Search results for ""pacific""

A memoir of land, family and perseverance from one of the most influential writers in America. In this moving and surprising book, Joan Didion reassesses parts of her life, her work, her history – and America’s. Where I Was From, in Didion's words, "represents an exploration into my own confusions about the place and the way in which I grew up, misapprehensions and misunderstandings so much a part of who I became that I can still to this day confront them only obliquely." The book is a haunting narrative of how her own family moved west with the frontier from the birth of her great-great-great-great-great-grandmother in Virginia in 1766 to the death of her mother on the edge of the Pacific in 2001; of how the wagon-train stories of hardship and abandonment and endurance created a culture in which survival would seem the sole virtue. Didion examines how the folly and recklessness in the very grain of the California settlement led to the California we know today – a state mortgaged first to the railroad, then to the aerospace industry, and overwhelmingly to the federal government. Joan Didion's unerring sense of America and its spirit, her acute interpretation of its institutions and literature, and her incisive questioning of the stories it tells itself make this fiercely intelligent book a provocative and important tour de force from one of America’s greatest writers.

Read more less

"Immensely entertaining." —Newsday"Poignant and remarkable." —Philadelphia Inquirer"Warm, compassionate, engaging, and thought-provoking." —Washington Post"With a subtle ominousness, Yamashita sets up her hopeful, prideful characters—and, in the process, the entire genre of pioneer lit—for a fall." —Village Voice"A splendid multi-generational novel . . . rich in history and character." —San Francisco ChronicleParticularly insightful." —Library Journal"Informative and timely." —Kirkus"Yamashita's heightened sense of passion and absurdity, and respect for inevitability and personality, infuse this engrossing multigenerational immigrant saga with energy, affection, and humor." —Booklist"This enriching novel introduces Western readers to an unusual cultural experiment, and makes vivid a crucial chapter in Japanese assimilation into the West." —Publishers Weekly The story of an idealistic band of Japanese immigrants, who arrive in Brazil in 1925 to carve a utopia out of the jungle. The dream of creating a new world, the cost of idealism, the symbiotic tie between a people and the land they settle, and the changes demanded by a new generation, all collide in this multigenerational saga.Karen Tei Yamashita is the author of Through the Arc of the Rain Forest, Brazil-Maru, Tropic of Orange, Circle K Cycles, I Hotel, and Anime Wong, all published by Coffee House Press. I Hotel was selected as a finalist for the National Book Award and awarded the California Book Award, the American Book Award, the Asian/Pacific American Librarians Association Award, and the Association for Asian American Studies Book Award.

Read more less

This Open Access book explains ASEAN’s strategic role in managing great power politics in East Asia. Constructing a theory of institutional strategy, this book argues that the regional security institutions in Southeast Asia, ASEAN and ASEAN-led institutions have devised their own institutional strategies vis-à-vis the South China Sea and navigated the great-power politics since the 1990s. ASEAN proliferated new security institutions in the 1990s and 2000s that assumed a different functionality, a different geopolitical scope, and thus a different institutional strategy. In so doing, ASEAN formed a “strategic institutional web” that nurtured a quasi-division of labor among the institutions to maintain relative stability in the South China Sea. Unlike the conventional analysis on ASEAN, this study disaggregates “ASEAN” as a collective regional actor into specific individual institutions—ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting, ASEAN Summit, ASEAN-China dialogues, ASEAN Regional Forum, East Asia Summit, and ASEAN Defense Ministers Meeting and ASEAN Defense Ministers Meeting-Plus—and explains how each of these institutions has devised and/or shifted its institutional strategy to curb great powers’ ambition in dominating the South China Sea while navigating great power competition. The book sheds light on the strategic potential and limitations of ASEAN and ASEAN-led security institutions, offers implications for the future role of ASEAN in the Indo-Pacific region, and provides an alternative understanding of the strategic utilities of regional security institutions.

Read more less

From Aspen Matis, author of the acclaimed true story Girl in the Woods, comes a bold and atmospheric memoir of a woman who—in searching for her vanished husband—discovers deeper purpose. Aspen’s and Justin’s paths serendipitously aligned on the Pacific Crest Trail when both were walking from Mexico to Canada, separately and alone—both using thru-hiking in hopes of escaping their pasts. Both sought to redefine themselves beneath the stars. By the time they made it to the snowy Cascade Range of British Columbia—the trail’s end—Aspen and Justin were in love. Embarking on a new pilgrimage the next summer, they returned to those same mossy mountains where they’d met, and they married. They built a world together, three years of a happy marriage. Until a cold November morning, when, after kissing Aspen goodbye, Justin left to attend the funeral of a close friend. He never came back. As days became weeks, her husband’s inexplicable absence left Aspen unmoored. Shock, grief, fear, and anger battled for control—but nothing prepared her for the disarming truth. A revelation that would lead Aspen to reassess not only her own life but that of the disappeared as well. The result is a brave and inspiring memoir of secrets kept and unearthed, of a vanishing that became a gift: a woman’s empowering reclamation of unmitigated purpose in the surreal wake of mystifying loss.

Read more less

Trivia Book Filled with Fun Facts and Trivia Questions and Answers#1 Bestseller in GeographyAnswers to Questions You've Never Asked will entertain you for hours.Fun facts for kids of all ages. When you take the most absurd parts of history, science, economics and geography, you end up with a pretty confusing picture of humanity. Why do we have borders, what’s the furthest you can get from the ocean, how do you qualify as a country and why did Vikings wear those silly helmets? These are just a few of the strange questions that bounce around the head of YouTube sensation Joseph Pisenti, aka RealLifeLore.Answering the ridiculous. In his channel, Pisenti presents illogical truths in a logical manner. In his debut book, Pisenti builds on this nonsensical humor of the universe with in-depth analysis of empires, economies, and ecosystems as he helps answer the ridiculous. Why, you ask? Because someone has to. Using line drawings, graphs and charts, Pisenti not only details the absurd, but he also provides explanations on why things are…and why they aren’t. Answers to: Where can I move to so that I’m never tempted by McDonalds again? How far into the Pacific does Trump’s wall stretch? If Plato came back to life, what would he think of modern democracy? Why do all empires fail? Who decides what countries are allowed to participate in the Olympics? What makes Finland so great? Witty, thought-provoking and occasionally snarky, Answers to Questions You’ve Never Asked is for anyone who beams with curiosity and has a belly-button.

Read more less

Turning sixty isn’t the end; it’s only the beginning.Michael Cosgrove had a beautiful family, a successful career, and a lovely Southern California home overlooking the Pacific Ocean. At age sixty, he decided to leave all that behind to sail around the world.With the vision of rugged individualism and salty tales to share with his grandchildren, Cosgrove quickly realized that sailing around the world wasn’t as easy as he had imagined. From a psychotic crewmate, to sleep deprivation and mental breakdowns, to constant storms and hallucinations, Cosgrove rode the waves, trying to keep his idea of “doing something grand” alive. Alone, and thousands of miles away from everyone he loved, he was forced to ask himself one question: What in God’s name am I doing here?In his attempt to avoid the inevitable (growing old, weak, frail), Cosgrove runs amok. He breaks his budget to outfit the boat and then refuses to read the manuals. He enters unfamiliar harbors in the dead of night, hires a violent first mate, and sails headlong into ferocious storms. At the same time, he longs for the simpler days when his four daughters were still children, when his first marriage was still intact, and when his dreams were still within reach. Though driven by scenes of sheer terror, absurd folly, and deep inner searching, the tone is always buoyant and laugh-out-loud funny.Imperfect Passage is the story of one man’s perseverance against Father Time and Mother Nature, proving that with enough will, one can indeed conquer the unconquerable.

Read more less

This is the first thorough historical account of Chief Seattle and his times--the story of a half-century of tremendous flux, turmoil, and violence, during which a native American war leader became an advocate for peace and strove to create a successful hybrid racial community.When the British, Spanish, and then Americans arrived in the Pacific Northwest, it may have appeared to them as an untamed wilderness. In fact, it was a fully settled and populated land. Chief Seattle was a powerful representative from this very ancient world. Historian David Buerge has been researching and writing this book about the world of Chief Seattle for the past 20 years. Buerge has threaded together disparate accounts of the time from the 1780s to the 1860s--including native oral histories, Hudson Bay Company records, pioneer diaries, French Catholic church records, and historic newspaper reporting. Chief Seattle had gained power and prominence on Puget Sound as a war leader, but the arrival of American settlers caused him to reconsider his actions. He came to embrace white settlement and, following traditional native practice, encouraged intermarriage between native people and the settlers, offering his own daughter and granddaughters as brides, in the hopes that both peoples would prosper. Included in this account are the treaty signings that would remove the natives from their historic lands, the roles of such figures as Governor Isaac Stevens, Chiefs Leschi and Patkanim, the Battle at Seattle that threatened the existence of the settlement, and the controversial Chief Seattle speech that haunts to this day the city that bears his name.

Read more less

A magnificent collection of photos representing fifty years of De Roy’s best work in the islands she calls homeTui De Roy was a year old in 1955 when her family left Europe, boarding a banana boat bound for the Pacific to lead a different sort of life in Galápagos, one of self-sufficiency and living close to nature. She grew up on the islands and returned to them often over the next five decades. Discovering photography at a young age, she has dedicated her life to recording the islands' natural history in infinite detail. A Lifetime in Galápagos is De Roy's intimate portrait of one of the most spectacular places on Earth, presenting the wildlife and natural wonders of Galápagos as you have never seen them before.Featuring hundreds of breathtaking color photos, this stunning book guides you into labyrinthine mangroves to observe nesting herons, to misty cloud forests to glimpse flycatchers and orchids, high onto erupting volcanoes, and into the ocean to swim with hammerhead sharks. De Roy's lens provides up-close encounters with orca and sperm whales, colonies of iguanas, and the giant tortoises of Alcedo Volcano. She paints unforgettable portraits of her childhood in Galápagos—the islands at night under the stars of the Milky Way, sea lions at play and on the hunt, the diverse birdlife of Galápagos, and much more.Blending striking images with vivid prose, A Lifetime in Galápagos also discusses the threats that global warming and other environmental challenges pose to the archipelago's unique wildlife and fragile habitats.

Read more less

Best-selling author Jacqueline Davies tells the story of two unlikely friends: Sydney and Taylor, a skunk and a hedgehog who strike out to discover the great unknown, despite how afraid they are of it. Charming full-colour illustrations and a laugh-out-loud story make this chapter book perfect for fans of the Mercy Watson and Owl Diaries series. Sydney is a skunk and Taylor is a hedgehog, but no matter how odd the pairing may seem, their friendship comes naturally. They live happily in their cozy burrow... until the day Taylor gets his Big Idea to go see the Whole Wide World. From mountains taller than a hundred hedgehogs, valleys wider than a thousand skunks, to the dangers that lie in the human world, Sydney and Taylor wanted to see it all. With a map and a dream, they bravely set off, soon discovering that the world is much bigger than they realised... AGES: 6 to 9 AUTHOR: Jacqueline Davies is the talented writer of several novels and picture books, including The Lemonade War series and The Boy Who Drew Birds. Ms. Davies lives in Needham, Massachusetts, with her family. Deborah Hocking has illustrated many children's books including Build, Beaver, Build! Life at the Longest Beaver Dam, The Great Henry Hopendower, and Max Explains Everything: Grocery Store Expert. When she's not drawing, you can find her taking her sweet spotted pup for a hike, renovating her 100-year-old cottage, or exploring the beautiful Pacific Northwest. She lives in Portland, Oregon.

Read more less

American Ethnicity is a brief text that provides an accessible introduction to the dynamics of racial and ethnic relations. Key concepts and theories are summarized, and the authors develop a simple theoretical framework that guides the presentation of data on each of the prominent ethnic groups in America. As a result, this book examines each ethnic group from the same perspective, allowing students to compare the dynamics of discrimination against African Americans, Native Americans, Asian and Pacific Island Americans, white ethnic Americans, and Latinos.Instructors and students can now access their course content through the Connect digital learning platform by purchasing either standalone Connect access or a bundle of print and Connect access. McGraw-Hill Connect® is a subscription-based learning service accessible online through your personal computer or tablet. Choose this option if your instructor will require Connect to be used in the course. Your subscription to Connect includes the following:• SmartBook® - an adaptive digital version of the course textbook that personalizes your reading experience based on how well you are learning the content.• Access to your instructor’s homework assignments, quizzes, syllabus, notes, reminders, and other important files for the course.• Progress dashboards that quickly show how you are performing on your assignments and tips for improvement.• The option to purchase (for a small fee) a print version of the book. This binder-ready, loose-leaf version includes free shipping.Complete system requirements to use Connect can be found here: http://www.mheducation.com/highered/platforms/connect/training-support-students.html

Read more less

**2022 Foreword INDIES Book of the Year: Silver Award Winner in Graphic Novels & Comics Category** **Recommended by The New York Public Library as one of its 50 best comics for adults****A Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection**Traitor or hero? Discover the truth behind the legendary Tokyo Rose.Tokyo Rose: Zero Hour tells the true story of Iva Toguri, a Japanese American woman who was visiting her relatives in Tokyo shortly before the attack on Pearl Harbor. Trapped in Japan, Iva refused to renounce her American citizenship. But she was forced to take a job with Radio Tokyo to host "Zero Hour," a propaganda broadcast aimed at demoralizing American troops—in the role of the infamous Tokyo Rose, "The Siren of the Pacific." The dramatic events recounted in this story include: Iva's arrest by the Americans, who eventually found that her actions were blameless Her emotional return to the United States and the racially-motivated public outcry that led to her re-arrest and prosecution for treason The dishonest actions of prosecutors who coerced witnesses into providing false evidence against her The six years she spent in prison, and her eventual pardon by President Ford in 1977 Written by Andre Frattino and illustrated by Kate Kasenow, Tokyo Rose: Zero Hour has an introduction explaining the "Tokyo Rose" phenomenon and the devastating effects of World War II on Asian-American communities that continue to reverberate. In a world rife with misinformation and racial prejudice, the story of Tokyo Rose has never been more relevant.

Read more less

'A dazzlingly original picture of our relentlessly mobile species’ NAOMI KLEIN ‘Fascinating . . . Likely to prove prophetic in the coming months and years’ OBSERVER ‘A dazzling tour through 300 years of scientific history’ PROSPECT 'A hugely entertaining, life-affirming and hopeful hymn to the glorious adaptability of life on earth' SCOTSMAN __________________ We are surrounded by stories of people on the move. Wild species, too, are escaping warming seas and desiccated lands in a mass exodus. Politicians and the media present this upheaval of migration patterns as unprecedented, blaming it for the spread of disease and conflict, and spreading anxiety across the world as a result. But the science and history of migration in animals, plants, and humans tell a different story. Far from being a disruptive behaviour, migration is an ancient and lifesaving response to environmental change, a biological imperative as necessary as breathing. Climate changes triggered the first human migrations out of Africa. Falling sea levels allowed our passage across the Bering Sea. Unhampered by borders, migration allowed our ancestors to people the planet, into the highest reaches of the Himalayan Mountains and the most remote islands of the Pacific, disseminating the biological, cultural and social diversity that ecosystems and societies depend upon. In other words, migration is not the crisis – it is the solution. __________________ Tracking the history of misinformation from the 18th century through to today’s anti-immigration policies, The Next Great Migration makes the case for a future in which migration is not a source of fear, but of hope.

Read more less

Explore the Arctic Ocean in this beautifully illustrated children's book for readers aged 9+Perched at the northernmost tip of the world, the icy Arctic Ocean is the smallest of Earth's oceans. Its temperature rarely reaches above freezing and it is dotted with thick pack ice and craggy icebergs. The people and animals that live in this polar climate have uniquely adapted to make it their home. But this precious habitat is at risk from our warming climate, as well as pollution and industry. The oceans make up Earth's biggest habitat. More than 70 per cent of Earth's surface is covered by oceans and seas and they hold more than 97 per cent of Earth's water supply. Oceans drive the world's weather, provide half of the oxygen we breathe and provide food and livelihoods for more than a billion people.Blue Worlds explores each of the world's five oceans and major seas in detail, looking at the different features - from wildlife and weather to landscape - that make them all individual and unique. It also looks at the threats that they face, such as global warming, overfishing and pollution.Titles in the series: The Arctic Ocean, The Atlantic Ocean. The Indian Ocean, The Pacific Ocean, The Southern Ocean, Seas, Gulfs & BaysContents:The world's oceansThe Arctic OceanAround the Arctic OceanAn icy ocean Seasons and climate Plant power Arctic Ocean wildlife Polar bear Arctic exploration People of the ArcticArctic Ocean riches Arctic Ocean in danger Arctic future Arctic facts Glossary Index

Read more less

This lavishly illustrated study tells the remarkable story of the work of one of Canada's great artists. David B. Milne (1882–1953) left rural Ontario for New York City in 1903. After training at the Art Students' League, he emerged as an exceptional modernist, one of the "American extremists" whose work was well-represented at the famous 1913 Armory Show and won a major prize at the 1915 Panama-Pacific Exposition. Milne's studio at 42nd Street and Fifth Avenue was a regular forum for artists to debate art and aesthetics. In 1916 Milne moved to Boston Corners, in upstate New York, devoting his whole time to painting. As he wandered over the years to the deserted battlefields of France and Belgium, to the Adirondacks, then back to Canada – Temagami, Palgrave, Muskoka, Toronto, Uxbridge, and Baptiste Lake – his work continued to evolve and change. Critics and other artists hailed him as one of the most original, intelligent, and innovative artists in Canada. His work is in the British Museum, the Museum of Modern Art, and public galleries in Canada. Silcox's biography, based on many years of research for the Milne　Catalogue Raisonné, has been described as "a near-perfect dialectic between biography and aesthetic analysis."It stands both as a definitive study of Milne and as a model for future biographies of Canadian artists. This gorgeous book, in a large format with 190 images in colour and 240 black-and-white illustrations throughout, will astonish and delight all those interested in art history, and in the life of a unique individual.

Read more less

The first section of this volume consists of a panel, "Transnational Quixotes and Quixotisms," introduced by Catherine Jaffe. It includes essays by Amelia Dale on how female quixotes differed from male quixotes in eighteenth-century England; by Elena Deanda on the Marquis de Sade as a quixotic figure; by Elizabeth Franklin Lewis on English travelers' uses of Spanish cartography; and by Aaron R. Hanlon on quixotism as a global heuristic, with reference to the Pacific as well as the Atlantic. The second panel in the volume, "The Habsburgs and the Enlightenment," is introduced by Rebecca Messbarger. It includes essays by Rita Krueger on conflicts between Maria Theresa's view of the Enlightenment and that of her reigning children; by Julia Doe on Marie Antoinette's promotion of a new nontraditional kind of opera at the French court; by R. S. Agin on questions of judicial torture in Austrian Lombardy; and by Heather Morrison on Habsburg efforts to compete with other empires in botany as well as diplomacy. The third section consists of individual essays: Michael B. Guenter on Britain's subordination of science to imperial goals in the new world; Richard Frohock on the critique of British imperialism in John Gay's Polly; Jeffrey Merrick on the French Revolution's failure to materially alter the legal status of sodomy and suicide; Adam Potkay, comparing Rousseau and Adam Smith's views of pity and gratitude; Jeff Loveland, on the methods used by Diderot to edit the Encyclopedie; and Tamar Mayer, on Jacques-Louis David's use of mirror reversibility in the composition of his painting, "Oath of the Horatii."

Read more less

Winner of the 2012-2013 Asian/Pacific American Librarian's Association Book Award Winner of the 2013 American Sociological Association's Asia and Asian America Section Distinguished Book Award The first half of the twentieth century witnessed a wave of Filipino immigration to the United States, following in the footsteps of earlier Chinese and Japanese immigrants, the first and second “Asiatic invasions.” Perceived as alien because of their Asian ethnicity yet legally defined as American nationals granted more rights than other immigrants, Filipino American national identity was built upon the shifting sands of contradiction, ambiguity, and hostility. Rick Baldoz explores the complex relationship between Filipinos and the U.S. by looking at the politics of immigration, race, and citizenship on both sides of the Philippine-American divide: internationally through an examination of American imperial ascendancy and domestically through an exploration of the social formation of Filipino communities in the United States. He reveals how American practices of racial exclusion repeatedly collided with the imperatives of U.S. overseas expansion. A unique portrait of the Filipino American experience, The Third Asiatic Invasion links the Filipino experience to that of Puerto Ricans, Mexicans, Chinese and Native Americans, among others, revealing how the politics of exclusion played out over time against different population groups. Weaving together an impressive range of materials—including newspapers, government reports, legal documents and archival sources—into a seamless narrative, Baldoz illustrates how the quixotic status of Filipinos played a significant role in transforming the politics of race, immigration and nationality in the United States.

Read more less

Winner of the 2010 Pacific Sociological Association Distinguished Contribution to Scholarship Award A lesbian couple rears a child together and, after the biological mother dies, the surviving partner loses custody to the child’s estranged biological father. Four days later, in a different court, judges rule on the side of the partner, because they feel the child relied on the woman as a “psychological parent.” What accounts for this inconsistency regarding gay and lesbian adoption and custody cases, and why has family law failed to address them in a comprehensive manner? In Courting Change, Kimberly D. Richman zeros in on the nebulous realm of family law, one of the most indeterminate and discretionary areas of American law. She focuses on judicial decisions—both the outcomes and the rationales—and what they say about family, rights, sexual orientation, and who qualifies as a parent. Richman challenges prevailing notions that gay and lesbian parents and families are hurt by laws’ indeterminacy, arguing that, because family law is so loosely defined, it allows for the flexibility needed to respond to—and even facilitate — changes in how we conceive of family, parenting, and the role of sexual orientation in family law. Drawing on every recorded judicial decision in gay and lesbian adoption and custody cases over the last fifty years, and on interviews with parents, lawyers, and judges, Richman demonstrates how parental and sexual identities are formed and interpreted in law, and how gay and lesbian parents can harness indeterminacy to transform family law.

Read more less

Family and home are one word—jia—in the Chinese language. Family can be separated and home may be relocated, but jia remains intact. It signifies a system of mutual obligation, lasting responsibility, and cultural values. This strong yet flexible sense of kinship has enabled many Chinese immigrant families to endure long physical separation and accommodate continuities and discontinuities in the process of social mobility.Based on an analysis of over three thousand family letters and other primary sources, including recently released immigration files from the National Archives and Records Administration, Haiming Liu presents a remarkable transnational history of a Chinese family from the late nineteenth century to the 1970s. For three generations, the family lived between the two worlds. While the immigrant generation worked hard in an herbalist business and asparagus farming, the younger generation crossed back and forth between China and America, pursuing proper education, good careers, and a meaningful life during a difficult period of time for Chinese Americans. When social instability in China and hostile racial environment in America prevented the family from being rooted in either side of the Pacific, transnational family life became a focal point of their social existence. This well-documented and illustrated family history makes it clear that, for many Chinese immigrant families, migration does not mean a break from the past but the beginning of a new life that incorporates and transcends dual national boundaries. It convincingly shows how transnationalism has become a way of life for Chinese American families.

Read more less

Colonial America stretched from Quebec to Buenos Aires and from the Atlantic littoral to the Pacific coast. Although European settlers laid claim to territories they called New Spain, New England, and New France, the reality of living in those spaces had little to do with European kingdoms. Instead, the New World's holdings took their form and shape from the Indian territories they inhabited. These contested spaces throughout the western hemisphere were not unclaimed lands waiting to be conquered and populated but a single vast space, occupied by native communities and defined by the meeting, mingling, and clashing of peoples, creating societies unlike any that the world had seen before. Contested Spaces of Early America brings together some of the most distinguished historians in the field to view colonial America on the largest possible scale. Lavishly illustrated with maps, Native art, and color plates, the twelve chapters span the southern reaches of New Spain through Mexico and Navajo Country to the Dakotas and Upper Canada, and the early Indian civilizations to the ruins of the nineteenth-century West. At the heart of this volume is a search for a human geography of colonial relations: Contested Spaces of Early America aims to rid the historical landscape of imperial cores, frontier peripheries, and modern national borders to redefine the way scholars imagine colonial America. Contributors: Matthew Babcock, Ned Blackhawk, Chantal Cramaussel, Brian DeLay, Elizabeth Fenn, Allan Greer, Pekka Hämäläinen, Raúl José Mandrini, Cynthia Radding, Birgit Brander Rasmussen, Alan Taylor, and Samuel Truett.

Read more less

Who doesn’t love haiku? It is not only America’s most popular cultural import from Japan but also our most popular poetic form: instantly recognizable, more mobile than a sonnet, loved for its simplicity and compression, as well as its ease of composition. Haiku is an ancient literary form seemingly made for the Twittersphere—Jack Kerouac and Langston Hughes wrote them, Ezra Pound and the Imagists were inspired by them, Hallmark’s made millions off them, first-grade students across the country still learn to write them. But what really is a haiku? Where does the form originate? Who were the original Japanese poets who wrote them? And how has their work been translated into English over the years? The haiku form comes down to us today as a cliché: a three-line poem of 5-7-5 syllables. And yet its story is actually much more colorful and multifaceted. And of course to write a good one can be as difficult as writing a Homeric epic—or it can materialize in an instant of epic inspiration. In On Haiku, Hiroaki Sato explores the many styles and genres of haiku on both sides of the Pacific, from the classical haiku of Basho, Issa, and Zen monks, to modern haiku about swimsuits and atomic bombs, to the haiku of famous American writers such as J. D. Salinger and Allen Ginsburg. As if conversing over beers in your favorite pub, Sato explains everything you wanted to know about the haiku in this endearing and pleasurable book, destined to be a classic in the field.

Read more less

By any measure, Japan's modern empire was formidable. The only major non-western colonial power in the 20th century, Japan controlled a vast area of Asia and numerous archipelagos in the Pacific Ocean. The massive extraction of resources and extensive cultural assimilation policies radically impacted the lives of millions of Asians and Micronesians, and the political, economic, and cultural ramifications of this era are still felt today. The Japanese empire lasted from 1869-1945. During this time, how was the Japanese imperial project understood, imagined, and lived? Reading Colonial Japan is a unique anthology that aims to deepen knowledge of Japanese colonialism(s) by providing an eclectic selection of translated Japanese primary sources and analytical essays that illuminate Japan's many and varied colonial projects. The primary documents highlight how central cultural production and dissemination were to the colonial effort, while accentuating the myriad ways colonialism permeated every facet of life. The variety of genres the explored includes legal documents, children's literature, cookbooks, serialized comics, and literary texts by well-known authors of the time. These cultural works, produced by a broad spectrum of "ordinary" Japanese citizens (a housewife in Manchuria, settlers in Korea, manga artists and fiction writers in mainland Japan, and so on), functioned effectively to reinforce the official policies that controlled and violated the lives of the colonized throughout Japan's empire. By making available and analyzing a wide-range of sources that represent "media" during the Japanese colonial period, Reading Colonial Japan draws attention to the powerful role that language and imagination played in producing the material realities of Japanese colonialism.

Read more less

The Battle for Milne Bay - Japan's first defeat on land in the Second World War - was a defining moment in the evolution of the indomitable Australian fighting spirit. For the men of the AIF, the militia and the RAAF, it was the turning point in the Pacific, and their finest - though now largely forgotten - hour. Forgotten, until now.In August 1942, Japan's forces were unstoppable. Having conquered vast swathes of south-east Asia - Malaya, Singapore, the Dutch East Indies - and now invading New Guinea, many feared the Empire of the Rising Sun stood poised to knock down Australia's northern door.But first they needed Port Moresby. In the still of an August night, Japanese marines sailed quietly into Milne Bay, a long, malaria-ridden dead end at the far eastern tip of Papua, to unleash an audacious pincer movement. Unbeknown to them, however, a secret airstrip had been carved out of a coconut plantation by US Engineers, and a garrison of Australian troops had been established, supported by two locally based squadrons of RAAF Kittyhawks, including the men of the famed 75 Squadron. The scene was set for one of the most decisive and vicious battles of the war.For ten days and nights Australia's soldiers and airmen fought the elite of Japan's forces along a sodden jungle track, and forced them back step by muddy, bloody step.In Turning Point, bestselling author Michael Veitch brings to life the incredible exploits and tragic sacrifices of these Australian heroes.

Read more less

An Economist Biggest Book of the YearHow commerce determines whether America preserves the peace or goes to warWhen the Cold War ended, many believed that expanding trade would usher in an era of peace. Yet today the United States finds itself confronting not just Russia in Europe but China in the Indo-Pacific, Africa, and Latin America. Shedding new light on how trade both reduces and increases the risks of international crisis, A World Safe for Commerce traces how, since the nation’s founding, the United States has consistently moved from peace to conflict when the commerce needed for national security is under threat.Dale Copeland shows how commerce pushes the United States and its rivals to expand their spheres of influence for access to goods even as they worry about provoking a breakdown in trade relations that could spiral into military conflict. Taking readers from the wars with Britain in 1776 and 1812 to World War II and the Cold War, he describes how America’s leaders have grappled with this inherent tension, and why they have shifted, sometimes dramatically, from peaceful, mutually beneficial policies to coercion and force in order to increase control over vital trade and prevent economic decline.A World Safe for Commerce reveals how trade competition could lead the United States and China into full-scale confrontation. But it also offers hope that both sides can work to improve their overall trade expectations and foster the confidence needed for long-term peace and stability.

Read more less

After forty years of largely cooperative Sino-U.S. relations, policymakers, politicians, and pundits on both sides of the Pacific see growing tensions between the United States and China. Some go so far as to predict a future of conflict, driven by the inevitable rivalry between an established and a rising power, and urge their leaders to prepare now for a future showdown. Others argue that the deep economic interdependence between the two countries and the many areas of shared interests will lead to more collaborative relations in the coming decades. In this book, James Steinberg and Michael O'Hanlon stake out a third, less deterministic position. They argue that there are powerful domestic and international factors, especially in the military and security realms, that could well push the bilateral relationship toward an arms race and confrontation, even though both sides will be far worse off if such a future comes to pass. They contend that this pessimistic scenario can be confidently avoided only if China and the United States adopt deliberate policies designed to address the security dilemma that besets the relationship between a rising and an established power. The authors propose a set of policy proposals to achieve a sustainable, relatively cooperative relationship between the two nations, based on the concept of providing mutual strategic reassurance in such key areas as nuclear weapons and missile defense, space and cyber operations, and military basing and deployments, while also demonstrating strategic resolve to protect vital national interests, including, in the case of the United States, its commitments to regional allies.

Read more less

For commodity traders and portfolio managers--a practical, hands-onguide to profiting in today's growing international cross ratemarkets. Cross rates trading is growing increasingly popular,fueled in no small part by banks and multinationals seekingcreative strategies for hedging currency risk and speculatorsseeking profits from interest rate plays and exchange rate moves.Trading Currency Cross Rates is the passkey to this vastlyprofitable financial sector. Written for the experienced tradermoving into the currency futures and foreign exchange cash markets,as well as for the corporate portfolio manager seeking to limitcompany exposure, this professional guide covers the fundamentalsof today's cross rates markets and delivers the step-by-steptechniques needed to trade cross rates successfully. Packed withcharts and tables that apply over a broad range of internationalmarkets and currencies, the guide: * Explains what cross rates are and profiles the different typesthat currently are traded * Shows whether to trade on an agency or principal basis, and howto avoid counterparty failure * Covers the building blocks of currency valuation and the bestmethods for forecasting moves in currency cross rates * Reveals how to profitably trade exotic cross rates amongcurrencies from the Pacific Rim and Middle East * Explains how to cross over to the growing interbank currencymarket, and which fundamental and technical analysis techniquesspecifically apply to it * Discusses how to easily adapt any current trading system and itsinput to the profitable cash markets Featuring the expertise of a leading cross rates trading expert ina concise, direct, accessible format, Trading Currency Cross Ratesis the dependable, single-source guide to trading cross ratessuccessfully.

Read more less

Construction Safety Planning David V. MacCollum Construction Safety Planning is a comprehensive, practical, step-by-step guide for those who design and oversee large and small projects. Designed to facilitate compliance with new OSHA objectives, it presents, for those who are responsible for construction safety, what questions to ask in order to avoid conditions that invite injury or death on site. The book shows how to integrate safety planning into existing design and construction scheduling in order to avoid duplicating paperwork that is normally associated with safety planning. Advice is given on how to involve all supervisory personnel as hazard hunters, so that timely prevention measures can be taken. Author David V. MacCollum is a forty-five-year veteran safety engineer who participated in the development of safety planning concepts used by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on big dam projects in the Pacific Northwest during the 1950s. In this clearly written reference he highlights the concepts and practices that reduced construction deaths by 75 percent and are today still enabling the Corps of Engineers to enjoy the same reduction nationwide, when compared to similar work not under its supervision--the end result being savings of several billion dollars each year. The risk of death on the job for construction workers is five times greater than that of the average American worker. A new OSHA era will change that. With this book, everyone working in the field of construction--from design to maintenance--will have the tools and knowledge to make a difference.

Read more less

The International Longshore and Warehouse Union, born out of the 1934 West Coast maritime and San Francisco general strikes under the charismatic leadership of Harry Bridges, has been known from the start for its strong commitment to democracy, solidarity, and social justice. In this collection of firsthand narratives, union leaders and rank-and-file workers - from the docks of Pacific Coast ports to the fields of Hawaii to bookstores in Portland, Oregon - talk about their lives at work, on the picket line, and in the union. Workers recall the back-breaking, humiliating conditions on the waterfront before they organized, the tense days of the 1934 strike, the challenges posed by mechanization, the struggle against racism and sexism on the job, and their activism in other social and political causes. Their stories testify to the union's impact on the lives of its members and also to its role in larger events, ranging from civil rights battles at home to the fights against fascism and apartheid abroad. Solidarity Stories is a unique contribution to the literature on unions. There is a power and immediacy in the voices of workers that is brilliantly expressed here. Taken together, these voices provide a portrait of a militant, corruption-free, democratic union that can be a model and an inspiration for what a resurgent American labor movement might look like. The book will appeal to students and scholars of labor history, social and economic history, and social change, as well as trade unionists and anyone interested in labor politics and history.

Read more less

Among the allied troops that came ashore in Normandy on D-Day, June 6, 1944, were thirteen Comanches in the 4th Infantry Division, 4th Signal Company. Under German fire they laid communications lines and began sending messages in a form never before heard in Europe—coded Comanche. For the rest of World War II, the Comanche Code Talkers played a vital role in transmitting orders and messages in a code that was never broken by the Germans.This book tells the full story of the Comanche Code Talkers for the first time. Drawing on interviews with all surviving members of the unit, their original training officer, and fellow soldiers, as well as military records and news accounts, William C. Meadows follows the group from their recruitment and training to their active duty in World War II and on through their postwar lives up to the present. He also provides the first comparison of Native American code talking programs, comparing the Comanche Code Talkers with their better-known Navajo counterparts in the Pacific and with other Native Americans who used their languages, coded or not, for secret communication. Meadows sets this history in a larger discussion of the development of Native American code talking in World Wars I and II, identifying two distinct forms of Native American code talking, examining the attitudes of the American military toward Native American code talkers, and assessing the complex cultural factors that led Comanche and other Native Americans to serve their country in this way.

Read more less

Several hundred tribes of Native Americans were living within or hunting and trading across the present-day borders of Texas when Cabeza de Vaca and his shipwrecked companions washed up on a Gulf Coast beach in 1528. Over the next two centuries, as Spanish and French expeditions explored the state, they recorded detailed information about the locations and lifeways of Texas's Native peoples. Using recent translations of these expedition diaries and journals, along with discoveries from ongoing archaeological investigations, William C. Foster here assembles the most complete account ever published of Texas's Native peoples during the early historic period (AD 1528 to 1722). Foster describes the historic Native peoples of Texas by geographic regions. His chronological narrative records the interactions of Native groups with European explorers and with Native trading partners across a wide network that extended into Louisiana, the Great Plains, New Mexico, and northern Mexico. Foster provides extensive ethnohistorical information about Texas's Native peoples, as well as data on the various regions' animals, plants, and climate. Accompanying each regional account is an annotated list of named Indian tribes in that region and maps that show tribal territories and European expedition routes. This authoritative overview of Texas's historic Native peoples reveals that these groups were far more cosmopolitan than previously known. Functioning as the central link in the continent-wide circulation of trade goods and cultural elements such as religion, architecture, and lithic technology, Texas's historic Native peoples played a crucial role in connecting the Native peoples of North America from the Pacific Coast to the Southeast woodlands.

Read more less

When the Spanish invaded the Inca empire in 1532, the cult of the ancestors was an essential feature of pre-Columbian religion throughout the Andes. The dead influenced politics, protected the living, symbolized the past, and legitimized claims over the land their descendants occupied, while the living honored the presence of the dead in numerous aspects of daily life. A central purpose of the Spanish missionary endeavor was to suppress the Andean cult of the ancestors and force the indigenous people to adopt their Catholic, legal, and cultural views concerning death. In her book, Gabriela Ramos reveals the extent to which Christianizing death was essential for the conversion of the indigenous population to Catholicism. Ramos argues that understanding the relation between death and conversion in the Andes involves not only considering the obvious attempts to destroy the cult of the dead, but also investigating a range of policies and strategies whose application demanded continuous negotiation between Spaniards and Andeans. Drawing from historical, archaeological, and anthropological research and a wealth of original archival materials, especially the last wills and testaments of indigenous Andeans, Ramos looks at the Christianization of death as it affected the lives of inhabitants of two principal cities of the Peruvian viceroyalty: Lima, the new capital founded on the Pacific coast by the Spanish, and Cuzco, the old capital of the Incas in the Andean highlands. Her study of the wills in particular demonstrates the strategies that Andeans devised to submit to Spanish law and Christian doctrine, preserve bonds of kinship, and cement their place in colonial society.

Read more less

In 1974, the Hughes Glomar Explorer, ostensibly an advanced deep-sea mining vessel owned by reclusive billionaire Howard Hughes, lowered a claw-like contraption to the floor of the Pacific Ocean. This high-tech venture was only a cover story for an even more improbable scheme: a CIA mission to retrieve a sunken Soviet submarine. Like a Jules Verne novel with an Ian Fleming twist, the saga of the Glomar Explorer features underwater espionage, impossible gadgetry, and high-stakes international drama. It also marks a key moment in the history of transparency—and not just for what became known as the Glomar response: “We can neither confirm nor deny. . . . ”M. Todd Bennett plumbs the depths of government secrecy in this new account of the Glomar mission and its consequences. Trawling through recently declassified documents, he explores the logistics, media fallout, and geopolitical significance of one of the most ambitious operations in intelligence history. Glomar, Bennett argues, played a pivotal but underappreciated role in helping the CIA ward off oversight amid a push for transparency and accountability. He reframes the operation’s history to offer an alternative perspective on the 1970s, a decade known for expansive openness, as well as the persistent tension between the demands of democracy and the need for secrecy in foreign policy. Combining keen historical analysis and gripping storytelling, Neither Confirm nor Deny brings to the surface fresh insights into the history of the security state, the politics of intelligence, and the CIA’s relationship with the media and the public.

Read more less

“This is a must-have work for anybody in information security, digital forensics, or involved with incident handling. As we move away from traditional disk-based analysis into the interconnectivity of the cloud, Sherri and Jonathan have created a framework and roadmap that will act as a seminal work in this developing field.” – Dr. Craig S. Wright (GSE), Asia Pacific Director at Global Institute for Cyber Security + Research. “It’s like a symphony meeting an encyclopedia meeting a spy novel.” –Michael Ford, Corero Network Security On the Internet, every action leaves a mark–in routers, firewalls, web proxies, and within network traffic itself. When a hacker breaks into a bank, or an insider smuggles secrets to a competitor, evidence of the crime is always left behind. Learn to recognize hackers’ tracks and uncover network-based evidence in Network Forensics: Tracking Hackers through Cyberspace.Carve suspicious email attachments from packet captures. Use flow records to track an intruder as he pivots through the network. Analyze a real-world wireless encryption-cracking attack (and then crack the key yourself). Reconstruct a suspect’s web surfing history–and cached web pages, too–from a web proxy. Uncover DNS-tunneled traffic. Dissect the Operation Aurora exploit, caught on the wire. Throughout the text, step-by-step case studies guide you through the analysis of network-based evidence. You can download the evidence files from the authors’ web site (lmgsecurity.com), and follow along to gain hands-on experience. Hackers leave footprints all across the Internet. Can you find their tracks and solve the case? Pick up Network Forensicsand find out.

Read more less

With rugged mountain ranges and stunning Pacific coastline, savoury mole and smoky mezcal, Oaxaca is more than just a stop along the way: it's an adventure in itself. Stay a while with Moon Oaxaca. Inside you'll find:*Strategic itineraries for backpackers, foodies, ecotourists, and more, whether you're spending ten days or just a weekend in Oaxaca *The top activities and unique experiences: Spend a day strolling Oaxaca City's cobblestone streets and stopping in trendy cafes, mezcal shops, artisan cooperatives, and art galleries. Tour the Zapotec ruins of Monte Albán, trek the mountain paths of the Sierra Norte, or surf the world-class swells off Oaxaca's coast. Revel in the blur of parades, fireworks, and friendly locals inviting you to view their ofrendas (altars) during Oaxaca's legendary Day of the Dead celebration*The best local flavours: Indulge in steamy pozole from a street stand, try traditional mole negro, or snack on fried grasshoppers. Visit a mezcal distillery to sample the smoky spirit and explore the fields of spiky agave, or satisfy your sweet tooth with a frothy espuma*Local insight: Mexico City writer and former Oaxaca dweller Cody Copeland shares what inspires him about the region*Full-colour photos and detailed maps throughout*Helpful background on the landscape, culture, history, and environment, plus tips on health and safety, how to get around, and a handy Spanish phrasebookWith Moon's practical tips and local insight, you can experience the best of Oaxaca.Looking for más Mexico? Check out Moon Yucatán Peninsula, Moon San Miguel de Allende, or Moon Mexico City.

Read more less

This is the authoritative book on sea level rise and its coastal consequences. On Shismaref Island in Alaska, homes are being washed into the sea. In the South Pacific, small island nations face annihilation by encroaching waters. In coastal Louisiana, an area the size of a football field disappears every day. For these communities, sea level rise isn't a distant, abstract fear: it's happening now and it's threatening their way of life. In "The Rising Sea", Orrin H. Pilkey and Rob Young warn that many other coastal areas may be close behind. Prominent scientists predict that the oceans may rise by as much as seven feet in the next hundred years. That means coastal cities will be forced to construct dikes and seawalls or to move buildings, roads, pipelines, and railways to avert inundation and destruction. The question is no longer whether climate change is causing the oceans to swell, but by how much and how quickly. Pilkey and Young deftly guide readers through the science, explaining the facts and debunking the claims of industry-sponsored 'sceptics'. They also explore the consequences for fish, wildlife - and people. While rising seas are now inevitable, we are far from helpless. By making hard choices - including uprooting citizens, changing where and how we build, and developing a coordinated national response - we can save property, and ultimately lives. With unassailable research and practical insights, "The Rising Sea" is a critical first step in understanding the threat and keeping our heads above water.

Read more less

The Okinawa Travel Map from Periplus is designed as a convenient, easy-to-use tool for travelers. Created using durable coated paper, this map of Okinawa, Japan is made to open and fold multiple times, whether it's the entire map that you want to view or one panel at a time.Following highways and byways, this Japan travel map will show you how to maneuver your way to Okinawan banks, gardens, hotels, golf courses, museums, monuments, restaurants, churches and temples, movie theaters, shopping centers and more!This 1st edition includes maps and plans that are scaled to:Area Maps: Okinawa & The Southwest Islands 1:1,750,000 Okinawa-honto 1:200,000 Yakushima 1:200,000 Yaeyama Islands 1:350,000 Amami Oshima 1:400,000 Miyako Islands 1:275,000 City Plans: Southern Okinawa 1:60,000 Motobu Peninsula 1:60,000 Naha, Kagoshima 1:20,000 Ishigaki City 1:20,000 Miyako City/Hirara 1:20,000 Amami Town/Naze 1:20,000 Periplus Travel Maps cover most of the major cities and travel destinations in the Asia-Pacific region. The series includes an amazing variety of fascinating destinations, from the multifaceted subcontinent of India to the bustling city-state of Singapore and the 'western style' metropolis of Sydney to the Asian charms of Bali. All titles are continuously updated, ensuring they keep up with the considerable changes in this fast-developing part of the world. This extensive geographical reach and attention to detail mean that Periplus Travel Maps are the natural first choice for anyone traveling in the region.

Read more less

On December 7, 1941, an imperial Japanese carrier strike force attacked the US Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor, taking advantage of what was one of the most profound intelligence failures in US history. Galvanised into action, the branches of the U.S. military subsequently developed one of the greatest, albeit imperfect, intelligence-gathering and analysis networks of the combatant nations, opening an invaluable window onto the intentions of their enemies. The picture of U.S. military intelligence during World War II is a complex one. It was divided between the fields of signal intelligence (SIGINT) and human intelligence (HUMINT), combat intelligence and War Department intelligence, and between numerous different organisations, including the Military Intelligence Division (MID), Military Intelligence Service (MIS), the Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI), the Counter Intelligence Corps (CIC), the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) and the many intelligence units organic to Army, Navy, Army Air Forces, and Marine Corps.The documents collected in this book reveal the theoretical and practical principles behind wartime intelligence gathering and analysis, from the frontline intelligence officer to the Washington-based code-breaker. They explain fundamentals such as how to observe and record enemy activity and intercept enemy radio traffic, through to specialist activities such as cryptanalysis, photo-reconnaissance, prisoner interrogation, and undercover agent operations.The painstaking work of an intelligence operator required a sharp, attentive mind, whether working behind a desk or under fire on the frontlines. The outputs from these men and women could ultimately make the difference between victory and defeat in battle.

Read more less

Explore the world's unique and precious seas in this beautifully illustrated series of children's books, for readers aged 9+Our world is scattered with many seas. Some are huge bodies of water and form part of the mighty oceans; others are salty inland seas, at risk at disappearing altogether. Some seas are warm and tropical, others are cold and icy. All are vital to life on Earth, helping to control our climate, provide a home for wildlife and giving us precious natural resources.The oceans make up Earth's biggest habitat. More than 70 per cent of Earth's surface is covered by oceans and seas and they hold more than 97 per cent of Earth's water supply. Oceans drive the world's weather, provide half of the oxygen we breathe and provide food and livelihoods for more than a billion people.Blue Worlds explores each of the world's five oceans and major seas in detail, looking at the different features - from wildlife and weather to landscape - that make them all individual and unique. It also looks at the threats that they face, such as global warming, overfishing and pollution.Titles in the series: The Arctic Ocean, The Atlantic Ocean. The Indian Ocean, The Pacific Ocean, The Southern Ocean, Seas, Gulfs & BaysContents:Oceans and seasThe world's seas The Mediterranean SeaMediterranean tradersGulf of MexicoSouth China SeaThe Bering Sea Hudson BayThe Caribbean Sea The Red Sea Weddell SeaInland seasA healthy future? Seas facts Glossary Index

Read more less

Two hundred and fifty years ago Captain James Cook, during his extraordinary voyages of navigation and maritime exploration, searched for Antarctica - the Unknown Southern Continent. During parts of his three voyages in the southern Pacific and Southern Oceans, Cook narrowed the options' for the location of Antarctica. Over three summers, he completed a circumnavigation of portions of the Southern Continent, encountering impenetrable barriers of ice, and he suggested the continent existed, a frozen land not populated by a living soul. Yet his Antarctic voyages are perhaps the least studied of all his remarkable travels. That is why James Hamilton's gripping and scholarly study, which brings together the stories of Cook's Antarctic journeys into a single volume, is such an original and timely addition to the literature on Cook and eighteenth-century exploration. Using Cook's journals and the log books of officers who sailed with him, the book sets his Antarctic explorations within the context of his historic voyages. The main focus is on the Second Voyage (1772-1775), but brief episodes in the First Voyage (during 1769) and the Third Voyage (1776) are part of the story. Throughout the narrative Cook's exceptional seamanship and navigational skills, and that of his crew, are displayed during often-difficult passages in foul weather across uncharted and inhospitable seas. Captain James Cook and the Search for Antarctica offers the reader a fascinating insight into Cook the seaman and explorer, and it will be essential reading for anyone who has a particular interest the history of the Southern Continent.

Read more less

The Rolls-Royce Merlin is the most recognisable aero engine in the world. It powered the Battle of Britain aircraft, the Spitfire and Hurricane, as they defended the shores of Britain against the Luftwaffe, foiling Hitler's plans to invade in summer 1940. It also powered the Lancasters and Halifaxes of Bomber Command as they went on their missions of destruction to the German heartland. And the ‘wooden wonder’, the Mosquito, was powered by the Merlin, its pinpoint bombing accuracy and reconnaissance work proving vital to the war effort. For the Americans, the Merlin was the power plant of the Mustang escort fighter that protected the US Air Force B-17 Flying Fortress and B-29 Super Fortress bombers on their daylight raids to the enemy. The P-51 was also used in the North African, Mediterranean and Pacific theatres. So the Merlin worked day and night to secure the eventual Allied victory. It has rightfully been described as the most significant aircraft piston engine in history and in the twenty-first century its distinctive ‘drone’ can still be heard over England as the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight take to the air on special occasions – most recently on the centenary of the RAF – with its Lancaster leading the Merlin-powered Spitfires and Hurricanes in formation. Retired military and commercial pilot Gordon Wilson tells the human story of the development of the engine and its operational use during the war, featuring the voices of air crew who relied on this technological tour de force.

Read more less

Before Carrie Brownstein became a music icon, she was a young girl growing up in the Pacific Northwest just as it was becoming the setting for one of the most important movements in rock history. Seeking a sense of home and identity, she would discover both while moving from spectator to creator in experiencing the power and mystery of a live performance. With Sleater-Kinney, Brownstein and her bandmates rose to prominence in the burgeoning underground feminist punk-rock movement that would define music and pop culture in the 1990s. They would be cited as "America's best rock band" by legendary music critic Greil Marcus for their defiant, exuberant brand of punk that resisted labels and limitations, and redefined notions of gender in rock.Hunger Makes Me a Modern Girl is an intimate and revealing narrative of her escape from a turbulent family life into a world where music was the means toward self-invention, community, and rescue. Along the way, Brownstein chronicles the excitement and contradictions within the era's flourishing and fiercely independent music subculture, including experiences that sowed the seeds for the observational satire of the popular television series Portlandia years later.With deft, lucid prose Brownstein proves herself as formidable on the page as on the stage. Accessibly raw, honest and heartfelt, this book captures the experience of being a young woman, a born performer and an outsider, and ultimately finding one's true calling through hard work, courage and the intoxicating power of rock and roll.

Read more less

Never before had any century in history known the continually accelerating rate and scope of change experienced in the twentieth century -- with its revolutionary discoveries, technological inventions, political upheaval, and scientific advances, radical transformation touched virtually every arena of life. In The Twentieth Century: A World History, R. Keith Schoppa uses a global lens spanning Africa, the Middle East, Russia, Asia and the Pacific, Europe, and the Americas. He traces the major developments of the twentieth century from the rise of globalization to the dawn of the digital age; from the Great War of 1914-18 to the “great war in Africa,” conflicts that span the first genocide of the century in Namibia to that of Bosnia-Kosovo in the late 1990s. It was the “century of the refugee,” as the explosion of human violence caused significant population displacement-and it was also the century of indigenous peoples fighting off the lingering impacts of imperialism. This volume surveys various U.S. struggles in battles for civil rights, and witnesses the 1992 collapse of Soviet communism. The century ended in a spasm of violence: four African and European national genocides and the African war, one of the ten deadliest in history, involving nine nations, leaving 6 million dead and 5.4 million refugees. From the collapse of empires to the rise of decolonized nation-states on the global stage, The Twentieth Century: A World History offers a rich chronological narrative of our recent past and provides a valuable historical standpoint from which to view our twenty-first century world.

Read more less

How has a game brought together Americans and defined separate ethnic communities? This book tells the first history of mahjong and its meaning in American culture. Click-click-click. The sound of mahjong tiles connects American expatriates in Shanghai, Jazz Age white Americans, urban Chinese Americans in the 1930s, incarcerated Japanese Americans in wartime, Jewish American suburban mothers, and Air Force officers' wives in the postwar era. Mahjong: A Chinese Game and the Making of Modern American Culture illustrates how the spaces between tiles and the moments between games have fostered distinct social cultures in the United States. This mass-produced game crossed the Pacific, creating waves of popularity over the twentieth century. Annelise Heinz narrates the history of this game to show how it has created a variety of meanings, among them American modernity, Chinese American heritage, and Jewish American women's culture. As it traveled from China to the United States and caught on with Hollywood starlets, high society, middle-class housewives, and immigrants alike, mahjong became a quintessentially American game. Heinz also reveals the ways in which women leveraged a game to gain access to respectable leisure. The result was the forging of friendships within ethnic groups that lasted decades and the creation of organizations that raised funds for the war effort and philanthropy. No other game has signified both belonging and standing apart in American culture. Drawing on photographs, advertising, popular media, and dozens of oral histories, Heinz's rich and colorful account offers the first history of the wildly popular game of mahjong.

Read more less

Winfried Baumgart’s masterful history of the Crimean War has been expanded and fully updated to reflect advances made in the field since the book’s first publication. It convincingly argues that if the war had continued after 1856, the First World War would have taken place 60 years earlier, but that fighting ultimately ceased because diplomacy never lost its control over the use of war as an instrument in power politics. With 19 images, 13 maps and additional tables as well as a brand new chapters on 'the medical services', this expanded and fully-updated 2nd edition explores * The origins and diplomacy of the Crimean War * The war aims and general attitudes of the belligerent powers (Russia, France, and Britain), non-belligerent German powers (Austria and Prussia) and a selected number of neutral powers, including the United States * The characteristics and capabilities of the armies involved * The nature of the fighting itself The Crimean War: 1853-1856 examines the conflict in both its Europe-wide and global contexts, moving beyond the five great European powers to consider the role and importance of smaller states and theatres of war that have otherwise been under-served. To this end, it looks at fighting on the Danube front, the Black Sea, the Baltic Sea, the Caucasian battlefield, as well as the White Sea and the Pacific, with final chapters devoted to the Paris peace congress of 1856, the end of the war and its legacy. This book remains the definitive study of one of the most important wars in modern history.

Read more less

The small town of Lake Geneva, Wisconsin is an unlikely location for a Playboy Resort, and nineteen-year-old Sherri Taylor is an unlikely bunny. Growing up in neighboring East Troy, Sherri plays the organ at the local church and has never felt comfortable in her own skin. But when her parents die in quick succession, she leaves the only home she's ever known for the chance to be part of a glamorous slice of history. In the winter of 1981, in a costume two sizes too small, her toes pinched by stilettos, Sherri joins the daughters of dairy farmers and factory workers for the defining experience of her life. Living in the "bunny hutch"-Playboy's version of a college dorm-Sherri gets her education in the joys of sisterhood, the thrill of financial independence, the magic of first love, and the heady effects of sex, drugs, and rock and roll. But as spring gives way to summer, Sherri finds herself caught in a romantic triangle-and the tragedy that ensues will haunt her for the next forty years. From the Midwestern prairie to the California desert, from Wisconsin lakes to the Pacific Ocean, this is a story of what happens when small town life is sprinkled with stardust, and what we lose-and gain-when we leave home. With a heroine to root for and a narrative to get lost in, Shoulder Season is a sexy, evocative tale, drenched in longing and desire, that captures a fleeting moment in American history with nostalgia and heart.

Read more less

The World Health Organization (WHO) defines social determinants of health as "the conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work and age" and "the fundamental drivers of these conditions." Income, education, job security, food and housing, as well as gender and race are all examples of social determinants of health. These factors influence the health and wellbeing of patients, as well as how they interact with and receive healthcare. Unfortunately for some communities, many of these key factors to health are often jeopardized. Indigenous groups in North America and US associated Pacific jurisdictions have historically had troubled relationships with the federal government, experiencing occupation and forced relocation, mandated boarding schools, and attempts to eliminate cultural strengths and resources These denigrating experiences have marginalized these indigenous populations and increased their risk of poverty, food and housing insecurity, poor health, and limited access to healthcare.Indigenous Public Health: Improvement through Community-Engaged Interventions illustrates how successful community engagement strategies, programs, and resources within indigenous communities have resulted in diverse, successful public health programs, and helped community members overcome barriers to health. Editors Linda Burhansstipanov and Kathryn L. Braun explore the problems that impact engagement efforts, such as racism or resilience, and also discuss public health topics, such as infectious diseases, cancer, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. The overarching focus of this book is to acknowledge and honor the strengths of different communities and emphasize that community collaboration and the sharing of resources can only improve the lives of all communities.

Read more less

From the under-snow tunnels of Arctic lemmings to the egg nests of the bizarre Australian echidna, from the Pacific waters inhabited by sea otters and whales to the subways of major cities, this extraordinary and attractive book brings us into the homes and lives of some of earth's most fascinating animals. Published in conjunction with a ten-part television series that will air on the Discovery Channel, The Life of Mammals brings us nose-to-nose with mammals in all of their beauty and immense variety. Renowned naturalist, writer, and filmmaker David Attenborough treks across every continent and kind of terrain to introduce us to such unusual and evolutionarily successful creatures as the Patagonian opossum, the Canadian pygmy shrew, the Alpine marmot, and the Malaysian sun bear. We meet slow-moving algae-covered sloths. We enter a pack of African wild dogs, seeing how their division of labor enables them to provide protection and food to pups, mothers, and old dogs. We learn about the navigation systems of bats and find out why Borneo's colugo is a superior glider to a flying squirrel. Along the way, Attenborough considers how evolution has shaped mammalian habits, leading herbivorous sea cows to take to the water and humans to commence agriculture. Containing more than 200 spectacular color photographs, this is a book that will gratify anyone intrigued by the natural world and the animals that inhabit it. Informative, utterly absorbing, and classic Attenborough, it represents natural history at its finest.

Read more less

Everyone knows that America is 50 states and…some other stuff. Scattered shards in the Pacific and the Caribbean, the not-quite states—American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the U.S. Virgin Islands—and their 4 million people are often forgotten, even by most Americans. But they’re filled with American flags, U.S. post offices, and Little League baseball games. How did these territories come to be part of the United States? What are they like? And why aren’t they states? When Doug Mack realized just how little he knew about the territories, he set off on a globe-hopping quest covering more than 30,000 miles to see them all. In the U.S. Virgin Islands, Mack examines the Founding Fathers’ arguments over expansion. He explores Polynesia’s outsize influence on American culture, from tiki bars to tattoos, in American Samoa. He tours Guam with members of a military veterans’ motorcycle club, who offer personal stories about the territory’s role in World War II and its present-day importance for the American military. In the Northern Mariana Islands, he learns about star-guided seafaring from one of the ancient tradition’s last practitioners. And everywhere he goes in Puerto Rico, he listens in on the lively debate over political status—independence, statehood, or the status quo. The Not-Quite States of America is an entertaining account of the territories’ place in the USA, and it raises fascinating questions about the nature of empire. As Mack shows, the territories aren’t mere footnotes to American history; they are a crucial part of the story.

Read more less

After emerging from the tumult of social movements of the 1960s and 1970s, the field of Asian American studies has enjoyed rapid and extraordinary growth. Nonetheless, many aspects of Asian American history still remain open to debate. The Oxford Handbook of Asian American History offers the first comprehensive commentary on the state of the field, simultaneously assessing where Asian American studies came from and what the future holds. In this volume, thirty leading scholars offer original essays on a wide range of topics. The chapters trace Asian American history from the beginning of the migration flows toward the Pacific Islands and the American continent to Japanese American incarceration and Asian American participation in World War II, from the experience of exclusion, violence, and racism to the social and political activism of the late twentieth century. The authors explore many of the key aspects of the Asian American experience, including politics, economy, intellectual life, the arts, education, religion, labor, gender, family, urban development, and legal history. The Oxford Handbook of Asian American History demonstrates how the roots of Asian American history are linked to visions of a nation marked by justice and equity and to a deep effort to participate in a global project aimed at liberation. The contributors to this volume attest to the ongoing importance of these ideals, showing how the mass politics, creative expressions, and the imagination that emerged during the 1960s are still relevant today. It is an unprecedentedly detailed portrait of Asian Americans and how they have helped change the face of the United States.

Read more less