Did the U.S. really “save the world” in World War II? Should black athletes stop protesting and show more gratitude for what America has done for them? Are wars fought to spread freedom an
The most destructive war in human history, World War Two continues to generate an astonishingly rich trove of historical material, writings, and first-person recollections, which are essential to any
"Most people outside of the art world view art as something that is foreign to their experiences and everyday lives. A People's Art History of the United States places art history squarely in the roug
The people's armies discusses one of the most troubled and fascinating aspects of modern Greek and European history: the anti-axis resistance. It is a pioneering history of the men and women who waged
"A book that radically changes our understanding of North America before and after the arrival of Europeans Encounters at the Heart of the World concerns the Mandan Indians, iconic Plains people whose
Popular Education is a concept with many meanings. With the rise of national systems of education at the beginning of the nineteenth-century, it was related to the socially inclusive concept of citize
Cultural Evolution argues that people's values and behavior are shaped by the degree to which survival is secure; it was precarious for most of history, which encouraged heavy emphasis on group solidarity, rejection of outsiders, and obedience to strong leaders. For under extreme scarcity, xenophobia is realistic: if there is just enough land to support one tribe and another tribe tries to claim it, survival may literally be a choice between Us and Them. Conversely, high levels of existential security encourage openness to change, diversity, and new ideas. The unprecedented prosperity and security of the postwar era brought cultural change, the environmentalist movement, and the spread of democracy. But in recent decades, diminishing job security and rising inequality have led to an authoritarian reaction. Evidence from more than 100 countries demonstrates that people's motivations and behavior reflect the extent to which they take survival for granted - and that modernization changes
Cultural Evolution argues that people's values and behavior are shaped by the degree to which survival is secure; it was precarious for most of history, which encouraged heavy emphasis on group solidarity, rejection of outsiders, and obedience to strong leaders. For under extreme scarcity, xenophobia is realistic: if there is just enough land to support one tribe and another tribe tries to claim it, survival may literally be a choice between Us and Them. Conversely, high levels of existential security encourage openness to change, diversity, and new ideas. The unprecedented prosperity and security of the postwar era brought cultural change, the environmentalist movement, and the spread of democracy. But in recent decades, diminishing job security and rising inequality have led to an authoritarian reaction. Evidence from more than 100 countries demonstrates that people's motivations and behavior reflect the extent to which they take survival for granted - and that modernization changes
The story of Hong Kong and the rise of China in an era of globalisation, authoritarian power and democratic defiance. The recent protests and crackdown in Hong Kong shook the world. A prosperous city with its freedoms enshrined by international treaties and conventions, Hong Kong is a unique part of the People's Republic of China. Its passage from a British colony to Chinese rule was a joint diplomatic accomplishment. But since then its people have struggled for democracy against dictatorship. In The Gate and the Wall, Michael Sheridan, who served for two decades as a foreign correspondent in Asia, provides a vivid modern history of Hong Kong from China's break with Maoism in 1977--its first step towards economic superpower status--to the present. Hong Kong stood astride two of the most important events in modern world history; the rise of China and the economic transformation of East Asia. Its great port and Chinese culture made it the natural gateway for China to reach a wider world
For most of the world outside of the US, football (soccer) is followed fanatically. It is the stuff of hero-worship. This holds true for what was the Soviet Union. Moscow's home team, Spartak, had its
Now completely revised and updated, this balanced and lively history of the Peoples Republic of China offers a narrative and interpretive appraisal of this great nation since its post-World War II beg
The popularity of Jewish History in 100 Nutshells (1995) and post-9/11/01 world changes led Pasachoff, an independent scholar writing on Judaism, and Littman (classics, U. of Hawaii) to update their h
From Buddha and Muhammad to King and Mandela, from the discovery of fire to the invention of the World Wide Web, and from Romeo and Juliet to Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, this is a thorou
Venice grew out of the swamps of Italy and became one of the great mercantile and cultural centers of the world. Elizabeth Horodowich, one of the leading historians of the city, tells the whole story
