Go to A-Z Databases: Books & eBooks to search for more eBooks. Must be on campus or login with your COM account for off campus access.
Want more on finding books or eBooks? Try our How to Use Books & eBooks guides.
Arab Spring: Negotiating in the Shadow of the Intifadat
Beginning in January 2011, the Arab world exploded in a vibrant demand for dignity, liberty, and achievable purpose in life, rising up against an image and tradition of arrogant, corrupt, unresponsive authoritarian rule. These previously unpublished, country specific case studies of the uprisings and their still unfolding political aftermaths identify patterns and courses of negotiation and explain why and how they occur. The contributors argue that in uprisings like the Arab Spring negotiation is "not just a 'nice' practice or a diplomatic exercise." Rather, it is a "dynamically multilevel" process involving individuals, groups, and states with continually shifting priorities--and with the prospect of violence always near. From that perspective, the essay sits analyze a range of issues and events--including civil disobedience and strikes, mass demonstrations and nonviolent protest, and peaceful negotiation and armed rebellion--and contextualize their findings within previous struggles, both within and outside the Middle East. The Arab countries discussed include Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Syria, Tunisia, and Yemen. The Arab Spring uprisings are discussed in the context of rebellions in countries like South Africa and Serbia, while the Libyan uprising is also viewed in terms of the negotiations it provoked within NATO. Collectively, the essays analyze the challenges of up risers and emerging governments in building a new state on the ruins of a liberated state; the negotiations that lead either to sustainable democracy or sectarian violence; and coalition building between former political and military adversaries.
Better Britons: Reproduction, National Identity, and the Afterlife of Empire
Better Britons charts an innovative approach to the politics of reproduction by reading an array of works and discourses that reflect on the significance of reproductive behaviours for civic, national, and racial identities.
A Century of Spies: Intelligence in the Twentieth Century
Here is the ultimate inside history of twentieth-century intelligence gathering and covert activity. Unrivalled in its scope and as readable as any spy novel, A Century of Spies travels from tsarist Russia and the earliest days of the British Secret Service to the crises and uncertainties oftoday's post-Cold War world, offering an unsurpassed overview of the role of modern intelligence in every part of the globe. From spies and secret agents to the latest high-tech wizardry in signals and imagery surveillance, it provides fascinating, in-depth coverage of important operations of UnitedStates, British, Russian, Israeli, Chinese, German, and French intelligence services, and much more. All the key elements of modern intelligence activity are here. An expert whose books have received high marks from the intelligence and military communities, Jeffrey Richelson covers the crucial role of spy technology from the days of Marconi and the Wright Brothers to today's dazzling array ofSpace Age satellites, aircraft, and ground stations. He provides vivid portraits of spymasters, spies, and defectors--including Sidney Reilly, Herbert Yardley, Kim Philby, James Angleton, Markus Wolf, Reinhard Gehlen, Vitaly Yurchenko, Jonathan Pollard, and many others. Richelson paints a colorfulportrait of World War I's spies and sabateurs, and illuminates the secret maneuvering that helped determine the outcome of the war on land, at sea, and on the diplomatic front; he investigates the enormous importance of intelligence operations in both the European and Pacific theaters in World WarII, from the work of Allied and Nazi agents to the "black magic" of U.S. and British code breakers; and he gives us a complete overview of intelligence during the length of the Cold War, from superpower espionage and spy scandals to covert action and secret wars. A final chapter probes thestill-evolving role of intelligence work in the new world of disorder and ethnic conflict, from the high-tech wonders of the Gulf War to the surprising involvement of the French government in industrial espionage. Comprehensive, authoritative, and addictively readable, A Century of Spies is filled with new information on a variety of subjects--from the activities of the American Black Chamber in the 1920s to intelligence collection during the Cuban missile crisis to Soviet intelligence and covert actionoperations. It is an essential volume for anyone interested in military history, espionage and adventure, and world affairs.
Cold War: An International History
The decades-long Cold War was more than a bipolar conflict between two Superpowers-it had implications for the entire world. In this accessible, comprehensive retelling, Carole K. Fink provides new insights and perspectives on key events with an emphasis on people, power, and ideas. Cold War goes beyond US-USSR relations to explore the Cold War from an international perspective, including developments in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Fink also offers a broader time line of the Cold War than any other text, charting the lead-up to the conflict from the Russian Revolution to World War II and discussing the aftermath of the Cold War up to the present day. The second edition reflects the latest research and scholarship and offers additional information about the post-Cold War period, including the "new Cold War" with Russia. For today's students and history buffs, Cold War is the consummate book on this complex conflict.
The Contemporary Middle East
Modeled after CQ Press' popular documentary histories, this primary-source rich volume offers researchers an invaluable look into the key events that have shaped this dynamic region since World War I. Organized into thematic chapters, and loaded with both full-text and excerpted primary source documents, The Contemporary Middle Eastis designed to be an accessible support for courses in Middle Eastern history, international affairs, and comparative politics. Researchers in high school and undergraduate libraries will want this resource handy.
The Crimean Nexus
How the West sleepwalked into another Cold War A native of Yalta, Constantine Pleshakov is intimately familiar with Crimea's ethnic tensions and complex political history. Now, he offers a much-needed look at one of the most urgent flash points in current international relations: the first occupation and annexation of one European nation's territory by another since World War II. Pleshakov illustrates how the proxy war unfolding in Ukraine is a clash of incompatible world views. To the U.S. and Europe, Ukraine is a country struggling for self-determination in the face of Russia's imperial nostalgia. To Russia, Ukraine is a "sister nation," where NATO expansionism threatens its own borders. In Crimea itself, the native Tatars are Muslims who are vehemently opposed to Russian rule. Engagingly written and bracingly nonpartisan, Pleshakov's book explains the missteps made on all sides to provide a clear, even-handed account of a major international crisis.
Encyclopedia of European Social History: Since World War II
This six-volume reference includes more than 230 articles, ranging from 5,000 to 10,000 words, on everything from serfdom and the economy, to witchcraft and public health.
Encyclopedia of European Social History: The World Wars and the Depression
This six-volume reference includes more than 230 articles, ranging from 5,000 to 10,000 words, on everything from serfdom and the economy, to witchcraft and public health.
Encyclopedia of Modern Asia
The Encyclopedia of Modern Asia is a monumental new scholarly work, as expansive in scope as the continent of Asia itself. Under the direction of cultural anthropologist David Levinson, 800 contributors from around the world -- including 25 Asian countries -- provide 6, 000 articles on Modern Asia from a global perspective. The Encyclopedias comparative, cross-cultural approach allows students and researchers to identify the similarities and differences among Asian nations and religions. The work focuses on Asia in the modern world -- including Central Asia, the Middle East and the Far East -- and contemporary issues are given full and authoritative treatment. Historical articles emphasize people, places, events and developments that have had a lasting influence on Asia. Articles also cover Asian relations with Western nations, the relations between nations within Asia and also the flow of people, goods and ideas within Asia and globally. Also includes approximately 1, 000 black-and-white photographs, maps, sidebars and a comprehensive index.
Great Events from History: The 21st Century (2000-2016)
Salem Press' monumental Great Events from History series spans human history from ancient times to the present, worldwide. This new three-volume set continues Salem's award-winning coverage into the twenty-first century, providing thoughtful, detailed essays on major events between 2000 and 2016.
Great Events from History: The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940
This six-volume set profiles 1,037 of the most important events during the early years of the 20th century, including World War I, the Russian Revolution, and the rise of the Nazi party.
Great Events from History: The Twentieth Century, 1941-1970
The second in a three-part series on the 20th century, these six volumes include such important events as World War II, the Vietnam War, and the Holocaust.
Great Events from History: The Twentieth Century, 1971-2000
Coverage in this set includes the end of the U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War in 1973, the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991, and the completion of sequencing the human genome in 2000.
The Great Urbanization of China
As China rises to become the world's largest economy, half a billion rural villagers are expected to become urban residents in the coming decades. The great urbanization of the world's most populated country is sure to be one of the most far-reaching social-economic events in the 21st century. This book provides a clear and comprehensive review of this unfolding event. It presents not only the evolution of public policies and institutional reforms regarding urban development over the past decades, but also an up-to-date survey and in-depth analysis of contemporary social-economic forces that define and contribute to the process of urbanization. Individuals interested in understanding China's urban development will find this book useful, informative, and fascinating.
The Guns of August
PULITZER PRIZE WINNER * "A brilliant piece of military history which proves up to the hilt the force of Winston Churchill's statement that the first month of World War I was 'a drama never surpassed.'"--Newsweek Selected by the Modern Library as one of the 100 best nonfiction books of all time In this landmark account, renowned historian Barbara W. Tuchman re-creates the first month of World War I: thirty days in the summer of 1914 that determined the course of the conflict, the century, and ultimately our present world. Beginning with the funeral of Edward VII, Tuchman traces each step that led to the inevitable clash. And inevitable it was, with all sides plotting their war for a generation. Dizzyingly comprehensive and spectacularly portrayed with her famous talent for evoking the characters of the war's key players, Tuchman's magnum opus is a classic for the ages. The Proud Tower, the Pulitzer Prize-winning The Guns of August, and The Zimmermann Telegram comprise Barbara W. Tuchman's classic histories of the First World War era
An Illustrated Dictionary of the Third Reich
This dictionary gives an enormous amount of basic information on the Third Reich era by listing, and often depicting, German terms connected to Nazism and the Germany of World War II. It includes ranks, badges, insignia, regalia, medals, flags and banners, weapons, uniforms, equipment, vehicles, fortifications, airplanes, battleships, main Nazi concepts and organizations, slogans, sayings, code names, nicknames, slang words, places of importance, events and battles, treaties and alliances, industry and economics, justice, art, religion, education, political parties, newspapers, laws, institutions, and short biographies of Nazi leaders. To make the rise of Nazism comprehensible, aspects of the Weimar Republic have also been considered. In all there are 1,650 entries and 234 illustrations.
The Legacies of Two World Wars: European Societies in the Twentieth Century
The US invasion of Iraq in 2003 was done mainly, if one is to believe US policy at the time, to liberate the people of Iraq from an oppressive dictator. However, the many protests in London, New York, and other cities imply that the policy of "making the world safe for democracy" was not shared by millions of people in many Western countries. Thinking about this controversy inspired the present volume, which takes a closer look at how society responded to the outbreaks and conclusions of the First and Second World Wars. In order to examine this relationship between the conduct of wars and public opinion, leading scholars trace the moods and attitudes of the people of four Western countries (Great Britain, France, Germany and Italy) before, during and after the crucial moments of the two major conflicts of the twentieth century. Focusing less on politics and more on how people experienced the wars, this volume shows how the distinction between enthusiasm for war and concern about its consequences is rarely clear-cut.
Nazi Foreign Policy, 1933-1941
How did the Second World War come about? Nazi Foreign Policy, 1933-1941provides lucid answers to this complex question. Focusing on the different regions of Nazi policy such as Italy, France and Britain, Christian Leitz explores the diplomatic and political developments that led to the outbreak of war in 1939 and its transformation into a global conflict in 1941. Nazi Foreign Policy, 1933-1941details the history of Nazi Germany's foreign policy from Hitler's inauguration as Reich Chancellor to the declaration of war by America in 1941. Christian Leitz gives equal weight to the attitude and actions of the Nazi regime and the perspectives and reactions of the world both before and during the war.
Politicians, the Press, and Propaganda: Lord Northcliffe and the Great War, 1914-1919
Politicians, the Press, and Propaganda represents the most recent and most extensive research on Alfred Harmsworth (Lord Northcliffe), one of the "press lords" who influenced British politics and policy during the First World War. Thompson's is the only study to deal with Northcliffe and the inseparable quality of his public and political career from his journalism.Politicians, the Press, and Propaganda addresses a wide range of topics--the Great War, journalism, propaganda, censorship, the use and misuse of power, his preoccupation with America, and Northcliffe's influence on David Lloyd George--and will appeal to those interested in the history of modern journalism as well as twentieth-century British history.
A Short History of the Twentieth Century
The historian John Lukacs offers a concise history of the twentieth century--its two world wars and cold war, its nations and leaders. The great themes woven through this spirited narrative are inseparable from the author's own intellectual preoccupations: the fading of liberalism, the rise of populism and nationalism, the achievements and dangers of technology, and the continuing democratization of the globe. The historical twentieth century began with the First World War in 1914 and ended seventy-five years later with the collapse of the Soviet Empire in 1989. The short century saw the end of European dominance and the rise of American power and influence throughout the world. The twentieth century was an American century--perhaps the American century. Lukacs explores in detail the phenomenon of national socialism (national socialist parties, he reminds us, have outlived the century), Hitler's sole responsibility for the Second World War, and the crucial roles played by his determined opponents Churchill and Roosevelt. Between 1939 and 1942 Germany came closer to winning than many people suppose. Lukacs casts a hard eye at the consequences of the Second World War--the often misunderstood Soviet-American cold war--and at the shifting social and political developments in the Far and Middle East and elsewhere. In an eloquent closing meditation on the passing of the twentieth century, he reflects on the advance of democracy throughout the world and the limitations of human knowledge.
Struggles for Political Change in the Arab World
The advent of the Arab Spring in late 2010 was a hopeful moment for partisans of progressive change throughout the Arab world. Authoritarian leaders who had long stood in the way of meaningful political reform in the countries of the region were either ousted or faced the possibility of political if not physical demise. The downfall of long-standing dictators as they faced off with strong-willed protesters was a clear sign that democratic change was within reach. Throughout the last ten years, however, the Arab world has witnessed authoritarian regimes regaining resilience, pro-democracy movements losing momentum, and struggles between the first and the latter involving regional and international powers. This volume explains how relevant political players in Arab countries among regimes, opposition movements, and external actors have adapted ten years after the onset of the Arab Spring. It includes contributions on Egypt, Morocco, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Algeria, Sudan, Lebanon, Iraq, Jordan, Yemen, and Tunisia. It also features studies on the respective roles of the United States, China, Iran, and Turkey vis-À-vis questions of political change and stability in the Arab region, and includes a study analyzing the role of Saudi Arabia and its allies in subverting revolutionary movements in other countries.
Summits: Six Meetings That Shaped the Twentieth Century
The Cold War dominated world history for nearly half a century, locking two superpowers in a global rivalry that only ended with the Soviet collapse. The most decisive moments of twentieth-century diplomacy occurred when world leaders met face to face--from the mishandled summit in Munich, 1938, which brought on the Second World War, to Ronald Reagan's remarkable chemistry with Mikhail Gorbachev at Geneva in 1985. In Summits, eminent diplomatic historian David Reynolds takes us alongside the statesmen who stood, if only briefly, on top of the world, offering valuable lessons as we find ourselves confronting once again a war without end.
The Unfinished War: Korea
The Unfinished War: Korea is a time-sensitive manuscript concerned with the Korea War and current North-South issues including the North Korea's nuclear weapons. The author lays out the history of American involvement in Korea before, during, and after the war; provides cross-cultural perspectives and an account of the war unparalleled for its breadth and depth based on recently declassified documents, interviews, and other references; discusses new developments, including South Korea's so-called "economic miracle," President Bush's inclusion of North Korea in the "axis of evil," and emerging prospects for war or peace today; and includes concrete, personal realities and anecdotes based on the experiences of Koreans.
Vietnam at War
The Vietnam War tends to conjure up images of American soldiers battling an elusive enemy in thick jungle, the thudding of helicopters overhead. But there were in fact many Vietnam wars - an anticolonial war with France, a cold war turned hot with the United States, a civil war between North and South Vietnam and among the southern Vietnamese, a revolutionary war of ideas over what should guide Vietnamese society into its postcolonialfuture, and finally a war of memories after the official end of hostilities with the fall of Saigon in 1975. This book looks at how the Vietnamese themselves experienced all of these conflicts, showing how the wars for Vietnam were rooted in fundamentally conflicting visions of what an independent Vietnam should mean that in many ways remain unresolved to this day. Drawing upon twenty years of research, Mark Philip Bradley examines the thinking and the behaviour of the key wartime decision-makers in Hanoi and Saigon, while at the same time exploring how ordinary Vietnamese, northerners and southerners, men and women, soldiers and civilians, urban elites andrural peasants, radicals and conservatives, came to understand the thirty years of bloody warfare that unfolded around them - and how they made sense of its aftermath.
War and Genocide: A Concise History of the Holocaust
In examining one of the defining events of the twentieth century, Doris L. Bergen situates the Holocaust in its historical, political, social, cultural, and military contexts. Unlike many other treatments of the Holocaust, this revised, second edition discusses not only the persecution of the Jews, but also other segments of society victimized by the Nazis: Gypsies, homosexuals, Poles, Soviet POWs, the handicapped, and other groups deemed undesirable. With clear and eloquent prose, Bergen explores the two interconnected goals that drove the Nazi German program of conquest and genocide purification of the so-called Aryan race and expansion of its living space and discusses how these goals affected the course of World War II. Including firsthand accounts from perpetrators, victims, and eyewitnesses, the book is immediate, human, and eminently readable."
Weapons, Warfare and Military Technology
World Politics Since 1945
"The most lucid, comprehensive, intelligent and reliable account of post-war modern history on the market." Teaching Politics "The book compels admiration for its thoroughness, its scope, the masterly ordering of its immense material." The Sunday Times The ninth edition of this enormously successful standard work has been expanded to take into account the developments of the last 10 years, including the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Sudan; the accelerating emergence of India and China as major powers; the major political developments in Latin America, including the rise and perhaps fall of Chavez in Venezuela; the march of globalisation and the popular protest movements against; the expansion eastwards of the European Union; instability in the Middle East and the question of oil and energy supply. Marked throughout by Calvocoressi's characteristic erudition and elegance, World Politics since 1945 is essential reading for those who need to understand the great sweeps of contemporary history
The World War I Reader
Almost 100 years after the Treaty of Versailles was signed, World War I continues to be badly understood and greatly oversimplified. Its enormous impact on the world in terms of international diplomacy and politics, and the ways in which future military engagements would evolve, be fought, and ultimately get resolved have been ignored. With this reader of primary and secondary documents, edited and compiled by Michael S. Neiberg, students, scholars, and war buffs can gain an extensive yet accessible understanding of this conflict. Neiberg introduces the basic problems in the history of World War I, shares the words and experiences of the participants themselves, and, finally, presents some of the most innovative and dynamic current scholarship on the war. Neiberg, a leading historian of World War I, has selected a wide array of primary documents, ranging from government papers to personal diaries, demonstrating the war's devastating effect on all who experienced it, whether President Woodrow Wilson, an English doughboy in the trenches, or a housewife in Germany. In addition to this material, each chapter in The World War I Reader contains a selection of articles and book chapters written by major scholars of World War I, giving readers perspectives on the war that are both historical and contemporary. Chapters are arranged chronologically and by theme, and address causes, the experiences of soldiers and their leaders, battlefield strategies and conditions, home front issues, diplomacy, and peacemaking. A time-line, maps, suggestions for further reading, and a substantive introduction by Neiberg that lays out the historiography of World War I round out the book.
Go to OneSearch to search for more print books.
Want more on finding print books? Try our How to Use OneSearch guide.
Castro's Secrets: The CIA and Cuba's Intelligence Machine
In CASTRO'S SECRETS, highly acclaimed author and intelligence expert Brian Latell offers a strikingly original view of Fidel Castro in his role as Cuba's supreme spymaster. Based on interviews with high level defectors from Cuba's powerful intelligence and security services, long-buried secrets of Fidel's nearly 50-year reign are exposed for the first time. They include numerous assassinations and attempted ones carried out on Castro's orders, some against foreign leaders. More than a dozen ranking Cuban secret agents embraced by the CIA and FBI speak in these pages; some have never told their stories on the record before. Latell also probes dispassionately into the CIA's most deplorable plots against Cuba - including previously obscure schemes to assassinate Castro - and presents shocking new conclusions about what Fidel actually knew of Lee Harvey Oswald prior to the assassination of John F. Kennedy.
The Cold War: A New History
In 1950, when Joseph Stalin, Mao Zedong, Ho Chi Minh and Kim Il-Sung met in Moscow to discuss the future, they had reason to feel optimistic. International communism seemed everywhere on the offensive: Stalin was at the height of his power; all of Eastern Europe was securely in the Soviet camp; America's monopoly on nuclear weapons was a thing of the past; and Mao's forces had assumed control over the world's most populous country. Everywhere on the globe, colonialism left the West morally compromised. The story of the previous five decades, which saw severe economic depression, two world wars, a nearly successful attempt to wipe out the Jews, and the invention of weapons capable of wiping out everyone, was one of worst fears confirmed, and there seemed as of 1950 little sign, at least to the West, that the next fifty years would be any less dark. In fact, of course, the century's end brought the widespread triumph of political and economic freedom over its ideological enemies. How did this happen? How did fear become hope? In The Cold War, John Lewis Gaddis makes a major contribution to our understanding of this epochal story. Beginning with World War II and ending with the collapse of the Soviet Union, he provides a thrilling account of the strategic dynamics that drove the age, rich with illuminating portraits of its major personalities and much fresh insight into its most crucial events. The first significant distillation of cold war scholarship for a general readership, The Cold Warcontains much new and often startling information drawn from newly opened Soviet, East European, and Chinese archives. Now, as America once again finds itself in a global confrontation with an implacable ideological enemy, The Cold Wartells a story whose lessons it is vitally necessary to understand.
D-Day, June 6, 1944: The Climactic Battle of World War II
The preeminent chronicle of the most important day in the twentieth century.
Daily Life During World War I
What was life really like for the ordinary soldier, sailor, airman, and civilian during World War I? Was it different for the British, French, and Americans than it was for the Germans? This work brings to life the military and civilian experiences of ordinary people on both sides of the war. Rich with information not available elsewhere, this engagingly written narrative focuses on the real details of living in wartime: how men were recruited and trained, the equipment they used, what they ate, trench warfare as a way of life, and the phenomenon of combat. The life of seamen and the novel experience of the first airmen provide contrast to the life of the soldier in the trenches. Also described are the medical system for treating casualties, the life of a prisoner of war, and the experience of military nurses and the first women in uniform. This book also details how life on the home front changed in myriad ways, including the education of schoolchildren, the fevered prosperity of a wartime economy, and the change in women's traditional roles from homemaker to essential laborer.
Darkest Hour: How Churchill Brought England Back from the Brink
Now an Oscar-nominated, major motion picture starring Gary Oldman. From the acclaimed novelist and screenwriter of The Theory of Everything comes a revelatory look at the period immediately following Winston Churchill's ascendancy to Prime Minister. "He was speaking to the nation, the world, and indeed to history..." May, 1940. Britain is at war. The horrors of blitzkrieg have seen one western European democracy after another fall in rapid succession to Nazi boot and shell. Invasion seems mere hours away. Just days after becoming Prime Minister, Winston Churchill must deal with this horror--as well as a skeptical King, a party plotting against him, and an unprepared public. Pen in hand and typist-secretary at the ready, how could he change the mood and shore up the will of a nervous people? In this gripping day-by-day, often hour-by-hour account of how an often uncertain Churchill turned Britain around, the celebrated Bafta-winning writer Anthony McCarten exposes sides of the great man never seen before. He reveals how he practiced and re-wrote his key speeches, from 'Blood, toil, tears and sweat' to 'We shall fight on the beaches'; his consideration of a peace treaty with Nazi Germany, and his underappreciated role in the Dunkirk evacuation; and, above all, how 25 days helped make one man an icon. Using new archive material, McCarten reveals the crucial behind-the-scenes moments that changed the course of history. It's a scarier--and more human--story than has ever been told. "McCarten's pulse-pounding narrative transports the reader to those springtime weeks in 1940 when the fate of the world rested on the shoulders of Winston Churchill. A true story thrillingly told. Thoroughly researched and compulsively readable."--Michael F. Bishop, Executive Director of the International Churchill Society
The Future is History: How Totalitarianism Reclaimed Russia
WINNER OF THE 2017 NATIONAL BOOK AWARD IN NONFICTION FINALIST FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARDS WINNER OF THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY'S HELEN BERNSTEIN BOOK AWARD NAMED A BEST BOOK OF 2017 BY THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW, LOS ANGELES TIMES, WASHINGTON POST, BOSTON GLOBE, SEATTLE TIMES, CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR, NEWSWEEK, PASTE, and POP SUGAR The essential journalist and bestselling biographer of Vladimir Putin reveals how, in the space of a generation, Russia surrendered to a more virulent and invincible new strain of autocracy. Award-winning journalist Masha Gessen's understanding of the events and forces that have wracked Russia in recent times is unparalleled. In The Future Is History, Gessen follows the lives of four people born at what promised to be the dawn of democracy. Each of them came of age with unprecedented expectations, some as the children and grandchildren of the very architects of the new Russia, each with newfound aspirations of their own--as entrepreneurs, activists, thinkers, and writers, sexual and social beings. Gessen charts their paths against the machinations of the regime that would crush them all, and against the war it waged on understanding itself, which ensured the unobstructed reemergence of the old Soviet order in the form of today's terrifying and seemingly unstoppable mafia state. Powerful and urgent, The Future Is History is a cautionary tale for our time and for all time.
Hiroshima, Nagasaki: The Real Story of the Atomic Bombings and their Aftermath
In this harrowing history of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings, Paul Ham argues against the use of nuclear weapons, drawing on extensive research and hundreds of interviews to prove that the bombings had little impact on the eventual outcome of the Pacific War. More than 100,000 people were killed instantly by the atomic bombs, mostly women, children, and the elderly. Many hundreds of thousands more succumbed to their horrific injuries later, or slowly perished of radiation-related sickness. Yet American leaders claimed the bombs were "our least abhorrent choice"--and still today most people believe they ended the Pacific War and saved millions of American and Japanese lives. In this gripping narrative, Ham demonstrates convincingly that misunderstandings and nationalist fury on both sides led to the use of the bombs. Ham also gives powerful witness to its destruction through the eyes of eighty survivors, from twelve-year-olds forced to work in war factories to wives and children who faced the holocaust alone. Hiroshima Nagasaki presents the grisly unadorned truth about the bombings, blurred for so long by postwar propaganda, and transforms our understanding of one of the defining events of the twentieth century.
Mastering Modern World History
The fifth edition of this bestselling book is for school and college students taking courses in Modern World History and for undergraduates in History and International Relations. It is a complete, self-contained, lively and highly readable course, suitable for individual study or classroom use. The general reader who wishes to find out how the world got into its present state will also find the book useful. Key features of the fifth edition: * A new chapter on Latin America and its changing relationship with the USA * New sections on the Arab Spring, the 2008 financial crash and its aftermath, and the European Union in crisis * New material on the changing face of communism in China; USA: Bush to Obama; Russia under Putin and Medvedev; the continuing conflict between Palestinians and Israelis and the 'war against terrorism' Content includes: * A survey of international relations and war from 1900 to 2012 * Europe and its history - the rise and fall of fascism and communism * International affairs of the major superpowers - USA, Russia/USSR and China * International conflict -The Holocaust, 9/11 and the fall of Saddam Hussein * Decolonization and subsequent events in Africa, and the rise of political Islam * Global problems - climate change, economic crises, the population 'explosion' * Mention of disagreements and controversies among historians, as well as new interpretations and discoveries Norman Lowe has had many years' experience of teaching History at all levels, and for 25 years was Head of History at Nelson and Colne College in Lancashire. He is the author of Mastering Modern British History and Mastering Twentieth Century Russian History. Fully updated companion website with examples of document questions for each chapter www.palgrave.com/masterseries/Lowe
Revolutionary Russia, 1891 - 1991: A History
From the author ofA People's Tragedy, an original reading of the Russian Revolution, examining it not as a single event but as a hundred-year cycle of violence in pursuit of utopian dreams In this elegant and incisive account, Orlando Figes offers an illuminating new perspective on the Russian Revolution. While other historians have focused their examinations on the cataclysmic years immediately before and after 1917, Figes shows how the revolution, while it changed in form and character, nevertheless retained the same idealistic goals throughout, from its origins in the famine crisis of 1891 until its end with the collapse of the communist Soviet regime in 1991. Figes traces three generational phases: Lenin and the Bolsheviks, who set the pattern of destruction and renewal until their demise in the terror of the 1930s; the Stalinist generation, promoted from the lower classes, who created the lasting structures of the Soviet regime and consolidated its legitimacy through victory in war; and the generation of 1956, shaped by the revelations of Stalin's crimes and committed to "making the Revolution work" to remedy economic decline and mass disaffection. Until the very end of the Soviet system, its leaders believed they were carrying out the revolution Lenin had begun. With the authority and distinctive style that have marked his magisterial histories, Figes delivers an accessible and paradigm-shifting reconsideration of one of the defining events of the twentieth century.
Stalin's Curse: Battling for Communism in War and Cold War
A chilling, riveting account based on newly released Russian documentation that reveals Joseph Stalin's true motives--and the extent of his enduring commitment to expanding the Soviet empire--during the years in which he seemingly collaborated with Franklin D. Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, and the capitalist West. At the Big Three conferences of World War II, Stalin persuasively played the role of a great world leader. Even astute observers like George F. Kennan concluded that the United States and Great Britain should view Stalin as a modern-day tsarist-like figure whose primary concerns lay in international strategy and power politics, not in ideology. Now Robert Gellately uses recently uncovered documents to make clear that, in fact, the dictator was an unwavering revolutionary merely biding his time, determined as ever to establish Communist regimes across Europe and beyond, and that his actions during these years (and the poorly calculated Western responses) set in motion what would eventually become the Cold War. Gellately takes us behind the scenes. We see the dictator disguising his political ambitions and prioritizing the future of Communism, even as he pursued the war against Hitler. Along the way, the ascetic dictator's Machiavellian moves and bouts of irrationality kept the Western leaders on their toes, in a world that became more dangerous and divided year by year. Exciting, deeply engaging, and shrewdly perceptive, Stalin's Curse is an unprecedented revelation of the sinister machinations of the Soviet dictator.
Syria: A History of the Last Hundred Years
The collapse of Syria into civil war over the past two years has spawned a regional crisis whose reverberations grow louder with each passing month. In this timely account, John McHugo seeks to contextualize the headlines, providing broad historical perspective and a richly layered analysis of a country few in the United States know or understand. McHugo charts the history of Syria from World War I to the tumultuous present, examining the country’s thwarted attempts at independence, the French policies that sowed the seeds of internal strife, and the fragility of its foundations as a nation. He then turns to more recent events: religious and sectarian tensions that have riven Syria, the pressures of the Cold War and the Arab-Israeli conflict, and two generations of rule by the Assads. The result is a fresh and rigorous narrative that explains both the creation and unraveling of the current regime and the roots of the broader Middle East conflict. As the Syrian civil war threatens to draw the U.S. military once again into the Middle East, here is a rare and authoritative guide to a complex nation that demands our attention.
Upheaval: Turning Points for Nations in Crisis
A "riveting and illuminating" (Yuval Noah Harari) new theory of how and why some nations recover from trauma and others don't, by the Pulitzer-Prize-winning author of the landmark bestsellers Guns, Germs, and Steel and Collapse. In his international bestsellers Guns, Germs and Steel and Collapse, Jared Diamond transformed our understanding of what makes civilizations rise and fall. Now, in his third book in this monumental trilogy, he reveals how successful nations recover from crises while adopting selective changes -- a coping mechanism more commonly associated with individuals recovering from personal crises. Diamond compares how six countries have survived recent upheavals -- ranging from the forced opening of Japan by U.S. Commodore Perry's fleet, to the Soviet Union's attack on Finland, to a murderous coup or countercoup in Chile and Indonesia, to the transformations of Germany and Austria after World War Two. Because Diamond has lived and spoken the language in five of these six countries, he can present gut-wrenching histories experienced firsthand. These nations coped, to varying degrees, through mechanisms such as acknowledgment of responsibility, painfully honest self-appraisal, and learning from models of other nations. Looking to the future, Diamond examines whether the United States, Japan, and the whole world are successfully coping with the grave crises they currently face. Can we learn from lessons of the past? Adding a psychological dimension to the in-depth history, geography, biology, and anthropology that mark all of Diamond's books, Upheaval reveals factors influencing how both whole nations and individual people can respond to big challenges. The result is a book epic in scope, but also his most personal book yet.
The Versailles Treaty and its Legacy : The Failure of the Wilsonian Vision
This study, a realist interpretation of the long diplomatic record that produced the coming of World War II in 1939, is a critique of the Paris Peace Conference and reflects the judgment shared by many who left the Conference in 1919 in disgust amid predictions of future war. The critique is a rejection of the idea of collective security, which Woodrow Wilson and many others believed was a panacea, but which was also condemned as early as 1915. This book delivers a powerful lesson in treaty-making and rejects the supposition that treaties, once made, are unchangeable, whatever their faults.
Featured resources are specialized or unique resources. Must be on campus or login with your COM account for off campus access.
Oxford's Very Short Introductions offer concise introductions that are balanced, demonstrating how it has developed and influenced society. COm Library has some in print and some eBooks. See more Very Short Introductions.
The Cold War: A Very Short Introduction
The massive disorder and economic ruin following the Second World War inevitably predetermined the scope and intensity of the Cold War. But why did it last so long? And what impact did it have on the United States, the Soviet Union, Europe, and the Third World? Finally, how did it affect thebroader history of the second half of the twentieth century - what were the human and financial costs? This Very Short Introduction provides a clear and stimulating interpretive overview of the Cold War, one that will both invite debate and encourage deeper investigation.
The Cultural Revolution: A Very Short Introduction
China's decade-long Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution shook the politics of China and the world. Even as we approach its fiftieth anniversary, the movement remains so contentious that the Chinese Communist Party still forbids fully open investigation of its origins, development, andconclusion. Drawing upon a vital trove of scholarship, memoirs, and popular culture, this Very Short Introduction illuminates this complex, often obscure, and still controversial movement. Moving beyond the figure of Mao Zedong, Richard Curt Kraus links Beijing's elite politics to broader aspects of society and culture, highlighting many changes in daily life, employment, and the economy. Kraus also situates this very nationalist outburst of Chinese radicalism within a global context,showing that the Cultural Revolution was mirrored in the radical youth movement that swept much of the world, and that had imagined or emotional links to China's red guards. Yet it was also during the Cultural Revolution that China and the United States tempered their long hostility, one of theinnovations in this period that sowed the seeds for China's subsequent decades of spectacular economic growth.
European Union: A Very Short Introduction
This Very Short Introduction explains the European Union in plain English. Fully updated for 2007 to include controversial and current topics such as the Euro currency, the EU's enlargement, and its role in ongoing world affairs, this accessible guide shows how and why the EU has developedfrom 1950 to the present. Covering a range of topics from the Union's early history and the ongoing interplay between 'eurosceptics' and federalists, to the single market, agriculture, and the environment, the authors examine the successes and failures of the EU, and explain the choices that lieahead in the 21st century.
First World War: A Very Short Introduction
By the time the First World War ended in 1918, eight million people had died in what had been perhaps the most apocalyptic episode the world had known. This iVery Short Introduction/i provides a concise and insightful history of the 'Great War', focusing on why it happened, how it was fought,and why it had the consequences it did. It examines the state of Europe in 1914 and the outbreak of war; the onset of attrition and crisis; the role of the US; the collapse of Russia; and the weakening and eventual surrender of the Central Powers. Looking at the historical controversies surrounding the causes and conduct of war, MichaelHoward also describes how peace was ultimately made, and the potent legacy of resentment left to Germany.
Modern China: A Very Short Introduction
China today is never out of the news: from human rights controversies and the continued legacy of Tiananmen Square, to global coverage of the Beijing Olympics, and the Chinese 'economic miracle'. It seems a country of contradictions: a peasant society with some of the world's most futuristiccities, heir to an ancient civilization that is still trying to find a modern identity. This iVery Short Introduction/i offers the reader with no previous knowledge of China a variety of ways to understand the world's most populous nation, giving a short, integrated picture of modern Chinesesociety, culture, economy, politics and art.
Modern France: A Very Short Introduction
In this Very Short Introduction, Vanessa Schwartz argues that modern France, as both a world stage and a global crossroads, is an essential actor in the development of contemporary culture. Indeed, French is the only language other than English spoken on five continents, and more people stillvisit France than anywhere else in the world. French fashion continues to dominate haute couture and, at the same time, French people are at the forefront of international "style," which was as true in the first half of the twentieth century as it is today. This tension between "Frenchness" as bothparticular and transnational remains one of the most compelling qualities of the culture. If French culture and culture producers are working around the globe, if Paris is an international capital, the marvel is that France still manages to attract visitors from all over the world seeking out thedrama of its historic castles and significant battlefields, its more than 300 cheeses and the renowned wines grown in its rich soil.
Modern Japan: A Very Short Introduction
Japan is arguably today's most successful industrial economy, combining almost unprecedented affluence with social stability and apparent harmony. Japanese goods and cultural products are consumed all over the world, ranging from animated movies and computer games all the way through to cars,semiconductors, and management techniques. In many ways, Japan is an icon of the modern world, and yet it remains something of an enigma to many, who see it as a confusing montage of the alien and the familiar, the ancient and modern. The aim of this Very Short Introduction is to explode the mythsand explore the reality of modern Japan - by taking a concise look at its history, economy, politics, and culture.
Nuclear Weapons: A Very Short Introduction
Despite not having been used in anger since Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Bomb is still the biggest threat that faces us in the 21st century. As Bill Clinton's first secretary of defence, Les Aspin, aptly put it: 'The Cold War is over, the Soviet Union is no more. But the post-Cold War world isdecidedly not post-nuclear'. For all the effort to reduce nuclear stockpiles to zero, it seems that the Bomb is here to stay. This iVery Short Introduction/i reveals why. The history, and politics of the bomb are explained: from the technology of nuclear weapons, to the revolutionary implications of the H-bomb, and the politics of nuclear deterrence. The issues are set against a backdrop of the changing international landscape, from the early days of development,through the Cold War, to the present-day controversy of George W. Bush's National Missile Defence, and the threat and role of nuclear weapons in the so-called Age of Terror.Joseph M. Siracusa provides a comprehensive, accessible, and at times chilling overview of the most deadly weapon ever invented.
Twentieth-Century Britain: A Very Short Introduction
First published as part of the best-selling The Oxford Illustrated History of Britain, Kenneth Morgan's Very Short Introduction to Twentieth-Century Britain examines the forces of consensus and of conflict in twentieth-century Britain. The account covers the trauma of the First World War andthe social divisions of the twenties; fierce domestic and foreign policy debates in the thirties; the impact of the Second World War for domestic transformation, popular culture and the loss of empire; the transition from the turmoil of the seventies to the aftermath of Thatcherism and the advent ofNew Labour. Throughout, cultural and artistic themes are woven into the analysis, along with the distinct national experiences of Scotland, Wales, and Ireland. The profound tension that shook the United Kingdom are juxtaposed against equally deep forces for stability, cohesion, and a sense ofhistoric identity.
World War II: A Very Short Introduction
The enormous loss of life and physical destruction caused by the First World War led people to hope that there would never be another such catastrophe. How then did it come about that there was a Second World War causing twice the 30 million deaths and many times more destruction as had beencaused in the previous conflict? In this Very Short Introduction, Gerhard L. Weinberg provides an introduction to the origins, course, and impact of the war on those who fought and the ordinary citizens who lived through it. Starting by looking at the inter-war years and the German invasion of Poland in September 1939, he examineshow the war progressed by examining a number of key events, including the war in the West in 1940, Barbarossa, The German Invasion of the Soviet Union, the expansion of Japan's war with China, developments on the home front, and the Allied victory from 1944-45. Exploring the costs and effects of thewar, Weinberg concludes by considering the long-lasting mark World War II has left on society today.ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, andenthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.
© 2024 COM Library
1200 Amburn Road, Texas City, Texas 77591
409-933-8448 . FAX 409-933-8030
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
