The Earth is getting hotter and life as we know it is under threat. Will just a few of us survive? Or can we act together to avert the crisis? The root cause of this looming existential crisis is our addiction to consumption of material goods, and our unquestioning acceptance of the outrageous maldistribution of wealth among individuals and nations. Can we throw off these addictions and assumptions, to tread more lightly on the Earth? McCarthy believes that we can. He starts by delving int...

Short biographies of the author's immediate ancestors back to his great-great grandparents. Factual data is supported by historical context and family lore as passed down to the present.About the AuthorA retired aerospace engineer, McCarthy started collecting materials on his immigrant ancestors in the mid-1990s. Data from libraries and genealogical sources has been supplemented by visits to many of the locations where his ancestors lived in Canada, Germany, France, Ireland...

This book explores the theoretical and empirical relationship between democracy and governance in the Asia-Pacific region. Examining a variety of country cases and themes addressing the theoretical tension between governance and democracy, it illuminates how this impacts political and civil societies across the region.Analysing the character, structure and current trajectories of polities in the Asia-Pacific, democratic or otherwise, this book demonstrates that the role of civil so...

Covering various fields in political science, this new book presents an historical and political-cultural analysis of Buddhism and Confucianism.Using Singapore and Burma as case studies, the book questions the basic assumptions of democratization theory, examining the political science of tyranny and exploring the rhetorical manipulation of religion for the purpose of political legitimacy.A welcome addition to the political science and Asian studies literature, McCarthy add...

Deductive Irrationality examines and critiques economic rationalism from the perspective of political philosophy. The essays in this collection analyze not only the work of founders of the discipline of economics, but also political philosophers influential in this founding and select contributors of seminal theories in modern economic thought_namely, Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, Adam Smith, Alfred Marshall, John Maynard Keynes, Friedrich Hayek, Gunnar Myrdal, Robert E. Lucas Jr., and John F...

Laudato Si 'is Pope Francis' second encyclical which focuses on the theme of the environment. In fact, the Holy Father in his encyclical urges all men and women of good will, the rulers and all the powerful on earth to reflect deeply on the theme of the environment and the care of our planet. This is our common home, we must take care of it and love it - the Holy Father tells us - because its end is also ours.

An "entertaining and perceptive" history of America's most exclusive families, from the Brahmins of New England to the Grandees of California ( The Washington Post).America has always been a constitutionally classless society, yet an American aristocracy emerged anyway—a private club whose members run in the same circles and observe the same unwritten rules. Here, renowned social historian Stephen Birmingham reveals the inner workings of this aristocracy. H...

The need to understand this global giant has never been more pressing: China is constantly in the news, yet conflicting impressions abound. Within one generation, China has transformed from an impoverished, repressive state into an economic and political powerhouse. In China in the 21st Century: What Everyone Needs to Know, Jeffrey Wasserstrom provides cogent answers to the most urgent questions regarding the newest superpower and offers a framework for understanding its meteoric rise.Focusin...

From the award-winning author of Five Points and City of Dreams, “a superb revisionist history” of the Irish immigrants who arrived in the United States during the Great Potato Famine, using their “riveting and deeply personal stories” in and beyond New York exemplify the astonishing tenacity and improbable triumph of Irish America (Wall Street Journal).In 1845, a fungus began to destroy Ireland’s potato crop, triggering a famine that wou...

The need to understand China has never been more pressing. Within one generation, the global giant has transformed from an impoverished, repressive state into an economic and political powerhouse; yet conflicting impressions of the country and its leaders abound. In the fully revised and updated second edition of China in the 21st Century: What Everyone Needs to Know, China expert Jeffrey Wasserstrom provides cogent answers to the most urgent questions regarding the superpower, and offers ...

Oscar Jewell Harvey's 'The Spanish Flu Pandemic' provides a comprehensive look at one of the deadliest pandemics in history. Harvey meticulously details the origins, spread, and impact of the Spanish flu, placing it within the broader context of global health crises. Through thorough research and eloquent prose, Harvey paints a vivid picture of the devastation caused by the pandemic, drawing parallels to current public health challenges. His book combines scientific analysis with a humanis...

The era between empire and communism is routinely portrayed as a catastrophic interlude in China’s modern history, but this engagingly written book shows instead that the first half of the twentieth century witnessed a qualitatively unprecedented trend towards openness. Frank Dikötter argues that the years from 1900 to 1949 were characterised at all levels of society by engagement with the world, and that the pursuit of openness was particularly evident in four areas: in governance and the...