Anthem Press

Founded in 2005, Whitehot Magazine has become one of the leading channels for contemporary art criticism. Since its inception, Whitehot has published thousands of reviews covering art from the United States, East Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and South America, with key pieces authored by critical luminaries, including Anthony Haden-Guest, Donald Kuspit, and Phoebe Hoban. The magazine is also uniquely independent in its editorial voice. Unlike other large art world publications, Whitehot is owned and managed by its founding editor rather than by a media holding company.
On the occasion of its upcoming 20th anniversary, founder Noah Becker and contributor Michael Maizels have compiled a critical anthology of the magazine’s writings. The selected articles not only encapsulate the storied history of Whitehot but also provide a significant window into the evolution of art practice and art criticism since the turn of the Millennium.

Specific objectives of the book include the discussion of the historical evolution of CBUM/Hip-Hop, and the development (and retention) of an informed perspective regarding legendary figures, bands, and genres in CBUM. The examination of the historical, social, and economic implications of CBUM that lead to the globalization of Hip-Hop, an understanding of how CBUM is perceived and measured in society, and the student’s ability to describe a range of effects fostered by the evolution of CBUM, all factor highly in this book.

This book explores the interdisciplinary pathways that leading environmental psychologists have taken to become educators, researchers, consultants, and professionals in this highly applied and growing field. Environmental psychology examines the transactions between people and the built and natural settings in which they inhabit. Despite this broad scope, few direct avenues to careers in environmental psychology exist, and students must forge varied and individualized routes to becoming scholars and practitioners in this important area of study.
The aim of the book is to serve as an inspiring supplemental resource for students who wish to know more about how leading thinkers established themselves as environmental psychologists. In each chapter, the author describes their inspirations, decisions about undergraduate and graduate courses, particular schools, and professional connections that have made a difference to their careers in environmental psychology. Many undergraduate students are disappointed with the lack of a clear path to becoming an environmental psychologist. A strong need exists for a resource like this book for students (and for others who may be looking to add to their careers) to understand how to gain experience and credentials in the field in different ways. Readers may also be bolstered in their attitude about choosing a niche field like environmental psychology and decide to stick with it if they read the success stories published in this book by leading thinkers who have taken varied and atypical approaches to becoming a professional environmental psychologist.
The book’s chapters are organized in a manner that shows readers how one may come from many different backgrounds and integrate environmental psychology into their education or professional realm. Part I contains chapters in which authors write about how they approached environmental psychology from architecture, urban planning, and geography, while Part II includes chapters from authors who found environmental psychology via cognitive psychology, clinical practice, and neuroscience. Part III has chapters from authors writing from the health sciences and social ecology, while Part IV contains chapters by authors inspired to become environmental psychologists through a general appreciation of nature and eco-conscious living in a variety of settings. Those who find a way to make environmental psychology part of their career are often very passionate individuals who are keen to describe their pathway to doing what they love with the hope that others will follow. This book is likely to advance that outcome

The Spirit of the Laws not only systematizes the foundational ideas of “separation of powers” and “balances and checks,” it provides the decisive response to the question of whether power in the nation-state can be limited in the aftermath of the Westphalian settlement of 1648. It describes a civilizational change through which power becomes domesticated, with built-in resistance to attempts to absolutize (or make total) political power. As such, it is the Bible of modern politics, now made more accessible to English readers than it ever has been.

There have been in English only two prior translations of this work that first appeared in 1748. The deficiencies of those two efforts have been broadly identified in the scholarship. Although the text is still used with regularity in university instruction (having been recovered after a lull in the 1950s and 60s), it deserves – and now receives – a presentation that enhances its usefulness in the analysis both of politics and the philosophical foundations of human life.

Montesquieu’s singularity – the first secular argument against race-based slavery and only the second secular argument against the servitude of women – provides a special heritage for the modern word to preserve and a key to making operational those fundamental insights within the context of sustained political and cultural development. The replacement of blood and tribe with the universal attributes of humanity (while recognizing the highly variable ecologies of communities) constitutes the single-most important moral and political development of the modern world. And The Spirit of the Laws bears a primary responsibility for that accomplishment.

‘Because at the heart of the apparent conflict between public health concerns and capitalistic interests, market access for pharmaceuticals is largely driven by political considerations, the difference with usual consumer goods being that pharmaceuticals are saving lives or years of life in good health’. Pharmaceuticals are mainly sourced by companies investing in costly R&D and production at their own risks to make them globally available. However, access for patients in need can be restricted due to insufficient medical resources and/or unaffordability. The dilemma between rewarding innovation with prices in line with value and risks for companies and ensuring affordability for patients or health insurances has become critical for all stakeholders, with political and economic implications. The development of universal health coverage puts pressure on governments to control directly or indirectly reimbursement and prices of pharmaceuticals, whereas the flow of innovations addressing infectious, chronic, and life-threatening diseases, thanks to accelerated scientific progress, is growing constantly.

Management of pharmaceutical health care expenditure approach varies according to the historical, cultural, and economic backgrounds that contribute to building each health care system, and companies are confronted with a very complex environment to launch their new drugs and manage their lifecycle until loss of patent. This book explores the different models of health care systems (e.g., Europe, United States, Japan, China) and the criteria and processes for decision making in coverage and pricing of pharmaceuticals. It also provides the analytic tools that are used to inform the decisions, and how market access strategy can be integrated in the product life cycle. Short case studies related to specific disease areas or methods are supporting exposed concepts and methods.

This book targets primarily students, but may prove useful to industry or insurance executives and eventually public decision makers with interest in the field: all will find relevant insights and sources to dig deeper into the topic. The content has been developed partially through a well received teaching program at CEIBS MBA since 2020.

This volume deals critically with the insertion of university life in contemporary United States of America. The time frame covers the 1980s and today. These are five critical conversations with noted scholars hailing from different origins, holding different trajectories, agendas and interests who have excelled in the humanities in addressing the (Latin) American Scene in the United States of America. The volume is pursuing the interrogation of the sign “America” in between the crucial “Anglo/Latin” divide. This five-part interrogation is done in ways that do not necessarily agree with conventional understandings of the big sign (America) in mainstream or hegemonic English-language senses of the sign as it travels internally in the United States and internationally up and down and across the Atlantic. Hence, the suggested parenthesis of “Latin” that is intended to disrupt the sign of “America,” which is not and cannot possibly be the United States of America. The volume title also plays with “perfection” as in the verbal sense of finished business plus the idea of excellence. These five critical conversations illustrate some of the challenges, problems, troubles, dilemmas, and so on. We are in the “not yet” finished quality and the self-awareness of the scholarship that is “never perfect.” Hence, we are perpetually in motion and perhaps moving towards progress. Bright and dark sides frame the immediate and more distant past, the pressing present and the immediate future. The “here-and-now” summons an interregnum in which readers can see some of the challenges informing the academic profession, university life, history, Latin America and the U.S. associations, avatars of the (foreign) humanities, Spanish in pressurized Anglo settings, and so on.

The five interviewees (Walter D. Mignolo, John Beverley, Rolena Adorno, José Rabasa and Roberto González Echevarría) have all been affiliated with Departments of Spanish and Portuguese, also called Romance Studies, Hispanic Studies (and now, Iberian and Latin American Studies or vice versa, Latin American and Iberian Studies). The signs “Latin” and “Hispanic” surface significantly in fields of languages, literatures and cultures, but also history and a variety of studies (the humanities, historical, sociological, Latin American, post/de-colonial, cultural, subaltern, etc.). “Hispanic” is challenged, and it turns out to be a common misnomer within and sometimes against “Anglo” domains (i.e. the U.S. and the U.K. too). The category of “West” is debated in different ways. It is not necessarily assumed as an unquestionable summum bonum (conventionally, “Latin America” is not part of the “West” in conventional English-speaking domains and a rich tradition of criticism emerges in these conversations). Tensions within monolingual institutional settings in the United States are mentioned.

These conversations open up the notion of “history” which will go in different directions. There are different genealogies and there is no resolution. “Literature” is vigorously defended at least by one or two of these participants, but this is not the case in others who open up to the mounting challenges of literacy and the virtues and limitations of the alphabetic letter in historical and contemporary settings in the Americas (Latin America and the United States). Inter- or trans-disciplinarity is defended by all and 1,001 references fly around these exchanges. There is humor too, sometimes coming from me and sometimes at the expense of the interviewer. Three conversations took place in Spanish (Mignolo, Rabasa, Roberto Gonzalez Echevarria ) and two in English (Beverley, Adorno). The final work includes my translations into English. There are personal predilections and collective trajectories, changes and continuities, celebrations and desires, accusations and stubborn challenges. The historical present allows for the referencing of Early Modern / colonial dimensions among these five (Latin) American scholars, and this is significant vis-à-vis the hegemonic European horizon inside U.S. academia. But things are ineluctably changing.

As with “Hispanic cultures,” speakers occupy both sides of virtually all binaries (majority and minority, white and non-white, “off-white,” “brown,” etc.), minority-academic culture and majority minority population, bilingual, English and Spanish, (Latin) American, American and European, humanities and social-science, a general struggle for a greater visibility in the universities in the Anglo Zone. Vast historical vistas are addressed starting with the “modern” in the Spanish-language tradition. There are additions of post/decolonial perspectives, continental philosophical traditions and criticism from the margins. These vistas are combined with their most pressing situations in the various academic environments. Tensions, challenges, xenophobia and even racism come up. The thrust of this work is to open up to something bigger and something different. “Hispanic” writ large inside the “foreign humanities” allows for numerous upsets of the conventional narratives.

This renewed edition of the Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, exactly a century after Wittgenstein’s release, presents the text in a hierarchical manner, “which is the way in which the book was composed and in which Wittgenstein arranged (selected and supplemented) the best of the philosophical remarks that he had been writing since 1913” (Peter Hacker). That tree-like reading is recommended by Wittgenstein himself in the sole footnote of his book, in which he suggests that the inner logical structure of the text is set by the decimal numbers of its propositions. “They alone – the Author will add – give the book perspicuity and clearness, and without this numbering it would be an incomprehensible jumble”. Indeed, the compact and intricate sequence of the traditional presentation is only a rigorous logical bet, but only a logical machine or a robot can unravel the tangle: for an ordinary human understanding that does not exploit its numbering, the book remains “an incomprehensible jumble”.

In the present disposition, instead, all horizontal and vertical references become directly manifest and any reader can enjoy the fine architecture and the elegant reasoning of Wittgenstein's work. Every page is an actual reading unit, perfectly coherent and complete. The Tractatus becomes comprehensible also to unskilled readers, of course at more or less deep levels, while a scholar or a more practised reader can detect suggestions and meanings that had remained, until now, completely hidden. A historical note shows in which manner the new structural perspective sheds new light also in the compositional manuscript we have, which “writing units” are very similar, actually, to the pages of the present edition. Besides, this allows to rebuild the list of “Supplements” (here in the Appendix) that Wittgenstein gathered after he roughly finished his manuscript, but that he used very little in the final book.

Printing the Tractatus following Wittgenstein's decimal prescriptions required meticulous philological care and some discretional conventions: for instance, at the top of each page the commented-upon proposition is printed again, to make the sight complete and self-sufficient. On the other hand, some forcing of the text by the translators in their sequential reading could be eliminated, restoring a more literal translation. Also the famous and intriguing picture of the eye and its visual field (5.6331) has been restored as Wittgenstein drafted it, making the entire page perfectly understandable and coherent. This documented and editorial work on one of the most referenced books of the last century was conceived to obtain, and in fact gained, a perspicuous and crystal clear text, philologically faithful and relaxingly readable at the same time.

This book explores Raf Simons’ revolutionary impact on fashion and modern masculinity, analyzing his collections and campaigns to uncover how his work challenges traditional masculine norms and creates new visual narratives in menswear.

A mid-level exploration of the Argument from Reason, this book challenges naturalism by defending rational agency, freedom, and theism, while engaging contemporary issues such as AI, consciousness, and transhumanism. Suitable for students, scholars, and general readers seeking clarity on mind, meaning, and personhood.

Explores how decision making, grounded in modal logic, shapes a person’s relationship to the world by transforming their possibilities, values and perspectives – forming the basis of a philosophy of life

Philosophy of life is an overarching value and conceptual framework that gives context and meaning to practical philosophy, including the practical interventions aimed at enhancing the quality of life. This includes philosophical counselling and all kinds of psychotherapy. However, the tendency of disciplinary specialisation has led to a general neglect of the firm rootedness of psychotherapy in logic and philosophy generally. This book shows how conventional psychotherapy today uncritically rests on propositional logic and elucidates the consequences of that logical blind spot for the nature and content of the interventions and psychotherapeutic view of one’s lifeworld.

A particular quality of modal logic in practical philosophy, and in psychotherapy as a form of practical philosophy, is experientially very different from the common perception of theoretical logic, which is formal and mathematical. However, when modal logic is applied to philosophy of life, and especially to psychotherapy, it shows opulent colours and a capacity to transform seemingly hopeless situations, frozen in determining, non-permissive circumstances. Modal Integrative Psychotherapy as a modal logic–driven psychotherapy method illustrates how philosophy of life plays a role as an intervention strategy to improve quality of life.

The book shows how psychotherapy grows from philosophy and articulates a particular practical philosophy that, rather than cancelling psychology as a discipline and psychotherapy as a profession, leads them to a stage of philosophical deliberation that has liberating, emancipating and empowering effects through the application of logical modality of otherwise irresolvable life issues. Such a perspective depicts life plans, life goals and life strategy as elements that determine the philosophical foundations of a quest for good life that project philosophy of life as living practice, including helping oneself and helping others through psychotherapeutic and at once philosophical interventions.

A study in the literature of selfhood across time, Self-Haunting analyses how the Gnostics, the Romantics, Kierkegaard, Beckett and Ashbery dramatize the self’s struggle to fulfill an ideal of integrity and autonomy that will not let it go.

The book interprets Wittgenstein’s Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, focusing on language, logic, and the sense of propositions, then examines its ethical and value-oriented themes. It analyzes the work’s concluding remarks on ethics, situating them within its scientific worldview and highlighting parallels with authors Wittgenstein read and admired, presenting an enduring conception of the ethical.

Collection of my most recent accessible papers on Wittgenstein. Some are previously unpublished. Others have been revised since their original publication.

Discusses the decline of U.S. education and proposes reforms to address inconsistent standards, weakened teaching, and ineffective federal policies

In recent years, the United States has experienced a decline in education, a trend that contradicts the incline of advancements seen in other countries around the world. This decline presents substantial threats to the future of the United States that affect academic performance along with economic growth and social structure. This book examines the various and intricate reasons behind this trend of rapid decline while providing knowledge for educators (teachers and administrators), policymakers, and other stakeholder groups committed to improving the American education system and explaining the impact of the Department of Education and why it is no longer needed in its current state.
One of the main reasons for the educational decline is the inconsistency in educational standards across states and school districts created by the Department of Education that began in 1980. Different countries that maintain consistent national standards, the United States operates under an uneven system that often prioritizes local governance over uniformed results. This inconsistency leads to large differences in the quality of educational quality as some students receive a below-average education based on geographic location rather than what their potential allows. This book explains how this lack of standardization has contributed to significant gaps in knowledge and performance, especially related to the disadvantaged student populations.
The quality of teaching has been another crucial factor that plays a role in the disintegrating educational standards created by the Department of Education and their initiatives. In many circumstances, teachers and administrators face tremendous challenges that include high student-to-teacher ratios, limited resources, and inadequate professional development opportunities. These factors restrict their ability to effectively engage and educate students. This book investigates the systemic issues affecting teacher recruitment and retention, discusses how low pay, a lack of support, and high burnout rates contribute to a teaching workforce that often fails to meet the needs of its students. By addressing these critical gaps, we can begin to understand how to attract and retain quality educators who can drive student success within the United States.
Administrative practices and policies within school systems also have an undeniable impact on educational outcomes. Bureaucratic barriers often dampen innovation and limit the autonomy that schools need to adapt to their unique challenges. This book analyzes the complicated relationship between local administrations and broader educational policies set forth by the U.S. Department of Education. Next, it discusses how strict compliance-focused environments can prevent creativity and responsiveness in classrooms that ultimately undermine the very goal of education that is to prepare students for success in an ever-changing world.
The role of the U.S. Department of Education cannot be overlooked. While focused on improving education nationwide, federal policies have at times implemented unrealistic expectations and mandates without adequately considering the diverse environment of American education. This book analyzes these policies and offers a plan for reform, emphasizing the need for flexibility and local context in educational standards and assessments. As a result, this perspective is necessary for creating an environment that encourages schools to thrive rather than just survive.

The highest art of operational leadership is that of making timely and sound decisions. The act of exercising command consists of making decisions and ordering their execution.

This book offers an updated view of interconnected issues such as sustainable development, well-being and environmental dynamics in advanced economies, delineating a broad interpretation of complex (local) development paths reviewing theoretical approaches and providing paradigmatic examples.

“The Ecstasy of Reproduction,” is an analysis of contemporaneity which the author still terms postmodernity. Aesthetics and critical theory are at stake to define concepts such as the end of art, kitsch, simulacra, reproduction, and commodity.

An anthology that presents 25 years of Lou Marinoff’s work addressing foundational paradoxes and dilemmas in rational choice, probability, and utility theory, offering original analyses of and/or resolutions to classic problems like the Prisoner’s Dilemma, Newcomb’s Problem, and the Two Envelopes Problem

This unique anthology reflects the author’s resolutions of some of the most perplexing, interesting, and widely discussed problems arising in rational choice theory, probability theory, and utility theory. It spans 25 years of his research and publications in these related fields. Part One treats the Prisoner’s Dilemma (PD). It disproves Axelrod’s and Hamilton’s landmark but mistaken claim (Science, 1981) that Rapoport’s legendary Tit-for-Tat is an evolutionarily stable strategy and introduces a family of optimal strategies for iterated computer tournaments. Their members maximize expected utilities, embodying the properties of provocability, forgiveness, and exploitiveness. The leading member outperforms Tit-for-Tat. However, members of this family surprisingly fail to perform well against their own twins and siblings, thus reinforcing Axelrod’s lemma that there is no “best” strategy for iterated PDs independent of the competing population.
Part Two decouples Newcomb’s problem from Braess’s paradox, the Cohen–Kelly queuing paradox, and the PD, thus illustrating (contra Irvine, 1993) that Braess’s paradox does not resolve Newcomb’s problem. It then describes an innovative experiment with rationality in cyberspace, analogous to Hardin’s Tragedy of the Commons. The experiment shows that ostensibly “rational” actors consistently make irrational choices, even (and sometimes especially) when their irrationality is revealed to them. Part Two concludes with a computer model that reveals why some players always defect in non-cooperative games, holding implications for social and political stability. The model shows that even an initial majority of 67% cooperators can degenerate into a 100% non-cooperative population, while higher initial percentages of cooperators can maintain majority cooperation yet must still endure “resistant” nuclei of permanently defecting players.
Part Three presents a (1994) resolution of Bertrand’s random chord paradox, which still stands among the most convincing treatments since the problem was originally posed in 1889. A recent noteworthy challenge (Shackel, 2024) is summarized with a response. Part Three then dissects divergent solutions by Elga and Lewis to the perplexing Sleeping Beauty problem, presenting new arguments against Elga’s solution that decide the issue in favor of Lewis. Part Three ends by decisively resolving the notorious Two Envelopes paradox—still hotly debated after more than 30 years—by exposing a fundamental and fatal mis-application of the Principle of Indifference.
Part Four takes up a moral question debated by Hobbes, Spinoza, and Kant—“Should one lie to a highway robber to gain one’s release?”—and in so doing exposes a fissure in Gauthier’s otherwise well-received ethics of constrained maximization. It then develops a holistic interpretation of meaning, using a reverse Turing test to rebut if not disprove the Strong AI thesis. The central question is not how well Turing machines can simulate human intelligence; rather, how badly humans can fail to simulate machine intelligence. Finally, Part Four explores amusingly counter-intuitive ontological implications of an old Cambridge challenge puzzle—The Coconut Problem—including an ingenious but “impossible” negative solution by quantum physicist Wolfgang Pauli.

Provides a comprehensive analysis of the regulatory framework for securitisation in the European Union and United Kingdom

Reform of the securitisation regulatory framework is key for relaunching the securitisation markets in the European Union and the United Kingdom to free up banks’ balance sheets for additional lending to households and businesses. This book provides a comprehensive analysis of the regulatory framework for securitisation in the United Kingdom and Europe. It covers all of the key aspects of the regulatory aspects of securitisation and the European Union, including risk retention, due diligence and transparency requirements, and the regulatory capital treatment of securitisations for banks and insurers. The book includes in-depth analysis of recent and proposed EU and U.K. regulatory changes to the securitisation framework and their application to different asset classes and types of securitisation. It also considers practical issues faced by practitioners working in-house or in private practice in interpreting and applying the regulatory framework.

This is a collection of fresh perspectives and opinions on the creative interventions on the Nigerian literary and entertainment space. Tackling issues from different authorial perspectives, bring a freshness that come with unsullied critical in their analysis of the different aspects of Nigeria’s literary, filmic and entertainment engagements.

What role did Polish philosophers play in shaping human destiny?
First of all, one must keep in mind that the philosopher’s role is to eradicate stupidity, especially when it is dressed in fashionable togs, wrapped in clever phrases, and passed off as truth or, at least, as good common sense. He opposes those who believe they know everything when, in fact, they know nothing at all. He is confident in his wisdom for he does not claim to know what he does not. One simply cannot know everything, he repeats; the person who has an answer to every question is a fool. Or an ideologue. In other words, the philosopher is wise because he does not talk for the sake of talking. His knowledge is inevitably partial. The question arises: is there a reliable method to discern wisdom from folly? How can we unmask thoughtlessness that dresses itself in the peacock feathers of applause and masquerades as wisdom? Who sets the criteria that separate is the wise from the hollow and the vain? The philosopher does, precisely the very one who knows that he knows nothing. That is how Socrates would put it. But the Socratic tradition never really took root among Polish philosophers.
I have often wondered why Leszek Kołakowski—in his early life a Marxist, later a Christian—did not become the Polish “Socrates.” Of all Polish philosophers, he was probably the only one who qualified for the role. Yet although charismatic and excellently educated, he could not be such a figure while a member of the Communist Party and a follower of other people’s ideas. He could only have become one in exile, in the 1970s, when he assumed an informal leadership in the democratic opposition. This, however, is a fiction. One cannot be a “Socrates” at a distance, in absentia.
The prewar analytic philosophers, like the postwar “Marxians,” were confident in determining the conditions of cognition. They never spoke on things they did not understand, but also knew exactly what they were talking about. Their knowledge was not unrelated to the environment from which they arose and which they went on to develop/shape. For that reason, their philosophical choices were also political ones. Philosophy, after all, challenges the monopoly of politics (and, if religion influences politics, of religion as well) in the development of one’s world-view. Independent thinkers cannot be told what to think or how to think. Philosophy weans one off humility, undermines authority, and insists on independent judgment which is not welcomed by politicians or by the average person. The general distrust toward philosophy necessarily feeds its proverbial “elitism,” that attitude of “anything you can know, I can know better.” The philosopher is not at ease in a crowd, and the Polish philosopher is no exception. It is not his element. He prefers the company of a few carefully chosen companions, meeting privately. That is enough for him. He can prove that virtues such as courage, friendship, justice, and wisdom—usually practiced in public life—may also be cultivated privately. In seminars, in homes, he finds his voice and regains balance.
Practicing philosophy on the periphery has often been presented in court—in the days of Socrates, under Hitler, under communists, and even in democracy—as something semi-criminal or utterly frivolous. At the same time, philosophers seem to make light of something essentially fundamental: that they know too much to be entirely safe and that their fate is already sealed. Those who recognized this early adapted to the prevailing historical conditions. They kept their heads, it is true, but at the cost of betraying their vocation. They invoked ideology as the path of collective progress, only to spend the rest of their lives, in a Münchausen-like manner, struggling to haul themselves out of the swamp into which they had sunk—partly by the dictates of history, partly by their own free will. I suggest dismissing the rumor spread by Czesław Miłosz about the “Hegelian bite” as nothing more than fairy tales. A quarter-century earlier, one of those who might have been susceptible to such a temptation had already preemptively discredited it. As Leszek Kołakowskie wrote, “No one is relieved of the moral obligation to oppose a system of government, a doctrine, or a social order that he regards as base and inhuman by pleading that he considers it historically necessary. We are against that form of moral relativism which assumes that the criteria for a moral assessment of human behaviour can be derived from knowledge of the secrets of the Weltgeist.”

Presents the first in-depth study of contemporary English-language Pakistani women’s fiction, exploring how female authors use narrative to critique patriarchal norms and Western stereotypes through spatial and emotional portrayals of women's everyday lives

The title discusses the literary production of contemporary Pakistani women through the analysis of a corpus of novels that provide representations of the ways in which women navigate the complexities of Pakistani society in relation to three different but related domains, the nation, the city and the household. This critical interrogation serves to underscore the inherent value of literary articulations that portray contemporary Pakistani society from an Indigenously situated female perspective. Fictional narratives written by Pakistani women constitute a form of discursive agency that challenges both local patriarchal structures and Western representations of Muslim women as voiceless and powerless. The discussion locates the selected fictional narratives within the broader historical contexts of Pakistani Anglophone and Urdu literary traditions. This perspective shows that women’s contribution to the South Asian literary scene is neither new nor limited in terms of genre or language.

In Pakistan, women have always found themselves at the receiving end of oppressive dynamics of power, something against which they have articulated forms of personal and collective resistance. Seeing fiction as a means of expression that cannot exist outside of a human society, within which it is generated and from which it elaborates its imagery, allows attending to the ways in which the interaction between literature and society contributes to the construction of shared narratives. The study highlights that while the authors reveal the intersectionality of power dynamics, they also show that patriarchal mechanisms of force affect women across the entire social spectrum, even if with different degrees of coercion, and provide their readers with resolute female models pointing out that a positive social transformation is possible through personal acts of resistance.

Employing spatial and affective frameworks, this monograph moves from the macro-level of the nation to the micro-level of the household to analyse three spatial dimensions as crucial contexts for understanding how women’s social bonds are formed and reformed in response to normative pressures exerted by familial and extra-familial agents. In line with the idea expressed by Sara Ahmed (2004) that social interaction cannot be separated from the emotions and feelings that it stimulates in individuals, the discourse pays attention to the nexus between character’s emotions and their behaviour, highlighting how feelings stimulate the questioning of normativity.

"When an astonishing revolution toppled the Russian autocracy early in 1917, James L. Houghteling Jr., a special attaché to the US embassy in Russia, was one of the very few Americans present who daily recorded the striking events he witnessed and the comments he heard from both Russian and foreign observers. The diary of the thirty-three-year-old Chicago native therefore provides a rare and valuable record of dramatic developments in the streets of the wartime capital, Petrograd. It also offers unusual insights into how Russian elites and foreign diplomats, journalists, and business owners viewed the actions of soldiers, workers, and political leaders who shaped the revolution.

Like US Ambassador David R. Francis and others, Houghteling enthusiastically hailed the fall of the Romanov monarchy as a triumph for American-style liberty and for a patriotic spirit that seemed to promise more vigorous prosecution of the war against Germany and Austria-Hungary. Although Houghteling witnessed soldiers’ refusals to obey officers’ orders, heard stories about desertions, and learned about the popularity of socialists, he refused to allow that to dim his optimism in the weeks when the United States moved toward declaring war against Germany in April. A Diary of the Russian Revolution thus reflects the wishful thinking that affected so many Americans’ views of the overthrow of the autocracy and distorted their responses to anti-war socialists’ seizure of power in the fall of 1917.

This book presents Houghteling’s original account along with explanatory notes and an introduction that sets the diary in the wider context of American interpretations and misinterpretations of the revolutions of 1917 that did so much to shape the twentieth century."

Charles Edward Russell was a major intellectual and political figure of the late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century United States. As a very well-known American radical, he published many books on the US economy, the condition of workers, social issues, and other subjects. He was an active member of the American socialist movement before 1917, but when the US entered the war in 1917 he moved to support the US war effort, something many radicals had still opposed. When President Woodrow Wilson was preparing a special delegation to Russia in the summer of 1917, he added Russell to the delegation in an effort to include a radical at a time when the Russian Provisional Government was increasingly socialist.

Russell was the only delegation member to write an account of his trip, and he hurried to get it published by early 1918. He managed to communicate the complexity of the situation in 1917 Russia and inform readers about some of the leaders who were not well recognized abroad. He provided an optimistic view of the revolution, Russia’s future, and how it might have a significant positive effect on change in the United States."

Malcolm Grow’s commentary presents us with a fascinating personal account of wartime experience, one that highlights a number of pertinent issues of Russia’s experience of total war. While military historiography is replete with studies of battle plans and strategies, troop movements, numbers of casualties, territorial gains, and decisions of state actors, war is so much more than these, as a fundamentally human experience. Unlike most other foreigners’ accounts of Russia’s war, written by journalists, diplomats, or civilian observers who spent little, if any, time at the “front,” Grow’s narrative provides a firsthand perspective of someone embedded with the Russian troops. Although his primary duty as a regimental doctor was medical care of wounded and ill soldiers, Grow’s narrative focuses much attention on combat, particularly his experiences observing operations from the trenches—even occasionally being drawn into the fighting. His narrative clearly reveals how lines of separation between combatants and non-combatants were blurred on the Eastern Front, where the war was highly mobile and divisions between “front” and “rear” were difficult to maintain. As a result, medical personnel were exposed to dangers, deprivations, and physical and psychological traumas that paralleled the experiences of combatants. Grow also offers his observations of the Russian revolutions of 1917 and their effects on the army. Although he does so through a distinctly American lens and thus reflects some (mis)conceptions held by Americans and other Westerners, his narrative also defies some of these conventions, and provides us with a unique and intimate look at life on the Russian front.

"In April 1917, Walter Crosley assumed the position of naval attaché to Petrograd and brought his wife, Pauline, with him. Over the next eleven months, the Crosleys witnessed the last gasps of the Russian Empire and the emergence of the new Bolshevik-led communist regime. Throughout this period, Pauline wrote letters describing the changing political landscape and the challenges of daily life in a city in the midst (and in the wake) of revolution. Though her letters were written primarily to family members, she recognized their potential value and the interest they might hold for a larger audience, and decided to publish them in 1920. As Crosley wrote in the foreword to her book, “May these letters now serve to interest and enlighten those others who would know what has not before been published!”

Crosley’s book of published letters is a unique and interesting addition to the body of first-hand literature on the Russian Revolution. It is particularly important as the product of a female author. Pauline Crosley’s role and experience in Russia in 1917 was much the same as the diplomatic wives of the US Foreign Service: she was largely responsible for their social calendar and the day-to-day operations of their home. Her letters tend to focus on the details of everyday life, particularly the assessment of their fuel and food supplies, as well as the changing cultural scene and growing violence in the city. Crosley’s letters give us a sense of what life was like during these tumultuous months, and serve as a fascinating companion to some of the more politically detailed accounts of the revolutionary period."

In 1917—that is, in the midst of the First World War—Madeleine Z. Doty, a feminist, lawyer, prison reformer, peace activist, and journalist, was commissioned by the magazine Good Housekeeping to travel "around the world" to get a view “behind the battle line” of how people on the home front, especially women, were responding to the war. Traveling on the Trans-Siberian Railway from China, Doty crossed the border into Russia just days after the Bolshevik Revolution had begun. She meant it literally when she declared in her account of these travels, Behind the Battle Line: Around the World in 1918: “The Bolshevik Revolution had descended on me.”

Having found herself serendipitously arriving in St. Petersburg (then called Petrograd) as history was being made, Doty made plans to extend her visit, staying in Russia for four months, and documenting the revolution as it unfolded, as well as particular elements of it in revolutionary Russia that interested her, such as the justice and penal system and women’s leadership. She also offered a strikingly textured portrait of Russian-German peace negotiations at Brest-Litovsk. When Behind the Battle Line was published, critics noted that the Russian chapters are richest, but combined as they are with discussion of Japan, Korea, Norway, France, Sweden, China, and England, Doty’s account of the Bolshevik Revolution has not gotten the attention it deserves. This book offers Doty’s writings on Russia and the Bolshevik Revolution as a stand-alone volume (supplemented with explanatory footnotes) along with an introduction providing background on Doty herself and the milieu of suffragists, reformers, professionals, and journalists in New York City, of which she was an important part.

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.

Arthur Bullard’s The Russian Pendulum (1919) is a personal and political analysis of the Russian Revolution, from the Revolution of 1905 through the beginning of the Civil War in 1918. It reflects Bullard’s own perspective, as an advocate for change in Russia with American help. Bullard’s experience as an advisor to Colonel House and Woodrow Wilson as a key staffer for the Committee for Public Information in Russia strongly colors his analysis. In this provocative study, Bullard analyzes the February Revolution, Lenin’s success with “land and peace” proposals, and then ends with Bullard’s own proposals, entitled “What IS To Be Done?” Here he argues that those concerned with Russia should seek information on all sides of the problem and should accept that an “agrarian revolution” has occurred and that any regeneration of Russia must involve public education and commerce. If the United States is to help, it must provide education cooperation, and avoid military intervention.

Reassesses Henri Lefebvre’s enduring relevance to sociology, examining themes from Marxism to urban life and proposing new directions for Lefebvrian research on rhythm, embodiment and utopian thought

Henri Lefebvre’s work, particularly his theory of the production of space, has been remarkably influential historically within geographical research. While this extensive research has shown the continuing relevance of Lefebvre’s oeuvre for urban geographical research, Lefebvre’s contributions to sociology have been less explored. This is surprising and a missed opportunity, not least because Lefebvre’s writings on the urban, space and everyday life were fundamentally informed by and connected to his sociology. This volume responds to this lacuna in sociological engagements with Lefebvre’s work, bringing together leading scholars on Lefebvre’s sociological work who discuss elements from across his sociological oeuvre. This includes topics for which Lefebvre is well known such as space, rhythm-analysis and Marxism, through to lesser-known topics such as the rural, autogestion, the state and violence and finally to studies which push Lefebvre into new areas such as time, phenomenology and the environment. Therefore, this volume not only achieves a breadth of coverage but also provides fresh insights for those familiar with Lefebvre and new points of interest for those encountering his sociology for the first time. Our volume makes a critical addition to the long list of established and influential Anthem Companions to Sociology by adding a new volume on one of the most influential Marxist sociologists and philosophers of the twentieth century. An engagement with the work of Henri Lefebvre remains indispensable for sociology as this volume shows.

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.

Explores the life and journalism of Maria Teresa de Sá Nogueira, highlighting her powerful role as a voice of resistance and testimony across colonial and postcolonial Lusophone Africa and Portugal

The Life and Writings of Maria Teresa de Sá Nogueira offers a compelling historical and literary portrait of one of Mozambique’s most important yet overlooked journalistic voices. Through textual analysis and exclusive interviews with her son, this book traces Maria Teresa de Sá Nogueira’s life and work across the shifting landscapes of colonial and postcolonial Mozambique and Portugal. It situates her journalism not only as a record of lived experience but also as a courageous act of resistance against injustice, inequality, and silence in the Lusophone world. Her voice emerges as both witness and critic, offering readers an intimate yet far-reaching account of an era marked by upheaval and transformation.
More than a biographical study, this book is a nuanced theorization of Lusophone postcolonial identity through the lens of gender, migration, political struggle, and literary activism. The chapters are thematically organized to mirror the trajectory of Maria Teresa’s life, interrogating the societal pressures she faced as a woman journalist, her engagement with colonial power structures, and her unrelenting advocacy for underrepresented voices. Her reportage, translated and carefully curated here, captures the contradictions of empire, the burden of memory, and the precariousness of freedom in times of sociopolitical transition. Through her work, readers encounter the personal as political and the journalistic as deeply literary.
The Life and Writings of Maria Teresa de Sá Nogueira fills a long-standing gap in Lusophone literary and cultural studies. It will resonate with students and scholars of postcolonial studies, journalism, African and Portuguese history, and gender studies, particularly within the context of Mozambique and Lusophone Africa. But it also speaks to a wider audience eager to understand how a single voice—bold, persistent, and principled—can illuminate the entangled legacies of colonialism and the enduring fight for justice. This is a book that invites readers not only to remember but also to reckon with history through the fearless writing of Maria Teresa de Sá Nogueira.

This book examines the literary author Ulla Isaksson’s work as a writer for the screen, with particular focus on her collaboration with director Ingmar Bergman from the 1950s to the 1980s.

Investigates Gothic’s place in English literary history from 1814 to 1921, revealing its earlier and deeper integration into the selective tradition than previously recognized, and challenging long-held assumptions in Gothic studies and literary historiography

This book seeks to excavate the changing status of the Gothic within what, after Raymond Williams, we might call the selective tradition, from approximately 1814 to 1921. The beginning of this period marks the publication of John Dunlop’s The History of Fiction, which was the first general history of literature written in Britain for which the Gothic novel would have been within scope, and therefore offers the first litmus test of the Gothic’s status in the selective tradition as it is transmitted in durable, authoritative form. The year 1921, of course, marks the publication of Edith Birkhead’s The Tale of Terror, which figuratively marks the beginning of modern Gothic studies as a field. While scholarship of the Gothic has always attended to contemporary reception within periodicals and review culture, the question of the afterlife of that contemporary reception as it manifested in respectable and authoritative narratives about the literary past has never been explored in this period. The reason for this is what I call the founding myth of Gothic studies, which holds that the Gothic novel was never a critically respected genre and that the critical category of the Gothic novel itself was an artificial concept originating with Birkhead et al. This myth, I argue, turns out to be almost entirely false, and such an exploration, therefore, represents an entirely new avenue of inquiry for Gothic studies. As such, this study touches on many methodological domains in an attempt to survey the field with glasses rather than a microscope, and thus sketch enough of the ground for more detailed and specific investigations to follow.
This is above all a work of literary history, but it is a work of literary history designed to serve the needs of the field of Gothic studies. That said, it is also about more than the Gothic. At heart, this project asks two sets of questions. The first set has directly to do with the Gothic: when did the contemporary critical concept of the Gothic first emerge, how were those developments first reflected in the historical record in both durable and authoritative form, and how was that concept transmitted through the Knowledge System once the concept crystalized? The second set of questions pertains to the historiography of the Gothic, which, as of this writing, has long been considered a settled story, though the findings of this book call that story into significant question. In essence, the second set boils down to “how did we miss so much of the story?” These questions implicate much larger issues related to the history of ideas; book history; information and library sciences; the materials, methods, and practice of literary history; the digital humanities; and even questions of individual positionality and human contingency. Although this project does not engage in computational analysis, the orientation toward knowledge and its dissemination and transmission taken in this study follows to some extent what Ruth Ahnert, Sebastian E. Ahnert, Catherine Nicole Coleman, and Scott B. Weingart have recently called “the network turn,” especially in how I conceive of what I call the Knowledge System, and I would consider myself an analog practitioner of the digital humanities.

Examines six African American writers who use the cultural and historical past to imagine a different present and future

In belonging to an oppressed/colonized racial group in the West, where their voices, humanity, history, culture, reality, and subjectivity are perpetually challenged, distorted, and/or erased, African American writers since the 1960s (and earlier) have struggled to be heard and represented. Yet, despite the racism, terror, trauma, and dehumanization, they, in revisiting, reclaiming, and reassessing their African and African American history and culture, used their decolonized imaginations and agency to reconfigure their history, subjectivity, and reality, and to invoke a fuller sense of the African American in the present.
With the transformative Civil Rights movement of the 1960s and 1970s, African American writers and historians formulated a challenge to the social, political, psychological, educational, literary, and cultural institutions within American society. A window was open for African American writers to imagine other possibilities, to find truths in alternative paradigms. Therefore, they were thinking in very new, vibrant ways. Some African American writers since the 1960s began to creatively and imaginatively re-invent or exhume from the repressed and/or excluded historical, spiritual, and cultural past, new ways of living and making sense of the world.
This manuscript examines six African American writers—Richard Wright (Native Son), James Baldwin (Another Country), Ishmael Reed (Flight to Canada), Paule Marshall (Praisesong for the Widow), Toni Cade Bambara (The Salt Eaters), and Ntozake Shange (Liliane)—who deconstruct or demystify established models of modern American literature to build the foundation of a different African American literature. Using the usable values from the African and African-derived cultures and spiritual beliefs, in the present, they reconcile modern living with the great usable values of the past. They define African Americans as subjects becoming fulfilled, rather than as reduced stereotypes.

Through the Russian Revolution by Albert Rhys-Williams, a Congregationalist pastor turned labor organiser and journalist, offers readers a first-hand account of the exciting and confusing events of the Russian revolution from June 1917 to August 1918. Williams, a lifelong defender of the Soviet system, documented his first adventure in Russia at its most chaotic moments. There he formed a lasting impression of what he thought the Soviet system could offer to the world and dedicated the rest of his life to this cause. His account, while sympathetic, reveals to a modern audience the inner working of the Bolshevik Party, life in Petrograd and the countryside, and an optimistic vision of the revolutionary future. 

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.

Explores how Ray Petri and the Buffalo collective revolutionized fashion photography in the 1980s by blending subcultural style, radical diversity, and gender politics to create a new cultural template still influential today

Scottish-born, visionary stylist Ray Petri (1948–1989) defined the look and feel of radical 1980s magazines such as The Face, i-D, and Arena. Founder of the maverick Buffalo collective, Petri styled kilts with MA-1 flight jackets and Armani suits with Dr. Martens boots to create genre-defying looks that shook up London’s subcultural scene from grassroots to high fashion. Harnessing the power of street style, sportswear, club culture, new wave, and dandyism, Petri’s vision took the sartorial vocabulary of the perpetually displaced into the mainstream. His radical casting of Black and multiracial models, styling of men in skirts, and women cast as men was a retort to the prevailing aesthetic in contemporary fashion. Moreover, it marked a culturally reflexive, implicitly political approach to the relationship between fashion and identity. Challenging the policing of masculinity and sexuality in particular, Petri’s imagery boldly toyed with the iconography of homoeroticism, employing the language of fashion in the activism for gay liberation against the backdrop of the AIDS crisis. The eclectic Buffalo circle included fellow stylist Mitzi Lorenz; photographers Jamie Morgan, Mark Lebon and Jean-Baptiste Mondino; model-muses Nick and Barry Kamen and a young Naomi Campbell; and musicians such as Neneh Cherry. Shaped by Petri, the Buffalo attitude is intrinsic to style culture today having since inspired legions of photographers, stylists, and designers from Kim Jones to Ibrahim Kamara, Martine Rose, and Grace Wales Bonner. The spirit of Buffalo lives on in the countercultural references, cultural diversity, and post-gender conversation that underlies the most powerful of contemporary fashion imagery. This book traces how Ray Petri and Buffalo created the template for modern fashion photography by advocating not simply for a new aesthetic but for a new cultural order.

The purpose of this book is to explore the major conceptual differences between classical and modern political philosophy and to understand how these differences have yielded competing conceptions of justice. If ancient and modern thinkers used a different set of constructs, definitions, and methods to explain justice, then it is our duty to understand them. It is also our duty to understand why they have such differences.
Modern thinkers, beginning with Thomas Hobbes, developed a thought experiment—the state of nature—that allowed them to redefine well-established political terms (nature, happiness, virtue, equality, freedom) to determine what people were like in the absence of any external authority, that is, a state. The argument was so compelling that their adherents applied this logic to determine what they deemed legitimate forms of government. In doing so, they made classical articulations of justice appear irrelevant.
This shift—a seismic move away from more than 1,500 years of political philosophy, validated the new approach and called into question the approach of classical theorists. As a result, we now inhabit a world that sees little political significance in the work of the ancients. The classical theory of Plato and Aristotle appears too subjective. It seems too ideological and at times mystical. Such a momentous shift in thinking has resulted in a change in the way citizens see themselves in relation to the state and more importantly, toward each other.

This book presents an exhaustive analytical history of the great Spanish publishing house Editorial Gustavo Gili, specifically the scientific and technological works in its catalogue that were published during the years of the Franco regime.

Examines episodes of philosophical embarrassment, highlighting how Hume, Wittgenstein, and others grappled with critiques that undermined philosophy’s foundations, leading to redefinitions of its aims and cautionary responses to scientism and self-deception

This book consists of diverse essays held together by the thread of embarrassment that runs through them. Sometimes, embarrassment is front and center as when we discuss its conceptual features; at other times, its presence is oblique, as when we take a closer look at Rousseau’s existential outrage at the very idea of a culture of embarrassment; or when we look at Darwin’s theory and George Eliot’s critique of it. We unearth deeply buried embarrassments in the history of philosophy treating them as useful entry points into the major figures from an unusual if not idiosyncratic angle. All this raises a somewhat different but important line of enquiry, one that is meta-philosophical. Hume and Wittgenstein are our prime examples of philosophers who are aware that they and their subject have undone themselves and thus have been thoroughly embarrassed. What are the upshots, they ask, for philosophers and their subject? Perhaps this issue is the answer to Rousseau’s tantrums: embarrassment is useful. Throughout the book, we have many things to say about its uses and its abuses. One question this raises for us is how to proceed in philosophy with equipment that tends to run off the rails with considerable regularity. Do we proceed with all modesty, alive to these facts about us and ready to be embarrassed the next time our reach exceeds our grasp? Or do we, as the early Wittgenstein, the Vienna Circle, and Quine seem to have done, radically revise key elements of the philosophical project—the pursuit of truth and objectivity in all matters, for example—in an attempt to avoid future embarrassments? If you narrow your subject, and if you are competent in that narrowness, you can avoid embarrassment and achieve your modest goals. Such a course is in keeping with the approach of modern philosophy, since it has taken science as a model of sorts. However, when science exceeds its competence, claiming it can solve any and every problem, it loses its experimental modesty, and we no longer have science but scientism. It should come as no surprise, then, that one of our essays is a set of reflections on Wittgenstein’s cautionary remarks about the embarrassments of scientism and his warnings about the related inclination to self-deception. A definition, Kant remarked, should come toward the end rather than at the beginning of an investigation; hence, in the final essay, we provide a perspicuous overview of embarrassment.

Donald Thompson in Russia is a compilation of letters to his wife Dorothy in Topeka, Kansas, illustrated with photos. First published in 1918, it outlines Thompson’s conspiracy thesis that :German intrigue, working among the unthinking masses, has brought Russia to her present woeful condition.”

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.

Louise Bryant and her husband John Reed were among a relatively small group of Americans who participated in one of the most important events of the twentieth century, the Russian Revolution of 1917. As first-hand observers, they attended meetings of the revolutionaries, were present at teh Winter Palace as it was under attack, and witnesssed  the surrender of the palace guards. Over the next weeks, they saw a new regime emerge and met manu of tis most important figures, including Lenin, Trotsky, Kamenev, and Kollontai. Bryant returned home in 1918 and immediately began working on the book that would becime Six Red Months in Russia. Unfortunately for Bryant, her sec and her relationship with Reed overshadowed her talent as a writer and the depth of her observations of this historic event. But Bryant deserves better; she had her oen voice and was a skilled observer and journalist in her own right. While Reed's book is certainly a significant work, it contains little personal commentary. Bryant's account, by comparison, is also a documentation of the revolution, but it goes farther than Reed's in many wants, adding interpretation to observation. Bryant communicates what life was like during the days of the revolution - the people, the food, the excitement, the fear. She is also keenly aware of her American audience and speaks directly to them, urging them to pay attention to this world-changing moment in history and not to be fooled by the misinformation about Bolshevism and the new regime. Six Red Months in Russia conveys Bryant's understanding of the revolution, and reminds us of the utter enthusiasm that many Russians, and Americans, felt for socialism and its yet-untainted, utopian ideals. This new edition of Bryant's book is annotated and set in its appropriate historical context to create a more accessible text for modern readers on the anniversary of this truly world-changing event. 

Explores innovative planning and design strategies to tackle housing affordability, offering case studies and solutions that enhance livability, community resilience, and opportunity, from urban scale to home design.

New socio-economic and environmental realities have brought about a “perfect storm” of circumstances that are forcing a search for innovative solutions in the built residential environment, including affordable housing design and construction. The need to rethink planning practices and align them with contemporary environmental constraints has taken center stage in recent years. The depletion of non-renewable resources, elevated levels of greenhouse gas emissions, and climate change are a few of the challenges that force designers to reconsider conceptual approaches in favor of ones that promote a better suitability between built and natural environments. Consideration of concepts that lower a place’s carbon footprint by minimizing driving, using renewable energy, and preserving the site’s natural assets is one of the contemporary strategies that architects, planners, and builders are integrating into their philosophy and practice.
Given these emerging challenges, the need to think innovatively about planning affordable communities while learning from notable case studies is at the heart of the proposed book. The intention is to explore principles and to present outstanding international case studies that offer valuable lessons.
The book is also about livability—where design touches life and the big and small things that make people appreciate homes and neighborhoods. Livability has become an increasingly important lens with which to analyze a city, considering population demands, built infrastructure, and ecosystems. Community requirements for goods and services, in relation to what is available to a population is an indication of a place’s livability. To foster livable, affordable communities throughout all the stages of life, the social, environmental, and structural needs of a place should be considered and planned for through innovative designs and policies.
The material assembled can be of help to planners, architects, and builders designing and planning a large community or individual homes. It can be used by for-profit firms or nonprofit organizations planning on initiating ownership or rental accommodations. Although some of the standards described in the book are relevant to the North American market, its basic principles can be used internationally. Similarly, even though many of the designs described here are for mid- to low-rise wood-frame structures, their concepts are applicable to tall, large buildings.

In our book, new voices from the African landscape join the conversation on making peace in spaces often ruined by violence. Academics, mediation professionals and community leaders have come together to share their experiences with mediation. It not only restores or creates relationships but also transforms people’s thoughts about making peace. Some lessons in this book are for sharing lived experiences for public benefit, others are aimed at conceptualising mediations, and some contribute to theory building, but all the contributions inspire peace action.
Overall, peace leaders in Africa manage violent conflict much better than observed from other vantage points outside Africa. Despite long-term poverty, terrorism and internal wars, international contests for Africa’s resources, governance dysfunctions, natural disasters, limited access to technology, and transnational crime, community leaders (some contributing to this book) are coming forward daily to apply their knowledge to mediate peace.
This book will appeal to peace-building students and professionals focusing on socio-economic development in safe and secure conditions. It is also unique in that it intersects and transcends many academic disciplines and is a valuable guidebook for curricula on peace and conflict studies, security studies, law studies, African development studies, public safety management, and public affairs. It demonstrates the interconnections between these dimensions of society. A new shift in the humanities to understand non-Western management approaches makes this book of exceptional value.

Of all the books by American witnesses of the Russian Revolution, John Reed’s Ten Days That Shook the World was and still is the best known. Even thoughtReed arrived in Russia in September 1917 and left in the spring of 1918, his enthusiastic account focuses on the ten key days of the revolution itself, brining to life the sights, sounds, and key people who were so instrumental in this critical event. Reed, officially a journalist, shed his objectivity and supplorted the Boshevik cause, and this book was the key forum in which he made his cause. In the end, the book has survived, and even thrived, as a primary source on the revolution, even thought Reed died in 1920.

Chicago native, political activist, and journalist Ernest Poole (1880-1950) provides a distinctive view of the  Bolshevik Revolution in his work, The Village: Russian Impressions. This work is unusual in the library of American accounts of Revolutionary Russia because it addresses the world of the Russian peasants, far away from the revolutionary centers of Petrograd and Moscow. He associated with a Russian priest, a doctor, a teacher, and a mill owner who offered a perspective not normally seen in the history of the Bolshevik Revolution. Poole's own views and those of the people he visited provide a fascinating account of the revolutionary era that helps readers a century later understand the complexity of this fascinating time. 

Explores the enduring role of traditional bone setting in African healthcare, highlighting its cultural depth, ethnobotanical roots, and growing biomedical collisions s with Western orthopedic medical sciences that split and fracture current patient-care systems. 

Traditional bone setting (TBS) has long held a prominent sway in African healthcare, particularly in the more remote and pastoral expanses of Africa. This unique interdisciplinary religious, human rights, and sociological study of medicine manuscript is an examination of not only generationally inherited ethnobotanical, pharmacognosy TBS traditions but also direct observations on how current surgical orthopedic medicine and modern-day social mechanisms clash with traditional healthcare approaches in contemporaneous and inexorable ways. Whether intentionally or not, this entrenched two-tier infrastructure supports, promotes, and maintains a fiscally and socially alienated infrastructure: one that serves the poor general public; and the other that is oriented toward serving the prosperous and powerful urban class. Some argue that these disparate structures are destined to remain grassroots-based adversaries, due to systemic mistrust, irreconcilable intellectual and spiritual beliefs, and possible biochemical appropriations.
These ensuing biomedical collisions between “Western” orthopedic trauma care and traditional bonesetters in Cameroon (Central Africa), Ethiopia (East Africa), Ghana (West Africa), and Zimbabwe (South Africa) were documented over eight years via one-on-one interviews with TBS patients, practicing bonesetters, and in-country practicing orthopedic surgeons; evidence-based ethnobotanical research, and patient service preferences.
In Western biomedical quarters, it will continue to be argued that traditional bonesetters’ lack of anatomical, physiological, and radiological knowledge effects tragic and unnecessary limb- and/or life-threatening complications. However, in stark contrast to Western medicine—which focuses on the empirical and scientific dissection, analysis, diagnosis, and profitable treatment of singular biological organ systems or body parts via medical specialties—holistic traditional medicine distinguishes itself to take into consideration the complete person in the treatment of injuries and illnesses—physically, psychologically, socially, and spiritually.
In traditional medicine, poor health, disease, misfortune, or even unexpected successes are not viewed as chance occurrences but are imbalances believed to arise from the actions of individuals or ancestral spirits. At its core, traditional medicine can be defined as “health practices, approaches, knowledge and beliefs incorporating plant, animal, and/or mineral-based medicines, spiritual therapies, manual techniques and exercises, applied singularly (or in combination) to treat, diagnose, and prevent illnesses or maintain well-being” (Fokunang et al., 2011). So, we can argue that almost every global region has had, at one time or another in its history, a form of traditional medicine. However, despite being consigned to a secondary placement in the health planning of developing countries, traditional medicine practices are gradually undergoing systemic revitalizations and rehabilitations, particularly in the last two decades.

Becoming a Doctor is the inside story of one person’s transformation from naive student to professorial physician. It will make compelling reading for anyone who, when seeing a doctor, has wondered ‘How did you get to be that way?’

Becoming a Doctor is a personal account of a medical education that began in 1966. It reflects on one person’s experience of being gradually transformed from a nervous student into a professorial physician. The book is not a memoir in the ordinary sense, being less concerned with what the author did than with what education and medical practice did to him.
A doctor’s education may look like a straightforward technical training, but ‘re-membering’ it as a personal experience creates a new and disturbing picture, a blend of joys, absurdities and frustrations. Doctors in the 1960s, as now, were focused on disease and had little to say about suffering, let alone death. They were, and still are, curiously silent about healing, recovery and rehabilitation. From within the hospital, people’s ordinary lives were invisible. Becoming a Doctor shows how difficult it is for a young person to resist the pressures of history and culture.
The author observes his younger self’s efforts to be seen as ‘the right stuff’, which involves suppressing personal feelings, adopting medicine’s rhetoric and mimicking the habits of his teachers, with sometimes disastrous results. Communication, and even empathy, seems like performances in which the doctor’s self need play no part. Later in life, the author becomes more aware of what it is to be present, physically as well as psychologically, to another person.
Becoming a Doctor describes how doctors learn to adopt a compartmentalised concept of human nature that few patients would want. While training as a neurologist, the author is expected to assume that real diseases affect real, physical bodies and that other forms of distress are ‘just psychological’, in other words, unreal. Neurologists appear to be technicians of the brain, psychiatrists of the mind and other doctors of the body.
Each of the book’s chapters focuses on a theme, creating a narrative that is roughly chronological, beginning with the perspectives of a junior medical student and ending with reflections on a doctor’s two major ‘crafts’, diagnosis and treatment. While focused on a particular span of years, the book’s story is in constant conversation with its historical context, a dimension that medical orthodoxy scarcely notices. Reflections are shadowed by theory, but this is not an analytical essay but a piece of provocative and entertaining literature. It is about experiences and dilemmas that matter to everyone.

This book is unique in that it synthesizes the cultural heritage of all the Indigenous peoples of North America (Mexico, USA, Canada) and the nature of their interactions over the centuries as well as their relations with Blacks and Anglos. Most literature on this topic segments the Mexican/Spanish from the USA/Canadian English/French works while not fully integrating the pre-Columbian (Aboriginal) or the influences that transpired following colonization and nationhood. We focus on the tribal transformations, cultural adaptations, and inter/intra-group interactions over time leading to the contemporary pan-Indianism of today that provides a universal ethnic identity while protecting unique traditional attributes that have survived to the present. At the same time, we address the foundations of White supremacy and entitlement and the role it plays in contemporary race relations and the long history of White exploitation.
Prior to 1492 and the onslaught of White colonization, pre-Columbian America was inhabited by millions of people estimated in the tens of millions, speaking more than 300 languages with thousands of dialects clustered into major linguistic groups, with complex cultures and their own unique rites, customs, and lifestyles, which, in many instances, were more equalitarian than that of the Europeans at the time. Indeed, the pre-Columbian natives of the Americas represented a diversity of cultures and societies from hunting and gathering tribes to horticultural groups and even sophisticated city-states and pueblos such as those developed by the Aztec, Inca, and Mayan empires of Mexico and Central and South America. Aboriginal trade routes extended from South and Central America to North America with many of the current roads, highways, and waterways reflecting these inter-tribal trade routes long established prior to European contact. Incredibly, the Indigenous peoples of the Americas established these trade routes extending from South and Central America to North America without the advantage of the horse or wheeled contrivances, innovations that came with European contact.

Develops a new ethical framework for understanding nonviolence through Dostoevsky’s “Legend of the Grand Inquisitor,” bridging literature, philosophy, and activism with insights from thinkers like Gandhi, Žižek, and Judith Butler

In recent years, several high-profile academic outputs related to theory and ethics of nonviolence have emerged. This book adds to theoretical literature on nonviolence through developing a new framework based on concepts drawn from Dostoevsky’s “Legend of the Grand Inquisitor” (LGI) which was originally articulated in the novel The Brothers Karamazov (1880). In doing so, this book accounts for a previously undetected ethical dimension of nonviolence. It repositions Dostoevsky as a vital contributor to theory on nonviolence and uncovers a philosophical stance that defines violence not through political revolution, but by spiritual resistance and self-reproach. This book accounts for principal findings that have been identified in empirical scholarship on nonviolence, and while doing so, it engages with classical political theorists and scholars on nonviolence, including Tolstoy, Gandhi, and Gene Sharp along with contemporary works including Žižek, Atack, Christoyannopoulos, and Butler.This book contributes a new framework to assess the ethical motivations behind nonviolence and its empirical efficacy based on concepts drawn from Dostoevsky’s parable. The analysis of LGI offers an innovative explanation of the historical role of nonviolence and presents new implications for interpreting the efficacy of nonviolence in the contemporary world. Scholars have described the Grand Inquisitor as being representative of an evolution toward a totalitarian state, and it has even been acknowledged that the Grand Inquisitor was an inspiration for several key dystopian works that came afterwards such as Zamiatin’s We (1921), Huxley’s Brave New World (1932), and Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949). Yet with great scholarly and literary emphasis having been placed on the authoritarian symbols of this parable, the LGI contains an under-studied component of nonviolence which, to date, is yet to be identified and theorized.

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.

Our world is a world of pain and suffering—at the individual level of private lives as well as the level of historical and political events. The familiar examples of suffering we need to engage with range from everyday unpleasantness, such as a prolonged illness, to massive horrors epitomized in world wars and genocides, such as, at the extreme, the Holocaust. We know, in most cases, how to explain these evils: medical science tells us how and why illnesses occur, geology explains earthquakes, and history and social psychology explain what happened at the darkest moments of our civilization, and why. However, even when everything has been explained, many of us feel that we still fail to properly understand why unspeakable events like brutal mass murders and war crimes happen. Those with religious convictions may wonder why God, if God exists, allows such things to exist. The theological and philosophical tradition of theodicy is an influential attempt to respond to such questions focusing not so much on explaining suffering but on the normative question of justifying suffering.
This book introduces antitheodicy as a critical ethical response to the problem of evil and suffering. While the mainstream debate on this problem in the philosophy of religion continues to focus on theodicies seeking to justify or excuse God’s allowing that there is apparently meaningless suffering, this introduction not only explains why an antitheodicist alternative is ethically superior to such attempts but also, more importantly, extends the antitheodicist approach from the philosophy of religion to broader ethical engagements with suffering. Sketching some of the historical milestones of antitheodicist thought as well as the most important contemporary versions of antitheodicy, the book argues that antitheodicy is the only decent account of suffering and that theodicies are incompatible with ethical seriousness. Theodicies tend to instrumentalize suffering in the service of some imagined overall good, or a metaphysical scheme failing to recognize the individual perspective of the victim. The significance of this essentially ethical argument against theodicies reaches far beyond the philosophy of religion, as the theodicy versus antitheodicy opposition also has interesting secular varieties. Any explicit or implicit instrumentalization of suffering in the service of real or imagined overall goodness may be claimed to be quasi-theodicist, even if it has nothing to do with religious or theological attempts to justify suffering. Antitheodicist critique is therefore needed across a range of ethical and political problems.

Indigenous entrepreneurship involves the use of Indigenous knowledge systems (IKS) to establish enterprises whose target is not only profit but also socio-economic development of communities, and that differentiates it from mainstream economic activities. Based on this, it is then possible to bring into the conversation the issue of IKS and entrepreneurship in Africa in terms of how the conceptualization and praxis of Indigenous entrepreneurship can be decolonized to unlock and unleash socio-economic development in Africa. For this reason, it matters that Indigenous entrepreneurship does not continue to be subjected to or governed by mainstream economic principles. It should be remembered that before colonial conquest, Indigenous entrepreneurship flourished and led to authentic and inclusive socio-economic development. It was colonialism and settler Eurocentric institutions that subjected Indigenous entrepreneurship to mainstream economic governance regimes leading to its marginalization and in some cases relative demise. Nonetheless, given on one hand the resilience of Indigenous entrepreneurship in terms of surviving the colonial encounter, onslaught, and institutions that should have suffocated and buried it and on the other its potential to spur inclusive socio-economic development, it is now time to revisit and recover it without subjecting it to or seeing it through mainstream economic lenses and the Eurocentric frame. Consequently, this raises three critical but related questions which the book tackles; first, how is entrepreneurship understood and practiced by Indigenous communities in Africa? Second, why is there a need to decolonize the conceptualization and praxis of entrepreneurship in Africa through the logic of IKS and how can this be done? Third, how and to what extent can IKS be leveraged and/or mobilized and unleashed to contribute to socio-economic development in Africa? Against this backdrop, the main goal of the book project therefore is to decolonize within the prism of IKS how Indigenous entrepreneurship is conceptualized, understood, and implemented in Africa. This task should show the poverty of the current understanding and implementation of entrepreneurship in Africa which is couched within a Eurocentric frame. It is now time to transcend the Eurocentric monologue of entrepreneurship to an understanding of how Indigenous communities in various parts of Africa conceptualize and practice entrepreneurship leading to socio-economic development. It is important to amplify the point that since it is the cornerstone of the contemporary Indigenous economy, Indigenous entrepreneurship is both the answer and the path forward for the development and cultural survival of African communities.

The Mind Economy is a bold and visionary exploration of the human psyche as a structured, dynamic economy. In this groundbreaking work, Professor Oliver Hoffmann proposes that memory is not simply a repository of past events but the foundational currency of our inner world—shaping identity, driving cognition, and fueling our emotional and mental processes.
Rooted in psychological theory, enriched by philosophical reflection, and sharpened through economic reasoning, this book introduces the concept of the “spirit system”—an integrated model that explains how narration, imagination, and memory will function as key exchange processes within the mental economy. Hoffmann reveals how memories are continuously reconstructed, assigned value, and traded in the form of thoughts, beliefs, and self-concepts. These processes define how individuals perceive themselves, relate to others, and make decisions in daily life.
The book also provides an in-depth introduction to “economic cognitive therapy,” a method that uses the principles of inner economization to increase mental efficiency, emotional resilience, and therapeutic effectiveness. Practical exercises and transformative techniques—such as imagination reconstruction and transcendental narration—offer powerful tools for personal development and healing. The inclusion of supportive practices like yoga, meditation, and aesthetic experience adds a deeply holistic dimension.
Rather than relying on mystical or esoteric language, The Mind Economy provides a clear, structured, and intellectually rich approach to understanding the self. It challenges conventional dualisms between inner and outer worlds and proposes that our economic systems may be reflections of internal mental structures, not the other way around.
This book is for readers who seek more than self-help—it is for thinkers, practitioners, and explorers of the human condition who want to understand how we constitute value, identity, and meaning from within. With depth, clarity, and vision, Hoffmann invites us to become better stewards of our inner resources—and to unlock the power of memory as the gateway to transformation.

Presents the very first global treatment of eugenics, pursuing a thematic approach in individual countries.

For a long time, eugenics was closely identified by historians with the mass murder of people who were disabled and of people who were considered part of the “Jewish race” in Nazi Germany. The last three decades have finally seen a growing number of publications that have explored the thriving eugenics movement in the United States and more recently also in Canada. Research about eugenics in the United States, Canada, and Germany has, however, been conducted in isolation from each other. Few scholars such as Stefan Kuehl and Egbert Klautke have looked at the intersections of eugenic research, organization, and practice between the eugenics movements in these three countries.
What is missing is a global history of eugenics, which explores eugenics as a phenomenon that transcended nearly all religions, political orientations, and ideologies. Eugenics emerged at the end of the nineteenth century first in the United Kingdom and spread from here first to the United States and later to continental Europe. It deeply influenced thinking, concepts of health care, and state policies in many countries. Modern-day specialization and fragmentation of the historical profession have proven as ill-equipped to capture a global phenomenon such as eugenics and instead produced national or even regional studies of eugenics in which authors highlight the perceived national and regional specifics of eugenics in a particular setting.

This book presents the very first global treatment of eugenics. It does not claim that eugenics was the same in countries such as the United States, Germany or China, but that developments in each country emerged from intensive contacts between eugenicists in these countries with each other. These eugenicists spoke the same language, followed similar trajectories, and shared a common vision.
This book, furthermore, provides the very first comprehensive history of eugenics by providing chapters on confinement, sterilization, marriage restrictions, and euthanasia. This book is the very first book to provide a comprehensive history of eugenic marriage restrictions. It is also the very first book on the topic of eugenics that includes the topic of euthanasia.

Examines how artificial intelligence is transforming global influence, offering theoretical insights and practical perspectives on diplomacy, culture, conflict, and governance

Soft Power and Public Diplomacy in the Age of AI brings together leading voices and fresh perspectives to explore how AI is reshaping the landscape of influence in global affairs. Long described as “conjoined twins,” soft power and public diplomacy find new meaning and urgency in a world transformed by digital technologies and generative AI. This timely volume addresses the theoretical gaps that have long challenged public diplomacy scholarship, offering a unique, interdisciplinary lens that connects the superordinate concept of influence with emerging AI capabilities. From bioelectronic measurement of soft power’s impact to AI’s role in narrative warfare and counter-disinformation, the book covers critical terrain for scholars, students, policymakers, and practitioners alike.
The chapters span theory, narratives, culture, governance, and conflict. Readers will find thought-provoking analyses of celebrity influence in elections, generative AI’s role in cultural projection at global events, the network society’s impact on diplomacy, cyber power in conflict zones, and the balancing act between digital diplomacy, transparency, and security.
Featuring contributions from eminent international scholars alongside new voices, the volume pushes the field’s boundaries, offering essential insights for anyone interested in how attraction, persuasion, and power operate in the age of AI. Whether you are a researcher, practitioner, or policymaker, Soft Power and Public Diplomacy in the Age of AI will deepen your understanding of how influence is made, measured, and contested in our rapidly evolving world.

This reprint of Beckett and Broadcasting revives a foundational 1976 dissertation that pioneered the study of Samuel Beckett’s radio and television works, now reassessed as central to his canon, with a new introduction and afterword reflecting fifty years of scholarship.

Beckett and Broadcasting: On Works of Samuel Beckett for and in Radio and Television reprints a doctoral dissertation presented at Åbo Akademi University in Finland in 1976 and published in the Acta Academiae Aboensis series of the university. It has secured a place as a standard reference in the field but has long been out of print.
This study appeared at a stage when Beckett’s main interest in writing for the media had focused on radio. It combines close and extensive textual analysis with contextual sensitivity to the special qualities of the broadcast media. Zilliacus shows a thorough familiarity with the conditions of radio production. A close analysis both of manuscript stages of the media works and of productions and their reception made this a pioneering achievement in the field of Beckett and broadcast media, which was a somewhat slighted part of the œuvre at the time. The groundwork of the study still holds.
Fifty years after the first appearance of the dissertation, titled Beckett and Broadcasting: A Study of the Works of Samuel Beckett for and in Radio and Television, the Nobel laureate’s media work is no longer viewed as a marginal part of an expanding work. It is an integral part of a complete classical canon. Scholars interrogate it not only as a case of Beckett testing new techniques but also as ways of probing means of oral delivery, of obfuscating the origin of voices, of disembodiment. Apart from that, media work for Beckett offered editability, perfectibility, varnishing. In retrospect, the perspective has widened.
Aspects of this kind are covered in a substantial new introduction to this dissertation reprint. It comments on the state of the art in Beckett and radio studies, and it reaps the benefit of hindsight offered by half a century of scholarship. The book includes an afterword by Galina Kiryushina, specialist in Beckett and intermediality.

The Scottish Law Commission (SLC) has proposed that the law pertaining to the formation of voluntary obligations should be significantly reformed. If their recommendations are enacted, it is thought that the resultant legislative changes would be harmful to the coherence of Scots law as an ordered legal system. This is because the enquiry, consultation and report undertaken and produced by the SLC were each limited in their scope to a consideration of ‘contract law’. This fails to appreciate the fact that Scotland, properly speaking, does not have an isolated and sequestered ‘law of contract’ as many other jurisdictions do, but rather a rational, ordered and unitary ‘law of voluntary obligations’. This law of ‘voluntary obligations’ presently remains underpinned by the intellectual schema set out by Viscount Stair in his opus, the Institutions of the Law of Scotland. Stair’s schema suggests that obligations of this kind are created, or may putatively be created, by an ‘act of the will’ which he identifies as ‘engagement’. Bearing this in mind, the book seeks to make the case that piecemeal legislative reform of ‘formation of contract’, as proposed by the SLC, is fundamentally wrongheaded and that to retain intellectual and rational coherence, the law in this area should not be governed by statute, but rather allowed to develop in line within the flexible, unitary and ultimately rational framework which presently governs the law of ‘voluntary obligations’. In doing so, it considers a particular – ostensibly uncontroversial – aspect of the SLC’s law reform proposals: the abolition of the so-called ‘postal acceptance rule’. By reference to Stair’s taxonomy, this book demonstrates that there is in fact no ‘postal exception’ in Scots law; rather, the effect of this so-called exception is in fact nothing more than the quotidian consequence of the general rules relating to the formation of voluntary obligations. This, as is made plain, has significant consequences for the analysis of contracts formed by electronic means such as email and text – but the potential for development of the law in this direction would be irretrievably stymied if statute overrides the common law here. The book, then, is a work of ‘anti-law reform’ which seeks to make the case that juristic development need not always come from ‘on high’ in the form of legislation, but instead can be precipitated by expert commentary from jurists, to aid the development of the law as practised before the courts.

Explores how cricket has been portrayed in fiction from the 19th century to the 21st, examining shifts in the treatment of national, post-colonial and global themes.

Following a short introduction, the book is arranged in seven chapters, each dealing with a specific genre and its main themes. The opening chapter considers how the village cricket story laid down the main tropes of cricket and fiction and established a defining relation between cricket, England’s green and pleasant land and national identity, especially in times of war and its aftermath. The second chapter develops the cricket, war and nation theme in the public school cricket novel, especially in the period of the South African (Boer) and First World Wars when cricket and war were frequently dramatised in similar terms. It also discusses the recurring treatment of homosexuality in the public school cricket novel and how the language of cricket was used to write about same-sex attraction. The next chapter breaks new ground in discussing how cricket has featured in murder mysteries. It demonstrates how well suited to each other the sport and the genre are – cricket providing a kind of open-air closed-room setting for a murder narrative – and explores the formal similarities between the shape and structure of a game of cricket and the procedures of the novel.
The following two chapters explore how amenable cricket fiction has proved as a medium for both comedy and tragedy. It discusses the inherent comic potential of cricket for fiction, the mishap and slapstick of a sport in which the box was introduced a century before the helmet. Cricket also has a long association with suicide as many observers of the game have noted. Fictional treatment of this tragic theme has focused on how a sport which is so time-consuming, both in the duration of a game and the extended career of those who play it, has made retirement difficult to manage and sometimes led to suicide.
As the English cricket story declined into insularity and nostalgia, and cricket ceased to be a subject for serious literary fiction, the post-colonial cricket novel emerged. The penultimate chapter considers how contemporary post-colonial novelists have revived and expanded the fictional possibilities of cricket by extending its global range and replenishing its traditional narratives to include previously unspoken issues of migration and race, thereby creating new kinds of stories. The concluding chapter looks at several apocalyptic end-of-the-world cricket stories and develops into a discussion of how cricket is both contributing to and threatened by global heating, raising the question of its sustainability as a sport and as a subject for fiction.

C.S. Lewis was moaning over lunch to Owen Barfield. Lewis referred to philosophy as a ‘subject’. ‘It wasn’t a subject to Plato’, said Barfield. ‘It was a way’. That is how the ancients saw it: as a search for practical wisdom – wisdom that would enable humans to live as they should. That would be a very unfashionable view today. Philosophy, in the modern academy, is typically just a subject: a subject to be taught and talked about from nine to five, and then left behind when the real business of life starts.

Lawyers, who seek to regulate the whole of human life, in all its complexity and glory and messiness, cannot leave their philosophical presumptions at the office when they come home. If they are practitioners, they are involved in brokering uneasy compromises between individual freedom and societal thriving. One would have hoped that the lawyers and the philosophers would have something to say to one another. Yet often they share no common language or interest. This book is an attempt to get them talking. It is also an indictment of the way that the Academy – in the fields both of philosophy and law – conducts itself. The Academy is often characterised by presumption, intellectual cowardice, conservatism, envy and downright nastiness. No wonder little that is done there spills over into the real world.

The book is a series of essays which, between them, cover many of the most pressing and foundational questions of our day and any day: the state of the Academy, religion and metaphysics, epistemology and the right use of intuitions, universal mind, quantum entanglement and causation, identity, freedom, human value and disability, genetics, animals, aliens, sexual ethics, abortion and other questions of reproductive ethics, the merits and demerits of culture, Brexit, the challenges of technology, research ethics, pandemic ethics, consent to medical treatment, end of life decision-making, environmental ethics, and the business of the law and its relationship to ethics. Behind them all are the most important questions of all: What sort of creatures are we? And how should we live?

Climates of Migration examines through transregional and transhistorical lenses how environmental and migration issues intersect, and how  the disinformation and fear generated by the political instrumentalization of these is shaping contemporary societies as evident in media discourse, propaganda, literature, art, visual culture, policy-making and new technologies.

The prologue and chapter 1 situate the discussion in Climates of Migration in a broader context defined by a resurgence of attention on colonialism and postcolonial legacies, as evident in debates on restitution, reparation, historical accountability and responsibility. Colonial exploration and conquest are thereby connected with the environmental–migration nexus and accordingly chart the coordinates of the book as readers navigate the tentacular planetary reach of European colonial powers. This was of course an era when overseas travel was not even an option for the majority of people, yet one defined by sophisticated propagandist mechanisms that encouraged Europeans to travel through the imagination thanks to the immersive experiences offered at World’s Fairs and Colonial Exhibitions as well as in various board games and other ephemera that promoted the benefits of having colonies, glorified conquest and expansion, while molding young minds and bolstering patriotic fervor. The lessons to be learned were manifold, concerning as they did a recognition of the importance to the economy of—and dependency on—colonies, while implanting a deep familiarity with goods and products. These games capitalized upon the experiential realities of colonial assignments, and the design replicated the defining elements of the colonial enterprise, while also of course mobilizing support. Yet, as we know today, agricultural and extraction practices contributed to anthropogenic global warming, as communities were removed or driven off their lands, displaced and compelled to migrate elsewhere. As such, questions of mobility were therefore central to the production and visualization of Empire, and today, heated debates pertaining to border control and sovereignty can be traced back to this era.
The catalyst for chapter 2 is to be found in French philosopher Bruno Latour’s statement whereby “We can understand nothing about the politics of the last fifty years if we do not put the question of climate change and its denial front and center.” The focus thus shifts to the multiple ways in which climate change has bent the arc of politics in new directions, most notably in the conjunction between the eco-colonial dimension and migration itself given that “What makes the migratory crisis so difficult to conceptualize is that it is the symptom, to more or less excruciating degrees, of an ordeal common to all: the ordeal of finding oneself deprived of land.” Extensive recourse has been made to climate metaphors to amplify anti-immigration rhetoric, collectively delineating the parameters of an invasion narrative that alleges cultural, political and social saturation, submersion and replacement. Recourse to such terminology to describe migration exploits a simple tautology: climate change is a negative development, and therefore, conflating metaphors allows for a seamless twinning with the ills of immigration, grafting a pernicious meaning on the process (migration) and people concerned (migrants). In the associative context of climate change, this logic operates optimally since it coincides with a diagnosis of catastrophic global warming and the long-term projected impact, and has been present in European Union policy-making (“Green Deal” and “New Pact on Migration and Asylum of the EU”) and broader discussions pertaining to climate migrants and climate refugees.
Two strands intersect in chapter 3 and build on the conclusions of the previous chapters, simultaneously reappraising the coexistence of insular and open thinking and complex and simplistic reasoning and shifting the discussion toward an engagement with categories such as empathy and sympathy. This is achieved through a consideration of how cultural productions by artists and writers have enhanced modes of identification and relationality rather than detachment, and offered alternatives to racist and xenophobic media and political discourses. Chapter 4 subsequently provides an in-depth analysis of an emerging corpus of works by African writers for whom transhistorical violence motivates political commitment based on scrutiny and witnessing, documenting, recording and calls for accountability. The works considered have in common an adherence to an “environmental turn” that has culminated in a thematic “greening” of fiction (Cheryll Glotfelty) and a revitalization of writing. Writers have engaged with the longstanding consequences of environmental ecocide on the continent, while ultimately reflecting on the broader context of climate change and environmental derangement that accounts for shifting patterns of population mobility. The concluding chapter establishes a conjunction between new technologies of communication and extraction, more prominently in terms of the interplay between ecology and propaganda, and examines how the later has been used to further an anti-ecological agenda—denouncing warnings concerning global warming as fake news or promoting a lifestyle founded on the exponential use of industrial technologies—and pro-ecology positions centered on an unrelenting effort to prevent the systematic destruction of the environment and aimed at raising awareness and consciousness as well as encouraging behavior modification. The conclusion considers how new digital technologies have taken an age-old apparatus and amplified it, enabling information wars to run alongside physical ones, while discussing how disinformation and misinformation campaigns and algorithms now influence every facet of contemporary life, most prominently in terms of the climate change and migration nexus.

The Elite Quality Index (EQx) proposes an analytical framework to interpret—and possibly transform—the state of elite quality in the world’s political economies. It is based on a simple idea. The EQx posits that the business models chosen and run by elites determine economic and human development. That is, elites (the “who”) affect human and economic development outcomes (the “what”), sometimes directly but mostly indirectly through the influence that they exert on the institutions (the “how”) that set the rules of the game. These rules bestow on elites a “license to operate.” Both the “how” and the “what” have been theoretically discussed at great length and are amply measured. However, the EQx focuses on the “who” element, a research gap that urgently needs to be addressed. This is pursued at the national level by considering aggregate national elite systems in terms of the Value Creation and Value Extraction impacts of their primary business models. As a precursor of institutional quality, Elite Quality is deemed to be a significant pointer to long-term economic growth.

The EQx is a political economy index that uses aggregated datasets to measure the overall sustainable value creation of nations in terms of the ability of its elite business models to create value rather than extract it through rent seeking. The EQx is based on a four-level architecture. Below the top-level Index rankings, there are two Sub-Indices: Power and Value. Value Sub-Index I provides direct evidence of Value Creation and Extraction by elite business models, even though the latter might be easier to capture, as the results of rent seeking are more visible. Power Sub-Index II conceptualizes the potential for Value Extraction, as this cannot exist without power. Hence, while power is not Value Extraction per se, it is a necessary condition for rent seeking to take place. In many countries, elites that enjoy a high degree of power invest in operating inclusive Value Creation business models, while in others it is used to leverage value transfers from an array of stakeholders. Both of the EQx’s two Sub-Indices have a political and an economic dimension. This conceptual 2 × 2 framework results in four Index Areas. First, Political Power measures the capture of three kinds of rules: rules of the state, the rules of business regulation, and the rules of human labor. Second, Economic Power measures elite dominance at the firm and industry levels, such as measuring how much positive creative destruction there is in a political economy. Third, Political Value measures Value Extraction in the political dimension; the state’s unearned income, its taking of income, and its giving of income. Fourth, Economic Value measures Value Extraction from the economy’s three markets: products and services, the capital markets, and the labor markets. Each EQx Index Area is then assigned 3 conceptually related Pillars, yielding a total of 12. The purpose of the Pillars is to define and create conceptual lenses through which we can approach, understand, and measure specific phenomena. At the final and fourth level are the Indicators that use datasets to operationalize political economy phenomena associated with elite agency. All individual indicators and the respective weights that they are given then flow back up the framework to provide scores at the Pillar and aggregate EQx level. Descriptions of each of the 149 indicators used (what we measure) as well as the sustainable value creation (vs. rent-seeking) rationale that underpins their inclusion in the EQx (why we measure) are included in the report.

The EQx2025 provides novel insights that will allow policymakers, academics, journalists, business leaders, students, and concerned citizens understand how elites are impacting the political economy of their nations while also allowing them to benchmark countries that perform well (or poorly) in terms of economic growth and human development.

Highlights the crucial role of Constitutional Amendments in shaping American history, rights, and social justice, presenting their development and impact in an accessible and engaging way.

The debt we owe to the brilliant men who drafted their Constitution is incalculable. Recognizing that, with the passage of time, their document would likely require modifications, the Framers included provisions for amending the Constitution. The twenty-seven amendments that have been ratified to date have played a pivotal role in the continuing effort to perfect our Constitution. This book looks at U.S. history and the American experience through the lens of our Constitutional Amendments. It discusses why each Amendment was adopted, the importance of each Amendment, how the Amendments have been interpreted, and the impact they have had on American society. The Amendments are too important to be treated as afterthoughts, and this book seeks to rectify that by giving them the attention they deserve.
The Amendments have shaped and continue to shape the development of our nation. They guarantee the fundamental rights and liberties that Americans enjoy. They tell America’s story from the abolition of slavery to women’s suffrage, and to granting young men and women who are old enough to fight and even die for their country, the right to vote. The Amendments play a vital role in the quest for gender and racial equity, and the continuing struggle to achieve social justice. The story of the Amendments includes America’s dalliance with abstinence, the fourteen years of prohibition. They detail the changes in presidential elections, succession, and term limits; the direct election of senators; and the imposition of a federal income tax.
The Amendments are the result of the American people’s continuing efforts to perfect our Constitution, first through Acts of Congress, then through ratifications by State Legislatures, and finally by judicial review and interpretation.

Using as case studies the three key outcomes during Ukraine’s Euromaidan moment (late 2013–early 2014) – namely, the introduction of GM agriculture; the opening up of the country’s energy industry to TNC-led fracking (shale gas extraction); and, the sudden and violent ‘regime change’ – this book examines the processes by which such foreign policy and international development outcomes came about; it does so by focussing on configurations of multiple influential actors – political, corporate, philanthropic and intellectual actors (e.g., academics, researchers at think tanks) – all of whom are connected by various combinations of social, personal, structural and political ties. More specifically, these outcomes are best explained by focusing on global webs of diverse social relations between elites spanning governments, international institutions, philanthropic foundations, research institutions and think tanks, ‘civil society’ organizations, and multi-national corporations. Some of the actors in this global elite network may be state or corporate actors, but their connections are not based just on ‘national interest’ or structural affiliation, and their primary allegiance is to the global elite network. Elites can exercise forms of power within policy settings, but only a global elite network can influence policy to the extent that all three of these outcomes were produced.
The overall outcomes were broken down into the processes and the events that produced them. These events include conferences, parties, business meetings and mergers, political speeches, policies, and so on. The key players in each of these events are identified and analysed, along with the multiple types of connections that link the various actors. The connections that link the different types of nodes into a cohesive global elite network were generated into maps as a visual aid to help follow the strong analysis of these relations and interactions.
First, this book details the multiple types of relationships, especially social and personal that enabled the outcomes. This is crucial in demonstrating how sensitive information flows along informal ties in a network. For example, social relations allow for the transfer of insider knowledge that is unregulated and has no oversight – information that the rest of the population (the masses) is not privy to. Social relations can allow for collusion, including in ways that may be legal, but unethical and thus potentially damaging in the public domain. This book also deploys a groundbreaking definition of the term ‘gatekeepers’ used throughout the analysis. Gatekeepers link people together; they link think tanks, corporations, politicians and foundations together, and also link nodes in different industries and sectors together (e.g., the development and foreign policy sectors, the philanthropic and corporate sectors, etc.). They bridge multiple industries, sectors, events and processes.
Second, this book focuses on the spaces where these social connections were fostered, revealing the key places for global elites to convene, align diverse agendas, collaborate, and thus produce outcomes and agendas. Such spaces are crucial in enabling structural connections to become social connections. Mutual membership to think tanks and foundations and attending the same conferences/panels at places like Davos or Bilderberg can serve as a space for meetings and allow for the exchange of information and ideas outside of a state capacity context and regulation. Third, this book explains how the official narrative surrounding the unusual outcome differs from the motives and actions of the members of the global elite network. There are discrepancies with expressed intent in narratives and the outcome. Questioning political narratives with a focus on relations helps to explore how political elites can control the mainstream narrative. Identifying the linkages of political actors (social, personal, financial, professional and political) outwards to TNCs, organisations, institutions, councils and other elites reveals the process by which a dominant narrative is re/produced, and thus shows an alternate reality behind political and development narratives. It is important to study these connections to understand how opposition groups are forced to exist within a dualistic narrative so that anything going against the mainstream and accepted narrative is not only wrong but also suppressed and sometimes erased.

The considerably large critical literature on Bollywood cinema is marked by an absence as it has not engaged fully with the ways in which songs lead to the memorial construction of films and how a spectator connects with films through their songs. The studies tended to deflect the emotional dimension of songs, their internal lyrical structure and their intertextual connections in favour of readings that treat songs as subsidiary to other formal elements. Consequently, there was little understanding of songs and their complex relationship with the narrative of the film. To address this absence, this book begins by taking a look at the prior history of Bollywood songs since the arrival of talkies with the film Alam Ara (1931). The chapter takes the reader through the journey of film songs from synchronous singing and music during production to non-diegetic music and the playback singer. In addition, the somewhat disparate filmic milieu of history, emotion and ethics, much of which are drawn from traditional texts, served to affirm the values of a secular India. Melodrama, mediated via Indian theories of sentimentality, became one of the key colonial discourses through which the politico-social order was critiqued and Indianness celebrated.
The book then raises the question, ‘Can one speak about periods?’ After defending periodisation in this instance because it does have heuristic value, the argument is given added support by positing melodrama as the dominant dramatic mode of Indian Hindi (Bollywood) cinema of the Golden Age. The term ‘melodrama’ is used to designate a film genre marked by sentimental songs that appeal to the heightened emotions of the spectator. Because emotionality is central to the concept of melodrama, a consideration of how emotions may be theorised is also given. The Indian classical concept of rasa is examined to provide a theoretical frame that is both historical and indigenous. Sentimental and melodramatic emotion ultimately enhanced cinema’s ethical role in building a post-colonial nation – a nation that was emerging from the trauma of partition as well as the excesses of colonisation. However, by focusing with holistic lens on the period in question – the ‘Golden Age’ – the book finesses the value of periodisation in this instance. Frame analyses of a sample of song sequences from a variety of films are used to demonstrate the roles of various song registers and the way these different registers (as identified in the appendices) work within the narrative. The argument for a connection between songs and narrative in the period is strengthened by an examination of the elements of song picturisation, most notably body movement, mise-en-scènes, lyrics, vocal expression, lighting, shots and music. A close examination of these elements reinforced the links between felt emotion and the melodramatic form in the Golden Age. Furthermore, it is argued that while Indian theories of emotional responses – notably rasa theory – recognised the place of cathartic outpouring in any dramatic presentation, the shape and structure of Bollywood cinema was indebted to the melodramatic imaginary that came to India with British colonisation. The archival material on English novels read in colonial times indicated that novels dealing with the ‘man of feeling’, novels such as Henry Mackenzie’s The Man of Feeling (1771) and Oliver Goldsmith’s The Vicar of Wakefield (1766), provided the melodramatic structures within which native structures of feeling (as in the varied rasas) may be given felt presence. That structure and its emotional pulling power dictated cinema and especially the cinema of the Golden Age. There are direct links between Devdas (1935), a seminal film based on a sentimental Bengali novel, and Pyaasa (1957), and these links speak to the presence of English discourses of sentimentality. Such was their pervasive power, indeed their affective intensities and strength, that no film of the ‘Golden Age of Bollywood’ escaped from their enervating and ineluctable presence.
The argument of the book – as indicated above – is followed through with references to many films. The instance of the ‘Islamicate’ film Mughal-e-Azam (1960) is taken up as an example of the power and pervasiveness of the melodramatic temper and the role of songs even when the cinematic genre is that of an epic. A close, paradigmatic reading of this film shows how the evocative power of sentimentality, emotional capital and the genre of melodrama invades an historical narrative and transforms history. To give greater depth to the place of songs, sentimentality and melodrama, the book turns to the two exceptional auteurs of the Golden Age, Raj Kapoor and Guru Dutt. Between them, these two auteurs demonstrate a range of filmic articulations of songs in Hindi cinema, and their films illustrate, in an exemplary fashion, the role of songs in carrying the melodramatic and sentimental narrative of a film. The Hindi film auteur, as producer, director and actor, not only imposes his special style on his films but is visible on the screen itself.
This book is primarily concerned with songs from the Golden Age of Hindi cinema – 1951–1963 – a period in Hindi film history when emotion, sentiment and melodrama were regularly combined to create ‘affective intensities’. The registers, moods and, in some cases, ragas of songs have been examined over a broad corpus of examples to identify their effect on the spectator, their role in the narrative of the film and their thematisation associated with specific emotional states. In so doing, the book theorises sentimentality and melodrama in the context of Hindi film songs to more fully identify the nature of sentimentality and to more fully understand the way songs play a role in the melodramatic form.

This book explores the strategic role of Liberty University, church planting networks, and grassroots mobilization in shaping U.S. policy toward Israel. It examines how Dr. Jerry Falwell, through his leadership at Liberty University and the Moral Majority, built a powerful evangelical coalition that effectively influenced Congress and the White House. By analyzing the intersection of faith, politics, and diplomacy, the book uncovers how Christian Zionism became a central force in conservative American politics, fostering a deep alliance between evangelicals and the Israeli government. Falwell’s relationship with Israeli leaders, particularly Prime Minister Menachem Begin, marked a turning point in evangelical engagement with U.S.-Israel relations.
Drawing on archival research, policy analysis, and historical case studies, this study reveals how church planting initiatives were not just religious efforts but also political mobilization tools. Through Liberty University’s extensive alumni network, pastors and church leaders across the United States incorporated pro-Israel advocacy into their congregations, fostering a committed base that actively lobbied for policies such as the relocation of the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem, foreign aid to Israel, and support for settlement expansion. The book highlights how evangelical activism extended beyond sermons and theological discourse, transforming into a well-organized political force with direct influence on U.S. foreign policy.
By tracing the historical evolution of evangelical political engagement, this book provides critical insights into the mechanisms by which grassroots activism, theological imperatives, and institutional influence shaped American diplomacy in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. It situates evangelical support for Israel within the broader conservative movement, illustrating how religious convictions translated into political action. As debates over faith-based politics and foreign policy continue to shape America’s global role, this book offers a timely and essential contribution to understanding the enduring impact of Christian Zionism on U.S.-Israel relations.

● Who leads the next $100 trillion in GDP growth?
● Are we developing leaders for a more sustainable future?
● What does the next generation of leaders need to know to build a more sustainable future?

Leading a sustainable organization requires more than marketing slogans and good reporting. It requires identifying the value of sustainability for all stakeholders and the development of specific transition and change plans that deliver a different type of organization. Noble aspirations in treaties and policies are a necessary part of the picture, but leaders must create organizations that enable daily actions. Making sustainability happen is a series of leadership choices:
o Creating strategic differentiation to compete on sustainability business opportunities
o Crafting a purpose that inspires employees to give their best
o Building and sharing a knowledge model about why, what, and how to do sustainability
o Ensuring that sustainability efforts are woven into values and ethics
o Deploying a transition plan with clear action steps that move from compliance to alignment
o Making sustainability part of the culture and identity of an organization
o Weaving personal commitment to sustainability into team performance
o Telling the story of sustainable results in all business communication
o Maintaining commitment in the face of inevitable derailment factors
o Future proofing the organization to stay on the sustainability journey with a sense of long-term value creation
● The current generation of leaders has failed to make the progress needed to delay the worst effects of climate change and biodiversity loss, so the challenges become harder. The book offers a chapter-by-chapter blueprint of key actions that can be learned and shared. The goal is to enable business leaders to accelerate action, make better decisions, and ensure that sustainability becomes part of the DNA of any organization.

Drawing on archival sources, this book provides an anthropological exploration of the National College of Arts (NCA) in Lahore, tracing its evolution from the Mayo School of Arts established in 1875. As a counterpart to London’s South Kensington School of Design (now the Royal College of Art), the Mayo School emerged as a crucial site for the dissemination of colonial art education in British India, alongside similar institutions in Calcutta, Bombay, and Madras. Named to honor Lord Earl of Mayo, the only Viceroy of India assassinated in office, it was founded by Lockwood Kipling and featured a distinguished roster of educators including Ram Singh, Percy Brown, Lionel Heath, S.N. Gupta, B.C. Sanyal, and A.R. Chughtai. The Mayo School also initiated the Journal of Indian Art and Industry, a seminal publication utilizing cutting-edge chromolithography techniques.

The book employs theoretical analysis to understand how the NCA, functioning as a bureaucratic entity, has shaped the landscape of design education, museums, and artistic practices in both colonial and postcolonial contexts. From its roots in British art education, derived from South Kensington, the institution's trajectory reflects its adaptation through American reforms in the early years of Pakistani independence. This analysis critically examines how frameworks of art history and anthropology have been mobilized to construct and objectify Pakistani art and artists.

Furthermore, the book explores the contributions of colonial anthropologists such as Richard Temple, Denzil Ibbetson, and Baden Powell, who were instrumental in the establishment and administration of the Mayo School. Their work in ethnographic reconstruction provided a cultural framework that influenced the education of artisan castes, situating them within a “primitive” Punjabi context. This colonial subtext profoundly impacted the pedagogical approaches of the Mayo School, which also nurtured the emergence of the Indo-Saracenic architectural style and supported traditional Punjabi painting.

Despite its industrial art orientation, the Mayo School was pivotal in the development of a modern Punjab painting tradition recognized at the British Indian Empire Exhibition of 1924. Under the guidance of Lionel Heath, the school began to embrace modern art, with printmaking, graphic design, and sculpture taking root in the 1930s through the efforts of B.C. Sanyal and M.M. Hussain. The Mayo School’s printing press produced a diverse array of materials, reflecting major Western art movements from Arts and Crafts to Art Deco and Bauhaus.

In the formative years of Pakistan, the Mayo School transitioned into the National College of Arts in 1958, modeled after the Bauhaus with departments in Fine Art, Design, and Architecture. Influential figures such as poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz, painter Shakir Ali, art patron Ghulam Mueenuddin, and American sculptor Mark Sponenburgh were pivotal in shaping the NCA as Pakistan’s premier institution for art and design. Through a critical examination of art history and anthropological frameworks, this book elucidates how imperial and nationalist discourses have intersected to shape and redefine artistic and cultural identities within Pakistan.

Disappearing Cities is a collection of over fifty short stories of invented cities, set in the not too distant future, destroyed by varied climate change impacts and linked natural disasters. The stories bring into question the relation between the natural and unnatural forces of change and expose responses to, and lessons learnt, from different disaster crises situations. Stories also focus on how means to adapt are sought. The projected fictions are created from projected current climate facts; trends; and the author’s experience of population displacement, relocation and design-based climate change responsive action. Central to the book is the recognition that to be able to respond and adapt to the scale of coming changes in the climate requires going beyond existing practical action and embracing a new way of imagining futures. Disappearing Cities aims to stimulate ways of meeting this need.
The book opens with a Prologue that establishes the contextual frame of empirical foundation out of which the fictions are created. It recognises that we all live in a world in which the conditions that will result in huge numbers of cities disappearing are underway. From the human perspective, the process appears to be very slow, whereas in historico-geological time, it is happening exceptionally quickly. The number of the loss of cities is going to be huge, yet the recognition that this will occur is not arriving, In part, this is because of a lack of knowledge, but equally, it reflects a lack of imagination. Transposing what is known about climate change by a significant percentage of the societies of many nations to actual environments in which they live is just not arriving. What appears so solid and established fails to be seen and imagined as a risk and vulnerable. From establishing this opening perspective, the first part of the book presents stories of cities already disappearing as a result of the forces of nature changed by anthropogenically created global warming. Part two discusses the impacts of natural disasters being made unnaturally. For example, by the way industrial societies are damaging and changing natural systems, including the climatic. The final part goes to cities destroyed by completely un-natural means, including war.
Disappearing Cities aims to contribute to meeting the need for a better understanding of, and ability to imagine, the risks to which vast numbers of cities are, and will be, exposed to forces of disappearance. To do this, the narratives are a hybrid of fact and fiction. The work was inspired by Italo Calvino’s book Invisible Cities and is intended to be a salient contemporary companion to this text. It mirrors its form but differs in style and content. Invisible Cities attained diverse readership, Disappearing Cities aspires to do likewise.

Alessandro Michele’s creative direction at Gucci, starting in 2015, transformed the brand into a maximalist, gender-fluid and intellectual aesthetic that blended vintage-inspired, eclectic designs with philosophical and cultural references

Before Alessandro Michele took the creative helm at Gucci in 2015, the brand was mostly known for its sleek sophistication and sexy hedonism. Despite having worked at the Italian fashion house for over twelve years as the accessories and jewellery designer, Michele was relatively unknown in the fashion industry and the public sphere. All of that was to change when he sent his models down the runway for the 2015 Fall/Winter ready-to-wear collection in an eclectic mix of pussy-bow blouses, chiffon dresses, wallpaper prints and a motley collection of accessories, including fur-lined loafers, berets and granny-style horn-rimmed glasses. Michele’s stylistic design approach created an aesthetic reminiscent of the fashion eccentric who wears flea market finds with high-end designer and heirloom pieces – imperfect, nostalgic and maximalist. The new Gucci woman (and man) were intellectual and sensual misfits who are perfectly at home in the glamourous rag-tag aesthetic of a Wes Anderson film.
With his inaugurate collection, Michele tapped into the zeitgeist that was yearning for a more colourful and playful design, and a disregard of traditional gender divisions: while Gucci has hitherto showcased its men’s and women’s collections separately, as well as favoured traditional masculine and feminine looks respectively, Michele broke with the idea of a gender binary, ushering in gender fluidity and a new fantastical vision of masculinity.
Although his collections were spectacular in their scope (the Fall/Winter 2017 consists of roughly 120 looks), the designs are also a testimony to his ability to scramble signifiers of gender, pop culture, history and time. Referencing and borrowing from philosophical concepts and ideas, such as the infamous Cyborg collection (Gucci Fall/Winter 2019) that envisioned subjectivities beyond the confines of the human body with replica heads or extra eyes on their hands; the Fall/Winter 2016 collection titled ‘Rhizomatic Scores’, referencing Deleuze and Guattari’s influential concept; or the Fall/Winter 2020 menswear collection titled ‘Masculine, Plural’ that referenced Butler’s notion of gender performativity, Michele exemplifies a fashion auteur who knows how to play not only with gender signifiers but also with signifiers of time, culture and species.

Examines Gothic realism in documentary and horror cinema, highlighting how films evoke archival anxiety and unsettling realities, from gothumentaries exploring ineffable subjects to mockumentaries and found-footage films addressing modernity’s overwhelming and mediated nature.

Examines the daily struggles of migrantized divorced mothers in Germany in a framework of everyday violence and its (in)visibilities, focusing on their resistances and vulnerabilities within unequal relations of support

This book approaches the daily struggles of migrantized divorced motherhood through theories, discourses, and (in)visibilities of everyday violence. Building on ethnographically informed everyday violence theories, it offers a framework in which violence becomes everyday violence when it engages with the boundaries of ordinary lives by means of being disruptive, reproduced, absorbed, and expected. Taking neither the visibility nor the invisibility of violence for granted, it discusses how the same discourses of violence can visibly victimize certain daily struggles of migrantized divorced motherhood while obscuring certain others.
Analyzing the individual narratives of divorced mothers living in Germany with immigration biographies from Turkey, the book tackles their struggles with poverty, dequalification, maternal guilt, time constraints, care, everyday racism and sexism, as well as the conceptualizations of violence itself. If there is a certain form of “loneness” implied in the term lone parenting, these narratives reveal how such “loneness” is structurally and discursively constructed within a relationality of the self to resources. With attention to various forms of victimizations, vulnerabilities, and resistances, the book delves into what it means to “stand on one’s own two feet” in the face of paternalistic conditions of intimate and structural support.
Thus, the author makes various strong arguments around the work of tackling everyday violence and the immunities secured against the attribution of violence within power relations. Underlining the ambivalent consequences of our everyday and scholarly discourses on violence, she carefully situates the concept in a context of migrantization and culturalization of gendered experiences. Overall, the research participants offer narratives of not only everyday violence but also everyday protests, which refuse the forced (in)visibilities of their daily struggles and analyze the labor they invest into their relations to resources. And it is the acknowledgment of these protests that is at stake when they narrate their daily struggles, name violence, and reject a passive victimhood.

This book explores the transformative role of open-source technologies and digital commons in fostering a cooperative and sustainable economy. Built upon the research project “Techno-Social Innovation in the Collaborative Economy,” the study investigates innovative, grassroots economic models that leverage digital technologies for community-driven governance and decentralized value creation.
The book presents a multi-case study approach, featuring organizations such as Tzoumakers, Open Food Network, CoopCycle, and Circles UBI. These cases exemplify how platform cooperativism, cosmolocalism, and open cooperativism redefine traditional business structures, emphasizing sustainability, fairness, and democratic ownership. The discussion extends to blockchain-enabled DAOs and their impact on labor, governance, and wealth distribution.
Through theoretical and empirical insights, The Model of Open Cooperativism bridges political economy and digital innovation, providing practical strategies for policymakers, activists, and scholars. It highlights the success and challenges of grassroots-driven initiatives, offering a roadmap for transitioning toward a commons-based, post-capitalist economy.

For decades, museums have been recognized as spaces for public debate and civic education, where discourses produced through exhibitions and other activities contribute to the construction and legitimation of particular views of society and the world. The research presented in this book stems from a desire to engage in the ongoing debate aimed at rethinking ethnographic museums and their ways of producing representations of others. It seeks to explore new ways and possible solutions, alongside existing ones, to transform these spaces into inclusive environments for the production of knowledge that is as shared, plural, and decolonized as possible.
The focus is on some artifacts belonging to two Brazilian Indigenous populations, but kept and exhibited in two ethnographic museums in Lisbon and Vienna. Specifically, a Kambeba bamboo board for flattening the head of newborn babies, collected by Alexandre Rodrigues Ferreira during the Philosophical Journey of 1783–1792 and kept at the Academy of Sciences in Lisbon, and a set of Munduruku feather works collected by the Austrian naturalist Johann Natterer between 1817 and 1835 and kept at the Völkerkundemuseum in Vienna.
By combining historical and ethnographic approaches, the aim is, on one hand, to show the role of objects in producing a specific stereotypical image of Brazilian natives, and, on the other hand, to discuss the presence of Indigenous objects in European museums to bring out different discourses, histories, and categories that have been silenced by colonial power and through which material culture is perceived and contextualized across time and space.

This book is a pioneering work that examines cultural diversity policies in Argentina, Brazil, and Peru over the past 15 years. The book offers a critical analysis of the rationalities and concepts underpinning these policies, exposing their inherent contradictions and the social forces that have both supported and resisted their implementation. By highlighting the struggles of marginalized groups in their pursuit of social, economic, and political equality, it reveals the deep intersections between culture, identity, and power.
The book situates these discussions within the broader context of Latin America’s colonial legacy and ongoing decolonization efforts. It demonstrates how the region’s nation-states, often founded on myths of cultural homogeneity, have grappled with the complex realities of diverse populations. Through detailed case studies, the book showcases how cultural diversity has become a powerful tool for social empowerment, particularly among racialized groups and other marginalized communities. It also offers insights into the evolution of these policies, tracing the ways in which they have responded to grassroots movements and the global discourse on cultural citizenship.
Furthermore, this work contributes to global debates by positioning Latin America as a key player in rethinking cultural policies that promote diversity, justice, and inclusion. It reflects on the lessons learned from observing these policies, urging readers to consider the broader implications for social cohesion and inclusive development. This work not only provides a thorough analysis of Latin America’s unique contributions to cultural policy but also underscores the urgent need for more dynamic, intercultural approaches to address the challenges of the 21st century.

Explores the rise of resurgent Philippine liberalism, its ties to neoliberalism and U.S. influence, and its role in exacerbating inequality and geopolitical tensions, rooted in both contemporary and historical contexts

A resurgent liberalism has become hegemonic in Philippine media and academic discourses, which were for many years characterized by progressive and nationalist perspectives. Resurgent Philippine liberalism (RPL) is defined by its relationships with neoliberalism’s instantiation in the Philippine economy and society and the neoliberal wing of the contemporary Philippine political elite. The transnational positionality of many of its exponents has allowed RPL to converge with and support the priorities of U.S. military, economic, and cultural power, especially since the projection of this power has been cloaked in the progressive rhetoric of “human rights,” “freedom of speech,” “anti-populism,” “anti-disinformation,” and so on. Moreover, RPL intersects with new technologies, forms of social capital, and iterations of dynastic politics, while playing a deleterious role in domestic and global crises that are intensifying inequality and geopolitical conflict. While RPL has arguably been precipitated by current affairs and concomitant anxieties (such as about U.S.–Philippine elite relations in a new multipolar geopolitics), it also has long-term historical roots in the post-Marcos era of elite democracy and further back to the origins of ilustrado liberalism and reformist nationalism in the nineteenth century.
This book makes certain novel theoretical interventions by interrogating the defining assumptions of the liberal critique of Philippine autocracy, which all too often exculpates U.S. imperial power (in both its “hard” and “soft” forms) in sustaining such regimes, rejects more holistic and materialist theories of socio-political change as precipitated by mass-movements of the working-class, and naively proposes Philippine elite liberal politics and/or the Western model of “liberal democracy” as viable alternatives to Philippine authoritarian populism.
In addition to this empirical, real-world analysis, the book is concerned with the ontological, epistemological, and more broadly theoretical dimensions of RPL, as manifested in Philippine academia, journalism, politics, activism, and culture. In its rejection – covert or overt – of formerly pre-eminent materialist theories of social change precipitated by mass movements of working-class people, RPL risks either resuscitating classical liberal methodologies such as the Great Man Theory of History or offering some new techniques for gaining knowledge about culture, politics, and economics. Concomitant problems include RPL’s historiography seeking to rehabilitate controversial historical subjects such as the Spanish and American colonial eras and how modern-day academic RPL has sought to obscure its more illiberal affiliations with U.S. imperialism and its tacit endorsement of the Philippine political status quo by drawing on the intellectual paradigms of “the global theory industry” (Brickhill, 2022) and a dematerialized conception of identity politics that reduces racism and other instruments of oppression to matters of interpersonal misunderstanding, rather than as the structural and material sine qua non of precisely the global liberal capitalism such scholars largely subscribe to. Finally, the authors seek to answer the question, how is RPL enabled and supported by non-Filipino foreign-based intellectuals and media commentators based largely in the United States and Western Europe? And how, further to Caroline Hau’s (2019) reflections, the RPL’s agenda has come to shape the academic study and comprehension of the Philippines in overseas university curricula?

Examines the little-known Ikarian Greek diaspora, focusing on Ikarians’ emigration, settlement, community building and integration in South Australia between 1900 and 1945.

This scholarly monograph looks at a little-researched diaspora, originating on the Greek Aegean Island of Ikaria. Ikaria itself is a small, isolated island, close to the Turkish coast. It has had a long and independent history, with periods of autonomy and self-rule, including the short-lived Free State of Ikaria in 1912, which was the outcome of the Ikarian Revolution against the Ottoman Empire. Ikarians themselves remained quite insular until the nineteenth century, when they began emigrating. Ottoman port-cities and urban centres, as well as nearby Aegean islands, received the first Ikarian emigrants.
Eventually, Ikarians found themselves in growing hubs of migration such as Egypt and the United States. By 1910, the first Ikarians had arrived in Port Pirie, South Australia, beginning a long tradition of Ikarian migration and settlement in the state. This book explores the Ikarians in South Australia between 1900 and 1945 – an under-researched period, and a contrast from most studies on Greeks in Australia, which have focused heavily on the mass migration post-World War II and post-Greek Civil War. This also leaves a gap for a later study on Ikarians in South Australia beyond 1945. The book positions itself around four key themes: emigration, settlement, community building and integration, with ideas such as localism and identity being explored as facets within those themes.

Opportunities to write our memoirs are many and varied. To meet emerging demands, the memoir genre continually is evolving, and it is possible for the memoirist to shape the memoirs, with varying themes, time and settings, to be brought to bear on school education at a senior level and for a range of teacher-development programs. Thus, the developing importance of an accompanying exegesis.
For better or for worse, childhoods shape adult relationships and attachment styles, profoundly shaping who we are as teachers, teaching styles and generally the things we consider important and not so important. The shape of our childhood and adolescence has a profound impact on how relationships are formed in adulthood. It can affect our ability to trust, be vulnerable and create productive bonds, both at school and college and professionally, and also our general levels of motivation.
Through the aforementioned theme and subthemes, my memoirs here reveal how childhood struggle has shaped my approach to teaching and my academic career – from an unskilled labourer from the country working class in the timber industry, deprived of a high school education and recruited into the workforce at 15 years of age, to a senior academic in one of Australia’s G8 universities, holding five PhDs.
With strong historical backgrounding, a special appeal of this book is its drive to place childhood and adolescent events contained in the memoirs in a wider historical context, looking to transnational movements such as discussions on anachronisms and eugenics. In so doing, the exegesis – a fresh and exciting innovation – is in harmony with the memoirs. The memoir is so refashioned as a pedagogical tool.

To show the non-linear nature of social evolution, it is crucially important to discuss cases from different cultural areas and different historical periods, including our time, as well as different levels of overall sociocultural complexity. This anthology includes chapters that explore case studies covering a wide range of societies of the Old and the New World ranging from ancient to modern contexts. Respectively, the chapters are based on different kinds of sources – archaeological, historical, anthropological (ethnographic), and sociological. This analysis of pre-modern and modern societies sheds valuable light on the variety of ways in which social institutions were developing through time and space and of how these institutions may have fostered social evolution. Therefore, this publication may enhance our understanding of social evolution at the world-system, regional, and local-culture levels via the integration of various kinds of evidence within a unified conceptual framework.
Societies are systems composed of a great number of various social institutions. Societies change as a result of emergence, transformation, and interaction of institutions. As systems of social institutions, societies have a fundamental characteristic that can be called a “basic principle of societal organization.” The principle of organization a society embodies depends on the way its institutions are arranged with respect to one another. Two basic principles can be distinguished: heterarchical, at which institutions interact being unranked with respect to one another or can be ranked in different ways, and the opposite principle, homoarchical, at which institutions interact being rigidly ranked in the only way and have no or very limited potential for being unranked or ranked in other ways. Societies of the same level of overall cultural complexity and with the same basic principle of organization can take different specific forms, as alternativeness exists not only between but also within the heterarchical and homoarchical macrogroups of societies. The division of societies into predominantly heterarchical and homoarchical is a constant fact of human sociocultural history. The dichotomy of heterarchy and homoarchy has considerably determined the non-linear and alternative nature of the global sociocultural process.
Transformations in the ways social institutions and their sets, societal subsystems, are ranked (homoarchically or heterarchically) on one hand and changes in the overall sociocultural complexity on the other are two different, largely unrelated processes. Homoarchy and heterarchy are not evolutionary lines: a society can pass from a predominantly heterarchical way of ranking institutions to predominantly homoarchical or vice versa, and can do it both with and without a change in level of complexity. At any level of overall cultural complexity, one can observe both heterarchical and homoarchical societies, because an equal level of complexity (which makes it possible to solve equally difficult problems societies face) can be achieved in various forms on essentially different (though intersecting in the history of many societies and regions) principles of societal organization.

Uses an evolutionary perspective and interpretative methods to explore economic and social transformations in the United States and China, highlighting the roles of culture, institutions and entrepreneurship in policy change.

This volume consists of three parts, comprising 15 chapters. It highlights the roles of culture and institutions on economic and social changes. The West is illustrated by the United States, Britain or Canada and East Asia, by chopstick economies such as China, Taiwan and Hong Kong. Part I is the theoretical framework. It contains five chapters. Chapter 1 (Searching for Good Learner: Uncertainty and Learning in the Evolutionary Approach) employs the evolutionary perspective to interpret economic and social transformations. Chapter 2 (Culture and Institutions on Economic Transformation) explains the relationship between traditional belief/ideology/religion and culture. The West adopts rule of law while the East, rule by law. In chapter 3 (Quilt and Shame Cultures: Anglosphere versus Chopstick Economies), a Christian nation in Western economies, such as the United States, is identified as a society of guilt while chopstick economies in East Asia, such as China, are embedded with Confucianism, a society of shame. Cultural difference has implications on social control and educational reform. In chapter 4 (Chinese Legalism and European Mercantilism), contemporary China utilises Confucianism supplemented by Legalism to strengthen the state power. Legalism is akin to European Mercantilism. Chapter 5 (An Imagined Social World in the West and East) highlights the imagined world in the West and East.
• Part II presents different cases in entrepreneurship and everyday life creativity. Chapter 6 (Entrepreneurship: Transformative and Adaptive) argues that the United States, due to individualism and self-assertion, brings technological breakthroughs in the world while Asian economies such as China receive training in Confucianism, and provide the world with mainly adaptive entrepreneurs and imitative products. Culture makes a difference in entrepreneurship and hence economic transformation. Chapter 7 (Intellectual Property Protection: The Case of Semiconductor) explains the origin of the disputes in the U.S.–China intellectual property protection. It is illustrated by Huawei, a learner in technological transfer. Chapter 8 (The ‘New Opium War’: On Supplying Fentanyl) argues that China’s ways of handling the production and consumption of fentanyl contrast sharply with the Western powers. Fentanyl crisis is the New Opium War! Chapter 9 (Electoral versus Authoritarian States: Combating Coronavirus Disease Pandemic) compares pandemic-associated measures in the United States and China. It reveals that culture counts in tackling global responses to infectious diseases. Chapter 10 (If Shakespeare Is the West, then Jin Yong is the East) compares the works of Shakespeare and Jin Yong. Shakespeare works focus on individualism and self-reliance while Yin Yong works stress on familism and patriotism.
• Part III highlights the impacts of culture on Chinese economies. Chapter 11 (A Winning Tactic? Social Construction of Party Reality in Socialist China) explains how Mao Zedong turned Chinese peasanty, if not serfs, into a winning game for his party. Peasanty were ‘oppressed’ by their landlords. After painbearers ‘spoke out’ their suffering and killed the landlords, they could ‘stand up’ again. They supported the Chinese Communist Party instead of the Nationalist Party (Kuomintang). Chapter 12 (Culture, Nationalism and Wolf Warrior Diplomacy) argues that foreign policy reflects culture and history. China’s wolf warrior diplomacy traces its roots back to culture. Chapter 13 (Sharing the Same Culture versus Different National Identities in Taiwan) examines whether the same culture will entail different impacts on Taiwan’s politics. It also explores whether different national identities affect Taiwan’s political affairs and economic transformation. To further reveal the impacts of cultural differences on policy change, the authors use Hong Kong as a case study (Chapter 14: British Hong Kong versus Post-1997 Hong Kong: Economic and Social Transformation). They examine if British ruling (representing Western culture) entails any impact on the economy and society in Hong Kong (now a Chinese city). Chapter 15 (Western Culture in Hong Kong: Hong Rengan and Robert Ho Tung Bosman) explains and illustrates how Hong Rengan (Taiping Heavenly Kingdom) and Robert Ho Tung Bosman (a member of Hong Kong Legislative Council) absorb Western knowledge in Hong Kong. Deeply embedded with Chinese culture, Hong could not help the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom to establish a real republic in China. Ho’s flexibility and dual identities helped him work comfortably in Hong Kong, thus setting up a pre-condition for Hong Kong to move into a global financial centre.

The enduring influence of Saint Laurent’s designs in modern fashion is undeniable. Concepts introduced by Saint Laurent, like the tuxedo jacket for women and the sheer blouse and dress, have become staples in contemporary fashion, transcending their origins to become symbols of power, elegance and sexuality. His ability to anticipate and articulate the needs and desires of the modern woman has left a lasting blueprint for how fashion interacts with social change and individual identity. Moreover, even after his death at 71 in 2008, Saint Laurent’s integration of art and fashion continues to inspire current designers, seen in the ongoing collaborations between high fashion and contemporary artists.
Saint Laurent was above all an artist of synthesis, of agglomeration and reshaping, of conglomeration and adaptation. His work is a fusion of the tactile and aesthetic with fancy and supposition – for his interiors are not what were but could have been, a projection of imagination and personality. It is a straddling of two separate worlds, which is crucial to fashion. His significance is in making this explicit.

This book is the first biographical account of Sebastian Masuda written in English. Sebastian Masuda is a Japanese creator and artist who is globally known as the king of Japanese “Kawaii” (cute) subculture which originated in Harajuku. His continuous pursuit of the concept of kawaii is his lifetime passion and mission, and his work is always characterized by bright neon colors that led to the emergence of Decora fashion. He wears several hats in the field of fashion, art, and entertainment and uses colorful and kawaii elements as his creative foundation. He treats kawaii styles as explicit, non-violent forms of rebellion and resistance like many other youth subcultures in Japan that express themselves in unconventional fashion. One needs courage to walk down the street wearing bright, flashy clothes and accessories from head to toe.
As an artist, Masuda has created prominent art pieces, such as a giant Hello Kitty sculpture in New York and a giant Doraemon statue made out of fluffy yarn in Singapore. As a designer, he has designed the décor of Kawaii Monster Café in Harajuku and Sushidelic, a sushi restaurant, in New York. He also runs a store, 6%DokiDoki, which has its own clothing line. As an entertainment producer, he has collaborated with Kyary Pamyu Pamyu, a Japanese singer and pop culture icon, and produced her first music video.
This book traces a strong impact of Masudaʼs difficult and lonely childhood and upbringing and complex family background on his creative endeavors that attract millions of youngsters that are also going through personal hardships. Masuda went through his teenage years spending time alone in the library reading books which made him observant and perceptive. This book also delves into his deep understanding of kawaii with intricate layers of interpretations which are often misunderstood and misconstrued as simply being cute, girlie, and infantile. Kawaii is not just an adjective but a lifestyle, philosophy, and ideology.

The long-awaited convergence of climate, economic, political, intellectual, faith and social failures gives many reasons for despair. The authors of this volume have spent their lives around the trauma of race and poverty in South Africa and the United States working with Nobel prize winners and those in townships and tenements. We have learned that hope is not delusional and accountability not naïve. But one must think clearly and deeply, untethered from the inadequate simplicities and false choices. We must be here now, with eyes wide open for when systems break down, as so many are today, knowing that they also break open new space for creative action.
The authors lead the global web of thinker-doers through the Leading Causes of Life Initiative and national networks in Africa, Europe and the United States. They find coherence among profound thinking from fields never brought into alignment before drawn from by economists, mycelial researchers, anthropologists and health sciences working in the Artic to South Africa, and the tough neighbourhoods in between. This includes a consideration of the human capacities that allow us to act in and transform the world we inhabit, of the radical nature of joy in the face of despair, of the judgement of Nemesis on hubris and privilege, of the ‘value of everything’ contra price as definitive, of the idea of involution as distinguished from evolution, of the concept of ‘meshworks’ in our entanglement with others, and, finally, of the ‘theatre of the soul’ as the unity of the physical, the psychological, the political and the spiritual.
Sharply sensitive to the urgency of careful thought and wise action, the authors help us see that life does find a way towards deep accountability for the life of complex human ecosystems. They ask us to take responsibility for this as a key to human flourishing and well-being.

Hands, Wrists, Fingers invites musicians to explore a new way of thinking about good health. The physical dimensions of hands are certainly important and merit close study, encompassing coordination, relaxation, dexterity, speed, accuracy, and freedom from pain. While acknowledging these dimensions, Hands, Wrists, Fingers focuses on a broader perspective that includes cultural dimensions both conscious and unconscious, involving language, symbol, ritual, curiosity, playfulness, and mindfulness. Through a wealth of original insights, anecdotes, exercises, and games, musicians will be able to transform their hands into sensitive and intelligent agents of joyful creativity, in which the linguistic and symbolic dimensions of hands become inseparable from their physical and material existence.
Hands, Wrists, Fingers is organized in four parts: Culture, The Language of Hands, Sensitivity and Creativity, and Knowledge and Mystery. Behind the physical gestures and movements of your daily life and your music-making, there are the stories that you tell about your own hands—thoughts and feelings, memories, experiences, judgments, hopes, and fears. Hands, Wrists, Fingers argues that the way you use your hands is inseparable from these stories, in which you tell yourself “what you can and cannot do, what you should and should not do, what you’re allowed to do and what you’re prevented from doing.” If your inner stories aren’t healthy in themselves, it’s very difficult for your hands to behave in a healthy manner.
Hands, Wrists, Fingers is a practical book brimming with exercises and suggestions. Every chapter is supported by video clips illustrating and demonstrating its exercises. Among other things, you’ll explore the skills of rotation and of spiral movements, the mastery of textures and gradations, the playful manipulation of objects, and the use of your hands as agents of expressive language. Your hands will become creative, intelligent, and sensitive, and you’ll develop a new understanding of the true meaning of good health.

Gabrielle Appleby is a professor of constitutional law at the UNSW Faculty of Law & Justice and is currently a Professorial Research Fellow at the Pro Vice Chancellor Society at UNSW (Sydney). She researches and teaches in public law, with her areas of expertise including the role, powers and accountability of the Executive; parliamentary law and practice; the role of government lawyers; the integrity of the judicial branch; and First Nations constitutional recognition. She is the Director of The Judiciary Project at the Gilbert + Tobin Centre of Public Law, the constitutional consultant to the Clerk of the Australian House of Representatives and a member of the Indigenous Law Centre. Gabrielle was the founding editor of Australia’s national public law blog, AUSPUBLAW (www.auspublaw.org). In 2015–2018, Gabrielle was a Chief Investigator on the ARC Discovery Project, Law, Order and Federalism, looking at the effects of the High Court’s chapter III jurisprudence on State government law and order policy development. In 2016–2017, she worked as a pro bono constitutional adviser to the Regional Dialogues and the First Nations Constitutional Convention that led to the Uluru Statement from the Heart. Her books include Australian Public Law (4th ed., 2024); The Judge, The Judiciary and the Court: Individual, Collegial and Institutional Judicial Dynamics in Australia (2021); Judicial Federalism in Australia (2021); The Role of the Solicitor-General: Negotiating Law, Politics and the Public Interest (2016); The Critical Judgments Project: Re-reading Monis v The Queen (2016); and The Tim Carmody Affair (2016). Gabrielle has also spent time working for the Queensland Crown Solicitor and the Victorian Government Solicitor’s Office.
Megan Davis is the Pro Vice-Chancellor Society (PVCS) at UNSW Sydney and a UNSW Scientia Professor. She holds the Balnaves Chair in Constitutional Law and the Whitlam Fraser Harvard Chair in Australian Studies at Harvard University and is a Visiting Professor at Harvard Law School. She has also been appointed a Penn Carey Law Bok Visiting International Professor, University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School (Penn Carey Law). Professor Davis is a renowned constitutional lawyer and public law expert, specialising on Indigenous peoples and the law, the constitutional recognition of First Nations and democracy. Professor Davis is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Law, a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Social Sciences, and a Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities. She is an Acting Commissioner of the NSW Land and Environment Court. She has been the leading Australian lawyer on constitutional recognition of First Nations peoples for two decades and designed the Referendum Council’s deliberative process that led to the Uluru Statement from the Heart. From 2022 to 2023, she served on the Referendum Working Group, the Referendum Engagement Group and the Attorney General’s Constitutional Expert Group. She was a member of the Prime Minister’s Referendum Council (2015–2017) and the Prime Minister’s Expert Panel on the Recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples in the Constitution (2011–2012). She is the Co-Chair of the Uluru Dialogue – the group of First Nations leaders who led the Uluru Statement from the Heart work. Professor Davis was a Commissioner on the QLD Commission of Inquiry into Youth Detention Centres in 2016, and was the Chair and author of ‘Family is Culture’, an inquiry into NSW Aboriginal Children in Out of Home care (2017–2019). She is a globally recognised expert in Indigenous peoples legal rights and was elected by the UN Economic and Social Council as an expert member of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (2011–2016). Professor Davis was also appointed by the United Nations Human Rights Council to the Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous peoples twice (2017–2022). Professor Davis is a Sydney Peace Prize Laureate for the Uluṟu Statement from the Heart and was awarded a 2024 PeaceWomen Award by the Women’s International League for Peace & Freedom (WILPF). In 2023, Professor Davis was named on TIME Magazine’s TIME NEXT100 list of the Next Generation of Global leaders. She was also named Marie Claire ‘Powerhouse of the Year’ in 2023. She is a previous Overall Winner of the AFR Women of Influence (now AFR Women of Leadership) awards in 2018 and was previously named on the AFR Annual Cultural Power list and AFR’s Australia’s top 5 Legal Powerbrokers list.

This is the first republication of Rheta Childe Dorr’s book Inside the Russian Revolution (1917), accompanied by the editor’s research introduction and comments. Dorr (1866–1948) was a leading suffragette from Nebraska, studied at the University of Nebraska, before moving to New York as a journalist and first editor of The Suffragette. Living on the lower East Side, she became a socialist. She visited Russia during the first Russian revolution (1905–1907) and later covered the February Revolution of 1917 for the New York Evening Mail.
Her book Inside the Russian Revolution (1917) depicts the overthrow of the tsar as a positive, democratic move with hope of a Russia following the American path to constitutional democracy. The evolution of revolutionary Russia from February to October changed not only Dorr’s perception of the Russian revolution as a phenomenon but her vision of socialism as well. In this sense, she was among the American radicals who contributed to American phenomenology of the 1917 Russian revolution but were not satisfied with its results. Being a prominent figure in the U.S. political and social life of her time, Rheta Dorr expanded the horizons of the Americans’ identity.
Dorr is also known for other publications. In 1922, she assisted Anna Vyrubova, a lady-in-waiting, the best friend and the confidante of Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, with the writing of Vyrubova’s memoir, My Memories of the Russian Court. Thereafter, Dorr wrote her own memoir, A Woman of Fifty, published in 1924. Dorr moved from her autobiography to a biography of Susan B. Anthony, published in 1928, and completed her publishing activity in 1929 with a tome on the question of prohibition.

Explores the rise of the “gig public” in the age of performative publicness, highlighting challenges in sustaining meaningful discourse, the impact of new technologies and AI on public engagement, and the emergence of the will to visibility within the context of capitalism and algorithmic governmentality.

This monograph explores the evolving nature of publicness in the era of digital communication and social media saturation, arguing that the rise of the “gig public” represents a new paradigm that challenges the traditional conceptualization of the public in shaping social and political change. The gig public departs from traditional notions of publicness and the public, characterized by individuals’ spontaneous and less-structured engagement in public discourse. This engagement is often hampered by challenges in fostering sustained interaction and depth of discussion, due to the ephemeral nature of online interactions.
In particular, this monograph highlights the importance of customs, negotiations, and contracts that complement the normatively privileged public reasoning in public domains. It examines the transformations in the multifaceted nature of the public and its interrelationship with other social structures amid the shifting boundaries between public and private domains. In addition, it explores the evolution of conceptualizations of publicness and related concepts within critical theory, illustrating how contemporary shifts are redefining civic engagement and the essence of public life in a rapidly changing world. From these perspectives, the study is structured around three primary focal points: First, it analyzes how new information technologies and AI have altered human interactions within the public sphere. Second, it examines the impact of capitalist economic dynamics and governmentality strategies on reshaping the public realm, fundamentally altering the essence of the public and its democratic potential. Third, it explores how habitual and routine practices traditionally associated with the private sphere are now influencing the ongoing evolution of publicness.
The monograph aims to provide a comprehensive analysis of the challenges posed by the fragmentation of contemporary public discourse and the emergence of gig publics. It also considers strategies to invigorate publicness through AI technology that enables users to transform plain language into automated actions on their computers, potentially reshaping civic engagement in the digital age.

In a little over twenty years, New York–-based fashion designer Thome Browne has decisively and permanently changed the fashion industry. Through his clothes that are rooted in America’s distinctive preppie style, he has challenged age-old conventions of tailoring by altering proportions and blurring gender boundaries. The cropped trouser, which has become a staple of people’s wardrobes around the world, owes much to Browne’s pioneering reinterpretation of the suit. Through highly choreographed catwalk shows, he has enlivened the presentation of fashion, creating soulful spectacles that variously critique and cherish common themes in human lives.
Browne’s influence within the fashion industry has been recognised through various awards. The Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) has named him ‘Menswear Designer of the Year’ on three occasions, in 2006, 2013, and 2016. Since 2023, Browne has served as the CFDA’s Chair. In May 2023, Browne dressed nine celebrities to honour Karl Lagerfeld at the annual gala hosted by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
This book considers Browne’s position as a fashion auteur by focusing on four collections that enable detailed consideration of his innovative clothing designs and catwalk presentations, situating them within their historical and social context and drawing out what makes them distinctive and influential.

Examines what Australians read and wrote during the long nineteenth century, exploring their responses to the novels, poetry and non-fiction that inspired them, and the everyday writings of ordinary people, including diaries, letters and other personal documents

What did Australians read? This book answers this question in terms of books rather than newspapers and considers the long nineteenth century, interpreted as running from 1788 to 1901. In the wake of this primary question, several others arise: how did Australians acquire the books they read, and how did readers in the outback overcome the handicaps of distance and remoteness? Did they read for pleasure, instruction, self-edification, or spiritual sustenance? More importantly, how did Australian readers respond to the books they read? The evidence is drawn from autobiographical sources, in which individual readers related their personal reading experiences and responses.
At the same time, the book pursues a second and related question: What did Australians write? Reference is made here not to the kind of writing we know as ‘literature’, but to the non-literary writing which cultural historians call ‘ordinary writings’. These are the writings of everyday life, represented in this book by diaries, journals, hand-written newspapers and correspondence. The focus is wide enough to include the everyday cultural practices of people of low social status and little education. The writing practices of the partially literate, including writing delegated to a third party, have their place here.
In this double investigation, the book draws on evidence from a cohort of 101 nineteenth-century readers and writers. They are a heterogeneous group of autobiographers, coming from Melbourne and Sydney to rural Queensland and Western Australia. They come from the city and the bush, from coastal towns and the interior, from sheep stations, gold diggings and city offices. They show us the perennial importance of Shakespeare and the Bible, the popularity of the English canon, the prestige of poetry and the importance of religious reading. Books held the Empire together but, as they travelled, their meanings changed according to the local cultural environment. This book registers such nuances in the Australian context. The writing of this group is represented by some prolific diarists and correspondents. In the late-nineteenth century, the eastern colonies became world leaders in sending letters. The postal environment which made this possible is also examined.

Cavell’s Ontology of Film presents ten essays by some of the most prominent international scholars of Stanley Cavell’s work with a double purpose: to look back, half a century after its original publication, at Cavell’s now seminal film-philosophical book The World Viewed (1971, enlarged 1979), and to draw on its concepts to assess the world in the current age of digital media and climate change.
The volume opens with a series of essays that revisit Cavell’s discussion of film—crucially including classical Hollywood movies—in the context of modernism. Several authors consider whether this preoccupation with modernism in Cavell’s early work ultimately (and anachronistically) gave way to an embrace of romanticism or whether Cavell conceives these frameworks as offering different responses to the persistent problem of skepticism. Others consider how popular filmmakers or film genres outside Hollywood might contribute to, or alter, Cavell’s thoughts on the movies. Moreover, taking to heart that some of Cavell’s main lines of thought are premised on the idea of film as an analog medium that projects and screens the world inside a theater, several contributions to this volume nevertheless project The World Viewed’s concepts onto the future of our televisual and digital culture. The volume finally loops back to Cavell’s discussion of modernism in The World Viewed so as to find the seeds of a Cavellian politics for the age of climate disaster.
Thus, beyond celebrating the past through a collection of reviews and reflections on The World Viewed—a book of “ontological reflection” that themselves conceive the world on screen as “a world past”—the present volume is best understood as a series of Cavellian meditations on media and mediated relations to the world, sustained, in the wake of Cavell’s own passing (2018), by an ongoing current of thought on the idea of temporality itself.

This book looks at Australian newspapers over the half century following the introduction of television in 1956. Through a quantitative study, it illuminates how the nature of news has changed and how central journalistic practices have developed. It examines newspapers’ changing size and structure, their story priorities, their use of visual aids and interpretive frames, their changing range and treatment of sources, and how these changes affected their political and international coverage.
The content analysis shows a dominant theme of growth and improvement. Newspapers offered their readers much more at the end of the half century than at the beginning. The much larger volume of news was presented in more visually attractive and reader-friendly ways than before. News agendas expanded in response both to changing reader interests and a changing political environment. Newspapers had a more active orientation towards using a wider range of sources. All papers shared in the major trends but to varying degrees so that by the end of the period there were sharper differences between the papers than at the beginning.
Mapping the multi-dimensional nature of change in this pivotal period lays a groundwork for analysing the changing nature of journalism during the existential crisis that news organisations are now facing during the digital age.

This book illustrates how different forces shape ideas, knowledge traditions, policies, processes, institutions and everyday lives to domesticate both people and the planet in pursuit of profit. It examines the myriad ways in which contemporary ruling and non-ruling elites influence politics, culture, economy and religion and shape our daily interactions, emphasising their impact on individuals, families, communities, democratic praxis, societal structures and nature. The book portrays power structures that are skewed in a manner that marginalises many while upholding the interests of a few. It depicts numerous contradictions inherent in capitalism and the state, while also presenting alternative ideas drawn from the everyday experiences of working people.
State and capitalism territorialise and deterritorialise lives and livelihoods. It destabilises social, cultural and economic relationships. Everyday crises are manufactured, and conflicts are designed to divert the masses from exploring alternatives to capitalism. This strategy aims to maintain the status quo by ensuring that attention and resources are consistently focused on the accumulation of wealth and prosperity for a few, thereby preventing widespread consideration of alternative and egalitarian systems and processes for mass welfare.

Practicing journalism is dangerous. Until the wars in Ukraine and Gaza broke out, Mexico continued to rank as the deadliest locale for reporters, with too many other countries close behind, including Afghanistan, Syria, India, and the Philippines. More journalists have been killed in Gaza since October 2023 than during the entirety of World War II and the numbers of journalists killed, injured, or exiled from both Russia and Ukraine since the Russian invasion in 2021 continues to grow.
The University of Oregon staged the “Extra! Extra! Refugee Journalists become the Story—Migrating to Stay Alive” conference in April 2024 with expert guest speakers: refugee journalists, academic experts, and others who specialize in exiled journalist issues and threats to journalists and free expression.
The symposium brought Mexican refugee journalists in exile to the University of Oregon campus for keynote speeches followed by workshops with other experts in the fields of freedom of expression and threats to journalists. These workshops led to student field work during the conference dates, work regarding how the crises examined during the conference impact tools used by immigrants to obtain news from their countries of origin.
The material generated during the symposium plus ancillary reportage fuels the critical stories and conclusions told in the book Don’t Shoot the Journalists.

Africa: Envisioning Tomorrow explores the major trends that will define the face of the sub-Saharan continent in the next three decades. The near doubling of Africa’s population by 2050 will lead to more than twenty million new job seekers entering the African labour market every year until then. Right now, Africa doesn’t seem armed to offer jobs to this many people, resulting in possible unrest and intra-African or intercontinental migration flows, including to Europe. Climate change creates additional migratory pressure as it threatens the future of agriculture and livestock.
The author explores the opportunities for increased job creation in Africa. Work provides income, and decent and meaningful jobs contribute to prospects and social stability. The evolution of the labour market is essential for the continent’s future. Fortunately, Africa has some major strengths. The continent has the youngest population in the world and represents a wealth of creativity and innovation. Moreover, Africans excel in ‘market-creating innovation’: the ability to see market opportunities and innovations that others do not. Africans create their own jobs through micro and small enterprises. A young well-trained middle class, familiar with digital technologies, is emerging. Africa’s abundant natural resources also attract global regional powers aspiring to secure access to critical raw materials, something the continent can use to its own advantage.
Special attention goes to the European Union’s Africa policy: the book takes a critical look at the European Union’s intentions and approach and formulates recommendations to the European Commission. The author combines economic analysis with stories from twenty-five years of experience with impact investments in Africa. He challenges the typical pessimistic stereotypes about the continent and provides an optimistic vision of Africa’s future.

This collection of essays delves into the central human problem of interpersonal violence, proposing nonviolence as a powerful antidote. Drawing from the author’s personal experiences, philosophical reflections, and scholarly work over the past two decades, the book offers a multifaceted exploration of nonviolence through ethical, spiritual, and practical lenses. Beginning with the author’s early pacifism shaped by the violence of the 1980s and the post-9/11 world, the essays provide insights into the complexities of practicing nonviolence in a violent society.

The book examines various aspects of nonviolence, including the ethical foundations rooted in love and morality, the influence of spirituality and disciplined practice on peacemaking, and the practical challenges of nonviolent parenting. It engages with critical theories of violence, critiques deterministic views of human aggression, and explores the role of somaesthetics and body consciousness in cultivating a nonviolent ethos. The essays also tackle the philosophical underpinnings of political nonviolence, from pacifism and nonresistance to pragmatic approaches that challenge traditional definitions of success in conflict.

Through an interdisciplinary approach, the book weaves together historical analysis, philosophical discourse, and personal narrative to present nonviolence as more than an ideal but as a practical guide for living. It highlights the importance of virtues such as kindness, empathy, and respect, drawing on the works of influential figures such as Gandhi, King, and Nhat Hanh. Ultimately, this collection seeks to inspire readers to consider nonviolence not merely as an ethical stance but as a transformative way of being in the world, offering hope for a less violent future.

The book seeks to provide the general reader, student, and academic specialist a detailed examination of the Fascist and broader extreme right-wing community in Great Britain during the interwar years. Fascist groups began to form and grow during the 1920s, but became a more visible component of Britain’s political turmoil during the 1930s. The largest and most visible group was the British Union of Fascists (BUF; 1932–1940) led by Sir Oswald Mosley, called by some the “British Hitler.” The extreme right wing in Britain was, however, a larger political tendency than merely Mosley’s BUF. It included several explicitly Fascist groups, racial purity groups, a group of large press outlets, numerous high-profile individuals, and several sitting Conservative politicians. The BUF did not seriously run candidates in the 1935 elections and hence did not see any of its members elected to Parliament. But it was far from irrelevant. Members of the British far right led vocal campaigns in support of the continental dictatorships, for the extermination of Marxism, for the massive rearmament of the country, and for the modernizing and re-building of Britain as a Great Power. As such, the extreme right was a vocal and visible part of Britain’s political discourse of the time.

The book will operate on two levels, making it meaningful to multiple audiences. First, the book will provide a basic narrative description of the British Fascist movement and its various offshoots. This will include the principal organizations, key individuals, the essential components of its political ideology, and the events which saw the movement grow, decline, and then virtually disappear under government suppression and public outrage. Any interested general reader of modern history will be able to gain a basic understanding of the movement, its ideology, and its trajectory. It should thus be able to stand alone as a useful basic survey.

Second, the book puts forward an academic thesis and is based upon original, archival research. The chapters dissect the various components of the extreme right political program, and in each case identifies problematic contradictions. The far right routinely insisted that it alone had the modern, rational, and realistic answers for the new problems of the modern world. However, as will be explained in each case, the far-right program was riven with cross-purposes and ideological contradictions. Zander’s approach is to examine the extreme right by organizing its program into their three most urgent policy pre-occupations: Modernization, Empire, and War. By dissecting the extreme right agenda this way, each area of their political agenda reveals itself to have been seriously flawed with contradictory policies, means that did not match objectives, simple irrationality, and blatant immorality. In the final analysis, the principal academic thesis of the book concern the far right’s dream to return Britain to its earlier position of global economic, political, and cultural leadership, while employing a set of policies and means that would accomplish much the opposite – to, in fact, disengage it from the world and make Britain an insulated national fortress.

The last few years have seen a renewal of the extreme right wing as a political force, particularly in Europe and the United States. Several of the ideological components and policy priorities of Britain’s far right in the interwar years are quite similar to the extreme right movements of today. By examining the historical development of the far right of the time, perhaps some light may be shed on the resurgence of the far right today.

Preface

The book’s Preface places the current AI explosion in the context of other technological cataclysms and recounts the author’s personal (and not always deadly serious) AI journey.

Chapter One: “Extracting the Essence: Toward Machine Translation of Literature” 

This 2019 essay rashly inquired whether artificial intelligence (AI) and machine translation (MT) might eventually be applied to literary translation. Such translation strives to somehow preserve the essence of a work while carrying it over to a different language and culture and giving it rebirth there. To recognize that essence, the translator must accurately capture the meaning of the original; appreciate its metaphors, connotations, register, references, and other abstract or associative factors; and choose among available target language expressions by exercising esthetic judgments. Computers, however, have until recently remained incapable of such accuracy, abstraction, and judgment. We revisited these shortfalls in light of developments in MT and AI. We teased apart several separable aspects of literary translation – literal meaning, meter, rhyme, and the abovementioned associative elements – with reference to arguments about Vladimir Nabokov’s hyper-literal translation of Pushkin’s poem Eugene Onegin. Prompted by this debate, we came to analyze translation as an optimization problem: because it will often prove impossible to perfectly convey all aspects or essences of a text in a single translation, the translator must search for some optimal compromise. Then we discussed several avenues for improvement in MT which could help to extract these aspects of a text’s essence – first, those which might enhance textually grounded MT (i.e., MT trained on text only), leading to delivery of high-quality literal translations; and second, those related to perceptually grounded MT (i.e., MT trained on simulated perception, e.g. of audiovisual input, as well as text), which might extract more abstract or associative elements of a text. We suggested that recognition of categories would prove central to the essence extraction sought by translators. As this categorization improves, MT should increasingly support literary, and thus cultural, preservation. However, the deepest artificial esthetic judgments will await artificial emotion. Chapter One concluded with two appendices, the first sampling numerous competing translations of Pushkin verses and the second displaying widely varying translations of a short French poem.

Chapter Two: “Toward an Artificial Nabokov”

Chapter One inquired whether artificial translation of literature might be at all possible. The cautious conclusion was that while high-quality literal translation might be achievable through foreseeable development of current techniques, artistic translation would await artificial emotion, a more distant prospect. This 2021 sequel went on to ask whether an artificial intelligence might eventually gain the ability to actually create works of literary art. To throw literary consciousness into the sharpest relief, we took as exemplar an author known for a kind of hyper-consciousness: Vladimir Nabokov. To be sure, the suggestion that artworks combining Nabokov’s superhuman intricacy and wholly human depth could be authored by a collection of switches would horrify this transcendent author, and does seem to fly in the face of everything that is most human. But while we are concerned with what machines might do, our more fundamental concern is to understand the human thoughts and feelings to which machines might aspire; and this understanding, promising to bridge the gap between C.P. Snow’s two cultures, is finally coming within reach. In our literary context, Nabokov scholarship provides many specific examples – in Ada: or Ardor, Pale Fire, and other works – of the author’s hyper-conscious artistic techniques: glorying in memory; repetition to establish themes and motifs; allusion to wide-ranging works and facts; intricate puzzle posing; and relentlessly careful structuring at multiple levels of the text. Here we considered several such techniques, speculating about the extent to which current or coming AI capabilities could approach them. In Chapter Two, Section 2, to clarify assumptions, I set forth my own current conceptions of computation, consciousness, feeling, language, and thinking, providing in the process a somewhat prejudiced AI primer for the computer-shy humanist. In Chapter Two, Section 3, I applied to Nabokov’s prodigious work my understanding of these aspects of mind. Subsections focused on self-awareness, perception, memory, and puzzles.

Chapter Three: “Large Literary Models? Intelligence and Language in the LLM Era”

Spoiler: Chapter Three, Section 6, Experiments will present several striking demonstrations of the current (2025) state of the artificial literary art. This chapter’s initial sections aim to explain the breakthroughs that triggered the abrupt phase change from wannabe to indisputable intelligence and linguistic ability. We first give an account of intelligence, sufficiently general to apply to both biological and artificial entities, defining it as the ability to select actions or outcomes effectively according to the conditions and goals encountered – in computers, as conditional (if/then) expressions. We'll scan various ways of packaging conditionals in computer programs, culminating in deep neural network technology, in which each network node among billions can be seen as an if/then expression. Thus, conditionality realized through networks is seen as the common underpinning of artificial and biological intelligence. Next, to explain the breakthrough success of Large Language Models, we undertake an accompanying account of language, viewed as combining two separable capabilities: (1) to communicate using symbols, minimally one at a time and (2) to communicate with a sequence of symbols – that is, exploiting grammar. We explain the technological breakthrough enabling artificial symbol use as development of vector-based semantic techniques and we explain in depth our understanding of symbolic communication. In the grammatical area, the linguistic breakthrough has been enablement of improved predictors of sequences through consideration of much larger contexts. To manage the accompanying threat of computational overload, it’s necessary to focus on the most predictive contextual elements among thousands. These are taken to be those closest semantically to a given element in question – and the vector-based semantic approach proves to be perfect for identifying them via the attention mechanism and the sequence-prediction technology built upon it, the transformer architecture. However, despite spectacular progress in computational intelligence and language, some aspects undoubtedly remain lacking. We emphasize that the structure of neurally learned knowledge remains unclear, while speculating that class hierarchies and schemas play important parts in LLMs and describing new tools for analyzing the networks’ hidden patterns. We go on to consider issues of (1) search and revision (linguistic and otherwise); (2) experience grounded in the world beyond text, with explanation of Imitation Learning and Reinforcement Learning as ways of predicting what to do next; (3) memory and identity issues; and (4) emotions, stressing that current systems’ lack of built-in drives handicaps artificial artistry – for better or worse – and cautioning against mistaking faked feelings for felt ones. After presenting the abovementioned experiments, we'll conclude with an evaluation, attempting a working definition of “understanding” to support the contention that current LLMs do in fact evince artificial comprehension, while also noting original touches and linguistic creativity.

Sendoff

The volume’s Sendoff considers whether machines, while now arguably intelligent, can ever also gain sufficient sensation and emotion to create language art with other than borrowed depth – and, while viewing this development as likely all too soon, declines to despair on that account.

Good Trouble will show the strong connection between the Black Civil Rights Movement in the United States and the Catholic Civil Rights Movement in Northern Ireland – specifically the influence of the Montgomery to Selma march on the 1969 Belfast to Derry march through oral history, based on numerous interviews of events leading up to both marches and afterwards. This is close to the author’s heart as both of his parents marched to integrate lunch counters and movie theatres in Salisbury, North Carolina, in 1963 as college students. His mother was at the 1963 March to Washington where Martin Luther King gave his ‘I Have a Dream’ speech.
Award winning author Julieann Campbell (On Bloody Sunday) wrote the introduction for Good Trouble, looking back at her times growing up in Derry, in the heart of the Catholic Civil Rights Movement. Jones travelled to Dublin, Belfast and Derry to conduct interviews for the book. In all, he did fifteen interviews with people who were involved in the movement in Northern Ireland (including Billy McVeigh – featured in the BAFTA winning documentary, Once Upon A Time In Northern Ireland) and in the United States (including Richard Smiley and Dr. Sheyann Webb-Christburg – both were at Bloody Sunday in Alabama and on the Selma to Montgomery march among others). Jones was also able to talk with Eamonn McCann (he took part in the Belfast to Derry march in 1969; he was the John Lewis of Northern Ireland).
Unlike most books on Northern Ireland, this goes into detail about the connection and the influence between the two movements. Also, most focus on Bloody Sunday and not the pivotal incidents at Burntollet Bridge and the Battle of the Bogside. Building off of unprecedented access and interviews with participants in both movements, Jones crafts a gripping and moving account of these pivotal years for both countries.