Washington, DC: Brassey's. Hardcover. June 2004. First edition (stated) / number line runs to 3. An New book in a Fine jacket showing slight edgewear. Not from a library. No remainder mark. Not clipped. xxii + 309 pages. The war on terror created near unanimity within the American press and political leadership that al Qaeda specifically and radical Islamism in general are stirred by a hatred of modernity. Nonsense, responds the author, former Chief of the CIA Counterterrorism Center's Bin Laden Station. Scheuer argues that Islamist insurgency (and not "terrorism") is the core of the conflict between the U.S. and Islamist forces, who in places such as Kashmir, Xinjiang, and Chechnya are "struggling not just for independence but against institutionalized barbarism." Contents: Some thoughts on the power of focused, principled hatred -- An unprepared and ignorant lunge to defeat--the United States in Afghanistan -- Not down, not out -- The world's view of Bin Laden -- Bin Laden views the world -- Blinding hubris abounding -- When the enemy sets the stage -- The way ahead.
Dulles, Virginia: Brassey's. Trade Paperback. February 2003. New. No remainder mark. Not damaged. xxii + 394 pages. The author, former Chief of the CIA Counterterrorism Center's Bin Laden Station, argues that to win the war against terrorism, we must first stop dismissing militant Muslims as "extremists" or "religious fanatics." Formulating a successful military strategy requires that we must see the enemy as they perceive themselves: highly trained and motivated soldiers who fervently believe their cause is righteous. The author describes how militants throughout the Islamic world are enraged by what they believe is Western aggression against their people, religion, and culture. Contents: -- Context for understanding Bin Laden's aims; -- Arrogance, money, and ideas; -- Obstacles to understanding Bin Laden; -- Chasing Bin Laden's money; -- Getting to know Bin Laden : substantive themes of the jihad; -- Getting to know Bin Laden : character traits; -- Years of preparation, 1979-1996; -- Young Bin Laden : family, education, and religion, 1957-1979; -- Bin Laden and the Afghan war, 1980-1989 : facilitator, engineer, fighter, and visionary; -- Bin Laden and the Saudis, 1989-1991 : from favorite son to black sheep; -- Bin Laden in exile : Afghanistan and Sudan, 1991-1996; -- Bin Laden begins : inciting and waging jihad from Sudan, 1992-1996; -- War years, 1996-2001; -- Bin Laden returns to Afghanistan : getting settled and politicking; -- Bin Laden in Afghanistan : targeting America and expanding al Qaeda; -- Bin Laden stands at Armageddon and battles for his lord; -- No end in sight; -- What to expect from al-Qaeda; -- What can be done about al-Qaeda?; -- "That they may go in and look their redeemer in the face with joy".
New York: Free Press. Hardcover. 2001. First Edition / full number line. Fine book in a Fine jacket. Interior unmarked. Spine straight and tight. Jacket clean and bright. Not from a library. No remainder mark. Not clipped. xiv + 283 pages. Peter Bergen helps us to see bin Laden's al Qaeda as a veritable corporation that has exploited twenty-first-century communications and weapons technologies in the service of a medieval reading of the Koran and holy war.
Roseville, California: Prima. Trade Paperback. 2001. First Edition (stated) / full number line. Near Fine. Interior pristine. Spine straight, tight and uncreased. Light edgewear and rubbing, otherwise As New. Not from a library. No remainder mark. Not clipped. xxiii + 439 pages.
New York: Dover Publications. Trade Paperback. 1970. Near Fine. Interior pristine. Spine faded, but straight, tight and uncreased. Covers clean and bright. Not from a library. No remainder mark. Not clipped. xii + 89 pages. Fascimile of the 1916 Mother Earth edition with a new introduction and index of persons prepared by Paul Avrich. A basic anarchist and radical document. One of the clearest statements of the anarchist philosophy of history: religion by its nature is an impoverishment, enslavement, and annihilation of humanity. It is the weapon of the state. It must be smashed, according to Bakunin, before the right of self-determination can be possible. As an introduction to anarchist thought, a manifesto of atheism, or as a summing-up of the thoughts of Bakunin, God and the State remains a mind-opening experience.
Cedar Rapids, Iowa: Morris Plan/MorAmerica Financial Corporation, Christmas 1974. Staple-bound pamphlet in pictorial cardboard wraps. Near Fine. Internally clean and crisp, seems unused. Interior unmarked. Mild rubbing to wraps. Not from a library. Suitable for gifting. 20 pages with 58 Christmas candy recipes for the customers and victims of Peter Bezanson and Jerry Maples who systematically looted $50 million of deposits from the Morris Plan thrift bank, stealing the life savings of 18,000 customers. This isn't just a recipe book, it's an artifact of American banking history.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Trade Paperback.August 2003. Second edition. First South Asian Edition (stated). Fine. Dog-ear to upper corner, otherwise As New. Interior pristine. Spine straight, tight, and uncreased. Cover clean and bright. Not from a library. No remainder mark. Not clipped. xviii + 250 pages. A comprehensive introduction to contemporary India's modern history and social institutions. In a journey through its households and villages, the author explains India's long-lived and little understood caste systems, its venerable faiths and extraordinary ethnic diversity, and its modern agricultural and industrial economies. He also traces the country's history as "the jewel in the crown" of British imperialism, its evolving systems of classes, electoral politics, and parliamentary democracy, and contrasts India's poverty and illiteracy with its technological sophistication and subcontinental predominance. Changing India's central argument is that change in India is now rapid and profound, yet adaptive to the remarkable continuity and vitality of India's social systems. Contents: Introduction: Change, the societies of India and Indian society; Part I. The changing countryside: 1. Families and villages; 2. Caste; 3. Class; 4. Homelands and states; Part II. Change from above: 5. British imperialism, Indian nationalism and Muslim separatism; 6. The Indian Union in a changing India.
New Delhi: Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Fund / Oxford University Press, 1981. Twenty-second Impression 2002, As New. No remainder mark. 582 pages. Written while the author was imprisoned by British authorities in Ahmadnagar prison during the later part of the Second World War, this work delves deeply into the sources of India's national personality. .
London: Flamingo. Trade Paperback. June 1999. 6th printing. As New. Not from a library. No remainder mark. Not clipped. xxii + 385 pages. As he searched for evidence of Kali Yug, the "age of darkness" predicted by an ancient Hindu cosmology in a final epoch of strife and corruption, Dalrymple encountered a region that thrilled and surprised him. Venturing to places rarely visited by foreigners, he presents compelling portraits of a diverse range of figures. His love for the subcontinent comes across in every page, which makes its chronicles of political corruption, ethnic violence and social disintegration all the more poignant. The result is a dark yet vibrant travelogue, and a unique look at a region that continues to be marked by rapid change and unlimited possibilities as it struggles to reconcile the forces of modernity and tradition. Contents: Introduction -- The North. The age of Kali ; In the kingdom of Avadh ; The city of widows ; Warrior queen: the Rajmata of Gwalior ; East of Eton -- In Rajasthan. The sad tale of Bahveri Devi ; Caste wars ; Sati Mata -- The new India. Two Bombay portraits ; Finger-lickin' bad: Bangalore and the fast-food invaders -- The South. At the court of the fish-eyed goddess ; Under the Char Minar ; Parashakti -- On the Indian Ocean. At Donna Georgina's ; Up the tiger path ; The sorcerer's grave -- Pakistan. Imran Khan: out for a duck ; On the frontier ; Blood on the tracks ; Benazir Bhutto: Mills & Boon in Karachi. .
New Delhi: Penguin Books India. Trade Paperback. 2003. First Indian Edition / full number line. Fine. Interior pristine. Spine straight, tight, and uncreased. Light wear to rear cover. Not from a library. No remainder mark. Not clipped. xiv + 292 pages. In the early 1800s, a great criminal gang, the Thugs, operated throughout India. Its members were inspired by religious fanatics and came from many faiths, yet they worshiped one goddess, Kali. In her name, they murdered more than one million Indian travelersall without spilling a drop of blood. Their weapon was the handkerchief, their sacrament sugar, and the gang was supposedly eradicated by the British in the 1830s. Today, a modern-day bandit named Veerappan is India's most-wanted man and most notorious criminal, responsible for more than one hundred murders. Some say he is a freedom fighter, others that he is a vicious killer. Still at large in the jungles of southwestern India, he avoids capture, his followers claim, by magical powers. In Children of Kali, Kevin Rushby researches these two criminal legends, both of which have been distorted and misused by those in power. Rushby recounts his quest both to gain a meeting with Veerappan and to untangle the legends of the Thug Cult and the British policeman, William Sleeman, responsible for its suppression. He visits prisons and gangster hideouts, exploring the nature of crime and punishment in a country where good and evil may be as murky as the Ganges. A compelling blend of travel journalism and history.
New Delhi: Prakash Book Depot. Flexibound. December 12, 2000. First Edition. English langauge. Near Fine. Interior pristine. Spine straight, tight, and uncreased. Bottom bumped. Covers rubbed. 152 pages. This volume uses stories lavishly illustrated with photographs to inform the reader about India's culture, customs, traditions, philosophical and religious beliefs.
New York: Other Press. Trade Paperback. August 2000. First softcover printing (stated). Fine. Interior unmarked. Spine straight and tight. Not from a library. 172 pages. Despite the Jews' subordinate status in Muslim society, it was under Muslim rule that early Judaism developed into the religion that we know today. In recounting the history of Jews living in the world of Islam from the age of Muhammad to the present day, the author fosters a better understanding of a long-standing, enriching, yet problematic relationship.
New Haven: Yale University Press. Paperback. March 2001. As New. Scratch to rear cover. Not from a library. No remainder mark. Not clipped. xxii + 274 pages. The Taliban's role as a major player in a new "Great Game"--a competition among Western countries and companies to build oil and gas pipelines from Central Asia to Western and Asian markets. The author also discusses the controversial changes in American attitudes toward the Taliban--from early support to bombings of Osama Bin Laden's hideaway and other Taliban-protected terrorist bases--and how they have influenced the stability of the region.
New York: Anchor Books. Trade Paperback. May 14, 2002. First paperback printing / full number line. Very Good. Interior unmarked. Slight tilt. Bump at spine head. Edgewear. Not from a library. No remainder mark. 410 pages. A rich and engaging account of the Third Crusade (1187-1192), a conflict that would shape world history for centuries and which can still be felt in the Middle East and throughout the world today. James Reston offers a gripping narrative of the epic battle that left Jerusalem in Muslim hands until the twentieth century, bringing an objective perspective to the gallantry, greed, and religious fervor that fueled the bloody clash between Christians and Muslims. As he recounts this rousing story, Reston offers compelling portraits of Saladin, the wise and highly cultured leader who created a united empire, and Richard the Lionheart, the romantic personification of chivalry who emerges here in his full complexity and contradictions.
London: John Murray Publishers. Hardcover. 2002. First Edition. Fine book in a Fine jacket. Interior Pristine. Spine straight and tight. Jacket clean and bright with light shelfwear. Not from a library. No remainder mark. Not clipped. xiv + 322 pages. Buddhism is 2500 years old and has about 300 million followers worldwide. Yet for nearly a millennium, Buddhism vanished from the country of its origin. Though hugely influential throughout Asia, the religion was forgotten in India. This is the story of the men from the British Raj who rediscovered the history of the Buddha and his teachings. From the late 18th century, a handful of amateur linguists, archaeologists, and explorers who became known as the Orientalists began investigating the Indian subcontinent's lost past. Sir William Jones broke the Brahmins' prohibition on learning the sacred language of Sanskrit. By deciphering inscriptions on pillars and rocks, excavating and dating massive stone ruins and discovering huge and richly decorated monastic cave complexes, these men returned Buddhism to its place in Indian history. Historian Charles Allen brings to life extraordinary eighteenth- and nineteenth-century characters and travels to lost holy places across the Eastern world as he tells the story of how Westerners found the Buddha.
Washington, DC: Counterpoint. Hardcover. Second printing. October 1997. Fine book in a Fine jacket. Interior pristine. Spine straight and tight. Cover clean and bright. xxi + 392 pages. Kundun is a story of reincarnation, coronation, heartbreaking exile, and finally, the tenacious efforts of a holy man to save a nation and its people. This is the first work to focus on the Dalai Lama's family: his parents, four brothers, and two sisters. Particularly compelling are the author's portraits of the Dalai Lama's siblings, who have negotiated with China on behalf of their country, enlisted the aid of international allies to spearhead Tibetan Resistance, and worked tirelessly to help thousands of refugee children.
London: Duncan Baird Publishers. Trade Paperback. April 1996. Second printing. Fine. No indications of prior use. Not from a library. No remainder mark. Not clipped. Suitable for gifting. 184 pages. The spiritual heritage of India has become an essential part of Western thinking. Here, two of the world's greatest religions were born, as well as the techniques of release and ecstasy that bequeathed yoga, Tantra and the legendary powers of the yogis to future centuries. This book describes the main themes in the Hindu, Buddhist, Jain and other spiritual traditions of India, and explores their points of contact with Western preoccupations above all the quest for an understanding of the human predicament. A documentary reference section at the back of the book includes a guide to meditation techniques, a gazetteer of sacred pilgrimages, and a full glossary of specialist terms, with profiles of gods and goddesses.
Albany, New York: State University of New York. Trade Paperback. 2001. First paperback printing / full number line. As New. Not from a library. No remainder mark. Not clipped. xvii + 243 pages. Through a distinctive blend of description and analysis Kean Gibson examines the Guyanese religion known as "Comfa." Reflecting the socio-cultural history of Guyana, Comfa shows influences of European and Asian cultures and religions in an essentially African framework. Gibson compares the variation exemplified in Comfa with the Guyanese Creole language and challenges the continuum theory of Creole linguistics, which predicts that the Creole language will evolve to become English. Gibson also explores the implications of both forms of social behavior for the notion of identity in a multicultural community.
New York: New American Library / Mentor. Mass Market Paperback. 1942. Mentor MQ806. Forty-sixth printing (1970s?). Good. Not from a library. 335 pages. Edith Hamilton's Mythology succeeds like no other book in bringing to life for the modern reader the Greek, Roman & Norse myths & legends that are the keystone of Western culture--the stories of gods and heroes that have inspired human creativity from antiquity to the present.
New York: Free Press. Hardcover. First Edition (stated) / full number line. October 2010. As New book in a Near Fine jacket. Minor shelfwear to jacket corners. Not from a library. No remainder mark. Not clipped. 247 pages. Karen Palmer takes readers deep inside a shadowy layer of rural African society in one of northern Ghana's witch camps, where hundreds of banished women struggle to survive under the watchful eye of a powerful wizard. Palmer arrived at the Gambaga witch camp with an outsiders sense of outrage, believing it was little more than a dumping ground for difficult women. Soon, however, she encountered stories she could not explain: a woman who confessed shed attacked a girl given to her as a sacrifice; another one desperately trying to rid herself of the witchcraft she believed helped her kill dozens of people. As the sheen of the exotic wore off, Palmer witnessed the way witchcraft preyed on peoples fears and resentments. Witchcraft could be a comfort in times of distress, a way of explaining a crippling drought or the inexplicable loss of a child. It was a means of predicting the unpredictable and controlling the uncontrollable. But witchcraft was also a tool for social control. In this vivid, startling work of first-person reportage, Palmer sheds light on the plight of women in a rarely seen corner of the world.
