Books with author Michael Dougan

“Deeply researched, tightly argued, and accessibly concise” (The New York Times Book Review)—a major retelling of the Suez Canal Crisis of 1956, a seminal event in the history of US relations with the Middle East, and why President Eisenhower sided with Egypt rather than Britain, France, and Israel, and how he came to regret that decision.In 1956 President Nasser of Egypt moved to take possession of the Suez Canal, thereby bringing the Middle East to the brink of war. The British and the French, who operated the canal, joined with Israel in a plan to retake it by force. Despite the special relationship between England and America, Dwight Eisenhower intervened to stop the invasion. In Ike’s Gamble, “a disturbing history that clearly reveals the dangerous ‘collective American delusion’ about the Middle East” (Kirkus Reviews), Michael Doran shows how Nasser manipulated the US, invoking America’s opposition to European colonialism to drive a wedge between Eisenhower and two British Prime Ministers, Winston Churchill and Anthony Eden. Meanwhile, Nasser was making weapons deals with the USSR and destabilizing other Arab countries that the US had been courting. The Suez Crisis was his crowning triumph. In time, Eisenhower would conclude that Nasser had duped him, that the Arab countries were too fractious to anchor America’s interests in the Middle East, and that the US should turn instead to Israel. “This is a story that has been told many times, but seldom with the depth and stylistic elegance of Ike’s Gamble. Michael Doran does not just challenge the prevailing historiography, he turns it on its head” (The Weekly Standard). Affording deep insight into Eisenhower and his foreign policy, this fascinating and provocative history provides a rich new understanding of how the US became the power broker in the Middle East.

This major retelling of the Suez Crisis of 1956—one of the most important events in the history of US policy in the Middle East—shows how President Eisenhower came to realize that Israel, not Egypt, is America’s strongest regional ally.In 1956 President Nasser of Egypt moved to take possession of the Suez Canal, thereby bringing the Middle East to the brink of war. The British and the French, who operated the canal, joined with Israel in a plan to retake it by force. Despite the special relationship between England and America, Dwight Eisenhower intervened to stop the invasion. In Ike’s Gamble, Michael Doran shows how Nasser played the US, invoking America’s opposition to European colonialism to drive a wedge between Eisenhower and two British Prime Ministers, Winston Churchill and Anthony Eden. Meanwhile, in his quest to make himself the strongman of the Arab world, Nasser was making weapons deals with the USSR and destabilizing other Arab countries that the US had been courting. The Suez Crisis was his crowning triumph. In time, Eisenhower would conclude that Nasser had duped him, that the Arab countries were too fractious to anchor America’s interests in the Middle East, and that the US should turn instead to Israel. Affording deep insight into Eisenhower and his foreign policy, this fascinating and provocative history provides a rich new understanding of how the US became the power broker in the Middle East.

“Deeply researched, tightly argued, and accessibly concise” (The New York Times Book Review)—a major retelling of the Suez Canal Crisis of 1956, a seminal event in the history of US relations with the Middle East, and why President Eisenhower sided with Egypt rather than Britain, France, and Israel, and how he came to regret that decision.In 1956 President Nasser of Egypt moved to take possession of the Suez Canal, thereby bringing the Middle East to the brink of war. The British and the French, who operated the canal, joined with Israel in a plan to retake it by force. Despite the special relationship between England and America, Dwight Eisenhower intervened to stop the invasion. In Ike’s Gamble, “a disturbing history that clearly reveals the dangerous ‘collective American delusion’ about the Middle East” (Kirkus Reviews), Michael Doran shows how Nasser manipulated the US, invoking America’s opposition to European colonialism to drive a wedge between Eisenhower and two British Prime Ministers, Winston Churchill and Anthony Eden. Meanwhile, Nasser was making weapons deals with the USSR and destabilizing other Arab countries that the US had been courting. The Suez Crisis was his crowning triumph. In time, Eisenhower would conclude that Nasser had duped him, that the Arab countries were too fractious to anchor America’s interests in the Middle East, and that the US should turn instead to Israel. “This is a story that has been told many times, but seldom with the depth and stylistic elegance of Ike’s Gamble. Michael Doran does not just challenge the prevailing historiography, he turns it on its head” (The Weekly Standard). Affording deep insight into Eisenhower and his foreign policy, this fascinating and provocative history provides a rich new understanding of how the US became the power broker in the Middle East.

Leverage the power of R to elegantly manage crucial geospatial analysis tasksAbout This BookWrite powerful R scripts to manipulate your spatial dataGain insight from spatial patterns utilizing R's advanced computation and visualization capabilitiesWork within a single spatial analysis environment from start to finishWho This Book Is ForThis book is intended for anyone who wants to learn how to efficiently analyze geospatial data with R, including GIS analysts, researchers, educators, and students who work with spatial data and who are interested in expanding their capabilities through programming. The book assumes familiarity with the basic geographic information concepts (such as spatial coordinates), but no prior experience with R and/or programming is required. By focusing on R exclusively, you will not need to depend on any external software—a working installation of R is all that is necessary to begin.What You Will LearnMake inferences from tables by joining, reshaping, and aggregatingFamiliarize yourself with the R geospatial data analysis ecosystemPrepare reproducible, publication-quality plots and mapsEfficiently process numeric data, characters, and datesReshape tabular data into the necessary form for the specific task at handWrite R scripts to automate the handling of raster and vector spatial layersProcess elevation rasters and time series visualizations of satellite imagesPerform GIS operations such as overlays and spatial queries between layersSpatially interpolate meteorological data to produce climate mapsIn DetailR is a simple, effective, and comprehensive programming language and environment that is gaining ever-increasing popularity among data analysts.This book provides you with the necessary skills to successfully carry out complete geospatial data analyses, from data import to presentation of results.Learning R for Geospatial Analysis is composed of step-by-step tutorials, starting with the language basics before proceeding to cover the main GIS operations and data types. Visualization of spatial data is vital either during the various analysis steps and/or as the final product, and this book shows you how to get the most out of R's visualization capabilities. The book culminates with examples of cutting-edge applications utilizing R's strengths as a statistical and graphical tool.

When we finally unravel the mystery of dark matter, will it save our world? Or destroy it?Take an epic journey to a not-so-distant future, controlled by a handful of the über-elite. Where wealth, science, and the human spirit get one last chance to determine humanity’s ultimate destiny.Despite the tragic events at Hanssen Scientific, Monique Durand and her newfound companions continue their search for the source of her compelling visions. Are they somehow linked to the secrets of dark matter, as Professor Hanssen is so desperate to believe? Or does the truth reach even deeper–into our Universe’s past, and our planet’s ultimate future? To find out, they’ll need to outwit the Consortium, a secretive group of trillionaires who now have what they need to achieve their own, long-awaited end-game. Together, our unlikely heroes may finally have what it takes to break the Consortium’s stranglehold. Assuming they don’t strangle each other first.The adventure continues in book two of the award-winning Dark Matters trilogy. Praise for Dark MattersForeword Reviews INDIEFAB Gold Medal Winner in Science FictionIndependent Publisher's IPPY Gold Medal Winner in Science FictionNextGen Indie Book of the Year Winner in Science Fiction"It's everything I love in a novel: scientific speculation, stunning action, and characters that leap off the page. But best of all, it combines all of the above into a seamless, thrilling story. Don't miss this debut!"James Rollins, New York Times bestselling author of The Bone Labyrinth "... nefarious and chilling ... that's what makes it a page-turner." FOREWORD REVIEWS "An interesting premise...not your typical action oriented sci-fi adventure." SFFWORLDABOUT THE BOOKDark Matters is a thought-provoking technothriller, set in a world fully polarized by the rift between the haves and the have-nots. It is a world of extraordinary new technologies–but also one of dwindling natural resources, and an ever-swelling human population. Dark Matters offers a unique, entertaining, and (mostly) fictional perspective on the topics of income inequality, the responsibilities of wealth, and our ultimate role in the universe. Dark Matters: Betrayal is the second book in the Dark Matters trilogy.

Leverage the power of R to elegantly manage crucial geospatial analysis tasksAbout This BookWrite powerful R scripts to manipulate your spatial dataGain insight from spatial patterns utilizing R's advanced computation and visualization capabilitiesWork within a single spatial analysis environment from start to finishWho This Book Is ForThis book is intended for anyone who wants to learn how to efficiently analyze geospatial data with R, including GIS analysts, researchers, educators, and students who work with spatial data and who are interested in expanding their capabilities through programming. The book assumes familiarity with the basic geographic information concepts (such as spatial coordinates), but no prior experience with R and/or programming is required. By focusing on R exclusively, you will not need to depend on any external software—a working installation of R is all that is necessary to begin.What You Will Learn Make inferences from tables by joining, reshaping, and aggregating Familiarize yourself with the R geospatial data analysis ecosystem Prepare reproducible, publication-quality plots and maps Efficiently process numeric data, characters, and dates Reshape tabular data into the necessary form for the specific task at hand Write R scripts to automate the handling of raster and vector spatial layers Process elevation rasters and time series visualizations of satellite images Perform GIS operations such as overlays and spatial queries between layers Spatially interpolate meteorological data to produce climate maps In DetailR is a simple, effective, and comprehensive programming language and environment that is gaining ever-increasing popularity among data analysts.This book provides you with the necessary skills to successfully carry out complete geospatial data analyses, from data import to presentation of results.Learning R for Geospatial Analysis is composed of step-by-step tutorials, starting with the language basics before proceeding to cover the main GIS operations and data types. Visualization of spatial data is vital either during the various analysis steps and/or as the final product, and this book shows you how to get the most out of R's visualization capabilities. The book culminates with examples of cutting-edge applications utilizing R's strengths as a statistical and graphical tool.

What do the images on the Arkansas state seal stand for? How is Arkansas’s state government organized? Who are some famous people from Arkansas? You can find the answers to these questions in Uniquely Arkansas. This book contains all kinds of fun and fascinating facts and features that help make Arkansas a one-of-a-kind place. Inside, you will also find information about Arkansas’s unique state symbols. You can learn about legends and folklore in Arkansas, and discover how to make Arkansas-style barbecue ribs. And, you will find out about important landmarks in the state.

What do the images on the Arkansas state seal stand for? How is Arkansas’s state government organized? Who are some famous people from Arkansas? You can find the answers to these questions in Uniquely Arkansas. This book contains all kinds of fun and fascinating facts and features that help make Arkansas a one-of-a-kind place. Inside, you will also find information about Arkansas’s unique state symbols. You can learn about legends and folklore in Arkansas, and discover how to make Arkansas-style barbecue ribs. And, you will find out about important landmarks in the state.

In the winter of 1989, on a windy cliff overlooking the Pacific Ocean, it hit him. Michael was miserably depressed and had been for nearly his entire 38 years. Looking down at the churning sea, he considered ending his life right there. His only other option was to change it, completely. Falling into Freedom is the story of the crazy adventures that began after he stepped back from the cliff and set out in search of the wisdom that would set him free.His first act after he chose life over death was to throw away his old life. Downsized out of his job, he quit looking for a new one; sold his home; and lived for a time in his car. Freed from physical distractions, he reflected on his strict upbringing by salt-of-the-earth parents; his flirtation with academic disaster in high school; and his impulsive decision to escape his perceived worthless life by joining the Army. Adding to this was his devastation after killing human beings in Vietnam; his fall into drug addiction to numb his pain, and the agony of going cold-turkey in a little hut assisted by a wise old woman.His search began by participating in and leading personal growth seminars testing his relationship to fear. One exercise was a hands-free escape after being pinned down by a five-foot bamboo pole pressed across his neck by two strong men. Witnessing and embracing his will to live, he journeyed into an obscure bookstore and found books that taught him about how to look inwards for more answers. With this gained wisdom and a daily meditation practice, he learned how to forgive himself for killing others along with his many other misdeeds. He also realized that by not identifying with “self,” as a set of physical and mental attributes, he could better understand his relationship to his possessions and personal identifiers like a job title. By letting go of his attachments and aversions to everything, he was able to begin to accept life as it is, not as he interpreted it to be. The journey leads to an old monastery in England. There, three months of sitting in silence allowed him to lift the veil of illusion and see the world, and life, as it is.

A level 1 Oxford Bookworms Library graded reader. Written for Learners of English by Michael Dean.Do you believe in ghosts? Jerry doesn't. He's a nineteen-year-old American, who just wants a good holiday with his friend, Brad. They are travelling round the north of England by bicycle. But strange things begin to happen in the small hotel where they are staying. First, Brad seems to think that he has been there before. And then a girl called Ellen appears . . . The first of these three original plays is set in the seventeenth century, and the other two take place in modern times. In each play, a ghost comes back from the dead to change the lives of living people.