Best Selling Books by Stjepan

How could the “Maywand District killings” (or the “kill team” war crimes) have happened? Jeremy Morlock was convicted of premeditated murder, but numerous other “questionable kills” in his brigade, committed by other soldiers in other units in 2010, were never investigated. The brigade commander went by the name Hellraiser, and an internal army investigation revealed that the officers of the brigade were hopelessly confused as to their mission. No one knew if they should obey the chain of command and "do COIN," in other words, "sit down for tea with the village elders”, or carry out Hellraiser’s and the army’s traditional counter-guerrilla doctrine. Hellraiser’s refusal to carry out COIN doctrine led to complete social dysfunction in the brigade. Normal army standards of discipline, drug testing, group cohesion, mentoring, counseling, among other standards, were abandoned. Prof. Mestrovic connects the social dysfunction in Hellraiser’s brigade with Morlock’s crime. He shows that COIN doctrine was treated as a joke in the brigade while a “Strike and Destroy” mentality was dominant. This inside account relies upon an internal army investigation into the command climate of Hellraiser''’s brigade, conducted by Brigadier General Stephen Twitty, along with court-martial transcripts and direct interviews. This book analyzes one war crime incident as an example of the general failure, or refusal, to implement COIN doctrine in Afghanistan.

This text is a thorough treatment of the rapidly growing area of aerial manipulation. It details all the design steps required for the modeling and control of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) equipped with robotic manipulators. Starting with the physical basics of rigid-body kinematics, the book gives an in-depth presentation of local and global coordinates, together with the representation of orientation and motion in fixed- and moving-coordinate systems. Coverage of the kinematics and dynamics of unmanned aerial vehicles is developed in a succession of popular UAV configurations for multirotor systems. Such an arrangement, supported by frequent examples and end-of-chapter exercises, leads the reader from simple to more complex UAV configurations. Propulsion-system aerodynamics, essential in UAV design, is analyzed through blade-element and momentum theories, analysis which is followed by a description of drag and ground-aerodynamic effects. The central part of the book is dedicated to aerial-manipulator kinematics, dynamics, and control. Based on foundations laid in the opening chapters, this portion of the book is a structured presentation of Newton–Euler dynamic modeling that results in forward and backward equations in both fixed- and moving-coordinate systems. The Lagrange–Euler approach is applied to expand the model further, providing formalisms to model the variable moment of inertia later used to analyze the dynamics of aerial manipulators in contact with the environment. Using knowledge from sensor data, insights are presented into the ways in which linear, robust, and adaptive control techniques can be applied in aerial manipulation so as to tackle the real-world problems faced by scholars and engineers in the design and implementation of aerial robotics systems. The book is completed by path and trajectory planning with vision-based examples for tracking and manipulation.

Stjepan Sejic continues the critically acclaimed Sunstone series with Volume 4. A classy, sexy, fun, and emotional look at two women and the alternative lifestyle they live. It''s all fun and games until someone falls in love! But the fun and games carry on!

The 1989 fall of communism in Eastern Europe occurred in a period when Western intellectuals were involved in a confusing discourse on a number of other dramatic endings: the end of modernity, the end of the century, even the possible end of sociology. Against this backdrop, the authors focus on continuities based on the "habits of the heart" of those who threw off communism in Eastern Europe, contrasting them with Western modes of thought. Their cultural explanation draws on theories of Tocqueville, Durkheim, and others to examine positive as well as negative aspects of the nations that survived communism. While focusing on the Balkans, they also make cautious prognoses for the rest of Eastern Europe.

From critically acclaimed creator Stjepan Šejić (Sunstone, Crimson, Aphrodite lX, Witchblade) comes a bold new chapter in the saga of Death Vigil!! One of the worst things that a secret group can experience is being dragged out in the open, and with the events of book 1, that is exactly what happened to the vigil. With the primordial enemy on the rise and their greatest weapon almost fully assembled, the taste of victory over the Thorn may soon turn bitter. In this calm before the storm, there is a moment of silence, and it is only in silence that one can truly hear the whispers. Whispers of strange things, of the great key and the court of red, whispers of the golden sovereign and the comforting whispers of the Dreamer. Welcome back to Death Vigil. This is where things get messy.

Almost as soon as Communism fell in Eastern Europe in 1989, Western politicians and intellectuals concluded that the West had "won" the Cold War and that liberal democracy had triumphed over authoritarianism in the world. Euphoria spread with the expectation of a New World Order. Within months, the giddy optimism began to fade, especially in the face of what soon became a brutal war in former Yugoslavia. Why did Serbia choose to replicate many of Germany''s methods and aims from World Wars I and II, including ethnic cleansing (read "genocide") and a campaign to establish a Greater Serbia? Sociologist Stjepan Mestrovic, writing with Slaven Letica and Miroslav Goreta, argues that the social and political character of the Dinaric herdsmen--which dominates Serbian culture and politics, even though it is found in all Balkan nations--accounts for the form Communism took there, the fall of Communism, and the savagery and brutality of the post-Communist war. With carefully reasoned analysis, the authors show how sociological theories of social character--propounded by such thinkers as de Tocqueville, Veblen, and Bellah--can shed light on the conflicts in the Balkans, which, according to conventional wisdom, were not supposed to occur when Communism fell. They demonstrate that ancient, traditional ethnic, social, and nationalistic tendencies--"habits of the heart"--of the various people of the Balkans have taken precedence over pressures for democracy in the political and cultural vacuum left by the end of Communism in the region. Unfortunately, the difficulties in the Balkans will persist for a long time to come, and similar conflicts could break out in the former Soviet Union. This thought-provoking book has much new to say about the causes of such ethnic and class conflicts in the region, and the feasibility of policies for dealing with these sores. If democracy is to be achieved in post-Communist East Europe, the authors argue, it must be based on the "good" habits of the heart that coexist there with "bad" or authoritarian social character.

Forty pages of story and art in this contemporary fantasy adventure series written and painted by STJEPAN SEJIC. Gifted? Join the Death Vigil in their ongoing war against the ever-growing power of the Primordial Enemy! The only catch is you have to die first. Become a corporeal immortal Death Knight and obtain reality-altering weaponry in the never-ending battle between good and evil.

This book proposes a new representation of Emile Durkheim, as the philosopher and moralist who wanted to renovate rationalism, challenge positivism, reform sociology, and extend Schopenhauer''s philosophy to the new domain of sociology. Above all, it highlights Durkheim''s vision of sociology as the ''science of morality'' that would eventually replace moralities based on religion.

Ally and Lisa''s budding relationship is threatened by a new friend, Anne.

HARLEY QUINN COME NON L’AVETE MAI VISTA! Harley Quinn è una delle regine di Gotham City. Vulcanica, folle e simpaticissima, di solito riesce a far infuriare sia Batman, sia gli altri freak della sua città, che non riescono a contenere la sua esuberanza. Ora la Principessa del Crimine si prepara a tornare in pista con una stupefacente antologia di storie realizzate completamente in bianco, nero e... rosso, una scelta artistica che reinterpreta un famoso progetto degli anni 90 dedicato al Cavaliere Oscuro. Diciannove avventure che ci mostrano il mondo di Harley Quinn da molteplici punti di vista. Questo volume contiene anche una storia scritta da Paul Dini, lo sceneggiatore che nel 1992 ideò il personaggio insieme a Bruce Timm. [VOLUME UNICO. CONTIENE: HARLEY QUINN BLACK + WHITE + RED (2020) 1-17, HARLEY QUINN BLACK + WHITE + RED TP (2021)]

In Volume 3 of FINE PRINT (aka "Why sex with gods is NOT a good idea"), we dive in deep and discover that not all winged things are angels, not all horned ones bring damnation, and surprise-surprise, no amount of unbridled bliss can actually solve your problems. Like any painkiller, bliss only takes you so far. This is a lesson that unlucky-in-love Lauren Thomas is going to have to learn the hard way, despite the aid of some of the underworld''s foremost incubi. Even in Lauren''s unique position - having divine entities at your romantic beck and call - wrestling with the past is no one''s idea of a good time. Not that things are any easier for the immortals in Lauren''s orbit; whether you execute contracts or shoot heart-shaped arrows, interpersonal dynamics always end up complicating things. Strap in, everyone – this is where it gets miserable.

A slow-burn lesbian romance with a kinky twist! From critically acclaimed creator Stjepan Šejic (Death Vigil, Ravine, Aphrodite lX, Witchblade) comes Sunstone, a love story like no other. Now presented in a 6x9 edition featuring all-new cover art by Stjepan Šejic. “She loves me...she loves me not.” Ally and Lisa’s storybook BDSM romance is at an end, the two women too stubborn to admit the depth of their feelings. But even as they go their separate ways, Lisa returns to the writing that brought her and Ally together in the first place. With a little help from their friends and a lot of mutual self-reflection, these allegorical love stories represent one last chance to salvage Ally and Lisa’s relationship. **Sunstone is a slow-burn, friends-to-lovers, soft domme/anxious sub, graphic novel series featuring explicit on-the-page intimacy, healthy, negotiated BDSM, emotional vulnerability, and two women slowly realizing they’re in love. Not suitable for anyone under 18 years of age.**

With a foreword by David Riesman, author of The Lonely Crowd. Introducing a new term to the sociological lexicon: ′postemotionalism′, Stjepan Mestrovic argues that the focus of postmodernism has been on knowledge and information, and he demonstrates how the emotions in mass industrial societies have been neglected to devastating effect. Using contempoary examples, the author shows how emotion has become increasingly separated from action; how - in a world of disjointed and synthetic emotions - social solidarity has become more problematic; and how compassion fatigue has increasingly replaced political commitment and responsibility. Mestrovic discusses the relation between knowledge and the emotions in thinkers as diverse as Durkheim, Baudrillard, Ritzer, Riesman, and Orwell. This stimulating and provocative work concludes with a discussion of the postemotional society, where peer groups replace the government as the means of social control.

The wildly popular and wildly sexy slow-burn lesbian romance with a kinky twist continues in the fourth volume! From critically acclaimed creator Stjepan Šejic (Death Vigil, Ravine, Aphrodite lX, Witchblade) comes Sunstone, a love story like no other. Now presented in a 6x9 edition featuring all-new cover art by Stjepan Šejic. “After all, weren’t we...just friends?” Romance is never easy. Missed signals, passive aggression, and ego all threaten to get in the way of any budding relationship, and it’s no different for Ally and Lisa. Best friends. Roommates. BDSM practitioners. Still, Ally and Lisa’s romance is built on more fantasies than one—including the infamous lie of “friends with benefits.” When a figure from Lisa’s erotic tales finds real-life representation in new friend Anne, are a few missed signals more stress than this fantasy romance can stand? **Sunstone is a slow-burn, friends-to-lovers, soft domme/anxious sub, graphic novel series featuring explicit on-the-page intimacy, healthy, negotiated BDSM, emotional vulnerability, and two women slowly realizing they’re in love. Not suitable for anyone under 18 years of age.**

When teenager Mary gets the Witchblade, the plans of Sonatine, Sabine, and Kenneth Irons are disrupted. Emissaries of the Darkness and the Angelus pressure Mary to side with them and her decision causes hilarity and awesomeness to follow in Sejic-style!

Gifted? Join the Death Vigil in their ongoing war against the ever-growing power of the Primordial Enemy! The only catch is you have to die first. Become a corporeal immortal Death Knight, and obtain reality-altering weaponry in the neverending battle between Good and Evil. Collects: DEATH VIGIL #1-8

Anthony Giddens is arguably the world''s leading sociologist. In this controversial contribution to the Giddens debate, Stjepan Mestrovic takes up and criticizes the major themes of his work - particularly the concept of ''high modernity'' as opposed to ''postmodernity'' and his attempted construction of a ''synthetic'' tradition based on human agency and structure. Testing Giddens'' theories against what is happening in the real world from genocide in Africa to near secession in Quebec, Mestrovic discerns in the construction of synthetic traditions not the promise of freedom held out by Giddens but rather the ominous potential for new forms of totalitarian control.

Malovic and Selnow examine the evolution of the press-government relationship in Croatia from the Tito era to the present. Their story is one of three interacting players: the Croatian government which until recently has sat firmly in control, the compliant press which seemed little motivated to change, and the largely quiescent public which demanded little from its press or its government. A provocative, often first-hand account that will be of interest to scholars and researchers involved with Balkan current affairs, journalism, and politics.