Destiny's Consul


Book Description

What makes a great president? Certainly leadership, accomplishments, crisis management, political skill, character, and integrity are part of the equation, but the great presidents have something more. They not only govern well, but are part of something lasting; their presidencies influence the thoughts and beliefs of generations. These powerful men are not flawless leaders, they have made mistakes and miscalculations, but in the end their decisions have changed the nation and often the world. In Destiny’s Consul: America’s Greatest Presidents, presidential scholar Michael P. Riccards provides a concise introduction to the lives, presidencies, and personal qualities of ten great individuals whom Riccards argues are our greatest presidents. Organized chronologically, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Jackson, James K. Polk, Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman, and Ronald Reagan are shown to truly be great. It will be of interest to anyone interested in the presidency of American history.




Destiny's Elbow


Book Description

Working against the background of a campaign for Scottish independence, American undercover narcotics agent, Roz Tattarkowski, has to take over as lead investigator when her chief is killed in a mysterious accident in Edinburgh. From that time on, she receives minimal support from her organization in the U.S.A. Seemingly left alone to operate in a country she dislikes and struggles to understand, Roz relies on skills she learned as an aspiring but unsuccessful actor in New York. These enable her to track through political intrigue and deceit into a world of narcotics production, immigrant smuggling and trade in human organs. In the process, she becomes involved in further intrigue at the international level, when her acting talents are put to a final test: war will be the outcome if they fail. Throughout these events, Roz takes pride in her imagination and improvisation. But what appear to be actions taken freely and on personal initiative turn out to be plots scripted and directed by unseen hands.




Destiny's Journey


Book Description

Destiny's Journey is a memoir reconstructed partly from notebooks that Döblin kept from the time he worked in the French Ministry of Information in the spring of 1940 and partly written without notes in Los Angeles where he took refuge during the Second World War. It tells the personal and generational story of the flight of Jewish and anti-Nazi intellectuals from Europe to America, their fear and frustration, isolation, and inability to work. Döblin’s story differs from that of other Jewish intellectuals and artists in that his family converts to Catholicism in Los Angeles. Unlike most of them, he returns to Europe as an officer with the French forces and works on denazifying German literature. The conversion narrative bridges the departure from and return to Europe. To critic John Simon, “the latter part of the book often reads like a shrill piece of Christian homiletics. But even this is not without interest, as it traces the transformation of an anarchic outsider into a dogmatic insider.” “The first part of ‘Destiny's Journey’ [about] Döblin's departure from Paris [in] 1940... is magisterial: acidly observed, saturated in telling detail, grimly comic and harrowing... with an exemplary introduction by Peter Demetz... an important, nourishing book” — John Simon, The New York Times




Destiny's Landfall


Book Description

This revised edition of the standard history of Guam is intended for general readers and students of the history, politics, and government of the Pacific region. Its narrative spans more than 450 years, beginning with the initial written records of Guam by members of Magellan 1521 expedition and concluding with the impact of the recent global recession on Guam’s fragile economy.




Consuls and Res Publica


Book Description

The consulate was the focal point of Roman politics. Both the ruling class and the ordinary citizens fixed their gaze on the republic's highest office - to be sure, from different perspectives and with differing expectations. While the former aspired to the consulate as the defining magistracy of their social status, the latter perceived it as the embodiment of the Roman state. Holding high office was thus not merely a political exercise. The consulate prefigured all aspects of public life, with consuls taking care of almost every aspect of the administration of the Roman state. This multifaceted character of the consulate invites a holistic investigation. The scope of this book is therefore not limited to political or constitutional questions. Instead, it investigates the predominant role of the consulate in and its impact on, the political culture of the Roman republic.




Manifest Destiny's Underworld


Book Description

This fascinating study sheds new light on antebellum America's notorious "filibusters--the freebooters and adventurers who organized or participated in armed invasions of nations with whom the United States was formally at peace. Offering the first full-scale analysis of the filibustering movement, Robert May relates the often-tragic stories of illegal expeditions into Cuba, Mexico, Ecuador, Nicaragua, and other Latin American countries and details surprising numbers of aborted plots, as well. May investigates why thousands of men joined filibustering expeditions, how they were financed, and why the U.S. government had little success in curtailing them. Surveying antebellum popular media, he shows how the filibustering phenomenon infiltrated the American psyche in newspapers, theater, music, advertising, and literature. Condemned abroad as pirates, frequently in language strikingly similar to modern American denunciations of foreign terrorists, the filibusters were often celebrated at home as heroes who epitomized the spirit of Manifest Destiny. May concludes by exploring the national consequences of filibustering, arguing that the practice inflicted lasting damage on U.S. relations with foreign countries and contributed to the North-South division over slavery that culminated in the Civil War.







Working with Napoleon


Book Description

Napoleon always sells very well. A classic of the genre. Long out of print with a complete index of names.




Consular Reports


Book Description




Destiny's Game


Book Description

Destiny's Game" started as a will. "I didn't have the life of a typical 15-year old, not only me but a lot of young people," recalls Reza. With no idea what would happen to him next, Reza began documenting the events and circumstances surrounding him. This collection of personal memoirs and travels begins in his native country of Iran and takes readers along on his twenty-five-year journey through Turkey, Eastern Europe and the United States. In "Destiny's Game," Reza uses his unique perspective to talk about his family in Iran and the Iranian social and political situation, including the revolution of 1979 and the start of the Iraq-Iran war in September 1980. "They (the Iranian people) were doing the wrong things for the right reasons. People didn't know what the Islamic republic meant," says Reza. It created dangerous socio-political turbulence that forced thousands of Iranian families to flee the country with their young sons and daughters. "Imagine you're sitting in Jr. High or High School and they (the revolutionary guards, Islamic fundamentalists) come to your class and say, "Who wants to go to heaven?" And, all the kids raise their hands and want the opportunity. It's a quick ticket, a short-cut. All they have to do is walk on an Iraqi mine field," explains Reza. He talks about foreign hypocrisy and, how his views evolved as he witnessed non-Iranian governments' manipulative efforts to exploit socio-political, cultural and economic affairs of Iran. Through this book, Reza hopes to inspire optimism and national unity, and promote fine moral etiquette and improved human rights. According the Reza, these are important fundamental qualities that the Iranian society and mainstream international governing bodies seriously lack.