A major history of Afghanistan and its changing political culture Afghanistan traces the historic struggles and the changing nature of political authority in this volatile region of the world, from the Mughal Empire in the sixteenth century to the Taliban resurgence today. Thomas Barfield introduces readers to the bewildering diversity of tribal and ethnic groups in Afghanistan, explaining what unites them as Afghans despite the regional, cultural, and political differences that divide them. He shows how governing these peoples was relatively easy when power was concentrated in a small dynastic elite, but how this delicate political order broke down in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries when Afghanistan's rulers mobilized rural militias to expel first the British and later the Soviets. Armed insurgency proved remarkably successful against the foreign occupiers, but it also undermined the Afghan government's authority and rendered the country ever more difficult to govern as time passed. B

A novel theory of how technological revolutions affect the rise and fall of great powers When scholars and policymakers consider how technological advances affect the rise and fall of great powers, they draw on theories that center the moment of innovation the eureka moment that sparks astonishing technological feats. In this book, Jeffrey Ding offers a different explanation of how technological revolutions affect competition among great powers. Rather than focusing on which state first introduced major innovations, he investigates why some states were more successful than others at adapting and embracing new technologies at scale. Drawing on historical case studies of past industrial revolutions as well as statistical analysis, Ding develops a theory that emphasizes institutional adaptations oriented around diffusing technological advances throughout the entire economy.Examining Britain s rise to preeminence in the First Industrial Revolution, America and Germany s overtaking of Britain in the Second

Babies are not born talking, they learn language, startingimmediately from birth. How does this process take place? When dochildren master the skills needed for using language successfully?What stages do they go through as they learn to understand andtalk? Do the languages they learn affect the way they think? Thisnew edition of Eve Clark's highly successful textbook focuses onchildren's acquisition of a first language, the stages ofdevelopment they go through, and how they use language as theylearn. It reports on recent findings in each area covered, includesa completely new chapter on the acquisition of two languages andshows how speech to children differs by social class. Skilfullyintegrating actual data with coverage of current theories anddebates, it is an essential guide to studying language acquisitionfor those working in linguistics, developmental psychology andcognitive science.

In the last two decades, lesbian and gay studies havetransformed literary studies and developed into a vital andinfluential area for students and scholars. This Companionintroduces readers to the range of debates that inform studies ofworks by lesbian and gay writers and of literary representations ofsame-sex desire and queer identities. Each chapter introduces keyconcepts in the field in an accessible way and uses severalimportant literary texts to illustrate how these concepts canilluminate our readings of them. Authors discussed range from HenryJames, E. M. Forster and Gertrude Stein to Sarah Waters and CarolAnn Duffy. The contributors showcase the wide variety of approachesand theoretical frameworks that characterise this field, drawing onrelated themes of gender and sexuality. With a chronology and guideto further reading, this volume offers a stimulating introductionto the diversity of approaches to lesbian and gay literature. · Covers a highly influential and increasingly important area o

Between 1869 and 1875, Paris was known to the world as "thenew Babylon." A city obsessed with sex and money and ruled by theailing tyrant Louis Napoleon and his ruthless wife Eugenie, Pariswas a place of intensity, violence and volatility. Tracing Europe'smost glittering capital as it tettered on the verge of theFranco-Prussian War and the horror that ensued, Christiansen evokesone of the most dramatic periods of modern history. photos.

Marketing has a greater purpose,and marketers,a higher calling,than simply selling more widgets,according to John Quelch and Katherine Jocz. In Greater Good,the authors contend that marketing performs an essential societal function--and does so democratically.They maintain that people would benefit if the realms of politics and marketing were informed by one another's best principles and practices. Quelch and Jocz lay out the six fundamental characteristics that marketing and democracy share:(1)exchange of value,such as goods,services,and promises,(2)consumption of goods and services,(3)choice in all decisions,(4)free flow of information,(5)active engagement of a majority of individuals,and(6)inclusion of as many people as possible.Without these six traits,both marketing and democracy would fail,and with them,society. Drawing on current and historical examples from economies around the world,this landmark work illuminates marketing's critical role in the development,growth,and governance of

Over the last two centuries, Ireland has produced some of theworld's most outstanding and best-loved poets, from Thomas Moore toW. B. Yeats to Seamus Heaney. This introduction not only providesan essential overview of the history and development of poetry inIreland, but also offers new approaches to aspects of the field.Justin Quinn argues that the language issues of Irish poetry havebeen misconceived and re-examines the divide between Gaelic andAnglophone poetry. Quinn suggests an alternative to bothnationalist and revisionist interpretations and fundamentallychallenges existing ideas of Irish poetry. This lucid book offers arich contextual background against which to read the individualworks, and pays close attention to the major poems and poets.Readers and students of Irish poetry will learn much from Quinn'ssharp and critically acute account.

In this accessible presentation of the famous Bates method,Thomas R. Quackenbush (who teaches the Bates method in Californiaand Oregon) describes how eyesight can improve naturally, at anyage and regardless of heredity. This book is a wonderful tribute tothe genius of Dr. Bates, who was a pioneer in discovering howvision becomes blurred and how it restores itself naturally toclarity and acuity. Now 80 years later, his findings and teachingsremain light years ahead of our contemporaries. His approach totreating vision problems was truly holistic and the themethroughout this book is very much an extension of that holisticapproach. Dr. Quackenbush is to be commended for his dedication ingetting the truth out and keeping the torch burning in this "bible"on vision improvement.

A flexible, ready-to-use activities program to help specialstudents in grades 6-12 The updated new edition of this valuable resource offers anexciting collection of 200 ready-to-use worksheets to helpadolescents build the social skills they need to interacteffectively with others and learn how to apply these skills tovarious real-life settings, situations, and problems. The bookprovides 20 complete teaching units focusing on 20 basic socialskills, such as being a good listener, "reading" other people, andusing common sense.

In December 1978, at the 1 l th Party Congress of the Chinese Communist Party,the Central Committee under Dang Xiaoping embarked on a policy of reformthat opened the doors to the rest of the world, helping to make China the economic superpower it is today and transforming the lives of its people. For the few foreign business people who have been engaged with China since this time, the changes have been equally dramatic My Thirty Years in China is a compilation of true-life stories by foreign nationals, allindividually successful in their chosen field of business, who have been pioneers in living and working in this challenging country. Their memories and insights - sometimes comic, sometimes sad- recall the joys and frustrations of their adopted home and paint a fascinating picture of what has changed in China over the past three decades - and what has not.

The novel of the Romantic period has attracted many more readersand students in recent years. This Companion offers an overview ofBritish fiction written between the mid-1760s and the early 1830sand is an ideal guide to the major authors, historical and culturalcontexts, and later critical reception.

Universally regarded as the greatest French political theoristand philosopher of education of the Enlightenment, and probably thegreatest French social theorist tout court, Rousseau was animportant forerunner of the French Revolution, though his thoughtwas too nuanced and subtle ever to serve as mere ideology. This2001 volume systematically surveys the full range of Rousseau'sactivities in politics and education, psychology, anthropology,religion, music, and theater.

The degrading environment of the planet is something thattouches everyone. This book offers an introductory overview ofliterary and cultural criticism that concerns environmental crisisin some form. Both as a way of reading texts and as a theoreticalapproach to culture more generally, 'ecocriticism' is a varied andfast-changing set of practices which challenges inherited thinkingand practice in the reading of literature and culture. Thisintroduction defines what ecocriticism is, its methods, argumentsand concepts, and will enable students to look at texts in a whollynew way. Boxed sections explain key critical terms and contemporarydebates in the field with 'hands-on' examples and comparisons.Timothy Clark's thoughtful approach makes this an ideal firstencounter with environmental readings of literature.