The destruction of ancient monuments and artworks by the Taliban in Afghanistan and the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria has shocked observers worldwide. Yet iconoclastic erasures of the past date back at least to the mid-1300s BCE, during the Amarna Period of ancient Egypt's 18th dynasty. Far more damage to the past has been inflicted by natural disasters, looters, and public works. Art hist…
To be an airline passenger in transit is to move through states without permanently adopting them. The very legal nature of a transit lounge embodies this perfectly. When one is in tran-sit, one does not pass through immigration and enter the legal boundaries of a nation-state. The strange nature of transit is best exemplified by its failures — the case of Mehran Karimi Nas…
The knowledge that the African continent gave civilization the Arts and Sciences, Religion and Philosophy is des- tined to produce a change in the mentality both of the White and Black people. 2. There are three persons in the drama of Greek philosophy: (a) Alexander the Great; (b) Aristotle's School and; (c) The Ancient Roman Government who are responsible for a false tradition about Africa an…
Disasters happen with appalling frequency in our world, resulting in death, injury, destruction, disruption and economic loss that can set back the development efforts of affected countries by decades. Disasters from natural hazards are growing at a rapid rate for several reasons. Population growth, migration and urbanisation are all leading to the poorest, most vulnerable, people …
Archaeological investigation of places marked by violence such as Ruapekapeka Pa? in northern New Zealand, where both European and Maori combatants died during significant military operations, has contributed to a national day of remembrance (R? Maumahara) to acknowledge that while colonial settlement played a significant role in modern nation-building, so did intrusion…
This chapter lays the foundation by covering core concepts, including terminology, that are critical to have fresh in our minds as we learn how to accelerate C++ programs using data parallelism.Data parallelism in C++ enables access to parallel resources in a modern heterogeneous system. A single C++ application can use any combination of devices—including GPUs, CPUs, FPGAs, and AI Applicatio…
How many languages are there? What differentiates one language from another? Are new languages still being discovered? Why are so many languages disappearing? The diversity of languages today is varied, but it is steadily declining. In this Very Short Introduction, Stephen Anderson answers the above questions by looking at the science behind languages. Considering a wide range of different l…
What is capitalism? Is capitalism the same everywhere? Is there an alternative? The word 'capitalism' is one that is heard and used frequently, but what is capitalism really all about, and what does it mean? The book begins by addressing basic issues such as 'what is capital?' before discussing the history and development of capitalism through three detailed and absorbing case studies rangin…
Astrophysics is the physics of the stars, and more widely the physics of the Universe. It enables us to understand the structure and evolution of planetary systems, stars, galaxies, interstellar gas, and the cosmos as a whole. In this Very Short Introduction, the leading astrophysicist James Binney shows how the field of astrophysics has expanded rapidly in the past century, with vast quanti…
Horace's day than with an Englishman of the Middle Ages. Lastly, to read and understand Latin, you need to think clearly; this is a skill which is essential in all academic subjects and, indeed, in the whole of life. It would be wrong to pretend that Latin is easy but we hope our course will make the process of learning it both interesting and enjoyable.