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Napoleon's Buttons: How 17 Molecules Changed History Hardcover - 2003
by Penny Le Couteur; Jay Burreson
Though many factors have been proposed to explain the failure of Napoleon's 1812 Russian campaign, it has also been linked to something as small as a button-a tin button, the kind that fastened everything from the greatcoats of Napoleon's officers to the trousers of his foot soldiers. When temperatures drop below 56ĄF, tin crumbles into powder. Were the soldiers of the Grande Armée fatally weakened by cold because the buttons of their uniforms fell apart? How different our world might be if tin did not disintegrate at low temperatures and the French had continued their eastward expansion!
This fascinating book tells the stories of seventeen molecules that, like the tin of those buttons, greatly influenced the course of history. These molecules provided the impetus for early exploration and made possible the ensuing voyages of discovery. They resulted in grand feats of engineering and spurred advances in medicine; lie behind changes in gender roles, in law, and in the environment; and have determined what we today eat, drink, and wear.
Showing how a change as small as the position of an atom can lead to enormous differences in the properties of a substance, the authors reveal the astonishing chemical connections among seemingly unrelated events. Napoleon's Buttons offers a novel way to understand how our contemporary world works and how our civilization has been shaped over time.
First line
CHRISTOS E ESPICIARIAS!-for Christ and spices-was the jubilant cry from Vasco da Gama's sailors as, in May 1498, they approached India and the goal of gaining untold wealth from spices that for centuries had been the monopoly of the merchants of Venice.
Details
- Title Napoleon's Buttons: How 17 Molecules Changed History
- Author Penny Le Couteur; Jay Burreson
- Binding Hardcover
- Edition First Edition
- Pages 384
- Volumes 1
- Language ENG
- Publisher Tarcher, New York
- Date April 24, 2003
- Illustrated Yes
- ISBN 9781585422203 / 1585422207
- Weight 1.44 lbs (0.65 kg)
- Dimensions 9.32 x 6.34 x 1.25 in (23.67 x 16.10 x 3.18 cm)
- Ages 18 to UP years
- Grade levels 13 - UP
- Reading level 1340
- Library of Congress Catalog Number 2002032247
- Dewey Decimal Code 540
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Napoleon's Buttons: How 17 Molecules Changed History
by LeCouteur, Penny
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