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The Wars of Afghanistan
by Peter TomsenThis revelatory, unprecedented, insiderOCOs account of AfghanistanOCOs history since the 1970s, and of U. S. involvement, is indispensable reading for anyone concerned about the current war"
The Wars of Afghanistan: Messianic Terrorism, Tribal Conflicts, and the Failures of Great Powers
by Peter TomsenAs Ambassador and Special Envoy on Afghanistan from 1989 to 1992, Peter Tomsen has had close relationships with Afghan leaders and has dealt with senior Taliban, warlords, and religious leaders involved in the region's conflicts over the last two decades. Now Tomsen draws on a rich trove of never-before-published material to shed new light on the American involvement in the long and continuing Afghan war. This book offers a deeply informed perspective on how Afghanistan's history as a "shatter zone" for foreign invaders and its tribal society have shaped the modern Afghan narrative. It brings to life the appallingly misinformed secret operations by foreign intelligence agencies, including the Soviet NKVD and KGB, the Pakistani ISI, and the CIA. American policy makers, Tomsen argues, still do not understand Afghanistan; nor do they appreciate how the CIA's covert operations and the Pentagon's military strategy have strengthened extremism in the country. At this critical time, he shows how the U.S. and the coalition it leads can assist the region back to peace and stability.
Wars of Law: Unintended Consequences in the Regulation of Armed Conflict
by Tanisha M. FazalIn Wars of Law, Tanisha M. Fazal assesses the unintended consequences of the proliferation of the laws of war for the commencement, conduct, and conclusion of wars over the course of the past one hundred fifty years.Fazal outlines three main arguments: early laws of war favored belligerents, but more recent additions have constrained them; this shift may be attributable to a growing divide between lawmakers and those who must comply with international humanitarian law; and lawmakers have been consistently inattentive to how rebel groups might receive these laws. By using the laws of war strategically, Fazal suggests, belligerents in both interstate and civil wars relate those laws to their big-picture goals. Why have states stopped issuing formal declarations of war? Why have states stopped concluding formal peace treaties? Why are civil wars especially likely to end in peace treaties today? In addressing such questions, Fazal provides a lively and intriguing account of the implications of the laws of war.
Wars of Terror
by Gabriele MarranciAnalyzing the role of rhetoric and ideology in the western ‘war on terror’ and Islamic ‘jihad’ in the aftermath of 9/11, Gabriele Marranci shows that we are not experiencing a ‘clash of civilizations’ but a clash among ‘civilizers’ who believe they have the power to define how to be human. Seeing themselves as ‘under attack’ from a globalizing world that threatens to dilute their identity and very existence, both sides employ a civilizational rhetoric to support its recourse to political violence. Examining why some individuals are radicalized to take violent action while the majority are not, the author compares the case of self-identified crusader Anders Breivik with an example from his own fieldwork. He shows that emotions such as indignation, sense of injustice and reaction to the killing of civilians play an important role in underpinning violent acts – as do the views presented by the ‘civilizers’ on the other side. Over time, this leads to ever-greater escalation as one side calls for more jihad and the other for greater anti-terrorism measures, drone attacks and bombings. Based on twelve years of research and fieldwork in western countries as well as South and Southeast Asia, Wars of Terror shows the impact labels, stigma, conspiracy theories and stereotypes have in maintaining this ongoing global conflict. A fascinating anthropological study which makes a vital contribution to our understanding of one of the most important issues of our time.
Wars of the 21st Century: New Threats, New Fears
by Ignacio Ramonet Julie WarkIgnacio Ramonet - Europe's Noam Chomsky - examines the post-9/11 world, offering a concise, unforgiving analysis of the fundamental global issues of today. Ramonet, editor of the prestigious Le Monde Diplomatique, dissects the phenomenon of neo-liberal globalisation and the recent US-led wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Kosovo and elsewhere, arguing that in these times of planetary social war, civil society must reclaim its place as the key protagonist on the international political stage.
The Wars of the Roosevelts: The Ruthless Rise of America's Greatest Political Family
by William J. MannThe award-winning author presents a provocative, thoroughly modern revisionist biographical history of one of America’s greatest and most influential families—the Roosevelts—exposing heretofore unknown family secrets and detailing complex family rivalries with his signature cinematic flair.Drawing on previously hidden historical documents and interviews with the long-silent "illegitimate" branch of the family, William J. Mann paints an elegant, meticulously researched, and groundbreaking group portrait of this legendary family. Mann argues that the Roosevelts’ rise to power and prestige was actually driven by a series of intense personal contest that at times devolved into blood sport. His compelling and eye-opening masterwork is the story of a family at war with itself, of social Darwinism at its most ruthless—in which the strong devoured the weak and repudiated the inconvenient. Mann focuses on Eleanor Roosevelt, who, he argues, experienced this brutality firsthand, witnessing her Uncle Theodore cruelly destroy her father, Elliott—his brother and bitter rival—for political expediency. Mann presents a fascinating alternate picture of Eleanor, contending that this "worshipful niece" in fact bore a grudge against TR for the rest of her life, and dares to tell the truth about her intimate relationships without obfuscations, explanations, or labels.Mann also brings into focus Eleanor’s cousins, TR’s children, whose stories propelled the family rivalry but have never before been fully chronicled, as well as her illegitimate half-brother, Elliott Roosevelt Mann, who inherited his family’s ambition and skill without their name and privilege. Growing up in poverty just miles from his wealthy relatives, Elliott Mann embodied the American Dream, rising to middle-class prosperity and enjoying one of the very few happy, long-term marriages in the Roosevelt saga. For the first time, The Wars of the Roosevelts also includes the stories of Elliott’s daughter and grandchildren, and never-before-seen photographs from their archives.Deeply psychological and finely rendered, illustrated with sixteen pages of black-and-white photographs, The Wars of the Roosevelts illuminates not only the enviable strengths but also the profound shame of this remarkable and influential family.
The Wars of the Roses: Politics and the Constitution in England, 1437-1509 (Cambridge Medieval Textbooks)
by Christine CarpenterThe Wars of the Roses was a period of major crisis in English politics and in the lives of the English landowning classes. This book attempts to explain why the Wars occurred, and with what results, by placing them in the context of the ruling classes' expectations of kingship and governance at that time. The book draws on a large amount of detailed work written over the past twenty-five years on local and national politics, to present a coherent synthesis of what can seem a baffling and incoherent period. This is a new interpretation of English politics during the extended period of political crisis beginning with the majority of Henry VI in c. 1437 and lasting at least up to the accession of Henry VIII in 1509.
The Wars of the Roses
by Anthony Cheetham Antonia FraserEach of these lavishly illustrated books serves up a brief and manageable portion of the Fraser-edited and much-touted Lives of the Kings and Queens of England. A set of six jewels for Fraser's crown.
The Wars of the Roses: The Fall of the Plantagenets and the Rise of the Tudors
by Dan JonesThe author of the New York Times bestseller The Plantagenets chronicles the next chapter in British history--the historical backdrop for Game of ThronesThe crown of England changed hands five times over the course of the fifteenth century, as two branches of the Plantagenet dynasty fought to the death for the right to rule. In this riveting follow-up to The Plantagenets, celebrated historian Dan Jones describes how the longest-reigning British royal family tore itself apart until it was finally replaced by the Tudors.Some of the greatest heroes and villains of history were thrown together in these turbulent times, from Joan of Arc to Henry V, whose victory at Agincourt marked the high point of the medieval monarchy, and Richard III, who murdered his own nephews in a desperate bid to secure his stolen crown. This was a period when headstrong queens and consorts seized power and bent men to their will. With vivid descriptions of the battles of Towton and Bosworth, where the last Plantagenet king was slain, this dramatic narrative history revels in bedlam and intrigue. It also offers a long-overdue corrective to Tudor propaganda, dismantling their self-serving account of what they called the Wars of the Roses.
The Wars of the Roses: The Wars Of The Roses
by Alison WeirLancaster and York. For much of the fifteenth century, these two families were locked in battle for control of the British monarchy. Kings were murdered and deposed. Armies marched on London. Old noble names were ruined while rising dynasties seized power and lands. The war between the royal House of Lancaster and York, the longest and most complex in British history, profoundly altered the course of the monarchy. In The Wars of the Roses, Alison Weir reconstructs this conflict with the same dramatic flair and impeccable research that she brought to her highly praised The Princes in the Tower.The first battle erupted in 1455, but the roots of the conflict reached back to the dawn of the fifteenth century, when the corrupt, hedonistic Richard II was sadistically murdered, and Henry IV, the first Lancastrian king, seized England's throne. Both Henry IV and his son, the cold warrior Henry V, ruled England ably, if not always wisely--but Henry VI proved a disaster, both for his dynasty and his kingdom. Only nine months old when his father's sudden death made him king, Henry VI became a tormented and pathetic figure, weak, sexually inept, and prey to fits of insanity. The factional fighting that plagued his reign escalated into bloody war when Richard Plantagenet, Duke of York, laid claim to the throne that was rightfully his--and backed up his claim with armed might.Alison Weir brings brilliantly to life both the war itself and the historic figures who fought it on the great stage of England. Here are the queens who changed history through their actions--the chic, unconventional Katherine of Valois, Henry V's queen; the ruthless, social-climbing Elizabeth Wydville; and, most crucially, Margaret of Anjou, a far tougher and more powerful character than her husband,, Henry VI, and a central figure in the Wars of the Roses.Here, too, are the nobles who carried the conflict down through the generations--the Beauforts, the bastard descendants of John of Gaunt, Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, known to his contemporaries as "the Kingmaker"; and the Yorkist King, Edward IV, a ruthless charmer who pledged his life to cause the downfall of the House of Lancaster.The Wars of the Roses is history at its very best--swift and compelling, rich in character, pageantry, and drama, and vivid in its re-creation of an astonishing, dangerous, and often grim period of history. Alison Weir, one of the foremost authorities on the British royal family, demonstrates here that she is also one of the most dazzling stylists writing history today.
The Wars of Watergate
by Stanley I. KutlerThis is the first truly comprehensive history of the political explosion that shook America in the 1970s, and whose aftereffects are still being felt in public life today. Drawing on contemporary documents, personal interviews, memoirs, and a vast quantity of new material, Stanley Kutler shows how President Nixon's obstruction of justice from the White House capped a pattern of abuse that marked his entire tenure in office. He makes clear how the drama of Watergate is rooted not only in the tumultuous events and social tensions of the 1960s but also in the personality and history of Richard Nixon. Kutler examines Nixon's confrontations with the institutions he feared and resented--the Congress, the federal agencies, the news media, the Washington establishment--and how they mobilized to topple the President. He considers the arguments of Nixon's defenders, who insisted that Watergate was a minor affair, and the contention that the President did nothing worse than his predecessors had done. He offers compelling portraits of the President's men--H. R. Haldeman, John Ehrlichman, John Mitchell, Charles Colson, John Dean; of his adversaries--Judge John Sirica, the U.S. Attorneys, Special Prosecutors Archibald Cox and Leon Jaworski; and of the legislators who would stand in judgment--Sam Ervin and Peter Rodino. In the course of his engrossing narrative, Stanley Kutler illuminates the constitutional crisis brought on by Watergate. He shows how Watergate diminished the moral level of American political life, and illustrates its continuing detrimental impact on the credibility, authority, and prestige of the Presidency in particular and the government in general. His book underlines for the American electorate the significance of Watergate for the future of our political ethics and the maintenance of our constitutional system, as well as for the place of Richard Nixon in American history.
The Wars on Terrorism and Iraq: Human Rights, Unilateralism and US Foreign Policy
by Thomas G. Weiss Margaret E. Crahan John Goering'If I had the power to do so, I would make this book compulsory reading for all who exercise political power in our world today! Instead, I will keep my fingers crossed that it will be read by as many members of Congress and of the current US administration as possible, and by a wide cross-section of policy analysts, diplomats, academics and human rights defenders.' - Mary Robinson, Former UN High Commissioner for Human RightsWars on Terrorism and Iraq provides a timely and critical analysis of the impact of the wars on terrorism and Iraq on human rights particularly internationally, as well as related tensions between unilateralism and multilateralism in US foreign policy. The distinguished contributors examine the consequences for international relations and world order of the traditional standard bearer for human rights and democracy (the United States) appearing not to be championing the rule of law and negotiated conflict resolution. The authors also suggest effective policies to promote greater fulfilment of human rights in order to achieve peaceful accord within nations, and stability internationally.
Wars, Revolutions and Dictatorships: Studies of Historical and Contemporary Problems from a Comparative Viewpoint
by Stanislav AndreskiFirst Published in 1992. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company. We can define war as organised fighting between groups of individuals belonging to the same species but occupying distinct territories, thus distinguishing war from fights between isolated individuals as well as from struggles between groups living intermingled within the same territory, which can be classified as rebellions, revolutions, riots and so on.The articles included in this volume were written in the 1970s and 1980s and published in very diverse journals and proceedings of conferences, in one case only in German.
The Warsaw Ghetto in American Art and Culture
by Samantha BaskindOn the eve of Passover, April 19, 1943, Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto staged a now legendary revolt against their Nazi oppressors. Since that day, the deprivation and despair of life in the ghetto and the dramatic uprising of its inhabitants have captured the American cultural imagination. The Warsaw Ghetto in American Art and Culture looks at how this place and its story have been remembered in fine art, film, television, radio, theater, fiction, poetry, and comics.Samantha Baskind explores seventy years’ worth of artistic representations of the ghetto and revolt to understand why they became and remain touchstones in the American mind. Her study includes iconic works such as Leon Uris’s best-selling novel Mila 18, Roman Polanski’s Academy Award–winning film The Pianist, and Rod Serling’s teleplay In the Presence of Mine Enemies, as well as accounts in the American Jewish Yearbook and the New York Times, the art of Samuel Bak and Arthur Szyk, and the poetry of Yala Korwin and Charles Reznikoff. In probing these works, Baskind pursues key questions of Jewish identity: What links artistic representations of the ghetto to the Jewish diaspora? How is art politicized or depoliticized? Why have Americans made such a strong cultural claim on the uprising? Vibrantly illustrated and vividly told, The Warsaw Ghetto in American Art and Culture shows the importance of the ghetto as a site of memory and creative struggle and reveals how this seminal event and locale served as a staging ground for the forging of Jewish American identity.
The Warsaw Ghetto in American Art and Culture
by Samantha BaskindOn the eve of Passover, April 19, 1943, Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto staged a now legendary revolt against their Nazi oppressors. Since that day, the deprivation and despair of life in the ghetto and the dramatic uprising of its inhabitants have captured the American cultural imagination. The Warsaw Ghetto in American Art and Culture looks at how this place and its story have been remembered in fine art, film, television, radio, theater, fiction, poetry, and comics.Samantha Baskind explores seventy years’ worth of artistic representations of the ghetto and revolt to understand why they became and remain touchstones in the American mind. Her study includes iconic works such as Leon Uris’s best-selling novel Mila 18, Roman Polanski’s Academy Award–winning film The Pianist, and Rod Serling’s teleplay In the Presence of Mine Enemies, as well as accounts in the American Jewish Yearbook and the New York Times, the art of Samuel Bak and Arthur Szyk, and the poetry of Yala Korwin and Charles Reznikoff. In probing these works, Baskind pursues key questions of Jewish identity: What links artistic representations of the ghetto to the Jewish diaspora? How is art politicized or depoliticized? Why have Americans made such a strong cultural claim on the uprising?Vibrantly illustrated and vividly told, The Warsaw Ghetto in American Art and Culture shows the importance of the ghetto as a site of memory and creative struggle and reveals how this seminal event and locale served as a staging ground for the forging of Jewish American identity.
Warsaw Pact Intervention in the Third World: Aid and Influence in the Cold War
by Philip E. Muehlenbeck; Natalia TelepnevaBuilding upon recent scholarship and working from a diverse range of new archival sources, contributors study the diplomacy of the eastern and central European communist states to reveal their myriad motivations and goals. This work, the first revisionist review of the role of the junior members as a whole, will be of interest to all scholars of the Cold War, whatever their geographical focus.
The Warsaw Protocol: A Novel (Cotton Malone #15)
by Steve BerryIn New York Times bestseller Steve Berry’s latest Cotton Malone adventure, one by one the seven precious relics of the Arma Christi, the weapons of Christ, are disappearing from sanctuaries across the world. <P><P>After former Justice Department agent Cotton Malone witnesses the theft of one of them, he learns from his old boss, Stephanie Nelle, that a private auction is about to be held where incriminating information on the president of Poland will be offered to the highest bidder—blackmail that both the United States and Russia want, but for vastly different reasons. <P><P>The price of admission to that auction is one of the relics, so Malone is first sent to a castle in Poland to steal the Holy Lance, a thousand-year-old spear sacred to not only Christians but to the Polish people, and then on to the auction itself. <P><P>But nothing goes as planned and Malone is thrust into a bloody battle between three nations over information that, if exposed, could change the balance of power in Europe. From the tranquil canals of Bruges, to the elegant rooms of Wawel Castle, to deep beneath the earth into an ancient Polish salt mine, Malone is caught in the middle of a deadly war—the outcome of which turns on a secret known as the Warsaw Protocol. <P><P><b>A New York Times Bestseller</b>
Wartime Origins and the Future United Nations (Global Institutions)
by Thomas G. Weiss Dan PleschThe creation of the UN system during World War II is a largely unknown or forgotten story among contemporary decision makers, international relations specialists, and policy analysts. This book aims to recover the wartime history of the United Nations and explore how the forgotten past can shed light on a possible and more desirable future. To achieve this, each chapter takes three snapshots: "Then," the imaginative and transnational thinking about solutions to post-war problems demonstrated a realization that victory in WW II required an intergovernmental "system" with enough power and competence to work—that is, the UN was not established as a liberal plaything and public relations ploy but rather as a vital necessity for post-war order and prosperity. "Now," which often seems a pale imitation of wartime thinking that nonetheless reflects a growing and widespread recognition of the fundamental disconnect between the nature of trans-boundary problems and current solutions seen as feasible by 193 UN member states. "Next steps," or the collective wisdom about the range of new thinking and new institutions that, in fact, may well have antecedents in wartime thinking and experimentation and could be labelled blue-prints for a "third generation" of intergovernmental organizations. This work will be essential reading for all students and scholars of the United Nations, International Organizations and Global Governance.
The Wartime President: Executive Influence and the Nationalizing Politics of Threat (Chicago Ser. On International And Domestic Institutions Ser.)
by William G. Howell Saul P. Jackman Jon C. Rogowski“It is the nature of war to increase the executive at the expense of the legislative authority,” wrote Alexander Hamilton in the Federalist Papers. The balance of power between Congress and the president has been a powerful thread throughout American political thought since the time of the Founding Fathers. And yet, for all that has been written on the topic, we still lack a solid empirical or theoretical justification for Hamilton’s proposition. For the first time, William G. Howell, Saul P. Jackman, and Jon C. Rogowski systematically analyze the question. Congress, they show, is more likely to defer to the president’s policy preferences when political debates center on national rather than local considerations. Thus, World War II and the post-9/11 wars in Afghanistan and Iraq significantly augmented presidential power, allowing the president to enact foreign and domestic policies that would have been unattainable in times of peace. But, contrary to popular belief, there are also times when war has little effect on a president’s influence in Congress. The Vietnam and Gulf Wars, for instance, did not nationalize our politics nearly so much, and presidential influence expanded only moderately. Built on groundbreaking research, The Wartime President offers one of the most significant works ever written on the wartime powers presidents wield at home.
A Wartime Princess (My Story)
by Valerie WildingIn 1939, on a royal tour of Dartmouth Naval College, Princess Elizabeth (later Queen Elizabeth II) meets the dashing Prince Philip of Greece. Immediately they begin a correspondence, as war breaks out across Europe, where Philip is sent to serve in the Navy. Elizabeth convinces her father the King, despite his reservations, to allow her to sign up to the war effort and joins the Women's Auxiliary Territorial Service. Serving her country, driving trucks and fixing cars, Elizabeth wonders, will she ever see her prince again...?
Wartime Shanghai
by Wen-Hsin YehWartime Shanghai is a lively account of the political and social situation between 1937 and 1946. It explores the deep political rivalries between Nationalist groups, the intrigue of international espionage and how Shanghai society, from European administrators to Chinese film makers, collaborated with, or resisted, the Japanese occupation.Drawing on archival and published sources in English, French, Chinese and Japanese, the authors show the diversity of groups and communities that made up wartime Shanghai. This book is an engaging collection of essays written on an exciting, but often neglected episode of Chinese history.
Warum Hunde?: Die erstaunliche Geschichte des besten Freunds des Menschen – ein historischer, wissenschaftlicher, philosophischer und politischer Streifzug
by John HomansWas Hunde und Menschen füreinander sind In Warum Hunde? erkundet John Homans die besondere Rolle, die Hunde in unserer Welt spielen. Über Jahrtausende hinweg entwickelte sich der Hund zuerst vom Wildtier zum Arbeitstier und dann zu einem fast ebenbürtigen Mitglied des menschlichen Sozialgefüges. Heute sind Hunde aus unserem Alltag nicht mehr wegzudenken. Sie sind treue Begleiter und Helfer, ein bedeutender Wirtschaftsfaktor und beliebte Objekte wissenschaftlicher Untersuchungen zu Themen wie Tierhaltung, Evolution und Kognition. Homans beschreibt nicht nur, warum Hunde auf Menschen so anziehend wirken und in welcher Weise sie sogar unserer Gesundheit zuträglich sind, sondern geht auch der Frage nach, warum sich die Beziehung zwischen Mensch und Hund im letzten Jahrhundert so rasant verändert hat. Wie schafften es Hunde innerhalb kürzester Zeit, unsere Familien, unsere Häuser und manchmal gar unsere Betten zu erobern und einen milliardenschweren Wirtschaftszweig entstehen zu lassen?[Ein] hinreißendes, informatives Buch, zugleich eine Darstellung der jüngsten Forschungsergebnisse zum Thema Hund und der Erinnerungen von Homans an die Jahre mit seiner Mischlingshündin Stella … bewegend und rundum gelungen. New York Times Book ReviewEine bemerkenswerte Chronik jener Reise, die den Haushund über Jahrtausende hinweg direkt in unsere Herzen führte, geschrieben mit viel Gefühl und zugleich wissenschaftlich fundiert … Eine wunderbare, fesselnde Lektüre. The Atlantic_____Der Hund als Teil der menschlichen KulturOhne Stella gäbe es dieses Buch nicht. Der Labradormischling aus dem Tierheim inspirierte John Homans dazu, sich in die komplexe Welt der Hunde mit all ihren Facetten zu vertiefen, von der Stammesgeschichte bis zur Tierrechtsbewegung, von Zuchterfolgen und Designerhunden bis hin zum steten Wandel der Beziehung zwischen Mensch und Hund.Homans hatte das Tierheim aus denselben Gründen aufgesucht wie viele andere Menschen auch – ihm waren Hunde aus seiner Kindheit vertraut, er suchte einen Gefährten für seinen kleinen Sohn und vielleicht auch einen Vorwand, um ausgedehnte Streifzüge durch sein Viertel zu unternehmen. Schnell fügt sich Stella in den Tagesablauf der Familie ein, und mehr noch: Sie wird, anders als die Hunde seiner Jugend, wie ein vollwertiges Familienmitglied behandelt. Tierarztrechnungen in astronomischer Höhe, Diskussionen über richtige Ernährung und ausreichende Bewegung sowie die Sorge, ob sie wohl glücklich ist – all dies wirft die Frage auf, warum sich das Leben von Hunden in unserer Gesellschaft so verändert hat, wo doch die Hofhunde aus Homans‘ Kindheit offenbar auch ganz zufrieden gewesen waren.Der tiefgreifende kulturelle Wandel in der Beziehung zwischen Mensch und Hund und seine Hintergründe sind das Thema dieses Buches. John Homans hat dafür Gespräche mit Wissenschaftlern, Tierschützern, Züchtern und Trainern geführt und aktuelle Forschungsergebnisse aus ganz unterschiedlichen Disziplinen zusammengetragen. Hunde sind für viele von uns nicht zuletzt deshalb so faszinierend, weil sie mit einer Pfote in der Tier- und mit einer in der Menschenwelt stehen. So können sie uns eine Menge über Liebe, Tod und Moral beibringen – und da sie uns nah und dennoch so anders sind, auch über das Menschsein.
Warwick the Kingmaker: Politics, Power and Fame
by A. J. PollardWarwick the Kingmaker was a fifteenth-century celebrity; a military hero, self-publicist and populist. For twelve years he was the arbiter of English politics, not hesitating to set up and put down kings. In the dominant strand of recent English historical writing, Warwick is condemned as a man who hindered the development of the modern state; in earlier centuries he was admired as an exemplar of true nobility who defied the centralising tendencies of the crown. A. J. Pollard offers a fresh assessment, to which neither approach is entirely appropriate, of the man whose nickname has become synonymous with power broking.
Was America Founded as a Christian Nation: A Historical Introduction
by John FeaFea offers an even-handed primer on whether America was founded to be a Christian nation, as many evangelicals assert, or a secular state, as others contend.
Was America Founded as a Christian Nation?: A Historical Introduction
by John FeaJohn Fea offers a thoroughly researched, evenhanded primer on whether America was founded to be a Christian nation, as many evangelicals assert, or a secular state, as others contend. He approaches the title's question from a historical perspective, helping readers see past the emotional rhetoric of today to the recorded facts of our past. This updated edition reports on the many issues that have arisen in recent years concerning religion's place in American society—including the Supreme Court decision on same-sex marriage, contraception and the Affordable Care Act, and state-level restrictions on abortion—and demonstrates how they lead us to the question of whether the United States was or is a Christian nation. Fea relates the history of these and other developments, pointing to the underlying questions of national religious identity inherent in each. <P><P>"We live in a sound-bite culture that makes it difficult to have any sustained dialogue on these historical issues," Fea writes in his preface. "It is easy for those who argue that America is a Christian nation (and those who do not) to appear on radio or television programs, quote from one of the founders or one of the nation's founding documents, and sway people to their positions. These kinds of arguments, which can often be contentious, do nothing to help us unravel a very complicated historical puzzle about the relationship between Christianity and America's founding."