The butcher's trail

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Stasys Knezys and Romanas Sedlickas

"In this carefully researched and extensively documented study, Stasys Knezys and Romanas Sedlickas examine the Chechen war from a military viewpoint. As they evenhandedly depict the strengths and weaknesses of both the Russians and Chechens, the authors consider how and why Russia, with one of the world's largest armies, failed to subdue the Chechens, and how the Chechens fought among themselves, yet also fought off the Russian Goliath.". "Military analysts and historians, political scientists, and Eastern European scholars will find The War in Chechnya an illuminating analysis of the military operations there and a valuable source of information for further studies."--BOOK JACKET.

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Glenn Willmott

"Modernity in Canada, stretching from the turn of the century to the 1950s, is a period marked by unprecedented urban and industrial growth, by urban and rural immigration from around the world, and by unique changes in power between regions, classes, races, and sexes. At the same time it is a period profoundly aware of the colonial past and its persistence, for good or ill, in the fragile economy and volatile culture of a new nation. This diverse yet distinctive Canadian modernity is explored in Unreal Country. Referring to a wide range of novels and drawing on scholarship in geography, history, and cultural studies, Glenn Willmott argues that the postcolonial rhetoric of youth coincided with - and influenced - Canadian modernism's own uncertain identity within a post-traditional, globally migrant, and interdependent society."--BOOK JACKET.

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Victor Hugo

In this story of the trials of the peasant Jean Valjean--a man unjustly imprisoned, baffled by destiny, and hounded by his nemesis, the magnificently realized, ambiguously malevolent police detective Javert--Hugo achieves the sort of rare imaginative resonance that allows a work of art to transcend its genre.

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Ian Stewart

Roasting Chestnuts: The Mythology of Maritime Political Culture is a book about outdated political stereotypes. The Maritime provinces of New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and Nova Scotia are often regarded as a pre-modern hinterland in which corrupt practices and traditional loyalties continue to predominate. While this depiction of Maritime political life, may at one time, have been largely accurate, this is no longer the case. Employing a variety of indicators, this book argues that a new set of political images is needed to capture Maritime political reality today. What emerges from the analysis is a picture of Maritime politics which no longer differs markedly from that which exists in the rest of Canada. Maritimers no longer exhibit remarkably low levels of political trust and efficacy, nor is there a regional political culture which transcends provincial boundaries. In fact, Maritime political elites have been innovators, providing radical departures from Canadian political norms. A unique and innovative study, Roasting Chestnuts seeks to demystify Maritime politics and expose the flimsy basis for many of the region's lasting political stereotypes.