Private Ryan and the Lost Peace


Book Description

Private Ryan and the Lost Peace is the story of one soldier who rebelled against the war and urged a mediated settlement. He happened to be Australian, but his could be the story of many an 'everyman' at the front. Private Ted Ryan, originally from Broken Hill, sent an angry letter to Britain's famous anti-war politician, Ramsay MacDonald, urging him to keep pushing for peace. Ryan denounced the war as the herding of men to a hideous 'abattoir' of industrialised killing! He blasted talk of fighting on to 'the knock-out blow'. Eventually, Ryan's revolt landed him in four courts martial. He even received a death sentence. Were secret diplomatic deals prolonging the war? Were promising opportunities for peace callously rebuffed? From what we know now about the squashing of peace initiatives, Ted Ryan's instincts were dead right. The Great War was a protracted catastrophe, unnecessarily prolonged. Those who rebelled against it - even in the trenches - deserve to have their story heard.




Private Ryan and the Lost Peace


Book Description

Imagine the Great War ending early, in 1915, or 1916, or even 1917. Imagine round-table negotiations and a compromise peace, ending what seemed to be an unbreakable military stalemate. Had peace come in this way, perhaps there would have been no Communism, no Fascism, no Nazism, no Great Depression, and no Second World War. During the Great War, many urged such a peace. Private Ryan and the Lost Peace is the story of one soldier who rebelled against the war and urged a mediated settlement. He happened to be Australian, but his could be the story of many an 'everyman' at the front. Private Ted Ryan, originally from Broken Hill, sent an angry letter to Britain's famous anti-war politician, Ramsay MacDonald, urging him to keep pushing for peace. Ryan denounced the war as the herding of men to a hideous 'abattoir' of industrialised killing! He blasted talk of fighting on to 'the knock-out blow'. Eventually, Ryan's revolt landed him in four courts martial. He even received a death sentence. Were secret diplomatic deals prolonging the war? Were promising opportunities for peace callously rebuffed? From what we know now about the squashing of peace initiatives, Ted Ryan's instincts were dead right. The Great War was a protracted catastrophe, unnecessarily prolonged. Those who rebelled against it - even in the trenches - deserve to have their story heard.







Private Peaceful


Book Description

Private Peaceful relives the life of Private Tommo Peaceful, a young First World War soldier awaiting the firing squad at dawn. During the night he looks back at his short but joyful past growing up in rural Devon: his exciting first days at school; the accident in the forest that killed his father; his adventures with Molly, the love of his life; and the battles and injustices of war that brought him to the front line. Winner of the Blue Peter Book of the Year, Private Peaceful is by the third Children's Laureate, Michael Morpurgo, award-winning author of War Horse. His inspiration came from a visit to Ypres where he was shocked to discover how many young soldiers were court-martialled and shot for cowardice during the First World War. This edition also includes introductory essays by Michael Morpurgo, Associate Director of Private Peaceful production Mark Leipacher, as well as an essay from Simon Reade, adaptor & director of this stage adaptation of Private Peaceful.




The Present "Just Peace/Just War" Debate


Book Description

At first the end of the "Cold War" seemed to mark a period of relative rest. However, it became apparent that we have not reached the "end of history". As a matter of fact, the world is confronted by new political constellations of so far unknown martial intensity. Although, Muslim terrorism and the revival of tribalism and nationalism are closely connected. At the same time, the international community proves mostly powerless, as a result of the cooling relationship between East and West. These developments offer challenging questions for Western societies. Both in Germany and in the Anglo-Saxon world, debates on the concepts of Just peace/ Just war have intensified, but mutual engagement between these contexts has remained scarce. Against this background a conference was held in Apeldoorn, in a Dutch "interspace", in 2016, in which ethicists from both contexts were involved. The present volume contains the edited version of the seven contributions to this conference, supplemented with four articles by others that were written deliberately for this volume. [Die Debatte "Gerechter Frieden/Gerechter Krieg". Zwei Diskussionen oder eine?] Nach dem Ende des "Kalten Krieges" hatte es den Anschein, als breche eine Friedensperiode an. Leider hat sich inzwischen gezeigt, dass wir nicht ans "Ende der Geschichte" gelangt sind. Vielmehr sieht sich die Welt am Beginn des 21. Jahrhunderts mit neuen politischen Konstellationen ungekannter kriegerischer Intensität konfrontiert. Dabei hängen islamistischer Terror und das Wiederaufleben von Tribalismus und Nationalismus zusammen. Hinzu kommt, dass das Ost-West-Verhältnis sich zunehmend verschlechtert, wodurch die Machtinstrumente der internationalen Gemeinschaft kraftlos geworden sind. Diese Entwicklungen stellen herausfordernde Fragen an die westlichen Gesellschaften. Sowohl in Deutschland als auch in der angelsächsischen Welt ist die Debatte über die Themen Gerechter Frieden/Gerechter Krieg neu aufgebrochen, aber sie findet weitgehend getrennt voneinander statt. Vor diesem Hintergrund hat 2016 in Apeldoorn, im niederländischen "Zwischenraum", eine Konferenz stattgefunden, an der Ethiker aus beiden Kontexten beteiligt waren. Dieser Band dokumentiert deren sieben Vorträge, ergänzt um vier Aufsätze, die speziell für diesen Band geschrieben wurden. Mit Beiträgen von Ted van Baarda, Nigel Biggar, Jan Peter van Bruggen, Ad de Bruijne, Guido de Graaff, Gerard den Hertog, Marco Hofheinz, Wolfgang Lienemann, Hans Ulrich, Pieter Vos, Greetje Witte-Rang.




Saving Private Ryan


Book Description




Pranklab


Book Description

Fun and educational science experiments to teach and excite kids about physics, biology, chemistry, and more—from the #1 science author for kids! What's even better than a practical joke? A super awesome science experiment that's fun! Your friends and family might be surprised at first ... until they realize they're learning about science too! Each activity includes: Step-by-step instructions Colorful illustrations and diagrams Additional notes and cool facts to explain the science! Written by a quantum physicist and two science teachers, Pranklab shows kids how they can use everyday household items to learn the laws of physics, biology, and chemistry through entertaining (and perfectly safe) activities. With epic experiments like Fountain Dew, Hunger Explosion, Cheater's Dice, and Mind Control Elevator, kids will feel like they are playing and might not even notice they are learning about water pressure, chemical reactions, statistics, the power of groupthink, and so much more! These awesome science experiments for kids will teach budding scientists that it's cool to be curious! There are a lot of science books for kids, but this is the book you need!




The War Complex


Book Description

The recent dedication of the World War II memorial and the sixtieth-anniversary commemoration of D-Day remind us of the hold that World War II still has over America's sense of itself. But the selective process of memory has radically shaped our picture of the conflict. Why else, for instance, was a 1995 Smithsonian exhibition on Hiroshima that was to include photographs of the first atomic bomb victims, along with their testimonials, considered so controversial? And why do we so readily remember the civilian bombings of Britain but not those of Dresden, Hamburg, and Tokyo? Marianna Torgovnick argues that we have lived, since the end of World War II, under the power of a war complex—a set of repressed ideas and impulses that stems from our unresolved attitudes toward the technological acceleration of mass death. This complex has led to gaps and hesitations in public discourse about atrocities committed during the war itself. And it remains an enduring wartime consciousness, one most recently animated on September 11. Showing how different events from World War II became prominent in American cultural memory while others went forgotten or remain hidden in plain sight, The War Complex moves deftly from war films and historical works to television specials and popular magazines to define the image and influence of World War II in our time. Torgovnick also explores the 1961 trial of Adolf Eichmann, the emotional legacy of the Holocaust, and the treatment of World War II's missing history by writers such as W. G. Sebald to reveal the unease we feel at our dependence on those who hold the power of total war. Thinking anew, then, about how we account for war to each other and ourselves, Torgovnick ultimately, and movingly, shows how these anxieties and fears have prepared us to think about September 11 and our current war in Iraq.




Soldier's Heart


Book Description

Elizabeth D. Samet and her students learned to romanticize the army "from the stories of their fathers and from the movies." For Samet, it was the old World War II movies she used to watch on TV, while her students grew up on Braveheart and Saving Private Ryan. Unlike their teacher, however, these students, cadets at the United States Military Academy at West Point, have decided to turn make-believe into real life. West Point is a world away from Yale, where Samet attended graduate school and where nothing sufficiently prepared her for teaching literature to young men and women who were training to fight a war. Intimate and poignant, Soldier's Heart chronicles the various tensions inherent in that life as well as the ways in which war has transformed Samet's relationship to literature. Fighting in Iraq, Samet's former students share what books and movies mean to them—the poetry of Wallace Stevens, the fiction of Virginia Woolf and J. M. Coetzee, the epics of Homer, or the films of James Cagney. Their letters in turn prompt Samet to wonder exactly what she owes to cadets in the classroom. Samet arrived at West Point before September 11, 2001, and has seen the academy change dramatically. In Soldier's Heart, she reads this transformation through her own experiences and those of her students. Forcefully examining what it means to be a civilian teaching literature at a military academy, Samet also considers the role of women in the army, the dangerous tides of religious and political zeal roiling the country, the uses of the call to patriotism, and the cult of sacrifice she believes is currently paralyzing national debate. Ultimately, Samet offers an honest and original reflection on the relationship between art and life.




Peace and Conflict Studies


Book Description

Thoroughly revised, the Second Edition of Peace and Conflict Studies sets the new gold standard as an accessible introduction and comprehensive exploration of this vital subject. The authors share their vast knowledge and analysis about 21st-century world events – including new coverage on timely topics such as terrorism, the truth and reconciliation process, and the clash of civilizations. With an encyclopedic scope, this introductory text chronicles a plethora of important global topics from pre-history to the present. Key Features of the Second Edition Includes updated chapters and examines current conflicts, including the Iraq War Explores the important aspects of positive peace, individual violence, nationalism, and terrorism Provides numerous visual aids, questions for further study, and suggested readings Furnishes a comprehensive range of material to enlighten and enrich future discussion and encourage further academic pursuit Intended Audience This text is invaluable for students and professors in peace and or conflict studies, psychology and or the sociology of peace and conflict studies, international relations, comparative politics, history, and others interested in gaining a solid foundation about the global arena. Praise for the First Edition "Barash and Webel have penned a masterpiece that should appeal to seasoned scholars of peace and conflict studies as well as to others who have little knowledge of this multidisciplinary field." --Daniel J. Christie, Ohio State University