history / europe / general

"A history of Esperanto, the utopian 'universal language' invented in 1887"--Provided by publisher.

"A pathbreaking account of the continuing ethnic and state violence after the end of WWI--conflicts that more than anything else set the stage for WWII"--Provided by publisher.

"For decades the story of Ravensbr?ck was hidden behind the Iron Curtain, and today it is still little known. Using testimony unearthed since the end of the Cold War and interviews with survivors who have never talked before, Sarah Helm has ventured into the heart of the camp, demonstrating for the reader in riveting detail how easily and quickly the unthinkable horror evolved. Far more than a catalog of atrocities, however, Ravensbr?ck is also a[n] ... account of what one survivor called 'the heroism, superhuman tenacity, and exceptional willpower to survive.' For every prisoner whose strength failed, another found the will to resist through acts of self-sacrifice and friendship, as well as sabotage, protest, and escape"--Amazon.com.

On March 26, 1942, the first mass registered transport of Jews arrived in Auschwitz--all young women between the ages of sixteen and twenty-two. Among those nine hundred and ninety-seven young Jewish women was #1716, Rena Kornreich, a Pole hiding in Slovakia. A few days later, her sister Danka #2779 arrived and so began a trial of love and courage that would last three years and forty-one days, from the beginning of the Auschwitz death camp, to the death march, and on to the end of the war. Rena's Promise stands out from other Holocaust memoirs not only in the length of time she spent in the camps, but in the spirit of love she maintains throughout her ordeal. No other survivor from the first transport has ever written about her experience (too few survived) when the women's camp was part of the men's camp, and the only men were Polish and Russian POWs. Within a few days that would all change.

"Genius. The word connotes an almost unworldly power: the power to create, to grasp universal secrets, even to destroy. As renowned intellectual historian Darrin McMahon explains in Divine Fury, the concept of genius can be traced back to antiquity, when men of great insight were thought to be advised by demons. The modern idea of genius emerged in tension with a growing belief in human equality; contesting the notion that all are created equal, geniuses served to dramatize the exception of extraordinary individuals not governed by ordinary laws. Today, the idea of genius has become cheapened-rock stars and football coaches earn the term with seemingly the same ease as astrophysicists and philosophers-yet our enduring fascination with it reflects the desires, needs, and fears of ordinary human beings. The first comprehensive history of this mysterious yet foundational concept, Divine Fury follows the fortunes of genius from Socrates to Napoleon to Einstein and beyond, analyzing its democratization, disappearance, and potential rebirth."--.

"Explores the complexities of the lived experiences of Victorian women in the home, the workplace, and the empire as well as the ideals of womanhood and femininity that developed during the 19th century"--.