Brian Van DeMark's Books

Pandora's Keepers

Nine Men and the Atomic Bomb

By: Brian Van DeMark

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Pandora's Keepers

Nine Men and the Atomic Bomb

By: Brian Van DeMark

There Were Nine of Them: men with the names Oppenheimer, Teller, Fermi, Bohr, Lawrence, Bethe, Rabi, Szilard, and Compton-brilliant men who believed in science and who saw before anyone else did the awesome workings of an invisible world. They came from many places, some fleeing Nazism in Europe, others quietly slipping out of university teaching jobs, all gathering in secret wartime laboratories to create the world's first atomic bomb. At one such place hidden away in the mountains of northern New Mexico-Los Alamos-they would crack the secret of the nuclear chain reaction and construct a device that incinerated a city and melted its victims so thoroughly that the only thing left was their scorched outlines on the sidewalks. During the war, few of the atomic scientists questioned the wisdom of their desperate endeavor. But afterward, they were forced to deal with the sobering legacy of their creation. Some were haunted by the dead of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and would become anti-nuclear weapons activists; others would go on to build bigger and even deadlier bombs. Some would remain friends; others would become bitter rivals and enemies. In explaining their lives and their struggles, Brian VanDeMark superbly illuminates the ways in which these brilliant and sensitive men came to terms with their horrific creation. The result is spectacular history and a moral investigation of the highest order.

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551

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Hachette+ORM

Published Date

ISBN 10

0759528071

ISBN 13

9780759528079

Into the Quagmire

Lyndon Johnson and the Escalation of the Vietnam War

By: Brian VanDeMark

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Into the Quagmire

Lyndon Johnson and the Escalation of the Vietnam War

By: Brian VanDeMark

In November of 1964, as Lyndon Johnson celebrated his landslide victory over Barry Goldwater, the government of South Vietnam lay in a shambles. Ambassador Maxwell Taylor described it as a country beset by "chronic factionalism, civilian-military suspicion and distrust, absence of national spirit and motivation, lack of cohesion in the social structure, lack of experience in the conduct of government." Virtually no one in the Johnson Administration believed that Saigon could defeat the communist insurgency--and yet by July of 1965, a mere nine months later, they would lock the United States on a path toward massive military intervention which would ultimately destroy Johnson's presidency and polarize the American people. Into the Quagmire presents a closely rendered, almost day-by-day account of America's deepening involvement in Vietnam during those crucial nine months. Mining a wealth of recently opened material at the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and elsewhere, Brian VanDeMark vividly depicts the painful unfolding of a national tragedy. We meet an LBJ forever fearful of a conservative backlash, which he felt would doom his Great Society, an unsure and troubled leader grappling with the unwanted burden of Vietnam; George Ball, a maverick on Vietnam, whose carefully reasoned (and, in retrospect, strikingly prescient) stand against escalation was discounted by Rusk, McNamara, and Bundy; and Clark Clifford, whose last-minute effort at a pivotal meeting at Camp David failed to dissuade Johnson from doubling the number of ground troops in Vietnam. What comes across strongly throughout the book is the deep pessimism of all the major participants as things grew worse--neither LBJ, nor Bundy, nor McNamara, nor Rusk felt confident that things would improve in South Vietnam, that there was any reasonable chance for victory, or that the South had the will or the ability to prevail against the North. And yet deeper into the quagmire they went. Whether describing a tense confrontation between George Ball and Dean Acheson ("You goddamned old bastards," Ball said to Acheson, "you remind me of nothing so much as a bunch of buzzards sitting on a fence and letting the young men die") or corrupt politicians in Saigon, VanDeMark provides readers with the full flavor of national policy in the making. More important, he sheds greater light on why America became entangled in the morass of Vietnam.

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285

Publisher

Oxford University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0195357191

ISBN 13

9780195357196

American Sheikhs

Two Families, Four Generations, and the Story of America's Influence in the Middle East

By: Brian VanDeMark

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American Sheikhs

Two Families, Four Generations, and the Story of America's Influence in the Middle East

By: Brian VanDeMark

American Sheikhs is the story of a great institution—the American University of Beirut (AUB)—and the families who created and fostered it for almost 150 years. Author Brian VanDeMark’s vivid narrative includes not only the colorful history of AUB and many memorable episodes in a family saga, but also larger and more important themes. In the story of the efforts of these two families to build a great school with alternating audacity, arrogance, generosity, paternalism, and vision, the author clearly sees an allegory for the larger history of the United States in the Middle East. Before 1945, AUB’s history is largely positive. Despite American nationalism and presumptions of Manifest Destiny, Middle Easterners generally viewed the school as an engine of constructive change and the United States as a benign force in the region. But in the post-World War II era, with the rise of America as a world power, AUB found itself buffeted by the strong winds of nationalist frustration, Zionism and anti-Zionism, and—eventually—Islamic extremism. Middle Easterners became more ambivalent about America’s purposes and began to see the university not just as a cradle of learning but also as an agent of undesirable Western interests. This story is full of meaning today. By revealing how and why the Blisses and Dodges both succeeded and failed in their attempts to influence the Middle East, VanDeMark shows how America’s outreach to the Middle East can be improved and the vital importance of maintaining good relations between Americans and the Arab world in the new century.

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Page Count

279

Publisher

Prometheus Books

Published Date

ISBN 10

1616144777

ISBN 13

9781616144777

Kent State: An American Tragedy

By: Brian VanDeMark

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Kent State: An American Tragedy

By: Brian VanDeMark

A definitive history of the fatal clash between Vietnam War protestors and the National Guard, illuminating its causes and lasting consequences. On May 4, 1970, at Kent State University in Ohio, political fires that had been burning across America during the 1960s exploded. Antiwar protesters wearing bell-bottom jeans and long hair hurled taunts and rocks at another group of young Americans—National Guardsmen sporting gas masks and rifles. At half past noon, violence unfolded with chaotic speed, as guardsmen—many of whom had joined the Guard to escape the draft—opened fire on the students. Two reductive narratives ensued: one, that lethal state violence targeted Americans who spoke their minds; the other, that law enforcement gave troublemakers the comeuppance they deserved. For over fifty years, little middle ground has been found due to incomplete and sometimes contradictory evidence. Kent State meticulously re-creates the divided cultural landscape of America during the Vietnam War and heightened popular anxieties around the country. On college campuses, teach-ins, sit-down strikes, and demonstrations exposed the growing rift between the left and the right. Many students opposed the war as unnecessary and unjust and were uneasy over poor and working-class kids drafted and sent to Vietnam in their place. Some developed a hatred for the military, the police, and everything associated with authority, while others resolved to uphold law and order at any cost. Focusing on the thirteen victims of the Kent State shooting and a painstaking reconstruction of the days surrounding it, historian Brian VanDeMark draws on crucial new research and interviews—including, for the first time, the perspective of guardsmen who were there. The result is a complete reckoning with the tragedy that marked the end of the sixties.

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Page Count

289

Publisher

W. W. Norton & Company

Published Date

ISBN 10

1324066261

ISBN 13

9781324066262

The Encyclopedia of Native Music

More Than a Century of Recordings from Wax Cylinder to the Internet

By: Brian Wright-McLeod

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The Encyclopedia of Native Music

More Than a Century of Recordings from Wax Cylinder to the Internet

By: Brian Wright-McLeod

Want the word on Buffy Sainte-Marie? Looking for the best powwow recordings? Wondering what else Jim Pepper cut besides “Witchi Tai To”? This book will answer those questions and more as it opens up the world of Native American music. In addition to the widely heard sounds of Carlos Nakai’s flute, Native music embraces a wide range of forms: country and folk, jazz and swing, reggae and rap. Brian Wright-McLeod, producer/host of Canada’s longest-running Native radio program, has gathered the musicians and their music into this comprehensive reference, an authoritative source for biographies and discographies of hundreds of Native artists. The Encyclopedia of Native Music recognizes the multifaceted contributions made by Native recording artists by tracing the history of their commercially released music. It provides an overview of the surprising abundance of recorded Native music while underlining its historical value. With almost 1,800 entries spanning more than 100 years, this book leads readers from early performers of traditional songs like William Horncloud to artists of the new millennium such as Zotigh. Along the way, it includes entries for jazz and blues artists never widely acknowledged for their Native roots—Oscar Pettiford, Mildred Bailey, and Keely Smith—and traces the recording histories of contemporary performers like Rita Coolidge and Jimmy Carl Black, “the Indian of the group” in the original Mothers of Invention. It also includes film soundtracks and compilation albums that have been instrumental in bringing many artists to popular attention. In addition to music, it lists spoken-word recordings, including audio books, comedy, interviews, poetry, and more. With this unprecedented breadth of coverage and extensively cross-referenced, The Encyclopedia of Native Music is an essential guide for enthusiasts and collectors. More than that, it is a gateway to the authentic music of North America—music of the people who have known this land from time immemorial and continue to celebrate it in sound.

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Page Count

462

Publisher

University of Arizona Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0816538646

ISBN 13

9780816538645

Road to Disaster

A New History of America's Descent into Vietnam

By: Brian VanDeMark

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Road to Disaster

A New History of America's Descent into Vietnam

By: Brian VanDeMark

The most thoughtful and judicious one-volume history of the war and the American political leaders who presided over the difficult and painful decisions that shaped this history. The book will stand for the foreseeable future as the best study of the tragic mistakes that led to so much suffering."—Robert Dallek Many books have been written on the tragic decisions regarding Vietnam made by the young stars of the Kennedy and Johnson administrations. Yet despite millions of words of analysis and reflection, no historian has been able to explain why such decent, brilliant, and previously successful men stumbled so badly. That changes with Road to Disaster. Historian Brian VanDeMark draws upon decades of archival research, his own interviews with many of those involved, and a wealth of previously unheard recordings by Robert McNamara and Clark Clifford, who served as Defense Secretaries for Kennedy and Johnson. Yet beyond that, Road to Disaster is also the first history of the war to look at the cataclysmic decisions of those in the Kennedy and Johnson administrations through the prism of recent research in cognitive science, psychology, and organizational theory to explain why the "Best and the Brightest" became trapped in situations that suffocated creative thinking and willingness to dissent, why they found change so hard, and why they were so blind to their own errors. An epic history of America’s march to quagmire, Road to Disaster is a landmark in scholarship and a book of immense importance.

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992

Publisher

HarperCollins

Published Date

ISBN 10

0062449761

ISBN 13

9780062449764

Paris Climate Agreement: Beacon of Hope

By: Ross J. Salawitch,Timothy P. Canty,Austin P. Hope,Walter R. Tribett,Brian F. Bennett

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Paris Climate Agreement: Beacon of Hope

By: Ross J. Salawitch,Timothy P. Canty,Austin P. Hope,Walter R. Tribett,Brian F. Bennett

This book is open access under a CC BY 4.0 license. This volume presents an Empirical Model of Global Climate developed by the authors and uses that model to show that global warming will likely remain below 2oC, relative to preindustrial, throughout this century provided: a) both the unconditional and conditional Paris INDC commitments are followed; b) the emission reductions needed to achieve the Paris INDCs are carried forward to 2060 and beyond. The first section of the book provides a short overview of Earth’s climate system, describing and contrasting climatic changes throughout the planet’s history and anthropogenic changes post-Industrial Revolution. The second section describes the climate model developed by the authors (Canty et al., Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 2013) and contrasts the model with climate models used in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 2013 Report. Chapter 3 examines both the unconditional (i.e., firm commitments) and conditional Paris INDCs (commitments contingent on financial flow and/or technology transfer) through the lens of their climate model and concludes that if all of the Paris INDCs are followed, then they are indeed a beacon of hope for Earth’s climate. The fourth part of the book offers a perspective of energy needs and subsequent emissions reductions required to meet the Paris temperature goals, illuminating challenges faced both in the developing world and the developed world. Throughout the book, easy-to-understand charts and graphics illustrate concepts. The scientific basis of Chapters 2 and 3 was first presented in a keynote session of the 96th Annual Meeting of the American Meteorological Society in January, 2016.

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Page Count

198

Publisher

Springer

Published Date

ISBN 10

3319469398

ISBN 13

9783319469393

White-Collar Crime

A Systems Approach

By: Brian K. Payne

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White-Collar Crime

A Systems Approach

By: Brian K. Payne

Updated with an exciting new chapter on political crime that highlights the debated connections between crime and politics, the Third Edition of White-Collar Crime: A Systems Approach provides students with a comprehensive introduction to the most important topics within white-collar crime. Brian K. Payne provides a theoretical framework and context for students to explore white-collar crime as a crime problem, a criminal justice problem, and a social problem. By introducing the topics within a systems-focused framework, Payne encourages students to examine the many types of white-collar crime as well as the various systems for responding to white-collar crime. Included with this text The online resources for your text are available via the password-protected Instructor Resource Site.

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Page Count

601

Publisher

SAGE Publications

Published Date

ISBN 10

1071848712

ISBN 13

9781071848715

Road to Disaster

A New History of America's Descent into Vietnam

By: Brian VanDeMark

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Road to Disaster

A New History of America's Descent into Vietnam

By: Brian VanDeMark

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992

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HarperCollins

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ISBN 10

0062449761

ISBN 13

9780062449764

Children, Families and Violence

Challenges for Children's Rights

By: Brian Howe,Katherine Covell

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Children, Families and Violence

Challenges for Children's Rights

By: Brian Howe,Katherine Covell

This book examines the risk factors surrounding children at risk of experiencing and perpetrating violence, and looks at the positive role that children's rights can play in their protection. The authors propose that violence in childhood is not spontaneous: that children are raised to become violent in poorly functioning families and child-unfriendly environments. They may be exposed to toxic substances in utero, to maltreatment in infancy, to domestic violence or parental criminality as they grow up. Each of these risk factors is empirically linked with the development of antisocial and aggressive behaviour, and each reflects a violation of children's rights to protection from maltreatment. The authors show how respecting children's rights and safeguarding them from exposure to violence can shift the balance between risk and protective factors and, as a result, reduce the incidence and severity of childhood violence. This book will be essential reading for professionals working in child protection or with young offenders, academics, students, practitioners and policy-makers.

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Page Count

289

Publisher

Jessica Kingsley Publishers

Published Date

ISBN 10

1846428475

ISBN 13

9781846428470

Kent State: An American Tragedy

By: Brian VanDeMark

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Kent State: An American Tragedy

By: Brian VanDeMark

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289

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W. W. Norton & Company

Published Date

ISBN 10

1324066261

ISBN 13

9781324066262

Pandora's Keepers

Nine Men and the Atomic Bomb

By: Brian Van DeMark

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Pandora's Keepers

Nine Men and the Atomic Bomb

By: Brian Van DeMark

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551

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Hachette+ORM

Published Date

ISBN 10

0759528071

ISBN 13

9780759528079

Into the Quagmire

Lyndon Johnson and the Escalation of the Vietnam War

By: Brian VanDeMark

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Into the Quagmire

Lyndon Johnson and the Escalation of the Vietnam War

By: Brian VanDeMark

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Page Count

285

Publisher

Oxford University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0195357191

ISBN 13

9780195357196

American Sheikhs

Two Families, Four Generations, and the Story of America's Influence in the Middle East

By: Brian VanDeMark

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American Sheikhs

Two Families, Four Generations, and the Story of America's Influence in the Middle East

By: Brian VanDeMark

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252

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1616144769

ISBN 13

9781616144760

Book's by Brian Van DeMark

Pandora's Keepers

Pandora's Keepers

Into the Quagmire

Into the Quagmire

American Sheikhs

American Sheikhs

Kent State: An American Tragedy

Kent State: An American Tragedy

The Encyclopedia of Native Music

The Encyclopedia of Native Music

Road to Disaster

Road to Disaster

Paris Climate Agreement: Beacon of Hope

Paris Climate Agreement: Beacon of Hope

White-Collar Crime

White-Collar Crime

Road to Disaster

Road to Disaster

Children, Families and Violence

Children, Families and Violence

Kent State: An American Tragedy

Kent State: An American Tragedy

Pandora's Keepers

Pandora's Keepers

Into the Quagmire

Into the Quagmire

American Sheikhs

American Sheikhs

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