Thousands of nuclear antiaircraft arms were designed, tested and deployed in the United States during Dwight D. Eisenhower's presidency. These Army "Nike-Hercules" missiles, Air Force "Genie" rockets, and "BOMARC" and "Falcon" missiles were meant to counter a raid by attacking Soviet bombers. U.S. policy makers believed that the American weapons could safely compensate for technological limitations which otherwise made it difficult to destroy high flying, fast moving airplanes. Continental Defense in the Eisenhower Era traces this armament from conception through deployment. Bright recounts official actions, doctrinal decisions, and public policies. It also discusses the widespread acceptance of these weapons by the American public, a result of being touted in news releases, featured in films and television episodes, and disseminated throughout society as a whole.

From long, first-hand experience as president of his own financial advertising agency, Alec Benn offers a unique, inside look at America's investment community, at a time of changes so profound that their impact and implications are still with us. Based not on public relations handouts (although he himself has written them) but on frank, revealing talks with people who actually participated in the events of those tumultuous seven years, on official oral histories (hitherto concealed), and on his own keen observations, Benn shows how those events and changes really occurred. He reveals that The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) was in far greater peril of collapse in 1970 than anyone, except a few insiders, has ever known. He exposes how many of the most significant changes ever to affect investors really came about. And he provides new insights into the people who caused, influenced, or sometimes opposed the reforms we now take for granted, as well as into the impact of historical figures such as Richard Nixon and Ross Perot. Informative, entertaining, and impeccably researched and documented, Benn's book gives us new information to help evaluate the investment world of today, and to appreciate how dangerous it was at another time, a time that some say appears uncomfortably familiar.

Among the many topics Benn examines in depth is the creation of the Securities Investors Protection Corporation, the agency that insures against loss of the cash and securities left by investors in their brokers' hands. He shows how stock brokers' commissions came to be competitive and low, instead of fixed and high (a special benefit for today's day traders), and how members of The New York Stock Exchange became able to sell shares in their firms to the general public, opening a bountiful source of permanent capital. He goes on to cover the creation of the Central Certificate System, which led to a dramatic increase in trading volume later, and how the NYSE was reorganized, benefiting not only members but investors as well. Benn also explores how NYSE member firms became authorized to sell annuities and other insurance products, in itself a billion-dollar business. Finally, in an especially telling chapter, he discusses how and why discrimination on Wall Street based on class, religion, race, and gender declined (and by inference, why in some places it still lingers.)

Civil defence was an integral part of Britain's modern history. Throughout the cold war it was a central response of the British Government to the threat of war. This book will be the first history of the preparations to fight a nuclear war taken in Britain between the end of the Second World War and 1968.

In Kennedy, de Gaulle and Western Europe, Erin Mahan revises prevailing interpretations of Franco-American relations during the early 1960s that either chastise de Gaulle for anti-Americanism or Kennedy for imposing US policies on Europe. Summoning a wide range of French and American archival sources, this book demonstrates that the structure and dynamics of the Franco-American relationship during this period were embedded in complex multilateral relationships within the Western alliance.

During the Cold War, writers and artists were faced with a huge challenge. In the Soviet world, they were expected to turn out works that glorified militancy, struggle and relentless optimism. In the West, freedom of expression was vaunted as liberal democracy's most cherished possession. But such freedom could carry a cost. This book documents the extraordinary energy of a secret campaign in which some of the most vocal exponents of intellectual freedom in the West became instruments - whether they knew it or not, whether they liked it or not - of America's secret service.

A comprehensive and focused review of all of the Supreme Court's overturns of Congress on constitutional grounds from 1789 to the present suited to college-level political science and constitutional law courses as well as law school students. The always-controversial practice of judicial review of Congress is not prescribed in the Constitution, but is arguably a valid way to protect the rights of individuals or guard against unfair rule by the majority. This book offers a historical review and indictment of the Supreme Court's overruling of Congress, ultimately taking a position that this has been more detrimental than beneficial to the democratic process in the United States, and that in the aggregate rights of individuals and minorities would have been better served if the relevant laws of Congress had been enforced rather than struck down by the Court. Written by an author who is a historian and a lawyer, the book covers all Supreme Court overrides of Congress through 2014, including major historical turning points in Supreme Court legislation and such recent and relevant topics as the Affordable Care Act, limits on contributions to political candidates and campaigns from wealthy individuals, and the Defense of Marriage Act. The discussions of specific cases are made in relevant context and focus on "big picture" themes and concepts without skipping key details, making this a useful volume for law and university level students while also being accessible to general readers. Supplies a balanced and comprehensive examination of Supreme Court overrides of Congress that recognizes both good and bad decisions but portrays how Congress performs better than the Court in terms of being faithful to the Constitution-and in promoting and protecting the rights of individuals and minorities Discusses cases in relevant context and focuses on "big picture" themes and concepts, avoiding legal jargon and technicalities to make the text accessible to general readers Provides a historical and contemporaneous review of Supreme Court-Congress interactions with explanations of future implications Offers a historical review and indictment of the Supreme Court's overruling of Congress, ultimately taking a position that this has been more detrimental than of benefit to the democratic process in the United States Enables readers to obtain a richer understanding of the relationship that has pertained between Congress and the Court throughout U.S. history

Offers a broader timeline than any other Cold War text, charting the lead-up to the conflict from the Russian Revolution to World War II Ten new maps that illustrate the global reach of the long conflict An extended chronology to show recent related events An updated bibliography to reflect recent scholarship in the area

Hong Kong's expanding export-import trade and importance as a capital market have made it one of the major economic centers of Asia, second only to Tokyo. Consequently, the reversion of this previously capitalist city to the People's Republic of China ten years from now will have serious ramifications for the Western financial world. There is much speculation concerning the impact of communist control of the three principal factors which have contributed to Hong Kong's current standing: its political and social stability, economic reform, and the British legal system.

Maybe it was a grandparent, or a teacher or a colleague. Someone older, patient and wise, who understood you when you were young and searching, and gave you sound advice to help you make your way through it. For Mitch Albom, that person was Morrie Schwartz, his college professor from nearly 20 years ago. Maybe, like Mitch, you lost track of this mentor as you made your way, and the insights faded. Wouldn't you like to see that person again, ask the bigger questions that still haunt you? Mitch Albom had that second chance. He rediscovered Morrie in the last months of the older man's life. Knowing he was dying of ALS - or motor neurone disease - Morrie visited Mitch in his study every Tuesday, just as they used to back in college. Their rekindled relationship turned into one final "class": lessons in how to live. This is a chronicle of their time together, through which Mitch shares Morrie's lasting gift with the world.

In his analysis of insurgency war, Donald Hamilton first attempts to provide insight into a strategic concept he believes is little understood today, and to explain its complicated relationship to American policy failures in Southeast Asia during the post-1945 era of containment. The study develops a working model of insurgency, explaining it as both a unique method and type of war-making. Significant findings include the inability of policymakers to perceive a potential insurgency in Vietnam as early as 1946, subsequent American involvement in not one, but three Asian insurgencies during the 1950s, and the ultimate failure of the U.S. military to meet the insurgency challenge in South Vietnam. This inability to eliminate the insurgency led not only to the complete breakdown of the South Vietnamese government, but was the primary reason why further U.S. military action after 1965 would prove ineffectual. This historical narrative also follows the involvement of several key players, including the personalities of Edward Lansdale, Sir Robert Thompson, Archimedes Patti, and Vo Nguyen Giap, who through their life experiences and writings, provide a keen profundity into why insurgencies occur, why they fail, and why they succeed.

After Maj. Robert J. Darling organizes President Bush's trip to Florida on Sept. 10, 2001, he believes the next couple of days will be quiet. He has no idea that a war is about to begin.The next day, after terrorists crash airliners into the World Trade Center towers and the Pentagon, Maj. Darling rushes to the president's underground chamber at the White House. There, he takes on the task of liaison between the vice president, national security advisor and the Pentagon. He works directly with the National Command Authority, and he's in the room when Vice President Cheney orders two fighter jets to get airborne in order to shoot down United Flight 93.Throughout the attacks, Maj. Darling witnesses the unprecedented actions that leaders are taking to defend America. As Vice President Cheney, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, and others make decisions at a lightning pace with little or no deliberation, he's there to lend his support.Follow Darling's story as he becomes a Marine Corps aviator and rises through the ranks to play an incredible role in responding to a crisis that changed the world in "9-11-01: The White House: Twenty-Four Hours inside the President's Bunker."

After Germany's reunification in 1989-90, the country faced not only the history and consequences of the nation's division during the Cold War but also the continuing burdensome legacy of the Nazi past and the Holocaust. This book explains why concerns that the Nazi past would be marginalized by the more recent Communist past proved to be misplaced. It examines the delicate East-West dynamics and the notion that the West sought to impose "victor's justice" (or history) on the East. More specifically, it examines, for the first time, the history and significance of two parliamentary commissions of inquiry created in the 1990s to investigate the divided past after 1945 and its effects on the reunified country. Not unlike "truth commissions" elsewhere, these inquiries provided an important forum for renegotiating contemporary Germany's relationship with multiple German pasts, including the Nazi period and the Holocaust. The ensuing debates and disagreements over the recent past, examined by the author, open up a window into the wider development of German memory, identity, and politics after the end of the Cold War.

"China Against the Tides, 3rd Edition" uses an interdisciplinary and comparative approach to analyse China by introducing theories and concepts from historical and political sociology, economic development, and political science. "China Against the Tides, 3rd Edition" argues that, in both Mao and Deng periods, China evolved in ways quite different from the Soviet model and from other developing countries. Using an interdisciplinary and comparative approach, the book analyzes China by introducing theories and concepts from historical and political sociology, economic development, and political science. It also explores China from two comparative perspectives: developing countries (including the newly industrializing countries of East Asia) and historical state socialist regimes. "China Against the Tides, 3rd Edition" seeks to combine both the internal perspectives of the actors themselves with the external standpoint of the social scientist. China is, of course, unique; but so are all countries. But, like other countries, its distinctiveness can best be grasped by observing it from outside as well as from within. Every chapter in the third edition as well as the end bibliography has been updated. In addition, a new section examines China's international relations, and new coverage has been added throughout the chapters. For example, the third edition discusses: the Hu-Wen leadership that came to power in 2002, China's economic growth and social development, internet technology, the continued drumbeat of protests of various kinds, the situation in Tibet, the Olympic Games, the May 2008 earthquake, plus smaller but still notable events, such as the 2003 SARS outbreak, the Three Gorges Dam, and the 2005 pollution episode on the Songhua River.

According to numerous scholars and pundits, JFK's victory in 1960 symbolized America's evolution from a politically Protestant nation to a pluralistic one. The anti-Catholic prejudice that many blamed for presidential candidate Alfred E. Smith's crushing defeat in 1928 at last seemed to have been overcome. However, if the presidential election of 1960 was indeed a turning point for American Catholics, how do we explain the failure of any Catholic--in over forty years--to repeat Kennedy's accomplishment? In this exhaustively researched study that fuses political, cultural, social, and intellectual history, Thomas Carty challenges the assumption that JFK's successful campaign for the presidency ended decades, if not centuries, of religious and political tensions between American Catholics and Protestants.

The French North African Crisis analyzes the postwar breakdown in French imperial rule in North West Africa, concentrating primarily upon the Algerian war of independence. This book highlights the human tragedy involved and the divisive consequences within French metropolitan politics of intractable colonial conflict. It further examines how far the protracted crisis of colonial control in North Africa shaped French foreign and security policy and this impacted upon Anglo-French relations, the western alliance and the wider process of decolonization.

Rockefellerocracy: Kennedy Assassinations, Watergate, and Monopoly of the "Philanthropic" Foundations is a portal to a universe of political and economic supremacy, revealing links to the crimes of the century. Kennedy had a dream for the nation, but Nelson Rockefeller, a ruthless megalomaniac, had his own selfish scheme to become president. After a ten-year-long course of wrongdoing to steal American democracy, his nomination to the vice presidency by President Gerald Ford was not the hand of fate. Congressman Ford had served as an integral part of the Warren Commission whitewash. The two men formed the first administration not elected by the people This release coincides with the fiftieth anniversary of the JFK assassination, that infamous weekend in November of 1963 that author Richard James DeSocio remembers well. He even witnessed Jack Ruby execute Lee Harvey Oswald in front of a live TV audience. Originally searching for answers to satisfy his own curiosity, that led to twenty-five years of painstaking research, the author has unraveled the dark mystery that baffled a nation for half a century. The verdict is radically different from the official version.

It was in Europe that the Cold War reached a decisive turning point in the 1960s, leading to the era of detente. The Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE), with its Final Act in Helsinki in August 1975, led to a rapprochement between East and West in the fields of security, economy and culture. This volume offers a pilot study in what the authors perceive as the key issues within this process: an understanding over the 'German problem' (balancing the recognition of the post-war territorial status quo against a formula for the eventuality of a peaceful change of frontiers) and the Western strategy of transformation through a multiplication of contacts between the two blocs. Both of these arguments emerged from the findings of an international research project on 'Detente and CSCE in Europe, 1966-1975', funded by the Volkswagen Stiftung and headed by the two editors.

Cold War Theatre, first published in 1992, provides an account of the theatrical history within the context of East/West politics. Its geographical span ranges from beyond the Urals to the Pacific Coast of the US, and asks whether the Cold War confrontation was not in part due to the cultural climate of Europe. Taking the McCarthy era as its starting point, this readable history considers the impact of the Cold War upon the major dramatic movements of our time, East and West. The author poses the question as to whether European habits of mind, fostered by their cultures, may not have contributed to the political stalemates of the Cold War. A wide range of actors from both the theatrical and political stages are discussed, and their contributions to the theatre of the Cold War examined in a hugely enjoyable and enlightening narrative. This book is ideal for theatre studies students.

The Algerian War 1954-62 was one of the most prolonged and violent examples of decolonization. Bringing to an end 132 years of French rule, the Algerian struggle caused the fall of six French prime ministers, the collapse of the Fourth Republic, and expulsion of one million French settlers. This volume, bringing together leading experts in the field, focuses on one of the key actors in the drama - the French army. They show that the Algerian War was just as much about conflicts of ideas, beliefs and loyalties as it was about simple military operations. In this way, the collection goes beyond polemic and recrimination to explore the many and varied nuances of what was one of the historically most important of the grand style colonial wars.

This is a study of global political history since 1941 with a particular emphasis on America's attitude to neutrality. This important revised and updated edition contains three entirely new chapters including an insightful new introduction and conclusion, drawing on newly released documentation, most importantly on Southeast Asia and the Vietnam War. Like the previous edition, this book looks at world affairs through the eyes of neutrality. It covers America's contribution to the decline of world-neutrality, the major economic and military events surrounding the Second World War, the founding of NATO and the problems of neutralism during the Vietnam War. This new edition, however, goes one step further to confirm, with fresh new evidence, the central thesis of the original volume.

Gaining its independence in 1991, after having been included in socialist Yugoslavia for more than four decades, the Republic of Macedonia has struggled to consolidate its democratic system and independence, and to gain admission into the European Union and NATO, against dogged opposition from Greece. One of the central challenges facing Macedonia, along with other Yugoslav successor states, is to develop civic values and to combat such uncivic values as ethnic intolerance, religious bigotry, and homophobia. This volume brings together leading specialists in Macedonian affairs, both from within Macedonia and from other countries, to offer insights into the experiences and values of the Macedonians, with separate chapters devoted to the media, history textbooks, fiction, the Albanians of Macedonia, and smaller ethnic minorities, as well as other subjects.

This collection offers comprehensive insights into pivotal areas of concern regarding developments in Zimbabwe since its independence. By disclosing the intra-elite competition, assessing the performance of Zimbabwe's economy and explaining how the country's natural resources have been managed, we can better understand the ruling ZANU-PF's increasing reliance on the so-called war veterans and the land reform issue for its political survival.

The essays in this book reflect on the significance of the Holocaust sixty years afterwards. In this time it has become embedded in collective memory This book explores the idea that even thought the tenets of Nazism--racism, dictatorship, expansionism --have become unacceptable in the western world, little has actually changed. Since 1945 crimes against humanity and human rights have occurred throughout the world. The Holocaust thus pre-figures a "death-drive" in contemporary culture: the idea that the ability to deliver death is the supreme expression of self-affirmation.

Through a study of the voluntary activity around illegal drug use since the 1960s, this book explores wider issues in the changing relationship between the state and the individual in the making, provision and delivery of public services, and addresses the history of key issues in the development of contemporary health and social policy.