Description
In a study that looks at crucial turning points in European history, a collection of essays by leading historians examines what it would have been like to witness such events as the death of Alexander the Great or the German surrender to end World War II.
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The Authors and Essays in I Wish I’d Been There®, Book TwoJosiah Ober ·At the Deathbed of Alexander the GreatTom Holland · Hannibal Crosses the Alps Theodore K. Rabb · Christmas Day in the Year 800John Julius Norwich · Venice, July 24, 1177Katherine Fischer Drew · Magna Carta and the King’s Men Barbara A. Hanawalt · Rebel Leader Confronts King at Smithfield in 1381Lauro Martines · Ten Thousand Brutes in Renaissance FlorenceGeoffrey Parker · August 9, 1588: The Spanish Armada (almost) SurrendersKatherine Duncan-Jones · The Globe Theatre, February 7, 1601John H. Elliott · With the Prince of Wales in Madrid, 1623Mordechai Feingold · By Fits and Starts: The Making of Isaac Newton’s Principia Ellen T. Harris · Handel Is FiredWilliam McNeill · Frederick the Great and the Propagation of PotatoesPaul Kennedy · The Battle of the Nile Ross King · The “Uncouth Riddle” of Édouard Manet: Le Déjeuner sur l’herbe at the 1863 Salon des RefusésRichard Pipes · Nicholas II Signs the October ManifestoMargaret MacMillan · Tunnels, Territory, and Broken Promises: France Betrayed by the Anglo-Saxons?Charles A. Riley II · Backstage at the Ballets Russes with PicassoFreeman Dyson · Exorcising Aristotle’s Ghost John Keegan · The German Surrender to Montgomery at Lüneburg Heath, May 1945What is the scene or incident in European history that you would like to have witnessed—and why? This is the question that the editors posed to twenty superb historians, who each wrote a personal essay in response. The result is this engrossing book, a worthy sequel to the acclaimed volume on American history, I Wish I’d Been There. From the death of Alexander the Great to the German surrender ending World War II, these essays move across a wide geography for over two millennia and deal with politics, law, religion, peace and war, science and the arts, rebellion, and social change. In addition to adding immediacy, color, and vibrancy to well-known events, they also provide fresh illuminations and interpretations of vital moments in the history of Europe.I Wish I’d Been There®, Book Two is a marvelous idea, wonderfully and imaginatively executed. It offers a sense of the excitement, the passion, the drama, and the joys and tragedies that are the essence of history.See the back cover for a list of contributors and the events described.
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