Understanding American Government: The Essentials

Understanding American Government: The Essentials Review

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Understanding American Government: The Essentials Feature

UNDERSTANDING AMERICAN GOVERNMENT: THE ESSENTIALS is a streamlined and highly accessible new text that offers a comprehensive introduction to American government in a condensed, affordable edition designed for today's busy students and instructors. Based on the popular award-winning UNDERSTANDING AMERICAN GOVERNMENT--now in its 11th edition--the text incorporates the same proven methodology; powerful teaching tools; and detailed, up-to-date research within a focused framework likely to appeal to even the most reluctant readers. In this lively, enjoyable text, exploration of important current issues such as diversity and minority rights complements effective coverage of the basic history, institutions, and processes of American government.

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The Park Chung Hee Era: The Transformation of South Korea

The Park Chung Hee Era: The Transformation of South Korea Review

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The Park Chung Hee Era: The Transformation of South Korea Feature

In 1959 South Korea was mired in poverty. By 1979 it had a powerful industrial economy and a vibrant civil society in the making, which would lead to a democratic breakthrough eight years later. The transformation took place during the years of Park Chung Hee’s presidency. Park seized power in a coup in 1961 and ruled as a virtual dictator until his assassination in October 1979. He is credited with modernizing South Korea, but at a huge political and social cost.

South Korea’s political landscape under Park defies easy categorization. The state was predatory yet technocratic, reform-minded yet quick to crack down on dissidents in the name of political order. The nation was balanced uneasily between opposition forces calling for democratic reforms and the Park government’s obsession with economic growth. The chaebol (a powerful conglomerate of multinationals based in South Korea) received massive government support to pioneer new growth industries, even as a nationwide campaign of economic shock therapy—interest hikes, devaluation, and wage cuts—met strong public resistance and caused considerable hardship.

This landmark volume examines South Korea’s era of development as a study in the complex politics of modernization. Drawing on an extraordinary range of sources in both English and Korean, these essays recover and contextualize many of the ambiguities in South Korea’s trajectory from poverty to a sustainable high rate of economic growth.

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Verdict! In Search of a Crime: Legend Is What Is Told When A Story's Truth Is Too Dangerous

Verdict! In Search of a Crime: Legend Is What Is Told When A Story's Truth Is Too Dangerous Review

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Verdict! In Search of a Crime: Legend Is What Is Told When A Story's Truth Is Too Dangerous Feature

AN EPIC TALE OF A MODERN DAY DAVID AGAINST A SEEMINGLY INVINCIBLE GOLIATH In a prior life, Christian Brice lived in the world of military espionage Black Ops. A trained shooter, a killer, an assassin, he lived a life that was solitary, trusting only a few select individuals. When Christian was on his missions, he trusted even fewer. His targets were never personal and there was no hatred in him, just a sense of duty. Christian repeatedly carried out his duties to the letter, until he was assigned to take out an NVA Colonel and rescue a captured American, CIA Section Leader - Spook - John Cockney. John Cockney is the only man Christian has ever hated. Cockney is a traitor and murderer, selling weapons, secrets and illegal drugs to the enemy, for personal gain. With his Vietnam duty behind him, and now in private life, Christian has sworn himself to a new mission, a righteous mission, to expose Senator John Cockney, who is now running for President. Christian is framed, sentenced to prison, losing his family and former life in the process. Using a new identity, Christian Brice starts his new life as Raymond Miller, a journalist living in a secluded community in Colorado. When Senator Cockney is kidnapped in Vietnam by terrorists, only days before the national elections, there's only one man that can carry out a rescue, but he's officially dead. Having kept his aging body in condition, Raymond is commissioned to go back into the jungle to once again rescue his archenemy. This struggle is tantamount to the culmination of his life struggle to right a wrong, and perhaps prevent America from starting World War Three.

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The Age of Great Dreams: America in the 1960s (American Century Series)

The Age of Great Dreams: America in the 1960s (American Century Series) Review

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The Age of Great Dreams: America in the 1960s (American Century Series) Feature

In this book, David Farber grounds our understanding of the extraordinary history of the 1960s by linking the events of that era to our country's grand projects of previous decades. Farber's important study, based on years of research in archives and oral histories as well as in historical literature, explores Vietnam, the Civil Rights Act, the War on Poverty, the entertainment business, the drug culture, and much more.

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Defining and Achieving Decisive Victory

Defining and Achieving Decisive Victory Review

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Defining and Achieving Decisive Victory Feature

The idea of victory, let alone decisive victory, was very much out of style during the Cold War. The theory and practice of limited war in the nuclear age was more concerned to minimize the risks of escalation to nuclear holocaust than to win the conflict of the day. That changed dramatically with the end of the Cold War; indeed so much so that from 1991 to the present, with the painful exception of Somalia, the United States has known nothing but victory in its exercise of military power. The author challenges the view that war lacks the power of decision, arguing instead that war, even when not concluding with clear success for one side, still has the power of decision. This monograph discusses the idea of decisive victory with reference to different levels of analysis the operational, strategic, and political. It is suggested that the concept of decisive victory needs to be supplemented by two ancillary concepts, strategic success and strategic advantage. The author explores the means and methods most conducive to achievement of decisive victory. He explains that objectively “better” armies tend to win (war may be the realm of chance, but the dice are loaded in favor of those who are militarily competent); that there is no magic formula which can guarantee victory (not even today’s information-led revolution in military affairs [RMA], which tends to equate precise firepower with war); that technology is not a panacea, the answer to all military and strategy difficulties; that the complexity of war and strategy allows for innovative, even asymmetrical, exercises in substitution as belligerents strive to emphasize strength and conceal weakness; and that it is essential to know your enemies, especially if you require them to cooperate in a deterrent or coercive relationship. The author concludes by arguing that the concept of decisive victory is meaningful and important. Also it advises that different enemies in different wars will require the application of different military means and methods. One size in military style will not fit all cases. Readers are recommended not to think of decisive victory in terms of a simple either/or. Strategic success or advantage may serve the goals of policy quite well enough. Finally, the point is made that, among Western states at least, the United States today is surely unique in being interested in the idea of and capability for decisive military victory. America’s European allies currently do not discern any serious military issues as clouds on their peaceful horizons.

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McGraw-Hill's GED Social Studies Workbook

McGraw-Hill's GED Social Studies Workbook Review

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McGraw-Hill's GED Social Studies Workbook Feature

Addresses the key change in the GED requiring both reading passages and analyzing related graphics.

Announcing the companion workbook series to the GED test series

Practice makes perfect with McGraw-Hill's updated GED Workbook series, which reflects the 2002 test guidelines. These workbooks provide invaluable hands-on experience for students as they tackle hundreds of GED format questions and check results against an answer key. Simulated test-taking situations boost not only content retention but also confidence for the big day. Ideal study guides for a student weak in a particular subject area or sitting for one GED test at a time, these activity books function as a companion to McGraw-Hill's GED Test titles and McGraw-Hill's GED.

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Vietnam the Necessary War: A Reinterpretation of America's Most Disastrous Military Conflict

Vietnam the Necessary War: A Reinterpretation of America's Most Disastrous Military Conflict Review

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Vietnam the Necessary War: A Reinterpretation of America's Most Disastrous Military Conflict Feature

One of America's leading intellectuals presents a startling and controversial thesis: that Vietnam was the right war at the right time, with the wrong military strategy. He also argues that the Cold War was the Third World War, with Korea, Indochina and Afghanistan among its major campaigns.

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