Search results for ""author alex"

The remarkable story of how Greek-speaking writers and thinkers sustained and developed the intellectual legacy of Classical Greece under the rule of Rome. In 146 BC, Greece yielded to the military might of the Roman Republic; some sixty years later, when Athens and other Greek city-states rebelled against Rome, the general Lucius Cornelius Sulla destroyed the city of Socrates and Plato, laying waste the famous Academy where Aristotle had studied. However, the traditions of Greek cultural life would continue to flourish – across the eastern Mediterranean world and beyond – during the centuries of Roman rule that followed, in the lives and work of a distinguished array of philosophers, rhetoricians, historians, doctors, scientists, geographers and theologians. Charles Freeman's accounts of such luminaries as the polymathic physician Galen, the soldier-botanist Dioscorides, the Alexandrian geographer and astronomer Ptolemy and the Neoplatonic philosopher Plotinus are interwoven with 'interludes' that counterpoint and contextualise a sequence of unjustly neglected and richly influential lives. This is the story of a vibrant, constantly evolving tradition of intellectual inquiry across a period of more than five hundred years, from the second century BC to the start of the fifth century ad – one that would help shape the intellectual landscape of the Middle Ages and long after. The Children of Athena is a cultural history on an epic scale.

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As Christian leaders in the first through fifth centuries embraced ascetic interpretations of the Bible and practices of sexual renunciation, sexual slander—such as the accusations Paul leveled against wayward Gentiles in the New Testament—played a pivotal role in the formation of early Christian identity. In particular, the imagined construct of the lascivious, literal-minded Jew served as a convenient foil to the chaste Christian ideal. Susanna Drake examines representations of Jewish sexuality in early Christian writings that use accusations of carnality, fleshliness, bestiality, and licentiousness as strategies to differentiate the "spiritual" Christian from the "carnal" Jew. Church fathers such as Justin Martyr, Hippolytus of Rome, Origen of Alexandria, and John Chrysostom portrayed Jewish men variously as dangerously hypersexual, at times literally seducing virtuous Christians into heresy, or as weak and effeminate, unable to control bodily impulses or govern their wives. As Drake shows, these carnal caricatures served not only to emphasize religious difference between Christians and Jews but also to justify increased legal constraints and violent acts against Jews as the interests of Christian leaders began to dovetail with the interests of the empire. Placing Christian representations of Jews at the root of the destruction of synagogues and mobbing of Jewish communities in the late fourth and early fifth centuries, Slandering the Jew casts new light on the intersections of sexuality, violence, representation, and religious identity.

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This delightful book tells the story of ancient libraries from their very beginnings, when “books” were clay tablets and writing was a new phenomenon. Renowned classicist Lionel Casson takes us on a lively tour, from the royal libraries of the most ancient Near East, through the private and public libraries of Greece and Rome, down to the first Christian monastic libraries. To the founders of the first public libraries of the Greek world goes the credit for creating the prototype of today’s library buildings and the science of organizing books in them. Casson recounts the development of ancient library buildings, systems, holdings, and patrons, addressing questions on a wide variety of topics, such as: • What was the connection between the rise in education and literacy and the growth of libraries?• Who contributed to the early development of public libraries, especially the great library at Alexandria?• What did ancient libraries include in their holdings?• How did ancient libraries acquire books?• What was the nature of publishing in the Greek and Roman world?• How did different types of users (royalty, scholars, religious figures) and different kinds of “books” (tablets, scrolls, codices) affect library arrangements?• How did Christianity transform the nature of library holdings?Just as a library yields unexpected treasures to a meandering browser, this entertaining book offers to its perusers the surprising history of the rise and development of ancient libraries—a fascinating story never told before.

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Through a series of lively and accessible biographical essays, Red Valkyries explores the history of socialist feminism century Eastern Europe. By examining the revolutionary careers of five prominent socialist women active in the 19th and 20th centuries-the aristocratic Bolshevik, Alexandra Kollontai; the radical pedagogue, Nadezhda Krupskaya; the polyamorous firebrand, Inessa Armand; the deadly sniper, Lyudmila Pavlichenko; and the partisan turned scientist turned global women's activist, Elena Lagadinova-Kristen Ghodsee tells the story of the personal challenges faced by earlier generations of socialist and communist women. None of these women were "perfect" leftists. Their lives were filled with inner conflicts, contradictions, and sometimes outrageous privilege, but they still managed to move forward their own political projects through perseverance and dedication to their cause. Always walking a fine line between the need for class solidarity and the desire to force their sometimes callous male colleagues to take women's issues seriously, these five women pursued novel solutions with lessons for activists of today. In brief conversational chapters-with plenty of concrete examples from the history of the state socialist countries in Eastern Europe and contemporary reflections on the status of women in the world today-Ghodsee renders the big ideas of socialist feminism accessible to those newly inspired by the emancipatory politics of insurgent left feminist movements around the globe.

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A cosy Dandy Gilver mystery set in 1920s Scotland. For fans of PG Wodehouse, Alexander McCall Smith and Agatha Christie.'1920s lady detective Dandy Gilver lands a sleuthing gig in a setting straight out of Enid Blyton,. Cosier than a pair of WI-knitted mittens, Corpses serves up murder most foul - and is also good for several giggles.' TIME OUT Before she was a detective, before she was a reluctant wife and distracted mother, before she was even a debutante, Dandy Gilver spent one perfect summer with the Lipscotts of Pereford. The golden memories of it have sustained her through many a cold snap in Perthshire. So when two of the Lipscott sisters beg her to help the third, she can hardly refuse. Sweet, pretty Fleur Lipscott: where is she now? The astonishing answer to this is that Fleur - still Miss Lipscott, indeed more Miss Lipscott than ever - is buried alive in the tiny seaside village of Portpatrick, working as a schoolmistress at St Columba's College for Young Ladies.But she is one of the few remaining, for St Columba's has been shedding mistresses as a snake its skins and the exodus is far from over. With mistresses vanishing and corpses mounting up, can Mrs Gilver, detective, pass herself off as Miss Gilver, English mistress, to solve the one and stop the other?Catriona McPherson's latest novel in the series, Dandy Gilver and a Spot of Toil and Trouble is now available for pre-order.

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DISCOVER 2,000 YEARS OF SCOTTISH HISTORY TOLD BY THOSE WHO LIVED IT - FROM THE ROMAN INVASION TO THE SNP PARLIAMENTARY VICTORY IN 2007.Featuring writing from Tacitus, Mary Queen of Scots, Oliver Cromwell, David Livingston and Billy Connolly. ______________Scotland's history is wide and vast. Depending on the lens applied, it can be seen as an unrelenting tale of oppression and poverty or a glowing roll-call of innovation, exploration and entrepreneurship. In fact, it's all of the above. In Scotland: An Autobiography, Professor Rosemary Goring shows Scotland's history as it happened by those who were there - from criminals, servants, house-wives, poets, journalists and nurses to politicians, novelists, prisoners, comedians, sportsmen and even queens. It is the good and the bad. The everyday and the key historical moments. A vivid, panoramic and engrossing account, she has created a living history and the perfect read for anyone not only seeking to understand Scotland's past but also its heart and soul. ______________'History caught on the hoof and the wing by those who were actually there - a brilliant selection' Andrew Marr'An unqualified triumph, superb, a real page-turner . . . what a stirring, dramatic, poignant story it has been' Alexander McCall Smith, Spectator 'Fascinating and very valuable. Goring gives us vivid snapshots of Scottish life and history from Neolithic times . . . should find a place in every Scottish home' Allan Massie, Scotsman

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In The Story of England Michael Wood tells the extraordinary story of one English community over fifteen centuries, from the moment that the Roman Emperor Honorius sent his famous letter in 410 advising the English to look to their own defences to the village as it is today. The village of Kibworth in Leicestershire lies at the very centre of England. It has a church, some pubs, the Grand Union Canal, a First World War Memorial - and many centuries of recorded history. In the thirteenth century the village was bought by William de Merton, who later founded Merton College, Oxford, with the result that documents covering 750 years of village history are lodged at the college.Building on this unique archive, and enlisting the help of the current inhabitants of Kibworth, with a village-wide archeological dig, with the first complete DNA profile of an English village and with use of local materials like family memorabilia, the story of Kibworth is the story of England itself, a 'Who Do You Think You Are?' for the entire nation. 'Better than any historian for decades, [in In Search of England] Wood brings home not just the ways in which buildings, landscapes and written texts may be read, but the sensual beauty of encounters with them' TLSMichael Wood was born and educated in Manchester. He was an open scholar in Modern History at Oriel College, Oxford, where he held a Bishop Fraser scholarship in Medieval History as a postgraduate. He has made a number of internationally successful tv series, including In the Footsteps of Alexander the Great, and four of his books have been UK non-fiction number one bestsellers. His highly acclaimed book of essays on early English history, In Search of England, was published by Penguin in 1999.

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Everything you think you know about Nikola Tesla is wrong. The Truth About Tesla sets the record straight.Nikola Tesla was one of the greatest electrical inventors who ever lived. For years, the engineering genius was relegated to relative obscurity, his contributions to humanity (we are told) obscured by a number of nineteenth-century inventors and industrialists who took credit for his work or stole his patents outright. In recent years, the historical record has been “corrected” and Tesla has been restored to his rightful place among historical luminaries like Thomas Edison, George Westinghouse, and Gugliemo Marconi.Most biographies repeat the familiar account of Tesla’s life, including his invention of alternating current, his falling out with Edison, how he lost billions in patent royalties to Westinghouse, and his fight to prove that Marconi stole 13 of his patents to “invent” radio. But, what really happened?Consider this: Everything you think you know about Nikola Tesla is wrong. Newly uncovered information proves that the popular account of Tesla’s life is itself very flawed. In The Truth About Tesla, Christopher Cooper sets out to prove that the conventional story not only oversimplifies history, it denies credit to some of the true inventors behind many of the groundbreaking technologies now attributed to Tesla and perpetuates a misunderstanding about the process of innovation itself.Are you positive that Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone? Are you sure the Wright Brothers were the first in flight? Think again! With a provocative foreword by Tesla biographer Marc. J. Seifer, The Truth About Tesla is one of the first books to set the record straight, tracing the origin of some of the greatest electrical inventions to a coterie of colorful characters that conventional history has all but forgotten.

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When the final episode of Seinfeld aired on 14th May 1998, an amazing 76.3 million Americans tuned in, making it the most popular situation comedy is US television history. * The first show-by-show episode guide to be written about this iconic television series * Not just a hit in the USA, Seinfeld remains a cult show in the UK and Europe, now available on DVD and on Amazon Prime * Bang up to date, the book includes recent Seinfeld-related activity including the revival episode on 'Curb Your Enthusiasm' and Seinfeld's own 'Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee' Co-created by Larry David, this 'comedy about nothing' made celebrities of its four stars: stand-up comedian Jerry Seinfeld; comedian and actor Michael Richards who played eccentric neighbour Kramer; Julia Louis-Dreyfus who played Seinfeld's former girlfriend Elaine and Jason Alexander as Jerry's volatile best friend George. Completely unique in its outlook and execution, the success of the series lay in its early years, able to develop its own style below the radar as a minor network hit, before reaching a mass public with its fourth season in 1992. Much analyzed during its time on screen, the show has not been re-evaluated for many years. Now, 21 years since the series finished, Stephen Lambe's timely and superbly-crafted new book examines Seinfeld's first five seasons episode by episode, tracing the development of every character, catchphrase and quirk, from the series' embryonic pilot episode in 1989, to its status as an Emmy award-winning show by the time that season five wrapped in 1994. While the series was a huge success in the USA, it was also a cult hit across the globe and its legacy continues into the new millennium.

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A sparkling new take on an age-old publication: The Other Almanac brings together a stellar group of young writers, artists and activists to pick up themes of environmentalism, gardening, recipes, folklore, seasonal savvy, and off- the-beaten-track amusement, all presented in brilliant color and eye-popping design. Out with the Old, in with the Other!The original Almanac is the oldest continuously printed publication in the US . It comprises a popular mix of ancient wisdom, garden advice, poems, jokes, how-to's, recipes, and calendars. It is, however, still tailored to its traditional audience: largely rural, white and conservative. It eschews stances on anything overtly progressive, be it political, ecological, or social. The Other Almanac puts right these omissions. Whilst retaining the quirkiness and liveliness of the original, it aims to bridge the urban/rural divide in America, delving into issues of politics and culture that unite us all. Its pages are filled with buoyant contributions from climate organizers, indigenous activists, migrant farmworkers, historians, scientists, medicine makers, incarcerated painters, astrologers, lawyers, borderland midwives and more. Original, full color art surrounds their writing, creating an inviting, accessible yearbook that will entertain and educate a wide new readership for an age-old chronicle. Contributors: 10th Floor Studio, adrienne maree brown, Alexis Pauline Gumbs, Alfredo Jaar, Amaryllis R. Flowers, Andrea Aliseda, Bill McKibben, Bread and Puppet Press, Carla J. Simmons, Chloë Boxer, Chris Lloyd, Dyani White Hawk, Dylan Smith, Daniel Barreto, Esther Elia, Food With Fam, Francesca DiMattio, Hangama Amiri, Hannah Beerman, Jennifer Givhan, Jessie Kindig, Jumana Manna, Kirk Gordon, Keegan Dakkar Lomanto, Lily Consuelo Saporta Tagiuri, Philip Poon, Sophia Giovannitti, Tania Willard, Tyrrell Tapaha, Veladya Chapman, Who Tattoo, Yaku Perez Guartambel.

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The second heartwarming book in The Royal Station Master's Daughters series. For readers of Maisie Thomas and Daisy Styles. It is 1917 and Maria has adapted well to her new life on the royal Sandringham estate where she works as a maid in the Big House for Queen Alexandra and is in awe of the many treasures around her. It is two years since she turned up at the royal station master's house to escape her secret past, destitute and with nowhere else to turn. Having proven herself to Harry Saward and his daughters, she is now welcomed by them as one of the family. But when Nellie, a mysterious relative turns up, on the run from the law, Maria's new-found happiness could be under threat. Meanwhile, the impact of World War I is felt deeply in the community as the fate of missing men from the Sandringham Company, who fought in Gallipoli, is still unknown. Harry's daughters pull together to support each other and women on the royal estate as they face their sorrows and challenges. Ada's husband, Alfie, is away fighting on the front line while Beatrice is now a VAD nurse at a cottage hospital. Jessie has become a land army girl, proudly doing a man's job, while pining for her sweetheart Jack. In a community torn apart by loss and tragedy, how will the station master's family survive and find the happiness they're all searching for?The Royal Station Master's Daughters at War is the second book in the WWI saga series, inspired by the Saward family, who ran the station at Wolferton in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Through this family we get a glimpse into all walks of life - from royalty to the humblest of soldiers.

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A powerful account of the life of Tamerlane the Great (1336-1405), the last master nomadic power, one of history’s most extreme tyrants, and the subject of Marlowe’s famous play. Marozzi travelled in the footsteps of the great Mogul Emperor of Samarkland to write this wonderful combination of history and travelogue. The name of the last great warlord conjures up images of mystery and romance: medieval warfare on desert plains; the clash of swords on snow-clad mountains; the charge of elephants across the steppes of Asia; the legendary opulence and cruelty of the illiterate, chess-playing nemesis of Asia. He ranks alongside Alexander as one of the world’s great conquerors, yet the details of his life are scarcely known in the West. He was not born to a distinguished family, nor did he find his apprenticeship easy – at one point his mobile army consisted only of himself, his wife, seven companions and four horses – but his dominion grew with astonishing rapidity. In the last two decades of the fourteenth century and the beginning of the fifteenth, he blazed through Asia. Cities were razed to the ground, inhabitants tortured without mercy, sometimes enemies were buried alive – more commonly they were decapitated. On the ruins of Baghdad, Tamerlane had his princes erect a pyramid of 90,000 heads. During his lifetime he sought to foster a personal myth, exaggerating the difficulties of his youth, laying claim to supernatural powers and a connection to Genghis Khan. This myth was maintained after his death in legend, folklore, poetry, drama and even opera, nowhere more powerfully than in Marlowe’s play – he is now as much a literary construct as a historical figure. Justin Marozzi follows in his path and evokes his legacy in telling the tale of this fabulously cruel, magnificent and romantic warrior.

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Legend has it that the ocean can lure children and make them fall into the depths to never return . . .Martin, who has always been drawn to the ocean, moves his wife Alexandra and their two young children move to his family's idyllic summer cottage in the picturesque island village of Orust, on the west coast of Sweden. Martin begins to cultivate a mussel farm, where he soon runs into trouble with the locals.One January weekend, when Martin is distracted by a ringing phone, he discovers that in those few moments, his young son has gone missing and his little red bucket is bobbing in the waves. Though his body is never found, it's ruled an accidental drowning. Martin's grief is all-consuming as he falls into a deep depression, withdrawing from his family and community.When former police photographer Maya Linde arrives to Orust, she learns of the little boy's disappearance and decides to do some investigating of her own. Martin and Maya grow closer as they learn the hidden truths of this town and the locals who have always mythologized the ocean.Together they make a macabre discovery: other children have tragically died in the these waves, all on the same day in January, all in the exact same spot, though decades apart. Can it really be a coincidence, or is the ocean luring the children into its depths? As Maya and Martin grapple with a threat far greater than they ever imagined, they soon realize that the truth is actually much stranger than fiction . . .Set against a backdrop of the whispering ocean, Winter Water is an atmospheric and gripping suspense novel of the nature of grief and the many acts is can make us capable of.

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This book is available as open access through the Bloomsbury Open Access programme and is available on www.bloomsburycollections.com. It is funded by Knowledge Unlatched. "A remarkable resource for the field of fashion studies suitable for both newcomers ... [and] seasoned practitioners." - Fashion Historia "A precious source in the study of the subject ... inspiring." - The Journal of Dress History The last decade has seen the growing popularity and visibility of fashion as a cultural product, including its growing presence in museum exhibitions. This book explores the history of fashion displays, highlighting the continuity of past and present curatorial practices. Comparing and contrasting exhibitions from different museums and decades—from the Paris Exposition Universelle of 1900 to the Alexander McQueen Savage Beauty show at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2011, and beyond—it makes connections between museum fashion and the wider fashion industry. By critically analyzing trends in fashion exhibition practice over the 20th and early 21st centuries, Julia Petrov defines and describes the varied representations of historical fashion within British and North American museum exhibitions. Rooted in extensive archival research on exhibitions by global leaders in the field—from the Victoria and Albert and the Bath Fashion Museum to the Brooklyn and the Royal Ontario Museums—the work reveals how fashion exhibitions have been shaped by the values and anxieties associated with fashion more generally. Supplemented by parallel critical approaches, including museological theory, historiography, body theory, material culture, and visual studies, Fashion, History, Museums demonstrates that in an increasingly corporate and mass-mediated world, fashion exhibitions must be analysed in a comparative and global context. Richly illustrated with 70 images, this book is essential reading for students and scholars of fashion history and museology, as well as curators, conservators, and exhibition designers.

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Peter Adamson offers an accessible, humorous tour through a period of eight hundred years when some of the most influential of all schools of thought were formed: from the third century BC to the sixth century AD. He introduces us to Cynics and Skeptics, Epicureans and Stoics, emperors and slaves, and traces the development of Christian and Jewish philosophy and of ancient science. Chapters are devoted to such major figures as Epicurus, Lucretius, Cicero, Seneca, Plotinus, and Augustine. But in keeping with the motto of the series, the story is told 'without any gaps,' providing an in-depth look at less familiar topics that remains suitable for the general reader. For instance, there are chapters on the fascinating but relatively obscure Cyrenaic philosophical school, on pagan philosophical figures like Porphyry and Iamblichus, and extensive coverage of the Greek and Latin Christian Fathers who are at best peripheral in most surveys of ancient philosophy. A major theme of the book is in fact the competition between pagan and Christian philosophy in this period, and the Jewish tradition also appears in the shape of Philo of Alexandria. Ancient science is also considered, with chapters on ancient medicine and the interaction between philosophy and astronomy. Considerable attention is paid also to the wider historical context, for instance by looking at the ascetic movement in Christianity and how it drew on ideas from Hellenic philosophy. From the counter-cultural witticisms of Diogenes the Cynic to the subtle skepticism of Sextus Empiricus, from the irreverent atheism of the Epicureans to the ambitious metaphysical speculation of Neoplatonism, from the ethical teachings of Marcus Aurelius to the political philosophy of Augustine, the book gathers together all aspects of later ancient thought in an accessible and entertaining way.

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Use BPF Tools to Optimize Performance, Fix Problems, and See Inside Running Systems BPF-based performance tools give you unprecedented visibility into systems and applications, so you can optimize performance, troubleshoot code, strengthen security, and reduce costs. BPF Performance Tools: Linux System and Application Observability is the definitive guide to using these tools for observability. Pioneering BPF expert Brendan Gregg presents more than 150 ready-to-run analysis and debugging tools, expert guidance on applying them, and step-by-step tutorials on developing your own. You’ll learn how to analyze CPUs, memory, disks, file systems, networking, languages, applications, containers, hypervisors, security, and the kernel. Gregg guides you from basic to advanced tools, helping you generate deeper, more useful technical insights for improving virtually any Linux system or application. • Learn essential tracing concepts and both core BPF front-ends: BCC and bpftrace • Master 150+ powerful BPF tools, including dozens created just for this book, and available for download • Discover practical strategies, tips, and tricks for more effective analysis • Analyze compiled, JIT-compiled, and interpreted code in multiple languages: C, Java, bash shell, and more • Generate metrics, stack traces, and custom latency histograms • Use complementary tools when they offer quick, easy wins • Explore advanced tools built on BPF: PCP and Grafana for remote monitoring, eBPF Exporter, and kubectl-trace for tracing Kubernetes • Foreword by Alexei Starovoitov, creator of the new BPF BPF Performance Tools will be an indispensable resource for all administrators, developers, support staff, and other IT professionals working with any recent Linux distribution in any enterprise or cloud environment.

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It has been said that during times of war, the Muses fall silent. However, anyone who has read the major figures of mid-twentieth-century literature—Samuel Beckett, Richard Hillary, Norman Mailer, Albert Camus, Jean-Paul Sartre, and others—can attest that it was through writing that people first tried to communicate and process the horrors that they saw during one of the darkest times in human history even as it broke out and raged on around them.In Bearing Witness, John Carpenter explores how across the world those who experienced the war tried to make sense of it both during and in its immediate aftermath. Writers such as Alexander Solzhenitsyn and Theodore Plievier questioned the ruling parties of the time based on what they saw. Correspondents and writer-soldiers like John Hersey and James Jones revealed the chaotic and bloody reality of the front lines to the public. And civilians, many of who remain anonymous, lent voice to occupation and imprisonment so that those who didn’t survive would not be forgotten. The digestion of a cataclysmic event can take generations. But in this fascinating book, Carpenter brings together all those who did their best to communicate what they saw in the moment so that it could never be lost.

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Understanding associations in the Greco-Roman world enhances the study of the rise of early Christianity—whether at the micro-level of interpreting particular texts or at the macro-level of assessing the spread of Christ-devotion in the pre-Constantinian era. The twenty-five contributions contained within Greco-Roman Associations, Deities, and Early Christianity enlarge our perspectives on the extent to which Greco-Roman associations bring features of Christian origins into relief.Thematic studies include associational social reputation; women in associations; deities and devotion; financial strategies of group maintenance; care for the poor; varieties of group identity; refinements of terminological and conceptual apparatus; funerary practices; occupational groups; and the alleged role of Christianity in the demise of associations. Studies of particular phenomena include 1 Thessalonians, 1 Corinthians, Paul's Collection, Hebrews, a late first-century Christian family, 1 Clement, and Clement of Alexandria.While the essays cover a wide spectrum of topics, they retain a clear focus on aspects of corporate life within ancient associations as comparanda for the study of early Christ-groups within their social milieu. These essays, all kept to a disciplined length, represent the work of impressive scholars from a range of interdisciplinary, intergenerational, and international contexts. The volume's symposium of voices and lively scholarly exchange productively expand current conversations about Greco-Roman associations, deities, and early Christianity.

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This sequel to The Black Librarian in America (Scarecrow, 1970) contains an array of contributors representing a new generation of African American librarians, addressing the same perplexing problems that their predecessors examined. This volume is being issued at a time when there is a great concern about cultural diversity in the country. Cultural diversity is laudable, but the pervasive problem in the country is institutional racism. All of the contributors aggree that it is racism that should be eradicated if a truly multicultural society that represents cultural diversity is to develop. A wide range of topics are explored. In addition, a profile of Dorothy Porter Wesley, one of the pioneer African American librarians; librarians and archivists as writers, and a provocative essay by Congresswoman Major R. Owens on "The Specter of Racism in an Age of Cultural Diversity: The New Paradigm for African American Librarians." Among the contributors are Carolyn O. Frost, Herman L. Totten, Carla Hayden, Charles M. Brown, Alexander Boyd, Jesse Carney Smith, James F Williams,II, Lou Helen Saunders, Ina A. Brown, Vivian Davidson Hewitt, Monteria Hightower, Ella Gaines Yates, and Ann Allen Shockley. Especially designed for professional librarians, library school students, and other information professionals, this volume would be a useful addition to African American collections and other scholarly collections dealing with American society. A copious index that is cross referenced makes it very useful as a reference tool.

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The Romare Bearden Reader brings together a collection of new essays and canonical writings by novelists, poets, historians, critics, and playwrights. The contributors, who include Toni Morrison, Ralph Ellison, August Wilson, Farah Jasmine Griffin, and Kobena Mercer, contextualize Bearden's life and career within the history of modern art, examine the influence of jazz and literature on his work, trace his impact on twentieth-century African American culture, and outline his art's political dimensions. Others focus on specific pieces, such as A Black Odyssey, or the ways in which Bearden used collage to understand African American identity. The Reader also includes Bearden's most important writings, which grant readers insight into his aesthetic values and practices and share his desire to tell what it means to be black in America. Put simply, The Romare Bearden Reader is an indispensable volume on one of the giants of twentieth-century American art. Contributors. Elizabeth Alexander, Romare Bearden, Mary Lee Corlett, Rachel DeLue, David C. Driskell, Brent Hayes Edwards, Ralph Ellison, Henri Ghent, Farah Jasmine Griffin, Harry Henderson, Kobena Mercer, Toni Morrison, Albert Murray, Robert G. O’Meally, Richard Powell, Richard Price, Sally Price, Myron Schwartzman, Robert Burns Stepto, Calvin Tomkins, John Edgar Wideman, August Wilson

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The United States is a nation of joiners. Ever since Alexis de Tocqueville published his observations in Democracy in America, Americans have recognized the distinctiveness of their voluntary tradition. In a work of political, legal, social, and intellectual history, focusing on the grassroots actions of ordinary people, Neem traces the origins of this venerable tradition to the vexed beginnings of American democracy in Massachusetts.Neem explores the multiple conflicts that produced a vibrant pluralistic civil society following the American Revolution. The result was an astounding release of civic energy as ordinary people, long denied a voice in public debates, organized to advocate temperance, to protect the Sabbath, and to abolish slavery; elite Americans formed private institutions to promote education and their stewardship of culture and knowledge. But skeptics remained. Followers of Jefferson and Jackson worried that the new civil society would allow the organized few to trump the will of the unorganized majority. When Tocqueville returned to France, the relationship between American democracy and its new civil society was far from settled. The story Neem tells is more pertinent than ever—for Americans concerned about their own civil society, and for those seeking to build civil societies in emerging democracies around the world.

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Earthquakes have taught us much about our planet's hidden structure and the forces that have shaped it. This knowledge rests not only on the recordings of seismographs but also on the observations of eyewitnesses to destruction. During the nineteenth century, a scientific description of an earthquake was built of stories - stories from as many people in as many situations as possible. Sometimes their stories told of fear and devastation, sometimes of wonder and excitement. In The Earthquake Observers, Deborah R. Coen acquaints readers not only with the century's most eloquent seismic commentators, including Alexander von. Humboldt, Charles Darwitt, Mark Twain, Charles Dickens, Karl Kraus, Ernst Mach, John Muir, and William James, but also with countless other citizen-observers, many of whom were women. Coen explains how observing networks transformed an instant of panic and confusion into a field for scientific research, turning earthquakes into natural experiments at the nexus of the physical and human sciences. Seismology abandoned this project of citizen science with the introduction of the Richter Scale in the 1950s, only to revive it in the twenty-first century in the face of new hazards and uncertainties. The Earthquake Observers tells the history of this interrupted dialogue between scientists and citizens about living with environmental risk.

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American Gothic Art and Architecture in the Age of Romantic Literature analyses the influence of British Gothic novels and historical romances on American art and architecture in the Romantic era. American artists and architects were among the most avid readers of Gothic fiction, which in turn informed their artistic output. In a period of increasing nationalism, the Gothic Revival architectural style in particular served to legitimise the American landscape with the materiality of European culture. At the core of this book is an analysis of American architecture in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, an understudied era. Key figures include Thomas Jefferson, Washington Allston, Alexander Jackson Davis, James Fenimore Cooper, Washington Irving, Thomas Cole, Edwin Forrest, and Nathaniel Hawthorne. Hawthorne articulated the subject of this book when he wrote that he could understand Sir Walter Scott's romances better after viewing Scott's Gothic Revival house Abbotsford, and he understood the house better for having read the romances. From the very beginning, the Gothic Revival has been a phenomenon that crosses modern disciplinary boundaries.The groundwork in Gothic literary scholarship allows us to move beyond literature to examine how the Gothic seeps into other forms of artistic creation. This interdisciplinary book investigates the symbiotic relationship between the arts and Gothic literature to reveal new interpretative possibilities.

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America is witnessing the rise of a new generation of socialist activists. More young people support socialism now than at any time since the labor movement of the 1920s. The Democratic Socialists of America, a big-tent leftist organisation, has well over 50,000 members nationwide. In the fall of 2018, one of the most influential congressmen in the Democratic Party lost a primary to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a 28-year-old socialist who had never held office before. Now, AOC is one of the most influential politicians in the country. But what does all this mean? Should we be worried about our nation, or should we join the march toward our bright socialist future? In Why You Should Be a Socialist, Nathan J. Robinson will give readers a primer on twenty-first-century socialism: what it is, what it isn’t, and why everyone should want to be a part of this exciting new chapter of American politics. From the heyday of Occupy Wall Street through the 2020 presidential election and beyond, young progressives have been increasingly drawn to socialist ideas. However, the movement’s goals need to be defined more sharply before it can effect real change on a national scale. Robinson’s charming, accessible, and well-argued book will convince even the most skeptical readers of the merits of socialist thought.

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When Alice is with Mathilde, her experience of the world shifts, as though Mathilde brings with her a force that charges everything around her: the park bench, the sticky linoleum floor of the supermarket, their interlocked hands, the buttons on a winter coat. But Mathilde is also mercurial and “perfectly” married to Alexander, and Alice is moving into a bigger flat with Simon who has just returned to her life. Alice’s precarious solution is to proceed into a quadrilateral relationship, impatient to define her own outline in the eyes of others.Elastic is a novel about being a woman. About being a woman among other women, among men, and about being alone with one’s female body. Alice doesn’t like being a woman. She feels estranged from her own body, from her gender. At the same time, Elastic is also a modern love story. About Alice’s silenced yet stormy crush on the enigmatic Mathilde. A crush that has no place neither in Alice's relationship with Simon, in Mathilde’s marriage, or even in Alice herself.Bille cleanly gleans the nebulous distinctions between love, sex and intimacy, exerting a softly fragmentary style that underpins Alice’s vacillations. She explores what it means to refuse settling – in a relationship, in society, and within oneself – and to want both love and community without being able to detach from the selfishness that brought us there in the first place. Praise for Elastic The tone of the novel is set from the very first page. Alice, a brilliantly honest main character, narrates the novel in a uniquely fragmented style. Bille uses creative imagery that is sometimes disturbing, but always poetic– Buzz MagazineAlice in Wonderland like you’ve never seen her before– Octavia BrightBille’s Alice has relatives or even sisters in Françoise Sagan’s 1950s novels – there is something Saganesque about Elastic and its depiction of open love affairs and the complicated triangulations, mirroring and conflicts they might entail– PolitikenA novel that speaks quietly and yet insistently of the loneliness of being in love and the feeling of being trapped in one’s own body– InformationElastic is difficult to let go of. It left me with the feeling of being seen. And not just seen: seen through– POV InternationalElastic is first and foremost a tale of Alice and her fumbling attempts to set love free. But it is the novel’s lonely, heartfelt voice and its unromantic depiction of love that gets stuck into your bones– ATLASJOHANNE BILLE (b.1993) is a Danish novelist based in Copenhagen. Elastic is her second novel, originally published in Danish by Forlaget Gladiator in 2018.SHERYLIN NICOLETTE HELLBERG is a literary translator. She has published translations of Tove Ditlevsen, Jonas Eika, and Ida Marie Hede. In 2018, she received an American-Scandinavian Foundation Award for her translation of Caspar Eric’s Nike.

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Thomas Graumann untersucht die Entstehung einer theologischen Denk- und Argumentationsform, die als Väterbeweis bezeichnet wird. Dabei geht es um eine Form der Berufung auf Tradition, die bestimmte Personen namentlich als Autoritäten ('Väter') benennt und ihr Denken durch explizite Zitate begründet. Beide Elemente tauchen erstmals im Zuge der trinitätstheologischen Kontroversen des 4. Jahrhunderts auf, genauer in der Auseinandersetzung zwischen Markell von Ankyra und Euseb von Caesarea. Während Markell diese Art der Argumentation der Gegner kritisch gegen die alleinige Autorität der Heiligen Schrift ausspielen will, entdeckt sie Euseb als ein Merkmal des 'Kirchlichen' und der zu fordernden Kontinuität von 'Theologie'. Thomas Graumann untersucht, wie in der Folgezeit durch die Berufung auf Väter theologische Einsichten verdeutlicht und begründet wurden und wie dabei zugleich die Frage nach einem eigenen kirchlichen Standort mitbeantwortet wurde. Kyrill von Alexandrien schließlich formt zu Beginn des 5. Jahrhunderts in der Kontroverse mit Nestorius diese Ansätze zu einem förmlichen Väterbeweis. Darum liegt ein weiterer Schwerpunkt in der Analyse des publizistischen Streits mit Nestorius und der detailgenauen Auswertung der Akten des Konzils von Ephesus. Die Bedeutung des Väterthemas für die Selbstwahrnehmung der Konkurrenten und für das Konzilsgeschehen erscheint so in einem neuen Licht. Auch die an das Konzil anschließenden Friedensverhandlungen stehen im Zeichen der Suche nach gemeinsamen Vätern. Das Konzil von Ephesus erweist sich als Knotenpunkt der vorherigen Entwicklung und Quellpunkt der weiteren Nutzung dieses Verfahrens, das spätestens mit dem Konzil von Chalcedon (451) zur 'normalen' theologischen Methode wird. In der Pflege gemeinsamer Vätererinnerung beschreibt das Väterdenken zugleich einen wesentlichen Ausschnitt des kirchlichen Selbstbewußtseins frühbyzantinischer Prägung und steht so gleichsam stellvertretend für eine (im Altertum) theoretisch nie formulierte östliche Ekklesiologie.

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THE GOOD AUDITION GUIDES: Helping you select and perform the audition piece that is best suited to your performing skills As an actor at any level – whether you are doing theatre studies at school, taking part in youth theatre, preparing for drama-school showcases, or attending professional acting workshops – you will often be required to prepare a duologue with a fellow performer. Your success is often based on locating and selecting a fresh, dynamic scene suited to your specific performing skills, as well as your interplay as a duo. Which is where this book comes in. This collection features twenty-five fantastic duologues for two men, almost all written since the year 2000 by some of our most exciting dramatic voices, offering a wide variety of character types and styles of writing. Playwrights featured include Mike Bartlett, Howard Brenton, Jez Butterworth, Alexi Kaye Campbell, Ella Hickson, Sam Holcroft, Anna Jordan, Rona Munro, Jack Thorne and Tom Wells, and the plays themselves were premiered at the very best theatres across the UK including the Manchester Royal Exchange, Watford Palace, the Almeida, Bush, Hampstead, Royal Court and Soho Theatres, and at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Drawing on her experience as an actor, director and teacher at several leading drama schools, Trilby James equips each duologue with a thorough introduction including the vital information you need to place the piece in context (the who, what, when, where and why) and suggestions about how to perform the scene to its maximum effect (including the characters' objectives). The collection also features an introduction on the whole process of selecting and preparing a duologue, and how to present it to the greatest effect. The result is the most comprehensive and useful contemporary duologue book of its kind now available. 'Sound practical advice... a source of inspiration for teachers and students alike' Teaching Drama Magazine on The Good Audition Guides

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Henry II conquered the largest empire of any English medieval king. Yet it is the people around him we remember: his wife Eleanor, whom he seduced from the French king; his son Richard the Lionheart; Thomas Becket, murdered in his cathedral. Who was this great, yet tragic king? For fans of Dan Jones, George RR Martin and Bernard Cornwell. The only thing that could have stopped Henry was himself. Henry II had all the gifts of the gods. He was charismatic, clever, learned, empathetic, a brilliant tactician, with great physical strength and an astonishing self-belief. Henry was the creator of the Plantagenet dynasty of kings, who ruled through eight generations in command of vast lands in Britain and Europe. Virtually unbeaten in battle, and engaged in a ceaseless round of conquest and diplomacy, Henry forged an empire that matched Charlemagne’s. It was not just on the battlefield that Henry excelled; he presided over a blossoming of culture and learning termed ‘the twelfth century Renaissance’, pursued the tenets of reason over religious faith, and did more to advance the cause of justice and enforce the rule of law than any other English monarch before or since. Contemporaries lauded his greatness and described him as their ‘Alexander of the West’. And yet it is the people around him who are remembered: his wife Eleanor of Aquitaine, whom he seduced away from the French king; his sons Richard the Lionheart and John; Thomas Becket, murdered in his cathedral. Henry – so famed during his lifetime – has slipped into the shadows of history. King of the North Wind offers a fresh evaluation of this great yet tragic ruler. Written as a historical tragedy, it tells how this most talented of kings came into conflict with those closest to him, to become the most haunted.

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Syria has long been one of the most trouble-prone and politically volatile regions of the Near and Middle Eastern world. This book looks back beyond the troubles of the present to tell the 3000-year story of what happened many centuries before. Trevor Bryce reveals the peoples, cities, and kingdoms that arose, flourished, declined, and disappeared in the lands that now constitute Syria, from the time of it's earliest written records in the third millennium BC until the reign of the Roman emperor Diocletian at the turn of the 3-4th century AD. Across the centuries, from the Bronze Age to the Rome Era, we encounter a vast array of characters and civilizations, enlivening, enriching, and besmirching the annals of Syrian history: Hittite and Assyrian Great Kings; Egyptian pharaohs; Amorite robber-barons; the biblically notorious Nebuchadnezzar; Persia's Cyrus the Great and Macedon's Alexander the Great; the rulers of the Seleucid empire; and an assortment of Rome's most distinguished and most infamous emperors. All swept across the plains of Syria at some point in her long history. All contributed, in one way or another, to Syria's special, distinctive character, as they imposed themselves upon it, fought one another within it, or pillaged their way through it. But this is not just a history of invasion and oppression. Syria had great rulers of her own, native-born Syrian luminaries, sometimes appearing as local champions who sought to liberate their lands from foreign despots, sometimes as cunning, self-seeking manipulators of squabbles between their overlords. They culminate with Zenobia, Queen of Palmyra, whose life provides a fitting grand finale to the first three millennia of Syria's recorded history. The conclusion looks forward to the Muslim conquest in the 7th century AD: in many ways the opening chapter in the equally complex and often troubled history of modern Syria.

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THE TRUE STORY OF THE 41,000 BRITISH SOLDIERS WHO WERE LEFT BEHIND AFTER THE EVACUATION OF DUNKIRK, MAY 1940'Meticulously researched, very well written and deeply moving' Andrew Roberts'Few readers will be unmoved by Sean Longden's account' Dominic SandbrookAt 2am on the morning of the 3rd of June 1940, General Harold Alexander searched along the quayside, holding onto his megaphone and called "Is anyone there? Is anyone there?" before turning his boat back towards England. Tradition tells us that the dramatic events of the evacuation of Dunkirk, in which 300,000 BEF servicemen escaped the Nazis, was a victory gained from the jaws of defeat. For the first time, rather than telling the tale of the 300,000 who escaped, Sean Longden reveals the story of the 40,000 men sacrificed in the rearguard battles.On the beaches and sand dunes, besides the roads and amidst the ruins lay the corpses of hundreds who had not reached the boats. Elsewhere, hospitals full of the sick and wounded who had been left behind to receive treatment from the enemy's doctors. And further afield - still fighting hard alongside their French allies - was the entire 51st Highland Division, whose war had not finished as the last boats slipped away. Also scattered across the countryside were hundreds of lost and lonely soldiers. These 'evaders' had also missed the boats and were now desperately trying to make their own way home, either by walking across France or rowing across the channel. The majority, however, were now prisoners of war who were forced to walk on the death marches all the way to the camps in Germany and Poland, where they were forgotten until 1945.'Sean Longden is a rising name in military history, and is able to uncover the missing stories of the Second World War' Guardian

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'A definite must for all fans of comic fantasy' - ENIGMA'Wacky humour bubbles through the polished narrative ... Holt doesn't skimp on the flashes of brilliance' - SFXEver been offered a promotion that seems too good to be true? You know - the sort they'd be insane to be offering to someone like you. The kind where you snap their arm off to accept, then wonder why all your long-serving colleagues look secretly relieved, as if they're off some strange and unpleasant hook ...It's the kind of trick that deeply sinister companies like J.W. Wells & Co. pull all the time. Especially with employees who are too busy mooning over the office intern to think about what they're getting into. And it's why, right about now, Paul Carpenter is wishing he'd paid much less attention to the gorgeous Melze, and rather more to a little bit of job description small-print referring to 'pest' control ...Books by Tom Holt: Walled Orchard Series Goatsong The Walled Orchard J.W. Wells & Co. Series The Portable Door In Your Dreams Earth, Air, Fire and Custard You Don't Have to Be Evil to Work Here, But It Helps The Better Mousetrap May Contain Traces of Magic Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Sausages YouSpace Series Doughnut When It's A Jar The Outsorcerer's Apprentice The Good, the Bad and the Smug Novels Expecting Someone Taller Who's Afraid of Beowulf Flying Dutch Ye Gods! Overtime Here Comes the Sun Grailblazers Faust Among Equals Odds and Gods Djinn Rummy My Hero Paint your Dragon Open Sesame Wish you Were Here Alexander at World's End Only Human Snow White and the Seven Samurai Olympiad Valhalla Nothing But Blue Skies Falling SidewaysLittle PeopleSong for NeroMeadowlandBarkingBlonde BombshellThe Management Style of the Supreme BeingsAn Orc on the Wild Side

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The key to our position in the whole Mediterranean lay in Malta. (Tedder) Two of the greatest strategic mistakes by Hitler involved failure to take control of two key locations, Gibraltar and Malta; between them these two were able to influence, and at times dominate, the Western Mediterranean area, and surrounding land masses. Malta, with its strategic partner, Alexandria (and Egypt) likewise dominated the Eastern Mediterranean and surrounding land masses. Malta only existed strategically for its ability to attack the enemy Lines of Communication between European bases (now stretching from France to Crete) and North Africa. Every piece of equipment, every man and all supplies had to move from Europe to North Africa, the majority by surface vessel, and had to be gathered at a limited number of port facilities in both locations, which made those locations key choke points and targets. Once in North Africa, everything had to move along the main coastal road from the supply ports to dumps and to units. Every campaign is to a greater or lesser extent one of logistics, the Desert War more so than most. It has often been called a war of airfields but it is more accurately described as a war of logistics , with airfields playing a major role in defending one s own supply lines whilst striking at the enemy s lines. If Malta could not attack, then it was a drain on resources; but in order to attack it had to protect the infrastructure and equipment needed for attack. The ability to take a pounding, shake it off and fight back was the key to survival. The Island required determined leadership, external support dedicated to supplying the Island, and the committed resilience of all those on the Island to ensure success. This is the story of how Malta rose to meet the challenges facing its defences during the Second World War; how it struck back and survived one of its darkest eras.

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In March 2020, the COVID pandemic plunged the world into fear and chaos. People around the globe locked themselves in their houses and stocked up on food, fearing unemployment, the loss of loved ones, and an uncertain future. But as the weeks went on, one devastating truth began to emerge more prominently than any other: we were not all impacted by this virus the same way. While wealthier people could keep themselves safe by working from home and using food delivery, the marginalised members of society were left much more vulnerable. They held risky jobs as “Essential Workers,”; they did not have health insurance; they lost employment and the ability to afford housing and food; they were old and viewed as disposable; they were undocumented and afraid to go to the hospital; they were at far greater risk because of living with a disability. It quickly became startlingly clear the vast inequalities in who was able to survive the virus. And yet for prominent scholar Steven Thrasher, none of this was a surprise. Having spent his ground-breaking career studying the racialisation, policing, and criminalisation of HIV, Dr. Thrasher had seen first hand how viruses intersect with racism, capitalism, homophobia, and ableism. He knew that the ways in which viruses spread, kill, and take their toll are much more dependent on social structures than they are on biology. And he had a term for it: the viral underclass. In THE VIRAL UNDERCLASS, Dr. Thrasher will present, for the first time, his unified theory of one of the most pressing social justice issues of our time: how viruses expose the fault lines of society. Told through the heart-rending stories of friends, activists, and teachers navigating COVID, HIV, and other viruses, Dr. Thrasher brings the reader with him as he develops his theory and lays bare its inner workings - all in an engaging, accessible, and personable voice. In the tradition of Isabel Wilkerson’s CASTE, Michelle Alexander’s THE NEW JIM CROW, and Naomi Klein’s THE SHOCK DOCTRINE, THE VIRAL UNDERCLASS helps us understand the world more deeply by showing the fraught relationship between privilege and survival.

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What to Expect When Black, Pregnant, and Expecting“This book stands as the modern-day guide to birthing while Black.” ―Angelina Ruffin-Alexander, certified nurse midwife2021 International Book Awards finalist in Health: Women’s Health#1 New Release in Pregnancy & Childbirth and Minority Demographic Studies, Medical Ethics, and Women's Health NursingWritten with lighthearted humor and cultural context, Oh Sis, You’re Pregnant! discusses the stages of pregnancy, labor, and motherhood as they pertain to pregnant Black women today.Tailored to today’s pregnant Black woman. In the age of social media, how do pregnant women communicate their big announcement? What are the best protective hairstyles for labor? Most importantly, how many pregnancy guides focus on issues like Black maternal birth rates and what it really looks like to be Black, pregnant, and single today? Written for the modern pregnant Black woman, Oh Sis, You’re Pregnant! is the essential what to expect when you're expecting guide to understanding pregnancy from a millennial Black mom’s point of view.Interviews, stories, and advice for pregnant women. Written by Black Moms Blog founder, the book tackles hard topics in a way that truly resonate with modern Black moms. With stories from her experiences through pregnancy, labor, and motherhood, and lessons learned as a mother at twenty-two, Oh Sis, You’re Pregnant! focuses on the common knowledge Black pregnant mothers should consider when having their first baby. It also shares topics beneficial to pregnant Black women on their second, third, or fourth born.Find answers to questions: Do I financially plan for my birth? Can I maintain my relationship and friendships during motherhood? Will I self-advocate for my rights in a world that already views me as less than? If you enjoyed books like Medical Apartheid, 50 Things To Do Before You Deliver, The Girlfriends' Guide to Pregnancy, or Birthing Justice, then you’ll love Oh Sis, You’re Pregnant!

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Since the earliest known marker denoting the edge of one land and the beginning of the next—a stone column inscribed with Sumerian cuneiform—borders have been imagined, mapped, moved, and fought over. In The Edge of the Plain, James Crawford skillfully blends history, travel writing, and reportage to trace these borderlines throughout history and across the globe. What happens on the ground when we impose lines on a map that contradict how humans have always lived—and moved? Crawford confronts that question from bloody territorial disputes in Mesopotamia, to the Sápmi lands of Scandinavia, the shifting boundaries of the Israel-Palestine conflict, efforts to build a wall on the United States-Mexico border, and the dangerous border crossings pursued by migrants into Europe. And yet the role of borders extends beyond specific sites of conflict. On the largest scale, borders define the limits of empire—the two walls in Britain that once represented the northwestern edge of the Roman Empire; the mythological eastern gate supposedly closed off by Alexander the Great; China’s virtual “Great Firewall.” On the smallest, human scale, cell walls are the last physical barrier against disease, after lines of quarantine have failed. Finally, as The Edge of the Plain reveals, humans have not only made their mark on the landscape: the landscape itself is now changing, more and more rapidly due to climate change. Crawford introduces us to both the Alpine watershed—one such shifting, natural borderline—and the “Great Green Wall” in Africa, envisioned as an international, community-built bulwark against desertification. Borders are as old as human civilization, and focal points for today’s colliding forces of nationalism, climate change, globalization, and mass migration. The Edge of the Plain illuminates these lines of separation past and present, how we define them—and how they define us.

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Far away from the trendy cafés, designer boutiques, and political protests and crackdowns in Moscow, the real Russia exists. Midnight in Siberia chronicles David Greene’s journey on the Trans-Siberian Railway, a 6,000-mile cross-country trip from Moscow to the Pacific port of Vladivostok. In quadruple-bunked cabins and stopover towns sprinkled across the country’s snowy landscape, Greene speaks with ordinary Russians about how their lives have changed in the post-Soviet years. These travels offer a glimpse of the new Russia—a nation that boasts open elections and newfound prosperity but continues to endure oppression, corruption, a dwindling population, and stark inequality. We follow Greene as he finds opportunity and hardship embodied in his fellow train travelers and in conversations with residents of towns throughout Siberia. We meet Nadezhda, an entrepreneur who runs a small hotel in Ishim, fighting through corrupt layers of bureaucracy every day. Greene spends a joyous evening with a group of babushkas who made international headlines as runners-up at the Eurovision singing competition. They sing Beatles covers, alongside their traditional songs, finding that music and companionship can heal wounds from the past. In Novosibirsk, Greene has tea with Alexei, who runs the carpet company his mother began after the Soviet collapse and has mixed feelings about a government in which his family has done quite well. And in Chelyabinsk, a hunt for space debris after a meteorite landing leads Greene to a young man orphaned as a teenager, forced into military service, and now figuring out if any of his dreams are possible. Midnight in Siberia is a lively travel narrative filled with humor, adventure, and insight. It opens a window onto that country’s complicated relationship with democracy and offers a rare look into the soul of twenty-first-century Russia.

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Far away from the trendy cafés, designer boutiques, and political protests and crackdowns in Moscow, the real Russia exists. Midnight in Siberia chronicles David Greene’s journey on the Trans-Siberian Railway, a 6,000-mile cross-country trip from Moscow to the Pacific port of Vladivostok. In quadruple-bunked cabins and stopover towns sprinkled across the country’s snowy landscape, Greene speaks with ordinary Russians about how their lives have changed in the post-Soviet years. These travels offer a glimpse of the new Russia—a nation that boasts open elections and newfound prosperity but continues to endure oppression, corruption, a dwindling population, and stark inequality. We follow Greene as he finds opportunity and hardship embodied in his fellow train travelers and in conversations with residents of towns throughout Siberia. We meet Nadezhda, an entrepreneur who runs a small hotel in Ishim, fighting through corrupt layers of bureaucracy every day. Greene spends a joyous evening with a group of babushkas who made international headlines as runners-up at the Eurovision singing competition. They sing Beatles covers, alongside their traditional songs, finding that music and companionship can heal wounds from the past. In Novosibirsk, Greene has tea with Alexei, who runs the carpet company his mother began after the Soviet collapse and has mixed feelings about a government in which his family has done quite well. And in Chelyabinsk, a hunt for space debris after a meteorite landing leads Greene to a young man orphaned as a teenager, forced into military service, and now figuring out if any of his dreams are possible. Midnight in Siberia is a lively travel narrative filled with humor, adventure, and insight. It opens a window onto that country’s complicated relationship with democracy and offers a rare look into the soul of twenty-first-century Russia.

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Each federal employee takes an oath to "support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies foreign and domestic," but none had imagined that enemy might be the Commander-in-Chief. With the presidency of Donald Trump, a fault line between the president and vital forces within his government was established. Those who honored their oath of office, their obligation to the Constitution, were wary of the president and they in turn were not trusted and occasionally fired and replaced with loyalists. American Resistance is the first book to chronicle the unprecedented role so many in the government were forced to play and the consequences of their actions during the Trump administration. From Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman and his brother Yevgeny, to Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch, to Bill Taylor, Fiona Hill, and the official who first called himself "Anonymous"-Miles Taylor, among others, Rothkopf examines the resistance movement that slowly built in Washington. Drawing from first hand testimonies, deep background and research, American Resistance shows how when the President threatened to run amok, a few key figures rose in defiance. It reveals the conflict within the Department of Justice over actively seeking instances of election fraud and abuse to help the president illegally retain power, and multiple battles within the White House over the influence of Jared and Ivanka, and in particular the extraordinary efforts to get them security clearances even after they were denied to them. David Rothkopf chronicles how each person came to realize that they were working for an administration that threatened to wreak havoc - one Defense Secretary was told by his mother to resign before it was too late - in an intense drama in which a few good men and women stood up to the tyrant in their midst.

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Ekaterin Matusova offers a new approach to the old problems of interpretation of the “Letter of Aristeas”. Chapter 1 deals with the question of the structure of the narrative. Matusova argues that at the time of Aristeas compositions of the kind of the Reworked Pentateuch, or Rewritten Bible were circulating in Egypt in parallel with the LXX and were a source of interpretations of the Hebrew text different from the LXX and of specific combinations of subjects popular in Second Temple Judaism. In particular, Matusova further argues that the leading principle of the composition of the Letter is that of the Reworked Deuteronomy, where subjects referring to the idea of following the Law among the gentiles were grouped together. The analysis is based on a broad circle of Jewish sources, including Philo of Alexandria and documents from the Qumran library. The principle of the composition discovered in this part of the study is referred to as the Jewish paradigm. Chapter 2 offers a new interpretation of the frame story in the narrative, i.e. of the story of the translation in the strict sense. Matusova shows that two paradigms are skilfully combined in this split story: the Jewish one, based on the Bible, and the Greek one, which involves Greek grammatical theory. She further argues that the story, when read in terms of Greek grammar, turns out to be a consistent story not of the translation, but of the correction of the LXX, which is important for our understanding of the early history of the translation. The analysis involves extensive excurses into Greek grammatical theory, including a discussion of Aristotle, Dionysius Thrax and other Hellenistic grammarians. In Chapter 3 Matusova tries to find the reason for the combination of these two paradigms, namely the Jewish biblical paradigm and the Greek grammatical ones, and to interpret their interconnected meaning, by placing it in the broad historical context of the Ptolemaic state.

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In a series of revolts starting in 1820, four military officers rode forth on horseback from obscure European towns to bring political freedom and a constitution to Spain, Naples, and Russia; and national independence to the Greeks. The men who launched these exploits from Andalusia to the snowy fields of Ukraine--Colonel Rafael del Riego, General Guglielmo Pepe, General Alexandros Ypsilanti, and Colonel Sergei Muraviev-Apostol--all hoped to overturn the old order. Over the next six years, their revolutions ended in failure. The men who led them became martyrs. In The Four Horsemen, the late, eminent historian Richard Stites offers a compelling narrative history of these four revolutions. Stites sets the stories side by side, allowing him to compare events and movements and so illuminate such topics as the transfer of ideas and peoples across frontiers, the formation of an international community of revolutionaries, and the appropriation of Christian symbols and language for secular purposes. He shows how expressive behavior and artifacts of all kinds--art, popular festivities, propaganda, and religion--worked their way to various degrees into all the revolutionary movements and regimes. And he documents as well the corruption, abandonment of liberal values, and outright betrayal of the revolution that emerged in Spain and Naples; the clash of ambitions and ideas that wracked the unity of the Decembrists' cause; and civil war that erupted in the midst of the Greek struggle for independence. Richard Stites was one of the most imaginative and broad-ranging historians working in the United States. This book is his last work, a classic example of his dazzling knowledge and idiosyncratic yet accessible writing style. The culmination of an esteemed career, The Four Horsemen promises to enthrall anyone interested in nineteenth-century Europe and the history of revolutions.

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***Shortlisted for Best Fantasy Novel in the Aurealis Awards******Shortlisted for the Vogel Award ***Good girls don't talk back. Good girls don't cry. Good girls don't scream.Sadie Burke has been forced to be a good girl her entire life. As a banshee, she's the bottom of the ladder when it comes to the supernatural hierarchy. Weak. Condemned. Powerless. Silent. That's what she and her six sisters have been told their entire lives, since their species was first banished from Ireland.Yet when a figure from her childhood unexpectedly arrives on the scene, Sadie finds it harder than ever to toe the line.Texas Contos is the son of their greatest oppressor. He's also someone she's inexplicably drawn to, and as they grow closer, Sadie begins to question what banshees have been told for centuries about their gifts.But the truth comes at a cost. With Sadie and Tex forced to run for their lives, their journey leads them to new friends, old enemies, and finally to her true voice - one that could shatter the supernatural world forever.'Maria Lewis is a must-read' Buzzfeed'Pay attention urban fantasy fans - Maria Lewis is a name you'll want to remember' One More Page'If you haven't heard about Maria Lewis you must have been living under a rock' Good Reading Magazine'I can't wait to find out what happens next!' Keri Arthur'Truly one of the best in the genre I have ever read' Oscar-nominee Lexi Alexander (Green Street Hooligans, Punisher: War Zone, Arrow, Supergirl)'Journalist Maria Lewis grabs the paranormal fiction genre by the scruff of its neck and gives it a shake' The West Australian'An intriguing take on a classic monster with vibrant, modern characters' Sci Fi Bulletin

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Despite remarkable progress, much remains unknown about the risks and benefits of genetic testing. No effective interventions are yet available to improve the outcome of most inherited diseases; negative test results might not rule out future occurrence of disease, and positive test results do not necessarily mean the disease will inevitably develop. In view of this uncertainty, the Working Group on Ethical, Legal, and Social Implications of Human Genome Research at the National Institutes of Health and Department of Energy created the Task Force on Genetic Testing. Comprising representatives of fifteen major stakeholders in genetic testing and five government agencies involved with testing, the task force was charged with reviewing genetic testing in the United States and making recommendations to ensure the development of safe and effective genetic tests. In Promoting Safe and Effective Genetic Testing in the United States the members of this task force present the conclusions of their study. They begin by describing general principles involved in genetic testing, including informed consent, testing of children, confidentiality, and discrimination. They describe methods and policies to ensure the safety and effectiveness of new genetic tests, including criteria for developing tests and ways of ensuring compliance with those criteria. They then discuss how to ensure the quality of laboratories that perform genetic tests, including the role of laboratory personnel and methods of monitoring laboratory performance. They show how health care professionals outside the field of genetics can better understand the uses of genetic testing, and offer suggestions for changes in these professionals' education and training. Finally, they offer a look at testing for rare inherited genetic disorders. Members of the Task Force: Neil A. Holtzman, M.D., M.P.H. * Michael S. Watson, Ph.D., F.A.C.M.G. * Patricia A. Barr * David R. Cox, M.D., M.P.H. * Jessica G. Davis, M.D. * Stephen I. Goodman, M.D., M.Sc. * Wayne W. Grody, M.D., Ph.D. * Arthur L. Levin, M.D. * J. Alexander Lowden, M.D., Ph.D. * Patricia D. Murphy, Ph.D. * Patricia J. Numan, M.D. * Victoria O. Odesina, R.N., Sc.M., M.S. * Nancy Press, Ph.D. * Katherine A. Schneider, M.P.H. * David B. Singer * Steven Gutman, M.D., * Muin J. Khoury, M.D., Ph.D. * David Lanier, M.D. * Linda R. Lebovic * Jane S. Lin-Fu, M.D.

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It is hard to think of an area of Christian theology that provides more scope for interdisciplinary conversation than the doctrine of creation. This doctrine not only invites reflection on an intellectual concept: it calls for contemplation of the endlessly complex, dynamic, and fascinating world that human being inhabit. But the possibilities for wide-ranging discussion are such that scholars sometimes end up talking past one another. Productive conversation requires mutual understanding of insights across disciplinary boundaries. Knowing Creation offers an essential resource for helping scholars from a range of fields to appreciate one another's concerns and perspectives. In so doing, it offers an important step forward in establishing a mutually-enriching dialogue that addresses, amongst others, the following key questions: Who is the God who creates? Why does God create? What is "creation"? What does it mean to recognize that a theology of creation speaks of a natural world that is subject to the observation of the natural sciences? What does it mean to talk about both a "natural" order and a "created" order? What are the major tensions that have arisen between the natural sciences and Christian thinking historically, and why? How can we move beyond such tensions to a positive and constructive conversation, while also avoiding facile notions such as a "god of the gaps"? Is it feasible for a natural scientist to maintain a belief in God's continuing creative activity? In what ways might a naturalistic understanding of the natural world be said to be limited? How can biblical studies, theology, philosophy, history, and science talk better together about these questions? At a time when the doctrine of creation - and even a mention of "creation" - has been disparaged due to its supposed associations with anti-scientific dogma, and theological offerings sometimes risk appearing a little more than reactionary exercises in naive apologetics, ill-informed by science or distinctly wary of engagement with it, it is more important than ever to offer a cross-disciplinary resource that can voice a positive account of a Christian theology of creation, and do so as a genuinely broad-ranging conversation about science and faith.Contributors to Knowing Creation include Marilyn McCord Adams, Denis Alexander, Susan Eastman, C. Stephen Evans, Peter van Inwagen, Christoph Schwobel, John H. Walton, Francis Watson, and more.

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Why federalism is pulling America apart—and how the system can be reformedFederalism was James Madison's great invention. An innovative system of power sharing that balanced national and state interests, federalism was the pragmatic compromise that brought the colonies together to form the United States. Yet, even beyond the question of slavery, inequality was built into the system because federalism by its very nature meant that many aspects of an American's life depended on where they lived. Over time, these inequalities have created vast divisions between the states and made federalism fundamentally unstable. In The Divided States of America, Donald Kettl chronicles the history of a political system that once united the nation—and now threatens to break it apart.Exploring the full sweep of federalism from the founding to today, Kettl focuses on pivotal moments when power has shifted between state and national governments—from the violent rebalancing of the Civil War, when the nation almost split in two, to the era of civil rights a century later, when there was apparent agreement that inequality was a threat to liberty and the federal government should set policies for states to enact. Despite this consensus, inequality between states has only deepened since that moment. From health care and infrastructure to education and the environment, the quality of public services is ever more uneven. Having revealed the shortcomings of Madison's marvel, Kettl points to possible solutions in the writings of another founder: Alexander Hamilton.Making an urgent case for reforming federalism, The Divided States of America shows why we must—and how we can—address the crisis of American inequality.

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This eye-opening study of Civil War photography traces the introduction of the camera into the battlefield and shows its influence on history and our responses to war Six hundred thousand lives were lost between 1861 and 1865, making the conflict between North and South the nation’s deadliest war. If the “War Between the States” was the test of the young republic’s commitment to its founding precepts, it was also a watershed in photographic history, as the camera recorded the epic, heartbreaking narrative from beginning to end—providing those on the home front, for the first time, with immediate visual access to the horrors of the battlefield.Photography and the American Civil War features both familiar and rarely seen images that include haunting battlefield landscapes strewn with bodies, studio portraits of armed Confederate and Union soldiers (sometimes in the same family) preparing to meet their destiny, rare multi-panel panoramas of Gettysburg and Richmond, languorous camp scenes showing exhausted troops in repose, diagnostic medical studies of wounded soldiers who survived the war’s last bloody battles, and portraits of both Abraham Lincoln and his assassin, John Wilkes Booth.Published on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the battle of Gettysburg (1863), this beautifully produced book features Civil War photographs by George Barnard, Mathew Brady, Alexander Gardner, Timothy O’Sullivan, and many others.Published by The Metropolitan Museum of Art/Distributed by Yale University PressExhibition Schedule:The Metropolitan Museum of Art(04/01/13–09/02/13)The Gibbes Museum of Art(09/27/13–01/05/14)New Orleans Museum of Art(01/31/14–05/04/14)

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Contributions by Simone A. Alexander, José Felipe Alvergue, Valerie Babb, Pamela Bordelon, Taylor Hagood, Joyce Marie Jackson, Delia Malia Konzett, Jane Landers, John Wharton Lowe, Gary Monroe, Noelle Morrissette, Paul Ortiz, Lyrae Van Clef-Stefanon, Genevieve West, and Belinda Wheeler The state of Florida has a rich literary and cultural history, which has been greatly shaped by many different ethnicities, races, and cultures that call the Sunshine State home. Little attention has been paid, however, to the key role of African Americans in Floridian history and culture. The state’s early population boom came from immigrants from the US South, and many of them were African Americans. Interaction between the state’s ethnic communities has created a unique and vibrant culture, which has had, and continues to have, a significant impact on southern, national, and hemispheric life and history. Black Hibiscus: African Americans and the Florida Imaginary begins by exploring Florida’s colonial past, focusing particularly on interactions between maroons who escaped enslavement, and on Albery Whitman’s The Rape of Florida, which also links Black people and Native Americans. Contributors consider film, folklore, and music, as well as such key Black writers as Zora Neale Hurston, James Weldon Johnson, Gwendolyn Bennett, Colson Whitehead, and Edwidge Danticat. The volume features Black Floridians’ role in the civil rights movement and Black contributions to the celebrated Florida Writers’ Project. Contributors include literary scholars, historians, film critics, art historians, anthropologists, musicologists, political scientists, artists, and poets.

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The deepest cave on earth was a prize that had remained unclaimed for centuries, long after every other ultimate discovery had been made. This is the story of the men and women who risked everything to find it, earning their place in history beside the likes of Peary, Amundsen, Hillary, and Armstrong.In 2004, two great scientist-explorers attempted to find the bottom of the world. Bold, American Bill Stone was committed to the vast Cheve Cave, located in southern Mexico and deadly even by supercave standards. On the other side of the globe, legendary Ukrainian explorer Alexander Klimchouk - Stone's opposite in temperament and style - had targeted Krubera, a freezing nightmare of a supercave in the Republic of Georgia.Blind Descent explores both the brightest and darkest aspects of the timeless human urge to discover - to be first. It is also a thrilling epic about a pursuit that makes even extreme mountaineering and ocean exploration pale by comparison. These supercavers spent months in multiple camps almost two vertical miles deep and many more miles from their caves' exits. They had to contend with thousand-foot drops, deadly flooded tunnels, raging whitewater rivers, monstrous waterfalls, mile-long belly crawls, and much more. Perhaps even worse were the psychological horrors produced by weeks plunged into absolute, perpetual darkness, beyond all hope of rescue, including a particularly insidious derangement called 'The Rapture'.Blind Descent is a testament to human survival and endurance - and to two extraordinary men whose relentless pursuit of greatness led them to heights of triumph and depths of tragedy neither could have imagined.

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A unique history of the ancient Near East that compellingly presents the life stories of kings, priestesses, merchants, bricklayers, and others In this sweeping history of the ancient Near East, Amanda Podany takes readers on a gripping journey from the creation of the world's first cities to the conquests of Alexander the Great. The book is built around the life stories of many ancient men and women, from kings, priestesses, and merchants to brickmakers, musicians, and weavers. Their habits of daily life, beliefs, triumphs, and crises, and the changes that people faced over time are explored through their own written words and the buildings, cities, and empires in which they lived. Rather than chronicling three thousand years of rulers and states, Weavers, Scribes, and Kings instead creates a tapestry of life stories through which readers will come to know specific individuals from many walks of life, and to understand their places within the broad history of events and institutions in the ancient Near East. These life stories are preserved on ancient clay tablets, which allow us to trace, for example, the career of a weaver as she advanced to become a supervisor of a workshop, listen to a king trying to persuade his generals to prepare for a siege, and feel the pain of a starving young couple and their four young children as they suffered through a time of famine. What might seem at first glance to be a remote and inaccessible ancient culture proves to be a comprehensible world, one that bequeathed to the modern world many of our institutions and beliefs, a truly fascinating place to visit.

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