"Although war is terrible and brutal, history shows that it has been a great driver of human progress. So argues political scientist Benjamin Ginsberg in this incisive, well-researched study of the benefits to civilization derived from armed conflict. Ginsberg makes a convincing case that war selects for and promotes certain features of societies that are generally held to represent progress. These include rationality, technological and economic development,...

Civilization and Its Discontents is one of the last of Freud's books, written in the decade before his death and first published in German in 1929. It is, considered his most brilliant work. In it, he states his views on the broad question of man's place in the world. It seeks to answer several questions fundamental to human society and its organization: What influences led to the creation of civilization? Why and how did it come to be? What determines...

The world has changed drastically over the past decade. The Internet has had a huge part in that, as it has made the world more accessible to anyone of any age, race, or gender. Used for entertainment, education, shopping, dating and more, the internet has provided a whole new virtual world for everyone to enjoy. But with the good also comes the bad -- and for kids and teens these days, the bad has becomes a constant threat from cyberbullies and cyberstalking....

Cynthia Miller-Idriss is a professor in the School of Public Affairs and the School of Education at American University, where she runs the Polarization and Extremism Research and Innovation Lab (PERIL). She is the author of The Extreme Gone Mainstream: Commercialization and Far Right Youth Culture in Germany (Princeton) and Blood and Culture: Youth, Right-Wing Extremism, and National Belonging in Contemporary Germany. Twitter @milleridriss A startling...

"During the century following George Washington's presidency, the United States fought at least forty wars with various Indian tribes, averaging one conflict every two and a half years. Warrior Nations is Roger L. Nichols's response to the question, "Why did so much fighting take place?" Examining eight of the wars between the 1780s and 1877, Nichols explains what started each conflict and what the eight had in common as well as how they differed....

Biography of esteemed, but little known, British officer Lt.-Col. John Haughton who found glory in the hard fought campaigns on the frontiers of India at the time of Queen Victoria and the British Raj. In the main, the book focusses on Haughton's time as the officer in charge of the gallant 36th Sikhs engaged on the Tirah expedition. He survived the vicious, often guerrilla combat, with the Afridi, Chamkani and Orakzai tribesmen but fell during the...

The author of the 400,000-copy bestseller On Killing reveals how violent video games have ushered in a new era of mass homicide -- and what we must do about it. Paducah, Kentucky, 1997: a 14-year-old boy shoots eight students in a prayer circle at his school. Littleton, Colorado, 1999: two high school seniors kill a teacher, twelve other students, and then themselves. Utoya, Norway, 2011: a political extremist shoots and kills sixty-nine...

A Two-Time Widow Leading A Double Life Miriam Giles ran away to Colorado to bury her violent pastbut this seductive, charismatic widow had a dark side that could never stay buried. After finding the "sugar daddy" she was looking for in Alan Helmick, her new marriage seemed happy. Then, two years later, Alan met a gruesome fate. Returning home from errands, Miriam found him lying in a pool of blood. Miriam showed police a cryptic note warning her...

Chelsea King was a popular high school senior, an outstanding achiever determined to make a difference. Fourteen-year-old Amber Dubois loved books and poured her heart into the animals she cared for. Treasured by their families and friends, both girls disappeared in San Diego County, just eight miles and one year apart. The community's desperate search led authorities to John Albert Gardner, a brutal predator hiding in plain sight. Now Pulitzer-nominated...

His Target Aspiring model Sandee Rozzo's big mistake was being kind to Timothy "Tracey" Humphrey. After Rozzo refused the 'roided-up ex-con's advances, she described how he imprisoned, raped, and brutalized her for two days. When the courageous woman pledged to testify against him, Humphrey knew he had to silence her. . . His Weapon That's when he turned to 19-year-old Ashley Laney. She had fallen in love with Humphrey, her personal trainer, and...