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      • Trusted Partner
        Humanities & Social Sciences
        March 2024

        After the end

        Cold War culture and apocalyptic imaginations in the twenty-first century

        by David L. Pike

        After the End argues that the cultural imaginaries and practices of the Cold War continue to deeply shape the present in profound but largely unnoticed ways across the global North and in the global South. The argument draws examples from literature and literary criticism, film, music, the historical and social scientific record and past and present physical sites to consider the bunker as a material form, an image and as a fantasy that took shape in the global North in the 1960s and that spread globally into the twenty-first century. After the End reminds us not only that most of the world's peoples have lived with or died from apocalyptic conditions for centuries, but that the Cold War imaginaries that grew from and fed those conditions, continue to survive as well.

      • Trusted Partner
        Humanities & Social Sciences
        November 2024

        US public diplomacy in socialist Yugoslavia, 1950–70

        Soft culture, cold partners

        by Carla Konta

        The first comprehensive account of the public and cultural diplomacy campaigns carried out by the US in Yugoslavia during the height of the Cold War, this book examines the political role of culture in US-Yugoslav bilateral relations and the fluid links between information and propaganda. Tito allowed the US Information Agency and the State Department's cultural programmes to enter Yugoslavia, liberated from Soviet control. The exchange of intellectual and political personnel helped foster the US-Yugoslav relationship, yet it posed severe ideological challenges for both sides. By providing new insights into porous borders between freedom and coercion in Tito's regime, this book shows how public diplomacy acted as an external input for Yugoslav liberalisation and dissident movements. Using extensive archival research and interviews, Konta analyses the links between information and propaganda, and the unintended effects of propaganda beyond the control of producers and receivers.

      • Trusted Partner
        Literature & Literary Studies
        December 2020

        The Blunt Affair

        by Jonathan Bolton

      • Trusted Partner

        These "arts" aren't too cold!

        by Shen Si

        "How to appreciate a painting", "How to understand art", "this painting can also be seen here", "XX Art History"... Similar books are emerging on the Internet, and homogenization is too serious. How to break out of this phenomenon, and not only talk about art history, but also blindly follow the trend and make a topic that no one else has? Cold knowledge of art seems to be "cold", but in fact it is not cold. Although it contains a lot of background knowledge of art history, it can make them "hot", so that readers who are interested in understanding art history can explore the more inner way of art history under the clues of large art history in a relaxed and pleasant reading experience. "These" Arts "Are Not Too Cold! ", aimed at breaking the general cognition and misunderstanding of the public on the art of the cold knowledge, to express a writer's attitude. Let's see what Shen says about art!

      • Trusted Partner
        Memoirs
        2022

        77 days of February. Ukraine between two symbolic dates of the Russian war ideology

        by Marichka Paplauskaite (Compiler), Authors: Inna Adrug, Anna Argirova, Kateryna Babkina, Tetyana Bezruk, Oleksandra Gorchynska, Inna Zolotukhina, Vera Kuriko, Olena Livytska, Olga Livytska, Svitlana Oslavska, Marichka Paplauskaite, Eva Raiska, Anya Semenyuk, Zoya Khramchenko, Margarita Chimyris, Iryna Yaroshynska

        As a child, she could not understand why people in films about the blockade of Leningrad were always lying down. And when Mariupol was besieged by the Russians, and she and her husband lived for many days without water, food and heat under constant shelling, she realized that when you lie down, you save strength and energy. "77 Days of February" included reports written by journalists of the Reporters media in the period between February 23 and May 9 — two symbolic dates for Russian military ideology. The invasion of Russian troops into Ukraine stopped the number of days and pushed Ukrainians back to the intervening time, where February — the month of the beginning of the great war — still lasts. In the meantime and in these candid stories, there is pain, fear, hatred, and sometimes despair. But the main thing is hope. This is a bare nerve and an honest voice of the new Ukrainian reality.

      • Trusted Partner
        Humanities & Social Sciences
        October 2017

        History of Ancient Chinese Diplomacy

        by Yuan Nansheng

        Ancient Chinese diplomacy refers to diplomatic activities during the period from the beginning of ancient diplomacy to the outbreak of the Opium War in 1840. The manuscript describes the history of this period. The Xia, Shang, and Western Zhou Dynasties were the emergence and formation of ancient Chinese diplomacy. The Spring and Autumn and Warring States Periods were the development of ancient Chinese diplomacy. The Han Dynasty was the stereotype of ancient Chinese diplomacy. The Tang Dynasty was the heyday of ancient Chinese diplomacy. The period of transformation of ancient diplomacy. Ancient China's diplomacy is foreign affairs diplomacy. The revelation left is that the stronger the national strength, the more capable it can be, and the more rational compromise, the more it can make a difference. The readers of the manuscript are researchers of Chinese history and diplomatic history, and students of Chinese history and diplomatic history.

      • Trusted Partner
        Children's & YA
        2015

        The War that Changed Rondo

        by Art studio Agrafka (Authors), Art studio Agrafka (Illustrators)

        Danko, Zirka and Fabian live peacefully in the small town of Rondo. They have their work and hobbies that always keep them busy... until War comes. The three friends have never experienced War before, and they don’t know how to act. In hopes of stopping War, they talk to it and fight it, but all in vain. Eventually, they discover an effective defense against the darkness of War — the power of Light. With the help of all the residents of Rondo, Danko, Zirka and Fabian build a huge light machine that disperses the darkness and stops War. The War that Changed Rondo reflects the ambiguities of war and it is a touching tribute to peace.   From 4 to 7 years, 1585 words. Rightsholders: ivan.fedechko@starlev.com.ua

      • Trusted Partner
        Humanities & Social Sciences
        January 2022

        Exiting war

        The British Empire and the 1918–20 moment

        by Romain Fathi, Margaret Hutchison, Andrekos Varnava, Michael Walsh, Alan Lester

        Exiting war explores a particular 1918-20 'moment' in the British Empire's history, between the First World War's armistices of 1918, and the peace treaties of 1919 and 1920. That moment, we argue, was a challenging and transformative time for the Empire. While British authorities successfully answered some of the post-war tests they faced, such as demobilisation, repatriation, and fighting the widespread effects of the Spanish flu, the racial, social, political and economic hallmarks of their imperialism set the scene for a wide range of expressions of loyalties and disloyalties, and anticolonial movements. The book documents and conceptualises this 1918-20 'moment' and its characteristics as a crucial three-year period of transformation for and within the Empire, examining these years for the significant shifts in the imperial relationship that occurred and as laying the foundation for later change in the imperial system.

      • Trusted Partner
        Humanities & Social Sciences
        November 2021

        De-centering queer theory

        Communist sexuality in the flow during and after the Cold War

        by Bogdan Popa, Gurminder Bhambra

        De-centering queer theory seeks to reorient queer theory to a different conception of bodies and sexuality derived from Eastern European Marxism. The book articulates a contrast between the concept of the productive body, which draws its epistemology from Soviet and avant-garde theorists, and Cold War gender, which is defined as the social construction of the body. The first part of the book concentrates on the theoretical and visual production of Eastern European Marxism, which proposed an alternative version of sexuality to that of western liberalism. In doing so it offers a historical angle to understand the emergence not only of an alternative epistemology, but also of queer theory's vocabulary. The second part of the book provides a Marxist, anti-capitalist archive for queer studies, which often neglects to engage critically with its liberal and Cold War underpinnings.

      • Trusted Partner
        Humanities & Social Sciences
        March 2017

        Popular imperialism and the military, 1850-1950

        by John M. MacKenzie

        Colonial war played a vital part in transforming the reputation of the military and placing it on a standing equal to that of the navy. The book is concerned with the interactive culture of colonial warfare, with the representation of the military in popular media at home, and how these images affected attitudes towards war itself and wider intellectual and institutional forces. It sets out to relate the changing image of the military to these fundamental facts. For the dominant people they were an atavistic form of war, shorn of guilt by Social Darwinian and racial ideas, and rendered less dangerous by the increasing technological gap between Europe and the world. Attempts to justify and understand war were naturally important to dominant people, for the extension of imperial power was seldom a peaceful process. The entertainment value of war in the British imperial experience does seem to have taken new and more intensive forms from roughly the middle of the nineteenth century. Themes such as the delusive seduction of martial music, the sketch of the music hall song, powerful mythic texts of popular imperialism, and heroic myths of empire are discussed extensively. The first important British war correspondent was William Howard Russell (1820-1907) of The Times, in the Crimea. The 1870s saw a dramatic change in the representation of the officer in British battle painting. Up to that point it was the officer's courage, tactical wisdom and social prestige that were put on display.

      • Trusted Partner
        October 2022

        My Father's Secret

        The BND, my family and I

        by Corinna von Bassewitz

        For a long time, Corinna von Bassewitz believed her father was a soldier, later on that he was a diplomat. Then, at the age of 16, she learnt something unbelievable: he had been a secret agent for the Bundesnachrichtendienst (BND, Germany's Federal Intelligence Service). Once the secret had been at least partly uncovered, she became something of a spy herself and eventually found some confidential documents in her parents' attic. Later, she realised that her father had been living as a double agent for the FRG and the GDR. So what effect does it have on a girl if her father conceals his true identity and eventually disappears without trace? Along with her family history, the author provides multi-layered and exciting insights into the historical context of the Cold War. A very personal book, intriguingly told and emotionally touching.

      • Trusted Partner
      • Trusted Partner
        Children's & YA
        2020

        Ayélévi's Secret

        by Simon de Saint-Dzokotoe, Maryse Montron

        Little Ayélévi is very cunning. She always wins at the game of "Who would win the most beautiful flower." This situation intrigued his brother who wanted to understand the secret of these repeated successes. Ayélévi is very clever; will it still be for a long time?

      • Trusted Partner
        May 2022

        In the Shadow of War

        Diary notes from Ukraine

        by Christoph Brumme

        "What can you learn in war? Do you become numb, do you get used to it at some point? Does war make you "hard", uncaring, above pain? No. These are just clichés. Every day brings new horrors. At best, one learns for some time to suppress strong feelings, because to give in to them would weaken one's life instinct." In a very stirring and shocking, but sometimes humorous language, Christoph Brumme tells of the situation in Ukraine, the everyday life of his family and friends, of fears, longings and political assessments. The diary entries of the war and the resistance of the Ukrainians, starting from the first signs of the impending war in mid-January 2022 until the printing of this book, 1st May 2022, impressively bear witness to the brutality of these events.

      • Trusted Partner
        Humanities & Social Sciences
        September 2023

        Civil war London

        Mobilizing for parliament, 1641–5

        by Jordan S. Downs

        This book looks at London's provision of financial and military support for parliament's war against King Charles I. It explores for the first time a series of episodic, circumstantial and unique mobilisations that spanned from late 1641 to early 1645 and which ultimately led to the establishment of the New Model Army. Based on research from two-dozen archives, Civil war London charts the successes and failures of efforts to move London's vast resources and in the process poses a number of challenges to longstanding notions about the capital's 'parliamentarian' makeup. It reveals interactions between London's Corporation, parochial communities and livery companies, between preachers and parishioners and between agitators, propagandists and common people. Within these tangled webs of political engagement reside the untold stories of the movement of money and men, but also of parliament's eventual success in the English Civil War.

      • Trusted Partner
        True stories
        2018

        World War II, Uncontrived and Unredacted. Testimonies from Ukraine

        by Vakhtanh Kipiani

        The war separated families, took lives, broke fates ... It is very important to know and remember it at any time. Even many decades later, new details, memories, and testimonies appear. This book gathers several fascinating, true family stories written from accounts of parents, grandparents, etc. The authors, whose articles were collected with the help of the popular scientific publication Historical Truth, tell us about the worst war of the 20th century, about the fate of those people whose lives were divided forever into “before” and “after.” Here we can find first-hand accounts about Ukrainians who fought in various armies, about the lives of deported people, about the fate of people taken to compulsory labor camps, and about the men and women who remain in our memories forever. - Historical Truth - honestly and openly about WWII - exclusive materials

      • Trusted Partner
        September 2019

        Conga Line on the Amazon

        by David Myles Robinson

        David Myles Robinson was eight years old when he first got hooked on travel. Since then, he’s seen most of the world—all its continents plus, he laments, “far too many places where travel is now off-limits.”After a lifetime of visiting near and far, in heat and in cold, in comfort and in danger, Robinson has put it all together now in this unique collection of the varied travel adventures he’s found—and the lessons he’s learned from them. A Fellini-esque view of the Amazon, a Mercedes caravan to Istanbul, Jane Goodall's amazing chimps—just part of a travel trunk full of experiences guaranteed to keep you seesawing from “Boy, I'd love to do that" to “Sure glad it was him, not me.”In Conga Line on the Amazon, Robinson brings to his first travel book the same gift for intriguing narrative and sharp characterization that has won praise for his six highly successful novels. Some of his tales may be for the strong of heart, but they’re all for the reader with a yen to be entertained by one intrepid man’s adventures and misadventures exploring the strange and wonderful world we live in.

      • Trusted Partner
        Humanities & Social Sciences
        November 2024

        Unofficial peace diplomacy

        Private peace entrepreneurs in conflict resolution processes

        by Lior Lehrs

        This book analyses the international phenomenon of private peace entrepreneurs. These are private citizens with no official authority who initiate channels of communication with official representatives from the other side of a conflict in order to promote a conflict resolution process. It combines theoretical discussion with historical analysis, examining four cases from different conflicts: Norman Cousins and Suzanne Massie in the Cold War, Brendan Duddy in the Northern Ireland conflict and Uri Avnery in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The book defines the phenomenon, examines the resources and activities of private peace entrepreneurs and their impact on the official diplomacy, and examines the conditions under which they can play an effective role in peace-making processes. This book is relevant to United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 16, Peace, justice and strong institutions.

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