World History Books

THE GARDENS OF THEIR DREAMS: Desertification and Culture in World History
by Brian Griffith. Condition: NEW 2001 Zed Books Trade Paperback, first printing. Content: This magnificent history of the desert relates the human consequences of its relentless expansion. As a result of the past several thousand years, the Great Desert now stretches in almost unbroken continuity from Mauritania's Atlantic seaboard through the Middle East and Central Asia to the Great Wall of China. The author seeks to understand how the great civilizations in the original "green lands" of North Africa, Ancient Egypt, the Middle East, South Asia, and China responded and changed under the pressure of invaders fleeing growing environmental degradation in the surrounding deserts. In fascinating detail, Brian Griffith's cultural history of the deserts of Africa and Asia shows how the expanding wasteland fundamentally reshaped people's images of nature, women, politics, and religion. Questions welcome. [3 copies available]
$ 7.49 + $ 3.19 media shipping. Priority & International shipping available.

HAZARDOUS HISTORY
by English Heritage. Cover art by Rowan Barnes-Murphy. Condition: NEW 2006 English Heritage (UK) small hardcover (pictorial boards - no DJ issued), first printing. Content: Life today has its problems, but it wasn't so long ago that everyday life in the home, let alone going out to public spaces, was fraught with danger. Put a foot wrong and you could be in deep trouble. Walking down a medieval street ran the risk of being doused from above in someone else's slops, or being crushed in a game of mob football in which several hundred took part. Hygiene as we know it was non-existent. The meting out of law and order leant a brutal and terrible meaning to the concept of rough justice. As late as 1819 people could be hanged in Britain for such minor transgressions as cutting down a tree in any avenue, garden or plantation, impersonating a Chelsea pensioner, or for damaging Westminster Bridge. Disease was an ever-present menace in Victorian streets, especially in overcrowded areas. Set against this backcloth, history was hazardous indeed, as this absorbing and gruesomely detailed book reveals. Questions welcome. [1 copy available]
$ 8.49 + $ 3.19 media shipping. Priority & International shipping available.

THE MEDICI GIRAFFE And Other Tales of Exotic Animals and Power
by Marina Belozerskaya. Beautiful wrap-around cover art by Marc Burkhardt. B&W woodcuts and photos illustrate. Condition: NEW 2006 Little Brown hardcover & DJ (in mylar jacket), first printing. Small remainder mark top edges at spine. Content: Exotic animals have always been symbols of power, and the gift of exotic animals was a common way for rulers to cement alliances. he title of this masterful and beguiling book is misleading. In Belozersakya's adept hands, exotic animals are mere jumping off points for marvelous adventures through worlds ranging from bustling, heroic Alexandria, Egypt, circa 300 B.C., to the creepy confines of William Randolph Hearst's San Simeon in the mid-20th century. While each of the seven sections revolves around exotic animals—a giraffe in Medici Florence, menageries in 16th-century Prague and Napoleonic France—it's the story that Belozersakya weaves around these beasts that draws the reader on. A common thread is the obsession caused by these fanciful beasts. Rudolf II, spent so much of his kingdom's fortune on collecting animals that there wasn't always enough money to feed his voracious lions. . "This might explain why on several occasions the Emperor had to recompense servants and subjects mauled by his felines." A meticulous researcher, the Russian-born Belozersakya, an art historian who has taught at Harvard and Tufts, uses these tales to consider how exotic animals have served as diplomatic gifts, as "symbols of power and learning," as mirrors of the cultures that prized them. This is a sumptuous read - smart, funny and utterly compelling. Questions welcome. [1 copy available]
$ 5.59 + $ 3.29 media shipping.

THE MYTHOLOGY OF THE SECRET SOCIETIES
by J. M. Roberts. Condition: NEW 2008 Watkins (UK) Trade Paperback, first printing. Content: Reviewer: "Roberts has given us a valuable insight into the "spectre that haunted European politics in the 18th and early 19th centuries." This is not an history of secret societies, real and imagined. This is an history of the mythology that grew out of a belief that everything had a cause--therefore behind everything that happened in the world, there was someone causing it. John M. Roberts clearly demonstrates that much of the direction of 19th century politics was influenced, not by secret societies, but by a belief on the part of rulers in their existence and power. A fine read, well researched and footnoted. The wisdom in leaving out detailed bibiographical citations is questionable. The lack of a full index is also awkward. Questions welcome. [1 copy available]
$ 9.00 + $ 3.19 media shipping. International shipping available.

SECRET WISDOM: Occult societies and arcane knowledge through the ages
by Ruth Clydesdale. B&W photos and art work. Condition: NEW 2009 Arcturus large soft cover, no printing given. Content: Throughut the course of our history a select few have sought to acquire profound knowledge of other worlds and different dimensions. This book is an exhilarating exploration of the ideas of initiates into this magical ealm of occult knowledge. {1 copy available.}
$ 6.89 + $ 3.39 media shipping.