The great nineteenth century French military thinker Ardant du Picq, argued that selfless courage is rooted in a higher moral purpose, and is found among “Elite Souls.” This is a book about five such “Elite Souls,” all highly decorated young West Point graduates and recipients of the USMA‘s Ninninger Medal. Elite Souls outlines the importance of building and developing moral character in military leaders, while arguing that a rigorous academic education is also essential in creating young ...

Jack Preston is working on his PhD thesis in ancient archaeology. He is challenging the accepted belief that Mars is the planet of war because it is red. Sure, it is the red planet but there must be a better reason why it was called the planet of war. Why did the Babylonians, Greeks and Romans all view that planetwith so much apprehension and fear? He must dig up information that wants to remain buried. What Jack discovers might literally change the world.

The story revolves around the titular character, T. Haviland Hicks, Senior, who finds himself in various amusing and comical situations. Hicks is portrayed as an affable and somewhat bumbling individual who often finds himself entangled in misadventures and humorous predicaments, much to the delight of readers.The novel employs wit, satire, and situational comedy as Hicks navigates through his experiences, encounters eccentric characters, and faces the challenges of everyday life. The book...

Woodstock is over.... The Vietnam War is ending.... Polyester is going strong.... and the love generation is alive and well in an adult only apartment complex near Pasadena, California.Relive a piece of the seventies as both young and old share hot days and steamy nights in the summer of '73.

Trades of money for political influence persist at every level of government. Not surprisingly, governments themselves trade money for political support on the international stage. Strange, however, is the tale of this book. For, in this study, legitimacy stands as the central political commodity at stake. The book investigates the ways governments trade money for favors at the United Nations Security Council - the body endowed with the international legal authority to legitimize the use o...

Why do governments turn to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and with what effects? This book argues that governments enter IMF programs for economic and political reasons, and finds that the effects are negative on economic growth and income distribution. By bringing in the IMF, governments gain political leverage - via conditionality - to push through unpopular policies. Note that if governments desiring conditions are more likely to participate, estimating program effects is not str...

Advocates for economic development often call for greater transparency. But what does transparency really mean? What are its consequences? This breakthrough book demonstrates how information impacts major political phenomena, including mass protest, the survival of dictatorships, democratic stability, as well as economic performance. The book introduces a new measure of a specific facet of transparency: the dissemination of economic data. Analysis shows that democracies make economic data ...

James R. Prisco Sr. was born April 28, 1921 and died at the age of 99 in 2020. He was the youngest of 8 children born to Italian immigrant parents who came to the United States in the early 1900’s.With only an 8th grade education, Jim persuaded many jobs and at the age of 25 started his own Mason Construction Company. That company was incorporated 5 years later and has been extremely successful for over 75 years. His son and daughter, and hopefully grandchildren and great grandchil...

James R. Prisco Sr. was born April 28, 1921 and died at the age of 99 in 2020. He was the youngest of 8 children born to Italian immigrant parents who came to the United States in the early 1900’s. With only an 8th grade education, Jim persuaded many jobs and at the age of 25 started his own Mason Construction Company. That company was incorporated 5 years later and has been extremely successful for over 75 years. His son, grandsons and hopefully grandchildren will keep this legacy going o...

This is a clear and concise introduction to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and an overview of its debates and controversies.Where did the IMF come from? What does it do? Why do so many governments participate in its programs and what are their effects? How can we best reform this key global institution? These are some of the key questions addressed.In our age of thinking global, the IMF is a crucial institution and central to understanding international relations and...

It begins at a movie studio in Nice where a police raid goes horribly wrong, and innocent people are killed. It continues in an English prison, where a dead man discloses an intriguing secret about the brutal criminal organization called the Union. The trail leads James Bond to Paris, where he meets the tantalizing movie star Tylyn Mignonne and embarks on a voyage of discovery.But Tylyn is in mortal danger. Her husband, a volatile film producer, has not forgiven his glamorous wife for endi...

For the first time ever, all six of Raymond Benson's original James Bond novels are available together in one omnibus edition.James Bond: The Raymond Benson Years collects Zero Minus Ten, The Facts of Death, High Time to Kill, DoubleShot, Never Dream of Dying, The Man with the Red Tattoo. These classic tales show Benson at his finest and 007 at his most heroic.