Saturday, December 5, 2009

The Origins of the Second World War or Multinational Enterprise and the Globalization of Networks of Knowledge

The Origins of the Second World War

Author: R J Overy

The Origins of the Second World War explores the reasons why the Second World War broke out in September 1939 and not sooner, and why a European war expanded into world war by 1941.

Richard Overy argues that this was not just ‘Hitler’s War’ but one that had its roots and origins in the decline of the old empires of Britain and France and the rise of ambitious new powers in Germany, Italy and Japan. Any explanation of the outbreak of hostilities must be multinational in scope taking into account the basic instability of the international system that had still not recovered from the shocks of the Great War.  

In this third edition:

·         The role of Italy in the approach to war has been re-evaluated

·         Overy addresses recent revelations about Soviet policy in the 1930s, particularly exploring Soviet military planning and preparations

·         Arguments about Chamberlain and his policy of appeasement are rethought and reassessed.

This new edition has now been completely overhauled, updated, expanded and reset. With a comprehensive documents section, colour plates, guide to who’s who, a chronology and lists of further reading, The Origins of the Second World War will provide an invaluable introduction to any student of this fascinating period.

Richard Overy is Professor of History at the University of Exeter. He has authored 17 books on the Third Reich, the Second World War and air warfare which include:The Air War 1939-1945 (2nd ed, 2006),Why the Allies Won(2nd ed, 2006) and The Dictators: Hitler’s Germany and Stalin’s Russia (2004)which won both the Wolfson and the  Hessell Tiltman Prizes for History in 2005.



Table of Contents:

Chronology

Who's Who

Glossary

Maps

Pt. 1 Background 1

1 Explaining the Second World War 3

Pt. 2 Analysis 11

2 The International Crisis 13

3 Economic and Imperial Rivalry 31

4 Armaments and Domestic Politics 46

5 War Over Poland 62

6 From European to World War 82

Pt. 3 Assessment 93

7 Hitler's War? 95

Pt. 4 Documents 101

1 The Treaty of Versailles and Germany 102

2 The Covenant of the League 103

3 The search for a settlement 103

4 American 'appeasement' 104

5 Stalin anticipates war 104

6 The 'Hossbach memorandum' 105

7 Preparation for war before Munich 106

8 The Munich Conference 107

9 The Munich Agreement 108

10 Economic pressure on Japan 109

11 Mussolini's vision of empire 110

12 Hitler's dream of world power 111

13 Economic appeasement 112

14 Britain and Germany in the Balkans 112

15 The Four-Year Plan 113

16 Economic dangers for Britain 114

17 The crisis in France 114

18 'Peace for our time' 115

19 The change of mood in the west 115

20 Hitler plans to crush Poland 116

21 Chamberlain guarantees Poland 117

22 The Franco-British 'war plan', 1939 117

23 British intelligence on Germany 118

24 Stalin warns the west after Munich 119

25 The Franco-British failure in Moscow 119

26 The Soviet reaction to German advances, 1939 120

27 The German-Soviet Pact 121

28 Hitler gambles on western weakness 122

29 The last gasp of appeasement 123

30 Bonnet's doubts about war 123

31 Poland in the middle 124

32 The last days of peace 125

33 Chamberlain's 'awful Sunday' 125

34 Berlin proposes peace 126

35 The Tripartite Pact 127

36 Preparation for total mobilization in Germany 128

37 The Barbarossa Directive128

38 The German attack on Russia 129

39 Russia raises the price for co-operation 129

40 Japan decides on war 130

41 Creating the new world order 130

References 133

Index 145

Book about: Osmotic Dehydration and Vacuum Impregnation or Cassandras Psychic Party Games

Multinational Enterprise and the Globalization of Networks of Knowledge

Author: Peter J Buckley

This book analyzes the role of knowledge within multinational enterprised (MNEs), its spatial dimensions and its transfer within enterprises. It includes conceptual pieces on the global networks of MNEs and pays special attention to Asian network firms. It introdues the concept of the 'global factory' - a framework for the understanding of spatially distributed activities under the control (though not necessarily the ownership) of a local firm. The book also critically examines the concept of globalization and contrasts this with the process of regional integration. It examines knowledge transfer processes in MNEs with particular reference to technology transfer to China. The Chinese theme is taken further by an analysis of the role of foreign direct investment in the transformation of China.



Friday, December 4, 2009

Biosecurity in the Global Age or Becoming Asian American

Biosecurity in the Global Age: Biological Weapons, Public Health, and the Rule of Law

Author: David P Fidler

Biosecurity comprehensively analyzes the dramatic transformations that are reshaping how the international community addresses biological weapons and infectious diseases.

The book examines the renewed threat from biological weapons, and explores the new world of biological weapons governance. Gostin and Fidler argue that the arms control approach in the Biological Weapons Convention no longer dominates. Other strategies have emerged to challenge the arms control approach, and the book identifies four important policy trends—the criminalization of biological weapons, regulation of the biological sciences, management of the biodefense imperative, and preparation for biological weapons attack.

The book also explores the challenges to public health resulting from new security threats. The authors look at the linkages between security and public health policy, both at the national and international level. For instance, Gostin and Fidler scrutinize the difficulty of developing policies that improve defenses against both biological weapons and the threat of infectious diseases from new viral strains.

The new worlds of biological weapons and public health governance raise the importance of crafting policy responses informed by the rule of law. Thinking about the rule of law underscores the importance of finding globalized forms of biosecurity governance. The book explores patterns in recent governance initiatives and advocates building a “global biosecurity concert” as a way to address the threats biological weapons and infectious diseases present in the early 21st century.



Book about: Amazing Peace or Skippyjon Jones

Becoming Asian American: Second-Generation Chinese and Korean American Identities

Author: Nazli Kibria

In Becoming Asian American, Nazli Kibria draws upon extensive interviews she conducted with second-generation Chinese and Korean Americans in Boston and Los Angeles who came of age during the 1980s and 1990s to explore the dynamics of race, identity, and adaptation within these communities. Moving beyond the frameworks created to study other racial minorities and ethnic whites, she examines the various strategies used by members of this group to define themselves as both Asian and American.

In her discussions on such topics as childhood, interaction with non-Asian Americans, college, work, and the problems of intermarriage and child-raising, Kibria finds wide discrepancies between the experiences of Asian Americans and those described in studies of other ethnic groups. While these differences help to explain the unusually successful degree of social integration and acceptance into mainstream American society enjoyed by this "model minority," it is an achievement that Kibria's interviewees admit they can never take for granted. Instead, they report that maintaining this acceptance "requires constant effort on their part." Kibria suggests further developments may resolve this situation -- especially the emergence of a new kind of pan--Asian American identity that would complement the Chinese or Korean American identity rather than replace it.

Reed Ueda

Nazli Kibria is one of the outstanding scholars on the sociology of Asian Americans, as well as in the general field of sociology of race and ethnicity. Becoming Asian American greatly advances knowledge of the dynamic interaction of race, ethnicity, and individual identity in American life. Her case studies offer a fresh, solid approach to discovering what it is like for immigrant racial minorities to become American in our time and indicates a great deal about the future of the American nation.

John Lie

Nazli Kibria presents a rich body of interview data on the changing and diverse nature of Asian-American identity, particularly among Chinese and Korean Americans, making a very solid and sustained contribution to the burgeoning literature within Asian-American studies. Through Kibria's wonderful interviews, we hear very interesting meditations on ethnic identity. She also does a good job of raising important sociological questions about race and immigration. This book may very well become a landmark in the field.

What People Are Saying

Reed Ueda
Nazli Kibria is one of the outstanding scholars on the sociology of Asian Americans, as well as in the general field of sociology of race and ethnicity. Becoming Asian American greatly advances knowledge of the dynamic interaction of race, ethnicity, and individual identity in American life. Her case studies offer a fresh, solid approach to discovering what it is like for immigrant racial minorities to become American in our time and indicates a great deal about the future of the American nation. (Reed Ueda, Tufts University)


John Lie
Nazli Kibria presents a rich body of interview data on the changing and diverse nature of Asian-American identity, particularly among Chinese and Korean Americans, making a very solid and sustained contribution to the burgeoning literature within Asian-American studies. Through Kibria's wonderful interviews, we hear very interesting meditations on ethnic identity. She also does a good job of raising important sociological questions about race and immigration. This book may very well become a landmark in the field. (John Lie, University of Michigan)




Table of Contents:
Preface and Acknowledgments
Ch. 1Asian Americans and the Puzzle of New Immigrant Integration1
Ch. 2Growing up Chinese and American, Korean and American27
Ch. 3The Everyday Consequences of Being Asian: Ethnic Options and Ethnic Binds67
Ch. 4College and Asian American Identity102
Ch. 5The Model Minority at Work131
Ch. 6Ethnic Futures: Children and Intermarriage159
Ch. 7Becoming Asian American197
References207
Index215

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Dirty War Clean Hands or Hunting Nazis in Munich

Dirty War, Clean Hands: ETA, the GAL and Spanish Democracy

Author: Paddy Woodworth

"Democracy is defended in the sewers as well as in the salons". This is how Spanish prime minister Felipe GonzГЎlez responded to allegations that his government was fighting the Basque separatist group ETA with its own methods: indiscriminate terrorism. shooting up crowded bars, bombing busy streets, torturing kidnap victims. For three years the GAL (Anti-terrorist Liberation Groups), created mayhem in the French Basque Country, where ETA had its "sanctuary".

In 1986, the French government began to hand over ETA suspects to the Spanish police in large numbers and the GAL campaign stopped. But this "dirty war" had already created widespread support for ETA among the first generation of Basques to grow up under democracy, and its consequences reverberate to this day. The GAL's links to the Spanish security forces, and finally to GonzГЎlez's own cabinet, have been revealed, despite all the resources of 'State secrecy', by controversial magistrates like Baltasar GarzГіn.

Over the last 15 years, the GAL scandal has fatally undermined GonzГЎlez's reputation as a democrat and EU statesman and raised fundamental questions about Spain's much-praised transition to democracy. The GAL investigations have stretched the relationship between government and judiciary to breaking point, and sent ministers and generals to prison. GonzГЎlez himself may still face charges.

Paddy Woodworth, who has covered Spain for the "Irish Times" and other media since the 1970s, has interviewed both the GAL's surviving victims and the GAL's leading protagonists. He has followed the investigations in the Spanish media and courts for many years. The result is a unique and dramaticnarrative and analysis of what happens when a democratic administration fights fire with fire.



Table of Contents:
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgements
Map of GAL Attacks in Basque Country
Map of GAL Attacks in Bayonne
Prologue1
Pt. IAn Ancient People, A Modern Conflict
1'Only 5,000 Years Ago'17
2Boys Become Giant-Killers33
3The First Dirty War44
Pt. IIA Dirty War Run By Democrats
4Clean Hands in Government63
5Fear Crosses the Border71
6Under Siege in the Sanctuary87
7ETA Between Two Fires101
8Bombing Biarritz116
9A Revolutionary Doctor124
10A Black Lady Stalks the Bars139
11Massacre at the Monbar156
12Shooting Women and Children Too161
13The GAL's War is Over170
Pt. IIIPlacing Blame: Investigating the Investigators
14Grounds for Suspicion177
15Protecting Senor X200
16State Terrorism in the Dock230
17Recollections in Tranquillity245
18A Cascade of Confessions259
19Old Bones Tell Their Story281
20Who's Cheating Who?295
21The Paper Chase313
22A Divided Democracy335
23A Minister in the Dock356
24Judgement and Response379
Pt. IVConclusions: Cleaning Up After A Dirty War
25Waking from the Nightmare407
Epilogue420
Chronology of GAL Attacks433
Chronology of GAL Investigations437
Some Notes on the Spanish Constitution, Judiciary and Legal System444
Glossary449
Bibliography458
Index462

See also: Information Seeking in Electronic Environments or 3ds Max 8 Essentials

Hunting Nazis in Munich: People and Places in Third Reich Munich

Author: Joachim von Halasz

Discover Hitler's secret sites in Munich. See where Eva Braun and Heinrich Himmler where born and grew up. Learn where the Nazi movement started in 1919 and how it was defeated in 1945.

Gain first hand access to more than 100 historical sites of Third Reich Munich, described in short profiles and pinpointed on city maps. The book is illustrated with more than 60 archive images, some never published before.



Tuesday, December 1, 2009

The Faith of Barack Obama or Masters of Paradise

The Faith of Barack Obama

Author: Stephen Mansfield

DISCOVER the NEW FACE of RELIGION in AMERICAN POLITICS

The 2008 presidential campaign has been among the most religiously charged of any in American history. At the heart of the "faith-based" controversies that have marked this season is the faith of Barack Obama. His religiously-informed political liberalism, his relationship with the fiery Reverend Jeremiah Wright, his years of exposure to "Black liberation theology," and his more than two decades at Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago have forced matters of faith and race onto the national stage.

Yet Obama's faith is of more than just political importance. He is helping to give voice to a religious left just now reclaiming its voice in American culture. He is also symbolizing and summoning a new generation who are deeply religious, philosophically postmodern, and passionately oriented to social justice. As important, he is issuing a call for a new era of racial harmony, a harmony he exemplifires as the son of a black African father and a white American mother.

In this fast-paced and insightful look at Obama's faith, best-selling author Stephen Mansfield approaches his subject "kindly and generously," in an attempt to understand who Obama is and how he will lead. Given that Obama is likely to be a feature on the American political landscape for decades to come, this book serves as an essential guide by a leading author to one of the most important stories in our time.

Publishers Weekly

As a veteran communications professional, it comes as no surprise that Mansfield commands an easygoing conversational speaking style that helps buffer some of the potentially loaded issues he chooses to tackle. While he may be best identified by his ties to the conservative evangelical community, Mansfield possesses the ability to explore divergent ideologies while acknowledging some of his personal red flags with a tone of utmost respect. Listeners in search of a definitive, comprehensive Obama spiritual biography may not find the level of dramatic new revelations they were hoping for, but Mansfield succeeds in adding thoughtful theological and political context to events and experiences. Perhaps the most captivating section involves Mansfield's account of a Sunday visit to Trinity United Church of Christ, the congregation from which Senator Obama resigned his membership following publicity surrounding controversial statements by founding pastor Rev. Jeremiah Wright. Mansfield presents an analysis of Obama's distinctly postmodern journey that will generate valuable discussion across the religious spectrum. A Thomas Nelson hardcover. (Oct.)

Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.



New interesting book: Complete Interview Procedures for Hiring School Personnel or Sexual Harassment and the Law

Masters of Paradise: Organized Crime and the Internal Revenue Service in the Bahamas

Author: Alan Block

This is the story of organized crime's penetration of the islands and the corruption of its high officials during the time The Bahamas became politically independent of Great Britain. It describes secret U.S. Internal Revenue Service operations aimed at American criminals involved in Bahamian-based tax scams and similar crimes. Block paints a devastating picture of a symbiotic relationship among off-shore tax havens in The Bahamas, sophisticated American criminals, and complacent public officials in the United States. Block shows how important links in the international traffic in cocaine were forged in The Bahamas, in full view of American officials. Masters of Paradise, now available in paperback, raises major questions about American law enforcement officials' commitment to fighting complex international crime during the 1960s and the 1970s.



Monday, November 30, 2009

Disciplinary Revolution or The Golden Age of Battlefield Preservation

Disciplinary Revolution: Calvinism and the Rise of the State in Early Modern Europe

Author: Philip S Gorski

What explains the rapid growth of state power in early modern Europe? While most scholars have pointed to the impact of military or capitalist revolutions, Philip S. Gorski argues instead for the importance of a disciplinary revolution unleashed by the Reformation. By refining and diffusing a variety of disciplinary techniques and strategies, such as communal surveillance, control through incarceration, and bureaucratic office-holding, Calvin and his followers created an infrastructure of religious governance and social control that served as a model for the rest of Europe—and the world.
.



Table of Contents:
Preface and Acknowledgments
Introduction
1Body and Soul: Calvinism, Discipline, and State Power in Early Modern Europe1
2Disciplinary Revolution from Below in the Low Countries39
3Disciplinary Revolution from Above in Brandenburg-Prussia79
4Social Disciplining in Comparative Perspective114
Conclusion157
Notes173
Bibliography209
Index237

New interesting textbook: The New Rules of Marketing and PR or Making It All Work

The Golden Age of Battlefield Preservation: The Decade of the 1890s and the Establishment of America's First Five Military Parks

Author: Timothy B Smith

"Smith's book is the first to look at the process of battlefield preservation as a whole. He focuses on how each of these sites was established and the important individuals - the congressmen, the former soldiers, the veteran commissioners who were the catalysts for the creation of these parks." The Golden Age of Battlefield Preservation is a watershed book that will be of interest to any reader who wishes to have a better understanding of how such preservation efforts were initiated.