Kategoria BISAC: History >> Modern - 17th Century

Initially seeking converts and trade, the French presence in 17th-century Siam turned into a classic colonial adventure, with troops sent to occupy, by force if necessary, the most important ports of Bangkok and Mergui. Fran?ois Martin, from his unique viewpoint as director of the French trading outpost at Pondich?ry on the coast of India, provides a careful analysis of the motives of the persons involved in the French colonizing venture. Michael Smithies has skillfully translated and assembled all the references to Siam from Martin's M?moirs, linking the segments with his own...

Examining new research, this excellent volume presents a series of case-studies exemplifying the new newspaper history. Using cross-cultural comparisons, Joad Raymond establishes an agenda for answering crucial questions central to the future histories of the political and literary culture of early-modern Britain:

* What is the relationship between the circulation of news in Britain and communication networks elsewhere in Europe?
* Was the British development of the media unique?
* What are the specific rhetorical properties of news-communication in seventeeth-century...

In this critical darling Vermeer's captivating and enigmatic paintings become windows that reveal how daily life and thought-from Delft to Beijing--were transformed in the 17th century, when the world first became global.

A Vermeer painting shows a military officer in a Dutch sitting room, talking to a laughing girl. In another canvas, fruit spills from a blue-and-white porcelain bowl. Familiar images that captivate us with their beauty--but as Timothy Brook shows us, these intimate pictures actually give us a remarkable view of an expanding world. The officer's dashing hat is made...

Sixteen years after Rene Descartes' death in Stockholm in 1650, a pious French ambassador exhumed the remains of the controversial philosopher to transport them back to Paris. Thus began a 350-year saga that saw Descartes' bones traverse a continent, passing between kings, philosophers, poets, and painters.

But as Russell Shorto shows in this deeply engaging book, Descartes' bones also played a role in some of the most momentous episodes in history, which are also part of the philosopher's metaphorical remains: the birth of science, the rise of democracy, and the earliest debates...