133 results for "World History"

The Greatest Story Ever Sold: The Decline and Fall of Truth in Bush's America

Rich, Frank
Demonstrating the candor and conviction that have made him one of our most trusted and incisive public voices, The New York Times columnist Frank Rich brilliantly and meticulously illuminates the Bush administration?s disturbing love affair with ?truthiness.? Rich?s step-by-step chronicle shows how, in the wake of 9/11, a propaganda president and his advisors misled a nation into war in Iraq and how the bungled aftermath, a Washington leak, and a devastating hurricane at long last revealed the lies in a story that had been so effectively sold to the nation as God-given patriotic fact.
Penguin Books 2007-08-28 352 pages

National Power and the Structure of Foreign Trade

Albert Hirschman
This study begins with a brief survey of economic thought on the relationship between foreign trade and national power, from the Mercantilists on. Chapter II attempts a systematic theoretical approach to the subject. It first makes clear the fundamental basis of the possible use of foreign trade as an instrument of national power policy. Using well-known concepts of economic analysis, it proceeds to show under what conditions and by means of what policies this instrument is likely to attain its highest efficiency. The principles of power policy thus deduced theoretically are then compared with the actual practices followed by German trading methods in recent years. Toward the end of this chapter the reader will be carried into a detailed discussion of certain problems of the theory of international trade, which are touched upon earlier in the chapter. Chapter III is applied to the historical background of our problem. It gives a survey of the literature on "economic aggression" before and during World War I and brings out the importance of the Paris Economic Conference of the Allies in 1916 for the Versailles Treaty and postwar economic policies. In Chapter IV we review in the light of our theoretical and historical analyses certain safeguards or remedies which could be or have been proposed to prevent the use of foreign trade as an instrument of national power policies. Certain questions raised in Part 1 can be answered in quantitative terms. Part 2 consists, therefore, of an exposition of various trends of international trade in recent years disclosed by statistical analysis. In Chapter V we calculate an index number expressing the extent to which the trade of the large trading nations is or has been directed by preference toward the smaller trading countries. Chapter VI gives index numbers for the degree of concentration of their foreign trade on one or a few big markets or sources of supply. Finally, in Chapter VII we measure the extent to which world trade has been based primarily on an exchange of manufactures against raw materials and foodstuffs. This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1945, with an expanded edition published in 1980.
Univ of California Press 2024-06-14 194 pages

Four Systems

Cohen, Carl
Four systems -- politico-philosophical systems -- compete for our allegiance: -- Socialist Democracy -- Individualist Democracy -- Fascism -- Communism In this book a persuasive case is made in defense of each of these four systems in turn. The most effective presentation of any argument will always be made by one who is himself convinced of its validity, one who is confident that the world-view he puts forward gives the truest and deepest account of human life and government. This understanding -- that every system best speaks for itself -- is the fundament of this book. The account of each philosophical system is here presented in the persuasive voice of its ardent advocate. These are modern arguments formulated in contemporary language; each is presented by a knowledgeable thinker from within the system he defends, applied to human circumstances as actually experienced today. Socialist Democracy is the first system defended. Its realization of the will of the people, and its protection of the interests of all citizens is recounted. Parks and industries, health care and national infrastructure (it is argued) can be given the development and care they deserve only when the people address their common needs as a community, conscious of their social unity. Individualist democracy is next defended, its advocate pointing to the fundamental place of the particular human beings of whom society consists. The equal rights of individuals, the freedom of persons to live their own lives in their own way without the interference of governments, are defended as the theoretical core of democracy. Fascism, the third system, begins with the understanding that the equality democrats claim to prize is a myth. The real social world is a great natural hierarchy, an organic whole, a transcendent system of classes and authorities within which each human life can achieve its full significance. Communism, the fourth system, approaches society as a system in progress, a dynamic and developing system, rather than a static, pre-existing whole. It gives full recognition to process and to growth, to the history of human communities, the dialectical conflict of classes within them, and the eventual commanding place of laboring men and women.
McGraw-Hill College 1981 249 pages

City of stone: the hidden history of Jerusalem

Benvenisti, Meron
Jerusalem is more than a holy city built of stone. Domain of Muslims, Jews, and Christians, Jerusalem is a perpetual contest, and its shrines, housing projects, and bulldozers compete in a scramble for possession. Now one of Jerusalem's most respected authorities presents a history of the city that does not fall prey to any one version of its past. Meron Benvenisti begins with a reflection on the 1996 celebration of Jerusalem's 3000-year anniversary as the capital of the Kingdom of Israel. He then juxtaposes eras, dynasties, and rulers in ways that provide grand comparative insights. But unlike recent politically motivated histories written to justify the claims of Jews and Arabs now living in Jerusalem, Benvenisti has no such agenda. His history is a polyphonic story that lacks victors as well as vanquished. He describes the triumphs and defeats of all the city's residents, from those who walk its streets today to the meddlesome ghosts who linger in its shadows. Benvenisti focuses primarily on the twentieth century, but ancient hatreds are constantly discovered just below the surface. These hostilities have created intense social, cultural, and political interactions that Benvenisti weaves into a compelling human story. For him, any claim to the city means recognizing its historical diversity and multiple populations. A native son of Jerusalem, Benvenisti knows the city well, and his integrated history makes clear that all of Jerusalem's citizens have enriched the Holy City in the past. It is his belief that they can also do so in the future.
University of California Press 1998-10-22 274 pages

Kings or people: Power and the mandate to rule..

Bendix, Reinhard
From the Preface: The world in which we live has its roots far back in history, and as a world power America must come to terms with countries which were formed in their present mold long before the American, revolution. All those to whom an exploration of this historical background will appeal probably share with me an immediate empathy with the anguish of nation-building around the world. This book is a study of what that anguish meant in times past when countries were first developing their political institutions and when they turned more recently from royal authority to a popular mandate. The problems of developing such institutions are formidable, then as well as now. A scholarly concern with these problems must touch on many subjects in social stratification, religion, political sociology, and the history of ideas, and the book treats these and related themes in their specific historical contexts. This interpretive work is addressed not only to students of political development but also to the general reader who is interested in a large view of history. That reader is provided with sufficient detail and annotation so that the many diverse contexts with which this study deals can be understood. A thematic outline of the book is presented on the first pages of the introduction, which deals as well with the reasons for my approach to historical sociology.
University of California Press 1980-04-08 692 pages

The Art of Diplomacy How American Negotiators Reached Historic Agreements that Changed the World

Stuart E. Eizenstat
A riveting retelling of diplomatic history with praise from Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, Bertie Ahern (Ireland), Tony Blair (UK), Ehud Olmert (Israel), and more. “A magisterial tome on the international negotiations that shaped modern American history.... Grand in scope and grounded in decades of experience, The Art of Diplomacy is a compelling work of political history aimed at the diplomatic negotiators of tomorrow.” -Foreword Reviews Commended by Kirkus Reviews , which says Eizenstat writes with "authority and clarity of experience." Inside the greatest diplomatic negotiations of the past 50 years In one readable volume, diplomat and negotiator Stuart E. Eizenstat covers every major contemporary international agreement, from the treaty to end the Vietnam War to the Kyoto Protocols and the Iranian Nuclear Accord. Written from the perspective that only a participant in top level negotiations can bring, Eizenstat recounts the events that led up to the negotiation, the drama that took place around the table, and draws lessons from successful and unsuccessful strategies and tactics. Based on interviews with over 60 key figures in American diplomacy, including former presidents and secretaries of state, and major political figures abroad, Eizenstat provides an intimate view of diplomacy as today's history. The Art of Diplomacy will be an indispensable volume to understand American foreign policy and provide invaluable insights on the art of negotiation for anyone involved in government or business negotiations. The paperback edition adds a substantive afterword that presents the challenges and opportunities for the second Trump administration.
Bloomsbury Academic 2026-01-22 544 pages

India and Pakistan: continued conflict or cooperation?

Wolpert, Stanley
Beginning in 1947, when 'India and Pakistan were born to conflict', renowned India scholar Stanley Wolpert provides an authoritative, accessible primer on what is potentially the world's most dangerous crisis. He concisely distills sixty-three years of complex history, tracing the roots of the relationship between these two antagonists, explaining the many attempts to resolve their disputes, and assessing the dominant political leaders. While the tragic Partition left many urgent problems, none has been more difficult than the problem over Kashmir, claimed by both India and Pakistan. This intensely divisive issue has triggered two conventional wars, killed some 100,000 Kashmiris, and almost ignited two nuclear wars since 1998, when both India and Pakistan openly emerged as nuclear-weapon states. In addition to providing a comprehensive perspective on the origin and nature of this urgent conflict, Wolpert examines all the proposed solutions and concludes with a road map for a brighter future for South Asia.
University of California Press 2011 126 pages

And then all hell broke loose: two decades in the Middle East

Engel, Richard
"Based on two decades of reporting, NBC's chief foreign correspondent's riveting story of the Middle East revolutions, the Arab Spring, war, and terrorism seen up-close--sometimes dangerously so. When he was just twenty-three, a recent graduate of Stanford University, Richard Engel set off to Cairo with $2,000 and dreams of being a reporter. Shortly thereafter he was working freelance for Arab news sources and got a call that a busload of Italian tourists were massacred at a Cairo museum. This is his first view of the carnage these years would pile on. Over two decades Engel has been under fire, blown out of hotel beds, taken hostage. He has watched Mubarak and Morsi in Egypt arrested and condemned, reported from Jerusalem, been through the Lebanese war, covered the whole shooting match in Iraq, interviewed Libyan rebels who toppled Gaddafi, reported from Syria as Al-Qaeda stepped in, was kidnapped in the Syrian crosscurrents of fighting. He goes into Afghanistan with the Taliban and to Iraq with ISIS. In the page-turning And Then All Hell Broke Loose, he shares his adventure tale. Engel takes chances, though not reckless ones, keeps a level head and a sense of humor, as well as a grasp of history in the making. Reporting as NBC's Chief-Foreign Correspondent, he reveals his unparalleled access to the major figures, the gritty soldiers, and the helpless victims in the Middle East during this watershed time. We can experience the unforgettable suffering and despair of the local populations. Engel's vivid description is intimate and personal. Importantly, it is a succinct and authoritative account of the ever-changing currents in that dangerous land"--
Simon & Schuster 2016-02-09 241 pages

National insecurity: American leadership in an age of fear

Rothkopf, David J.
In the wake of 9/11, America and its people have experienced a sense of vulnerability unprecedented in the nation's recent history. Buffeted by challenges from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to the financial crisis, from Washington dysfunction to the rise of China and the dawn of the era of cyber warfare, two very different presidents and their advisors have struggled to cope with a relentless array of new threats. You may think you know the story. But in National Insecurity, David Rothkopf offers an entirely new perspective into the hidden struggles, the surprising triumphs, and the shocking failures of those charged with leading the United States through one of the most difficult periods in its history. Thanks to his extraordinary access, Rothkopf provides fresh insights drawing on more than one hundred exclusive interviews with the key players who shaped this era. At its core, National Insecurity is the gripping story of a superpower in crisis, seeking to adapt to a rapidly changing world, sometimes showing inspiring resilience -- but often undone by the human flaws of those at the top, the mismanagement of its own system, the temptation to concentrate too much power within the hands of too few in the White House itself, and an unwillingness to draw the right lessons from the recent past. Nonetheless, within that story are unmistakable clues to a way forward that can help restore American leadership.
PublicAffairs 2016-04-26 512 pages

The Making of Global Capitalism The Political Economy of American Empire

Sam Gindin,Leo Panitch
The all-encompassing embrace of world capitalism at the beginning of the twenty-first century was generally attributed to the superiority of competitive markets. Globalization had appeared to be the natural outcome of this unstoppable process. But today, with global markets roiling and increasingly reliant on state intervention to stay afloat, it has become clear that markets and states aren’t straightforwardly opposing forces. In this groundbreaking work, Leo Panitch and Sam Gindin demonstrate the intimate relationship between modern capitalism and the American state, including its role as an “informal empire” promoting free trade and capital movements. Through a powerful historical survey, they show how the US has superintended the restructuring of other states in favor of competitive markets and coordinated the management of increasingly frequent financial crises. The Making of Global Capitalism , through its highly original analysis of the first great economic crisis of the twenty-first century, identifies the centrality of the social conflicts that occur within states rather than between them. These emerging fault lines hold out the possibility of new political movements transforming nation states and transcending global markets.
Verso Books 2025-08-05 480 pages

History of Zionism

Nahum Sokolow,S. (Stephen) Pichon,Israel Solomons
Delve into the formative years of a pivotal political movement with Nahum Sokolow's "History of Zionism, Vol. 2 of 2: 1600-1918." This meticulously researched historical text explores the evolution of Zionism from its early roots to the end of World War I, providing crucial context for understanding the creation of modern Israel. Spanning centuries of Jewish history, this volume examines the key figures, events, and intellectual currents that shaped Zionist thought and action. Sokolow's work illuminates the complex interplay of European and Middle Eastern politics surrounding the movement, offering insights into the dynamics of colonialism and post-colonialism in Palestine. A vital resource for anyone seeking a comprehensive understanding of Zionism, its origins, and its enduring impact. This book remains an essential contribution to the study of 19th-century political thought, Jewish history, and the ongoing story of Israel. 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.
Creative Media Partners, LLC 2025-03-29 658 pages

For all the world to see: visual culture and the struggle for civil rights

Berger, Maurice
In 1955, shortly after Emmett Till was murdered by white supremacists in Mississippi, his grieving mother distributed to the press a gruesome photograph of his mutilated corpse. Asked why she would do this, she explained that by witnessing with their own eyes the brutality of segregation and racism, Americans would be more likely to support the cause of racial justice. "Let the world see what I've seen," was her reply. The publication of the photograph inspired a generation of activists to join the civil rights movement. Despite this extraordinary episode, the story of visual culture's role in the modern civil rights movement is rarely included in its history. This is the first comprehensive examination of the ways images mattered in the struggle, and it investigates a broad range of media including photography, television, film, magazines, newspapers, and advertising. These images were ever present and diverse: the startling footage of southern white aggression and black suffering that appeared night after night on television news programs; the photographs of black achievers and martyrs in Negro periodicals; the humble snapshot, no less powerful in its ability to edify and motivate. In each case, the war against racism was waged through pictures, millions of points of light, millions of potent weapons that forever changed a nation. This book allows us to see and understand the crucial role that visual culture played in forever changing a nation.
Yale University Press 2010-04-20 207 pages

Taming the gods: religion and democracy on three continents

Buruma, Ian
Why religion must be separated from politics if democracy is to thrive around the world For eight years the president of the United States was a born-again Christian, backed by well-organized evangelicals who often seemed intent on erasing the church-state divide. In Europe, the increasing number of radicalized Muslims is creating widespread fear that Islam is undermining Western-style liberal democracy. And even in polytheistic Asia, the development of democracy has been hindered in some countries, particularly China, by a long history in which religion was tightly linked to the state. Ian Buruma is the first writer to provide a sharp-eyed look at the tensions between religion and politics on three continents. Drawing on many contemporary and historical examples, he argues that the violent passions inspired by religion must be tamed in order to make democracy work. Comparing the United States and Europe, Buruma asks why so many Americans―and so few Europeans―see religion as a help to democracy. Turning to China and Japan, he disputes the notion that only monotheistic religions pose problems for secular politics. Finally, he reconsiders the story of radical Islam in contemporary Europe, from the case of Salman Rushdie to the murder of Theo van Gogh. Sparing no one, Buruma exposes the follies of the current culture war between defenders of "Western values" and "multiculturalists," and explains that the creation of a democratic European Islam is not only possible, but necessary. Presenting a challenge to dogmatic believers and dogmatic secularists alike, Taming the Gods powerfully argues that religion and democracy can be compatible―but only if religious and secular authorities are kept firmly apart.
Princeton University Press 2012-08-26 144 pages

Frontiers Of Justice

Martha Craven Nussbaum
Achieving social justice is one of the key challenges facing the world today scholars of political theory have long grappled with issues arising from it however, as the history of ideas shows, the concept itself has undergone much change over the centuries and there is no watertight definition of what ‘justice’ connotes in the contemporary context going beyond the existing frontiers of social justice, this unique volume aims to develop theoretical concepts able to respond to real dilemmas facing society today the author closely examines the classical social contract theory, one of the most widely accepted approaches to social justice in the western tradition she focuses in particular on the ideas of one of the greatest names in contemporary political philosophy, john rawls, whose work developed the theory to new philosophical depths and complexity nussbaum moves in a fresh direction and suggests that there is an inherent limitation within the social contract theory, even in the work of rawls—it is premised on the idea of a contract for mutual advantage among approximate equals she demonstrates that it is unable to address questions of social justice between unequal parties instead she goes on to develop a theory of social justice based on the ‘capabilities approach’, which she places generally within the tradition of ‘liberal conceptions’ the author analyses three social issues which could not be resolved, or even really addressed by traditional theories of justice—the problem of achieving justice for persons with physical and mental disability, of extending justice to all citizens of the world, and lastly the problem of doing justice in relation to the treatment of ‘non-human animals’ she helps us to think more clearly about the purpose of political cooperation and the nature of political principles—and to look to a future of greater justice for all
Oxford University Press 2007-05-18 487 pages

Rooted cosmopolitans: Jews and human rights in the twentieth century

Loeffler, James Benjamin
"A stunningly original look at the forgotten Jewish political roots of contemporary international human rights, told through the moving stories of five key activists The year 2018 marks the seventieth anniversary of two momentous events in twentieth-century history: the birth of the State of Israel and the creation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Both remained tied together in the ongoing debates about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Yet the surprising connections between Zionism and the origins of international human rights are completely unknown today. In this riveting account, James Loeffler explores this controversial history through the stories of five remarkable Jewish founders of international human rights, following them from the prewar shtetls of eastern Europe to the postwar United Nations, a journey that includes the Nuremberg and Eichmann trials, the founding of Amnesty International, and the UN resolution of 1975 labeling Zionism as racism. The result is a book that challenges long-held assumptions about the history of human rights and offers a startlingly new perspective on the roots of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict." --
Yale University Press 2018-01-01 362 pages

Enemies, a love story: Mizrahi-Arab-Ashkenazi relations since the dawn of Zionism

Cohen, Hillel
Originally published in Hebrew in 2021, Hillel Cohen's Enemies, a Love Story argues that to understand the ongoing conflict in Palestine/Israel we need to examine the interactions among three identity groups: Mizrahim, Ashkenazim, and Arabs. Refusing to treat Jewish society as a monolith, Cohen shows how the ethnic divide between Ashkenazim (Jews of European descent) and Mizrahim (Jews of Middle Eastern origin) can inform and complicate how we view the wider picture of nationalism, religiosity, and oppression in this part of the world. Cohen considers how and why Ashkenazi-Arab and Mizrahi-Arab relations have metamorphosed over time, from the final decades of the Ottoman Empire into the Mandate period, from the Nakba and its aftermath to the Six Day War of 1967, and from the political upheaval of the 1970s to the rise of the right-wing Likud party and the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin in 1995. The author challenges widespread beliefs that "Mizrahi" is synonymous with rigid nationalism and "Ashkenazi" with progressivism and support for reconciliation, showing how religiosity and socioeconomic status have shaped Israeli attitudes toward Palestinians. Readers interested in Israel, Palestine, and the Middle East should find tremendous value in this timely book on a sensitive issue.
The Pennsylvania State University Press 2025-11-18 401 pages