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The Seven Military Classics Of Ancient China
by Ralph D. SawyerThe Seven Military Classics is one of the most profound studies of warfare ever written, a stanchion in sinological and military history. It presents an Eastern tradition of strategic thought that emphasizes outwitting one's opponent through speed, stealth, flexibility, and a minimum of force--an approach very different from that stressed in the West. Safeguarded for centuries by the ruling elite of imperial China, even in modern times these writings have been known only to a handful of Western specialists.This volume contains seven separate essays, written between 500 BCE and 700 CE, that preserve the essential tenets of strategy distilled from the experience of the most brilliant warriors of ancient China.
What Doesn't Kill Us: The New Psychology of Posttraumatic Growth
by Stephen JosephFor the past twenty years, pioneering psychologist Stephen Joseph has worked with survivors of trauma. His studies have yielded a startling discovery: that a wide range of traumatic events-from illness, divorce, separation, assault, and bereavement to accidents, natural disasters, and terrorism-can act as catalysts for positive change. Boldly challenging the conventional wisdom about trauma and its aftermath, Joseph demonstrates that rather than ruining one’s life, a traumatic event can actually improve it. Drawing on the wisdom of ancient philosophers, the insights of evolutionary biologists, and the optimism of positive psychologists,What Doesn’t Kill Usreveals how all of us can navigate change and adversity- traumatic or otherwise-to find new meaning, purpose, and direction in life.
The Crowded Universe: The Search for Living Planets
by Alan BossWe are nearing a turning point in our quest for life in the universe-we now have the capacity to detect Earth-like planets around other stars. But will we find any? In The Crowded Universe, renowned astronomer Alan Boss argues that based on what we already know about planetary systems, in the coming years we will find abundant Earths, including many that are indisputably alive. Life is not only possible elsewhere in the universe, Boss argues-it is common. Boss describes how our ideas about planetary formation have changed radically in the past decade and brings readers up to date on discoveries of bizarre inhabitants of various solar systems, including our own. America must stay in this new space race, Boss contends, or risk being left out of one of the most profoundly important discoveries of all time: the first confirmed finding of extraterrestrial life.
The Politics Of Law: A Progressive Critique, Third Edition
by David KairysThe Politics of Law is the most widely read critique of the nature and role of the law in American society. This revised edition continues the book’s concrete focus on the major subjects and fields of law. New essays on emerging fields and the latest trends and cases have been added to updated versions of the now-classic essays from earlier editions. A unique assortment of leading scholars and practitioners in law and related disciplines-political science, economics, sociology, criminology, history, and literature-raise basic questions about law, challenging long-held ideals like the separation of law from politics, economics, religion, and culture. They address such issues contextually and with a keen historical perspective as they explain and critique the law in a broad range of areas. This third edition contains essays on all of the subjects covered in the first year of law school while continuing the book’s tradition of accessibility to non-law-trained readers. Insightful and powerful, The Politics of Law makes sense of the debates about judicial restraint and the range of legal controversies so central to American public life and culture.
American Babylon: Notes of a Christian Exile
by Richard John NeuhausChristians are by their nature a people out of place. Their true home is with God; in civic life, they are alien citizens "in but not of the world. " InAmerican Babylon, eminent theologian Richard John Neuhaus examines the particular truth of that ambiguity for Catholics in America today. Neuhaus addresses the essential quandaries of Catholic life-assessing how Catholics can keep their heads above water in the sea of immorality that confronts them in the world, how they can be patriotic even though their true country is not in this world, and how they might reconcile their duties as citizens with their commitment to God. Deeply learned, frequently combative, and always eloquent,American Babylonis Neuhaus'smagnum opus-and will be essential reading for all Christians.
A Wicked Company: The Forgotten Radicalism of the European Enlightenment
by Philipp BlomThe acclaimed author of The Vertigo Years tells the remarkable story of the Parisian salon that hosted the eighteenth century's greatest minds and changed the course of Western philosophy
The Rape Of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust Of World War II
by Iris ChangIn December 1937, in what was then the capital of China, one of the most brutal massacres in the long annals of wartime barbarity occurred. The Japanese army swept into the ancient city of Nanking (Nanjing) and within weeks not only looted and burned the defenseless city but systematically raped, tortured, and murdered more than 300,000 Chinese civilians. Amazingly, the story of this atrocity-one of the worst in world history-continues to be denied by the Japanese government. Based on extensive interviews with survivors and newly discovered documents in four different languages (many never before published), Iris Chang, whose own grandparents barely escaped the massacre, has written what will surely be the definitive, English-language history of this horrifying episode-one that the Japanese have tried for years to erase from public consciousness. The Rape of Nanking tells the story from three perspectives: that of the Japanese soldiers who performed it; of the Chinese civilians who endured it; and finally of a group of Europeans and Americans who refused to abandon the city and were able to create a safety zone that saved almost 300,000 Chinese. It was Chang who discovered the diaries of the German leader of this rescue effort, John Rabe, whom she calls the "Oskar Schindler of China. ” A loyal supporter of Adolf Hitler but far from the terror planned in his Nazi-controlled homeland, he worked tirelessly to save the innocent from slaughter. But this book does more than just narrate details of an orgy of violence; it attempts to analyze the degree to which the Japanese imperial government and its militaristic culture fostered in the Japanese soldier a total disregard for human life. Finally, it tells one more shocking story: Despite the fact that the death toll at Nanking exceeded the immediate deaths from the atomic blasts at Hiroshima and Nagasaki combined (and even the total wartime casualty count of entire European countries), the Cold War led to a concerted effort on the part of the West and even the Chinese to court the loyalty of Japan and stifle open discussion of this atrocity. Indeed, Chang characterized this conspiracy of silence, which persists to this day, as "a second rape. ”
Erotic Capital: The Power of Attraction in the Boardroom and the Bedroom
by Catherine HakimIn 2010, pioneering sociologist Catherine Hakim shocked the world with a provocative new theory: In addition to the three recognized personal assets (economic, cultural, and social capital), each individual has a fourth asset-erotic capital-that he or she can, and should, use to advance within society. In this bold and controversial book, Hakim explores the applications and significance of erotic capital, challenging the disapproval meted out to women and men who use sex appeal to get ahead in life. Social scientists have paid little serious attention to these modes of personal empowerment, despite overwhelming evidence of their importance. In Erotic Capital, Hakim marshals a trove of research to show that rather than degrading those who employ it, erotic capital represents a powerful and potentially equalizing tool-one that we scorn only to our own detriment.
Please Don't Bite the Baby (and Please Don't Chase the Dogs): Keeping Our Kids and Our Dogs Safe and Happy Together
by Lisa EdwardsPlease Don't Bite the Baby (and Please Don't Chase the Dogs) chronicles certified professional dog trainer Lisa Edwards' endearing and entertaining journey to ensure that her household survives and thrives when she introduces her son to her motley pack of animals. As Lisa knows all too well, the dog/child relationship is simultaneously treasured, misunderstood, and sometimes feared. In a twist, Lisa's dog training techniques inevitably seep into how she navigates her first year with baby to mixed but enlightening results.Lisa includes her best training techniques for the everyday pet owner itemized at the end of each chapter. This book is important for parents, grandparents, and caregivers who have dogs and young children together and want to ensure safety for all.
Thieves in the Temple: The Christian Church and the Selling of the American Soul
by G. Jeffrey MacdonaldWhat has become of the Christian Church? Once devoted to molding Americans into better people, in recent years the Christian Church has gotten a corporate makeover. In a desperate attempt to bolster membership rolls, ministers have begun to treat their churches more like companies, and their congregations more like customers. As a minister in a small church and as a national religion reporter, journalist G. Jeffrey MacDonald witnessed firsthand this lapse into consumerism. He realized that in an effort to cast a wide net for souls churches have sacrificed their authority to transform Americans' self-serving impulses for the better. In the headlong rush to operate more like businesses, churches are sacrificing their moral authority, perhaps permanently. The result is a crisis for the American conscience. MacDonald's incisive critique of today's movement away from true religion shows how desperately America needs a new religious reformation.
Dismantling America: and other controversial essays
by Thomas SowellThese wide-ranging essays--on many individual political, economic, cultural and legal issues--have as a recurring, underlying theme the decline of the values and institutions that have sustained and advanced American society for more than two centuries. This decline has been more than an erosion. It has, in many cases, been a deliberate dismantling of American values and institutions by people convinced that their superior wisdom and virtue must over-ride both the traditions of the country and the will of the people. Whether these essays (originally published as syndicated newspaper columns) are individually about financial bailouts, illegal immigrants, gay marriage, national security, or the Duke University rape case, the underlying concern is about what these very different kinds of things say about the general direction of American society. This larger and longer-lasting question is whether the particular issues discussed reflect a degeneration or dismantling of the America that we once knew and expected to pass on to our children and grandchildren. There are people determined that this country's values, history, laws, traditions and role in the world are fundamentally wrong and must be changed. Such people will not stop dismantling America unless they get stopped--and the next election may be the last time to stop them, before they take the country beyond the point of no return.
America's Unwritten Constitution: The Precedents and Principles We Live By
by Akhil Reed AmarDespite its venerated place atop American law and politics, our written Constitution does not enumerate all of the rules and rights, principles and procedures that actually govern modern America. The document makes no explicit mention of cherished concepts like the separation of powers and the rule of law. On some issues, the plain meaning of the text misleads. For example, the text seems to say that the vice president presides over his own impeachment trial-but surely this cannot beright. As esteemed legal scholar Akhil Reed Amar explains inAmerica’s Unwritten Constitution, the solution to many constitutional puzzles lies not solely within the written document, but beyond it-in the vast trove of values, precedents, and practices that complement and complete the terse text. In this sequel toAmerica’s Constitution: A Biography, Amar takes readers on a tour of our nation’sunwrittenConstitution, showing how America’s foundational document cannot be understood in textual isolation. Proper constitutional interpretation depends on a variety of factors, such as the precedents set by early presidents and Congresses; common practices of modern American citizens; venerable judicial decisions; and particularly privileged sources of inspiration and guidance, including theFederalistpapers, William Blackstone’sCommentaries on the Laws of England, the Northwest Ordinance of 1787, Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, and Martin Luther King, Jr. ’s "I Have a Dream” speech. These diverse supplements are indispensible instruments for making sense of the written Constitution. When used correctly, these extra-textual aids support and enrich the written document without supplanting it. An authoritative work by one of America’s preeminent legal scholars,America’s Unwritten Constitutionpresents a bold new vision of the American constitutional system, showing how the complementary relationship between the Constitution’s written and unwritten components is one of America’s greatest and most enduring strengths.
The Epic of New York City: A Narrative History
by Edward Robb EllisIn swift, witty chapters that flawlessly capture the pace and character of New York City, acclaimed diarist Edward Robb Ellis presents his masterpiece: a thorough, and thoroughly readable, history of America's largest metropolis. Ellis narrates some of the most significant events of the past three hundred years and more--the Revolutionary and Civil Wars, Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr's fatal duel, the formation of the League of Nations, the Great Depression--from the perspective of the city that experienced, and influenced, them all. Throughout, he infuses his account with the strange and delightful anecdotes that a less charming tour guide might omit, from the story of the city's first, block-long subway to that of the blizzard of 1888 that turned Macy's into one big slumber party. Playful yet authoritative, comprehensive yet intimate, The Epic of New York City confirms the words of its own epigraph, spoken by Oswald Spengler: "World history is city history," particularly when that city is the Big Apple.
Winning at New Products: Creating Value Through Innovation
by Robert G. CooperA fully updated edition of the classic business reference book on product development from a world renowned innovation management scholarFor more than two decades, Winning at New Products has served as the bible for product developers everywhere. Robert G. Cooper demonstrates why consistent product development is vital to corporate growth and how to maximize your chances of success. Citing the author's most recent research, Winning at New Products showcases innovative practices by industry leaders to present a field-tested game plan for achieving product leadership. Cooper outlines specific strategies for making sound business decisions at every step-from idea generation to launch. This fully updated and expanded edition is an essential resource for product developers around the world."This is a must read. There's so much new in this book, from how to generate the breakthrough ideas, picking the winners, and driving them to market successfully." --Philip Kotler, Professor of International Marketing, Northwestern University, Kellogg School of Management
New York at War: Four Centuries of Combat, Fear, and Intrigue in Gotham
by Steven H. JaffeIn New York at War, historian Steven H. Jaffe offers an alternative history of New York City-arguably the most powerful and yet also the most vulnerable city on earth, and a place whose landscape, culture, and inhabitants have been shaped by violence near and far. The threats of war to New York have not always been direct, but even distant wars have had an important influence on the city. Beginning with an Indian attack on one of Henry Hudson’s crewmen (who in 1609 became the first recorded fatality of an act of war in the region’s history), Jaffe describes, in turn, each of the city’s encounters with war over the past four centuries. He recounts the threats Dutch settlers faced from Indians (and each other) after the West India Company established New Amsterdam in 1624; the British encroachment and eventual invasion that transformed the Dutch town into an English colony in 1664; the colonial wars (such as Queen Anne’s War and the French and Indian Wars) that affected the city over the next hundred years; and the divisions and depredations New York endured during the Revolutionary War. The city soon experienced new threats (and became a major naval stronghold) during the Quasi-War with France and the War of 1812, which is now viewed as a second war of independence. The nation’s newfound freedom did nothing to shield New York from the global conflicts that followed the Revolutionary War; in fact, New Yorkers’ sense of vulnerability persisted-and in many ways worsened-in the 19th and 20th centuries. Jaffe shows how New York became hugely powerful as the Union’s "money city” during the Civil War, but nevertheless retained strong economic and emotional ties to the South, and was so wracked by draft riots in 1863 that people suspected a Confederate plot was behind the violence. Many African-American New Yorkers were killed during the riots, highlighting the prejudice that has frequently characterized New York when the city’s inhabitants feel threatened. Fear and prejudice have been bedfellows throughout New York’s history, says Jaffe-and the 1863 draft riots are hardly the only example of this sorry fact. During the build-up to World War I and the war itself, German-Americans were the subject of intense suspicion, which seemed to be confirmed by the discovery of several bombs planted by German saboteurs; one successful attack destroyed an ammunition depot in Jersey City and shattered thousands of windows in Manhattan. (Had New Yorkers learned of the Kaiser’s unrealized plans to invade the city after a massive amphibious landing on Cape Cod, the consequences for German New Yorkers would likely have been fare more dire. ) New Yorkers of German, Japanese, Italian, and Jewish heritage encountered their fair share of hostility during World War II, and in the atomic era that followed the city endured attacks by terrorist groups such as the Weathermen, disaffected Bay of Pigs veterans, Puerto Rican nationalists, and Islamic fundamentalists. Each new assault has seen New Yorkers heap discrimination upon neighbors they perceive as being similar to the attackers. The challenge throughout the city’s history, says Jaffe, has been to distinguish spies, saboteurs, and terrorists from their seemingly identical but innocent neighbors-a difficult task, to be sure, but one whose complexity does not exempt New Yorkers or other Americans from the need to try. Stretching from the colonial era to 9/11 and beyond, New York at War is that most rare of books: a work of history that is at once local and international, timely and timeless. Bringing a unique lens to bear on the world’s most celebrated and contested city, Jaffe reveals the unimaginable ways the city has changed-and how it has stubbornly endured-under threats both external and internal.
Zen Teen: 40 Ways to Stay Calm When Life Gets Stressful
by Tanya Carroll RichardsonA warm and relatable teen guide to reducing anxiety, depression, and panic while developing resilience and confidence with 40 tips and tricks that guide, support, and inspire teens to keep calm and stay mindfulIn the last decade, studies have reported a drastic rise in teens who experience anxiety, panic, and an inability to cope with the pressures of daily life. As mental health challenges become less stigmatized, young people are more likely than ever before to know how to identify their feelings and ask for help. Even celebrity teen icons like Selena Gomez are "coming out" as anxiety sufferers.Zen Teen addresses this epidemic with powerful coping mechanisms and creative tools-including two fun quizzes, tons of engaging exercises and a cool playlist-designed for the teenage mind. With topics like "The Unique Genius of You" and "Rock-Star Rituals," Tanya Carroll Richardson prompts teens to get calm by engaging in mindful tasks like identifying gurus, tapping into warrior energy, mastering meditation, practicing realistic optimism, becoming a self-awareness samurai, learning to surrender, finding a spirit animal, expressing challenging emotions, living with loving-kindness, protecting the planet, and making vision boards that embrace "the Tao of Cool."Smart and fresh, Zen Teen helps teens thrive while navigating and managing the pressures of everyday life.
The Climate Fix: What Scientists and Politicians Won't Tell You About Global Warming
by Roger Pielke Jr.Why has the world been unable to address global warming? Science policy expert Roger Pielke, Jr., says it's not the fault of those who reject the Kyoto Protocol, but those who support it, and the magical thinking that the agreement represents. In The Climate Fix, Pielke offers a way to repair climate policy, shifting the debate away from meaningless targets and toward a revolution in how the world's economy is powered, while de-fanging the venomous politics surrounding the crisis. The debate on global warming has lost none of its power to polarize and provoke in a haze of partisan vitriol. The Climate Fix will bring something new to the discussions: a commonsense perspective and practical actions better than any offered so far.
Ancient Chinese Warfare
by Ralph D. SawyerThe history of China is a history of warfare. Rarely in its 3,000-year existence has the country not been beset by war, rebellion, or raids. Warfare was a primary source of innovation, social evolution, and material progress in the Legendary Era, Hsia dynasty, and Shang dynasty--indeed, war was the force that formed the first cohesive Chinese empire, setting China on a trajectory of state building and aggressive activity that continues to this day. In Ancient Chinese Warfare, a preeminent expert on Chinese military history uses recently recovered documents and archaeological findings to construct a comprehensive guide to the developing technologies, strategies, and logistics of ancient Chinese militarism. The result is a definitive look at the tools and methods that won wars and shaped culture in ancient China.
Six Easy Pieces: Essentials of Physics Explained by Its Most Brilliant Teacher
by Matthew Sands Robert B. Leighton Richard P. FeynmanThe six easiest chapters from Feynman's landmark work,Lectures on Physics-- specifically designed for the general, non-scientist reader.
Uncommon Grounds: The History of Coffee and How It Transformed Our World
by Mark PendergrastThe definitive history of the world's most popular drugUncommon Grounds tells the story of coffee from its discovery on a hill in ancient Abyssinia to the advent of Starbucks. Mark Pendergrast reviews the dramatic changes in coffee culture over the past decade, from the disastrous "Coffee Crisis" that caused global prices to plummet to the rise of the Fair Trade movement and the "third-wave" of quality-obsessed coffee connoisseurs. As the scope of coffee culture continues to expand, Uncommon Grounds remains more than ever a brilliantly entertaining guide to the currents of one of the world's favorite beverages.
Thoughtful Gardening
by Robin Lane FoxIn Thoughtful Gardening, award-winning historian and Financial Times gardening columnist Robin Lane Fox takes readers on a delightful journey through each season of the gardening year. From fending off vine-weevils to visiting Yves Saint Laurent’s private gardens in Marrakech, Fox imbues each of his musings with grace, sophistication, and charm. Essential reading for anyone planting a new garden or taking stock of one after several years, Thoughtful Gardening offers expert advice and a touching reminder of the power of art and literature to deepen what we see and experience in nature. Combining a vast understanding of horticulture with witty and stylish storytelling, these vignettes form--season by season--a rich reflection on the lessons, challenges, and joys of life with a green thumb.
Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences
by Howard GardnerFirst published in 1983 and now available with a new introduction by the author, Gardner's trailblazing book revolutionized the worlds of education and psychology by positing that rather than a single type of intelligence, we have several--most of which are neglected by standard testing and educational methods.
The Best Business Books Ever: The 100 Most Influential Management Books You'll Never Have Time To Read
by Basic BooksEvery manager could benefit from a solid grounding in the history and evolution of business thinking. The Best Business Books Everis a uniquely organized guide and an illuminating collection of key ideas from the 130 most influential business books of all time. It places both historical and contemporary works in context and draws fascinating parallels and points of connection. Now fully revised and more than 30 percent bigger, this one book highlights the information you need to know and why it's important to know it, and does it all in a succinct, time-saving fashion. Business moves faster than ever these days. For the businessperson who has a growing list of tomes that they can never quite seem to get to,The Best Business Books Everis a must-have.
Uncontrolled: The Surprising Payoff of Trial-and-Error for Business, Politics, and Society
by Jim ManziEntrepreneur and political commentator Jim Manzi argues for a radical new approach to our most pressing economic and social problems, using the scientific methodOCoand its controlled experiments and skeptical mindsetOCoto test what works in business and gover"
Cosmic Numbers: The Numbers That Define Our Universe
by James D. SteinStein (mathematics, California State U. ) recounts the stories of how famous mathematicians and physicists discovered numerical constants and equations that define the laws of physical science and astronomy. Appropriate for the general reader with a basic understanding of algebra, the 13 chapters explain the logic behind the speed of light, the ideal gas constant, absolute zero, Avogadro's number, the Planck constant, the Schwarzschild radius, and the Chandrasekhar limit. Annotation ©2011 Book News, Inc. , Portland, OR (booknews. com)