This book presents confrontation as the key theme of the post-cold war world. It argues that the world could be changed dramatically for the better if people and governments were to adopt a new way of thinking and dealing with conflict that takes us beyond confrontation. The examples of war, international economics, environmental decay, and racial conflict show that in today's interdependent world, the problems we face are interdependent too. The central tenet is that it is almost always more pragmatic to act cooperatively. Most important, the book shows that cooperative problem solving is...

In The Smile of Tragedy, Daniel Ahern examines Nietzsche's attitude toward what he called "the tragic age of the Greeks," showing it to be the foundation not only for his attack upon the birth of philosophy during the Socratic era but also for his overall critique of Western culture. Through an interpretation of "Dionysian pessimism," Ahern clarifies the ways in which Nietzsche sees ethics and aesthetics as inseparable and how their theoretical separation is at the root of Western nihilism. Ahern explains why Nietzsche, in creating this precursor to a new aesthetics, rejects...