Books : Reference : Other Reference By Subject : Reference

• Home
• US Store
• Electronics
• Computers
• Sitemap

Books : Reference : Other Reference By Subject : Reference

• "Who Do You Think You Are?" Encyclopedia of Genealogy: The Definitive Reference Guide to Tracing Your Family History

  Nick Barratt

  
  
   

• Mein Kampf

  Adolf Hitler

  
  
   

• The Genealogist's Internet

  Peter Christian

  
  
   

• Six Wives: The Queens of Henry VIII

  David Starkey

  
  
   

• McGee on Food and Cooking: An Encyclopedia of Kitchen Science, History and Culture

  Harold McGee

  
  
   

• The Reign of Henry VIII: Personalities and Politics

  David Starkey

  
  
   

• Madresfield

  Jane Mulvagh

  
  
   

• The Penguin Dictionary of First Names (Penguin Reference)

  David Pickering

  
  
   

• The London Encyclopaedia

  Christopher Hibbert, Ben Weinreb, John Keay, Julia Keay

  
  
   

• The British Army: A Pocket Guide 2008 - 2009

  Charles Heyman

  
  
   

• Debrett's Correct Form (Debretts)

  
  
   

• Britain's Royal Families: The Complete Genealogy

  Alison Weir

  
  
   

• London: A Life in Maps

  Peter Whitfield

  
  
   

• The Oxford Companion to Classical Civilization (Oxford Companions)

  
  
   

• Genealogy Online for Dummies - UK Edition

  Jenny Thomas, Matthew L. Helm, April Leigh Helm, Nick Barratt

  
  
   

• The House of Rothschild: The World's Banker, 1849-1998: 2

  Niall Ferguson

  
  For nearly 200 years, the famed Rothschild banking family has weathered political revolutions, world wars and international financial crises. The House of Rothschild chronicles the family's rise and fall, and now its rise again, and describes the reasons for its lasting power. "Part of the secret of long-run success in banking is, of course, not to go bust; the Rothschilds' relative risk aversion is one reason for their financial longevity," writes author Niall Ferguson, who was surprised to discover during his research that the family had a return on capital as low as an average 3.9 percent from 1900-1909.

  This book, the second of two volumes, is an authorised history. While members of the family read the manuscript, Ferguson said they did not censor his work. Ferguson details the Rothschilds' creation of the international bond market in the 1800s, through offices that stretched from London to Naples, and their eventual eclipse by American bankers like J. P. Morgan. He also explores the family's relationship to others in the Jewish community, the Rothschilds' climb up the social ranks and their role as adviser to kings and politicians during times of war and peace. The House of Rothschild is primarily an academic work with its footnotes, bibliography and quotations from Rothschild correspondence. The book is perhaps of most interest to fans of European political and economic history. But in the epilogue, where he describes the current resurgence of the House of Rothschild, Ferguson draws lessons about international finance that should interest those in the field today. --Dan Ring, Amazon.com

  
   

• The Illustrated World Encyclopedia of Marine Fishes and Sea Creatures: A Natural History and Identification Guide to the Animal Life of the Deep Oceans, ... the World (Illustrated World Encyclopedia)

  Derek Hall, Amy-Jane Beer

  
  
   

• Conflicts That Changed the World

  Rodney Castleden

  
  
   

• The New Penguin Atlas of Medieval History

  Colin McEvedy, David Woodroffe

  
  
   

• The Map That Changed the World: A Tale of Rocks, Ruin and Redemption

  Simon Winchester

  
  Simon Winchester has a very simple formula, of which The Map That Changed the World is a perfect example--namely that the history we have forgotten is infinitely more interesting than the history with which we are all familiar. After the success of The Surgeon of Crowthorne, which documented the life of WC Minor, the American surgeon and major contributor to the first Oxford English Dictionary, Winchester now turns his attention to William Smith, the 19th-century Briton who can justly lay claim to being the founding father of geology.

  The book has all the usual attributes of a pacy historical read: a self-educated, unrecognised scientist spends years roaming the British countryside, compiling a map of the geological layers beneath the surface, only to have his ideas ripped off and to wind up homeless and penniless in Yorkshire with a wife who is going bonkers. And it gets better: in a bizarre Dickensian twist, Smith finally gets his just accolades when he is recognised by a kindly liberal nobleman and is reintroduced to London society as the geologist par excellence. Of itself, the story would be more than enough recommendation but there is a subtext running though the book that is in many ways just as compelling--namely, how some parts of history get written in stone and others in dust. Most secondary-school students get to learn of Charles Darwin and The Voyage of the Beagle. Yet how many people could stick their hands up and say they had heard of Smith? But is evolution any more important a field as geology? Is history ultimately an exercise in who has the best PR? Winchester may not have the answer, but he'll certainly make you think.--John Crace