Showing results for "The First" in World

Here, anthropologist David Graeber presents a stunning reversal of conventional wisdom: He shows that before there was money, there was debt. For more than 5,000 years, since the beginnings of the first agrarian empires, humans have used elaborate credit systems to buy and sell goods - that is, long before the invention of coins or cash. It is in this era, Graeber argues, that we also first encounter a society divided into debtors and creditors.

The Firsts: The Forerunners of Islam is the series that visits trailblazers of the ummah. Those that rise to the occasion, and inspire a generation. Host Sh. Dr. Omar Suleiman dives into the stories of the giants who were the first of their kind in this world, and distinguished in the next. Listen in to revive the personalities buried in history.Let’s meet the Firsts. This series is brought to you by Yaqeen Institute for Islamic Research. We aim to make academic and Islamically-credible scholarship mainstream through accessible resources such as infographics, animations, podcasts, learning ...

Once in a generation, a historian will redefine his field, producing a book that demands to be read or heard - a product of electrifying scholarship conveyed with commanding skill. Diarmaid MacCulloch's Christianity is such a book. Breathtaking in ambition, it ranges back to the origins of the Hebrew Bible and covers the world, following the three main strands of the Christian faith.

Rene Descartes, mathematician, scientist, and first "modern philosopher", wrote Meditations on First Philosophy, a six-part treatise first published in Latin in 1641, to deconstruct "belief" and, using reason and science, discuss the only things we can truly know for sure. Each of the six parts of this book represents six of Descartes’ meditations that occurred on six subsequent days, making it also, in no small part, an autobiographical piece of work.

Twenty thousand years ago, women were making and wearing the first clothing created from spun fibers. In fact, right up to the Industrial Revolution the fiber arts were an enormous economic force, belonging primarily to women. Despite the great toil required in making cloth and clothing, most books on ancient history and economics have no information on them. Much of this gap results from the extreme perishability of what women produced, but it seems clear that until now descriptions of prehistoric and early historic cultures have omitted virtually half the picture.

Ancient China collides with newfangled America in this epic tale of opium smugglers, sea pirates, and dueling clipper ships. Brilliantly illuminating one of the least-understood areas of American history, best-selling author Eric Jay Dolin now traces our fraught relationship with China back to its roots: the unforgiving nineteenth-century seas that separated a brash, rising naval power from a battered ancient empire. It is a prescient fable for our time, one that surprisingly continues to shed light on our modern relationship with China.

In the summer of 1942, urgent intelligence reports revealed the construction of a Japanese airfield near Lunga Point on Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands. The imminent completion of this airfield posed a significant threat, potentially enabling a renewed Japanese offensive that could jeopardize the vital lifeline of American support to Australia and New Zealand. On July 23, 1942, the Joint Chiefs of Staff in Washington recognized the need to secure communication lines in the South Pacific and halt the Japanese advance. This pivotal decision led to Operation Watchtower, the daring campaign to ...

Join General Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard, one of the pivotal commanders of the Confederate forces during the Civil War, as he recounts the dramatic events leading up to the First Battle of Bull Run. Known for firing the first shots at Fort Sumter in April 1861, Beauregard took command of the Confederate Army of the Potomac and achieved a significant victory at Manassas, Virginia, in July of that year. With vital reinforcements from Johnstons army in the Shenandoah Valley, his forces managed to defeat General McDowells Federal army. Had the outcome been reversed, the trajectory of the ...

In this captivating memoir, Harold Ashton lifts a small corner of the wars curtain to share his remarkable experiences—a week navigating the North Sea and a whirlwind of days in Northern France. He artfully weaves together the threads of both tragedy and comedy as they unfolded around him. The tragedy is stark and unvarnished, while the comedy offers a glimmer of hope amidst the darkest times. With each ring of his little bell, he invites us to smile even when the music may seem out of tune. At the onset of the First World War, Ashton took on the role of War Correspondent for The Daily News,...

This is the story of the average Canadian who volunteered for the Canadian Expeditionary Force told through the lens of one battalion - the 16th Battalion (Canadian Scottish) of the 1st Canadian Infantry Division. This Highland Regiment fought in the Ypres Salient and in the Somme, at Vimy, Passchendaele, and Amiens. It suffered the first gas attack; its ranks were decimated as it fought at virtually every major battle in the European theatre.

In celebration of America’s 250th anniversary, The 52 Weeks of Firsts Podcast uncovers the “firsts” that helped shape the nation—each one rooted in Philadelphia’s remarkable history. Each week, our host sits down with a special guest to explore one groundbreaking first, from the first professional basketball league and the nation’s first zoo, to the first public showing of a motion picture and beyond. Short, lively, and packed with fascinating stories, every episode connects these historic milestones to the present, showing how Philadelphia’s innovations continue to shape our ...

The Seventymile Kid tells the remarkable account of Harry Karstens, who was the actual—if unheralded—leader of the Hudson Stuck Expedition that was the first to summit Mount McKinley in Alaska. All but forgotten by history, a young Karstens arrived in the Yukon during the 1897 Gold Rush, gained fame as a dog musher hauling U.S. Mail in Alaska, and eventually became the first superintendent of Mount McKinley National Park (now known as Denali National Park and Preserve).

History, But First the Story tells real historical events through the imagined perspectives of those living through them. Each episode is grounded in documented facts and research, but the stories are guided by fictional or composite characters used to make complex moments easier to understand at a human level. The events are real. The consequences are real. The perspectives are a storytelling device. Hosted by Jamé Watson.

In this insightful exploration, Samuel Rawson Gardiner, a distinguished British historian from the Victorian era, delves into the tumultuous 17th century. His concise yet powerful narrative showcases his strengths, offering a balanced portrayal of key figures such as the ill-fated Strafford, Laud, and King Charles, alongside the visionary Oliver Cromwell. As epic battles rage across England, Scotland, and Ireland, Gardiner skillfully navigates the complex constitutional issues at the heart of this national struggle—pitting doctrinal certainty against liberty of conscience, and royal power ...

Best-selling author Brian Fagan brings early humans out of the deep freeze with his trademark mix of erudition, cutting-edge science, and vivid storytelling. Cro-Magnon reveals human society in its infancy, facing enormous environmental challenges - including a rival species of humans, the Neanderthals. For ten millennia, Cro-Magnons lived side by side with Neanderthals, an encounter that Fagan fills with drama.

Discover the pivotal moment in history with this insightful exploration of the Trinity site in New Mexico, where the first atomic bomb was tested in 1945. These two U.S. government publications, released in 1984 and 1995, provide a comprehensive look at the test itself, the meticulous planning and organization that led to it, and the site’s transformation into a national historic landmark. While they complement each other, there is some overlap worth noting. Join us as we delve into the legacy of this extraordinary event. - Summary by David Wales

Blending history, science, and culture, a stunning and highly engaging evolutionary story exploring how walking on two legs allowed humans to become the planet’s dominant species. Humans are the only mammals to walk on two, rather than four legs—a locomotion known as bipedalism. We strive to...

There are few things more in common across cultures than the belief in ghosts. Ghosts inhabit something of the very essence of what it is to be human. Whether we personally 'believe' or not, we are all aware of ghosts and the rich mythologies and rituals surrounding them. They have inspired, fascinated and frightened us for centuries - yet most of us are only familiar with the vengeful apparitions of Shakespeare, or the ghastly spectres haunting the pages of 19th-century Gothic literature. But their origins are much, much older.

“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...

Every night, above our heads, a drama of epic proportions is playing out. Diamond planets, zombie stars, black holes heavier than a billion Suns. The cast of characters is extraordinary, and each one has its own incredible story to tell. We once thought of our Earth as unique, but we have now...