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  12 Who Don't Agree - The Battle...

  Valery Panyushkin

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  “Portraits of a group of mostly young Muscovites . . . Some of [Panyushkin’s] sketches are political fables of inspiring selflessness and courage” (Star Tribune).   In Twelve Who Don’t Agree, journalist Valery Panyushkin profiles twelve Russians from across the country’s social spectrum, including: a politician, a journalist, an army officer, an author, a bank manager, a laborer, and a university student. Despite varied backgrounds, they all have one thing in common: participation in 2007’s historic March of the Dissidents. Though each of these men and women had personal reasons for joining the demonstration, they shared a belief that the government of Vladimir Putin was betraying the promise of Russia’s future.   Risking the threats and violent retaliation inflicted upon Russian journalists who dare to question the powers that be, Panyushkin boldly illuminates the lives and convictions of these twelve men and women. Their stories reveal how a growing commitment to human rights, equality, the principals of decency and fairness can transform one into a dissident in the eyes of a ruling class that does not value those same principles. And in today’s Russia the dissidents’ journey is one from which there is often no return.   “Panyushkin reveals a great deal about post-Soviet Russia and the kinds of constraints on freedom that most citizens still live with and try to work around. . . . [He] writes in vivid tableaux.” —Los Angeles Times   “His compassionate yet candid outlook lends poignancy to individual portraits, with inflections of wisdom and occasional humor. Remaining defiant in the face of oppression, it is a testament to Panyushkin’s talent that the plight of those involved is what ultimately resonates.” —Publishers Weekly

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  HMS Fearless - The Mighty Lion

  Ewen Southby-Tailyour

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  The Seventh ship to bear the name, the Assault Ship and Commando Carrier HMS Fearless was first commissioned in 1965. Over the next 37 years she was seldom far from the actions in which British forces were engaged world-wide, be they in Aden, Malaysia and Borneo, Northern Ireland, the Cold War (Norway), South Rhodesia, Falklands, the Gulf, Afghanistan and so on. Thousands of sailors, Royal Marines and soldiers served on board over her 19 commissions. Now paid off, Fearless has a great story to tell and the Author, a former senior Royal Marine who knows her well, is superbly qualified to tell it.

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  The Plots Against Hitler

  Danny Orbach

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  The first definitive account of the anti-Nazi underground in Germany: “Superb” (Publishers Weekly).   In 1933, Adolf Hitler became chancellor of Germany. A year later, all political parties but the Nazis had been outlawed, freedom of the press was but a memory, and Hitler’s dominance seemed complete. Yet over the next few years, an unlikely cadre of conspirators emerged—schoolteachers, politicians, theologians, even a carpenter—who would try repeatedly to end the Führer’s genocidal reign. This dramatic account is history at its most suspenseful, revealing the full story of those noble, ingenious, but ultimately failed efforts.   Orbach’s fresh research offers profound new insight into the conspirators’ methods, motivations, fears, and hopes. We’ve had no idea until now how close they came—several times—to succeeding. The Plots Against Hitler fundamentally alters our view of World War II and sheds bright—even redemptive—light on its darkest days.   “A riveting narrative of the organization, conspiracy, and sacrifices made by those who led the resistance against Hitler. Orbach deftly analyzes the mixed motives, moral ambiguities and organizational vulnerability that marked their work, while reminding us forcefully of their essential bravery and rightness. And he challenges us to ask whether we would have summoned the same courage.” —Charles S. Maier, professor of history, Harvard University, and author of Among Empires   “[A] gripping look at a historical counternarrative that remains relevant and disturbing.” —Kirkus Reviews

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  The Petroleum Papers - Inside...

  Geoff Dembicki

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  Burning fossil fuels will cause catastrophic global warming: this is what top American oil executives were told by scientists in 1959. But they ignored that warning. Instead, they developed one of the biggest, most polluting oil sources in the world—the oil sands in Alberta, Canada. As investigative journalist Geoff Dembicki reveals in this explosive book, the decades-long conspiracy to keep the oil sands flowing into the US would turn out to be one of the biggest reasons for the world's failure to stop the climate crisis.In The Petroleum Papers, Dembicki draws from confidential oil industry documents to uncover for the first time how companies like Exxon, Koch Industries, and Shell built a global right-wing echo chamber to protect oil sands profits—a misinformation campaign that continues to this day. He also tells the high-stakes stories of people fighting back: a Seattle lawyer who brought down Big Tobacco and is now going after Big Oil, a Filipina activist whose family drowned in a climate disaster, and a former Exxon engineer pushed out for asking hard questions.With experts now warning we have less than a decade to get global emissions under control, The Petroleum Papers provides a step-by-step account of how we got to this precipice—and the politicians and companies who deserve our blame.

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  Private Censorship

  J.P. Messina

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  Concerns about censorship have once again reached a fever pitch across the liberal West. With a few notable exceptions, complaints about censorship in the twenty-first century West are complaints about the behavior of private parties: employers, media conglomerates, social media platforms, and search engines.To better understand the concerns surrounding nonstate interference with speech, Private Censorship offers an account of censorship, as well as an assessment of the ethical and political issues it raises across contexts. J. P. Messina asks and variously answers questions like: what should we think when employees get fired for things they say and how might patterns of such firings create a climate of fear inimical to free inquiry? When is it appropriate for social media firms to deplatform users, and what does it mean for our democracy that those in charge of such decisions are often wealthy Silicon Valley executives? Do search engines act as massive gatekeepers to information in troubling ways, and how might they be constrained, if they do? Along the way, Messina casts a critical eye on many popular proposals for responding to these complaints. Unlike these popular approaches, Private Censorship foregrounds the importance of rights to property, association, and free expression for thinking well about twenty-first century censorship concerns.

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  Secret War - The Story of SOE...

  Nigel West

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  The author of The Kompromat Conspiracy reveals the truth behind Great Britain’s secret World War II group.   What did SOE really achieve during the Second World War? Why were so many agents parachuted into enemy hands? Who chose to back Communist guerrillas in Yugoslavia, Hungary, Romania, Albania, Greece and Malaya in preference to other anti-Axis movements? In this newly revised edition, Nigel West strips away the secrecy that has surrounded the Special Operations Executive since it was officially wound up in 1946, and reveal the breathtaking political naivety, operational incompetence, and ruthless manipulation. Despite the heroism of individual agents who suffered appalling privation to further the organization’s dubious objectives, there is an underlying tragedy of dreadful proportions.  Secret War is a detailed analysis of SOE’s structure and performance and describes its successes and failures across the globe. The book casts doubt on the official histories authorized by the Cabinet Office, offers evidence of the setbacks that jeopardized D-Day, and gives an account of the paramilitary units dropped behind enemy lines immediately after the invasion, which saved SOE’s reputation.   This book is a highly provocative but authoritative history of the organization that existed for less than six years but had a lasting impact on the world’s postwar development.   “Secret War is important, even necessary in political terms.” —Financial Times

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