What ails people at the present time in Western and especially American society is an inexhaustible subject. Discussion of these discontents in the United States in the last decade of the twentieth century leads to an obvious question: How much and what kind of discontents are possible in a society that has experienced over a decade of economic growth, close to full employment, hardly any inflation, falling crime rates, declining teenage pregnancies, and other good things? Is there anything to worry about in a country that has become the undisputed superpower of the world and no longer faces another hostile superpower such as the Soviet Union used to be? Paul Hollander wrestles with these and other questions in seeking to understand conditions and developments within American culture and society in the context of their relationship to political systems, movements and ideas critical of the United States and Western values. Hollander examines disparate phenomena, such as the O.J. Simpson case, the banning of West Side Story in Amherst, Massachusetts, the popularity and exposu of Rigoberta Menchu, and the appeal of sports utility vehicles, which shed light on the major themes of the volume. Topics include conflicts among American intellectuals (including disputes over the Kosovo intervention), the impact of postmodernism on higher education, the persisting appeal of victimhood in American society, the flaws of American sociology, academic specialists' failure to anticipate the collapse of the Soviet Union, and the new anti-Americanism in postcommunist societies. Among topics of historical interest are a survey of Western judgments and misjudgments of the communist systems; examination of the relative neglect of political violence in communist states, and analysis of officially enforced, secular-religious cult of communist rulers. Many of these writings are linked to the author's longstanding interest in why people accept or reject particular political systems and in the contradictory human needs and desires which condition and limit the pursuit of social and political ends. Sociologists, political scientists, and the general reader will find this book of great interest.

Why did so many distinguished Western Intellectuals--from G.B. Shaw to J.P. Sartre, and. closer to home, from Edmund Wilson to Susan Sontag-- admire various communist systems, often in their most repressive historical phases? How could Stalin's Soviet Union, Mao's China, or Castro's Cuba appear at one time as both successful modernizing societies and the fulfillments of the boldest dreams of social justice? Why, at the same time, had these intellectuals so mercilessly judged and rejected their own Western, liberal cultures? What Impulses and beliefs prompted them to seek the realization of their ideals in distant, poorly known lands? How do their journeys fit into long-standing Western traditions of looking for new meaning In the non-Western world?

These are some of the questions Paul Hollander sought to answer In his massive study that covers much of our century. His success is attested by the fact that the phrase "political pilgrim" has become a part of intellectual discourse. Even in the post-communist era the questions raised by this book remain relevant as many Western, and especially American intellectuals seek to come to terms with a world which offers few models of secular fulfillment and has tarnished the reputation of political Utopias. His new and lengthy introduction updates the pilgrimages and examines current attempts to find substitutes for the emotional and political energy that used to be invested in them.

Why did so many distinguished Western Intellectuals from G.B. Shaw to J.P. Sartre, and. closer to home, from Edmund Wilson to Susan Sontag admire various communist systems, often in their most repressive historical phases? How could Stalin's Soviet Union, Mao's China, or Castro's Cuba appear at one time as both successful modernizing societies and the fulfillments of the boldest dreams of social justice? Why, at the same time, had these intellectuals so mercilessly judged and rejected their own Western, liberal cultures? What Impulses and beliefs prompted them to seek the realization of their ideals in distant, poorly known lands? How do their journeys fit into long-standing Western traditions of looking for new meaning In the non-Western world? These are some of the questions Paul Hollander sought to answer In his massive study that covers much of our century. His success is attested by the fact that the phrase "political pilgrim" has become a part of intellectual discourse. Even in the post-communist era the questions raised by this book remain relevant as many Western, and especially American intellectuals seek to come to terms with a world which offers few models of secular fulfillment and has tarnished the reputation of political Utopias. His new and lengthy introduction updates the pilgrimages and examines current attempts to find substitutes for the emotional and political energy that used to be invested in them.

During the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, political dictators were not only popular in their own countries, but were also admired by numerous highly educated and idealistic Western intellectuals. The objects of this political hero-worship included Benito Mussolini, Adolph Hitler, Joseph Stalin, Mao Zedong, Fidel Castro and more recently Hugo Chavez, among others. This book seeks to understand the sources of these misjudgements and misperceptions, the specific appeals of particular dictators, and the part played by their charisma, or pseudo-charisma. It sheds new light not only on the political disposition of numerous Western intellectuals - such as Martin Heidegger, Eric Hobsbawm, Norman Mailer, Ezra Pound, Susan Sontag and George Bernard Shaw - but also on the personality of those political leaders who encouraged, and in some instances helped to design, the cult surrounding their rise to dictatorship.

During the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, political dictators were not only popular in their own countries, but were also admired by numerous highly educated and idealistic Western intellectuals. The objects of this political hero-worship included Benito Mussolini, Adolph Hitler, Joseph Stalin, Mao Zedong, Fidel Castro and more recently Hugo Chavez, among others. This book seeks to understand the sources of these misjudgements and misperceptions, the specific appeals of particular dictators, and the part played by their charisma, or pseudo-charisma. It sheds new light not only on the political disposition of numerous Western intellectuals - such as Martin Heidegger, Eric Hobsbawm, Norman Mailer, Ezra Pound, Susan Sontag and George Bernard Shaw - but also on the personality of those political leaders who encouraged, and in some instances helped to design, the cult surrounding their rise to dictatorship.

Although it has been a global phenomenon for decades before recent acts of massive violence, anti-Americanism has prompted few serious studies in English. This collection of original reports and observations seeks to explain its impact in areas throughout the world, taking advantage of the cultural and geographical expertise of the contributors. Understanding Anti-Americanism distinguishes between rational and specific critiques of American foreign policy and American society on the one hand, and that brand of hostile predisposition that blames the United States for a wide variety of grievances and frustrations that are at best tangentially related to its policies, institutions, or way of life. The book includes essays on the historical origins of anti-Americanism and its occurrences in the Arab world, Western Europe, post-Communist Russia, Latin America, and China. Like-minded sentiments within the United States are examined in the contexts of education, mass culture, the peace movements, and feminist rejections of American society, and in a comparison of trends between the 1960s and the twenty-first century. Recent international developments as well as U.S. leadership in modernization and globalization receive special attention as sources of hostility. Among the contributors are James Ceaser, Patrick Clawson, Walter Connor, Anthony Daniels, Dario Fernandez-Morera, Adam Garfinkle, Roger Kimball, Harvey Klehr, Michael Radu, Barry Rubin, Bruce Thornton, Arthur Waldron, and Cathy Young. In his substantial Introduction, Paul Hollander examines the major sources and expressions of anti-Americanism and suggests reasons why it is unlikely to disappear or diminish in the near future, notwithstanding its irrational features and the spectacle of millions of people voting with their feet to become members of this much maligned society.

In this collection, world-renowned scholars of Bolshevism and world communism analyze the human costs of the Bolshevik Revolution, its contribution to the spread of totalitarianism, and the responses it inspired among American and Western intellectuals. Together, their essays constitute a profound refusal of the poesy of totalitarianism that is based on sober research and detailed analysis of the limits of utopian politics and the dangers of cruel ideologies based in the cosmetic aesthetic of moral perfectionism and lyric intoxication. This study provides an accurate and succinct depiction of the nature of Bolshevism and its consequences in light of several decades of research, including former Soviet archival materials and American intelligence such as the Venona files.

In 540 BC, Heraclitus said "the only constant is change." He was wrong. Napoleon Hill used the secret to success but it wasn't the Law of Attraction. The greatest challenges we face in this time starved, techo-fueled accelerating world are the ones we put in our own way. We must learn to un-learn. We must communicate in the absence of time.

A society devoid of ethics, is not a society... it is merely a group of opportunists, waiting to pounce. Ethics should not be some dry academic study. It should be the guidepost by which we choose to live. Our reward for making that choice, collectively is a society that is safer, more benign, more profitable and ultimately more free than one which does not. Just like so many other things in our lives, Ethics require exercise to become stronger. The purpose of this book is to encourage people to ponder and debate how they might better approach the complex moral dilemmas that life throws at us.

Short is a collection of eight short stories. One of them is SHORT. Actually all of them are short, that is why they are called short stories but one of them is actually named SHORT, you know, instead of tall. . Athough there are tall tales... but that is something else. Nevermind, it is probably easier just to read the book.

Hobert does a Tradeshow is an uniquely different look at one of marketing's most powerful (and often misused) tools - the tradeshow. This modern business fable walks people through the process in a different and entertaining fashion. It also includes a number of useful attachments in Hobert's appendix (that just never sounds right...)

The ultimate source of clean, renewable energy isn't solar. wind or geothermal and it already produces 20% of all the electricity used on earth. It is gravity. Falling water powers every hydroelectric plant. It doesn't consume or convert matter. It doesn't generate any harmful by-products No fuel, no moving parts, completely silent. Yet it keeps the universe in balance. Simple But what happens when two men unlock the means to control gravity. Virtually limitless, cheap, clean power... The gravity of their stuation increases exponentially. Ultimately- "G" is a story about power.

More and more people today are departing from organized religion today and instead choose to find a different pathway to find spiritual fulfillment. Rocks in the path is a collection of questions raised and answers found over the course of a lifetime. It is an attempt to reconcile the spiritual and secular demands of our world today.

Original reports and observations that analyze the causes and impact of anti-Americanism in areas throughout the world. It distinguishes between rational and specific critiques of American foreign policy and American society on the one hand, and that brand of hostile predisposition that blames the United States for a wide variety of grievances and frustrations that are at best tangentially related to its policies, institutions, or way of life.

In this collection, world-renowned scholars of Bolshevism and world communism analyze the human costs of the Bolshevik Revolution, its contribution to the spread of totalitarianism, and the responses it inspired among American and Western intellectuals. Together, their essays constitute a profound refusal of the poesy of totalitarianism that is based on sober research and detailed analysis of the limits of utopian politics and the dangers of cruel ideologies based in the cosmetic aesthetic of moral perfectionism and lyric intoxication. This study provides an accurate and succinct depiction of the nature of Bolshevism and its consequences in light of several decades of research, including former Soviet archival materials and American intelligence such as the Venona files.