Dont Tell the Grown Ups or Pearl Harbor

Don't Tell the Grown-Ups: The Subversive Power of Children's Literature

Author: Alison Luri

In Don't Tell the Grown-Ups, one of our wittiest and most astute cultural commentators explores the world of children's literature -- from Lewis Carroll to Dr. Seuss, from classic fairy tales to A.A. Milne, from Beatrix Potter to J.R.R. Tolkien -- and shows that many of the most enduring books for children share a surprising quality: they challenge rather than uphold respectable adult values.

Publishers Weekly

These essays cite the popularity of certain authors, including Edith Nesbit and Kate Greenaway, as proof that children prefer books that feature disobedient characters and challenge conventional adult points of view. ``As important for the critical standards she sets as for those she lauds in children's books, this book by Lurie eyes with exemplary independence a genre too often sentimentalized,'' said PW. (June)

The New York Times

Ms. Lurie writes with relish about the wicked, often subterranean honesty of folk tales....She takes the model of classic fairy tales and, good literary scholar that she is, quite convincingly applies it to such books as F. Scott Fitzgerald's Tender Is the Night, to Jane Austen, John Updike, and Jean Stafford....The best sections of Don't Tell the Grown-Ups are the chapters about the pantheon of authors of the great Victorian and Edwardian children's books....Ms. Lurie's's examples are always illuminating.

What People Are Saying

Rosellen Brown
[A] thoroughly absorbing collection . . .by an unillusioned and cheerfully clearheaded guide. -- The New York Times Book Review

Interesting book: Objective Based Safety Training or Capitalism and Modernity

Pearl Harbor: Warning and Decision

Author: Roberta Wohlstetter

It would be reassuring to believe that Pearl Harbor was just a colossal and extraordinary blunder. What is disquieting is that it was a supremely ordinary blunder. In fact, 'blunder' is too specific; our stupendous unreadiness at Pearl Harbor was neither a Sunday-morning, nor a Hawaiian, phenomenon. It was just a dramatic failure of a remarkably well-informed government to call the next enemy move in a cold-war crisis.

Dissent in America or Black in Selma

Dissent in America: The Voices That Shaped a Nation

Author: Ralph F Young

“This is a wonderfully rich collection of voices of courage and resistance through all of our national history. These are the true heroes of our country, not the presidents and generals and industrialists, but those who spoke truth to power, and their words not only instruct us about our history, but inspire us at a time when dissenters are so needed.”
Howard Zinn, author, A People's History of the United States

Dissent and protest have been at the heart of the American story from the first days of settlement to the present. Dissent in America traces the theme of dissent as it weaves its way through the fabric of American history. This collection of first-hand accounts show how dissenters fought to gain the rights they believed were denied to them, or others, or have disagreed with the government or majority opinion. Through songs, speeches, articles, testimonies, letters, and more, they tell the story of our nation and give us a unique look at the country that America has become.

With the words of almost 150 dissenters, Dissent in America features -
--A chronological organization with ten parts, from Pre-Revolutionary Roots (1607-1760) through Contemporary Dissent (1975-Present).
--First-hand accounts from well-known dissenters (Samuel Adams, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Frederick Douglass, Susan B. Anthony, Booker T. Washington, Langston Hughes, Bob Dylan, Martin Luther King, Jr., Betty Friedan, Ralph Nader) as well as lesser known dissenters (Cherokee Chief John Ross protesting a treaty in 1836, Sarah Grimké on the equality of women in 1837).
--Essays that introduce each chronological section and place the writers and issues in historicalcontext.
--A brief introduction that precedes each document and discusses the significance of each dissenter.

Library Journal

In this time of warrantless wiretaps and imprisonment without trial, these two anthologies remind us how hard previous generations of Americans fought to preserve and broaden our civil and human rights. Dissent is the larger and broader of the two. Young (history, Temple Univ.) organizes his book chronologically, with introductions to each of nine broad periods from pre-Revolutionary War to contemporary times (Cindy Sheehan against the war in Iraq in 2005) and briefer introductions for each author. Early protests of religious persecution by Puritans in the 17th century mix with Native American speeches and an anonymous slave's letter, and the collection continues with a wide social, economic, political, and racial span, ultimately embracing a panoply of issues including black liberation, the environment, gay rights, workers' rights, and peace movements. While Young defines dissent as coming from both the Left and the Right in his introduction, left of center predominates. American Protest Literature is organized by Trodd around 11 subjects, which are collected more or less as they have arisen chronologically in our history, from "Declaring Independence" and "Unvanishing the Indian" to "The Word Is Out: Gay Liberation" and "From Saigon to Baghdad." Within each area, Trodd presents writings from both the originating movement and the later protest writings on similar themes, e.g., Daniel De Leon's 1895 Declaration of Interdependence by the Socialist Labor Party is with Thomas Paine in the first section. There is less introductory material here than in Young's book, but by linking original works to later pieces Trodd underlines the historical roots of American dissent and the ongoing relevance of these writings. Trodd does not attempt to include right-of-center dissent, nor does her work contain literature on environmentalism or the long history of anti-imperialism, as does Young. Taken together, these books offer an exciting and inclusive vision of Americans fighting for their rights since the 17th century. Both are highly recommended for academic and public libraries. Duncan Stewart, Univ. of Iowa Libs., Iowa City Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

Book review: Im Like So Fat or Cults

Black in Selma: The Uncommon Life of J.L. Chestnut Jr.

Author: J L Chestnut

“The autobiography of J. L. Chestnut is the story of Selma’s first black lawyer and prodigal son, but it is also part of the history of the race, sweeping biblically from enslavement by segregation to freedom to the ambitious aftermath of redemption.” —New York Times Book Review “Unfolds with the richness that one expects in a nove. . . .Less about the famous civil rights figureheads like Adam Clayton Powell, Martin Luther King Jr., and Stokely Carmichael (though the author has his say about all of them) than the grass-roots folks who lived in Selma before the era of freedom riders, and remained there, toiling for social change, after the national leaders and media left. [This book] brims over with the social texture and political life of a Southern town raised to the level of a national symbol.” —Los Angeles Times “A valuable addition to the literature on civil rights. . . .It illuminates the personal isolation and frustration that make activism a high-risk endeavor.” —Journal of American History

Conquest or Long Pursuit

Conquest: How Societies Overwhelm Others

Author: David Day

In this bold, sweeping book, David Day surveys the ways in which one nation or society has supplanted another, and then sought to justify its occupation - for example, the English in Australia and North America, the Normans in England, the Spanish in Mexico, the Japanese in Korea, the Chinese in Tibet. Human history has been marked by territorial aggression and expanion, an endless cycle of ownership claims by dominant cultures over territory occupied by peoples unable to resist their advance. Day outlines the strategies, violent and subtle, such dominant cultures have used to stake and bolster their claims - by redrawing maps, rewriting history, recourse to legal argument, creative renaming, use of foundation stories, tilling of the soil, colonization and of course outright subjugation and even genocide. In the end the claims they make reveal their own sense of identity and self-justifying place in the world. This will be an important book, an accessible and captivating macro-narrative about empire, expansion, and dispossession.

Publishers Weekly

Historian Day (Claiming a Continent) surveys the justifications that nations have offered for conquering other peoples, and lays out the process of claiming a territory by a symbolic act like planting a flag, then by mapping the land and naming it. Many of his examples are familiar-the Spanish in Central and South America, the Germans in Eastern Europe. But he includes less familiar instances, such as Japan's 18th-century takeover of the Ainu culture on the island of Hokkaido and the contest between the Dutch, French and English to claim Australia. As interesting as Day's stories are, he comes up short on interpretation and analysis. Much more could have been made, for example, of the impact of population pressures. And the book lacks almost any examples of conquests in the ancient world, a striking omission when one considers that modern nations have looked to Egypt, Persia, Greece and Rome for models in their own empire building. Nevertheless, history buffs' curiosity will be piqued by Day's accounts of lesser known conquests. Maps. (June)

Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Table of Contents:

List of Plates

List of Maps

Introduction 1

1 Staking a Legal Claim 11

2 The Power of Maps 28

3 Claiming by Naming 49

4 Supplanting the Savages 69

5 By Right of Conquest 92

6 Defending the Conquered Territory 112

7 Foundation Stories 132

8 Tilling the Soil 159

9 The Genocidal Imperative 176

10 Peopling the Land 198

11 The Never-Ending Journey 223

Endnotes 239

Select Bibliography 265

Index 277

See also: Jarhead or The Pirate Queen

Long Pursuit: Abraham Lincoln's Thirty-Year Struggle with Stephen Douglas for the Heart and Soul of America

Author: Roy Morris Jr

In this compelling narrative, renowned historian Roy Morris, Jr., expertly offers a new angle on two of America's most towering politicians and the intense personal rivalry that transformed both them and the nation they sought to lead in the dark days leading up to the Civil War.

For the better part of two decades, Stephen Douglas was the most famous and controversial politician in the United States, a veritable "steam engine in britches." Abraham Lincoln was merely Douglas's most persistent rival within their adopted home state of Illinois, known mainly for his droll sense of humor, bad jokes, and slightly nutty wife.

But from the time they first set foot in the Prairie State in the early 1830s, Lincoln and Douglas were fated to be political competitors. The Long Pursuit tells the dramatic story of how these two radically different individuals rose to the top rung of American politics, and how their personal rivalry shaped and altered the future of the nation during its most convulsive era. Indeed, had it not been for Douglas, who served as Lincoln's personal goad, pace horse, and measuring stick, there would have been no Lincoln-Douglas debates in 1858, no Lincoln presidency in 1860, and perhaps no Civil War six months later. For both men—and for the nation itself—the stakes were that high.

Not merely a detailed political study, The Long Pursuit is also a compelling look at the personal side of politics on the rough-and-tumble western frontier. It shows us a more human Lincoln, a bare-knuckles politician who was not above trading on his wildly inaccurate image as a humble "rail-splitter," when he was, in fact, one of thenation's most successful railroad attorneys. And as the first extensive biographical study of Stephen Douglas in more than three decades, the book presents a long-overdue reassessment of one of the nineteenth century's more compelling and ultimately tragic figures, the one-time "Little Giant" of American politics.

Randall M. Miller - Library Journal

Morris (editor, Military Heritage magazine; The Better Angel: Walt Whitman in the Civil War) argues that in Illinois Lincoln and Douglas grew up, legally and politically, pitted one against the other. The Democrat Douglas often got the better of the Whig Lincoln at the ballot box, though Lincoln won often in court-and in courting Mary Todd. Morris sees westward expansion and race as coming to define their contests. Douglas advocated majority rule, Lincoln individual rights as the bedrock of a free people. Lincoln proved a formidable foe on the legal circuit because of his skills and friendships and his recognition of the moral dimension of the slavery question. This dual biography helps us understand that the Lincoln-Douglas debates had both personal and political dimensions. Morris gives Douglas his due, but ultimately his book does not move beyond Allen Guelzo's Lincoln and Douglas, which argues that the debates obliged both men to reckon the meanings of democracy, liberty, and America. Morris does not much change established thinking. Recommended for academic and large public libraries.

A Vindication of the Rights of Woman or The East Asian Challenge for Human Rights

A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (Everyman's Library)

Author: Mary Wollstonecraft

The first novel of Samuel Beckett's mordant and exhilarating mid-century trilogy introduces us to Molloy, who has been mysteriously incarcerated, and who subsequently escapes to go discover the whereabouts of his mother. In the latter part of this curious masterwork, a certain Jacques Moran is deputized by anonymous authorities to search for the aforementioned Molloy. In the trilogy's second novel, Malone, who might or might not be Molloy himself, addresses us with his ruminations while in the act of dying. The third novel consists of the fragmented monologue—delivered, like the monologues of the previous novels, in a mournful rhetoric that possesses the utmost splendor and beauty—of what might or might not be an armless and legless creature living in an urn outside an eating house. Taken together, these three novels represent the high-water mark of the literary movement we call Modernism. Within their linguistic terrain, where stories are taken up, broken off, and taken up again. Where voices rise and crumble and are resurrected, we can discern the essential lineaments of our modern condition, and encounter an awesome vision, tragic yet always compelling and always mysteriously invigorating, of consciousness trapped and struggling inside the boundaries of nature.

Table of Contents:

	Introduction
	Notes
	Select Bibliography
	Chronology
	Author's Introduction	1
	Dedicatory letter to M. Talleyrand-Perigord	7
I	The Rights and Involved Duties of Mankind Considered	13
II	The Prevailing Opinion of a Sexual Character Discussed	21
III	The Same Subject Continued	41
IV	Observations on the State of Degradation to which Woman is Reduced by Various Causes	56
V	Animadversions on some of the Writers who have Rendered Women Objects of Pity, bordering on Contempt	84
VI	The Effect which an Early Association of Ideas has upon the Character	124
VII	Modesty--Comprehensively Considered, and not as a Sexual Virtue	131
VIII	Morality Undermined by Sexual Notions of the Importance of a Good Reputation	142
IX	Of the Pernicious Effects which Arise from the Unnatural Distinctions Established in Society	152
X	Parental Affection	163

New interesting textbook: Sweet Treats or How to Make Salad Dressings

The East Asian Challenge for Human Rights

Author: Joanne R Bauer

The "Asian values" argument within the international human rights debate holds that not all Asian states should be expected to protect human rights to the same degree. This position of "cultural relativism," often used by authoritarian governments in Asia to counter charges of human rights violations, has long been dismissed by Western and Asian human rights advocates as a weak excuse. This book moves beyond the politicized rhetoric that has dogged the international debate on human rights to identify the more persuasive contributions by East Asian intellectuals. The editors of this book argue that critical intellectuals in East Asia have begun to chart a middle ground between the extreme, uncompromising ends of this argument, making particular headway in the areas of group rights and economic, social, and cultural (ethnic minority) rights. The chapters form a collective intellectual inquiry into the following four areas: critical perspectives on the "Asian values" debate; theoretical proposals for an improved international human rights regime with greater input from East Asians; the resources within East Asian cultural traditions that can help promote human rights in the region; and key human rights issues facing East Asia as a result of rapid economic growth in the region.

Richard Halloran

While the Asian and Western scholars who wrote and edited this volume are too polite to say so directlytheir message is plain: All of you are wrong in the way you have framed and focused your running debate over human rights and Asian values....This book makes a compelling case that human rights are universalwhile Asian values are held mainly by those who advocate them. —Far Eastern Economic Review

Far Eastern Economic Review - Richard Halloran

While the Asian and Western scholars who wrote and edited this volume are too polite to say so directly, their message is plain: All of you are wrong in the way you have framed and focused your running debate over human rights and Asian values....This book makes a compelling case that human rights are universal, while Asian values are held mainly by those who advocate them.

What People Are Saying

Amitai Etzioni
This is an outstanding book on a whole set of crucial cross cultural issues we face: are we morally entitled to judge people of different cultures? And if the answer is in the affirmative -- on what grounds? The book has profound implications for our treatment of individual rights in authoritarian societies, female circumcision and child labor, role of women and relations among races and many other challenging moral and political issues of the day.

Perry Link
To allow the West to define 'universal' human rights seems wrong; to condone the abuses of authoritarians who hide behind 'non-Western values' seems equally wrong. This judicious and multifaceted book addresses the difficult but vitally important area that lies behind these two intuitions: What basic human values are shared in today's global village? How can we forge from them common conceptions of human rights?
— Princeton University

Winning the Future or A Legal Guide to Urban Design and Sustainable Development for Planners Developers and Architects

Winning the Future: A 21st Century Contract with America

Author: Newt Gingrich

America's future in the twenty-first century, argues Newt Gingrich, will be determined by the decisions we make now. His book is a grass roots call to action--and will set the debate for the new administration and Congress.

See also: Hospitalité et Direction de Restaurant

A Legal Guide to Urban Design and Sustainable Development for Planners, Developers and Architects

Author: Daniel K Slon

Written by pioneering attorneys in the emerging fields of urbanism and green building, A Legal Guide to Urban and Sustainable Development for Planners, Developers and Architects offers practical solutions for the legal issues faced in planning, zoning, developing and operating such communities.

Table of Contents:

Foreword by Andrés Duany.

Acknowledgements.

Introduction.

1. To Suburbia and Back: How Urbanist Law is Different.

2. Sustainable Urbanism (Dan Slone).

Case Study: Noisette.

3. Tweaking the System: Getting Projects Built and Codes Changed within the Existing Zoning Framework (Chris Brewster, Matt Lawlor, Brian Ohm and Mark White).

4. Changing the Rules: New Approaches to Zoning.

Introduction (IBrian Ohm and Mark White).

Form-Based Codes (Bob Sitkowski and Bill Spikowski).

The Smart Code (Chad Emerson).

5. Fiefdoms and Fire Trucks: Overcoming Impediments in the Subdivision, Plat Review and Site Plan Processes (Dan Slone).

6. Retooling the Common Interest Community (Doris Goldstein).

Case Study: Seaside.

7. Special Building Types (Doris Goldstein).

8. Litigation (Andy Gowder).

Case Study: I’On.

9. Federal Policy, Initiatives and Alliances (Chris Brewster and Matt Lawlor).

10. Strategies for Change (Dan Slone).

Appendix A.

Appendix B.

Sisters in the Struggle or Law in a Lawless Land Diary of a Limpieza in Colombia

Sisters in the Struggle: African American Women in the Civil Rights-Black Power Movement

Author: Bettye Collier Thomas

Read the .

Choice Outstanding Academic Title 2002

"The quality of each individual essay makes Sisters in the Struggle stand out as an unusual anthology, one whose total sum is actually more than its parts"
—Journal of American History

"Sisters in the Struggle is a powerful, inspirational and insightful book that takes the reader on a journey into the lives of some of the nation's most gifted and courageous African American women leaders, feminist organizers, and Black Power advocates. It was through the dint of their efforts that they helped shape and define what American society should become. These "sheroes" remind us that the prices they paid for freedom bequeathed a legacy of human dignity and opportunity that must be sustained by generations to follow."
—Joyce A. Ladner, author of Tomorrow's Tomorrow: The Black Woman

If Bettye Collier-Thomas and V.P. Franklin had only gathered together a distinguished group of scholars to document the role woman played in the black freedom movement, their contribution would be immense. But Sisters in the Struggle is more than an acknowledgement and celebration of black woman's activism. It is a major revision of history, revealing that black women were the critical thinkers, strategists, fighters, and dreamers of the movement. Black feminists developed a social vision expansive enough to emancipate us all."
—Robin D.G. Kelley, author of Race Rebels: Culture, Politics, and the Black Working Class

Women were at the forefront of the civil rights struggle, but their indvidiual stories were rarely heard. Only recently have historians begun torecognize the central role women played in the battle for racial equality.

In Sisters in the Struggle, we hear about the unsung heroes of the civil rights movements such as Ella Baker, who helped found the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee, Fannie Lou Hamer, a sharecropper who took on segregation in the Democratic party (and won), and Septima Clark, who created a network of "Citizenship Schools" to teach poor Black men and women to read and write and help them to register to vote. We learn of Black women's activism in the Black Panther Party where they fought the police, as well as the entrenched male leadership, and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, where the behind-the-scenes work of women kept the organization afloat when it was under siege. It also includes first-person testimonials from the women who made headlines with their courageous resistance to segregation—Rosa Parks, Charlayne Hunter-Gault, and Dorothy Height.

This collection represents the coming of age of African-American women's history and presents new stories that point the way to future study.

Contributors: Bettye Collier-Thomas, Vicki Crawford, Cynthia Griggs Fleming, V. P. Franklin, Charlayne Hunter-Gault, Farah Jasmine Griffin, Duchess Harris, Sharon Harley, Dorothy I. Height, Chana Kai Lee, Tracye Matthews, Genna Rae McNeil, Rosa Parks, Barbara Ransby, Jacqueline A. Rouse, Elaine Moore Smith, and Linda Faye Williams.

What People Are Saying

Joyce A. Ladner
Sisters in the Struggle is a powerful, inspirational and insightful book that takes the reader on a journey into the lives of some of the nation's most gifted and courageous African American women leaders, feminist organizers, and Black Power advocates. It was through the dint of their efforts that they helped shape and define what American society should become. These "sheroes" remind us that the prices they paid for freedom bequeathed a legacy of human dignity and opportunity that must be sustained by generations to follow.-- Joyce A. Ladner, author of Tomorrow's Tomorrow: The Black Woman

Robin D.G. Kelley
If Bettye Collier-Thomas and V.P. Franklin had only gathered together a distinguished group of scholars to document the role woman played in the black freedom movement, their contribution would be immense. But Sister's in the Struggle is more than an acknowledgement and celebration of black woman's activism. It is a major revision of history, revealing that black women were the critical thinkers, strategists, fighters, and dreamers of the movement. Black feminists developed a social vision expansive enough to emancipate us all. --Robin D.G. Kelley, author of Race Rebels: Culture, Politics, and the Black Working Class

Table of Contents:

Acknowledgments xi

Interesting book: Conduit du Temps Basé sur l'activité de Valeur :un Sentier Plus simple et Plus puissant à de Plus hauts Profits

Law in a Lawless Land - Diary of a Limpieza in Colombia

Author: Michael T Taussig

A modern nation in a state of total disorder, Colombia is an international flashpoint—wracked by more than half a century of civil war, political conflict, and drug-trade related violence—despite a multibillion dollar American commitment that makes it the third-largest recipient of U.S. foreign aid. Law in a Lawless Land offers a rare and penetrating insight into the nature of Colombia's present peril. In a nuanced account of the human consequences of a disintegrating state, anthropologist Michael Taussig chronicles two weeks in a small town in Colombia's Cauca Valley taken over by paramilitaries that brazenly assassinate adolescent gang members. Armed with automatic weapons and computer-generated lists of names and photographs, the paramilitaries have the tacit support of the police and even many of the desperate townspeople, who are seeking any solution to the crushing uncertainty of violence in their lives. Concentrating on everyday experience, Taussig forces readers to confront a kind of terror to which they have become numb and complacent. "If you want to know what it is like to live in a country where the state has disintegrated, this moving book by an anthropologist well known for his writings on murderous Colombia will tell you."—Eric Hobsbawm

Birding Babylon or Selling Olga

Birding Babylon: A Soldier's Journal from Iraq

Author: Jonathan Trouern Trend

Early in 2004, a National Guardsman from Connecticut arrived in Iraq for a year's posting. Sergeant First Class Jon Trouern-Trend had been a birder since age 12. So naturally he looked for birds--and found them in surprising number and variety around Anaconda Base in the Sunni Triangle, where he was stationed: old-world warblers near the laundry pond, kestrels at the dump, wood pigeons by the airstrip, owls on the cement bunkers. And whenever he got "outside the wire"--collecting water samples from the Tigris, delivering supplies to schoolchildren, at a forward operating base in Mosul, or on a trek to the ruins of ancient Babylon--his lifelist grew longer.
From nearly day one until he left Iraq, Trouern-Trend wrote about his sightings in an on-line journal, which attracted thousands of readers and was excerpted in the press. Now some of the highlights of his "Birding Babylon" blog are collected in this small, beautiful volume, designed to resemble a birder's journal. In a Preface, the author looks back on his experience--and ahead to what the future might hold for the rooks, doves, storks, bulbuls, and sparrows of Iraq, and for its people.
This little book cuts through the politics of war like birdsong, reminding us of our imperishable connection with nature; of how birds and their journeys tie the world together; of the persistence of life even in a wasted land. It's a small act of grace.

Go to: Costa Rica Reader:História, Cultura, Política

Selling Olga: Stories of Human Trafficking

Author: Louisa Waugh

It’s seems inconceivable in the 21st century, but human trafficking is now the world’s fastest-growing illegal industry: according to U.S. government estimates, between 700,000 and two million people have become victims. Following three years of in-depth research, award-winning author and journalist Louisa Waugh has produced a vivid, unflinching account of how this immoral commerce operates and why it thrives. Throughout Eastern Europe, a combination of war and poverty has led to women being sold in bars, confined, and coerced into sex work. And while Waugh focuses especially on one woman, Olga, who tells her own story in angry, heartbreaking detail, she also introduces us to many others across Europe including Nigerian women in Italy and migrants trapped in other forms of forced labor. She helps us understand why, in spite of global awareness, relentless anti-trafficking campaigns, and increasing numbers of imprisonments, this type of crime hasn’t disappeared…and why, in spite of everything, there is hope for change.

First in or Arrest Proof Yourself

First in: An Insider's Account of How the CIA Spearheaded the War on Terror in Afghanistan

Author: Gary C Schroen

While America held its breath in the days immediately following 9/11, a small but determined group of CIA agents covertly began to change history. This is the riveting first-person account of the treacherous top-secret mission inside Afghanistan to set the stage for the defeat of the Taliban and launch the war on terror.

As thrilling as any novel, First In is a uniquely intimate look at a mission that began the U.S. retaliation against terrorism–and reclaimed the country of Afghanistan for its people.

Book about: Discrete Mathematics or Information Assurance for the Enterprise

Arrest-Proof Yourself: An Ex-Cop Reveals How Easy It Is for Anyone to Get Arrested, How Even a Single Arrest Could Ruin Your Life, and What to Do If the Police Get in Your Face

Author: Dale C Carson

This essential “how not to” guide explains how to act and what to say in the presence of police to minimize the chances of being arrested and to avoid add-on charges—which can often lead to permanent disqualification from jobs, financing, and education. Citizens can learn how to avoid arrest both on the street and when pulled over in a vehicle and are alerted to basic tricks cops use to get people to incriminate themselves. Sprinkled with absurdity and humor, this urgent, eye-opening book is a guide to criminal justice for all Americans.

Jamie WatsonCopyright 2006 Reed Business Information. - School Library Journal

Adult/High School
Carson has been both a cop and a criminal defense attorney. Here, he puts his years of experience into a "how-not-to" book. He feels that most people who get arrested aren't the worst criminals; they are just the most "clueless"—small-time offenders who make bad decisions and end up in what he calls the "electronic plantation." Now that computers make it ever so easy to track people, getting arrested, even if you're not ultimately convicted, can and will come back to haunt you. Carson has three golden rules: "If cops can't see you, they can't arrest you," "Keep your dope at home," and "Give cops your name and basic info, then shut the f*@# up!" While the book read straight through may seem a little repetitive, it ultimately does come back to one of these three rules, which are imparted with examples and behavior charts. Carson uses a blunt style to make these points, but it's a style that is sure to hit home with his target audience—the underclass. And he does make it plain that while there are many middle-class and white-collar criminals, the police tend to focus their patrols in bad neighborhoods. Those most likely to be in situations where they or those they know might get arrested will get the most out of this book, but even readers in more lofty areas with an interest in law enforcement could find much to discuss.

Slavery Capitalism and Politics in the Antebellum Republic or Fire and Emergency Service Administration

Slavery, Capitalism, and Politics in the Antebellum Republic: Volume 1, Commerce and Compromise, 1820-1850

Author: John Ashworth

This is the first of a two-volume treatment of slavery, capitalism and politics in the forty years before the Civil War. It is both a novel reinterpretation, from a Marxist perspective, of American political and economic development and a synthesis of existing scholarship on the economics of slavery, the origins of abolitionism, the proslavery argument and the second party system. With its sequel, this book will locate the political struggles of the antebellum period in the international context of the dismantling of unfree labor systems. It will also show that the Civil War should be seen as America's "bourgeois revolution."

What People Are Saying

Eric Foner
To undertake a new study of the causes of the American Civil War is audacious, but John Ashworth has brought off a truly impressive achievement. Whether discussing the ideology of abolitionism, the impact of capitalism on social life, or the social origins of the slavery controversy, Ashworth offers original insights in a field already ploughed by many historians.
—(Eric Foner, Columbia University)

Table of Contents:

Context;

1. Slavery, Sectionalism and the Jeffersonian Tradition;
2. Free Labor, Slave Labor, Wage Labor;

Part I. Slavery Versus Capitalism:
3. Abolitionism;
4. The Proslavery Argument: Dilemmas of the Master Class;

Part II. the Second Party System:
5. Whigs and Democrats;
6. Slavery, Economics and Party Politics, 1836-1850; Conclusion:

Part III. Economic Development, Class Conflict and american Politics, 1820-1850.

Book review: Count Me in or 1001 Recipes for Every Occasion

Fire and Emergency Service Administration: Management and Leadership Practices

Author: L Charles Smeby

Fire and Emergency Services Administration: Management and Leadership Practices provides a comprehensive overview to prepare students to become leaders in the Fire, EMS, and Emergency Preparedness fields. With an emphasis on organizational and leadership tools for officers, managers, and administrators, this essential resource will offer valuable insight and understanding of the highly technical realm of fire and emergency services. Modeled after the Advanced Fire Administration course in the National Fire Academy's Degrees at a Distance Program, this text builds solid leadership skills.

Torture Papers or Citizen and Subject

Torture Papers: The Road to Abu Ghraib

Author: Karen J Greenberg

The Torture Papers document the so-called 'torture memos' and reports which US government officials wrote to prepare the way for, and to document, coercive interrogation and torture in Afghanistan, Guantanamo, and Abu Ghraib. These documents present for the first time a compilation of materials that prior to publication have existed only piecemeal in the public domain. The Bush Administration, concerned about the legality of harsh interrogation techniques, understood the need to establish a legally viable argument to justify such procedures. The memos and reports document the systematic attempt of the US Government to prepare the way for torture techniques and coercive interrogation practices, forbidden under international law, with the express intent of evading legal punishment in the aftermath of any discovery of these practices and policies.

The New York Times - Michiko Kakutani

The book is necessary, if grueling, reading for anyone interested in understanding the back story to those terrible photos from Saddam Hussein's former prison, and abuses at other American detention facilities.

Books about: Questions of Taste or In the Kitchen with Papa Wiltz

Citizen and Subject: Contemporary Africa and the Legacy of Late Colonialism

Author: Mahmood Mamdani

In analyzing the obstacles to democratization in post- independence Africa, Mahmood Mamdani offers a bold, insightful account of colonialism's legacy--a bifurcated power that mediated racial domination through tribally organized local authorities, reproducing racial identity in citizens and ethnic identity in subjects. Many writers have understood colonial rule as either "direct" (French) or "indirect" (British), with a third variant--apartheid--as exceptional. This benign terminology, Mamdani shows, masks the fact that these were actually variants of a despotism. While direct rule denied rights to subjects on racial grounds, indirect rule incorporated them into a "customary" mode of rule, with state-appointed Native Authorities defining custom. By tapping authoritarian possibilities in culture, and by giving culture an authoritarian bent, indirect rule (decentralized despotism) set the pace for Africa; the French followed suit by changing from direct to indirect administration, while apartheid emerged relatively later. Apartheid, Mamdani shows, was actually the generic form of the colonial state in Africa.

Through case studies of rural (Uganda) and urban (South Africa) resistance movements, we learn how these institutional features fragment resistance and how states tend to play off reform in one sector against repression in the other. Reforming a power that institutionally enforces tension between town and country, and between ethnicities, is the key challenge for anyone interested in democratic reform in Africa.

Table of Contents:

	Acknowledgments
I	Introduction: Thinking through Africa's Impasse	3
Pt. I	The Structure of Power	35
II	Decentralized Despotism	37
III	Indirect Rule: The Politics of Decentralized Despotism	62
IV	Customary Law: The Theory of Decentralized Despotism	109
V	The Native Authority and the Free Peasantry	138
Pt. II	The Anatomy of Resistance	181
VI	The Other Face of Tribalism: Peasant Movements in Equatorial Africa	183
VII	The Rural in the Urban: Migrant Workers in South Africa	218
VIII	Conclusion: Linking the Urban and the Rural	285
	Notes	303
	Index	339

What Is Life Worth or The Economics of Climate Change

What Is Life Worth?: The Unprecedented Effort to Compensate the Victims of 9/11

Author: Kenneth R Feinberg

Just days after September 11, 2001, Kenneth Feinberg was appointed to administer the federal 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund, a unique, unprecedented fund established by Congress to compensate families who lost a loved one on 9/11 and survivors who were physically injured in the attacks. Those who participated in the Fund were required to waive their right to sue the airlines involved in the attacks, as well as other potentially responsible entities. When the program was launched, many families criticized it as a brazen, tight-fisted attempt to protect the airlines from lawsuits. The Fund was also attacked as attempting to put insulting dollar values on the lives of lost loved ones. The families were in pain. And they were angry.

Over the course of the next three years, Feinberg spent almost all of his time meeting with the families, convincing them of the generosity and compassion of the program, and calculating appropriate awards for each and every claim. The Fund proved to be a dramatic success with over 97% of eligible families participating. It also provided important lessons for Feinberg, who became the filter, the arbitrator, and the target of family suffering. Feinberg learned about the enduring power of family grief, love, fear, faith, frustration, and courage. Most importantly, he learned that no check, no matter how large, could make the families and victims of 9/11 whole again.

The New York Times - William Grimes

In What Is Life Worth? Mr. Feinberg offers a valuable first-person account of the 9/11 compensation fund and its workings. He makes clear, for the first time, exactly how peculiar the law governing the fund was, and the enormous difficulties, ethical and practical, that resulted from its ambiguous language and hastily written guidelines.

The Washington Post - John Farmer

What is life worth? Feinberg found the answer not in actuarial tables or projected incomes but in the almost limitless capacity of people to love: "Love was often all that survivors could cling to -- a life preserver -- in their effort to get through each day. They had been left behind, but they had been left behind with powerful reserves of love." The Sept. 11 fund began as an airline bailout, but it ended as a vehicle for expressing love. That transfiguration was Feinberg's great professional and, we suspect, personal achievement; we come away feeling that the process of determining what life is worth transformed not just the fund but its special master, too.

Washington Post 8/24/05

"... some times eloquent, at others oddly detached, at all times painfully honest... a rewarding read but not an easy one."

Publishers Weekly

When Feinberg writes that "[t]he cacophony of arguments validated my original preference: to refuse to evaluate individual suffering" midway through this frank memoir, the reader already trusts him enough to know that he is not being crass or unfeeling: he is being honest. By then, Feinberg, a lawyer who has been on two presidential commissions and has done Agent Orange litigation, has established his judicious forthrightness and his dedication to "the success of the fund"-getting as many families as possible to opt in to the trust, which he headed and which was established to award cash to the 9/11 victims, rather than sue the government. The problem: how, and how much? Feinberg's willingness to put himself into the book makes what could have been an alternately dry and self-serving case study crackle with care, frustration, intellectual energy and good writing. Feinberg and his team ran through every argument and counterargument for compensation and its various possible permutations, and he presents the debate, and his ultimate conclusions as head of the 9/11 fund, with an earned conviction and clarity, even on stat-heavy pages. With its combination of a strong personality, undeniably compelling subject matter and a great title, this understated, passionate trek into the dismal terrain is likely to be a major surprise bestseller. Anything but macabre, it ends up, in its own way, celebrating life. (June 13) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

Look this: Le fait de Parler Public

The Economics of Climate Change: The Stern Review

Author: Nicholas Stern

There is now clear scientific evidence that emissions from economic activity, particularly the burning of fossil fuels for energy, are causing changes to the Earth's climate. A sound understanding of the economics of climate change is needed in order to underpin an effective global response to this challenge. The Stern Review is an independent, rigourous and comprehensive analysis of the economic aspects of this crucial issue. It has been conducted by Sir Nicholas Stern, Head of the UK Government Economic Service, and a former Chief Economist of the World Bank. The Economics of Climate Change will be invaluable for all students of the economics and policy implications of climate change, and economists, scientists and policy makers involved in all aspects of climate change.

Table of Contents:

Preface     ix
Acknowledgements     xi
Introduction     xiii
Summary of Conclusions     xv
Climate Change - Our Approach
Introduction     1
The Science of Climate Change: Scale of the Environment Challenge     3
Economics, Ethics and Climate Change     25
Ethical Frameworks and Intertemporal Equity     46
Impacts of Climate Change on Growth and Development
Introduction     63
How Climate Change will Affect People Around the World     65
Implications of Climate Change for Development     104
Costs of Climate Change in Developed Countries     138
Economic Modelling of Climate-Change Impacts     161
The Economics of Stabilisation
Introduction     191
Projecting the Growth of Greenhouse-Gas Emissions     193
Climate Change and the Environmental Kuznets Curve     216
The Challenge of Stabilisation     218
Identifying the Costs of Mitigation     238
Macroeconomic Models of Costs     267
Structural Change and Competitiveness     282
Key Statistics for 123 UK Production Sectors     297
Opportunities and Wider Benefits from Climate Policies     302
Towards a Goal for Climate-ChangePolicy     318
Policy Responses for Mitigation
Introduction     349
Harnessing Markets for Mitigation - The Role of Taxation and Trading     351
Carbon Pricing and Emissions Markets in Practice     368
Accelerating Technological Innovation     393
Beyond Carbon Markets and Technology     427
Policy Responses for Adaptation
Introduction     455
Understanding the Economics of Adaptation     457
Adaptation in the Developed World     471
Adaptation in the Developing World     486
International Collective Action
Introduction     507
Framework for Understanding International Collective Action for Climate Change     509
Creating a Global Price for Carbon     530
Supporting the Transition to a Low-Carbon Global Economy     555
Promoting Effective International Technology Co-operation     581
Reversing Emissions from Land Use Change     603
International Support for Adaptation     622
Conclusions: Building and Sustaining International Co-operation on Climate Change     640
Abbreviations and Acronyms     645
Postscript     649
Technical Annex to Postscript     658
Index     673

In Bad Company or The Ultimate Terrorists

In Bad Company: America's Terrorist Underground

Author: Mark S Hamm

"The dramatic sieges at Randy Weaver's cabin in Ruby Ridge, Idaho, and the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas, combined with the FBI's reluctance to admit wrongdoing in those tragic confrontations, fueled a virulent hatred of the federal government that unified previously isolated voices within the extreme radical right movement. As a result, the scores of clandestine paramilitary cells that flourished in the aftermath of Ruby Ridge and Waco formed a loosely knit underground network with a shared goal to violently overthrow the U.S. government." This volume examines thoroughly one of the most dangerous of those phantom cells - the Aryan Republican Army (ARA). Using trial transcripts, interviews, a secret diary, newspaper accounts, and ethnographic research, Mark S. Hamm provides a compelling history of the ARA, its organizers, and the revolutionary group's significance in supporting acts of domestic terrorism, including its previously unrecognized role in Timothy McVeigh's devastating bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City. He interweaves his narrative with a penetrating discussion of why people like McVeigh and the ARA members embrace the violent neo-Nazi subculture and why their hatred takes the form of terrorist activities.

Publishers Weekly

With the roots and trappings of terrorism at the forefront of national consciousness, Hamm's study of domestic terrorism is especially timely. Hamm (Apocalypse in Oklahoma), a criminology professor at Indiana State University, offers a detailed look at the Aryan Republican Army (ARA), a radical right cell that he suspects actively assisted Timothy McVeigh. Based upon information from shared acquaintances, a reconstruction of McVeigh's movements in the months preceding the bombing and other circumstantial evidence, Hamm theorizes that the mysterious "John Doe 2" allegedly seen with McVeigh on the day of the bombing may have been an ARA member. These disaffected racists cast themselves, not unlike McVeigh, as patriots battling a corrupt federal government. Hamm interviewed the group's principal leader, Pete Langan, at length in prison, where he is serving a life sentence, and the account is based largely on his perspective. The colorful Langan took a few ideologically warped young men and led them on 22 successful bank robberies. Not your run-of-the-mill right-wing radical, Langan is a pre-operative transsexual. Hamm perceives sublimated homoerotic undercurrents among these neo-Nazis; Langan hid his sexuality from his gun-toting cohorts. He now blames his criminal actions on "`gender dysphoria.'" Despite Hamm's compelling perspective on right-wing subculture, his central theory that the ARA actively participated in the Oklahoma bombing is less than fully convincing, based as it is on only circumstantial evidence. Regardless, and despite the overlong, overly simplistic psychological portrait of Langan, the book will interest readers seeking more information about this violent subculture.Illus. not seen by PW. (Dec. 3) Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

Meticulous, if stiffly presented, probings into the activities of the Aryan Revolutionary Army-and their possible links to Timothy McVeigh. Ruby Ridge and Waco sparked acts of violent resistance by "angry white men" who "were tied together by an animosity toward the federal government and an obsessive suspicion that the U.S. Constitution had been abandoned by tyrannical bureaucrats in Washington," writes conspiracy theorist Hamm (Criminology/Indiana State Univ.; Apocalypse in Oklahoma, 1997). One of those groups was the Aryan Republican Army, a minuscule but effective cell of troubled characters who committed a string of audacious and comically spirited bank robberies during the 1990s (they wore Nixon and Clinton masks and never physically hurt anyone). The ARA, whose membership included garden-variety psychopaths and a fellow with gender-identity issues, who as a teenage "alcoholic anarchist with predatory tendencies" was crippled by "love-prejudice," may well have financed McVeigh, as the violent right by 1995 was everywhere-and, though decentralized, interconnected. Other possible members of the ARA may have helped McVeigh and Nichols build the Oklahoma bomb; however, they may not have either, for Hamm's evidence-and resulting conspiracy theory-are merely circumstantial. In suffocating academese-"all subcultural crime is rooted in the norms and values of the dominant culture," etc.-the author nonetheless presents a credible picture of a terrifying right wing blossoming under the right circumstances, particularly when the FBI and ATF wax into their periodic modes of militarized masculinity. Indeed, there's no reason to think that the mare's nest of associations between groups of theviolent right is anything but humming along, which is enough to run a shiver of dread right up the spine.

Table of Contents:

	Preface
	Acknowledgments
	Introduction: Bust a Cap	3
Pt. 1	Rebel, Rebel
1	Company Man, Warrior Dream	29
2	Gook	44
3	Ponyboy and the Greasers	54
4	No Fallen Angel	67
Pt. 2	... About Sixteen Years Later
5	Acting Stupid and Contagious	85
6	The Foot Soldiers: Trails of an Estimated Prophet	94
7	The Ballad of Pedro Gomez	119
8	The Coiled Rattlesnake	155
9	Apocalypse: The Theory of Multiple John Doe 2s	188
Pt. 3	The Fall
10	Day of the Sword: The New Young Radicals	237
	Epilogue: "In God's Name" - On Masculinity, Rage, and Lost Causes	280
	Notes	299
	References	311
	Index	321

New interesting textbook: Exercise Ball for Beginners or Low Protein Diet a Medical Dictionary Bibliography and Annotated Research Guide to Internet References

The Ultimate Terrorists

Author: Jessica Stern

As bad as they are, why aren't terrorists worse? With biological, chemical, and nuclear weapons at hand, they easily could be. And, as this chilling book suggests, they soon may well be. A former member of the National Security Council staff, Jessica Stern guides us expertly through a post-Cold War world in which the threat of all-out nuclear war, devastating but highly unlikely, is being replaced by the less costly but much more imminent threat of terrorist attacks with weapons of mass destruction.

According to Stern, several factors increase the probability of a major incident. Most important is the emergence of a new breed of terrorists—violent right-wing extremists, apocalyptic groups, and millenarian cults, all less constrained than their predecessors by traditional ethics or political pressures and more capable of recruiting scientists. Such scientists, including unemployed Soviet weapons experts, and the dissemination of know-how about nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons in books and on the Internet heighten the risk. Stern also warns us of the risks posed by the weak states and atomized societies left in the Cold War's wake, including the dangers of theft and smuggling of nuclear and chemical materials from former Soviet facilities.

Written from an insider's perspective, The Ultimate Terrorists depicts a not-very-distant future in which both independent and state-sponsored terrorism using weapons of mass destruction could actually occur. But Stern also holds out hope for new technologies that might combat this trend, and for legal and political remedies that would improve public safety without compromising basic constitutionalrights.

Tim Cavanaugh

The ominous-sounding title The Ultimate Terrorists can't outweigh the balanced and blessedly concise arguments that Jessica Stern presents in the book itself. The threat of terrorism involving weapons of mass destruction (WMD) has given rise to a panic industry; Stern -- a fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, a former head of the National Security Council's Nuclear Smuggling Interagency group and an early WMD alarmist -- has emerged as one of a few influential voices of calm.

Her study is one of several recent books (including Bruce Hoffman's Inside Terrorism and Philip B. Heymann's Terrorism and America) that suggest a new consensus on the threat of terrorism. The Ultimate Terrorists lays out three main points. First, the threat of chemical, biological and nuclear terrorism is indeed significant, and the emergence of nontraditional terrorist groups -- religious fanatics, death cults and disturbed activists -- adds a shiver of uncertainty to the mix. Second, more fitting defense efforts -- assisting in the disposal of Russian "loose nukes," beefing up detection efforts at airports, preparing emergency health responses -- will bolster both U.S. and international security. ("Ballistic missiles are the least likely method of delivery," Stern writes, "and yet Congress regularly allocates more money to ballistic-missile defense than the Pentagon says it can use -- roughly ten times what is spent to prevent WMD terrorism.") Finally, the threat of WMD terrorism, real as it is, has been exaggerated to the point of needless panic.

In her examination of nontraditional terrorism, Stern points to a practical divide between will and ability. State-sponsored terrorists can do the most damage, but they're constrained by fear of retribution and of bad publicity. Fringe groups, on the other hand, may have the will to destroy, but they lack the money or the sponsorship to cause much damage. But the book's strongest chapter concerns the threat of loose Russian materials (the area that was Stern's metier at the NSC). Stern's knowledge of security in Russia -- and of how nuclear material could be (and may already have been) stolen -- gives these sections a punch that most reporting on this issue has so far lacked.

The same can't be said for sections in which Stern has to rely on secondary-source material. While her scheme of terrorist types is generally helpful, it raises some questions. How do we classify religious fanatics who are also state-sponsored political groups? For that matter, where do we put Japan's Aum Shinrikyo, a fringe cult that attracted massive funding and international membership (and whose Tokyo subway gas attack apparently represented a mere fraction of the hell it might have raised)? Stern considers Aum Shinrikyo an unusual case, which it certainly seems to be; but the group's success challenges her clear-cut distinction between traditional and nontraditional terrorism.

Since The Ultimate Terrorists gets much of its power from the assumption that terrorist activities are on the rise (although various data can be made to tell various stories), these aren't incidental points. You may find yourself occasionally wishing that the author would dispense with the overviews and get back to topics she has direct experience with. And in fact her anecdotes about encounters with fringe groups hint at the even more intriguing book she is working on now: a study of religious extremists at home and abroad. If any topic is subject to more Chicken Little mystification than the threat of weapons of mass destruction, it's the rise of extremist groups, and so no subject could better benefit from Jessica Stern's mix of clarity and caution. -- Salon

Salon

The ominous-sounding title The Ultimate Terrorists can't outweigh the balanced and blessedly concise arguments that Jessica Stern presents in the book itself. The threat of terrorism involving weapons of mass destruction (WMD) has given rise to a panic industry; Stern has emerged as one of the few influential voices of calm. | Salon | March 23,1999 |

Publishers Weekly

In recent years, much has been made of the emerging post-Cold War threats posed by terrorist groups wielding devastating weapons. Stern, a former National Security Council staffer, explains with chilling lucidity why it is becoming more likely that those threats will materialize into a major terrorist incident featuring a weapon of mass destruction. Breaking her theory into numerous digestible parts, Stern begins by showing that terrorists themselves have changed. Whereas in the past they have been driven by political concerns (e.g., recognition of Palestinian national aspirations), terrorists now are motivated by a multitude of extremist causes, and some view terrorism not as a tactical tool but as an end in itself. The new terrorists are also better supplied and more highly educated than their precursors. Dangerous weapons--such as those previously owned by the former Soviet Union--are readily available on the black market. In addition, the Internet makes it easier for terrorists to recruit and communicate with comrades. In cool prose that never talks down to lay readers, Stern outlines the horrific effects of biological and chemical agents, making a thoroughly convincing case that a biochemical attack would be compounded by mass panic and a dangerous social breakdown. "Because they evoke such horror," Stern writes, "these weapons would seem to be ideal for terrorists, who seek to inspire fear in targeted populations." But even as Stern stokes fear, she also offers an extensive proposal for countering the new terrorism. Her proposals will not be for everyone but will surely provide substantial food for thought. (Mar.) FYI: Stern was portrayed by Nicole Kidman in the film The Peacemaker.

Library Journal

Stern, a former National Security Council staffer, reviews the current threat posed by terrorists possessing weapons of mass destruction (WMD)--nuclear, chemical, and biological--especially as directed against the United States. She discusses state-sponsored terrorism (Iraq), the risks of leftover materials from the former Soviet Union, and recommendations for combatting WMD terrorism, such as closer monitoring of domestic threats like political extremists and religious cults. In the post-Cold War world, the threat of terrorism is much greater than nuclear war, yet in Stern's opinion the United States is not sufficiently prepared to confront it. She hopes her policy suggestions will help reduce the likelihood and deadliness of terrorist acts. Geared to an informed audience, heavily footnoted, and with technical details of WMD components, this book is recommended for specialized collections on terrorism.--Gregor A. Preston, formerly with Univ. of California Lib., Davis

The Times(U.K.) - Sean O'Callaghan

[Stern's] search is breathtakingly thorough, and the prose, so often describing complex technological detail, surprisingly lucid. The era of the ultimate terrorists, implying nuclear, biological or chemical weapons, may not yet have dawned in any real sense, but the potential and the danger, as this book illustrates, are all too obvious...[Stern] has written a valuable book that should serve as a timely warning about a potentially dreadful future.

What People Are Saying

Anthony Lake
Jessica Stern sounds an important alarm in responsible fashion. A good read as well as good scholarship. I hope her alarm is widely heard.

William J. Perry
The Ultimate Terrorists is a timely book on a vitally important subject. Jessica Stern has done a thorough job of research and presents her arguments with clarity and force. This book should be a wake up call for Americans.

Dean Joseph S. Nye, Jr.
What if the terrorists who bombed the World Trade Center had used a nuclear device or anthrax? Jessica Stern's account reads like a thriller, but is deadly serious. Fortunately, she also provides good advice.

William J. Perry
The Ultimate Terrorists is a timely book on a vitally important subject. Jessica Stern has done a thorough job of research and presents her arguments with clarity and force. This book should be a wake-up call for Americans.
— Former Secretary of Defense

Synthetic Fuels Handbook or Bringing the War Home

Synthetic Fuels Handbook

Author: James G Speight

With costly oil prices, here is a timely guide on synthetic fuels

Synthetic Fuels Handbook educates you in the different properties, processes, and performance characteristics of synthetic energy sources. This comprehensive guide provides a thorough description and discussion of the concepts, systems, and technology involved in the production of these fuels on both an industrial and individual scale.

Interesting book: Avid Xpress Pro Editing Workshop or Civic Life Online

Bringing the War Home: The Weather Underground, the Red Army Faction, and Revolutionary Violence in the Sixties and Seventies

Author: Jeremy Varon

In this first comprehensive comparison of left-wing violence in the United States and West Germany, Jeremy Varon focuses on America's Weather Underground and Germany's Red Army Faction to consider how and why young, middle-class radicals in prosperous democratic societies turned to armed struggle in efforts to overthrow their states. Based on a wealth of primary material, ranging from interviews to FBI reports, this book reconstructs the motivation and ideology of violent organizations active during the 1960s and 1970s. Varon conveys the intense passions of the era--the heat of moral purpose, the depth of Utopian longing, the sense of danger and despair, and the exhilaration over temporary triumphs. Varon's compelling interpretation of the logic and limits of dissent in democratic societies provides striking insights into the role of militancy in contemporary protest movements and has wide implications for the United States' current "war on terrorism."
Varon explores Weatherman and RAF's strong similarities and the reasons why radicals in different settings developed a shared set of values, languages, and strategies. Addressing the relationship of historical memory to political action, Varon demonstrates how Germany's fascist past influenced the brutal and escalating nature of the West German conflict in the 60s and 70s, as well as the reasons why left-wing violence dropped sharply in the United States during the 1970s. Bringing the War Home is a fascinating account of why violence develops within social movements, how states can respond to radical dissent and forms of terror, how the rational and irrational can combine in political movements, and finally how moral outrage andmilitancy can play both constructive and destructive roles in efforts at social change.

Table of Contents:

	Acknowledgments
	List of Key Acronyms
	Introduction	1
1	"Agents of Necessity": Weatherman, the Red Army Faction, and the Turn to Violence	20
2	The Importance of Being Militant: The Days of Rage and Their Critics	74
3	"Hearts and Minds": The Antiwar Movement, Violence, and the Critical Mass	113
4	The Excesses and Limits of Revolutionary Violence	151
5	Deadly Abstraction: The Red Army Faction and the Politics of Murder	196
6	"Democratic Intolerance": The Red Army Faction and the West German State	254
	Conclusion	290
	Notes	313
	Select Bibliography	361
	Index	375

One Nation or Thieves in High Places

One Nation: America Remembers September 11, 2001

Author: LIFE Magazin

With an Introduction by Rudolph Guiliani
During our nation's most trying times, it has been Life that has provided the images that help us understand, remember, and in the process, renew. Now the editors of Life have assembled a moving, brilliantly illustrated account of tragedy and triumph. This is about firemen going in amidst the rubble, but it is also about a Frenchman in Paris holding up a sign that says, "We are all Americans." This is about our leaders taking charge, but it is also about schoolchildren in Iowa hanging an American flag on a tree in their backyard. Beginning with the history of lower Manhattan, the book explains what happened on September 11, profiles many of the heroes, victims and rescuers (fireman, police, doctors, and rescue dogs among them), and paints an inspiring portrait if a nation and world coming together in sadness, pride and resolve.The book is more than photographs. Explanatory text runs throughout, and the book also includes a selection of original essays about America and September 11, written by such notables as Maya Angelou, Thomas Keneally (Schindler's List), Stephen Ambrose, Melissa Fay Greene (The Temple Bombing), Andrei Codrescu, Gordon Parks, Doug Stanton (In Harm's Way), Bob Greene (Duty), James Bradley (Flags of Our Fathers), and others.

Ten percent of the cover price of this book will be donated to the September 11th Fund of the New York Community Trust and the United Way of New York City. The purpose of this fund is to help address the immediate and longer-term needs of victims, their families, and communities affected by the events of September 11, 2001.

New interesting textbook: Medline or Fitness for Life

Thieves in High Places: They've Stolen Our Country and It's Time to Take It Back

Author: Jim Hightower

Its Time to Take It Back

Author Biography: National radio commentator, columnist, public speaker, political sparkplug and author of If the Gods Had Meant Us to Vote They Would Have Given Us Candidates, Jim Hightower has spent three decades battling the Powers That Be on behalf of the Powers That Ought To Be: consumers, working families, environmentalists, small business, and just-plain-folks.

Twice elected Texas Agriculture Commissioner, Hightower believes that the true political spectrum is not right to left, but top to bottom, and he has become a leading national voice for the 80 percent of the public who no longer find themselves within shouting distance of the Washington and Wall Street powers at the top.

Known as "America's Most Popular Populist," Hightower is a modern-day Johnny Appleseed, spreading the message of progressive populism all across the American grassroots.

He broadcasts daily radio commentaries that are carried in more than 100 commercial and public stations, on the web, on Armed Forces Radio, Radio for Peace International, One World Radio and Sirius Satellite Radio.

Each month, he publishes a populist political newsletter, "The Hightower Lowdown," which now has more than 100,000 subscribers and is the fastest growing political publication in America. The hard-hitting Lowdown has received both the Alternative Press Award and the Independent Press Association Award for best national newsletter.

Constantly on the hustings, he delivers about 100 speeches a year to colleges, union meetings, environmental groups, citizen rallies, farm and food organizations, social justice gatherings, teachers, legal activists, community groups, and others.

His newspaper column is carried in more than 75 independent newspapers, magazines, and other publications. He is also a frequent contributor to The Nation, America's leading progressive journal.

A best-selling author, his latest book, THIEVES IN HIGH PLACES: They've Stolen Our Country and Its Time to Take it Back is published by Viking. His previous books are If the Gods Had Meant Us To Vote They Would Have Given Us Candidates, There's Nothing In the Middle Of the Road But Yellow Stripes and Dead Armadillos, Eat Your Heart Out, and Hard Tomatoes, Hard Times.

He frequently appears on television and radio programs, bringing a passionate populist viewpoint that rarely gets into the mass media. In addition, he works closely with the alternative media, and in all of his work he keeps his ever-ready Texas humor up front, practicing the credo of an old Yugoslavian proverb: "You can fight the gods and still have fun."

Hightower also devotes much of his energy to revitalizing grassroots progressive politics with his nationwide "Rolling Thunder Down-Home Democracy Tour." Sort-of like a county fair of progressive activism, these festivals include top-notch speakers, great music, how-to workshops, food, drink, games, clowns & fun for the whole family. In 2002, the Rolling Thunder Tour traveled to Austin, Chicago, Tucson, Seattle, Minneapolis and Duluth. The Tour will continue to roll on in 2003 with the aim of becoming a permanent fixture on the American political landscape.

Hightower was raised in Denison, Texas, in a family of small business people, tenant farmers, and working folks. A graduate of the University of North Texas, he worked in Washington as legislative aide to Sen. Ralph Yarborough of Texas before returning to his home state, where he was editor of the feisty biweekly, The Texas Observer.

He then made what he calls "the only downward career move you can make from journalism" by entering politics. He was twice elected to statewide office, serving two productive and boisterous terms as Texas Agriculture Commissioner (1983-1991).

Since then, Hightower has become his own media conglomerate, using his writings and voice to reach millions of people a year, raising issues, raising hope and raising hell. Describing himself as a Luddite with a Website, Hightower provides updated information about his newsletter, radio commentaries, books, speaking schedule, and other work at jimhightower.com.

Publishers Weekly

Populist radio commentator, columnist and author Hightower (If the Gods Had Meant Us to Vote They Would Have Given Us Candidates) delivers a timely manifesto for progressives living in what he calls a nation ruled by "a confederacy of kleptocrats." In Hightower's view of the current political situation, "King George the W" reigns atop a greedy hierarchy of corporate-politico corruption in which many politicians have become no more than handmaidens of corporations and the super-rich. Devotees of Hightower's populist politics and his sardonic style will find much to admire, but the average reader will consider the book a jumble of loosely connected treatises laced with distracting sidebars and peppered with hyperbolic forebodings of government evil. Hightower warns the reader, "Big Brother is no longer a paranoid's nightmare, but is alive and very much on the prowl." Hightower's prose at times bears an uncomfortable resemblance to the propaganda he condemns. While he does offer inspirational stories of community action and even practical information (e.g., how to contact a long list of public interest groups), the book's disorganization is baffling: he careens in one chapter from professional sports through the fate of public libraries to the history of Santa Claus. In addition, Hightower's quasi-comical, off-the-wall pronouncements (suggesting, for instance, that CEOs of companies with tax-free Bermuda bank accounts be required to wear Bermuda shorts at all times) tend to stifle his worthy, impassioned calls for action. Progressives will need a more comprehensible spokesperson if they hope, as Hightower envisions, to "take [America] back." Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

A former Texas public official turned author and lecturer, Hightower (If The Gods Had Meant Us To Vote They Would Have Given Us Candidates) takes on the conservative political establishment, calling them "kleptocrats" and arguing that the nation is ruled by thieves who have stolen democracy from the people and used the levers of government to enrich themselves and their fat-cat friends. President George W. Bush, the "Thief-in-Chief," comes in for especially harsh criticism. With biting and often on-target wit, the author attempts to speak truth to power, calling on the public to wake up and reclaim the democracy they have lost. Hightower is a gifted humorist who often brings his considerable talents to the defense of a brand of liberal populism that has difficulty finding a voice in post-9/11 America. This book won't change any minds, and it certainly won't appeal to conservatives or supporters of the President, but it will entertain Bush's critics and help establish Hightower as one of the stronger voices of liberalism in the country.-Michael A. Genovese, Loyola Marymount Univ., Los Angeles Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Report from Engine Co 82 or The Idea of Humanity in a Global Era

Report from Engine Co. 82

Author: Dennis Smith

Report from Engine Co. 82 is the story of one company of New York firefighters battling unimaginable death and destruction every day.

Dennis Smith worked as a firefighter in the South Bronx of New York City, and the graphic detail and gripping prose of this firefighting classic drives the most important, accomplished, terrifying book ever published on firefighting. With over two million copies in print, this book struck a nerve within the nation when it was first published thirty years ago. In our troubled times, it gains even greater resonance for those trying to make sense of the deaths of so many New York firefighters on September 11 and for those inspired by the tireless work of firefighters and other rescue personnel in the aftermath of the destruction. Dennis Smith describes the bravery, heroism, camaraderie, and unflinching courage of New York's bravest, demonstrating how firefighters everywhere have become the most respected of American heroes.

Library Journal

In 1972, Emergency, a show about the Los Angeles Fire Department, debuted on network TV. That same year, Smith, a New York City fireman, published this book about life in what was the busiest fire station in the country. It is the diary of a fireman in a station with over 700 calls per month. From the life and death heroics of firefighting to the frustration of false alarms and garbage fires, Smith ably shares his life at Engine Co. 82. Written during a period of civil unrest, the work captures the spirit of that time and shows how the social problems of the era affected the lives of the firemen whose duty was to protect all the citizens in their district. The author paints a portrait of the fire house: the drills, the off-color jokes, the male-bonding that occurs when men know their lives will often be in the hands of their buddies. Adam Henderson does a great job with the various New York City accents. Highly recommended for all public libraries.-Theresa Connors, Arkansas Tech Univ., Russellville Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Go to: The Local Politics of Global English or Welfare and Work in the Open Economy

The Idea of Humanity in a Global Era

Author: Bruce Mazlish

The result of a lifetime of research and contemplation on global phenomena, this book explores the idea of humanity in the modern age of globalization. Tracking the idea in the historical, philosophical, legal, and political realms, this is a concise and illuminating look at a concept that has defined the twentieth century.

Tower of Babble or International Politics on the World Stage

Tower of Babble: How the United Nations Has Fueled Global Chaos

Author: Dore Gold

A United Nations insider exposes the ugly truth about the UN—including how UN organizations have been funding terrorist groups!

In the New York Times bestseller Tower of Babble, former United Nations ambassador Dore Gold blows the lid off the UN’s shocking failures to keep international peace, its corruption, its rampant anti-Americanism, and its emboldening of terrorist organizations. Citing previously unpublished documents, a brand-new chapter exclusive to this paperback edition provides the untold story of the infamous oil-for-food scandal—including the real scandal, that the UN let oil-for-food money go to fund terrorist organizations.

Read also Desperation Entertaining or Pig Perfect

International Politics on the World Stage

Author: John T Rourk

This concise text provides students and instructors with a comprehensive overview of world politics, inviting them in a straightforward and accessible way to explore international relations and its new challenges. A hallmark of the text is the authors' position that politics affect the lives of all of us, and that the individual can have an impact, whether small or large, by being politically aware and by taking action.

Booknews

An introductory text highlighting the connections between the events of current history and theories of international politics. Sections on international politics; world politics; physical security; and economic, ecological, and individual security include chapter summaries and b&w photos, plus a section of technical explanations and terminology. This fifth edition incorporates the latest developments in various countries, UN peacekeeping forces, and international trade. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Table of Contents:

Chapter 1 - Thinking and Caring About World Politics

Previewing the Global Drama

Global Actors: Meet the Cast

How This Book is Structured

World Politics and Your Finances

World Politics and Your Living Space

World Politics and Your Life

You Can Make a Difference

Putting World Events in Context

Introducing Realism and Liberalism

The Nature of Politics: Realism and Liberalism

The Roles of Power and Principles: Realism and Liberalism

Prospects for Competition and Cooperation: Realism and Liberalism

Assessing Reality: Reality and Liberalism

Chapter Summary

Chapter 2 - The Evolution of World Politics

The Evolving World System: Early Development

Ancient Greece and Rome

After the Fall of Rome, A.D. 476 to 1700

The 18th and 19th Centuries

The Evolving World System: The 21st Century

The Rise of the Bipolar System

The Fall of the Bipolar System

The 21st Century: The Genesis of a New System

The Structure of Power in the 21st Century

Security in the 21st Century

Global Economics in the 21st Century

Quality of Life in the 21st Century

Chapter Summary

Chapter 3 - Level of Analysis

Individual-Level Analysis

Humans as a Species

Organizational Behavior

Leaders and Their Individual Traits

State-Level Analysis

Making Foreign Policy: Type of Government, Situation, and Policy

Making Foreign Policy: Political Culture

Foreign Policy-Making Actors

System-Level Analysis

Structural Characteristics

Power Relationships

Economic Realities

Norms

Chapter Summary

Chapter 4 - Nationalism: The TraditionalOrientation

Understanding Nations, Nationalism, and Nation-States

Nations, Nationalism, and Nation-States Defined

The Rise of Ascendancy of Nationalism

Nationalism in Practice: Issues and Evaluation

Nation-States: More Myth than Reality

Positive and Negative Aspects of Nationalism

Nationalism: Builder and Destroyer

Self-Determination as a Goal

Nationalism and the Future

The Recent Past and Present of Nationalism

The Future of Nationalism

Chapter Summary

Chapter 5 - Globalization and Transnationalism: The Alternative Orientation

Globalization

Globalization of Communications and Transportation

Economic Globalization

Cultural Globalization

Transnationalism

Transnationalism in Action

Transnational Organizations

Regional Transnationalism

Cultural Transnationalism

Transnational Religion

Islam and the World

Transnational Movements

Transnationalism Tomorrow

Chapter Summary

Chapter 6 - Power and the National States: The Traditional Structure

The Nature and Purpose of the State

The State Defined

Purposes of the State

National Power

The Nature of Power

Characteristics of Power

National Diplomacy

Diplomacy as Applied Power

The Context of Diplomacy

The Conduct of Diplomacy

Diplomacy as a Communications Process

Options for Conducting Diplomacy

States and the Future

The State: Changing States

The State: The Indictment

The State: The Defense

The State: The Verdict

Chapter Summary

Chapter 7 - International Organization: An Alternative Structure

A Overview of International Organization

The Origins of IGOs

The Growth of IGOs

Roles the IGOs Play

Regional IGOs' Focus on the European Union

The Origins and Evolution of the European Union

The Government of the European Union

The Future of the EU

Global IGOs' Focus on the United Nations

Structure, Rules, and Related Issues

Leadership

Administration, and Finance

Activities of the UN and Other IGOs

Evaluating IGOs and Their Future

Chapter Summary

Chapter 8 - International Law and Human Rights: An Alternative Approach

Fundamentals of International Law and Morality

The Primitive Nature of International Law

The Growth of International Law

The Practice of International Law

The Fundamentals of International Morality

The International Legal System

The Philosophical Roots of Law

How International Law is Made

Adherence to the Law

Adjudication of the Law

Applying International Law and Morality

Law and Justice in a Multicultural World

Applying International Law and Morality to States

Applying International Law to Individuals

The Prudent Application of Law and Morality

The Future of International Law and Morality

The Nature of Human Rights

Civil and Political Rights: Freedom from Abuses

Abuse of Individual Rights

Abuse of Group Rights

The International Response to Individual and Group

Human Rights Issues

Economic and Social Rights

Food

Health

Education

Chapter Summary

Chapter 9 - Pursuing Security

Chapter Summaryh3>Thinking about Security

A Tale of Insecurity

Conflict and Insecurity: The Traditional Road

War and World Politics

Force as a Political Instrument

Unconventional Warfare

Conventional Warfare

Warfare with Weapons of Mass Destruction

Global and International Security: The Alternative Road

Limited Self-Defense Through Arms Control

International Security Forces

Abolition of War

Chapter Summary

Chapter 10 - Globalization in the World Economy

Theories of International Political Economy

Economic Nationalism

Economic Internationalism

Economic Structuralism

Two Economic Worlds: North and South

Two Economic Worlds: Analyzing the Data

Two Economic Worlds: Human Conditions

The Growth and Extent of International Political Economy

Trade

International Investment

Monetary Relations

Globalization and Interdependence: Debating the Future

Chapter Summary

Chapter 11 - Global Economic Competition and Cooperation

Global Economic Competition: The Traditional Road

National Economic Power: Assets and Utilization

The North and International Political Economy

The South and Internatonal Political Economy

The Future of National Economic Policy

Global Economic Cooperation: The Alternative Road

Global Economic Cooperation: Background

Global Economic Cooperation: The Institutions

Regional Economic Cooperation

Chapter Summary

Chapter 12 - Preserving and Enhancing the Global Commons

Toward Sustainable Development

The Ecological State of the World

Sustainable Development

Sustainable Development: Population and Resources

Population Issues and Cooperation

Resource Issues and Cooperation

Resource Conservation: The Global Response

Sustainable Development: The Environment

Environmental Issues

Environmental Protection: The International Response

Chapter Summary

An Epilogue to the Text/A Prologue to the Future

Endnotes

Glossary

Abbreviations

References

Index

We Shall Overcome or War by Other Means

We Shall Overcome: A History of Civil Rights and the Law

Author: Alexander Tsesis

Despite America’s commitment to civil rights from the earliest days of nationhood, examples of injustices against minorities stain many pages of U.S. history. The battle for racial, ethnic, and gender fairness remains unfinished. This comprehensive book traces the history of legal efforts to achieve civil rights for all Americans, beginning with the years leading up to the Revolution and continuing to our own times. The historical adventure Alexander Tsesis recounts is filled with fascinating events, with real change and disappointing compromise, and with courageous individuals and organizations committed to ending injustice.

 

Viewing the evolution of civil rights through the lens of legal history, Tsesis considers laws that have restricted civil rights (such as Jim Crow regulations and prohibitions against intermarriage) and laws that have expanded rights (including antisegregation legislation and other legal advances of the civil rights era). He focuses particular attention on the African American fight for civil rights but also discusses the struggles of women, gays and lesbians, Japanese Americans, Latinos, Native Americans, and Jews. He concludes by assessing the current state of civil rights in the United States and exploring likely future expansions of civil rights.

Books about: The Breast Cancer Survival Manual or Midlife Mamas on the Moon

War by Other Means: An Insider's Account of the War on Terror

Author: John Yoo

On September 11, 2001, while America reeled from the day's cataclysmic events, and the majority of Official Washington, D.C. - including most of the Justice Department - evacuated, John Yoo and a skeletal staff of the Office of Legal Counsel stayed behind. They quickly found themselves on the phone with the White House. The attacks called for a response, but the president's legal authority to act was unclear. Were we at war?

In answering that question and others in the following months, Yoo had an almost unmatched impact on the fight against al Qaeda. His analysis led to many of the Bush administration's most controversial policies: detention at Guantanamo Bay, coercive interrogation, military trials, the NSA's wiretapping program, the Patriot Act, and the decision that the Geneva Conventions are irrelevant for "illegal enemy combatants."

In War by Other Means, you offers an insider accounts of the personalities, on-the-ground facts, and legal basis behind these decisions Through specific cases, from John Walker Lindh and Zacarias Moussaoui, to an American al Qaeda leader killed by a CIA pilotless drone in the deserts of Yemen, Yoo sweeps aside partisan bickering, answers his and the Bush administration's critics, and clarifies how and why we fight. War by Other Means is a captivating, brilliant, and accessible book, a must read for anyone concerned about the War on Terror.

Publishers Weekly

As a former assistant attorney general for the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel, Yoo was in the center of the debate over where President Bush's administration draws the line on the torture of detained terrorism suspects. He revisits that and other controversies in the war on terror, from NSA wiretapping to the legal status of "enemy combatants." His response to most criticisms is that al-Qaeda is a new kind of enemy, and the old ways of thinking (e.g., the Geneva Conventions) prevent us from stopping another terrorist strike. The cornerstone of Yoo's argument is his belief that as commander-in-chief, the president has broad powers "to act forcefully and independently to repel serious threats to the nation." Even the formal declaration of war by Congress has become archaic; Yoo argues that America is at war whenever the president decides the military can "do what must be done." Thus, the Supreme Court's June decision rendering the prosecution of Guant namo detainees by military commissions unconstitutional is, in Yoo's eyes, "a dangerous judicial intention to intervene in wartime policy" that forces the president and Congress to waste time crafting legislation when we could be out fighting terrorists. Unambiguous and combative, Yoo's philosophy is sure to spark further debate. (Oct.) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.