In The Meaning of Internationalization, Edwin O. Reischauer—former American Ambassador to Japan and one of the world's most acclaimed scholars of Japanese life and culture—delivers a heartfelt message to the Japanese people on the need to look beyond their borders at the changing nature of the world. Reischauer stresses the need to adapt in order to survive these changes and thrive in the new reality that our ever-shrinking world is bringing about.While directed at the peo...

New in the Short History of Asia series, edited by Milton Osborne, this is a comprehensive, readable history of the land of the Rising Sun, from its ancient origins to its fascinating present.Japan is a country of contradictions and extremes. It is a country of age-old practices and cutting edge technology, strong martial traditions and refined artistic accomplishments. Few countries have been the subject of so much attention yet remain so elusive....

As the rest of the world worries about what a future might look like under Chinese supremacy, Edward Luttwak worries about China’s own future prospects. Applying the logic of strategy for which he is well known, Luttwak argues that the most populous nation on Earth—and its second largest economy—may be headed for a fall.For any country whose rising strength cannot go unnoticed, the universal logic of strategy allows only military or economic growth. But China is pursuing both goals...

John Paul Lederach's work in the field of conciliation and mediation is internationally recognized. As founding Director of the Conflict Transformation Program and Institute of Peacebuilding at Eastern Mennonite University, he has provided consultation and direct mediation in a range of situations from the Miskito/Sandinista conflict in Nicaragua to Somalia, Northern Ireland, the Basque Country, and the Philippines. His influential 1997 book Building Peace has become a classic in ...

The collection of lectures and publications from the Schumacher Center for a New Economics represents some of the foremost voices on a new economics.At the end of the 20th century, public attention was focused on a deepening struggle grounded in two sharply divergent world-views and sets of values: that of corporate globalization and that of a newly emerging global movement. David Korten describes this period as a time of cultural awakening and places our present struggle in a larg...

No one wishes for China to collapse, writes New York Times bestselling author and Mao biographer Ross Terrill. But some setbacks should be welcomed by the West.

The collection of lectures and publications from the Schumacher Center for a New Economics represents some of the foremost voices on a new economics.Founder and director of the International Society for Ecology and Culture, Helena Norberg-Hodge presents an eloquent argument in favor of worldwide action to oppose the global capitalist economy and its monoculture with revivified and strengthened local economies and communities. Drawing on her experience, particularly in Ladakh in nor...

Scientific evidence has made it abundantly clear that the world's population can no longer continue its present rate of consuming and despoiling the planet's limited natural resources. Scholars, activists, politicians, and citizens worldwide are promoting the idea of sustainability, or systems and practices of living that allow a community to maintain itself indefinitely. Despite increased interest in sustainability, its popularity alone is insufficient to shift our culture and society tow...

Jesaiah Ben-Aharon recalls the founding vision of the United States and reminds the reader of the obligations inherent in the ideals set forth in the Declaration of Independence. After summarizing current world socioeconomic conditions, the author discusses the dire consequences of ignoring the countrys obligations. He explains how we can stop the harmful effects of globalization while introducing progressive social structures.Using a concept developed by Rudolf Steiner, Ben-Aharon begins wit...

The human race is facing an existential crisis in the form of climate change, yet most of humanity---even if it believes in global warming---seems incapable of making the lifestyle changes necessary to prevent the worst from taking place. _Walking the Talk_ argues that this is because the traditional methods of mobilizing the public to deal with existential threats---faith and duty---have become totally debased in the minds of most people. For the majority, all that has been left is the fl...

Following on the heels of The Womanist Reader, The Womanist Idea offers a comprehensive, systematic analysis of womanism, including a detailed discussion of the womanist worldview (cosmology, ontology, epistemology, logic, axiology, and methodology) and its implications for activism. From a womanist perspective, social and ecological change is necessarily undergirded by spirituality – as distinct from religion per se – which invokes a metaphysically informed approach to a...

What to do to set our world right again? The author posits that it's less about getting it "right" and more about standing back long enough, to "see" together what at the core of our global noise is agitating and demanding our attention. Getting at the root of these disturbances, we can move past the posturing and the grabs for power, and get serious about preserving the inalienable "Rights of Life" (that is, liberty, meaning, dignity, and realization of poten...