persia 2600 years ago, they saw the sea and thought they were home, there is little else he does not tell us in this exotic and seductive history of the Black Sea. From his tales of its peculiar composition?in the depths beneath its upper stream of living water, it is the world's largest dead sea?to those of the myriad of peoples who have inhabited its coasts throughout time, his stories seem more fabulous than the Arabian Nights. Ascherson tells of obscure tribes, familiar heroes, lost languages, current politics and ancient hostilities as poisonous as the depths of the Black Sea itself. Around the once "monstrously abundant" Black Sea, peoples who disliked each other lived together, at best uneasily, at worst at war: Goths, Romans, Germans, Greeks, Turks, Jews, Russians, Persians, Asians and others. "My sense of Black Sea life," concludes Ascherson, "a sad one, is that latent mistrust between different cultures is immortal... not a helpful model for the 'multi-ethnic society' of our hopes and dreams." In his exploration of the myths and realities surrounding this remarkable region, where ancient cultures collided and modern states - Russia, Turkey, Romania, Greece, and Caucasus - mingle, he discovers that the meanings of community, nationhood, and cultural independence are both fierce and disturbingly uncertain. Questions welcome. [1 copy available]
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CODE NAME VALKYRIE: Count von Staufenberg and the plot to kill Hitler
by James Forman. B&W photo section. B&W maps. Condition: Gently pre-read, if at all, 1975 Dell paperback, first printing. Edge wear with hinge crease and light tanning to pages. Content: Detailed account of the plot to kill Hitler. Excellent presentation of the military officers and civilians involved. Surely one of the references for the recent Tom Cruise movie. Questions welcome. [1 copy available]
$ 2.29 + $ 2.94 media shipping.

THE DESTRUCTION OF YUGOSLAVIA: Tracing the Break-Up 1980 - 92
by Branka Magas. Condition: Gently pre-used 1995 Versa (UK) Trade Paperback, second impression. Although the book appears unread, there is highlighting to page 25, and thereafter, perfect. Content: Magas, a Croatian journalist and historian, offers some pointed, alternative perspectives on the former Yugoslavia in this compilation of her often-prescient articles, written for New Left Review and other journals. Though this is not a comprehensive or narrative history, and some articles are redundant, Magas adds to the literature of Yugoslavia by emphasizing the politics of intellectuals; she identifies the 1981 institution of martial law in the province of Kosovo as a watershed, since Serbian leftist intellectuals did not protest but rallied to nationalism. Magas criticizes intellectuals inside and outside the country for not understanding the link between uenven economic development and nationalist intolerance. Serbian nationalism, she observes, is backed by "the only structures of the Yugoslav Communist state that managed to escape the process of democratization: the Serbian Communist Party and the Army High Command." The book also includes manifestos and letters from Yugoslavian organizations and from Yugoslavians outside the country. Magas's writings show that at least some observers were warning of chaos long before it erupted. [366 pages] [1 copy available]
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FAITH, REASON, AND THE PLAGUE IN SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY TUSCANY
by Carlo M. Cipolla. Translated by Muriel Kittrel. B&W photos & illustrations. Condition: UNREAD 1981 W. W. Norton soft cover, third printing. Content: By the late fall of 1630, the Black Plague had descended upon northern Italy. the prentice Magistracy of Public Health, centered in Florence, took steps to contain and combat the scourge. In this essay, Cipolla recreates the daily struggle of plague-stricken Monte Lupo, a rustic Tuscan village, revealing in the vivid terms of actual events and prsonalities a central drama of Western civilization - the conflict between faith and eason, church and state. [1 copy available]
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THE FIRST EDEN: The Mediterranean World and Man
by David Attenborough. Color photos & drawings illustrate. Condition: UNREAD 1990 Little, Brown hardcover & DJ (in mylar jacket), most likely a Book Club Edition. Tiny shelfwear to DJ edges - interior perfect. Content: Attenborough, in this lavishly illustrated volume, a TV tie-in, focuses on the cradle of Western civilization, tracing the life of the Mediterranean from salt bed to lush paradise and its ultimate exploitation. History, natural history and archeology come together in a narrative that portrays the changing attitudes of mankind toward the environment. Attenborough surveys early plant and animal life; he discusses climatic changes, noting that today the hostile season is summer. An examination of prehistoric cave drawings leads to the subject of animal gods and sacrificial worship. The domestication of the horse opened the doors to wars and migration; Attenborough chronicles the movements in both directions from the Huns to the Crusaders and, finally, looks at more recent despoliation. The final chapter locates pockets of Edenareas of preservation. [1 copy available]
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THE GOLDEN FLEECE: Tales from the Caucasus
translated by Avril Pyman. Color & B&W illustrations. Condition: Overall a very good copy of a rare book published in 1971 by Progress Publishers in Moscow, printed in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. First printing. Grey cloth boards with decorations. Decorated endpages. Interior clean & tight. Clever color & B&W illustrations. The DJ has done its job and protected the book: tiny tear top spine with edgewear at corners. Now in protective mylar jacket. I love this book! Content: In keeping with pacaritambo books' theory that a country's folklore belongs with it's history, we submit this book for your consideration. The stories are: The Daughter of the Sun (from Georgia); The Tale of the Red Cow (Armenia); Flower of Ezhvan (Georgia); Okhik (Armenia); Doctor Lokhman (Armenia); Tale of the Orphan (Azerbaijan); Azaran Bulbul (Armenia); Tale of the Dev Who Tried to Kill the Miller's Son (Georgia); Quarter-Master Fox and the Tsar's Son (Georgia); Anait (Armenia); Ibrahim (Azerbaijan); Amiran (from Georgia); Merchant's Daughter and the Seven Brothers (Azerbaijan); and an Afterword by Professor E. Pomerantseva. Questions welcome. [1 copy available]
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HERALDRY: An Introduction to a Noble Tradition (Discoveries series
by Michel Pastoureau. Beautiful color art & photos with B&W illustrations. Condition: NEW 1997 Harry Abrams (Discoveries series) small soft cover, no printing given. Content: This book, like all of the history books in the Discoveries series, is an excellent introdruction to the age of chivalry and its symbols as found in Heraldry. It includes a glossary of crests, a history of the European tradition of heraldry explains its origins, the meaning of its colors and symbols, and its survival in the world's flags, emblems, and corporate logos. Questions welcome. [2 copies available]
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THE HISTORY OF THE GUILLOTINE
by Allister Kershaw. B&W photos throughout. Condition: NEW 1993 Barnes & Noble hardcover & DJ (in mylar jacket), first printing. Content: This history is an ironic, literate, and scrupulously authentic account of the instrument which was adopted in the name of humanitarianism but came to be identified with the terror and ferocity of the French Revolution. Kershaw traces the history of this infamous machine from when it was first proposed to the National Assembly, and over the course of his story revels an abundance of astonishing and little known facts. [1 copy left]
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THE HISTORY OF PROSTITUTION (AKA Ladies of Vice)
by George Ryley Scott. B&W photo section. Condition: NEW 1996 Senate (London) Trade PB with tiny edgewear. Originally published in 1968 as Ladies of Vice. Content: This is a discussion of the world's oldest profession from ancient Rome to today's practitioners - history, psychology, and how government interventions. Not for everyone.
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IN SEARCH OF DRACULA: A True History of Dracula and Vampire Legends
by Raymond McNally and Radu Florescu.. B&W photos, drawings, and color movie stills illustrate. Condition: Gently pre-read 1972 Galahad Books hardcover & DJ (in mylar jacket), no printing given. Series of tiny & small "repaired" cuts top DJ edge. Content: Reviewer: "Any serious student of vampire legends or of Eastern European medieval history will not want to miss this book. First published over twenty years ago, this book in my opinion remains, along with the Author's other work on Dracula, Dracula: Prince of Many Faces: His Life and Times, the standard introduction to Vlad the Impaler and his connection with Bram Stoker's classic Gothic horror novel "Dracula." Writing as historians, they have been criticised by other authors for what appears to be their grudging admiration for the Impaler's political savvy and military skill; they do not praise him for his many atrocities however, but, like good historians, attempt to remain as dispassionate as possible towards their subject, attemting to understand and explian him. In the appendices they do compare the various medieval Dracula traditions, analysing the various reports of his atrocities by medieval Romanian, German and Russian writers-all of whom wrote from a biased position. Also refreshing to me is the fact that the authors do not share the now prevalent view that Bram Stoker was a sexually repressed Victorian author whose novel is filled with thinly veiled sexual undertones; to me, this is a result of modern authors reading the modern obsession with sex back onto Stoker. The book will be of value to students of Eastern European folklore as well as horror film buffs, as it sets forth much information on vampire lore from Eastern Europe and also contains a detailed film guide to Dracula films-from Murnau's silent classic "Nosferatu" to Coppola's "Bram Stoker's Dracula". There is also much information on Stoker and Dracula and Vampires in literature. Questions welcome. [1 copy available]
$ 6.79 + $ 3.39 media shipping.

JOAN OF ARC: Her Story (Movie Tie-In)
by Regine Pernoud & Marie-Veronique Clin (translation by Jeremy Adams). B&W illustrations section. Condition: Very Good+, 1999 Palgrave-McMillan Trade Paperback, 1st thus, 1st printing. Rrevised & translated by Jeremy Adams. Appears unread, but is not "crisp." Beautiful cover art of "Joan" by Jean Dominique, 1854. Content: The peasant girl who led an army against the English and placed Charles VII on the French throne has inspired countless books since her death at age 19. While others have claimed Joan the Maid (as she called herself) for every cause from feminism to working-class radicalism, this meticulous volume by two French scholars sticks close to the known facts. The authors make extensive use of contemporary documents that bring to life the turbulent political scene in which Joan operated as well as her forceful personality. Joan followed the directives of voices she believed were sent to her by God; her deep piety, self-assurance, decisiveness, and shrewd intelligence radiate from her letters and from her responses to hostile questioning at the rigged trial that resulted in her being burned alive as a heretic in 1431. Basis for the movie by Luc Besson. [1 copy available]
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PICASSO'S GUERNICA
by Anthony Blunt. B&W long pull-out of the painting with B&W photos detailing the stages of creation. Condition: PLEASE READ / UNREAD, but not perfect, 1980 Oxford Univ. Press Trade Paperback, 6th printing. Interior perfect. Tanning to the white cover edges. Content: On May 26, 1937, the German air force acting under the orders of General Franco bombed and almost destroyed the defenseless city of Guernica on a crowded market day. Six days later, Picasso began work on his huge painting Guernica. Our understanding of the painting is helped by the preservation of 45 preliminary studies, all except one dated to a precise day, and by the preservation of seven photos of the actual painting at various stages of its realization. The most comprehensive read of what occured behind the scenes of Picasso's famed painting. Questions welcome. [1 copy available]
$ 45.00 + $ 3.19 media shipping.

SHIPWRECKS OF THE REVOLUTIONARY & NAPOLEONIC ERAS
by Terence Grocott. Condition: Gently pre-read 2002 Caxton hardcover (pictorial boards) & DJ (in mylar jacket), first printing. Content: This book is a chronicle of shipping disasters during the last great war of the age of sail, based almost exclusively on reporting of the time. Listed are some fifteen hundred ships, vessels naval and mercantile, of many nations whose tribulations wee covered in the national and local newspapers as well as the specialist press like the Naval Chronicle. Questions welcome. [1 copy available]
$ 7.49 + $ 3.49 media shipping.

SOCIAL POLICY IN THE THIRD REICH: The Working Class and the 'National Community'
by Tim Mason. Condition: NEW 1997 Berg Trade Paperback, reprint. One very very pale impression front cover. Everything else perfect. Content: This book analyzes the attitudes and policies of the Nazi leadership towards the German working class. The author argues that the regime did not securely integrate the working class and was thus less successful in imposing mass economic sacrifices in the interests of forced rearmament. With a growing labour shortage in the late 1930s, industrial conflict re emerged. These two factors slowed down military preparations for war and may well, it is argued, have influenced Hitler's foreign policy in 1938/39.The author has added a substantial epilogue to this edition in which he responds to the main criticisms, aroused by the German original, and assesses the relevance of more recent research to the arguments put forward. Questions welcome. [1 copy available]
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THRESHOLD OF TERROR: The Last Hours of the Monarchy in the French Revolution
by Rodney Allen. B&W photos, maps, and drawings illustrate. Condition: NEW 2001 Sutton Publishing (UK) soft cover, first printing. Content: Allen sees in the August 10, 1792 Revolution in France the same failed attempt to establish "a new social and political era" that marked the October 25, 1917 Revolution in Russia. Using a number of eyewitness accounts previously unpublished in English, with direct quotations and paraphrases interwoven into the text, Allen has produced a marvelously detailed picture of the final hours of this crucial collapse and transformation of the high hopes that had begun in France with the fall of the Bastille in 1789. Its aftermath would be totalitarian politics, terror, civil war, and external conflict as a means both to rejoin a fractured society and to spread ideology. Questions welcome. [1 copy available]
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TROTSKY: Memoir & Critique
by Albert Glotzer. Trotsky photo front DJ panel. Condition: UNREAD 1990 Prometheus Books hardcover & DJ (in mylar jacket), no edition given. Content: As a youthful member of the American Communist League (a Trotskyite group) Glotzer made several trips to visit Trotsky during his exile from the Soviet Union. In 1937 he served as court stenographer for the American commission investigating Stalin's conspiracy charges against Trotsky. Although the outline of Trotsky's career and philosophy are assumed, the detailed accounts of Stalin's show trials (1936-38) and of the Trotsky hearings are the most valuable feature of the book. The long discourses on factional differences among Communist groups become tiresome for the uninitiated. Explanations of how and why Trotsky lost out on control of the Russian party to Stalin are based on intimate knowledge of both events and personalities. Questions welcome. [1 copy available]
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THE WAY OF THE PIRATE: Who's Who in Davy Jones' Locker
by Robert Downie. Condition: UNREAD 2005 ibooks Trade Paperback, first printing. Originally published as Who's Who in Davy Jones' Locker. Content: An alphabetical listing of all the Pirates who sailed the seas and other related persons. Excellent reference book. Wonder if Captain Jack Sparrow is in here? Questions welcome. [1 copy available]
$ 2.49 + $3.09 media shipping.

WITCHCRAZE: A New History of the European Witch Hunts
by Anne Llewellyn Barstow. B&W photos illustrate. Condition: UNREAD 1993 Pandora Trade Paperback, firt printing. Light tanning to page edges. Beautiful wrap-around color cover but no credit given. Content: A definitive portrait of the witch-hunts that terrorized European women during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Though the persecution, torture, and execution of more than seven million women suspected of being witches during this period has been documented in other historical sources, Barstow is the first scholar to offer a convincing gender analysis of the Reformation-era witch craze. According to Barstow, independent and intelligent women often proved to be convenient targets for misogynists seeking scapegoats for every conceivable social ill. Most interesting is the author's credible assertion that the witch-hunts not only paralleled the emergence of a more patriarchal society, but also heralded the disturbing decline in the status of women that continued over the course of the next several centuries. A fascinating historical treatise that provides an evolutionary context for the contemporary proliferation and escalation of violence toward women. Questions welcome. [1 copy available]
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WITCHES: History of a Persecution
by Nigel Cawthorne. Great B&W era photos and art work with B&W photos. Condition: NEW 2006 Chartwell Books hard cover (pictorial boards) & DJ (in mylar jacket), first thus. Content: Using contemporaneous court reports, depositions, letters, confessions and detailed written accounts, the author builds a terrifying picture of a world beset by the collective mania that was the witch hunt. Illustrated throughout in black & white. Questions welcome. [1 copy available]
$ 9.75 + $ 3.49 media shipping

A YOUNG GIRL'S UNTOLD WAR STORY
by Helena Boyle. Condition: UNREAD Dorrance Publishing Trade Paperback, first printing. HOWEVER, something was "stuck" to the bottom back cover (I'm working on that) and has left a strange pale medium discoloration. No idea what but it does not bleed through to the inside cover or to the pages. Interior clean & tight. Content: Boyle spins a gripping tale that will appeal to all lovers of history and biography. The story is the true-life account of Boyle’s incredible experiences during World War II. Growing up as one of six children in a poor household in Riga, Latvia, life was difficult. At a young age, Helena was compelled to work in order to support herself. Aware of the encroaching presence of World War II, she became fearful. Some of her most horrifying fears were realized when her grandfather was shot by the Germans during the invasion of Latvia, and the family had to retrieve his body from a shallow grave. While working as a farmhand at barely the age of sixteen, she was kidnapped by invading German soldiers and spent many months at their mercy. Much of the time she was unaware of what was happening to her, because the Germans rendered her unconscious with poisonous gases. She did not spend the duration of the war years marching with that regiment, however. Boyle’s quest for survival led her through many different places, and her difficult journey did not stop with the end of the war. Ms. Boyle now lives in Fort Worth. [1 copy available]
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