Hardcover (1 to 2 lbs)

Armed Forces Europe

Life, Loss, and Hope in Wartime Syria

New York Times Notable Books of 2018

Financial Times Book of the Year

Award-winning journalist Rania Abouzeid presents reportage of unprecedented scope in this engaging, character-driven investigation that exposes the secret dealings that armed and betrayed an uprising.

Taking readers deep into Assad's prisons, to clandestine meetings and to the highest levels of Islamic militancy, Abouzeid dissects the tangle of ideologies and allegiances that make up the Syrian conflict, and lays bare the tragedy of the Syrian War through the stories of those seeking safety and freedom in a shattered country.

Based on more than five years of frontline reporting, No Turning Back is an utterly engrossing human drama that shows how hope can flourish even amid one of the twenty-first century's greatest humanitarian disasters.

No Turning Back

7fd79b09-6139-494d-b578-348d8f368c78-1

#security policy #postcoldwar #globalsecurity

Heavy Paperback (2 to 4 lbs)

The Quest for Power and the Search for Peace

This thoroughly updated edition of Global Security in the Twenty-First Century offers a balanced introduction to contemporary security dilemmas throughout the world. Sean Kay assesses the impact of the global economic crisis on international security and considers how the range of thinking about power and peace has evolved in relation to major flashpoints including in the Middle East, Asia, and Eurasia. Kay builds on the first and second edition's emphasis on the roles of trade and technology, the militarization of space, the privatization of security, the use of sanctions, ethnic conflict, and transnational crime. This edition goes even farther to incorporate traditional thinking about national security in the context of human rights, democracy, population, health, environment, energy, and especially education. The author includes full updates on emerging challenges out of Iraq, Russia, and viral diseases in the context of larger strategic questions like the rise of China and America's "pivot" to rebalance its priorities toward Asia. Writing in an engaging style, Kay integrates traditional and emerging challenges in one easily accessible study that gives readers the tools they need to develop a thoughtful and nuanced understanding of global security.

Global Security in the Twenty-First Century

0270a0a0-a65d-410b-9fd2-8a9df9fc8e34-1

America and the World in the Post-Cold War Era

The end of the Cold War led to a dramatic and fundamental change in the foreign policy of the United States. In Mission Failure, Michael Mandelbaum, one of America's leading foreign-policy thinkers, provides an original, provocative, and definitive account of the ambitious but deeply flawed post-Cold War efforts to promote American values and American institutions throughout the world.

In the decades before the Cold War ended the United States, like virtually every other country throughout history, used its military power to defend against threats to important American international interests or to the American homeland itself. When the Cold War concluded, however, it embarked on military interventions in places where American interests were not at stake. Somalia, Haiti, Bosnia and Kosovo had no strategic or economic importance for the United States, which intervened in all of them for purely humanitarian reasons. Each such intervention led to efforts to transform the local political and economic systems. The invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, launched in response to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, turned into similar missions of transformation. None of them achieved its aims.

Mission Failure describes and explains how such missions came to be central to America's post-Cold War foreign policy, even in relations with China and Russia in the early 1990s and in American diplomacy in the Middle East, and how they all failed. Mandelbaum shows how American efforts to bring peace, national unity, democracy, and free-market economies to poor, disorderly countries ran afoul of ethnic and sectarian loyalties and hatreds and foundered as well on the absence of the historical experiences and political habits, skills, and values that Western institutions require.

The history of American foreign policy in the years after the fall of the Berlin Wall is, he writes, "the story of good, sometimes noble, and thoroughly American intentions coming up against the deeply embedded, often harsh, and profoundly un-American realities of places far from the United States. In this encounter the realities prevailed."


Mission Failure

a09334e9-bfa3-42fd-912a-4e89ca435d3b-1

Paperback (1 to 2 lbs)

Social Studies

Essential Readings

Bringing together key selections that represent the full range of philosophical debates, policy analyses, and first-hand accounts, the editors offer a comprehensive and accessible set of readings on the major themes and issues in the field of international human rights. The reader has been carefully designed to enhance students' understanding not only of human rights, but also of differing perspectives on the topic. This title offers a comprehensive and accessible set of readings on the major themes and issues in the field of international human rights.

Exploring International Human Rights

4b317f5c-748f-4513-a08e-0a69f3cd8152-1

Imperialism, Ethnicity and Authoritarianism 2000-2015

Russian nationalism, previously dominated by 'imperial' tendencies - pride in a large, strong and multi-ethnic state able to project its influence abroad - is increasingly focused on ethnic issues. In 2014, Russia's annexation of Crimea and the subsequent violent conflict in Eastern Ukraine utterly transformed the nationalist discourse in Russia. This book provides an up-to-date survey of Russian nationalism as a political, social and intellectual phenomenon by leading Western and Russian experts in the field of nationalism studies. It includes case studies on migrantophobia; the relationship between nationalism and religion; nationalism in the media; nationalism and national identity in economic policy; nationalism in the strategy of the Putin regime as well as a survey-based study of nationalism in public opinion.

The New Russian Nationalism

74b56da1-50b4-4017-ac3e-b9e0bfceae9c-1

America, Iran and the struggle for the Middle East

This book, based on four years of on-the-ground reporting, research in ten countries in the Middle East, a thousand hours of interviews with key players and access to generals, spies, policymakers, soldiers and refugees, is the first comprehensive look at the defeat of ISIS and the future reshaping of the Middle East. It provides a unique window into the battle for the heart and soul of the Muslim world and lays out why we need to be informed about changes on the ground after the defeat of ISIS. More than seventy countries are members of the international coalition formed in 2014 to defeat Islamic State (ISIS). After ISIS provides a sobering blueprint for how the US and regional powers will re-shape the region in years to come. Understanding these events and the choices ahead will determine if ISIS and similar ideologies reemerge, whether a new war between the US, its allies and Iran comes in the wake of ISIS, or if a younger generation of leaders can carve out a new Middle East. As ISIS recedes, the world is at a unique historic crossroads in the Middle East. Decisions made now in the region and in Washington matter more than ever. Tehran and the US are increasingly on a collision course to struggle over the vacuum left behind by ISIS in Iraq and Syria. This book, based on four years of on-the-ground reporting, research in ten countries in the Middle East, a thousand hours of interviews with key players and access to generals, spies, policymakers, soldiers and refugees, is the first comprehensive look at the defeat of ISIS and the future reshaping of the Middle East. It provides a unique window into the battle for the heart and soul of the Muslim world and lays out why we need to be informed about changes on the ground after the defeat of ISIS. More than seventy countries are members of the international coalition formed in 2014 to defeat Islamic State (ISIS). After ISIS provides a sobering blueprint for how the US and regional powers will re-shape the region in years to come. Understanding these events and the choices ahead will determine if ISIS and similar ideologies reemerge, whether a new war between the US, its allies and Iran comes in the wake of ISIS, or if a younger generation of leaders can carve out a new Middle East. As ISIS recedes, the world is at a unique historic crossroads in the Middle East. Decisions made now in the region and in Washington matter more than ever. Tehran and the US are increasingly on a collision course to struggle over the vacuum left behind by ISIS in Iraq and Syria.

After ISIS

7c487263-bd6d-46cb-b3c9-6c7a55d49e4b-1

The Emerging Crisis in Europe

A major new book by New York Times bestselling author and geopolitical forecaster George Friedman (The Next 100 Years), with a bold thesis about coming events in Europe. This provocative work examines "flashpoints," unique geopolitical hot spots where tensions have erupted throughout history, and where conflict is due to emerge again.

"There is a temptation, when you are around George Friedman, to treat him like a Magic 8 Ball."  --The New York Times Magazine

With remarkable accuracy, George Friedman has forecasted coming trends in global politics, technology, population, and culture. In Flashpoints, Friedman focuses on Europe--the world's cultural and power nexus for the past five hundred years . . . until now. Analyzing the most unstable, unexpected, and fascinating borderlands of Europe and Russia--and the fault lines that have existed for centuries and have been ground zero for multiple catastrophic wars--Friedman highlights, in an unprecedentedly personal way, the flashpoints that are smoldering once again.
     The modern-day European Union was crafted in large part to minimize built-in geopolitical tensions that historically have torn it apart. As Friedman demonstrates, with a mix of rich history and cultural analysis, that design is failing. Flashpoints narrates a living history of Europe and explains, with great clarity, its most volatile regions: the turbulent and ever-shifting land dividing the West from Russia (a vast area that currently includes Ukraine, Belarus, and Lithuania); the ancient borderland between France and Germany; and the Mediterranean, which gave rise to Judaism and Christianity and became a center of Islamic life.
     Through Friedman's seamless narrative of townspeople and rivers and villages, a clear picture of regions and countries and history begins to emerge. Flashpoints is an engrossing analysis of modern-day Europe, its remarkable past, and the simmering fault lines that have awakened and will be pivotal in the near future. This is George Friedman's most timely and, ultimately, riveting book.

Flashpoints

058059da-209b-4a22-a035-9bf99663d089-1

What the Science of Complexity Reveals about Saving Our Planet

Humanity's best hope for confronting the looming climate crisis rests with the new science of complexity.

The sheer complexity of climate change stops most solutions in their tracks. How do we give up fossil fuels when energy is connected to everything, from great-power contests to the value of your pension? Global economic growth depends on consumption, but that also produces the garbage now choking the oceans. To give up cars, coal, or meat would upend industries and entire ways of life. Faced with seemingly impossible tradeoffs, politicians dither and economists offer solutions at the margins, all while we flirt with the sixth extinction.

That's why humanity's last best hope is the young science of complex systems. Quitting coal, making autonomous cars ubiquitous, ending the middle-class addiction to consumption: all necessary to head off climate catastrophe, all deemed fantasies by pundits and policymakers, and all plausible in a complex systems view.

Roland Kupers shows how we have already broken the interwoven path dependencies that make fundamental change so daunting. Consider the mid-2000s, when, against all predictions, the United States rapidly switched from a reliance on coal primarily to natural gas. The change required targeted regulations, a few lone investors, independent researchers, and generous technology subsidies. But in a stunningly short period of time, shale oil nudged out coal, and carbon dioxide emissions dropped by 10 percent. Kupers shows how to replicate such patterns in order to improve transit, reduce plastics consumption, and temper the environmental impact of middle-class diets. Whether dissecting China's Ecological Civilization or the United States' Green New Deal, Kupers describes what's folly, what's possible, and which solutions just might work.

A Climate Policy Revolution

cf4d1f86-3b07-4840-b8d7-efc5a7903a84-1

A Story of Love, Hope, and Basketball

The inspiring true story of a high-school basketball team that overcame desperate circumstances in 1980s Baltimore to produce four NBA players and give hope to a neighborhood and a city, thanks to a remarkable coach who relentlessly pursued perfection.

As the crack epidemic swept across inner-city America in the early 1980s, the streets of Baltimore were crime ridden. For poor kids from the housing projects, the future looked bleak. But basketball could provide the quickest ticket out, an opportunity to earn a college scholarship and perhaps even play in the NBA.

Dunbar High School had one of the most successful basketball programs, not only in Baltimore but in the entire country, and in the early 1980s, the Dunbar Poets were arguably the best high school team of all time. Four starting players--Muggsy Bogues, Reggie Williams, David Wingate, and Reggie Lewis--would eventually play in the NBA, an unheard-of success rate. In The Boys of Dunbar, Alejandro Danois takes us through the 1981-1982 season with the Poets as the team conquered all its opponents. But more than that, he takes us into the lives of these kids, and especially of Coach Bob Wade, a former NFL player from the same neighborhood who knew that the basketball court, and the lessons his players would learn there, held the key to the future.

Drawing on interviews with Coach Wade, Muggsy Bogues, and others, The Boys of Dunbar is a remarkable testament to the power of dedication, inspiration, and teamwork. It is an ode to an extraordinary coach, a father figure who had lived the life of his players years before and who turned a dream into reality.

The Boys of Dunbar

74af3100-bf51-40a7-aa0e-418395c43c82-1

How did Bismarck, Germany's greatest nineteenth century leader, extend and maintain his power? This new Profile examines his strengths as statesman and all the facets of his political career. His many direct achievements included the unification of Germany and the expansion of Prussia. In short, he was the architect of Germany's change from cultural region to political nation. In the end he combined egotism and brilliance exceptionally, yet it was still not enough to save him from dismissal by William II.

Bismarck

a67e5742-b221-4ec7-8db7-bfc32a305a3b-1

Find Your Inner Warrior and Achieve Your Dreams

The beloved host of the NBC hit show American Ninja Warrior and co-host of The Talk draws inspiration from both the fierce competitors on his show and his own unlikely path to success to outline the essential steps to achieving your goals and becoming a modern-day ninja.

Akbar Gbajabiamila, the host of NBC's hit Emmy-nominated show, American Ninja Warrior, did not have an easy path to success. One of seven children by Nigerian immigrant parents, he grew up in the Crenshaw district of South Central Los Angeles during the 1980s and '90s, a time when the neighborhood was fraught with riots and gang violence. With dreams of playing professional basketball, Gbajabiamila found success not in the sport he loved, but in football. Late in his high school career, Gbajabiamila suited up with pads for the first time and was thrown into the complex sport of football. He climbed major hurdles to play college football and then professional football. After playing in the NFL, it was only after years of hard work behind-the-scenes in radio and television that he was offered the job to be the host of American Ninja Warrior.

Through his own inspirational underdog stories and interviews with modern-day ninjas who have accomplished extraordinary things in their own lives against the odds, Akbar proves in Everyone Can Be a Ninja that it doesn't matter if you make it through every step of the obstacle course on the first try. Ninjas keep pushing themselves until they reach their goals, and they don't let anyone or anything stand in their way.

It is easy to see greatness in others; it's hard to see it in ourselves. Everyone Can Be a Ninja shows you that we can fulfill our potential and achieve our dreams by finding our inner warriors.

Everyone Can Be a Ninja

9d2b60a5-e5ab-48c5-94f5-0a978a43bbad-1

#paperback #United Nations #world politics

Revised and Updated with a New Introduction

The revised and updated Introduction to this classic text situates the UN in substantially changing world politics, including:

 * The election of the ninth Secretary-General, António Guterres;
 * The burgeoning of "new nationalisms" worldwide, including most importantly in the Trump administration's Washington, DC, and Brexit;
 * The continuing proliferation of such non-state actors as ISIS and those in the "third UN," including developmental and humanitarian NGOs.

Essential to all classes on the UN, International Organizations, and Global Studies, this interim edition of The United Nations and Changing World Politics is refreshed for students and scholars alike.

The United Nations and Changing World Politics

9d864abc-fd8c-41b3-972d-27b0454cbbde-1

VMI and the Coming of Women

On July 26, 1996, the United States Supreme Court nullified the single-sex admissions policy of the Virginia Military Institute, the last all-male military college in America. Capturing the voices of female and male cadets, administrators, faculty, and alumni, Laura Brodie tells the story of the Institute's intense planning for the inclusion of women and the problems and triumphs of the first year of coeducation. Brodie takes us into the meetings where every aspect of life at VMI was analyzed from the per-spective of a woman's presence: housing, clothing, haircuts, dating, and the infamous "Ratline"—the months of physical exertion, minimal sleep, and verbal harassment to which entering cadets are subjected. Throughout the process the administration's aim was to integrate women successfully without making adjustments to VMI's physical standards or giving up its tradition of education under extreme stress. No other military college had done so much to prepare. But would it work? With everyone on the Post, we hold our breath as Brodie takes us through Hell Night, the unrelenting months of the Ratline, the fraternization, hazing, and authority issues that arose, the furtive sexual encounters, the resentments and, for the women, the daily difficulties of maintaining a feminine identity in a predominantly male world. Despite the challenges, we see the women ultimately making a place for themselves. Though new problems continue to arise, Brodie's lively and inspiring account makes it clear that VMI's story is an important and timely one of institutional transformation.

Breaking Out

9e15d995-c1f9-471c-9cd8-3bf91586012d-1

The South China Sea and the End of a Stable Pacific

NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY FINANCIAL TIMES

From Robert D. Kaplan, named one of the world's Top 100 Global Thinkers by Foreign Policy magazine, comes a penetrating look at the volatile region that will dominate the future of geopolitical conflict.
 
Over the last decade, the center of world power has been quietly shifting from Europe to Asia. With oil reserves of several billion barrels, an estimated nine hundred trillion cubic feet of natural gas, and several centuries' worth of competing territorial claims, the South China Sea in particular is a simmering pot of potential conflict. The underreported military buildup in the area where the Western Pacific meets the Indian Ocean means that it will likely be a hinge point for global war and peace for the foreseeable future.
 
In Asia's Cauldron, Robert D. Kaplan offers up a vivid snapshot of the nations surrounding the South China Sea, the conflicts brewing in the region at the dawn of the twenty-first century, and their implications for global peace and stability. One of the world's most perceptive foreign policy experts, Kaplan interprets America's interests in Asia in the context of an increasingly assertive China. He explains how the region's unique geography fosters the growth of navies but also impedes aggression. And he draws a striking parallel between China's quest for hegemony in the South China Sea and the United States' imperial adventure in the Caribbean more than a century ago.
 
To understand the future of conflict in East Asia, Kaplan argues, one must understand the goals and motivations of its leaders and its people. Part travelogue, part geopolitical primer, Asia's Cauldron takes us on a journey through the region's boom cities and ramshackle slums: from Vietnam, where the superfueled capitalism of the erstwhile colonial capital, Saigon, inspires the geostrategic pretensions of the official seat of government in Hanoi, to Malaysia, where a unique mix of authoritarian Islam and Western-style consumerism creates quite possibly the ultimate postmodern society; and from Singapore, whose "benevolent autocracy" helped foster an economic miracle, to the Philippines, where a different brand of authoritarianism under Ferdinand Marcos led not to economic growth but to decades of corruption and crime.
 
At a time when every day's news seems to contain some new story--large or small--that directly relates to conflicts over the South China Sea, Asia's Cauldron is an indispensable guide to a corner of the globe that will affect all of our lives for years to come.

Praise for Asia's Cauldron
 
"Asia's Cauldron is a short book with a powerful thesis, and it stands out for its clarity and good sense. . . . If you are doing business in China, traveling in Southeast Asia or just obsessing about geopolitics, you will want to read it."--The New York Times Book Review

"Kaplan has established himself as one of our most consequential geopolitical thinkers. . . . [Asia's Cauldron] is part treatise on geopolitics, part travel narrative. Indeed, he writes in the tradition of the great travel writers."--The Weekly Standard
 
"Kaplan's fascinating book is a welcome challenge to the pessimists who see only trouble in China's rise and the hawks who view it as malign."--The Economist
 
"Muscular, deeply knowledgeable . . . Kaplan is an ultra-realist [who] takes a non-moralistic stance on questions of power and diplomacy."--Financial Times

Asia's Cauldron

70a3bfdf-37ff-418a-8185-d6054b7c57d9-1

Light Paperback (1 lb or less)

This new textbook provides an introduction to human rights in international relations at the turn of the twenty-first century. The book examines the policy-making process that establishes and tries to apply human rights norms through the United Nations, regional organizations, state foreign policy, human rights groups, and transnational corporations. Four themes permeate the book: that human rights are here to stay in international relations, that state sovereignty is being transformed by the human rights discourse, that the 'soft' law of diplomacy is as important as the 'hard' law of court judgments, and that private actors are highly important in international human rights developments. The book documents the many changes in international human rights during the past half-century, and considers the future of universal human rights. Containing chapter-by-chapter guides to further reading and discussion questions, this book will be of interest to all undergraduate and graduate students of human rights, and their teachers.

Human Rights in International Relations

62602391-9f1f-4907-bd96-850a38558a46-1

Analyzing Post-Soviet Regime Changes

Russia today represents one of the major examples of the phenomenon of "electoral authoritarianism" which is characterized by adopting the trappings of democratic institutions (such as elections, political parties, and a legislature) and enlisting the service of the country's essentially authoritarian rulers. Why and how has the electoral authoritarian regime been consolidated in Russia? What are the mechanisms of its maintenance, and what is its likely future course? This book attempts to answer these basic questions.

Vladimir Gel'man examines regime change in Russia from the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 to the present day, systematically presenting theoretical and comparative perspectives of the factors that affected regime changes and the authoritarian drift of the country. After the fall of the Soviet Union, Russia's national political elites aimed to achieve their goals by creating and enforcing of favorable "rules of the game" for themselves and maintaining informal winning coalitions of cliques around individual rulers. In the 1990s, these moves were only partially successful given the weakness of the Russian state and troubled post-socialist economy. In the 2000s, however, Vladimir Putin rescued the system thanks to the combination of economic growth and the revival of the state capacity he was able to implement by imposing a series of non-democratic reforms. In the 2010s, changing conditions in the country have presented new risks and challenges for the Putin regime that will play themselves out in the years to come.

Authoritarian Russia

e53e0fcb-7be5-4544-915d-f824d7a58ade-1

Voices from Syria

LONG-LISTED FOR THE CARNEGIE MEDAL Reminiscent of the work of Nobel Prize winner Svetlana Alexievich, an astonishing collection of intimate wartime testimonies and poetic fragments from a cross-section of Syrians whose lives have been transformed by revolution, war, and flight. Against the backdrop of the wave of demonstrations known as the Arab Spring, in 2011 hundreds of thousands of Syrians took to the streets demanding freedom, democracy and human rights. The government’s ferocious response, and the refusal of the demonstrators to back down, sparked a brutal civil war that over the past five years has escalated into the worst humanitarian catastrophe of our times. Yet despite all the reporting, the video, and the wrenching photography, the stories of ordinary Syrians remain unheard, while the stories told about them have been distorted by broad brush dread and political expediency. This fierce and poignant collection changes that. Based on interviews with hundreds of displaced Syrians conducted over four years across the Middle East and Europe, We Crossed a Bridge and It Trembled is a breathtaking mosaic of first-hand testimonials from the frontlines. Some of the testimonies are several pages long, eloquent narratives that could stand alone as short stories; others are only a few sentences, poetic and aphoristic. Together, they cohere into an unforgettable chronicle that is not only a testament to the power of storytelling but to the strength of those who face darkness with hope, courage, and moral conviction.

We Crossed a Bridge and It Trembled

559d9aca-8183-4be1-b1a4-3bda80a52667-1

Statecraft and Diplomacy

In this comprehensive treatment, distinguished diplomat Chas Freeman describes the fundamental principles of the art of statecraft and the craft of diplomacy.

Arts of Power

e0c35937-cb91-4d60-b968-0f772edfefea-1

Math

Introducing statistical ideas and practice in a style liberal arts majors can fully grasp, Statistics: Concepts and Controversies gives you the tools that will help you understand the impact of statistics on all aspects of our lives.

Browse by categories

Rania Abouzeid

No Turning Back

Sean Kay

Global Security in the Twenty-First Century

Michael Mandelbaum

Mission Failure

Rhonda L. Callaway (Editor); Julie Harrelson-Stephens (Editor)

Exploring International Human Rights

Pål Kolstø (Editor); Helge Blakkisrud (Editor)

The New Russian Nationalism

Shalom Hammer

After ISIS

George Friedman

Flashpoints

Roland Kupers

A Climate Policy Revolution

Alejandro Danois

The Boys of Dunbar

K Lerman

Bismarck

Akbar Gbajabiamila

Everyone Can Be a Ninja

Thomas G. Weiss; David P. Forsythe; Roger A. Coate; Kelly-Kate Pease

The United Nations and Changing World Politics

Laura Fairchild Brodie

Breaking Out

Robert D. Kaplan

Asia's Cauldron

David P. Forsythe

Human Rights in International Relations

Vladimir Gel'man

Authoritarian Russia

Wendy Pearlman

We Crossed a Bridge and It Trembled

Charles W. Freeman

Arts of Power

David S. Moore; William I. Notz

Statistics: Concepts and Controversies

Get The App