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Books > History > History of specific subjects > Oral history
In 'Fighting Words', award-winning author Richard F. Miller (In
Words and Deeds) looks to some of history's most successful battle
speechmakers to answer the age-old question of how. How did Pope
Urban II's speech convince tens of thousands of Europeans to wage
the First Crusade, a dangerous, and for many, a one-way journey to
Jerusalem? How did George Patton's speech transform the green kids
of the Third Army into the terror of the Third Reich? How did the
words of General David Petraeus resurrect a losing effort in Iraq
and in the process, retrain his soldiers for a new kind of
war?Miller argues that human persuasion is seamless and that the
persuasive strategies by which men (and increasingly women) are
recruited, trained, and exhorted for war can be applied to politics
and business.For those who manage-whether a convenience store or a
Fortune 500 company-motivating, instructing, and preparing your
people to perform their jobs is, for the competent manager, Job
One. And for those who recognize that in this partisan age,
politics is just war by other means, 'Fighting Words' applies the
insights of battle speeches to politics. Miller concludes his study
by analyzing three of President Obama's most successful and
controversial speeches based on the lessons learned from the great
military motivators of history. What did the president do right?
What did he do wrong? What can he do better?Miller doesn't
speculate about "what works" on the public podium. Rather, he
analyzes real historical examples and extracts their lessons-from
Alexander the Great to General David H. Petraeus and President
Obama. As Miller aptly demonstrates, persuasive strategies based on
love, hate, duty, patriotism, comradeship, fear, and shame are as
widely used today as they were in antiquity.'Fighting Words' offers
a catalog of time-tested, effective speaking strategies whose
double-edged usefulness extends far beyond any battlefield.About
the Author: Historian and journalist Richard F. Miller is a
graduate of Harvard College (AB, 1974) and Case Western Reserve
University School of Law (JD, 1977.) He has served four stints as
an embedded journalist: aboard the USS Kitty Hawk (2003); with the
3rd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment in Fallujah, Iraq (2005); with
the 3rd Heavy Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division near
Baqubah, Iraq (2006), and most recently, with the 101st Airborne at
various posts in eastern Afghanistan (2008). Miller is a Fellow at
the Massachusetts Historical Society and a Director of New England
Quarterly, Inc. He is the author of In Words and Deeds: Battle
Speeches in History (2008), and the award-winning Harvard's Civil
War: The History of the Twentieth Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry
(2007).returncharacterreturncharacter
returncharacterreturncharacter REVIEWS
returncharacterreturncharacter"Wise, illuminating and useful, this
book by an author who's paid his dues both as a war correspondent
and serious historian makes a convincing case for well-deployed
words as a mighty tool of war--or of politics, business or mass
communication. Among other things, this highly readable meditation
of the enduring importance of coherent speech (in an age of
slovenly chatter) reminds us that every word is a potential weapon.
Read as stimulating military history or as a guide to effective
leadership--in any sphere--Fighting Words is a first-rate work that
will reward all aspiring leaders." -- Ralph Peters, Fox News
Strategic Analyst and author of The War After Armageddon..".offers
time tested speaking strategies whose sharp double edged usefulness
can be used on motivating employees, soldiers, and citizens to
accomplish great goals. Lone Star Book Review, 08/2010
This oral history of London's East End spans the period after World
War I to the upsurge of prosperity at the beginning of the 1960s--a
time period which saw fresh waves of immigrants in the area, the
Fascist marches of the 1930s, and its spirited recovery after
virtual obliteration during the Blitz. Piers Dudgeon has listened
to dozens of people who remember this fiercely proud quarter to
record their real-life experiences of what it was like before it
was fashionable to buy a home in the Docklands. They talk of
childhood and education, of work and entertainment, of family,
community values, health, politics, religion, and music. Their
stories will make you laugh and cry. It is people's own memories
that make history real and this engrossing book captures them
vividly.
If you wish to retain your image of an 'Angel' as depicted on our
Christmas cards, then to read this work may be ill-advised.
However, if you would like to learn of their Real Activities, and
astounding interactions with the Patriarchs, taken straight from
the Old Testament, then this is the book for you. But be prepared
for a shock. Gone are the heroes, the innocence and certainty the
Wings (which were never there in the first place). You will learn
of their ruthless activities, deciding who will live or die, the
slaughter of humans in great numbers by flood, in the days of Noah
and what sound like nuclear bombs when destroying the cities of the
plain, i.e., Sodom and Gomorrah. Before Exodus, a 'destroying
Angel' moved over the houses, murdering new born Egyptian children.
After Exodus and before a battle, they instructed the army of Moses
Let not a creature that breathes to live. They inseminated even
barren women to produce a wonder child to do their bidding. They
treated humankind as if their property. Their forebears came to
earth from elsewhere, descended from our skies and decided, Let us
make men in our image. They were extra-terrestrial by any
definition. To the patriarchs, any creature that could descend from
and ascend to the sky could only be coming from and returning to
heaven in a Biblical interpretation. Today, they keep their
distance in the knowledge that modern humans would not fall on
their faces in awe, yet they remain in earth space because they
have inherited a responsibility for humankind. An explanation for
their continual abductions exists herein, which may not bode well
for humankind. We are their 'Property.'
This book explores and comparatively assesses how Armenians as
minorities have been represented in modern Turkey from the
twentieth century through to the present day, with a particular
focus on the period since the first electoral victory of the AKP
(Justice and Development Party) in 2002. It examines how social
movements led by intellectuals and activists have challenged the
Turkish state and called for democratization, and explores key
issues related to Armenian identity. Drawing on new social
movements theory, this book sheds light on the dynamics of minority
identity politics in contemporary Turkey and highlights the
importance of political protest.
This book looks beyond the Aylesbury's public face by examining its
rise and fall from the perspective of those who knew it, based
largely on the oral testimony and memoir of residents and former
residents, youth and community workers, borough Councillors,
officials, police officers and architects. What emerges is not a
simple story of definitive failures, but one of texture and
complexity, struggle and accord, family and friends, and of rapidly
changing circumstances. The study spans the years 1967 to 2010 -
from the estate's ambitious inception until the first of its blocks
were pulled down. It is a period rarely dealt with by historians of
council housing, who have typically confined themselves to the
years before or after the 1979 watershed. As such, it demonstrates
how shifts in housing policy, and broader political, economic and
social developments, came to bear on a working-class community -
for good and, more especially, for ill.
Do, Die, or Get Along weaves together voices of twenty-six people
who have intimate connections to two neighboring towns in the
southwestern Virginia coal country. Filled with evidence of a new
kind of local outlook on the widespread challenge of small
community survival, the book tells how a confrontational
""do-or-die"" past has given way to a ""get-along"" present built
on coalition and guarded hope. St. Paul and Dante are six miles
apart; measured in other ways, the distance can be greater. Dante,
for decades a company town controlled at all levels by the mine
owners, has only a recent history of civic initiative. In St. Paul,
which arose at a railroad junction, public debate,
entrepreneurship, and education found a more receptive home. The
speakers are men and women, wealthy and poor, black and white,
old-timers and newcomers. Their concerns and interests range
widely, including the battle over strip mining, efforts to control
flooding, the 1989-90 Pittston strike, the nationally acclaimed
Wetlands Estonoa Project, and the grassroots revitalization of both
towns led by the St. Paul Tomorrow and Dante Lives On
organizations. Their talk of the past often invokes an ethos,
rooted in the hand-to-mouth pioneer era, of short-term gain. Just
as frequently, however, talk turns to more recent times, when
community leaders, corporations, unions, the federal government,
and environmental groups have begun to seek accord based on what
will be best, in the long run, for the towns. The story of Dante
and St. Paul, Crow writes, ""gives twenty-first-century meaning to
the idea of the good fight."" This is an absorbing account of
persistence, resourcefulness, and eclectic redefinition of success
and community revival, with ramifications well beyond Appalachia.
What Britain refined, America defined. Assembled by two key figures
at the heart of the movement and told through the voices o
musicians, artists, iconoclastic reporters and entrepreneurial
groupies, PLEASE KILL ME is the full decadent story of the American
punk scene, through the early years of Andy Warhol's Factory to the
New York underground of Max's Kansas City and later, its heyday at
CBGB's, spiritual home to the Ramones, Talking Heads, Television
and Blondie. PLEASE KILL ME goes backstage and behind apartment
doors to chronicle the sex, drugs and power struggles that were the
very fabric of the American punk community, to the time before
piercing and tattoos became commonplace and when every concert, new
band and fashion statement marked an absolute first. From Iggy Pop
and Lou Reed to the Clash and the Sex Pistols (the first time
around), McNeil and McCain document a time of glorious
self-destruction and perverse innocence - possibly the last time so
many will so much fun in the pursuit of excess.
This book analyzes the spread of American female consumer culture
to Italy and its influence on Italian women in the postwar and Cold
War periods, eras marked by the political, economic, social, and
cultural battle between the United States and Soviet Union.
Focusing on various aspects of this culture-beauty and hygiene
products, refrigerators, and department stores, as well as shopping
and magazine models-the book examines the reasons for and the
methods of American female consumer culture's arrival in Italy, the
democratic, consumer capitalist messages its products sought to
"sell" to Italian women, and how Italian women themselves reacted
to this new cultural presence in their everyday lives. Did Italian
women become the American Mrs. Consumer? As such, the book
illustrates how the modern, consuming American woman became a
significant figure not only in Italy's postwar recovery and
transformation, but also in the international and domestic cultural
and social contests for the hearts and minds of Italian women.
In war, there is no easy victory. When troops invaded Iraq in 2003
to topple Saddam Hussein's regime, most people expected an easy
victory. Instead, the gamble we took was a grave mistake, and its
ramifications continue to reverberate through the lives of
millions, in Iraq and the West. As we gain more distance from those
events, it can be argued that many of the issues facing us today -
the rise of the Islamic State, increased Islamic terrorism,
intensified violence in the Middle East, mass migration, and more -
can be traced back to the decision to invade Iraq. In The Iraq War,
award-winning documentary maker James Bluemel collects first-hand
testimony from those who lived through the horrors of the invasion
and whose actions were dictated by such extreme circumstances. It
takes in all sides of the conflict - working class Iraqi families
watching their country erupt into civil war; soldiers and
journalists on the ground; American families dealing with the grief
of losing their son or daughter; parents of a suicide bomber coming
to terms with unfathomable events - to create the most in-depth and
multi-faceted portrait of the Iraq War to date. Accompanying a
major BBC series, James Bluemel's book is an essential account of a
conflict that continues to shape our world, and a startling
reminder of the consequences of our past decisions.
This open access book brings together oral histories that record
the experiences of individuals with intellectual disabilities in
Shanghai as they participate in their careers. Employees with
intellectual disabilities describe their experiences seeking,
attaining, and maintaining employment. Their managers, colleagues,
and family members also provide keen insight into the challenges
and opportunities these individuals have encountered in the process
of securing employment. An appendix provides a compilation of
employment policies related to people with intellectual
disabilities, particularly with respect to Shanghai.
This book delves into the history of the Horn of Africa diaspora in
Italy and Europe through the stories of those who fled to Italy
from East African states. It draws on oral history research carried
out by the BABE project (Bodies Across Borders: Oral and Visual
Memories in Europe and Beyond) in a host of cities across Italy
that explored topics including migration journeys, the memory of
colonialism in the Horn of Africa, cultural identity in Italy and
Europe, and Mediterranean crossings. This book shows how the
cultural memory of interviewees is deeply linked to an
intersubjective context that is changing Italian and European
identities. The collected narratives reveal the existence of
another Italy - and another Europe - through stories that cross
national and European borders and unfold in transnational and
global networks. They tell of the multiple identities of the
diaspora and reconsider the geography of the continent, in terms of
experiences, emotions, and close relationships, and help
reinterpret the history and legacy of Italian colonialism.
Parliament is Britain's most important political institution, yet
its workings remain obscure to academics and the wider public
alike. MPs are often seen as 'out of touch' or 'all the same' and
their individual motivations, achievements and regrets remain in
the background of party politics. In this book, Emma Peplow and
Priscila Pivatto draw on the History of Parliament Trust's
collection of oral history interviews with postwar British MPs to
highlight their diverse political experiences in Parliament.
Featuring extracts from a collection of interviews with over 160
former MPs who sat from the 1950s until the 2000s, The Political
Lives of Postwar British MPs gives a voice to those MPs' stories.
It explores why they became interested in politics, how they found
their seat and fought election campaigns, what it felt like to
speak in the chamber and how their class or gender dictated their
experiences at Westminster. In the process, readers will be given
rare glimpse into the spaces inhabited by MPs, the political
rivalries and friendships and the rising and falling of their
careers. With accounts from MPs of all political stripes, from the
well-known like David Owen and Ann Taylor to those who sat for just
a few years such as Denis Coe; from old political families like
Douglas Hurd to those like Maria Fyfe who felt themselves
outsiders, this book provides deep insight into the political lives
of MPs in our age.
This book is part of the Tempus Oral History series, which combines
the reminiscences of local people with old photographs and archived
images to show the history of various local areas in Great Britain,
through their streets, shops, pubs, and people.
This book brings together the Armenian Genocide process and its
transgenerational outcome, which are often juxtaposed in existing
scholarship, to ask how the Armenian Genocide is conceptualized and
placed within diasporic communities. Taking a dual approach to
answer this question, Anthonie Holslag studies the cultural
expression of violence during the genocidal process itself, and in
the aftermath for the victims. By using this approach, this book
allows us to see comparatively how genocide in diasporic
communities in the Netherlands, London and the US is encapsulated
in an historic narrative. It paints a picture of the complexity of
genocidal violence itself, but also in its transgenerational and
non-spatial consequences, raising new questions of how violence can
be perpetuated or interlocked with the discourse and narratives of
the victims, and how the violence can be relived.
In the pre-reserve era, Aboriginal bands in the northern plains
were relatively small multicultural communities that actively
maintained fluid and inclusive membership through traditional
kinship practices. These practices were governed by the Law of the
People as described in the traditional stories of Wisashkecahk, or
Elder Brother, that outlined social interaction, marriage,
adoption, and kinship roles and responsibilities. In Elder Brother
and the Law of the People, Robert Innes offers a detailed analysis
of the role of Elder Brother stories in historical and contemporary
kinship practices in Cowessess First Nation, located in
southeastern Saskatchewan. He reveals how these tradition-inspired
practices act to undermine legal and scholarly definitions of
""Indian"" and counter the perception that First Nations people
have internalized such classifications. He presents Cowessess's
successful negotiation of the 1996 Treaty Land Agreement and their
high inclusion rate of new ""Bill-C31s"" as evidence of the
persistence of historical kinship values and their continuing role
as the central unifying factor for band membership. Elder Brother
and the Law of the People presents an entirely new way of viewing
Aboriginal cultural identity on the northern plains.
Advocating nuclear war, attempting communication with dolphins and
taking an interest in the paranormal and UFOs, there is perhaps no
greater (or stranger) cautionary tale for the Left than that of
Posadism. Named after the Argentine Trotskyist J. Posadas, the
movement's journey through the fractious and sectarian world of
mid-20th century revolutionary socialism was unique. Although at
times significant, Posadas' movement was ultimately a failure. As
it disintegrated, it increasingly grew to resemble a bizarre cult,
detached from the working class it sought to liberate. The renewed
interest in Posadism today - especially for its more outlandish
fixations - speaks to both a cynicism towards the past and
nostalgia for the earnest belief that a better world is possible.
Drawing on considerable archival research, and numerous interviews
with ex- and current Posadists, I Want to Believe tells the
fascinating story of this most unusual socialist movement and
considers why it continues to capture the imaginations of leftists
today.
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