From its emergence out of the ashes of World War II through to the economic and political challenges of today, Austria has embodied many of the contradictions of recent European history. Written by one of the nation's leading historians, this account of postwar Austria explores the tensions that have defined it for over seven decades, whether in its overlapping policies of engagement and isolationism, its grandiose visions and persistent sense of inferiority, or its position as a model social democracy that has suffered recurrent bouts of xenophobic nationalism. This newly revised edition also addresses the major developments since 2005, including a resurgent far right, economic instability, and the potential fracturing of the European Union.

Three years after the departure of the Ayatollah Rouhallah Khomeini, Iran's political future remains uncertain. This volume explores the directions the Islamic regime and, more importantly, the Iranian society and nation are likely to take in the 1990s. The study begins with a brief historical survey of Iran's political institutions, its sociocultural traits, and its economic and military conditions, as well as its foreign policy orientation at the time of the revolution. It follows with a summary of the political, social, and economic changes the Islamic revolution introduced. These serve as benchmarks against which to measure the changes and reforms of the last three years and provide a basis for sketching the potential future directions of Iran's domestic evolution and foreign relations.

For much of the postwar era, French society had a contradictory view of passenger trains, scorning them as quaint anachronisms on the one hand, yet also fearing their economic and social impact. All this changed with the introduction of the famed Train a Grande Vitesse (TGV) between Paris and Lyon in the early 1980s. In vivid detail, Meunier describes the political, economic, and social factors that both helped and hindered the development of the world's fastest, most technologically advanced train.

The present-day enthusiasm in France for high-speed rail travel dates only to the successful launch of the now-famous TGV in 1981. Until now, most published accounts of French high-speed rail have been of a technical nature and have ignored or minimized the historical, political, economic, and social context. Historians have been left with detailed descriptions of locomotives and experimental test runs, but there has been scant information cercerning why the machines were built and why the tests were carried out in the first place. This book is the first full-length treatment of high-speed rail travel and the bibliography is one of the most complete on the subject.

Shaping the lives of young men in college who would answer their nation's military call in the Korean War, were the sage veterans from World War II. The vets became the mentors for the male freshmen at The University of Texas in 1947 and '48, and these young men would later be called to arms in the Korean conflict beginning in 1950. The war began in June, less than five years after the cessation of hostilities of World War II-and the American public was not ready for a new and major conflict to be thrust upon them. The draft of young men was instituted, and therefore many thousands of young Americans served during one of the bloodiest of wars. Balancing tragedy with humor, anecdotes of the period make for interesting reading about an era where stress, crime and drugs were subjects rarely mentioned in America on the home front-plus school violence was unheard of. Of course, there was no television in the'40s, and very little central air-conditioning in the early '50s. Still, it was a very pleasant era, good music abounded and folks often gathered around the piano to sing. High Forties, Low Fifties describes the easy times but takes the reader overseas to the war that suddenly breaks out. The hi-jinks of college life described segue to the chaos of the Korean conflict, and the reader is treated to heroics and humor in the nonfiction book.

The height of colonial rule on the African continent saw two prominent religious leaders step to the fore: Desmond Tutu in South Africa, and Abel Muzorewa in Zimbabwe. Both Tutu and Muzorewa believed that Africans could govern their own nations responsibly and effectively if only they were given the opportunity. In expressing their religious views about the need for social justice each man borrowed from national traditions that had shaped policy of earlier church leaders. Tutu and Muzorewa argued that the political development of Africans was essential to the security of the white settlers and that whites should seek the promotion of political development of Africans as a condition of that future security. Desmond Tutu and Abel Muzorewa were both motivated by strong religious principles. They disregarded the possible personal repercussions that they might suffer as a result of their efforts to alter the fundamental bases of their colonial governments. Each man hoped to create a new national climate in which blacks and whites could cooperate to build a new nation. Each played a part in eventual independence for Zimbabwe in 1980 and for South Africa in 1994. Mungazi's examination of their efforts reveals how individuals with strong convictions can make a difference in shaping the future of their nations.

Were Lincoln alive today what would his response be to the immense and complex issues confronting the United States of America? In Lincoln's day the issues facing the country dating from Lincoln's first political speech (1838) until his death in the opening of his second term (1865) were momentous to his generation, just as the issues facing the country in the early 21st Century are immense to its generation. The people of Lincoln's day needed leadership. The people of the United States today also need leadership-not just any kind of leadership-but leadership that is anchored solidly on the fundamental principles and practices of the Constitution of the United States and the Declaration of Independence. Within the understanding that people of Lincoln's generation were as people are today in their essential characteristics, good and bad, join in an investigation that utilizes Lincoln's own words from his early career and adapts them in principle to the practices of today. Lincoln was a great leader who rescued the Union and restored the country. We can learn from his leadership-if we simply take the time to read and then apply what we learn into the contemporary circumstances that define our issues.

General William C. Westmoreland has long been derided for his failed strategy of "attrition" in the Vietnam War. Historians have argued that Westmoreland's strategy placed a premium on high "body counts" through a "big unit war" that relied almost solely on search and destroy missions. Many believe the U.S. Army failed in Vietnam because of Westmoreland's misguided and narrow strategy In a groundbreaking reassessment of American military strategy in Vietnam, Gregory Daddis overturns conventional wisdom and shows how Westmoreland did indeed develop a comprehensive campaign which included counterinsurgency, civic action, and the importance of gaining political support from the South Vietnamese population. Exploring the realities of a large, yet not wholly unconventional environment, Daddis reinterprets the complex political and military battlefields of Vietnam. Without searching for blame, he analyzes how American civil and military leaders developed strategy and how Westmoreland attempted to implement a sweeping strategic vision. Westmoreland's War is a landmark reinterpretation of one of America's most divisive wars, outlining the multiple, interconnected aspects of American military strategy in Vietnam-combat operations, pacification, nation building, and the training of the South Vietnamese armed forces. Daddis offers a critical reassessment of one of the defining moments in American history.

After 1949, the British Empire in Hong Kong was more vulnerable than the lack of Chinese demand for return and the success of Hong Kong's economic transformations might have suggested. Its vulnerability stemmed as much from Britain's imperial decline and America's Cold War requirements as from a Chinese threat. It culminated in the little known '1957 Question', a year when the British position in Hong Kong appeared more uncertain than any time since 1949. This is the first scholarly study that places Hong Kong at the heart of the Anglo-American relationship in the wider context of the Cold War in Asia. Unlike existing works, which tend to treat British and US policies in isolation, this book explores their dynamic interactions - how the two allies perceived, responded to, and attempted to influence each other's policies and actions. It also provides a major reinterpretation of Hong Kong's involvement in the containment of China. Dr Mark argues that, concerned about possible Chinese retaliation, the British insisted and the Americans accepted that Hong Kong's role should be as discreet and non-confrontational in nature as possible. Above all, top decision-makers in Washington evaluated Hong Kong's significance not in its own right, but in the context of the Anglo-American relationship: Hong Kong was seen primarily as a bargaining chip to obtain British support for US policy elsewhere in Asia. By using a variety of British and US archival material as well as Chinese sources, Dr Mark examines how the British and US government discussed, debated, and disagreed over Hong Kong's role in the Cold War, and reveals the dynamics of the Anglo-American alliance and the dilemmas of small allies in a global conflict.

In the years since World War II, commercial television has become the most powerful force in American culture. It is also the quintessential example of postmodernist culture. This book studies how "The Twilight Zone, The Prisoner, Twin Peaks," and "The X-Files" display many of the central characteristics that critics and theorists have associated with postmodernism, including fragmentation of narratives and characters, multiplicity in style and genre, and the collapse of traditional categorical boundaries of all kinds. The author labels these series strange TV since they challenge the conventions of television programming, thus producing a form of cognitive estrangement that potentially encourages audiences to question received ideas.

Despite their challenges to the conventions of commercial television, however, these series pose no real threat to the capitalist order. In fact, the very characteristics that identify these series as postmodern are also central characteristics of capitalism itself, especially in its late consumerist phase. An examination of these series within the context of postmodernism thus confirms Fredric Jameson's thesis that postmodernism is a reflection of the cultural logic of late capitalism. At the same time, these series do point toward the potential of television as a genuinely innovative medium that promises to produce genuinely new forms of cultural expression in the future.

Vietnam POWs came home heroes, but twenty years earlier their predecessors returned from Korea to shame and suspicion. In the Korean War (1950-1953) American prisoners were used in propaganda twice, first during the conflict, then at home. While in Chinese custody in North Korea, they were pressured to praise their treatment and criticize the war. When they came back, the Department of the Army and cooperative pundits said too many were weaklings who did not resist communist indoctrination or "brainwashing." Ex-prisoners were featured in a publicity campaign scolding the nation to raise tougher sons for the Cold War. This propaganda was based on feverish exaggerations that ignored the convoluted circumstances POWs were put in, which decisions in Washington helped create. POWs became pivotal to the Korean War after peace talks began in summer 1951. Since fighting had stalemated, both sides raced to win propaganda victories. The Chinese publicized American airmen who confessed to alleged germ warfare atrocities. American commanders worked to discredit communism by encouraging thousands of North Korean and Chinese prisoners to defect. Clandestine agents and a fraternity of anticommunist prisoners launched a violent campaign to inflate the number of POWs refusing repatriation after the war. Armistice negotiations floundered while China and North Korea demanded their soldiers back. United States delegates held out for what they called "voluntary repatriation," but in reality, thousands of prisoners were terrorized into renouncing their right of return. American POWs remained captive for eighteen more months of fighting over the terms of a compromised prisoner exchange. In the United States, details of the voluntary repatriation policy were suppressed. Name, Rank, and Serial Number explains how this provides new insight into why Korea became "the forgotten war."

Accounts of the relationships between states and terrorist organizations in the Cold War era have long been shaped by speculation, a lack of primary sources and even conspiracy theories. In the last few years, however, things have evolved rapidly. Using a wide range of case studies including the British State and Loyalist Paramilitaries in Northern Ireland, as well as the United States and Nicaragua, this book sheds new light on the relations between state and terrorist actors, allowing for a fresh and much more insightful assessment of the contacts, dealings, agreements and collusion with terrorist organizations undertaken by state actors on both sides of the Iron Curtain. This book presents the current state of research and provides an assessment of the nature, motives, effects, and major historical shifts of the relations between individual states and terrorist organizations. The articles collected demonstrate that these state-terrorism relationships were not only much more ambiguous than much of the older literature had suggested but are, in fact, crucial for the understanding of global political history in the Cold War era.

The papers were, by and large, of good quality, but two are worthy of particular attention. Michael Riccards's Failure of Nerve: How the Liberals Killed Liberalism and Robert D. Loevy's To Write It in the Books of 1964 are outstanding and fresh contributions to often debated topics. . . . Bill Moyers's epilogue is superb, rich with personal observations on the man he served for many years. Choice Two decades after his presidency, Lyndon Baines Johnson continues to be remembered for the brilliance of his political skills, the sweep of his social vision, and the turbulence produced by his Vietnam policy. This collection of essays offers a variety of interpretations of the Johnson presidency and its legacy. The collection blends scholarly analysis with the insights of people who were once either at the heart of the Johnson administration policy-making system or well-known for their political activism. Lyndon Johnson managed to translate a vision of New Deal liberalism into a domestic program of immense and far-reaching proportions. At the same time, his steadfast support in Vietnam of traditional Cold War assumptions, such as the domino theory, though predictable, brought about the unraveling of his presidency. These essays examine the establishment of the Great Society and its programs, the Johnson administration civil rights program and Supreme Court appointments, and the impact of the Vietnam War on the Great Society and the nation's economic health. Introductory and concluding remarks are provided by Tom Wicker and Bill Moyers to complete a unique and fascinating compilation.

Mental Maps in the Era of Detente and the End of the Cold War recreates the way in which the revolutionary changes of the last phase of the Cold War were perceived by fifteen of its leading figures in the West, East and developing world.

The Watergate crisis marked the beginning of the age of cynicism in America. This readable and insightful account examines what happened in Watergate, who was involved, what it meant then, and what it means now. By analyzing the overall impact of Watergate on events that followed, this work will help students and other interested readers to better understand today's politics. In addition to a narrative overview and a series of topical essays about Watergate, this guide provides a timeline of events, biographical sketches of the key players, the text of important primary documents, a glossary of terms, and an annotated bibliography.

Watergate refers to a series of crimes and abuses of power including obstruction of justice, conspiracy, criminal coverup, perjury, and destruction of evidence. As a result of the Watergate crisis, the press became more intrusive and personal, the public became more cynical and apathetic toward government, executive-congressional relations became soured and divisive, and partisan clashes became more bitter. Genovese, a noted presidential scholar, discusses Nixon's political personality, addresses the question of whether any president is above the law, and offers a contemporary view of presidential corruption in historical perspective, which is valuable in light of the Clinton impeachment hearings. This readable analysis and ready-reference guide provides valuable resources for students.

The only apparent consensus about the Nixon Presidency is that his accomplishments in the foreign policy area far outshadowed those in the domestic arena. The advances for which he was responsible--in particular, the opening to China--brought the most significant improvement in foreign relations among the great powers in decades. The Nixon diplomacy worked, while many of his domestic programs failed. This was true, the editors of this Hofstra-sponsored volume maintain, because there was more of a sense of realism and caution in his dealings with foreign governments and a willingness to compromise and accommodate their interests--a tolerance he often lacked in the domestic area.

This volume outlines the main components of the Nixon foreign policy, beginning with the significant effort to bring China into the world community. The manner in which the Vietnam war was ended is examined, as are the evolution of American policy in the Middle East and the efforts at detente. With essays and observations from scholars and participants in the making of that policy, this volume is significant reading for all students of American foreign policy and the presidency.

Insurgency-based irregular warfare typifies armed conflict in the post-Cold War age. For some years now, western and other governments have struggled to contend with ideologically driven guerrilla movements, religiously inspired militias, and systematic targeting of civilian populations. Numerous conflicts of this type are rooted in experiences of empire breakdown. Yet few multi-empire studies of decolonisation's violence exist. Decolonization and Conflict brings together expertise on a variety of different cases to offer new perspectives on the colonial conflicts that engulfed Europe's empires after 1945. The contributors analyse multiple forms of colonial counter-insurgency from the military engagement of anti-colonial movements to the forced removal of civilian populations and the application of new doctrines of psychological warfare. Contributors to the collection also show how insurgencies, their propaganda and methods of action were inherently transnational and inter-connected. The resulting study is a vital contribution to our understanding of contested decolonization. It emphasises the global connections at work and reveals the contemporary resonances of both anti-colonial insurgencies and the means devised to counter them. It is essential reading for students and scholars of empire, decolonization, and asymmetric warfare.

This book is both a practical guide and an introduction to low-intensity conflict. In addition, it serves as a history of this type of conflict in the United States. A part of normal government operations in the U.S. from 1940 to the present, low-intensity conflict's antecedants can be traced back to the beginning of the republic. Sturgill discusses topics such as: insurgency and counterinsurgency, terrorism and counterterrorism, and military intervention.

This book is a personal history of Iraq, told from the point of view of a family man living there during Saddam Hussein's reign and its aftermath. It examines all the factors leading to the current situation and challenges the misunderstandings currently fuelling the media: for example, a Sunni belonging to the Ba'ath Party is expected to be an extremist Saddam loyalist. He knew friends among Saddam's government ministers, who suffered under Saddam and regularly plotted to overthrow him. It contain 1.A brief history of the city of Baghdad, which during its golden age was a great centre of culture and learning. It was a setting for the One Thousand and One Arabian Nights, in which Queen Scheherazade called it the City of Peace. 2.A picture of Baghdad in the year 2000. At first glance, it is a new golden age, but there is much suffering here. An overview of my family life and of the racial and religious harmony in which we live, and of the day-to-day effects of the 13th years US trade embargo. In 2003, when war with the U.S. & its allies becomes inevitable, my neighbourhood prepares for evacuation. I flee across the Tigris with my wife and children. We are caught right in the middle of the Shock and Awe campaign. When the attack dies down, I drive home under a rain of missiles 3.A history of the races and religions of Iraq. The Western media suggests that Saddam's Iraq comprised a ruling Sunni minority and a serving Shi'ite majority. This was not the case. Iraq is not solely Muslim, and its Muslims are not all of the Sunni or Shi'ite faiths. The Sunnis were not the majority, and most were ordinary people, as downtrodden as everyone else. The media say that Iraq comprises two opposing races: Arabs and Kurds. This, too, is wrong, as it has many indigenous races and we are used to living in harmony. 4.Details of The Kurdish conflict. 5.Saddam invades Kuwait. Details of its effects. 6.The war which brings down Saddam destroys Iraq's infrastructure and leave tens of thousands without homes or jobs. 7.An overview of the reasons behind the US & its ally's to the war on Iraq, and the reasons why the country has got so out of hand. 8.The Coalition Provision Authority takes its advice from exiled Iraqi groups with personal agendas.

The Kennedys endure as American icons because of the mix between power and vulnerability that so many of them embodied. Our fascination and connection to them comes most strongly through the wives, whose pain, heartbreak, and grief seemed immensely public and lonely and personal at the same time. The Tragic Lives of the Kennedy Wives examines five of the Kennedy matriarchs: Rose, Jackie, Ethel, Joan, and Vicki. .

Valor features the thrilling stories that are the fruit of Mark Lee Greenblatt's interviews with brave American servicemen from twenty-first-century wars. These soldiers, sailors, and Marines have risked their lives several times over for their country as well as for their fellow troops and civilians. Still, until now, their stories have largely gone unnoticed by the public, perhaps lost in the frenzied and often nasty debate surrounding those conflicts. As the author writes, "This generation does not have an Audie Murphy. I set out to change that with this book." Detailing incredible and evocative feats-including an Army pilot who rescued two fellow pilots from a deadly crash in hostile territory and strapped himself to the helicopter's exterior for the flight to the hospital-Greenblatt provides glimpses into the minds of these men as they face gut-wrenching decisions and overcome enormous odds. However, this book is much more than tales of riveting action. Each chapter goes beyond linear combat stories to explore each hero's motivations, dreams, and the genuine emotions that were evoked in the face of extreme danger. Readers will be transported to a variety of settings-from close-quarters urban fighting in Iraq to mountainside ambushes in rural Afghanistan to a midnight rescue in the middle of the Atlantic-as they accompany the men who do not see themselves as heroes but as patriots in the line of duty.