Manthropology: The Science of Why the Modern Male Is Not the Man He Used to Be Review

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Manthropology: The Science of Why the Modern Male Is Not the Man He Used to Be Feature

Manthropology is the first of its kind. Spanning continents and centuries, it is an in-depth look into the history and science of manliness. From speed and strength, to beauty and sex appeal, to bravado and wit, it examines how man today compares to his masculine ancestors.

Peter McAllister set out to rebut the claim that man today is suffering from feminization and emasculation. He planned to use his skills as a paleoanthropologist and journalist to write a book demonstrating unequivocally that man today is a triumph---the result of a hard-fought evolutionary struggle toward greatness.

As you will see, he failed. In nearly every category of manliness, modern man turned out to be not just matched, but bested, by his ancestors. Stung, McAllister embarked on a new mission. If his book couldn’t be a testament to modern male achievement, he decided, it would be a record of his failures.

Manthropology, then, is a globe-spanning tour of the science of masculinity. It kicks off in Ice Age France, where a biomechanical analysis demonstrates that La Ferrassie 2, a Neanderthal woman discovered in the early 1900s, would cream 2004 World Arm Wrestling Federation champion Alexey Voyevoda in an arm wrestle. Then it moves on to medieval Serbia, showing how Slavic guslar poets (who were famously able to repeat a two thousand-line verse after just one hearing) would have destroyed Curtis Jackson, aka 50 Cent, in a battle rap. Finally, it takes the reader to the steaming jungles of modern equatorial Africa, where Aka Pygmy men are such super-dads, they even grow breasts to suckle their children. Now, that’s commitment.

For modern man, the results of these investigations aren’t always pretty. But in its look at the history of men, Manthropology is unfailingly smart, informative, surprising, and entertaining.

 

                      ***

HOW DOES MODERN MAN STACK UP?

Russian arm wrestling champion Alexey Voyevoda has a twenty-two-inch bicep and has curled more than two hundred and fifty pounds---with just one arm. But could he stand up in an arm wrestling match with an average Neanderthal male? Or, for that matter, a female? (p. 10)

                      ***

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The Battle of Ap Bac, Vietnam: They Did Everything but Learn from It (Contributions in Military Studies)

The Battle of Ap Bac, Vietnam: They Did Everything but Learn from It (Contributions in Military Studies) Review

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The Battle of Ap Bac, Vietnam: They Did Everything but Learn from It (Contributions in Military Studies) Feature

Toczek provides the first description of the entire battle of Ap Bac and places it in the larger context of the Vietnam War. The study thoroughly examines the January 1963 battle, complete with detailed supporting maps. Ironically, Ap Bac's great importance lies in American policymakers' perception of the battle as unimportant; for all their intelligence and drive, senior American government officials missed the early warning signs of a flawed policy in Southeast Asia by ignoring the lessons of the defeat of the South Vietnamese Army (ARVN) on 2 January 1963. The outcome of Ap Bac was a direct reflection of how the U.S. Army organized, equipped, and trained the ARVN. With all the ARVN officer corps's shortcomings, the South Vietnamese Army could not successfully conduct an American combined arms operations against a smaller, less well-equipped enemy. American leadership, both military and civilian, failed to draw any connection between ARVN's dismal performance and American policies toward South Vietnam. Although certain tactical changes resulted from the battle, the larger issue of American policy remained unchanged, including the structure of the advisory system.

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Direct Action: Radical Pacifism from the Union Eight to the Chicago Seven

Direct Action: Radical Pacifism from the Union Eight to the Chicago Seven Review

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Direct Action: Radical Pacifism from the Union Eight to the Chicago Seven Feature

Direct Action tells the story of how a small group of "radical pacifists"—nonviolent activists such as David Dellinger, Staughton Lynd, A.J. Muste, and Bayard Rustin—played a major role in the rebirth of American radicalism and social protest in the 1950s and 1960s. Coming together in the camps and prisons where conscientious objectors were placed during World War II, radical pacifists developed an experimental protest style that emphasized media-savvy, symbolic confrontation with institutions deemed oppressive. Due to their tactical commitment to nonviolent direct action, they became the principal interpreters of Gandhism on the American Left, and indelibly stamped postwar America with their methods and ethos. Genealogies of the Civil Rights, antiwar, and antinuclear movements in this period are incomplete without understanding the history of radical pacifism.

Taking us through the Vietnam war protests, this detailed treatment of radical pacifism reveals the strengths and limitations of American individualism in the modern era.

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A Dictionary of Critical Theory (Oxford Paperback Reference)

A Dictionary of Critical Theory (Oxford Paperback Reference) Review

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A Dictionary of Critical Theory (Oxford Paperback Reference) Feature

Boasting more than 750 entries, this is the most wide-ranging and up-to-date dictionary of critical theory available, covering the whole range of critical theory, including the Frankfurt school, cultural materialism, cultural studies, gender studies, film studies, literary theory, hermeneutics, historical materialism, internet studies, sociopolitical critical theory, and much more. Entries clearly explain even the most complex of theoretical discourses, such as Marxism, psychoanalysis, structuralism, deconstruction, and postmodernism. There are biographies of important figures in the field, with feature entries for those who have heavily influenced areas of the discipline. Entries are fully cross-referenced and contain further reading where appropriate. To provide relevant extra information, this edition features recommended web links for many entries, accessible via the Dictionary of Critical Theory companion website, where they are checked regularly and kept up to date. Covering all aspects of the subject from globalization and race studies, to queer theory and feminism, this multidisciplinary A-Z is essential for students of literary and cultural studies and is useful for anyone studying a subject requiring a knowledge of theory.

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Dragon Strike

Dragon Strike Review

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Dragon Strike Feature

The deafening roar of Chinese Air Force SU-27 Flankers shreds the tranquility of the gathering dawn. Within minutes burning phosphorus, shrapnel, and delayed action mines have ripped apart the main naval base at Cam Ranh Bay. Operation Dragonstrike has begun.

By the end of the 20th century, China had grown from one of the most impoverished, technologically-destitute nations of the world, to a regional superpower with global ambitions--ambitions that some in the Chinese government will stop at nothing to achieve.

When a desperate China, weakened by the economic turmoil in Asia, seizes the oil-rich South China Sea, it ignites a furious conflict with Vietnamese and Taiwanese forces. As U.S. and British task forces arrive to impose order, the Chinese strike first, sinking U.S. warships and killing hundreds. Suddenly, Americans finds themselves fighting a desperate battle on, above, and beneath the ocean: F-14's rocket through missile-choked skies, naval officers frantically try to outmaneuver the Chinese Navy, and SEAL teams fight a brutal action against elite Chinese Marine commandos. Diplomacy proves useless as the conflagration in the South China Sea threatens to engulf the entire world.

Four days later, American satellites detect Chinese nuclear missiles being prepared for launch.

From its riveting description of a tense submarine duel beneath the surface to its compelling portraits of men under fire, Dragon Strike offers a gripping portrayal of the fury of modern warfare. A military thriller in the tradition of Tom Clancy's Red Storm Rising, Dragon Strike grabs hold and doesn't let up until the final page.

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Cities and the Wealth of Nations

Cities and the Wealth of Nations Review

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Cities and the Wealth of Nations Feature

"Learned, iconoclastic and exciting...Jacobs' diagnosis of the decay of cities in an increasingly integrated world economy is on the mark."—New York Times Book Review

"Jacobs' book is inspired, idiosyncratic and personal...It is written with verve and humor; for a work of embattled theory, it is wonderfully concrete, and its leaps are breathtaking."—Los Angeles Times

"Not only comprehensible but entertaining...Like Mrs. Jacobs' other books, it offers a concrete approach to an abstract and elusive subject. That, all by itself, makes for an intoxicating experience."—New York Times

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Immaculate Warfare: Participants Reflect on the Air Campaigns over Kosovo, Afghanistan, and Iraq

Immaculate Warfare: Participants Reflect on the Air Campaigns over Kosovo, Afghanistan, and Iraq Review

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Immaculate Warfare: Participants Reflect on the Air Campaigns over Kosovo, Afghanistan, and Iraq Feature

When the gun-camera footage from air strikes during the Gulf War reached America's television screens, people awoke to the astonishing accuracy and power of "smart weapons." Yet ten years' experience has taught what these remarkable weapons can and cannot do, and now, as American policy makers look to them to win the global war on terrorism, it is essential to understand the promise and the limits of "immaculate warfare." This volume of essays-written by military officers who analyzed the intelligence, planned the missions, and flew the planes over Iraq, Kosovo, and Afghanistan-offers the most penetrating look to date at the realities of American precision air power. Topics include:

The political context of using force from the air

The theoretical considerations involved in the use of air power to coerce an enemy

An insider's view from General Clark's headquarters as he commanded the Kosovo war effort

The tensions between civilian and military leaderships during the Kosovo war

Precision weapons and the paradoxes their use involves

The debate surrounding when precision weapons ought to be employed

And more

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