The 1956 Suez War, fought between Egypt and the improbable coalition of Britain, France, and Israel, was a key point in the history of the Middle East and the Arab-Israeli conflict. A blitzkrieg-style Israeli victory proved that Israel's victory in the 1948 war was not an accident to be swiftly fixed by Arab armies, and gave the country eleven years of relative peace until the next major conflict. An Anglo-French blunder marked the decline of British and French influence in the Middle East, to be replaced by Soviet and US involvement. Egyptian defiance of the great powers of the past marked the high point of Arab nationalism. Despite the importance of the Suez conflict, almost no comprehensive military history of it exists. This book changes this by presenting a clear, comprehensive narrative of the conflict with a special emphasis on the military decisions and the short- and long-term results of the conflict, both tactical and strategic, military and political.

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.

The 1970s were a period of dramatic change in relations between Japan and the People's Republic of China (PRC). The two countries established diplomatic relations for the first time, forged close economic ties and reached political agreements that still guide and constrain relations today. This book delivers a history of this foundational period in Sino-Japanese relations. It presents an up-to-date diplomatic history of the relationship but also goes beyond this to argue that Japan's relations with China must be understood in the context of a larger "China problem" that was inseparable from a domestic contest to define Japanese national identity. "The China Problem in Postwar Japan" challenges some common assertions or assumptions about the role of Japanese national identity in postwar Sino-Japanese relations, showing how the history of Japanese relations with China in the 1970s is shaped by the strength of Japanese national identity, not its weakness.

This book explores and reconstructs how the principal parliamentary parties in Britain confronted and responded to events that unfolded during the Falklands War in the spring of 1982. The author begins by situating the Falklands Crisis within the wider context of the breakup of the British Empire and discusses the fluid political situation in Parliament at the time. Following this, the book examines in detail each of the parties - the Conservative Party, the Labour Party and the SDP-Liberal Alliance - and their actions during the crisis. The chapters focus on each party in turn and follow a chronological narrative to reconcile the evolution of the diplomatic and military picture with the internal political one.

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.

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.

In the tradition of The Wire, the "utterly absorbing" (The New York Times) story of the cinematic transformation of Miami, one of America's bustling cities--rife with a drug epidemic, a burgeoning refugee crisis, and police brutality--from journalist and award-winning author Nicholas Griffin. Miami, Florida, famed for its blue skies and sandy beaches, is one of the world's most popular vacation destinations, with nearly twenty-three million tourists visiting annually. But few people have any idea how this unofficial capital of Latin America came to be. The Year of Dangerous Days is "an engrossing, peek-between-your-fingers history of an American city on the edge" (Kirkus Reviews). With a cast that includes iconic characters such as Jimmy Carter, Fidel Castro, and Janet Reno, this slice of history is brought to life through intertwining personal stories. At the core, there's Edna Buchanan, a reporter for the Miami Herald who breaks the story on the wrongful murder of a black man and the shocking police cover-up; Captain Marshall Frank, the hardboiled homicide detective tasked with investigating the murder; and Mayor Maurice Ferre, the charismatic politician who watches the case, and the city, fall apart. On a roller coaster of national politics and international diplomacy, these three figures cross paths as their city explores one of the worst race riots in American history as more than 120,000 Cuban refugees land south of Miami, and as drug cartels flood the city with cocaine and infiltrate all levels of law enforcement. In a battle of wills, Buchanan has to keep up with the 150 percent murder rate increase; Captain Frank has to scrub and rebuild his homicide bureau; and Mayor Ferre must find a way to reconstruct his smoldering city. Against all odds, they persevere, and a stronger, more vibrant, Miami begins to emerge. But the foundation of this new Miami--partially built on corruption and drug money--will have severe ramifications for the rest of the country. Deeply researched, "well-written" (New York Journal of Books), and covering many timely issues including police brutality, immigration, and the drug crisis, The Year of Dangerous Days is both a clarion call and a dramatic rebirth story of one of America's most iconic cities.

Cleopatra has its place as one of the most fabled films of all time. While others have won more Oscars, attracted better reviews and taken more money at the box office, the 1963 film starring Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton stands alone in cinema legend. What began in 1958 as a $2 million vehicle for Joan Collins eventually opened five years later, having cost more than twenty times that amount. The making of the film soon became a cautionary tale, for the lavish extravagance of Cleopatra all but bankrupted 20th Century Fox and almost singlehandedly set in motion the decline of the major studios. Actors and filmmakers were hired and fired at a breathtaking rate, and by the time the film was finally released, Hollywood could only watch in horror as it died at the box office. This is an epic tale of love and lust; of gossip, money, sex, movie-star madness, studio politics and the birth of paparazzi journalism. Within the saga of Cleopatra lies the end of the era of Hollywood's studio system, the seeds of the Swinging Sixties, and the stuff of timeless movie legend.

This book compares the various aspects - political, military economic - of Soviet occupation in Austria, Hungary and Romania. Using documents found in Austrian, Hungarian, Romanian and Russian archives the authors argue that the nature of Soviet foreign policy has been misunderstood. Existing literature has focused on the Soviet foreign policy from a political perspective; when and why Stalin made the decision to introduce Bolshevik political systems in the Soviet sphere of influence. This book will show that the Soviet conquest of East-Central Europe had an imperial dimension as well and allowed the Soviet Union to use the territory it occupied as military and economic space. The final dimension of the book details the tragically human experiences of Soviet occupation: atrocities, rape, plundering and deportations.

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 explores British post-colonial foreign policy towards Kenya from 1963 to 1980. It reveals the extent and nature of continued British government influence in Kenya after independence. It argues that this was not simply about neo-colonialism, and Kenya's elite had substantial agency to shape the relationship. The first section addresses how policy was made and the role of High Commissions and diplomacy. It emphasises contingency, with policy produced through shared interests and interaction with leading Kenyans. It argues that British policy-makers helped to create and then reinforced Kenya's neo-patrimonialism. The second part examines the economic, military, personal and diplomatic networks which successive British governments sustained with independent Kenya. A combination of interlinked interests encouraged British officials to place a high value on this relationship, even as their world commitments diminished. This book appeals to those interested in Kenyan history, post-colonial Africa, British foreign policy, and forms of diplomacy and policy-making.

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.

This book examines French motivations behind the decolonisation of Tunisia and Morocco and the intra-Western Alliance relationships. It argues that changing French policy towards decolonisation brought about the unexpectedly quick process of independence of dependencies in the post-WWII era.

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.

This unique volume examines how and to what extent former victims of Stalinist terror from across the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe were received, reintegrated and rehabilitated following the mass releases from prisons and labour camps which came in the wake of Stalin's death in 1953 and Khrushchev's reforms in the subsequent decade.

A polished and masterly work of historical narrative, The Marshall Plan is an instant classic of Cold War literature. With Britain's empire collapsing and Stalin's ascendant, U.S. officials under new Secretary of State George C. Marshall set out to reconstruct western Europe as a bulwark against communist authoritarianism. Their massive, costly, and ambitious undertaking would confront Europeans and Americans alike with a vision at odds with their history and self-conceptions. In the process, they would drive the creation of NATO, the European Union, and a Western identity that continues to shape world events. This is the story behind the birth of the Cold War, and the U.S.-led liberal global order, told with verve, insight, and resonance for today. Bringing to bear fascinating new material from American, Russian, German, and other European archives, Benn Steil's book will forever change how we see the Marshall Plan. Focusing on the critical years 1947 to 1949, Steil's gripping narrative takes us through the seminal episodes that marked the collapse of postwar U.S.-Soviet relations: the Prague coup, the Berlin blockade, and the division of Germany. In each case, Stalin's determination to crush the Marshall Plan and undermine American power in Europe is vividly portrayed. And in a riveting epilogue, Steil shows how the forces which clove Europe in two after the Second World War have reasserted themselves since the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Once a most unlikely candidate, Barack Obama's successful campaign for the White House made him a worldwide sensation and a transformative figure even before he was inaugurated. Elected as the Iraq War and Great Recession discouraged millions of Americans, Obama's promise of hope revived the national spirit. Had he only saved the economy, Obama would be considered a truly successful president. However he has achieved so much more, against ferocious opposition, that he can be counted as one of the most consequential presidents in history. With health care reform, he ended a crisis of escalating costs and inadequate access that threatened 50 million people. His energy policies drove down the cost of power generated by the sun, wind, and even fossil fuels. His climate change efforts produced the first treaty to address global warming in a meaningful way, and his diplomacy produced a dramatic reduction in the nuclear threat posed by Iran. Add the withdrawal of troops from Iraq, the normalisation of relations with Cuba, and the "pivot" toward Asia, and his successes abroad match those at home. In A Consequential President, Michael D'Antonio tallies Obama's long record of achievement, both his major successes and less-noticed ones that nevertheless contribute to his legacy. Obama's greatest achievement came as he restored dignity and ethics to the office of the president, proof that he delivered the hope and change he promised.

American Ethnic Practices in the Early Twenty-first Century: The Milwaukee Study is a work based on a twelve-year research project conducted in the greater Milwaukee area by Urban Anthropology Inc. The qualitative study examined the current strength of ethnicity and the contributions that ethnic practices have made to the wider society. Since Barth (1970), social scientists-especially sociocultural anthropologists-have moved toward deconstructing ethnicity by concentrating on the malleability of ethnic identity. This work takes a new approach by focusing on ethnic practices. The most prominent findings in The Milwaukee Study were the ways that community-building activities of ethnic groups contributed to the wider society; and how this, in turn, can help restore a needed balance between individualism and collectivism in the United States. Since the first edition of Habits of the Heart (Bellah et al, 1985), public discourse about ways to restore this balance has been ubiquitous. Most discussions have focused only on strengthening families, faith communities, or neighborhoods, and have ignored the activity and potential of ethnic groups, even though it was during this span of time that interest in multiculturalism in education and politics reached its peak.

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.

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.

In the lean and anxious years following World War II, Munich society became obsessed with the moral condition of its youth. Initially born of the economic and social disruption of the war years, a preoccupation with juvenile delinquency progressed into a full-blown panic over the hypothetical threat that young men and women posed to postwar stability. As Martin Kalb shows in this fascinating study, constructs like the rowdy young boy and the sexually deviant girl served as proxies for the diffuse fears of adult society, while allowing authorities ranging from local institutions to the U.S. military government to strengthen forms of social control.

Student Politics in Communist Poland tackles the topic of student political activity under a communist regime during the Cold War. It discusses both the communist student organizations as well as oppositional, independent, and apolitical student activism during the forty-five-year period of Poland's existence as a Soviet satellite state. The book focuses on consecutive generations of students who felt compelled to act on behalf of their milieu or for what they saw as the greater national good. The dynamics between moderates and radicals, between conformists and non-conformists are analyzed from the points of view of the protagonists themselves. The book traces ideological evolutions, but also counter-cultural trends and transnational influences in Poland's student community as they emerged, developed, and disappeared over more than four decades. It elaborates on the importance of the Catholic Church and its role in politicizing students. The regime's higher education policies are discussed in relation to its attempts to control the student body, which in effect constituted an ever growing group of young people who were destined to become the regime's future elite in the political, economic, social, and cultural spheres and thus provide it with the necessary legitimacy for its survival. The pivotal crises in the history of Communist Poland, those of 1956, 1968, 1980-1981, are treated with a special emphasis on the students and their respective role in these upheavals. The book shows that student activism played its part in the political trajectory of the country, at times challenging the legitimacy of the regime, and contributed in no small degree to the demise of communism in Poland in 1989. Student Politics in Communist Poland not only presents a chronological narrative of student activism, but it sheds light on lesser known aspects of modern Polish history while telling part of the life stories of prominent figures in Poland's communist establishment as well as its dissident and opposition milieux. Ultimately, it also provides insights into modern-day Poland and its elite, many of whose members laid the groundwork for their later careers as student activists during the communist period.

Despite the development of a consensus foreign policy during the early years of the Cold War that supported containment of the Soviet Union, there were both internationalists and pacifists who opposed the efforts of the Truman administration. These groups felt that American actions, including the Truman Doctrine, the Marshall Plan, the North Atlantic Treaty, and even the Korean War weakened the UN, threatened the Soviet Union with war, hindered European economic recovery, and promoted colonialism. Often mislabeled as isolationists, both the pacifists, with their traditional opposition to war, and the liberal internationalists, who supported efforts to continue the wartime alliance with the Soviets through the development of a strong UN, felt that the United States should play an active role in world affairs. The "peace movement" forces have been marginalized or dismissed as insignificant by many historians, however, while their impact was minimal in the late 1940s and early 1950s, their ideas would later re-emerge to have a strong impact on American policy, particularly in the "ban the bomb" and the antiwar movements of the Vietnam era. They continued to support efforts to maintain the Soviet alliance through the UN, to assist in the reconstruction of the world economy, to promote disarmament, and to end colonialism. While a commitment to these ideas would probably not have prevented the Cold War, it might have lessened its severity or slowed the arms race between the United States and the Soviet Union.

Published on the 40th anniversary of the end of the war in Vietnam, this book brings to life the experiences and memories of South Vietnamese soldiers-the forgotten combatants of this controversial conflict. South Vietnam lost more than a quarter of a million soldiers in the Vietnam War, yet the histories of these men-and women-are largely absent from the vast historiography of the conflict. By focusing on oral histories related by 40 veterans from the former Republic of Vietnam Armed Forces, this book breaks new ground, shedding light on an essentially unexplored aspect of the war and giving voice to those who have been voiceless. The experiences of these former soldiers are examined through detailed firsthand accounts that feature two generations and all branches of the service, including the Women's Armed Forces Corps. Readers will gain insight into the soldiers' early lives, their military service, combat experiences, and friendships forged in wartime. They will also see how life became worse for most in the aftermath of the war as they experienced internment in communist prison camps, discrimination against their families on political grounds, and the dangers inherent in escaping Vietnam, whether by sea or land. Finally, readers will learn how veterans who saw no choice but to leave their homeland succeeded in rebuilding their lives in new countries and cultures. Relates the stories of South Vietnamese soldiers through a compelling narrative driven by oral histories Brings the experiences of these soldiers to life for the reader by sharing their compelling firsthand accounts Draws on a key oral history collection newly established at the National Library of Australia in 2013-2014 Provides fascinating insights into the soldiers' early years, their military service and experiences, and their post-war lives Conveys the strength of will and resilience that enabled these men and women to endure the hardships of war, the defeat of their armed forces, the loss of their country, and the challenges of becoming refugees and resettling in new lands

This is a study that examines United Nations' efforts against terrorism in the 1970s and how West Germany came to influence and lead them. It is also an account of several hostage and hijacking crises as well as a look at German domestic terrorism.