Robert Jay Lifton's Books

Witness to an Extreme Century

A Memoir

By: Robert Jay Lifton

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On a fateful day in the spring of 1954 Robert Jay Lifton, a young American psychiatrist just discharged from service in the Korean War, decided to stay in Hong Kong rather than return home—changing his life plans entirely—so that he could continue work that had enthralled him, interviewing people subjected to Chinese thought reform. He had plunged into uncharted territory in probing the far reaches of the human psyche, as he would repeatedly in the years ahead, and his Hong Kong research provided the first understanding of the insidious process that came to be known as brainwashing. From that day in Hong Kong forward, Lifton has probed into some of the darkest episodes of human history, bearing his unique form of psychological witness to the sources and consequences of collective violence and trauma, as well as to our astonishing capacity for resilience. In this long-awaited memoir, Lifton charts the adventurous and constantly surprising course of his fascinating life journey, a journey that took him from what a friend of his called a “Jewish Huck Finn childhood” in Brooklyn to friendships with many of the most influential intellectuals, writers, and artists of our time—from Erik Erikson, David Riesman, and Margaret Mead, to Howard Zinn and Kurt Vonnegut, Stanley Kunitz, Kenzaburo Oe, and Norman Mailer. In his remarkable study of Hiroshima survivors, he explored the human consequences of nuclear weapons, and then went on to uncover dangerous forms of attraction to their power in the spiritual disease he calls nuclearism. During riveting face-to-face interviews with Nazi doctors, he illuminated the reversal of healing and killing in ordinary physicians who had been socialized to Nazi evil. With Vietnam veterans he helped create unprecedented “rap groups” in which much was revealed about what we now call post-traumatic stress disorder, helping veterans draw upon their experience for valuable, even prophetic, insights about atrocity and war. As a pioneer in psychohistory, Lifton’s encounters with the consequences of cruelty and destructiveness led him to become a passionate social activist, lending a powerful voice of conscience to the suppressed truths of the Vietnam War and the dangers of nuclear weapons. Written with the warmth of spirit—along with the humor and sense of absurdity—that have made Lifton a beloved friend and teacher to so many, Witness to an Extreme Century is a moving and deeply thought-provoking story of one man’s extraordinary commitment to looking into the abyss of evil in order to help us move beyond it.

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450

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Simon and Schuster

Published Date

ISBN 10

1416597182

ISBN 13

9781416597186

Losing Reality

On Cults, Cultism, and the Mindset of Political and Religious Zealotry

By: Robert Jay Lifton

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Losing Reality

On Cults, Cultism, and the Mindset of Political and Religious Zealotry

By: Robert Jay Lifton

A definitive account of the psychology of zealotry, from a National Book Award winner and a leading authority on the nature of cults, political absolutism, and mind control In this unique and timely volume Robert Jay Lifton, the National Book Award–winning psychiatrist, historian, and public intellectual proposes a radical idea: that the psychological relationship between extremist political movements and fanatical religious cults may be much closer than anyone thought. Exploring the most extreme manifestations of human zealotry, Lifton highlights an array of leaders—from Mao to Hitler to the Japanese apocalyptic cult leader Shōkō Asahara to Donald Trump—who have sought the control of human minds and the ownership of reality. Lifton has spent decades exploring psychological extremism. His pioneering concept of the "Eight Deadly Sins" of ideological totalism—originally devised to identify "brainwashing" (or "thought reform") in political movements—has been widely quoted in writings about cults, and embraced by members and former members of religious cults seeking to understand their experiences. In Losing Reality Lifton makes clear that the apocalyptic impulse—that of destroying the world in order to remake it in purified form—is not limited to religious groups but is prominent in extremist political movements such as Nazism and Chinese Communism, and also in groups surrounding Donald Trump. Lifton applies his concept of "malignant normality" to Trump's efforts to render his destructive falsehoods a routine part of American life. But Lifton sees the human species as capable of "regaining reality" by means of our "protean" psychological capacities and our ethical and political commitments as "witnessing professionals." Lifton weaves together some of his finest work with extensive new commentary to provide vital understanding of our struggle with mental predators. Losing Reality is a book not only of stunning scholarship, but also of huge relevance for these troubled times.

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151

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The New Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

1620975122

ISBN 13

9781620975121

The Nazi Doctors

Medical Killing And The Psychology Of Genocide

By: Robert Jay Lifton

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The Nazi Doctors

Medical Killing And The Psychology Of Genocide

By: Robert Jay Lifton

Winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize With a new preface by the author In his most powerful and important book, renowned psychiatrist Robert Jay Lifton presents a brilliant analysis of the crucial role that German doctors played in the Nazi genocide. Now updated with a new preface, The Nazi Doctors remains the definitive work on the Nazi medical atrocities, a chilling exposé of the banality of evil at its epitome, and a sobering reminder of the darkest side of human nature.

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570

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Basic Books

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ISBN 10

0465049052

ISBN 13

9780465049059

The Climate Swerve

Reflections on Mind, Hope, and Survival

By: Robert Jay Lifton

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The Climate Swerve

Reflections on Mind, Hope, and Survival

By: Robert Jay Lifton

Longlisted for the PEN America/E.O. Wilson Prize for Literary Science Writing "Well worth the read. . . . [A] prescient handoff to the next generation of scholars." —The Washington Post From "one of the world’s foremost thinkers" (Bill Moyers), a profound, hopeful, and timely call for an emerging new collective consciousness to combat climate change Over his long career as witness to an extreme twentieth century, National Book Award-winning psychiatrist, historian, and public intellectual Robert Jay Lifton has grappled with the profound effects of nuclear war, terrorism, and genocide. Now he shifts to climate change, which, Lifton writes, "presents us with what may be the most demanding and unique psychological task ever required of humankind," what he describes as the task of mobilizing our imaginative resources toward climate sanity. Thanks to the power of corporate-funded climate denialists and the fact that "with its slower, incremental sequence, [climate change] lends itself less to the apocalyptic drama," a large swathe of humanity has numbed themselves to the reality of climate change. Yet Lifton draws a message of hope from the Paris climate meeting of 2015 where representatives of virtually all nations joined in the recognition that we are a single species in deep trouble. Here, Lifton suggests in this lucid and moving book that recalls Rachel Carson and Jonathan Schell, was evidence of how we might call upon the human mind—"our greatest evolutionary asset"—to translate a growing species awareness—or "climate swerve"—into action to sustain our habitat and civilization.

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144

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The New Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

1620973480

ISBN 13

9781620973486

Death in Life

Survivors of Hiroshima

By: Robert Jay Lifton

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Death in Life

Survivors of Hiroshima

By: Robert Jay Lifton

In Japan, "hibakusha" means "the people affected by the explosion--specifically, the explosion of the atomic bomb in Hiroshima in 1945. In this classic study, winner of the 1969 National Book Award in Science, Lifton studies the psychological effects of the bomb on 90,000 survivors. He sees this analysis as providing a last chance to understand--and be motivated to avoid--nuclear war. This compassionate treatment is a significant contribution to the atomic age.

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608

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Univ of North Carolina Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0807882895

ISBN 13

9780807882894

The Protean Self

Human Resilience In An Age Of Fragmentation

By: Robert J. Lifton

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The Protean Self

Human Resilience In An Age Of Fragmentation

By: Robert J. Lifton

”Proteanism”—or the protean self—describes a psychological phenomenon integral to our times. We live in a world marked by breathtaking historical change and instantaneous global communication. Our lives seem utterly unpredictable: there are few absolutes. Rather than collapsing under these threats and pulls, Robert Jay Lifton tells us, the self turns out to be remarkably resilient. Like the Greek god Proteaus, who was able to change shape in response to crisis, we create new psychological combinations, immersing ourselves in fresh and surprising endeavors over our lifetimes.

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272

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Basic Books

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ISBN 10

0465064213

ISBN 13

9780465064212

The Broken Connection

On Death and the Continuity of Life

By: Robert Jay Lifton

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The Broken Connection

On Death and the Continuity of Life

By: Robert Jay Lifton

The unique human awareness of our own mortality enables us to ensure our perpetuation beyond death through our impact on others. This continuity of life has been profoundly shaken by the advent of wars of mass destruction, genocide, and the ever-present threat of nuclear annihilation. In The Broken Connection, Robert Jay Lifton, one of America's foremost thinkers and preeminent psychiatrists, explores the inescapable connections between death and life, the psychiatric disorders that arise from these connections, and the advent of the nuclear age which has jeopardized any attempts to ensure the perpetuation of the self beyond death.

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516

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American Psychiatric Pub

Published Date

ISBN 10

0880488743

ISBN 13

9780880488747

Hiroshima in America

By: Robert J. Lifton,Greg Mitchell

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Hiroshima in America

By: Robert J. Lifton,Greg Mitchell

A study of the events surrounding the Hiroshima bombing focuses on its affects in America, considering the cover-up efforts by the government and linking the bombing to current insensitivities toward violence.

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427

Publisher

Harper Perennial

Published Date

ISBN 10

0380727641

ISBN 13

9780380727643

Destroying the World to Save It

Aum Shinrikyo, Apocalyptic Violence, and the New Global Terrorism

By: Robert Jay Lifton

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Destroying the World to Save It

Aum Shinrikyo, Apocalyptic Violence, and the New Global Terrorism

By: Robert Jay Lifton

Taking stock as well of Charles Manson, the Heaven's Gate cult, and the Oklahoma City bombers, Lifton argues that Aum Shinrikyo was not just a "nightmare of Japanese religion," but a global nightmare that revealed a world unexpectedly at risk."--BOOK JACKET.

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388

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Macmillan

Published Date

ISBN 10

0805065113

ISBN 13

9780805065114

Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism

A Study of 'brainwashing' in China

By: Robert Jay Lifton

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Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism

A Study of 'brainwashing' in China

By: Robert Jay Lifton

Informed by Erik Erikson's concept of the formation of ego identity, this book, which first appreared in 1961, is an analysis of the experiences of fifteen Chinese citizens and twenty-five Westerners who underwent "brainwashing" by the Communist Chinese government. Robert Lifton constructs these case histories through personal interviews and outlines a thematic pattern of death and rebirth, accompanied by feelings of guilt, that characterizes the process of "thought reform." In a new preface, Lifton addresses the implications of his model for the study of American religious cults.

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525

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UNC Press Books

Published Date

ISBN 10

0807882887

ISBN 13

9780807882887

The Protean Self

Human Resilience in an Age of Fragmentation

By: Robert Jay Lifton

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The Protean Self

Human Resilience in an Age of Fragmentation

By: Robert Jay Lifton

We are becoming fluid and many-sided. Without quite realizing it, we have been evolving a sense of self appropriate to the restlessness and flux of our time. This mode of being differs radically from that of the past, and enables us to engage in continuous exploration and personal experiment. I have named it the 'protean self,' after Proteus, the Greek sea god of many forms."—from The Protean Self

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278

Publisher

University of Chicago Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0226480984

ISBN 13

9780226480985

Who Owns Death?

Capital Punishment, the American Conscience, and the End of Executions

By: Robert J. Lifton,Greg Mitchell

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Who Owns Death?

Capital Punishment, the American Conscience, and the End of Executions

By: Robert J. Lifton,Greg Mitchell

In this timely book, Robert Jay Lifton and Greg Mitchell investigate the mindsets of individuals involved in the death penalty -- including prison wardens, prosecutors, jurors, religious figures, governors, judges, and relatives of murder victims -- and offer a textured look at a system that perpetuates the longstanding American habit of violence. Richly rewarding and meticulously researched, Who Owns Death? explores the history of the death penalty in the United States, from hanging to lethal injection, and considers what this search for more "humane" executions reveals about us as individuals and as a society... and what the future of the death penalty holds for us all.

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301

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Harper Collins

Published Date

ISBN 10

038079246X

ISBN 13

9780380792467

The Broken Connection

On Death and the Continuity of Life

By: Robert Jay Lifton

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The Broken Connection

On Death and the Continuity of Life

By: Robert Jay Lifton

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516

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American Psychiatric Pub

Published Date

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0880488743

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9780880488747

Home from the War

Vietnam Veterans, Neither Victims Nor Executioners

By: Robert Jay Lifton

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Home from the War

Vietnam Veterans, Neither Victims Nor Executioners

By: Robert Jay Lifton

Studie baseret på samtaler med hjemvendte Vietnam-soldater her iblandt deltagere i massakrer "forøvet i demokratiets navn".

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476

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ISBN 10

070450068X

ISBN 13

9780704500686

Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism

A Study of 'brainwashing' in China

By: Robert Jay Lifton

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Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism

A Study of 'brainwashing' in China

By: Robert Jay Lifton

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525

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UNC Press Books

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ISBN 10

0807882887

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9780807882887

Destroying the World to Save It

Aum Shinrikyo, Apocalyptic Violence, and the New Global Terrorism

By: Robert Jay Lifton

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Destroying the World to Save It

Aum Shinrikyo, Apocalyptic Violence, and the New Global Terrorism

By: Robert Jay Lifton

National Book Award winner and renowned psychiatrist Robert Jay Lifton reveals a world at risk from millennial cults intent on ending it all. Since the earliest moments of recorded history, prophets and gurus have foretold the world's end, but only in the nuclear age has it been possible for a megalomaniac guru with a world-ending vision to bring his prophecy to pass. Now Robert Jay Lifton offers a vivid and disturbing case in point in this chilling exploration of Aum Shinrikyo, the Japanese cult that released sarin nerve gas in the Tokyo subways. With unprecedented access to former Aum members, Lifton has produced a pathbreaking study of the inner life of a modern millennial cult. He shows how Aum's guru Shoko Asahara (charismatic spiritual leader, con man, madman) created a religion from a global stew of New Age thinking, ancient rituals, and apocalyptic science fiction, then recruited scientists as disciples and set them to producing weapons of mass destruction. Taking stock as well of Charles Manson, Heaven's Gate, and the Oklahoma City bombers, Lifton confronts the frightening possibility of a twenty-first century in which cults and terrorists may be able to bring about their own holocausts. Bold and compelling, Destroying the World to Save It charts the emergence of a new global threat of urgent concern to us all.

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388

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Metropolitan Books

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ISBN 10

146682784X

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9781466827844

A Theory of Virtue

Excellence in Being for the Good

By: Robert Merrihew Adams

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A Theory of Virtue

Excellence in Being for the Good

By: Robert Merrihew Adams

The distinguished philosopher Robert M. Adams presents a major work on virtue, which is once again a central topic in ethical thought. A Theory of Virtue is a systematic, comprehensive framework for thinking about the moral evaluation of character. Many recent attempts to stake out a place in moral philosophy for this concern define virtue in terms of its benefits for the virtuous person or for human society more generally. In Part One of this book Adams presents anddefends a conception of virtue as intrinsic excellence of character, worth prizing for its own sake and not only for its benefits. In the other two parts he addresses two challenges to the ancient idea of excellence of character. One challenge arises from the importance of altruism in modern ethical thought, and the question of what altruism has to do with intrinsic excellence. Part Two argues that altruistic benevolence does indeed have a crucial place in excellence of character, but that moral virtue should also be expected to involve excellence in being for other goods besides the well-being (and the rights) of other persons. It explores relations among cultural goods, personal relationships, one's own good, and the good of others, as objects of excellent motives.The other challenge, the subject of Part Three of the book, is typified by doubts about the reality of moral virtue, arising from experiments and conclusions in social psychology. Adams explores in detail the prospects for an empirically realistic conception of excellence of character as an object of moral aspiration, endeavor, and education. He argues that such a conception will involve renunciation of the ancient thesis of the unity or mutual implication of all virtues, and acknowledgment ofsufficient 'moral luck' in the development of any individual's character to make virtue very largely a gift, rather than an individual achievement, though nonetheless excellent and admirable for that

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265

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Oxford University Press

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ISBN 10

0191525898

ISBN 13

9780191525896

Genetic Steroid Disorders

Chapter 6C. Glucocorticoid-Remediable Aldosteronism

By: Florencia Halperin,Robert G. Dluhy

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Genetic Steroid Disorders

Chapter 6C. Glucocorticoid-Remediable Aldosteronism

By: Florencia Halperin,Robert G. Dluhy

Glucocorticoid-remediable aldosteronism (GRA) is a heritable form of primary hyperaldosteronism. As a result of a chimeric gene duplication, aldosterone synthase is expressed in the cortisol-producing zona fasciculata of the adrenal cortex and is regulated by adrenocorticotropin (ACTH). Clinically, GRA is characterized by early onset of hypertension, which may be severe and refractory to standard therapies. In the absence of treatment with diuretics, hypokalemia is uncommon. GRA is associated with a high prevalence of intracranial aneurysms and hemorrhagic stroke. Diagnostic testing for the presence of the chimeric gene is available. The mainstay of treatment is glucocorticoid suppression of ACTH, and alternatives include mineralocorticoid receptor antagonism.

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Elsevier Inc. Chapters

Published Date

ISBN 10

0128072946

ISBN 13

9780128072943

Sharing Common Ground

A Space for Ethics

By: Robert Harvey

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Sharing Common Ground

A Space for Ethics

By: Robert Harvey

A deep contribution to literary theory that champions the virtues of thinking in common--that is, cultural imagination--and the ethical power of art"--

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328

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Bloomsbury Publishing USA

Published Date

ISBN 10

1501329596

ISBN 13

9781501329593

Dramatic Theory for Writers, Teachers, and Students.

By: Robert Gardner, EdD

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Dramatic Theory for Writers, Teachers, and Students.

By: Robert Gardner, EdD

This book, based on years of research, is an examination of the incredible fascination the story-telling forms have on the human imagination. The text, written by an award-winning television writer and expert curriculum designer, brings together a comprehensive array of information which makes the underlying structure of the dramatic form understandable. Dramatic Theory for Writers, Teachers, and Students will be of assistance to those have been called upon to teach a course on dramatic theory. It will be of equal use to writers as they wrestle with the complexities of the form. At the same time it may prove valuable to the general reader who wishes to understand why we willingly return again and again to a form which is essentially immutable

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144

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Lulu.com

Published Date

ISBN 10

1105788709

ISBN 13

9781105788703

Neurosurgery of Arteriovenous Malformations and Fistulas

A Multimodal Approach

By: Robert Schmid-Elsaesser,Alexander Muacevic,Hartmut Brückmann,Berndt Wowra

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Neurosurgery of Arteriovenous Malformations and Fistulas

A Multimodal Approach

By: Robert Schmid-Elsaesser,Alexander Muacevic,Hartmut Brückmann,Berndt Wowra

Arteriovenous malformations (AVM) and arteriovenous fistulas (AVF) differ from all other pathology affecting the central nervous system by their high-flow arteriovenous shunts. Permanent occlusion of these shunts is the essence and the challenge of therapy. Endovascular therapy and radiosurgery became accepted alternatives or adjuncts to surgery. In many instances the choice of the primary therapeutic modality is not clear and arguments can be found for several options. However, microsurgery, endovascular therapy and radiosurgery differ very much with regard to invasiveness, length of stay at the hospital but also residual risk after therapy. The emerging treatment concepts are the object of this book. The result is a unique structured presentation of AVM and AVF therapy.

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475

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Springer Science & Business Media

Published Date

ISBN 10

3709161630

ISBN 13

9783709161630

Environmental Human Rights in Earth System Governance

Democracy beyond Democracy

By: Walter F. Baber,Robert V. Bartlett

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Environmental Human Rights in Earth System Governance

Democracy beyond Democracy

By: Walter F. Baber,Robert V. Bartlett

Environmental rights are a category of human rights necessarily central to both democracy and effective earth system governance (any environmental-ecological-sustainable democracy). For any democracy to remain democratic, some aspects must be beyond democracy and must not be allowed to be subjected to any ordinary democratic collective choice processes shy of consensus. Real, established rights constitute a necessary boundary of legitimate everyday democratic practice. We analyze how human rights are made democratically and, in particular, how they can be made with respect to matters environmental, especially matters that have import beyond the confines of the modern nation state.

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Cambridge University Press

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ISBN 10

1108808441

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9781108808446

Spirituality for the Skeptic

The Thoughtful Love of Life

By: Robert C. Solomon

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Spirituality for the Skeptic

The Thoughtful Love of Life

By: Robert C. Solomon

By examining the ideas of great thinkers from Kafka to Socrates, this text arrives at an alternative vision of spirituality, one that is non-dogmatic and practical, that should appeal to many seekers looking to make sense of the human condition.

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180

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Oxford University Press

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ISBN 10

0195312139

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9780195312133

Heaven's Gate

America's UFO Religion

By: Benjamin E Zeller,Robert W Balch

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Heaven's Gate

America's UFO Religion

By: Benjamin E Zeller,Robert W Balch

2015 Best Book Award from the Communal Studies Association The captivating story of the people of Heaven’s Gate, a religious group focused on transcending humanity and the Earth, and seeking salvation in the literal heavens on board a UFO In March 1997, thirty-nine people in Rancho Santa Fe, California, ritually terminated their lives. To outsiders, it was a mass suicide. To insiders, it was a graduation. This act was the culmination of over two decades of spiritual and social development for the members of Heaven’s Gate. In this fascinating overview, Benjamin Zeller not only explores the question of why the members of Heaven’s Gate committed ritual suicides, but interrogates the origin and evolution of the religion, its appeal, and its practices. By tracking the development of the history, social structure, and worldview of Heaven’s Gate, Zeller draws out the ways in which the movement was both a reflection and a microcosm of larger American culture. The group emerged out of engagement with Evangelical Christianity, the New Age movement, science fiction and UFOs, and conspiracy theories, and it evolved in response to the religious quests of baby boomers, new religions of the counterculture, and the narcissistic pessimism of the 1990s. Thus, Heaven’s Gate not only reflects the context of its environment, but also reveals how those forces interacted in the form of a single religious body. In the only book-length study of Heaven’s Gate, Zeller traces the roots of the movement, examines its beliefs and practices, and tells the captivating story of its people.

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364

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NYU Press

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ISBN 10

1479811130

ISBN 13

9781479811137

A History of the Senses

From Antiquity to Cyberspace

By: Robert Jütte

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A History of the Senses

From Antiquity to Cyberspace

By: Robert Jütte

Jutte charts the development of our attitudes and relationships to our senses from antiquity through to the 20th century, creating a tapestry of different traditions, images, metaphors, and ideas that have survived through time.

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408

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Polity

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ISBN 10

074562958X

ISBN 13

9780745629582

Legacy of a War

The American Soldier in Vietnam

By: Ellen Frey-Wouters,Robert S. Laufer

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Legacy of a War

The American Soldier in Vietnam

By: Ellen Frey-Wouters,Robert S. Laufer

A survey examines American attitudes toward the Vietnam War and the experiences and ideas that turned most people against the war.

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486

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M.E. Sharpe

Published Date

ISBN 10

0873323548

ISBN 13

9780873323543

The Dragon's Tail

Americans Face the Atomic Age

By: Robert A. Jacobs

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The Dragon's Tail

Americans Face the Atomic Age

By: Robert A. Jacobs

When President Harry Truman introduced the atomic bomb to the world in 1945, he described it as a God-given harnessing of "the basic power of the universe." Six days later a New York Times editorial framed the dilemma of the new Atomic Age for its readers: "Here the long pilgrimage of man on Earth turns towards darkness or towards light." American nuclear scientists, aware of the dangers their work involved, referred to one of their most critical experiments as "tickling the dragon's tail." Even after Hiroshima and Nagasaki, most Americans may not have been sure what an atomic bomb was or how it worked. But they did sense that it had fundamentally changed the future of the human race. In this book, Robert Jacobs analyzes the early impact of nuclear weapons on American culture and society. He does so by examining a broad range of stories, or "nuclear narratives," that sought to come to grips with the implications of the bomb's unprecedented and almost unimaginable power. Beginning with what he calls the "primary nuclear narrative," which depicted atomic power as a critical agent of social change that would either destroy the world or transform it for the better, Jacobs explores a variety of common themes and images related to the destructive power of the bomb, the effects of radiation, and ways of surviving nuclear war. He looks at civil defense pamphlets, magazines, novels, and films to recover the stories the U.S. government told its citizens and soldiers as well as those presented in popular culture. According to Jacobs, this early period of Cold War nuclear culture?from 1945 to the banning of above-ground testing in 1963?was distinctive for two reasons: not only did atmospheric testing make Americans keenly aware of the presence of nuclear weapons in their lives, but radioactive fallout from the tests also made these weapons a serious threat to public health, separate from yet directly linked to the danger of nuclear war.

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172

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Univ of Massachusetts Press

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ISBN 10

1558497277

ISBN 13

9781558497276

The Genocidal Mentality

Nazi Holocaust And Nuclear Threat

By: Robert J. Lifton

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The Genocidal Mentality

Nazi Holocaust And Nuclear Threat

By: Robert J. Lifton

Examines the cast of mind that created and maintains the nuclear threat and suggests an alternative direction.

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366

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Basic Books

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ISBN 10

046502663X

ISBN 13

9780465026630

Noam Chomsky

A Life of Dissent

By: Robert F Barsky

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Noam Chomsky

A Life of Dissent

By: Robert F Barsky

This biography describes the intellectual and political milieus that helped shape Noam Chomsky, a pivotal figure in contemporary linguistics, politics, cognitive psychology, and philosophy. It also presents an engaging political history of the last several decades, including such events as the Spanish Civil War, the dropping of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and the march on the Pentagon to protest the Vietnam War. The book highlights Chomsky's views on the uses and misuses of the university as an institution, his assessment of useful political engagement, and his doubts about postmodernism. Because Chomsky is given ample space to articulate his views on many of the major issues relating to his work, both linguistic and political, this book reads like the autobiography that Chomsky says he will never write. Barsky's account reveals the remarkable consistency in Chomsky's interests and principles over the course of his life. The book contains well-placed excerpts from Chomsky's published writings and unpublished correspondence, including the author's own years-long correspondence with Chomsky. *Not for sale in Canada

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Page Count

258

Publisher

MIT Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0262522551

ISBN 13

9780262522557

Why Men Rebel

By: Ted Robert Gurr

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Why Men Rebel

By: Ted Robert Gurr

Why Men Rebel was first published in 1970 after a decade of political violence across the world. Forty years later, serious conflicts continue in Africa, Asia and the Middle East. Ted Robert Gurr reintroduces us to his landmark work, putting it in context with the research it influenced as well as world events. Why Men Rebel remains highly relevant to today's violent and unstable world with its holistic, people-based understanding of the causes of political protest and rebellion. With its close eye on the politics of group identity, this book provides new insight into contemporary security challenges.

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Page Count

449

Publisher

Routledge

Published Date

ISBN 10

1317248937

ISBN 13

9781317248934

Truman and the Hiroshima Cult

By: Robert P. Newman

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Truman and the Hiroshima Cult

By: Robert P. Newman

The United States dropped atomic bombs on Japan in 1945 to end World War II as quickly and with as few casualties as possible. That is the compelling and elegantly simple argument Newman puts forward in his new study of World War II's end, Truman and the Hiroshima Cult. According to Newman: (1) The U.S. Strategic Bombing Survey conclusions that Japan was ready to surrender without "the Bomb" are fraudulent; (2) America’s "unconditional surrender" doctrine did not significantly prolong the war; and (3) President Harry S. Truman’s decision to use atomic weapons on Japanese cities was not a "racist act," nor was it a calculated political maneuver to threaten Joseph Stalin’s Eastern hegemony. Simply stated, Newman argues that Truman made a sensible military decision. As commander in chief, he was concerned with ending a devastating and costly war as quickly as possible and with saving millions of lives. Yet, Newman goes further in his discussion, seeking the reasons why so much hostility has been generated by what happened in the skies over Hiroshima and Nagasaki in early August, 1945. The source of discontent, he concludes, is a "cult" that has grown up in the United States since the 1960s. It was weaned on the disillusionment spawned by concerns about a military industrial complex, American duplicity and failure in the Vietnam War, and a mistrust of government following Watergate. The cult has a shrine, a holy day, a distinctive rhetoric of victimization, various items of scripture, and, in Japan, support from a powerful Marxist constituency. "As with other cults, it is ahistorical," Newman declares. "Its devotees elevate fugitive and unrepresentative events to cosmic status. And most of all, they believe." Newman’s analysis goes to the heart of the process by which scholars interpret historical events and raises disturbing issues about the way historians select and distort evidence about the past to suit special political agendas.

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Page Count

290

Publisher

MSU Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0870139401

ISBN 13

9780870139406

Book's by Robert Jay Lifton

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