Private History

Stellen Sie sich vor, ein privates Unternehmen bietet Ihnen als „Staatsdienstleister“ Schutz von Leben, Freiheit und Eigentum in einem abgegrenzten Gebiet. Titus Gebel skizziert dieses Szenario in seinem Buch „Freie Privatstädte. Mehr Wettbewerb im wichtigsten Markt der Welt“ bis ins kleinste Detail.

An eye-opening book about how societies are designed to support the status of those in power at the destructive expense of those without it. From 1958, China declared war on sparrows, contributing to the deaths of more than 10 million people. In the 19th century, the Shuar people of Ecuador were driven by economic need to wage bloody wars to procure shrunken heads for the Western curio market, which nearly destroyed their society. There have been 55 prime ministers of Great Britain, of whom 48 have been privately educated, creating a society built for and by the privileged.

According to the Elliot Ness myth, which has been widely disseminated through books, television shows, and movies, Ness and the Untouchables defeated Al Capone by marshaling superior firepower. In Scarface Al and the Crime Crusaders, Dennis Hoffman presents a fresh new perspective on the downfall of Al Capone.

This book describes Napoleon as an everyman, a friend of the people, and suggests a difference between the "imperial period" and the return of a trustworthy Napoleon who had learned from exile. Because of this transformation, Napoleon's defeat at Waterloo precluded great advances in the timeline of history.

This volume does not claim to be a tactical, or strategic history of the campaigns of which it treats; it aims rather to be a narrative of the every day life and experience of the private soldier in camp and field how he lived, how he marched, how he fought and how he suffered. No sooner had some of the volunteers reached the front, and been subjected to the hardships and exposures of army life, than they fell sick, were sent to the hospital and were discharged without passing through any serious campaigns.

Isabel Stone wanted a normal life. But when the unexpected death of her father leaves her at the helm of the family business, things quickly go from weird to worse. Vampires are on the loose and out of the coffin, and only Isabel can walk the fine line between the world of the living and the world of the undead.

In this insider's look at one of the 20th century's most infamous trials, ex-juror Tracy Kennedy discloses what life was like for himself and his wife in the days leading up to the O.J. Simpson trial, and how it subsequently differed so much from their expectations. Kennedy reveals what happened during the trial and sequestration, a sequestration that turned the lives of a normal, married couple into an emotional hell.

Gus Van Sant’s film and the ’90s cult of the alternative Gus Van Sant’s 1991 indie darling My Own Private Idaho perplexed and provoked, inspiring a new ethos for a new decade: being different was better than being good. Gentlemen of the Shade examines how the film was a coming-of-age for a generation of young people who would embrace the alternative and bring their outsider perspectives to sustainability, technology, gender constructs, and social responsibility.

The first really great battle of the Civil War was that of Pittsburg Landing, or Shiloh, and I shall not only attempt to give a general account of the battle, but also describe it from the point of view of a man in the ranks. In respect to the general features of this desperate struggle between our own countrymen, my statements are derived from many reports and accounts carefully collated, and from many conversations with soldiers engaged, both from the Union and Confederate armies.

In 1854, a quarter of a million British soldiers headed east to fight in the Crimean War. Together with their French and Turkish allies, the goal was to free the important port city of Sevastopol from the clutches of Russia, thus keeping them from the seizing control of the Red Sea and thence Mediterranean. This they did, but not without considerable hardship, suffering and loss of life - over 21,000 British men fell to enemy fire, accidents and disease.