On November 10, 2017, Pope Francis became the first pontiff in the nuclear era to take a complete stand against nuclear weapons, even as a form of deterrence. At a Vatican conference of leaders in the field of disarmament, he made it clear that the possession of the bomb itself was immoral. A World Free from Nuclear Weapons presents the pope’s address and original testimony from Nobel Peace Prize laureates, religious leaders, diplomats, and ci ...
In Korea and Her Neighbours, written in two volumes between 1894 and 1897, Isabella Bird documents one of the most critical and interesting periods of Korean history. Violently torn from centuries of seclusion, this fragile nation awoke to find itself confronted on all sides by an array of powerful, ambitious, and aggressive countries clamoring for commercial and political concessions – a rivalry which, at this time, made Korea the battlefield o ...
Since its founding in 1945, the Foreign Correspondents Club of Japan (FCCJ) has been a haven for working journalists. From its origins at «No. 1 Shimbun Alley» in the ruins of Tokyo immediately after World War II, the club quickly took on a life of its own. At times it became like a miniature United Nations, meeting the needs of hundreds of foreign journalists from around the world, who used it as a working press center as well as a social oasis ...
For nearly ten years, the U.S. and the international community have been engaged in the struggle to secure a stable peace in Afghanistan. The international task force organized by The Century Foundation, under the leadership of Ambassadors Lakhdar Brahimi and Thomas Pickering, just released their report, Afghanistan: Negotiating Peace. Their findings and recommendations seek to determine what kind of political path might lead to ending the war. ...
The son of a Mexican Catholic father with aristocratic roots and a mother of Eastern European Jewish descent, Carlos E. Cortés grew up wedged between cultures, living a childhood in “constant crossfire—straddling borders, balancing loves and loyalties, and trying to fit into a world that wasn't quite ready.” In some ways, even his family wasn't quite ready (for him). His request for a bar mitzva ...
Croatian Radical Separatism and Diaspora Terrorism During the Cold War examines one of the most active but least remembered groups of terrorists of the Cold War: radical anti-Yugoslav Croatian separatists. Operating in countries as widely dispersed as Sweden, Australia, Argentina, West Germany, and the United States, Croatian extremists were responsible for scores of bombings, numerous attempted and successful assassinations, two guerilla incurs ...
What is fascism and what is populism? What are their connections in history and theory, and how should we address their significant differences? What does it mean when pundits call Donald Trump a fascist, or label as populist politicians who span left and right such as Hugo Chávez, Juan Perón, Rodrigo Duterte, and Marine Le Pen? Federico Finchelstein, one of the leading scholars of fascist and populist ideologies, synthesiz ...
Last Weapons explains how the use of hunger strikes and fasts in political protest became a global phenomenon. Exploring the proliferation of hunger as a form of protest between the late-nineteenth and mid-twentieth centuries, Kevin Grant traces this radical tactic as it spread through trans-imperial networks among revolutionaries and civil-rights activists from Russia to Britain to Ireland to India and beyond. He shows how the significance of h ...
"Explores protesting as an act of faith . . . How to Read a Protest argues that the women's marches of 2017 didn't just help shape and fuel a moment—they actually created one."—Masha Gessen, The New Yorker   O, the Oprah Magazine’s “14 Best Political Books to Read Before the 2018 Midterm Election”"A fascinatin ...
