1. Aristotle's quartet: the elements in antiquity
Philip Ball
in The Elements: A Very Short Introduction
‘Aristotle's quartet: the elements in antiquity’ outlines how the study of elements progressed from ancient Greece to the seventeenth century. The Aristotelian system of elements claimed ...
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6. The Mongols and arts and culture
Morris Rossabi
in The Mongols: A Very Short Introduction
In what ways did the Mongols influence and support specific aspects of the cultures of the lands that they conquered? To what extent was such support accompanied by a political agenda? ‘The ...
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2. Chinggis Khan emerges
Morris Rossabi
in The Mongols: A Very Short Introduction
The last decades of twelfth-century Mongolia were chaotic. Conflicts were bloody and damaging to the landscape. A leader was needed. ‘Chinggis Khan emerges’ looks at how Chinggis Khan came ...
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3. Gold: the glorious and accursed element
Philip Ball
in The Elements: A Very Short Introduction
‘Gold: the glorious and accursed element’ explores the allure of gold. Gold has dominated men's hearts throughout the ages. It is not a very useful metal, but it is prized for its beauty ...
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5. Peoples on the move
Barry Cunliffe
in The Celts: A Very Short Introduction
‘Peoples on the move’ points out that the movement of Celts from north of the Alps into the Mediterranean lands after about 400 BC is amply documented by Greek and Roman historians writing ...
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4. Reflation and Relief
Eric Rauchway
in The Great Depression and New Deal: A Very Short Introduction
Roosevelt inherited a fundamentally broken economy. Banks, farms, factories, and trade had all failed. ‘Reflation and Relief’ charts the new President's immediate, decisive and ...
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4. A little more prehistory: the elites of middle Europe
Barry Cunliffe
in The Celts: A Very Short Introduction
‘A little more prehistory’ considers the background of eastern France and southern Germany — another area of Europe that can claim to be the homeland of the Celts. Here the great rivers of ...
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2. History
Philip N. Jefferson
in Poverty: A Very Short Introduction
Poverty is an ancient problem. In the pre-modern period, poverty was synonymous with hunger, but the kind of poverty we recognize today arose with the emergence of the market economy. ...
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Conclusion. bringing myth back to the world
Robert A. Segal
in Myth: A Very Short Introduction (2nd edn)
The ‘Conclusion’ uses the myth of Gaia and scientist James Lovelock's Gaia hypothesis to ask: given that present-day theories have not challenged the supremacy of science, why bother trying ...
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2. Empires and enclaves
Stephen Aron
in The American West: A Very Short Introduction
Columbus discovered an Old World in 1492. Steep population declines reduced Indian numbers by more than 90 percent in the following four centuries. European maps of the seventeenth and ...
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1. Empires and migration
Madeline Y. Hsu
in Asian American History: A Very Short Introduction
The first Asians—Filipino “Luzon Indians” on a Spanish galleon—arrived on the North American continent in the late sixteenth century. Through periods of conquest and capitalism, and then ...
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1. The life
Robert Skidelsky
in Keynes: A Very Short Introduction
Keynes was born in a time when economic progress was taken for granted. Britain's position at the head of a world trading system seemed secure. ‘The life’ examines Keynes's background, ...
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6. Institutions and organizations
Avinash Dixit
in Microeconomics: A Very Short Introduction
Markets are not the only place where transactions take place. ‘Institutions and organizations’ highlights other platforms and institutions — families, social groups and networks, industry ...
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1. Gold, sand, and string
Christopher Hall
in Materials: A Very Short Introduction
‘Gold, sand, and string’ considers elements of the Periodic Table from which every material we use is built. It focuses on three materials—gold, sand, and string—that represent the ...
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2. The crisis of the nineties, 1889–1901
Walter Nugent
in Progressivism: A Very Short Introduction
‘The crisis of the nineties, 1889–1901’ covers the politico–economic events of the 1890s. Reforms made during the previous decade had not done enough to curb rampant capitalism. The Knights ...
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4. Taking the farther West
Stephen Aron
in The American West: A Very Short Introduction
By the time the last Indian removals from the First West were being carried out in the early nineteenth century, the demands of Americans for lands farther west, within and beyond the ...
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The Mongols: A Very Short Introduction
Morris Rossabi
The Mongols: A Very Short Introduction follows the Mongol empire from its height of success to its collapse from internal disunity. Struggles for succession and ill-planned, ...
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5. The Mongols and the world: part 2
Morris Rossabi
in The Mongols: A Very Short Introduction
The Golden Horde was the longest-lived of the Mongol khanates. Few Mongols actually got to Russia. The khans expected their Turkic military forces to administrate the domain. The Turkic ...
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5. Early excavators: Heinrich Schliemann and Wilhelm Dörpfeld
Eric H. Cline
in The Trojan War: A Very Short Introduction
‘Early excavators: Heinrich Schliemann and Wilhelm Dörpfeld’ considers
the first archaeological excavations at Troy. Heinrich Schliemann, a
...
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6. Norths
Donald Wright
in Canada: A Very Short Introduction
‘Norths’ distinguishes between the real northern Canada and its imagined north. The frozen north is a symbol of Canada that appears in songs, art, and literature. The actual north is rich ...
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