Other books that might interest you

• 

  Unterstadt - A Novel

  Ivana Šojat

  • 1
  • 0
  • 0

  The novel Unterstadt tells the story of an urban family of German origin living in Osijek from the end of the nineteenth till the end of the twentieth century. It is narrated through the portrayal of the destinies of four generations of women – a great grandmother, a grandmother, mother, and a daughter – their shattered illusions, the education of their children, the historical events that brutally lash out at them.
   
  Ivana Šojat creates a world rich in detail and nuance, all her characters, both major and minor, are expressive and suggestive, abundant in virtues and flaws, complex and multidimensional, as life itself is. By depicting a clash of generations through the female characters of a family, the author creates a world in which, often due to bizarre strokes of fate or wrongly selected life-cards, both horrible and beautiful events occur. Yet the central theme, running through all the generations and all the characters, is that of hiding away from the past, fleeing from it, concealing it, which sooner or later leads to traumas and misunderstandings.
   
  Unterstadt is a book about a family and a town, written in the manner of the best and greatest modernist novels. Through the history of one family, it speaks of the twentieth century in a multiethnic town, of dictatorships, of wrongly selected sides, of fate which one can hardly defy.Unterstadt reveals the richness of Ivana Šojat’s narrative talent, and it is thus not surprising that she has emerged as one of the most interesting writers of contemporary Croatian prose.
   
  The book Understadt was published as part of the Growing Together project, co-financed by the European Union.

  Show book

• 

  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.

  Show book

• 

  Nazca Civilization - The...

  Rolf Hedger

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  The Nazca civilization emerged along the southern coast of present-day Peru, a harsh and arid region that required ingenuity and adaptation for survival. Flourishing between approximately 100 BCE and 800 CE, the Nazca people built upon the cultural and technological advancements of their predecessors, most notably the Paracas culture. The transition from the Paracas to the Nazca was marked by shifts in artistic expression, religious practices, and innovations in agriculture that allowed the new civilization to thrive in the desert landscape. 
  One of the defining characteristics of the Nazca civilization was its ability to adapt to the unforgiving environment. The region’s climate was dry, with little rainfall, yet the Nazca found ways to harness the limited water supply to sustain their agricultural economy. They engineered underground aqueducts known as puquios, a sophisticated irrigation system that transported water from underground sources to the surface, ensuring a steady supply for crops. This ingenuity allowed them to cultivate maize, beans, squash, and cotton, which became essential to their diet and economy. 
  The Nazca culture was also shaped by its geography. The valleys of the Rio Grande de Nazca provided fertile land where the civilization’s settlements and ceremonial centers flourished. Unlike the grand urban centers of the Andean highlands, the Nazca people lived in smaller, dispersed communities that relied on a combination of agriculture and trade. These communities were connected by a shared cultural and religious framework that revolved around the worship of powerful deities linked to nature, fertility, and water.

  Show book

• 

  American Revolution - The...

  Kelly Mass

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  Between 1765 to 1791, the American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution in British America. In the American Revolutionary War (between 1775 to 1783), the Americans in the Thirteen Groups established sovereign countries that beat the British, getting independence from the British Crown and establishing the USA of America, the first modern-day constitutional liberal democracy. 
  The tax of American settlers by the British Parliament, a body in which they had no direct representation, provided contention. Before the 1760s, Britain's American groups kept a great degree of internal autonomy, which was managed by colonist legislatures on a regional level. The Stamp Act of 1765 enforced internal taxes on the groups, leading to colonist outrage and the development of the Stamp Act Congress, which united members from different provinces. Stress reduced after the British rescinded the Stamp Act but flared again when the Townshend Acts were passed in the year 1767. In the year 1768, the British federal government dispatched soldiers to Boston to stop discontent, which led to the Boston Massacre in the year 1770. 
  This is the book you would have to read to learn more about the American Revolution. Go ahead and continue.

  Show book

• 

  Reconceptions - Modern...

  Rachel Lehmann-Haupt

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  Traditional family structures are adapting to make room for children conceived in previously unimaginable ways. Whole industries and internet-enabled communities are being built around reproductive technologies. And there's more change coming as science continues to move forward. Combining intimate personal stories with cutting-edge research, Reconceptions invites listeners to reconsider their own ideas about parenthood and embrace a new vision of the meaning of family. 
   
   
   
  In 2012, Rachel Lehmann-Haupt, an award-winning journalist, chose to begin a family on her own as a single mother by choice. In the years since her son was born, Rachel's interest in collaborative reproduction has only grown—leading her to search for pioneers in reproductive science and the different permutations of families that this science is making possible. In Reconceptions, she shares intimate stories from the bleeding edge of society's redefinition of family—including her own experience of creating a new kind of tribe with her son's donor siblings, and their parents. 
   
   
   
  Reconceptions offers a compelling vision of what advances in reproductive science mean for the definition of family in the twenty-first century and beyond and imparts a modern story for anyone looking to better understand their own familial relationships—no matter what their family looks like.

  Show book

• 

  The Iranian Hostage Crisis - A...

  Nova Ashford

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  The Iran Hostage Crisis did not emerge in isolation but was the culmination of a series of events that built tension between the United States and Iran over the course of several years. At the heart of this turmoil was the downfall of the Pahlavi monarchy and the rise of the Islamic Republic, a shift that drastically altered Iran's relationship with the West. The turning point came in 1979 when the Iranian Revolution ousted the U.S.-backed Shah, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, and brought Ayatollah Khomeini to power. While the revolution was a victory for many Iranians seeking an end to decades of autocratic rule and foreign influence, it created an atmosphere of political uncertainty, particularly regarding U.S.-Iranian relations. 
  The United States had long supported the Shah, who was seen as a crucial ally in the Middle East during the Cold War. In return, the Shah implemented policies that favored American economic and military interests, while also suppressing dissent within Iran. However, his reign became increasingly unpopular among Iranians, particularly the religious clerics and the working class, who viewed his modernization policies as an imposition of Western culture and values. By 1978, protests and demonstrations had erupted across Iran, eventually leading to the Shah’s exile in January 1979. 
  In the wake of the Shah’s departure, Iran underwent a dramatic transformation. The revolutionary movement, initially diverse in its goals, quickly coalesced under Khomeini’s leadership. Khomeini’s vision of an Islamic Republic, where political power was rooted in Shi’a religious authority, resonated with a wide segment of the population. His rhetoric condemned not only the Shah’s regime but also U.S. imperialism, which was seen as a driving force behind Iran’s oppressive system. Khomeini’s calls for a return to Islamic principles and the removal of foreign influence became central tenets of the revolution.

  Show book