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1940: FDR, Willkie, Lindbergh, Hitler—the Election amid the Storm
by Susan DunnA history of the 1940 U.S. presidential election, when bitterly divided Americans debated the fate of the nation and the world. In 1940, against the explosive backdrop of the Nazi onslaught in Europe, two farsighted candidates for the U.S. presidency—Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt, running for an unprecedented third term, and talented Republican businessman Wendell Willkie—found themselves on the defensive against American isolationists and their charismatic spokesman Charles Lindbergh, who called for surrender to Hitler's demands. In this dramatic account of that turbulent and consequential election, historian Susan Dunn brings to life the debates, the high-powered players, and the dawning awareness of the Nazi threat as the presidential candidates engaged in their own battle for supremacy. 1940 not only explores the contest between FDR and Willkie but also examines the key preparations for war that went forward, even in the midst of that divisive election season. The book tells an inspiring story of the triumph of American democracy in a world reeling from fascist barbarism, and it offers a compelling alternative scenario to today&’s hyperpartisan political arena, where common ground seems unattainable. &“Anyone today who believes that U.S. involvement and the ultimate Allied triumph in World War II was inevitable must read this important history."—Michael Beschloss, New York Times bestselling author of Presidential Courage &“Susan Dunn, a prolific and outstanding historian, has crafted a fast-paced, serious, and extraordinarily well-researched book about the events surrounding the pivotal 1940 election. Her main characters…come brilliantly to life. I could hardly put the book down.&”—James T. Patterson, author of Bancroft Prize-winning Grand Expectations: The United States, 1945-1974
1941: The Year Germany Lost the War
by Andrew NagorskiBestselling historian Andrew Nagorski &“brings keen psychological insights into the world leaders involved&” (Booklist) during 1941, the critical year in World War II when Hitler&’s miscalculations and policy of terror propelled Churchill, FDR, and Stalin into a powerful new alliance that defeated Nazi Germany. In early 1941, Hitler&’s armies ruled most of Europe. Churchill&’s Britain was an isolated holdout against the Nazi tide, but German bombers were attacking its cities and German U-boats were attacking its ships. Stalin was observing the terms of the Nazi-Soviet Pact, and Roosevelt was vowing to keep the United States out of the war. Hitler was confident that his aim of total victory was within reach. But by the end of 1941, all that changed. Hitler had repeatedly gambled on escalation and lost: by invading the Soviet Union and committing a series of disastrous military blunders; by making mass murder and terror his weapons of choice, and by rushing to declare war on the United States after Japan&’s attack on Pearl Harbor. Britain emerged with two powerful new allies—Russia and the United States. By then, Germany was doomed to defeat. Nagorski illuminates the actions of the major characters of this pivotal year as never before. 1941: The Year Germany Lost the War is a stunning and &“entertaining&” (The Wall Street Journal) examination of unbridled megalomania versus determined leadership. It also reveals how 1941 set the Holocaust in motion, and presaged the postwar division of Europe, triggering the Cold War. 1941 was &“the year that shaped not only the conflict of the hour but the course of our lives—even now&” (New York Times bestselling author Jon Meacham).
1941: The Year That Keeps Returning
by Charles Simic Michael Gable Slavko GoldsteinA New York Review Books OriginalThe distinguished Croatian journalist and publisher Slavko Goldstein says, "Writing this book about my family, I have tried not to separate what happened to us from the fates of many other people and of an entire country." 1941: The Year That Keeps Returning is Goldstein's astonishing historical memoir of that fateful year--when the Ustasha, the pro-fascist nationalists, were brought to power in Croatia by the Nazi occupiers of Yugoslavia. On April 10, when the German troops marched into Zagreb, the Croatian capital, they were greeted as liberators by the Croats. Three days later, Ante Pavelić, the future leader of the Independent State of Croatia, returned from exile in Italy and Goldstein's father, the proprietor of a leftist bookstore in Karlovac--a beautiful old city fifty miles from the capital--was arrested along with other local Serbs, communists, and Yugoslav sympathizers. Goldstein was only thirteen years old, and he would never see his father again. More than fifty years later, Goldstein seeks to piece together the facts of his father's last days. The moving narrative threads stories of family, friends, and other ordinary people who lived through those dark times together with personal memories and an impressive depth of carefully researched historic details. The other central figure in Goldstein's heartrending tale is his mother--a strong, resourceful woman who understands how to act decisively in a time of terror in order to keep her family alive. From 1941 through 1945 some 32,000 Jews, 40,000 Gypsies, and 350,000 Serbs were slaughtered in Croatia. It is a period in history that is often forgotten, purged, or erased from the history books, which makes Goldstein's vivid, carefully balanced account so important for us today--for the same atrocities returned to Croatia and Bosnia in the 1990s. And yet Goldstein's story isn't confined by geographical boundaries as it speaks to the dangers and madness of ethnic hatred all over the world and the urgent need for mutual understanding.
1943: El fin de la Argentina liberal. El surgimiento del peronismo
by María Sáenz QuesadaHubo una Argentina sin peronismo. Hasta 1943. Este libro cuenta cómo era. Primer trabajo historiográficamente riguroso, narrativamente apasionante e interpretativamente iluminador sobre la Argentina apenas antes del surgimiento, consolidación y expansión del peronismo como fenómeno político de masas que cambiaría para siempre la historia del país. Muchos de los cambios que se dieron en los años 30, y cristalizaron en el golpe del 43, echaron raíces profundas en la cultura política de nuestro país y su remanente es visible todavía en comportamientos políticos, concepciones económicas, creencias sociales y aun la visión que se tiene de la Argentina en el mundo. Entonces se desmoronó una clase gobernante y el sistema vigente perdió validez víctima de sus propias lacras. Todo ocurrió en medio de un cataclismo mundial que impuso nuevos paradigmas, al tiempo que surgían otros liderazgos y se instalaba la idea de Estado benefactor. El año 1943, en que agonizó el régimen de los conservadores y un golpe militar anunció el advenimiento de una renovada Argentina, marca el fin de un periodo y el comienzo de otro enteramente nuevo. La importancia de la República Argentina antes de la guerra, su riqueza cultural y potencial económico, forman parte de la mirada retrospectiva de este trabajo que presenta por primera vez una óptica historiográficamente rigurosa, narrativamente apasionante e interpretativamente iluminadora sobre nuestro país apenas antes del surgimiento, consolidación y expansión del peronismo como fenómeno político de masas que cambiaría la historia para siempre.
1944
by Jay WinikNew York Times bestselling author Jay Winik brings to life in gripping detail the year 1944, which determined the outcome of World War II and put more pressure than any other on an ailing yet determined President Roosevelt.It was not inevitable that World War II would end as it did, or that it would even end well. 1944 was a year that could have stymied the Allies and cemented Hitler's waning power. Instead, it saved those democracies--but with a fateful cost. Now, in a superbly told story, Jay Winik, the acclaimed author of April 1865 and The Great Upheaval, captures the epic images and extraordinary history as never before. 1944 witnessed a series of titanic events: FDR at the pinnacle of his wartime leadership as well as his reelection, the planning of Operation Overlord with Churchill and Stalin, the unprecedented D-Day invasion, the liberation of Paris and the horrific Battle of the Bulge, and the tumultuous conferences that finally shaped the coming peace. But on the way, millions of more lives were still at stake as President Roosevelt was exposed to mounting evidence of the most grotesque crime in history, the Final Solution. Just as the Allies were landing in Normandy, the Nazis were accelerating the killing of millions of European Jews. Winik shows how escalating pressures fell on an all but dying Roosevelt, whose rapidly deteriorating health was a closely guarded secret. Here then, as with D-Day, was a momentous decision for the president. Was winning the war the best way to rescue the Jews? Was a rescue even possible? Or would it get in the way of defeating Hitler? In a year when even the most audacious undertakings were within the world's reach, including the liberation of Europe, one challenge--saving Europe's Jews--seemed to remain beyond Roosevelt's grasp. As he did so brilliantly in April 1865, Winik provides a stunningly fresh look at the twentieth century's most pivotal year. Magisterial, bold, and exquisitely rendered, 1944: FDR and the Year that Changed History is the first book to tell these events with such moral clarity and unprecedented sweep, and a moving appreciation of the extraordinary struggles of the era's outsized figures. 1944 is destined to take its place as one of the great works of World War II.
1947 Ke Zakhma: १९४७ के ज़ख्म
by Rajeev Shuklaवर्ष 1947 में भारत-विभाजन के सात दशक से अधिक बीत जाने पर भी इस पीड़ा से गुजरे लोगों का दिलो-दिमाग आज भी इस दुःख का बोझ उठाए हुए है। नक्शे पर स्याही के बस एक निशान ने एक देश को दो में बाँट दिया, जिसका प्रभाव न केवल एक पीढ़ी पर, बल्कि आने वाली कई पीढि़यों पर भी पड़ा। इससे मिले ज़ख़्म आज भी अंदर तक पीड़ा देते हैं। भारत और पाकिस्तान को बाँटने वाली खौफनाक रेडक्लिफ रेखा के दोनों तरफ के लोगों ने अकल्पनीय त्रासदियों को झेला। लाखों लोगों के विस्थापन के कारण घटी भयानक घटनाएँ इस दुस्वप्न को भोग चुके लोगों की यादों को हमेशा कचोटती रहेंगी। हाँ, बड़े पैमाने पर बरबादी के बावजूद सब खो देने और सबकुछ गँवा बैठने के बीच उत्साहित करने वाली मानवीयता, साहस और दृढ़-संकल्प की कुछ कहानियाँ भी हैं। ये ऐसे लोगों की कहानियाँ हैं, जो प्रधानमंत्री, राष्ट्रपति, उद्योगपति, चिकित्सा-शोधार्थी तथा और भी बहुत-कुछ बने। विभाजन के बाद के दशकों में परिवारों की शून्य से शुरुआत कर फिर से जीवन-निर्माण करने की ये कहानियाँ याद रखने योग्य एवं प्रेरणादायी हैं। इन कहानियों में मनमोहन सिंह और मोहम्मद अली जिन्ना से लेकर गौरी खान की नानी और अवतार नारायण गुजराल तक आते हैं। ‘1947 के ज़ख़्म’ बीते समय की यात्रा का रोमांचक और भावुकतापूर्ण संकलन है। वह अविस्मरणीय समय था, जो दोनों देशों पर हमेशा के लिए निशान छोड़ गया।
1948: A History Of The First Arab-israeli War
by Benny MorrisThis history of the foundational war in the Arab-Israeli conflict is groundbreaking, objective, and deeply revisionist. A riveting account of the military engagements, it also focuses on the war's political dimensions. Benny Morris probes the motives and aims of the protagonists on the basis of newly opened Israeli and Western documentation. The Arab side-where the archives are still closed-is illuminated with the help of intelligence and diplomatic materials. Morris stresses the jihadi character of the two-stage Arab assault on the Jewish community in Palestine. Throughout, he examines the dialectic between the war's military and political developments and highlights the military impetus in the creation of the refugee problem, which was a by-product of the disintegration of Palestinian Arab society. The book thoroughly investigates the role of the Great Powers-Britain, the United States, and the Soviet Union-in shaping the conflict and its tentative termination in 1949. Morris looks both at high politics and general staff decision-making processes and at the nitty-gritty of combat in the successive battles that resulted in the emergence of the State of Israel and the humiliation of the Arab world, a humiliation that underlies the continued Arab antagonism toward Israel.
1948: Harry Truman's Improbable Victory and the Year that Transformed America
by David PietruszaThe behind-the-headline true story of Harry Truman's stunning upset! Everyone knows the iconic news photo of jubilant underdog Harry Truman brandishing a copy of the Chicago Tribune proclaiming "DEWEY DEFEATS TRUMAN. " David Pietrusza goes backstage to explain how it happened, placing the brutal political battle in the context of an erupting Cold War and America's exploding storms over civil rights and domestic communism. Pietrusza achieves for 1948's presidential race what he previously did in his acclaimed 1960--LBJ vs. JFK vs. Nixon: bringing history to life and intrigue readers with tales of high drama while simultaneously presenting the issues, personalities, and controversies of this pivotal era with laser-like clarity.
1948: Harry Truman's Improbable Victory and the Year that Transformed America
by David PietruszaThe wild, combative inside story of the most stunning upset in the history of presidential elections—Harry Truman's victory over Tom Dewey: &“Outstanding.&”—Minneapolis Star-Tribune In this lively account, award-winning historian David Pietrusza unpacks the most ingloriously iconic headline in the history of presidential elections—DEWEY DEFEATS TRUMAN—to reveal the 1948 campaign's backstage events and recount the down-to-the-wire brawl fought against the background of an erupting Cold War, the Berlin Airlift, the birth of Israel, and a post-war America facing exploding storms over civil rights and domestic communism. &“Coherent, compelling…A skillful, authoritative investigation.&”—Kirkus Reviews &“A terrific book…a must-read.&”—Ron Faucheux, former editor-in-chief, Campaigns & Elections magazine &“Brilliantly portrays President Harry Truman's successful efforts to stave off the challenge of New York Gov. Tom Dewey, who was making a repeat bid as the Republican nominee.&”—David Mark, author of Going Dirty: The Art of Negative Campaigning &“Sweeping…compelling.&”—Library Journal &“Gripping detail.&”—The New York Journal of Books
1949 the First Israelis: The First Israelis
by Tom SegevRenowned historian Tom Segev strips away national myths to present a critical and clear-eyed chronicle of the year immediately following Israel’s foundation.“Required reading for all who want to understand the Arab-Israeli conflict…the best analysis…of the problems of trying to integrate so many people from such diverse cultures into one political body” (The New York Times Book Review). Historian and journalist Tom Segev stirred up controversy in Israel upon the first publication of 1949. It was a landmark book that told a different story of the country’s early years, one that wasn’t taught in schools or shown in popular culture. Rather than painting the idealized picture of the Israel’s founding in 1948, after the wreckage of the Holocaust, Segev reveals gritty underside behind the early years. The new country of Israel faced challenges on all sides. Day-to-day life was severe, marked by austerity and food shortages; Israeli society was fractured between traditional and secular camps; Jewish immigrants from Middle-Eastern countries faced discrimination and second-class treatment; and clashes between settlers and the Arabs would set the tone for relations for the following decades, hardening attitudes and creating a violent cycle of retaliation. Drawing on journal entries, letters, declassified government documents, and more, 1949 is a richly detailed look at the friction between the idealism of the Zionist movement and the cold realities of history. Decades after its publication in the United States, Segev’s groundbreaking book is still required reading for anyone who wants to understand Israel’s past and future.
1950s Canada: Politics and Public Affairs
by Nelson WisemanWhile the 1950s in Canada were years of social conformity, it was also a time of political, economic, and technological change. Against a background of growing prosperity, federal and provincial politics became increasingly competitive, intergovernmental relations became more contentious, and Canada’s presence in the world expanded. The life expectancy of Canadians increased as the social pathologies of poverty, crime, and racial, ethnic, and gender discrimination were in retreat. 1950s Canada illuminates the fault lines around which Canadian politics and public affairs have revolved. Chronicling the themes and events of Canadian politics and public affairs during the 1950s, Nelson Wiseman reviews social, economic, and cultural developments during each year of the decade, focusing on developments in federal politics, intergovernmental relations, provincial affairs, and Canada’s role in the world. The book examines Canada’s subordinate relationship first with Britain and then the United States, the interplay between Quebec’s distinct society and the rest of Canada, and the regional tensions between the inner Canada of Ontario and Quebec and the outer Canada of the Atlantic and western provinces. Through this record of major events in the politics of the decade, 1950s Canada sheds light on the rapid altering of the fabric of Canadian life.
1951 Exhibition of Architecture: Guide to the Exhibition of Architecture, Town Planning and Building Research (Studies in International Planning History)
by Harding McGregor DunnettThe Festival of Britain is perhaps best known for its South Bank Exhibition promoting British science and art to the post-war world, but one of the most important elements was the Architecture Exhibition, based in Poplar in East London. This exhibition was used to demonstrate the principles of modern town planning that had been laid out by Abercrombie, in particular in his County of London Plan. The project was named after George Lansbury, the Labour MP, London County Council (LCC) member and Poplar councillor. It was an effective demonstration of planning ideas adopted since the 1930s by influential planners, taking the village as a model and retaining the terraced house as a housing option among medium rise flats. Small squares and open spaces were favoured, with paved pedestrian spaces, all at lower than pre-war densities. The guide is revealing of the broader thinking in English planning in the mid century. It provides an opportunity for looking at conflicts among advocates of different planning ideas in the period of reconstruction and the move by architects to regain control of LCC housing from the Valuer’s Department. It offers the model of integrated professional specialisms that was seen as central to Modernism’s mission. It is also an opportunity to describe in more detail the interaction of different professions, including, for example, a sociologist, employed by the LCC in the creation of a model for reconstruction.
1960--LBJ vs. JFK vs. Nixon: The Epic Campaign That Forged Three Presidencies
by David PietruszaIt was the election that would ultimately give America "Camelot" and its tragic aftermath, a momentous contest when three giants who each would have a chance to shape the nation battled to win the presidency. Award-winning author David Pietrusza does here for the 1960 presidential race what he did in his previous book, 1920: the Year of the Six Presidents--which Kirkus Reviews selected as one of their Best Books of 2007. Until now, the most authoritative study of the 1960 election was Theodore White's Pulitzer Prize-winning The Making of the President, 1960. But White, as a trusted insider, didn't tell all. Here's the rest of the story, what White could never have known, nor revealed. Finally, it's all out--including JFK's poignant comment on why LBJ's nomination as vice president would be inconsequential: "I'm 43 years old. I'm not going to die in office. " Combining an engaging narrative with exhaustive research, Pietrusza chronicles the pivotal election of 1960, in which issues of civil rights and religion (Kennedy was only the second major-party Roman Catholic candidate ever) converged. The volatile primary clash between Senate Majority leader LBJ and the young JFK culminated in an improbable fusion ticket. The historic, legendary Kennedy-Nixon debates followed in its wake. The first presidential televised debates, they forever altered American politics when an exhausted Nixon was unkempt and tentative in their first showdown. With 80 million viewers passing judgment, Nixon's poll numbers dropped as the charismatic Kennedy's star rose. Nixon learned his lesson--resting before subsequent debates, reluctantly wearing makeup, and challenging JFK with a more aggressive stance--but the damage was done. There's no one better to convey the drama of that tumultuous year than Pietrusza. He has 1,000 secrets to spill; a fascinating cast of characters to introduce (including a rogue's gallery of hangers-on and manipulators); and towering historical events to chronicle. And all of it is built on painstaking research and solid historical scholarship. Pietrusza tracks down every lead to create a winning, engaging, and very readable account. With the 2008 elections approaching, politics will be on everyone's mind, and 1960: LBJ vs. JFK vs. Nixon will transform the way readers see modern American history. A sampling of what Theodore White couldn't chronicle--and David Pietrusza does: · Richard Nixon's tempestuous Iowa backseat blowup, and his bizarre Election Day road trip · The full story of a sympathetic call from JFK to Coretta Scott King · John Ehrlichman's spy missions on the Nelson Rockefeller and Democratic camps · The warnings before Election Day that Chicago's mayor Daley would try to fix the race's outcome · JFK's amphetamine-fueled debate performance
1960: The Epic Campaign that Forged Three Presidencies
by David Pietrusza&“1960 aims to take us deeper into the campaign than Theodore White&’s famous The Making of the President, 1960. And it does.&”—Chicago Sun-Times This is award-winning historian David Pietrusza's hard-edged account of the 1960 presidential campaign, the election that ultimately gave America &“Camelot&” and its tragic aftermath. It is the story of the bare-knuckle politics of the primaries; the party conventions' backroom dealings; the unprecedented television debates; the hot-button issues of race, religion, and foreign policy—and, at the center of it all, three future presidents: Lyndon Johnson, John F. Kennedy, and Richard Nixon. &“Terrific.&” —Robert A. Caro, winner of two Pulitzer Prizes and the National Book Award &“A stirring, hard-edged political saga… An outstanding reexamination.&”—Booklist "1960 provides new insights into that year's hard-fought, pivotal election, but, more than that, 1960 is great storytelling—a fascinating, can&’t-put-it-down account of how American politics really works.&”—former United States Attorney General Richard Thornburgh &“Essential for understanding the political forces that in many ways shaped the world we live in today.&” —David Mark, author of Going Dirty: The Art of Negative Campaigning
1960Now: Photographs of Civil Rights Activists and Black Lives Matter Protests
by Sheila Pree BrightA “powerful photo collection” documenting the Black Lives Matter movement and its parallels to the historic fight for civil rights (Publishers Weekly).The fight for equality continues, from 1960 to now. Combining portraits of past and present social justice activists with documentary images from recent protests throughout the United States, #1960Now sheds light on the parallels between the 1960s Civil Rights Movement and the Black Lives Matter movement of today. Shelia Pree Bright’s striking black-and-white photographs capture the courage and conviction of ‘60s leaders and a new generation of activists, offering a powerful reminder that the fight for justice is far from over. #1960Now represents an important new contribution to American protest photography.“Visually arresting . . . activism photography shot across the U.S., from Ferguson, Missouri, to Atlanta to Philadelphia.” —Essence“While millions of cellphone photos are generated each day—some forceful testaments to racial violence and injustice—few possess the grace and quiet lyricism of her images.” —The New York Times Lens blog
1962 Border War: Sino-Indian Territorial Disputes and Beyond
by Ismail Vengasseri1962 Border War: Sino-Indian Territorial Disputes and Beyond studies the historical antecedents of the origin and developments of the border dispute between the two Asian giants—India and China. It investigates why these newborn republics, despite their close ties in the international politics, chose a path of a large-scale military encounter in the winter of 1962. This book uses the classified Henderson Brooks-Bhagat Report and the CIA Staff Study Report to answer this question. The book debates how far internal bureaucratic hurdles, political intrigues and partisan interest in New Delhi have factored against Nehru’s China Policy. Further, this study reveals the impact of Cold War politics, CIA operations on the frontiers and the US strategy of projecting the Tibet factor on these two nations. The key significance of this study is that it reveals the historical factors behind the Sino-Indian frequent and ongoing skirmishes along the border.
1964, A Year in African American Performance History (ISSN)
by David KrasnerThis book examines the Civil Rights Movement from the perspective of a single year, 1964.The book analyses specific events that occurred in 1964 as benchmarks of the Civil Right Movement, making the case that 1964 was a watershed year. Each chapter considers individually politics, rhetoric, sports, dramatic literature, film, art, and music, breaking down the events and illustrating their importance to the social and political life in the United States in 1964. This study emphasizes 1964 as a nodal point in the history of the Civil Rights Movement, arguing that it was within this single year that the tide against racism and injustice turned markedly.This book will be of great interest to the scholars and students of civil rights, theatre and performance, art history, and drama literature.
1966: De Illia a Onganía. El preludio de la argentina violenta
by María Sáenz Quesada1966 es el año del golpe que derroca a Illia y hiere de muerte a la democracia en la Argentina. Al mismo tiempo condensa las contradicciones de una época en la que, en medio de una ebullición cultural inédita y un cambiante clima de ideas, se presagia la violencia política que ensangrentará los años setenta. El clima de desdén cívico en que se gesta y produce el golpe militar que el 28 de junio de 1966 destituye al presidente Arturo Umberto Illia es apenas uno de los emergentes del acelerado deterioro que venía experimentando la relación de la sociedad argentina con la política en general y con la democracia en particular. Pero 1966 es mucho más que ese golpe de Estado que hiere de muerte a las instituciones y contribuye a crear las condiciones de posibilidad de la creciente naturalización de la violencia política que opera como preludio de la sangrienta dictadura que se instalará en el poder diez años después. En efecto, 1966 es también un nudo histórico de contradicciones en el que se cruzan la pugna interna del sindicalismo peronista, la intervención de las universidades, el impacto del Concilio Vaticano II y la Conferencia Tricontinental de La Habana, la efervescencia cultural del Di Tella y la diplomacia en torno de Malvinas. Tras el éxito de 1943, María Sáenz Quesada vuelve a un año bisagra de la historia argentina que, al recordar el valor de la democracia como único escenario capaz de aportar al bien común y realizar el bienestar general, le habla, como pocos, al presente.
1968: Radical Protest and Its Enemies
by Richard VinenA major new history of one of the seminal years in the postwar world, when rebellion and disaffection broke out on an extraordinary scale.The year 1968 saw an extraordinary range of protests across much of the western world. Some of these were genuinely revolutionary—around ten million French workers went on strike and the whole state teetered on the brink of collapse. Others were more easily contained, but had profound longer-term implications—terrorist groups, feminist collectives, gay rights activists could all trace important roots to 1968.1968 is a striking and original attempt half a century later to show how these events, which in some ways still seem so current, stemmed from histories and societies which are in practice now extraordinarily remote from our own time. 1968 pursues the story into the 1970s to show both the ever more violent forms of radicalization that stemmed from 1968 and the brutal reaction that brought the era to an end.
1971
by Srinath RaghavanThe war of 1971 was the most significant geopolitical event in the Indian subcontinent since its partition in 1947. At one swoop, it led to the creation of Bangladesh, and it tilted the balance of power between India and Pakistan steeply in favor of India. The Line of Control in Kashmir, the nuclearization of India and Pakistan, the conflicts in Siachen Glacier and Kargil, the insurgency in Kashmir, the political travails of Bangladesh--all can be traced back to the intense nine months in 1971. Against the grain of received wisdom, Srinath Raghavan contends that far from being a predestined event, the creation of Bangladesh was the product of conjuncture and contingency, choice and chance. The breakup of Pakistan and the emergence of Bangladesh can be understood only in a wider international context of the period: decolonization, the Cold War, and incipient globalization. In a narrative populated by the likes of Nixon, Kissinger, Zhou Enlai, Indira Gandhi, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Tariq Ali, George Harrison, Ravi Shankar, and Bob Dylan, Raghavan vividly portrays the stellar international cast that shaped the origins and outcome of the Bangladesh crisis. This strikingly original history uses the example of 1971 to open a window to the nature of international humanitarian crises, their management, and their unintended outcomes.
1974: A Personal History
by Francine Prose“In this remarkable memoir, the qualities that have long distinguished Francine Prose’s fiction and criticism—uncompromising intelligence, a gratifying aversion to sentiment, the citrus bite of irony—give rigor and, finally, an unexpected poignancy to an emotional, artistic, and political coming-of-age tale set in the 1970s—the decade, as she memorably puts it, when American youth realized that the changes that seemed possible in the ’60s weren’t going to happen. A fascinating and ultimately wrenching book.”—Daniel Mendelsohn, author of The Lost: A Search for Six of Six MillionThe first memoir from critically acclaimed, bestselling author Francine Prose, about the close relationship she developed with activist Anthony Russo, one of the men who leaked the Pentagon Papers--and the year when our country changed.During her twenties, Francine Prose lived in San Francisco, where she began an intense and strange relationship with Tony Russo, who had been indicted and tried for working with Daniel Ellsberg to leak the Pentagon papers. The narrative is framed around the nights she spent with Russo driving manically around San Francisco, listening to his stories--and the disturbing and dramatic end of that relationship in New York.What happens to them mirrors the events and preoccupations of that historical moment: the Vietnam war, drugs, women's liberation, the Patty Hearst kidnapping. At once heartfelt and ironic, funny and sad, personal and political, 1974 provides an insightful look at how Francine Prose became a writer and artist during a time when the country, too, was shaping its identity.
1979: The Year That Shaped The Modern Middle East
by David W. LeschThe Israeli-Palestinian peace process, the continuing US-Iraqi confrontation, the changing political dynamics in Iran, recent Pakistani-Indian hostilities and Osama bin Laden-all of these have one important common denominator: Significant strands of their origins can be traced to the tumultuous year of 1979. This text offers a new paradigm for stud
1981 - Diario
by Patrick LoiseauIl 1981 fu un anno importante. Importante per me, perché ancora una volta mi liberavo dalle catene dimettendomi dal mio impiego e scrivendo, per mia figlia, che sarebbe nata di lì a poco, o perlomeno così speravo. Anche la Francia tentava di liberarsi dalle sue catene, o almeno la Francia popolare, quella che lavoro e si alza presto. In entrambi i casi, per me e i lavoratori, la posta in gioco era una scommessa sul futuro, la cui parola libertà non era il minimo dei concetti. Scommessa rischiosa. Per quanto mi riguarda, la scommessa era vinta in anticipo; da un lato perché sapevo che questo bambino sarebbe nato anche solo per onorare il papà-gallina rivoluzionario in moto che ero, d'altra parte perché all'inizio non avevo molta illusione su cosa sarebbe stato un governo di collaborazioni di classe..
1983: Reagan, Andropov, and a World on the Brink
by Taylor DowningA riveting, real-life thriller about 1983--the year tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union nearly brought the world to the point of nuclear ArmageddonThe year 1983 was an extremely dangerous one--more dangerous than 1962, the year of the Cuban Missile Crisis. In the United States, President Reagan vastly increased defense spending, described the Soviet Union as an "evil empire," and launched the "Star Wars" Strategic Defense Initiative to shield the country from incoming missiles. Seeing all this, Yuri Andropov, the paranoid Soviet leader, became convinced that the US really meant to attack the Soviet Union and he put the KGB on high alert, looking for signs of an imminent nuclear attack.When a Soviet plane shot down a Korean civilian jet, Reagan described it as "a crime against humanity." And Moscow grew increasingly concerned about America's language and behavior. Would they attack? The temperature rose fast. In November the West launched a wargame exercise, codenamed "Abel Archer," that looked to the Soviets like the real thing. With Andropov's finger inching ever closer to the nuclear button, the world was truly on the brink.This is an extraordinary and largely unknown Cold War story of spies and double agents, of missiles being readied, intelligence failures, misunderstandings, and the panic of world leaders. With access to hundreds of astonishing new documents, Taylor Downing tells for the first time the gripping but true story of how near the world came to nuclear war in 1983.
1983: The World at the Brink
by Taylor Downing'A carefully researched and hugely readable account of the build-up to war, the momentum inexorably growing as he assembles each part of the jigsaw. Indeed, his narrative is so persuasive that by the time you are about two- thirds through, it takes some effort to remind yourself that the Third World War never happened' Dominic Sandbrook, Sunday Times1983 was a supremely dangerous year - even more dangerous than 1962, the year of the Cuban Missile Crisis. In the US, President Reagan massively increased defence spending, described the Soviet Union as an 'evil empire' and announced his 'Star Wars' programme, calling for a shield in space to defend the US from incoming missiles.Yuri Andropov, the paranoid Soviet leader, saw all this as signs of American aggression and convinced himself that the US really meant to attack the Soviet Union. He put the KGB on alert to look for signs of an imminent nuclear attack. When a Soviet fighter jet shot down Korean Air Lines flight KAL 007 after straying off course over a sensitive Soviet military area, President Reagan described it as a 'terrorist act' and 'a crime against humanity'. The temperature was rising fast.Then at the height of the tension, NATO began a war game called Able Archer 83. In this exercise, NATO requested permission to use the codes to launch nuclear weapons. The nervous Soviets convinced themselves this was no exercise but the real thing.This is an extraordinary and largely unknown Cold War story of spies and double agents, of missiles being readied, of intelligence failures, misunderstandings and the panic of world leaders. With access to hundreds of extraordinary new documents just released in the US, Taylor Downing is able to tell for the first time the gripping but true story of how near the world came to the brink of nuclear war in 1983. 1983: The World at the Brink is a real-life thriller.