History Books

Book SynopsisFrom the 17th to the early 20th century, the population of Martha’s Vineyard manifested an extremely high rate of hereditary deafness. In contrast to the experience of most Deaf people, Deaf Vineyarders were thoroughly integrated into the daily life of the community. How was this possible?Trade ReviewBeautiful and fascinating… I was so moved by Groce’s book that the moment I finished it I jumped in the car, with only a toothbrush, a tape recorder, and a camera—I had to see this enchanted island for myself. -- Oliver Sacks * New York Review of Books *Fascinating… Groce accomplishes much just by pointing out that ‘handicaps’ are something a culture creates, and thus the joint responsibility of us all. That’s what places this book squarely within the best tradition of anthropological writing, and makes it both moving and encouraging. * Village Voice *Brilliantly argued and lively… [Groce’s] information consists of the oral history she herself garnered from some 50 witnesses, almost all more than 75 years old, and the documents in print and in manuscript that cross-check and extend their first-hand accounts. Human genetic theory, ethnographic counterparts and a clear-eyed account of social attitudes are the analytic tools that form her brief and telling work… [A] persuasive and compassionate investigation. * Scientific American *It must become essential reading for all concerned with the psychosocial aspects of deafness and for anyone interested in the history of hearing problems. Furthermore, for anyone with a serious interest in the hearing impaired and their problems it will make fascinating and valuable reading… The most readable of books. * British Journal of Audiology *[Groce] illuminates and challenges the assumption that discrimination has existed always and everywhere. [She] has made a major contribution to our understanding of deafness, disability and handicap as socially meaningful, dynamic categories. * Qualitative Sociology *When is deafness neither handicap nor stigma? When, as this remarkable book recounts, the entire hearing community learns from childhood to be bilingual in conventional speech and sign language, and when the deaf are wholly integrated into the community’s social, economic, religious, and recreational life… A vivid ethnography of a hearing community’s full acceptance of, and adaptation to, deafness. Groce also constructs a fascinating ethnohistory of this genetic disorder. * Choice *Table of Contents1. "They Were Just Like Everyone Else" 2. The History of Martha's Vineyard 3. The Origins of Vineyard Deafness 4. The Genetics of Vineyard Deafness 5. The Island Adaptation to Deafness 6. Growing Up Deaf on the Vineyard 7. Deafness in Historical Perspective 8. "Those People Weren't Handicapped" Appendix A. Oral and Written Sources Appendix B. Perceived Causes of Vineyard Deafness Notes Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisThe philosopher Philo, born about 20 BC to a prominent Jewish family in Alexandria, was trained in Greek as well as Jewish learning. In attempting to reconcile biblical teachings with Greek philosophy he developed ideas that had wide influence on Christian and Jewish religious thought.

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Book SynopsisVolume VIII of the nine-volume Loeb edition of Early Greek Philosophy includes the so-called sophists Protagoras, Gorgias, Prodicus, Thrasymachus, and Hippias, along with testimonia relating to the life, views, and argumentative style of Socrates.Trade ReviewIn brief, André Laks and Glenn Most give us a brilliant and beautiful reference work that can, at the same time, be easily enough read straight through. And spending a few months doing so gives the reader almost all that she needs (perhaps along with Loeb #258, Greek Elegiac Poetry) to reconstruct for herself the origins of the discipline of philosophy. I should want any graduate student or colleague in ancient philosophy or intellectual history to acquire and make their way through it. -- Christopher Moore * Classical Journal *The publication of the Loeb Classical Library’s nine-volume set, Early Greek Philosophy, gives us a new edition of the original texts, with fresh translations. It is a monumental achievement—the result of many years of dedicated work on the part of the two editors/translators André Laks and Glenn W. Most… We owe a profound debt of gratitude to the editors/translators for their thorough and impeccable scholarship, and to the publishers for their usual high standards of production. If you can afford them, don’t hesitate: you will be all the richer for having these volumes on your shelves. -- Jeremy Naydler * Minerva *André Laks and Glenn W. Most have made available to the world of scholarship in early Greek philosophy a resource of immense value. Every study of a thinker or of an issue within the thematic ambit of Early Greek Philosophy must henceforth start by canvassing and taking into account the appropriate selections in the Loeb set. -- Alexander P. D. Mourelatos * Bryn Mawr Classical Review *The publication of a Loeb Classical Library edition of the evidence for early Greek philosophy is a major event in classical scholarship…The editors and their assistants are to be commended for their exemplary execution of such a vast and difficult task. They have succeeded in producing what is far and away the best available edition of the texts of the early Greek philosophers with accompanying English translation…More than that, their edition effectively supersedes Hermann Diels and Walter Kranz’s Die Fragmente der Vorsokratiker, which has long held sway as the standard edition of the Presocratics, but it only does so because Laks and Most have respectfully taken Diels-Kranz as their model…Laks and Most have set such a high standard with this work that it is hard to imagine that we will see a better general collection on early Greek philosophy in our lifetimes…Laks and Most’s philological acumen, judiciousness as editors, and excellence as translators is evident on every page. -- John Palmer * Arion *

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Book SynopsisIn letters to his friend Atticus, Cicero (106–43 BC) reveals himself as to no other of his correspondents except perhaps his brother, and vividly depicts a momentous period in Roman history, marked by the rise of Julius Caesar and the downfall of the Republic.

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Book SynopsisThe major works by Josephus are History of the Jewish War, from 170 BC to his own time, and Jewish Antiquities, from creation to AD 66. Also by him are an autobiographical Life and a treatise Against Apion.

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Book SynopsisNearly all the works Aristotle (384–322 BC) prepared for publication are lost; the priceless ones extant are lecture-materials, notes, and memoranda (some are spurious). They can be categorized as practical; logical; physical; metaphysical; on art; other; fragments.

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Book SynopsisThis collection explores 18th-century theories of international market competition that continue to be relevant for the 21st century. “Jealousy of trade” refers to a particular conjunction between politics and the economy that emerged when success in international trade became a matter of the military and political survival of nations.Trade ReviewThese are very remarkable essays and it is invaluable to have them published in collected form. Dr. Hont has for many years been working on the interaction of political economy and political theory in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and his knowledge of this field is unrivalled. He is able to study it in Central European, French, and British settings and perspectives, and his familiarity with recent (often Cambridge-inspired) developments in the methodology of intellectual history equips him especially well to present it to English speaking scholars. He is authentically a master in this field, and it is an exciting prospect to have his works in a single volume. -- J.G.A. Pocock, Johns Hopkins University, author of The Machiavellian MomentIstvan Hont, a prominent member of the influential "Cambridge School" of the history of ideas, is one of the most able and respected historians of early modern political thought and political economy writing today. This collection brings together Hont's most important work of the past 22 years, work that has helped to re-shape our understanding of Enlightenment thought, particularly the attempt by a wide range of philosophers and social theorists to comprehend the dynamics and evaluate the moral standing of emerging market societies in the West. -- E.J. Hundert, The University of British Columbia, author of The Enlightenment's Fable: Bernard Mandeville and the Discovery of SocietyIstvan Hont's book treats the most decisive transformation in the modern understanding of politics with unique intellectual boldness and unmatched depth of scholarship. He shows far more clearly than any previous interpreter just how and why the nature and consequences of international trade have come to set the agenda for coherent political action for every modern population. This is the intellectual backdrop to the chaotic and hazardous politics of today and tomorrow. Mastering it is a prerequisite for any possibility of a more orderly and dependably benign political future. -- John Dunn, University of Cambridge, author of Setting the People Free: The Story of Democracy[A] major new study...Jealousy of Trade is a collection of pioneering essays in the history of political and economic thought, focused on a period extending from the seventeenth to the nineteenth centuries...Hont presents his argument with an absorbing combination of scholarly erudition and analytical force. But his project remains a deliberately historical one. Its aim is to rewrite the history of modern liberalism, beginning with its foundations...Hont departs from the revisionist projects of Pocock and Skinner. In opposition to them, he seeks neither to recover nor to renovate traditions of political thought occluded by the subsequent triumph of liberalism. His purpose, instead, is to restore to the long history of liberalism its properly sceptical foundations. He begins by debunking the liberal legend of the benign progress of modern liberty. At the same time, Hont refuses to endorse the counter-mythologies of Marxism and socialism. In striving to maintain this disabused perspective, Jealousy of Trade provides an account of the development of modern political argument freed from the ideological distortions bred by party-polemical zeal. Its ambition here is conspicuous, but so too is its intellectual energy and imagination. It is a landmark contribution to its field. -- Richard Bourke * Times Literary Supplement *Hont's painstaking work on Enlightenment political and economic discourse is historically invaluable, because it reveals the epoch-making impact of emergent global commercial empires, and forces us to recognize that the histories of individual European nation-states are really the products of a transnational (and ultimately global) process at once political and economic. -- David W. Bates * International History Review *What this book in any case shows is that eighteenth-century political and economic thought still holds a [many] secrets and unexplored territory that, if dealt with carefully, can enrich present-day reflection on the challenges of global markets and international peace. Not in the least, the message of Jealousy of Trade implies a forceful argument addressed to economic theorists not to disregard the international political conditions under which eighteenth-century thinkers developed political economy, as well as those under which their nineteenth-century equivalents turned it into a science. -- Koen Stapelbroek * Storia del Pensiero Economico *

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Book SynopsisHistorians have long been perplexed by the complete disappearance of the medieval Chinese aristocracy by the tenth centurythe great clans that had dominated China for centuries. Nicolas Tackett resolves the enigma of their disappearance using new, digital methodologies to analyze a dazzling array of sources.

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Book SynopsisThe surviving works of the Roman Emperor Julian “the Apostate” (AD 331 or 332–363) include eight Orations; Misopogon (Beard-hater), assailing the morals of the people of Antioch; more than eighty Letters; and fragments of Against the Galileans, written mainly to show that the Old Testament lacks evidence for the idea of Christianity.

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Book SynopsisNearly seventy-five years after World War II, a contentious debate lingers over whether Franklin Delano Roosevelt turned his back on the Jews of Hitler's Europe. Defenders claim that FDR saved millions of potential victims by defeating Nazi Germany. Others revile him as morally indifferent and indict him for keeping America's gates closed to Jewish refugees and failing to bomb Auschwitz's gas chambers. In an extensive examination of this impassioned debate, Richard Breitman and Allan J. Lichtman find that the president was neither savior nor bystander. In FDR and the Jews, they draw upon many new primary sources to offer an intriguing portrait of a consummate politician-compassionate but also pragmatic-struggling with opposing priorities under perilous conditions. For most of his presidency Roosevelt indeed did little to aid the imperiled Jews of Europe. He put domestic policy priorities ahead of helping Jews and deferred to others' fears of an anti-Semitic backlash. Yet he also acted decisively at times to rescue Jews, often withstanding contrary pressures from his advisers and the American public. Even Jewish citizens who petitioned the president could not agree on how best to aid their co-religionists abroad. Though his actions may seem inadequate in retrospect, the authors bring to light a concerned leader whose efforts on behalf of Jews were far greater than those of any other world figure. His moral position was tempered by the political realities of depression and war, a conflict all too familiar to American politicians in the twenty-first century.Trade ReviewAt long last, two historians have sought to provide an analysis of Roosevelt’s stance on the ‘Jewish question’ that avoids the tempting urge to judge the past through the lenses of the present… FDR and the Jews offers…a new perspective, a cogent and comprehensive study of Roosevelt’s evolving opinions on the Jews… Breitman and Lichtman’s carefully documented explication of this somewhat byzantine narrative proves immensely valuable in understanding the mechanics of what remain some of the most controversial decisions in the history of American foreign policy: the refusal to admit the Jewish refugees aboard the SS St. Louis to the United States in 1939 and the refusal to bomb the Auschwitz crematoria after their existence was discovered in 1942… Among the other accomplishments of this remarkably clear, concise but complicated history is the attention it devotes to American Jews, who were anything but unified during the war… [It] provide[s] the perspective necessary to comprehend the complexities of what have become some of the most painful and politically charged memories in American foreign policy. In short, FDR and the Jews is a narrative that resists the temptations of artificial drama and a work of scholarship that avoids facile categorization. -- James McAuley * Washington Post *Sadly, Roosevelt left behind a rather thin paper trail. He didn’t write a memoir or record many White House conversations, and he refused to allow note-taking at his personal meetings. To fill this gap, Breitman and Lichtman have combed the archives of the leading players who did write down their thoughts and recollections, and the result is quite impressive. Even those who disagree with the book’s conclusions must acknowledge the mountain of research on which they rest… The authors rightly note the squeamishness of America’s modern presidents in dealing with genocide… Historically speaking, Roosevelt comes off rather well… [An] eminently sensible book. -- David Oshinsky * New York Times Book Review *Thoughtful and persuasive… It poses a challenge to the theme that American Jews have no friends, that the gentile world has been at best indifferent to the survival of the Jewish people. It shows that, while there were some anti-Semites in the State Department, the best friend Jews had anywhere in the world in the 1940s was the government of the United States and its president FDR; that, while FDR put domestic political factors ahead of rescuing European Jews, he did far more than any other head of government to act to protect Jews facing death… It’s the most responsible, reasoned, well-documented assessment of FDR’s role. -- Jon Wiener * Los Angeles Review of Books *One effect of Breitman and Lichtman’s book is that no one who reads it sympathetically can continue to believe that Roosevelt acting alone ‘could have’ simply devoted the efforts of the United States to stopping or seriously mitigating the Holocaust, even if he had known sooner of the Nazis’ plans. -- Noah Feldman * New York Review of Books *Level-headed yet deeply troubling, FDR and the Jews offers a history of American policy toward overseas Jews before and during World War II… Assertively fair-minded, sometimes excessively so, FDR and the Jews pushes back against simplistic denunciations, and refuses to treat the era’s combination of constraints and decisions as a one-dimensional history of American abandonment. Situating Roosevelt within political and global circumstances, it weighs his actions with understanding and sympathy, though not always with approval. -- Ira Katznelson * New Republic *[Breitman and Lichtman] challenge the view that F.D.R. was remiss in helping [Europe’s Jews] and plot stages in his development from aloofness to engagement. -- Jerome Donnelly * America *The carefully nuanced FDR and the Jews…remains the definitive work on the topic. -- Joshua Kendall * Boston Globe *While this incisively written study is unlikely to sway anyone whose mind is already made up, readers without fixed views will find plenty to ponder. And it will remind everyone not only of the enormity of the Holocaust but…the ultimate limitations of the presidency, no matter who holds the office. -- Alan Cate * Cleveland Plain Dealer *FDR and the Jews…is not a defense of the president. The authors note that Roosevelt’s primary objective, especially during his first term, was economic recovery, not confronting Congress to revise restrictive immigration law. Nevertheless, the American Jewish community trusted him and understood that he was the first president to intervene somewhat on behalf of their oppressed brethren abroad. The authors observe that Roosevelt was neither a savior nor an indifferent bystander, yet his efforts on behalf of the Jews was far greater than those of any other world leader. -- Jack Fischel * Hadassah Magazine *Breitman and Lichtman take pains to highlight what FDR did do to aid Jews fleeing Europe, and which has been largely ignored by his critics… Breitman and Lichtman conclude—wisely—that ‘without FDR’s policies and leadership,’ the Germans and Italians would have beaten the British in North Africa and conquered, which would have ended all hopes for a future Israel (and put hundreds of thousands of more Jews in harm’s way). And, they continue, even though the war always took priority over the rescue of masses of Jews ‘Roosevelt reacted more decisively to Nazi crimes against Jews than did any other world leader of his time.’ -- Murray Polner * History News Network *On the basis of meticulous research, using many fresh sources, [Breitman and Lichtman] establish [FDR’s] good intentions beyond any doubt. But by locating his words and deeds in their precise context, they elucidate what was feasible and distinguish when his conduct stemmed from prudence, cowardice or indifference. They do equal justice to the American Jewish leadership with whom he interacted. For good measure, they end by situating FDR in the spectrum of U.S. presidents who have confronted genocide. None has ever placed humanitarian intervention above political advantage or the national interest. -- David Cesarani * New Statesman *[A] meticulously researched history… As this book reminds us, politics offers not a simple choice between good and evil, but an agonizing choice between competing evils. Who among us can be sure [Roosevelt] chose badly? -- Dominic Sandbrook * Sunday Times *FDR and the Jews aims for a balanced view… Roosevelt’s actions during the Holocaust make a better showing than most, even if not as good as one might wish. -- George Bornstein * Times Literary Supplement *[This] work, which includes formerly unpublished primary sources, attempts to present an objective account of FDR and the Holocaust. [Breitman and Lichtman] note that the president was neither savior nor indifferent bystander. Although Roosevelt displayed sympathy for European Jews, his response was often tempered by pragmatic considerations. Nevertheless, the authors conclude that Roosevelt’s efforts on behalf of the Jews were far greater than those of any other world leader. -- J. Fischel * Choice *Breitman and Lichtman pursue several telling currents in FDR’s record, namely the president’s ability to keep the private separate from the public, his reliance on Jewish leaders, and his evolving enlightenment toward Jewish issues as he neared the end of his life. * Kirkus Reviews *A penetrating analysis of the historical record, uncovering new sources and answering haunting questions that still linger after 75 years. A must read! -- Richard Ben-Veniste, Senior Partner, Mayer Brown LLP, and Commissioner, 9/11 CommissionThe FDR who emerges here is concerned with the fate of European Jewry, but also exquisitely sensitive to the demands of the situation: in short, he is the ultimately political man, and his approach shifts with each turn of major events. This comprehensive work will become the definitive word on the subject. -- Noah Feldman, author of Scorpions: The Battles and Triumphs of FDR’s Great Supreme Court JusticesThis splendid book should banish forever the notion that Franklin Roosevelt was a blinkered anti-Semite who made little effort to stop the Holocaust. With dazzling research and astute judgments, Richard Breitman and Allan Lichtman portray FDR as a cunning politician who, in the dreadful context of his times, did more to aid Jews than any other leader in the United States or abroad. -- Michael Kazin, author of American Dreamers: How the Left Changed a NationAnyone who wishes to be part of the conversation about FDR’s response to the Holocaust would do well to read Richard Breitman and Allan Lichtman’s FDR and the Jews. In a quiet and sober fashion it reexamines what is already known and lays out new and previously unknown information. -- Deborah E. Lipstadt, author of The Eichmann Trial

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Book SynopsisTrade Review[An] engaging book… Reading these pages reminds us of how many spectacular failures have occupied the news pages for a week or two in our lifetimes… If Petroski’s account proves anything, it’s that the forces of the real world may eventually prevail on even the mightiest structures. -- Bill McKibben * New York Review of Books *A book that is at once an absorbing love letter to engineering and a paean to its breakdowns… This book is a litany of failure, including falling concrete in the Big Dig in Boston, the loss of the space shuttles Challenger and Columbia, the rupture of New Orleans levees, collapsing buildings in the Haitian earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon blowout, the sinking of the Titanic, the metal fatigue that doomed 1950s-era de Havilland Comet jets—and swaying, crumpling bridges from Britain to Cambodia… [Readers will encounter] a moving discussion of the responsibility of the engineer to the public and the ways young engineers can be helped to grasp them. -- Cornelia Dean * New York Times *[A] fascinating and occasionally unnerving history of engineering failures… After reading this book, one might be tempted never to venture across a bridge again. But of course that would miss Petroski’s goal: to show how engineers learn from failure and improve their designs… For those who enjoy reading about girders and trusses, To Forgive Design is, yes, riveting… [Petroski] amply shows the wisdom of the proverb that failure is a good teacher. Even a collapsed bridge leads somewhere. -- Matt Ridley * Wall Street Journal *Americans are encouraged to believe that failure is not an option, but author Henry Petroski regards it as just about inevitable. A professor of civil engineering and history at Duke University, Petroski began his writing career with To Engineer Is Human: The Role of Failure in Successful Design, an influential work that deals with mechanical and engineering failures. This huge sequel devotes much more attention to the interplay between human beings, machines, buildings and disaster. It’s exhaustive, relentless, often exhilarating—and given its technical nature, surprisingly readable… If you’re already a bit phobic about flying in a plane, crossing a suspension bridge, or even driving a car, To Forgive Design is probably not for you… Petroski chronicles the story of failure with a measure of affection reminiscent of a biographer of Attila the Hun who develops a grudging fondness for his subject. But whether or not the latter had redeeming qualities, the former surely does: Failure reminds us to avoid the sin of pride. I thoroughly enjoyed To Forgive Design, even down to the gloomy quote from the famously gloomy writer Samuel Beckett: ‘Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.’ -- Joe Queenan * Barron’s *Non-engineers needn’t worry that the book will be too dense with details; Petroski makes the science easily understandable… [This is] a book that satisfactorily explains why our determination to push the boundaries guarantees both failure and triumph. -- James F. Sweeney * Cleveland Plain Dealer *Engineering is interesting when it works, but much more compelling when it doesn’t. Petroski may be one of his profession’s establishment figures, but his key finding is highly critical: because most engineers don’t know much about the history of engineering, complacency and gee-whizz design software is likely to foment a fairly regular incidence of potentially catastrophic structural failures… Much of the information will be of great interest to engineers and designers… The most brilliantly explained engineering failure concerns the ocean-bed blowout involving the Deepwater Horizon oil rig in 2010. Petroski’s exposition is immensely detailed and benefits from being linear in its narrative. This section of the book is exemplary in its remorseless exfoliation of the technical and commercial reasons for the incident. -- Jay Merrick * The Independent *Mustering a truly staggering array of examples of past engineering failures, Petroski makes the case that failure is a necessary component of technological development, and that structures, machines and other engineered devices do not exist in isolation, but instead are designed and used within a tangle of competing constraints and unpredictable scenarios… At his best, Petroski is a compelling storyteller, and his recounting of past disasters and near-disasters can be fascinating. In addition to several detailed but well-paced narratives of familiar failures such as the Space Shuttle Challenger explosion, the book contains a great deal of intriguing arcana… Petroski’s greatest asset as a writer is his impressive historical erudition. He seems to have an infinite file of meticulously detailed case studies that illustrate his points, and any thought of just how long he must have spent researching inspires mild fear. He has written prolifically for nearly three decades on the topic of failure in engineering, and there is no doubt whatsoever that he knows what he’s talking about… I would sincerely recommend To Forgive Design to anyone with a particular interest in historical engineering fiascos. -- Colin McSwiggen * Literary Review *To Forgive Design remains a largely accessible, important contribution to the growing library of failure. -- Colin Dickey * Los Angeles Review of Books *When a plane crashes or a bridge collapses, faulty engineering is the usual suspect. But in seeking the roots of failure, we should look beyond design, says engineer Henry Petroski. We must probe the political and economic imperatives that shape purposes and use. In this follow-up to his influential To Engineer Is Human, Petroski argues that accidents such as the Deepwater Horizon oil spill are the result of faults as much in ‘human machinery’ as in mechanical devices. He praises software developers for learning from structural engineering about how to report and analyze mishaps. * Nature *A rewarding read. -- Jonathon Keats * New Scientist *By critically examining the interdependency of people and machines related to bridge collapses, airplane crashes and space shuttle failures, Petroski discovers that understanding failure is the only way to bring successful design and engineering into the future. -- Megan Wood * Salon *For more than two decades, Petroski has been delighting and educating readers with tales of engineering failures and how they can lead to safer technology… Always technically well informed and gifted with a comfortable, engaging storytelling style, Petroski shows readers how engineering design is a compromise between the ideal of perfect safety and the practicalities of limited resources. The lesson is that engineering makes advances through failure, but only if the lessons that failure teaches are applied to future projects… To Forgive Design succeeds in conveying Petroski’s message in a way that can be appreciated by the general reader and put to practical use by engineering students of all levels. -- K. D. Stephan * Choice *[An] authoritative text about the interrelationship between success and failure in the engineering enterprise… Petroski’s most gripping passages are his Sherlockian dissections of engineering fiascos and the importance of learning from the vast archive of forensic analyses. * Kirkus Reviews *Petroski follows up his first book, To Engineer Is Human: The Role of Failure in Successful Design, with this examination of human failure. In the previous title, he primarily considered mechanical and structural failures. Here, he looks not only at how people contribute to the failure of engineering designs but also at how analyzing those failures can improve subsequent models. He considers many different types of failures, from several infamous bridge collapses to carefully designed intentional failures, which are engineered specifically to prevent greater failures. In each case, Petroski goes beyond an explanation of the mechanical failure itself to point out how humans created these and other problems through systemic mistakes. -- Carla H. Lee * Library Journal *Though his focus here is primarily on bridges, Petroski extends his analysis to include the sinking of the Titanic, the mid-flight explosion of TWA Flight 800, the Challenger tragedy, the Y2K computer programming crisis, and the Deepwater Horizon spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Each has its own unique set of human, mechanical, and engineering failures, and Petroski does a terrific job of identifying and communicating not only what went wrong, but what was learned from the failure and how that knowledge has since been put into practice. Fellow engineers and armchair scientists will get the most out of the book, but even the layman will find Petroski’s study to be accessible, informative, and interesting. * Publishers Weekly *

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Book SynopsisIn this classic work, Huntington challenges old assumptions and ideas on the role of the military in society. Stressing the value of the military outlook for American national policy, Huntington has performed the distinctive task of developing a general theory of civil–military relations and subjecting it to rigorous historical analysis.Trade ReviewThe book contains many insights about both America and its soldiers, and the thought behind many of its conclusions is hard and clean… It also disposes of a number of prejudices about the military that still clog the policy process… Here is a book to make one think. * American Political Science Review *The problem of civil–military relations is of critical importance in American affairs… Huntington establishes his basic propositions, formulates his theoretical framework, and analyzes historical and contemporary developments in the United States and abroad with skill and insight. The clarity and precision with which the book moves forward make it a delight to read. * Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science *Table of ContentsIntroduction: National Security and Civil-Military Relations PART I MILITARY INSTITUTIONS AND THE STATE: THEORETICAL AND HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES 1. Officership as a Profession Professionalism and the Military The Concept of Profession The Military Profession 2. The Rise of the Military Profession in Western Society A New Social Type Mercenary and Aristocratic Officership Eighteenth-Century Aristocratic Institutions Preprofessional Meals: The Military Craft and the Natural Genius The Origins of Professionalism The Emergence of Professional Institutions, 1800-1875 European Professionalism: General Upton's Summary, 1875 Formulation of the Professional Ethic: The Autonomy and Sub-Ordination of War In Clausewitz's Vom Kriege 3. The Military Mind: Conservative Realism of the Professional Military Ethic The Meaning of the Military Mind The Professional Military Ethic 4. Power, Professionalism, and Ideology: Civil-Military Relations In Theory The Varieties of Civilian Control The Two Levels of Civil-Military Relations The Equilibrium of Objective Civilian Control The Patterns of Civil-Military Relations 5. Germany and Japan: Civil-Military Relations In Practice The German and Japanese Patterns Germany: The Tragedy of Professional Militarism Japan: The Continuity of Political Militarism PART II MILITARY POWER IN AMERICA: THE HISTORICAL EXPERIENCE, 1789-1940 6. The Ideological Constant: The Liberal Society Versus Military Professionalism The Historical Constants of American Civil-Military Relations The Prevalence of Liberalism in the United States The Liberal Approach to Military Affairs The Military Hero in Liberal Politics 7. The Structural Constant: The Conservative Constitution Versus Civilian Control The Constitutional Absence of Objective Civilian Control The Framers and Civilian Control The Militia Clauses and Military Federalism: The Empire Within an Empire The Separation of Powers: Dual Control Over the National Forces The Commander in Chief Clause: The Political-Military Hierarchy Civilian Control and Constitutional Government 8. The Roots of the American Military Tradition Before the Civil War The Three Strands of American Militarism The Failure of Federalism: Hamilton's Abortive Professionalism Technicism Popularism Professionalism 9. The Creation of the American Military Profession The Dominance of Business Pacifism: Industrialism Versus Militarism Years of Isolation: The Dark and the Bright The Creative Core: Sherman, Upton, Luce The Institutions of Professionalism The Making of the American Military Mind 10. The Failure of the Neo-Hamiltonian Compromise, 1890-1920 The Nature of Neo-Hamiltonianism Mahan And Wood: The Tragedy of the Military Publicist The Abortive Identification With Society, 1918-1925 11. The Constancy of Interwar Civil-Military Relations Business-Reform Hostility and Military Professionalism Reform Liberalism: The Pragmatic Usages of Militarism Military Institutions The American Military Ethic, 1920-1941 PART III THE CRISIS OF AMERICAN CIVIL-MILITARY RELATIONS, 1940-1955 12. World War II: The Alchemy of Power Civil-Military Relations in Total War Military Authority and Influence in Grand Strategy The Military Adjustment to Wartime Power Civil-Military Relations in Economic Mobilization The Fruits of Harmony and Acrimony 13. Civil-Military Relations in the Postwar Decade The Alternatives of Civil-Military Relations Postwar Perspectives on Civil-Military Relations Military Influence in American Society 14. The Political Roles of the Joint Chiefs Political Roles: Substantive and Advocatory The Joint Chiefs in the Truman Administration The Korean War: the Generals, the Troops, and the Public The Joint Chiefs in the First Two Years of the Eisenhower Administration Conclusion 15. The Separation of Powers and Cold War Defense The Impact of the Separation of Powers The Separation of Powers Versus the Separation of Functions The Separation of Powers Versus Military Professionalism The Separation of Powers Versus Strategic Monism 16. Departmental Structure of Civil-Military Relations The Organization Problems of the Postwar Decade The Joint Chiefs of Staff: Legal Form and Political Reality The Comptroller: Superego of the Department of Defense The Role of the Secretary The Needs of the Office 17. Toward a New Equilibrium The Requisite For Security Changes in the Ideological Environment Conservatism and Security The Worth of the Military Ideal Notes Index

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Book SynopsisA well-known novelist and journalist from the coastal city of Jableh, Samar Yazbek witnessed the beginning four months of the uprising first-hand and actively participated in a variety of public actions and budding social movements. Throughout this period she kept a diary of personal reflections on, and observations of, this historic time. Because of the outspoken views she published in print and online, Yazbek quickly attracted the attention and fury of the regime, vicious rumours started to spread about her disloyalty to the homeland and the Alawite community to which she belongs. The lyrical narrative describes her struggle to protect herself and her young daughter, even as her activism propels her into a horrifying labyrinth of insecurity after she is forced into living on the run and detained multiple times, excluded from the Alawite community and renounced by her family, her hometown and even her childhood friends. With rare empathy and journalistic prowess Samar Yazbek compiled oral testimonies from ordinary Syrians all over the country. Filled with snapshots of exhilarating hope and horrifying atrocities, she offers us a wholly unique perspective on the Syrian uprising. Hers is a modest yet powerful testament to the strength and commitment of countless unnamed Syrians who have united to fight for their freedom. These diaries will inspire all those who read them, and challenge the world to look anew at the trials and tribulations of the Syrian uprising.Trade Review'An essential eyewitness account, and with luck an inaugural document in a Syrian literature that is uncensored and unchained.' 20120415 'She has the novelist's eye for telling detail... Hers is the urgent task of showing the world what is happening. Thanks to her, we can read about the appalling things that go on in secret, underground places.' -- Francis Beckett 20120622 'Well before the Syrian uprising, Samar Yazbek was challenging the existing taboos of Syrian society in her novels. Since the early days of the revolution, she was involved in the pro-revolutionary movements on the ground, despite the daily threats she was submitted to. On four occasions, Yazbek was taken to detention centres in order to "improve her writing" as one regime officer once put it. A Woman in the Crossfire is her diary of the first four months of the revolution, in which she mixes first-person chronicles of her everyday life and exclusive testimonies of various eye-witnesses (doctors, officers, activists). Some of her chronicles were initially published in the Arab press as early as during spring 2011; hence Yazbek was one of the first voices to describe the reality of the Syrian uprising from the inside.' -- Isabelle Mayault 20120702 "A Woman in the Crossfire" is elevated beyond politics or reportage by Yazbek's intimate style and her willingness to reveal and involve herself in the book... The book is not about any particular party or movement, but about freely telling Syria's stories. It is a stand against all the forces silencing and misrepresenting Syrians... Many people, including Yazbek, risked their lives to bring us this book. "A Woman in the Crossfire" is thus an act of fierce resistance against the forces of silencing and simplification. It is anything but an effortless read, but it does wedge open a space wherein, for a moment, it feels possible to genuinely listen. -- Marcia Lynx Qualey 20120709 'Yazbek writes that "intellectuals live in a frozen environment, the world has passed them by. And the mobilisation that has taken place in Syria, what spurred people into the street, was not the writers or the poets or the intellectuals." But they can still bear witness, and Samar Yazbek's document does that with courage, lyricism and mordant wit.' -- Max Dunbar The Siege Diaries: Samar Yazbek's Syria 20120718 'This is a handbook for nonviolent activists.' -- Mary Russell 20120728 'Thanks to her [Yazbek] skills as a fiction writer, her book is infused with a hauntingly poetic narrative style. Chilling, disturbing, but irresistibly compelling, "A Woman in the Crossfire" paints a picture of how, in four months, a peaceful uprising turned into a bloodbath.' -- India Stoughton 20120804 '[F]our new books confront the [Syrian] revolution head-on... Of the four writers, Samar Yazbek provides the most arresting, novelistic prose... In its uncompromising reportage from a doomed capital, Yazbek's book recalls the late Iraqi artist Nuha al Radi's Baghdad Diaries, a searing chronicle of the disintegration of Saddam's Iraq during the embargo of the Nineties.' -- Justin Marozzi 20120809 'Impassioned and harrowing memoir of the early revolt...' 20120829 'The heartbreaking diary of... a Syrian who risked her life to document the regime's brutal attacks on peaceful demonstrators.' 20120907 'Yazbek's is not a crafted memoir but an immediate record of three months of fear, torture, intimidation and, eventually, flight from her home told through diaries that stop and start, sometimes repeat, and always offer another detail of popular will and regime cruelty. Its importance is in its existence, the effort of so many Syrians to share their stories and Yazbek's own courage and ability to record them. It is a hard, painful read, not only for what Yazbek witnesses and suffers but also for that of the other Syrians that she interviews. Their testimonies come through on the page as atrocities happen all around her.' 20120915 'It's heavy and horrible, like so much related to the war. But the book also reminds that Syria is -- was -- utterly beautiful. Yazbek takes us to its mountains. We can smell its lemon trees and ride along its country roads.' 20120916 'Samar Yazbek is excellent on the dress and behaviour of the demonstrations. Pro-Bashar demonstrations were supported by well-dressed young people who looked as if they were off to a party... [she] is eloquent on the dehumanising brutality of the security forces.' 20121029 'A powerful account conveying the idealism and fear that united diverse religious and ethnic groups in Syria to rise against their autocratic government, with the outcome still uncertain.' 'A unique window into the anguish of Syria: an intimate journey into the head and heart of a woman trying to maintain her sanity, humanity and, above all, love for her deeply wounded nation...' '[A]n unvarnished and sobering account of what she describes as the abuse and violence against the Syrian people.' '[A] powerful narrative which contains many insights drawn from her closeness to what was happening, and knowledge of Syrian society.'

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Book Synopsis“As good a second-by-second reconstruction of the assassination and its aftermath as I’ve read.” Bryan Burrough, The New York TimesTrade Review"...the inclusion of a detailed timeline and extensive interviews make Parkland a valuable resource." -- Glasgow Herald

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Book SynopsisThe diary as Anne Frank wrote it: “The single most compelling personal account of the Holocaust ... remains astonishing and excruciating (The New York Times Book Review).In a modern translation, this definitive edition contains entries about Anne’s burgeoning sexuality and confrontations with her mother that were cut from previous editions. Anne Frank’s The Diary of a Young Girl is among the most enduring documents of the twentieth century. Since its publication in 1947, it has been a beloved and deeply admired monument to the indestructible nature of the human spirit, read by millions of people and translated into more than fifty-five languages. Doubleday, which published the first English translation of the diary in 1952, now offers a new translation that captures Anne’s youthful spirit and restores the original material omitted by Anne’s father, Otto—approximately thirty percent of the diary. The elder Frank excis

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Book SynopsisWith an Introduction by Bronislav Malinkowski, Facing Mount Kenya is a central document of the highest distinction in anthropological literature, an invaluable key to the structure of African society and the nature of the African mind. Facing Mount Kenya is not only a formal study of life and death, work and play, sex and the family in one of the greatest tribes of contemporary Africa, but a work of considerable literary merit. The very sight and sound of Kikuyu tribal life presented here are at once comprehensive and intimate, and as precise as they are compassionate.

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Book SynopsisFeaturing updates and revisions that reflect recent historiography, this new edition of The Portuguese Empire in Asia 1500-1700 presents a comprehensive overview of Portuguese imperial history that considers Asian and European perspectives.Trade Review"This masterful history of Europe's first great Early Modern maritime empire goes well beyond the limits of traditional nationalistic and Eurocentric interpretations. Integrating European and Asian sources, Subrahmanyam's new edition is a synthetic, interpretative and at times speculative book that sets the Portuguese Indian Ocean empire in the context of Asian and World history. There is no book in English that provides a better introduction to this topic." (Expofairs.com, 23 October 2013) Table of ContentsAbbreviations x Maps xi Tables xii Acknowledgments xiv Preface to the Second Edition xv Preface to the First Edition xvii Introduction: The Mythical Faces of Portuguese Asia 1 1 Early Modern Asia: Geopolitics and Economic Change 11 Fifteenth- and Sixteenth-century States 13 The Circulation of Elites 22 Towards a Taxonomy 27 Long-term Trends 30 2 Portuguese State and Society, 1200-1500 33 Crown and Nobility 33 In Search of a Bourgeoisie 40 Mercantilism and Messianism 48 Summing Up 55 3 Two Patterns and Their Logic: Creating an Empire, 1498-1540 59 The Early Expeditions 60 From Almeida to Albuquerque: Defining the First Pattern 67 The Second Pattern: East of Cape Comorin 74 The Logic at Work: Portuguese Asia, 1525–40 78 Towards the "Crisis" 83 Notes 85 4 The Mid-Sixteenth-century "Crisis" 87 The Dilemmas of Joanine Policy 88 S´as, Sousas, and Castros: Portuguese Asian Officialdom in the Crisis 96 The Mid-century Debate 104 The Far Eastern Solution 107 The Estado in 1570 113 Notes 114 5 Between Land-bound and Sea-borne: Reorientations, 1570-1610 115 Trade and Conquest: The Spanish View 116 Spain, Portugal, and the Atlantic Turning 120 Girdling the Globe 124 The “Land” Question 130 The Maritime Challenge 141 Concessions and Captains-Major 145 The Beginnings of Decline? 150 6 Empire in Retreat, 1610-1665 153 Political Reconsolidation in Asia, 1570-1610 154 Syriam and Hurmuz: The Beginnings of Retreat 160 Reform and Its Consequences 167 The Decade of Disasters: Portuguese Asia in the 1630s 172 Restoration, Truce, and Failure, 1640-52 181 The Retreat Completed, 1652-65 186 Asians, Europeans, and the Retreat 188 Notes 189 7 Niches and Networks: Staying On, 1665-1700 191 The Cape Route and the Bahia Trade 192 The Vicissitudes of the Estado: The View from Goa 198 Mozambique, Munhumutapa, and Prazo Creation 206 The Portuguese of the Bay of Bengal 211 Survival in the Far East: Macau and Timor 217 The Portuguese, Dutch, and English: A Comparison 222 8 Portuguese Asian Society I: The Official Realm 227 The Problem of Numbers 228 The World of the Casado 236 Networks, Fortunes, and Patronage 243 "Portuguese" and "Foreigner" 250 Rise of the Solteiro 253 The Impact on Portugal 257 9 Portuguese Asian Society II: The Frontier and Beyond 261 Renegades and Rebels 262 Mercenaries, Firearms, and Fifth Columnists 269 Converts and Client Communities 274 A Luso–Asian Diaspora? 279 10 Conclusion: Between Banditry and Capitalism 285 Glossary 295 A Note on Quantitative Data 303 Bibliography 307 Maps 323 Index 333

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Book SynopsisOne of the most important texts of modern times, Herbert Marcuse''s analysis and image of a one-dimensional man in a one-dimensional society has shaped many young radicals'' way of seeing and experiencing life. Published in 1964, it fast became an ideological bible for the emergent New Left. As Douglas Kellner notes in his introduction, Marcuse''s greatest work was a ''damning indictment of contemporary Western societies, capitalist and communist.'' Yet it also expressed the hopes of a radical philosopher that human freedom and happiness could be greatly expanded beyond the regimented thought and behaviour prevalent in established society. For those who held the reigns of power Marcuse''s call to arms threatened civilization to its very core. For many others however, it represented a freedom hitherto unimaginable.Trade Review'A bitter cry for social protest, fortified by uncommon erudition and rationality.' - Newsweek'The foremost literary symbol of the new left.' - New York Times'Marcuse shows himself to be one of the most radical and forceful thinkers of his time.' - The NationTable of ContentsIntroduction to the Second Edition Introduction to the First Edition The Paralysis of Criticism: Society Without Opposition ONE DIMEMSIONAL SOCIETY 1. The New forms of Control 2. The Closing of the Political Universe 3 The Conquest of the Unhappy Consciousness: Repressive Desublimation 4. The Closing of the Universe of Discourse ONE DIMENSIONAL THOUGHT 5. Negative thinking: The Defeated Logic of Protest 6. From Negative to Positive Thinking: Technological Rationality and the Logic of Domination 7. The Triumph of Positive Thinking: One-Dimensional Philosophy THE CHANCE OF THE ALTERNATIVE 8. The Historical Commitment of Philosophy 9.The Catastrophe of Liberation 10. Conclusion Index _ _

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Book SynopsisRecounts the struggle for human rights across the ages and synthesizes historical and intellectual developments since the Mesopotamian Codes of Hammurabi. This book chronicles the clash of social movements, ideas, and armies that have played a part in this struggle, and illustrates how the history of human rights has evolved.Trade Review"This is an important book for those who focus on human rights in history." -- Susan Longfield Karr Journal Of World HistoryTable of ContentsAcknowledgments Introduction Definition, the Argument, and Six Historical Controversies Structure 1. Early Ethical Contributions to Human Rights Religious and Secular Notions of Universalism Liberty: The Origins of Tolerance Equality: Early Notions of Economic and Social Justice How to Promote Justice? Fraternity, or Human Rights for Whom? 2. Human Rights and the Enlightenment: The Development of a Liberal and Secular Perspective of Human Rights From Ancient Civilizations to the Rise of the West Freedom of Religion and Opinion The Right to Life The Right to Private Property The State and Just-War Theory Human Rights for Whom? 3. Human Rights and the Industrial Age: The Development of a Socialist Perspective of Human Rights The Industrial Age Challenging the Liberal Vision of Rights Universal Suffrage, Economic and other Social Rights Challenging Capitalism and the State Human Rights for Whom? 4. The World Wars: The Institutionalization of International Rights and the Right to Self-Determination The End of Empires The Right to Self-Determination Institutionalizing Human Rights Human Rights for Whom? 5. Globalization and Its Impact on Human Rights Globalization and Protest Movements Defining Rights in the Era of Globalization After September 11: Security versus Human Rights Human Rights for Whom? 6. Promoting Human Rights in the Twenty-first Century: The Changing Arena of Struggle Medievalism and the Absence of Civil Society The Emergence of Civil Society during the Enlightenment The Expansion of Civil Society in the Industrial Revolution The Anti-Colonial Struggle The Globalization of Civil Society? Or an Assault on the Private Realm? Appendix: A Chronology of Events and Writings Related to Human Rights Notes References Index

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Book SynopsisAsks us to re-orient our views away from Eurocentrism - to see the rise of the West as a mere blip in what was, and is again becoming, an Asia-centered world. This title is suitable for those interested in Asia, in world systems and world economic and social history, in international relations, and in comparative area studies.Trade Review"A stimulating and thoughtful book that should be read by all serious students of the modern world system." * American Journal of Sociology *"Frank justifiably calls this his best book. . . . [He] gives world history new sophistication and new challenges." * Journal of Interdisciplinary History *"This stunning synthesis by a veteran world historian looks sure to land in reading guides, figure in seminars, and be the subject of conferences. It is written with verve and enthusiasm in a conviction of novelty that reaches prophetic fervor." * American Historical Review *"No scholar can afford to ignore this serious book." * Journal of World History *This is a provocative book, for it challenges the conventional wisdom in historiography and social theory." * Review of Politics *"This marvelously ambitious and erudite historical take on the global economy has resonance within multiple contexts." * Millennium: Journal of International Studies *"A giant leap toward applications of world systemic apparatus to historical inquiry and makes significant historiographical and theoretical contributions to the field." * World History Connected *Table of ContentsPREFACE I Introduction to Real World History vs. Eurocentric Social Theory Holistic Methodology and Objectives Globalism, not Eurocentrism Smith, Marx, and Weber Contemporary Eurocentrism and Its Critics Economic Historians Limitations of Recent Social Theory Outline of a Global Economic Perspective Anticipating and Confronting Resistance and Obstacles 2 The Global Trade Carousel 1400-1800 An Introduction to the World Economy Thirteenth- and Fourteenth-Century Antecedents The Columbian Exchange and Its Consequences Some Neglected Features in the World Economy World Division of Labor and Balances ofTrade Mapping the Global Economy The Americas Mrica Europe WestAsia The Ottomans Safavid Persia India and the Indian Ocean North India Gujarat and Malabar Coromandel Bengal Southeast Asia Archipellago and Islands Mainland Japan China Population, Production, and Trade China in the World Economy Central Asia Russia and the Baltics Summary of a Sinocentric World Economy 3 Money Went Around the World and Made the World Go Round World Money: Its Production and Exchange Micro- and Macro-Attractions in the Global Casino Dealing and Playing in the Global Casino The Numbers Game Silver Gold Credit How Did the Winners Use Their Money? The Hoarding Thesis Inflation or Production in the Quantity Theory of Money Money Expanded the Frontiers of Settlement and Production In India In China Elsewhere in Asia 4 The Global Economy: Comparisons and Relations Quantities: Population, Production, Productivity, Income, and Trade Population, Production, and Income Productivity and Competitiveness World Trade 1400-1800 Qualities: Science and Technology Eurocentrism Regarding Science and Technology in Asia Guns Ships Printing Textiles Metallurgy, Coal, and Power Transport World Technological Development Mechanisms: Economic and Financial Institutions Comparing and Relating Asian and European Institutions Global Institutional Relations In India In China 5 Horizontally Integrative Macrohistory Simultaneity Is No Coincidence Doing Horizontally Integrative Macrohistory Demographic; Structural Analysis A "Seventeenth-Century Crisis"? The 1640 Silver Crises Kondratieff Analysis The 1762-1790 Kondratieff"B" Phase: Crisis and Recessions A More Horizontally Integrative Macrohistory? 6 Why Did the West Win (Temporarily)? Is There a Long-Cycle Roller Coaster? The Decline of the East Preceded the Rise of the West The Decline in India The Decline Elsewhere in Asia How Did the West Rise? Climbing Up on Asian Shoulders Supply and Demand for Technological Change Supplies and Sources of Capital A Global Economic Demographic Explanation A Demographic Economic Model A High-Level Equilibrium Trap? The Evidence: 1500-1750 The 1750 Inflection Challenging and Reformulating the Explanation The Resulting Transformations in India, China, Europe, and the World In India ln China In Western Europe The Rest of the World Past Conclusions and Future Implications 7 Historiographic Conclusions and Theoretical Implications Historiographic Conclusions: The Eurocentric Emperor Has No Clothes The Asiatic Mode of Production European Exceptionalism A European World-System or a Global Economy? 1500: Continuity or Break? Capitalism? Hegemony? The Rise of the West and the Industrial Revolution Empty Categories and Procrustean Beds Theoretical Implications: Through the Global Looking Glass Holism vs. Partialism Commonality/Similarity vs. Specificity/Differences 3 Continuity vs. Discontinuities Horiwntal Integration vs. Vertical Separation Cycles vs. Linearity Agency vs. Structure Europe in the World Economic Nutshell Jihad vs. McWorld in the Anarchy of the Clash of Civilizations? REFERENCES INDEX

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Book SynopsisPresents a documented investigation that uncovers the secrets surrounding John F Kennedy's assassination. Offering a different perspective - that JFK's death was not just an isolated case, but rather a symptom of hidden processes - this title examines the deep politics of early 1960s American international and domestic policies.Table of ContentsAcknowledgments Abbreviations Preface PART ONE: DEEP POLITICS, VIETNAM, AND THE ASSASSINATION 1. The Kennedy Assassination, Deep Politics, and Denial 2. Kennedy, Johnson, and Vietnam: A Tale of Two NSAMs 3. The Dialectical Cover-Up 4. The Key to the Cover-Up: The FBI, COINTELPROS, and the Case PART TWO: LEE HARVEY OSWALD 5. Oswald, Intelligence, and the Mob in New Orleans 6. Oswald, Intelligence, the Mob, and the Banana Companies 7. Mexico, Somoza, and the Martino- Rosselli Story 8. Ruby and Narcotics: The Heart of What Was Suppressed 9. Ruby's Background: Narcotics, the Teamsters, and the Racing Wire Service 10. The Nationally Protected Drug Traffic and Ruby's Relation to It 11. Blakey and the Politics of Fighting Crime 12. Ruby, Narcotics, and the Establishment PART FOUR: THE PLOT AND THE COVER-UP 13. The Coalitions against the Kennedys 14. Intrigue, Murder, Cover-Up: The Continuity of Manipulation 15. Oswald as an Informant for the Government 16. Oswald as a Double Agent for Hoover 17. Army Intelligence and the Dallas Police 18. The Assassination and the Great Southwest Corporation 19. Who Killed JFK? The Deep Political System Notes Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisIn mid-winter, Matariki rises in the pre-dawn sky, and its observation is celebrated with incantations on hilltops at dawn, balls, exhibitions, dinners and a vast number of events. The Matariki tradition has been re-established, and its regeneration coincides with a growing interest in Maori astronomy. Still, there remain some unanswered questions about how Matariki was traditionally observed. These include: What is Matariki? Why did Maori observe Matariki? How did Maori traditionally celebrate Matariki?When and how should Matariki be celebrated? Based on research and interviews with Maori experts, this book seeks answers to these questions and explores what Matariki was in a traditional sense so it can be understood and celebrated in our modern society.

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Book SynopsisCombining fresh approaches with a historical synthesis, this work presents general history of French Indochina. Focusing on economic, social, intellectual, and cultural dimensions, it treats Indochina's history from its inception in Cochinchina in 1858 to its crumbling at Dien Bien Ph in 1954 and on to decolonization.Trade Review"There is an extraordinary amount of useful information and well-crafted argument in this book; it deserves to be consulted widely." Journal Of Modern History "An excellent book." -- Barney Smith Asian Affairs "[A] finely crafted, well-referenced, and indexed work of almost encyclopedic rage." -- Geoffrey C. Gunn Journal Of Contemporary Asia "It is the first and still the only comprehensive, synthetic text covering the French period in Indochina." -- Melissa Louise Anderson South East Asia Research "The great merit of the authors' undertaking lies not only in their coverage of such a vast array of highly complicated issues... but in their ability to represent." Journal Of World History "A comprehensive and critical account... A rewarding text." -- Xiaorong Han Canadian Journal Of History "A boon for anyone interested in the region." -- Danny Yee Danny Yee's Book Reviews

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Book SynopsisFocusing on the legions as the core of the Roman army, and chronicling their individual histories in detail, this volume builds on the thematic account of the Roman military force given by its companion The Complete Roman Army. It is suitable for anyone who has enjoyed that book.Trade Review'Beautifully designed and comprehensively illustrated ... brings to life the ancient world’s most successful military machine' - Professor Lawrence Keppie, author of The Making of the Roman Army'Written in a clear, precise style, illustrated copiously ... a worthwhile addition to any bookshelf' - Minerva'Highly informative … a wonderful introduction because the prose is clear, and the maps and illustrations are informative and good reminders of the wealth and power that was Rome' - Contemporary ReviewTable of ContentsPart I: The Legions in the Republican Period • Part II: The Legions in the Imperial Age • Part III: The Legions in Late Antiquity

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Book SynopsisThis profusely illustrated book offers a comprehensive look at the social and cultural history of Aborigines from the origins to the present.Trade Review'An ideal resource for secondary students looking at indigenous cultures … I found it fascinating' - School Library AssociationTable of Contents1. The Last Continent; 2. A Culture Celebrating Life; 3. An Empty Land? 4. We Have Survived!

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Book SynopsisIn his day, Jack Johnson - born in Texas, the son of former slaves - was the most famous black man on the planet. As the first African American World Heavy weight Champion (1908-1915), he publicly challenged white supremacy at home and abroad, enjoying the same audacious lifestyle of conspicuous consumption, and masculine bravado.Trade Review"This book is a must-have addition to any boxing fan's library." -- Glenn Wilson Boxing News "Runstedtler brings new perspectives to bear in Jack Johnson, Rebel Sojourner... it's well worth the read." -- Thomas Hauser The Ring "Runstedtler presents an unexpected yet wholly authentic take on the great African American boxer, Jack Johnson." -- Alan Moores Booklist "A fascinating must-read for students of African American or American studies covering the early 1900s." -- Jim Burns Library Journal "My nominee for book of the year by a rising young scholar... For anyone interested in colonialism, imperialism, race, and the global impact of sport, this book is a must read." -- Mark Naison With A Brooklyn Accent "A thoroughly researched, scholarly study, meant to be read slowly and considered deeply... Highly recommended for all readers." -- R. W. Roberts, Purdue University ChoiceTable of ContentsContents List of Illustrations Acknowledgments Preface: Sparring Nations, Global Problem Introduction: Jack Johnson, Rebel Sojourner 1. Embodying Empire: Jack Johnson and the White Pacific 2. White Censors, Dark Screens: The Jeffries-Johnson Fight Film Controversy 3. Jack Johnson versus John Bull: The Rise of the British Boxing Colour Bar 4. The Black Atlantic from Below: African American Boxers and the Search for Exile 5. Trading Race: Black Bodies and French Regeneration 6. Viva Johnson! Fighting over Race in the Americas 7. The Empire Strikes Back: The "French Jack Johnson" and the Rising Tide of Color Epilogue: Visible Men, Harmless Icons Notes Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisThe Codex of Justinian is, together with the Digest, the core of the great Byzantine compilation of Roman law called the Corpus Iuris Civilis. The Codex compiles legal proclamations issued by Roman emperors from the second to the sixth centuries CE. Its influence on subsequent legal development in the medieval and early modern world has been almost incalculable. But the Codex has not, until now, been credibly translated into English. This translation, with a facing Latin and Greek text (from Paul Krüger''s ninth edition of the Codex), is based on one made by Justice Fred H. Blume in the 1920s, but left unpublished for almost a century. It is accompanied by introductions explaining the background of the translation, a bibliography and glossary, and notes that help in understanding the text. Anyone with an interest in the Codex, whether an interested novice or a professional historian, will find ample assistance here.

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Book SynopsisChronicling the other Norman invasion', The Normans in the South is the epic story of the House of Hauteville, and in particular Robert Guiscard, perhaps the most extraordinary European adventurer between the times of Caesar and Napoleon. In one year, 1084, he had both the Eastern and Western Emperors retreating before him and one of the most formidable of medieval Popes in his power. His brother, Roger, helped him to conquer Sicily from the Saracens, and his nephew Roger II went on to create the cosmopolitan kingdom whose remaining monuments still dazzle us today. The Normans in the South is the first of two volumes that recount an extraordinary chapter in Italian history.

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Book SynopsisYassin al-Haj Saleh is a leftist dissident who spent sixteen years as a political prisoner and now lives in exile. He describes with precision and fervour the events that led to Syria's 2011 uprising, the metamorphosis of the popular revolution into a regional war, and the 'three monsters' Saleh sees 'treading on Syria's corpse': the Assad regime and its allies, ISIS and other jihadists, and Russia and the US. Where conventional wisdom has it that Assad's army is now battling religious fanatics for control of the country, Saleh argues that the emancipatory, democratic mass movement that ignited the revolution still exists, though it is beset on all sides. 'The Impossible Revolution' is a powerful, compelling critique of Syria's catastrophic war, which has profoundly reshaped the lives of millions of Syrians.Trade Review'Saleh’s personal tragedy reveals him as an authentic voice trying to understand how the genuine, progressive revolt he supported went so horribly wrong.' -- New York Review of Books'Reading The Impossible Revolution, a Western audience has the opportunity to eavesdrop on the conversation that has been going on between Syrians since the beginning of the conflict ... If Saleh had been read by Westerners at the time of his writing, for example, ISIS would not have come as such a surprise.' -- Times Literary Supplement'"Where is cool-headed, clear thinking to be found, in a world of al-Sada, jinn, and ghosts?" ... One might say it is to be found in the pages of [Saleh's] book, where he examines the origins of the violence, delves into the ideology of the Ba'ath Party that has ruled the country since 1963, methodically dissects the phases of the revolution, and charts the lurch into sectarianism ... [in] carefully modulated prose' -- The New York Review of Books'Yassin al-Haj Saleh [is] arguably Syria’s most important living intellectual . . . [a] luminous volume of essays.'‘A nuanced look at the Syrian struggle from one of Syria’s foremost leftist thinkers.’ 'Yassin al-Haj Saleh is one of Syria's most important contemporary political theorists and public intellectuals. Saleh, whose work is widely known and circulated in Arabic, has been a hugely influential participant in important debates concerning modernity, governance, identity, and society in Syria. Since the start of the Syrian uprising, Saleh's influence and his role as an incisive critic of extremism, dictatorship, and the effects of mass violence on Syrian society have offered powerful and compelling responses to the traumas that define the contemporary Syrian experience.' * Steven Heydemann, Professor of Middle East Studies at Smith College and the author of Authoritarianism in Syria: Institutions and Social Conflict, 1946-1970 *‘In its lucidity, erudition, range and percipience, the book is worthy of a Gramsci. In its method, rigour and predictions, it is an intellectual achievement of extraordinary significance . . . Yassin al-Haj Saleh, one of Syria's most celebrated intellectuals . . . writes with remarkable dispassion and objectivity . . . Saleh's work will stand as an imperishable reminder of the circumstances through which this impossible revolution endured.’ 'A subjective but insightful account of how totalitarianism has destroyed civil society and wrecked Syria.' -- Bloomberg'Penetrating analysis . . . indispensable.''A searing and heartfelt critique of a crisis which is no longer just Syria’s, but the world’s. Born in Raqqa and imprisoned under the Assads for sixteen years, Yassin al-Haj Saleh is now recognised as ‘the conscience of the Syrian Revolution.’ No other voice has such clarity or integrity.' -- Diana Darke, author of 'My House in Damascus: An Inside View of the Syrian Crisis''Saleh takes us on a personal journey through the ecstasy and the heartbreak of Syria’s revolution and the many struggles the country has faced since. Syria’s revolution began as an organic peaceful movement seeking simple and reasonable goals, but as Saleh explains, it soon spawned conflicting, violent and dangerous complexities that sadly now dominate public discourse and on-the-ground dynamics. There is no better voice to tell this book’s many important stories and Saleh’s words are likely to live on for years to come.' -- Charles Lister, author of 'The Syrian Jihad: Al-Qaeda, The Islamic State and the Evolution of an Insurgency''The appearance of Yassin al-Haj Saleh’s work in English has been long awaited. It’s vitally important to listen to Syrian voices on the events which are happening in their country. Yassin is one of Syria’s most engaging revolutionary thinkers, and he provides valuable context to a democratic revolution and vicious counter-revolution which has often been wilfully misunderstood by commentators in the West. Expert analysis and powerful personal testimony are interwoven in this book which is indispensable for anyone wishing to further their understanding of the Syrian tragedy.' -- Leila Al Shami, co-author of 'Burning Country: Syrians in Revolution and War'

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewDazzling… [Purdy’s] book is, among other things, a panoramic tour of what he calls the ‘American environmental imagination.’ …Purdy hopes that climate change might spur yet another change in how we think about the natural world, but he insists that such a shift will be inescapably political… For a relatively slim volume, this book distills an incredible amount of scholarship—about Americans’ changing attitudes toward the natural world, and about how those attitudes might change in the future. -- Ross Andersen * The Atlantic *For Purdy, one of the key challenges of the Anthropocene is to use the law in ways that adopt the best rather than the worst of each vision of nature: to integrate concern for human work and meaning into an ecological framework; to set standards for action on climate change; to make transparent the sources of our food and our treatment of animals…Purdy thinks we need to learn the core political lesson of his story—which at its heart is not about the politics of nature, but about democracy. This is a history in which democracy is constantly evaded, decision-making is removed from collective politics by appeals to ‘natural systems,’ and anti-politics creeps back in. -- Katrina Forrester * The Nation *Jedediah Purdy has written a big book, taking up a set of profound environmental questions and offering sweeping answers… The strengths of After Nature are significant and make this a must-read book for all who are struggling with how to reinvigorate environmental protection in the face of political breakdown in America and troubling global trends, including the emerging risk of climate change… The journey he maps is illuminating. In fact, perhaps the greatest strength of After Nature is its intellectual history of American environmentalism… With this book, Purdy shows himself to be a deep thinker on the nature of Nature… Purdy offers a provocative ecological vision and ethical argument that deserves to be reckoned with. He has established himself among the top tier of environmental philosophers of our day. -- Daniel C. Esty * Los Angeles Review of Books *After Nature argues that we will deserve the future only because it will be the one we made. We will live, or die, by our mistakes. -- Christine Smallwood * Harper’s *After Nature takes the reader on a smart and eloquent tour of the history of conservation movements, the rise of the study of ecology (and its flourishing in the wake of the Vietnam War) and the gradual expansion of environmental law, but Purdy is at his most insightful and persuasive when writing about the first of his ‘major realms,’ economy—and the subtle ways money has been shaping nature for centuries to suit its own needs… In the previous year, there’ve been many studies of the deeper meaning of the Anthropocene and the future of humanity, studies ranging from the impenetrable to the inconsolable. After Nature is by a wide margin the best of these books; in its passion, intelligence, and persistent thread of hope, it may very well be the Silent Spring of the 21st century. -- Steve Donoghue * Open Letters Monthly *Offers a powerful reckoning with our bewildering present… Its great value lies in its sophisticated, lucid study of the evolving American environmental imagination. Purdy…brings impressive intellectual and literary chops to bear on a history of American attitudes toward nature, and how those attitudes have manifested in tangible modifications of the air, land, and water… The book aims to show how our shared philosophical premises inform our laws, our behavior, and ultimately our world. -- Rebecca Tuhus-Dubrow * Los Angeles Review of Books *[Purdy] argues that our democracy is too beholden to the influence of money, that the processes we use to produce energy and food should be made more transparent to the public, and that technological solutions are unreliable and will not bring about the greater change of consciousness that is necessary to solve our most pressing problems. He urges an ethic of self-restraint and a new worldview in which human beings are no longer ‘the figure at its center.’ -- Nathaniel Rich * New York Review of Books *A profound vision of post-humanistic ethics. * Kirkus Reviews *It’s good to have as powerful a mind as Professor Purdy’s taking on these questions so central to our modern life. Every page has insights that will help people struggling to understand how we got here and where we’re headed. -- Bill McKibben, author of The End of NatureDeeply considered and finely laid out… To begin reading it is to open and decipher a compressed and encrypted file on a history of ideas about what nature means at the heart of the Anthropocene. Purdy draws on law, letters, philosophy, science, social science, politics, and aesthetics; from Locke, Rousseau, and Burke, through Jefferson, all the way to the recent past of the ecological age’s beginnings, the urgent catastrophe of Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring (1962), and our contemporary moment, after ‘crisis had become the normal state of affairs,’ closing with ideas about nature and the posthuman from Rosi Braidotti, among others. Somewhere in between, Purdy manages to give a history of private property—how ‘each version of nature has its economy.’ If the ominous political near past and the planet’s environmental emergency feel present on every page, so, too, does a sense of the role we each have in shaping the future. -- Liz Larner * Artforum *

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Book SynopsisKyla Schuller unearths the forgotten, multiethnic sciences of impressibility—the capacity to be affected—to expose the powerful workings of sentimental biopower in the nineteenth-century United States, uncovering a vast apparatus of sensory regulation that aimed to shape the evolution of the national population.Trade Review"[Schuller's] terminology here may act as a springboard for additional theorizations of race. . . . An ambitious, conscientious history." -- Joshua Falek * Cultural Studies *"The importance of this book to nineteenth-century studies cannot be understated: it fundamentally rewrites the history of sentimentalism, an affective and cultural formation that dominated norms of comportment and embodiment across the period. . . . " -- Kyla Tompkins * American Quarterly *"The Biopolitics of Feeling takes a refreshingly head-on approach to the historical entanglement of race and sex in the United States. . . Stunningly convincing . . . Readers will find an abundant resource of theoretically informed readings of postbellum and Progressive Era science and literature throughout the study, but they will be also unable to ignore Schuller’s urgent warning about feminism’s embeddedness in the machinations of biopower." -- Britt Rusert * Catalyst *"Impressibility and sentimentalism combine in this book to form a rubric assessing a broad and fascinating archive. . . . Schuller offers a broad view of how nineteenth-century Americans were given repeated exposure to the logic of impressibility and affective fitness, to the point where both became unconscious components of civic life." -- Sheila Liming * Legacy *"An impressive synthesis of historical and theoretical work. . . . A well-documented critique of society and valuable contribution to scholarship on biopolitics that addresses persistent issues that can spark intellectual discussions. The book would be useful for scholars across disciplines such as Philosophy, Health Studies, Critical Race Studies, Ethnic Studies and Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies." -- Rosemary Onyango * Journal of International Women's Studies *Table of ContentsAcknowledgments ix Introduction. Sentimental Biopower 1 1. Taxonomies of Feeling: Sensation and Sentiment in Evolutionary Race Science 35 2. Body as Text, Race as Palimpsest: Frances E. W. Harper and Black Feminist Biopolitics 68 3. Vaginal Impressions: Gyno-neurology and the Racial Origins of Sexual Difference 100 4. Incremental Life: Biophilanthropy and the Child Migrants of the Lower East Side 134 5. From Impressibility to Interactionism: W. E. B. Du Bois, Black Eugenics, and the Struggle against Genetic Determinisms 172 Epilogue. The Afterlives of Impressibility 205 Notes 215 Bibliography 247 Index 271

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Book Synopsis Mark Booth’s The Illustrated Secret History of the World expands upon his New York Times authoritative text on the subject of esoteric belief systems and secret societies, adding to its thorough and revealing information of more than 350 illustrations—many of them rare—of the symbols, drawings, engravings, paintings, and photographs that are a key part of the world’s secret history.“Maddening, challenging, provoking and inspiring. Beautifully written. My mind is on fire with argument and wonder.” —Anne Rice, author, Interview with a Vampire This richly illustrated edition features exclusive material accompanying the original text in a beautiful package and oversize format. The Illustrated Secret History of the World presents a radical reinterpretation of human existence and a view of the world previously hidden from us. Featuring: Alchemists & Freemasons<

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