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Books > History > World history > From 1900 > Postwar, from 1945
At midnight on 30 June 1997, Hong Kong reverted to Chinese
sovereignty after 150 years of British rule. The moment when the
British flag came down was dramatic enough but the ten years
leading up to it were full of surprising incident and change. These
'Letters from Hong Kong', written by an Englishwoman who was
involved in those events from 1987, are both an unusual historical
record and a heartwarming account of women's domestic, intellectual
and political activity. This epilogue brings Hong Kong up to date
ten years after the Handover.
Nerve agents are the world's deadliest means of chemical warfare.
Nazi Germany developed the first military-grade nerve agents and
massive industry for their manufacture-yet, strangely, the Third
Reich never used them. At the end of the Second World War, the
Allies were stunned to discover this advanced and extensive
programme. The Soviets and Western powers embarked on a new arms
race, amassing huge chemical arsenals. From their Nazi invention to
the 2018 Novichok attack in Britain, Dan Kaszeta uncovers nerve
agents' gradual spread across the world, despite international arms
control efforts. They've been deployed in the Iran-Iraq War, by
terrorists in Japan, in the Syrian Civil War, and by assassins in
Malaysia and Salisbury-always with bitter consequences. 'Toxic'
recounts the grisly history of these weapons of mass destruction: a
deadly suite of invisible, odourless killers.
Cuba has undergone dramatic changes since the collapse of European
communism. The loss of economic aid and preferential trade with the
Soviet Union and other Eastern bloc countries forced the Cuban
government to search out new ways of organizing the domestic
economy and new commercial relations in an international system
dominated by market economies. The resulting economic reforms have
reverberated through Cuban society and politics, recreating social
inequalities unknown since the 1950s and confronting the political
system with unprecedented new challenges. The resulting ferment is
increasingly evident in Cuban cultural expression, and the
responses to adversity and scarcity have reshaped Cuban social
relations. This completely revised and updated edition focuses on
Cuba since Raul Castro took over the country's leadership in 2006.
A Contemporary Cuba Reader brings together the best recent
scholarship and writing on Cuban politics, economics, foreign
relations, society, and culture in present-day Cuba. Ideally suited
for students and general readers seeking to understand this
still-contentious and controversial island, the book includes a
substantive introduction setting the historical context, as well as
part introductions and a chronology. Supplementary resources for
students and professors are available here. Contributions by:
Carlos Alzugaray Treto, Denise Blum, Philip Brenner, Michael J.
Bustamante, Mariela Castro, Soraya M. Castro Marino, Maria
Auxiliadora Cesar, Armando Chaguaceda, Margaret E. Crahan, Simon C.
Darnell, Antonio Aja Diaz, Jorge I. Dominguez, Maria Isabel
Dominguez, Tracey Eaton, H. Michael Erisman, Richard E. Feinberg,
Reina Fleitas Ruiz, Edmundo Garcia, Graciela Gonzalez Olmedo,
Conner Gorry, Katrin Hansing, Adrian H. Hearn, Ted A. Henken,
Rafael Hernandez, Monica Hirst, Robert Huish, Marguerite Rose
Jimenez, Antoni Kapcia, C. William Keck, Emily J. Kirk, John M.
Kirk, Hal Klepak, Sinan Koont, Par Kumaraswami, Saul Landau,
William M. LeoGrande, Sandra Levinson, Esteban Morales, Nancy
Morejon, Blanca Munster Infante, Armando Nova Gonzalez, Manuel
Orozco, Leonardo Padura Fuentes, Omar Everleny Perez Villanueva,
Philip Peters, Camila Pineiro Harnecker, Clotilde Proveyer
Cervantes, Archibald Ritter, Ana M. Ruiz Aguirre, Daniel Salas
Gonzalez, Jorge Mario Sanchez Egozcue, Ann Marie Stock, Julia E.
Sweig, Carlos Varela, Sjamme van de Voort, and Maria del Carmen
Zabala Arguelles.
Last Call for the African-American Church revisits the commandment
Jesus left his followers to proclaim the gospel worldwide until his
return, one that by all accounts is no longer a priority in the
contemporary African-American church. Despite the presence of
euphoric praise-and-worship celebrations and the proliferation of
diverse ministries it advertises as "cutting edge," the implosion
of missions has occurred in this church's pulpits and pews.
Selected biblical foundations of missions are provided for those
new to the parlance, and for others needing a refresher course.
Along with conventional missions' distinctions, Chester Williams
logs some concepts in the glossary he himself has constructed, for
readers and for collegial review. They include the feminization of
missions, rummage sale missions, missions without Jesus, and window
dressing missions. For the most part, these concepts represent a
radical departure from apostolic missions and are viewed as
biblical tinkering and convolution, most importantly, as
obstructions to the Great Commission-world harvesting.
Mid-twentieth-century Florida was a state in flux. Changes
exemplified by rapidly burgeoning cities and suburbs, the growth of
the Kennedy Space Center during the space race, and the impending
construction of Walt Disney World overwhelmed the outdated 1885
constitution. A small group of rural legislators known as the "Pork
Chop Gang" controlled the state and thwarted several attempts to
modernize the constitution. Through court-imposed redistribution of
legislators and the hard work of state leaders, however, the
executive branch was reorganized and the constitution was
modernized. In Making Modern Florida, Mary Adkins goes behind the
scenes to examine the history and impact of the 1966-68 revision of
the Florida state constitution. With storytelling flair, Adkins
uses interviews and detailed analysis of speeches and transcripts
to vividly capture the moves, gambits, and backroom moments
necessary to create and introduce a new state constitution. This
carefully researched account brings to light the constitutional
debates and political processes in the growth to maturity of what
is now the nation's third largest state.
Cuba has undergone dramatic changes since the collapse of European
communism. The loss of economic aid and preferential trade with the
Soviet Union and other Eastern bloc countries forced the Cuban
government to search out new ways of organizing the domestic
economy and new commercial relations in an international system
dominated by market economies. The resulting economic reforms have
reverberated through Cuban society and politics, recreating social
inequalities unknown since the 1950s and confronting the political
system with unprecedented new challenges. The resulting ferment is
increasingly evident in Cuban cultural expression, and the
responses to adversity and scarcity have reshaped Cuban social
relations. This completely revised and updated edition focuses on
Cuba since Raul Castro took over the country's leadership in 2006.
A Contemporary Cuba Reader brings together the best recent
scholarship and writing on Cuban politics, economics, foreign
relations, society, and culture in present-day Cuba. Ideally suited
for students and general readers seeking to understand this
still-contentious and controversial island, the book includes a
substantive introduction setting the historical context, as well as
part introductions and a chronology. Supplementary resources for
students and professors are available here. Contributions by:
Carlos Alzugaray Treto, Denise Blum, Philip Brenner, Michael J.
Bustamante, Mariela Castro, Soraya M. Castro Marino, Maria
Auxiliadora Cesar, Armando Chaguaceda, Margaret E. Crahan, Simon C.
Darnell, Antonio Aja Diaz, Jorge I. Dominguez, Maria Isabel
Dominguez, Tracey Eaton, H. Michael Erisman, Richard E. Feinberg,
Reina Fleitas Ruiz, Edmundo Garcia, Graciela Gonzalez Olmedo,
Conner Gorry, Katrin Hansing, Adrian H. Hearn, Ted A. Henken,
Rafael Hernandez, Monica Hirst, Robert Huish, Marguerite Rose
Jimenez, Antoni Kapcia, C. William Keck, Emily J. Kirk, John M.
Kirk, Hal Klepak, Sinan Koont, Par Kumaraswami, Saul Landau,
William M. LeoGrande, Sandra Levinson, Esteban Morales, Nancy
Morejon, Blanca Munster Infante, Armando Nova Gonzalez, Manuel
Orozco, Leonardo Padura Fuentes, Omar Everleny Perez Villanueva,
Philip Peters, Camila Pineiro Harnecker, Clotilde Proveyer
Cervantes, Archibald Ritter, Ana M. Ruiz Aguirre, Daniel Salas
Gonzalez, Jorge Mario Sanchez Egozcue, Ann Marie Stock, Julia E.
Sweig, Carlos Varela, Sjamme van de Voort, and Maria del Carmen
Zabala Arguelles.
In this book, James B. Greenberg and Thomas K. Park take an
anthropological approach to the economic history of the past one
thousand years and define credit as a potentially transformative
force involving inequalties, rather than an exchange of equal
valued commodites. Guiding readers through the medieval period all
the way to the modern day, and tracking through the Mediterranean
and Europe, Greenberg and Park reorient financial history and
position social capital and ethical thought at its center. They
examine the multicultural origins of credit and finance, from
banking to credit cards and predatory lending, and bringing us up
to date, they explore the forces that led to the collapse of global
credit markets in 2007-2008. This book is recommended for scholars
of anthropology, history, economics, religion, and sociology.
In September 1958, Guinea claimed its independence, rejecting a
constitution that would have relegated it to junior partnership in
the French Community. In all the French empire, Guinea was the only
territory to vote "No." Orchestrating the "No" vote was the Guinean
branch of the Rassemblement Democratique Africain (RDA), an
alliance of political parties with affiliates in French West and
Equatorial Africa and the United Nations trusts of Togo and
Cameroon. Although Guinea's stance vis-a-vis the 1958 constitution
has been recognized as unique, until now the historical roots of
this phenomenon have not been adequately explained.
Clearly written and free of jargon, "Cold War and Decolonization
in Guinea" argues that Guinea's vote for independence was the
culmination of a decade-long struggle between local militants and
political leaders for control of the political agenda. Since 1950,
when RDA representatives in the French parliament severed their
ties to the French Communist Party, conservative elements had
dominated the RDA. In Guinea, local cadres had opposed the break.
Victimized by the administration and sidelined by their own
leaders, they quietly rebuilt the party from the base. Leftist
militants, their voices muted throughout most of the decade, gained
preeminence in 1958, when trade unionists, students, the party's
women's and youth wings, and other grassroots actors pushed the
Guinean RDA to endorse a "No" vote. Thus, Guinea's rejection of the
proposed constitution in favor of immediate independence was not an
isolated aberration. Rather, it was the outcome of years of
political mobilization by activists who, despite Cold War
repression, ultimately pushed the Guinean RDA tothe left.
The significance of this highly original book, based on previously
unexamined archival records and oral interviews with grassroots
activists, extends far beyond its primary subject. In illuminating
the Guinean case, Elizabeth Schmidt helps us understand the
dynamics of decolonization and its legacy for postindependence
nation-building in many parts of the developing world.
Examining Guinean history from the bottom up, Schmidt considers
local politics within the larger context of the Cold War, making
her book suitable for courses in African history and politics,
diplomatic history, and Cold War history.
The Cold War remains one of the twentieth century's defining
events, possessing broad political, social, and material
implications that continue to have impact. In this book, Todd
Hanson presents nine case studies of archaeological investigations
conducted at famous-and some not so famous-historic American Cold
War sites, including Bikini Atoll, the Nevada Test Site, and the
Cuban sites of the Soviet Missile Crisis. By examining nuclear
weapons test sites, missile silos, submarine bases, fallout
shelters, and more, Hanson illustrates how archaeology can help
strip away myths, secrets, and political rhetoric to better inform
our understanding of the conflict's formative role in the making of
the contemporary American landscape. Addressing modern
ramifications of the Cold War, Hanson also looks at the
preservation of atomic heritage sites, the atomic tourism
phenomenon, and the struggles of atomic veterans.
Revolutionary feminism is resurging across the world. But what were
its origins? In the early 1970s, the International Feminist
Collective began to organise around the call for recognition of the
different forms of labour performed by women. They paved the way
for the influential and controversial feminist campaign 'Wages for
Housework' which made great strides towards driving debates in
social reproduction and the gendered aspects of labour. Drawing on
extensive archival research, Louise Toupin looks at the history of
this movement between 1972 and 1977, featuring unpublished
conversations with some of its founders including Silvia Federici
and Mariarosa Dalla Costa, as well as activists from Italy,
Germany, Switzerland, the United States and Canada. Encompassing
rich theoretical traditions, including autonomism, anti-colonialism
and feminism, whilst challenging both classical Marxism and the
mainstream women's movement, the book highlights the power and
originality of the campaign. Among their many innovations, these
pathbreaking activists approached gender, sexuality, race and class
together in a way that anticipated intersectionality and had a
radical new understanding of sex work.
This book presents absorbing and critical expert perspectives on
the post-truth phenomenon that has infiltrated the U.S. political
system, media, and populace. Deception in politics is nothing new,
but the quantity of unsubstantiated statements in America today is
unprecedented. False notions, fake news, "alternative facts," and
opinions are being pitched from sources including the White House,
Congress, and the American population via Twitter, Facebook, and
online news sites as well as print, television, and radio. Such a
widespread spectacle instantly captures the attention of people
nationwide, but disagreement has the nation almost bordering on
civil war over the definition of "the truth" and what this book
calls "post-truth." In this text, C.G. Prado and expert
contributors present varied perspectives on post-truth, its
authoritarian implications for the nation, and how we can approach
information to differentiate between truth and post-truth. Speaking
to general readers, students, and scholars alike, chapters include
text on the historical and social events that initiated and
developed post-truth and why some people are more prone than others
to accept and perpetuate post-truth. They also discuss post-truth
as a threat to democracy. Analyzes Trump-administration-generated
mistruths in a discussion of post-truth America Presents varied
concerns, perspectives, and thought-provoking topics in clear,
accessible, and engaging words Explains the historical and social
circumstances that led to post-truth Details why some people are
more apt to embrace and spread post-truth Outlines actions to
defeat post-truth
With the summer of 2012 marking half a century of independence for
Algeria, the Algerian War has been brought into discussions in
France once more, where parallels between the past and present are
revealed. This analysis takes an in-depth look at the war from 1954
to 1962 and the response from the French left. Drawing from
documents and interviews, it offers a full account of not only the
role of the revolutionary left in giving political and practical
solidarity to the Algerian liberation struggle, but also that of
the Trotskyists during that period. Including a section on how the
war has been reflected in fiction, this volume is sure to interest
academics across various fields.
Composer and cultural official Nicolas Nabokov (1903-78) led an
unusual life even for a composer who was also a high-level
diplomat. Nabokov was for nearly three decades an outstanding and
far-sighted player in international cultural exchanges during the
Cold War, much admired by some of the most distinguished minds of
his century for the range of his interests and the breadth of his
vision. Nicolas Nabokov: A Life in Freedom and Music follows
Nabokov's life through its fascinating details: a privileged
Russian childhood before the Revolution; exile, first to Germany,
then to France; the beginnings of a promising musical career,
launched under the aegis of Diaghilev and his Ballets Russes with
Ode in 1928; his twelve-year "American exile" during which he
occupied several academic positions; his return to Europe after the
war to participate in the denazification of Germany; his
involvement in anti-Stalinist causes in the first years of the Cold
War; his participation in the Congress for Cultural Freedom; his
role as cultural adviser to the Mayor of Berlin and director of the
Berlin Festival in the early 1960s; the resumption of his American
academic and musical career in the late 1960s and 1970s. Nabokov is
unique not only in that he was involved on a high level in
international cultural politics, but also in that his life
intersected at all times with a vast array of people within, and
also well beyond, the confines of classical music. Drawing on a
vast array of primary sources, Vincent Giroud's first-ever
biography of Nabokov will be of interest readers interested in
twentieth-century music, Russian music, Russian emigration, and the
Cold War, particularly in its cultural aspects. Musicians and
musicologists interested in Nabokov as a composer, or in twentieth
century Russian composers in general, will find in the book
information not available anywhere else.
This is a superb new study of Japanese culture in the post-war
period, focusing on a handful of filmmakers who created movies for
a politically conscious audience. Out of a background of war,
occupation and the legacies of Japan's post-defeat politics there
emerged a dissentient group of avant-garde filmmakers who created a
counter-cinema that addressed a newly constituted, politically
conscious audience. While there was no formal manifesto for this
movement and the various key filmmakers of the period (Oshima
Nagisa, Imamura Shohei, Yoshida Yoshishige, Hani Susumu, Wakamatsu
Koji and Okamoto Kihachi) experimented with very different
conceptions of visual style, it is possible to identify a
sensibility that motivated many of these filmmakers: a generational
consciousness based on political opposition that was intimately
linked to the student movements of the 1950s, and shared
experiences as Japan's first generation of post-war filmmakers
artistically stifled by a monopolistic and hierarchal commercial
studio system that had emerged reinvigorated in the wake of the
'red purges' of the late-1940s. "Politics, Porn and Protest:
Japanese Avant-Garde Cinema in the 1960s and 1970s" provides a much
needed overview of these filmmakers and reconsiders the question of
dissent in the cultural landscape of Japan in the post-war period.
Evolution and Power: China's Struggle, Survival, and Success,
edited by Xiaobing Li and Xiansheng Tian, brings together scholars
from multiple disciplines to provide a comprehensive look at China
s rapid socio-economic transformation and the dramatic changes in
its political institution and culture. Investigating subjects such
as party history, leadership style, personality, political
movements, civil-military relations, intersection of politics and
law, and democratization, this volume situates current legitimacy
and constitutional debates in the context of both the country s
ideology, traditions, and the wider global community. The
contributors to this volume clarify key Chinese conceptual
frameworks to explain previous subjects that have been confusing or
neglected, offering case studies and policy analyses connected with
power struggles and political crises in China. A general pattern is
introduced and developed to illuminate contemporary problems with
government accountability, public opposition, and political
transparency. Evolution and Power provides essential scholarship on
China s political development and growth.
Explores the ways television documents, satirizes, and critiques
the political era of the Trump presidency. In American Television
during a Television Presidency, Karen McNally and contributors
critically examine the various ways in which television became
transfixed by the Trump presidency and the broader political,
social, and cultural climate. This book is the first to fully
address the relationship between TV and a presidency consistently
conducted with television in mind. The sixteen chapters cover
everything from the political theater of televised impeachment
hearings to the potent narratives of fictional drama and the
stinging critiques of comedy, as they consider the wide-ranging
ways in which television engages with the shifting political
culture that emerged during this period. Approaching television
both historically and in the contemporary moment, the
contributors-an international group of scholars from a variety of
academic disciplines-illuminate the indelible links that exist
between television, American politics, and the nation's broader
culture. As it interrogates a presidency played out through the
lens of the TV camera and reviews a medium immersing itself in a
compelling and inescapable subject, American Television during a
Television Presidency sets out to explore what defines the
television of the Trump era as a distinctive time in TV history.
From inequalities to resistance, and from fandom to historical
memory, this book opens up new territory in which to critically
analyze television's complex relationship with Donald Trump, his
presidency, and the political culture of this unsettled and
simultaneously groundbreaking era. Undergraduate and graduate
students and scholars of film and television studies, comedy
studies, and cultural studies will value this strong collection.
An essential new reference work for students and general readers
interested in the history, dynamics, and influence of
evangelicalism in recent American history, politics, and culture.
What makes evangelical or "born-again" Christians different from
those who identify themselves more simply as "Christian"? What
percentage of Americans believe in the Rapture? How are
evangelicalism and Baptism similar? What is the influence of
evangelical religions on U.S. politics? Readers of Evangelical
America: An Encyclopedia of Contemporary American Religious Culture
will learn the answers to these questions and many more through
this single-volume work's coverage of the many dimensions of and
diversity within evangelicalism and through its documentation of
the specific contributions evangelicals have made in American
society and culture. It also illustrates the Evangelical movement's
influence internationally in key issues such as human rights,
environmentalism, and gender and sexuality. Provides readers with
an understanding of contemporary American evangelicalism's history,
key individuals, organizations, and beliefs through detailed
coverage of more than 180 topics Documents the diversity of the
Evangelical movement under a common core umbrella of doctrinal
beliefs Displays the breadth of American evangelical interaction in
social and cultural issues and in debates in recent American
history
This book explores the origins, conduct, and failure of Greek
Cypriot nationalists to achieve the unification of Cyprus with
Greece. Andrew Novo addresses the anti-colonial struggle in the
context of: the competition for the nationalist narrative in Cyprus
between the Left and Right, the duelling Greek-Cypriot and
Turkish-Cypriot nationalisms in Cyprus, the role of Turkey and
Greece in the conflict on the island, and the concerns of the
British Empire during its retrenchment following the Second World
War. More than a narrative history of the period, an analysis of
British policy, or a description of counter-insurgency operations,
this book lays out an examination of the underpinnings of the
enosis cause and its manifestation in action. It argues that the
strategic myopia of the enosis movement shackled the cause, defined
its conduct, and was the primary reason for its failure. Divided
and occupied, Cyprus, and the world, deal with its unresolved
legacy to this day.
In recent years there has been much interest in collective memory
and commemoration. It is often assumed that when nations celebrate
a historic day, they put aside the divisions of the present to
recall the past in a spirit of unity. As Billig and Marinho show,
this does not apply to the Portuguese parliament's annual
celebration of 25 April 1974, the day when the dictatorship,
established by Salazar and continued by Caetano, was finally
overthrown. Most speakers at the ceremony say little about the
actual events of the day itself; and in their speeches they
continue with the partisan politics of the present as combatively
as ever. To understand this, the authors examine in detail how the
members of parliament do politics within the ceremony of
remembrance; how they engage in remembering and forgetting the
great day; how they use the low rhetoric of manipulation and
point-scoring, as well as high-minded political rhetoric. The book
stresses that the members of the audience contribute to the meaning
of the ceremony by their partisan displays of approval and
disapproval. Throughout, the authors demonstrate that, to uncover
the deeper meanings of political rhetoric, it is necessary to take
note of significant absences. The Politics and Rhetoric of
Commemoration illustrates how an in-depth case-study can be
invaluable for understanding wider processes. The authors are not
content just to uncover unnoticed features of the Portuguese
celebration. They use the particular example to provide original
insights about the rhetoric of celebrating and the politics of
remembering, as well as throwing new light onto the nature of party
political discourse.
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