Download or read book The Desktop Digest of Despots and Dictators written by Gilbert Alter-Gilbert and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2013-01-01 with total page 255 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Desktop Digest of Dictators and Despots is a compendium and quick reference guide to history’s most notorious absolutist rulers and authoritarian regimes. In a handsome hardcover format, this handy encyclopedia of totalitarians is as informative as it is titillating, a lurid panorama of history’s most malignant autarchs with original full-color portraits and accompanying psychobiographical profiles. From pharaohs to ayatollahs, from Caesar to Hitler, here are fifty-three profiles of history’s most warped personalities and their shocking crimes. Roman Emperor Nero, who lit the roads to the Coliseum’s night games by lining them with human torches made of the burning bodies of crucified Christians Alfredo Stroessner, under whose administration Paraguay offered comfortable refuge to former Nazis while rifle-toting “sportsmen” flocked to the countryside on weekends to legally hunt Indians Idi Amin, the dictator of Uganda, where power outages at the capitol were a routine occurrence because the sluiceways at the nearby hydroelectric dam were clogged with the bodies of so many citizens executed in his torture cells that the pampered local disposal team—the crocodiles—couldn’t eat them fast enough The horrifying pageant of tyranny has trailed in its wake a vicious train of exploitation, intolerance and oppression—war, conquest, subjugation, slavery, imprisonment, torture and execution—which continues unabated to the present day. Dictators never disappoint when it comes to proving that absolute power corrupts absolutely. This is the perfect handbook for educators, armchair historians, and pop-culture pundits.
Download or read book The Worst of the Worst written by William N. Spencer and published by Xlibris Corporation. This book was released on 2021-12-01 with total page 465 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A look back at some of the worst despotic tyrants in our world's history. Perhaps by reading about their great egotistical mistakes we can prevent abominable history from repeating itself.
Download or read book Pipe Dreams written by Charles Baudelaire and published by Coyote Arts. This book was released on 2022-11-01 with total page 430 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From antiquity to the present, people have sought artificial paradise in the stimulations and insights afforded by the use of intoxicants. Famous literary figures have often been the first to experiment with little-known drugs, and to champion their unique fascination upon the human imagination. In this remarkable anthology, a dazzling array of authors, including H. G. Wells, Marie Corelli, Guy de Maupassant, Leo Tolstoy, Charles Dickens, Stephen Crane, Sadegh Hedayat, Santiago Dabove, Jean Cocteau, William James, Charles Baudelaire, Théophile Gautier, and a host of others from many cultures and historical periods, raids a pharmacopoeia containing ether, absinthe, morphine, hashish, opium, cocaine, heroin, alcohol, chloral hydrate, psilocybin, ayahuasca, carbon tetrachloride, LSD, amyl nitrate, ecstasy, and angel dust, in flights of descriptive prose of unparalleled suggestive power and visionary splendor.
Download or read book Justice and Its Surroundings written by Anthony De Jasay and published by Amagi Books. This book was released on 2002 with total page 366 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Libertarian (in the right-wing sense) political philosopher de Jasay presents 17 essays on his conception of justice and issues that he sees as surrounding the concept of justice: the state, the redistribution of income and wealth, the benefits and burdens between those who make collective choices and those who submit to them, the shaping of economic and social institutions so as to make them fit a unified ideology, and the problem of individual liberty. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR
Download or read book Imperial Hubris written by Michael Scheuer and published by Potomac Books, Inc.. This book was released on 2004-06-30 with total page 382 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Though U.S. leaders try to convince the world of their success in fighting al Qaeda, one anonymous member of the U.S. intelligence community would like to inform the public that we are, in fact, losing the war on terror. Further, until U.S. leaders recognize the errant path they have irresponsibly chosen, he says, our enemies will only grow stronger. According to the author, the greatest danger for Americans confronting the Islamist threat is to believe-at the urging of U.S. leaders-that Muslims attack us for what we are and what we think rather than for what we do. Blustering political rhetor.
Download or read book American Slavery as it is written by and published by . This book was released on 1839 with total page 228 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Hostage Brain written by Bruce S. McEwen and published by Rockefeller Univ. Press. This book was released on 1994 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Tocqueville and Democracy in the Internet Age written by C. Jon Delogu and published by . This book was released on 2020-10-09 with total page 326 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Tocqueville and Democracy in the Internet Age is an introduction to Alexis de Tocqueville (1805-1859) and his monumental two-volume study Democracy in America (1835, 1840) that pays particular attention to the critical conversation around Tocqueville and contemporary democracy. It attempts to help us think better about democracy, and also perhaps to live better, in the Internet Age. This work was published by Saint Philip Street Press pursuant to a Creative Commons license permitting commercial use. All rights not granted by the work's license are retained by the author or authors.
Download or read book Dictators Homes written by Peter York and published by Atlantic. This book was released on 2006 with total page 144 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: If our homes are an extension of our personalities then the interiors in Dictators' Homes provide evidence to substantiate the theory that these men and women were the world's most terrifying rulers. Featuring rare, jaw-dropping photographs of interiors that are now mostly (thankfully) destroyed, Peter York places each lair in its historical context leaving no tiger pelt unturned. From Saddam Hussein's private artwork and General Noriega's Christmas tree to the alarming tube and knob contraption in Ceausescu's en-suite bathroom no design detail is unexamined. The worlds' most famous Dictators are here. From Mussolini and Mobutu via Idi Amin, Lenin and Tito this book ensures that Dictators' crimes against good taste will no longer go unpunished.
Download or read book The End of the World written by Maria Manuel Lisboa and published by Open Book Publishers. This book was released on 2011 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Our fear of the world ending, like our fear of the dark, is ancient, deep-seated and perennial. It crosses boundaries of space and time, recurs in all human communities and finds expression in every aspect of cultural production - from pre-historic cave paintings to high-tech computer games. This volume examines historical and imaginary scenarios of apocalypse, the depiction of its likely triggers, and imagined landscapes in the aftermath of global destruction. Its discussion moves effortlessly from classic novels including Aldous Huxley's Brave New World, George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four and Margaret Atwood's Oryx and Crake, to blockbuster films such as Blade Runner, Armageddon and Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Lisboa also takes into account religious doctrine, scientific research and the visual arts to create a penetrating, multi-disciplinary study that provides profound insight into one of Western culture's most fascinating and enduring preoccupations.
Download or read book Owning the Olympics written by Monroe Price and published by University of Michigan Press. This book was released on 2009-12-10 with total page 426 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "A major contribution to the study of global events in times of global media. Owning the Olympics tests the possibilities and limits of the concept of 'media events' by analyzing the mega-event of the information age: the Beijing Olympics. . . . A good read from cover to cover." —Guobin Yang, Associate Professor, Asian/Middle Eastern Cultures & Sociology, Barnard College, Columbia University From the moment they were announced, the Beijing Games were a major media event and the focus of intense scrutiny and speculation. In contrast to earlier such events, however, the Beijing Games are also unfolding in a newly volatile global media environment that is no longer monopolized by broadcast media. The dramatic expansion of media outlets and the growth of mobile communications technology have changed the nature of media events, making it significantly more difficult to regulate them or control their meaning. This volatility is reflected in the multiple, well-publicized controversies characterizing the run-up to Beijing 2008. According to many Western commentators, the People's Republic of China seized the Olympics as an opportunity to reinvent itself as the "New China"---a global leader in economics, technology, and environmental issues, with an improving human-rights record. But China's maneuverings have also been hotly contested by diverse global voices, including prominent human-rights advocates, all seeking to displace the official story of the Games. Bringing together a distinguished group of scholars from Chinese studies, human rights, media studies, law, and other fields, Owning the Olympics reveals how multiple entities---including the Chinese Communist Party itself---seek to influence and control the narratives through which the Beijing Games will be understood. digitalculturebooks is an imprint of the University of Michigan Press and the Scholarly Publishing Office of the University of Michigan Library dedicated to publishing innovative and accessible work exploring new media and their impact on society, culture, and scholarly communication. Visit the website at www.digitalculture.org.
Download or read book Homo Deus written by Yuval Noah Harari and published by HarperCollins. This book was released on 2017-02-21 with total page 464 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Official U.S. edition with full color illustrations throughout. NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER Yuval Noah Harari, author of the critically-acclaimed New York Times bestseller and international phenomenon Sapiens, returns with an equally original, compelling, and provocative book, turning his focus toward humanity’s future, and our quest to upgrade humans into gods. Over the past century humankind has managed to do the impossible and rein in famine, plague, and war. This may seem hard to accept, but, as Harari explains in his trademark style—thorough, yet riveting—famine, plague and war have been transformed from incomprehensible and uncontrollable forces of nature into manageable challenges. For the first time ever, more people die from eating too much than from eating too little; more people die from old age than from infectious diseases; and more people commit suicide than are killed by soldiers, terrorists and criminals put together. The average American is a thousand times more likely to die from binging at McDonalds than from being blown up by Al Qaeda. What then will replace famine, plague, and war at the top of the human agenda? As the self-made gods of planet earth, what destinies will we set ourselves, and which quests will we undertake? Homo Deus explores the projects, dreams and nightmares that will shape the twenty-first century—from overcoming death to creating artificial life. It asks the fundamental questions: Where do we go from here? And how will we protect this fragile world from our own destructive powers? This is the next stage of evolution. This is Homo Deus. With the same insight and clarity that made Sapiens an international hit and a New York Times bestseller, Harari maps out our future.
Download or read book Using Power and Diplomacy to Deal with Rogue States written by Thomas H. Henriksen and published by Hoover Institution Press. This book was released on 1999 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The end of the cold war a decade ago has ushered in a greatly transformed international landscape. Instead of a pacific era of peace and political harmony, the world, and particularly the United States, has been confronted with a menacing challenge of rogue regimes whose propensity for violence is matched by their intentions to disrupt regional stability, contribute to outlaw behavior worldwide, or to possess weapons of mass destruction. Ruthless rogues also endanger American interests and citizens by their active or passive sponsorship of terrorism. If left unchecked, rogue states like Iraq, North Korea, Iran, Libya, and others will threaten innocent populations, undermine international norms, and spawn other pariah regimes, as the global order becomes tolerant of this political malignancy. As a major beneficiary of a global order of free markets, free trade, growing prosperity, and spreading democracy, the United States, the world's sole superpower, must take the lead in confronting rogue governments, even though our allies may balk from time to time. Specifically, American power should be used to enhance the credibility of our diplomacy. Law and diplomacy alone are unlikely to affect rogue dictators. They must be reinforced with power. Four broad policy options, which in most cases should be combined rather than implemented individually, can be applied: -Sanctions and isolation to achieve containment of and inflict economic damage on a rogue state -International courts and domestic prosecution to bring rogue criminals to justice -Shows of strength and armed interventions to coerce or eliminate rogue regimes -Support for opposition movements or covert operations to oust rogue figures Unless the United States addresses the challenge of rogue states with a combination of force and diplomacy, the new millennium will witness a widening of global anarchy, deteriorating progress toward economic development, and declining political reform. Dire consequences await the United States if it fails to react forcefully to international roguery.
Download or read book In Defense of Global Capitalism written by Johan Norberg and published by Cato Institute. This book was released on 2003 with total page 348 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Marshalling facts and the latest research findings, the author systematically refutes the adversaries of globalization, markets, and progress. This book will change the debate on globalization in this country and make believers of skeptics.
Download or read book A Diplomat s Handbook for Democracy Development Support written by Jeremy Kinsman and published by McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP. This book was released on 2016-10-17 with total page 468 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In recent decades, the conduct of international relations among and within states has been very considerably altered. Today, the content of these relations relies as much on international professional and civil society networks as it does on state-to-state transactions. The role of the Internet has been fundamental in widening communications opportunities for citizens and civil society, with a profound effect on democracy transition. In consequence, diplomacy has taken on a much more human and public face. Twenty-first century ambassadors and diplomats are learning to engage with civil societies, especially on the large themes of democratic change — an engagement that is often resisted by authoritarian regimes. A Diplomat’s Handbook for Democracy Development Support presents a wide variety of specific experiences of diplomats on the ground, identifying creative, human and material resources. More broadly, it is about the policy-making experience in capitals, as democratic states try to align national interests and democratic values. The Handbook also documents the increasingly prominent role of civil society as the essential building block for successful democratic transitions, with each case study examining specific national experiences in the aspiration for democratic and pluralistic governance, and lessons learned on all sides — for better or for worse. While each situation is different — presenting unique, unstructured problems and opportunities — a review of these experiences bears out the validity of the authors’ belief in the interdependence of democratic engagements, and provides practitioners with encouragement, counsel and a greater capacity to support democracy everywhere.
Download or read book Out Of America written by Keith B Richburg and published by Basic Books. This book was released on 2009-09-22 with total page 262 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Keith B. Richburg was an experienced and respected reporter who had paid his dues covering urban neighborhoods in Washington D.C., and won praise for his coverage of Southeast Asia. But nothing prepared him for the personal odyssey that he would embark upon when he was assigned to cover Africa. In this powerful book, Richburg takes the reader on an extraordinary journey that sweeps from Somalia to Rwanda to Zaire and finally to South Africa. He shows how he came to terms with the divide within himself: between his African racial heritage and his American cultural identity. Are these really my people? Am I truly an African-American? The answer, Richburg finds, after much soul-searching, is that no, he is not an African, but an American first and foremost. To those who romanticize Mother Africa as a black Valhalla, where blacks can walk with dignity and pride, he regrets that this is not the reality. He has been there and witnessed the killings, the repression, the false promises, and the horror. "Thank God my nameless ancestor, brought across the ocean in chains and leg irons, made it out alive," he concludes. "Thank God I am an American."
Download or read book 90 Minutes at Entebbe written by William Stevenson and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2015-01-06 with total page 277 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The incredible story of an Israeli mission that rescued 103 hostages from a hijacked jetliner. On June 27, 1976, Air France Flight 139 was hijacked by terrorists and flown to Entebbe Airport in Uganda. In the following agonizing days, Israeli passengers were singled out and held hostage. A week later on July 4, one hundred Israeli commandos raced 2,500 miles from Israel to Entebbe, landed in the middle of the night, and in a heart-stopping mission that lasted ninety minutes, killed all guerillas and freed 103 hostages. In captivating detail, Stevenson provides a fast-paced hour-by-hour narration from the hijacking to the final ninety-minute mission. In addition to discussing the incredible rescue itself, Stevenson also covers the political backdrop behind the hijacking, especially Ugandan President Idi Amin’s support for the hijackers, which marked one of the first times a leader of a nation had backed terrorist activities. An illustration of one nation’s undying spirit, heroism, and commitment to its people in the face of threat, Operation Thunderbolt has become a legendary antiterrorist tale. Although first written in 1976 (and published within weeks of the event), Stevenson’s account presents this act of terrorism in a way that is still relevant in our modern-day political climate. A factual account of what could easily be read as sensational fiction, 90 Minutes at Entebbe will inspire, encourage, and instill hope in all readers. Skyhorse Publishing, as well as our Arcade imprint, are proud to publish a broad range of books for readers interested in history--books about World War II, the Third Reich, Hitler and his henchmen, the JFK assassination, conspiracies, the American Civil War, the American Revolution, gladiators, Vikings, ancient Rome, medieval times, the old West, and much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.
