Author: Mogens Herman Hansen File Type: pdf From antiquity until the nineteenth century, there have been two types of state macro-states, each dotted with a number of cities, and regions broken up into city-states, each consisting of an urban center and its hinterland. A region settled with interacting city-states constituted a city-state culture and Polis opens with a description of the concepts of city, state, city-state, and city-state culture, and a survey of the 37 city-state cultures so far identified. Mogens Herman Hansen provides a thoroughly accessible introduction to the polis (plural poleis), or ancient Greek city-state, which represents by far the largest of all city-state cultures. He addresses such topics as the emergence of the polis, its size and population, and its political organization, ranging from famous poleis such as Athens and Sparta through more than 1,000 known examples.

Author: Daryl Lee File Type: pdf A concise introduction to the genre about that one last big score, The Heist Film Stealing With Style traces this crime thrillers development as both a dramatic and comic vehicle growing out of film noir (Criss Cross, The Killers, The Asphalt Jungle), mutating into sleek capers in the 1960s (Oceans Eleven, Gambit, How to Steal a Million) and splashing across screens in the 2000s in remake after remake (The Thomas Crown Affair, The Italian Job, The Good Thief). Built around a series of case studies (Rififi, Bob le Flambeur, The Killing, The Lavender Hill Mob, The Getaway, the Oceans trilogy), this volume explores why directors of such varied backgrounds, from studio regulars (Siodmak, Crichton, Siegel, Walsh and Wise) to independents (Anderson, Fuller, Kubrick, Ritchie and Soderbergh), are so drawn to this popular genre.

Author: Frank Füredi File Type: pdf Fear has become an ever-expanding part of life in the West in the twenty-first century. We live in terror of disease, abuse, stranger danger, environmental devastation and terrorist onslaught. We are bombarded with reports of new concerns for our safety and that of our children, and urged to take greater precautions and seek more protection. But compared to the past, or to the developing world, people in contemporary Western societies have much less familiarity with pain, suffering, debilitating disease and death. We actually enjoy an unprecedented level of personal safety. When confronted with events like the destruction of the World Trade Center, fear for the future is inevitable. But what happened on September 11th, 2001 was in many ways an old fashioned act of terror, representing the destructive side of human passions. Frank Furedi argues that the greater danger in our culture is the tendency to fear achievements that represent a more constructive side of humanity. We panic about genetically engineered food, about genetic research, about the health dangers of mobile phones. The facts, however, often fail to support the scare stories about new or growing risks to our health and safety. Instead, it is our obsession with theoretical risks that is in danger of distracting us from dealing with the old-fashioned dangers that have always threatened our lives.

Author: Daniel Lee File Type: pdf Petains Jewish Children examines the nature of the relationship between the Vichy regime and its Jewish citizens in the period 1940 to 1942. Previous studies have generally viewed the experiences of French Jewry during the Second World War through the lenses of persecution, resistance, or rescue an approach which has had the unintended effect of stripping Jewish actors of their agency. This volume, however, draws attention to the specific category of French Jewish youth which reveals significant exceptions to Vichys antisemitic policies, wherein the regimes desire for a reinvigorated youth and the rebirth of the nation took precedence over its racial laws. While Jews were becoming marginalised from the civil service and liberal professions, the New Order did not seek to exclude young French Jews from participating in a series of youth projects that aimed to rebuild France in the aftermath of its defeat to Germany. For example, the Jewish scouts emphasis on manual work and a return to the land ensured that it was looked upon favourably by Vichy, who rewarded the scouts financially. Similarly, young French Jews were called up to take part in the Chantiers de la Jeunesse, Vichys alternative to compulsory military service. In considering the roles of some of Vichys lesser known ministers with responsibilities for youth, for whom antisemitism was not a priority, Petains Jewish Children illuminates the tensions between Vichys ambition for national regeneration and its racial policies, rendering any simple account of its antisemitism misleading. While hindsight may point to the contrary, this volume shows that the emergence of the new regime did not signal the beginning of the end for French Jewry. In Vichys first two years, while ambiguity reigned, possibilities to integrate and participate with the New Order endured and Jews were constantly presented with new avenues to probe and explore. After this point, the drastic policy changes fuelled by Prime Minister Pierre Laval and the head of Vichy Police, Rene Bousquet, coupled with the total occupation of France by German forces in November 1942, reduced the possibilities for coexistence almost to nothing. **Review Daniel Lees extremely well-documented work is an important addition to this recent trend and deserves serious consideration....[A]n impressive scholarly work, written elegantly and with conviction on the basis of extensive original research and fully grounded in the historical studies on Vichy.--Richard I. Cohen, Journal of Modern History [R]ichly textured and thoroughly researched...[T]his book asks new questions, complicates a number of narratives that have become entrenched both in the historiography and in popular understandings of the Vichy regime and the occupation period, and nuances our interpretations of Vichy antisemitism and of Jewish responses to the National Revolution. This process of rethinking, alongside Lees meticulous research, makes Petains Jewish Children a valuable contribution to scholarship on wartime France.--Kirrily Freeman, H-France Petains Jewish Children is such a gripping and valuable study, exposing the fact that, even in such an increasingly hostile landscape, certain French Jews still felt that they could survive and even thrive. What Daniel Lees book reveals is that, under Vichy, neither Frenchness nor Jewishness was ever a fixed identity, and that for a short while, even in a climate that sought to tear them apart, more than a few still saw the possibility for a productive symbiosis.--James McAuley, The Times Literary Supplement [A]n accessible and fascinating piece of research that offers a meticulous record of its primary sources and a treasure trove of oral testimonies and private correspondence which will be invaluable to historians of this period.--Giulia Miller, History Today Daniel Lees book encourages us to step beyond--but not forget--some of the paradigms which have for many years shaped our understanding of the Vichy era...[A]n excellent book.--Lindsey Dodd, French Studies Undoubtedly, the book by Daniel Lee opens up a new and essential perspective for the historiography of the relationship between Vichy and the Jews...By renewing and reinterpreting the historiography on such a sensitive subject, the book by Daniel Lee is a precious scientific work, which needs to be strongly recommended.--Antoine Godet, French History Petains Jewish Children provides an important intervention in the history of Jews in France during World War II, and contributes to our understanding of the National Revolution and the complexity of antisemitism as it was practiced under Vichy.--Shannon L. Fogg, Yad Vashem [E]xcellent...Lee is especially successful in using personal archives and memoirs to bring a more human perspective to his study.--Sophie B. Roberts, Marginalia Extensive and fascinating detail...Lees valuable case-study offers a significant stimulus for further research.--J. Wardhaugh, English Historical Review Lees thought-provoking work recovers a part of history, enriches our understanding of the total range of Jewish wartime experiences, and demonstrates that, for some Vichy traditionalists and Jewish leaders alike, the category of youth took a high enough priority to cut across deep divisions.--Sarah Fishman, The Journal of the History of Childhood and Youth Lees monograph makes a valuable contribution to our understanding of the Occupation, Jewish life between the Defeat and the Holocaust, and youth movements under Vichy.--Richard Francis Crane, Holocaust and Genocide Studies Petains Jewish Children constitutes a formidable corrective to a historiography dominated by studies on rescue, resistance, or persecution. Lees work should inspire future scholars to test whether his conclusions about French Jewish youth hold for larger portions of French Jewish society. In the meantime, this carefully researched and intriguing study can act as a starting point and encourage historians to reconsider their assumptions about the nature of Vichy antisemitism and Jewish life during the first two years of the Holocaust in France.--Daniella Doron, American Historical Review [A] finely researched monograph...--Robert O. Paxton, Journal of Contemporary History About the Author Daniel Lee completed his graduate studies at St Hughs College, University of Oxford. He has held research fellowships at the Institute of Historical Research (London) and at Yad Vashem Institute for Historical Research (Jerusalem). He completed the manuscript for this book in Florence where he was a Max Weber Postdoctoral Fellow at the European University Institute. In his current position, Lee is investigating the experiences of Tunisian Jewish women during the Second World War.