Named a Best Book of the Year by The Washington Post and NPR “We come to see in FDR the magisterial, central figure in the greatest and richest political tapestry of our nation’s entire history” —Nigel Hamilton, Boston Globe “Meticulously researched and authoritative” —Douglas Brinkley, The Washington Post “A workmanlike addition to the literature on Roosevelt.” —David Nasaw, The New York Times “Dallek offers an FDR relevant to our sharply divided nation” —Michael Kazin “Will rank among the standard biographies of its subject” — Publishers Weekly A one-volume biography of Roosevelt by the #1 New York Times bestselling biographer of JFK, focusing on his career as an incomparable politician, uniter, and deal maker In an era of such great national divisiveness, there could be no more timely biography of one of our greatest presidents than one that focuses on his unparalleled political ability as a uniter and consensus maker. Robert Dallek’s Franklin D. Roosevelt: A Political Life takes a fresh look at the many compelling questions that have attracted all his biographers: how did a man who came from so privileged a background become the greatest presidential champion of the country’s needy? How did someone who never won recognition for his intellect foster revolutionary changes in the country’s economic and social institutions? How did Roosevelt work such a profound change in the country’s foreign relations? For FDR, politics was a far more interesting and fulfilling pursuit than the management of family fortunes or the indulgence of personal pleasure, and by the time he became president, he had commanded the love and affection of millions of people. While all Roosevelt’s biographers agree that the onset of polio at the age of thirty-nine endowed him with a much greater sense of humanity, Dallek sees the affliction as an insufficient explanation for his transformation into a masterful politician who would win an unprecedented four presidential terms, initiate landmark reforms that changed the American industrial system, and transform an isolationist country into an international superpower. Dallek attributes FDR’s success to two remarkable political insights. First, unlike any other president, he understood that effectiveness in the American political system depended on building a national consensus and commanding stable long-term popular support. Second, he made the presidency the central, most influential institution in modern America’s political system. In addressing the country’s international and domestic problems, Roosevelt recognized the vital importance of remaining closely attentive to the full range of public sentiment around policy-making decisions—perhaps FDR’s most enduring lesson in effective leadership.

Presented here are the key texts of the major Marxist controversies over literature and art that involved Ernst Bloch, Georg Lukacs, Bertolt Brecht, Walter Benjamin and Theodor Adorno.

"Gertrude Himmelfarb here explores the minds and lives of some of the most brilliant and provocative thinkers of modern times. Behind the drama of ideas that played itself out in the lives and writings of these individuals was the free play of the moral imagination. From her own long engagement with these subjects, Ms. Himmelfarb describes how these thinkers, coming from different traditions, responding to different concerns, writing in different genres, shared a moral passion that permeated their work. And it is the liveliness of their imagination that makes their reflections - on politics and literature, religion and society, marriage and sex - sometimes unpredictable, often controversial, always exciting, and as illuminating and pertinent today as they were then."--BOOK JACKET

In a series of riveting interviews, America's senior statesman discusses the challenges of directing foreign policy during times of great global tension. As National Security Advisor to Richard Nixon, Henry Kissinger transformed America's approach to diplomacy with China, the USSR, Vietnam, and the Middle East, laying the foundations for geopolitics as we know them today. Nearly fifty years later, escalating tensions between the US, China, and Russia are threatening a swift return to the same diplomatic game of tug-of-war that Kissinger played so masterfully. Kissinger on Kissinger is a series of faithfully transcribed interviews conducted by the elder statesman's longtime associate, Winston Lord, which captures Kissinger's thoughts on the specific challenges that he faced during his tenure as NSA, his general advice on leadership and international relations, and stunning portraits of the larger-than-life world leaders of the era. The result is a frank and well-informed overview of US foreign policy in the first half of the 70s—essential reading for anyone hoping to understand tomorrow's global challenges.

Text: English, German (translation)

Genet...Beckett...Burroughs...Miller...Ionesco, Oe, Duras. Harold Pinter and Tom Stoppard. Hubert Selby Jr. and John Rechy. The legendary film I Am Curious (Yellow) . The books that assaulted the fort of propriety that was the United States in the 1950s and '60s, Lady Chatterley's Lover and The Tropic of Cancer. The Evergreen Review. Victorian "erotica." The Autobiography of Malcolm X . A bombing, a sit-in, and a near-fistfight with Norman Mailer. The common thread between these disparate elements, a number of which reshaped modern culture, was Barney Rosset. Rosset was the antidote to the trope of the "gentleman publisher" personified by other pioneering figures of the industry such as Alfred A. Knopf, Bennett Cerf and James Laughlin. If Barney saw a crowd heading one way--he looked the other. If he knew something was forbidden, he regarded it as a plus. Unsurprisingly, financial ruin, along with the highs and lows of critical reception, marked his career. But his unswerving dedication to publishing what he wanted made him one of the most influential publishers ever. Rosset began work on his autobiography a decade before his death in 2012, and several publishers and a number of editors worked with him on the project. Now, at last, in his own words, we have a portrait of the man who reshaped how we think about language, literature--and sex. Here are the stories behind the filming of Norman Mailer's Maidstone and Samuel Beckett's Film ; the battles with the US government over Tropic of Cancer and much else; the search for Che's diaries; his romance with the expressionist painter Joan Mitchell, and more. At times appalling, more often inspiring, never boring or conventional: this is Barney Rosset, uncensored. Illustrated with black-and-white photographs; includes index

This wide-ranging discussion of Jews and Arabs, Judaism and Islam, is historical, psychological, and anthropological in approach. By focusing his study on folk culture, Raphael Patai makes a unique contribution, complementing classic works in the field. The volume is a distillation of the best available material on the subject of Jewish-Arab interactions over the ages. It provides an excellent overview of Arab-Jewish relations vis-a-vis religion, theology, culture, literature, and politics from the pre-Muhammad period to the present day, showing the shared heritage as well as divergence of Arab and Jew. Winner of the Jewish Book Council Award and the Anisfield-Wolf Award in Race Relations.

This book, "The Venus Project: The Redesign of Culture", by Jacque Fresco, is a replication of a book originally published before 1995. It has been restored by human beings, page by page, so that you may enjoy it in a form as close to the original as possible. This book was created using print-on-demand technology. Thank you for supporting classic literature.

When FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover reported to the Nixon White House in 1972 about the Bureau's surveillance of John Lennon, he began by explaining that Lennon was a "former member of the Beatles singing group." When a copy of this letter arrived in response to Jon Wiener's 1981 Freedom of Information request, the entire text was withheld—along with almost 200 other pages—on the grounds that releasing it would endanger national security. This book tells the story of the author's remarkable fourteen-year court battle to win release of the Lennon files under the Freedom of Information Act in a case that went all the way to the Supreme Court. With the publication of Gimme Some Truth , 100 key pages of the Lennon FBI file are available—complete and unexpurgated, fully annotated and presented in a "before and after" format. Lennon's file was compiled in 1972, when the war in Vietnam was at its peak, when Nixon was facing reelection, and when the "clever Beatle" was living in New York and joining up with the New Left and the anti-war movement. The Nixon administration's efforts to "neutralize" Lennon are the subject of Lennon's file. The documents are reproduced in facsimile so that readers can see all the classification stamps, marginal notes, blacked out passages and—in some cases—the initials of J. Edgar Hoover. The file includes lengthy reports by confidential informants detailing the daily lives of anti-war activists, memos to the White House, transcripts of TV shows on which Lennon appeared, and a proposal that Lennon be arrested by local police on drug charges. Fascinating, engrossing, at points hilarious and absurd, Gimme Some Truth documents an era when rock music seemed to have real political force and when youth culture challenged the status quo in Washington. It also delineates the ways the Reagan, Bush, and Clinton administrations fought to preserve government secrecy, and highlights the legal strategies adopted by those who have challenged it.

This ambitious book looks into the reasons for the exceptional durability of the Chinese empire, which lasted for more than two millennia (221 BCE-1911 CE). Yuri Pines identifies the roots of the empire's longevity in the activities of thinkers of the Warring States period (453-221 BCE), who, in their search for solutions to an ongoing political crisis, developed ideals, values, and perceptions that would become essential for the future imperial polity. In marked distinction to similar empires worldwide, the Chinese empire was envisioned and to a certain extent "preplanned" long before it came into being. As a result, it was not only a military and administrative construct, but also an intellectual one. Pines makes the argument that it was precisely its ideological appeal that allowed the survival and regeneration of the empire after repeated periods of turmoil. Envisioning Eternal Empire presents a panoptic survey of philosophical and social conflicts in Warring States political culture. By examining the extant corpus of preimperial literature, including transmitted texts and manuscripts uncovered at archaeological sites, Pines locates the common ideas of competing thinkers that underlie their ideological controversies. This bold approach allows him to transcend the once fashionable perspective of competing "schools of thought" and show that beneath the immense pluralism of Warring States thought one may identify common ideological choices that eventually shaped traditional Chinese political culture. The result is a refreshingly novel look at the foundational period in Chinese intellectual history.Pines' analysis of the political thought of the period focuses on the thinkers' perceptions of three main components of the preimperial and imperial polity: the ruler, the elite, and the commoners. Regarding each of them, he identifies both the common ground and unresolved intrinsic tensions of Warring States discourse. Thus, while thinkers staunchly supported the idea of the omnipotent universal monarch, they were also aware of the mediocrity and ineptitude of acting sovereigns. They were committed to a career in government yet feared to compromise their integrity in service of corrupt rulers. They declared their dedication to "the people" yet firmly opposed the lower strata's input in political processes. Pines asserts that the persistence of these unresolved tensions eventually became one of the most important assets of China's political culture. The ensuing imperial political system was not excessively rigid, but sufficiently flexible to adapt itself to a variety of domestic and foreign pressures. This remarkable adaptability within the constant ideological framework contributed decisively to the empire's longevity.

""Heil Hunger! Health Under Hitler"" is a non-fiction book written by Martin Gumpert. The book explores the impact of Nazi policies on the health and well-being of the German people during the Third Reich. Gumpert examines the various measures taken by the Nazi regime to promote health and fitness, including the establishment of physical education programs and the promotion of healthy eating habits. However, he also highlights the negative effects of Nazi policies, such as the forced sterilization of individuals deemed ""unfit"" and the mistreatment of concentration camp prisoners. Through extensive research and analysis, Gumpert provides a comprehensive look at the complex and often contradictory relationship between health and politics in Nazi Germany. Overall, ""Heil Hunger! Health Under Hitler"" offers a thought-provoking perspective on a dark period in history and the ways in which ideology can impact public health.This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the old original and may contain some imperfections such as library marks and notations. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions, that are true to their original work.

In this collection of essays, eminent scholar Gabriel Almond describes the ways in which the discipline of political science has become divided against itself. "The various schools and sects of political science," writes Almond, "now sit at separate tables, each with its own conception of proper political science, but each protecting some secret island of vulnerability." In his overview, Almond examines the "hard" versus "soft" science approaches, as applied by scholars of both the left and the right. In Part I, he explores the history of model-fitting in communism studies, the strengths and weaknesses of the rational choice movement, and the historical forces and processes that have shaped political culture theory. In Part II, Almond addresses the problem of the transmission of methods and findings within the discipline. He discusses the current emphasis on pluralism among political theorists in Communist countries while a corresponding devaluation of this concept is occurring in the West. He concludes with an evaluation of the neo-statist movement and the evolution of political development studies. With this book, Professor Almond crowns a lifetime achievement, and makes final his case for the study of political culture. "It is a most interesting book. For what it′s worth, I think this book will be a successful one. This is not because of the talent and eminence of the author, but because I think there are lots of political scientists who will enjoy reading about these continuing struggles. In sum, I think the book will be a hit." --Aaron Wildavsky, University of California, Berkeley "Judged by the breadth of his professional knowledge and the depth of his command of the literature, Gabriel A. Almond is the most learned political scientist of today. In these wise and erudite essays he provides careful documentation of where the discipline is and what those who went before really said. Hereafter, no graduate student should feel prepared for general examinations in any field of political science without carefully reading A Discipline Divided, and taking to heart its lesson that getting the record straight is a necessary foundation for advancing social science knowledge." --Lucian W. Pye, Massachusetts Institute of Technology "Who better to provide a prospect and retrospect on the social sciences than a 1938 University of Chicago Ph.D.; a pupil of Frank Knight, Harold Lasswell, and G. H. Mead; and a fellow graduate student with Herbert Simon, George Stigler, Edward Shils, V.O. Key, and others? This book shows that he is still a pioneer in the social sciences, and even prepared to explore ideas that are nowadays fresh because they have been around so long that they are forgotten. The result is a book that is of interest to every social scientist." --Journal of Public Policy

"This outstanding collection of essays explores Hannah Arendt's thought against the background of recent world-political events unfolding since September 11, 2001, and engages in a contentious dialogue with one of the greatest political thinkers of the past century, with the conviction that she remains one of our contemporaries. Themes such as moral and political equality, action and natality, and judgment and freedom are reevaluated with fresh insights by a group of thinkers who are themselves well known for their original contributions to political thought. Other essays focus on novel and little-discussed themes in the literature by highlighting Arendt's views of sovereignty, international law and genocide, nuclear weapons and revolutions, imperialism and Eurocentrism, and her contrasting images of Europe and America. Each essay displays not only superb Arendt scholarship but also stylistic flair and analytical tenacity"--

Almost everything you know about heroin addiction is wrong. Not only is it wrong, but it is obviously wrong. Heroin is not highly addictive; withdrawal from it is not medically serious; addicts do not become criminals to feed their habit; addicts do not need any medical assistance to stop taking heroin; and contrary to received wisdom, heroin addiction most certainly IS a moral or spiritual problem. Based on his experience as a prison doctor and as a psychiatrist in a large general hospital in Birmingham, Dr. Dalrymple argues that addiction to heroin is not an illness at all, and that doctors only make it worse. They deceive both the addicts and themselves by pretending that they have something to offer. In this brilliant, entertaining and provocative book, Theodore Dalrymple explains how and why a literary tradition dating back to De Quincey and Coleridge, and continuing up to the deeply sociopathic William Burroughs and beyond, has misled all Western societies for generations about the nature of heroin addiction. These writers' self-dramatizing and dishonest accounts of their own addiction have been accepted uncritically, and have been more influential by far in forming public attitudes than the whole of pharmacological science. As a result, a self-serving, self-perpetuating and completely useless medical bureaucracy has been set up to deal with the problem. With scathing wit, implacable logic and savage denunciation, Dr. Dalrymple exposes the mythology surrounding heroin addiction. Moving seamlessly between literature, pharmacology, history and philosophy, he demonstrates what happens when the nature of a social problem is so thoroughly misunderstood, and when human beings are regarded as inanimate objects rather than as agents of their own destiny. His scintillating, iconoclastic little book has an importance far beyond its immediate subject matter.

This groundbreaking study systematically treats recent policymaking trends, starting with a reconsideration of salient theoretical issues of policymaking and its study and culminating with a survey of current policy-related predicaments in various countries. Dror proposes that the task for social science research is to uncover underlying causes of policymaking inadequacies. Standard research methods, Dror states, have been unable to uncover the realities of important decisions made inside governments. In order to gain an understanding of pressing predicaments, he believes that policymakers need to examine the foundations of contemporary practices of present assumptions, and that they need a multiplicity of approaches to policymaking. After prescribing a set of requirements that policymaking must satisfy in order to adequately respond to challenges, Dror posits several improvements needed in education and in policy decision making. The book concludes with an extensive bibliography, including numerous important German works not found in other English-language studies. This book supplements the earlier basic theory and models propounded in Dror's Public Policymaking Reexamined by dealing with current trends. As a guide to public policy literature and related works, it will be invaluable to students and practitioners.

A one-man think-tank for the New Left, Paul Goodman wrote over thirty books, most of them before his decade of fame as a social critic in the Sixties. A Paul Goodman Reader that does him justice must be a compendious volume, with excerpts not only from best-sellers like Growing Up Absurd, but also from his landmark books on education, community planning, anarchism, psychotherapy, language theory, and poetics. Samples as well from The Empire City, a comic novel reviewers compared to Don Quixote, prize-winning short stories, and scores of poems that led America's most respected poetry reviewer, Hayden Carruth, to exclaim, "Not one dull page. It's almost unbelievable." Goodman called himself as an old-fashioned man of letters, which meant that all these various disciplines and occasions added up to a single abiding concern for the human plight in perilous times, and for human promise and achieved grandeur, love and hope.

The Philosophy of Art of Karl Marx by Mikhail Lifshitz is a comprehensive study of the Marxist theory of art. The book explores the relationship between art and society, and how art reflects the political and economic structures of society. Lifshitz examines the Marxist perspective on the role of art in the revolution and the struggle for social change. He also delves into the Marxist critique of bourgeois art and the concept of alienation in art. The book includes a detailed analysis of the writings of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels on art, as well as the works of other Marxist theorists such as Georg Lukacs and Antonio Gramsci. The Philosophy of Art of Karl Marx is a thought-provoking and insightful exploration of the Marxist perspective on art, and its relevance in the contemporary world.This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the old original and may contain some imperfections such as library marks and notations. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions, that are true to their original work.

Americans today recognize and celebrate leadership genius in the management of private companies. At the same time, the American public remains deeply skeptical of government's ability to address real economic and social challenges. The contributors to this timely and important volume increase our understanding of the potential incentives for and barriers to creative problem-solving in the public sector. Drawing on case studies of state and local government, as well as theoretical literature on private sector management, these scholars reveal both the problems and the possibilities in governmental decision-making.

In a world where politics is often associated with notions such as moral decay, frustration and disappointment, the feeling of betrayal, and of democracy in trouble, Kis examines theories about the morality of political action. Amending the two classical theses of realism and of indirect motivation in politics, Kis argues for a constrained thesis of realism and a wide thesis of indirect motivation. By these means the place of moral motivation and common deliberation can be identified, and political agents can be held morally accountable. The analysis refers to a broad range of classic and contemporary literature as well as to recent cases from international politics which call for moral judgment. The Appendix is dedicated to Václav Havel’s seminal essay on "The Power of the Powerless," which sheds light on the diversity of approaches dissident intellectuals have taken to politics.

Cultural Writing. Susan Sontag delivered LITERATURE IS FREEDOM as her acceptance speech after receiving the highly prestigious Friedenspreis des Deutschen Buchhandels, the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade. Past recipients of the prize, awarded annually since 1950, include Martin Buber, Hermann Hesse, Octovio Paz, Vaclav Havel, Chinua Achebe and Mario Vargas Llosa. Among other things this brilliant speech touches on the historical and philosophical roots of Sontag's fervent opposition to the U.S. occupation of Iraq.