Cultural studies Books

Book SynopsisFirst published in English in 1995, with an introduction by Robin Kinross, this edition includes a foreword by Rich Hendel, who considers the contemporary thinking about Tschichold's life and work.Trade Review"Probably the most important work on typography and graphic design in the twentieth century." - Carl Zahn, The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston "If you're interested in design and typography, you should buy this book...it's still one of the best typographic how-to books we have." - Adobe Magazine "A comprehensive, practical handbook to guide the typographer.... The tone, here, is that of a master craftsman; practical and informative, it neither avoids detail nor loses sight of broad principles." - Times Literary Supplement "The book is as well worth reading today as it ever was.... Tschichold's lucid writing makes his words timeless." - Photography Annual "An essential text for understanding contemporary trends in visual communication." - Choice "Lucid, logical, impassioned, and challenging." - Journal of Graphic Design"Table of ContentsTranslator's Foreword--Ruari McLean Introduction to the English-Language Edition--Robin Kinross Foreword to the 2006 Edition--Richard Hendel The New Typography

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"Winner of the Stowe Prize, Harriet Beecher Stowe Center""Longlisted for the Porchlight Business Book Awards, Personal Development & Human Behavior Category""A NationSwell Book of the Year""Finalist for the C. Wright Mills Award, Society for the Study of Social Problems""Shortlisted for the getAbstract International Book Award 2023, Business Impact Category""This is an openhearted, multilayered work that vibrates with ideas on ways to make a new world out of the interlocking crises of COVID-19 and racial capitalism. Progress may be a 'tear-soaked mirage,' as Benjamin writes, yet her book is far from devoid of a sense of humor or hope, full of ways to 'live poetically' while remaking the systems that have failed us."---Rhoda Feng, New York Magazine"Heartbreaking, inspiring, and hopeful. . . . Benjamin’s approach is undoubtedly radical."---James M. Jones, Science"There’s no one better to light the way out and guide us in building a just future than Ruha Benjamin."---Karla J. Strand, Ms. Magazine"Benjamin’s choice to weave personal stories of childhood and motherhood with action and theory made it easier to see how I fit into the narrative she was crafting. . . . In the spirit of activists and writers like Octavia Butler, Benjamin encourages us to dream up a new, more equitable world."---A. Rochaun Meadows-Fernandez, YES! Magazine"A powerful, urgent plea for individual responsibility in an unjust world." * Kirkus Reviews, starred review *"An emotional and thought-provoking wake-up shout to put an end to systemic discrimination. . . . A rich and engaging space for collective healing." * Library Journal *"Compelling . . . . The final pages of Benjamin’s Viral Justice are a testament to human resilience, to finding meaning in little acts, imbuing beauty in the mundane, and growing a garden from a seed."---Mehr Tarar, Stanford Social Innovation Review"I encourage educators across all subject matters to incorporate Benjamin’s Viral Justice framework in the classroom. These lessons ultimately provide students with a toolkit to reimagine justice and redistribute power in their own communities little by little."---Amber Joy Powell, Sociology of Race and Ethnicity"A unique and inspiring intervention, that comes at just the right moment."---Ros Williams, Ethnic and Racial Studies"Benjamin’s work is foundational for understanding society and social change. . . . Viral Justice offers real experiences coupled with theory and practicality to engender change."---Kenya Massey, Symbolic Interaction"[A] brilliant and impassioned book." * Paradigm Explorer *"A salve and a powerful revisiting of movement history. . . . I see Viral Justice as a refreshing reminder of how much we can learn from the analysis and perspective of a brilliant thinker outside our field . . . The book is lyrical and searing in its analysis."---Michelle Morse, The Lancet

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"A Choice Outstanding Academic Title of the Year""Provide[s] valuable context for Eliot’s 1922 masterpiece."---Michael Dirda, Washington Post"Stimulating. . . . Rasula's account wonderfully traces the evolution of literary thought, and his syntheses feel fresh and exciting. The result is a refreshing reappraisal of a classic." * Publishers Weekly (starred review) *"[What the Thunder Said is] adding more weight to the headstone that marks Eliot."---James Matthew Wilson, New Criterion"The book demonstrates [Rasula’s] uncommon ability to compress highly complicated artistic, cultural, and intellectual histories into accessible and enjoyable prose."---Daniel Kraft, On the Seawall"Filled with fresh insights and unfamiliar anecdotes, What the Thunder Said recovers the explosive force of the twentieth century’s most influential poem."---Marshal Zeringue, Campaign for the American Reader"Rasula makes the case for The Waste Land‘s lasting revolutionary impact in his engaging and insightful, if occasionally discursive, study."---Peter Keough, Arts Fuse"The book is much more than its title suggests, sympathetically conveying a whole complex literary world marked by revolutionary intensity." * Paradigm Explorer *"[What the Thunder Said] confirms Rasula's position as the US's most wide-ranging and aculturally astute historian of modernism." * Choice *"What the Thunder Said is an energetic book bristling with ideas and arguments."---Jason Harding, American Literary History

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Book SynopsisAn auto-ethnography of cross-dressing, framed by Marxism and psychoanalytic theoryTrade Review'Cremin explores the relationship between theory and life with intelligence and wit' -- Juliet Jacques, author of Trans: A Memoir (Verso, 2016)'Laced with some occasional edginess, it is a wonderful book, erudite, politically astute, brilliantly written, and at times wickedly funny. It's my favourite I've read for quite some time' -- Jeff Hearn, Hanken School of Economics, Finland; University of Huddersfield, UK; author of Men of the WorldTable of ContentsAcknowledgements 1. What’s In A Dress? 2. On The Lavatory Question 3. The Aesthetic of Cross-Dressing 4. Everyone’s a Fetishist 5. How Popular Culture Made Me (a Woman) 6. Full Exposure Notes Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisWhat can we learn about capitalism by looking at artworks that take money as their subject?Trade Review'Perhaps the most theoretically creative radical thinker of the moment' -- – David Graeber, author of Debt: The First 5000 Years (Melville House, 2014)'Daring, brilliant, provocative. At last a radical critique of the crypto-approach and an abolitionist approach to the problem of money and art' -- Franco Berardi, Philosopher, author of Futurability: The Age of Impotence and the Horizon of Possibility (Verso, 2017)Table of ContentsFigures Dedication Acknowledgements Introduction 1. 3.5 Artistic Strategies To Envision Money’s Mediation 2. 6 Artists x 2 Crises x 3 Orders Of Reproduction 3. 0 Participation: Benign Pessimism, Tactical Parasitics and the Encrypted Common 4. ∞ Encryption: Art’s Crypt, Securitization in Numbers, Derivative Socialities 5. Conclusion: Toward Abolitionist Horizons Notes Subject Index Name Index

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Book SynopsisProvides an overview of the historical events that have taken place and shaped the islands of the Caribbean Sea. This volume contains information on topics such as women pirates, meals eaten by slaves, and the cultural preference for strong leaders in the region.

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Book SynopsisIt not only highlights the development and transformation of postcolonial literary study but also, by mapping out new directions of study, considers its continual significance and expansion.Trade Review"The single best anthology for studying postcolonialism and literature." (Susan Strehle, Binghamton University)"Table of ContentsAcknowledgments The First Thirty Years of Postcolonial Literary Scholarship: The Continuing Importance of a DisciplinePart I: ParadigmsChapter 1. The Margin at the Center: On Testimonio (Testimonial Narrative)Chapter 2. Writing in the Shit: Beckett, Nationalism, and the Colonial SubjectChapter 3. Imperial Triangles: Mark Twain's Foreign AffairsChapter 4. Fiction and the Law: Recent Inscriptions of Gayness in South AfricaChapter 5. Decolonizing Culture: Toward a Theory for Postcolonial Women's TextsChapter 6. Re-Membering Hispaniola: Edwidge Danticat's The Farming of BonesChapter 7. Redefining Paris: Trans-Modernity and Francophone African Migritude FictionPart II: Postcolonial AfricaChapter 8. Smoke of the Savannah: Traveling Modernity in Sembène Ousmane's God's Bits of WoodChapter 9. Mourning the Postapartheid State Already? The Poetics of Loss in Zakes Mda's Ways of DyingChapter 10. Ngugi wa Thiong'o's Postnation: The Cultural Geographies of Colonial, Neocolonial, and Postnational SpaceChapter 11. Truth, Telling, Questioning: The Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Antjie Krog's Country of My Skull, and Literature after ApartheidChapter 12. The Pastoral Promise and the Political Imperative: The Plaasroman Tradition in an Era of Land ReformPart III: Postcolonial IndiaChapter 13. Leading History by the Nose: The Turn to the Eighteenth Century in Midnight's ChildrenChapter 14. The Feminist Plot and the Nationalist Allegory: Home and World in Two Indian Women's Novels in EnglishChapter 15. Memory, Identity, Patriarchy: Projecting a Past in the Memoirs of Sara Suleri and Michael OndaatjeChapter 16. Figures of Colonial ResistancePart IV: New DirectionsChapter 17. Introduction: Worldly EnglishChapter 18. Narrative in Prison: Stories from the Palestinian IntifadaChapter 19. Globalization, Postcoloniality, and the Problem of Literary Studies in The Satanic VersesChapter 20. National Narratives, Postnational NarrationChapter 21. Comic Visions and Revisions in the Work of Lynda Barry and Marjane SatrapiChapter 22. Tenderness: A Mediator of Identity and Gender Construction in PoliticsList of Contributors Index

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Book SynopsisThis beautifully illustrated graphic novel tells the history of contemporary Thailand through the life of a blind man who walks on the streets of the capital for the last time.Trade Review"The artwork is at least as important as text. Sara Fabbri’s colored line drawings give the tale an urgency that words themselves cannot convey." -- Peter Gordon * Asian Review of Books *"Shades of hope and humor glimmer amid the forces of inequity and impunity depicted in this memorable book that homes in on the rich lives of ordinary people, those who the country's rulers are meant to serve." -- David Hopkins * Nikkei Asia *"This book is a triumph." -- Chris Baker * Bangkok Post *“Well informed and captivating. Much more than a didactic good-versus-evil tale, The King of Bangkok does justice to the complex people who animate a country that many of us would do well to know better.” -- Rosalie Metro, University of Missouri-Columbia * Los Angeles Review of Books *Table of ContentsForeword by Nick Sousanis Preface Prelude Chapter One Chapter Two Chapter Three Chapter Four Chapter Five Acknowledgments Appendix I: Timeline of Events Appendix II: Interview with the Authors Appendix III: Reading Guide Appendix IV: Further Readings

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Book SynopsisThrough its account of influential socio-political processes – such as the resurgence of fascism and white supremacy, the crafting of new technologies of governance, and the operation of digital media and algorithms – Revolutionary Routines rethinks not only how change works, but also what counts as change.Trade Review"There is very much to commend the book to a readership, but for me, the most important aspect is the way it adds to the literature that explores the 'minor politics' of the event. By recasting social change in a minor key, other actors, environments and practices come into focus. Pedwell's book demonstrates, with great acuity, the importance of the transformation of habitual relations to a project of social change. This minor politics is essential not simply in and of itself, but also because it runs through (perhaps even constitutes) the event of constituent power. In this way, Revolutionary Routines provides fresh resources for anyone who seeks to explore the question of constituent power, protest and social movement. It is well worth a read." Critical Legal Thinking“Revolutionary Routines is a quintessentially philosophical text, which offers possibilities for rethinking our understanding of the habitual nature of social oppression in its various guises. [Pedwell’s] exploration of how popular culture, media, government techniques and digital ecologies are reshaping the mind, bodies and environment in ways that affect the conditions of political possibility remains an important endeavour.” LSE Review of Books“Revolutionary Routines: The Habits of Social Transformation will be useful reading for scholars, practitioners and activists working on social change and transformation, particularly as they engage with the continuing negotiations and ambivalence of social change. To fully engage with the potential of Carolyn Pedwell’s book, however, it is crucial to actively consider the nature and influence of institutionalised and contextualised power, especially its ability to stall progressive politics and transformation.” The Sociological Review“This is a valuable project, and Pedwell’s processual thinking is a fruitful ground for her inquiries. She reminds us that Dewey argued that successful revolutions require cultivating the needed ‘habits of thought.’” Theory & Event“Revolutionary Routines: The Habits of Social Transformation is ultimately and necessarily a call for speculative intervention, politics, and modes of praxis – an invitation to continue affecting, practising, and theorizing a world otherwise. As such, Pedwell’s book offers a substantial contribution to what the author identifies as the “emergent critical return to habit” and to the transdisciplinary field of affect studies.” University of Toronto Quarterly

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Book SynopsisWhere did the dragon originate? And how is it that people from Africa to China to America picture it the same?Trade Review"[A] fascinating subject and thought-provoking read." -- Journal of Scientific ExplorationTable of ContentsAcknowledgments, Introduction, CHAPTER 1 • The Monkey Hunters, CHAPTER 2 • Running from Certain Shadows, CHAPTER 3 • Red Tooth, Red Claw, CHAPTER 4 • How Time Makes a Dragon, CHAPTER 5 • Why Dragons Breathe Fire, CHAPTER 6 • Time of the Dragon Slayers, CHAPTER 7 • Fate of the Dragons, Appendix A • Tree of Life and the Three Sacred Realms, Appendix B • More Tales of the Great Worm, Bibliography, Index

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Book SynopsisThere are few figures more important in literary and critical theory than Jacques Derrida. Whether lauded or condemned, his writing has had far-reaching ramifications, and his work on deconstruction cannot be ignored. This volume introduces students of literature and cultural studies to Derrida's enormously influential texts, covering such topics as: deconstruction, text and difference; literature and freedom; law, justice and the 'democracy to come'; drugs, secrets and gifts. Nicholas Royle's unique book, written in an innovative and original style, is an outstanding introduction to the methods and significance of Jacques Derrida.Trade Review'Royle has the admirable gift of rendering the most difficult material accessible to students ... he can make it exciting to them, inspiring them to read more.' - Critical and Cultural TheoryTable of ContentsSeries Editor's Preface Acknowledgements Abbreviations 1. Why Derrida? 2. Key ideas 3. Deconstruction the earthquake 4. Be free 5. Supplement 6. Text 7. Difference 8. The most interesting thing in the world 9. Monsters 10. My Secret Life 11. Poetry Break 12. After Derrida Further Reading Works Cited Index

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Book SynopsisWhy and how do contemporary questions of culture so readily become highly charged questions of identity? The question of cultural identity lies at the heart of current debates in cultural studies and social theory. At issue is whether those identities which defined the social and cultural world of modern societies for so long - distinctive identities of gender, sexuality, race, class and nationality - are in decline, giving rise to new forms of identification and fragmenting the modern individual as a unified subject.Questions of Cultural Identity offers a wide-ranging exploration of this issue. Stuart Hall firstly outlines the reasons why the question of identity is so compelling and yet so problematic. The cast of outstanding contributors then interrogate different dimensions of the crisis of identity; in so doing, they provide both theoretical and substantive insights into different approaches to understanding identity.Trade Review`This impressive and timely collection of essays addresses the significance of cultural identity as social phenomenon and provides an insight into a number of new approaches for unfolding its complexity.... This is not only a collection of some of the most respected thinkers in the social sciences but reveals the variety of paths that can be followed in pursuit of the question of cultural identity′ - Sociology `This collection of essays brings together contributions from different disciplines and theoretical traditions in an effort to illuminate and advance the debate about cultural identity and its meaning in contemporary social formations. It is of value to those engaged in social and cultural theory, the social sciences, cultural studies, and the humanities′ - Sociological Abstracts `Hall′s opening essay is wide-ranging about theorisations of identities... Ten essay cover many different types of ground, often stimulatingly and at times surprisingly.... As a whole, though dispersed, the book well fulfills its aim to ask why "questions of cultural identity have acquired visibility and salience" across fields of research′ - The Times Higher Education SupplementTable of ContentsIntroduction - Stuart Hall Who Needs `Identity′? From Pilgrim to Tourist - or a Short History of Identity - Zygmunt Bauman Enabling Identity? - Marilyn Strathern Biology, Choice and the New Reproductive Technologies Culture′s In-Between - Homi K Bhabha Interrupting Identities - Kevin Robins Turkey/Europe Identity and Cultural Studies - Is That All There Is? - Lawrence Grossberg Music and Identity - Simon Frith Identity, Genealogy, History - Nikolas Rose Organizing Identity - Paul du Gay Entrepreneurial Governance and Public Management The Citizen and the Man about Town - James Donald

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Book SynopsisDuring the 1920s and '30s, Mexico attracted an international roster of artists and intellectuals - including Orson Welles, Katherine Anne Porter, and Leon Trotsky. This book covers the years that the renowned Soviet director Sergei Eisenstein spent in the country to work on his controversial film Que Viva Mexico!

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Book SynopsisWhen first published in 1970, The Uses of Disorder, was a call to arms against the deadening hand of modernist urban planning upon the thriving chaotic city. Written in the aftermath of the 1968 student uprising in the US and Europe, it demands a reimagination of the city and how class, city life and identity combine. Too often, this leads to divisions, such as the middle class flight to the suburbs, leaving the inner cities in desperate straits. In response, Sennett offers an alternative image of a "dense, disorderly, overwhelming cities" that allow for change and the development of community. Fifty years later this book is as essential as it was when it first came out, and remains an inspiration to architects, planners and urban thinkers everywhere.Trade ReviewHis argument remains powerful and relevant, an inspiration to a new generation of urbanists. -- P D Smith * Guardian *The best available contemporary defence of anarchism . . . The issues [he] raises are fundamental and profound. His book is utopian in the best sense?it tries to define a radically different future and to show that it could be constructed from the materials at hand * New York Times *Richard Sennett's journey through urban chaos feels as fresh as when it was published in 1970. It argues that the city's vitality is bound up in its unpredictability. -- Gabriella Bennett * The Times *

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Book SynopsisComic empires is a unique collection of new research exploring the relationship between imperialism and political cartoons, caricature, and satirical art. Edited by leading scholars across both fields (and with contributions from contexts as diverse as Egypt, Australia, the United States, and China, as well as Europe) the volume provides new perspectives on well-known events, and illuminates little-known players in the ‘great game’ of empire in modern times. Some of the finest comic art of the period is deployed as evidence, and examined seriously, in its own right, for the first time. Accessible to students of history at all levels, Comic empires is a major addition to the world-leading ‘Studies in Imperialism’ series, as well as standing alone as an innovative and significant contribution to the ever-growing international field of comics studies.Table of Contents1 Introduction: The importance of cartoons caricature and satirical art in imperial contexts, Richard Scully & Andrekos VarnavaPART ONE: High Imperialism and Colonialism 2 Courting the Colonies: Linley Sambourne, Punch, and Imperial Allegory, Robert Dingley & Richard Scully3 ‘Master Jonathan” in Cuba: A Case Study in Colonial Bildungskarikatur, Albert D. Pionke & Frederick Whiting 4 ‘The International Siamese Twins’: The Iconography of Anglo-American Inter-Imperialism, Stephen Tufnell5 ‘Every Dog (No Distinction of Color) Has His Day’: Thomas Nast and the Colonization of the American West, Fiona HalloranPART TWO: The Critique of Empire and the Context of Decolonization –6 The Making of Harmony and War, from New Year Pictures to Propaganda Cartoons during China’s Second Sino-Japanese War, Shaoqian Zhang7 David Low and India, David Lockwood8 Between imagined and ‘real’: Sarikhan’s al-Masri Effendi: cartoons in the first half of the 1930s, Keren Zdafee9 The Iconography of Decolonization in the Cartoons of the Suez Crisis, 1956, Stefanie Wichhart10 Punch and the Cyprus Emergency, 1955-9, Andrekos Varnava & Casey RaesidePART THREE: Ambiguities of Empire -11 Outrage and Imperialism, Confusion and Indifference: Punch and the Armenian Massacres of 1894-6, Leslie Rogne Schumacher12 Ambiguities in the fight waged by the socialist satirical review Der Wahre Jacob against militarism and imperialism, Jean-Claude Gardes13 The ‘Confounded Socialists’ and the ‘Commonwealth Co-operative Society’: Cartoons and British Imperialism during the Attlee Labour Government, Charlotte Riley14 Australian cartoonists at the end of Empire: no more ‘Australia for the White Man’, David Olds & Robert PhiddianIndex

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Book SynopsisObject Lessons is a series of short, beautifully designed books about the hidden lives of ordinary things. What is silence? In a series of short meditations, novelist and playwright John Biguenet considers silence as a servant of power, as a lie, as a punishment, as the voice of God, as a terrorist’s final weapon, as a luxury good, as the reason for torture—in short, as an object we both do and do not recognize. Concluding with the prospects for its future in a world burgeoning with noise, Biguenet asks whether we should desire or fear silence—or if it is even ours to choose. Object Lessons is published in partnership with an essay series in The Atlantic.Trade ReviewWhen I realized I was making notes on memorable passages in Silence several times a page, I knew I’d found the book I’ve been needing to read. John Biguenet’s extended meditation on silence is provocative, witty, moving, and truly golden. * Valerie Martin, Orange Prize-winning novelist and author, most recently, of The Ghost of the Mary Celeste *One virtue of silence is that it enables us to contemplate a work like John Biguenet’s ever-fascinating new book. One virtue of his book—one of many—is that it does not go overboard in treating silence as a virtue. * Garret Keizer, author of The Unwanted Sound of Everything We Want *Taking us from the ancient world to Houston's Rothko Chapel to outer space, John Biguenet gives us a surprisingly boisterous tour of silence, stillness, and calm. Biguenet takes a space that looks at first glance like it is empty, as if it were, actually, defined by its emptiness, and he fills it with his erudition, his wisdom, his warmth, and his wit. We are lucky to spend this time rapt at his feet, to take all of this in. * Jessa Crispin, editor-in-chief Booklust and author of The Dead Ladies Project *What makes [Silence] stand out is the way this silence retreats, fails to materialize as such. The book unfolds as a failed or botched detective story: the search for silence, for a state that defies the human. Written in the form of a memoir or notes to and from one self to others… [Silence] ends as [Biguenet] leafs through a National Geographic, reads an article on noise pollution at sea and its catastrophic effects on the social life of whales. ‘What is the future of silence,’ he asks? ‘More lonely whales,’ he fears. It’s enough to make you never want to speak again. -- Julian Yates * Los Angeles Review of Books *Biguenet examines how we define silence, how we seek silence, how we sell silence, and how silence relates to things such as reading, the stage, secrets, and even dolls. He talks about how true silence is virtually unachievable in the modern world and how people become disoriented in pure silence. ... At the end of Silence, Biguenet contemplates the future. As he writes amidst noise and commotion, the "hum" of the modern world as he describes it, he read a National Geographic article about whales and how passing ships disrupt their ability to communicate with one another. Their ‘silence’ is broken. Thus, we are left to consider how silence or lack thereof impacts not only us but the entire ecosystem around us. It's a poignant reminder that in the modern world, with its hectic pace and ever present noise, sometimes what we most need is the one thing we can't seem to get. * Frank Valish, Under the Radar *Object Lessons’ describes themselves as ‘short, beautiful books,’ and to that, I'll say, amen. … [I]t is in this simplicity that we find insight and even beauty. … Silence by John Biguenet … explores whether it's possible — or indeed if we would want — to experience true ‘silence.’ … If you read enough ‘Object Lessons’ books, you'll fill your head with plenty of trivia to amaze and annoy your friends and loved ones — caution recommended on pontificating on the objects surrounding you. More importantly, though, in the tradition of McPhee's Oranges, they inspire us to take a second look at parts of the everyday that we've taken for granted. These are not so much lessons about the objects themselves, but opportunities for self-reflection and storytelling. They remind us that we are surrounded by a wondrous world, as long as we care to look. * Chicago Tribune *Biguenet goes on to deal with our responses to tragedy, terror and crime, the relationship of children with toys and pets, Freud's views on the uncanny, gender roles in asking of questions and giving of advice … and many other facets as he shows how silence is an integral part of our lives, even in ways we could have never imagined. * Business Standard, India *We inevitably fall into a sense of wonder in the first pages of the book. * T24 *Table of ContentsI What Is Silence? II Selling Silence Seeking Silence Silence Versus Solitude Voluntary Silences III The Representation of Silence Silent Reading Silence on Stage The Unspeakable IV The Silenced Moment The Silence of Dolls Silencing Silence and Secrets V The Future of Silence

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Book SynopsisA New Role for Museum Educators shows how learning happens in communities, how volunteers and professionals approach their work, the underlying principles and philosophies that guide the work of museum education, and how these practices are always evolving to remain relevant. Museum education in its most expansive definition is about communicating messages, creating learning experiences, and, at its most aspirational, promoting human development for people of all backgrounds, abilities, and circumstances. This edited volume revisits the legacy of museum education practices, reflecting on the changing context of community and the role of cultural institutions, and provides insights into new directions that museums can take with a visitor-centered mindset. It provides foundational concepts around educational philosophies that guide practice, applied methods and approaches for implementation, and the ethos of an educational institution intended to support community learTable of ContentsIntroduction; Part One: Museum Educators and Education and their Purpose Past, Present, and Future – 2. Relevance, Inclusion, and Interaction in Museums from Peale’s Perspective: Not Yet Enough; 3. Education and Discipline: Deviant Objects and Dissenting Bodies at the Horniman Museum; 4. Tilden, Now and Then; 5. Why Not a Temple AND a Forum? 6. Teaching in the Art Museum: A Classic Reframed; 7. Learningscapes and the Visitor Experience; 8. Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy in Museum Education; Part Two: Essential Methods and Approaches – 9. Designing Experiences for Audience Diversity: A guide for audience-centered program design; 10. Meeting the Needs of All Museum Visitors through Family-Friendly Design; 11. Tools for Interactive Inspiration: Beyond Buttons and Flip Labels; 12. Experiencing Objects in the Museum; 13. Selecting, Implementing, and Adapting Educational Methodologies to Support Interpretation; 14. Scaling the Ivory Tower—Creating and Managing Collaboration with the University; 15. Museum Educators as Curricular Innovators: Women & the American Story, a Case Study; 16. Amateur, Audience, Agent: Participatory Culture and Docent Roles; 17. At the Crossroads of Tradition and Transformation: Docents in the Art Museum; Part Three: The Museum Educator Mindset in the Community and in the Field – 18. Art on the Mind: Creative Aging at the Frye Art Museum; 19. Museums as Sites for Culturally Responsive and Sustaining Teacher Preparation; 20. How do we want to live? Collaborative curation of a special exhibition on sustainable futures at the Senckenberg Natural History Museum Frankfurt; 21. Claiming Space, Cultivating Community: Latinx and Asian American Ethnically Specific Museums in a Global City; 22. Finding One’s Way as a Novice Art Museum Educator; 23. Reclaiming our Peace: Preparing for a Career as BIPOC Museum Educators; 24. Learning Frameworks and the Museum Educator’s Role: Strategies for Long-term Relevance; 25. Gathering Together with Purpose: A New Framework for Museum Education.

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Book SynopsisThis powerful book documents the unspoken stories of a diversity of gender embodiments across the post-Yugoslav states, uncovering how they have navigated the murky waters of war, racism, capitalism and transphobia.Table of ContentsForeword: The Yellow Brick Road of trans queer survival in Yugoslavia and after - Agatha Milan Đurić Introduction: In post-Yugoslav trans worlds - Bojan Bilić, Iwo Nord, and Aleksa Milanović Part 1: Lives 1. Transgender lives in North Macedonia: citizenship, violence, and networks of support - Slavcho Dimitrov 2. The resilience of trans existence through solidarity in Montenegro: (non)pathologising narratives of transgender lives - Jovan Ulićević and Čarna Brković 3. Transgender and non-binary persons, mental health, and gender binarism in Serbia - Jelena Vidić and Bojan Bilić Part 2: Activisms 4. From survival to activism: tracing trans history in Kosovo from the 1970s onwards - Lura Limani 5. Tortuous paths towards trans futures: the trans movement in Slovenia - Martin Gramc 6. (Post)socialist gender troubles: transphobia in Serbian leftist activism - Bojan Bilić Part 3: Culture 7. Trans artivism in the post-Yugoslav space: resistance and inclusion strategies in action - Aleksa Milanović 8. ‘The truth is what is in the body’: an interview with Aleks Zain - Slađana Branković 9. Queering sevdah: gender-nonconformity in the traditional music of Bosnia and Herzegovina - Tea Hadžiristić

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Book SynopsisWhat is culture? Why should we preserve it, and how? In this book, renowned philosopher Roger Scruton defends Western culture against its internal critics and external enemies, and argues that rumors of its death are seriously exaggerated. He shows our culture to be a continuing source of moral knowledge, and rebuts the fashionable sarcasm that sees it as nothing more than the useless legacy of “dead white European males.” Ranging widely over the arts and philosophy, Scruton defends what Eliot called “the common pursuit of true judgement” against the dismissive attacks of the new academicians. In his striking account of music and its role in moral education, he defends the classical tradition as well as the American popular song, and points to the damage done to the psyche by the new forms of pop. He is robust in defense of traditional architecture and figurative painting; critical of the fashionable relativists, such as Michel Foucault, Edward Said and Richard Rorty; and urgent in his plea for our civilization, which more than ever stands in need of the self-knowledge and self-confidence that are the gift of serious culture.

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Book SynopsisJoseph Roach reveals how performance can revise the unwritten past, comparing patterns of remembrance and forgetting in how communities forge their identities and imagine their futures. He examines the syncretic performance traditions of Europe, Africa, and the Americas in the urban sites of London and New Orleans.Table of ContentsPreface to the Twenty-Fifth Anniversary EditionPrefaceAcknowledgments1. Introduction: History, Memory, and Performance2. Echoes in the Bone3. Betterton’s Funeral4. Feathered Peoples5. One Blood6. Carnival and the LawEpilogue: New FrontiersReferencesIndex

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Book SynopsisA delightful, erudite, and immersive exploration of the crossword puzzle and its fascinating history from a brilliant young writer.Trade ReviewWho would ever have thought the innocent crossword would hide such an intriguing story! After reading Adrienne Raphel's beautifully researched account, full of humor and personal insight, I've come to see these puzzles in a new light, and I certainly now treat their creators with fresh respect. -- Professor David Crystal, author of The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English LanguageThinking Inside the Box is a witty, wise, and wonderfully weird journey that will change the way you think. Raphel is an insatiably curious and infectiously passionate guide who plunges headfirst into the rich world of puzzles and the people who love them to reveal the fascinating acrobatics of language and the inner life of words. This book is a delight. -- Bianca Bosker, bestselling author of Cork Dork: A Wine-Fueled Adventure Among the Obsessive Sommeliers, Big Bottle Hunters, and Rogue Scientists Who Taught Me to Live for TasteIf you remember precisely where you were when you first encountered the words ETUI and ONER, I suspect you'll be enchanted by Adrienne Raphel's Thinking Inside the Box. This delightfully engrossing, charmingly and enthusiastically well-written history of the crossword puzzle tells you everything you need to know, and any number of things you couldn't have imagined, about the invention and eventual world domination of the thing that daily scratches a particular human itch: "the yearning to solve a riddle, the desire to fill in a blank space, the obsession with perfection". -- Benjamin Dreyer, bestselling author of Dreyer’s English: An Utterly Correct Guide to Clarity and StyleThinking Inside the Box, like the puzzles it elegantly features, is full of treasures, surprises and fun. Adrienne takes readers from Will Shortz's empire hub in Pleasantville, NY, to the pages of Vladimir Nabokov's crossword butterfly puzzle doodles, to the blistering hotel ballrooms of crossword competitions, richly bringing to life the quirky, obsessive, fascinating characters in the crossword world. You'll never think about filling in the squares the same way again.' -- Mary Pilon, bestselling author of The Monopolists: Obsession, Fury, and the Scandal Behind the World’s Favorite Board Game and The Kevin Show: An Olympic Athlete’s Battle with Mental IllnessFor crossword puzzlers of every ilk, from solvers of the Monday-edition no-brainer to pencil-chewing addicts of the cryptic, Thinking Inside the Box is a gold mine of revelations. If there is a pantheon of cruciverbalist scholars, Adrienne Raphel has established herself squarely within it. -- Mary Norris, author of Between You & Me: Confessions of a Comma Queen

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Book SynopsisGeorge Mikes has written many successful books on a variety of interesting subjects, but one so successful as those on the subject most central to his own experience: his adopted country. The first of these came out in 1946: the ever famous How to be an Alien. Later he enlarges the picture with How to be inimitable and How to be Decadent. All three books were illustrated by the master of the cartoonists' art, the late Nicolas Bentley. Here they are, all in one volume, which will make life much easier for today''s would-be Brits than it was for those who pervaded them. It is said that a few of the latter actually failed to become indistinguishable from the genuine British article because they found it too tiresome to seek out three separate books: a misfortune that need never again occur to anyone.

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Book SynopsisNurturing Our Humanity offers a new perspective on our personal and social options in today''s world, showing how we can build societies that support our great human capacities for consciousness, caring, and creativity. It brings together findings--largely overlooked--from the natural and social sciences debunking the popular idea that we are hard-wired for selfishness, war, rape, and greed. Its groundbreaking new approach reveals connections between disturbing trends like climate change denial and regressions to strongman rule. Moving past right vs. left, religious vs. secular, Eastern vs. Western, and other familiar categories that do not include our formative parent-child and gender relations, it looks at where societies fall on the partnership-domination scale. On one end is the domination system that ranks man over man, man over woman, race over race, and man over nature. On the other end is the more peaceful, egalitarian, gender-balanced, and sustainable partnership system. Nurturing Our Humanity explores how behaviors, values, and socio-economic institutions develop differently in these two environments, documents how this impacts nothing less than how our brains develop, examines cultures from this new perspective (including societies that for millennia oriented toward partnership), and proposes actions supporting the contemporary movement in this more life-sustaining and enhancing direction. It shows how through today''s ever more fearful, frenzied, and greed-driven technologies of destruction and exploitation, the domination system may lead us to an evolutionary dead end. A more equitable and sustainable way of life is biologically possible and culturally attainable: we can change our course.Trade ReviewNurturing our Humanity upends the very core of our notion that humanity is, at heart, violent and greedy. Human nature holds just as much potential for caring and partnership as war and domination. Knowing that changes everything. * Abigail Disney, President & CEO, Fork Films, director/creator of Pray the Devil Back to Hell and the PBS series Women, War, & Peace *In a world that feels ever more dangerous, divided, and out of balance, Nurturing Our Humanity outlines the roadmap for how we raise a healthier generation of children and move away from a punitive and domination based society to a world that leads with partnership-where empathy, care, and community are valued above all, and each can fulfill our full human potential. * Jennifer Siebel Newsom, First Partner of California, Filmmaker, Miss Representation, The Mask you Live In, The Great American Lie *This is the book for our time! Eisler and Fry have put their minds and hearts together to provide an integrative vision of how humanity's cooperative nature can be nurtured and supported... Everyone should read this book... so together we can re-envision our future! * Darcia Narvaez, Professor of Psychology, University of Notre Dame *This fearless, beautiful, and very timely book is a radical reminder that humanity's truest nature is oriented toward love, partnership, gender equality, and peace. It is essential and transformative reading for every policymaker, philanthropist, activist, and change-maker interested in a more just, balanced, and peaceful world. * Jennifer Buffett, Co-President, NoVo Foundation *This path-breaking book goes beyond the conventional divides hurting today's civilizations. It is essential that the virtues of partnership get stronger and the vices of domination are controlled. * Ernst von Weizsäcker, Honorary President, Club of Rome *Nurturing Our Humanity explores the capacity for human happiness and its relationship to the development of sustainable cultures at a political and environmental point in history when we need it themost. * James McClintock, Author, Lost Antarctica *Eisler and Fry show how we lived without war thousands of years ago, and how we can do so again. This groundbreaking book should be required reading for all world leaders and decision makers. * Sarah Parcak, Author, Archaeology from Space *The central message of this hugely important and widely referenced book could not be more timely...I urge you to read this seminal cultural contribution for yourselves. * David Lorimer, Paradigm Explorer *What does it mean to be human? And how can we construct a sustainable world where we might all flourish? This book addresses these universal questions at our particular historical moment of anxiety and uncertainty about the future, offering a counter-narrative to the outburst of dystopias over the past few decades...it makes a persuasive case for adopting a new narrative about human beings and human possibilities. It contains a message of hope for the future, a future which is dependent on the choices we make now. * Coral Ann Howells, Professor Emerita of English and Canadian Literature, University of Reading, Le Simplegadi *Table of ContentsChapter One: Our Story Chapter Two: Evolution, Ideology, and Human Nature Chapter Three: Love, the Brain, and Becoming Human Chapter Four: The Biology of Experience Chapter Five: The Benefits of Partnership and the Costs of Domination Chapter Six: Two Alternative Social Possibilities Chapter Seven: The Original Partnership Societies Chapter Eight: Contracting or Expanding Consciousness Chapter Nine: Touch, Intimacy, and Sexuality in Partnership and Domination Environments Chapter Ten: Love, Violence, and Socialization in Partnership and Domination Environments Chapter Eleven: The Real Culture Wars Chapter Twelve: A New Beginning Notes Bibliography Acknowledgments Index

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Book SynopsisThe avant-garde movements of Dada and Surrealism continue to have a huge influence on cultural practice, especially in contemporary art, with its obsession with sexuality, fetishism, and shock tactics. In this new treatment of the subject, Hopkins focuses on the many debates surrounding these movements: the Marquis de Sade''s Surrealist deification, issues of quality (How good is Dali?), the idea of the ''readymade'', attitudes towards the city, the impact of Freud, attitudes to women, fetishism, and primitivism. The international nature of these movements is examined, covering the cities of Zurich, New York, Berlin, Cologne, Barcelona, Paris, London, and recenlty discovered examples in Eastern Europe. Hopkins explores the huge range of media employed by both Dada and Surrealism (collage, painting, found objects, performance art, photography, film) , whilst at the same time establishing the aesthetic differences between the movements. He also examines the Dadaist obsession with the body-as-mechanism in relation to the Surrealists'' return to the fetishized/eroticized body. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.Trade ReviewIn a relatively small space Hopkins manages a stylish presentation and analysis of two of modernism's most famous isms. * Bear Books *Table of Contents1. Histories ; 2. Geographies ; 3. Art and Anti-Art ; 4. Actions ; 5. Politics ; 6. Minds ; 7. Bodies ; 8. Endings

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Book SynopsisThe most famous designs of the twentieth century are not those in museums, but in the marketplace - such as the Coca-Cola bottle and the McDonald's logo. Drawing on the most up-to-date scholarship, Jonathan Woodham takes a fresh look at the wider issues of design and industrial culture and explores themes such as national identity, the rise of multi-nationals, Pop and Postmodernism, and contemporary ideas of nostalgia and heritage. In the history which emerges designis clearly seen for what it is: the powerful and complex expression of aesthetic, social, economic, political, and technological forces.Trade ReviewTwentieth-Century Design is extremely thoroughly researched * Art Review, April 1997 *for a good general introduction to the subject you could not go very far wrong with Jonathan Woodham's excellent Twentieth Century Design ... Yet another example of the impressive new Oxford History of Art series. * The Bookseller *Fully and often surprisingly illustrated, carefully annotated and captioned, each combines a historical overview with a nicely opinionated individual approach. * Independent on Sunday *Woodham gives a deftly organised, extremely cool-headed account of the ideological spoon-fights behind the product ranges of modern capitalism: his range of reference and eye for detail are superb. * The Guardian *a superb piece of publishing * Rupert Christiansen, Spectator *...a valuable contribution to the field of design studies, and it deserves careful attention. Woodham is one of many intelligent writers in the new wave of British design history. His book...is likely to become a benchmark for measuring the aspirations and accomplishments of the movement. His book is a reasonable and valuable exploration of design history that is not easily falsified. - Richard Buchanan. Journal of Design History. Vol 11 1998.

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Book SynopsisThe period 1851 to 1929 witnessed the rise of the major European avant-garde groups: the Realists, Impressionists, Post-Impressionists, Symbolists, Cubists, and Surrealists. It was also a time of rapid social, economic, and political change, encompassing a revolution in communication systems and technology, and an unprecedented growth in the availability of printed images. Richard Brettell''s innovative account explores the aims and achievements -- the beautiful and the bizarre -- of artists such as Monet, Gauguin, Picasso, and Dali, in relation to urban capitalism and expansion, colonialism, nationalism and internationalism, and the museum. Tracing common themes of representation, imagination, perception, and sexuality across works in a wide range of different media he presents a fresh approach to the fine art and photography of this remarkable era.Table of ContentsIntroduction: The Great Exhibition of 1851, London. (Paris: the capital of modern art; New technology; The beginnings of modern art) ; Part I: Realism to Surrealism. (Realism; Impressionism; Symbolism; Post-Impressionism; Neo-Impressionism; Synthetism; The Nabis; The Fauves; Expressionism; Cubism; Futurism; Orphism; Vorticism; Suprematism/ Constructivism; Neo-Plasticism; Dada; Purism; Surrealism; The '-ism' problem) ; Part II: The Conditions for Modern Art ; Chapter 1. Urban Capitalism. (Paris and the birth of the modern city; Capitalist society; The commodification of art; The modern condition) ; Chapter 2. Modernity, Representation, and the Accessible Image. (The art museum; Temporary exhibitions; Lithography; Photography; Conclusion) ; Part III: The Artist's Response ; Chapter 3. Representation, Vision, and 'Reality': The Art of Seeing. (The human eye; Transparency and unmediated modernism; Surface fetishism and unmediated modernism; Photography and unmediated modernism; Beyond the oil sketch; Cubism) ; Chapter 4. Image/Modernism and the Graphic Traffic. (The Pre-Raphaelite brotherhood; Puvis de Chavannes and Gustave Moreau: Image/Modernism outside the Avant-Garde; Image/Modernism outside France; Exhibitions of the Avant-Garde; Fragmentation, dislocation, and recombination) ; Part IV Iconology ; Introduction ; Chapter 5. Sexuality and the Body. (Manet's bodies; Modern art and pornography; The nude and the modernist cycle of life; The bathing nude; The allegorical or non-sexual nude; Colonialism and the nude: the troubled case of Gauguin; The bride stripped bare; Body parts and fragments) ; Chapter 6. Social Class and Class Consciousness. (Seurat and Sunday on the Grande Jatte, 1884; Class issues in Modernist culture; Portraiture; Images of peasantry; The worker and modern art) ; Chapter 7. Anti-Iconography: Art Without 'Subject'. (Landscape painting; Text and image; Abstraction) ; Chapter 8. Nationalism and Internationalism in Modern Art. (National identity; Time and place; Abstract art, spiritualism, and internationalism; Nationalist landscape painting) ; Afterword: The Private Institutionalization of Modern Art ; Notes; List of Illustrations; Bibliographic Essay; Timeline; Index

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Book SynopsisWhy your worst nightmares about watching horror movies are unfoundedFilms about chainsaw killers, demonic possession, and ghostly intruders make some of us scream with joy. But while horror fans are attracted to movies designed to scare us, others shudder already at the thought of the sweat-drenched nightmares that terrifying movies often trigger. The fear of sleepless nights and the widespread beliefs that horror movies can have negative psychological effects and display immorality make some of us very, very nervous about them. But should we be concerned?In this book, horror-expert Mathias Clasen delves into the psychological science of horror cinema to bust some of the worst myths and correct the biggest misunderstandings surrounding the genre. In short and highly readable chapters peppered with vivid anecdotes and examples, he addresses the nervous person''s most pressing questions: What are the effects of horror films on our mental and physical health? Why do they often cause nightmares? Aren''t horror movies immoral and a bad influence on children and adolescents? Shouldn''t we be concerned about what the current popularity of horror movies says about society and its values? While media psychologists have demonstrated that horror films indeed have the potential to harm us, Clasen reveals that the scientific evidence also contains a second story that is often overlooked: horror movies can also help us confront and manage fear and often foster prosocial values.Trade ReviewA Very Nervous Person's Guide to Horror Movies lives up to its name. Clasen addresses all the major concerns people have about horror, providing evidence-backed arguments for why people should not be so nervous. * Coltan Scrivner, Evolutionary Studies in Imaginative Culture *Mathias Clasen is like the Carl Sagan of horror. He enthusiastically brings us into the unknown, showing us the remarkable psychology and biology of scary movies–the deeper meanings hidden inside popular culture. His frontline research on horror audiences and their mixed emotions makes him a respected expert in this emerging field. But his expertise is matched by his own nervousness and anxiety about horror. This makes him a kindred spirit and perfect guide to the terrifying world of attraction and repulsion. * Stephen Asma, author of On Monsters: An Unnatural History of Our Worst Fears *Table of ContentsPreface: A Nervous Horror Researcher's Confessions Chapter 1: Introduction--"What's the Big Deal about Horror Cinema?" Chapter 2: "I'm Nervous about the Jump Scares" Chapter 3: "I'm Nervous about Horror Films and Nightmares" Chapter 4: "I'm Nervous about Horror Films and My Mental Health" Chapter 5: "I'm Nervous about Horror Films and My Physical Health" Chapter 6: "I'm Nervous that Horror Films Are Immoral" Chapter 7: "I'm Nervous that Watching Horror Makes Me Look Stupid" Chapter 8: "I'm Nervous about Kids Watching Horror" Chapter 9: "I'm Nervous about What the Popularity of Horror Says about Society" Chapter 10: "So. . . I Shouldn't Be Nervous at All?" Chapter 11: "Okay, I'm about Ready to Watch a Horror Film. What Now?" Notes Works Cited

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Book SynopsisThe Short Oxford History of Italy series, in seven volumes, will offer a complete History of Italy from the early middle ages to the present and, in each period, will present the most recent historical perspectives on Italian history. This means setting Italian history in the broader context of European history as a whole. It also means questioning accepted interpretations of Italian history in each of these periods and, in particular, the idea that Italy''s history has been significantly different from that of the rest of Europe. Each volume will emphasise how developments in Italy in each period are best understood as variants on broader European patterns of political, economic social and cultural change. This volume covers the period from the French Revolution to the end of the Nineteenth Century. Consisting of nine essays written by leading British and American historians, the volume shows how Italy''s unexpected political unification and independence were inseparable from the impaTrade Review"...An extremely strong collection of essays." HistoryTable of ContentsIntroduction ; Chapter One: From the French Revolution to Napoleon ; Chapter Two: The Age of the Restoration ; Chapter Three: Giuseppe Mazzini and his Opponents ; Chapter Four: Cavour and Piedmont ; Chapter Five: Garibaldi and the South ; Chapter Six: Politics in the Era of Depretis and Crispi: 1870-96 ; Chapter Seven: Religion and Society 1789-1892 ; Chapter Eight: Culture and High Society 1796-1896 ; Chapter Nine: Economy, Society, and the State ; Further Reading ; Chronology ; Glossary ; Maps ; Index

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Book SynopsisThe 1990s have seen a growth of interest in questions of music history and meaning, together with their relationships to culture and society. This reader includes works which explore the cultural and social significance of music.Trade ReviewThere is much to enjoy in Music, Culture, and Society, many of the readings making one want to go away and read more ... This is very much a collection to dip into, rather than to read from cover to cover, and will thus prove useful for postgraduates, or for musicologists wishing to get some idea about debates outside their own immediate concerns. * Music and Letters *Timely ... presents a diversity of viewpoints around the central subject which often bounce off each other in intriguing ways ... Such a collection can perhaps be imagined as a kind of musicological party: some old friends (or perhaps enemies) are here, but there are plenty of new faces to get to know. * Music and Letters *This book shows just how thoroughly and irrevocably [the] purist view of classical music has been shattered. * Ivan Hewett, BBC Music Magazine *Table of ContentsPART I: MUSIC AND LANGUAGE ; PART II: MUSIC AND THE BODY (GENDER, SEXUALITY, AND ETHNICITY) ; PART III: MUSIC AND CLASS ; PART IV: MUSIC AND CRITICISM ; PART V: MUSIC PRODUCTION AND CONSUMPTION

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Book Synopsis''Philosophers have an infuriating habit of analysing questions rather than answering them'', writes Terry Eagleton, who, in these pages, asks the most important question any of us ever ask, and attempts to answer it.So what is the meaning of life? In this witty, spirited, and stimulating inquiry, Eagleton shows how centuries of thinkers - from Shakespeare and Schopenhauer to Marx, Sartre and Beckett - have tackled the question. Refusing to settle for the bland and boring, Eagleton reveals with a mixture of humour and intellectual rigour how the question has become particularly problematic in modern times. Instead of addressing it head-on, we take refuge from the feelings of ''meaninglessness'' in our lives by filling them with a multitude of different things: from football and sex, to New Age religions and fundamentalism. ''Many of the readers of this book are likely to be as sceptical of the phrase the meaning of life as they are of Santa Claus'', he writes. But Eagleton contends thaTrade ReviewReview from previous edition The book's a little gem. * Suzanne Harrington, Irish Examiner (Cork) *Light hearted but never flippant. * The Guardian. *Wonders never cease. This is popular philosophy by an amateur in the best sense of the word, a man who clearly loves the stuff and writes plain English...[Eagleton] makes his case well and with a light touch. * The Guardian (Review) *It is a stimulating and often entertaining, if at times rather breathless, Cook's tour around the chief monuments of western philosophy and literature...The Meaning of Life is unusual and refreshing. * John Gray, The Independent *[Eagleton] makes his case well and with a light touch... I stand convinced. * Simon Jenkins, Guardian Book of the Week *A lively starting point for late-night debate. * John Cornwell, Sunday Times *Warm intellectual pleasure...meticulous treatment of the subject...It looks like Eagleton got it right. * Mario Pisani, The Financial Times *The name Terry Eagleton...assures us of stimulation, style, sparkling, sometimes acerbic, wit, and wide-ranging erudition. In other words he is eminently readable...[a] commendably pocket-sized book. * Gordon Parsons, Morning Star *With sparkling effrontery, panache, and deft footwork, Eagleton moves from ironic flippancy and caustic demolition to resolute affirmation. * Marina Warner *Table of ContentsPreface ; 1. Questions and Answers ; 2. The Problem of Meaning ; 3. The Eclipse of Meaning ; 4. Is Life What You Make It? ; Further reading

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Book SynopsisThe Italian peasantry has often been described as tragic, backward, hopeless, downtrodden, static, and passive. In Fate and Honor, Family and Village, Rudolph Bell argues against the characterizationmore by reconstructing the complete demographic history of four country villages since 1800. He analyzes births, marriages, and deaths in terms of four concepts that capture mroe accurately and sympathetically the essence of the Italian peasant life: fortuna (fate), onore (honor, dignity), famiglia (family), and campanilismo (village). Fortuna is the cultural wellspring of Italian peasant society, the world view from which all social life flows. The concept of fortuna does not refer to philosophical questions, predestination, or value judgments. Rather, fortuna is the sum total of all explanations of outcomes perceived to be beyond human control. Thus, in Bell's view, high mortality does not lead peasants to a resigned acceptance of their fate; instead, they rely on honor, reciprocal exchanges of favors, and marriage to forge new links in their familial and social networks. With thorough documentation in graphs and tables, the author evaluates peasant reactions to time, work, family, space, migration, and protest to portray rural Italians as active, flexible, and shrewd, participating fully in shaping their destinies. Bell asserts that the real problem of the Mezzogiorno is not one of resistance to technology, of high birth rates, or even of illiteracy. It is one of solving technical questions in ways that foster dependency. The historical and sociological practice of treating peasant culture as backward, secondary, and circumscribed only encourages disruption and ultimately blocks the road to economic and political justice in a postmodern world.

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Book SynopsisThis analysis of the future of the human community suggest that new social and political identities and regional associations will be needed to solve global problems. It shows how such "mutualism" will require a change in the way institutions interact on local, national and international levels.Table of ContentsIntroduction 1: The New Ideology 2: Endism and the American Self-Image 3: The Meaning of Historical Change 4: The Search for Order 5: Modernity and the Messiah of Progress 6: The End of Progress 7: The New Realities 8: The Epoch of Mutualism 9: Facing the Future Notes Index

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Book SynopsisIn this book, Murray Edelman continues his quest to understand the influence of perception on the political process by turning to the role of art.Table of Contents1: The Cardinal Political Role of Art. 2: Art - Political Messages and Illusions. 3: Art - Meanings, Constructions, Threats. 4: Art - Transformations and Challenges. 5: Architecture, Spaces, and Social Order. 6: Art as a Component of Government. 7: Contestable Categories and Public Opinion. 8: A Reassessment of Influence on Public Policy. 9: Some Concluding Reflections.

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Book SynopsisThis work offers an account of how changing theological, philosophical and psychological accounts of the human will have been reflected in the writing of autobiography, and of how autobiography in its turn has helped to shape various understandings of the will.

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Book SynopsisThis study explores music's place in the cultural, artistic and literary life of medieval Italian courts, paying particular attention to the influence of French culture on Italian artistic and musical traditions in the 13th, 14th and 15th centuries.

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a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

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Book SynopsisThis volume presents advanced studies that consider the fundamental difference of urban center versus decentralization that operates in the cities of New York and Los Angeles, while comparing politics and culture in each area.

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