GovernorsLibrary.org Top 16-20 Books

16.   Conflict & Connection: The Jewish-Christian-Israel Triangle, by Moshe Aumann (Author), ISBN-13: 978-9652292995, Gefen Books, 2003, 296 pp.

   The author, Moshe Aumann, is brother of Robert J. Aumann who shared the 2005 Nobel Prize in Economics (see above entry). As Consul-General and Minister-Counselor for Church Relations at the Israeli Embassy in Washington D.C., the author personally witnessed these evolving relationships. Historical changes in Jewish-Christian relations. Official statements of reconciliation and repentance offered to the Jewish people by many sects of Christianity; a Jewish statement on Christians and Christianity (‘Dabru Emet’) and an agreement between the Holy See and the State of Israel. Overcoming anti-Semitism.

   Note:   See also the exposé of diplomatic relations between the USA and two church-states (Vatican and Israel) in the book: A Still Small Voice: The Vatican, the USA, and Israel in Bible Prophecy, a trilogy, by John Fritz, M.S., and Gayle E. Slaughter, J.D., GovernorsLibrary.org Vital Book Prize & Vital Author Prize, 2008-2012 (see entry above).

18.   Planning, Shortage, and Transformation: Essays in Honor of János Kornai, by Eric S. Maskin (Editor), András Simonovits (Editor)First Ed., The MIT Press, ISBN-13: 978-0262133579 , 2000, 550 pp.

   Note: Eric S. Maskin shared the 2007 Nobel Prize in Economics.

   Essays focus on Markets and Organizations, Theory of Transition, and The Transitional Experience.

   János Kornai is a noted expert on the economics of changing socialist economies into capitalistic economies.

19.   Repeated Games with Incomplete Information, by Robert J. Aumann, ISBN-13: 978-0262011471, The MIT Press, 1995, 368 pp.

   Note: Robert J. Aumann shared the 2005 Nobel Prize in Economics.

   During the height of the Cold War, between 1965 and 1968, Robert Aumann, Michael Maschler, and Richard Stearns collaborated on research on the dynamics of arms control negotiations that has since become foundational to work on repeated games. These five seminal papers are collected here for the first time, with the addition of "postscripts" describing many of the developments since the papers were written. The basic model studied throughout the book is one in which players ignorant about the game being played must learn what they can from the actions of the others.

   The original work, done under contract to the United States Arms Control and Disarmament Agency, was intended to tackle the gradual disarmament problem, in which neither player knew what his own payoff would be for any given agreement, because of uncertainty about the other side's arsenal and weapons production technology. But the research soon became much more generalized, covering information concealment and revelation, signaling and learning, and related ideas in any repeated competitive situation.

   The first four chapters of the book treat the competitive zero-sum side of the theory of repeated games. Chapter five takes up cooperative phenomena where one player may want to signal information to another. An extensive bibliography covers all items mentioned in the main text, in the postscripts, and in the introduction. The bibliography also includes a compilation of published papers and books that refer to the original reports.

20. Women of the Northern Plains: Gender and Settlement on the Homestead Frontier, First Ed., by Barbara Handy-Marchello, ISBN-13: 978-0873516044, Minnesota Historical Society Press, 2007, 216 pp. Winner of the 2006 Caroline Bancroft History Prize.

Survival of North Dakota’s farm families was sealed by the heroic efforts of brave women who triumphed as wives, mothers, chief farm laborers, and true partners in marriage. Women have never contributed more even in their contemporary upscale roles as business women, mayors, governors, etc.