Author: Jonathan Crary
Publisher: Verso Books
ISBN: 1784784451
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 140
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Book Description
Selected as one of LitHub's 38 Favorite Books of 2022 Finalist for the 2022 Big Other Book Award for Nonfiction In this uncompromising essay, Jonathan Crary presents the obvious but unsayable reality: our 'digital age' is synonymous with the disastrous terminal stage of global capitalism and its financialization of social existence, mass impoverishment, ecocide, and military terror. Scorched Earth surveys the wrecking of a living world by the internet complex and its devastation of communities and their capacities for mutual support. This polemic by the author of 24/7 dismantles the presumption that social media could be instruments of radical change and contends that the networks and platforms of transnational corporations are intrinsically incompatible with a habitable earth or with the human interdependence needed to build egalitarian post-capitalist forms of life.
Author: Emmanuel Kreike
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691200122
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 544
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Book Description
A global history of environmental warfare and the case for why it should be a crime The environmental infrastructure that sustains human societies has been a target and instrument of war for centuries, resulting in famine and disease, displaced populations, and the devastation of people’s livelihoods and ways of life. Scorched Earth traces the history of scorched earth, military inundations, and armies living off the land from the sixteenth to the twentieth century, arguing that the resulting deliberate destruction of the environment—"environcide"—constitutes total war and is a crime against humanity and nature. In this sweeping global history, Emmanuel Kreike shows how religious war in Europe transformed Holland into a desolate swamp where hunger and the black death ruled. He describes how Spanish conquistadores exploited the irrigation works and expansive agricultural terraces of the Aztecs and Incas, triggering a humanitarian crisis of catastrophic proportions. Kreike demonstrates how environmental warfare has continued unabated into the modern era. His panoramic narrative takes readers from the Thirty Years' War to the wars of France's Sun King, and from the Dutch colonial wars in North America and Indonesia to the early twentieth century colonial conquest of southwestern Africa. Shedding light on the premodern origins and the lasting consequences of total war, Scorched Earth explains why ecocide and genocide are not separate phenomena, and why international law must recognize environmental warfare as a violation of human rights.
Author: Rocky Barker
Publisher: Island Press
ISBN: 1597266256
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 289
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Book Description
In 1988, forest fires raged in Yellowstone National Park, destroying more than a million acres. As the nation watched the land around Old Faithful burn, a longstanding conflict over fire management reached a fever pitch. Should the U.S. Park and Forest Services suppress fires immediately or allow some to run their natural course? When should firefighters be sent to battle the flames and at what cost? In Scorched Earth, Barker, an environmental reporter who was on the ground and in the smoke during the 1988 fires, shows us that many of today's arguments over fire and the nature of public land began to take shape soon after the Civil War. As Barker explains, how the government responded to early fires in Yellowstone and to private investors in the region led ultimately to the protection of 600 million acres of public lands in the United States. Barker uses his considerable narrative talents to bring to life a fascinating, but often neglected, piece of American history. Scorched Earth lays a new foundation for examining current fire and environmental policies in America and the world. Our story begins when the West was yet to be won, with a colorful cast of characters: a civil war general and his soldiers, America's first investment banker, railroad men, naturalists, and fire-fighters-all of whom left their mark on Yellowstone. As the truth behind the creation of America's first national park is revealed, we discover the remarkable role the U.S. Army played in protecting Yellowstone and shaping public lands in the West. And we see the developing efforts of conservation's great figures as they struggled to preserve our heritage. With vivid descriptions of the famous fires that have raged in Yellowstone, the heroes who have tried to protect it, and the strategies that evolved as a result, Barker draws us into the very heart of a debate over our attempts to control nature and people. This entertaining and timely book challenges the traditional views both of those who arrogantly seek full control of nature and those who naively believe we can leave it unaltered. And it demonstrates how much of our broader environmental history was shaped in the lands of Yellowstone.
Author: Fred A. Wilcox
Publisher: National Geographic Books
ISBN: 1609801385
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 0
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Book Description
Scorched Earth is the first book to chronicle the effects of chemical warfare on the Vietnamese people and their environment, where, even today, more than 3 million people—including 500,000 children—are sick and dying from birth defects, cancer, and other illnesses that can be directly traced to Agent Orange/dioxin exposure. Weaving first-person accounts with original research, Vietnam War scholar Fred A. Wilcox examines long-term consequences for future generations, laying bare the ongoing monumental tragedy in Vietnam, and calls for the United States government to finally admit its role in chemical warfare in Vietnam. Wilcox also warns readers that unless we stop poisoning our air, food, and water supplies, the cancer epidemic in the United States and other countries will only worsen, and he urgently demands the chemical manufacturers of Agent Orange to compensate the victims of their greed and to stop using the Earth’s rivers, lakes, and oceans as toxic waste dumps. Vietnam has chosen August 10—the day that the US began spraying Agent Orange on Vietnam—as Agent Orange Day, to commemorate all its citizens who were affected by the deadly chemical. Scorched Earth will be released upon the third anniversary of this day, in honor of all those whose families have suffered, and continue to suffer, from this tragedy.
Author: William Gear
Publisher: Macmillan + ORM
ISBN: 1466886935
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 773
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Book Description
This Scorched Earth is an amazing tour de force depicting a family’s journey from near-devastation in the Civil War to their rebirth in the American West, from New York Times bestselling author William Gear. The Civil War tore at the very roots of our nation and destroyed most of a generation. In rural Arkansas, the Hancocks were devastated by that war. They not only lost everything, but experienced an unimaginable hell. How does a traumatized human being put themselves back together? Where does a person begin to heal his or her broken mind...and does one choose damnation or redemption? For the Hancock siblings: Doc, Sarah, Butler, and Billy, the American frontier becomes a metaphor for the wilderness within—raw, and capable of being shaped. Self-salvation, however, always comes with a price. Their journey is a testament to the power of love...and the American spirit. This is their story. And ours. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
Author: Sue Rosen
Publisher: Allen & Unwin
ISBN: 1760638005
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 219
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Book Description
Hidden for 75 years, the top secret government documents outlining preparations for the event of a Japanese invasion of Australia in 1942 have finally been discovered. They reveal an extraordinarily comprehensive plan to thwart Japanese troops, and a population that would go to great lengths to avoid being enslaved. In 1942 the threat of Japanese invasion hung over Australia. The men were away overseas, fighting on other fronts, and civilians were left unprotected at home. Following the attack on Pearl Harbor and the Japanese advance south, Prime Minister Curtin ordered state governments to prepare. From January 1942, a team frantically pulled together secret plans for a 'scorched earth' strategy. The goal was to prevent the Japanese from seizing resources for their war machine as they landed, and capturing Australians as slaves as they had done in Malaya and elsewhere in Asia. From draining domestic water tanks to sinking dinghies and burning crops, from training special citizen squads to evacuating coastal towns, 'Total war, total citizen collaboration' was the motto. Today these plans vividly evoke the fraught atmosphere of the year Australia was threatened with invasion. After the war these top secret plans were forgotten. This is the first time they have ever been made public. 'This is a treasure trove, a gold mine, a Christmas-every-day cornucopia of rich Australian history...' - Peter Grose, author of An Awkward Truth and A Very Rude Awakening.
Author: Amy Hanson
Publisher: Helter Skelter Publishing
ISBN:
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 236
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Book Description
The Smashing Pumpkins erupted out of the obscurity of the Chicago music scene with a raw and dissonant sound that encapsulated the dissatisfaction and disillusionment of late '80s youth. They were associated with the Seattle scene that produced Nirvana, Pearl Jam et al but their music transcended the grunge sound. After legitimising heavy metal with the acclaimed Siamese Dream album, the band's ever-metamorphosing vision and Billy Corgan's individual journey as writer and musician found an apogee in the massively ambitious US number one double Mellon Collie and The Infinite Sadness. Book jacket.
Author: Jörg Baberowski
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 0300136986
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 513
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Book Description
Cover -- Title -- Copyright -- Contents -- Preface -- 1. What Was Stalinism? -- 2. Imperial Spaces of Violence -- 3. Pyrrhic Victories -- 4. Subjugation -- 5. Dictatorship of Dread -- 6. Wars -- 7. Stalin's Heirs -- Notes -- Index -- A -- B -- C -- D -- E -- F -- G -- H -- I -- K -- L -- M -- N -- O -- P -- R -- S -- T -- U -- V -- W -- Y -- Z
Author: Drew Karpyshyn
Publisher: Del Rey
ISBN: 0345549899
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 409
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Book Description
New York Times bestselling author Drew Karpyshyn has long thrilled readers with his kinetic, fast-paced storytelling style. Now he returns with The Scorched Earth, the second novel in his acclaimed series about four young people who will either save the world or bring about its destruction. The Children of Fire—four mortals touched by the power of Chaos—each embody one aspect of a fallen and banished immortal champion: Keegan, the wizard; Scythe, the warrior; Cassandra, the prophet; Vaaler, the king. Grown to adulthood, the Children are in search of the ancient Talismans that can stop the return of Daemron the Slayer, ancient enemy of the Old Gods. But in acquiring Daemron’s Ring, they unleashed a flood of Chaos magic on the land—leaving death, destruction, and a vengeful queen in their wake. Now, beset on all sides by both mortal and supernatural enemies, they realize that their strength and faith will be tested as never before. And their greatest trial will be finding Daemron’s Sword, the last of the ancient Talismans, before the entire mortal world is engulfed in the war and Chaos that will herald the return of the Slayer. Praise for The Scorched Earth “[Drew] Karpyshyn’s doom-laden spin on myth and magic invigorates ancient archetypes in the second entry of the Chaos Born trilogy. . . . The journey is complicated by unnerving ambiguity, grim imagery, and pessimistic overtones, as if Michael Moorcock’s decadence were filtered through J.R.R. Tolkien’s heroism.”—Publishers Weekly “If you’re a fan of fantasy and looking to try something new, this series continues to shine. . . . [Karpyshyn] writes deep, intriguing characters set in a strange world of unique magic. It’s a place where magic is dangerous but essential.”—Roqoo Depot “An enjoyable read . . . I recommend this for all fantasy fans.”—Book Reviews & Giveaways
Author: George Galdorisi
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
ISBN: 1250026865
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 319
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Book Description
General Bob Underwood is en route to Syria when a rocket-propelled grenade strikes the side of his Humvee and the heavily armored convoy comes under attack. His bodyguard is brutally murdered, and Underwood himself is kidnapped. Hours later, the president and top officials watch in horror from the Oval Office as the general is viciously beheaded by an ISIS leader—broadcast live on the Al Jazeera television network. The world is stunned by the bloody scene, but even more so that this supposedly loose-knit terrorist organization was able to orchestrate a lethal attack on the world’s most powerful military. American forces goes into high gear on land and sea to retaliate. But when the ISIS leader's son is killed in an American bombing raid, his rage knows no bounds, and he determines to wreak vengeance on the American homeland itself. Now it’s up to Op-Center to assemble its strike force, domestic and abroad, to stay one step ahead of a ruthless enemy—while the fate of the world hangs in the balance...
