Author: Leon Niescior File Type: epub On the 8th of May 1940 Leon Niescior was arrested by the Gestapo at his home in occupied Poland. He had been guilty of small-time political agitation as a part of the Polish Underground movement but the full weight of the Nazi secret police bore down on him for his helping a Jewish girl escape a death sentence. Beaten and tortured at Lublin prison, he was sentenced to serve his time at Auschwitz, a death sentence that somehow he survived. Filled with the details of the horrendous conditions of Auschwitz, the author relates his time spent under the brutal SS regime for political prisoners in this autobiography. Witness to the gas chambers, selections and casual barbarism of Auschwitz-Birkenau close by, that claimed so many lives, Nieiscor endured beatings that knocked out his teeth, starvation that left him a shell of himself, this is not for the faint-hearted.Includes 204 photos, plans and maps illustrating The Holocaust

Author: Matthew Wranovix File Type: pdf This book analyzes the acquisition and use of texts by the parish clergy in the diocese of Eichstatt between 1400 and 1520 to refute the amusing, but misleading, image of the lustful and ignorant cleric so popular in the satirical literature of the period. By the fifteenth-century, more widely available local schooling and increasing university attendance had improved the educational level of the clergy priests were bureaucrats as well as pastors and both roles required extensive use of the written word. What priests read is a question of fundamental importance to our understanding of the late medieval parish and the role of the clergy as communicators and cultural mediators. Priests were entrusted with saying the Mass, preaching doctrine and repentance, honoring the saints, plumbing the conscience, and protecting the legal rights of the Church. They baptized children, blessed the fields, and prayed for the souls of the dead. What priests read would have informed how they understood and how they performed their social and religious roles. By locating and contextualizing the manuscripts, printed books, and parish records that were once in the hands of priests in the diocese, the author has found evidence for the unexpected the avid acquisition of books a theological awareness and an emerging professional identity. This marks an important revision to the conventional view of a dramatic era marked by both the transition from manuscripts to printed books and the outbreak of the Reformation.**ReviewMatthew Wranovixs valuable, deeply-informed, and lively book upends old stereotypes of the late medieval parish clergy by exploring their reading habits. His sweeping survey of the pastoral primers, devotional guides, episcopal mandates, and canonical texts available to priests and how they used them is, in effect, a crash course in medieval pastoral care. Beyond that, his granular examination of Ulrich Pfeffels pastoral and personal library opens an unrivaled window into the mental world of a fairly ordinary fifteenth-century pastor and preacher. What emerges from this important book is a refreshing, intensely humane portrait of the professional and devotional life of parish priests, the workhorses of medieval Christianity. Priests and Their Books in Late Medieval Eichstatt offers us a much-needed ground-level view of the parish clergy and the books they used. (John Shinners, Saint Marys College, Notre Dame) Several important recent books have begun to reshape our understanding of fifteenth-century religion and culture. Matthew Wranovix has written another. Focusing on the diocese of Eichstatt, this study shows how late medieval parish priests were something other than the stereotypically ignorant and decadent figures so familiar in older scholarship. Through careful reading of a wide range of sources in both manuscript and print, including unedited visitation records and the books and texts owned and used by the priests themselves, Wranovix shows how parish priests, like their lay counterparts, enjoyed broadening educational horizons how they rose to the demands of increasing bureaucratic responsibilities placed on them by bishops and patrons and above all how they richly embraced the fifteenth centurys culture of books, reading, and writing. Scholars of the later middle ages, the early Reformation, and the history of the book alike will find this study both useful and suggestive for future research. (James Mixson, University of Alabama) On the surface of Matthew Wranovixs new book is a careful local study of the book ownership of parish priests in one diocese in fifteenth-century Germany. But dont let its modest title fool you. Beneath the surface is a broad and masterful exploration of the social position of late medieval clergy that also makes an important contribution to our understanding of fifteenth-century book culture. Anyone who still believes that decrepit clergy paved the way for the Reformation needs to read this book. (Daniel Hobbins, University of Notre Dame) About the Author Matthew Wranovix is lecturer in the Department of History at the University of New Haven.

Author: Angus Maddison File Type: pdf The World Economy brings together two reference works by Angus Maddison The World Economy A Millennial Perspective, first published in 2001 and The World Economy Historical Statistics, published in 2003. This new edition contains Statlinks, a service providing access to the underlying data in Excel format. These two volumes bring together estimates of world GDP for the past 2000 years and provide a unique perspective on the rise and fall of economies historically. One controversial clash of theories fueled by Maddisons data concerns the relative status of (growth in) the West versus the rest. The figures (in this book) are enriching economists understanding of what make economies grow, and may even make it possible to reject some of the most prominent historical explanations. Diane Coyle, author of The Soulful Science, former economics editor of The Independent newspaper.A tour de force. What a wonderful gift for the new century. Robert Mundell, Nobel Prize winner and Professor of Economics, Columbia University.An essential reference for anyone interested in global development for many years to come. Paul Krugman, Professor of Economics, Princeton University.Quite simply a dazzling essay. Nicholas Eberstadt, American Enterprise Institute.Highly recommended . . . refreshing and full of historical information. An important book. Kisanhani F. Emizet, Kanzas University, writing in International Politics.ReviewQuite simply a dazzling essay. Nicholas Eberstadt, American Enterprise InstituteHighly recommended.... refreshing and full of historical information. An important book. Kisanhani F. Emizet, Kansas State University, writing in International PoliticsReviewA tour de force. What a wonderful gift for the new century. Robert Mundell, Nobel Prize winner and professor of economics, Columbia University

Author: Peter Willis File Type: pdf In 1848, the penultimate year of his life, Chopin visited England and Scotland at the instigation of his aristocratic Scots pupil, Jane Stirling. In the autumn of that year, he returned to Paris. The following autumn he was dead. Despite the fascination the composer continues to hold for scholars, this brief but important period, and his previous visit to London in 1837, remain little known. In this richly illustrated study, Peter Willis draws on extensive original documentary evidence, as well as cultural artefacts, to tell the story of these two visits and to place them into aristocratic and artistic life in mid-nineteenth-century England and Scotland. In addition to filling a significant hole in our knowledge of the composers life, the book adds to our understanding of a number of important figures, including Jane Stirling and the painter Ary Scheffer. The social and artistic milieux of London, Manchester, Glasgow and Edinburgh are brought to vivid life. **About the Author Peter Williswas an architect and Reader in the History of Architecture at Newcastle University. He completed a PhD in Music at Durham University in 2010. His publications include Charles Bridgeman and the Landscape Garden, New Architecture in Scotland, and Chopin in Manchester.