This history of NATO concentrates on the differences within the alliance, particularly between the United States and its European partners. NATO's war against terrorism began on September 11, 2001. Invoking Article 5 was a fitting response to the assault on the United States, but the spirit did not last long. Within a few weeks, old fissures within the alliance re-emerged, threatening once again to dissolve an entity that had survived over half a century. In the first two generations of NATO's existence, the Cold War with the Soviet Union had been its major purpose. But since the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact and of the Russian Empire itself, NATO has struggled to seek new raisons d'etre, and has succeeded to some degree in finding them in crisis management in Europe and in areas beyond the boundaries of the alliance. The absence of a traditional enemy to serve as a centripetal force, along with the recognition of the United States as the lone superpower, has placed a focus on internal troubles of the alliance that had been obscured in the past by the presence of a common enemy. Too little attention has been paid to such West-West conflicts that arguably have been more frequent and more bitter, if not more dangerous, than the struggle with the Soviet Union. Differences among the allies began with the formation of the alliance itself. Some were resolved, others persisted. Many of them related to "out of area" issues in which the Soviet Union was not involved or only peripherally concerned. How the alliance managed the unequal relationship in the past may offer insights into the common ground the alliance partners can identify in the 21st century.

Rockaway Beach was once a popular seaside resort in south Queens with a small permanent population. Shortly after World War II, large parts of this narrow peninsula between the ocean and the bay became some of New York City's worst slums. A historian who grew up in the community and his wife, a social worker, together present an illuminating account of this transformation, exploring issues of race, class, and social policy and offering a significant revision of the larger story of New York City's development. In particular, the authors qualify some of the negative assessments of Robert Moses, suggesting that the "Power Broker" attempted for many positive initiatives for Rockaway.

Based on extensive archival research and hundreds of hours of interviews with residents, urban specialists, and government officials past and present, "Between Ocean and City" is a clear-eyed and harrowing story of this largely African American community's struggles and resiliency in the face of grinding poverty, urban renewal schemes gone wrong, and a forced ghettoization by the sea.

Tatiana L. Dubinskaya was a schoolgirl who ran away from home and served on the Eastern Front from 1916-17 as a soldier in the Russian army during World War I. She later became a writer and in 1930 recounted her personal experiences as a soldier in an autobiographical novel, called In the Trenches, published in Moscow. In 1936 she revised and republished a shorter version of her story under a new title, Machine Gunner. Both versions of her novel had much in common. Most of the characters and much of the storyline remained essentially the same, but there were a few notable exceptions, which included the addition of more revolutionary zeal to the main characters in Machine Gunner, which likely gave it greater appeal in Stalinist Russia. This revised edition of In the Trenches has been edited using select portions from Machine Gunner to provide greater clarity and context to Dubinskaya's original story. In the Trenches received critical acclaim when first published, being favorably compared with Erich Maria Remarque's 1929 classic World War I novel, All Quiet on the Western Front, which portrayed the stark realism of life in the trenches through the eyes of a young German soldier. Dubinskaya's character, Zinaida "Zina" Kramskaya, had similar experiences. In the Trenches was significant as it marked the first major account of a female soldier from World War I to be published in Russia. In April 1930 the United Press International reported that an American publisher had acquired the rights for an English edition of In the Trenches, but it never went into print. Russian censorship may have stopped the English edition. In the novel, Zina develops close ties to her brothers in arms, endures the hardships and stresses of war, is exposed to the undercurrents of revolutionary thinking in the ranks, and comes to grips with the disruptive effects of the czar's abdication in March 1917, which led to the wide-scale spread of a socialist revolution in the army. After returning home for a visit with her family, she wrestles with remaining and returning to a normal life. Eventually, she is drawn back to the theater of war. Back at the front in the wake of a revolution that overthrew the czar and the Romanov dynasty, she sees widespread changes sweeping across the army. The revolution has brought a provisional socialist government to power whose new policies cause havoc in the army. Soldiers' committees emerge to challenge traditional authority from the officers, and in some cases disgruntled soldiers summarily execute unfavorable officers without facing any repercussions. These sudden changes cause a massive destabilization in the army that leads many soldiers to desert and return home, including Zina's regiment. Although she was exposed to revolutionary propaganda, she is not an ardent revolutionary. Her story ends abruptly in the summer of 1917, several months before the November 1917 Bolshevik revolution.

This history of NATO concentrates on the differences within the alliance, particularly between the US and its European partners. NATO's war against terrorism began on September 11, 2001. Invoking Article 5 was a fitting response to the assault on the United States, but the spirit did not last long. Within a few weeks, old fissures within the alliance re-emerged, threatening once again to dissolve an entity that had survived over half a century. In the first two generations of NATO's existence, the Cold War with the Soviet Union had been the major purpose of its existence. But since the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact and of the Russian Empire itself, NATO has struggled to seek new "raisons d'etre," and has succeeded to some degree in finding them in crisis management in Europe and in areas beyond the boundaries of the alliance.

The absence of a traditional enemy to serve as a centripetal force, along with the recognition of the US as the lone superpower, has placed a focus on internal troubles of the alliance that had been obscured in the past by the presence of a common enemy. Too little attention has been paid to such West-West conflicts which arguably have been more frequent and more bitter, if not more dangerous, than the struggle with the Soviet Union. Differences among the allies began with the formation of the alliance itself. Some were resolved, others persisted. Many of them related to out of area issues in which the Soviet Union was not involved or only peripherally concerned. How the alliance managed the unequal relationship in the past may offer insights into the common ground the alliance partners can identify in the 21st century.

The fiftieth anniversary of the long entanglement between the United States and NATO is an appropriate occasion to reflect. One of the few NATO studies to concentrate on the history of the alliance, particularly the relationship between its senior partner and its European allies, this study examines critical issues in depth, to uncover the ability of the allies to surmount their internal divisions and to confront their Soviet adversary. While NATO archives are still not fully open, the use of declassified documents from the National Archives and the presidential libraries are of invaluable assistance in considering the historical role of America in the alliance, and the continuing relevance of the organization in U.S. foreign policy.

The twelve chapters of this book, provide analyses of important issues in the organization's history, and are connected by brief contexual narratives. The resulting picture depicts a fifty-year history in which the difficulties in arriving at a consensus among the fifteen allies, each understandably concerned with its own national interests, rival those of the alliance in dealing with the Communist threat. The implosion of the Soviet empire in the early 1990s left the organization in search of new reasons for its own existence. While centrifugal forces are arguably greater today than they were during the Cold War, none of the allies seeks to terminate this long entanglement.

Rockaway Beach was once a popular seaside resort in south Queens with a small permanent population. Shortly after World War II, large parts of this narrow peninsula between the ocean and the bay became some of New York City's worst slums. A historian who grew up in the community and his wife, a social worker, together present an illuminating account of this transformation, exploring issues of race, class, and social policy and offering a significant revision of the larger story of New York City's development. In particular, the authors qualify some of the negative assessments of Robert Moses, suggesting that the "Power Broker" attempted for many positive initiatives for Rockaway.

Based on extensive archival research and hundreds of hours of interviews with residents, urban specialists, and government officials past and present, "Between Ocean and City" is a clear-eyed and harrowing story of this largely African American community's struggles and resiliency in the face of grinding poverty, urban renewal schemes gone wrong, and a forced ghettoization by the sea.

As the most ecologically efficient and economical source of complete protein in human food, soy is gradually attracting more use in the American diet for its nutritional and financial value. Derived from soybean plants--the leading export crop of the United States and the world's most traded crop--soy produced for human consumption is part of a global enterprise affecting the likes of farmers, economists, dieticians, and grocery shoppers. An international group of expert food specialists--including an agricultural economist, an agricultural sociologist, a former Peace Corps development expert, and numerous food anthropologists and agricultural historians--discusses important issues central to soy production and consumption: genetically engineered soybeans, increasing soybean cultivation, soyfood marketing techniques, the use of soybeans as an important soil restorative, and the rendering of soybeans for human consumption.

Contributors are Katarzyna Cwiertka, Christine M. Du Bois, H. T. Huang, Lawrence Kaplan, Jian-Hua Mao, Sidney W. Mintz, Akiko Moriya, Can Van Nguyen, Donald Z. Osborn, Erino Ozeki, Myra Sidharta, Ivan Sergio Freire de Sousa, Chee-Beng Tan, and Rita de Cassia Milagres Teixeira Vieira.