With armed conflict in the Persian Gulf now upon us, Harvard archaeologist Steven LeBlanc takes a long-term view of the nature and roots of war, presenting a controversial thesis: The notion of the "noble savage" living in peace with one another and in harmony with nature is a fantasy. In Constant Battles: The Myth of the Peaceful, Noble Savage, LeBlanc contends that warfare and violent conflict have existed throughout human history, and that humans have never lived in ecological balance with nature.

The start of the second major U.S. military action in the Persian Gulf, combined with regular headlines about spiraling environmental destruction, would tempt anyone to conclude that humankind is fast approaching a catastrophic end. But as LeBlanc brilliantly argues, the archaeological record shows that the warfare and ecological destruction we find today fit into patterns of human behavior that have gone on for millions of years.

Constant Battles surveys human history in terms of social organization-from hunter gatherers, to tribal agriculturalists, to more complex societies. LeBlanc takes the reader on his own digs around the world -- from New Guinea to the Southwestern U.S. to Turkey -- to show how he has come to discover warfare everywhere at every time. His own fieldwork combined with his archaeological, ethnographic, and historical research, presents a riveting account of how, throughout human history, people always have outgrown the carrying capacity of their environment, which has led to war.

Ultimately, though, LeBlanc's point of view is reassuring and optimistic. As he explains the roots of warfare in human history, he also demonstrates that warfare today has far less impact than it did in the past. He also argues that, as awareness of these patterns and the advantages of modern technology increase, so does our ability to avoid war in the future.

Sparking vigorous debate in the sciences, The Social Conquest of Earth upends “the famous theory that evolution naturally encourages creatures to put family first” (Discover). Refashioning the story of human evolution, Wilson draws on his remarkable knowledge of biology and social behavior to demonstrate that group selection, not kin selection, is the premier driving force of human evolution. In a work that James D. Watson calls “a monumental exploration of the biological origins of the human condition,” Wilson explains how our innate drive to belong to a group is both a “great blessing and a terrible curse” (Smithsonian). Demonstrating that the sources of morality, religion, and the creative arts are fundamentally biological in nature, the renowned Harvard University biologist presents us with the clearest explanation ever produced as to the origin of the human condition and why it resulted in our domination of the Earth’s biosphere.

*FEATURED IN BILL GATES'S 2019 SUMMER READING RECOMMENDATIONS*

'This is a beautifully written and important book. Read it' Martin Wolf, Financial Times

From world-renowned economist Paul Collier, a candid diagnosis of the failures of capitalism and a pragmatic and realistic vision for how we can repair it

Deep new rifts are tearing apart the fabric of Britain and other Western societies: thriving cities versus the provinces, the highly skilled elite versus the less educated, wealthy versus developing countries. As these divides deepen, we have lost the sense of ethical obligation to others that was crucial to the rise of post-war social democracy. So far these rifts have been answered only by the revivalist ideologies of populism and socialism, leading to the seismic upheavals of Trump, Brexit and the return of the far right in Germany. We have heard many critiques of capitalism but no one has laid out a realistic way to fix it, until now.

In a passionate and polemical book, celebrated economist Paul Collier outlines brilliantly original and ethical ways of healing these rifts - economic, social and cultural - with the cool head of pragmatism, rather than the fervour of ideological revivalism. He reveals how he has personally lived across these three divides, moving from working-class Sheffield to hyper-competitive Oxford, and working between Britain and Africa, and acknowledges some of the failings of his profession.

Drawing on his own solutions as well as ideas from some of the world's most distinguished social scientists, he shows us how to save capitalism from itself - and free ourselves from the intellectual baggage of the 20th century.

These times are in desperate need of Paul Collier's insights. The Future of Capitalism restores common sense to our views of morality, as it also describes their critical role in what makes families, organizations, and nations work. It is the most revolutionary work of social science since Keynes. Let's hope it will also be the most influential - George Akerlof, Nobel Laureate in Economics, 2001

In this bold work of intellectual trespass, Paul Collier, a distinguished economist, ventures onto the terrain of ethics to explain what's gone wrong with capitalism, and how to fix it. To heal the divide between metropolitan elites and the left-behind, he argues, we need to rediscover an ethic of belonging, patriotism, and reciprocity. Offering inventive solutions to our current impasse, Collier shows how economics at its best is inseparable from moral and political philosophy' - Michael Sandel, author of What Money Can't Buy and Justice

For thirty years, the centre left of politics has been searching for a narrative that makes sense of the market economy. This book provides it - John Kay, Fellow of St John's College, Oxford and the author of Obliquity and Other People's Money

For well-to-do metropolitans, capitalism is the gift that goes on giving. For others, capitalism is not working. Paul Collier deploys passion, pragmatism and good economics in equal measure to chart an alternative to the divisions tearing apart so many western countries. -Mervyn King, former Governor of the Bank of England

Intellectuals since the Industrial Revolution have been obsessed with whether, when, and why capitalism will collapse. This riveting account of two centuries of failed forecasts of doom reveals the key to capitalism’s durability.

Prophecies about the end of capitalism are as old as capitalism itself. None have come true. Yet, whether out of hope or fear, we keep looking for harbingers of doom. In Foretelling the End of Capitalism, Francesco Boldizzoni gets to the root of the human need to imagine a different and better world and offers a compelling solution to the puzzle of why capitalism has been able to survive so many shocks and setbacks.

Capitalism entered the twenty-first century triumphant, its communist rival consigned to the past. But the Great Recession and worsening inequality have undermined faith in its stability and revived questions about its long-term prospects. Is capitalism on its way out? If so, what might replace it? And if it does endure, how will it cope with future social and environmental crises and the inevitable costs of creative destruction? Boldizzoni shows that these and other questions have stood at the heart of much analysis and speculation from the early socialists and Karl Marx to the Occupy Movement. Capitalism has survived predictions of its demise not, as many think, because of its economic efficiency or any intrinsic virtues of markets but because it is ingrained in the hierarchical and individualistic structure of modern Western societies.

Foretelling the End of Capitalism takes us on a fascinating journey through two centuries of unfulfilled prophecies. An intellectual tour de force and a plea for political action, it will change our understanding of the economic system that determines the fabric of our lives.

Cultuurhistorische opstellen over idealisten die de mens en/of maatschappij in Nederland wilden verheffen en hervormen, maar daar niet altijd in slaagden.

This work tells the story of European integration from its modern origins in the 1940s to the challenges of the 21st century. A thematic introductory and concluding chapter draw out key issues and themes and provide the author's own distinctive interpretation.

In 'Rusland in oorlog deel 1 (september 2013 – juli 2014)' hebben we laten zien hoe president Vladimir Poetin binnen een jaar de gijzelaar werd van zijn eigen propagandamachine. De ambities van de president erkenning te zoeken voor de status van Rusland als wereldmacht heeft al vele duizenden doden geëist in wat hij noemt Novorossija, het nieuwe Rusland, en wat de wereld ziet als twee oostelijke provincies van de soevereine staat Oekraïne. De Russische burger leeft verder in een op hol geslagen staatsmachine die dagelijks een lawine van haat uitspuwt tegen het Westen. De Koude Oorlog Poetin-stijl heeft gevaarlijke warme trekjes gekregen kunnen we in dit deel 2 laten zien. Ondertussen wordt onderzocht wie het toestel van MH17 op 17 juli 2014 met 298 passagiers onder wie 196 Nederlanders met een Bukraket heeft neergehaald. Sterke vermoedens wijzen in de richting van de door Rusland gesteunde separatisten.

In this gripping account of the boyhood, marriage, and young professional life of Abraham Lincoln, award-winning writer Russell Freedman brings to life the presidential years, scholarly thoughts and reflections of the Civil War president. Winner of the 1988 Newbery Medal.



This 1988 Newbery Medal-winning biography of our Civil War president is warm, appealing, and illustrated with dozens of carefully chosen photographs and prints. Russell Freedman begins with a lively account of Abraham Lincoln's boyhood, his career as a country lawyer, and his courtship and marriage to Mary Todd. Then the author focuses on the presidential years (1861 to 1865), skillfully explaining the many complex issues Lincoln grappled with as he led a deeply divided nation through the Civil War. The book's final chapter is a moving account of that tragic evening in Ford's Theatre on April 14, 1865. Additional content includes a sampling of Lincoln's writings and a detailed list of Lincoln historical sites.

A daring account of the philosophical development of the idea of a rational society and its consequences for the present

In the seventeenth century, a vision arose which was to captivate the Western imagination for the next three hundred years: the vision of Cosmopolis, a society as rationally ordered as the Newtonian view of nature. While fueling extraordinary advances in all fields of human endeavor, this vision perpetuated a hidden yet persistent agenda: the delusion that human nature and society could be fitted into precise and manageable rational categories. Stephen Toulmin confronts that agenda—its illusions and its consequences for our present and future world.

Winner of the Society of American Historians' Francis Parkman Prize
Winner of the PEN / Jacqueline Bograd Weld Award for Biography
Best Biography of 2016, True West magazine
Winner of the Western Writers of America 2017 Spur Award, Best Western Biography
Finalist, National Book Critics Circle Award for Biography
Long-listed for the Cundill History Prize
One of the Best Books of 2016, The Boston Globe

The epic life story of the Native American holy man who has inspired millions around the world

Black Elk, the Native American holy man, is known to millions of readers around the world from his 1932 testimonial Black Elk Speaks. Adapted by the poet John G. Neihardt from a series of interviews with Black Elk and other elders at the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, Black Elk Speaks is one of the most widely read and admired works of American Indian literature. Cryptic and deeply personal, it has been read as a spiritual guide, a philosophical manifesto, and a text to be deconstructed—while the historical Black Elk has faded from view.

In this sweeping book, Joe Jackson provides the definitive biographical account of a figure whose dramatic life converged with some of the most momentous events in the history of the American West. Born in an era of rising violence between the Sioux, white settlers, and U.S. government troops, Black Elk killed his first man at the Little Bighorn, witnessed the death of his second cousin Crazy Horse, and traveled to Europe with Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show. Upon his return, he was swept up in the traditionalist Ghost Dance movement and shaken by the Massacre at Wounded Knee. But Black Elk was not a warrior, instead accepting the path of a healer and holy man, motivated by a powerful prophetic vision that he struggled to understand. Although Black Elk embraced Catholicism in his later years, he continued to practice the old ways clandestinely and never refrained from seeking meaning in the visions that both haunted and inspired him.

In Black Elk, Jackson has crafted a true American epic, restoring to its subject the richness of his times and gorgeously portraying a life of heroism and tragedy, adaptation and endurance, in an era of permanent crisis on the Great Plains.

We staan voor een ongekende maatschappelijke verandering. Om de mondiale opwarming te stoppen, moet de uitstoot van CO2 drastisch omlaag. Daarom sluiten we kolencentrales en draaien we zelfs de gaskraan dicht. Hoe komen we dan aan voldoende, duurzame energie? Kan het wel met windmolens, zonnepanelen en warmtepompen? Blijven we toch gewoon gas gebruiken? Of biedt kernenergie een onverwachte uitkomst? Hoe haalbaar en betaalbaar is een fossielvrije toekomst? 0Dit boek beschrijft wat de transitie inhoudt en schept helderheid in een verhit debat vol vooringenomenheid, onjuiste argumentatie en preken voor eigen parochie. De energietransitie is een onmisbare bijdrage aan het denken over een van de grootste vraagstukken van de 21e eeuw. 0.

Life in Europe was fundamentally changed in the 16th century by the astonishing discoveries of the New World and of direct sea routes to Asia. To start with England was hardly involved and London remained a gloomy, introverted medieval city. But as the century progressed something extraordinary happened.

Stephen Alford's evocative, original and fascinating new book uses the same skills that made his widely praised The Watchers so successful, bringing to life the network of merchants, visionaries, crooks and sailors who changed London forever. In a sudden explosion of energy English ships were suddenly found all over the world - trading with Russia and the Levant, exploring Virginia and the Arctic, and fanning out across the Indian Ocean.

London's Triumph is above all about the people who made this possible - the families, the guild members, the money-men who were willing to risk huge sums and sometimes their own lives in pursuit of the rare, exotic and desirable. Their ambitions fuelled a new view of the world - initiating a long era of trade and empire, the consequences of which we still live with today.

Geschiedenis van Afrika vanaf 1960 tot plm 2001

Tuinontwerp... A concise introduction to the practical aspects of making a Japanese garden. Whether your garden is a spacious suburban lot, an office courtyard, or a tiny inner-city backyard, you will find here hundreds of creative but time-honored ways to make maximum use of the space you have...

Catalogus bij een tentoonstelling over kunstschatten uit het Ottomaanse Rijk.

Ooggetuigenverslag van het in 1961 in Jeruzalem gevoerde proces tegen de nazi en jodenvervolger Eichmann (1906-1962), aangevuld met indrukken van diens Berlijnse en Poolse werkplekken.

Brieven van de Duitse schrijver (1917-1985) over zijn soldatentijd (1938-1945) in het leger van Hitler.

De ervaringen van een vriendin van Anne Frank tijdens de Tweede Wereldoorlog en in de periode daarna.

" ... Anne's astonishingly intimate diary was found by accident. With a touch of genius it records the strains of her unusual life, the problems of her unfolding womanhood, her falling in love, her unswerving faith in her religion. And it reveals the shining nobility of her spirit ..." [Back cover].

Fotoboek over aspecten van de Engelse geschiedenis. 

Dramatic story of the 1905 mutiny aboard the Russian Battleship Potemkin.

In de nacht van 8 op 9 september 2003 overleed in haar slaap 'nazi-cineaste' Leni Riefenstahl. Hitlers laatste 'vriendin' werd 101 jaar. Ze zal voornamelijk worden herinnerd als de maakster van Triumph des Willens en Olympia, die te boek staan als voorbeelden van de meest geniale propagandafilms uit het Derde Rijk. Thomas Leeflang schetst in deze monografie een boeiend portret van een eingezinnige dominante vrouw die opgroiede in de Weimar-republiek, carrière maakte 'onder Hitler' en na de oorlog de zondebok werd van de nationaal-socialistische film.

Drie delen: 1. Oorlogen overzee. Militair optreden door compagnie en staat buiten Europa, 1595-1814. Al voordat Nederland een koninkrijk werd, waren de lage landen meer dan tweehonderd jaar militair actief in Azië, Afrika en Amerika. De soldaten en zeelui streden in de Oost en de West tegen Europese concurrenten en tegen inheemse tegenstanders. Dit monumentale werk beschrijft de complexe activiteiten van de krijgsmacht in de overzeese gebieden. Na het boek over de Tachtigjarige Oorlog, dat al snel werd herdrukt en nu al geldt als een standaardwerk, is dit het tweede deel in de reeks 'Militaire Geschiedenis van Nederland'. 2. De tachtigjarige oorlog. Van opstand tot geregelde oorlog.1568-1648 [en] 3. Krijgsmacht en handelsgeest. Over het machtsevenwicht in Europa 1648-1813