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The Venice Myth: Culture, Literature, Politics, 1800 to the Present
by David BarnesVenice holds a unique place in literary and cultural history. Barnes looks at the themes of war, occupation, resistance and fascism to see how the political background has affected the literary works that have come out of this great city. He focuses on key British and American writers, including Byron, Ruskin, Pound and Eliot.
The Venona Secrets: The Definitive Exposé of Soviet Espionage in America (Cold War Classics)
by Herbert Romerstein Eric BreindelThe Venona Secrets presents one of the last great, untold stories of World War II and the Cold War. <P><P> In 1995, secret Soviet cable traffic from the 1940s that the United States intercepted and eventually decrypted finally became available to American historians. Now, after spending more than five years researching all the available evidence, espionage experts Herbert Romerstein and Eric Breindel reveal the full, shocking story of the days when Soviet spies ran their fingers through America's atomic-age secrets. <P><P> Included in The Venona Secrets are the details of the spying activities that reached from Harry Hopkins in Franklin Roosevelt s White House to Alger Hiss in the State Department to Harry Dexter White in the Treasury.
The Venture Alchemists: How Big Tech Turned Profits Into Power
by Rob LalkaWe once idolized tech entrepreneurs for creating innovations that seemed like modern miracles. Yet our faith has been shattered. We now blame them for spreading lies, breaking laws, and causing chaos. Yesterday’s Silicon Valley darlings have become today’s Big Tech villains. Which is it? Are they superheroes or scoundrels? Or is it more complicated, some blend of both?In The Venture Alchemists, Rob Lalka demystifies how tech entrepreneurs built empires that made trillions. Meta started as a cruel Halloween prank, Alphabet began as a master’s thesis that warned against corporate deception, and Palantir came from a campus controversy over hateful speech. These largely forgotten origin stories show how ordinary fears and youthful ambitions shaped their ventures—making each tech tale relatable, both wonderfully and tragically human. Readers learn about the adversities tech entrepreneurs overcame, the troubling tradeoffs they made, and the tremendous power they now wield. Using leaked documents and previously unpublished archival material, Lalka takes readers inside Big Tech’s worst exploitations and abuses, alongside many good intentions and moral compromises.But this story remains unfinished, and The Venture Alchemists ultimately offers hope from the people who, decades ago, warned about the risks of the emerging Internet. Their insights illuminate a path toward more responsible innovations, so that technologies aren’t dangerous weapons but valuable tools that ensure progress, improve society, and enhance our daily lives.
The Venture Capital State: The Silicon Valley Model in East Asia (Cornell Studies in Political Economy)
by Robyn Klingler-VidraSilicon Valley has become shorthand for a globally acclaimed way to unleash the creative potential of venture capital, supporting innovation and creating jobs. In The Venture Capital State Robyn Klingler-Vidra traces how and why different states have adopted distinct versions of the Silicon Valley model.Venture capital seeks high rewards but is enveloped in high risk. The author’s deep investigations of venture capital policymaking in East Asian states (Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore) show that success does not reflect policymakers’ ability to replicate the Silicon Valley model. Instead, she argues, performance reflects their skill in adapting a highly lauded model to their local context. Policymakers are "contextually rational" in their learning; their context-rooted norms shape their preferences. The normative context for learning about policy—how elites see themselves and what they deem as locally appropriate—informs how they design their efforts.The Venture Capital State offers a novel conceptualization of rationality, bridging diametrically opposed versions of bounded and conventional rationality. This new understanding of rationality is simultaneously fully informed and context based, and it provides a framework by which analysts can bring domestic factors to the very heart of international diffusion of policy. Klingler-Vidra concludes that states have a visible hand in constituting even quintessentially neoliberal markets.
The Verdigris Pawn
by Alysa WishingradA JUNIOR LIBRARY GUILD GOLD STANDARD SELECTION! A boy who underestimates his power. . . A girl with a gift long thought lost . . . A Land ready for revolution . . . The heir to the Land should be strong. Fierce. Ruthless. At least, that’s what Beau’s father has been telling him his whole life, since Beau is the exact opposite of what the heir should be. With little control over his future, Beau is kept locked away, just another pawn in his father’s quest for ultimate power. <p><p> That is, until Beau meets a girl who shows him the secrets his father has kept hidden. For the first time, Beau begins to question everything he’s ever been told and sets off in search of a rebel who might hold the key to setting things right. Teaming up with a fiery runaway boy, their mission quickly turns into something far greater as sinister forces long lurking in the shadows prepare to make their final move—no matter what the cost. But it just might be Beau who wields the power he seeks . . . if he can go from pawn to player before the Land tears itself apart.
The Vernacularisation of Democracy: Politics, Caste and Religion in India (Exploring The Political In South Asia Ser.)
by Lucia MicheluttiThe book is an ethnographic exploration of how ‘democracy’ takes social and cultural roots in India and in the process shapes the nature of popular politics. It centres on a historically marginalised caste who in recent years has become one of the most assertive and politically powerful communities in North India: the Yadavs.The Vernacularisation of Democracy is a vivid account of how Indian popular democracy works on the ground. Challenging conventional theories of democratisation the book shows how the political upsurge of 'the lower orders' is situated within a wider process of the vernacularisation of democratic politics, referring to the ways in which values and practices of democracy become embedded in particular cultural and social practices, and in the process become entrenched in the consciousness of ordinary people. During the 1990s, Indian democracy witnessed an upsurge in the political participation of lower castes/communities and the emergence of political leaders from humble social backgrounds who present themselves as promoters of social justice for underprivileged communities. Drawing on a large body of archival and ethnographic material the author shows how the analysis of local idioms of caste, kinship, kingship, popular religion, ‘the past’ and politics (‘the vernacular’) inform popular perceptions of the political world and of how the democratic process shapes in turn ‘the vernacular’. This line of enquiry provides a novel framework to understand the unique experience of Indian democracy as well as democratic politics and its meaning in other contemporary post-colonial states. Using as a case study the political ethnography of a powerful northern Indian caste (the Yadavs) and combining ethnographic material with colonial and post-colonial history the book examines the unique experience of Indian popular democracy and provides a framework to analyse popular politics in other parts of the world. The book fills
The Versailles Treaty and Its Legacy
by Norman A. Graebner Edward M. BennettThis study, a realist interpretation of the long diplomatic record that produced the coming of World War II in 1939, is a critique of the Paris Peace Conference and reflects the judgment shared by many who left the Conference in 1919 in disgust amid predictions of future war. The critique is a rejection of the idea of collective security, which Woodrow Wilson and many others believed was a panacea, but which was also condemned as early as 1915. This book delivers a powerful lesson in treaty-making and rejects the supposition that treaties, once made, are unchangeable, whatever their faults.
The Verso Book of Dissent: Revolutionary Words from Three Millennia of Rebellion and Resistance
by Tariq Ali Audrea Lim Andrew HsiaoThroughout the ages and across every continent, people have struggled against those in power and raised their voices in protest--rallying others around them and inspiring uprisings in eras yet to come. Their echoes reverberate from Ancient Greece, China and Egypt, via the dissident poets and philosophers of Islam and Judaism, through to the Arab slave revolts and anti-Ottoman rebellions of the Middle Ages. These sources were tapped during the Dutch and English revolutions at the outset of the Modern world, and in turn flowed into the French, Haitian, American, Russian and Chinese revolutions. More recently, resistance to war and economic oppression has flared up on battlefields and in public spaces from Beijing and Baghdad to Caracas and Los Angeles.This anthology, global in scope, presents voices of dissent from every era of human history: speeches and pamphlets, poems and songs, plays and manifestos. Every age has its iconoclasts, and yet the greatest among them build on the words and actions of their forerunners. The Verso Book of Dissent will become an invaluable resource, reminding today's citizens that these traditions will never die.
The Verso Book of Feminism: Revolutionary Words from Four Millennia of Rebellion
by Rosie Warren Jessie Kindig Sophia Giovannitti Charlotte HeltaiAn unprecedented collection of feminist voices from four millennia of global historyThroughout written history and across the world, women have protested the restrictions of gender and the limitations placed on women's bodies and women's lives. People–of any and no gender–have protested and theorized, penned manifestos and written poetry and songs, testified and lobbied, gone on strike and fomented revolution, quietly demanded that there is an "I" and loudly proclaimed that there is a "we." The Book of Feminism chronicles this history of defiance and tracks it around the world as it develops into a multivocal and unabashed force.Global in scope, The Book of Feminism shows the breadth of feminist protest and of feminist thinking, moving through the female poets of China's Tang Dynasty and accounts of indigenous women in the Caribbean resisting Columbus's expedition, British suffragists militating for the vote and the revolutionary petroleuses of the 1848 Paris Commune, the first century Trung sisters who fought for the independence of Nam Viet to women in 1980s Botswana fighting for equal protection under the law, from the erotica of the 6th century and the 19th century to radical queer politics in the 20th and 21st.The Book of Feminism is a weapon, a force, a lyrical cry, and an ongoing threat to misogyny everywhere.
The Very Best Men: The Daring Early Years of the CIA
by Evan ThomasDrawing on extensive interviews with old spooks and the social friends and family of his subjects, The Very Best Men is a fascinating narrative that brings to life a crucial piece of American history.The Very Best Men is the story of the CIA's early days as told through the careers of four glamorous, daring, and idealistic men who ran covert operations for the government from the end of World War II to Vietnam. Evan Thomas re-creates the personal dramas and sometimes tragic lives of Frank Wisner, Richard Bissell, Tracy Barnes, and Desmond FitzGerald, who risked everything to contain the Soviet threat. Within the inner circles of Washington, they were regarded as the best and the brightest. They planned and acted to keep the country out of war -- by stealth and "political action" and to do by cunning and sleight of hand what great armies could not, must not be allowed to do. In the end, they were too idealistic and too honorable, and were unsuited for the dark, duplicitous life of spying. Their hubris and naïveté led them astray, producing both sensational coups and spectacular blunders like the Bay of Pigs and the failed assassination attempts on foreign leaders in the early 1960s. Thomas draws on the CIA's own secret histories, to which he has had exclusive access, as well as extensive interviews, to bring to life a crucial piece of American history.
The Very British Problems Christmas Quiz Book: 600+ fiendishly festive questions (Knowledge quizzes)
by Rob TempleThe perfect quiz book to get you in the Christmassy mood, to play at the office Christmas lunch or to pop into a stocking.In Britain, it's estimated that 800 million of what traditional Christmas treat are eaten each year?Which actor gives the voiceover at the beginning of Love Actually?True or False: Queen Elizabeth II wore a Santa hat for her 1996 Christmas Day televised speech.We Brits can't get enough of a quiz - and never has this been more true at Christmastime. So if you're stumped for office party small talk, trying to make it through Christmas dinner with the in-laws, or simply a quiz connoisseur after puzzles with some festive flair, you can't go wrong with the VERY BRITISH PROBLEMS CHRISTMAS QUIZ BOOK. Inside you'll find all sorts of tickly teasers, complex conundrums, worrisome word searches and much more on topics ranging from nostalgic Christmas adverts and beloved TV specials to toys through the ages and everyone's favourite holiday snacks. Best enjoyed with a cup of tea and a mince pie.***Praise for Very British Problems'Had us guffawing into our Earl Grey tea' Bella'My favourite twitter account at the moment is Very British Problems (@soverybritish) . . . it makes me laugh out loud' Tom Hiddleston'Hilarious' Daily Express'Temple pays affectionate and comic homage to the sheer quirkiness of being British' Good Book Guide
The Very British Problems Christmas Quiz Book: 600+ fiendishly festive questions (Knowledge quizzes)
by Rob TempleThe perfect quiz book to get you in the Christmassy mood, to play at the office Christmas lunch or to pop into a stocking.In Britain, it's estimated that 800 million of what traditional Christmas treat are eaten each year?Which actor gives the voiceover at the beginning of Love Actually?True or False: Queen Elizabeth II wore a Santa hat for her 1996 Christmas Day televised speech.We Brits can't get enough of a quiz - and never has this been more true at Christmastime. So if you're stumped for office party small talk, trying to make it through Christmas dinner with the in-laws, or simply a quiz connoisseur after puzzles with some festive flair, you can't go wrong with the VERY BRITISH PROBLEMS CHRISTMAS QUIZ BOOK. Inside you'll find all sorts of tickly teasers, complex conundrums, worrisome word searches and much more on topics ranging from nostalgic Christmas adverts and beloved TV specials to toys through the ages and everyone's favourite holiday snacks. Best enjoyed with a cup of tea and a mince pie.***Praise for Very British Problems'Had us guffawing into our Earl Grey tea' Bella'My favourite twitter account at the moment is Very British Problems (@soverybritish) . . . it makes me laugh out loud' Tom Hiddleston'Hilarious' Daily Express'Temple pays affectionate and comic homage to the sheer quirkiness of being British' Good Book Guide
The Very British Problems Quiz Book
by Rob TempleWhat does 'custard and jelly' mean in cockney rhyming slang?Which biscuit has half of its name on top of the cooker and the other half on the door?And 25 million of what drink are served by British Airways each year?We Brits can't get enough of a quiz. Stumped for office party chit-chat? Quiz. Midweek visit to the pub? Quiz. Stuck inside in pyjamas on a rainy night and in the mood to cause a big family argument? You got it - quiz.This book is correspondingly filled with questions on all things wonderfully and unequivocally British - you'll find all sorts of tickly teasers, complex conundrums, worrisome word searches and much more on topics ranging from our iconic weather to types of cake. Best enjoyed with a cup of tea and your favourite biscuit(s).***ANSWERS: Telly, Hobnob, buy the book and find out!***Praise for Very British Problems'Had us guffawing into our Earl Grey tea' Bella'My favourite twitter account at the moment is Very British Problems (@soverybritish) . . . it makes me laugh out loud' Tom Hiddleston'Hilarious' Daily Express'Temple pays affectionate and comic homage to the sheer quirkiness of being British' Good Book Guide
The Very British Problems Quiz Book
by Rob TempleWhat does 'custard and jelly' mean in cockney rhyming slang?Which biscuit has half of its name on top of the cooker and the other half on the door?And 25 million of what drink are served by British Airways each year?We Brits can't get enough of a quiz. Stumped for office party chit-chat? Quiz. Midweek visit to the pub? Quiz. Stuck inside in pyjamas on a rainy night and in the mood to cause a big family argument? You got it - quiz.This book is correspondingly filled with questions on all things wonderfully and unequivocally British - you'll find all sorts of tickly teasers, complex conundrums, worrisome word searches and much more on topics ranging from our iconic weather to types of cake. Best enjoyed with a cup of tea and your favourite biscuit(s).***ANSWERS: Telly, Hobnob, buy the book and find out!***Praise for Very British Problems'Had us guffawing into our Earl Grey tea' Bella'My favourite twitter account at the moment is Very British Problems (@soverybritish) . . . it makes me laugh out loud' Tom Hiddleston'Hilarious' Daily Express'Temple pays affectionate and comic homage to the sheer quirkiness of being British' Good Book Guide
The Very Fairy Follows Her Heart
by Julie Andrews Emma Walton HamiltonIt's Valentine's Day, one of Geraldine's favorite times of year! She gets out her very best glitter to make cards for her family and friends at school, trying extra hard to think of ways to showcase all of their special qualities. But when Gerry gets to school and realizes she accidentally took a folder of Daddy's work papers instead of the cards she worked so hard on - oh no! - she can't help but be disappointed. Thankfully, her teacher helps her find an extra special way to celebrate the inner sparkle of each of her friends. Another heartwarming Very Fairy Princess adventure from bestselling mother-daughter team Julie Andrews and Emma Walton Hamilton, beautifully illustrated by Christine Davenier.
The Very Fairy Princess
by Julie Andrews Emma Walton HamiltonDo you believe in fairies? Geraldine does . . . And though her family and friends don't, Gerry knows for certain that she is one. In fact, she is a VERY fairy princess! From morning to night, Gerry does everything that fairy princesses do: she dresses in royal attire and practices her flying skills, and she is always on the lookout for problems to solve. But it isn't all pink and proper--as every real-life fairy princess knows, dirty fingernails and scabby knees are just one price you pay for a perfect day! From the bestselling mother-daughter team of Julie Andrews and Emma Walton Hamilton comes a joyful story about believing in yourself and sharing your unique inner SPARKLE.
The Very Little Princess
by Marion Dane BauerWhen she goes to her grandmother's house for the first time, Zoey finds a tiny china doll that comes alive in her hands and believes that she is a princess and that Zoey is her servant.
The Very Little Princess: Rose's Story (A Stepping Stone Book(TM))
by Marion Dane Bauer Elizabeth SaylesIn a classic storyteller's voice, Newbery Honor recipient Marion Dane Bauer tells a tale of friendship, family, and fitting in that recalls The Doll People, Rumer Godden, and Hitty, Her First Hundred Years.Rose is a wild child. She doesn't care what her mother or teacher or schoolmates say--she does what she wants. When she finds a delicate china doll in the attic, she takes it. Then the doll comes to life in her hand. She's loud, obnoxious, selfishly bossy, and claims that she's a princess and Rose is her servant. But she's also tiny and fragile. She needs Rose to keep her safe. And maybe Rose needs Princess Regina, too.From the Hardcover edition.
The Very Long Game: 25 Case Studies on the Global State of Defense AI (Contributions to Security and Defence Studies)
by Joseph Verbovszky Heiko Borchert Torben SchützThis open access book is the outcome of a unique multinational effort organized by the Hamburg-based Defense AI Observatory (DAIO) to portray the current state of affairs regarding the use of artificial intelligence (AI) by armed forces around the world. The contributions span a diverse range of geostrategic contexts by providing in-depth case studies on Australia, Canada, China, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, India, Iran, Israel, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Russia, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan, Turkey, Ukraine, the UK, and the United States. The book does not speculate about the future implications of AI on armed forces, but rather discusses how armed forces are currently exploring the potential of this emerging technology. By adopting a uniform analytical framework, each case study discusses how armed forces view defense AI; how they are developing AI-enhanced solutions, adapting existing structures and processes, and funding their defense AI endeavors; to what extent defense AI is already fielded and operated; and how soldiers and officers are being trained to work with AI.
The Viceroys
by Franco Moretti Archibald Colquhoun Federico De RobertoA lost literary classic, written in 1894, The Viceroys is one of the most acclaimed masterworks of Italian realism. The novel follows three generations of the aristocratic Uzeda family as it struggles to hold on to power in the face of the cataclysmic changes rocking Sicily. As Garibaldi's triumphs move Italy toward unification, the Uzedas try every means to retain their position. De Roberto's satirical and mordant pen depicts a cast of upper-class schemers, headed by the old matriarch, Donna Teresa, and exemplified by her arrogant and totally unscrupulous son, Consalvo, who rises to political eminence through lip service, double-dealing, and hypocrisy. The Viceroys is a vast dramatic panorama: a new world fighting to shrug off the viciousness and iniquities of the old.From the Trade Paperback edition.
The Victims of Democracy: Malcolm X and the Black Revolution
by Eugene Victor WolfensteinThis title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1981.
The Victims of Terrorism: An Assessment of Their Influence and Growing Role in Policy, Legislation, and the Private Sector
by Bruce Hoffman Anna-Britt KasupskiOrganized groups of victims' families and friends have emerged since September 11, 2001, to become a powerful voice in U.S. counter-terrorist policy and legislation. These groups were remarkably successful in getting the 9/11 Commission established and in getting the commission's most important recommendations enacted. This report documents these groups and compares them to groups formed in response to other terrorist attacks.
The Victor's Crown of Glory: True, Miraculous Stories of God at Work in the War-Torn Middle East and North Africa
by Dorcas Sharp Hoover John Samara Ananias HouseCan the church in the Middle East and North Africa survive the ravages of radical Islamic terrorists, or should the believers flee?What happens when a sheik shouts &“Allahu Akbar&” during the pastor&’s sermon?Whose voice did the ISIS captive hear in the prison cell?What was the significance of the Man in white&’s message to the Muslim family?What is the outcome when ISIS wives demand to live with the Christian families?Will the radicals hang the young pastor they kidnapped, blindfolded, and beat?The Victor&’s Crown of Glorytakes the reader to the frontlines of the battle in the Middle East where God&’s miraculous power is displayed in the midst of evil. Stories of God at work in the 21st Century feel as if they come straight from the book of Acts. Gripping accounts showcase daring, modern day heroes of the faith risking all to follow Jesus in the face of radical ISIS terrorism, kidnappings, bombs, secret police, and imprisonment. The book is filled with heartwarming eyewitness accounts of miracles of God at work in the midst of the darkest, most dangerous of circumstances. From the epicenter of Middle Eastern conflict, refugee stories depict Jesus showing up to care about those who have lost everything. He is reaching out to Muslims, and they are responding in unprecedented numbers. These first-hand accounts include a biography of the courageous, resilient Syrian pastor whose life is fraught with danger, who lives with his ear to the heartbeat of God, and for whom miracles are more common than the falling barrel bombs. Eyewitness accounts uplift and encourage, strengthening the reader&’s faith that God will be present in their own challenging circumstances. This is a hope-filled story of triumph on the frontlines of a fierce battle.
The Victory Lab: The Secret Science of Winning Campaigns
by Sasha IssenbergUPDATED FOR THE 2016 ELECTIONThe book Politico calls "Moneyball for politics" shows how cutting-edge social science and analytics are reshaping the modern political campaign.Renegade thinkers are crashing the gates of a venerable American institution, shoving aside its so-called wise men and replacing them with a radical new data-driven order. We've seen it in sports, and now in The Victory Lab, journalist Sasha Issenberg tells the hidden story of the analytical revolution upending the way political campaigns are run in the 21st century. The Victory Lab follows the academics and maverick operatives rocking the war room and re-engineering a high-stakes industry previously run on little more than gut instinct and outdated assumptions. Armed with research from behavioural psychology and randomized experiments that treat voters as unwitting guinea pigs, the smartest campaigns now believe they know who you will vote for even before you do. Issenberg tracks these fascinating techniques--which include cutting edge persuasion experiments, innovative ways to mobilize voters, heavily researched electioneering methods--and shows how our most important figures, such as Barack Obama and Mitt Romney, are putting them to use with surprising skill and alacrity. Provocative, clear-eyed and energetically reported, The Victory Lab offers iconoclastic insights into political marketing, human decision-making, and the increasing power of analytics.
The Vienna Meeting Of The Conference On Security And Cooperation In Europe, 1986-1989: A Turning Point In East-west Relations
by Stefan LehneThis volume focuses on the third Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE) Follow-Up Meeting which took place in Vienna from November 1986 to January 1989 against the background of dynamic developments in Eastern Europe.