'Here's your chance to learn and enjoy Big History in a slightly 'deranged' romp.' Dr Karl Kruszelnicki, Australian science communicator, author, and populariser Lightbulb Moments in Human History tracks humanity's big ideas and the eccentricities of those who conceived them. Along the way you'll find answers to questions such as: Why did the Sumerians have temple prostitutes? Just how psychotic was the God of the Old Testament? Why did parents in ancient Greece encourage their young sons to take older male lovers? And what on earth inspired the Mayans to have tobacco enemas? Funny. Irreverent. Never boring. This is not the history you were taught in school. Scott Edwin Williams' Lightbulb Moments in Human History engages, entertains, and provides hope that while times are tough, we're not all going to hell in a handbasket.

'Lightbulb Moments in Human History is flavored with scintillating wit and dark humor, and served to the open-minded by an intelligent observer, who manages to evoke empathy and hope for the human spirit.' Dr. Micki Pistorius, author of Catch Me a Killer Lightbulb Moments in Human History: From Peasants to Periwigs continues the humorous and informative series exploring the big ideas that have shaped humanity. Packed with laughs and fascinating insights, it documents the progression from the boozy peasants of the Middle Ages to the bewigged boffins of the Scientific Revolution. Along the way, you'll find answers to burning questions such as: Why did a mob of peasants follow a 'divinely inspired' goose to the Crusades? Was Captain Cook really devoured by cannibals, or was it just a terrible misunderstanding? What the hell is a periwig, and why did the best-dressed seventeenth-century men insist on wearing them? Lightbulb Moments in Human History: From Peasants to Periwigs by Scott Edwin Williams is not the history you were taught in school. It demonstrates that, despite all evidence to the contrary, our world is actually getting better. So grab a mug of mead, slap on your finest periwig, and dive into the rich history of human ingenuity.

The Art and Science of Light Bulb Moments is an interactive, educational and entertaining guide on how to have ideas on demand. Tom Evans explains how the mind works (and doesn't work) so you that you can experience inspirations about anything pretty much any time you like. Light bulb moments don't have to be random. You will learn the secrets to Whole Brain and Whole Mind Thinking, the importance of the breath and how to reconnect with your vestigial minds and the superconsciousness. Find out where ideas come from and why most thoughts aren't necessarily your own. Reading this book will quite possibly change your world by helping you spot serendipities, making you luckier and even healthier and wealthier.

The Nuremberg Trials (IMT), most notable for their aim to bring perpetrators of Nazi war crimes to justice in the wake of World War II, paved the way for global conversations about genocide, justice, and human rights that continue to this day. As Francine Hirsch reveals in this new history of the trials, a central part of the story has been ignored or forgotten: the critical role the Soviet Union played in making them happen in the first place. While there were practical reasons for this omission--until recently, critical Soviet documents about Nuremberg were buried in the former Soviet archives, and even Russian researchers had limited access--Hirsch shows that there were political reasons as well. The Soviet Union was regarded by its wartime Allies not just as a fellow victor but a rival, and it was not in the interests of the Western powers to highlight the Soviet contribution to postwar justice. Stalin's Show Trials of the 1930s had both provided a model for Nuremberg and made a mockery of it, undermining any pretense of fairness and justice. Further complicating matters was the fact that the Soviets had allied with the Nazis before being invaded by them. The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact of 1939 hung over the courtroom, as did the fact that the everyone knew that the Soviet prosecution had presented the court with falsified evidence about the Katyn massacre of Polish officers, attempting to pin one of their own major war crimes on the Nazis. For lead American prosecutor Robert Jackson and his colleagues, focusing too much on the Soviet role in the trials threatened the overall credibility of the IMT and possibly even the collective memory of the war. Soviet Justice at Nuremberg illuminates the ironies of Stalin's henchmen presiding in moral judgment over the Nazis. In effect, the Nazis had learned mass-suppression and mass-murder techniques from the Soviets, their former allies, and now the latter were judging them for crimes they had themselves committed. Yet the Soviets had borne the brunt of the fighting--and the losses--in World War II, and this gave them undeniable authority. Moreover, Soviet jurists were the first to conceive of a legal framework for viewing war as a crime, and without that framework the IMT would have had no basis. In short, there would be no denying their place at the tribunal, nor their determination to make the most of it. Illuminating the shifting relationships between the four countries involved (the U.S., Great Britain, France, and the U.S.S.R.) Hirsch's book shows how each was not just facing off against the Nazi defendants, but against each other and offers a new history of Nuremberg.

In some hands, history can be an inspirational and rewarding subject, yet in others it can seem dry and of little relevance. Learning to Teach History in the Secondary School, now in its fifth edition and established as one of the leading texts for all history student teachers, enables you to learn to teach history in a way that pupils will find interesting, enjoyable and purposeful. It incorporates a wide range of ideas about the teaching of history with practical suggestions for classroom practice. The fifth edition has been thoroughly updated in the light of recent developments in the field of history education. The book contains chapters on: • Purposes and benefits of school history • Planning strategies • Teaching approaches and methods • Developing pupils’ historical understanding • Ensuring inclusion • New technologies in the history classroom • Assessment and examinations • Your own continuing professional development Each chapter includes suggestions for further reading, weblinks to useful resources and a range of tasks enabling you to put learning into practice in the classroom. Written by experts in the field, Learning to Teach History in the Secondary School offers all training and newly qualified teachers comprehensive and accessible guidance to support the journey towards becoming an inspirational and engaging history teacher.

As it enters its sixtieth year of independence, India stands on the threshold of superpower status. Yet India is strikingly different from all other global colossi. While it is the world's most populous democracy and enjoys the benefits of its internationally competitive high-tech and software industries, India also contends with extremes of poverty, inequality, and political and religious violence. This accessible and vividly written book presents a new interpretation of India's history, focusing particular attention on the impact of British imperialism on Independent India. Maria Misra begins with the rebellion against the British in 1857 and tracks the country's advance to the present day. India's extremes persist, the author argues, because its politics rest upon a peculiar foundation in which traditional ideas of hierarchy, difference, and privilege coexist to a remarkable degree with modern notions of equality and democracy. The challenge of India's leaders today, as in the last sixty years, is to weave together the disparate threads of the nation's ancient culture, colonial legacy, and modern experience.

If the vibrancy on display in Thinking in the Past Tense is any indication, the study of intellectual history is enjoying an unusually fertile period in both Europe and North America. This collection of conversations with leading scholars brims with insights from such diverse fields as the history of science, the reception of classical antiquity, book history, global philology, and the study of material culture. The eight practitioners interviewed here specialize in the study of the early modern period (c. 1400–1800), for the last forty years a crucial laboratory for testing new methods in intellectual history. The lively conversations don’t simply reveal these scholars’ depth and breadth of thought; they also disclose the kind of trade secrets that historians rarely elucidate in print. Thinking in the Past Tense offers students and professionals alike a rare tactile understanding of the practice of intellectual history. Here is a collectively drawn portrait of the historian’s craft today.