Bøger udgivet af Scrawny Goat Books

A perfect and highly readable English prose translation of the Nibelungenlied-an epic poem which first appeared written in in Middle High German around 1100 AD, in which the story of Siegfried the dragon slayer was first told.The epic consists of two parts: first, the story of Siegfried and his wife Kriemhild; and second, of the marriage of Siegfried's widow to King Etzel (Atilla the Hun).The tale weaves through intrigue, adventure, love, death, and revenge, as Siegfried slays the dragon, but is killed by Hagen, who then hides the Nibelung treasure in the Rhine River. Kreimhild is forced to marry Etzel, but takes her revenge . . .The original epic was written in poem format in 2.400 stanzas, divided up into 39 adventures. This English translation has kept to the "adventure" format but reads as a conventional epic, and accurately follows the storyline of all the adventures.The Nibelungenlied later served as the inspiration for Richard Wagner's "The Ring" Cycle.

A striking and engrossing account of one of the most devastating religious wars to ever befall Europe: the great Catholic-Protestant clash which saw at least 40 percent of the population of Germany killed.The work's written style makes this book not a dry history but a dramatic and attention-holding story, starting with an account of the origin of the conflict, and how these differences spiraled out of control into what became the possible one of Europe's most devastating wars of all time.The study also reveals how divisions within the Protestant forces--between Calvinists and Lutherans--allowed the Catholic forces to gain the upper hand, and how foreign powers-both Protestant and Catholic-sent invading armies to support their allied religious factions. By the end of the war, armies from Denmark, Sweden, the Netherlands, Spain, and France had tramped across Germany."Outrages of unspeakable atrocity were committed everywhere. Human beings were driven naked into the streets, their flesh pierced with needles, or cut to the bone with saws. Others were scalded with boiling water or hunted with fierce dogs. The horrors of a town taken by storm were repeated every day in the open country. Even apart from its excesses, the war itself was terrible enough."When Augsburg was besieged by the imperialists, after their victory at Nördlingen, it contained an industrious population of 70,000 souls. After a siege of seven months, 10,000 living beings, wan and haggard with famine, remained to open the gates to the conquerors . . ."The losses of the civil population were almost incredible. In a certain district of Thuringia which was probably better off than the greater part of Germany, there were, before the war cloud burst, 1,717 houses standing in nineteen villages. In 1649, only 627 houses were left. And even of the houses which remained many were untenanted. The 1,717 houses had been inhabited by 1,773 families. Only 316 families could be found to occupy the 627 houses."This new edition has been completely reformatted, reset, indexed, and contains fifteen new illustrations.

A complete account of the decisive Battle of San Jacinto which wrested the independence of the state of Texas from Mexican control.Drawing its title from Edward Creasy's "Fifteen Decisive Battles of the World," this book argues that the American victory at San Jacinto changed the future history of all of North America. The 1836 battle, which saw the Mexican president Santa Anna and his army driven out of what was to become the state of Mexico and parts of at least four other US states certainly changed the course of American history, as the author asserts.Set against the backdrop of the defense of the Alamo by William Travis, and the subsequent Mexican massacre of American prisoners at Goliad, this work tells the story of the forty fateful days between the retreat from Gonzales and the epic battle at Lynchburg, now called San Jacinto."Had the Mexican Commander consolidated his forces, the battle of San Jacinto could not have been won by the Patriot Army. Had he carefully selected his camp site and kept a diligent watch, the thin line of seven hundred and twenty odd infantry which surprised his camp in the mid-afternoon could not have reached the crest of the hill . . . Had he won, the Texas settlements would have been wiped out and Mexican supremacy would have been re-established north and east of the Rio Grande. The Anti-Slavery sentiment in the northern States was so opposed to the acquisition of more territory in which the spread of slavery was feared, that these States would have been allies of Mexico against further Southern aggression."This new edition has been completely reset, contains the entire text and all 41 original illustrations. In addition, it contains two new appendices providing a Mexican account of the battle, and of an eye-witness account of the massacre at Goliad which preceded the battle.

First published in 1903 under the title "The Destruction of the Greek Empire and the Story of the Capture of Constantinople by the Turks," this book dramatically tells the story of the 250 years preceding the fall of Constantinople and the destruction of the Byzantine Empire by the Ottoman Turks. Drawing upon original sources and classical historians, this book describes in detail the political confluence of circumstances that led to the isolation of the city of Constantinople from Western Christianity, and the steady impoverishment of the once magnificent capital of the Eastern Roman Empire.At the same time, the ancient city, founded and named after the Roman Emperor Constantine, became increasingly threatened by the expansion of Islam and that religion's conquering of almost all of the previous territory of the Eastern Roman Empire. Finally, the Byzantine Empire was reduced to an area protected only by the 1000-year-old city walls of Constantinople. Behind these walls, the last Roman Emperor and his small band of Christian knights awaited the inevitable end.The shocking and now often ignored pivotal event of the seizure of Constantinople and its conversion into the present-day city of Istanbul is covered in full, along with its after-effects and the creation of an anti- Ottoman alliance in Europe.This new edition contains all the original maps and images and contains a new index.

The true story of the explorer and scholar after who the entire continent of "America" is named. This remarkable work starts with the early life of the Italian-born explorer and then quickly moves on to the details of his fabulous voyages on behalf of Spain and Portugal from 1499 to 1502. Drawing heavily upon the explorer's own writing and other original sources, the full story of this remarkable-yet surprisingly little-known-Pilot Major of Spain is told in an intriguing and exciting fashion. Read here of the controversy surrounding Vespucci's first voyage, his remarkably accurate maps, and the many discoveries he made that later caused scholars to name the entire new world after him as a mark of honor.ContentsI: Young Amerigo And His Family 1451-1470II: Amerigo's Friends and Teachers 1470-1482III: Vespucci's Favorite Authors 1485-1490IV: In the Service of Spain 1490V: Conversations with Columbus 1492 Or 1493VI: Vespucci's Debatable Voyage 1497-1498VII: Vespucci's "Second" Voyage 1499-1500VIII: With Ojeda the Fighter 1499IX: Cannibals, Giants, And Pearls 1499-1500X: Famous Fellow-Voyagers 1497-1500XI: On the Coast of Brazil 1501-1502XII: The "Fourth Part of The Earth" XIIIXIII: The Fourth Great Voyage 1503-1504XIV: King Ferdinand's Friend 1505-1508XV: Pilot-Major of Spain 1508-1512XVI: How America Was Named 1504-1541Authorities On Amerigo Vespucci

The very first history of the British colonisation of the land which later became famous as Rhodesia, and is now called Zimbabwe.This book, first published in 1900, was specifically commissioned by famous British Imperialist Cecil John Rhodes and his British South Africa Company (BSAC) with the intention of countering some of the negative publicity which the BSAC had encountered since their venture into the interior had created the first European settlements north of the Boer Republics.Using firsthand accounts gathered directly from the official BSAC archives, this book provides a gripping insight into the struggles of those early European pioneers-and of the intense and long-lasting resistance they encountered from the African inhabitants. Revealed along the way of this war-filled narrative are interesting facts such as the total population of the region in 1900; the personal intervention of Rhodes in a meeting with the Matabele chiefs to try and stop the ongoing wars; and many other incidents and facts vital for anyone seeking to gain an understanding of the origin of the later conflict in that land.The work also contains two interesting chapters dealing with the Rhodesian colonists' participation in the Second Anglo-Boer War, which was still raging at the time this book first appeared.Now with 14 new and rare illustrations. Fully indexed.

Written by Paul du Chaillu, the explorer who was the first outsider to confirm the existence of the Pygmy people of central Africa and of the gorilla-both of which had only been rumoured at before-this book is a dramatic and continually enthralling account of a nearly seven-year long exploration of West and Central Africa in the 1860s.Commissioned by the Academy of Natural Sciences at Philadelphia, the author was sent to West Africa and the equator region on that continent in order to establish the nature of the population and the wildlife, which was little known before that time. During his explorations, he became the first outsider to see and capture gorillas, the existence of which was only known from a passing reference in a work by Hanno the Navigator of Carthage dating from the 5th century BC. In addition, Du Chaillu thoroughly documented the native peoples of the regions he explored, recording their customs, dress, habits, technology, and culture. In this manner he also came upon the Pygmy people of central Africa and was the first to document their existence and announce it to the outside world.Du Chaillu's work remains a pioneering effort in exploratory anthropology and has lost none of its vitality or interest over the years. It remains a primary resource for anyone seeking an in-depth insight into pre-colonial and pre-urban West and Central Africa.This new edition has been completely reset and contains all the original illustrations, digitally reproduced to the highest possible quality.