C Hurst & Co Publishers Ltd strana 8 z 8

An original conceptual approach to the study of war, attempting to capture the entire phenomenon of military adaptation—whether strategic, institutional or in the field. The unravelling of the post-Cold War order has intensified geopolitical tensions, driving a global increase in defence spending. Most military organisations are engaged in a process of drastic transformation, trying to scale their activities, learn from contemporary battlefields, and improve readiness. Yet armed forces engaged in such reforms must solve a major dilemma: how to adapt to an uncertain future without losing their current identity, coherence or operational effectiveness. In this incisive and timely study, Olivier Schmitt explores how modern militaries adapt, or fail to adapt, to evolving threats, technologies and political constraints. Drawing on global case-studies--from the trenches of Ukraine to the halls of the People's Liberation Army leadership--he investigates how social expectations, political constraints and organisational cultures collide in the worldwide quest to reform the military. Essential reading for defence professionals, policymakers and scholars of international security, Preparing for War equips readers with the tools to grasp not only the 'how' but the 'why' behind military transformation. In an era of rising defence budgets and shrinking certainties, this book delivers crucial insights into the future of war--and the institutions that must be ready for it.

A fresh portrait of Greece''s forgotten Near Eastern identity, with old cultural, political and economic ties reforming in today''s turbulent world.Caught between wars raging in both Eastern Europe and the Middle East, Greece is an island of relative stability. Popularly considered the cradle of Western civilisation, this is a Christian Orthodox state on the edge of the Islamic world. And, after a half-century of integration into NATO and the EU, Greece is now reabsorbing into the Near East, as the West fractures and new Middle Eastern powers rise. The country’s importance as a cultural and geopolitical hybrid is growing.Travelling through the region, Sean Mathews explores at ground level the tectonic shifts reshaping Europe and the Middle East. He meets the last Greek merchants in Cairo, and hears from Istanbul’s remaining Greeks about Turkey’s break with the West. In Jerusalem, he discovers a budding alliance between Greece and Israel; and in a faded Ottoman port, he encounters football hooligans loyal to a Russian oligarch.This bold reappraisal of Greece as a Near Eastern nation uncovers its Byzantine and Ottoman past as a key to survival in today’s chaotic, shrinking world.

A stark warning: Washington is at real risk of strategic defeat in any war with China.This book dissects precisely how the United States imagines fighting the People''s Republic of China, and why it risks failing. Franz-Stefan Gady contends that the US military approach to a potential conflict over Taiwan is unlikely to succeed, relying heavily on both rapidly established information superiority and a decisive victory. This may increase the threat of nuclear escalation between the world''s only superpowers.The more likely scenario is a prolonged war of attrition across land, sea, air, space and cyberspace. America''s society, armed forces and industrial capacity are ill-prepared for this--a deficiency stemming from a military culture that prioritises advanced technology over mass, and from a lack of public or political will for the sacrifices required by such a conflict.Gady''s superb research and analysis, based on US doctrine, force structure and general ''ways of war'', reveal the significant risks to the United States in a potential conflict with China, whether in the 2020s or 2030s.

Another India tells the story of the world''s biggest religious minority. Weaving together vivid biographical portraits of a wide range of Indian Muslims--elite and subaltern, secular and clerical, activist and apolitical--it brings the experience of the country''s Muslims under a single focus; and, by throwing light on the Indian Muslim condition during the first thirty years of independence, reflects on the true character of democratic India. What we have here is a rather different picture from received accounts of the ''world''s largest democracy''. Challenging traditional histories of Nehru''s India, Pratinav Anil shows that minority rights were neglected right from independence. Despite its best intentions, the Congress regime that ruled for three decades was often illiberal, intolerant and undemocratic. Muslims had to contend with discrimination, disadvantage, deindustrialisation, dispossession and disenfranchisement, as well as an unresponsive leadership. Anil demonstrates how the Muslim elite encouraged depoliticisation, taking up seemingly noble but largely inconsequential causes with little bearing on the lives of ordinary members of the community. There was no room for mass protests or collective solidarity in this version of Muslim politics. Another India explores this elite betrayal, whose consequences are still felt by India''s 200 million Muslims today.

A captivating journey through the lives of Christian mystics--from the early Church to the twentieth century.For 2,000 years, women and men of the Christian faith have experienced what some mystics call a ''dazzling darkness'': the spiritual journey to the heart of ultimate reality, or God. These direct communions have ranged from mild illuminations to a union consuming the mystic''s will.This book traces such spiritual figures'' lives, times and teachings, from early Christendom to modern mystics like Simone Weil and Thomas Merton. It explores how the anchoress Julian of Norwich grew up while the Black Death was devastating Europe; how, when the beguine Marguerite Porete lived, the Church was particularly primed to burn ''heretics''; and how Pierre Teilhard de Chardin developed his idea of spiritual evolution with Darwin''s theories in the air.Deeply researched and highly engaging, Dazzling Darkness tells the stories of towering figures like Hildegard of Bingen, Teresa of Ávila and John of the Cross, and highlights many lesser-known mystics, including Mary of Egypt, Seraphim of Sarov and Charles de Foucauld, allowing their voices to sing out to future generations.

Are we confronting a new culture-global, online, individualistic? Or is our existing concept of culture in crisis, as explicit, normative systems replace implicit, social values? Olivier Roy's new book explains today's fractures via the extension of individual political and sexual freedoms from the 1960s. For Roy, twentieth-century youth culture disconnected traditional political protest from class, region or ethnicity, fashioning an identity premised on repudiation rather than inheritance of shared history or values. Having spread across generations under neoliberalism and the internet, youth culture is now individualised, ersatz. Without a shared culture, everything becomes an explicit code of how to speak and act, often online. Identities are now defined by socially fragmenting personal traits, creating affinity-based sub-cultures seeking safe spaces: universities for the left, gated communities and hard borders for the right. Increased left- and right-wing references to 'identity' fail to confront this deeper crisis of culture and community. Our only option, Roy argues, is to restore social bonds at the grassroots or citizenship level.

This is the forgotten history of women making, serving and drinking alcohol. Drink has always been at the centre of social rituals and cultures worldwide-and women have been at the heart of its production and consumption. So when did drinking become gendered? How have patriarchies tried to erase and exclude women from industries they've always led, and how have women fought back? And why are things from bars to whiskey considered 'masculine', when, without women, they might not exist? With whip-smart insight and boundless curiosity, Girly Drinks unveils distillers, brewers, drinkers and bartenders with a vital role in the creation and consumption of alcohol, from Cleopatra, Catherine the Great and the real Veuve Clicquot to Chinese poets, medieval nuns and Prohibition bootleggers. Mallory O'Meara's fun and fascinating history dismantles the long-standing myth that drink is a male tradition. Now, readers everywhere can discover each woman celebrated in this book-and proudly have what she's having.

Whether it's working for free in exchange for 'experience', enduring poor treatment in the name of being 'part of the family', or clocking serious overtime for a good cause, more and more of us are pushed to make sacrifices for the privilege of being able to do work we enjoy. Work Won't Love You Back examines how we all bought into this 'labour of love' myth: the idea that certain work is not really work, and should be done for the sake of passion rather than pay. Through the lives and experiences of various workers-from the unpaid intern and the overworked teacher, to the nonprofit employee, the domestic worker and even the professional athlete-this compelling book reveals how we've all been tricked into a new tyranny of work. Sarah Jaffe argues that understanding the labour of love trap will empower us to work less and demand what our work is worth. Once freed, we can finally figure out what actually gives us joy, pleasure and satisfaction.