These two publications put out by the U.S. government are about the Trinity site in New Mexico where in 1945 the first atomic bomb was tested. Each publication (about 1984 and about 1995) complements the other, though there is some duplication. These are descriptions of the test itself and of the planning and organization leading up to the test. They also tell what was done with the site after the test and how it became a national historic landmark. - Summary by david wales
2 episodes
Margaret of Angoulême, Queen of Navarre (Marguerite de Navarre), (1492-1549), was the sister of Francis I, King of France. She was highly-educated and was courted by the future Henry VIII of England. However, at the age of seventeen, she was married by royal decree to the untutored dolt, Charles IV of Alençon. After his death she wed Henry II of Navarre by whom she had a daughter (the mother of the future Henry IV of France) and a son, who died in infancy. The author takes us with Margaret on her perilous journey over the Pyrenees to Spain to attempt to free her brother, Francis, held captive by the Holy Roman Emperor. Margaret's support for the first stirrings of the Reformation in France alarmed the Catholic conservatives of the Sorbonne. Her cycle of short stories, the "Heptameron," is still read and enjoyed today. (Pamela Nagami)
25 episodes
President Franklin Delano Roosevelt thirty radio addresses made throughout his terms as President of the United States between 1933 and 1944. The speeches are snapshots of American life during the turbulent decade that included the Great Depression and World War II. (Summary by Jill Engle)
31 episodes
A true tale of the wartime resilience of six Frenchwomen whose country town was invaded by the Germans during World War I. - Summary by Jael Baldwin
18 episodes
Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick (1428-1471), wealthy and powerful peer of England, was one of the leaders of the Wars of the Roses (1455-1487). He joined Richard, Duke of York in opposing the ineffectual and often incapacitated Lancastrian king, Henry VI. Falling out with York's son, King Edward IV, he switched sides and joined forces with Henry's exiled queen, Margaret of Anjou, but was killed at the Battle of Barnet. In this short biography, the British military historian, Charles Oman (1860-1946) brings to life a consummate medieval warrior, who was also a politician ahead of his time.. - Summary by Pamela Nagami
17 episodes
A collection of true stories of the high seas, from the nineteenth century. Shipwrecks, mutiny, life and death decision-making -- all far from home, while pitting themselves against the elements. The romance of the seafaring life is depicted in its brutal reality. - Summary by Lynne Thompson
48 episodes
Gelett Burgess, an American writer, penned this gripping account of the profound change that war caused in a young Frenchman he knew. “Because he was my friend, because he was so lovable, because he suffered much, I want to try to tell the story of a boy who, in two months, became a man. I happened to see him first just before the war began, and not again until after he had been wounded; and the change in him was then so great that I could not rest until I had learned how it had been brought about.” – From War the Creator (Lee Smalley)
7 episodes
Fort Concho was a U.S. Army post in central Texas from 1867 to 1889. It figured considerably in the Indian Wars, notably against the Comanches. It mainly served to protect frontier settlers, stagecoaches, wagon trains, the U.S. mail, and trade routes. This 1957 book, published by the museum at the site of the fort, is the story of its activities. - Summary by David Wales
5 episodes
This 1914 book gives a picture of the British Army structure and life in the early hours of World War I. Summary by david wales
11 episodes
Memoirs of General George Brinton McClellan, commanding general of the Army of the Potomac during the early years of the American Civil War. The work covers the time that McClellan commanded the Army of the Potomac, including the Peninsula Campaign, the Seven Days' Battles, and the Battle of Antietam.
48 episodes
This little book by the British military historian, Charles Oman, begins with the accession of the warrior king, Edward III, to the English throne in 1327 and ends with the downfall of Richard III at Bosworth Field in 1485. By carrying the story of the Hundred Years' War through the Wars of the Roses, Oman portrays this era of battle and plague within the larger context of the dynastic struggles and civil wars which destabilized England and left France vulnerable to invasion and conquest. Summary by Pamela Nagami.
14 episodes
Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, (1769-1852), was born in Dublin, the younger son of an Irish Protestant aristocrat. He served with his brother in India and rose to prominence during the Napoleonic Wars in the Peninsular Campaign. As a youth, his mother saw little promise in him, but Wellesley was an early riser and a hard worker, inured to the harsh life of the army camp, and conscientious in his knowledge of terrain and of defensive tactics. He famously commanded the allied forces at the final defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo, but the two men never actually met. Although a staunch conservative, as prime minister in 1829, he was persuaded by Robert Peel to approve the long-overdue Catholic Relief Act. The journalist, George Hooper, penned this lively little biography in 1889, when he wrote that there were still many people alive who could "cherish the recollection of the silver-haired veteran, wearing a blue coat and white waistcoat and trousers, riding or walking through the streets, or painfully listening with one hand to his best ear, in the House of Lords." (Pamela Nagami)
17 episodes
This collection of non-fiction and fiction pieces is the third volume commemorating the First World War. The majority of the items, all chosen by the readers, are in English, but the collection also includes pieces in Dutch, French, German, Italian and Portuguese.
Please note that some works are still protected by copyright in countries which observe copyright laws based on the author's date of death.
Most items were written during or shortly after the war, but one or two have been included for their relevance in other ways. For more information about each piece, please see this document (PDF format), which also shows the authors' dates of death. (Summary by Ruth Golding)
32 episodes
This slim volume by the Oxford University lecturer, George Henry Wakeling, deals with the period in British history from the reign of King James I through the death of Queen Anne. The story begins with England, transformed by the Protestant Reformation and keen to confront Catholic Spain, but burdened by a monarch unequal to national ambitions. Wakeling portrays the subsequent battles for dominance between the contending Protestant sects and chronicles the struggle for sovereignty between the British Crown and the emerging power of Parliament. - Summary by Pamela Nagami
10 episodes
During the Spanish-American War, Naval Constructor Hobson U.S.N. devised a plan to scuttle a ship in the channel leading to Santiago harbor in Cuba and thus bottle up the Spanish fleet at anchor in the bay. This book contains Hobson's personal narrative of how the scheme was carried out and of what happened afterward. ( Delmar H. Dolbier)
11 episodes
Eleanor Constance Lodge, (1869-1936), was the first woman to receive a Doctorate of Letters from the University of Oxford. In this short survey, the 180 years between 1273 and 1453 are characterized as a period of "transition--a time in which medieval characteristics were decaying and modern characteristics were growing up." This is the age of Joan of Arc, of the recovery of Spain from the Moors, of the failed Crusades of the Teutonic Knights, and of the union of Poland and Lithuania under the strong house of Jagello. The Swiss Republic rose, while schism divided the Papacy and the German states. And all the while the European powers were wrangling among themselves, the Ottoman Turks were advancing across the eastern Mediterranean. The book closes with the fall of Constantinople before the overwhelming assault by land and sea of the great general, Mehmed the Conqueror, which marked the end, after 1500 years, of the Eastern Roman Empire. - Summary by Pamela Nagami
27 episodes
Martin Guerre was a French peasant that, during a long absence, was famously impersonated in the 16th century. Although the real Martin Guerre is suspected of no serious crimes, his imposter, Arnaud du Tilh, engaged in fraud and adultery while pursuing false claims to the Guerre inheritance. Dumas later incorporates this celebrated crime into his novel “The Two Dianas.” - Summary by jvanstan
5 episodes
Fighting in France during the Great War, Bernard Adams, an officer with a Welsh battalion, was moved to chronicle what he saw and experienced: the living conditions and duties of officers and “Tommies” (enlisted men) in their dank, rat-infested trenches and behind the lines; the maiming and deaths; and the quiet periods described in official reports as “nothing of importance”. Adams relates his wounding in June, 1916 and its aftermath. The concluding chapter, which he wrote during his convalescence in “Blighty” (soldiers’ slang for England), is an impassioned reflection on war. Following several months of recuperation Adams returned to the front where, on February 26, 1917 he was wounded again. The following day he died. (Lee Smalley)
18 episodes
Volume 5 concludes the History of the Thirty Years War in Germany. [Note From the first PG etext of this work: Separate sources indicate that at the beginning of this war there were about 15 million people in Germany, and at the end of the war there were about 4 million. If this is not surprising enough, war broke out again only 10 years after the conclusion of this war.]
6 episodes
A front-line view of life in the trenches of the Western Front in the early part of 1914-1915. Told by Lieutenant (later Captain) Bruce Bairnsfather, cartoonist, whose Alf, Bert, and Old Bill were forerunners to Bill Mauldin and his Willie and Joe in World War II. This volume traces Bairnsfather's service as a machine gun officer from its inception until he was removed from the battlefield by the intense shelling during the Second Battle of Ypres (April 1915). It is told with a wry, ironic, grim humor often possessed by those who have endured shells, bullets, floods, mud, bully beef, maconochie, and a surfeit of plum and apple jam. His participation in the unofficial Christmas Truce of 1914 (for which he was investigated in view of a court-martial) is documented as well as the horrors of war at close quarters. (Summary by Dr. P. Gould)
32 episodes
After years of telling these stories to his grandchildren, Foster was prevailed on to write them down for future generations. Rather than rely on his memory, he conducted research for accuracy. He served as a colonel for the Union Army during the American Civil War and later went on to serve as U.S. Secretary of State under President Benjamin Harrison. - Summary by Lynne Thompson
12 episodes
William Holden Hutton (1860-1930) was a British historian and Dean of Winchester Cathedral. In this slim volume, Hutton writes of the long period of feudal anarchy following the death of King Henry I in 1135, during which Henry's implacable daughter, Mathilda, battled the ineffectual King Stephen. Hutton then describes the turbulent reign of the great King Henry II, the reigns of Kings Richard, John, Henry III, and of the first two Edwards, rulers who whether weak or strong, rigid or resourceful, were grimly opposed by their powerful barons. - Summary by Pamela Nagami
8 episodes
In the last year of the American Civil War, Horace Porter served as aide-de-camp to General Ulysses S. Grant, then commander of all the armies of the North. This lively 1897 memoir was written from the extensive notes he took during that time. It is highly regarded by later historians. Porter continued in that position with Grant to 1869. From 1869 to 1872 he served Grant as personal secretary in the White House. He was U.S. ambassador to France from 1897-1905. ( David Wales)
33 episodes
Reprinted from Scribner’s Magazine for June, 1904, in an edition of forty copies for private distribution, by the courtesy of Charles Scribner’s Sons (from the forward)
11 episodes
This volume by the British historian J.H.B. Masterman (1867-1933) is a short survey of the first four centuries after the fall of Rome. The author writes of Theodoric, King of the Ostrogoths, who sought to impose order on a shattered Italy, of the rise of the Franks under Clovis, and of the resurgence of the Eastern Empire under Justinian and his general, Belisarius. At the close of the book, Charlemagne's descendants are wrangling for power among themselves, while, writes Masterman, from "the north came the Norsemen, ravaging and plundering along every river valley which their long ships could sail; from the south came the Saracens, the pirates of the Mediterranean, and ... a foe more fierce and implacable still appeared on the eastern frontier in the Magyars or Hungarians." - Summary by Pamela Nagami
25 episodes
This second volume of memories from the Great War (WWI) by the celebrated war cartoonist and social observer, begins with Bairnsfather's recuperation from injuries suffered in the Second Battle of Ypres and ends with the Armistice.
In this phase of his war activity, Bairnsfather is repeatedly hampered by his inability to fully recovery from his war wounds, and is eventually removed from combat service. This perceived disaster for his war career actually was a lucky break, because he was then attached to British Intelligence as an authorized war cartoonist--perhaps the only one of the war. In this capacity, he was ordered to visit the various allied fronts, observing and drawing the aspects of the war in those locations that impressed themselves upon his mind and memory.
His perspective, visiting and witnessing first hand the interactions between the various allied armies, remains unique, and his inimitable style provide a valuable as well as entertaining glimpse of allied operations in the final stages of the war. ( DrPGould)
38 episodes
Beatrice Lees writes that the history of the period of the Middle Ages from 918 to 1273 is that of "a heroic period, the age of feudalism and monasticism, of chivalry and the Crusades." The era opened "with gloomy prospects for Western Christendom. On every side danger threatened" from the Vikings, the Saracens, and the Magyars. But better things lie in store in this little volume as the Capetian dynasty is founded in France, the Holy Roman Empire becomes the political center of Europe under Frederick Barbarossa, the Papacy attains its greatest influence under Innocent III, and Frederick II, called "stupor mundi," the wonder of the world, rules the cosmopolitan Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. - Summary by Pamela Nagami
28 episodes
In the spring of 1850, while the United States was polarized over the slavery debate and Daniel Webster was negotiating the compromise of that year, the outspoken abolitionist, feminist, and journalist, Jane Grey Swisshelm (1815-1884) unleashed a congressional sex scandal. Frustrated by what she saw as the Massachusetts senator's surrender to the Southern Slave Power, she published an article alleging Webster's marital infidelities with women of color. As a result of the media storm that followed, Swisshelm lost her job at the New York Tribune. This is but one of the many episodes found in her 1880 autobiography, "Half a Century," which is a narrative of the frontier, of the fight against slavery, and of Swisshelm's fearless, compassionate, and innovative work as a surgical nurse treating Union soldiers who had suffered the most terrible wounds of war. (Pamela Nagami, M.D.)
81 episodes
Amidst the political winds from Napoleon’s downfall, this tale turns our attention to the flight of a former French marshal and King of Naples, Joachim Murat. Murat, unhappy with the deal he made to obtain pardon from the Austrian Emperor, takes a life-ending resolution to retake his crown rather than live in peaceful obscurity. - Summary by jvanstan
3 episodes
A firsthand account of the deplorable conditions within the most infamous prisoner-of-war camp of the Confederacy. Though functioning only during the last year of the Civil War, nearly 13,000 of 45,000 incarcerated Union soldiers died under inhumane conditions. - Summary by Jeffery Smith
16 episodes
Much was been written about the American Revolution, but our knowledge of the private solders of the patriot army is confined chiefly to Washington’s description of their sufferings at Valley Forge. This 1902 book by a Harvard University librarian helps to fill in the picture of the common soldier throughout the war by collating references from a great many primary and secondary sources. - Summary by Book Preface and David Wales
11 episodes
"The sending of a Women’s Convoy Corps to the Balkans was the result of Mrs. Stobart’s keen desire to demonstrate the ability of women to render signal service under war conditions and without the direction and assistance of men. This record of their achievements, therefore, provides a strong vindication of the claims of women to inclusion in the Territorial Defence Scheme". (summary from book advertisement, G. Bell & Sons, Ltd, 1913)
15 episodes
April, 1865. The country was in turmoil. The U.S. Civil War had come to an end, thousands of Union prisoners of war had recently been released, and President Lincoln had just been assassinated. The steamship 'Sultana' left New Orleans on April 21st, traveled to Vicksburg, Mississippi where it took on 1,965 federal soldiers and 35 officers, all recently released prisoners of war, most of them held at the prison camps of Cahaba (or Cahawba, near Selma, Alabama) and Andersonville (in southwest Georgia), and now finally headed for their homes.
The 'Sultana' arrived in Memphis, Tennessee on April 26th and headed north toward Cairo, Illinois carrying over 2,100 passengers, but designed for a capacity of only 376. At approximately 2:00 a.m. of the 27th, mere hours after the assassination of John Wilkes Booth, the 'Sultana' mysteriously exploded while steaming about 7 miles north of Memphis, killing over 1,500 on board (estimates vary). The sole reason this incident received such scant attention at the time, and ever since, is the fact that the country was understandably absorbed in the recent assassinations. Subsequent inquiry into the 'Sultana' disaster would uncover some startling revelations into its cause, some believe leading directly to the topmost levels of the U.S. Government. The loss of the 'Sultana' was the greatest maritime disaster in U.S. history, up until the bombing of Pearl Harbor. This book, composed by Chester Berry, one of the survivors, is unique in that it gives firsthand account from well over 100 of the survivors of the tragedy in their own words.
Note - The online e-text (link provided) includes 3 lists for reference that are not included in this audio release:
1 - An official list of prisoners of war on the Sultana, including company served with
2 - Persons known to have been on board the Sultana, but not reported
3 - Name, Company, Regiment, and present (1892) residence of living survivors ( Roger Melin)
140 episodes
Prepared in cooperation with the staff of the surgeon general's office as a source of information and printed materials concerning psychological testing used within the United States Army and indications of the possible use of similar methods in education and industry. - Summary by Leon Harvey
8 episodes
While there are many general histories of the decline and fall of the Roman Republic, the Oxford historian, Charles Oman, writes that his little book is rather "a series of studies of the leading men of the century, intended to show the importance of the personal element in those miserable days of storm and stress." We hear of the tragic struggle of the brothers Gracchi to make farm ownership possible again for ordinary Romans, of Marius's reform of the army, and of the ruthless proscriptions of Sulla. Next comes the real estate tycoon, Crassus, who buys his way into politics only to lose his head in Syria, Cato clinging desperately to lost republican ideals, and Pompey a military prodigy greedy for fame. The volume ends with Julius Caesar, who Oman writes "did much to shape the future destinies of the world" so that even in "the darkest times of the Middle Ages his story was not forgotten." - Summary by Pamela Nagami
28 episodes
During the US deployment in Europe in the final years of the Great War (WWI), the American Expeditionary Force (AEF) was accompanied by notable New York Tribune war correspondent, Heywood Broun. Although Broun better known (and remembered) as a sports writer, drama critic, journalist and social reformer, and not least as a member of the Algonquin Round Table, with such wits as Dorothy Parker and Robert Benchley, his writing of the activities of the AEF as it helped defeat the Central Powers in the war provides a unique perspective, including a view of the international interaction between the Americans and their European allies.
The work concludes by reprinting the initial report to the Secretary of Defense by American General John J. (Black Jack) Pershing who was the commander of the AEF, and contains detailed information regarding the level of the US effort and something of the obstacles which had to be overcome for the AEF efforts to be successful. (Dr.PGould)
26 episodes
James Cook (1728-1779), British explorer, navigator, cartographer, and captain in the Royal Navy was the son of a farm laborer. Apprenticed to a grocer, he ran away to sea. He saw hard service in the Baltic as a merchant seaman, while applying himself to the study of mathematics, navigation, and astronomy. In 1755 he volunteered for the Royal Navy, working his way up to captain. This little biography by Walter Besant, chronicles Cook's three voyages of discovery and his violent death in Hawaii. Cook replaced vague mythology with accurate observations of people and places, animals and plants. Of his achievements Besant writes, "We seek St. Brendan's Island and Terra Australis Incognita; and we find New Zealand and Cape Horn, the Continent of Australia, and the great Pacific Ocean, studded with islands as the firmament is studded by the stars." (Pamela Nagami, M.D.),
25 episodes
The Art of War (1521) is the only book published by Niccolo Machiavelli during his lifetime, and he saw it as one of his finest achievements. The Art of War develops many themes introduced in Machiavelli’s earlier works “The Prince” and “Discourses” and presents them as the collected wisdom of a fictional leader Lord Fabrizio Colonna. The book is constructed as a series of dialogues supposedly held during a summer afternoon spent in the Orti Oricellari gardens in Florence.The stated aim is “To honor and reward virtue, not to have contempt for poverty, to esteem the modes and orders of military discipline, to constrain citizens to love one another, to live without factions, to esteem less the private than the public good, and other such things which could easily be added in these times.” As in “The Prince” Machiavelli develops the idea of limited warfare, where force is used as an extension of politics, but now also introduces elements of psychological warfare. In the first part of the book Machiavelli strongly warns that any state establishing a standing army must take special measures are taken to prevent military leaders gaining too much control. If the state ignores this it risks a military coup: something we still see today.The Art of War was a standard text on military tactics for three hundred years, only losing favour when developments in the range and accuracy of firearms made the Linear Tactics it described obsolete.This translation by Henry Neville was published in 1675 when The Art of War was still considered a practical military manual. - Summary by Clive Catterall
15 episodes
W.R.W. Stephens, the Anglican Dean of Winchester, writes a short, lively biography of the great church reformer, Hildebrand of Sovana (1015-1085), afterwards Pope Gregory VII, setting his life within the larger context of the struggle for dominance between the Holy Roman Empire and the Papacy during the Middle Ages. The roots of the conflict can be traced to the alliance made between Pope Stephen II and his successors and the Frankish King Pippin and his son Charlemagne to break the power of the Lombard Kingdom in Italy. Later emperors sought first to reform and then to dominate the Papacy, but they finally met their match in Hildebrand, leading to the famous confrontation between Pope and Emperor on the snowy steps of Canossa Castle. Facing an imperial invasion, Pope Gregory took the fatal step of summoning his fierce Norman allies. They sacked and burned Rome and carried Hildebrand off to Salerno where, his body weak but his spirit unbowed, he breathed his last crying, "I have loved righteousness and hated iniquity--therefore I die in exile." After Hildebrand's death, his ally Duchess Matilda, the greatest power in northern Italy, continued the struggle with the tragic Emperor, Henry IV, over investiture and reform, a conflict which was only settled under his perfidious son, Henry V. (Pamela Nagami)
26 episodes
The Brown Book was the first English publication to detail events which were currently happening in occupied Germany in 1933; book-burning and the destruction of universities, the development of concentration camps for Jewish people, forced labour and the use of the "shot while trying to escape" excuse for murder by police. This was the first time such events had been brought into the public consciousness, and the book was supported by documentation with names and dates - substantial evidence of the brutality which was taking place. (Please note the confronting and graphic nature of the content of Chapters 7, 9 and 10 before listening.)
Lord Marley described the book as "a contribution to the fight against Hitler Fascism. This fight is not directed against Germany; it is a fight on behalf of the real Germany." (Summary by Beth Thomas and the Introduction)
22 episodes
In this short book, the British Naval historian, Julian Stafford Corbett, chronicles the adventurous career of Sir Francis Drake (1540-1596), the farmer's son who became Queen Elizabeth's most feared privateer and her most daring and resourceful naval officer. In his quest for the gold and silver of Spanish Peru, he rounded Cape Horn, losing men and ships in that "enchanted void, where wind and water, ice and darkness, seemed to make incessant war." After capturing the treasure ship from the astonished Spaniards, he circumnavigated the globe. As King Philip of Spain amassed his Armada, Drake demonstrated how a naval power, attacking shipping in port and at sea, could cripple the enemy's credit and commerce. Corbett writes of Drake that at "its fullest flood he stemmed the tide of Spanish Empire. It was no less a thing than that." (Pamela Nagami)
26 episodes
The Victoria Cross is the highest military award that can be made to members of the British and Commonwealth armed forces for acts of gallantry and valour “in the face of the enemy”.
The medal was instituted by Royal Warrant in 1856 by Queen Victoria, who had taken an active interest in the reports and despatches during the battles of the Crimean War; especially the details describing the exceptional bravery and gallantry of individual soldiers of all ranks whilst under intense conflict.
This book, Stories of the Victoria Cross was one in a series of inspirational texts and ‘heroic writings’ by the Victorian author Frank Mundell and published by The Sunday School Union. The stories presented here relate to actual events that occurred in the field of battle around the turn of the last century and the extraordinary efforts of individuals or groups of soldiers when facing life-threatening situations whilst under fire. - Summary by Steve C
26 episodes
In the American Civil War, the Vicksburg campaign (December 1862-July 1863) was a pivotal victory for the Union under the generalship of Ulysses S. Grant, who as a result was promoted by President Lincoln to command of all the North’s military forces. Historian James M. McPherson called Vicksburg “The most brilliant and innovative campaign of the Civil War.” A U.S. Army field manual called it “the most brilliant campaign ever fought on American soil.” National Park Service Historical Manual number 21 published in 1954. - Summary by David Wales
4 episodes
LibriVox volunteers bring you 14 recordings of Any Woman To A Soldier by Grace Ellery Channing.
This was the Weekly Poetry project for November 4, 2018.
Grace Ellery Channing was a writer and poet who published often in The Land of Sunshine. Channing began her career as a writer by editing her grandfather's memoirs, Dr. Channing's Notebook (1887). She became an associate editor of The Land of Sunshine (later Outwest), and in her tenure as a writer and poet contributor to the publication, advocated for an increased reliance on Mediterranean practices for Los Angelenos. This included embracing the sun instead of avoiding it, eating lighter food, and taking in wine and afternoon naps. - Summary by Wikipedia
14 episodes
Throughout the First World War, members of the Royal Army Medical Corps provided constant support for British and Allied military troops whether they were fighting on the frontline or engaged in other operations within all areas of the conflict.
With the Great War continuing unabated and the battlefront extending through Europe into the Middle East and beyond, a rapid increase in military medical support facilities and infrastructure was urgently implemented to handle the ever increasing number of wounded, maimed and sick troops evacuated from the combat zone that needed to receive urgent medical and life-saving care.
Commandeering and requisitioning suitable buildings and facilities for the purpose, the British and Allied forces increased the number of hospital beds available from just a few hundred to many thousands. But these were barely sufficient to cope, when you consider that within a few days of the first fateful landings on the Gallipoli Peninsula in April 1915, the wounded began to pour into Egypt. In the first ten days alone no fewer than 16,000 cases were landed and distributed among the hospitals ashore.
Published in 1918, this book is the personal memoir of Tickner Edwardes who was an operating theatre orderly based in Egypt during the First World War. In it, he brings his uniquely perceptive and eloquent writing style to document the roles and responsibilities undertaken by the R.A.M.C. in Egypt to maintain the health, welfare and well-being of all personnel in whatever field of operations they were engaged in. - Summary by Steve C
21 episodes
Edward the Black Prince (1330-1376) was the eldest son of King Edward III of England. He commanded the vanguard at the Battle of Crécy and, skillfully deploying his troops, defeated a much larger French force at the Battle of Poitiers. In this short biography, Louise Creighton sets Edward's life within the context of his times and portrays both the bright and the dark sides of this paragon of chivalry. (Pamela Nagami)
21 episodes
THREE great names stand forth conspicuous in the annals of America, those of Washington, Bolívar, San Martin. Of Washington, the great leader of the Democracy of the North; of Bolívar and of San Martin, who were the emancipators of the southern half of the continent. The story of the life-work of the latter of these two is the Argument of this book.The scene of action passes on a vast theatre, a territory extending for more than fifty degrees of latitude, from Cape Horn to the Tropic of Cancer, and occupies twenty years of strife. The starting-point of this history is the Argentine revolution; it follows the course of this revolution as it spreads over the continent, and its object is to explain the laws which governed the establishment of a family of new Republics, and the fundamental principles from which they sprang. (from the Historical Introduction).The author of the book went on to become the President of Argentina, serving from 1862 to 1868. Summary by Piotr Nater
55 episodes
"Angels of the Battlefield: A History of the Labors of the Catholic Sisterhoods in the Late Civil War" chronicles the compassionate services of these dedicated women during the bitter and bloody U.S. Civil War. These accounts also offer some important historical details, giving some important insights into the people and events of the war. This is the Second Edition, Revised and Enlarged. - Summary by Larry Wilson
60 episodes
Army Maj. Gen. Smedley Butler's expose of American Corporate Imperialism. Butler said, “I served in all commissioned ranks from second lieutenant to Major General. And during that period I spent most of my time being a high-class muscle man for Big Business, for Wall Street, and for the bankers. In short, I was a racketeer for capitalism. I suspected I was just part of the racket all the time. Now I am sure of it.” - Summary by John Greenman and https://www.americanswhotellthetruth.org/portraits/major-general-smedley-butler
5 episodes
Sir Walter Ralegh (c. 1552-1618), English soldier, explorer, courtier, writer, and poet was one of the most notable figures of the Elizabethan era. Louise Creighton's short biography follows him from the wars in Spain to the jungles of Guiana. Ralegh sparkles in a court riddled with intrigue and constrained by attendance on the brilliant, imperious Elizabeth and on her successor, that rigid mediocrity, James. During his long confinement in the Tower of London, Ralegh conducted chemical experiments and wrote a ''History of the World.'' Everyone knows that things did not end well for Sir Walter, but time has not tarnished the charisma of his life. Creighton writes, ''There was no field of activity then open to men into which he did not enter...In an age remarkable for its varied forms of intellectual vigour, he represents with wonderful many-sidedness the different interests which then absorbed men's minds.'' (Pamela Nagami, M.D.)
28 episodes
