Author: Christopher Hitchens File Type: pdf In this unique biography of Thomas Jefferson, leading journalist and social critic Christopher Hitchens offers a startlingly new and provocative interpretation of our Founding Father. Situating Jefferson within the context of Americas evolution and tracing his legacy over the past two hundred years, Hitchens brings the character of Jefferson to life as a man of his time and also as a symbolic figure beyond it.Conflicted by power, Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence and acted as Minister to France yet yearned for a quieter career in the Virginia legislature. Predicting that slavery would shape the future of Americas development, this professed proponent of emancipation elided the issue in the Declaration and continued to own human property. An eloquent writer, he was an awkward public speaker a reluctant candidate, he left an indelible presidential legacy.Jeffersons statesmanship enabled him to negotiate the Louisiana Purchase with France, doubling the size of the nation, and he authorized the Lewis and Clark expedition, opening up the American frontier for exploration and settlement. Hitchens also analyzes Jeffersons handling of the Barbary War, a lesser-known chapter of his political career, when his attempt to end the kidnapping and bribery of Americans by the Barbary states, and the subsequent war with Tripoli, led to the building of the U.S. navy and the fortification of Americas reputation regarding national defense.In the background of this sophisticated analysis is a large historical drama the fledgling nations struggle for independence, formed in the crucible of the eighteenth-century Enlightenment, and, in its shadow, the deformation of that struggle in the excesses of the French Revolution. This artful portrait of a formative figure and a turbulent era poses a challenge to anyone interested in American history -- or in the ambiguities of human nature.

Author: Torben Iversen File Type: pdf Based on the key idea that social protection in a modern economy, both inside and outside the state, can be understood as protection of specific investments in human capital, Torben Iversen offers a systematic explanation of popular preferences for redistributive spending, the economic role of political parties and electoral systems, and labor market stratification (including gender inequality). Contrary to the popular idea that competition in the global economy undermines international differences in the level of social protection, Iversen argues that these differences are actually made possible by a high international division of labor.ReviewIversenas analysis of the political economy of the welfare state and redistribution is highly original and provocative. His theoretical approach, which focuses on risks, social insurance, and the development of human capital, manages to combine the strengths of power resources theory and its recent employer centered critics and thus to transcend that debate. The book is a real tour de force and is must reading for all scholars interested in the political economy of the welfare state. John Stephens, University of North CarolinaThis is an excellent book, at the highest level of quality in its combination of innovative and important theory and argument, and sophisticated and well developed supporting empirical analysis. It brings to light how much we still dont know about the welfare state and its effects and underpinnings despite its now lengthy history and the innumerable works devoted to understanding its nature. The book is also substantially interdisciplinary, truly a work of political economy in the fullest sense of that term. Iversens research will make a major mark on the field and become the source of much debate and further scholarship. Peter Lange, Duke UniversityThis book provides a well informed, historically situated and comparative analysis of the evolution, divergence and current problems of employment and social protection in the political economies of highly industrialized democracies. It is lucid and highly accessible, not only to undergraduates but also to an interested public. It also combines the ambitious claim of theoretical integration between separate literatures with a series of sophisticated and sometimes highly innovative exercises in analytical modeling and statistical testing that should be of interest to graduate students specializing in institutional economics and comparative political institutions. Fritz Scharpf, Max Planck Institute for the Studies of Societies Review... a truly excellent book ... provides a wealth of understanding ... provides a useful degree of coherence and reality that enriches the theorizing. SEER ... a comprehensive perspective on the historical origins of the different welfare production regimes that came to define the post-war political economies of Europe, North America and Japan ... sheds considerable light on the rapid and almost uninterrupted expansion of the welfare state since the 1950s ... Students of development economics and others interested in the historical trajectory of the OECD economies will find this book rewarding. Development Policy Review

Author: Alan Barker File Type: pdf Provides ideas and advice on brainstorming alone or in a group to come up with ideas that really work. **

Author: Robert Chazan File Type: pdf From the Inside FlapA lucidly written book, refreshingly jargon-free. . . . Chazan shows that the crusade chronicles must be appreciated as historical events unto themselves, ultimately more definitive and more verifiable than the events they relate.--Jeremy Cohen, author of Living Letters of the LawA very important book, both for what it does and for the model it provides for future research into these narratives and their era.--James E. Young, author of The Texture of MemoryFrom the Back CoverA lucidly written book, refreshingly jargon-free. . . . Chazan shows that the crusade chronicles must be appreciated as historical events unto themselves, ultimately more definitive and more verifiable than the events they relate. (Jeremy Cohen, author of Living Letters of the Law) A very important book, both for what it does and for the model it provides for future research into these narratives and their era. (James E. Young, author of The Texture of Memory)