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 Timothy R. Furnish PhD, "Sects, Lies, and the Caliphate: Ten Years of Observations on Islam" English | ISBN: 0692623213 | 2016 | 274 pages | MOBI | 5 MB Most in the West are loathe to admit that it needs but one foe to breed a war, not two, and that substantial sectors of the Islamic world have indeed declared jihad against any and all enemies, most particularly the Christian world. The world's second-largest religion is dominated by three elements which must be understood to make sense of this clash of civilizations currently raging. First, Islam is comprised of dozens of sects, not merely Sunnis and Shi`is; and this sectarianism drives many major conflicts. To name but the most obvious: Sunni Saudis v. Twelver Shi`i Iranians; Sunni Yemenis v. their Fiver Shi`i (Zaydi) countrymen; the Islamic State's Sunnis v. al-Asad's Alawis and Iraqis Twelver Shi`is; and across the Islamic world writ large, Salafi Sunnis v. the mystical Sufis of many orders. Second, both major sects of Islam allow Muslims, in effect, to lie to non-Muslims, under a doctrine known as kitman or taqiyya. This makes it rather difficult not only to vett Muslim refugees for terrorists in their midst, but to trust a nation-state like the Islamic Republic of Iran in the diplomatic realm. Finally, many if not most modern Muslims-both jihadist and peaceful-pine for the return of the caliphate, or one-man rule of the Islamic community. Should a more viable contender than ISIS's leader ever claim that position, it could prove a great boon, or a massive headache, for the rest of the world. The author holds a PhD in Islamic, African, and World history from The Ohio State University. He is a US Army veteran who served in the 101st Airborne Division as an Arabic interrogator, and afterwards worked as a college professor and consultant to US Special Operations Command. His other books are Holiest Wars: Islamic Mahdis, Their Jihads and Osama bin Ladin (2005) and the complementary volume to this work: Ten Years' Captivation with the Mahdi's Camps: Essays on Muslim Eschatology, 2005-2015 (2015).  Richard Ellis, "Sea Dragons: Predators of the Prehistoric Oceans" English | ISBN: 0700612696 | 2003 | 312 pages | PDF | 11 MB Working from the fossil record, Richard Ellis explores the natural history of these fierce predators, speculates on their habits, and tells how they eventually became extinct - or did they? He traces the 200-million-year history of the great ichthyosaurs, plesiosaurs, and mosasaurs who swam the ancient oceans - and who, according to some, may even still frequent the likes of Loch Ness.  Thomas Blom Hansen, "Saffron Republic: Hindu Nationalism and State Power in India " English | ISBN: 1009100483 | 2022 | 330 pages | PDF | 3 MB This volume examines the phenomenon of contemporary Hindu nationalism or 'new Hindutva' that is presently the dominant ideological and political-electoral formation in India. There is a rich body of work on Hindu nationalism, but its main focus is on an earlier moment of insurgent movement politics in the 1980s and 1990s. In contrast, new Hindutva is a governmental formation that converges with wider global currents and enjoys mainstream acceptance. To understand these new political forms and their implications for democratic futures, a fresh set of reflections is in order. This book approaches contemporary Hindutva as an example of a democratic authoritarianism or an authoritarian populism, a politics that simultaneously advances and violates ideas and practices of popular and constitutional democracy.  Elizabeth Morán, "Sacred Consumption: Food and Ritual in Aztec Art and Culture" English | ISBN: 1477310592 | 2016 | 156 pages | AZW3 | 3 MB Making a foundational contribution to Mesoamerican studies, this book explores Aztec painted manuscripts and sculptures, as well as indigenous and colonial Spanish texts, to offer the first integrated study of food and ritual in Aztec art.  Tuomas Forsberg, "Russia's Cultural Statecraft " English | ISBN: 0367694352 | 2021 | 248 pages | PDF | 19 MB This book focusses on Russia's cultural statecraft in dealing with a number of institutional cultural domains such as education, museums and monuments, high arts and sport. It analyses to what extent Russia's cultural activities abroad have been used for foreign policy purposes, and perceived as having a political dimension.  Rural Technology Development and Delivery English | 2023 | ISBN: 9811923116 | 287 Pages | PDF True | 9.42 MB This book comprises the proceedings of the 2nd international conference on Rural Technology Development and Delivery organized by Rural Technology Action group Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras. The book highlights research on demand driven technologies and innovations, mostly on energy, environment, water resources, livelihood and smart technologies for the development of rural India. Spanning multi-disciplinary research aspects on rural technologies and development, this book would be useful for rural entrepreneurs, researchers, students and academic/R&D institutions for getting them involved in appropriate rural technology and development.  Rural Poverty, Growth, and Inequality in China by Yangyang Shen English | EPUB | 2022 | 292 Pages | ISBN : 9811696535 | 5.9 MB This book aims to empirically and theoretically study how the economic growth and inequality affected China's rural poverty since China's reform and opening-up. Apart from the trickle-down effect, some empirical researches show that rising inequality usually links with unfairly shared of the economic growth, which is not good for the poor, and this book particularly concerns with the impact of inequality on poverty reduction. In 11 chapters, it leads readers to review the dynamic changes of rural poverty in China, and estimates rural poverty by various methods, for instance, with analysis by monetary poverty (including income and expenditure poverty), multidimensional poverty, absolute poverty, and relative poverty.  Royal Mysteries: The Medieval Period by Timothy Venning English | October 22, 2021 | ISBN: 1526780518 | True EPUB/PDF | 256 pages | 11.98/7.3 MB Royal murder mysteries never fail to intrigue readers and TV viewers. Here are some of the most haunting and even horrific episodes from the middle ages, based on latest historical research and historiography, and authentic and rare sources, including archaeology and DNA evidence, uncovering wonderful tales of pathos, tragedy, suffering and romance. This is history for specialists and general readers - and sceptics - given the intense media coverage, including TV, and interest in exciting and accessible popular history. The famous and also less well-known mysteries, which may be new to readers, surrounding British Royalty, are included from around the 11th to the 15th centuries.  Oliver Leaman, "Routledge Handbook of Islamic Ritual and Practice" English | ISBN: 0367491230 | 2022 | 538 pages | PDF | 5 MB Ritual and practice are one of the most distinctive features of religion, and they are linked with its central beliefs. Islam is no exception here, and this Handbook covers many aspects of those beliefs and practices. It describes the variety of what takes place but mainly why, and what the implications of both the theory and practice have for our understanding of Islam. The book includes accounts of prayer, food, pilgrimage, mosques, and the various legal and doctrinal schools that exist within Islam, with the focus on how they influence practice.  Routledge Handbook of Election Law English | 2023 | ISBN: 1138393363 | 371 Pages | PDF (True) | 3 MB Governments need rules, institutions, and processes to translate the will of the people into functioning democracies. Election laws are the rules that make that happen. Yet across the world various countries have crafted different rules regarding how elections are conducted, who gets to vote, who is allowed to run for office, what role political parties have, and what place money has in the financing of campaigns and candidates. The Routledge Handbook of Election Law is the first major cross-national comparative reference book surveying the electoral practices and law of the major and emerging democracies across the world. It brings together the leading international scholars on election law and democracy, examining specific issues, topics, or the regions of the world when it comes to rules, institutions, and processes regarding how they run their elections. The result is a rich volume of research furthering the legal and political science knowledge about democracies and the challenges they face. Scholars interested in election law and democracy, as well as election officials, will find the Routledge Handbook of Election Law an essential reference book. |
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