Vodka Politics

Vodka Politics

Author: Mark Schrad

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2014-03

Total Pages: 514

ISBN-13: 0199755590

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Alcohol-and alcoholism-have long been prominent features in Russian life and culture. But as Mark Schrad vividly shows in Vodka Politics, it has also been central to Russian politics. Not simply a chronicle of drinking in Russia, this book shows how alcohol has been a key shaping force in Russian political history.


Book Synopsis Vodka Politics by : Mark Schrad

Download or read book Vodka Politics written by Mark Schrad and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2014-03 with total page 514 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Alcohol-and alcoholism-have long been prominent features in Russian life and culture. But as Mark Schrad vividly shows in Vodka Politics, it has also been central to Russian politics. Not simply a chronicle of drinking in Russia, this book shows how alcohol has been a key shaping force in Russian political history.


Vodka Politics: Alcohol, Autocracy and the Secret History of the Russian State

Vodka Politics: Alcohol, Autocracy and the Secret History of the Russian State

Author: Mark Lawrence Schrad

Publisher:

Published: 2013

Total Pages:

ISBN-13:

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Book Synopsis Vodka Politics: Alcohol, Autocracy and the Secret History of the Russian State by : Mark Lawrence Schrad

Download or read book Vodka Politics: Alcohol, Autocracy and the Secret History of the Russian State written by Mark Lawrence Schrad and published by . This book was released on 2013 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:


Smashing the Liquor Machine

Smashing the Liquor Machine

Author: Mark Lawrence Schrad

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2021-06-22

Total Pages: 753

ISBN-13: 0190841591

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This is the history of temperance and prohibition as you've never read it before: redefining temperance as a progressive, global, pro-justice movement that affected virtually every significant world leader from the eighteenth through early twentieth centuries. When most people think of the prohibition era, they think of speakeasies, rum runners, and backwoods fundamentalists railing about the ills of strong drink. In other words, in the popular imagination, it is a peculiarly American history. Yet, as Mark Lawrence Schrad shows in Smashing the Liquor Machine, the conventional scholarship on prohibition is extremely misleading for a simple reason: American prohibition was just one piece of a global phenomenon. Schrad's pathbreaking history of prohibition looks at the anti-alcohol movement around the globe through the experiences of pro-temperance leaders like Vladimir Lenin, Leo Tolstoy, Thomás Masaryk, Kemal Atatürk, Mahatma Gandhi, and anti-colonial activists across Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. Schrad argues that temperance wasn't "American exceptionalism" at all, but rather one of the most broad-based and successful transnational social movements of the modern era. In fact, Schrad offers a fundamental re-appraisal of this colorful era to reveal that temperance forces frequently aligned with progressivism, social justice, liberal self-determination, democratic socialism, labor rights, women's rights, and indigenous rights. Placing the temperance movement in a deep global context, forces us to fundamentally rethink its role in opposing colonial exploitation throughout American history as well. Prohibitionism united Native American chiefs like Little Turtle and Black Hawk; African-American leaders Frederick Douglass, Ida Wells, and Booker T. Washington; suffragists Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, and Frances Willard; progressives from William Lloyd Garrison to William Jennings Bryan; writers F.E.W. Harper and Upton Sinclair, and even American presidents from Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln to Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson. Progressives rather than puritans, the global temperance movement advocated communal self-protection against the corrupt and predatory "liquor machine" that had become exceedingly rich off the misery and addictions of the poor around the world, from the slums of South Asia to the beerhalls of Central Europe to the Native American reservations of the United States. Unlike many traditional "dry" histories, Smashing the Liquor Machine gives voice to minority and subaltern figures who resisted the global liquor industry, and further highlights that the impulses that led to the temperance movement were far more progressive and variegated than American readers have been led to believe.


Book Synopsis Smashing the Liquor Machine by : Mark Lawrence Schrad

Download or read book Smashing the Liquor Machine written by Mark Lawrence Schrad and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2021-06-22 with total page 753 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is the history of temperance and prohibition as you've never read it before: redefining temperance as a progressive, global, pro-justice movement that affected virtually every significant world leader from the eighteenth through early twentieth centuries. When most people think of the prohibition era, they think of speakeasies, rum runners, and backwoods fundamentalists railing about the ills of strong drink. In other words, in the popular imagination, it is a peculiarly American history. Yet, as Mark Lawrence Schrad shows in Smashing the Liquor Machine, the conventional scholarship on prohibition is extremely misleading for a simple reason: American prohibition was just one piece of a global phenomenon. Schrad's pathbreaking history of prohibition looks at the anti-alcohol movement around the globe through the experiences of pro-temperance leaders like Vladimir Lenin, Leo Tolstoy, Thomás Masaryk, Kemal Atatürk, Mahatma Gandhi, and anti-colonial activists across Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. Schrad argues that temperance wasn't "American exceptionalism" at all, but rather one of the most broad-based and successful transnational social movements of the modern era. In fact, Schrad offers a fundamental re-appraisal of this colorful era to reveal that temperance forces frequently aligned with progressivism, social justice, liberal self-determination, democratic socialism, labor rights, women's rights, and indigenous rights. Placing the temperance movement in a deep global context, forces us to fundamentally rethink its role in opposing colonial exploitation throughout American history as well. Prohibitionism united Native American chiefs like Little Turtle and Black Hawk; African-American leaders Frederick Douglass, Ida Wells, and Booker T. Washington; suffragists Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, and Frances Willard; progressives from William Lloyd Garrison to William Jennings Bryan; writers F.E.W. Harper and Upton Sinclair, and even American presidents from Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln to Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson. Progressives rather than puritans, the global temperance movement advocated communal self-protection against the corrupt and predatory "liquor machine" that had become exceedingly rich off the misery and addictions of the poor around the world, from the slums of South Asia to the beerhalls of Central Europe to the Native American reservations of the United States. Unlike many traditional "dry" histories, Smashing the Liquor Machine gives voice to minority and subaltern figures who resisted the global liquor industry, and further highlights that the impulses that led to the temperance movement were far more progressive and variegated than American readers have been led to believe.


The Last Empire

The Last Empire

Author: Serhii Plokhy

Publisher: Basic Books

Published: 2015-09-08

Total Pages: 544

ISBN-13: 0465097928

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On Christmas Day, 1991, President George H. W. Bush addressed the nation to declare an American victory in the Cold War: earlier that day Mikhail Gorbachev had resigned as the first and last Soviet president. The enshrining of that narrative, one in which the end of the Cold War was linked to the disintegration of the Soviet Union and the triumph of democratic values over communism, took center stage in American public discourse immediately after Bush's speech and has persisted for decades -- with disastrous consequences for American standing in the world. As prize-winning historian Serhii Plokhy reveals in The Last Empire, the collapse of the Soviet Union was anything but the handiwork of the United States. On the contrary, American leaders dreaded the possibility that the Soviet Union -- weakened by infighting and economic turmoil -- might suddenly crumble, throwing all of Eurasia into chaos. Bush was firmly committed to supporting his ally and personal friend Gorbachev, and remained wary of nationalist or radical leaders such as recently elected Russian President Boris Yeltsin. Fearing what might happen to the large Soviet nuclear arsenal in the event of the union's collapse, Bush stood by Gorbachev as he resisted the growing independence movements in Ukraine, Moldova, and the Caucasus. Plokhy's detailed, authoritative account shows that it was only after the movement for independence of the republics had gained undeniable momentum on the eve of the Ukrainian vote for independence that fall that Bush finally abandoned Gorbachev to his fate. Drawing on recently declassified documents and original interviews with key participants, Plokhy presents a bold new interpretation of the Soviet Union's final months and argues that the key to the Soviet collapse was the inability of the two largest Soviet republics, Russia and Ukraine, to agree on the continuing existence of a unified state. By attributing the Soviet collapse to the impact of American actions, US policy makers overrated their own capacities in toppling and rebuilding foreign regimes. Not only was the key American role in the demise of the Soviet Union a myth, but this misplaced belief has guided -- and haunted -- American foreign policy ever since.


Book Synopsis The Last Empire by : Serhii Plokhy

Download or read book The Last Empire written by Serhii Plokhy and published by Basic Books. This book was released on 2015-09-08 with total page 544 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: On Christmas Day, 1991, President George H. W. Bush addressed the nation to declare an American victory in the Cold War: earlier that day Mikhail Gorbachev had resigned as the first and last Soviet president. The enshrining of that narrative, one in which the end of the Cold War was linked to the disintegration of the Soviet Union and the triumph of democratic values over communism, took center stage in American public discourse immediately after Bush's speech and has persisted for decades -- with disastrous consequences for American standing in the world. As prize-winning historian Serhii Plokhy reveals in The Last Empire, the collapse of the Soviet Union was anything but the handiwork of the United States. On the contrary, American leaders dreaded the possibility that the Soviet Union -- weakened by infighting and economic turmoil -- might suddenly crumble, throwing all of Eurasia into chaos. Bush was firmly committed to supporting his ally and personal friend Gorbachev, and remained wary of nationalist or radical leaders such as recently elected Russian President Boris Yeltsin. Fearing what might happen to the large Soviet nuclear arsenal in the event of the union's collapse, Bush stood by Gorbachev as he resisted the growing independence movements in Ukraine, Moldova, and the Caucasus. Plokhy's detailed, authoritative account shows that it was only after the movement for independence of the republics had gained undeniable momentum on the eve of the Ukrainian vote for independence that fall that Bush finally abandoned Gorbachev to his fate. Drawing on recently declassified documents and original interviews with key participants, Plokhy presents a bold new interpretation of the Soviet Union's final months and argues that the key to the Soviet collapse was the inability of the two largest Soviet republics, Russia and Ukraine, to agree on the continuing existence of a unified state. By attributing the Soviet collapse to the impact of American actions, US policy makers overrated their own capacities in toppling and rebuilding foreign regimes. Not only was the key American role in the demise of the Soviet Union a myth, but this misplaced belief has guided -- and haunted -- American foreign policy ever since.


Russian Roulette

Russian Roulette

Author: Giles Milton

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA

Published: 2015-03-10

Total Pages: 401

ISBN-13: 1620405709

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Recounts the extraordinary and thrilling story of the British spies in revolutionary Russia, led by Mansfield Cumming, who would one day pioneer the field of covert action and become MI6, and their mission to foil Lenin's plot for global revolution. 40,000 first printing.


Book Synopsis Russian Roulette by : Giles Milton

Download or read book Russian Roulette written by Giles Milton and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2015-03-10 with total page 401 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Recounts the extraordinary and thrilling story of the British spies in revolutionary Russia, led by Mansfield Cumming, who would one day pioneer the field of covert action and become MI6, and their mission to foil Lenin's plot for global revolution. 40,000 first printing.


The Political Power of Bad Ideas

The Political Power of Bad Ideas

Author: Mark Lawrence Schrad

Publisher: OUP USA

Published: 2010-03-24

Total Pages: 315

ISBN-13: 0195391233

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In this work, Mark Lawrence Schrad looks on an oddity of modern history - the broad diffusion of temperance legislation in the early 20th century - to make a broad argument about how bad policy ideas achieve international success.


Book Synopsis The Political Power of Bad Ideas by : Mark Lawrence Schrad

Download or read book The Political Power of Bad Ideas written by Mark Lawrence Schrad and published by OUP USA. This book was released on 2010-03-24 with total page 315 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this work, Mark Lawrence Schrad looks on an oddity of modern history - the broad diffusion of temperance legislation in the early 20th century - to make a broad argument about how bad policy ideas achieve international success.


Road to Revolution

Road to Revolution

Author: Avrahm Yarmolinsky

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Published: 2014-07-14

Total Pages: 396

ISBN-13: 1400858402

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This book traces the history of revolutionary movements in nineteenth- century Russia, ending with the great famine of 1891-92, by which time Marxism was already in the ascendant. Originally published in 1986. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.


Book Synopsis Road to Revolution by : Avrahm Yarmolinsky

Download or read book Road to Revolution written by Avrahm Yarmolinsky and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2014-07-14 with total page 396 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book traces the history of revolutionary movements in nineteenth- century Russia, ending with the great famine of 1891-92, by which time Marxism was already in the ascendant. Originally published in 1986. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.


The Conflict in Ukraine

The Conflict in Ukraine

Author: Serhy Yekelchyk

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2015-08-06

Total Pages: 192

ISBN-13: 0190237309

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When guns began firing again in Europe, why was it Ukraine that became the battlefield? Conventional wisdom dictates that Ukraine's current crisis can be traced to the linguistic differences and divided political loyalties that have long fractured the country. However this theory only obscures the true significance of Ukraine's recent civic revolution and the conflict's crucial international dimension. The 2013-14 Ukrainian revolution presented authoritarian powers in Russia with both a democratic and a geopolitical challenge. President Vladimir Putin reacted aggressively by annexing the Crimea and sponsoring the war in eastern Ukraine; and Russia's actions subsequently prompted Western sanctions and growing international tensions reminiscent of the Cold War. Though the media portrays the situation as an ethnic conflict, an internal Ukrainian affair, it is in reality reflective of a global discord, stemming from differing views on state power, civil society, and democracy. The Conflict in Ukraine: What Everyone Needs to Know explores Ukraine's contemporary conflict and complicated history of ethnic identity, and it does do so by weaving questions of the country's fraught relations with its former imperial master, Russia, throughout the narrative. In denying Ukraine's existence as a separate nation, Putin has adopted a stance similar to that of the last Russian tsars, who banned the Ukrainian language in print and on stage. Ukraine emerged as a nation-state as a result of the imperial collapse in 1917, but it was subsequently absorbed into the USSR. When the former Soviet republics became independent states in 1991, the Ukrainian authorities sought to assert their country's national distinctiveness, but they failed to reform the economy or eradicate corruption. As Serhy Yekelchyk explains, for the last 150 years recognition of Ukraine as a separate nation has been a litmus test of Russian democracy, and the Russian threat to Ukraine will remain in place for as long as the Putinist regime is in power. In this concise and penetrating book, Yekelchyk describes the current crisis in Ukraine, the country's ethnic composition, and the Ukrainian national identity. He takes readers through the history of Ukraine's emergence as a sovereign nation, the after-effects of communism, the Orange Revolution, the EuroMaidan, the annexation of the Crimean Peninsula, the war in the Donbas, and the West's attempts at peace making. The Conflict in Ukraine is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand the forces that have shaped contemporary politics in this increasingly important part of Europe. What Everyone Needs to Know® is a registered trademark of Oxford University Press.


Book Synopsis The Conflict in Ukraine by : Serhy Yekelchyk

Download or read book The Conflict in Ukraine written by Serhy Yekelchyk and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2015-08-06 with total page 192 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When guns began firing again in Europe, why was it Ukraine that became the battlefield? Conventional wisdom dictates that Ukraine's current crisis can be traced to the linguistic differences and divided political loyalties that have long fractured the country. However this theory only obscures the true significance of Ukraine's recent civic revolution and the conflict's crucial international dimension. The 2013-14 Ukrainian revolution presented authoritarian powers in Russia with both a democratic and a geopolitical challenge. President Vladimir Putin reacted aggressively by annexing the Crimea and sponsoring the war in eastern Ukraine; and Russia's actions subsequently prompted Western sanctions and growing international tensions reminiscent of the Cold War. Though the media portrays the situation as an ethnic conflict, an internal Ukrainian affair, it is in reality reflective of a global discord, stemming from differing views on state power, civil society, and democracy. The Conflict in Ukraine: What Everyone Needs to Know explores Ukraine's contemporary conflict and complicated history of ethnic identity, and it does do so by weaving questions of the country's fraught relations with its former imperial master, Russia, throughout the narrative. In denying Ukraine's existence as a separate nation, Putin has adopted a stance similar to that of the last Russian tsars, who banned the Ukrainian language in print and on stage. Ukraine emerged as a nation-state as a result of the imperial collapse in 1917, but it was subsequently absorbed into the USSR. When the former Soviet republics became independent states in 1991, the Ukrainian authorities sought to assert their country's national distinctiveness, but they failed to reform the economy or eradicate corruption. As Serhy Yekelchyk explains, for the last 150 years recognition of Ukraine as a separate nation has been a litmus test of Russian democracy, and the Russian threat to Ukraine will remain in place for as long as the Putinist regime is in power. In this concise and penetrating book, Yekelchyk describes the current crisis in Ukraine, the country's ethnic composition, and the Ukrainian national identity. He takes readers through the history of Ukraine's emergence as a sovereign nation, the after-effects of communism, the Orange Revolution, the EuroMaidan, the annexation of the Crimean Peninsula, the war in the Donbas, and the West's attempts at peace making. The Conflict in Ukraine is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand the forces that have shaped contemporary politics in this increasingly important part of Europe. What Everyone Needs to Know® is a registered trademark of Oxford University Press.


Tutankhamun's Armies

Tutankhamun's Armies

Author: John Coleman Darnell

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Published: 2007-08-03

Total Pages: 324

ISBN-13: 0471743585

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The force that forged an empire. The furious thunder of thousands of hooves, the clatter and sheen of bronze armor sparkling in the desert sun, the crunch of wooden wheels racing across a rock-strewn battlefield-and leading this terrifying chariot charge, the gallant Pharaoh, the ribbons of his blue war crown streaming behind him as he launches yet another arrow into the panicking mass of his soon-to-be-routed enemies. While scenes like the one depicted above did occur in ancient Egypt, they represent only one small aspect of the vast, complex, and sophisticated military machine that secured, defended, and expanded the borders of the empire during the late Eighteenth Dynasty. In Tutankhamun's Armies, you'll discover the harsh reality behind the imperial splendor of the New Kingdom and gain a new appreciation for the formidable Egyptian army-from pharaoh to foot soldier. You'll follow "the heretic king" Akhenaten, his son Tutankhamun, and their three Amana-Period successors as they employ double-edge diplomacy and military might to defeat competing powers, quell internal insurrections, and keep reluctant subject states in line. This vivid and absorbing chronicle will forever change the way you think about the glories and riches of ancient Egypt.


Book Synopsis Tutankhamun's Armies by : John Coleman Darnell

Download or read book Tutankhamun's Armies written by John Coleman Darnell and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2007-08-03 with total page 324 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The force that forged an empire. The furious thunder of thousands of hooves, the clatter and sheen of bronze armor sparkling in the desert sun, the crunch of wooden wheels racing across a rock-strewn battlefield-and leading this terrifying chariot charge, the gallant Pharaoh, the ribbons of his blue war crown streaming behind him as he launches yet another arrow into the panicking mass of his soon-to-be-routed enemies. While scenes like the one depicted above did occur in ancient Egypt, they represent only one small aspect of the vast, complex, and sophisticated military machine that secured, defended, and expanded the borders of the empire during the late Eighteenth Dynasty. In Tutankhamun's Armies, you'll discover the harsh reality behind the imperial splendor of the New Kingdom and gain a new appreciation for the formidable Egyptian army-from pharaoh to foot soldier. You'll follow "the heretic king" Akhenaten, his son Tutankhamun, and their three Amana-Period successors as they employ double-edge diplomacy and military might to defeat competing powers, quell internal insurrections, and keep reluctant subject states in line. This vivid and absorbing chronicle will forever change the way you think about the glories and riches of ancient Egypt.


To the Edge of the World

To the Edge of the World

Author: Christian Wolmar

Publisher: Atlantic Books Ltd

Published: 2013-11-07

Total Pages: 350

ISBN-13: 1782392041

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Christian Wolmar expertly tells the story of the Trans-Siberian railway from its conception and construction under Tsar Alexander III, to the northern extension ordered by Brezhnev and its current success as a vital artery. He also explores the crucial role the line played in both the Russian Civil War -Trotsky famously used an armoured carriage as his command post - and the Second World War, during which the railway saved the country from certain defeat. Like the author's previous railway histories, it focuses on the personalities, as well as the political and economic events, that lay behind one of the most extraordinary engineering triumphs of the nineteenth century.


Book Synopsis To the Edge of the World by : Christian Wolmar

Download or read book To the Edge of the World written by Christian Wolmar and published by Atlantic Books Ltd. This book was released on 2013-11-07 with total page 350 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Christian Wolmar expertly tells the story of the Trans-Siberian railway from its conception and construction under Tsar Alexander III, to the northern extension ordered by Brezhnev and its current success as a vital artery. He also explores the crucial role the line played in both the Russian Civil War -Trotsky famously used an armoured carriage as his command post - and the Second World War, during which the railway saved the country from certain defeat. Like the author's previous railway histories, it focuses on the personalities, as well as the political and economic events, that lay behind one of the most extraordinary engineering triumphs of the nineteenth century.