The Twilight Of Britain

From a leading British historian, the story of how fear of war shaped modern England By the end of World War I, Britain had become a laboratory for modernity. Intellectuals, politicians, scientists, and artists?among them Arnold Toynbee, Aldous Huxley, and H. G. Wells?sought a vision for a rapidly changing world. Coloring their innovative ideas and concepts, from eugenics to Freud?s unconscious, was a creeping fear that the West was staring down the end of civilization. In their home country of Britain, many of these fears were unfounded. The country had not suffered from economic collapse, occupation, civil war, or any of the ideological conflicts of inter-war Europe. Nevertheless, the modern era?s promise of progress was overshadowed by a looming sense of decay and death that would deeply influence creative production and public argument between the wars. In The Twilight Years, award-winning historian Richard Overy examines the paradox of this period and argues that the coming of World War II was almost welcomed by Britain?s leading thinkers, who saw it as an extraordinary test for the survival of civilization? and a way of resolving their contradictory fears and hopes about the future.

"Betts is to be commended on his careful and insightful elucidation of the complex and novel sets of dilemnas now facing the British people at a time of superficial calm masking serious divisions."--Albion The erosion of British sovereignty, national identity and culture, the subversion of its history and traditions, and the demoralization of its institutions and public services, are a source of increasing unease to many. The process began, Betts argues, with the end of the colonial empires. Since the beginning of the last decade, concern about the consequences has been heightened by global instability. The demise of the Communist empire, the rise of national independence movements, and the eruption of long standing and bitter ethno-national conflicts have resulted in a mass migration of economic refugees and asylum seekers to Britain and other Western nations. In Britain, public attitudes are ambivalent. In part this is a consequence of the promotion of the myth of the multiracial Commonwealth, the regional devolution of the United Kingdom, and the transition from a European Economic Union into a politically federalized European super-state. Britain's national interests have become secondary to those of the United Nations and an inchoate and unwilling international community. Influenced by an outmoded UN Convention on Refugees and the lack of a consistent immigration policy and failure of those immigration controls that do exist, gradual but major political, social, and cultural shifts have occurred without the express consent of the majority of the British electorate. Virtually all public debate by the government and by politicians on these issues has been taboo, effectively silenced by fear of being accused of xenophobia, discrimination, and racism. The result is cynicism and disenchantment with the political process as a whole. Betts's objective is to promote responsible and informed discussion of these issues. In the absence of this, he warns, we risk the twilight of a harmonious British society, diminished pride in British institutions and national identity, and competing and conflicting separatist ethnic, racial, and cultural claims. Twilight of Britain will be of interest to general readers, those interested in modern Britain and Europe, as well as sociologists, political scientists, and philosophers. G. Gordon Betts was educated in the Universities of Cambridge, Birmingham, Greenwich, and Kent at Canterbury. He is a chartered chemical engineer, having spent his professional career with a major British oil company in the petrochemical industry.

A wide-ranging study of developments in global French-language cinema

British intellectual life between the wars stood at the heart of modernity. The combination of a liberal, uncensored society and a large educated audience for new ideas made Britain a laboratory for novel ways to understand the world. The Morbid Age opens a window onto this creative but anxious era, the golden age of the public intellectual and scientist: Arnold Toynbee, Aldous and Julian Huxley, H. G. Wells, Marie Stopes and a host of others. Yet, as Richard Overy argues, a striking characteristic of so many of the ideas that emerged from this new age - from eugenics to Freud's unconscious, to modern ideas of pacifism and world government - was the fear that the West was facing a possibly terminal crisis of civilization. The modern era promised progress of a kind, but it was overshadowed by a growing fear of decay and death, an end to the civilized world and the arrival of a new Dark Age - even though the country had suffered no occupation, no civil war and none of the bitter ideological rivalries of inter-war Europe, and had an economy that survived better than most. The Morbid Age explores how this strange paradox came about. Ultimately, Overy shows, the coming of war was almost welcomed as a way to resolve the contradictions and anxieties of this period, a war in which it was believed civilization would be either saved or utterly destroyed.

As China reclaims its position as a world power, Imperial Twilight looks back to tell the story of the country’s last age of ascendance and how it came to an end in the nineteenth-century Opium War. As one of the most potent turning points in the country’s modern history, the Opium War has since come to stand for everything that today’s China seeks to put behind it. In this dramatic, epic story, award-winning historian Stephen Platt sheds new light on the early attempts by Western traders and missionaries to “open” China even as China’s imperial rulers were struggling to manage their country’s decline and Confucian scholars grappled with how to use foreign trade to China’s advantage. The book paints an enduring portrait of an immensely profitable—and mostly peaceful—meeting of civilizations that was destined to be shattered by one of the most shockingly unjust wars in the annals of imperial history. Brimming with a fascinating cast of British, Chinese, and American characters, this riveting narrative of relations between China and the West has important implications for today’s uncertain and ever-changing political climate.

With this delicious collection of favorite basic recipes by heavy metal bands from around the globe, Annick "The Morbid Chef” Giroux declares war on junk food, and fires up the flame for a special heavy metal feast. Hellbent for Cooking feeds voracious appetites with a varied menu of over a hundred recipes from thirty countries, including Yorkshire Pudding from England, Beer Pizza Crust from Germany, Spaghetti Barracuda from Italy, Fårikål from Norway, Country Lamb Exohiko from Greece, Churrasco from Brazil, and Mushroom Steak à la Jack Daniel’s from the United States. The dishes are legendary, and so are the bands. Feel the heat of thrash metal pioneers Sepultura, Kreator, Anthrax, and Nuclear Assau Raise your infernal fork for madman Chris Reifert’s Mummified Jalapeño Bacon Bombs, then sample Roast Beef with Green Beans prepared under the watchful eye of Udo Dirkschneider of Accept. Try After the Bombs’ Speed Metal Vegan Tofu, or Eyehategod’s favorite New Orleans Blood Red Beans and Rice. Afterwards, Doro Pesch of Warlock serves her Black Forest Cake, and Richard Christy from Death pours his trademark cocktail, the mighty Viking Testicle. Now for anyone with a taste for metal: The kitchen gates are open--grab your weapons of mass nutrition and let the feasts begin! Featuring a full flavorful menu of appetizer, breakfast, lunch, dinner, vegetarian, seafood, dessert, and drink recipes contributed by members of: Abigail, Abscess, Accept, After the Bombs, Alcoholic Rites, Amebix, Anthrax, Anvil, Armored Saint, Arphaxat, Atomizer, Autopsy, Bastardator, Bëehler, Blackfire, Blasphemy, Brutal Truth, Budgie, Bulldozer, Cauldron, Children of Technology, Control Denied, Countess, Cruachan, Dantesco, Deadmask, Death, Death SS, Deiphago, Denial of God, Desolation Angels, Destruction, Devastation, Dissection, Doro, Dusk, Electric Wizard, Elixir, Envenom, Exciter, Eyehategod, Faustcoven, Funerot, Goat Horn, Gorgoroth, Grimorium Verum, Gwar, Hidden Hand, Holocausto, Impaler, Inepsy, Judas Priest, Killers, Kreator, Lamp of Thoth, L’Impero Delle Ombre, Lord Vicar, Mantak, Master, Master’s Hammer, Mayhem, Melechesh, Messiah, Midnight, Minotaur, Mortal Sin, Mütiilation, Necromantia, Necrosadist, Nuclear Assault, Obituary, Obscurity, Orodruin, Pagan Altar, Pentagram, Piledriver, Possessed, Procession, Repulsion, Reverend Bizarre, Rigor Mortis, Rotting Christ, Sadistik Exekution, Saint Vitus, Sepultura, Shackles, Sigh, Sir Lord Baltimore, Skyforger, Slaughter, S.O.D., Spirit Caravan, Stiny Plamenu, Tankard, Thanatos, The Gates of Slumber, The Obsessed, The Rods, Lord Weird Slough Feg, Thin Lizzy, Toxic Holocaust, Trench Hell, Trouble, Tygers of Pan Tang, U.D.O.. Uriah Heep, Warlock, Warpig, Weapon, Wino, Witchfynde, Witchtrap, Xibalba, and Zemial.

Twilight Over England was written by William Joyce in early 1940; that is, shortly after Britain's declaration of war against Germany. More commonly known as Lord Haw-Haw, the British 'traitor' who worked for German radio, there was much more to Joyce than the character portrayed by Allied propaganda and post-war vengeance. Here Joyce explains his conception of a specifically British National Socialism, his commitment to Crown and Empire, and the history of England's takeover by international finance, the real enemy of all nations. He shows in a manner very relevant to the present, the ways by which the international bankers work, why they forced a war on Germany, and the development of Free Trade capitalism, the system that has continued to intrude on every corner of the world with ever more aggression since its victory in 1945. The charges of treason and his hanging are considered against the fact that he was never a British citizen, and the legality of his execution remains highly contentious. A thorough introduction by Kerry Bolton backgrounds Joyce's life, and reveal the courage, honour, humanity and idealism of Joyce's character.