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  Conquistadors: The Lives and...

  Editors Charles River

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  During the Age of Exploration, some of the most famous and infamous individuals were Spain’s best known conquistadors. Naturally, as the best known conquistador, Hernán Cortés is also the most controversial. Like Christopher Columbus before him, Cortés was lionized for his successes for centuries without questioning his tactics or motives, while indigenous views of the man have been overwhelmingly negative for the consequences his conquests had on the Aztecs and other natives in the region. Just about the only thing everyone agrees upon is that Cortés had a profound impact on the history of North America. Of course, the lionization and demonization of Cortés often take place without fully analyzing the man himself, especially because there are almost no contemporaneous sources that explain what his thinking and motivation was. If anything, Cortés seemed to have been less concerned with posterity or the effects of the Spanish conquest on the natives than he was on relations with the Mother Country itself.  
  	If Columbus and Cortés were the pioneers of Spain’s new global empire, Pizarro consolidated its immense power and riches, and his successes inspired a further generation to expand Spain’s dominions to unheard of dimensions. Furthermore, he participated in the forging of a new culture: like Cortés, he took an indigenous mistress with whom he had two mixed-race children, and yet the woman has none of the lasting fame of Cortés’s Doña Marina. With all of this in mind, it is again remarkable that Pizarro remains one of the less well-known and less written about of the explorers of his age. On the other hand, there are certain factors that may account for the conqueror of Peru’s relative lack of lasting glory. Cortés’s reputation was built on being the first to overthrow a great empire, so Pizarro’s similar feat, even if it bore even greater fruit in the long run, would always be overshadowed by his predecessor’s precedent. 

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  Oracle of Dodona The: The...

  Editors Charles River

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  In ancient Greece, “no other practice was so universal than the consultation of oracles.” These holy sites were found in 260 locations around the Greek-speaking world, and they were considered the “most satisfactory means of ascertaining the future.” These sanctuaries were “set apart from the profane, ordinary world” and were in the beginning restricted to natural locations where the divine was thought to be “especially present.” They were set aside for special spiritual functions, and a state of purity was generally required of its participants. A historical tendency toward providing haven for criminals was based on the fear of shedding blood in a holy place, and the “fear that the evil magic would emanate from his curse.” 
  	Despite the interest in Greek oracles, modern knowledge remains limited in certain respects, because cult history has become so intertwined with mythology that the lines separating one from another have been nearly lost. Modern scholars studying the oracles have tried to pull the shroud of mythology away from historical facts to illuminate the realities of the Greek cults, but the job has often proved trickier than imagined. If anything, the work of scholars has deepened the mysticism of the oracles rather than dispel it, in large measure due to documenting fascinating and mysterious stories about them. For example, much has been written about natural vapors and fumes that may have caused psychoactive effects in petitioners at oracles. Modern civilizations at times employ this argument to excuse the supposed ignorance of the ancient Greeks, and in some cases, such vapors have been identified and may indeed explain the activities at certain oracles. However, archaeologist Jelle de Boer, intimately associated with some of the most iconic Greek oracles, cautioned that “something can be extra-natural without being outright supernatural.”

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  Family Abolition - Capitalism...

  M.E. O’Brien

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  For some of us, the family is a source of love and support. But for many others, the family is a place of private horror, coercion, and personal domination. In a capitalist society, the private family carries the impossible demands of interpersonal care and social reproductive labor. Can we imagine a different future? 
   
   
   
  In Family Abolition, author M. E. O'Brien uncovers the history of struggles to create radical alternatives to the private family. O'Brien traces the changing family politics of racial capitalism in the industrial cities of Europe and the slave plantations and settler frontier of North America, explaining the rise and fall of the housewife-based family form. From early Marxists to Black and queer insurrectionists to today's mass protest movements, O'Brien finds revolutionaries seeking better ways of loving, caring, and living. Family Abolition takes us through the past and present of family politics into a speculative future of the commune, imagining how care could be organized in a free society.

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  Narcissistic Abuse Recovery...

  Andy Gardner

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  Reclaim Your Life and Heal from Narcissistic Abuse! 
  Two Powerful Guides in One Audiobook:Narcissistic Abuse Recovery: A Guide to Reclaiming Your Life, Rebuilding Boundaries, and Rediscovering Your Authentic SelfNarcissistic Abuse Recovery Workbook: A Guided Journey to Healing, Reclaiming Your Power, and Thriving Beyond Toxic Relationships 
  What You’ll Find in Part One:Know the Signs: Discover the telltale signs of narcissistic abuse.Nurture Yourself: Learn essential self-care practices for mind, body, and spirit.Understand Narcissistic Tactics: See how narcissists manipulate their victims.Regain Your Power: Master strategies to rebuild self-esteem and reclaim your identity.Release Trauma: Explore healing techniques to release pain, anger, and trauma.Rebuild Trust: Uncover keys to developing fulfilling relationships. 
  Embark on a Life-Changing Journey with the Narcissistic Abuse Recovery Workbook:Discover Narcissism: Understand the traits and actions of narcissists to protect yourself.Empowerment Awaits: Turn your past into power and reclaim your identity.Tools Galore: Build a stronger you with emotional toolkits and self-care steps.Heal with Real Stories: Connect with narratives that echo your past and foretell a brighter future.Practical Exercises: Engage with exercises that transform theory into practice. 
  Click "Add to Cart" Now to Reclaim Your Life and Begin Your Journey to Healing and Empowerment!

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  The Road to Serfdom

  Friedrich Hayek

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  A classic work in political philosophy, intellectual history and economics, The Road to Serfdom has inspired and infuriated politicians and scholars for half a century. Originally published in 1944, it was seen as heretical for its passionate warning against the dangers of state control over the means of production. For Hayek, the collectivist idea of empowering government with increasing economic control would lead not to a utopia but to the horrors of Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy.

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  Young Lions

  Andrew Mackay

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  This is the story of two teenage British boys in a Britain occupied by the Germans, which is what might have happened if the Nazis had successfully carried out their plans to invade Britain under Operation Sea Lion in the 1940s. Alan Mitchell and Sam Roberts study at St. John's Academy in the fictional Cambridgeshire market town of Hereward. Their Home Guard unit is defeated and the Schutzstaffel (S.S.) massacres the prisoners but the boys escape and return to German occupied Hereward.

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