Libros de

Machiavelli and the problems of military force

a war of one's own

Central to Niccolò Machiavelli's writing is the argument that a successful state is one that prefers to lose with its own arms (arma propriis) than to win with the arms of others (arma alienis). This book sheds light on Machiavelli's critiques of military ...

European empires from conquest to collapse, 1815-1960

European Empires from Conquest to Collapse is a vivid anticolonial reckoning with the history of imperial warfare. Global in scope, it deftly surveys the fighting forces and military engagements of the Great Powers, from the British in India to the scramble for Africa. Victor Kiernan ...

Toussaint Louverture

the story of the only successful slave revolt in history

The end of slavery started in what was then San Domingo. In 1791, the enslaved people of the most prized French sugar plantation colony revolted against their masters. For over twelve years, against a backdrop of the French Revolution, they fought an epic black liberation ...

The dreadful history and judgement of God on Thomas Müntzer

the life and times of an early German revolutionary

These were the words of Thomas Müntzer at the head of the massed ranks of a peasant army in the year 1525. Ranged against him were the might of the princes of the German Nation. How did Müntzer, the son of a coin maker from ...

Outside the outside

the new politics of suburbs

Matt Hern argues that the changing relationship between the urban center and the suburban periphery forces us to rethink the entire identity of the city itself. Today, most of the Western world lives on the city outskirts. Yet these neighborhoods that once offered security and ...

In search of Fatima

a Palestinian story

Born in Jerusalem, Ghada Karmi and her family were forced out of their home in 1948. They shared the fate of the thousands of Palestinians who, in the Nakba, were dispossessed and driven from land lived on for generations. In this moving memoir, Karmi charts ...

The double shift

Spinoza and Marx on the politics and ideology of work

Even as the rewards of work decline and its demands on us increase, many people double-down on their commitment to wage slavery-working harder, doing overtime, and learning to hustle. To paraphrase Spinoza, why do people fight to be exploited as if it were liberation? To ...

On extinction

beginning again at the end

On Extinction takes us on a breathtaking philosophical journey through desperate territory. As we face 'the end of all things', Ben Ware argues we must face our apocalyptic future without flinching. In fact, extinction is the very lens through which we should examine our current ...

Frederick the Great's philosophical writings

The first modern English edition of diverse Enlightenment-era writings by Prussian monarch Frederick the Great Frederick II of Prussia (1712-1786), best known as Frederick the Great, was a prolific writer of philosophical discourses, poems, epics, satires, and more, while maintaining extensive correspondence with prominent intellectuals ...

They called it peace

worlds of imperial violence

A sweeping account of how small wars shaped global order in the age of empires Imperial conquest and colonization depended on pervasive raiding, slaving, and plunder. European empires amassed global power by asserting a right to use unilateral force at their discretion. They Called It ...

The Gulag doctors

life, death, and medicine in Stalin's labour camps

A pioneering history of medical care in Stalin's Gulag-showing how doctors and nurses cared for inmates in appalling conditions A byword for injustice, suffering, and mass mortality, the Gulag exploited prisoners, compelling them to work harder for better rations in shocking conditions. From 1930 ...

Ashoka

portrait of a philosopher king

There are few historical figures more integral to South Asian history than Emperor Ashoka, a third-century BCE king who ruled over a larger area of the Indian subcontinent than anyone else before British colonial rule. Ashoka sought not only to rule his territory but also ...

Spinoza

freedom's messiah

Baruch (Benedictus) Spinoza (1632-1677) was a radical free thinker who led a life guided by strong moral principles despite his disbelief in an all-seeing God. Seen by many-Christians as well as Jews-as Satan's disciple during his lifetime, Spinoza has been regarded as a secular ...

The Western rising of 1549

The Western Rising of 1549 was the most catastrophic event to occur in Devon and Cornwall between the Black Death and the Civil War. Beginning as an argument between two men and their vicar, the rebellion led to a siege of Exeter, savage battles with ...

Adventurers

the improbable rise of the East India Company, 1550-1650

The East India Company was the largest commercial enterprise in British history, yet its roots in Tudor England are often overlooked. The Tudor revolution in commerce led ambitious merchants to search for new forms of investment, not least in risky overseas enterprises--and for these "adventurers ...

NATO

from Cold War to Ukraine, a history of the world's most powerful alliance

A wide-ranging new history of NATO, from its origins to the present day-published for the alliance's seventy-fifth anniversary For seven decades, NATO's stated aim has been the achievement of world peace-but playing great power politics always involves conflict. Russia's war on Ukraine ...

Egypt

revolution, failed transition and counter-revolution

Azmi Bishara's seminal study of the 2011 Egyptian Revolution chronicles in granular detail the lead up to the momentous uprisings and the subsequent transition and coup. The book critically investigates the social and economic conditions that formed the backdrop to the revolution and the ...

Egypt under al-Sisi

a nation on the edge

Since the coup of 2013 ended Egypt's brief democratic experiment and retired army chief, Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, became president of Egypt, his regime has unleashed mass repression and severe restrictions on an unprecedented scale. This has been characterized by arbitrary arrests, forced disappearances, and ...

Tribes and politics in Yemen

a history of the Houthi conflict

Tribes and Politics in Yemen tells the story of the Houthi conflict in Sa'dah Province, Yemen, as seen through the eyes of the local tribes. In the West the Houthi conflict, which erupted in 2004, is often defined through the lenses of either the ...

Centers of power in the Arab Gulf states

How are authority and influence accumulated and wielded across the six Gulf states? Mixing theoretical and empirical insights, and utilising both historical and contemporary examples, this book offers a comparative analysis of military, political, economic and religious power in Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia ...