An increasing number of constitutional theorists, within both the legal academy and university departments of government, are focusing on the conceptual and political problems attached to the notion of constitutional amendment. Amendments are, among other things, recognitions of the imperfection of existing schemes of government. The relative ease or difficulty of amendment has significant implications for the ways that governments respond to problems that call either for new structures of governance or new powers for already established structures. This book brings together essays by leading legal authorities and political scientists on a range of questions from whether the U.S. Constitution is subject to amendment by procedures other than those authorized by Article V to how significant change is conceptualized within classical rabbinic Judaism. Though the essays are concerned for the most part with the American experience, other constitutional traditions are considered as well. The contributors include Bruce Ackerman, Akhil Reed Amar, Mark E. Brandon, David R. Dow, Stephen M. Griffin, Stephen Holmes and Cass R. Sunstein, Sanford Levinson, Donald Lutz, Walter Murphy, Frederick Schauer, John R. Vile, and Noam J. Zohar.

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Sanford Levinson - Responding to Imperfection (199 5).pdf

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Sheldon S. Wolin - Democracy Incorporated, Managed Democracy and the Specter of Inverted Totalitaria nism (2008).jpg

USA Books1 - Sheldon S. Wolin - Democracy Incorporated, Managed De...racy and the Specter of Inverted Totalitarianism 2008.jpg

Democracy is struggling in America--by now this statement is almost clich. But what if the country is no longer a democracy at all? In Democracy Incorporated, Sheldon Wolin considers the unthinkable: has America unwittingly morphed into a new and strange kind of political hybrid, one where economic and state powers are conjoined and virtually unbridled? Can the nation check its descent into what the author terms "inverted totalitarianism"? Wolin portrays a country where citizens are politically uninterested and submissive--and where elites are eager to keep them that way. At best the nation has become a "managed democracy" where the public is shepherded, not sovereign. At worst it is a place where corporate power no longer answers to state controls. Wolin makes clear that today's America is in no way morally or politically comparable to totalitarian states like Nazi Germany, yet he warns that unchecked economic power risks verging on total power and has its own unnerving pathologies. Wolin examines the myths and mythmaking that justify today's politics, the quest for an ever-expanding economy, and the perverse attractions of an endless war on terror. He argues passionately that democracy's best hope lies in citizens themselves learning anew to exercise power at the local level.

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Teresa da Silva Lopes - Global Brands. The Evoluti on of Multinationals in Alcoholic Beverages (2007).jpg

In a world focused on science and new technology, brands help to explain why several of the world's multinational corporations have little to do with either. Rather they are old firms with little critical investment in patents or copyrights. For these firms, the critical intellectual property is trademarks. Global Brands explains how the world's largest multinationals in alcoholic beverages achieved global leadership; considers the predominant corporate governance structures for such firms; and looks at why these firms form alliances with direct competitors. Brands also determine the waves of mergers and acquisitions in the beverage industry. Global Brands contrasts with existing studies by providing a new dimension to the literature on the growth of multinationals through the focus on brands, using an institutional and evolutionary approach based on original and published sources about the industry and the firms.

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Vaclav Smil - Why America Is Not a New Rome (2010).jpg

America's post–Cold War strategic dominance and its pre-recession affluence inspired pundits to make celebratory comparisons to ancient Rome at its most powerful. Now, with America no longer perceived as invulnerable, engaged in protracted fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan, and suffering the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression, comparisons are to the bloated, decadent, ineffectual later Empire. In Why America Is Not a New Rome, Vaclav Smil looks at these comparisons in detail, going deeper than the facile analogy-making of talk shows and glossy magazine articles. He finds profound differences.
On the surface, the vision of America as the new Rome has resonance. There are obvious, intriguing parallels and amusing—even disconcerting—similarities. The America-Rome analogy deserves a closer look, and this is what Smil, a scientist and a lifelong student of Roman history, offers. He does this by focusing on several fundamental concerns: the very meaning of empire; the actual extent and nature of Roman and American power; the role of knowledge and innovation in the two states and the importance of machines and energy sources; and demographic and economic basics—population dynamics, illness, death, wealth, and misery. America is not a latter-day Rome, Smil finds, and we need to understand this in order to look ahead without the burden of counterproductive analogies. Superficial similarities do not imply long-term political, demographic, or economic outcomes identical to Rome's.

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Wendy Conklin - Benjamin Franklin, Early America ( 2008).jpg

Benjamin Franklin was a man of many talents. His mind was constantly working to make things better for the colonists both before and after independence. Franklin was also a great writer, and he contributed to both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.

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Wendy Conklin - Benjamin Franklin, Early America ( 2008).pdf

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Mark V. Tushnet - Taking the Constitution Away fro m the Courts (1999).jpg

This is a thoroughly fascinating book by one of our major constitutional thinkers. What makes the book especially notable is that Tushnet not only assesses the possibility of constitutional interpretation outside the courts, but also goes on to deliver an assault on what might be termed constitutional interpretation 'inside' the judiciary. That is, the book becomes a ringing attack on judicial review. This will, no doubt, occasion much debate."--Sanford Levinson, University of Texas at Austin

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Robert M. Uriu - Clinton and Japan, The Impact of Revisionism on U.S. Trade Policy (2009).jpg

This book chronicles how a controversial set of policy assumptions about the Japanese economy, known as revisionism, rose to become the basis of the trade policy approach of the Clinton administration. In the context of growing fear over Japan's increasing economic strength, revisionists argued that Japan represented a distinctive form of capitalism that was inherently closed to imports and that posed a threat to U.S. high-tech industries. Revisionists advocated a "managed trade" solution in which the Japanese government would be forced to set aside a share of the market for foreign goods. The author describes the role that various American academics, government officials, and business leaders played in developing revisionist thought. Revisionism was at its peak just as the Clinton administration came into office. The author uses extensive interviews with policy makers to trace the internal discussions inside the Clinton White House, which culminated in the adoption of revisionist policy and then to demands for "results-oriented" trade agreements during the Framework negotiations. This book details how Japan refused to accept these managed trade solutions, and fought to discredit revisionism and to rally global support against American unilateralism.

About the Author
Robert M. Uriu is an Associate Professor of Political Science and Director of Graduate Studies at the University of California at Irvine. Professor Uriu is a specialist in international relations and international political economy. His region of expertise is East Asia, with an emphasis on Japan, U.S.-Japan relations, and American foreign policy toward East Asia. In 1996-97 Professor Uriu served as a Director of Asian Affairs at the National Security Council. While at the NSC he was involved in policy making toward all aspects of U.S.-Japan relations. He is a two-time Fulbright scholar: in 1996 he was awarded a Fulbright Grant for Research in Japan, as well as being named an International Affairs Fellow by the Council on Foreign Relations, and his earlier research was funded by a grant from the Fulbright-Hays Commission. Professor Uriu has also been a Visiting Foreign Scholar at Keio University, the University of Tokyo, and Japan's Ministry of International Trade and Industry.

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Ron Field, Richard Hook - Brasseys' History of Uni forms - Spanish-American War 1898 (1998).jpg

This book covers more than just uniforms, it covers all the items carried or worn by the individual soldiers in this disease-ridden war. Congratulations to the author and the illustrator. This is a valuable compendium, of a size larger than octavo so that the plates are clear, and well constructed. I have been researching the U.S. arms, uniforms, and accoutrements of this period for some forty years now. It takes much more than a slew of pictures and a few gee whizzy captions to impress me. This work does--not only does it cover the details of the uniforms, it also covers the accoutrements and arms of the contending soldiers of both nations. I can vouch for the accuracy of the U.S. portion of the book. The detail shown herein on the Spanish forces, as far as I know, has not been readily available in English at all. Though I have not pursued detailed research on Spanish arms, clothing, and accoutrements, I have kept my eyes out for published materials, and I have not seen it. As much of the non-metallic materiel of this period was subject to hard usage in the field, and because the U.S. soldiers' clothing and equipments were burned for sanitary purposes upon the troops' return home, the cloth and leather of this period that actually saw service in campaign is extremely rare. What is now available is mostly web belts sold off as surplus and firearms and edged weapons the same.

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Ron Field, Richard Hook - Brasseys' History of Uni forms - Spanish-American War 1898 (1998).pdf

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Lou Drendel - The Air War in Vietnam (1969).jpg

One of the fisrt books by Lou Drendel the famous artist and author of many Squadron Signal aviation publcations. The books was written while the war was still raging.

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Lou Drendel - The Air War in Vietnam (1969).pdf

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Cindy C. Combs, Martin W. Slann - Encyclopedia of Terrorism (2007).jpg

The ongoing conflicts in the Middle East and the bombings overseas have shown that - despite the "War on Terror" - terrorism is still very much a part of daily life for many individuals. Thoroughly updated and expanded by terrorism experts, "Encyclopedia of Terrorism, Revised Edition" provides students, researchers, journalists, and policymakers with a complete survey of what seems to be an intractable problem. More than 350 entries organized in an easily accessible, A-to-Z format offer comprehensive treatments of the events, people, organizations, and places that have played a major role in international terrorism. Each entry is placed within its appropriate historical context to help readers understand the wide-ranging motivations behind terrorist actions. Also included in this timely volume is a chronology of terrorist events that have occurred from 1945 to the present. New and updated entries include: Army of God; Osama bin Laden; Cyberterrorism; Darfur; Hamas; Saddam Hussein; Militias in the United States; The 9/11 Commission Report; Oklahoma City bombing; Al-Qaeda; USA Patriot Act; and Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

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Cindy C. Combs, Martin W. Slann - Encyclopedia of Terrorism (2007).pdf

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Paul Gregutt - Washington Wines and Wineries. The Essential Guide (2007).jpg

During the thirty-five years wine critic and writer Paul Gregutt has lived in the state of Washington, its wine industry has ballooned from a mere half dozen wineries to nearly five hundred. Washington Wines and Wineries offers a comprehensive, critical, and accessible account of the nation's second largest wine-producing region. Gregutt, who has covered Washington wine in books, newspapers, and magazines since the mid-1980s, enthusiastically dispenses information along with his editorial opinion, displaying the depth of his knowledge of the area, the players, the regions, and the wines. He points out the best vineyards, the most accomplished winemakers, the must-have wines, and the newcomers to watch. He rates wineries--not wines--with a unique and detailed 100-point scale, providing an insider's view of the best that Washington state has to offer. As the global wine industry reinvents itself for twenty-first-century palates, Washington is poised to become as important and influential as California on the world stage. Washington Wines and Wineries is the definitive reference book on the subject.

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Paul Gregutt - Washington Wines and Wineries. The Essential Guide (2007).pdf

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James N. Rosenau, J. P. Singh - Information Techno logies and Global Politics, The Changing Scope of Power and Governance (2002).jpg

USA Books1 - James N. Rosenau, J. P. Singh - Information Technolog...tics, The Changing Scope of Power and Governance 2002.jpg

Examines how information technologies may be shifting power and authority away from the state.

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James N. Rosenau, J. P. Singh - Information Techno logies and Global Politics, The Changing Scope of Power and Governance (2002).pdf

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Richard P. Hilton - Dinosaurs and Other Mesozoic R eptiles of California (2002).jpeg

One of the most geologically complex and diverse states, California spent much of the age of dinosaurs under water. While most of the fossils found in the state are those of reptiles that lived in the sea (thalattosaurs, ichthyosaurs, mosasaurs, plesiosaurs, and turtles), some are those of birds and pterosaurs that soared above it. Other fossils come from terrestrial animals that died and were washed into the ocean. These include turtles, crocodiles, lizards, and dinosaurs such as armored ankylosaurs, duck-billed hadrosaurs, and a variety of carnivorous dinosaurs.
Richard Hilton is the first to tell the unsung story of the dinosaurs and reptiles of land, sea, and sky that lived in California and Baja California during the Mesozoic era (245 million-65 million years ago), in addition to the history of their discovery. Vibrantly illustrated with more than three hundred photographs, paintings, and drawings, this book provides geological and environmental details, describes the significance of the major fossils, and chronicles the adventures involved in the discovery, preparation, and publishing of the finds.
Hilton also includes accounts of the scientists, teachers, students, ranchers, and weekend fossil hunters who endured (and continue to endure) harsh weather, fires, wild animals, and the usual challenges of fieldwork to collect fossil remains and make major discoveries. These enthusiasts managed to safeguard an abundance of fossil resources, some of which would otherwise have been destroyed by quarrying, paving, and housing developments. Dinosaurs and Other Mesozoic Reptiles of California takes this legacy one step further by documenting information about the fossils and their finders in accessible prose and vivid artistic renderings, creating a valuable contribution to our understanding of California's prehistoric past.

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Richard P. Hilton - Dinosaurs and Other Mesozoic R eptiles of California (2002).pdf

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Robert O. Keohane - After Hegemony, Cooperation an d Discord in the World Political Economy (1984).jpg

This book is a comprehensive study of cooperation among the advanced capitalist countries. Can cooperation persist without the dominance of a single power, such as the United States after World War II? To answer this pressing question, Robert Keohane analyzes the institutions, or "international regimes," through which cooperation has taken place in the world political economy and describes the evolution of these regimes as American hegemony has eroded. Refuting the idea that the decline of hegemony makes cooperation impossible, he views international regimes not as weak substitutes for world government but as devices for facilitating decentralized cooperation among egoistic actors. In the preface the author addresses the issue of cooperation after the end of the Soviet empire and with the renewed dominance of the United States, in security matters, as well as recent scholarship on cooperation.

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Bill Fawcett - Oval Office Oddities, An Irreverent Collection of Presidential Facts, Follies, and Fo ibles (2008).jpg

USA Books1 - Bill Fawcett - Oval Office Oddities, An Irreverent Col...tion of Presidential Facts, Follies, and Foibles 2008.jpg

Every four years Americans go to the polls to elect a leader—a personage of unimpeachable sobriety and moral standing who will serve as a paragon for the rest of us. But truth be told, presidents and their families are people too—with quirks and character flaws like everyone else . . . and plenty of skeletons rattling around in their closets. Oval Office Oddities is a grand compendium of fascinating, sometimes embarrassing presidential facts, gaffes, and oddball behaviors—available in plenty of time for Election Day! White House Whoopee: We've all heard about the dalliances of Clinton and Kennedy—but what were Washington, Jefferson, FDR, and Ike doing behind closed doors?
America's Imelda: Mary Todd Lincoln had an endearing little clothing fetish . . . and once purchased 300 pairs of gloves in a single month! Go West, Young Prez: "California Dreamin'" was not a top presidential priority . . . since no Commander in Chief bothered to visit the neglected coast until Rutherford B. Hayes did in 1880.

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M. Mckinley, Michael McKinley - Economic Globalisa tion as Religious War (2004).jpg

Using a critical theory approach to analyze the globalization of the world economy, this provocative and topical new book presents economic globalization not as a recent development, but rather as a familiar process that has occurred throughout history. Michael McKinley argues that it is ultimately a self-serving, arbitrary and destructive imperial project that should be viewed as a religious war.

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M. Mckinley, Michael McKinley - Economic Globalisa tion as Religious War (2004).pdf

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Dale Van Atta - With Honor, Melvin Laird in War, P eace, and Politics (2008).jpg

In 1968, at the peak of the Vietnam War, centrist Congressman Melvin Laird (R-WI) agreed to serve as Richard Nixon’s secretary of defense. It was not, Laird knew, a move likely to endear him to the American public—but as he later said, “Nixon couldn’t find anybody else who wanted the damn job.” For the next four years, Laird deftly navigated the morass of the war he had inherited. Lampooned as a “missile head,” but decisive in crafting an exit strategy, he doggedly pursued his program of Vietnamization, initiating the withdrawal of U.S.military personnel and gradually ceding combat responsibilities to South Vietnam. In fighting to bring the troops home faster, pressing for more humane treatment of POWs, and helping to end the draft, Laird employed a powerful blend of disarming Midwestern candor and Washington savvy, as he sought a high moral road bent on Nixon’s oft-stated (and politically instrumental) goal of peace with honor. The first book ever to focus on Laird’s legacy, this authorized biography reveals his central and often unrecognized role in managing the crisis of national identity sparked by theVietnam War—and the challenges, ethical and political, that confronted him along the way. Drawing on exclusive interviews with Laird, Henry Kissinger, Gerald Ford, and numerous others, author Dale Van Atta offers a sympathetic portrait of a man striving for open government in an atmosphere fraught with secrecy. Van Atta illuminates the inner workings of high politics: Laird’s behind-the-scenes sparring with Kissinger over policy, his decisions to ignore Nixon’s wilder directives, his formative impact on arms control and health care, his key role in the selection of Ford for vice president, his frustration with the country’s abandonment of Vietnamization, and, in later years, his unheeded warning to Donald Rumsfeld that “it’s a helluva lot easier to get into a war than to get out of one.”

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Dale Van Atta - With Honor, Melvin Laird in War, P eace, and Politics (2008).pdf

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Maggie Rivas-Rodríguez, Emilio Zamora - Beyond the Latino World War II Hero, The Social and Politica l Legacy of a Generation (2009).jpg

USA Books1 - Maggie Rivas-Rodrguez, Emilio Zamora - Beyond the Lati... The Social and Political Legacy of a Generation 2009.jpg

The editors and contributors make a very significant contribution to the field. This volume creates a window, then opens it. A whole new panorama is presented.

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