Ithiel de Sola Pool was a pioneering social scientist, a distinguished scholar of the political process, and one of the most original thinkers in the development of the social sciences. Passionately engaged in politics, he continued his role of leadership throughout his life, building the MIT Political Science Department into an outstanding group. He organized international teams of social scientists and collaborated widely to develop the understanding of social change. He was a frequent adviser to governments as consultant and in-house critic, and a successful advocate of limits on government regulation. Politics in Wired Nations presents his writings on the social and political impact of different communication systems and new telecommunications technology. Included in this volume is the first study of trends in a global information society, and the first study of social networks and the "small world" phenomenon that creates new relationships and routes of informal influence and political power, both domestic and international. Pool's essays on the politics of foreign trade, the influence of American businessmen on Congress, and changeable "unnatural" institutions of the modern world (e.g., bureaucracies, mega-cities, and nation-states) are herein contained. Pool describes a nonviolent revolution in freedom and political control that is possible as the world changes from the era of one-way mass communications--targeted to national audiences--to a new era of abundant, high-capacity, low-cost, interactive, and user-controlled communications on a global scale. He discusses policy choices for freedom, the battlegrounds ahead, and the risks of government involvement in the regulation of new telecommunication technologies.

Seymour Martin Lipset's work throughout a long and distinguished career has been stamped by several features: a powerful linkage of research data and social theory, innovative views of historical events, and a realization that politics is an activity native to all human beings, voters and non-voters, democratic and non-democratic systems, and advanced and developing economies. He has earned the right to be called a genuine pioneer in the field now recognized as political sociology. In this special collection of professional comment and personal tribute, some of Lipset's closest colleagues have gathered to review his life work in political sociology. This volume includes essays on sociology and socialism, the collapse of class politics, political leadership, the perpetuation of inequality across generations, political extremism, religion as a source of polarization, working-class authoritarianism, and an examination of civil life in the United States across the century. Among the contributors are Nathan Glazer, Terry Nichols Clark, Richard J. Samuels, Sidney Verba, Nancy Burns, Kay Lehman Schlozman, Robert B. Smith, William Schneider, Dick Houtman, and Marcella Ridlen Ray. The volume is further graced by two special features: an academic memoir entitled "Steady Work" written by Lipset, and a full-scale bibliography of his books, monographs and pamphlets. In short, this is a specialist volume for social scientists that can be easily enjoyed by readers outside the field. This volume was initially presented as a double issue of The American Sociologist. Horowitz was commissioned by the editor of the journal to serve as special editor for the volume. In turn, the contributions originated at a series of invited panels at the Eastern Sociological Society meetings in 2002.

For over fifty years, Eli Schwartz has inspired generations of economists through his prolific publications and dedicated in teaching. In 2008, the Martindale Center for the Study of Private Enterprise at Lehigh University invited prominent academics and practitioners—including Nobel Prize recipients, Robert Solow and Harry Markowitz, and former Chairman of the Economic Advisers to Ronald Reagan, Murray Weidenbaum—to contribute pieces that reflect their own approaches to issues that Schwartz has explored over the long span of his career. The twelve original essays cover a range of topics, including tax reform, corporate finance, fiscal policy, banking, economic growth, and globalization, representing a variety of methodologies, including economic theory, econometrics, and case analysis. The collection emphasizes the underlying connections among seemingly disparate facets of economic activity, and underscores the tremendous influence of Schwartz on economic analysis, policy, and leadership today.

Intrigue Honor Magic Murder Many forces are converging on the capital city, can The Relicant Empire survive the collision? Hibikitsu - the young Emperor roaming the countryside and learning what it means to lead a people by becoming one of them. Now he must once again don the mantle of leadership and apply all that he has learned, or his nation is doomed. Kagiri - the grave robber turned vessel of some of the greatest generals the world has ever seen marches on the capitol to kill the Emperor and take his throne. Now he must wrest control of himself from the ghosts who live within him, or he will be forever lost. Noniki - harnessing a power that vanished so long ago it is now little more than a legend, the charismatic leader of the people has led his force to the capitol to overthrow the Emperor and put power in the hands of the citizens. Now he faces not just his growing magic, but a shift in everything he thought he knew. Shizumi - the guard only ever wanted to do her job and be the best at it. Now, after defending the vacant throne from a coup, she must face the greatest warrior she has ever seen and reveal her deepest secret. Iraku & Ibaru - the twins who gave themselves over to a dark power. Now they see that perhaps what they were promised is not what their new master is delivering, and nothing is as they thought. With all these myriad forces descending upon the palace, how will the Relicant Empire survive the collision? Who will stand atop the pile of bodies and crossed bones?

The Inside Story of Politics, Power and the Media. The relationship between those who wield power and those whose job it is to tell us what they are doing has always been fraught with tension. Politicians now expect to be on camera and facing aggressive questions from the moment they open their front door to the moment they return home at night. Everything they say and do is instantly broadcast and dissected on 24-hour rolling news channels, blogs and Twitter. It was not always this way. "Live from Downing Street" takes us on an absorbing journey through the hard-fought battles for the right to tell the public about the decisions taken on their behalf. Parliament once imprisoned those who dared to report what MPs had said. Broadcasters used to be banned by law from debating anything newsworthy and even from covering elections. Since that censorship ended, the two sides have clashed repeatedly. We follow the fluctuations of the power struggle from Walpole to modern times, dwelling in fascinating detail on those who fought back -- Churchill, Wilson, Thatcher and Blair. At the same time we learn of the emergence of the equally charismatic key players from radio and television: the Dimblebys, Day, Frost, Walden, Paxman and Humphrys. Nick Robinson provides a colourful and personal examination of what life is like as the BBC's Political Editor -- a role described in a report for the White House as 'the most important job in British political journalism'. Peppered with informative but witty anecdotes, his account reveals his own considered view of the controversial issue of impartial reporting. "Live from Downing Street" is a gripping story written by someone uniquely placed to add his own perceptive insights and observations.

Over forty premier world religious and scholars, of all major faith traditions, were asked the following: -Who is a figure who inspires your interfaith work? -How does this figure inspire you, and what lessons, applications, and concrete expressions has this inspiration taken in your life? The result is a stunning overview of the interfaith movement, its history, role models and heroes. Historical presentation complements the personal and experiential voice of the authors, making this not only a work for interfaith education but also a resource for spiritual inspiration. --

This pioneering study focuses on an area of Soviet and socialist studies until now largely neglected in the literature: social change. The author contends that while most standard analyses of communist regimes purport to be about social change, they are in fact analyzing economic and political developments rather than transformation in the class structure of society. Because economic and political factors are the least stable, Brucan argues, they are therefore the least explanatory and predictive factors if we are to understand long term trends in the evolution of socialism. Brucan instead explores the social forces at work in the Soviet Union, China, and Eastern Europe--classes, professional groups, and so on--tracing the evolution of class and class policy from the time of the 1917 revolution through the present leadership of Gorbachev. Students of international affairs and sociology will find in Brucan's work important new insights into the likely future direction of the world's major communist societies. Beginning with a detailed historical analysis of class and class policy in the East, Brucan examines issues such as forced collectivization, the new working class, wage policy, the state take-over, and Khruschev's openings. Turning to a discussion of the relationship between social structure and the scientific-technological revolution, the author shows that communist regimes in the Soviet Union, Eastern Europe, and China have demonstrated a deliberate and systematic pattern of overvaluation of manual work and undervaluation of scientific and technical work--explaining their lack of preparation for rapid scientific and technical change. Brucan relates the historical analysis of social change to questions about whether reforms in the East can be achieved, arguing that no analysis of the East's economic and political history can be fully understood without considering social structure. In the final section, the author addresses the current period of perestroika, suggesting that Gorbachev's real challenge will be to dislodge the current social structure that was consolidated in the late 1970s. He concludes that a new class alignment in socialism has led to a crisis of the communist party itself.

Liberty's Dilemma is a diagnostic analysis of the falling away in the United States from the founders' vision of individual liberty and freedom of association. The founders never could have envisioned the enormous expansion of industrial and scientific power we have experienced, nor the national and international conflicts. Never could they have predicted the massive growth in power of the federal government - the kind of power they fought against in our initial struggle for independence and liberty. One significant consequence of these events for our future is the massive dependency of large portions of our present population and the consequent debilitating redistribution of the productive wealth of the independent classes. This growth of a seemingly permanent dependent class has gone largely unexplained. Liberty's Dilemma points to the declining intellectual capital in large portions of our society as cause. This is reflected in the disintegration of family life, lowering educational achievement levels, and the flight of our industrial and technological base. Until our leadership awakens to this fundamental issue of our intellectual capital deficits and their cause, the fundamental vision of liberty that was brought into reality by our Constitutional founders will have forever slipped beyond our political reach.

'The Conscience of Lebanon: A Political Biography of Etienne Sakr' combines an account of a Lebanese personality with a penetrating analysis of the historical and religious contours of Lebanon. His life is part of the national epic with elements of Christian faith and Maronite sophistication, interconfessional modes of partnership, and violence tearing apart the fabric of social and economic life. Integral to the narrative and incisively unconventional interpretation is the complex politics of Lebanon intermixed with the war that erupted in 1975." "Personal testimonies from Lebanese residents and conversations with others outside Lebanon, who knew Abu-Arz, in addition to interviews with Israelis acquainted with him, provide a dimension of authenticity to the portrait drawn of this remarkable man. Etienne Sakr, with a steadfast ideological commitment to a non-Arab Lebanese identity and political independence, fought the Syrian and Palestinian intruders, and with his Guardians of the Cedars Party cooperated with Israel. While ineluctably embroiled in the inter-Christian power struggles, Abu-Arz acquired a reputation as the conscience of Lebanon, but without achieving a position of power ascendancy. But he was present in the Lebanese Forces decision-making councils, and his own revelatory evidence contributes to an understanding of the agony and divisiveness that characterized the Christian leadership in the turmoil of war. His moral stance was clear and his political judgment filled with foresight, but hispatriots often preferred to ignore his message and marginalize his role.

This book presents the history of the Gomez, an elite family of Mexico that today includes several hundred individuals, plus their spouses and the families of their spouses, all living in Mexico City. Tracing the family from its origins in mid-nineteenth-century Mexico through its rise under the Porfirio Diaz regime and focusing especially on the last three generations, the work shows how the Gomez have evolved a distinctive subculture and an ability to advance their economic interests under changing political and economic conditions. One of the authors' major findings is the importance of the kinship system, particularly the three-generation "grandfamily" as a basic unit binding together people of different generations and different classes. The authors show that the top entrepreneurs in the family, the direct descendants of its founder, remain the acknowledged leaders of the kin, each one ruling his business as a patron-owner through a network of clienty2Drelatives. Other family members, though belonging to the middle class, identify ideologically with the family leadership and the bourgeoisie, and family values tend to overrule considerations of strictly business interest even among entrepreneurs.

The long-awaited memoir of Julius Rudel, the legendary opera conductor and arts administrator, gives insight into his ground-breaking repertory choices and his collaborations with Beverly Sills, Plácido Domingo, and others. As a seventeen-year-old Jewish boy, Julius Rudel escaped from Austria after the Nazi invasion and moved to New York, where he began his career as an unpaid musical assistant and worked his way up through the ranks of the newly formed New York City Opera, being named in 1957 as the company's general director and principal conductor. Later, he became the first artistic director of the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. In his twenty-two-year leadership of New York City Opera, Rudel challenged audiences with new and unusual repertoire -- including fifteen world premieres and three seasons consisting entirely of American operas -- turning the popularly priced "People's Opera" intothe most influential and daring opera company in the United States. Rudel writes in detail of his unusual repertoire choices and of the political battles behind New York City Opera's move to Lincoln Center in 1966, and hereminisces about his legendary collaborations with Beverly Sills (on Handel's Giulio Cesare and Donizetti's "Three Queens") and Plácido Domingo (on Ginastera's Don Rodrigo ) -- and about his work with other extraordinary talents including Norman Treigle, Phyllis Curtin, William Ball, Frank Corsaro, Tito Capobianco, Leopold Stokowski, Leonard Bernstein, Harold Prince, and Gian Carlo Menotti. First and Lasting Impressions givesa rare personal look into Julius Rudel's career as a conductor and administrator during the glory years of New York City Opera. Julius Rudel was general director and principal conductor of New York City Opera from 1957to 1979, and since that time has been a frequent guest conductor at the Metropolitan Opera and many of the world's other great opera houses. Rebecca Paller, a curator at the Paley Center for Media in New York, has written about the arts for publications including Opera News, Opera, Vogue, Playbill, Symphony, and American Theatre.

In September 1791, two years after the Revolution, French Jews were granted full rights of citizenship. Scholarship has traditionally focused on this turning point of emancipation while often overlooking much of what came before. In Rites and Passages, Jay R. Berkovitz argues that no serious treatment of Jewish emancipation can ignore the cultural history of the Jews during the ancien régime. It was during the late seventeenth and eighteenth centuries that several lasting paradigms emerged within the Jewish community—including the distinction between rural and urban communities, the formation of a strong lay leadership, heightened divisions between popular and elite religion, and the strain between local and regional identities. Each of these developments reflected the growing tension between tradition and modernity before the tumultuous events of the French Revolution.Rites and Passages emphasizes the resilience of religious tradition during periods of social and political turbulence. Viewing French Jewish history through the lens of ritual, Berkovitz describes the struggles of the French Jewish minority to maintain its cultural distinctiveness while also participating in the larger social and economic matrix. In the ancien régime, ritual systems were a formative element in the traditional worldview and served as a crucial repository of memories and values. After the Revolution, ritual signaled changes in the way Jews related to the state, French society, and French culture. In the cities especially, ritual assumed a performative function that dramatized the epoch-making changes of the day. The terms and concepts of the Jewish religious tradition thus remained central to the discourse of modernization and played a powerful role in helping French Jews interpret the diverse meanings and implications of emancipation. Introducing new and previously unused primary sources, Rites and Passages offers a fresh perspective on the dynamic relationship between tradition and modernity.

Welcome to the most mysterious and wonderful of planets, a planet made just for you. We call it Planet Orgasm. On Planet Orgasm, there are dozens of kinds of orgasms, just waiting for us all to have them. You can take Orgasmanaut Training, learn the fascinating history of orgasm research, expand your definition of orgasm, and voyage into undiscovered orgasmic lands. You'll discover orgasms for people of every gender and orientation: big world-shaking orgasms and gentle mini-gasms; orgasms in every part of your body; orgasms by yourself, orgasms with toys, orgasms with others... and orgasms only you can discover for yourself. World-famous performer/author/educator Annie Sprinkle is your guide, together with artist/educator Beth Stephens and illustrator YuDori. Under the leadership of this fearless crew, you'll discover, through words and pictures, just what Planet Orgasm has in store for you!

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1921 edition. Excerpt: ... Chapter iv the nature of the russian revolution vThe Russian revolution seemingly mocked the specific forecasts of Marx and Engels as it defied the generally accepted Marxian law of social evolution./. It was neither preceded nor supplemented by a general working class revolution in the West. It did not spring from the village community. That institution had been rapidly and steadily declining until 1917. It did not succeed an outworn_capitalist-system.' CapitalismoccupTeoTa comparatively insignificant part in the economic life of Russia. The Russian reyolution owes morp to the unusual conditions created by the war tnartto thYliormal "course of the country's economic or political development."" Thejnain factors of its success were: / 1. The sudden collapse of the whole organization of national life. A 2. The utter demoralization of the bureaucracy. y3. A weak and unorganized bourgeoisie, y 4. An impoverished, war-weary, rebellious and desperate population. 5. An overwhelmingly large and land-hungry peasantry. 6. Millions of workers and peasants organized into an army and suddenly freed from military discipline--a liberated and armed people available for revolutionary service. 7. Spontaneously created but relatively strong and well-knit organizations of industrial workers in the large cities, who represented the only active and cohesive social force of the country. 8. A small but resolute group of Socialists trained in European theories of Socialism and ready to assume and to exercise leadership. The early Socialist movement of Russia has been characterized as the 'lilleyitimate chil(Lof-Asiatic-R-ttssia and European Capitalism " jfFrom the point of view of the conventional Marxian historian the Russian revolution may be described as the...

From the mysterious powers and forces peculiar to both individual and community that can turn our lives into either good or bad lives, I wish to point to two such powers being at the same time different in their own nature and yet closely related to each other: The powers that emerge from exemplary persons and leaders. Understood as basic to both sociology and the philosophy of history, it comes to us as no surprise that the problem of exemplary persons and leaders - along with the questions of the qualities types, selections and education of leaders; forms of unison existing be tween leaders and their followers, all of which belonging to the subdivisions of this problem - must be a burning problem for a people whose historical leaders from all walks of life have, in part, been swept away by wars and revolutions. This fact we also find in all salient epochs of history characterized more or less by changes in leadership. It is precisely for this reason that in our own time every group appears to struggle ever so hard with this problem, namely, who their leaders should be. This pertains equally to a group within a party, to a class, to occupations, to unions, to various schools or present-day youth movements, and even to religious and ecclesias tical groupings. Beyond any comparison, there is yearning everywhere for lead ership.

Less than two years after winning the 2013 elections, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced his intention to dissolve his government, paving the way for general elections. While the initial impression was that the upcoming elections were "pointless" and "unnecessary", the campaign gradually turned into a passionate and dramatic political competition, which reflected - and reenergized - the ideological, social, ethnic and cultural divides of Israeli society. This book describes and analyses a great variety of political, sociological and cultural dimensions of the 2015 elections for the 20th Knesset. Covering issues such as voters' behaviour, coalition formation, figures of leadership, political identities, political communication and persuasion, this rich collection of essays offers a unique and comprehensive perspective on Israeli political culture in general, and on the Israeli society in the midst of the 2015 elections in particular. It also offers theoretical insight to anyone interested in parliamentary politics and party systems in general. This book was originally published as a special issue of the journal Israel Affairs.

This book explores the history of Bath under the leadership of Beau Nash, one of its most famous residents. Melville provides a detailed account of Nash's life and career, as well as the cultural and social milieu of Bath in the eighteenth century. Filled with anecdotes and fascinating historical details, this is an engaging read for anyone interested in the history of Bath or the Georgian era This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.