Exploration

Exploration PDF Author: Stewart Angas Weaver
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 0199946957
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 152

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Book Description
This clear, succinct, and elegant contribution to the 'Very Short Introductions' series surveys the history of global exploration and assesses the motives, for good and ill, of those who undertook it. Stewart Weaver traces the history of exploration from the first explorers (including Polynesian and Micronesian peoples, the ancient Greeks, Marco Polo, and Ibn BattÐta), to the European discover of America, the Enlightenment and exploration (focusing on James Cook), and the race to the north and south poles

Exploration

Exploration PDF Author: Stewart Angas Weaver
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 0199946957
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 152

Get Book Here

Book Description
This clear, succinct, and elegant contribution to the 'Very Short Introductions' series surveys the history of global exploration and assesses the motives, for good and ill, of those who undertook it. Stewart Weaver traces the history of exploration from the first explorers (including Polynesian and Micronesian peoples, the ancient Greeks, Marco Polo, and Ibn BattÐta), to the European discover of America, the Enlightenment and exploration (focusing on James Cook), and the race to the north and south poles

Exploration: A Very Short Introduction

Exploration: A Very Short Introduction PDF Author: Stewart A. Weaver
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199946965
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 153

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Book Description
We live in an age of globalization on every conceivable level, but globalization has a deeper history than politicians and pundits often allow, and nothing is more significant to its history than exploration. Wherever trade or faith or empire followed, explorers usually led. Their motives were as many-sided and various as their actions; their legacies are contested and mixed. But none can doubt the significance of explorers to the making of the modern world. For as long as human societies have existed, people have felt the urge to venture outside of them, either in search of other societies or in search of new land or adventure. Exploration: A Very Short Introduction surveys this quintessential human impulse, tracing it from pre-history to the present, from east to west around the globe, and from the depths of volcanoes to the expanses of space. Focusing on the theme of exploration as encounter, Stewart Weaver discusses the Polynesians in the Pacific, the Norse in the Atlantic, and other early explorers. He reflects on the Columbian "discovery" of the Americas, James Cook and the place of exploration in the Enlightenment, and Alexander von Humboldt's epochal encounter with tropical South America. The book's final chapters relate exploration to imperial expansion in Africa and Central Asia, assess the meaning of the race to the North and South Poles, and consider the significance of today's efforts in space and deep sea exploration. But what accounts for this urge? Through this brief study of the history of exploration, Weaver clearly shows how the impulse to explore is also the foundation of the globalized world we inhabit today. Exploration combines a narration of explorers' daring feats with a wide-lens examination of what it fundamentally means to explore. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.

Northern Ireland: A Very Short Introduction

Northern Ireland: A Very Short Introduction PDF Author: Marc Mulholland
Publisher: OUP Oxford
ISBN: 019157919X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 219

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Book Description
From the Plantation of Ulster in the seventeenth century to the entry into peace talks in the late twentieth century the Northern Irish people have been engaged in conflict - Catholic against Protestant, Republican against Unionist. Marc Mulholland explores the pivotal moments in Northern Irish history - the rise of republicanism in the 1800s, Home Rule and the civil rights movement, the growth of Sinn Fein and the provisional IRA, and of the opposition, the DUP, led by Dr. Ian Paisley. His detailed examination of the violent upheaval of the last century, epitomized by the killing of 13 civilian demonstrators on Bloody Sunday, culminates in the controversy surrounding the current ongoing peace process. Over 300 years on, the question still remains: can two identities and national allegiances be accommodated in the same state without oppression, rebellion, or violence? ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.

Photography: A Very Short Introduction

Photography: A Very Short Introduction PDF Author: Steve Edwards
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 0192801643
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 177

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Book Description
Photographs are an integral part of our daily lives - from snapshots and tabloid newspapers to art photography in galleries and exhibitions. Edwards combines a sense of the historical development of photography with an insightful analysis of its purpose and meaning within a wider cultural context.

The Middle Ages

The Middle Ages PDF Author: Miri Rubin
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 0199697299
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 161

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Book Description
The Middle Ages (c.500-1500) includes a thousand years of European history. In this Very Short Introduction Miri Rubin tells the story of the times through the people and their lifestyles. Including stories of kingship and Christian salvation, agriculture and trade, Rubin demonstrates the remarkable nature and legacy of the Middle Ages.

Theatre: A Very Short Introduction

Theatre: A Very Short Introduction PDF Author: Marvin Carlson
Publisher: OUP Oxford
ISBN: 0191648612
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 153

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Book Description
From before history was recorded to the present day, theatre has been a major artistic form around the world. From puppetry to mimes and street theatre, this complex art has utilized all other art forms such as dance, literature, music, painting, sculpture, and architecture. Every aspect of human activity and human culture can be, and has been, incorporated into the creation of theatre. In this Very Short Introduction Marvin Carlson takes us through Ancient Greece and Rome, to Medieval Japan and Europe, to America and beyond, and looks at how the various forms of theatre have been interpreted and enjoyed. Exploring the role that theatre artists play — from the actor and director to the designer and puppet-master, as well as the audience — this is an engaging exploration of what theatre has meant, and still means, to people of all ages at all times. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.

Galileo: A Very Short Introduction

Galileo: A Very Short Introduction PDF Author: Stillman Drake
Publisher: OUP Oxford
ISBN: 0191606669
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 161

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Book Description
In a startling reinterpretation of the evidence, Stillman Drake advances the hypothesis that Galileo's trial and condemnation by the Inquisition was caused not by his defiance of the Church, but by the hostility of contemporary philosophers. Galileo's own beautifully lucid arguments are used to show how his scientific method was utterly divorced from the Aristotelian approach to physics in that it was based on a search not for causes but for laws. Galileo's method was of overwhelming significance for the development of modern physics, and led to a final parting of the ways between science and philosophy. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.

The Periodic Table

The Periodic Table PDF Author: Eric R. Scerri
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 0198842325
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 185

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Book Description
The periodic table of elements, first encountered by many of us at school, provides an arrangement of the chemical elements, ordered by their atomic number, electron configuration, and recurring chemical properties, and divided into periodic trends. In this Very Short Introduction Eric R. Scerri looks at the trends in properties of elements that led to the construction of the table, and shows how the deeper meaning of the table's structure gradually became apparent with the development of atomic theory and, in particular, quantum mechanics, which underlies the behaviour of all of the elements and their compounds. This new edition, publishing in the International Year of the Periodic Table, celebrates the completion of the seventh period of the table, with the ratification and naming of elements 113, 115, 117, and 118 as nihonium, moscovium, tennessine, and oganesson. Eric R. Scerri also incorporates new material on recent advances in our understanding of the origin of the elements, as well as developments concerning group three of the periodic table. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.

The Ottoman Age of Exploration

The Ottoman Age of Exploration PDF Author: Giancarlo Casale
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199798796
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 303

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Book Description
In 1517, the Ottoman Sultan Selim "the Grim" conquered Egypt and brought his empire for the first time in history into direct contact with the trading world of the Indian Ocean. During the decades that followed, the Ottomans became progressively more engaged in the affairs of this vast and previously unfamiliar region, eventually to the point of launching a systematic ideological, military and commercial challenge to the Portuguese Empire, their main rival for control of the lucrative trade routes of maritime Asia. The Ottoman Age of Exploration is the first comprehensive historical account of this century-long struggle for global dominance, a struggle that raged from the shores of the Mediterranean to the Straits of Malacca, and from the interior of Africa to the steppes of Central Asia. Based on extensive research in the archives of Turkey and Portugal, as well as materials written on three continents and in a half dozen languages, it presents an unprecedented picture of the global reach of the Ottoman state during the sixteenth century. It does so through a dramatic recounting of the lives of sultans and viziers, spies, corsairs, soldiers-of-fortune, and women from the imperial harem. Challenging traditional narratives of Western dominance, it argues that the Ottomans were not only active participants in the Age of Exploration, but ultimately bested the Portuguese in the game of global politics by using sea power, dynastic prestige, and commercial savoir faire to create their own imperial dominion throughout the Indian Ocean.

Archaeology: A Very Short Introduction

Archaeology: A Very Short Introduction PDF Author: Paul Bahn
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199657432
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 137

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Book Description
This 'Very Short Introduction' provides an up-to-date account of the problems, concerns and nature of archaeology, with reference to all the latest archaeological techniques, theories, and excavations.