Short History

Having conquered the world's taste buds and established itself as a staple in our daily lives, coffee has mirrored the moods and movements of society for centuries - yet, how much do we know about its history? In his riveting new book, A Short History of Coffee, Gordon Kerr investigates the fascinating history behind the global obsession with coffee, from its Ethiopian origins, the legends, myths, geographical locations and somewhat eccentric characters that have helped make it the staple that it is today. Proliferating in high streets, towns and cities across Europe, coffee has become increasingly popular in recent years, and has succeeded in creating new and exciting hubs of commerce, news and debate, where deals could be done and revolution could be incited. Yet, despite coffee's very modern role, its origins stretch back to the days of intrepid travelers and merchants, who told tales of this new and exotic beverage that uplifted and enlivened the drinker.

During this time of conflict and suspicion, it is perhaps more important than ever to understand the beliefs and philosophies of other cultures. A Short History of Religion provides a useful guide to the world's most popular religions – Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Judaism and Hinduism – describing their origins and history, beliefs, worship and sacred writings, but also investigates many of the smaller and lesser known religions as well as newer movements such as Scientology, Wicca and Raëlism.

The world's largest democracy and second-most populous country, 21st-century India is a dynamic nation with a thrivting economy, made up of a variety of beliefs and peoples united under one flag. Ancient India was home to myriad kingdoms with boundaries that were ever changing while a variety of cultures and religions flourished over the millennia as the influence of foreign invaders and occupiers has come and gone. The country was under foreign rule from the early 1800s until independence in 1947. From the late 1980s, India opened itself to the outside world, encouraging economic reform and foreign investment, and is now courted by the world's leading economic and political powers. It is a major power with a burgeoning middle class, having made substantial strides in areas such as information technology. The availability of a large, skilled workforce makes it a popular choice for international companies looking to outsource work. It has launched a space program and boasts a massive film industry, its "Bollywood" films being amongst the most-watched in the world. Meanwhile, India still has major issues with poverty and illiteracy, and campaigns have been launched to alleviate these problems.

Situated at the crossroads of three continents, the Middle East has confounded the ambition of conquerors and peacemakers alike. Christianity, Judaism and Islam all had their genesis in the region but with them came not just civilization and religion but also some of the great struggles of history. This book makes sense of the shifting sands of Middle Eastern history, beginning with the early cultures of the area and moving on to the Roman and Persian Empires; the growth of Christianity; the rise of Islam; the invasions from the east; Genghis Khan's Mongol hordes; the Ottoman Turks and the rise of radicalism in the modern world symbolized by Islamic State.

This no-nonsense guide to one of our most enduring mysteries presents a short history of the strangest encounters, looks carefully at explanations from the blunt to the truly bizarre, offers insights into the strongest evidence we are being visited by beings from another world, and sources the best skeptical arguments that all can be explained rationally. Concise, balanced, and occasionally hilarious, this is a story that has as much to tell you about the human race as it does about aliens.

Discover the fascinating history of time, clocks, calendars and time zones. Readers can learn about the Egyptian, Roman, Greek, Mayan calendars as well as timekeeping devices like sundials and hourglasses. A History of Time reveals the journal of the development of how humans keep track of time, including daylight saving time.

Discover the fascinating history of the firefighter, fire departments and fire towers when you read the Short History of Fire Fighting. The book includes historical information on fire engines, bunker gear and other equipment needed by a fire department. The book includes an extensive listing of firefighter museums in the United States as well as section on fire towers.

A Short History of Mail Delivery relates the story of mail delivery from the messenger services of the ancient world to the wonders of instantaneous modern email delivery. Readers will learn about the first postage stamps as well as the beginnings of package delivery giants Federal Express and United Parcel Service.

Explore the the beginnings of horticulture, which is the cultivation of growing vegetables, fruits and other garden plants. Discover the history of agriculture as the practice of farming advanced from Neolithic times to the age of modern agronomy.

A concise and accessible history of infectious and non-infectious diseases, complete with the most up-to-date research on 2014's Ebola outbreak Using an interdisciplinary approach, this survey chronicles the historical and geographical evolution of infectious and non-infectious diseases, from their prehistoric origins to the present day, offering a comprehensive, accessible guide to ailments and the medical methods used to combat them. Even before recorded history began, disease plagued human civilizations, claiming more lives than natural disasters and warfare combined. The ongoing battle with new and resurgent diseases has challenged physicians, scientists, and historians in their struggle to identify causes, antidotes, and preventative measures to combat these epidemics. Analyzing case studies including the Black Death, Spanish Flu, cholera, leprosy, syphilis, cancer, and Ebola, this book systematically maps the development of trends and the latest research on disease into a concise and enlightening timeline. Offering a fascinating and compelling insight into a popular area of social history, this easy-to-read introduction will tell you all you need to know about disease and the ongoing quest to protect human health.

An absorbing history, bringing explorers' tales vividly to life Apsley Cherry-Garrard, one of the men who went to Antarctica with Captain Scott, said "Polar exploration is at once the cleanest and most isolated way of having a bad time that has ever been devised." Yet there has never been a shortage of volunteers willing to endure the bad times in pursuit of the glory that polar exploration sometimes brings. This compelling book tells the memorable stories of the men and women who have risked their lives by entering the white wastelands of the Arctic and the Antarctic, from the compelling tales of Scott, Shackleton, and Amundsen, to lesser known heroes such as Fridtjof Nansen and Robert Peary. This history also looks at the hold that the polar regions have often had on the imaginations of artists and writers in the last 200 years examining the paintings, films, and literature that they have inspired.

Host of the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympics, the fifth largest country in the world is the perfect topic for the next title in the Short History series Discovered by Portuguese sailor and explorer Pedro Álvares Cabral more than 500 years ago, Brazil's history since then has been turbulent, blighted by rebellion, cruelty, dictatorship, and poverty. But, it is also a vibrant, exciting, and ethnically diverse nation that has, in the face of great adversity, emerged as one of the world's fastest growing major economies. This book examines the events that have led to Brazil's ascendancy, looking at the indigenous peoples who populated the territory until its discovery in 1500 and chronicling the tempestuous years since, leading to the economic miracle of recent years. It covers the three centuries of Portuguese colonial rule when sugar became the main export, produced with the help of around three million slaves who were forced to make the deadly crossing of the Atlantic from Africa. It describes how Brazil declared independence from Portugal as a monarchy in 1822, the monarchy being replaced by a republic in 1889, and details the pattern of boom and bust in the Brazilian economy since then, covering the lives of some of the authoritarian rulers that seized power along the way. Finally, it looks at the many difficulties Brazil faces in the 21st century-the devastating social problems resulting from its dramatic economic inequality and the often ruthless exploitation of the country's natural resources. With the eyes of the world currently focused on this immense South American country, there could be no better time to examine the dramatic and fascinating history that has brought it to this point.

From the beginnings of Chinese prehistory right through to internet censorship, a comprehensive introduction to the sprawling history of this enormous country An absorbing introduction to more than 4,000 years of Chinese history, this book tells the stories of the tyrants, despots, femmes fatales, artists, warriors, and philosophers who have shaped this fascinating and complex nation. It describes the amazing technological advances that China's scientists and inventors made many hundreds of years before similar discoveries in Europe. It also investigates the Chinese view of the world and examines the movements, aspirations, and philosophies that molded it and, in so doing, created the Chinese nation. Finally, the book examines the dramatic changes of the last few decades and the emergence of China as an economic and industrial 21st-century superpower.

A comprehensive introduction to the sprawling history of this enormous continent, from the dawn of human time in prehistoric Africa right through to Arab Spring Beginning with the origins of the human race and the development of stone age technology, this history of the cradle of civilization moves through ancient and medieval times, the significance of the Arab presence, the Muslim states, and the trans-Saharan trade. It continues with the rise and fall of nation states and kingdoms prior to the arrival of Europeans, Ghana, the Kingdoms of the Forest and Savanna, Yoruba, Oyo, Benin, Asante, Luba, Lunda, Lozil, and many others, on to the beginning of the slave trade, and the European conquest and colonization of sub-Saharan Africa, the "Scramble for Africa." Finally moving onto the often bitter struggles for independence from that period of colonization and exploitation, it concludes with an assessment of Africa in the 21st century.

As the war is slipping beyond living memory, this concise history helps ensures that the conflict is never forgotten WWI, lasting just four years from 1914 to 1918, was without parallel, the first true global conflict in which all of the earth's great powers participated. This book tells the story of this cataclysmic event. It describes the background to war, the international rivalries and conflicts of the previous decades that led to the nations of Europe forming virtual armed camps, the relentless build-up of military and naval hardware that characterized the early years of the 20th century, and the great figures that tried to prevent conflict or enthusiastically pushed for it. Each year of the war is dealt with in its own chapter, the battles, various battlefronts, and important incidents described and analyzed for their impact on the conduct of the war. The book also examines the last acts of this "war to end all wars," providing accounts of the Russian Revolution, the decisive entry of the U.S. into the hostilities, and the efforts of the Paris Peace Conference after the armistice to apportion blame and punish the losers.