Normans History

Learn how Richard Trevithick's early experiments lit the blue touchpaper of railway development, and how George Stephenson and his son Robert designed and built the world's first trunk railways. Meet Daniel Gooch, the brains behind Brunel's Great Western Railway, and relive the great Race to the North between Francis Webb and Patrick Stirling. Marvel at the designs of Churchward, Collett, Stanier and Bulleid, and be dazzled by the speed, power and beauty of Sir Nigel Gresley's masterpieces.

The American mountain man, with his myriad of practical skills, could endure isolation in a way most could not. He lived in constant peril from the extremes of nature and from the hostilities of cultures unlike his own. Given the illiteracy rates of the day, few tangible accounts of such journeys have survived, but one glaring exception is that of James Pierson Beckwourth, the only known African American mountain man to leave behind a detailed, if somewhat sensationalistic, account of his travels.

This volume contains 20 autobiographies of men who fought in the Korean War. Their stories help listeners to understand what draftees, volunteers, and professional military men experienced in combat in Korea. They often tell information not available in US military reports and government-authorized histories and sometimes contradict official reports.

The American Revolution had no shortage of compelling characters with seemingly larger than life traits, including men like the multi-talented Benjamin Franklin, the wise Thomas Jefferson, the mercurial John Adams, and the stoic George Washington. But no Revolutionary leader has been as controversial as Samuel Adams, who has been widely portrayed over the last two centuries as America's most radical and fiery colonist.

Volumes 1 and 2 of Combat Veterans’ Stories of Small Wars and Nation Building present 20 autobiographical stories of men and women that were in fire fights, raids, and other dangerous situations that exposed them to enemy ordnance. Their stories give readers an understanding of warfare, as the US military has experienced it since the Vietnam War.

The life story of Jesus of Nazareth, considered by billions of Christians to be the messiah prophesized in the Old Testament of the Bible, is perhaps the most famous in history. Described in detail in the New Testament, Jesus comes from both divine yet humble roots, born in a manger to a young woman, but in time he leads a fervent following as tales of his miracles spread across the Holy Land.

On Tuesday, May 9, 1893, seven-year-old Emma Werner was the victim of a brutal and lethal attack in Chicago, Illinois. The dreadful murder came at the start of the city's much ballyhooed 1893 World's Columbian Exposition, also known as the Chicago World's Fair. It coincided with the heinous crimes of ruthless serial killer Herman Webster Mudgett, who went by the name H.H. Holmes and built a hotel called the World's Fair Hotel to house and profit from the Fair visitors needing a place to stay.

The Greatest Civil War Battles: The Battle of First Bull Run (First Manassas) comprehensively covers the campaign and the events that led up to the battle, the fighting itself, and the aftermath of the battle. You will learn about the First Battle of Bull Run like you never have before, in no time at all.

James Joyce is the high priest of modernist writing who lived a life of endless sacrifice to literature, loaded with poverty and petty humiliations. He blazed the path of the writer as resolute individualist, rejecting all conformity and risking everything, even public shaming, in order to "communicate" over the supine body of language with his enthralled readers.

This is a mostly polemical essay by Emma Goldman about her deportation from the United States to Russia in December 1919. It was written before disillusionment with Bolshevism, as recounted in "My Disillusionment in Russia" (1923).

Of all the original 13 colonies in America, only one owes its conception to one man, and indeed, Pennsylvania was and still remains bound up in the life and character of its founder, William Penn. Here was a man born into a military family who saw his father rise through the ranks of the 17th-century English court to become a friend of the king, and he even considered a military career for himself, only to leave it all behind to become a member of the "Society of Friends", known colloquially as the Quakers.

Despite the fact that the Civil War was fought nearly 150 years ago, it remains a polarizing topic for the country to this day. But among the most popular perceptions of the Civil War is the "Lost Cause", which romanticized the war's toughest and most famous fighters and continues to fuel the popularity of generals like Robert E. Lee. Alongside Lee, no one epitomized the chivalry and heroism celebrated by the Lost Cause more than JEB Stuart (1833-1864), the most famous cavalry officer of the Civil War.

Take a trip back in time to the foggy streets of Victorian London, where a madman stalks the night. Investigate the savage murders attributed to Jack the Ripper using all the evidence available, including letters purporting to be from the killer himself. This publication features up-to-date theories on the identity of the Whitechapel murderer, detailing all the major suspects.

Steam's Indian Summer is a window into the great watershed period in Britain's railways; the change from steam haulage to diesel and electric traction. Highlights include the last years of the named expresses like 'Bristolian', plus visits to far-flung but legendary and unique corners of the national network, like the Cromford & High Peak Railway.

This audiobook details the rise and fall of New France, describing the role of the Seven Years’ War, Napoleon Bonaparte, and the Louisiana Purchase. Though French colonization ended more than 200 years ago, it left behind a distinct French flair and unique Creole culture that lives on in Louisiana today.

By the early 19th century, several European nations had banned slavery, but while the United States had banned the international slave trade, slavery was still legal in the country itself. As a result, there was still a strong financial motive for merchants and slave traders to attempt to bring slaves to the Western hemisphere, and a lot of profits to be gained from successfully sneaking slaves into the American South and the Caribbean by way of locations like Havana, Cuba.

Geo spends the few last years in Israel with Joseph and the remainder of the missionaries whose mission were to minister God's gospel to the world at any cost before Jesus' glorious appearing.

William the First, who was also called William the Conqueror, and in some cases, William the Bastard, was the first Norman emperor of England, ruling from 1066 till his death in 1087. Around this time, many wars and battles were waged over the kingdom and distribution of territories in Europe. France, the Anglo-Saxons, and Scandinavian troops were engaged in raids, struggles, and battles to claim their lands and gains. I invite you to learn more about this first king of England, who lived almost 1,000 years ago.

All Henry VI "The Mad" ever wanted was peace. But everything kept going to hell around him, till his mind broke from the pressure of having to rule two kingdoms, wage a war, and survive countless cabals all the while having not a single clue how rulership worked. Henry VI was thrown into power at the tender age of nine months, and kept being let down by everyone around him, while he struggled to understand what was going on.

In late September 1863, the Confederates began laying siege to the Union Army of the Cumberland around Chattanooga in what would be their last gasp for supremacy in the West. Following the devastating Union defeat at the Battle of Chickamauga on September 20, the army and its shaken commander, General William S. Rosecrans, began digging in around the city and waiting for reinforcements to arrive.