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Obama : an oral history, 2009-2017 by Brian AbramsThe first ever comprehensive oral history of President Obama's administration and the complex political machine that created and powered a landmark American presidency. In this candid oral history of a presidential tenure, author Brian Abrams reveals the behind-the-scenes stories that illuminate the eight years of the Obama White House through more than one hundred exclusive interviews. Among those given a voice in this extraordinary account are Obama's cabinet secretaries; his teams of speechwriters, legal advisers, and campaign strategists; and lawmakers on both sides of the aisle who fought for or against his agenda.
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| An Unexplained Death: The True Story of a Body at the Belvedere by Mikita BrottmanIn 2006, newlywed Rey O. Rivera was found dead in a locked office in Baltimore's historic Belvedere building. The police ruled his death a suicide, but his loved ones cried foul play. Psychoanalyst and Belvedere resident Mikita Brottman began an obsessive decade-long investigation into the incident...and unearthed a possible conspiracy. |
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Even darkness sings : from Auschwitz to Hiroshima : finding hope in the saddest places on Earth by Thomas H CookCook travels across the globe in search of darkness―from Lourdes to Ghana, from San Francisco to Verdun, from the monumental, mechanised horror of Auschwitz to the intimate personal grief of a shrine to dead infants in Kamukura, Japan. Along the way he reflects on what these sites may teach us, not only about human history, but about our own personal histories. He finds not only darkness, but a light that can illuminate the darkness within each of us.
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A crucial new guide to one of the most urgent political phenomena of our time- the rise of national populism. Across the West, there is a rising tide of people who feel excluded, alienated from mainstream politics, and increasingly hostile towards minorities, immigrants and neo-liberal economics. Many of these voters are turning to national populist movements, which have begun to change the face of Western liberal democracy, from the United States to France, Austria to the UK. Written by two of the foremost experts on fascism and the rise of national populism, this lucid and deeply-researched book is a vital guide to our transformed political landscape. .
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This is the story of the pivotal changes which were forged in the space of thirteen months of 1947-48. This momentous time saw the unrolling of the Cold War between Joseph Stalin's Soviet Russia and the Western powers under the untried leadership of Harry Truman as America came to play a global role for the first time. The British Empire began its demise with the birth of the Indian and Pakistan republics with the flight of millions and wholesale slaughter as Vietnam, Indonesia and other colonies around the globe vied for freedom. 1948 also marked the creation of the state of Israel, the refugee flight of Palestinians and the first Arab-Israeli war as well as the victories of Communist armies that led to their final triumph in China, the coming of apartheid to South Africa, the division of Korea, major technological change and the rolling out of the welfare state.
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Increasingly, the demands of identity direct the world's politics. Nation, religion, sect, race, ethnicity, gender: these categories have overtaken broader, inclusive ideas of who we are. We have built walls rather than bridges. The result: increasing in anti-immigrant sentiment, rioting on college campuses, and the return of open white supremacy to our politics. In 2014, Francis Fukuyama wrote that American and global institutions were in a state of decay, as the state was captured by powerful interest groups. Two years later, his predictions were borne out by the rise to power of a series of political outsiders whose economic nationalism and authoritarian tendencies threatens to destabilise the entire international order.
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Since the Six-Day War, Israelis have been entrenched in a national debate over whether to keep the land they conquered or to return some, if not all, of the territories to Palestinians. In a balanced and insightful analysis, Micah Goodman deftly sheds light on the ideas that have shaped Israelis' thinking on both sides of the debate, and among secular and religious Jews about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Contrary to opinions that dominate the discussion, he shows that the paradox of Israeli political discourse is that both sides are right in what they affirm; and wrong in what they deny.
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Scotland's history has been told many times, but never exclusively by its women. This book takes a unique perspective on dramatic national events as well as ordinary life, as experienced by women down the centuries. From the saintly but severe medieval Queen Margaret to today's first minister Nicola Sturgeon, it encompasses women from all stations of class and fame and notoriety, offering a tantalising view of what happened to them, and how they felt.
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According to legend, King Arthur saved Britain from the Saxons and reigned over it gloriously sometime around A.D. 500. Whether or not there was a “real” King Arthur has all too often been neglected by scholars; most period specialists today declare themselves agnostic on this important matter. In this erudite volume, Nick Higham sets out to solve the puzzle, drawing on his original research and expertise to determine precisely when, and why, the legend began.
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The words Pax Augusta; or Pax Romana, evoke a period of uninterrupted peace across the vast Roman Empire. Lindsay Powell exposes this as a fallacy. Almost every year between 31 BC and AD 14 the Roman Army was in action somewhere, either fighting enemies beyond the frontier in punitive raids or for outright conquest; or suppressing banditry or rebellions within the borders. Remarkably over the same period Augustus succeeded in nearly doubling the size of the Empire. How did this second-rate field commander, known to become physically ill before and during battle, achieve such extraordinary success? Did he, in fact, have a grand strategy? Powell reveals Augustus as a brilliant strategist and manager of war.
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The breaking of the Enigma machine is one of the most heroic stories of the Second World War. But there was another German cipher machine, used by Hitler himself to convey messages to his top generals in the field. A machine more complex and secure than Enigma. A machine that could never be broken. For sixty years, no one knew about about Lorenz or `Tunny', or the determined group of men who finally broke the code and thus changed the course of the war. The work they carried out at Bletchley Park was groundbreaking and is recognised as having kick-started the modern computer age.
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Shade : a tale of two presidents by Pete SouzaAs Chief Official White House Photographer, Pete Souza spent more time alongside President Barack Obama than almost anyone else. Shade is a portrait in Presidential contrasts, telling the tale of the Obama and Trump administrations through a series of visual juxtapositions. What began with Souza's Instagram posts soon after President Trump's inauguration in January 2017 has become a potent commentary on the state of the Presidency, and the United States of America.
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A domestic history of the royal household, a reconstruction of life behind the throne. This book uncovers the reality of five centuries of life at the English court, taking the reader on a remarkable journey from one Queen Elizabeth to another and exploring life as it was lived by clerks and courtiers and clowns and crowned heads: the power struggles and petty rivalries, the tension between duty and desire; the practicalities of cooking dinner for thousands, or ensuring the king always won when he played a game of tennis.
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Historian Brian VanDeMark draws upon decades of archival research, his own interviews with many of those involved, and a wealth of previously unheard recordings by Robert McNamara and Clark Clifford, who served as Defense Secretaries for Kennedy and Johnson. This also the first history of the war to look at the cataclysmic decisions of those in the Kennedy and Johnson administrations through the prism of recent research in cognitive science, psychology, and organizational theory to explain why the "Best and the Brightest" became trapped in situations that suffocated creative thinking and willingness to dissent, why they found change so hard, and why they were so blind to their own errors.
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| The Victorian city: Everyday life in Dickens' London by Judith FlandersOffering striking imagery and a strong sense of place, this colorful social history vividly recreates the London that Charles Dickens occupied: squalid, overpopulated, pungent, and loud. Judith Flanders describes in detail what went on inside the nineteenth century home and provides insights on how the rapidly transforming London informed Dickens' work (including how the meaning of the word "Dickensian" changed over time). |
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| Moving through the rhythm of the day, from waking up to the sound of a knocker-upper man poking a stick at your window, to retiring for nocturnal activities, when the door finally closes on twenty four hours of life, this guide illuminates the overlapping worlds of health, sex, fashion, food, school, work and play. |
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Unmentionable: The Victorian lady's guide to sex, marriage, and manners by Therese OneillAn irreverent, lough-out-loud "guide" to proper Victorian womanhood. Chapters include: "Getting Dressed: How to Properly Hide Your Shame;" "Running a Proper Household: The Gentle Art of Dictatorship." Featuring: 200 images from the era's publications and public service flyers, accompanied by Therese Oneill's tongue-in-cheek captions.
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The wicked boy : the mystery of a Victorian child murderer by Kate SummerscaleWhen a pair of preadolescent boys are implicated in the murder of their mother during the summer of 1895, the older is convicted and sent to the country's most infamous criminal lunatic asylum, where he embarks on a shocking new life that raises questions about period education, pulp fiction, criminality and mental illness.
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