The Panopticon Writings


Jeremy Bentham - 1791
    In the end, the project came to nothing; the Panopticon was never built. But it is precisely this that makes the Panopticon project the best exemplification of Bentham's own theory of fictions, according to which non-existent fictitious entities can have all too real effects. There is probably no building that has stirred more philosophical controversy than Bentham's Panopticon. The Panopticon is not merely, as Foucault thought, "a cruel, ingenious cage", in which subjects collaborate in their own subjection, but much more - constructing the Panopticon produces not only a prison, but also a god within it. The Panopticon is a machine which on assembly is already inhabited by a ghost. It is through the Panopticon and the closely related theory of fictions that Bentham has made his greatest impact on modern thought; above all, on the theory of power. The Panopticon writings are frequently cited, rarely read. This edition contains the complete "Panopticon Letters", together with selections from "Panopticon Postscript I" and "Fragment on Ontology", Bentham's fullest account of fictions. A comprehensive introduction by Miran Bozovic explores the place of Panopticon in contemporary theoretical debate.

Venice: A Maritime Republic


Frederic C. Lane - 1973
    Among the many cities men have made, Frederic C. Lane writes, Venice stands out as a symbol of beauty, of wise government, and of communally controlled capitalism. Drawing on a lifetime of study and reflection, the author shows how that resplendent city came to have the institutions, the buildings, and the pattern of urban life that make it unique.

Roman Poems


Pier Paolo Pasolini - 1986
    His poems were at once deeply personal and passionately engaged in the political turmoil of his country. In 1949, after his homosexuality led the Italian Communist Party to expel him on charges of "moral and political unworthiness," Pasolini fled to Rome. This selection of poems from his early impoverished days on the outskirts of Rome to his last (with a backward longing glance at his native Friuli) is at the center of his poetic and filmic vision of modern Italian life as an Inferno."From all these refusals, we know what Pasolini stood against—political ideologies of all kinds, the complacency inherent in the established social order, the corruption of the institutions of church and state. If Pasolini could be said to have stood for anything it was for the struggles of Italy’s working class—both the rural peasants and those barracked in the urban slums at the edges of Italian cities—whose humanity he evoked with great eloquence and nuance. But it is his refusals that animate his legacy with an incandescent rage, a passionate and profound fury that did not, as Zigaina suggests, cry out for death—but for just the opposite." —Nathaniel Rich, The New York Review of BooksPier Paolo Pasolini was born in 1922 in Bologna. In addition to the films for which he is world famous, he wrote novels, poetry, and social and cultural criticism, and was an accomplished painter. He was murdered in 1975 at Ostia, near Rome.

The Afterlife is Real


Theresa Cheung - 2013
    A collection of true-life accounts of near death experiences or glimpses of the afterlife by one of the UK's best-loved experts in the paranormal.

The 29% Solution: 52 Weekly Networking Success Strategies


Ivan R. Misner - 2008
    There was a real-world study where people were told to get certain material to someone who might know someone who would know the individual to whom the material was to be delivered. This process formed a chain of connections linking the people together. In the most successful study, 217 chains were started and 64 were completed-a success rate of only 29%. That means that 71% were not connected at all!By reading The 29% Solution, businesspeople can develop their networking skills, increase their connections, and become part of the roughly 29% of people that are, in fact, separated from the rest of the world by only six degrees or less! The 52 proactive strategies in this book will help readers focus their efforts and begin to reap the benefits of effective business networking.

Libidinal Economy


Jean-François Lyotard - 1974
    Published in 1974 by Minuit, Économie libidinale is, of all his work to date, the most creative in its mode of writing and in its theorizing: a stunning, dense, brilliant piece in which Lyotard, ranging from Marxist and Freudian theory to contemporary arts, argues that political economy is charged with passions and, reciprocally, that passions are infused with the political.

Our Divided Political Heart: The Battle for the American Idea in an Age of Discontent


E.J. Dionne Jr. - 2012
    Offering an incisive analysis of how hyper-individualism is poisoning the nation's political atmosphere, E. J. Dionne Jr. argues that Americans can't agree on who we are because we can't agree on who we've been, or what it is, philosophically and spiritually, that makes us Americans. Dionne takes on the Tea Party's distortions of American history and shows that the true American tradition points not to radical individualism, but to a balance between our love of individualism and our devotion to community.Dionne offers both a fascinating tour of American history-from the Founding Fathers to Clay and Lincoln and on to the Populists, the Progressives and the New Dealers-and also an analysis of our current politics that shatters conventional wisdom. The true American idea, far from endorsing government inaction or indifference, has always viewed the federal government as an active and constructive partner with the rest of society in promoting prosperity, opportunity, and American greatness.The ability of the American system to self-correct is its greatest asset and Dionne challenges progressives to embrace the American story. Our fractious but productive past offers us the resources both to rediscover the idea of progress and to put an end to our fears of decline. Our Divided Political Heart will be required reading for all who seek a path out of our current impasse.

Kindertotenwald: Prose Poems


Franz Wright - 2011
    Wright’s most intimate thoughts and images appear before us in dramatic and spectral short narratives: mesmerizing poems whose colloquial sound and rhythms announce a new path for this luminous and masterful poet. In these journeys, we hear the constant murmured “yes” of creation—“it will be packing its small suitcase soon; it will leave the keys dangling from the lock and set out at last,” Wright tells us. He introduces us to the powerful presences in his world (the haiku master Basho, Nietzsche, St. Teresa of Avila, and especially his father, James Wright) as he explores the continually unfolding loss of childhood and the mixed blessings that follow it. Taken together, the pieces deliver the diary of a poet—“a fairly good egg in hot water,” as he describes himself—who seeks to narrate his way through the dark wood of his title, following the crumbs of language. “Take everything,” Wright suggests, “you can have it all back, but leave for a little the words, of all you gave the most mysteriously lasting.” With a strong presence of the dramatic in every line, Kindertotenwald pulls us deep into this journey, where we too are lost and then found again with him.

Made to Crave Participant's Guide: Satisfying Your Deepest Desire with God, Not Food


Anonymous - 2013
    Many of us have misplaced that craving, overindulging in physical pleasures instead of lasting spiritual satisfaction. For a woman struggling with unhealthy eating habits, Made to Crave will equip her to: Break the 'I'll start again Monday cycle' and start feeling good about herself today Stop beating herself up over the numbers on the scale and make peace with the body you've been given Discover how weight loss struggles aren't a curse but, rather, a blessing in the making Replace justifications that lead to diet failure with empowering go-to scripts that lead to victory Eat healthy without feeling deprived Reach a healthy weight goal while growing closer to God through the processDesigned for use with the video.

The Accursed Share: An Essay on General Economy, Volume II: The History of Eroticism and Volume III: Sovereignty


Georges Bataille - 1976
    In the second and third volumes, The History of Eroticism and Sovereignty, Bataille explores the same paradox of utility from an anthropological and an ethical perspective, respectively. The History of Eroticism analyzes the fears and fascination, the prohibitions and transgressions attached to the realm of eroticism as so many expressions of the "uselessness" of erotic life.

Vanished


Victor Methos - 2015
    So when a woman is found mutilated and crucified, Detective Kyle Dixon catches a case where all the evidence has long since been destroyed. Any detective would find it a difficult investigation, but to make matters worse, Dixon is paired with Ethan Baudin: a new detective in the unit who doesn't believe the law should apply to those that chase monsters. They find that the murder is connected to a rash of fraternity rapes and the case becomes highly publicized and politically charged. As Dixon and Baudin unravel the victim's life and follow it to Cheyenne's underbelly, it leads to connections to more rapes and disappearances of young women, and to the dark tastes of the most powerful men in the city. The case quickly begins to threaten their careers, and even their lives. Dixon and Baudin will have to decide if the backlash is worth finding out the truth, or if some deaths are better left unexplained. Bestselling author Victor Methos has created the beginning of a new series that explores the darkness in men's souls. This isn't the typical mystery with procedures and red tape. This is about the shadows that touch all of us...

The New World Order - Whether it is Attainable, How it can be Attained, and What Sort of World a World at Peace Will Have to Be


H.G. Wells - 1939
    G. Wells's fascinating exposition of the 'New World Order', being a discussion of whether it is attainable, how it can be attained, and what sort of world a world at peace will have to be. This wonderful masterpiece of speculative theory will appeal to fans of Wells's seminal works and those with an interest in speculation as to the future of humanity. A wonderful addition to any personal library, this antiquarian text is not to be missed by discerning collectors of such literature. The chapters of this volume include: 'The End of an Age', 'Open Conference', 'Disruptive Forces', 'Class-War', 'Unsated Youth', 'Socialism Unavoidable', 'The New type of Revolution', 'Politics for the Sane Man', 'Declaration of the Rights of Man', 'International Politics', etcetera. Herbert George "H. G." Wells (1866 - 1946) was a prolific English writer in many genres; including the novel, history, politics, social commentary, as well as textbooks and rules for war games. We are republishing this vintage book now in an affordable, modern edition complete with a new prefatory biography of the author.

The Primacy of Politics: Social Democracy and the Making of Europe's Twentieth Century


Sheri Berman - 2006
    Berman looks at the history of social democracy from its origins in the late nineteenth century to today and shows how it beat out competitors such as classical liberalism, orthodox Marxism, and its cousins, Fascism and National Socialism by solving the central challenge of modern politics - reconciling the competing needs of capitalism and democracy. Bursting on to the scene in the interwar years, the social democratic model spread across Europe after the Second World War and formed the basis of the postwar settlement. This is a study of European social democracy that rewrites the intellectual and political history of the modern era while putting contemporary debates about globalization in their proper intellectual and historical context.

Who Are You: The Life of Pete Townshend


Mark Wilkerson - 2006
    Author Mark Wilkerson interviewed Townshend himself and several of Townshend's friends and associates for this biography.

Mystery Ride


Robert Boswell - 1993
    A thoughtful, funny, and penetrating portrait of a modern American family that explores the breaches and bonds between husbands and wives, parents and children--and introduces one of the most incorrigible and affecting teenagers since Holden Caulfield.