Tony Blair has dominated British political life for more than a decade. Like Margaret Thatcher before him, he has changed the terms of political debate and provoked as much condemnation as admiration. At the end of his era in power, this book presents a wide-ranging overview of the achievements and failures of the Blair governments. Bringing together Britain's most eminent academics and commentators on British politics and society, it examines the effect of the Prime Minister and his administration on the machinery of government, economic and social policy and foreign relations. Combining serious scholarship with clarity and accessibility, this book represents the authoritative verdict on the impact of the Blair years on British politics and society.

"A sweeping riveting history that manages to capture the essence of the conflict, as well as the contributions of particular schools and individuals." — HMC Insight Magazine In this pioneering and original book, Anthony Seldon and David Walsh study the impact that the public schools had on the conduct of the Great War, and vice versa. Drawing on fresh evidence from 200 leading public schools and other archives, they challenge the conventional wisdom that it was the public school ethos that caused needless suffering on the Western Front and elsewhere. The Authors argue that, in general, the young officers' public school education imbued them with idealism, stoicism and a sense of service. While this helped them care selflessly for the men under their command in conditions of extreme danger, it resulted in their death rate being nearly twice the national average. This poignant and thought-provoking work covers not just those who made the final sacrifice, but also those who returned, and whose lives were shattered as a result of their physical and psychological wounds. It contains a wealth of unpublished detail about public school life before and during the War, and how these establishments and the country at large coped with the devastating loss of so many of the brightest and best. Seldon and Walsh conclude that, 100 years on, public school values and character training, far from being concepts to be mocked, remain relevant and that the present generation would benefit from studying them and the example of their predecessors.

"Following on from Public Schools and the Great War, Sir Anthony Seldon and David Walsh now examine those same schools in the Second World War. Privileged conservative traditions of private schools were challenged in the inter-war years by the changing social and political landscape, including a greater role for the alumni of girls' public schools. What was that public school spirit in 1939 and how did it and its products cope with, and contribute to, the requirements of a modern global conflict both physically and intellectually? The book answers these questions by, for example, examining the public schools' role in the development and operations of the RAF in unconventional warfare and code-breaking. At home there was bombing, evacuation and the threat of invasion. Finally, the authors study how public schools shaped the way the war was interpreted culturally and how they responded to victory in 1945 and hopes of a new social order. This fascinating book draws widely on primary source material and personal accounts of inspiring courage and endurance."--Amazon.com.

Scholars, journalists and politicians assess the characteristics of each administration since 1945 and the style of each prime minister in the light of Britain's changing role in the world.

Tony Blair's strong start to his third term, with his role in capturing the Olympic Games for Britain, his statesman-like handling of the aftermath of the terrorist attacks on London, his promise of a new start to the European Union and his leadership of the G8 summit at Gleneagles, has brought his relatively lacklustre second term into sharp relief. The second term should have been the time when New Labour fulfilled its manifesto promises. So what changed between 2001 and 2005 and what was achieved? How far was Blair himself responsible, and what was Gordon Brown's influence? What was the impact of the Iraq war? And what of Blair's policy towards Europe? Anthony Seldon and Dennis Kavanagh gather together leading academics and journalists to provide an authoritative assessment of Blair's second term, including a review of New Labour in government from 1997 to the present.

A collection of papers written by distinguished academics and journalists, this study examines the effect of Margaret Thatcher's administration--since 1979 the dominant force in British politics--on such areas as the arts, the media, the civil service, the economy, the military, trade unions, local government, the churches, education, the law, and more. Each essay discusses the principal changes that have occurred since 1979, the role of the Thatcher government in promoting these changes, and the extent to which change would have occurred regardless of the government in power.

"The updated edition of the bestselling title, Trust is the first serious response to the era of post-financial and political meltdown, Dr. Anthony Seldon lays out a blueprint for regaining trust within the national life. In part a wide-ranging meditation on notions of trust and responsibility in civic society, Trust is a powerful and important analysis of ten essential areas where trust in national life has broken down. Using examples from throughout the world and from history, it offers ten solutions for a better, more positive future."--Publisher description.

Drawing on the riches of the Western tradition, Anthony T. Kronman defends a humane conservativism for our enlightened age "Rigorous and philosophically demanding, Kronman's book invites principled argument from every side."-- Kirkus Reviews As the party of the left has grown more strident, its conservative critics have responded in kind. Each year conservatives do a poorer job of defending their position as a citadel of human values without lapsing into an angry assault on ideals that they and progressives share. It becomes harder to see the enduring appeal of a true conservatism that celebrates the worth of custom and inheritance; the splendor of what is excellent and rare; the expansive solidarity of our friendship with the dead; and the dignity, indeed necessity, of our longing for a connection to the eternal and divine--while affirming that these timeless human goods are compatible with the modern ideals of equality, toleration, and reasoned argument. In this bracing book, Anthony Kronman defends a conservative philosophy of life that respects our enlightened ideals but decries the damage their arrogant simplification causes in our moral, political, and spiritual lives. Drawing on the work of Aristotle, Cicero, Spinoza, Burke, Hume, Madison, Tocqueville, Lincoln, Arendt, Heidegger, and others, he argues that humanism is conservatism, today as in the past. He reminds us that our humbling parameters make possible every form of human greatness, every human glory, every human love worthy of the name.

"In this book, Anton Treuer tells stories of one Ojibwe family's hunting, gathering, harvesting, and cultural ways and beliefs--without violating protected secrets. Following the four seasons of the year and the four seasons of life, this intimate view of the Ojibwe world reflects a relatable, modern, richly experienced connection to the rest of the planet. It also opens up a new way of understanding these living traditions, which carry thousands of years of cultural knowledge still in the making"--

It has been said that English photographer Lord Snowdon (born Tony Armstrong-Jones) knows everyone worth knowing. In this first retrospective on his nearly 50-year career, it seems he has also been everywhere and seen everything -- and captured it all, brilliantly, on camera. Published to accompany a major exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery, London, and the Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, the book unveils fashion shots for Vogue, pictures of actors, playwrights, dancers, designers, writers, and artists, and piercing photographs revealing the pain of the lonely and the disadvantaged. All bear the unmistakable signature of one of the foremost photographers of our time.The book ranges from Snowdon's early reportage for Life to his dynamic pictures of Alec Guinness, Helen Mirren, the British royal family, Francis Bacon, David Hockney, Mikhail Baryshnikov, and many more. Snowdon's friends and colleagues contribute texts on the various aspects of his career, revealing the full, extraordinary range of his work.

"There has been an extraordinary media output on the issue of Jeremy Corbyn, the Labour Party and antisemitism. Accusations about the Labour Party have made headlines on a daily basis. In the three years after Corbyn became leader there were over five thousand news stories and articles in the national press alone. Bad News for Labour examines the impact of this coverage on public beliefs about the Party. It replaces media hype with the rigorous analysis of evidence. The authors draw on carefully compiled research to reveal surprising findings in this guide to the reality behind the headlines." -- From publisher's website.

The Blogging Revolution is a colourful and revelatory account of bloggers around the globe who live and write under repressive regimes-many of them risking their lives in doing so. Antony Loewenstein's travels take him to private parties in Iran and Egypt, internet cafes in Saudi Arabia and Damascus, to the homes of Cuban dissidents and into newspaper offices in Beijing, where he discovers the ways in which the internet is threatening the rule of governments. Through first-hand investigations, he reveals the complicity of Western multinationals in assisting the restriction of information in these countries and how bloggers are leading the charge for change. This fully updated new edition of the book reveals some of the key players of the Arab Spring and how years of organising, web dissent and bravery led to momentous changes in US-backed dictatorships across the Middle East. The Blogging Revolution is a superb examination about the nature of repression in the twenty-first century and the power of brave individuals to overcome it.

The price of college tuition has increased more than any other major good or service for the last twenty years. Nine out of ten American high school seniors aspire to go to college, yet the United States has fallen from world leader to only the tenth most educated nation. Almost half of college students don't graduate; those who do have unprecedented levels of federal and private student loan debt, which constitutes a credit bubble similar to the mortgage crisis. The system particularly fails the first-generation, the low-income, and students of color who predominate in coming generations. What we need to know is changing more quickly than ever, and a rising tide of information threatens to swamp knowledge and wisdom. America cannot regain its economic and cultural leadership with an increasingly ignorant population. Our choice is clear: Radically change the way higher education is delivered, or resign ourselves to never having enough of it. The roots of the words "university" and "college" both mean community. In the age of constant connectedness and social media, it's time for the monolithic, millennium-old, ivy-covered walls to undergo a phase change into something much lighter, more permeable, and fluid. The future lies in personal learning networks and paths, learning that blends experiential and digital approaches, and free and open-source educational models. Increasingly, you will decide what, when, where, and with whom you want to learn, and you will learn by doing. The university is the cathedral of modernity and rationality, and with our whole civilization in crisis, we are poised on the brink of Reformation.

"Without any idea where the work would be exhibited, Rand began transforming each and every one of the 613 mitzvahs, or commandments, into its own breathtaking painting, a series that took five years to complete"--

By explaining the Jewish life cycle, the Jewish year, and the Jewish day, the author attempts to explain what Judaism is today and what it means to be a Jew in the twenty-first century

Dorfman portrays, through visceral scenes and powerful intellect, the personal and political maelstroms underlying his migrations from Buenos Aires, on the run from Pinochet's death squads, to safe houses in Paris and Amsterdam, and eventually to America, his childhood home. The toll on Dorfman's wife and two sons, the 'earthquake of language' that is bilingualism, and his eventual questioning of his allegiance to past and party - all these crucibles of a life in exile are revealed with wry and startling honesty. Feeding on Dreams is a passionate reminder that 'we are all exiles', that we are all 'threatened with annihilation if we do not find and celebrate the refuge of common humanity', as Dorfman did during his 'decades of loss and resurrection'.

Three powerful political plays in one volume - with a substantial introduction by Ariel Dorman. In Death and the Maiden, a woman seeks revenge when the man she believes to have been her torturer happens to re-enter her life. A classic of 20th-century theatre, the play ran for a year in the West End, was a hit on Broadway and was filmed by Roman Polanski. In Reader, first performed at the Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, in July 1995, a censor discovers that the subversive novel he is about to ban is describing his own life and hinting that a terrible fate awaits his son. He must hunt down the author before it comes true... Widows is a smouldering political allegory about a political protest in a country ruled by a military junta, written in collaboration with Tony Kushner, author of Angels in America. It was first staged by the Traverse Theatre Company at the Cambridge Arts Theatre in March 1997.

by Ariel Schrag 10th grade: anxiety in excess and frustration to the fullest. Definition is the tale of one girl's plow through this tumultuous year. Ariel Schrag has been critically acclaimed for her work in Definition. Jennifer Joseph of The Bay Guardian said, "Schrag's perceptiveness and incredible eye for detail make Definition brilliant. Rarely have I seen such substantial work come from a person of her age." Maggie Overfelt from The Minnesota Daily said, "it's impossible to put down."

"In a series of letters to her father, her great-grandmothers, and her children-and to thinkers such as Frantz Fanon, Hannah Arendt, Ghassan Kanafani, and Sylvia Wynter-Ariella Aïsha Azoulay examines the disruption of Jewish Muslim life in Algeria and broadly in the Maghreb and the Middle East by two colonial projects: French rule and the Zionist colonization of Palestine, which provoked the departure of Jews from these areas"--