by Sten Rynning (2012)
"The war in Afghanistan has run for more than a decade, and NATO has become increasingly central to it. In this book, Sten Rynning examines NATO's role in the campaign and the difficult diplomacy involved in fighting a war by alliance. He explores the history of the war and its changing momentum, and explains how NATO at first faltered but then improved its operations to become a critical enabler for the U.S. surge of 2009. However, he also uncovers a serious and enduring problem for NATO in the shape of a disconnect between high liberal hopes for the new Afghanistan and a lack of realism about the military campaign prosecuted to bring it about. He concludes that, while NATO has made it to the point in Afghanistan where the war no longer has the potential to break it, the alliance is, at the same time, losing its own struggle to define itself as a vigorous and relevant entity on the world stage. To move forward, he argues, NATO allies must recover their common purpose as a Western alliance, and he outlines options for change."--Publisher's website.
Gilles Paquet
"Ce tableau d'avancement examine le Canada français de la dernière moitié du XXe siècle et propose quelques repères utiles, souligne certains enlisements, avancées et retards, et cherche à comprendre son évolution malaisée à travers trois grandes perspectives: celle de chefs politiques qui l'ont orienté, celle d'intellectuels influents qui l'ont interprété, et celle de certaines institutions qui en ont révélé la dynamique."
Dennis V. Damp
Explains the federal employment process; covers working conditions, pay and benefits, and other aspects of government employment; and discusses exams, jobs in law enforcement and the postal service, and opportunities for veterans and people with disabilities.
Dan Steinbock
The book opens with a discussion of the American economy and its macro-effects on changes and developments in media and entertainment generally. Then in Part I, Steinbock looks at broadcasting and cable, tracing the former's decline and the latter's rise, and then at the "multiplication" of conglomerates: the studios, talent agencies, home video and syndication companies, theme parks, and even the emerging producers of interactive multimedia and virtual reality. A full section is devoted to all of the major players, their corporate struggles with each other, including the Time Warner and Paramount M & A wars. In Part II, Steinbock discusses the electronic superhighway and other government-initiated policies that will have a significant impact on strategic industry alliances. The book concludes with an assessment of how all of the technological, economic, and political influences emerging today will radically reshape the media/entertainment complex, not only in the United States but throughout the world.
Justus D. Doenecke
When war broke out in Europe in 1914, political leaders in the United States were swayed by popular opinion to remain neutral; yet less than three years later, the nation declared war on Germany. In this book, the author examines the clash of opinions over the war during this transformative period and offers a fresh perspective on America's decision to enter World War I. He reappraises the public and private diplomacy of President Woodrow Wilson and his closest advisors and explores in great depth the response of Congress to the war. He also investigates the debates that raged in the popular media and among citizen groups that sprang up across the country as the U.S. economy was threatened by European blockades and as Americans died on ships sunk by German U-boats. The decision to engage in battle ultimately belonged to Wilson, but as the author demonstrates, Wilson's choice was not made in isolation. This work provides an examination of America's internal political climate and its changing international role during the seminal period of 1914-1917.