Series Information:
The Making of the Contemporary World

The French Army's war in Algeria has always aroused passions. This book does not whitewash the atrocities committed by both sides; rather it shifts the focus to the conflict itself, a perspective assisted by the French republic's belated official admission in 1999 that what happened in Algeria was indeed a war. Each contributor made use of the increasingly liberalised French archives of the war since the early 1990s. The book re-evaluates counter-terrorism in the cities; the methods used in the "battle for hearts and minds" in the villages of the interior; the hitherto neglected roles of French air and naval power in supporting the army's counter-insurgency offensives against the Armee de Liberation Nationale; and the battles that France decisively lost for both world opinion and for support from her major Western allies.
For years, with few exceptions, writers have overwhelmingly examined the Algerian crisis through the prism of French party politics, personal testimony and more recently, memory. But, far from being "a war with no name" the fighting in Algeria was on a massive scale involving some two million French soldiers. This collection, published for the 40th anniversary of the war's end, firmly situates the battles they fought in strategy, operations and diplomacy.

The French Army's war in Algeria has always aroused passions. This book does not whitewash the atrocities committed by both sides; rather it focuses on the conflict itself, a perspective assisted by the French republic's official admission in 1999 that what happened in Algeria was indeed a war.

Becoming a mother charts the diverse and complex history of Australian mothering for the first time, exposing the ways it has been both connected to and distinct from parallel developments in other industrialised societies. In many respects, the historical context in which Australian women come to motherhood has changed dramatically since 1945. And yet examination of the memories of multiple maternal generations reveals surprising continuities in the emotions and experiences of first-time motherhood. Drawing upon interdisciplinary insights from anthropology, history, psychology and sociology, Carla Pascoe Leahy unpacks this multifaceted rite of passage through more than 60 oral history interviews, demonstrating how maternal memories continue to influence motherhood today. Despite radical shifts in understandings of gender, care and subjectivity, becoming a mother remains one of the most personally and culturally significant moments in a woman's life. -- .

The years since New Labour came to power in 1997 have seen changes to the British institutions of political power on an unprecedented scale. The reforms have been widespread, ranging from devolution of power in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, to the reform of the House of Lords and the changing role of the Monarchy. This book is the first to examine these changes collectively and in detail, placing each in its historical context, analysing problems, solutions and what the future holds for this ambitious period of reforms.
The book is comprehensive in coverage, and accessibly written. As such it should be the ideal resource for undergraduate students of British Politics seeking to make sense of this complex subject.

Designed as a helpful reference tool for both Asian specialists and students and scholars in the broader fields of diplomatic history and foreign relations, this comprehensive historical dictionary contains a series of in-depth essays which describe the diplomatic, political, and military developments sorrounding the Korean War. The volume concentrates on the period of conventional war from the North Korean invasion of South Korea in June 1950 through the signing of the armistice agreement on July 27, 1953, although key developments prior to the formal outbreak of hostilities also receive attention. Written by a distinguished group of contributors from eight countries, the entries cover all of the significant people, controversies, military operations, and policy pronouncements of the era.

Entries are arranged in alphabetical order, with cross references in the text of each to assist users interested in learning about related items. In certain subject areas entries appear in groups, such as battles, military operations, United Nations resolutions, and the activities of major participants, most notably Douglas MacArthur, Harry S. Truman, and Syngman Rhee. References at the end of each entry serve as a guide for readers desiring additional information. Throughout, the dictionary uses the spelling of Korean and Chinese names common at the time of the war to minimize confusion among non-specialists. Six appendices provide statistical information, a personnel summary, a list of acronyms, a chronology of events, a selection of maps, and a bibliography. The Historical Dictionary of the Korean War will be an excellent resource for public and academic libraries, historians, and students.

Visit tragedy and humor in a combat zone. Enter the surreal world of Vietnam through the eyes of young soldiers struggling to survive their tours of duty while building a road through the hostile swamps of the Mekong River Delta

The partition of the Indian subcontinent in 1947 was a defining moment which has powerfully shaped the destinies of people in the South Asian region. The birth of nation-states of India and Pakistan produced reverberations which were both immediate and long-term. This book focuses on the aftermath of partition and takes stock of its long term consequences. Earlier works on partition have portrayed it as a tragic and unintended consequence of decolonisation, or subordinated it to larger dramas surrounding the advent of independence. This book sees partition in its own terms. It argues that it was not a single event, but a trigger of processes which have left a deep imprint on state and society in the region. Where other books have looked only at the causes of partition, this book broadens the horizon by looking at its effects. It is constructed around two key motifs, the dislocations and disruptions as well as the long-term impact of partition on peoples, places and institutions. This book draws upon new theoretical insights and fresh bodies of data to historically reappraise partition in the light of its long aftermath. It uses a comparative approach by viewing South Asia in its to

This study establishes a "Churchillian perspective" of politics that explains Winston Churchill's policies and actions during and following World War II. Using a new approach, Lambakis describes the principles informing Churchill's statesmanship and his basic strategies in dealing with the Soviet Union when the Cold War developed. It fills a gap in scholarship regarding the final years of Churchill's career. This study departs from mainstream views on Churchill and most postwar history and should thus be of real interest to political scientists, Churchill scholars, diplomatic historians, and students in European studies.

The proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) is a major concern and the Middle East is at the forefront of US-lead efforts to counter and control their spread. This vital book examines why states seek to gain WMD, a crucial issue in developing strategies against proliferation. Leading experts examine specific countries and the interplay among political, economic, cultural and regional factors driving decisions whether to acquire WMD. The result is enhanced understanding of the challenge proliferation poses to US strategy and policy and the wider international community.

Communities across America were thrown into upheaval during the 1960s, when thousands of young people began to publicly question the status quo. Grassroots social movements sprung up on hundreds of college campuses and often spread to surrounding towns, where participants debated race, the role of government, Vietnam, feminism, the cold war, and other issues of the day. Yet this dynamic did not occur in a vacuum: Americans that supported the status quo came together to oppose the activists, and joined a national debate on the meaning of citizenship and patriotism. Rusty L. Monhollon uncovers the voices of ordinary people on all sides of the political spectrum in the university town of Lawrence, Kansas. He reveals how Americans from a range of ideological and political perspectives responded to and tried to resolve political and social conflict in the 1960s. By focusing on a single community, Monhollon vividly demonstrates that the war at home reached deep into the nation's core, and affected the lives of ordinary citizens on a daily basis.

This work provides an understanding of the wars in Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina. These two interdependent wars were the greatest armed conflicts in Europe in the second half of the 20th century. This work provides an analysis of their successes and failures.

A History of Africa is a powerful narrative history of the continent from its beginnings to the twenty-first century.
Long established at the forefront of African Studies, the fourth edition of this classic history brings the book up to date to address the events of the 1990s. The issues discussed include:
* post-apartheid South Africa
* the prospects for democratisation in Africa at the beginning of the new millennium
* developments in Muslim North Africa including the threat of Islamic fundamentalism
* economic and social developments including the devastating impact of the Third World debt and the provision of debt relief
* cultural, environmental and gender issues in Modern Africa.

During the 1980s, religion was widely assumed to have lost its dominant position in Western culture and to be losing ground throughout the world. This has not been the case. Today we see an upsurge in religion worldwide, which has affected people's spiritual, cultural, economic and political lives.
Much has been written about the expanded role of religion in the socio-political arena of Islam in the Middle East, of the Catholic Church in countries formerly under Communist control, and of the rising neo-Pentecostalism in Latin America. Similary, much has also been written about the colonial evangelism and the expansion on the role of Christianity in post-colonial Africa. This book joins the debate on the role of Christianity in coloniality, and more so, in post-coloniality and neo-coloniality in Kenya. It traces the process of transformation in which the church, state and society in Kenya took part, and attempts to construct new understandings of the relationships between the three. It demonstrates the crucial role of the church in shaping Kenya's emerging civil society and in developing an alternative politics.

Russian-speaking Jews from the former Soviet Union are a peculiarity in the Jewish world. After decades living in a repressive, nominally atheistic state, these Jews did manage to retain a strong sense of Jewish identity-but one that was almost completely divorced from Judaism. Today, more than ten percent of Jews speak or understand Russian, signaling the importance of an ever-vexing question: why are Russian Jews the way they are? In pursuit of an answer, Anna Shternshis's groundbreaking When Sonia Met Boris draws on nearly 500 oral history interviews on the Soviet Jewish experience with Soviet citizens who were adults by the 1940s. Soviet Jews lived through tumultuous times: the Great Terror, World War II, the anti-Semitic policies of the postwar period, and the collapse of the Soviet Union. But like millions of other Soviet citizens, they married, raised children, and built careers, pursuing life as best as they could in a profoundly hostile environment. One of the first scholars to record and analyze oral testimonies of Soviet Jews, Shternshis unearths heartbreaking, deeply poignant, and often funny stories of the everyday choices Jews were forced to make as a repressed minority living in a totalitarian regime. Shternshis reveals how ethnicity rapidly transformed into a disability, as well as a negative characteristic, for Soviet Jews in the postwar period. That sense of Jewish identity has persisted well into the twenty-first century, influencing the children and grandchildren of Shternshis's subjects, the foundational generation of contemporary Russian Jewish culture. An illuminating work of social and cultural history, When Sonia Met Boris traces the fascinating contours of contemporary Russian Jewish identity back to their very roots.

The Irish Times bestseller 'A gripping tale of savagery and courage' Noam Chomsky 'Fascinating and captivating' Irish Times 'A beautiful book... Full of pain and longing but also joy, adventure, and excitement' Janine di Giovanni 'A superb account of the life and work of the best reporter I have ever known' Patrick Cockburn When Lara Marlowe met Robert Fisk in 1983 in Damascus, he was already a famous war correspondent. She was a young American reporter who would become a renowned journalist in her own right. For the next twenty years, they were lovers, husband and wife and friends, occasionally angry and estranged from one another, but ultimately reconciled. They learned from each other and from the people in the ruined world they reported from: Lebanon, torn apart by a vicious civil war as well as Israeli and Syrian occupations; Iran, where they were the only journalists to interview the Middle East's chief hostage-taker and dispatcher of suicide bombers; the Islamist revolt that claimed up to 200,000 lives in Algeria; the disintegration of former Yugoslavia and two US-led wars on Iraq. This is at once a portrait of a remarkable man, the story of a Middle East broken by its own divisions and outside powers, and a moving account of a relationship in dark times.

Few figures in the twentieth century have been as inspirational as Mohandas "Mahatma" Gandhi. Interest in this extraordinary man has produced a massive amount of printed material, making Ananda M. Pandiri's comprehensive bibliography an invaluable reference tool for scholars and students. Pandiri has meticulously searched printed and electronic indexes, publisher's catalogs, and university libraries throughout India, Britain, and the U.S. to compile a complete bibliography of sources in the English language. This volume is organized and cross-referenced for easy use and access to a voluminous amount of information. Features include: -More than 4700 entries comprising books, pamphlets, seminars, government records, and other significant printed material -Complete bibliographic data of sources -Annotations detailing the content and scholarship of sources -Two exhaustive indexes-Title and Subject

From government ministers and spies to activists, drag queens and celebrities, Odd men out charts the tumultuous history of gay men in 1950s and 60s Britain. It takes us from the earliest tentative steps towards decriminalisation to the liberation movement of the early 1970s. Along the way, it catalogues shocking repression, including laws against homosexual activity and the use of brutal medical 'treatments'. Odd men out draws on medical data and opinion polls, broadcast recordings, theatrical productions, and extensive interviews with key players, as well as an in-depth analysis of the Wolfenden Report and the circumstances surrounding its creation. It brings to life pivotal moments in gay mens' cultural representation, ranging across the West End and emerging writers like Joe Orton, the British film industry, the BBC, national newspapers, fashion catalogues and music magazines. Celebrating the joy of gay lives as well as the hardships, Odd men out preserves the voices of a disappearing generation who revolutionised what it meant to be a gay man in twentieth-century Britain. -- .

This work aims to show that Japan even at it's height of success, while the successful version of capitalism was blighted at it's core, being unsustainable. This revised edition features n introduction which gives an analysis of Japan's contemporary crisis.

Presented by Russian author and attorney Ilya Milyukov, Chronicles of the First and Second Chechen War presents the main events of the First (1994-1996) and Second (1999-2009) Wars in Chechnya, Russia's deadliest conflicts since World War II. The First War began in December 1994 and lasted for one year and nine months, ending in August 1996. There were two major urban battles - the Battle of the Chechen capital of Grozny from December 1994 to March 1995 and the Battle of Grozny in August 1996 - and two major battles in the rural areas, the Russian offensive in the Southern Chechnya in May and June 1995, and fighting in the foothills part of the Republic from February to May 1996. The Second War began in August 1999 and lasted much longer - until mid-April 2009, for almost ten years. It also included a major urban battle, and it again occurred in New Year's Eve - the Battle of Grozny in December 1999 - February 2000. There was also a major battle in the countryside - the Battle for the village of Komsomolskoye, located in Urus-Martanovsky District, in March 2000. And there were also two large attacks outside Chechnya -in Moscow in October 2002, and in the North Ossetian town of Beslan in September 2004. During these war, Russian federal troops took heavy losses, while the number of civilian deaths reached nearly 400,000 people. Milyukov's expert and meticulous chronicle lists the major events of these conflicts soberly and without editorial comment to document their events in all their brutality and horror.

The enfranchisement of women in Charles de Gaulle's France in 1944 is considered a potent element in the nation's self-crafted, triumphant World War Two narrative: the French, conquered by the Germans, valiantly resisted until they rescued themselves and built a new democracy, honoring France's longstanding liberal traditions. Kelly Ricciardi Colvin's Gender and French Identity after the Second World War, 1944-1954 calls that potent element into question. By analyzing a range of sources, including women's magazines, trials, memoirs, and spy novels, this book explores the ways in which culture was used to limit the power of the female vote. It exposes a wide network of constructed behavioral norms that supported a conservative vision of French identity. Taken together, they depicted men as virile Resistors for French democracy and history, and women as solely domestic support. Indeed Colvin shows that women's access to the vote emerged alongside an explosion of cultural messages that encouraged them to retreat into the home, to find mates, to have 'millions of beautiful babies', in the words of de Gaulle, and not to challenge patriarchy in any way. This is a vital study for understanding the nature of postwar France and women's history in 20th-century Europe.

This book illuminates how Berkner became a model that produced the scientist/advisor/policymaker that helped build post-war America. It does so by providing a detailed account of the personal and professional beliefs of one of the most influential figures in the American scientific community; a figure that helped define the political and social climates that existed in the United States during the Cold War.