Soft Weapons

Soft Weapons PDF Author: Gillian Whitlock
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 0226895270
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 259

Book Description
Azar Nafisi’s Reading Lolita in Tehran,Marjane Satrapi’s comics, and “Baghdad Blogger” Salam Pax’s Internet diary are just a few examples of the new face of autobiography in an age of migration, globalization, and terror. But while autobiography and other genres of life writing can help us attend to people whose experiences are frequently unseen and unheard, life narratives can also be easily co-opted into propaganda. In Soft Weapons, Gillian Whitlock explores the dynamism and ubiquity of contemporary life writing about the Middle East and shows how these works have been packaged, promoted, and enlisted in Western controversies. Considering recent autoethnographies of Afghan women, refugee testimony from Middle Eastern war zones, Jean Sasson’s bestsellers about the lives of Arab women, Norma Khouri’s fraudulent memoir Honor Lost, personal accounts by journalists reporting the war in Iraq, Satrapi’s Persepolis, Nafisi’s book, and Pax’s blog, Whitlock explores the contradictions and ambiguities in the rapid commodification of life memoirs. Drawing from the fields of literary and cultural studies, Soft Weapons will be essential reading for scholars of life writing and those interested in the exchange of literary culture between Islam and the West.

Soft Weapons

Soft Weapons PDF Author: Keqin Li
Publisher:
ISBN: 9787119018836
Category : Kung fu
Languages : en
Pages : 214

Book Description

Weapons of Mass Distraction

Weapons of Mass Distraction PDF Author: Matthew Fraser
Publisher: Macmillan
ISBN: 146686544X
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 288

Book Description
In its march to becoming the world's first hyper-power, the United States has been as dependent on its soft power - the allure of American lifestyles and culture - as it has been on the hard power of military might. In Weapons of Mass Distraction, Matthew Fraser examines the role of American pop cultural industries in international affairs. Fraser focuses on the major areas of soft power - movies, television, pop music, and fast food - and traces the origins, history and current influence of these on U.S. foreign policy. He describes how the American film, television, and music industries enjoy a ubiquitous global presence that has made them indispensable to the U.S. government, which has often gone so far as to fund them directly, including the White House-sponsored radio station in the Middle East launched with the hopes of winning over Muslim youths with American pop songs. A Coca-Cola lobbyist once famously declared that "The best barometer of the relationship of the U.S. and any other country is the way Coca-Cola is treated." Fraser proves this claim isn't to be taken lightly. He charts the global spread of the fast food industry, the role of Coca-Cola and McDonald's in American foreign policy and the recent rise of their opponents: the anti-globalization movement. Do things really go better with Coca-Cola? Fraser's answer is a resounding yes. While American soft power remains a contentious issue, he believes it promotes values and beliefs that are ultimately good for the rest of the world. Still, what are the future implications of American soft power? Will national identities decline as the world order is transformed into a state of "electronic feudalism" where there is no central power? Weapons of Mass Distraction provides an engaging, enlightening, and provocative look at the future of American foreign policy and popular culture in the 21st century.

A History of Weapons

A History of Weapons PDF Author: John O'Bryan
Publisher: Chronicle Books
ISBN: 1452124205
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 232

Book Description
“[A] menacingly illustrated book . . . nerdily gushes over the design and use of 130+ historical instruments of combat.” —Thrillist One day a prehistoric guy picked up a rock and threw it at something. And the history of weapons began. Comedy writer and weapon nerd John O’Bryan relays the freaky highlights of man’s centuries-old obsession with weaponry. He hilariously explains the mace, the morning star, and the man catcher, while conveying factual information about each weapon: its history, uses, and badass potential. Looking through history’s highlights, readers will learn about Attila the Hun, Genghis Khan, and the “peaceful” Shaolin monks. This ultimate compendium of awesome weapons delivers all the surprisingly true details sure to impress anybody who’s ever made a gun with their fingers and said, “PEW-PEW-PEW!” “[A] comic breakdown of weaponry.” —Lost in a Supermarket

Weapons of Mass Deception

Weapons of Mass Deception PDF Author: Sheldon Rampton
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 9781585422760
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 260

Book Description
Weapons of Mass Deception reveals: How the Iraq war was sold to the American public through professional P.R. strategies. "The First Casualty": Lies that were told related to the Iraq war. Euphemisms and jargon related to the Iraq war, e.g. "shock and awe," "Operation Iraqi Freedom," "axis of evil," "coalition of the willing," etc. "War as Opportunity": How the war on terrorism and the war on Iraq have been used as marketing hooks to sell products and policies that have nothing to do with fighting terrorism. "Brand America": The efforts of Charlotte Beers and other U.S. propaganda campaigns designed to win hearts overseas. "The Mass Media as Propaganda Vehicle": How news coverage followed Washington's lead and language. The book includes a glossary — "Propaganda: A User's Guide" — and resources to help Americans sort through the deceptions to see the strings behind Washington's campaign to sell the Iraq war to the public.

Less-Lethal Weapons under International Law

Less-Lethal Weapons under International Law PDF Author: Elisabeth Hoffberger-Pippan
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1108896774
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 261

Book Description
Hitherto 'less-lethal' weapons, in contrast to classical firearms and other highly destructive weapons, have literally slipped under the radar of public international law. This book is the first monograph addressing and analysing all international legal regimes applicable to less-lethal weapons, ranging from arms control treaties, international humanitarian, criminal and human rights law. In doing so the different scenarios in which less-lethal weapons come to use will be taken into account, such as law enforcement, armed conflict and law enforcement scenarios during armed conflict. The relationships between the different legal regimes will be elaborated thoroughly with a view to examining how international law responds to less-lethal weapons. The final chapter provides guidelines as well as recommendations on appropriate use and regulation of less-lethal weapons, where the different scenarios of application, such as in armed conflict and law enforcement, will be given due account.

Soft War

Soft War PDF Author: Michael L. Gross
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 110713224X
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 285

Book Description
This collection focuses on non-kinetic warfare, including cyber, media, and economic warfare, as well as non-violent resistance, 'lawfare', and hostage-taking.

Manmade Handweapons

Manmade Handweapons PDF Author: Raphael Martinez
Publisher: Publifye AS
ISBN: 8233935174
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 83

Book Description
""Manmade Handweapons"" presents a comprehensive exploration of personal armaments throughout human history, examining how these tools shaped warfare, culture, and civilization. This detailed reference work traces the fascinating journey from primitive stone implements to sophisticated modern tactical weapons, while analyzing the crucial technological breakthroughs that revolutionized combat throughout the ages. The book uniquely weaves together three fundamental aspects: technological evolution, cultural significance, and military tactical impact. Through four chronological sections spanning from prehistory to the present day, the book illuminates major technological watersheds such as the Bronze Age's metallurgical innovations and the medieval period's advanced sword-making techniques. What sets this work apart is its multidisciplinary approach, combining archaeological findings, historical documents, and modern engineering studies to provide readers with a complete understanding of each weapon's capabilities and cultural context. The analysis of manufacturing methods, from early stone-knapping to contemporary composite materials, demonstrates how advances in materials science parallel weapon sophistication. The book stands out for its systematic examination of each weapon type's physical properties and practical applications, supported by detailed diagrams and photographic evidence. This approach makes complex technical concepts accessible to both general readers and specialists, while maintaining scholarly rigor through evidence-based analysis. Whether exploring the relationship between weapon development and trade routes or examining how combat techniques evolved with new technologies, the work offers valuable insights for military historians, weapons collectors, martial artists, and anyone interested in the intersection of human innovation and warfare.

Books As Weapons

Books As Weapons PDF Author: John B. Hench
Publisher: Cornell University Press
ISBN: 1501727273
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 353

Book Description
Only weeks after the D-Day invasion of June 6, 1944, a surprising cargo—crates of books—joined the flood of troop reinforcements, weapons and ammunition, food, and medicine onto Normandy beaches. The books were destined for French bookshops, to be followed by millions more American books (in translation but also in English) ultimately distributed throughout Europe and the rest of the world. The British were doing similar work, which was uneasily coordinated with that of the Americans within the Psychological Warfare Division of General Eisenhower's Supreme Headquarters, Allied Expeditionary Force, under General Eisenhower's command. Books As Weapons tells the little-known story of the vital partnership between American book publishers and the U.S. government to put carefully selected recent books highlighting American history and values into the hands of civilians liberated from Axis forces. The government desired to use books to help "disintoxicate" the minds of these people from the Nazi and Japanese propaganda and censorship machines and to win their friendship. This objective dovetailed perfectly with U.S. publishers' ambitions to find new profits in international markets, which had been dominated by Britain, France, and Germany before their book trades were devastated by the war. Key figures on both the trade and government sides of the program considered books "the most enduring propaganda of all" and thus effective "weapons in the war of ideas," both during the war and afterward, when the Soviet Union flexed its military might and demonstrated its propaganda savvy. Seldom have books been charged with greater responsibility or imbued with more significance. John B. Hench leavens this fully international account of the programs with fascinating vignettes set in the war rooms of Washington and London, publishers' offices throughout the world, and the jeeps in which information officers drove over bomb-rutted roads to bring the books to people who were hungering for them. Books as Weapons provides context for continuing debates about the relationship between government and private enterprise and the image of the United States abroad.
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