Search results for ""Author Sam"

“Marsh makes commendable use of the scant documentary evidence to piece together Hannah Freeman’s life. Her painstaking efforts to give Hannah a voice are impressive.” ―Thomas Britten, The HistorianOn July 28, 1797, an elderly Lenape woman stood before the newly appointed almsman of Pennsylvania’s Chester County and delivered a brief account of her life. In a sad irony, Hannah Freeman was establishing her residency—a claim that paved the way for her removal to the poorhouse. Ultimately, however, it meant final removal from the ancestral land she had so tenaciously maintained. Thus was William Penn’s “peaceable kingdom” preserved. A Lenape among the Quakers reconstructs Freeman’s history, from the days of her grandmothers before European settlement to the beginning of the nineteenth century. The story that emerges is one of persistence and resilience, as “Indian Hannah” negotiates life with the Quaker neighbors who employ her, entrust their children to her, seek out her healing skills, and, when she is weakened by sickness and age, care for her. Yet these are the same neighbors whose families then dispossess her own.Fascinating in its own right, Freeman’s life is also remarkable as a unique account of a Native American woman in a colonial community during a time of dramatic transformation and upheaval. In particular, it expands our understanding of colonial history and the Native experience that history often renders silent.

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In the blink of a summer, Bea goes from having a best friend and a place she belongs to being dropped and invisible, eating lunch alone and only talking to teachers. The end of sixth grade and the start of Camp Amelia can't come soon enough.But then the worst part of school, ex-best friend Maisy, shows up in Bea's safe place and ruins it all. Maisy lands in the same bunk as Bea and summer suddenly seems dire. Never having camped a day in her life, Maisy agrees: it's hopeless. She should be at home, spending time with her little sister and hanging out with her super popular crew of friends--not at this stupid adventure camp failing everything and being hated by everyone. In a desperate bid to belong, Maisy offers Bea a deal: if Bea helps her fit in at the camp, she will get Bea into the M & M's, their town's popular clique, when they enter seventh grade in the fall. The Popularity Pact is born.Written by an alumna of Sarah Lawrence College's The Writing Institute, The Popularity Pact: Camp Clique is the first part of an exciting new middle grade duology that deals with coming of age, friendship between girls, and the power of trust. The novel's engaging but accessible style is sure to lend it broad appeal and make it a success.

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Why do some leaders and segments of the public display remarkable persistence in confrontations in international politics, while others cut and run? The answer given by policymakers, pundits, and political scientists usually relates to issues of resolve. Yet, though we rely on resolve to explain almost every phenomenon in international politics—from prevailing at the bargaining table to winning on the battlefield—we don't understand what it is, how it works, or where it comes from. Resolve in International Politics draws on a growing body of research in psychology and behavioral economics to explore the foundations of this important idea.Joshua Kertzer argues that political will is more than just a metaphor or figure of speech: the same traits social scientists and decision-making scholars use to comprehend willpower in our daily lives also shape how we respond to the costs of war and conflict. Combining laboratory and survey experiments with studies of great power military interventions in the postwar era from 1946 to 2003, Kertzer shows how time and risk preferences, honor orientation, and self-control help explain the ways leaders and members of the public define the situations they face and weigh the trade-offs between the costs of fighting and the costs of backing down.Offering a novel in-depth look at how willpower functions in international relations, Resolve in International Politics has critical implications for understanding political psychology, public opinion about foreign policy, leaders in military interventions, and international security.

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Many developing countries have a history of highly centralized governments. Since the late 1980s, a large number of these governments have introduced decentralization to increase democracy and improve services, especially in small communities far from capital cities. In Going Local, an unprecedented study of the effects of decentralization on thirty Mexican municipalities, Merilee Grindle describes how local governments respond when they are assigned new responsibilities and resources under decentralization policies. She explains why decentralization leads to better local governments in some cases--and why it fails to in others. Combining quantitative and qualitative methods, Grindle examines data based on a random sample of Mexican municipalities--and ventures into town halls to follow public officials as they seek to manage a variety of tasks amid conflicting pressures and new expectations. Decentralization, she discovers, is a double-edged sword. While it allows public leaders to make significant reforms quickly, institutional weaknesses undermine the durability of change, and legacies of the past continue to affect how public problems are addressed. Citizens participate, but they are more successful at extracting resources from government than in holding local officials and agencies accountable for their actions. The benefits of decentralization regularly predicted by economists, political scientists, and management specialists are not inevitable, she argues. Rather, they are strongly influenced by the quality of local leadership and politics.

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Much has changed for the priests at the Minakshi Temple, one of the most famous Hindu temples in India. In The Renewal of the Priesthood, C. J. Fuller traces their improving fortunes over the past 25 years. This fluidly written book is unique in showing that traditionalism and modernity are actually reinforcing each other among these priests, a process in which the state has played a crucial role. Since the mid-1980s, growing urban affluence has seen more people spend more money on rituals in the Minakshi Temple, which is in the southern city of Madurai. The priests have thus become better-off, and some have also found new earnings opportunities in temples as far away as America. During the same period, due partly to growing Hindu nationalism in India, the Tamilnadu state government's religious policies have become more favorable toward Hinduism and Brahman temple priests. More priests' sons now study in religious schools where they learn authoritative Sanskrit ritual texts by heart, and overall educational standards have markedly improved. Fuller shows that the priests have become more "professional" and modern-minded while also insisting on the legitimacy of tradition. He concludes by critiquing the analysis of modernity and tradition in social science. In showing how the priests are authentic representatives of modern India, this book tells a story whose significance extends far beyond the confines of the Minakshi Temple itself.

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Robert A. Ferguson investigates the nature of loneliness in American fiction, from its mythological beginnings in Rip Van Winkle to the postmodern terrors of 9/11. At issue is the dark side of a trumpeted American individualism. The theme is a vital one because a greater percentage of people live alone today than at any other time in U.S. history.The many isolated characters in American fiction, Ferguson says, appeal to us through inward claims of identity when pitted against the social priorities of a consensual culture. They indicate how we might talk to ourselves when the same pressures come our way. In fiction, more visibly than in life, defining moments turn on the clarity of an inner conversation.Alone in America tests the inner conversations that work and sometimes fail. It examines the typical elements and moments that force us toward a solitary state—failure, betrayal, change, defeat, breakdown, fear, difference, age, and loss—in their ascending power over us. It underlines the evolving answers that famous figures in literature have given in response. Figures like Mark Twain’s Huck Finn and Toni Morrison’s Sethe and Paul D., or Louisa May Alcott’s Jo March and Marilynne Robinson’s John Ames, carve out their own possibilities against ruthless situations that hold them in place. Instead of trusting to often superficial social remedies, or taking thin sustenance from the philosophy of self-reliance, Ferguson says we can learn from our fiction how to live alone.

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As Americans, we believe there ought to be a level playing field for everyone. Even if we don’t expect to finish first, we do expect a fair start. Only in sports have African Americans actually found that elusive level ground. But at the same time, black players offer an ironic perspective on the athlete-hero, for they represent a group historically held to be without social honor.In his first new collection of sports essays since Tuxedo Junction (1989), the noted cultural critic Gerald Early investigates these contradictions as they play out in the sports world and in our deeper attitudes toward the athletes we glorify. Early addresses a half-century of heated cultural issues ranging from integration to the use of performance-enhancing drugs. Writing about Jackie Robinson and Curt Flood, he reconstructs pivotal moments in their lives and explains how the culture, politics, and economics of sport turned with them. Taking on the subtexts, racial and otherwise, of the controversy over remarks Rush Limbaugh made about quarterback Donovan McNabb, Early restores the political consequence to an event most commentators at the time approached with predictable bluster. The essays in this book circle around two perennial questions: What other, invisible contests unfold when we watch a sporting event? What desires and anxieties are encoded in our worship of (or disdain for) high-performance athletes?These essays are based on the Alain Locke lectures at Harvard University’s Du Bois Institute.

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Mammals first evolved at about the same time as dinosaurs, and their story is perhaps the more fascinating of the two - in part because it is also our own story. In this literate and entertaining book, eminent naturalist David Rains Wallace brings the saga of ancient mammals to a general audience for the first time. Using artist Rudolph Zallinger's majestic The Age of Mammals mural at the Peabody Museum as a frame for his narrative, Wallace deftly moves over varied terrain - drawing from history, science, evolutionary theory, and art history - to present a lively account of fossil discoveries and an overview of what those discoveries have revealed about early mammals and their evolution. In these pages we encounter towering mammoths, tiny horses, giant-clawed ground sloths, whales with legs, uintatheres, zhelestids, and other exotic extinct creatures as well as the scientists who discovered and wondered about their remains. We meet such memorable figures as Georges Cuvier, Richard Owen, Edward D. Cope, George Gaylord Simpson, and Stephen Jay Gould and learn of their heated disputes, from Cuvier's and Owen's fights with early evolutionists to present controversies over the Late Cretaceous mass extinction. Wallace's own lifelong interest in evolution is reflected in the book's evocative and engaging style and in the personal experiences he expertly weaves into the tale, providing an altogether expansive perspective on what Darwin described as the 'grandeur' of evolution.

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The Routledge International Encyclopedia of Queer Culture covers gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and queer (GLBTQ) life and culture post-1945, with a strong international approach to the subject.The scope of the work is extremely comprehensive, with entries falling into the broad categories of Dance, Education, Film, Health, Homophobia, the Internet, Literature, Music, Performance, and Politics. Slang is also covered. The international contributors come from a wide array of backgrounds: scholars, journalists, artists, doctors, scientists, lawyers, activists, and an enormous range of ideologies and points of view are represented. Major entries provide in-depth information and consider the intellectual and cultural implications of their subjects in a global context. Information is completely up-to-date, including full coverage and analysis of such current or ongoing issues as same-sex marriage/civil union and the international AIDS epidemic. Additionally, there are important appendices covering international sodomy laws and archival institutions, which will be of great value to researchers. The Encyclopedia is fully cross-referenced and many entries carry a bibliography. Where possible internet references have been given and there is a full index.The combination of its wide scope, determined international coverage and appendices make the Routledge International Encyclopedia of Queer Culture a uniquely ambitious work and an extremely rich source of information. It is a priority addition for all libraries serving scholars and students with an interest in GLBTQ culture, history and politics across the disciplines.

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Unemployment levels have received a great deal of attention and discussion in recent years. However, another labor category—underemployment—has virtually been ignored. Underutilized or underemployed workers are those who are experiencing inadequate hours of work, insufficient levels of income, and mismatch of occupation and skills. Marginal Workers, Marginal Jobs addresses two principal issues: how can we measure underemployment, and how can we explain its prevalence? To answer the first question, Teresa Sullivan examines yardsticks in use, demonstrates their inadequacy, and develops a different measure that is easy to interpret and is usable by both demographers and economists. In answering the second, she analyzes 1960 and 1970 census data to determine the relative effects of population composition and job structure on levels of employment. One of the important contributions of Sullivan's study is to distinguish between marginal workers and marginal jobs in explaining underutilization. Previous explanations, including the widely used dual market theory, have not stressed this analytic distinction. In addition, her work accounts separately for the various types of marginality and seeks to show the condition of workers who are marginal on more than one count—for example, those who are both young and black, or old and female. A provocative study based on large samples of the U.S. population, this book raises important questions about a critical subject and makes a significant contribution to the theory of underutilization.

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Margaret Stieg Dalton offers a comprehensive study of the German Catholic cultural movement that lasted from the late nineteenth century until 1933. Rapidly advancing industrialization, higher literacy rates, rising real income, and increased leisure time created a demand for intellectually accessible entertainment. Technological developments not only gave rise to new forms of entertainment, but also to the means by which they were marketed and disseminated. At the same time, the effects of modernism were being felt in all areas of high culture. Dalton’s book examines the encounter of clergy and lay Catholics with both high culture and popular culture in Germany. German Catholic culture was more than the product of an individual who happened to be Catholic; it was intellectual and artistic activity with a specifically Catholic stamp, a unique blend that offered distinctive variants of art, literature, and music. In response to the predominant Protestant, nationalistic culture, German Catholics attempted to create an alternative cultural universe that would insulate them from a world that seemed to threaten their faith. Dalton’s book provides detailed insight into the manner in which Catholics and other Germans tried to determine to what extent the new world could be accepted while still holding on to traditional values. Catholicism, Popular Culture, and the Arts in Germany, 1880-1933 will be welcomed by anyone interested in European intellectual and cultural history.

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This thoughtful book grapples with the contentious issue of fetal protection policy in the workplace, contrasting the right of the mother to control her life against the right of the fetus to occupy a risk-free environment. By describing the history of sex discrimination in the American workplace and examining current research on workplace dangers to reproductive health, Blank critically assesses fetal protection policies established by corporations in the last two decades. After explaining the U.S. government's response--both regulatory and judicial--Blank concludes that current means of redress for fetal injuries in the workplace are woefully inadequate. Blank argues for a practicable strategy that will maximize women's employment choices and reproductive health and at the same time keep to a minimum the risks associated with fetal harm. He turns to alternatives to exclusionary policies that are more likely to ensure the birth of children with sound minds and bodies. These include increased maternal leaves, guaranteed prenatal care, expanded research on workplace hazards, and an accidental compensation fund that relieves employers of the yet unrealized fear of liability for fetal harm. Fetal Protection in the Workplace confronts a controversial topic in biomedical policy, law, and women's studies, provides clear suggestions for future policy options, and explains this ongoing conflict involving women's rights and employment and concern for the needs of the unborn.

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In 1922 Robert Allerton—described by the Chicago Tribune as the “richest bachelor in Chicago”—met a twenty-two-year-old University of Illinois architecture student named John Gregg, who was twenty-six years his junior. Virtually inseparable from then on, they began publicly referring to one another as father and son within a couple years of meeting. In 1960, after nearly four decades together, and with Robert Allerton nearing ninety, they embarked on a daringly nonconformist move: Allerton legally adopted the sixty-year-old Gregg as his son, the first such adoption of an adult in Illinois history.An Open Secret tells the striking story of these two iconoclasts, locating them among their queer contemporaries and exploring why becoming father and son made a surprising kind of sense for a twentieth-century couple who had every monetary advantage but one glaring problem: they wanted to be together publicly in a society that did not tolerate their love. Deftly exploring the nature of their design, domestic, and philanthropic projects, Nicholas L. Syrett illuminates how viewing the Allertons as both a same-sex couple and an adopted family is crucial to understanding their relationship’s profound queerness. By digging deep into the lives of two men who operated largely as ciphers in their own time, he opens up provocative new lanes to consider the diversity of kinship ties in modern US history.

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As Elizabeth Warren memorably wrote, “It is impossible to buy a toaster that has a one-in-five chance of bursting into flames and burning down your house. But it is possible to refinance an existing home with a mortgage that has the same one-in-five chance of putting the family out on the street.” More than a century after the government embraced credit to fuel the American economy, consumer financial protections in the increasingly complex financial system still place the onus on individuals to sift through fine print for assurance that they are not vulnerable to predatory lending and other pitfalls of consumer financing and growing debt. In Democracy Declined, Mallory E. SoRelle argues that the failure of federal policy makers to curb risky practices can be explained by the evolution of consumer finance policies aimed at encouraging easy credit in part by foregoing more stringent regulation. Furthermore, SoRelle explains how angry borrowers’ experiences with these policies teach them to focus their attention primarily on banks and lenders instead of demanding that lawmakers address predatory behavior. As a result, advocacy groups have been mostly unsuccessful in mobilizing borrowers in support of stronger consumer financial protections. The absence of safeguards on consumer financing is particularly dangerous because the consequences extend well beyond harm to individuals—they threaten the stability of entire economies. SoRelle identifies pathways to mitigate these potentially disastrous consequences through greater public participation.

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Teachers of literature make judgments about value. They tell their students which works are powerful, beautiful, surprising, strange, or insightful—and thus, which are more worthy of time and attention than others. Yet the field of literary studies has largely disavowed judgments of artistic value on the grounds that they are inevitably rooted in prejudice or entangled in problems of social status. For several decades now, professors have called their work value-neutral, simply a means for students to gain cultural, political, or historical knowledge. ​Michael W. Clune’s provocative book challenges these objections to judgment and offers a positive account of literary studies as an institution of aesthetic education. It is impossible, Clune argues, to separate judgments about literary value from the practices of interpretation and analysis that constitute any viable model of literary expertise. Clune envisions a progressive politics freed from the strictures of dogmatic equality and enlivened by education in aesthetic judgment, transcending consumer culture and market preferences. Drawing on psychological and philosophical theories of knowledge and perception, Clune advocates for the cultivation of what John Keats called “negative capability,” the capacity to place existing criteria in doubt and to discover new concepts and new values in artworks. Moving from theory to practice, Clune takes up works by Keats, Emily Dickinson, Gwendolyn Brooks, Samuel Beckett, and Thomas Bernhard, showing how close reading—the profession’s traditional key skill—harnesses judgment to open new modes of perception.

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Recent years have seen a renaissance of interest in the relationship between natural law and natural rights. During this time, the concept of natural rights has served as a conceptual lightning rod, either strengthening or severing the bond between traditional natural law and contemporary human rights. Does the concept of natural rights have the natural law as its foundation or are the two ideas, as Leo Strauss argued, profoundly incompatible? With The Foundations of Natural Morality, S. Adam Seagrave addresses this controversy, offering an entirely new account of natural morality that compellingly unites the concepts of natural law and natural rights. Seagrave agrees with Strauss that the idea of natural rights is distinctly modern and does not derive from traditional natural law. Despite their historical distinctness, however, he argues that the two ideas are profoundly compatible and that the thought of John Locke and Thomas Aquinas provides the key to reconciling the two sides of this long-standing debate. In doing so, he lays out a coherent concept of natural morality that brings together thinkers from Plato and Aristotle to Hobbes and Locke, revealing the insights contained within these disparate accounts as well as their incompleteness when considered in isolation. Finally, he turns to an examination of contemporary issues, including health care, same-sex marriage, and the death penalty, showing how this new account of morality can open up a more fruitful debate.

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Admirably clear, concise, down-to-earth, and powerful - all too often, legal writing embodies none of these qualities. Its reputation for obscurity and needless legalese is widespread. Since 2001 Bryan A. Garner's "Legal Writing in Plain English" has helped address this problem by providing lawyers, judges, paralegals, law students, and legal scholars with sound advice and practical tools for improving their written work. Now the leading guide to clear writing in the field, this indispensable volume encourages legal writers to challenge conventions and offers valuable insights into the writing process that will appeal to other professionals: how to organize ideas, create and refine prose, and improve editing skills. Accessible and witty, "Legal Writing in Plain English" draws on real-life writing samples that Garner has gathered through decades of teaching experience. Trenchant advice covers all types of legal materials, from analytical and persuasive writing to legal drafting, and the book's principles are reinforced by sets of basic, intermediate, and advanced exercises in each section. In this new edition, Garner preserves the successful structure of the original while adjusting the content to make it even more class-room-friendly. He includes case examples from the past decade and addresses the widespread use of legal documents in electronic formats. His book remains the standard guide for producing the jargon-free language that clients demand and courts reward.

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What is the impact of surveillance capitalism on our right to free speech? The Internet once promised to be a place of extraordinary freedom beyond the control of money or politics, but today corporations and platforms exercise more control over our ability to access information and share knowledge to a greater extent than any state. From the online calls to arms in the thick of the Arab Spring to the contemporary front line of misinformation, Jillian York charts the war over our digital rights. She looks at both how the big corporations have become unaccountable censors, and the devastating impact it has had on those who have been censored. In Silicon Values, leading campaigner Jillian York, looks at how our rights have become increasingly undermined by the major corporations desire to harvest our personal data and turn it into profit. She also looks at how governments have used the same technology to monitor citizens and threatened our ability to communicate. As a result our daily lives, and private thoughts, are being policed in an unprecedented manner. Who decides the difference between political debate and hate speech? How does this impact on our identity, our ability to create communities and to protest? Who regulates the censors? In response to this threat to our democracy, York proposes a user-powered movement against the platforms that demands change and a new form of ownership over our own data.

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Do contemporary big-budget blockbuster films like Gravity move something in us that is fundamentally the same as what avant-garde and experimental films have done for more than a century? In a powerful challenge to mainstream film theory, Cinema’s Bodily Illusions demonstrates that this is the case. Scott C. Richmond bridges genres and periods by focusing, most palpably, on cinema’s power to evoke illusions: feeling like you’re flying through space, experiencing 3D without glasses, or even hallucinating. He argues that cinema is, first and foremost, a technology to modulate perception. He presents a theory of cinema as a proprioceptive technology: cinema becomes art by modulating viewers’ embodied sense of space. It works primarily not at the level of the intellect but at the level of the body. Richmond develops his theory through examples of direct perceptual illusion in cinema: hallucinatory flicker phenomena in Tony Conrad’s The Flicker, eerie depth effects in Marcel Duchamp’s Anémic Cinéma, the illusion of bodily movement through onscreen space in Stanley Kubrick’s 2001, Godfrey Reggio’s Koyaanisqatsi, and Alfonso Cuarón’s Gravity. In doing so he combines insights from Maurice Merleau-Ponty’s phenomenology of perception and James J. Gibson’s ecological approach to perception. The result is his distinctive ecological phenomenology, which allows us to refocus on the cinema’s perceptual, rather than representational, power.Arguing against modernist habits of mind in film theory and aesthetics, and the attendant proclamations of cinema’s death or irrelevance, Richmond demonstrates that cinema’s proprioceptive aesthetics make it an urgent site of contemporary inquiry.

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The Four Point series is designed for English language learners whose primary goal is to succeed in an academic setting. The series covers the four academic skills of reading, writing, listening, and speaking while providing reinforcement and systematic recycling of key vocabulary and further exposure to grammar issues. In order to participate in academic settings, ELLs need focused activities to develop and then maintain their use of vocabulary and grammar. Each book in the series focuses heavily on vocabulary in particular, highlighting between 125-150 key vocabulary items including individual words, compound words, phrasal verbs, short phrases, idioms, metaphors, collocations, and longer set lexical phrases. Each unit in Reading-Writing 1, includes two reading passages on the same topic within a field of academic study: Psychology, World Civilizations, Astronomy, Literature, Civil Engineering, and Political Science. Each reading is accompanied by a before reading, during reading, and after reading strategy and practice activity. The goal is to provide students with a variety of strategies/tools to master whatever academic texts they may encounter. In addition, exercises have been designed to develop vocabulary, paraphrasing, summarizing, and synthesizing skills. By addressing the breadth and depth of reading and writing tasks required in academic settings instead of only reading for pleasure or writing for research projects, this volume truly prepares students for the variety of reading texts and writing projects they will be assigned in colleges and universities.

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Meat and meat products have been consumed by humankind throughout time, and the rise of industrialization and mass production in the past century has made them more affordable and available. At the same time, meat and meat products have been blamed for causing cancer and degenerative diseases. Information regarding this has been often blatantly controversial, leading to misinterpretation, uncertainty, and fake news. Rethinking the role of meat in human nutrition is a present challenge for the food industry. To address this, we must look towards green and clean technologies that adhere to the fundamental principles of environmental care. This book includes comprehensive reviews of hot topics relating to meat products. The reader will find current information and scientific evidence about emerging technologies, modern trends and future perspectives on the subject, with emphasis placed on chemical and health aspects. The COVID-19 pandemic has proved that we cannot continue with business as usual. The inevitable consequences of "the old normal" (zoonotic disease, antimicrobial resistance, climate change and food insecurity) will not revert. As we move into the next decade and beyond, we need a more healthy, sustainable and fair food system. This book aims to contribute to build a better scenario for subsequent consumer generations. Today more than ever, food scientists are leading actors in the international scene.

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Immigration has always caused immense public concern, especially when the perception is that immigrants are not assimilating into society they way they should, or perhaps the way they once did. Americans are frustrated as they try to order food, hire laborers, or simply talk to someone they see on the street and cannot communicate with them because the person is an immigrant who has not fully adopted American culture or language. But is this truly a modern phenomenon? In From Immigrants to Americans, Jacob Vigdor offers a direct comparison of the experiences of immigrants in the United States from the mid-19th century to the present day. His conclusions are both unexpected and fascinating. Vigdor shows how the varying economic situations immigrants come from has always played an important role in their assimilation. The English language skills of contemporary immigrants are actually quite good compared to the historical average, but those who arrive without knowing English are learning at slower rates. He continues to argue that today’s immigrants face far fewer “incentives” to assimilate and offers a set of assimilation friendly policies. From Immigrants to Americans is an important book for anyone interested in immigration, either the history or the modern implications, or who want to understand why today’s immigrants seem so different from previous generations of immigrants and how much they are the same. Co-published with the Manhattan Institute

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Jim Cromartie first came to Nantucket as a college student, but for the past 35 years he has called the island home. As a young artist, his major patron was the late Nelson Rockefeller, who introduced him to the world of art and started him on the path to becoming a major realistic painter at a time when abstract art was the norm. His work introduced the style of Hard-Edge Realism that is created in acrylic paint on wood panel and depicted all objects in the composition in exquisite detail. The resulting work is both dynamic and serene in a style reminiscent of Edward Hopper and Andrew Wyeth. As a lone-wolf realistic painter in a world gone wild over abstract art, Jim often felt overwhelmed but never quit his crusade to bring realism back to the forefront of art. The perfection of realism led him to a parallel career as a painter of historical buildings. Principal among his historical works are “The U.S. Capitol,” the “White House,” and the “Supreme Court.” This new book tells his story in the first person, tracing the trials and joys of an artist struggling to find his style and acceptance in the world. It is a story told with wit and humor, and is sure to entertain, at the same time as it provides insight into the development of a significant contemporary artist. It is heavily illustrated with 73 color reproductions of Jim's work, representing both finished works and some of Jim's preparatory watercolor sketches.

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More than 150 recipes for making the most of your home-grown fruit and vegetables – from warming soups and bakes to vibrant summer salads and tangy preserves. There is nothing as satisfying as growing your own produce – home-grown fruit and vegetables, picked and used at the height of freshness, are more tasty and nutritious than any supermarket offerings. Not only that, but they also cut down on food miles and can be a far more budget friendly way to eat. Home-grown Harvest is a celebration of the bounty you can grow in your garden, back yard or even windowbox. Cultivating your own fruit and vegetables does not have to mean eating the same dishes days in a row to use up produce. Instead, this book will show you how to use creatively what you grow in an array of exciting combinations. Simply organised, the book makes each vegetable or fruit the star of its own chapter, providing a wealth of different recipes to use up any gluts you may have (from the garden or a trip to the farmers’ market). From fresh dishes such as Triple Tomato Risotto with Basil or Strawberry Tiramisu, to preserves and chutneys, which can be stored for future use, each recipe is selected because it is rich in fresh produce. With handy tips and hints for preparing vegetables, and beautiful photographs throughout, Home-grown Harvest is an invaluable guide to cooking seasonally and eating very well indeed.

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As seen on Shane Dawson's YouTube channel! What if falling in love meant almost losing everything? Where does a moderately popular internet star who never leaves her house look for potential suitors? Online. Tinder, Bumble, Match.com, OkCupid—I tried them all. My thirty-one-year-old self clicked and swiped her little heart out, leading to more dates than I could count, and more disappointment than I was prepared for. Maybe you can relate. Maybe you know all too well the perils of modern dating. But let’s say, eventually, you meet someone. You think to yourself, “Wow, they’re perfect! Take me off the market, put a ring on it, knock me up, the whole enchilada, because they are ‘the one.’” Let’s also say that they “feel the same way” about you. Your life starts to make sense! All the pain, heartbreak, and frustration from past failed relationships was worth it. Slow clap. That’s how I felt about Milos. He was from Europe, a doctor, wealthy, athletic. He had an accent and a dog. Milos was textbook marriage material. For him it was “love at first sight,” but for me, it was “anxiety on every date.” Something was telling me to run—but for two years, the only running I did was straight into his arms. If only I would have listened. This isn’t a love story. It’s my story of survival.

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Why do we seem stuck in a culture of violence and injustice? How is it that we can recognize the transcendent ideal represented by figures such as Jesus, Lao-tzu, and many others who have walked among us and yet not seem to reach the same state? In The Biology of Transcendence Joseph Chilton Pearce examines the current biological understanding of our neural organization to address how we can go beyond the limitations and constraints of our current capacities of body and mind--how we can transcend. Recent research in the neurosciences and neurocardiology identifies the four neural centers of our brain and indicates that a fifth such center is located in the heart. This research reveals that the evolutionary structure of our brain and its dynamic interactions with our heart are designed by nature to reach beyond our current evolutionary capacities. We are quite literally, madeto transcend. Pearce explores how this “biological imperative” drives our life into ever-greater realms of being--even as the “cultural imperative” of social conformity and behavior counters this genetic heritage, blocks our transcendent capacities, and breeds violence in all its forms. The conflict between religion and spirit is an important part of this struggle. But each of us may overthrow these cultural imperatives to reach “unconflicted behavior,” wherein heart and mind-brain resonate in synchronicity, opening us to levels of possibility beyond the ordinary.

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A Sunday Times Paperback of the YearA provocative, razor-sharp, and timely novel about a beloved English professor facing a slew of accusations against her husband from his former students – a situation that becomes more complicated when she herself develops an obsession of her own . . .When I was a child, I loved old men, and I could tell that they also loved me.And so we meet our deliciously incisive narrator: a popular English professor whose husband, a charismatic professor at the same small liberal arts college, is under investigation for his inappropriate relationships with his former students. The couple have long had a mutual understanding when it comes to their extramarital pursuits, but with these new allegations, life has become far less comfortable for them both.And when our unnamed narrator becomes increasingly infatuated with Vladimir, a celebrated, married young novelist who’s just arrived on campus, their tinder-box world comes dangerously close to exploding.Julia May Jonas takes us into charged territory, where the restrictions of morality bump up against the impulses of the human heart. Darkly funny and moving, Vladimir maps the personal and political minefield of our current moment, exposing the messy contradictions of power and desire.'This astonishing debut . . . I was utterly hooked by this twisty, sexy, shocking treat of a novel' – The Sunday Times

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How do people improvise political communities in the face of state collapse—and at what cost? Street Sovereigns explores the risks and rewards taken by young men on the margins of urban Haiti who broker relations with politicians, state agents, and NGO workers in order to secure representation, resources, and jobs for themselves and neighbors. Moving beyond mainstream analyses that understand these groups—known as baz (base)—as apolitical, criminal gangs, Chelsey Kivland argues that they more accurately express a novel mode of street politics that has resulted from the nexus of liberalizing orders of governance and development with longstanding practices of militant organizing in Haiti. Kivland demonstrates how the baz exemplifies an innovative and effective platform for intervening in the contemporary political order, while at the same time reproducing gendered and generational hierarchies and precipitating contests of leadership that exacerbate neighborhood insecurity. Still, through the continual effort to reconstitute a state that responds to the needs of the urban poor, this story offers a poignant lesson for political thought: one that counters prevailing conceptualizations of the state as that which should be flouted, escaped, or dismantled. The baz project reminds us that in the stead of a vitiated government and public sector the state resurfaces as the aspirational bedrock of the good society. "We make the state," as baz leaders say.

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During the rise of second-wave feminism in the ‘60s and ‘70s, political activists were not the only ones at work to usher in a more equitable world. In the music world, female rock performers were pursuing a revolution of their own: rejecting the industry’s manufactured pop personas and the unacknowledged labor they contributed to male-led groups, women took control of their own music, messages, and images. Even while they often used music to critique rampant chauvinism, they made some of their greatest impacts by paving the way for subsequent musicians to simply be true to themselves. In this way, they helped to transform the music business and society more broadly.In She’s a Badass, rock critic Katherine Yeske Taylor interviews more than a dozen of these influential, fearless women about their experiences in an era when female rockers were not given the same respect and opportunities as their male peers. Each chapter focuses on an individual artist, taking an in-depth look at her most memorable experiences in the music business that helped cement her place on the list of influential artists. From Suzi Quatro (the first female rock star to front her own band, singing and playing bass as well as writing her own songs) through superstar singer-songwriter Jewel, She’s a Badass reveals the incredible talent, determination, and humor these women deployed in order to further the feminist cause while building brilliant musical careers.

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In 1869, some seven hundred Catholic bishops traveled to Rome to participate in the first church-wide council in three hundred years. The French Revolution had shaken the foundations of the church. Pope Pius IX was determined to set things right through a declaration by the council that the pope was infallible.John W. O’Malley brings to life the bitter, schism-threatening conflicts that erupted at Vatican I. The pope’s zeal in pressing for infallibility raised questions about the legitimacy of the council, at the same time as Italian forces under Garibaldi seized the Papal States and were threatening to take control of Rome itself. Gladstone and Bismarck entered the fray. As its temporal dominion shrank, the Catholic Church became more pope-centered than ever before, with lasting consequences.“O’Malley’s account of the debate over infallibility is masterful.”—Commonweal“[O’Malley] excels in describing the ways in which the council initiated deep changes that still affect the everyday lives of Catholics.”—First Things“An eminent scholar of modern Catholicism…O’Malley…invit[es] us to see Catholicism’s recent history as profoundly shaped by and against the imposing legacy of Pius IX.”—Wall Street Journal“Gripping…O’Malley continues to engage us with a past that remains vitally present.”—The Tablet“The worldwide dean of church historians has completed his trinity of works on church councils…[A] masterclass in church history…telling us as much about the church now as then.”—America

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Over the past century, exploration and serendipity have uncovered mosaic after mosaic in the Near East--maps, historical images, mythical figures, and religious scenes that constitute an immense treasure of new testimony from antiquity. The stories these mosaics tell unfold in this brief, richly informed book by a preeminent scholar of the classical world. G. W. Bowersock considers these mosaics a critical part of the documentation of the region's ancient culture, as expressive as texts, inscriptions on stone, and architectural remains. In their complex language, often marred by time, neglect, and deliberate defacement, he finds historical evidence, illustrations of literary and mythological tradition, religious icons, and monuments to civic pride. Eloquently evoking a shared vision of a world beyond the boundaries of individual cities, the mosaics attest to a persistent tradition of Greek taste that could embrace Judaism, Christianity, and Islam in a fundamentally Semitic land, and they suggest the extent to which these three monotheistic religions could themselves embrace Hellenism.With copious color illustrations, Bowersock's efforts return us to Syrian Antioch, Arabia, Jewish and Samaritan settlements in Palestine, the Palmyrene empire in Syria, and the Nabataean kingdom in Jordan, and show us the overlay of Hellenism introduced by Alexander the Great as well as Roman customs imported by the imperial legions and governors. Attending to one of the most evocative languages of the ages, his work reveals a complex fusion of cultures and religions that speaks to us across time.

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During the 1950s a few painters in the San Francisco Bay Area began to stage personal, dramatic defections from the prevailing style of Abstract Expressionism, creating what would come to be known as Bay Area Figurative Art. In 1949 David Park destroyed many of his nonobjective canvases and began a new style of consciously naive figuration. Soon Elmer Bischoff and Richard Diebenkorn joined Park and other painters such as Nathan Oliveira, Theophilus Brown, James Weeks, and Paul Wonner in the move away from abstraction and toward figurative subject matter. When artists such as Bruce McGaw, Manuel Neri, and Joan Brown emerged as a second generation of figurative artists, the momentum grew for a powerful new development in American painting. The achievement of Bay Area Figurative painters and sculptors has become directly relevant to current debates regarding abstraction and representation, as well as to discourses on modernism and postmodernism. Indeed, the historical phenomenon of the movement is an important case study in the evolution of modernism in America, serving as an early example of rupture in the formalist 'mainstream.' "Bay Area Figurative Art 1950-1965" was written to accompany an exhibition of the same name at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Based on extensive archival research and interviews, it is the first study of the movement as a whole and is the broadest and most accurate account of the careers and interactions of ten Bay Area artists who worked in this new style.

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An essential guide to the ways data can improve decision making. Statistics are everywhere: in news reports, at the doctor’s office, and in every sort of forecast, from the stock market to the weather. Blogger, teacher, and computer scientist Allen B. Downey knows well that people have an innate ability both to understand statistics and to be fooled by them. As he makes clear in this accessible introduction to statistical thinking, the stakes are big. Simple misunderstandings have led to incorrect medical prognoses, underestimated the likelihood of large earthquakes, hindered social justice efforts, and resulted in dubious policy decisions. There are right and wrong ways to look at numbers, and Downey will help you see which are which. Probably Overthinking It uses real data to delve into real examples with real consequences, drawing on cases from health campaigns, political movements, chess rankings, and more. He lays out common pitfalls—like the base rate fallacy, length-biased sampling, and Simpson’s paradox—and shines a light on what we learn when we interpret data correctly, and what goes wrong when we don’t. Using data visualizations instead of equations, he builds understanding from the basics to help you recognize errors, whether in your own thinking or in media reports. Even if you have never studied statistics—or if you have and forgot everything you learned—this book will offer new insight into the methods and measurements that help us understand the world.

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Japanese has a term that covers both green and blue. Russian has separate terms for dark and light blue. Does this mean that Russians perceive these colors differently from Japanese people? Does language control and limit the way we think? This short, opinionated book addresses the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, which argues that the language we speak shapes the way we perceive the world. Linguist John McWhorter argues that while this idea is mesmerizing, it is plainly wrong. It is language that reflects culture and worldview, not the other way around. The fact that a language has only one word for eat, drink, and smoke doesn't mean its speakers don't process the difference between food and beverage, and those who use the same word for blue and green perceive those two colors just as vividly as others do. McWhorter shows not only how the idea of language as a lens fails but also why we want so badly to believe it: we're eager to celebrate diversity by acknowledging the intelligence of peoples who may not think like we do. Though well-intentioned, our belief in this idea poses an obstacle to a better understanding of human nature and even trivializes the people we seek to celebrate. The reality -- that all humans think alike -- provides another, better way for us to acknowledge the intelligence of all peoples.

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Man has long found ethics to be a confusing subject. In recent decades it has become more so. How does a person know if what he is doing is right or wrong? When he sees dishonest men hold power, criminals go free and traditional values cast aside, maybe he feels he should take the easy way out. "Others cheat on their taxes, why shouldn't I? Other kids shoplift, what's the harm?" But, regardless of anything else, a person has to live with himself. With many pressures pushing and pulling at a person, how can he be sure his choices will be best for himself, his family and every aspect of his life and his future? L. Ron Hubbard achieved a remarkable breakthrough in the field of ethics which included not only simplification and codification of the subject, but development of a workable technology with applicability to our daily lives, one which brings about increased happiness, prosperity and survival. These fundamentals, taken from Mr. Hubbard's body of work, even when combined with the section, "Integrity and Honesty and Doing What's Right," which provides yet more information on the subject, do not present the entirety of ethics technology available in Scientology. However, they do provide an exact means for an individual to gradiently raise his ethics level, increase his survival potential in any area of life and help others do the same. Thus ethics technology is the key tool you need to succeed in all aspects of existence.

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Winner of the Forward Prize for Best Collection 2023. Winner of the T.S. Eliot Prize 2023. Shortlisted for the Writers' Prize 2024. The Poetry Book Society Spring Choice 2023. A Guardian and The Irish Times Book of the Year. Jason Allen-Paisant's debut collection Thinking With Trees won the 2022 OCM Bocas Prize for poetry and was an Irish Times and White Review Book of the Year 2021. In Poetry London Maryam Hessavi wrote, 'Jason Allen-Paisant is uncompromising when digging down through the undergrowth of our imperialist past - and yet he succeeds in replanting new narratives in the same soil where these toxic ideologies used to, and still, reside.' The interlocking poems of his second collection, Self-Portrait as Othello, imagine Othello in the urban landscapes of modern London, Paris and Venice and invent the kinds of narrative he might tell about his intersecting identities. Poetic memoir and ekphrastic experiment, Self-Portrait as Othello focuses on a character at once fictional and real. Othello here represents a structure of feeling that was emerging in seventeenth-century Venice, and is still with us. Portraiting himself as Othello, Allen-Paisant refracts his European travels and considers the Black male body, its presence, transgressiveness and vulnerabilities. Othello's intertwined identities as 'immigrant' and 'Black', which often operate as mutually reinforcing vectors, speak to us in the landscape of twenty-first-century Europe.

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Operation Market Garden, September 1944, the Netherlands. Three parachute drops and one armoured charge. The prize was the last bridge at Arnhem over the Neder Rijn. Taken intact it would provide the Allies with a back door into Germany - the famous Bridge Too Far'. This was one of the most audacious and imaginative operations of the war, and it failed, and Anthony Tucker-Jones's photographic history is a vivid introduction to it. In a sequence of almost 200 archive photographs accompanied by a detailed narrative he describes the landing of British and American parachutists and glider troops. At the same time British tanks spearheaded a sixty-mile dash along Hell's Highway' to link up with the lightly armed and heavily outnumbered airborne forces. Most books about the resulting battle concentrate on the struggle at Arnhem and the heroism of the British 1st Airborne Division. This book puts that episode in its wider context. In particular it focuses on the efforts of the US 101st and 82nd airborne divisions to hold off counterattacks by German battlegroups during the tanks' advance. The photographs give a dramatic insight into all sides of a remarkable but ill-fated operation which has fascinated historians and been the subject of controversy ever since. They also portray, as only photographs can, the men who were involved and the places and conditions in which the fighting took place.

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Delve deep into the trees and find wonder in our UK woodlands. Step back from the pressures of everyday life and reconnect with nature and its mindful magic with this absorbing and engaging guide. Learn what you can see at different times of the year and recognise the stunning trees, flowers and plants, multi-hued birds and insects, and mysterious mammals that call these habitats home. Soon you will be marvelling at rutting deer, soaking up the view of beautiful bluebells, and entering the world of bumbling badgers and fantastic foxes, while also enjoying the rapturous sound of glorious birdsong. Press pause on your modern worries and go back to your ancestors' roots by foraging for nuts and berries. Become aware of the signs that indicate one season transforming into another. Search for fairytale mushrooms and at the same time understand why they are essential to our environment. Discover the science, history and folklore associated with the oak, ash and birch. On your seasonal adventures through our enigmatic woodlands, be humbled by their importance to our interconnected ecosystem, and be inspired to protect these precious places for the betterment of the world. This accessible guide, with its attractive and original photos, will help you to build an everlasting bond with your local wildlife and woodlands, thus enriching your well-being and life.

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The works of Iain M. Banks have forever changed the face of modern science fiction. With breathtaking imagination and extraordinary storytelling, they have secured his reputation as one of the most extraordinary and influential writers in the genre.'Banks is a phenomenon' William Gibson The State of the Art is the only collection of Iain M. Banks's short ­fiction and includes the acclaimed Culture novella of the same name.From science ­fiction to horror, dark fantasy to twisted comedy, all eight stories bear the inde­finable stamp of Banks's staggering talent.Praise for the novels of Iain M. Banks:'Epic in scope, ambitious in its ideas and absorbing in its execution' Independent on Sunday'Banks has created one of the most enduring and endearing visions of the future' Guardian'Jam-packed with extraordinary invention' Scotsman'Compulsive reading' Sunday Telegraph The novels of Iain M. Banks: The Culture seriesConsider PhlebasThe Player of GamesUse of WeaponsExcessionInversionsLook to WindwardMatterSurface DetailThe Hydrogen SonataThe State of the ArtOther books by Iain M. BanksAgainst a Dark BackgroundFeersum EndjinnThe AlgebraistAlso now available: The Culture: The Drawings - an extraordinary collection of original illustrations faithfully reproduced from sketchbooks Banks kept in the 1970s and 80s, depicting the ships, habitats, geography, weapons and language of Banks' Culture series of novels in incredible detail.

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A selection of nature’s greatest imposters, tricksters and magicians. Whether to escape predators or to surprise their prey, the talented strategists of nature in The Champions of Camouflage survive using visual trickery and fascinating biology. Some simply change their clothing to suit the seasons, such as the willow ptarmigan who appears pure white in winter snow and goldenbrown-red in the summer. Others, like the satanic leaf-tailed gecko who disguises itself amidst leaves to blend into its surroundings, are the same year-round but their appearance seamlessly blends them into the environment. grasshoppers of the genus Paraphidnia and the African mantis Popa spurca perfectly imitate the small branches of trees, becoming virtually invisible to predators and prey. Some species use incredible stratagems to get rid of their enemies; the frog Physalaemus, for example. When this amphibian is threatened, he turns his back to his opponent and shows his hindquarters on which is “painted” a pair of large black eyes. If the mask is not enough to intimidate the opponent, the fake eyes will emit an impressive “white secretion.” That usually does the trick. The book is organized by the manner of camouflage: The Art of Camouflage: Invisibility cloak; Seasonal clothes; Quick colours. Changing Shapes: Leaf imposters; Moving twigs; The watery art of disappearing; Deception. Game of Illusion: At the masquerade ball; In the eye of the beholder; Trojan Horse; Identity theft; Bait and switch.

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Kant's Reason develops a novel interpretation of Kant's conception of reason and its philosophical significance. Karl Schafer argues that Kant presents a powerful model for understanding the unity of theoretical and practical reason as two manifestations of a unified capacity for theoretical and practical understanding (or "comprehension"). This model allows us to do justice to the deep commonalities between theoretical and practical rationality, without reducing either to the other. In particular, it enables us to see why the activities of both theoretical and practical reason are governed by a version of the Principle of Sufficient Reason, while also seeing why reason is essentially autonomous. At the same time, Kant's Reason reads Kant as presenting a compelling picture of the role that reason, as a capacity or power, should play in a systematic approach to foundational philosophical questions. In doing so, it argues for an account of the fundamental norms that apply to rational beings that treats neither substantive reasons or values nor merely structural rationality as fundamental, but instead provides a robust conception of reason as a power or capacity for theoretical and practical understanding. The result is a form of rational constitutivism, which contrasts both with the forms of reasons fundamentalism that are currently fashionable and the forms of agency-first constitutivism that have dominated Kantian metaethics. In this sense, this volume aims to vindicate Kant's insistence that his philosophy represents nothing more or less than reason's implicit self-understanding coming to explicit and systematic self-consciousness.

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In 1945, did President Truman really need to use two atomic bombs against Japan – and could he not have given Japan advance warning about the terrifying ‘device’ his scientists had developed? After 9/11, could not President George W. Bush have targeted only Osama bin Laden instead of toppling the entire Taliban regime in Afghanistan? Why, in 2011, did David Cameron and Nicholas Sarkozy use military force to remove a Libyan leader, Colonel Gaddafi, who had repeatedly offered peace talks and compromise? They were all, in their different ways, ‘Warmongers’ who waged unnecessary wars, or used a grossly disproportionate amount of force. In modern times (since 1648), many other leaders across the world have also been ‘warmongers’ for the same reasons. Some of these individuals were bloodthirsty, some reckless, but most were badly informed or just foolish. An underlying theme is that all these shows of force have rebounded on the perpetrator (or, in one case, very nearly did so). The warmongers also share other features, and five in particular that are identified in this book, which explain why they fought unnecessary wars, and which will give clues to when unnecessary wars of the future will be fought. Warmongers is designed to challenge assumptions and to provoke discussion about when and in what circumstances force is ever really justified – so pertinent at a time of ongoing war in, and war-weariness about, Syria and Afghanistan.

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Thorough due diligence is one of the most important ways to reduce risks in international M&A transactions, but relying solely on the buyer's domestic due diligence practices can be wasteful of time and resources and contribute to a buyer missing a critical issue or unknowingly assuming an unwanted liability. Understanding the intricacies of the legal landscape, cultural nuances, and trends in market practices in the jurisdiction in which a target is located will undoubtedly help ensure the next transaction is a successful one. International M&A Due Diligence, Second Edition, drafted by the International M&A Subcommittee, is structured to provide lawyers with an overview of essential considerations in planning and conducting M&A due diligence in each of the 20 covered countries. Based on a Model Questionnaire, the questions asked are generally from the perspective of a U.S. lawyer with limited familiarity with the local jurisdiction involved. The Model Questionnaire is included and can also be used as a helpful guide when embarking on due diligence in a country not covered in this book. In addition, local counsel were asked to "localize" a sample due diligence request list, which is based on the Form of Document and Information Request from the Manual of Acquisition Review. The localized request lists are presented in "redline" format, which the transactional lawyer will find particularly instructive.

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Two people are firefighters and do the same job. When one is asked what they do for a living, their response is met with: 'That's amazing, you are so brave!', while the other is asked: 'Isn't that dangerous? Aren't you scared? What about your kids?' Can you guess the difference between the two?These comments are the reality for Dr Sabrina Cohen-Hatton and many other women at work and in life. Gender biases stop women from succeeding - but why are certain qualities associated with success viewed less favourably for women?After leaving home at 15, going through extreme personal adversity and a period of homelessness, Sabrina gained first-hand experience of the hurdles women face to become successful. In The Gender Bias, she explores the everyday prejudices women experience through the prism of success. From leadership, to risk-taking, perception and failure, Sabrina exposes the invisible barriers that are holding women back.Through an analysis of studies and data, Sabrina unpicks why women are judged differently, examines why that matters and offers practical solutions on how we can tackle our biases and overcome sustained systems.

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In Sexuality and the Rise of China Travis S. K. Kong examines the changing meanings of same-sex identities, communities, and cultures for young Chinese gay men in contemporary Hong Kong, Taiwan, and mainland China. Drawing on ninety life stories, Kong’s transnational queer sociological approach shows the complex interplay between personal biography and the dramatically changing social institutions in these three societies. Kong conceptualizes coming out as relational politics and the queer/tongzhi community and commons as an affective, imaginative means of connecting, governed by homonormative masculinity. He shows how monogamy is a form of cruel optimism and envisions state and sexuality intertwining in different versions of homonationalism in each location. Tracing the alternately diverging and converging paths of being young, "Chinese," gay, and male, Kong reveals how both Western and emerging inter- and intra- Asian queer cultures shape queer/tongzhi experiences. Most significantly, at this historical juncture characterized by the rise of China, Kong criticizes the globalization of sexuality by emphasizing inter-Asia modeling, referencing, and solidarities and debunks the essentializing myth of Chineseness, thereby decolonizing Western sexual knowledge and demonstrating the differential meanings of Chineseness/queerness across the Sinophone world.

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Cyber security has become a defining legal and political predicament of our time, and where it has been found ineffective, a sense of vulnerability has developed in society. The internet-age has challenged the implications and execution of personal and national security, as well as stirred issues about the concept of privacy. Due to rapid transformations in technology, it has become a difficult task for governments to give assurances of privacy to their individual citizens. Technological advancement has seen a proliferation of hackers who steal consumer data and misuse it for profit. At the same time, the threat of terrorism has instigated the use of new surveillance technologies to track and collect information on a massive, potentially threatening scale. Unrestricted mass surveillance by the US government, recently thrusted back into the public consciousness, has largely eliminated the right to privacy in a world that virtually relies upon electronic communication. Privacy and Security in the Age of Global Terror offers an insightful and timely look at how privacy has become one of the critical issues of discussion in this technological world. As internet democracy is one of the largest emerging agendas, Dr. Silva looks at how reformed practices are required to ensure protection against the surveillance of individuals.

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'A rich and intimate examination of female desire, Maxine's book is full of wisdom and insight. I cannot recommend it enough' Julia SamuelAfter thirty years of research, Sigmund Freud still felt the great unanswered question was: 'What does a woman want?' Fifteen years into her own journey as a psychotherapist, Maxine Mei-Fung Chung believes her collaboration with her patients holds the answers. Through the profound and moving stories of seven very different women, Maxine Mei-Fung Chung sheds light on our most fundamental needs and desires. From a young bride-to-be struggling to accept her sexuality, to a mother grappling with questions of identity and belonging, and a woman learning to heal after years of trauma, What Women Want is an electrifying and deeply intimate exploration into the inner lives of women.Based on hours of conversations between Maxine and her patients, this book lays bare our fears, hopes, secrets and capacity for healing. With great empathy and precision, What Women Want presents a fearless look into the depths of who we are, so that we can better understand each other and ourselves.To desire is an action. This extraordinary book liberates and empowers us to claim what we truly want.

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'A rich and intimate examination of female desire, Maxine's book is full of wisdom and insight. I cannot recommend it enough' Julia SamuelAfter thirty years of research, Sigmund Freud still felt the great unanswered question was: 'What does a woman want?' Fifteen years into her own journey as a psychotherapist, Maxine Mei-Fung Chung believes her collaboration with her patients holds the answers. Through the profound and moving stories of seven very different women, Maxine Mei-Fung Chung sheds light on our most fundamental needs and desires. From a young bride-to-be struggling to accept her sexuality, to a mother grappling with questions of identity and belonging, and a woman learning to heal after years of trauma, What Women Want is an electrifying and deeply intimate exploration into the inner lives of women.Based on hours of conversations between Maxine and her patients, this book lays bare our fears, hopes, secrets and capacity for healing. With great empathy and precision, What Women Want presents a fearless look into the depths of who we are, so that we can better understand each other and ourselves.To desire is an action. This extraordinary book liberates and empowers us to claim what we truly want.

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