Bal Thackeray & The Rise of The Shiv Sena


Vaibhav Purandare - 2012
    It examines Thackeray the person and his intriguing political personality, his party’s militaristic methods of operation, its controversial role at major junctures, the fight between Thackeray’s nephew Raj and son Uddhav, the end of an era in Maharashtra politics after his death in November 2012 and the future of the Shiv Sena without his imposing presence. A must-read for an understanding of contemporary Indian politics and the rise of the Hindu nationalist phenomenon.

What It Means to Be a Democrat


George S. McGovern - 2011
     George McGovern has been a leading figure of the Democratic Party for more than fifty years. From this true liberal comes a thoughtful examination of what being a Democrat really means. McGovern admonishes current Democratic politicians for losing sight of their ideals as they subscribe to an increasingly centrist policy agenda. Applying his wide- ranging knowledge and expertise on issues ranging from military spending to same-sex marriage to educational reform, he stresses the importance of creating policies we can be proud of. Finally, with 2012 looming, McGovern's "What It Means to Be a Democrat" offers a vision of the Party's future in which ideological coherence and courage rule.

Orality and Literacy: The Technologizing of the Word


Walter J. Ong - 1982
    Ong offers fascinating insights into oral genres across the globe and through time, and examines the rise of abstract philosophical and scientific thinking. He considers the impact of orality-literacy studies not only on literary criticism and theory but on our very understanding of what it is to be a human being, conscious of self and other.This is a book no reader, writer or speaker should be without.

Echoes of the Great Song / Winter Warriors


David Gemmell
    

Not Afraid


Daniele Bolelli - 2015
    Most books about life are written with kid gloves and give us old school clichés to handle adversity. Daniele has gone through some of the most difficult situations a father, husband, and all around warrior can go through. He gives us an honest look into the pain, heartache, and process of fighting back against things that would bring most to their knees. Everyone can relate to the feelings and thoughts Daniele displays. We can only hope to someday have his strength and conviction to come through and thrive!” —AJ Hawk, 2011 Superbowl Champion with the Green Bay Packers “A true warrior poet, Daniele bleeds on these pages with fearless vulnerability and uncensored humor." —Aubrey Marcus, writer and CEO of Onnit.com"Bolelli is a genius warrior philosopher. What he talks about here is the opposite of a victim's mentality. By sharing the emotionally apocalyptic experiences he has gone through, he gives a gift to anyone who is struggling with the dragon of fear and sadness. For me to hear this story and to think of everything that happened to him, and then to think about my own little doldrums that I fall into—suddenly I'm invigorated. Everyone please listen, open your ears and open your hearts to the incredible, the brilliant and the super sweet Daniele Bolelli." —Duncan Trussell, comedian and host of the podcast The Duncan Trussell Family Hour“An inspiring life story about overcoming fear. This is a necessary task, no matter what you do in life. Whether you are an amateur or professional athlete, you will be able to draw many similarities to your sport. At the same time, this book gives us a great reminder to enjoy the ride while it lasts. Well done Daniele, you did it again!” —Bostjan Nachbar, professional basketball playerThis book is a meditation on facing fear, heartbreak, and mortality. It is the story of a man who in rapid succession has his wife die in his arms, loses his house and his job, and is left to care for his 19-month old daughter. Oddly enough, the best tools for coping with all of this were those he learned in more than two decades of the martial arts practice. Not Afraid tackles this extremely heavy subject matter in a lighthearted style and with an attitude that acknowledges pain and suffering but denies them dominion over one’s life.In his own irreverent and inimitable style, Daniele Bolleli tells the story of his courtship and marriage, which would have been a sweet story had not all hell broken loose. Or as he puts it, “Hell was a ninja who entered my house without being seen. It all began in such an unremarkable way that it barely registered as anything meaningful. Little did I know that the experiences of the next five months would rip me apart and kill me. They would reforge me into a different man. On that day, I became an unwilling traveler on a journey through the heart of fear. Every step along the way has forced me to face my fears time and time again.”In autobiographical fashion, Not Afraid recounts how martial arts practice and personally relating to fear inducing experiences can affect and shape one’s personality. The result is a page turning book about beauty as well as tragedy, hope as well as despair.

Imperial Spoils: The Curious Case of the Elgin Marbles


Christopher Hitchens - 1987
    

Philosophical Hermeneutics


Hans-Georg Gadamer - 1976
    Gadamer applies hermeneutical analysis to Heidegger and Husserl's phenomenology, an approach that proves critical and instructive.

From Herodotus to H-Net: The Story of Historiography


Jeremy D. Popkin - 2015
    It shows how the same issues that historians debate today were already recognized in past centuries, and how the efforts of historians in the past remain relevant today. Balanced and fair-minded, the book covers the development of modern academic scholarship, but also helps students appreciate the contributions of popular historians and public history.

Marvel Free Previews Monsters Unleashed #1


Cullen Bunn
    Get ready for the epic battle Marvel fans have been waiting for with previews and an in-side look into the Monsters Unleashed event!

Democracy: A Life


Paul Anthony Cartledge - 2016
    The explanation for this is quite simple: the elite perceived majority power as tantamount to a dictatorship of the proletariat.In ancient Greece there can be traced not only the rudiments of modern democratic society but the entire Western tradition of anti-democratic thought. In Democracy, Paul Cartledge provides a detailed history of this ancient political system. In addition, by drawing out the salient differences between ancient and modern forms of democracy he enables a richer understanding of both.Cartledge contends that there is no one "ancient Greek democracy" as pure and simple as is often believed. Democracy surveys the emergence and development of Greek politics, the invention of political theory, and-intimately connected to the latter- the birth of democracy, first at Athens in c. 500 BCE and then at its greatest flourishing in the Greek world 150 years later. Cartledge then traces the decline of genuinely democratic Greek institutions at the hands of the Macedonians and-subsequently and decisively-the Romans. Throughout, he sheds light on the variety of democratic practices in the classical world as well as on their similarities to and dissimilarities from modern democratic forms, from the American and French revolutions to contemporary political thought. Authoritative and accessible, Cartledge's book will be regarded as the best account of ancient democracy and its long afterlife for many years to come.

We Now Know: Rethinking Cold War History


John Lewis Gaddis - 1997
    Based on the latest findings of Cold War historians and extensive research in American archives as well as the recently opened archives in Eastern Europe, the former Soviet Union, and China, We Now Know provides a vividly written, eye-opening account of the Cold War during the years from the end of World War II to its most dangerous moment, the Cuban missile crisis. We Now Know stands as a powerful vindication of US policy throughout the period, and as a thought-provoking reassessment of the Cold War by one of its most distinguished historians.

Philology: The Forgotten Origins of the Modern Humanities


James Turner - 2014
    In short, philology was the queen of the human sciences. How did it become little more than an archaic word?In Philology, the first history of Western humanistic learning as a connected whole ever published in English, James Turner tells the fascinating, forgotten story of how the study of languages and texts led to the modern humanities and the modern university. The humanities today face a crisis of relevance, if not of meaning and purpose. Understanding their common origins--and what they still share--has never been more urgent.

Mussolini


Jasper Ridley - 1998
    He was also an extremely able politician who won the esteem of many statesmen-including Winston Churchill and influential persons in the United States. This biography describes Mussolini's childhood; his education (including his suspension from school for attacking other boys with knives); his World War I experiences and severe wounding; his involvement in, and eventual expulsion from the revolutionary Italian Socialist Party; his numerous love affairs, his early career as a journalist and his rise to power and brutal rule.

Codebreakers' Victory: How the Allied Cryptographers Won World War II


Hervie Haufler - 2003
    From the Purple Machine to the Navajo Talkers to the breaking of Japan's JN-25 Naval Code to the shadowy world of decoding units like Hut-8 in Bletchley Park, he shows how crucial information-often obtained by surreptitious and violent means-was the decisive edge in the Battle of Britain, at Midway and against the U-Boats in the North Atlantic, and how Allied intelligence saved the Soviet Union from almost certain defeat. In an accessible account based on years of research, interviews and exclusive access to previously top-secret archives, Haufler demonstrates how cryptography enabled Nimitz and MacArthur to persevere in the Pacific and helped Eisenhower and Patton mount the assaults on Normandy. In compelling detail, Haufler shows us how it was done-as only one who was on the frontlines of the "secret war" could tell it.

Archive Stories: Facts, Fictions, and the Writing of History


Antoinette BurtonAnn Curthoys - 2005
    This provocative collection initiates a vital conversation about how archives around the world are constructed, policed, manipulated, and experienced. It challenges the claims to objectivity associated with the traditional archive by telling stories that illuminate its power to shape the narratives that are “found” there.Archive Stories brings together ethnographies of the archival world, most of which are written by historians. Some contributors recount their own experiences. One offers a moving reflection on how the relative wealth and prestige of Western researchers can gain them entry to collections such as Uzbekistan’s newly formed Central State Archive, which severely limits the access of Uzbek researchers. Others explore the genealogies of specific archives, from one of the most influential archival institutions in the modern West, the Archives nationales in Paris, to the significant archives of the Bakunin family in Russia, which were saved largely through the efforts of one family member. Still others explore the impact of current events on the analysis of particular archives. A contributor tells of researching the 1976 Soweto riots in the politically charged atmosphere of the early 1990s, just as apartheid in South Africa was coming to an end. A number of the essays question what counts as an archive—and what counts as history—as they consider oral histories, cyberspace, fiction, and plans for streets and buildings that were never built, for histories that never materialized.Contributors. Tony Ballantyne, Marilyn Booth, Antoinette Burton, Ann Curthoys, Peter Fritzsche, Durba Ghosh, Laura Mayhall, Jennifer S. Milligan, Kathryn J. Oberdeck, Adele Perry, Helena Pohlandt-McCormick, John Randolph, Craig Robertson, Horacio N. Roque Ramírez, Jeff Sahadeo, Reneé Sentilles