In The Pechenegs: Nomads in the Political and Cultural Landscape of Medieval Europe, Aleksander Paroń offers a reflection on the history of the Pechenegs, a nomadic people which came to control the Black Sea steppe by the end of the ninth century. Nomadic peoples have often been presented in European historiography as aggressors and destroyers whose appearance led to only chaotic decline and e…
This study is the first to examine the history and composition of the library of Aḥmad Pasha al-Jazzār (d. 1804), the famous governor of northern Palestine in the late eighteenth century, on the basis of the inventory of the library’s holdings. The chapters in the first volume situate the library, one of the largest in Palestinian history prior to the end of the nineteenth century, in its …
The Archive of the Sacromonte Abbey in Granada preserves a historical treasure: Arabic texts on a sheet of parchment and on numerous small tablets of lead, which were discovered in Granada at the end of the sixteenth century in the tower of the old Friday Mosque and in caves of the "Valparaíso" hillock, from then on called "Sacromonte". They became the object of heated discussions in Europe an…
"Making Sense of World History is a comprehensive and accessible textbook that helps students understand the key themes of world history within a chronological framework stretching from ancient times to the present day. To lend coherence to its narrative, the book employs a set of organizing devices that connect times, places, and/or themes. This narrative is supported by: Flowcharts that show …
This landmark collection makes a major contribution to the burgeoning field of broadside ballad study by investigating the hitherto unexplored treasure-trove of over 100,000 Central/Eastern European broadside ballads of the Czech Republic, from the 16th to the 19th century. Viewing Czech broadside ballads from an interdisciplinary perspective, we see them as unique and regional cultural phenome…
In order to truly understand the emergence, endurance, and legacy of autocracy, this volume of engaging essays explores how autocratic power is acquired, exercised, and transferred or abruptly ended through the careers and politics of influential figures in more than 20 countries and six regions. The book looks at both traditional "hard" dictators, such as Hitler, Stalin, and Mao, and more mode…
Propaganda has always played a key role in shaping attitudes during periods of conflict and the academic study of propaganda, commencing in earnest in 1915, has never really left us. We continue to want to understand propaganda’s inner-workings and, in doing so, to control and confine its influence. We remain anxious about pernicious information warfare campaigns, especially those that seemin…