Colossal Control Failures: From Julius Caesar to 9/11

ISBN-13: 9781594515279 / Angielski / Miękka / 2011 / 304 str.

Jack P. Gibbs

Opis

This fascinating book analyzes 13 control failures in human history, from Robespierre's promotion of the French Revolution, to Hoover's efforts to stop the Great Depression, to the intelligence failures of 9/11. Assessing the causes of 10 additional historical cases, the author's comparative analysis shows how each leadership failure was caused by an expansion of the range of control attempts, their scope, and/or their diversity. A leader's or other actor's attempts to broaden the range of control targets have been most important in causing great human failures. The analysis is timely during an era when war, global warming, and other vexing problems plague our society.

Spis treści

PREFACE; Part I: PRELIMINARY MATTERS; Chapter 1: The Ubiquity of Control Failures, the Nature of Attempted Control, and Some Control Principles; Chapter 2: Control over Human Behavior and the Notion of Power; Part II: COLOSSAL CONTROL FAILURES OF THREE PRESIDENTS; Chapter 3: Herbert Hoover's Nightmare; Chapter 4: FDR's Ineffective Attempt to Pack the Supreme Court; Chapter 5: Richard Nixon's Stonewalling; Part III: COLOSSAL CONTROL FAILURES OF THREE REVOLUTIONARIES; Chapter 6: Robespierre Reaches Far Too Far; Chapter 7: Trotsky's Fatal Misperception of Stalin; Chapter 8: "Che" Guevara: An Iconic but Failed Revolutionary; Part IV: COLOSSAL CONTROL FAILURES OF TWO DICTATORS; Chapter 9: Caesar Crosses the Rubicon; Chapter 10: Hitler's Putsch and His Invasion of the U.S.S.R.; Part V: SOME OTHER COLOSSAL CONTROL FAILURES; Chapter 11: The Juice Walks: Prosecutorial Control Failures in O.J. Simpson's Trial; Chapter 12: AIDS: A Global Threat with No End in Sight; Chapter 13: Great Control Failures and 9/11, America's Worst Day; Part VI: MAJOR IMPLICATIONS; Chapter 14: Some Hopefully Significant Comparisons; Chapter 15: Bearing on the Future: Optimism and Pessimism; APPENDIX A: Inanimate Control; APPENDIX B: Biotic Control; REFERENCES; NAME INDEX; SUBJECT INDEX.

O autorze

Jack P. Gibbs