Swat Through The Millennia

There is very little about Swat, from the said perspectives, that cannot be learned from reading this book. Beginning with details of its nomenclature and geography, the book continues with covering and thoroughly examining and discussing the prehistory and protohistoric periods of Swat, different aspects of Alexander of Macedonia's invasion, the period from the Mauryas to the Hindu Shahis, religious perspective of Swat, Muslims' occupation and pre-Yusufzi's period,the Yusufzi's occupation, their social system and mode of ruling, the Mughals and Swat, Khushal Khan Khattak and Swat, the period from 1707 till 1915 CE, and the Kuhistan. The present volume details the above topics and themes in the regional, international, geopolitical and strategic contexts of theperiods concerned.

First published in 1976, this Routledge Revivals reissue presents an analysis of the Swat Pathans, the people of the North-West Frontier Province of Pakistan, who belong administratively to Pakistan despite being a fiercely independent group, with their own codes and ways of life. Akbar S. Ahmed, who knows the Swat Pathans well through his family connections, presents a clear and sophisticated analysis of their complex society. The study provides an anthropological and critical re-examination of the ethnography of the Swat Pathans and the author suggests specific alternative models of social organization. The book also represents an important contribution to the general debate in the social sciences between the ‘methodological individualists’ and the ‘methodological holists’, and challenges some of the theoretical and methodological premises in anthropology. In particular the author is critical of Professor Fredrik Barth’s study of Swat Pathans, for he believes that the ‘Swat models’ have inadvertently become the basis for generalized, and often incorrect, understanding of models of Pathan socio-political organization in the social sciences.

This is the first full-length history of early Kashmir locating it beyond its regional context, from pre-history to the thirteenth century. Drawing on a variety of sources—including conventional archaeological and literary sources, as well as non-conventional sources like philology, toponym and surnames—it presents a connected history of early Kashmir over the longue duree. It challenges tendencies towards nationalist historiographies of the region by situating it in the context of the shared histories of humanity. The volume will be of great interest to scholars and researchers of history, archaeology, anthropology and South Asian studies.

This book invites people to think more deeply about human rights in an attempt to overcome many of the traditional arguments in the human rights literature. Belden Fields argues that human rights should be reconceptualized to combine philosophical, historical, and empirical-practical dimensions. The best way to understand human rights is not as a set of universal abstractions but rather as a set of past and ongoing social practices rooted in the claims and struggles of peoples against what they consider to be political, economic, or social domination. Fields aptly shows how a people's fight for recognition is often closely tied to rights claims and that these connections to identify can help bridge the gulf between universalistic and cultural relativistic arguments in the human rights debate.

How do law enforcement agencies go about selecting the best, brightest, and strongest to be a part of the famously effective SWAT team? What are the key concepts behind deployment and the resolution of crises? In De Re SWAT, author Bryan Morgan answers those questions and many more. Based upon the world-renowned work on military tactics by the Roman General Vegetius, Bryan utilizes that two-millennia-old concept to convey and reiterate the same message that Vegetius wrote: strength and success are found in discipline, courage, and planning, not in numbers or technological superiority. Readers will learn: - How SWAT operators should be selected - How success involves training to perfection - How minimal force is used to create maximum peace and safety - How teams are chosen and positioned to ensure victory - And many other important aspects that ensure the SWAT organization keeps the most people safe with the least rate of failure Whether using this book as a reference for those already working on a SWAT team, or simply interested in learning more about the legendary strength of SWAT, readers will find De Re SWAT extremely informative.

Around 4000 years ago the advanced urban civilizations in Egypt, Mesopotamia and India suddenly collapsed. What happened? Did a prolonged drought cause the breakdown of social order? Recent discoveries from all over the world strongly support the suspected link of the collapse with climate. The volume presents the findings of more than 40 researchers and provides a review on the relevant information. It appears that a major shift of the precipitation pattern affected many parts of the world at approximately the same time, with disastrous effects on the nomadic populations of Asia, Africa and Eastern Europe. Can a similar climate shift with a serious adverse impact on society happen again? In a world facing global warming, there could be many lessons to be learned from the experiences of ancient societies.

The vast majority of people in the industrialized world consider themselves environmentalists. Yet environmental problems continue to worsen. While the environmental movement is winning the battle for the hearts and minds of citizens in the United States and across the globe, it may be losing the war to preserve the health of the planet and its biological diversity. The reasons become clear in this book. Leslie Paul Thiele provides a much needed analysis of the driving forces within the environmental movement and the key challenges that it faces. He begins with a concise history of the movement in the United States, where he identifies four successive waves of environmental thought and action. The first wave, conservation, emerged in the mid 1800s and focused on the responsible use of natural resources and the preservation of isolated tracts of wilderness. By the 1960s, the general public had become aware of the widespread impact of environmental problems on human health and welfare. A concern for the containment of industrial society's environmental degradation emerged. This second wave was followed by a period of co optation beginning in the 1980s, as a now popular social movement made a significant impact on public policy and witnessed the dilution of its goals. Thiele largely focuses on the fourth and current wave of coevolution. Coevolutionary thought and action is grounded in the interdependence of humans and nature in a global context. With the goal of sustainable development in mind, contemporary environmentalists argue that human livelihoods must be integrated into complex and evolving ecological systems. This affirmation of coevolutionary interdependence has brought coherence to an inherently diverse social movement. Through extensive interviews and a critical study of environmental publications and scholarly research, the author provides an inside look at the environmental movement. His analysis illuminates the social, economic, political and cultural forces that shape the environmental movement today and set its trajectory for the 21st century. Anyone interested the future of environmentalism will find this book an invaluable guide.

Man of the New Millennium is a book for us: the millions of people who want to see the end of mancruel and the start of mankind and the probably billion or so of us in this world, exasperated and disenchanted by worn-out templates, trying to find new ones. Wrapped in the most gentle of narratives, Man of the New Millennium leads us through the maze of history's travesties and today's duplicities to a future with a future, to a future whose potential is our potential, our potential as a species, and that potential special to all of us individually. Man of the New Millennium is a search for us in an age of me; it is a text for humanity in fictional dress; it is a book which changes hope from an ill-defined aspiration to a realisable ambition. It is a book of today which guarantees a quality tomorrow. Man of the New Millennium is the third book of the trilogy which also comprises The Prophet of the New Millennium and God of the New Millennium.