There are currently between twenty and thirty civil wars worldwide, while at a global level the Cold War has been succeeded by a "war on drugs" and a "war on terror" that continues to rage a decade after 9/11. Why is this, when we know how destructive war is in both human and economic terms? Why do the efforts of aid organizations and international diplomats founder so often?In this important book David Keen investigates why conflicts are so prevalent and so intractable, even when ...

The uses of shame (and shamelessness) in spheres that range from social media and consumerism to polarized politics and mass violenceToday, we are caught in a shame spiral—a vortex of mutual shaming that pervades everything from politics to social media. We are shamed for our looks, our culture, our ethnicity, our sexuality, our poverty, our wrongdoings, our politics. But what is the point of all this shaming and countershaming? Does it work? And if so, for whom?

In the late twentieth century, disasters seemed like distant happenings in countries far away from the prosperous West. But today they are ‘coming home’ with a vengeance. From global warming to migration crises, from assaults on democracy to Covid-19 and the fall-out of war in Ukraine – the West is in the grip of multiple, overlapping crises that keep its populations in a state of perpetual fear and distraction.Disasters should be awakening us to the need to reform our disaster-pro...

There are currently between twenty and thirty civil wars worldwide, while at a global level the Cold War has been succeeded by a "war on drugs" and a "war on terror" that continues to rage a decade after 9/11. Why is this, when we know how destructive war is in both human and economic terms? Why do the efforts of aid organizations and international diplomats founder so often?In this important book David Keen investigates why conflicts are so prevalent and so intractable, even when ...

The uses of shame (and shamelessness) in spheres that range from social media and consumerism to polarized politics and mass violenceToday, we are caught in a shame spiral—a vortex of mutual shaming that pervades everything from politics to social media. We are shamed for our looks, our culture, our ethnicity, our sexuality, our poverty, our wrongdoings, our politics. But what is the point of all this shaming and countershaming? Does it work? And i...

The Rt. Hon. Sir David Keene has had a long and distinguished career both at the Bar and on the Bench. From being called to the Bar by the Inner Temple, taking silk and becoming chairman of the Planning Bar to the High Court and Court of Appeal, Sir David has been involved in a number of fascinating cases over the course of his career, from the Stanstead Airport inquiry to the McDonald libel appeal. In Leaving the Arena, Sir David reveals the story of his life from childhood to retirement....

Shall Not be Infringed: The New Assaults on Your Second Amendment is a history of the relatively short gun control debate in America and a revealing description of how those hostile to the Second Amendment use polls, studies, and numbers to confuse the public. Expert pro-gun advocates David Keene and Thomas Mason tell the story of the battle fought in the courts, Congress, and state legislatures across the country as well as in the media and even the United Nations. Guns have beco...

The United States' ignominious exit from Afghanistan in 2021 topped two decades of failure and devastation wrought by the war on terror. A long-running "fight against migration" has stoked chaos and rights abuses while pushing migrants onto more dangerous routes. For its part, the war on drugs has failed to dampen narcotics demand while fueling atrocities from Mexico to the Philippines. Why do such "failing" policies persist for so long? And why do politicians keep feeding the very crises ...

The United States' ignominious exit from Afghanistan in 2021 topped two decades of failure and devastation wrought by the war on terror. A long-running “fight against migration” has stoked chaos and rights abuses while pushing migrants onto more dangerous routes. For its part, the war on drugs has failed to dampen narcotics demand while fueling atrocities from Mexico to the Philippines.Why do such “failing” policies persist for so long? And why do politicians keep feeding the very ...

For nearly 50 consecutive years, three players toiled their trade in the shadow of Fenway Park's revered left field Green Monster. Ted Williams, Carl Yastrzemski, and Jim Rice became legends in Boston sports history and eventually baseball immortals with their inductions into the Baseball Hall of Fame. These three lead a remarkable cast of baseball giants who have been inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame and also spent time as members of the Boston Red Sox organization. A few distingui...

The New York Yankees are the most successful franchise in the history of sports. When they were founded as the New York Highlanders, no one could have imagined how high they would land, capturing 40 American League pennants and a staggering 27 World Series championships. Many of baseball's all-time greats have shined in Yankee pinstripes on their way to the Baseball Hall of Fame. The dynasty's birth featured Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig in the "House that Ruth Built." Legendary greats followed...

The Germans arrived with a plan to occupy a quiet French village. The French Resistance and Allied forces had other plans.Sturmbannführer Gunther Dettmer stands at the Franco-German border, poised with Hitler's war machine to unleash the western Blitzkrieg. Six hundred kilometers away, WWI veteran René Legrand tends to his fields in peaceful Sainte-Mère-Église, trying to forget his past as the French army's deadliest assassin. He's unaware that the skills he's buri...