Death, Society, and Human Experience
Robert J. Kastenbaum - 1977
Fifteen chapters discuss subjects including the death system, causes of death, transition fro
Fear: The History of a Political Idea
Corey Robin - 2004
But as Corey Robin shows in his unsettling tour of the Western imagination--the first intellectual history of its kind--fear has shaped our politics and culture since time immemorial. From the Garden of Eden to the Gulag Archipelago to today's headlines, Robin traces our growing fascination with political danger and disaster. As our faith in positive political principles recedes, he argues, we turn to fear as the justifying language of public life. We may not know the good, but we do know the bad. So we cling to fear, abandoning the quest for justice, equality, and freedom. But as fear becomes our intimate, we understand it less. In a startling reexamination of fear's greatest modern interpreters--Hobbes, Montesquieu, Tocqueville, and Arendt--Robin finds that writers since the eighteenth century have systematically obscured fear's political dimensions, diverting attention from the public and private authorities who sponsor and benefit from it. For fear, Robin insists, is an exemplary instrument of repression--in the public and private sector. Nowhere is this politically repressive fear--and its evasion--more evident than in contemporary America. In his final chapters, Robin accuses our leading scholars and critics of ignoring Fear, American Style, which, as he shows, is the fruit of our most prized inheritances--the Constitution and the free market. With danger playing an increasing role in our daily lives and justifying a growing number of government policies, Robin's Fear offers a bracing, and necessary, antidote to our contemporary culture of fear.
Hillary (And Bill): The Sex Volume
Victor Thorn - 2008
It's a carefully plotted path that eventually led them to the White House. But along the way, a series of compromises had to be made, including a prearranged marriage, clandestine assignments for the CIA, and Hillary's ultimate role as a "fixer" for her husband's many dalliances. Pulling no punches, investigative journalist Victor Thorn paints a compelling portrait of secrecy, deceit, violence, and betrayal that shatters the myth Mrs. Clinton has spent so many years trying to create. This three-book series is the most comprehensive examination of the Clinton marriage ever compiled, with HILLARY (AND BILL): THE SEX VOLUME laying a riveting foundation for the next two books which follow: part two - HILLARY (AND BILL): THE DRUGS VOLUME, and then part three - HILLARY (AND BILL): THE MURDER VOLUME. Get all the lurid details of how Hillary Clinton harassed and intimidated Juanita Broaddrick after her husband violently raped her, as well as the lengths to which she went to terrorize other women who were victimized by Bill Clinton. - Extensive quotes from a plethora of public figures chronicling the Clinton Lie Machine. - Who was Bill Clinton's real father? Discover the startling facts concerning the death of William Blythe and why an overwhelming amount of evidence indicates that he could not have been the President s biological father. - Learn about Hillary's collegiate career and how it shaped her later views on feminism, globalism, and how to infiltrate the System from within. - What one culminating event not only brought Hillary Rodham to the attention of Washington, DC s power-brokers, but also made her a darling of the mainstream media. - Touching upon the work of Michael Collins Piper and other investigators, find out how during their academic careers Bill and Hillary were recruited into the CIA under Operation CHAOS to subvert the anti-war movement. - Although largely ignored by the corporate press, read how Hillary's family was associated with organized crime figures in the Chicago area, while Bill Clinton's relatives were integral members of the notorious Dixie Mafia. - For the first time anywhere: was Bill and Hillary's much ballyhooed first meeting at Yale actually part of a much larger prearranged marriage engineered by shadowy New World Order figures whose ultimate plans led them to the White House? - Despite being labeled radicals, volume one of this trilogy documents how Bill and Hillary were trained at three of the most prestigious globalist universities in the world: Georgetown, Oxford, and Yale; while simultaneously being groomed by such figures as Professor Carroll Quigley. - Did Hillary Rodham further her intelligence career by infiltrating underground groups such as the Black Panthers, and was she also used in this same context to leak highly sensitive information during Richard Nixon's infamous Watergate hearings? - Why did Bill Clinton travel to Russia and across Europe during the early 1970s (at the height of the Cold War), and what powerful forces from Arkansas and Washington, DC used their leverage to keep him from being drafted into the Vietnam War? - How has Hillary's marriage-made-in-hell become akin to a prison sentence one from which she has no escape due to the severe consequences she would face in doing so? - Also, Bill and Hillary's sordid sex lives, including: - Rape - Gennifer Flowers darkest secrets - A black love child - The real reason why Bill Clinton lost his case to Paula Jones &l
The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life
Erving Goffman - 1959
This book explores the realm of human behavior in social situations and the way that we appear to others. Dr. Goffman uses the metaphor of theatrical performance as a framework. Each person in everyday social intercourse presents himself and his activity to others, attempts to guide and control the impressions they form of him, and employs certain techniques in order to sustain his performance, just as an actor presents a character to an audience. The discussions of these social techniques offered here are based upon detailed research and observation of social customs in many regions.
Ahilyabai Holkar
Meena Ranade - 2000
A decision he never regretted. Recognizing her abilities, Malharrao trained the young girl in the art of statesmanship and trusted her enough to leave the administration in her hands when he went on military expeditions. Then, in a series of misfortunes, Ahilya lost her husband, father-in-law and son. The brave queen took charge and turned Malwa into a contented and prosperous kingdom. So much so that even the British, whom she opposed steadfastly, praised her as a truly great ruler.
HOW THE 1 PERCENT PROVIDES THE STANDARD OF LIVING OF THE 99 PERCENT
George Reisman - 2015
As they see matters, wealth in the form of means of production and wealth in the form of consumers’ goods are essentially indistinguishable. For all practical purposes, they have no awareness of the existence of capital and of its importance. Thus, capitalists are generally depicted as fat men, whose girth allegedly signifies an excessive consumption of food and of wealth in general, while their alleged victims, the wage earners, are typically depicted as substantially underweight, allegedly signifying their inability to consume, thanks to the allegedly starvation wages paid by the capitalists.The truth is that in a capitalist economic system, the wealth of the capitalists is not only overwhelmingly in the form of means of production, such as factory buildings, machinery, farms, mines, stores, warehouses, and means of transportation and communication, but all of this wealth is employed in producing for the market, where its benefit is made available to everyone in the economic system who is able to afford to buy its products.Consider. Whoever can afford to buy an automobile benefits from the existence of the automobile factory and its equipment where that car was made. He also benefits from the existence of all the other automobile factories, whose existence and competition served to reduce the price he had to pay for his automobile. He benefits from the existence of the steel mill that provided the steel for his car, and from the iron mine that provided the iron ore needed for the production of that steel, and, of course, from the existence of all the other steel mills and iron mines whose existence and competition served to hold down the prices of the steel and iron ore that contributed to the production of his car.And, thanks to the great magnitude of wealth employed as capital, the demand for labor, of which capital is the foundation, is great enough and thus wages are high enough that virtually everyone is able to afford to a substantial degree most of the products of the economic system. For the capital of the capitalists is the foundation both of the supply of products that everyone buys and of the demand for the labor that all wage earners sell. More capital—a greater amount of wealth in the possession of the capitalists—means a both a larger and better supply of products for wage earners to buy and a greater demand for the labor that wage earners sell. Everyone, wage earners and capitalists alike, benefits from the wealth of the capitalists, because, as I say, that wealth is the foundation of the supply of the products that everyone buys and of the demand for the labor that all wage earners sell. More capital in the hands of the capitalists always means a more abundant, better quality of goods and services offered for sale and a larger demand for labor. The further effect is lower prices and higher wages, and thus a higher standard of living for wage earners.Furthermore, the combination of the profit motive and competition operates continually to improve the products offered in the market and the efficiency with which they are produced, thus steadily further improving the standard of living of everyone.In the alleged conflict between the so-called 99 percent and the so-called 1 percent, the program of the 99 percent is to seize as far as possible the wealth of the 1 percent and consume it. To the extent that it is enacted, the effect of this program can only be to impoverish everyone, and the 99 percent to a far greater extent than the 1 percent. To the extent that the 1 percent loses its mansions, luxury cars, and champagne and caviar, 99 times as many people lose their houses, run-of-the mill cars, and steak and hamburger.
Rise to Globalism: American Foreign Policy since 1938
Stephen E. Ambrose - 1971
Included in the text is commentary on Reagan's deal with Iran in 1980, Bush's deal with Iraq up to the invasion of Kuwait, the Middle East peace talks and the collapse of Soviet Union.
Unequal Childhoods: Class, Race, and Family Life
Annette Lareau - 2003
Drawing on in-depth observations of black and white middle-class, working-class, and poor families, Unequal Childhoods explores this fact, offering a picture of childhood today. Here are the frenetic families managing their children's hectic schedules of "leisure" activities; and here are families with plenty of time but little economic security. Lareau shows how middle-class parents, whether black or white, engage in a process of "concerted cultivation" designed to draw out children's talents and skills, while working-class and poor families rely on "the accomplishment of natural growth," in which a child's development unfolds spontaneously—as long as basic comfort, food, and shelter are provided. Each of these approaches to childrearing brings its own benefits and its own drawbacks. In identifying and analyzing differences between the two, Lareau demonstrates the power, and limits, of social class in shaping the lives of America's children.The first edition of Unequal Childhoods was an instant classic, portraying in riveting detail the unexpected ways in which social class influences parenting in white and African-American families. A decade later, Annette Lareau has revisited the same families and interviewed the original subjects to examine the impact of social class in the transition to adulthood.
Damned Lies and Statistics: Untangling Numbers from the Media, Politicians, and Activists
Joel Best - 1998
But all too often, these numbers are wrong. This book is a lively guide to spotting bad statistics and learning to think critically about these influential numbers. Damned Lies and Statistics is essential reading for everyone who reads or listens to the news, for students, and for anyone who relies on statistical information to understand social problems.Joel Best bases his discussion on a wide assortment of intriguing contemporary issues that have garnered much recent media attention, including abortion, cyberporn, homelessness, the Million Man March, teen suicide, the U.S. census, and much more. Using examples from the New York Times, the Washington Post, and other major newspapers and television programs, he unravels many fascinating examples of the use, misuse, and abuse of statistical information.In this book Best shows us exactly how and why bad statistics emerge, spread, and come to shape policy debates. He recommends specific ways to detect bad statistics, and shows how to think more critically about "stat wars," or disputes over social statistics among various experts. Understanding this book does not require sophisticated mathematical knowledge; Best discusses the most basic and most easily understood forms of statistics, such as percentages, averages, and rates.This accessible book provides an alternative to either naively accepting the statistics we hear or cynically assuming that all numbers are meaningless. It shows how anyone can become a more intelligent, critical, and empowered consumer of the statistics that inundate both the social sciences and our media-saturated lives.
Plunkitt of Tammany Hall: A Series of Very Plain Talks on Very Practical Politics
George Washington Plunkitt - 1905
George Washington Plunkitt rose from impoverished beginnings to become ward boss of the Fifteenth Assembly District in New York, a key player in the powerhouse political team of Tammany Hall, and a millionaire. In a series of utterly frank talks given at his headquarters at Graziano’s bootblack stand inside the New York County Court House, he revealed to a sharp-eared and sympathetic reporter named William L. Riordon the secrets of political success as practiced and perfected by Tammany Hall titans. The result is not only a volume that reveals more about our political system than does a shelf load of civics textbooks, but also an irresistible portrait of a man who would feel happily at home playing ball with today’s lobbyists and kingmakers, trading votes for political and financial favors.Doing for twentieth-century America what Machiavelli did for Renaissance Italy, and as entertaining as it is instructive, Plunkitt of Tammany Hall is essential reading for those who prefer twenty-twenty vision to rose-colored glasses in viewing how our government works and why.
Essentials of Comparative Politics
Patrick H. O'Neil - 2006
This accessible introduction presents the core concepts that political scientists use to study and compare political systems, illustrating these concepts with concrete examples from specific political systems.
Globalization: The Key Concepts
Thomas Hylland Eriksen - 2007
However, arguing that variation is as characteristic of globalization as standardization, the book stresses the necessity for a bottom-up, comparative analysis. Distinguishing between the cultural, political, economic and ecological aspects of globalization, the book highlights the implications of globalization for people's everyday lives. Throughout, the discussion is illustrated with wide-ranging case material. Chapter summaries and a guide to further reading underline the book's concern to clarify this most complex and influential of ideas.
Theories of International Relations
Scott Burchill - 1996
The introduction explains the nature of theory and the reasons for studying international relations in a theoretically informed way. The nine chapters which follow - written by leading scholars in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the US and the UK - provide thorough examinations of each of the major approaches currently prevailing in the discipline.
Sale of the Century: Russia's Wild Ride from Communism to Capitalism
Chrystia Freeland - 2000
But the heroic images of Boris Yeltsin atop a tank in front of Moscow's White House soon turned to grim new realities: a currency in freefall and a war in Chechnya; on the street, flashy new money and a vicious Russian mafia contrasted with doctors and teachers not receiving salaries for months at a time. If this was what capitalism brought, many Russians wondered if they weren't better off under the communists.This new society did not just appear ready-made: it was created by a handful of powerful men who came to be known as the oligarchs and the young reformers. The oligarchs were fast-talking businessmen who laid claim to Russia's vast natural resources. The young reformers were an elite group of egghead economists who got to put their wild theories into action, with results that were sometimes inspiring, sometimes devastating. With unparalleled access and acute insight, Chrystia Freeland takes us behind the scenes and shows us how these two groups misused a historic opportunity to build a new Russia. Their achievements were considerable, but their mistakes will deform Russian society for generations to come.Along with a gripping account of the incredible events in Russia's corridors of power, Freeland gives us a vivid sense of the buzz and hustle of the new Russia, and inside stories of the businesses that have beaten the odds and become successful and profitable. She also exposes the conflicts and compromises that developed when red directors of old Soviet firms and factories yielded to -- or fought -- the radically new ways of doing business. She delves into the loophole economy, where anyone who knows how to manipulate the new rules can make a fast buck. Sale of the Century is a fascinating fly-on-the-wall economic thriller -- an astonishing and essential account of who really controls Russia's new frontier.
South Africa: The Rise and Fall of Apartheid
Nancy L. Clark - 2004
This new Seminar Study gives the background to the system that made Nelson Mandela a household name.