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  The Prince

  Paul Adams

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  The Prince (Italian: Il Principe) is a political treatise by the Italian diplomat, historian and political theorist Niccolò Machiavelli. The descriptions within The Prince have the general theme of accepting that ends of princes, such as glory, and indeed survival, can justify the use of immoral means to achieve those ends.    Machiavelli needs to be looked at as he really was. Hence: Can Machiavelli, who makes the following observations, be Machiavellian as we understand the disparaging term? 1. So it is that to know the nature of a people, one need be a Prince; to know the nature of a Prince, one need to be of the people. 2. If a Prince is not given to vices that make him hated, it is unsusal for his subjects to show their affection for him. 3. Opportunity made Moses, Cyrus, Romulus, Theseus, and others; their virtue domi-nated the opportunity, making their homelands noble and happy. Armed prophets win; the disarmed lose. 4. Without faith and religion, man achieves power but not glory. 5. Prominent citizens want to command and oppress; the populace only wants to be free of oppression. 6. A Prince needs a friendly populace; otherwise in diversity there is no hope. 7. A Prince, who rules as a man of valor, avoids disasters, 8. Nations based on mercenary forces will never be solid or secure. 9. Mercenaries are dangerous because of their cowardice 10. There are two ways to fight: one with laws, the other with force. The first is rightly man's way; the second, the way of beasts.

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  Women of the Third Reich - From...

  Tim Heath

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  “An intriguing, but also shocking insight into the thoughts of those young German women and how they saw their part in Hitler’s thousand-year Reich.” —Armorama 
   
  The women of the Third Reich were a vital part in a complex and vilified system. What was their role within its administration, the concentration camps, and the Luftwaffe and militia units and how did it evolve in the way it did? 
   
  We hear from women who issued typewritten dictates from above through to those who operated telephones, radar systems, fought fires as the cities burned around them, drove concentration camp inmates to their deaths like cattle, fired Anti-Aircraft guns at Allied aircraft and entered the militias when faced with the impending destruction of what should have been a one thousand-year Reich. 
   
  Every testimony is unique, each person a victim of circumstance entwined within the thorns of an ideological obligation. In an interview with Traudl Junge, Hitler’s private secretary, she remembers: ‘There was so much hatred within it’s hard to understand how the state functioned . . . I am convinced all this infighting and competition from the males in Hitler’s circle was highly detrimental to its downfall’. 
   
  Women of the Third Reich provides an intriguing, humorous, brutal, shocking and unrelenting narrative journey into the half lights of the hell of human consciousness—sometimes at its worst. 
   
  “Tim Heath investigated the experiences of women in Nazi Germany before and during World War II . . . What is special is that women speak candidly about their experiences, which were sometimes violent.” —Traces of War 
   
  “A fascinating book, chilling at times.” —Books Monthly

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  Before Brown - Heman Marion...

  Gary M. Lavergne

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  “Like Texas’s founding fathers, Sweatt fearlessly faced evil, and made Texas a better place. His story is our story, and Gary Lavergne tells it well.” –Paul Begala, political contributor, CNN  Winner of the Coral Horton Tullis Prize for Best Book of Texas History by the Texas State Historical Association  Winner of the Carr P. Collins Award for Best Work of Non-fiction by the Texas Institute of Letters   On February 26, 1946, an African American from Houston applied for admission to the University of Texas School of Law. Although he met all of the school’s academic qualifications, Heman Marion Sweatt was denied admission because he was black. He challenged the university’s decision in court, and the resulting case, Sweatt v. Painter, went to the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled in Sweatt’s favor.   In this engrossing, well-researched book, Gary M. Lavergne tells the fascinating story of Heman Sweatt’s struggle for justice and how it became a milestone for the civil rights movement. He reveals that Sweatt was a central player in a master plan conceived by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) for ending racial segregation in the United States. Lavergne masterfully describes how the NAACP used the Sweatt case to practically invalidate the “separate but equal” doctrine that had undergirded segregated education for decades. He also shows how the Sweatt case advanced the career of Thurgood Marshall, whose advocacy of Sweatt taught him valuable lessons that he used to win the Brown v. Board of Education case in 1954 and ultimately led to his becoming the first black Associate Justice of the Supreme Court.

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  Storm in the Desert - Britain's...

  Mark Muller Stuart

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  A “densely packed and invigorating account” of the diplomatic and political approaches prescribed during the Libyan revolution and the Benghazi attack (The Herald).   In this remarkable book, Mark Muller tells the story of British intervention in Libya and the Arab Spring from a unique civil society standpoint: he was there in Benghazi two weeks after the UN No-Fly Zone Resolution was passed, meeting with Rebel leaders to discuss how Western civil society might help them stabilize the country and resolve difficult legacy issues such as victim claims over Lockerbie and the supply of IRA Semtex.   In an age when Western governments have become risk averse and distrusted in the Middle East, Muller documents how non-state mediators, non-governmental organizations, journalists, artists and like-minded diplomats, such as assassinated US Ambassador Chris Stevens, explore ways to support democratic movements and promote human rights in one of the world’s most turbulent regions.  Storm in the Desert describes a dramatic story of revolution and also the murky but sometimes inspiring role successive British governments have played in trying to contain conflict in the region. It gives a unique insight into the world of diplomacy and power politics and the way they impact upon ordinary human lives, suggesting that it is civil society not government that ultimately stabilizes countries and unearths the truth about conflict and the ill-treatment of civilians at the hand of state forces.

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  The Political Mind - Why You...

  George Lakoff

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  In What's the Matter with Kansas? Thomas Frank pointed out that a great number of Americans actually vote against their own interests. In The Political Mind, George Lakoff explains why.As it turns out, human beings are not the rational creatures we've so long imagined ourselves to be. Ideas, morals, and values do not exist somewhere outside the body, ready to be examined and put to use. Instead, they exist quite literally inside the brain-and they take physical shape there. For example, we form particular kinds of narratives in our minds just like we form specific muscle memories such as typing or dancing, and then we fit new information into those narratives. Getting that information out of one narrative type and into another-or building a whole new narrative altogether-can be as hard as learning to play the banjo. Changing your mind isn't like changing your body-it's the same thing.But as long as progressive politicians and activists persist in believing that people use an objective system of reasoning to decide on their politics, the Democrats will continue to lose elections. They must wrest control of the terms of the debate from their opponents rather than accepting their frame and trying to argue within it.This passionate, erudite, and groundbreaking book will appeal to readers of Steven Pinker and Thomas Frank. It is a fascinating read for anyone interested in how the mind works, how society works, and how they work together.

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  FDR and the Evolution of an...

  Jeffrey Engel

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  One Day University presents a series of audio lectures recorded in real-time from some of the top minds in the United States. Given by award-winning professors and experts in their field, these recorded lectures dive deep into the worlds of religion, government, literature, and social justice. The United States stands for freedom. No politician dares say otherwise, lest they seek an early retirement. But what kind of freedom, precisely, and for whom? Franklin Roosevelt offered an answer in 1941. Believing the United States had a role to play in the battle against Nazi and fascist aggression already underway in Europe, he called Americans to arms to preserve their very freedoms. Four freedoms, to be exact: freedom of speech, freedom from want, freedom of religion, and freedom from fear. Roosevelt's words helped define American politics and foreign policy for generations, but the freedoms he desired are not necessarily those espoused today. He called for freedom from want, citing the need for universal health care in particular. Yet, contemporary Americans continue to struggle to find a universal sense of how much is too much. He called for freedom of speech, yet today we debate if that applies to corporations as well as people. He called for the freedom to worship, yet not every religion is universally embraced across the political spectrum. Finally, Roosevelt promised freedom from fear, and today Americans live as fearful of the future as ever. Americans live in the shadow of FDR, but as we ponder the country's future, and as we trace the evolution of our common understanding of this term from 1941 to our present day, we need to ask as well: if we stand for freedom, can we even define it?" This audio lecture includes a supplemental PDF.

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