The United States Military Academy at West Point houses more than cadets; there are ghosts aplenty to stir your imagination and peak your curiosity about the country’s oldest continuously running military school. This collection of 13 spooky ghost stories is focused on apparitions that make their home at West Point, right along with the living souls who march the halls of patriotism everyday. Within these pages meet Vivian, a mourning ghost at the Morrison House, but be careful not to lose your head over her (literally). The playful, but lazy, spirit maid at Washington Hall may take your wallet or you may be surprised to see the Lady in White at the Catholic Chapel floating at nearly 100 feet above your head–just before she plunges to the ground and disappears. What will frighten you at West Point?
A UNC Press Enduring Edition -- UNC Press Enduring Editions use the latest in digital technology to make available again books from our distinguished backlist that were previously out of print. These editions are published unaltered from the original, and are presented in affordable paperback formats, bringing readers both historical and cultural value.
During World War II, hundreds of thousands of prisoners were worked to death by the Nazis under a brutal system of slave labor in the concentration camps. By 1942, this vast network of slavery extended across all of German-occupied Europe, but the whole operation was run by a surprisingly small staff of bureaucrats--no more than 200 engineers and managers who worked in the Business Administration Main Office of the SS. Their projects included designing and constructing the concentration camps and gas chambers, building secret underground weapons factories, and brokering slave laborers to private companies such as Volkswagen and IG Farben. The Business of Genocide powerfully contradicts the assumption that the SS forced slavery upon the German economy, demonstrating that instead industrialists actively sought out the Business Administration Main Office as a valued partner in the war economy. Moreover, while the bureaucrats who oversaw Holocaust operations have often been seen as technocrats or simple ""cogs in the machinery,"" the book reveals their ideological dedication, even fanatical devotion, to slavery and genocide in the name of National Socialism. |Allen examines the SS executives and engineers who built up the vast slave-labor system in Nazi concentration camps. While the bureaucrats who oversaw Holocaust operations are often portrayed as simply ""cogs in the machinery,"" he reveals their ideological dedication to National Socialism.
Living off the land-hunting, fishing, and farming, along with a range of specialized crafts that provided barter or cash income-was a way of life that persisted well into the twentieth century in the Big Thicket of southeast Texas. Before this way of life ended with World War II, professional photographer Larry Jene Fisher spent a decade between the 1930s and 1940s photographing Big Thicket people living and working in the old ways. His photographs, the only known collection on this subject, constitute an irreplaceable record of lifeways that first took root in the southeastern woodlands of the colonial United States and eventually spread all across the Southern frontier.Big Thicket People presents Fisher's photographs in suites that document a wide slice of Big Thicket life-people, dogs, camps, deer hunts, farming, syrup mills, rooter hogs and stock raising, railroad tie making, barrel stave making, chimney building, peckerwood sawmills, logging, turpentining, town life, church services and picnics, funerals and golden weddings, and dances and other amusements. Accompanying each suite of images is a cultural essay by Thad Sitton, who also introduces the book with a historical overview of life in the Big Thicket. C. E. Hunt provides an informative biography of Larry Jene Fisher.
A compendium of straightforward techniques on how to accentuate the positive and redirect the negative, increasing productivity at work and at home. What do your people at work and your spouse and kids at home have in common with a five-ton killer whale? Probably a whole lot more than you think, according to top business consultant and mega-bestselling author Ken Blanchard and his coauthors from SeaWorld. In this moving and inspirational new book, Blanchard explains that both whales and people perform better when you accentuate the positive. He shows how using the techniques of animal trainers -- specifically those responsible for the killer whales of SeaWorld -- can supercharge your effectiveness at work and at home. When gruff business manager and family man Wes Kingsley visited SeaWorld, he marveled at the ability of the trainers to get these huge killer whales, among the most feared predators in the ocean, to perform amazing acrobatic leaps and dives. Later, talking to the chief trainer, he learned their techniques of building trust, accentuating the positive, and redirecting negative behavior -- all of which make these extraordinary performances possible. Kingsley took a hard look at his own often accusatory management style and recognized how some of his shortcomings as a manager, spouse, and father actually diminish trust and damage relationships. He began to see the difference between "GOTcha" (catching people doing things wrong) and "Whale Done " (catching people doing things right). In Whale Done , Ken Blanchard shows how to make accentuating the positive and redirecting the negative the best tools to increase productivity, instead of creating situations that demoralize people. These techniques are remarkably easy to master and can be applied equally well at home, allowing readers to become better parents and more committed spouses in their happier and more successful personal lives.
"Wise or Otherwise," a collection of maxims and aphorisms by Lydia Leavitt and Thad. W.H. Leavitt, offers a treasury of insightful quotes and ethical considerations. This volume, meticulously prepared for print republication, presents a timeless exploration of wisdom applicable to everyday life. Delve into a carefully curated selection of thought-provoking statements designed to inspire reflection and guide moral conduct. Explore fundamental principles of ethics through concise and memorable pronouncements. Whether seeking self-help guidance or philosophical enrichment, readers will find value in the enduring wisdom contained within these pages. "Wise or Otherwise" is a valuable resource for anyone interested in the power of concise language and its ability to illuminate the complexities of human experience. A fascinating glimpse into historical perspectives on philosophy, language, and the pursuit of a well-lived life.This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it.This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.
"How is it they can get the most feared predator in the ocean to urinate on cue, and we can't get our son to stand up and pee into the toilet?" Amy Sheldrake's new job at Aqua World, a fictitious marine park in Key West, is one of learning the ropes to become a trainer of killer whales. As the working mother of two-year-old Josh, she is likewise challenged on the home front. Readers of Amy's story share her discovery of how the philosophy of Whale Done animal training can be put into practice in her job as a parent. Once Amy and her husband Matt get the hang of the Whale Done principles, they're able to bring them to bear on bedtime routines, dealing with tantrums, introducing new foods, teaching Josh to share, avoiding overuse of the word No, learning to care for a pet, and instituting time-outs.Whale Done is much more than a set of techniques; it is a way of looking at people and seeing the best that is in them. Great leaders, saints and sages have developed this skill. Since most of us parents are less advanced than those paragons, we need a primer for how to bring out the best in our children.
A portfolio of ten lushly illustrated residential landscape projects in California's wine country, each a lesson in the alchemy of garden design, created by landscape architecture firm Lucas & Lucas. The work of landscape architecture firm Lucas & Lucas extends the architecture of the house into the garden through carefully selected elements of design. Each of the ten projects in Architectural Gardens includes a design narrative that addresses the interconnections between home and land, detailed captions, and a site plan. Readers will learn how to implement features such as landscape windows, breeze-catching grasses, cascading concrete waterfalls, and trees with thoughtfully cast shadows to transform their landscape. The book includes a roundup of Mike Lucas's favorite plants-those best suited to different types of properties and for different purposes like drought tolerance or fast growth. The featured projects will appeal to garden designers, landscape architects, landscape contractors, architects, and home builders, as well as home gardeners looking for inspiration.
From an Olympic gold medal-winning coach, a new playbook for effective athlete education and team building Championship results require championship behaviors—it’s as simple as that. In this essential book, Hugh McCutcheon provides a proven framework for competitive excellence based in motor learning, psychology, and decades of coaching experience and success.Championship Behaviors provides athletes, parents of athletes, and coaches a defined path to the "how" of significant achievement while simply and clearly explaining the research behind the "why." McCutcheon speaks to the need for aspiring athletes to work, learn, and compete and the responsibility coaches have to teach, coach, and mentor. As he says, "We won’t always have five-star talent, but we can often make up the difference by being five-star teachers, learners, and competitors." A sought-after coach and consultant, McCutcheon also illuminates the value of integrating the physical, mental, and social aspects of sport to maximize chances of competitive success.
From an Olympic gold medal-winning coach, a new playbook for effective athlete education and team building Championship results require championship behaviors—it’s as simple as that. In this essential book, Hugh McCutcheon provides a proven framework for competitive excellence based in motor learning, psychology, and decades of coaching experience and success.Championship Behaviors provides athletes, parents of athletes, and coaches a defined path to the "how" of significant achievement while simply and clearly explaining the research behind the "why." McCutcheon speaks to the need for aspiring athletes to work, learn, and compete and the responsibility coaches have to teach, coach, and mentor. As he says, "We won’t always have five-star talent, but we can often make up the difference by being five-star teachers, learners, and competitors." A sought-after coach and consultant, McCutcheon also illuminates the value of integrating the physical, mental, and social aspects of sport to maximize chances of competitive success.
The Bucky Dome in Carbondale, Illinois, tells the story of R. Buckminster Fuller's iconic geodesic dome home, its restoration, and lasting impact. Recognized as one of the great design and architectural thinkers of the twentieth century, R. Buckminster Fuller's name is synonymous with the geodesic dome. But throughout his long life and career, Fuller would only ever call one geodesic dome "home," and that was the house he built in 1960 on a corner lot in the small Midwestern town of Carbondale, Illinois. Erected in just one day, Carbondale's famous "Bucky Dome" was an architectural innovation that is now recognized as a local, state and national historic site. The Dome was the residence of Fuller and his wife, Anne, for over a decade and it endures until this day. This book recounts the building of the Fuller's remarkable home, the Midwestern lives of its two famous owners, and the home's history of subsequent owners and renters. And it covers the nearly twenty-year process involving architects, carpenters, preservationists and volunteers in their efforts to restore the Dome to its original individualistic and revolutionary state.
This book examines how legislators have juggled their passions over abortion with standard congressional procedures, looking at how both external factors (such as public opinion) and internal factors (such as the ideological composition of committees and party systems) shape the development of abortion policy. Driven by both theoretical and empirical concerns, Scott H. Ainsworth and Thad E. Hall present a simple, formal model of strategic incrementalism, illustrating that legislators often have incentives to alter policy incrementally. They then examine the sponsorship of abortion-related proposals as well as their committee referral and find that a wide range of Democratic and Republican legislators repeatedly offer abortion-related proposals designed to alter abortion policy incrementally. Abortion Politics in Congress reveals that abortion debates have permeated a wide range of issues and that a wide range of legislators and a large number of committees address abortion.
This book examines how legislators have juggled their passions over abortion with standard congressional procedures, looking at how both external factors (such as public opinion) and internal factors (such as the ideological composition of committees and party systems) shape the development of abortion policy. Driven by both theoretical and empirical concerns, Scott H. Ainsworth and Thad E. Hall present a simple, formal model of strategic incrementalism, illustrating that legislators often have incentives to alter policy incrementally. They then examine the sponsorship of abortion-related proposals as well as their committee referral and find that a wide range of Democratic and Republican legislators repeatedly offer abortion-related proposals designed to alter abortion policy incrementally. Abortion Politics in Congress reveals that abortion debates have permeated a wide range of issues and that a wide range of legislators and a large number of committees address abortion.
Since the 2000 presidential election, the United States has been embroiled in debates about electronic voting. Critics say the new technologies invite tampering and fraud. Advocates say they enhance the accuracy of vote counts and make casting ballots easier--and ultimately foster greater political participation. Electronic Elections cuts through the media spin to assess the advantages and risks associated with different ways of casting ballots--and shows how e-voting can be the future of American democracy. Elections by nature are fraught with risk. Michael Alvarez and Thad Hall fully examine the range of past methods and the new technologies that have been created to try to minimize risk and accurately reflect the will of voters. Drawing upon a wealth of new data on how different kinds of electronic voting machines have performed in recent elections nationwide, they evaluate the security issues that have been the subject of so much media attention, and examine the impacts the new computer-based solutions is having on voter participation. Alvarez and Hall explain why the benefits of e-voting can outweigh the challenges, and they argue that media coverage of the new technologies has emphasized their problems while virtually ignoring their enormous potential for empowering more citizens to vote. The authors also offer ways to improve voting technologies and to develop more effective means of implementing and evaluating these systems. Electronic Elections makes a case for how e-voting can work in the United States, showing why making it work right is essential to the future vibrancy of the democratic process.
"Whether responding to a CNN.com survey or voting for the NFL All-Pro team, computer users are becoming more and more comfortable with Internet polls. Computer use in the United States continues to grow—more than half of all American households now have a personal computer. The next question, then, becomes obvious. Should Americans be able to use the Internet in the most important polls of all? Some advocates of Internet voting argue that Americans are well suited to casting their ballots online in political elections. They are eager to make use of new technology, and they have relatively broad access to the Internet. Voting would become easier for people stuck at home, at the office, or on the road. Internet voting might encourage greater political participation among young adults, a group that stays away from the polling place in droves. It would hold special appeal for military personnel overseas, whose ability to vote is a growing concern. There are serious concerns, however, regarding computer security and voter fraud, unequal Internet access across socioeconomic lines (the ""digital divide""), and the civic consequences of moving elections away from schools and other polling places and into private homes and offices. After all, showing up to vote is the most public civic activity many Americans engage in, and it is often their only overt participation in the democratic process. In Point, Click, and Vote, voting experts Michael Alvarez and Thad Hall make a strong case for greater experimentation with Internet voting. In their words, ""There is no way to know whether any argument regarding Internet voting is accurate unless real Internet voting systems are tested, and they should be tested in small-scale, scientific trials so that their successes and failures can be evaluated."" In other words, you never know until you try, and it's time to try harder. The authors offer a realistic plan for putting pilot remote Internet voting programs into effect nationwide. Such programs would allow U.S. voters in selected areas to cast their ballots over any Internet connection; they would not even need to leave home. If these pilot programs are successful, the next step is to consider how they might be implemented on a larger scale in future elections. "
