Search results for ""manchester university press""

The most up-to-date and comprehensive English-language study of its kind, From victory to Vichy explores the political mobilisation of the two largest French veterans’ associations during the interwar years, the Union fédérale (UF) and the Union nationale des combattants (UNC). Drawing on extensive research into the associations’ organisation, policies and tactics, this study argues that French veterans were more of a threat to democracy than previous scholarship has allowed. As France descended into crisis, the UF and the UNC sought to extend their influence into the non-veteran milieu through public demonstrations, propaganda campaigns and the foundation of auxiliary groups. Despite shifting policies and independent initiatives, by the end of the 1930s the UF and the UNC had come together in a campaign for authoritarian political reform, leaving them perfectly placed to become the ‘eyes and ears’ of Marshal Pétain’s Vichy regime. Offering an original contribution to the history of late Third Republican political culture, From victory to Vichy will appeal to students and scholars of modern France and Europe.

Read more less

Why are early modern English dramatists preoccupied with unfinished processes of ‘making’ and ‘unmaking’? And what did the terms ‘finished’ or ‘incomplete’ mean for dramatists and their audiences in this period? Making and unmaking in early modern English drama is about the significance of visual things that are ‘under construction’ in works by playwrights including Shakespeare, Robert Greene and John Lyly. Illustrated with examples from across visual and material culture, it opens up new interpretations of the place of aesthetic form in the early modern imagination. Plays are explored as a part of a lively post-Reformation visual culture, alongside a diverse range of contexts and themes, including iconoclasm, painting, sculpture, clothing and jewellery, automata and invisibility. Asking what it meant for Shakespeare and his contemporaries to ‘begin’ or ‘end’ a literary or visual work, this book is essential reading for scholars and students of early modern English drama, literature, visual culture and history.

Read more less

East Tyrone sits at the crossroads of Irish politics. This book commences with the struggle between Belfast’s ‘Wee Joe’ Devlin, the coming man of the Irish Parliamentary Party, and the Irish Republican Brotherhood to gain mastery over the burgeoning Ancient Order of Hibernians and, with it, control of popular nationalist politics in Ulster. It then recounts the fascinating and often violent story of the relationship between local Fenians and Ribbonmen, across a seminal generation in Irish politics. The narrative centres on an established local Fenian tradition and its relationship with Devlinite Hibernianism, from co-operation, to overt confrontation, to a power struggle within the Irish Volunteer movement, to the Fenians’ prominent role in Sinn Féin’s meteoric rise in the aftermath of the Easter Rising. Fenians and Ribbonmen will be essential reading for those interested in Irish history and politics.

Read more less

This second edition of No other Way To Tell It defines the form, analyses its codes and conventions, and reviews contrasting histories in America and British practice - taking into account new developments since the first edition.These include television’s radically new ecology; with factual formats a growth area. Docudrama in film has also burgeoned recently, partly because the industries themselves have grown closer and partly because of continued interest in the lives of the famous and of those in the news. International co-production now exploits many different screening opportunities and possibilities, with the result that docudrama and become a cinematic as well as televisual staple. Docudrama is not only popular with audiences; it also causes constant flurries of commentary and controversy. Concerns about ‘borders’ and ‘boundaries’, a questioning of documentary’s claim to represent the real, doubts about the popular audience’s ability to cope with new approaches to the ideas of witness, testimony and confession, authenticity and truth - all fuel the debate.This new edition situates docudrama and its ongoing debates within a newly vibrant and still highly contentious field of practice. This book will interest readers - academic and general - with an interest in fact-based drama in film, theatre and television

Read more less

This is a translation of the eleventh-century Latin Annals of Lampert, monk of Hersfeld, with detailed commentary and introduction. No translation has hitherto been published in English, despite the fact that it is one of the best known of all the narrative sources of the Middle Ages, constantly mentioned in the English secondary literature. Lampert produced the most detailed account of the events of 1056–77 (the minority of Henry IV of Germany and the first decade of his personal rule), a period of crisis and rebellion culminating in the conflict between the king and Pope Gregory VII. He is widely regarded as 'the unrivalled master among medieval historians' and 'a superb story-teller', noted for his vivid characterisation and narrative. An English translation of this work is of the greatest value to teachers and students of medieval history and also of interest to the general reader of European literature.

Read more less

The crisis of theory tells the story of the political and intellectual adventures of E. P. Thompson, one of Britain's foremost twentieth-century thinkers. Drawing on extraordinary new unpublished documents, Scott Hamilton shows that all of Thompson's work, from his acclaimed histories to his voluminous political writings to his little-noticed poetry, was inspired by the same passionate and idiosyncratic vision of the world. Hamilton shows the connection between Thompson's famously ferocious attack on the 'Stalinism in theory' of Louis Althusser and his assaults on positivist social science in books like The making of the English working class, and he produces previously unseen evidence to show that Thompson's hostility to both left and right-wing forms of authoritarianism was rooted in first-hand experience of violent political repression. This book will appeal to scholars and general readers with an interest in left-wing politics and theory, British society, twentieth-century history, modernist poetry, and the philosophy of history.

Read more less

The relationship between the state and the voluntary sector has changed significantly since 1948 when Beveridge’s major report, Voluntary Action, was first published. Sixty years later, a group of historians analyse and reassess the impact of Beveridge’s ideas about voluntary action for social advance in this timely volume. Using examples from the UK, Australasia and Canada, this book clearly articulates the importance and significance of Beveridge's ideas on voluntary action within an international context.With the emphasis of governments on the importance of the voluntary or 'third sector' and the development of policies and practices to enhance social capital, build civil society and engage communities, this book will be invaluable for those interested in how the third sector has evolved over time. It will be of interest to historians, social policy researchers, political theorists, economists and educationalists.

Read more less

The Chinese political system is the subject of much media and popular comment in part because China supports an economy with an apparently inexorable dynamic and impressive record of achievement. This book provides a comprehensive introduction to China’s political system, outlining the major features of the Chinese model and highlighting its claims and challenges. It explores the central role of the Communist Party in the country’s politics and the way in which the Party controls most elements of the political system. The book also draws parallels with previous historical periods in China’s history. Finally, it addresses the question of what kind of role the People's Republic of China will play in global politics as a whole, the implications for the West and the rebalancing of relations between China and its neighbours.

Read more less

The effectiveness of international law depends upon the willingness of states to comply with its provisions. Despite the current move towards binding international law, every international organisation grapples with serious instances of non-compliance. As a reaction, numerous international courts and arbitration bodies have been strengthened in the last two decades. Unlike their domestic counterparts, international courts cannot rely on the monopoly of legitimate force as a last resort for restoring compliance. This raises the question under which conditions international courts are nevertheless able to promote compliance with international norms - even against the initial will of the affected states. This book looks at the European Court of Justice (ECJ) as an example of a court, which can apply judicial discourses, judgments and sanction-threats to cases in which states are reluctant to comply. Overall, the ECJ is very successful in ending norm violations through its compliance-instruments. However, some cases require up to 17 years or even a threat with sanctions until the effectiveness of European law is restored, while others are settled somewhat faster via judgments, or very quickly through judicial discourses. The book shows that issue-specific variables, such as the nature of the issue, its interpretational scope, its fit to domestic ideas, influence whether one of the three compliance instruments successfully induces compliance - even against the strong initial will of member states.

Read more less

This book is the first comparative study of its kind to explore at length the French and English Catholic literary revivals of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It compares individual and societal secularisation in France and England and examines how French and English Catholic writers understood and contested secular mores, ideologies and praxis, in the individual, societal and religious domains. It also addresses the extent to which some Catholic writers succumbed to the seduction of secular instincts, even paradoxically in themes which are considered to be emblematic of Catholic literature. The breadth of this book will make it a useful guide for students wishing to become familiar with a wide range of such writings in France and England during this period. It will also appeal to researchers interested in Catholic literary and intellectual history in France and England, theologians, philosophers and students of the sociology of religion.

Read more less

Glorious catastrophe presents a detailed critical analysis of the work of Jack Smith from the early 1960s until his AIDS-related death in 1989. Dominic Johnson argues that Smith’s work offers critical strategies for rethinking art’s histories after 1960. Heralded by peers as well as later generations of artists, Smith is an icon of the New York avant-garde. Nevertheless, he is conspicuously absent from dominant histories of American culture in the 1960s, as well as from narratives of the impact that decade would have on coming years. Smith poses uncomfortable challenges to cultural criticism and historical analysis, which Glorious catastrophe seeks to uncover. The first critical analysis of Smith’s practices across visual art, film, performance and writing, the study employs extensive, original archival research carried out in Smith’s personal papers, and unpublished interviews with friends and collaborators. It will be essential reading for students and scholars interested in the life and art of Jack Smith, and the greater histories that he interrupts, including those of experimental arts practices, and the development of sexual cultures.

Read more less

The age of steam was the age of Britain’s global maritime dominance, the age of enormous ocean liners and human mastery over the seas. The world seemed to shrink as timetabled shipping mapped out faster, more efficient and more reliable transoceanic networks. But what did this transport revolution look like at the other end of the line, at the edge of empire in the South Pacific?Through the historical example of the largest and most important regional maritime enterprise - the Union Steam Ship Company of New Zealand - Frances Steel eloquently charts the diverse and often conflicting interests, itineraries and experiences of commercial and political elites, common seamen and stewardesses, and Islander dock workers and passengers.Drawing on a variety of sources, including shipping company archives, imperial conference proceedings, diaries, newspapers and photographs, this book will appeal to cultural historians and geographers of British imperialism, scholars of transport and mobility studies, and historians of New Zealand and the Pacific.

Read more less

The Republic of Letters emerged during the seventeenth century as a concept to describe the interaction between scholars across Europe and beyond. While the concept was an imaginary one, it was firmly grounded in a reality of close circles of interaction between intellectuals, which had always existed but which was now endowed with a renewed sense of collaboration and participation within this community without barriers of statehood or creed. These fifteen essays explore differing aspects of collaboration and interdisciplinarity in the context of the radical change in mindset that the emergence of the Republic of Letters had fostered. Essays deal with French and English theatre, travel writing, the identity of the woman writer, the nature and function of gossip, scholarly interaction, and political and theological ideologies. The concluding essay provides a synthesis of the nature of seventeenth-century scholarship. The volume offers new insights into the mechanisms and workings of the Republic of Letters and charters the transition of scholarly pursuit being classified, even by some scholars themselves, as a solitary and sometimes pedantic pursuit to the notion of a network of ideas and interchange. This self-identification with a transnational league which knew no limits of geography, resources, gender or class marks a radical transition in the history of ideas and was to have far-reaching consequences, solidly preparing the way for the Enlightenment.

Read more less

What is the story behind the paradoxical survival of small and weak states in a world of great powers and crude power politics? And what explains the dramatic rise and fall in the number of states overtime, following no consistent trend and not showing an immediately obvious direction or pattern? The answers lie at the system-level: Small states survival is shaped by the international states system. Small state survival and proliferation is determined first and foremost by features of and dynamics created at the states system. As the states system changes and evolves the chances for small states to survive or proliferate change as well. In fact, a quantitive investigation confirms this, showing that over the course of more than 3½ centuries, the number of small states did fluctuate widely and at times dramatically.

Read more less

Jonathan Lethem is the first full-length study dedicated to the work of an exciting, genre-busting contemporary writer with an increasingly high profile in American literature. Examining all of Lethem’s novels, as well as a number of his short fictions, essays and critical works, this study shows how the author’s prolific output, his restlessness and his desire always to be subverting literary forms and genres, are consistent with his interest in subcultural identities. The human need to break off into small groupings, subcultures or miniature utopias is mirrored in the critical tendency to enforce generic boundaries. To break down the boundaries between genres, then, is partly to make a nonsense of critical distinctions between 'high' and 'low' literature, and partly to reflect the wider need to recognise difference, to appreciate that other people, no matter how outlandish and alien they may appear, share similar desires, experiences and problems. With this in mind, James Peacock argues that Lethem’s experiments with genre are not merely games or elaborate literary jokes, but ethical necessities, particularly when viewed in the light of the losses and traumas that shadow all of his writing. Jonathan Lethem, therefore, makes an important contribution not just to Lethem studies, but also to debates about genre and its position in postmodern or 'post-postmodern' literature. It will be of interest to all scholars and students of contemporary American writing, as well as those interested in genre fiction and literature’s relationship with subcultures.

Read more less

This study explores France’s preoccupation with memories of the Second World War through an examination of popular culture and one of its more enduring forms, crime fiction. It examines what such popular narratives have to tell us about past and present perceptions of the war years in France and how they relate to post-war debates over memory, culture and national identity.Starting with narratives of the Resistance in the late 1940s and concluding with contemporary crime fiction for younger readers, Gorrara examines popular memories of the Second World War in dialogue with the changing social, cultural and political contexts of remembrance in post-war France. From memories of the persecution of Jews and French collaboration to the legacies of the concentration camps and the figure of the survivor-witness, all the crime novels discussed grapple with the challenges of what it means to live in the shadow of such a past for generations past, present and future.

Read more less

This book tells the story of the emergence of the concept of crimes against humanity. It examines its origins, the ethical assumptions underpinning it, its legal and philosophical boundaries, and some of the controversies connected with it. A brief historical introduction is followed by an exploration of the various meanings of the term ‘crimes against humanity’ that have been suggested; a definition is proposed linking it to the idea of basic human rights. The book looks at some problems with the boundaries of the concept, the threshold for its proper application and the related issue of humanitarian intervention. It concludes with a discussion of the prospects for the further development of crimes-against-humanity law.The work serves as a clear and compact introduction for students of politics, philosophy and law, as well as for the general reading public.

Read more less

Based on a detailed study of rich archival sources, Model experts explores practices of model production and display, and reveals the often invisible labours of the co-operating artisans, anatomists, and administrators. The book shows that the models were central to a remarkable political experiment: 'La Specola' opened in 1775 as the Royal Museum of Physics and Natural History, one of the first public science museums in Europe. As a venue for public enlightenment, the museum displayed model anatomies to create the model citizen. The study also moves beyond the borders of Tuscany, following a set of Florentine waxes to Vienna to explore the diverse reactions of medical professionals and general audiences as the models travelled in enlightened Europe.The book will be of interest to historians of medicine, science, art, and enlightenment, to scholars in museum studies and in science & technology studies interested in the historical emergence of expertise, public engagement with science, and the relationship between science and the state.

Read more less

Written by an interdisciplinary team of scholars, this authoritative text explores the emotive issues surrounding the commemoration of war and atrocity, and the profound challenges for conservators posed by ‘virtual’, ‘intangible’ and ‘multicultural’ heritage. New international case studies demonstrate that while interest in the memorialisation of the great national upheavals of the last century has never been more acute, many of the problems of conserving the past in diverse and disparate societies remain to be resolved.Aimed primarily at students in heritage studies and professionals in heritage industries, this book is one of three in the Understanding Global Heritage series.

Read more less

In this fascinating study, Nico Randeraad vividly describes the turbulent history of statistics in nineteenth century Europe. The book deals not only with developments in the large states of Western Europe, but gives equal attention to small states (Belgium, the Netherlands, Hungary) and to the declining Habsburg Empire and Tsarist Russia. Then, unlike today, statistics constituted a comprehensive science, which stemmed from the idea that society, just like nature, was governed by laws. In order to discover these laws, everything had to be counted. What could be counted, could be solved: crime, poverty, suicide, prostitution, illness, and many other threats to bourgeois society. The statisticians, often trained as jurists, economists and doctors, saw themselves as pioneers of a better future. Offering an original perspective on the tensions between universalism and the rise of the nation-state in the nineteenth century, this book will appeal to historians, statisticians, and social scientists in general.

Read more less

Defeated flesh dwells on the French defeat of 1870 and the socialist uprising of the Commune of Paris.. This is one of the first books to develop an in-depth, comparative analysis of the Franco-Prussian war and the Commune.. By looking at the history of the body and medicine it considers how the French people mobilised for the war effort and how their ultimate defeat had cultural and social consequences which led to the fin-de-siècle spirit.. Looking at the siege of Paris, the war suffering and rationing in an exceptionally harsh period of French history it revises the current debates on citizenship, centralisation and modern warfare.. Looking at many untouched sources, Taithe seeks to understand why 1870-1871 became such an important phase in the making of modern France.

Read more less

How should we respond to the inhumanity that suffused the twentieth Century and continues in the present one? Has there been an adequate treatment of this issue by the political left? Questions such as these are treated in this, the first scholarly book to combine academic and blogging approaches to some of the major political issues of the day. It does this by focusing on the work of Norman Geras – Marxist, political philosopher and blogger – and developing the central themes of his work such as crimes against humanity, the Holocaust, Marxism, and the means/ends problem in politics. It contains contributions by famous political philosophers such as Michael Walzer, Hillel Steiner and David McLennan, and bloggers and journalists such as David Aaronovitch, Nick Cohen and Ophelia Benson. The book contains a unique response by Geras in which he draws together the various themes it covers. It will be of interest to all who are concerned with these pressing political issues of our time. The book will be particularly relevant for those with an academic or general interest in politics, philosophy, sociology, genocide studies, applied ethics, international relations and law. It will also be of interest to bloggers and all those who regard new technology as having significant implications for public debate on these issues.

Read more less

This new edition will be essential reading for all students studying politics at A2 level, as it covers the important issues as required by the main examining boards, and has been specifically tailored to the brand new Edexcel Route A specification. Fully updated to include the global recession and other recent political developments, itlooks at the important issues in British politics since 1945. It is also useful as an introductory reader for all those who are interested in the field.Neil McNaughton is a seasoned writer at this level. He examines, on a chapter by chapter basis, the key issues of British politics today; economic policy, the Welfare State, law and order, environment policy, Northern Ireland, issues concerning women,European integration and the European Union, and the impact of the European Union on Britain. In each case he describes the issues in detail and places them in their political context.Written in an accessible style, with helpful features such as summaries, definition, tables and boxes to illuminate the points made and suggestions for additional reading and research, this book is urgently needed as students grapple with the issues thrown up by the new examinations.

Read more less

This book examines how the Left is affected by European integration. It starts from the rejection of the European Constitution in France and the Netherlands in 2005, in which left-wing parties played key roles. The book explores the level of pro- and anti-EU sentiment among left-wing parties. It discusses the left’s reaction to the EU’s neo-liberal policies such as Laval, the Lisbon Agenda and the Bolkestein Directive. It examines the extent to which parties are Europeanised or remain nationally-oriented. The book looks at parties from all three left-wing families –social democrats, left-socialists and left-greens. It contains case-studies of eleven EU member states, and also examines the left in the European Parliament. It provides a unique cross-national, cross-party evaluation of contemporary events.

Read more less

In 1901 most Australians were loyal, white subjects of the British Empire with direct connections to Britain. Within a hundred years, following an unparalleled immigration program, its population was one of the most diverse on earth. No other country has achieved such radical social anddemographic change in so short a time. Destination Australia tells the story of this extraordinary transformation. Against the odds, this change has caused minimal social disruption and tension. While immigration has generated some political and social anxieties, Australia has maintained a stable democracy and a coherent social fabric. One of the impressive achievements of this book is in explaining why this might be so.Eric Richards recounts the experiences of many individual migrants from all over the world, examines the dramas and challenges of officials involved in this grand experimentand ends up telling a truly remarkable story. Compelling and revealing, Destination Australia is essentially the Australian story of the twentieth century.

Read more less

Challenging standard economic models, this book shows how farmers tend to use cognitive shortcuts in their decision-making and how their professional pride frequently outweighs profit considerations. This indicates that environmental regulation based on economic incentives may not be as effective as economic theorists and ex ante policy analysts maintain. Rather than assuming that regulations respond to incentive-based policies, this book examines the ways in which they do. Bounded rationality in decision-making has typically been studied in a laboratory setting, but this book uses original empirical research to demonstrate how bounded rationality plays out in the real world, examining the responses of Danish farmers to fertiliser regulation and their decision-making processes. The book will be of interest to a broad range of scholars within the fields of public policy, public administration, political science, behavioural economics and sociology.

Read more less

This book provides a scholarly yet accessible account of the work of Marcel Carné, one of the great directors of classical French cinema and the key figure behind the poetic realist film movement of the 1930s. His films, a number of which were made in collaboration with the poet-turned-scriptwriter Jacques Prévert, include such well-known works as Le Quai des brumes, Le Jour se lève and Les Enfants du paradis. As the first book to be written on Carné for a number of years, it offers a fresh perspective on his cinema, particularly through a re-examination of his post-war work – although many of these films were very popular and offer a fascinating insight into France at the time, they have, until now, largely been neglected.Adopting a carefully crafted aesthetic, his films explore a tension between pessimism and entrapment on the one hand, and transcendence, idealised romantic love and a populist celebration of working-class life on the other. His career traversed key moments in French cinema, including poetic realism, the tradition of quality and the French New Wave, and spanned important historical moments such as the Popular Front of the 1930s, the Second World War and France’s post-war modernisation. This book will be of interest to scholars, students and film-lovers alike.

Read more less

Impostors and impostures featured prominently in the political, social and religious life of early modern England. Who was likely to be perceived as impostor, and why? This book offers the first full-scale analysis of an important and multifaceted phenomenon. Tobias B. Hug examines a wide range of sources, from judicial archives and other official records to chronicles, newspapers, ballads, pamphlets and autobiographical writings. This closely argued and pioneering book will be of interest to specialists, students and anyone concerned with the timeless questions of why and how individuals fashion, re-fashion and make sense of their selves.

Read more less

This book examines how and why Americans built an informal trading empire and why the British Empire needed to be removed before a Pax Americana could be built. The Pax Americana is a phenomenon of global significance, and this fascinating book offers a systematic explanation for the rise of this super empire and examines in detail how it is governed. A core feature of the book is a concern with America’s vision of the world and how the USA has attempted (especially since 1945) to export this vision across the globe. The book identifies and examines the underlying discourses and belief systems that gave rise to a Pax Americana. An eclectic range of methodologies and theories are deployed to explain the phenomenon of this informal empire, ranging from to materialist (political economy) explanations of ‘US imperialism’ through to those explanations grounded in the non-materialist realm of values, ideas and world views. The result is an exploration of the curious phenomenon of an ‘anti-imperialist’ empire with both ‘economic’ and ‘moral’ roots.

Read more less

This fascinating book about Belfast in the middle of the nineteenth century looks at how and why Ireland’s most prosperous and industrialized town began to tear itself apart. This study provides a vivid example of how a society can come apart at the seams – and how it can stay that way for generations. Through a series of steadily escalating riots, working-class Protestants and Catholics forged a tradition of violence that profoundly shaped their own identities and that of the city itself, setting the stage for the bitter conflicts of the next century. Fighting like the Devil for the Sake of God describes that foundational moment, offering a new analysis of Belfast’s violence that is rooted in the social lives of those who constructed this bitter rivalry and those who were forced to endure it.This book will be of interest to scholars in the fields of Irish and Modern History.

Read more less

Following the restoration of Lithuania’s independence and the dismantlement of the Soviet Union, the Kaliningrad region is now an exclave surrounded by EU member states. Departing from the analytical framework of Europeanisation, this book analyses the interaction between Russia and its Kaliningrad region on one side, and their European partners on the other side, thus assessing the region’s potential to serve as Russia’s main opening to the EU. How do EU relations ‘feed back’ into Kaliningrad’s domestic arena, or, put differently, does Kaliningrad become ‘Europeanised’ – at least to some extent? In particular, do EU standards and norms impact on the exclave and in what ways? The book not only offers thorough case studies of a number of policy areas affected by the EU (environmental, economics and higher education), it also refines our way of thinking about Europeanisation ‘beyond’ Europe.

Read more less

This collection of essays explores the nature and dynamics of Ireland's land questions during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and also the ways in which the Irish land question has been written about by historians.The book makes a vital contribution to the study of historiography by including for the first time the reflections of a group of prominent historians on their earlier work. These historians consider their influences and how their views have changed since the publication of their books, so that these essays provide an ethnographic study of historians' thoughts on the shelf-life of books exploring the way history is made.The book will be of interest to historians of modern Ireland, and those interested in the revisionist debate in Ireland, as well as to sociologists and anthropologists studying Ireland or rural societies.

Read more less

This revised and updated edition provides the reader with a comprehensive description and analysis of the institutions of the German political system. The historical development of German politics is surveyed, and special attention is given to the causes, course and consequences of German reunification. Where more detailed explanations of special topics are required, such as surplus seats in the electoral system, or the political career of Chancellor Merkel, these are provided in boxes set within the relevant chapters. Some information is provided in tabular form, such as the list of federal chancellors and federal presidents, the membership of trade unions, or election results. Appendices contain examples of important constitutional court cases, plus a survey of the political features of the sixteen Länder which make up the federal structure of the state. Each chapter offers suggestions for further reading.Accessibly written, with suggestions for further reading, this book offers a sound basis for all undergraduate courses focused on, or including, study of the German political system. The author's familiarity with all aspects of the German political system is evident from the authority with which he explains the structures and processes which form the basis of German politics.

Read more less

This is the first text to focus solely on the writing of British writers of South Asian descent born or raised in Britain. Exploring the unique contribution of these writers, it positions their work within debates surrounding black British, diasporic, migrant, and postcolonial literature in order to foreground both the continuities and tensions embedded in their relationship to such terms, engaging in particular with the ways in which this ‘new’ generation has been denied the right to a distinctive theoretical framework through absorption into pre-existing frames of reference. Focusing on the diversity of contemporary British Asian experience, the book engages with themes including gender, national and religious identity, the reality of post-9/11 Britain, the post-ethnic self, urban belonging, generational difference and youth identities, as well as indicating how these writers manipulate genre and the novel form in support of their thematic concerns.

Read more less

Photography and memory in Mexico traces the ‘life stories’ of some of the famous photographic images made during the 1910 revolution, which have been repeatedly reproduced across a range of media in its aftermath. Which photographs have become icons of the revolution and why these particular images and not others? What is the relationship between photography and memory of the conflict? How do we construct a critical framework for addressing the issues raised by iconic photographs? Placing an emphasis on the life, afterlife and also the pre-life of those iconic photographs that haunt the post-revolutionary landscape, Andrea Noble approaches them as dynamic objects, where their rhetorical power is derived from a combination of their visual eloquence and their ability to coordinate patterns of identification with the memory of the revolution as a foundational event in Mexican history. Richly-illustrated, this book will be of interest to all those interested in photography, memory studies, and Mexican cultural history.

Read more less

Contemporary French cinema is an essential introduction to popular French film of the last 35 years. It charts recent developments in all genres of French cinema with analyses of over 120 movies, from Les Valseuses to Caché.Reflecting the diversity of French film production since the New Wave, this clear and perceptive study includes chapters on the heritage film, the thriller and the war movie, alongside the 'cinéma du look', representations of sexuality, comedies, the work of women film makers and le jeune cinéma. Each chapter introduces the public reception and critical debates surrounding a given genre, interwoven with detailed accounts of relevant films. Confirmed as a major contribution to both Film Studies and French Studies, this book is a fascinating volume for students and fans of French film alike.

Read more less

The relationship between bodies and images has long occupied feminism. The becoming of bodies explores the way in which this relationship has primarily been approached and offers an alternative framework for analysis. Thinking through her original empirical research with teenage girls, involving focus groups, individual interviews and image-making sessions, Coleman moves from a consideration of media images, the focus of much feminist research, to examine images more widely; as mirrors, photographs, glimpses, comments, imagination. Addressing issues of appearance and selfhood, sex and gender, and temporality, the book takes a Deleuzian position to argue that bodies and images are not separable entities but rather entangled processes of becoming. It asks the question: how do bodies become through images? Making links between empirical research, feminist theory and Deleuzian theory, this book will be essential reading for scholars and students of Sociology, Cultural Studies and Feminist and Gender Studies.

Read more less

This book assesses Joss Whedon’s contribution to US television and popular culture. Examining everything from his earliest work to his most recent tweets and activist videos, it explores his complex and contradictory roles as both cult outsider and blockbuster filmmaker. Crucially, the book insists on the wider industrial, technological, political and economic contexts that have both influenced and been influenced by Whedon, rejecting the notion of Whedon as isolated television auteur. Using key source material, with exclusive access to drafts of many of the episodes across Whedon’s career, as well as unique correspondence with Whedon collaborator Jane Espenson, this book offers unparalleled access to the creative process that helped produce the series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Dollhouse and Firefly. Energetic, engaging and informed by detailed scholarship and theoretical rigour, the book is not just an essential addition to the study of Whedon, but a timely and important re-invigoration of television studies in general.

Read more less

Medieval film explores theoretical questions about the ideological, artistic, emotional and financial investments inhering in cinematic renditions of the medieval period. What does it mean to create and watch a ‘medieval film’? What is a medieval film and why are they successful? This is the first work that attempts to answer these questions, drawing, for instance, on film theory, postcolonial theory, cultural studies and the growing body of work on medievalism. Contributors investigate British, German, Italian, Australian, French, Swedish and American film, exploring topics such translation, temporality, film noir, framing and period film – and find the medieval lurking in unexpected corners. In addition it provides in-depth studies of individual films from different countries including The Birth of a Nation to Nosferatu, and Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves.Medieval film will be of interest to medievalists working in disciplines including literature, history, art history, to scholars working on film and in cultural studies. It will also be of interest to undergraduates, postgraduates and to an informed enthusiast in film or/and medieval culture.

Read more less

This is an exceptional book covering 500 years of the history of the Cossacks – the recklessly brave, wild horsemen or the romantic hero of the steppe or the brutal mounted policemen, as they have been remembered throughout history. Starting with a description of the world of the steppe before moving on to a more detailed analysis of the circumstances in which the Cossacks emerged and flourished in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, the author considers the relationship of the Cossacks to the surrounding states in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries through the prism of three great conflicts: the revolts of Bohdan Khelmnytsky, Stepan Razin and Emel’ian Pugachev. The author then looks at the Cossacks from the end of the Pugachev revolt in 1774 until the outbreak of the First World War, as well as the Cossacks in the Russian revolutionary period and under Soviet power. A lucid and engaging book that conveys the passion, exuberance and tragedy of these extraordinary people, it will be enjoyed by students, scholars and general readers interested in Russian history.

Read more less

This is the first modern critical study of Thomas Hood, the popular and influential nineteenth-century poet, editor, cartoonist and voice of social protest. Acclaimed by Dickens, the Brownings and the Rossettis, Hood’s quirky, diverse output bridges the years between 1820 and 1845 and offers fascinating insights for Romanticists and Victorianists alike. Lodge’s timely book explores the relationship between Hood’s playfulness, his liberal politics, and contemporary cultural debate about labour and recreation, literary materiality and urban consumption.Each chapter examines something distinctive of interdisciplinary interest, including the early nineteenth-century print culture into which Hood was born; the traditional, urban and political ramifications of the grotesque art and literature aesthetic; the cultural politics of Hood’s trademark puns; theatre, leisure and the ‘labour question’. Lively and accessible, this book will appeal to scholars of nineteenth-century English Literature, Visual Arts and Cultural Studies.

Read more less

The wounds of nations explores the ways in which horror films allows international audiences to deal with the horrors of recent history – from genocide to terrorist outrage, nuclear war to radical political change. Far from being mere escapism or titillation, it shows how horror (whether it be from 1970s America, 1980s Germany, post-Thatcherite Britain or post-9/11 America) is in fact a highly political and potentially therapeutic film genre that enables us to explore, and potentially recover from, the terrors of life in the real world.Exploring a wide range of stylistically distinctive and generically diverse film texts, Blake proffers a radical critique of the nation-state and the ideologies of identity it promulgates, showing that horror cinema can offer us a disturbing, yet perversely life affirming, means of working through the traumatic legacy of recent times.

Read more less

This book offers a critical reassessment of the uses of history in contemporary Irish literature and culture. It argues that in much recent Irish writing, history is approached not as the proverbial ‘nightmare’ from which Joyce’s Stephen Dedalus tried to awake, but as a rich, imaginative resource. Drawing on recent debates in Irish literary and cultural criticism, On the uses of history in recent Irish writing explores the varied, creative, and often critically challenging forms of rewriting Ireland’s troubled past in contemporary prose, drama and poetry. Individual chapters focus on literary treatments of the Tudor reconquest, the Famine, the Northern Irish Troubles and other key events in Irish history, highlighting in a series of close readings the unique forms of historical thought enabled by different literary forms and genres. Canonical works by authors such as Seamus Heaney, Derek Mahon, Tom Paulin, Brian Friel, Stewart Parker and Frank McGuinness are considered alongside lesser known writers and texts, placing each in their wider social, cultural and historical contexts.

Read more less

With the emergence of neo-liberalism in the 1980s as the dominant domestic and international political-economic orthodoxy, labour as both a social category and political movement tended to be written off or ignored by academics, politicians and commentators. However, at a time when the world’s working class is growing faster than at any previous time in history and neo-liberalism is widely challenged, this orthodoxy is clearly inadequate. The spread of global production means that to ignore labour, its organisations, interests and politics, is to ignore one of the key components of that process. Labour organisations have not gone away and neither has the state: their relationship remains as significant as ever. The strategic relationship between trade unions and social movements, nationally and internationally, has also developed markedly, especially in the south. New patterns of resistance are emerging to challenge global capital and those who assert that globalisation is irresistible.

Read more less

More widely studied and more frequently performed than ever before, John Webster's The Duchess of Malfi is here presented in an improved, accessible and throughly up-to-date edition. Starting with the authoritative Revels Plays edition of 1964, John Russell Brown has augmented the notes and collations, and casts new light on Webster's dramatic dialogue and on the stage action. An entirely new introduction encompasses a stage history from its well-documented early performances right through to recent productions in the twenty first century. The bibliography has also been expanded.Students, actors, directors, academics and theatre-goers will find here a reappraisal of Webster's artistry in the greatest age of English theatre.

Read more less

In the last generation, Northern Ireland has undergone a tortuous yet remarkable process of social and political change. This collection of essays aims to capture the complex and shifting realities of a society in the process of transition from war to peace.The book brings together commentators from a range of academic backgrounds and political perspectives. As well as focusing upon those political divisions and disputes that are most readily associated with Northern Ireland, it provides a rather broader focus than is conventionally found in books on the region. It examines the cultural identities and cultural practices that are essential to the formation and understanding of Northern Irish society but are neglected in academic analyses of the six counties. While the contributors often approach issues from rather different angles, they share a common conviction of the need to challenge the self-serving simplifications and choreographed optimism that frequently define both official discourse and media commentary on Northern Ireland. Taken together, the essays offer a comprehensive and critical account of a troubled society in the throes of change.

Read more less

Neil Cornwell's study, while endeavouring to present an historical survey of absurdist literature and its forbears, does not aspire to being an exhaustive history of absurdism. Rather, it pauses on certain historical moments, artistic movements, literary figures and selected works, before moving on to discuss four key writers: Daniil Kharms, Franz Kafka, Samuel Beckett and Flann O'Brien.The absurd in literature will be of compelling interest to a considerable range of students of comparative, European (including Russian and Central European) and English literatures (British Isles and American) – as well as those more concerned with theatre studies, the avant-garde and the history of ideas (including humour theory). It should also have a wide appeal to the enthusiastic general reader.

Read more less

Mike Leigh may well be Britain’s greatest living film director; his worldview has permeated our national consciousness. This book gives detailed readings of the nine feature films he has made for the cinema, as well as an overview of his work for television. Written with the co-operation of Leigh himself, this is the first study of his work to challenge the critical privileging of realism in histories of the British cinema, placing the emphasis instead on the importance of comedy and humour: of jokes and their functions, of laughter as a survival mechanism, and of characterisations and situations that disrupt our preconceptions of ‘realism’. Striving for the all-important quality of truth in everything he does, Leigh has consistently shown how ordinary lives are too complex to fit snugly into the conventions of narrative art. From the bittersweet observation of Life is Sweet or Secrets and Lies, to the blistering satire of Naked and the manifest compassion of Vera Drake, he has demonstrated a matchless ability to perceive life’s funny side as well as its tragedies.

Read more less