Method And Madness

In the past five years Israel has mounted three major assaults on the 1.8 million Palestinians trapped behind its blockade of the Gaza Strip. Taken together, Operation Cast Lead (2008-9), Operation Pillar of Defense (2012), and Operation Protective Edge (2014), have resulted in the deaths of some 3,700 Palestinians. Meanwhile, a total of 90 Israelis were killed in the invasions. On the face of it, this succession of vastly disproportionate attacks has often seemed frenzied and pathological. Senior Israeli politicians have not discouraged such perceptions, indeed they have actively encouraged them. After the 2008-9 assault Israel’s then-foreign minister, Tzipi Livni, boasted, “Israel demonstrated real hooliganism during the course of the recent operation, which I demanded.” However, as Norman G. Finkelstein sets out in this concise, paradigm-shifting new book, a closer examination of Israel’s motives reveals a state whose repeated recourse to savage war is far from irrational. Rather, Israel’s attacks have been designed to sabotage the possibility of a compromise peace with the Palestinians, even on terms that are favorable to it. Looking also at machinations around the 2009 UN sponsored Goldstone report and Turkey’s forlorn attempt to seek redress in the UN for the killing of its citizens in the 2010 attack on the Gaza freedom flotilla, Finkelstein documents how Israel has repeatedly eluded accountability for what are now widely recognized as war crimes. Further, he shows that, though neither side can claim clear victory in these conflicts, the ensuing stalemate remains much more tolerable for Israelis than for the beleaguered citizens of Gaza. A strategy of mass non-violent protest might, he contends, hold more promise for a Palestinian victory than military resistance, however brave.

From the old days of mobsters in smoky barrooms plotting to gun down their rivals, to the new age of ordinary people hiring contract killers through the Dark Web, this book depicts the history of assassins and how they work. While movies portray assassins as glamorous, wealthy and full of mystery, the sober truth is often quite different. The number of homicides credited to contract killers each year is staggering, and on the rise: business people killing their rivals, organized gang war kills, honor killings and even cold-blooded kills between spouses. In Blood Money: The Method and Madness of Assassins, RJ Parker documents over a dozen infamous cases of professional assassins including Richard Kuklinski (The Ice Man), Charles Harrelson (Natural Born Killer) and Vincent Coll (Mad Dog). Included is also a riveting foreword written by Dr. Scott Bonn providing his reasoning why an assassin is not considered a serial killer in the professional community.

Parameswaran Iyer, former Secretary to the Government of India, is best known for leading the implementation of the Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) - Prime Minister Narendra Modi's flagship programme, which became the world's largest sanitation revolution. But Iyer is not your typical bureaucrat. With a far-from-usual career combining two distinguished tenures in the government and an eventful stint outside it, he likes to describe himself as an uncommon 'Insider-Outsider-Insider'. In Method in the Madness, he reflects on the unique path he chose - from cracking the IAS to becoming a globe-trotting World Bank technocrat, to playing the role of a coach to his professional tennis-playing children, to finally returning to India and implementing the SBM. Written with humour and wisdom, this is an inspiring read full of key management insights, practical career advice, and valuable life lessons that will resonate with readers across age groups and professions.

This is the first full-length biography of Sylvia Plath, whose suicide in made her a misinterpreted cause celebre and catapulted her into the ranks of the major confessional voices of her generation.

Social research yields knowledge which powerfully affects our daily lives. The 'facts' it generates shape not just how we see ourselves and others, but also whether or not we see the existing status quo as normal, just and legitimate. This book examines and questions the methods used by social researchers to produce such knowledge. It focuses chiefly on research into human sexuality and madness. It introduces and critically assesses everything from survey methods to participant observation. It opens up broader philosophical debates about the nature of knowledge, and highlights issues surrounding the ethics and politics of research. The book looks at the research community and the research process in detail before moving on to examine the main techniques used in social research: * the use of official statistics * the survey method * interviewing * laboratory observation * ethnography * the use of documentary sources * textual analysis. By exploring both technical and conceptual problems in the work of researchers like Freud and Kinsey, and by considering the difficulties faced by researchers concerned with phenomena such as rape, witch hunts and prostitution this book makes methodological issues both interesting and accessible.

Every Saturday afternoon, 5.8 million people around the world settle down to see how their team will get on. But this isn’t the team they support. It’s THEIR team. They have spent hour after hour assessing injuries, swapping subs and tweaking formations. Because when the day is done and the scores are in, they want to be able to look in the mirror and say, ‘THAT TRIPLE CAPTAIN CALL WAS AN ACT OF GENIUS!’ Welcome to the obsessive world of Fantasy Football, where managers will do anything to succeed. David Wardale – writer for the UK's number one Fantasy Football site, Fantasy Football Scout – meets previous winners to discover how they beat millions to the crown. He reveals the leagues where failure involves outright humiliation and discovers just how low some managers will go to claim a psychological advantage. Along the way, he finds Saudi sheikhs, stats professors, most of Norway and a member of one of the biggest pop bands of all time, all of them united by their unflinching desire for Fantasy Football greatness.

Eight lectures given in 1957 at the Playhouse Theatre, New York.

Adorable Zach Sullivan is the perfect man to mend Emily Ramsey's grief over the death of her sister and the disappearance of her fiancé. But Zach's ex-girlfriend will stop at nothing to sabotage Zach and Emily's romance and when someone is brutally murdered, Emily is not only suspected of being the killer--she is most likely the next victim.