Best of
Modern

2002

Like Birds In Black and White


Miriam Raz-Zunszajn - 2002
    LIKE BIRDS IN BLACK AND WHITE is the narrative of a young Jewish girl from the village of Wereszczyn, Poland. At the same time, LIKE BIRDS IN BLACK AND WHITE is a very painful human story, about the spark of goodness that exists – even in the depths of evil, and motivates us to be humane. Miriam Raz-Zunszajn-Winograd was born in 1933 on a small farm, in the village of Wereszczyn, located in Western Poland. She spent the duration of the Holocaust in the region where she was born, and she is the sole survivor of her family, as well as from the Jews of Wereszczyn. With her farewell to her readers, at the completion of her journey-story of torment, Miriam asks to tell us the lesson that is so very important to her: “I learned that in every place – even in the case of the most evil – there is always a handful of righteous people ready to endanger their own lives for the good of others. I never forget these righteous people that I encountered in my path to survive. They were my hope and my light in the darkness.” Miriam live today on Kibbutz and can be reached at miryamr@gan.org.il

Jinnie


Josephine Cox - 2002
    Jinnie is a compelling story of love and belonging, perfect for fans of Lyn Andrews and Rosie Goodwin.Ten years ago, Louise Hunter's life was torn apart by tragedy. Her husband, Ben, killed himself; her brother-in-law, Jacob, was murdered; and her sister, Susan, abandoned her new-born daughter, revealing the baby is Ben's child. Louise remains haunted by guilt over the one night she spent with Ben's friend Eric, and refuses to return Eric's love. But after adopting Jinnie, she finds new happiness - until Susan decides she wants Jinnie back.Meanwhile, Adam and Hannah, whose mother was killed with Jacob, are on the run. What Adam witnessed on that dreadful night has put them all in danger, but their beloved grandmother knows that one day they must return to the place where it all began . . .

The Lady in the Lake, The Little Sister, The Long Goodbye, Playback (#4-7)


Raymond Chandler - 2002
    Chandler’s last four novels, published here in one volume, offer ample opportunity to savor the unique and utterly compelling fictional world that made his works modern classics.The Lady in the Lake moves Marlowe out of his usual habitat of city streets and into the mountains outside of Los Angeles in his strange search for a missing woman. The Little Sister takes Marlowe to Hollywood, where he tries to find a sweet young thing’s missing brother, uncovering on the way a little blackmail, a lot of drugs, and more than enough murder. In The Long Goodbye, a case involving a war-scarred drunk and his nymphomaniac wife has Marlowe constantly on the move: a psychotic gangster’s on his trail, he’s in trouble with the cops, and more and more corpses keep turning up. Playback features a well-endowed redhead who leads Marlowe to the California coast to solve a tale of big money and, of course, murder.Throughout these masterpieces, Marlowe’s wry humor and existential sense of his job prove yet again why he has become one of the most recognized and imitated characters in fiction.

Hiding from the Light


Barbara Erskine - 2002
    In 1644, Cromwell's Witchfinder General tortured scores of women there, including Liza the herbalist, whose cottage still stands. Some say the spirits of his victims still haunt the old shop on the High Street ...Emma Dickson gave up her high-flying career to live in Liza’s cottage, but as Halloween approaches, visions of a terrible past are driving her to madness. In despair, Emma turns to the local rector for help, but he, too, is in the grip of something inexplicably dangerous ...

The Healing Quilt


Lauraine Snelling - 2002
    Dot’s efforts quickly draw the support of disparate members of the community, including newcomer Beth Donnelly, married to a local pastor; Elaine Giovanni, the stylish wife of a local surgeon; and an ailing Aunt Teza. But as the four different generations work the squares of the quilt, they are also confronted with ragged pieces of their own lives. Though the women could not be more different on the surface, they hold in common quiet suffering triggered by painful circumstances: the death of children, the abandonment of husbands, the loneliness of depression. Yet their struggles will bring them closer together than they ever could have anticipated, and their lives will be dramatically changed, as together they experience the curative powers of The Healing Quilt.

The Justice Way (3-in-1)


Sharon Sala - 2002
    The Justice Way by Sharon Sala released on Sep 24, 2002 is available now for purchase.

The Colour Out of Space: Tales of Cosmic Horror by Lovecraft, Blackwood, Machen, Poe, and Other Masters of the Weird


Douglas ThinHenry James - 2002
    An atmosphere of breathless and unexplainable dread of outer, unknown forces must be present; a hint of that most terrible conception of the human brain--a malign and particular suspension or defeat of those fixed laws of Nature which are our only safeguard against the assaults of chaos and the daemons of unplumbed space." --H. P. Lovecraft This new collection features some of the greatest masters of extreme terror, among them Edgar Allan Poe, Ambrose Bierce, Bram Stoker, and Henry James, and includes such classic works as Arthur Machen's "The White People," Algernon Blackwood's "The Willows," and of course Lovecraft's own weird and hideous "The Colour Out of Space." Contents: Edgar Allan Poe, "MS. Found in a Bottle"Bram Stoker, "The Squaw"Ambrose Bierce, "Moxon's Master"Ambrose Bierce, "The Damned Thing"Ambrose Bierce, "An Inhabitant of Carcosa"R. W. Chambers, "The Repairer of Reputations"M. P. Shiel, "The House of Sounds"Arthur Machen, "The White People"Algernon Blackwood, "The Willows"Henry James, "The Jolly Corner"Walter de la Mare, "Seaton's Aunt"H. P. Lovecraft, "The Colour Out of Space"A Note on the Selection by D. Thin

The Contortionist's Handbook


Craig Clevenger - 2002
    In the face of his impending institutionalization, he continually reinvents himself to escape the legal and mental health authorities and to save himself from a life of incarceration. But running turns out to be costly. Vincent's clients in the L.A. underworld lose patience, the hospital evaluator may not be fooled by his story, and the only person in as much danger as himself is the woman who knows his real name.

English Renaissance Drama


David Bevington - 2002
    Edited by a team of exceptional scholars and teachers, this anthology opens an extraordinary tradition in drama to new readers and audiences."

The Arts and the Creation of Mind


Elliot W. Eisner - 2002
    Offering a rich array of examples, he describes different approaches to the teaching of the arts and shows how these refine forms of thinking that are valuable in dealing with our daily life“Not since John Dewey has an American author written about art, education, and the creation of mind with such power and sensitivity.”—Michael Day, International Journal of Arts Education“A primer for the future. . . . This book will serve as an inspiration for those needing the language to convince policy makers and curriculum developers of the value of the arts in education, while also serving as a vehicle for illustrating the educational aspirations the very best education can offer.”—Rita L. Irwin, Journal of Critical Inquiry Into Curriculum and Instruction“[Eisner] has composed a text that is as insightful and inspirational as the educational research he envisions.”—James G. Henderson, International Journal of Education & the Arts

Damned Good Show


Derek Robinson - 2002
    known as 'the best flying club in the world', but when war pitches the young pilots of 409 Squadron into battle over Germany, their training, tactics and equipment are soon found wanting, their twin-engined bombers obsolete from the off. Chances of completing a 30-operation tour? One in three. At best.Robinson's crooked salute to the dogged heroes of the R.A.F.'s early bombing campaign is a wickedly humourous portrait of men doing their duty in flying death traps, fully aware, in those dark days of war, there was nothing else to do but dig in and hang on.

Student Solutions Manual to Accompany Concepts of Modern Physics


Arthur Beiser - 2002
    The book is intended to be used in a one-semester course covering modern physics for students who have already had basic physics and calculus courses. The balance of the book leans more toward ideas than toward experimental methods and practical applications because the beginning student is better served by a conceptual framework than by a mass of details. The sequence of topics follows a logical, rather than strictly historical, order. Relativity and quantum ideas are considered first to provide a framework for understanding the physics of atoms and nuclei. The theory of the atom is then developed, and followed by a discussion of the properties of aggregates of atoms, which includes a look at statistical mechanics. Finally atomic nuclei and elementary particles are examined.

Morgue & Other Expressionist Verse


Gottfried Benn - 2002
    An ambivalent figure who stayed in Germany under the Nazis but was himself repressed by them, Benn came to be considered a great national writer after the war. While Supervert considers Benn mostly overrated, his early Expressionist verse — particularly the Morgue cycle — is matchless for its economy, precision, and irony. Walter Kaufmann, the famous translator of Nietzsche, wrote that its "shocking power," which was "far greater than that of most beatnik poetry," was due to the "brutal honesty of an unprecedented perception."

Whirlpool


Lorena McCourtney - 2002
    Her husband, Hunter, had an extra-marital affair, flaunting his mistress for the whole town to see. Then came the difficult divorce. And the Julesburg gossips have made the most of all the juicy details for months.Worst of all when the mill she and Hunter still own together is destroyed by fire, Stefanie becomes a suspect. But Ryan, the arson investigator from out of town, turns out to be her friend from childhood, and the renewed friendship is a blessing during the dark days that follow. Before long both are caught up in a dark frenzy of murder and intrigue when Hunter's mistress is killed. Stefanie's faith sustains her through accusations of arson and murder and, finally, a frightening confrontation with the killer.

The Throne, the Lamb & the Dragon: A Reader's Guide to the Book of Revelation


Paul Spilsbury - 2002
    Surely it is the most misunderstood book in the Bible. And some faulty interpretations of Revelation are so entrenched in the consciousness of Christians that they are regarded as gospel truth and provide riveting plot lines for end-time fiction. But behind the ancient multimedia show that is Revelation lies a message both simple and profound. It is told in a language and grammar of faith that was clearly understood by its first Christian audience. Much as a music video would scarcely have been understood by first-century citizens, though it is immediately understood by youthful audiences today, so we are puzzled by and misread Revelation. Paul Spilsbury has studied Revelation in the company of its best interpreters, those who have taken the time to enter the minds of the first-century Christians for whom it was originally written. And what has he found? Within the central images of a throne, a lamb and a dragon lies the answer--the gospel clearly proclaimed the glory of God awesomely illumined the work of Christ memorably embodied the nature of evil hauntingly disclosed Here is a guide that will help us hear Revelation speak, once again inspiring grateful worship and calling us to costly discipleship.

Katharine Graham's Washington


Katharine Graham - 2002
    Experience Christmas with the Roosevelts, as seen through the eyes of a White House housekeeper. Learn why David McCullough is happy to declare “I love Washington,” while The Washington Post’s Sally Quinn wonders, “Why Do They Hate Washington?” Glimpse David Brinkley’s depiction of the capital during World War II, then experience Henry Kissinger’s thoughts on “Peace at Last,” post-Vietnam. Written by a who’s who of journalists, historians, First Ladies, politicians, and more, these varied works offer a wonderful overview of Katharine Graham’s beloved city.

White on Black


Rubén González Gallego - 2002
    Born with cerebral palsy in Moscow, Ruben Gallego was hidden away in Soviet state institutions by his maternal grandfather, the secretary general of the Spanish Communist Party in the 1960s. His was a boyhood spent in orphanages, hospitals, and old-age homes, a life of emotional deprivation and loss of human dignity.   And yet there is no self-pity here, no bitterness, only an unfailing regard for the truth. Gallego’s story is one of neglect and mistreatment but also of shared small pleasures, of courage, of the power of the human will, and of a child’s growing fascination with books and the worlds he finds in them.

Bodies


Jed Mercurio - 2002
    But for first day junior doctors, their initiation into this world - the 'Killing Season' - is about to begin. A whistle-blowing despatch from the frontlines of hospital life, Jed Mercurio's Bodies takes us on a nerve-jangling journey through one junior doctor's loss of innocence, and his desperate, dangerous attempts to right his - and his colleagues'- wrongs.

Angles of Attack, An A-6 Intruder Pilot's War


Peter Hunt - 2002
    For the next six weeks, Hunt executed dozens of bombing missions into Kuwait and Iraq, including all-weather low-level attacks, A-6 Intruder missions so hazardous that they would never be flown in combat again. Whether Hunt was dropping laser-guided bombs on precision targets, supporting the Marines on the ground, or conducting attacks along the infamous “highway of death,” America’s mission was clear – to force the invading Iraqi army out of Kuwait.Operation Desert Storm - America’s first full-scale conflict since Vietnam - proved to the world that the U.S. military was still battle-ready after decades of Cold War and set the stage for military interventions for years to come. Hunt’s gripping depiction of A-6 Intruders in combat is a thought provoking account of what America asks of her military every day.This…Gulf War memoir is excellent; it really does put the reader in the cockpit...Peter Hunt’s enthusiastic account is one of the best of the type this reviewer has read in recent years. Peter Mersky, The Hook – Journal of Carrier Aviation Book Review, February 2003.

Tennessee Williams's Cat on a Hot Tin Roof


Harold Bloom - 2002
    - Presents the most important 20th-century criticism on major works from "The Odyssey through modern literature- The critical essays reflect a variety of schools of criticism- Contains critical biographies, notes on the contributing critics, a chronology of the author's life, and an index- Introductory essay by Harold Bloom

Britain in Revolution: 1625-1660


Austin Woolrych - 2002
    These were perhaps the most turbulent years of British history with reverberations down the centuries. Austin Woolrych captures the drama and the passion, the momentum of events and the force of contingency. He brilliantly interweaves the history of the three kingdoms and peoples, gripping the reader with the fast-paced yet always balanced story.

thirsty


Dionne Brand - 2002
    About a man who has visions, hovering on the edge but hating it, restless and at war with the world but wanting the peace that passeth understanding. Everything he does is half-done, except his death. When he falls, his parched spirit crying "thirsty," his family falls apart. This is a poem about Toronto, the city that’s never happened before, about waiting for a bus, standing on a corner, watching a stranger: the bank to one corner, the driving school on another, the milk store and the church. This is also about the poet, her own restless sensibility woven in and out through moments of lyric beauty, dramatic power and storytelling grace. It is written in the margins, like a medieval manuscript with shades of light and darkness.

We are Shielded by the Holy Ghost


Sufjan Stevens - 2002
    

Yellowman & My Red Hand, My Black Hand


Dael Orlandersmith - 2002
    As their friendship blossoms into love, Alma struggles to free herself from her mother's poverty and alcoholism, while Eugene must contend with the legacy of being "yellow"—lighter-skinned than his brutal and unforgiving father. In My Red Hand, My Black Hand, a young woman explores her heritage as the child of a blues-loving Native American man and a black sharecropper's daughter from Virginia. Alternately joyous and harrowing, both plays are powerful examinations of the racial tensions that fracture communities and individual lives.From the Trade Paperback edition.

Another Century of War?


Gabriel Kolko - 2002
    Gabriel Kolko’s masterly studies of conflict have redefined our views of modern warfare and its effects; in this urgent and timely treatise, he turns his attention to our current crisis and the dark future it portends.Another Century of War? insists that the roots of terrorism lie in America’s own cynical policies in the Middle East and Afghanistan, a half-century of realpolitik justified by crusades for oil and against communism. The latter threat has disappeared, but America has become even more ambitious in its imperialist adventures and, as the recent crisis proves, even less secure.America, Kolko contends, reacts to the complexity of world affairs with its advanced technology and superior firepower, not with realistic political response and negotiation. He offers a critical and well-informed assessment of whether such a policy offers any hope of attaining greater security for America. Raising the same hard-hitting questions that made his Century of War a “crucial” (Globe and Mail) assessment of our age of conflict, Kolko asks whether the wars of the future will end differently from those in our past.

The Illustrated Directory of Submarines of the World


David Miller - 2002
    Each entry gives specifications, followed by development and battle histories where relevant.

Conversaciones con Antonio Lobo Antunes/ Conversations with Antonio Lobo Antunes


Maria Blanco Lledo - 2002
    

Brown Glass Windows


Devorah Major - 2002
    Ironically, when he finally conquers his drug habit, he is killed meaninglessly in a drive-by shooting. Ranger's death causes the family, with its suppressed recriminations and accumulated resentments, to pass through the crisis and come out on the other side of grief stronger and more united. The novel is also a kind of elegy to the old Filmore District. As Ranger says, they've redeveloped the neighborhood "into a little doorway to hell," a comment that will resonate deeply with readers not only in San Francisco, but in Hartford, L.A. and other urban centers throughout the country, where people have lost their once closely-knit neighborhoods either through urban decay or gentrification, or both. Brown Glass Windows is a beautifully structured book employing techniques of magical realism—a grittily realistic narrative framed by the spirit world. The novel is narrated by a spirit of a woman 200 years old, who watches over her elderly Black friend, Victoria. Victoria, a wonderfully eccentric character, who paints herself white and strives to be invisible, plays an important role in the healing of the Everman family. devorah major, an accomplished poet, invests her novel's landscape and characters with layers of meaning without ever obfuscating the realistic surface narrative (one is reminded of Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison). Brown Glass Windows gives us a rich blend of realism and imagination, elegizing the passing of an era and presenting vibrant characters who move into the future with hope and courage.

The Broken Record Technique


Lee Henderson - 2002
    The Broken Record Technique seems like the kind of writing that is usually pegged as suburban, but Henderson's eyes and ears are capable of looking outside of the strip malls, and a few of his stories bring an eerily urbanized view of farm life to the page. Henderson's best stories are wholly unforgettable. The finale of The Broken Record Technique, the enigmatically titled "W," seems like the stuff of a bizarre TV movie: a young boy is abducted from his family's small-town home by a man who looks exactly like his father. The only witness to the crime is a remarkable toy, an electronic talking marmot blessed with formidable artificial intelligence. As the police haplessly search for clues to the case, the marmot gradually starves to death like a plush tamagotchi, losing its recorded evidence. Other highlights include "Spines a Length of Velcro," the tale of two suburban preteens forced to don plastic suits and sumo-wrestle for the delight of their betting, flirting, and inebriated parents; and "The Unfortunate," the touching tale of a doomed little boy born with a head the shape of a football who grows up in a rural home and eventually takes a job killing chickens. A few of these stories feel like filler--postmodernism by the numbers that could have come from the pen of any young North American male writer. Nonetheless, the best stories in The Broken Record Technique far outshine the weak ones, and this is a formidable (and entertaining) first collection. --Jack Illingworth

Racializing Jesus: Race, Ideology and the Formation of Modern Biblical Scholarship


Shawn Kelley - 2002
    He then traces the processes through which racially-grounded thinking has influenced modern biblical scholarship.Dynamic and thought-provoking, the book incorporates a wide range of current debate, from critical race theory to the relationship between Martin Heidegger and National Socialism. It will give every student and scholar of biblical studies awareness of the subtle ways in which racial thinking has permeated their discipline, and encourage them to create new modes of biblical analysis.

Vita Sackville-West: Selected Writings


Vita Sackville-West - 2002
    She wrote in an astounding variety of genres, including travel narrative, historical and literary studies, poetry, fiction, and essays, and is probably best known or her novels, The Edwardians and All Passion Spent, and incomparable writings about English country houses and gardens. Here, for the first time, is an anthology that represents the full expanse of her interests and styles. Over half of the works, including intimate diaries and a dream notebook, have never been published. Edited by a foremost expert on the Bloomsbury circle, Vita Sackville-West: Selected Writings provides the best and most accessible introduction to this unique writer.

Equality and Power in Schools: Redistribution, Recognition and Representation


Kathleen Lynch - 2002
    Through classroom observation, interviews with pupils and staff, focus groups and questionnaires, the authors examine classroom practice, grouping and streaming, peer group relations and attitudes to power relationships both between pupils and teachers, and amongst teachers themselves. They also look particularly at the different experiences of pupils in single sex and co-educational schools.The authors' findings offer an insight into the way schools operate in terms of social class, gender, religion and ethnicity, and raise fundamental questions about the use and abuse of power in schools and how this affects the lives of pupils and staff.This book will be of interest to those studying education, sociology, gender studies and women's studies, and to policy makers and teachers in senior management roles.

The Cambridge Companion to Newton


I. Bernard Cohen - 2002
    In this volume a team of distinguished contributors examines the principal aspects of Newton's thought. They include not only his approach to space, time, mechanics, and universal gravity in Principia and his research in optics and mathematics, but also his lesser known clandestine investigations into alchemy, theology, and prophecy.

The Antichrist's Lewd Hat: Protestants, Papists and Players in Post-Reformation England


Peter Lake - 2002
    This work examines how different sections of 16th- and early-17th-century England - Protestant, Puritan and Catholic, the press and the popular stage - sought to enlist these pamphlets for their own purposes.