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A Casual Revolution
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Book Synopsis A Casual Revolution by : Jesper Juul
Download or read book A Casual Revolution written by Jesper Juul and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2012-02-10 with total page 261 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How casual games like Guitar Hero, Bejeweled, and those for Nintendo Wii are expanding the audience for video games. We used to think that video games were mostly for young men, but with the success of the Nintendo Wii, and the proliferation of games in browsers, cell phone games, and social games video games changed changed fundamentally in the years from 2000 to 2010. These new casual games are now played by men and women, young and old. Players need not possess an intimate knowledge of video game history or devote weeks or months to play. At the same time, many players of casual games show a dedication and skill that is anything but casual. In A Casual Revolution, Jesper Juul describes this as a reinvention of video games, and of our image of video game players, and explores what this tells us about the players, the games, and their interaction. With this reinvention of video games, the game industry reconnects with a general audience. Many of today's casual game players once enjoyed Pac-Man, Tetris, and other early games, only to drop out when video games became more time-consuming and complex. Juul shows that it is only by understanding what a game requires of players, what players bring to a game, how the game industry works, and how video games have developed historically that we can understand what makes video games fun and why we choose to play (or not to play) them. Important Notice: The digital edition of this book is missing some of the images found in the physical edition.
Download or read book The Art of Failure written by Jesper Juul and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2016-09-02 with total page 173 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A gaming academic offers a “fascinating” exploration of why we play video games—despite the unhappiness we feel when we fail at them (Boston Globe) We may think of video games as being “fun,” but in The Art of Failure, Jesper Juul claims that this is almost entirely mistaken. When we play video games, our facial expressions are rarely those of happiness or bliss. Instead, we frown, grimace, and shout in frustration as we lose, or die, or fail to advance to the next level. Humans may have a fundamental desire to succeed and feel competent, but game players choose to engage in an activity in which they are nearly certain to fail and feel incompetent. So why do we play video games even though they make us unhappy? Juul examines this paradox. In video games, as in tragic works of art, literature, theater, and cinema, it seems that we want to experience unpleasantness even if we also dislike it. Reader or audience reaction to tragedy is often explained as catharsis, as a purging of negative emotions. But, Juul points out, this doesn't seem to be the case for video game players. Games do not purge us of unpleasant emotions; they produce them in the first place. What, then, does failure in video game playing do? Juul argues that failure in a game is unique in that when you fail in a game, you (not a character) are in some way inadequate. Yet games also motivate us to play more, in order to escape that inadequacy, and the feeling of escaping failure (often by improving skills) is a central enjoyment of games. Games, writes Juul, are the art of failure: the singular art form that sets us up for failure and allows us to experience it and experiment with it. The Art of Failure is essential reading for anyone interested in video games, whether as entertainment, art, or education.
Book Synopsis The Vision Revolution by : Mark Changizi
Download or read book The Vision Revolution written by Mark Changizi and published by BenBella Books, Inc.. This book was released on 2010-06-08 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In The Vision Revolution: How the Latest Research Overturns Everything We Thought We Knew About Human Vision, Mark Changizi, prominent neuroscientist and vision expert, addresses four areas of human vision and provides explanations for why we have those particular abilities, complete with a number of full-color illustrations to demonstrate his conclusions and to engage the reader. Written for both the casual reader and the science buff hungry for new information, The Vision Revolution is a resource that dispels commonly believed perceptions about sight and offers answers drawn from the field's most recent research. Changizi focuses on four “why" questions: 1. Why do we see in color? 2. Why do our eyes face forward? 3. Why do we see illusions? 4. Why does reading come so naturally to us? Why Do We See in Color? It was commonly believed that color vision evolved to help our primitive ancestors identify ripe fruit. Changizi says we should look closer to home: ourselves. Human color vision evolved to give us greater insights into the mental states and health of other people. People who can see color changes in skin have an advantage over their color-blind counterparts; they can see when people are blushing with embarrassment, purple-faced with exertion or the reddening of rashes. Changizi's research reveals that the cones in our eyes that allow us to see color are exquisitely designed exactly for seeing color changes in the skin. And it's no coincidence that the primates with color vision are the ones with bare spots on their faces and other body parts; Changizi shows that the development of color vision in higher primates closely parallels the loss of facial hair, culminating in the near hairlessness and highly developed color vision of humans. Why Do Our Eyes Face Forward? Forward-facing eyes set us apart from most mammals, and there is much dispute as to why we have them. While some speculate that we evolved this feature to give us depth perception available through stereo vision, this type of vision only allows us to see short distances, and we already have other mechanisms that help us to estimate distance. Changizi's research shows that with two forward-facing eyes, primates and humans have an x-ray ability. Specifically, we're able to see through the cluttered leaves of the forest environment in which we evolved. This feature helps primates see their targets in a crowded, encroached environment. To see how this works, hold a finger in front of your eyes. You'll find that you're able to look “through" it, at what is beyond your finger. One of the most amazing feats of two forward-facing eyes? Our views aren't blocked by our noses, beaks, etc. Why Do We See Illusions? We evolved to see moving objects, not where they are, but where they are going to be. Without this ability, we couldn't catch a ball because the brain's ability to process visual information isn't fast enough to allow us to put our hands in the right place to intersect for a rapidly approaching baseball. “If our brains simply created a perception of the way the world was at the time light hit the eye, then by the time that perception was elicited—which takes about a tenth of a second for the brain to do—time would have marched on, and the perception would be of the recent past," Changizi explains. Simply put, illusions occur when our brain is tricked into thinking that a stationary two-dimensional picture has an element that is moving. Our brains project the “moving" element into the future and, as a result, we don't see what's on the page, but what our brain thinks will be the case a fraction of a second into the future. Why Does Reading Come So Naturally to Us? We can read faster than we can hear, which is odd, considering that reading is relatively recent,
Book Synopsis The Institutional Revolution by : Douglas W. Allen
Download or read book The Institutional Revolution written by Douglas W. Allen and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2011-10-25 with total page 282 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Few events in the history of humanity rival the Industrial Revolution. Following its onset in eighteenth-century Britain, sweeping changes in agriculture, manufacturing, transportation, and technology began to gain unstoppable momentum throughout Europe, North America, and eventually much of the world—with profound effects on socioeconomic and cultural conditions. In The Institutional Revolution, Douglas W. Allen offers a thought-provoking account of another, quieter revolution that took place at the end of the eighteenth century and allowed for the full exploitation of the many new technological innovations. Fundamental to this shift were dramatic changes in institutions, or the rules that govern society, which reflected significant improvements in the ability to measure performance—whether of government officials, laborers, or naval officers—thereby reducing the role of nature and the hazards of variance in daily affairs. Along the way, Allen provides readers with a fascinating explanation of the critical roles played by seemingly bizarre institutions, from dueling to the purchase of one’s rank in the British Army. Engagingly written, The Institutional Revolution traces the dramatic shift from premodern institutions based on patronage, purchase, and personal ties toward modern institutions based on standardization, merit, and wage labor—a shift which was crucial to the explosive economic growth of the Industrial Revolution.
Book Synopsis Revolutions: a Very Short Introduction by : Jack A. Goldstone
Download or read book Revolutions: a Very Short Introduction written by Jack A. Goldstone and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2023 with total page 177 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "In the 20th and 21st century revolutions have become more urban, often less violent, but also more frequent and more transformative of the international order. Whether it is the revolutions against Communism in Eastern Europe and the USSR; the "color revolutions" across Asia, Europe and North Africa; or the religious revolutions in Iran, Afghanistan, and Syria; today's revolutions are quite different from those of the past. Modern theories of revolution have therefore replaced the older class-based theories with more varied, dynamic, and contingent models of social and political change. This new edition updates the history of revolutions, from Classical Greece and Rome to the Revolution of Dignity in the Ukraine, with attention to the changing types and outcomes of revolutionary struggles. It also presents the latest advances in the theory of revolutions, including the issues of revolutionary waves, revolutionary leadership, international influences, and the likelihood of revolutions to come. This volume provides a brief but comprehensive introduction to the nature of revolutions and their role in global history"--
Book Synopsis American Tempest by : Harlow Giles Unger
Download or read book American Tempest written by Harlow Giles Unger and published by Da Capo Press. This book was released on 2011-03-08 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: On Thursday, December 16, 1773, an estimated seven dozen men, many dressed as Indians, dumped roughly £10,000 worth of tea in Boston Harbor. Whatever their motives at the time, they unleashed a social, political, and economic firestorm that would culminate in the Declaration of Independence two-and-a-half years later. The Boston Tea Party provoked a reign of terror in Boston and other American cities as tea parties erupted up and down the colonies. The turmoil stripped tens of thousands of their homes and property, and nearly 100,000 left forever in what was history's largest exodus of Americans from America. Nonetheless, John Adams called the Boston Tea Party nothing short of "magnificent," saying that "it must have important consequences." Combining stellar scholarship with action-packed history, Harlow Giles Unger reveals the truth behind the legendary event and examines its lasting consequence--the spawning of a new, independent nation.
Download or read book Half-Real written by Jesper Juul and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2011-08-19 with total page 245 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An in-depth analysis of game development and rules and fiction in video games—with concrete examples, including The Legend of Zelda, Grand Theft Auto, and more A video game is half-real: we play by real rules while imagining a fictional world. We win or lose the game in the real world, but we slay a dragon (for example) only in the world of the game. In this thought-provoking study, Jesper Juul examines the constantly evolving tension between rules and fiction in video games. Discussing games from Pong to The Legend of Zelda, from chess to Grand Theft Auto, he shows how video games are both a departure from and a development of traditional non-electronic games. The book combines perspectives from such fields as literary and film theory, computer science, psychology, economic game theory, and game studies, to outline a theory of what video games are, how they work with the player, how they have developed historically, and why they are fun to play. Locating video games in a history of games that goes back to Ancient Egypt, Juul argues that there is a basic affinity between games and computers. Just as the printing press and the cinema have promoted and enabled new kinds of storytelling, computers work as enablers of games, letting us play old games in new ways and allowing for new kinds of games that would not have been possible before computers. Juul presents a classic game model, which describes the traditional construction of games and points to possible future developments. He examines how rules provide challenges, learning, and enjoyment for players, and how a game cues the player into imagining its fictional world. Juul’s lively style and eclectic deployment of sources will make Half-Real of interest to media, literature, and game scholars as well as to game professionals and gamers.
Book Synopsis Rooftop Revolution by : Danny Kennedy
Download or read book Rooftop Revolution written by Danny Kennedy and published by Berrett-Koehler Publishers. This book was released on 2012-09-03 with total page 209 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Here is the truth that the powerful Dirty Energy public relations machine doesn't want you to know: the ascent of solar energy is upon us. Solar-generated electricity has risen exponentially in the last few years and employment in the solar industry has doubled since 2009. Meanwhile, electricity from coal has declined to pre-World War II levels as the fossil fuel industry continues to shed jobs. Danny Kennedy systematically refutes the lies spread by solar's opponents—that it is expensive, inefficient, and unreliable; that it is kept alive only by subsidies; that it can't be scaled; and many other untruths. He shows that we need a rooftop revolution to break the entrenched power of the coal, oil, nuclear, and gas industries Solar energy can create more jobs, return our nation to prosperity, and ensure the sustainability and safety of our planet. Now is the time to move away from the dangerous energy sources of the past and unleash the amazing potential of the sun.
Book Synopsis The Orange Revolution by : Adrian Gostick
Download or read book The Orange Revolution written by Adrian Gostick and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2010-09-21 with total page 290 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From New York Times bestselling authors and renowned leadership consultants Adrian Gostick and Chester Elton comes a groundbreaking guide to building high-performance teams. What is the true driver of a thriving organization’s exceptional success? Is it a genius leader? An iron-clad business plan? Gostick and Elton shatter these preconceptions of corporate achievement. Their research shows that breakthrough success is guided by a particular breed of high-performing team that generates its own momentum—an engaged group of colleagues in the trenches, working passionately together to pursue a shared vision. Their research also shows that only 20 percent of teams are working anywhere near this optimal capacity. How can your team become one of them? Based on a groundbreaking 350,000-person study by the Best Companies Group, as well as extraordinary research into exceptional teams at leading companies, including Zappos.com, Pepsi Beverages Company, and Madison Square Garden, the authors have determined a key set of characteristics displayed by members of breakthrough teams, and have identified a set of rules great teams live by, which generate a culture of positive teamwork and lead to extraordinary results. Using a wealth of specific stories from the breakthrough teams they studied, they reveal in detail how these teams operate and how managers can transform their own teams into such high performers by fostering: Stronger clarity of goals Greater trust among team members More open and honest dialogue Stronger accountability for all team members Purpose-based recognition of team members’ contributions The remarkable stories they tell about these teams in action provide a simple and powerful step-by-step guide to taking your team to the breakthrough level, igniting the passion and vision to bring about an Orange Revolution.
Download or read book Book Wars written by John B. Thompson and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2021-03-04 with total page 354 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book tells the story of the turbulent decades when the book publishing industry collided with the great technological revolution of our time. From the surge of ebooks to the self-publishing explosion and the growing popularity of audiobooks, Book Wars provides a comprehensive and fine-grained account of technological disruption in one of our most important and successful creative industries. Like other sectors, publishing has been thrown into disarray by the digital revolution. The foundation on which this industry had been based for 500 years – the packaging and sale of words and images in the form of printed books – was called into question by a technological revolution that enabled symbolic content to be stored, manipulated and transmitted quickly and cheaply. Publishers and retailers found themselves facing a proliferation of new players who were offering new products and services and challenging some of their most deeply held principles and beliefs. The old industry was suddenly thrust into the limelight as bitter conflicts erupted between publishers and new entrants, including powerful new tech giants who saw the world in very different ways. The book wars had begun. While ebooks were at the heart of many of these conflicts, Thompson argues that the most fundamental consequences lie elsewhere. The print-on-paper book has proven to be a remarkably resilient cultural form, but the digital revolution has transformed the industry in other ways, spawning new players which now wield unprecedented power and giving rise to an array of new publishing forms. Most important of all, it has transformed the broader information and communication environment, creating new challenges and new opportunities for publishers as they seek to redefine their role in the digital age. This unrivalled account of the book publishing industry as it faces its greatest challenge since Gutenberg will be essential reading for anyone interested in books and their future.
Book Synopsis The Long Revolution by : Raymond Williams
Download or read book The Long Revolution written by Raymond Williams and published by Broadview Press. This book was released on 2001-03-02 with total page 401 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Raymond Williams, whose other works include Keywords, The Country and the City, Culture and Society, and Modern Tragedy, was one of the world’s foremost cultural critics. Almost uniquely, his work bridged the divides between aesthetic and socio-economic inquiry, between Marxist thought and mainstream liberal thought, and between the modern and post-modern world. When The Long Revolution first appeared in 1961, much of the acclaim it received was based on its prescriptions for Britain in the '60s, which form a relatively brief final section of the whole. The body of the book has since come to be recognized as one of the foundation documents in the cultural analysis of English-speaking culture. The “long revolution” of the title is a cultural revolution, which Williams sees as having unfolded alongside the democratic revolution and the industrial revolution. With this book, Williams led the way in recognizing the importance of the growth of the popular press, the growth of standard English, and the growth the reading public in English-speaking culture and in Western culture as a whole. In addition, Williams’s discussion of how culture is to be defined and analyzed has been of considerable importance in the development of cultural studies as an independent discipline. Originally published by Chatto & Windus, The Long Revolution is now available only in this Broadview Encore Edition.
Book Synopsis The Arab Revolution by : Jean-Pierre Filiu
Download or read book The Arab Revolution written by Jean-Pierre Filiu and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2011-11-23 with total page 208 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "First published in the United Kingdom in 2011 by C. Hurst & Co."--T.p. verso.
Book Synopsis The Resistance Training Revolution by : Sal Di Stefano
Download or read book The Resistance Training Revolution written by Sal Di Stefano and published by Hachette Go. This book was released on 2021-04-27 with total page 333 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Burn fat, build lean, sexy muscles, lose inches, and feel healthier, more energetic, and youthful than you ever have in your life…with a revolutionary new approach to resistance training. Tired of spending hours on the treadmill? Dealing with the joint paint of high impact exercise? And seeing very few results in terms of fat-burning and weight loss? If so, it’s time to join the revolution. Brought to you by Sal Di Stefano, the founder of the mega popular Mind Pump podcast, The Resistance Training Revolution reveals how resistance training is the best form of exercise to burn fat, boost metabolism, and achieve health benefits you cannot obtain from other forms of exercise. Di Stefano breaks down fitness misconceptions, shares his decades of industry knowledge, and brings you a comprehensive, accessible guidebook that will give you the body you’ve always wanted—in as little as 60 minutes a week. This book features: Over 60 fat-burning, metabolism-boosting workouts you can do at home to sculpt your body and maximize your health and longevity Raw fitness truths that will show you what works and what doesn’t. You’ll be shocked at how easy it is to build lean muscle and lose fat once you understand these truths, and once you train your body the right way The newly discovered health benefits of resistance training in terms of heart health, bone strength, joint protection, and especially antiaging The exact formula for nutrition that makes losing fat, while sculpting your body a breeze and for the long term. Dozens of self-assessments to track your progress, and much more The Resistance Training Revolution also reveals how to optimize your workout time following Mind Pump’s Muscular Adaptation Programming System (MAPS)—a system that ensures that you keep making progress without the frustrating plateaus. Isn’t it time you joined the revolution?
Book Synopsis The Third Revolution by : Elizabeth Economy
Download or read book The Third Revolution written by Elizabeth Economy and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2018 with total page 361 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: After three decades of reform and opening up, China is closing its doors, clamping down on Western influence in the economy, media, and civil society. At the same time, President Xi Jinping has positioned himself as a champion of globalization, projecting Chinese power abroad and seeking toreshape the global order. Herein lies the paradox of modern China - the rise of a more insular, yet more ambitious China that will have a profound impact on both the country's domestic politics and its international relations.In The Third Revolution, eminent China scholar Elizabeth Economy provides an incisive look at the world's most populous country. Inheriting a China burdened with slowing economic growth, rampant corruption, choking pollution, and a failing social welfare system, President Xi has reversed course,rejecting the liberalizing reforms of his predecessors. At home, the Chinese leadership has reasserted the role of the state into society and enhanced Party and state control. Beyond its borders, Beijing has recast itself as a great power and has maneuvered itself to be an arbiter - not just aplayer - on the world stage. Through an exploration of Xi Jinping's efforts to address top policy priorities - fighting corruption, controlling the internet, reforming state-owned enterprises, improving the country's innovation capacity, reducing the country's air pollution, and elevating itspresence on the global stage - Economy identifies the tensions, shortcomings, and successes of Xi's first five years in office. Xi's ambition, she argues, provides new opportunities for the United States and the rest of the world to encourage greater Chinese contribution to global public goods butalso necessitates a more proactive and coordinated effort to counter the rapidly expanding influence of an illiberal power within a liberal world order. This is essential reading for anyone interested in both China under Xi and how America and the world should deal with this vast nation in thecoming years.
Download or read book 1775 written by Kevin Phillips and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2013-09-24 with total page 657 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A groundbreaking account of the American Revolution—from the bestselling author of American Dynasty In this major new work, iconoclastic historian and political chronicler Kevin Phillips upends the conventional reading of the American Revolution by debunking the myth that 1776 was the struggle’s watershed year. Focusing on the great battles and events of 1775, Phillips surveys the political climate, economic structures, and military preparations of the crucial year that was the harbinger of revolution, tackling the eighteenth century with the same skill and perception he has shown in analyzing contemporary politics and economics. The result is a dramatic account brimming with original insights about the country we eventually became.
Book Synopsis The Gamification Revolution: How Leaders Leverage Game Mechanics to Crush the Competition by : Gabe Zichermann
Download or read book The Gamification Revolution: How Leaders Leverage Game Mechanics to Crush the Competition written by Gabe Zichermann and published by McGraw Hill Professional. This book was released on 2013-03-29 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: THE REVOLUTION WILL BE GAMIFIED MASTER THE GAMIFIED STRATEGIES THAT WILL TRANSFORM YOUR BUSINESS--OR BE LEFT BEHIND Gamification: It's the hottest new strategy in business, and for good reason--it's helping leading companies create unprecedented engagement with customers and employees. Gamification uses the latest innovations from game design, loyalty programs, and behavioral economics to help you cut through the noise and transform your organization into a lean, mean machine ready to fight the battle for user attention and loyalty. With The Gamification Revolution you'll learn how top companies: Recruit and retain the best talent from the gamer generation and beyond Train employees and drive excellence with noncash incentives Cut through the market noise and ignite consumer sales growth Generate unprecedented customer loyalty without breaking the bank Drawing inspiration from the most popular games of all time--from Angry Birds to World of Warcraft--the authors reveal the secrets of market leaders that you can apply immediately to your business. As a bonus, the book gives you full access to The Gamification Revolution app--a great way to optimize and enhance your experience with videos, tips, and social tools, including the ability to easily share the best ideas with your colleagues and workgroup. You'll learn the new rules of engagement that are guaranteed to generate excitement and enthusiasm--in your employees and your customers. You'll understand how game designers predict and motivate behaviors--and how you can get the results you want. You'll also find a winning selection of fascinating case studies, best practices, and game-ready tools of the trade you can easily apply to your specific needs. It's all here in one ready-to-use strategy guide filled with the best ideas and pitfalls you can avoid. If you're going to play the game, this is how you play it. To win. Praise for The Gamification Revolution: "For consumer-facing businesses today, nothing matters more than delivering a great user experience and creating lasting engagement with your consumers and employees. The Gamification Revolution will show you how leaders have reached for the top and won." -- ALEXANDRA WILKIS WILSON, Cofounder, Gilt Groupe, and author of the New York Times bestseller By Invitation Only "In today's fast-paced world, people are more distracted than ever. To stand out, you'll need to cut through the noise and get them engaged. The Gamification Revolution will teach you the essential building blocks for achieving long-term success and growth." -- JESSE REDNISS, SVP, USA Network/NBCU "From engaging customers to retaining a team, The Gamification Revolution will provide you with tactics that generate results. I know. Gabe's wisdom has helped the Founder Institute expand to every inhabited continent and change thousands of lives." -- ADEO RESSI, CEO, Founder Institute "Zichermann and Linder propose a pragmatic approach to gamification that will provide breakthrough results. Sales is the last bastion of corporate innovation, and this spectacular read is a must for any sales leader." -- HI LEVA, Senior VP Sales Operations, Clear Channel Outdoor
Book Synopsis Journey to a Revolution by : Michael Korda
Download or read book Journey to a Revolution written by Michael Korda and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2006-09-19 with total page 244 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Hungarian Revolution of 1956 was not just an extraordinary and dramatic event—perhaps the most dramatic single event of the Cold War—but, as we can now see fifty years later, a major turning point in history. Here is an eyewitness account, in the tradition of George Orwell's Homage to Catalonia. The spontaneous rising of Hungarian people against the Hungarian communist party and the Soviet forces in Hungary in the wake of Stalin's death, while ending unsuccessfully, demonstrated to the world at large the failure of Communism. The Russians were obliged to use force on a vast scale against armed students, factory workers, and intellectuals in the streets of a major European capital to restore the Hungarian communist party to power. For two weeks, students, women, and teenagers fought tanks in the streets of Budapest, in full view of the Western media—and therefore the world—and for a time they actually won, deeply humiliating the men who succeeded Stalin. The Russians eventually managed to extinguish the revolution with brute force and overwhelming numbers, but never again would they attempt to use military force on a large scale to suppress dissent in their Eastern European empire. Told with brilliant detail, suspense, occasional humor, and sustained anger, Journey to a Revolution is at once history and a compelling memoir—the amazing story of four young Oxford undergraduates, including the author, who took off for Budapest in a beat-up old Volkswagen convertible in October 1956 to bring badly needed medicine to Budapest hospitals and to participate, at street level, in one of the great battles of postwar history. Michael Korda paints a vivid and richly detailed picture of the events and the people; explores such major issues as the extent to which the British and American intelligence services were involved in the uprising, making the Hungarians feel they could expect military support from the West; and describes, day by day, the course of the revolution, from its heroic beginnings to the sad martyrdom of its end. Journey to a Revolution delivers "a harrowing and horrifying tale told in spare and poignant prose—sometimes bitter, sometimes ironic, always powerful."* * Kirkus Reviews (starred)
