Showing results by author "Charles River Editors" in All Categories

Among all the Native American tribes, the Iroquois are some of the most well-documented Native Americans in history. Indigenous to the northeast region of what is now the United States, and parts of Canada, they were among some of the earliest contacts Europeans had with the native tribes. And yet they have remained a constant source of mystery. The name "Iroquois", like many Native American tribal names, is not the name the people knew themselves by, but a word applied to them by their enemies, the Huron, who called them Iroquo (rattlesnake) as an insult.

The Roman army is one of the most famous fighting forces in history. Through its power and prowess, a once obscure Italian city forged an empire that encircled the Mediterranean and covered half of Europe. The physical remains of its presence can be traced from the mountainous borders of Scotland to the arid deserts of Egypt, but its legacy is far greater and more enduring, as Rome's influence continues to shape the political, legal, and cultural landscape of Europe to this very day.

The modern history of Africa was, until very recently, written on behalf of the indigenous races by the white man, who had forcefully entered the continent during a particularly hubristic and dynamic phase of European history. The embrace of Christianity and Islam, even today, is not necessarily to the exclusion of ancestral spirits, nor the essentials of witchcraft and sorcery. The precarious security of albino people in east and central Africa, whose body parts are sought after in traditional “medicine,” is testimony to the fact that these superstitions are alive and well.

Shortly after World War II, Congress' House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC) began investigating Americans across the country for suspected ties to communism. The most famous victims of these witch hunts were Hollywood actors, such as Charlie Chaplin, whose "un-American activity" was being neutral at the beginning of World War II, but at the beginning of the Cold War, many Americans had the Red Scare.

In Edward Montgomery Clift, the public not only discovered an unusually gifted actor, but a persistent and stoical anti-authoritarian, an extreme non-conformist in a conformist age and a personal enigma who has remained the target of prying Hollywood reporting since his death. Described as the first "method" actor in Hollywood, he was to co-create and develop this lonely, unwilling, and uncertain American hero, filled with deep personal ambiguities, a conflicting will, vulnerable and sensitive.

Nat Love: The Life and Legacy of the Former Slave Who Became the Wild West’s Most Famous Black Cowboy chronicles the colorful life of Nat Love and the legends that sprung up around him over time. You will learn about Nat Love like never before.

The ancient Edomites were just one of the many cultures inhabiting the Levant during the Late Bronze Age and early Iron Age, but they remain known thousands of years later thanks to mentions in the Old Testament. The Bible indicates that the Edomites and their kingdom had a complex relationship first with the Hebrews and then with the Israelites. Ultimately, the Edomites flourished for several centuries only to suffer the same fate as the Israelites.

There are few cases in American history as well-known as Sacco and Vanzetti, and perhaps none of them were as controversial or socially charged as the trials against the two Italian immigrants in the early 20th century. The two avowed anarchists were ultimately tried and executed for murder and armed robbery, but the case said as much about the society trying them as it did about their guilt or innocence.

Mary Magdalene is one of the most talked about figures in modern Christianity, a woman who mainstream media and modern sensibilities can hold with more conviction. The media, press, movie industry, and airport literature have been obsessed with this redhead for more than 100 years, a fascination that reached its climax in the first decade of this century and does not seem likely to end anytime soon. Mary Magdalene is frequently depicted as young and attractive, liberated and intelligent, a symbol of a freer spirituality, and not controlled by a male-dominated church. In the minds of many, she embodies opposition to a system dominated by old men in white cassocks, the "sacred feminine."

In 1932, America faced an economic crisis even more severe than the one it has been experiencing recently. The issue then, as now, was how to address it. When President Franklin Roosevelt came into office, he faced more economic problems than any president since has ever faced, but he came equipped with unique and creative solutions to them.

Without question, the most famous battle of the American Civil War took place outside of the small town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, which happened to be a transportation hub, serving as the center of a wheel with several roads leading out to other Pennsylvanian towns.

A century ago, if one were to come across a manual laborer from the early 20th century or the Roaring Twenties and relayed to them the possibility of one day sticking it to the man, one would probably be laughed out of the century. However, this was exactly what one man with solid-gold aspirations and audacity set out to achieve. Jimmy Hoffa, once described by Bobby Kennedy as the second most powerful man in America, was a union boss who evoked both respect and fear.

Carl Philipp Gottfried von Clausewitz died almost 200 years ago, yet he remains one of the most important and influential of all military thinkers. Few men were more influential on the military tactics and strategy of 19th century warfare than Antoine-Henri Jomini. Why is it that Jomini has been forgotten while Clausewitz’s name is now far more famous than it ever was during his lifetime? One of the reasons is that Clausewitz attempted to develop a philosophy of war that went well beyond the mechanics of combat.

Mexico City is not a new place. Mexico City instead has much in common with cities like London, Delhi or Cairo in the East in that it is an ancient city dating back centuries before the arrival of Colombus in Hispañola. For, while much (including the name) has changed, Mexico City is the mighty Tenochtitlan, capital of the Aztec Empire and the great American metropolis of the Spanish Empire. There has been no break in occupation, and despite much devastation, the city was never fully destroyed.

Aunque es una admirable obra de arte creada por la acción de las aguas del otrora turquesa río Gave de Pau, la modesta gruta a sus orillas, escondida en el desfiladero al norte de la Massabielle (“Vieja Misa”) en la pintoresca ciudad de Lourdes difícilmente sea la más majestuosa en la colección de la Madre Naturaleza. De hecho, la estrecha cueva era tan poco excepcional que permaneció, en buena parte, sin ser perturbada hasta mediados del siglo XVII, a excepción de alguno que otro pescador o arriero que se refugiara allí durante una tempestad inesperada.

At one point or another, just about everyone has heard of the dodo bird, which is almost universally described as a cuddly, whimsical creature renowned for its alleged stupidity. This prehistoric avian had been known for hundreds of years, before it was made popular around the world in Lewis Carroll’s 1865 classic Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.

Walking around Chicago today, it's easy to forget about its past as a rural frontier. That's due in no small part to the way Chicago responded to the Great Fire of 1871. Immediately after the fire, Chicago encouraged inhabitants and architects to build over the ruins, spurring creative architecture with elaborate designs. Architects descended upon the city for the opportunity to rebuild the area, and over the next few decades they had rebuilt Chicago with the country's most modern architecture and monuments.

Some hailed him as the "Lion of the North", others called him the "Golden King", and a few knew him by the affectionate nickname "Hook-nose". Today, Swedish, Finland, and Estonian citizens alike continue to celebrate Gustavus Adolphus Day on the sixth of November each year. But who exactly was Gustavus Adolphus the Great? Gustavus Adolphus: The Life and Legacy of Sweden’s Most Famous King explores the early life of the Swedish king, his ascension to power, and his greatest achievements, as well as the revolutionary military tactics he used to shape modern warfare.

The American Revolution is replete with seminal moments that every American learns in school, from the "shot heard 'round the world" to the Declaration of Independence, but the events that led up to the fighting at Lexington and Concord were borne out of 10 years of division between the British and their American colonies over everything from colonial representation in governments to taxation, the nature of searches, and the quartering of British regulars in private houses.

The 19th century saw the rise of one of the largest, most powerful empires of the modern era. The sun never set on the British Empire, whose holdings spanned the globe, in one form or another, and trade flowed east and west. An integral but underutilized part of a vast trade network included China. The Opium Wars: The History and Legacy of the 19th Century Conflicts Between Britain and China examines the way in which trade, colonialism, and illegal drug use culminated with one of the 19th century’s most controversial fights.