|
|||
|
THE INSTANT #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER "Superbly reported . . . Reads like a Shakespearean drama on steroids." — Los Angeles Times "Explosive." —The New York Times "[The] most significant book to date about Biden’s cognitive decline." — The Atlantic "Destined to stand alongside classics like Theodore White’s The Making of the President 1960 and even Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward’s All the President’s Men as one of the great books about American electoral politics.” — Richard Aldous, Persuasion From two of America’s most respected journalists comes an unflinching and explosive reckoning with one of the most fateful decisions in American political history: Joe Biden’s run for reelection despite evidence of his serious decline—amid desperate efforts to hide the extent of that deterioration. In Greek tragedy, the protagonist’s effort to avoid his fate is what seals his fate. In 2024, American politics became a Greek tragedy. Joe Biden launched his successful 2020 bid for the White House with the stated goal of saving the nation from a second Trump presidential term. He, his family, and his senior aides were so convinced that only he could beat Trump again, they lied to themselves, allies, and the public about his condition and limitations. At his debate with Trump on June 27, 2024, the consequences of that deception were exposed to the world. It was shocking and upsetting. Now the full, unsettling truth is being told for the first time. Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson take us behind closed doors and into private conversations between the heaviest of hitters, revealing how big the problem was and how many people knew about it. From White House staffers at the highest to lowest levels, to leaders of Congress and the Cabinet, from governors to donors and Hollywood players, the truth is finally being told. What you will learn makes President Biden’s decision to run for reelection seem shockingly narcissistic, self-delusional, and reckless—a desperate bet that went bust—and part of a larger act of extended public deception that has few precedents. The story the authors tell raises fundamental issues of accountability and responsibility that will continue for decades. The irony is biting: In the name of defeating what they called an existential threat to democracy, Biden and his inner circle ensured it, tossing aside his implicit promise to serve for only one term, denying the existence of health issues the nation had been watching for years, dooming the Democrats to defeat. The decision to run again, the Original Sin of this president, led to a campaign of denial and gaslighting, leading directly to Donald Trump's return to power and all that has happened as a consequence. Rarely does hubris meet nemesis more explosively. Wherever you stand on the political spectrum, Original Sin is essential reading. |
|
|||
|
Nearing the end of a lifetime in the boreal forest, a retired forester writes a passionate plea for rational, science-based forest management. The boreal forest is constantly changing, often dramatically. We like to picture it as a stable, balanced system. Really, it is anything but stable. The boreal forest is dynamic. For over sixty years, forester Malcolm F. Squires has seen mature forests within protected areas devastated by insects, moose, wind, and wildfire. While the forests often return from this destruction, they are never quite the same. A naturally balanced boreal forest is a human notion that does not match the reality of nature. If we don’t soon recognize and accept that reality and stop making irrational demands that a forest be “protected” from change or human management, we may be dooming them to disaster. |
|
|||
|
L’essai Exploitation de notre eau par Rio Tinto se penche sur la façon dont Rio Tinto bénéficie de l’utilisation d’une ressource renouvelable collective aux fins de sa production commerciale et l’avantage concurrentiel que cette dernière lui procure dans l’industrie. Que ce soit en passant par l’histoire industrielle du Québec ou par des données précises et révélatrices, le constat est le même : pendant que l’entreprise gonfle ses profits, elle semble maintenant faire fi des engagements d’investissements auxquels elle avait consenti et sur lesquels repose une partie du développement régional du Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean, et par ricochet, du développement économique du Québec.   Après avoir constaté un déséquilibre entre les avantages que tire Rio Tinto du droit d’utiliser les ressources hydrauliques et les retombées pour les communautés d’accueil, un groupe de retraités cadres de Rio Tinto a alerté, en mai 2022, le gouvernement du Québec sur le non-respect de l’entreprise de ses engagements en matière d’investissement et s’est interrogé sur ses véritables intentions quant à l’avenir de la production d’aluminium au Saguenay—Lac-Saint-Jean. À qui le développement doit-il profiter ? Doit-on accepter que l’énergie produite grâce à la ressource naturelle renouvelable d’une région profite au seul bénéfice d’une multinationale ? Sommes-nous en train de cautionner et reproduire le modèle de développement du siècle dernier ? Voilà les réflexions et constats que le groupe a soulevés et que Jacques Dubuc et Myriam Potvin portent dans cet ouvrage. |
|
|||
|
Mercredi 2 juillet 2008. Il est un peu plus de 21 heures quand la nouvelle fait le tour du monde. Après plus de six ans de détention dans la jungle colombienne, Ingrid Betancourt vient d'être libérée.Nul ne peut désormais ignorer son parcours : sa jeunesse protégée, ses études à Sciences Po, son ascension sur la scène politique colombienne, sa candidature à la magistrature suprême, puis son enlèvement par les guérilleros des FARC, le 23 février 2002. Une personnalité se dessine : animée d'une foi intense, courageuse jusqu'à la témérité, rompue aux médias, Ingrid Betancourt se révèle aussi attachée à la Colombie qu'à sa " douce France "...Pourtant, des énigmes demeurent : a-t-elle vraiment tenté à cinq reprises de s'évader ? A-t-elle failli mourir de maladie et de désespoir ? Et qu'en est-il exactement de ses amours, et de l'amitié qui la lie à Dominique de Villepin ? Quant à la miraculeuse " opération Jaque ", tout le mérite en revient-il au président Uribe ?Au moment de sa libération, Pierre Lunel enquêtait depuis plusieurs mois sur la célèbre otage. S'appuyant sur les témoignages inédits de proches et de personnalités, il livre un portrait grandeur nature de cette femme d'action et de conviction. |
|
|||
|
Paru en Italie en 1997 dans un volume d’essais intitulé Cinq questions de morale, traduit chez Grasset en 2000, Reconnaître le fascisme d’Umberto Eco est un texte d’une extrême actualité  : le témoignage lucide et terrible d’un des plus grands intellectuels du XXe siècle, qui a grandi dans l’Italie de Mussolini.   Quatorze. Tel est le nombre des caractéristiques qui permettent de déterminer si une idéologie, un mouvement, une société sont fascistes, selon Umberto Eco. Il y a les plus évidentes  : la haine de la culture, l’obsession du complot, le refus de l’étranger. D’autres, plus insidieuses, bénignes en apparence, aboutissent au même résultat si l’on n’y prend garde  : la peur du langage complexe, l’idée d’un peuple doté d’une volonté propre, le fait de considérer les désaccords comme des trahisons.   Les sociétés démocratiques sont-elles à l’abri d’un retour du fascisme  ? Non, dit Umberto Eco, qui nous met en garde contre le masque innocent que prendra le fascisme pour revenir au pouvoir. «  Ce serait tellement plus confortable si quelqu'un s'avançait sur la scène du monde pour dire : "Je veux rouvrir Auschwitz, je veux que les chemises noires reviennent parader dans les rues italiennes !" Hélas, la vie n’est pas aussi simple.  » Les clefs pour débusquer et combattre une idéologie mortifère. |
|
|||
|
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER “A terrific book...Powerful and persuasive.” —Fareed Zakaria “Spectacular…Offers a comprehensive indictment of the current problems and a clear path forward…Klein and Thompson usher in a mood shift. They inspire hope and enlarge the imagination.” —David Brooks, The New York Times From bestselling authors and journalistic titans Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson, Abundance is a once-in-a-generation, paradigm-shifting call to renew a politics of plenty, face up to the failures of liberal governance, and abandon the chosen scarcities that have deformed American life. To trace the history of the twenty-first century so far is to trace a history of unaffordability and shortage. After years of refusing to build sufficient housing, America has a national housing crisis. After years of limiting immigration, we don’t have enough workers. Despite decades of being warned about the consequences of climate change, we haven’t built anything close to the clean-energy infrastructure we need. Ambitious public projects are finished late and over budget—if they are ever finished at all. The crisis that’s clicking into focus now has been building for decades—because we haven’t been building enough. Abundance explains that our problems today are not the results of yesteryear’s villains. Rather, one generation’s solutions have become the next generation’s problems. Rules and regulations designed to solve the problems of the 1970s often prevent urban-density and green-energy projects that would help solve the problems of the 2020s. Laws meant to ensure that government considers the consequences of its actions have made it too difficult for government to act consequentially. In the last few decades, our capacity to see problems has sharpened while our ability to solve them has diminished. Progress requires facing up to the institutions in life that are not working as they need to. It means, for liberals, recognizing when the government is failing. It means, for conservatives, recognizing when the government is needed. In a book exploring how we can move from a liberalism that not only protects and preserves but also builds , Klein and Thompson trace the political, economic, and cultural barriers to progress and propose a path toward a politics of abundance. At a time when movements of scarcity are gaining power in country after country, this is an answer that meets the challenges of the moment while grappling honestly with the fury so many rightfully feel. |
|
|||
|
"Aujourd’hui, l’heure des prédateurs a sonné et partout les choses évoluent d’une telle façon que tout ce qui doit être réglé le sera par le feu et par l’épée. Ce petit livre est le récit de cette conquête, écrit du point de vue d’un scribe aztèque et à sa manière, par images, plutôt que par concepts, dans le but de saisir le souffle d’un monde, au moment où il sombre dans l’abîme, et l’emprise glacée d’un autre, qui prend sa place." Giuliano da Empoli nous livre le compte-rendu aussi haletant que glaçant de ses pérégrinations au pays de la puissance, de New York à Riyad, de l’ONU au Ritz-Carlton de MBS. Il nous guide de l’autre côté du miroir, là où le pouvoir s’acquiert par des actions irréfléchies et tapageuses, où des autocrates décomplexés sont à l’affût du maximum de chaos, où les seigneurs de la tech semblent déjà habiter un autre monde, où l’IA s’avère incontrôlable… Aucun doute, l’heure des prédateurs a sonné. L’auteur du Mage du Kremlin les regarde en face, avec la lucidité d’un Machiavel et la hauteur de vue du moraliste. Giuliano da Empoli est un écrivain et un conseiller politique italien et suisse. Ses livres Les ingénieurs du chaos et Le mage du Kremlin ont été traduits en plus de trente langues. |
|
|||
|
An urgent exploration of a world in constant crisis, where every regional disaster threatens to become a global conflict, with lessons from history that can stop the spiral—from the New York Times bestselling author of The Revenge of Geography “Compelling and helpful . . . Kaplan’s analysis has enormous implications for U.S. strategy abroad. . . . His conclusion is the only right one.”—John Bolton, The Wall Street Journal One of Financial Times ’ Most Important Books to Read This Year • One of Foreign Policy ’s Most Anticipated Books of the Year We are entering a new era of global cataclysm in which the world faces a deadly mix of war, climate change, great power rivalry, rapid technological advancement, the end of both monarchy and empire, and countless other dangers. In Waste Land , Robert D. Kaplan, geopolitical expert and author of more than twenty books on world affairs, incisively explains how we got here and where we are going. Kaplan makes a novel argument that the current geopolitical landscape must be considered alongside contemporary social phenomena such as urbanization and digital news media, grounding his ideas in foundational modern works of philosophy, politics, and literature, including the poem from which the title is borrowed, and celebrating a canon of traditionally conservative thinkers, including Alexander Solzhenitsyn, Jeane Kirkpatrick, and many others. As in many of his books, Kaplan looks to history and literature to inform the present, drawing particular comparisons between today's challenges and the Weimar Republic, the post-World War I democratic German government that fell to Nazism in the 1930s. Just as in Weimar, which faced myriad crises inextricably bound up with global systems, the singular dilemmas of the twenty-first century—pandemic disease, recession, mass migration, the destabilizing effects of large-scale democracy and great power conflicts, and the intimate bonds created by technology—mean that every disaster in one country has the potential to become a global crisis, too. According to Kaplan, the solutions lie in prioritizing order in governing systems, arguing that stability and historic liberalism rather than mass democracy per se will save global populations from an anarchic future. Waste Land is a bracing glimpse into a future defined by the connections afforded by technology but with remarkable parallels to the past. Just as it did in Weimar, Kaplan fears the situation may be spiraling out of our control—unless our leaders act first. |
|
|||
|
AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES AND USA TODAY BESTSELLER "For anyone who wants to stand up to disinformation and deepen their understanding of politics without getting lost in jargon, this book is essential reading.” —Brian Tyler Cohen, YouTuber and bestselling author of Shameless From the host of The David Pakman Show comes a vital exploration of how right-wing extremism, media manipulation, and ideological echo chambers have eroded critical thinking and deepened political divisions —and how we can fight back to save our democracy The 2024 election cycle made one thing clear: disinformation isn’t just a byproduct of our political system—it’s a weaponized force shaping public opinion. In The Echo Machine , popular radio and podcast host David Pakman unpacks how misinformation spreads, why people become trapped in ideological bubbles, and the real-world consequences of media echo chambers on democracy. With his trademark clarity and sharp analysis, Pakman offers a roadmap for breaking free from cycles of manipulation and reclaiming critical thinking. Deeply researched and accessibly written, The Echo Machine is not just an exposé but a call to action. Beyond dissecting how we got to this point, Pakman also offers tangible solutions for how we can fix our broken system: increasing media literacy, cultivating intellectual humility, and consciously engaging with diverse viewpoints. As one early reader put it, "Pakman doesn’t just diagnose the disease of disinformation—he prescribes the cure." Whether you’re left-leaning, right-leaning, or somewhere in between, The Echo Machine challenges you to rethink the information you consume and recognize the forces shaping modern discourse. In an era where misinformation is rampant and democracy hangs in the balance, this book is an essential guide to navigating the political landscape with clarity and reason. |
|
|||
|
Véritable classique de l’écologie, La simplicité volontaire est une réflexion profonde sur notre rapport à la consommation et sur notre pouvoir d’organiser notre vie autrement. Serge Mongeau remet en question la société de consommation dans toutes ses dimensions, cette «cage dorée» qui s’avère une source de multiples aliénations: les individus existent par ce qu’ils possèdent et non plus par ce qu’ils sont, pendant que la frénésie consommatrice continue à menacer notre environnement. Privilégiant l’être sur l’avoir, l’auteur prône une philosophie de vie recentrée sur les besoins essentiels, les plaisirs simples, l’engagement dans sa communauté – des comportements à la base de l’épanouissement personnel et collectif. Vingt-cinq ans après avoir propulsé le concept dans l’espace public et près de 40 000 exemplaires plus tard, La simplicité volontaire n’a rien perdu de sa pertinence; même que la démarche s’impose plus que jamais. Une occasion unique de (re)découvrir une pensée d’une grande sagesse. Pour ma part, il y a longtemps que j’ai découvert que «le système» – la société de consommation dans laquelle je vis – nous enferme, individuellement et collectivement, dans une cage qui nous laisse de moins en moins de choix véritables et de vraie liberté. Que les barreaux de la cage soient dorés ne change rien à la réalité profonde de l’aliénation de ses prisonniers. |
|
|||
|
L’extrême droite a pris le pouvoir dans une foule de pays et elle menace de triompher dans plusieurs autres. Mark Fortier s’inquiète, mais il est aussi très las. Résolument campé à gauche dans ses convictions politiques, il constate que s’il ne veut pas être la proie des prochains maîtres du monde, il lui faudra changer de camp. Bien entendu, ce «journal de conversion» est une satire, un pamphlet cinglant et comique qui s’en prend aux fascistes, mais en premier lieu à tous ceux qui ont laissé la démocratie se dissoudre. L’auteur s’y compose une psyché autoritariste et s’efforce d’adhérer avec enthousiasme aux convictions de la droite radicale. Il offre surtout un portrait saisissant de la dégradation de nos institutions et une description affligeante de ce qui point lorsque l’on cesse de résister. Heureusement, la thérapie échoue, laissant tout de même ce qu’il faut de raison pour ne pas céder entièrement au désespoir. |
|
|||
|
Hannah Arendt's definitive work on totalitarianism—an essential component of any study of twentieth-century political history. The Origins of Totalitarianism begins with the rise of anti-Semitism in central and western Europe in the 1800s and continues with an examination of European colonial imperialism from 1884 to the outbreak of World War I. Arendt explores the institutions and operations of totalitarian movements, focusing on the two genuine forms of totalitarian government in our time—Nazi Germany and Stalinist Russia—which she adroitly recognizes were two sides of the same coin, rather than opposing philosophies of Right and Left. From this vantage point, she discusses the evolution of classes into masses, the role of propaganda in dealing with the nontotalitarian world, the use of terror, and the nature of isolation and loneliness as preconditions for total domination. |
|
|||
|
This “succinct and eye-opening collection of recent interviews and essays [presents] sober and unflinching analysis” of Gaza’s humanitarian crisis ( Publishers Weekly ).   While numerous books address Israel-Palestine conflict, Gaza in Crisis brings together two renowned thinkers—American activist Noam Chomsky and Israeli historian Ilan Pappé—to examine why this conflict has lasted so long, who can stop it, and how. Israel’s Operation Cast Lead, a 2008 military assault on the Gaza Strip, thrust the region to the center of the discussion. With expert knowledge and deep insight, Chomsky and Pappé survey the fallout from Israel's conduct in Gaza and place it in historical context.   This revised and expanded edition includes a new essay by Pappé called “The Ten Mythologies of Israel,” originally written for the New York session of the Russell Tribunal on Palestine. Also included is Chomsky’s incisive essay “‘Exterminate All the Brutes’: Gaza 2009” and a dialogue between the two writers on “The Ghettoization of Palestine.” |
|
|||
|
On the street, which was ankle-deep in discarded fast-food wrappings, I saw a woman who had pulled down her slacks and tied a pair of plastic breasts to her bare buttocks, while a man crawled after her on the sidewalk, licking them. At midnight along this street – with the sound of rock music pounding insistently out of club doors presided over by steroid-inflated bouncers, among men vomiting into the gutters – I saw children as young as six, unattended by adults, waiting for their parents to emerge from their nocturnal recreations.  The doctor and consultant psychiatrist Theodore Dalrymple looks at Great Britain - the nation which produced Newton and Darwin, Shakespeare and Dickens, David Hume and Adam Smith - and marvels at what it has become.  Its inner cities and council estates are places where 'the whole gamut of human folly, wickedness, and misery may be perused at leisure... abortions procured by abdominal kung fu; children who have children; women abandoned by the father of their child a month before or a month after delivery; insensate jealousy; serial stepfatherhood that leads to sexual and physical abuse of children on a mass scale.'  This timeless and beautifully-written collection of essays, looking at the collapse of the British way of life from an unashamedly conservative perspective, lays the blame squarely on the shoulders of the liberal intellectuals, who tend 'not to mean quite what they say, and express themselves more to flaunt the magnanimity of their intentions than to propagate truth.'  Life at the Bottom is full of insight, knowledge and mordant humour, and is a true classic by a great modern writer. |
|
|||
|
Globalization' has become one of the defining buzzwords of our time - a term that describes a variety of accelerating economic, political, cultural, ideological, and environmental processes that are rapidly altering our experience of the world. It is by its nature a dynamic topic - and this Very Short Introduction has been fully updated for 2009, to include developments in global politics, the impact of terrorism, and environmental issues. Presenting globalization in accessible language as a multifaceted process encompassing global, regional, and local aspects of social life, Manfred B. Steger looks at its causes and effects, examines whether it is a new phenomenon, and explores the question of whether, ultimately, globalization is a good or a bad thing. |
|
|||
|
« C’est l’histoire d’un violeur en série qui a toujours utilisé la soumission chimique pour commettre ses crimes. C’est l’histoire d’un système défaillant qui lui a permis d’échapper à la justice pendant de nombreuses années. C’est l’histoire d’une famille construite sur un mensonge, une famille qui a été pulvérisée et oubliée. C’est mon combat face à l’un des plus grands prédateurs pour obtenir la vérité. » C.D. Le 19 décembre 2024 s’est clos le procès de Mazan, inédit par son ampleur, son impact et par le courage de Gisèle Pelicot. Caroline Darian, la fille de la victime et du bourreau, nous offre son regard unique sur cette tragédie, révèle l’inachevé de l’enquête, et poursuit sans relâche son combat contre la soumission chimique et pour la manifestation de la vérité. Pour que l’on se souvienne de ce qui s’est joué à Mazan, avant et après. Pour que l’on n’oublie pas les victimes qui n’ont ni preuves ni souvenirs. |
|
|||
|
This book provides insight into the paradigmatic approaches evolved by CIA decades ago in Vietnam which remain operational practices today in Afghanistan, El Salvador, Iraq, Syria, Yemen and elsewhere. Valentine’s research into CIA activities began when CIA Director William Colby gave him free access to interview CIA officials who had been involved in various aspects of the Phoenix program in South Vietnam. The CIA would rescind it, making every effort to impede publication of The Phoenix Program, which documented the CIA’s elaborate system of population surveillance, control, entrapment, imprisonment, torture and assassination in Vietnam. While researching Phoenix, Valentine learned that the CIA allowed opium and heroin to flow from its secret bases in Laos, to generals and politicians on its payroll in South Vietnam. His investigations into this illegal activity focused on the CIA’s relationship with the federal drugs agencies mandated by Congress to stop illegal drugs from entering the United States. Based on interviews with senior officials, Valentine wrote two subsequent books, The Strength of the Wolf and The Strength of the Pack, showing how the CIA infiltrated federal drug law enforcement agencies and commandeered their executive management, intelligence and foreign operations staffs in order to ensure that the flow of drugs continues unimpeded to traffickers and foreign officials in its employ. Ultimately, portions of his research materials would be archived at the National Security Archive, Texas Tech University’s Vietnam Center, and John Jay College. This book includes excerpts from the above titles along with updated articles and transcripts of interviews on a range of current topics, with a view to shedding light on the systemic dimensions of the CIA’s ongoing illegal and extra-legal activities. These terrorism and drug law enforcement articles and interviews illustrate how the CIA’s activities impact social and political movements abroad and in the United States. A common theme is the CIA’s ability to deceive and propagandize the American public through its impenetrable government-sanctioned shield of official secrecy and plausible deniability. Though investigated by the Church Committee in 1975, CIA praxis then continues to inform CIA praxis now. Valentine tracks its steady infiltration into practices targeting the last population to be subjected to the exigencies of the American empire: the American people. |
|
|||
|
"Black’s Manifesto reminds us who we were and, therefore, who we are. In doing so, he lays the groundwork for us to consider who we might yet become." – Jordan Peterson, University of Toronto, Author of 12 Rules for Life WITH A NEW FOREWORD BY THE AUTHOR Chipper, patient, and courteous, Canada has pursued an improbable destiny as a splendid nation of relatively good and ably self-governing people, but most would agree we have not realized our true potential. Canada's main chance, writes Black, is now before it...and it is not in the usual realms of military or economic dominance. With the rest of the West engaged in a sterile left-right tug of war, Canada has the opportunity to lead the world to its next stage of development in the arts of government. By transforming itself into a controlled and sensible public policy laboratory, it can forge new solutions to the problems of welfare, education, health care, foreign policy, and other governmental sectors, and make an enormous contribution to the welfare of mankind. Canada has no excuse not to lead in this field, argues Black, who offers nineteen visionary policy proposals of his own. He claims that this "is the destiny, and the vocation, Canada could have, not in the next century, but in the next five years of imaginative government.” |
|
|||
|
Voici l'un des livres les plus importants de Peter Sloterdijk, l'auteur de Colère et temps et de Tu dois changer ta vie ! Il tire son titre du mot célèbre de Mme de Pompadour et propose une réflexion sur une société incapable d'assurer et d'assumer la transmission du savoir et de l'expérience depuis qu'elle a fait de la rupture le moteur de la modernité. Refuser tout héritage, faire table rase du passé, mépriser les modèles et les "filiations", rompre systématiquement avec le "père" : ce geste "moderne", qui nous englue dans le présent, mène aux pires catastrophes, humaines, politiques, économiques. Contre le culte de l'ici-et-maintenant, et pour sortir de notre malaise civilisationnel, le philosophe nous exhorte à nous réinscrire dans la durée. Telle est la leçon de ce livre, sans nul doute un essai magistral sur l'art de maîtriser sa liberté. |
|
|||
|
THE REST IS HISTORY CLUB BOOK OF THE MONTH 'One of the most engaging and fascinating histories of Europe I've read for years.' DOMINIC SANDBROOK 'Highly original and insightful' PD SMITH, GUARDIAN 'Thrillingly unique, knowledgeable, perceptive and profound' IAN DUNT The history of Europe told through twenty-nine key borders that define the past, present and future of our continent Europe's internal borders have rarely been 'natural'; they have more often been created by accident or force. In Borderlines , political historian Lewis Baston journeys along twenty-nine key borders from west to east Europe, examining how the map of our continent has been redrawn over the last century, with varying degrees of success. The fingerprints of Napoleon, Alexander I, Castlereagh, Napoleon III and Bismarck are all there, but today's map of Europe is mostly the work of the Allies in 1919 and Stalin in 1945. To journey to the centre of the story of Europe, Baston takes us to its edges, bringing to life the fascinating and often bizarre histories of these border zones. We visit Baarle, the town broken into thirty fragments by the Netherland-Belgium border, and stop in Ostritz, the eastern German town where Nazis held a rock festival. We meander the back lanes of rural Ireland, and soak up the atmosphere in the coffee houses of the Ukrainian city of Chernivtsi. Through these borderlands, Baston explores how places and people heal from the scars left by a Europe of ethnic cleansing and barbed wire fences, and he searches for a better European future - finding it in unexpected places. 'An eye-opening read that combines Baston's travels along Europe's fault lines with incredible insights on how they got there in the first place.' KATJA HOYER 'Beautiful. A true gem... [his] unique take on human nature through the history and heritage of the borderlands ends up being deeply moving.' - IRISH INDEPENDENT ' Extraordinarily perceptive and original' ANTHONY SELDON 'Refreshing and important' RAFAEL BEHR |
|
|||
|
An analysis of contemporary violence as the new commodity of today's hyper-consumerist stage of capitalism. “Death has become the most profitable business in existence.” —from Gore Capitalism Written by the Tijuana activist intellectual Sayak Valencia, Gore Capitalism is a crucial essay that posits a decolonial, feminist philosophical approach to the outbreak of violence in Mexico and, more broadly, across the global regions of the Third World. Valencia argues that violence itself has become a product within hyper-consumerist neoliberal capitalism, and that tortured and mutilated bodies have become commodities to be traded and utilized for profit in an age of impunity and governmental austerity. In a lucid and transgressive voice, Valencia unravels the workings of the politics of death in the context of contemporary networks of hyper-consumption, the ups and downs of capital markets, drug trafficking, narcopower, and the impunity of the neoliberal state. She looks at the global rise of authoritarian governments, the erosion of civil society, the increasing violence against women, the deterioration of human rights, and the transformation of certain cities and regions into depopulated, ghostly settings for war. She offers a trenchant critique of masculinity and gender constructions in Mexico, linking their misogynist force to the booming trade in violence. This book is essential reading for anyone seeking to analyze the new landscapes of war. It provides novel categories that allow us to deconstruct what is happening, while proposing vital epistemological tools developed in the convulsive Third World border space of Tijuana. |
|
|||
|
A two-volume study of political thought from the late thirteenth to the end of the sixteenth century, the decisive period of transition from medieval to modern political theory. The work is intended to be both an introduction to the period for students, and a presentation and justification of a particular approach to the interpretation of historical texts. Quentin Skinner gives an outline account of all the principal texts of the period, discussing in turn the chief political writings of Dante, Marsiglio, Bartolus, Machiavelli, Erasmus and more, Luther and Calvin, Bodin and the Calvinist revolutionaries. But he also examines a very large number of lesser writers in order to explain the general social and intellectual context in which these leading theorists worked. He thus presents the history not as a procession of 'classic texts' but are more readily intelligible. He traces by this means the gradual emergence of the vocabulary of modern political thought, and in particular the crucial concept of the State. We are given an insight into the actual processes of the formation of ideologies and into some of the linkages between political theory and practice. Professor Skinner has been awarded the Balzan Prize Life Time Achievement Award for Political Thought, History and Theory. Full details of this award can be found at http://www.balzan.it/News_eng.aspx?ID=2474 |
|
|||
|
透過政治學系列中的權威探索“政治史”,解開全球治理的深刻複雜性。這本重要的著作深入探討了政治制度和意識形態的演變,並追蹤它們對當代政治格局的影響。無論您是專業人士、學生還是歷史愛好者,這本書都為塑造現代社會的歷史發展提供了無與倫比的見解。 章節摘要: 1. 政治史-探討政治史的基本要素及其對當前政治氣候的影響。 2. 外交史-研究國際關係和外交在塑造全球聯盟和衝突的演變。 3. 史學-深入研究歷史寫作和方法論,研究對政治事件不斷演變的解釋。 4.馬克思主義史學-揭示馬克思主義的歷史分析視角,重點在於階級鬥爭和經濟影響。 5. 法國大革命的史學-檢視法國大革命的不同解釋及其對政治思想的影響。 6. 比較歷史-分析不同的政治制度和歷史事件,了解其獨特和共同的特徵。 7. 歷史-對歷史背景及其在政治發展中的意義有廣泛的了解。 8. 大英帝國史學-探索對大英帝國史及其持久全球影響力的解讀。 9. 美國史學-分析美國歷史的各種觀點及其對其政治認同的影響。 10.美國政治史-深入研究美國政治史上的關鍵事件和人物及其持久影響。 11. 年鑑學派-了解年鑑學派對社會和經濟因素而非傳統政治敘事的關注。 12. 歷史學家-發現歷史學家在解釋和記錄政治史方面的角色和方法。 13. 社會史-考察社會運動和政治發展的交叉點。 14. Frederick Jackson Turner – 了解特納的前沿論文及其對美國歷史思想的影響。 15. 查爾斯·A·比爾德 (Charles A. Beard) – 探討比爾德關於美國政治和憲政發展的理論。 16. 前沿論文-深入研究前沿論文及其在美國政治史上的意義。 17. 比勒費爾德學派-調查比勒費爾德學派對歷史理論與政治史的貢獻。 18. 加拿大史學-分析加拿大史學及其對理解加拿大政治演變的影響。 19. 英國史學-探索英國歷史的解釋及其對其政治軌跡的影響。 20. 德國史學-考察德國史的研究方法及其對政治分析的影響。 21. 非洲史學-在更廣泛的政治史背景下研究對非洲歷史的解釋。 *政治史*是對理解政治演變的投資。本書每一章都提供深入的分析和獨特的視角,是理解政治史及其對當今世界持久影響的寶貴資源。 |
|
|||
|
During the past decade, armed drones have entered the American military arsenal as a core tactic for countering terrorism. When coupled with access to reliable information, they make it possible to deploy lethal force accurately across borders while keeping one’s own soldiers out of harm’s way. The potential to direct force with great precision also offers the possibility of reducing harm to civilians. At the same time, because drones eliminate some of the traditional constraints on the use of force—like the need to gain political support for full mobilization—they lower the threshold for launching military strikes. The development of drone use capacity across dozens of countries increases the need for global standards on the use of these weapons to assure that their deployment is strategically wise and ethically and legally sound. Presenting a robust conversation among leading scholars in the areas of international legal standards, counterterrorism strategy, humanitarian law, and the ethics of force, Drones and the Future of Armed Conflict takes account of current American drone campaigns and the developing legal, ethical, and strategic implications of this new way of warfare. Among the contributions to this volume are a thorough examination of the American government’s legal justifications for the targeting of enemies using drones, an analysis of American drone campaigns’ notable successes and failures, and a discussion of the linked issues of human rights, freedom of information, and government accountability. |
|
|||
|
"As a key component of the United States intelligence community, the CIA has played a pivotal yet often unseen role in some of the most significant geopolitical events of the 20th and 21st centuries. From infiltrating Nazi ranks during World War Il to attempts to undermine Fidel Castro’s regime during the Cold War, the Agency frequently operated with unclear boundaries between diplomatic and clandestine activities. Public perception of the CIA ranges from vilifying to sensationalistic, magnified by Hollywood portrayals. This book provides an inside look at the CIA’s evolution, scrutinizing both accomplishments and controversies. The events and evidence unfold through the lens of insiders and policy analysts. The assessment casts new light on the outsized role this agency has assumed in guiding geopolitics from the shadows. Both novices and scholars of security affairs will find ample information to make their own judgments on the necessity and ethical dilemmas inherent to intelligence work." |
