- Table View
- List View
A Torch Against the Night (An Ember in the Ashes #2)
by Sabaa TahirTHE #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLEROne of Time Magazine&’s 100 Best Fantasy Books of All Time Book two in the New York Times bestselling seriesA USA Today bestsellerA Wall Street Journal bestseller&“Spectacular.&”—Entertainment Weekly&“Fresh and exciting...Tahir has shown a remarkable talent for penning complex villains.&”—A.V. Club"Even higher stakes than its predecessor… thrilling." —Publishers Weekly, starred review&“[An] action-packed, breathlessly paced story.&” —Booklist, starred reviewSet in a rich, high-fantasy world inspired by ancient Rome, Sabaa Tahir's AN EMBER IN THE ASHES told the story of Laia, a slave fighting for her family, and Elias, a young soldier fighting for his freedom. Now, in A TORCH AGAINST THE NIGHT, Elias and Laia are running for their lives.After the events of the Fourth Trial, Martial soldiers hunt the two fugitives as they flee the city of Serra and undertake a perilous journey through the heart of the Empire. Laia is determined to break into Kauf—the Empire&’s most secure and dangerous prison—to save her brother, who is the key to the Scholars' survival. And Elias is determined to help Laia succeed, even if it means giving up his last chance at freedom. But dark forces, human and otherworldly, work against Laia and Elias. The pair must fight every step of the way to outsmart their enemies: the bloodthirsty Emperor Marcus, the merciless Commandant, the sadistic Warden of Kauf, and, most heartbreaking of all, Helene—Elias&’s former friend and the Empire&’s newest Blood Shrike. Bound to Marcus's will, Helene faces a torturous mission of her own—one that might destroy her: find the traitor Elias Veturius and the Scholar slave who helped him escape...and kill them both.
A Tragedy of Democracy: Japanese Confinement in North America
by Greg RobinsonThe confinement of some 120,000 Japanese Americans during World War II, often called the Japanese American internment, has been described as the worst official civil rights violation of modern U. S. history. Greg Robinson not only offers a bold new understanding of these events but also studies them within a larger time frame and from a transnational perspective. Drawing on newly discovered material, Robinson provides a backstory of confinement that reveals for the first time the extent of the American government's surveillance of Japanese communities in the years leading up to war and the construction of what officials termed "concentration camps" for enemy aliens. He also considers the aftermath of confinement, including the place of Japanese Americans in postwar civil rights struggles, the long movement by former camp inmates for redress, and the continuing role of the camps as touchstones for nationwide commemoration and debate. Most remarkably, A Tragedy of Democracy is the first book to analyze official policy toward West Coast Japanese Americans within a North American context. Robinson studies confinement on the mainland alongside events in wartime Hawaii, where fears of Japanese Americans justified Army dictatorship, suspension of the Constitution, and the imposition of military tribunals. He similarly reads the treatment of Japanese Americans against Canada's confinement of 22,000 citizens and residents of Japanese ancestry from British Columbia. A Tragedy of Democracy recounts the expulsion of almost 5,000 Japanese from Mexico's Pacific Coast and the poignant story of the Japanese Latin Americans who were kidnapped from their homes and interned in the United States. Approaching Japanese confinement as a continental and international phenomenon, Robinson offers a truly kaleidoscopic understanding of its genesis and outcomes. The confinement of some 120,000 Japanese Americans during World War II, often called the Japanese American internment, has been described as the worst official civil rights violation of modern U. S. history. Greg Robinson not only offers a bold new understanding of these events but also studies them within a larger time frame and from a transnational perspective. Drawing on newly discovered material, Robinson provides a backstory of confinement that reveals for the first time the extent of the American government's surveillance of Japanese communities in the years leading up to war and the construction of what officials termed "concentration camps" for enemy aliens. He also considers the aftermath of confinement, including the place of Japanese Americans in postwar civil rights struggles, the long movement by former camp inmates for redress, and the continuing role of the camps as touchstones for nationwide commemoration and debate. Most remarkably, A Tragedy of Democracy is the first book to analyze official policy toward West Coast Japanese Americans within a North American context. Robinson studies confinement on the mainland alongside events in wartime Hawaii, where fears of Japanese Americans justified Army dictatorship, suspension of the Constitution, and the imposition of military tribunals. He similarly reads the treatment of Japanese Americans against Canada's confinement of 22,000 citizens and residents of Japanese ancestry from British Columbia. A Tragedy of Democracy recounts the expulsion of almost 5,000 Japanese from Mexico's Pacific Coast and the poignant story of the Japanese Latin Americans who were kidnapped from their homes and interned in the United States. Approaching Japanese confinement as a continental and international phenomenon, Robinson offers a truly kaleidoscopic understanding of its genesis and outcomes.
A Tragic Legacy: How a Good vs. Evil Mentality Destroyed the Bush Presidency
by Glenn GreenwaldWhat will be the legacy of President George Walker Bush? In this fascinating, timely book, Glenn Greenwald examines the Bush presidency and its long-term effect on the nation. What began on shaky, uncertain ground and was bolstered and propelled by tragedy, has ultimately faltered and failed on the back of the dichotomous worldview--good versus evil--that once served it so well. In A Tragic Legacy, Greenwald charts the rise and steep fall of the current administration, dissecting the rhetoric and revealing the faulty ideals upon which George W. Bush built his policies. On September 12, 2001, President Bush addressed the nation and presented a very clear view of what was to come--a view that can be said to define his entire presidency: "This will be a monumental struggle of good versus evil. " Based on his own Christian faith and backed by biblical allusions, Bush's worldview was basic and binary--and everyone was forced to choose a side. Riding high on public support, Bush sailed through the early "War on Terror," easily defining our enemies and clearly setting an agenda for defeating them. But once the war became murkier--its target unclear, its combatants no longer seen in black-and-white--support for Bush and his policies dropped precipitously. Glenn Greenwald brilliantly reveals the reasons behind the collapse of Bush's power and approval, and argues that his greatest weakness is the same rhetoric that once propelled him so far forward. Facing issues that could not be turned into simple good versus evil choices--the disaster of Hurricane Katrina, his plans for Social Security "reform," and, most ironic, the failed Dubai ports deal--Bush faltered and fell. Now, Greenwald argues, Bush is trapped by his own choices, unable to break out of the mold that once served him so well, and indifferent to the consequences. A Tragic Legacy is the first true character study of one of the most controversial men ever to hold the office of president. Enlightening, powerful, and eye-opening, this is an in-depth look at the man whose incapability and cowboy logic have left America at risk. From the Hardcover edition.
A Train of Powder
by Rebecca WestA New York Times bestseller, this riveting account of the Nuremberg trials by a legendary journalist is simply &“astonishing&” (Francine Prose). Sent to cover the war crimes trials at Nuremberg for the New Yorker, Rebecca West brought along her inimitable skills for understanding a place and its people. In these accomplished articles, West captures the world that sprung up to process the Nazi leaders; from the city&’s war-torn structures to the courtroom security measures, no detail is left out. West&’s unparalleled grasp on human motivations and character offers particular insight into the judges, prosecutors, and of course the defendants themselves. This remarkable narrative captures the social and political ramifications of a world recovering from the divisions of war. As engaging as it is informative, this collection represents West&’s finest hour as a reporter.
A Traitor's Heart: A Times 'Best New Thriller 2022' (A\revol Rossel Thriller Ser.)
by Ben CreedA Times 'Best New Thriller' for May 2022 'Enthralling ... Sharp dialogue and flashes of dry wit' Financial Times 'Ben Creed has a genuine gift for conjuring up Stalin's Leningrad in all its beauty and misery' The Times 'A cleverly constructed thriller' Sunday Times 'A fantastically tense atmosphere ... A spine-tingling page-turner' The Sun ___________Leningrad, winter 1952. An invisible killer known as Koshchei – a nightmare of Slavic folklore – stalks the streets, leaving a distinctive and gruesome mark upon its victims.Three thousand kilometres away in a Gulag labour colony, threatened by the vicious criminals who rule the camp and tormented by the Arctic cold, former militia lieutenant Revol Rossel is close to death.But then a brutal saviour descends from the skies: the state security interrogator who years ago ruined his life is back, tasking Rossel with tracking down the murderer.As the hunt continues, the two men uncover riddle after riddle, including a clue to finding a weapon of unimaginable power – a weapon the Kremlin's scheming plotters will kill for...
A Transatlantic History of Haitian Vodou: Rasin Figuier, Rasin Bwa Kayiman, and the Rada and Gede Rites
by Benjamin HebblethwaiteConnecting four centuries of political, social, and religious history with fieldwork and language documentation, A Transatlantic History of Haitian Vodou analyzes Haitian Vodou’s African origins, transmission to Saint-Domingue, and promulgation through song in contemporary Haiti.Split into two sections, the African chapters focus on history, economics, and culture in Dahomey, Allada, and Hueda while scrutinizing the role of Europeans in fomenting tensions. The political, military, and slave trading histories of the kingdoms in the Bight of Benin reveal the circumstances of enslavement, including the geographies, ethnicities, languages, and cultures of enslavers and enslaved. The study of the spirits, rituals, structure, and music of the region’s religions sheds light on important sources for Haitian Vodou. Having royal, public, and private expressions, Vodun spirit-based traditions served as cultural systems that supported or contested power and enslavement. At once suppliers and victims of the European slave trade, the people of Dahomey, Allada, and Hueda deeply shaped the emergence of Haiti’s creolized culture. The Haitian chapters focus on Vodou’s Rada Rite (from Allada) and Gede Rite (from Abomey) through the songs of Rasin Figuier’s Vodou Lakay and Rasin Bwa Kayiman’s Guede, legendary rasin compact discs released on Jean Altidor’s Miami label, Mass Konpa Records. All the Vodou songs on the discs are analyzed with a method dubbed “Vodou hermeneutics” that harnesses history, religious studies, linguistics, literary criticism, and ethnomusicology in order to advance a scholarly approach to Vodou songs.
A Transdisciplinary Study of Addiction: A New Framework for Drug Policy Reform (Explorations in Mental Health)
by Francisco Blancarte JaberUsing novel, bioethical framing alongside critical and comprehensive analysis of harm reduction approaches, this cutting-edge book addresses the multifaceted and transdisciplinary issue of drug addiction in society, exploring how addiction can be conceptualized from various disciplinary perspectives for positive policy outcomes.The book discusses the philosophical concepts of agency and action within addiction, and how this can support the foundations needed to identify the most effective and ethical harm reduction strategies within policy frameworks. Foregrounding the implications for this notion of agency, chapters trace the evolution of the concept of addiction through the centuries and examine contemporary understandings from neuroscience, philosophy, bioethics, and policy analysis. Comparative, case study analysis is conducted to contrast local, empirically based models for drug policy in the United Kingdom alongside external models based on international treaties, which dictate a top-down approach to drug penalization.Offering a research-based and theoretically informed framework for effective harm reduction strategies and policies, this book will be of interest to scholars, researchers, and postgraduate students in the fields of addiction studies, bioethics, and mental health policy more broadly. Policymakers working in addictions and substance use may also find the book relevant.
A Transdisciplinary Study of Global Mobilities: Identities on the Move
by Eduardo Tasis Moratinos Ti-Han Chang Alícia Moreno GiménezIdentities on the Move interrogates the categories given and adopted by people on the move through a transdisciplinary and global approach that includes social and political sciences and the arts. It brings together experiences of displacement from a variety of cultural and national backgrounds, including Brazilians, Chinese, Koreans, South Italians, Africans, Muslims, Arabophobe migrants, Iranians, Pakistanis, Bosnians, Latin Americans and Eastern Europeans. It looks at their identity-negotiating processes in different geographies across the globe, namely Japan, UK, Palestine, Italy, Australia, Europe and North America. This multi-geographical and multi-disciplinary approach allows us to decentralise previous narratives of migration by reformulating them against coloniality and invisibility and presenting them within a richer and changing contemporary map of dynamic identities. The global scale of the case studies included in this volume also allows for a wider exploration of thematic concepts within the (trans)formation of displaced identities, such as assimilation versus alienation, memory and trauma, stigmatisation, enculturation, acculturation and deculturation. In a nutshell, this volume highlights current complexities of identity formation in a global scene that is moving away from homogenous nations by presenting a multi-layered and multi-spatial notion of belonging.
A Transformation Gap?
by Theo Farrell Terriff Terry Osinga FransThis study, edited by Terriff (American security policy, U. of Calgary, Canada), Osinga (war studies, Royal Netherlands Military Academy) and Farrell (war studies, King's College London, UK), examines the extent to which there are gaps in the military transformation being led by the United States between various European members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Case studies are presented for Britain, France, Germany, Spain, the Netherlands, and Poland. The case studies follow a common analytical framework that breaks transformation down into network-enablement, effects based operations, and expeditionary warfare and, for each of these, in terms of their respective technological, doctrinal, and organizational elements. These elements are further considered in light of the scholarly literature on military innovation, norm diffusion, and alliance theory. Stanford Security Studies is an imprint of Stanford University Press. Annotation ©2011 Book News, Inc. , Portland, OR (booknews. com)
A Transition to Sustainable Housing: Progress and Prospects for a Low Carbon Housing Future
by Trivess Moore Andréanne DoyonThis open access book explores the environmental, social, and financial challenges of housing provision, and the urgent need for a sustainable housing transition. The authors explore how market failures have impacted the scaling up of sustainable housing and the various policy attempts to address this. Going beyond an environmental focus, the book explores a range of housing-related challenges including social justice and equity issues. Sustainability transitions theory is presented as a framework to help facilitate a sustainable housing transition and a range of contemporary case studies are explored on issues including high performing housing, small housing, shared housing, neighbourhood-scale housing, circular housing, and innovative financing for housing. It is an important new resource that challenges policy makers, planners, housing construction industry stakeholders, and researchers to rethink what housing is, how we design and construct it, and how we can better integrate impacts on households to wider policy development.
A Transnational Account of Turkish Foreign Policy (Middle East Today)
by Hazal Papuççular Deniz KuruThis book offers an analysis of Turkish foreign policy based on transnational(ist) perspectives. In order to counterbalance the state-centric accounts that dominate this area of study, the authors provide theoretical frameworks as well as historical and contemporary case studies that emphasize transnational dynamics. The content is divided into four complementary sections that explain and exemplify transnational (f)actors in the context of Turkish foreign policy. The first addresses theoretical and ideational frameworks that illustrate the relevance of a transnational account, while the second demonstrates the possibility of developing transnationally oriented approaches even in historical cases, going beyond a presentist focus. In the third and fourth sections, the book focuses on two prominent non-state actors, namely diaspora communities and non-governmental organizations, which operate at the interstices of the domestic and the international. This allows the authors to highlight the significance of transnational dynamics in Turkey’s foreign policy.
A Transnational Analysis of Representations of the US Filibusters in Nicaragua, 1855-1857
by Andreas BeerThis book investigates how the encounter between the U. S. filibuster expedition in 1855-1857 and Nicaraguans was imagined in both countries. The author examines transnational media and gives special emphasis to hitherto neglected publications like the bilingual newspaper El Nicaraguense. The study analyzes filibusters' direct influence on their representations and how these form the basis for popular collective memories and academic discourses.
A Transnational History of Right-Wing Terrorism: Political Violence and the Far Right in Eastern and Western Europe since 1900 (Routledge Studies in Fascism and the Far Right)
by Johannes DafingerA Transnational History of Right-Wing Terrorism offers new insights into the history of right-wing extremism and violence in Europe, East and West, from 1900 until the present day. It is the first book to take such a broad historical approach to the topic. The book explores the transnational dimension of right-wing terrorism; networks of right-wing extremists across borders, including in exile; the trading of arms; the connection between right-wing terrorism and other forms of far-right political violence; as well as the role of supportive elements among fellow travelers, the state security apparatus, and political elites. It also examines various forms of organizational and ideological interconnectedness and what inspires right-wing terrorism. In addition to several empirical chapters on prewar extreme-right political violence, the book features extensive coverage of postwar right-wing terrorism including the recent resurgence in attacks. This book will be of great interest to students and scholars of right-wing extremism, fascism, Nazism, terrorism, and political violence.
A Traveled First Lady
by Margaret A. Hogan C. James Taylor Louisa Catherine AdamsCongress adjourned on 18 May 1852 for Louisa Catherine Adams's funeral, according her an honor never before offered a first lady. But her life and influence merited this extraordinary tribute. She had been first the daughter-in-law and then the wife of a president. She had assisted her husband as a diplomat at three of the major capitals of Europe. She had served as a leading hostess and significant figure in Washington for three decades. And yet, a century and a half later, she is barely remembered. A Traveled First Lady: Writings of Louisa Catherine Adams" seeks to correct that oversight by sharing Adams's remarkable experiences in her own words. These excerpts from diaries and memoirs recount her early years in London and Paris (to this day she is the only foreign-born first lady), her courtship and marriage to John Quincy Adams, her time in the lavish courts of Berlin and St. Petersburg as a diplomat's wife, and her years aiding John Quincy's political career in Washington. Emotional, critical, witty, and, in the Adams tradition, always frank, her writings draw sharp portraits of people from every station, both servants and members of the imperial court, and deliver clear, well-informed opinions about the major issues of her day. Telling the story of her own life, juxtaposed with rich descriptions of European courts, Washington political maneuvers, and the continuing Adams family drama, Louisa Catherine Adams demonstrates why she was once considered one of the preeminent women of the nineteenth century.
A Treachery of Friends: An edge-of-your-seat thriller
by CJ CarverFrom the Dagger Award–winning &“top notch thriller writer,&” a new novel of politics, religion, power, and a woman&’s search for her missing father&’s secrets (Simon Kernick, bestselling author of Relentless). A man lies bleeding on the roadside. Hidden in his clothing is a message to Sidney from her father—who has been missing for fourteen years . . . Practical and level-headed Sid doesn&’t believe in miracles. So she sets out on a search for her father that leads to his old friends from university—or at least, the two of them who are still around. One is the head of a religious cult. The other is an ambitious politician. And both have secrets they want to stay buried—secrets Sid will have to uncover before a killer strikes again . . .Praise for CJ Carver &“A page-turning must read.&” —Booklist &“Solid gold.&” —Lee Child, #1 New York Times–bestselling author of the Jack Reacher series &“Exceptional.&” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)
A Treasury of Deception
by Michael FarquharWe may say that honesty is the best policy, but history-to say nothing of business, politics, and the media-suggests otherwise. In this infinitely citable book, the author of two bestselling treasuries of scandal recounts some of the greatest deceptions of all time. With what forged document did the Vatican lay claim to much of Europe? Who wrote Hitler's diaries? Why do millions still believe the vague doggerel that Nostradamus passed off as prophecy? Organizing his material by theme (con artists, the press, military trickery, scientific fraud, imposters, great escapes, and more), Michael Farquhar takes in everything from the hoodwinking of Hitler to Vincent "the Chin" Gigante's thirty-year crazy act. A Treasury of Deception is a zestful, gossipy exposé-and celebration-of mendacity. A Treasury of Deception also includes:* Ten tricksters from scripture* Ten great liars in literature* Ten egregious examples of modern American doublespeak * Ten classic deceptions from Greek mythology
A Treasury of Great American Scandals
by Michael FarquharFollowing on the heels of his national bestseller A Treasury of Royal Scandals, Michael Farquhar turns his attention to matters a little closer to home with A Treasury of Great American Scandals. From the unhappy family relationships of prominent Americans to the feuds, smear campaigns, duels, and infamous sex scandals that have punctuated our history, we see our founding fathers and other American heroes in the course of their all-too-human events. Ineffectual presidents, lazy generals, traitors; treacherous fathers, nagging mothers, ungrateful children, embarrassing siblings; and stories about insanity, death, and disturbing postmortems are all here, as are disagreeable marriages, vile habits, and, of course, sex: good sex, bad sex, and good-bad sex too. We can take comfort in the fact that we are no worse and no better than our forebears. But we do have better media coverage. Bonus educational material: * A brief history of the United States, including scandals! * The American Hall of Shame! * A complete listing of presidential administrations!
A Treasury of Kahlil Gibran
by Kahlil GibranPassionate and spiritual writings uncovering the philosophical foundations of one of the twentieth century&’s greatest thinkersKahlil Gibran&’s works are known throughout the world for their lyrical grandeur, wisdom, and insights drawn from the everyday sufferings of man. This nine-book collection captures one of modern history&’s titanic literary figures at his best. Texts such as &“The Secret of the Heart,&” &“Laughter and Tears,&” and &“Song of the Flower&” reveal the vivid splendor of life through Gibran&’s gifted similes and symbolism. Passionate and unforgettable, these verses of lyric prose impart to the reader a grand symphony of sparking joys epitomizing the qualities that have made Gibran one of the world&’s most eminent philosophical virtuosos.
A Treasury of Royal Scandals: The Shocking True Stories History's Wickedest Weirdest MostWanton Kings Queens (A Michael Farquhar Treasury #1)
by Michael FarquharFrom Nero's nagging mother (whom he found especially annoying after taking her as his lover) to Catherine's stable of studs (not of the equine variety), here is a wickedly delightful look at the most scandalous royal doings you never learned about in history class. Gleeful, naughty, sometimes perverted-like so many of the crowned heads themselves-A Treasury of Royal Scandals presents the best (the worst?) of royal misbehavior through the ages. From ancient Rome to Edwardian England, from the lavish rooms of Versailles to the dankest corners of the Bastille, the great royals of Europe have excelled at savage parenting, deadly rivalry, pathological lust, and meeting death with the utmost indignity-or just very bad luck.
A Treatise on Political Economy: Or The Production, Distribution, And Consumption Of Wealth - Primary Source Edition
by Jean-Baptiste Say Salim Rashid Munir QuddusJean-Baptiste Say (1767-1832) has been described as a revolutionary, an author of scholarly books and popular tracts, a social philosopher, a successful entrepreneur-a remarkable Renaissance man. He is best known as author of the law of markets, known as Say's law, and as the first to coin the term "entrepreneur." Say's concern with the average interested citizen and his zeal for economic education for the masses is most apparent in his classic work, A Treatise on Political Economy.Readers will see that Say is without doubt a luminary of classical economics. He single-handedly revived the study of political economy from its decline and kept it alive during a difficult period of opposition to liberal ideas. Say had a missionary belief that society will be best served if the principles of political economy are widely disseminated and understood by the citizenry. His organization of the Treatise's subject matter-production, distribution, and consumption of wealth-continues to guide authors of economic textbooks to this day. His treatment of the role of the entrepreneur as a contributor to production different from that of either the manager or the capitalist was the most advanced of his times.In their new introduction, Quddus and Rashid note that present-day readers of this volume will benefit from the remarkable freshness of Say's ideas. The longevity of this volume proves that good ideas can successfully withstand the test of time. The role played by the Treatise in spreading liberal economic ideas and especially laissez-faire and free trade in France, the rest of Europe, and in the newly independent United States must also be appreciated. One suspects Say would have liked nothing better than to have his Treatise attract entrepreneurs, managers, and other non-specialist readers to economics. Given the emphasis on capitalism, free markets and unrestricted global trade republication of this great classic could not be more timely. Political economists, social philosophers, and those in business fields will find it indispensable reading.
A Tree on Fire: A Novel (The William Posters Trilogy #2)
by Alan SillitoeThe second novel in award-winning, bestselling author Alan Sillitoe&’s William Posters Trilogyis an existential investigation of protest and revolution in 1960s North Africa and England Jewish dilettante Myra Bassingfield returns to England from Gibraltar with her four-week-old son. Frank Dawley, the child&’s father and the anarchist antihero of The Death of William Posters, has disappeared into the African desert, where he is fighting with the FLN (Front de Libération Nationale) for Algerian independence against French troops. Greeting Myra quayside as she disembarks from the ship is Frank&’s friend, Albert Handley, an idealistic painter living in a chaotic house in Linconshire with seven kids, a bulldog, six cats, and two au pair girls. Albert&’s brother, John, is determined to break from the family and he sets off for Algeria to track Frank down—but not before burning the Handley house to the ground. The Handley brood must then move in with Myra in Buckinghamshire, and by the time Frank finally shows up, they have formed a domestic cell of protest that may just plant the seeds of a new English revolution. From ramshackle life in a commune to undercover gunrunning, this is Alan Sillitoe, author of The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner, at his humorous and literary best. This ebook features an illustrated biography of Alan Sillitoe including rare images from the author&’s estate.
A Tribal Order: Politics and Law in the Mountains of Yemen
by Shelagh WeirA Tribal Order describes the politico-legal system of Jabal Razih, a remote massif in northern Yemen inhabited by farmers and traders.<P><P> Contrary to the popular image of Middle Eastern tribes as warlike, lawless, and invariably opposed to states, the tribes of Razih have stable structures of governance and elaborate laws and procedures for maintaining order and resolving conflicts with a minimum of physical violence. Razihi leaders also historically cooperated with states, provided the latter respected their customs, ideals, and interests. Weir considers this system in the context of the rugged environment and productive agricultural economy of Razih, and of centuries of continuous rule by Zaydi Muslim regimes and (latterly) the republican governments of Yemen.
A Tributary Model of State Formation: Ethiopia, 1600-2015 (Advances in African Economic, Social and Political Development)
by Berhanu AbegazA Tributary Model of State Formation: Ethiopia, 1600-2015 addresses the perplexing question of why a pedigreed Ethiopian state failed to transform itself into a nation-state. Using a comparative-institutionalist framework, this book explores why Ethiopia, an Afroasian civilizational state, has yet to build a modern political order comprising a sturdy state, the rule of law, and accountability to the ruled. The book provides a theoretical framework that contrasts the European and the Afroasian modes of state formation and explores the three major variants of the Ethiopian state since 1600 (Gondar, Shewa, and Revolutionary). It does this by employing the conceptual entry point of tributarism and teases out the implications of this perspective for refashioning the embattled postcolonial African political institutions. The primary contribution of the book is the novel framing of state formation through the lens of a landed Afroasiatic peasantry in giving rise to a fragile state whose redistributive preoccupation preempted the emergence of a productive economy to serve as a buoyant revenue base. Unlike feudal Europe, the dependence of the Afroasian state on arm’s-length overlordship rather than on tightly-managed landlordship incentivized endemic extractive contests among elites with the capacity for violence for the non-fixed tribute from independent wealth producers. Tributarism, I argue here, stymied the transition from a resilient statehood to a robust nation-statehood that befits an open-order society. This book will be of interest to scholars in economics, political science, political economics, and African Studies. Berhanu Abegaz is Professor of Economics, College of William & Mary (USA).
A Troubled Birth: The 1930s and American Public Opinion (Chicago Studies in American Politics)
by Susan HerbstPollsters and pundits armed with the best public opinion polls failed to predict the election of Donald Trump in 2016. Is this because we no longer understand what the American public is? In A Troubled Birth, Susan Herbst argues that we need to return to earlier meanings of "public opinion" to understand our current climate. Herbst contends that the idea that there was a public—whose opinions mattered—emerged during the Great Depression, with the diffusion of radio, the devastating impact of the economic collapse on so many people, the appearance of professional pollsters, and Franklin Roosevelt’s powerful rhetoric. She argues that public opinion about issues can only be seen as a messy mixture of culture, politics, and economics—in short, all the things that influence how people live. Herbst deftly pins down contours of public opinion in new ways and explores what endures and what doesn’t in the extraordinarily troubled, polarized, and hyper-mediated present. Before we can ask the most important questions about public opinion in American democracy today, we must reckon yet again with the politics and culture of the 1930s.
A Troubled Birth: The 1930s and American Public Opinion (Chicago Studies in American Politics)
by Susan HerbstPollsters and pundits armed with the best public opinion polls failed to predict the election of Donald Trump in 2016. Is this because we no longer understand what the American public is? In A Troubled Birth, Susan Herbst argues that we need to return to earlier meanings of "public opinion" to understand our current climate. Herbst contends that the idea that there was a public—whose opinions mattered—emerged during the Great Depression, with the diffusion of radio, the devastating impact of the economic collapse on so many people, the appearance of professional pollsters, and Franklin Roosevelt’s powerful rhetoric. She argues that public opinion about issues can only be seen as a messy mixture of culture, politics, and economics—in short, all the things that influence how people live. Herbst deftly pins down contours of public opinion in new ways and explores what endures and what doesn’t in the extraordinarily troubled, polarized, and hyper-mediated present. Before we can ask the most important questions about public opinion in American democracy today, we must reckon yet again with the politics and culture of the 1930s.