Popular culture Books
Oxford University Press Inc East of the Wardrobe The Unexpected Worlds of C.
Book SynopsisIn East of the Wardrobe, Warwick Ball explores hitherto unrecognised and unexpected Eastern aspects in and influences on C. S. Lewis' The Chronicles of Narnia.Trade Review"a complex, wide-ranging investigation" -- Mark Vernon, Church TimesBall's work highlights the breadth of intellectual and cultural traditions that were available to writers of his generation. * Greece & Rome *The book's personal, digressive, and allusive qualities make it a page turner and often sheer fun to read. * Philip Irving Mitchell, Dallas Baptist University, TX , Mythopoeic Society *A highly enjoyable and eye-opening account of the myriad ways Lewis was influenced by Eastern art, literature, and philosophy - and, indeed, religion. * Oliver Tearle, Interesting Literature *A highly enjoyable and eye-opening account of the myriad ways Lewis was influenced by Eastern art, literature, and philosophy -and, indeed, religion. * Interesting Literature *The book's personal, digressive, and allusive qualities make it a page turner and often sheer fun to read... Even those readers who are simply interested in comparative literature can enjoy the numerous possibilities on display. I think East of the Wardrobe will be mined for all of these for some years to come. * Philip Irving Mitchell, Mythlore *East of the Wardrobe is as enjoyable as it is important...Laced with Ball's humour and humanity, this book has something for every reader. * Frazer MacDiarmid, The Stimulus *East of the Wardrobe is as enjoyable as it is important. Ball betrays intimate familiarity with the Chronicles, undertaking close-reading (even exegesis) of the texts that will delight Narnia fans. Theologians will be fascinated by the variety of Eastern concepts evident in books whose secrets were thought to be long revealed... Even the endnotes were amusing and intriguing, with many meriting footnote status. C. S. Lewis emerges as a more complex and sympathetic author than commonly understood, whose bibliophilia sparked a love of beautiful stories, regardless of provenance. Laced with Ball's humour and humanity, this book has something for every reader. * The Stimulus *Table of ContentsList of Illustrations Introduction: Confessions of a Reluctant Narniaphile 1. Endless Books: Herodotus to Robert Byron 2. 'It All [Perhaps] Began with a Picture': Narnia, Persian Painting, and Pauline Baynes 3. East of the Wardrobe: The Manners and Customs of the Modern Calormen 4. On Board the Dawn Treader: Epic Quests and Fabulous Voyages to the East 5. Of This and Other Worlds: Portals and Alternative Time, from the Wardrobe to the Qu'ran 6. Mere Christianity? Mere Zoroastrianism, Manichaeism, and Sufism as Well in Narnia 7. Farther Up and Farther In. Messages within, beyond, and east of Narnia Bibliography Index
£23.74
Oxford University Press Inc Readers of the Lost Ark
Book SynopsisThe sacred chest said to have been built by the Israelites to house the stone tablets on which the Ten Commandments were written, the Ark of the Covenant has long captured the popular imagination. According to the Bible, the Israelites carried it with them as they wandered in the wilderness and entered the promised land. After the Temple of Solomon was built, the Ark was kept in an inner sanctum where God made his divine presence felt to the Israelites. The Hebrew Bible is unclear about what happened to the Ark after the destruction of the temple and offers vague accounts of its function. Despite (or because of) this ambiguity, the Ark continues to hold an important place in Jewish and Christian tradition, even in its absence, and has led to much popular speculation. Widely imagined and re-imagined, it is perhaps today best known in popular culture as the object sought by Indiana Jones in the 1981 film Raiders of the Lost Ark. In Readers of the Lost Ark Kevin McGeough explores the diff
£21.84
Oxford University Press Superstition
Book SynopsisDo you touch wood for luck, or avoid hotel rooms on floor thirteen? Would you cross the path of a black cat, or step under a ladder? Is breaking a mirror just an expensive waste of glass, or something rather more sinister? Despite the dominance of science in today''s world, superstitious beliefs - both traditional and new - remain surprisingly popular. A recent survey of adults in the United States found that 33 percent believed that finding a penny was good luck, and 23 percent believed that the number seven was lucky. Where did these superstitions come from, and why do they persist today?This Very Short Introduction explores the nature and surprising history of superstition from antiquity to the present. For two millennia, superstition was a label derisively applied to foreign religions and unacceptable religious practices, and its primary purpose was used to separate groups and assert religious and social authority. After the Enlightenment, the superstition label was still used to define groups, but the new dividing line was between reason and unreason. Today, despite our apparent sophistication and technological advances, superstitious belief and behaviour remain widespread, and highly educated people are not immune. Stuart Vyse takes an exciting look at the varieties of popular superstitious beliefs today and the psychological reasons behind their continued existence, as well as the likely future course of superstition in our increasingly connected world. 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 ReviewStimulating and informative. * Alexander Faludy, Church Times *This succinct summary of the history of and psychology behind superstition is so superb that I am adopting it for my college course on critical thinking and recommend it be required reading for all social science students. Stuart Vyse is such a marvelous writer and clear thinker, in fact, that this book should be required reading for all humans susceptible to superstitions, which is to say all of humanity. * Michael Shermer, Publisher, Skeptic magazine *Stuart Vyse has packed a lot into this little book, including a comprehensive discussion of the way in which the concept of superstition has changed across the ages, the psychology of superstition, and the implications of superstitious thinking for the modern world - all presented in an engaging and informative style. Highly recommended! * Professor Chris French, Goldsmiths, University of London *Table of ContentsIntroduction 1: The meanings of superstition 2: Religious superstition 3: Secular superstition 4: Superstition today 5: Why do people believe? 6: The future of superstition Further reading Index
£9.49
Oxford University Press Luxury
Book SynopsisThe first ever global history of luxury, from Roman villas to Russian oligarchs: a sparkling story of novelty, excess, extravagance, and indulgence through the centuriesTrade ReviewThere's a tension at the core of the very idea of luxury, and that tension gives this book its sinew. * The Wall Street Journal *Table of Contents1. Luxury, Antiquity, and the Antique ; 2. The Courts, the Church, and Medieval and Renaissance Luxury ; 3. Luxury and the Orient ; 4. Housing Luxury: From the Hotel Particulier to the Penthouses ; 5. Luxury and the Fashionable Body ; 6. Jet Set Life: From Trans-Atlantic to Global Elites ; 7. The Chic of Poverty: The Minimalism of Luxury ; 8. Everything that Money Can Buy? Manipulating Luxury ; 9. Has Luxury Lost its Lustre? ; Further Reading ; Notes ; Index
£24.64
The University of Chicago Press Gen Z Explained
Book SynopsisTrade Review"This study provides penetrating insight into how American and UK youth see the world—through their own words. By building 'appreciation for the challenges they [Gen Zers] face,' the volume encourages older readers to recognize the strengths of their progeny, particularly to appreciate the importance of navigating an increasingly digital world. No other book available brings readers into more intimate contact with Gen Z . For this reason alone it warrants a careful read." * Arts Fuse *“A textured and rich account. . . . Drawing on the notion that ‘generation’ reflects a shared experience and attitude, not simply shared birth dates, the authors argue that Generation Z is unique and significant, as it is the first generation to have always known the internet: ‘only knowing the world with the possibility of endless information and infinite connectivity of the digital age.’ This has greatly affected how Generation Z see their lives and values, bound together by a strong sense of connections and collaboration, and can be, the authors suggest, an example to older generations of how to live.” * Church Times *"Paints an optimistic portrait of a much misunderstood generation that has never known a world without the internet." * Observer *"In Gen Z, Explained: The Art of Living in a Digital Age, university professors Katz, Ogilvie, Shaw, and Woodhead (hereafter KOS&W) try to understand the digital medium by studying the first generation—mine—never to know life without the internet." * First Things *"Katz et al point out that Gen Zers have had to navigate the new online reality without the guidance of their elders, and have created rich and hard-to-penetrate subcultures. What they mostly like to do, the book argues, is to collaborate in leaderless groups. They use digital tools to create shared documents, sync their calendars, write and read fan fiction, play games together. They use apps to organize lift-sharing, couch-surfing and political activism." * London Review of Books *“This extraordinarily rich and empathetic account of Gen Z offers a groundbreaking understanding of this generation’s habits and motivations without reducing them to the sum of their posts and tweets. This work excels in unpacking the subtle ways that identity formation and presentation of self are seamlessly interwoven with digital communication for Zoomers. Parents, teachers, and anyone who cares about our future as a society should read this deeply informed contribution to the research on Gen Z.” -- Devorah Heitner, author of Screenwise: Helping Kids Thrive and Survive in Their Digital World“This book is [fire emoji] (an intimate and indispensable guide to the identities and belonging of postmillennials—and some surprising lessons for all of us). -- Richard A. Settersten, Jr., author of Living on the Edge: An American Generation’s Journey Through the Twentieth CenturyTable of ContentsIntroduction Chapter 1: Technology Shapes Postmillennial Life Chapter 2: Fine-Grained Identity Chapter 3: Being Authentic Chapter 4: Finding My Fam Chapter 5: OK Boomer Chapter 6: The Difficulty of Being a Gen Zer Chapter 7: Conclusion: The Art of Living in a Digital Age Acknowledgments Methodological Appendix Notes Bibliography Index
£13.00
The University of Chicago Press Popularizing the Past
Book SynopsisPopularizing the Past tells the stories of five postwar historians who changed the way ordinary Americans thought about their nation's history. What's the matter with history? For decades, critics of the discipline have argued that the historical profession is dominated by scholars unable, or perhaps even unwilling, to write for the public. In Popularizing the Past, Nick Witham challenges this interpretation by telling the stories of five historiansRichard Hofstadter, Daniel Boorstin, John Hope Franklin, Howard Zinn, and Gerda Lernerwho, in the decades after World War II, published widely read books of national history. Witham compellingly argues that we should understand historians' efforts to engage with the reading public as a vital part of their postwar identity and mission. He shows how the lives and writings of these five authors were fundamentally shaped by their desire to write histories that captivated both scholars and the elusive general reader. He also reveals how tTrade Review"Astute, informative, and skillfully researched, Witham’s thought-provoking analysis will appeal to historians (and aspiring historians) who want a better grasp on the challenges and opportunities of history as a profession and the business of popular-history books." * Library Journal *"In his new book Popularizing the Past, historian Nick Witham sheds light on five particularly interesting historians’ writing and publishing strategies during the mid-to-late twentieth century . . . Witham’s readings of these five figures offer sensitive analysis and point to the key questions about politics and publishing." * Boston Review *"I am very taken with Nick Witham’s illuminating book and hope that all practicing and aspiring US historians read it. Drawing on careful research and writing in sparkling prose that rivals his subjects', Witham examines how five prominent postwar historians navigated the challenges and rewards of scripting national narratives for audiences beyond the academy. For anyone interested in crafting intellectually robust, readable, and relevant scholarship, Popularizing the Past is essential reading." -- Jennifer Ratner-Rosenhagen, author of American Nietzsche"A fascinating exploration of American historians searching for their publics and seeking to balance empirical depth and literary flair, scholarship and fame, objectivity and activism. Nick Witham's book is the most probing examination of these matters that I have read. Essential for understanding the importance and perils of writing popular history." -- Gary Gerstle, author of The Rise and Fall of the Neoliberal Order"Those dispirited by today's skirmishes over the American past should seek out Nick Witham’s wonderful book on postwar history writing. His portrait of prominent scholars who wrote for the public offers a fresh take on popularization, presentism, and politicization—even as it underscores the essential work of histories that educate and engross readers." -- Sarah E. Igo, author of The Known Citizen: A History of Privacy in Modern America"The argument of Witham’s book is that the audience for popular historical nonfiction that explains America to itself has always been a diverse one, made up of various types of readers. The imagined past, when an idealised American reader relaxed by the fireside with a sturdy tome written by a credentialed academic, is, largely speaking, a fiction…The best parts of Popularizing the Past are the archival discoveries of letters from readers, and between editors and writers, showing the nitty-gritty of how this sausage got made – and eaten." * History Today *"[An] engaging, instructive account of the efforts by five postwar American academic historians – and, importantly, their editors and publishers – to reach a broader, non-scholarly audience with their work . . . . If historians wish to produce work that resonates with ordinary readers while being taken seriously by fellow specialists, it can be done. And for guidance on how to do it they could do worse than look to those who, three-quarters of a century ago, set about ‘popularizing the past.'" -- Fredrik Logevall * Times Literary Supplement *Table of ContentsIntroduction What’s the Matter with History? The Problem of Popularity in Postwar American Historical Writing Part I Popular History and General Readers 1 Richard Hofstadter: Popular History and the Contradictions of Consensus 2 Daniel Boorstin: Popular History between Liberalism and Conservatism Part II: Popular History and Activist Readers 3 John Hope Franklin: The Racial Politics of Popular History 4 Howard Zinn: Popular History as Controversy 5 Gerda Lerner: The Struggle for a Popular Women’s History Conclusion The Legacies of Postwar Popular History Acknowledgments Archival Abbreviations Notes Index
£18.00
The University of Chicago Press Hating Jazz
Book Synopsis
£20.90
Palgrave Macmillan Soul Thieves The Appropriation and
Book SynopsisConsiders the misappropriation of African American popular culture through various genres, largely Hip Hop, to argue that while such cultural creations have the potential to be healing agents, they are still exploited -often with the complicity of African Americans- for commercial purposes and to maintain white ruling class hegemony.Trade Review“Soul Thieves is a collection of essays that critically weighs the consequences of appropriating black culture. … The volume has broad appeal and informs academics how black material culture is conversant with many of the same discourses as conventional historical narratives. … Soul Thieves is a welcomed addition to interdisciplinary fields, African American studies in particular.” (Kameelah L. Martin, Journal of American Culture, Vol. 102 (3), December, 2015)"This ground breaking interdisciplinary publication is long overdue and offers deep insight into the efficacy of African American popular culture and it's critical impact on shaping artistic cultural production on a global scale. The contributors, leading scholars in their respective research areas, set the record straight through their thought provoking and accessible historical research." - Melanye White Dixon, Associate Professor, Department of Dance, The Ohio State University, USATable of ContentsPreface; Tamara Brown PART I: ENTERTAINMENT AND FASHION 1. 'So You Think You Can Dance'; Tamara Brown 2. 'Foraging Fashion'; Abena Lewis-Mhoon 3. 'In the Eye of the Beholder: Definitions of Beauty in Popular Black Magazines'; Kimberly Brown PART II: BLACK POWER STUDIES 4. 'Neutering the Black Power Movement: The Hijacking of Protest Symbolism'; James B. Stewart 5. 'Silent Protest: The Appropriation of Black Athletic Power'; Jamal Ratchford 6. Black Comic Book Characters; David T. Terry PART III: MUSIC AND TECHNOLOGY 7. Soul Thieves: White America and the Appropriation of Hip Hop and Black Culture; Baruti Kopano 8. I'm Hip: An Exploration of Rap Music's Creative Guise; Kawachi Clemmons 9. 'Cash Rules Everything Around Me! Appropriation, Commodification and the Politics of Hip Hop and Contemporary Protest Music'; Diarra Osei Robinson 10. 'The Appropriation of Blackness in Ego Trip's The (White) Rapper Show'; Carlos D. Morrison and Ronald L. Jackson, Jr.
£48.74
Penguin Books Ltd The Sky is Falling
Book Synopsis''You''ll never look at your favourite movies and TV shows the same way again. And you shouldn''t'' Steven Soderbergh ''Insanely readable'' Slavoj Zizek''Your book was ... like a bag of pot, with me saying, ''I''m not gonna smoke.'' But I was insatiable'' Quentin Tarantino on Easy Riders, Raging BullsIn The Sky is Falling! bestselling cultural critic Peter Biskind takes us on a dizzying ride across two decades of pop culture to show how the TV and movies we love - from Game of Thrones and 24 to Homeland and Iron Man - have taught us to love political extremism. Welcome to a darkly pessimistic, apocalyptic world where winter has come, the dead are walking, and ultra violence, revenge and torture are all in a day''s work. Welcome to the new normal.Trade ReviewA Sunday Times Book of the Year * - *Compulsively readable ... a thoughtful, entertaining and occasionally profound critical study of the texts that entertain, move and, sometimes, shape us * Spectator *Excellent critical writing ... Biskind's pastiche of right-wing paranoia is spot on * Irish Times *Biskind's wide-ranging arguments offer considerable food for thought * London Review of Books *The Sky is Falling! is not only insanely readable, it demonstrates how the way for Trump and all kinds of fundamentalists was paved years ago by apparently apolitical popular culture. This is a book about the seismic change at the very heart of today's society, and a book for all those who want to know exactly what a mess we're in. -- Slavoj ŽižekPeter Biskind's kaleidoscopic deep dive into the symbiotic relationship between the narratives of popular entertainment and our political culture had me talking out loud to myself. You'll never look at your favorite movies and TV shows the same way again. And you shouldn't. -- Steven SoderberghFunny, intelligent and frightening ... What happens when pop turns to pulp? When "nothing entertains but disaster?" When "democracy has all but dissolved in the acid rain of money?" Read this marvellous book and find the answers -- Michael WoodA breathless compendium of storylines and audacious analysis ... touching on worthwhile questions about how film and TV shape our sense of history and how the world works. Pop culture has become pulp culture... which superhero will come to our rescue? * Times *The only thing better than seeing a good movie is reading what Peter Biskind has to say about it. Who else can explicate the hidden politics of movies and make you laugh out loud at the same time? -- Barbara EhrenreichThe great chronicler of Hollywood in the late twentieth century turns his critical eye to the cinema and television of the twenty first. Essential reading -- Colin MacCabeA bold, witty, and brilliantly argued analysis of the role pop culture has played in the rise of American extremism -- Ruth ReichlYour book was . . . like a bag of pot, with me saying, 'I'm not gonna smoke.' But I was insatiable -- Quentin Tarantino on EASY RIDERS, RAGING BULLS
£9.99
Dorling Kindersley Ltd Mysteries Uncovered
Book SynopsisThe mysterious is all around us...UFOs, extraterrestrial encounters, baffling disappearances-Mysteries Uncovered investigates, without prejudice, some of the most notorious, disturbing and enduring mysteries ever recorded.- UFO activity: the Roswell Incident, the Phoenix Lights, the Rendlesham Incident...- Alien abduction: the Barney and Betty Hill case...- Uncanny events: the missing crew of the Marie Celeste, the lost colony of Roanoke, the fate of Amelia Earhart...- Notorious disappearances: the cases of Lord Lucan and D.B. Cooper... For every instance rationalized away, there is another that defies explanation...
£8.54
Penguin Books Ltd Like Comment Subscribe
Book SynopsisSharp and engaging - The TimesThe intricately-reported, elegantly-crafted story of the website that came out of nowhere, to change everything. - Brad Stone, author of The Everything Store and Amazon Unbound-----------------------------------------------------Now, for the first time ever, discover the story of YouTube: how it started, how it works, and how it came to control our culture.It has entertained us with cat videos, flash mobs, gaming streams and Charlie Bit My Finger.It has educated us with makeup tutorials, DIYs and delicious recipes.It has changed us with advertising, extremism and political propaganda.Since its foundation in 2005, YouTube has existed on a pendulum. Its emergence established a valuable space for unique and important voices to share themselves and their views, and made global stars out of everyday people such as PewDiePie, Shane Dawson and Ryan Higa. It invented the attention economy we all live in today, forever changing how people are entertained, informed and paid online.At the same time, countless extremists have found a home on YouTube, using it to spread misinformation and propaganda - sometimes with real-world life-and-death consequences. The site is massively profitable for its parent company, Google (Alphabet), which has aggressively grown it into a ruthless advertising conglomerate with little regard for its impact beyond the bottom line.In Like Comment Subscribe, Bloomberg tech journalist Mark Bergen delivers the definitive, page-turning account of YouTube. Exploring the stories of the people behind the platform, he tells the story of a technical marvel that upended traditional media, created stars of everyday people, and ultimately changed the world through untamed freedom of speech.Trade ReviewA must-read, unparalleled in its access to the inner thoughts and workings of the people and departments that dictated what content can be seen and what can't. -- Chris Stokel-Walker * The New Scientist *Mark Bergen has delivered the definitive look at how YouTube came to be and how the service has forever changed our society. Like, Comment, Subscribe takes the reader on a journey as a small, whimsical idea morphs into something that alters our collective culture in the most profound of ways-for better and for worse. -- Ashlee Vance, author of Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX and the Quest for a Fantastic FutureThe intricately-reported, elegantly-crafted story of a website that came out of nowhere and changed everything. -- Brad Stone, author of The Everything Store and Amazon UnboundAn absorbing, alarming and essential modern histroy of Silicon Valley's supersized platform age. YouTube has redefined celebrity, upended entertainment and politics, and unleashed the best and worst of humanity online. Mark Bergen's deeply reported page-turner takes us on the company's journey from scrappy startup to internet juggernaut, revealing the dark consequences of the pursuit of growth at any cost. -- Margaret O'Mara, author of The Code: Silicon Valley and the Remaking of AmericaA vivid, rollicking ride through the fluorescent-lit halls of one of the most powerful companies in the world as it struggles to steward one of the most anarchic yet culture-defining inventions of our time. Bergen has a novelist's eye, a poet's ear and a business journalist's deadpan command of the heart of the matter. So engrossing I missed my train stop. -- Keach Hagey, author of The King of ContentSharp and engaging -- Kit Wilson * The Times *
£13.49
Dorling Kindersley Ltd Star Wars 100 Objects
Book SynopsisKristin Baver is the Associate Editor of StarWars.com, covering Star Wars news, writing interview features on George Lucas and other important figures in the Star Wars galaxy, as well as spotlighting the dedicated fan community and their impressive and imaginative creations. The author of DK's Skywalker: A Family at War and a contributor to DK's Star Wars Year by Year, Kristin is the host of This Week! in Star Wars and The Star Wars Show Book Club. She previously worked as an award-winning journalist covering crime and social issues in central Pennsylvania, but now lives with her cat, Hector Smidget, in San Francisco, California.
£17.00
MIT Press Ltd The WellPlayed Game
a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.
£22.80
Yale University Press Not Getting Paid to Do What You Love
Book SynopsisTrade Review“Duffy’s exploration of sexism, as well as her probe of the gig economy, makes this an interesting and informative read for anyone—even those who aren’t following Instagram’s foodies and fashionistas.”—Wired.com“[A] timely and important book” —Zoe Glatt, Convergence“A fascinating, meticulously researched study that shows how these creative women exemplify modern workers. Her lessons are essential for all those interested in fashion studies, gender studies, and the creative economy.”—Angela McRobbie, author of Be Creative: Making a Living in the New Culture Industries“Duffy is an excellent guide to the contemporary anxieties of aspirational labor, showing both the very calculated nature of investments these women are trying to make in their futures, while pointing to the larger social forces that shape and constrict their possibilities.”—Gina Neff, author of Venture Labor“This immensely valuable book reveals the trapdoor for female workers who pursue their talents on social media. Duffy expertly dissects a system which attracts many, rewards a few, and exploits the rest.”— Andrew Ross, author of Nice Work If You Can Get It: Life and Labor in Precarious Times“Contrary to optimists who hoped that the internet would bail women out of the family-career bind, Duffy finds that female ‘digital-media hopefuls’ rarely get paid for their work. The phenomenon Duffy describes is fascinating.”—Frances McCall Rosenbluth, coauthor of both Forged Through Fire and Women, Work, and Politics“Duffy's critically astute study reveals the intersection of pleasure and power in contemporary capitalism and clearly articulates an essential new perspective on digital labor.”— Kylie Jarrett, author of The Digital Housewife
£17.99
Hachette Books A Modern Man
Book SynopsisIt is impossible to talk about 20th century comedy without discussing George Carlin. Named the 2nd greatest standup of the 20th century by both Comedy Central and Rolling Stone, Carlin garnered multiple gold records, 4 Grammys, 6 Emmy nominations, and the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor. He was the first host of SNL, appeared on the Tonight Show some 130 times, and acted in beloved films like Bill and Ted''s Excellent Adventure and Dogma. Dubbed the dean of counterculture comedians, George Carlin was an American icon.A perfect introduction for new fans and a worthy addition to the collections of old fans, The Best of Carlin showcases the longevity, range, and-above all-hilarity of the master. Filled with thoughts, musings, questions, lists, beliefs, curiosities, monologues, assertions, assumptions, and other delicious verbal ordeals, it is drop-dead funny tour through Carlin''s mind. More than ten years after his death, Carlin''s characteristically ironic takes on life''s annoying universal truths remain thoughtful, fearless, and somehow more relevant than ever.
£13.49
Hachette Books Bad Motherfucker
Book Synopsis A fascinating exploration and celebration of the life and work of the coolest man in Hollywood, Samuel L. Jackson—from his star-making turns in the films of Spike Lee and Quentin Tarantino to his ubiquitous roles in the Star Wars and Marvel franchises, not to mention the cult favorite Snakes on a Plane.Samuel L. Jackson’s embodiment of cool isn’t just inspirational—it’s important. Bad Motherfucker lays out how his attitude intersects with his identity as a Black man, why being cool matters in the modern world, and how Jackson can guide us through the current cultural moment in which everyone is losing their cool. Edwards details Jackson’s fascinating personal history, from stuttering bookworm to gunrunning revolutionary to freebasing addict to A-list movie star.Drawing on original reporting and interviews, the book explores not only the major events of Jackson’s life but also his obsessions: golf, kung fu movies, profanity. Bad Motherfuckerfeatures a delectable filmography of Jackson’s movies—140 and counting!—and also includes new movie posters for many of Jackson’s greatest roles, reimagined by dozens of gifted artists and designers. The book provides a must-read road map through the vast territory of his on-screen career and more: a vivid portrait of Samuel L. Jackson’s essential self, as well as practical instructions, by example, for how to live and work and be.
£22.50
Little, Brown & Company On the Clock What LowWage Work Did to Me and How
Book Synopsis'Nickled and Dimed for the Amazon age,' (Salon) the bitingly funny, eye-opening story of finding work in the automated and time-starved world of hourly low-wage labor
£13.49
Pan Macmillan The Man Who Saved Britain
Book SynopsisSimon Winder is the author of The Man Who Saved Britain and the Sunday Times Top Ten Bestseller Germania. He works in publishing and lives in Wandsworth Town.Trade ReviewOne of the oddest books I have ever read . . . a very funny writer, as well as an incisive one * Evening Standard *A superb book -- Andrew Roberts * Wall Street Journal *Witty and intelligent * Financial Times *A splenetic turn of phrase that’s read-aloud funny * Independent on Sunday *Almost insanely entertaining * Daily Telegraph *A more entertaining tour of 007, and the period associations that get sucked into Winder’s great comic intelligence, is hard to imagine * London Review of Books *Diversions for the general reader and delights for the Bond enthusiast * Sunday Times *A delightfully quirky, immediately engaging book * Scotland on Sunday *An entertaining romp through the literary and cinematic heartland of James Bond country * Sunday Times *A hilarious blend of cultural history, biography and memoir * Guardian *
£10.44
Taylor & Francis Ltd An Introduction to Visual Culture
Book SynopsisIn the fully rewritten third edition of this classic text, Nicholas Mirzoeff introduces visual culture as visual activism, or activating the visible. In this view, visual culture is a practice: a way of doing, making, and seeing. The 12 new chapters begin with five foundational concepts, including Indigenous ways of seeing, visual activism in the wake of slavery, and unfixing the gaze. The second section outlines three currently successful tactics of visual activism: removal of statues and monuments; restitution of cultural property; and practices of repair and reparations. The final section addresses catastrophe and trauma, from Palestineâs Nakba to the climate disaster and the intersections of plague and war. Each section also includes new, in-depth case studies called Visualizations, ranging from oil painting to Kongo power figures and the mediated practice of taking a knee. Engaging with questions of racializing, colonialism, and undoing gender throughout, this ediTrade Review"Sensitive to current debates about the politics of articulation that ground our understanding of visual culture, visual activism, and visual relations, Mirzoeff’s third edition develops new frameworks for the analysis of image culture. Leveraging the book’s original concerns—the legacy of slavery, refugees and surveillance, global capital and colonial histories—Mirzoeff reinvigorates his arguments, drawing on contemporary events and social movements with insight and urgency. Provocative, relevant and iconoclastic, An Introduction to Visual Culture remains a critical text for students across the disciplines."Jennifer A. González, UC Santa Cruz, United States"The newly revised 3rd edition of Nicholas Mirzoeff’s anti-foundational classic issues the rallying call for refusing the resignations of merely describing visual culture as it is. Showing us how to activate and motivate the real and urgent question of what visual culture does and how to practice it, this primer is also the manifesto on method that takes us from the groundwork of acknowledgment through tactics for visual activism and ways of confronting catastrophe, while never losing sight of the power of the strike as lens and the ways we may yet forge relation in becoming visible to one another by consent. This new edition may be a renewed classic but not for the shelf. As open theory forged in practice, it calls to be used, to be put to the test of sharing out as widely as possible, seeing with and past it, activating the visible for ourselves and each other."Jill Casid, University of Wisconsin-Madison, United StatesTable of ContentsIntroduction Visualization 1: Perspective, Visuality and the Way of Seeing Part 1. Foundational 1.Acknowledgement and Groundwork 2. Indigenous Ways of Seeing 3. In Slavery’s Wake 4.Surveillance and Counter-Surveillance 5.Unfixing the Gaze Visualization 2: The Ambassadors by Hans Holbein Visualization 3: The Decisive Moment and The Limits of Looking Part 2. Tactics of Visual Activism 6. Removal 7.Restitution 8. Repair and Reparations Visualization 4: Power Figures: Minkisi Nkondi Part 3. Catastrophe 9. Nakba 10. The Climate {R}evolution 11. Plague and War Visualization 5: Taking a Knee
£42.99
Taylor & Francis Lacan and Race
Book SynopsisThis edited volume draws upon Lacanian psychoanalytic theory to examine the conscious and unconscious forces underlying race as a social formation, conceptualizing race, racial identity, and racism in ways that go beyond traditional modes of psychoanalytic thought.Featuring contributions by Lacanian scholars from diverse geographical and disciplinary contexts, chapters span a wide breadth of topics, including white nationalism and contemporary debates over confederate monuments; emergent theories of race rooted in Afropessimism and postcolonialism; analyses of racism in apartheid and American slavery; clinical reflections on Latinx and other racialized patients; and applications of Lacanâs concepts of the lamella, drive and sexuation to processes of racialization. The collection both reorients readersâ understandings of race through its deployment of Lacanian theory and redefines the Lacanian subject through its theorizing of subjectivity in relation to race, racism and raciaTrade Review'"Lacan" and "race" seem two totally disparate notions: obscure French theory, brutal social struggles... However, this book provides an explosive mixture of the two - after reading it, neither Lacanian theory nor racism and anti-racist struggles will appear the same to you. George and Hook demonstrate that authentic theory is needed today more than ever. An instant classic! Slavoj Žižek, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia'Lacan and Race arrives at a very significant and urgent historical moment, one that symbolically and existentially speaks to the logics of racism as necropolitical, consumptive, phantasmatic, and a problematic pleasurable perversity. Given the unabashed reemergence of white racism within the context of a greater neo-fascist threat, its analysis is critically needed.'George Yancy, Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor of Philosophy at Emory University, USA 'This groundbreaking volume, edited by Sheldon George and Derek Hook, turns conventional notions of race and racism on their head, delivering compelling Lacanian perspectives from leading scholars in the field. Including thought-provoking ideas such as racism as enjoyment and race as an object of the drive - as well as covering a breadth of forms of contemporary racism - this book will undoubtedly inspire future scholarship and conversations about race alike! With Lacan and Race: Racism, Identity and Psychoanalytic Theory, George and Hook have brought us what will undoubtedly serve as the central text on the subject for many years to come.'Stephanie Swales, University of Dallas, co-author of Psychoanalysing Ambivalence with Freud and Lacan: On and Off the Couch'Written at a time of heightened polarization, xenophobia, and ethno-nationalism, the essays in this collection detail various ways to alter the structures of hatred and otherness that make racism seem immovable and inevitable. Probing and incisive, the essays draw on a range of insights from Lacanian psychoanalysis concerning race transference and unconscious fantasy, the enjoyment of the Other, and the forms of jouissance that continue to propel and underwrite racism today. Insightful, rigorous, and strongly recommended.'Christopher Lane, editor of The Psychoanalysis of Race'Of late, Lacanian theory has come to play an increasingly important role in critical analyses of gender and sexuality. This sterling collection presents the strongest case to date for extending such analysis to the category of race. In powerful, wide-ranging essays, the contributors demonstrate time and again that psychoanalytic concepts such as fantasy, fetishism, jouissance, and disavowal aren’t merely applicable to the phenomena of racial identification and racism, but are absolutely integral to grasping how such phenomena function in the first place. A must read - not only for those still laboring under the (mis)belief that Lacan was an obscurantist whose work has little to contribute to social theory, but especially for those committed to exploring the socio-political purchase of psychoanalysis.'Russell Sbriglia, Seton Hall University, USA'No doubt race and racism are dynamically back on the agenda, both in the US and internationally. Recent events demand a rigorous attempt to clarify what is at stake beyond the obvious: what keeps returning, what seems to resist understanding and intervention. Focusing on the "other scene" animating the multiplicity of drives, identifications, enjoyments and fantasies involved, psychoanalysis can help considerably in this process. This rigorous and timely collection put together by George and Hook is bound to unsettle and reorient our energies, intellectual and affective, by brilliantly orchestrating an impressive Lacan-inspired re-appraisal of our ongoing predicament.'Professor Yannis Stavrakakis, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece, author of Lacan and the Political and The Lacanian Left: Psychoanalysis, Theory, Politics'In a time like ours, when otherness and singularity are universally commodified, nothing like Lacanian psychoanalysis can throw light on the tension between One and Other. In the early 1970s Lacan indeed predicted the explosion of racism in conjunction with "capitalist progress." This wonderful book explores and contextualizes racism by taking seriously Lacan’s insight that its proliferation and tenacity has less to do with what we know about the other than with what we don’t know about ourselves.'Fabio Vighi, Cardiff University, UK, and author of Zizek’s Dialectics Table of ContentsIntroduction: theorizing race, racism, and racial identification; PART I: Reading racism through Lacan; 1 The bedlam of the lynch mob: racism and enjoying through the other; 2 Pilfered pleasure: on racism as "the theft of enjoyment"; 3 Confederate signifiers in Vermont: fetish objects and racist enjoyment; 4 The function and field of speech and language in white nationalist manifestoes; 5 Oedipal Empire: psychoanalysis, Indigenous Peoples, and the Oedipus Complex in colonial context; PART II: Racial identification and the subversion of race; 6 In medium race: traversing the fantasy of post-race discourse; 7 The object of apartheid desire: A Lacanian approach to racism and ideology; 8 Raced group pathologies and cultural sublimation; PART III: Race and the clinic; 9 Race, perversion, and jouissance in Portrait of Jason; 10 The lost souls of the barrio: Lacanian psychoanalysis in the ghetto; 11 Dereliction: Afropessimism, Anti-Blackness, and Lacanian psychoanalysis; 12 Japanese inter-signifier subjects: jouissance in the locus of the character; PART IV: Theorizing the racialized Lacanian subject; 13 The Lacanian subject of race: sexuation, the drive, and racial subjectivity: 14 Skin-things, fleshy matters, and phantasies of race: Lacan’s myth of the lamella; 15 Fanon’s "zone of nonbeing": Blackness and the politics of the real; Afterword: there is only one race…
£34.19
Taylor & Francis Ltd Routledge Handbook of African Popular Culture
Book SynopsisThis handbook brings together an international team of scholars from different disciplines to reflect on African popular cultural imaginaries. These imaginaries in the sense of cultural productions, contexts, consumers, producers, platforms, and the material, affective and discursive resources they circulate are influential in shaping African realities. Collectively, the chapters assembled in this handbook index the genres, methods, mediums, questions and encounters that preoccupy producers, consumers and scholars of African popular cultural forms across a range of geohistorical and temporal contexts.Drawing on forms such as newspaper columns, televised English Premier League football, speculative arts, romance fiction, comedy, cinema, music and digital genres, the contributors explore the possibilities and ambiguities unleashed by the production, circulation, consumption, remediation and critique of these forms. Among the questions explored across these essays arTrade Review"Routledge Handbook of African Popular Culture, which brings together an international team of scholars from different disciplines to reflect on African popular cultural imaginaries, is an important contribution to the burgeoning discipline of popular culture in Africa. Published in 2022, Grace Musila’s edited tome is a valuable demonstration of the important ways this subfield seeks to bring newspaper columns, televised English Premier League football, speculative arts, romance fiction, comedy, cinema, music, and digital genres into a productive dialogue with each other." - Nick Mdika Tembo, Eastern African Literary and Cultural Studies Table of ContentsThirteen Ways of Reading African Popular Culture 1. Ethiopian Imprints: Reading and Writing Ethiopia in 1930s South Africa 2. Local Authors, Ephemeral Texts: Anglo-Scribes and Anglo-Literates in Early West African Newspapers 3. Varieties of Romance in Contemporary Popular Togolese Literature 4. Against ‘African Popular Literature’, or: The Weeping Woman 5. Gendering the Popular: Making a Case for FEMRITE in Uganda and Beyond 6. Scandals, Controversies and African Literary Prizes: Between Intertextuality and Plagiarism 7. TED Talks, Blogging, and Celebrity: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and the Popular Imagination 8. Flash Fiction Ghana and Popular Culture: An Overview 9. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle: Methods of Speculation in African Popular Culture 10. Literature in the Great Lakes Region: Between Resistance and Resilience 11. Funding Popular Culture in Tanzania: Crowdfunding, Self-Funding and the Live Performance as Fundraiser 12. Nigerian Film Audiences on the Internet: Influences, Preferences and Contentions 13. "Don’t Tell Me You Want to Marry a White Man!": The Encounter with Euro-American Characters and Settings in African Commercial Cinema 14. Popular Culture and the Women Fandom of English Premier League Football in Eldoret, Kenya 15. Modelling Success: Women and Self-Making in Kenyan Digital Spaces 16. Recognizing LGBTQ+ Faces beyond the Mauritian Nation-State 17. Coding the City: Mapping Eco-Systems and Zones of Opportunity in Kinshasa’s Emerging Tech Scene 18. Matters of Kwaito and Why Kwaito Matters 19. Meaning and Multiplicity: Complexity and Play in Tanzanian Hip Hop 20. Politics and the Music Video in Nigeria 21. The Police is Your Friend: Instagram Comedy and the Defamiliarization of the Postcolonial State 22. "Di one Wey Dey Pain me Pass…!": Social Satire, Caricature and Mimicry in the Comic Act of AY 23. #ObinimStickerChallenge: Visual Mediations of Suspicion in Religious Prosumer Parody Media in Contemporary Ghana
£204.25
Taylor & Francis Routledge Handbook of Celebrity Studies
Book SynopsisOurs is the age of celebrity. An inescapable aspect of daily life in our media-saturated societies of the twenty-first century, celebrity is celebrated for its infinite plasticity and glossy seductions. But there is also a darker side. Celebrity culture is littered from end to end with addictions, pathologies, neuroses, even suicides. Why, as a society, are we held in thrall to celebrity? What is the power of celebrity in a world of increasing consumerism, individualism and globalization? Routledge Handbook of Celebrity Studies, edited by acclaimed social theorist Anthony Elliott, offers a remarkably clear overview of the analysis of celebrity in the social sciences and humanities, and in so doing seeks to develop a new agenda for celebrity studies. The key theories of celebrity, ranging from classical sociological accounts to critical theory, and from media studies to postmodern approaches, are drawn together and critically appraised. There are substantive chapters looking at fame, renown and celebrity in terms of the media industries, pop music, the makeover industries, soap stars, fans and fandom as well as the rise of non-Western forms of celebrity. The Handbook also explores in detail the institutional aspects of celebrity, and especially new forms of mediated action and interaction. From Web 3.0 to social media, the culture of celebrity is fast redefining the public political sphere. Throughout this volume, there is a strong emphasis on interdisciplinarity with chapters covering sociology, cultural studies, psychology, politics and history. Written in a clear and direct style, this handbook will appeal to a wide undergraduate audience. The extensive references and sources will direct students to areas of further study.Table of ContentsPart I: Theories and Concepts of Celebrity 1. Celebrity and Contemporary Culture: A Critical Analysis of Some Theoretical Accounts, Anthony Elliott and Ross Boyd 2. Celebrity’s Histories, Robert van Krieken 3. Celebrity in the Contemporary Era, Hannah Hamad 4. Postmodern Theories of Celebrity, Lee Barron 5. Cultural Studies and the Politics of Celebrity: From Powerless Elite to Celebristardom, Barry King 6. Celebrity and Religion, Kathryn Lofton Part II: The Culture of Celebrity 7. The Death of Celebrity: Global Grief, Manufactured Mourning, Anthony Elliott 8. Soap Stars, C. Lee Harrington 9. Celebrity, Fans and Fandom, Nick Stevenson 10. Celebrity in the Social Media Age: Renegotiating the Public and the Private, Anne Jerslev and Mette Mortensen Part III: Non-Western Celebrity 11. Victims, Bollywood and the Construction of a Cele-meme, Pramod K. Nayar 12. K-pop Idols, Artificial Beauty and Affective Fan Relationships in South Korea, Joanna Elfving-Hwang 13. ‘Idols’ in Japan, Asia and the World, Patrick W. Galbraith 14. Celebrity and Power in South America, Nahuel Ribke 15 Celebrity Philanthropy in China: Rethinking Cultural Studies’ ‘Big Citizen’ Critique, Elaine Jeffreys Part IV: The Conduits of Celebrity 16. Celebrity in the Age of Global Communication Networks, Olivier Driessens 17. Celebrity Involvement: Parasocial Interaction, Identification and Worship, William J. Brown 18. Celebrity, Reputational Capital and the Media Industries, Philip Drake 19. Human Rights, Democracy and Celebrity, Mark Wheeler 20. Drastic Plastic: Identity in The Age of Makeover, Anthony Elliott 21. The Great Gomez: John Astin in Conversation with Anthony Elliott
£43.99
Taylor & Francis Superdiversity
Book SynopsisSuperdiversity explores processes of diversification and the complex, emergent social configurations that now supersede prior forms of diversity in societies around the world. Migration plays a key role in these processes, bringing changes not just in social, cultural, religious, and linguistic phenomena, but also in the ways that these phenomena combine with others like gender, age, and legal status.The concept of superdiversity has been adopted by scholars across the social sciences in order to address a variety of forms, modes, and outcomes of diversification. Central to this field is the relationship between social categorization and social organization, including stratification and inequality. Increasingly complex categories of social âœdifferenceâ have significant impacts across scales, from entire societies to individual identities. While diversification is often met with simplifying stereotypes, threat narratives, and expressions of antagonism, superdiversity encourages a perspective on difference as comprising multiple social processes, flexible collective meanings, and overlapping personal and group identities. A superdiversity approach encourages the re-evaluation and recognition of social categories as multidimensional, unfixed, and porous as opposed to views based on hardened, one-dimensional thinking about groups. Diversification and increasing social complexity are bound to continue, if not intensify, in light of climate change. This will have profound impacts on the nature of global migration, social relations, and inequalities. Superdiversity presents a convincing case for recognizing new social formations created by changing migration patterns and calls for a re-thinking of public policy and social scientific approaches to social difference. This introduction to the multidisciplinary concept of superdiversity will be of considerable interest to students and researchers in a range of fields in the humanities and social sciences. The Open Access version of this book, available at www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license.Trade Review‘In Superdiversity, Steven Vertovec provides a tour de force elucidation of the concept he introduced in 2007, explaining that superdiversity entails much more than rising ethnic heterogeneity tied to immigration, but is instead rooted in a deeper complexification of human society wherein social categories are reconfigured to be multiple, flexible, and porous rather than static and fixed, yielding increasingly complex identities that social scientists and policy makers must recognize and accept.’ Douglas S. Massey, Henry G. Bryant Professor of Sociology and Public Affairs, Princeton University, USA‘Steven Vertovec’s concept of "superdiversity" is widely used across the social sciences for understanding social change. In this ambitious and most informative new book, the author specifies and updates his theory; responds to his critics; creates bridges with the interdisciplinary literatures on categorization, identity, and boundaries; and analyzes all we know about the responses and backlash to diversification. For all these reasons, this book is sure to be a "must read" for anyone interested in immigration, diversity, cosmopolitanism, racism, inequality, and related topics. I recommend it with much enthusiasm.’Michèle Lamont, Robert I. Goldman Professor of European Studies and Professor of Sociology and African American Studies, Harvard University, USA ‘A masterly account that takes us from the development of the superdiversity concept and its use in the social sciences to public responses to diversification. Vertovec’s well-written and insightful book is a must read for students and scholars who hope to understand changes in the nature of diversity in today’s world.’ Nancy Foner, Distinguished Professor of Sociology, Hunter College and Graduate Center, City University of New York, USA‘Superdiversity is now a key concept in research on cultural complexity. In this excellent, eagerly anticipated book, its originator explains and explores the implications of the current ‘diversification of diversity’, showing why diversity cannot be reduced to simple categories. It deserves to be read by everyone trying to make sense of the complex social realities of the contemporary world.’Thomas Hylland Eriksen, Professor of Social Anthropology, University of Oslo, NorwayTable of Contents1 Introduction 2 Super-Diversity and its Implications (2007) 3 The Many Meanings of Superdiversity 4 Diversifications 5 Responses to Diversification 6 Social Complexity 7 Conclusion
£35.99
Taylor & Francis Rethinking the Chicano Movement
Book SynopsisIn the 1960s and 1970s, an energetic new social movement emerged among Mexican Americans. Fighting for civil rights and celebrating a distinct ethnic identity, the Chicano Movement had a lasting impact on the United States, from desegregation to bilingual education.Rethinking the Chicano Movement provides an astute and accessible introduction to this vital grassroots movement. Bringing together different fields of research, this comprehensive yet concise narrative considers the Chicano Movement as a national, not just regional, phenomenon, and places it alongside the other important social movements of the era. Rodriguez details the many different facets of the Chicano movement, including college campuses, third-party politics, media, and art, and traces the development and impact of one of the most important post-WWII social movements in the United States.Trade Review"With Rethinking the Chicano Movement, Marc Simon Rodriguez has artfully placed El Movimiento into its rightful place in American civil rights history. Rethinking is a critical addition to the undergraduate classroom, a significant reinterpretation of the movement’s legacy, and an exceptional read for anyone interested in Mexican American and civil rights history. This book is a must read."—Michael Innis-Jiménez, author of Steel Barrio: Mexican Migration to South Chicago, 1915-1940"This book offers a compelling narrative of the Chicano movement, bringing to light its broad history, successes and limitations, as well as much new information on the struggle. Rethinking the Chicano Movement is a tremendously ambitious and important work."—Brian D. Behnken, author of Fighting Their Own Battles: Mexican Americans, African Americans, and the Struggle for Civil Rights in Texas"Rodriguez has written an interesting and fresh interpretation of the Chicano movement of the late 1960s and early 1970s. It is an exciting book combining dramatic chapters with an insightful and balanced analysis. Historians will welcome this superbly rendered synthesis. It is ideally suited for students seeking to understand the social ferment that surrounded the Chicano struggle for equality and justice."—Zaragosa Vargas, author of Crucible of Struggle: A History of Mexican America from Colonial Times to the PresentTable of ContentsIntroduction: Mexican Americanism and the Long Chicano MovementChapter 1: A Growing Militancy: The Farm Workers in California and Political Activism in TexasChapter 2: The New Urban Politics: Chicanos and The War on PovertyChapter 3: Youth and the Campus: Chicano Students and Chicano EducationChapter 4: News and the Movement: Newspapers and Ideas in the Chicano MovementChapter 5: Art and the Movement: Chicano Murals and Community SpaceConclusion: Rethinking to Move ForwardBibliography
£43.99
Taylor & Francis Ltd Belonging
Book SynopsisWhat does it mean to call a place home? Who is allowed to become a member of a community? When can we say that we truly belong? These are some of the questions of place and belonging that renowned cultural critic bell hooks examines in her new book, Belonging: A Culture of Place. Traversing past and present, Belonging charts a cyclical journey in which hooks moves from place to place, from country to city and back again, only to end where she began--her old Kentucky home. hooks has written provocatively about race, gender, and class; and in this book she turns her attention to focus on issues of land and land ownership. Reflecting on the fact that 90% of all black people lived in the agrarian South before mass migration to northern cities in the early 1900s, she writes about black farmers, about black folks who have been committed both in the past and in the present to local food production, to being organic, and to finding solace in nature. Naturally, it would be impossible to contemplate these issues without thinking about the politics of race and class. Reflecting on the racism that continues to find expression in the world of real estate, she writes about segregation in housing and economic racialized zoning. In these critical essays, hooks finds surprising connections that link of the environment and sustainability to the politics of race and class that reach far beyond Kentucky.With characteristic insight and honesty, Belonging offers a remarkable vision of a world where all people--wherever they may call home--can live fully and well, where everyone can belong. Table of Contents1. PREFACE: to know where I’m going2. kentucky is my fate3. mountains: consumed by suffering4. touching the earth5. reclamation and reconciliation6. to be whole and holy7. again – segregation must end8. representations of whiteness in the black imagination9. drive through tobacco10. earthbound: on solid ground11. an aesthetics of blackness: strange and oppositional12. inspired eccentricity13. a place where the soul can rest14. aesthetic inheritances: history worked by hand15. piecing it all together16. on being a kentucky writer17. returning to the wound18. healing talk: a conversation19. take back the night – remake the present20. habits of the heart21. a community of care
£27.99
Taylor & Francis We Real Cool
Book SynopsisWhen women get together and talk about men, the news is almost always bad news, writes bell hooks. If the topic gets specific and the focus is on black men, the news is even worse.In this powerful new book, bell hooks arrests our attention from the first page. Her title--We Real Cool; her subject--the way in which both white society and weak black leaders are failing black men and youth. Her subject is taboo: this is a culture that does not love black males: they are not loved by white men, white women, black women, girls or boys. And especially, black men do not love themselves. How could they? How could they be expected to love, surrounded by so much envy, desire, and hate?Trade Review"We Real Cool is a slim book, but it's fat (or phat) with ideas on how to encourage black men to be their real selves in the truest sense of the word." -- Karen Grigsby Bates, Ms. Winter"I read the first page of the preface holding my nose because I am sick of listening to others tell me who I am. I am out of patience with being the topic of someone's ill-informed master's thesis, dissertation, newspaper feature and magazine article. As I read on, though, Hooks put me at ease with her insight, honesty and clear prose...hooks writes to bring attention to the crossroads at which the black male stands. On one side is his very survival and perhaps his redemption. On the other is his enduring marginalization and even extinction." -- Bill Maxwell, St. Petersburg Times"The black American feminist writer-critic and social commentator bell hooks is strong meat. Take the way she spells her name, militantly lower case. She uses terms that can scare the horses: imperialist white-supremacist capitalist patriarchy. It can never be said of this writer that she doesn't set her shop-stall up right from the beginning. In her latest work, We Real Cool: BlackMen and Masculinity, hooks states in the preface that these incendiary terms are her terms of reference." -- The IndependentTable of Contents1. Preface: about black men: don't believe the hype2. chapter 1: plantation patriarchy3. chapter 2: gangsta culture: a piece of the action4. chapter 3: schooling black men5. chapter 4: don't make me hurt you: black male violence6. chapter 5: it's a dick thing: beyond sexual acting out7. chapter 6: from angry boys to angry me8. chapter 7: waiting for daddy to come home9. chapter 8: doing the love do10. chapter 9: healing the hurt11. chapter 10: the coolness of being real
£35.99
Basic Books Play Anything
Book SynopsisPlay Anything is nothing short of brilliant... I will be recommending this provocative and entertaining book to everyone I know. u- Jane McGonigal, bestselling author of Reality is Broken and SuperBetter ife is boring: filled with meetings and traffic, errands and emails. Nothing we''d ever call fun . But what if we''ve gotten fun wrong? In Play Anything, visionary game designer and philosopher Ian Bogost shows how we can overcome our daily anxiety transforming the boring, ordinary world around us into one of endless, playful possibilities.The key to this playful mindset lies in discovering the secret truth of fun and games. Play Anything, reveals that games appeal to us not because they are fun, but because they set limitations . Soccer wouldn''t be soccer if it wasn''t composed of two teams of eleven players using only their feet, heads, and torsos to get a ball into a goal Tetris wouldn''t be Tetris without falling pieces in characteristic shapes. Such rules seem needless, arbitrary, and difficult. Yet it is the limitations that make games enjoyable, just like it''s the hard things in life that give it meaning. Play is what happens when we accept these limitations, narrow our focus, and, consequently, have fun. Which is also how to live a good life. Manipulating a soccer ball into a goal is no different than treating ordinary circumstances, like grocery shopping, lawn mowing, and making PowerPoints,as sources for meaning and joy. We can play anything by filling our days with attention and discipline, devotion and love for the world as it really is, beyond our desires and fears.Ranging from Internet culture to moral philosophy, ancient poetry to modern consumerism, Bogost shows us how today''s chaotic world can only be tamed,and enjoyed,when we first impose boundaries on ourselves. An essential read for those seeking to understand how a new idea of play can be positive for our lives. u- Library Journal (STARRED review) /u Play Anything is a profound book: both a striking assessment of our current cultural landscape, and at the same time a smart self-improvement guide, teaching us the virtues of a life lived playfully. u- Steven Johnson, author of How We Got To Now and Everything Bad Is Good For You /uTrade Review"Proposing an aesthetic of play, [Bogost] draws on myriad examples, from golf to the task of watering his lawn to his daughter's self-directed rules of 'step on a crack, break your mother's back.' ...[the] idea-driven prose of PLAY ANYTHING might remind you of the applied-philosophy tactics of an Alain de Botton... demonstrate[s] the importance of thoughtful, serious criticism on gaming and play." -New York Times Book Review "Of all the books on this list, this may be the hardest to describe, and in my assessment that was an asset. The year saw a few new entries in the 'Tackle life's challenges like a game' category, a thesis that's gaining momentum, but this book goes deeper than most via an enlightening discussion of the role of limits in both games and life. Bogost strikes me as equal parts philosopher and savant game enthusiast-a systems thinker with a penchant for high score formulas-and I'm glad he wrote Play Anything because it's causing me to look at problems in a different way. Read it and I think you'll see why."-Dan DiSalvo, Forbes.com, Best Brain Books of 2016 "An erudite and often amusing book." -Wall Street Journal "Play Anything isn't really just an argument for turning dull tasks into games. It's a manifesto for a different attitude to the world." -Guardian (UK) "I can tell you that a great way to have fun with the job of writing a book review-to play while writing it-is by pursuing it earnestly and seriously as a book review. A humble, highly constrained genre. You tell people about the book. You tell them whether you think it's worth reading. (Yes.) And then, instead of allowing your ego to ruin everything by trying to make it cool, you move on in search of the next playground." -Slate "Part personal meditation, part guide to living a happier life, Play Anything is a Walden for the 2010s." -New Scientist "Play Anything is a one-stop workshop for how to play in the 21st century... a manifesto, and it declares that more recess is good for the soul. Maybe pick this one up in your off-time." -San Francisco Book Review "Empowering, fresh, and engaged." -Kill Screen "For anyone who cares or works with or thinks about things like fun, enjoyment, happiness, play, and games, Play Anything is a conceptual thrill ride. Poetic. Deeply philosophical. Refreshingly insightful. It will challenge almost everything that you think you know about play, and then lift you towards a new and remarkably freeing perspective on everything else." -Deep Fun "An essential read for those seeking to understand how a new idea of play can be positive for our lives." -Library Journal, starred review "[Bogost's] arguments are thoughtful and useful for approaching ordinary experiences. A delightful book that promotes playfulness with a purpose." -Kirkus Reviews "It's difficult to imagine a book that takes on David Foster Wallace, Barry Schwartz, Mary Poppins, and a host of philosophers under one premise. Yet Bogost, professor of interactive computing at the Georgia Institute of Technology and founding partner at a video games company, has done so." -Publishers Weekly "Play Anything is nothing short of brilliant. It proves that philosophy can fun, that fun can be profound, and that play is in fact the bridge that connects what is most meaningful and what is most pleasurable in our daily lives. I will be recommending this provocative and entertaining book to everyone I know." -Jane McGonigal, bestselling author of Reality is Broken and SuperBetter "This is one of those books that blossoms: now tacking through intellectual history, now seizing on philosophical argument, now touched by memoir. At its hybrid heart, you'll find the meaning of 'play,' as well as 'fun,' and maybe even 'life.' Maybe you pick it up because, like me, you're a fan of Ian Bogost's essays, or maybe because you've enjoyed one of his previous books. No matter how you approach it, Play Anything will surprise you. You'll realize: this is a book with big ambitions, carrying a theory of the world that is covertly radical and, by the end, nothing short of thrilling." -Robin Sloan, bestselling author of Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore "A landmark. Play Anything is a humane and personal theory of play for the supermodern age. Full of fascinating insight and fresh perspective, Play Anything shows how play serves as a fundamental tool for examining the world around us. Through play we limit, focus, constrain and experiment into order to bring certain aspects of our world to the fore while allowing others to recede. As the basis both for creativity and for well-being, as well as the antidote to detached irony, play is how we all recognize our Davids, big and small, from the infinite blocks of marble all around us." -Stewart Butterfield, CEO of Slack Technologies "Play Anything is a profound book: both a striking assessment of our current cultural landscape, and at the same time a smart self-improvement guide, teaching us the virtues of a life lived playfully." -Steven Johnson, bestselling author of How We Got to Now and Everything Bad is Good for YouTable of ContentsPreface: Life is Not a Game 1. Everywhere, Playgrounds 2. Ironoia, the Mistrust of Things 3. Fun Isn't Pleasure, It's Novelty 4. Play Is in Things, Not in You 5. From Restraint to Constraint 6. The Pleasure of Limits 7. The Opposite of Happiness Conclusion: Living with Things
£28.50
John Wiley & Sons Inc Alice in Wonderland and Philosophy Curiouser and
Book SynopsisThe perfect companion to Lewis Carroll's classic book and director Tim Burton's remake of Alice in Wonderland releasing in March 2010 Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is treasured by people of all ages who have followed young Alice on her trip down a rabbit hole and into a fantasy world filled with strange and whimsical characters.Table of ContentsACKNOWLEDGMENTS: “It’s My Own Invention”— Yeah, Right! ix Introduction: You’re Late for a Very Important Date 1 PART ONE “WAKE UP, ALICE DEAR” 1 Unruly Alice: A Feminist View of Some Adventures in Wonderland 7Megan S. Lloyd 2 Jam Yesterday, Jam Tomorrow, but Never Jam Today: On Procrastination, Hiking, and . . . the Spice Girls? 19Mark D. White 3 Nuclear Strategists in Wonderland 33Ron Hirschbein 4 “You’re Nothing but a Pack of Cards!”: Alice Doesn’t Have a Social Contract 47Dennis Knepp PART TWO “THAT’S LOGIC” 5 “Six Impossible Things before Breakfast” 61George A. Dunn and Brian McDonald 6 Reasoning Down the Rabbit-Hole: Logical Lessons in Wonderland 79David S. Brown 7 Three Ways of Getting It Wrong: Induction in Wonderland 93Brendan Shea 8 Is There Such a Thing as a Language? 107Daniel Whiting PART THREE “WE’RE ALL MAD HERE” 9 Alice, Perception, and Reality: Jell-O Mistaken for Stones 125Robert Arp 10 How Deep Does the Rabbit-Hole Go?: Drugs and Dreams, Perception and Reality 137Scott F. Parker 11 Perspectivism and Tragedy: A Nietzschean Interpretation of Alice’s Adventure 153Rick Mayock 12 Wishing It Were Some Other Time: The Temporal Passage of Alice 167Mark W. Westmoreland PART FOUR “WHO IN THE WORLD AM I?”13 Serious Nonsense 183Charles Taliaferro and Elizabeth Olson 14 “Memory and Muchness”: Alice and the Philosophy of Memory 197Tyler Shores CONTRIBUTORS: Pawns and Pieces: As Arranged before Commencement of Game 213 INDEX: “Down, Down, Down”: What You Will Find at the Bottom 219
£15.15
Thames & Hudson Ltd In the Black Fantastic
Book SynopsisPublished to coincide with an exhibition at the Hayward Gallery, London, this is an expressive exploration of Black popular culture at its most wildly imaginative, artistically ambitious and politically urgent. In the Black Fantastic assembles art and imagery from across the African diaspora that embraces ideas of the mythic and the speculative. Neither Afrofuturism nor Magic Realism, but inhabiting its own universe, In the Black Fantastic brings to life a cultural movement that conjures otherworldly visions out of the everyday Black experience â and beyond â looking at how speculative fictions in Black art and culture are boldly reimagining perspectives on race, gender, identity and the body in the 21st century. Transcending time, space and genre to span art, design, fashion architecture, film, literature and popular culture from African myth to future fantasies and beyond, this vital, timely and compelling publication is an expressive exploration of Black popular culture Table of ContentsForeword by Ralph Rugoff, Director of The Hayward Gallery Introduction: The Black Fantastic Chapter 1 Invocation: A Summoning of Spirits Extract 1: Old Slavery Seen Through Modern Eyes: Octavia E. Butler’s Kindred and Haile Gerima’s Sankofa, by Adriano Elia African Cosmologies and Black Feminism, by Kameelah Martin Chapter 2 Migration: Journeys Across Sea and Space Extract 2: Afronauts: Race in Space, by Ian Bourland The Space for Race, by Michelle Commander Chapter 3 Liberation: Dreams of Freedom Extract 3: Afrofutures: Africa and the Aesthetics of Black Revolution, by Tobias Wofford Film, Play and Reading Lists
£28.00
Thames and Hudson Ltd The 1980s
Book SynopsisTravel back in time with this era-defining book. Start with the exuberance of graffiti, breakdancing and boom boxes on the subway, the beeps and bloops of new electronic game consoles, and Jane Fonda's pastel leotards and legwarmers. Skip forward from the first space shuttle to the first episode of The Simpsons, from Jean-Michel Basquiat to Gordon Gekko, from shoulder pads to smiley faces. Witness the establishment of an assertive new gay culture and club scene, the unrivalled global gathering of the Live Aid concerts, and the equally strident fight against apartheid. Listen to the reverberation of cultural decibels rising across the globe and shaking society's foundations, from Madrid's La Movida to the Soviet Union's Perestroika and the fall of the Berlin Wall. Welcome to the 1980s.
£36.00
Thames & Hudson Ltd Is Our Food Killing Us
Book SynopsisA thought-provoking dissection of the ways in which the production and consumption of food have become harmful to our personal, societal and environmental health.Table of ContentsIntroduction • Chapter 1: The Evolution of an Epidemic • Chapter 2: The Health Hazards of Processed Food • Chapter 3: The Dark Side of Industrial Food • Chapter 4: Back to Health • Conclusion
£11.69
Faber & Faber Robert Mitchum
Book SynopsisA bona fide tough guy with soulful eyes and a laconic style, Robert Mitchum was one of Hollywood''s best-loved actors, star of such moody film noir favourites as Out of the Past, Night of the Hunter and Cape Fear, as well as enduring classics like Angel Face and Crossfire. But, as Lee Server now reveals, Mitchum was one of the few Hollywood icons whose real-life exploits were yet more compelling than his on-screen persona. A hobo in the Depression, he fell into movie acting after stints as a boxer, a beach bum and a songwriter. Despite early Hollywood successes, he was famously busted on a narcotics rap. But even prison couldn''t tame Mitchum''s taste for living on the wild side, and he remained an unrepentant misbehaver until the end of his days. In this biography of Robert Mitchum, Lee Server offers the definitive life story of a man who redefined cinematic cool.Trade Review'Lee Server's thorough work gives Mitchum the biography he deserves, and consolidates his reputation as one of the very best.' Guardian; 'This is a book you can wallow in. You're never far from a fight or a steamy romance or a drinking binge - Robert Mitchum, after all, was like a Robert Mitchum character.' New Statesman; 'Server has accumulated plenty of intriguing details about Mitchum's life, and his style parallels the laid-back character of his subject.' Sunday Express; 'Some guy. And this is some book... Server is the best kind of biographer, a fan who doesn't let his admiration get in the way of telling the truth'. Scotland on Sunday
£14.24
In Case of Emergency Press Batmanticism
Book Synopsis
£11.24
Harvard University Press Understanding Korean Webtoon Culture
Book SynopsisThe rise of webtoons has altered the Korean cultural market due to the growth of transmedia storytelling—the flow of a story from the original text to various other platforms, such as films, television, and games. Understanding Korean Webtoon Culture demonstrates the dynamics between structural forces and textual engagement in global media.Trade ReviewAs the first book-length study of webtoons, Jin’s monograph has a lot to offer to scholars and students interested in cultural globalization and media convergence in relation to digital technologies. The book is well-written and a joy to read. Any reader, with or without relative academic background, can benefit from it. -- Haixia Man * International Journal of Communication *
£18.86
Princeton University Press Hirstisms
Book Synopsis
£12.34
Duckworth Books Elvis Has Left the Building The Day the King Died
Book SynopsisInElvis Has Left the Building, Dylan Jones takes us back to those heady days around the time of his death and the rise of Punk Rock.Trade Review'As a writer, he has an effortless style with an unerring instinct for the absurd and the noteworthy' Independent'Jones is a wonderfully fluent writer, with a terrific knack for atmospheric phrasemaking, period detail and juicy factoids' Daily Telegraph
£9.49
Gill The Rorys Stories Guide to Being Irish
Book SynopsisBased on the hugely successful social media account, The Rory's Stories Guide to Being Irish
£12.59
Gill Going Back
Book SynopsisA heartwarming debut that continues the story of the hit RTÉ TV series Pure Mule, which captured the whole world in one small Irish town.Scobie Donoghue was once the king of Friday, Saturday and Sunday night, famous for the craic and the drink. His twenties were spent working on building sites during the Celtic Tiger, making good money and spending it on wild weekends. A lovable rogue, the lads wanted to be him and the girls wanted to be with him.But now, returning from Australia after the break-down of his relationship, Scobie is back in the single bed of his childhood home. About to turn forty, burnt out and depressed, he quickly discovers that life in the small midlands town he thought he had left behind has moved on but has Scobie?Just like Normal People, Pure Mule captured the zeitgeist at a pivotal time in modern Ireland.' Roscommon Herald
£16.19
Penguin Books Ltd People at Work The Rock Star Ladybirds for
Book SynopsisTrade ReviewHilarious * Stylist *
£7.59
John Wiley and Sons Ltd YouTube
Book SynopsisYouTube is now firmly established as the dominant platform for online video, and it continues to be a site of both experimentation and conflict among media industries, creators and audiences. First published in 2009, this was the first book to take YouTube seriously as a media and cultural phenomenon.
£16.14
Ebury Publishing Extremely Online
Book Synopsis''A terrific history of the online creator economy.'' The New York Times''This book is about a revolution. It has radically upended how we''ve understood and interacted with our world. It has demolished traditional barriers and empowered millions who were previously marginalized. It has created vast new sectors of our economy, while devastating legacy institutions. It is often dismissed by traditionalists as a vacant fad, when in fact it is the greatest and most disruptive change in modern capitalism.''Acclaimed Washington Post reporter Taylor Lorenz presents a groundbreaking social history of the internet-revealing how online influence and the creators who amass it have reshaped our world, online and off.For over a decade, Taylor Lorenz has been the authority on internet culture, documenting its far-reaching effects on all corners of our lives. Her reporting is serious yet entertaining and illuminates deep truths about ourselves and the Trade ReviewThis astute debut from Lorenz, a Washington Post technology columnist, traces the tumultuous history of social media from the early 2000s to the present.... Lorenz accomplishes the difficult feat of wrangling a cogent narrative out of the unruliness of social media, while offering smart insight into how platforms affect their users.... It's a powerful assessment of how logging on has changed the world. * Publishers Weekly *An expansive look at how social platforms have radically altered literally every aspect of our lives. * Dazed *A terrific history of the online creator economy. * The New York Times *If you want to understand what is happening on the internet, you start by reading Taylor Lorenz. * Bloomberg *A leading voice on social-media trends and internet culture. * The Economist *
£16.14
Workman Publishing Prison Ramen
Book SynopsisThese recipes make me smile and laugh out loud with joy, memory, and awe at their total culinary genius. All born from a bond of pure hunger?Samuel L. Jackson, from the Foreword When you're in prison, a little money in the commissary can mean the difference between a life of flavorless misery and the pleasure of re-creating a taste of childhood. And it starts with Ramen. Filled with contributions from anonymous inmates as well as names you'll recognize, such as guitarist Slash and actors Danny Trejo, Taryn Manning, and Shia LaBeouf, Prison Ramen is an original collection of inspired Ramen hacks: Hit Man Burritos. Sloppy Ramen Joe. Onion Tortilla Ramen Soup. Shawshank Spread. And Orange Porkies: Chile ramen + white rice + 1 bag pork skins + orange-flavored punch. Firsthand stories of life in prison, told by each of the contributors, go a long way to explaining the joy of doctoring a bag of Ramen. A joy you can now re-create in the freedom of your own kitchen.
£12.44
Running Press I Love Lucy Lucy Ricardo Talking Bobble Figurine
Book SynopsisBring the magic of I Love Lucy, the beloved, classic television show, to your home or office with this charming, one-of-a-kind talking bobble figurine of the iconic Lucy Ricardo!Display your love of all things Lucy with this talking figurine of the show''s leading lady!This kit includes:* Full-color Lucy Ricardo bobble figurine on I Love Lucy-branded base. When pressed, the base says classic Lucy phrases from throughout the show''s run.* A mini book featuring black-and-white and full-color photography from I Love Lucy throughout.
£10.49
Running Press,U.S. Harry Potter Patronus Guided Journal and
Book SynopsisExpecto Patronum! This officially licensed Wizarding World gift set includes a Patronus-themed journal, stickers, and deluxe inspiration cards. Interactive Journal: This guided journal is packed with writing and drawing prompts, quotes, behind-the-scenes stories, and illustrations, as well as open space for journaling; book is 4-1/4 x 5-3/4 inches and includes foil stamping on the cover Stunning Artwork: Cards featuring stunning new artwork Glow-In-The-Dark Cards: Set includes 11 Patronus cards, featuring new art, silver gilded edges, and glow-in-the-dark ink; cards are 3 x 5 inches Stickers Included: Set comes with vinyl stickers printed with metallic ink Keepsake Box: Set packaged in a full-color printed box with magnetic closure, size 6-3/8 (L) x 5 (W) x 2 (H) inches Perfect Gift: A unique gift for fans of the Wizarding World Officially Licensed: Authentic Wizarding World collectible
£17.94
Running Press,U.S. Bob Ross Oracle
Book SynopsisIconic painter Bob Ross offers inspiration for all of life''s happy accidents in this oracle deck and guidebook!- Gorgeously Illustrated: Each of the 40 cards in this oracle deck is vibrantly illustrated with original artwork by Alex Fine, all inspired by Bob Ross, his paintings, and his painting tools. Let The Artist card help you embrace your unique self, The Hair card remind you that what might be a perceived weakness is actually a hidden strength, and The Squirrel card be a warning that you should always prepare for the future. These and many more Bob Ross oracles appear in this one-of-a-kind set celebrating the iconic TV painter.- Deluxe Set: This set includes 40 full-color illustrated cards (3 x 5 inches); an 88-page, full-color illustrated paperback book (3 x 5 inches); and a keepsake magnetic-closure box.- Fully Illustrated Oracle Guidebook: This set includes a full-color illustrated companion book to the card deck, providing t
£16.05
Running Press Bubble Tea Magnets
Book SynopsisTilt the bubble tea magnets and watch the tapioca pearls move! Express your love of the popular drink with this keepsake set that includes 8 magnets and a mini guidebook.- DELUXE MAGNETS WITH MOVING LIQUID AND BOBA: This set includes 8 full-color, originally-illustrated magnets, each featuring a different flavor of bubble tea (Classic Milk, Taro, Matcha, Stawberry, Thai, Brown Sugar, Mango, and Winter Melon).- BOOK INCLUDED: Learn about the history of bubble tea and its resonance in contemporary pop culture in the enclosed 48-page, fully-illustrated mini book. - A UNIQUE GIFT: Perfect as a self-purchase or gift buy for someone who loves bubble tea, people of all ages and abilities will appreciate this adorable set.
£8.97
Running Press Trash Animals Magnet Set
Book SynopsisTrash Pandas, Trash Cats, Bin Chickens, oh my! Give yourself-or someone you know-the gift of cuteness when everything around you feels like trash with this adorably quirky magnet set! - Interactive Magnet Set: Includes a double-sided illustrated back drop and 25 magnets of raccoons, possums, pigeons, and other cute trash animals to create your own scenes- Illustrated Mini Book Included: Learn more about these trash-loving creatures in the 48-page, 2-1/2 x 3 illustrated mini book- A Unique Gift: A perfect humorous gift for those who love trash animals or who sometimes feel like life is a trash can in need of raiding
£10.98
Running Press,U.S. Gudetama Youre EggCellent
Book SynopsisLet your loved ones know-the Gudetama way-just how much they mean to you with this unique and customizable fill-in-the-blank book full of charming expressions of love and apathy. Once you fill in the prompts, it becomes a personalized gift for your favourite friend or significant other. This egg-cellent book features full-colour illustrations throughout.
£8.54
