Showing results by narrator "Gary Roelofs" in All Categories

Following the myths and legends about Nazis recruited by the French Foreign Legion to fight in Indochina, Eric Meyer's new book is based on the real story of one such former Waffen-SS man who lived to tell the tale.

In Covert Regime Change, Lindsey A. O’Rourke shows us how states really act when trying to overthrow another state. She argues that conventional focus on covert cases misses the basic causes of regime change. O’Rourke provides substantive evidence of types of security interests that drive states to intervene. Covert Regime Change assembles an original dataset of all American regime change operations during the Cold War. This fund of information shows the United States was 10 times more likely to try covert rather than overt regime change during the Cold War.

The Immortals Among Us is a fresh exploration of Greek mythology through a modern lens. Instead of treating Zeus, Athena, Hades, and the rest as distant relics, Vera Darax reveals how these ancient figures remain archetypes that shape our world today. Power, wisdom, rebellion, desire, redemption—these are not just mythical themes; they are human realities that continue to guide the way we tell stories, create culture, and understand ourselves.

Looking at the emergence of generative AI, Language Machines presents a new theory of meaning in language and computation, arguing that humanistic scholarship misconstrues how large language models (LLMs) function. Seeing LLMs as a convergence of computation and language, Leif Weatherby contends that AI does not simulate cognition, as widely believed, but rather creates culture.

During World War II, the Waffen-SS officer who set Vietnam on fire in Devil's Guard - The Real Story began his startling military career in the Russian slaughterhouse of the Eastern Front. It is February 1943 in the snowy wastes around Kharkov. Stalingrad has fallen and a resurgent Soviet army is pushing the German forces back. The newly commissioned officer takes up his posting with Deutschland Regiment, SS Division Das Reich, part of von Manstein's Army Group South.

The sequel to the acclaimed Devil's Guard - The Real Story, the former soldiers of the Waffen-SS find themselves embroiled in a new war. Out of the death and destruction of the French war in Indochina, a new country is born, and a new war begins. Vietnam. The survivors of Hitler's war in Russia who took up arms for the French in the bloody conflict that ended with the debacle at Dien Bien Phu have laid down their arms to start afresh in the fledgling democracy.

The Gender Knot, Allan Johnson's response to the pain and confusion that men and women experience by living with gender inequality, explains what patriarchy is and isn't, how it works, and what gets in the way of understanding and doing something about it. Johnson's simple yet powerful approach avoids the paralyzing trap of guilt, blame, anger, and defensive denial that often results from conversations about gender.

Our society is constantly made to serve the needs of two systems: technology and capitalism. Neither exists outside humans, but both are treated as above and beyond us. The Mechanic and the Luddite offers the critical tools needed to deconstruct these systems—how they work, whom they work for, and what work they do in our lives. With signature style and energy, Jathan Sadowski presents a provocative one-stop shop for understanding the political economy of technology and capitalism.

The World explode into war as Austro-Hungary declares war on Serbia following the assassination of the heir to the throne, Archduke Franz Ferdinand. Russia follows suit and mobilizes, while Germany supports its ally and declares war on Russia. France then joins the war as it is Russia’s ally.

This is the third book in Eric Meyer's series about the exploits of a group of former Waffen-SS officers who engage the enemy in the never-ending slaughter in Vietnam. It's 1968, the fighting escalates, the body count mounts, and the fighter-bombers and gunships daily prowl the skies in the relentless hunt for their elusive enemy.

Many Americans believe that foreign military intervention is central to protecting our domestic freedoms. But Christopher J. Coyne and Abigail R. Hall urge engaged citizens to think again. Overseas, our government takes actions in the name of defense that would not be permissible within national borders. Emboldened by the relative weakness of governance abroad, the US government is able to experiment with a broader range of social controls.

Tennesseans at War, 1812 - 1815 by Tom Kanon tells the often-forgotten story of the central role citizens and soldiers from Tennessee played in the Creek War in Alabama and War of 1812. In Tennesseans at War, 1812 - 1815, Tom Kanon explains the role Tennesseans played in these changes, and how they remade the South.

With an economy and population that dwarf most industrialized nations, China is emerging as a 21st century global superpower. Even though China is an international leader in modern business and technology, its ancient history exerts a powerful force on its foreign policy. Christopher A. Ford expertly traces China's self-image and its role in the world order - from the age of Confucius to today. Ford argues that despite its exposure to and experience of the modern world, China is still strongly influenced by a hierarchical view of political order.

Longtime fly fisherman Quinn Grover had contemplated the “why” of his fishing identity before, more recently, becoming focused on the “how” of it. He realized he was a dedicated fly fisherman, in large part, because public lands and public waterways in the West made it possible. In Wilderness of Hope Grover recounts his fly-fishing experiences with a strong evocation of place, connecting those experiences to the ongoing national debate over public lands.

After the bloody struggle for Kharkov, the SS Officer who was later to pursue a brutal and bloody career in the jungles of Vietnam has another battle to face. Kursk, the name that has come to symbolize the epic showdown between German and Russian armor, the greatest tank battle in history. The story begins before the battle when the commanders of both sides are fighting an intelligence war. Sent on a mission behind the lines into the heavily defended Kursk salient, Obersturmfuhrer Jurgen Hoffman and his platoon has to fight their way back to their own lines. 

Life-Enhancing Anxiety makes a bold proposal: It is not less anxiety that we need today, but more, at least of a certain kind. The book comprises a collection of original and previously published essays that converge on what Schneider calls life-enhancing anxiety. Life-enhancing anxiety is the invigorating degree of anxiety needed to become passionately engaged, ethically attuned, and creatively enriched. Set against our anxiety-avoidant times, life-enhancing anxiety enables us to "live with and make the best of the depth and mystery of existence." 

Drug Lords, Cowboys, and Desperadoes examines the relationship between affect, narrative, and violence surrounding three historical archetypes—social bandits (often associated with the drug trade), cowboys, and desperadoes—and how these narratives create affective loops that recreate violent structures in the Mexican American frontier.

Michael P. Hoffmann, Carrie Koplinka-Loehr, and Danielle L. Eiseman offer an eye-opening journey through a complete menu of before-dinner drinks and salads; main courses and sides; and coffee and dessert. Along the way they examine the escalating changes occurring to the flavors of spices and teas, the yields of wheat, the vitamins in rice, and the price of vanilla. Their story is rounded out with a primer on the global food system, the causes and impacts of climate change, and what we can all do. 

Public Gardens and Livable Cities uses a prescriptive approach to synthesize a range of public, private, and nonprofit initiatives from municipalities throughout the country. In doing so, the authors examine the initiatives from a practical perspective to identify how they were implemented, their sustainability, the obstacles they encountered, the impact of the initiatives on their populations, and how they dealt with the communities' underlying social problems.

In Republican Jesus, Tony Keddie explains not only where this right-wing Christ came from and what he stands for, but also why this version of Jesus is a fraud. By restoring Republicans’ cherry-picked gospel texts to their original literary and historical contexts, Keddie dismantles the biblical basis for Republican positions on hot-button issues like Big Government, taxation, abortion, immigration, and climate change.