As financial turmoil in Europe preoccupies political leaders and global markets, it becomes more important than ever to understand the forces that underpin the European Union, hold it together and ...drive it forward. This timely book provides a gripping account of the realities of power politics among European states and between their leaders. Drawing on long experience working behind the scenes, Luuk van Middelaar captures the dynamics and tensions shaping the European Union from its origins until today.It is a story of unexpected events and twists of fate, bold vision and sheer necessity, told from the perspective of the keyplayers - from de Gaulle to Havel, Thatcher to Merkel. Van Middelaar cuts through the institutional complexity by exploring the unforeseen outcomes of decisive moments and focusing on the quest for public legitimacy.As a first-hand witness to the day-to-day actions and decisions of Europe's leaders, the author provides a vivid narrative of the crises and compromises that united a continent. By revisiting the past, he sheds fresh light on the present state of European unification and offers insights into what the future may hold.
A revealing and candid portrayal of a Europe improvising its way through a series of crises. Forced into action by a tidal wave of emergencies, Europe has had to reinvent itself, casting off its ...legal straitjacket and confronting hard issues that threaten its own political identity.
Karl Abraham van Schoonheten, Anna Bentinck
2013, 20180508, 2015, 2018-05-08
eBook
Karl Abraham: Life and Work , a Biography is the first complete biography of Karl Abraham (1877-1925), a close colleague and friend of Sigmund Freud and one of the most important pioneers of ...psychoanalysis. Abraham was the first psychoanalyst in Germany, where he brought about a great flourishing of psychoanalysis. His clinical-theoretical contributions quickly became classics that have powerfully influenced the development of psychoanalytic theory. He was the first to develop a psychoanalytic theory of depression, several years before the publication of Freud's 'Mourning and Melancholia'. Abraham was both supervisor and analyst to Melanie Klein, on whose theoretical work he had a profound influence.In the 1920s Abraham was the most important analyst of the psychoanalytic movement after Freud. He was president of the International Psychoanalytical Association, president of the Berlin Psychoanalytic Society, and a member of the "secret committee".
In his highly praised bookThe Nostalgia Factory, renowned memory scholar Douwe Draaisma explored the puzzling logic of memory in later life with humor and deep insight. In this compelling new book he ...turns to the "miracle" of forgetting. Far from being a defect that may indicate Alzheimer's or another form of dementia, Draaisma claims, forgetting is one of memory's crucial capacities. In fact, forgetting is essential.Weaving together an engaging array of literary, historical, and scientific sources, the author considers forgetting from every angle. He pierces false clichés and asks important questions: Is a forgotten memory lost forever? What makes a colleague remember an idea but forget that it was yours? Draaisma explores "first memories" of young children, how experiences are translated into memory, the controversies over repression and "recovered" memories, and weird examples of memory dysfunction. He movingly examines the impact on personal memories when a hidden truth comes to light. In a persuasive conclusion the author advocates the undervalued practice of "the art of forgetting"-a set of techniques that assist in erasing memories, thereby preserving valuable relationships and encouraging personal contentment.
Most people know little more than fragments of Dutch Jewish history: the Portuguese Jews of Amsterdam; Jewish socialism; the devastating years of the Second World War. So where is the storyline? What ...happened to the Jews in the Netherlands from the moment they first settled there permanently? This book answers that question. It presents the central points of 700 years of Jewish history in the Netherlands briefly and succinctly. One hundred elements of the story have been chosen that taken as a whole create a balanced and representative picture. Each relates to a central event, place, person or object that helps to illuminate one important aspect of the history of the Jews in the Netherlands, and each is linked to a striking, iconic image. They are grouped by century around unifying themes that make them part of an ongoing story.
Crisis after crisis has beset the European Union: the financial chaos of the euro and Greek sovereign debt; the conflicts with Russia over Crimea and Ukraine; unprecedented levels of refugees and ...migrants from across the Mediterranean; not to mention the turmoil created by Brexit and the threat of a trade war with Trump's America. A Europe, originally designed to regulate and enforce rules about fishing, wheat quotas, or product standards has found itself flung onto the global stage to grapple with problems of identity, sovereignty and solidarity without a script or prompt. From Paris to Berlin and London to Athens, European leaders have had to improvise on issues threatening to engulf their unique political entity. In a candid portrayal of a Europe improvising its way through a politics of events and not rules, Luuk van Middelaar gives us the insider's view of the EU's political metamorphosis.
Douwe Draaisma, a renowned memory specialist, here focuses on memory in later life. Writing with eloquence and humour, he explains neurological phenomena without becoming lost in specialist ...terminology.
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