Other books that might interest you

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  Ming Dynasty - Exploration Great...

  Rolf Hedger

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  The Ming Dynasty emerged from the ashes of the Yuan Dynasty, a Mongol-led empire that had ruled China for nearly a century. By the late 14th century, the Yuan government had become weak and corrupt, plagued by heavy taxation, famines, and widespread unrest. The Chinese population, weary of foreign rule, began to rise in rebellion. Among the many insurgent leaders, one man would rise to power and change the course of Chinese history—Zhu Yuanzhang. 
  Born into a poor peasant family, Zhu Yuanzhang experienced hardship early in life. Orphaned as a child, he spent years in a Buddhist monastery before joining the Red Turban Rebellion, a movement dedicated to overthrowing the Yuan. His military prowess and strategic mind quickly elevated him through the ranks. As he consolidated power, he systematically eliminated rival factions, eventually establishing himself as the dominant leader of the rebellion. In 1368, Zhu marched his forces into Beijing, forcing the last Yuan emperor to flee northward. Declaring the end of Mongol rule, he proclaimed himself emperor and founded the Ming Dynasty, choosing the name "Ming," meaning "brilliant" or "bright," to symbolize a new era of Chinese rule. 
  As the first Ming emperor, Zhu Yuanzhang, now known as the Hongwu Emperor, sought to restore Chinese traditions and repair the damage caused by Mongol rule. He reestablished Confucian principles as the foundation of government, reinstating the civil service examination system to ensure that officials were selected based on merit rather than birthright. He also implemented strict laws to reduce corruption, often resorting to harsh punishments to maintain order. His administration worked to rebuild agriculture, improve irrigation systems, and distribute land to farmers, strengthening the economy and ensuring food security.

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  Counterrevolution - The Crusade...

  Stephen Steinberg

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  In Black Reconstruction W. E. B. Du Bois wrote, "The slave went free; stood for a brief moment in the sun; then moved back again toward slavery." His words echo across the decades as the civil rights revolution, marked by the passage of landmark civil rights laws in the '60s, has seen those gains steadily and systematically whittled away. As history testifies, revolution nearly always triggers its antithesis: counterrevolution. In this book, Steinberg provides an analysis of this backlash, tracing the reverse flow of history that has led to the current national reckoning on race. 
   
   
   
  Steinberg puts counterrevolution into historical and theoretical perspective, exploring the "victim-blaming" and "colorblind" discourses that emerged in the post-segregation era and undermined progress toward racial equality, and led to the gutting of affirmative action. This book reflects Steinberg's long career as a critical race scholar, culminating with his assessment of our current moment and the possibilities for political transformation.

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  Candles for the Defiant -...

  Kaia Gallagher

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  Candles for the Defiant and Forgotten tells the courageous story of how one Baltic patriot resisted the Soviet occupation of Estonia during World War II by joining the Communist Party to spy for his countrymen. Trained as a lawyer, Bruno Kulgma Kull was smart, idealistic, and convinced that he could hide his true affiliations from the Soviet-controlled Party leaders, while he sabotaged their plans. Little could he have known that he would end up being distrusted by the Communists, reviled by his neighbors, and accused of being a traitor when the Germans invaded Estonia a year later in the summer of 1941. 
  As she was growing up, Kaia knew only that her mother’s family escaped from Estonia a day before the country was occupied by the Soviet Union in the fall of 1944 as World War II was coming to an end. Years later, she resolved to learn more about her family’s past and to uncover the tragic story of Bruno’s ill-fated heroism. With help from the Estonian National Archives, she uncovered documents that showed how Bruno tried to defend his actions at a time when the German legal system condemned anyone affiliated with the Communist Party to death. 
  Kaia’s family story highlights the stubborn determination shown by the citizens from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania who resisted the occupation of their homelands, a battle that would last for nearly fifty years when the Baltic states regained their independence in the 1990s. 

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  Risque Business - Breastaurants...

  Ty Matejowsky

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  Risqué Business serves up the breastaurant industry, where food service, sex appeal, identity, and gender politics mix. 
  Risqué Business explores the rise and ongoing cultural reckoning of "breastaurants": sports bar–style restaurants like Hooters and Twin Peaks, which have long relied on the sexualized presentation of female servers to attract a mostly straight, male clientele. Ty Matejowsky, professor of anthropology at the University of Central Florida, is uniquely positioned in America's foundational, breastaurant-saturated landscape. From this vantage, he offers a well-balanced account that draws on pop culture, media analysis, and contemporary gender politics. He delivers a smart, layered analysis of how breastaurants commodify youth and femininity, uphold retrograde masculinity, and serve as symbolic battlegrounds in today's highly charged political environments, including America's deeply polarized Red State/Blue State divide. 
  With case studies, cultural critique, and a critical lens on labor and sexuality, Matejowsky reveals how these restaurants are more than just risqué marketing gimmicks. They reflect deeper anxieties about gender, identity, and the uneasy fusion of sex and service in American consumer culture. Risqué Business is a high-spirited study of an industry that thrives at the intersection of appetite and identity.

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  The Discovery of Eldorado

  Stefan Zweig

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  1834: Johann August Sutter, a cloth merchant residing in Burgdorf in the canton of Bern in Switzerland, fraudulently went bankrupt and was subsequently wanted by the warrant. To escape the authorities, Suter emigrated to the United States and became the richest man in the world as an entrepreneur. A lot of gold is found on his land in California and from then on, the gold hunters dispute his property rights. Ultimately, Suter looses all his fortunes.

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  Good Gimmicks For Breaking Bad...

  John Maverick, Van Johnson

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  We shape our environment, and habits shape us. The key to personal development is understanding habit formation, which is the natural process in which behaviors are repeated over time and become automatic or even an Atomic Habit. You will learn that habits can begin without your intention; also, the Habits of Highly Effective People are intentional and long-lasting. "Making Good Habits Breaking Bad Habits" is also deliberately cultivated or destroyed to conform to one's personal goals and objectives. Bad habits and good habits are formed by a process in which behavior becomes habitual due to repetitive actions. The term NLP or (Neuro-Linguistic Programming) also can create Good Habits while Breaking Bad Habits. The process can be slow or quick, depending on factors such as the type of habit or the individual.  
  You will learn about 
  •	KEYSTONE HABITS 
  •	FACTS ABOUT HABITS 
  •	UNDERSTANDING HOW OUR MINDS WORK 
  •	THE DRASTIC CHANGE MYTH ABOUT HABITS 
  •	THE OPTIMAL GROWTH RATE 
  •	THE BEHAVIOR CHANGE PROBLEM 
  •	HABITS OF THE MIND 
  Habits can make or break a person's life. Good habits can lead to happiness and self-actualization, whilst bad habits inhibit a person's quality of life, resulting in depression and failure.  
  This self-help book will teach you everything about habits, Changing Your Habits, habit formation, and much more. Now is the time to learn how to destroy that bad habit once and for all.   
  Let's get started.

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