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In The Lost History of 1914, Jack Beatty offers a highly original view of World War I, testing against fresh evidence the long-dominant assumption that it was inevitable. "Most books set in 1914 map the path leading to war," Beatty writes. "This one maps the multiple paths that led away from it."Chronicling largely forgotten events faced by each of the belligerent countries in the months before the war started in August, Beatty shows how any one of them-a possible military coup in Germany; an imminent civil war in Britain; the murder trial of the wife of the likely next premier of France, who sought détente with Germany-might have derailed the war or brought it to a different end. In Beatty's hands, these stories open into epiphanies of national character, and offer dramatic portraits of the year's major actors-Kaiser Wilhelm, Tsar Nicholas II , Woodrow Wilson, along with forgotten or overlooked characters such as Pancho Villa, Rasputin, and Herbert Hoover. Europe's ruling classes, Beatty shows, were so haunted by fear of those below that they mistook democratization for revolution, and were tempted to "escape forward" into war to head it off. Beatty's powerful rendering of the combat between August 1914 and January 1915 which killed more than one million men, restores lost history, revealing how trench warfare, long depicted as death's victory, was actually a life-saving strategy.Beatty's deeply insightful book-as elegantly written as it is thought-provoking and probing-lights a lost world about to blow itself up in what George Kennan called "the seminal catastrophe of the twentieth century." It also arms readers against narratives of historical inevitability in today's world.

This anthology is a thorough introduction to classic literature for those who have not yet experienced these literary masterworks. For those who have known and loved these works in the past, this is an invitation to reunite with old friends in a fresh new format. From Shakespeare s finesse to Oscar Wilde s wit, this unique collection brings together works as diverse and influential as The Pilgrim s Progress and Othello. As an anthology that invites readers to immerse themselves in the masterpieces of the literary giants, it is must-have addition to any library

In Rain of Gold, Victor Villasenor weaves the parallel stories of two families and two countries…bringing us the timeless romance between the volatile bootlegger who would become his father and the beautiful Lupe, his mother–men and women in whose lives the real and the fantastical exist side by side…and in whose hearts the spirit to survive is fueled by a family’s unconditional love.

This book is a facsimile reprint and may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages.

John Powell's gripping account of his 3-month 1869 expedition to explore the Colorado River territories. Introduction by Wallace Stegner. Penguin Nature Library.

Ciudad Juárez lies just across the Rio Grande from El Paso, Texas. A once-thriving border town, it now resembles a failed state. Infamously known as the place where women disappear, its murder rate exceeds that of Baghdad or Mogadishu.In Murder City, Charles Bowden has written an extraordinary account of what happens when a city disintegrates. Interweaving stories of its inhabitants--a raped beauty queen, a repentant hit man, a journalist fleeing for his life--with a broader meditation on the town's descent into anarchy, Bowden reveals how Juárez's culture of violence will not only worsen but inevitably spread north.

In this unprecedented and chilling monologue, a repentant Mexican hitman tells the unvarnished truth about the war on drugs on the American. El Sicario is the hidden face of America's war on drugs. He is a contract killer who functioned as a commandante in the Chihuahuan State police, who was trained in the US by the FBI, and who for twenty years kidnapped, tortured and murdered people for the drug industry at the behest of Mexican drug cartels. He is a hit man who came off the killing fields alive. He left the business and turned to Christ. And then he decided to tell the story of his life and work. Charles Bowden first encountered El Sicario while reporting for the book "Murder City". As trust between the two men developed, Bowden bore witness to the Sicario's unfolding confession, and decided to tell his story. The well-spoken man that emerges from the pages of El Sicario is one who has been groomed by poverty and driven by a refusal to be one more statistic in the failure of Mexico. He is not boastful, he claims no major standing in organized crime. But he can explain in detail not only torture and murder, but how power is distributed and used in the arrangement between the public Mexican state and law enforcement on the ground - where terror and slaughter are simply tools in implementing policy for both the police and the cartels. And he is not an outlaw or a rebel. He is the state. When he headed the state police anti-kidnapping squad in Juarez, he was also running a kidnapping ring in Juarez. When he was killing people for money in Juarez, he was sharpening his marksmanship at the Federal Police range. Now he lives in the United States as a fugitive. One cartel has a quarter million dollar contract on his head. Another cartel is trying to recruit him. He speaks as a free man and of his own free will - there are no charges against him. He is a lonely voice - no one with his background has ever come forward and talked. He is the future - there are thousands of men like him in Mexico and there will be more in other places. He is the truth no one wants to hear.

Distinguished political scientist and journalist Denise Dressers accurate and uncompromising diagnosis of our national reality outlines the path to a just, competitive, and democratic nation. Here, she points out our rulers most common and serious errors and the risks well face before economic disparity, corruption, and impunity. El pais de uno is a courageous work that condemns Mexicos darkest areas, but also provides vital keys to understanding our present. Spanish Description: Un diagnostico certero e implacable de la realidad nacional mexicana, elaborado por la destacada politologa Denise Dresser, quien bosqueja las posibilidades para construir una nacion mas justa, competitiva y democratica. El pais de uno senala los errores mas comunes y graves de nuestros gobernantes y los riesgos que tendremos ante el crecimiento de problemas sociales como desigualdad economica, corrupcion e impunidad. Sin duda, un libro valiente que denuncia de forma frontal y lucida las zonas oscuras de nuestro pais y brinda las claves esenciales para entender nuestro presente. Mexico padece ''fracasomania'': el pesimismo persistente ante una realidad que parece inamovible. La corrupcion no puede ser combatida; los politicos no pueden ser propositivos; la sociedad no puede ser movilizada; la poblacion no puede ser educada; los buenos siempre sucumben; los reformadores siempre pierden. La luz al final del tunel solo ilumina el tren a punto de arrollar a quienes no pueden eludir su paso. El pais siempre pierde. Los mexicanos siempre se tiran al vacio desde el Castillo de Chapultepec y no logran salir de alli. Por ello es mejor callar. Es mejor ignorar. Es mejor emigrar. El pais de las contradicciones permanentes. El pais de las mascaras que ocultan y las caras que sonrien. El pais que produce a Marta Sahagun pero tambien a Marta Lamas. Que produce a Manlio Fabio Beltrones pero tambien a Rossana Fuentes Berain. Que produce a Jose Murat pero tambien a Maria Rojo. Que produce a Rene Bejarano pero tambien a Julieta Fierro. Por cada tache hay una paloma. Cien palomas. Miles. Frente a todos los motivos para cerrar los ojos estan todos los motivos para abrirlos. Frente a las razones para perder la fe estan todas las razones para recuperarla. Los murales de Diego Rivera. Las enchiladas suizas de Sanborn's. Las mariposas en Michoacan. El cine de Alfonso Cuaron. El valor de Sergio Aguayo. Los huevos rancheros y los chilaquiles con pollo. La sonrisa de Carmen Aristegui. La medalla de Ana Gabriela Guevara. El mole negro de Oaxaca. Los libros de Elena Poniatowska. La inteligencia de Lorenzo Meyer. Los tacos al pastor con salsa y cilantro. El mar en Punta Mita. Cualquier Zocalo cualquier domingo.