Amoral, cunning, ruthless, and instructive, this multi-million-copy New York Times bestseller is the definitive manual for anyone interested in gaining, observing, or defending against ultimate control – from the author of The Laws of Human Nature. In the book that People magazine proclaimed “beguiling” and “fascinating,” Robert Greene and Joost Elffers have distilled three thousand years of the history of power into 48 essential laws by drawing from the philosophies of Machiavelli, Sun Tzu, and Carl Von Clausewitz and also from the lives of figures ranging from Henry Kissinger to P.T. Barnum. Some laws teach the need for prudence (“Law 1: Never Outshine the Master”), others teach the value of confidence (“Law 28: Enter Action with Boldness”), and many recommend absolute self-preservation (“Law 15: Crush Your Enemy Totally”). Every law, though, has one thing in common: an interest in total domination. In a bold and arresting two-color package, The 48 Laws of Power is ideal whether your aim is conquest, self-defense, or simply to understand the rules of the game.
During the BP oil leak of 2010 while the "experts" were frantically working on a solution to stop the flow, thousands of people were offered solutions. One suggestion came from a plumber named Joe Caldart, but since he wasn't a scientist with a PhD, his plan was dismissed outright. Only when a professor of engineering at Berkeley and former Shell executive recognized the validity of his idea and passed it on to BP, did they listen. Six weeks later a strikingly similar design was lowered onto the Macondo well, and the eighty-seven-day crisis ended. In this age of technology, experts, studies, and the media, more young people than ever are attending college and more degrees are being conferred every year, but with all the degrees conferred and the numbers in academia soaring, it is prudent to examine not only what is being taught and how, but also its effect on society and the culture. We are constantly bombarded with studies and so-called expert opinions that are contradictory, controversial, and ineffective. Explanations of current events are accepted at face value by the common man of today because they are informed by "experts in the field." In Shmexperts: How Ideology and Power Politics are Disguised as Science Marc E. Fitch examines the modern myth of experts in today's twenty-four hour media cycle and explains why viewers, readers, and average Joe's should do their own research too. In understanding the underlying philosophy and motivation of these experts and the media that promote them, we will gain greater insight and critical thinking skills by which to determine whether or not an expert as cited in the media is a true expert or an agenda-driven shmexpert. In this brilliantly insightful book Fitch warns of the frightening prospect of a society led into intellectual complacency by relying on mass-media manipulation and the bureaucratization of knowledge. Shmexperts explores the philosophy inherent in the media's reliance on and use of experts and its negative influence on society as a whole. In this truly enlightening book, "average" Americans will learn to trust themselves over the so-called "experts" that have infiltrated the media.
There is a long history of state governments providing support to nonstate armed groups fighting battles in other countries. Examples include Syria's aid to Hamas, Ecuador's support for FARC, and Libya's donation of arms to the IRA. What motivates states to do this? And why would rebel groups align themselves with these states? In States in Disguise, Belgin San-Akca builds a rigorous theoretical framework within which to study the complex and fluid network of relationships between states and rebel groups, including ethnic and religious insurgents, revolutionary groups, and terrorists. She proves that patterns of alliances between armed rebels and modern states are hardly coincidental, but the result of systematic and strategic choices made by both states and rebel groups. San-Akca demonstrates that these alliances are the result of shared conflictual, material and ideational interests, and her theory shows how to understand these ties via the domestic and international environment. Drawing from an original data set of 455 groups, their target states, and supporters over a span of more than sixty years, she explains that states are most likely to support rebel groups when they are confronted with internal and external threats simultaneously, while rebels select strong states and democracies when seeking outside support. She also shows that states and rebels look to align with one another when they share ethnic, religious and ideological ties. Through its broad chronological sweep, States in Disguise reveals how and why the phenomenon of state and rebel group alliances has evolved over time.
In the early seventeenth century, the London stage often portrayed a ruler covertly spying on his subjects. Traditionally deemed 'Jacobean disguised ruler plays', these works include Shakespeare's Measure for Measure, Marston's The Malcontent and The Fawn, Middleton's The Phoenix, and Sharpham's The Fleer. Commonly dated to the arrival of James I, these plays are typically viewed as synchronic commentaries on the Jacobean regime. Kevin A. Quarmby demonstrates that the disguised ruler motif actually evolved in the 1580s. It emerged from medieval folklore and balladry, Tudor Chronicle history and European tragicomedy. Familiar on the Elizabethan stage, these incognito rulers initially offered light-hearted, romantic entertainment, only to suffer a sinister transformation as England awaited its ageing queen's demise. The disguised royal had become a dangerously voyeuristic political entity by the time James assumed the throne. Traditional critical perspectives also disregard contemporary theatrical competition. Market demands shaped the repertories. Rivalry among playing companies guaranteed the motif's ongoing vitality. The disguised ruler's presence in a play reassured audiences; it also facilitated a subversive exploration of contemporary social and political issues. Gradually, the disguised ruler's dramatic currency faded, but the figure remained vibrant as an object of parody until the playhouses closed in the 1640s.