Hitler's Third Reich was on the brink of total ruin in mid-April 1945, and the Red Army was poised less than 60 miles to the east and ready to seize the German capital. Peter Antill describes the events in this engaging history, examining the Soviets' march towards Berlin and the Germans' final resistance. This book, supplemented with a host of maps and illustrations, provides a vivid portrayal of the death throes of the Third Reich and the end of World War II (1939-1945) in Europe, exploring the strategy of both sides and the tactics of impromptu urban warfare.

Barfield and Calfee clearly explain arcane issues of patent law and the tremendous effect that they can have on our economy, our technological progress, and our health. As Congress considers sweeping changes to the patent law, this book is a timely evaluation of the strengths and weaknesses of the current system and the risk of overly aggressive reform. Biotechnology and the Patent System analyzes the role of intellectual property protection in biomedical research, one of America’s leading growth industries. Barfield and Calfee explore ways in which patent law fosters future research and venture capital investment; they also evaluate whether the current system could potentially impede genomic research and the development of new treatment and diagnostic tools.

Т. 1 : Religion and Government. - 2008. - 841 p.

Considering Europe as a whole rather than as a mosaic of individual states, François Crouzet presents here an accessible, engaging history of the European economy during the second millennium. Stressing the common economic institutions shared over time by the different regions of Europe and the networks of relations that have linked them, Crouzet examines pan-European changes and integration rather than merely the particular experiences of individual countries. A History of the European Economy, 1000-2000 goes beyond addressing the historical ramifications of trade in the European economy to encompass problems such as the diffusion of technology, the migration of capital and labor, diasporas and minorities, and national diversity. By stressing the historical origins of the drive toward European integration and its progress all the way to the birth of the euro, Crouzet delivers an original and comprehensive overview of European economic history.

Spectres de Marx commence par la critique d'un nouveau dogmatisme, c'est-à-dire d'une intolérance : « Tout le monde le sait, sachez-le, le marxisme est mort, Marx aussi, n'en doutons plus. » Un « ordre du monde » tente de stabiliser une hégémonie fragile dans l'évidence d'un « acte de décès ». Le discours maniaque qui domine alors a la forme jubilatoire et obscène que Freud attribue à une-phase triomphante dans le travail du deuil. (Refrain de l'incantation « le cadavre se décompose en lieu sûr, qu'il ne revienne plus, vive le capital, vive le marché, survive le libéralisme économique ! »). Exorcisme et conjuration. Une dénégation tente de neutraliser la nécessité spectrale, mais aussi l'avenir d'« un » « esprit » du marxisme. « Un » « esprit»: l'hypothèse de cet essai, c'est qu'il y en a plus d'un. La responsabilité finie de l'héritier est vouée au crible. Elle réaffirme un possible et non l'autre. Comment ce discernement critique se rapporte-t-il à l'exigence hypercritique - ou plutôt déconstructrice - de la responsabilité?

In an age when France has consolidated its position as the leading European destination for Englishspeaking holiday-makers, tourists and second-home-owners, retained its prestige as the international capital of gastronomy, wine production, chic and sex appeal, and bred film directors to rival Hollywood and singer-songwriters without equal on the world stage, it has also become an object of profound suspicion for many non-French commentators on the intellectual life. French ideas are produced in a faddish and fashion-conscious climate, we are often told, prominent philosophers and social theorists are treated with absurd veneration and their obscure, portentous, jargon-infested diction threatens to run riot through the human sciences, underminin otherwise secure British and North American bastions of clarity, good sense and methodological rectitude. It could of course be that the prevailing enthusiasm for France as a source of pleasure is closely linked to this distrust of French ideas: while volupté and jouissance belong quite properly in the restaurant, the bedroom or the cinema, they have no place in the library or thelecture theatre. Could it be that French intellectuals enjoy themselves too much and too openly in the eyes of their Anglophone detractors, and that their writings are therefore easily seen by such critics as an attempt to seduce and corrupt our impressionable young? In order to begin answering questions of this kind we clearly need a new kind of reference work— one which talks about wine and psychoanalysis, movie-makers and maîtres-à-penser, Piaf and Piaget.

According to the introduction, every nation has a constitution or a set of documents that serves as one. In each of these, the fundamental "rules" of the country--the defining principals of its government--are laid out in one form or another. It would be difficult to make any other generalizations concerning these documents and the information they contain. Each is unique in itself, while performing a similar function. The very nature of the material makes it challenging for a casual or inexperienced researcher to make comparisons. This set, in a sense, deconstructs these constitutions in a straightforward style. Entries for 194 countries are arranged A-Z. The articles for each country are signed and in many cases are written by scholars who specialize in the country they are writing about. The structure of each article follows a pattern designed to make it easy to compare information from one country to another. Each begins with a small collection of information about the country: name, capital, languages spoken, ethnic composition, type of government, and date of constitution, among others. A brief overview of the country is followed by standard subsections: "Constitutional History," "Form and Impact of the Constitution," "Basic Organizational Structure," "Leading Constitutional Principles," "Constitutional Bodies," and so on. Articles range from 4 to 13 pages in length, and each concludes with links to the text of the constitution in its original language (and, if needed, an English translation) and secondary sources for further reading. At the end of volume 3 are several useful appendixes. One gives the same kind of constitutional information for the European Union, and the second provides a list and description of "Special Territories" such as Antarctica, the Cook Islands, Guam, and the Isle of Man. The third is a glossary of terms.

Vol. 1 : From Cristopher Columbus to the Robber Barons (1492-1900). - 416 p.

The first comprehensive financial history of the United States in more than thirty years. Accessible to undergraduate level readers, it focuses on the growth and expansion of banking, securities, and insurance from the colonial period right up to the incredible growth of the stock market during the 1990s and the attack on the World Trade Center in 2001. The author traces the origins of American finance to the older societies of Europe and Northern Africa, and shows how English merchants transferred their financial systems to America. He explains how financial matters dominated the founding and development of the colonies, and how financial concerns incited the Revolution. And he shows how the Civil War began the transformation of America from a small economy largely dependent on foreign capital into a complex capitalist society. From the Civil War, the nation's financial history breaks down into periods of frenzied speculation, quiet growth, periodic panics, and furious periods of expansion, right up through the incredible growth of the stock market during the 1990s.

This book grew out of a conference organized by the German Historical Institute (GHI) on May 23-5, 1996, iii Berlin. For three days, thirty-five scholars from n\ne countries became acht-und-sechziger (sixty-eighters), not on the streets and barricades but in lively debate over the events and significance of the momentous year 1968. This book consists of revised versions of many of the original papers as well as entirely new essays that complement our overall theme. I thank all of the authors and also those who participated in the conference but whose work could not be included here. I am grateful to Carl-Ludwig Holtfrerich (Free University Berlin), Luisa Passerini (European University Institute, Florence), Keith A. Reader (University of Newcastle), and Dieter Rucht (Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin) for chairing the various sessions and for guiding us through spirited discussions. In Berlin, the Wissenschaftszentrum afforded a comfortable setting for three days of intensive debate. I thank Friedheim Neidhardt, the center'sdirector, and his dedicated staff - Birgit Hahn, Britta Heinrich, Ilse Kischlat, Dietmar Kremser, and Burckhard Wiebe - for hosting the conference and helping with its organization. Dieter Senoner of the mayor's office kindly welcomed us to Berlin at a reception at the Rotes Rathaus. Anneke de Rudder, who took us on a "1968 Walking Tour" through the German capital, gave us the opportunity to visit the key sites of that historic year.At the GHI, I thank Barbel Bernhardt, Christa Brown, Dieter Schneider, and Barbel Thomas - all of whom were involved in the organization before, during, and after the conference. Pamela Abraham tracked down the copyrights for the illustrations and assisted in assembling the manuscript. Daniel S. Mattern, the series editor at the Institute, deserves a special note of appreciation for guiding us through the difficult process of publishing this collection and for preparing a readable, clear, and concise manuscript. Frank Smith, the executive editor for social sciences at Cambridge University Press, took great interest in this project from the begin-IX X Preface ning and helped bring about its final shape. Further, I thank the two anonymous readers for their very useful critical evaluations of the manuscript. Finally, I thank my two coeditors. Carole Fink provided the original plan, which she presented to me at another GHI conference, in Berkeley, California, in May 1994. In subsequent discussions, we discovered that "1968" is a particularly well-suited topic for understanding the intellectual challenges that increasing global interdependence poses to historians of the twentieth century. We were later joined by Philipp Gassert, who worked with us to organize the conference and edit the book. I shall miss these last three and a half years of spirited collaboration among three very engaged historians. The topic of this book dovetails nicely with the efforts of the GHI in Washington to promote comparative research. In fact, most of the four to five international conferences the Institute rganizes annually are based on this perspective, comparing events, ideas, and structures in the United States and Europe. At times we have even taken a global perspective, with 1968: The World Traniformed being a case in point. In this age of globalization, historians should also become global players - at least mentally.

By the end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815 Britain was the undisputed master of the seas owing to the power and strength of the Royal Navy. Its fleets, comprising ships of the line, frigates, and gunboats, had doubled in size since the outbreak of the French Revolutionary Wars in 1793, totaling almost a thousand capital vessels. This book examines the commanders, men, and ships of the Royal Navy during the French Revolution and Napoleonic wars, and discusses the Navy's command structure (from the Admiralty down to ship level) and its organization at sea. The tactics employed in action by a fleet, a squadron, and individual ships are also discussed, as are the medical services available, providing a fascinating insight into the navy that ruled the waves.

This guide for aspiring entrepreneurs provides expert advice on every aspect of launching a new business. It is designed to be of particular value for academics wishing to exploit the commercial value of a new technology or business solution. Inspiring and readable, it shows how to evaluate the strength of a business idea, how to protect inventions, reviews legal steps and responsibilities, shows how to position products in the market, how to create a business plan and raise initial capital. Case studies, exercises and tips demystify the process of starting a business, build confidence and greatly increase the chances of success.