Other Side of History , livre ebook

Marshall Cavendish International - Simon Maier

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114 pages

English

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History is more than facts and figures, people and places, wars and politics, deaths and disasters. Stories are never fixed in stone; they continue to morph and evolve with every retelling. Author Simon Maier casts himself in the role of a hotelier who has worked in different cities around the world over the last 60 years. Wry, witty and sharp, history is told through a refreshing point of view. As the narrator chronicles key events of the 20th and 21st centuries, he provides details of the atmosphere, and recounts tales from people on the ground, along with sketches of the mood and beliefs of the time. Such details infuse the biggest and most important occasions of modern times with insight, precision and warmth. This book is a fascinating mix of fact and fiction; of what did happen and what might have happened. History is scattered with many great changes; some planned, most sudden; some shocking, others happy. We see the front view of the occasion, the announcement, the television footage, the moment in lights. We see the stage that is put before us - but what about behind the scenes? What insights can we find on the other side of history?

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Histoire

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Publié par	Marshall Cavendish International
Date de parution	08 mai 2017
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9789814779418
Langue	English

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Extrait

2017 Marshall Cavendish International (Asia) Private Limited and Simon Maier
Published by Marshall Cavendish Editions
An imprint of Marshall Cavendish International

All rights reserved
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner. Requests for permission should be addressed to the Publisher, Marshall Cavendish International (Asia) Private Limited, 1 New Industrial Road, Singapore 536196.
Tel: (65) 6213 9300 E-mail: genref@sg.marshallcavendish.com
Website: www.marshallcavendish.com/genref
The publisher makes no representation or warranties with respect to the contents of this book, and specifically disclaims any implied warranties or merchantability or fitness for any particular purpose, and shall in no event be liable for any loss of profit or any other commercial damage, including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential, or other damages.
Other Marshall Cavendish Offices:
Marshall Cavendish Corporation. 99 White Plains Road, Tarrytown NY 10591-9001, USA Marshall Cavendish International (Thailand) Co Ltd. 253 Asoke, 12th Flr, Sukhumvit 21 Road, Klongtoey Nua, Wattana, Bangkok 10110, Thailand Marshall Cavendish (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd, Times Subang, Lot 46, Subang Hi-Tech Industrial Park, Batu Tiga, 40000 Shah Alam, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia
Marshall Cavendish is a registered trademark of Times Publishing Limited
National Library Board, Singapore Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
Name(s): Maier, Simon. | Marshall Cavendish Editions, publisher.
Title: The other side of history : a unique view of momentous events from the last 60 years / Simon Maier.
Description: Singapore : Marshall Cavendish Edition, 2017
Identifier(s): OCN 978256100 | eISBN: 978 981 4779 41 8
Subject(s): LCSH: History, Modern--20th century--Anecdotes. | History, Modern--21st century--Anecdotes.
Classification: DDC 909.82--dc23
Printed in Singapore by Markono Print Media Pte Ltd
This book is for my brother, Michael.

All the world s a stage,
And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances,
And one man in his time plays many parts, ...

From As You Like It , Act II, Scene VII, William Shakespeare
CONTENT
A Note

The Start

Buenos Aires, August 1951
Don t Cry For Me Argentina: Eva Per n s Last Broadcast
Memphis, August 1953
Snake Hips: Elvis Presley Cuts His First Record
Montgomery, December 1955
Standing Up for Her Rights: Rosa Parks Does Not Give Up Her Seat
Alexandria, July 1956
Between the Mediterranean and the Deep Red Sea: Nasser Shuts the Suez Canal
Tokyo, May 1958
Food, Glorious Food: The Instant Noodle
Singapore, May 1959
The Lion in Lion City: Lee Kuan Yew Comes to Power
Washington D.C., March 1961
The American Dream: JFK and the New Rhetoric
Memphis, April 1968
A Black Day: The Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.
London, January 1969
All You Need Is Love: The Beatles Break Up
Catskill Mountains, July 1969
Light Side of the Moon: The First Moon Landing
Albuquerque, March 1975
Enter Bill Gates and Paul Allen: The First Real Home Computer
Baghdad, July 1979
The Great Dictator: The Rise and Rise of Saddam Hussein
Delhi, October 1984
Death Comes Knocking: Indira Gandhi s Assassination
Cape Town, February 1990
Born Free: Nelson Mandela s Release from Prison
Paris, August 1997
The Tunnel: Death of Princess Diana
Hong Kong, July 1997
And in the End: The Handover of Hong Kong
Siem Reap, April 1998
The Killing Fields: Pol Pot s Brutal Regime and Its End
Kuala Lumpur, August 1999
Reaching for the Skies: The Petronas Twin Towers
Nuku alofa, December 1999
Telling the Time: The Big Worry of Year 2000
Interlude

New York, September 2001
Ground Zero: 9/11
New York, April 2003
Hello, Hello: The 30th Anniversary of the Invention of the Cell Phone
Phuket, December 2004
On Such a Full Sea Are We Now Afloat A Tsunami
Chicago, August 2008
Speak Like a President: Obama s Election Night Speech
Kiev, February 2014
The Bear Growls: Russia s Annexation of Crimea
Hangzhou, September 2014
The Jewels of China: Alibaba IPO
Singapore, September 2015
The Stranger: Formula One Night Race
Pyongyang, October 2016
Big Guns: North Korea as a Nuclear Threat
New York, November 2016
The End of the Affair: Hillary Clinton s Concession Speech
The Other Side of History

About the Author
A NOTE
Subject: Thank you!
Hi Sarah,
Just got back to London from NY via a few days in Venice (my favourite city) and I wanted to drop you a quick mail to thank you very much for helping make my visit to the New York office so enjoyable. Obviously I had a great time with my grandfather and he always speaks volumes about you. I was really touched and the food - so much! And all delicious. Thanks too for sorting out flights and everything else. Really appreciated.
I also wanted to thank you for sending the notes that Gramps had given me which I d left behind - always doing that - plus the photographs. The package beat me home. He s very lucky to have you as a PA! But I think he knows that.
Not sure if I mentioned this to you - or if he did, but I said to him that I d like to make what he told me into a book. If I can. I think I told you that I ve been writing a fair bit for several magazines now, as well as some websites, and that s all going very well. The stuff that he talked about - where he d been in the world over the last sixty years, what he d seen, the history that he d witnessed - all the moments in his life when he d been part of (or had been close to) events that have made it into the news and the history books. His memory was super good when we talked and, even though he referred to his notebooks and his photos, he was razor-sharp and could recall whole chunks of stuff.
He told me about lots of famous and less famous people. He s always been fascinated by what people do and the kindnesses that they afford him and others. And then he s shocked to the core by the horrors that people can perpetrate and the terrible things those people do in their thirst for power or wealth, or because of hate or prejudice.
You know that his stories are amazing and I know he talks to you about these things. So, once I ve written something I d be really pleased if you d read it through.
I ve got some meetings with people in a couple of months in NY and I ll be staying for around a week, so I ll let Gramps and you know as soon as I ve got dates.
See you very soon Sarah and, again, thanks. I had a wonderful afternoon and that was in part down to you.
Best
THE START
Hello, hello! Come in Thank you, Sarah. Of course you remember Sarah? Sure, you do. Come in, come in. So good to see you. Well, now, it has been some time! Of course it has yes, far too long. Come Sit down Yes, absolutely. Sarah, no more calls for a while please thank you. Yes, yes of course I won t forget you ll let us know when the car s here.
Goodness me. A very long time. You ve grown, but then grandparents always say that I suppose You know, time isn t a straight line from A to Z. It curves, it goes down cul-de-sacs. It takes us in many directions. Where opportunity ventures, we must grab it. Sometimes it will be the wrong way - and sometimes the decision will be right in every sense - and the results can be truly wonderful.
It is good to see you. So good... Of course, of course - help yourself How s your mother? I haven t seen her for some time, y know. Last time was in London. England always takes me back to when I was small. A long time ago but I do visit of course it s a shame that you and I haven t had a chance to catch up recently. A grandfather should spend time with his grandson But you ve been there and I ve been here, and we ve both been here and there.
How re the women in your life? You have that lovely girlfriend - Susan? Shelley, OK. Ah right. Well, that s how it goes. You know something about literature of course. Jane Austen wrote at the start of Pride and Prejudice that It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife. Well, I believe that certainly but don t be in too much of a hurry. Have some fun You are? Good.
What time is your flight? That s fine then we have plenty of time. I wanted to have this time together. We could walk or stay here It s very wet outside and humid, so perhaps let s stay here. You asked on the phone about some of the things that I d been doing since we last met. Well, I thought about that a lot too - and, if you have the appetite, and the patience - I d like to tell you about a few things that I ve thought about. But not just since we last met. I was considering famous moments in history. Important moments. Someone asked me not that long ago if I d ever found my job boring and she wondered if I would have preferred something more interesting. More challenging, she suggested. Challenging and interesting, sure. Boring, never.
I ve been very fortunate to have been there at notable moments in time - and those moments are forever etched in my mind remarkable moments in history, but from another point of view. Mine. Seeing things from where I was. From where I happened to be. And defined by the people I was with at the time. Most definitely that. At every moment in time when something of importance has ever happened, there s always another story of what happened - behind the scenes. A lot of my experience has been behind the scenes or offstage. We don t always hear those stories. And in many ways that s a good thing because then one isn t on stage, as it were, in the direct line of fire. So sometimes - in fact, often - it s good to be away from the main action. You understand?
Yes, of course you can, dear boy. Please, help yourself