The point of departure for distinguished historian Richard C. Thornton's insightful new assessment of the Reagan administration is Reagan's overwhelming re-election in 1984. His first-term policies had placed the United States in the ascendancy over the Soviet Union, and he sought to capitalize on that success by bringing the Cold War to an end on favorable terms. The Soviet Union, on the other hand, proved increasingly unable to bear the costs of supporting its empire and client state and adopted a strategy of detente. Its new leader Mikhail Gorbachev personified the new stance, and his rise to power in 1985 galvanized the U.S. administration's detente faction in renewed opposition to Reagan's strategy and advocacy of accommodation with Moscow.

When Ronald Reagan was elected president in 1980, he found America's economy, defense, and global position weakened to the point of collapse. The previous seven years of attempted detente with the Soviet Union had resulted in the worst foreign policy failures in American history. As the distinguished diplomatic historian Richard C. Thornton shows in this thorough reassessment of Reagan's presidency, written for the 40th anniversary of his election, the new president was determined to rebuild American economic and military power and to restore the Western Alliance. Reagan's "Victory Program" supported anti-Soviet resistance movements in communist countries, attacked the financial underpinnings of the Soviet economy, and boldly challenged the Soviet Union's forward positions around the world. The deployment of Pershing II missiles to Europe in 1983 restored the balance of power in Europe and, combined with the U.S. military buildup, reestablished strategic equilibrium between the United States and the Soviet Union by the end of Reagan's first term. As America faces a host of new challenges in the world today, this reexamination will be of interest to students, scholars, and practitioners alike.

Spain’s American empire began as the serendipitous outgrowth of the search for a shortcut to China. That search derived from two mid-fifteenth-century developments: the Ming Dynasty’s decision to adopt a silver standard for its medium of exchange and the Ottoman Turks’ capture of Constantinople in 1453. China’s great demand for silver and the disruption of the Silk Road drove the need to find alternative access to China. King John II of Portugal sent explorers southward along the coast of Africa and thence to the Orient, but Ferdinand and Isabella sent Christopher Columbus westward, believing he would find a shorter route. A persistent if disorderly push by Spanish conquistadors led to the discovery of previously unknown civilizations, including the empires of the Aztecs and the Incas. The search for a short-cut to China became bound up with the seizure of the riches held by native populations. Although the conquistadors were vastly outnumbered, their superior technology—steel swords, armor, war horses, and firearms—concomitant with diseases that accompanied them, enabled them to subdue native American peoples and confiscate their wealth. The aftermath was fraught with complications and strife. Crown- appointed governors came into conflict with the conquistadors. Distances were great, and the governors tended to place their interests over those of the King. Cortez conquered the Aztecs despite the governor’s attempts to prevent his campaign. Bureaucratic interference bedeviled Francisco Pizzaro’s campaign against the Incas, which, nonetheless, contributed more to the wealth of his country than any other conquistador’s exploits. Ultimately, the vast wealth of the Americas would fuel Spain and its Empire for nearly two centuries.

This practical guide enables readers to recognize, assess, and defend against gray behaviors-attempts to persuade listeners using fallacious arguments. It provides valuable tools for communicating successfully in a wide variety of public and professional contexts. The book examines 20 wide-ranging logical fallacies, cognitive errors, and rhetorical devices that may take place in persuasive communication, and discusses how to assess and respond the behavior of a speaker who may be disingenuously attempting to manipulate the listener-or who may simply be mistaken. Drawing upon research and insights from communication, psychology, business management, and human resources, it considers fallacies in reasoning not just as abstract formulas, but as a feature of communication encounters such as negotiations, interviews, public debates, and personal conversations. Each form of fallacious reasoning is exemplified by dialogues in both professional settings (such as interviewing and personnel assessment), as well as everyday interactions in public discourse. The book then provides self-assessment tests to ensure the reader can evaluate the grey behavior in these encounters. This book provides research-based skills and insights that will benefit students and professionals in fields ranging from communication, politics, management, human resources, organizational psychology, journalism, and anyone else looking to develop critical interaction skills.

This second edition of Developing Organizational Simulations provides a concise source of information on effective and practical methods for constructing simulation exercises for the assessment of psychological characteristics relevant to effectiveness in work organizations. Incorporating new additions such as the multiple ways technology can be used in the design, delivery, scoring, and evaluating of simulation exercises, as well as the delivery of feedback based on the results, this book is user-friendly with practical how-to guidance, including many graphics, boxes, and examples. This book is ideal for practitioners, consultants, HR specialists, students, and researchers in need of guidance developing organizational simulations for personnel selection, promotion, diagnosis, training, or research. It is also suited for courses, workshops, and training programs in testing and measurement, personnel selection, training and development, and research methodology.

Written by three leading scholars with vast experience in the science and practice of assessment centers (ACs), this is the first volume to comprehensively integrate variations of the assessment center method with alternative talent management strategies. A useful reference guide, it examines the many ways in which organizations can apply the assessment center method to achieve their talent management goals. It provides balanced and in-depth coverage of theory, research, and practice pertaining to the dimension-, task-, and multifaceted-perspectives on the AC method. Ideal for researchers, practitioners, and students alike, and well suited for courses in testing and measurement, personnel selection, HR planning and staffing, training and development, and organizational change, Assessment Center Perspectives for Talent Management Strategies is a complete and up-to-date account of the assessment center method.

It is the purpose of this work to provide an integrated analytical framework that will serve as a guide to further study of the vast and complex subject of Chinese Communist politics. The outpouring of materials from U.S., Soviet, Chinese Communist, and Chinese Nationalist sources in recent years has greatly enriched our fund of knowledge about China. For the historian of Chinese politics the new data have provided answers to hitherto unresolved problems and raised questions about seemingly settled issues. Although it is now possible to piece together the main outlines of the struggle for power in China, obviously no single volume can presume to encompass all aspects of the story.

The theme permeating this book on assessment centers is "continuity and change," describing what has remained the same and what has changed in the 50-year history of the assessment center method. One of the important changes explored is the evolution of the goals of assessment center programs and the ways in which assessment centers and their component parts have been used. "Assessment Centers in Human Resource Management" clearly differentiates between assessment centers used for prediction, diagnoses, and development.
In addition, this book explores:
*assessment centers and human resource management;
*court cases involving assessment centers;
*innovations in assessment center operations;
*cross-cultural considerations including diversity of the workforce; and
*assessor training.
The target audience for the text includes students who are learning about assessment centers, practitioners including human resource managers and consultants who may be considering the implementation of assessment centers, and academicians who are researching the method and wish to understand current issues.

The People's Republic of China is changing. It is modernizing, shifting ideological gears, becoming realistic about development needs and goals, and moving away from its isolationist past toward a much more open and pragmatic assessment of its present and future position in the world. In the post-Mao period, China also seems to be willing to engage, albeit reluctantly, in the painful internal reshuffling of priorities and functions necessary to speed development. But change has not been easy: there have been major problems, both domestic and international. Richard Thornton puts the events of the past eight years in China into historical perspective in this updated and expanded version of his textbook on China's political history since 1917 (first published in 1973 as China: The Struggle for Power, 1917-1972). With the additional material, the book now stands as the most detailed account available. Professor Thornton deals with every significant issue that has confronted the leaders of revolutionary China and discusses the origins of the People's Republic. How did communism first take root in China? How did Mao first gain control of the Communist movement? What were the ingredients of Mao's victory and emergence as the undisputed master of the most populous country in the world? What was the origin of the Sino-Soviet alliance and what caused its collapse in the fifties? And in what sense were the tumultuous events of the Cultural Revolution of the sixties a prelude to the emergence of the new pragmatism and the Sino-U.S. rapprochement in the seventies? There has been very little stability in China's recent past, but Professor Thornton points out that there has been a historical logic in the sequence of China's history. An awareness of this logic is vital to understanding China's future.

Globalization, innovation, market share, identifying visionary leaders and, particularly, talent management ...are just some of the issues that benefit from using assessment and development centres. Assessment Centres and Global Talent Management focuses on topics that influence the design of the assessment centre in terms of the competencies being assessed, the exercises that are used and the nature of the event, so that they can deliver what is required; often to change organizational culture and values. Practical examples and case studies are sprinkled throughout the book as international contributors explore cross-cultural implications, and consider how the design, development and use of assessment centres should be adapted to different cultures. Some of the world's leading researchers and practitioners outline their research into new applications for assessment centre methods, showing how they have used it to design and implement specific assessment and development centres. This is a book from which practitioners can see how science informs good practice, and scholars will find the 32 chapters a rich source of ideas for conducting research into emerging issues in the field.

This second edition of Developing Organizational Simulations provides a concise source of information on effective and practical methods for constructing simulation exercises for the assessment of psychological characteristics relevant to effectiveness in work organizations. Incorporating new additions such as the multiple ways technology can be used in the design, delivery, scoring, and evaluating of simulation exercises, as well as the delivery of feedback based on the results, this book is user-friendly with practical how-to guidance, including many graphics, boxes, and examples. This book is ideal for practitioners, consultants, HR specialists, students, and researchers in need of guidance developing organizational simulations for personnel selection, promotion, diagnosis, training, or research. It is also suited for courses, workshops, and training programs in testing and measurement, personnel selection, training and development, and research methodology.

Written by three leading scholars with vast experience in the science and practice of assessment centers (ACs), this is the first volume to comprehensively integrate variations of the assessment center method with alternative talent management strategies. A useful reference guide, it examines the many ways in which organizations can apply the assessment center method to achieve their talent management goals. It provides balanced and in-depth coverage of theory, research, and practice pertaining to the dimension-, task-, and multifaceted-perspectives on the AC method. Ideal for researchers, practitioners, and students alike, and well suited for courses in testing and measurement, personnel selection, HR planning and staffing, training and development, and organizational change, Assessment Center Perspectives for Talent Management Strategies is a complete and up-to-date account of the assessment center method.

The theme permeating this book on assessment centers is "continuity and change," describing what has remained the same and what has changed in the 50-year history of the assessment center method. One of the important changes explored is the evolution of the goals of assessment center programs and the ways in which assessment centers and their component parts have been used. "Assessment Centers in Human Resource Management" clearly differentiates between assessment centers used for prediction, diagnoses, and development.
In addition, this book explores:
*assessment centers and human resource management;
*court cases involving assessment centers;
*innovations in assessment center operations;
*cross-cultural considerations including diversity of the workforce; and
*assessor training.
The target audience for the text includes students who are learning about assessment centers, practitioners including human resource managers and consultants who may be considering the implementation of assessment centers, and academicians who are researching the method and wish to understand current issues.

Valuable to genealogists and history buffs, this guide provides records of the crimes and criminals plaguing Washington, DC, in the mid-19th century and of the penitentiary constructed to house them. As Washington emerged as the nation's capital, it faced many problems, one of which was crime. Created from land ceded by Maryland and Virginia, the new federal district operated under the criminal codes of both states. From 1829-1831, the newly constructed U.S. Penitentiary remained vacant until, in 1831, Congress enacted a criminal code specifically for the District. The author combines an interesting historical narrative with lists of convicts taken into the penitentiary during its 33-year operation between 1829-1862. The lists generally include full name, birthplace, race and gender, crime (including details when available), and sentence. In addition, the text includes the names of victims, judges, wardens and other law enforcement personnel, Civil War soldiers, doctors, ministers, etc. associated with the criminal justice system at the time. A surname index provides quick reference to those names. Every entry has a source footnote.

PERRY PEARS (Rare and Heritage Fruit Cultivars #6)
Perry is a traditional alcoholic beverage made by the fermentation of juice from specific pears. It can be brewed at home. Some call this drink 'pear cider'. When perry is made from real perry pears it is a refreshing, light and delicate drink, rivalling high quality champagne.
Perry pears are cultivars selected for characteristics that make high quality perry. Early settlers sailed to new lands bringing these special fruits, thus distributing them across the globe.
Some of these unique, historic cultivars have survived through the years and been rediscovered by enthusiastic brewers. We list some of them here, along with what is known of their history, description, flavour characteristics and a few sources for trees.
This book is one of a series written for 'backyard farmers' of the 21st century. The series focuses on rare and heritage fruit in Australia, although it includes much information of interest to fruit enthusiasts around the world.
'Heritage' or 'heirloom' fruits such as old-fashioned varieties of apple, quince, fig, plum, peach and pear are increasingly popular due to their diverse flavours, excellent nutritional qualities and other desirable characteristics. They are part of our horticultural, vintage and culinary inheritance. To pick a tree-ripened heritage fruit from your own back yard and bite into it is to experience the taste of fresh food as our forefathers knew it.
During the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries fruit diversity was huge, but in modern supermarkets only a limited range of commercial fruit varieties is now available to consumers.
Heritage, heirloom and rare fruit enthusiasts across the world are currently reviving our horticultural legacy by renovating old orchards and identifying 'lost', unusual and historic fruit varieties. The goal is to make a much wider range of fruit trees available again to the home gardener.
This series of handbooks aims to help.

PEACHES (Rare and Heritage Fruit Cultivars #8)
Of all the deciduous tree fruit varieties, the peach is ranked third in global economic importance after the apple and the pear.
This handbook lists and describes around 230 existing and 'lost' heritage peach cultivars, to help you choose those you would prefer to grow. It gives fascinating insights into the world of peaches, and some surprising facts about this delicious queen of fruits including, for each variety, the history, visual description, flavour, flesh characteristics, skin colour, type of pit or stone, chill and pollination requirements, and uses. An indispensable handbook for the peach enthusiast.
This book is one of a series written for 'backyard farmers' of the 21st century. It focuses on rare and heritage fruit in Australia, although it includes much information of interest to fruit enthusiasts around the world.
'Heritage' or 'heirloom' fruits such as old-fashioned varieties of apple, quince, fig, plum, peach and pear are increasingly popular due to their diverse flavours, excellent nutritional qualities and other desirable characteristics. They are the legacy of our ancestors; living heirlooms, part of humanity's horticultural, vintage and culinary inheritance. During the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries fruit diversity was huge, but in modern supermarkets only a limited range of commercial fruit varieties is available to consumers.
To pick a tree-ripened heritage fruit from your own back yard and bite into it is to experience the taste of fresh food as our forefathers knew it.
Heritage, heirloom and rare fruit enthusiasts across the world are now reviving our horticultural legacy by renovating old orchards and identifying 'lost', unusual and historic fruit varieties. The goal is to make a wide range of unique fruit trees available again to the home gardener.
This series of handbooks aims to help.