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Bubbles, Crashes and Financial Disasters
Throughout history, the allure of promising opportunities has often ignited a speculative frenzy, arousing the get-rich-quick syndrome in millions of credulous souls, driving them to the extremes of ambition and greed in their quest for wealth. The symptoms of such behaviour frequently manifest during the build-up to a market crash, when months or even years of gains are wiped out in mere hours. This phenomenon is known as the ‘boom-and-bust scenario’, characterized by an economic bubble followed by a devastating crash.
In this book, we delve into a number of remarkable events that have taken place between the seventeenth century and the present day, culminating in enormous financial losses for the general public or even the collapse of entire economies. The Great Crash of 1929 and some of the instances depicted from the 1980s onwards had seismic effects felt on a global scale.
Today, despite living in a highly sophisticated world of economic regulation, financial manipulation, and extensive application of fiscal policy, economic bubbles still seem to burgeon from invisible beginnings, grow rapidly out of control, and then fragment into a melee of problems for modern society. While many believe that the random forces of human nature are responsible, spiralling out of control during periods of heady speculation, others share a different view. They argue that large economic bubbles are non-organic, engineered from within the system itself.
This book takes a light-hearted journey through the subject matter, considering both the historical events and the intriguing possibility that financial engineering plays a role in the creation and destruction of economic bubbles.
£18.99 -
Robin Unhooded
Two great mysteries of English history – who was the real Robin Hood and who killed William II, ‘Rufus’, in the New Forest, in 1100? ROBIN unHOODed presents new evidence in solving these unanswered questions of our history. Perhaps the most in-depth, innovative study of these mysteries for decades, Peter Staveley’s ground breaking book provides totally fresh and startling hypotheses - once the hood is off. The search for Robin’s true identity has led to a plethora of books over many years and the dust-covers of these volumes might lead one to believe that the mystery was indeed solved. However, not one of the various suggestions put forward have ever seemed truly convincing as fitting the life and character of the man depicted in the original ballads…until now.
ROBIN UnHOODed uncovers not only a totally fresh candidate for the man behind the myth but also the identity of many of the other well-known protagonists. This detailed study reveals a man whose life and times would have mirrored precisely those depicted in the original ballads. Placing Robin in an era a full century prior to that timeline of Prince John and King Richard I, so loved by Hollywood directors, Robin is implicated in the death of King William II, Rufus. Startling new evidence regarding the plot to kill the king and a CSI style investigation of the death, reveals previously unseen elements to explain those mysterious events in the New Forest in August 1100 that changed our history.
The final tragic dénouement of Robin Hood’s death is revisited in refreshing new detail. Actual personages are identified for the treacherous prioress and Roger, her lover, and a totally new location for the whole débâcle is revealed.
This new work of historical detection will shatter many of the myths surrounding the legend of Robin Hood and reveals the real man under the hood.
£22.99 -
Great Haywood, Past and Present, People and Places
Founded by Angles in the sixth century and recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086, Great Haywood, with its manor that included the adjacent estate of Shugborough and the ancient Forest of Cank, became an important political, religious and commercial centre in the Middle Ages. It was involved in the tumultuous events surrounding the overthrow of Richard II in the 14th century, the Wars of the Roses of the 15th century, Tudor intrigues in the 16th century, the English Civil War of the 17th century, the Jacobite Rebellion of the 18th century, and the transport revolutions of the 18th and 19th centuries.
Great Haywood’s location on four great highways of travel and trade has allowed it to witness the migration of early settlers, the passage of powerful kings and queens, large armies and rich merchants, as well as eminent travellers and writers. Situated on the important River Trent, it also enjoyed the golden age of coaching, was once one of the busiest canal junctions in England and saw the building of two important national railway lines. It has been home to powerful nobles, influential politicians, fine artists and writers, a serial killer, Nazi war criminals and a large tropical reptile. And how many villages can boast of fascinating links with the Faerie Queene, the Holy Grail and The Lord of the Rings? Read on to find out more.
£24.99 -
1st August
When ethnarchy emerged as an institution in Syria, the Cypriots were federated under the Koinon and continued to do so during the next five centuries. Well-known Roman personages were connected to the island including Marcus Cato and Cicero. The first religious leaders, Saint Paul, Barnabas, and Lazarus came one century later. Christian emissaries came in the fourth century, starting from Saint Helena. Later, Spyrido, Epiphany and others implemented the imperial orders issued by the emperors up to the time of Justinian. These emissaries abolished the Koinon, and the Synod convened by the Church took over temporal authority.
The Crusaders, as from the end of the 12th century, established a feudal rule under Kings Guy, Aimery, Hugh I, Henry I [the fat], Hugh II, Hugh III, John I, Henry II, Hugh IV, Peter I, Peter II, James I, Janus, John II, James II, and Katerina Cornaro. During their reign, they were under the suzerainty Frederic II, Emperor of Germany, replaced by the Pope, as from 1233.
From the time of King John II, in 1432, a second embassy left for Kairo, recognizing one more servitude to the Mamluk Sultan and the payment of tax. Venice took over in 1489 and the Ottomans in 1571. The quasi-ethnarchy under Constitutio Cypria came to an end and was replaced by the Oath of Submission to the Ottoman Sultan enforced up to 1927; however, Archbishop Makarios III retained the ethnarch title during his lifetime up to the year 1977.
£13.99 -
The History of Skipton
The History of Skipton is the most comprehensive history of the town for almost 150 years. The book focuses on the life of ordinary Skipton townsfolk and their health, hygiene, work and recreation. Covering the period from the Norman Conquest to the 21st century, The History of Skipton uses long-forgotten reports and archives to reveal many details which have never been published before.
£22.99 -
RAF 100 Group - Kindred Spirits
This remarkable book brings together for the first time writings of RAF 100 Group who, during WWII, flew secret operations deep into the heart of Germany - identifying and jamming enemy radar, working with Bletchley Park and the Y-Service, supporting SOE and the Resistance.Over 55,000 men died in Bomber Command, the highest casualty rate of any Unit. On VE Day, Churchill praised those who contributed to victory, with one glaring omission - Bomber Command, of which this Group was a valued part. What happened to his stirring words: ‘The fighters are our salvation, but the bombers alone provide the means of victory'?Seventy years on, RAF 100 Group remains shrouded in mystery, their families unaware as veterans take their secrets to the grave.This book represents a tribute, a Memorial, proof of their existence, finally giving them recognition so richly deserved.
£20.99 -
One Family’s Journey Through Ten Centuries
We trace one family, generation by generation, throughout the one thousand years of the second millennium. The trilogy sets the family within its social environment, describing its migration from the continent, and across England, Scotland, and Ireland to settle in the New World. From that we get a vivid picture of what affected, motivated, worried, and encouraged this Saxon family and how they coped. Since the migration of this family was typical for the time, this study is relevant to millions of people in the United Kingdom, Canada, and the United States, whose ancestors followed the same general migratory path.Book I specifically covers the feudal period in the Middle Ages (1000 – 1560), where a feudal autocrat and an avaricious pope, between them, owned and controlled everything. Throughout, the family became our witnesses to many of the historic events of the feudal period: the Battle of Hastings, Anglo-Saxon resistance, the plague, the Little Ice Age, the Great Starvation, Guilds, the building of great cathedrals and castles, and the gradual decline in the king’s power and control.In 1067 William the Conqueror appointed Honfroi de Insula de L’lle as the Dominus of the area around the feudal village of Combe, Wiltshire. He permitted Honfroi to live and build a motte and bailey castle there to assist in keeping the peace. The front image is Castle Combe as it appears today.
£23.99 -
Kenmore Psychiatric Hospital - Wednesday's Child
Large mental care institutions such as Kenmore and Morisset once accommodated up to 1400 and 1500 mental health patients respectively. Here was a serious attempt to provide for the needs of the disadvantaged. This is a reflective history of the large mental health institution at Kenmore. Curiously there are some who envisage a return in part to institutionalism. Protected environments where select patients can freely wander throughout picturesque rural/ lakeside settings hold much appeal. Such were the enlightened perceptions of our state's founding fathers; the institutions at Kenmore and Morisset were their handiwork. Unfortunately, calming and natural sanctuaries such as Kenmore appear as expensive dinosaurs in the health and well-being of the mentally ill today. In this regard, an old North American adage rings particularly clear.The spirit of man separate from nature will quickly wither and die.Whatever your feelings on this axiom are, it was the belief of Dr Manning, an early Inspector General of the Insane who fought to establish a psychiatric hospital in the serene estate at Kenmore. What sense does it make to incarcerate lonely and confused, mental patients in stressful, concrete jungles amidst often hostile and uncaring populaces?But for the grace of God go both you and I.
£19.99 -
Kendall's Longitude
Lost at sea: every mariner’s fear.Maritime navigational tools could find latitude, but finding longitude remained elusive until Harrison developed the reliable sea clock, H4. Building on H4’s success, Kendall made a series of nautical timekeepers, K1, K2 and K3. This is the story of the K2 timekeeper; its adventurous voyages, the people it touched, and its place in history. K2’s first voyage, accompanied by the young Nelson, was nearly its last in the crushing Arctic ice. The next two expeditions saw it survive kidnappings, nautical intrigue, and gunpowder plots of the American revolutionary wars. The slave coasts of Africa followed.Bligh took K2 on the Bounty, but lost it in a fight with the mutineers in 1789. It was recovered by an American Quaker from Nantucket, only to be stolen by the Spanish. It rode on mules along the Andes before sailing into the Opium Wars. K2 finally returned to Greenwich in 1963.DRAMATIC, THREE NATION 'STORY OF TIME'
£21.99 -
Italy: From Subjugation to Independence
Enter a world of cloak-and-dagger intrigue and military rivalry, secret societies and revolution!The story opens with the rise and fall of the glorious Roman Empire, to be followed by the unceasing wave of invasions, in particular France, Spain and Austria. The rising city communes transform into powerful and wealthy city-states which, against the background of the flowering Renaissance, begin to resist foreign interlopers, whilst the Papacy vies with the Habsburg emperors for control of the Peninsula.The scene shifts to the Age of Enlightenment which not only kick-starts the foundations of the Italian economy, but also motivates the quest for independence. Masterminded by the revolutionary Mazzini, revolts snowball. Cavour’s international wheeler-dealings are followed by Garibaldi’s clinching victory over the Austrians at Volturno in 1860, by which he presents half of Italy to his king, Vittorio Emanuele II. The creation of a united and independent Italy is, at last, achieved.A ‘must’ for invaluable reading for those who seek a deeper understanding of Italy and the Italians.
£13.99 -
From Our House to Penthouse
From Our House to Penthouse takes you on a nostalgic trip down memory lane to a London that disappeared not so long ago. Pubs gutted to make way for coffee chains! Arenas and cinemas bulldozed to make way for hotels! Dog tracks and football grounds now apartments!London went through a huge change in the first two decades of the 21st century, and From Our House to Penthouse pays homage to the venues and places that were lost in that time. Featuring photos of iconic London landmarks that no longer exist, author Matthew Bazell has compiled a historical record to keep memories alive.
£32.99 -
Franco - History to the Defeated
The death of General Franco in 1975 was followed by an exemplary transition from dictatorship to democracy. Today, Spanish people enjoy rights and liberties that were ruthlessly denied for forty years, and Spain is a respected and enthusiastic member of the international community. Unfortunately, the price of national reconciliation was the impunity of those responsible for acts of extreme brutality, not only during the Civil War (1936-39), but also in the years that followed the conflict. Franco – History to the Defeated describes a chain of events and circumstances which define the dictatorship, and explores both the role of Spain in the Second World War and the role of the many Britons involved on both sides of the political divide.
£13.99
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