Synopses & Reviews
A groundbreaking new book,
Still the Same Hawk: Reflections on Nature and New York brings into conversation diverse and intriguing perspectives on the relationship between nature and America's most prominent city. The volume's title derives from a telling observation in Robert Sullivan's contribution that considers how a hawk in
the city is perceived so much differently from a hawk in the countryside.
Yet it's still the same hawk.
How can a hawk nesting above Fifth Avenue become a citywide phenomenon? Or a sudden butterfly migration at Coney Island energize the community? Why does the presence of a community garden or an empty lot ripple so differently through the surrounding neighborhood? Is the city an oasis or a desert for biodiversity? Why does
nature even matter to New Yorkers, who choose to live in the concrete jungle?
Still the Same Hawk examines these questions with a rich mix of creative nonfiction that ranges from analytical to anecdotal and humorous. John Waldman's sharp, well-crafted introduction presenting dualism as the defining quality of urban nature is followed by compelling contributions from Besty McCully, Christopher Meier, Tony Hiss, Kelly McMasters, Dara Ross, William Kornblum, Phillip Lopate, David Rosane, Robert Sullivan, Anne Matthews, Devin Zuber, and Frederick Buell. Together these pieces capture a wide range of viewpoints, including the myriad and shifting ways New Yorkers experience and consider the outdoors, the historical role of nature in shaping New York's development, what natural attributes contribute to New York's regional identity, the many environmental tradeoffs made by urbanization, and even nature's dark side where "urban legends" flourish.
Still the Same Hawk intermingles elements of natural history, urban ecology, and environmental politics, providing fresh insights into nature and the urban environment on one of the world's great stages for the clash of these seemingly disparate realms--New York City.
Review
"Still the Same Hawk is an eclectic mix of writing ranging from solid academic prose to highly personalized writing with tones ranging from folksy to almost urban contemporary."-Mark Botton, Fordham University
Review
"A timely contribution to the debate on how to guarantee the security of nation states in a world where uncertainty has increased dramatically in the wake of the end of the Cold War....Sauer's ultimate aim is to chart the way forward to a nuclear free world without trying to transit in one single bound; in this regard the book offers original insights into challenges posed by the threat of nuclear weapons proliferation."--Dave Sloggett, King's College, London
"A generation after Ronald Reagan's Strategic Defense Initiative stymied an agreement on nuclear abolition with Mikhail Gorbachev in Reykjavik, Tom Sauer's effort to reopen the debate about missile defence and the elimination of nuclear weapons is timely and thought-provoking, and should be of use to policy-makers worldwide interested in the quest for global zero...this work provides an essential guide to the types of issues and implications that must be considered if the nuclear disarmament agenda is to continue to progress in the years ahead, and if nuclear abolition is to become reality."--International Affairs
"Highly stimulating....Sauer rightly observes that today for the first time the two ideas of nuclear elimination and missile defense seem to be taken seriously by the foreign policy establishment--subjects that are too often analyzed separately but that Sauer investigates simultaneously in an original and thought-provoking way. Among the many merits of this volume, which I would strongly recommend to anyone interested in nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation, is Sauer's successful argument that a world free of nuclear weapons is both desirable and feasible."--Bob van der Zwaan is Senior Scientist at the Energy research Centre of the Netherlands and Columbia University's Lenfest Center for Sustainable Energy
Review
This volume of essays on the US in World War II provides a good balance between the coming of war, the waging of war, and the conflict's aftermath. Little-known sources and original vantage points ensure that anyone interested in this seismic conflict will find something new to ponder.-Peter Schrijvers
Synopsis
The goal of a planet free from nuclear weapons is at last being taken seriously by the foreign policy establishments of the leading powers. For the Obama administration, followed by the British government, leading the world to accept the elimination of nuclear weapons as a realistic political objective is a priority. In a world with new nuclear weapon states like India, Pakistan, North Korea, and in the foreseeable future Iran and others, it is only a matter of time before atomic weapons will be used again, whether in an authorised, unauthorised or accidental way. The ultimate fear--unfortunately a realistic one--is nuclear terrorism, that bleakly forbidding combination of ideology and technology.
At the same time, missile defence seems to have finally made the move from the drawing table to the concrete silo. Even the Democratic administration of President Obama continues to spend nearly $10 billion per annum on missile defense, including land- and sea-based systems to be deployed in and around Europe.
At a certain point in the not too distant future, nuclear elimination and missile defense will either reinforce or weaken each other. Is missile defence a mandatory precondition for arriving at a nuclear weapons--free world, as some claim? Or will missile defence make it more difficult, if not impossible, to reach 'global zero'? This book is the first to systematically compare and analyse both options.
Synopsis
In this compelling book, G. Kurt Piehler and Sidney Pash bring together a collection of essays offering a fresh examination of American participation in the Second World War, including a long overdue reconsideration of such seminal topics as the forces leading the United States to enter World War II, the role of the American military in the Allied victory, and war-time planning for the postwar world, but also tackle new inquiries into life on the home front and America's commemoration of one of the most controversial and climatic events of the war-the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima. In this compelling book, G. Kurt Piehler and Sidney Pash bring together a collection of essays offering a fresh examination of American participation in the Second World War, including a long overdue reconsideration of such seminal topics as the forces leading the United States to enter World War II, the role of the American military in the Allied victory, and war-time planning for the postwar world, but also tackle new inquiries into life on the home front and America's commemoration of one of the most controversial and climatic events of the war-the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima. These outstanding historians cover crucial moments such as:Franklin D. Roosevelt's pivotal, if at times indecisive, role in leading the United StatesThe miscalculation of Japanese intentions by American diplomats and the failure of deterrence in preventing war in the PacificThe experiences and contributions of conscientious objectors to American society in this time of total warThe decision of the United States to fight with an ineffective battle tank at the expense of American livesThe Coast Guard's contribution to the D-Day LandingHow elite foreign policy organizations prior to V-J Day sought to influence American occupation policies regarding Japan With these essays and much more, The United States in the Second World War is sure to prove a classic to World War II buffs.
Synopsis
Magic is a much-used term with a complex and controversial history. As a concept and a practice, it has attracted the attention of theologians, anthropologists, psychologists, sociologists, artists, and historians over the centuries. This Very Short Introduction explains why. Magic has been defined in terms of the false religions of others, as an evolutionary stage in human thought, a universal state of mind, and a liberating expression of the imagination. For hundreds of millions of people today, no matter their religious persuasion, magic is a real force that helps them to overcome misfortune, poverty, and illness. Indeed, with magic as relevant today as it ever was, it raises questions about the meaning of human progress.
Synopsis
The Development of Ethics is a selective historical and critical study of moral philosophy in the Socratic tradition, with special attention to Aristotelian naturalism, its formation, elaboration, criticism, and defence. It discusses the main topics of moral philosophy as they have developed historically, including: the human good, human nature, justice, friendship, and morality; the methods of moral inquiry; the virtues and their connexions; will, freedom, and responsibility; reason and emotion; relativism, subjectivism, and realism; the theological aspect of morality. This volume examines ancient and medieval philosophy up to the sixteenth century; Volumes 2 and 3 will continue the story up to Rawls's
Theory of Justice.
The present volume begins with Socrates, the Cyrenaics and Cynics, and Plato, and then offers a fuller account of Aristotle, stressing the systematic naturalism of his position. The Stoic position is compared with the Aristotelian at some length; Epicureans and Sceptics are discussed more briefly. Chapters on early Christianity and on Augustine introduce a fuller examination of Aquinas' revision, elaboration, and defence of Aristotelian naturalism. The volume closes with an account of some criticisms of the Aristotelian outlook by Scotus, Ockham, Machiavelli, and some sixteenth-century Reformers.
The emphasis of the book is not purely descriptive, narrative, or exegetical, but also philosophical. Irwin discusses the comparative merits of different views, the difficulties that they raise, and how some of the difficulties might be resolved. The book tries to present the leading moral philosophers of the past as participants in a rational discussion that is still being carried on, and tries to help the reader to participate in this discussion.
Synopsis
A distinguished panel of essayists address many key issues in Peirce's thought.
Synopsis
Read and discover all about farms. Read and discover more about the world! This series of non-fiction readers provides interesting and educational content, with activities and project work.
About the Author
Tom Sauer teaches International Politics at the University of Antwerp. He is the author of two books,
Nuclear Arms Control and
Nuclear Inertia: US Nuclear Weapons Policy after the Cold War, has studied at Johns Hopkins University (SAIS) and been a Research Fellow at Harvard University. Professor Sauer is also a member of Pugwash, a lobby group that seeks to reduce armed conflict and to find solutions to global security threats.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction: Bare Nature in the Naked City
John Waldman
2. Monarchs of the Urban Mind
Betsy McCully
3. Welcome to the H2O Region--Your Second Address!
Christopher Meier and Tony Hiss
3. Public Place, Brooklyn
Kelly McMasters
4. Corner Garden
Dara Ross
5. A Land Ethic for the City
William Kornblum
6. Can Naturalists and Urbanists Find Happiness Together?
Phillip Lopate
7. Can You Eat in Soup? Nine Million Ways to Look at a Raccoon--Land an Apple
David Rosane
8. The Dark Side; or, My Time Spent in the Nature That People Would Rather Not Think About
Robert Sullivan
9. The Futures of New York
Anne Matthews
10. Imagination, Beauty, and the Urban Land Ethic: Teaching Environmental Literature in New York City
Devin Zuber
11. Nature in New York: A Brief Cultural History
Frederick Buell
List of Contributors