"Was it the Opportunity of a Lifetime...or an Invitation to Disaster?" The job was intriguing-working for the Aga Khan, the rich and influential imam of the Ismaili Muslims, building the Aga Khan University Hospital in Karachi. They said it would be a world-class institution, the best on the subcontinent. But he had his doubts. Yes, Pakistan was exotic, and mysterious, and full of adventure. But he had a good job and a shaky marriage, and Pakistan didn't seem like the right place at the right time. People were being kidnapped and killed over there...the American Embassy at Islamabad had recently been overrun and burned, and next door, Afghanistan had been invaded by Russia. They were making big promises to lure him there...could they pull it off, or was it just hype? In Hardship Post, winner of the 2012 Royal Palm Literary Awards Competition for unpublished memoir, Robert Taylor examines the complexities of being called to serve overseas in a foreign culture, with all the excitement, pitfalls, learning experiences, and challenging lessons. This compelling real-life adventure will keep you captivated from the first page to the last. Award-winning writer Robert Taylor has been an advisor to the World Bank, USAID, WHO, and other international agencies and has worked in thirty countries...none of which had safe drinking water. A native of Minnesota, he now lives with his wife in Punta Gorda, Florida.

The purpose of this monograph is to investigate the nature of militant Islam in the context of a global ideological threat; to further examine the strategic concepts associated with the theory of containment developed to win the Cold War; and propose an alternative national strategy of containment to successfully execute the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT). The first section defines the nature of the global threat of militant Islamic fundamentalism, and its goals regarding expansion and the threat to the US and the West. The defined threat was derived through research of current US national strategy documents and the declassified national intelligence assessment, recent academic publications, and released statements and publications of militant leaders such as Osama bin Laden and Ayman Zawahiri. Once defined, key similarities of this current and future threat and the Cold War threat of Soviet Communism are identified from primary documents on American policy and strategy from 1945-1950, and secondary sources associated with the strategy of containment. The critical aspect of this comparison is the analysis of regional and global aims of the threat, and intentions for expansion. This comparison is not exhaustive, but merely adequate to ensure that a counter-strategy of containment is worth pursuit. The key element is the comparison of the similarities of ideological threats across all spectrums of international power and influence. The second section analyzes the successful Cold War strategy of containment and identifies key concepts that can be successful in the containment of militant Islam. The analysis focuses on former national programs designed to leverage the elements of power in support of containment of Soviet communism. Sources for this section are documents on American policy and strategy that originated between 1945 and 1950 that focus on containment strategy and secondary sources that analyze the concepts and doctrine of containment itself. The third section proposes a viable strategy of containment based on George F. Kennan's Cold War containment strategy to counter militant Islam and successfully prosecute the GWOT in terms of a "long war." Some modifications for context and specifics of the threat are applied to make such a strategy most effective today. The criteria used to analyze the viability of a strategy of containment for the GWOT is founded on a definition of the theory of strategy and a common model for analyzing and evaluating strategy by breaking it into its component parts. Using Art Lykke's definition of strategy and his model, the proposed strategy of containment is evaluated to determine acceptability, feasibility, and suitability to prosecute the global war on terrorism. Militant Islam has proven itself to be the only truly totalitarian movement in the world today, and regards itself as the only rival, and the inevitable successor to Western civilization. This form of extremism is extricable from Islam itself, but the US cannot unilaterally fix the internal problems of the Muslim world. However, the US can provide critical help while at the same time defending the American population at home. A strategy of containment modified for the current realities of the post Cold War world against a new global threat with similar tendencies is viable and worth strong consideration. A cornerstone of the strategy is weakening militant Islamists where they are in power, containing their expansion, and better encouraging vulnerable governments to resist. This approach takes advantage of strategic concepts of containment previously successful in winning a "long war." The threat of expansion of militant Islam is indeed a global threat similar to that of the global threat of Communism, and a comprehensive strategy of containment similar to that of previous successful US strategies during the Cold War provides a fundamental basis for a successful long term contemporary strategy to contain it.

These volumes document John Adams's thinking and actions during the final years of his congressional service and take him through his first five months as a Commissioner in France in association with Benjamin Franklin and Arthur Lee. While Adams was still in Philadelphia, military matters continued to he his major concern. Most demanding was his presidency of the Board of War, which took up his "whole Time, every Morning and Evening." In general, though, the documents and reports of his conduct reveal a commitment to a national outlook. Congress should be a national legislature, and personal, state, and regional rivalries should give way to concern for the greater good-these were his deeply held convictions. When chosen a Commissioner to France, Adams was reluctant to go. But duty and the honor of the position, along with the encouragement of an understanding and self-sacrificing wife, persuaded him to accept. With son John Quincy for a companion, he crossed the Atlantic to a new career. His initiation into the complexities of diplomacy brought a growing awareness of European affairs and the problems facing the new nation in the diplomatic arena. Letters deal with such varied topics as the supervision of American commercial agents in French ports, regulation of privateers, settlement of disputes between crews and officers, negotiation of loans, and help for American prisoners in England. Personal letters run the gamut from Adams's views on the proper conduct of American diplomacy to strangers' pleas for aid in locating relatives in America. Contrary to the usual impression of Adams as little more than a clerk for the Commission, evidence shows that he was its chief administrator. Acclimation to living abroad among diplomats did not stifle Adams's yearning for the simplicities of private life in the midst of his family. Yet as the important and interesting documents of this volume show, the groundwork was being laid for his even more significant role in diplomacy.

The purpose of this monograph is to investigate the nature of militant Islam in the context of a global ideological threat; to further examine the strategic concepts associated with the theory of containment developed to win the Cold War; and propose an alternative national strategy of containment to successfully execute the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT). The first section defines the nature of the global threat of militant Islamic fundamentalism, and its goals regarding expansion and the threat to the US and the West. The defined threat was derived through research of current US national strategy documents and the declassified national intelligence assessment, recent academic publications, and released statements and publications of militant leaders such as Osama bin Laden and Ayman Zawahiri. Once defined, key similarities of this current and future threat and the Cold War threat of Soviet Communism are identified from primary documents on American policy and strategy from 1945-1950, and secondary sources associated with the strategy of containment. The critical aspect of this comparison is the analysis of regional and global aims of the threat, and intentions for expansion. This comparison is not exhaustive, but merely adequate to ensure that a counter-strategy of containment is worth pursuit. The key element is the comparison of the similarities of ideological threats across all spectrums of international power and influence. The second section analyzes the successful Cold War strategy of containment and identifies key concepts that can be successful in the containment of militant Islam. The analysis focuses on former national programs designed to leverage the elements of power in support of containment of Soviet communism. Sources for this section are documents on American policy and strategy that originated between 1945 and 1950 that focus on containment strategy and secondary sources that analyze the concepts and doctrine of containment itself. The third sec

President Lincoln's call for volunteers to fight for the restoration of the Union was answered by common men throughout the United States. William A. Robinson was one of them - a simple farmer and a family man from Delaware County, New York, who enlisted for a three year term in Co. I of the 89th NY Volunteer Infantry in the fall of 1861. Over the course of those three years Robinson and his fellows in the 89th would see service throughout the South, participating in engagements at Antietam, South Mountain, Fredericksburg, Suffolk, VA, the Federal siege of Fort Sumpter (1863), Cold Harbor, Petersburgh and Fair Oaks. Robinson wrote home to his wife Mary as often as the rigors of soldiering would allow, and over 100 of these letters have survived to the present day. Robert J. Taylor has transcribed Robinson's Civil War letters in their entirety, supplemented by a history of the 89th NY with accompanying rosters and an index of full names. The letters describe the everyday experiences of the soldier in the field, alternating between the monotony of camp life and the thrill of combat. More important perhaps are his references to the other men in the regiment, noting illness, injuries in battle, hospitalization, deaths, court martial, desertion, the arrival of new recruits and the dismissal of veterans. Four appendices round out the text: "Military Service of the Men of Company I," including date of enlistment, rank, age, date and circumstances of death or discharge, and other biographical information wherever known; "Regimental Staff Officers," noting the same; complete rosters for Companies A-H, and K; and a "Compiled List of Men Crossing the Rappahanock River, Dec. 11, 1862." With a bibliography and three portraits.

The period of June 1836 to February 1840, from Charles Francis Adams' twenty--eighth to thirty--second year, was characterized by his turn from the political activities that had occupied him for the preceding several years. The course of the Van Buren administration he had helped to elect dissatisfied him, the Massachusetts Whig leadership had earned his distrust, positions on political issues that would either echo or oppose those being vigorously espoused by his father, John Quincy Adams, he felt inhibited from avowing publicly. So confronted, Charles found occupation in preparing and expressing himself on economic matters of moment--banking and currency--and moral questions generated by the slavery issue. With increasing effectiveness he employed the lecture platform and the press for the expression of views to which he felt free to attach his name. On all these matters he found his opinions at odds with the prevailing ones held among those prominent in the Boston scene, as John Adams and John Quincy Adams had found before him. Yet, despite a sense of loneliness, so induced, his participation in the varied social life of the city has its place in the Diary.

However, activities in Boston and its environs that provided a focus for the record of the preceding years give way in these volumes to wider scenes made available by train and ship. An extensive journey with his wife by way of the Hudson River and the Eric Canal to Niagara and Canada, a visit of some length and interest in Washington, and stays of lesser length in New York City are recounted.

Wide and persistent reading, the theater, numismatics, and the building of a summer home in Quincy also occupied him and arefully reflected in his journal. Family tragedies are not absent from its pages. As the period comes to its close his long and distinguished labors as editor of the family's papers had begun. A new self-assurance has become evident.

In the transformation of the colonies into commonwealths during the Revolution, Massachusetts most effectively institutionalized the political theory of popular sovereignty. The concept of the constitutional convention and popular ratification, initiated by the Massachusetts Constitution, underscored the constitutional significance of the American Revolution. This is a comprehensive problems-source-book on the Massachusetts Constitution of 1780, containing seventy-one documents. Originally published in 1961. A UNC Press Enduring Edition -- UNC Press Enduring Editions use the latest in digital technology to make available again books from our distinguished backlist that were previously out of print. These editions are published unaltered from the original, and are presented in affordable paperback formats, bringing readers both historical and cultural value.

No family in three generations has contributed so much to American history as the Adamses. John, John Quincy, and Charles Francis, despite periods of doubt, knew that history, if not their contemporaries, would recognize their accomplishments. When the Adams Papers series is complete, the writings of these three statesmen will have been examined thoroughly.

Aside from the "Legal Papers of John Adams," published in 1965, these two volumes are the first in Series III: General Correspondence and Other Papers of the Adams Statesmen. Volumes 1 and 2 of the "Papers of John Adams" include letters to and from friends and colleagues, reports of committees on which he served, his polemical writings, published and unpublished, and state papers to which he made a contribution.

All of Adams' newspaper writings, including 'A Dissertation on the Canon and the Feudal Law, ' are in these two volumes. In addition to being a condemnation of the Stamp Act, the "Dissertation" is shown to be one of the building blocks of the theory of a commonwealth of independent states under the king, which reaches complete statement in the Novanglus letters. For the first time, all thirteen of these letters appear in full with annotation.

The period September 1755--April 1775 covers Adams' public service in Braintree and Boston town meetings, the Massachusetts House of Representatives, the First Continental Congress, and the First Provincial Congress of Massachusetts. During this time his political future was being shaped by circumstances not always of his choosing. He hesitated at first at the threshold of a public career, political ambition in conflict with concern for his family's well--being. But asthe confrontation with Great Britain sharpened, the crisis became acute; no choice remained. For Adams there was no shirking the path of duty.

As the American colonies grew more restive, and a break with the mother country ceased to be unthinkable, John Adams was forced to spend less and less time with his beloved family. Although burdened by ever-expanding responsibilities in the Second Continental Congress, he found time for an amazing amount of correspondence. The majority of his letters were written to secure the facts that would enable this duty-ridden man to decide and act effectively on the issues being debated. Military affairs, a source of never-ending concern, provide some of the most fascinating subjects, including several accounts of the Battle of Bunker Hill, assessments of various high-ranking officers, and complaints about the behavior of the riflemen sent from three states southward to aid the Massachusetts troops. The heated question of pay for soldiers and officers strained relations between New England and southern colonies early. By refusing to confront the issue of slavery when it was raised by several correspondents, Adams sought to avoid exacerbating regional sensitivities further. When the question of independent governments for former colonies arose, at the request of several colleagues Adams sketched a model, Thoughts on Government, three versions of which are included here. His optimistic republicanism, however, was balanced by fear that a "Spirit of Commerce" would undermine the virtue requisite for republican institutions. Adams' important committee work included his draft in 1775 of rules for regulation of the Continental Navy, which have remained the basis for the governance of the United States Navy down into our own time, and his plan of treaties, which would guide American diplomats up to World War II. Both were derivative, but he skillfully adapted his materials to American needs and circumstances. These volumes reflect the spirit of those tumultuous years when the leaders emerging in America confronted each other, and exciting new ideas, as they tried to resolve the issues of a revolutionary period.