War and Social Change in Modern Europe: The Great Transformation Revisited

Book Description

Sandra Halperin traces the persistence of traditional class structures in the course of the development of industrial capitalism in Europe and the way the structures influenced state behavior and generated conflict. Halperin focuses on the interrelationship of social forces, industrial expansion, and conflict in Europe between 1789 and 1944 (in part through a critique of Karl Polanyi's The Great Transformation (1944)). Her account of the period challenges not only Polanyi's analysis, but a variety of influential perspectives on nationalism, development, conflict, international systems change, and globalization.

War and Social Change in Modern Europe : The Great Transformation Revisited

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War and Social Change in Modern Europe : The Great Transformation Revisited
Sandra Halperin
Manufacturer: NY
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000MUCA0G

Book Description

Cybercrime: The Investigation, Prosecution and Defense of a Computer-Related Crime is a legal workbook for anyone involved in the rapidly developing area of cybercrimes. It comprehensively covers determining what conduct is considered a cybercrime, investigating improper cyber conduct, trying a cybercrime case as a prosecuting or defending attorney, and handling the international aspects of cybercrimes.

Editor Ralph Clifford includes the contributions of four authors chosen for their proficiency and experience in cybercrime cases. Professor Susan Brenner is a nationally recognized expert in computer-based criminal conduct. Prosecuting attorney Ivan Orton has investigated and prosecuted numerous cybercrimes for the Seattle, Washington prosecutor's office. Likewise, defense attorney Joseph Savage has defended many individuals accused of cybercrimes. Finally, attorney Jessica Herrera has been involved in the international attempts to address cybercrimes as a member of the Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section of the U.S. Department of Justice. The combined expertise of these authors will give those involved with cybercrimes — whether as attorneys, police officers, or policy makers — the knowledge they will need to be effective.

Customer Reviews:

Go Elsewhere!.......2005-04-18

I puchased this book based on a reference in another text and was sorely disappointed. It is made up of four chapters and an introduction. The text is heavily footnoted but, fortunately, they appear at the bottom of the page. The chapter on "Defining Cybercrime" is mainly a rehash of code sections with little in the way of explanation or interpretation. By far, the most interesting chapter is chapter 3 on "The Investigation and Prosecution of a Cybercrime" but I don't find that it justifies the purchase of the book. Definitely look elsewhere!

Book Description

In this new, greatly expanded edition of her bestselling Crofts and Crofting, Katherine Stewart updates the crofting story for the 21st century. Crofting, a particularly Scottish way of managing the land, has evolved into a rich tradition, marked by community spirit, personal warmth, and toughness in the face of adversity. This book is a concise guide to the history, working methods, and future of this unique way of life.

Customer Reviews:

Excellent Read........2005-10-11

Crofts and Crofting by Katherine Stewart is an excellent book which describes what life was, and still is like, living and working on an authentic highland croft. Drawing on her 92 years of experience, Katherine writes with great skill and passion, which makes this a must read book for anyone with an interest in the subject, or just simply an interest in very high quality writing. 5 Stars.

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Crofting
Douglas Willis
Manufacturer: John Donald Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Book Description

Crofting is one of the most famous and distinctive features of Highland life and landscape. This book gives a comprehensive account of the history and development of crofting from earliest times, of the Clearances and struggle for crofting rights, and of crofting in the twentieth century in times of economic difficulty and agricultural hardship.

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CROFTS AND CROFTING.
Katharine. Stewart
Manufacturer: Mercat Press,
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000N7K7TE

Book Description

An analysis of the interactions between pelagic food web processes and element cycling in lakes. While some findings are examined in terms of classical concepts from the ecological theory of predator-prey systems, special emphasis is placed on exploring how stoichiometric relationships between primary producers and herbivores influence the stability and persistence of planktonic food webs. The author develops simple dynamic models of the cycling of mineral nutrients through plankton algae and grazers, and then goes on to explore them both analytically and numerically. The results thus obtained are of great interest to both theoretical and experimental ecologists. Moreover, the models themselves are of immense practical use in the area of lake management.

Book Description

Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity leads to two remarkable predictions: first, that the ultimate destiny of many massive stars is to undergo gravitational collapse and to disappear from view, leaving behind a ‘black hole’ in space; and secondly, that there will exist singularities in space-time itself. These singularities are places where space-time begins or ends, and the presently known laws of physics break down. They will occur inside black holes, and in the past are what might be construed as the beginning of the universe. To show how these predictions arise, the authors discuss the General Theory of Relativity in the large. Starting with a precise formulation of the theory and an account of the necessary background of differential geometry, the significance of space-time curvature is discussed and the global properties of a number of exact solutions of Einstein’s field equations are examined. The theory of the causal structure of a general space-time is developed, and is used to study black holes and to prove a number of theorems establishing the inevitability of singualarities under certain conditions. These conditions are shown to be satisfied in the vicinity of stars of more than twice the solar mass near the endpoint of their nuclear evolution, and in a time-reversed sense for the universe as a whole. In the first case, the singularity in our past. A discussion of the Cauchy problem for General Relativity is also included in the book.

Customer Reviews:

The Large Scale structure of good science books (& spacetime.......2002-02-21

I think that this book has great depth, and is one of the best Stephen Hawking books I have read. My favourite remains 'A Brief History of Time', but still this book is extremely excellent. My compliments to the chef.

A classic in mathematical general relativity.......2002-01-18

This book is now a classic and is written by two giants in mathematics and physics. It wil be used for many years to come and is certainly one of the most widely quoted in the subject.

The authors begin the book by a discussion of the role of gravity in physics and its role as determining the causal structure of the universe. They introduce the idea of a closed trapped surface, setting the stage for the goal of the book, namely the study of the conditions under which a space-time singularity must occur. Black holes and the beginning of the universe are cited as examples of these singularities. The authors also outline briefly the content of each chapter. A neat argument is given for the significance of focal points via the use of Raychaudhari's equation.

The second chapter is an overview of the background in differential geometry needed in the rest of the book. Although complete from an axiomatic point of view, the approach is much too formal for readers who do not have a knowledge of differential geometry. Such a reader should gain the necessary background elsewhere.

General relativity as a theory of gravitation is discussed in chapter 3. Spacetime is assumed to be a connected 4-dimensional smooth manifold on which is defined a Lorentz metric. The topology is assumed to be Hausdorff. Some of the more interesting or well-written parts of this chapter include the example of a spacetime that is not inextendible, the determination of the conformal factor for the spacetime metric, and the discussion of alternative field equations.

The authors discuss the physicial significance of curvature in chapter 4, namely its effect on families of timelike and null curves. The most important part of this chapter is the discussion on certain inequalities tht the energy-momentum tensor should satisfy from a physical viewpoint. These inequalities, called the weak energy condition and the dominant energy condition, allow the authors to prove the existence of singularities in a later chapter. The reader can see clearly the role of the Jacobi equation, and its solution, the Jacobi field, in measuring the separation of nearby geodesics. The existence of conjugate points is proven, and shown to imply the existence of self-intersections in families of geodesics. As a warm-up to showing the non-existence of geodesics of maximal length, the authors employ variational calculus to study how to vary non-spacelike curves connecting points in convex normal neighborhoods in spacetime, and between points and hypersurfaces. In particular, it is shown that a timelike geodesic curve from a hypersurface to a point is maximal iff there is no conjugate point to the hypersurface along the curve. In addition, the authors prove that two points joined by a non-spacelike curve which is not a null geodesic can be joined by a timelike curve.

The authors consider the exact solutions of the Einstein field equations in chapter 5. Most of the "usual" spacetimes are considered, including Minkowski, De Sitter, Anti-de-Sitter, Robertson-Walker, Schwarzschild, Reissner-Nordstrom, Kerr, Taub-Nut, and Godel. The emphasis in on the global properties of the spacetimes and the existence of singularities in them. The famous Penrose diagrams are used to "compactify" spacetimes in order to study their behavior at infinity and their conformal properties. The authors first introduce the concept of a future (past) Cauchy development here, so important in later developments in the book. The reader can see the tools developed in chapter 4 in play here; for example, the existence of a singularity in a spatially homogeneous cosmology is shown to follow directly from the Raychaudhuri equation. The existence of the singularity is proved to be independent of any acceleration or rotation of matter in such cosmologies.

In chapter 5, the authors consider the causal structure of spacetime, namely the study of its conformal geometry. The consideration of the set of all metrics conformal to the physical metric allows one to discuss "geodesic completeness" of spacetime, this concept forming the basis of a later definition of a singularity in spacetime. The more interesting topics discussed in this chapter include the causality conditions (there are no closed non-spacelike curves), and the Alexandrov topology and its connection with the strong causality condition (every neighborhood of a point contains a neighborhood of the point no non-separable curve of which intersects it more than once). When strong causality does hold, the Alexandrov topology is equivalent to the usual manifold topology, and thus the topology of spacetime can be determined by the observation of causal relationships. The discussion on the role of global hyperbolicity in showing the existence of a maximal geodesic is also very well-written.

The next chapter is pretty much independent of the rest, and was put in no doubt for the mathematician who desires to understand the Einstein equations as a set of nonlinear second-order hyperbolic partial differential equations with initial data on a 3-dimensional manifold, the famous Cauchy problem in general relativity.

Chapter 8 is the most important in the book, for its uses the constructions of earlier chapters to define the notion of a singularity in spacetime. The authors argue that singularities are points where physical laws break down and thus to characterize them one attempts to find out whether any such points have been removed, making spacetime "incomplete" in some sense. Such a notion of incompleteness is very meaningful in topological spaces with a positive definite metric, since in that case one can define completeness in terms of the convergence of Cauchy sequences. In spacetimes with a Lorentz metric, the authors discuss the notion of geodesic completeness for null and timelike geodesics. A very detailed treatment of the now famous singularity theorems is given, these theorems involving an inequality of the Ricci tensor. The last two chapters of the book are more physical in nature wherein the singularity problem is shown to have physical relevance via the occurence of black holes at the endpoint of evolution of massive stars.

A wonderful, foundational work of mathematical physics........2000-04-26

The early seventies saw a revolution in cosmology; for the first time, modern mathematical methods were applied to the discipline, with intriguing results. This book was (along with Penrose's articles) the seminal work in global general relativity. Often overlooked is that the first half of Hawking & Ellis is devoted to traditional GR via the tensor calculus, and the q-form conception. However, trying to learn GR with this volume is not recommended (instead, cf. D'Inverno). The meat-and-potatoes of the book is the discussion of gravitational collapse, and the singularity theorems. They provide us with intuitively good reasons for believing in some very strange phenomenon. If you're interested in the frontiers of modern science, and have the appropriate mathematical background, this book cannot be recommended too highly. The little yellow book stands supreme in the hierarchy of works of modern physics.

Suitable only for mathematicians.......1999-10-21

Don't be mislead by Hawking's popular works, this is a book by a mathematician written for mathematicians. Unless you studied mathematics to at least graduate level (you need to understand vector calculus, vector spaces and tensors to get anywhere) you are unlikely to get much from this book. Even then to read it at anything other than the most superficial level is very hard work. However even at the superficial level it gives one insights into some interesting aspects of general relativity.

The best book on modern General Relativity.......1998-07-18

This book of Stephen Hawking is the more elegant one on modern General Relativity and is my favorite book. It covers in brilliant form the gravitational collapse of a star, the theory of black holes, the space-time singularities, the causal structure of space-time, and in its end the initial singularity of the universe, popularly known as the Big Bang. The book is highly mathematical, and is pressuposed that the reader have studied basic abstract algebra and point set topology. But, for the readers highly interested in these subjects(as I am), this is not a obstacle. All theoretical physicists interested in modern General Relativity should have this book, a testimony of the Genius of Stephen Hawking. Definitively, a magnific book.

Cosmological Special Relativity: The Large Scale Structure of Space, Time and Velocity

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Cosmological Special Relativity: The Large Scale Structure of Space, Time and Velocity
Moshe Carmeli
Manufacturer: World Scientific Publishing Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Book Description

This book presents Einstein's theory of space and time in detail, and describes the large-scale structure of space, time and velocity as a new cosmological special relativity. A cosmological Lorentz-like transformation, which relates events at different cosmic times, is derived and applied. A new law of addition of cosmic times is obtained, and the inflation of the space at the early universe is derived, both from the cosmological transformation. The relationship between cosmic velocity, acceleration and distances is given. In the appendices gravitation is added in the form of a cosmological general relativity theory and a five-dimensional unified theory of space, time and velocity. This book is of interest to cosmologists, astrophysicists, theoretical physicists, mathematical physicists and mathematicians.

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The Large Scale Structure of Space-Time
Hawking S W & Ellis G F R
Manufacturer: Cambridge
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000KHHQKK

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The Large Scale Structure of Space-Time
S W Hawking
Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000J38ODS

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The Large Scale Structure of Space-Time
S. W. and G. F. R. Ellis Hawking
Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000TK0Q2S

Book Description

Stephen Sondheim is arguably the most important writer for the American musical stage today, the equivalent in his field of Miller, Albee, O'Neill, and Williams. Yet he has rarely been treated seriously within the academy. Reading Stephen Sondheim: A Collection of Critical Essays is an attempt to remedy that situation. Bringing together scholars and critics from a wide variety of literary and theoretical perspectives, this book undertakes to examine all of Sondheim's major productions and themes.

Customer Reviews:

not really worth getting.......2001-10-19

not bad, but not as entertaining as sondheim: a casebook. some of the analyses were quite obtuse (e.g. the lacanian analysis of sweeney todd and the argument that passion is about sondheim's relationship with his mother). i thought one of the more interesting essays was the first one about passion, but there weren't many others that were particularly relevant or insightful.

"INTO THE WORDS".......2000-06-01

Being but another worshipper at the alter of Stephen Sondheim, I was eager to read anything about him which went beyond your typical stage review.

This book was given to me as a gift and I eagerly opened it hoping to find hidden treasure about Sondheim and his work.

The book was not quite what I expected and at the same time EXACTLY what I expected. What Goodhart promises in the introduction, he delivers - a serious delving into the works of Sondheim, treating his musicals as literature. What I didn't expect was just how thoroughly the writers (Goodhart employs several essayists) would analyze character and plot.

One essay that comes to mind is one written on "Sweeney Todd." I really thought I knew as much as there was to know about this masterwork - WRONG. The essayist gives great detail into the psychological make-up of these characters...much more information that a layman or actor like myself can begin to understand. At times the analysis was clinical I had to back up and re-read the passage to get a grasp on what was being explored.

I've decided that the book will provide a wonderful reference to keep on my shelf for my own work on Sondheim musicals, but for simple pleasure reading, this book may not be appropriate unless you have your PHD.

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