Crowley County Combined Library

Beginning in 2011, the Syrian Civil War has become one of the most pressing crises facing the world today. Fighting has left millions displaced, killed thousands, and destabilized the Middle East. It has also left minorities in the country vulnerable to terrorist organizations like ISIS and other armed groups. This book will provide students with the context they need to understand the ethnic and religious tensions at play in Syria, the growth of...

In Rwanda, a small but populous country in Africa, a ghastly genocide started on April 6, 1994. Although it lasted only one hundred days, almost a million people were slaughtered by its end. This illuminating resource reviews one of the most horrible genocides in history, explaining the definition of genocide itself. Readers will learn about Rwanda's history, with a focus on the events that led to those terrible days. The book is rounded out with...

Forbes takes a critical look at the "contact hypothesis" - the assumption commonly held by social scientists that increased contact between different ethnic groups gives each group more accurate information about the other and thus reduces friction. By distinguishing aggregate from individual relations, Forbes suggests a way out of the perplexities induced by current social science literature on prejudice and discrimination. Scientific research suggests...

Although openness and inclusion are cornerstones of life in the United States, intolerance and reactionary politics are also very real. As the nation prepares to elect a new president, The Culture Wars addresses the key defining issues of contemporary American society through the lens of political and social controversy. Featuring hundreds of A-Z entries and numerous photos, the set examines the history and relevance of the issues, events, controversies,...

"An acclaimed expert on violence and seasoned peacebuilder explains the five reasons why conflict (rarely) blooms into war, and how to interrupt that deadly process. It's easy to overlook the underlying strategic forces of war, to see it solely as a series of errors, accidents, and emotions gone awry. It's also easy to forget that war shouldn't happen-and most of the time it doesn't. Around the world there are millions of hostile rivalries, yet only...

A powerful memoir by Nury Turkel lays bare China's repression of the Uyghur people. Turkel is cofounder and board chair of the Uyghur Human Rights Project and a commissioner for the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom. In recent years, the People's Republic of China has rounded up as many as three million Uyghurs, placing them in what it calls "reeducation camps," facilities most of the world identifies as concentration camps....

"A veteran war correspondent journeys to remote mountain communities across the globe--from Albania and Chechnya to Nepal and Colombia--to investigate why so many conflicts occur at great heights. Mountainous regions are home to only ten percent of the world's population yet host a strikingly disproportionate share of the world's conflicts. Mountains provide a natural refuge for those who want to elude authority, and their remoteness has allowed archaic...

In the spring of 1994 the tiny African nation of Rwanda exploded onto the international media stage, as internal strife reached genocidal proportions. But the horror that unfolded before our eyes had been building steadily for years before it captured the attention of the world. In The Rwanda Crisis, journalist and Africa scholar Gerard Prunier provides a current yet historical perspective that Western readers need to understand how and why the brutal...

On the lonely roads of Winston-Salem, North Carolina, two men forge an improbable friendship that will change both of their lives forever. Solo is a Senegalese cab driver working to provide a better life for his young family. William is a tough Southern good ol' boy with a lifetime of regrets. Solo's American dream is just beginning, while William's is quickly winding down. Despite their differences, both men soon realize they need each other more...