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Patriotic Gore: Studies In The Literature Of The American Civil War
by Edmund WilsonFeaturing critical and biographical portraits of notable figures of the American Civil War, Patriotic Gore remains one of Edmund Wilson's greatest achievements. Considered one of the 100 Best Nonfiction books by The Modern Library.Figures discussed include Harriet Beecher Stowe, Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S. Grant, William Tecumseh Sherman, and Oliver Wendell Holmes, among many others.
One Art: Letters
by Elizabeth BishopRobert Lowell once remarked, "When Elizabeth Bishop's letters are published (as they will be), she will be recognized as not only one of the best, but one of the most prolific writers of our century." One Art is the magificent confirmation of Lowell's prediction.From several thousand letters, written by Bishop over fifty years—from 1928, when she was seventeen, to the day of her death, in Boston in 1979—Robert Giroux, the poet's longtime friend and editor, has selected over five hundred missives for this volume. In a way, the letters comprise Bishop's autobiography, and Giroux has greatly enhanced them with his own detailed, candid, and highly informative introduction. One Art takes us behind Bishop's formal sophistication and reserve, fully displaying the gift for friendship, the striving for perfection, and the passionate, questing, rigorous spirit that made her a great artist.
Was machen Menschen und Medien?: Grundzüge einer praxistheoretischen Perspektive für Kommunikationswissenschaft und Medienforschung
by Wolfgang Reißmann Christian Pentzold Peter GentzelDie Rede von Praktiken ist in der Kommunikations- und Medienwissenschaft weit verbreitet. Eine systematische Diskussion des Potenzials praxistheoretischer Denk- und Forschungsansätze steht dagegen noch aus. Dieses Buch ist eine Einladung zur tieferen Beschäftigung mit Medienpraktiken und wirbt für eine entsprechende Neuorientierung von Kommunikationsforschung und Medienanalyse. Dazu wird der Status quo praxistheoretischer Ansätze in der Kommunikations- und Medienwissenschaft kompakt vorgestellt. Interessierte bekommen einen Einstieg und Expert:innen werden Anschlussmöglichkeiten angeboten. Es geht sowohl um Grundprinzipien praxistheoretischen Denkens als auch um die sich daraus ergebenden Haltungen sowie um Zugänge für praktische Untersuchungen. Im Zentrum stehen aktuelle Herausforderungen und die Möglichkeiten, Praktiken in Digitalmedien und vernetzten Medienumgebungen zu analysieren.
Towards Success in Communicating and Teaching Internationally: Teach and Talk Like You Walk
by Marijana Prodanović Begoña CrespoThis book is an accessibly-written guide to international communicating and teaching practices. Intended for teachers and practitioners, it is written in a reader-friendly way in order to answer some common questions, and overcome obstacles that arise when interacting internationally. Cross-cultural encounters are often burdened with stereotypes, prejudices and misconceptions, which can lead to unwanted outcomes, miscommunication, and even result in total pragmatic failure. The situation becomes even more delicate when the paths of intercultural communication and teaching-learning processes cross. Its style, form and content make this book a vital resource for students, scholars, teachers, and practitioners working in fields such as applied linguistics, cross-cultural pragmatics, education and teaching, cultural studies, as well as international management.
The Method Works: Studies on Language Change in Honor of Don Ringe
by Joseph F. Eska Jean-François Mondon Olav Hackstein Ronald I. KimThis volume contains an introductory essay, the bibliography of Professor Ringe, and nineteen articles on various aspects of historical linguistics composed by current and former colleagues and students at the University of Pennsylvania and a select number of leading scholars in the field based at institutions such as Cornell University, Harvard University, Oxford University, Saarland University, University of Georgia, University of California at Los Angeles, University of Munich, and York University. The majority of contributions focus upon linguistic phylogenetics (the interrelationships among languages), Classical linguistics, and Germanic linguistics. Many of the contributions make contributions to theoretical, as well as historical, linguistics.
The Talented Miss Highsmith: The Secret Life and Serious Art of Patricia Highsmith
by Joan SchenkarPatricia Highsmith's The Price of Salt is now a major motion picture (Carol) starring Cate Blanchett and Mia Wasikowska, directed by Todd HayesA 2010 New York Times Notable BookA 2010 Lambda Literary Award WinnerA 2009 Edgar Award NomineeA 2009 Agatha Award NomineeA Publishers Weekly Pick of the WeekPatricia Highsmith, one of the great writers of twentieth-century American fiction, had a life as darkly compelling as that of her favorite "hero-criminal," the talented Tom Ripley. Joan Schenkar maps out this richly bizarre life from her birth in Texas to Hitchcock's filming of her first novel, Strangers on a Train, to her long, strange self-exile in Europe. We see her as a secret writer for the comics, a brilliant creator of disturbing fictions, and an erotic predator with dozens of women (and a few good men) on her love list. The Talented Miss Highsmith is the first literary biography with access to Highsmith's whole story: her closest friends, her oeuvre, her archives. It's a compulsive page-turner unlike any other, a book worthy of Highsmith herself.
The Passion Projects: Modernist Women, Intimate Archives, Unfinished Lives
by Melanie MicirHow modernist women writers used biographical writing to resist their exclusion from literary historyIt’s impossible, now, to think of modernism without thinking about gender, sexuality, and the diverse movers and shakers of the early twentieth century. But this was not always so. The Passion Projects examines biographical projects that modernist women writers undertook to resist the exclusion of their friends, colleagues, lovers, and companions from literary history. Many of these works were vibrant efforts of modernist countermemory and counterhistory that became casualties in a midcentury battle for literary legitimacy, but that now add a new dimension to our appreciation of such figures as Radclyffe Hall, Gertrude Stein, Hope Mirrlees, and Sylvia Beach, among many others.Melanie Micir explores an extensive body of material, including Sylvia Townsend Warner’s carefullly annotated letters to her partner Valentine Ackland, Djuna Barnes’s fragmented drafts about the Baroness Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven, Margaret Anderson’s collection of modernist artifacts, and Virginia Woolf’s joke biography of her friend and lover Vita Sackville-West, the novel Orlando. Whether published in encoded desire or squirreled away in intimate archives, these “passion projects” recorded life then in order to summon an audience now, and stand as important predecessors of queer and feminist recovery projects that have shaped the contemporary understanding of the field.Arguing for the importance of biography, The Passion Projects shows how women turned to this genre in the early twentieth century to preserve their lives and communities for future generations to discover.
In Touch With God: Develop A Closer Relationship With God (In Touch Study Ser. #Vol. 19)
by Charles F. StanleyPastor and bestselling author Charles Stanley brings you closer to the Lord in this unique book filled with inspirational Scriptures as well as thoughts and prayers from the author. "In Touch With God" will help you know God's heart on a variety of topics, including forgiveness, His guidance, relationships, Spirit-filled living, Christian character, adversity, and God's plan for your life.
Say It Plain: A Century of Great African American Speeches
by Booker T. Washington Jesse Jackson Clarence Thomas John Hope Franklin Julian Bond Martin Luther King Jr. Lani Guinier Howard Thurman Randall Robinson Stokely Carmichael Fannie Lou Hamer Joseph Lowery Dick Gregory Marcus Garvey Walter White Barbara Jordan Shirley Chisholm Thurgood Marshall Mary McLeod Bethune Charles Hamilton Houston Benjamin L. Hooks Louis Farrakhan Johnetta B. ColeA moving portrait of how black Americans have spoken out against injustice—with speeches by Thurgood Marshall, Shirley Chisholm, Jesse Jackson, and more. In &“full-throated public oratory, the kind that can stir the soul&”, this unique anthology collects the transcribed speeches of the twentieth century&’s leading African American cultural, literary, and political figures, many never before available in printed form (Minneapolis Star-Tribune). From an 1895 speech by Booker T. Washington to Julian Bond&’s sharp assessment of school segregation on the fiftieth anniversary of Brown v. Board in 2004, the collection captures a powerful tradition of oratory—by political activists, civil rights organizers, celebrities, and religious leaders—going back more than a century. Including the text of each speech with an introduction placing it in historical context, Say It Plain is a remarkable record—from the back-to-Africa movement to the civil rights era and the rise of black nationalism and beyond—conveying a struggle for freedom and a challenge to America to live up to its democratic principles. Includes speeches by: Mary McLeod BethuneJulian BondStokely CarmichaelShirley ChisholmLouis FarrakhanMarcus GarveyJesse JacksonMartin Luther King Jr.Thurgood MarshallBooker T. WashingtonWalter White
Writing and Publishing in Architecture and Design
by Anne MasseyThis book outlines the process of writing and publishing research in the field of architecture and design. The book sets out to help researchers find a voice and find the best fit for their work. Information about the different types of publication on offer is set out, as well as how to make that important initial approach. From pitching an idea for a review in a magazine, to producing a journal article right through to the monograph, Writing and Publishing in Architecture and Design maps out the different steps for the novice author. Your first steps in publishing can be daunting, and the book offers material which will inspire confidence, by demystifying the publication process. It also includes valuable nuts and bolts material such as planning and structure, time management, writing styles, editing, production of the final manuscript and picture research. How do you turn your PhD into a book? How do you turn conference proceedings into a publication? Commissioning editors and authors share their experiences through interview and offer recipes for success as well as what to avoid. Key titles from the past are included as case studies, and their pathway to publication explored. This is an invaluable book for anyone working in the fields of architecture and design, with an ambition to publish.
Reading Keats’s Poetry: Alternative Subject Positions and Subject-Object Relations (Routledge Studies in Romanticism)
by Merve GündayThis book claims that Keats’s poetry is a reaction against the discourse of modernity which traumatized the human subject by creating a divide between human and nature, subject and object. It argues that by transcending this divide and acknowledging the agency of both subject and object, Keats makes an ideological statement and offers a new site of existence or relationality to readers. This site also implies a response to the accusations that the Romantics were not interested in the realities of their time. What Keats does is to give an aestheticized response to the hardcore facts of his time. Departing from previous studies due to its emphasis on subjectivity and relationality, the book discusses Keats with regard to post/non-anthropocentric, alternative subject positions and subject-object relations in his “Ode to a Nightingale,” “In drear nighted December,” “Isabella; or, The Pot of Basil,” “Lamia,” “La Belle Dame sans Mercy,” and “Ode on a Grecian Urn.” Drawing on Lacanian and Braidottian epistemologies in its discussion of the intricacy between the imaginary and the symbolic, the irruption of the psychotic into the symbolic, and the agency of the object on the subject in Keats’s poetry, the book suggests that the inner dynamics of both the subject and the object acquire agency, which shatters Oneness and totality assumed in the Cartesian self.
Translating the Language of Patents
by Françoise HerrmannThis book is a guide to translating the language of patents in view of avoiding costly translation errors. Errors that might hinder the examination process for granting patents, or that might make patents undefendable in a context of litigation.The 42 sections of this book each identify different provisions of the law for their relevance to translation. These provisions govern language uses, right down to the use of punctuation. Each of the sections present findings, both in terms of the relevant provisions identified, and their specific significance to translation. Exemplified translations focus on French and English, but when there is a consensus across Intellectual property systems, multilingual parallelism is highlighted. Wherever relevant, provisions of specific rules and regulations are presented and exemplified in the three official languages of the European Patent Office (EPO), English, French, and German and the three official languages of the United Nations World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), English, French, and Spanish.Written by an experienced teacher, patent translator, and author of the blog, Patents on the Soles of Your Shoes, this is a rigorously researched, authoritative, and comprehensive guide for all professional translators working on patents, and for students and translators working in legal translation. Accompanying e-resources are available on the Routledge Translation studies portal (routledgetranslationstudiesportal.com) including information on how to use this book in courses.
Summary and Analysis of White Trash: Based on the Book by Nancy Isenberg (Smart Summaries)
by Worth BooksSo much to read, so little time? This brief overview of White Trash tells you what you need to know—before or after you read Nancy Isenberg&’s book. Crafted and edited with care, Worth Books set the standard for quality and give you the tools you need to be a well-informed reader. This short summary and analysis of White Trash includes: Historical contextChapter-by-chapter overviewsProfiles of the main charactersDetailed timeline of eventsImportant quotesFascinating triviaGlossary of termsSupporting material to enhance your understanding of the original work About White Trash: The 400-Year Untold History of Class in America by Nancy Isenberg: In her New York Times–bestselling book White Trash: The 400-Year Untold History of Class in America, Nancy Isenberg explores the role of poor, rural whites—white trash—in US culture and politics. Throughout its history, America has prided itself on the American Dream, where a person, regardless of class, can be whomever they want. But is social mobility a true ingredient of US society, or is it just American idealism at its best? Isenberg suggests the latter as she traces the history of the country from the first English settlements, through the Civil War, and up to present-day pop culture, examining the origins of the language and attitudes that have defined poor, white Americans for centuries. As Donald Trump moved in to the White House thanks, in part, to a vocal contingent of poor, white supporters, White Trash&’s detailed history offers insight to how the new president curried the favor of this large, often overlooked population, and how they might fare under his leadership. The summary and analysis in this ebook are intended to complement your reading experience and bring you closer to a great work of nonfiction.
Summary and Analysis of Elon Musk: Based on the Book by Ashlee Vance (Smart Summaries)
by Worth BooksSo much to read, so little time? This brief overview of Elon Musk tells you what you need to know—before or after you read Ashlee Vance&’s book. Crafted and edited with care, Worth Books set the standard for quality and give you the tools you need to be a well-informed reader. This short summary and analysis of Elon Musk includes: Historical contextChapter-by-chapter overviewsProfiles of the main charactersDetailed timeline of key eventsImportant quotesFascinating triviaGlossary of termsSupporting material to enhance your understanding of the original work About Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future by Ashlee Vance: The bestselling biography Elon Musk offers a vigorous look at the most famous entrepreneur of our time. Ashlee Vance&’s tough reporting, exclusive access to Musk&’s friends and family, and years on the technology beat for Bloomberg Businessweek have enabled him to paint a picture of the most interesting man in the industry. Elon Musk is behind the modern electric vehicle at Tesla and has revolutionized the cost and convenience of spaceflight at his rocket company, SpaceX. In addition to these major business and technological success stories, Musk cofounded PayPal, which was sold to eBay for $1.5 billion, and sold Zip2 to Compaq during the dotcom boom. The summary and analysis in this ebook are intended to complement your reading experience and bring you closer to a great work of nonfiction.
ELF and Applied Linguistics: Reconsidering Applied Linguistics Research from ELF Perspectives (Routledge Studies in Applied Linguistics)
by Kumiko MurataWith help from a global cast of scholars, Kumiko Murata explores the remodelling of the discipline of applied linguistics, which traditionally regarded Anglophone native-speaker English as the standard for English as a lingua franca (ELF).This edited volume probes the dichotomy between the current focus of applied linguistic research and a drastically changed English use in a globalised world. This division is approached from diverse perspectives and with the overarching understanding of ELF as an indispensable area of applied linguistics research. The volume includes theoretical backgrounds to English as a lingua franca, the nature of ELF interactions, language policy and practice from an ELF perspective, and the relationship between multilingualism and ELF.A resourceful book not only to ELF researchers but also applied linguists in general, as well as policy makers, administrators, practicing teachers, and university students from diverse linguacultural backgrounds.
Far Country: Scenes from American Culture
by Franco MorettiThe influential and controversial critic takes literary history out of the classroom and into the publicIn the field of literary history and theory, Franco Moretti is synonymous with innovation. The cofounder of the Stanford Literary Lab, he brought quantitative methods into the study of the novel, enabling a “distant” reading that uses computation to analyze literary production over centuries. But at the same time, he was also teaching undergraduates the history of literature. Knowing Moretti, it’s no surprise that he didn’t teach the course the accepted way: one author after another, in a long uninterrupted chain. Instead, he put an irregular chessboard in front of his students that was too strange to be taken for granted. Literary history had become a problem, and he offered a solution.In Far Country, Moretti take these lectures out of the classroom and lets us share in the passion and excitement that comes from radical critique. Unconstrained by genre, Moretti juxtaposes Whitman and Baudelaire, the Western and film noir, even Rembrandt and Warhol, illuminating each through their opposition. With his guidance, we revel in the process of transformation—the earthquakes that shook the “how” of artistic form—and begin to shape a new view on American culture.Bracing in its insight and provocative in its conclusions, Far Country is a critical look at the development of American cultural hegemony.
The Mystery of Lewis Carroll: Discovering the Whimsical, Thoughtful, and Sometimes Lonely Man Who Created Alice in Wonderland
by Jenny WoolfA new biography of Lewis Carroll, just in time for the release of Tim Burton's all-star Alice in Wonderland Lewis Carroll was brilliant, secretive and self contradictory. He reveled in double meanings and puzzles, in his fiction and his life. Jenny Woolf's The Mystery of Lewis Carroll shines a new light on the creator of Alice In Wonderland and brings to life this fascinating, but sometimes exasperating human being whom some have tried to hide. Using rarely-seen and recently discovered sources, such as Carroll's accounts ledger and unpublished correspondence with the "real" Alice's family, Woolf sets Lewis Carroll firmly in the context of the English Victorian age and answers many intriguing questions about the man who wrote the Alice books, such as: • Was it Alice or her older sister that caused him to break with the Liddell family? • How true is the gossip about pedophilia and certain adult women that followed him? • How true is the "romantic secret" which many think ruined Carroll's personal life? • Who caused Carroll major financial trouble and why did Carroll successfully conceal that person's identity and actions? Woolf answers these and other questions to bring readers yet another look at one of the most elusive English writers the world has known.
Can You Say a Few Words?: How To Prepare And Deliver A Speech For Any Special Occasion
by Joan Detz-Your alma mater asks you to say a few words at an upcoming fundraising dinner-You've won an employee award and will have to give a short acceptance speech at the ceremony-Your parents are celebrating their 50th anniversary, and you'd like to make a toast at their partyEveryone's counting on you to sound polished, to be prepared, to speak with savvy-in short, to give a speech that's as memorable as the occasion itself.Don't dread these invitations to speak. Instead, learn to prepare clear, concise, and engaging speeches that will live up to your audience's expectations and match the mood of the occasion.Award-winning corporate speechwriter Joan Detz offers solid advice for tackling this nerve-racking task-with pointers, tips, and trade secrets that will help you make the most of every speaking opportunity.Clearly written and fun to read, this invaluable guide provides all the practical advice and encouragement you need to deliver a winning speech.
The Age of the Image: Redefining Literacy in a World of Screens
by Stephen ApkonAn urgent, erudite, and practical book that redefines literacy to embrace how we think and communicate nowWe live in a world that is awash in visual storytelling. The recent technological revolutions in video recording, editing, and distribution are more akin to the development of movable type than any other such revolution in the last five hundred years. And yet we are not popularly cognizant of or conversant with visual storytelling's grammar, the coded messages of its style, and the practical components of its production. We are largely, in a word, illiterate. But this is not a gloomy diagnosis of the collapse of civilization; rather, it is a celebration of the progress we've made and an exhortation and a plan to seize the potential we're poised to enjoy. The rules that define effective visual storytelling—much like the rules that define written language—do in fact exist, and Stephen Apkon has long experience in deploying them, teaching them, and witnessing their power in the classroom and beyond. In The Age of the Image, drawing on the history of literacy—from scroll to codex, scribes to printing presses, SMS to social media—on the science of how various forms of storytelling work on the human brain, and on the practical value of literacy in real-world situations, Apkon convincingly argues that now is the time to transform the way we teach, create, and communicate so that we can all step forward together into a rich and stimulating future.
Einblick: Potenziale und Perspektiven im Kontext von Nähe und Distanz (Designforschung – Designwissenschaft - Designtheorie)
by Tobias HeldDer Band beschäftigt sich mit der Erforschung sozio-interaktiver Potentiale der Videotelefonie im Kontext von Nähe und Verbundenheit mit Fokus auf dem Eigenbild sowie dem Rederechtswechsel. Die Videotelefonie als Kommunikationsform hat sich – und darauf deuten die Erfahrungen der Covid-19-Pandemie hin – im lebensweltlichen Alltag der Menschen etabliert und wird dort in naher Zukunft nicht mehr wegzudenken sein. Auf Basis ihrer Möglichkeiten und Errungenschaften ist es inzwischen Realität und Lebenswirklichkeit, dass die Kommunikation sowohl im privaten als auch im geschäftlichen Kontext mittels verschiedenster Kanäle stattfindet. Der Videotelefonie kommt hierbei als solche nicht nur eine tragende Funktion, sondern auch eine herausragende Rolle bei der vermeintlichen Reproduktion der Face-to-Face-Kommunikation im digitalen Raum zu und wird wie selbstverständlich zum zwischenmenschlichen Austausch genutzt. Just an diesem Punkt knüpft die Forschungsarbeit an. Zentral stand dabei das Vorhaben einer dezidierte Untersuchung des Forschungsgegenstandes Videotelefonie, sowohl aus Kultur- als auch Technikhistorischer, aber auch Medien-, Wahrnehmungs- wie Kommunikations- theoretischer Perspektive, indem analytische und phänosemiotische Perspektiven miteinander in Beziehung gesetzt werden (z.B. Wahrnehmungsbedingungen, Interaktionsmerkmale, realisierte Kommunikationsprozesse etc.). Die Arbeit ist damit vor allem im Bereich des Produkt- und Interactiondesigns zu verorten, adressiert jedoch auch Motive der Medien- und Wahrnehmungstheorie. Darüber hinaus hat sie das Ziel der Darlegung und Begründung der Videotelefonie als eigenständige Kommunikationsform, welche durch eigene, kommunikative Besonderheiten, die sich in ihrer jeweiligen Ingebrauchnahme sowie durch spezielle Wahrnehmungsbedingungen äußern, und die die Videotelefonie als »Rederechtswechselmedium« avant la lettre konsolidieren, gekennzeichnet ist. Dabei soll der Beweis erbracht werden, dass die Videotelefonie nicht als Schwundstufe einer Kommunikation Face-to-Face, sondern als ein eigenständiges Mediatisierungs- und Kommunikationsereignis zu verstehen sei. Und eben nicht als eine beliebige – sich linear vom Telefon ausgehende – entwickelte Form der audio-visuellen Fernkommunikation darstellt, sondern die gestalterische (Bewegtbild-)Technizität ein eigenständiges Funktionsmaß offeriert, welches wiederum ein innovatives Kommunikationsmilieu im Kontext einer Rederechtswechsel-Medialität stabilisiert.
Forensics and Fiction: Clever, Intriguing, and Downright Odd Questions from Crime Writers
by D. P. LyleHow long can someone survive in a cold, damp cave without food or water? How was diphtheria treated in 1886? Can Botox kill? Can DNA be found on a knife years later? How are mummified corpses identified? How long does it take blood to clot when spilled on a tile floor? What happens in death from electrocution?As a consultant to many novelists around the world and to the writers of such popular TV shows as Monk, Law & Order, House, and CSI: Miami, D. P. Lyle, M.D., has answered many cool, clever, and oddball questions over the years. Forensics and Fiction: Clever, Intriguing, and Downright Odd Questions from Crime Writers is a collection of the best of these questions. The answers are provided in a concise and entertaining fashion that will keep you wide awake so you can read "just one more."
The Ten-Cent Plague: The Great Comic-Book Scare and How It Changed America
by David HajduThe story of the rise and fall of those comic books has never been fully told -- until The Ten-Cent Plague. David Hajdu's remarkable new book vividly opens up the lost world of comic books, its creativity, irreverence, and suspicion of authority.In the years between World War II and the emergence of television as a mass medium, American popular culture as we know it was first created—in the pulpy, boldly illustrated pages of comic books. No sooner had this new culture emerged than it was beaten down by church groups, community bluestockings, and a McCarthyish Congress—only to resurface with a crooked smile on its face in Mad magazine.When we picture the 1950s, we hear the sound of early rock and roll. The Ten-Cent Plague shows how -- years before music -- comics brought on a clash between children and their parents, between prewar and postwar standards. Created by outsiders from the tenements, garish, shameless, and often shocking, comics spoke to young people and provided the guardians of mainstream culture with a big target. Parents, teachers, and complicit kids burned comics in public bonfires. Cities passed laws to outlaw comics. Congress took action with televised hearings that nearly destroyed the careers of hundreds of artists and writers.The Ten-Cent Plague radically revises common notions of popular culture, the generation gap, and the divide between "high" and "low" art. As he did with the lives of Billy Strayhorn and Duke Ellington (in Lush Life) and Bob Dylan and his circle (in Positively 4th Street), Hajdu brings a place, a time, and a milieu unforgettably back to life.
And So It Goes: Kurt Vonnegut: A Life
by Charles J. ShieldsA New York Times Notable Book for 2011A Washington Post Notable Nonfiction Book for 2011The first authoritative biography of Kurt Vonnegut Jr., a writer who changed the conversation of American literature.In 2006, Charles Shields reached out to Kurt Vonnegut in a letter, asking for his endorsement for a planned biography. The first response was no ("A most respectful demurring by me for the excellent writer Charles J. Shields, who offered to be my biographer"). Unwilling to take no for an answer, propelled by a passion for his subject, and already deep into his research, Shields wrote again and this time, to his delight, the answer came back: "O.K." For the next year—a year that ended up being Vonnegut's last—Shields had access to Vonnegut and his letters.And So It Goes is the culmination of five years of research and writing—the first-ever biography of the life of Kurt Vonnegut. Vonnegut resonates with readers of all generations from the baby boomers who grew up with him to high-school and college students who are discovering his work for the first time. Vonnegut's concise collection of personal essays, Man Without a Country, published in 2006, spent fifteen weeks on the New York Times bestseller list and has sold more than 300,000 copies to date. The twenty-first century has seen interest in and scholarship about Vonnegut's works grow even stronger, and this is the first book to examine in full the life of one of the most influential iconoclasts of his time.
Archaeology from Space: How the Future Shapes Our Past
by Sarah ParcakWinner of Archaeological Institute of America's Felicia A. Holton Book Award • Winner of the Phi Beta Kappa Prize for Science • An Amazon Best Science Book of 2019 • A Science Friday Best Science Book of 2019 • A Kirkus Reviews Best Nonfiction Book of 2019 • A Science News Best Book of 2019 • Nature's Top Ten Books of 2019 "A crash course in the amazing new science of space archaeology that only Sarah Parcak can give. This book will awaken the explorer in all of us." ?Chris Anderson, Head of TEDNational Geographic Explorer and TED Prize-winner Dr. Sarah Parcak gives readers a personal tour of the evolution, major discoveries, and future potential of the young field of satellite archaeology. From surprise advancements after the declassification of spy photography, to a new map of the mythical Egyptian city of Tanis, she shares her field’s biggest discoveries, revealing why space archaeology is not only exciting, but urgently essential to the preservation of the world’s ancient treasures.Parcak has worked in twelve countries and four continents, using multispectral and high-resolution satellite imagery to identify thousands of previously unknown settlements, roads, fortresses, palaces, tombs, and even potential pyramids. From there, her stories take us back in time and across borders, into the day-to-day lives of ancient humans whose traits and genes we share. And she shows us that if we heed the lessons of the past, we can shape a vibrant future. Includes Illustrations
The Life You Save May Be Your Own: An American Pilgrimage
by Paul ElieThe story of four modern American Catholics who made literature out of their search for GodIn the mid-twentieth century four American Catholics came to believe that the best way to explore the questions of religious faith was to write about them-in works that readers of all kinds could admire. The Life You Save May Be Your Own is their story-a vivid and enthralling account of great writers and their power over us.Thomas Merton was a Trappist monk in Kentucky; Dorothy Day the founder of the Catholic Worker in New York; Flannery O'Connor a "Christ-haunted" literary prodigy in Georgia; Walker Percy a doctor in New Orleans who quit medicine to write fiction and philosophy. A friend came up with a name for them-the School of the Holy Ghost-and for three decades they exchanged letters, ardently read one another's books, and grappled with what one of them called a "predicament shared in common."A pilgrimage is a journey taken in light of a story; and in The Life You Save May Be Your Own Paul Elie tells these writers' story as a pilgrimage from the God-obsessed literary past of Dante and Dostoevsky out into the thrilling chaos of postwar American life. It is a story of how the Catholic faith, in their vision of things, took on forms the faithful could not have anticipated. And it is a story about the ways we look to great books and writers to help us make sense of our experience, about the power of literature to change-to save-our lives.