In the years following its near-bankruptcy in 1976 until the end of the 1980s, New York City came to epitomize the debt-driven, deal-oriented, economic boom of the Reagan era. Exploring the interplay between social structural change and political power during this period, John Mollenkopf asks why a city with a large minority population and a long tradition of liberalism elected a conservative mayor who promoted real-estate development and belittled minority activists. Through a careful analysis of voting patterns, political strategies of various interest groups, and policy trends, he explains how Mayor Edward Koch created a powerful political coalition and why it ultimately failed.
Phoenix from the Ashes is a comprehensive look at the state of the Catholic Church since the Second Vatican Council--one of a series of recurrent periods of moral and intellectual crisis to which it has succumbed in its history. A chapter on the Council describes in detail how Pope Paul VI diverted it by placing it under the exclusive control of European liberals. An equally close study is devoted to the liturgical "reform" entrusted by the same pope to a group of radicals whose work undermined the spiritual and devotional legacy of the faithful. The loss of orthodox teaching and the disorientation following upon these changes produced a grave crisis in both clergy and laity, but the movement of return to tradition visible today promises a revival of the full Catholic life of the Church. Catholic readers now have a complete and eminently accessible account of the last 50 years of momentous changes in the Church, right up to the pontificates of Benedict XVI and Francis I. "This wide-ranging account of the self-destruction of the Roman Catholic Church and its identification of her only realistic route back to the land of the living simultaneously strikes a blow at history's two most prevalent temptations: rejection or twisting of evidence in the service of an ideological thesis, and honest dedication to intense research on subjects whose ultimate existential value the 'unbiased' historian somehow fears to reveal to his readers. Henry Sire courageously shuts no doors and stifles no evidence, employing a passionate and lively prose that leaves no doubt regarding his sense of the crucial moral and cultural importance of his topic."--JOHN RAO, author of Black Legends and the Light of the World and Removing the Blindfold "For Catholics feeling lost at sea as a result of the turbulent crisis tossing and flooding the Barque of Peter, Henry Sire's work identifies clear landmarks to steady our gaze. He situates the present disarray within the larger historical context of the Arian heresy and Protestant revolution, and points to the buoys of tradition--liturgical, doctrinal, and philosophical--as sure guides to our way out. Sire distills entire epochs of history, from the first centuries of the Church through the current pontificate, into a highly readable and thought-provoking story. In the course of his tale he exposes the radical progressivism of the Second Vatican Council and its after-effects as well as the tepid conservatism of the Reform of the Reform and the Hermeneutic of Continuity."--BRIAN M. MCCALL, author of To Build the City of God "Historian H.J.A. Sire has compiled a balanced assessment of the revolution in the Roman Catholic Church. His mastery of the material is complete. The book flows along easily and readers will finish it confident that they have a comprehensive understanding of the last 60 years in the Church."--ROGER MCCAFFREY, President, Roman Catholic Books "Thanks to Henry Sire's penetrating book, we have some profound answers to nagging questions. How did the West end up so quickly in a post-Christian age, when only decades ago one could still speak of a Christian culture? How did we go from the seemingly healthy Roman Catholic Church of the 1950s to the mass apostasy and grave scandals of recent years? As Sire shows, the antecedents go back quite far, in fact many centuries, but the possibility of healing and regeneration is not as remote as we think."--STEPHEN KLIMCZUK-MASSION, Senior Adviser, Hildebrand Project H.J.A. SIRE was born in 1949 in Barcelona of a family of French ancestry and was educated in England, at Stonyhurst College and at Exeter College, Oxford, where he took a degree in Modern History. He has written several books on subjects of Catholic history and biography and currently lives in Rome, where he works professionally as a historian.
A raw and compassionate reflection upon life and its lessons. It is honest attempt to capture the meaning within experiences and to find the extraordinary in the seemingly ordinary.
The City at Stake tells the dramatic story of how the nation's second-largest city completed a major reform of its government in the face of a deeply threatening movement for secession by the San Fernando Valley. How did Los Angeles, a diverse city with an image of unstructured politics and fragmented government, find a way to unify itself around a controversial set of reforms? Los Angeles government nearly collapsed in political bickering over charter reform, which generated the remarkable phenomenon of two competing charter reform commissions. Out of this nearly impossible tangle, reformers managed to knit a new city charter that greatly expanded institutions for citizen participation and addressed long-standing weaknesses in the role of the mayor. The new charter, pursued by a Republican mayor, won its greatest support from liberal whites who had long favored reform measures. Written by an urban scholar who played a key role in the charter reform process, the book offers both a theoretical perspective on the process of institutional reform in an age of diversity, and a firsthand, inside-the-box look at how major reform works. The new afterword by the author analyzes the 2005 election of Los Angeles's first modern Latino mayor, Antonio Villaraigosa, a milestone in the development of urban reform coalitions in an age of immigration and ethnic diversity.
Oregon, the final frontier. Early in our nation’s history, the land west of the Mississippi River was unmapped and unexplored. Only the local indigenous peoples were familiar with the mysterious Pacific Northwest. The states we know as Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and parts of Wyoming and Montana were part of the vast Oregon Territory. The history of the current Central Oregon region is filled with popular tales of Native Americans, fur trappers, sheepherders, cattlemen, homesteaders, railroads, lumber mills, and most recently, recreation. The lesser known but equally intriguing stories talk of ghost towns, mining, moonshine, cults, and everything in between. Secret Bend, Oregon: A Guide to the Weird, Wonderful, and Obscure weaves together these tales from the past with stories from the present. It delves deeper into history and local peculiarities to uncover why the region is so fascinating. From natural beauty to the origins of our towns, from pristine lakes to colorful alley art, and from fantasy Hobbit houses to astronaut training, the unique narrative of Central Oregon is enthusiastically shared in this book. Both educational and entertaining, locals and visitors who read Secret Bend, Oregon will walk away with a greater understanding and deeper appreciation for the area. They will also have many new places to explore!
The volume analyzes the long-term trajectories of change in the capitalist models of the UK, Germany, Sweden, France, Italy, Hungary, Slovakia, and the United States. The case studies identify critical junctures and key periods of change in order to show how institutions are shaped by different sets of socio-political compromises and public policy. The case studies follow a common methodology, comparing change and linkages across six core institutional domains, thus facilitating a comparative understanding of the patterns and drivers of institutional change, as well as how liberalisation impacts countries in similar and dissimilar ways. The historical perspective of the cases highlights the transformative effects of relatively slow and incremental changes. These case studies also make an innovative contribution to examining the linkages between four levels of institutions that regulate the economy – the international, macro (national), meso, and micro. The volume reveals both a common trend toward more liberal forms of capitalism but also variations on this overarching trajectory. Markets themselves create their own dynamics, which have varied effects on firms and other economic actors in historically diverse institutional contexts. This book was originally published as a special issue of the Journal of European Public Policy.
Caina Amalas is a Ghost nightfighter, one of the elite agents of the Emperor of Nighmar, and she has defeated both corrupt lords and mighty sorcerers. As the Padishah of Istarinmul prepares to make peace with the Emperor, the Ghosts must keep the Padishah’s ambassador safe from assassins. But when an escaped slave begs for Caina’s help, she finds dark plots stirring in the shadows. Plots that threaten to devour the Empire and unleash terrible horrors.
Narrated in the first person this is an account of the savage journey of a man who has not only been brushed by mortality but who is still in the process of trying to wrestle it to the ground.
