“…For well over half a century, since the first credible warnings of petroleum depletion were raised in the 1950s, contemporary industrial civilization has been caught in a remarkable paradox: a culture more focused on problem solving than any other has repeatedly failed to deal with, or even consider, the problem most likely to bring its own history to a full stop. …”

“…While Latin American cities have, since their foundation, always included marginal spaces (due, for example, to the segregation of indigenous groups), the massive expansion of informal housing constructed on occupied land in the second half of the twentieth century have brought them into the collective imaginary like never before. …”

“…"The Chinese Economic Transformation, the 19th volume in the China Update book series, provides an opportunity for young economists to share their views on various issues relating to the Chinese economic transformation. More than half of the contributors to this book are female scholars. …”

“…It covers a period of almost a century and a half. However, the individual stories of first-hand experience converge to some extent in various ways so as to present a broadly coherent picture of 'Pacific History'. …”

“…In the light of the most recent controversies and reflections on the subject developed over the first half of the 20th century, this book aims to riegnite the debate on “ratio” with the intention of highlighting – through a series of “case studies” – the fine texture of the multiple meanings and uses of the notion of reason, but also to question the different “eras” of reason by attempting to reconstruct its “history”. …”

“…The past decade-and-a-half has seen a veritable revolution in our understanding of the development, genetics and evolution of butterfly wing patterns. …”

“…Pyrrhic Progress analyses over half a century of antibiotic use, regulation, and resistance in US and British food production. …”

“…Rather than an agonistic term, the book uses 'confrontation' as a heuristic to examine historical moments within this pivotal period in which individuals and communities were confronted with new ideas and material expressions. The first half of the volume addresses the intersections of textual, material, and visual forms of cultural production by focusing on three primary modes of confrontation: the relation of inscribed texts to material media, the visual articulation of literary images and, finally, the literary interpretation and reception of built landscapes. …”

“…This volume describes German-French relations in the second half of the 1920s, when a certain rapprochement became apparent between the two countries, which was reflected in the Locarno Treaties, the award of the Nobel Peace Prize to German Foreign Minister Gustav Stresemann and his French colleague Aristide Briand culminated in 1926, the Franco-German trade treaty of 1927 and finally the War Pact of 1928. …”

“…The study, which brings the first half of the life of the legendary ambassador out of the shadows of history, shows when he pleaded for what and why…”

“…Meanwhile, in the last one and half decade, the optical MEMS market has been slowly but steadily recovering. …”

“…Introduced in the age of industrialization, polytechnical schools rose to prominence in many national settings during the second half of the 19th century. Over time, new technologies have been developed and incorporated into the repertoire, and waves of academisation have swept over the former polytechnics, transforming them into technical universities. …”

“…The "Vision 2050" was established 20 years ago as a model that we should pursue for the next half century. Fortunately, the world is on course for the Vision 2050. …”

“…Specifically, it analyzes the role of Ibero-American mediators in the institutionalization of Hispanic and Lusophone cultures in the first half of the 20th century by means of two institutional networks: PEN (the non-governmental writer's association) and the International Institute of Intellectual Cooperation (predecessor to UNESCO). …”

“…Intra-Asian trade is a major theme of recent writing on Asian economic history. From the second half of the nineteenth century, intra-Asian trade flows linked Asia into an integrated economic system, with reciprocal benefits for all participants. …”

“…Following an introduction to the analysis of external actors in social policy making in the Global South, the contributions explore which external actors were dominant in the decades after World War II, and how they shaped early and contemporary social protection making in developing countries. The latter half of the collection elucidates important players in the contemporary transnational social policy arena, such as donor organizations and international organizations, and critically evaluates the potential for and limits of the explanatory power of external actors in social protection making in the Global South, considering the relative contribution of external and domestic influences. …”