Showing results by author "Hourly History" in All Categories

Mary Baker Eddy stands unique in our collective remembrances of supposed prophets of the bygone past. She was a girl that quite literally felt a calling at an early age when she thought she heard a supernatural voice call her name. Shortly thereafter, she was intermittently beset with chronic illnesses and remarkable bouts of healing. Whether or not you believe her claims of healing and divine intervention, the story of Mary Baker Eddy, founder of the Church of Christ, Scientist, is a riveting one all the same.

Andrew Jackson believed in the rights of the common man because he came from humble beginnings and distrusted the vested institutions of power. The first American president born to immigrant parents, Jackson was the embodiment of the new blood that infused the American spirit in the early 19th century. Like his country, he was both ruthless and chivalrous, hot-tempered and steadfast, an authoritarian and a believer in equality. Jackson cannot be described in one-dimensional terms because there were layers to the Tennessee frontier president.

Alexander Hamilton did not rise to public prominence as an austere New Englander or a gentlemanly Virginian. He was not born in the colonies at all. He was born in the West Indies, the son of a woman of French descent who had left her husband for another man. As an illegitimate child, Hamilton could not be educated in the local church school, so businessmen, impressed by his remarkable intelligence, sent him to America for his schooling.

This audiobook will introduce you to James Madison. Besides becoming the fourth president of the United States, he served in government for most of his life. You will meet him as he goes off to college, when he returns home to Montpelier, and when he decides to assist with the greatest achievement of his life, the writing of the US Constitution. James Madison was a man not to be forgotten. This audiobook will prove to you why.

The drama of the life of the second president of the United States has been stirringly chronicled both in print and on television. Yet, the life of John Adams is so rich in history, emotion, power, and tragedy that no medium can entirely contain its essence. Hearing the story of his life is to be introduced to a nation, new and untried, that would rise to prominence in no small part due to his legacy of leadership.

The first female Doctor of the Church, Teresa of Ávila, was a visionary who took matters of reform into her own hands. Even when the church authorities came against her, she stood her ground and held fast to her convictions. In so doing, she managed to persuade the Catholic powers to come around to her point of view. Teresa was not someone who took “no” for an answer; she charted her own course in life.

The Mitanni Empire came to prominence at a time when the Egyptians, the Hittites, and the Assyrians were all angling for supremacy. Mitanni made alliances and conquered other lands, excelled at the military art of charioteering, suffered invasions, endured assassinations, and saw a dynasty rise and fall. For more than 3,000 years, the Mitanni Empire remained largely forgotten. Recently, archaeological excavations and translations of ancient texts have shed some light on these remarkable people who were the equals of their more-famous peers in Egypt, Hatti, and Assyria.

One of the most powerful men who ever lived was a Holy Roman Emperor and controlled vast swathes of the planet. Quite a bit has been written over the centuries about Charles V, but even so, historical texts do not always reveal the complex personality that this man possessed. He was a man of purpose who felt destined to hold both Europe and the Christian faith together. He knew this would be no easy task, but he nevertheless threw himself into it whole-heartedly. This is the life and the story of Charles V of the Holy Roman Empire.

One of the foremost screen sirens of her era, Katharine Hepburn was universally known for her grace, wit, and charm. She rose to the top of celebrity status in the great Golden Age of Hollywood, and she was able to maintain her sense of stardom all the way to her twilight years. During her many years in the limelight, Hepburn was dogged by wild gossip and rumors due to her eccentricities and often solitary lifestyle. This book cuts through all the noise and gets down to the core of Katharine Hepburn as we examine how she lived and loved.

The Battle of Antietam was a turning point in the Civil War. In the span of several hours, there would be more loss of American life than in any other battle before or since, leaving one in four of the soldiers who took part either dead or wounded by the end of the day. What led to such a disastrous conclusion? And could something positive come from such an appalling massacre? The focus of the war was about to change. So, too, was how the American people viewed war as a whole.

George Eliot was born Mary Ann Evans in the same year as Queen Victoria. Mary Ann might have lived a traditional Victorian-era life had she been pretty and ornamental. When she didn’t attract attention with her looks, however, she made use of her remarkable intelligence. By her early 20s, she translated articles from Latin and French into English and wrote her own reviews for a radical magazine. Discover a plethora of topics such as her life as a young radical, her journey to Switzerland, meeting George Henry Lewes, becoming George Eliot, and more.

The Battle of Waterloo has become synonymous with the word defeat, but who lost, and why was it important? In 1815, Napoleon Bonaparte left the island of Elba and, in a space of 100 days, took power and challenged the entire world to meet him on his terms. When that failed, he offered them a fight, one that would end at Waterloo, and left repercussions which can still be felt, even now, centuries later.

Gandhi. The name conjures the image of a man, unimpressive in appearance, simple in his lifestyle, who spent his life pursuing independence for India. Months after the country achieved that independence from Great Britain, Gandhi’s life ended when an assassin killed him. But Gandhi’s legacy lives on. Gandhi’s rise to political and spiritual leadership is the incredible saga of a man who, in his youth, showed no signs of greatness but who became one of the most influential men of all time.

The Mahdist War took place at the end of the 19th century between Sudanese rebels and their Egyptian colonizers. A religious leader claiming to be the Islamic Mahdi, Muhammad Ahmad, raised an army and led a movement to guide not only Sudanese Muslims, but Muslims worldwide. He and the Mahdists envisioned a future in which they would live by the teachings of the Qur’an. However, larger global forces, especially those of global imperialism, would stand in their way. From the Mahdist grassroots movement to independence to reconquest, this is the story of the Mahdist War.

Now that the dust of history has finally begun to settle, we can get a much clearer view of who Thomas Paine was. This book seeks to cut through the hype and hyperbole to present to you the life of an unapologetic patriot and inveterate freethinker - Thomas Paine, the father of the American Revolution.

On the dawn of June 1, 1921, this haven of Black progress came under a brutal and unrelenting attack when several hundred armed White people launched an assault on Greenwood. Among them were members of the Tulsa Police Department, supported by aircraft and even a heavy machine gun. They murdered Greenwood’s inhabitants and systematically looted and burned its buildings. By afternoon, virtually nothing remained of Black Wall Street, and those of its residents who had survived the assault were arrested and confined in makeshift internment camps.

Michael Jackson is undoubtedly a legend. His music is known all over the world, and his status as the “King of Pop” is rarely if ever disputed. However, as much as we know about Jackson’s larger-than-life presence on the stage, less is known about the story of his life. MJ dominated the '80s, then fell hard in the '90s, but was poised for a comeback in 2009. He would put everything on the line to make sure that his performance was flawless. Although he would ultimately leave this mortal plane in the undertaking, his legacy would become greater than ever before.

Slavery is a dark spot in the history of the United States, a time when the rights of African Americans were non-existent. Slaves were beaten, mutilated, raped, and killed with impunity. Their lives were a living hell from which death was the only escape they could dare to hope for. From this darkness, many heroes emerged, one of which was a man named Frederick Douglass. Born a slave in Maryland, Douglass believed he had found the key to the power of the white man - education. He taught himself to read and write, and then he proceeded to teach other slaves to read and write as well.

The Marquis de Lafayette may be a name that sounds vaguely familiar. If you've studied even a little American history, you'll recall Lafayette as George Washington's right-hand man during the American Revolution. This remarkable man was just a teenager when he ventured across the seas from France to fight in a conflict that he was in no way obligated to participate in. Yet, here he was, this young man full of idealistic thoughts, ready to help a country set their path on the road to independence. Little did Lafayette know that this would be just the first ride among many he would take.

Nero. The very name seems to embody the character of a tyrant. The years of his reign come down to us with tales full of self-serving totalitarianism. Wasn’t he the one that fiddled while Rome burned after all? Wasn’t this the mad monarch who wished to embark upon a building project, so he set the old buildings that were in his way on fire? But besides this power-mad tyranny, what do we know about Nero? Surely even the most despotic dictator has a good side?