Chapter 22. The Cold War and Beyond, 1945—Present
IN THIS CHAPTER
Summary: The Cold War waged between the United States and the Soviet Union (1945-1989) was followed by the abrupt disintegration of the Soviet Union and the Iron Curtain.
• At the close of World War II, a division of East and West that was both strategic and ideological hardened into a Cold War between the two superpowers: the Soviet Union and the United States.
• In response to the Cold War, the Western European nations plotted and maintained a course of economic integration that culminated in the creation of the European Union.
• Between 1985 and 1989, systemic economic problems and a bold attempt at reform led to the rapid disintegration of the Soviet Union, the destruction of the Iron Curtain, and the reunification of Germany.
• Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, two major trends affected life in Europe: the revival of nationalism and the emergence of globalization.
Council for Mutual Economic Assistance
Treaty of Rome
perestroika and glasnost
Following the Second World War, a Cold War developed between the two “super powers”: the Soviet Union and the United States. In response, the Western European nations plotted and followed a course of economic integration that culminated in the creation of the European Union. In the decades that followed the collapse of the Soviet Union, Europe experienced both a revival of nationalism and the emergence of globalization.
The Cold War
The Settlement following WWII
There was no formal treaty at the conclusion of World War II. The postwar shape of Europe was determined by agreements reached at two wartime conferences at Tehran, Iran (in December 1943) and Yalta, Crimea, which is now part of the Ukraine (in February 1945) and, where agreement could not be reached, by the realities of occupation at the war’s end.
These were the primary results of the eventual settlement:
• Germany was disarmed and divided into sectors, with the Western powers controlling the western sectors and the Soviet Union controlling the eastern sectors.
• Berlin, which lay in the eastern sector, was itself divided into West Berlin (controlled by the Allies) and East Berlin (controlled by the Soviet Union).
• Poland’s border with Germany was pushed westward.
• The United Nations was created with 51 members to promote international peace and cooperation.
• Although the United States and Britain called for free elections in the eastern European nations that were physically under the control of the Soviet Army, pro-Soviet governments were quickly installed by Stalin.
• By 1946, the world was speaking of an Iron Curtain that had descended over eastern Europe (the phrase was first uttered by Winston Churchill in a speech given in the United States), stretching from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Adriatic Sea in the south and dividing Europe between a communist East and a capitalist West.
The Cold War in Europe
The phrase “the Cold War” refers to efforts of the ideologically opposed regimes of the United States and the Soviet Union to extend their influence and control of events around the globe, without breaking into direct military conflict with one another. The first showdown between the superpowers occurred from June 1948 to May 1949, when Soviet troops cut off all land traffic from the West into Berlin in an attempt to take control of the whole city. In response, the Western Powers, led by the United States mounted what has come to be known as the Berlin Airlift, supplying West Berlin and keeping it out of Soviet control. In 1949, the Western-controlled zones of Germany were formally merged to create the independent German Federal Republic. One month later, the Soviets established the German Democratic Republic in the eastern zone.
In 1947, the United States established the Truman Doctrine, offering military and economic aid to countries threatened by communist takeover. That same year, Truman’s Secretary of State, George Marshall, launched what has come to be known as the Marshall Plan, pouring billions of dollars of aid into helping the Western European powers to rebuild their infrastructures and economies. The Soviet Union soon countered with the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance, an economic aid package for eastern European countries.
In 1949, the United States organized the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), uniting the Western powers in a military alliance against the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union countered with the Warsaw Pact, a military alliance of the communist countries of Eastern Europe. The one great military imbalance of the postwar period, the United States’ possession of the atomic bomb, was countered by the development of a Soviet atomic bomb in 1949. From then on, the two superpowers engaged in a nuclear arms race that saw each develop an arsenal of hydrogen bombs by 1953, followed by huge caches of nuclear warheads mounted on intercontinental ballistic missiles. The overarching strategy of nuclear weapons became appropriately known by its acronym MAD, or mutual assured destruction, which “reasoned” that neither side would use its nuclear weapons if its own destruction by a retaliatory blast was assured.
The Global Cold War
Once the two superpowers had done what they could to shore up their positions in Europe, their competition spread across the globe. Major events in world history that are directly connected to the Cold War include:
• the civil war in China, where the Soviet-backed communist forces of Mao Zedong defeated, in 1949, the nationalist forces of Jiang Jieshi supported by the United States
• the Korean War (1950—1953) between Soviet and Chinese-supported North Korean communists and UN and U.S.-backed South Koreans, which produced a stalemate at the 38th parallel (the original post-World-War-II dividing line between North and South Korea) at the cost of some 1.5 million lives
• the Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1963, in which Soviet attempts to install nuclear missiles in Cuba were met with a U.S. blockade of the island, bringing the world to the brink of nuclear war until the Soviets backed down and removed the missiles
• the Vietnam War, in which communist forces led by Ho Chi Minh battled an authoritarian, anticommunist government, increasingly reliant on U.S. military aid for its existence, throughout the 1960s until U.S. withdrawal in 1973
Although it was less in the headlines of world news, the Cold War also had devastating effects in Latin America and Africa where, for the better part of three decades, local and regional disputes were deformed by the intervention of Soviet and U.S. money, arms, and covert operations. Many of the difficulties faced by those regions today can be traced back to the Cold War.
Détente with the West, Crackdown in the East
In the late 1960s and lasting into the 1980s, U.S.-Soviet relations entered into a new era that has come to be known as the era of Détente. In this period, both sides backed away from the notion of a struggle only one side could win. The era of Détente was characterized by a number of nuclear test-ban treaties and arms-limitation talks between the two superpowers.
However, while Soviet-U.S. relations were thawing during this period, the Soviet Union demonstrated on several occasions that it still intended to rule the Eastern Block with a firm hand. The most dramatic occurred in 1968 in an episode that has come to be known as the Prague Spring. Czechoslovakian communists, led by Alexander Dubcek, embarked on a process of liberalization, stimulated by public demand for greater freedom, economic progress, and equality. Under Dubcek’s leadership, the reformers declared that they intended to create “socialism with a human face.” Dubcek tried to proceed by balancing reforms with reassurances to the Soviet Union, but on 21 August Soviet and Warsaw Pact troops invaded and occupied the major cities of Czechoslovakia; it was the largest military operation in Europe since World War II.
The Soviet regime also continued to demand conformity from its citizens and to punish dissent. A good example was the case of Alexander Solzhenitsyn, the acclaimed author who wrote novels which attempted to tell the truth about life in the Soviet Union. For writing novels like The Cancer Ward (1966) and The First Circle (1968), Solzhenitsyn was expelled, in November 1969, from the Russian Writers’ Union. Much to the irritation of the Soviet government, his work was highly acclaimed in the West and he was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1970. Following the 1973 publication of his novel The Gulag Archipelago, he was arrested. But in a sign that some concessions were being made to Western opinion, he was deported to West Germany rather than exiled to Siberia.
The European Union
The leaders of Western Europe realized almost immediately they were going to need to function as a whole in order to rival the economic and military power of the two superpowers. Throughout the second half of the twentieth century, Europe embarked on a plan of economic integration that proceeded through several careful stages:
• In 1950, France and West Germany created the French-German Coal and Steel Authority, removing tariff barriers and jointly managing production in that industry.
• In 1952, the Authority expanded to create the six-country European Coal and Steel Community, adding Italy, Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands.
• In 1957, those six countries signed the Treaty of Rome, establishing the European Economic Community (EEC), sometimes referred to as the Common Market, to begin the process of eliminating tariff barriers and cutting restrictions of the flow of capital and labor.
• In 1967, the EEC merged with other European cooperative bodies to form the European Community (EC), moving towards a broader integration of public institutions.
• Between 1967 and 1986, the EC expanded to 12 countries, adding Denmark, the United Kingdom, and the Republic of Ireland (all in 1973), Greece (1981), and Portugal and Spain (both in 1986).
• In 1992, the 12 countries of the EC signed the Maastricht Treaty, changing the name from the EC to European Union (EU), creating the world’s largest trading bloc, and moving to adopt a common currency (the Euro).
• In 1995, Austria, Finland, and Sweden joined the EU.
• Following the break-up of the Soviet Union, the EU underwent a massive expansion, welcoming countries either newly freed or newly constituted after the break-up of the Soviet Union. The addition of Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia in 2004, and Bulgaria and Romania in 2007, brought the total membership to 27 countries.
The Disintegration of the Iron Curtain and the Soviet Union
Between 1985 and 1989, the world was stunned as it witnessed the rapid disintegration of the Soviet Union, the destruction of the Iron Curtain, and the reunification of Germany. The causes of these dramatic events were rooted in the nature of the Soviet system, which had for decades put domestic and foreign politics ahead of the needs of its own economy and of its people. The result was an economic system that could no longer function. The trigger for its disintegration was the ascension of a new generation of Soviet leaders.
Gorbachev and the "New Man": 1985
While Western Europe was creating the EC and dreaming of economic and political power that could match the superpowers, the big lie of the Soviet economy was coming home to roost. In 1985, Mikhail Gorbachev succeeded a long line of aging Stalinist leaders. At the age of 54, Gorbachev represented a younger and more sophisticated generation that had spent significant time in the West. Gorbachev believed that the Soviet Union’s survival required a restructuring (perestroika) of the both its economy and its society, and an openness (glasnost) to new ideas. Accordingly, Gorbachev challenged the people of the Soviet Union and its satellite countries to take on a new level of responsibility. However, such an invitation quickly fanned the fires of autonomy in satellite states.
Poland and "Solidarity": 1980-1990
There had been growing agitation in Poland since 1980, when workers under the leadership of an electrician named Lech Walesa succeeded in forming a labor union known as Solidarity. Pressured by numerous strikes, the Polish government recognized the union despite threats of Soviet intervention. By 1981, the movement had become more political, as some of Solidarity’s more radical members began calling for free elections. As tensions grew, the Polish military, led by General Wojciech Jaruzelski, responded to the crisis by imposing martial law and a military dictatorship. However, with Gorbachev calling for reform, Jaruzelski tried, in November of 1987, to gain legitimacy for his rule through a national referendum. The majority of voters either voted against or abstained and in August of 1988, Jaruzelski ended his military dictatorship and set up a civilian government.
The new government attempted to retain the political monopoly of the Communist Party while simultaneously opening Poland up for Western business. It proved to be impossible, and Walesa and Solidarity took advantage of the new openness to push for political freedom. In January of 1989, Solidarity was legalized and, in April, the Communist Party gave up its monopoly on political power. In the first free election in Poland since before World War II, Solidarity triumphed and a noncommunist government was set up in September. In December of 1990, Walesa was elected president, and Poland began to face the hard task of learning how to live in an unruly democratic society and to deal with the economic ups and downs of capitalism.
Czechoslovakia and the Velvet Revolution: 1989
Seeing Poland, and then Hungary (which held free elections in the summer and fall of 1989), shed their communist governments without Soviet intervention energized Czech resistance to communist rule. Student-led demonstrations in the fall of 1989 were met with tear gas and clubs by the Czech police, but the students were soon joined by workers and people from all walks of life. Leading dissidents, like the playwright Vaclav Havel, began a movement known as the Civic Forum which sought to rebuild notions of citizenship and civic life that had been destroyed by the Soviet system. Soon Havel and other dissidents were jailed, but they became symbols of defiance and moral superiority.
What followed has come to be known as the Velvet Revolution. Faced with massive demonstrations in Prague (shown around the world on television) and urged by Gorbachev himself to institute democratic reform, Czechoslovakia’s communist leaders resigned on 24 November. After negotiations and maneuvers by both the Communist Party and the Civic Forum, Havel was chosen as president on 25 December. Alexander Dubcek, who had led the original revolt of 1968, was brought home from exile and named chairman of the Czechoslovakian Parliament.
German Reunification: 1989-1990
West Germans had never accepted the division of Germany. The constitution of the German Federal Republic provided legal formalities for reunification. How the East Germans felt about the society of their Western relatives was hard to know. When reunification came, it came suddenly. East German dissidents organized themselves along the lines of the Civic Forum model pioneered in Czechoslovakia. In response to the pressure for reform, the communist regime rescinded its traditional order to shoot anyone trying to escape to West Berlin, and shortly thereafter issued “vacation visas” to those wishing to see their families in the West. There was little expectation of their return.
On 9 November 1989 protesters moved toward the Berlin Wall and, meeting almost no resistance from the soldiers, started to hammer it down. East Germans streamed into West Berlin where they were embraced by tearful West Germans who gleefully gave them handfuls of cash. The West German Chancellor, the Conservative Helmut Kohl, moved quickly towards reunification. It was a reunification that amounted to East Germany being annexed by the West. Completely swept away in the pace of change were the original Civic Forum leaders who were not at all sure that they wished to be reunified with West Germany and its capitalist economy.
• In March 1990, elections were held in East Germany, creating a new government ready to negotiate with West Germany.
• By 3 August, the official treaty of reunification had been drafted.
• The East German government approved it at the beginning of October and, on 3 October, 1990, the Germans celebrated Reunification Day.
• On 2 December, the first unified national elections resulted in sweeping wins for Kohl, “the Reunification Chancellor,” and his party.
Yugoslavia had been a fragile state of six ethnically self-conscious member republics. As the communist regime began to collapse, the ethnic rivalries of Yugoslavia quickly reasserted themselves.
• Albanians in the autonomous province of Kosovo revolted against Serbian rule.
• The Slovenes and Croatians (or Croats), both western Slavs, agitated for independence from Serbia.
• In 1989, the communist regime began to collapse and the stronger republics were moving towards independence. A fragile multiparty system was put into place.
The Soviet Union Comes Apart: 1991
Caught between the hardliners who wished to slow down reform and a population that wanted it to come faster, Gorbachev’s popularity began to slip. Determined to go forward, Gorbachev persuaded the Communist Party to give up its monopoly on political power and called for free elections. Sensing collapse, Party members resigned in large numbers.
The various “republics” that made up the Soviet Union now emulated the satellite states and began to agitate for independence. The Russian Republic led the way, when its President and former Gorbachev ally, Boris Yeltsin, declared its independence from the Soviet Union. The Ukraine followed suit and Gorbachev was faced with a crisis. In the spring of 1991, Gorbachev proposed a compromise. He suggested that all the republics sign a “Treaty of the Union,” declaring them all to be independent but also members of a loose confederation. In August of 1991, just as the Treaty was about to take effect, hardliners tried to oust Gorbachev. For three days, there was confusion about who was in charge and what the military would do.
Yeltsin seized the moment, positioning himself between the parliament building and military tanks. The military backed off and the coup attempt failed, but it was Yeltsin who was now the favorite. Gorbachev resigned late in 1991 and the Soviet Union, as the world had known it, disintegrated. Most of the republics chose to join a loose confederation known as the Commonwealth of Independent States, a few, especially the Baltic States, opted for independence.
Nationalism and Globalization
Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, nationalism which had been driven underground came to the surface in Eastern Europe.
• In Czechoslovakia, Slavic nationalism split the country into halves, as the Slavic regions split off to form the republic of Slovakia, leaving the Czechs to form the Czech Republic.
• In Azerbaijan, Azerbaijanis and Armenians fought for dominance.
• In the Russian Republic, Chechnyans began a guerrilla war against Russian troops when their demands for independence were refused.
• In Yugoslavia, the fragile, multiparty system fell apart. Serbians and Slovenians fought over land and power; ethnic groups in Croatia, Bosnia—Herzegovina, and Macedonia followed suit as the situation degenerated into a vicious, multisided war with acts of genocide committed on both sides.
While politics in the post-Cold-War era often seemed to regress, the unity of the world’s economies, societies, and cultures continued to move forward. Near the end of the twentieth century, the term globalization became prominent to describe the increasing integration and interdependence of the economic, social, cultural, and even ecological aspects of life. The term not only refers to way in which the economies of the world affect one another, but also to the way in which the experience of everyday life is increasingly standardized by the spread of technologies which carry with them social and cultural norms.
• Rapid Review
Following World War II, the Soviet Union solidified its control of Eastern Europe, creating an Iron Curtain that divided East from West. The two superpowers, the United States and the Soviet Union, engaged in a Cold War that had global implications. Meanwhile, the Western European nations plotted and followed a course of economic integration that culminated in the creation of the European Union. Between 1985 and 1989, systemic economic problems and a bold attempt at reform led to the rapid disintegration of the Soviet Union, the destruction of the Iron Curtain, and the reunification of Germany. In the decades that followed, two major trends affected life in Europe: the revival of nationalism and the emergence of globalization.
• Chapter Review Questions
1. The settlement that followed World War II is best understood as
(A) an implementation of Woodrow Wilson’s 14-point plan
(B) a solidifying of the realities that existed at the end of the war
(C) a reconstruction of the settlement created by the Versailles Treaty
(D) an outgrowth of globalization
(E) a revival of nationalism
2. The significance of the Berlin Airlift was
(A) its demonstration of the commitment of the United States to defend Western Europe from Soviet expansion
(B) its effect on Hitler, causing him to abandon the invasion of Britain
(C) that it signaled the end of the war in Germany
(D) that it led to the division of Berlin into a western and eastern sector
(E) that it demonstrated the resurgence of the German Airforce
3. The plan for financial assistance to rebuild Western Europe after World War II was known as
(A) the Warsaw Pact
(B) the Truman Doctrine
(C) the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance
(D) the Marshall Plan
4. The softening of U.S.-Soviet relations from the late 1960s to the 1980s which led to a series of disarmament talks and missile-limitation treaties is known as
(A) the Prague Spring
(B) the Treaty of Rome
(D) Socialism with a Human Face
5. The Maastricht Treaty, signed in 1992,
(A) coordinated coal and steel production in six European nations
(B) established the European Economic Community (EEC)
(C) created the European Community (EC)
(D) established the reunification of Germany
(E) brought the European Union (EU) into being
6. Glasnost refers to
(A) a social and economic restructuring
(B) the attempt by Czechoslovakians to humanize socialism
(C) the rise of nationalism in the former Soviet republics
(D) an openness to new ideas
(E) the Polish labor union which led a political revolt in the 1980s and 1990s
7. The movement that began in 1989 in Czechoslovakia and which sought to rebuild notions of citizenship and civic life that had been destroyed by the Soviet system was
(A) the Velvet Revolution
(B) the Prague Spring
(C) the Civic Forum
8. Which of the following is an example of the revival of nationalism in Eastern Europe after the disintegration of the Soviet Union?
(A) the war between Chechnyans and Russia
(B) the multisided war in Yugoslavia
(C) the splitting up of Czechoslovakia
(D) the war in Bosnia—Herzegovina
(E) all of the above
• Answers and Explanations
1. B. The post-World-War-II settlement, with Germany divided into zones and the Eastern European countries under the domination of the Soviet Union, was a solidifying of the reality that the Soviets occupied half of Germany and militarily controlled Eastern Europe. Choice A in incorrect because Wilson’s 14-point plan, proposed at the conclusion of World War I, called for the growth of liberal democracy all over Europe; that did not happen behind the Iron Curtain. Choice C is incorrect because there are many differences between the settlement constructed by the Versailles Treaty and the settlement at the end of World War II, chief among them being the fate of Germany, which was shrunk and saddled with war reparations by the Versailles Treaty and divided between East and West and rapidly rebuilt by the superpowers after World War II.
2. A. The Berlin Airlift, in which the United States flew supplies into a Soviet-blockaded West Berlin from June 1948 to May 1949, demonstrated the commitment of the United States to defend West Berlin and all of Western Europe from Soviet expansion. Choice B is incorrect because it was the Battle of Britain (not the Berlin Airlift) that caused Hitler to abandon his plan for the invasion of Britain. Choice C is incorrect because the chronology is wrong: the war had been over for nearly three years when the Berlin Airlift occurred. Choice D is incorrect because Berlin was already divided into eastern and western sectors prior to the Berlin Airlift. Choice E is incorrect because the Berlin Airlift was carried out by the United States Airforce, in aid of West Berlin (not the German Airforce, which had nothing to do with this).
3. D. The Marshall Plan, named after U.S. Secretary of State George Marshall, was the plan which called for pouring billions of dollars of aid into Western Europe to rebuild its infrastructure and economy. Choice A is incorrect because the Warsaw Pact was a military alliance of the communist countries of Eastern Europe. Choice B is incorrect because the Truman Doctrine offered military and economic aid to countries directly threatened by communist takeover (not countries in Western Europe). Choice C is incorrect because the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance was set up by the Soviet Union to counter the Marshall Plan by offering economic aid to Eastern European countries (i.e., not Western European countries). Choice E is incorrect because NATO, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, united the Western powers in a military alliance against the Soviet Union; it had nothing to do with financial assistance to Western Europe.
4. C. The French term Détente was given to the softening of U.S.-Soviet relations that led to a series of disarmament talks and missile-limitation treaties from the late 1960s to the 1980s. Choices A and D are incorrect because the “the Prague Spring” refers to attempts by Czechoslovakian communists to resist Soviet domination and bring about a relaxation of state intervention in the lives of its citizens, a goal that came to be known as “socialism with a human face.” Choice B is incorrect because the Treaty of Rome, signed in 1957, established the European Economic Community (EEC). Choice E is incorrect because globalization was a term coined in the late 1980s to describe the way in which the experience of everyday life is increasingly standardized by the spread of technologies which carry with them social and cultural norms.
5. E. The Maastricht Treaty, signed by the 12 countries of the European Community in 1992, created the European Union, the world’s largest trading bloc. Choice A is incorrect because it was the European Coal and Steel Community, created in 1952, that coordinated coal and steel production in the six member nations. Choice B is incorrect because it was the Treaty of Rome, signed in 1957, that established European Economic Community (EEC), sometimes referred to as the Common Market. Choice C is incorrect because it was the merger of the EEC and other cooperative bodies in 1967 that created the European Community (EC). Choice D is incorrect because German Reunification was accomplished by a treaty approved in October of 1990.
6. D. The term glasnost (or openness) refers to the call by Mikhail Gorbachev in the late 1980s for an openness to new ideas in Soviet society and government. Choice A is incorrect because the term for Gorbachev’s call for social and economic restructuring was perestroika. Choice B is incorrect because the attempt by Czechoslovakians, in 1968, to humanize socialism was known as “socialism with a human face.” Choice C is incorrect because the rise of nationalism in the former Soviet republics occurred as a reaction to glasnost. Choice E is incorrect because the Polish labor union which led a political revolt in the 1980s and 1990s was Solidarity.
7. C. The movement known as the Civic Forum sought to rebuild notions of citizenship and civic life that had been destroyed by the Soviet system. Choice A is incorrect because the phrase “the Velvet Revolution” refers to the entire process, of which the Civic Forum was only a part, by which civic opposition eroded the communist regime in Czechoslovakia. Choice B is incorrect because “the Prague Spring” refers to the uprisings of Czechoslovakians against Soviet domination in 1968. Choice D is incorrect because Solidarity is the name of the Polish labor union which led a revolt against Soviet oppression in Poland. Choice E is incorrect because glasnost refers to the openness to new ideas called for by Mikhail Gorbachev.
8. E. All of the choices are correct. The Chechnyan conflict arose because of Russia’s refusal to accede to Chechnyan nationalist demands for independence. The multisided conflicts in Yugoslavia and in Bosnia—Herzegovina involved both ethnic tensions between and nationalist aspirations of the Serbs, Slovenes, Croats, Bosnians and several other groups. The splitting up of Czechoslovakia was the result of nationalist aspirations of the Slovaks.


Words by Imogen Bole
Photos by Gregory Buchakjian
Lebanese photographer Gregory Buchakjian spent nearly a decade locating, documenting and photographing abandoned buildings across Beirut. Now he is surrounded by the rubble of those devastated buildings following the explosion that shook the entire city.SUITCASE Magazine
The Beirut Explosion
For much of the 20th century, Beirut flaunted an exotic and hedonistic glamour that drew travellers from the world over. It was a city that conjured notions of opulence, cosmopolitanism, architectural splendour and continental style. So alluring was Beirut that it became affectionately referred to as the “Paris of the Middle East”.
In more recent times the capital has become scarred by decades of civil strife, and the push to rebuild and recover from that destruction has been 30 years in the making. That was until 4 August, when a single, catastrophic explosion left causalities not only in the form of human life, but in the shells of Beirut’s treasured buildings, structures and dwellings.
An Introduction to Gregory Buchakjian’s Abandoned Dwellings
Abandoned Dwellings: Display of Systems is a collection of photographs that Lebanese photographer, Gregory Buchakjian shot between 2009 and 2016 as part of a seven-year research project. Through inhabiting and capturing each location, he was able to retell the story of each place and its inhabitants: some had been expelled by wars and conflicts, while others had simply drifted on.
Stumbling upon lost and forgotten objects, such fragments of a Palestinian driver’s license, a British Railcard or even a handwritten diary from 1979 with a manual on the art of regular and guerrilla warfare tucked inside it, it became clear that, though these buildings seem tired and dispirited, they were once full of life and, as such, became a portal to a forgotten and vivacious past.
Today, Gregory finds himself surrounded by abandoned, dilapidated and devastated buildings. The effect of the gradual decay of time, as captured in his photos, has been affected on the city’s structures in a matter of seconds. Not only have many of the places Gregory photographed been destroyed, but the neglected dwellings featured in his collection now seem more structurally sound than the lifeless buildings faltering in today’s Beirut.
The old cliché of a picture telling a thousand words is a notion rendered redundant in light of an explosion that has left both citizens and onlookers speechless. Gregory’s photos showcase a version of Beirut that has now been wiped out. The process of restoring Lebanon’s capital to its former glory will be a battle hard fought and won.


Last week our kitchen was being remodeled & the downstairs was a complete mess & staying at home all day with a 1.5 year old was not an option. So I was trying to find different things to do with Shane during the day. We have this cute little library right down the street that I have never had the chance to take Shane so I decided this would be a perfect opportunity.
Shane LOVED everything about the library! I think he was a little overwhelmed at all the animal books-because those are his favorite & he just kept on bringing me book after book to read to him. It makes my heart so happy to see that Shane has a love for books. I love to read to him & it makes me happy that he loves it too!
So we brought back tons of books & I think we will make this a regular routine.


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A Cultural Topography of a Land of Wonder and Weirdness by Sam McManis Sacramento Bee journalist Sam McManis spent five years on the road trying to find the real California. He discovered that there is more than one California, but every different California is equally weird and wonderful. Worlds collide and commingle: the neo-hippies with the rednecked farmers; the urban sophisticates with the quirky desert dwellers; the Hollywood power brokers with the Outsider Artists. Brought together in a bouillabaisse of voices, Crossing California will make you see the state in an entirely new light. From the briny scent of Fisherman’s Wharf to the fragrant sage scrub of Imperial County; from the otherworldly starkness of Death Valley to the crashing waves and flexing muscles at Venice Beach, Crossing California gives readers a first-hand experience. McManis has stalked the tony aisles of the newly minted Broad Museum in gentrified downtown Los Angeles, and quick-footed it through the International Banana Museum along the desiccated shores of the moonscaped Salton Sea. He has inadvertently gotten his car stuck in a tree at a cheesy drive-thru giant Sequoia roadside attraction along the hemp highway between Mendocino and Humboldt, and witnessed, with both fascination and can’t-look-away horror, grown men and women, sans children and sans inhibitions, belt out full-throated versions of "Let It Go" at a Disneyland sing-along. All told, Crossing California is a trip. Audience: Readers interested in California culture, history, oddities, and humor. About the Author: Sam McManis is a former columnist and feature writer for the Sacramento Bee. He is a four-time winner of the Society of Features Journalism awards and three-time Best of the West honoree. He also has been a staff writer and editor at the San Francisco Chronicle and a sportswriter for the Los Angeles Times. His profiles and essays have appeared in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and elsewhere. He lives and writes in Washington state. $14.95 US • Trade Paperback • 6" x 9" • 280 pages ISBN 978-1-61035-313-7
Stephen H. Provost Before it was a modern freeway, California’s State Highway 99 was “the main street of California,” a simple two-lane road that passed through the downtowns of every city between the Mexican border and the Oregon state line. “Highway 99: The History of California’s Main Street” turns back the clock to those days when a narrow ribbon of asphalt tied the state’s communities together, with classic roadside attractions and plenty of fun along the way. “Highway 99” documents the birth, growth, and transformation of the highway; the gas stations, motels, restaurants, and attractions that flourished and declined by the roadside; and the communities, personalities, and historical events that made their mark on the highway. From the migrations of the Dust Bowl to the birth of the Bakersfield Sound to the foundation of America’s fast-food culture, the history of California has happened around Highway 99, and “Highway 99: The History of California’s Main Street” brilliantly depicts that history.
Kim Steinhardt and Gary Griggs The Pacific coast is the most iconic region of California and one of the most fascinating and rapidly changing places in the world. Densely populated, urbanized, and industrialized—and also home to complex, fragile ecosystems—the coast is the place where humanity and nature coexist in a precarious balance that is never perfectly stable. The Edge is a dramatic snapshot of the California coast’s past, present, and probable future in a time of climate change and expanding human activity. Written by two marine experts who grew up on the coast, The Edge is both an appreciation of the coast’s natural and cultural uniqueness and a warning of the changes that threaten that uniqueness. As ocean levels rise, coastal communities are starting to erode, and entire neighborhoods have been lost to the sea. Coastal ecosystems and wildlife that were already stressed by human settlement now face new dangers. Fisheries, oil drilling, recreation, housing and environmental advocates compete to define the future of the region. A masterful and sweeping synthesis of environmental and social science, The Edge presents a comprehensive portrait of the history, people, communities, industries, ecology, and wildlife of the coast.
The best loved and most spectacular drive in California is documented in a beautifully illustrated artistic and literary journey. A fantastic drive comes to a stunning conclusion in An Artist and a Writer Travel Highway 1 South.
Explore the Famous Sites, Neighborhoods, and Vistas in 17 Enchanting Walks by Kristine Poggioli and Carolyn Eidson Every visitor to San Francisco has seen the classic roadside signs showing a seagull that beckons motorists to follow the famous 49 Mile Scenic Drive. Walking San Francisco’s 49 Mile Scenic Drive shows how walking—rather than driving—San Francisco’s famous scenic route gives both tourists and natives an active, funway to enjoy and fall in love with the most beautiful city in the world. Walking San Francisco’s 49 Mile Scenic Drive invites readers to explore quirky locales face-to-face, so they can fully savor the City’s beauty and cultural riches — while also enjoying a healthy urban hike. Written by two long-time San Franciscans who have explored every nook and cranny of the 49 Mile Drive, Walking San Francisco’s 49 Mile Scenic Drive presents 17 bite-size walks, complete with turn-by-turn instructions, maps, and historical facts and information. Each chapter introduces the sights, landmarks and secret treasures of a specific San Francisco neighborhood, while leading the reader along a route that will pro vide healthy exercise for both brisk and sedate walkers. Each chapter includes detailed maps, points of interest, info on bus routes and parking, recommendations for visiting hidden gems and must-see museums, plus plenty of tips and stats to help walkers, such as step counts and mile distances, hill steepness rating, weather tips and more. The perfect guidebook for today’s urban enthusiast who values walkable neighborhoods, hyperlocal culture and the pleasure and health benefits of walking, Walking San Francisco’s 49 Mile Scenic Drive is the most intimate way to explore one of America’s greatest cities. Audience: San Francisco Bay Area residents, visitors to San Francisco, urban enthusiasts and hikers. About the Authors: Kristine Poggioli is a native San Franciscan, copywriter and storyteller. Carolyn Eidson is an award-winning filmmaker and comedian. Together, they are the first people to have walked the entire length of San Francisco’s 49 Mile Scenic Drive, resulting in a combined 75-pound weight loss. $19.95 • Trade Paperback • 6" x 9" • 180 pages ISBN 978-1-61035-279-6


A Bit About Suzannah
Despite the surname, a sign of her German heritage, Suzannah is a London girl through and through, born and bred in Paddington. In her early years she discovered the love of reading. To this day she voraciously devours books of all genres.
Her first work, The Devil's Cup, was published in 2006 and set her apart as a rare and incisive viewer of humanity and relationships. Over the next eight years, involved in creative writing groups and amateur dramatic societies, she concentrated on writing short stories and plays, several of which won prizes in drama festivals.
Suzannah is married, lives west of London, has four grown up children and was recently gifted with her first grand-child. She worked for many years in the charity sector, specialising in helping the elderly. Suzannah was also drawn into voluntary work, becoming deeply involved in the efforts of The Samaritans, eventually becoming a trainer for that organisation which helps those in despair and distress.
In 2017 Suzannah returned to her first love, writing novels,
The Ghost of Helen Caine
26th May 2019
‘The Ghost of Helen Caine’ is a study of familial love, the impact of loss, the frailty and strength of humanity, and how, even stretched over time and from one world to another, the bonds of love will always hold fast and true.
Love is like heaven but it can hurt like hell.
26th May 2019
When tragedy, jealousy and depression engulf a family the struggle to rebuild begins. Together they draw strength from the unifying power of love for a newborn baby. Will it be enough?
Happiness is homemade.
Dottie is a little old lady, she lives in London. Walking through an underpass she stops and talks to a young man, down on his luck, a rough sleeper. What he doesn’t know is that she has seen him before, has been watching him. She offers him a hotel room and food and a week later invites him into her home.
Love and kindness are never wasted
The Devil's Cup
To be available as a download in July
The Devil's Cup was first released in 2006 and is now available for the first time as a download.
Donna is thrilled when her husband, Simon, receives the gift of a lifetime. But people like Simon are not given such windfalls for no apparent reason. Simon knows that there is something sinister behind the gift and he is drawn deeper and deeper into a web of lies and deceit as he tries to protect Donna from the truth.
Revenge can be very twisted.
This story will carry you at a breakneck speed from the very first page to the last and a shocking conclusion.
You done me wrong,
your time is up,
you took a sip
from the devil's cup
Reviews from readers
Receiving reviews from readers is gratifying, firstly because you have read what I have written and secondly because you have shared your response to the story. I am always humbled that anyone would take that time and appreciate it very much. Thank you for your support and kindness. Suzannah.
It was easy to cry because Suzannah had painted the most wonderful word picture that my mind easily ran the whole film and I felt the full force of all the emotions.
Thérese - London
Suzannah Zerfahs is an exceptional story teller. She grabs your attention from the first page and keeps it. You will cry, you will smile and you WILL NOT want to put it down.
RP - Florida USA
You've got to care to be held in a story. This is Suzannah's gift, to tell a gripping, emotional tale that makes you care. It's rare and it's a good thing. Have a box of tissues on standby.
Stephanie - UK
Get in touch with me for more information about my previous publications and upcoming releases.


Film - Art - Books
My son (7) and I just finished Ninja Timmy, and he loved it. When will book 2 be released in the US?
Hi, forgive the late reply! I am in talks with Random House now about when the next book might be released. Soon, I hope.
My son 19 (high functioning autistic) loved Ninja Timmy. He loves the illustrations as well. He is so excited to get book two and three. I can't find them in the U.S. I do pray that they will be available soon. Thank you for the joy you bring.Kristie G.
Thanks! I'm so glad your son loves Timmy! I'm hoping books 2 and 3 will be available in the US soon!
Any word on when the rest of the series will be available in English? We have book one at the library and would like to add the rest of the series.Alisa Burch
WOW! I Love it...and i thing thats good for you >> HEALTHY TIPS Thank you!
My autistic son is obsessed with Ninja Timmy and went as him in 2019 for Halloween. We would love the other books in English! Any chance they will be released soon or do we need to start a letter writing campaign to the publishers? Cause we will if we have too.


Dr. Adolfo Roitman
Dr. Adolfo Roitman is Lizbeth and George Krupp Curator of the Dead Sea Scrolls and Head of the Shrine of the Book in the Israel Museum, Jerusalem. MA in Anthropology (cum laude, University of Buenos Aires, 1980); MA in Comparative Religions (cum laude, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 1985); and PhD in Ancient Jewish Thought and Literature (The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 1993). He is the author of numerous books about the Dead Sea Scrolls and Ancient Judaism, including The Sectarians from Qumran: Daily Life of the Essenes (Barcelona: Ediciones Martínez Roca, 2000, in Spanish)|; A Day at Qumran: The Dead Sea Sect and Its Scrolls (Jerusalem: The Israel Museum, 1997); Envisioning the Temple. Scrolls, Stones and Symbols (The Israel Museum: Jerusalem, 2003). He lectures widely on early Jewish literature, the history and significance of the Dead Sea Scrolls and biblical interpretation, and has served as a visiting scholar at universities across the United States, Central and South America. Dr. Roitman is the Moriah Center´s academic advisor.


“I’m asking you to control his desires, to be the zapper of his zipper, the oil in his motor, the cable of his printer, the laces of his shoes.”
A STORY OF LOVE, FOOD AND ITS EXTREMITIES
From Porcupine with the nuts of wild mangoes to Boa in banana leaves, a devoted Aissatou is hell bent on cooking her way to the heart of the man—Bolobolo— she loves. Mr Bolobolo is a man from Mali who lives with his mother whom ‘is losing her marbles’ and her beloved pet chicken. She starts cooking and sending the meals to Bolobolo. At first, he hesitates, but later finds himself deep in the plate of whatever meal Aissatou has cooked. Bolobolo succumbs to the powerful force of good food and enters relationship with her. However, in this case, the age-long saying that the way to a man’s heart is his stomach loses credibility. Although it does a part of the job and wonderful things to a man’s palate and stomach, the heroine comes to the realization that food isn’t enough to keep a man.
This is an ultra-modern rom-com (a fusion of romance and comedy) story set in Paris. Beyala’s writing style in showing us the different dimensions of the human mind is noteworthy. She makes use of the first person point of view, thereby making the story very relatable and personal. You feel the heat Aissatou is feeling, preparing her meals and how eager she is in getting Mr Bolobolo. In addition, using satire the author dabs into other issues such as racism, identity and sexism amongst others.
This book will make you hungry. Beyala accompanies every chapter with mouth-watering recipes. The use of vivid graphic imagery by the author is excellent and this way the reader does not feel alienated.
“Food is the stuff of life, the same as life. Today it makes for more unity than justice. It’s maybe the only thing that will bring peace and reconciliation to humankind.”
So, can one really cook one’s husband the African way or any other way? Is it feasible? The answer to those questions is what Beyala has tried to trash out in her book.
The book is significant in many ways. First, it brings out the magical power of food. The author has successfully lectured us on how food can soften a man’s heart. From start to finish, we witness Aissatou winning all her battles with different kinds of meals.
“Because to be white you’ve got to be thin… A beautiful woman is flat as a pancake, thin as a rake or a slice of Melba toast. Melba toast snaps easily. Circle crackle. I measure my life by my waist” Continue reading


With its collaboration with the California Campus Library, yahoo is trying to digitise as many books as possible from the public domain. This helps people from all over the world to refer books and even download them from their iPods. This new method gives an edge to Yahoo when compared to Google. It is a known fact that Google has come under fire for showcasing some excerpts from copy right books, google argues that it is well within law to quote certain lines with adequate reference to source. Well Yahoo does not want to get into bad publicity as Google and has decided to digitise only books available on the public domain, and for those copy right protected books, after getting the proper consent from the people who hold the copy right laws.
So far so good, Yahoo has now an edge over Google and also it has brought about a new revolution by bringing books to internet, which is all the more easy for many academicians and students, and also the general public to browse the book at the comfort and peace of their home.
Source: http://www.cnet news.com


A fellow veteran has published a fantastic book about PTSD and her experience in the military and law enforcement.
Title: Courageously Broken
Description: “Everyone has a story to tell and scars that won’t heal. This is the story of a young, idealistic teen who leaves a small town and abusive father to join the Navy in a refreshingly down to earth memoir of one woman’s journey of self-discovery. She embraces life with passion and courage, from training and partying with Navy SEALs to skydiving and joining the police force, but when tragic events while serving her country led to years of nightmares, depression, and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, she must learn to navigate life through the heartache and tears until the laughter and love return”
There are many who say they support our veterans, but for some, that support equates to donating to a VSO (AMVETS, VFW, AMERICAN LEGION, etc.), while others put in extra effort to make a difference within the veteran community.
If you want to actually support a veteran, pass the word around about her book, buy and read her book and post this information on all of your social media accounts. That helps a veteran in a positive way.
Her site: Courageously Broken can be accessed here (title is linked) or copy/paste: courageouslybroken.com
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Valentine’s Food for Fines Campaign
Reduce your library fines while helping your community with Cape Breton Regional Library’s Valentine’s Food for Fines campaign. From February 1st to February 15th, the library is accepting donations of non-perishable food items for local food banks. For each acceptable food item, existing library overdue fines will be lowered by $2.00 to a maximum of $20.00 per library card. (Please note: Charges for lost or damaged items cannot be reduced through the food for fines campaign.)
Frequently Asked Questions:
What items are most needed by the food banks?
Canned beans, chickpeas, and lentils
Canned meats and fish
Canned vegetables and fruits
Canned evaporated milk
Boxes of cereal
Boxes of tea bags
What items are not accepted?
Food past its best before date
Junk food or food with limited nutritional value
Where and when can my items be dropped off?
Items can be dropped off during open hours at all branches of Cape Breton Regional Library from February 1 to February 14, 2019. Items must be given to a library staff member; please do not leave food donations in library book drops.
Where will items be donated?
Donations will be distributed to several local food banks in Cape Breton and Victoria counties, including:
Glace Bay Food Bank
Loaves and Fishes, Sydney
North of Smokey Food Bank Association, Ingonish
North Sydney Community Food Bank
Helping Hands South of Smokey Society, Baddeck
St. Vincent de Paul Food Bank, New Waterford
Sydney Mines & Area Food Bank
Can I make a monetary donation to the campaign?
We are unable to accept monetary donations for other organizations as part of the campaign. If you wish to make a monetary donation, we encourage you to donate directly to the food bank of your choice.
Can I make a food donation even if I do not have overdue fines?
Yes! Feel free to make a donation regardless of fees.
Can my donation be used to cover fines I might accrue in the future?
Sorry, your donated items can only be applied to existing fines and cannot be used for future credit.
Can my donations be applied to someone else’s fines?
This is the first time CBRL has held a Food for Fines campaign on a system-wide scale, so in an effort to streamline things, patrons can pay their own fines or those of a family member if the other individual is present. The library held a Pay it Forward campaign a little over a year ago in which patrons could donate funds to help others reduce their fines. Several branches still have funds remaining from that initiative to help those in need, thanks to our very thoughtful and generous library patrons.
If you have additional questions, please contact your local library.


This project was to design a book based on a Radiolab podcast. This book was based on the podcast title "Deception." Each book coincides with a different story featured in the podcast. I was inspired by the idea of how liars tend to put on different "masks" and identities in order to conceive and perform a lie. I have this represented through the book jacket, which not only acts as a folder to house the 3 books, but could also be worn as a mask, since it's leather bound. Another theme I explored was glitch art. Glitch art reminded me of how sporadic, unstable, and broken lies can be, especially with pathological liars. I represented this through out all the books, performing various glitch techniques through multiple photos. The text in this book is printed on vellum, so the background images will remain untouched and the text will be easily readible.


You can buy cotton bags and USB keys from the Library Enquiry Desk.
8th February 2017
3rd February 2017
- 20th February 2017, 17:30 to 20:00
Reconstructing Judicial Review
- 21st February 2017, 14:30 to 15:30
Introduction to OSCOLA
- 21st February 2017, 18:00 to 20:00
Non-discrimination on grounds of age: the Charter vis-à-vis the general principle: a tale of two stories?
- 23rd February 2017, 14:00 to 15:00
IALS PhD Masterclass


Add Your Own Game/App Strategies, Tips, Hints and Tricks:
Answer the questions:
The biggest tips & tricks library, search for hack and cheat codes for top mobile games and apps.
About Plants 2019
Plants 2019 Recent Mobile game
Place Plants and Slay Zombies as much as you can.
New Features: Bugs Fixed
Plants 2019 Cheats, Hints, Way to Modify, How to Use & How to Win.
Plants 2019 Hack Online Q&A Codes Promotions, How to get an advantage or check more information.
|Device: 4.1 and up||Content: Plants 2019 hack tricks||Rating:|
|Latest update: 2019-01-14||Downloads: 100-||Type: reviews, guides, tips|
|Size: no data||Title: Plants 2019 cheats from players||Device: Android|
|Author: Sam Tech App||File Name: com.mexatechapp.Plants2019SAMTech||Category: Strategy|
|Added Version: 1.7||Content Rating: Everyone||Game type: Apk|


The exchange meeting on “How to publish in international journals” attracted the participation of young lecturers and researchers from The University of Danang- University of Science and Education.
Prof. Duong Tran Quang shared information on how to publish in international journals at The University of Danang- University of Science and Education
In the meeting, Prof. Duong Tran Quang shared a lot of knowledge on: Scopus database; procedure for publishing an article; the standard structure of an international paper; important factors to have articles published in international journals; Pubmed database, Eric; Cooperation in the publication of research works …
Especially in the Question and Answer session, Prof. Duong Tran Quang received lots of questions and the share of information on the differences in the way of writing an article in Vietnam and that of writing an international article from young lecturers,... Prof. Duong Tran Quang answered questions and confided about experience and his conclusions in the research and publication process.
PhD student Hoang Thi Mai Sa - Lecturer of Faculty of Literature and Linguistics shared: “The exchange meeting has helped lecturers and young researchers have a comprehensive, multi-dimensional perspective on the content, form and operational process of an international article, thereby raising the awareness of the missing aspects to be overcome to create valuable and highly applicable scientific products …”
“Currently, there are not many Vietnamese scientific papers published in prestigious international journals. The cause comes from many aspects such as: language barrier; reference sources ... In my opinion, young lecturers and researchers from The University of Danang- University of Science and Education are dynamic and enthusiastic, and I believe that they will soon have valuable research projects and articles.” Prof. Duong Tran Quang said.


Adventist Book Center Online. Your source of Adventist literature and music.
Teacher Login / Registration : Teachers: If your college or district has purchased print student editions, register now to access the full online version of the book.
How does Al-Anon Work? In Al-Anon, members do not give direction or advice to other members. Instead, they share their personal experiences and stories, and invite
Teen Ink, a national teen magazine, book series, and website devoted entirely to teenage writing, art, photos and forums. Students must be age 13-19 to participate
Trade Books with Our Online Book Swapping Club It’s easy: List books you’d like to swap with other club members. Once a book is requested, mail it to the club member.
Stay up to date when you’re on the go. There’s an app for your smartphone, so you won’t miss a thing! Learn More »
Watch the best HD exclusive movies and videos on Porn Pros. All the hottest new Pornstar and amateur teens in High Definition updated daily.
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Oh baby, it’s cold outside! Here at Teenreads, we know that you need some great movies to keep the chill at bay, especially over the upcoming winter break.
About the Teens’ Top Ten 2016 Teens’ Top Ten announced! (see below!) The Teens’ Top Ten is a “teen choice” list, where teens nominate and choose their favorite books


Literacy - Book Club
Updated: Mar 23, 2020
A new lunchtime Bookclub was set up in the school in November 2019. We meet every two weeks in Room 17. Children from all class levels are welcome to join. At our meetings the children are given a chance to talk about the books they are currently reading and chat about different books and authors that they enjoy. The 5thand 6th class members have been busy writing letters to some Irish children’s authors and we have applied to be part of the Junior Juries Programme for the Children’s Books Ireland awards and hope to hear if we have qualified for this soon.


You are invited to journey with an eccentric and extraordinary family through the Civil War, WWI, the flu epidemic, prohibition and the establishment and loss of their beloved farm, “The Maples”.
THE SOFT WIND WHISPERS, the saga of “The other George and Martha” (Hauser), is told through diaries, scrapbooks, photographs, poetry and letters dating back to the late 1800’s. Martha’s father, steadfastly anti-slavery, is dragged away by the Home Guard during the Civil War. He defies orders and is to be shot, but is saved at the last moment. Many in George’s Indiana farm family contract and die of dysentery. As a result, both families are motivated to move to the unsettled Iowa prairie in the 1860’s, where George and Martha meet and marry. There on The Maples, they rear eight children, including a PRODIGAL and a POET.
Click on Excerpts to read a few selections from the book and on How to Order for order information.
The Maples and the Hausers
The Great Train Wreck
The meanest man west of the Allegheny, Martha's grandfather White and his wife.
The Prodigal The Poet


Mastering Modern Web Penetration Testing this are the best book for the web penetration
Mastering Modern Web Penetration Testing the art of conducting modern pen test attacks and techniques on your web application before committing to a hacker!
Web penetration testing is a growing, fast-moving and absolutely critical area in information security. This book carries out modern web application attacks and uses state-of-the-art hacking techniques with an extended knowledge of web application security.
We will cover web hacking techniques so that you can detect attack vectors during penetration tests. The book includes the latest technologies such as OAuth 2.0, Web API testing method and XML vectors used by hackers. Some less discussed attack vectors such as RPO (relative path overwrite), DOM clobbering, PHP object injection, and so on are included in this book.
We will explain various old school techniques such as XSS, CSRF, SQL Injection through in-depth SQL Spa and Reconnaissance at times.
Nowadays websites provide APIs to allow integration with third party applications, leading to a lot of attack surfaces, we test these APIs using real life examples.
This practical guide will be a great benefit and will help you design a completely secure application.
- This book covers the latest technologies such as Advance XSS, XSRF, SQL Injection, Web API testing, XML attack vectors, OAuth 2.0 Security, and more involved in today’s web applications
- Penetrate and secure your web application using various techniques
- Get this comprehensive reference guide that provides advanced tricks and tools of the trade for seasoned penetration testers
Table of contents


International Building Code 2018 Online. Every new building and even existing buildings must be designed to accommodate handicapped patrons. International building code 2018 (ibc 2018) chapter 1 scope and administration chapter 2 definitions chapter 3 occupancy classification and use chapter 4 special detailed requirements based on occupancy and use chapter 5 general building heights and areas.
Save upto 50% off free shipping cash on delivery! This document provides the foundation for many state and city codes. International building code 2018 (ibc 2018) chapter 1 scope and administration chapter 2 definitions chapter 3 occupancy classification and use chapter 4 special detailed requirements based on occupancy and use chapter 5 general building heights and areas.
For The Most Current Adoptions Details Go To International Code Adoptions.
The existing building code 2018 (iebc 2018) is a model code produced by the international code council (icc). 2018 international building code international code council series. Download 2018 international building code pdf/epub or read online books in mobi ebooks.
The International Building Code Is In Use Or Adopted In 50 States, The District Of Columbia, Guam, Northern Marianas Islands, New York City, The U.s.
This book written by international code council and published by mcgraw hill professional which was released on 13 july 2018 with total pages 992. Use up/down arrow keys to increase or decrease volume. An invaluable companion to the 2018 ibc, it is a must have resource for building officials, architects, engineers, contractors and all building construction professionals.
The Ibc 2018 Combined With Local Jurisdiction Amendments Form The State Codes.
Download 2018 international building code free pdf pdf/epub or read online books in mobi ebooks. This site is like a library, use. Icc digital codes is the largest provider of model codes, custom codes and standards used worldwide to construct safe, sustainable, affordable and resilient structures.
International Building Code 2018 (Ibc 2018) Most Popular Sections Section 1004 Occupant Load Section 1005 Means Of Egress Sizing Section 508 Mixed Use And Occupancy Section 903 Automatic Sprinkler Systems Section 1006 Number Of Exits And Exit Access Doorways Section 1010 Doors, Gates And.
Complete copies of the 2018 international building code as published by the international code council may be obtained from: As a model code, the ibc is intended to be adopted in accordance with the laws and procedures of a governmental. To access printing capabilities, please subscribe to a digital codes premium subscription.
Visit Bookswagon For All Kinds Of Related Books.
Download or read online 2018 international building code illustrated handbook full in pdf, epub and kindle. This publication is a complete spanish translation of the 2018 international building code. Searching for 2018 international building code illustrated handbook books online by douglas thornburg?


Every once in a while, you read a book that changes your life.
It’s hard to believe that 30 years ago, I read Stephen Covey’s The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. I don’t recall how I happened to acquire this book, but I clearly remember sitting down to read it. I could not put it down. Page after page contained morsels of leadership wisdom and truths. These completely resonated with me.
Given the popularity of the book, I am sure many of you have read this. If you haven’t, you should. What are the seven habits? Here they are:
- Be proactive
- Begin with the end in mind
- Put first things first
- Think win-win
- Seek first to understand, then to be understood
- And finally, sharpen the saw
Not two years earlier I had completed my MBA, with a focus on organizational behavior. Given my career progression at the time, I had not been exposed to much of this kind of work. This book changed my life and introduced me to a world of new ideas related to leadership, repairing broken organizations, leading significant transformation, and building successful teams.
No book changed my life, or my career progression, more than did this one. It set the stage for phenomenal career growth and personal satisfaction.
What have you read that has changed your life? Please share in the comments on LinkedIn.
Fueling extraordinary growth through culture,
1Covey, Stephen R. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Restoring the Character Ethic. Simon and Schuster, 1989. Print.


عنوان مقاله [English]
نویسنده [English]چکیده [English]
Toursim is considered as an independent and new discipline in which numerous human scientists are engaged. Tourism is regarded as an industry as well as an academic discipline. The latter focuses on training the required human resource and research. Information Technology and Internet have deeply affected scientific activities. Technical terms such as e-learning, e• business, e-government and e-touirsm indicate these profound effects. Information Technology and Internet have changed the instructional and research activities in academic areas. The purpose of this article is to examine these effects on ten field dimensions.


Clubhouse Library Painting Show September 18-29
September 18 @ 8:00 am - September 29 @ 5:00 pm
Please come be part of the Parkview Hills Clubhouse Library’s Painting Show!
There are many different painting techniques, show us yours!
Drop off your painting and fill out an entry form at the Clubhouse front desk Sept 11-15.
All ages welcome. One painting per person. Relatives also welcome with resident signing form.
Need painting supplies? Pick up at Clubhouse desk.
Please join us for an Artist Reception from 5:30-7:30pm on Friday, Sept 22 at the Clubhouse.
Please pick up your painting Oct 2-4.


The subject of this doctoral thesis is a critical investigation and an evaluation of Machiavelli’s understanding of the political. Claude Lefort was the first to interpret the Florentine thinker as the theorist of the political in the sense of the original dimensionality of society. The mayor topic of his chef-d'oeuvre Le Travail de l'oeuvre Machiavel (1972) is class division as the foundational political principle which sets in motion a spectrum of different types of society. The function of power is the regulation of social division, and a concrete form of society in a given space and time depends on the type of political intervention. This unique reading of Machiavelli was made possible in a fruitful critical dialogue with another important philosophical interpretation of Machiavelli's political texts, that of Leo Strauss, formed in his celebrated book Thoughts on Machiavelli (1958). Lefort and Strauss as readers of Machiavelli's major political works the Prince and the Discourses form the backbone of this dissertation which consists of four chapters.
In the first chapter we investigate some of the key methodological assumptions of Lefort’s and Strauss’s interpretation of the Florentine. Although both readings represent textual approaches to Machiavelli’s political works, we put emphasis on some important methodological differences between them, which in turn lead to essentially different results in their respective analyses of the project Prince-Discourses. The starting point of Lefort’s approach to Machiavelli’s texts is the experience of the People as a class, who are being severely oppressed by the Greats in the Florence of Machiavelli’s time. The goal of Florentine’s specific reading of the history of Rome is to dissolve a dominant representation of Roman Republic. Machiavelli is dedicated to invent such a representation of Rome which could inspire his contemporaries to intervene in the corrupted conjuncture of the Florence that recently led to the collapse of the glorious republic. Lefort argues that the interpretation of the work of thought [oeuvre de pensée] represents a collective reading. The space of the work of thought consists of the original author’s text together with the critical literature which has been developed around it. Others are indispensable for our own reading since they enable us to become more sensible for the multiple subtle signs in the text that direct us towards its hidden message. In turn, our initial certainty about the real subject of the work is radically shaken. According to Lefort, the text of a classical author does not possess one final, objective meaning which the interpreter could decipher in the text. On the contrary, the work of though requires active participation on our
part, an intervention in the text from the position of our own space and time. The work of thought is the space of continuous expansion and movement. Interpretation is an infinitive process.
The Florentine’s art of twofold writing is the result of his hard and courageous project directed towards methodological destruction of the dominant principles which direct thinking about politics and society in his time. Machiavelli’s thought slowly, but decisively, through relentless critical questioning of the prevailing understanding of man, opens up a completely new space of knowledge. On the other hand, Strauss too distinguishes between manifest (exoteric) and hidden (esoteric) part of Machiavelli’s teaching. However, he argues that Machiavelli invented various rhetorical strategies and used them as guidelines for his most attentive readers - philosophers, who are supposed to grasp the true, secret, hidden part of his teaching. Machiavelli is a complete master of the meaning of his work and every word of his text is the result of the most careful consideration. While trying to resolve the tricks and enigmas in his texts, Machiavelli’s best readers in fact start to think in a perverse, Machiavellian manner, as the Florentine corrupts their minds and hearts. The main aim of Machiavelli’s twofold art of writing is to recruit his own troops, who will further communicate his teaching to the masses and fight on his side in the spiritual war against Christianity and classical political philosophy. In the same time, in the secret, esoteric part of the Thoughts on Machiavelli, Strauss himself tends to recruit his own army against Machiavelli’s modern soldiers. It is important to notice that under the mask of an interpreter, Strauss in fact seeks to dethrone Machiavelli and establish himself as a new prince.
In the second chapter we inquire closely into Strauss’s teaching on Machiavelli. Strauss argues that the Florentine is a philosopher. Machiavelli’s philosophical project is initially directed against Christianity and the Church which have made the world cruel, weak and dangerous place. For Machiavelli Christianity is in reality a form of sophisticated rule over men. Through the astute tool of propaganda, in the name of the eternal life and heavenly fatherland and in the form of a non-violent movement, Church won the support of the masses, and it triumphantly reigns over the Earthly world. It is important to notice that Christianity, in at least one important dimension, represents the continuation of classical political philosophy. Christianity takes over the idea of the Good that is exterior to the City, and that City seeks to realize. Starting from the premise of the highest Good, society develops a hierarchy of goals. In republica christiana the highest goal is the salvation of the soul. Political action is severely constrained by the criterion of an absolute, religious morality, which in the same time masks the existence of oppression in society. Machiavelli’s rebellion is directed towards the point of intersection between the Christianity and the Great Tradition: the primacy of morality over politics. Both traditions seek to find the best type of political order starting from the premise of what ought to be, which leads them to imagine pure utopian models which can never be realized in practice. On the other hand, Machiavelli starts his project form the premise of what is in order to produce a useful model for the organisation of political life. Starting from the effectual truth Machiavelli is led to drastically lower the standards of the Classics. The Florentine argues that people as a whole are selfish, and as a result, they are not directed towards society and virtue, but towards realisation of their egoistic interests: acquisition of material goods, honours and glory. Still, they are malleable. The new, lowered standard for human behaviour and action is manifested in political responses to the requirements of the necessity. For Machiavelli the virtue consists of all the actions which can bring effective results in a given situation. Since the beginning of every society requires terror, in order for the new prince to succeed in his project of establishment of a lasting society, he has to learn how not to be good. By postulating the City as self-sufficient entity, Machiavelli completely abandons the idea of the Good above the City, and he inaugurates modern political thought which seeks to entirely master the fortuna. Strauss argues that the Florentine is the first philosopher who openly, in his own name, provided the justification of a truly evil political thinking. The main thread of Strauss’s interpretation of Machiavelli is manifested in the understanding of public good as collective selfishness that is derived from the essential similarity between the desires of the Grandees and the People: both classes are directed towards merciless acquisition. In the framework of Machiavelli’s political texts, the Grandees withhold their primacy. They are granted with the function of the princes in the republic. But as the leading class in the republic, they are driven only by their selfish interests, rather than the moral virtue. Although the desires of the Grandees and the People and similar, their natural characteristics are different. The result of this fortunate combination in the best case is an oligarchic republic which represents Machiavelli’s version of the best regime. It is led by immoral, rapacious but shrewd Grandees, who use the naïve plebs as the instrument for the realization of the highest goal of the best republic: external expansion and the creation of an empire. The enlightened self-interest becomes the only glue of the new, modern society. In the opinion of Strauss, Machiavelli’s modern teaching represents an enormous reduction of the horizons of the Ancients. In the third chapter we are dealing with Lefort’s reading of the project Prince-Disourses. We begin by placing Lefort in the context of the French political though of the last third of the 20th century, and we bring forward a short review of his specific understanding of democracy that is derived primarily from his earlier investigations of Machiavelli’s work of thought. In Lefort’s opinion, Machiavelli’s general teaching is predominantly contained in the following texts: the first book of The Discourses and The Prince. This teaching represents a theoretical framework intended to enable the intervention on the side of the class of the People. In the third book of Discourses we find out that the collapse of Florentine Republic was the result of the exclusion of the People from the equal participation in the City. The problem of the Florentine Republic are the Grandees who took over the institutions of the state. They use public institutions as the instruments for promotion of their particular class interests. In the same time Grandees strategically use an ideological discourse of stability, unity and moderation in order to justify the status quo. They consciously produce a certain mythological, conservative image of Rome, which has an enormous symbolical importance for the Florentines. The prevailing image of Rome is the one of a concordant and peaceful City which in turn delegitimizes the very possibility of the resistance of the People, who are in reality de facto excluded from the City. In order to intervene in the Florence of his time, Machiavelli recreates and rediscovers Rome. The new Rome that he finds is a dynamic society which accepts and affirms class conflict. The Florentine puts the conflict of the Grandees and the People in the centre of every City as the source of its strength, laws and freedom. Class conflict is presented as the universal characteristics of all societies, ancient or modern, since in every society there are two classes which are defined through the relation of their antagonistic and equally insatiable desires: while the Grandees want to oppress, dominate and master the People, the People simply do not want to be oppressed by the Grandees. Their desires are essentially different: while the Grandees desire to acquire/to have, the People desire to be/to survive. The very nature of the class conflict is such that it can never be resolved. The society can never be entirely reduced to the unity Lefort grants Machiavelli with the discovery of the original social division and proclaims the Florentine as the inventor of the new political ontology. Machiavelli offers a new definition of political problem since the foundational principle of any form of society is the original social division. The two forms of government, the principality and the republic, represent different answers to the same problem of class division. In the eyes of Lefort, Machiavelli is a theorist of the political: the Florentine is concerned with the investigation of the possibilities of ways of constituting a strong and potent society which is founded on the irresolvable division of
desires. The political order which seeks to achieve durability and maximal stamina must win the support of the People. Machiavelli’s nuovi modi e ordini signify a state based on the desire of the People not to be oppressed and commanded by the Grandees. The class of the People is the true guardian of the liberty of society and it is a source of its strength. In this sense Machiavelli’s teaching brings forward an authentic theory of democracy. Founding the state on the People does not mean a mere promotion of one-sided class politics, but on the contrary, it secures the space for the Grandees as well. The Grandees remain, but their domination is restricted. Symbolic dimension of politics is of the utmost importance for the very possibility of the success of the prince. The class of the People is capable of imagining the possibility of another, different reality, if the prince is virtuous enough to produce a right image which can inspire the plebs. This image is only partly an illusion, and it has to be connected with the desire of the People for freedom, since only in this case it can potentially limit the domination of the Grandees, lead to partial emancipation of the People and eventually result in the foundation of a powerful, democratic republic. Although in a situation of an extensive corruption of the society the only solution is represented in the figure of the prince, Lefort seeks to show that Machiavelli generally prefers republics over principalities, since the desire of the plebs in republics is more alive and more vibrant which in turn, from the standpoint of the society as a whole, enables a wider political project. Starting from the perspective of the original social division, Lefort is lead to a specific understanding of relation between internal (class) and external politics in Machiavelli, which forms the key part of the second book of the Discourses. In opposition to Strauss, Lefort convincingly argues that the appropriately arranged internal politics, founded on the desire of the People, cannot lead to the predominance of an aggressive, expansionistic external politics, since the contingency which is derived from the original social conflict can never be entirely supervened. Behind the attempt to reduce the desire of the People to the desire for domination, we are invited to recognize a fatal trap designed by the Greats which aims at equalization of two desires. The idea of empire which seeks to abolish external contingency, is foreign to the very nature of Machiavelli’s political teaching.
The eventual corruption of the republic stems from the inappropriate regulation of the class conflict. If the appetites of the Grandees for the acquisition are not timely limited, the republic displays its tyrannical face, and in this case the People can be reduced to their most dangerous, caricatural figure, led by pure envy and hatred towards Grandees. If the functioning of the republic is no more directed towards protection of the week and the oppressed, the conspiracy against the fatherland becomes legitimate. Lefort argues that Machiavelli’s pact with the young and their preparation for conspiracy is directed towards the recovery of free way of life. Conspiracy can develop its full potential only if it is conducted on the assumption of the appropriate knowledge of the real nature of every society as essentially political, which forms the context for the appropriate interpretation of the third book of the Discourses.
In the forth chapter we analyse the advantages of Lefort’s interpretation of Machiavelli in relation to the analysis conducted by Strauss. The difference in their respective understanding of the relation of the internal and external politics in the thought of the Florentine is itself derived from the key innovation of Lefort’s reading relating to the discovery of Machiavelli’s twofold revolution in the theory of desire. Similarly to Strauss, Lefort recognizes Machiavelli’s novel understanding of the desire of the Grandees. Because of the fear of losing what they already posses, Grandees necessarily want more. In opposition to the understanding of Tradition, their desire is not to keep and preserve, but to have more and to acquire. In distinction to Strauss, this finding brings Lefort to highlight the novel understanding of the desire of the People in Machiavelli. Lefort argues that in the eyes of the Florentine, the desire of the People, which was previously mistakenly condemned as the pure aggression against the order and unconstrained appetite directed towards acquisition, is in fact a defensive, negatively directed desire not to be oppressed and commanded by the Grandees. Machiavelli’s teaching is not reducible to the violent and unrestrained demolition of the Great Tradition as Strauss reasons, since the Florentine is offering a completely novel understanding of the Whole which is irretrievably divided by the class conflict. Although the conflict itself is irresolvable, it is still suitable for regulation, and this is the task of political power. Therefore, Machiavelli does not intend to corrupt his young readers with the evil teaching by simply lowering the standards of the Great Tradition. He is opening them towards a completely new knowledge. The power is essentially depended on the division since it derives its meaning and its life from the division itself. However, in the same time power is not helpless, and if it is in the possession of the right kind of knowledge about the nature of the classes engaged in the conflict, it can take the advantage of the potential which is already inscribed in the division. Under the presumption of a prudent, thinking politics, political authority can intervene in the class conflict and create a strong society. Political instance is invited to recognise its
interrelation with the desire of the People. Machiavelli’s teaching contains an authentic theory of democracy.
Symbolic dimension of politics is vital for the very possibility of the existence of society founded upon division. The empty place of power formed in the two-step project Prince-Discourses, which to an important extent corresponds to Machiavelli’s understanding of the state, performs a foundational function since it maintains the difference between the real and the symbolic, and enables the society to continuously reproduce itself, avoiding its dangerous closure in the immanent. In the eyes of Strauss Machiavelli is a philosopher who tends to abolish the philosophy itself, since the philosophy is entirely directed towards practical mastering of the nature by reason. On the other hand, in the opinion of Lefort, Machiavelli is a political theorist who discovered a new political ontology stemming from the irresolvable class conflict. Therefore, politics cannot be reduced to a technique of mastering the fortune. In the same time, from Lefort’s perspective, Machiavelli’s teaching is not by any means reducible to an abstract philosophism. The very nature of the modern society of division requires primarily directing our attention to practical, political responses to the requirements of conjecture and events which are derived from the original social division. In the framework of Machiavelli’s system of thought political theory becomes prima philosophia.
In the second part of the fourth chapter we indicate some possible implications of Machiavelli’s teaching for contemporary theories of recognition, as well as for the existing social and political movements striving for due recognition, especially the LGBTQ movement. We find a strong support for such a reinterpretation of the Florentine in his understanding of the political founded on his innovation in the theory of desire. The desire of the People and their continuous resistance against the domination and the oppression of the Grandees can be interpreted in positive terms as the struggle for recognition. However, the function of the prince is to prevent the assimilation and the neutralisation of the desire of the People and its reduction under the framework of the dominant political and social order. The prince is invited to produce an image which will enable an innovative reflection of the Grandees and the plebs. This image is intended to enable the development of class-consciousness for each of the two classes. It is decisive that the members of the People, with the support of the prince, develop their authentic and irreducible selves, since the production of a powerful and vigorous society is directly dependent on it. Starting from Lefort’s methodological premises, and building further on the results of his investigation of Machiavelli’s political texts, in the framework of this dissertation the Florentine is transformed into a theorist with a queer face.


Why cell church? Is it because David Cho's church is a cell church and happens to be the largest church in the history of Christianity? Is it because cell church is the strategy that many "great" churches are using?
Ralph Neighbour repeatedly says, “Theology must breed methodology.”Joel Comiskey has arrived at the same conclusion. Biblical truth is the only firm foundation for anything we do. Without a biblical base, we don’t have a strong under-pinning upon which we can hang our ministry and philosophy. We can plod through most anything when we know that God is stirring us to behave biblically.
In the first section of this book, Comiskey establishes why the Bible is the only true foundation for small group ministry. He then looks at how the Trinity is our example for community. He covers the family in the Old Testament and how the most prominent image of the church is God's family. He then explore how Jesus called out a new family and utilized houses to establish this new family.
In section two, Comiskey explains why and how the early church met in homes and gathered those house churches together to celebrate. He discusses relational evangelism, and how leaders developed naturally through the house church strategy.
In the third section, the author applies the theology of the first two sections to the church today, attempting to give practical examples about how the New Testament Church can inform and instruct the 21st Century Church today.
To read the table of contents and two chapters of the book, go here: http://www.joelcomiskeygroup.com/biblicalFoundations.html
What others are saying about this book:
"This passionate appeal for the rediscovery of the dynamics of the early church… begins with an unimpeachable Trinitarian theological grounding for the definition of the church. It continues with a careful consideration of the historical and cultural factors that contributed to the shaping of its life and worship, and it culminates with pertinent advice for the transposition of the author's fi ndings to the contemporary church scene. Required reading for pastors and other leaders of static, moribund and/or dysfunctional congregations."
—Gilbert Bilezikian, Professor emeritus, Wheaton College, Willow Creek Church
"Joel Comiskey effectively draws upon the skills of a careful interpreter, the heart of a pastor, and a background in cross-cultural missions to craft this thoughtful and informative treatment of cell-group ministry. An attentive reading of Biblical Foundations for the Cell-Based Church will challenge—in the most positive sense of the word—traditional church models and approaches to ministry driven by consumer-oriented pragmatism. I warmly commend Joel's book to pastors and others who long to enjoy the kind of relationships experienced by the early Christians, and who wish to base their understanding of community on the theological bedrock of biblical truth."
—Joe Hellerman, Ph.D., Professor of NT Language and Literature, Talbot School of
Theology, Team Pastor at Oceanside Christian Fellowship
"This book is a biblical, theological, and practical study of families, households,
and house/cell churches in the New Testament."
—Arthur G. Patzia, PhD, Senior Professor of New Testament, Fuller Theological
Seminary and author of The Emergence of the Church


Japanese Title: 女面
Author: Enchi Fumiko (円地文子)
Translator: Juliet Winters Carpenter
Publication Year: 1983 (America); 1958 (Japan)
If there is such a thing as the perfect Japanese novel, Masks is it. First of all, it has been translated by Juliet Winters Carpenter, one of the most prolific and eloquent translators of Japanese literature alive today. Carpenter has translated everything from Tawara Machi’s groundbreaking collection of tanka poetry, Salad Anniversary (Sarada Kinenbi 1987) to Asa Nonami’s hard-boiled police thriller The Hunter (Kohoeru Kiba 1996). My advice to all lovers of Japanese literature would be: if Juliet Winters Carpenter has translated it, you need to read it!
As for the author herself, Enchi Fumiko is a well-regarded writer of literary fiction in Japan. Her father was a scholar of classical Japanese literature, and she grew up reading the books in his library. In fact, her given name, Fumiko, means “child of letters” or “child of literature.” When she grew up, she undertook the translation of many of the Japanese classics, including the monumental Heian period romance novel The Tale of Genji. She is famous for incorporating her classical background into her own fiction, which was highly praised by writers like Tanizaki Junichirō and Mishima Yukio.
I myself am a big fan of Enchi’s work because of her tightly-woven yet highly allusive plots and masterful use of symbolism. An Enchi novel is like a structuralist literary critic’s dream come true. There is so much, so much packed within each of her novels and stories, and no single interpretation that can be given to any of them. Enchi is an intellectual author of the highest magnitude, yet also possesses the ability to imbue her fiction with great emotional weight. Not only will Enchi’s novels make you think, but they will also make you laugh in desperation and pump your fist with a sense of well-deserved victory.
Although Enchi is primarily known in Japan for her 1971 novel Onnazaka, for which she won the prestigious Akutagawa Prize (this novel has been translated into English by John Bester under the title “The Waiting Years”), I tend to prefer Masks. Although its title refers to the masks of Noh drama, particularly the “madwoman” masks, which lend their names to the novel’s chapter titles, the novel draws the majority of its themes and allusions from the aforementioned Tale of Genji. The parallels Enchi draws between The Tale of Genji and the world of her novel are numerous and quite interesting. Not only does she draw distinct parallels between her characters and the characters of the Heian romance, but she also makes use of such classic “Genji” themes as spirit possession and substitution to subvert the patriarchal and misogynistic society that holds sway in the worlds of both novels.
Although Masks is primarily narrated from the point of view of a male college professor named Ibuki, who is cast in the role of Genji, its true hero is an older woman named Mieko, a powerful Lady Rokujō-like figure with a painful past and mysterious intentions. As Mieko’s protégée, Yasuko, explains to Ibuki,
“Believe me, she is a woman of far greater complexity than you – or anyone – realize. The secrets inside her mind are like flowers in a garden at nighttime, filling the darkness with perfume. Oh, she has extraordinary charm. Next to that secret charm of hers, her talent as a poet is really only a sort of costume.”
The novel centers around Mieko’s attempt to use this “secret charm” of hers in order to set into motion a deep and complex scheme of revenge, creation, and rebirth. I don’t want to give away the ending, but everything about Mieko and her plan is beautiful, terrible, and thought-provoking. I would say that this novel is perhaps the best introduction to Japanese literature, and more specifically Japanese women’s literature, ever published. If you can find a copy of this novel, buy it! No matter where your literary interests lie, this is a novel you need to read.


Library materials can only be borrowed on the basis of a valid library card. Books can be borrowed on every floor at service desks with the help of a librarian. Self Check-out device can be used on 2nd and 3rd floor to borrow books independently.
Additional materials, which belong to the book can be borrowed from the service desks via librarian.
To order books from the storage, you need to fill out the call slip and give it to the Service Centre on the 2nd floor.
Books can be returned to any service desk on any floor or to the Self Check-in device located next to the Cloakroom on the 1st floor.
There is a special collection of textbooks on the 3rd floor. The books are placed on the shelves so that same subjects are nearby.
Only members of TalTech can borrow books from the 3rd floor textbooks collection.
Upon graduation from TalTech or leaving employment at TalTech all borrowed library materials are to be returned to the library.


St. John’s was consecrated on 24 October 1866 and in 2016 celebrated its 150th anniversary of the founding of this church. These materials are being made available as part of the 150th Anniversary celebrations.
ST. JOHN’S 150th ANNIVERSARY
150th Anniversary Church Archives:
Guild of St. Raphael trip to Belper
Some materials are pdf files and will open in a new window.


Two community leaders, the Owatonna Public Library and the Owatonna Art Center (OAC) are working in partnership to sponsor the next leg in the traveling art exhibit, easel – Experience Art at Southeastern Libraries. From July 20 to August, 31, easel will be on display at the Owatonna Art Center. SELCO staff member, Sara Berquam, and SEMVA Board Member, Betty Devine, installed easel at the OAC on July 20. This collection of works depicts the artistic interpretation of a literary theme and features artists from the 11-souteastern counties. For more photos of easel at the Owatonna Arts Center, click here.
The Owatonna Arts Center (OAC) is nestled on the West Hills campus in an 1887 Romanesque-style building. The OAC displays works by local and regional artists, as well as monthly rotating exhibits of regional artists and traveling shows. A variety of cultural events are also held at the OAC ranging from art classes to band concerts and orchestra performances. While easel is on display in one gallery, the OAC is also featuring watercolor artist, Mick Benson. Among Benson’s favorite things to paint are landscapes, floral, raptors, and buildings that reflect historical character. Benson’s display is entitled “The Equine Spirit” which captures one of the artist’s favorite subjects, abandoned farm steeds.
easel is presented in cooperation with SEMVA – Southeastern Minnesota Visual Artists.
easel is funded in part or in whole with money from Minnesota’s Arts and Cultural Heritage fund through a Library Legacy grant to SELCO from the Minnesota Legislature for Library Legacy programs and services.