Other books that might interest you

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  Civil War by Other Means -...

  Jeremi Suri

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  In 1865, the Confederacy was comprehensively defeated, its economy shattered, its leaders in exile or in jail. Yet in the years that followed, Lincoln's vision of a genuinely united country never took root. Apart from a few brief months, when the presence of the Union army in the South proved liberating for newly freed Black Americans, the military victory was squandered. Old white supremacist efforts returned, more ferocious than before.In Civil War by Other Means, Jeremi Suri shows how resistance to a more equal Union began immediately. From the first postwar riots to the return of Confederate exiles, to the impeachment of Andrew Johnson, to the highly contested and consequential election of 1876, Suri explores the conflicts and questions Americans wrestled with as competing visions of democracy, race, and freedom came to a vicious breaking point.What emerges is a vivid and at times unsettling portrait of a country striving to rebuild itself, but unable to compromise on or adhere to the most basic democratic tenets. What should have been a moment of national renewal was ultimately wasted, with reverberations still felt today. The recent shocks to American democracy are rooted in this forgotten, urgent history.

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  Born This Way - Science...

  Joanna Wuest

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  The story of how a biologically driven understanding of gender and sexuality became central to US LGBTQ+ political and legal advocacy. 
   
  Across protests and courtrooms, LGBTQ+ advocates argue that sexual and gender identities are innate. Oppositely, conservatives incite panic over “groomers” and a contagious “gender ideology” that corrupts susceptible children. Yet, as this debate rages on, the history of what first compelled the hunt for homosexuality’s biological origin story may hold answers for the queer rights movement’s future. 
  Born This Way tells the story of how a biologically based understanding of gender and sexuality became central to LGBTQ+ advocacy. Starting in the 1950s, activists sought out mental health experts to combat the pathologizing of homosexuality. As Joanna Wuest shows, these relationships were forged in subsequent decades alongside two broader, concurrent developments: the rise of an interest-group model of rights advocacy and an explosion of biogenetic and bio-based psychological research. The result is essential reading to fully understand LGBTQ+ activism today and how clashes over science remain crucial to equal rights struggles.

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  Real Enemies - Conspiracy...

  Kathryn S. Olmsted

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  Many Americans believe that their own government is guilty of shocking crimes. Government agents shot the president. They faked the moon landing. They stood by and allowed the murders of 2,400 servicemen in Hawaii. Although paranoia has been a feature of the American scene since the birth of the Republic, in Real Enemies Kathryn Olmsted shows that it was only in the twentieth century that strange and unlikely conspiracy theories became central to American politics. In particular, she posits World War I as a critical turning point and shows that as the federal bureaucracy expanded, Americans grew more fearful of the government itself—the military, the intelligence community, and even the President. Analyzing the wide-spread suspicions surrounding such events as Pearl Harbor, the JFK assassination, Watergate, and 9/11, Olmsted sheds light on why so many Americans believe that their government conspires against them, why more people believe these theories over time, and how real conspiracies—such as the infamous Northwoods plan—have fueled our paranoia about the governments we ourselves elect.

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  Yazidi women struggle to return...

  PBS NewsHour

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  Yazidi women, who were sold as sex slaves by Islamic State militants, are now returning to their families from formerly ISIS-controlled territories. Special correspondent Jane Ferguson visits the Yazidi religious community in Iraq to hear the stories of these survivors and what they are doing to move on with their lives.

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  Kidnapped by the Taliban - A...

  M.D. Dilip Joseph, James Lund

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  Being abducted and held captive by the Taliban isn't a tale many survive to tell. An American doctor shares the harrowing story about the four days he spent with his captors after being abducted on a humanitarian mission and his incredible rescue by SEAL Team Six. 
  On December 5, 2012, American medical doctor Dilip Joseph and two colleagues are driving back to Kabul, Afghanistan, after serving villagers that morning at a rural clinic. Suddenly a man waving an AK-47 blocks their path. More armed men jump out of hiding. For Dilip, it is the beginning of a nightmare—he’s being kidnapped by the Taliban. 
  Dilip recounts his story with chilling detail, transporting the reader to rural Afghanistan. “As we walk, I fear the worst—that when we reach the top, they will shoot us. God, however this is going to end, please don’t let them torture me to death. Let it be one shot and done.” 
  Dilip and his friends endure a nine-hour march into the mountains, gruesome images of torture and death, and repeated threats of execution. After four days of uncertainty, gunfire announces the arrival of Navy SEAL Team Six, the elite group of soldiers that took down al-Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden. SEAL team member Nicolas D. Checque loses his life in the rescue, as do the Taliban kidnappers. 
  Yet this is more than a story of desperation, survival, and loss. It is also a tale of surprising connection, compassion, and inspiration. As Dilip begins to view the Taliban not as monsters but as men, both he and his captors are challenged to re-examine everything that matters: courage, sacrifice, hope, and faith. The book includes:First-hand account of a Taliban kidnapping survivorInsights into the Taliban's daily existenceInsights into the sacrifices made by the American armed forces 
  Kidnapped by the Taliban is a story of both terror and triumph. After reading this dramatic and inspiring account, you will never view Afghanistan or the Taliban in the same way again.

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  Covert Radar and Signals...

  Peter Jackson, David Haysom

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  “A remarkable reconstruction of the extensive and quite exceptional career” of a key WW2 military intelligence officer. (Royal Air Force Historical Society) 
   
  Of German stock dating back to 1530 in Saxony, Eric George Ackermann GM was born on the Isle of Wight in 1919 and became a leading figure in the world of signals and electronic intelligence. As a Junior Scientific Officer at the Telecommunication Research Establishment, Boscombe Down, with an honorary commission in the Royal Air Force, he made numerous flights over occupied territory searching for, monitoring and destroying Germany’s Wuerzburg, Knickebein and X Band radar systems. Much of his research was passed to the highest levels of wartime government, ensuring that tactical plans could be executed that took full advantage of top secret German intelligence. A host of secret missions to assess the enemy’s radar capabilities were carried out in North Africa, Gibraltar and Italy.  
   
  This engaging biography explores his operational deployment at the vanguard of tactical intelligence operations during WWII. Winner of the George Medal for conspicuous gallantry, Ackermann also saw conflict up close and personal. After the war, he played a major part in the implementation of a string of listening stations built along the borders of Soviet Bloc countries, which later gleaned a wealth of invaluable post-war intelligence. Further work in aeronautics and satellite construction in the United States followed.  
   
  Despite Ackermann’s achievements, he has never been the subject of a book-length study until now. Covert Radar and Signals Interception will appeal to aviation enthusiasts, as well as readers curious to gain new insights into twentieth century intelligence practices and their often far-reaching consequences.

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