Bøger udgivet af St. Martin's Griffin

Tony Zinni commands attention on the battlefield, at peace talks, in politics, and across the media spectrum. When he stood up and called for Donald Rumsfeld's resignation in 2006, the media paid attention, and when The Battle for Peace was published, the media--and the American public--applauded its bold new vision of America's role in the world. Widely acclaimed for its clear and practical approach to promoting a more stable and peaceful world through realism and pragmatic cooperation, this book has become even more relevant as we veer dangerously close towards confrontation with Iran. In a new afterword, General Zinni provides additional insight into the war in Iraq, how to deal with Iran, and more.

With an upcoming election, Chávez's involvement with U.S. oil exports, and the country becoming a leader of an increasingly united South America, this volume provides necessary background information to understand how Venezuela became what it is today. The history begins with Columbus's third voyage of discovery from Spain. Spanish explorers named the land "Little Venice" for the native homes built on stilts at the water's edge. Tracing the nation's 300 years as a Spanish colony through a brief unification followed by civil war, Tarver brings Venezuela's dramatic history to life. Highlighting events including the discovery of oil in the 1900s and the establishment of democratic government in 1958, Tarver offers a comprehensive chronicle that contextualizes the current unrest under the leadership of Hugo Chávez.

This is a compelling behind-the-scenes account of the extraordinary Castro brothers and the impending dynastic succession of Fidel's younger brother Raul. Brian Latell, the CIA analyst who has followed Castro since the sixties, gives an unprecedented view into Fidel and Raul's remarkable relationship, revealing how they have collaborated in policy making, divided responsibilities, and resolved disagreements for more than forty years--a challenge to the notion that Fidel always acts alone. Latell has had more access to the brothers than anyone else in this country, and his briefs to the CIA informed much of U.S. policy. Based on his knowledge of Raul Castro, Latell makes projections on what kind of leader Raul would be and how the shift in power might influence U.S.-Cuban relations.

Many people would be surprised to learn that the struggle between Thomas Jefferson's Republican Party and Alexander Hamilton's Federalist Party defined--and jeopardized--the political life of the early American republic. America on the Brink looks at why the Federalists, who worked so hard to consolidate the federal government before 1800, went to great lengths to subvert it after Jefferson's election. In addition to taking the side of the British in the diplomatic dance before the war, the Federalists did everything they could to impede the prosecution of the war, even threatening the Madison Administration with a separate peace for New England in 1814. Readers fascinated by the world of the Founding Fathers will come away from this riveting account with a new appreciation for how close the new nation came to falling apart almost fifty years before the Civil War.

The red bracelet: it graces the wrists of numerous celebrities--from Madonna to Britney Spears--who have converted to Kabbalah. But what is Kabbalah and how can women apply it to their own lives? In A New Kabbalah for Women, bestselling author Perle Besserman shares a feminine approach to Kabbalah. Since the time of Moses, Jewish mysticism has been barred to women, and the feminine side of God has been forced underground. Now, many women are adapting traditional practices in radical new ways. Besserman is at the forefront of this revolution. Combining Kabbalistic practices with meditation and memoir, Besserman walks readers through step-by-step rituals to find their own personal connections to the divine.

A rousing history of Ireland in its most tumultous century by one of the most well-known and beloved Irish writers of our time.Tim Pat Coogan's Ireland in the Twentieth Century will be a must-read for his legion of fans and anyone interested in Ireland's path through the twentieth century. Encompassing the violent and bloody days of the early twentieth century and peopled with such characters as Michael Collins, Eamon DeValera and James Joyce, this promises to be one of the most popular histories of Ireland yet written. Bringing the story up to the present day, Ireland in the Twentieth Century will become, like Coogan's The IRA and The Troubles, standard bearers in the canon of Irish history.

With all of the competing information in the news these days about how--and whether--to reform Social Security, how is a concerned citizen to know which is the right path? This book is the answer. Arthur Benavie gives readers the tools necessary to make decisions on this subject that they and their children will not regret. The US public has been offered false information on this issue, told that Social Security is going bankrupt unless it is reformed immediately. Benavie refutes these arguments and separates the economic facts from ideological value judgments. This book is an invaluable guide to understanding and making informed decisions about one of our most important social welfare systems.

Cuba is much more than cigars, classic automobiles, and Castro. This remarkable nation has had a long history of relations with larger political powers that were drawn to the island because of its valuable resources and strategic location. Ties between Cuba and the United States have been strong since the mid-nineteenth century, and the theme of U.S. dominance over the island and its people is a primary historical perspective. Cuba's history is told in eight chronological chapters, from its earliest days as a Spanish colony, through its wars for independence and the U.S. occupation in the twentieth century to Batista, the Cold War, and the so-called "Special Period," when Cuba faced the crisis of the downfall of the Soviet Union. With special emphasis on the twentieth century, the Castro era, and U.S.-Cuba relations, this is the most accessible and current history of Cuba available.

This narrative history of Mexico through 1998 will readers understand the lively and sometimes turbulent history of our neighbor to the south. Surveying Mexico from the arrival of the first humans in the Western Hemisphere to current issues at the turn of the new century, this work dispels many of the stereotypes about Mexico, its history, and its people. The sweep of the narrative transports the reader from Mexico's great cultural past to current issues such as the war on drugs, participation in the North American Free Trade Agreement, and the search for political stability as it enters the 21st century.

Record-setting ticket sales. Heated controversy. Sold-out viewings for church groups. And feuding critics. Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ has grossed over $500,000,000 in the US alone, and it is still going strong. In Re-Viewing the Passion, experts from diverse backgrounds explore the film, its success and its controversy. Exploring The Passion through lenses such as film, history, feminism, art and literature, and incorporating viewpoints from Catholicism, Judaism and Protestantism, this is a must-have guide for discussion groups, film buffs, and anyone interested in the issues surrounding the film. The Passion has provoked millions to ask questions of their faith, the faith of others, and the movie itself, and this book is the tool that can help them find the answers.

J.R.R. Tolkien claimed that he based the land of Middle Earth on a real place. The Real Middle Earth brings alive, for the first time, the very real civilization in which those who lived had a vision of life animated by beings beyond the material world. Magic was real to them and they believed their universe was held together by an interlaced web of golden threads visible only to wizards. At its center was Middle Earth, a place peopled by humans, but imbued with spiritual power. It was a real realm that stretched from Old England to Scandinavia and across to western Europe, encompassing Celts, Anglo Saxons and Vikings. Looking first at the rich and varied tribes who made up the populace of this mystical land, Bates looks at how the people lived their daily lives in a world of magic and mystery. Using archaeological, historical, and psychological research, Brian Bates breathes life into this civilization of two thousand years ago in a book that every Tolkien fan will want.

Martyrs offers compelling and chilling interviews with terrorist trainers, with the families of suicide bombers, fighters and fanatics, and with Muslim scholars offering differing opinions on the legitimacy of violence in Islam. Through the voices of those who plan and those who grieve, Martyrs provides provocative and troubling insights into the zealotry that leads to the targeting of innocents, the endless cycle of revenge, and the despair that besets the Middle East. From Iran to Lebanon and the Palestinian territories, Joyce Davis reports on the rage that drives tragedies and at the despondency of the mothers of those who die and kill. Unsettling as the perspectives presented here may be, they are crucial to understanding, though not accepting, the fury at and resentment of the US.

The New York Times crossword puzzles are renowned as the world's finest, but that doesn't mean you need to be among the world's finest puzzlers to solve them. With this new collection of 200 easy puzzles from The Times, edited by crossword legend Will Shortz, you can enjoy the best crosswords on the planet and have the fun and satisfaction of finishing them, too.- 200 crossword puzzles drawn from Monday and Tuesday editions of The New York Times- Under the editorship of Will Shortz, puzzles have featured up-to-date vocabulary and a fresh, innovative design- Author bylines allow fans to get to know today's top constructors

The first in-depth history of miscegenation law in the United States, this book illustrates in vivid detail how states, communities, and the courts have defined and regulated mixed-race marriage from the colonial period to the present. Combining a storyteller's detail with a historian's analysis, Peter Wallenstein brings the sagas of Richard and Mildred Loving and countless other interracial couples before them to light in this harrowing history of how individual states had the power to regulate one of the most private aspects of life: marriage.

Some people think that a cookbook is just a collection of recipes for dishes that feed the body. In Eat My Words: Reading Women's Lives through the Cookbooks They Wrote, Janet Theophano shows that cookbooks provide food for the mind and the soul as well. Looking beyond the ingredients and instructions, she shows how women have used cookbooks to assert their individuality, develop their minds, and structure their lives. Beginning in the seventeenth century and moving up through the present day, Theophano reads between the lines of recipes for dandelion wine, "Queen of Puddings," and half-pound cake to capture the stories and voices of these remarkable women.The selection of books looked at is enticing and wide-ranging. Theophano begins with seventeenth-century English estate housekeeping books that served as both cookbooks and reading primers so that women could educate themselves during long hours in the kitchen. She looks at A Date with a Dish, a classic African American cookbook that reveals the roots of many traditional American dishes, and she brings to life a 1950s cookbook written specifically for Americans by a Chinese émigré and transcribed into English by her daughter. Finally, Theophano looks at the contemporary cookbooks of Lynne Rosetto Kaspar, Madeleine Kamman, and Alice Waters to illustrate the sophistication and political activism present in modern cookbook writing. Janet Theophano harvests the rich history of cookbook writing to show how much more can be learned from a recipe than how to make a casserole, roast a chicken, or bake a cake. We discover that women's writings about food reveal--and revel in--the details of their lives, families, and the cultures they help to shape.

Life may have been hard on Addie French, but when she meets friendless Emma Roby on a train, all her protective instincts emerge. Emma's brother is seeing her off to Nalgitas to marry a man she has never met. And Emma seems like a lost soul to Addie-someone who needs Addie's savvy and wary eye. It isn't often that Addie is drawn to anyone as a friend, but Emma seems different somehow. When Emma's prospective fails to show up at the train depot, Addie breaks all her principles to shelter the girl at her brothel, The Chili Queen. But once Emma enters Addie's life, the secrets that unfold and schemes that are hatched cause both women to question everything they thought they knew. With Sandra Dallas's trademark humor, charm, and pathos, The Chili Queen will satisfy anyone who has ever longed for happiness.The Chili Queen is the winner of the 2003 Spur Award for Best Western Novel.

Sixty years after the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor and FDR's Executive Order 9066 making possible the incarceration of over 110,000 Americans of Japanese descent (two thirds of them American citizens) one question remains unresolved: "Could it happen again?" To the writers in this book--novelists, memoirists, poets, activists, scholars, students, professionals--the WWII internment of Japanese Americans in the detention camps of the west is an unfinished chapter of American history. Former internees and their children join with others in challenging readers to construct a better future by confronting the past. This is a fresh look at a compelling story, that continues to tarnish the American dream.

For over forty years, Tadashi Suzuki has been a unique and vital force in both Japanese and Western theater, creating and directing many internationally acclaimed productions including his famous production of The Trojan Women, which subsequently toured around the world. An intergral part of his work has been the development and teaching of his rigorous and controversial training system, the Suzuki method, whose principles have also been highly influential in contemporary theater. Paul Allain, an experienced practitioner of the Suzuki method, re-evaluates Suzuki's work, giving a lucid overview of his development towards an international theater aesthetic. He examines Suzuki's collaborators, the importance of architecture and environment in his theater and his impact on performance all over the world. The Art of Stillness is a lively, critical study of one of the most important and uncompromising figures in contemporary world theater.

From a war-torn and poverty-stricken country, regional and predominantly agrarian, to the success story of recent years, Italy has witnessed the most profound transformation--economic, social and demographic--in its entire history. Yet the other recurrent theme of the period has been the overwhelming need for political reform--and the repeated failure to achieve it. Professor Ginsborg's authoritative work--the first to combine social and political perspectives--is concerned with both the tremendous achievements of contemporary Italy and "the continuities of its history that have not been easily set aside."

Dependent on D.C. raises serious concerns about the future of liberty in America and proves beyond a doubt that the growth of dependence on government in the past seventy years has not been accidental, that its creation has been bipartisan, and that it is accelerating. Twight shows how growing federal power--driven by legislation, validated by Supreme Court decisions, and accelerated by presidential ambition--has eroded the rule of law in our nation, leaving almost no activity that the central government cannot at its discretion regulate, manipulate, or prohibit. Dependent on D.C. shows why Americans have not resistedthis expansion of federal power. In these uncertain times, Dependent on D.C. is the book Americans need to read when thinking about the future of their individual liberty.

Lorna Marshall's revolutionary new book, The Body Speaks, is a fundamental rethinking of our relationship to the body and its role in performance. Seventy percent of everyday conversation is conveyed through body language. Lorna Marshall shows us how to recognize and lose unwanted physical inhibitions that we've learned throughout life. Good performers--no matter whether they're trapeze artists or Shakespearean actors--are able to fully reach their audience and engage with them because they have learned to use their bodies to their best effect. Marshall encourages actors in training as well as those already working on the stage to unleash our potential and express ourselves more clearly in a book destined to become a standard volume on any working or training actor's bookshelf.

The population of Ireland is five million, but 70 million call themselves Irish. Here is their story in all its richness and complexity. Tim Pat Coogan traveled around the world where green is indeed worn to talk to the people who weaved the tale of "a dream born in a herdsman's shed and the secret scriptures of the poor." Along with American presidents, best-selling authors and Riverdancers, Ireland gave the world a caring tradition borne by missionaries and teachers who spread a message of hope and the panorama of their life abroad comes alive in this magisterial work.

Available for the first time ever, this collection of the easy Monday puzzles of The New York Times will provide hours upon hours of merriment for puzzle-solving masters and novices alike. Providing the same high quality as other Will Shortz crossword books, this title features:* 200 of the easiest daily-size puzzles* Author bylines that allow fans to get to know today's top contributors.

F.M. Alexander developed the Alexander Technique of movement in the early 20th century. Combining vocal clarity and body movement, Alexander developed a performance coaching method that is used by dancers, actors, singers, etc. In The Actor and the Alexander Technique, Kelly McEvenue writes the first basic book about how this unique technique can help actors feel more natural on the stage. She provides warm-up exercises, "balance" and "center" exercises, spatial awareness exercises. She talks about imitation, the use of masks, nudity on the stage, dealing with injury and aging. She talks about specific productions that have successfully used the Alexander Technique, such as "The Lion King". With a foreword by Patsy Rodenburg of our own phenomenal The Actor Speaks this is a book that belongs on the shelf of every working and studying actor.

The H Block protest is one of the strangest and most controversial issues in the tragic history of Northern Ireland. Republican prisoners, convicted of grave crimes through special courts and ruthless interrogation procedures, campaigned for political status by refusing to wear prison clothes and daubing their cell with excrement.Were they properly convicted criminals, or martyrs to political injustice? In a masterpiece of investigative journalism, Coogan provides us with the only first-hand account of the protest. His investigation led deep into the social, cultural, and economic maze of Northern Ireland's history to give readers an unmatched analysis of a troubled place and its sorrowful history.

Tim Pat Coogan covers the tortured history of Ireland from the beginning of the civil rights movement of the 1960s, through the long years of violence, up to the present attempts to find peace. His access to many of the principals gives this book a particular authority. Going beyond the slogans and headlines, Coogan provides a hard look at the deadly drama of a divided Ireland.

In 1967, as the movement for civil rights was turning into a bitter, often violent battle for black power, Harold Cruse's The Crisis of the Negro Intellectual burst onto the scene. It was a lacerating attack on integration, and set the agenda for black cultural, social, and political autonomy. A classic of African American social thought, the book and its author went on to influence generations of activists, artists, and scholars. Cruse's intelligence, independence, and breadth of vision virtually defined what it meant to be a black intellectual in modern America. In this first anthology of Cruse's writing, William Jelani Cobb provides a powerful introduction to Cruse's wide body of work, including published material such as excerpts from Crisis, as well as unpublished essays, speeches, and correspondence. The Essential Harold Cruse is certain to become standard reading for anyone interested in race in American society.

The Koh-i-Noor diamond known as the Mountain of Light, the world's largest diamond, was found in India, traveled from Golconda to the Mughal palaces in the north. Fought over, cursed at and occasionally lost, it finally reached the Sikhs in the Punjab, only to be seized by British agents eager to please young Queen Victoria. It now lies in the Tower of London where some say its curse controls the fate of the Windsor family. In Chasing the Mountain of Light, Kevin Rushby pursues the dramatic career of the Koh-i-Noor on a journey to the heart of Indian culture meeting dealers, smugglers, and petty crooks along the way. It's another adventure from Rushby whom the Washington Post recently compared to William S. Burroughs and Arthur Rimbaud.

Not since the Civil War was America so riven by conflict as it was during Franklin D. Roosevelt's presidency. His bold initiatives and his willingness to break historic precedent in handling the Great Depression and the coming of World War II were challenged by giant figures of the era, powerful public men each with their own fierce constituencies. Albert Fried brings out the tremendous drama in Roosevelt's ideological and personal struggle with five influential men: ex-New York governor and presidential candidate Al Smith, the enormously popular "radio priest" Charles E. Coughlin, Louisiana Senator Huey Long, labor champion John L. Lewis, and the universally adored aviator Charles A. Lindbergh. An enthralling story of a critical period in this century's history, FDR and His Enemies reveals the intellectual, moral, and tactical underpinnings of a great debate in which Roosevelt always triumphed.