Author: Tom Holland File Type: epub The formation of England occurred against the odds an island divided into rival kingdoms, under savage assault from Viking hordes. But, after King Alfred ensured the survival of Wessex and his son Edward expanded it, his grandson Athelstan inherited the rule of both Mercia and Wessex, conquered Northumbria and was hailed as Rex totius Britanniae King of the whole of Britain.Tom Holland recounts this extraordinary story with relish and drama, transporting us back to a time of omens, raven harbingers and blood-red battlefields. As well as giving form to the figure of Athelstan - devout, shrewd, all too aware of the precarious nature of his power, especially in the north - he introduces the great figures of the age, including Alfred and his daughter Aethelflaed, Lady of the Mercians, who brought Athelstan up at the Mercian court. Making sense of the family rivalries and fractious conflicts of the Anglo-Saxon rulers, Holland shows us how a royal dynasty rescued their kingdom from near-oblivion and fashioned a nation that endures to this day.**About the Author Tom Holland is the best-selling author of Rubicon, which won the Hessell-Tiltman Prize for History and was shortlisted for the Samuel Johnson Prize, as well as Persian Fire, Millennium, In the Shadow of the Sword and, most recently, Dynasty.

Author: Jodi Dean File Type: pdf This book examines the ways in which new information and communication technologies (ICTs) are being used by civil society organizations (CSOs) to achieve their aims through activities and networks that cross national borders. These new ICTs (the internet, mobile phones, satellite radio and television) have allowed these civil society organizations to form extensive networks linking the local and the global in new ways and to flourish internationally in ways that were not possible without them. Reformatting Politics consists of four sections containing essays by some of the top scholars and activists working at the intersections of networked societies, civil society organizations, and information technology. The book also includes a section that takes a critical look at the UN World Summit of Information Society and the role that global governance has played and will play in the use and dissemination of these new technologies. Finally, the contributors aim to influence this important and emerging field of inquiry by posing a set of questions and directions for future research. In sum, Reformatting Politics is a fresh look at the way critical network practice through the use of information technology is reformatting the terms and terrains of global politics.About the AuthorJON W. ANDERSON is an anthropologist, has taught in Germany and Norway, and currently is Professor and Chair of Anthropology at the Catholic University of America. He is co-director of the Arab Information Project with Michael C. Hudson at Georgetown Universitys Center for Contemporary Arab Studies.JODI DEAN teaches political theory at Hobart and William Smith Colleges. She serves on the editorial board of the journals Theory and Event and Constellations and has edited symposia on new technologies for the journals Constellations and Signs as well as the books Feminism and the New Democracy (Sage 1997) and Cultural Studies and Political Theory (Cornell UP 2000). GEERT LOVINK is founder and director of the Institute of Network Cultures (www.networkcultures.org), professor at Interactive Media (Hogeschool van Amsterdam) and associate professor at the Media & Culture department, University of Amsterdam.

Author: Kazuaki Tanahashi File Type: epub A revered modern artist and Zen teacher offers an inspirational account of how his art has been the expression of a life of social activism. Awakening, says Kazuaki Tanahashi, is to realize the infinite value of each moment of your own life as well as of other beings, then to continue to act accordingly. This book is the record of a life spent acting accordingly Through his prose, poetry, letters, lyrics, and art, Tanahashi provides an inspirational account of a what its been like to work for peace and justice, from his childhood in Japan to the present day. Included are fascinating vignettes of the seminal figures who refined his views--among them Daniel Ellsberg, Gary Snyder, Mayumi Oda, and Morihei Ueshiba, the founder of Aikido--as well as striking examples of the art he has so famously used to bear witness to the infinite value of life. **

Author: William A. Joseph File Type: pdf On October 1, 2009, the Peoples Republic of China (PRC) celebrated the 60th anniversary of its founding. And what an eventful and tumultuous six decades it had been. During that time, under the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), China was transformed from one of the worlds poorest countries into the worlds fastest growing major economy, and from a weak state barely able to govern or protect its own territory to a rising power that is challenging the United States for global influence. Over those same years, the PRC also experienced the most deadly famine in human history, caused largely by the actions and inactions of its political leaders. Not long after, there was a collapse of government authority that pushed the country to the brink of (and in some places actually into) civil war and anarchy. Today, China is, for the most part, peaceful, prospering, and proud. This is the China that was on display for the world to see during the Beijing Olympics in 2008. The CCP maintains a firm grip on power through a combination of popular support largely based on its recent record of promoting rapid economic growth and harsh repression of political opposition. Yet, the party and country face serious challenges on many fronts, including a slowing economy, environmental desecration, pervasive corruption, extreme inequalities, and a rising tide of social protest. The third edition of Politics in China has been extensively revised, thoroughly updated, and includes a new chapter on the internet and Politics in China. It is an authoritative introduction to how the worlds most populous nation and rapidly rising global power is governed today. Written by leading China scholars, the books chapters offers accessible overviews of major periods in Chinas modern political history from the mid-nineteenth century to the present, key topics in contemporary Chinese politics, and developments in four important areas located on Chinas geographic periphery Tibet, Xinjiang, Hong Kong, and Taiwan.