The best masterclass in classical music you never knew you needed. Arianna Warsaw-Fan Rauch’s life-long fascination with classical music has taken her through Juilliard and into the shiny world of symphony halls and international concert tours. She’s loved classical music her whole life. But she’s also hated classical music her whole life. After all, if you can like Beyoncé without liking Bieber, you can certainly like Brahms without liking Bach—especially since they were born 148 years apart and the thing we call “classical music” is really just centuries of compositions shoved into one hodge-podge of a genre. In Declassified, Warsaw-Fan Rauch blows through the cobwebs of elitism and exclusion and invites everyone to love and hate this music as much as she does. She offers a backstage tour of the industry and equips you for every listening scenario, covering: the 7 main compositional periods (even the soul-crushingly depressing Medieval period), a breakdown of the instruments and their associated personality types (apologies to violists and conductors), what it’s like to be a musician at the highest level (it’s hard), how to steal a Stradivarius (and make no money in the process), and when to clap during a live performance (also: when not to). Declassified cheekily demystifies the world of High Art while making the case that classical music matters, perhaps now more than ever.

Culled from archives around the world, the 50 documents in Declassified illuminate the secret and often inaccessible stories of agents, espionage, and behind-the-scenes events that played critical roles in American history. Moving through time from Elizabethan England to the Cold War and beyond, noted author Tom Allen places each document in its historical and cultural context, sharing the quirky and little-known truths behind state secrets and clandestine operations. Each of seven chapters centers on one particular theme: secrets of war, the art of the double cross, spy vs. spy, espionage accidents, and more. Through support and access provided by the International Spy Museum in Washington, D.C., this lively history contains never-before-published and hard-to-find documents—printed from scans of the originals wherever possible. These include The Zimmerman Telegram, which led America into World War I; letters from Robert Hanssen to his Soviet spymaster, marking the start of his devastating career as a mole; and papers as recent as the Presidential Daily Brief that announced that Bin Laden was determined to strike the U.S.—delivered in August 2001. The public interest in state secrets and espionage has been piqued by our current international conflicts, and this engrossing book—well priced and engagingly written for the general reader—will definitely feed that fascination.

Consists of AECD 1-2023 (no. 1-1779 called MDDC).

Millions of comic fans root for Steve Rogers as Captain America. Now here’s their chance to know the man behind the shield like never before. Get to know one of the world’s most iconic superheroes through rare interviews, personal letters, declassified government documents, and more. Experience World War II through Steve’s own words. Witness his relationships with comrades and enemies alike, from allies like Bucky Barnes and Sam Wilson to foes like the Red Skull. Go inside Steve’s internal struggle to find purpose in the modern world after being frozen for decades—and learn what continues to drive this enduring symbol of hope, courage, and justice today. Featuring in-universe content as written by Captain America and his friends, allies, and foes from across the Marvel Universe, this new archival collection delivers an unprecedented glimpse into the life and mind of an American legend—and is the perfect read for any Cap or Marvel fan.

Did President Roosevelt and other high-ranking U.S. government officials know about Japanese plans to attack Pearl Harbor, and fail to warn U.S. Navy leadership? Drawing on recently declassified materials and revelations from other writers, this book traces the flow of intelligence and concludes the imminent attack was allowed to happen to win the support of the American public in a war against Japan. An epilogue describes the fate of Commander-in-Chief of the U.S. Pacific Fleet Admiral Husband E. Kimmel, the intelligence he received from Washington before the attack, and the intelligence he did not.

The definitive account of an FBI special agent’s al-Qaeda story, unredacted for the first time. Widely heralded on publication as a "must-read" (Military Review) and "important window on America’s battle with al-Qaeda" (Washington Post), Ali Soufan’s revelatory account of the war on terror as seen from its front lines changed the way we understand al-Qaeda and how the United States prosecuted the war—and led to hard questions being asked of our leaders. When The Black Banners was published in 2011, significant portions of the text were redacted. After subsequent review by the Central Intelligence Agency, those redactions have been lifted. Their removal corrects the record on how vital intelligence was obtained from al-Qaeda suspects and brings forth important new details on the controversial use of enhanced interrogation techniques (torture) to extract information from terror suspects. For many years, proponents of the use of these techniques have argued that they produced actionable intelligence in the war on terror. This edition of The Black Banners explodes this myth; it shows Soufan at work using guile and intelligent questioning—not force or violence—to extract some of the most important confessions in the war, and it vividly recounts the failures of the government’s torture program. Drawing on Soufan’s experiences as a lead operative for the FBI and declassified government records, The Black Banners (Declassified) documents the intelligence failures that lead to the tragic attacks on New York and Washington, DC, and subsequently how torture derailed the fight against al-Qaeda. With this edition, eighteen years on from the first sanctioned enhanced interrogation technique, the public can finally read the complete story of what happened in their name after the events of 9/11. The Black Banners (Declassified) includes a new foreword from Ali Soufan that addresses the significance of the CIA’s decision to lift the redactions.

Over 3,700 total pages .... Just a sample of the CONTENTS: THE SOVIET ECONOMY FROM THE END OF WORLD WAR II TO DATE RESEARCH AID 1950 RUBLE-DOLLAR PRICE RATIOS FOR GOODS AND SERVICES IN THE USSR AND THE U.S. TRENDS IN THE SOVIET ECONOMY 1950-1963 THE SOVIET ECONOMY IN 1956-1957 AND PLANS FOR 1958-1962 SOVIET ECONOMIC PROSPECTS FOR THE SEVEN YEAR PLAN PERIOD 1959-1965 SOVIET MANPOWER PROSPECTS FOR THE 1970S THE SOVIET ECONOMY IN 1972 AND 1973 THE SOVIET ECONOMY 1974 RESULTS AND 1975 PROSPECTS THE SOVIET ECONOMY- PERFORMANCE IN 1975 AND PROSPECTS FOR 1976 THE SOVIET ECONOMY IN 1976-77 AND OUTLOOK FOR 1978 THE SOVIET ECONOMY IN 1978-79 AND PROSPECTS FOR 1980 THE SOVIET ECONOMY IN 1983 AND THE OUTLOOK FOR 1984 SSCI BRIEFING ON PROSPECTIVE SOVIET ECONOMIC TRENDS, 24 NOVEMBER 1987 THE IMPACT OF GORBACHEV'S POLICIES ON SOVIET ECONOMIC STATISTICS SOVIET ENERGY PROSPECTS INTO THE 1990'S THE VICTORIOUS STRIDES OF THE SOVIET ECONOMY AND THE MISERABLE ATTEMPTS OF THE UNSCRUPULOUS EXPERTS THE STATE OF THE SOVIET ECONOMY AND THE ROLE OF EAST-WEST TRADE THE IMPACT OF GORBACHEV'S POLICIES ON SOVIET ECONOMIC STATISTICS THE ECONOMY OF THE SOVIET BLOC A BRIEF GUIDE THE INFORMATION TECHNOLOGIES IN SOVIET SOCIETY- PROBLEMS AND PROSPECTS USSR- THE ROLE OF FOREIGN TRADE IN THE ECONOMY USSR- IMPACT OF CREDIT RESTRICTIONS ON FOREIGN TRADE AND THE ECONOMY SURVEY OF THE ECONOMIES OF THE SINO-SOVIET BLOC SOVIET WOMEN IN GOVERNMENT AND THE ECONOMY SOVIET COMPUTER TECHNOLOGY- LITTLE PROSPECT FOR CATCHING UP PROSPECTS FOR SOVIET OIL IN THE 1980S MAIN FUNCTIONAL TELECOMMUNICATIONS SYSTEMS SERVING THE ECONOMY OF THE USSR MODELLING THE SOVIET ECONOMY- SOVSIM AT FIVE MODELING THE SOVIET ECONOMY- SOVSIM AFTER SIX YEARS SOVIET STATISTICAL FALSIFICATION AT THE ENTERPRISE LEVEL THE IMPACT ON CIA MEASURES OF THE SOVIET ECONOMY JPRS ID- 10465 USSR REPORT TRANSPORTATION JPRS ID- 9397 TRANSLATION USSR ECONOMY IN 1978- STATISTICAL YEARBOOK. JPRS ID- 9318 USSR REPORT AGRICULTURE JPRS ID- 9143 USSR REPORT CYBERNETICS, COMPUTERS AND AUTOMATION TECHNOLOGY JPRS ID- 8984 USSR REPORT HUMAN RESOURCES JPRS ID- 10371 USSR REPORT ECONOMIC AFFAIRS JPRS ID- 10083 USSR REPORT CONSUMER GOODS AND DOMESTIC TRADE