Michael Haas

Julius Korngold, critic at the highly influential newspaper Neue Freie Presse, was close to and supportive of Gustav Mahler and, for the first time, essays on the man and his music are made available in English. Those on his time at Vienna’s Imperial Opera are extensive and well informed. Both Korngold and Mahler shared a common Moravian Jewish background, born in 1860 and both students of Anton Bruckner. The paper was Jewish owned, and Theodor Herzl, the founder of the Zionist movement, was its cultural editor and Korngold’s employer. Claims that Mahler was driven out of Vienna by an antisemitic press are shown to be wrong, given Mahler’s support by the most powerful critic of the day writing in the Empire’s most influential newspaper. Importantly, the essays also reveal a world of Modernism that includes Mahler’s innovations at the opera, and Modernism in music before departures from tonality. Mahler was claimed by Arnold Schoenberg as his musical hero, firmly placing him in the Modernist camp. Yet Korngold was universally seen as an archconservative and his relationship with Mahler was personal and his understanding profound. The book addresses the question of “Mahler, the first Modernist or the last Romantic?”. The book will be invaluable for Mahler enthusiasts, musicians, musicologists as well as cultural historians.

Weaving a critique of major power intervention into political history, this book provides a comprehensive overview of Cambodia from 1953 to the present. Since gaining its independence in 1953, Cambodia has been treated as a pawn by more powerful countries. China, Vietnam, the United Nations, and especially the United States have played a role in shaping Cambodia's history, from propping up the Khmer Rouge regime to restricting its economic opportunities. Michael Haas has been deeply and personally involved in many aspects of the recent history of the country, and his research uncovers details of 20th-century US realpolitik such as Lyndon Johnson’s indiscriminate bombing of Cambodia during the Vietnam War, US funding of the Khmer Rouge in the 1980s, and the Unites States’ surrender of economic control to China since the 1990s. In an era of increasing great power competition in Southeast Asia, Cambodia is a case study long overdue for reassessment.

Erich Zeisl (1905-1959) zahlt zu jenen vertriebenen Wiener Komponist: innen, deren Werke durch die Errungenschaften der Exilmusikforschung wieder in das gegenwartige musikalische Bewusstsein gelangten und Eingang in den aktuellen Kanon der musikalischen Praxis fanden. 1905 in der Leopoldstadt geboren, wurde Erich Zeisl 1920/21 an der damaligen Akademie fur Musik und darstellende Kunst Wien (heute mdw) aufgenommen. Das Exilarte Zentrum der mdw hat vor kurzem den gesamten musikalischen Nachlass sowie uber 5.000 Briefe von und an Zeisl erhalten. Daher ist es ein wichtiges Anliegen, diesen so intensiv mit Wien verbundenen und in Los Angeles verstorbenen Komponisten uber eine Ausstellung zu wurdigen. Zeisls Exilorte Paris, New York und Los Angeles bilden die Stationen der Erzahllinie. Die Ausstellung beschaftigt sich im Zusammenhang mit der Vertreibung mit dem signifikanten Feld "judischer Kunstmusik" und spannt eine dramaturgische Kontur vom unerwarteten Tod dieses "Urwieners" in der Fremde zur ehemaligen Heimat Wien, die er nie wieder gesehen hat.

Julius Korngold, critic at the highly influential newspaper Neue Freie Presse, was close to and supportive of Gustav Mahler and, for the first time, essays on the man and his music are made available in English. Those on his time at Vienna’s Imperial Opera are extensive and well informed. Both Korngold and Mahler shared a common Moravian Jewish background, born in 1860 and both students of Anton Bruckner. The paper was Jewish owned, and Theodor Herzl, the founder of the Zionist movement, was its cultural editor and Korngold’s employer. Claims that Mahler was driven out of Vienna by an antisemitic press are shown to be wrong, given Mahler’s support by the most powerful critic of the day writing in the Empire’s most influential newspaper. Importantly, the essays also reveal a world of Modernism that includes Mahler’s innovations at the opera, and Modernism in music before departures from tonality. Mahler was claimed by Arnold Schoenberg as his musical hero, firmly placing him in the Modernist camp. Yet Korngold was universally seen as an archconservative and his relationship with Mahler was personal and his understanding profound. The book addresses the question of “Mahler, the first Modernist or the last Romantic?”. The book will be invaluable for Mahler enthusiasts, musicians, musicologists as well as cultural historians.

This book identifies why presidents, prime ministers, and other leaders of countries often make blunders in foreign policy. Blunders have been recognized within the study of foreign policy, but no central methodology or theory has developed to provide a way to avoid future disasters. Options are often presented to leaders of countries by advisers who do not always assess which policies will best serve national interests. Presidents, prime ministers, and other leaders of countries then have their legacy judged accordingly. Therefore, the book reviews existing efforts at developing theories of foreign policy to determine why they have failed. Instead of allowing a discipline with a lot of competing theories to continue to flounder, the book consolidates all approaches and develops a new professional format that will serve to professionalize foreign policy decision-making so that fewer key decisions are ever again considered blunders.

George W. Bush, War Criminal? identifies and documents 269 specific war crimes under US and international law for which President Bush, senior officials and staff in his administration, and military officers under his command are liable to be prosecuted. Haas divides the 269 war crimes of the Bush administration into four classes: 6 war crimes committed in launching a war of aggression; 36 war crimes committed in the conduct of war; 175 war crimes committed in the treatment of prisoners; and 52 war crimes committed in postwar occupations. For each of the 269 war crimes of the Bush administration, Professor Haas gives chapter and verse in precise but non-technical language, including the specific acts deemed to be war crimes, the names of the officials deemed to be war criminals, and the exact language of the international or domestic laws violated by those officials. The author proceeds to consider the various US, international, and foreign tribunals in which the war crimes of Bush administration defendants may be tried under applicable bodies of law. He evaluates the real-world practicability of bringing cases against Bush and Bush officials in each of the possible venues. Finally, he weighs the legal, political, and humanitarian pros and cons of actually bringing Bush and Bush officials to trial for war crimes.

This book identifies why presidents, prime ministers, and other leaders of countries often make blunders in foreign policy. Blunders have been recognized within the study of foreign policy, but no central methodology or theory has developed to provide a way to avoid future disasters. Options are often presented to leaders of countries by advisers who do not always assess which policies will best serve national interests. Presidents, prime ministers, and other leaders of countries then have their legacy judged accordingly. Therefore, the book reviews existing efforts at developing theories of foreign policy to determine why they have failed. Instead of allowing a discipline with a lot of competing theories to continue to flounder, the book consolidates all approaches and develops a new professional format that will serve to professionalize foreign policy decision-making so that fewer key decisions are ever again considered blunders.

What happens to a composer when persecution and exile means their true music no longer has an audience? In the 1930s, composers and musicians began to flee Hitler’s Germany to make new lives across the globe. The process of exile was complex: although some of their works were celebrated, these composers had lost their familiar cultures and were forced to navigate xenophobia as well as entirely different creative terrain. Others, far less fortunate, were in a kind of internal exile—composing under a ruthless dictatorship or in concentration camps and ghettos. Michael Haas sensitively records the experiences of this musical diaspora. Torn between cultures and traditions, these composers produced music that synthesized old and new worlds, some becoming core portions of today’s repertoire, some relegated to the desk drawer. Encompassing the musicians interned as enemy aliens in the United Kingdom, the brilliant Hollywood compositions of Erich Wolfgang Korngold, and the Brecht-inspired theater music of Kurt Weill, Haas shows how these musicians shaped the twentieth-century soundscape—and offers a moving record of the incalculable effects of war on culture.

Civil war in the United States is now a mainstream topic due to apparent signs of ongoing planning. This book reveals why in several ways. First, four major ideological drivers of possible conflict are identified. Next, ten arenas of ongoing nonviolent civil war are traced as increasingly for micro-level violence. Then several dozen alternative scenarios are traced to explain how civil war could break out very soon. Finally, measures are delineated about how the country might prevent calamity. Anarchists, Christian Nationalists, Libertarians, and Triumphalists are determined to impose their views on the diverse nation and reduce opponents to second-class status. They demonstrate their blatant determination through nonviolent political contests involving conspiracy theories, cultural differences, verbal contestation, anti-elitism, racism, well-armed groups with nationwide membership, political demonization, media disinformation, Congressional hyperpartisanship, reducing constitutional rights, and legal fights by some states against others. But often they go beyond and commit violence out of sheer enjoyment in making opponents suffer. Beyond Polarized American Democracy: From Mass Society to Coups and Civil War suggests remedies for each of ten types of nonviolent civil war, but most are long-term solutions that cannot deal with an imminent threat. Accordingly, the book reviews governmental and military resources as well as efforts to counteract the ideological contest through political innovations. The analysis flows from the sociological Mass Society Paradigm, which argues that democracy’s survival depends upon the ability of civil society to relay the needs of the people to institutions of government and provide effective pressure for corrective action. As developed to explain the rise of Nazism in Germany, the analysis applies lessons from studies of coups and civil wars to identify how to prevent the loss of democracy in the United States.

Civil war in the United States is now a mainstream topic due to apparent signs of ongoing planning. This book reveals why in several ways. First, four major ideological drivers of possible conflict are identified. Next, ten arenas of ongoing nonviolent civil war are traced as increasingly for micro-level violence. Then several dozen alternative scenarios are traced to explain how civil war could break out very soon. Finally, measures are delineated about how the country might prevent calamity. Anarchists, Christian Nationalists, Libertarians, and Triumphalists are determined to impose their views on the diverse nation and reduce opponents to second-class status. They demonstrate their blatant determination through nonviolent political contests involving conspiracy theories, cultural differences, verbal contestation, anti-elitism, racism, well-armed groups with nationwide membership, political demonization, media disinformation, Congressional hyperpartisanship, reducing constitutional rights, and legal fights by some states against others. But often they go beyond and commit violence out of sheer enjoyment in making opponents suffer. Beyond Polarized American Democracy: From Mass Society to Coups and Civil War suggests remedies for each of ten types of nonviolent civil war, but most are long-term solutions that cannot deal with an imminent threat. Accordingly, the book reviews governmental and military resources as well as efforts to counteract the ideological contest through political innovations. The analysis flows from the sociological Mass Society Paradigm, which argues that democracy’s survival depends upon the ability of civil society to relay the needs of the people to institutions of government and provide effective pressure for corrective action. As developed to explain the rise of Nazism in Germany, the analysis applies lessons from studies of coups and civil wars to identify how to prevent the loss of democracy in the United States.

Donald Trump, as president, sought to undermine fundamental norms and principles of American government, institutionalizing bigotry, and therefore damaged American society. Details are provided on how he carried out a racist and sexist agenda, endangered the lives of LGBQTs, terrorized immigrants, allowed exploitation of the environment, endangered public health and the lives of seniors, and tried to abolish the social safety net, while trying to construct an economic oligarchy around him and building a personal praetorian guard. To explain what he did, the book provides a unique window into how agencies of federal government work, their programs, and what he did to reverse decades of social development of the American people. "This richly detailed and accessible book is a report card on the Trump presidential era, and the grades are not good. Covering ten major areas from homophobia to immigration, this thoughtful report gives a dismal assessment of how society was shaken up, and casts a dark cloud on Trumpism’s continuing influence. This is must reading for any concerned citizen in assessing the damage that has been done and preparing for the social battles to come." —Mark Juergensmeyer, Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Sociology and Global Studies and Founding Director, Orfalea Center for Global & International Studies, University of California, Santa Barbara; Author of Global Rebellion: Religious Challenges to the Secular State (2009) "This is a study of both how Donald Trump attempted to impose his will on domestic policy and also a broader story of how and why presidents are so often frustrated in achieving their domestic goals. It is a joy to read a master scholar at the top of his game, and with this book, Michael Haas provides us with a valuable, readable and important lens into both Donald Trump and the American political process. This book may not be the last book on Donald Trump’s domestic policy, but it is likely to be the most important, and the most lasting." —Michael A. Genovese, President, Global Policy Institute, and Loyola Chair of Leadership, Loyola Marymount University; Author of The Modern Presidency: Six Debates That Define the Institution (2022) and How Trump Governs (2017)

The disastrous handling of the coronavirus (Covid-19) in the United States calls out for an explanation of who is to blame for a disease that could have been contained but instead became an epidemic. Donald Trump, who plays so many roles in life, was unable to fathom how to deal with the problem, but others in his administration made serious mistakes as well. Readers will discover the scope of the errors in an entirely factual, chronological account from the first word about the outbreak to the last day of the Trump administration. The narrative begins by identifying 13 roles that Trump played as president. The discovery of Covid-19 is identified next. The Trump administration was unprepared to do the same and took inappropriate actions in the early stage, notably refusing to use a widely used test for 46 critical days. Congressional economic relief is also identified. States, forced to design their own programs due to federal inaction, then differed widely, resulting in a spread from the coasts to the heartland. Decisions to end lockdowns prematurely meant yet another surge. Trump promoted snake oil remedies, denigrated science and scientists, but wisely poured money into pharmaceutical firms to develop vaccines. People adversely affected are identified statistically. The book concludes by summarizing what each person and organization did to harm or help efforts to deal with Covid-19, leaving the final assessment to the reader who has absorbed all the facts during the Trump administration.

Democracy rests on ten pillars. However, they have fallen in the United States because both major political parties have strayed from the concept of government of the people, by the people, and for the people. One party wants to recreate life in the past, while the other party appeals to the economic self-interest of specific groups. The coup on January 6, 2021, has prompted a fundamental analysis of what has gone wrong, but proposed corrections have failed to strengthen belief in democracy. The fundamental pillars are of two types—preconditions and the structure of government. The preconditions are a strong middle class, a Constitutional framework supporting equal justice, a vibrant civil society, an informed citizenry, and a strong belief in democracy. The necessary governmental institutions are an independent judiciary, a legislature with integrity, a competent bureaucracy, free and fair elections, and an executive operating with civility. According to the Mass Society Paradigm, democracy works best when the voices of the people are aggregated into coherent programs by political parties, which seek majority approval and then demand action by government to solve problems, with the information media performing an oversight over the political process and government actions. But in the United States, some individuals are so culturally desperate that they have supported politicians favoring extreme measures to end democracy by paying attention to alternative concepts of reality. If ever achieved, corrective measures will take decades.

Racial and social relations can become harmonious and serene in every country of the world. Racism can be eliminated. The Kingdom of Hawai?i during the nineteenth century reveals a history of responsive politicians, economic progress, environmental preservation, and serene race relations because of a cultural lifestyle that can be emulated. But not everything was rosy. Severe challenges emerged after the discovery of the Islands in 1778. The leaders and the people responded to various intrusions in an exemplary manner, while the same problems have provoked endless conflict and social disintegration that plague the world today. Using analytical methods, this book recounts how the people of the Islands overcame civil wars, decimating diseases, ecosystem despoliation, religious conflicts, the uprooting of feudalism, worker exploitation, imperialist threats, coups, and a massive influx of new residents who quickly became acculturated. But the Kingdom of Hawai?i ended because of a flagrant violation of international law that calls out to be reversed. The world needs to know how a society of Caucasians, Chinese, Japanese, Mexicans, Native Hawaiians, and others worked together to solve problems that seem intractable elsewhere. Until the secret is revealed, the world seems doomed to constant turbulence. Presenting a plan for social transformation, this book will be of key interest in the fields of political science, public affairs, sociology, and Hawaiian studies.

Torture, murder, illegal war, the slaughter of thousands of innocents, abuse of child prisoners--these are only a few of 269 war crimes committed during the George W. Bush administration, which rolled over to the Barack Obama administration on January 20, 2019. This book summarizes the sad events of the Bush administration, as documented in the author's book "George W. Bush, War Criminal? The Bush Administrations Liability for 269 War Crimes (2009) and brings the situations up to date as of mid2010.

Democracy is in crisis because voices of the people are ignored due to a politics of mass society. After demonstrating how the French Fourth Republic failed, wherein Singapore’s totalitarianism is a dangerous model, Washington is enmeshed in gridlock, and there is a global democracy deficit, solutions are offered to revitalize democracy as the best form of government. The book demonstrates how mass society politics operates, with intermediate institutions of civil society (media, pressure groups, political parties) no longer transmitting the will of the people to government but instead are concerned with corporate interests and have developed oligarchical mindsets. Rather than micro-remedy bandaids, the author focuses on the need to transform governing philosophies from pragmatic to humanistic solutions.