The Days of the Consuls


Book Description




Bosnian Chronicle, Or, The Days of the Consuls


Book Description

Set in the provincial town of Travnik, then part of the Ottoman Empire, Bosnian Chronicle tells of the struggle for supremacy in a region that stubbornly refuses to submit to any outsider. The era is Napoleonic and the novel, both in its historical scope and in its psychological subtlety, is Tolstoyan. Told from the viewpoint of the French consul, a rationalist who struggles to make sense of Balkan life, the novel presents Ottoman viziers, foreign visitors and Austrian plenipotentiaries, all consumed by an endless game of diplomacy and double-dealing. Courtly and expansive face-to-face, they brood and scheme behind closed doors. As they have for centuries, the Bosnians themselves observe and endure the machinations of the greater powers that vie, futilely, to absorb them. Ivo Andric's masterwork is imbued with the richness and complexity of a region that has brought so much tragedy to our century and known so little peace.




The Last Days Of The Consulate


Book Description

The Consulate was the government of France between the fall of the Directory in the coup of 18 Brumaire in 1799 until the start of the Napoleonic Empire in 1804. By extension, the term The Consulate also refers to this period of French history. During this period, Napoleon Bonaparte, as First Consul had established himself as the head of a more conservative, authoritarian, autocratic, and centralized republican government in France while not declaring himself head of state. Nevertheless, due to the long-lasting institutions established during these years, Robert B. Holtman has called the Consulate "one of the most important periods of all French history.




Consuls and Res Publica


Book Description

The consulate was the focal point of Roman politics. Both the ruling class and the ordinary citizens fixed their gaze on the republic's highest office - to be sure, from different perspectives and with differing expectations. While the former aspired to the consulate as the defining magistracy of their social status, the latter perceived it as the embodiment of the Roman state. Holding high office was thus not merely a political exercise. The consulate prefigured all aspects of public life, with consuls taking care of almost every aspect of the administration of the Roman state. This multifaceted character of the consulate invites a holistic investigation. The scope of this book is therefore not limited to political or constitutional questions. Instead, it investigates the predominant role of the consulate in and its impact on, the political culture of the Roman republic.




Bosnian Chronicle


Book Description

Set in the town of Travnik, Bosnian Chronicle presents the struggle for supremacy in a region that stubbornly refuses to submit to any outsider. The era is Napoleonic and the novel, both in its historical scope and psychological subtlety, Tolstoyan. In its portrayal of conflict and fierce ethnic loyalties, the story is also eerily relevant. Ottoman viziers, French consuls, and Austrian plenipotentiaries are consumed by an endless game of diplomacy and double-dealing: expansive and courtly face-to-face, brooding and scheming behind closed doors. As they have for centuries, the Bosnians themselves observe and endure the machinations of greater powers that vie, futilely, to absorb them. Ivo Andric's masterwork is imbued with the richness and complexity of a region that has brought so much tragedy to our century and known so little peace. Skyhorse Publishing, as well as our Arcade, Yucca, and Good Books imprints, are proud to publish a broad range of books for readers interested in fiction—novels, novellas, political and medical thrillers, comedy, satire, historical fiction, romance, erotic and love stories, mystery, classic literature, folklore and mythology, literary classics including Shakespeare, Dumas, Wilde, Cather, and much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.




Bosnian Story


Book Description

"The book has four main themes. The first is the purely historical and political theme of Bosnia as the background of intrigue between Napoleonic France and Imperial Austria, each represented by its Consul and each trying to win over to its side the Turk, who at heart is equally hostile to both. The second theme is that of the gradually disintegrating effect of the East on western Europeans who have to live there: this is worked out in a masterly fashion in various figures in the book, some of whom have already succumbed to its insidious influence, while even those who resist are marked by it. The third theme is a study of the effect upon an honest, unimaginative man of serving a dictatorship in which at first he sincerely believes but whose aims and methods he comes with growing horror to doubt. Last and central to all is the theme of Bosnia itself, the spirit of the land and its people and the problem of their rescue from the pit of ignorance, backwardness, and poverty into which history has plunged them." (Kenneth Johnstone, translator's note, page 11)




Empress Josephine: An Historical Sketch of the Days of Napoleon


Book Description

"Empress Josephine: An Historical Sketch of the Days of Napoleon" by Luise Mühlbach is a historical novel about the wife of Napoleon Bonaparte, Josephine de Beauharnais. She was the first Empress consort of France. It covers a lot about Napoleon and their relationship. A joy to read. There are many other interesting facets to the revolution. The novel gives great insight into the state of France in the years that brought down the monarchy and made it possible for Napoleon to rise to the emperor.




The American Consul


Book Description

This definitive study of the U.S. Consular Service examines its history from the Revolutionary War until its integration with the Foreign Service in 1924. As a British colony, Americans relied on the British consular system to take care of their sailors and merchants. But after the Revolution they scrambled to create an American service. While the American diplomatic establishment was confined to the world’s major capitals, U.S. consular posts proliferated to most of the major ports where the expanding American merchant marine called. Mostly untrained political appointees, each consul was a lonely individual relying on his native wits to provide help to distressed Americans. Appointments were often given to accomplished authors, with notable members including Nathaniel Hawthorne, James Fennimore Cooper, William Dean Howells, Bret Harte, and the cartoonist Thomas Nast. Briefly traces the history of consuls from their creation in Ancient Egypt, this volume sheds light on the significant roles American consuls played throughout history, including in the War of 1812, the Mexican War, the Civil War, and the Spanish-American War. This second edition continues the narrative to cover World War I, the Greek disaster in Turkey, and the early years of the Weimar Republic.




The Consul at Rome


Book Description

In modern times there have been studies of the Roman Republican institutions as a whole as well as in-depth analyses of the senate, the popular assemblies, the tribunate of the plebs, the aedileship, the praetorship and the censorship. However, the consulship, the highest magistracy of the Roman Republic, has not received the same attention from scholars. The purpose of this book is to analyse the tasks that consuls performed in the civil sphere during their term of office between the years 367 and 50 BC, using the preserved ancient sources as its basis. In short, it is a study of the consuls 'at work', both within and outside the city of Rome, in such varied fields as religion, diplomacy, legislation, jurisdiction, colonisation, elections, and day-to-day politics. Clearly and accessibly written, it will provide an indispensable reference work for all scholars and students of the history of the Roman Republic.




All About Me


Book Description

When Sotirios Majoros’s thirteen-year-old daughter asked him a seemingly simple question, “What is life?”, little did she realize the explosion of thoughts and ideas that she would set off in her father’s mind. To answer her question, Sotirios found himself looking back through time to the father of history, Herodotus, and across humanity’s numerous cultures, focusing in particular on how this question is expressed through various pieces of artwork, such as sculptures and paintings. He also looked back through his own life, eventually realizing that lurking beneath his daughter’s question was an even more fundamental question: Who am I? His attempt to answer this question forms the foundation of this book.