Showing results for "History" in Maritime History & Piracy

Two catastrophes. One unshakable truth: the moment humanity declares something invincible is the moment disaster starts writing its opening line. Great Disasters 2-in-1 brings together Dominic Haynes's gripping accounts of the Titanic and Chernobyl — two of history's most devastating reminders that confidence is not the same as safety.

Waiting in the night, hidden behind a remote island, no lights showing, pirates would lure unsuspecting ships into unknown waters. Then they would silently slide up to them and board the ship. The crew would be killed and the bodies thrown over the side, weighted down with chains. The pirates would take the cargo, sink or burn the ship, and then, just as quietly, sail away into the night. Dead men tell no tales, nor do they testify in court.

“I ran out on the deck and then I could see ice. It was a veritable sea of ice and the boat was rocking over it. I should say that parts of the iceberg were eighty feet high, but it had been broken into sections, probably by our ship.” “There fell on the ear the most appalling noise that...

The Gulf of Mexico presents a compelling, salt-streaked narrative of the Earth's 10th-largest body of water. In this beautifully written volume, John S. Sledge explores the people, ships, and cities that have made the Gulf's human history and culture so rich. Many famous figures who sailed the Gulf's viridian waters are highlighted, including Ponce de Leon, Robert Cavelier de La Salle, Francis Drake, Elizabeth Agassiz, Ernest Hemingway, and Charles Dwight Sigsbee. Sledge also introduces a fascinating array of people connected to maritime life in the Gulf.

Set against the backdrop of the Age of Exploration, Black Flags, Blue Waters reveals the dramatic and surprising history of American piracy's "Golden Age" when lawless pirates plied the coastal waters of North America and beyond. Best-selling author Eric Jay Dolin illustrates how American colonists at first supported these outrageous pirates in an early display of solidarity against the Crown, and then violently opposed them. Upending popular misconceptions and cartoonish stereotypes, Dolin provides this wholly original account of these seafaring outlaws.

It is impossible to understand our world today without understanding the last 100 years of Middle Eastern history. The history of the region in the 20th century is so varied and complex that it defies easy explanations. Shifting borders, governmental overthrows, ethnic and nationalist tensions, and political and economic forces on the world stage all had a hand in shaping the course of Middle Eastern history. Ultimately, however, the story is one of people searching for self-determination, from the stumbling alliances after the fall of the Ottoman Empire to the Arab Spring uprisings.

Six months. One ocean. The fate of the free world hanging on a knife's edge. Get the complete story of the Pacific War's most decisive chapter two gripping histories, one essential collection, for a fraction of the cost of buying them separately. Pearl Harbor plunges you into the smoke and chaos...

Sailing on a boat by yourself out at sea and out of sight of land can be exhilarating or terrifying, compelling or tedious - sometimes it can be all of these things just in one morning. It is an adventure at odds with our normal, sociable lives, carried out floating on a medium wholly inimical to our existence. But the deep ocean is also a remarkable place on which to think. Richard King's enormously engaging and curious book is about the debt we owe to solo sailors: women and men, young and old, who have set out alone.

For the first time, Shipwrecked and Rescued tells the near-tragic story of lost and desperate shipmates floundering for two days in the deep snow and near-zero temperatures. Jorgensen's detailed research and collection of 100 rare historical photos chronicles what happened, introduces the key players, and finally reveals the fate of those collectors' prizes in the century since.

Bloomsbury presents The Pirate World by Angus Konstam, read by David Monteath Highly illustrated with colour images and specially commissioned maps throughout, this is a unique exploration of the pirate world. Often romanticised in print and on the silver screen, real-life pirates were a brutal...

AN ECONOMIST BEST BOOK OF 2024 'Masterful and entrancing - this is big history at its best.' Professor Alice Roberts, author of Ancestors 'A real-life Indiana Jones takes readers on a dive through these underwater museums, revealing the sunken secrets of the past' The Times From a Bronze Age...

Dive into a thrilling maritime history of fallen empires, ocean battles, and the ultimate deep-sea treasure hunt. Perfect for an immersive commute, this gripping true account resurrects a fatal eighteenth-century clash off the Colombian coast. Listen as fragile wooden fleets hauling immense...

Brought to you by Penguin. WINNER OF THE WOLFSON HISTORY PRIZE 2020 From the award-winning author of The Great Sea, a magnificent new global history of the oceans and of humankind's relationship with the sea For most of human history, the seas and oceans have been the main means of long-distance...

THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER & THE TIMES HISTORY BOOK OF 2021 'Astonishing and compelling' Bernard Cornwell ‘This superb book is like a classical symphony, perfectly composed and exquisitely performed’ THE TIMES Books of the Year Follow bioarchaeologist Cat Jarman – and the cutting-edge...

Immerse yourself in epic maritime history as one ambitious river city monopolizes trade to forge a global empire. Perfect for your daily commute, this atmospheric audio journey transports you to the tense, bustling docks of sixteenth-century Spain. Witness the dizzying rise of a modest Roman...

Lighthouses are striking totems of our relationship to the sea. For many, they encapsulate a romantic vision of solitary homes amongst the waves, but their original purpose is much more utilitarian than that. Still today we depend upon their guiding lights for the safe passage of ships. Nowhere is this truer than in the rock lighthouses of Great Britain and Ireland, a ring of 19 towers built between 1811-1905, so called because they were constructed on desolate rock formations in the middle of the sea, and made of granite to withstand the power of its waves.

Uncover the gritty maritime history of ocean outlaws who ruthlessly raided imperial trade routes for bloody gold. Perfect for your daily commute, this immersive deep-dive into historical true crime strips away the myths to reveal the dark reality of shipboard labor. You will encounter the brutal...

The gripping account of the US Navy's fast carrier force—and how its Central Pacific campaign in 1944 marked the achievement of American naval supremacy Task Force 58 was World War II's most powerful battle fleet. Made up in mid-1944 of sixteen aircraft carriers, over a thousand combat...

Experience the epic history of Southeast Asia's vibrant maritime crossroads, where ancient trade routes forged a nation. Perfect for your daily commute, this immersive journey transports you to the lush rainforests of Borneo and the bustling Strait of Malacca. Watch as monsoon winds bring...

“Thoroughly engrossing . . . a spirited, suspenseful, economically told tale whose significance is manifest and whose pace never flags.” —The Wall Street Journal From The New York Times–bestselling author of The Ghost Map and Extra Life, the story of a pirate who changed the world Henry...