This collection of essays revises contemporary trauma theory, from Freudian/Caruthian and post-structuralist perspectives. While Western trauma theory is often theorized according to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), this volume discusses different forms of trauma that target decolonisation theories in Arab-Maghrebean and Afro-American contexts and Chinese narratives on courtesans. The contributors to this book also scrutinize the artistic representation of trauma in poetry and drama, adopting a cross-cultural approach to trauma theory.

Nationalism appears to be rising in a renascent Asia and stoking tensions, aspirations, and identity politics while amplifying grievances and raising questions about prospects in what is touted as the Asian century. This book provides a broad overview and introduction to nationalism in Asia. Leading experts in their fields succinctly convey key information and critical analysis useful to students in a range of courses across disciplines. Part I presents thematic chapters, mostly cross-national studies, that elucidate the roots and consequences of nationalism in these societies and the varying challenges they confront. Part II presents concise country case studies in Asia, providing an overview of what is driving contemporary nationalism and surveys the domestic and international implications. Approaching Asia from the perspective of nationalism facilitates a comparative, interdisciplinary analysis that helps readers better understand each society and what the ramifications of nationalism are for contemporary Asians, and the worlds that they (and we) participate in. Asian Nationalisms Reconsidered is an invaluable textbook for undergraduate courses and graduate seminars related to international relations, Asian Studies, political science, government, foreign policy, peace and conflict, and nationalism.

The Holy Roman Empire has often been anachronistically assumed to have been defunct long before it was actually dissolved at the beginning of the nineteenth century. The authors of this volume reconsider the significance of the Empire in the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries. Their research reveals the continual importance of the Empire as a stage (and audience) for symbolic performance and communication; as a well utilized problem-solving and conflict-resolving supra-governmental institution; and as an imagined political, religious, and cultural "world" for contemporaries. This volume by leading scholars offers a dramatic reappraisal of politics, religion, and culture and also represents a major revision of the history of the Holy Roman Empire in the early modern period.

Aurel Kolnai’s The War against the West remains one of the most insightful analyses of Nazi thought ever written. First published in 1938 it was a revelation for many readers. Quite different in tone and approach from most other analyses of Nazism available in English, it was remarkable for the thoroughness with which it discussed the writings of Nazi thinkers and for the seriousness with which it took their views. In this edited collection published eighty years after the original book, a team of distinguished scholars reassess this classic text and also consider its continued relevance to contemporary politics. They address issues such as the comparison of Nazism and communism, anti-Semitism, British and American perceptions of the Reich before the war and the Nazi legal theory of Carl Schmitt. This book is a vital source for historians of Nazism and Fascism.

Debate surrounds the significance of stressful events in determining the nature and course of mental illness. In the late 1960s and 1970s, the focus of psychiatry shifted to neurobiological causes of illness thereby reducing the importance of the research of stress and trauma as major causes of disorders. With the classification of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), the theory of traumatic exposure as a major etiological agent of psychiatric symptoms was reasserted. In the twenty years following the diagnosis of PTSD, a large amount of data has been collected and this research has presented some important challenges to the mental health field. It is now clear that PTSD is a serious public health problem, yet this disorder is not the inevitable outcome of trauma. An important development in the field of traumatology has been the recent findings pertaining to the biology of trauma and PTSD. The demonstration of a distinct set of biological models correlating with the symptoms of the disorder has been a critical validation of the concept of PTSD. Also, this evidence has lead the field towards pharmacological treatment of this disorder. The final sections of this volume research the rationale for medical intervention as well s non-biological treatment of trauma and PTSD through cognitive and behavioral therapy. For a section of psychiatric medicine that has undergone recent significant change, Psychological Trauma addresses these advances in a critical and thorough approach. The practicing physician will find this volume an indispensable addition to the existing literature.

This new study analyzes Soviet political and economic policies toward East Germany from 1945 to 1955, focusing on the transition from ambivalence to support. In her introduction Phillips outlines the postwar situation and reviews differing interpretations of Soviet policy. She reviews the issues of postwar settlement relating to East Germany and describes the conflicts within the Soviet leadership over German policy. Discussing Soviet economic exploitation of Germany and the harsh reparations policy, she contrasts these developments with the relatively moderate Soviet policies of socialization implemented in the same period, including improved consumption, economic aid, and toleration of private trade and production. She analyzes the factors that undermined the stability of the Ulbricht regime and culminated in the June 1953 uprising, creating an abrupt change of direction in Soviet policy toward the German Democratic Republic and East European bloc that existed prior to 1953. She argues that Soviet policies during the immediate postwar period were ambivalent, serving a mix of political and economic goals that were often incompatible, and that the Soviet commitment to incorporate East Germany into the Soviet bloc was not evident until after mid-1953.

In Sexual Aggression Against Children: Pedophiles’ and Abusers' Development, Dynamics, Treatability, and the Law, Drs. Blackman and Dring use multiple psychoanalytic principles to answer, “Why do people sexually abuse children?” and “Why are most abusers male”? They address the legal and mental health professions’ minimization of the horrific nature of child sexual abuse, explain how to assess pedophiles’ treatability, and discuss cases of adolescent and adult predators. Also, developmental analysis of sexual predation is integrated with a review of judicial decisions regarding civil commitment and punishment of abusers. The authors suggest how courts, evaluators, and legislatures can preserve constitutional rights of sexual offenders while prioritizing protection of children.