Showing results by narrator "Matthew J. Chandler-Smith" in All Categories

Werner Heisenberg was one of the greatest physicists of all time. He probed the depths of not just science but the nature of our very existence. His groundbreaking work in quantum mechanics, particularly the formulation of the uncertainty principle, revolutionized our understanding of the subatomic world and earned him the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1932.

This book delves into the Iron Age, exploring its origins, its rapid dissemination, and the profound transformations it brought to human societies. This is the story of how iron reshaped the ancient world.

Winston Churchill said, “History is written by the victors,” and never has this been truer than in the case of the Parthian Empire. The Parthians left few written records, and most of what we know about the empire comes from its two main adversaries—first the Greeks and then, for most of its history, the Romans. Fortunately, modern scholarship and archaeology have recently helped us to understand a little more about this ancient empire.

In 1956, Britain, France, and Israel launched an invasion of Egypt. For Britain and France, the main objective was to secure control over the vital Suez Canal and to re-emphasize their place as significant world powers. For Israel, the issue was defeating a hostile and powerful Arab neighbor.

George H. W. Bush was a fascinating figure. Growing up in a wealthy family, he was driven by a calling to contribute to the greater good from an early age. His journey into adulthood was defined by valiant service in World War II, which laid the groundwork for a distinguished career in public service. He then navigated through various high-profile positions, from serving as a Congressman to holding pivotal roles as a US ambassador, and he was even made director of the CIA.

The State of Israel was founded in conflict, and in the first ten years of its existence, it was involved in two major wars with its Arab neighbors. The First Arab-Israeli War began almost the moment that the new state was announced in May 1948. Although it barely had time to create armed forces, somehow Israel survived a simultaneous invasion by armies from four Arab states during that conflict. In 1956, Israel found itself at war again, this time fighting alongside Britain and France, who had launched an invasion of Egypt after fears that the Suez Canal might be closed.

The Ford presidency took place during a very difficult period for Americans, and he was the steady hand at the helm to ensure they made it through. This book follows Gerald Ford’s life and career from beginning to end.

Kosovo is a tiny land-locked nation located in the heart of the Balkan Peninsula in Eastern Europe. Before the 1990s, few people outside the immediate area had ever even heard of Kosovo. Then, in 1998, war began, and Kosovo moved to the center of the international stage.

In this book, we explore the life of Tupac Shakur in full—from his humble beginnings in East Harlem to his meteoric rise to stardom. Tupac lived a life of contradictions. Learn about his years spent in art school acting in plays and writing poetry, his later run-ins with the law, as well as the drive-by shooting that ended his life prematurely. This is the story of Tupac Shakur.

The Beatles came onto the scene like a force of nature. Their songs became the anthems of generations of fans, and their emergence marked a high-water mark of popular music. But beyond the Beatles themselves, there is one man who can be credited with engineering this perfect maelstrom of musical majesty, and that man is former Beatles manager Brian Epstein.

Raoul Wallenberg lived at a time when one of the worst outrages of inhumanity was occurring: the Holocaust. As a Swedish businessman in Hungary, he bore witness to this tragedy firsthand as Hungarian Jews were being shipped off to Auschwitz.

Shirley Chisholm was a force to be reckoned with. Emerging from the humble beginnings of a working-class family in Brooklyn, New York, she carved a path that few dared to tread. With her family barely scraping by, Chisholm witnessed first-hand the trials of living paycheck to paycheck and facing adversity at every turn. Yet it was this very struggle that forged her into the powerhouse she would become.