From the American entry into World War II until September 1943, U.S. submarines experienced an abnormally high number of torpedo failures. These failures resulted from three defects present in the primary torpedo of the day, the Mark XIV. These defects were a tendency to run deeper than the set depth, the frequent premature detonation of the magnetic influence exploder, and the failure of the contact exploder when hitting a target at the textbook 90-degree angle. Ironically, despite using a completely independent design, the Germans experienced the same three defects. The Germans, however, fixed their defects in six months, while it took the Americans 22 months. Much of the delay on the American side resulted from the denial of senior leaders in the operational forces and in the Navy's Bureau of Ordnance (BuOrd) that the torpedo itself was defective. Instead, they blamed crews for poor marksmanship or lack of training. In the end, however, the submarine force itself overcame the bureaucratic inertia and correctly identified and fixed the three problems on their own, proving once again the industry of the average American soldier or sailor. Contrary to the interpretations of most submarine historians, this book concludes that BuOrd did not sit idly by while torpedoes failed on patrol after patrol. BuOrd acknowledged problems from early in the war, but their processes and their tunnel vision prevented them from realizing that the weapon sent to the fleet was grossly defective. One of World War II's forgotten heroes, Admiral Lockwood drove the process for finding and fixing the three major defects. This is first book that deals exclusively with the torpedo problem, building its case out of original research from the archives of the Bureau of Ordnance, the Chief of Naval Operations, Vice Admiral Lockwood's personal correspondence, and records from the British Admiralty at the National Archives of the United Kingdom. These sources are complemented by correspondence and interviews with men who actually participated in the events.

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2,1 MB
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Anthony Newpower - Iron Men and Tin Fish, The Race to Build a Better Torpedo during World War II (20 06).pdf

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Profile Morskie 68 - S. Brzezinski - Amerykanski p ancernik Idaho - The American Battleship USS Idaho (BB-42) (2004).jpg

Detailed look for modellers at this battleship as she was in 1945. 14 black/white photos and 22 pages of detail drawings. Polish/English text. Separate scale plan and colour profile.

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17,4 MB
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Profile Morskie 68 - S. Brzezinski - Amerykanski p ancernik Idaho - The American Battleship USS Idaho (BB-42) (2004).pdf

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Annette Trefzer, Ann J. Abadie - Global Faulkner ( 2009).jpg

Today, debates about globalization raise both hopes and fears. But what about during William FaulknerÂ’s time? Was he aware of worldwide cultural, historical, and economic developments? Just how interested was Faulkner in the global scheme of things?

The contributors to Global Faulkner suggest that a global context is helpful for recognizing the broader international meanings of FaulknerÂ’s celebrated regional landscape. Several scholars address how the flow of capital from the time of slavery through the Cold War period in his fiction links FaulknerÂ’s South with the larger world. Other authors explore the literary similarities that connect FaulknerÂ’s South to Latin America, Africa, Spain, Japan, and the Caribbean. In essays by scholars from around the world, Faulkner emerges in trans-Atlantic and trans-Pacific contexts, in a pan-Caribbean world, and in the space of the Middle Passage and the African Atlantic. The Nobel laureateÂ’s fiction is linked to that of such writers as Gabriel GarcÃa MÃ¡rquez, Wole Soyinka, Miguel de Cervantes, and Kenji Nakagami.

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0,7 MB
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Annette Trefzer, Ann J. Abadie - Global Faulkner ( 2009).pdf

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Cecelia Tichi - Civic Passions, Seven Who Launched Progressive America ( and What They Teach Us ) (2 009).jpg

A gripping and inspiring book, Civic Passionsexamines innovative leadership in periods of crisis in American history. Starting from the late nineteenth century, when respected voices warned that America was on the brink of collapse, Cecelia Tichi explores the wisdom of practical visionaries who were confronted with a series of social, political, and financial upheavals that, in certain respects, seem eerily similar to modern times. The United States--then, as now--was riddled with political corruption, financial panics, social disruption, labor strife, and bourgeois inertia.

Drawing on a wealth of evocative personal accounts, biographies, and archival material, Tichi brings seven iconoclastic--and often overlooked--individuals from the Gilded Age back to life. We meet physician Alice Hamilton, theologian Walter Rauschenbusch, jurist Louis D. Brandeis, consumer advocate Florence Kelley, antilynching activist Ida B. Wells-Barnett, economist John R. Commons, and child-welfare advocate Julia Lathrop. Bucking the status quo of the Gilded Age as well as middle-class complacency, these reformers tirelessly garnered popular support as they championed progressive solutions to seemingly intractable social problems.

Civic Passions is a provocative and powerfully written social history, a collection of minibiographies, and a user's manual on how a generation of social reformers can turn peril into progress with fresh, workable ideas. Together, these narratives of advocacy provide a stunning precedent of progressive action and show how citizen-activists can engage the problems of the age in imaginative ways. While offering useful models to encourage the nation in a newly progressive direction, Civic Passions reminds us that one determined individual can make a difference.

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6,0 MB
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Cecelia Tichi - Civic Passions, Seven Who Launched Progressive America ( and What They Teach Us ) (2 009).pdf

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6 mar 13 5:36

Jenni Bergal, Sara Shipley Hiles, Frank Koughan, J ohn Mcquaid, Jim Morris - City Adrift, New Orleans Before & After Katrina (2007).jpg

USA Books - Jenni Bergal, Sara Shipley Hiles, Frank Koughan, John ... - City Adrift, New Orleans Before After Katrina 2007.jpg

Foreword by Dan Rather: Hurricane Katrina was a stunning example of complete civic breakdown. Beginning on August 29, 2005, the world watched in horror as--despite all the warnings and studies--every system that might have protected New Orleans failed. Levees and canals buckled, pouring more than 100 billion gallons of floodwater into the city. Botched communications crippled rescue operations. Buses that might have evacuated thousands never came. Hospitals lost power, and patients lay suffering in darkness and stifling heat. At least 1,400 Louisianans died in Hurricane Katrina, more than half of them from New Orleans, and hundreds of thousands more were displaced, many still wondering if they will ever be able to return. How could all of this have happened in twenty-first-century America? And could it all happen again?

To answer these questions, the Center for Public Integrity commissioned seven seasoned journalists to travel to New Orleans and investigate the storm's aftermath. In City Adrift: New Orleans Before and After Katrina, they present their findings. The stellar roster of contributors includes Pulitzer Prize-winner John McQuaid, whose earlier work predicted the failure of the levees and the impending disaster; longtime Boston Globe newsman Curtis Wilkie, a French Quarter resident for nearly fifteen years; and Katy Reckdahl, an award-winning freelance journalist who gave birth to her son in a New Orleans hospital the day before Katrina hit.

They and the rest of the investigative team interviewed homeowners and health officials, first responders and politicians, and evacuees and other ordinary citizens to explore the storm from numerous angles, including health care, social services, housing and insurance, and emergency preparedness. They also identify the political, social, geographical, and technological factors that compounded the tragedy.

Comprehensive and balanced, City Adrift provides not only an assessment of what went wrong in the Big Easy during and following Hurricane Katrina, but also, more importantly, a road map of what must be done to ensure that such a devastating tragedy is never repeated.

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1,9 MB
6 mar 13 5:36

Jenni Bergal, Sara Shipley Hiles, Frank Koughan, J ohn Mcquaid, Jim Morris - City Adrift, New Orleans Before & After Katrina (2007).pdf

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6 mar 13 5:36

Marc A. Van Overbeke - The Standardization of Amer ican Schooling, Linking Secondary and Higher Educa tion, 1870-1910 (2008).jpg

USA Books - Marc A. Van Overbeke - The Standardization of American...inking Secondary and Higher Education, 1870-1910 2008.jpg

This book explores the efforts of educational reformers who sought to link secondary and higher education in the decades after 1870. Through various state, regional, and national initiatives, these reformers created a hierarchical system, laid the foundation for a growing standardization in education, and influenced who would have access to college. Neither higher education nor the secondary branches dominated the other in creating this educational system. Rather, through debate, argument, and accommodation, the two levels mutually shaped each other in a time of significant political and economic change. Reformers today wrestle with this legacy as they continue to forge connections between the two educational levels.

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1,7 MB
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Marc A. Van Overbeke - The Standardization of Amer ican Schooling, Linking Secondary and Higher Educa tion, 1870-1910 (2008).pdf

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Mary Compton, Lois Weiner - The Global Assault on Teaching, Teachers, and their Unions, Stories for Resistance (2008).jpg

USA Books - Mary Compton, Lois Weiner - The Global Assault on Teac...eachers, and their Unions, Stories for Resistance 2008.jpg

Increasingly public education’s character is under assault. This collection of essays by noted scholars, teacher activists, and teacher union leaders from around the world fuses personal stories, research, and political analysis, explaining why such profound and damaging changes are being made to schools and teaching, and how teachers, their unions, and supporters of public education can make real the goal of quality education for all the world’s children.

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Michael S. Sweeney - The Military and the Press, A n Uneasy Truce (2006).jpg

Because news is a weapon of war - affecting public opinion, troop morale, even strategy - for more than a century America's wartime officials have sought to control or influence the press, most recently by "embedding" reporters within military units in Iraq. This second front, where press freedom and military imperatives often do battle, is the territory explored in "The Military and the Press", a history of how press-military relations have evolved during the twentieth and twenty-first century in response to the demands of politics, economics, technology, and legal and social forces. Author Michael S. Sweeney takes a chronological approach, considering freedoms and restraints such as the First Amendment, court decisions, and government and military directives that have affected the press during World Wars I and II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, and the more recent conflicts. He explores the ongoing themes of wartime censorship and propaganda, as well as operational security in the battle zone. In chapters addressing the recent shift in military strategy in dealing with the press, Sweeney discusses new forms of control - from embedding journalists and discouraging unaccredited "unilaterals" to developing the news agenda through a barrage of briefings, sound bites, and visuals and appeals to patriotism that border on domestic propaganda. With profiles of a few specific journalists - from Richard Harding Davis covering the Spanish-American War to Christiane Amanpour reporting from the conflicts in Bosnia and Iraq - this deft blend of journalistic history and analysis should serve as a call-to-arms to a public not always well served by a military-press standoff.

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Susan Galleymore - Long Time Passing, Mothers Spea k about War and Terror (2009).jpg

Susan Galleymore is the mother of a US soldier who fought in Afghanistan and Iraq. This is the story of how and why she traveled to Iraq to visit him on a military base. It is a remarkable portrait of what it means to be a mother in a time of war. It also tells of her continuing journey through the middle east, interviewing mothers in war zones including Iraq, Israel and the West Bank, Lebanon, Syria, Afghanistan and the United States. As these women relate their experiences, across the political divide, they show how they view their child's involvement in war, and illustrate the wider impact of war on family, community and country. In exploring how mothers cope with war, Galleymore sheds light on related social issues including how countries treat their war veterans; US military recruitment techniques; conscientious objection and AWOL; court martials; and the failures and successes of military leadership. She explores cultural differences and examines common assumptions civilians hold about war and why troops themselves are hesitant to share their own stories or discuss the psychological breakdown that occurs within their ranks. Long Time Passing gets to the heart of extreme social experiences -- war and warriors, mothers and children, leadership -- and explores the limits of courage and fear.

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Susan Galleymore - Long Time Passing, Mothers Spea k about War and Terror (2009).pdf

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Hal Lacroix - Journey Out of Darkness, The Real St ory of American Heroes in Hitler's POW Camps, an O ral History (2007).jpg

USA Books - Hal Lacroix - Journey Out of Darkness, The Real Story ...ican Heroes in Hitlers POW Camps, an Oral History 2007.jpg

POWs in German prison camps faced brutal conditions completely unlike fictional depictions, and have endured years of trauma not only in imprisonment, but in the years following the war.

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Hal Lacroix - Journey Out of Darkness, The Real St ory of American Heroes in Hitler's POW Camps, an O ral History (2007).pdf

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Stanley Aronowitz, Henry A. Giroux - Postmodern Ed ucation, Politics, Culture, and Social Criticism ( 1991).jpg

The first book to offer a systematic look at the significance of postmodernist ideas for education.

This book offers and opinionated analysis of today's polemics surrounding the topic of education and society. Aronowitz and Giroux present a conceptual framework for charting the future directions educational theory and practice might take and continue the debate begun in their previous book, Education Under Siege, which was named one of the most significant books in education by the American Educational Studies Association in 1986.

"In Postmodern Education Aronowitz and Giroux are architects of the imagination, presenting essays of political, social, and cultural criticism aimed at altering the ways we understand the existing social order and act to change the conditions of our lives."

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Stanley Aronowitz, Henry A. Giroux - Postmodern Ed ucation, Politics, Culture, and Social Criticism ( 1991).pdf

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Robert L. Hetzel - The Monetary Policy of the Fede ral Reserve, A History (2008).jpg

The Monetary Policy of the Federal Reserve details the evolution of the monetary standard from the start of the Federal Reserve through the end of the Greenspan era. The book places that evolution in the context of the intellectual and political environment of the time. By understanding the fitful process of replacing a gold standard with a paper money standard, the conduct of monetary policy becomes a series of experiments useful for understanding the fundamental issues concerning money and prices. How did the recurrent monetary instability of the 20th century relate to the economic instability and to the associated political and social turbulence? After the detour in policy represented by FOMC chairmen Arthur Burns and G. William Miller, Paul Volcker and Alan Greenspan established the monetary standard originally foreshadowed by William McChesney Martin, who became chairman in 1951. Monetary Policy explains in a straightforward way the emergence and nature of the modern, inflation-targeting central bank.

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Robert L. Hetzel - The Monetary Policy of the Fede ral Reserve, A History (2008).pdf

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Jerry Oppenheimer - Madoff with the Money (2009).jpg

An intriguing look at Bernie Madoff the man, and his scam

Madoff with the Money is a deeply disturbing portrait of Bernie Madoff based on dozens of exclusive, news-making interviews. From the values Madoff was taught growing up in the working class town of Laurelton, Queens to his high-life on Wall Street and the super-rich enclaves of Palm Beach and the French Riviera, bestselling author Jerry Oppenheimer follows the disgraced money manager's trail as he works his way up the social and economic ladder, and eventually scams his trusting clients in a $50 billion Ponzi scheme.

Through Oppenheimer's in-depth reporting, you'll discover new revelations in this startling case, and become familiar with the trusting victims-ranging from non-profit Jewish charities to the likes of seemingly sophisticated individuals such as actress Jane Fonda who would "like to shake Madoff until his teeth fall out," the scion of the Baskin-Robbins ice cream empire who lost a bundle and was forced to rent out rooms in his house, and New Jersey Senator Frank Lautenberg. There's even Madoff's own sister-in-law and talk show host Larry King, who apparently didn't ask the right questions when he invested. All lost their much-needed life savings, while others saw fortunes small and large evaporate in the greedy financial operations of one of history's all-time charlatans.

Madoff With the Money

Delves into the details of the illusive man that lost investors billions
Weaves stories of Madoff's past with those of the present in an engaging and accessible style
Explores how the financial scam that Madoff ran cost individuals and institutions billions of dollars
Other titles by Oppenheimer: Toy Monster: The Big, Bad World of Mattel, and Just Desserts: Martha Stewart the Unauthorized Biography
While there may be other books on the Bernie Madoff debacle, none digs as deep or goes as far to uncover the truth behind the man, and his incredible scam.

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William I. Hitchcock - The Bitter Road to Freedom, A New History of the Liberation of Europe (2008).jpg

American s are justly proud of th e role their country played in liberating Europe from Nazi tyranny. For many years, we have celebrated the courage of Allied soldiers, sailors, and aircrews who defeated Hitler's regime and restored freedom to the continent. But in recounting the heroism of the "greatest generation," Americans often overlook the wartime experiences of European people themselves -- the very people for whom the war was fought. In this brilliant new book, historian William I. Hitchcock surveys the European continent from D-Day to the final battles of the war and the first few months of the peace. Based on exhaustive research in five nations and dozens of archives, Hitchcock's groundbreaking account shows that the liberation of Europe was both a military triumph and a human tragedy of epic proportions. Hitchcock gives voice to those who were on the receiving end of liberation, moving them from the edge of the story to the center. From France to Poland to Germany, from concentration-camp internees to refugees, farmers to shopkeepers, husbands and wives to children, the experience of liberation was often difficult and dangerous. Their gratitude was mixed with guilt or resentment. Their lives were difficult to reassemble. This strikingly original, multinational history of liberation brings to light the interactions of soldiers and civilians, the experiences of noncombatants, and the trauma of displacement and loss amid unprecedented destruction. This book recounts a surprising story, often jarring and uncomfortable, and one that has never been told with such richness and depth. Ranging from the ferocious battle for Normandy (where as many French civilians died on D-Day as U.S. servicemen) to the plains of Poland, from the icy ravines of the Ardennes to the shattered cities and refugee camps of occupied Germany, The Bitter Road to Freedom depicts in searing detail the shocking price that Europeans paid for their freedom. Today, with American soldiers once again waging wars of liberation in faraway lands, this book serves as a timely and sharp reminder of the terrible human toll exacted by even the most righteous of wars.

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Daniel O'Sullivan - Petromania, Black gold, paper barrels and oil price bubbles (2009).jpg

Black gold, paper barrels and the oil price bubble of 2008. The spike in the oil price to almost $150 per barrel in summer 2008 was the last great excess of the crazed noughties bull markets, staged even as stock markets crumbled worldwide. Contrary to entrenched establishment opinion still embraced by many, Petromania proves this oil price blowout was a classic 'speculative bubble', but driven primarily by new modes of financial speculation.

Demolishing widespread, oft-repeated but incorrect arguments that such trade in 'paper barrels' cannot move oil prices, Petromania details how this 'financialisation' of the oil markets meshed with other trends to create a moment just a year ago that saw investment banks and hedge funds collectively wield more power over the price of 'black gold' than OPEC or any multinational oil company. It also shows how regulatory blindness to the 'dark matter' of modern finance caused so many to confuse fantasy with reality for so long.

Petromania matters not just because fortunes were won and lost in oil's dizzying ascent and crash, but because this bubble spelled misery for ordinary people worldwide, destabilised developing world governments and delayed interest rate cuts desperately needed to address the ongoing global recession. Petromania matters because while all eyes are on the crippled banking system, we risk ignoring valuable lessons about twenty-first century markets from this other great boom-and-bust - even as the forces that blew the bubble are once again at work.

And Petromania, this tale of black gold, dark matter and paper barrels, is written by one of the few commentators who correctly and repeatedly called the bubble before it burst.

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Daniel O'Sullivan - Petromania, Black gold, paper barrels and oil price bubbles (2009).pdf

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John C. Pinheiro - Manifest Ambition, James K. Pol k and Civil-Military Relations during the Mexican War (2007).jpg

USA Books - John C. Pinheiro - Manifest Ambition, James K. Polk an... Civil-Military Relations during the Mexican War 2007.jpg

The Mexican War is known for the invaluable experience it provided to future Civil War officers and as an example of America's drive to fulfill her "Manifest Destiny." Yet it was more than a training ground, more than a display of imperialism. Significantly, the Mexican War tested civilian control of the military and challenged traditional assumptions about the role of the army in American society. In so doing, it revealed the degree to which, by 1846, the harsh partisanships of the Jacksonian Era had impacted the American approach to war. This is not another chronological retelling of the Mexican War. Instead, it examines civil-military clashes during the war in light of Jacksonian politics and the American citizen-soldier tradition, looking both at events that shed light on civilian authority over the military and at the far reaching impact of political ambition during this period (specifically, presidential power and the quest for the presidency). In addition to politics, a host of others factors marred civil-military relations during the war, threatening U.S. victory. These included atrocities committed by Americans against Mexicans, disobedient officers, and inefficient U.S. military governors. In the end, as Manifest Ambition shows, Polk's ability to overcome his partisan leanings, his micro-management of the war effort, and his overall strategic vision, helped avoid both a prolonged occupation and the annexation of "All Mexico." By 1848, Americans had come to realize that in their burgeoning democracy, generals and politicians could scarcely resist the temptation to use war for partisan gain. It was a lesson well learned and one that still resonates today.

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John C. Pinheiro - Manifest Ambition, James K. Pol k and Civil-Military Relations during the Mexican War (2007).pdf

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Ivo Daalder, Nicole Gnesotto, Philip Gordon - Cres cent of Crisis, U.S.-European Strategy for the Gre ater Middle East (2006).jpg

USA Books - Ivo Daalder, Nicole Gnesotto, Philip Gordon - Crescent....S.-European Strategy for the Greater Middle East 2006.jpg

The greater Middle East is beset by a crescent of crisis-a region of urgent danger stretching from Pakistan to Afghanistan, through Iran and Iraq, all the way to the Syria/Lebanon question and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The specific problems range from terrorism and nuclear proliferation to the rise of fundamentalism and a lack of democracy. These crises pose perhaps the most pressing security challenges to Europe and the United States today. Unfortunately, the U.S. and its allies across the Atlantic generally have approached them in separate ways, often resulting in tense transatlantic relations as well as missed opportunities to make the world safer. Clearly time has come for greater coordination of strategy and action. Crescent of Crisis brings together several leading American and European experts to develop a common approach to the pressing worries of the region. The contributors include some of the foremost analysts of the region from both sides of the Atlantic. They provide succinct synopses of the crises, compare U.S. and European perspectives, and suggest ways to increase cooperation. The editors synthesize this into a road map for U.S.-European cooperation in meeting the present and future challenges of this volatile part of the world. Contributors: Stephen Cohen (Brookings Institution), James Dobbins (RAND), Toby Dodge (University of London), Eva Goes (consultant), Martin Indyk (Saban Center at Brookings), Reinoud Leenders (University of Amsterdam), Flynt Leverett (Saban Center at Brookings), Ken Pollack (Saban Center at Brookings), Jean-Luc Racine (Centre for the Study of India and South Asia, CNRS/EHESS), Barnett Rubin (New York University), Yezid Sayigh (King's College London), Michael Schmunk (Harvard University), Bruno Tertraris (Fondation pour la Recherche Strategique).

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