Search results for ""hoover institution press""

This selection of Boris Pasternak's correspondence with his parents and sisters from 1921 to 1960—including more than illustrations and photos—is an authoritative, indispensable introduction and guide to the great writer's life and work. His letters are accomplished literary works in their own right, on a par with his poetry in their intensity, frankness, and dazzling stylistic play. In addition, they offer a rare glimpse into his innermost self, significantly complementing the insights gained from his work. They are especially poignant in that after 1923 Pasternak was never to see his parents again.

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As the Federal Reserve System conducts its latest review of the strategies, tools, and communication practices it deploys to pursue its dual-mandate goals of maximum employment and price stability, Strategies for Monetary Policy - drawn from the 2019 Monetary Policy Conference at the Hoover Institution - emerges as an especially timely volume. The book's expert contributors examine key policy issues, offering their perspectives on US monetary policy tools and instruments and the interaction between Fed policies and financial markets. The contributors review central bank inflation-targeting policies, how various monetary strategies actually work in practice, and the use of nominal GDP targeting as a way to get the credit market to work well and fix the friction in that market. In addition, they discuss the effects of the various rules that the Fed considers in setting policy, how the Fed's excessive fine-tuning of the economy and financial markets has added financial market volatility and harmed economic performance, and the key issues that impact achievement of the Fed's 2 percent inflation objective. The volume concludes by exploring potential options for enhancing our policy approach.

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The major social problems of the United States—deteriorating education, lawlessness and crime, homelessness, the collapse of family values, the crisis in medical care—have been produced by well-intended actions of government. That is easy to document. The difficult task is understanding why government is the problem. The power of special interests arising from the concentrated benefits of most government actions and their dispersed costs is only part of the answer. A more fundamental part is the difference between the self-interest of individuals when they are engaged in the private sector and the self-interest of the same individuals when they are engaged in the government sector. The result is a government system that is no longer controlled by "we, the people." Instead of Lincoln's government "of the people, by the people, and for the people," we now have a government "of the people, by the bureaucrats, for the bureaucrats," including the elected representatives who have become bureaucrats. At the moment, term limits apear to be the reform that promises to be most effective in curbing Leviathan.

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This book looks at both the Republican and the Democratic Party plans for Social Security, showing how each confronts significant ideological and political hurdles. David Koitz cuts through the partisan rhetoric that has made social Security one of the most debated programs on the U.S. political scene and looks at both the Republican and the Democratic plans for Social Security, showing important flaws in each.

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Crony capitalism systems—in which those close to political policymakers receive favors allowing them to earn returns far above market value—are a fundamental feature of the economies of Latin America. Haber and his expert contributors draw from case studies in Mexico, Brazil, and other countries around the world to examine the causes and consequences of cronyism.

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This book presents the initial findings that framed early discussions on Internet public policy and outlines proposals that should guide policymaking in the future. In addition, Cronin, McLure, and Radin's viewpoints show that the future of e-commerce has as much to do with how policy issues are resolved as with how technological challenges are overcome.

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The changing face of savers with interest in and knowledge of financial markets.

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In a fresh look at the age-old question of nature's law versus individual choice, Machan offers an insightful discussion of human initiative as a basic feature of our personal and community lives—and its implications for personal relations, politics, criminal law, social work, and public policy.

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Current proposals involve increasing the regulation of campaign expenditures, further restricting campaign donations, creating ever-larger bureaucracies, using public funding for federal campaigns, and attempting to limit political speech not only through legislation but also through constitutional amendment. Through articles, Supreme Court decisions, speeches, and op-eds, Political Money challenges the view that current proposals are truly an appropriate public policy approach to campaign finance and argues that controls on campaign expenditures and contributions limit freedom of speech; that controls on the use of such resources smack of censorship; that there is no credible evidence that campaign contributions buy votes; and that more rapid and complete public disclosure is critical.

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What special problems arise for managers and employees of companies when they do business in countries and cultures other than their own? The essays in this book identify universal principles of business ethics and spell out minimal legal and ethical absolutes in foreign trade. They examine human rights and analyze the cross-cultural aspects of two sexual harassment cases filed against Mitsubishi in America.

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A collection of essays on solving our economic, legal, and management challenges, Capital For Our Time is among the first to bring together experts from widely different fields to address the challenges of intellectual capital. These prominent professionals discuss the impact of intellectual capital on national and corporate performance.

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First proposed twenty-five years ago, the flat tax concept has since been adopted by six states—Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, and Pennsylvania—and several countries around the world. In this new and updated edition of The Flat Tax, Robert Hall and Alvin Rabushka set forth what many believe is the most fair, efficient, simple, and workable tax reform plan on the table: tax all income, once only, at a uniform rate of 19 percent. Hall and Rabushka go beyond mere academic abstraction, designing new tax forms, rewriting tax regulations, and working out all the practical details. They show how all wage earners would pay less tax than under the current system, flat tax plan tax returns could be filed on a postcard, and April 15 would no longer be a national nightmare!

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The wartime memoirs of Count Rene de Chambrun provide a fascinating inside look at the world of some of the most powerful leaders and social figures in America during the turbulent early 1940s. Utilizing the detailed notes he made during that period, de Chambrun recounts the story of his dramatic wartime years, touching casually and affectionately on his intimate relationships with historic personalities.

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A survey of the drug policy debate, Searching for Alternatives features essays by thirty respected champions of divergent views. This volume presents new and important empirical data; incorporates arguments from historical, sociological, legal, medical, economic, and international perspectives; and examines both the effectiveness of existing laws and the likely ramifications of decriminalization proposals.

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In this study of the modern Uzbeks, Professor Edward A. Allworth provides a comprehensive and authoritative survey of an important group of Muslim people who live within the boundaries of the Soviet Union. After the Russians and the Ukranians, the Uzbeks are the largest ethnic group in the Soviet Union and the strongest of a number of Muslim communities that populate the vast region of Central Asia.Although he concentrates especially on the imperial Russian and Soviet periods of history, the author also gives earlier periods of Uzbek history solid scholarly assessment. Meticulously analyzed are Uzbek relations with their foreign rulers, the Uzbek response to Russification and modernization, and the ethnic and religious issues in Uzbek society.Also included is a critique of Soviet historiography and the underlying philosophical and ideological commitments that have shaped the study of history in the Soviet Union. Invaluable to scholars is the survey and assessment of Uzbek documents in Turkish, European, and American depositories.

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In this volume the author provides an analysis of the centrally planned, socialist state economies and their common percentage in the Stalinist Plan introduced in the Soviet Union in the late 1920s. Prybyla first explores the "neoclassical" plan in two variants (conservative and liberal), the "radical" plan (Maoplan), and the Yugoslav experiment (neomarket Yugoplan). He then examines specific countries as their governments search for alternative solutions to the economic problems that plague them. His dynamic presentation of the economic models clearly shows the transformation of the original Stalinist model, reveals the obstacles to reform created by the structural problems that exist within these economies, and demonstrates that inherent deficiencies within the systems must, in time, affect growth and balance.

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On the basis of a judicious use of indigenous materials and field research conducted in China and Japan, the author examines Sino-Japanese economic diplomacy. This original in-depth analysis concentrates on a few salient cases of Sino-Japanese economic interaction: a multibillion-dollar steel complex at Baoshan, the joint offshore oil development in the Bohai Sea, and Japanese government loans provided to fund China's important construction projects.

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In a powerful argument for free market environmentalism, Terry Anderson and Laura Huggins break down liberal and conservative stereotypes of what it means to be an environmentalist. They show that, by forming local coalitions around market principles, stereotypes are replaced by pragmatic solutions that improve environmental quality without necessarily increasing red tape.

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Thomas Sowell takes aim at a range of legal, social, racial, educational, and economic issues in this latest collection of his controversial, never boring, always thought-provoking essays. From "gun control myths" to "mealy mouth media" to "free lunch medicine," Sowell gets to the heart of the matters we all care about with his characteristically unsparing candor.

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When the Soviet Union fell in 1991, many speculated about the value of Russia's historical experience with market-oriented reform. Liberal Reform in an Illiberal Regime tells how, in 1906, on the eve of world war and cataclysmic revolution, the Russian government undertook perhaps the most sweeping 'privatization' in history, radically changing the property rights regime faced by 90 million peasants. Stephen F. Williams's examination of property rights reforms in Russia before the revolution reveals the advantages and pitfalls of that radical transformation toward liberal democracy at the initiative of a government that could not be described as either liberal or democratic. As he sets out the key features of the changes, the author also explores the process of liberal reform. He raises key questions: Can truly liberal reform be established effectively from above, or must it be won from the bottom up, by forming groups that extract concessions from the state? Or is liberal democracy simply the product of exceptional historical circumstances and unlikely ever to be fully attained by much of the globe? Examining how the reforms affected productivity, he explores whether they actually aggravated social tensions, pushing Russia away from liberal democracy. And he looks at the pitfalls of top-down liberal reform: laws emerging from a legislative process that largely excludes the most-affected groups, unclear baseline rights, illiberalism, and the risk of half measures.

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These essays from a diverse group of distinguished contributors deepen our understanding of the new national security threats posed by terrorism, by the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, and by the spread of Islamic extremism. They examine the obstacles to making U.S. intelligence more capable and offer recommendations for effective reform.

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This insightful collection of essays provides an overview of the major issues concerning world population growth, with particular emphasis on population's impact on the United States. Drawing from government reports, think tank studies, scholarly journals, magazines, newspapers, and books, the authors offer a range of contrasting viewpoints and policy perspectives surrounding population issues.Part I provides background on the various theories pertaining to population growth, examines the fundamental ethical issues and dividing lines relating to population, and highlights the debate between Paul Ehrlich and Julian Simon.Parts II and III offer a variety of opinions on population growth's impact on water, food, pollution, energy, and land and differing views on the relationship between population and fertility and mortality rates, public health, migration, war, and violence.Part IV explores the arguments of prosperity by "design" and prosperity "laissez-faire" style-delving into issues such as how technological change and global trade promote economic growth and advance human welfare.Part V addresses important jurisdictional questions that arise regarding reproduction: Do governments have the right or the duty to preside over the reproductive process, and if so, for what purposes, to what extent, and at what price: Or are reproductive decisions personal and therefore a private and protected right?Part VI tackles the pitfalls of predictions and questions whether demographic estimates have been formed without adequate consideration of the data.Each section of the book is prefaced with a brief overview and introduction, along with relevant facts, figures, quotes, and often a supplementary snapshot-a specific example that captures the issue at hand.

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The mortal danger of nuclear weapons is unique in its terrifying potential for devastation on an unprecedented and unimaginable scale. In this book, Sidney D. Drell and James E. Goodby—each with more than twenty years' experience in national security issues both in public and private capacities—review the main policy issues surrounding nonproliferation of nuclear weapons. They address the specific actions that the community of nations—with American leadership—should take to confront and turn back the nuclear danger that imperils humanity. The nuclear genie, say the authors, cannot be put back in the bottle. Our most urgent task as a nation today is to successfully manage, contain, and reduce the grave danger of nuclear weapons—whether in the hands of adversaries or friendly states. This book hopes to stimulate active public dialogue on this important subject.

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In this book some of the brightest minds in education research have studied pressing questions about teacher quality and practices, reviewed thousands of education studies, examined state test scores, explored education theories, and then affirmed that we know what works. We must now ensure that the system provides the best possible education for kids.

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With the inflation rate in the United States and many other countries on the rise for over a year and nearing double digits, the Hoover Institution hosted its 2022 conference on monetary policy. Policy makers, market participants, and academic researchers gathered to discuss the situation. Many agreed that low interest rates and high money growth were inappropriate given the high inflation rate and evidence that the United States has recovered from the deep recession induced by the pandemic and its policy response in 2020. The thoughtful papers and the thorough discussions in this volume of conference proceedings illustrate the debate about the reasons for this mismatch, as well as how to get back on track. They reflect a range of opinions and perspectives, including examination of the fiscal shock resulting from the COVID pandemic and the related borrowing and spending; emphasis on the value of adherence to rules versus discretion in setting Fed policy; lessons from history in the spikes in federal expenditures during times of war (including the pandemic) and in the timing of the Fed's use of its policy instruments; the role of central banks in the emerging inflation crisis; and s

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The world is at an inflection point. Advancing technologies are creating new opportunities and challenges. Great demographic changes are occurring rapidly, with significant consequences. Governance everywhere is in disarray. A new world is emerging.These are some of the key insights to emerge from a series of interdisciplinary roundtables and global expert contributions hosted by the Hoover Institution. In these pages, George P. Shultz and James Timbie examine a range of issues shaping our present and future, region by region. Concrete proposals address migration, reversing the decline of K-12 education, updating the social safety net, maintaining economic productivity, protecting our democratic processes, improving national security, and more. Meeting these transformational challenges will require international cooperation, constructive engagement, and strong governance. The United States is well positioned to ride this wave of change-and lead other nations in doing the same.

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Even as a country ceases to be a great power, the concept of it as a great power can continue to influence decision making and policy formulation. This book explores how such a process took place in Russia from 1917 through 1920, when the Bolshevik coup of November 1917 led to the creation of two regimes: the Bolshevik "Reds" and the anti-Bolshevik "Whites." As Reds consolidated their one-party dictatorship and nursed global ambitions, Whites struggled to achieve a different vision for the future of Russia. Anatol Shmelev illuminates the White campaign with fresh purpose and through information from the Hoover Institution Archives, exploring how diverse White factions overcame internal tensions to lobby for recognition on the world stage, only to fail—in part because of the West's desire to leave "the Russian question" to Russians alone. In the Wake of Empire examines the personalities, institutions, political culture, and geostrategic concerns that shaped the foreign policy of the anti-Bolshevik governments and attempts to define the White movement through them. Additionally, Shmelev provides a fascinating psychological study of the factors that ultimately doomed the White effort: an irrational and ill-placed faith in the desire of the Allies to help them, and wishful thinking with regard to their own prospects that obscured the reality around them.

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Allan H. Meltzer (1928-2017), a leading monetary economist of the twentieth century, is memorialized in eleven essays by prominent economists. Among his achievements, Meltzer transformed the field of central banking and dissected the economic disasters of the 1930s and late 2000s, as well as the avoidance of disaster in the 1970s.Focusing on his landmark A History of the Federal Reserve, 1913-1986, the first section argues that the Fed's biggest successes are tied to its adherence to classical monetary theory and also examines the monetarist counterrevolution. Next, the book turns to Meltzer's thinking on the monetary transmission mechanism and his close work with Karl Brunner on the Brunner-Meltzer Model; it argues that Meltzer's understanding of monetary economics could be used to measure the impact of the Fed's activities. Finally, Meltzer's contributions to public policy are examined, including his proposed reforms to the International Monetary Fund and his activities at the Carnegie Mellon Graduate School of Industrial Administration.The conference papers that compose this volume celebrate Meltzer's fifty-year career at Carnegie Mellon. The book ends with a transcribed interview, conducted just a few months before his death, in which he shares sharp-witted insights about economics and his legacy.Contributors: Michael Bordo, James Bullard, Joshua R. Hendrickson, Robert Hetzel, Peter N. Ireland, Robert Lucas, Edward Nelson, Gerald P. O'Driscoll Jr., Charles Plosser, George Selgin, and John Taylor.

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In five meticulously researched essays, Yasuo Sakata examines Japanese migration to the United States from an international and deeply historical perspective. A prominent figure in the field of Japanese migration studies, Sakata argued the importance of using resources from both sides of the Pacific and taking a holistic view that incorporated US-Japanese diplomatic relationships, the mass media, the American view of Asian populations, and Japan's self-image as a modern, westernized nation. In his first essay, Sakata provides an overview of resources and warns against their gaps and biases: many have been lost or intentionally destroyed in circumstances including the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fires and the incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II; those that remain may reflect culturally based inaccuracies. In the other essays, Sakata examines Japanese migration through a multifaceted lens, incorporating an understanding of immigration, labor, working conditions, diplomatic relationships, and the effects of war and mass media. He further emphasizes the distinctions between the dekasegi period, when Japanese crossed the Pacific for work with the intention of returning home, the transition period, and the imin period, when they became permanent residents. He also discusses the self-image among Japanese as distinct from the Chinese, more westernized and able to assimilate - a distinction lost on Americans, who tended to lump the Asian groups together, both in treatment and under the law. Japan's Meiji era brought the opening of Japanese ports to Western nations and Japan's eventual overseas expansion. This translated volume of Sakata's well-researched work brings a transnational perspective to this critical chapter of early Japanese American history.

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Since ancient times, there have been military operations that attempted to produce tectonic shifts in the balance of power. In this volume, historians demonstrate how knowledge of past military operations can inform current policy discussions by analyzing conflicts between dominant states and the rising powers who seeks to contest their hegemony. What might a conflict between the United States and its main rival, China, look like in the years ahead? What factors are important for strategists to consider?Paul A. Rahe considers the rival ambitions between Sparta and Athens. Barry Strauss explores the Punic Wars fought by Carthage and Rome. Edward N. Luttwak examines a decisive military campaign between the Byzantine empire and its nemesis, the Sasanians. Peter R. Mansoor describes the emergence of Sweden as a military might under the leadership of Gustavus Adolphus. Andrew Roberts studies the expansion of French power during Napoleon's Italian campaign. Michael R. Auslin formulates a hypothetical conflict between China and the United States in the year 2025. Each of these conflicts offers important lessons about the behaviors of ascendant powers and the responses they provoke.

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Drawing from their 2018 conference, the Hoover Institution brings together leading academics and monetary policy makers to share ideas about the practical issues facing central banks today. The expert contributors discuss U.S. monetary policy at individual central banks and reform of the international monetary and financial system—issues very much related because of the large effect of balance sheet operations on exchange rates and capital flows. The discussion is broken down into seven key areas: 1) International Rules of the Monetary Game2) Banking, Trade and the Making of the Dominant Currency3) Capital Flows, the IMF’s Institutional View and Alternatives4) Payments, Credit and Asset Prices5) Financial Stability, Regulations and the Balance Sheet6) The Future of the Central Bank Balance Sheet7) Monetary Policy and Reform in Practice.With in-depth discussions of the volatility of capital flows and exchange rates, and the use of balance sheet policy by central banks, they examine relevant research developments and debate policy options.

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When the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) became involved in security operations during the War in Afghanistan, it faced a range of complex challenges, including a highly motivated Afghan insurgency that changed over time and repeatedly defied assumptions.Conflicts within NATO also posed challenges. The alliance brought together a quarter of the world's nations, each with its own goals and interests, in an effort to stabilize an agrarian country that posed no immediate security threat. For more than a decade, through changes in leadership and strategy, the nations experienced bitter disagreements, resentments, and a conflict that escalated to a level of violence and uncertainty few had anticipated.In NATO in the Crucible, Deborah Lynn Hanagan analyzes these challenges and explains how the alliance maintained cohesion despite them. She examines why NATO succeeded in Afghanistan when history suggests most coalitions fracture under such intense pressure. In the end, she argues, member nations summoned the political will and organizational capacity to cooperate and endure. And they agreed, above all, that failure in Afghanistan would be catastrophic—both for NATO and for the world.

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The inner workings of Iranian politics, as experienced by two key figures at their center, are revealed as never before through the meticulously preserved documents and photographs in the Ardeshir Zahedi Papers at the Hoover Institution Library and Archives. These materials are essential for understanding modern Iranian history and its global context.These archives were preserved over the course of two illustrious careers: those of Ardeshir Zahedi, Iran's ambassador to the United States and United Kingdom and minister of foreign affairs; and his father, Fazlollah Zahedi, military general and prime minister of Iran after the 1953 overthrow of Mohammad Mossadegh.Abbas Milani, American-Iranian historian and an expert in US-Iran relations, has sifted through these archives to select resources of unparalleled value and fascination for understanding Iran’s politics, culture, and history—both before and after the 1979 Revolution that toppled the shah and sent him and the younger Zahedi into exile.Published for the very first time, the papers and photos included here are connected with many of the key events and figures of the twentieth century. They are indispensable primary sources for scholarship on modern Iranian history as well as intriguing studies on the mechanisms of international diplomacy.

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In Beyond Disruption: Technology’s Challenge to Governance, George P. Shultz, Jim Hoagland, and James Timbie present views from some of the country's top experts in the sciences, humanities, and military that scrutinize the rise of post-millennium technologies in today’s global society. They contemplate both the benefits and peril carried by the unprecedented speed of these innovations—from genetic editing, which enables us new ways to control infectious diseases, to social media, whose ubiquitous global connections threaten the function of democracies across the world. Some techniques, like the advent of machine learning, have enabled engineers to create systems that will make us more productive. For example, self-driving vehicles promise to make trucking safer, faster, and cheaper. However, using big data and artificial intelligence to automate complex tasks also ends up threatening to disrupt both routine professions like taxi driving and cognitive work by accountants, radiologists, lawyers, and even computer programmers themselves.

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In late 1921, then secretary of commerce Herbert Hoover decided to distill from his experiences a coherent understanding of the American experiment he cherished. The result was the 1922 book American Individualism. In it, Hoover expounded and vigorously defended what has come to be called American exceptionalism: the set of beliefs and values that still makes America unique. He argued that America can make steady, sure progress if we preserve our individualism, preserve and stimulate the initiative of our people, insist on and maintain the safeguards to equality of opportunity, and honor service as a part of our national character. American Individualism asserts that equal opportunity for individuals to develop their abilities is ""the sole source of progress"" and the fundamental impulse behind American civilization for three—now four—centuries. More than ninety years have passed since this book was first published; it is clear, in retrospect, that the volume was partly motivated by the political controversies of the time. But American Individualism is not simply a product of a dim and receding past. To a considerable degree the ideological battles of Hoover's era are the battles of our own, and the interpretations we make of our past—particularly the years between 1921 and 1933—will mold our perspective on the crises of the present.

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A central bank needs authority and a sphere of independent action. But a central bank cannot become an unelected Czar with sweeping, unaccountable discretionary power. How can we balance the central bank's authority and independence with needed accountability and constraints? Drawn from a 2015 Hoover Institution conference, this book features distinguished scholars and policy makers' discussing this and other key questions about the Fed. Going beyond the widely talked about decision of whether to raise interest rates, they focus on a deeper set of questions, including, among others, How should the Fed make decisions? How should the Fed govern its internal decision-making processes? What is the trade-off between greater Fed power and less Fed independence? And how should Congress, from which the Fed ultimately receives its authority, oversee the Fed? The contributors discuss whether central banks can both follow rule-based policy in normal times but then implement a discretionary do-what-it-takes approach to stopping financial crises. They evaluate legislation, recently proposed in the US House and Senate, that would require the Fed to describe its monetary policy rule and, if and when it changed or deviated from its rule, explain the reasons. And they discuss to best ways to structure a committee—like the Federal Open Market Committee, which sets interest rates—to make good decisions, as well as offer historical reflections on the governance of the Fed and much more.

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Both the Special Operations Forces (SOF) and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) have served as the nation's eyes, ears, and daggers, often in close cooperation but occasionally at cross-purposes throughout their histories. In this book, Thomas H. Henriksen examines the warrior-spy connection both before and after the formation of the SOF and the CIA, suggesting that their history is notable for instances of cooperating, competing, circumventing, and even cutting each other out of the action before the 9/11 terrorist attacks brought about their present close alignment. Henriksen shows how, by adopting an intelligence-driven, targeted counterstrike weapon against terrorists, the United States went from a Cold War Goliath to a more nimble force, thanks largely to the SOF and CIA contributions. But their contemporary blending, he suggests, could be just a temporary realignment and that a return to their traditional rivalry is not out of the question. By revisiting and appreciating their respective histories before partnering to combat Islamist terrorism, he provides a clearer understanding of their interaction and offers lessons for the struggle against extremist violence.

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This remarkable collection of material is as relevant today as when it was first published; graphically demonstrating the native African's struggle for peace, freedom, and equality in his native land during the 19th and 20th centuries.

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It is becoming increasingly obvious that the United States needs reliable and inexpensive energy to propel our economy and protect our national security interests. Game Changers presents five research and development efforts from American universities that offer a cheaper, cleaner, and more secure national energy system.Drawing from the efforts of the MIT Energy Initiative (MITEI) and other leading university research centres, the book describes some of the energy innovations that will transform our future: natural gas from shales, solar photovoltaics, grid-scale electricity storage, electric cars, and LED lighting. For each of these innovations, the authors detail what is available today, what is near at hand, and what is on the horizon. In addition, they show how extreme energy reliability and performance demands put the United States military at the leading edge of driving energy innovations, and survey potentially game-changing energy technologies currently being put into use by the U.S. Army, Navy, Marine Corps, and Air Force, on base and in forward deployment. The more choices our laboratories put on the table, the less constrained we are in using them to reach the things we really care about—health, family, business, culture, faith, and delight. This is what game changers are ultimately about.

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Concern about the threat posed by nuclear weapons has preoccupied the United States and presidents of the United States since the beginning of the nuclear era. Nuclear Security draws from papers presented at the 2013 meeting of the American Nuclear Society examining worldwide efforts to control nuclear weapons and ensure the safety of the nuclear enterprise of weapons and reactors against catastrophic accidents. The distinguished contributors, all known for their long-standing interest in getting better control of the threats posed by nuclear weapons and reactors, discuss what we can learn from past successes and failures and attempt to identify the key ingredients for a road ahead that can lead us toward a world free of nuclear weapons. The authors review historical efforts to deal with the challenge of nuclear weapons, with a focus on the momentous arms control negotiations between U.S. president Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev. They offer specific recommendations for reducing risks that should be adopted by the nuclear enterprise, both military and civilian, in the United States and abroad. Since the risks posed by the nuclear enterprise are so high, they conclude, no reasonable effort should be spared to ensure safety and security.

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The financial crisis of 2008 devastated the American economy and caused U.S. policymakers to rethink their approaches to major financial crises. More than five years have passed since the collapse of Lehman Brothers, but questions still persist about the best ways to avoid and respond to future financial crises. In Across the Great Divide, a copublication with Brookings Institution, contributing economic and legal scholars from academia, industry, and government analyze the financial crisis of 2008, from its causes and effects on the U.S. economy to the way ahead. The expert contributors consider postcrisis regulatory policy reforms and emerging financial and economic trends, including the roles played by highly accommodative monetary policy, securitization run amok, government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs), large asset bubbles, excessive leverage, and the Federal funds rate, among other potential causes. They discuss the role played by the Federal Reserve and examine the concept of “too big to fail.” And they review and assess resolution frameworks, considering experiences with Lehman Bros. and other firms in the crisis, Title II of the Dodd-Frank Act, and the Chapter 14 bankruptcy code proposal.

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Fouad Ajami analyses the struggle for influence along the Fertile Crescent—the stretch of land that runs from Iran’s border with Iraq to the Mediterranean—among three of the regional powers that have stepped into the vacuum left by the West: Iran, Turkey, and Saudi Arabia.He explains that, of the three powers competing for influence, Saudi Arabia and Iran are in it for the long haul. Each of those powers has a sense of mission and constituencies that enable it to stick it out and pay the price for a sphere of influence. Ajami details each country’s prospects for supremacy and asserts that Iran must ultimately be reckoned to be the strongest.

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In Motherland Lost, Samuel Tadros provides a clear understanding of the Copts—the native Egyptian Christians—and their crisis of modernity in conjunction with the overall developments in Egypt as it faced its own struggles with modernity. He argues against the dominating narratives that have up to now shaped our understanding of the Coptic predicament - their eternal persecution, from the Roman and Byzantine emperors to the rule of Islam, and the National Unity discourse - asserting rather that it is due to the crisis of modernity. Linking the Egyptian and Coptic stories, the book argues that the plight of Copts today is inseparable from the crisis of modernity and the answers developed to address that crisis by the Egyptian state and intellectuals, as well as by the Coptic Church and laypeople. The author asserts that the answers developed by Egyptian intellectuals and state modernisers to the challenge modernity poses revolved around the problem of Islam. The Copts, then, although affected, like their fellow Egyptians, by the challenge of modernity, were faced with a separate crisis: a specific challenge to their ancient church and the need for a new orientation and revival to be able to deal with modernity and its discontents. Tadros concludes that the prospects for Copts in Egypt appear bleak and are leading to a massive Coptic exodus from Egypt.

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In The Illusion of Net Neutrality, coauthors Bob Zelnick and his daughter, Eva Zelnick, sound the alarm on how the ever-increasing threat of regulations, rules, and powerful competing interests could strip the Internet of its unfettered, open nature—the very framework that has allowed it to become a life-altering invention. In just two short decades, this powerful global information and retail powerhouse has changed the way we communicate, how we stay informed on national and world events, how we manage our health and finances, and how we research virtually any subject—from genealogy to astrology.In their riveting, cautionary treatise, the Zelnicks clearly and simply outline the technologies and factors that allowed the Internet to evolve and to become such a society-changing force in such a short period of time. They also carefully lay out the imminent threats that could rob the Internet of its full potential. They expose “network neutrality” for what is truly is, explain how FCC regulations would harm the Internet, and, in the end, make a strong, compelling case for an independent, unregulated Internet

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Vitaly Leonidovich Katayev was an eyewitness to history as he saw the arms race accelerating at an absurd and inexplicable pace, and he understood why. His perspective was from inside the Soviet system, in an office that was devoted to analysis of arms control and defence matters in the Central Committee of the Soviet Communist Party and later in an interdepartmental working group. Vitaly Katayev was a skilled designer and an acute observer. His recollections in this book, along with documents he deposited at the Hoover Institution Library and Archives, offer an extraordinary window into Soviet decisions and calculations. This monograph shows how Soviet leaders were often hobbled by a poor understanding of what was happening in the United States, but it also demonstrates that Americans, too, had a weak grasp of what was happening in Moscow, before and after Mikhail Gorbachev came to power. The misunderstandings on both sides were a symptom of the deepest chasm of the Cold War and A Memoir of the Missile Age provides a valuable key with which to open the Soviet black box.

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In The Syrian Rebellion, Fouad Ajami offers a detailed historical perspective on the current rebellion in Syria. Focusing on the similarities and the differences in skills between former dictator Hafez al-Assad and his successor son, Bashar, Ajami explains how an irresistible force clashed with an immovable object: the regime versus people who conquered fear to challenge a despot of unspeakable cruelty. Although the people at first hoped that Bashar would open up the prison that Syria had become under his father, it was not to be—and rebellion soon followed.Ajami shows how, for four long decades, the Assad dynasty, the intelligence barons, and the brigade commanders had grown accustomed to a culture of quiescence and silence. But Syrians did not want to be ruled by Bashar's children the way they had been ruled by Bashar and their parents had been by Bashar's father. When the political hurricane known as the Arab Spring hit the region, Bashar al-Assad proclaimed his country's immunity to the troubles. He was wrong. This book tells how a proud people finally came to demand something more than a drab regime of dictatorship and plunder.

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Eric Hoffer was unknown in the American literary and philosophical scene in 1951 when he published his first book, The True Believer. Almost overnight, the San Francisco dockworker became a public figure, helped by a 1956 profile in Look magazine that identified Hoffer as "Ike's Favorite Author"—elevating this blue-collar working man to the level of President Eisenhower's bedside table. Recognized as a highly original thinker, he became known as the "Longshoreman Philosopher." In this book, Tom Bethell paints a new, insightful portrait of this American original. He draws much of his material from Hoffer's personal papers—acquired by the Hoover Institution in 2000—and interviews with those who knew the man, as well as his own interviews with Hoffer, conducted shortly before his death. The result is a detailed portrait of an enigmatic philosopher who was interested in probing the depths of human behavior and discovering the motivations behind the twentieth century's wars and revolutions.Hoffer's life divides into two roughly equal parts. The first part is from birth to his move to San Francisco after Pearl Harbor. The second is his life in San Francisco. Before Pearl Harbor, Hoffer's life is documented only by what he said or wrote. His best friend, Lili Osborne, summarized the difficulty: "all we know about Eric's early life is what he told us." There is a wealth of information on his later life, however, and Bethell reveals it in great detail. He tells of Hoffer's emergence as a public figure in the 1950s, a period he referred to as a "paradise of lost innocence." He details the whirlwind that was Hoffer's life in the 1960s—a decade notorious for attitudes that Hoffer grew to detest—when he became a well-known figure on the national stage. And he provides an insightful look at Hoffer's gradual withdrawal from public life until his death in 1983.

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