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The Business of Civil War
The Business of Civil War
This wide-ranging, original account of the politics and economics of the giant military supply project in the North reconstructs an important but little-known part of Civil War history. Drawing on new and extensive research in army and business archives, Mark R. Wilson offers a fresh view of the wartime North and the ways in which its economy worked when the Lincoln administration, with unprecedented military effort, moved to suppress the rebellion. This task of equipping and sustaining Union forces fell to career army procurement officers. Largely free from political partisanship or any formal free-market ideology, they created a mixed military economy with a complex contracting system that they pieced together to meet the experience of civil war. Wilson argues that the North owed its victory to these professional military men and their finely tuned relationships with contractors, public officials, and war workers. Wilson also examines the obstacles military bureaucrats faced, many of which illuminated basic problems of modern political economy: the balance between efficiency and equity, the promotion of competition, and the protection of workers' welfare. The struggle over these problems determined the flow of hundreds of millions of dollars; it also redirected American political and economic development by forcing citizens to grapple with difficult questions about the proper relationships among government, business, and labor. Students of the American Civil War will welcome this fresh study of military-industrial production and procurement on the home front—long an obscure topic.
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Humanity's Last Stand
Humanity's Last Stand
Are we as a species headed towards extinction? As our economic system renders our planet increasingly inhospitable to human life, powerful individuals fight over limited resources, and racist reaction to migration strains the social fabric of many countries. How can we retain our humanity in the midst of these life-and-death struggles? Humanity’s Last Stand dares to ask these big questions, exploring the interconnections between climate change, global capitalism, xenophobia, and white supremacy. As it unearths how capitalism was born from plantation slavery and the slaughter of Indigenous people, it also invites us to imagine life after capitalism. The book teaches its readers how to cultivate an anthropological imagination, a mindset that remains attentive to local differences even as it identifies global patterns of inequality and racism. Surveying the struggles of disenfranchised peoples around the globe from frontline communities affected by climate change, to #BlackLivesMatter activists, to Indigenous water protectors, to migrant communities facing increasing hostility, anthropologist Mark Schuller argues that we must develop radical empathy in order to move beyond simply identifying as “allies” and start acting as “accomplices.” Bringing together the insights of anthropologists and activists from many cultures, this timely study shows us how to stand together and work toward a more inclusive vision of humanity before it’s too late. More information and instructor resources (https://humanityslaststand.org)
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The Practice of Pluralism
The Practice of Pluralism
The clash of modernity and an Amish buggy might be the first image that comes to one’s mind when imagining Lancaster, Pennsylvania, today. But in the early to mid-eighteenth century, Lancaster stood apart as an active and religiously diverse, ethnically complex, and bustling city. On the eve of the American Revolution, Lancaster’s population had risen to nearly three thousand inhabitants; it stood as a center of commerce, industry, and trade. While the German-speaking population—Anabaptists as well as German Lutherans, Moravians, and German Calvinists—made up the majority, about one-third were English-speaking Anglicans, Catholics, Presbyterians, Quakers, Calvinists, and other Christian groups. A small group of Jewish families also lived in Lancaster, though they had no synagogue. Carefully mining historical records and documents, from tax records to church membership rolls, Mark Häberlein confirms that religion in Lancaster was neither on the decline nor rapidly changing; rather, steady and deliberate growth marked a diverse religious population.
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René Girard
René Girard
Le parcours et l'oeuvre de René Girard présentés à travers des témoignages, des correspondances, un entretien avec lui et une sélection de ses écrits. Des critiques littéraires, philosophes, psychiatres ou anthropologues explorent les ressorts de la pensée girardienne et l'utilisent pour décortiquer des phénomènes contemporains : les génocides, le système judiciaire, la sexualité, etc.
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A charge de revanche
A charge de revanche
Tu me le donnes ? Je l'accepte - à charge de revanche...Mais si je change d'avis, te vengeras-tu de moi ? Pour le meilleur ou pour le pire, les relations humaines semblent vouées à la réciprocité. On ne sort du cercle des dons que pour entrer dans celui des représailles, et inversement. Ce livre conjugue de manière novatrice une approche des échanges nourrie de l'anthropologie de Marcel Mauss et de Claude Lévi-Strauss avec une réflexion sur les mécanismes circulaires de l'interaction inspirée par Gregory Bateson et les théories de l'autonomie biologique.Comment les sociétés humaines sortent-elles de la violence pour entamer des échanges paisibles ? La générosité du don est-elle compatible avec l'obligation de rendre ? Quelles leçons peut-on tirer du don archaïque pour l'échange des prestations au sein du couple moderne ? Le fonctionnement autonome d'un réseau biologique saurait-il justifier le dogme du marché économique autorégulateur ?
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Sociology of America
Sociology of America
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Terror in the Mind of God
Terror in the Mind of God
Examines such incidents as the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, the Tokyo subway nerve gas attack, and the killing of abortion clinic doctors in the U.S. to explore the reasons behind acts of violence committed for religious causes.
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