The Warrior's Honour

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H. Tristam Engelhardt, Jr. and Daniel Callahan

This book represents an initial attempt to do that which we at least can no longer avoid: to ask about the origin and validity of our moral assumptions, to see the way in which ethics and science have mutually influenced each other, to move away from practical problems of decision making to some of the larger theoretical issues which ultimately come to shape the way decisions are made. That moral philosophy has been in disarray for some decades is a proposition with which few will argue. Nor will many contend that there is any greater clarity at present on the moral assumptions and goals of sicence and medicine. Perhaps it is too much to hope that progress can be made -- perhaps we are, as a society and a culture, going to be forced to live with, and to live out, the present confusion. But both moral philosophy and the sciences do share a common premise, so far unchallenged: that it is always worth the effort to understand more, to attempt to think more deeply, to remain congenitally uneasy in the face of confusion, uncertainty, and unanswered questions. - Preface.

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Mark Gitenstein

In his best-seller The Tempting of America, Robert Bork portrayed himself as someone whose views are in the American mainstream, and has said that the failure of the Senate to approve him was an aberration. On the contrary, Matters of Principle shows that with the rejection of Bork, Americans emphatically reaffirmed one of the enduring virtues of our national character - a fervent belief in individual rights. In the end, Americans rejected the cramped vision of Robert. Bork and the Right. Matters of Principle is a lively, provocative, and thoughtful first-hand account of this tumultuous battle for control of the Supreme Court, a battle that continues to make news but whose strategy was shaped largely behind closed doors. For Joseph Biden, Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, it would prove to be a watershed. Biden wanted to be President and was in the middle of a campaign for the Democratic nomination when the process began. Robert Bork's ambition was to serve on the Supreme Court. Both saw their dreams die amid constant pressures from political action groups, other senators, editorial boards, and the President. The goal for Biden was to make the American public interested in a battle over judicial philosophy without being perceived as a political opportunist. Bork's aim was to become the standard-bearer of the Reagan Revolution, to project himself as a moderate, while his judicial decisions. And his writings showed otherwise. The inner proceedings provide a fascinating look at the players in this event, from the editorial boards of The New York Times and The Washington Post to the Senate chambers of Biden, Thurmond, Kennedy, et al., to the White House, where President Reagan erred enormously, first by choosing Bork, then by adopting faulty strategy to help him, and finally by apparently abandoning Bork and leaving him without strong support. Perhaps most. Important, Matters of Principle is a story about the clash of judicial ideas and ideals. Mark Gitenstein traces the evolution of Bork's legal philosophy from his days at Yale through his time in the Nixon Administration, finally offering a portrait of a man far from the mainstream of American beliefs.

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Guglielmo Ferrero

"The third volume of a trilogy. The first two volumes--The gamble and The reconstruction of Europe--were originally published in Paris. The principles of power is appearing in New York because it could not be published in Europe on account of the greatly increased censorship."--Pref.

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Medea Benjamin

Weeks after the 2002 American invasion of Afghanistan, Medea Benjamin visited that country. There, on the ground, talking with victims of the strikes, she learned the reality behind the "precision bombs" on which U.S. forces were becoming increasingly reliant. Now, with the use of drones escalating at a meteoric pace, Benjamin has written this book as a call to action: "It is meant to wake a sleeping public," she writes, "lulled into thinking that drones are good, that targeted killings are making us safer." Drone Warfare is a comprehensive look at the growing menace of robotic warfare, with an extensive analysis of who is producing the drones, where they are being used, who "pilots" these unmanned planes, who are the victims and what are the legal and moral implications. In vivid, readable style, the book also looks at what activists, lawyers and scientists are doing to ground the drones, and ways to move forward. In reality, writes Benjamin, the assassinations we are carrying out via drones will come back to haunt us when others start doing the same thing-to us.