From the author of To Hell and Back, a fascinating and original exploration of how the Third Reich was willing and able to fight to the bitter end of World War II Countless books have been written about why Nazi Germany lost the Second World War, yet remarkably little attention has been paid to the equally vital questions of how and why the Third Reich did not surrender until Germany had been left in ruins and almost completely occupied. Drawing on prodigious new research, Ian Kershaw, an award-winning historian and the author of Fateful Choices, explores these fascinating questions in a gripping and focused narrative that begins with the failed bomb plot in July 1944 and ends with the death of Adolf Hitler and the German capitulation in 1945. The End paints a harrowing yet enthralling portrait of the Third Reich in its last desperate gasps.
A classic description of the interworkings of social conditions changing attitudes, and literary practices during the period when the novel emerged as the dominant literary form of the individualist era.
Why does the West rule? In this magnum opus, eminent Stanford polymath Ian Morris answers this provocative question, drawing on 50,000 years of history, archeology, and the methods of social science, to make sense of when, how, and why the paths of development differed in the East and West — and what this portends for the 21st century. There are two broad schools of thought on why the West rules. Proponents of "Long-Term Lock-In" theories such as Jared Diamond suggest that from time immemorial, some critical factor — geography, climate, or culture perhaps — made East and West unalterably different, and determined that the industrial revolution would happen in the West and push it further ahead of the East. But the East led the West between 500 and 1600, so this development can't have been inevitable; and so proponents of "Short-Term Accident" theories argue that Western rule was a temporary aberration that is now coming to an end, with Japan, China, and India resuming their rightful places on the world stage. However, as the West led for 9,000 of the previous 10,000 years, it wasn't just a temporary aberration. So, if we want to know why the West rules, we need a whole new theory. Ian Morris, boldly entering the turf of Jared Diamond and Niall Ferguson, provides the broader approach that is necessary, combining the textual historian's focus on context, the anthropological archaeologist's awareness of the deep past, and the social scientist's comparative methods to make sense of the past, present, and future — in a way no one has ever done before.
Introduction to Astronomy & Cosmology is a modern undergraduate textbook, combining both the theory behind astronomy with the very latest developments. Written for science students, this book takes a carefully developed scientific approach to this dynamic subject. Every major concept is accompanied by a worked example with end of chapter problems to improve understanding Includes coverage of the very latest developments such as double pulsars and the dark galaxy. Beautifully illustrated in full colour throughout Supplementary web site with many additional full colour images, content, and latest developments.
From the Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist, a revelatory portrait of religion in China today—its history, the spiritual traditions of its Eastern and Western faiths, and the ways in which it is influencing China’s future. The Souls of China tells the story of one of the world’s great spiritual revivals. Following a century of violent anti-religious campaigns, China is now filled with new temples, churches, and mosques—as well as cults, sects, and politicians trying to harness religion for their own ends. Driving this explosion of faith is uncertainty—over what it means to be Chinese and how to live an ethical life in a country that discarded traditional morality a century ago and is searching for new guideposts. Ian Johnson first visited China in 1984; in the 1990s he helped run a charity to rebuild Daoist temples, and in 2001 he won a Pulitzer Prize for his coverage of the suppression of the Falun Gong spiritual movement. While researching this book, he lived for extended periods with underground church members, rural Daoists, and Buddhist pilgrims. Along the way, he learned esoteric meditation techniques, visited a nonagenarian Confucian sage, and befriended government propagandists as they fashioned a remarkable embrace of traditional values. He has distilled these experiences into a cycle of festivals, births, deaths, detentions, and struggle—a great awakening of faith that is shaping the soul of the world’s newest superpower.
Drawing on material hitherto unknown in the English speaking world, this volume presents a systematic history of the Christian Church in Asia before 1500.
If you've ever woken up thinking 'What was that about?' This fascinating dream dictionary with over 12,000 definitions will explain everything and help you become your own dream expert. Written by highly respected Dream Psychologist Ian Wallace, this comprehensive guide will help you interpret the imagery you see in your dreams and analyse the hidden meaning and messages within them. By exploring your dreams in this way, you'll reach a deeper understanding of what you really want in life - and work out how to achieve it. Whether you dream about flying above canyons, your teeth dropping out, missing the bus or standing naked in a crowded room, Ian will help you understand what your unconscious is trying to tell you and how you can use your dreams to help you live a rich and fulfilled life. After all, dream is just a dream until you put it into action ...
If I Perish, I Perish examines the Christian life through the lens of an allegorical interpretation of the Old Testament book of Esther. The character of Esther, representative of the human spirit, depicts that the call of the Lord Jesus on the Christian is to be crucified with Christ and become alive in the Spirit.
A comprehensive encyclopedia on all aspects of the production, consumption, and social impact of alcohol. Alcohol and Temperance in Modern History: An International Encyclopedia spans the history of alcohol production and consumption from the development of distilled spirits and modern manufacturing and distribution methods to the present. Authoritative and unbiased, it brings together the work of hundreds of experts from a variety of disciplines with an emphasis on the extraordinary wealth of scholarship developed in the past several decades. Its nearly 500 alphabetically organized entries range beyond the principal alcoholic beverages and major producers and retailers to explore attitudes toward alcohol in various countries and religions, traditional drinking occasions and rituals, and images of drinking and temperance in art, painting, literature, and drama. Other entries describe international treaties and organizations related to alcohol production and distribution, global consumption patterns, and research and treatment institutions, as well as temperance, prohibition, and antiprohibitionist efforts worldwide.
“One part The Da Vinci Code, one part The Name of the Rose and one part A Separate Peace . . . a smart, swift, multitextured tale that both entertains and informs.”—San Francisco Chronicle NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER Princeton. Good Friday, 1999. On the eve of graduation, two friends are a hairsbreadth from solving the mysteries of the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili, a Renaissance text that has baffled scholars for centuries. Famous for its hypnotic power over those who study it, the five-hundred-year-old Hypnerotomachia may finally reveal its secrets—to Tom Sullivan, whose father was obsessed with the book, and Paul Harris, whose future depends on it. As the deadline looms, research has stalled—until a vital clue is unearthed: a long-lost diary that may prove to be the key to deciphering the ancient text. But when a longtime student of the book is murdered just hours later, a chilling cycle of deaths and revelations begins—one that will force Tom and Paul into a fiery drama, spun from a book whose power and meaning have long been misunderstood. “Profoundly erudite . . . the ultimate puzzle-book.”—The New York Times Book Review
Every night, a pageant of Greek mythology circles overhead. Perseus flies to the rescue of Andromeda, Orion faces the charge of the snorting Bull, and the ship of the Argonauts sails in search of the Golden Fleece. Constellations are the invention of human imagination, not of nature. They are an expression of the human desire to impress its own order upon the apparent chaos of the night sky. Modern science tells us that these twinkling points of light are glowing balls of gas, but the ancient Greeks, to whom we owe many of our constellations, knew nothing of this. Ian Ridpath, award-winning astronomy writer and popularizer, has been intrigued by the myths of the stars for many years. Star Tales is the first modern guide to combine all the fascinating myths in one book, illustrated with the beautiful and evocative engravings from two of the leading star atlases: Johann Bode’s Uranographia of 1801 and John Flamsteed’s Atlas Coelestis of 1729. This classic book, now in a revised and expanded edition, presents additional information on the constellations with new and enchanting illustrations. For anyone interested in the stars and classical mythology, for anyone who is an armchair astronomer, this is the perfect gift.
The fourth edition of the Historical Dictionary of the Olympic Movement presents a comprehensive history of the games from the first recorded history of the games in 776 B.C. to the present day. This is done through a chronology, forewords by Dan Jansen and Mike Krzyzewski, an introductory essay, appendixes, a bibliography, photos, and over 900 cross-referenced dictionary entries covering the history, philosophy, and politics of the Olympics and, of course, the medal winners. This book is an excellent access point for students, researchers, and anyone wanting to know more about the Olympics.
The newest immensely original undertaking from the historian who gave us the defining two-volume portrait of Hitler, Fateful Choices puts Ian Kershaw's analytical and storytelling gifts on dazzling display. From May 1940 to December 1941, the leaders of the world's six major powers made a series of related decisions that determined the final outcome of World War II and shaped the course of human destiny. As the author examines the connected stories of these profound choices, he restores a sense of drama and contingency to this pivotal moment, producing one of the freshest, most important books on World War II in years' one with powerful contemporary relevance.
The book challenges the orthodox argument that rural populations which abandoned self-sufficiency to become single commodity producers, and were supposedly very vulnerable to the commodity price collapse of the 1930s Depression, did not suffer as much as has been supposed. It shows how the effects of the depression were complicated, varying between regions, between different kinds of economic actors, and over time, and shows how the 'victims' of the depression were not passive, working imaginatively to mitigate their circumstances.
While it may seem that debates over euthanasia began with Jack Kervorkian, the practice of mercy killing extends back to Ancient Greece and beyond. In America, the debate has raged for well over a century. Now, in A Merciful End, Ian Dowbiggin offers the first full-scale historical account of one of the most controversial reform movements in America. Drawing on unprecedented access to the archives of the Euthanasia Society of America, interviews with important figures in the movement today, and flashpoint cases such as the tragic fate of Karen Ann Quinlan, Dowbiggin tells the dramatic story of the men and women who struggled throughout the twentieth century to change the nation's attitude--and its laws--regarding mercy killing. In tracing the history of the euthanasia movement, he documents its intersection with other progressive social causes: women's suffrage, birth control, abortion rights, as well as its uneasy pre-WWII alliance with eugenics. Such links brought euthanasia activists into fierce conflict with Judeo-Christian institutions who worried that "the right to die" might become a "duty to die." Indeed, Dowbiggin argues that by joining a sometimes overzealous quest to maximize human freedom with a desire to "improve" society, the euthanasia movement has been dogged by the fear that mercy killing could be extended to persons with disabilities, handicapped newborns, unconscious geriatric patients, lifelong criminals, and even the poor. Justified or not, such fears have stalled the movement, as more and more Americans now prefer better end-of-life care than wholesale changes in euthanasia laws. For anyone trying to decide whether euthanasia offers a humane alternative to prolonged suffering or violates the "sanctity of life," A Merciful End provides fascinating and much-needed historical context.
I den allerførste James Bond-roman bliver agent 007 sendt til Royale-les-Eaux Casino i Frankrig, hvor han skal spille mod den sovjetiske topagent Le Chiffre. Planen er at ruinere ham ved baccaratbordet og tvinge hans sovjetiske bagmænd til at tage ham ud af spillet. Det viser sig imidlertid, at Le Chiffre sidder i held, men da det ser allermest sort ud for James Bond, får han hjælp fra uventet kant. Er det mon nok til at redde missionen, eller har agent 007 spillet fallit? James Bond er velsagtens den mest kendte hemmelige agent i verden. Hans skaber, Ian Fleming, skrev kun 14 bøger om ham, men andre forfattere har sidenhen skrevet langt flere bøger om den hårdtslående og udødelige agent. Fortællingerne om agent 007 og hans kamp mod alverdens superskurke har opnået enorm popularitet verden over, både som bøger og film. Den første filmatisering af en Bond-bog, "Dr. No", fik premiere i 1962 med Sean Connery i hovedrollen som agent 007. Siden har mange forskellige af Storbritanniens største skuespillere spillet rollen som James Bond. Den engelske forfatter Ian Fleming (1908-1964) er bedst kendt for sine legendariske spionromaner om agent 007, James Bond, der er delvist baseret på hans egne oplevelser i den engelske efterretningstjeneste både under og efter anden verdenskrig. Ian Fleming nød at leve i sus og dus, og James Bond-romanernes enorme succes både som bøger og på det store lærred gjorde ham i stand til at leve et jetsetterliv med alle de bekvemmeligheder, det medførte. Ian Fleming skrev sin første James Bond-roman, "Casino Royal", i 1953, og udgav i alt 12 romaner og to novellesamlinger om den snu og hårdføre agent, hvoraf hver og en fik enorm succes både som bøger og efterfølgende som film.
In this second adaptation of the Fleming novels… Bond is sent to New York City to investigate "Mr. Big", an agent of SMERSH and a criminal voodoo leader. With no time for superstition—and with the help of his colleague in the CIA, Felix Leiter, Bond tracks "Mr. Big" through the jazz joints of Harlem, to the everglades and on to the Caribbean, knowing that this criminal heavy hitter is a real threat. No-one, not even the mysterious Solitaire, can be sure how their battle of wills is going to end…
Locate nations on the J Curve -- left for authoritarian, right for democratic. Then figure out how to force those on the left to open their societies, rather than encouraging them to shut them tighter by further isolating them. The West's isolation of Kim Jong-il's North Korea gives him the cover he needs to extend his brutal regime (the mistake the U.S. made for a long time with Saddam Hussein and Castro); in Saudi Arabia, western governments should encourage manageable change before the country breaks apart; they should help strengthen China's economy so it can further liberalize; they must encourage Israel to decide what kind of country it will be. Filled with imaginative and surprising examples of how to correct outworn political ideas, The J Curve points the way for western governments to lead the way to a realistic political balance and a healthier economic future.
The definitive biography of Voltaire's life—from his scandalous love affairs and political maneuverings to his inspired philosophy. We think of Voltaire as the archetypal figure of the enlightenment; in his own time he was also the most famous and controversial figure in Europe. This dazzling new biography celebrates his extraordinary life. Davidson tells the whole, rich story of Voltaire’s life (1694-1778): his early imprisonment in the Bastille; exile in England and his mastery of English; an obsession with money, of which he made a huge amount; a scandalous love life; a long exile on the borders of Switzerland; his human-rights campaigns and his triumphant return to Paris to die there as celebrity extraordinaire. Throughout all of this, Voltaire’s life was always informed by two things: a belief in the essential value of toleration in the face of fanaticism; and in the right of every man to think and say what he liked. It is rare to have such a vivid portrait of a great man.
This is an introductory 2001 textbook on probability and induction written by one of the world's foremost philosophers of science. The book has been designed to offer maximal accessibility to the widest range of students (not only those majoring in philosophy) and assumes no formal training in elementary symbolic logic. It offers a comprehensive course covering all basic definitions of induction and probability, and considers such topics as decision theory, Bayesianism, frequency ideas, and the philosophical problem of induction. The key features of this book are a lively and vigorous prose style; lucid and systematic organization and presentation of ideas; many practical applications; a rich supply of exercises drawing on examples from such fields as psychology, ecology, economics, bioethics, engineering, and political science; numerous brief historical accounts of how fundamental ideas of probability and induction developed; and a full bibliography of further reading.
The clearest, most accessible guide to observing the night sky. Introducing the Handbook of Stars and Planets - the perfect beginner's guide to the night sky! With a highly visual introduction that explains the basic concepts of astronomy and gives advice on the best methods and equipment for observation, including binoculars and telescopes, exploring the cosmos and more has never been easier or more accessible. Each of the planets in the Solar System is described and illustrated in detail, with images taken from space probes as well as from the ground, showing them as you can expect to see them. More than 160 star charts were made especially for this book by the Royal Greenwich Observatory. There is a separate detailed chart for each of the 88 constellations, adding up to a complete atlas of the sky. The text for each constellation reveals its history and mythology and lists notable stars, galaxies, nebulae, and other objects. Alongside the constellation profiles is a month-by-month guide, including a set of charts and a user-friendly text guide that picks out the highlights above your head each month. Soar into the pages of this awe-inspiring astronomy book to explore: - Introduction section provides an accessible primer on the basics of astronomy and skywatching - Equipment section includes a guide to the main kinds of binoculars, telescopes, and camera equipment - Practical advice also includes observing the sky with the naked eye - Profiles of planets and constellations include color-coded data tables, delivering fast facts for quick reference - Accesible text explains concepts clearly and guides the reader from beginner to intermediate-level astronomer This newly updated guide to the Solar System includes new discoveries, revised data, and the latest images from space probes! The revisions to constellation and monthly sky guides include new data on stars and other objects such as galaxies, as well as a refreshed guide to binoculars, telescopes, and cameras. Complete with jargon-free text written by one of the foremost popularizers of astronomy and an authority on the history of constellations, the DK Handbook of Stars and Planets is the perfect introduction to stargazing! So whether you’re a budding astronomer or an intermediate space savvy, this great guide to the night sky is suitable for children aged 12+ and adults alike, and promises something for everyone to explore, discover and love!
This book should be of value to anyone interested in bird evolution and taxonomy, biogeography, distributional history, dispersal and migration patterns. It provides an up-to-date synthesis of current knowledge on species formation, and the factors influencing current distribution patterns. It draws heavily on new information on Earth history, including past glacial and other climatic changes, on new developments in molecular biology and palaeontology, and on recent studies of bird distribution and migration patterns, to produce a coherent account of the factors that have influenced bird species diversity and distribution patterns worldwide. Received the Best Bird Book of the Year award for 2004 from British Birds magazine. * Winner of the British Birds/British Trust for Ornithology, Bird Book of the Year 2004! * The first book to deal comprehensively with bird speciation and biogeography * Up-to-date synthesis of new information * Clearly written * No previous book covers the same ground * Many maps and diagrams * Makes difficult and widely scattered information accessible and easily understood * A sound base for future research * Takes full account of recent developments in molecular biology
This title presents a collection of photographs by acclaimed 'polar bear photographer' Steven Kazlowski. Featuring mostly never-before-published images, this simple yet evocative book explores the polar bear's Arctic home and life cycle.
Lost in the raging debate over the validity of social construction is the question of what, precisely, is being constructed. Facts, gender, quarks, reality? Is it a person? An object? An idea? A theory? Each entails a different notion of social construction, Ian Hacking reminds us. His book explores an array of examples to reveal the deep issues underlying contentious accounts of reality. Especially troublesome in this dispute is the status of the natural sciences, and this is where Hacking finds some of his most telling cases, from the conflict between biological and social approaches to mental illness to vying accounts of current research in sedimentary geology. He looks at the issue of child abuse—very much a reality, though the idea of child abuse is a social product. He also cautiously examines the ways in which advanced research on new weapons influences not the content but the form of science. In conclusion, Hacking comments on the “culture wars” in anthropology, in particular a spat between leading ethnographers over Hawaii and Captain Cook. Written with generosity and gentle wit by one of our most distinguished philosophers of science, this wise book brings a much needed measure of clarity to current arguments about the nature of knowledge.
Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari's Anti-Oedipus is the first part of a two volume project entitled Capitalism and Schizophrenia.Challenging the twin orthodoxies of Lacanian psychoanalysis and Althusserian Marxism, Anti-Oedipus is an important and exciting, yet challenging piece of philosophical writing. Ian Buchanan's Reader's Guide to Anti- Oedipus is the ideal companion to one of the twentieth-century's most influential philosophical works.
At Risk reasserts the significance of the human factor in disasters. Establishing that the social, political and economic environment is as much a cause of disasters as the natural environment, the book argues that disaster mitigation is rooted in the potential humans have to understand their vulnerability and to take common action. Famines and drought, biological hazards, floods, coastal storms, earthquakes, volcanoes and landslides: At Risk draws practical and policy conclusions with a view to disaster reduction and the promotion of a safer environment.
Comprehensive and analytical, A History of the Arab–Israeli Conflict presents a balanced and impartial overview of this centuries-old struggle. Taking a clear and chronological approach to this complex subject, and placing events in the context of their longer-term histories, Ian J. Bickerton and Carla L. Klausner examine the issues and themes that have characterized and defined the conflict over the course of its history, bringing the coverage up to date with a twenty-first-century perspective. Starting in the nineteenth century, the book moves through the British Mandate, World War II, and the proclamation of the state of Israel, the widening and deepening conflict and attempts at a peace process, the impacts of 9/11 and the Arab Spring, and finally it discusses events to the end of 2021. In a completely revised Conclusion the authors examine how we interpret many of the startling, rapidly changing, and somewhat unpredictable events of the last five years. Illustrated throughout with numerous photographs, updated maps, tables, and chronologies for each chapter, together with extensive relevant and up-to-date documentary sources, further reading, and a glossary of key terms, it is the ideal textbook for all students of the history of the modern Middle East.
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