Author: Thomas Benjamin File Type: pdf From School Library JournalGrade 10 UpThese 400 alphabetically arranged articles provide detailed accounts of how Western maritime empires and their customs and values spread to all corners of the globe, ultimately shaping the development of non-European societies. Each one presents not only facts, but also interpretations of the impact of European colonialism and is well supported by charts, tables, maps, and black-and-white illustrations. The entries make extensive use of primary-source material and contain both see-also references and bibliographies. A glossary of key terms is appended, as is a collection of historical documents that are directly linked to Western colonial expansion and policies. The text flows easily and information retrieval is facilitated by the effective use of subtitles in many of the entries and the variety of access points in the index. A wide range of topics, such as the Boxer Uprising, censorship, diamonds, and Vasco da Gama, provides a comprehensive treatment of the subject. Falling neatly between general and scholarly reference, this set would be a fine addition.Robyn Walker, Elgin Court Public School, St. Thomas, Ontario, Canada Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. From BooklistThe period from the Renaissance onward has seen several nations and their citizens explore areas beyond their own borders in attempts to discover and colonize new territory, thereby expanding their sphere of influence for economic reasons or, for some, to escape persecution in their own land. Whatever the reason, colonialism still has its effects on the modern world, whether it led to the birth of a new nation (as in the case of the U.S.) or helps to explain simmering tensions that remain in Africa and India. Editor Benjamin is a professor of Latin American history at Central Michigan University according to his preface, this set provides the most comprehensive, accessible, and international reference work about the entirety of Western Colonialism from the Portuguese voyages of Prince Henry the Navigator in the fifteenth century to the making of feature films about British colonialism in India in the twenty-first century. The encyclopedia contains 411 articles by 234 academically affiliated contributors and is liberally illustrated with more than 300 illustrations, maps, and charts. A thematic outline is included in the first volume the set concludes with selected text from 29 primary sources (for example, Monroe Doctrine, Treaty of Utrecht) and a comprehensive index.With colonialism so closely interwoven with any discussion of international history, not everyone will agree with the article selection. Entries such as Aztec Empire Belgiums African colonies Columbus, Christopher Human rights Nationalism, Africa and Silk are obvious choices. But is Colonialism at the movies, the entry alluded to in the preface, really needed? It is also important to note that, despite the titles inferring coverage of Western nations, that is not strictly true there are entries such as Empire, Japanese empire Russia and the Middle East and Southeast Asia, Japanese occupation of. Entries range from a page or so to about 10 pages (as for Art, European and Religion, Western presence in Southeast Asia). All entries end with excellent, up-to-date bibliographies.As a work designed to provide reliable and sophisticated historical knowledge for students, teachers, general readers, and scholars, this one certainly succeeds. A set with similar coverage, Colonialism An International, Social, Cultural, and Political Encyclopedia--also three volumes--was published by ABC-CLIO in 2003. With more than 600 entries and several chronologies, and the third volume devoted to primary source documents, the earlier set has briefer entries though a broader scope. Given the impact of the topic on later world history, however, the present set will be a worthwhile addition for academic and larger public libraries, even if they already own the ABC-CLIO work. Ken Black American Library Association. lt

Author: John Amato File Type: epub A witty look at Tea Parties and the reactionaries that is both funny and frightening. It explores how it overtook the conservative movement after Obama became president. The book helps readers make sense of the chaos in the media and offers ideas for bringing a stop to it and help make America sane againCompiling example after example, the editors of Crooks and Liars, a popular blog, examine the torrent of right-wing kookerythe eager willingness of conservatives to fervently believe things that are provably falseand its ramifications both for our national discourse and our national well-being. The authors show how this outlandish, overheated rhetoricgenerated by mainstream-media figures like Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, and Lou Dobbsis accompanied by a wave of lethal right-wing threats and violence. They carefully expose the bias of Fox News contributors Neil Cavuto, Greta, Van Susteren, et al, and political opportunists like Sarah Palin and Newt Gingrich.The book explores the main drivers of this descent into madness the extremist Radical Right and the longtime Republican willingnessdating back to Nixon, but refined in more recent years by Lee Atwater and his acolytesto engage in a divisive politics of resentment, both racial and cultural.It takes a critical look at how Tea Party provocateurs like Dick Armey and his Freedom Works organization that take huge contributions from big money interests like former presidential candidate Steve Forbes that are willing to turn a blind eye to bigots, birthers and neo-John Birchers. The book demonstrates how the Tea Party is the true face of the Republican Party.The authors propose simple ways ordinary Americans can help stop the descent into blind opposition for it own sake. They suggest that news audiences demand accountability by from their sources by critically commenting on their Web site and to their editors or producers. They write confronting the media malfeasance that makes rightwing populism possible is only an important first step in meeting the challenges posed by the rise of this political pathology in American life. Ultimately, it means confronting the movement and its leaders, particularly in their embrace of conspiracy theories, falsehoods, scapegoating, and vicious eliminationist rhetoric.ReviewJohn Amato and David Neiwert have produced a book that should stay on shelves for 50 yearslong enough to remind us that at least some people understood the strange and vile energies consuming the social contract at the beginning of the third millenium. As a record of what is happening to American conservatism in the year 2010, Over the Cliff is unmatched.Rick Perlstein, author of Nixonland The Rise of a President and the Fracturing of AmericaIf you want to understand the forces behind the extreme demonization of President Obama and the assault on progressive America, look no further than Over the Cliff. With witty analysis and thorough investigative reporting, Amato and Neiwert provide a definitive chronicle of the far-rights rapid movement from paranoia to outright violence.Max Blumenthal, author of Republican Gomorrah Inside the Movement That Shattered the PartyOver the Cliff is a genuinely useful cataloguing of the remarkable descent of the American right into vicious name-calling, racist demonizing, and paranoid conspiracy-mongering since the election of Barack Obama. Amato and Neiwert do a first-rate job of chronicling the dangerous, populist rage on the right that pandering politicians and shameless media pundits are aiding and abetting.Mark Potok, director of the Intelligence Project, Southern Poverty Law CenterFrom the Back CoverJohn Amato and David Neiwert have produced a book that should stay on shelves for 50 years--long enough to remind us that at least some people understood the strange and vile energies consuming the social contract at the beginning of the third millenium. As a record of what is happening to American conservatism in the year 2010, Over the Cliff is unmatched.-- Rick Perlstein, author of Nixonland The Rise of a President and the Fracturing of AmericaIf you want to understand the forces behind the extreme demonization of President Obama and the assault on progressive America, look no further than Over the Cliff. With witty analysis and thorough investigative reporting, Amato and Neiwert provide a definitive chronicle of the far-rights rapid movement from paranoia to outright violence.-- Max Blumenthal, author of Republican Gomorrah Inside the Movement That Shattered the PartyOver the Cliff is a genuinely useful cataloguing of the remarkable descent of the American right into vicious name-calling, racist demonizing, and paranoid conspiracy-mongering since the election of Barack Obama. Amato and Neiwert do a first-rate job of chronicling the dangerous, populist rage on the right that pandering politicians and shameless media pundits are aiding and abetting.-- Mark Potok, director of the Intelligence Project, Southern Poverty Law Center

Author: David Rothenberg File Type: pdf A celebrated figure in myth, song, and story, the nightingale has captivated the imagination for millennia, its complex song evoking a prism of human emotions,from melancholy to joy, from the fear of death to the immortality of art.But have you ever listened closely to a nightingales song? Its a strange and unsettling sort of compositionan eclectic assortment of chirps, whirs, trills, clicks, whistles, twitters, and gurgles. At times it is mellifluous, at others downright guttural. It is a rhythmic assault, always eluding capture. What happens if you decide to join in?As philosopher and musician David Rothenberg shows in this searching and personal new book, the nightingales song is so peculiar in part because it reflects our own cacophony back at us. As vocal learners, nightingales acquire their music through the world around them, singing amidst the sounds of humanity in all its contradictions of noise and beauty, hard machinery and soft melody. Rather than try to capture a sound not made for us to understand, Rothenberg seeks these musical creatures out, clarinet in tow, and makes a new sound with them. He takes us to the urban landscape of Berlinlongtime home to nightingale colonies where the birds sing ever louder in order to be heardand invites us to listen in on their remarkable collaboration as birds and instruments riff off of each others sounds. Through dialogue, travel records, sonograms, tours of Berlins city parks, and musings on the place animal music occupies in our collective imagination, Rothenberg takes us on a quest for a new sonic alchemy, a music impossible for any one species to make alone. In the tradition of The Hidden Life of Trees and The Invention of Nature , Rothenberg has written a provocative and accessible book to attune us ever closer to the natural environment around us.

Author: Richard J. Miller File Type: epub Morphine, writes Richard J. Miller, is the most significant chemical substance mankind has ever encountered. So ancient that remains of poppies have been found in Neolithic tombs, it is the most effective drug ever discovered for treating pain. Whatever advances are made in medicine, Miller adds, nothing could really be more important than that. And yet, when it comes to mind-altering substances, morphine is only a cc or two in a vast river that flows through human civilization, ranging LSD to a morning cup of tea. In DRUGGED, Miller takes readers on an eye-opening tour of psychotropic drugs, describing the various kinds, how they were discovered and developed, and how they have played multiple roles in virtually every culture. The vast scope of chemicals that cross the blood-brain barrier boggle the very brain they reach cannabis and cocaine, antipsychotics and antidepressants, alcohol, amphetamines, and Ecstasy-and much more. Literate and wide-ranging, Miller weaves together science and history, telling the story of the undercover theft of 20,000 tea plants from China by a British spy, for example, the European discovery of coffee and chocolate, and how James Wolfgang von Goethe, the famous man of letters, first isolated the alkaloid we now know as caffeine. Miller explains what scientists know-and dont-about the impact of each drug on the brain, down to the details of neurotransmitters and their receptors. He clarifies the differences between morphine and heroin, mescaline and LSD, and other similar substances. Drugged brims with surprises, revealing the fact that antidepressant drugs evolved from the rocket fuel that shot V2 rockets into London during World War II, highlighting the role of hallucinogens in the history of religion, and asking whether Prozac can help depressed cats. Entertaining and authoritative, Drugged is a truly fascinating book.