'This book presents a new theory for why political regimes emerge, and why they subsequently survive or break down. It then analyzes the emergence, survival, and fall of democracies and dictatorships in Latin America since 1900. Scott Mainwaring and Anâibal Pâerez-Liänâan argue for a theoretical approach situated between long-term structural and cultural explanations and short-term explanations that look at the decisions of specific leaders. They focus on the political preferences of powerful actors - the degree to which they embrace democracy as an intrinsically desirable end and their policy radicalism - to explain regime outcomes. They also demonstrate that transnational forces and influences are crucial to understand regional waves of democratization. Based on extensive research into the political histories of all twenty Latin American countries, this book offers the first extended analysis of regime emergence, survival, and failure for all of Latin America over a long period of time'--

Il settantenne Händel, ormai cieco, narra la sua vita di musicista all'assistente John Christopher Smith. Nel 1760, un anno dopo la sua morte, il reverendo John Mainwaring raccoglie dalla voce di Smith queste 'Memorie della vita del fu Georg Friedrich Händel', la prima biografia di un compositore mai pubblicata. Ma le 'Memorie' non sono soltanto una raccolta di aneddoti händeliani, entrati poi durevolmente nelle biografie maggiori: secondo una collaudata tecnica settecentesca, nella narrazione di Mainwaring le vicende della carriera di Händel sono poste sotto la triplice insegna della Natura prodiga di talenti, della Fortuna generosa di successi, e della Provvidenza, che guida l'artista verso il traguardo supremo dei grandi oratorii londinesi, e del Messiah in particolare. Questa pietra miliare degli studi händeliani si chiude con un catalogo delle opere e una serie di 'osservazioni' critiche che sono un documento rivelatore dell'estetica e della poetica musicale settecentesche. Le 'Memorie' händeliane, lettura godibilissima, sono insomma il capostipite d'una lunga tradizione di libri dedicati alla 'vita e opere' dei grandi musicisti. La seconda parte di questo volume comprende tre saggi fondamentali di studiosi dei nostri giorni che ridisegnano la mappa storico-intellettuale della personalità e dell'opera di Händel.

Joomla! è il CMS (Content Management System) più diffuso al mondo. Grazie alla sua potenza e flessibilità viene utilizzato per semplici siti web personali come per sofisticate applicazioni professionali. Questo guida è una risorsa per amministratori, sviluppatori, designer e content manager. In queste pagine il lettore alle prime armi impara come creare rapidamente siti web funzionanti e funzionali; quello più esperto come sfruttare le potenzialità più avanzate di Joomla! per rendere i propri siti più flessibili, ricchi e accattivanti. Attraverso esempi pratici e tutorial passo passo il manuale affronta tutti i temi, dall'installazione all'uso dei template; dai metodi di backup all'uso delle estensioni.

The Official Joomla! Book is the only official, authoritative, and comprehensive Joomla! reference for everyone who designs, develops, or manages Joomla! web sites. Written by active Joomla! contributors Elin Waring and Jennifer Marriott, this book will help newcomers quickly master the basics of creating a Joomla! web presence and avoid 'newbie' mistakes. It will help experienced Joomla! users extend their knowledge to make the most of Joomla!... and it will help all users participate more actively in the Joomla! community as both users and contributors. Drawing on their unsurpassed experience helping Joomla! users, the authors take a holistic approach to planning, creating, and maintaining Joomla! websites. They walk through planning and designing more usable, effective sites; improving sites with templates and extensions; optimizing sites for search engines; and much more. Throughout, the authors explain key concepts conversationally, helping users learn to help themselves to confidently gain control over their Joomla! sites. The second edition features a number of new chapters: setting up a Joomla! Demo site on CloudAccess, how to configure new sites, customizing and creating templates, plus new coverage of Joomla! extensions, and the future of Joomla!. They also provide: Practical examples from business, non-profit, and education, insightful Q and A interviews with leading contributors to the Joomla! community, updated resources and tips as well as much more...

Get inspired to discover the beautiful images around you

Photographers are born travelers. They’ll go any distance to capture the right light, beautiful landscapes, wildlife, and people. But exotic locales aren’t necessary for interesting photographs. Wonderful images are hiding almost everywhere; you just need to know how to find them.

Extraordinary Everyday Photography will help you search beyond the surface to find the unexpected wherever you are, be it a downtown street, a local park, or your own front lawn. Authors Brenda Tharp and Jed Manwaring encourage amateur photographers to slow down, open their eyes, and respond to what they see to create compelling images that aren’t overworked. Through accessible discussions and exercises, readers learn to use composition, available light, color, and point of view to create stunning photographs in any environment. Inspiring photo examples from the authors, taken with DSLRs, compact digital cameras, and even iPhones, show that it is the photographer's eye and creative vision--not the gear--that make a great image.

Praise for PENSION FINANCE

'Pension Finance is a comprehensive, integrated, and self-contained offering on the structure, management, and oversight of defined benefit pension plans, carefully composed by a prime observer and practitioner in the defined benefit pension world. . . an important and most needed contribution to defined benefit pension knowledge. Whether a prime academic researcher, experienced public policymaker, seasoned private-sector practitioner, or novice student of retirement finance, the reader is in for a treat: bon appetit!'?Robert C. Merton, MIT

'This book is a major advance in the literature of pension finance, breaking much new ground in the market value approach to pension finance. Thorough and hard-hitting, Waring warns that many will consider his blunt views to be 'controversial' or even 'heretical.' But his approach sheds a much-needed bright light on the fundamental nature of pension liability. There are also many valuable suggestions about how to structure an asset portfolio that addresses these now more clearly defined liabilities, given a specific fund's risk tolerance, contingent reserves, back-up resources, and payment schedule.'?Martin Leibowitz, Managing Director, Morgan Stanley

'The value of Pension Finance is not in propounding any new or novel finance ideas, but in systematically explaining the guts of the actuarial process, and then restating the process in sound terms. After reading this book, those involved in the pension arena will understand the causes of the pension crisis and appreciate how easy the 'right answers' are once those causes are understood.'?Frank Fabozzi, Professor of Finance, EDHEC Business School and Editor, The Journal of Portfolio Management

'Pension Finance is now the seminal work on the subject and should be required reading for policymakers, practitioners, and plan fiduciaries. Waring makes a compelling and persuasive case that the only way to ensure the long-term viability of defined benefit plans is to accurately measure the true costs and risks of providing the benefits and provisioning accordingly.'?Bradley D. Belt, former Director, Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, and Senior Managing Director, Milken Institute

'Pension Finance draws cross-disciplinary lessons learned the hard way to set in motion a much-needed overhaul of the U.S. defined benefit pension system. Waring's risk management approach will help guide corporate and public plan sponsors to better measure, pay for, and manage their pension assets and liabilities using modern financial principles. Chock-full of examples and sometimes sad lessons from the pension trenches, this book will set the terms of debate for corporate boards and public plan trustees, consultants and actuaries, unions and financial advisors, and most of all, policymakers seeking to return the U.S. retirement system to health.' ?Olivia S. Mitchell, Professor of Insurance & Risk Management/Business & Public Policy The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania

Mainwaring, a marketing consultant and advertising creative director, presents this ambitious work on the future of consumer marketing and corporate capitalism. Working from the premise that social media such as Facebook and Twitter has fundamentally changed the relationship between brands and consumers, the work argues that the seamless integration of consumer culture into a broader cultural apparatus allows consumers to influence corporate responsibility and forces corporations that wish to take advantage of the power of social media to respond as partners to the political will of their customers. The volume discusses the background of the current social media marketing scene and provides practical advice, as well as real world case studies, for adapting corporate practices to build profitable and socially responsible business practices. Notes, sidebars and chapter summaries are provided. Annotation ©2011 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Two new Start with Science books introduce kids to core science concepts through engaging stories, fresh illustrations, and supplemental activities.

When Oscar the kitten finds a tractor in a field and accidentally turns on the windshield wipers, he is full of questions about electricity. Luckily, Bird knows the answers! With the help of his friend, Oscar finds out how electricity is made and stored, which machines need electricity to work — and why we always need to be careful around wires, batteries, plugs, and sockets.


From the Hardcover edition.

Two new Start with Science books introduce kids to core science concepts through engaging stories, fresh illustrations, and supplemental activities.

One day Oscar comes across a nest made of twigs and leaves, perfect for sheltering eggs. It makes him wonder about all the things we use — like glass, paper, plastic, and cloth. With the help of his friend Snail, the curious kitten learns why we choose specific materials to do different jobs, where the materials come from, and what useful qualities they have.


From the Hardcover edition.

As a new student at Brenton College, Bobby Harris has many things to worry about-but his biggest problem is his new roommate, Ash! Because of Ash, Bobby can't sleep, study, or work properly. The problem is, how does he tell Ash without losing a roommate and a friend?

This fabulous, life-sized introduction to what animals eat, how they eat it, and how much they eat in a single bite is full ofcompelling facts and images. From the tiny sand-grain-sized bite of earth that the earthworm takes to the double-gatefold spread of a sperm whale sucking a whole giant squid down in just one bite, this book and the eleven animals in it are EXACTLY as large as life!

Estela, captain of the women's soccer team, is very excited. Now that famous soccer player George Gray is coming to Brenton, her team will finally get the help they need. But Coach Gray doesn't think women can play soccer. Can Estela change his mind?

Estela dreams of becoming a successful soccer player. But she also has the chance for an exciting new life as a fashion model in the beautiful city of Milan. Which path will she choose?

Lucas and his friends have the best surfing beach in town, and they want to keep it that way. So when Jerry and the city boys demand a piece of the action, it soon becomes an all-out war - for the beach, the surfing trophy, and the heart of the beautiful Ella.

Series Editors: Sue Leather, Julian Thomlinson, and Rob Waring
Alyssa returns to her hometown to tell her mother about her engagement. She is introduced to Zach, her handsome neighbor and the object of her mother's affections. Troubled by her upcoming wedding and her attraction to Zach, Alyssa begins to ask herself what truly makes her happy.

Awaken the bard within in this inspiring journey into your creative potential. Expanding upon the foundation of The Bardic Handbook, this volume explores the transformations the bardic initiate must go through to become a fully-fledged Bard. This originally took 12 years of study in the Bardic Colleges - but communities need bards right now, bringing healing and hope with their words and music and so the training process is accelerated over 12 months, echoing the 12 years of Taliesin's journey from Gwion Bach to the Shining Brow. Extracts from the author's notebooks and journals over 20 years illustrate his own journey - showing how this ancient wisdom has been gleaned and validated by powerful personal experience. The Way of Awen is a way of living creatively.

Conversation and speaking skills are the key building blocks for much of language learning. This text increases teachers’ awareness about spoken language and suggests ways of applying that knowledge to teaching second-language interaction skills based on insights from Conversation Analysis (CA).

Conversation Analysis and Second Language Pedagogy:

• reviews key CA concepts and findings
• directly connects findings from CA with second language pedagogy
• presents a model of interactional practices grounded in CA concepts
• includes numerous transcripts of actual talk
• invites readers to complete a variety of tasks to solidify and extend their understandings
• features a useful collection of practical teaching activities.

The time is ripe for a book that blends conversation analysis and applied linguistics. This text takes that important step, extending the reaches of these once separate academic fields. Assuming neither background knowledge of conversation analysis nor its connection to second language teaching, it is designed for courses in TESOL and applied linguistics and as a resource for experienced teachers, material developers, and language assessment specialists seeking to update their knowledge and hone their craft.

Manwaring (military strategy, U.S. Army War College) presents this study of gangs and pseudo- militaries and the roles these groups play in uncomfortable wars, or wars fought by non-state/nation entities. Drawing from case studies such as Lenin's initial writings on the subject, the Argentinian Piqueteros, and the popular militias employed by Hugo Chavez, Manwaring uncovers some previously undiscussed points relating to the gang's place in these uncomfortable wars. This style of warfare is becoming increasingly prevalent today, rendering this study highly relevant to those concerned with military strategy. Annotation ©2010 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Two new Start with Science books introduce kids to core science concepts through engaging stories, fresh illustrations, and supplemental activities.

When Oscar the kitten finds a tractor in a field and accidentally turns on the windshield wipers, he is full of questions about electricity. Luckily, Bird knows the answers! With the help of his friend, Oscar finds out how electricity is made and stored, which machines need electricity to work — and why we always need to be careful around wires, batteries, plugs, and sockets.

Two new Start with Science books introduce kids to core science concepts through engaging stories, fresh illustrations, and supplemental activities.

One day Oscar comes across a nest made of twigs and leaves, perfect for sheltering eggs. It makes him wonder about all the things we use — like glass, paper, plastic, and cloth. With the help of his friend Snail, the curious kitten learns why we choose specific materials to do different jobs, where the materials come from, and what useful qualities they have.