China’s stunning record of economic development since the 1970s has been marred by an increasingly obvious gap between the country’s ‘haves’ and its ‘have-nots’. While people living in some parts of the country have enjoyed dramatically improved conditions of life, those in other districts and regions have slipped ever further behind in terms of access to health, wealth, education, security and opportunity. Paying for Progress in China is a collection of essays which trace the causes of this growing inequality, using new data including surveys, interviews, newly available official statistics and in-depth fieldwork. Their findings expose the malfunctioning of China’s ‘broken’ intergovernmental fiscal system, which has exacerbated the disequalizing effects of emerging market forces. Whilst the government’s deliberately ‘pro-poor’ development policies have in recent years sought to reduce the gap between rich and poor, both markets, and also state institutions and policies, are continuing to create perverse equity outcomes across the country, confounding hopes for better-balanced and more inclusive growth in China. The interdisciplinary approach of this collection, incorporating work by economists, sociologists and political scientists, makes it a valuable resource for students of contemporary Chinese political economy and social development.

A documentary on the life of John Lennon, with a focus on the time in his life when he transformed from a musician into an antiwar activist.

Tracing the struggle of the Algerian Front de Liberation Nationale to gain freedom from French colonial rule as seen through the eyes of Ali from his start as a petty thief to his rise to prominence in the organisation and capture by the French in 1957. The film traces the rebels' struggle and the increasingly extreme measures taken by the French government to quell the revolt.

The Middle Eastern oil industry is the backdrop of this tense drama, which weaves together numerous story lines. Bennett Holiday is an American lawyer in charge of facilitating a dubious merger of oil companies, while Bryan Woodman, a Switzerland-based energy analyst, experiences both personal tragedy and opportunity during a visit with Arabian royalty. Meanwhile, veteran CIA agent Bob Barnes uncovers an assassination plot with unsettling origins.

From Library Journal The central thesis of this massive historical study is that an assortment of radical and leftist movements were chiefly responsible for the triumph of democracy in Europe. Eley (history, Univ. of Michigan; Reshaping the German Right) provides a chronological and country-by-country examination of the emergence of democracy and the factors that promoted and hindered its development. Beginning with the growth of liberal constitutionalism in the 1860s, he writes eloquently about the influence of the labor movement, Socialists, Communists, and feminists throughout Europe. This history covers all the expected names Marx, Lenin, Stalin, Gramsci, Brandt, Gorbachev, et al. and the major political events and upheavals. Eley began working on this book 20 years ago and changed his focus as the political landscape of Europe changed, especially after 1989. The rapid democratization of the East-bloc nations led him to consider the future of democratic socialism within the politics of globalization. This is an impressive work of scholarship, with over 90 pages of notes and a bibliography of equal size. Eley has produced a worthy successor to David Caute's seminal study The Left in Europe Since 1789. Highly recommended for all academic libraries. Thomas A. Karel, Franklin & Marshall Coll. Lib., Lancaster, PA Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. Book Description Democracy in Europe has been a recent phenomenon. Only in the wake of World War II were democratic frameworks secured, and, even then, it was decades before democracy truly blanketed the continent. Neither given nor granted, democracy requires conflict, often violent confrontations, and challenges to the established political order. In Europe, Geoff Eley convincingly shows, democracy did not evolve organically out of a natural consensus, the achievement of prosperity, or the negative cement of the Cold War. Rather, it was painstakingly crafted, continually expanded, and doggedly defended by varying constellations of socialist, feminist, Communist, and other radical movements that originally blossomed in the later nineteenth century. Parties of the Left championed democracy in the revolutionary crisis after World War I, salvaged it against the threat of fascism, and renewed its growth after 1945. They organized civil societies rooted in egalitarian ideals which came to form the very fiber of Europe's current democratic traditions. The trajectories of European democracy and the history of the European Left are thus inextricably bound together. Geoff Eley has given us the first truly comprehensive history of the European Left--its successes and failures; its high watermarks and its low tides; its accomplishments, insufficiencies, and excesses; and, most importantly, its formative, lasting influence on the European political landscape. At a time when the Left's influence and legitimacy are frequently called into question, Forging Democracy passionately upholds its vital contribution.

什麼樣的音樂書可以得到中國時報副總編輯兼副刊組主任楊澤、聯合報副刊組主任陳義芝、自由時報影藝中心副主任藍祖蔚、台灣日報副總編輯兼副刊主任路寒袖、蘋果日報總編輯陳裕鑫、新新聞週報社長王健壯、新新聞週報總編楊照、聯合晚報總主筆蔡詩萍、破週報總編輯黃孫權的共同推薦？ 什麼樣的音樂書，可以得到文化評論者南方朔、影像藝術家張照堂等數十位藝文界人士的聯合背書？ 就是這本美國哥倫比亞大學博士生張鐵志撰寫的《聲音與憤怒：搖滾樂可能改變世界嗎？》（Sounds and Fury: Can Rock & Roll Change the World?） 張鐵志稱自己是左手搞政治研究／社會批判、右手書寫音樂文字／文化觀察。《聲音與憤怒》正是這樣一本融合政治研究、社會批判、音樂文化觀察的書。 走過鮑布狄倫（Bob Dylan）抗議歌曲時代的人，知道六○年代不僅是民謠搖滾樂向政治嗆聲的時代，也是爭取民權、反戰、提倡嬉皮烏托邦理想的時代，更是音樂社會學者Robert Flacks所謂的「青年反叛文化」誕生的年代。從此，搖滾樂與政治展開漫長的糾纏鬥爭。 從六○年代以降，無論流行音樂是披著龐克、新浪漫、新左派、後龐克、後搖滾、電音、嘻哈的面貌呈現在聽者面前，它的商品本質總是無法完全扼殺它反對體制的熱血衝動。因此我們看到了英國歌手聲援碼頭工人，看到了瓊拜茲（Joan Baez）的身影穿梭在後冷戰時代的戰火地，看到MTV音樂台結合歌手鼓勵年輕人勇敢地站出來投票，看到了電音瑞舞客用力衝撞布萊爾的第三條路，看到了酷玩樂隊（Coldplay）與討伐體制（Rage Against the Machine）在反全球化抗爭中標舉反血汗工廠與追求公平貿易的呼籲，也看到了U2的波諾（Bono）與各國政要坐下來談「勾銷第三世界國家外債」。 搖滾樂能夠改變世界嗎？這是本書的疑問與探索。透過搖滾樂歷史的爬梳，作者認為搖滾樂的確可能，也只能改變個人的信念與價值。而這也正是許多社會變遷的基礎。是無數人的價值變遷構成了社會的進展。 《聲音與憤怒》是台灣第一本全面探討搖滾樂與政治鬥爭的書，作者拒絕文化研究式的理論分析，而是呈現許多精彩而動人的故事，卻又將這些故事與事件放在一個完整的歷史視野架構下檢視。 更難能可貴的是，針對九○年代之後的搖滾樂政治運動，連西方的文獻都十分匱乏，作者卻能以廣泛的音樂新聞閱讀，勾勒出搖滾樂在全球化抗爭的角色與地位。書中對於世紀末的反全球化、反戰等各種議題和行動都有中文媒體界少見的完整分析，加上作者個人政治經濟學的專業背景，更強化討論的深度。另外，書中對於英美政治人物如何利用流行文化來吸引選票，也對台灣近來膚淺的政治文化提供許多啟示。這個對本土現實的觀照，也流露在本書各個角落，拉近了和台灣讀者的距離。 對不熟悉這些搖滾樂社會面的樂迷來說，這些故事可以讓他們看到他們熟悉的樂手如何實踐他們的社會關懷，企圖改變世界。對於已經瞭解這些情事的讀者來說，這本書的觀點則深化了音樂與社會實踐的進一步對話。

本书对韩国从出口导向型工业化开始到20世纪90年代末劳工运动的发展历程进行了研究，关注的焦点是文化和政治给第一代产业工人带来的冲击和他们的斗争模式。 《韩国工人》展现了一部令人着迷的历史。描述了发展中国家一种最具战斗性的工人运动在克服不利的文化和专制的工作条件的同时形成阶级意识的过程。同时，具海根恰逢其时的分析也向我们展示，随着向民主制度的过渡，新的大韩劳动组合协议会在政治上的成功，同时伴随着集体认同发生某种程度的削弱。 由于对于社会科学理论的充分了解，具海根对现代韩国的阶级形成作出了分析敏锐且体察入微、富有同情心的论述。由此，他对学术研究作出了杰出的贡献，令世界各地有关的劳工运动活动家和研究人员很感兴趣。

2005 film by George Clooney