f the world's most important agricultural exporters. How and why this occurred is explained in this important survey.
Was the Soviet Union a superpower? Red Globalization is a significant rereading of the Cold War as an economic struggle shaped by the global economy. Oscar Sanchez-Sibony challenges the idea that the Soviet Union represented a parallel socio-economic construct to the liberal world economy. Instead he shows that the USSR, a middle-income country more often than not at the mercy of global economic forces, tracked the same path as other countries in the world, moving from 1930s autarky to the globalizing processes of the postwar period. In examining the constraints and opportunities afforded the Soviets in their engagement of the capitalist world, he questions the very foundations of the Cold War narrative as a contest between superpowers in a bipolar world. Far from an economic force in the world, the Soviets managed only to become dependent providers of energy to the rich world, and second-best partners to the global South.
The Legacy of Johann Strauss examines constructions of Austrian identity through the reception of Johann Strauss Jr. 's waltzes in the twentieth century. Zoe Lang argues that the music of Strauss Jr. remained popular because it continued to be revitalized by Austrians seeking to define their culture. Press coverage from the 1925 centennial celebration of Strauss Jr. 's birth celebrations in Vienna shows how he was reinvented for the new, post-Habsburg nation. The book also includes a discussion of the origins of the Vienna Philharmonic's New Year's Concert and considers how Strauss Jr. was appropriated as a National Socialist icon in the 1930s and 1940s. The Strauss family's Jewish ancestry is discussed, along with the infamous forgery of paperwork about their lineage during the 1940s. There is also a case study of Strauss Jr. 's Emperor Waltz, considering its variegated usage in concerts and films from 1925-1953.
Hegel only published five books in his lifetime, and among them the Phenomenology of Spirit emerges as the most important but also perhaps the most difficult and complex. In this book Ludwig Siep follows the path from Hegel's early writings on religion, love and spirit to the milestones of his 'Jena period'. He shows how the themes of the Phenomenology first appeared in an earlier work, The Difference between Fichte's and Schelling's Systems of Philosophy, and closely examines the direction which Hegel's thought took as he attempted to think through the possibility of a complete system of philosophy. The themes encompassed by the Phenomenology - anti-dualistic epistemology, autonomy, historicality, the sociality of reason - are thoroughly discussed in Siep's subtle and elegantly argued assessment, which appears here in English for the first time. It will be of great interest to all readers studying Hegel's thought.
With extracts from the composer's letters, writings, interviews and broadcasts, and supported by evidence from his sketchbooks and manuscripts, The Orchestral Music of Michael Tippett explores Tippett's intentions and argues that the experiences that triggered his creative impulses are integral to understanding his music. In his discussion of Tippett's creative process, Thomas Schuttenhelm attempts to recapture the circumstances under which Tippett's orchestral works were created, to document how his visionary aspirations were developed and sustained throughout the creative cycle, and to chart how conception was transmuted from idea through to performance. Analysing Tippett's orchestral works throughout his long career, from the Symphonic Movement of 1931 to his final masterpiece The Rose Lake in 1991-3, Schuttenhelm explores each work in detail to provide a comprehensive commentary on one of the most influential British composers of the twentieth century.
Climate Change and the Course of Global History presents the first global study by a historian to fully integrate the earth-system approach of the new climate science with the material history of humanity. Part I 