Revolutions, uprisings, rebellions Books

Book SynopsisReframing 1968 explores the historical, political and social legacy of 1968 in modern protest movements. 14 interdisciplinary essays look at how protest has changed in the US, from Students for a Democratic Society and the Civil Rights Movement in the late 1960s, to the Women's Movement in the 1970s, through to the Tea Party and Occupy.Trade Review'Few years have so stirred, divided, and haunted America as 1968: a war gone horribly wrong, revered leaders assassinated, ghettoes on fire, social movements oscillating wildly between hope and despair. The contributors to this stellar collection both recreate the intensity of that moment and incisively assess its significance for all that has happened since. Deeply probing, unsettling, and illuminating.' - Gary Gerstle, Mellon Professor of American History, University of CambridgeTable of ContentsContents; List of Illustrations; Acknowledgements; Notes on the Contributors; Introduction, 1968: A Year of Protest, Martin Halliwell and Nick Witham; Part 1: Politics of Protest; 1. The New Left: The American Impress, Doug Rossinow; 2. 1968 and the Fractured Right, Elizabeth Tandy Shermer; 3. The Irony of Protest: Vietnam and the Path to Permanent War, Andrew Preston; 4. Life Writing, Protest and the Idea of 1968, Nick Witham; Part 2: Spaces of Protest; 5. On Fire: The City and American Protest in 1968, Daniel Matlin; 6. Centring the Yard: Student Protest on Campus in 1968, Stefan M. Bradley; 7. The Ceremony is About to Begin: Performance and 1968, Martin Halliwell; 8. 1968: A Pivotal Moment in Cinema, Sharon Monteith; Part 3: Identities and Protest; 9. 1968: The End of the Civil Rights Movement?, Stephen Tuck; 10. Gay Liberation and the Spirit of '68, Simon Hall; 11. The Women's Movement in 1968 and Beyond, Anne M. Valk; 12. Organizing for Economic Justice in the Late 1960s, Penny Lewis; Conclusion, The Memory of 1968, Stephen J. Whitfield; Index.

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Book SynopsisPresents an account of the concept of revolution in the work of Deleuze and Guattari. This title provides the full length account of Deleuze and Guattari's relationship to a concrete revolutionary struggle. It also outlines the theoretical and practical origins of the return to political revolution.

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Book SynopsisJames II was Britain's last Catholic king. The spectacular collapse of his regime in 1688 and the seizure of his throne by his nephew William of Orange are the best-known events of his reign. But what of his life after this? What became of him during his final exile? John Callow's groundbreaking study focuses on this hitherto neglected period of his life: the twelve years he spent attempting to recover his crown through war, diplomacy, assassination and subterfuge. This is the story of the genesis of Jacobitism; of the devotion of the fallen king's followers, who shed their blood for him at the battle of the Boyne and the massacre at Glencoe, gave up estates and riches to follow him to France, and immortalised his name in artworks, print, and song. Yet, this first King Over the Water' was far more than a figurehead. A grim, inflexible warlord and a maladroit politician, he was also a man of undeniable principle, which he pursued regardless of the cost to either himself or his subjects. He was an author of considerable talent, and a monarch capable of successive reinventions. Denied his earthly kingdoms, he finally settled upon attaining a heavenly crown and was venerated by the Jacobites as a saint. This powerful, evocative and original book will appeal to anyone interested in Stuart history, politics, culture and military studies.

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Book SynopsisLong before Eva Perón turned Argentina upside down, Elisa Lynch brought Paraguay to its knees.In 1854, an ambitious Irish courtesan met a South American General in Paris and returned with him to Paraguay. When he became President, she became his de facto first lady and together they changed the course of the country''s history. Consumed by desire for Napoleonic glory, General President López took Paraguay into a disastrous war against her neighbours. Elisa Lynch went with him on campaign, turning conditions of war to her advantage where she could. He was killed in the northern hills but she survived, only to be expelled from Paraguay and die an obscure death in Paris.Reviled and respected, loved and distrusted, Elisa Lynch has been described as both a heroic companion to López and a malign enchantress. In The Shadows of Elisa Lynch, Siân Rees tells her fascinating story of recovered history.Trade Review[a] complex & remarkable story * Sunday Telegraph *

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Book SynopsisExamines human rights violations by Israel, the Palestinian Authority and armed groups. This book measures the events of the intifadah against universal human rights standards. It also pays tribute to the work of Palestinian, Israeli and international human rights organisations and human rights defenders.Table of Contents1. Introduction. 2. Killings: Killings by Israelis; Killings by Palestinians. 3. Arrests, torture and unfair trials: Arrests by Israel; Arrests by the PA. 4. Closures and curfews: Closures in the Gaza Strip; Closures in the West Bank; Curfews. 5. House demolition during the Intifada: House demolitions in the Gaza Strip; House demolitions in the West Bank; House demolition around Jerusalem. 6. Actions: Israeli/Palestinian NGOs and civil society; International action. 7. Recommendations.

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Book SynopsisLeon and his twin Norman were born in August 1929, the youngest of four children born to Mary and Mark Levy, immigrants from Lithuania.

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Book SynopsisJack R. Censer is Professor of History at George Mason University, USA. His recent publications include On the Trail of the D.C. Sniper: Fear and the Media (2010) and Liberty, Equality, Fraternity: Exploring the French Revolution (2001).Trade ReviewWhile most studies of revolution attempt to uncover timeless similarities in the causes and development of revolutions, Censer explores the transformations over two and a half centuries of the concept of revolution itself: the dramatic evolution in the justifications, objectives, and strategies proposed by philosophers and practitioners from Thomas Paine and Karl Marx through Frantz Fanon, Che Guevara, and the Ayatollah Khomeini. It is an original and enormously engaging tour d’horizon of the subject in a global perspective, ideally suited for students young and old. * Timothy Tackett, Univeristy of California - Irvine, USA *Censer has written a very readable narrative of revolution as a product of modern historical consciousness. Revolution has created an arc of self-redefinition; even as its meanings are layered, older ones are exchanged for newer ones to reach out to utopian ideals. * Prasenjit Duara, National University of Singapore *Jack Censer’s aim is refreshingly bold: to conceptualise the different meanings of revolution in the modern era and to assess the importance of ideologies within them. He defines revolutions as cultural movements that set out to transform the existing order, both political and social, and in this book he adopts a global perspective, tracing the development of revolutionary ideas from America and France in the 1770s and 1790s to Iran and Tunisia today. The result is a wide-ranging and often provocative analysis that shows how the idea of revolution has evolved over the centuries and across continents. * Alan Forrest, University of York, UK *Jack Censer has provided an enviably concise, lucid and thoughtful introduction to this crucially important subject. For anyone interested in understanding the ideas underpinning modern revolutions, and how the phenomenon of revolution itself developed through the modern period, Debating Modern Revolution is the perfect starting point. * David Bell, Princeton University, USA *This is a sharp and insightful book and students will find it very useful in dealing with a whole range of topics. * Martin Simpson, University of the West of England, UK *Table of ContentsSection I. The Birth of the Modern Revolution (1700-1815) Section II. The Revolutionaries Regroup (1815-1848) Section III. The Spread of Revolution beyond Western Europe and the Americas (1848-1949) Section IV. The Post-Imperial World (1949-present) Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisPrompted by the 25th anniversary of the Soviet collapse, this volume reflects on revolutions and transformations around the collapse of the Soviet Bloc, the political transformations after 9/11, the important changes following the global economic crisis, and the revolutionary transformations of India and China.

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Book SynopsisDrawing on newly-declassified government documents and international archives in Spain and beyond, this book explores the many ways in which Scots responded to the Spanish Civil War (1936-9).

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Book SynopsisThe gripping human story of how American volunteers fought famine in Bolshevik Russia, saving Lenin’s revolutionary government from chaos and millions of people from starvation.'Brilliant, disturbing . . . an important story that needed to be told. A fast-moving and most compelling read.' - Helen Rappaport, author of The Race to Save the RomanovsIn 1921, after six years of unrelenting war and revolution, Russia was in ruins. The economy had collapsed, the country was ravaged by disease and starvation claimed the lives of millions. People were so desperate for food that there were reports of cannibalism, reports that were revealed to be horribly accurate.Remarkably, it was a young American aid worker who uncovered the truth and, even more remarkably, it was the US-backed charity that had sent him to Russia that would save Lenin’s fledgling government by feeding his people. In The Russian Job, acclaimed historian Douglas Smith tells the gripping story of how an American charity fought the Russian famine. Backed by $20 million from the US government, and founded by Herbert Hoover, US Secretary of Commerce, the American Relief Administration recruited more than three hundred young Americans, many of them war veterans. They would oversee the distribution of food, clothing and medical supplies to people throughout Russia’s vast landmass, saving millions of lives.Vividly written, with a rich cast of characters and a deep understanding of the period, The Russian Job shines a bright light on this strange and shadowy moment in history.Trade ReviewThese young men come to life in Smith’s book, flickering past like characters in the black-and-white movies of the era. Their heroism and failings, their love of Russia (and Russian women) help humanize a story that could all too easily slip into the grim abstraction of statistics, which touch neither mind nor heart. Despite the epic sweep, the horror and moral splendor of this story, it is essentially unknown . . . This book, Smith says at the outset, 'seeks to right this wrong.' It succeeds. Clear, forceful, and compelling, The Russian Job tells us what happened and who made it happen. * LA Review of Books *The American troops who landed in Russia to help reverse the Bolshevik coup of 1917 did little to change history, but cast as imperialist villains, they were useful to Soviet propagandists charged with rewriting it. In The Russian Job, Douglas Smith tells the remarkable tale of a different, largely forgotten yet infinitely more effective intervention . . . A well-written account of a story that should not have passed into obscurity. -- Andrew Stuttaford * Wall Street Journal *The Russian Job by Douglas Smith repudiates the modern mythologies of both [the United States and Russia], and their leaders’ twisted histories . . . It is not just Russia that needs to be reminded of this story – so does America, which derived much of its 20th-century greatness from its values rather than military power. * Economist *Based on rich archival materials, [The Russian Job] focuses on a group of young Americans who set off for Russia, lured by the exotic and the unknown, and found themselves in the middle of a horrific tragedy . . . Rare photos included in the book lend Smith’s account an eerie vividness. -- Maria Lipman * Foreign Affairs *[Smith's] prose moves at a fast clip . . . An intriguing window onto the humanitarian work of the past. * Publishers Weekly *Succinct and readable -- Anna Reid * Literary Review *Superb * Financial Times Books of the Year *Talented and prolific . . . a heroic tale -- Joshua Sanborn * TLS *Brilliant, disturbing and at times horrifically graphic . . . an important story that needed to be told and Doug Smith has produced a fast moving and most compelling read. -- Helen Rappaport, author of Four SistersThe hair-raising account of a great humanitarian act . . . Smith adeptly navigates all elements of the story . . . This expert account deserves a large readership. * Kirkus Reviews *Table of ContentsSection - i: Prologue: Mr. Wolfe's Horrifying Discovery Unit - 1: 1921 Unit - 2: 1922 Unit - 3: 1923 Section - ii: A Note on Sources Section - iii: Select Biography Acknowledgements - iv: Acknowledgements Index - v: Index

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Book SynopsisBarely a year after the self-immolation of a young fruit seller in Tunisia, a vast wave of popular protest has convulsed the Middle East, overthrowing long-ruling dictators and transforming the region's politics almost beyond recognition. But the biggest transformations of what has been labeled as the"Arab Spring” are yet to come. An insider to both American policy and the world of the Arab public, Marc Lynch shows that the fall of particular leaders is but the least of the changes that will emerge from months of unrest. The far-ranging implications of the rise of an interconnected and newly-empowered Arab populace have only begun to be felt. Young, frustrated Arabs now know that protest can work and that change is possible. They have lost their fear- meanwhile their leaders, desperate to survive, have heard the unprecedented message that killing their own people will no longer keep them in power. Even so, as Lynch reminds us, the last wave of region-wide protest in the 1950s and 1960s resulted not in democracy, but in brutal autocracy. Will the Arab world's struggle for change succeed in building open societies? Will authoritarian regimes regain their grip, or will Islamist movements seize the initiative to impose a new kind of rule? The Arab Uprising follows these struggles from Tunisia and Egypt to the harsh battles of Yemen, Bahrain, Syria, and Libya and to the cautious reforms of the region's monarchies. It examines the real meaning of the rise of Islamist movements in the emerging democracies, and the longterm hopes of a generation of activists confronted with the limits of their power. It points toward a striking change in the hierarchy of influence, as the old heavyweights- Iran, Al Qaeda, even Israel- have been all but left out while oil-rich powers like Saudi Arabia and"swing states” like Turkey and Qatar find new opportunities to spread their influence. And it reveals how America must adjust to the new realities. Deeply informed by inside access to the Obama administration's decision-making process and first-hand interviews with protestors, politicians, diplomats, and journalists, The Arab Uprising highlights the new fault lines that are forming between forces of revolution and counter-revolution, and shows what it all means for the future of American policy. The result is an indispensible guide to the changing lay of the land in the Middle East and North Africa.Trade ReviewA Foreign Policy "Book to Read in 2012" Robin Wright, author of Rock the Casbah: Rage and Rebellion across the Islamic World"A wonderfully thoughtful book that captures a truly historic juncture in the Arab world. By chronicling the first volatile year of the Arab uprisings, Lynch has provided the essential guide to understanding what happens next - both for the participants living through it and for the anxious outside world surprised by the passions unleashed." Colin Kahl, Associate Professor, Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University, and former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for the Middle East "If you read only one book about the uprisings sweeping the Arab world, it should be this one. Marc Lynch coined the term "the Arab public sphere" a decade before anyone in the West knew it existed and has been an active observer of and participant in it ever since. He chronicles decades of Arab protests, pan-Arabism, and Arab government repression to provide vital context for present events and draws on his deep country-by-country expertise to map future challenges for American foreign policy across the Arab world." Kirkus "One of the most profound books about the nature of the transformations under way, of the consciousness of the public squares and the new popular anger in today's Arab world." The Economist "Of all the books on the extraordinary events of the past 15 months, this is one of the most illuminating and, for policymakers, the most challenging." Foreign Affairs "informed and engaging" Washington Monthly"Lynch has written a clear-eyed, highly readable guide to the forces in the region that gave rise to the Arab uprisings and the very real challenges they present for the U.S. Indispensably, he presents the material in a way that is neither excessively romantic about democracy's chances nor excessively fearful about the greater role Islamists will no doubt play in a newly empowered Arab public square." "The extraordinary events associated with the Arab Spring have produced a chaotic mix of transitioning democracies, reactionary autocracies, and civil strife. But, as Marc Lynch explains in his brilliant new book, The Arab Uprising, regardless of the fate of individual rulers or the course of particular movements, the nature of politics in the Arab world has been forever transformed. A new generation has leveraged 21st-century technologies and tapped into a sense of interconnectedness and common identity to obliterate the old order. Nobody is better suited to navigate the reader through these turbulent waters than Lynch, one of the world's top Middle East scholars and a pioneer in the study of new media and social activism in the Arab world. Lynch has produced the most comprehensive and balanced account yet written of the origins and implications of the changes currently sweeping this vital region. The Arab Uprising promises to remain essential reading on the subject for years to come." Anne-Marie Slaughter "[Lynch] who has been following recent events closely...reexamines important precedents in mass uprisings that took place in convulsive waves during the Arab Cold War of the 1950s, and were brutally suppressed...[he] also examines the key role initially played by the Al-Jazeera network in coverage of the Tunisia uprising, keenly watched by the Egyptians in convincing them their own efforts could be successful...A timely survey of complex historical and current events." Publishers Weekly "A nuanced, insightful analysis of the Arab insurrections, with ample historical context... In this thought-provoking book, Lynch earns his right to implore U.S. citizens to trust Middle Eastern countries to reshape their political space." Booklist "Lynch, a political scientist and advisor to the Obama administration, analyzes the recent and ongoing political changes taking place in the Middle East and ventures some predictions about what may come...Timely, informative, and recommended for current events and regional history collections." Al-Ghad (Jordan)

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Book Synopsis1917: the year a series of rebellions toppled three centuries of autocratic rule and placed a group of political radicals in charge of a world power. Here, suddenly, was the first modern socialist state, “a kingdom more bright that any heaven had to offer”. But the dream was short-lived, bringing in its wake seventy years of conflict and instability that nearly ended in nuclear war. How could such a revolution take place and what caused it to go so very wrong? Presenting a uniquely long view of events, Abraham Ascher takes readers from the seeds of revolution in the 1880s right through to Stalin’s state terror and the power of the communist legacy in Russia today. Original and shrewd, Ascher’s analysis offers an unparalled introduction to this watershed period in world historyTrade Review‘this book has much to offer… interesting and engaging’ * Russian Review *"In this erudite and engaging volume, Abraham Ascher manages to combine a comprehensive and managable guide to its complex subject, which will appeal to beginners, with gems of insight -- drawn from his lifetime of engagement with the subject -- that will make it also required reading for all students of the Russian Revolution." -- Jonathan D. Smele, Senior Lecturer, Queen Mary University of London"The best, most concise and most reliable introduction." -- Walter Laqueur - Emeritus Professor, Georgetown University"Perfect for the general reader. Original and insightful. Highly recommended." -- Guenter Lewy - Emeritus Professor of Political Science, University of Massachusetts, Amherst"Erudite and engaging. Ascher's gems of insight will make it required reading for all students of the Russian Revolution." -- Seymour Becker - Professor Emeritus of History, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey

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Book SynopsisThis influential collection explores the pivotal texts and topics in the Marxist tradition. Ranging over questions of social theory, political theory, moral philosophy and literary criticism, it looks at the thought of Marx and Trotsky, Luxemburg, Lenin and Althusser. They include Geras's influential and widely-cited treatment of fetishism in Capital, his comprehensive review of recent debates on Marxism and justice, discussions on political organisation, revolutionary mass action and party pluralism, and a novel analysis of the literary power of Trotsky's writing. In close dialogue with common themes and arguments in the literature of revolutionary Marxism, Geras brings some of his persistent preoccupations to the fore; with the normative foundations and some of the epistemological assumptions of this tradition, with issues of socialist democracy, working class self-education and emancipation.Trade Review[For Marx and Human Nature] This remarkable short book deserves to be widely read and not only by those interested in Marxology. For it achieves something rare in its field: rationally compelling proof. Not only does it conclusively refute a widely current legend about Marx's thought . it does so with striking elegance, economy, and argumentative power. * Times Literary Supplement *[For The Legacy of Rosa Luxembourg] This is a useful and thoughtful book, in which the power and originality of Rosa Luxemburg's thinking emerges." -- E H Carr * Times Literary Supplement *

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Book SynopsisIn the Summer of 1973, workers occupied the Lip watch and clock factory, sparking a national cause and controversy. The Lip occupation and self-management experience captured the imagination of the Left in France and internationally, as a living example of the spirit of May '68. In Opening the Gates, Donald Reid chronicles the history of this struggle. Beginning with the early stirrings of worker radicalism in 1968, Reid's meticulously researched narrative details the nationally publicised conflict of 1973, the second bankruptcy and occupation of 1976 and the conversion of Lip into a group of cooperatives operating into the 1980s.Trade ReviewCompelling -- John Harris * Guardian *Donald Reid's magisterial reconstruction of the Lip "affair" of the 1970s restores a crucial and neglected storyline about the long 1968. -- Julian Bourg, Boston University * H-France Salon *Donald Reid's book, carefully documented with a mass of detail, is to be welcomed for reminding us of an enthralling page from working-class history. -- Ian Birchall * rs21 *A must-read for historians, Reid's study will also open up for general readers the atmosphere of a time so far in the past that it is forgotten, yet so near that history has yet to remember it. -- William M. Reddy, Duke UniversitySome fifty years on from 1968, Donald Reid rightly identifies Lip 1973 as an important landmark in "the last widespread expression in France of a belief in the creativity and moral universe of workers engaged in labor conflicts as the driving force of social transformation." Reid's careful reconstruction of the Lip factory occupation, using an impressive array of archival materials and oral history interviews, vividly recreates the hopes, the excitement, the vicissitudes, and the disappointments of this turning point in French labor history. A must read for historians, Reid's study will also open up for general readers the atmosphere of a time so far in the past that it is forgotten, yet so near that history has yet to remember it. -- William M. Reddy, William T. Laprade Professor of History and Professor of Cultural Anthropology, Duke UniversityThis gripping and beautifully researched book may well be the definitive work on the Lip Affaire - that heroic struggle of French workers who in 1973-74 transformed their company into a combative self-administered community. Donald Reid's encompassing reconstruction is not only empathetic and political; it is also a significant contribution to French social history "from below" between May 68 and the beginning of Mitterand's presidency in 1981. -- Marcel van der Linden, International Institute of Social HistoryPraise for The Miners of Decazeville:Few books that I have read provide such a thorough and well-documented demonstration of the dynamic interrelationship between capitalism and the state and the complexity of the challenge presented to labor in seeking to struggle against their combined force. This is illuminating history. -- Christopher Johnson * The Journal of Social History *What stands out is [Opening the Gates's] thrilling retelling of an occupation and its reminder to us that there are many different ways to live and work. * Socialist Review *Although I have been living in France for the past ten years, I regret to say that the Lip Affair was unknown to me until now, but having read Donald Reid's description of what transpired, I can understand why. It is simply stunning how the mass media arbitrarily select those events in society which they want to highlight, and those which they want to ignore 'in the interests of the viewer.' I am convinced that the 'gate-keeper' policy of the mass media is one of the primary reasons why the public in general today remain detached from many key issues facing the planet, including consumerism, social inequality, and the onrushing environmental disaster. The multiple issues still confronting women today are of course foremost in my mind when I write this. The ways in which the Lip workers-as Reid describes-confronted their problems, including their strategies in dealing with the media, are therefore truly inspiring, and this book clearly deserves the widest possible dissemination across the social and political spectrum. -- Peter Watkins, Film DirectorDonald Reid has not just written a masterpiece of modern labor history. His brilliant narrative about the Lip workers who ran their own factory makes clear that they were blazing a new direction for the left. Although their experiment in self-management did not survive, it should inspire anyone who believes in the democratization of everyday life. When workers in the middle of France leaped beyond being just employees or aggrieved strikers, they showed that another world might indeed be possible. -- Michael Kazin, professor of history at Georgetown University and editor, DissentDon Reid's history of the protracted struggle of workers in the Lip watch factory is the most comprehensive and imaginative account that exists in English or French. What one worker called "the perfume of self-management" wafts through the pages of this book, bringing alive the movement that defined social upheaval in France in the long 1960s. -- Kristin Ross, author of Communal LuxuryIn 1973, French workers at the Lip watch factory in Besançon occupied their bankrupt plant and launched a movement that became a cause célèbre, attracting the attention of politicians, intellectuals, religious leaders, labor organizers, and ordinary citizens. In this magnificently detailed book, historian Donald Reid traces the origins of the movement and follows it through to its dénouement. It will surely be the definitive work on what may have been the last attempt by workers anywhere in the West to demonstrate that self-management was not a pipe dream but a genuine alternative to actually existing capitalism. -- Arthur Goldhammer, Translator and Senior Affiliate at Harvard's Center for European StudiesSophisticated ... a major contribution to the history of workers' control. * French History *For anyone wishing to learn about France (and, in fact, Europe) in the 1970s, Opening the Gates will be required reading for years to come. -- Gerd Rainer-Horn * Journal of Modern History *Don Reid's excellent book is happily something of a "throw-back" study to the 1970s -- John Merriman * The Historian *Opening the Gates is a lasting and remarkable account of French labor -- George Ross * French Politics, Culture & Society *

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Book SynopsisThe emergence of the Balkan national states in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries has long been viewed through an Orientalist lens, and their birth and evolution traditionally seen by scholars as the effect of the Ottoman Empire's decline. As a result, the role played by the great European revolutions, wars and intellectual developments is often neglected. Rejecting these traditional Orientalist narratives, this work examines Balkan nationalist movements within their broader western European historical contexts. Drawing on a range of unused archival research and ranging from the Napoleonic era to the Bolshevik Revolution, contributors variously consider the complex roles played by Europe's internal geo-political ruptures in forming the Balkan states, and demonstrate how the Balkan intelligentsia drew inspiration from, and interacted with, contemporary European thought. Shedding light onto the strong intellectual, political and military connections between the regions, this is essential reading for all those studying Balkan and European history, as well as anyone interested in the question of national identity.Table of Contents1. Dimitris Stamatopoulos, Introduction: War and Revolution. A Balkan perspective 2. Jonathan Israel, The Revolutionary and Napoleonic Era as a decisive Transition for Europe (1789-1815) 3. B. Harun Kucuk, Emulating Petrine Russia: Thick Mechanicism and the Foundations of Government in Istanbul after the Rebellion of 1730 4. Antoaneta Petkova, Military Reforms as Diplomatic Bargaining Chip. French-Ottoman Relations at the End of the Eighteenth Century 5. Vasilis Molos, Contextualizing the Writings of Iosipos Moisiodax and Dimitrios Katartzis: A Reassessment of the Influence of the Orlov Revolt on Greek Thought 6. Dimitris Stamatopoulos, The Cross along with The Crescent: Interpreting the Balkan National Revolutions through a Failed One 7. Dilek OEzkan *, The final phase of the Greek Revolution: delimitation, determination and demarcation of the first Greek boundary in Ottoman sources 8. Evguenia Davidova, Echoes of Tumultuous Wars: Prosperity and Poverty of the Balkan Entrepreneurial Strata (1800s-1880s) 9. Klara Volari?, Balkan Perceptions of War and Revolution: Reactions of Croatian intellectuals on the Austria-Hungarian Occupation of Bosnia and Herzegovina 10. Dobrinka Parusheva, Uprisings, Revolutions and Wars: Visual Representations in Bulgarian Illustrated Press at the End of the Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Century 11. Aleksandra Kolakovi?, Serbia and Serbs in the Great War - the perception of French intellectuals 12. Banu Turnao?lu, The New Ottoman Conception of War, State and Society in the Prelude to the First World War 13. Nikos Christofis, War, Revolution, and Diplomacy: The October Revolution of 1917 and the Turkish Anatolian Resistance Movement, 1919-1922 14. Herve Georgelin, Reflexions on World War I as Experienced and Formalized by Segments of the Civil Population in Istanbul/Constantinople and ?zmir/Smyrna.

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Book SynopsisRed Flag Wounded brings together essays covering the controversies and debates over the fraught history of the Soviet Union from the revolution to its disintegration. Those monumental years were marked not only by violence, mass killing, and the brutal overturning of a peasant society but also by the modernisation and industrialisation of the largest country in the world, the victory over fascism, and the slow recovery of society after the nightmare of Stalinism.Ronald Grigor Suny is one of the most prominent experts on the revolution, the fate of the non-Russian peoples of the Soviet empire, and the twists and turns of Western historiography of the Soviet experience. As a biographer of Stalin and a long-time commentator on Russian and Soviet affairs, he brings novel insights to a history that has been misunderstood and deliberately distorted in the public sphere. For a fresh look at a story that affects our world today, this is the place to begin.Trade ReviewA towering figure in the field of Soviet history, Ronald Suny is a prolific and engaged scholar, who has opened up new fields of research -- notably of nationalism and empire -- and been himself open to new conceptual approaches, while remaining true to perspectives on the Russian Revolution and Stalinism that have stood the test of time. His work combines trenchant analysis with lucid and large-scale synthesis. -- S A Smith, author of Russia in RevolutionWith his lightly-worn erudition, good humour and mastery of the field, Ron Suny is the perfect guide to the big questions in Soviet history. A must-read for anyone who wants to understand Stalinism and its interpreters. -- Sheila Fitzpatrick

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Book SynopsisFrom regicides to revolutionaries; from fascists to anarchists; from Tom Paine to Tom Wintringham, this book is a history of noble ideals and crushing failures in which Clive Bloom takes us on a journey through British history, exploring our often rocky relationship with the ruling elite. A History of Britian's Fight for a Republic reveals our surprising legacy of terrorism and revolution, reminding us that Britain has witnessed centuries of revolt. This is a history encompassing three bloody civil wars in Ireland, the bombing campaigns by the IRA, two Welsh uprisings, one Lowland Scottish civil war, uprisings in Derbyshire and Kent, five attempts to assassinate the entire cabinet and seize London, and numerous attempts to murder the royal family.This new and revised edition takes the story of modern monarchy back to its origins in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms and forward to the reign of Charles III and includes the story of the continuing struggle for democratic rights and republican values from medieval times up to the present struggle for Scottish and Welsh independence.

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Book SynopsisIn 2021, the Chinese Communist Party celebrated a century of existence. Since the Party's humble beginnings in the Marxist groups of the Republican era to its current global ambitions, one thing has not changed for China's leaders: their claim to represent the vanguard of the Chinese working class. Spanning from the night classes for workers organised by student activists in Beijing in the 1910s to the labour struggles during the 1920s and 1930s; from the turmoil of the Cultural Revolution to the social convulsions of the reform era to China's global push today, this book reconstructs the contentious history of labour in China from the early twentieth century to this day (and beyond). This will be achieved through a series of essays penned by scholars in the field of Chinese society, politics, and culture, each one of which will revolve around a specific historical event, in a mosaic of different voices, perspectives, and interpretations of what constituted the experience of being a worker in China in the past century.Contributors: Corey Byrnes, Craig A. Smith, Xu Guoqi, Zhou Ruixue, Lin Chun, Elizabeth J. Perry, Tony Saich, Wang Kan, Gail Hershatter, Apo Leong, S.A. Smith, Alexander F. Day, Yige Dong, Seung-Joon Lee, Lu Yan, Joshua Howard, Bo Ærenlund Sørensen, Brian DeMare, Emily Honig, Po-chien Chen, Yi-hung Liu, Jake Werner, Malcolm Thompson, Robert Cliver, Mark W. Frazier, John Williams, Christian Sorace, Zhu Ruiyi, Ivan Franceschini, Chen Feng, Ben Kindler, Jane Hayward, Tim Wright, Koji Hirata, Jacob Eyferth, Aminda Smith, Fabio Lanza, Ralph Litzinger, Jonathan Unger, Covell F. Meyskens, Maggie Clinton, Patricia M. Thornton, Ray Yep, Andrea Piazzaroli Longobardi, Joel Andreas, Matt Galway, Michel Bonnin, A.C. Baecker, Mary Ann O'Donnell, Tiantian Zheng, Jeanne L. Wilson, Ming-sho Ho, Yueran Zhang, Anita Chan, Sarah Biddulph, Jude Howell, William Hurst, Dorothy J. Solinger, Ching Kwan Lee, Chloé Froissart, Mary Gallagher, Eric Florence, Junxi Qian, Chris King-chi Chan, Elaine Sio-Ieng Hui, Jenny Chan, Eli Friedman, Aaron Halegua, Wanning Sun, Marc Blecher, Huang Yu, Manfred Elfstrom, Darren Byler, Carlos Rojas, Chen Qiufan.Trade ReviewThis volume offers an exciting engagement with the extended historical event of the proletariat in China. Through dialogue between past and present and among scholars across the globe, the anthology's chronological organization makes it ideal for teaching, research, and casual reading. More important, the march of time demonstrates how workers as a class made themselves into a proletariat even as they were simultaneously unmade through state repression, capitalist advance, internal division, and globalized diffusion. In its insistence that any genuine commitment to communism take seriously the proletariat as a specifically laboring class, this book marks out a clear political position. The individual chapters are short, readable, informative, and passionate. -- Rebecca E. Karl, New York University, History DepartmentThis is not a history of Chinese labour or the Chinese labour movement. Proletarian China is rather a chronicle of insurgency, of a proletarian politics that again and again opens and disrupts spaces of representation. The Chinese Communist Party is of course implied in this history, which nevertheless goes well beyond it and often challenges it. A century of proletarian struggles, uprisings, and dreams parades before readers' eyes composing another history of contemporary China and at the same time inciting to imagine the future anew - in China and beyond. This is a remarkable book! -- Sandro Mezzadra, University of BolognaA tour de force! A single book that covers an entire century of the Chinese working class, its various phases, diverse voices, and hopes for the future. As it is customary for the Made in China Journal, the most salient thoughts and reflections are collected here. -- Luigi Tomba, University of SydneyPraise for Christian Sorace's Shaken Authority:With his detailed knowledge of the politics of Sichuan, and his ability to integrate specific policies into broader ideological formations, he has demonstrated the vital insights that can be gained through analysing the Communist Party on its own terms. One of the most fascinating of these insights is the fact that ideology can easily be transformed into a burden for the Party. -- Chris Courtney * PRC History Review *Sorace forces us to confront the truth that ideological framing has made the party remarkably resilient because it is difficult to weaken the shaper of reality itself. By holding up a mirror to those of us who study China, his honest reflections force us to face how easily we view the country through the lens of hypothetical fantasies. -- Gina Anne Tam * Journal of Asian Studies *Praise for Afterlives of Chinese Communism:What makes Afterlives particularly commendable is the way that it navigates the difficult terrain of Chinese Communism...The result is a volume of essays in which easy answers are not forthcoming. We are asked to "approach the Chinese Revolution...to stand in relation to it, and to feel something towards it." What we feel is often a mix of discomfort and inspiration. We encounter the euphoria of liberation, the state-organized cruelty of "speaking bitterness" to one's oppressors, the simultaneously positive and catastrophic consequences of collectivization, the Cultural Revolution's empowerment of the working classes and its chaotic collapse, the creation of new kinds of revolutionary class consciousness and their eventual disintegration. This is the complex history and fraught present of Chinese Communism and it is brought brilliantly to life across this collection of essays. -- Kai Heron * Jacobin *Afterlives at once performs an important documentary function, capturing the symbolic worlds of communist China in the past and present within a convenient index format; but it should also be praised for its analytical contribution, which offers a call to action for new ideas and politics to come. -- Aaron Su * China Review International *

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Book SynopsisIn this definitive account of the Peninsular War (1808-14), Napoleon's six-year war against Spain, Ronald Fraser examines what led to the emperor's devastating defeat against the popular opposition - the guerrillas - and their British and Portuguese allies. As well as relating the histories of the great political and military figures of the war, Fraser brings to life the anonymous masses - the artisans, peasants and women who fought, suffered and died - and restores their role in this barbaric war to its rightful place while overturning the view that this was a straightforward military campaign. This vivid, meticulously researched book offers a distinct and profound vision of "Napoleon's Vietnam" and shows the reality of the disasters of war: the suffering, discontents and social upheaval that accompanied the fighting.With a new Introduction by Perry Anderson.Trade ReviewFraser has re-created a world, barely glimpsed by previous historians, of the Spanish popular resistance and suffering during the anti-Napoleonic war ... An excellent work. -- Carlos Martinez Shaw * El Pais *A milestone in the historiography of the war. -- Alistair Hennessy * New Left Review *Fraser has breathed life into a historic era... The real protagonist of his work is the people and their tragedy. -- Luis Ribot * El Mundo *A superb complement to Fraser's classic Blood of Spain, of 'history from below'. -- Ricardo Garcia Carcel * ABC *Like Goya in The Disasters of War, Fraser has engraved in the written word the spirit and sacrifices of the popular anti-Napoleonic resistance, a precursor of the anti-fascist resistance of the [Spanish] Civil War. -- Andreu Mayayo * El Periodico de Catalunya *A magisterial reconstruction of the Peninsular war of 1808-1814 -- Tariq Ali * Guardian *This scholarly work investigates those who waged Spain's popular struggle between 1808 and 1814, and why. It's history from the ground up: momentous events lived by those whose voice is rarely heard...Fraser builds a mosaic from "shard-like" fragments, a labour of detection that would have swamped anyone with a less sure grip on the sweep of Spanish history. -- Elizabeth Nash * Independent *Superb . a fine history of the popular resistance Napoleon could not defeat. -- Chris Bambery * Counterfire *

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Book SynopsisTwenty-five years after Gorbachev came to power and two decades after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the questions that were behind the reform efforts at the start of Perestroika are still relevant: how to modernise the economy, and how to recreate a basis for political legitimacy? The wave of 'Colour Revolutions' that precipitated regime change in Eastern Europe, starting in Serbia, and later in Georgia, Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan, were carried out in the name of democratic legitimacy, and in order to fight corruption. The current debate in Moscow under the presidency of Dmitry Medvedev revolves around the same idea: what is the way forward for Russia's modernisation, economically and politically? This volume brings together six experts on East Europe and the former Soviet Union to compare and evaluate the evolution of ideas behind Gorbachev's reforms, Yeltsin's transition, and the more recent wave of the Colour Revolutions. It does not propose a coherent regard to these historic events, but rather dispersed discussion from various perspectives tracing the contradictory development of ideas of reform, the transformation of the notion of revolution, on the role of civil society, and individual chapters from the four cases of Colour Revolutions. Contributors: Catherine Samary, Jean-Arnault Derens, Ghia Nodia, Dominique Arel, Anara Tabyshalieva.Trade Review'In this engaging volume, an international team of experts skillfully dissects the achievements and failures of the coloured revolutions - a series of popular uprisings that swept through post-socialist societies from 2000 to 2005. In doing so, they raise deeper questions about the conditions under which revolutionary change translates into revolutionary results.' -- Mark R. Beissinger, Professor of Politics, Princeton University, and author of Nationalist Mobilization and the Collapse of the Soviet State'This is not the first book about the 'coloured revolutions', but this sets a new standard. The analysis is considered, the country chapters are by acknowledged experts, the focus is on the actors themselves and the process of change in which they engaged. I will be bringing this study to the attention of my students and all specialists on the contemporary politics of the post-Soviet world would do well to read it.' -- Stephen White, Professor of Politics, Glasgow University and author of Understanding Russian Politics

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Book SynopsisLebanon is the prisoner of its geography and its history, a prize for invaders since ancient times, a small multi-denominational state still recovering from a bloody civil war in its search for political autonomy and stability. This book examines the country's recent past since 2005, when a mass movement agitated against Syrian dominance in the wake of the assassination of former prime minister Rafik Hariri. Also detailed are the role of Hezbollah and other political groups. The authors examine the changes that these events brought to Lebanon, be they lasting or ephemeral, and the challenges they represent for a state which, despite the resilience of its power-sharing system of government, remains hotly contested and unconsolidated. Sectarian tensions have escalated, predominantly between the Sunni and Shia communities, causing outbursts of street-based violence and paralysis in government. This two-bloc system has left Lebanon ungovernable, not simply due to deep-seated political differences, but because of the external linkages which ties the two blocs to their foreign patrons, namely the USA and Iran. As the Arab Spring develops, it also increases Hezbollah's significance to Iran as the embattled Assad regime struggles to quash the Syrian insurgency.Trade Review'Begins with concise and informative summary by the co-editor Michael Kerr ...overall there is a deft balance between scholarly discourse and the personal observation of an insider.' * Times Literary Supplement *'Clear-eyed and often shrewd analysis of the huge political and social changes in Lebanon wrought by the Hariri assassination in 2005. Indispensable even for those who think they know the country well.' * Roger Owen, A. J. Meyer Professor of Middle East History, Harvard University *'They say that if you think you understand Lebanon you haven't been studying it long enough. This book provides a shortcut. It is a must-read if you wish to understand today's reality in this complex, fascinating and ever-attractive country. From community power-sharing to corporate consociationalism, from the state of the army to the image-making around the late Rafiq Hariri, a wide range of topics are covered in great depth.' * Frances Guy, British Ambassador to Beirut, 2006 - 2011 *'This book presents astute critical readings of post-"Cedar Revolution" Lebanon. Its interdisciplinary analysis of contemporary Lebanese history and politics offers an excellent overview of the on-going struggle over powersharing, state security, economic revitalisation and the post-war recovery.' * Craig Larkin, University of Exeter *'Compiled and edited with care, this timely volume is essential for anyone wishing to understand the complex eddies of contemporary Lebanon, showcasing true regional expertise without ever abandoning objectivity or critical independence. As a work that explains the intricacies of Lebanese politics post-Hariri with clarity and precision, this cannot be surpassed.' * Clive Jones, Chair of Middle East Studies and International Politics, University of Leeds *

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Book SynopsisOn 25 January 2011, tens of thousands of Egyptians came out on the streets to protest against emergency rule and police brutality. Eighteen days later, Mubarak, one of the longest sitting dictators in the region, had gone. How are we to make sense of these events? Was this a revolution, a revolutionary moment? How did the protests come about? How were they able to outmanoeuvre the police? Was this really a 'leaderless revolution,' as so many pundits claimed, or were the protests an out- growth of the protest networks that had developed over the past decade? Why did so many people with no history of activism participate? What role did economic and systemic crises play in creating the conditions for these pro- tests to occur? Was this really a Facebook revolution? Why Occupy a Square? is a dynamic exploration of the shape and timing of these extraordinary events, the players behind them, and the tactics and protest frames they developed. Drawing on social movement theory, it traces the interaction between protest cycles, regime responses and broader structural changes over the past decade. Using theories of urban politics, space and power, it reflects on the exceptional state of non-sovereign politics that developed during the occupation of Tahrir Square.Trade Review'Gunning and Baron have combined social theory, an excellent grasp of the structural and historical context, and a sharply observant eye for detail to explain the extraordinary phenomenon of the Egyptian uprising against President Mubarak in 2011. The result is an outstanding and lively analysis of this episode that will likely stand the test of time. It also helps to throw light on subsequent events as Egyptians follow their uncertain course into the future.' * Charles Tripp, Professor of Middle East Politics, SOAS, University of London *'Gunning and Baron provide an innovative corrective to conventional views of Tahrir Square. Deftly deploying theoretical insights and first-hand observations, they highlight the deeper roots of urban protest and explain the critical roles played by informal networks and social organisation. This book speaks equally powerfully to those in academia, the media and policy circles struggling to make sense of why the events of the Arab Spring have defied standard, top-down expectations and, in so doing, it provides an instructive insight for the future.' * James Piscatori, Professor of International Relations, Durham University *'This is the most rigorous explanation currently available of the unforgettable mass mobilizations in Cairo which helped topple the Mubarak dictatorship.' * Jeff Goodwin, Professor of Sociology, New York University *'This well-crafted and comprehensive study — a useful combination of social movement theory and international relations — proves how revolution is and remains possible in the Arab world.' * Jean-Pierre Filiu, Professor of Middle East Studies, Sciences Po (Paris) and author of The Arab Revolution: Ten Lessons From the Democratic Uprising *'This excellent book goes a long way toward dispelling the dual myths that the 25 January Revolution in Egypt came out of nowhere or was an inevitable consequence of political and socioeconomic frustration. The resulting synthesis is highly readable and will be of immense value those who want make sense of the daunting complexities of Egyptian politics over the last two decades.' * Ewan Stein, Lecturer in International Relations, University of Edinburgh *'Anyone who wants to think through the ways in which political movements are going to arise and do their work during the rest of the 21st century would be advised to get a copy of this book.' * Don Flynn, Chartist *'This is a staggeringly good book. After reading so many accounts of the Egyptian Revolution and Arab Spring that are mainly descriptive, or even speculative as to causes, it seemed we were doomed to have to wait many years… Gunning and Baron have proven that we needn't wait any longer.' * Jack A. Goldstone, Professor of Public Policy, George Mason University *

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Book SynopsisAs a civil war shatters a country and consumes its people, historian Christian Sahner offers a poignant account of Syria, where the past profoundly shapes its dreadful present. Among the Ruins blends history, memoir and reportage, drawing on the author's extensive knowledge of Syria in ancient, medieval, and modern times, as well as his experiences living in the Levant on the eve of the war and in the midst of the 'Arab Spring'. These plotlines converge in a rich narrative of a country in constant flux -- a place renewed by the very shifts that, in the near term, are proving so destructive. Sahner focuses on five themes of interest to anyone intrigued and dismayed by Syria's fragmentation since 2011: the role of Christianity in society; the arrival of Islam; the rise of sectarianism and competing minorities; the emergence of the Ba'ath Party; and the current pitiless civil war. Among the Ruins is a brisk and illuminating read, an accessible introduction to a country with an enormously rich past and a tragic present. For anyone seeking to understand Syria, this book should be their starting point.Trade ReviewIn his beautiful patchwork of recent experience and academic history, [Sahner] gives a truly original portrait of contemporary Syria without shirking the social problems, physical ugliness or political realities many Westerners often want to deny ... Sahner gives a long historical arc, going back to pre-Islamic, Byzantine Syria, before going on to produce a moving and highly readable account of the country today. His close attention to the buildings and geography of Syria, together with accounts of his many friendships, bring the country into sharper focus than textual sources alone can do. -- The Times Literary Supplement[E]rudite historical analysis ... [Sahner's] perspective is rewarding indeed, both in questioning and shaking many of the narratives supplied to us by sensationalist media reports, and in providing a deeper understanding of the origins of the current conflict ... While Sahner's historical knowledge is evident, so too is his compassion for the people he meets ... [A] considerate treatment of a topic that has been widely misconstrued elsewhere. -- Insight TurkeyAmong the Ruins is a uniquely vivid evocation of the past of Syria and a prescient record of its present state. Deeply humane and drawing on subjects from all walks of life, Sahner has a gift for presenting them against a past that is as varied and as ancient as the country itself. We are brought to the edge of the precipice over which, alas, a magnificently diverse society appears to have stumbled. We will be both better informed and wiser for reading it. -- Peter Brown, Rollins Professor Emeritus of History at Princeton UniversityThis book greets the reader through the lens of a medieval Islamic historian well-versed in the historical treasures and antiquities of Syria. His appreciation of Syria's long and important history in the region provides a useful backdrop for understanding today's tragic conflict, much of which is unfortunately erasing that physical history. Sahner aims to make sure this history is not forgotten in an accessible work that makes important connections between Syria's past, present and future in a way that will satisfy the non-specialist and specialist alike. -- David W. Lesch, Ewing Halsell Distinguished Professor of Middle East History at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas and author of Syria: The Fall of the House of AssadAmong the Ruins is a veritable pleasure to read, despite the poignancy of its subject matter. Combining an account of its author's travels through a Syria now largely destroyed by the ravages of war with a reflection on the causes and course of the Syrian revolution which began in March 2011, the Baathist regime's ruthless response, and the country's subsequent descent into civil war, it is both elegantly written and judicious in its opinions. Informed by Christian Sahner's deep knowledge of classical and medieval history, eastern Christianity and Islam, and enlivened by his travel writer's eye for the telling detail, it will make a useful primer for those seeking to place Syria's current predicament in historical perspective. -- Andrew Arsan, University Lecturer in Modern Middle Eastern History, St John's College, CambridgeCompact and to the point, [Among the Ruins] documents the long history of Syria's cultural and religious past in concise but approachable language ... Sahner's work illustrates not only why the current sociopolitical upheaval came about but also why it is important to all countries. -- Library JournalWith an academic expertise in late antiquity in the Middle East, Sahner gives even the seventh and eighth centuries important proximity. In light of the re-emergence of nihilistic and extremist language from the likes of the Islamic State, which promotes a distorted version of Islam's past, Sahner's history is all the more important. -- The Cairo ReviewSahner's writing engages all the reader's senses without wasting a word. His precision keeps the story moving at breakneck speed, leaving the reader with essential insights while eliding potentially distracting factual minutiae. The combination is sheer brilliance. The book is especially impressive given the magnitude of Sahner's intellectual task and the grace with which he accomplishes it. -- Brock Dahl, The Witherspoon InstituteThis excellent little book, a mixture of "deep" history and travelogue, is essential reading for anyone who wants to gain a better understanding of the current situation in Syria and the Middle East, beyond newspaper headlines. -- LSE Review of BooksAmong the Ruins is a readable and interesting account of Syria's history for non-specialists. ... [T]he importance of this book and the historical and cultural diversities which it recognises and explains are placed in an even more acute, modern perspective when one considers the recent wanton destruction of historical and cultural sites by Islamic State forces. -- Asian AffairsProvides a snapshot of Syria on the eve of war, through the eyes of a young American traveling through the Middle East. -- Publishers Weekly

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Book SynopsisIn January 2011 President Bashar al-Assad told the Wall Street Journal that Syria was 'stable' and immune from revolt. In the months that followed, and as regimes fell in Egypt and Tunisia, thousands of Syrians took to the streets calling for freedom, with many dying at the hands of the regime. Stephen Starr delves deep into the lives of Syrians whose destiny has been shaped by the state for almost fifty years. In conversations with people from all strata of Syrian society, Starr draws together and makes sense of perspectives illustrating why Syria, with its numerous sects and religions, was so prone to violence and civil strife. Through his unique access to a country largely cut off from the international media during the unrest, Starr delivers compelling first hand testimony from both those who suffered and benefited most at the hands of the regime. Revolt in Syria details why many Syrians wanted Assad's government to stay as the threat of civil war loomed large, the long-standing gap between the state apparatus and its people and why the country's youth stood up decisively for freedom.Starr also sets out the positions adhered to by the country's minorities and explains why many Syrians believe that enforced regime change might precipitate a region-wide conflict. This revised and updated edition contains a chapter bringing it up to the end of 2013, and examines the experiences of those who have fled the fighting to Turkey and elsewhere.Trade Review'[Starr's] material is vivid, thought-provoking and sometimes shocking ... As eyewitness testimony, it has great value, not least because it challenges some of the simple certainties that have characterised coverage of the Syrian uprising. Mr Starr captures the pain of a deeply torn society in the throes of a bitter struggle, one that has estranged brother from brother, friend from friend.' * The Economist *'Starr's book is the only account that gives previously unheard voices a chance to be heard. ... his familiarity with the sectarian and political milieu in Syria is better than anyone I know. He has spent five years in the country, marrying into Syrian society if there is one Irishman that the Syrians would describe as muta rrib, Arabicised , it is him. ... Through a series of vignettes and anecdotes, Starr provides us with a plethora of voices from minorities: Sunnis, Shias, Kurds, Palestinians, pro-regime and anti regime Syrians. ... The book is a witness to a dilapidated regime [and] Starr captures it all brilliantly.' * New Statesman *'Unlike most western reporters who have written from Syria, Stephen Starr brings to bear a great deal of personal experience of the country, having lived and worked in Damascus for four years, including a spell with the state media. He's the sort of man who notices the price of milk going up and the increased presence of security forces on the streets as the noose tightens. With a wide network of friends and contacts, he conveys the warp and weft of daily life with an admirably nuanced understanding of the place.' * The Spectator *'Stephen Starr has taken on the mammoth task of elucidating this confusing country. After four years in Syria, he has some insight... The general conclusion is that no one in Syria knows what is going on, either inside or outside their own neighbourhoods. It is therefore a strange kind of enlightenment that this book offers, but probably an accurate on.' * Times Literary Supplement *

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Book SynopsisIn his disturbing and timely book Jean-Pierre Filiu lays bare the strategies and tactics employed by the Middle Eastern autocracies, above all those of Syria, Egypt, Yemen and Algeria, that set out to crush the democratic uprisings of the 'Arab Revolution'. In pursuit of these goals they turned to the intelligence agencies and internal security arms of the 'deep state', the armed forces and to street gangs such as the Shabiha to enforce their will. Alongside physical intimidation, imprisonment and murder, Arab counter- revolutionaries discredited and split their opponents by boosting Salafi - Jihadi groups such as Islamic State. They also released from prison hardline Islamists and secretly armed and funded them. The full potential of the Arab counter-revolution surprised most observers, who thought they had seen it all from the Arab despots: their perversity, their brutality, their voracity. But the wider world underestimated their ferocious readiness to literally burn down their countries in order to cling to absolute power.Bashar al-Assad clambered to the top of this murderous class of tyrants, driving nearly half of the Syrian population in to exile and executing tens of thousands of his opponents. He has set a grisly precedent, one that other Arab autocrats are sure to follow in their pursuit of absolute power.Trade Review'It takes patience, clarity and perspective to explain the whole grim picture [in the Middle East] and the links between its constituent parts. These qualities are on impressive display in an important new book by the French scholar Jean-Pierre Filiu. His particular skill is to describe the development, survival and resurgence of the Arab "deep state," the security agencies that have kept it going and the "monster they helped create" - in its most extreme form the jihadis of the Islamic state (Isis). ... The answer, Filiu concludes bravely, has to be more democracy, not less, not a fatalistic acceptance that change can never come to the Middle East.' -- The Guardian'Among authors trying to make sense of why the uprisings of 2011 largely failed, Jean-Pierre Filiu stands out. His new book ... combines passion, scholarship, and insight to present a convincing explanation of the deep malaise afflicting the Arab world.' -- The Economist'Filiu's book should make us think harder about the economics of power . . . as a diagnosis his book is written with scholarship, passion, and clarity.' -- New York Review of Books'Filiu has produced a refreshingly nuanced analysis of the region's totalitarian regimes, distinguishing between those of his "Modern Mamluks" (in Syria, Egypt, Yemen and Algeria) and other styles of suppressive dictatorships (in Iraq, Libya, Tunisia and the Gulf States).' -- The Times Literary Supplement'Filiu ... argues ... that the Arab revolutions (as he calls them) have been foiled - Tunisia apart - by successful counter-revolutions organised by the 'deep state'. In Syria - as in Egypt and Yemen - the deep state is the hard core of a regime that strongly resembles those of the Mamluks in Egypt and the Levant long ago. He holds the Syrian 'Mamluks' responsible not only for the devastation of their own country but also for the rise of Islamic State ... In [this] polemical book ... Filiu offers the radical view that the 'Mamluks' were crude usurpers of the original national revolution, which they hijacked at independence; he insists that this was the case in Algeria before broadening the charge to apply it to Egypt, Syria and Yemen.' -- London Review of Books'An authoritative and revealing tour of the role of "Arab security mafias" in shaping the politics of the Middle East. Filiu's account of the failure of the Arab uprisings places the blame for the region's chaos where it belongs: with the reconstituted deep states, security agencies and autocratic leaders determined to hold on to power at any cost.' -- Marc Lynch, Director of the Institute for Middle East Studies at George Washington University'Filiu's thought-provoking book displays a genius for making sense out of the Middle East's chaos and illuminating key destructive forces. At Year Five of the uncertain Arab Revolution Filiu shows how determined military-based secular regimes sacrificed democratic promise and confronted jihadists in regional violence rarely seen since the Arab Conquest.' -- Jon Randal, former foreign correspondent for the New York Times and author of Osama: The Making of a Terrorist'[T]his highly topical and ambitious work ... looks to chart how the Arab Revolutions ... have been crushed by a combination of authoritarian regimes and jihadis. Filiu combines the Mamluk history with a broad look across the Middle East and North Africa with a focus on Algeria, Yemen, Egypt, Syria and Tunisia ... The hijacking of independence movements is a rip-roaring tale of purges, coups, exiles, state of emergencies and the ubiquitous "Communique Number Ones".' -- Huffington Post'This is an invaluable contribution to the murky world of the Arab security regimes. As such external policymakers would be well advised to digest Filiu's prescient warnings.' -- Middle East Eye'Filiu's book breaks from the pack of works on the Arab Spring. Rather than focus on the grassroots opposition that emerged in 2011 to challenge the Arab authoritarian order, he casts attention on the state regimes with an eye to discerning the sources of their strength and resiliency. In so doing, he takes a long view to argue that State power, often disguised and hidden away, doomed the Arab Spring from the outset. ... Excellent.' -- John Calvert, Associate Professor of History, Creighton University, and author of Sayyid Qutb and the Origins of Radical Islamism'Far and away the best and most up-to-date survey of the Arab Security State and its ability to master the various waves of popular uprisings it faced during the Arab Spring. Based on a set of challenging hypotheses as well as an unrivalled feel for Arab political behaviour it must become required reading.' -- Roger Owen, Emeritus Professor of Middle East History, Harvard University'With magisterial knowledge of the Middle East, this sweeping narrative convincingly links the two most tragic events of our time: the failure of the Arab revolts and the proliferation of Islamist militancy. The result is a fast-paced, sombre, and ultimately devastating account.' -- Hazem Kandil, University of Cambridge, author of Inside the Brotherhood'Filiu has attempted to connect the past to the present in this highly topical and ambitious work that looks to chart how the Arab revolutions...have been crushed by a combination of authoritarian regimes and jihadis.' -- International Affairs'Misunderstanding the rise of the [Arab] state security mafias could have significant consequences. Jean-Pierre Filiu has admirably attempted to correct [Western misinterpretations]. ... The text also provides a new interpretation of the Arab Spring in 2011, arguing that demonstrators took to the streets seeking revolution but were met with a sustained and bloody counterrevolution. ... [T]his book is essential reading.' -- The Strategy Bridge

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Book SynopsisThis book offers a much-needed corrective to dominant approaches to understanding political causality during episodes of intense social mobilisation, specifically with a North African context. Drawing on analyses of routine governance and of 'revolutionary' mobilisation in four countries of the Maghreb -- Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Libya -- before, during and after the 2011 uprisings, Volpi explains the different trajectories of these uprisings by showing how specific acts of protest created new arenas of contention that provided actors with new rationales, practices and, ultimately, identities. The book illustrates how the dynamics of revolutionary episodes are characterised by the social and political de-institutionalisation of routine mechanisms of (authoritarian) governance. It also details how post-uprising re-institutionalisation and/or conflict are shaped by reconstructed understandings of the uprisings by actors, who are themselves partially the products of these episodes of phenomena.Trade ReviewRevolution and Authoritarianism looks beyond the deterministic approaches that have characterised studies of the Arab Spring and offers a much more nuanced set of explanations for the way in which events in North Africa have occurred and developed. Theoretically sophisticated and empirically well grounded, this is a genuine must-read for all those interested in the politics of the Arab Spring.' * Francesco Cavatorta, Associate Professor, Department of Political Science, Université Laval in Quebec, Canada; and editor of Salafism After the Arab Awakening: Contending with People's Power *'Precisely-argued and intelligent, this is the most important study to date of the comparative politics of the Arab uprisings in North Africa; it demonstrates in detail how eventful interactions between political actors in Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Libya were not simply structurally determined, but shaped trajectories of change. Volpi shows how people do make history, even in circumstances not chosen by themselves.' -- * John Chalcraft, Associate Professor in the History and Politics of Empire/Imperialism and author of Popular Politics in the Making of the Modern Middle East *'This powerful account highlights the fluidity of revolutions, and of all politics, by looking at how institutions are made and unmade, especially through processes of meaning making. Volpi finds the right analytical balance between action and its contexts.' * James M. Jasper, Professor, Graduate Centre of the City University of New York *'Very good for advanced undergraduate seminars and graduate students.'

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Book SynopsisWhy is Saudi Arabia, the world's largest oil exporter, involved in a costly and merciless war against its mountainous southern neighbour Yemen, the poorest country in the Middle East? When the Saudis attacked the hitherto obscure Houthi militia, which they believed had Iranian backing, to oust Yemen's government in 2015, they expected an easy victory. They appealed for Western help and bought weapons worth billions of dollars from Britain and America; yet two years later the Houthis, a unique Shia sect, have the upper hand.In her revealing portrait of modern Yemen, Ginny Hill delves into its recent history, dominated by the enduring and pernicious influence of career dictator Ali Abdullah Saleh, who ruled for three decades before being forced out by street protests in 2011. Saleh masterminded patronage networks that kept the state weak, allowing conflict, social inequality and terrorism to flourish.In the chaos that follows his departure, civil war and regional interference plague the country while separatist groups, Al-Qaeda and ISIS compete to exploit the broken state. And yet, Yemen endures.Trade Review'[A] vivid and balanced account.''Yemen - a country of multiple realities, complex, layered, and explosive, where some of the hungriest people in the world strive to live. Ginny Hill is a rare outsider who has lived the country, she is superbly seasoned in its physical and political terrain. Her book is a revelation.' -- Jon Snow, Channel 4‘Highly engaging and well written.’ -- Bustan: The Middle East Book Review‘A compelling and detailed account . . . combining a journalist’s flair with the deep expertise from more than a decade of living in, working on and writing about Yemen, Hill weaves together the stories of Yemenis from several hundred interviews in a style that is both engaging and accessible.’ 'This is an extremely fine journalistic account of the turbulence in contemporary Yemen . . . provides a distinct perspective on the factors that allow Yemen to continue to exist . . . a fine read for anyone unfamiliar with Yemen to get up to speed in understanding the country.''Written with the fluid cadence of a former journalist, it offers a highly accessible and important entry point for readers new to the history and politics of Yemen but also includes content that will help more seasoned readers better under- stand some long-standing puzzles . . . a well-written work of wide scope on questions of great urgency.’ '[Hill] use[s] her deep knowledge and experience of Yemen to not only explain the complexities of the current conflict, but also places them in an historical and social context . . . deeply emotive and engaging . . . Telling the story of Yemen and the wider region through this powerful yet still journalistic prose makes for a genuine page turner.''Ginny Hill's detailed and highly readable account [...] is indispensable to understanding the story so far. [...] Hill is impressive proof that academic rigour, patient and persistent reporting, good contacts and fine writing are not mutually exclusive. Her book is full of vivid insights enriched by far deeper knowledge than can be accumulated during a brief visit.' -- Ian Black, LSE blog'Yemen Endures is an invaluable guide to the crisis that has engulfed Yemen, combining history, analysis and vivid first-person testimony -- a must-read for anyone who wants to understand this bewilderingly multi-faceted conflict.' -- Robin Lustig, former presenter of The World Tonight on BBC Radio 4 and Newshour on BBC World Service'The most authoritative account of the Yemen tragedy so far. Yemen Endures succeeds where others have failed in giving voice to the Yemeni people. Highly recommended.' -- Christopher Davidson, author of Shadow Wars: The Secret Struggle for the Middle East'There are all too few books written on Yemen, fewer still that get it right. Hill's expert guide through the quagmire is both timely and essential. This book achieves that through the author's rare balance of insight, candour and direct experience to produce a work that will be a marker of how modern Yemen ended up in war and collapse.' -- Iona Craig, former Times (of London) Yemen correspondent, winner of the Orwell Prize and the Martha Gellhorn Award'An eminently readable and highly insightful portrayal of a country in chaos. Hill's account of Yemen's history and torturous politics is vividly coloured by her own personal experiences.' -- Mehran Kamrava, author of The Modern Middle East: A Political History Since World War I

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Book SynopsisSouth Africa's transition to democracy took place against a backdrop of shadow war between the apartheid regime's counterinsurgency forces and the African National Congress' armed wing, Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK). This book analyses in unprecedented detail the hidden history of MK's struggle and its contribution to South Africa's liberation, while exposing new dimensions of clandestine apartheid-era violence. Drawing on interviews with former MK guerrillas, Daniel Douek traces the evolution of MK's operations across southern Africa from the 1960s, culminating in the 1990-4 negotiations between the ANC and the white-supremacist regime. As political violence escalated, the battle waged in the shadows became nothing less than a struggle to shape South Africa's future. Counterinsurgency forces recruited spies, deployed death squads, engaged in psychological warfare, and targeted ANC leaders, including MK chief Chris Hani. Even once ANC elites had come to power, apartheid counterinsurgency operations continued to undermine South Africa's new democracy by marginalising MK guerrillas within the 'new' security forces, leaving legacies of violence and instability still felt today.Trade Review'As rigorous--and disturbing--an account of insurgency and counterinsurgency in South Africa as you'll find. Highly recommended.' -- Deane-Peter Baker, Associate Professor of International and Political Studies, UNSW Canberra at the Australian Defence Force Academy'A provocative book raising important questions about the toxic legacies of dysfunctional states' violent repression of insurgencies: authoritarian security elites, urban violence and persistent criminal networks. Douek reaches far beyond South Africa in his analysis and arguments for meaningful security sector reform in post-conflict societies.' -- Sue Onslow, Deputy Director & Reader in Commonwealth History, Institute of Commonwealth Studies, University of London

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Book Synopsis'Revolution! The Atlantic World Reborn' is an original illustrated volume which accompanies the landmark international travelling exhibition opening at the New York Historical Society in November 2011. This fascinating book brings together three globally influential revolutions - in America, France, and Haiti - to explore the enormous transformations in the world's politics and culture between Britain's victory in the Seven Years War in 1763 and the end of the Napoleonic Wars fifty-two years later. While most histories of these revolutions have been told exclusively as chapters within national histories, 'Revolution! The Atlantic World Reborn' presents, for the first time, the story of the 18th-century Atlantic revolutions as a part of wider, intertwined, global narrative. Vivid text and images provide a context for our understanding of these major social upheavals and their lasting influence on contemporary society.Table of ContentsForeword- Louise Mirrer, President and CEO of the New-York Historical Society Introduction- Richard Rabinowitz A Season of Revolutions: The United States, France, and Haiti- Thomas Bender Insurgents before Independence: The Revolution of the American People- T. H. Breen A Port in the Storm: Philadelphia's Commerce during the Atlantic Revolutionary Era- Cathy Matson Slavery and Freedom in the Age of Revolution- David Brion Davis and Peter P. Hinks The Achievement of the Haitian Revolution, 1791-1804- Robin Blackburn An African Revolutionary in the Atlantic World- Laurent Dubois and Julius S. Scott Liberty in Black, White, and Color: A Trans-Atlantic Debate- Jeremy D. Popkin A Vapor of Dread: Observations on Racial Terror and Vengeance in the Age of Revolution- Vincent Brown One Woman, Three Revolutions: Rosalie of the Poulard Nation- Rebecca J. Scott and Jean M. Hebrard The 1804 Haitian Revolution- Jean Casimir Curating History's Silences: The Revolution! Exhibition- Richard Rabinowitz

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