Gwynne Dyer's Books

The Mess They Made

The Middle East After Iraq

By: Gwynne Dyer

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The Mess They Made

The Middle East After Iraq

By: Gwynne Dyer

As Iraq descends ever closer to civil war, no one doubts that George W. Bush's Iraq strategy has been an abysmal failure—just as Gwynne Dyer argued it would be in both Ignorant Armies and Future: Tense. The question now is what will happen not just in Iraq but in the whole Middle East region once American troops are withdrawn. In The Mess They Made, Dyer predicts that the Middle East will go through the biggest shake up since the region was conquered and folded into the Ottoman Empire five centuries ago. In his trademark vivid prose, and in arguments as clear as his research is thorough, Dyer brings his considerable knowledge and understanding of the region to bear on the issue of how widespread the meltdown in the Middle East will likely be. In five chapters, Dyer points the way from present policies and events to likely future developments in Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, and in the various other countries of the region, not least of which is nuclear-armed Israel.

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282

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McClelland & Stewart

Published Date

ISBN 10

1551992604

ISBN 13

9781551992600

With Every Mistake

By: Gwynne Dyer

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With Every Mistake

By: Gwynne Dyer

This essential collection contains the best of Gwynne Dyer’s writing on the post–September 11 world. Since 1973, writer, historian and filmmaker Gwynne Dyer has written a widely syndicated newspaper column on international affairs, regularly published in 45 countries. With Every Mistake is not only a collection of the very best of Dyer’s recent work, but an examination of how, time and again, the media skews fact and opinion, wielding formidable influence on how we all shape our own thoughts. And why is so much of the information wrong? Is it herd instinct, official manipulation, robber-baron owners with ideological obsessions — or just the conflict between the inherently bitty, short-term nature of news reporting and analysis and the longer perspectives needed to understand what is actually going on? How much misinformation stems from simple ignorance and laziness? With Every Mistake combines an examination of how powerful owners mould the agendas of the press with a self-critique of Dyer’s own columns from the three and a half years between 9/11 and the January 2005 election in Iraq. How hard is it to get things right, and why do so many people in the media get things wrong?

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434

Publisher

Vintage Canada

Published Date

ISBN 10

0307375838

ISBN 13

9780307375834

After Iraq

Anarchy and Renewal in the Middle East

By: Gwynne Dyer

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After Iraq

Anarchy and Renewal in the Middle East

By: Gwynne Dyer

“The Iraqi state that was formed in the aftermath of the First World War has come to an end. Its successor state is struggling to be born in an environment of crises and chaos.” ---Ali Allawi, Iraq’s former Minister of Defense Allawi is not exaggerating. The disastrous American invasion of Iraq that has led to the destruction of the Iraqi state and the subsequent defeat of U.S. military power has finally destabilized the entire Middle East---a region that has been tightly controlled by European and American powers and that has changed little, politically, in forty years. But, in losing the war in Iraq, the United States has lost the will to maintain the status quo in the Middle East, and the forces unleashed by the destruction of Iraq will go on to shape the future of the region in a way that no one can predict. As Gwynne Dyer argues in After Iraq, the Middle East is about to change fundamentally, and everything is now up for grabs: regimes, ethnic pecking orders within states, even national borders themselves are liable to change without notice. Five years from now there could be an Islamic Republic of Arabia, an independent Kurdistan, a Muslim cold war between Sunnis and Shias, almost anything you care to imagine. Written with clarity, intelligence, and Dyer’s trademark dark humor, After Iraq is essential reading for anyone wanting an informed historical perspective on the future of one of the most important and volatile regions in the world.

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280

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Macmillan

Published Date

ISBN 10

0312378459

ISBN 13

9780312378455

War

The New Edition

By: Gwynne Dyer

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War

The New Edition

By: Gwynne Dyer

A revised edition of Dyer’s classic book, widely regarded as one of the most compelling analyses of the history of armed conflict. “War is part of our history, but it is not in at all the same sense part of our prehistory. It is one of the innovations that occurred between nine and eleven thousand years ago when the first civilized societies were coming into being. What has been invented can be changed; war is not in our genes.” With this provocative statement, Gwynne Dyer launches his brilliant discussion of the history and nature of war. He traces the growth of organized warfare through history, showing conclusively that the basic tenet has remained unchanged—war is an act of mass violence applied against an enemy so that he will do what you want him to do. The only real change has been technological, permitting us to make war on a mass scale. At the height of the Cold War, just such a global conflagration seemed almost inevitable. But the collapse of the Iron Curtain and the ensuing political changes have forced a re-examination of the accepted fundamentals of history. Will open access to the channels of mass communication create enough shared values that we can move beyond mass warfare? Is the threat of terrorism a red herring designed to preserve the military status quo? Are our traditional military and administrative hierarchical structures still relevant? Now, more than ever in our post–September 11 world, we need Gwynne Dyer’s expertise to understand the greatest and most human drama—the act of war. Excerpt from War: The Siamese twins, army and state, have never been separated since they were born some eight or nine thousand years ago — and most of the time the state is the stronger of the twins. Armies exist to serve the interests of the state that owns them and their legitimacy comes solely from the fact that they belong to states; similar groups of armed men, if self-employed, are generally known as rebels or bandits. This is the context in which warfare, as opposed to casual and illegitimate violence, must be seen: it is something states do, and have always done, because they believe it serves their interest.

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493

Publisher

Vintage Canada

Published Date

ISBN 10

0307369013

ISBN 13

9780307369017

Climate Wars

The Fight for Survival as the World Overheats

By: Gwynne Dyer

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Climate Wars

The Fight for Survival as the World Overheats

By: Gwynne Dyer

An essential, terryfying, and insightful analysis of a world plunging into crisis arrives in mass market paperback Dwindling resources. Massive population shifts. Natural disasters. Any of the expected consequences of climate change could - as Gwyne Dyer argues - tip the world towards chaos and conflict. Bold, unflinching, and based on extensive research, Climate Wars is an essential guide to the future of our planet that grippingly reveals just how far world powers are likely to go to ensure their own survival in an increasingly hostile environment.

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329

Publisher

Simon and Schuster

Published Date

ISBN 10

178074059X

ISBN 13

9781780740591

Growing Pains

the future of democracy (and work)

By: Gwynne Dyer

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Growing Pains

the future of democracy (and work)

By: Gwynne Dyer

We are now living in a world where Brexit and Trump are daily realities. But how did this come about? And what does it mean for the future? Populism and ultra-nationalism brought about the rise of Hitler and Mussolini in the 1930s. Now, as Trump sits in the White House, Britain negotiates its way out of the EU, and countries across Europe see substantial gains in support for the extreme Right, award-winning journalist, author, and historian Gwynne Dyer asks how we got here, and where we go next. Dyer examines the global challenges facing us all today and explains how they have contributed to a world of inequality, poverty, and joblessness — conditions which he argues inevitably lead to the rise of populism. The greatest threat to social and political stability, he argues, lies in the rise of automation, which will continue to eliminate jobs, whether politicians admit that it is happening or not. To avoid a social and political catastrophe, we will have to find ways of putting real money into the pockets of those who have no work. But this is not a book without hope. Our capacity for overcoming the worst has been tested again and again throughout history, and we have always survived. To do so now, Dyer argues, we must embrace radical solutions to the real difficulties facing individuals, or find ourselves back in the 1930s with no way out.

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160

Publisher

Scribe Publications

Published Date

ISBN 10

1925548430

ISBN 13

9781925548433

Ignorant Armies

Sliding Into War in Iraq

By: Gwynne Dyer

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Ignorant Armies

Sliding Into War in Iraq

By: Gwynne Dyer

Dyer followed the slide into war in Iraq every inch of the way, examining motives and bearing in mind the wider interests and the personalities involved.

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189

Publisher

McClelland & Stewart Limited

Published Date

ISBN 10

0771029772

ISBN 13

9780771029776

The Mess They Made

The Middle East After Iraq

By: Gwynne Dyer

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The Mess They Made

The Middle East After Iraq

By: Gwynne Dyer

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282

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McClelland & Stewart

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ISBN 10

1551992604

ISBN 13

9781551992600

Intervention Earth

Life-Saving Ideas from the World's Climate Engineers

By: Gwynne Dyer

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Intervention Earth

Life-Saving Ideas from the World's Climate Engineers

By: Gwynne Dyer

Historian, journalist, and author Gwynne Dyer tracks down the world’s top climate scientists to discuss the extraordinary measures we must contemplate to counter the irreversible effects of climate change. The global climate emergency is now an alarming fact of life. Much as we still need to get emissions under control, many are thinking that it's all too little, too late. As scientists, politicians and concerned citizens scramble for solutions to the catastrophic effects of a warming world, is it time to be exploring the controversial topic of geoengineering? For decades, discerning readers have turned to journalist and historian Gwynne Dyer for his unparalleled acumen in serving up hard geopolitical truths. Intervention Earth is built around Dyer’s interviews with sixty climate scientists from around the globe, including the leading figures in the geoengineering field. One of the most interesting topics: the pros and cons of Solar Radiation Management, a possible planetary Hail Mary that is rife with political risks. But Intervention Earth is about more than technological mega-projects. Dyer devotes ample space to the many innovative ideas on offer, but there is no get-out-of-jail-free card. We will need a whole portfolio of techniques and technologies—and a lot of hard, thankless work—to keep the planet hospitable for humanity. What’s more, many of the technologies that can help us avoid the worst outcomes require years of investment and development before they can be successfully deployed. Global cooperation will be key in implementing the life-saving strategies outlined in the book. Intervention Earth offers a probing, eye-opening look at the problems we face, and the innovations that just might keep us ahead of encroaching disaster and carry us to a safe harbour.

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353

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Random House Canada

Published Date

ISBN 10

0735280924

ISBN 13

9780735280922

War

The Lethal Custom

By: Gwynne Dyer

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War

The Lethal Custom

By: Gwynne Dyer

War was one of the first social innovations of civilisation. Organised warfare developed alongside organised society, and we have become very good at it. Technological innovation has made war so deadly that, were the great powers to go to war with each other today, a million people could die each minute. In War, journalist and military historian Gwynne Dyer takes the reader on an extraordinary tour: from the prehistoric origins of organised aggression, through the development of tactics and technology of mass killing culminating in the nuclear insanity of Mutually Assured Destruction during the Cold War, up to present-day terrorism, genocidal ethnic war, and one-sided campaigns of well-armed and organised Western nations against the armies of the Third World. As he surveys the scene from the walls of Jericho to the car bombs of Baghdad, Dyer goes beyond the strategy and psychology of battle to distil the essence of warfare. He reveals how societies have cultivated the martial instinct and carefully conditioned their soldiers to overcome their strong, innate resistance to killing. War is as fundamental a product of civilisation as art, commerce, law and science. However, Dyer argues that 'what has been invented can be changed; war is not in our genes'. Brilliant, lucid and powerful, War is a masterly survey of humanity's most lethal custom.

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484

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ISBN 10

1920769390

ISBN 13

9781920769390

Climate Wars

By: Gwynne Dyer

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Climate Wars

By: Gwynne Dyer

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change predicts that the average global temperature will rise between 2 degrees and 6.4 degrees Celsius by the end of this century. These are conservative estimates, based on a lowest-common-denominator consensus among scientists and further watered down by governments. They make no allowance for feedback phenomena and potential runaway heating. But a World Bank study in India last year suggested that even 2 degrees hotter means a 25 percent cut in Indian food production. The core problem with climate changes is not sea level rise or bio-diversity; it is food supply."--Provided by publisher.

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267

Publisher

Random House of Canada Limited

Published Date

ISBN 10

0307355837

ISBN 13

9780307355836

The Shortest History of War

By: Gwynne Dyer

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The Shortest History of War

By: Gwynne Dyer

‘An incisive and well-informed overview of how warfare has evolved’ PUBLISHERS WEEKLY ‘From the first armies to clashes of drones and dirty bombs, this is eye-opening, big-picture stuff’ BBC HISTORY ‘Readable and sharp ... does what it says on the tin’ INDEPENDENT ‘Dyer writes with eloquence and authority’ IRISH EXAMINER War has changed, but we have not. From our hunter-gatherer ancestors to the rival nuclear powers of today, whenever resources have been contested, we’ve gone to battle. In this brisk and gripping account, acclaimed military historian Gwynne Dyer traces the evolution of martial clashes, tracing warfare from prehistory to the world’s first cities and on to the thousand-year ‘classical age’ of combat, which ended when the firearm changed everything. Dyer explores the shift from limited to total war, interrupted by Hiroshima’s nuclear impact, until the Cold War and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine ended the longest peace among major powers since the World War II. Now as climate change intensifies resource competition, superpowers fill up their arsenals with atomic bombs, drones and futuristic weapons of mass destruction. All through, Dyer delves into anthropology, psychology and other relevant fields to unmask the drivers of conflict, making The Shortest History of War a book for anyone who wants to understand the role of war in the human story – and how we can prevent it from defining our future.

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276

Publisher

Pan Macmillan

Published Date

ISBN 10

9395624884

ISBN 13

9789395624886

Canada in the Great Power Game: 1914-2014

By: Gwynne Dyer

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Canada in the Great Power Game: 1914-2014

By: Gwynne Dyer

Canada in the Great Power Game 1914-2014 is a serious contemplation of what it means to engage in major world conflicts, and the price we pay when we do. The First World War was Canada's baptism of fire, or at least the only one that people now remember. (Montrealers in 1776 or Torontonians in 1814 would have taken a different view.) From 1914 to 1918, after a century of peace, Canadians were plunged back into the old world of great power rivalries and great wars. So was everybody else, but Canadians were volunteers. We didn't have to fight, but we chose to, out of loyalty to ideas and institutions that today many of us no longer believe in. And we have been doing the same thing ever since, although we haven't quite given up on the latest set of ideas and institutions yet. In Canada in the Great Power Game, Gwynne Dyer moves back and forth between the seminal event, the First World War, and all the later conflicts that Canada chose to fight in. He draws parallels between these conflicts, with the same idealism among the young soldiers, and the same deeply conflicted emotions among the survivors, surfacing time and again in every war right down to Afghanistan. And in each case, the same arguments pro and con arise—mostly from people who are a long, safe way from the killing grounds—for every one of those "wars of choice." Echoing throughout the book are the voices of the people who lived through the wars: the veterans, the politicians, the historians, the eyewitnesses. And Dyer takes a number of so-called excursions from his historical account, in which he revisits the events and puts them in context, pausing to ask such questions as "What if we hadn't fought Hitler?" and "Is war written in our genes?" This entertaining and provocative book casts an unsparing eye over what happens when Canada and the great powers get in the war business, illuminating much about how we see ourselves on the world stage.

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450

Publisher

Vintage Canada

Published Date

ISBN 10

0307361691

ISBN 13

9780307361691

After Iraq

Anarchy and Renewal in the Middle East

By: Gwynne Dyer

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After Iraq

Anarchy and Renewal in the Middle East

By: Gwynne Dyer

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280

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Macmillan

Published Date

ISBN 10

0312378459

ISBN 13

9780312378455

Canada in the Great Power Game: 1914-2014

By: Gwynne Dyer

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Canada in the Great Power Game: 1914-2014

By: Gwynne Dyer

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450

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Vintage Canada

Published Date

ISBN 10

0307361691

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9780307361691

Climate Wars

How Peak Oil and the Climate Crisis Will Change Canada (and Our Lives)

By: Gwynne Dyer

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Climate Wars

How Peak Oil and the Climate Crisis Will Change Canada (and Our Lives)

By: Gwynne Dyer

From one of the world’s great geopolitical analysts, a terrifying glimpse of the none-too-distant future, when climate change will force the world’s powers into a desperate struggle for advantage and even survival. Dwindling resources. Massive population shifts. Natural disasters. Spreading epidemics. Drought. Rising sea levels. Plummeting agricultural yields. Crashing economies. Political extremism. These are some of the expected consequences of runaway climate change in the decades ahead, and any of them could tip the world towards conflict. Prescient, unflinching, and based on exhaustive research and interviews, Climate Wars is one of the most important books of its years.

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290

Publisher

Vintage Canada

Published Date

ISBN 10

0307372804

ISBN 13

9780307372802

With Every Mistake

By: Gwynne Dyer

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With Every Mistake

By: Gwynne Dyer

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434

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Vintage Canada

Published Date

ISBN 10

0307375838

ISBN 13

9780307375834

Intervention Earth

Life-Saving Ideas from the World's Climate Engineers

By: Gwynne Dyer

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Intervention Earth

Life-Saving Ideas from the World's Climate Engineers

By: Gwynne Dyer

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353

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Random House Canada

Published Date

ISBN 10

0735280924

ISBN 13

9780735280922

Just Anger

Representing Women's Anger in Early Modern England

By: Gwynne Kennedy

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Just Anger

Representing Women's Anger in Early Modern England

By: Gwynne Kennedy

Although women's anger is often dismissed as irrational in both eras, for instance, in the early modern era women were thought to become angry more often and more easily than men due to their inherent physiological, intellectual, and moral inferiority.".

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218

Publisher

SIU Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0809322617

ISBN 13

9780809322619

Alternative Capitalisms

Geographies of emerging regions

By: Robert Gwynne,Denis Shaw,Thomas Klak

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Alternative Capitalisms

Geographies of emerging regions

By: Robert Gwynne,Denis Shaw,Thomas Klak

This book aims to examine the effects of globalization and economic and political transformations in those parts of the world which are now regularly referred to as 'emerging regions'. These are Latin America and the Caribbean, East Central Europe and the former Soviet Union and East Asia. This book breaks new ground in three areas. First of all it develops a critique of the use of the term "emerging regions" for geographers and social scientists and relates this to world-systems theory. Secondly, it explores the development trajectories and challenges of countries in this so-called emerging world, countries that will be crucial to the evolution of the world economy in the twenty-first century. Thirdly, it compares and contrasts the pathways of both economic and political change in the three world regions under focus. This is a unique approach in terms of books published in both geography and the social sciences. Within the context of the three world regions, the book combines historical and contemporary analysis of the evolving world-system. In these regions we are concerned to understand the historical expansion and extension of capitalism and how its contemporary forms of production, exchange and regulation are evolving. The authors believe that at the present time these processes have produced 'alternative capitalisms' - economic and associated developments which, while assuredly capitalist, differ in various ways from those typical of the capitalist West or 'core economies' of North America and Western Europe.

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Page Count

472

Publisher

Routledge

Published Date

ISBN 10

113465569X

ISBN 13

9781134655694

Buddha, Jesus and Muhammad

A Comparative Study

By: Paul Gwynne

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Buddha, Jesus and Muhammad

A Comparative Study

By: Paul Gwynne

This cool, clear-sighted comparative study has no theological axe to grind. It offers a trusty thematic guide to the figureheads of three of the largest religions in the world. The comparative approach is descriptive and even-handed, highlighting both similarities and differences across a range of major areas. The thematic chapters cover: early life, followers, the core message, political attitudes, relations with women, and death. The engaging writing and descriptive approach make this an ideal text for students, instructors and general readers.

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385

Publisher

John Wiley & Sons

Published Date

ISBN 10

1118465490

ISBN 13

9781118465493

Wildlife Conservation Society Birds of Brazil

The Atlantic Forest of Southeast Brazil, including São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro

By: Robert S. Ridgely,John A. Gwynne,Guy Tudor,Martha Argel

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Wildlife Conservation Society Birds of Brazil

The Atlantic Forest of Southeast Brazil, including São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro

By: Robert S. Ridgely,John A. Gwynne,Guy Tudor,Martha Argel

Brazil is the fifth largest country in the world and is one of the planet's richest places for bird diversity, especially when it comes to the number of endemic species. Brazil's Atlantic Forest region is one of the most dazzling of all. Immediately surrounding São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, this area of Brazil is also a relatively accessible area to birders from around the world. In the Birds of Brazil Field Guides, the Wildlife Conservation Society brings together a top international team to do justice to the incredible diversity of Brazilian birds. This second guide presents 927 bird species, 863 illustrated, that occur in just the southeastern Atlantic Forest biome (Mata Atlântica in Portuguese). Of these species, 140 are endemic and 105 near endemic to just this region; 83 of these are threatened. Modern and compact, this field guide provides illustrations of unparalleled quality, key field marks, and regional range maps to facilitate easy recognition of all species normally occurring in this vibrant and critically important area of Brazil.

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433

Publisher

Cornell University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

1501704303

ISBN 13

9781501704307

War

By: Gwynne Dyer

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War

By: Gwynne Dyer

Based on the PBS television series, War. Traces the history of warfare to mankind's present dilemma--the capability of total annihilation.

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356

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Random House Value Publishing

Published Date

ISBN 10

0517556154

ISBN 13

9780517556153

The Shortest History of War: From Hunter-Gatherers to Nuclear Superpowers - A Retelling for Our Times (Shortest History)

By: Gwynne Dyer

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The Shortest History of War: From Hunter-Gatherers to Nuclear Superpowers - A Retelling for Our Times (Shortest History)

By: Gwynne Dyer

A brisk account of this defining feature of human society, from prehistory to nuclear proliferation and lethal autonomous weapons. The Shortest History books deliver thousands of years of history in one riveting, fast-paced read. War has changed, but we have not. From our hunter-gatherer ancestors to the rival nuclear powers of today, whenever resources have been contested, we’ve gone to battle. Acclaimed historian Gwynne Dyer illuminates our many martial clashes in this brisk account, tracing warfare from prehistory to the world’s first cities—and on to the thousand-year “classical age” of combat, which ended when the firearm changed everything. He examines the brief interlude of “limited war” before eighteenth-century revolution ushered in “total war”—and how the devastation was halted by the nuclear shock of Hiroshima. Then came the Cold War and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which punctured the longest stretch of peace between major powers since World War II. For all our advanced technology and hyperconnected global society, we find ourselves once again on the brink as climate change heightens competition for resources and superpowers stand ready with atomic bombs, drones, and futuristic “autonomous” weapons in development. Throughout, Dyer delves into anthropology, psychology, and other relevant fields to unmask the drivers of conflict. The Shortest History of War is for anyone who wants to understand the role of war in the human story—and how we can prevent it from defining our future.

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277

Publisher

The Experiment, LLC

Published Date

ISBN 10

1615199314

ISBN 13

9781615199310

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