Autocracy, totalitarianism and dictatorship Books

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Book SynopsisIn this trenchant new interpretation of America''s origins, Max Edling shows that the Federalists were primarily concerned with building a government that could act vigorously in defense of American interests. The Constitution transferred the powers of war-making and resource-extraction from the states to the national government, thereby creating a nation-state invested with all the important powers of Europe''s eighteenth-century ''fiscal-military states.''A strong centralized government such as this, however, challenged the American people''s deeply ingrained distrust of unduly concentrated authority. To secure the Constitution''s adoption in the face of this inherent suspicion, the Federalists had to balance the formation of a powerful national government with the strong current of anti-statism in the American political tradition. They did so, Edling argues, by designing a government that would be powerful in times of crisis, but which would make only limited demands on the citizenrTrade ReviewA book of undoubted power and value * The Journal of American History *At the very least, Max M. Edling has written the most important book on the adoption of the United States Constitution to appear since Forrest McDonald refuted Charles Beard in We the People: The Economic Origins of the Constitution (1958). * Journal of the Early American Republic *Edling's book is a powerfully argued revisionist interpretation of the origins of the Constitution. More than anything else, it helps us better understand the constitutional sources of the gigantic fiscal-military state that the United States has become. * Gordon S. Wood, Alva O. Way University Professor and Professor of History, Brown University *Not only a pleasure to read but extremely informative and persuasively argued. I will never think about the U.S. Constitution in the old way again. * Daniel Walker Howe, author of What Hath God Wrought *Table of ContentsINTRODUCTION: BEYOND MADISONIAN FEDERALISM; PART ONE: INTERPRETING THE DEBATE OVER RATIFICATION; PART TWO: MILITARY POWERS; PART THREE: FISCAL POWERS; CONCLUSION: THE CONSTITUTION, THE FEDERALISTS, AND THE AMERICAN STATE

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Book SynopsisSpain Transformed addresses the sweeping social and cultural changes that characterized the late Franco regime. This wide-ranging collection reassesses the dictatorship's latter years by drawing on a wealth of new material and ideas, using an interdisciplinary approach.Trade Review'An impressive volume on late Francoist Spain Spain Transformed is a significant contribution to the debate on the nature of the Franco regime.' Julius Ruiz - English Historical Review 'A valuable contribution to the literature, this admirable collection is an eloquent indication of the Franco regime's continuing capacity to fascinate.' Paul Kennedy, Bulletin of Spanish Studies 'Townson has edited an impressive volume on late Francoist Spain Spain Transformed is a significant contribution to the debate on the nature of the Franco regime' - Julius Ruiz, University of Edinburgh, UK 'An excellent study of the late Franco regime, perhaps the period of greatest change in the history of Spain. It represents the best analysis of the transitions that made possible the Transition' - Michael Seidman, University of North Carolina, USATable of ContentsIntroduction; N.Townson The Golden Age of Spanish Capitalism: Economic Growth without Political Freedom; P.Martín .Aceña & E.Martínez Ruiz Tourism and Political Change in Franco's Spain; S.D.Pack The Change in Mentalities during the late Franco Regime; W.L.Bernecker How different was Spain? The late Franco Regime in International Context; T.Buchanan Order, Progress, and Syndicalism? How the late Francoist Authorities saw Socio-economic Change; A.Cazorla Sánchez New Political Mentalities in the tardofranquismo ; C.Palomares Associations and the Social Origins of the Transition during the Late Franco Regime; P.Radcliff Cultural Diversity and the Development of a Pre-Democratic Civil Society in Spain; E.Chuliá The Spanish Church: Change and Continuity; W.J. Callahan The Origins of Democratic Support in post-Franco Spain: Learning to be a Democrat under Authoritarian Rule?; M.Torcal The United States and Spain: From Franco to Juan Carlos; C.Powell The Franco Dictatorship: A Bifurcated Regime?; E.Malefakis

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Book SynopsisScholars and students interested in debates about the rise of fascism and authoritarianism, democratization, civil society, and comparative and historical methods will find his arguments compelling and his conclusions challenging.Trade ReviewRecommended. Choice 2011 Riley's account of the civic foundations of fascism succeeds not only in throwing new light on old questions, but also in redefining the theoretical parameters for understanding fascism. It will change the way we think about fascism in the future. -- Max Whyte American Journal of Sociology 2010Table of ContentsAcknowledgmentsList of Abbreviations1. Civil Society and Fascism in Interwar Europe2. Party Fascism: Italy, 1870–19383. Traditionalist Fascism: Spain, 1876–19454. Statist Fascism: Romania, 1881–19405. Considering Alternatives6. Rethinking Civil Society and FascismNotesBibliographyIndex

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Book SynopsisKees Boterbloem is Professor of History at the University of South Florida, USA. He is the author of nine books on Russian, Soviet and World History, including A History of Russia and Its Empire (2nd edition, 2018), The Life and Times of Andrei Zhdanov, 1896-1948 (2004) and Life and Death under Stalin (1999). He was, from 2008 to 2018, editor of the journal The Historian.Trade ReviewLife in Stalin’s Soviet Union is a welcome addition to the volumes currently available for teaching the history of Stalinism. While earlier collections tend to focus on the 1930s, many of the chapters in this work chart the full period of Stalinist rule, from the late 1920s to 1953. * Canadian Slavonic Papers *A popular interpretation of the Soviet Union in the West, particularly from the 1950s to the 1960s, emphasized the totalitarian nature of a communist regime that strictly controlled the daily lives of its citizens. Written for a general readership, Life in Stalin’s Soviet Union, edited by Kees Boterbloem, successfully challenges such a historiographical approach by highlighting the many strategies Soviet citizens used to circumvent, even defy, such a regimented and brutal government and, by the same token, recover some of their freedom. * Histoire sociale/Social History *Kees Boterbloem brings together a formidable cast of first-rate scholars for this study of daily life in Stalinist Russia. The result is an extremely impressive book that offers cutting-edge research with a remarkably wide scope. Its focus lies at the intersection of everyday life and the horrors of Stalinism, to which Soviet citizens were subjected for decades. This remarkable book helps us to see what it was to live in Stalinist Russia; I can think of no other text that does this as effectively. * Erik van Ree, Assistant Professor of Eastern European Studies, University of Amsterdam, Netherlands *With contributions from some of the most original and insightful historians of the Soviet Union, this volume demonstrates how the cataclysmic changes unleashed by Stalin impacted the daily lives of ordinary Soviet citizens. It is a story of brutal transformations and heroic resilience. * Jeffrey Veidlinger, Professor of History and Judaic Studies, University of Michigan, USA. *Table of ContentsList of Illustrations List of Contributors Introduction, Kees Boterbloem (University of South Florida, USA) 1. The End of the Russian Peasants under Stalin, Kees Boterbloem (University of South Florida, USA) 2. Food Consumption, Diet and Famines, Elena Osokina (University of South Carolina, USA) 3. The Cities: Urbanization and Modern Life, Heather Dehaan (Binghamton University, USA) 4. On the Margins: Social Dislocation and Criminality in the Soviet Union from the 1930s to the 1950s, David Shearer (University of Delaware, USA) 5. The Gulag under Stalin, Golfo Alexopoulos (University of South Florida, USA) 6. Private Ivan’s Life and Fate: Daily Life in Stalin’s Red Army during the "Great Patriotic War", Kenneth Slepyan (Transylvania University, USA) 7. The History of Disability during Stalinism, Frances Bernstein (Drew University, USA) 8. Gender and Sexuality, Amy Randall (Santa Clara University, USA) 9. The Educational Experience in Stalin’s Russia, 1931-1945, Larry E. Holmes (University of South Alabama, USA) 10. A Year of Celebrations in the Life of a Soviet Student, Karen Petrone (University of Kentucky, USA) 11. Soviet People’s Informal Interactions with Officials of the Stalin-Era Party-State, James Heinzen (Rowan University, USA) 12. The Religious Front: Militant Atheists and Militant Believers, Gregory Freeze (Brandeis University, USA) Index

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Book SynopsisMurray Rothbard was known as the state''s greatest living enemy, and this book is his most powerful statement on the topic. He explains what a state is and what it is not. He shows how it is an institution that violates all that we hold as honest and moral, and how it operates under a false cover. He shows how the state wrecks freedom, destroys civilization, and threatens all lives and property and social well being, all under the veneer of "good intentions."

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Book SynopsisHorst Ludwig Georg Erich Wessel, born in Bielefeld in 1907, was the most celebrated martyr of the National Socialist movement. As a Sturmführer in the brown-shirted Sturmabteilung (SA), Horst Wessel led his men in Berlin, where the Communist paramilitary Red Front Fighters'' League did their best to disrupt the activities of the new German Nationalists. In response to his capable leadership, which threatened the Communist stranglehold on much of the city, the Red Front put out a hit on the young SA-Man. His resulting death at the hands of a cowardly Communist assassin-a pimp and petty criminal named Albrecht Höhler-became a rallying cry for his comrades all across Germany (Höhler would later be executed by the SA following the seizure of power in 1933).The namesake of this book-Die Fahne Hoch, or Raise the Flag-is a song written by Horst Wessel as a fighting song for the SA. After his martyrdom, it was adopted as the official anthem of the NSDAP and later as the national anthem of the Third Reich itself, as the Horst-Wessel-Lied. The three biographies in this collection are not so much dry factual recitations as they are passionate eulogies for a young man who laid down his life for his country, driven by idealism and a fanatical love for his people. Horst Wessel''s stature as an icon of the Third Reich achieved such heights that the legend of his life and death crosses into the territory of founding Mythology for National Socialist Germany.Horst Wessel served as an example to the youth of a defeated and desperate nation, a shining illustration of the value of courage and devotion, and proof that noble deeds often far outlive one''s own life and even the original circumstances in which they were made. Antelope Hill is proud to bring these short biographies together in one collection, Die Fahne Hoch, newly translated for the English reader.Contains:1) Horst Wessel: Life and Death by Erwin Reitmann2) SA Sturmfuhrer Horst Wessel: A Portrait of a Life of Sacrifice by Fritz Daum3) Horst Wessel: Through Strom and Struggle to Immortality by Max Kullak

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Book Synopsis Numerous studies concerning transitional justice exist. However, comparatively speaking, the effects actually achieved by measures for coming to terms with dictatorships have seldom been investigated. There is an even greater lack of transnational analyses. This volume contributes to closing this gap in research. To this end, it analyses processes of coming to terms with the past in seven countries with different experiences of violence and dictatorship. Experts have drawn up detailed studies on transitional justice in Albania, Argentina, Ethiopia, Chile, Rwanda, South Africa and Uruguay. Their analyses constitute the empirical material for a comparative study of the impact of measures introduced within the context of transitional justice. It becomes clear that there is no sure formula for dealing with dictatorships. Successes and deficits alike can be observed in relation to the individual instruments of transitional justice – from criminal prosecution to victim compensation. Nevertheless, the South American states perform much better than those on the African continent. This depends less on the instruments used than on political and social factors. Consequently, strategies of transitional justice should focus more closely on these contextual factors.

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