Best of
Humanities

2017

Sapiens and Homo Deus: The E-book Collection: A Brief History of Humankind and A Brief History of Tomorrow


Yuval Noah Harari - 2017
    Discover humanity’s past and its future in this in this special e-book collection featuring Sapiens—a reading pick of President Barack Obama, Bill Gates, and Mark Zuckerberg—and its acclaimed companion Homo Deus.

The Other Shore: A New Translation of the Heart Sutra with Commentaries


Thich Nhat Hanh - 2017
      In September, 2014 Thich Nhat Hanh completed a profound and beautiful new English translation of the Prajñaparamita Heart Sutra, one of the most important and well-known sutras in Buddhism.   The Heart Sutra is recited daily in Mahayana temples and practice centers throughout the world. This new translation came about because Thich Nhat Hanh believes that the patriarch who originally compiled the Heart Sutra was not sufficiently skillful with his use of language to capture the intention of the Buddha's teachings—and has resulted in fundamental misunderstandings of the central tenets of Buddhism for almost 2,000 years.   In The Other Shore: A New Translation of the Heart Sutra with Commentaries, Thich Nhat Hanh provides the new translation with commentaries based on his interpretation. Revealing the Buddha's original intention and insight makes clear what it means to transcend duality and pairs of opposites, such as birth and death, and to touch the ultimate reality and the wisdom of nondiscrimination. By helping to demystify the term "emptiness," the Heart Sutra is made more accessible and understandable.   Prior to the publication of The Other Shore, Thich Nhat Hanh's translation and commentaries of the Heart Sutra, called The Heart of Understanding, sold more than 120,000 copies in various editions and is one of the most beloved commentaries of this critical teaching. This new book, The Other Shore, supersedes all prior translations.

The President's Keepers: Those Keeping Zuma in Power and Out of Prison


Jacques Pauw - 2017
    As Zuma fights for his political life following the 2017 Gupta emails leak, this cabal – the president’s keepers – ensures that after years of ruinous rule, he remains in power and out of prison. But is Zuma the puppet master, or their puppet? Journey with Pauw as he explores the shadow mafia state. From KwaZulu-Natal and the Western Cape to the corridors of power in Pretoria and Johannesburg – and even to clandestine meetings in Russia. It’s a trail of lies and spies, cronies, cash and kingmakers as Pauw prises open the web of deceit that surrounds the fourth president of the democratic era.

The Broken Ladder: How Inequality Affects the Way We Think, Live, and Die


Keith Payne - 2017
    The levels of inequality in the world today are on a scale that have not been seen in our lifetimes, yet the disparity between rich and poor has ramifications that extend far beyond mere financial means. In The Broken Ladder psychologist Keith Payne examines how inequality divides us not just economically; it also has profound consequences for how we think, how we respond to stress, how our immune systems function, and even how we view moral concepts such as justice and fairness.Research in psychology, neuroscience, and behavioral economics has not only revealed important new insights into how inequality changes people in predictable ways but also provided a corrective to the flawed view of poverty as being the result of individual character failings. Among modern developed societies, inequality is not primarily a matter of the actual amount of money people have. It is, rather, people's sense of where they stand in relation to others. Feeling poor matters--not just being poor. Regardless of their average incomes, countries or states with greater levels of income inequality have much higher rates of all the social maladies we associate with poverty, including lower than average life expectancies, serious health problems, mental illness, and crime.The Broken Ladder explores such issues as why women in poor societies often have more children, and why they have them at a younger age; why there is little trust among the working class in the prudence of investing for the future; why people's perception of their social status affects their political beliefs and leads to greater political divisions; how poverty raises stress levels as effectively as actual physical threats; how inequality in the workplace affects performance; and why unequal societies tend to become more religious. Understanding how inequality shapes our world can help us better understand what drives ideological divides, why high inequality makes the middle class feel left behind, and how to disconnect from the endless treadmill of social comparison.

Dog Company: A True Story of Battlefield Courage, Taliban Spies, and Soldiers on Trial


Lynn Vincent - 2017
    Dog Company. The deaths of two of his men is agony for Captain Roger Hill and the agony is intensified when he realizes those responsible - 12 Taliban spies- have been working right under his nose on the American base. When unreasonable military regulations demand that he free the spies within 96 hours, and Hill can't get his superior officer to respond to the deadline, he takes action to intimidate the prisoners to confess - and to protect his company from another attack. Instead of being thanked, Hill's superior brings him up on charges making this decorated officer's next battle a personal one - for his honor and for that of 1st Sergeant Tommy Scott, his second in command. Combining the camaraderie and battle action of Band of Brothers with the military courtroom drama of A Few Good Men, Roger Hill's story will leave you impassioned, inspired and forever changed.

A Taste of Well-Being: Sadhguru's Insights for Your Gastronomics


Isha Foundation - 2017
    Food products labelled 'healthy' one day are abruptly dismissed as 'lethal' the very next, while 'celebrity diets' are trashed by nutritionists. So what is the correct diet for your body? The answer lies within. In the Yogic tradition, food is alive, with a prana of its own. When consumed, the quality of the food influences the qualities of your body and mind. In A Taste of Well-Being, you will find recipes that have been perfected in the Isha Yoga Centre kitchen. Ranging from simple juices and salads to complete meals of grains, cereals and curries, the recipes are peppered with profound insights from Sadhguru on the process of eating and digestion. A book that will help you discover the potential that lies within you and the joy you can derive from the simple act of eating.

Just So: An Odyssey Into the Cosmic Web of Connection, Play, and True Pleasure


Alan W. Watts - 2017
    From the 1950s to the 1970s, Eastern spiritual philosophies ignited in the West profound new ways of perceiving ourselves and the mysteries of life. And from the beginning, Alan Watts was at the forefront sparking insight after insight at live gatherings and radio broadcasts. Today, Alan Watts books and recordings bring perennial delight to new readers and listeners of all ages and beliefs. Here, the luminary author and speaker explores three often-overlooked yet essential universal dynamics: connection, play, and pleasure. This exceptional collection of sessions includes three complementary seminars: The Cosmic Network a journey into the interconnected web of the personal and the infiniteEcological Awareness reflections on how humanity and nature evolve through discovery and purposeless playThe Pursuit of Pleasure how a true materialism connects us fully through our senses with others and to the natural flow of the cosmos. Along the way, you ll explore many other themes, at turns humorous, prophetic, and more relevant today than ever. What unfolds is a liberating view of life that arises from possibility and the unpredictable perfect and just so not in spite of its messy imperfections, but because of them."

Wine. All the Time.: The Casual Guide to Confident Drinking


Marissa A. Ross - 2017
    Ross Does the thought of having to buy wine for a dinner party stress you out? Is your go-to strategy to pick the bottle with the coolest label? Are you tired of choosing pairings based on your wallet, rather than your palate? Fear not! Bon Appetit contributor and Wine. All The Time. blogger Marissa A. Ross is here to help. In this utterly unpretentious yet comprehensive guide to wine, Ross will help readers to understand the ins and outs of wine culture, from how to describe what they're drinking, to finding the best bottle for their budget, to picking the perfect red for a boyfriend's discerning parents. Told in her signature comedic voice, with personal anecdotes woven in among its lessons, Wine. All the Time. will teach readers to sip confidently, and make them laugh as they're doing it."

Where India Goes: Abandoned Toilets, Stunted Development and the Costs of Caste


Diane Coffey - 2017
    Around the world, people live longer, better lives than in centuries past, in part because of the rapid adoption of latrines and toilets that keep faecal germs away from growing children. India is an exception. Compared to the rest of the world, latrine and toilet adoption in India has been very slow and open defecation remains far too common. This is one reason why infants in India are more likely to die than in neighbouring poorer countries like Bangladesh and Nepal and are more likely to be stunted than children in sub-Saharan Africa. Where India Goes demonstrates that open defecation in India is not the result of poverty but a direct consequence of the caste system, untouchability and ritual purity. Coffey and Spears tell an unsanitized story of an unsanitary subject, with characters spanning the worlds of rural development policy: from mothers and babies living in villages to local government implementers, senior government policymakers and international development professionals. They write of increased funding and ever more unused latrines. This important and timely book calls again for the annihilation of caste and for a fundamental shift in policy perspectives to effect a crucial, much overdue change.

Kid Authors: True Tales of Childhood from Famous Writers


David Stabler - 2017
    Did you know:• Sam Clemens (aka Mark Twain) loved to skip school and make mischief, with his best friend Tom, of course!• A young J. R. R. Tolkien was bitten by a huge tarantula—or as he called it, "a spider as big as a dragon."• Toddler Zora Neale Hurston took her first steps when a wild hog entered her house and started chasing her!The diverse and inclusive cast includes Roald Dahl, Beverly Cleary, J. K. Rowling, Langston Hughes, Jules Verne, Lewis Carroll, Stan Lee, and many more.

Tin Can Titans: The Heroic Men and Ships of World War II's Most Decorated Navy Destroyer Squadron


John F. Wukovits - 2017
    But it was not the squadron of ships that had accumulated such an inspiring résumé; it was the people serving aboard them who won the battles. This is the story of Desron 21’s heroic sailors whose battle history is the stuff of legend.Through diaries, personal interviews with survivors, and letters written to and by the crew during the war, John Wukovits brings to life the human story of the squadron and its men who bested the Japanese in the Pacific and helped take the war to Tokyo.

Can We Avoid Another Financial Crisis?


Steve Keen - 2017
    Many leading commentators declared shortly before the crisis that the magical recipe for eternal stability had been found. Less than a year later, the biggest economic crisis since the Great Depression erupted. In this explosive book, Steve Keen, one of the very few economists who anticipated the crash, shows why the self-declared experts were wrong and how ever-rising levels of private debt make another financial crisis almost inevitable unless politicians tackle the real dynamics causing financial instability. He also identifies the economies that have become 'The Walking Dead of Debt', and those that are next in line - including Australia, Belgium, China, Canada and South Korea. A major intervention by a fearlessly iconoclastic figure, this book is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand the true nature of the global economic system.

Wounds: A Memoir of War and Love


Fergal Keane - 2017
    It is a family story of war and love, and how the ghosts of the past return to shape the present.Wounds is a powerful memoir about Irish people who found themselves caught up in the revolution that followed the 1916 Rising, and in the pitiless violence of civil war in north Kerry after the British left in 1922.It is the story of Keane’s grandmother Hannah Purtill, her brother Mick and his friend Con Brosnan, and how they and their neighbours took up guns to fight the British Empire and create an independent Ireland. And it is the story of another Irishman, Tobias O’Sullivan, who fought against them as a policeman because he believed it was his duty to uphold the law of his country.Many thousands of people took part in the War of Independence and the Civil War that followed. Whatever side they chose, all were changed in some way by the costs of violence. Keane uses the experiences of his ancestral homeland in north Kerry to examine why people will kill for a cause and how the act of killing reverberates through the generations.

The Infidel and the Professor: David Hume, Adam Smith, and the Friendship That Shaped Modern Thought


Dennis C. Rasmussen - 2017
    In contrast, Adam Smith was a revered professor of moral philosophy, and is now often hailed as the founding father of capitalism. Remarkably, the two were best friends for most of their adult lives, sharing what Dennis Rasmussen calls the greatest of all philosophical friendships. The Infidel and the Professor is the first book to tell the fascinating story of the friendship of these towering Enlightenment thinkers--and how it influenced their world-changing ideas.The book follows Hume and Smith's relationship from their first meeting in 1749 until Hume's death in 1776. It describes how they commented on each other's writings, supported each other's careers and literary ambitions, and advised each other on personal matters, most notably after Hume's quarrel with Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Members of a vibrant intellectual scene in Enlightenment Scotland, Hume and Smith made many of the same friends (and enemies), joined the same clubs, and were interested in many of the same subjects well beyond philosophy and economics--from psychology and history to politics and Britain's conflict with the American colonies. The book reveals that Smith's private religious views were considerably closer to Hume's public ones than is usually believed. It also shows that Hume contributed more to economics--and Smith contributed more to philosophy--than is generally recognized.Vividly written, The Infidel and the Professor is a compelling account of a great friendship that had great consequences for modern thought.

Dear Zealots: Letters from a Divided Land


Amos Oz - 2017
    . . Dear Zealots is not just a brilliant book of thoughts and ideas—it is a depiction of one man’s struggle, who for decades has insisted on keeping a sharp, strident and lucid perspective in the face of chaos and at times of madness.” — David Grossman, winner of the Man Booker International Prize From the incomparable Amos Oz comes a series of three essays: on the universal nature of fanaticism and its possible cures, on the Jewish roots of humanism and the need for a secular pride in Israel, and on the geopolitical standing of Israel in the wider Middle East and internationally.Dear Zealots is classic Amos Oz—fluid, rich, masterly, and perfectly timed for a world in which polarization and extremism are rising everywhere. The essays were written, Oz states, "first and foremost" for his grandchildren: they are a patient, learned telling of history, religion, and politics, to be thumbed through and studied, clung to even, as we march toward an uncertain future.

The Fantastic Flatulent Fart Brothers' Big Book of Farty Facts: An Illustrated Guide to the Science, History, and Art of Farting


M.D. Whalen - 2017
    How much do you know about farts?Did you know it would take just nine farts from every person on earth to power an atomic bomb? That fish farts nearly triggered a war against Russia? That female farts smell worse? No? Then you need this book!Did you know that inhaling farts is healthy, yet people fart after death? That you can get a job as a professional fart smeller? That farting is illegal in Africa but polite in South America? Heard any ancient Babylonian fart jokes lately? No? Then you need this book!Do you know the fartiest animal on earth? The fartiest food? Know how many farts you inhale on a cross-country flight? Can farts power astronauts through space? You don’t know? Then you need this book!Do you secretly think farts are not only funny, but fascinating? Then you absolutely need this gas-powered encyclopedia of fun and flatulent facts! Makes a perfect gag gift or bathroom read.Crack open a can of beans and become an expert in the windy and wacky science, history, and art of musical gas!

The Cold War: A New Oral History of Life Between East and West


Bridget Kendall - 2017
    It spanned the globe - from Greece to China, Hungary to Cuba - and lasted for almost half a century. It has shaped political relations to this day, drawing new physical and ideological boundaries between East and West.In this meticulously researched account, Bridget Kendall explores the Cold War through the eyes of those who experienced it first-hand. Alongside in-depth analysis that explains the historical and political context, the book draws on exclusive interviews with individuals who lived through the conflict's key events, offering a variety of perspectives that reveal how the Cold War was experienced by ordinary people. From pilots making food drops during the Berlin Blockade and Japanese fishermen affected by H-bomb testing to families fleeing the Korean War and children whose parents were victims of McCarthy's Red Scare, The Cold War covers the full geographical and historical reach of the conflict.Accompanying a landmark BBC Radio 4 series, A New Oral History of Life Between East and West is essential reading for anyone seeking to understand how the tensions of the last century have shaped the modern world, and what it was like to live through them.

Wild Beauty: New and Selected Poems


Ntozake Shange - 2017
    With a clear, raw, and affecting voice, Shange draws from her experience as a feminist black woman in American to craft groundbreaking poetry about pain, beauty, and color. In the bestselling tradition of Rupi Kaur’s Milk and Honey, Wild Beauty is more than a poetry collection; it is an exquisite call to action for a new generation of women, people of color, feminists, and activists to follow in the author’s footsteps in the pursuit of equality and understanding. As The New York Times raves, “Ntozake Shange writes with such exquisite care and beauty that anyone can relate to her message.”

From the Heart of Hell. Manuscripts of a Sonderkommando Prisoner, Found in Auschwitz


Załmen Gradowski - 2017
    

The Cabinet of Linguistic Curiosities: A Yearbook of Forgotten Words


Paul Anthony Jones - 2017
    Open the Cabinet to leap back in time, learn about linguistic trivia, follow a curious thread or wonder at the web of connections in the English language.Paul Anthony Jones has unearthed a wealth of strange and forgotten words: illuminating some aspect of the day, or simply telling a cracking good yarn, each reveals a story.

How to Be a Young #Writer


Christopher Edge - 2017
    It gives practical advice on beating the fear of the blank page, plot structuring, choosing a viewpoint, creating characters, writing killer openings and perfect endings. It will support you as you start writing and keep you going through to getting people reading your stories.

The High Cost of Good Intentions: A History of U.S. Federal Entitlement Programs


John F. Cogan - 2017
    federal entitlement programs from the Revolutionary War to modern times to identify and understand the common economic and political forces that have caused their nearly continuous growth.

The Wall and the Gate: Israel, Palestine, and the Legal Battle for Human Rights


Michael Sfard - 2017
    While the gate would provide immediate relief for the farmer, would it not also confer legitimacy on the wall and on the court that deems it legal? The defense of human rights is often marked by such ethical dilemmas, which are especially acute in Israel, where lawyers have for decades sought redress for the abuse of Palestinian rights in the country's High Court--that is, in the court of the abuser.In The Wall and the Gate, Michael Sfard chronicles this struggle--a story that has never before been fully told-- and in the process engages the core principles of human rights legal ethics. Sfard recounts the unfolding of key cases and issues, ranging from confiscation of land, deportations, the creation of settlements, punitive home demolitions, torture, and targeted killings--all actions considered violations of international law. In the process, he lays bare the reality of the occupation and the lives of the people who must contend with that reality. He also exposes the surreal legal structures that have been erected to put a stamp of lawfulness on an extensive program of dispossession. Finally, he weighs the success of the legal effort, reaching conclusions that are no less paradoxical than the fight itself.Writing with emotional force, vivid storytelling, and penetrating analysis, Michael Sfard offers a radically new perspective on a much-covered conflict and a subtle, painful reckoning with the moral ambiguities inherent in the pursuit of justice. The Wall and the Gate is a signal contribution to everyone concerned with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and human rights everywhere.

A Change Is Gonna Come


Mary BelloMusa Okwonga - 2017
    Contributors include Tanya Byrne, Inua Ellams, Catherine Johnson, Patrice Lawrence, Ayisha Malik, Irfan Master, Musa Okwonga and Nikesh Shukla.Plus introducing four fresh new voices in YA fiction: Mary Bello, Aisha Bushby, Yasmin Rahman and Phoebe Roy.

From Deep Space with Love: A Conversation about Consciousness, the Universe, and Building a Better World


Mike Dooley - 2017
    Topics include: Brahoskans’ culture, relationships, technology, leisure, conception of time, and much more Aspects of Earthly existence, from current political and social realities to the truth about the Loch Ness Monster Angels, divination, other dimensions, and what we can do to make a better world, starting now Drawing on the experiences and wisdom of Frank’s much older civilization and the trials and tribulations they have moved beyond—which once rivaled those we’re now undergoing on Earth—From Deep Space with Love is a compelling, irresistibly readable guide to a new era. Readers will find their awareness expanded and their beliefs stretching to encompass ideas that challenge the status quo and reveal the true limitless nature of the Universe—and of humanity itself.

On the Genealogy of Morality and Other Writings


Friedrich Nietzsche - 2017
    A polemical contribution to moral and political theory, it offers a critique of moral values and traces the historical evolution of concepts such as guilt, conscience, responsibility, law and justice. First published in 1994, and revised in 2006, the third edition of this best-selling, concise introduction and translation has been revised and updated throughout, to take account of recent scholarship. Featuring an expanded introduction, an updated bibliography and a guide to further reading, the third edition also includes timelines and biographical synopses. The Cambridge Texts in the History of Political Thought edition of Nietzsche's major work is an essential resource for both undergraduate and graduate courses on Nietzsche, the history of philosophy, continental philosophy, history of political thought and ethics.

The Harbour: A city's heart, a country's soul


Scott Bevan - 2017
    And essential for anyone who loves Sydney Harbour ... And who doesn’t?’Ken DoneIn the bestselling tradition of Peter Ackroyd's The Thames, a celebration of one of the world’s great waterways. Everyone knows Sydney Harbour. At least, we think we do. Everyone can see the harbour, whether we have ever been to Sydney or not. By as little as a word or two, the harbour floats into our mind’s eye. The Bridge. The Opera House. Fireworks on New Year’s Eve. When we see those images, we feel a sense of belonging. No matter who we are or where we’re from, we see the harbour and we feel good. In this beautiful, authoritative and meditative journey, Scott Bevan takes us from cove to cove, by kayak, yacht and barge to gather the harbour’s stories, past and present, from boat builders, ship captains and fishermen to artists, divers, historians and environmentalists, from signs of ancient life to the submarine invasion by the Japanese and the natural beauty that inspires people every day. This is the ultimate story of Sydney Harbour – a city’s heart and a country's soul.

Why We Revolt: A patient revolution for careful and kind care


Victor Montori - 2017
    Montori rescues the language of patient care to propose a revolution of compassion and solidarity, of unhurried conversations, and of careful and kind care.

Replenish: The Virtuous Cycle of Water and Prosperity


Sandra Postel - 2017
    Yet every year, recovery from droughts and floods costs billions of dollars, and we spend billions more on dams, diversions, levees, and other feats of engineering. These massive projects not only are risky financially and environmentally, they often threaten social and political stability. What if the answer was not further control of the water cycle, but repair and replenishment? Sandra Postel takes readers around the world to explore water projects that work with, rather than against, nature’s rhythms. In New Mexico, forest rehabilitation is safeguarding drinking water; along the Mississippi River, farmers are planting cover crops to reduce polluted runoff; and in China, “sponge cities” are capturing rainwater to curb urban flooding. Efforts like these will be essential as climate change disrupts both weather patterns and the models on which we base our infrastructure. We will be forced to adapt. The question is whether we will continue to fight the water cycle or recognize our place in it and take advantage of the inherent services nature offers. Water, Postel writes, is a gift, the source of life itself. How will we use this greatest of gifts?

Sparta: Rise of a Warrior Nation


Philip Matyszak - 2017
    They are portrayed as the stereotypical macho heroes: noble, laconic, totally fearless and impervious to discomfort and pain. What makes the study of Sparta so interesting is that to a large extent the Spartans lived up to this image. Ancient Sparta, however, was a city of contrasts. We might admire their physical toughness and heroism in adversity but Spartans also systematically abused their children. They gave rights to citizen women that were unmatched in Europe until the modern era, meanwhile subjecting their conquered subject peoples to a murderous reign of terror. Though idealized by the Athenian contemporaries of Socrates Sparta was almost devoid of intellectual achievement. Philip Matyszak explores two themes: how Sparta came to be the unique society it was, and the rise of the city from a Peloponnesian village to the military superpower of Greece. But above all, his focus is on the Spartan hoplite, the archetypal Greek warrior who was respected and feared throughout Greece in his own day, and who has since become a legend. The reader is shown the man behind the myth; who he was, who he thought he was, and the environment which produced him.

The Invention of Humanity


Siep Stuurman - 2017
    The notion of a common humanity was counterintuitive and thus had to be invented. Siep Stuurman traces evolving ideas of human equality and difference across continents and civilizations from ancient times to the present.Despite humans' deeply ingrained bias against strangers, migration and cultural blending have shaped human experience from the earliest times. As travelers crossed frontiers and came into contact with unfamiliar peoples and customs, frontier experiences generated not only hostility but also empathy and understanding. Empires sought to civilize their "barbarians," but in all historical eras critics of empire were able to imagine how the subjected peoples made short shrift of imperial arrogance.Drawing on the views of a global mix of thinkers--Homer, Confucius, Herodotus, the medieval Muslim scholar Ibn Khaldun, the Haitian writer Antenor Firmin, the Filipino nationalist Jose Rizal, and more--The Invention of Humanity surveys the great civilizational frontiers of history, from the interaction of nomadic and sedentary societies in ancient Eurasia and Africa, to Europeans' first encounters with the indigenous peoples of the New World, to the Enlightenment invention of universal "modern equality." Against a backdrop of two millennia of thinking about common humanity and equality, Stuurman concludes with a discussion of present-day debates about human rights and the "clash of civilizations."

Surviving Slavery in the British Caribbean


Randy M Browne - 2017
    In Surviving Slavery in the British Caribbean, Randy M. Browne looks past the familiar numbers of life and death and into a human drama in which enslaved Africans and their descendants struggled to survive against their enslavers, their environment, and sometimes one another. Grounded in the nineteenth-century British colony of Berbice, one of the Atlantic world's best-documented slave societies and the last frontier of slavery in the British Caribbean, Browne argues that the central problem for most enslaved people was not how to resist or escape slavery but simply how to stay alive.Guided by the voices of hundreds of enslaved people preserved in an extraordinary set of legal records, Browne reveals a world of Caribbean slavery that is both brutal and breathtakingly intimate. Field laborers invoked abolitionist-inspired legal reforms to protest brutal floggings, spiritual healers conducted secretive nighttime rituals, anxious drivers weighed the competing pressures of managers and the condition of their fellow slaves in the fields, and women fought back against abusive masters and husbands. Browne shows that at the core of enslaved people's complicated relationships with their enslavers and one another was the struggle to live in a world of death.Provocative and unflinching, Surviving Slavery in the British Caribbean reorients the study of Atlantic slavery by revealing how differently enslaved people's social relationships, cultural practices, and political strategies appear when seen in the light of their unrelenting struggle to survive.

Harvard Business Review Everyday Emotional Intelligence: Big Ideas and Practical Advice on How to Be Human at Work


Harvard Business Review - 2017
    It is now one of the crucial criteria in hiring and promotion processes, performance evaluations, and professional development courses. And it's not innate--it's a skill that all of us can improve.With this double volume you'll get HBR's 10 Must Reads on Emotional Intelligence and the HBR Guide to Emotional Intelligence. That's 10 definitive HBR articles on emotional intelligence by Goleman and other leaders in the field, curated by our editors--paired with smart, focused advice from HBR experts about how to implement those ideas in your daily work life.With Everyday Emotional Intelligence, you'll learn how to: Recognize your own EQ strengths and weaknesses Regulate your emotions in tough situations Manage difficult people Build the social awareness of your team Motivate yourself through ups and downs Write forceful emails people won't misinterpret Make better, less emotionally biased decisions Help an employee develop emotional intelligence Handle specific situations like crying at work and tense communications across different cultures

On the Arab-Jew, Palestine, and Other Displacements: Selected Writings of Ella Shohat


Ella Shohat - 2017
    Spanning several decades, Shohat’s work has introduced conceptual frameworks that have fundamentally challenged the conventional understandings of Arabs and Jews, Palestine, Zionism, and the Middle East. Collected now in a single volume, this book gathers together some of her most influential political essays, interviews, speeches, testimonies, and memoirs for the first time.   As a renowned academic, orator, and activist, Shohat’s work unpacks complexly fraught issues: anomalies of the national and colonial in Zionist discourse; narrating of Jewish pasts in Muslim spaces; links and distinctions between the expulsion of Palestinians during the 1948 war and the dislocation of Arab-Jews; traumatic memories triggered by partition and border-crossing; echoes within Islamophobia of the anti-Semitic figure of the Jew; and efforts to imagine a possible united and peaceful future. Shohat’s trans-disciplinary perspective illuminates the contemporary cultural politics in and around the Middle East. A transdisciplinary work engaging history, literature, sociology, film, media, and cultural studies, Selected Writings offers a vivid sense of Shohat’s unique intellectual journey and field-defining career.

How to Ace the National Geographic Bee: Official Study Guide


National Geographic Kids - 2017
    The competition culminates in a finals face-off, broadcast live on National Geographic Television. This is the ultimate guide for gearing up for the events.Like the Bee, the guide has expanded its range of material to include social studies, earth and space science, the environment, and culture. Of course, geography is at its core, and the guide features the latest country and geographic statistics; selected new question rounds; updated resources; new tips from past winners; and a brand new country index full of vital stats. It's the perfect resource to help millions of school kids prepare to compete in the Bee. It's also a fun and helpful resource for trivia buffs, challenge seekers, and college-bound test-takers.

The Despot's Accomplice: How the West Is Aiding and Abetting the Decline of Democracy


Brian Klaas - 2017
    The true culprits are dictators and counterfeit democrats. But, argues Klaas, the West is also an accomplice, inadvertently assaulting pro-democracy forces abroad as governments in Washington, London and Brussels chase pyrrhic short-term economic and security victories. Friendly fire from Western democracies against democracy abroad is too high a price to pay for a myopic foreign policy that is ultimately making the world less prosperous, stable and democratic.The Despot's Accomplice draws on years of extensive interviews on the frontlines of the global struggle for democracy, from a poetry-reading, politician-kidnapping general in Madagascar to Islamist torture victims in Tunisia, Belarusian opposition activists tailed by the KGB, West African rebels, and tea-sipping members of the Thai junta. Cumulatively, their stories weave together a tale of a broken system at the root of democracy's global retreat.

Queering Translation, Translating the Queer: Theory, Practice, Activism


Brian James Baer - 2017
    The volume presents a variety of theoretical and disciplinary perspectives through fifteen contributions from both established and up-and-coming scholars in the field to demonstrate the interconnectedness between translation and queer aspects of sex, gender, and identity. The book begins with the editors' introduction to the state of the field, providing an overview of both current and developing lines of research, and builds on this foundation to look at this research more closely, grouped around three different sections: Queer Theorizing of Translation; Case Studies of Queer Translations and Translators; and Queer Activism and Translation. This interdisciplinary approach seeks to not only shed light on this promising field of research but also to promote cross fertilization between these disciplines towards further exploring the intersections between queer studies and translation studies, making this volume key reading for students and scholars interested in translation studies, queer studies, politics, and activism, and gender and sexuality studies.

Disturbing Attachments: Genet, Modern Pederasty, and Queer History


Kadji Amin - 2017
    Not only sexually queer, Genet was also a criminal and a social pariah, a bitter opponent of the police state, and an ally of revolutionary anticolonial movements. In Disturbing Attachments, Kadji Amin challenges the idealization of Genet as a paradigmatic figure within queer studies to illuminate the methodological dilemmas at the heart of queer theory. Pederasty, which was central to Genet's sexuality and to his passionate cross-racial and transnational political activism late in life, is among a series of problematic and outmoded queer attachments that Amin uses to deidealize and historicize queer theory. He brings the genealogy of Genet's imaginaries of attachment to bear on pressing issues within contemporary queer politics and scholarship, including prison abolition, homonationalism, and pinkwashing. Disturbing Attachments productively and provocatively unsettles queer studies by excavating the history of its affective tendencies to reveal and ultimately expand the contexts that inform the use and connotations of the term queer.

Sold People


Johanna S Ransmeier - 2017
    Whether to acquire servants, slaves, concubines, or children--or dispose of unwanted household members--families at all levels of society addressed various domestic needs by participating in this market. Sold People brings into focus the complicit dynamic of human trafficking, including the social and legal networks that sustained it. Johanna Ransmeier reveals the extent to which the structure of the Chinese family not only influenced but encouraged the buying and selling of men, women, and children.For centuries, human trafficking had an ambiguous status in Chinese society. Prohibited in principle during the Qing period, it was nevertheless widely accepted as part of family life, despite the frequent involvement of criminals. In 1910, Qing reformers, hoping to usher China into the community of modern nations, officially abolished the trade. But police and other judicial officials found the new law extremely difficult to enforce. Industrialization, urbanization, and the development of modern transportation systems created a breeding ground for continued commerce in people. The Republican government that came to power after the 1911 revolution similarly struggled to root out the entrenched practice.Ransmeier draws from untapped archival sources to recreate the lived experience of human trafficking in turn-of-the-century North China. Not always a measure of last resort reserved for times of extreme hardship, the sale of people was a commonplace transaction that built and restructured families as often as it broke them apart.

Nick Cave: Until


Denise Markonish - 2017
    Nick Cave's -Soundsuits---exuberant, brightly colored wearable sculptures adorned with buttons, hair, toys and other found objects--have made him one of the best-known contemporary artists. This book documents his most extensive work to date, turning his art inside out. Until fills MASS MoCA's football field- sized gallery, without a single Soundsuit to be found. Instead Cave takes us inside the belly of one of his iconic sculptures with an immersive environment populated by a dazzling array of found objects, echoing some of Cave's and America's most confounding dilemmas: gun violence, racial inequality, injustice within our cities' police departments, and death. An installation diary and numerous images reveal how an idea becomes reality. Until also incorporates special appearances by dancers, singer/ songwriters, and poets, as well as community forums, and opportunities for public debate and engagement. Transcripts of the first of these events accompany the book's illustrations. This book features an essay by exhibition Curator Denise Markonish, commentary by David Byrne and Lori E. Lightfoot that contextualizes Cave's work against today's headlines, and an excerpt from Claudia Rankine's Citizen: An American Lyric. Powerful and transformative, Until promises to take its place among the era's most important artistic statements.

Rock Paper Sex: The Oldest Profession in Canada’s Oldest City (The Rock Paper Sex Series)


Cull Kerri - 2017
    John’s is known as a flourishing port city, a cultural gem, and popular tourist destination: a picturesque city of pubs and restaurants, music and colourful houses. But a thriving sex trade quietly exists beneath that polished conception, a trade few are aware of or even understand. In an engaging journalistic style, Kerri Cull respectfully reveals the people who make up the city’s surprisingly diverse sex industry and, in the process, makes a compelling humanistic argument for understanding before judgment.

Palestine's Horizon: Toward a Just Peace


Richard A. Falk - 2017
    These include the pursuit of rights under international law in venues such as the UN and International Criminal Court, while establishing a new emphasis on global solidarity and non-violent action through the Boycott Divestment Sanctions (BDS) movement, among others. Richard Falk has been working within and studying the Israel/Palestine conflict for several decades, and in Palestine's Horizon, he looks closely at these transformations, offering a close analysis of one of the most controversial issues of our times.   Falk explores the intricacies and interconnections within the history and politics of Israel and Palestine, while delving into the complicated relationships the conflict has created within the global community. He refutes the notion that the Palestinian struggle is a lost cause and offers new tactics and possibilities for change. He also puts the ongoing conflict in context, reflecting on the legacy of Edward Said and drawing on the importance of his ideas as a humanist model for peace that is mindful of the formidable difficulties that come with achieving a solution to the long struggle. One of the most established and authoritative voices on the conflict, Falk now presents his most sustained and focused historical overview to date.

Balfour's Shadow: A Century of British Support for Zionism and Israel


David Cronin - 2017
    Penned in 1917 by British Foreign Secretary Arthur James Balfour, these words had an immense impact on history that still emanates a century later. In the controversial, fast-paced Balfour’s Shadow, David Cronin traces the story of the rhetorical and practical assistance that Britain has given to the Zionist movement and the state of Israel since that day. Skillfully and engagingly written, Balfour’s Shadow uses previously unreleased sources and archives to reveal a new side to an old story. Cronin focuses on important historical events such as the Arab Revolt, the Nakba and establishment of the state, the ‘56 and ‘67 wars, the Cold War, and controversial public figures like Tony Blair. Marking the 100th anniversary of the Balfour Declaration, Cronin provides a fascinating take on this oft-maligned, important history.

Guardians of God: Inside the Religious Mind of the Pakistani Taliban


Mona Kanwal Sheikh - 2017
    The author brings to light rare insight into the ideological basis of Pakistani Taliban, drawing upon first-hand research comprising participant observation, interviews, content analysis of organizational literature, and Talibani communications, such as recruitment videos, recorded speeches, leaflets and pamphlets, jihadi anthems, and press releases to the local media. The bookdemonstrates how religion simultaneously appears as an object to be defended, as a threat, as the purpose of violence, as the source of rules and limitations on violent action, and as the source of motivational imagery and myths. Going into an analysis of just what role religion plays in violentactivities of this group, and how does it do so, the author shows that Talibani narratives are both secular and religious at the same time, contradicting a clear-cut divide between religious and secular motivations for violence. The book advocates against extreme positions that accord religioneither a primary or a negligent position in explaining the raison d'�tre of Pakistani Taliban. It makes a plea for more informed and empathetic approach instead of the purely militaristic stance towards extremism, which has only helped it grow in the past.

The United States Bill of Rights


U.S. Government - 2017
    The United States Bill of Rights by United States

3,000 Spanish Words and Phrases They Won't Teach You in School (Skyhorse Pocket Guides)


Eleanor Hamer - 2017
    Even those estudiantes perfectos who have seemingly mastered speaking a foreign language in a classroom run into problems in real-life situations. 3,000 Spanish Words and Phrases They Won’t Teach You in School goes beyond classroom Spanish by thoroughly explaining expressions, idioms, and quirks used daily by native speakers. This must-have manual also includes information on pronunciation, manners, abbreviations, and culture, making it much more than a phrase book! Learn within these pages everything you need to know to speak colloquial Spanish, including: Translation of common proverbs: like When in Rome, do as the Romans do. Slang: Like ¡Alivianate!— cheer up or get high Dual words: like integro and entero—with the same meaning. False cognates: Words that are similar but have very different meanings in English and Spanish So next time you plan a trip or just want to impress your friends, pick up 3,000 Spanish Words and Phrases They Won’t Teach You in School and drop the stuffy high school phrase book!

The Unchosen: The Lives of Israel's New Others


Mya Guarnieri Jaradat - 2017
    An intimate look at the lives of asylum seekers and migrant workers in Israel.