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Software, Infrastructure, Labor: A Media Theory of Logistical Nightmares
by Ned RossiterInfrastructure makes worlds. Software coordinates labor. Logistics governs movement. These pillars of contemporary capitalism correspond with the materiality of digital communication systems on a planetary scale. Ned Rossiter theorizes the force of logistical media to discern how subjectivity and labor, economy and society are tied to the logistical imaginary of seamless interoperability. Contingency haunts logistical power. Technologies of capture are prone to infrastructural breakdown, sabotage, and failure. Strategies of evasion, anonymity, and disruption unsettle regimes of calculation and containment. We live in a computational age where media, again, disappear into the background as infrastructure. Software, Infrastructure, Labor intercuts transdisciplinary theoretical reflection with empirical encounters ranging from the Cold War legacy of cybernetics, shipping ports in China and Greece, the territoriality of data centers, video game design, and scrap metal economies in the e-waste industry. Rossiter argues that infrastructural ruins serve as resources for the collective design of blueprints and prototypes demanded of radical politics today.
Sofía Valdéz y el voto perdido
by Andrea BeatyRosa Pionera, Ada Magnífica, Pedro Perfecto y Sofía Valdez son... ¡los Preguntones! Sofía Valdez siempre quiere mejorar las cosas en su comunidad, ya sea haciendo campaña para construir un nuevo parque o enseñando a sus compañeros de clase sobre cómo funciona el gobierno. ¡Y a la señorita Eva Delgado le vendrá muy bien la ayuda de Sofía, porque es momento de que el segundo grado elija una mascota para la clase! El grupo reduce la elección a dos candidatos, el pájaro y la tortuga, y organiza una campaña. Por fin se celebran las elecciones. Sin embargo, cuando se cuentan los votos, hay un empate# ¡Falta un voto! ¿Qué pasó con el voto perdido? ¿Y qué hará el grupo para deshacer el empate? ¡Depende de Sofía y los Preguntones restaurar la democracia y salvar las elecciones!
Sofía. Nuestra reina
by Carmen EnríquezSofía, nuestra reina más querida, cumple ochenta años en un momento crucial para la monarquía española. Con este motivo repasamos su vida, haciendo especial hincapié en los acontecimientos que en los últimos años han puesto a prueba la solidez de la institución monárquica. La reina Sofía, una de las mujeres más importantes de la historia reciente de España, ha afrontado en la última década situaciones muy difíciles, desde los problemas de salud y la posterior abdicación del rey Juan Carlos y el divorcio de la infanta Elena hasta su relación con la reina Letizia, el caso Nóos o las declaraciones de Corinna Larsen. Enormemente querida, respetada y admirada, este libro viaja en retrospectiva a los orígenes de este personaje tan emblemático y nos acerca a su presente y a su forma de afrontar el futuro. En el desempeño de su labor como corresponsal ante la Casa Real, Carmen Enríquez ha acompañado a la reina Sofía durante muchos años y ha llegado a conocerla en profundidad. Para completar este elaborado perfil biográfico ha contado, además, con el testimonio de una veintena de personas directamente relacionadas con la Reina. ----- «La reina Sofía cumple ochenta años, una edad más que respetable en la vida de una persona, y lo hace llena de energía, con una salud envidiable, según cuenta el equipo médico que se encarga de velar por su bienestar, con decenas de planes solidarios que pretende llevar a cabo en el futuro dentro de su objetivo vital de ser útil a los demás, y con el ánimo de disfrutar y estar muy cerca de su familia, especialmente de los ocho nietos que tiene de sus tres hijos. »Afronta esta nueva etapa de su existencia con la misma ilusión de siempre de mantenerse activa, de seguir adelante con la Fundación Reina Sofía, que le permite hacer realidad su voluntad de ayudar a quienes más lo necesitan, de continuar con la protección de los animales, el respeto del medio ambiente, el apoyo a la investigación del mal de Alzheimer y tantos otros proyectos que tiene entre manos siempre porque cree que esos son sus deberes como reina. »Doña Sofía ha sido, es y será siempre una persona cuya prioridad es, en primer lugar, la de servir a los españoles a través de la institución de la monarquía y en segundo lugar estar a disposición de su familia, especialmente en momentos tan difíciles como los que se han vivido en los últimos tiempos en el seno de la familia real. »A pesar de todas las dificultades, que se irán desgranando a lo largo de las páginas de este libro, la reina Sofía afronta el cambio de década de los setenta a los ochenta con grandes dosis de esperanza, entereza y también ilusión, esta última debida sobre todo a una circunstancia que le hace especialmente feliz: la mejoría sustancial de su relación con el rey Juan Carlos, su marido. Él está desde hace un par de años por la labor de recomponer la relación personal con la reina Sofía; los hemos visto juntos en los últimos meses en actividades oficiales que desempeñan en pareja, con gestos cordiales y amistosos evidentes entre ellos, incluso intercambiando frases que han provocado de nuevo la sonrisa e incluso la risa franca y sonora de ella».Carmen Enríquez
Soil Not Oil
by Vandana ShivaIn Soil Not Oil, Vandana Shiva explains that a world beyond dependence on fossil fuels and globalization is both possible and necessary. Condemning industrial agriculture as a recipe for ecological and economic disaster, Shiva champions the small, independent farm: their greater productivity, their greater potential for social justice as they put more resources into the hands of the poor, and the biodiversity that is inherent to the traditional farming practiced in small-scale agriculture. What we need most in a time of changing climates and millions who are hungry, she argues, is sustainable, biologically diverse farms that are more resistant to disease, drought, and flood. "The solution to climate change," she observes, "and the solution to poverty are the same." Soil Not Oil proposes a solution based on self-organization, sustainability, and community rather than corporate power and profits.
Soil and Soul: The Symbolic World of Russianness (Routledge Revivals)
by Elena Hellberg-HirnOriginally published in 1998, in this book, a number of stereotypes, symbols and signs of Russia, such as the double-headed eagle, the star, bread-and-salt, troika, the Orthodox cross, etc., are presented as a consistent set of metaphors, revealing a symbolic world made by and for the Russians in order to sustain and reinforce their group identity. The Russian language, culture and history form the basic core of the symbolic archive, or thesaurus, of Russianness, from which the necessary images, symbols and signs of identification are provided to manifest connection with the sphere of Russian identity. Such symbolism may directly or obliquely refer either to the territory (soil) of Russia, or to the ethnically specific traits of the Russian people (soul). Both soil and soul are emphatically personified in the symbolic image of Holy Russia - Mother Russia.
Sojourners in the Capital of the World: Garifuna Immigrants
by Maximo G. MartinezA comprehensive history and insider’s account of the Garifuna in New York City from 1943 to the present day.In recent years, Latinos—primarily Central American migrants—crossing the southern border of the United States have dominated the national media, as the legitimacy of their detention and of U.S. immigration policy in general is debated by partisan politicians and pundits. Among these migrants seeking economic opportunities and fleeing violence from gangs and drug traffickers are many Central American Garifuna. This fascinating book is the long-overdue account—written by a Garifuna New Yorker—of the ways that Garifuna immigrants from Guatemala, Belize, and Honduras have organized themselves and become a vibrant presence in New York City, from the time of their first arrivals in the 1940s to the present.The author documents four generations of Garifuna people in New York City who were active in the organizations at the heart of their community. Garifuna organizations have expanded and diversified over time from being primarily concerned with simply providing a space to gather for social events and some self-help groups for seamen (who were the first migrants) to a wide variety of organizations today that range from those focused on culture—music, dance, religion, language, sports, media—to those concentrating on economic development, political engagement and representation, immigration issues, health concerns, and transnational projects related to the situation of Garifuna in their Central American communities. As the Garifuna population grew, their organized entities simultaneously increased. The legacy of the Garifuna ethnic group is one of heroic resilience: They challenged colonial European suppression and grew from an estimated population of 2,000 to a growing 600,000 in the present day. After wars defending their original settlement on the Caribbean island of St. Vincent, the remaining Garifuna were rounded up and expelled from the territory to Central America, and from there they eventually immigrated to the United States. In New York City, an estimated 200,000 Garifuna live in the five boroughs, with their largest population in the Bronx. Having overcome numerous challenges, this Black/ Indigenous ethnic group is now known for its significant involvement in both Central American as well as U.S. societies.The Garifuna are integrated into the fabric of New York City as a distinctive Afro-Latinx/African Diaspora ethnic group known for its cultural and political impact. Garifuna organizations are at once concerned with creating alliances with a diversity of many other groups and also focused on dealing with issues specific to the unique culture, history, and situation of the Garifuna. They provide an interesting case study on whether and how Black ethnic groups assimilate with African Americans. And awareness of this group, its culture, and its contribution to American society is essential to understanding a growing segment of the expanding diverse Latino presence in the United States.
Sojourners, Sultans, and Slaves: America and the Indian Ocean in the Age of Abolition and Empire
by Awam Amkpa Gunja SenGuptaIn the nineteenth century, global systems of capitalism and empire knit the North Atlantic and Indian Ocean worlds into international networks in contest over the meanings of slavery and freedom. Sojourners, Sultans, and Slaves mines multinational archives to illuminate the Atlantic reverberations of US mercantile projects, "free labor" experiments, and slaveholding in western Indian Ocean societies. Gunja SenGupta and Awam Amkpa profile transnational human rights campaigns. They show how the discourses of poverty, kinship, and care could be adapted to defend servitude in different parts of the world, revealing the tenuous boundaries that such discourses shared with liberal contractual notions of freedom. An intercontinental cast of empire builders and émigrés, slavers and reformers, a "cotton queen" and courtesans, and fugitive "slaves" and concubines populates the pages, fleshing out on a granular level the interface between the personal, domestic, and international politics of "slavery in the East" in the age of empire. By extending the transnational framework of US slavery and abolition histories beyond the Atlantic, Gunja SenGupta and Awam Amkpa recover vivid stories and prompt reflections on the comparative workings of subaltern agency.
Sojourning for Freedom: Black Women, American Communism, and the Making of Black Left Feminism
by Erik S. McduffieSojourning for Freedom portrays pioneering black women activists from the early twentieth century through the 1970s, focusing on their participation in the U. S. Communist Party (CPUSA) between 1919 and 1956. Erik S. McDuffie considers how women from diverse locales and backgrounds became radicalized, joined the CPUSA, and advocated a pathbreaking politics committed to black liberation, women's rights, decolonization, economic justice, peace, and international solidarity. McDuffie explores the lives of black left feminists, including the bohemian world traveler Louise Thompson Patterson, who wrote about the "triple exploitation" of race, gender, and class; Esther Cooper Jackson, an Alabama-based civil rights activist who chronicled the experiences of black female domestic workers; and Claudia Jones, the Trinidad-born activist who emerged as one of the Communist Party's leading theorists of black women's exploitation. Drawing on more than forty oral histories collected from veteran black women radicals and their family members, McDuffie examines how these women negotiated race, gender, class, sexuality, and politics within the CPUSA. In Sojourning for Freedom, he depicts a community of radical black women activist intellectuals who helped to lay the foundation for a transnational modern black feminism.
Solar Buildings and Neighborhoods: Design Considerations for High Energy Performance (Green Energy and Technology)
by Caroline Hachem-VermetteThis book presents the main principles for designing buildings and neighborhoods with increased potential to capture and utilize solar energy. It discusses practical issues in the design of the built environment and their impact on energy performance; and a range of design considerations, from building components (e.g. the building envelope) to urban planning issues (e.g. density and street layouts). In addition to design guidelines on how to increase buildings’ potential to capture solar energy, the book provides creative tips to increase the aesthetic value of solar technology integration in buildings. Helping readers plan energy-efficient buildings with innovative building envelope technologies, and to understand the impact of early-stage design considerations on the energy performance of buildings and communities, the book offers a valuable source of information for building professionals, including architects, engineers, and urban planners. It can also serve as a reference guide for academics and students of energy efficiency in buildings and urban planning.
Solar Energy And The U.S. Economy
by Richard J Goettle Iv Christopher Pleatsikas Edward A. HudsonFirst published 1982. Twice during the 1970s -- the Arab Oil Embargo of 1973-74 and the tight oil market of 1978-79 associated with the political upheaval in Iran -- the U.S. economy experienced severe shocks as a result of massive price increases for imported oil. By 1980 the price for imported crude oil had increased to nearly twenty times the price in 1970. This book seeks to provide a basis for determining the macroeconomic effects of solar energy investments over the 1980 to 2000 time period. It structures its analysis in a multidimensional form, specifying variations in • conventional energy costs; • solar market penetration; • solar technology costs.
Solar Energy Conversion Systems in the Built Environment (Green Energy and Technology)
by Ion Visa Anca Duta Macedon Moldovan Bogdan Burduhos Mircea NeagoeThis book focuses on solar energy conversion systems that can be implemented in the built environment, at building or at community level. The quest for developing a sustainable built environment asks for specific solutions to provide clean energy based on renewable sources, and solar energy is considered one of the cleanest available energy on Earth. The specific issues raised by the implementation location are discussed, including the climatic profile distorted by the buildings, the available surface on the buildings for implementation, etc. This book also discusses the seasonal and diurnal variability of the solar energy resource in parallel with the variability of the electrical and thermal energy demand in the built environment (particularly focusing on the residential buildings). Solutions are proposed to match these variabilities, including the development of energy mixes with other renewables (e.g. geothermal or biomass, for thermal energy production). Specific solutions, including case studies of systems implemented on buildings all over the world, are presented and analyzed for electrical and for thermal energy production and the main differences in the systems design are outlined. The conversion efficiency (thus the output) and the main causes of energy losses are considered in both cases. The architectural constraints are additionally considered and novel solar energy convertors with different shapes and colors are presented and discussed. The durability of the solar energy conversion systems is analyzed considering the specific issues that occur when these systems are implemented in the built environment; based on practical examples, general conclusions are formulated and specific aspects are discussed in relation to experimental results and literature data. With renewables implemented in the built environment likely to expand in the near future, this book represents welcome and timely material for all professionals and researchers that are aiming to provide efficient and feasible solutions for the sustainable built environment.
Solar Energy, Mini-grids and Sustainable Electricity Access: Practical Experiences, Lessons and Solutions from Senegal (Routledge Focus on Environment and Sustainability)
by Debajit Palit Kirsten Ulsrud Charles Muchunku Gathu KirubiThis book presents new research on solar mini-grids and the ways they can be designed and implemented to provide equitable and affordable electricity access, while ensuring economic sustainability and replication. Drawing on a detailed analysis of solar mini-grid projects in Senegal, the book provides invaluable insights into energy provision and accessibility which are highly relevant to Sub-Saharan Africa, and the Global South more generally. Importantly, the book situates mini-grids in rural villages within the context of the broader dynamics of national- and international-level factors, including emerging system innovation and socio-technical transitions to green technologies. The book illustrates typical challenges and potential solutions for practitioners, policymakers, donors, investors and international agencies. It demonstrates the decisive roles of suitable policies and regulations for private-sector-led mini-grids and explains why these policies and regulations must be different from those that are designed as part of an established, centralized electricity regime. Written by both academics and technology practitioners, this book will be of great interest to those researching and working on energy policy, energy provision and access, solar power and renewable energy, and sustainable development more generally.
Solar Flares: What You Need to Know
by Whitley StrieberThere is a force out there that could destroy our world in minutes. . . .Solar flares--brief bursts of radiation from our sun--have always existed and have never been particularly dangerous. Nature hasn't changed. But we have. <P><P>By making our world so dependent on electricity delivered by huge, unprotected power grids we have inadvertently placed humanity at terrible risk. As bestselling author Whitley Strieber explores in this urgent new work, a powerful solar flare could demolish our electrical delivery system, wiping away centuries of civilization in minutes and drastically changing our world.Such a scenario is altogether plausible--and it is the single most dangerous single thing that could happen to our civilization, more dangerous than the most massive earthquake or volcano, more dangerous than climate change, more dangerous even than nuclear war. What is worse, solar flares of a now-dangerous intensity are not all that uncommon; and not only that, our electrical and electronic infrastructure is becoming so extensive, and thus so fragile, that smaller and smaller solar flares can pose more and more serious hazards.<P>Due to the astonishing unwillingness of power companies to cooperate, good programs that would make us safer, and that are supported by both political parties, have been routinely prevented from being enacted.In Solar Flares: What You Need to Know, Strieber reveals the dangers behind solar flares, tracks the disastrous damage they could cause, surveys what they would do to our world in the here-and-now, and explains what nations and individuals must do to prepare for them.
Sold Out: How High-Tech Billionaires & Bipartisan Beltway Crapweasels Are Screwing America's Best & Brightest Workers
by Michelle Malkin John MianoThe #1 New York Times bestselling author and firebrand syndicated columnist Michelle Malkin sets her sights on the corrupt businessmen, politicians, and lobbyists flooding our borders and selling out America's best and brightest workers.In Sold Out, Michelle Malkin and John Miano reveal the worst perpetrators screwing America's high-skilled workers, how and why they're doing it--and what we must do to stop them. In this book, they will name names and expose the lies of those who pretend to champion the middle class, while aiding and abetting massive layoffs of highly skilled American workers in favor of cheap foreign labor. Malkin and Miano will explode some of the most commonly told myths spread in the media like these: Lie #1: America is suffering from an apocalyptic "shortage" of science, technology, engineering, and math workers. Lie #2: US companies cannot function without an unlimited injection of the most "highly skilled" and "highly educated" foreign workers, who offer intellectual capital and entrepreneurial energy that American workers can't match. Lie #3: America's best and brightest talents are protected because employers are required to demonstrate that they've made every effort to hire American citizens before resorting to foreign labor. For too long, open-borders tech billionaires and their political enablers have escaped tough public scrutiny of their means and motives. Sold Out is an indictment of not only political corruption in Washington, but also the journalistic malpractice that enables it. It's time to trade the whitewash for solvent. American workers deserve better and the public deserves the unvarnished truth.
Sold Out? US Foreign Policy, Iraq, the Kurds, and the Cold War
by Bryan R. GibsonThis book analyzes the ways in which US policy toward Iraq was dictated by America's broader Cold War strategy between 1958 and 1975. While most historians have focused on 'hot' Cold War conflicts such as Cuba, Vietnam, and Afghanistan, few have recognized Iraq's significance as a Cold War battleground. This book argues that US decisions and actions were designed to deny the Soviet Union influence over Iraq and to create a strategic base in the oil-rich Gulf region. Using newly available primary sources and interviews, this book reveals new details on America's decision-making toward and actions against Iraq during the height of the Cold War and shows where Iraq fits into the broader historiography of the Cold War in the Middle East. Further, it raises important questions about widely held misperceptions of US-Iraqi relations, such as the CIA's alleged involvement in the 1963 Ba'thist coup and the theory that the US sold out the Kurds in 1975.
Soldados de Perón: Historia crítica sobre los montoneros
by Richard GillespieEste estudio sobre los Montoneros ofrece un análisis crítico de unmovimiento que estuvo sumamente comprometido en la crisis políticaargentina de los años setenta. La obra explica cómo fue posible que un pequeño grupo de católicosradicalizados desarrollaran en la Argentina y en América Latina una delas guerrillas urbanas más influyentes y eficaces, y cómo finalmente fuesilenciada. El autor analiza con todo detalle por qué, pese a contarcon un apoyo popular considerable, los Montoneros tuvieron que recurrira una estrategia cada vez más militarizada, que fatalmente acabó poraislarlos de la sociedad argentina.Es, sin duda, el estudio más sólido que hasta la fecha se hapublicado sobre la guerrilla argentina. El autor se sirve deentrevistas personales realizadas con montoneros en Buenos Aires, LaHabana y Londres, y sus fuentes de información material llegan a incluirdocumentos internos de la organización. Por lo demás, si bien esta obraexamina un movimiento específico, su crítica de la guerra de guerrillascobra una importancia que va mucho más allá de las fronteras de laArgentina.
Soldier Protective Clothing and Equipment: Feasibility of Chemical Testing Using a Fully Articulated Robotic Mannequin
by National Research Council of the National AcademiesThere is an ongoing need to test and ensure effectiveness of personal protective equipment that soldiers use to protect themselves against chemical warfare agents. However, testing using human subjects presents major challenges and current human-size thermal mannequins have limited testing capabilities. The U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) along with their counterparts from other countries are seeking to develop more human like mannequins, which would include features like human motion, in order to carry out more advanced chemical testing. At the request of DOD Product Director, Test Equipment, Strategy and Support, the National Research Council formed an ad hoc committee to evaluate the feasibility of developing an advanced humanoid robot, or Protection Ensemble Test Mannequin (PETMAN) system that meets the DOD requirements. The book concludes that although most of the individual requirements can technically be met, fulfilling all of the requirements is currently not possible. Based on this conclusion the committee recommends that DOD considers three issues, prioritization of current system requirements, use qualified contractor for particular technical aspects, incorporate complementary testing approaches to the PETMAN system.
Soldier Repatriation: Popular and Political Responses
by Kaare Dahl MartinsenSoldier repatriation from Afghanistan has impacted debate about the war. This study highlights this impact with particular focus on Britain, Denmark and Germany. All three countries deployed soldiers soon after the 9/11 attacks, yet their role in Afghanistan and the casualty rates suffered, have been vastly different. This book looks at how their casualties influenced the framing of the war by analysing the political discourse about the casualties, how the media covered the repatriation and the burials, and how the dead were officially recognised and commemorated. Explaining how bodies count is not done exclusively by focusing on the political leadership and the media in the three countries, the response from the men and women in Afghanistan to the official framing of the war is given particular weight. Martinsen contributes to our understanding of European strategic culture by showing how countries respond to the same security challenges.
Soldier Secretary: Warnings from the Battlefield & the Pentagon about America's Most Dangerous Enemies
by Christopher C. MillerPresident Trump's last secretary of defense shares harrowing stories of missions in Iraq and Afghanistan, gives an "important" insider look at the tumultuous final days of the administration, and issues a stark warning about the readiness of the military under President Biden (Sean Hannity). If you know one thing about Chris Miller, it's that he was President Donald Trump's final Secretary of Defense, elevated to that position in the days after the 2020 election. If you know a second thing about Chris Miller, it's that he oversaw the U.S. Armed Forces during one of the most controversial and tumultuous periods the military has experienced in decades, culminating in the shocking events at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. Yet Chris Miller is no political partisan. On the contrary, Miller has spent his adult life in the crosshairs of America's most dangerous enemies--from Middle Eastern deserts to the bowels of U.S. intelligence agencies--and emerged as one of the leading national security minds of his generation. Needless to say, Chris Miller has stories to tell. In Soldier Secretary, he reveals for the first time everything he saw--in a book that is candid, thought-provoking, and like that of no Secretary of Defense before him. This book is not just the inside story of what happened during the Trump administration--it's the inside story of what happened to America, its military, and its institutions during the two decades after September 11, 2001. Part badass, part iconoclast, Miller is an irreverent, heterodox, and always-fascinating thinker whose personal journey through war and the White House has led him to some shocking conclusions about the state of American power in 2021. With a perspective that will surprise and interest both Republicans and Democrats, Miller argues for a radical rethinking of U.S. national security strategy unlike anything since the creation of the joint armed forces in the 1980s. He offers a roadmap for how the United States can win in the era of unrestricted warfare by shedding the bloated defense bureaucracy, bringing American forces home from endless conflicts, renewing our national unity, and beating China at its own game. Miller is a true American warrior whose incredible journey from Iowa to Afghanistan to Iraq to the White House endeared him to the troops, prepared him for the unprecedented crisis of January 6, and left him deeply concerned about the future of our military and the future of our nation.
Soldier Spy
by Tom MarcusThe explosive, shocking and honest account from an MI5 officer, revealing never-before-seen detail into MI5's operation 'I do it because it is all I know. I'm a hunter of people and I'm damn good at it.' Recruited after the 7/7 attacks on London, Tom quickly found himself immersed in the tense world of watching, following and infiltrating networks of terrorists, spies and foreign agents. It was a job that took over his life and cost him dear, taking him to the limit of physical and mental endurance. Filled with extraordinary accounts of operations that saved countless lives, Soldier Spy is the only authentic account by an ex-MI5 officer of the round-the-clock battle to keep this country safe. ________ 'Very well written, gives a startling amount of operational detail, the biggest shock of all - MI5 agreed to its publication' Sunday Times 'A blistering, visceral insight into life on the front line against terror, revealed in remarkable detail' Daily Telegraph 'Startling, absolutely fascinating. A footsoldier's account out on the street.' Radio 4 'Gripping. One of the most successful MI5 undercover surveillance officers of his time' Sun
Soldier in the Sand: A Personal History of the Modern Middle East
by Simon MayallInsight into the Middle East from a general with long experience in the region: “His analysis of the revolution in Iran is particularly enlightening.” —John Simpson, BBC journalistWith the Middle East in a state of persistent change and upheaval, there has long been a need for a comprehensive yet readable study that can give the intelligent and interested layperson a greater understanding of this diverse, complex region.Simon Mayall, whose links with the area are deep and longstanding, provides just that in Soldier in the Sand. As well as analyzing the Middle East’s history and religions, which strongly influence people’s actions, attitudes, and relationships, Mayall draws on his own experiences and impressions based on his many years in key military and diplomatic appointments in numerous countries. In addition to knowing many of the key players personally, he has studied, at leading universities, British policy and engagement in the area and he understands the effects of this long-term engagement.This invaluable book’s unique mixture of history, politics, academic study, and first-hand experience affords the reader an invaluable insight into a fascinating, fractured, and frustrating area of the world. General Mayall explains complex situations in a thoroughly accessible and human manner, as lecture audiences worldwide already know, and now his knowledge and common sense approach is also available in this important, entertaining book.
Soldier: The Life of Colin Powell
by Karen DeyoungOver the course of a lifetime of service to his country, Colin Powell became a national hero, a beacon of wise leadership and, according to polls, "the most trusted man in America. " From his humble origins as the son of Jamaican immigrants to the highest levels of government in four administrations, he helped guide the nation through some of its most heart-wrenching hours. Now, in the first full biography of one of the most admired men of our time, award-winning Washington Post journalist Karen DeYoung takes us from Powell's Bronx childhood and meteoric rise through the military ranks to his formative roles in Washington's corridors of power and his controversial tenure as secretary of state. With psychological acumen and a reporter's eye for detail, DeYoung introduces us to the racially integrated neighborhood where Powell grew up, his courtship of and marriage to Alma Johnson, and his years as a promising young Army officer. We are witness to the pivotal events that helped shaped his world view, including two tours of duty in Vietnam, where he was disillusioned by a breakdown in leadership and the lack of a clear objective, and a 1988 meeting as President Reagan's national security adviser with Mikhail Gorbachev, who looked at him dead-on and effectively declared an end to the Cold War. We are privy to his reasoning as the architect of Operation Desert Storm and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton, a position that made him a household name and an international celebrity. And we experience his agonizing deliberations in the face of a groundswell of public desire that he run for the presidency. Yet it was his capacity as America's chief diplomat in the administration of George W. Bush that brought Powell the most renown--and criticism. Charged with the formidable task of making the case for war with Iraq, he convinced a wary nation that it was both necessary and right, only to find his own credibility hanging in the balance as the justification for invasion began to unravel. At odds with the White House on a range of foreign policy issues, Powell's counsel went unheeded and his reputation was tarnished. With dramatic new information about the inner workings of an administration locked in ideological combat, DeYoung makes clearer than ever before the decision-making process that took the nation to war and addresses the still-unanswered questions about Powell's departure from his post shortly after the 2004 election. Drawing on interviews with U. S. and foreign sources as well as with Powell himself, and with unprecedented access to his personal and professional papers, Soldier is a revelatory portrait of an American icon: a man at once heroic and all-too-humanly fallible.
Soldiering Under Occupation
by Erella GrassianiOften, violent behavior or harassment from a soldier is dismissed by the military as unacceptable acts by individuals termed, "rotten apples." In this study, the author argues that this dismissal is unsatisfactory and that there is an urgent need to look at the (mis)behavior of soldiers from a structural point of view. When soldiers serve as an occupational force, they find themselves in a particular situation influenced by structural circumstances that heavily influence their behavior and moral decision-making. This study focuses on young Israeli men and their experiences as combat soldiers in the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), particularly those who served in the "Occupied Palestinian Territories" (OPT) during the "Al Aqsa Intifada," which broke out in 2000. In describing the soldiers' circumstances, especially focusing on space, the study shows how processes of numbing on different levels influence the (moral) behavior of these soldiers.
Soldiers In A Storm: The Armed Forces In South Africa's Democratic Transition
by Philip FrankelSoldiers in a Storm: The Armed Forces in South Africa's Democratic Transition is a study of the role of the military in the creation and development of South Africa's new post-apartheid system. Philip Frankel asserts that the armed forces played a far greater role in the end of apartheid than is currently acknowledged in the literature, and that the relatively peaceful negotiations that ended apartheid would not have been possible without the participation of the South African National Defense Force and two major liberation armies.Frankel also examines the topics of military disengagement, civilianization, post-authoritarian political behavior on the part of militaries, and the process of democratic consolidation. He also discusses how many of these themes have been explored in the context of Latin America, and he points out that this is the only book that places these themes within the context of South Africa. This is an important case study with universal implications.
Soldiers and Kings: Survival and Hope in the World of Human Smuggling
by Jason De León&“A work of extraordinary reportage and compassion...[it] will shock you, move you, and leave you changed.&”—Matthew Desmond, Pulitzer Prize-winning and New York Times bestselling author of Evicted and Poverty, by America&“An enlightening, frightening, unforgettable read.&”—Sandra Cisneros, bestselling author of The House on Mango StreetAn intense, intimate and first-of-its-kind look at the world of human smuggling in Latin America, by a MacArthur "genius" grant winner and anthropologist with unprecedented accessPolitical instability, poverty, climate change, and the insatiable appetite for cheap labor all fuel clandestine movement across borders. As those borders harden, the demand for smugglers who aid migrants across them increases every year. Yet the real lives and work of smugglers—or coyotes, or guides, as they are often known by the migrants who hire their services—are only ever reported on from a distance, using tired tropes and stereotypes, often depicted as boogie men and violent warlords. In an effort to better understand this essential yet extralegal billion dollar global industry, internationally recognized anthropologist and expert Jason De León embedded with a group of smugglers moving migrants across Mexico over the course of seven years.The result of this unique and extraordinary access is SOLDIERS AND KINGS: the first ever in-depth, character-driven look at human smuggling. It is a heart-wrenching and intimate narrative that revolves around the life and death of one coyote who falls in love and tries to leave smuggling behind. In a powerful, original voice, De León expertly chronicles the lives of low-level foot soldiers breaking into the smuggling game, and morally conflicted gang leaders who oversee rag-tag crews of guides and informants along the migrant trail. SOLDIERS AND KINGS is not only a ground-breaking up-close glimpse of a difficult-to-access world, it is a masterpiece of narrative nonfiction.