New Releases by Michael Mann

Warum werden Kriege geführt? Was ist ausschlaggebend für die Entscheidung zum Krieg? Michael Mann erzählt die Geschichte des Krieges vom antiken Rom bis zum Überfall auf die Ukraine, vom kaiserlichen China bis zu Auseinandersetzungen im Nahen Osten, von Japan und Europa bis zur postkolonialen Geschichte Lateinamerikas und zu den Kriegen der Vereinigten Staaten. Obwohl sich die Waffen und die Organisation des Krieges im Laufe der Zeit enorm gewandelt haben, hat sich der Charakter der Entscheidungsprozesse kaum verändert. Fast immer wurde und wird der finale Entschluss von sehr kleinen Gruppen von Machthabern getroffen, manchmal nur von einer Person. Charaktere, Emotionen und Ideologien sind ausschlaggebend. Doch auch Status, Ehre und Ruhm spielen nach wie vor eine große Rolle. Die meisten Herrscher, die Kriege beginnen, verlieren sie, und in historischer Perspektive ist die große Mehrheit der Staaten aufgrund von Kriegen untergegangen. Durch die meisterhafte Verbindung ideologischer, wirtschaftlicher, politischer und militärischer Analysen eröffnet der preisgekrönte Soziologe Michael Mann neue Perspektiven auf die Geschichte und Gegenwart von Kriegen.

A history of wars through the ages and across the world, and the irrational calculations that so often lie behind them Benjamin Franklin once said, "There never was a good war or a bad peace." But what determines whether war or peace is chosen? Award-winning sociologist Michael Mann concludes that it is a handful of political leaders--people with emotions and ideologies, and constrained by inherited culture and institutions--who undertake such decisions, usually irrationally choosing war and seldom achieving their desired results. Mann examines the history of war through the ages and across the globe--from ancient Rome to Ukraine, from imperial China to the Middle East, from Japan and Europe to Latin and North America. He explores the reasons groups go to war, the different forms of wars, how warfare has changed and how it has stayed the same, and the surprising ways in which seemingly powerful countries lose wars. In masterfully combining ideological, economic, political, and military analysis, Mann offers new insight into the many consequences of choosing war.

Het vervolg op de hitfilm Heat: topspanning van een prijswinnend thrillerschrijfster en een bekroond filmmaker. Michael Mann, producent met diverse Oscarnominaties en schrijver-regisseur van Heat en Miami Vice, keert samen met thrillerschrijver Meg Gardiner terug naar de wereld en personages van zijn blockbusterfilm Heat. Heat 2 is zowel een prequel als vervolg op de veelgeprezen film, maar dan in boekvorm. Het verhaal gaat over de vormende jaren van rechercheur Vincent Hanna en over elitecriminelen Neil McCauley, Chris Shiherlis en Nate. Het grijpt terug op eerdere gebeurtenissen en gaat daarna verder met nieuwe personages aan beide kanten van de wet, spectaculaire overvallen en filmische actiescènes. In deze thriller staat de gevaarlijke werking van internationale misdaadorganisaties centraal: van de straten van Los Angeles en misdaadsyndicaten in Paraguay tot een witwasoperatie van drugskartels in Mexico. ''Eindelijk, na meer dan 25 jaar krijgt Michael Manns Heat een vervolg. Niet een filmvervolg, maar wel een boek. Regisseur Michael Mann was ooit verantwoordelijk voor het uiterst geliefde Heat uit 1995, met onder meer Al Pacino, Robert De Niro en Val Kilmer. Daarna verschenen nog enkele topfilms van Mann.'' Filmtotaal ''Michael Mann maakt zijn debuut als romanschrijver met een literair vervolg op zijn legendarische misdaadfilm Heat. Het boek, getiteld Heat 2, ligt dit najaar in de schappen. De actiefilm uit 1995 was het eerste optreden van Pacino en De Niro samen op het scherm en werd al snel een hit.'' Entertainmenthoek ''Let op: niet voor tere zieltjes.'' NBD

Ao distinguir quatro fontes de poder nas sociedades humanas – ideológica, econômica, militar e política –, esta série traça suas inter-relações através da história. Este segundo volume da história analítica de Michael Mann aborda as relações de poder entre 1760 e a Primeira Guerra Mundial, com foco na França, Grã-Bretanha, Habsburgo, Áustria, Prússia/Alemanha e Estados Unidos. Com base em considerável pesquisa empírica, fornece teorias da ascensão das nações e do nacionalismo, do conflito de classes, do Estado e do militarismo moderno, enfatizando igualmente a complexidade social e histórica. Michael Mann vê a sociedade humana como uma espécie de bagunça padronizada e tenta fornecer uma teoria sociológica apropriada para isso. Essa teoria culmina com uma explica a primeira Guerra Mundial.

Ao distinguir quatro fontes de poder nas sociedades humanas – ideológica, econômica, militar e política –, essa série traça suas inter-relações através da história. Este terceiro volume da história analítica do poder social de Michael Mann começa com os impérios globais do século XIX e continua com uma história global do século XIX até 1945. Mann foca o desenvolvi- mento inter-relacionado de capitalismo, Estados-nações e impérios, discutindo: a "Grande Divergência" entre os destinos do Ocidente e do resto do mundo; a autodestruição do poder europeu e japonês em duas guerras mundiais; a Grande Depressão; o aumento do poder americano e soviético; a rivalidade entre capitalismo, socialismo e fascismo; e o triunfo de um capitalismo reformado e democrático. O grande projeto de Michael Mann é um estudo das mudanças no poder ao longo da história humana e, neste terceiro volume, analisa em escala global a época devastadora das duas guerras mundiais.

Este livro apresenta um modelo para explicar o desenvolvimento das relações de poder nas sociedades humanas, e então aplica-o à pré-história e também a boa parte da história humana. Essa foi uma empreitada recorrente entre os escritores do século XIX, mas no contexto acadêmico contemporâneo parece algo tremendamente ambicioso. Publicado pela primeira vez em 1986, esta nova edição do volume 1 inclui um novo prefácio do autor, examinando o impacto e o legado da obra.

In this book, noted sociologist Michael Mann argues that the "new American imperialism" is actually a new militarism. Dissecting the economic, political, military and ideological resources available to the US, Mann concludes that they are so uneven as to generate only an ''incoherent empire'' and increasing world disorder. The US is a military giant, though it is better at devastating than pacifying countries. It is a political schizophrenic, its personality split between multilateralism, unilateralism and an actual inability to rule over foreign lands or to control its own supposed client states. It is only a backseat driver of the global economy. It cannot steer it, but it prods poorer countries toward an unproductive and unpopular neo-liberalism.

Mörderische ethnische Säuberungen sind, so die zentrale These Michael Manns, die dunkle Seite der Demokratie. Sie sind eine mögliche Perversion der Demokratisierung, weil dem demokratischen Nationalstaat ein organizistischer Nationalismus anhaftet, der danach strebt, demos und ethnos, Staatsvolk und Abstammungsgemeinschaft, deckungsgleich zu machen – wenn nötig mit Gewalt. Michael Mann untersucht in empirisch dichten Fallstudien die Mechanismen der ethnischen Säuberung und ihre Umsetzung. Er behandelt den Siedlerkolonialismus in Nordamerika, den Massenmord an den Armeniern, die nationalsozialistische Vernichtungspolitik, die kommunistischen Gewalt unter Stalin, Mao und Pol Pot, den ethnischen Bürgerkrieg in Jugoslawien und den Genozid in Ruanda. Am Beispiel von Indien und Indonesien verdeutlicht er aber auch, weshalb multiethnische Konflikte nicht notwendigerweise in systematische Gewalt münden müssen. Die historisch-soziologische Analyse dieser Fälle zielt darauf ab, systematische Erkenntnisse und theoretische Erklärungen für die Entstehung mörderischer ethnischer Säuberungen herauszuarbeiten – nicht zuletzt, um politische Maßnahmen zu deren Verhinderung zu erarbeiten.

This comprehensive history of modern South Asia explores the historical development of the Subcontinent from the beginning of the eighteenth century to the present day from local and regional, as opposed to European, perspectives. Michael Mann charts the role of emerging states within the Mughal Empire, the gradual British colonial expansion in the political setting of the Subcontinent and shows how the modern state formation usually associated with Western Europe can be seen in some regions of India, linking Europe and South Asia together as part of a shared world history. This book looks beyond the Subcontinent’s post-colonial history to consider the political, economic, social and cultural development of Pakistan and Bangladesh as well as Sri Lanka and Nepal, and to examine how these developments impacted the region’s citizens. South Asia’s Modern History begins with a general introduction which provides a geographical, environmental and historiographical overview. This is followed by thematic chapters which discuss Empire Building and State Formation, Agriculture and Agro-Economy, Silviculture and Scientific Forestry, Migration, Circulation and Diaspora, Industrialisation and Urbanisation and Knowledge, Science, Technology and Power, demonstrating common themes across the decades and centuries. This book will be perfect for all students of South Asian history.

Das ökonomische System des Kapitalismus wird kollabieren, weil negative Konjunkturzyklen und politische Krisen zusammentreffen und Wachstum an Grenzen stößt. Umweltkrisen werden den Kapitalismus massiv unter Druck setzen, ebenso wie globale Machtkämpfe und der Kampf um Ressourcen. Die Mittelklassen werden ihre Arbeit an IT-Services verlieren und nicht mehr so konsumieren können wie heute. Eine wichtige Frage wird sein, ob eine internationale politische Steuerung den Marktliberalismus wird beeinflussen können. Fünf herausragende Sozialforscher diskutieren in diesem Buch die Optionen wirtschaftlicher und sozialer Entwicklung in den nächsten 30 Jahren. Historische Systemumbrüche und gegenwärtige Machtverhältnisse im Blick, entwerfen sie fünf Zukunftsszenarien für das 21. Jahrhundert und führen ihre Ergebnisse in einer Synthese zusammen.

Michael Mann is one of the most influential sociologists writing today. His three-volume work The Sources of Social Power, the third volume of which has just been completed, has transformed our way of thinking about power and has rewritten the history of human societies. No one interested in understanding how the modern world was shaped, how we got to where we are today, and where we''re likely to be heading can afford to ignore this modern classic. Michael Mann is, as John Hall aptly describes him, "a Max Weber for our times." In this new book Michael Mann reflects on the meaning of his project as a whole, both as a contribution to social theory and as a guide to the options and constraints that face the contemporary world now and in the near future. He gives sustained attention to the situation of the United States, the nature of the challenge that may come from China, the unrestrained and perhaps unrestrainable power of finance, and the looming crisis of environmental degradation. This concise and accessible book is the ideal introduction to the work and thought of one of the most original social scientists in the world today. Students and scholars will find the book invaluable, and general readers will find in this book a clear and masterful guide to the key challenges we face in the years and decades ahead.

The Great Recession has prompted many reassessments of the finance-driven economic order that achieved world dominance in the era of globalization. Yet just about every observer has focused on only two issues: why things went wrong, and what we need to do in order to return the system to stability. Virtually no one has questioned whether the system as such can continue. In Does Capitalism Have a Future?, a quintet of globally eminent scholars - Immanuel Wallerstein, Randall Collins, Michael Mann, Georgi Derluguian, and Craig Calhoun - survey the current global landscape and cut their way through to the most crucial issue of all: whether our capitalist system can survive in the medium run. Despite all its current gloom, conventional wisdom still assumes that capitalism cannot break down permanently because there is no alternative. The authors shatter this assumption, arguing that this generalization is not supported by theory, but is rather an outgrowth of the optimistic nineteenth-century claim that human history ascends through stages to an enlightened equilibrium of liberal capitalism. Yet as they point out, all major historical systems - from the Roman Empire to the Qing dynasty in China - have broken down in the end. In the modern epoch there have been several cataclysmic events - notably the French revolution, World War I, and the collapse of the Soviet bloc - that came to pass mainly because contemporary political elites had spectacularly failed to calculate the consequences of the processes they presumed to govern. At present, none of our governing elites and very few intellectuals can fathom an ending to our current reigning system. How possible is a systemic collapse in the medium-run of coming decades is the central question of this debate. While the contributors arrive at different conclusions, they are in constant dialogue with one another and therefore able to construct a relatively seamless - if open-ended - whole. Written by five of world''s most eminent scholars of global historical trends, this ambitious book asks the biggest of questions: are we on the cusp of a radical world historical shift or not?

Este libro presenta el lado oscuro de la democracia, una nueva teoría sobre la limpieza étnica basada en los casos más terribles –los genocidios coloniales, Armenia, el Holocausto Nazi, Camboya, Yugoslavia y Ruanda– y en casos menos violentos –la primera Europa moderna, la India contemporánea e Indonesia. Tiene lugar donde el demos (democracia) se confunde con el ethnos (el grupo étnico), y se acentúa cuando dos movimientos etnonacionales enfrentados reivindican «su propio» estado en un mismo territorio. Este choque tiene como consecuencia interacciones complicadas entre líderes, militantes y “electorados potenciales” del etnonacionalismo. Entender este complejo proceso nos ayudará a diseñar políticas para evitar la limpieza étnica en el futuro.

Publisher Description

This Study Deals With The Biggest Challenges In The Twentieth Century Of Urban Problems And Urban Governance In India Emphasizing That Power Exists Inside And Outside The Formal Authority And Institutions Of Government.

El prestigioso sociólogo Michael Mann argumenta en este libro que, en realidad, el «nuevo imperialismo estadounidense» no es más que un nuevo militarismo. Tras analizar los recursos económicos, políticos, militares e ideológicos de que dispone Estados Unidos, Mann llega a la conclusión de que son tan desiguales que sólo pueden dar lugar a un «imperio incoherente» y a un creciente desorden mundial. Estados Unidos es un gigante militar, aunque parece más cómodo devastando países que pacificándolos. Sufre de esquizofrenia política y de una personalidad dividida entre el multilateralismo, el unilateralismo y una evidente incapacidad para gobernar otros países o para controlar a sus supuestos Estados clientes. Se ha instalado en el asiento de atrás de la economía global. No puede conducirla y, aun así, empuja a los países pobres hacia un neoliberalismo improductivo e impopular. Por último, es un espectro ideológico que proclama al mundo los atractivos valores de la libertad, la democracia y la abundancia material en una brutal contradicción con su militarismo. El imperio incoherente también es analizado en plena acción, en Afganistán y en el transcurso de la guerra contra el terrorismo y contra los «Estados canallas», especialmente Corea del Norte e Irak. Su estrategia parece encaminarse únicamente a crear un mayor número de terroristas internacionales y a aumentar los deseos de algunos de adquirir armas de destrucción masiva, lo cual está provocando una verdadera «cruzada» contra los musulmanes. Mann sostiene que el mundo se convertirá en un lugar cada vez más peligroso si Estados Unidos no abandona esta trayectoria y adopta las estrategias de liderazgo global más realistas expuestas en este libro.

From the age of four, Angel Whisperer Kyle Gray has been blessed by the presence of angels who stood alongside him as he developed his talents to become the UK''s youngest professional psychic medium at the age of sixteen. In this book, Kyle takes the reader on an emotional and uplifting journey into the world of angels, and reveals his own beautiful and inspiring story of learning to communicate with the other side, which started when his beloved grandmother passed over. This communication was to become his vocation and purpose, and Kyle is now known for the startling accuracy of his readings. Drawing on his years of experience helping people to share the wisdom and messages of the angels,The Angel Whispererteaches you ways in which you too can make your own connections, change your ways of thinking, and finally achieve everything you have ever dreamed of. An intensely personal and moving book, it offers comfort, wisdom and practical advice that will help transform your life.

This second volume of Michael Mann''s analytical history of social power deals with power relations between the Industrial Revolution and the First World War, focusing on France, Great Britain, Hapsburg Austria, Prussia/Germany and the United States. Based on considerable empirical research it provides original theories of the rise of nations and nationalism, of class conflict, of the modern state and of modern militarism. While not afraid to generalize, it also stresses social and historical complexity. The author sees human society as "a patterned mess" and attempts to provide a sociological theory appropriate to this. This theory culminates in the final chapter, an original explanation of the causes of the First World War.

Distinguishing four sources of power in human societies - ideological, economic, military and political - ''The Sources of Social Power'' traces their interrelations throughout human history. Volume 2 deals with power relations between the Industrial Revolution and the First World War.

Vol. 3: This third volume of Michael Mann''s analytical history of social power begins with nineteenth century global empires and continues with a global history of the twentieth century up to 1945.

This book makes a comparative analysis of working-class consciousness in Britain, France, Italy and the United States and seeks to answer the question of whether the working class today is a potentially revolutionary force in the West. In France and Italy class conflict and working-class consciousness have reached a higher level of intensity than in Britain or the United States. Both Marxist and functionalist explanations for this are discussed, special attention being paid to the recent French Marxism of Althusser, Mallet and Touraine. Class consciousness is examined as a dynamic process by analyzing the "explosion of consciousness" which often seems to occur in turbulent strike situations. The author concludes that class conflict is more complex than either group of theorists suggest. Working-class consciousness and the relationship between labor and capital are found to be dualistic and fundamentally unstable. Revolutionary potential is greatest in situations of uneven economic and social development when the capital-labor contradiction may be reinforced by other social conflicts. This means that the Marxist claim that the working-class carries in itself the power to be a class for itself must be rejected.