British culture after Empire is the first collection of its kind to explore the intertwined social, cultural and political aftermath of empire in Britain from 1945 up to and beyond the Brexit referendum of 2016, combining approaches from the fields of history, English and cultural studies. Against those who would deny, downplay or attempt to forget Britain's imperial legacy, the various contributions expose and explore how the British Empire and the consequences of its end continue to shape Britain at the local, national and international level. As an important and urgent intervention in a field of increasing relevance within and beyond the academy, the book offers fresh perspectives on the colonial hangovers in post-colonial Britain from up-and-coming as well as established scholars. -- .

As a small nation in a hostile region, Israel has made defense a top priority. Tzalel takes a critical look at the naval branch of Israel's defense forces to consider its history, its performance, and its overall importance to maintaining national security. From a motley collection of illegal immigrant ships operated prior to the birth of the state, the Israelis have since the 1960s established a modern navy. However, Tzalel argues, the modernization and expansion of the Israeli navy has been driven more by an excess of funds and the lack of clearly defined priorities than by any real necessity. Like most small countries, Israel has no need to command the sea during peace or in wartime. The author examines each step of naval development by direct correlation to the perceived need for each new phase and the circumstances that led naval and military leaders to make specific choices, and he discusses the benefits of these choices on the field of battle. He hopes to map the complex relationship between the navy men, the Israeli government, and public sentiment. Although the nation has managed to create a new and impressive class of warship, the Sa'ar FAC(M) and its larger derivatives, Tzalel contends that the military logic behind such naval construction was faulty and that the nation's submarine flotilla constitutes a sheer waste of monetary and human resources.

Military Civic Action--U.S. troops working on nation-building tasks with troops of another country--is traced from its formal beginning under President Eisenhower and enthusiastic reception under President Kennedy, through its successes and failures during the Vietnam years, to its present status as a strategic tool. Contributing authors debate the future role of Military Civic Action as a way to retain a U.S. military presence around the world, bolster emergent democracies, assist other militaries in their transition to democratic military professionalism, reinforce the humanitarian efforts of USAID and private volunteer organizations, train U.S. units for worldwide flexible missions, and protect the world from environmental degradation and the scourge of drug abuse. Although this volume draws on the history of U.S. Military Civic Action around the world, special emphasis is placed on Latin America as the ideal focus for Military Civic Action during the 1990s.

The authors argue that Military Civic Action is among the most cost effective ways of achieving U.S. strategic objectives while retaining and justifying the expense of a skilled, professional U.S. military force. Military Civic Action incorporates some of the deepest-held U.S. values and is a tool that can win the support of liberals and conservatives alike. Nonetheless, in order for it to be successful, Military Civic Action must be integrated into a fully articulated national strategy in which the Congress, the President, and the appropriate federal bureaucracies have reached consensus. This book will be of interest to military professionals and political scientists interested in foreign and defense policy.

In July 1995, the Bosnian Serb Army commanded by General Ratko Mladic attacked the enclave of Srebrenica, a UN "safe area" since 1993, and massacred about 8,000 Bosniac men. While the responsibility for the massacre itself lays clearly with the Serb political and military leadership, the question of the responsibility of various international organizations and national authorities for the fall of the enclave is still passionately discussed, and has given rise to various rumors and conspiracy theories. Follow-up investigations by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and by several commissions have dissipated most of these rumors and contributed to a better knowledge of the Srebrenica events and the part played by the main local and international actors. This volume represents the first systematic, comparative analysis of those investigations. It brings together analyses from both the external standpoint of academics and the inside perspective of various professionals who participated directly in the inquiries, including police officers, members of parliament, high-ranking civil servants, and other experts. Evaluating how institutions establish facts and ascribe responsibilities, this volume presents a historiographical and epistemological reflection on the very possibility of writing a history of the present time.

Orford Ness was, for most of the twentieth century, a military research station so secret that nobody knew what went on there, and so remote that even now most people have never heard of it. Yet the contribution of its scientists, service and civilian, to the winning of the First World War, the Second World War and the Cold War places them on a par with the codebreakers of Bletchley Park. At this highly atmospheric and often inhospitable location on the Suffolk coast, the Royal Flying Corps (later RAF) conducted crucial experiments and trials, some brilliant, others futile, on effective gunnery, accurate bombing and improved navigational aids. It was the venue for Watson Watt's early work on radar and for Barnes Wallis' improved Tallboy bomb. From 1953, the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment used it as the testing range for British nuclear bombs. In 1967 the world's most powerful radar station, COBRA MIST, was constructed for the US Department of Defense. Why it was closed down is just one of many Orford Ness mysteries. Owned by the National Trust since 1993, Orford Ness is a National Nature Reserve of international significance. But its military history has proved no less important and its secrets highly intriguing. This book tells an incredible tale of ingenious, talented and brave men - and women - who operated with typically British patience and resourcefulness in often highly uncomfortable and, on occasions, fatal circumstances.

In 2008, the presidential election became blockbuster entertainment. Everyone was watching as the race for the White House unfolded like something from the realm of fiction. The meteoric rise and historic triumph of Barack Obama. The shocking fall of the House of Clinton--and the improbable resurrection of Hillary as Obama's partner and America's face to the world. The mercurial performance of John McCain and the mesmerizing emergence of Sarah Palin. But despite the wall-to-wall media coverage of this spellbinding drama, remarkably little of the real story behind the headlines had been told--until now.

In Game Change, John Heilemann and Mark Halperin pull back the curtain on the Obama, Clinton, McCain, and Palin campaigns. Based on hundreds of interviews with the people who lived the story, Game Change is a reportorial tour de force that reads like a fast-paced novel.

Few studies of Middle East wars go beyond a narrative of events and most tend to impose on this subject the rigid scheme of superpower competition. The Gulf War of 1991, however, challenges this view of the Middle East as an extension of the global conflict. The failure of the accord of both superpowers to avoid war even once regional superpower competition in the Middle East had ceased must give rise to the question: Do regional conflicts have their own dynamic? Working from this assumption, the book examines local-regional constraints of Middle East conflict and how, through escalation and the involvement of extra-regional powers, such conflicts acquire an international dimension. The theory of a regional subsystem is employed as a framework for conceptualising this interplay between regional and international factors in Tibi's examination of the Middle East wars in the period 1967-91. Tibi also provides an outlook into the future of conflict in the Middle East in the aftermath of the most recent Gulf War.

The war in Chechnya left us with some of the most harrowing images in recent times: a modern European city bombed to ruins while its citizens cowered in bunkers; mass graves; mothers combing the hills for their missing sons.

The product of investigative and on-the-scene reporting by two established journalists, Carlotta Gall and Thomas de Waal's captivating book recounts the story of the Chechens' violent struggle for independece, and the Kremlin politics that precipitated it. Exploring Chechnya's complex and bloody history, the work is also a portrait of Russia's failed attempt to make the transition to a democratic society.

"A harrowing glimpse into the destabilization caused by the collapse of the Soviet Union and the troubled road to independence and democracy faced by its non-Russian members."
"--Kirkus Reviews"

The first comprehensive account of British policy towards China, Japan and Korea from the final stages of the Second World War to the outbreak of the Korean War, placed in the broader context of Far Eastern developments, the beginnings of the Cold War, dealings with the Commonwealth and, above all, relations with the United States. Based upon research in British, American and Australian archives, this book examines the tensions that emerged within the Anglo-American relationship as the United States sought to dominate the East Asian agenda and Britain agonised over the international role it should play in the region. That tension intensified over what the British perceived as an American failure to devise a post-war plan for East Asia other than the containment of Japan. As Communist threats inside China and Korea gained momentum, Britain, with valuable Far Eastern interests to protect, could not afford the Asian mainland to turn 'red' and found itself drawn increasingly into East Asian affairs far more than it desired.

Historians traditionally claim to be myth-breakers, but national history since the nineteenth century shows quite a record in myth-making. This exciting new volume compares how national historians in Europe have handled the opposing pulls of fact and fiction and shows which narrative strategies have contributed to the success of national histories.

A profoundly different way of looking the Israeli-Palestinian conflict

Reporting from Jerusalem for "The New York Times" and Fox News respectively, Greg Myre and Jennifer Griffin, witnessed a decades-old conflict transformed into a completely new war. The West has learned a lot about asymmetrical war in the past decade. At the same time, many strategists have missed that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has become one of them. This book shows the importance of applying these hard-won lessons to the longest running, most closely watched occupation and uprising in the world.

The entire conflict can seem irrational -- and many commentators see it that way. While raising their own family in Jerusalem at the height of the violence, Myre and Griffin look at the lives of individuals caught up in the struggles to reveal how these actions make perfect sense to the participants. Extremism can become a virtue; moderation a vice. Factions develop within factions. Propaganda becomes an important weapon, and perseverance an essential defense. While the Israelis and the Palestinians have failed to achieve their goals after years of fighting, people on both sides are prepared to make continued sacrifices in the belief that they will eventually emerge triumphant.This book goes straight to the heart of the conflict: into the minds of suicide bombers and inside Israeli tanks. We hear from Palestinian informants who help the Israeli military track down and kill Palestinian militants. Israeli settlers in isolated outposts explain why they are there, and we hear the frustrations of a Palestinian farmer who has had his olive grove cut in half by Israel's security barrierShows the important lessons that can be learned by viewing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as an example of modern, asymmetrical warAuthored by long-time reporters on the Middle East, the book provides a balanced and detailed look at the fighting based on first-hand experience and hundreds of interviewsExplains how the landscape of the conflict changed and why the traditional approach to peacemaking is no longer valid

With a new perspective on what's really going on in Israel and the Palestinian territories, "The Familiar War" is a book that will inform the debate on the Middle East and the future of the peace process, as well as our understanding of other conflicts around the world.

The Pentagon Papers, officially titled "Report of the Office of the Secretary of Defense Vietnam Task Force," was commissioned by Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara in 1967. In June of 1971, small portions of the report were leaked to the press and widely distributed. However, the publications of the report that resulted from these leaks were incomplete and suffered from many quality issues.

On the 40th anniversary of the leak to the press, the National Archives, along with the Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon Presidential Libraries, has released the complete report. The 48 boxes in this series contain a complete copy of the 7,000 page report along with numerous copies of different volumes of the report, all declassified. Approximately 34% of the report is available for the first time.

What is unique about this, compared to other versions, is that:

* The complete Report is now available with no redactions compared to previous releases

* The Report is presented as Leslie Gelb presented it to then Secretary of Defense Clark Clifford on January 15, 1969

* All the supplemental back-documentation is included. In the Gravel Edition, 80% of the documents in Part V.B. were not included

This release includes the complete account of peace negotiations, significant portions of which were not previously available either in the House Armed Services Committee redacted copy of the Report or in the Gravel Edition.

This facsimiile edition includes:

Part IV. C. 6. a. Evolution of the War. U.S. Ground Strategy and Force Deployments: 1965 - 1967. Volume I: Phase II, Program 3, Program 4

Part IV. C. 6. b. Evolution of the War. U.S. Ground Strategy and Force Deployments: 1965 - 1967. Volume II: Program 5

Part IV. C. 6. c. Evolution of the War. U.S. Ground Strategy and Force Deployments: 1965 - 1967. Volume III: Program 6

Part IV. C. 7. a. Evolution of the War. Air War in the North: 1965 - 1968. Volume I

Part IV. C. 7. b. Evolution of the War. Air War in the North: 1965 - 1968. Volume II

Part IV. C. 8. Evolution of the War. Re-emphasis on Pacification: 1965-1967

"Salon "founder David Talbot chronicles the cultural history of San Francisco and from the late 1960s to the early 1980s when figures such as Harvey Milk, Janis Joplin, Jim Jones, and Bill Walsh helped usher from backwater city to thriving metropolis.

Situating Gorbachev and perestroika historically and ideologically, this book provides a comprehensive analysis of Soviet political economy in the context of socialist theory and seven decades of its application in the Soviet Union. A. F. Dowlah challenges the belief that socialism is sternly committed to centralized economic and political structures, and claims that socialism contains several theories, some more decentralized or democratic, others more authoritarian. Although the contemporary crisis in the socialist economies powerfully challenges the foundations of socialist theory and practice, Gorbachev, up until the coup attempt of August 1991, claimed that perestoika embodied more socialism, not less, and he was looking within the socialist tradition to solve contemporary Soviet problems. This work examines Gorbachev's claim and evaluates perestroika as a strategy of transition to a new variant of socialism. Based on thorough inquiry, textual evidence, and historical facts, the study concludes that Gorbachev's claims are substantially legitimate, and that a democratic version of socialism is possible within the Russian socialist tradition. It remains to be seen, however, in light of recent political and economic developments, whether this, or some more radical set of reforms, will emerge in Gorbachev's troubled economy.

Designed for student research, this one-stop resource contains a wealth of information, reference material, and analysis of the collapse of communism in the Soviet Union. Combining narrative description, analytical essays, lengthy biographical profiles, and the text of key primary documents, Watson examines the reasons for the decline and fall of the Soviet Union and its ruling Communist party in 1991. Five essays provide a historical overview of the rise and fall of the Soviet brand of communism; the evolution of GorbacheV's perestroika reform policies; the costly Soviet imperial legacy and the ten-year Afghan war; nationalism and the dissolution of Soviet unity; and post-Soviet Russia under the leadership of Boris Yeltsin. Ready-reference features include: a timeline of key events; biographical profiles of 15 leaders involved in the decline and fall of Soviet communism; the text of 22 documents including writings by Gorbachev, Yeltsin and other key figures; a glossary of terms; and an annotated bibliography of print and video materials. Photos and maps complement the text.

Five essays examine how costly internal and external imperial policies, a poorly functioning economy, and rising nationalism among subject populations contributed to the demise of the Soviet empire. Watson shows that GorbacheV's perestroika reforms, intended to reform the party and the nation, ironically hastened the end, and that the August 1991 coup attempt sealed the fate of Soviet communism. The documents illustrate the reform attempt by Gorbachev and his trail-blazing economic advisors; party opposition to his reforms; the August 1991 coup attempt; the subsequent collapse of the party and the Soviet Union; and the creation of the Commonwealth of Independent States. The biographies explain the careers of individuals involved in the decline and fall of Soviet communism, including the last four Soviet leaders, whose policies inadvertently led to the demise of the system; the principal opponents of the reform; the leaders of the August 1991 coup attempt; the first post-Soviet leader of Russia, Boris Yeltsin; and the first post-Soviet Communist party leader in Russia, Gennady Zyuganov. This comprehensive resource is ideal for student research.

After Stalin's death in March 1953, the Cold War changed almost overnight. The Soviet Union embarked on a course of reconciliation and greater openness. However, despite an end to the Korean War and progress on many other outstanding East-West questions, the Western world remained mistrustful of Soviet motives and policies and Soviet leaders remained suspicious of Western intentions. Less than a decade after Stalin's death the Berlin Wall was erected and the Cuban Missile Crisis brought the world close to nuclear annihilation. Was this development unavoidable? Was an opportunity missed to overcome and terminate the Cold War? Was there a possibility for the creation of a more stable, less threatening, and less costly world in both human and material terms? It is only now, after the end of the Cold War and based on recently declassified western documents and revelations from once-closed archives in the former Soviet Union, Eastern Europe, and China, that new light can be shed on the nature of international Cold War policies in the years after Stalin's death. The essays in this book offer a historical understanding of this crucial period of the Cold War, assessing both the possibilities for change and the obstacles to detente. The book draws on the collective talents of an international group of scholars with a wide range of historical, geographical, and linguistic expertise. All of the essays are based on original research, many of them drawing from previously inaccessible archival documents from both the East and West. This book should be read by everyone interested in the final stage of the defining conflict that was the Cold War. Contributions by: Csaba Bekes, Gunter Bischof, Jeffrey Brooks, Ira Chernus, Jerald A. Combs, Lloyd Gardner, Jussi M. Hanhimaki, Hope M. Harrison, Tsuyoshi Hasegawa, Mark Kramer, Klaus Larres, Vojtech Mastny, Kenneth Osgood, Kathryn C. Statler, and Qiang Zhai

How did George W. Bush change from being a "regular person" in front of reporters to a master of information control? Or was there a change after all? Towel Snapping the Press follows Bush's lifelong association with the press, showing how he has developed and modified his tactics-from his days as part owner of the Texas Rangers baseball team to the present, with a look back at young George during his grandfather's 1950 Senate campaign. During Bush's early years in the public eye, the press did not scrutinize him; but as president, he became a subject of intense analysis and his "relaxed" demeanor became a pitfall. Still, many reporters find the president's disposition charming, even while they are frustrated by his message discipline and rigid control of press access to administration sources. Towel Snapping the Press not only presents interesting stories about the president from reporters' points of view, but also raises important issues that any civically engaged citizen will want to explore.

This book focuses on the neglected cultural front of the Cold War in Asia to explore the mindsets of Asian actors and untangle the complex cultural alliances that undergirded the security blocs on this continent. Our research is based primarily on archival sources, including government documents, diplomatic dispatches, and personal records. Some chapters also investigate architectural designs, novels, newspaper columns, and other writings by important Asian authors. The approaches employed are a mixture of historical, cultural, discourse, and literary analysis. The book can be adopted for graduate seminars on Asian modern history and Cold War history and politics, and will be especially useful to scholars and graduate students in contemporary Asian history (both cultural and political history) and in Cold War studies.

This book analyses teachers' social movements during the Spanish transition to democracy, between 1970 and 1985. It shows how ordinary teachers struggled to liberate their country's education system from the legacy of dictatorship. It explores their organizations, the paths of action they chose and their interaction with the disintegrating autocracy and the emerging democracy. In addition to analyzing the national aspects of their initiatives it follows their grass-roots activities in two local contexts, the fast growing metropolitan city of Madrid and the backward rural province of Salamanca. It thus combines a general evaluation of the phenomenon with intimate glances at the people who drove it forward. The success of the transition, the book argues, was due not only to the manoeuvrings of political leaders, nor to poplar protests in the streets, but was instead a common civic effort. By vindicating the importance of democratic professionals it thus illuminates the Spanish transition to democracy from a new angle.

The advent of the atomic bomb, the social and cultural impact of nuclear science, and the history of the British nuclear state after 1945 is a complex and contested story. British Nuclear Culture is an important survey that offers a new interpretation of the nuclear century by tracing the tensions between 'official' and 'unofficial' nuclear narratives in British culture. In this book, Jonathan Hogg argues that nuclear culture was a pervasive and persistent aspect of British life, particularly in the years following 1945. This idea is illustrated through detailed analysis of various primary source materials, such as newspaper articles, government files, fictional texts, film, music and oral testimonies. The book introduces unfamiliar sources to students of nuclear and cold war history, and offers in-depth and critical reflections on the expanding historiography in this area of research. Chronologically arranged, British Nuclear Culture reflects upon, and returns to, a number of key themes throughout, including nuclear anxiety, government policy, civil defence, 'nukespeak' and nuclear subjectivity, individual experience, protest and resistance, and the influence of the British nuclear state on everyday life. The book contains illustrations, individual case studies, a select bibliography, a timeline, and a list of helpful online resources for students of nuclear history.

The author analyzes the development of postwar Malayo-Japanese rapprochement from the resumption of unofficial economic relations to establishment of formal diplomatic relations, which happened along with the return of British administration in Malaya and Malayan decolonization. The focus is placed on the role of Britain as the suzerain of Malaya, in facilitating Japanese return to Malaya. The motivations behind the keen promotion of rapprochement by Malayan and Japanese leaders through the exchange of Prime Ministerial visits are also closely discussed.

This book explores the key milestones in education, gender, and policy that Kenya has achieved since independence, the challenges of this experience, and the future prospects. This edited collection of chapters also aims to illuminate the lessons learned from the experiences of the postcolonial period as well as postulate on the way forward. Through this exploration of the Kenyan experience since independence, the authors present an optimistic view that despite the many obstacles and challenges, the country still has promising prospects as a nation.

"This book...broadens our understanding of the post-World War II confrontation between the United States and the USSR and serves as a strong stimulus for the study of the contribution to the clash of ideas, using documents from former Communist archives."
--Ilya V. Gaiduk, "American Historical Review"

Freedom's War is the first book to examine comprehensively the American pursuit of the liberation of Eastern Europe from the end of World War II until the failure of the Hungarian Revolution in 1956. It shows how the American vision of freedom led to interventions in Asia, Africa and Latin America, and it details the massive propaganda campaign to persuade people at home and abroad of the virtues of U.S. possession of the atomic bomb. Most significantly, Freedom's War explores in detail the most important legacy of the Cold War: the forging of a network linking government and private groups, from labor unions to women's organizations to academics in the crusade against Communism. Beginning with the declaration of the Truman Doctrine, Lucas argues that the Cold War was a total war that required the contribution of all sectors of American society.

From its groundbreaking study of U.S. efforts to "liberate" Eastern Europe to its explanation of the ill-fated intervention in Vietnam, Freedom's War is an essential book for students and general readers alike.