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The Global Community Yearbook of International Law and Jurisprudence 2018 (Global Community: Yearbook of International Law & Jurisprudence)
by Giuliana Ziccardi CapaldoThe Global Community Yearbook is a one-stop resource for all researchers studying international law generally or international tribunals specifically. The Yearbook has established itself as an authoritative source of reference on global legal issues and international jurisprudence. It includes analysis of the most significant global trends in a way that allows readers to monitor the development of the global legal order from several perspectives. The Global Community Yearbook publishes annually in a volume of carefully chosen primary source material and corresponding expert commentary. The general editor, Professor Giuliana Ziccardi Capaldo, employs her vast expertise in international law to select excerpts from important court opinions and to choose experts from around the world to contribute essay-guides, which illuminate those cases. Although the main focus is recent case law from the major international tribunals and regional courts, the first four parts of each year's edition features expert articles by renowned scholars who address broader themes in current and future developments in international law and global policy, themes that appear throughout the case law of the many courts covered by the series as a whole. The Global Community Yearbook has thus become not just an indispensable window to recent jurisprudence: the series now also serves to prepare researchers for the issues facing emerging global law. The 2018 edition both updates readers on the important work of long-standing international tribunals and introduces readers to more novel topics in international law. The Yearbook continues to provide expert coverage of the Court of Justice of the European Union and diverse tribunals from the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to criminal tribunals such as the International Criminal Court (ICC) and the Tribunals for the Former Yugoslavia and Rwanda, to economically based tribunals such as ICSID and the WTO Dispute Resolution panel. This edition contains original research articles on the development and analysis of the concept of global law and the views of the global law theorists such as: whether the Paris Declaration of 2017 and the Oslo Recommendation of 2018 deals with enhancing their institutions' legitimacy; how to reconcile human rights, trade law, intellectual property, investment and health law with the WTO dispute settlement panel upholding Australia's tobacco plain packaging measure; Israel's acceptance of Palestinian statehood contingent upon prior Palestinian ?demilitarization? is potentially contrary to pertinent international law; and a proposal to strengthen cooperation between the ECJ and National Courts in light of the failure of the dialogue between the ECJ and the Italian Constitutional Court on the interpretation of Article 325 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European union. The Yearbook provides students, scholars, and practitioners alike a valuable combination of expert discussion and direct quotes from the court opinions to which that discussion relates, as well as an annual overview of the process of cross-fertilization between international courts and tribunals. The Yearbook provides students, scholars, and practitioners alike a valuable combination of expert discussion and direct quotes from the court opinions to which that discussion relates, as well as an annual overview of the process of cross-fertilization between international courts and tribunals and a section focusing on the thought of leading international law scholars on the subject of the globalization. This publication can also be purchased on a standing order basis.
Modern Control Theory and the Limits of Criminal Justice
by Travis Hirschi Michael GottfredsonIn 1990 when Michael Gottfredson and Travis Hirschi published A General Theory of Crime, now often referred to as self control theory, it quickly became among the most discussed and researched perspectives in criminology. In Modern Control Theory and the Limits of Criminal Justice, Gottfredson and Hirschi develop and extend the theory of self control advanced in their classic work. Focusing on the methodology of testing crime theory and measuring behavioral research on crime and delinquency, they critically review the evidence about self control theory. Gottfredson and Hirschi further discuss evidence about the positive consequences of higher levels of self control from education, economics, and public health, that-along with evidence from delinquency and crime-show substantial support for the theory of self control. Illustrating the theory through predictions about policing, incarceration, juvenile justice, and the connection of immigration policy to crime, this book connects self control theory to the structure and function of the criminal justice system, then applies the theory to pressing issues of public policy about delinquency and crime.
Cybersecurity, Ethics, and Collective Responsibility
by Seumas Miller Terry BossomaierThis is an open access title. It is made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International licence. It is available to read and download as a PDF version on the Oxford Academic platform. The advent of the Internet, exponential growth in computing power, and rapid developments in artificial intelligence have raised numerous cybersecurity-related ethical questions in various domains. The dual use character of cybertechnology-that it can be used to provide great benefits to humankind but can also do great harm-means that business (data security, data ownership and privacy), public communication (disinformation and computational propaganda), health (privacy, ransomware attacks), law enforcement (data security, predictive policing) and interstate conflict (cyberwar, autonomous weapons) are of vital interest to cybersecurity ethics. This work analyses the key ethical concepts in the field, such as privacy, freedom of communication, security, and the right to self-defence, and develops sets of ethical guidelines for the regulation of cyberspace in these various domains. From a liberal democratic perspective, Seumas Miller and Terry Bossomaier seek to protect individual rights while ensuring the collective good of cybersecurity. They also pay close attention to institutionally embedded collective moral responsibilities that function as 'webs of prevention' against cyberattacks. These webs, they argue, need new regulation and the redesign of institutional roles, as well as technical countermeasures to cyberattacks, such as passwords, encryption, firewalls, and 'patching.' At times, webs of prevention also involve offensive and defensive measures. In their expert analysis and guidance, Miller and Bossomaier reinforce just how much is at stake in the field of cybersecurity ethics.
Cybersecurity, Ethics, and Collective Responsibility
by Seumas Miller Terry BossomaierThis is an open access title. It is made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International licence. It is available to read and download as a PDF version on the Oxford Academic platform. The advent of the Internet, exponential growth in computing power, and rapid developments in artificial intelligence have raised numerous cybersecurity-related ethical questions in various domains. The dual use character of cybertechnology-that it can be used to provide great benefits to humankind but can also do great harm-means that business (data security, data ownership and privacy), public communication (disinformation and computational propaganda), health (privacy, ransomware attacks), law enforcement (data security, predictive policing) and interstate conflict (cyberwar, autonomous weapons) are of vital interest to cybersecurity ethics. This work analyses the key ethical concepts in the field, such as privacy, freedom of communication, security, and the right to self-defence, and develops sets of ethical guidelines for the regulation of cyberspace in these various domains. From a liberal democratic perspective, Seumas Miller and Terry Bossomaier seek to protect individual rights while ensuring the collective good of cybersecurity. They also pay close attention to institutionally embedded collective moral responsibilities that function as 'webs of prevention' against cyberattacks. These webs, they argue, need new regulation and the redesign of institutional roles, as well as technical countermeasures to cyberattacks, such as passwords, encryption, firewalls, and 'patching.' At times, webs of prevention also involve offensive and defensive measures. In their expert analysis and guidance, Miller and Bossomaier reinforce just how much is at stake in the field of cybersecurity ethics.
War and Peace in Somalia: National Grievances, Local Conflict and Al-Shabaab
by Michael Keating and Matt WaldmanFor the last thirty years Somalia has experienced violence and upheaval. Today, the international effort to help Somalis build a federal state and achieve stability is challenged by deep-rooted grievances, local conflicts and a powerful insurgency led by Al-Shabaab. Consisting of forty-four chapters by conflict resolution specialists and the world's leading experts on Somalia, this volume constitutes a unique compendium of insights into the insurgency and its impact. War and Peace in Somalia explores the legacies of past violence, especially impunity, illegitimacy and exclusion, and the need for national reconciliation. Drawing on decades of experience and months of field research, the contributors throw light on diverse forms of local conflict, its interrelated causes, and what can be done about it. They share original research on the role of women, men and youth in the conflict, and present new insight into Al-Shabaab--particularly the group's multi-dimensional strategy, the motivations of its fighters, their foreign links, and the prospects for engagement. This ground-breaking volume illuminates the war in Somalia, and sets out what can and should be done to bring it to an end. For policymakers and researchers covering Somalia, East Africa, extremism or conflict resolution, this is a must-read.
Towards A Westphalia for the Middle East
by Brendan Simms Michael Axworthy Patrick MiltonIt was the original forever war, which went on interminably, fuelled by religious fanaticism, personal ambition, fear of hegemony, and communal suspicion. It dragged in all the neighbouring powers. It was punctuated by repeated failed ceasefires. It inflicted suffering beyond belief and generated waves of refugees. No, this is not Syria today, but the Thirty Years' War (1618-48), which turned Germany and much of central Europe into a disaster zone. The Thirty Years' War is often cited as a parallel in discussions of the Middle East. The Peace of Westphalia, which ended the conflict in 1648, has featured strongly in such discussions, usually with the observation that recent events in some parts of the region have seen the collapse of ideas of state sovereignty--ideas that supposedly originated with the 1648 settlement. Axworthy, Milton and Simms argue that the Westphalian treaties, far from enshrining state sovereignty, in fact reconfigured and strengthened a structure for legal resolution of disputes, and provided for intervention by outside guarantor powers to uphold the peace settlement. This book argues that the history of Westphalia may hold the key to resolving the new long wars in the Middle East today.
The Survival of the Jews in France, 1940-44
by Jacques SemelinBetween the French defeat in 1940 and liberation in 1944, the Nazis killed almost 80,000 of France's Jews, both French and foreign. Since that time, this tragedy has been well-documented. But there are other stories hidden within it-ones neglected by historians. In fact, 75% of France's Jews escaped the extermination, while 45% of the Jews of Belgium perished, and in the Netherlands only 20% survived. The Nazis were determined to destroy the Jews across Europe, and the Vichy regime collaborated in their deportation from France. So what is the meaning of this French exception? Jacques Semelin sheds light on this 'French enigma', painting a radically unfamiliar view of occupied France. His is a rich, even-handed portrait of a complex and changing society, one where helping and informing on one's neighbours went hand in hand; and where small gestures of solidarity sat comfortably with anti-Semitism. Without shying away from the horror of the Holocaust's crimes, this seminal work adds a fresh perspective to our history of the Second World War.
Revisiting the Arab Uprisings: The Politics of a Revolutionary Moment
by Stéphane Lacroix, Jean-Pierre FiliuSince 2013, the Middle East has experienced a double trend of chaos and civil war, on the one hand, and the return of authoritarianism, on the other. That convergence has eclipsed the political transitions that occurred in the countries whose regimes were toppled in 2011, as if they were merely footnotes to a narrative that naturally led from an "Arab Spring" to an "Arab Winter". This volume aims at rehabilitating those transitions, by considering them as expressions of a "revolutionary moment" whose outcome was never pre-determined, but depended on the choices of a large range of actors. It brings together leading scholars of Arab politics to adopt a comparative approach to a few crucial aspects of those transitions: constitutional debates, the question of transitional justice, the evolution of civil-military relations, and the role of specific actors, both domestic and international.
Mirrored Loss: A Yemeni Woman's Life Story
by Gabriele vom BruckMirrored Loss tells the story of Amat al-Latif al Wazir, only daughter of 'Abdullah al-Wazir, the leader of Yemen's constitutional movement of the mid-twentieth century for democratisation of the autocratic imamate. Her relationship with her adored father, who was accused of treason, takes centre stage in this biographical narrative. Amat al-Latif, enjoyed a privileged childhood in a high-ranking family at the heart of Yemeni politics; yet the failed revolt of 1948 was the family's downfall, leaving her and other close relatives exposed to social indignities and privation. She then spent many years in exile, where she suffered a personal calamity that compounded the earlier catastrophe. Through one family's story, Gabriele vom Bruck explores how violence translates into tragedy in the personal realm, and how individual lives and larger cultural and political worlds intersect in Yemen. Her narrative makes these tragic events compellingly tangible, especially at the level of gendered subjectivity--female Yemenis have been either unknown to or deemed insignificant by most male historians of this period. Mirrored Loss is a significant step in righting that omission.
Military Medicine and the Hidden Costs of War (Bridging the Gap)
by Tanisha M. FazalA highly original comprehensive history of US military medicine. Decisions to go to war are often framed in cost-benefit terms, and typically such assessments do not factor in longer term costs. However, recent dramatic improvements in American military medicine have had an unanticipated effect: saving more soldiers' lives has vastly increased long-term, downstream costs of war with profound consequences for global politics in an era of heightened great power competition. In Military Medicine and the Hidden Costs of War, Tanisha M. Fazal traces the modern history of medical treatment and casualty rates in American conflicts from the Civil War to the more recent counterinsurgency wars. As she shows, wars became increasingly survivable for wounded troops, to the point now where a large majority of wounded soldiers survive. Yet the human and financial implications of this steep increase in the wounded-to-killed ratio are dramatic, and her powerful analysis of this shift provides a necessary corrective to how we understand the costs of war. For each major conflict, Fazal analyzes the weapons used, injuries sustained, and policies put in place for veterans' care and pensions. As she argues, these improvements have significant financial and deeply personal implications for the returned wounded and their families, as well as the US government and its citizenry. Fazal's analysis highlights the significance of policymakers underestimating the costs of war, which in turn makes it easier both to initiate and continue military action abroad, contributing to Americas' penchant for engaging in so-called "endless wars." A sweeping political history, Military Medicine and the Hidden Costs of War will fundamentally change our understanding of the lasting consequences of America's wars.
Military Medicine and the Hidden Costs of War (Bridging the Gap)
by Tanisha M. FazalA highly original comprehensive history of US military medicine. Decisions to go to war are often framed in cost-benefit terms, and typically such assessments do not factor in longer term costs. However, recent dramatic improvements in American military medicine have had an unanticipated effect: saving more soldiers' lives has vastly increased long-term, downstream costs of war with profound consequences for global politics in an era of heightened great power competition. In Military Medicine and the Hidden Costs of War, Tanisha M. Fazal traces the modern history of medical treatment and casualty rates in American conflicts from the Civil War to the more recent counterinsurgency wars. As she shows, wars became increasingly survivable for wounded troops, to the point now where a large majority of wounded soldiers survive. Yet the human and financial implications of this steep increase in the wounded-to-killed ratio are dramatic, and her powerful analysis of this shift provides a necessary corrective to how we understand the costs of war. For each major conflict, Fazal analyzes the weapons used, injuries sustained, and policies put in place for veterans' care and pensions. As she argues, these improvements have significant financial and deeply personal implications for the returned wounded and their families, as well as the US government and its citizenry. Fazal's analysis highlights the significance of policymakers underestimating the costs of war, which in turn makes it easier both to initiate and continue military action abroad, contributing to Americas' penchant for engaging in so-called "endless wars." A sweeping political history, Military Medicine and the Hidden Costs of War will fundamentally change our understanding of the lasting consequences of America's wars.
A Pipeline Runs Through It: The Story of Oil from Ancient Times to the First World War
by Keith Fisher'Fascinating revelations' Max Hastings, Sunday Times'Wonderfully detailed and colourful' Steven Poole, Daily Telegraph'The book I have long been waiting for... Essential reading' Michael KlarePetroleum has always been used by humans: as an adhesive by Neanderthals, as a waterproofing agent in Noah's Ark and as a weapon during the Crusades. Its eventual extraction from the earth in vast quantities transformed light, heat and power. A Pipeline Runs Through It is a fresh, comprehensive in-depth look at the social, economic, political and geopolitical forces involved in our transition to the modern oil age. It tells an extraordinary origin story, from the pre-industrial history of petroleum through to large-scale production in the mid-nineteenth century and the development of a dominant, fully-fledged oil industry by the early twentieth century.This was always a story of imperialist violence, political disenfranchisement, economic exploitation and environmental destruction. The near total eradication of the Native Americans of New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio has barely been mentioned as a precondition for the emergence of the first industrialised oil region in the United States. Britain's invasion of Upper Burma in 1885 was perhaps the first war fought, at least in part, for access to oil; the growth of Royal Dutch-Shell involved the genocidal subjugation of people of the Dutch East Indies and the exploitation of oil in the Middle East arose seamlessly out of Britain's prior political and military interventions in the region.Finally, in an entirely new analysis, the book shows how the British navy's increasingly desperate dependence on vulnerable foreign sources of oil may have been a catalytic ingredient in the outbreak of the First World War. The rise of oil has shaped the modern world, and this is the book to understand it.
Playing with Reality: How Games Shape Our World
by Kelly Clancy‘A book to get the neurons firing. As a passionate game player I loved reading a neuroscientist’s perspective on the role games have played in humanity’s attempts to navigate the game of life. A dopamine hit on every page’ Marcus du SautoyA sweeping intellectual history of games and their importance to human progress.We play games to learn about the world, to understand our minds and the minds of others, and to practice making predictions about the future. Games are thought to be older than written language, and have now become the dominant cultural media—bigger than movies, TV, music, and literature combined. They are also fun. But as neuroscientist and physicist Kelly Clancy argues, it’s time we started taking them more seriously. In Playing With Reality, she chronicles the riveting and hidden history of games since the Enlightenment, weaving an unexpected path through military theory, biology, artificial intelligence, neuroscience, cognitive psychology, and the future of democracy. Games, Clancy shows us, have been deeply intertwined with the arc of history. War games shaped the outcomes of real wars in nineteenth and twentieth century Europe. Game theory warped our understanding of human behaviour and brought us to the brink of annihilation—yet still underlies basic assumptions in economics, politics, and technology. We used games to teach computers how to learn for themselves, and now we are designing games that will determine the shape of society and future of democracy. Games also inform the basic systems that govern our daily lives: the social media and technology that can warp our preferences, polarise us, and manufacture our desires. Lucid, thought-provoking, and masterfully told, Playing With Reality makes the bold argument that the human fascination with games is the key to understanding our nature.
Remembering Peasants: A Personal History of a Vanished World
by Patrick Joyce‘A dozen pages in I realized that I had been waiting for much of my life to read this extraordinary book’ Annie ProulxA way of life that once encompassed most of humanity is vanishing in one of the greatest transformations of our time: the eclipse of the rural world by the urban.In this new history of peasantry, Patrick Joyce tells the story of this lost world and its people. In contrast to the usual insulting stereotypes, we discover a rich and complex culture: traditions, songs, celebrations and revolts, across Europe from the plains of Poland to the farmsteads and villages of Italy and Ireland, through the nineteenth century to the present day. Into this passionate history, written with exquisite care, Joyce weaves remarkable individual stories, including those of his own Irish family, and looks at how peasant life has been remembered - and misremembered - in contemporary culture.This is a people whose voice is vastly underrepresented in human history. Yet for Joyce, we are all the children of peasants, who must respect the experience of our ancestors. This is particularly pressing when our knowledge of the land is being lost to climate crisis and the rise of industrial agriculture. Enlightening, timely and vital, this book commemorates an extraordinary culture whose impact on our history and our future remains profoundly relevant.
Leadership: Six Studies in World Strategy
by Henry KissingerHenry Kissinger analyses how six extraordinary leaders he has known have shaped their countries and the world'Leaders,' writes Henry Kissinger in this compelling book, 'think and act at the intersection of two axes: the first, between the past and the future; the second between the abiding values and aspirations of those they lead. They must balance what they know, which is necessarily drawn from the past, with what they intuit about the future, which is inherently conjectural and uncertain. It is this intuitive grasp of direction that enables leaders to set objectives and lay down a strategy.'In Leadership, Kissinger analyses the lives of six extraordinary leaders through the distinctive strategies of statecraft which he believes they embodied. After the Second World War, Konrad Adenauer brought defeated and morally bankrupt Germany back into the community of nations by what Kissinger calls 'the strategy of humility'. Charles de Gaulle set France beside the victorious Allies and renewed its historic grandeur by 'the strategy of will'. During the Cold War, Richard Nixon gave geostrategic advantage to the United States by 'the strategy of equilibrium'. After twenty-five years of conflict, Anwar Sadat brought a vision of peace to the Middle East by a 'strategy of transcendence'. Against the odds, Lee Kwan Yew created a powerhouse city-state, Singapore, by 'the strategy of excellence'. Although when she came to power Britain was known as 'the sick man of Europe', Margaret Thatcher renewed her country's morale and international position by 'the strategy of conviction'.To each of these studies, Kissinger brings historical perception, public experience and - because he knew each of their subjects, and participated in many of the events he describes - personal knowledge. The book is enriched by insights and judgements such as only he could make, and concludes with his reflections on world order and the indispensability of leadership today.
Kin: Caribbean Recipes for the Modern Kitchen
by Marie Mitchell‘A beautiful, familiar and comforting cookbook … I can’t wait to buy it for everyone I know’ Candice Carty-Williams‘An outstanding gem of a book – vibrant, exciting and full of modern twists’ Ixta BelfrageAs the daughter of Jamaican immigrants, Marie Mitchell's cooking is motivated by a powerful desire to understand and celebrate those recipes that have been passed down from generation to generation. In Kin, her hotly anticipated debut cookbook, she shares dishes from the Caribbean and its diaspora, exploring the connection food can foster between different times and different places, and between friends, families and strangers.Accompanied by gorgeous photographs, many of them shot on location in the Caribbean, the book's eighty recipes - which include crispy saltfish fritters, rich and tempting aubergine curry, slow cooked jerk pork, zingy lime and ginger cheesecake and sweet Guinness punch - confound the widespread misconceptions about Caribbean food that abound in the West, which draw on stereotypes of intense heat, pungent smoke and a handful of familiar dishes. But while chilli is certainly a key ingredient and cooking over fire has a long and storied history, Caribbean cookery is also subtle and playful, layering different notes and spices carefully to create delicate, rewarding flavours.Crackling with energy and heart, Kin is a love letter to Marie's Caribbean identity, a journey through the region's myriad food cultures and a tribute to this most resourceful, resilient and joyous of cuisines. Here, Caribbean food emerges as one of the first truly global cuisines, borne out of the violent convergence of African, American, European and South Asian cultures in the long, troubling history of empire and emancipation, its legacy preserved - and, ultimately, transformed - by the kinship of those who share food.
Nothing Ever Just Disappears: Seven Hidden Histories
by Diarmuid Hester'With originality and subtlety, Diarmuid Hester examines how the gay imagination deals with place and with displacement, allowing for mystery and a kind of magic' Colm Toibin'Hester is a fizzingly brilliant writer' Robert Macfarlane'Haunted and haunting - totally riveting' Chris KrausAt the turn of the century, in the shade of Cambridge's cloisters, a young E. M. Forster conceals his passion for other men, even as he daydreams about the sun-warmed bodies of ancient Greece. Under the dazzling lights of interwar Paris, Josephine Baker dances her way to fame and fortune and discovers sexual freedom backstage at the Folies Bergère. And on Jersey, in the darkest days of Nazi occupation, the transgressive surrealist Claude Cahun mounts an extraordinary resistance to save the island she loves, scattering hundreds of dissident artworks along its streets and shorelines.Nothing Ever Just Disappears brings to life the stories of seven remarkable figures and illuminates the connections between where they lived, who they loved, and the art they created. It shows that a queer sense of place is central to the history of the twentieth century, and powerfully evokes how much is lost when queer spaces are forgotten. From the lesbian London of the suffragettes to James Baldwin's home in Provence, to Jack Smith's New York, Kevin Killian's San Francisco and the Dungeness cottage of Derek Jarman, this is a thrilling new history and a celebration of freedom, survival and the hidden places of the imagination.
American Whitelash: The Resurgence of Racial Violence in Our Time
by Wesley Lowery"American Whitelash is indispensable. Really. It is." - Ibram X. Kendi, author of How to Be an AntiracistFrom a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, a shocking investigation into the cyclical pattern of violence that has marred racial progress in AmericaIn 2008, Barack Obama's historic victory was heralded as a turning point for the USA. And so it would be - just not in the way that most Americans hoped. The election of the nation's first Black president fanned long-burning embers of white supremacy, igniting a new and frightening phase in a continuous historical cycle of racial progress and white backlash.In American Whitelash, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and bestselling author Wesley Lowery charts the return of this blood-stained trend, showing how the forces of white power retaliated against Obama's victory - and both profited from, and helped to propel, the rise of Donald Trump. Drawing on gripping first-hand reporting, he investigates four incidents of white violence since 2008: the killing of an Ecuadorian immigrant in a working-class town in Long Island, a mass shooting at a Sikh temple in Wisconsin, an attack on a Jewish Community Center in Kansas City, and the murder of Oscar Grant, the first in an unrelenting series of police shootings that would lead to the largest sustained protest movement in the US since the Civil Rights era.Interweaving deep historical analysis with interviews with both victims and perpetrators of violence, Lowery uncovers how this vicious cycle is entering into ever more perilous territory, and how the country still might find a route of escape.
Love Triangle: The Life-changing Magic of Trigonometry
by Matt ParkerExplore the life-changing magic of trigonometry with Matt Parker, stand-up mathematician and No. 1 bestselling author of Humble PiWhy can no two people ever see the same rainbow? What happens when you pull a pop song apart into pure sine waves and play it back on a piano? Why does the wake behind a duck always form an angle of exactly 39 degrees? And what did mathematicians have to do with the great pig stampede of 2012? The answer to each of these questions can be found in the triangle.In Love Triangle, stand-up comedian, ex-maths teacher and Sunday Times number one bestselling author Matt Parker is on a mission to prove why we should all show a lot more love for triangles, along with the useful trigonometry and geometry they enable. To make his point, he uses triangles to create his own digital avatar, survive a harrowing motorcycle ride, cut a sandwich into three equal parts, and measure tall buildings while wearing silly shoes. But soon these hare-brained experiments begin to reveal a genuinely important truth: triangles are the hidden pattern beneath the surface of the contemporary world, used in everything from GPS to CGI via Spotify streaming, the play button and your best mate’s triangle tattoo.Join Matt Parker as he demonstrates why there’s more to triangles than Pythagoras and SOHCAHTOA. Triangles are everything and everything is triangles.
Italy Reborn: From Fascism to Democracy
by Mark GilbertA major new account of the emergence of Italian democracy after the Second World WarThe rebirth of Italy after the Second World War is one of the most impressive political transformations in modern European history. In 1945, post-fascist Italy was devastated by war and its reputation in the international arena was nil. Yet by December 1955, when Italy was admitted to the United Nations, the nation had contested three acrimonious but free general elections, had a flourishing press, and was a leader in the re-building of Europe. The contrast with Fascism was stark.This book charts the descent of Italy into Fascism, the scale of the wartime disaster, the Italian resistance to Nazi occupation, and the establishment of the Republic in 1946. The Cold War divided, in 1947, the coalition of parties that had led the resistance to Fascism and Nazism.The book’s final chapters deal with the consolidation of Italian democracy and with the statesmanship of Alcide De Gasperi, the premier from December 1945 to August 1953. The book argues, first, that De Gasperi deserves more credit than he has typically been accorded for Italy’s post-war democratization and, second, that Italian democracy was constructed on a sound foundation – which is why it has been able to survive its many post-war crises.Largely based on contemporary Italian sources, the book is written in an engaging, lively way for both the general reader and specialists in Italian history.
Some Men In London: Queer Life, 1945-1959
by Peter ParkerQuite simply, this book is a work of genius - Matthew Parris, The SpectatorAn absolutely extraordinary book … a huge collage and anthology of diaries, letters, memoirs, newspaper reports, trial documents, all of this, about actually what life was like for homosexual men in London in the 1940s and the 1950s… It’s amazing, because the collage effect gives you a sense of the extreme complexity of this picture - Dominic Sandbrook An intriguing collage of the era’s mood - Robbie Millen, The TimesThe first part of a major new anthology which uncovers the rich reality of life for queer men in LondonIn the 1940s, it was believed that homosexuality had been becoming more widespread in the aftermath of war. A moral panic ensued, centred around London as the place to which gay men gravitated.In a major new anthology, Peter Parker explores what it was actually like for queer men in London in this period, whether they were well-known figures such as John Gielgud, ‘Chips’ Channon and E.M. Forster, or living lives of quiet – or occasionally rowdy – anonymity in pubs, clubs, more public places of assignation, or at home. It is rich with letters, diaries, psychological textbooks, novels, films, plays and police records, covering a wide range of viewpoints, from those who deplored homosexuality to those who campaigned for its decriminalisation.This first volume, from 1945 to 1959, details a community forced to live at constant risk of blackmail or prison. Yet it also shows a thriving and joyous subculture, one that enriched a mainstream culture often ignorant of its debt to gay creators. Some Men In London is a testament to queer life, which was always much more complex than newspapers, governments and the Metropolitan Police Force imagined.
Chinese Thought: From Confucius to Cook Ding (Pelican Books)
by Roel SterckxShortlisted for the PEN Hessel-Tiltman Prize'A terrific book, rich and endlessly thought provoking. . . If you are looking for one book to understand the core ideas of Chinese civilisation, read this' - Michael WoodAn engrossing history of ancient Chinese philosophy and culture from an eminent Cambridge expertWe are often told that the twenty-first century is bound to become China's century. Never before has Chinese culture been so physically, digitally, economically or aesthetically present in everyday Western life. But how much do we really know about its origins and key beliefs? How did the ancient Chinese think about the world?In this enlightening book, Roel Sterckx, one of the foremost experts in Chinese thought, takes us through centuries of Chinese history, from Confucius to Daoism to the Legalists. The great questions that have occupied China's brightest minds were not about who and what we are, but rather how we should live our lives, how we should organise society and how we can secure the well-being of those who live with us and for whom we carry responsibility.With evocative examples from philosophy, literature and everyday life, Sterckx shows us how the ancient Chinese have shaped the thinking of a civilization that is now influencing our own.
The Government of No One: The Theory and Practice of Anarchism (Pelican Books)
by Ruth Kinna'The standard book on anarchism for the twenty-first century. Written with brio, quiet insight and clarity' Carl LevyA magisterial study of the history and theory of one of the most controversial political movementsAnarchism routinely gets a bad press. It's usually seen as meaning chaos and disorder -- or even nothing at all. And yet, from Occupy Wall Street to Pussy Riot, Noam Chomsky to David Graeber, this philosophical and political movement is as relevant as ever. Contrary to popular perception, different strands of anarchism -- from individualism to collectivism -- do follow certain structures and a shared sense of purpose: a belief in freedom and working towards collective good without the interference of the state. In this masterful, sympathetic account, political theorist Ruth Kinna traces the tumultuous history of anarchism, starting with thinkers and activists such as Peter Kropotkin and Emma Goldman and through key events like the Paris Commune and the Haymarket affair. Skilfully introducing us to the nuanced theories of anarchist groups from Russia to Japan to the United States, The Government of No One reveals what makes a supposedly chaotic movement particularly adaptable and effective over centuries -- and what we can learn from it.
Think Again: How to Reason and Argue (Pelican Books)
by Walter Sinnott-ArmstrongA masterclass in persuasion from the inspiring philosopher who has taught a million people to argue through his popular open online courseOur personal and political worlds are rife with arguments and disagreements, some of them petty and vitriolic. The inability to compromise and understand the other side is widespread today. What can we do to change this? In Think Again philosopher Walter Sinnott-Armstrong draws on a long tradition of logic to show why we should stop focusing on winning arguments and instead argue in a more constructive way.Based on a hugely popular online course with more than a million followers around the world, Think Again explains how to analyse, evaluate and make better arguments while also spotting bad reasoning and avoiding certain fallacies. Through lively, practical examples from everyday life, politics and popular culture, Walter Sinnott-Armstrong offers brilliantly straightforward, wise advice that we can all use at work, at home and online.
Kama Sutra: A Guide to the Art of Pleasure
by NarayanaThe word 'kama' means the desire for sensual pleasure in Sanskrit, and was considered an essential part of the well-rounded education of a young, urbane gentleman. Treating pleasure as an art, Kama Sutra is a handbook covering every aspect of love and relationships. Its seven sections are devoted to the social life, courtship and marriage, extra-marital relations, the conduct of courtesans and prescriptions for enhancing attractiveness, as well as systematic, detailed instruction on sex. This modern translation of Kama Sutra takes it away from the well-worn image of an erotic, Oriental curiosity. This clear, accurate translation conveys all the original flavour and feel of this elegant, intimate and hugely enjoyable work; a masterpiece of pithy description and a wry account of human desires and foibles.