From acclaimed historian Roger Moorhouse comes the definitive history of the pact that united Hitler and Stalin from 1939 to 1941.
History remembers the Soviets and the Nazis as bitter enemies and ideological rivals, the two opposing totalitarian regimes of World War II whose conflict would be the defining and deciding clash of the war. Yet for nearly a third of the conflict's entire timespan, Hitler and Stalin stood side by side as partners. The Pact that they agreed had a profound and bloody impact on Europe, and is fundamental to understanding the development and denouement of the war.
The Devils' Alliance explores the causes and implications of the Nazi-Soviet Pact, whose creation and dissolution were crucial turning points in World War II. Forged by Joachim von Ribbentrop, and his Soviet counterpart, Vyacheslav Molotov, the nonaggression treaty briefly united the two powers in a brutally efficient collaboration. The Germans and Soviets quickly conquered and divided central and eastern Europe. Hundreds of thousands of people caught between Hitler and Stalin were expropriated, deported, or killed. Fortunately for the Allies, the partnership ultimately soured. Ironically, however, the powers' exchange of material, blueprints, and technological expertise during the period of the Pact made possible a far more bloody and protracted war than would have otherwise been conceivable.
Combining comprehensive research with a gripping narrative, The Devils' Alliance is the authoritative history of the Nazi-Soviet Pact.
'Leider sind wir bankrott!'
Charilaos Trikoupis, 1893 (Griechischer Ministerpräsident)
Dass Griechenland in absehbarer Zeit in der Lage sein wird, seinen gigantischen Schuldenberg abzutragen, glaubt heute keiner mehr. Der Ausstieg des Landes aus der finanzpolitischen Verantwortung diese Form des Grexit ist eine Tatsache auch völlig unabhängig von der Frage, ob das Land in der Eurozone verbleibt. Die griechische Tragödie wird weitreichende Folgen für die Politik in Deutschland, seinen EU-Partnerländern und für den weiteren Prozess der europäischen Integration haben. Der entstandene Schaden sind ja nicht allein die Milliardensummen, die die öffentlichen Haushalte und die Bilanzen der Europäischen Zentralbank belasten. Abgeschrieben werden muss vor allem ein gehöriges Maß an Vertrauen der Wähler in ihre politischen Vertreter. Das Buch zeigt Antworten auf die Frage, was der tatsächliche Preis sein wird für Jahrzehnte des unverantwortlichen Umgangs mit einer all zu sorglos konzipierten Gemeinschaftswährung und einem Land, dessen durchaus sympathische, aber überaus gefährliche Lebenslügen bedenkenlos hingenommen wurden.
Amoral, cunning, ruthless, and instructive, this piercing work distills three thousand years of the history of power into 48 well-explicated laws. This bold volume outlines the laws of power in their unvarnished essence, synthesizing the philosophies of Machiavelli, Sun-Tzu, Carl von Clausewitz, and other infamous strategists. The 48 Laws of Power will fascinate any reader interested in gaining, observing, or defending against ultimate control.
Former Libertarian/Conservative Radio Talk Show Host Mike Wiley, whose 1994 US Senate victory was just one woman away from completion, when Hillary Rodham Clinton at the last moment decided to come down and help little brother out, even though she and Bill Clinton stayed away from the campaign for most of the year due in part to the polled massacre he would face against incumbent Republican Senator Connie Mack. However the Father of the Freedom Rally that led to the defeat of major gun control legislation was polled to defeat the Republican Connie Mack. However it was in the better interests of Hillary Rodham Clinton that the Conservative Democrat Wiley not win. Now 21 years later Wiley returns to challenge Hillary Rodham Clinton as the Libertarian candidate and defeats her and Jeb Bush to win the Presidency. This book reviews the historical aspects of the Intent of the Founding Fathers which both major parties have ignored for over 102 years. With that the LIbertarian Wiley presnets the perfect coalition of "We the People" to defeat the two "Elitist" candidates and presents his first Day in office and how dramatic and easy the return to the Republic and Lawful Government can be, when someone has the guts and determination to enforce the laws on the books, not the ones the Progressive Marxists Democrats keep hidden in their closet.
Left unfinished at the time of his death, The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin has endured as one of the most well-known and influential autobiographies ever written. From his early years in Boston and Philadelphia to the publication of his Poor Richard's Almanac to the American Revolution and beyond, Franklin's autobiography is a fascinating, personal exploration into the life of America's most interesting founding father.
In 1775, the American colonies were a hotbed of political discord. Many of the British policies, specifically taxes, had caused American colonial leaders to consider the unthinkable: declaring independence from the British Empire and its King George. One such leader, Thomas Jefferson, wrote Common Sense: a pamphlet that explained the advantages of immediate and complete independence. In 1776, when the Declaration of Independence was signed, Common Sense became a national sensation, and has remained an important part of American history.
While the conflict over slavery was a factor in the Civil War, the abolition of slavery did not become a stated objective until President Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation, which went into effect on January 1, 1863. Freeing the slaves held in the still Confederate controlled states, it is heralded as one of America's most significant documents. Likewise, The Gettysburg Address, delivered by Lincoln on November 19, 1863 in the aftermath of a Union victory at the Battle of Gettysburg, is considered one of the greatest speeches in American history.
Wer sind die Guten? Was geht Deutschland die Ukraine an? Und wie kommt es, dass ein gescheitertes Abkommen mit der EU zu einer der gefAhrlichsten Krisen gefUhrt hat, die Europa in den vergangenen Jahrzehnten erlebte? Alles Putins Schuld? Oder ist die Wahrheit hinter diesem Konflikt, der nun den Frieden eines ganzen Kontinents bedroht, doch komplexer? Und welche Rolle spielen eigentlich die Medien? Sind sie noch unabhAngige Berichterstatter oder lAngst selbst zur Partei geworden? Mathias BrOckers und Paul Schreyer schauen hinter die Kulissen eines politischen Spiels, das tOdlicher Ernst geworden ist. Seit der Westen sich im Kampf mit Putins Russland um die Ukraine wAhnt, werden auch in Deutschland lAngst vergessene KriegsAngste wieder wach. Doch worum geht es in diesem Spiel wirklich? Und welche Rolle spielen die Medien? Irritiert spUren viele Leitartikler, wie ein wachsender Teil der Leserschaft ihnen nicht mehr lAnger folgt. Offentliche und verOffentlichte Meinung gehen drastisch auseinander. Kritisiert wird eine Einseitigkeit in der Berichterstattung, die den Medienmachern selbst als bOse Unterstellung gilt. Dabei ist das stAndige Mantra vom bOsen Putin kaum zu UberhOren. Wie kommt es, dass dem Publikum kein komplexeres Bild zugemutet wird? BrOckers und Schreyer schauen hinter die Kulissen und analysieren neben der Rolle der Medien auch den historischen Hintergrund des Ukraine-Konflikts, sowie die Rolle der Geopolitik. Denn tatsAchlich sind Geostrategie und internationale Machtpolitik kein vergangenes Relikt des Kalten Krieges, sondern ein sehr einflussreiches Instrument der Gegenwart. Wer aber sind die realen Akteure und welche Interessen verfolgen sie?
Lewis Buzbee looks back over a lifetime of experiences in schools and classrooms, from kindergarten to college and beyond. He offers fascinating histories of the key ideas informing educational practice over the centuries, which have shaped everything from class size to the layout of desks and chairs. Buzbee deftly weaves his own biography into this overview, approaching his subject as a student, a father, and a teacher. He credits his success to the well-funded California public school system and bemoans the terrible price that state is paying as a result of funding being cut from today's budgets. For Buzbee, the blackboard is a precious window into the wider world, which we ignore at our peril.
Meinungsfreiheit ist ein Grundrecht. Doch im Alltag begegnet man so manchem Denk- und Redeverbot. Thilo Sarrazin analysiert in seinem neuen Hörbuch den grassierenden Meinungskonformismus. Wer Dinge ausspricht, die nicht ins gerade vorherrschende Weltbild passen, der wird gerne als Provokateur oder Nestbeschmutzer ausgegrenzt. Mit gewohntem Scharfsinn prangert Thilo Sarrazin diesen Missstand an, zeigt auf, wo seine Ursachen liegen, und benennt die 14 vorherrschenden Denk- und Redeverbote unserer Zeit.
All the Presidents' Bankers is a groundbreaking narrative of how an elite group of men transformed the American economy and government, dictated foreign and domestic policy, and shaped world history.
Culled from original presidential archival documents, All the Presidents’ Bankers delivers an explosive account of the hundred-year interdependence between the White House and Wall Street that transcends a simple analysis of money driving politics—or greed driving bankers.
Nomi Prins ushers us into the intimate world of exclusive clubs, vacation spots, and Ivy League universities that binds presidents and financiers. She unravels the multi-generational blood, intermarriage, and protégé relationships that have confined national influence to a privileged cluster of people.
This unprecedented history of American power illuminates how financiers have retained their authoritative position through history, swaying presidents regardless of party affiliation. It explores the alarming global repercussions of a system lacking barriers between public office and private power. Prins leaves us with an ominous choice: either we break the alliances of the power elite, or they will break us.
From the bestselling authors of The Right Nation , a visionary argument that our current crisis in government is nothing less than the fourth radical transition in the history of the nation-state.
Dysfunctional government: It' s become a cliché, and most of us are resigned to the fact that nothing is ever going to change. As John Micklethwait and Adrian Wooldridge show us, that is a seriously limited view of things. In fact, there have been three great revolutions in government in the history of the modern world. The West has led these revolutions, but now we are in the midst of a fourth revolution, and it is Western government that is in danger of being left behind.
Now, things really are different. The West' s debt load is unsustainable. The developing world has harvested the low-hanging fruits. Industrialization has transformed all the peasant economies it had left to transform, and the toxic side effects of rapid developing world growth are adding to the bill. From Washington to Detroit, from Brasilia to New Delhi, there is a dual crisis of political legitimacy and political effectiveness.
The Fourth Revolution crystallizes the scope of the crisis and points forward to our future. The authors enjoy extraordinary access to influential figures and forces the world over, and the book is a global tour of the innovators in how power is to be wielded. The age of big government is over; the age of smart government has begun. Many of the ideas the authors discuss seem outlandish now, but the center of gravity is moving quickly.
This tour drives home a powerful argument: that countries' success depends overwhelmingly on their ability to reinvent the state. And that much of the West-- and particularly the United States-- is failing badly in its task. China is making rapid progress with government reform at the same time as America is falling badly behind. Washington is gridlocked, and America is in danger of squandering its huge advantages from its powerful economy because of failing government. And flailing democracies like India look enviously at China' s state-of-the-art airports and expanding universities.
The race to get government right is not just a race of efficiency. It is a race to see which political values will triumph in the twenty-first century-- the liberal values of democracy and liberty or the authoritarian values of command and control. The stakes could not be higher.
