UDM Libraries Book of the Week

William Still was one of the most important, yet largely unheralded heroes of the Underground Railroad. Still was determined to get as many runaways as he could to “Freedom’s Land,” smuggling them across the US border to Canada. Bounty hunters could legally abduct former slaves living in the so-called free northern states, but under the protection of the British, Canada provided sanctuary for fugitive slaves.

Still kept meticulous records of the many escaped slaves who passed through the Philadelphia ‘station’ of the Underground Railroad. His notes provide some of the best evidence of the workings of the Underground Railroad, detailing the freedom seekers who used it, including where they came from, how they had escaped, and the families they left behind.

Today, Still’s book, a compilation of the secret notes he kept during those years, is regarded as the most authentic account of some of America’s most heroic stories. It was an extraordinary risk to keep such records, risking his own freedom to be able to tell the stories of those who had the courage to run. But it was worth the risk. After meeting his own long-lost brother while working in the Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery office, he was determined to reunite families separated by slavery. His compelling story is one of North America’s greatest sagas

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Required by INT 5110-get it here for FREE!

Albert Laszlo Barabsi

In the 1980′s, James Gleick’s Chaos introduced the world to complexity. Now, Albert-László Barabási’s Linked reveals the next major scientific leap: the study of networks. We’ve long suspected that we live in a small world, where everything is connected to everything else. Indeed, networks are pervasive–from the human brain to the Internet to the economy to our group of friends. These linkages, it turns out, aren’t random. All networks, to the great surprise of scientists, have an underlying order and follow simple laws. Understanding the structure and behavior of these networks will help us do some amazing things, from designing the optimal organization of a firm to stopping a disease outbreak before it spreads catastrophically.In Linked, Barabási, a physicist whose work has revolutionized the study of networks, traces the development of this rapidly unfolding science and introduces us to the scientists carrying out this pioneering work. These “new cartographers” are mapping networks in a wide range of scientific disciplines, proving that social networks, corporations, and cells are more similar than they are different, and providing important new insights into the interconnected world around us. This knowledge, says Barabási, can shed light on the robustness of the Internet, the spread of fads and viruses, even the future of democracy. Engaging and authoritative, Linked provides an exciting preview of the next century in science, guaranteed to be transformed by these amazing discoveries.From Linked:This book has a simple message: think networks. It is about how networks emerge, what they look like, and how they evolve. It aims to develop a web-based view of nature, society, and technology, providing a unified framework to better understand issues ranging from the vulnerability of the Internet to the spread of diseases. Networks are present everywhere. All we need is an eye for them…We will see the challenges doctors face when they attempt to cure a disease by focusing on a single molecule or gene, disregarding the complex interconnected nature of the living matter. We will see that hackers are not alone in attacking networks: we all play Goliath, firing shots at a fragile ecological network that, without further support, could soon replicate our worst nightmares by turning us into an isolated group of species…Linked is meant to be an eye-opening trip that challenges you to walk across disciplines by stepping out of the box of reductionism. It is an invitation to explore link by link the next scientific revolution: the new science of networks.

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by Igor Primoratz

This is the first comprehensive study of the core philosophical questions posed by terrorism such as: How should we define it? Is it morally distinctive? Can it be morally justified?

Igor Primoratz seeks to overcome relativism and double standards that often plague debates about terrorism. He investigates the main ethical approaches to terrorism: in terms of its consequences, rights and justice, “supreme emergency,” and the collective responsibility of citizens. The book provides a rigorous, yet accessible analysis of a range of moral positions, from the acceptance of terrorism when its consequences are good on balance to its absolute rejection. Primoratz argues that terrorism is almost absolutely wrong. It may be morally justified only when an entire people is facing a true moral disaster, and this should be understood in a highly restrictive way.
Conceptual analysis and normative arguments about the practice of terrorism are complemented with case studies of terror-bombing of German cities in World War II and the role of terrorism in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Terrorism: A Philosophical Investigation will be essential reading for researchers and students of philosophy and politics, and the general reader seeking to understand and evaluate acts and campaigns of terrorism.

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By Michael Woodford

When Michael Woodford was made president of Olympus—the company to which he had dedi­cated thirty years of his career—he became the first Westerner ever to climb the ranks of one of Japan’s corporate giants. Some wondered at the appointment—how could a gaijin who didn’t even speak Japanese understand how to run a Japanese company? But within months Wood­ford had gained the confidence of most of his colleagues and shareholders. Unfortunately, soon after, his dream job turned into a nightmare.

  The trouble began when Woodford learned about a series of bizarre mergers and aquisi­tions deals totaling $1.7 billion—a scandal that threatened to bring down the entire company if exposed. He turned to his fellow executives— including the chairman who had promoted him Tsuyoshi Kikukawa—for answers. But instead of being heralded as a hero for trying to save the company, Woodford was met with vague responses and hostility—a clear sign of a cover up. Undeterred, he demanded to be made CEO so he could have more leverage with his board and continue to search for the truth. Then, just weeks after being granted the top title, he was fired in a boardroom coup that shocked Japan and the business world at large. Worried his for­mer bosses might try to silence him, Woodford immediately fled the country in fear of his life and went straight to the press—making him the first CEO of a global multinational to blow the whistle on his own company.

  Following his dismissal, Woodford faced months of agonizing pressure that at times threatened his health and his family life. But instead of suc­cumbing he persisted, and eventually the men who had ousted him were held to account. Now, Woodford recounts his almost unbelievable true story—from the e-mail that first alerted him to the scandal, to the terrifying rumors of involve­ment with the Japanese mafia, to the stream of fruitless denials that continued to emanate from Olympus in an effort to cover up the scandal. He also paints a devastating portrait of corporate Japan—an insular, hierarchy-driven culture that prefers maintaining the status quo to exposing ugly truths.

  The result is a deeply personal memoir that reads like a thriller narrative. As Woodford puts it, “I thought I was going to run a health-care and consumer electronics company, but found I had walked into a John Grisham novel.”

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