New Releases by Robert A

Describes, surveys, and discusses the major historical aspects of the Habsburg Empire - diplomatic, political, institutional, socioeconomic, and cultural.

The idea of progress from the Enlightenment to postmodernism is still very much with us. In intellectual discourse, journals, popular magazines, and radio and talk shows, the debate between those who are "progressivists" and those who are "declinists" is as spirited as it was in the late seventeenth century. In History of the Idea of Progress, Robert Nisbet traces the idea of progress from its origins in Greek, Roman, and medieval civilizations to modern times. It is a masterful frame of reference for understanding the present world. Nisbet asserts there are two fundamental building blocks necessary to Western doctrines of human advancement: the idea of growth, and the idea of necessity. He sees Christianity as a key element in both secular and spiritual evolution, for it conveys all the ingredients of the modern idea of progress: the advancement of the human race in time, a single time frame for all the peoples and epochs of the past and present, the conception of time as linear, and the envisagement of the future as having a Utopian end. In his new introduction, Nisbet shows why the idea of progress remains of critical importance to studies of social evolution and natural history. He provides a contemporary basis for many disciplines, including sociology, economics, philosophy, religion, politics, and science. History of the Idea of Progress continues to be a major resource for scholars in all these areas.

Earth was being invaded by aliens and the top security agencies were helpless: the aliens were controlling the mind of every person they encountered. So it was up to Sam Cavanaugh, secret agent for a powerful and deadly spy network, to find a way to stop them--which meant he had to be invaded himself! Copyright © Libri GmbH. All rights reserved.

Psychologists need access to recent data and industry trends. They can get all they need here in this updated bestseller. Keeping close to its roots, this edition retains both the classic and current research, coverage of diverse issues and a lively writing style. Topics include: understanding social behavior, perception, prejudice, interpersonal attraction, and more. Ideal for social psychologists at any stage of their career. Copyright © Libri GmbH. All rights reserved.

With several Hollywood Heinlein adaptations about to be launched (including "Starship Troopers" by the director of "Total Recall"), this SF superstar is shining brighter than ever. To celebrate his success, Del Rey is reissuing the author''s classic works back into the forefront, beginning with "The Door into Summer", the story of a modern-day--and future-time--Rip Van Winkle. Copyright © Libri GmbH. All rights reserved.

Robert Dahl''s Preface helped launch democratic theory fifty years ago as a new area of study in political science, and it remains the standard introduction to the field. Exploring problems that had been left unsolved by traditional thought on democracy, Dahl here examines two influential models--the Madisonian, which represents prevailing American doctrine, and its recurring challenger, populist theory--arguing that they do not accurately portray how modern democracies operate. He then constructs a model more consistent with how contemporary democracies actually function, and, in doing so, develops some original views of popular sovereignty and the American constitutional system.

"We live in an age of economic interdependence dominated by large welfare States. It is an age of spiritual insecurity, alienation, preoccupation with human identity, and widespread quest for community. Why is this? Why has the quest for community become one of the dominant social tendencies of the 20th century? What are the forces, the changes and dislocations, that have joined to make the problem of community so obsessive in modern literature, philosophy, and social science, and in popular thought and behavior as well? Dr. Nisbet deals with these questions not merely in the familiar terms of the impact of technology, secularism, and industry, but in political terms of power. Above all else, he argues, centralization of power and, with this, widespread bureaucratization of function and authority, lie behind the contemporary quest for community. These political forces, having weakened the contexts of traditional community, make difficult the establishment of new and relevant forms of community. Even worse, as the totalitarian societies have shown, political centralization in its absolute forms can take on the trappings of community. The major problem of our time, Dr. Nisbet concludes, is the devising of a political order in which decentralization and pluralism will make possible forms of community whose very diversity and multiplicity will be the guarantee of their members'' freedom from absolute power" -- Back cover.

In this volume of Heinlein''s monumental "Future History" series, free men clash with colonial slavery on Venus, the first female space engineer takes an orbiting station by storm, and a young lieutenant makes the ultimate sacrifice to keep the Earth free.