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Dr. Beach's Survival Guide: What You Need to Know about Sharks, Rip Currents, and More Before Going in the Water
by Stephen P. LeathermanHere, from the nation's most renowned beach expert, is the first complete guide to beach safety. Stephen P. Leatherman (a. k. a. Dr. Beach) introduces the gamut of beach hazards - from sharks to rip currents to jellyfish - revealing which dangers should be of greatest concern and how best to minimize their risks. His scientifically sound advice, interspersed with fascinating facts and anecdotes, makes this book a perfect reference for the millions of travelers and vacationers who visit the ocean shore every year. --BOOK JACKET. Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved
The Yale Guide to Women's Reproductive Health: From Menarche to Menopause
by Mary Jane Minkin Carol V. WrightThis book is for every woman who has wished for an unhurried, personal conversation with a sympathetic doctor who will answer her questions about reproductive health. With warmth and understanding, the authors respond to questions about the gynecological issues that concern women today.
The Voices of Morebath: Reformation and Rebellion in an English Village
by Eamon DuffyThis is a book about a sixteenth-century country priest, and the extraordinary records he kept. It deals with ordinary people in an unimportant place, whose claim to fame is that they lived through the most decisive revolution in English history, and had a priest who wrote everything down.
The Reader of Gentlemen's Mail: Herbert O. Yardley and American Intelligence
by David KahnOne of the most colorful and controversial figures in American intelligence, Herbert O. Yardley (1889-1958) gave America its best form of information, but his fame rests more on his indiscretions than on his achievements. In this highly readable biography, a premier historian of military intelligence tells Yardley's story and evaluates his impact on the American intelligence community.
The Red Millionaire: A Political Biography of Willi Münzenberg, Moscow's Secret Propaganda Tsar in the West, 1917-1940
by Sean McmeekinWilly Münzenberg--an Old Bolshevik who was also a self-promoting tycoon--became one of the most influential Communist operatives in Europe between the World Wars. He created a variety of front groups that recruited well-known political and cultural figures to work on behalf of the Soviet Union and its causes, and he ran an international media empire that churned out enormous amounts of propaganda and raised money for Communist concerns. Sean McMeekin tells Münzenberg's extraordinary story, arguing persuasively that his financial chicanery and cynical propaganda efforts weakened the non-Communist left, enraged the right, and helped feed a cycle that culminated in Nazism. Drawing extensively on recently opened Moscow archives, McMeekin describes how Münzenberg parlayed his friendship with Lenin into a personal fortune and how Münzenberg's mysterious financial manipulations outraged Social Democrats and lent rhetorical ammunition to the Nazis. His book sheds new light on Comintern finances, propaganda strategy, the use of front organizations to infiltrate non-Communist circles, and the breakdown of democracy in the Weimar Republic. It is also an engrossing tale of a Communist con man whose name once aroused fear, loathing, and admiration around the world.
Russia's Dangerous Texts: Politics between the Lines
by Kathleen F. ParthéRussia's Dangerous Texts examines the ways that writers and their works unnerved and irritated Russia's authoritarian rulers both before and after the Revolution. Kathleen F. Parthé identifies ten historically powerful beliefs about literature and politics in Russia, which include a view of the artistic text as national territory, and the belief that writers must avoid all contact with the state. Parthé offers a compelling analysis of the power of Russian literature to shape national identity despite sustained efforts to silence authors deemed subversive. No amount of repression could prevent the production, distribution, and discussion of texts outside official channels. Along with tragic stories of lost manuscripts and persecuted writers, there is ample evidence of an unbroken thread of political discourse through art. The book concludes with a consideration of the impact of two centuries of dangerous texts on post-Soviet Russia.
The Two Reformations: The Journey from the Last Days to the New World
by Heiko A. Oberman Donald WeinsteinIn this last collection of his vital, controversial, and accessible writings, Oberman seeks to liberate and broaden our understanding of the European Reformation, from its origins in medieval philosophy and theology through the Puritan settlers who brought Calvin's vision to the New World. Ranging over many topics, he finds fascinating connections between aspects of the Reformation and twentieth-century history and thought--most notably the connection to Nazism and the Holocaust.
Same, Different, Equal: Rethinking Single-sex Schooling
by Rosemary C. SalomoneIn this timely book, Salomone offers a reasoned educational and legal argument supporting single-sex education as an alternative to coeducation, particularly in the case of disadvantaged minority students.
Darkness at Dawn: The Rise of the Russian Criminal State
by David SatterThis book tells the story of reform in Russia through the real experiences of individual citizens. Describing in detail the birth of a new era of repression, David Satter analyzes the changes that have swept Russia and their effect on Russia's age-old way of thinking. Through the stories of people at all levels of Russian society, Satter shows the contrast during the reform period between the desperation of the many and the insatiability of the few. With insights derived from more than twenty years of writing and reporting on Russia, he considers why the individual human being there has historically counted for so little. And he offers an illuminating analysis of how Russia's post-Soviet fate was decided when a new morality failed to fill the vast moral vacuum that communism left in its wake. --BOOK JACKET. Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Prokofiev--A Biography: From Russia to the West, 1891-1935
by David NiceSince 1991--the year that marked both the fall of the Soviet Union and the centenary of Sergey Prokofiev's birth--a new assessment of the life and work of this remarkable and often elusive composer has become both possible and necessary. For this definitive study David Nice has drawn on an unprecedented range of new archival material, manuscripts of works previously unexamined and interviews. This book follows Prokofiev's personal and musical journey from his childhood on a Ukrainian country estate to the years he spent travelling in America and Europe as an acclaimed interpreter of his own works. Nice sheds new light on the striking compositions of Prokofiev's early years, his training at the St. Petersburg Conservatory and the circumstances of his departure from Russia in 1918 for what the composer thought would be a short tour of America. Through letters and documents, a thorough picture is also presented of his marriage and family relationships. Nice re-evaluates the music of Prokofiev's years in the west and traces his unique approach to new melodic thinking from the early works through the more complicated music of the early 1930s and on to the fresh simplicity of his early Soviet scores. He also examines the complex reasons that led Prokofiev to move his family to the Soviet Union in 1936. For coverage of the Soviet years until his death in 1953, see the book "The People's Artist" by Simon Morrison. David Nice is a writer, broadcaster and lecturer on music. He has taught at Goldsmiths College and lectures at Birkbeck College, the University of London, at Morley College and the City Literary Institute. A regular contributor to BBC Radio 3, he produces his own opera channel for Music Choice Europe. He writes for the Guardian and other British newspapers, and reviews on a monthly basis for the BBC Music Magazine. His previous books include short studies of Elgar, Richard Strauss, Tchaikovsky and the history of opera, and he contributed the chapter on Russian conductors for The Cambridge Companion to Conducting.
The Literature of Ancient Egypt: An Anthology of Stories, Instructions, Stelae, Autobiographies, and Poetry
by William Kelley Simpson Robert K. Ritner Vincent A. Tobin Jr. Edward WenteThe latest edition of this highly praised anthology of ancient Egyptian literature offers fresh translations of all the texts as well as some twenty-five new entries, including writings from the late literature of the Demotic period at the end of classical Egyptian history. Praise for the earlier editions: “An elegant, easily readable, and most serviceable volume.”—K. A. Kitchen, Journal of Near Eastern Studies “A reliable rendering of the Egyptian text that can be useful to students of Egyptology and provide the layman with delightful reading material.”—Mordechai Gilula, Cultura
The Beecher Sisters
by Barbara Anne WhiteThe Beecher sisters--Catharine, Harriet, and Isabell A&M were three of the most prominent women in nineteenth-century America. Daughters of the famous evangelist Lyman Beecher, they could not follow their father and seven brothers into the ministry. Nonetheless, they carved out pathbreaking careers for themselves. Catharine Beecher founded the Hartford Female Seminary and devoted her life to improving women's education. Harriet Beecher Stowe became world famous as the author of Uncle Tom's Cabin. Isabella Beecher Hooker was an outspoken advocate for women's rights. This engrossing book is a joint biography of the sisters, whose lives spanned the full course of the nineteenth century. The life of Isabella Beecher--who has never been the subject of a biography--is examined in particular detail here. Drawing on little used sources, Barbara White explores Isabella's political development and her interactions with her sisters and with prominent people of the time--from Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton,to Mark Twain.
School Choice and the Question of Accountability: The Milwaukee Experience
by Emily Van Dunk Anneliese DickmanThis timely book refocuses the debate about school choice programs with a nonpartisan assessment of the nation's largest and longest-running private school voucher program--the high profile Milwaukee experiment--and finds that the system undercuts the promise of school choice. The authors argue that the Milwaukee experiment has not resulted in the one element necessary for school choice to be effective: an accountability system in which good schools thrive and poor schools close. They show that most ingredients of a robust market are missing. Well-informed consumers (parents) are not the norm. State fiscal incentives are counterproductive, and competition among public and choice schools is difficult to discern. They conclude that school choice could succeed if certain conditions were met, and they offer guidelines to strengthen accountability and repair the voucher system.
Sleeping Beauty, A Legend in Progress
by Tim SchollIn 1999 the Maryinsky (formerly Kirov) Ballet and Theater in St. Petersburg re-created its 1890 production of Sleeping Beauty. The revival showed the classic work in its original sets and costumes and restored pantomime and choreography that had been eliminated over the past century. Nevertheless, the work proved unexpectedly controversial, with many Russian dance professionals and historians denouncing it. In order to understand how a historically informed performance could be ridiculed by those responsible for writing the history of Russian and Soviet ballet, Tim Scholl discusses the tradition, ideology, and popular legend that have shaped the development of Sleeping Beauty. " "Drawing on a wide range of sources, most of which have never appeared in English, Scholl describes the artistic controversies surrounding the early production and the debates it fostered about the future of dance during the formative years of the Soviet Union. He shows that the 1999 revival brought to the surface a collision of imperial, Soviet, and official, and popular histories that mirrored many of the rifts felt more generally in post-Soviet society. A fascinating slice of cultural history, the book will appeal not only to dance historians but also to those interested in the arts and cultural policies of the Soviet and post-Soviet periods.
Knowledge of Things Human and Divine: Vico's New Science and Finnegans Wake
by Donald Phillip VereneThis book takes the reader through the career and works of Giambattista Vico (1668-1744) from a new viewpoint. Two major figures introduced Vico to the twentieth century -- Benedetto Croce and James Joyce. From the mid-twentieth century on there was a growing desire to free Vico from the philosophical idealism of Croce, who in the early part of the century had presented Vico as the Italian Hegel.
Fixing Intelligence: For a More Secure America
by William E. OdomBasing his text in large part on a study he authored in 1997, published by the National Institute of Public Policy, Odom (a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute and a former director of the National Security Agency) considers recommendations for the reform of American intelligence activities and organization. Among his suggestions are granting more intelligence oversight authority over all the diverse intelligence organizations to the Director of Central Intelligence; eliminating CIA obstructionism in expanding military intelligence capabilities; recognizing the need to have national managers for the separate disciplines of signals, imagery, and human intelligence; and taking counterintelligence activities out from under the provenance of the law enforcement agencies. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc. , Portland, OR (booknews. com)
Reflections on the Revolution in France
by Edmund Burke Frank M. TurnerThis new and up-to-date edition of a book that has been central to political philosophy, history, and revolutionary thought for two hundred years offers readers a dire warning of the consequences that follow the mismanagement of change. Written for a generation presented with challenges of terrible proportions--the Industrial, American, and French Revolutions, to name the most obvious--Burke's Reflections of the Revolution in France displays an acute awareness of how high political stakes can be, as well as a keen ability to set contemporary problems within a wider context of political theory.
Gouverneur Morris: An Independent Life
by William Howard AdamsThis book is about one of the most original, engaging, and controversial personalities among the architects of the early republic. Part of Morris's irresistible appeal is his playful, questioning mind. Of greater consequence is his unsurpassed capacity for confident, rational thinking combined with a passion for justice and order, which he applied to the organization of the American experiment in government. Yet his stature has dwindled to passing references by historians. The last full biography was written by the young Theodore Roosevelt in 1887.
Intelligence of Apes and Other Rational Beings
by Duane M. Rumbaugh David A. WashburnDuane M. Rumbaugh and David A. Washburn show that learning by apes--and even by animals usually considered to have little or no intelligence-- can illuminate our own processes of cognition. That humans and other animals have much in common is only the point of departure for the authors' portrayal of the richness of learning, perception, and communication skills across the animal kingdom. Relying on their own research as well as that of colleagues and others in the field, they provide a comprehensive overview of both theoretical and empirical advances with regard to cognition, perception, emotion, and behavior in both humans and animals.
The Murder of Mr. Grebell: Madness and Civility in an English Town
by Paul Kleber MonodThis is the story of a violent murder that happened in 1743 in a town on the south coast of England. No mystery surrounds the identity of the killer, but his motives have never been clear.
Hermeneutics As Politics (Second Edition)
by Stanley Rosen Robert B. PippinA critique of postmodern thought, reissued in a special 15th anniversary edition. In a new foreword, Robert Pippin argues that the book has rightfully achieved the status of a classic. Rosen illuminates the underpinnings of postmodernist thought, providing valuable insight as he pursues two arguments: first, that postmodernism, which regards itself as an attack upon the Enlightenment, is in fact merely a continuation of Enlightenment thought; and second, that the extraordinary contemporary emphasis upon hermeneutics is the latest consequence of the triumph of history over mathematics and science.
Famous Americans
by Loren GoodmanThe imagery of poetry has been marked at times by a vital tension between basic convention and the unexpected. The polar relation between them began to produce radically new effects during the nineteenth century in France, with the precursors of surrealism and the ironies of the poems of Tristan Corbière, and then in the twentieth century with the beginning of the age of modernism.
Trade Secrets: Intellectual Piracy and the Origins of American Industrial Power
by Doron S. Ben-AtarDuring the first decades of America's existence as a nation, private citizens, voluntary associations, and government officials encouraged the smuggling of European inventions and artisans to the New World. At the same time, the young republic was developing policies that set new standards for protecting industrial innovations. This book traces the evolution of America's contradictory approach to intellectual property rights from the colonial period to the age of Jackson. During the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries Britain shared technological innovations selectively with its American colonies. It became less willing to do so once America's fledgling industries grew more competitive. After the Revolution, the leaders of the republic supported the piracy of European technology in order to promote the economic strength and political independence of the new nation. By the middle of the nineteenth century, the United States became a leader among industrializing nations and a major exporter of technology. It erased from national memory its years of piracy and became the world's foremost advocate of international laws regulating intellectual property.
The Modern Prince: What Leaders Need to Know Now
by Carnes LordIn this penetrating work, an eminent political scientist offers a provocative treatise on the requirements of leadership in the modern world.
On Deaf Ears: The Limits of the Bully Pulpit
by George C. EdwardsAmerican presidents often engage in intensive campaigns to obtain public support for their policy initiatives. This core strategy for governing is based on the premise that if presidents are skilled enough to exploit the "bully pulpit," they can successfully persuade or even mobilize public opinion on behalf of their legislative goals. In this book, George Edwards analyzes the results of hundreds of public opinion polls from recent presidencies to assess the success of these efforts. Surprisingly, he finds that presidents typically are not able to change public opinion; even great communicators usually fail to obtain the public's support for their high-priority initiatives. Focusing on presidents' personae, their messages, and the American public, he explains why presidents are often unable to move public opinion and suggests that their efforts to do so may be counterproductive. Edwards argues that shoring up previously existing support is the principal benefit of going public and that "staying private"--negotiating quietly with elites-may often be more conducive to a president's legislative success.