"This work by Janusz Bugajski should be considered mandatory reading for any student of Eastern Europe. The anatomy of the dissident movement of Czechoslovakia--its scope activities, affiliations at home and abroad--has been well documented and presented in a lucid manner. The author has also accumulated an impressive amount of facts, dates and documents. Failures and successes of Charter 77, as well as its future prospects, are described in a very balanced manner. It is an important study by a well-informed and self disciplined researcher and expert on Eastern Europe. It will be a great assistance to those interested in recent developments within the Soviet orbit." Jan Novak Consultant on Eastern Europe

Established in 1955, the Leipzig International Documentary Film Festival became a central arena for staging the cultural politics of the German Democratic Republic, both domestically and in relation to West Germany and the rest of the world. Screened Encounters represents the definitive history of this key event, recounting the political and artistic exchanges it enabled from its founding until German unification, and tracing the outsize influence it exerted on international cultural relations during the Cold War.

Mad Men, using the historical backdrop of the many events that came to demarcate the 1960s, has presented a beautifully-styled rendering of this tumultuous decade, while teasing out a number of themes that resonate throughout the show and connect to the contemporary discourses that dominate today's political landscape. The chapters of this book analyze the most important dimensions explored on the show, including issues around gender, race, prejudice, the family, generational change, the social movements of the 1960s, our understanding of America's place in the world, and the idea of work in the post-war period. Mad Men and Politics provides the reader with an understanding not only of the topics and issues that can be easily grasped while watching, but also contemplates our historical perspective of the 1960s as we consider it through the telescope of our current condition.

The 1960s counterculture challenged the mainstream practices that dominated the 1950s, producing such groups as the hippies, Diggers, the National Organization for Women, and the American Indian Movement, all of which demanded societal change. The A-Z entries in this volume provide fascinating details on notable persons who stirred alternative ideas such as Betty Friedan, Abbie Hoffman, Andy Warhol, and Stokely Carmichael; events such as Woodstock, the Moratorium, and various be-ins; and new directions in music, art, clothing, and language.

A recent coinage within international relations, "nation branding" designates the process of highlighting a country's positive characteristics for promotional purposes, using techniques similar to those employed in marketing and public relations. Nation Branding in Modern History takes an innovative approach to illuminating this contested concept, drawing on fascinating case studies in the United States, China, Poland, Suriname, and many other countries, from the nineteenth century to the present. It supplements these empirical contributions with a series of historiographical essays and analyses of key primary documents, making for a rich and multivalent investigation into the nexus of cultural marketing, self-representation, and political power.

Examining how the press in Britain, Sweden and Finland responded to the Holocaust immediately after the Second World War, Holmila offers new insights into the challenge posed by the Holocaust for liberal democracies by looking at the reporting of the liberation of the camps, the Nuremberg trial and the Jewish immigration to Palestine.

Designed to meet the needs of high school and college students, this one-stop resource features narrative history, analysis, biographical profiles, key primary documents, and other reference tools on the Cold War. Based on the latest scholarship, Sibley provides a concise yet comprehensive overview of the Cold War, which lasted from 1945 until the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. Following a historical overview, six essays, organized topically, examine the key themes that characterized the Cold War: its origins in the distrust among the World War II allies, the force of American anti-Communism, Washington's enhanced postwar global role, the competing objectives of the U.S. and U.S.S.R. in pursuit of global influence, and the reasons why the Soviet Union did not survive the Cold War. A timeline of events, glossary of terms, biographical profiles of major players, and the text of 17 key documents necessary for student research on the Cold War provide valuable research tools. Following a timeline of events and narrative historical overview, six topical essays discuss the origins of the Cold War; McCarthyism and internal security in the United States; the Cold War in Asia; the Cold War in Latin America, the Middle East, and Africa; the end of detente and revived hopes for Soviet-American relations ushered in by Gorbachev, and its denouement; and the legacies and implications of the Cold War. Documents include a variety of speeches, excerpts from the memoirs of leaders on both sides of the Cold War, as well as the text of key government documents. Each document is preceded by an explanatory introduction. An annotated bibliography of works suitable for students, and a selection of photographs enhance the value of this work.

Georgia emerged from the fall of the Soviet empire in 1991 with the promise of swift economic and democratic reform. But that promise remains unfulfilled. Economic collapse, secessionist challenges, civil war and the failure to escape the legacy of Soviet rule - culminating in the 2008 war with Russia - characterise a two-decade struggle to establish democratic institutions and consolidate statehood. Here, Stephen Jones critically analyses Georgia's recent political and economic development, illustrating what its 'transition' has meant, not just for the state, but for its citizens as well. An authoritative and commanding exploration of Georgia since independence, this is essential for those interested in the post-Soviet world.

This book chronicles one man's journey through life, finding happiness among the hardships and amusement amid the danger in Vietnam. This vivid account takes you on an armchair ride through an unpredictable and intriguing life. Set against the backdrop of The War, follow this young civilian engineer, family man and patriot through a war torn land as he strives to secure his young family's future and seek a more meaningful purpose to his own life. He returns home a changed man, only to confront a completely new set of obstacles, not least of which is a country in turmoil.

Over the centuries, New Testament texts have often been read in ways that reflect and encourage anti-Semitism. For example, the parable of the "wicked husbandmen," who kill the son of their landlord in order to seize the land, has been used to blame the Jews for the death of Christ. Since the Holocaust, Christian scholars have increasingly recognized and rejected this inheritance. In Parables for Our Time Tania Oldenhage seeks to fashion a biblical hermeneutics that consciously works with memories of the Holocaust.

New Testament scholars have not directly confronted the horror of Nazi crimes, Oldenhage argues, but their work has nonetheless been deeply affected by the events of the Holocaust. By placing twentieth-century biblical scholarship within its specific historical and cultural contexts, she is able to trace the process by which the Holocaust gradually moved into the collective consciousness of New Testament scholars, both in Germany and in the United States. Her focus is on the scholarly interpretation of the parables of Jesus. She sets the stage with the work of Wolfgang Harnisch who exemplifies the problems surrounding Holocaust remembrance in the Germany of the 1980s and 1990s. She then turns to Joachim Jeremias's eminent work on the parables, first published in 1947. Jeremias's anti-Jewish rhetoric, she argues, should be understood not only as a perpetuation of an age-old interpretive pattern, but as representative of German difficulties in responding to the Holocaust immediately after the war. Oldenhage goes on to explore the way in which Jeremias's approach was challenged by biblical scholars in the U.S. during the 1970s. In particular, she examines the turn to literature and literary theory exemplified in the works of John Dominic Crossan and Paul Ricoeur. Nazi atrocities became part of the cultural reservoir from which Crossan and Ricoeur drew, she shows, although they never engaged with the historical facts of the Holocaust. In conclusion, Oldenhage offers her own reading of the parable of the wicked husbandmen, demonstrating how the turn from historical to literary criticism opens up the text to interpretation in light of the Holocaust. If the parables are to be meaningful in our time, she contends, we must take account of the troubling resonances between these ancient Christian stories and the atrocities of Auschwitz.

In an effort to restore its world-power status after the humiliation of defeat and occupation, France was eager to maintain its overseas empire at the end of the Second World War. Yet just fifteen years later France had decolonized, and by 1960 only a few small island territories remained under French control.The process of decolonization in Indochina and Algeria has been widely studied, but much less has been written about decolonization in France's largest colony, French West Africa. Here, the French approach was regarded as exemplary -- that is, a smooth transition successfully managed by well intentioned French politicians and enlightened African leaders. Overturning this received wisdom, Chafer argues that the rapid unfurling of events after the Second World War was a complex , piecemeal and unpredictable process, resulting in a 'successful decolonization' that was achieved largely by accident. At independence, the winners assumed the reins of political power, while the losers were often repressed, imprisoned or silenced.This important book challenges the traditional dichotomy between 'imperial' and 'colonial' history and will be of interest to students of imperial and French history, politics and international relations, development and post-colonial studies.

Bill Clinton's administration was filled with new policies and achievements for the nation's future, but those achievements were easily overshadowed by personal flaws and scandal. Despite his personal problems, Clinton captured the American public and served two terms as one of our more memorable presidents. This comprehensive bibliography on Clinton will provide students with information from his childhood, his pre-presidential career, presidency (including assessments of it) and the beginning of his post-presidential life. Key access points to this information are provided in the Table of Contents and detailed author and subject indexes. Also included, is an invited essay providing an overview of the Clinton presidency and an extensive chronology of significant events.

The so-called 'Cedar Revolution' in Lebanon, triggered by the assassination of the former Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri in February 2005, brought to an end three decades of Syrian military presence in the country. Here, Taku Osoegawa challenges the commonly-held claim that Lebanon and its leaders were simple puppets of the Syrian regime during the thirty years characterised as Lebanon under Syrian hegemony. Furthermore, by examining Lebanon's relations with Syria from the establishment of the Asad regime to the current violence in Syria, Osoegawa concludes that the Lebanese government has had its own reasons for aligning with Syria. As the Lebanese-Syrian relationship has had an enormous impact on the international relations of the Middle East, this book is essential reading for those interested in the contemporary regional dynamics.

This book explores the aesthetic forms of the political left across the borders of post-colonial, post-partition South Asia. Spanning India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Bangladesh, the contributors study art, film, literature, poetry and cultural discourse to illuminate the ways in which political commitment has been given aesthetic form and artistic value by artists and by cultural and political activists in postcolonial South Asia. With a focused conceptualization this volume asks: Does the political left in South Asia have a recognizable aesthetic form? And if so, what political effects do left-wing artistic movements and aesthetic artefacts have in shaping movements against inequality and injustice? Reframing political aesthetics within a postcolonial and decolonised framework, the contributors detail the trajectories and transformations of left-wing cultural formations and affiliations and focus on connections and continuities across post-1947/8 India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

The dangerous, decades-long arms race between the United States and the Soviet Union during the Cold War begged a fundamental question: how did these superpowers actually plan to survive a nuclear strike? In Armageddon Insurance, the first historical account of Soviet civil defense and a pioneering reappraisal of its American counterpart, Edward M. Geist compares how the two superpowers tried, and mostly failed, to reinforce their societies to withstand the ultimate catastrophe. Drawing on previously unexamined documents from archives in America, Russia, and Ukraine, Geist places these civil defense programs in their political and cultural contexts, demonstrating how each country's efforts reflected its cultural preoccupations and blind spots, and revealing how American and Soviet civil defense related to profound issues of nuclear strategy and national values. This work challenges prevailing historical assumptions and unearths the ways Moscow and Washington developed nuclear weapons policies based not on rational strategic or technical considerations, but in power struggles between different institutions pursuing their own narrow self-interests.

In the depths of the Cold War and in the wake of Britain's announcement of its intention to withdraw 'East of Suez' by the end of 1971, Britain was faced with the stark reality of a Marxist rebellion in the Dhofar province of Oman. This rebellion, whose explicit aim was to 'liberate' the oil-rich Gulf region, confronted the British with the challenge of securing a political order in Oman conducive to protecting Britain's remaining interests in the midst of its military withdrawal from the region. 'State Building and Counter Insurgency in Oman' offers a nuanced picture of Britain's response to the challenges posed by this withdrawal, through an examination the complex Anglo-Omani relationship at this vital juncture in Middle East and Imperial History. James Worrall offers an examination of how officials in London and the Gulf defined British interests in Oman, and the debates that raged throughout Whitehall, under the successive governments led by Wilson and Heath, about how to best tackle the growing insurgency in Oman.The means by which this challenge was to be met (including the extent of both overt and covert support for the Sultan) in the post-Suez era, posed a number of challenges for decision-makers in Whitehall. The military, economic and diplomatic assistance given to the Omani government to re-establish Sultanate control and crush the rebellion in Dhofar is thus analysed within the context of a complex balancing act, as British politicians and officials tried to reconcile their attempts to create effective and centralised Omani administration and security bodies whilst maintaining the image of strategic withdrawal and the sovereign independence of Oman. Drawing extensively from newly released archival records and interviews with former officials and high-ranking officers, this book provides a systematic re-examination of the Anglo-Omani relationship during the critical years of Oman's transformation into a modern state. It will therefore provide vital information and analysis for students and researchers of Middle East History and Politics, the decline and end of empire and the policymaking processes at the heart of an imperial and military withdrawal.

Bringing together leading scholars from a range of nations, Rethinking Antifascism provides a fascinating exploration of one of the most vibrant sub-disciplines within recent historiography. Through case studies that exemplify the field's breadth and sophistication, it examines antifascism in two distinct realms: after surveying the movement's remarkable diversity across nations and political cultures up to 1945, the volume assesses its postwar political and ideological salience, from its incorporation into Soviet state doctrine to its radical questioning by historians and politicians. Avoiding both heroic narratives and reflexive revisionism, these contributions offer nuanced perspectives on a movement that helped to shape the postwar world.

France's political leaders have been deeply committed both to maintaining France's independence and to asserting its leadership role in Europe. The end of the Cold War, the demise of the "Europe of Yalta," as well as the unification of Germany, have forced France to rethink its European and international strategies. The purpose of this study is to analyze France's effort to redefine its role in the post-Cold War era and in an integrated Europe, and what that redefined role might mean to France, to Europe, and to the United States. In examining France's international role after the Cold War, Steven Philip Kramer seeks to answer the question, "does France still count?"

It seemed at times during the 1960s that America was caught in an unending cycle of violence and disorder. Successive summers from 1964-1968 brought waves of urban unrest, street fighting, looting, and arson to black communities in cities from Florida to Wisconsin, Maryland to California. In some infamous cases like Watts (1965), Newark (1967), and Detroit (1967), the turmoil lasted for days on end and left devastation in its wake: entire city blocks were reduced to burnt-out ruins and scores of people were killed or injured mainly by police officers and National Guardsmen as they battled to regain control. This book takes the pivotal year of 1967 as its focus and sets it in the context of the long, hot summers to provide new insights into the meaning of the riots and their legacy. It offers important new findings based on extensive original archival research, including never-before-seen, formerly embargoed and classified government documents and newly released official audio recordings.

From the outset, the war in Iraq was directed from Washington and executed by troops on the ground. Between Washington and the battlefields was the Green Zone, a four-square-mile enclave that hosted the American Embassy annex, the Iraqi Reconstruction Management Office, the planning, policy, strategy, and communications sections of Headquarters, Multi-national Force-Iraq, and the Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq. Hope Is Not a Plan takes the reader inside the Green Zone courtesy of participant-observers brought to Iraq to diagnose the insurgency and develop a get-well plan. Focusing on the critical months of late 2004 and early 2005 --when a new sovereign government in Iraq tried to build legitimacy, and the coalition force tried to find the best way to help it do so--it looks at a slice of the war not previously examined. This is not the Beltway story, nor the grunt and jarhead story. Rather, the book looks at the process of taking political and military goals and turning them into action. In telling that story, Hope Is Not a Plan helps explain how Iraq got to where it is today. Organized by topic rather than on a strict chronological basis, it is practical, not theoretical, examining doctrines and lessons learned, not abstractions of the ivory tower. The book describes what happened in the Green Zone during this period and compares that reality with what history, experience, and doctrine suggests should have happened. Finally, it reflects on what can be learned from the experience. Rich in detail, the book is written to be accessible to anyone interested in first-hand information about the workings of a coalition staff during wartime--or to anyone who wants to understand howthings in Iraq went so very wrong.

A unique bibliographic and historiographic guide to the study of contemporary Italy, this book points to over 650 texts that have shaped the academic and scholarly study of postwar Italy. It is the first guide to include a genuine mix of English-language and Italian-language materials and to approach these materials in a historiographic as well as a bibliographic manner. It is an ideal guide for English, North American, and Italian scholars who have just begun their study of Italy or want to know more about research in areas outside their area of expertise.

Following the introduction, which outlines the context within which the evolution of Italian studies should be viewed, the book is divided into two parts. Part I includes five historiographic chapters providing a detailed survey and analysis of works published in history, politics, government, the economy, and society. Part II is an annotated bibliographic guide to all of the texts pointed to in Part I.

This book provides a lively and authoritative history of British sport in an era of dramatic changes for both players and fans.

Beginning at a time when sport was still largely a male preserve and professional footballers were paid as manual workers, the authors trace developments to the present day through the decline of amateurism, the rise of a celebrity sporting culture, the increasing intervention of government and the role of sport, especially football, as an expression of civic and national identity. The book examines a wide range of major sports and includes discussion of the contribution of women and ethnic minorities to sport in Britain.

A central theme is the role of the media in shaping British sport in the second half of the twentieth century. This book offers new perspectives on a major aspect of British social life, setting the great performances and personalities of post-war sport in the context of the changing social history of the nation.

Lantis examines continuity and change in German foreign policy in the decade since unification. Between 1949 and 1990, the Federal Republic of Germany pursued one of the most consistent foreign policy patterns of any Western power. Restrictions on an assertive German military posture became deeply rooted in the public psyche, in foreign policy tradition, and in the Basic Law. However, the end of the Cold War, the collapse of the Soviet Union, and the unification of Germany have fundamentally changed the international and domestic parameters of German foreign policy. A review of contemporary developments shows that a dramatic evolution of German foreign policy is currently underway--from checkbook diplomacy in the Gulf War to the humanitarian relief mission in the Horn of Africa, and from Contact Group diplomacy to airstrikes in Kosovo.

To explore this evolution of German foreign policy since unification, Lantis presents an innovative model of external-internal linkages derived from two important areas of scholarship on the role of international crises as catalysts for foreign policy change and the importance of domestic political conditions that ultimately determine the scope and pace of such change. Five original case studies place German political debates about how best to respond to challenges of the post-Cold War era in social and historical context by drawing on discursive analyses of government documents, parliamentary debates, and elite interviews. These cases illustrate the rise of a new consensus on the political left for engagement in global affairs, reinterpretations of historical lessons for contemporary German policy, and the constitutional challenges of global activism since unification. Of particular interest to scholars, students, and researchers involved with German politics, international security policy, and comparative foreign policy.