This oral history of the air war in Vietnam includes the stories of more than thirty pilots who all had one thing in common-after returning from Southeast Asia and separating from the service, they were hired as pilots by Western Airlines. As the chapters begin, Bruce Cowee tells his story and introduces us to each pilot. The interesting theme is that all of these men served in Southeast Asia and in most cases never knew each other until they came home and went to work for Western Airlines. Each of the pilots featured in this book is the real thing, and in an age of so many "Wannabees," it is reassuring to know that each of them was a pilot for Western Airlines and someone who Bruce worked with or knew professionally. The stories span a 9 year period, 1964 - 1973, and cover every aspect of the Air War in Southeast Asia. These 33 men represent only a small fraction of the Vietnam veterans hired as pilots by Western Airlines, but this book pays tribute to all of them.

This book comprehensively covers the social, political, cultural and economic aspects of this very important period of history when changes of far-reaching significance were taking place. These phenomena are best revealed in the columns of the newspapers of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, especially those of the Indian language newspapers. The book takes cognisance of the reporting in the language newspapers -- mostly in Hindi and Urdu -- which help us define and evaluate historical developments of the period. The editors and proprietors of the newspapers were often the leaders of the people; hence, when a threat to the colonial and imperialistic attitudes of the British was felt, the latter took punitive measures against them. The colonial and imperialistic British administration subverted the society, culture, politics and the economy of the province. The desire to rid the social evils in society were tinged with a desire at social control. Educational policies created divisiveness, both cultural and communal. The relationship between the tillers of the soil and the landowners was rather tenuous and tension between them gradually grew resulting in an unprecedented turmoil in the agrarian sector. The period witnessed a nascent national awareness developing into a full-fledged national movement of which the Pan-Islamic consciousness was an offshoot. Discords based on caste and communal consciousness and social discrepancies became the order of the day and soon newspapers became representative of the different socio-political permutations. All along the government fostered certain sections of the people, thus creating a loyalist bloc. Whether the evident divisiveness in all the spheres -- social, political, cultural or economic -- was a phenomenon inherent in the Indian consciousness or the creation of the colonial masters has been a question extensively debated upon by most historians. Uttar Pradesh during this sensitive period of history was a province with its own distinctive features which formed part and parcel of the national scenario.

The waves of Hindu conquests rolled onwards, and the aborigines submitted themselves to a higher civilization and a nobler creed. Rivers were crossed, forests were cleared, lands were reclaimed, wide wastes were people, and new countries hitherto aboriginal witnessed the rise of Hindu power and of Hindu religion. Where a few scanty settlers had penetrated at first, powerful colonies grew; where religious teachers had retired in seclusion, quiet villages and towns arose. Where a handful of merchants has made their way by some unknown river, boats plied up and down with valuable cargoes for a civilized population. from Chapter XVIII: Expansion of the Hindus First published in 1906, this classic nine-volume history of the nation of India places it among the storied lands of antiquity, alongside Egypt, China, and Mesopotamia. Edited by American academic ABRAHAM VALENTINE WILLIAMS JACKSON (18621937), professor of Indo-Iranian languages at Columbia University, it offers a highly readable narrative of the Indian people and culture through to the time of its publication, when the nation was still part of the British Empire. Volume I, From the Earliest Times to the Sixth Century B.C., by Bengali historian ROMESH CHUNDER DUTT (18481909), features entertaining and enlightening treatments of: ancient India and the Rig-Veda the Indo-Aryans and their literature food and art in the Vedic age the Brahmanic period and literature the Mahabharata the Ramayana law, astronomy, and learning the religious doctrines of the Upanishads caste in the age of laws and philosophy Buddhist sacred literature life of Gautama Buddha and much more. This beautiful replica of the 1906 first editionincludes all the original illustrations.

At the height of the Cold War, the John F. Kennedy administration designed an ambitious plan for the Middle East-its aim was to seek rapprochement with Nasser's Egypt in order to keep the Arab world neutral and contain the perceived communist threat. In order to offset this approach, Kennedy sought to grow relations with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and embrace Israel's defense priorities-a decision which would begin the US-Israeli 'special relationship'. Here, Antonio Perra shows for the first time how new relations with Saudi Arabia and Israel which would come to shape the Middle East for decades were in fact a by-product of Kennedy's efforts at Soviet containment. The Saudi's in particular were increasingly viewed as 'an atavistic regime who would soon disappear' but Kennedy's support for them-which hardened during the Yemen Crisis even as he sought to placate Nasser-had the unintended effect of making them, as today, the US' great pillar of support in the Middle East.

The Safavid dynasty originated as a fledgling apocalyptic mystical movement based in Iranian Azarbaijan, and grew into a large, cosmopolitan Irano-Islamic empire stretching from Baghdad to Herat. Here Colin Mitchell examines how the Safavid state introduced and moulded a unique and vibrant political discourse which reflected the social and religious heterogeneity of sixteenth-century Iran. Beginning with the millenarian-minded Shah Isma'il and concluding with the autocrat par excellence, Shah 'Abbas, Mitchell explores the phenomenon of state-sponsored rhetoric. He focuses on the large corpus of epistles, letters and missives produced by a developed Safavid chancellery which show how the Safavids forged and negotiated their political and religious sovereignty in a diverse and complex environment. A thorough investigation of the Safavid state and the significance of rhetoric, power and religion in its functioning, "The Practice of Politics in Safavid Iran" is indispensable for all those interested in Iranian history and politics as well as the wider world of Middle East studies.

"Damn you Rolly, you succeeded in taking me back to Vinh Long and Advisory Team 68, after a more than 40 year absence. I thank you for honoring all who served, but especially patriots like Bob Olson and Walt Gutowski, Army guys... that I knew well. They were great men whose spirit and professionalism you captured well. I highly recommend the book..." Mike Paluda, Michigan COLONEL, USA, RET. "Rolly Kidder has delivered a brilliant chronicle of the Vietnam conflict with which many may not be familiar. Forty years later, he revisits Vietnam and tracks down the families of three men who had been killed... Kidder's recounting of his visits with the families of the three servicemen is a poignant reminder of the continuing grief and pride extant amongst many and is a fitting memorial to the Army and Riverine heroes and an honor to those who mourn them." Captain, M.B. Connolly, USN (retired) COMMANDER, RIVER ASSAULT DIVISION 132 RIVER ASSAULT SQUADRON 13, 1969-70

This book begins with the analysis of America's post-war intelligence operations, propaganda campaigns, and strategic psychological warfare in Japan. Banking on nuclear safety myths, Japan promoted an aggressive policy of locating and building nuclear power plants in depopulated areas suffering from a significant decline of local industries and economies. The Fukushima nuclear disaster substantiated that U.S. propaganda programs left a long lasting legacy in Japan and beyond and created the fertile ground for the future nuclear disaster. The book reveals Japan's tripartite organization of the dominating state, media-monopoly, and nuclear-plant oligarchy advancing nuclear proliferation. It details America's unprecedented pro-nuclear propaganda campaigns; Japan's secret ambitions to develop its own nuclear bombs; U.S. dumping of reprocessed plutonium on Japan; and the joint U.S.-Nippon propaganda campaigns for "safe" nuclear-power and the current "safe-nuclear particles" myths. The study shows how the bankruptcy of the central state has led to increased burdens on the population in post-nuclear tsunami era, and the ensuing dangerous ionization of the population now reaching into the future.

"One of the least understood and often maligned aspects of the Tokugawa Shogunate is the Ooku, or 'Great Interior, ' the institution within the shogun's palace, administered by and for the upper-class shogunal women and their attendants who resided there. Long the object of titillation and a favorite subject for off-the-wall fantasy in historical TV and film dramas, the actual daily life, practices, cultural roles, and ultimate missions of these women have remained largely in the dark, except for occasional explosions of scandal. In crystal-clear prose that is a pleasure to read, this new book, however, presents the Ooku in a whole new down-to-earth, practical light. After many years of perusing unexamined Ooku documents generated by these women and their associates, the authors have provided not only an overview of the fifteen generations of Shoguns whose lives were lived in residence with this institution, but how shoguns interacted differently with it. Much like recent research on imperial convents, they find not a huddled herd of oppressed women, but on the contrary, women highly motivated to the preservation of their own particular cultural institution. Most important, they have been able to identify "the culture of secrecy" within the Ooku itself to be an important mechanism for preserving the highest value, 'loyalty, ' that essential value to their overall self-interested mission dedicated to the survival of the Shogunate itself." - Barbara Ruch, Columbia University "The aura of power and prestige of the institution known as the ooku-the complex network of women related to the shogun and their living quarters deep within Edo castle-has been a popular subject of Japanese television dramas and movies. Brushing aside myths and fallacies that have long obscured our understanding, this thoroughly researched book provides an intimate look at the lives of the elite female residents of the shogun's elaborate compound. Drawing information from contemporary diaries and other private memoirs, as well as official records, the book gives detailed descriptions of the physical layout of their living quarters, regulations, customs, and even clothing, enabling us to actually visualize this walled-in world that was off limits for most of Japanese society. It also outlines the complex hierarchy of positions, and by shining a light on specific women, gives readers insight into the various factions within the ooku and the scandals that occasionally occurred. Both positive and negative aspects of life in the "great interior" are represented, and one learns how some of these high-ranking women wielded tremendous social as well as political power, at times influencing the decision-making of the ruling shoguns. In sum, this book is the most accurate overview and characterization of the ooku to date, revealing how it developed and changed during the two and a half centuries of Tokugawa rule. A treasure trove of information, it will be a vital source for scholars and students of Japan studies, as well as women's studies, and for general readers who are interested in learning more about this fascinating women's institution and its significance in Japanese history and culture." - Patricia Fister, International Research Center for Japanese Studies, Kyoto

Winner of the 2022 Association for the Study of Japanese Mountain Religion Book Prize Defining Shugendo brings together leading international experts on Japanese mountain asceticism to discuss what has been an essential component of Japanese religions for more than a thousand years. Contributors explore how mountains have been abodes of deities, a resting place for the dead, sources of natural bounty and calamities, places of religious activities, and a vast repository of symbols. The book shows that many peoples have chosen them as sites for ascetic practices, claiming the potential to attain supernatural powers there. This book discusses the history of scholarship on Shugendo, the development process of mountain worship, and the religious and philosophical features of devotion at specific sacred mountains. Moreover, it reveals the rich material and visual culture associated with Shugendo, from statues and steles, to talismans and written oaths.

This book takes a closer look at colonial despotism in early nineteenth-century India and argues that it resulted from Indians' forum shopping, the legal practice which resulted in jurisdictional jockeying between an executive, the East India Company, and a judiciary, the King's Court. Focusing on the collisions that took place in Bombay during the 1820s, the book analyses how Indians of various descriptions-peasants, revenue defaulters, government employees, merchants, chiefs, and princes-used the court to challenge the government (and vice versa) and demonstrates the mechanism through which the lawcourt hindered the government's indirect rule, which relied on local Indian rulers in newly conquered territories. The author concludes that existing political anxiety justified the East India Company's attempt to curtail the power of the court and strengthen their own power to intervene in emergencies through the renewal of the company's charter in 1834. An insightful read for those researching Indian history and judicial politics, this book engages with an understudied period of British rule in India, where the royal courts emerged as sites of conflict between the East India Company and a variety of Indian powers.

The continuing popularity and influence of Soren Aabye Kierkegaard remains something of a minor miracle.Kierkegaard himself would undoubtedly find some humor in this development as a part of his overall philosophical project was to provide a full-frontal assault on the growing dominance of 'objective' thinking and the hyper-professionalization of all areas of human thought and life. This book provides yet another attempt to engage with the biting wit and philosophical insights of Kierkegaard's philosophy.

Originally published in 1935, this a translation of the original Chinese text. The book follows Ch'ang-Ch'un through the crowded Chinese plains, through Mongolia, Samarkand and Afghanistan. It is a fascianting travelogue and an intriguing insight in to medieval Taoism. Many of the earliest books, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. Hesperides Press are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork. Contents Include: Sources - Sun Hsi's Preface to the Hsi Yu Chi - Translation of Hsi Yu Chi - Appendix - Index - Map

This book is a collection of essays on Ottoman history, focusing on how sultans of the Ottoman Empire were viewed by the public.