Exploring Top Books of Shelfari

The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers (Vintage)

The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers (Vintage)

by Paul M. Kennedy

About national and international power in the "modern" or Post Renaissance period. Explains how the various powers have risen and fallen over the 5 centuries since the formation of the "new monarchies" in W. Europe.

Nonviolence : twenty-five lessons from the history of a dangerous idea

Nonviolence : twenty-five lessons from the history of a dangerous idea

by Mark Kurlansky

In this timely, highly original, and controversial narrative, New York Times bestselling author Mark Kurlansky discusses nonviolence as a distinct entity, a course of action, rather than a mere state of mind. Nonviolence can and should be a technique for overcoming social injustice and ending wars, he asserts, which is why it is the preferred method of those who speak truth to power. Nonviolence is a... (more)

To the Finland Station (New York Review Books Classics)

To the Finland Station (New York Review Books Classics)

by Edmund Wilson

To the Finald Station is one of the greatest works by 20th-century America’s heralded man of letters. This magisterial study of the revolutionary dream reaches from the French Revolution through the Paris Commune to Russia in 1917, and features brilliant portraits of such figures as Jules Michelet, the great historian of the French people; the utopians Robert Owen and Charles Fourier; the anarchist Mikhail... (more)

The Parliament of Man: The Past, Present, and Future of the United Nations

The Parliament of Man: The Past, Present, and Future of the United Nations

by Paul M. Kennedy

“With all its defects, with all the failures that we can check up against it, the UN still represents man’s best-organized hope to substitute the conference table for the battlefield.” –Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1961 The signing of the United Nations Charter in 1945 was an unprecedented development in the history of humankind. For the first time, the world’s most powerful sovereign nation states came together to... (more)

Communism: A History (Modern Library Chronicles)

Communism: A History (Modern Library Chronicles)

by Richard Pipes

With astonishing authority and clarity, Richard Pipes has fused a lifetime’s scholarship into a single focused history of Communism, from its hopeful birth as a theory to its miserable death as a practice. At its heart, the book is a history of the Soviet Union, the most comprehensive reorganization of human society ever attempted by a nation-state. This is the story of how the agitation of Karl Marx and Friedrich... (more)

History of the Conquest of Mexico (Modern Library Classics)

History of the Conquest of Mexico (Modern Library Classics)

by Kerry Shale, William Hickling Prescott

One of the most famous and remarkable history books ever written--and an excellent account of the origin and nature of Mexican civilization at the time of the conquest. Here is a rich and detailed portrait of the Aztec culture, which dominated the many races of Mexico with savage brutality, and of Hernando Cortes and his small party of cavaliers, who succeeded against all odds in defeating them. As the story... (more)

Osman's Dream : The Story of the Ottoman Empire 1300-1923

Osman's Dream : The Story of the Ottoman Empire 1300-1923

by Caroline Finkel

The Ottoman Empire was one of the largest and most influential empires in world history. Its reach extended to three continents and it survived for more than six centuries, but its history is too often colored by the memory of its bloody final throes on the battlefields of World War I. In this magisterial work--the first definitive account written for the general reader--renowned scholar and journalist... (more)

Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid (Unabridged)

Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid (Unabridged)

by Jimmy Carter

President Carter, who was able to negotiate peace between Israel and Egypt, has remained deeply involved in Middle East affairs since leaving the White House. He has stayed in touch with the major players from all sides in the conflict and has made numerous trips to the Holy Land, most recently as an observer in the Palestinian elections of 2006. In this book President Carter shares his intimate knowledge of the... (more)

Gandhi on Non-Violence (New Directions Paperbook)

Gandhi on Non-Violence (New Directions Paperbook)

by Gandhi

In this book, Merton has selected the basic statements of principle and interpretation which make up Gandhi's philosophy of non-violence (AHIMSA) and non-violent action (SATYAGRAHA). The Gandhi text follows that established by the Navaijivan Trust with sections dealing with "Principles of non-violence", "Non-violence, true and false", "Spiritual dimensions of non-violence". "The political scope of non-violence",... (more)

A History of Warfare

by John Keegan

The acclaimed author of The Face of Battle examines centures of conflict in a variety of diverse societies and cultures. "Keegan is at once the most readable and the most original of living military historians . . . A History of Warfare is perhaps the most remarkable study of warfare that has yet been written."--The New York Times Book Review.

Vietnam: The War Nobody Won (Headline Series)

Vietnam: The War Nobody Won (Headline Series)

by Stanley Karnow

Provides a comprehensive look at both sides of the Vietnam War through a collection of personal tales and delves into the political and military events in the United States and elsewhere that originally caused the war and the brought it to an end. Reprint. TV tie-in."

The People's Almanac #2: A Completely New Book from Cover to CoverDavid Wallechinsky, Irving Wallace

The People's Almanac #2: A Completely New Book from Cover to Cover

by Irving Wallace, David Wallechinsky

The Second World War

by John Keegan

Much more than a mere chronological narrative, the history of World War II is recounted both periodically and thematically. Keegan analyzes five crucial battles, each characteristic of a distinctive kind of warfare ofthe period. Photographs, maps, diagrams.

The First World War

by John Keegan

The First World War created the modern world. A conflict of unprecedented ferocity, it abruptly ended the relative peace and prosperity of the Victorian era, unleashing such demons of the twentieth century as mechanized warfare and mass death. It also helped to usher in the ideas that have shaped our times--modernism in the arts, new approaches to psychology and medicine, radical thoughts about economics and... (more)

The Oxford History of Modern War

According to General J.F.C. Fuller, "the musket made the infantryman and the infantryman made the democrat." In short, modern war and modern society are inextricably linked. But how has war changed over the centuries? This highly informative and engaging work investigates the techniques, technology, and theory of warfare. From the military revolution of the seventeenth century to the present day battalion of... (more)

The Crusades (Phoenix Press)

by Zoe Oldenbourg

It was a great adventure, motivated by more than simply religion or pure aggression: the Crusades resulted from an emotional climate that led people from all walks of life to leave their homes and follow the unattainable ideal of a heavenly Jerusalem here on Earth. A prize-winning author paints a portrait of the whole of feudal society, evoking its exceptional vitality and the ingenuity of the Latin Kingdom of... (more)

Stalking the Green Fairy: And Other Fantastic Adventures in Food and Drink

Stalking the Green Fairy: And Other Fantastic Adventures in Food and Drink

by James Villas

Witty essays on food and drink from one of the most entertaining and highly respected food writers in the country today James Beard Award-winning author and culinary insider James Villas, named Bon Appétit's 2003 Best Food Writer of the Year, turns his pen to everything from absinthe (the green fairy), barbecue, and authentic grits to San Francisco sourdough and the wonders of peanut butter and price club... (more)

The World and the West: The European Challenge and the Overseas Response in the Age of Empire

The World and the West: The European Challenge and the Overseas Response in the Age of Empire

by Philip D. Curtin

This book is a study of the interaction of the Western societies of Europe and America with others around the world in the past two centuries--the age of European empire. Through a variety of case studies, it considers the European threat and the non-Western response, but the focus is on the ways in which people in Asia, African, and Indian America have tried to adapt their ways of life to the overwhelming... (more)

The Murder of Napoleon

by Ben Weider

The history books say that Napoleon died of natural causes. Napoleon himself, expiring at 51 after a lifetime of robust health, suspected otherwise and ordered a thorough autopsy. His suspicions were well-founded. So clever was the crime, however, that until recent developments in forensic science, it was impossible to prove a case of murder, let alone name the killer. Now, the authors of this fascinating book... (more)

Women Who Ruled: Queens, Goddesses, Amazons in Renaissance and Baroque Art

Women Who Ruled: Queens, Goddesses, Amazons in Renaissance and Baroque Art

by Annette Dixon

The period between 1500 and 1650 was an exceptional time in history in that many European states and kingdoms were ruled by women. From Elizabeth I to Catherine de Medici, and from Anne of Austria to Mary, Queen of Scots, this phenomenon of female rule gave new energy to the long-standing controversy about the ability of women to govern, and reflected larger issues regarding the role of women in society. Women... (more)

Shelfari Book Activity

Tags: history-world

by Paul M. Kennedy

by Mark Kurlansky

by Edmund Wilson

by Paul M. Kennedy

by Richard Pipes

by Kerry Shale, William Hickling Prescott

by Caroline Finkel

by Jimmy Carter

by Gandhi

by John Keegan

by Stanley Karnow

by Irving Wallace, David Wallechinsky

by John Keegan

by John Keegan

by Zoe Oldenbourg

by James Villas

by Philip D. Curtin

by Ben Weider

by Annette Dixon