Otros libros que te pueden interesar

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  The Two-Parent Privilege - How...

  Melissa S. Kearney

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  In The Two-Parent Privilege, Melissa S. Kearney makes a data-driven case for marriage by showing how the institution's decline has led to a host of economic woes—problems that have fractured American society and rendered vulnerable populations even more vulnerable. Eschewing the religious and values-based arguments that have long dominated this conversation, Kearney shows how the greatest impacts of marriage are, in fact, economic: when two adults marry, their economic and household lives improve, offering a host of benefits not only for the married adults but for their children. Studies show that these effects are today starker, and more unevenly distributed, than ever before. Kearney examines the underlying causes of the marriage decline in the US and draws lessons for how this trend can be reversed. 
   
   
   
  Kearney's research shows that a household that includes two married parents functions as an economic vehicle that advantages some children over others. For many, the two-parent home may be an old-fashioned symbol of the American dream. But this book makes it clear that marriage may be our best path to a more equitable future. By confronting the critical role that family makeup plays in shaping children's futures, Kearney offers a critical assessment of what a decline in marriage means for an economy and a society—and what we must do to change course.

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  The Principal Speeches of...

  Demóstenes

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  Demosthenes (384-322 BCE) is regarded as one of the greatest orators of Classical times. This view has persisted through the centuries even though his rousing speeches warning of the dangers of Macedonian expansion - firstly guided by Philip II and then Alexander the Great - failed to stem the course of continued military success. 
   
  A contemporary of Plato and Aristotle, it is said that Demosthenes undertook arduous measures to cure himself of a stammer by speaking with pebbles in his mouth and perfecting breath control. Starting as a speech writer, he made his mark at an unusually young age (for the time), delivering his first major public speech at the age of 30, advising Athens to build its naval fleet as a defence against the Persians. In fact, it was the ambition of Philip of Macedon that would prove the principal threat. This was recognised by Demosthenes, as shown by the main speeches included in this collection. 
   
  In the 'Three Olynthiac Orations', Demosthenes outlined the tactics of Philip’s aggression towards Olynthus, an ally of Athens. He urged support for the smaller state, but his words went unheeded until it was too late. Demosthenes’s increasingly unrestrained language - at one point he calls Philip ‘a barbarian’ - did not endear him to the Macedonian regime. 
   
  The 'Olynthiac Orations' are followed by the 'Three Philippics', which chart further military activity by the aforementioned Philip. In between the second and third 'Philippics' comes ‘On the Peace’: a speech given during a short diplomatic space engineered by Philip, but which Demosthenes clearly highlighted as an armistice rather than anything permanent. This ‘Philip’ section ends with ‘The Oration on the Letter'. Philip sent a letter to Athens, which implied that war, again, was imminent. Demosthenes responded with characteristic boldness. 
   
  The final speech on this recording is ‘On the Crown’, addressing a very different matter. The Athenian statesman Ctesiphon proposed that Demosthenes should be honoured with the ‘golden crown’ for his service to the city. This was opposed by Aeschines, a long-standing enemy of Demosthenes in Athenian politics. In the court case that followed (330 BCE), Demosthenes successfully defended Ctesiphon in a speech later described as ‘the greatest speech of the greatest orator in the world'. 
   
  Each of the orations in this collection is preceded with an introduction setting the scene, and outlining the context in which they were delivered. This also gives a concise picture of Athens at this difficult point in its history. Eight years later, when in danger of being captured and imprisoned by the young Alexander who was angered by decades of eloquent and unrestrained opposition, Demosthenes committed suicide. All the speeches are prefaced by the historical setting. Translations by Arthur Wallace Pickard and Charles Rann Kennedy.

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  The Fall of the Human Intellect

  A. Parthasarathy

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  Stress, depression, disease in individuals and militancy, vandalism, terrorism in societies is threatening humanity with extinction. The book traces back the source of this impending disaster to the continual neglect of the human intellect. It highlights the fundamental difference between intelligence and intellect. Intelligence is acquired from schools and universities while the intellect is developed through one’s personal effort in thinking, reasoning, questioning before accepting anything. The book is designed to develop the intellect and save humanity from self-destruction.

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  Free to Stand for Truth and Justice

  Laurent Gbagbo

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  Ousted from power by the French army on April 11, 2011, following the disputed presidential election in Côte d'Ivoire of November 2010, Laurent Gbagbo was charged with crimes against humanity before the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, on December 5, 2011.
  
  This book, written from 2012 onwards, thanks to numerous prison visits and interviews, is the only one to have been produced with the participation of the Ivorian president during his incarceration and trial.
  This unique testimony is more than ever a document for history, because it sheds light on the manipulations of the 2010 elections, the collusion between Nicolas Sarkozy's France and the ICC to get rid of Laurent Gbagbo, and the stalling tactics and maneuvers that marred "Gbagbogate."
  Over meetings with François Mattei, Laurent Gbagbo looks back on his seven years in prison, explains what they mean and shares his vision for the future—that of a free man, come what may.

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  Charles Before Diana - A King in...

  Helen Cathcart

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  The eldest son of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Charles has been heir to the British throne since he was three years old. 
   
   
   
  In this lively and illuminating account, royal biographer Helen Cathcart charts the first thirty years of Prince Charles's life, from his birth at Buckingham Palace in 1948 and rugby-playing schooldays at Gordonstoun, through his undergraduate years cycling to lectures at Trinity College, Cambridge, and subsequent military career in the Royal Air Force and the Royal Navy. 
   
   
   
  Cathcart reveals a young man of many interests—actor, polo player, cellist, helicopter pilot, and conservationist—and takes the listener behind the scenes of notable events in the Prince's life, including his investiture as Prince of Wales at Caernarfon Castle in 1969 and move to Chevening in 1974, before giving insight into his romantic relationships prior to his marriage to Lady Diana Spencer. 
   
   
   
  Drawing on an extraordinary fund of private material, Charles Before Diana is an intimate portrait of the man behind the Prince—a man with an endearing sense of comedy and a conscientious devotion to duty.

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  The Great Wall of China

  Franz Kafka

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  "The Great Wall of China" is a short story by Franz Kafka. While written in 1917, it was not published until 1930, seven years after his death. Its first publication occurred in Der Morgen, a German literary magazine. A year later, Max Brod included it in Beim Bau der Chinesischen Mauer, the first posthumous collection of short stories by Franz Kafka.Contained within the story is a parable that was separately published as "A Message from the Emperor" ("Eine kaiserliche Botschaft") in 1919 in the collection Ein Landarzt (A Country Doctor). Some sub-themes of the story include why the wall was built piecemeal (in small sections in many different places), the relationship of the Chinese with the past and the present and the emperor's imperceptible presence. The story is told in the first person by an older man from a southern province.The first English translation, by Willa and Edwin Muir, was published by Martin Secker in London in 1933. It appeared in The Great Wall of China. Stories and Reflections (New York City: Schocken Books, 1946).

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