Search results for ""Author Robert Thomas""

In recent years, the contemporary Serbian political scene has been a much-discussed topic in the international media yet untangling the complicated web of parties and factions has become a more difficult task. Robert Thomas carefully examines the complexities of modern Serbian politics, largely in the words of the political players themselves. Drawing from a vast body of interviews and news coverage in Serbian and international media, Thomas brings the shifting political positions of these actors into sharp focus.The Politics of Serbia in the 1990s illuminates the chronic factionalism that has frustrated any attempt to unseat Slobodan Milosevic from the presidency. Opposition leaders have gone through many successive shifts in overall platform and specific tactical maneuvers, and this trend has made it difficult for them to launch a sustained, effective challenge to Milosevic. The Serbian president, meanwhile, emerges as a cunning manipulator of popular prejudices who has managed to retain power while leading the country into blundered wars and deepening economic distress. Dissecting Serb politics of the past decade, Thomas's study opens with a detailed overview of Serbian history and its communist years, and political dissent during this era. The book continues with in-depth explorations of such subjects as the fragmentation of Serb politics during the most deadly years of fighting in the region, the nation's fragile electoral politics at several critical moments, the alliance of radical and socialist groups and its rapid disintegration, and the aftermath of the Dayton accords. The author provides a complete list of abbreviations and a comprehensive index.

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Frequently students confuse literature reviews with summaries of existing research, and they can easily get overwhelmed by the amount of material they have to consider and filter as part of their review. Likewise, they don’t often realize that a considered, planned, structured and balanced argument forms the bedrock of a successful research project. Outlining what a literature review is - and isn’t - and showcasing how to use the literature to your advantage to construct a strong academic argument, this Little Quick Fix answers important questions like: - What is the purpose of a literature review? - How can I tell the difference between an argument and an academic argument? - What do I need to create my argument? - What do I need from an article to support my argument? - How do I create a counterargument? - How can I make sure I’m creating a strong argument and plausible counterargument? - How can I win my argument? Students need help over hurdles at every stage of their research project. They want simple, powerful, accessible tools that deliver results fast. They need to meet interim assessment deadlines and prove that they have successfully passed through multiple stages of their project, or need to master a stage of understanding in a learning cascade before they can proceed to the next week in their methods module. Their supervisors are increasingly unable to help, but will still be assessing results. Students need more than YouTube. Titles in the Little Quick Fix series offer: · Visual, design-led learning · Clear, structured, useful pedagogy · A hand-holding, step-by-step approach for students who are less able, or less academically prepared by school so far · Effective self-directed learning with DIY progress tracking · A stand-in for the busy/unavailable supervisor

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Get to know the ultimate skill for using your own two hands! The Art and Craft of the Blacksmith discusses a range of blacksmithing tools, techniques, and projects, from fundamental skills to advanced forging, as well as a gallery showcasing inspiring artists using innovative techniques today. Craftspeople making the transition from interest to hobby and beyond will find both inspiration and practical how-to projects in this comprehensive reference to ironwork. Beginning with an overview of iron and the traditions of historical forging, professional blacksmith Robert Thomas offers everything you need to get started or to take your work to the next level.

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Working with even small amounts of qualitative data can be intimidating. Students may not know where to start, how much detail to involve, what themes really tell you, and why they matter in the larger context of the research. Focused on building confidence and decreasing anxiety from information overload by helping students build a manageable system that works for digging into and making sense of their individual data, this Little Quick Fix answers questions like: - What is a theme? - How do I start looking for themes? - How do I turn my transcriptions into themes? - How do I turn my codes into themes? - How do I turn my categories into themes? - How will I know if my themes are any good? - How will I know if my themes are meaningful? Students need help over hurdles at every stage of their research project. They want simple, powerful, accessible tools that deliver results fast. They need to meet interim assessment deadlines and prove that they have successfully passed through multiple stages of their project, or need to master a stage of understanding in a learning cascade before they can proceed to the next week in their methods module. Their supervisors are increasingly unable to help, but will still be assessing results. Students need more than YouTube. Titles in the Little Quick Fix series offer: · Visual, design-led learning · Clear, structured, useful pedagogy · A hand-holding, step-by-step approach for students who are less able, or less academically prepared by school so far · Effective self-directed learning with DIY progress tracking · A stand-in for the busy/unavailable supervisor

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Readers and playgoers who are new to Shakespeare (and even more seasoned veterans who would like to appreciate him more than they do) often find themselves puzzled: what is going on? His characters speak in verse rather than in the patterns of everyday speech. They are figures that ordinary humans seldom encounter—kings, queens, dukes, cardinals, and generals. Some of the plays are set in places even the most seasoned traveler is unlikely to have visited—Bohemia, Illyria, and the ancient Greek cities of Asia Minor—and in times from the distant past—imperial Rome, medieval Venice, Homer's Troy. What's more, the plots pursue events that seemingly have little to do with the daily round of modern lives—contention for a royal crown, assassination, shipwreck, occult visitation. Robert Fallon's small book is designed to dispel some of this apparent strangeness. It shows readers that what may at first seem unfamiliar to them is in fact close to their own lives. Kings and queens emerge as recognizable fathers and mothers, dukes and earls as squabbling siblings of any era. Exotic locales might be any present-day village or city block. And the plots resemble stories to be found in the pages of our morning newspaper. Shakespeare's language takes some getting used to, but even a brief acquaintance with its cadence and imagery will offer a glimpse of its glories. In How to Enjoy Shakespeare, Mr. Fallon explores Shakespeare's familiarity in five sections dealing with language, theme, staging, character, and plot, each abundantly illustrated with episodes and quotations from the plays. He writes in easily accessible prose in a book designed to make modern readers and audiences feel comfortable with the Bard.

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In surveys of the plays that will help readers and viewers follow the action with ease and understanding, Robert Fallon opens a window to Shakespeare's time while illuminating the timelessness of his works. Mr. Fallon examines the most frequently staged plays scene by scene, and those less frequently performed act by act. He provides intelligent readers with incisive and engaging commentary on character, theme, setting, poetry, and stage history. Wonderfully reader-friendly. —William Kerrigan, University of Massachusetts at Amherst

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Following on his successful Guides to the plots and themes of Shakespeare's plays, Robert Fallon now explores the world of characters created by the Bard. Like Mr. Fallon's earlier books, A Theatergoer's Guide to Shakespeare's Characters is designed to enhance the playgoer's enjoyment of a performance, but it also makes for enlightening reading after the show. Intended for the general reader, it is written in plain but not inelegant English and avoids the specialized language of the theater and the academy. More than eight hundred characters appear in Shakespeare's thirty-eight plays—an astonishing variety of kings and queens, mothers and fathers, clowns and fairies, peasants and dukes, villains and heroes, the young and the old, the sinning and the sinned against. How could he have known so many in his diverse culture and portrayed them so convincingly? Mr. Fallon has chosen some sixty of these figures to examine. With few exceptions, they are the ones that modern theatergoers are most likely to encounter in performance, those that have captured the imagination of audiences over the centuries: Lear, Hamlet, Cleopatra, Rosalind, Portia, and the like. But some lesser-known characters are offered for their inherent interest and their example of Shakespeare's "infinite variety." Mr. Fallon locates each of them in the story of their play, relates them to other characters, shows how they change (or don't), and sums up their character and nature. Readers of his other Guides know they will find in Characters an entertaining and useful appraisal. "This book is as handy as they come...distilled without being dunderheaded—reader-friendly in the extreme."—American Theatre (on A Theatergoer's Guide to Shakespeare)

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Winner of the 2001 Poets Out Loud Prize, Door to Door ranges from the wry romance of “Changing the Oil” (“You make love the way you change the oil in your Oldsmobile”) to the salesman in the title poem who sees “what the glacier sees in the onslaught of spring.” The poems stand at the crossroads of mystery and love, hoping to trade their soul for Federico García Lorca’s guitar, or perhaps Jimi Hendrix’.

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Robert Fallon has written a book for those whose encounter with a play by Shakespeare, either in performance or on the printed page, has left them occasionally puzzled as to what in the world is going on. Shakespeare can be difficult: he wrote largely in verse and not in everyday speech; his plays are set in unfamiliar locales; and his lines abound in allusions that were familiar to Elizabethan audiences but not, alas, to us. His plays move us despite these difficulties, but they would even more so if we had a bit of deciphering and knew more about Shakespeare's London. A Theatergoer’s Guide opens a window to that time while illuminating the timelessness of Shakespeare’s plays, their portrayal of the human condition in any age. Written for the general reader “in plain though not inelegant English,” the book is mercifully free of academic jargon or scholarly apparatus. It examines the most frequently staged plays scene by scene, and those less frequently performed act by act, in chapters that may be read in one sitting in anywhere from five to forty minutes. These chapters pursue the sequence of events clearly, but they are much more than tedious plot summaries, and they do not “dumb down” Shakespeare. They provide intelligent readers with incisive and engaging commentary on character, theme, setting, poetry, and stage history, in surveys that will help them follow the action with ease and understanding. Dedicated theatergoers as well as students and teachers unfamiliar with a play will find the book a rich source of pleasure and insight. It is destined to become a standard work in the field.

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"Dr. Winn’s story is remarkably open, unguarded and intimate. I believe that almost any physician, staff member, patient, patient family member or friend will come away with new insights and understanding after reading this moving memoir." —Frederick R. Appelbaum, M.D. Director, Clinical Research Division, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research CenterLittle does he know that an unexpected call that interrupts an early Spring bike ride in the Wasatch mountains above Park City will change his life forever. A day later, when Dr. Robert Winn’s beloved wife Nancy is diagnosed with the life-threatening disease acute myeloid leukemia (AML), he is too devastated and emotionally shattered to communicate with family and their many friends. For many months he can’t even speak without getting choked up or crying.At the nadir of her illness Nancy is given a 5% chance of survival and Winnie (the name lovingly bestowed upon Dr. Winn by his many patients and friends) commits to always be by the side of his soul mate and to never leave Nancy alone at night. As a result, during the entire two years his wife is gravely ill and, at times, near death, he sits in the quiet of Nancy’s hospital room late into the evening and writes to their family and friends. These trials and tribulations are movingly and remarkably captured for posterity in Night Reflections: A True Story of Friendship, Love, Cancer, and Survival.Life with cancer, a devastating disease for any patient and family, is a constant struggle and fight for survival that demands that you learn to live through the entire day, each hour, and every minute. Night Reflections chronicles an inspirational story of courage, love, devotion, struggle, and ultimately triumph. Night Reflections will help anyone suffering from a devastating illness, their loved ones, caregivers, and the medical community alike and the strength to face even the darkest of days.

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This market-leading textbook covers the essential topics of the public law module in an insightful and interesting way. The book guides students through key themes which help them to understand how the many strands of public law are interlinked. The authors have a real flair for capturing both the vibrant nature of public law in practice and the key contemporary debates in the field. They use practical examples to bring this subject to life and include expert commentaries on each chapter to allow students to see academic debate first-hand. Digital formats and resources This fourth edition is supported by online resources and is available for students or institutions to purchase in a variety of digital formats. - The ebook is enhanced with embedded self-assessment activities, and multi-media content including author videos, to offer a fully immersive experience and extra learning support. www.oxfordtextbooks.co.uk/ebooks - These study tools that enhance the ebook, along with updates, directed web links for further research, and diagrams from the book, are available as stand-alone online resources for use alongside the print book.

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The Oxford Handbook of Administrative Justice examines the wide range of scholarship exploring the administrative decisions made by public authorities that affect individual citizens and the mechanisms available for the provision of redress. The Handbook identifies and provides a survey of key transnational themes in administrative justice research, considers theoretical and methodological approaches to administrative justice, and provides a view of the future of administrative justice research. One aspect of administrative justice, namely the study of law and administration, is a core component of law school syllabuses and scholarly research around the world. For many public lawyers, this area of study has been focused heavily on legalistic redress systems (e.g. judicial review). Justice against administrations, however, is delivered through a much broader range of mechanisms than legalistic processes alone: fair initial decision-making procedures, internal review systems, ombuds, administrative tribunals/adjudication, and other institutions play a vital role. Despite their importance to modern governance across the globe (and to the lives of individual citizens), these broader aspects of administrative justice have been left relatively neglected and under-researched, and the Handbook represents a groundbreaking achievement in establishing administrative justice research as a vital and discrete area of study. The Oxford Handbook of Administrative Justice will be an essential resource for legal scholars and social scientists wishing to understand the complexity of this important field.

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