Between the years 1815 and 1945, Europe achieved unrivaled global dominance, only to see it shattered by two world wars. This frenetic rise and fall was attended by immense societal change. In 1815, Europe remained largely agricultural and dependent upon horsepower. By 1945, the power of the atom had been unleashed. Two industrial revolutions occurred in the interim--the first founded upon coal, iron and steam, the second upon oil, steel, electricity and internal combustion. The implications for humanity were profound. This concise yet comprehensive study is divided into three sections. In section one, the map of Europe emerges in its modern visage as unrestrained nationalist fervor gives rise to an assemblage of new nation-states. In section two, the continent attains global hegemony as massive industrialization fuels a mad scramble for colonial markets and raw materials. In section three, a cauldron of national, ethnic and class hatreds spawn the rise of totalitarianism and the overthrow of European hegemony in two calamitous world wars. By tracing the events and undercurrents of this vital period in European history, this book offers trenchant insights for the lay reader and the student of history alike.

“The 21 artists, who share their stories of madness, trauma, addiction, abuse and self-destruction, and their relationship to art, leave no vulnerable detail unwritten.”—Shameless A visceral look at the bizarre entanglement of destructive and creative forces, Live Through This is a collection of original stories, essays, artwork, and photography. It explores the use of art to survive abuse, incest, madness and depression, and the often deep-seated impulse toward self-destruction including cutting, eating disorders, and addiction. Here, some of our most compelling cartoonists, novelists, poets, dancers, playwrights, and burlesque performers traverse the pains and passions that can both motivate and destroy women artists, and mark a path for survival. Taken together, these artful reflections offer an honest and hopeful journey through a woman's silent rage, through the power inherent in struggles with destruction, and the ensuing possibilities of transforming that burning force into the external release of art. With contributions by Nan Goldin, bell hooks, Patricia Smith, Cristy C. Road, Carol Queen, Annie Sprinkle, Elizabeth Stephens, Carolyn Gage, Eileen Myles, Fly, Diane DiMassa, Bonfire Madigan Shive, Inga Muscio, Kate Bornstein, Toni Blackman, Nicole Blackman, Silas Howard, Daphne Gottleib, and Stephanie Howell.

Jihadi ideologues mobilize Muslims, especially young Muslims, through an individualist, centered Islam. Appealing to a classical defense doctrine, they argue that the mandates of jihad are the individual duty of every Muslim and therefore transcend and undermine both the authority of the state and the power of parental control. Yet emphasizing the duty and right of individually initiated jihad is just one side of do-it-yourself Islam. The other involves protecting the purity of doctrinal beliefs against deviation, even by fellow jihadis. The pursuit of doctrinal purity has led some jihadis to resort to takfir, a pronouncement that declares fellow Muslims unbelievers and makes it legal to shed their blood. Set against the background of the Kharijites, Islam's first counter-establishment movement, this book explores the religious philosophy underlying jihadism. The Kharijites's idealistic and individualistic ideology forces members to deploy takfir against one another, thus hastening their extinction as a group.

"Political correctness" involves much more than a restriction of speech. It represents a broad cultural transformation, a shift in the way people understand things and organize their lives; a change in the way meaning is made. The problem addressed in this book is that, for reasons the author explores, some ways of making "meaning" support the creation and maintenance of organization, while others do not. Organizations are cultural products and rely upon psychological roots that go very deep. The basic premise of this book is that organizations are made up of the rules, common understandings, and obligations that "the father" represents, and which are given meaning in the oedipal dynamic. In anti-oedipal psychology, however, they are seen as locuses of deprivation and structures of oppression. Anti-oedipal meaning, then, is geared toward the destruction of organization.

When Heidegger's influence was at its zenith in Gennany from the early fifties to the early sixties, most serious students of philosophy in that country were deeply steeped in his thought. His students or students of his students filled many if not most of the major chairs in philosophy. A cloud of reputedly Black Forest mysticism veiled the perspective of many of his critics and admirers at home and abroad. Droves of people flocked to hear lectures by him that most could not understand, even on careful reading, much less on one hearing. He loomed so large that Being and Time frequently could not be seen as a highly imaginative, initial approach to a strictly limited set of questions, but was viewed either as an all-embracing fmt order catastrophy incorporating at once the most feared consequences of Boehme, Kierkegaard, RiIke, and Nietzsche, or as THE ANSWER. But most of that has past. Heidegger's dominance of Gennan philosophy has ceased. One can now brush aside the larger-than-life images of Heidegger, the fears that his language was creating a cult phenomenon, the convictions that only those can understand him who give their lives to his thought. His language is at times unusually difficult, at times simple and beautiful. Some of his insights are obscure and not helpful, others are exciting and clarifying. One no longer expects Heidegger to interpret literature like a literary critic or an academic philologist.

Argues against America's economic life becoming more like Europe's and warns that if Americans continue down this path they will suffer an overburdened welfare state, a government that controls half of the economy, and high taxation.

The Dawning is a radically different and innovative approach to the astrological ages including the Age of Aquarius -providing a fascinating insight into past ages, our current turbulent times, and what might be in store for our world over the next few thousand years! Terry MacKinnell takes us on a journey into the astrological ages and with periscopic detail presents an entertaining and thought-provoking read that challenges astrological assumptions. MacKinnell proposes that an oversight made by the ancients inadvertently impacted conventional astrological calculations and he explores the popular belief that the Age of Aquarius has already arrived when according to conventional astrology it is not due for many centuries to come. He argues that the real Aquarian Age has indeed already arrived and did so in the 15th Century, the same century historians claim as the beginning of modernity. Continuing the journey he dives into our present and our future. This fascinating book will appeal to astrologers, archeo-astronomers, historians and everyone looking for a new perspective on the past, the present and the future.

The essays assembled in this volume are a thoughtful and lively commentary on Europe after the revolution of 1989. Must revolutions fail? Certainly, the open society has its own problems, not least that of citizens in search of meaning. The Good Society has to square the circle of prosperity, civility and liberty. Social science can help us understand what needs to be done, and intellectuals have a responsibility to initiate and accompany change. All this raises questions for Europe which extend far beyond the all too narrow confines of the European Union.

The story of an atheists search for universal ethics, God Is a Heartless Recluse demonstrates that theists claim of God as their Heavenly Father is delusional. A god who allows terminal childhood diseases, mass murderers, cannibals, and genocides is at best a heartless recluse. In reality, God is a figment of megalomaniacal minds that dont have the courage to accept the facts: Humans evolved from earlier primates. God is a human invention: animism, panpsychism, pantheism, polytheism, monotheism. The universe is indifferent to humanity. Paradise is a fictional luxury resort. Humanity is an adolescent civilization with the potential to mature, spread across the Milky Way, then to other galaxies and other universesto live forever in this eternal multiverse.

The struggle for the soul of Europe today is every bit as dire and consequential as it was in the 1930s. Then, in Weimar, Germany, the center did not hold, and the light of civilization nearly went out. Today, the continent has entered yet another “Weimar moment.” Will Europeans rise to the challenge posed by radical Islam, or will they cave in once again to the extremists? As an American living in Europe since 1998, Bruce Bawer has seen this problem up close. Across the continent—in Amsterdam, Oslo, Copenhagen, Paris, Berlin, Madrid, and Stockholm—he encountered large, rapidly expanding Muslim enclaves in which women were oppressed and abused, homosexuals persecuted and killed, “infidels” threatened and vilified, Jews demonized and attacked, barbaric traditions (such as honor killing and forced marriage) widely practiced, and freedom of speech and religion firmly repudiated. The European political and media establishment turned a blind eye to all this, selling out women, Jews, gays, and democratic principles generally—even criminalizing free speech—in order to pacify the radical Islamists and preserve the illusion of multicultural harmony. The few heroic figures who dared to criticize Muslim extremists and speak up for true liberal values were systematically slandered as fascist bigots. Witnessing the disgraceful reaction of Europe’s elites to 9/11, to the terrorist attacks on Madrid, Beslan, and London, and to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, Bawer concluded that Europe was heading inexorably down a path to cultural suicide. Europe's Muslim communities are powder kegs, brimming with an alienation born of the immigrants’ deep antagonism toward an infidel society that rejects them and compounded by misguided immigration policies that enforce their segregation and empower the extremists in their midst. The mounting crisis produced by these deeply perverse and irresponsible policies finally burst onto our television screens in October 2005, as Paris and other European cities erupted in flames. WHILE EUROPE SLEPT is the story of one American’s experience in Europe before and after 9/11, and of his many arguments with Europeans about the dangers of militant Islam and America’s role in combating it. This brave and invaluable book—with its riveting combination of eye-opening reportage and blunt, incisive analysis—is essential reading for anyone concerned about the fate of Europe and what it portends for the United States.