No baseball team has captured America's imagination like the Mets. Alternately the "Lovable Losers" and the "Miracle Mets," New York's other team offers fascinating fodder for writer Richard Grossinger in this thoughtful collection. The New York Mets is a series of probing essays on the best and most interesting years of the team, particularly 1969, 1973, 1986, and last year's abbreviated run. A pivotal essay chronicles the lives of a professional athlete and a die-hard fan to create a well-argued, deeply felt meditation on the ways in which franchise baseball has come to fail not only the fans but the players. This centerpiece presents a poignant narrative of Mets pitcher Terry Leach and author Grossinger's own experiences playing and tracking the sport. Taken together, these powerful essays alternately take the poet's, the alchemist's, and the player's perspective to paint a composite portrait that brings all the stunning highs and dispiriting lows together to show the ways in which America's favorite pastime has changed. Grossinger reflects on the salad days when teams were happily homegrown and laments the current money-ball scenario some call baseball today.

"Trade and the environment" issues have engaged powerful non-governmental organizations in the United States, Europe, and elsewhere. Environmentalists and labor union leaders have been concerned that falling international trade barriers, along with international trade organizations associated with free trade, are undermining environmental protection. In contrast, business leaders and developing-country governments have been concerned that purported environmental regulations may be used as disguised barriers to trade. Those with competing perspectives on these issues have clashed in scholarly journals, the editorial pages of leading newspapers, the halls of government-and in the streets. This is the first book that systematically compares how each of the world's major international trade organizations has been addressing environmental issues. It provides background, up-to-date information, and analysis on the development of trade-environment rules in the World Trade Organization, the European Union, the North American Free Trade Agreement, the Free Trade Area of the Americas, the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, the International Organization for Standardization, and other key organizations. All of the essays are both policy-oriented and conscious of their theoretical underpinnings. Together they offer a range of realist, liberal, and institutionalist perspectives. The book concludes by suggesting that the treatment of environmental issues in international trade organizations is best explained by understanding the trade and environment interests of the world's most powerful countries.

Describes the 15-year period of crusades against social and political abuses by business and the emergence of muckraking journalism

The biblical idea of a distinct 'Jewish contribution to civilization' continues to engage Jews and non-Jews alike. This book seeks neither to document nor to discredit the notion, but rather to investigate the idea itself as it has been understood from the seventeenth century to the present. It explores the role that the concept has played in Jewish self-definition, how it has influenced the political, social, and cultural history of the Jews and of others, and whether discussion of the notion still has relevance in the world today. The book offers a broad spectrum of academic opinion: from tempered advocacy to reasoned disavowal, with many variations on the theme in between. It attempts to illustrate the centrality of the question in modern Jewish culture in general, and its importance for modern Jewish studies in particular. Part I addresses the idea itself and considers its ramifications. Richard I. Cohen focuses on the nexus between notions of 'Jewish contribution' and those of 'Jewish superiority', David N. Myers shifts the focus from 'contribution' to 'civilization', arguing that the latter term often served the interests of Jewish intellectuals far better, and Moshe Rosman shows how the current emphasis on multiculturalism has given the idea of a 'Jewish contribution' new life. Part II turns to the relationship between Judaism and other monotheistic cultures. Elliott Horowitz's essay on the sabbath serves as an instructive test-case for the dynamic and complexity of the 'contribution' debate and a pointer to more general, theoretical issues. David Berger expands on these in his account of how discussion of Christianity's Jewish legacy developed in the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and Susannah Heschel shows how the Jewish-Christian encounter has influenced the study of other non-Western 'others'. Daniel Schroeter raises revealing questions about the altogether Eurocentric character of the 'contribution' discourse, which also bore heavily on perceptions of Jews and Judaism in the world of Islam. Part III introduces us to various applications and consequences of the debate. Yaacov Shavit probes the delicate balance forged by nineteenth-century German Jewish intellectuals in defining their identity. Mark Gelber moves the focus to the present and considers the post-war renewal of German Jewish culture and the birth of German-Jewish studies in the context of the 'contribution' discourse. Bringing the volume to its conclusion, David Biale compares three overviews of Jewish culture and civilization published in America in the twentieth and twenty-first-centuries.

"Just as philosophy begins with doubt, so also a life that may be called human begins with irony" so wrote Kierkegaard. While we commonly think of irony as a figure of speech where someone says one thing and means the opposite, the concept of irony has long played a more fundamental role in the tradition of philosophy, a role that goes back to Socrates Ð the originator and exemplar of the urbane ironic life. But what precisely is Socratic irony and what relevance, if any, does it have for us today? Bernstein begins his inquiry with a critical examination of the work of two contemporary philosophers for whom irony is vital: Jonathan Lear and Richard Rorty. Despite their sharp differences, Bernstein argues that they complement one other, each exploring different aspects of ironic life. In the background of Lear’s and Rorty’s accounts stand the two great ironists: Socrates and Kierkegaard. Focusing on the competing interpretations of Socratic irony by Gregory Vlastos and Alexander Nehamas, Bernstein shows how they further develop our understanding of irony as a form of life and as an art of living. Bernstein also develops a distinctive interpretation of Kierkegaard’s famous claim that a life that may be called human begins with irony. Bernstein weaves together the insights of these thinkers to show how each contributes to a richer understanding of ironic life. He also argues that the emphasis on irony helps to restore the balance between two different philosophical traditions philosophy as a theoretical discipline concerned with getting things right and philosophy as a practical discipline that shapes how we ought to live our lives.

Originally published in 1984, this was the first volume on this topic to appear in an emerging area of study at the time. The editors were selective in choosing their contributions to the volume to ensure that both the developmental and neuropsychological domains were well represented. One of the major goals was to foster greater contact and cross-fertilization between subdisciplines that they firmly believed should be more intimately connected. The result is this title, which can now be enjoyed in its historical context.

"The last thing computer circuit planner Daniel Kitajima remembered was being hit by a crane at an orbital construction site. Waking up 80 years later--in 2089--he found that most of his body had been destroyed... but he had survived. A group of doctors had constructed an artificial body that gave him superhuman strength, the ability to survive without food or air, the powers of radar and infrared vision. All Daniel wanted to do was resume a normal life. But his new-found strengths had attracted the attention of powerful people with a devastating secret--that the solar system had only a few centuries to live..."--Pg. [4] of cover.

The biography of Lipman Pike, a power hitting pre-1900 baseball player who once outran a racehorse, told in picture book format.

"Louis Brandeis knows it's up to him to change the world. He has seen how some people are treated poorly because of their race or their religion or because they are poor. If I were a lawyer like Uncle Dembitz, he thinks, I could fight for those who need extra help. Guided by his uncle's example, his father's practical wisdom, and Jewish values of equality and justice, Brandeis gets to work as a lawyer, making sure everyone has a chance. Louis knows it's important to fight for worker's rights and women's rights. Louis knows (before most people!) that everyone has the right to privacy. And Louis knows it's important to support arguments with facts. What Louis doesn't know is that he'll become the first Jewish Supreme Court Justice in 1916, and his fight for justice will only continue. Award-winning author Richard Michelson and illustrator Stacy Innerst bring to life a man full of wit and common sense, a trailblazer to inspire Jewish and non-Jewish readers alike"--

The Cold War came to an end in 1989 - and still there is no name for the present era, much less an American foreign policy to replace the now obsolete doctrine of containment. The Reluctant Sheriff by foreign policy expert Richard Haass fills this void. It is the first book both to provide a comprehensive understanding of the post-Cold War world and a compass to help the United States navigate it. The author proposes that the United States adopt a new foreign policy - "regulation" - and work to promote order in an often unruly world. To do this, the United States will frequently need to assume the role of global sheriff, one who forges coalitions or posses of states and other entities for specific tasks, much as was done during Operation Desert Storm. American unilateral action will rarely be a viable option; alliances and international organizations will be able to play a useful but limited role.

Book by Perle, Richard

An authoritative history of the Russian Revolution and the "violent and disruptive acts" that created the first modern totalitarian regime, portraying the crisis at the heart of the tsarist empire "A deep and eloquent condemnation of the revolution and its aftermath." — The New York Times Drawing on archival materials released in Russia, Richard Pipes chronicles the upheaval that began as a conservative revolt but was soon captured by messianic intellectuals intent not merely on reforming Russia but on remaking the world. He provides fresh accounts of the revolution's personalities and policies, crises, and cruelties, from the murder of the royal family through civil war, famine, and state terror. Brilliantly and persuasively, Pipes shows us why the resulting system owes less to the theories of Marx than it did to the character of Lenin and Russia's long authoritarian tradition. What ensues is a path-clearing work that is indispensable to any understanding of the events of the century.

"A superb book about a topic that should be front and center in the American political debate" ( National Review ), from the acclaimed Harvard scholar and historian of the Russian Revolution An exploration of a wide range of national and political systems to demonstrate persuasively that private ownership has served over the centuries to limit the power of the state and enable democratic institutions to evolve and thrive in the Western world. Beginning with Greece and Rome, where the concept of private property as we understand it first developed, Richard Pipes then shows us how, in the late medieval period, the idea matured with the expansion of commerce and the rise of cities. He contrasts England, a country where property rights and parliamentary government advanced hand-in-hand, with Russia, where restrictions on ownership have for centuries consistently abetted authoritarian regimes; finally he provides reflections on current and future trends in the United States. Property and Freedom is a brilliant contribution to political thought and an essential work on a subject of vital importance.

Newly revised for this edition, Richard Pipes's highly acclaimed study analyses the evolution of the Russian state from the ninth century to the 1880s and its unique role in managing Russian society. The harsh geographical conditions and sheer size of the country prevented the creation of participatory government, and a 'patrimonial' state emerged in which Russia was transformed into a gigantic royal domain. Richard Pipes traces these developments and goes on to analyse the political behaviour of the principal social groupings - peasantry, nobility, middle-class and clergy - and their failure to stand up to the increasing absolutism of the tsar. In order to strengthen his powers legal and institutional bases were set up that led to the creation of a bureaucratic police state under the Communists.

"Eighteen-year-old Stony De Coco has to make a choice: either join his father in the tightly knit world of New York's construction unions or take off and find his own path. But Stony's family is not about to make that choice easy. As he tries to protect his little brother, Albert, from their dangerously unbalanced mother, and to postpone the difficult adult responsibilities that await him, he finds hope in a job working with children at a hospital - a job that promises not to make anyone happy but Stony."--Publisher description.

Once upon a time, Kenny Becker had a barely tolerable girlfriend and a miserable job. Now, unattached and unemployed, can he stop the downward spiral of his life? --