Laurence Bergreen Bücher

Die "unbestechliche" Biographie eines Mannes, der schon zu Lebzeiten zur Legende wurde ..

The extraordinary life of the of the great travellers of world history

The riveting story of Ferdinand Magellan’s historic 60,000-mile ocean voyage—now updated with a new introduction commemorating the 500th anniversary of his journey. “Prodigious research, sure-footed prose and vivid descriptions make for a thoroughly satisfying account... it is all here in the wondrous detail, a first-rate historical page turner.”— New York Times Book Review Ferdinand Magellan's daring circumnavigation of the globe in the sixteenth century was a three-year odyssey filled with sex, violence, and amazing adventure. Now in Over the Edge of the World, prize-winning biographer and journalist Laurence Bergreen entwines a variety of candid, firsthand accounts, bringing to life this groundbreaking and majestic tale of discovery that changed both the way explorers would henceforth navigate the oceans and history itself. Now updated to include a new introduction commemorating the 500th anniversary of Magellan’s voyage.

Christopher Columbus's 1492 voyage across the Atlantic Ocean in search of a trading route to China, and his unexpected landfall in the Americas, is a watershed event in world history. Yet Columbus made three more voyages within the span of only a decade, each designed to demonstrate that he could sail to China within a matter of weeks and convert those he found there to Christianity. These later voyages were even more adventurous, violent, and ambiguous, but they revealed Columbus's uncanny sense of the sea, his mingled brilliance and delusion, and his superb navigational skills. In all these exploits, he almost never lost a sailor. By their conclusion, however, Columbus was broken in body and spirit. If the first voyage illustrates the rewards of exploration, the latter voyages illustrate the tragic costs, political, moral, and economic. In this book, the author re-creates each of these adventures as well as the historical background of Columbus's celebrated, controversial career

For Elizabeth, Drake made the impossible real, serving as a crucial and brilliantly adaptable instrument of her ambitions to transform England from a third-rate island kingdom into a global imperial power.In 1580, sailing on Elizabeth's covert orders, Drake became the first captain to circumnavigate the earth successfully.

The extraordinary life of one of the great travellers of world history

From the acclaimed biographer of explorers comes a unique exploration of Jules Verne, the novelist whose imagination sparked a transformation in modern society and technology, influencing figures from J.R.R. Tolkien to Jeff Bezos. His stories inspired literary giants and real-world expeditions, compelling undersea explorers, aviation pioneers, and astronauts to seek the unknown. Verne is one of the most widely translated authors, second only to Agatha Christie and Shakespeare, with his legacy evident in Jeff Bezos’s rocket factory, which features a replica of a spaceship from one of his novels. Considered the “father of science fiction,” Verne is an icon of inventiveness and applied imagination. His novels, including classics like *Around the World in 80 Days* and *Journey to the Center of the Earth*, not only entertained but also predicted innovations that became everyday realities. Brimming with intellect, science, adventure, and paradoxes, his work imagined a world beyond the limits of the possible, inspiring future generations to achieve the unthinkable. From biographer Laurence Bergreen, this account of Verne is engaging, vibrant, and richly researched, highlighting a visionary who profoundly shaped our modern world.

In this brilliant history of Prohibition and its most notorious gangster, acclaimed biographer Laurence Bergreen takes us to the gritty streets of Chicago where Al Capone forged his sinister empire.Bergreen shows the seedy and glamorous sides of the age, the rise of Prohibition, the illicit liquor trade, the battlefield that was Chicago. Delving beyond the Capone mythology. Bergreen finds a a coldblooded killer, thief, pimp, and racketeer who was also a devoted son and father; a self-styled Robin Hood who rose to the top of organized crime. Capone is a masterful portrait of an extraordinary time and of the one man who reigned supreme over it all, Al Capone.

Když psal Laurence Bergreen knihu Al Capone a jeho doba, vyrovnával se s fascinujícím, leč nikoliv oslavování hodným obdobím ve vývoji vlastní země. S obrovskou upřímností a pílí vyložil dobu, kdy se zákony přijímaly na ulici a v tavernách a kdy ochránce pořádku měl sotva jinou možnost než držet krok. O úspěchu rozhodovaly silné osobnosti, bezohlednost, slabost politiků a využívání nálad veřejnosti. Výsledkem je rozsáhlá publikace představující „literaturu faktu“ v nejlepším slova smyslu. Čtenář v knize najde velmi solidní a podložené poučení o dvacátých a třicátých letech 20. století ve Spojených státech, o politice té doby, běžném životě i o rozmachu podsvětí, které ztratilo zábrany a začalo tvořit dějiny.