Humanities & Social Sciences
March 2017
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FROM SCRATCH
A Futuristic Apocalyptic Thriller
by Ron Adam
Just as in a Greek tragedy, America is moving towards the inevitable collision with the ultimate threat: the fatal combination of fanatic Islam, nuclear arms, and the richest energy resources in the world. On September 11, 2001, Osama Bin Laden demonstrated to the world how US dollars and American technology could be easily turned around and used as a boomerang to strike into the heart of America. It is easy, though shattering, to imagine what can happen once such fanatic zeal is equipped with the monstrous power of nuclear weapons. A quick look at the map shows that the United States did learn the lesson, and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq were just the closing of the circle around the real threat – Iran. From Scratch takes you into the whirlpool that sweeps the world from a local war in the Persian Gulf through a military coup in Russia - Iran’s new old ally - to a veritable nuclear holocaust. An all-male US submarine crew that unwillingly played an active role in destroying mankind, finds out in the aftermath that the opposite task – to recreate the human race rests on their shoulders – From Scratch. They will emerge, after nine months underwater, at a remote Pacific Island where conditions can again support life. Equipped with cutting-edge technology, they carry with them two dozen frozen fertilized ova, each of which is destined to become a new "Eve", and who together will be the mothers of the new humankind. However, there are too many “Adams” on the island, and more than a hundred men are eagerly waiting for the 24 baby girls to mature into grown women. Therefore the struggle for control over the precious “resource” is predetermined. These men find out that human nature cannot be changed. Even after the ultimate war that destroyed everything, man will go on using sheer force in order to get what he wants and to resolve disputes. Despite the pessimistic scenario, the book is essentially optimistic, and is driven by faith in the law of history: although the good may suffer and pay a precious price, they will eventually prevail. The Author: A Fighter Pilot, Naval Officer, and Senior Hi-tech Engineer. Ron Adam has enjoyed an impressive military career, from Israeli Navy submarine and torpedo boat service to the Israeli Air Force as a fighter pilot, captain of an aircraft carrier, flight instructor, and electronic warfare staff officer. Holding a degree in Electronics Engineering, Adam has headed a 1.2 billion dollar defense program and has also established three high-tech start-ups. Today, Adam is a senior consultant to the aerospace industry, and shares his time between top-level engineering and writing of books and scripts. He is happily married and has 3 children. An English-Language eBook edition has been scheduled for publication in late 2017 by Samuel Wachtman's Sons ,Inc., CA. 180 pages, 15X21 cm
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True stories2020Chronicles of one hungerstrike. 4 and a half steps
by Oleh Sentsov
“Chronicles of one hunger strike” is a diary of Oleh Sentsov, the Kremlin prisoner, who had been keeping it since May 2018, the third day after he announced indefinite hunger strike with the demand to free Ukrainian political prisoners. Day by day, throughout 145 days, despite moral pressure and physical exhaustion, Oleh had been frankly and honestly writing in his notebook in small, illegible letters, extremely accurately recording his everyday life in Russian prison, his observations and thoughts. After his release the author miraculously managed to take his notes out of Russia. “4 and a half steps” is a collection of small prose by Oleh Sentsov, written in a Russian prison. What does a man feel, having gotten to prison for the first time? How do prisoners live in tight and dirty cells, behind thick walls and muddy windows with double grid? What rules and laws one should obey, having gotten there? The author tells as objectively and critically as he can about prisoners’ life and circumstances that led them to captivity—he does not justify, nor criticise, but only witnesses. Striking, sometimes horrifying facts with verified accurate details create a convincing background, where events of numerous lives unfold. The author usually does not make any conclusions—he leaves this right to the reader.
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Humanities & Social SciencesApril 2025Bordering social reproduction
Migrant mothers and children making lives in the shadows
by Rachel Rosen, Eve Dickson
Bordering social reproduction explores what happens when migrants subject to policies that seek to deny them the means of life nonetheless endeavour to make and sustain meaningful lives. Developing innovative theorisations of welfare bordering, the volume provides rich ethnographic insights into the everyday lives of destitute mothers and children who are denied mainstream welfare support in the United Kingdom due to their immigration status. This book shows how enforced destitution and debt work alongside detention and deportation as part of a tripartite of exclusionary technologies of the racial state. It advances the novel concept of weathering to comprehend mother's and children's life-making practices under duress - arguing that these are neither acts of heroic resilience nor solely symptomatic of lives rendered disposable, but indications of the fragilities of repressive migration regimes and, on occasion, refusals to accept their terms of existence.
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Politics & governmentFebruary 2017Sunningdale, the Ulster Workers' Council strike and the struggle for democracy in Northern Ireland
by Edited by David McCann, Cillian McGrattan
The 'Sunningdale experiment' of 1973-4 witnessed the first attempt to establish peace in Northern Ireland through power-sharing. However, its provisions, particularly the cross-border 'Council of Ireland', proved to be a step too far. The experiment floundered amid ongoing paramilitary-led violence, finally collapsing in May 1974 as a result of the Ulster Workers' Council strike. Drawing on new scholarship from some of the top political historians working on the period, this book presents a series of reflections on how key protagonists struggled with notions of power-sharing and the 'Irish dimension', and how those struggles inhibited a deepening of democracy and the ending of violence for so long.
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Humanities & Social SciencesApril 2023Who governs Britain?
Trade unions, the Conservative Party and the failure of the Industrial Relations Act 1971
by Sam Warner
Providing fresh insights from the archival record, Who governs Britain? revisits the 1970-74 Conservative government to explain why the Party tried - and failed - to reform the system of industrial relations. Designed to tackle Britain's strike problem and perceived disorder in collective bargaining, the Industrial Relations Act 1971 established a formal legal framework to counteract trade union power. As the state attempted to disengage from and 'depoliticise' collective bargaining practices, trade union leaders and employers were instructed to discipline industry. In just three-and-a-half years, the Act contributed to a crisis of the British state as industrial unrest engulfed industry and risked undermining the rule of law. Warner explores the power dynamics, strategic errors and industrial battles that destroyed this attempt to tame trade unions and ultimately brought down a government, and that shape Conservative attitudes towards trade unions to this day.
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Picture books2013pica, no pica (ooh! ouch!)
by Jill Hartley
The charm of the image and the everyday surprise of a world to discover, with contrasts and similarities. This book reveals the primary impressions about things that burn, sting, irritate, or scratch, and its approximation to that which cuddles, tingles, pampers, sweetens, softens, or, like children would say, ooh, ouch!
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Desde el Principio
by Ron Adam
Desde el Principio – Novela de suspense apocalíptica por Ron Adam Como en una tragedia griega, los Estados Unidos avanza inexorablemente hacia una colisión con la mayor de las amenazas: la combinación letal del islamismo fanático, armas nucleares y los mayores recursos energéticos del planeta. El 11 de septiembre de 2001, Osama Bin Laden demostró al mundo cómo aprovechar los dólares y la tecnología norteamericanos para utilizarlos como bumerang con el fin de asestar un golpe en el corazón de los Estados Unidos. Aunque sea terrible, no cuesta imaginarse qué puede suceder en cuanto ese celo fanático disponga del monstruoso poder de las armas nucleares. Una rápida mirada en el mapa muestra que los Estados Unidos han aprendido la lección y que las guerras en Afganistán y en Irak han venido a cerrar el círculo alrededor de la verdadera amenaza: Irán. Desde el principio le arrastra al torbellino que barre el mundo, desde una guerra local en el Golfo Pérsico pasando por un golpe militar en Rusia, la nueva vieja aliada de Irán, hasta un verdadero holocausto nuclear. La tripulación exclusivamente masculina de un submarino estadounidense que jugó involuntariamente un papel activo en la destrucción de la humanidad, comprueba después de los hechos que la tarea opuesta, reconstituir la raza humana Desde el principio reposa sobre sus hombros. Después de pasar sumergidos nueve meses, emergen en una remota isla del Pacífico en la que las condiciones pueden de nuevo soportar la vida. Equipados con tecnologías de punta, llevan con ellos dos docenas de óvulos fertilizados congelados, destinados a convertirse en nuevas Evas, que juntas serán las madres de la nueva humanidad. Lamentablemente, hay en la isla demasiados “Adanes”. Más de cien hombres esperan ansiosos que las 24 bebitas maduren y se conviertan en mujeres maduras y por lo tanto, la lucha por el control de tan precioso “recurso” está predeterminada. Estos hombres comprueban que no es posible cambiar la naturaleza humana. Incluso después de la terrible guerra que lo ha destruido todo, el hombre seguirá usando la fuerza bruta para obtener lo que desea y para resolver disputas. A pesar del escenario pesimista, el libro es esencialmente optimista y lo impulsa la fe en la ley de la historia: el bien a la larga se impondrá, aun cuando sea a costa de sufrimientos y a un tremendo precio. El autor es piloto de caza, oficial de marina y experimentado ingeniero de alta tecnología. Ron Adam tiene en su haber una brillante carrera militar y ha servido en un submarino y en un navío de la Marina Israelí y como piloto de caza, comandante de un portaaviones, instructor de vuelo y oficial de rango superior de guerra electrónica en la Fuerza Aérea israelí. Adam, licenciado en Ingeniería electrónica, ha dirigido un proyecto militar con un coste de 1200 millones de dólares y también ha establecido tres emprendimientos de alta tecnología. Hoy día Adam es un asesor ejecutivo de la industria aeroespacial y divide su tiempo entre la ingeniería de nivel superior y la escritura de libros y libretos. Está casado y tiene tres hijos.
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AUS NICHTS
by Ron Adam
AUS NICHTS – Ein futuristisch-apokalyptischer Thriller von Ron Adam Wie in einer griechischen Tragödie bewegen sich die Vereinigten Staaten auf eine nicht zu vermeidende Kollision zu: Die explosive Kombination von fanatischem Islamismus, Atomwaffen und den reichsten Energiereserven der Welt. Am 11. September 2001 demonstrierte Osama Bin Laden, wie US Dollars und amerikanische Technologie sich in einen Bumerang gegen die USA verwandeln und das Herz des mächtigsten Landes der Welt treffen können. Angesicht dessen ist es nicht schwer, sich vorzustellen, wie es wäre, wenn ein solcher Fanatismus sich nuklearer Waffen bemächtigen würde. Die Kriege der USA und ihrer Verbündeten in Afghanistan und im Irak kreisen geographisch den Iran ein und deuten damit auf dieses Land als eine weitere und wegen seines nuklearen Potentials vielleicht die stärkste Bedrohung für die westliche Welt hin. Aus Nichts handelt davon, wie die Welt, die durch einen regionalen Krieg am Persischen Golf und einen Umsturz in Russland, dem alten neuen Verbündeten des Iran, in einen nuklearen Holocaust geraten ist, überleben kann. Die Menschheit scheint vollständig ausgelöscht, doch die Besatzung eines amerikanischen U-Bootes überlebt unter Wasser. Die ausschließlich männlichen Besatzungsmitglieder merken, dass das weitere Überleben der menschlichen Gattung nun allein von ihnen abhängt. Nach neun Monaten unter Wasser ankern sie schließlich vor einer abgelegenen Insel im Pazifik und stellen fest, dass die Umweltbedingungen hier wieder menschliches Leben zulassen. Das Boot ist mit der neuesten Technologie ausgerüstet. Um das Überleben der Menschheit zu sichern, wurden sogar zwei Dutzend befruchtete tiefgefrorene Eizellen eingelagert, die dazu bestimmt sind, zu weiblichen menschlichen Nachkommen zu werden. Leider leben nun aber auf der Insel zunächst nur die mehr als einhundert Männer des U-Bootes, die ungeduldig darauf warten müssen, dass die kleinen Mädchen endlich zu Frauen heranreifen. Der Kampf über die Kontrolle der kostbaren „Ressourcen“ ist unvermeidlich. Die Männer müssen erkennen, dass die menschliche Natur auch hier nicht zu ändern ist. Der Autor Ron Adam hat als Kampfpilot und Flugausbilder in der israelischen Luftwaffe sowie als Marineoffizier in einen U-Boot eine beeindruckende militärische Karriere hinter sich. Heute ist er als Berater in der Luftfahrtindustrie tätig und verfasste bereits mehrere Bücher und Drehbücher. Ron Adam ist glücklich verheiratet und Vater dreier Kinder. Rechte für die deutsche Ausgabe sind noch erhältlich!
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2020How Animals Hammer, Drill and Strike
Tool Use in the Animal Kingdom
by Peter-René Becker
From insects to fish as well as birds and primates: the use of tools is amazingly widespread in the animal kingdom. It’s a misnomer to presume that humans are distinguished by tool use and conscious capacity. So where is culture initiated? The biologist Peter-René Becker has evaluated numerous studies and cites plenty of evidence for the use of the hammer and anvil, lances, bait or sponges. Animals also use “tools as social implements”. Ultimately, the depth of man’s conscience singles him out from other animals.
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Humanities & Social SciencesSeptember 2014Collieries, communities and the miners' strike in Scotland, 1984–85
by Jim Phillips
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Humanities & Social SciencesOctober 2017Collieries, communities and the miners' strike in Scotland, 1984–85
by Jim Phillips, Steven Fielding, John Callaghan, Steve Ludlam
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January 2021Greta Thunberg
Climate Change Activist
by Jon Sterngass
In August 2018, 15-year-old Swedish student Greta Thunberg decided not to go to school in order to protest the climate crisis, and demand government action to prevent global warming. Her school strike sparked a global movement, inspiring millions of students to strike. Before she was 18 years old, Greta had participated in protests in Europe and North America, created a TED talk viewed more than 10 million times, and addressed the United Nations, the U.S. Congress, the British Parliament, and the World Economic Forum. In 2019, she was named Time magazine's person of the year, the youngest person ever to receive this recognition. This is her story.
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February 2021The Stage and the Story
by Djawad Rostom Touati
‘‘So he thought of writing a play inspired by the residents' strike, which was in full swing. He was in his fifth year of medical school and his future was directly affected by the outcome of this movement, for which he was enthusiastic. However, when he wanted to take an interest in the nuts and bolts, the details he could incorporate into his art, an indefinable discomfort overcame him, and he couldn't quite grasp the cause. The project remained at half-mast in a corner of his mind, and the end of the strike finished by gathering the dust of oblivion on it.’’ Dj. R. Touati The one is multiple, and that which unites, after the moment of egregore, becomes that which divides; irreconcilably. At a time when the failure of the intuition of diversity has never been so prevalent, so widespread, it seemed salubrious to the author to show - without seeking to demonstrate - through the painting of an aesthetic reality, that if a historical moment has given rise to debate and division within the same class, then nothing is more absurd - or more specious - than the claim to unanimity within an entire people. Against the schizophrenic false identification, attempting to grasp the totality appears to be the only way to confront totalitarianism, which is, as those who denounce it pretend to ignore in order to exonerate themselves, THE PART THAT TAKES ITSELF FOR THE WHOLE. On stage, Molière, Brecht, Kateb, Alloula and others play out history... against a backdrop of burgundy-red curtains, where a dialogue of the deaf imposes blindness on the actors in action. Far from the imposing “noise” of movement, La scène et l'histoire, like a “socio-temporal” filter, sets the historical record straight: curtain up. Theater teacher Nadji, on the lookout for the old days, Rahim and Lamia, the pretenders of a politically better future, and all the others... followers of culture, that's us..., (are) beating the floor of the present.
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March 2020Lang Lang's Mysterious Mailbox
by Qin Wenjun
This book is a classic work of teacher Qin Wenjun. Early in the morning, the doorbell of the Lang Lang family mysteriously rang three times. Immediately afterwards, Xie Wei, who was said to have obtained the magic of the seventeenth sycamore tree, accurately told the "secret" of Lang Lang and Lang Silin. The "wolf thighs" (Lang Lang and Lang Silin) who felt that they were being teased decided to give Xie Wei a good lesson. Unfortunately, they ran into a bad boy "Kao" in the bathroom, and they were targeted by Kiri from that on. This book has an emotional and artistic charm that can frequently strike the reader's heartstrings, warmly guiding children to a positive life path.
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Modern & contemporary fiction (post c 1945)2016Night swimming in August
by Serhiy Osoka
Serhiy Osoka’s first prose collection is about real-life stories and images of those who survived a hunger strike in their childhood or youth and experience other misfortunes in old age: illnesses, impotence, obduracy, hopelessness, misunderstanding, alienation. The author masterfully puts them in relationships with children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren - still inexperienced and sometimes arrogant. These connections sealed by invisible, inconspicuous love deeply touch the reader, returning him to his own experience. Graphic realism and a thin line of mysticism, the unconscious desire for love and the awareness of love temptations transience, the beauty of youth and foulness of old age, the torments of realization and bitterness of disappointments - everything harmonizes in the repetition of words on the strong thread of the idea.
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Humanities & Social SciencesSeptember 2013Crisis? What crisis?
The Callaghan government and the British ‘winter of discontent’
by John Shepherd
Over thirty years later, the 'winter of discontent' of 1978-79 still resonates in British politics. On 22 January 1979, 1.5 million workers were on strike. Industrial unrest swept Britain in an Arctic winter. Militant shop stewards blocked medical supplies to hospitals; mountains of rubbish remained uncollected; striking road hauliers threatened to bring the country to a standstill; even the dead were left unburied. Within weeks, the beleaguered Callaghan Labour government fell from power. In the 1979 general election, Margaret Thatcher became Prime Minister, beginning eighteen years of unbroken Conservative rule. Based on a wide range of newly available historical sources and key interviews, this full-length account breaks new ground, analysing the origins, character and impact of a turbulent period of industrial unrest. This important study will appeal to all those interested in contemporary history and British politics. ;
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December 2018flight Close to the ground : a record of the development of maglev transportation in China
by Wang Woweng
This book is a documentary work about the independent innovation of maglev transportation in China. The author of this book has been following the progress of maglev transportation for more than 20 years, and has written this book on the basis of collecting a large number of relevant data and interviewing relevant experts, professors and engineering technicians. The book focuses on the innovation and engineering, industrial research and development, promotion and application of Maglev Transportation Technology in China. It shows that the innovation team with the University of national defense science and technology and CRRC Zhuji Co., Ltd. as the main body started from scratch and took the road of military civilian integration development. After 37 years of unremitting efforts, the book has finally realized the engineering and production of medium and low speed maglev trains in China The course of successful industrialization practice.
