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Thinking Through Communication
by Sarah TrenholmPraised for its teachability, Thinking Through Communication provides an excellent, balanced introduction to basic theories and principles of communication, making sense of a complex field through a variety of approaches. In an organized and coherent manner, Thinking Through Communication covers a full range of topics- from the history of communication study to the methods used by current communication scholars to understand human interaction. The text explores communication in a variety of traditional contexts: interpersonal, group, organizational, public, intercultural, computer-mediated communication and the mass media. This edition also offers new insights into public speaking and listening. This text can be used successfully in both theory- and skills-based courses. Written in a clear, lively style, Trenholm's overall approach-including her use of examples and interesting illustrations-helps both majors and non-majors alike develop a better understanding of communication as a field of study and an appreciation for ways in which communication impacts their daily lives.
Thinking Through Communication: An Introduction to the Study of Human Communication (Mycommunicationkit Ser.)
by Sarah TrenholmNow in its eighth edition, Thinking Through Communication provides a balanced introduction to the fundamental theories and principles of communication. It explores communication in a variety of contexts—from interpersonal to group to mass media—and can be used in both theoryand skills-based courses. With a dynamic approach, Trenholm helps students to develop a better understanding of communication as a field of study, as well as its practical applications. This edition devotes attention to how new technologies are changing the ways we think about communication, with revised chapters on both traditional and social media.
Thinking Through Communication: An Introduction to the Study of Human Communication
by Sarah TrenholmThe ninth edition of this textbook for hybrid introductory communication courses provides a balanced introduction to the fundamental theories and principles of communication. The book explores communication in a variety of contexts—including interpersonal, group, organizational, and mass media—and provides students the theoretical knowledge and the research and critical thinking skills they’ll need to succeed in advanced communication courses and professions. The first section explores the history of communication study and explains basic perspectives used by scholars in the field. The second looks at how communicators decode and encode messages, while the third examines channels and contexts, from interpersonal to mass media. This edition devotes attention to how new technologies are changing the ways we think about communication, with revised and updated examples, and gives special attention to relevant critical theory. Two appendices give users the flexibility to tailor their courses to the interests and needs of their students, offering guidelines for preparing and presenting public presentations and giving examples of major research methods. Thinking Through Communication is an ideal textbook for Introduction to Communication courses that aim to provide a comprehensive overview of the field. A companion website for instructors containing PowerPoint slides, test questions, and an instructor’s manual is available at https://routledgetextbooks.com/textbooks/9780367857011.
Thinking with Your Hands: The Surprising Science Behind How Gestures Shape Our Thoughts
by Susan Goldin-MeadowAn astounding account of how gesture, long overlooked, is essential to how we learn and interact, which &“changes the way you think about yourself and the people around you.&” (Ethan Kross, bestselling author of Chatter) We all know people who talk with their hands—but do they know what they&’re saying with them? Our gestures can reveal and contradict us, and express thoughts we may not even know we&’re thinking. In Thinking with Your Hands, esteemed cognitive psychologist Susan Goldin-Meadow argues that gesture is vital to how we think, learn, and communicate. She shows us, for instance, how the height of our gestures can reveal unconscious bias, or how the shape of a student&’s gestures can track their mastery of a new concept—even when they&’re still giving wrong answers. She compels us to rethink everything from how we set child development milestones, to what&’s admissible in a court of law, to whether Zoom is an adequate substitute for in-person conversation. Sweeping and ambitious, Thinking with Your Hands promises to transform the way we think about language and communication.
Third Culture Kids: Growing Up Among Worlds
by David C. Pollock Ruth E. VanrekenA Nicholas Brealey Publishing bestseller! Third culture kids (TCK)—children of expatriates, missionaries, military personnel, and others who live outside their passport country—have unique issues with personal development and identity. David C. Pollock and Ruth E. Van Reken bring to light the emotional and psychological realities that come with the TCK journey.
Third Generation Internet Revealed: Reinventing Computer Networks with IPv6
by Lawrence E. HughesThis book covers the inexorable exhaustion of the IPv4 address space, the interim fix to this based on Network Address Translation (NAT) and Private Addresses, and the differences between IPv4 and IPv6. It will help you understand the limitations and problems introduced by the use of NAT and introduce you to the far simpler network and software designs possible, using a larger, unified address space.IPv6, a mature and viable replacement for IPv4, is currently used by more than 36% of all global Internet traffic. Wireless telephone service providers in many countries have migrated their networks to IPv6 with great success. The elimination of NAT and Private Addresses has vastly simplified network design and implementation. Further, there are now enough public addresses allocated to accommodate all anticipated uses for the foreseeable future. Most networking products and software, especially open-source software, are already fully IPv6 compliant. Today, no business should purchase obsolete products that support only IPv4. The global IPv6 Forum estimates that there are millions of networking professionals still needing to learn the fundamentals of IPv6 technologies to move forward. This book is for them. With plans in place for a shutdown of IPv4 on global networks (“Sunset IPv4”) the time to learn is now. If you want a job in IT, especially network hardware or software, and you don’t know IPv6, you are already obsolete. What You Will Learn This book serves as a guide to all relevant Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) standards Request for Comments (RFCs), organized by topic and discussed in plain language Understand how IPv6 makes viable technologies such as multicast (for efficient global audio/video streaming), IPsec VPNs (for better security), and simpler VoIP Take “edge computing” to the limit by eliminating intermediary servers made necessary by IPv4 NAT–for example, making connections directly from my node to yours Discover how organizations can introduce IPv6 into existing IPv4 networks (“Dual Stack”), and then eliminate the legacy IPv4 aspects going forward (“Pure IPv6”) for the mandates going into place now (for example, US DoD requirements to move all networks to Pure IPv6)Recognize that 5G networking (the Grand Convergence of conventional networks and wireless service) depends heavily on the advanced features IPv6 Who This Book Is ForNetworking professionals. Readers should have at least some familiarity with the precursor protocol (IPv4) and legacy TCP/IP based networks. Some knowledge of network models, such as DoD four-layer model or OSI 7-layer model, is helpful to understand where the Internet Protocol fits into the larger picture. For network software developers using the Sockets API (in UNIX, Windows, etc.), this book will help you to understand the extensions to that API needed to work with IPv6.
The Third Harmony: Nonviolence and the New Story of Human Nature
by Michael N Nagler , Ph.D.In the latest fruit of a brilliant career, Michael Nagler argues that nonviolence—not just as a tactic but as a way of being—is the only way to unite deeply divided people and enable progressive movements and leaders of all stripes to fulfil their promise and potential.So many of the problems that beset us—war, poverty, isolation, and the climate crisis—have their roots in an old story about the universe: we are purposeless matter in a random void, and scarcity, competition, and violence are inevitable. Citing the convergence of modern science and the essence of the world's wisdom traditions, Michael Nagler argues for a new story: the universe is conscious and purposeful, humans are spiritual beings, and cooperation and collaboration are our natural way of interacting. This "new story" has had other champions, but Nagler is the first to realize that a piece is missing. For the new story to take hold, we have to embrace nonviolence, not only as a social change tactic but as a way of life. Nonviolence is the only power strong enough to "move the heart" toward this deep and revolutionary change in worldview. Nagler refers to this as the "third harmony," which is the harmony within and among us to resolve the crisis of the human image. Calling on us to realize the urgency of nonviolence for resolving our personal and collective problems, Nagler focuses on how to shift to our story on a personal, everyday level and then integrate it into the very foundations of our understanding of humanity and community, for our sake, for the sake of future generations, and the sake of nonviolence itself.
Third International Congress on Information and Communication Technology: ICICT 2018, London (Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing #797)
by Xin-She Yang Simon Sherratt Nilanjan Dey Amit JoshiThe book includes selected high-quality research papers presented at the Third International Congress on Information and Communication Technology held at Brunel University, London on February 27–28, 2018. It discusses emerging topics pertaining to information and communication technology (ICT) for managerial applications, e-governance, e-agriculture, e-education and computing technologies, the Internet of Things (IOT), and e-mining. Written by experts and researchers working on ICT, the book is suitable for new researchers involved in advanced studies.
The Third Perspective: Brave Expression in the Age of Intolerance
by Africa BrookeAMAZON BEST BOOK OF MAY 2024 In our deeply divided, binary world, honest discussion is stressful for all sides. International thought leader Africa Brooke says there is another way: the Third Perspective. In this manifesto, Africa teaches us how to return to critical thinking and reduce societal divides by opening our minds and being more self-questioning in difficult discussions. This book will help you figure out what you truly believe—as opposed to parroting or having knee-jerk reactions in conversation. You&’ll learn to share your views, hear theirs, make a point you feel must be made, and try to find common ground without self-censorship or self-sabotage. This personal guide helps readers move away from rigid thinking, allowing them to enter any potentially difficult discussion about politics, work, personal responsibility, race, sex, gender, religion — whatever the subject — while maintaining integrity, authenticity, and openness, and successfully expressing opinions while listening to contrary points of view. Africa has built a successful business coaching an exclusive roster of high-profile clients seeking to handle themselves in the public eye. The tools offered in The Third Perspective have been honed over years of that experience: hers is a proven system that works. She offers readers a new path for communication, and because communication is everything, critical to building trust and fruitful relationships, a life transforming experience. Africa Brooke&’s framework has three pillars—Awareness, Responsibility, and Expression—that ask: what is stopping you from speaking your mind, what do you stand for, what are you willing to risk?
The Third Space and Chinese Language Pedagogy: Negotiating Intentions and Expectations in Another Culture
by Xin Zhang; Xiaobin JianThe Third Space and Chinese Language Pedagogy presents the Third Space as a new frame through which foreign language pedagogy is conceptualized as a pedagogy of negotiating intentions and expectations in another culture. The field of Chinese as a foreign language (CFL) in the past decades has been expanding rapidly at the beginning and intermediate levels, yet it is lacking in scholarship on the true advanced level both in theory building and research-supported curriculum and material development. This book argues that it is time for CFL to go beyond merely satisfying the desire of gazing at the other, whether it is curiosity about the other or superiority over the other, to focusing on learning to work with the other. It reimagines the field as co-constructing a transcultural Third Space where learners are becoming experts in negotiating intentions and expectations in another culture. It presents a range of research-based CFL pedagogical scholarship and practices especially relevant to the advanced level and to the goal of enabling learners to go past fans or critics to become actors/players in the game of cross-lingual and intercultural cooperation.
This Brilliant Darkness: A Book Of Strangers
by Jeff Sharlet“A luminous, moving and visual record of fleeting moments of connection.” —New York Times Book Review, Editors’ Choice A visionary work of radical empathy. Known for immersion journalism that is more immersed than most people are willing to go, and for a prose style that is somehow both fierce and soulful, Jeff Sharlet dives deep into the darkness around us and awaiting us. This work began when his father had a heart attack; two years later, Jeff, still in his forties, had a heart attack of his own. In the grip of writerly self-doubt, Jeff turned to images, taking snapshots and posting them on Instagram, writing short, true stories that bloomed into documentary. During those two years, he spent a lot of time on the road: meeting strangers working night shifts as he drove through the mountains to see his father; exploring the life and death of Charley Keunang, a once-aspiring actor shot by the police on LA’s Skid Row; documenting gay pride amidst the violent homophobia of Putin’s Russia; passing time with homeless teen addicts in Dublin; and accompanying a lonely woman, whose only friend was a houseplant, on shopping trips. Early readers have called this book “incantatory,” the voice “prophetic,” in “James Agee’s tradition of looking at the reality of American lives.” Defined by insomnia and late-night driving and the companionship of other darkness-dwellers—night bakers and last-call drinkers, frightened people and frightening people, the homeless, the lost (or merely disoriented), and other people on the margins—This Brilliant Darkness erases the boundaries between author, subject, and reader to ask: how do people live with suffering?
This Business of Publishing: An Insider's View Of Current Trends And Tactics
by Richard CurtisThis Business of Publishing has been hailed by literary agent Michael Larsen as &“must reading for writers, agents and anyone else who cares about the future of publishing.&” It reveals the unique perspective of Richard Curtis, former president of the Association of Authors&’ Representatives. He provides the aspiring author with the benefit of over thirty years of lessons learned in the publishing industry, including: the damage caused to the publishing industry by the archaic practice of selling books on consignment; the changing nature of the wholesale business and how it affects authors, editors, and agents; the way that large corporate mergers of publishing companies have brought about the disenfranchisement of authors and editors; and the electronic media revolution and the opportunities it offers, as well as the pitfalls. Curtis talks about the &“blockbuster mentality&” that currently dominates publisher thinking, leading to increased dependence on a few overpaid authors with big-name market status. This is an engaging and thoroughly readable guidebook to one of the most rapidly changing industries in America. It is an essential reference work for anyone hoping to understand or function in the publishing world.
This Hill, This Valley: A Memoir
by Hal BorlandA memoir of a year immersed in nature on a New England farm, by the national bestselling author of The Dog Who Came to Stay. After a nearly fatal bout of appendicitis, Hal Borland decided to leave the city behind and move with his wife to a farmhouse in rural Connecticut. Their new home on one hundred acres inspired Borland to return to nature. In this masterpiece of American nature writing, he describes such wonders as the peace of a sky full of stars, the breathless beauty of blossoming plants, the way rain swishes as it hits a river, and the invigorating renewal brought by the changing seasons. The delights of nature as Borland observes them seem boundless, and his sense of awe is contagious.
This Is Not My Beautiful Life: A Memoir
by Victoria FeddenONE OF PUBLISHERS WEEKLY'S TEN MOST ANTICIPATED MEMOIRS OF THE SEASONIF YOU THINK IT SUCKS TO LIVE WITH YOUR PARENTS WHEN YOU’RE THIRTY-SIX AND NINE MONTHS PREGNANT, JUST WAIT TILL THE DEA COMES KNOCKING (WITH THE IRS IN TOW): WELCOME TO VICTORIA FEDDEN’S LIFE.When a squad of federal agents burst through her parents’ front door, Victoria Fedden felt ill-prepared to meet them: She was weeks away from her due date and her T-shirt wasn’t long enough to hide her maternity undies. As for the question of how to raise a child when you’ve just discovered that your mother and stepfather have allegedly masterminded a pump-and-dump scheme? She was pretty sure that wasn’t covered in What to Expect When You’re Expecting—and she really hoped that Bradford Cohen, the noted criminal defense attorney who famously waived his exemption on The Apprentice, would prove them innocent.This Is Not My Beautiful Life is the story of how Victoria lost her parents to prison and nearly lost her mind. No one ever said motherhood would be easy, but as she struggles to change diapers, install car seats, and find the right drop-off line at pre-school—no easy task, when each one is named for a stage in the lifecycle of a f*cking butterfly—she’s also forced to ask herself whether a jump-suit might actually complement her mom’s platinum-blonde extensions and fend off the cast of shady, stranger-than-fiction characters (like the recovering addict who scored a reality show when he started an escort service for women) who populated her parents’ world.A real-life Arrested Development that could only unfold in southern Florida, This Is Not My Beautiful Life is a hilariously funny and unexpectedly moving memoir of a just-functional family you’ll never forget.
This Is Not Propaganda: Adventures in the War Against Reality
by Peter PomerantsevWhen information is a weapon, every opinion is an act of war.We live in a world of influence operations run amok, where dark ads, psyops, hacks, bots, soft facts, ISIS, Putin, trolls, and Trump seek to shape our very reality. In this surreal atmosphere created to disorient us and undermine our sense of truth, we've lost not only our grip on peace and democracy--but our very notion of what those words even mean.Peter Pomerantsev takes us to the front lines of the disinformation age, where he meets Twitter revolutionaries and pop-up populists, "behavioral change" salesmen, Jihadi fanboys, Identitarians, truth cops, and many others. Forty years after his dissident parents were pursued by the KGB, Pomerantsev finds the Kremlin re-emerging as a great propaganda power. His research takes him back to Russia--but the answers he finds there are not what he expected.
This Is PR: The Realities of Public Relations
by Doug Newsom Judy Turk Dean KruckebergIdeal for the beginning student or the experienced public relations practitioner, THIS IS PR: THE REALITIES OF PUBLIC RELATIONS, Eleventh Edition, covers the world of public relations with a strong emphasis on fundamentals such as history and research, as well as emerging issues such as technology, ethics, and the international aspects. With numerous examples, strategies, tactics, and case studies, you'll have resources you can take away from the classroom.
This Is What a Librarian Looks Like: A Celebration of Libraries, Communities, and Access to Information
by Kyle CassidyIn 2014, author and photographer Kyle Cassidy published a photo essay on Slate.com called "This is What A Librarian Looks Like," a montage of portraits and a tribute to librarians. Since then, Cassidy has made it his mission to remind us of how essential librarians and libraries are to our communities. His subjects are men and women of all ages, backgrounds, and personal style-from pink hair and leather jackets to button-downs and blazers. In short, not necessarily what one thinks a librarian looks like. The nearly 220 librarians photographed also share their personal thoughts on what it means to be a librarian. This is What A Librarian Looks Like also includes original essay by some of our most beloved writers, journalists, and commentators including Neil Gaiman, George R.R. Martin, Nancy Pearl, Cory Doctorow, Paula Poundstone, Amanda Palmer, Peter Sagal, Jeff VanderMeer, John Scalzi, Sara Farizan, Amy Dickinson, and others. Cassidy also profiles a handful of especially influential librarians and libraries.
This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things
by Whitney PhillipsInternet trolls live to upset as many people as possible, using all the technical and psychological tools at their disposal. They gleefully whip the media into a frenzy over a fake teen drug crisis; they post offensive messages on Facebook memorial pages, traumatizing grief-stricken friends and family; they use unabashedly racist language and images. They take pleasure in ruining a complete stranger's day and find amusement in their victim's anguish. In short, trolling is the obstacle to a kinder, gentler Internet. To quote a famous Internet meme, trolling is why we can't have nice things online. Or at least that's what we have been led to believe. In this provocative book, Whitney Phillips argues that trolling, widely condemned as obscene and deviant, actually fits comfortably within the contemporary media landscape. Trolling may be obscene, but, Phillips argues, it isn't all that deviant. Trolls' actions are born of and fueled by culturally sanctioned impulses -- which are just as damaging as the trolls' most disruptive behaviors. Phillips describes, for example, the relationship between trolling and sensationalist corporate media -- pointing out that for trolls, exploitation is a leisure activity; for media, it's a business strategy. She shows how trolls, "the grimacing poster children for a socially networked world," align with social media. And she documents how trolls, in addition to parroting media tropes, also offer a grotesque pantomime of dominant cultural tropes, including gendered notions of dominance and success and an ideology of entitlement. We don't just have a trolling problem, Phillips argues; we have a culture problem. This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things isn't only about trolls; it's about a culture in which trolls thrive.
This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things: Mapping the Relationship between Online Trolling and Mainstream Culture (The\mit Press Ser.)
by Whitney PhillipsWhy the troll problem is actually a culture problem: how online trolling fits comfortably within today's media landscape.Internet trolls live to upset as many people as possible, using all the technical and psychological tools at their disposal. They gleefully whip the media into a frenzy over a fake teen drug crisis; they post offensive messages on Facebook memorial pages, traumatizing grief-stricken friends and family; they use unabashedly racist language and images. They take pleasure in ruining a complete stranger's day and find amusement in their victim's anguish. In short, trolling is the obstacle to a kinder, gentler Internet. To quote a famous Internet meme, trolling is why we can't have nice things online. Or at least that's what we have been led to believe. In this provocative book, Whitney Phillips argues that trolling, widely condemned as obscene and deviant, actually fits comfortably within the contemporary media landscape. Trolling may be obscene, but, Phillips argues, it isn't all that deviant. Trolls' actions are born of and fueled by culturally sanctioned impulses—which are just as damaging as the trolls' most disruptive behaviors. Phillips describes, for example, the relationship between trolling and sensationalist corporate media—pointing out that for trolls, exploitation is a leisure activity; for media, it's a business strategy. She shows how trolls, “the grimacing poster children for a socially networked world,” align with social media. And she documents how trolls, in addition to parroting media tropes, also offer a grotesque pantomime of dominant cultural tropes, including gendered notions of dominance and success and an ideology of entitlement. We don't just have a trolling problem, Phillips argues; we have a culture problem. This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things isn't only about trolls; it's about a culture in which trolls thrive.
This Just In: What I couldn't Tell You On TV
by Bob SchiefferFrom Publishers Weekly It might not have occurred to anyone to clamor for longtime CBS reporter Schieffer's memoir, but now that it's in print, it makes for a highly engaging read. He's seen it all and has much wisdom about journalism and governance to impart. The book spans virtually every important domestic story of the past 40-odd years; among his captivating subjects are the 1962 integration of the University of Alabama, JFK's assassination, Vietnam, Nixon-era peace protests and Watergate. The book's emphasis changes subtly from events to personalities when Schieffer takes over Face the Nation. As the subtitle suggests, Schieffer wisely forgoes rehashing familiar tales like Watergate or the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal in favor of revealing the background action that went unreported at the time. He structures the book as a collection of anecdotes, and, unsurprisingly for such a seasoned pro, Schieffer has a sharp eye for intriguing details and an instinct for maintaining the proper focus on his subjects rather than on himself. When he does get personal, he admirably questions his occasional missteps in balancing family and career. The telling is so unfussy, modest and straightforward that it rarely prompts speculation about the juicy bits that he couldn't write in a book. Indeed, the work succeeds not only as America over the past 40 years.
This Program Is Brought to You By...
by Joshua A. BraunJournalism, television, cable, and online media are all evolving rapidly. At the nexus of these volatile industries is a growing group of individuals and firms whose job it is to develop and maintain online distribution channels for television news programming. Their work, and the tensions surrounding it, provide a fulcrum from which to pry analytically at some of the largest shifts within our media landscape. Based on fieldwork and interviews with different teams and organizations within MSNBC, this multi-disciplinary work is unique in its focus on distribution, which is rapidly becoming as central as production, to media work.
This Was CNN: How Sex, Lies, and Spies Undid the World's Worst News Network
by Kent Heckenlively Cary PoarchA CNN insider reveals what he saw behind the scenes at the cable news giant and the investigation that revealed even more shocking secrets.Cary Poarch started working at CNN in the summer of 2017 as a die-hard Bernie Sanders supporter. But on his first location shoot during the Charlottesville riots, he quickly became disillusioned with how the network created the &“fine people&” hoax. This began a political odyssey as he documented numerous incidents of outright bias, eventually leading him to contact James O&’Keefe of Project Veritas. For months, Cary Poarch documented CNN&’s rampant political bias for Project Veritas, and saw how the network was dividing the country. When the story was released by Project Veritas, it was seen by millions. This book continues his investigation and uncovers even more shocking information about the behavior of network personnel, CNN&’s ties to the Biden White House, CNN&’s creation of a terrifying digital warfare capacity, and the possible penetration of CNN by our own intelligence agencies. Cary partnered with two time New York Times bestselling author, Kent Heckenlively, and together they uncovered even more shocking secrets about &“the most trusted name in news.
Thought-Based Linguistics: How Languages Turn Thoughts into Sounds
by Wallace ChafeThe extent to which language is inseparable from thought has long been a major subject of debate across linguistics, psychology, philosophy, and other disciplines. In this study, Wallace Chafe presents a thought-based theory of language that goes beyond traditional views that semantics, syntax, and sounds are sufficient to account for language design. Language begins with thoughts in the mind of a speaker and ends by affecting thoughts in the mind of a listener. This obvious observation is seldom incorporated in descriptions of language design for two major reasons. First, the role of thought is usually usurped by semantics. But semantic structures are imposed on thought by languages and differ from one language to another. Second, thought does not lend itself to familiar methods of linguistic analysis. Chafe suggests ways of describing thoughts, traces the path languages follow from thoughts to sounds, and explores ways in which thoughts are oriented in time, memory, imagination, reality, and emotions.
A Thread Across the Ocean: The Heroic Story of the Transatlantic Cable
by John Steele GordonToday, in a world in which news flashes around the globe in an instant, time lags are inconceivable. In the mid-nineteenth century, however, they were a fact of life. The United States was remote from Europe, the center of world affairs, and communication was only as quick as the fastest ship could cross the Atlantic. Instant contact seemed as unlikely then as walking on the moon did in the 1950s. The Civil War had barely ended, however, when the Old and New Worlds had been united by the successful laying of a telegraph cable that spanned the Atlantic in 1866. A Thread Across the Ocean chronicles this extraordinary achievement, one of the greatest engineering feats of that century--and perhaps of all time. It was an epic struggle, requiring a decade of effort, numerous failed attempts, millions of dollars in capital, a near disaster at sea, the overcoming of seemingly insurmountable technological problems (many of them entirely unforeseen before work commenced), and uncommon physical, financial, and intellectual courage. In the end. it literally changed the world. The cable was the brainchild and consuming passion of American businessman Cyrus Field, who was only thirty-three when he first conceived the cable project and set out to raise the necessary capital. It attracted a range of luminaries from the start, among them William Thomson (Lord Kelvin), the greatest applied physicist of the century and scientific adviser to the project, and the great English engineer. Isambard Kingdom Brunei, whose ship, the Great Eastern--five times the size of any ship afloat at the time--carried the entire cable on the final attempt in 1866. None of them, however, could have imagined the tribulations they would face. Thirty-four years after the cable was laid, the "American century" began. While the cable did not make this inevitable, it did make it possible. By bringing to life a dramatic and overlooked story in the annals of history and technology, John Steele Gordon sheds fascinating new light on the American saga.
Three Dangerous Men: Russia, China, Iran And The Rise Of Irregular Warfare
by Seth G. JonesHow three key figures in Moscow, Beijing, and Tehran built ruthless irregular warfare campaigns that are eroding American power. In Three Dangerous Men, defense expert Seth Jones argues that the US is woefully unprepared for the future of global competition. While America has focused on building fighter jets, missiles, and conventional warfighting capabilities, its three principal rivals—Russia, Iran, and China—have increasingly adopted irregular warfare: cyber attacks, the use of proxy forces, propaganda, espionage, and disinformation to undermine American power. Jones profiles three pioneers of irregular warfare in Moscow, Beijing, and Tehran who adapted American techniques and made huge gains without waging traditional warfare: Russian Chief of Staff Valery Gerasimov; the deceased Iranian Major General Qassem Soleimani; and vice chairman of China’s Central Military Commission Zhang Youxia. Each has spent his career studying American power and devised techniques to avoid a conventional or nuclear war with the US. Gerasimov helped oversee a resurgence of Russian irregular warfare, which included attempts to undermine the 2016 and 2020 US presidential elections and the SolarWinds cyber attack. Soleimani was so effective in expanding Iranian power in the Middle East that Washington targeted him for assassination. Zhang Youxia presents the most alarming challenge because China has more power and potential at its disposal. Drawing on interviews with dozens of US military, diplomatic, and intelligence officials, as well as hundreds of documents translated from Russian, Farsi, and Mandarin, Jones shows how America’s rivals have bloodied its reputation and seized territory worldwide. Instead of standing up to autocratic regimes, Jones demonstrates that the United States has largely abandoned the kind of information, special operations, intelligence, and economic and diplomatic action that helped win the Cold War. In a powerful conclusion, Jones details the key steps the United States must take to alter how it thinks about—and engages in—competition before it is too late.