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For over seven hundred years, bodies of writing in vernacular languages served an indispensable role in the religious and intellectual culture of medieval Christian England, yet the character and extent of their importance have been insufficiently recognized. A longstanding identification of medieval western European Christianity with the Latin language and a lack of awareness about the sheer variety and quantity of vernacular religious writing from the English Middle Ages have hampered our understanding of the period, exercising a tenacious hold on much scholarship.

Bringing together work across a range of disciplines, including literary study, Christian theology, social history, and the history of institutions, Balaam's Ass attempts the first comprehensive overview of religious writing in early England's three most important vernacular languages, Old English, Insular French, and Middle English, between the ninth and sixteenth centuries. Nicholas Watson argues not only that these texts comprise the oldest continuous tradition of European vernacular writing, but that they are essential to our understanding of how Christianity shaped and informed the lives of individuals, communities, and polities in the Middle Ages.

This first of three volumes lays out the long post-Reformation history of the false claim that the medieval Catholic Church was hostile to the vernacular. It analyzes the complicated idea of the vernacular, a medieval innovation instantiated in a huge body of surviving vernacular religious texts. Finally, it focuses on the first, long generation of these writings, in Old English and early Middle English.

For over seven hundred years, bodies of writing in vernacular languages served an indispensable role in the religious and intellectual culture of medieval Christian England, yet the character and extent of their importance have been insufficiently recognized. A longstanding identification of medieval western European Christianity with the Latin language and a lack of awareness about the sheer variety and quantity of vernacular religious writing from the English Middle Ages have hampered our understanding of the period, exercising a tenacious hold on much scholarship.

Bringing together work across a range of disciplines, including literary study, Christian theology, social history, and the history of institutions, Balaam's Ass attempts the first comprehensive overview of religious writing in early England's three most important vernacular languages, Old English, Insular French, and Middle English, between the ninth and sixteenth centuries. Nicholas Watson argues not only that these texts comprise the oldest continuous tradition of European vernacular writing, but that they are essential to our understanding of how Christianity shaped and informed the lives of individuals, communities, and polities in the Middle Ages.

This first of three volumes lays out the long post-Reformation history of the false claim that the medieval Catholic Church was hostile to the vernacular. It analyzes the complicated idea of the vernacular, a medieval innovation instantiated in a huge body of surviving vernacular religious texts. Finally, it focuses on the first, long generation of these writings, in Old English and early Middle English.

Living is a balancing act. Ordinary activities like walking, running, or riding a bike require the brain to keep the body in balance. A dancer’s poised elegance and a tightrope walker’s breathtaking performance are feats of balance. Language abounds with expressions and figures of speech that invoke balance. People fret over work-life balance or try to eat a balanced diet. The concept crops up from politics—checks and balances, the balance of power, balanced budgets—to science, in which ideas of equilibrium are crucial. Why is balance so fundamental, and how do physical and metaphorical balance shed light on each other?

Paul Thagard explores the physiological workings and metaphorical resonance of balance in the brain, the body, and society. He describes the neural mechanisms that keep bodies balanced and explains why their failures can result in nausea, falls, or vertigo. Thagard connects bodily balance with leading ideas in neuroscience, including the nature of consciousness. He analyzes balance metaphors across science, medicine, economics, the arts, and philosophy, showing why some aid understanding but others are misleading or harmful. Thagard contends that balance is ultimately a matter of making sense of the world. In both literal and metaphorical senses, balance is what enables people to solve the puzzles of life by turning sensory signals or an incongruous comparison into a coherent whole.

Bridging philosophy, psychology, and neuroscience, Balance shows how an unheralded concept’s many meanings illuminate the human condition.

Konzepte des Ausgleichens und Aufwiegens, Balancierens und Kompensierens gehören ins Basisrepertoire kultureller Reflexion. Ob prästabilierte Harmonie, Krafterhaltung und balance naturelle, balance of powers oder Work-Life-Balance – die Denkfigur des Ausgleichs durchquert und verbindet die unterschiedlichsten kulturellen Felder. Als Harmonie und Proportion prägen sie auch ästhetische Vorstellungen von der Antike bis zur Gegenwart. Dabei sind Gleichgewicht und Balance kaum je gegeben, sondern bezeichnen meist Zielstellungen, denen man sich durch komplizierte Techniken des Abwägens, Abmessens, Vergleichens, Verhandelns und Austarierens nähern kann. Der vorliegende Band widmet sich theoretischen wie künstlerischen Versuchen, Balancen zu denken und herzustellen.

Since the 16th century, balance of power politics have profoundly influenced international relations. But in recent years—with the sudden disappearance of the Soviet Union, growing power of the United States, and increasing prominence of international institutions—many scholars have argued that balance of power theory is losing its relevance. This book examines the current position and future of balance of power dynamics in international politics.

In this book, prominent scholars pay special attention to the theoretical and historical criticisms of balance of power theory while empirically assessing its validity at both global and regional levels. The volume also looks at systemic factors favoring or hindering a return to balance of power politics. It evaluates the challenges posed by subnational actors, such as terrorist groups, and weapons of mass destruction to international order. Further, it examines the relevance of balance of power axioms in selected regions: Western Europe, Eastern Europe, East Asia, South Asia, and Latin America.

The last six years have witnessed a virtually unending debate over U.S. policy toward Iraq, a debate that is likely to continue well into the new administration and perhaps the next, notwithstanding recent improvements on the ground.

Too often, however, the debate has been narrowly framed in terms of the situation in Iraq and what steps the United States should take there next, leaving the broader impact of the war on American interests largely overlooked. Ultimately, though, the success and failure of the war will have to be judged in terms of its overall contribution to U.S. national security, including those repercussions that extend far beyond the borders of Iraq.

This book addresses this gap by providing a comprehensive evaluation of the consequences of the Iraq war for the national security of the United States. It is aimed at both those who have not yet made up their minds about the merits of the war and those who wish to ground their opinions in a clearer understanding of what effects the war has actually had.

Balance Sheet examines both how the war has advanced or retarded the achievement of other important goals of U.S. national security policy and its impact on the ability of the United States to pursue its security interests now and in the future. Individual chapters by expert authors address such key issues as the war on terror, nuclear non-proliferation, stability in the Middle East, the health of the U.S. military, America's standing in the world, and U.S. public opinion.

By doing justice to the full range of stakes involved, this book not only reframes the debate over the Iraq war but provides a necessary foundation for future U.S. policymaking toward Iraq and beyond.

In no uncertain terms, this book asks what it means to be a responsible rider, and whether, in today’s society, it is indeed possible for equestrians in any horse sport to put the good of the horse first and foremost, and above ambition and fame.

With vibrantly clear illustrations of the horse’s anatomy and how it is impacted by various riding techniques, Balancing Act presents proof that, although some steps have been taken to prevent the use of forceful and cruel techniques, many sport horses still perform in pain and discomfort. With detailed, practical information on horse physiology and multiple examples of poor riding in pictures so that the reader can avoid similar pitfalls, Dr. Heuschmann gives all of us reasons to examine ourselves and those around us through the lens of the horse’s welfare. As a veterinarian with thorough knowledge of the working equine’s body, Dr. Heuschmann ultimately intends through his exposé to show how bad horse-training methods can be eradicated in favor of far more humane ones.

Readers will also find five chapters full of researched and proven recommendations for retraining horses with behavioral or biomechanical issues related to poor training techniques, including:

• The tense horse.
• The rein-lame horse.
• The horse with gait deviations.
• The hyperflexed horse.
• The unbalanced horse that is off the aids.

There's a strategy behind sustainable success.
It starts with mastering the Balancing Act.

From the creator of the Calibration Model, Balancing Act is a strategic guide for ambitious professionals navigating the pressures of high performance across work, wealth, and wellbeing.

Drawing on years of executive coaching, leadership insight and lived experience at the highest levels, Sarah Brennand brings together tested tools, performance psychology and the latest research in neuroscience and behavioural science to offer a clear, adaptable framework for long-term success.

Inside, you'll find practical strategies and real-world stories from Olympic athletes, military leaders, financial experts, CEOs, and entrepreneurs, alongside those balancing leadership with family life, transitions, or a redefined view of success.

Grounded, practical and refreshingly honest, this book is for those who want to perform under pressure with clarity and control and lead with intention, not exhaustion.

Whether you're advancing, pivoting, or simply seeking to lead with more purpose and perspective, Balancing Act will equip you with the insight and tools to create success that lasts.

Many health, environmental, and social challenges across the globe – from diabetes to climate change – are regularly discussed in terms of imbalances in biological, ecological, and social systems. Yet, as contributions to this collection demonstrate, while the pressures of modernity have long been held to be pathogenic, strategies for addressing modern excesses and deficiencies of bodies and minds have frequently focused on the agency of the individual, self-knowledge, and individual choices. This volume explores how concepts of ‘balance’ have been central to modern politics, medicine, and society, analysing the diverse ways in which balanced and unbalanced selfhoods have been subject to construction, intervention, and challenge across the long twentieth century.

Through original chapters on subjects as varied as obesity control, fatigue and the regulation of work, and the physiology of exploration in extreme conditions, Balancing the self explores how the mechanisms and meanings of balance have been framed historically. Together, contributions examine the positive narratives that have been attached to the ideals and practices of ‘self-help’, the diverse agencies historically involved in cultivating new ‘balanced’ selves, and the extent to which rhetorics of empowerment and responsibility have been used for a variety of purposes, from disciplining bodies to cutting social security. With contributions from leading and emerging scholars such as Dorothy Porter, Alex Mold, Vanessa Heggie, Chris Millard, and Natasha Feiner, Balancing the self generates new insights into emerging fields of health governance, subjectivity, and balance.

An electronic edition of this book is freely available under a Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND) licence.

Governments worldwide assume that national competitiveness can be improved by developing workforce skills. This book critically examines this 'high skills' vision at both policy and practice levels. It challenges an oversimplified policy rhetoric that underestimates the complexity of the processes involved in developing a skilled workforce.

The book focuses on key issues relating to the high skills agenda: skills and political economy; different investment strategies for producing skills; qualification systems and learning. A multidisciplinary team of authors from a range of disciplines, including economics, management and education, provides the cross-cutting international and comparative analysis. Editorial comment links their explorations to wider questions of skill formation processes and overarching questions are addressed through in-depth analysis of the roles of higher education, apprenticeship and formal school learning in skill formation.

Governments worldwide assume that national competitiveness can be improved by developing workforce skills. This book critically examines this 'high skills' vision at both policy and practice levels. It challenges an oversimplified policy rhetoric that underestimates the complexity of the processes involved in developing a skilled workforce.

The book focuses on key issues relating to the high skills agenda: skills and political economy; different investment strategies for producing skills; qualification systems and learning. A multidisciplinary team of authors from a range of disciplines, including economics, management and education, provides the cross-cutting international and comparative analysis. Editorial comment links their explorations to wider questions of skill formation processes and overarching questions are addressed through in-depth analysis of the roles of higher education, apprenticeship and formal school learning in skill formation.

This book provides a critical examination of paid parental leave policies in Australia and compares them with those of similar member countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). While all OECD member countries, except the United States, guarantee some form of paid parental leave to mothers, the duration, benefits, job protection, and eligibility vary greatly. The substantial disparity in parental leave policies between Australia and other OECD countries raises questions about the effect of Australian policies on gender inequality in the workforce, women's workforce participation, and child and parental health.

The book presents two key recommendations for Australia's paid parental leave policies. The first recommendation is to extend the current paid parental leave to a total of 52 weeks for optimal child and maternal health, in line with the World Health Organization's recommendation. The second recommendation is to introduce an individual 15-week 'maternity leave' provision exclusive to mothers, bringing the overall duration of leave available to mothers to 52 weeks, which is approximately 70% of the provisions offered by the featured OECD countries. These reforms may be introduced in stages.

The book discusses the parental leave schemes of Germany, Canada and Sweden as points of reference for Australia because of their similar funding of paid parental leave through general taxation and their clear and succinct legislation regarding paid parental leave rights. The recommendations, if enacted, will foster Australian mothers' rights through a reconstructive feminist lens by celebrating women's differences with men and removing any disadvantage women may have in meeting masculinized social norms.

While the Australian government's 2021 announcement of an additional $1.7 billion investment in childcare will help mothers to return to work, it does little with regard to the government's parental leave scheme that places the onus for the care of the newborn or newly adopted child entirely on the mother, while failing to also provide paid parental leave for fathers. Moreover, while increased funding for childcare may help mothers return to work after the 18-week paid parental leave is over, such policy does not address the importance of raising the child at home with a parent for at least the first year of the child's life. The support of parents is instrumental in countries with an aging population and Australia is one such country. Overall, this book calls for urgent attention to be paid to parental leave policies in Australia to address issues of gender inequality, workforce participation, and child and parental health.

MAKING A VISION A REALITY
As a kid, even before he could tie his shoes, Elliott Noble-Holt knew he wanted to be boss of his own business. When tensions within his family emerged, they left him an emotionally shattered and rudderless adolescent. Yet, within a few years, Noble-Holt created a multimillion-dollar, top-rated business. He also built his own strong, vibrant family.

How did he do it? In Bald Bearded Boss, Noble-Holt shares the depths of the struggles he faced during his teenage years. He then walks through the ways he addressed those struggles, one by one. In each case, he sought and discovered ways to turn his challenges into triumph. In this powerful and inspiring story, Noble-Holt details his step-by-step blueprint for success.

Enter the World of the Eagle with Stan’s Amazing Photography

If you’ve ever seen an eagle fly gracefully over an unbroken forest or watched it snatch a fish from the surface of a crystal-clear lake, you probably experienced a feeling of inspiration. Award-winning author, naturalist, and wildlife photographer Stan Tekiela believes that eagles are the most majestic of birds. He spent years studying bald eagles, noting their behaviors and capturing them in photographs. Stan’s research spanned major events such as migration and courtship, as well as everyday activities including feeding and sleeping.

The result is a striking portrayal of these amazing raptors in Bald Eagles. Stan’s extraordinary photographs depict the birds of prey in a new, unique fashion. His fascinating text, drawn from detailed research and personal observations, provides information about every aspect of the eagles’ lives. Presented with headings and short paragraphs, the coffee-table book is pleasurable to browse and easy to read.

“My sentiment for this bird of prey runs deep,” says Stan. “I’m sure you feel the same. Because of this widespread affection toward our national symbol, I am confident the future of the eagle will stay as bright as our nation and as wonderful as the people who care for this bird.”

Unmatched by any other book on the market, Bald Eagles is a must-have for bird watchers, raptor enthusiasts, and nature lovers.

Enter the World of the Eagle with Stan’s Amazing Photography

If you’ve ever seen an eagle fly gracefully over an unbroken forest or watched it snatch a fish from the surface of a crystal-clear lake, you probably experienced a feeling of inspiration. Award-winning author, naturalist, and wildlife photographer Stan Tekiela believes that eagles are the most majestic of birds. He spent years studying bald eagles, noting their behaviors and capturing them in photographs. Stan’s research spanned major events such as migration and courtship, as well as everyday activities including feeding and sleeping.

The result is a striking portrayal of these amazing raptors in Bald Eagles. Stan’s extraordinary photographs depict the birds of prey in a new, unique fashion. His fascinating text, drawn from detailed research and personal observations, provides information about every aspect of the eagles’ lives. Presented with headings and short paragraphs, the coffee-table book is pleasurable to browse and easy to read.

“My sentiment for this bird of prey runs deep,” says Stan. “I’m sure you feel the same. Because of this widespread affection toward our national symbol, I am confident the future of the eagle will stay as bright as our nation and as wonderful as the people who care for this bird.”

Unmatched by any other book on the market, Bald Eagles is a must-have for bird watchers, raptor enthusiasts, and nature lovers.

A boy’s book report on Reconstruction Era vigilantes known as the Bald Knobbers sends him on a quest for justice.

Middle-schooler Cole’s book report on Bald Knobbers, Reconstruction Era vigilantes, bears an uncanny resonance with his life. Donning a homemade Bald Knobber mask, Cole seeks to right wrongs perpetrated by his divorcing parents, mom’s new boyfriend, the school bully and his cat, Daisy. Like the real Bald Knobbers, Cole discovers the consequences of taking the law into your own hands.

(English / French)
This catalog accompanies the eponymous exhibition at the Vitromusée Romont, for which Philip Baldwin (b. 1947) and Monica Guggisberg (b. 1955) explore the theme of the labyrinth and present several works of glass art from their recent exhibitions in France, England, and Denmark, as well as new works created especially for the Vitromusée Romont. Their preoccupation with ancient history, the migratory nature of humanity, and the interconnected relationships of objects with form, function, aesthetic beauty, and symbolic meaning combine in ways which illustrate the artists' unique perspectives across civilizations going back thousands of years in time. With contributions from internationally renowned specialists, the catalog reflects the reinterpretation of a classical theme in contemporary glass art.

Based on field research carried out over two decades, the author surveys the development of the anthropology of tourism and its significance, using case studies drawn from Indonesia, New Guinea and Japan. He argues that tourism, once seen as rather peripheral by anthropologists, has to be treated as a phenomenon of major importance, both because the size of the flows of people and capital involved, and because it is one of the major sites in which the meeting and hybridization of culture takes place. Tourism, he suggests, leads not to the destruction of local cultures, as many critics have implied, but rather to the emergence of new cultural forms.

The central part of the book presents a detailed case-study of the island of Bali in Indonesia. It traces the development of tourism there during the colonial period, and the ways in which "Balinese traditional culture" was developed first by western artists and scholars in the colonial period, and more recently by Balinese government officials in the guise of "cultural tourism." The general theme of the "presentation of tradition" is also discussed in relation to Toraja funerals in the Indonesian province of Sulawesi, western visitors to the Sepik River in Papua-New-Guinea, and the small city of Tono in northern Japan which has become a center for the study of folk-lore.

Based on field research carried out over two decades, the author surveys the development of the anthropology of tourism and its significance, using case studies drawn from Indonesia, New Guinea and Japan. He argues that tourism, once seen as rather peripheral by anthropologists, has to be treated as a phenomenon of major importance, both because the size of the flows of people and capital involved, and because it is one of the major sites in which the meeting and hybridization of culture takes place. Tourism, he suggests, leads not to the destruction of local cultures, as many critics have implied, but rather to the emergence of new cultural forms.

The central part of the book presents a detailed case-study of the island of Bali in Indonesia. It traces the development of tourism there during the colonial period, and the ways in which "Balinese traditional culture" was developed first by western artists and scholars in the colonial period, and more recently by Balinese government officials in the guise of "cultural tourism." The general theme of the "presentation of tradition" is also discussed in relation to Toraja funerals in the Indonesian province of Sulawesi, western visitors to the Sepik River in Papua-New-Guinea, and the small city of Tono in northern Japan which has become a center for the study of folk-lore.

The land, people, and history of the Balkan Peninsula have often attracted the attention of foreign historians and writers. Yet a lack of research in primary sources and an absence of critical evaluations of Serbian, Bosnian, and Croatian histories undermines the credibility of such work.

This collection, penned by eminent historians, examines Balkan cultural legacies in a variety of contexts. They combine approaches from history, literature, fine arts, and architecture, and address issues crucial to the cultural identities of the Balkans and Serbia in particular. Topics range from the activities of the Middle Ages to the early disintegration of Yugoslavia. Contributors focus on the question of territory and people and their geographical proximity. They examine commonalities of language, history, and cultural legacies, and revise perceptions of nationalism and ethnicity through an exploration of historical records and the political borders of state sovereignty.

In writings about travel, the Balkans appear most often as a place travelled to. Western accounts of the Balkans revel in the different and the exotic, the violent and the primitive − traits that serve (according to many commentators) as a foil to self-congratulatory definitions of the West as modern, progressive and rational. However, the Balkans have also long been travelled from. The region’s writers have given accounts of their travels in the West and elsewhere, saying something in the process about themselves and their place in the world. The analyses presented here, ranging from those of 16th-century Greek humanists to 19th-century Romanian reformers to 20th-century writers, socialists and ‘men-of-the-world’, suggest that travellers from the region have also created their own identities through their encounters with Europe. Consequently, this book challenges assumptions of Western discursive hegemony, while at the same time exploring Balkan ‘Occidentalisms’.

In writings about travel, the Balkans appear most often as a place travelled to. Western accounts of the Balkans revel in the different and the exotic, the violent and the primitive − traits that serve (according to many commentators) as a foil to self-congratulatory definitions of the West as modern, progressive and rational. However, the Balkans have also long been travelled from. The region’s writers have given accounts of their travels in the West and elsewhere, saying something in the process about themselves and their place in the world. The analyses presented here, ranging from those of 16th-century Greek humanists to 19th-century Romanian reformers to 20th-century writers, socialists and ‘men-of-the-world’, suggest that travellers from the region have also created their own identities through their encounters with Europe. Consequently, this book challenges assumptions of Western discursive hegemony, while at the same time exploring Balkan ‘Occidentalisms’.

Balkan Identities brings together historians, anthropologists, and literary scholars all working under the shared conviction that the only way to overcome history is to intimately understand it. The contributors of Balkan Identities focus on historical memory, collective national memory, and the political manipulation of national identities. They refine our understanding of memory and identity in general and explore and assess the significance of particular manifestations of Balkan national identities and national memories in the region.
The essays in Balkan Identities grapple with three major problems: the construction of historical memory, sites of national memory, and the mobilization of national identities. While most essays focus on a single country (e.g. Croatia, Romania, Turkey, Cyprus, Albania, Serbia, Bulgaria, Greece, Macedonia), they are in dialogue with each other and share an opposition to rigid isolationist identities.
Illuminating and challenging, Balkan Identities demonstrates the ever-changing nature of a troubled and culturally vibrant region.

This book investigates morpho-syntactic convergences that characterize the languages of the Balkan Sprachbund: Balkan Slavic, Greek, Romanian, Albanian, Balkan Romani. Apart from new data, the volume features contributions within different theoretical frameworks (contact linguistics, functional linguistics, typology, areal linguistics, and generative grammar).

This book investigates morpho-syntactic convergences that characterize the languages of the Balkan Sprachbund: Balkan Slavic, Greek, Romanian, Albanian, Balkan Romani. Apart from new data, the volume features contributions within different theoretical frameworks (contact linguistics, functional linguistics, typology, areal linguistics, and generative grammar).

Dr. Shellie Hipsky’s daughter noted that her mom no longer wore power suits daily for work. As a successful motivational media company’s CEO and the nonprofit leader of The Global Sisterhood, Dr. Shellie helps inspire and empower the women of the world. Her daughter Alyssa stated she was always wearing either, “ball gowns for charity events or running around in yoga pants with her kids making deals on the phone.”

This practical book takes you step by step from vision to startup and beyond as Dr. Shellie describes her rise from tenured professor to becoming an award-winning “Best Business Woman” and “Entrepreneur of the Year” whose company has grown massively in impact and revenue.

If you have ever dreamed of leaving your 9-to-5 or you want to get back into the workforce as a powerful mom and entrepreneur, then listen as Dr. Shellie gives you her proven secrets to success, as well as the stories of other entrepreneurs who started out with a powerful vision and drive.

You will be living your perfect brand in no time. This is not a fairytale… It is your real life. No matter what you choose to wear, get on the path to business success with Dr. Shellie!

The real collusion in the 2016 election was not between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin. It was between the Clinton campaign and the Obama administration.

The media–Democrat “collusion narrative,” which paints Donald Trump as cat’s paw of Russia, is a studiously crafted illusion.

Despite Clinton’s commanding lead in the polls, hyper-partisan intelligence officials decided they needed an “insurance policy” against a Trump presidency. Thus was born the collusion narrative, built on an anonymously sourced “dossier,” secretly underwritten by the Clinton campaign and compiled by a former British spy. Though acknowledged to be “salacious and unverified” at the FBI’s highest level, the dossier was used to build a counterintelligence investigation against Trump’s campaign.

Miraculously, Trump won anyway. But his political opponents refused to accept the voters’ decision. Their collusion narrative was now peddled relentlessly by political operatives, intelligence agents, Justice Department officials, and media ideologues—the vanguard of the “Trump Resistance.” Through secret surveillance, high-level intelligence leaking, and tireless news coverage, the public was led to believe that Trump conspired with Russia to steal the election.

Not one to sit passively through an onslaught, President Trump fought back in his tumultuous way. Matters came to a head when he fired his FBI director, who had given explosive House testimony suggesting the president was a criminal suspect, despite privately assuring Trump otherwise. The resulting firestorm of partisan protest cowed the Justice Department to appoint a special counsel, whose seemingly limitless investigation bedeviled the administration for two years.

Yet as months passed, concrete evidence of collusion failed to materialize. Was the collusion narrative an elaborate fraud? And if so, choreographed by whom? Against media–Democrat caterwauling, a doughty group of lawmakers forced a shift in the spotlight from Trump to his investigators and accusers. This has exposed the depth of politicization within American law-enforcement and intelligence agencies. It is now clear that the institutions on which our nation depends for objective policing and clear-eyed analysis injected themselves scandalously into the divisive politics of the 2016 election.

They failed to forge a new Clinton administration. Will they succeed in bringing down President Trump?

The humble ballad, defined in 1728 as "a song commonly sung up and down the streets," was widely used in elite literature in the eighteenth century and beyond. Authors ranging from John Gay to William Blake to Felicia Hemans incorporated the seemingly incongruous genre of the ballad into their work. Ballads were central to the Scottish Enlightenment's theorization of culture and nationality, to Shakespeare's canonization in the eighteenth century, and to the New Criticism's most influential work, Understanding Poetry. Just how and why did the ballad appeal to so many authors from the Restoration period to the end of the Romantic era and into the twentieth century?

Exploring the widespread breach of the wall that separated "high" and "low," Steve Newman challenges our current understanding of lyric poetry. He shows how the lesser lyric of the ballad changed lyric poetry as a whole and, in so doing, helped to transform literature from polite writing in general into the body of imaginative writing that became known as the English literary canon.

For Newman, the ballad's early lack of prestige actually increased its value for elite authors after 1660. Easily circulated and understood, ballads moved literature away from the exclusive domain of the courtly, while keeping it rooted in English history and culture. Indeed, elite authors felt freer to rewrite and reshape the common speech of the ballad. Newman also shows how the ballad allowed authors to access the "common" speech of the public sphere, while avoiding what they perceived as the unpalatable qualities of that same public's increasingly avaricious commercial society.

Ballads and songs of Peterloo is an edited collection of poems and songs written following the Peterloo Massacre in 1819. This collection, which includes over seventy poems, were published either as broadsides or in radical periodicals and newspapers. Notes to support the reading of the texts are provided, but they also stand alone, conveying the original publications without diluting their authenticity.

Following an introduction outlining the massacre, the radical press and broadside ballad, the poems are grouped into six sections according to theme. Shelley’s Masque of Anarchy is included as an appendix in acknowledgement of its continuing significance to the representation of Peterloo.

This book is primarily aimed at students and lecturers of Romanticism and social history.

Ballads and songs of Peterloo is an edited collection of poems and songs written following the Peterloo Massacre in 1819. This collection, which includes over seventy poems, were published either as broadsides or in radical periodicals and newspapers. Notes to support the reading of the texts are provided, but they also stand alone, conveying the original publications without diluting their authenticity.

Following an introduction outlining the massacre, the radical press and broadside ballad, the poems are grouped into six sections according to theme. Shelley’s Masque of Anarchy is included as an appendix in acknowledgement of its continuing significance to the representation of Peterloo.

This book is primarily aimed at students and lecturers of Romanticism and social history.

This volume is intended as a belated but heartfelt thank-you and Gedenkschrift to the late Larry Syndergaard (1936-2015), long-time professor of English at Western Michigan University and Fellow of the Kommission für Volksdichtung (International Ballad Commission). Larry’s contributions down the decades to ballad studies--particularly Scandinavian and Anglophone--included dozens of papers and articles, as well as his supremely useful book, English Translations of the Scandinavian Medieval Ballads. As David Atkinson and Thomas A. McKean of the Kommission have written (May 2015): “Larry... was a sound scholar with a penetrating mind which he used to support, encourage and befriend others, rather than show off his own knowledge. He will be remembered for his contributions to international balladry, especially for providing a bridge between the English- and Scandinavian-language ballads.” Larry’s particular fascination with the vernacular ballads of the northern medieval world are reflected in this collection; topics here range from plot elements such as demonic whales, otherworldly antagonists, and mer-people to thematic issues of genre, religion and sexual mores. As a tribute to the global influence of Larry’s scholarship and the broad academic interest in medieval ballads, the essays in this volume were contributed by twelve international scholars of narrative song based in Europe, North America and Australia.

A poetic sequence using the 1841 slave revolt aboard the brig Creole as a lens through which to view the vitality of Black lives and the afterlife of slavery.

In 1841, the only successful, large-scale revolt of American-born enslaved people erupted on the ship Creole. 135 people escaped chattel slavery that day. The event was recounted in US Senate documents, including letters exchanged between US and British consulates in The Bahamas and depositions from the white crew on the ship. There is no known record or testimony from the 135 people who escaped. Their story has been lost to time and indifference. Quenton Baker’s ballast is an attempt at incomplete redress.

With imagination, deep empathy, and skilled and compelling lyricism, Baker took a black marker to those Senate documents and culled a poetic recount of the Creole revolt. Layers of ink connect readers to Baker’s poetic process: (re)phrasing the narrative of the state through a dexterous process of hands-on redactions.

ballast is a relentless, wrenching, and gorgeously written book, a defiant reclamation of one of the most important but overlooked events in US history, and an essential contribution to contemporary poetry.

A poetic sequence using the 1841 slave revolt aboard the brig Creole as a lens through which to view the vitality of Black lives and the afterlife of slavery.

In 1841, the only successful, large-scale revolt of American-born enslaved people erupted on the ship Creole. 135 people escaped chattel slavery that day. The event was recounted in US Senate documents, including letters exchanged between US and British consulates in The Bahamas and depositions from the white crew on the ship. There is no known record or testimony from the 135 people who escaped. Their story has been lost to time and indifference. Quenton Baker’s ballast is an attempt at incomplete redress.

With imagination, deep empathy, and skilled and compelling lyricism, Baker took a black marker to those Senate documents and culled a poetic recount of the Creole revolt. Layers of ink connect readers to Baker’s poetic process: (re)phrasing the narrative of the state through a dexterous process of hands-on redactions.

ballast is a relentless, wrenching, and gorgeously written book, a defiant reclamation of one of the most important but overlooked events in US history, and an essential contribution to contemporary poetry.

"Ballerhino is a picture book that celebrates a rhino achieving his dreams to dance, despite not beginning as the most graceful creature. The illustrations are fun and provide a nice backdrop for the story, while beautifully highlighting the emotions of the characters. The plot of this children’s book lends itself to a social discussion with children based on body positivity, motivation, and the impact of others’ words on our feelings." - Plymouth Public Schools

Rhino dreams of being as graceful as a bird. He wants to dance and fly, and flutter! But he’s so big and clumsy. Maybe if he took some dancing lessons?

A funny and carefree story about dreams and accepting who you are. For young and old ages 5 and up.

Ballet is a breathtaking photographic collection, celebrating the precision, athleticism and artistry of classical and contemporary ballet.

Live performances allow us to admire ballet’s visual splendour from afar, but rarely are we given the opportunity to study dynamic poses, leaps and lifts in intimate, close-up detail.

An inspirational companion for dance aficionados, performing arts enthusiasts and keen photographers, Ballet captures awe-inspiring moments performed by the art form’s most remarkable talents. Leo Mason’s arresting images provide a unique glimpse into the world of ballet and its superstars, featuring a cast of former and current principal dancers including:

• Carlos Acosta
• Tamara Roj
• Vadim Muntagirov
• Daria Klimentova
• Ivan Vasiliev 

With over 40 years’ experience as a sports and dance photographer, Leo recreates the beauty and seemingly effortless nature of the discipline – made even more remarkable by the gruelling training required to achieve perfection – and often uses exposure creatively to capture movement and compose striking images.

Each photograph is accompanied by a detailed caption, providing information on the performers, work, location and date, along with technical specifications regarding camera equipment, exposure and aperture. Includes images of: Carlos Acosta, Tamara Rojo, Vadim Muntagirov, Daria Klimentova and Ivan Vasiliev at the Royal Opera House, Sadler’s Wells and the London Coliseum.

This title from the De Gruyter Book Archive has been digitized in order to make it available for academic research. It was originally published under National Socialism and has to be viewed in this historical context. Learn more here.

Voting rights are a perennial topic in American politics. Recent elections and the Supreme Court's decision in Shelby County v. Holder, which struck down key enforcement provisions in the Voting Rights Act (VRA), have only placed further emphasis on the debate over voter disenfranchaisement. Over the past five decades, both Democrats and Republicans in Congress have consistently voted to expand the protections offered to vulnerable voters by the Voting Rights Act. And yet, the administration of the VRA has become more fragmented and judicial interpretation of its terms has become much less generous. Why have Republicans consistently adopted administrative and judicial decisions that undermine legislation they repeatedly endorse?

Ballot Blocked shows how the divergent trajectories of legislation, administration, and judicial interpretation in voting rights policymaking derive largely from efforts by conservative politicians to narrow the scope of federal enforcement while at the same time preserving their public reputations as supporters of racial equality and minority voting rights. Jesse H. Rhodes argues that conservatives adopt a paradoxical strategy in which they acquiesce to expansive voting rights protections in Congress (where decisions are visible and easily traceable) while simultaneously narrowing the scope of federal enforcement via administrative and judicial maneuvers (which are less visible and harder to trace). Over time, the repeated execution of this strategy has enabled a conservative Supreme Court to exercise preponderant influence over the scope of federal enforcement.

Voting rights are a perennial topic in American politics. Recent elections and the Supreme Court's decision in Shelby County v. Holder, which struck down key enforcement provisions in the Voting Rights Act (VRA), have only placed further emphasis on the debate over voter disenfranchaisement. Over the past five decades, both Democrats and Republicans in Congress have consistently voted to expand the protections offered to vulnerable voters by the Voting Rights Act. And yet, the administration of the VRA has become more fragmented and judicial interpretation of its terms has become much less generous. Why have Republicans consistently adopted administrative and judicial decisions that undermine legislation they repeatedly endorse?

Ballot Blocked shows how the divergent trajectories of legislation, administration, and judicial interpretation in voting rights policymaking derive largely from efforts by conservative politicians to narrow the scope of federal enforcement while at the same time preserving their public reputations as supporters of racial equality and minority voting rights. Jesse H. Rhodes argues that conservatives adopt a paradoxical strategy in which they acquiesce to expansive voting rights protections in Congress (where decisions are visible and easily traceable) while simultaneously narrowing the scope of federal enforcement via administrative and judicial maneuvers (which are less visible and harder to trace). Over time, the repeated execution of this strategy has enabled a conservative Supreme Court to exercise preponderant influence over the scope of federal enforcement.

Uncovers the powerful effects of 20th-century Jewish women's social and political activism on contemporary American life

Winner of the 2013 National Jewish Book Award, Women's Studies

Ballots, Babies, and Banners of Peace explores the social and political activism of American Jewish women from 1890 to the beginnings of World War II.

Written in an engaging style, the book demonstrates that no history of the birth control, suffrage, or peace movements in the United States is complete without analyzing the impact of Jewish women's presence. The volume is based on years of extensive primary source research in more than a dozen archives and among hundreds of primary sources, many of which have previously never been seen. Voluminous personal papers and institutional records paint a vivid picture of a world in which both middle-class and working-class American Jewish women were consistently and publicly engaged in all the major issues of their day and worked closely with their non-Jewish counterparts on behalf of activist causes.

This extraordinarily well-researched volume makes a unique contribution to the study of modern women's history, modern Jewish history, and the history of American social movements.

Uncovers the powerful effects of 20th-century Jewish women's social and political activism on contemporary American life

Winner of the 2013 National Jewish Book Award, Women's Studies

Ballots, Babies, and Banners of Peace explores the social and political activism of American Jewish women from 1890 to the beginnings of World War II.

Written in an engaging style, the book demonstrates that no history of the birth control, suffrage, or peace movements in the United States is complete without analyzing the impact of Jewish women's presence. The volume is based on years of extensive primary source research in more than a dozen archives and among hundreds of primary sources, many of which have previously never been seen. Voluminous personal papers and institutional records paint a vivid picture of a world in which both middle-class and working-class American Jewish women were consistently and publicly engaged in all the major issues of their day and worked closely with their non-Jewish counterparts on behalf of activist causes.

This extraordinarily well-researched volume makes a unique contribution to the study of modern women's history, modern Jewish history, and the history of American social movements.

Uncovers the powerful effects of 20th-century Jewish women's social and political activism on contemporary American life

Winner of the 2013 National Jewish Book Award, Women's Studies

Ballots, Babies, and Banners of Peace explores the social and political activism of American Jewish women from 1890 to the beginnings of World War II.

Written in an engaging style, the book demonstrates that no history of the birth control, suffrage, or peace movements in the United States is complete without analyzing the impact of Jewish women's presence. The volume is based on years of extensive primary source research in more than a dozen archives and among hundreds of primary sources, many of which have previously never been seen. Voluminous personal papers and institutional records paint a vivid picture of a world in which both middle-class and working-class American Jewish women were consistently and publicly engaged in all the major issues of their day and worked closely with their non-Jewish counterparts on behalf of activist causes.

This extraordinarily well-researched volume makes a unique contribution to the study of modern women's history, modern Jewish history, and the history of American social movements.

Drawing on twenty-four years of experience in government, Michael H. Armacost explores how the contours of the U.S. presidential election system influence the content and conduct of American foreign policy. He examines how the nomination battle impels candidates to express deference to the foreign policy DNA of their party and may force an incumbent to make wholesale policy adjustments to fend off an intra-party challenge for the nomination. He describes the way reelection campaigns can prod a chief executive to fix long-neglected problems, kick intractable policy dilemmas down the road, settle for modest course corrections, or scapegoat others for policies gone awry.

Armacost begins his book with the quest for the presidential nomination and then moves through the general election campaign, the ten-week transition period between Election Day and Inauguration Day, and the early months of a new administration. He notes that campaigns rarely illuminate the tough foreign policy choices that the leader of the nation must make, and he offers rare insight into the challenge of aligning the roles of an outgoing incumbent (who performs official duties despite ebbing power) and the incoming successor (who has no official role but possesses a fresh political mandate). He pays particular attention to the pressure for new presidents to act boldly abroad in the early months of his tenure, even before a national security team is in place, decision-making procedures are set, or policy priorities are firmly established. He concludes with an appraisal of the virtues and liabilities of the system, including suggestions for modestly adjusting some of its features while preserving its distinct character.

Drawing on twenty-four years of experience in government, Michael H. Armacost explores how the contours of the U.S. presidential election system influence the content and conduct of American foreign policy. He examines how the nomination battle impels candidates to express deference to the foreign policy DNA of their party and may force an incumbent to make wholesale policy adjustments to fend off an intra-party challenge for the nomination. He describes the way reelection campaigns can prod a chief executive to fix long-neglected problems, kick intractable policy dilemmas down the road, settle for modest course corrections, or scapegoat others for policies gone awry.

Armacost begins his book with the quest for the presidential nomination and then moves through the general election campaign, the ten-week transition period between Election Day and Inauguration Day, and the early months of a new administration. He notes that campaigns rarely illuminate the tough foreign policy choices that the leader of the nation must make, and he offers rare insight into the challenge of aligning the roles of an outgoing incumbent (who performs official duties despite ebbing power) and the incoming successor (who has no official role but possesses a fresh political mandate). He pays particular attention to the pressure for new presidents to act boldly abroad in the early months of his tenure, even before a national security team is in place, decision-making procedures are set, or policy priorities are firmly established. He concludes with an appraisal of the virtues and liabilities of the system, including suggestions for modestly adjusting some of its features while preserving its distinct character.