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Imperial Romance: Fictions of Colonial Intimacy in Korea, 1905–1945
by Su Yun KimIn Imperial Romance, Su Yun Kim argues that the idea of colonial intimacy within the Japanese empire of the early twentieth century had a far broader and more popular influence on discourse makers, social leaders, and intellectuals than previously understood. Kim investigates representations of Korean-Japanese intimate and familial relationships—including romance, marriage, and kinship—in literature, media, and cinema, alongside documents that discuss colonial policies during the Japanese protectorate period and colonial rule in Korea (1905–45). Focusing on Korean perspectives, Kim uncovers political meaning in the representation of intimacy and emotion between Koreans and Japanese portrayed in print media and films. Imperial Romance disrupts the conventional reading of colonial-period texts as the result of either coercion or the disavowal of colonialism, thereby expanding our understanding of colonial writing practices. The theme of intermarriage gave elite Korean writers and cultural producers opportunities to question their complicity with imperialism. Their fictions challenged expected colonial boundaries, creating tensions in identity and hierarchy, and also in narratives of the linear developmental trajectory of modernity. Examining a broad range of writings and films from this period, Imperial Romance maps the colonized subjects' fascination with their colonizers and with moments that allowed them to become active participants in and agents of Japanese and global imperialism.
Imperial Spoils: The Curious Case of the Elgin Marbles
by Christipher Hitchens Robert Browning Graham BinnsThomas Bruce, British ambassador to the Ottoman Empire and 7th Earl of Elgin, gave friezes from the Parthenon to the British Museum, sparking a controversy about the Elgin Marbles. Should they be returned to Greece?
Imperial Ventures: Maritime Drama and the Invention of Risk
by Benjamin VanWagonerLinks early modern English drama and empire studies, exploring how staged scenes of maritime peril created a new form of economic uncertaintyImperial Ventures links early modern English drama and empire studies, exploring how staged scenes of maritime peril created a new form of economic uncertainty around the turn of the seventeenth century, amid London’s explosion in commercial colonialism.While the hazards of global maritime trade became increasingly apparent during the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, the word “risk” did not enter English usage until around 1660. The prevailing scholarly narrative has linked uncertainty to concepts such as “chance,” “accident,” and “providence,” but this book reveals that these fragmentary concepts were reordered into an economic abstraction, and that the theater was a key site for that process. Playwrights reached for ways to represent this new uncertainty, and audiences watched perilous voyages set in colonial contexts and dramatized in increasingly typical forms. Imperial Ventures is organized by these forms, with five chapters examining scenes of shipwreck, pirates, enslavement, colonial subjection, and perilous news across a wide range of early modern plays.Benjamin VanWagoner shows how maritime drama connected English venturing to economic vulnerability in increasingly systematic ways, helping to develop the economic logic that would come to be codified as risk. In revealing this process, Imperial Ventures establishes the unique protocolonial status of early modern England—in the theater and at sea—and demonstrates how risk became a perverse instrument for justifying Anglophone imperialism.
Imperialism and Theatre: Essays On World Theatre, Drama, And Performance
by J. Ellen GainorImperialism is a transnational and transhistorical phenomenon; it occurs neither in limited areas nor at one specific moment. In cultures from across the world theatrical performance has long been a site for both the representation and support of imperialism, and resistance and rebellion against it. Imperialism and Theatre is a groundbreaking collection which explores the questions of why and how the theatre was selected within imperial cultures for the representation of the concerns of both the colonizers and the colonized. Gathering together fifteen noted scholars and theatre practitioners, this collection spans global and historical boundaries and presents a uniquely comprehensive study of post-colonial drama. The essays engage in current theoretical issues while shifting the focus from the printed text to theatre as a cultural formation and locus of political force. A compelling and extremely timely work, Imperialism and Theatre reveals fascinating new dimensions to the post-colonial debate. Contributors: Nora Alter; Sudipto Chatterjee; Mary Karen Dahl; Alan Filewood; Donald H. Frischmann; Rhonda Garelick; Helen Gilbert; Michael Hays; Loren Kruger; Josephine Lee; Robert Eric Livingston; Julie S. Peters; Michael Quinn; Edward Said; Elaine Savory.
Imperiled Whiteness: How Hollywood and Media Make Race in "Postracial" America
by Penelope IngramIn Imperiled Whiteness, Penelope Ingram examines the role played by media in the resurgence of white nationalism and neo-Nazi movements in the Obama-to-Trump era. As politicians on the right stoked anxieties about whites “losing ground” and “being left behind,” media platforms turned whiteness into a commodity that was packaged and disseminated to a white populace. Reading popular film and television franchises (Planet of the Apes, Star Trek, and The Walking Dead) through political flashpoints, such as debates over immigration reform, gun control, and Black Lives Matter protests, Ingram reveals how media cultivated feelings of white vulnerability and loss among white consumers. By exploring the convergence of entertainment, news, and social media in a digital networked environment, Ingram demonstrates how media’s renewed attention to “imperiled whiteness” enabled and sanctioned the return of overt white supremacy exhibited by alt-right groups in the “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville in 2017 and the Capitol riots in 2021.
Impersonal Enunciation, or the Place of Film
by Cormac Deane Christian Metz Dana PolanChristian Metz is best known for applying Saussurean theories of semiology to film analysis. In the 1970s, he used Sigmund Freud's psychology and Jacques Lacan's mirror theory to explain the popularity of cinema. In this final book, Metz uses the concept of enunciation to articulate how films "speak" and explore where this communication occurs, offering critical direction for theorists who struggle with the phenomena of new media. If a film frame contains another frame, which frame do we emphasize? And should we consider this staging an impersonal act of enunciation? Consulting a range of genres and national trends, Metz builds a novel theory around the placement and subjectivity of screens within screens, which pulls in-and forces him to reassess-his work on authorship, film language, and the position of the spectator. Metz again takes up the linguistic and theoretical work of Benveniste, Genette, Casetti, and Bordwell, drawing surprising conclusions that presage current writings on digital media. Metz's analysis enriches work on cybernetic emergence, self-assembly, self-reference, hypertext, and texts that self-produce in such a way that the human element disappears. A critical introduction by Cormac Deane bolsters the connection between Metz's findings and nascent digital-media theory, emphasizing Metz's keen awareness of the methodological and philosophical concerns we wrestle with today.
Impersonal Enunciation, or the Place of Film (Film and Culture Series)
by Christian MetzChristian Metz is best known for applying Saussurean theories of semiology to film analysis. In the 1970s, he used Sigmund Freud's psychology and Jacques Lacan's mirror theory to explain the popularity of cinema. In this final book, Metz uses the concept of enunciation to articulate how films "speak" and explore where this communication occurs, offering critical direction for theorists who struggle with the phenomena of new media. If a film frame contains another frame, which frame do we emphasize? And should we consider this staging an impersonal act of enunciation? Consulting a range of genres and national trends, Metz builds a novel theory around the placement and subjectivity of screens within screens, which pulls in—and forces him to reassess—his work on authorship, film language, and the position of the spectator. Metz again takes up the linguistic and theoretical work of Benveniste, Genette, Casetti, and Bordwell, drawing surprising conclusions that presage current writings on digital media. Metz's analysis enriches work on cybernetic emergence, self-assembly, self-reference, hypertext, and texts that self-produce in such a way that the human element disappears. A critical introduction by Cormac Deane bolsters the connection between Metz's findings and nascent digital-media theory, emphasizing Metz's keen awareness of the methodological and philosophical concerns we wrestle with today.
Implementierung von Nachhaltigkeit in den einzelnen Leistungsphasen der HOAI (Entwicklung neuer Ansätze zum nachhaltigen Planen und Bauen)
by Fabien BorchardtDas Buch bietet einen allgemeingültigen Leitfaden zur Implementierung von Nachhaltigkeitsaspekten in den einzelnen Leistungsphasen der HOAI. Dieser Leitfaden bezieht sich auf die Planung, Ausführung, Bewirtschaftung und Verwertung eines Neubaus hinsichtlich öffentlicher Gebäude. Die Inhalte und Beiträge des Leitfadens werden durch eine ausführliche Untersuchung des derzeitigen Standes der Technik und der Forschung angefertigt. Dabei werden die derzeitigen Regelwerke bzw. gültigen Standards, Bewertungs- und Zertifizierungssysteme, aktuelle Forschungsarbeiten sowie existierende Leitfäden begutachtet und für die eigene Arbeit bewertet. Der thematische Schwerpunkt dieser Arbeit liegt auf der anschließenden Entwicklung eines Leitfadens, welcher Nachhaltigkeitskriterien für die unterschiedlichen Stakeholder eines öffentlichen Bauvorhabens sowie deren Leistungsphasen gemäß HOAI festlegt. Die Nachhaltigkeitskriterien orientieren sich an der Optimierung der ökologischen, ökonomischen, soziokulturellen und technischen Qualität sowie an der Prozess- und Standortqualität des zu erstellenden Gebäudes. Neben den Leistungsphasen nach HOAI werden ebenso die „Phase 0“ sowie „Phase 10“ betrachtet. Somit soll eine ganzheitliche lebenszyklusorientierte Betrachtung eines Gebäudes durch den Leitfaden ermöglicht werden. Der Leitfaden stellt die allgemeine Vorgehensweise und Methodik zur Implementierung von Nachhaltigkeitsaspekten in der Planung, Ausführung, Bewirtschaftung und Verwertung eines Neubaus dar. Mit Hilfe der Erstellung des allgemeingültigen Leitfadens für öffentliche Bauvorhaben soll eine Grundlage für die Erstellung eines nachhaltigen Neubaus geschaffen werden. Ein abgeschlossenes Bauvorhaben wird mit dem erstellten Leitfaden evaluiert. Hierbei wird auf die Verbesserungspotentiale zur Implementierung weiterer Nachhaltigkeitsaspekte für zukünftige Bauprojekte öffentlicher Auftraggeber eingegangen.
Implementing Campus Greening Initiatives
by Walter Leal Filho Nandhivarman Muthu Golda Edwin Mihaela SimaFirmly rooted in the theory and practice of sustainable development, this book offers a comprehensive resource on sustainability, focusing on both industrialized and developing nations. Implementing Campus Greening Initiatives: Approaches, Methods and Perspectives is an attempt to promote and disseminate the work being done in this field by universities around the world. The need to integrate the principles and concepts of green campuses and sustainability into the core of students' educational experiences, from high school to college or university, has now been broadly recognized. By doing so, we can ensure that the students of today and tomorrow will acquire the knowledge, skills, attitudes and values needed to create a more sustainable economy and social environment.
Implementing Sustainability: The New Zealand Experience (RTPI Library Series)
by Caroline L. MillerNew Zealand’s Resource Management Act (RMA) was hailed as a radical new approach to planning that would both achieve better environmental outcomes and benefit developers by working rapidly and more efficiently. This book examines the lessons that can be learned by planning practitioners across the world. It focuses on the realities of implementing the RMA for the planning profession, the community and the political system within which planning must always operate. Offering a practitioner’s insight, the book looks at those strategies and techniques that have proved successful, and spells out what can be applied to the planning systems of other countries.
Implementing Sustainable Cities (Routledge Studies in Sustainable Development)
by Sylvie AlbertThis edited volume brings together international authors to explore how cities around the world are implementing their commitment towards the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).To achieve sustainability, cities choose their own goals and develop the necessary governance and resourcing mechanisms to achieve their objectives. This book highlights the innovative ways cities can plan their implementation by drawing on comprehensive research and literature reviews. Case studies from around the world, including North and South America, Europe, Asia, and Africa, describe examples of various cities’ governance mechanisms, resourcing strategies, and implementation strategies. By showcasing these case studies, cities worldwide can emulate, transform, and execute their own vision drawing on the examples and pathways laid out by their peers. The book concludes with a comparative analysis of UN SDG implementation, contrasting the approaches and enabling communities worldwide to learn from one another and choose strategies that meet their local needs.This book will be of great interest to students, researchers, and professionals of urban sustainability, planning, smart cities, and sustainable communities. It will also be useful for city and government stakeholders including policy makers, economic development corporations, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs).
Implementing Urban Design: Green, Civic, and Community Strategies
by Jonathan BarnettImplementing Urban Design: Green, Civic, and Community Strategies addresses a central urban design issue: how to bring an urban design from concept to reality. When implementation strategies are made an integral part of urban design, the result becomes more detailed, more situational, and much more likely to be related to the natural landscape and the character already present in the community. The strategies described in this book range from neighborhoods to downtown business districts, and from designs for whole suburbs and cities to designs at the scale of the region and megaregion. They deal with everyday situations, although some of the issues can be complicated. This book will interest community leaders, urban design professionals, and the students, instructors, and practitioners of urban design and city planning.
The Implicated Subject: Beyond Victims and Perpetrators (Cultural Memory in the Present)
by Michael RothbergWhen it comes to historical violence and contemporary inequality, none of us are completely innocent. We may not be direct agents of harm, but we may still contribute to, inhabit, or benefit from regimes of domination that we neither set up nor control. Arguing that the familiar categories of victim, perpetrator, and bystander do not adequately account for our connection to injustices past and present, Michael Rothberg offers a new theory of political responsibility through the figure of the implicated subject. The Implicated Subject builds on the comparative, transnational framework of Rothberg's influential work on memory to engage in reflection and analysis of cultural texts, archives, and activist movements from such contested zones as transitional South Africa, contemporary Israel/Palestine, post-Holocaust Europe, and a transatlantic realm marked by the afterlives of slavery. As these diverse sites of inquiry indicate, the processes and histories illuminated by implicated subjectivity are legion in our interconnected world. An array of globally prominent artists, writers, and thinkers—from William Kentridge, Hito Steyerl, and Jamaica Kincaid, to Hannah Arendt, Primo Levi, Judith Butler, and the Combahee River Collective—speak to this interconnection and show how confronting our own implication in difficult histories can lead to new forms of internationalism and long-distance solidarity.
Implication: An Ecocritical Dictionary for Art History
by Alan C. BraddockReaders of Implication will come away convinced that all art—regardless of historical period, context, genre, or medium—has an ecological connection to the world in which it was created Ecocriticism is an interdisciplinary mode of inquiry that examines the environmental significance of art, literature, and other creative endeavors. In Implication: An Ecocritical Dictionary for Art History, Alan C. Braddock, a pioneer in art historical ecocriticism, presents a fascinating group of key terms and case studies to demonstrate that all art is ecological in its interconnectedness with the world. The book adopts a dictionary-style format, although not in a conventional sense. Drawing inspiration from French surrealist writer Georges Bataille, this dictionary presents carefully selected words that link art history to the environmental humanities—not only ecocriticism, but also environmental history, science, politics, and critical animal studies. A wide array of creative works from different cultures and time periods reveal the import of these terms and the inescapable entanglement of art with ecology. Ancient Roman mosaics, Song dynasty Taihu rocks, a Tlaxcalan lienzo, early modern European engravings and altarpieces, a Kongo dibondo, nineteenth-century landscape paintings by African American artist Edward Mitchell Bannister, French Impressionist urban scenes, and contemporary activist art, among other works, here disclose the intrinsic ecological conditions of art.
Implications Of Literature: Navigator Level
by Deborah SchechterImplications of Literature, Navigator Level, an anthology that presents high school students with an eclectic selection of the finest in literature, is an integral component of the four-year Implications of Literature series. These literature/language arts textbooks, published by Textword Press, are designed to enable students to increase competency in analytical read¬ing and comprehension and to promote effective oral and written communication.
The Importance of Being Earnest and Other Plays
by Oscar WildeA selection of Oscar Wilde's best and most important plays - sharp, relevant and brilliant to this day. Who would have thought a comedy of manners written more than a hundred years ago would still be so apt and so funny? Oscar Wilde was a genius of play-writing, and his deftness, wit and sharp eye for social satire keep audiences in thrall to this day. Alongside Earnest, discover a biblical tragedy retold, Lady Windemere and her infamous fan and Wilde's take on an ideal husband, in this selection of Wilde's most important plays. ‘[The Importance of Being Earnest] has a strong claim to being the most perfect comedy in the English language’ Daily Telegraph
The Importance of Greenery in Sustainable Buildings (Innovative Renewable Energy)
by Ali Sayigh Antonella TrombadoreThis book covers the important aspects of greenery in buildings, both in the landscape and within buildings, examining how greenery improves comfort and appeal in sustainable buildings. The book is part of the World Renewable Energy Network’s drive to encourage architects and builders to use greenery as much as possible in their design to reduce energy consumption and provide a pleasant appearance and pleasing aspect to their buildings. It shows and demonstrates how widespread the use of greenery is in buildings, and the books 17 chapters were chosen from 12 different countries representing a truly global look at the use and benefit of using greenery in buildings. This book is aimed at architects, building construction authorities, urban planners, and policymakers to encourage the use of greenery in their future buildings and explain why it is important to do so.
The Importance of Not Being Ernest: My Life with the Uninvited Hemingway
by Mark KurlanskyThe New York Times–bestselling author of Salt examines the intersections between his life and Ernest Hemingway’s in this mix of travel memoir and history.By a series of coincidences, Mark Kurlansky’s life has always been intertwined with Ernest Hemingway’s legend, starting with being in Idaho the day of Hemingway’s death. The Importance of Not Being Ernest explores the intersections between Hemingway’s and Kurlansky’s lives, resulting in creative accounts of two inspiring writing careers. Travel the world with Mark Kurlansky and Ernest Hemingway in this personal memoir, where Kurlansky details his ten years in Paris and his time as a journalist in Spain—both cities important to Hemingway’s adventurous life and prolific writing.Paris, Basque Country, Havana and Idaho.Get to know the extraordinary people he met there—those who had also fallen under the Hemingway spell, including a Vietnam veteran suffering from the same syndrome the author did, two winners of the Key West Hemingway look-alike contest, and the man in Idaho who took Hemingway hunting and fishing.In The Importance of Not Being Ernest, find:A memoir full of entertaining and illuminative storiesLittle-known historical facts about Hemingway’s lifeAnecdotes about those who suffer from what the Kurlansky calls “hemitis”Readers of Haruki Murakami’s What I Talk About When I Talk About Running, John Steinbeck’s Travels with Charley in Search of America, or The Boys will love The Importance of Not Being Ernest.Praise for The Importance of Not Being Ernest“An absolute delight! Full of personality, Kurlansky’s book will enchant history, literature, and Hemingway fans alike.” —Library Journal (starred review)
The Importance of Speculation in Design Research (Synthesis Lectures on Human-Centered Informatics)
by Ron Wakkary Doenja OogjesThis book explores speculation in design research in the field of human-computer interaction (HCI). The authors reveal how speculative reasoning in design research increases the capacity of HCI to address a wider array of social and research challenges. Speculation in design research employs (1) leaps of imagination, (2) diverse ways of knowing or epistemologies, (3) ethical reflexivity, (4) and makes alternate possibilities experiential. This book shows how each can be productively and critically applied together through existing, emerging, and new research approaches in HCI. The aim of this book is to generously see speculation as more than a form of critique or genre of design research, to instead be seen as broadly central to the material investigations that govern much of the field. In doing so, the book aims to expand the potential role of speculation in HCI and shows how speculation is applicable to a wide range of research goals, which, in turn, creates research approaches in new directions. In expanding the approach and methodology of speculation in HCI, the books draw inspiration from other disciplines and intersectional perspectives. By examining current, emerging, and possible new forms of speculation methods, this book will be of interest to undergraduate and graduate students in HCI as well as seasoned researchers and practitioners.
The Importance of Wood and Timber in Sustainable Buildings (Innovative Renewable Energy)
by Ali SayighThis book emphasizes the important message that architects and structural engineers must strive to ensure that the buildings they design and construct should not be major contributors to climate change. Rather, they should be exploring the use of green materials and building methods – such as timber, wood, and associated materials – in order to safeguard the environment. These sustainable materials are not only environmentally friendly, but they have the added benefit of being easy to manufacture, cost effective, often locally available, and easily replenished. Moreover, it has been demonstrated that wood and timber are viable materials in the construction of a wide variety of building types, including medium and high-rise buildings.The Importance of Wood and Timber in Sustainable Buildings brings together a distinguished group of contributors from different cultures and building traditions to address why now is the time to rethink our construction methods and explore replacing many of the carbon intensive materials that are currently being used with wood and timber.
The Impossible Arises: Oscar Reutersvärd and His Contemporaries (Special Publications of the Lilly Library)
by Chris MortensenThe Impossible Arises explores the life and work of Oscar Reutersvärd (1916–2002), founder of the Impossible Figures movement. The movement began in Stockholm in 1934 when eighteen-year-old Reutersvärd drew the first impossible triangle. Over the course of his life he would go on to draw around 4000 impossible figures and be honored by the Swedish government with an issue of stamps showing his work. Based on a large collection of Reutersvärd's art and correspondence held at the Lilly Library at Indiana University Bloomington, the lavishly illustrated Impossible Arises examines the evolution of Reutersvärd's impossible figures and how they influenced other modern artists in the later twentieth century. The Impossible Arises offers a detailed look at the philosophy guiding Reutersvärd's art and presents a rich array of stories from his eccentric personal life. It is an essential introduction to the life and career of one of the most fascinating artists of the twentieth century.
Impossible Bodies: Femininity and Masculinity at the Movies (Comedia)
by Christine HolmlundImpossible Bodies investigates issues of ethnicity, gender, and sexuality in contemporary Hollywood. Examining stars from Arnold Schwarzenegger and Clint Eastwood, to Whoopi Goldberg and Jennifer Lopez, Holmlund focuses on actors whose physique or appearance marks them as unusual or exceptional, and yet who occupy key and revealing positions in today's mainstream cinema. Exploring a range of genres and considering both stars and their sidekicks, Holmlund examines ways in which Hollywood accommodates - or doesn't - a variety of 'impossible' bodies, from the 'outrageous' physiques of Dolph Lundgren and Dolly Parton, to the almost-invisible bodies of Asian-Americans, Latinas and older actors.
Impossible Desires: Queer Diasporas and South Asian Public Cultures
by Gayatri GopinathBy bringing queer theory to bear on ideas of diaspora, Gayatri Gopinath produces both a more compelling queer theory and a more nuanced understanding of diaspora. Focusing on queer female diasporic subjectivity, Gopinath develops a theory of diaspora apart from the logic of blood, authenticity, and patrilineal descent that she argues invariably forms the core of conventional formulations. She examines South Asian diasporic literature, film, and music in order to suggest alternative ways of conceptualizing community and collectivity across disparate geographic locations. Her agile readings challenge nationalist ideologies by bringing to light that which has been rendered illegible or impossible within diaspora: the impure, inauthentic, and nonreproductive. Gopinath juxtaposes diverse texts to indicate the range of oppositional practices, subjectivities, and visions of collectivity that fall outside not only mainstream narratives of diaspora, colonialism, and nationalism but also most projects of liberal feminism and gay and lesbian politics and theory. She considers British Asian music of the 1990s alongside alternative media and cultural practices. Among the fictional works she discusses are V. S. Naipaul's classic novel A House for Mr. Biswas, Ismat Chughtai's short story "The Quilt," Monica Ali's Brick Lane, Shyam Selvadurai's Funny Boy, and Shani Mootoo's Cereus Blooms at Night. Analyzing films including Deepa Mehta's controversial Fire and Mira Nair's Monsoon Wedding, she pays particular attention to how South Asian diasporic feminist filmmakers have reworked Bollywood's strategies of queer representation and to what is lost or gained in this process of translation. Gopinath's readings are dazzling, and her theoretical framework transformative and far-reaching.
The Impossible Has Happened: The Life and Work of Gene Roddenberry, Creator of Star Trek
by Lance ParkinA biographer goes in search of Gene Roddenberry, creator of the world’s most successful science fiction franchise.This book reveals how an undistinguished writer of cop shows set out to produce “Hornblower in space” —and ended up with Star Trek, an optimistic, almost utopian view of humanity’s future that has been watched and loved by hundreds of millions of people around the world.Along the way, Lance Parkin examines some of the great myths and turning points in the franchise’s history, and Roddenberry’s particular contribution to them. He looks at the view that the early Star Trek advanced a liberal, egalitarian, and multi-racial agenda; charts the various attempts to resuscitate the show during its wilderness years in the 1970s; explores Roddenberry’s initial early involvement in the movies and spin-off Star Trek: The Next Generation (as well as his later estrangement from both), and sheds light on the colorful personal life, self-mythologizing, and strange beliefs of a man who nonetheless gifted popular culture one if its most enduring narratives.
Impossible Heights: Skyscrapers, Flight, and the Master Builder
by Adnan MorshedThe advent of the airplane and skyscraper in 1920s and '30s America offered the population an entirely new way to look at the world: from above. The captivating image of an airplane flying over the rising metropolis led many Americans to believe a new civilization had dawned. In Impossible Heights, Adnan Morshed examines the aesthetics that emerged from this valorization of heights and their impact on the built environment.The lofty vantage point from the sky ushered in a modernist impulse to cleanse crowded twentieth-century cities in anticipation of an ideal world of tomorrow. Inspired by great new heights, American architects became central to this endeavor and were regarded as heroic aviators. Combining close readings of a broad range of archival sources, Morshed offers new interpretations of works such as Hugh Ferriss's Metropolis drawings, Buckminster Fuller's Dymaxion houses, and Norman Bel Geddes's Futurama exhibit at the 1939 New York World's Fair. Transformed by the populist imagination into "master builders," these designers helped produce a new form of visuality: the aesthetics of ascension.By demonstrating how aerial movement and height intersect with popular "superman" discourses of the time, Morshed reveals the relationship between architecture, art, science, and interwar pop culture. Featuring a marvelous array of never before published illustrations, this richly textured study of utopian imaginings illustrates America's propulsion into a new cultural consciousness.