The Stakes

Download or read book The Stakes written by Michael Anton and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2020-09-01 with total page 456 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: AMERICA AT THE POINT OF NO RETURN The next election is the most important one America has faced in more than a century. That’s not campaign hype. America is divided as almost never before—with contesting political factions regarding themselves not as rivals but as enemies. And the frightening thing is that, in large part, they’re right. The Democratic Party has become the party of “identity politics”—and every one of those identities is defined against a unifying national heritage of patriotism, pride in America’s past, and hope for a shared future. Offering only antagonism based on group identity—whether race, sex, or something else—the Democrats look forward to imposing nationally what they have achieved in California: one-party rule in a lockdown nation, where the ruling class makes every decision and doles out benefits to favored groups. Against them is a divided Republican Party. Gravely misunderstanding the opposition, old-style Republicans still seek bipartisanship and accommodation, wrongly assuming that Democrats care about playing by the tiresome old rules laid down in the Constitution and other fundamental charters of American liberty. The new core of the Republican Party is the populists and nationalists, who are tired of losing. The party’s only hope of victory, they are all that stand between the United States as we have traditionally understood it and a revolution—less dramatic in appearance but just as consequential as the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia. Michael Anton, the author of the most scathing, memorable, and quoted essay of the 2016 campaign season, “The Flight 93 Election”—which Rush Limbaugh called “one of the greatest columns ever written”—now explains in depth why the stakes have risen even higher. Ranging across every hot-button political topic of our time—from immigration to nationalism to war—and informed by a profound understanding of classical and American political philosophy, The Stakes will transform the way you view politics and America’s future.

Download or read book Raising the Stakes written by T. L. Taylor and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2015-01-30 with total page 333 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How a form of play becomes a sport: players, agents, referees, leagues, tournaments, sponsorships, and spectators, and the culture of professional computer game play. Competitive video and computer game play is nothing new: the documentary King of Kong memorably portrays a Donkey Kong player's attempts to achieve the all-time highest score; the television show Starcade (1982–1984) featured competitions among arcade game players; and first-person shooter games of the 1990s became multiplayer through network play. A new development in the world of digital gaming, however, is the emergence of professional computer game play, complete with star players, team owners, tournaments, sponsorships, and spectators. In Raising the Stakes, T. L. Taylor explores the emerging scene of professional computer gaming and the accompanying efforts to make a sport out of this form of play. In the course of her explorations, Taylor travels to tournaments, including the World Cyber Games Grand Finals (which considers itself the computer gaming equivalent of the Olympics), and interviews participants from players to broadcasters. She examines pro-gaming, with its highly paid players, play-by-play broadcasts, and mass audience; discusses whether or not e-sports should even be considered sports; traces the player's path from amateur to professional (and how a hobby becomes work); and describes the importance of leagues, teams, owners, organizers, referees, sponsors, and fans in shaping the structure and culture of pro-gaming. Taylor connects professional computer gaming to broader issues: our notions of play, work, and sport; the nature of spectatorship; the influence of money on sports. And she examines the ongoing struggle over the gendered construction of play through the lens of male-dominated pro-gaming. Ultimately, the evolution of professional computer gaming illuminates the contemporary struggle to convert playful passions into serious play.

Download or read book When the Stakes Are High written by Vesna Danilovic and published by University of Michigan Press. This book was released on 2010-06-04 with total page 285 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When the Stakes Are High is based on the premise that powers have continually played a decisive role in international conflicts. Consequently, one of the key questions concerns the conditions that are likely to trigger or abate dispute escalation into major power conflicts. In this book, Vesna Danilovic provides a rigorous theoretical and empirical analysis of these conditions. Since the most precarious and common form of dispute between major powers arises over third nations, the author's primary focus is on so-called extended deterrence. In this type of deterrence, one side attempts to prevent another side from initiating or escalating conflict with a third nation. When the Stakes Are High addresses such questions as: When is extended deterrence likely to be effective? What happens if deterrence fails? In what circumstances is war likely to result from a deterrence failure? The author's main argument is that a major power's national interests, which shape the inherent credibility of threats and which are shaped by various regional stakes, set the limits to the relevance of other factors, which have received greater scholarly attention in the past. Strongly supported by the empirical findings, the arguments in this work draw important implications for conflict theory and deterrence policy in the post-Cold War era. This book will appeal to the reader interested in international relations, in general, and in theories of international conflict, deterrence, causes of wars, great power behavior, and geopolitics, in particular. Vesna Danilovic is Assistant Professor of Political Science, Texas A&M University.

Download or read book The Stakes of History written by David N. Myers and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2018-01-09 with total page 193 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A leading scholar of Jewish history’s bracing and challenging case for the role of the historian today Why do we study history? What is the role of the historian in the contemporary world? These questions prompted David N. Myers’s illuminating and poignant call for the relevance of historical research and writing. His inquiry identifies a number of key themes around which modern Jewish historians have wrapped their labors: liberation, consolation, and witnessing. Through these portraits, Myers revisits the chasm between history and memory, revealing the middle space occupied by modern Jewish historians as they work between the poles of empathic storytelling and the critical sifting of sources. History, properly applied, can both destroy ideologically rooted myths that breed group hatred and create new memories that are sustaining of life. Alive in these investigations is Myers’s belief that the historian today can and should attend to questions of political and moral urgency. Historical knowledge is not a luxury to society but an essential requirement for informed civic engagement, as well as a vital tool in policy making, conflict resolution, and restorative justice.

Download or read book The Stakes written by Shibley Telhami and published by Westview Press. This book was released on 2002-12-04 with total page 218 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: One of America's most notable Middle East commentators imparts incisive views on peace, terrorism, and the continuing role of the United States in the region. Maps.

Download or read book Stakes Is High written by Mychal Denzel Smith and published by Hachette UK. This book was released on 2020-09-15 with total page 208 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Brave, clear-eyed, and passionate, Stakes Is High is the book we need to guide us past crisis mode and through an uncertain future. The events of the past decade have forced us to reckon with who we are and who we want to be. We have been invested in a set of beliefs about our American identity: our exceptionalism, the inevitable rightness of our path, the promise that hard work and determination will carry us to freedom. But in Stakes Is High, Mychal Denzel Smith confronts the shortcomings of these stories -- and with the American Dream itself -- and calls on us to live up to the principles we profess but fail to realize. In a series of incisive essays, Smith exposes the stark contradictions at the heart of American life, holding all of us, individually and as a nation, to account. We've gotten used to looking away, but the fissures and casual violence of institutional oppression are ever-present. There is a future that is not as grim as our past. In this profound work, Smith helps us envision it with care, honesty, and imagination.

Download or read book What Are the Stakes? written by Steven Blane Hemphill and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2017-03-06 with total page 206 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Steve's journey learning about spiritual warfare got serious when a non-Christian man came to him with a problem: he said he had demons on his property. Steve didn't know how to respond, so he silently prayed as the man talked. After the quick prayer, Steve had a strange verse pop into his head from Deuteronomy 6 that instructed God's people to put Scripture on their gates and doorposts. So Steve & this non-Christian man who was desperate for help put Bible verses on ordinary tent stakes. Then they placed these stakes in the ground on the corners of this man's property, read the verses out loud, and prayed for God's protection. Everything changed. The man confessed Jesus as Lord, was baptized, and is now living faithfully in peace and safety as a Christian. Others heard about this event and copied this idea, and Spiritual Warfare Stakes were born (also available from Steve and on Amazon). So many people began to call Steve with amazing stories of good things that happened after placing this symbol of their faith around them that Steve researched the biblical connections to this idea and put these amazing stories together in this second edition of "What Are The Stakes?" God markers on the land are throughout the Scriptures: Goshen was set apart, blood on the doorposts protected the faithful, there were markers around Mt. Sinai, piles of stones marked connections to God, altars honored God, and the list goes on and on. It's all about faith. Jesus could do few miracles where there was no faith. Prayers without faith accomplish little. But Jesus noticed, honored, and rewarded great faith with healing. The woman with the issue of blood had no reason to think that touching the hem of Jesus' robe would heal her, but she decide that it would, she acted on her decision, and she was literally healed. That's the principle behind the placing of these spiritual warfare stakes around your home, your property, your office, your hotel room, or your loved ones. Take a leap of faith and read these amazing God-stories, and you, too, will be placing Bible passages around your land and your family. Watch what God does after you do, and your life will never ever be the same. Lord, I pray for every person who reads this. Open their eyes to Your mighty power today and to the strength that lies in the words from the Bible. No evil force can stand against You and Your powerful Word. Use this to Your glory. In Jesus' Name, amen.