Downfall by Richard B. Frank

The Hollow Hope by Gerald Rosenberg is based on one research question. That question is: Can the Court bring about significant social change? In examining this question Rosenberg presents two different views of the Court. The dynamic court view believes that the court is an excellent catalyst for social change while the constrained court view believe that there are constraints in place that prevent the court from making significant change. The constrained court believes that it is only when these constraints are lifted and certain conditions met that the Court can have an effect on social change.

When it comes to the topic of obesity, most of us will readily agree that fast food is one of the main causes. Where this agreement usually ends, however, is on the question of readily available cheap food on the go. Whereas some are convinced that only unhealthy foods can be fast food, others maintain that fast food can be healthy too. Someone who believes that is Anthony Bourdain. Anthony Bourdain is not only a widely known chef and TV personality, but he is also an author. He graduated from the Culinary Institute of America in 1978. He has traveled often for his various television shows, which has made him well informed about other parts of the world. Since he has traveled all around the world, been added to the New York Times bestseller

After the loss of Japan, the effects of the bombs had an impact that nobody could have guessed

or this project we viewed the original 1957 version of Twelve Angry Men, an American Drama, adapted from the teleplay written by Reginald Rose with the same name starring Henry Fonda as the lead role.

December 7, 1941 was one of America’s darkest days. This was the day of the famous pearl harbor bombing. This attack came from the Japanese attacking the American Naval base in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The attack had been in the planning for many years to attack and weaken the United States Naval force. Japan wanted to do this to gain more superiority in the Atlantic and to grow their ties with European nations. In this paper I will talk about the people, the planning, the attack, and the aftermath of the Pearl Harbor bombing.

In “The Victims” by Sharon Olds it describes a divorce through the eyes of the parents’ children. The first section is shown through past tense as the speaker is a child and the last section is shown in present tense with the speaker already being an adult trying to make sense of past events. The word “it” in the first two lines carries a tremendous weight, hinting at the ever so present abuse and mistreatment, but remaining non-specific. The first part generates a negative tone toward the father who is referred to as malicious by the mother who “took it” from him “in silence” until she eventually “kicked him out.” Through the entirety of the poem the children are taught to hate their father. Who taught them? Their mother showed them that their father was a villain and were taught to have no sympathy for him but “to hate you and take it” and so they did so. Although the poem never directly states what the father did to receive the family’s hated, the speaker gives examples as to why he is hated.

Social change comes from a societies understanding and acceptance of controversial topics, laws that enforce social norms and the politics that play a role in such change. The author Gerald Rosenberg of “The Hollow Hope” believes that the Supreme Court is able to bring about social change. Rosenburg main argument seemed to be questioning if a courts ruling that had once been accepted and had standing for several years were to be over turned, would the environment outside of the courtroom suddenly change and be accepting of their division.

In his book Collapse, Jared Diamond gives you an in depth look at societies you may or may not be familiar with and shows you the secrets to their success or failure using his personal 5-point framework. I enjoyed this book and thought he made a lot of good points and had convincing evidence to back it up. While reading you could really tell he knew a lot about the areas he discussed because of the depth he went into with details and descriptions. One complaint I would have about the book is the length he went to in the detailed descriptions, at some points I felt he went too far and got a little wordy and with as much as he gave you are left with almost no questions or curiosity. There were a few terms he uses in the book like

In the book Revolutionary Characters by Gordan Wood, the degree in which he portrays the personality and personal philosophies that informed the politics of these early American leaders, especially Thomas Jefferson, shows that contrary to popular belief that these men were not some unflawed perfect beings, but they are just like us with their many fears and insecurities. These flaws appear in all of the founding fathers and this adds a level of realism to them. It also shows that flaws are a part of human nature.

This book review is on Guns, Germs and Steel, by Jared Diamond. The book was very interesting but a lot of the information could have been cut because it’s a bit too long. Jared Diamond is a scientist, not a historian and he’s American. He upset many historians around the world by the way he bashes Europeans. However, he did win a Pulitzer Prize for the book so that says something.

In his article ‘the awful truth: education won't stop the west getting poorer’ for the Guardian newspaper, Peter Wilby seemingly argues that the current downward economic trend of the western world is almost an irreversible occurrence. He argues that for the past 30 years ‘traditional forms of state intervention such as subsidies and tariffs ’ have failed to protect the jobs of western people from being exported overseas. Wilby explains that instead of using traditional methods, governments now believe education is the solution to keeping the western world employed. However, this so called ‘Knowledge Work’ is also increasingly being outsourced to developing countries, Wilby gives various examples to this outsourcing such as ‘Analysing X-rays,

Indignation, by Philip Roth, is narrated by Marcus Messner, a young man from Newark, New Jersey, set in the early 1950’s. Marcus is dead, reflecting on the critical events of his life leading up to his downfall. He believes these events were causally related; if one event in his life ended differently, his death could have been avoided. Marcus laments his misfortune as an unlucky soul. His mother calls him defiant, as if it is a natural characteristic that all Messners, and followers of Bertrand Russell inherently possess. While Marcus sees himself as a victim, deprived of his true potential, the reality is in stark contrast. He is not a victim of a series of “mishaps”; Marcus died because of his failure to understand people and his

“When a rule is enforced, the person who is supposed to have broken it may be seen as a special kind of person, one who cannot be trusted to live by the rules agreed on by the group. He is regarded as an outsider.

“In modern war... you will die like a dog for no good reason.” - Ernest Hemingway.

Guilt is defined as an emotion of regret or accountability for some offense, which drives a person to make amends in some way. Shame is defined as a painful emotion arising from the consciousness of committing something immoral. The Reader, by Bernhard Schlink, is a novel that is filled with various examples of guilt and shame. Guilt is especially important because the symbolic meaning of the story contains illustrations of both collective and personal guilt. This emphasis on guilt begs the question: “How can the novel, The Reader, be seen as a study in collective and personal guilt?” The Reader can be seen as a study in collective and personal guilt because it shows how Hanna and Michael represent the guilt of Germans communally and individually.