The former Secretary of Defense collaborates with leading scholars from the United States and Vietnam to offer a groundbreaking new study of exactly how the Vietnam War happened--and why it could not be stopped before three million people died. of photos. Map.

This is the first major biography, & only complete history, of this enigmatic man who has been a towering figure of the 20th century. Here is the dramatic story of a brilliant but flawed leader who struggled endlessly to reconcile his Berkeley-bred social conscience with his raw drive for power. From his position as the wunderkind president of the Ford Motor Co., to his reign as secretary of defense during the Vietnam War, through his efforts as the president of the World Bank, Deborah Shapley paints an electric portrait of Robert Strange McNamara. "A definitive portrait of a symbol of the American Century." Photos.

With an experienced journalist's eye, La Guardia offers a close look at the Israelis as they come to terms with the "post-Zionist" demolition of national myths and the Palestinians as they try to build their own state. 16 illustrations.

The former Secretary of Defense, and leading scholars from the U.S. and Vietnam, offer a groundbreaking new study of exactly how the Vietnam War happened-- and why it could not be stopped before three million people died.

Today’s super negotiator has to be a versatile problem solver, seeking hard-bargain results with a soft touch. With punch and panache, Bob Mayer shows you how to make the grade, revealing powerful negotiating tools drawn from a unique blend of sources: — Recent advances in psychology, linguistics, trial advocacy, sales, and management communications—the cutting edge of the art of performance. — Tips, tricks, and techniques from 200 of the world’s masters—the legendary street and bazaar merchants of Bombay, Istanbul, Cairo, and Shanghai. — Mayer’s own “been there, done that” years as a lawyer representing thousands of clients (from foreign government agencies and mega-corporations to some of the world’s best-known actors, authors, and athletes), negotiating deals on everything from amphitheaters to Zero aircraft. You’ll learn what works—and what doesn’t—when you’re up against a stone wall...or your ideas are being rejected...or you’re confronted with hostility and anger. Included is the highly acclaimed Deal Maker’s Playbook, a collection of step-by-step “how-to’s” and “what-to’s” for 38 common negotiating situations such as: — Buying a car — Leasing an apartment — Dealing with the IRS — Interviewing for a Job — Buying a franchise — Getting out of debt It’s all here—the fancy footwork and magic moves for outgunning, outmaneuvering, and out-negotiating the other person. And the techniques for developing life skills that will dramatically enhance your chances of professional success and personal satisfaction.

Michael Lind casts new light on one of the most contentious episodes in American history in this controversial bestseller. In this groundgreaking reinterpretation of America's most disatrous and controversial war, Michael Lind demolishes enduring myths and put the Vietnam War in its proper context—as part of the global conflict between the Soviet Union and the United States. Lind reveals the deep cultural divisions within the United States that made the Cold War consensus so fragile and explains how and why American public support for the war in Indochina declined. Even more stunning is his provacative argument that the United States failed in Vietnam because the military establishment did not adapt to the demands of what before 1968 had been largely a guerrilla war. In an era when the United States so often finds itself embroiled in prolonged and difficult conflicts, Lind offers a sobering cautionary tale to Ameicans of all political viewpoints.

Through the story of the brief, brave life of a promising poet, the president and CEO of New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art evokes the turmoil and tragedy of the Vietnam War era. In That Time tells the story of the American experience in Vietnam through the life of Michael O'Donnell, a bright young musician and poet who served as a soldier and helicopter pilot. O'Donnell wrote with great sensitivity and poetic force, and his best-known poem is among the most beloved of the war. In 1970, during an attempt to rescue fellow soldiers stranded under heavy fire, O'Donnell's helicopter was shot down in the jungles of Cambodia. He remained missing in action for almost three decades. Although he never fired a shot in Vietnam, O'Donnell served in one of the most dangerous roles of the war, all the while using poetry to express his inner feelings and to reflect on the tragedy that was unfolding around him. O'Donnell's life is both a powerful, personal story and a compelling, universal one about how America lost its way in the 1960s, but also how hope can flower in the margins of even the darkest chapters of the American story.

SCOTT (copy 1): from the John Holmes Library collection.

In the second edition of this witty and infectious book, Madsen Pirie builds upon his guide to using - and indeed abusing - logic in order to win arguments. By including new chapters on how to win arguments in writing, in the pub, with a friend, on Facebook and in 140 characters (on Twitter), Pirie provides the complete guide to triumphing in altercations ranging from the everyday to the downright serious. He identifies with devastating examples all the most common fallacies popularly used in argument. We all like to think of ourselves as clear-headed and logical - but all readers will find in this book fallacies of which they themselves are guilty. The author shows you how to simultaneously strengthen your own thinking and identify the weaknesses in other people arguments. And, more mischievously, Pirie also shows how to be deliberately illogical - and get away with it. This book will make you maddeningly smart: your family, friends and opponents will all wish that you had never read it. Publisher's warning: In the wrong hands this book is dangerous. We recommend that you arm yourself with it whilst keeping out of the hands of others. Only buy this book as a gift if you are sure that you can trust the recipient.

The United States today cries out for a robust, self-respecting, intellectually sophisticated left, yet the very idea of a left appears to have been discredited. In this brilliant new book, Eli Zaretsky rethinks the idea by examining three key moments in American history: the Civil War, the New Deal and the range of New Left movements in the 1960s and after including the civil rights movement, the women's movement and gay liberation.In each period, he argues, the active involvement of the left - especially its critical interaction with mainstream liberalism - proved indispensable. American liberalism, as represented by the Democratic Party, is necessarily spineless and ineffective without a left. Correspondingly, without a strong liberal center, the left becomes sectarian, authoritarian, and worse. Written in an accessible way for the general reader and the undergraduate student, this book provides a fresh perspective on American politics and political history. It has often been said that the idea of a left originated in the French Revolution and is distinctively European; Zaretsky argues, by contrast, that America has always had a vibrant and powerful left. And he shows that in those critical moments when the country returns to itself, it is on its left/liberal bases that it comes to feel most at home.