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In this deeply considered and at times provocative short work, Alaa Al Aswany tells us that, as with any disease, to understand the syndrome of dictatorship we must first consider the circumstances of its emergence, along with the symptoms and complications it causes in both the people and the dictator.
Published on the 20th anniversary of Massoud's assassination, two days before the 9/11 attack, this is the first biography of Massoud published in over a decade.
Patrice Lumumba was the foremost leader of the African independence movement. After his execution in 1961, when he had been prime minister of the newly-liberated Congo for only seven months, he became an icon of anti-imperialist struggle. Zeilig tells the story of Lumumba's transition from nationalist to international symbol of African liberation.
Benjamin Britten was one of the outstanding British composers of 20th century. He shot to international fame with his operas, performed by his own English Opera Group, and a series of extraordinary instrumental works. His music won a central place in the repertoire and affection of successive generations of listeners. This title tells his story.
Presents a coming-of-age story, that is based on a shocking chapter of Argentine history, about a young woman who makes a devastating discovery about her origins with the help of an enigmatic house guest.
A fascinating history of Finland from prehistoric times to the twenty-first century. The modern nation of Finland is the heir to centuries of history, as a wilderness at the edge of early Europe, a borderland of the Swedish empire, and a Grand Duchy of tsarist Russia. And, as Jonathan Clements's vivid, concise volume shows, it is a tale paved with oddities and excitements galore: from prehistoric reindeer herders to medieval barons, Christian martyrs to Viking queens, and, in the twentieth century, the war heroes who held off the Soviet Union against impossible odds. Offering accounts of public artworks, literary giants, legends, folktales, and famous figures, Clements provides an indispensable portrait of this fascinating nation. This updated edition includes expanded coverage on the Second World War, as well as new sections on Finns in America and Russia, the centenary of the republic, and Finland's battle with COVID-19, right up to its historic application to join NATO.
The first biography in a decade of Afghan resistance leader Ahmad Shah Massoud.
A fresh, stimulating look at Adolf Hitler and his dictatorship throughout the study of ten key aspects. Hitler's tyranny is still difficult to understand today. In this book, Ralf Georg Reuth examines ten aspects of this catastrophe. Among other things, he asks: Was anti-Semitism more pronounced in Germany than elsewhere? Was Versailles really responsible for Hitler's rise and why did the Germans follow a racial fanatic like him? How did his war differ from all others before it? The disturbing answers provide an overall picture that shows Hitler was not the consequence of the depths of German history, but the result of chance, deception, and seduction. This thought-provoking new study takes aim at several of the norms of Hitler scholarship from the past forty years. Reuth interrogates and challenges a range of orthodox views on such topics as how mainstream politicians facilitated Hitler's rise to power, the Führer's infamous pact with Stalin, and the complicity of ordinary Germans in his genocidal tyranny. Eschewing a conventional chronological approach in favor of a forensic analysis of Hitler's mainsprings of action both as chancellor and military commander, Reuth portrays Hitler as the apotheosis of what he argues is a specifically German strain of militarism and imperialism, shifting the focus firmly back to the mindset and modus operandi of Hitler himself. The portrait that emerges is one of a murderous fantasist and political opportunist driven by an all-embracing ideology of racial superiority. Reuth's account courts controversy on a number of points and offers a fascinating counterpoint to much recent scholarship.
This book examines the history of Labour's civil wars and the underlying causes of the party's schisms, from the first split of 1931, engineered by Ramsay MacDonald, to the ongoing battle for the future between the incumbent, Keir Starmer, and those who fundamentally altered the party's course under his predecessor, Jeremy Corbyn.
By telling the story of the arguments and divisions within the Conservative Party, The Worm in the Apple explains why Britain voted to leave in 2016. It is by no means the whole story, but they are an important part of it.
In John Worthen's revelatory biography, Marten emerges from the shadows as a brilliantly clever, lively-minded man, free of fundamentalist zeal so common in many of his republican contemporaries.
Gibbons tells us how the idea of dividing Ireland came about, how it gained acceptance and popular support, about its complex and controversial implementation, and the turmoil of the years that followed.
Through his timely and intimate portrait of the world's most populous capital city, Jonathan Clements reveals the history of China itself. This first paperback edition includes a new introduction and a section on Zhangjiakou, where many of the 2022 Winter Olympics events will take place.
Dmitri Shostakovich wrote 15 symphonies, chamber music, ballets and operas, the latter including "Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk" 1934, which was suppressed as too divorced from the proletariat', but revived as "Katerina Izmaylova" 1963.
The break-up of Yugoslavia, the country Tito, the Croat turned Yugoslav had created was inevitable after his death in 1980. This title deals with Tito, an inspirational partisan leader, doctrinaire communist and yet a thorn in Moscow's side, and a leading light in the Non Aligned Movement.
In Contested Lands, T. G. Fraser untangles the threads of history in the Middle East and, in doing so, weaves a detailed and insightful picture of a troubled region and why its heritage remains important today.
Personal memoir by former German diplomat Joachim Sartorius who lived in Cyprus for three years.
Unwritten Rule calls for a radical realignment, embracing a federal approach that would accommodate devolution as the best way of bringing about a successful and diverse national life, increasing democratic control over local and national decision-making, and modernising our national political structures.
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