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‘Leadership’ is crucial to contemporary business, politics, and organizations of every type, including the corporate, non-profit, educational, and government sectors. While modern leadership theorists suggest various models, traits, and approaches to leadership behavior that purport novelty, Ecclesiastes just may have been right that ‘There is nothing new under the sun’. The biblical figure of Moses – a familiar name both to adherents of the Western religious traditions and to people who are not – provides an exemplary model of effective leadership that is broadly applicable. Moses is depicted in the Bible as exhibiting ‘heroic’ and ‘charismatic’ tendencies. He was certainly empathic. Yet Moses also shows ‘transactional’, ‘transformational’ and ‘visionary’ leadership qualities. A leader of good character, Moses exhibits features similar to the Yiddish term, ‘mensch’ – someone showing responsibility and integrity, knowing right from wrong.

Though few might think of Moses as a ‘leader’ or a ‘manager’ in the contemporary sense, Moses not only holds a firm place among the most significant leaders in Western civilization but is arguably the quintessential example of leadership from whom much can be learned by people entering and occupying leadership positions. While current leadership and management vocabulary might differ from the Hebrew Bible, many of the traits, behaviors and actions advocated by modern leadership theorists appear to emulate those of Moses. Wolak contrasts contemporary leadership ideas with biblical and rabbinic sources that show Moses’ leadership qualities, Moses serves as an ancient model with current relevance for what modern leadership theorists argue make for an effective leader.

‘Religion and Contemporary Management’ discusses and compares original and critical biblical and rabbinic sources with current business leadership and management literature, revealing what leadership theorists’ advocate today largely emulates what the Bible depicts as effective leadership through Moses’ example. Hence, Moses’ influence on current leadership trends in Western culture appears pervasive, even if contemporary leadership theorists do not typically cite Moses as an important source for leadership precedent.

‘Leadership’ is crucial to contemporary business, politics, and organizations of every type, including the corporate, non-profit, educational, and government sectors. While modern leadership theorists suggest various models, traits, and approaches to leadership behavior that purport novelty, Ecclesiastes just may have been right that ‘There is nothing new under the sun’. The biblical figure of Moses – a familiar name both to adherents of the Western religious traditions and to people who are not – provides an exemplary model of effective leadership that is broadly applicable. Moses is depicted in the Bible as exhibiting ‘heroic’ and ‘charismatic’ tendencies. He was certainly empathic. Yet Moses also shows ‘transactional’, ‘transformational’ and ‘visionary’ leadership qualities. A leader of good character, Moses exhibits features similar to the Yiddish term, ‘mensch’ – someone showing responsibility and integrity, knowing right from wrong.

Though few might think of Moses as a ‘leader’ or a ‘manager’ in the contemporary sense, Moses not only holds a firm place among the most significant leaders in Western civilization but is arguably the quintessential example of leadership from whom much can be learned by people entering and occupying leadership positions. While current leadership and management vocabulary might differ from the Hebrew Bible, many of the traits, behaviors and actions advocated by modern leadership theorists appear to emulate those of Moses. Wolak contrasts contemporary leadership ideas with biblical and rabbinic sources that show Moses’ leadership qualities, Moses serves as an ancient model with current relevance for what modern leadership theorists argue make for an effective leader.

‘Religion and Contemporary Management’ discusses and compares original and critical biblical and rabbinic sources with current business leadership and management literature, revealing what leadership theorists’ advocate today largely emulates what the Bible depicts as effective leadership through Moses’ example. Hence, Moses’ influence on current leadership trends in Western culture appears pervasive, even if contemporary leadership theorists do not typically cite Moses as an important source for leadership precedent.

This volume brings together sixteen articles on the religions, literatures and histories of South and Central Asia in tribute to Patrick Olivelle, one of North America’s leading Sanskritists and historians of early India. An exceptionally prolific scholar, Olivelle’s best-known works include ‘Manu’s Code of Law’ (2005), ‘The Early Upaniṣads’ (1998) and ‘The Āśrama System’ (1993). Over the last four decades, the focus of his scholarship has been on the ascetic and legal traditions of India, but his work as both a researcher and a teacher extends beyond early Indian religion and literature. ‘Religion and Identity and South Asia and Beyond’ is a testament to that influence.

The contributions in this volume, many by former students of Olivelle, are committed to linguistic and historical rigor, combined with sensitivity to how the study of Asia has been changing over the last several decades. Several of the essays examine the construction of religious and cultural identity (whether among Brahmins, Buddhists, Dalits or Muslims), while others are concerned particularly with problems of historical reconstruction and textual interpretation.

This volume brings together sixteen articles on the religions, literatures and histories of South and Central Asia in tribute to Patrick Olivelle, one of North America’s leading Sanskritists and historians of early India. An exceptionally prolific scholar, Olivelle’s best-known works include ‘Manu’s Code of Law’ (2005), ‘The Early Upaniṣads’ (1998) and ‘The Āśrama System’ (1993). Over the last four decades, the focus of his scholarship has been on the ascetic and legal traditions of India, but his work as both a researcher and a teacher extends beyond early Indian religion and literature. ‘Religion and Identity and South Asia and Beyond’ is a testament to that influence.

The contributions in this volume, many by former students of Olivelle, are committed to linguistic and historical rigor, combined with sensitivity to how the study of Asia has been changing over the last several decades. Several of the essays examine the construction of religious and cultural identity (whether among Brahmins, Buddhists, Dalits or Muslims), while others are concerned particularly with problems of historical reconstruction and textual interpretation.

This volume addresses a central problem of contemporary states, namely how to manage the eruption of public religions. While the liberal framework formerly regarded religion as simply a matter of private practice and conscience, in modern states religion has often come to challenge the so-called Westphalian model of church-state relations, and has brought into question many liberal notions of secularism and tolerance. There is much discussion about post-secular society in which religion has to be taken seriously in public affairs. This collection of case studies – looking at Turkey, Singapore, India, China, Britain, Europe and the United States – explores a number of examples in which the state exercises some degree of management of religion, thereby bringing into question the traditional separation of religion and state. This study also attempts to refine the notion of secularization by examining this process in terms of political arrangements (church-state relations) and the role of religion in everyday life. Ultimately, this study reveals that there is no uniform or standard pattern of secularization in modern societies.

This volume addresses a central problem of contemporary states, namely how to manage the eruption of public religions. While the liberal framework formerly regarded religion as simply a matter of private practice and conscience, in modern states religion has often come to challenge the so-called Westphalian model of church-state relations, and has brought into question many liberal notions of secularism and tolerance. There is much discussion about post-secular society in which religion has to be taken seriously in public affairs. This collection of case studies – looking at Turkey, Singapore, India, China, Britain, Europe and the United States – explores a number of examples in which the state exercises some degree of management of religion, thereby bringing into question the traditional separation of religion and state. This study also attempts to refine the notion of secularization by examining this process in terms of political arrangements (church-state relations) and the role of religion in everyday life. Ultimately, this study reveals that there is no uniform or standard pattern of secularization in modern societies.

To what extent should religion be taught in classrooms? Should lessons also cover non-religious beliefs? Should the teaching of religion be compulsory or should it be a matter of choice by the parents or the child? Should faith schools be allowed to teach their religious beliefs? Should religious worship be compulsory for all pupils?

Questions of how religion operates within schools prove controversial and divisive. This book explores radical changes that are being made in Wales and the lessons that can be learnt. The Curriculum and Assessment (Wales) Act 2021 introduces a new curriculum for Wales and makes the teaching of religion, values and ethics compulsory for all. As the name of the new subject suggests, the study of non-religious beliefs will now be explicitly included and groups such as humanists will play a role in the writing of the curriculum. 

The 2021 Act will mean that the law on the teaching of religion in Wales will differ from England for the first time. In England, the rules developed in the 1940s continue to apply: these require religious education that must ‘reflect the fact that the religious traditions in Great Britain are in the main Christian’ and daily religious worship which must be ‘wholly or mainly of a broadly Christian character’ subject to a parental opt out. Critics have pointed out that these laws are outmoded in today’s multicultural and largely secular society and that many schools fail to comply with them. This book will explore what can be learnt from developments in Wales to shape the law in England. It will explore reform suggestions in England and the Welsh law, potential shortcomings of the Welsh legislation and areas that the 2021 Act leaves untouched, namely the rules on religious worship. The book is written by a leading authority on the interaction of law and religion whose work fed into Welsh parliament debates on the 2021 Act.

This book constructs an anthropological history of a subaltern religious formation, Mahima Dharma of Orissa, a large province in eastern India. Tracking the contingent making of a critical community over a hundred and forty year period, Religion, Law and Power explores the interplay of distinct expressions of time and history, innovative reformulations of caste and Hinduism and distinct engagements with state and nation. This serves to unravel the wider entanglements of religion, history, law, modernity and power. Ishita Banerjee-Dube provides a situated and critical analysis of the different trajectories of Mahima Dharma, bringing to the fore a clutch of empirical and theoretical issues. Understandings of the articulation and institutionalization of a subaltern religious order are not marked off from, but reveal the techniques and textures of, the modern state and dominant Hinduism. Such moves foreground subaltern and ascetic expressions and negotiations of modernity in institutional and everyday arenas, and further question widespread propositions of a singular Hinduism, especially in India today. ‘Religion, Law and Power’ should be of interest to historians, anthropologists and religious studies scholars as well as general readers interested in religion, politics, community and state. It will be of particular interest to students of South Asia concerned with Hinduism and religious sects, history and law, and power and resistance.

This book constructs an anthropological history of a subaltern religious formation, Mahima Dharma of Orissa, a large province in eastern India. Tracking the contingent making of a critical community over a hundred and forty year period, Religion, Law and Power explores the interplay of distinct expressions of time and history, innovative reformulations of caste and Hinduism and distinct engagements with state and nation. This serves to unravel the wider entanglements of religion, history, law, modernity and power. Ishita Banerjee-Dube provides a situated and critical analysis of the different trajectories of Mahima Dharma, bringing to the fore a clutch of empirical and theoretical issues. Understandings of the articulation and institutionalization of a subaltern religious order are not marked off from, but reveal the techniques and textures of, the modern state and dominant Hinduism. Such moves foreground subaltern and ascetic expressions and negotiations of modernity in institutional and everyday arenas, and further question widespread propositions of a singular Hinduism, especially in India today. ‘Religion, Law and Power’ should be of interest to historians, anthropologists and religious studies scholars as well as general readers interested in religion, politics, community and state. It will be of particular interest to students of South Asia concerned with Hinduism and religious sects, history and law, and power and resistance.

Can we live with being merely a brain with a history of being souls? Can our supra-nature, learnt in the crucible of religion and expressed in theology, survive without being exiled to the quantum mysteries of consciousness? Our very survival depends on these questions being answered and in a manner by which a non-expert can understand.

The book explores these ideas and posits how we might be able to understand ourselves as merely brain without the confusion of pixie dust in the nanotubules, reorienting ourselves to the idea of Nature, and our humane ethical response. By looking at the challenge of neuroscience to identity and our souls, the book explores the tension of being scientific and theological and helps guide the reader to what can be said by either front in our axial age.

The work places the soul, neuroscience and the new physics (as refuge for emergence of souls) into a conversation that considers what can be said about the Real of reality, including G-d. The book works theology, religion and science together so that each is given its voice and place in the conversation on how humans can become nature realists as a response to our challenges as a species with respect to climate change and worldwide pandemics.

At the end of the second decade of the twenty-first century people in the United States live in a scary and confusing post-truth era of disinformation, fake news, counter-knowledge, weaponized lies, conspiracy theories, magical thinking and sheer irrationalism. In this intellectual climate where many people lack the rudimentary skills to distinguish between contending claims to knowledge or differentiate between fact and opinion, there is a proliferation of purveyors of supernaturalism, pseudoscience and alternative forms of knowledge whose ideas are an affront to the intelligence and sensibilities of rational people. At the same time, here and around the world oppressive religious fundamentalism and violence are on the rise. The merchants of superstition and paranormalism almost in unison are broadcasting with bluster and hubris that science is now defunct and are offering their own truths and ways of knowing as better substitutes. Even our highest government officials are flagrantly declaring that it is impossible to distinguish between fact and opinion, that for every fact there is an alternative fact, and that truth is whatever people want it to be.

By posing a direct challenge to science and rationality, the advocates of supernatural and paranormal modes of thought have made their own central epistemological and ontological premises legitimate subjects for critical scrutiny in accordance with the tradition of systematic skepticism. “Religion, Supernaturalism, the Paranormal and Pseudoscience” provides a comprehensive rejoinder to the challenges posed to science, scientific anthropology, evolutionary theory and rationality. Moreover, scientific anthropological answers are offered for several important questions: Why do humans have the proclivity for the supernatural and the paranormal thinking? Why has humanity remained shackled to sets of ideas inherited from a violent past that have no basis in reality, bestow an illusionary solace, inspire endless cruelties and fervent hatreds, and have come at a high cost? Why have ancient superstitions been maintained as sacred, inviolate truths while other aspects of the archaic belief systems of which they were a part have long been discarded? Why have not humans outgrown religion and paranormal beliefs?

This study draws upon the author’s scientific anthropological background and ethnographic field research of supernatural and paranormal beliefs and practices in several cultures over the course of the last 30 years. It also relies upon the works of numerous skeptics; critical historians; scientific anthropologists; cognitive, evolutionary, experimental and anomalistic psychologists; philosophers of science; scientists in various fields; and many theologians.

‘Remembering Popular Music’s Past’ capitalises on the growing interest, globally, in the preservation of popular music’s material past and on scholarly explorations of the ways in which popular music, as heritage, is produced, legitimised and conferred cultural and historical significance. The chapters in this collection consider the spaces, practices and representations that constitute popular music heritage in order to elucidate how popular music’s past is lived in the present. Thus the focus is on the transformation of popular music into heritage, and the role of history and memory in this transformation. The collection is particularly interested in the ways in which popular music’s past becomes enacted in the present.

The chapters discuss a diverse array of topics but are unified by inquiry into the construction, curation, display, negotiation and perception of popular music’s past. The collection presents a critical perspective on academics’ involvement in ‘historian’s’ work of ‘reconstruction’ of the past through archival and analytical research. The cultural studies framework adopted in the collection encompasses unique approaches to popular music historiography, sociology, film analysis, and archival and museal work. Broadly ‘Remembering Popular Music’s Past’ deals with issues of precarity in popular music heritage, history and memory. The collection is a timely addition to a subfield of popular music studies and critical heritage studies that has grown exponentially in the past ten years.

After decades of isolation, Albania was catapulted into capitalism in 1991. Until then, ideological hardliners had run the country and denounced their former Soviet and Eastern Bloc allies as 'revisionists' for falling away from Stalinist principles. Yet after the collapse of socialism, Albania quickly embarked on an ambitious program of political and economic reform. The postsocialist governments created private ownership in land, liberalized markets, and opened the country’s borders to movements of goods, capital, and people. Such radical  measures stood out, even in comparison with other postsocialist countries. For instance, the postsocialist governments did not restitute collective farmland to pre-collectivization owners as elsewhere in Central and Eastern Europe; instead farmland was distributed in equal shares to the current agricultural labor force, giving Albania the highest degree of individual land ownership found in Eastern Europe. Postsocialist market reforms were no less radical, and as a result of trade liberalization, Albania became inundated by imports. This caused more commercially-minded farmers to compete against highly subsidized EU production, while the majority of land users largely withdrew from agricultural markets. They turned instead to a mixed approach to farming characterized by a low degree of commercialization and high subsistence production. The constraints rural people faced in agriculture, together with the loss of off-farm employment due to the collapse of state-run rural industries, caused one of the world’s highest rates of emigration, reaching more than 40 per cent in some areas.

'Rent from the Land' examines the effects of these massive political and economic changes of postsocialism on rural society and environment in Albania. Stahl argues that the postsocialist transformations led to changes in the creation and distribution of resource rent, which shifted land users' incentives and productive decision-making and ultimately led to environmental change. The book brings together five years of research on Albanian transformation, and breaks new ground by discussing postsocialist transformation from a political ecology perspective.

After decades of isolation, Albania was catapulted into capitalism in 1991. Until then, ideological hardliners had run the country and denounced their former Soviet and Eastern Bloc allies as 'revisionists' for falling away from Stalinist principles. Yet after the collapse of socialism, Albania quickly embarked on an ambitious program of political and economic reform. The postsocialist governments created private ownership in land, liberalized markets, and opened the country’s borders to movements of goods, capital, and people. Such radical  measures stood out, even in comparison with other postsocialist countries. For instance, the postsocialist governments did not restitute collective farmland to pre-collectivization owners as elsewhere in Central and Eastern Europe; instead farmland was distributed in equal shares to the current agricultural labor force, giving Albania the highest degree of individual land ownership found in Eastern Europe. Postsocialist market reforms were no less radical, and as a result of trade liberalization, Albania became inundated by imports. This caused more commercially-minded farmers to compete against highly subsidized EU production, while the majority of land users largely withdrew from agricultural markets. They turned instead to a mixed approach to farming characterized by a low degree of commercialization and high subsistence production. The constraints rural people faced in agriculture, together with the loss of off-farm employment due to the collapse of state-run rural industries, caused one of the world’s highest rates of emigration, reaching more than 40 per cent in some areas.

'Rent from the Land' examines the effects of these massive political and economic changes of postsocialism on rural society and environment in Albania. Stahl argues that the postsocialist transformations led to changes in the creation and distribution of resource rent, which shifted land users' incentives and productive decision-making and ultimately led to environmental change. The book brings together five years of research on Albanian transformation, and breaks new ground by discussing postsocialist transformation from a political ecology perspective.

'Sciences' were named and formed with great speed in the nineteenth century. Yet what constitutes a 'true' science? The Victorian era facilitated the rise of practices such as phrenology and physiognomy, so-called sciences that lost their status and fell out of use rather swiftly. This collection of essays seeks to examine the marginalised sciences of the nineteenth century in an attempt to define the shifting centres of scientific thinking, specifically asking: how do some sciences emerge to occupy central ground and how do others become consigned to the margins? The essays in this collection explore the influence of nineteenth-century culture on the rise of these sciences, investigating the emergence of marginal sciences such as scriptural geology and spiritualism. 'Repositioning Victorian Sciences' is a valuable addition to our understanding of nineteenth-century science in its original context, and will also be of great interest to those studying the era as a whole.

Population is a dangerous political category. It is not separable from the racist and class-based valorisation and devaluation of different lives. From contraceptive implant programmes for the Global South to right wing anti-immigration discourses, demographic interpretations of multiple global and local crises legitimise the states' grip on childbearing and mobility. The results are various dimensions of reproductive racism and restrictive border regimes. Meanwhile, global social inequalities and racial capitalist extractivism stay out of the game. 

The book explores how demographic knowledge production and states’ grip to the variable of population intertwine. It introduces the concept of a Malthusian matrix in order to understand how class-selective and racist hierarchies within population narratives are combined with gendered policies of reproductive bodies and behaviours. Another chapter unfolds the invisible assumptions underlying demographic projections, as these future narratives support powerful strategies of domination in the presence. 

Through the book various current dimensions of reproductive racism are demonstrated, distinguishing between the birth of desirable and undesirable people: an upward redistributive family policy in Germany is promoting births within the privileged middle classes. And international population programs revive targets in order to increase the use of long-acting contraceptives in the Global South, within a market-oriented setting of Big Pharma promotion. Reproductive racism is also effective in migration policy strategies: narratives about "migrant birth rates" circulate in ultra-right forces as well as among seemingly apolitical demographic policy consultancy. 

Finally, the book also reflects on the role of statehood in contested demographic politics and what theoretical instruments are needed in order to attack the demographic power-knowledge complex. The epilogue refers to the intersectional feminist concept of reproductive justice as an important tool and framework for anti-Malthusian resistance and alliances.

Offers a comprehensive guide to building resilience in the post-pandemic tourism and hospitality industry, combining theory, practical strategies and case studies to support sustainable recovery and future readiness

The book Resilience and Recovery of Hospitality and Tourism: Challenges, Synthesis and Agendas comprehensively explores the strategies necessary for the tourism and hospitality industry to recover and thrive post-pandemic. It begins with an introduction to the concept of resilience within the industry, followed by an overview of the various practices adopted to navigate recent challenges. The book covers the threats and obstacles to resilience, highlighting the need for effective workforce development planning and the mobilisation of resources through data-driven sustainable models. Leadership issues are examined, emphasising the critical role of strong leadership in fostering resilience. Predictors of resilience are identified, helping the industry to adapt to changing conditions. The development of resilience-based frameworks is discussed, aiming to revive global tourism conditions. The book also underscores the significance of data-driven technologies in building collaborative capacities for resilience. Sustainable practices and their management are crucial for maintaining resilience, as is the role of organisational culture in overcoming challenges. The book concludes with case studies that provide practical insights into managing resilience issues, developing effective strategies and understanding the broader implications for the tourism and hospitality industry.
This book is an essential resource for professionals and academics in the tourism and hospitality industry, including managers, policymakers, researchers and students. It is designed for those who seek to understand and implement resilience strategies in the face of unprecedented challenges such as the COVID-19 pandemic. By providing a detailed analysis of the industry’s threats, obstacles and innovative practices, the book offers valuable insights into workforce development, leadership, and the role of data-driven technologies and sustainable practices. With its comprehensive coverage of resilience-based frameworks and real-world case studies, this book is an indispensable guide for anyone committed to fostering a resilient, adaptive, and sustainable tourism and hospitality sector.

After completing his studies in Spain’s La Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando (San Fernando Royal Academy of Fine Arts), the artist Ahmed Amrani (b. 1942) returned to a newly independent Morocco, where he spent a demanding period creating murals and posters for the Rif Revolts of 1958. After Morocco’s independence in 1956, local citizens of the Rif, a region in the northeast of Morocco, resisted the central government’s policies, leading to a brutal clash between civilians and the royal army. Although invigorated and hopeful following independence, Amrani was negatively affected by the uprisings, which led to the newly autonomous Moroccan government to brutally punish those involved. Amrani used his artistic practice to express his anxiety over the oppressive national politics of the time. None of the murals or posters exist and no photo documentation remains of these ephemeral political gestures. Resisting from the Margins: Ahmed Amrani’s Protesta (1969) explores the only artwork from this period that remains: a politically charged oil-on-paper painting from 1969 titled Protesta that depicts an impassioned mass of protestors chanting and raising their fists in the air.
Amrani’s artistic production during this time, including the painting Protesta, has a ‘strong goyesque expressivity’, referring to the late-18th- and early 19th-century Spanish painter and printmaker Francisco Goya (1746–1828). In 1961, Amrani moved to Madrid to continue his formal fine arts training at La Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando (San Fernando Royal Academy of Fine Arts), where he would remain until completing his degree in 1965. According to Amrani and art historian Clara Miret Nicolazzi, he frequented numerous galleries and museums in Spain such as the Museo Nacional del Prado and the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía. He discovered new tendencies and trends in fine arts and was particularly attracted to Goya, who would become a major influence on his practice throughout the 1960s. Amrani was struck by Goya’s stylistic liberty and ability to illustrate his relationship with the historical moment in which he lived. With Protesta, Amrani accomplished the same: he solidified himself as one of the most politically active artists from Tetouan’s art school during the modern period of the 1950s and 1960s and formally diverged from his peers with his use of expressive brushstrokes and a combination of figurative and abstracted imagery.
Composed of an introductory chapter, three body chapters and a concluding chapter, Resisting from the Margins is a project that comprehensively explores the socio-political context in which Protesta was made, specifically, the Rif Revolts of the late 1950s. In addition to exploring this political moment, this title will demonstrate how social, political and cultural marginalisation affected the arts community and the artistic pedagogy of Tetouan’s art school, today known as L’Institut National des Beaux Arts (The National Institute of Fine Arts, INBA). Amrani’s Protesta provides an avenue for exploring this understudied moment in Morocco’s post-independence history. This project will also discuss the present-day reception of the artwork, which was exhibited for the first time in 2021 at the Reina Sofía as part of the exhibition Moroccan Trilogy: 1950–2020. The title’s author was the curatorial assistant for the exhibition and selected the artwork on behalf of the show’s curators. Out of over seventy artworks, Protesta was one of only a handful of artworks exhibited by a Tetouani artist. Visitors found the work incredibly impactful and relevant to the contemporary Hirak Rif Movement (2016–), a recent uprising in the Rif that traces its roots to the original Rif Revolts. The painting, once an avenue for Amrani to express his frustration with the Moroccan state, today serves as a poignant reminder of the resilience of and resistance by the Rif’s civilians against oppression.

Unlike almost any other kind of land use – from dumps to houses to factories – state and sometimes even the federal government actively preempt local decision-making regarding the siting of energy extraction and production. The Consensus Building Institute looked at conflicts over land and found in the last ten years that rapid advances in technology in both renewables (primarily wind and solar) and gas and oil extraction have created a host of new and intensive land-use conflicts across the United States. Wind turbines, for instance, seemingly clean, lean and ‘sustainable’, have stirred intense conflicts among abutters, developers, and communities. A resurgence in US gas and oil production via hydraulic fracturing technology, resulting in lower costs, more domestic production and less dependence on unstable supplies of foreign oil, has created statewide bans, protest films and national debate about ‘fracking’.

‘Resolving Land and Energy Conflicts’ seeks to develop a view of energy in the landscape across gas and oil, wind, transmission and nuclear waste disposal. The first three create conflict because of rapid or the need for rapid development or expansion. Each of these energy types or facilities are generally considered a public good and expansion promises future benefit, but they have concentrated impacts that can cause localized adverse effects and controversy. The last, nuclear waste, creates conflict because it is a public ‘bad’ and a legacy of choices made decades ago for benefit that, in some ways, has already been delivered (affordable electricity through nuclear power coupled with a reliable base load generating source).

The authors are particularly interested in the conflicts that emerge from specific sites and proposals, as well as how this unique land use plays out in terms of conflict and resolution across scales and jurisdictions while touching on broader issues of policy and values. Though each energy type and its production (or disposal) is governed between various jurisdictions, with different impacts and benefits, each shares commonalities that can be explored further. ‘Resolving Land and Energy Conflicts’ briefly explains the general context around the energy type; the impacts and conflicts that have arisen given this context; the role laws, rules and jurisdictions play in mitigating, resolving or creating more conflict; and the ways in which communication, collaboration and conflict resolution have been or could be used to ameliorate the conflicts that inevitably arise.

For those captive to the broken world of late modernity, wherein ageing and dying persons become vulnerable to despair, this book offers a diagnostic of such despair. It also resources the practices of a realistic, humanising hope that might enable a strength for person to journey with and for others, together, through such despair. Thus, by addressing the aetiology of despair experienced by people confronting ageing, frailty and dying, and drawing upon the writings of Gabriel Marcel, among others, Ashley Moyse reveals the problematic life of a broken world with its functionalising metaphors, instrumentalising reasoning and objectifying desires that offer no hope at all. It is a broken world where despair generates behaviours that anticipate suicide or other, often tragic, outcomes that impede or greatly curtail or even completely inhibit human flourishing. Resisting despair, but living through it, Moyse presents the activity of the moral life, demonstrating a way persons might be resourced through an intersubjective and reflective pedagogy, with its habits or practices that enable a humanising hope, liberating human beings to become those readied to confront the actualities of human living and dying, and encouraged to grow and develop as ‘wayfarers’, hopefully.

For those captive to the broken world of late modernity, wherein ageing and dying persons become vulnerable to despair, this book offers a diagnostic of such despair. It also resources the practices of a realistic, humanising hope that might enable a strength for person to journey with and for others, together, through such despair. Thus, by addressing the aetiology of despair experienced by people confronting ageing, frailty and dying, and drawing upon the writings of Gabriel Marcel, among others, Ashley Moyse reveals the problematic life of a broken world with its functionalising metaphors, instrumentalising reasoning and objectifying desires that offer no hope at all. It is a broken world where despair generates behaviours that anticipate suicide or other, often tragic, outcomes that impede or greatly curtail or even completely inhibit human flourishing. Resisting despair, but living through it, Moyse presents the activity of the moral life, demonstrating a way persons might be resourced through an intersubjective and reflective pedagogy, with its habits or practices that enable a humanising hope, liberating human beings to become those readied to confront the actualities of human living and dying, and encouraged to grow and develop as ‘wayfarers’, hopefully.

If governments and policymakers agree on the principles of responsibility to protect (R2P), then why do they continue to ignore them and deal with violations of human rights ineffectively? ‘Responsibility to Protect and Prevent: Principles, Promises and Practicalities’ explores the evolution of R2P, a principle which – according to its supporters – has evolved into a new type of responsive norm for how the international community should react to serious and deliberate human rights violations. Arguing that the R2P ethos has been misunderstood and used ineffectively, this work defends the validity of R2P and urges for a more practical understanding that moves beyond theory.

The progression of R2P from an initial concept to formal ratification has been a very difficult one, with a great deal of disagreement over its validity as a substantive norm in international affairs. The disagreement is not that protection or prevention are unimportant, nor that the international community does not have at least some responsibility to try to stop extreme human rights violations. Rather, it is primarily about how the fine-sounding R2P principles are supposed to work in practice, and the utility of such principles when governments and policymakers continue to ignore the basic premise of protection.

This volume presents a number of important arguments that are directly related to the state vs. human security debate, with a critical analysis of the nexus between the protection verses prevention theses Through the case study of the Libyan Crisis, Janzekovic and Silander offer an example of the discrepancy and confusion regarding how R2P should be applied in practice, and support the claim that prevention should be more than an adjunct to protection.

If governments and policymakers agree on the principles of responsibility to protect (R2P), then why do they continue to ignore them and deal with violations of human rights ineffectively? ‘Responsibility to Protect and Prevent: Principles, Promises and Practicalities’ explores the evolution of R2P, a principle which – according to its supporters – has evolved into a new type of responsive norm for how the international community should react to serious and deliberate human rights violations. Arguing that the R2P ethos has been misunderstood and used ineffectively, this work defends the validity of R2P and urges for a more practical understanding that moves beyond theory.

The progression of R2P from an initial concept to formal ratification has been a very difficult one, with a great deal of disagreement over its validity as a substantive norm in international affairs. The disagreement is not that protection or prevention are unimportant, nor that the international community does not have at least some responsibility to try to stop extreme human rights violations. Rather, it is primarily about how the fine-sounding R2P principles are supposed to work in practice, and the utility of such principles when governments and policymakers continue to ignore the basic premise of protection.

This volume presents a number of important arguments that are directly related to the state vs. human security debate, with a critical analysis of the nexus between the protection verses prevention theses Through the case study of the Libyan Crisis, Janzekovic and Silander offer an example of the discrepancy and confusion regarding how R2P should be applied in practice, and support the claim that prevention should be more than an adjunct to protection.

The individual has never been more important in society – in almost every sphere of public and private life, the individual is sovereign. Yet the importance and apparent power assigned to the individual is not all that it seems. As ‘Responsible Citizens’ investigates via its UK-based case studies, this emphasis on the individual has gone hand in hand with a rise in subtle authoritarianism, which has insinuated itself into the government of the population. Whilst present throughout the public services, this authoritarianism is most conspicuous in the health and social welfare sectors, such that a kind of ‘governance through responsibility’ is today enforced upon the population.

In the twenty-first century, individualism has come to pervade the body politic, especially where health and social care are concerned. Clients who may be at their most abject and vulnerable are urged to take responsibility for themselves rather than further burden the health and social care services. In some British healthcare trusts, prosecutions are mounted against clients who have lost their temper or who act inappropriately as a result of their disorientation, under the guise of ‘making them take responsibility for their actions’. Citizens on the street in Britain are likely to have responsibility thrust upon them through mechanisms such as electronic surveillance and the burgeoning new cohorts of community enforcement officers, as well as the police themselves. Thus taking responsibility is never quite as simple as it seems – being responsible demarcates the borderland between autonomy and authority, and often equates to simply ‘doing what you’re told’.

The individual has never been more important in society – in almost every sphere of public and private life, the individual is sovereign. Yet the importance and apparent power assigned to the individual is not all that it seems. As ‘Responsible Citizens’ investigates via its UK-based case studies, this emphasis on the individual has gone hand in hand with a rise in subtle authoritarianism, which has insinuated itself into the government of the population. Whilst present throughout the public services, this authoritarianism is most conspicuous in the health and social welfare sectors, such that a kind of ‘governance through responsibility’ is today enforced upon the population.

In the twenty-first century, individualism has come to pervade the body politic, especially where health and social care are concerned. Clients who may be at their most abject and vulnerable are urged to take responsibility for themselves rather than further burden the health and social care services. In some British healthcare trusts, prosecutions are mounted against clients who have lost their temper or who act inappropriately as a result of their disorientation, under the guise of ‘making them take responsibility for their actions’. Citizens on the street in Britain are likely to have responsibility thrust upon them through mechanisms such as electronic surveillance and the burgeoning new cohorts of community enforcement officers, as well as the police themselves. Thus taking responsibility is never quite as simple as it seems – being responsible demarcates the borderland between autonomy and authority, and often equates to simply ‘doing what you’re told’.

Though African economies have recorded significant growth in output, the increase has not been big enough to lift its teeming population out of poverty, stem rising unemployment and bridge the significant income divide within cities and between rural and urban areas. Jobless growth has resulted in a poor standard of living even in the face of relatively impressive GDP growth. To understand the dynamics of recent development in Africa, ‘Resurgent Africa: Structural Transformation in Sustainable Development’ draws on Arthur Lewis’s ‘dual’ thesis as well as on recent scholarship on structural change which posits that where modern and traditional sectors coexis,t as is the case in African countries, there is potential for capital and labour to move from low productivity sectors to high productivity sectors through the process of structural change that fuels economic growth and raises productivity.

In a resurgent Africa economic growth is inclusive, driven by sustainable urbanization, undergirded by industrial manufacturing that generates widespread employment, resulting in rising living standards through structural transformation. A resurgent Africa is therefore concerned with understanding structural change dynamics and how it affects job creation, living standards and the efficiency of productive cities through manufacturing productivity growth that benefit the majority.

‘Resurgent Africa: Structural Transformation in Sustainable Development’ attempts to connect key drivers of economic development with outcomes of economic growth. It provides in-depth analysis and knowledge of Africa’s diversified economies, including Nigeria, Ghana, South Africa, Kenya, Rwanda and Ethiopia, by establishing relationships between industrialization trends; rates of urbanization; and urban living standards, income growth and employment in Africa. Banji Oyelaran-Oyeyinka’s findings reveal unconventional pathways of structural change, patterns of jobless growth which suggests economic growth that does not necessarily lead to employment, the dominance of services at the expense of manufacturing industry explaining the regress in Africa’s industrial sector, and occurrence of structural transformation without improvement in labour productivity. These are important concerns for Africa’s long-term development leading to the conclusion that sustainable urbanization and industrialization are not just closely connected, but are key drivers of economic change. The book includes recommendations for policymakers to adopt a new approach to development for a resurgent Africa.

Though African economies have recorded significant growth in output, the increase has not been big enough to lift its teeming population out of poverty, stem rising unemployment and bridge the significant income divide within cities and between rural and urban areas. Jobless growth has resulted in a poor standard of living even in the face of relatively impressive GDP growth. To understand the dynamics of recent development in Africa, ‘Resurgent Africa: Structural Transformation in Sustainable Development’ draws on Arthur Lewis’s ‘dual’ thesis as well as on recent scholarship on structural change which posits that where modern and traditional sectors coexis,t as is the case in African countries, there is potential for capital and labour to move from low productivity sectors to high productivity sectors through the process of structural change that fuels economic growth and raises productivity.

In a resurgent Africa economic growth is inclusive, driven by sustainable urbanization, undergirded by industrial manufacturing that generates widespread employment, resulting in rising living standards through structural transformation. A resurgent Africa is therefore concerned with understanding structural change dynamics and how it affects job creation, living standards and the efficiency of productive cities through manufacturing productivity growth that benefit the majority.

‘Resurgent Africa: Structural Transformation in Sustainable Development’ attempts to connect key drivers of economic development with outcomes of economic growth. It provides in-depth analysis and knowledge of Africa’s diversified economies, including Nigeria, Ghana, South Africa, Kenya, Rwanda and Ethiopia, by establishing relationships between industrialization trends; rates of urbanization; and urban living standards, income growth and employment in Africa. Banji Oyelaran-Oyeyinka’s findings reveal unconventional pathways of structural change, patterns of jobless growth which suggests economic growth that does not necessarily lead to employment, the dominance of services at the expense of manufacturing industry explaining the regress in Africa’s industrial sector, and occurrence of structural transformation without improvement in labour productivity. These are important concerns for Africa’s long-term development leading to the conclusion that sustainable urbanization and industrialization are not just closely connected, but are key drivers of economic change. The book includes recommendations for policymakers to adopt a new approach to development for a resurgent Africa.

‘Rethinking Cultural Resource Management in Southeast Asia’ explores the challenges facing efforts to protect Southeast Asia’s indigenous cultures and archaeological sites from the ravages of tourism and economic development. The tourism industry has long recognized the economic benefits of cultural resources, and in Southeast Asia many countries have already developed elements of their cultural heritage into tourist attractions. If not properly managed, the side effects of this development have the potential to be disastrous. As such, there is a now pressing need to create a coordinated study of the growing field of cultural resource management (CRM).

This volume develops a set of themes, including: tourism and its alternatives as CRM strategies; the mitigation of the effects of tourism and other developmental forces; site preservation, ranging from monuments to vernacular architecture, villages, and urban neighbourhoods; and legal issues facing resource management. Its essays discuss innovative approaches to CRM, and avoid the assumption that Euro-American solutions are applicable worldwide; in the Southeast Asian context, funding is often limited, whilst concepts of cultural resource ownership and governmental authority differ from those in the West.

The ultimate goal of CRM is sustainable management, but the convergence between development and preservation is often tense because it entails compromise and negotiation between parties with conflicting interests. The frequently cited concept of “sustainability” is therefore subject to differing interpretations, and conflicts between the short term and long term, local and global, and restoration and regeneration are perennial sources of dispute between stakeholders.

Southeast Asian cultures are thus under intense pressure on many fronts. What this volume seeks to illuminate is the need for effective management strategies to reduce the destructive potential of these conflicting interests: tourism in this region is highly dependent on cultural attractions, and proper management strategies would ensure that these cultural assets are preserved. In turn, this will allow these cultural resources to contribute significantly to the material wellbeing – and stability – of their respective societies.

This important collection tackles the failure of neoliberal reform to generate long-term growth and reduce poverty in many developing and transition economies. As dramatically demonstrated in the collapse of the WTO's Seattle talks, there is increasing dissatisfaction, in both developing and developed countries, with the emerging neoliberal global economic order. The resignations of Joseph Stiglitz and Ravi Kanbur from the World Bank emphasize that this disillusionment with the orthodoxy now exists at the very heart of the establishment. Yet the increasing demand for an alternative to this orthodoxy is not being met. Over the last few decades, the older generation of development economists have been edged out of most major universities, particularly in the USA. The situation in most developing countries is even worse: although there is more demand for alternatives to orthodox development economics, these countries have even less capability to generate such alternatives. 'Rethinking Development Economics' is intended to fill this gap, addressing key issues in development economics, ranging from macroeconomics, finance and governance to trade, industry, agriculture and poverty. Bringing together some of the foremost names in the field, this comprehensive and timely collection constitutes a critical staging post in the future of development economics.

After almost twenty-five years of experimenting with the neo-liberal economic reforms collectively known as ‘Washington Consensus’ policies, Latin Americans are starting to re-assess the merits of these policies – at the voting booth. Many newly elected governments are beginning to scrutinize the role of foreign direct investment (FDI) in particular, and some nations have gone so far as to nationalize foreign firms. Without endorsing or condoning the actions taken by these governments, this volume demonstrates that it is quite rational for governments in the region to re-evaluate the role of FDI for their development paths.

The great promise of FDI by multinational corporations is that capital will flow into your country and be a source of dynamic growth. Beyond boosting income and employment, the hope was that manufacturing FDI would bring knowledge spillovers that would build the skill and technological capacities of local firms, catalyzing broad-based economic growth; and environmental spillovers that would mitigate the domestic ecological impacts of industrial transformation.

Consisting of country case studies and comparative analyses from Latin American and U.S.-based political economists, this volume finds that when FDI did materialize if often fell far short of generating the necessary linkages required to make FDI work for sustainable economic development.

After almost twenty-five years of experimenting with the neo-liberal economic reforms collectively known as ‘Washington Consensus’ policies, Latin Americans are starting to re-assess the merits of these policies – at the voting booth. Many newly elected governments are beginning to scrutinize the role of foreign direct investment (FDI) in particular, and some nations have gone so far as to nationalize foreign firms. Without endorsing or condoning the actions taken by these governments, this volume demonstrates that it is quite rational for governments in the region to re-evaluate the role of FDI for their development paths.

The great promise of FDI by multinational corporations is that capital will flow into your country and be a source of dynamic growth. Beyond boosting income and employment, the hope was that manufacturing FDI would bring knowledge spillovers that would build the skill and technological capacities of local firms, catalyzing broad-based economic growth; and environmental spillovers that would mitigate the domestic ecological impacts of industrial transformation.

Consisting of country case studies and comparative analyses from Latin American and U.S.-based political economists, this volume finds that when FDI did materialize if often fell far short of generating the necessary linkages required to make FDI work for sustainable economic development.

Modern India is emerging as a global power within which the Indian state plays a critical role in delivering economic development and maintaining the integrity and unity of society. By drawing upon informed essays from scholars and researchers engaged in the field, this volume provides critical, empirical and conceptual insights into state-society relationships over issues as diverse as cable TV networks, urban planning, garbage collection, economic liberalization, coalition politics, provincial political rhetoric, individual rights and political participation and the management of village and municipal councils. In an era dominated by news of state failures in many Asian and African countries, the political institutions of the Indian state present an unusual combination of flexibility and stability. Within a democratic system, they enable the state to absorb and respond to popular pressures while winning public support for radical solutions to pressing social problems. Stretching from the centre down to the village, these institutions form a labyrinthine structure, occasionally harmonious but often the arena of intense economic, social and political conflict, the outcome of which will prove vital for India’s hopes of future growth and development. This book will be an invaluable reading for students across the disciplines of history, sociology, politics and government, as well as to development practitioners, policy makers, and readers keen to learn more about recent innovations in the theory and practice of governance in India.

Modern India is emerging as a global power within which the Indian state plays a critical role in delivering economic development and maintaining the integrity and unity of society. By drawing upon informed essays from scholars and researchers engaged in the field, this volume provides critical, empirical and conceptual insights into state-society relationships over issues as diverse as cable TV networks, urban planning, garbage collection, economic liberalization, coalition politics, provincial political rhetoric, individual rights and political participation and the management of village and municipal councils. In an era dominated by news of state failures in many Asian and African countries, the political institutions of the Indian state present an unusual combination of flexibility and stability. Within a democratic system, they enable the state to absorb and respond to popular pressures while winning public support for radical solutions to pressing social problems. Stretching from the centre down to the village, these institutions form a labyrinthine structure, occasionally harmonious but often the arena of intense economic, social and political conflict, the outcome of which will prove vital for India’s hopes of future growth and development. This book will be an invaluable reading for students across the disciplines of history, sociology, politics and government, as well as to development practitioners, policy makers, and readers keen to learn more about recent innovations in the theory and practice of governance in India.

This book brings together the leading contemporary currents of thought from a galaxy of established scholars and intellectuals of Pakistan. It is a monumental contribution to the national debate on a series of crises and lingering issues that need attention of the stakeholders all around.  

The book covers three major areas of investigation into public life in the country. One, it delves into the historical, sociological and cultural causes of various political conflicts, ranging from the negative role of the educational curricula for national harmony to cultural violence and persistent militarism to the curse of enforced disappearances. There are highly analytical contributions that define the conflict-resolution nexus. Two, the book is a source of inspiration on the liberal agenda of creating a scientific frame of mind, setting the feminist debate in a global context, challenging the shrinking space for media and focussing on the largely forgotten area of industrial relations. Readers will find ample issue orientation in the analysis and policy orientation in the deliberations. Three, the book enters a domain of hope, planning for a bright future and focussing on some longer-term issues couched in comprehensive new approaches to development, environment, energy, foreign policy and feminism.

The scope of the book is amazingly wide, the analysis is rich with conceptual references and empirical finding, and the scholarly idiom is comprehensible for both the articulate section of the population and the scholarly community. 

Sociologists and social theorists use the term ‘social’ frequently. We talk of social relations, social media, social networks, social factors, and so on, as well as ‘the social’. But do we always know what we mean or what we are invoking when we deploy the term ‘social’?

The concept of the ‘social’ has often been treated as almost self-explanatory, inherited from the works of the instigators of sociology and social theory who, it is assumed, all meant the same thing by the term. ‘Rethinking the Social’ argues that this is not the case, and that there are major differences between their approaches. This the first book to systematically analyse the different concepts of the social developed by Durkheim, Marx and Weber. It examines how the concept of the social became unproblematic for twentieth-century writers and suggests that debates surrounding this concept remain very much alive. Building on A. N. Whitehead’s work, Halewood develops a novel ‘philosophy of the social’.

Sociologists and social theorists use the term ‘social’ frequently. We talk of social relations, social media, social networks, social factors, and so on, as well as ‘the social’. But do we always know what we mean or what we are invoking when we deploy the term ‘social’?

The concept of the ‘social’ has often been treated as almost self-explanatory, inherited from the works of the instigators of sociology and social theory who, it is assumed, all meant the same thing by the term. ‘Rethinking the Social’ argues that this is not the case, and that there are major differences between their approaches. This the first book to systematically analyse the different concepts of the social developed by Durkheim, Marx and Weber. It examines how the concept of the social became unproblematic for twentieth-century writers and suggests that debates surrounding this concept remain very much alive. Building on A. N. Whitehead’s work, Halewood develops a novel ‘philosophy of the social’.

‘Rethinking Therapeutic Reading’ uses a combination of literary criticism and experimental psychology to examine the ways in which literature can create therapeutic spaces in which to do personal thinking. It reconsiders the role that serious literary reading might play in the real world, reclaiming literature as a vital tool for dealing with human troubles. 

‘Rethinking Therapeutic Reading’ uses a combination of literary criticism and experimental psychology to examine the ways in which literature can create therapeutic spaces in which to do personal thinking. It reconsiders the role that serious literary reading might play in the real world, reclaiming literature as a vital tool for dealing with human troubles. 

A unique, post-pandemic-era anthology that blends creative and critical works to redefine nostalgia studies through a culturally expansive and interdisciplinary lens

The edited collection titled Reverberating Past: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on the Art of Nostalgia is an interdisciplinary anthology that bridges the artistic and academic realms, exploring the concept of nostalgia through both personal and collective lenses. The volume is divided into two parts: the first part features poetry and short stories that capture the emotional resonance of past experiences, while the second one presents scholarly articles that delve into the multifaceted nature of nostalgia across disciplines such as literature, film, history, and psychology.
In the second part titled “Critical Essays,” there are seven essays. First chapter titled “Cuban and Puerto Rican Nostalgias: Where Another Place Is Home” examines how different forms of nostalgia are expressed and represented, focusing on Cuban and Puerto Rican experiences. The second chapter titled “Sculpting in History: Nostalgic Structures in Indian Popular Culture” explores how nostalgic structures, particularly historical monuments, are used in Indian cinema to evoke cultural memory and shape both regional and national identities. The third chapter titled “Fashioning the Memories: A Phenomenological Outlook on Identity, Fashion, and Nostalgia” explores how personal identity is shaped through nostalgic connections to fashion, revealing how clothing serves as a vessel for lived experiences and emotional recollection. The fourth chapter titled “Nostalgia and Digital Twins: Bridging Memories and Virtual Realities” explores how digital twins—virtual, data-driven replicas of people, places, or objects—interact with nostalgia to create immersive experiences that preserve, evoke, and reinterpret the past. The fifth chapter titled “Revisiting Indian Festivities: Tracing Cultural Identities Through Collective Memory” investigates how traditional festivals serve as a lens to understand evolving cultural identities in India, elucidating the functions of collective memory. The sixth chapter “Roots and Reverie: Italian Women’s Literature Through a Migrant’s Eyes” looks into the theme of nostalgia in the works of prominent Italian women writers, highlighting how their narratives encapsulate the emotional pull of memory, identity, and belonging. The seventh or final chapter titled “Recuperating the Desire for Desire: Nostalgia, Recognition, and an Ethics of Fiction” critically examines Moyez Vassanji’s Nostalgia through Lacanian and Levinasian lenses to argue that empathy can recuperate the other beyond compromised memory and Orientalist discourse.
The book emphasizes how contemporary artifacts—term used in a metaphorical way—serve as vessels for nostalgic experiences, shaping our understanding of the past and its influence on the present.

The context of both the 1956 Hungarian uprising and the Prague Spring was the torturous process of communist regimes tentatively revising the history of the recent communist past that had been constructed and imposed during the Stalinist period. This process of remembering and forgetting had the power to shake the legitimacy and authority of communist party-states because their monopoly on the interpretation of the past was so central to their control of the present.

Once the elaborate histories of the show trials and subsequent propaganda were undermined, the whole credibility of the regimes that had propagated them was likewise weakened. In the Prague Spring, this long-delayed historiographical reckoning was joined by an equally problematic connection between meanings of the past and definitions of the present. Czechoslovakia’s communist allies insisted on understanding and seeking to influence the Czechoslovak reform process through varied and changeable references to and analogies from Hungary’s 1956 uprising. The purpose and nature of these loaded linkages between recent Hungarian past and Czechoslovak present changed according to circumstances and developments.

While the meanings of the 1956 uprising and the concomitant definitions of the 1968 Prague Spring also varied between Soviet and Hungarian analysts, they were alike resisted by Czechoslovak reformers seeking to chart a unique path to socialism. As they attempted to ground their policies in Czechoslovak history, they unsuccessfully rejected parallels with Hungary’s. Ultimately, however, the dependence on historical analogies to decisively explain the present was also a vulnerability for those who employed them, as the gap between a constructed past and an untidy reality irresistibly emerged.

Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels had realized the power of revolutionary movements within history, and considered them an essential step towards the creation of a classless society. Nevertheless, the number of failed revolutions is as high as the dreams and hopes usually related to a revolutionary change. As a global phenomenon of modernity, the history of revolutions needs to be written comparatively, and for this, a comparative model is without any doubt a necessary tool.
Such a model, namely, a comparative ten-step model, will be provided in this book, to be then used to compare revolutionary case studies. Of course, the similarities among them are of special interest, while the diversity, related to regional or national preconditions, shall not be neglected. However, a comparison promises a better and critical insight into the historical developments of revolutionary processes as such.
The present book will therefore analyze the Atlantic Revolutions at the beginning of the “long” nineteenth century to show how revolutionary processes evolved. It will use the mentioned comparative ten-step model to emphasize similarities with regard to the revolutionary developments in different parts of the world. The book thereby aims at providing a general, but deeper, understanding of revolutions as a global phenomenon of modernity while explaining how revolutionary processes evolve and develop, and how they could and can be corrupted. The revolutionary case studies discussed include the American, the French, and the Haitian Revolution.

‘Ricardo’s Gauntlet’ advances a critique of the mainstream economic case for international free trade. While the core of the case for free trade is David Ricardo’s principle of comparative advantage, the book argues that this case relies on a cluster of interconnected and mutually enforcing ‘economic fictions’ – economic theories or doctrines that pretend to be fact but which upon examination turn out to be mirages. Exposing the layers of fiction nested in the subfields of mainstream economics empties comparative advantage of its persuasiveness, bringing down the case for free trade.

Williams fought a good fight for a better democracy and the collective equal rights of African Americans. He was not just a revolutionary voice and internationalist leader and voice in the Black Power movement, and should not be forgotten or dismissed because he maintained other reasons for raging his grievance towards the policies and practices of democracy in the United States. Robert F. Williams neither should be reduced to the status of a tool of Cold War politics or to a study about armed self-defense. Rather, in his contesting the government’s refusal to defend the human rights of 22 million African Americans, Williams’ actions and uncompromising stance directly and affirmatively addressed the promise and rights guaranteed US citizenship and the constitutional rights of the members of that society. Williams critically questioned numerous unjust acts and human rights violations, and waged (often a one-family man) war against America’s inability to practice principles of freedom and democracy, when these mistreatments were ignored. Robert F. Williams was an independent thinker, a compassionate and intelligent man. He was a common man, and despite his lofty intelligence, he was an American, claiming his right to his American citizenship. He was acutely aware of the broken promises of the United States. Yet, he nonetheless remained fully invested in assuming all of the rights, privileges, and responsibilities the Constitution guaranteed American citizens of African descent. He was always focused on making sure Americans took full advantage of the tools available in society and/or in government to bring them to bear in their situation. He believed in the redress of government, and the citizen’s right to do that. He believed that the US Constitution should be abided by, and that that was the right of every citizen.  Robert F. Williams collaborated with leaders of two foreign countries in order to communicate his grievances against the United States government and its citizens who remained complicit in practices of racial injustice. His exile in China from 1966 to 1969 led to his being expunged from the memory of Monroe, North Carolina’s trumped up charges of kidnapping. In the South and the Black Diaspora of the Midwest, he was a local civil rights leader, pragmatist, and internationalist in twentieth-century world history.

Williams fought a good fight for a better democracy and the collective equal rights of African Americans. He was not just a revolutionary voice and internationalist leader and voice in the Black Power movement, and should not be forgotten or dismissed because he maintained other reasons for raging his grievance towards the policies and practices of democracy in the United States. Robert F. Williams neither should be reduced to the status of a tool of Cold War politics or to a study about armed self-defense. Rather, in his contesting the government’s refusal to defend the human rights of 22 million African Americans, Williams’ actions and uncompromising stance directly and affirmatively addressed the promise and rights guaranteed US citizenship and the constitutional rights of the members of that society. Williams critically questioned numerous unjust acts and human rights violations, and waged (often a one-family man) war against America’s inability to practice principles of freedom and democracy, when these mistreatments were ignored. Robert F. Williams was an independent thinker, a compassionate and intelligent man. He was a common man, and despite his lofty intelligence, he was an American, claiming his right to his American citizenship. He was acutely aware of the broken promises of the United States. Yet, he nonetheless remained fully invested in assuming all of the rights, privileges, and responsibilities the Constitution guaranteed American citizens of African descent. He was always focused on making sure Americans took full advantage of the tools available in society and/or in government to bring them to bear in their situation. He believed in the redress of government, and the citizen’s right to do that. He believed that the US Constitution should be abided by, and that that was the right of every citizen.  Robert F. Williams collaborated with leaders of two foreign countries in order to communicate his grievances against the United States government and its citizens who remained complicit in practices of racial injustice. His exile in China from 1966 to 1969 led to his being expunged from the memory of Monroe, North Carolina’s trumped up charges of kidnapping. In the South and the Black Diaspora of the Midwest, he was a local civil rights leader, pragmatist, and internationalist in twentieth-century world history.

‘Robert Louis Stevenson, Literary Networks and Transatlantic Publishing in the 1890s’ focuses on an author characterised by geographical and aesthetic mobility, and on those who worked with him or wrote for him at a period of key changes in transatlantic publishing. Stevenson’s situation in the 1890s, living in Samoa, publishing in Britain and the United States, is both highly specific but also representative of a new literary mobility. Drawing on a range of resources, from archival material, correspondence, biographies, essays and fiction, the book examines the operations of transatlantic literary networks during a period of key changes in transatlantic publishing.

To investigate Stevenson and the geographies of his literary networks during the last years of his life and after his death, the book presents a series of critical case studies profiling figures who worked with Stevenson, negotiated his publications on both sides of the Atlantic, wrote for him or were inspired by him. Each chapter focuses on a figure involved in the production or afterlife of Stevenson’s late fiction. Individuals studied include Stevenson’s boyhood friend and literary negotiator, Charles Baxter; American publisher Scribner’s literary representative in London, Lemuel Bangs; Stevenson’s ‘mentor’, Sidney Colvin; Stevenson’s admirer and posthumous co-author, literary critic Arthur Quiller-Couch; and collaborators among Stevenson’s own family. Through its emphasis on these significant and fascinating figures, instrumental to or imbricated in the dissemination of Stevenson’s writing, the book offers a fresh understanding of his work in the context of transatlantic publishing.

The book deploys the concept of ‘literary prosthetics’ to frame its analysis of gatekeepers, tastemakers, agents, collaborators and authorial surrogates in the transatlantic production of Stevenson’s writing. The complexities of Stevenson’s geographical and literary situation demonstrate the ways in which the permeable bodies of ‘author’, ‘critic’, ‘editor’, ‘publisher’ and ‘agent’ were fixed and refixed during the period. The book contributes to knowledge of transatlantic publishing and literary cultures in the 1890s and to Stevenson studies but its focus on the specifics of Stevenson’s ‘case’ provides a point of entry into larger considerations of literary communities, nineteenth-century mobility drivers of literary production and the nature of the authorial function.

Roland Barthes Writing the Political: History, Dialectics, Self is a re-reading and a re-purposing for the twenty-first century of the work and the critical theories of France’s most important writer of the twentieth century. Drawing on articles and chapters published since 2007, and including new material written for the volume, it argues that Barthes’s wide-ranging analyses and critical essays – from Voltaire to Nietzsche, Marx to myth, gay love to Japan – can be applied to debates and controversies in the contemporary world. By applying his 1958 essay on Voltaire to the aftermath in France of the 2015 terrorist attacks, by using Edouard Glissant’s work as an unspoken dialogue to look at post-colonial writing strategies, the volume sets out what a dialectical critical practice might look like in our complex world of political, ethical and aesthetic choices.

In order to address the complexity of his critical practice, the study takes up a seldom-discussed notion which Barthes had originally developed in relation to the nineteenth-century historian Jules Michelet: that of the ‘double grasp’. This ‘double grasp’ is used to think through photography and innovative forms of historiography (including a comparison with the work of Walter Benjamin), but also to account for the ‘stereographic’ approach with which Barthes read Balzac, visited Japan and then China, and even considered both the writing self and the imagined self.

The book considers the persistence – and the functions – of myth in the era of image-saturated social media, using both early Marx and early Nietzsche, whilst relating Barthes’s radical homosexuality and his questioning of binary structures to today’s debates on post-gender. The volume ends with discussion of Barthes’s essay-writing and its similarities with the theories on the essay of Hungarian Marxist George Lukaćs in his 1910 ‘Letter to Leo Popper’, and asks whether the essay, in its many Barthesian guises, is the future for radical forms of writing in the twenty-first century.

'Rural India Facing the 21st Century' is a unique study of rural development in South India, concluded over a twenty-year period. Set against the context of international, national and state policies, the book focuses on a wide number of themes, including the stagnation of the ‘green revolution’, growing differentiation and inequality, the ecological crisis, resistance to reform, corruption and the enduring need for state intervention in rural development. Written by an international team of young scholars under the direction of Dr Harris-White, 'Rural India Facing the 21st Century' draws together a profound analysis of a broad range of issues to provide a masterly overview of overall rural development. Its highly original methodology and findings will be of considerable interest for development policy.

'Rural India Facing the 21st Century' is a unique study of rural development in South India, concluded over a twenty-year period. Set against the context of international, national and state policies, the book focuses on a wide number of themes, including the stagnation of the ‘green revolution’, growing differentiation and inequality, the ecological crisis, resistance to reform, corruption and the enduring need for state intervention in rural development. Written by an international team of young scholars under the direction of Dr Harris-White, 'Rural India Facing the 21st Century' draws together a profound analysis of a broad range of issues to provide a masterly overview of overall rural development. Its highly original methodology and findings will be of considerable interest for development policy.

How can we best understand Russia's relationship with Europe today? Is Russia a European country? What binds us together and divides us? And is there a viable basis for cooperation? Is Russia a friend, a partner, a neighbour or a foe to Europe? This book brings together an impressive group of academic specialists and practitioners to provide a timely and important study of these complex questions. The recognition of mutual dependency, it is argued, needs to be qualified by a range of political, economic and normative tensions which make this a problematic and frequently turbulent relationship. There has never been a more important time to understand Russia's relationship with Europe and it is the subsequent sense of unease both in Russia and Europe which provides the focus for this investigation and which will make it of use to specialist and general readers alike.

How can we best understand Russia's relationship with Europe today? Is Russia a European country? What binds us together and divides us? And is there a viable basis for cooperation? Is Russia a friend, a partner, a neighbour or a foe to Europe? This book brings together an impressive group of academic specialists and practitioners to provide a timely and important study of these complex questions. The recognition of mutual dependency, it is argued, needs to be qualified by a range of political, economic and normative tensions which make this a problematic and frequently turbulent relationship. There has never been a more important time to understand Russia's relationship with Europe and it is the subsequent sense of unease both in Russia and Europe which provides the focus for this investigation and which will make it of use to specialist and general readers alike.

David R. Francis held the post of the United States ambassador to Russia from April 1916 to November 1918, and represented his country before four Russian governments: the Imperial, Provisional, Soviet, and Northern. He was an eyewitness of the greatest events in the history of Russia: World War I, the February Revolution, the downfall of the empire, the October Revolution, and the Civil War. During the two and half years of his residence in Russia, Francis met prominent figures such as Nicholas II, the last Russian emperor, and Vladimir I. Lenin, the first Soviet leader. Francis s diplomatic experience was unique and had no parallel in the history of Russian-American relations which is why his memoirs are of special interest for historians and the general public alike.

David R. Francis held the post of the United States ambassador to Russia from April 1916 to November 1918, and represented his country before four Russian governments: the Imperial, Provisional, Soviet, and Northern. He was an eyewitness of the greatest events in the history of Russia: World War I, the February Revolution, the downfall of the empire, the October Revolution, and the Civil War. During the two and half years of his residence in Russia, Francis met prominent figures such as Nicholas II, the last Russian emperor, and Vladimir I. Lenin, the first Soviet leader. Francis s diplomatic experience was unique and had no parallel in the history of Russian-American relations which is why his memoirs are of special interest for historians and the general public alike.

'Russia in the Age of Alexander II, Tolstoy and Dostoevsky' is both history and story, incorporating in its analysis of Alexander II's turbulent reign the lives and ideas of the period's great writers, thinkers and revolutionaries who made this the Golden Age of Russian literature and thought. Uniquely, the book examines Alexander II's policies and the reactions they provoked from the Russian intelligentsia. In doing so, it interweaves in-depth consideration of the personal and public lives of individuals such as Dostoevsky, Tolstoy and Turgenev; it also incorporates reflections as to why the outcome of this tumultuous reign was so tragic.

In his combination of considerable biographical material with the presentation of the main ideas of the era's chief writers and thinkers, Walter G. Moss has written a history that is of interest not only to scholars and students of the period, but also to more general readers.

Edward Alsworth Ross, one of the founders of the academic field of sociology, spent July–December 1917 traveling across the Russian Empire and talking to the people there. As he states in his brief introduction, “I have taken it as my business to describe impartially the major social changes going on in Russia … in the latter half of 1917, and leave it to others or to time itself to judge them.” Ross follows through on that promise remarkably well, describing Russian peasants, the urban educated class, industrial workers, women, religion, people who had been imprisoned under tsarism, religion, the people of the Caucasus and Central Asia, and the proposals for democracy, among other topics.

Though this unique account focuses more on the people and less on politics than other accounts of the time, Ross includes a fascinating account of a lengthy private interview with Trotsky in December 1917. He ends the book by looking ahead to Russia’s possible future, from a perspective after the Bolsheviks took power but before the Civil War changed everything. Delving into important themes rarely mentioned in other foreigners’ writings about the Russian Revolution, Russia in Upheaval gives a unique sense of the times.

Edward Alsworth Ross, one of the founders of the academic field of sociology, spent July–December 1917 traveling across the Russian Empire and talking to the people there. As he states in his brief introduction, “I have taken it as my business to describe impartially the major social changes going on in Russia … in the latter half of 1917, and leave it to others or to time itself to judge them.” Ross follows through on that promise remarkably well, describing Russian peasants, the urban educated class, industrial workers, women, religion, people who had been imprisoned under tsarism, religion, the people of the Caucasus and Central Asia, and the proposals for democracy, among other topics.

Though this unique account focuses more on the people and less on politics than other accounts of the time, Ross includes a fascinating account of a lengthy private interview with Trotsky in December 1917. He ends the book by looking ahead to Russia’s possible future, from a perspective after the Bolsheviks took power but before the Civil War changed everything. Delving into important themes rarely mentioned in other foreigners’ writings about the Russian Revolution, Russia in Upheaval gives a unique sense of the times.

Russia Washed in Blood, first published in full in 1932, is the longest and best-known work by Nikolai Kochkurov (1899–1938), who wrote under the pen-name Artyom Vesyoly. The novel, more a series of extended episodes than a connected narrative with a plot and a hero, is a vivid fictionalised account of the events from the viewpoint of the ordinary soldier. The title of the novel came to symbolise the tragic history of Russia in the 20th century.

The novel’s main theme is the relation between freedom and dictatorship, reflecting a view that the cruelty which comes with elemental freedom destroys that freedom and prepares the ground for dictatorship. Vesyoly’s writings belong to the literature of moral resistance to Stalinism. For his failure to recognise the ‘leading organisational role’ of the Communist Party he would be executed in Stalin’s Great Purge. 

Born in Samara, on the banks of the Volga, the son of a waterside worker, Artyom Vesyoly was the first member of his family to learn to read and write. He took part in the Civil War of 1918–1921 on the Red side, and at its conclusion, began a prolific literary career. Vesyoly took as his main theme the horrific events he had witnessed and participated in during the fierce fighting in Southern Russia between the contending forces – Red, White, Cossack, anarchist and others – and the effects of these on the participants and unfortunate civilians caught between them.

It is well known that resource-rich countries may suffer from a 'resource curse'. Their economic performance in the medium and long-run may be adversely affected by the resource riches. This problem is particularly important for Russia, since it is the world's second largest producer and exporter of oil, largest producer and exporter of natural gas, and also exports other natural resources such as diamonds, platinum, nickel, coal, iron ore, timber, and grain. This book is an edited collection, bringing together well-known specialists from Russia, Japan, Western Europe and the USA, providing data about the Russian hydrocarbons sector, its size, economic significance, and taxation. It also offers data about the growth of the Stabilization Fund. In addition, it analyses the role of the hydrocarbons sector in Russia's post-1998 economic boom, drawing attention to the contribution of remittances to Russia of the proceeds of raw material exports. With respect to international political economy, 'Russia’s Oil and Natural Gas' points out that Russia today, with its large energy exports, helps solve the problem of domestic energy shortages which plague many countries. In this way, Russia is currently a major contributor to world stability and the welfare of the energy importers.

It is well known that resource-rich countries may suffer from a 'resource curse'. Their economic performance in the medium and long-run may be adversely affected by the resource riches. This problem is particularly important for Russia, since it is the world's second largest producer and exporter of oil, largest producer and exporter of natural gas, and also exports other natural resources such as diamonds, platinum, nickel, coal, iron ore, timber, and grain. This book is an edited collection, bringing together well-known specialists from Russia, Japan, Western Europe and the USA, providing data about the Russian hydrocarbons sector, its size, economic significance, and taxation. It also offers data about the growth of the Stabilization Fund. In addition, it analyses the role of the hydrocarbons sector in Russia's post-1998 economic boom, drawing attention to the contribution of remittances to Russia of the proceeds of raw material exports. With respect to international political economy, 'Russia’s Oil and Natural Gas' points out that Russia today, with its large energy exports, helps solve the problem of domestic energy shortages which plague many countries. In this way, Russia is currently a major contributor to world stability and the welfare of the energy importers.

‘Russia’s Penal Colony in the Far East: A Translation of Vlas Doroshevich’s “Sakhalin”’ is the first English language translation of the Russian journalist Vlas Doroshevich’s 1903 account of his visit to tsarist Russia’s largest penal colony, Sakhalin, in the north Pacific. Despite the publication of Anton Chekhov’s account of his visit to Sakhalin in 1890, many Russians remained unaware of the brutality and savagery of the 'devil island'. In 1897 Doroshevich, Russia’s most popular journalist, travelled to Sakhalin and spent three months touring the island, interviewing numerous prisoners and officials, and recording his impressions. The feuilletons he wired back to his publishers were eventually collected and published in book form in 1903, under the title 'Sakhalin' (Katorga).

Doroshevich’s book was enormously popular when it first appeared, and it continues to be published in Russia, as a historical record of the striking barbarity of late nineteenth century penal practices. Despite this popularity, it has never before been translated into English, and Doroshevich remains largely unknown outside Russia. This translation introduces English-language readers to an important writer and original stylist who defined journalistic practice during the years leading up to the 1917 Revolution, by way of a book which helps explain the causes for that revolution.

‘Russia’s Penal Colony in the Far East: A Translation of Vlas Doroshevich’s “Sakhalin”’ is the first English language translation of the Russian journalist Vlas Doroshevich’s 1903 account of his visit to tsarist Russia’s largest penal colony, Sakhalin, in the north Pacific. Despite the publication of Anton Chekhov’s account of his visit to Sakhalin in 1890, many Russians remained unaware of the brutality and savagery of the 'devil island'. In 1897 Doroshevich, Russia’s most popular journalist, travelled to Sakhalin and spent three months touring the island, interviewing numerous prisoners and officials, and recording his impressions. The feuilletons he wired back to his publishers were eventually collected and published in book form in 1903, under the title 'Sakhalin' (Katorga).

Doroshevich’s book was enormously popular when it first appeared, and it continues to be published in Russia, as a historical record of the striking barbarity of late nineteenth century penal practices. Despite this popularity, it has never before been translated into English, and Doroshevich remains largely unknown outside Russia. This translation introduces English-language readers to an important writer and original stylist who defined journalistic practice during the years leading up to the 1917 Revolution, by way of a book which helps explain the causes for that revolution.

‘Russian Language Studies in North America: New Perspectives from Theoretical and Applied Linguistics’ offers a unique collection of research papers representing current directions in Russian language studies in Canada and the United States. Traditionally, Slavic and Russian studies in these countries have centered around literature, history, politics and culture. This volume reflects recent changes in Russian studies by focusing on language structure, language use and teaching methodology. The volume brings together several generations of scholars, from young promising researchers to those with long-established reputations in the field.

‘Russian Language Studies in North America: New Perspectives from Theoretical and Applied Linguistics’ offers a unique collection of research papers representing current directions in Russian language studies in Canada and the United States. Traditionally, Slavic and Russian studies in these countries have centered around literature, history, politics and culture. This volume reflects recent changes in Russian studies by focusing on language structure, language use and teaching methodology. The volume brings together several generations of scholars, from young promising researchers to those with long-established reputations in the field.

This book is a first-hand account of the Russian Revolution and its impact on the Russian people. Cantacuzene, an American journalist who lived in Russia during the revolution, provides a detailed and personal narrative of the events leading up to the revolution, the revolution itself, and its aftermath. The book is divided into three parts, each focusing on a different period of the revolution. The first part covers the years leading up to the revolution, including the political climate in Russia, the rise of the Bolsheviks, and the growing unrest among the Russian people. The second part covers the actual revolution, including the fall of the Tsarist regime and the rise of the Bolsheviks to power. The final part covers the aftermath of the revolution, including the civil war, the establishment of the Soviet Union, and the impact of the revolution on the Russian people.Throughout the book, Cantacuzene provides a unique perspective on the revolution, offering insights into the lives of ordinary Russians and their experiences during this tumultuous period in history. She also provides a critical analysis of the Bolsheviks and their policies, highlighting the challenges and contradictions of their revolutionary project.Russian People: Revolutionary Recollections is a valuable historical document that provides a vivid and engaging account of one of the most significant events of the 20th century. It is a must-read for anyone interested in the Russian Revolution, Soviet history, or the history of revolutionary movements. This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the old original and may contain some imperfections such as library marks and notations. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions, that are true to their original work.

This book is a first-hand account of the Russian Revolution and its impact on the Russian people. Cantacuzene, an American journalist who lived in Russia during the revolution, provides a detailed and personal narrative of the events leading up to the revolution, the revolution itself, and its aftermath. The book is divided into three parts, each focusing on a different period of the revolution. The first part covers the years leading up to the revolution, including the political climate in Russia, the rise of the Bolsheviks, and the growing unrest among the Russian people. The second part covers the actual revolution, including the fall of the Tsarist regime and the rise of the Bolsheviks to power. The final part covers the aftermath of the revolution, including the civil war, the establishment of the Soviet Union, and the impact of the revolution on the Russian people.Throughout the book, Cantacuzene provides a unique perspective on the revolution, offering insights into the lives of ordinary Russians and their experiences during this tumultuous period in history. She also provides a critical analysis of the Bolsheviks and their policies, highlighting the challenges and contradictions of their revolutionary project.Russian People: Revolutionary Recollections is a valuable historical document that provides a vivid and engaging account of one of the most significant events of the 20th century. It is a must-read for anyone interested in the Russian Revolution, Soviet history, or the history of revolutionary movements. This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the old original and may contain some imperfections such as library marks and notations. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions, that are true to their original work.

Volkan is the vice director of an important financial company. He achieved success young, and has spent his life indulging in the worldly pleasures money can buy. But for all the fun money and success can bring, he has started to feel like something is missing from his life.

On his way home from a business trip to Europe, Volkan realizes he has picked up the wrong suitcase—one full of women’s clothing and priceless antiques. Enter Melike Eda, the owner of the suitcase—a jewellery maker, antiques expert, and an antiquities smuggler. She and Volkan hit it off, but will they be able to fill the empty spaces in each other’s lives?

Volkan also meets Eylem, a poet and blogger, who inspires him to make changes in his life. She has run away to the big city to escape her past, but things aren’t so easy for her as she struggles to make enough money and take care of her dependent sister.

‘Saffron Yellow’ follows the stories of these three people as they make their way through life, trying to find meaning and love. 

Although Islam and integration are frequently seen as antithetical concepts in much of Europe, the Muslims of the Indian sub-continent in the USA are an example of a population who have succeeded. This is in great measure due to their high levels of education and economic success, which make them one of the most prosperous minorities in America. Now brought into sharp focus by the events of 11 September 2001 in New York, this study examines the regrouping of the religious community and the reinvention of group identity in first and second-generation immigrants. By transplanting many of their institutions to the US (particularly in New York), Muslim immigrants succeeded in establishing their presence in the American landscape without arousing significant concern in the host community. This study emphasizes that in spite of the stereotypes attached to Islam – which are as loaded in America as in Europe, and periodically incite reactions from the Muslims – the religion of Islam can actually play a stabilizing role in the same way that other minority religions (notably Catholicism and Judaism and more recently Hinduism) have done, and that Islam does not seem to compromise the ability of immigrants to participate in American society.

Although Islam and integration are frequently seen as antithetical concepts in much of Europe, the Muslims of the Indian sub-continent in the USA are an example of a population who have succeeded. This is in great measure due to their high levels of education and economic success, which make them one of the most prosperous minorities in America. Now brought into sharp focus by the events of 11 September 2001 in New York, this study examines the regrouping of the religious community and the reinvention of group identity in first and second-generation immigrants. By transplanting many of their institutions to the US (particularly in New York), Muslim immigrants succeeded in establishing their presence in the American landscape without arousing significant concern in the host community. This study emphasizes that in spite of the stereotypes attached to Islam – which are as loaded in America as in Europe, and periodically incite reactions from the Muslims – the religion of Islam can actually play a stabilizing role in the same way that other minority religions (notably Catholicism and Judaism and more recently Hinduism) have done, and that Islam does not seem to compromise the ability of immigrants to participate in American society.

According to Vālmīki’s Sanskrit Rāmāyaṇa, Śambūka was practicing severe acts of austerity to enter heaven. In engaging in these acts as a Śūdra, Śambūka was in violation of class- and caste-based societal norms prescribed exclusively by the ruling and religious elite. Rāma, the hero of the Rāmāyaṇa epic, is dispatched to kill Śambūka, whose transgression is said to be the cause of a young Brahmin’s death. The gods rejoice upon the Śūdra’s execution and they restore the life of the Brahmin. The developmental history of the Śambūka narrative begins with the appearance of this story as a late addition to the core of Vālmīki’s Rāmāyaṇa in the first few centuries of the common era, a period of immense revision to and consolidation of an idealistic political Brahminism. The Śambūka story, with its hardline depiction of varṇa-dharma, fit quite well within this project of widely asserting Brahmanical dominance. Subsequent Rāmāyaṇa poets almost instantly recognized the incident of Śambūka’s execution as a blemish on Rāma’s character and they began problematizing this earliest version of the story by adjusting the story to suit the expectations of their audiences. Such adjustments included a more sympathetic view of Śambūka that exhibited a concern for his afterlife in the form of Rāma granting Śambūka salvation, albeit through their deadly contact. This particular narrative took hold especially in medieval India when Rāma became the object of fervent religious devotion. More pointed departures from Vālmīki’s Śambūka narrative developed within Jain Rāma texts and involved a complete overhaul in its exposition whereby Śambūka’s death occurs accidentally and at the hands of Rāma’s brother, Lakṣmaṇa. As a figure who embodies Jain ideals, Rāma could not participate in any act of violence, so Jain poets removed him from any involvement in Śambūka’s execution. In a display of intercommunal exchange, this motif of Śambūka’s accidental death is also found in some Hindu Rāmāyaṇas of the medieval period. 

In the modern era, author-activists find that the story of Śambūka as known in Vālmīki’s Rāmāyaṇa leaves out some critical details—that Śambūka was a revolutionary leader who peacefully advocated for equal access to education for India’s oppressed populations and the abolishment of the caste system. Creators of new works on Śambūka seek to enter these details into the record of the Rāmāyaṇa tradition, thus correcting what they see as centuries of misrepresentation.

According to Vālmīki’s Sanskrit Rāmāyaṇa, Śambūka was practicing severe acts of austerity to enter heaven. In engaging in these acts as a Śūdra, Śambūka was in violation of class- and caste-based societal norms prescribed exclusively by the ruling and religious elite. Rāma, the hero of the Rāmāyaṇa epic, is dispatched to kill Śambūka, whose transgression is said to be the cause of a young Brahmin’s death. The gods rejoice upon the Śūdra’s execution and they restore the life of the Brahmin. The developmental history of the Śambūka narrative begins with the appearance of this story as a late addition to the core of Vālmīki’s Rāmāyaṇa in the first few centuries of the common era, a period of immense revision to and consolidation of an idealistic political Brahminism. The Śambūka story, with its hardline depiction of varṇa-dharma, fit quite well within this project of widely asserting Brahmanical dominance. Subsequent Rāmāyaṇa poets almost instantly recognized the incident of Śambūka’s execution as a blemish on Rāma’s character and they began problematizing this earliest version of the story by adjusting the story to suit the expectations of their audiences. Such adjustments included a more sympathetic view of Śambūka that exhibited a concern for his afterlife in the form of Rāma granting Śambūka salvation, albeit through their deadly contact. This particular narrative took hold especially in medieval India when Rāma became the object of fervent religious devotion. More pointed departures from Vālmīki’s Śambūka narrative developed within Jain Rāma texts and involved a complete overhaul in its exposition whereby Śambūka’s death occurs accidentally and at the hands of Rāma’s brother, Lakṣmaṇa. As a figure who embodies Jain ideals, Rāma could not participate in any act of violence, so Jain poets removed him from any involvement in Śambūka’s execution. In a display of intercommunal exchange, this motif of Śambūka’s accidental death is also found in some Hindu Rāmāyaṇas of the medieval period. 

In the modern era, author-activists find that the story of Śambūka as known in Vālmīki’s Rāmāyaṇa leaves out some critical details—that Śambūka was a revolutionary leader who peacefully advocated for equal access to education for India’s oppressed populations and the abolishment of the caste system. Creators of new works on Śambūka seek to enter these details into the record of the Rāmāyaṇa tradition, thus correcting what they see as centuries of misrepresentation.

Beckett’s dialogue with the arts (music, painting, digital media) has found a growing critical attention, from seminal comprehensive studies (Oppenheim 2000; Harvey, 1967, to name just two) to more recent contributions (Gontarski, ed., 2014; Lloyd, 2018). Research has progressively moved from a general inquiry on Beckett beyond the strictly literary to issues related to intermediality and embodiment (Maude, 2009; Tajiri, 2007), post humanism and technology (Boulter, 2019; Kirushina, Adar, Nixon eds, 2021), intersections with popular culture (Pattie and Stewart, eds., 2019). However, a specific analysis on Beckett’s relationship with Italian arts and poetry on one side–and on Italian artists’ response to Beckett’s oeuvre on the other–is still missing. The volume offers an original examination of Beckett’s presence on the contemporary Italian cultural scene, a stage where he became (and still is) the fulcrum of some of the most significant experimentations across different genres and media. The reader will look at him as an “Italian” artist, in constant dialogue with the most significant modern European cultural turns.

Owing to the pioneering work of William Sale and Keith Maslen, which produced a catalogue of printer’s ornaments belonging exclusively to Samuel Richardson’s business, we now have an invaluable method for identifying the many publications issuing from the Salisbury Court shop. This study adds a number of new titles to the Maslen catalogue and also examines stylistic evidence in supporting attributions of anonymous texts. A number of books from Richardson’s press are found to be unacknowledged digests of works already in print, and in some cases manuscripts of letters were appropriated as raw material for an essay or pamphlet.

From the beginning of his career as printer, Richardson consistently worked as an anonymous editor and compiler while manufacturing books from his press. While setting type for his many newspapers and journals, this major London printer was mainly concerned about generating a readership and thus invoked all the tricks of his trade to arouse interest in his readers. Without ever asserting himself as the author, Richardson produced many letters to the editor as a means of invoking a collective response without risking the responsibility of answering for the opinions expressed in his letters. It was a rhetorical strategy that worked very well for a printer who by profession had to publish many works that expressed opinions wholly in conflict with his own. His long experience as anonymous editor prepared him in launching fictional “histories” told through multiple voices that conceal or underplay a central author’s authority.

‘Sara Coleridge and the Oxford Movement’ presents Sara Coleridge’s religious writings to modern readers for the first time. It includes extracts from her important religious works which have remained unpublished since the 1840s. These writings present a forthright and eloquent challenge to the patriarchal hegemonies of Victorian religion and society. They represent a bold intervention by a woman writer in the public spheres of academia and the Church, in the genre of religious writing which was a masculine preserve (as opposed to the genres of religious fiction and poetry). The religious writings published by Sara Coleridge in the 1840s present the most original and systematic critique of the Tractarian theology developed by John Henry Newman, Edward Pusey, John Keble and their colleagues. Sara Coleridge advances against a theology which she regards as repressive, authoritarian and conceptually flawed, a radical Protestant religion of inward experience and reason, underpinned by a Kantian epistemology. The passages reveal Sara Coleridge’s concerns with the language of religious discourse, which drove her later developments in religious prose.

‘Sara Coleridge and the Oxford Movement’ also consists of passages selected from Sara Coleridge’s unpublished masterpiece ‘Dialogues on Regeneration’ (the equivalent of her father’s ‘Opus Maximum’), written in the last two years of her life. This collection of Socratic dialogues is quite remarkable, the most original and innovative religious work of the Tractarian era. Sara Coleridge recognized that the form and language of religious discourse was an essential consideration in determining the character of religious culture. In the period from 1833 to 1850, the monologic forms of treatise, sermon, tract and essay had fostered dogmatic and immoderate styles of expression, which had created conflict and division. Sara Coleridge therefore adopted and developed a form in which opposing views could be heard as well as stated, and which could facilitate dialectical progression towards new understanding: a medium in which division could be resolved. Sara Coleridge’s innovative use of Socratic dialogue is associated with a new ambiguity in her approach to Tractarianism. Through one of her women characters, she presents the devotional and aesthetic ethos of Tractarianism, and its practical, pastoral concerns, with sympathetic sensitivity. The passages from ‘Dialogues on Regeneration’ reveal Sara Coleridge to be a religious writer and thinker of unique originality and range, profoundly sensitive to the pressing needs of her times.

History from below has particular advantages. It uncovers overlooked protagonists in (inter)national endeavour for their importance and wider significance, and plots triumphs of discovery and contribution to knowledge where they are supposed not to occur. One such figure is (British-born) Sarah née Wallace, Mrs T. Edward Bowdich then Mrs R. Lee (1791–1856). Despite her multiple contributions to new natural history and its publication in both France and Britain in the first half of the nineteenth century, no monograph study has attended to her life’s workin independent natural history-making for its interdisciplinary range and perspectives, or explored its intercultural significance through the double contexts of expert French and British natural history and publication.
• In making good these omissions, this book does much more than provide a first concerted recuperation and examination of Sarah’s unbrokenproduction of science publications from 1825 until her death in 1856 that intermediated ‘French’ and ‘British’ natural history in several new fields and in multiple genres. More importantly, the focus is on how Sarah’s expert productivity was also achieved, when she had to overcome significant scientific losses – of new specimens from the field,of major international mentors – severally in her ‘career’. If these lynch-pin moments frame the three main sections of the book, and the chapters each contain, the larger story of Sarah’s overcoming and successes form a case study that can better draw attention to the circumstances and conditions in which Sarah’s largely unheralded contributions and triumphs were achieved. Since at least one ‘small’ achievement in scientific endeavour merges in each chapter, the record can be set straight concerning Sarah’s importance at the forefront of new sub-disciplines in French as well as British science from the 1820s to the 1850s, for example, ichthyology (in Part One), ethnography (in Part Two) and science dissemination and education (in Part Three).
• The lynch-pin moments and framing conditions of production informing them add significant creative and pragmatic twists to an alternative story for expert science and natural history-makingthat overcomes seemingly impossible personal and sociocultural odds irrespective of gender. Sarah’s multiple non-conformism then makes for a fascinating case study and historical precedent for re-examining women’s independent contributions in the history of nineteenth-century science as precedent-setting by comparison with ‘leaky pipeline’ modelling for women’s careers and work in STEM(M) today. The book’s closing inquiry thus calls for new perspectives following Sarah’s example, to challenge the understanding of ‘serious’ natural history-making as inclusive of inter medial forms. The possibility, creativity and distinction of Sarah’s story is the distinguishing feature of this book.

Reflecting the turn toward cultural studies, the rich site for exploring issues of race, gender, and social injustices, the twenty-first century has seen most university presses publishing books focusing on multiple works by an array of authors. While I do not dispute the value and timeliness of such culture-centered publications, I would argue that the time has come for a fresh reading of Laurence Sterne’s greatest novel, one frequently cited as a precursor to the work of James Joyce and to twentieth- and twenty-first-century existential thought. Such book-length studies of Sterne’s TristramShandy appeared frequently in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s; since then, Sterne studies have multiplied and prospered, but primarily in academic journals. While we can readily find chapters on TristramShandy in more recent books such as Patricia Meyer Spacks’sNovel Beginnings: Experiments in Eighteenth-Century Fiction (2006) and Ryan Stark’s Biblical Sterne: Rhetoric and Religion in the Shandyverse (2021), we find no books focused just on Sterne’s novel.

This book demonstrates, then, that, beyond the traditional objects of satire found in Sterne’s TristramShandy, Sterne has revised the satiric plot in developing what I call the “benevolent dullness” of Walter, Toby, and Tristram. I borrow this term “dullness,” of course, from Alexander Pope’s great satire The Dunciad, published in 1743, two decades before Sterne began publishing the first volumes of his novel.
The Shandys’ self-defeats derive, as thisbook will show, from generous instincts and from deliberate “moral characters” as well as from arrogant self-deceptions that typify traditional objects of satire, such as leaders in government, the military, the sciences, the arts, and literature—the intelligent but sinisterly self-absorbed dunces who populate Pope’s nightmarish poem and threaten collectively to “bury all” in a culture of “darkness.” Additionally, the book will show that this paradoxical blend of dullness and benevolence in Sterne’s characters generates an ambiguous moral condition that should stir both praise and blame in Sterne’s readers. The book will argue, further, that the reader’s ambivalent response to Sterne’s Shandean characters testifies to the operation of a fictional structure too dynamic in the conflicts it portrays to permit defining the novel’s plot as chiefly satiric, comic, or tragic, as many influential scholars have done.

The book will then conclude that Sterne revised the satiric action in his novel to draw the reader toward the standard of humble but active benevolence represented by Parson Yorick; Sterne did so by luring the reader first into the confused but laughing world of generous “true Shandeism.” If Sterne’s readers can see the nobility as well as the humor of the Shandys’ inevitable self-defeats, the reader will discover the difficulty of living the Yorick standard but also the possibility of escaping from the utter darkness of dullness.

First published in 1851, Henry Murger’sScènes de la vie de bohèmebrought together the stories he had written for a small arts newspaper in Paris. These semi-fictionalized tales, drawn from the daily lives of Murger and his friends, portray the struggles and celebrations, the loves and losses, of young writers and artists as they eked out an existence on the impoverished margins of society. While the nineteenth-century Parisian setting is fascinating in itself, the stories have retained their contemporary relevance as the continuing popularity of Puccini’s opera adaptation (La Bohème) and the Broadway success of Jonathan Larson’s Rent—both based on Murger’s stories—have demonstrated. 

Life in bohemia continues to attract young people in great numbers, just as it has done for almost two centuries, and it is Murger’s bohemia, with all its energy and eccentricities, that underlies that appeal. Balancing humor and despair, and optimism and desperation, Murger’s characters, much like today’s bohemians, manage to confound landlords and bill collectors, endure cold and hunger, find love and lose it, party without restraint and confront the devastating deaths of friends and lovers. 

With this new translation, readers can once again encounter the point of origin for the bohemian cultures that have flourished ever since, not only the source for Puccini’s and Larson’s phenomenally popular musical works as well as for numerous films and songs over many decades but also a classic work of literature that will re-introduce English readers to Rodolphe and Mimi, Marcel and Musette, Schaunard and Colline, after too long an absence.

First published in 1851, Henry Murger’sScènes de la vie de bohèmebrought together the stories he had written for a small arts newspaper in Paris. These semi-fictionalized tales, drawn from the daily lives of Murger and his friends, portray the struggles and celebrations, the loves and losses, of young writers and artists as they eked out an existence on the impoverished margins of society. While the nineteenth-century Parisian setting is fascinating in itself, the stories have retained their contemporary relevance as the continuing popularity of Puccini’s opera adaptation (La Bohème) and the Broadway success of Jonathan Larson’s Rent—both based on Murger’s stories—have demonstrated. 

Life in bohemia continues to attract young people in great numbers, just as it has done for almost two centuries, and it is Murger’s bohemia, with all its energy and eccentricities, that underlies that appeal. Balancing humor and despair, and optimism and desperation, Murger’s characters, much like today’s bohemians, manage to confound landlords and bill collectors, endure cold and hunger, find love and lose it, party without restraint and confront the devastating deaths of friends and lovers. 

With this new translation, readers can once again encounter the point of origin for the bohemian cultures that have flourished ever since, not only the source for Puccini’s and Larson’s phenomenally popular musical works as well as for numerous films and songs over many decades but also a classic work of literature that will re-introduce English readers to Rodolphe and Mimi, Marcel and Musette, Schaunard and Colline, after too long an absence.

‘Schumpeter’s Evolutionary Economics’ fills the void of analysis and serves as a standard reference work on this pioneering thinker by introducing novel interpretations of his five major books and tracing the development of his intellectual framework. Schumpeter’s first German book on the nature of theoretical economics (1908) is still untranslated, but it demonstrates how he developed his evolutionary research programme by studying the inherent limitations of equilibrium economics. He presented core results on economic evolution and extended evolutionary analysis to all social sciences in the first German edition of ‘The Theory of Economic Development’ (1912). He made a partial reworking of the theory of economic evolution in later editions, and this reworking was continued in ‘Business Cycles’ (1939). Here Schumpeter also tried to handle the statistical and historical evidence on the waveform evolution of the capitalist economy. ‘Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy’ (1942) modified the model of economic evolution and added evolutionary contributions to other social sciences. Finally, ‘History of Economic Analysis’, published posthumously, was based on his evolutionary theory of the history of economics. Andersen's analysis of Schumpeter's five books expounds the progress he made within his research programme, and examines his lack of satisfactory tools for evolutionary analysis. In so doing it places our understanding of Schumpeter on a new and firmer footing; it also suggests how modern evolutionary economics can relate to his work.

Esben Sloth Andersen was awarded the Gunnar Myrdal Prize for 2010 for ‘Schumpeter’s Evolutionary Economics’. The Myrdal Prize is awarded annually for the best monograph on a theme broadly in accord with the research perspectives of the European Association for Evolutionary Political Economy.

“Science Advice and Global Environmental Governance” examines expert committees established to provide science advice to multilateral environmental agreements. By focusing on how these institutions are sites of coproduction of knowledge and policy, this work brings to light the politics of science advice and details how these committees are contributing to an emerging global environmental constitutionalism.

Grounded in participant observation, elite interviews and document analysis, “Science Advice and Global Environmental Governance” uses the lenses of the body of experts, body of knowledge, and institutional body to focus on three features of design. Who are the experts being asked to provide advice? What types of knowledge are considered beyond the bounds of the committee and how is this determined? What rules and norms are developed to govern how the committee carries out its work?

The empirical chapters lay out three illustrations: controversy over the continued use of methyl bromide despite it being scheduled for a ban under the Montreal Protocol on Substances That Deplete the Ozone Layer, a series of votes by the Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) Review Committee when determining whether the pesticide endosulfan should be banned under the Stockholm Convention on POPs and a decade of institutional innovation in an effort to revamp the provision of science advice to the UN Convention to Combat Desertification.

“Science Advice and Global Environmental Governance” examines expert committees established to provide science advice to multilateral environmental agreements. By focusing on how these institutions are sites of coproduction of knowledge and policy, this work brings to light the politics of science advice and details how these committees are contributing to an emerging global environmental constitutionalism.

Grounded in participant observation, elite interviews and document analysis, “Science Advice and Global Environmental Governance” uses the lenses of the body of experts, body of knowledge, and institutional body to focus on three features of design. Who are the experts being asked to provide advice? What types of knowledge are considered beyond the bounds of the committee and how is this determined? What rules and norms are developed to govern how the committee carries out its work?

The empirical chapters lay out three illustrations: controversy over the continued use of methyl bromide despite it being scheduled for a ban under the Montreal Protocol on Substances That Deplete the Ozone Layer, a series of votes by the Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) Review Committee when determining whether the pesticide endosulfan should be banned under the Stockholm Convention on POPs and a decade of institutional innovation in an effort to revamp the provision of science advice to the UN Convention to Combat Desertification.

This book is about changing social relationships. The authors focus on the question of what social relations make for successful science and technology policies. In particular, the various chapters illustrate what happens at different social interfaces, such as between policy makers and researchers, and between the users and producers of knowledge. In other words, they are interested in the knowledge networks that are emerging between the many different actors involved in the development of science and technology.' Science and Technology Policy for Development' is the outcome of a workshop that brought together scholars and policy makers from the global South and the North, from private and public organizations, to review their experiences. What unites the authors is a common concern for research–policy linkages. In this context, research was taken to mean any systematic effort to increase the stock of knowledge, and 'policy' as any purposive course of action followed by an actor or set of actors. Linkages are seen as the communication and patterns of interaction among the actors involved. Such patterns may consolidate into knowledge networks in which information is evaluated or prioritized. A number of authors stress the communication aspect of such patterns, especially in the form of dialogue between actors or, through them, between institutions like ministries, universities or companies. The subtitle of this book reflects this orientation: 'Dialogues at the Interface' refers to communication between these different institutions. A must read for students of development economics, professionals in the sector and policy-makers alike.

‘Science Fiction in Colonial India, 1835–1905’ shows, for the first time, how science fiction writing developed in India years before the writings of Jules Verne and H. G. Wells. The five stories presented in this collection, in their cultural and political contexts, help form a new picture of English language writing in India and a new understanding of the connections among science fiction, modernity and empire.

Speculative fiction developed early in India in part because the intrinsic dysfunction and violence of colonialism encouraged writers there to project alternative futures, whether utopian or dystopic. These stories, created by Indian and British writers, responded to the intellectual ferment and political instabilities of colonial India. They add an important dimension to our understanding of Victorian empire, science fiction and speculative fictional narratives. They provide new examples of the imperial and the anti-imperial imaginations at work.

In Victorian India technological change was necessarily understood through differences between the colonizer and the colonized. Since India was not a settler colony, new British-imposed forms of government could scarcely claim continuity with the past, and political and cultural dislocations gave rise to speculation about wholly new forms of social organization. Creation and destruction, cultural innovation and colonial resistance gave rise to the plots and tropes of science fiction. In the stories collected in ‘Science Fiction in Colonial India, 1835–1905’ nineteenth-century Indian writers project successful and failed revolutions into a twentieth-century future. British writers imagine, on the one hand, a catastrophic flood – thanks to the projected Panama Canal – and, on the other, a utopian future of peaceful multi-ethnic parliamentary government. And a Muslim writer designs a feminist utopia in which women practice science and men keep house.

“Science Meets Literature” analyzes and discusses Elias Canetti’s 1935 novel “Auto-da-Fé” (original German title, “Die Blendung”) as an example of the way in which literature can contribute to the scientific understanding of the human mind and human behavior. A growing number of scholars promoting “consilience” have argued that the humanities and the sciences can enhance one another and should not be considered separate domains of knowledge. Consistent with this view, Dario Maestripieri contends that literary fiction can be a source of ideas leading to the formulation of scientific theories and hypotheses about human nature.

Elias Canetti’s novel “Auto-da-Fé” has traditionally been difficult to interpret and his intentions in writing it have remained unclear. Arguing that “Auto-da-Fé” is a novel about human nature that illustrates the workings of the human mind and some universal aspects of human behavior and human social relationships, Maestripieri supports his interpretation through a careful analysis of Canetti’s autobiography as well as with a detailed textual analysis.

Maestripieri also maintains that the view of human nature presented by Canetti in the novel is essentially Darwinian and fully consistent with modern evolutionary views of the human mind and human behavior. He then shows that Canetti’s insights into the human mind, behavior and social relationships anticipated the scientific discoveries made by cognitive, social and evolutionary psychology beginning in the 1960s and up to the present day (and some of Canetti’s ideas have not yet been scientifically tested). Some of these insights and discoveries include the existence of “irrational” biases in human cognition (e.g., in perception, beliefs and decision-making); the strengths and limitations of human “theory-of-mind” skills (i.e., our ability to think about other people’s minds and “read” them); the establishment, maintenance and reversal of dominance in social relationships between two individuals (and how dominance is supported by perceptions, beliefs, emotions, motivation and behavior); and the role of dehumanization in harmful behavior.

Maestripieri holds that Canetti wrote “Auto-da-Fé” to illustrate the power of human nature and the potentially harmful consequences of power dynamics in human relationships. Canetti also intended to warn against the conviction held by some intellectuals that human nature can be denied, controlled, ignored or dismissed. He was persuaded that a writer has an important responsibility in producing and sharing knowledge of human nature, warn people of the potential dangers of the dark side of human nature and help humankind improve itself. Maestripieri examines Canetti’s use of particular narrative strategies in “Auto-da-Fé” because they are intimately linked to the goals the latter intended to accomplish with the novel as well as to his convictions about the biases of the human mind and the role of power in human relationships.

Finally, Maestripieri discusses Canetti’s approach in “Auto-da-Fé” as an original attempt at the integration of knowledge formation in sciences and humanities, which is generally not addressed in discussions of consilience, and also as an original expression of evolutionary ideas through literary fiction, which is generally not recognized in the field of literary Darwinism. He states that Canetti pointed the way for future successful attempts at the integration of evolution, cognitive science and literature, as well as for the broader integration of sciences and humanities.

'Screen Writings: Genres, Classics, and Aesthetics' offers close readings of genre films and acknowledged film classics in an attempt to explore both the aesthetics of genre and the definition of  'classic' - as well as the changing perception of so-called classic movies over time. Implicitly theoretical as much as it is unashamedly practical, this book is a model not only of text analysis, but also of the enlightened deployment of cultural studies in the service of film study.  The book includes re-considerations of such classic films as ‘I vitelloni’, ‘Grand Illusion’, ‘Winter Light’, and ‘Tokyo Story’; it features genre examinations of the war film (‘Flags of Our Fathers’ and ‘Letters from Iwo Jima’), farce (‘Some Like It Hot’), the road film (‘The Rain People’), the New York-centered movie (‘Manhattan’), and avant-garde pictures that privilege  narrative (‘3-Iron’ and ‘Eternal Sunshine of the Classic Mind’); and 'Screen Writings: Genres, Classics, and Aesthetics' concludes with a searching investigation of the rise of the New American Cinema during a tumultuous decade of social change - from the late 1960s to the early 1970s.

The main purpose of 'Screen Writings' is to stake out territory for a certain type of film critic, somewhere between a reviewer-journalist and a scholar-theorist. At a time when the movie review has degenerated into mere publicity for Hollywood pictures, while film scholarship has become entangled in its own pseudo-scientific discourse, the author offers close readings of individual films that go beyond simple plot summaries and vague impressions about acting, yet refrain from hermetic theoretical pronouncements. With elegance, clarity, and rigor, the author explains how moviemakers use the resources of the medium to pursue complex, significant humanistic goals. Thus, in addition to chronicling the vitality and richness of international film art, ‘Screen Writings’ also aims to facilitate its understanding and appreciation.

The reviews and re-viewings contained in ‘Screen Writings’ are acts of analysis and interpretation in the humanistic sense - they are neither theoretical musings nor pedantic tracts. As such, this book can be considered a call for the return of practical criticism as the best way to understand and appreciate the work of cinematic artists, including directors from a countries across the world. Contemporary films like ‘Brokeback Mountain’ and ‘Lost in Translation’ are treated, as well as classics like ‘Tokyo Story’, ‘Forbidden Games’, and ‘Some Like It Hot’. These review-essays are supplemented by a previously unpublished interview with LuchinoVisconti and a investigation of the new screen violence, as well as by a bibliography of related criticism, directors' filmographies, individual film credits, and a thorough index.