An expert witness in legal cases involving rules of engagement and the US military murder of prisoners, Prof. Stjepan Mestrovic exposes profound contradictions and systemic flaws that confuse criminal brutality and heroism, making victims of soldiers like Sergeant Michael Leahy who won a purple heart but also was sentenced to life imprisonment in 2009.
A shocking follow-up study of Operation Iron Triangle, Iraq, the current work outlines the treatment of US soldiers who apparently were following their orders as they understood them and who were then accused of having committed war crimes. These include Corey Clagett and William Hunsaker, who were charged in the Iron Triangle incident, and Michael Leahy and Joseph Mayo (from the February 2009 case).

zachomikowany

2,8 MB
6 mar 13 5:36

Stjepan G. Mestrovic - The Good Soldier on Trial, A Sociological Study of Misconduct by the US Milit ary Pertaining to Operation Iron Triangle, Iraq (2 009).pdf

zachomikowany

38 KB
6 mar 13 5:36

Asbjørn Grønstad - Transfigurations, Violence, Dea th and Masculinity in American Cinema (2008).jpg

USA Books - Asbjrn Grnstad - Transfigurations, Violence, Death and Masculinity in American Cinema 2008.jpg

In many senses, viewers have cut their teeth on the violence in American cinema: from Anthony Perkins slashing Janet Leigh in the most infamous of shower scenes; to the 1970s masterpieces of Martin Scorsese, Sam Peckinpah and Francis Ford Coppola; to our present-day undertakings in imagining global annihilations through terrorism, war, and alien grudges. Transfigurations brings our cultural obsession with film violence into a renewed dialogue with contemporary theory. Grønstad argues that the use of violence in Hollywood films should be understood semiotically rather than viewed realistically; Tranfigurations thus alters both our methodology of reading violence in films and the meanings we assign to them, depicting violence not as a self-contained incident, but as a convoluted network of our own cultural ideologies and beliefs.

zachomikowany

3,8 MB
6 mar 13 5:36

Asbjørn Grønstad - Transfigurations, Violence, Dea th and Masculinity in American Cinema (2008).rar

zachomikowany

119 KB
6 mar 13 5:36

J. Sakai - Settlers, The Mythology of the White Pr oletariat (1983).jpg

"Settlers" chronicles the history of race and class in America and the way in which they have historically intertwined. The Settlers thesis is well-argued and defended by many historical examples and evidence, mostly in the historical parts chronicling the pre-WWI history of the US. As such, it provides a highly interesting and useful theory that, unlike the rambling and opportunistic efforts of the American intellectual left, can actually explain the eternal question of why the US has lacked a coherent political force for the workers. Sakai's booklet is however marred to an extent by his sometimes overly sectarian and hateful approach, as well as by his failure to overcome the pointless and outdated ideas of secessionism on the part of the exploited minority 'Nations'. The developments in American politics of the last 25 years or so have decisively shown that American imperialism will always rather choose to unite its member ethnic groups to share the spoils of exploiting the rest of the world rather than risking an internal war that weakens it, and the laborers of this American imperial power will also prefer this, also when they are black or hispanic - Sakai is here clearly inferior in understanding to H.W. Edwards, who analyzed the power of social-democracy as based on the labor aristocracy created by _internationally_ exploitative relations, a pattern which can be viewed in America as much as anywhere else (e.g. Obama's run for the Presidency).

zachomikowany

7,8 MB
6 mar 13 5:36

J. Sakai - Settlers, The Mythology of the White Pr oletariat (1983).pdf

zachomikowany

58 KB
6 mar 13 5:36

Thomas G. Paterson - Kennedy's Quest for Victory, American Foreign Policy, 1961-1963 (1989).jpg

The first major reassessment of John F. Kennedy's foreign policy since his death, this volume of original essays compels new thinking about the 1960s. Basing their analysis on extensive research in archival documents and oral histories, twelve accomplished historians explore the primary foreign policy assumptions and objectives of Kennedy and his advisers. The contributors examine the Cold War, global crisis, domestic politics, decision-making, personality and style, and historical lessons in shaping Kennedy's diplomacy. This provocative volume explores such key issues as the Atlantic alliance, nuclear arms, United States economic hegemony, the Cuban missile crisis and the covert war against Fidel Castro, Third World neutralism, the Peace Corps, and the Vietnam War. The contributors also examine the Kennedy Administration's policies towards Latin America, Canada, the Middle East, South Asia, China, and Africa, and assess the costs and consequences of Kennedy's record. The Kennedy legacy included a deepening war in Vietnam, an accelerated nuclear arms race, excessive activism in the Third World, greater factionalism in the Atlantic community, and a globalism of overcommitment. These well-researched essays challenge us to reckon with a past that has not always matched the selfless and self-satisfying image Americans have of their foreign policy and of Kennedy as their young, fallen hero who never had a chance to fulfill his goals. Identifying arrogance, ignorance, impatience, and exaggerations of the Communist threat as the factors that actually denied Kennedy the victory he craved, this study reveals that he had his chance--and he failed.

zachomikowany

24,6 MB
6 mar 13 5:36

Thomas G. Paterson - Kennedy's Quest for Victory, American Foreign Policy, 1961-1963 (1989).pdf

zachomikowany

144 KB
6 mar 13 5:36

Dominique Breffort - Lockheed Constellation, From Excalibur to Starliner Civilian and Military Varia nts (2006).jpg

USA Books - Dominique Breffort - Lockheed Constellation, From Exca...ibur to Starliner Civilian and Military Variants 2006.jpg

Designed just before World War Two after special requirements from the American tycoon Howard Hughes, the Lockheed Constellation is celebrated today as one of the finest flying machine ever built. As a civilian aircraft, it has been the first airliner able to cross the Atlantic Ocean non stop, but it also has had a respectable military career, thanks to its brilliant characteristics which allowed it to fulfill missions of electronic warfare and AWACS. Details all the different models, and comprehensively and beautifully illustrated throughout.

zachomikowany

154,9 MB
6 mar 13 5:36

Dominique Breffort - Lockheed Constellation, From Excalibur to Starliner Civilian and Military Varia nts (2006).pdf

zachomikowany

34 KB
6 mar 13 5:36

Allan Gould - Anne of Green Gables vs. G.I. Joe, F riendly Fire Between Canada and the U.S. (2003).jpg

Was it better that our ancestors chose to migrate to Canada, or should they have gone to the U.S.? Snow and ice and high taxes? Or unaffordable health care, guns in kindergarten, and great weather? And didn't they have to film the hit movie Chicago in Canada because we had the studios, the gaffers, and the 65 cent dollar? What about our national dreams? Gould defines the American Dream as the obligation for every American to achieve fame, fortune, and a trophy wife up to one-half the age of the first one, but only after he accomplishes the first two. The Canadian Dream is to pay a serviceman in cash to avoid the GST, to go to Hawaii (if you live in B.C.), and to be able to move to the U.S. to make real dollars. And what about our different political systems? In the U.S. there is serious debate about campaign finance reform; in Canada, we turn to Hansard to follow a similar discussion: "Oh shut up." "YOU shut up." "Up yours!" "Oh yeah? You'd probably enjoy that, Svend." G.I. Joe and Anne of Green Gables could be just about the funniest book you'll read this fall.

About the Author
Allan Gould is the author of more than 30 books, several of which have been bestsellers, including The Top Secret Tory Handbook (under the pseudonym of Deep Chin), Straight from the Lip, and Canned Lit.

zachomikowany

7,2 MB
6 mar 13 5:36

Allan Gould - Anne of Green Gables vs. G.I. Joe, F riendly Fire Between Canada and the U.S. (2003).pdf

zachomikowany

102 KB
6 mar 13 5:36

J. Gary Taylor, Patricia J. Scharlin - Smart Allia nce, How a Global Corporation and Environmental Ac tivists Transformed a Tarnished Brand (2004).jpg

Large and wealthy global companies too often fail to acknowledge environmental responsibility or workers' rights. This book tells the dramatic story of one company-- Chiquita Brands International--that decided to change the negative paradigm. Formerly the notorious United Fruit Company, a paternalistic organization that gave the name "Banana Republic" to tropical countries in Central America, Chiquita defied all expectations in the mid-1990s by forming agreements with the Rainforest Alliance that transformed not only the corporation itself but also an important segment of the banana industry. Gary Taylor and Patricia Scharlin reveal the inside story of how corporate executives, banana workers, local leaders, and conservation advocates learned to work together and trust one another. Over the objections of skeptical critics, Chiquita and the Rainforest Alliance established a Better Banana "seal of approval" to certify genuine efforts to improve soil and water quality, ensure rainforest conservation, and enhance worker health and safety. This chronicle of their collaboration, told objectively and with extensive documentation, presents a promising new model of cooperative behavior-a model that shows how multinational companies can become motivated to solve critical global problems.

zachomikowany

2,5 MB
6 mar 13 5:36

J. Gary Taylor, Patricia J. Scharlin - Smart Allia nce, How a Global Corporation and Environmental Ac tivists Transformed a Tarnished Brand (2004).pdf

zachomikowany

229 KB
6 mar 13 5:36

James M. Schmidt - Lincoln's Labels, America's Bes t Known Brands and the Civil War (2009).jpg

Relating a variety of rarely told stories, this overview explores the brand names that supplied food, medicine, clothing, and weapons during the Civil War from the perspective of the producers. From du Pont’s gunpowder and Brooks Brothers’ uniforms to Procter & Gamble’s soap and Borden’s condensed milk, each company and product are investigated in detail. This study also touches upon how combat affected the companies, with each firm telling a tale that mirrors the war itself: family and friendships torn asunder, political intrigue, pitched battles, and paths crossed with the book’s namesake, Abraham Lincoln.

zachomikowany

2,1 MB
6 mar 13 5:36

James M. Schmidt - Lincoln's Labels, America's Bes t Known Brands and the Civil War (2009).pdf

zachomikowany

16 KB
6 mar 13 5:36

Sam Williams - Free as in Freedom, Richard Stallma n's Crusade for Free Software (2002).jpg

Free as in Freedom interweaves biographical snapshots of GNU project founder Richard Stallman with the political, social and economic history of the free software movement. Starting with how it all began--a desire for software code from Xerox to make the printing more efficient-to the continuing quest for free software that exists today. It is a movement that Stallman has at turns defined, directed and manipulated. Like Alan Greenspan in the financial sector, Stallman has assumed the role of tribal elder in a community that bills itself as anarchic and immune to central authority. Free as in Freedom looks at how the latest twists and turns in the software marketplace have done little to throw Stallman off his pedestal. Discover how the Richard's childhood and teenage experiences made him the man he is today. If anything, they have made Stallman's logic-based rhetoric and immovable personality more persuasive. In a rapidly changing world people need a fixed reference point, and Stallman has become that reference point for many in the software world.

zachomikowany

1,1 MB
6 mar 13 5:36

Sam Williams - Free as in Freedom, Richard Stallma n's Crusade for Free Software (2002).pdf

zachomikowany

40 KB
6 mar 13 5:36

Vincent Bzdek - The Kennedy Legacy, Jack, Bobby an d Ted and a Family Dream Fulfilled (2009).jpg

John, Robert, and Ted Kennedy's individual stories can be seen as essentially one, each successive brother striving to fulfill the interrupted promise of the brother before. The closing of Ted Kennedy's chapter in America’s political and cultural life means that, for the first time perhaps, the real measure of the Kennedy legacy can finally be taken. This is a story of a brotherhood in three acts: Act I is John F. Kennedy’s presidency, as seen from Ted’s front-row seat. Act II is Robert Kennedy’s five brief years as the family standard bearer, including his tenure in the Senate with his brother Ted and the memorable 82-day presidential campaign that redefined the Kennedy legacy. Act III is Ted’s 40-plus years in the Senate as keeper of the flame.

How did the brothers pass the torch to each other? What have the three brothers left us collectively? And who carries the torch forward now? The Kennedy Legacy compellingly answers these questions and much more.

zachomikowany

114 KB
6 mar 13 5:36

Michael Fellman - Inside War, The Guerrilla Confli ct in Missouri During the American Civil War (1990 ).jpg

During the Civil War, the state of Missouri witnessed the most widespread, prolonged, and destructive guerrilla fighting in American history. With its horrific combination of robbery, arson, torture, murder, and swift and bloody raids on farms and settlements, the conflict approached total war, engulfing the whole populace and challenging any notion of civility. Michael Fellman's Inside War captures the conflict from "inside," drawing on a wealth of first-hand evidence, including letters, diaries, military reports, court-martial transcripts, depositions, and newspaper accounts. He gives us a clear picture of the ideological, social, and economic forces that divided the people and launched the conflict. Along with depicting how both Confederate and Union officials used the guerrilla fighters and their tactics to their own advantage, Fellman describes how ordinary civilian men and women struggled to survive amidst the random terror perpetuated by both sides; what drove the combatants themselves to commit atrocities and vicious acts of vengeance; and how the legend of Jesse James arose from this brutal episode in the American Civil War.

zachomikowany

23,4 MB
6 mar 13 5:36

Michael Fellman - Inside War, The Guerrilla Confli ct in Missouri During the American Civil War (1990 ).pdf

zachomikowany

237 KB
6 mar 13 5:36

John Langellier - Terrible Swift Sword, Union Arti llery, Cavalry and Infantry, 1861-1865 (2000).jpg

In this pictorial history of the troops that fought for the Union, John Langellier presents a key insight into how Abraham Lincoln's soldiers actually appeared in the field. Far from being uniformly clad in blue, the Union soldier appeared in a great variety of clothing, from simple civilian-style dress to elaborate uniforms inspired by European armies. This remarkable addition to the G.I. Series covers artillery, cavalry and infantry and demonstrates the full range of their uniforms, equipment, and armament. This latest addition to the series includes a superb selection of rare images, including over a dozen color images produced in the 1860s for the U.S. Army Quartermaster Department. Also includes the complete 1861 U.S. Army uniform regulations. 110 b/w and 18 color illustrations.

zachomikowany

29,0 MB
6 mar 13 5:36

John Langellier - Terrible Swift Sword, Union Arti llery, Cavalry and Infantry, 1861-1865 (2000).pdf

zachomikowany

102 KB
6 mar 13 5:36

Harold Johnston - A Bridge Not Attacked, Chemical Warfare Civilian Research During World War II (200 3).jpg

This book gives an almost forgotten history concerning civilian university scientists, who carried out research on defense against poison gases in some unusual places during World War II. Most of these were graduate students, working under the direction of professors at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and the University of California (Berkeley). The first job on these projects was to make major improvements on gas masks. Later, most activities were done outdoors to assess the effects of terrain and meteorological conditions on the travel and dissipation of toxic gas clouds. Action took place in California, Florida, and the jungles of Panama. On these two parallel projects, one young participant was a big, healthy, athletic extrovert, who was deeply trained in the physical sciences, and by age twenty-nine (in 1943) was world famous in physics and in biology. Another was opposite in many ways: a skinny sickly loner, who was minimally schooled in science and mathematics. From the ten principal people working on these two projects, one was killed by accident while experimenting with a poison gas in the laboratory; another was proud of how he had defeated the draft system in an unusual way.

zachomikowany

26,3 MB
6 mar 13 5:36

Harold Johnston - A Bridge Not Attacked, Chemical Warfare Civilian Research During World War II (200 3).pdf

zachomikowany

34 KB
6 mar 13 5:36

Benedict Sheehy, Jackson Maogoto, Virginia Newell - Legal Control of the Private Military Corporatio n, Belling the Cheshire Cat (2009).jpg

USA Books - Benedict Sheehy, Jackson Maogoto, Virginia Newell - Le...e Military Corporation, Belling the Cheshire Cat 2009.jpg

Private Military Firms, (PMFs), are the wave of the future. They challenge most of our assumptions about private parties inflicting military scale violence on societies. This book examines the phenomena of the PMF from a legal-political perspective, drawing on the best of legal theory, actual legal precedents, and real cases of PMF interventions. It provides an in depth examination of the PMF as a corporate actor in the international, domestic arenas, and various efforts to control it.

zachomikowany

1,1 MB
6 mar 13 5:36

Benedict Sheehy, Jackson Maogoto, Virginia Newell - Legal Control of the Private Military Corporatio n, Belling the Cheshire Cat (2009).pdf

zachomikowany

85 KB
6 mar 13 5:36

R. P. Hunnicutt - Patton, A History of the America n Main Battle Tank, Volume 1 (1984).jpg

This book covers the history and development of America's longest service series of tanks, the Patton.
Tracing the post Korea era, Hunnicutt provides excellent detail of all prototypes, models and varients of the M-47, M-48 and M-60 series. The photos, line drawings and text fully explain the armament, suspension, hull, turret, automotive.

zachomikowany

61,2 MB
6 mar 13 5:36

R. P. Hunnicutt - Patton, A History of the America n Main Battle Tank, Volume 1 (1984).pdf

zachomikowany

142 KB
6 mar 13 5:36

R. P. Hunnicutt - Abrams, A History of the America n Main Battle Tank, Volume 2 (1990).jpg

R.P Hunnicutt has written a series of books that mark the definitive history of American armored fighting vehicles, and serious students of the subject would be well advised to collect them all. Each encyclopedia-size volume has a thorough history of vehicle development, chapters devoted to prototypes and experimental vehicles, four view 1:48th scale drawings of all major types and subtypes, and a photo section depicting the vehicles in service. There are hundreds of detail photographs and illustrations, and the books are printed on high quality glossy paper.
This particular volume chronicles the US military's search for a true main battle tank that could replace both the medium and heavy gun tanks in service in the 1950's and early 60's. The MBT-70/XM803 project of the 1960's and early 70's is covered in detail, and finally the M1 Abrams itself, developed in the 1970's and first fielded in 1982. The book discusses the multilayered armor (nicknamed Chobham armor after the British MVEE facility that developed it) which gave the new generation of tanks their reputation for invincibility, though of course the exact composition was and is classified. It also covers the competitive trials between the General Motors and Chrysler Abrams prototypes and the German Leopard 2. The Leopard 2 was rejected for US service, but its 120 mm gun was incorporated into the US tanks beginning with the M1A1. The book went to print just as the M1A1 was being deployed to Saudi Arabia in 1990, so the history ends there, but it is still a superb reference for the Abrams.

zachomikowany

« poprzednia strona następna strona »