D'autres livres qui pourraient vous intéresser

• 

  Over Here - How the GI Bill...

  Edward Humes

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  Extraordinary stories of ordinary men and women whose lives were changed forever by landmark legislation—and how they went on to change the country.   Inspiring war stories are familiar. But what about after-the-war stories? From a Pulitzer Prize–winning author, Over Here is the Greatest Generation’s after-the-war story—vivid portraits of how the original G.I. Bill empowered an entire generation and reinvented the nation. The G.I. Bill opened college education to the masses, transformed America from a nation of renters into a nation of homeowners, and enabled an era of prosperity never before seen in the world. Doctors, teachers, engineers, researchers, and Nobel Prize winners who had never considered college an option rewrote the American Dream thanks to this most visionary legislation.   “Vivid . . . Deeply moving, alive with the thrill of people from modest backgrounds discovering that the opportunities available to them were far greater than anything they had dreamed of.” —Los Angeles Times   “Poignant . . . The human dramas scattered throughout the narrative are irresistible.” —The Denver Post   “Fascinating . . . The book’s statistics are eye-opening, but it’s the numerous personal vignettes that bring this account to life. . . . At its best, these passages are reminiscent of Studs Terkel’s Depression-era and World War II oral histories.” —The Plain Dealer

  Voir livre

• 

  The Picnic - A Dream of Freedom...

  Matthew Longo

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  In August 1989, a group of Hungarian activists organized a picnic on the border of Hungary and Austria. But this was not an ordinary picnic—it was located on the dangerous militarized frontier known as the Iron Curtain. Tacit permission from the highest state authorities could be revoked at any moment. On wisps of rumor, thousands of East German "vacationers" packed Hungarian campgrounds, awaiting an opportunity, fearing prison, surveilled by lurking Stasi agents. The Pan-European Picnic set the stage for the greatest border breach in Cold War history: hundreds crossed from the Communist East to the longed-for freedom of the West.Drawing on dozens of original interviews, Matthew Longo tells a gripping and revelatory tale of the unraveling of the Iron Curtain and the birth of a new world order. Just a few months after the Picnic, the Berlin Wall fell, and the freedom for which the activists and refugees had risked imprisonment was suddenly available to everyone. But were they really free? And why, three decades since the Iron Curtain was torn down, have so many sought once again to build walls?Cinematically told, The Picnic recovers a time when it seemed possible for the world to change. With insight and panache, Longo explores the opportunities taken—and the opportunities we failed to take—in that pivotal moment.

  Voir livre

• 

  This Idea Must Die - Scientific...

  John Brockman

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  Each year, John Brockman, publisher of Edge.org, challenges some of the world's greatest scientists, artists, and philosophers to answer a provocative question crucial to our time. In 2014, he asked 175 brilliant minds to ponder: What scientific idea needs to be put aside in order to make room for new ideas to advance? The answers are as surprising as they are illuminating. In This Idea Must Die:    Steven Pinker dismantles the working theory of human behavior    Sherry Turkle reevaluates our expectations of artificial intelligence    Andrei Linde suggests that our universe and its laws may not be as unique as we think    Martin Rees explains why scientific understanding is a limitless goal    Nina Jablonski argues to rid ourselves of the concept of race    And much more.Profound, engaging, thoughtful, and groundbreaking, This Idea Must Die will change your perceptions and understanding of our world today . . . and tomorrow.

  Voir livre

• 

  Adopt Adapt Achieve: An Amazing...

  Ephraim Osaghae

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  Written for all ages and cultural backgrounds, this extraordinary story takes less than three hours of listening time, but the insights can last a lifetime, with knowledge you can hand down to future generations. 
  This book reveals hard and unknown truths about relocation, change and integration. And focuses on crucial tactics to Adopt and Adapt to Achieve your goals for the big move. 
  The author of the book writes from two decades of personal experiences and research in relocating from Africa to Australia - the many successes to enjoy, the pitfalls to avoid, and principles for guidance. The narrative includes snippets from his in-depth interactions with diverse members of the community including immigrants, students, professionals, locals, service providers, workers, business people, government officials, and policymakers. 
  When you know the real stories of real people, you can prepare yourself better on how to deal with change. You can be careful not to repeat mistakes and go on with less stress and more success in your journey even as you consider your family, career and healthy ageing. 
  There is so much that is different about the Western world. As migrants, we need to shift our mindsets and approaches if we are to integrate well. Everything from our socio-cultural practices - such as disciplining children - to our geopolitical outlook, needs to be revisited. But even so, we need to maintain a balance - not forgetting our roots, culture and heritage. 
  Non-immigrants will find useful hints and tips in reading this book given the increasing need for cultural integration in our schools, workplaces, neighbourhoods and communities.

  Voir livre

• 

  Democracy Unmoored - Populism...

  Samuel Issacharoff

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  The 2016 election of Donald Trump focused people's minds on populism, and most of the attention paid to the subject since has been on the threat it poses to wealthy democracies. In Democracy Unmoored, Samuel Issacharoff takes a far wider-angle view of the phenomenon, covering countries from across the globe: Brazil, Poland, Argentina, Turkey, India, Hungary, Venezuela, and more. Just as importantly, he focuses on populism's attack on the institutions of governance. Democracy requires two critical features: first, a commitment to repeat play such that political actors understand that what goes around comes around; and, second, institutional constraints so that the majority can prevail, albeit not by too much. Democracies must avoid the doomsday scenario in which the contending parties see the next election as the final choice between salvation and perdition. Issacharoff shows how populist governance undermines each of these two critical underpinnings of stable democracy, first by compressing the time horizon to the immediate, and second by eroding institutional constraints on strongman rule. At the same time, Issacharoff highlights the fact that ascendent populists were pushing in an open door as they found democracies in states of disrepair in the post-2008 world.

  Voir livre

• 

  Remembering the World Wars in...

  Charles River Editors

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  There is extensive empirical literature about memorialization, but very little theory despite the fact people have been commemorating events for millennia. The term is generally understood to mean the practices and behaviors used to commemorate those who died in a traumatic event such as a war, and these practices may involve statues, graveyards, museums, the naming of streets and buildings, awards of medals or colors, anniversaries, literature, art, music, and dress codes. This list is not exhaustive, and not all these methods will necessarily be used to memorialize any given event. Practices and behaviors are sometimes culturally specific and have evolved over time but are nearly always conceived solely in terms of commemorating the dead. 
  	At the same time, nations can memorialize sacrifices made in war by the way they care for those left in limbo between life and death, such as the wounded and the bereaved. Similarly, nations can memorialize the dead by reforming their postwar economy and society in order to show that sacrifices had not been made in vain. The differences in the extent to which these forms of memorialization were carried out successfully have been crucial to the formation of different social memories of the world wars in Britain. 
  	The commemoration of World War I and World War II have received a great deal of attention in recent years, especially coinciding with the centenary of World War I, but social memory as a historical study is still in its infancy, despite the fact societies have been commemorating important events for as long as societies have existed. In fact, it’s clear at first glance that World War I and World War II are memorialized similarly in some respects, but quite differently in others, even as the emphasis of remembrances gradually shifted away from individual and community memorials to state sponsored national commemorations.

  Voir livre