Who was Adolf Hitler?

“The best way to take control over a people and control them utterly is to take a little of their freedom at a time, to erode rights by a thousand tiny and almost imperceptible reductions. In this way, the people will not see those rights and freedoms being removed until past the point at which these changes cannot be reversed.”
― Adolf Hitler

Adolf Hitler (1889-1945) is one of the most reviled figures in the history of mankind.  He is routinely mentioned with the likes of Genghis Khan and King Leopold as the greatest practitioners of death in all of recorded history.  As dictator of Germany, he was the antagonist of World War II, the deadliest conflict ever conceived.  Hitler rose through the ranks of German politics as a member and leader of the Nazi Party.  He exploited the desperate economic and political situation of Germany to acquire absolute power in the state.  He railed against the unfair treatment Germany received at the end of the Great War (Treaty of Versailles).  His two major goals were to restore Germany to greatest in the world while destroying the Jewish "influence" in Europe.  His program to exterminate the Jews is one of the most disgusting acts of genocide committed during the Twentieth Century.  It is estimated that Hitler was responsible for over eleven million noncombatant deaths.  

In The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, what lesson can be learned from Amir's change throughout the novel?

There are many lessons to be learned from Hosseini's The Kite Runner. Perhaps the most powerful one is that we can overcome the scars and shortcomings of our upbringing to become good and happy people.  As the book opens, Amir is in a conversation with his old family friend, Rahim Khan, who offers him an opportunity to be a better person, to redeem himself from his wrongdoings.  Beginning the book this way, the author is probably letting us know what is to him the book's most important lesson.

Amir's childhood, in spite of his being raised in the lap of luxury, is far from idyllic in many ways. He lives in a culture in which there is a great deal of ethnic and religious prejudice, which affects his relationship with Hassan, who is a Shi'a Hazara, allowing Amir to consider Hassan and his father Ali beneath him. Amir has qualities and talents that his father, Baba, does not appreciate or value, a gift for storytelling and writing and a love of reading.  In fact, Baba considers Amir to be unmanly, which is apparent when Baba sits him down for a talk about sin and says, "I mean to speak to you man to man. Do you think you can handle that for once?" (17). Amir's relationship with Baba has undercurrents that cause Amir to be envious and even cowardly, as he senses some competition with Hassan for Baba's attention and affection.  He is unaware for many years that Hassan is Baba's son, too.  Amir's actions cause harm to Hassan and Ali that is irrevocable, and he carries the weight of guilt for them.  Added to this is having to flee to America, leaving a life of comfort and wealth behind to be lowly immigrants in a new and alien culture.  Amir's start in life is not the easiest.

In the new world, though, he begins to grow as a person, gaining a new appreciation for Baba and earning his respect.  He learns to navigate America, gains the courage to court Soraya, begins his writing career, and helps his father.  When he gets the call from Rahim Kahn, offering him "a way to be good again" (2), he has grown enough as a person to heed the call.  His mission in Afghanistan is to rescue Sohrab, the offspring of Hassan, who is now gone, from the hands of his old nemesis, Assef. He must overcome the resentments of his childhood, the scars of feeling himself to be an unloved child, and the cowardice and prejudices that had made him such a poor friend to Hassan.  In short, he is becoming a mature young man who now has the inner resources to vanquish the enemies within and without. 

That Amir is successful in his mission is a testament to the idea that we can get over our own childhoods and take responsibility as the people we want to be.  The playing field is seldom completely even as we begin our lives, but it is up to us to make the best that we can of what we are given. 

Why did colonists want to break away from Great Britain?

There were several reasons why the colonists wanted to break away from Great Britain. One reason is that the colonists believed that the British were violating their rights by requiring the colonists to pay the taxes created by the Stamp Act and the Townshend Acts. The colonists believed that they should have had representatives in Parliament that could speak about and vote on the proposed taxes. Since they didn’t have representatives in Parliament, they felt their rights were being violated.

Another cause is that the colonists believed that the British were trying to control them. When the British passed the Proclamation of 1763, the colonists believed the British were trying to prevent them from getting the land that the British had received from France as a result of the French and Indian War. When the British passed the Quartering Act, which required the colonists to provide housing for the troops enforcing this unpopular law, they were even more upset. The colonists were also unhappy with the Tea Act. This law gave the British East India Company a monopoly on the trade of tea.

When events turned violent in the 1770s, more colonists began to think they needed to be free from British rule. In the Boston Massacre, five colonists were killed when British soldiers fired into a crowd of protesters. After the Boston Tea Party, the British passed the Intolerable Acts. These laws punished the colonists, especially those in Massachusetts, for the Boston Tea Party. After fighting occurred at Lexington and at Concord in April 1775, it appeared only a matter of time before the colonists would declare their independence from Great Britain.

Who were the Beni in Charles mann's book, 1491?

Actually, the better question is "Where was Beni?"  It is a flatland area between Brazil and Bolivia, and it serves as part of the thesis of the book 1491,where Mann writes that the native groups who lived in the Americas did not live in a Garden of Eden; rather, they exerted change on their environments by cutting trees, selectively burning the savanna, and trapping fish.  Also, all of this happened thousands of years ago and may even pre-date the Bering Land bridge that attempted to explain how all native groups started from a band of Asiatic nomads.  Mann attempts to explain the mounds of Beni not as happenstance or religious but as elevated platforms that allowed the people of the area to grow trees and crops.  He also states that there was a commerce that went from the region to other parts of Central and South America.  This new work in native anthropology is a growing field in history that attempts to modify it from its European-centric narrative.  

In what ways did Lincoln violate the constitution when in office?

It is contended by some historians that Abraham Lincoln violated the Constitution of the United States in a number of ways while he was in office. Among these violations are the following: 

• The right of secession

The founding fathers, especially Thomas Jefferson, recognized the states' right to secede. While he did not advocate the exercise of this right, Jefferson did recognize that the right to secede remained with the states.

This was a right that continued throughout the initial drafts of the Articles of Confederation, the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence.

But, Lincoln did not recognize the Constitutional right of the Southern states to secede.

• The right to declare war

The right to declare war rests with the Congress; however, President Lincoln ordered the military blockade of the ports that belonged to the South. This was an act of war, but Congress had not approved of it. (Interestingly, 75% of the tariffs paid to the Federal government by ports in the U.S. were paid by the Southern ports.)

Some historians contend that President Lincoln also committed treason since he declared war on his own country since he did not recognize the South's secession and did not recognize the Confederacy as a sovereign state. 

• Suspension of writ of habeus corpus
  

A state legislator from Maryland, John Merryman, was arrested for his attempts to prevent Union troops from passing from Baltimore to Washington at the time of the Civil War. After this, Merryman's attorney sought a writ of Habeus Corpus, hoping that a federal judge would examine the charges. But, President Lincoln suspended the right of Habeas Corpus, and the commanding officer of Fort McHenry would not turn Merryman over to authorities. This is another violation of the Constitution.

• Suspension of civil liberties

Lincoln ordered several Northern newspapers shut down that wrote against him, and he had several city officials of Baltimore arrested.

He ordered the arrest of Chief Justice Roger Taney after he ruled that Lincoln had violated the Constitution after he had illegally suspended the Writ of Habeus Corpus. 

`tan u = 3/5, 0

Given `tan(u)=3/5, 0<u<pi/2`

Angle u is in quadrant 1. A right triangle can be drawn is quadrant 1. Since 

`tan(u)=3/5` , the side opposite angle u is 3 and the side adjacent to angle u is 5. Using the pythagorean theorem the hypotenuse of the triangle is `sqrt34.`

`sin(2u)=2sin(u)cos(u)=2(3/sqrt34)(5/sqrt34)=30/34=15/17`

`cos(2u)=1-2sin^2(u)=1-2(3/sqrt34)^2=1-18/34=34/34-18/34=16/34=8/17`

`tan(2u)=(2tan(u))/(1-tan^2(u))=(2(3/5))/(1-(3/5)^2)=(6/5)/(1-9/25)=(6/5)/(25/25-9/25)=(6/5)/(16/25)=15/8` 

Analyze how the United States began to modernize and how many Americans clung to traditional values in the 1920's?

The 1920's was a dynamic time in American culture.  It was a time of great social change as women exerted their political and social rights and finally exercised their right to vote.  African-Americans also pursued economic and political opportunities and created organizations like the NAACP and UNIA to protect and pursue their interests.  Technological innovations made the country smaller as more and more Americans could afford to purchase an automobile and air travel was a reality.  The Twenties was also the birth of the radio age as the first station, KDKA, made the airways.  The 1920's also saw the rise of the consumer economy as household technologies like the washing machine and refrigerator became more available and made household chores easier.  Despite the rapid nature of change evident in the 1920's many Americans resisted.

The 1920's can also be considered a decade of resistance to change.  There was a fierce wave of nativism and xenophobia that saw the Ku Klux Klan become more popular than ever.  The movement was aimed at slowing down the flow of new immigrants from south and east Europe.  The Prohibition Amendment, which outlawed the manufacture, sale, and distribution of alcohol, was another attempt to cling to traditional American values.  The most popular trial of the decade dealt with the issue of teaching evolution in America's schools.  While the Scopes Trial did not decide this issue, it did point to a major conflict that existed between traditionalists and modernists in the 1920's