Showing results for "F" in History & Theory

Instead of trying to predict "Black Swan" events such as coups or crises, forecasters should look at how political systems handle disorder. The best indicator of a country's future trajectory is not a lengthy past stability, but recent moderate volatility.

Once a more sedate affair, since 2016, British politics has witnessed a barrage of crises, resignations and general elections. As Brexit became logjammed, Theresa May's premiership was the most turbulent of all. In her darkest hour, following the disastrous 2017 election, she turned to Gavin Barwell to restore her battered authority. He would become her chief of staff for the next two years - a period punctuated by strained negotiations, domestic tragedy and intense political drama.

In 1848, THE COMMUNIST MANIFESTO was published by two émigrés from Germany. Marx and Engels' apocalyptic vision of an insatiable system that penetrates every corner of the world reduces every relationship to that of profit, and burst asunder the old forms of production and of politics. It is still a recognisable picture of our world–the vampiric energy of the system being once again highly contentious.

John Locke (1632-1704) was a product of his troubled times: he lived through the English Civil War, the Interregnum, the Restoration, Monmouth’s Rebellion, the Bloody Assizes and the Glorious Revolution. His empirical thinking was very much directed at finding rational solutions to the root causes of those troubles.

Liberty or Justice for All? brings to life four of America's greatest thinkers, whose dialogue across the ages has never been more relevant.

Examine the ways in which expertise, reason, and manners are continually under attack in our institutions, courts, political arenas, and social venues with this collection from the Pulitzer Prize-winning conservative columnist. In this collection, George F. Will, referred to by the Wall Street...

American history is often presented as a tale of dynamic movers and shakers who subdued an untamed wilderness on the way to forging a great nation-all the while leaving philosophy for their European counterparts.But this history neglects the philosophical underpinnings of America. As these 36 lectures demonstrate, America has borne the imprint of influential thinkers from its earliest days, from the Reformation theology of John Calvin to the Enlightenment philosophy of John Locke.

Britain shaped the modern Middle East through the lines that it drew in the sand after the First World War and through the League of Nations mandates over the fledgling states that followed. Less than forty years later, the Suez crisis dealt a fatal blow to Britain's standing in the Middle East and is often represented as the final throes of British imperialism. However, as this insightful and compelling new book reveals, successive prime ministers have all sought to extend British influence in the Middle East and their actions have often led to a disastrous outcome.

The daughter of Robert F. Kennedy shares personal remembrances of her father and through conversations with politicians, media personalities, celebrities and leaders, explores the influence that he continues to have on the issues at the heart of America's identity. Robert F. Kennedy staunchly...

The Greatest Speeches of All Time is a collection of the most important and well-known speeches of modern times by US presidents, politicians, and other historical icons. These dramatic speeches changed the course of history and inspired millions worldwide. Included are speeches by Franklin D. Roosevelt; Winston Churchill; Harry Truman; John F. Kennedy; Martin Luther King, Jr.; George Patton; Jimmy Carter; Ronald Reagan; Malcolm X; Douglas MacArthur; and others.

Academics, journalists, and popular historians agree: our greatest presidents are the ones who confronted a national crisis and mobilized the entire nation to face it. That’s the conventional wisdom. The chief executives who are celebrated in textbooks and placed in the top echelon of presidents in surveys of experts are the bold leaders - the Woodrow Wilsons and Franklin Roosevelts - who reshaped the United States in line with their grand “vision” for America. Unfortunately, along the way, these “great” presidents inevitably expanded government - and shrank our liberties.

When William the Conqueror died in 1087, he left the throne of England to William Rufus . . . his second son. The result was an immediate war as Rufus's elder brother Robert fought to gain the crown he saw as rightfully his; this conflict marked the start of 400 years of bloody disputes as the English monarchy's line of hereditary succession was bent, twisted, and finally broken when the last Plantagenet king, Richard III, fell at Bosworth in 1485.

He was youth, vigor, and optimism personified. Born to wealth and privilege, he became a symbol of America. With his wife by his side, the young president ushered in a new, elegant, artistic, and cultural era in the White House. The postwar baby boomers were coming of age and Kennedy's tragic assassination became the catalyst for social and cultural upheaval in the decade to follow. Hear again his famous voice, the turbulent events, and the compelling life story of John F. Kennedy.

In the wake of the American Revolution, the Founding Fathers faced a daunting task: overcome their competing visions to build a new nation, the likes of which the world had never seen. Washington and Hamilton chronicles the unlikely collaboration between two conflicting characters working together to protect their hard-won freedoms. Yet while Washington and Hamilton's different personalities often led to fruitful collaboration, their conflicting ideals also tested the boundaries of their relationship - and threatened the future of the new republic.

The Republican Party must return to its roots as a progressive conservative party that defends the American Dream, the idea that whoever you are you can get ahead and know that your children will have it better than you did. It must show how the Democrats have become the party of inequality and immobility and that they created what structural racism exists through their unjust education, immigration, and job-killing policies.

This would be the first formal speech to the American people from the mind of the President who is credited with bringing "Camelot" to the nation. In this speech we hear his first presidential endorsement of the Peace Corp., Food For Peace, an international sharing of scientific knowledge, and a cooperative space race. Here he decries the Cold War and Communist encroachment in Cuba. He will tell the American people things will get worse before they get better. A classic speech delivered by a well-loved American President. Narrated by Glenn Hascall.

In the aftermath of the terrorist attacks on September 11, one question has been on the mind of every American: "How did this happen?" Foreign Affairs' editor and managing editor, James Hoge, Jr. and Gideon Rose, have brought together an impressive list of experts to answer this question in all its critical aspects: the motives and actions of the terrorists, the status of our military, the current and historical context of the Middle East, airport security, biological threats, and more.

In this timely book, Lawrence Kaplan and William Kristol take a hard look at Saddam Hussein. They see the face of evil: someone who embraced a cruel blend of socialism, fascism, and pan-Arab nationalism when young, and later became a coup plotter and a member of the Iraqi equivalent of Hitler's Brown Shirts.

From one of the country’s most brilliant political commentators, the bestselling author of Then Everything Changed, an extraordinary, thought-provoking look at Kennedy’s presidency—after November 22, 1963. November 22, 1963: JFK does not die. What would happen to his life, his presidency...

This compilation contains the complete audio recordings of all four of the landmark debates complemented by narration by Sander Vanocur (one of the original panel of journalists during the first debate), enabling listeners to hear, word for word, history in the making and to draw his or her own conclusions about who won this face-off between two of America's most noted Presidents.