The “Joint Declaration of Twenty-two States,” signed in Paris on November 19, 1990 by the Chiefs of State or Government of all the countries which participated in World War Two in Europe, is the closest document we will ever have to a true “peace treaty” concluding World War II in Europe. In his new book, retired United States Ambassador John Maresca, who led the American participation in the negotiations, explains how this document was quietly negotiated following the reunification of Germany and in view of Soviet interest in normalizing their relations with Europe. With the reunification of Germany which had just taken place it was, for the first time since the end of the war, possible to have a formal agreement that the war was over, and the countries concerned were all gathering for a summit-level signing ceremony in Paris. With Gorbachev interested in more positive relations with Europe, and with the formal reunification of Germany, such an agreement was — for the first time — possible. All the leaders coming to the Paris summit had an interest in a formal conclusion to the War, and this gave impetus for the negotiators in Vienna to draft a document intended to normalize relations among them. The Joint Declaration was negotiated carefully, and privately, among the Ambassadors representing the countries which had participated, in one way or another, in World War Two in Europe, and the resulting document -- the “Joint Declaration” — was signed, at the summit level, at the Elysée Palace in Paris. But it was overshadowed at the time by the Treaty on Conventional Forces in Europe — signed at the same signature event — and has remained un-noticed since then. No one could possibly have foreseen that the USSR would be dissolved about one year later, making it impossible to negotiate a more formal treaty to close World War II in Europe. The “Joint Declaration” thus remains the closest document the world will ever see to a formal “Peace Treaty” concluding World War Two in Europe. It was signed by all the Chiefs of State or Government of all the countries which participated in World War II in Europe.
The Helsinki Final Act of 1975 set in motion the legitimate, peaceful redrawing of national boundaries in many postcommunist countries—a triumph for pluralist democracy, the market economy, and personal freedom. Today, this policy serves as a diplomatic template for the proper handling of the current situation in Ukraine and crises in other regions of the former Soviet Union. A senior U.S. diplomat who operated at the center of these negotiations, John J. Maresca presents in this volume his personal recollections of the Helsinki Accords and the events that resulted in subsequent agreements.
Recounts the highly publicized trial of Amanda Knox, drawing on interviews and complete case files to assess the true story and media sensation surrounding the 2007 murder of her roommate and the arrests of Knox and Raffaele Sollecito.
From the 1950s through the 1980s girl groups were hot --- and not just because of their looks. These rocking women had a profound impact on our culture and left us with a lifetime's worth of memorable tunes. Now you can learn about all your favorite female artists and you can build the ultimate girl-powered record collection for yourself! This expanded and updated book features biographical information of over sixty-five of the most significant girl groups of Rock 'N' Roll and Rhythm 'N' Blues, everyone from The Supremes to The Go-Gos. These profiles contain complete discographies for each of the groups and quotes from members of many of the featured groups. Also Included: A comprehensive list of all girl groups and their labels Pricing for 500 of the most collectible girl group records More than 150 photos This book enables all music lovers to learn how those fabulous voices came together to form the harmonies that captured generations and also find out the most current values of the hottest collectible records.
MAFIA. CAMORRA. 'NDRANGHETA. The Sicilian mafia, known as Cosa Nostra, is far from being Italy's only dangerous criminal fraternity. The country hosts two other major mafias: the camorra from Naples; and, from the poor and isolated region of Calabria, the mysterious 'ndrangheta, which has now risen to become the most powerful mob group active today. Since they emerged, the mafias have all corrupted Italy's institutions, drastically curtailed the life-chances of its citizens, evaded justice, and set up their own self-interested meddling as an alternative to the courts. Yet each of these brotherhoods has its own methods, its own dark rituals, its own style of ferocity. Each is uniquely adapted to corrupt and exploit its own specific environment, as it collaborates with, learns from, and goes to war with the other mafias. Today, the shadow of organized crime hangs over a country racked by debt, political paralysis, and widespread corruption. The 'ndrangheta controls much of Europe's wholesale cocaine trade and, by some estimates, 3 percent of Italy's total GDP. Blood Brotherhoods traces the origins of this national malaise back to Italy's roots as a united country in the nineteenth century, and shows how political violence incubated underworld sects among the lemon groves of Palermo, the fetid slums of Naples, and the harsh mountain villages of Calabria. Blood Brotherhoods is a book of breathtaking ambition, tracing for the first time the interlocking story of all three mafias from their origins to the present day. John Dickie is recognized in Italy as one of the foremost historians of organized crime. In these pages, he blends archival detective work, passionate narrative, and shrewd analysis to bring a unique criminal ecosystem -- and the three terrifying criminal brotherhoods that have evolved within it -- to life on the page.
“A critical overview of scientific orthodoxy in an attempt to answer the fundamental questions “what are we?” and “why are we here?” (Kirkus Reviews). Specialist scientific fields are developing at incredibly swift speeds, but what can they really tell us about how the universe began and how we as humans evolved to play such a dominant role on Earth? John Hands’s extraordinarily ambitious book merges scientific knowledge from multiple disciplines and evaluates without bias or preconception all the theories and evidence about the origin and evolution of matter, consciousness, and mankind. The result, a “pearl of dialectical reasoning” (Publishers Weekly, starred review), provides the most comprehensive account yet of current ideas such as cosmic inflation, dark energy, the selfish gene, and neurogenetic determinism. In the clearest possible prose, it differentiates the firmly established from the speculative and examines the claims of various fields to approach a unified theory of everything. In doing so it challenges the orthodox consensus in those branches of cosmology, biology, and neuroscience that have ossified into dogma. Its “shocking and invigorating” analysis (Daily Telegraph, A Best Science Book of 2015) reveals underlying patterns of cooperation, complexification, and convergence that lead to the unique emergence in humans of a self-reflective consciousness that enables us to determine our future evolution. This groundbreaking book is destined to become a classic of scientific thinking. Praise for Cosmosapiens “This is a truly exceptional piece of work.” —Tim Crane, Knightsbridge Professor of Philosophy, The University of Cambridge “A game-changer. In the tradition of Thomas Kuhn’s The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, this lucidly written, penetrating analysis challenges us to rethink many things we take for granted about ourselves, our society, and our universe. It will become a classic.” —Peter Dreier, E P Clapp Distinguished Professor of Politics, Occidental College “Hands is an astute observer of recent trends in scientific ideas bold enough to point out what he sees as sense and nonsense and intelligently explain why. Even in cases where one might disagree, the arguments are thought-provoking.” —Paul Steinhardt, Albert Einstein Professor in Science, Princeton University
The French Revolution nearly destroyed the Vincentians in France, and those in most other countries were isolated, persecuted in every degree from niggling regulations to imprisonment and martyrdom, and sometimes squeezed into oblivion. To these external miseries were added painful internal schisms: the Italians, abetted by other countries and the Holy See, pushed to center the Congregation in Rome; interdicts against communication with foreign superiors forced provinces in many countries to act autonomously; national pressures to swear loyalty and conform to compromising regulations created splits within the community and threatened to divide the Daughters and separate them from their brothers. Reduced membership and funding crippled the Vincentians’ efforts as they emerged from the worst of the state obstructions. Nevertheless, they began rebuilding and even made struggling beginnings in overseas missions, notably the United States, Brazil, the Ottoman Empire, the Middle East, and China, where the martyrdom of two missionaries galvanized interest in this distant and challenging mission.
According to the author, an extra measure of loyalty and patriotism was required of Italian immigrants because the country of their birth was a declared enemy of their adopted country. This is the story of their quest for acceptance.
This is the biography of J. Raymond Jones, premiere political strategist and first Black leader of Tammany Hall, who served New York City and the Democratic Party from the Harlem Renaissance through the Civil rights era. His rise thorough the ranks of the Party is traced in dramatic detail as his power expands to influence national politics and the political destinies of people like John Lindsay, Adam Clayton Powell, and Lyndon Johnson. It is based on extensive interviews with Jones and Jones's proteges, including politically prominent figures, Robert Wagner, former mayor of New York City, Percy Sutton, and Congressman Charles Rangel. These memoirs are also a history of New York City politics during some of its most interesting and transitional eras. It is a lively account of the gradual emergence of blacks as a key element in the National Democratic Party coalition and will make an excellent case study for political activists by providing a practical, behind-the-scenes view of the political process in our nation's largest city.
(Theatre World). Highlights of this new Theatre World , now in its 57th year, include The Producers with Matthew Broderick and Nathan Lane, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest with Gary Sinise, Judgment at Nuremberg with Maximillian Schell, Design for Livin g with Alan Cumming, 42nd Street , A Class Act and Lily Tomlin's The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe . During the 2000-2001 season, Theatre World was awarded with a Special Tony Honor for Excellence in the Theatre. Theatre World , the statistical and pictorial record of the Broadway and Off-Broadway season, touring companies and professional regional companies throughout the United States, is a classic in its field. The book is complete with cast listings, replacements, producers, directors, authors, composers, opening and closing dates, song titles and much, much more. There are special sections with autobiographical data, obituary information and major drama awards. New features to this edition include: an introduction by editor John Willis; separate Off-Broadway and Off-Off Broadway sections; new Longest Runs listing; and an expanded Awards and Regionals section. "Nothing brings back a theatrical season better, or holds on to it more lovingly, than John Willis' Theatre World ." Harry Haun, Playbill
In Naples and Napoleon John Davis takes the southern Italian Kingdom of the Two Sicilies as the vantage point for a sweeping reconsideration of Italy's history in the age of Napoleon and the European revolutions. The book's central themes are posed by the period of French rule from 1806 to 1815, when southern Italy was the Mediterranean frontier of Napoleon's continental empire. The tensions between Naples and Paris made this an important chapter in the history of that empire and revealed the deeper contradictions on which it was founded. But the brief interlude of Napoleonic rule later came to be seen as the critical moment when a modernizing North finally parted company from a backward South. Although these arguments still shape the ways in which Italian history is written, in most parts of the North political and economic change before Unification was slow and gradual; whereas in the South it came sooner and in more disruptive forms. Davis develops a wide-ranging critical reassessment of the dynamics of political change in the century before Unification. His starting point is the crisis that overwhelmed the Italian states at the end of the 18th century, when Italian rulers saw the political and economic fabric of the Ancien Régime undermined throughout Europe. In the South the crisis was especially far reaching and this, Davis argues, was the reason why in the following decade the South became the theatre for one of the most ambitious reform projects in Napoleonic Europe. The transition was precarious and insecure, but also mobilized political projects and forms of collective action that had no counterparts elsewhere in Italy before 1848, illustrating the similar nature of the political challenges facing all the pre-Unification states. Although Unification finally brought Italy's insecure dynastic principalities to an end, it offered no remedies to the insecurities that from much earlier had made the South especially vulnerable to the challenges of the new age: which was why the South would become a problem - Italy's 'Southern Problem'.
In the 1960's John Dos Passos began calling his novel contemporary chronicles, and to his latest piece of fiction he gave the working title The Thirteenth Chronicle. These letters abd duarues naje a chronicle too.
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