Showing results by author "Hourly History" in All Categories

The Swedish actress Ingrid Bergman was one of America’s most beloved and successful performers. She was drawn to acting at a young age and was delighted to be invited to Hollywood in 1938 for the American remake of Intermezzo. With her flawless natural beauty and talent for acting, she was an instant success.

The region known as Apacheria had been fought over for centuries, firstly with the arrival of the Apache from the north, then later with the arrival of the Spanish, and, finally, the United States. Events came to a bloody climax in the 1800s in a series of conflicts, which became known as the Apache Wars.

Prior to December 1941, Great Britain commanded an empire that stretched across the globe. However, after the Malayan Campaign, which began on December 8, 1941 and ended on January 31, 1942, the world order was up for grabs as the Empire of Japan contested British rule and American military might in the Pacific in the early years of World War II.

The last ruler of the House of Solomon, Haile Selassie, was not only the final Emperor of Ethiopia but also the link to a bygone past. In the days of Haile Selassie, absolute rule was given as an unquestioned divine right. Even though Selassie in many ways was a moderate progressive, he was still an autocratic ruler.

Discover the remarkable history of the Nuremberg Trials...In 1933, the National Socialist German Workers’ Party, triumphant after the July 1932 elections, was the largest political party in Germany. The Nazis quickly banned all other political parties and proceeded to implement the policies which aroused the anti-Semitic sentiment of the German people. When the Allied Powers joined forces to fight the Nazis, they were determined to bring the German leaders to justice in an international court where they would be tried for their war crimes.

Elizabeth Taylor was born to become a legend. By the time she was a young teenager, she was already making news and attracting attention. Taylor would go onto star in movies such as A Place in the Sun, Butterfield 8, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, and Cleopatra, where she played opposite Richard Burton. Her affair with Burton caused a worldwide scandal, and the movie almost ruined 20th Century Fox. Taylor and Burton were married and divorced twice, with the world watching their every scandalous move.

The events which took place on a bitterly cold morning near Wounded Knee Creek on December 29, 1890, represent the last acts in the series of bloody conflicts that were carried out between White settlers and Native Americans over a period of more than 200 years. These deaths of several hundred people of the Lakota tribe at the hands of soldiers from the US 7th Cavalry have also become symbolic of the often violent subjugation of Native American culture.

Discover the remarkable history of the Maya Civilization...For more than one thousand years, the Maya people dominated areas of Central America and modern-day Mexico and made important advances in architecture, astronomy, mathematics, and medicine. Then, after the Spanish occupation in the 16th century, Maya culture and thinking were deliberately suppressed. Only in the 20th century did scientists appreciate just how advanced these people had been and how important they were in the history of Mesoamerica.

In the face of ruthless totalitarian rule, it is only the rare few who stand up at risk of their own life to do what is right. Dietrich Bonhoeffer was one of those exceptional individuals. Even on pain of death, he would not bend, he would not budge - this German pastor fought the Nazi regime with every fiber of his being.

The Battle of Berlin was a monumental battle between two adversaries who despised one another. For the Russians who had endured the horrific suffering and loss of lives in defending their nation against the Nazi invasion, the opportunity for vengeance seemed as if fate was on their side.

John Wayne graced the screen as a cowboy, an all-around rugged hero of the plains. With his “pull yourself up by your bootstraps” determination and raw sense of individualism, in many ways he came to symbolize everything that Americans held dear. His characters - tough as nails - were always idealistic adventurers seeking to right the wrongs of the world. But who was John Wayne? Born Marion Morrison, most don’t even know his real name. In this book, we will cut through all the hype and get to the real man behind the legend of John Wayne.

The Great Depression was one of the most trying eras in American history. All aspects of the US were affected. After the stock market crash of 1929, the nation was thrust into a decade of turmoil and change - in government, the economy, and culture. Many of the changes brought about by the Great Depression remain today.

A little over 2000 years ago a man named Julius Caesar changed the world. Even if you have never heard of him, his lasting legacy has no doubt had an impact on your life. Even the very calendar that you use is based upon the system he created, with the month of July bearing his name. So who was this man that single-handedly changed the course of history? This audiobook follows the life and legacy of the man whose life stood between Republic and Empire.

Benito Mussolini was a figure that was both revered and dreaded. He climbed the ladder of power rapidly in Italian politics, and he was brought down just as fast. Mussolini wished to stir up a united front of nationalism within his people. But, in the end, the only thing he united was their hatred and contempt for him as a despotic leader. There were several twists and turns in the life of Benito Mussolini, and this book will take you through them all. Follow his astonishing rise and his dramatic fall.

This introduction to Celtic mythology will serve the novice well - for it is a complicated history with the earliest written records destroyed by the marauding Vikings. The oral tradition harks back to 4000 BCE and is a compilation of myths and cultures of many different peoples. Whatever aspect of this rich, mystical, and lavishly embellished heritage you would like to investigate further, you will find the author has supplied a marker to guide you on your way.

The man that history came to know by the name of Trotsky has the well-established legacy of being one of the most mysterious of all the cast and characters involved with the Russian Revolution. If the Russian Revolution was a Shakespearean tragedy, Trotsky would undoubtedly be cast into the role of an Othello or King Lear type figure who means well but seems to hamstring himself with his never-ending ideological speculation and theorizing.

She vigorously played the dumb-blonde stereotype in her movie roles, but there is nothing at all dumb about Marilyn Monroe. Born to a single mother who suffered from severe mental illness, the odds were stacked against the girl originally named Norma Jeane from the very beginning. She became a ward of the state and bounced around from foster home to foster home. The fact that she rose from such impoverished beginnings to become one of the top-billed acts in Hollywood speaks for itself.

An introduction to such a vast subject as Norse mythology can be problematic, as it could well fall between two stools; so packed with details as to put one off, or so vague, that one is none the wiser for having read it. This audiobook manages a pleasing balance, succeeds in whetting the appetite and supplying excellent resources for the listener who wishes to know more.

The Comanche were once the most dominant Native American tribe in the Great Plains of North America. From their homelands on the prairies, they ranged across the American West and South into Mexico. They were also one of the most feared of all Native American people, fighting virtually every other Native American tribe they had contact with and waging successful guerilla wars against invaders from Spain, Mexico, and the Eastern United States.

Sigmund Freud was a catalyst who signaled a seat change in how humanity came to understand the world and how it relates to the human mind. And if you have ever had a “Freudian slip”, you know full well that the concepts and theories of Mr. Freud are well ensconced in the modern lexicon. Many of us are familiar with his work, but his audiobook examines the man behind the work.