This book delivers on two analytical levels. First, it is a broad study of Sweden as an international actor, an actor that at least for a brief period tried to play a different international role than that to which it was accustomed. Second, the book problematizes the role of international military missions as drivers for change in the security and defence field. Several perspectives and levels of analysis are covered, from the macro level of strategic discourse to the micro level of the e...

Swedish Film: An Introduction and Reader gives a wide and yet concise presentation of the history of Swedish film through a number of articles by Swedish and international film scholars. The book draws upon a rich tradition of research on Swedish cinema, and it offers a varied and inspiring introduction to the history – from the very first film screenings to contemporary works.Combining in-depth studies with contextualizing introductions, Swedish film: An Introduction ...

This "brutal and unflinching" novel of fleeting love in Sin City inspired the film starring Nicholas Cage and Elizabeth Shue (Jay McInerney, author of Bright Lights, Big City).John O'Brien's debut novel, Leaving Las Vegas, is an emotionally wrenching story of a woman who embraces life and a man who rejects it; a powerful tale of hard luck, hard drinking, and a relationship of tenderness and destruction.An avowed alcoholic, Ben drinks away ...

Now Odin knew that if a great wall could be built around it the Gods would not have to spend all their time defending their City, Asgard, from the Giants, and he knew that if Asgard were protected, he himself could go amongst men and teach them and help them.. . . The Gods went to the Stranger and they told him that if the last stone was not laid on the wall on the first day of the Summer not Sol or Mani, the Sun and the Moon, nor Freya would be given him.. . . But none wou...

From the #1 New York Times bestselling co-author of No Easy Day comes an insightful, inside look at the Green Berets—a legendary corps of soldiers whose exploits made military history. But now, its very identity and role as a fighting force may be forever changed.Until the war in Iraq, Special Forces were the military’s counterinsurgency experts. Their specialty was going behind enemy lines and training insurgent forces. In Afghanistan, they toppl...

Explosive SAS action in East Timor, Iraq and Afghanistan.The command came: 'Stop those vehicles!'It was like a red rag to a bull. Instantly streams of 7.62 mm tracer and 50 mm calibre machine gun rounds arced across the night sky and smashed into the bus and truck.Elite SAS Patrol Commander Stuart 'Nev' Bonner takes us inside the extraordinary and dangerous world of secret combat operations in this explosive, behind-the-scenes look at life inside the...

The true story of Australia's SAS and the soldier who was there from the start.Clint Palmer has spent much of his adult life in the SAS and has fought in this elite military unit as it developed from its fledgling beginnings into the highly trained, specialised fighting force it is today. He is an insider with the long view and this is his unique story of life in the SAS.As a bush kid in the Northern Territory of Australia, growing up in a one dog mining to...

Kiss Me, Deadly to Nightmare Alley to The Honeymoon Killers to The American Friend—any fan of crime films will tell you there's a palpable excitement in living vicariously through the corrupt, seductive, and often downright evil characters that inhabit these shadowy worlds. In this collection of 35 essays drawn from his revered Cult Movies series, cult film specialist Danny Peary examines, dissects, defends, and exalts crime fil...

As Ambassador and Special Envoy on Afghanistan from 1989 to 1992, Peter Tomsen has had close relationships with Afghan leaders and has dealt with senior Taliban, warlords, and religious leaders involved in the region's conflicts over the last two decades. Now Tomsen draws on a rich trove of never-before-published material to shed new light on the American involvement in the long and continuing Afghan war.This book offers a deeply informed perspective on how Afghanistan's history as...

Between the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries, women’s role in the Swedish economy was renegotiated and reconceptualized. Maria Agren chronicles changes in married women’s property rights, revealing the story of Swedish women’s property as not just a simple narrative of the erosion of legal rights, but a more complex tale of unintended consequences.A public sphere of influence — including the wife’s family and the local community — held sway over spousal property rights througho...

A novel of the thirteenth-century Mongolian warrior, and the women who surrounded him, that offers "a panoramic view of the charismatic leader" ( Library Journal).In 1167, in the harsh homeland of Mongol tribes, a child was born who was to change the course of human history. His father named him Temujin, but the world knows him as Genghis Khan. Set amid the barbaric splendor of the Mongol hordes, Ruler of the Sky tells the tale of the warrior who ...

Terrence Malick's debut film, Badlands, announced the arrival of a unique talent. In the 40 years since that debut, Malick has only made 5 films, but they are distinctive in their beauty.This book is not meant to be a biography of Terrence Malick. The purpose behind the book is to introduce readers to the extraordinary universe of his film-making and to aid them in understanding his work. And to do this through the words of his closest collaborators - cinematographers, set designer...