Politics, Philosophy & Society Books

Book SynopsisWhen it comes to 'The Excludables', it is time to shake up the debate.Students who are excluded from school, and society, are at a higher risk of being incarcerated. They are more likely to have mental health difficulties, special educational needs, live in poverty, have social care involvement and they disproportionately come from certain ethnic groups. This book pulls on all those threads using up to date research and establishes a deeper understanding of how and why these things affect school behaviours. The factors that lead to exclusion are complex, and this book meets that challenge head on, including the kinds of “crunchy bits” that are usually avoided at all costs, such as children who are high in callous-unemotional traits, and trauma-informed approaches in prison education.Written by an experienced educator and behaviour consultant, this book steps away from the worn-out discourse that surrounds behaviour in schools, and away from the notion that educators are the only relevant experts. Get ready to explore genetics, bias, epistemic trust, and the human stress-response system; all examined through the lens of the realities of behavioural challenge faced by educators every day.This is a read that will confront everyone in some way.

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Book Synopsis'To say this [book] is "empowering" doesn't do it justice. Buy a copy for your daughters, sisters, mums, aunts and nieces - just make sure you buy a copy for your sons, brothers, dads, uncles and nephews, too.' - indy100'Here's to no more forgotten women.' - Evening StandardForgotten Women reaches around the world and its history to rediscover, retell and reinstate the lives of over 190 important and significant women. From Neolithic times to modernity, Zing Tsjeng has traced the women who have shaped their age and revolutionised society. In this book lies the strength, lives and sacrifices of women who have refused to accept the hand they've been dealt and have changed the course of our futures accordingly.

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Book SynopsisA young Chinese girl forced to work in a New York sweatshop calls child services on her mother in this powerful memoir about labour and self-worth, economic revolution and cultural dislocation. As a teen, Anna Qu is sent by her mother to work in her family’s garment factory in Queens. At home, she is treated as a maid and suffers punishment for doing her homework at night. Her mother wants to teach her a lesson: she is Chinese, not American, and such is their tough path in their new country. But instead of acquiescing, Qu alerts the Office of Children and Family Services, an act with consequences that impact the rest of her life. Nearly twenty years later, estranged from her mother and working at a Manhattan start-up, Qu requests her social services report. When it arrives, key details are wrong. Faced with this false narrative, and on the brink of losing her job as the once-shiny start-up collapses, Qu looks once more at her life’s truths, from abandonment to an abusive family to seeking meaning in work. Travelling from Wenzhou to Xi'an to New York, Made in China is a fierce memoir unafraid to ask thorny questions about trauma and survival, capitalism, and the struggle for individual dignity.Trade Review‘Made in China capture[s] the confusion and wonder of lives spent looking … Qu’s narrative is laced with bitterness and aching … The struggle … seems to be holding all of these conflicting emotions at once … Qu honour[s] these complexities, tell us we were not meant to swallow our pain and survive in this world without support systems.’ -- Chanel Miller * New York Times Book Review *‘Qu’s debut memoir untangles the knots of her complicated, traumatic past as she learns the truth about her own history and reckons with the hopes and constraints of the immigrant experience.’ * Time *‘With quick, vibrant prose, Qu’s memoir is absorbing and disturbing in equal measure.’ -- Christiana Bishop * New Statesman *‘Qu writes with clarity and restraint about her Cinderella-terrible childhood … Qu’s indelible account of her lonesome childhood should gain her everything she lacked then — confidants, witnesses, and fans — who will cheer when she finally reconnects with a long-lost beloved.’ -- Jenny Shank * Star Tribune *‘Anna Qu has written a thoroughly engrossing and nuanced memoir about triumph over trauma and the meaning of home. Made in China brings the immigrant experience to life and makes you root for Anna. A must read.’ -- Sopan Deb, author of Missed Translations‘Made in China is an important story told with intelligence and heart, and a study of discipline as a form of devotion — devotion to a mother, to a legacy, to our own dreams and to those of others, to being good. So much of American rhetoric is about what we are owed. This graceful memoir is about the much trickier problem of what we deserve. Which is, in the end, brightest love.’ -- Lacy Crawford, author of Notes on a Silencing‘Anna masterfully evokes her childhood with a power and grace that speak of an experience that no one should ever have to endure. This moving and unforgettable memoir needs to be read by everyone.’ -- Nicole Dennis-Benn, author of Patsy‘Made in China is a sympathetic, brave portrayal of the confusions, difficulties, and hurts that come with growing up between worlds. Anna Qu’s writing about her journey as an immigrant deftly shows how our origins — of economic status, of country — have lasting effects on the ways we approach family, work, and self. I was captivated and moved by her story.’ -- Alexandra Chang, author of Days of Distraction‘Qu rewrites the bootstrap narrative of immigrants building a better life for their children in her grim and entrancing debut. Her “path to the American dream” amounts to a devastating story of abuse and abandonment … Even in revisiting her harrowing memories, Qu writes from a place of empathy, transcending pain to embrace hope … This marks the arrival of a promising new voice.’ * Publishers Weekly, starred review *‘A nuanced examination of complicated ripple effects of intergenerational emigration. A powerful memoir of finding self-worth.’ * Library Journal *‘A grim yet gripping memoir of an unhappy, nearly loveless childhood and the author’s determined escape to a better adulthood … Well written … Brilliantly insightful … A simultaneously powerful and depressing latter-day Dickensian story sure to elicit sympathy from readers.’ * Kirkus Reviews *‘Poignant … Vividly narrated and psychologically perceptive, Qu’s story uses family trauma to find perspective on immigration and perhaps even America itself.’ * Booklist *‘What will haunt readers are the indelible feelings — of loss, fear, anger, and devastation, but, by book’s end, somehow, she has love … Anna Qu’s unflinching memoir recalls the love of her earliest years and the labour she endured to survive into adulthood.’ * Shelf Awareness *‘Lively … Qu presents her recollections in a precise, distressing chronology that sheds light on both the strictures of her Chinese cultural heritage and the sometimes arbitrary carelessness of the American social system meant to protect youngsters from neglect and mistreatment … Qu writes with great fluidity, giving her memoir a novelistic reach that speaks of a new career path in the realm of words and their truest meanings. Her mastery of English and her memory of several Chinese dialects will give her gritty memories a special punch for those trapped in similar circumstances, whether as immigrants, sweatshop workers, survivors of childhood abuse, or simply strong young women overcoming the odds to gain the best that life has to offer.’ -- Barbara Bamberger Scott * bookreporter *‘Made in China is a fierce, provocative look at the sacrifices made by immigrants in a new country, and the sacrifices they pass down to the next generation. It’s a story of family and trauma, resilience and collapse, and Qu is dazzling as she dismantles the mythologies surrounding the immigrant work ethic, making clear that a person’s humanity should never be connected with how “productive” they are.’ -- Kristin Iversen * Refinery29 *‘A heartbreaking reflection of the ripple effects of immigration.’ -- Katherine Ouellette * WBUR *‘A harrowing memoir about the indifference we show toward children, especially those who emigrate to the United States.’ -- Evette Dionne * Bitch *‘A deeply honest rendering of domestic conflict … Made in China is dynamic, a subversive and yet inherently personal piece of work … In this memoir, Qu doesn’t conform to labels. She rips off the tags others have created for her and creates her own.’ -- Valerie Wu * Asia Pacific Arts *‘Anna’s story shares a similar arc to the likes of Educated and The Glass Castle — memoirs with heroines who overcome seemingly insurmountable disadvantages through education and sheer will.’ -- Yoojin Na * BOMB *‘Unravels larger assumptions about immigration, labour, and trauma at both the personal and collective level, demonstrating how many seemingly disparate elements of our lives are deeply connected … It is a clear-eyed look at a reality that many in the United States would otherwise look away from … Remarkable.’ -- Julia Shiota * Ploughshares *‘Anna Qu has a tough story to tell, and she tells it with graceful candour … Made in China isn’t always an easy read, but it will make you examine the intricacies of mother-daughter love and the indelible influence of intergenerational trauma.’ -- Megan Vered * The Rumpus *‘A skillful and emotive excavation of a traumatic childhood split between China and the United States.’ -- Jonathan Chatwin * South China Morning Post *‘There are no easy answers here, and that’s what makes this memoir so absorbing.’ -- Elayna Trucker * Napa Valley Register *‘This candid, heartbreaking story centres on an uncommon immigrant narrative featuring a complicated mother-daughter relationship intermingled with the dark side of the pursuit of opportunity in America.’ * Oprah Daily *‘An emotionally-charged memoir about migration, belonging, and family-based abuse, Made In China is a confronting read. Ultimately, though, readers are left with a profoundly enlightening experience, owing to the skill that Qu applies when unpacking the various details of her experience. A profound story whose impact can be felt on a personal and societal level.’ * Happy Mag *‘[Made in China] vividly and poignantly documents [Anna Qu's] childhood, the darkness, occasional glimmers of light and, eventually, coming through.’ * The Sydney Morning Herald *

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Book SynopsisThe first definitive account of the rise and fall of the Secret Service, from the Kennedy assassination to the alarming mismanagement of the Obama and Trump years, right up to the insurrection at the Capitol on 6 January 2021 — by the Pulitzer Prize winner and #1 New York Times bestselling co-author of A Very Stable Genius Carol Leonnig has been reporting on the Secret Service for The Washington Post for most of the last decade, bringing to light the secrets, scandals, and shortcomings that plague the agency today — from a toxic work culture to dangerously outdated equipment to the deep resentment within the ranks at key agency leaders, who put protecting the agency’s once-hallowed image before fixing its flaws. But the Secret Service wasn’t always so troubled. The Secret Service was born in 1865, in the wake of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, but its story begins in earnest in 1963, with the death of John F. Kennedy. Shocked into reform by its failure to protect the president on that fateful day in Dallas, this once-sleepy agency was radically transformed into an elite, highly trained unit that would redeem itself several times, most famously in 1981 by thwarting an assassination attempt against Ronald Reagan. But this reputation for courage and excellence would not last forever. By Barack Obama’s presidency, the once-proud Secret Service was running on fumes and beset by mistakes and alarming lapses in judgement: break-ins at the White House, an armed gunman firing into the windows of the residence while confused agents stood by, and a massive prostitution scandal among agents in Cartagena, to name just a few. With Donald Trump’s arrival, a series of promised reforms were cast aside, as a president disdainful of public service instead abused the Secret Service to rack up political and personal gains. To explore these problems in the ranks, Leonnig interviewed dozens of current and former agents, government officials, and whistleblowers who put their jobs on the line to speak out about a hobbled agency that’s in desperate need of reform. ‘I will be forever grateful to them for risking their careers,’ she writes, ‘not because they wanted to share tantalising gossip about presidents and their families, but because they know that the Service is broken and needs fixing. By telling their story, they hope to revive the Service they love.’Trade Review‘Terrifying … There is certainly heroism here, and there are certainly plots that were foiled, and there are certainly instances of an agency in the moment being well run and foiling an attack and chasing something down and being on top of stuff. But there is an astonishing litany of stuff they have done wrong and scrapes we have narrowly avoided in this country by the skin of our teeth and through sheer luck … It just flips your stomach up and down. This is one of those books that will go down as the seminal work — the determinative work — in this field.’ -- Rachel Maddow’This book is a wake-up call, and a valuable study of a critically important agency.’ * The New York Times *‘Zero Fail is an important book, one that will ruffle feathers in need of ruffling and that will be useful to legislators, policymakers and historians alike.’ * The Washington Post *‘Here is journalism as a true and honest public service … [Zero Fail] is just terrific.’ * The Wall Street Journal *‘Leonnig's power and authority in Zero Fail is in the marriage of the big picture with details that put a stamp of 'true' on her analysis.’ * NBC-2 *‘Zero Fail, Carol Leonnig’s deeply-researched history of the agency, abounds in the colour of a valet’s-eye view of recent holders of this office.’ * TLS *‘A pacy and absorbing account of the secret service’s heroics, close calls, and blunders.’ -- Pippa Bailey * New Statesman *‘Pulitzer Prize–winning Washington Post reporter Leonnig paints a damning portrait of a federal agency in crisis … A solid case for restructuring a neglected and neglectful agency whose job is too important to admit laxity.’ * Kirkus Reviews *‘A wonderful takedown of the myths that secret service agents are the pillars of an impenetrable wall around the US president … Zero Fail is an extended account of the triumphs and failings of the service, including the near misses and ‘successful’ attempts on the lives of the president and others.’ -- Miles Kemp * The Advertiser, starred review *Praise for A Very Stable Genius: ‘[Rucker and Leonnig] are meticulous journalists, and this taut and terrifying book is among the most closely observed accounts of Donald J. Trump's shambolic tenure in office to date … A Very Stable Genius flicks the lights on from its first pages.’ -- Dwight Garner * New York Times *Praise for A Very Stable Genius: ‘Richly sourced and highly readable … It is not just another Trump tell-all or third-party confessional. It is unsettling, not salacious.’ -- Lloyd Green * The Guardian *Praise for A Very Stable Genius: ‘Imagine, for a moment, a high-octane courtroom prosecutor summing up for the jury a case built on the vivid testimony of multiple eye-witnesses … You could scarcely ask for more capable advocates. Leonnig won a Pulitzer Prize for her reporting on the US Secret Service in 2015, then joined Rucker and others on a team awarded the Pulitzer for stories on Russian interference in the 2016 election. Their new, collaborative account … walks readers step by step through the first 30 months or so of a presidency like no other. They leave little doubt that they and many of their sources regard that presidency as an unmitigated and deepening disaster — a threat to American government as we have known it. Whatever may happen to that impeachment effort in the weeks and months ahead, it creates a moment of intermission in the Trump saga and a chance to consider how the landscape has already been altered by this president. A Very Stable Genius offers a harrowing companion narrative to be read during intermission.’ -- Ron Elving * NPR *

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Book SynopsisLegally part of Moldova, Transnistria is sandwiched between that country and southern Ukraine. After the USSR broke up, its people's desire not to be governed by Moldova led to a 1992 war in which nearly 1,000 died; since then, it has maintained de facto independence, although it relies significantly on Russian economic, political and military support. Technically, there is still a conflict between Transnistria and Moldova, but this has become frozen and they enjoy reasonably civil relations.Resulting from six years of research, during which the author made nine visits to the territory where he interviewed politicians, judges, public servants, human rights lawyers, diplomats, police officers, academics, students and others this book examines what the best future for Transnistria is and whether de jure independence is a viable solution.

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Book SynopsisThe IB offers four high quality and challenging educational programmes for a worldwide community of schools, aiming to develop internationally minded people who, recognising their common humanity and shared guardianship of the planet, help to create a better, more peaceful world. Schools that have achieved the high standards required for authorisation to offer one or more of the IB programmes are known as IB World Schools. There are more than 5,600 of these schools and this number is growing annually. This Yearbook is divided into four sections: 1. General information about the IB and IB programmes. 2. Information on IB World Schools within each region, including profiles and a directory of all schools.3. Appendices containing information and lists relevant to the IB, including IB associations, university acknowledgement of the Diploma Programme, country representation and a list of IB Diploma Programme subjects offered. 4. Index of all schools listed geographically and alphabetically by name.

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Book SynopsisA soothing gallery of artworks and photography to guide us on a journeytowards calm.

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Book SynopsisFive decades after one of America's greatest tragedies, this compelling book pierces the veil of secrecy to document the small, tightly held conspiracy that killed President John F. Kennedy. It explains why he was murdered, and how it was done in a way that forced many records to remain secret for decades.

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Book SynopsisHelle Heckmann describes a delightful Danish Waldorf childcare facility for children ages 1-7.Nøkken is a wonderful example of a healthy child-care facility which accepts children from the age of one. This extended case study explores what places like Nøkken can offer for children and their families.It is very practical, covering issues of staff relations, number of children, the rhythm of the day, parent relations, seasonal celebrations and birthdays, and financing the centre. Throughout, the Steiner-Waldorf principles underpinning the kindergarten shine through.This edition has been fully updated and expanded, including a new Foreword by Patricia Lambert and selections from Heckmann's other book about Nøkken, A Garden for Kids.Trade Review'What I take away from Nokken is the lovely thoughts of a forest kindergarten, napping outside, using action to communicate with small children and not words, using singing as a way of talking to small children, Helle's constant inner work and development, her obvious love of the children. There are many wonderful things at Nokken, and many American parents who need child care would be thrilled to find a center such as Nokken in their neighborhood.'-- Carrie Dentler, theparentingpassageway.com

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Book SynopsisThis comprehensive collection of essays addresses all the key aspects of Waldorf early years education: its history, the developing child, the rhythm of the day, activities, language, storytelling and puppetry and the young child and the spiritual world.There are contributions from many experienced educators, including: Susan Howard, Joan Almon, Helmut von Kügelgen, Freya Jaffke, Ingeborg Schöttner, Kimberly Lewis, Stephan Spitalny, Nancy Foster, Susan Weber, Daniel Udo de Haes and Bronja Zahlingen.This is a revised, newly edited edition of two previously available publications, 'An Overview of the Waldorf Kindergarten', and 'A Deeper Understanding of the Waldorf Kindergarten', with the addition of other relevant contributions.Trade Review'This is a valuable new compilation for teachers' and parents' bookshelves in any setting working with young children. It contains a collection of classic articles from WECAN publications, well edited and introduced. It could be useful to parent and child leaders or kindergarten teachers looking for inspiration for a parents' evening, to new staff needing an overview, to students in training searching for information on a specific area, in addition to providing material for actively interested parents.'-- Kindling

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Book SynopsisAged 15 and on track to be an Olympic gymnast, Lucia Osborne-Crowley was violently raped on a night out. The injuries she sustained that evening ended her gymnastics career, and eventually manifested in life-long chronic illnesses, which medical professionals now believe can be caused by untreated trauma. In a brilliantly researched and deeply affecting essay, Osborne-Crowley invites the reader to her on decade-long journey to recovery: from the immediate aftermath of the assault, through years of misdiagnosis, to the solace and strength she found in writers like Elena Ferrante. The author’s investigations reveal profound societal failures – of law, justice, education and the healthcare system. An essential contribution to the field of literature on assault and trauma, I Choose Elena argues that it is only through empathy than we can begin to address the self-perpetuating cycle of sexual violence.Trade ReviewMention of the book in ‘Women essayists shift the rules and boundaries in the literary world’ https://www.ft.com/content/e8126aec-b1e3-11e9-bec9-fdcab53d6959 * Financial Times *Review: I Choose Elena by Lucia Osborne-Crowley ‘a thoroughly researched and deeply affecting essay . . . In the age of #MeToo and Harvey Weinstein allegations this essay is an essential contribution to the field of literature on assault and trauma’ https://thefountain.scot/reviews/2019/09/review-i-choose-elena-by-lucia-osborne-crowley/ -- Keira Brown * The Fountain *‘How Bibliotherapy Helped Me To Deal With Trauma’ ‘There is nothing more comforting than having someone bear witness to your suffering. It is the only thing, I believe, that allows us to feel pain instead of trying to escape from it. It is knowing the writer has felt how you feel, and has done the kindness of putting it into words.’ https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/how-bibliotherapy-helped-me-to-deal-with-trauma-ptwdfhhln * The Sunday Times *‘Write what you want to forget’ ‘Honesty is why I started. So I have accepted the fact that this story is imperfect, that people might try to destroy me in the details. It will not be an easy ending, or a pleasant one, but it will be, for the first time, one that I have chosen.’ http://bookanista.com/write-forget/ * Bookanista.com *‘Love After Abuse’ ‘What I have been able to do is accept the truth of my intimate self. I know now that she is bloodied and broken, and perhaps damaged beyond repair. But I am trying, and will keep trying, because whoever was buried under the weight of abuse is worth fighting for.’ https://granta.com/love-after-abuse/ * Granta.com *‘The Paradox of Dependence’ ‘To keep becoming a woman is so much self-erasing work. I will not be the cool girl, the dream girl, the crane-wife, because she is a lie. She is a straw-woman in a field full of hungry ravens, and I am done with her. She’s not worth it, and neither is he.’ https://meanjin.com.au/blog/the-paradox-of-dependence/ * Meanjin Quarterly *‘Two years on, the literature of #MeToo is coming of age’ ‘A masterful examination of trauma and finding solace in literature.’ https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/oct/14/literature-metoo-writing-power-gender-relations-men * Guardian *‘A Cure of One’s Own’ ‘In the past couple of years more than a dozen books have been published by women about women’s pain conditions … including Lucia Osborne-Crowley’s I Choose Elena’ https://www.newstatesman.com/culture/books/2019/11/womens-chronic-illness-pain-conditions-endometriosis-vaginismus-vulvodynia-literature -- Imogen West-Knights * New Statesmen *‘Frozen’ ‘For anyone who has ever doubted a rape story, demanding, “Why did you wait so long before you told anyone?”, Lucia Osborne-Crowley’s short memoir is essential reading.’ https://www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/i-choose-elena-by-lucia-osborne-crowley-book-review-terri-apter/ -- Terri Apter * The TLS *‘Is it messed up?’ ‘On the surface, I Choose Elena is an exploration of trauma – of the debilitating and disabling physical and mental impact of the author’s rape as a teenager. The way trauma can turn your body against you; the way you think you can outrun or ignore it, but you never can.’ Summer Issue -- Alice Wickenden * Brixton Review of Books *‘It is a ground breaking approach to discussing issues that we know are so often hidden’ https://twitter.com/SLTNorfolk/status/1339189801195630592 -- Sonia (manager) * Sue Lambert Trust *CRÍTICA A DOS VOCES DE ‘ELIJO A ELENA’, DE LUCÍA OSBORNE- CROWLEY (Joint review of I Choose Elena) Tensi: ‘Todo esto lo cuenta en este libro, que huye de eufemismos y cuenta la realidad sin matices, quizás por eso se debe leer sosegadamente, pues el dolor se puede palpar muy adentro.’ (All of this is recounted in this book, which shuns euphemisms and tells reality without nuances, perhaps this is why one should read it gently, because one can feel the pain deep inside.’ Miriam: ‘Yo elijo a Lucía. Ella me ha liberado. Me ha ayudado a encontrarme.’ (I choose Lucia. She has freed me. She has helped me find myself.’ https://lecturafilia.com/2020/12/21/critica-a-dos-voces-de-elijo-a-elena-de-lucia-osborne-crowley/ -- Tensi Gesteira and Miriam Beizana * Lecturafilia *Shameful: Women who write about their pain suffer a double shaming: once for getting injured, twice for their act of self-exposure ‘In her memoir I Choose Elena (2019), Lucia Osborne-Crowley gives a moving account of a violent sexual assault she underwent as a teenager, and its ensuing aftermath in the form of chronic physical illness.’ https://aeon.co/essays/shame-heaps-upon-shame-in-womens-memoirs-of-suffering -- Katherine Angel * Aeon *

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Book SynopsisIn this book, Tal Ben-Shahar introduces a new interdisciplinary field of study that is dedicated to exploring happiness. The study of happiness ought not be left to psychologists alone. Philosophers, theologians, biologists, economists, and scholars from other disciplines have explored ways of attaining happiness, and to do justice to this important pursuit, we ought to listen to their words and experiment with their prescriptions. Not only does the field of happiness studies embrace different disciplines, it also approaches happiness as a multifaceted and multidimensional variable that includes five parts which form the acronym SPIRE: Spiritual wellbeing Physical wellbeing Intellectual wellbeing Relational wellbeing Emotional wellbeing This book addresses each of these elements of happiness, explains them, and addresses practical ways for their cultivation.Table of ContentsPart I Introducing Happiness Studies 1 Why Happiness Studies? 2 Happiness as Wholebeing 3 The SPIRE of Happiness 4 The Twelve Principles of Happiness 5 Enter the Matrix Part II Applying Happiness Studies 6 In the Workplace 7 In Schools 8 In Society 9 Toward a Happiness Revolution

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Book SynopsisThis book analyzes changes to campaigning and voting in the United States in 2020. The global pandemic caused by COVID-19 upended traditional campaign strategies, posed unprecedented challenges to candidates, and possessed the potential to fundamentally alter how campaigns think about running for office. At the same time, the Trump administration’s divisive handling of twin crises stemming from the pandemic and rising racial tensions loomed over congressional races as the most disruptive election cycle in living memory. The ramifications of the 2020 congressional elections for the direction of public policy in America—and perhaps for American democracy itself—cannot be overstated. The Roads to Congress 2020 examines key House and Senate campaigns, candidates, and controversies in the 2020 election to reveal what accounts for the outcomes and point the way to America’s political future.Table of ContentsPart I. Congress in Transition Chapter 1: The 2020 Elections Overview Sean D. Foreman Part II. Congressional Campaign and Election Trends Chapter 2: Voting by Mail John D. Rackey and Tyler Godines Camarillo Chapter 3: How COVID19 affects the election Jennifer Lucas, Tauna Sisco, and Christopher Galdieri Chapter 4: Sex and Social Media Bryan T. Gervais, Heather K. Evans, and Annelise Russell Chapter 5: Forecasting the 2020 elections Rachel Bitecofer and Sam Epstein Part III. U.S. House of Representatives Case Studies Chapter 6: Southern California’s Flipped Congressional Districts: Roads to Reelection Marcia L. Godwin Chapter 7: Florida’s 27 Congressional Districts: Some names and faces change but party control stays the same Sean D. Foreman Chapter 8: New York’s 22nd Congressional District Jeffrey Kraus Chapter 9: Oklahoma’s 5th Congressional District William Curtis Ellis Chapter 10: Texas Congressional Districts 22, 23, 24 Walter Clark Wilson Chapter 11: Virginia’s 7th Congressional District Patrick T. Hickey Part IV. U.S. Senate Case Studies Chapter 12: Alabama Senate Campaign Tom Lansford Chapter 13: Arizona Senate Campaign Gina Woodall Chapter 14: Iowa Senate Campaign Douglas M. Brattebo Chapter 15: Kansas Senate and House CampaignsTom Ringenberg Chapter 16: Maine Senate Campaign William C. Binning Chapter 17: North Carolina Senate Campaign Josh Stockley Part V. Roads AheadChapter 18: Lessons Learned from the 2020 Elections Walter Clark Wilson

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Book SynopsisThis book explores the challenges and precarity of higher education post-pandemic, explicitly focusing on higher education in emerging countries. Looking beyond the pandemic, the editors and contributors provide a holistic view of the residual legacies of global health crises like COVID-19 in developing countries. The book calls for the need to reimagine, reevaluate and reposition the higher education system: exploring the challenges experienced by students, staff, administrators and other stakeholders. Bringing forth insights from researchers, practitioners and senior leadership, the book shares theoretical and practical insights on dealing with the aftermath of a pandemic and what can be learned for the future. It will be of interest and value to researchers, practitioners and leaders who wish to understand a develop new approaches for their teaching and management post-pandemic.Table of ContentsChapter 1. Re-imagining Educational Futures in Developing Countries: An Introduction.- Chapter 2. Seizing the COVID-19 moment: re-positioning higher education beyond the pandemic.- Chapter 3. Organisational resilience as an urgent strategic goal in post-COVID-19 Higher Education in South Africa.- Chapter 4. Re-imagining International Higher Education Partnerships in the Aftermath of COVID-19.- Chapter 5. Fireside Chat with Three Vice Chancellors from Three Continents: Re-imagining higher education in emerging economies.- Chapter 6: Influence of Technology on Student's Integrated Learning for Effective Well-Being in Developing Countries.- Chapter 7. Mapping the Global EdTech Revolution during the Pandemic: From ‘Determinism’ to ‘Solutionism’.- Chapter 8. Zoom-ing past “the new normal”? Understanding students’ engagement with online learning in higher education during the covid-19 pandemic.- Chapter 9. AI adoption in Universities in Emerging Economies: Prospects, Challenges and Recommendations.- Chapter 10. Physical Activity Among African Academics in a Post-COVID-19 Era: The Terrain for Action.- Chapter 11. Covid-19: Study of online teaching, availability and use of technological resources.- Chapter 12. Emergency Remote Instruction (ERI) in times of Covid-19 pandemic: Experiences of educators at Zimbabwean higher education institutions.- Chapter 13. Role of Culture in Developing Transformative Leadership for Higher Education in Emerging Economies.- Chapter 14. Universities’ Endowments in Developing Countries: The Perspectives, Stakeholders and Practical Implications.- Chapter 15: Reimagining the place of Physical Buildings in Higher Education in Developing Countries in a Post-COVID-19 Era./.

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Book SynopsisEach year, the Supreme Court of the United States announces new rulings with deep consequences for our lives. This fourth volume in Palgrave’s SCOTUS series describes, explains, and contextualizes the landmark cases of the US Supreme Court in the term ending 2021. With a close look at cases involving key issues and debates in American politics and society, SCOTUS 2021 tackles the Court’s rulings on voting rights, Obamacare, LGBT rights, climate change, college sports, property rights, separation of powers, parole for youth offenders, immigration, religious liberty, free speech, and more. Written by notable scholars in political science and law, the chapters in SCOTUS 2021 present the details of each ruling, its meaning for constitutional debate, and its impact on public policy or partisan politics. Finally, SCOTUS 2021 offers an analysis of the legacy of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.Table of ContentsChapter 1: Introduction: The 2020-2021 Term at the Supreme CourtChapter 2: Alston v. NCAA on the Anti-trust Challenge to College Sports Chapter 3: BP v. Baltimore on Climate Change Chapter 4: Brnovich v. DNC on Voting Restrictions Chapter 5: California v. Texas on Obamacare Chapter 6: Cedar Point Nursery v. Hassid on Property Rights Chapter 7: Collins v. Mnuchin & US v. Arthrex on Separation of Powers Chapter 8: Federal Republic of Germany v. Philipp on Extra-territorial Rights Claims Chapter 9: Fulton v. City of Philadelphia on Free Exercise of Religion and LGBT Rights Chapter 10: Jones v. Mississippi on Life Without Parole for Youth Offenders Chapter 11: Mahanoy Area School District v. B.L. on Free Speech in High School Chapter 12: Pereida v. Wilkinson on Deportation of Noncitizens Chapter 13: Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn & South Bay Pentecostal on Religious Liberty and the Pandemic Chapter 14: Tanzin v. Tanvir on RFRA and Damages Against Federal Officials Chapter 15: Torres v. Madrid on Use of Force Under the Fourth Amendment Chapter 16: Uzuegbunam v. Preczewski on Campus Free Speech Chapter 17: The Legacy of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg

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Book SynopsisOffering historical identity fortified by the presence of women belonging to the various areas of creative and intellectual life, this book allows readers to understand greater contexts of their identity. The history of female artists is an indicator of how social identity was erased from the historiography which asserted itself in nineteenth-century Europe. Analysis of the biographical pathways traced here reveals how women in the Middle Ages and beyond have been active protagonists of the arts, received reviews, as well as had an authoritative role as the esteemed and attentive witnesses of the society around them.Reconstruction of social relationships, intellectual and creative production as well as of the life stories of some of Europe’s most important female artists, foregrounds this omission and highlights their extraordinary nature.The different stories contained in this book narrate the lives and works of Hildegard von Bingen, Francesca Caccini, Mary Wollstonecraft, George Sand, Lou Andreas Salomé and Elke Mascha Blankenburg.By reinforcing the awareness of social and historical origins, the informed reader is better equipped to tackle their futures and build up their personalities.Table of ContentsIntroduction.- Research: Hildegard Von Bingen.- Francesca Caccini.- Mary Wollstonecraft.- George Sand.- Lou Andreas Salomé.- Elke Mascha Blankenburg.- To conclude: A short story of Saint Cecilia.- Teaching and female artists in Italy.

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Book SynopsisThis Open Access book on Ocean Governance examines sustainability challenges facing our oceans today. The book is organized into three sections: knowledge systems, policy foundations and thematic analyses. The knowledge produced in the book was catalyzed by the scientific outcomes within the European-funded Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST) network “Ocean Governance for Sustainability – Challenges, Options and the Role of Science”. This network brings together scientists, policy-makers and civil society representatives from 28 nation states to cooperate on ocean governance research. This book offers a compilation of new research material including focused case studies, broad policy syntheses and reflective chapters on the history and current status of knowledge production systems on ocean governance. New research material is presented, although some chapters draw on secondary sources. The book starts with synthetic review chapters from the editors, outlining past and present knowledge systems, addressing how and why ocean governance for sustainability is where it currently stands with critical reflections on existing narratives, path dependencies and colonialist histories. This is followed by chapters addressing, synthesizing and analyzing different legal and policy frameworks for ocean governance both regionally and internationally. At the core of the book are the thematic analyses, which provide focused case studies with detailed contextual information in support of different ocean governance challenges and sustainability pathways around the world. The book concludes with a chapter explicitly targeting students, researchers and policy-makers with key take-away messages compiled by the editors.Table of ContentsPart 1. Knowledge Systems.- Chapter 1. Introduction – Ocean Governance for Sustainability (Partelow et al.).- Chapter 2. How do we know the Ocean (Hornidge & Partelow).- Chapter 3. Managing fish or governing fisheries stakeholders? An historical recount of Fisheries Governance in the last Century (a South American Case) (Barragán et al.).- Chapter 4. Post-War Reconnaissance of Japanese Fishery and Ocean Science and its Contribution to the Development of U.S. Scientific Programs: 1947-1954 (Finley, Carmel).- Part 2: Policy foundations.- Chapter 5. Ocean governance from the perspective of the law of the sea: an inquiry into the past, present and future, with an emphasis on fisheries, area-based management and international seabed mineral resources. (Singh et al.).- Chapter 6. International Fisheries Law: Past to Future.- Chapter 7. Legal aspects of the sustainable exploitation of marine energy and mineral resources (present/future) (Willemez, Alix).- Chapter 8. Making Marine Spatial Planning Matter (Flannery, Wesley).- Chapter 9. Marine and Coastal Governance: Lessons from Current Practice of Managing Land Sea Interactions and Marine and Coastal Governance in EU Member States (Lawlor and Depellegrin).- Chapter 10. Developing progressive marine biodiversity indicators to support the functions of area-based management tools for the sustainable use of oceans: case studies from European territorial waters (Kaymaz, Ipek).- Chapter 11. Ocean Governance in An Era of Climate Change: Protecting Living Marine Resources on the Sea Bed – the Need for an Integrated Approach (Borg, Simone).- Chapter 12. The diverse legal and regulatory framework for marine policy in the North Atlantic – A case of a never-ending “horrendogram” or an opportunity for convergence? (Calado, Helena et al.).- Part 3. Thematic Analyses.- Chapter 13. Assembling the seabed: Pan-European and interdisciplinary advances in understanding seabed mining (Chen et al.).- Chapter 14. Societal transformations and governance challenges of coastal small-scale fisheries in the Northern Baltic Sea (Salmi, Pekka & Svels, Kristina).- Chapter 15. Marine Governance as a process of reflexive institutionalization? The case of Arctic Shipping (Van Tatenhove). Chapter 16. The plastic bag habit on Bali: From Banana Leaf Wrappings to Reusable Bags (Schlüter et al.). Chapter 17. Market initiatives of small-scale fisheries in the Mediterranean: innovation in support of sustainable blue economy (Penca, Jerneja & Said, Alicia).- Chapter 18. Towards Just and Sustainable Blue Futures: Small‐Scale Fisher Movements and Food Sovereignty (Ertör et al.).- Chapter 19. Ocean acidification as governance challenge in the Mediterranean Sea (Bernadsek et al.).- Chapter 20. Futuring the terra-aqueous: Reading alternative urbanities from the Java Sea (Siriwardane- de Zoysa et al.). Chapter 21. Moving forward on Ocean Governance: Key messages for students, researchers and policy-makers (Hornidge, Hadjimichael, Partelow).

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Book SynopsisThis book explores how philanthropy is perceived and practiced in a predominantly Muslim society. It is the first academic quantification of philanthropic giving and volunteering using a representative sample of the Egyptian population, providing the reader with a quantitative and qualitative analysis of the state of philanthropy in Egypt. The book discusses traditional and religious philanthropic mechanisms and provides a thorough explanation of the waqf system, how it is perceived today, and how it could support innovation. Furthermore, as a solid direct product of the research embodied in the creation of a community foundation, it discusses reviving and modernizing the concept of waqf, thus elaborating an example of how academic studies may be employed to create proto-types for learning and calculated action.

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Book SynopsisThe Naga form a minority in Northeast India and the northwest of Myanmar — and consist at the same time of thirty different ethnicities: three to four million people, with numerous languages. How do they manage to preserve their traditional history and integrate into altered ways of life? How do fit that together with modern tattoos, fashion, and social media? What role does Christianity play? Authors among others from Naga Land describe various facets of their contemporary and current culture and make the Naga collection of the Ethnological Museum in Berlin appear in a new light, supplemented with contemporary objects. The artist Zubeni Lotha shows the life of the Naga today in impressive photographs.

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Book SynopsisThis book helps professionals deal with difficult or even dangerous colleagues, employees or superiors. Some people poison the working atmosphere, make other people ill and cost their companies a lot of money. Often the cause lies in a psychological disorder, we are then often dealing with narcissists or psychopaths, but usually the destructive behavior is not (yet) based on a psychological disorder. This book introduces a collective term for such people - it calls them "toxic people" - and helps both those affected and those responsible in companies and organizations to recognize them, to protect themselves and others from them, and to take promising action against them. In addition to information on the typical characteristics of "toxic people," their motives are explained and concrete strategies for action and examples of tried-and-tested assistance are provided. A new chapter provides vivid, exciting case studies from real-life situations. A book for managers and those affected as well as personnel developers, trainers, consultants and coaches in companies and organizations.This book is a translation of the original German 2nd edition Schwierige Menschen am Arbeitsplat by Heidrun Schüler-Lubienetzki and Ulf Lubienetzki, published by Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature in 2017. The translation was done with the help of artificial intelligence (machine translation by the service DeepL.com). A subsequent human revision was done primarily in terms of content, so that the book will read stylistically differently from a conventional translation. Springer Nature works continuously to further the development of tools for the production of books and on the related technologies to support the authors.Table of ContentsToxic?! - To the point at the beginning.- Creeping poison - when the workplace slowly but surely becomes hell.- Toxic - What drives him? How and at what price does he reach his goal?- Detoxify your workplace - promising strategies for action.- Toxic constellations and what we can learn from toxic people.- Toxic people at work.

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Book SynopsisHow is art criticism to be understood within an expanding artistic field? A look at its history and its manifestations within globalized conditions shows the variety of the genre, of the criteria and of the styles of writing. This reader is an attempt to bring a diverse range of art-critical voices and perspectives into conversation with each other, with texts from the 18th century to the present. The editors Beate Söntgen and Julia Voss have invited colleagues from various geographical and intellectual backgrounds to present and discuss the art critics of their choice, choosing one example from their respective bodies of work to comment upon. How have these writers approached art criticism? Which styles do they employ? What makes them extraordinary? What can we learn from their writings today, and why is it important in its contemporary context? Texts by: Ananda Kentish Coomaraswamy, Denis Diderot, Takashi Kashima, Patrick Mudekereza, Annemarie Sauzeau-Boetti, Bertha Zuckerkandl and many more Comments by: Juli Carson, Yuriko Furuhata, Isabelle Graw, Angela Harutyunyan, Monica Juneja, Wolfgang Kemp, Florencia Malbran, Yvette Mutumba, Azu Nwagbogu, Sarah Wilson and many more

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Book SynopsisCoding Care: Towards a Technology for Nature brings together contributions from renowned authors and artists who are particularly concerned with nature and our environment. In doing so, they raise the question of how we can use technology to better understand nature and shape coexistence in a sustainable way - especially in regions that are not yet fully technologized. In this sense, coding should be understood as a form of caring, a substitute for what technology can contribute to the future in each specific cultural and regional context.

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Book SynopsisIn A Dysfunctional Success (Wreckless) Eric Goulden writes with an acute eye for detail about growing up in the 60s and 70s in suburban South East England, discovering music and girls; life as an art student in the frozen north eastern town of Hull; the formation and dissolution of bands with desperate equipment, a homemade ethos and not much idea; his move to London in 1976 and subsequent recording debut on the newly formed Stiff Record label. ''I didn''t actually want to write a music biography. There was a story to be told, but it wasn''t the tale of the meteoric rise and demise of Wreckless Eric. I was more concerned with my upbringing, the social background that shaped me and lead to this meteoric rise and demise. And I wanted to write about what happens after the firework fizzles out.'' This is an honest coming of age story from both sides of instant pop success: bands, squalid flats, menial jobs, making records, the rise to the point of fame and falling off into poverty and alco

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Book SynopsisAn inspiring, interactive guide for drawing people, places, food, and things you come across in your travels. This book offers aspiring urban sketchers a series of 40 step-by-step lessons showing you how to draw everything from the meal you ordered at a cafe to a map of highlights from your latest road trip. You'll get all the tips and advice you need for drawing what you see during your day and while out and about. Learn to sketch interesting subjects from everyday life and travel, such as: Fruits, vegetables, meals, and desserts Bottles, boxes, baskets, and bags Cups, glasses, appliances, and utensils Clothing and furniture Signs and storefronts Maps and floor plans People, locations, landmarks, and more! This beginner's guide is the perfect companion to toss into your backpack, artist's tote, or portfolio along with your sketch journal and pens!

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Book Synopsis"I genuinely believe I have never taught mathematics better, and my students have never learned more. I just wish I had known all of this twelve years ago."Craig Barton is one of the UK's most respected teachers of mathematics. In his remarkable new book, he explains how he has delved into the world of academic research and emerged with a range of simple, practical, effective strategies that anyone can employ to save time and energy and have a positive impact on the long-term learning and enjoyment of students. Craig presents the findings of over 100 books and research articles from the fields of Cognitive Science, Memory, Psychology and Behavioural Economics, together with the conversations he has had with world renowned educational experts on his Mr Barton Maths Podcast, and subsequent experiments with my students and colleagues.Trade Review''How I wish I'd taught maths' is an extraordinary and important book. Part guide to research, part memoir, part survival handbook, it's a wonderfully accessible guide to the latest research on teaching mathematics, presented in a disarmingly honest and readable way. I know of no other book that presents as much usable research evidence on the dos and don'ts of mathematics teaching in such a clear and practical way. No matter how long you have been doing it, if you teach mathematics--from primary school to university--this book is for you.' Dylan Wiliam, Emeritus Professor of Educational Assessment, UCL 'How I wish I had taught maths' is a rare and wonderful book, one that could only have been written by someone with Craig's devotion to teaching and willingness to become immersed in the research literature on how people learn. In clear, concrete, and compelling terms Craig illustrates evidence-based ways to upgrade mathematics instruction, ways that are often unintuitive and/or at odds with prevailing educational practices. It makes us wish that young people the world over might have the good fortune to find themselves in classes that incorporate Craig's insights. In fact, whereas Craig writes, "I'll be honest--this book has been created for maths teachers," we think that Craig's "lessons learned" can, with some creativity, enhance any teaching.' Robert A. Bjork and Elizabeth L. Bjork, Department of Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles 'It's rare that we change our habits and beliefs once they are established - cognitive bias is strong in us. And that is what makes this book so exceptional. Craig describes not only what he's learned from a methodical study of cognitive science but how he's changed over time despite his initial success. There's a joyful relentlessness to Craig's study of teaching methods. He starts out telling us he wants to "know every detail," and what makes the book so exceptional is just that- the way the story of how something he learned about teaching played out in a specific problem or lesson, was refined and improved. It's an incredibly useful book for maths teachers especially but really for anyone who teaches and cares about getting it right.' Doug Lemov, former teacher and author of Teach like a Champion, @Doug_Lemov''How I wish I'd taught maths' is an extraordinary and important book. Part guide to research, part memoir, part survival handbook, it's a wonderfully accessible guide to the latest research on teaching mathematics, presented in a disarmingly honest and readable way. I know of no other book that presents as much usable research evidence on the dos and don'ts of mathematics teaching in such a clear and practical way. No matter how long you have been doing it, if you teach mathematics--from primary school to university--this book is for you.' Dylan Wiliam, Emeritus Professor of Educational Assessment, UCL 'How I wish I had taught maths' is a rare and wonderful book, one that could only have been written by someone with Craig's devotion to teaching and willingness to become immersed in the research literature on how people learn. In clear, concrete, and compelling terms Craig illustrates evidence-based ways to upgrade mathematics instruction, ways that are often unintuitive and/or at odds with prevailing educational practices. It makes us wish that young people the world over might have the good fortune to find themselves in classes that incorporate Craig's insights. In fact, whereas Craig writes, "I'll be honest--this book has been created for maths teachers," we think that Craig's "lessons learned" can, with some creativity, enhance any teaching.' Robert A. Bjork and Elizabeth L. Bjork, Department of Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles 'It's rare that we change our habits and beliefs once they are established - cognitive bias is strong in us. And that is what makes this book so exceptional. Craig describes not only what he's learned from a methodical study of cognitive science but how he's changed over time despite his initial success. There's a joyful relentlessness to Craig's study of teaching methods. He starts out telling us he wants to "know every detail," and what makes the book so exceptional is just that- the way the story of how something he learned about teaching played out in a specific problem or lesson, was refined and improved. It's an incredibly useful book for maths teachers especially but really for anyone who teaches and cares about getting it right.' Doug Lemov, former teacher and author of Teach like a Champion, @Doug_Lemov

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Book Synopsis“I’m not sure how to help my child with schoolwork.” “I see my child study for tests and not do well.” “How much help is too much? Or Not enough?” As a parent, do you have questions like these? For students reading this book, have you ever thought: I studied all night and didn’t do well on the test? Do you question why spending more time on schoolwork often does not reflect increased learning or higher grades?We all think we know how to study. Many of us have spent years in educational settings. Because we have learned, do we know how learning occurs? Often the answer is no. Fewer than 10% of students have parents who are certified educators. Where can the other 90% of parents go to find answers? If you are a student, where can you go to find out how to maximize learning while spending less time doing so? The answer is this guide. Patrice Bain has shown thousands of students with a wide range of abilities how to increase school performance. Having worked with cognitive scientists in the classroom for over half of her 25+ year teaching career, Bain knows how students learn and has developed strategies that increase memory, grades and retention of material. This book is not about fads or the latest shiny gadgets. Instead, this guide, based on rigorous research, gives the inside look into how all of us learn best. Filled with stories making learning relevant, and strategies to use at home, this guide will be like having a seat in Mrs. Bain’s engaging classroom.

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Book SynopsisTeaching is a wonderful profession, but it is one that requires huge amounts of physical, mental and psychological reserves. Inner resilience is a vital part of this, and the dialogue about how to develop it has been missing in conversations about teacher wellbeing. Resilience is ultimately the difference between being overwhelmed by stress and anxiety, to finding calm, purpose and joy in the work we do with young people. Teacher Resilience explores how we can build a more resilient mindset, and what practical actions we can take to be the best version of ourselves in the classroom. From self-talk to collaboration, conflict management to lesson planning and differentiation, no trigger of potential teacher stress and anxiety is left unexplored. With practical tools to implement immediately, this is the book that all teachers need to thrive in a demanding profession.

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Book SynopsisThe Greek word gnosis means knowledge. The higher meaning of gnosis is knowledge of facts acquired from personal experience. Gnosis is genuine knowledge of the truth. To understand truth, one must experience it. The greatest human beings in every field - philosophy, science, art, and religion - did not imitate, memorize, or remain limited by popular ideas; instead, they sought gnosis: to know the facts for themselves, and in finding the facts they changed the world for the better. Unfortunately, such people are rare. The problems afflicting individuals and society today have a simple root cause: we have not yet learned how to think. Instead, people today are taught to memorize and imitate. Schools, teachers, and parents today emphasize what we should think, rather than teaching how to think, question, and analyse, so we can recognize the facts, deal with them intelligently, and experience the truth for ourselves. When our consciousness is liberated from the conditioning and restrictions imposed upon it by imitation, bad habits, defects, vices, and mistaken beliefs, then we can see and experience the truth for ourselves. In this way, we no longer need to believe anything or follow anyone, but are free to express our fundamental nature and realize our full potential. This book guides us towards that experience, that gnosis. We need the union of superior logic and tremendous love, heart and mind balanced by conscious awareness of facts. This psychological equilibrium empowers us to alter the painful conditions that we suffer within. Therefore, we need a gnostic education: an education based on personal experience of the truth.

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Book SynopsisAn unvarnished accounting of one man’s struggle toward sexual and emotional maturity. In this unconventional memoir, Jonathan Alexander addresses wry and affecting missives to a conflicted younger self. Focusing on three years—1989, 1993, and 1996—Dear Queer Self follows the author through the homophobic heights of the AIDS epidemic, the fall of the Berlin Wall, the election of Bill Clinton, and the steady advancements in gay rights that followed. With humor and wit afforded by hindsight, Alexander relives his closeted college years, his experiments with his sexuality in graduate school, his first marriage to a woman, and his budding career as a college professor. As he moves from tortured self-denial to hard-won self-acceptance, the author confronts the deeply uncomfortable ways he is implicated in his own story. More than just a coming-out narrative, Dear Queer Self is both an intimate psychological exploration and a cultural examination—a meshing of inner and outer realities and a personal reckoning with how we sometimes torture the truth to make a life. It is also a love letter, an homage to a decade of rapid change, and a playlist of the sounds, sights, and feelings of a difficult, but ultimately transformative, time.Trade Review"The narration is a triumph, establishing instant intimacy. Alexander serves as simultaneous director, guide, and archivist. . . . Dear Queer Self is an intense, daring coming-of-age—and coming out—memoir." * Foreword Reviews, starred review *"I can’t recall the last time I was so moved as I was while reading Dear Queer Self. With unvarnished frankness, Jonathan Alexander pens these letters to his younger queer self about the messy borders that exist between love and obsession, loneliness and acceptance, during moments in history marked by uncertainty and upheaval. What emerges is a striking account of the ways we draw strength from tragedy and learn to face our past transgressions with equal parts humor and resilience." * Alex Espinoza, author of 'Cruising: An Intimate History of a Radical Pastime' *"Alexander's searing memoir, framed as an interrogation of his past self during crucial years of his life, offers a deeply honest portrait of life as a complicated young man in the eighties and nineties, and reaffirms the isolation queer people still feel in a world that gestures its acceptance while withholding its substance. The writing is deeply affecting, brutal in its self-evaluation, evocative in its mapping of Alexander's search for self-acceptance. The book is most valuable for its refusal to adhere to simple categories; sexuality here is complicated, variable, quixotic, and tenacious. Much like the author's vision. I am deeply grateful to have encountered this book." * Jim Grimsley, author of 'How I Shed My Skin' and 'Boulevard' *"Dear Queer Self was included in Lambda Literary’s most anticpated list for March." * Lambda Literary *

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Book SynopsisThis book challenges the notion that bigger local government is always better. Whilst the central government in Britain has often supported increases in local government size, the book argues that this has been detrimental, and has caused the erosion of distinctive community identities that were previously represented by local authorities empowered to make significant local choices about services and future strategy. Drawing from national and international evidence, it offers an alternative narrative about the size, role, function and purpose of local government to that currently dominating policy discussion. It aims to provide readers who oppose size increases in local government with the evidence and arguments to influence change in their areas. The book will appeal to policymakers working in central and local government, as well as academics interested in public policy, public administration and local government.Table of ContentsChapter 1: Setting the Scene.Chapter 2: The Way Things Used to Be.Chapter 3: Reorganisation, Reorganisation, Reorganisation: The Changing Map of Local Government.Chapter 4: Explaining the Persistence of the Unitary Principle in the Department’s Mindset.Chapter 5: A Strange Affair: Local Government Reorganisation in Northamptonshire 2018-21—A Case Study.Chapter 6: Doomsday Approaches and then Recedes.Chapter 7: What is the Problem About Two-Tier Local Government?Chapter 8: Why Bigger is Not BetterChapter 9: Where Do We Go from Here?

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Book SynopsisJudith Butler's Gender Trouble is a perfect example of creative thinking. The book redefines feminism's struggle against patriarchy as part of a much broader issue: the damaging effects of all our assumptions about gender and identity. Looking at the factionalism of contemporary (1980s) feminism, Butler saw a movement split by identity politics. Riven by arguments over what it meant to be a women, over sexuality, and over class and race, feminism was falling prey to internal problems of identity, and was failing to move towards broader solidarity with other liberation movements such as LGBT. Butler turned these issues on their head by questioning the basis that supposedly fundamental and fixed identities such as 'masculine/feminine' or 'straight/gay' actually have. Tracing these binary definitions back to the binary nature of human anatomy ('male/female'), she argues that there is no necessary link between our anatomies and our identities. Subjecting a wide range of evidence from philosophy, cultural theory, anthropology, psychology and anthropology to a renewed search for meaning, Butler shows both that sex (biology) and gender (identity) are separate, and that even biological sex is not simplistically either/or male/female. Separating our biology from identity then allows her to argue that, while categories such as 'masculine/feminine/straight/gay' are real, they are not necessary; rather, they are the product of society's assumptions, and the constant reproduction of those assumptions by everyone around us. That opens up some small hope for change: a hope that – 25 years after Gender Trouble's publication – is having a huge impact on societies and politics across the world.Table of ContentsWays in to the Text Who is Judith Butler? What does Gender Trouble Say? Why does Gender Trouble Matter? Section 1: Influences Module 1: The Author and the Historical Context Module 2: Academic Context Module 3: The Problem Module 4: The Author's Contribution Section 2: Ideas Module 5: Main Ideas Module 6: Secondary Ideas Module 7: Achievement Module 8: Place in the Author's Work Section 3: Impact Module 9: The First Responses Module 10: The Evolving Debate Module 11: Impact and Influence Today Module 12: Where Next? Glossary of Terms People Mentioned in the Text Works Cited

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