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The Kingmaker's Sisters: Six Powerful Women in the Wars of the Roses
by David BaldwinWarwick the Kingmaker, the Earl of Warwick & Salisbury whose wealth and power was so great that he could effectively decide who would rule England during the Wars of the Roses (1455-1487), had six sisters: Joan, Cecily, Alice, Eleanor, Katherine and Margaret. They all married powerful noblemen who fought on opposing sides during this turbulent period.The Kingmaker's Sisters examines the role that they played in late fifteenth-century England, as wives, mothers and homemakers, but also as deputies for their absent husbands, and how the struggle between the Yorkists and the Lancastrians affected them and their families. Scholarly but accessible, this is the first history of the Wars of the Roses to be written from this perspective, and will appeal to general readers, historians of the period and those with an interest in feminist history.
Kingpin: Prisoner of the War on Drugs (Cannabis Americana #2)
by Richard StrattonThis fast-paced sequel to Smuggler's Blues is a harrowing and at times comical journey through the criminal justice system at the height of America's War on Plants.Captured in the lobby of the Sheraton Senator Hotel at LAX following a fifteen-year run smuggling marijuana and hashish as part of the hippie mafia, Richard Stratton began a new journey. Kingpin tells the story of the eight years that followed, through two federal trials and the underworld of the federal prison system, at a time when it was undergoing unprecedented expansion due to the War on Drugs. Stratton was shipped by bus from LA' s notorious Glass House to jails and prisons across the country, a softening process known as diesel therapy. Resisting pressure to falsely implicate his friend and mentor, Norman Mailer, he was convicted in his second trial under the kingpin statute and sentenced to twenty-five years without the possibility of parole.While doing time in prisons from Manhattan's Criminal Hilton to rural Pennsylvania, Virginia, Kentucky, and New York, he witnessed brutality as well as camaraderie, rampant trafficking of contraband, and crimes by both guards and convicts. He first learned the lessons of survival. Then he learned to prevail, becoming a jailhouse lawyer and winning the reversal of his kingpin sentence and eventual release.Kingpin includes cameos by Norman Mailer and Muhammad Ali, and an account of the author's friendship with mafia don Joe Stassi, a legendary hitman from the early days of the mob who knew gangsters Meyer Lansky, Bugsy Siegel, and Abe Zwillman and has insights into the killing of Dutch Schultz and the Kennedy assassinationKingpin is the second volume in Richard Stratton's trilogy, Remembrance of the War on Plants.
Kings and Desperate Men: Life in Eighteenth-century England
by Louis KronenbergerThe goal of Kings and Desperate Men is to provide a picture of eighteenth-century England up to the French Revolution. Kronenberger's work lies much closer to a social chronicle than an orthodox history, and is more concerned with manners and tastes than with treaties and wars. Kings and Desperate Men reveals what life was like for both aristocrats and commoners: their family lives, experience of larger society, habits, diet, fashions, religion, and artistic tastes. In tracing these topics for both city and country dwellers, he artfully communicates the very real division between the vivacity of London and the regular, fixed, and monotonous character of country life. The division is vital to understanding the age and the transformations it would experience.Yet Kronenberger does not ignore the more traditional historical landmarks. Kroenberger treats the characters of the leading political actors: Walpole, Bolingbroke, Burke, Fox, and Pitt, while providing the reader with a sweeping account of the formation of political parties and constitutional shifts of power between the monarchy and parliament. Students of the period who despair at its political complexities will fi nd much to appreciate in Kronenberger's condensed and easy to understand formulations.As for philosophy, Kronenberger refers to thinkers and ideas as they influence English life; especially Locke and Hume. Their ideas and reputations are explained as part of the character of society. The same is true for economics. More attention is given to the social gains of middle-class shopkeepers and the eighteenth-century zeal for stock speculation than to formal schools of thought. Especially notable is Kronenberger's treatment of both the arts and the artists of the eighteenth century-theatre, opera, music, literature, architecture, and painting.
Kings and Kingdoms of Early Anglo-Saxon England
by Dr Barbara YorkeKings and Kingdoms of Early Anglo-Saxon England provides a unique survey of the six major Anglo-Saxon kingdoms - Kent, the East Saxons, the East Angles, Northumbria, Mercia and Wessex - and their royal families, examining the most recent research in this field.Barbara Yorke moves beyond narrative accounts of the various royal houses to explain issues such as the strategies of rule, the reasons for success and failure and the dynamics of change in the office of king. Sixteen genealogical and regnal tables help to elucidate the history of the royal houses.
The King's Bed: Ambition and Intimacy in the Court of Charles II
by Michael Walsh Don JordanAn intelligent and spirited history of Charles II's dissolute life and surprising legacy, by two veteran historians. To refer to the private life of Charles II is to abuse the adjective. His personal life was anything but private. His amorous liaisons were largely conducted in royal palaces surrounded by friends, courtiers and literally hundreds of servants and soldiers. Gossip radiated throughout the kingdom. Charles spent most of his wealth and his intellect on gaining and keeping the company of women, from the lowest sections of society such as the actress Nell Gwyn to the aristocratic Louise de Kérouaille. Some of Charles' women played their part in the affairs of state, coloring the way the nation was run. The authors take us inside Charles' palace, where we will meet court favorites, amusing confidants, advisors jockeying for political power, mistresses past and present as well as key figures in his inner circle such as his 'pimpmasters' and his personal pox doctor. The astonishing private life of Charles II reveals much about the man he was and why he lived and ruled as he did. The King's Bed tells the compelling story of a king ruled by his passion.
King's College Chapel, Aberdeen, 1500-2000
by Jane GeddesThis new edition is a revised and expanded version of the book produced in 2000 to celebrate the quincentenary of King's College Chapel, Aberdeen. Since then, exciting discoveries have taken place and old ideas have been reappraised. The choir stalls and woodwork have provided a fresh seam of information about the meaning and use of the medieval chapel. Daniel MacCannell has identified new iconography in the stalls. Jane Geddes, prompted by the installation of the new organ, has investigated the original function and appearance of the great pulpitum or screen between the choir and nave and discovered the location of a magnificent lost organ loft. Mary Pryor and John Morrison have examined the great baroque biblical paintings and come up with a totally new interpretation of their iconography and function: a political warning to King Charles II. Easter Smart, the university chaplain, describes the flexible and ecumenical use of the chapel today. The revised edition appears in time to honour the quincentenary of the death of Bishop William Elphinstone, the founder of Aberdeen University, who died in 1514. This book aims to integrate his legacy to the chapel: the liturgy, music, architecture and fittings. Thanks to an unusually tolerant and conservative attitude towards religion at the university following the Reformation, the chapel has survived in a more complete medieval state than any other church in Scotland. The rich archive of university documents show how benign neglect and a fierce pride in their iconic building caused the university to maintain the structure and its furnishings even during the long centuries when it ceased to serve a religious function.
Kings Countries & Constitutions - SEA NIP: Thailand's Political Development 1932-2000
by Kobkua Suwannathat-PianProviding a detailed analysis of Thailand's political development since 1932, when Thailand became a constitutional monarchy, until the present, this book examines the large number of different versions of the constitution which Thailand has had since 1932, and explains why the constitution has been subject to such frequent change, and why there have been so many outbursts of violent, political unrest. It explores the role of the military, and, most importantly, discusses the role of the monarchy, which, as the author shows, has been crucial in holding Thailand together through the various changes of regime. The author brings to light original and largely unseen documents from the Public Records Office and US National Archives, as well as drawing upon her extensive knowledge of politics in Thailand.
Kings, Country and Constitutions: Thailand's Political Development 1932-2000
by Kobkua Suwannathat-PianProvides a detailed analysis of Thailand's political development since 1932, when Thailand became a constitutional monarchy, until the present. It examines the large number of different versions of the constitution which Thailand has had since 1932, and explains why the constitution has been subject to such frequent change, and why there have been so many outbursts of violent, political unrest. It explores the role of the military, and, most importantly, discusses the role of the monarchy, which, as the author shows, has been crucial in holding Thailand together through the various changes of regime. The author brings to light original and largely unseen documents from the Public Records Office and US National Archives, as well as drawing upon her extensive knowledge of politics in Thailand.
Kings for Three Days: The Play of Race and Gender in an Afro-Ecuadorian Festival
by Jean Muteba RahierWith its rich mix of cultures, European influences, colonial tensions, and migration from bordering nations, Ecuador has long drawn the interest of ethnographers, historians, and political scientists. In this book, Jean Muteba Rahier delivers a highly detailed, thought-provoking examination of the racial, sexual, and social complexities of Afro-Ecuadorian culture, as revealed through the annual Festival of the Kings. During the Festival, the people of various villages and towns of Esmeraldas--Ecuador's province most associated with blackness--engage in celebratory and parodic portrayals, often donning masks, cross-dressing, and disguising themselves as blacks, indigenous people, and whites, in an obvious critique of local, provincial, and national white, white-mestizo, and light-mulatto elites. Rahier shows that this festival, as performed in different locations, reveals each time a specific location's perspective on the larger struggles over identity, class, and gender relations in the racial-spacial order of Esmeraldas, and of the Ecuadorian nation in general.
Kings, Gods And Spirits From African Mythology (The World Mythology Series)
by Jan KnappertFrom the Book Jacket: This book tells the myths and legends of the peoples of Africa. Africa is a vast continent and its landscape enormously varied, ranging from the great Sahara Desert to dense primeval forest, from snow-capped mountains to the plains of the savannah. The stories in this book have been passed down for generations and are still told and retold today. They include tales of gods, spirits and ghosts; sagas about famous heroes, warriors and royal leaders; and fables about the animals which play such an important part in the everyday life of the countryside. Twelve large color paintings, a full color map and many line drawings illustrate these fascinating tales. "This is an admirable series. The prose is readable, the myths retain their integrity and the illustrations are attractive and contribute to authenticity." - School Library Journal
King's Lynn and the Fens: Volume 30 (The\british Archaeological Association Conference Transactions Ser.)
by John McNeillThe fourteen papers collected in this volume explore the medieval art, architecture and archaeology of King's Lynn and the Fens. They arise out of the Association's 2005 conference, and reflect its concern to engage with a broad range of monuments and themes, rather than focusing on a single major building. Within King's Lynn contributors consider the superb 14th-century enamelled drinking vessel popularly known as 'King John's Cup', the former Hanseatic 'Steelyard', the Red Mount Chapel, and the oak furnishings of the chapel of St Nicholas, while the pine standard chest from St Margaret's church is assessed in terms of the importation and distribution of similar chest across England as a whole.Outside King's Lynn there are articles on the historical manipulation of landscapes and buildings at Kirkstead, the 13th-century architecture and sculpture of Croyland Abbey, the 14th-century parish church of St Mary at Snettisham, the tomb of Sir Humphrey de Littlebury at All Saints, Holbeach, the overlooked medieval wall paintings in the Prior's Chapel at Castle Acre, and the late medieval stained glass at Wiggenhall St Mary Magdalen. Finally, there are three papers that look at particular aspects of the ways in which parish churches were financed, embellished and used across the region - in terms of late-12th and early-13th-century patronage, their 12th-century deployment of architectural sculpture, and the types and arrangements of choir stalls that appeared at a parochial level during the later Middle Ages.
The King's Midwife: A History and Mystery of Madame du Coudray
by Nina Rattner GelbartThis unorthodox biography explores the life of an extraordinary Enlightenment woman who, by sheer force of character, parlayed a skill in midwifery into a national institution. In 1759, in an effort to end infant mortality, Louis XV commissioned Madame Angélique Marguerite Le Boursier du Coudray to travel throughout France teaching the art of childbirth to illiterate peasant women. For the next thirty years, this royal emissary taught in nearly forty cities and reached an estimated ten thousand students. She wrote a textbook and invented a life-sized obstetrical mannequin for her demonstrations. She contributed significantly to France's demographic upswing after 1760.Who was the woman, both the private self and the pseudonymous public celebrity? Nina Rattner Gelbart reconstructs Madame du Coudray's astonishing mission through extensive research in the hundreds of letters by, to, and about her in provincial archives throughout France. Tracing her subject's footsteps around the country, Gelbart chronicles du Coudray's battles with finance ministers, village matrons, local administrators, and recalcitrant physicians, her rises in power and falls from grace, and her death at the height of the Reign of Terror. At a deeper level, Gelbart recaptures du Coudray's interior journey as well, by questioning and dismantling the neat paper trail that the great midwife so carefully left behind. Delightfully written, this tale of a fascinating life at the end of the French Old Regime sheds new light on the histories of medicine, gender, society, politics, and culture.
The Kings' Mistresses: The Liberated Lives of Marie Mancini, Princess Colonna, and Her Sister Hortense, Duchess Mazarin
by Elizabeth GoldsmithThe Mancini Sisters, Marie and Hortense, were born in Rome, brought to the court of Louis XIV of France, and strategically married off by their uncle, Cardinal Mazarin, to secure his political power base. Such was the life of many young women of the age: they had no independent status under the law and were entirely a part of their husband's property once married. Marie and Hortense, however, had other ambitions in mind altogether. Miserable in their marriages and determined to live independently, they abandoned their husbands in secret and began lives of extraordinary daring on the run and in the public eye. The beguiling sisters quickly won the affections of noblemen and kings alike. Their flight became popular fodder for salon conversation and tabloids, and was closely followed by seventeenth-century European society. The Countess of Grignan remarked that they were traveling "like two heroines out of a novel. " Others gossiped that they "were roaming the countryside in pursuit of wandering lovers. " Their scandalous behavior--disguising themselves as men, gambling, and publicly disputing with their husbands--served as more than just entertainment. It sparked discussions across Europe concerning the legal rights of husbands over their wives. Elizabeth Goldsmith's vibrant biography of the Mancini sisters--drawn from personal papers of the players involved and the tabloids of the time--illuminates the lives of two pioneering free spirits who were feminists long before the word existed.
Kings of the Yukon: One Summer Paddling Across the Far North
by Adam Weymouth"Stirring and heartbreaking." - David Owen, author of Where the Water GoesOne man's thrilling and transporting journey by canoe across Alaska in search of the king salmonThe Yukon river is 2,000 miles long, the longest stretch of free-flowing river in the United States. In this riveting examination of one of the last wild places on earth, Adam Weymouth canoes along the river's length, from Canada's Yukon Territory, through Alaska, to the Bering Sea. The result is a book that shows how even the most remote wilderness is affected by the same forces reshaping the rest of the planet. Every summer, hundreds of thousands of king salmon migrate the distance of the Yukon to their spawning grounds, where they breed and die, in what is the longest salmon run in the world. For the communities that live along the river, salmon was once the lifeblood of the economy and local culture. But climate change and a globalized economy have fundamentally altered the balance between man and nature; the health and numbers of king salmon are in question, as is the fate of the communities that depend on them. Traveling along the Yukon as the salmon migrate, a four-month journey through untrammeled landscape, Adam Weymouth traces the fundamental interconnectedness of people and fish through searing and unforgettable portraits of the individuals he encounters. He offers a powerful, nuanced glimpse into indigenous cultures, and into our ever-complicated relationship with the natural world. Weaving in the rich history of salmon across time as well as the science behind their mysterious life cycle, Kings of the Yukon is extraordinary adventure and nature writing at its most urgent and poetic.
Kings of the Yukon: A River Journey in Search of the Chinook
by Adam Weymouth Harold R. JohnsonA stunning new voice in nature writing makes an epic journey along the Yukon River to give us the stories of its people and its protagonist--the king salmon, or the Chinook--and the deepening threat to a singular way of life, in a lyrical, evocative and captivating narrative.The Yukon River is 3,190 kilometres long, flowing northwest from British Columbia through the Yukon Territory and Alaska to the Bering Sea. Every summer, millions of salmon migrate the distance of this river to their spawning ground, where they go to breed and then die. The Chinook is the most highly prized among the five species of Pacific salmon for its large size and rich, healthy oils. It has long since formed the lifeblood of the economy and culture along the Yukon--there are few communities that have been so reliant on a single source. Now, as the region contends with the effects of a globalized economy, climate change, fishing quotas and the general drift towards urban life, the health and numbers of the Chinook are in question, as is the fate of the communities that depend on them. Travelling in a canoe along the Yukon River with the migrating salmon, a three-month journey through untrammeled wilderness, Adam Weymouth traces the profound interconnectedness of the people and the Chinook through searing portraits of the individuals he encounters. He offers a powerful, nuanced glimpse into the erosion of indigenous culture, and into our ever-complicated relationship with the natural world. Weaving in the history of the salmon run and their mysterious life cycle, Kings of the Yukon is extraordinary adventure and nature writing and social history at its most compelling.
Kings Park (Images of America)
by Bradley Harris Joshua Ruff Marianne HowardNestled amidst a major commuter train line, a state highway, and picture-perfect views of the Long Island Sound and Nissequogue River, Kings Park balances its small-town feel with an excitingly diverse community vibrancy. Kings Park emerged in the late 19th century as the product of a utopian-inspired farm and the first state psychiatric hospital on Long Island. The community has diverse origins, with its foundation built upon thousands of incoming Irish and Italian immigrant workers and an orphanage for African American children. Throughout the 20th and early 21st centuries, Kings Park gradually evolved into a contemporary Long Island suburb, rebuilding after a traumatic downtown fire in 1917, reaping the benefits of one of the North Shore’s largest state parks (Sunken Meadow), and blossoming into a bustling family-oriented place.
The King's Shadow: Obsession, Betrayal, and the Deadly Quest for the Lost City of Alexandria
by Edmund RichardsonImpeccably researched, and written like a thriller, Edmund Richardson's The King's Shadow is the extraordinary untold and wild journey of Charles Masson - think Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid meets Indiana Jones - and his search for the Lost City of Alexandria in the "Wild East" during the age of empires, kings, and spies. For centuries the city of Alexandria Beneath the Mountains was a meeting point of East and West. Then it vanished. In 1833 it was discovered in Afghanistan by the unlikeliest person imaginable: Charles Masson, deserter, pilgrim, doctor, archaeologist, spy, one of the most respected scholars in Asia, and the greatest of nineteenth-century travelers.On the way into one of history's most extraordinary stories, he would take tea with kings, travel with holy men and become the master of a hundred disguises; he would see things no westerner had glimpsed before and few have glimpsed since. He would spy for the East India Company and be suspected of spying for Russia at the same time, for this was the era of the Great Game, when imperial powers confronted each other in these staggeringly beautiful lands. Masson discovered tens of thousands of pieces of Afghan history, including the 2,000-year-old Bimaran golden casket, which has upon it the earliest known face of the Buddha. He would be offered his own kingdom; he would change the world, and the world would destroy him.This is a wild journey through nineteenth-century India and Afghanistan, with impeccably researched storytelling that shows us a world of espionage and dreamers, ne'er-do-wells and opportunists, extreme violence both personal and military, and boundless hope. At the edge of empire, amid the deserts and the mountains, it is the story of an obsession passed down the centuries.
Kings, Spirits and Memory in Central India: Enchanting the State
by Aditya Pratap DeoPart anthropological history and part memoir, this book is a unique study of the polity of the colonial-princely state of Kanker in central India. The author, a scion of the erstwhile ruling family of Kanker, delves into the oral accounts given in the ancestral deity practices of the mixed tribe-caste communities of the region to highlight popular narratives of its historical polity. As he struggles with his own dilemmas as ethnographer-king, what comes into view is a polity where the princely state is drawn out amidst a terrain of gods and spirits as much as that of law courts and magistrates, and political power is divided, contested and shared between the raja/state and the people. This study constitutes not only an intervention in the larger debate on the relationship between state formations and tribal peoples, but also on the very nature of history as a knowledge practice, especially the understandings of power, authority and sovereignty in it. Combining intensive ethnography, complementary archival work and crucial theoretical questions engaging social scientists worldwide, the author charts an unusual explanatory path that can allow us to meaningfully understand societies/peoples that have historically been marginalized and seen as different. This book will be of interest to students and researchers of history, anthropology, politics, religion, tribal society and Modern South Asia.
Kings, Usurpers, and Concubines in the 'Chronicles of the Kings of Man and the Isles'
by R. Andrew McDonaldThis Palgrave Pivot explores the representation of sea kings, sinners, and saints in the mid-thirteenth century Chronicles of the Kings of Man and the Isles, the single most important text for the history of the kingdoms of Man and the Isles, c.1066-1300. The focus of the Chronicles on the power struggles, plots and intrigues within the ruling dynasties of Man and the Isles offers an impressive array of heroes and villains. The depiction of the activities of heroic sea kings like Godred Crovan, tyrannical usurpers like Harald son of Godred Don, and their concubines and wives, as well as local heroes like Saint Maughold, raises important questions concerning the dynamic interactions of power, gender and historical writing in the medieval Kingdoms of Man and the Isles, and provide new insights into the significance of the text that is our most important source of information on these ‘Forgotten Kingdoms’ of the medieval British Isles.
King's Vibrato: Modernism, Blackness, and the Sonic Life of Martin Luther King Jr.
by Maurice O. WallaceIn King’s Vibrato Maurice O. Wallace explores the sonic character of Martin Luther King Jr.’s voice and its power to move the world. Providing a cultural history and critical theory of the black modernist soundscapes that helped inform King’s vocal timbre, Wallace shows how the qualities of King’s voice depended on a mix of ecclesial architecture and acoustics, musical instrumentation and sound technology, audience and song. He examines the acoustical architectures of the African American churches where King spoke and the centrality of the pipe organ in these churches, offers a black feminist critique of the influence of gospel on King, and outlines how variations in natural environments and sound amplifications made each of King’s three deliveries of the “I Have a Dream” speech unique. By mapping the vocal timbre of one of the most important figures of black hope and protest in American history, Wallace presents King as the embodiment of the sound of modern black thought.
Kings Will Be Tyrants
by Ward HawkinsKings Will Be Tyrants by Ward Hawkins is a 1959 novel about fighting in Cuba. Bernardo Manuel Patrick O'Brien is a former U.S. Marine who winds up fighting for Castro. Though a Marine, he has to deal with the conflict of his heritage, both Cuban and American.REBELS AND LOVERSThey sat side by side on the bank of the stream. In the moonlight, O’Brien could see the oval of her face, the brushed-back hair, the level hazel eyes and the soft mouth. He could see the swelling of her breasts in the open front of her shirt, the slender bare feet dangling in the water, and he could smell the many small odors that named her woman.She was very desirable. It was only in the matter of politics that they were on opposite sides. “I believe there is one matter in which we could agree,” he said softly.The girl met his searching look with a tentative smile.He reached out and put his big rough but oddly gentle hands on her shoulders and pushed her back until she was lying on the ground. She did not resist.But when he bent to put his mouth against hers, she whispered, “I have not done this before.”O’Brien tightened his arms around her. “Then it is time,” he said.Not since Hemingway’s FOR WHOM THE BELL TOLLS has there been such a gripping novel of love and war… “Dramatic, entertaining, highly readable…”—Los Angeles Times
Kingship, Madness, and Masculinity on the Early Modern Stage: Mad World, Mad Kings (New Interdisciplinary Approaches to Early Modern Culture)
by Christina Gutierrez-DennehyKingship, Madness, and Masculinity examines representations of mad kings in early modern English theatrical texts and performance practices. Although there have been numerous volumes examining the medical and social dimensions of mental illness in the early modern period, and a few that have examined stage representations of such conditions, this volume is unique in its focus on the relationships between madness, kingship, and the anxiety of lost or fragile masculinity. The chapters uncover how, as the early modern understanding of mental illness refocused on human, rather than supernatural, causes, public stages became important arenas for playwrights, actors, and audiences to explore expressions of madness and to practice diagnoses. Throughout the volume, the authors engage with the field of disability studies to show how disability and mental health were portrayed on stage and what those representations reveal about the period and the people who lived in it. Altogether, the essays question what happens when theatrical expressions of madness are mapped onto the bodies of actors playing kings, and how the threat of diminished masculinity affects representations of power. This volume is the ideal resource for students and scholars interested in the history of kingship, gender, and politics in early modern drama.
Kingship, Power, and Legitimacy in Ancient Egypt: From the Old Kingdom to the Middle Kingdom
by Lisa K. SabbahyIn this book, Lisa Sabbahy presents a history of ancient Egyptian kingship in the Old Kingdom and its re-formation in the early Middle Kingdom. Beginning with an account of Egypt's history before the Old Kingdom, she examines the basis of kingship and its legitimacy. The heart of her study is an exploration of the king's constant emphasis on his relationship to his divine parents, the sun god Ra and his mother, the goddess Hathor, who were two of the most important deities backing the rule of a divine king. Sabbahy focuses on the cardinal importance of this relationship, which is reflected in the king's monuments, particularly his pyramid complexes, several of which are analysed in detail. Sabbahy also offers new insights into the role of queens in the early history of Egypt, notably sibling royal marriages, harem conspiracies, and the possible connotations of royal female titles.
Kingship, Ritual, and Royal Ideology in Western Zhou China
by Paul Nicholas VogtIn accounts of Chinese history, the Western Zhou period has been lionized as a golden age of ritual, when kings created the ceremonies that underlay the traditions of imperial governance. In this book, Paul Nicholas Vogt rediscovers their roots in the vagaries of Western Zhou royal geopolitics through an investigation of inscriptions on bronze vessels, the best contemporary source for this period. He shows how the kings of the Western Zhou adapted ritual to create and retain power, while introducing changes that affected later remembrances of Zhou royal ritual and that shaped the tradition of statecraft throughout Chinese history. Using ritual and social theory to explain Western Zhou history, Vogt traces how the traditions of pre-modern China were born, how a ruling dynasty establishes and holds on to power, how religion and politics can support and restrain each other, and how ancient peoples made, used, and assigned meaning to art and artifacts.
Kingsley Davis: A Biography and Selections from His Writings
by David M. Heer"Kingsley Davis (1908-1997) was one of the pioneers in social demography, and was particularly identified with the theory of the demographic transition. This holds that the process of industrialization first causes mortality to decline, leading to a substantial rate of population growth and only later causes fertility to fall, leading eventually to the cessation of population growth. Kingsley Davis is especially remembered for his arresting and forceful critique of family-planning programs intended to achieve zero population growth.Before he devoted his major attention to social demography, Davis had distinguished himself through influential articles on the structure of family and kinship, including the topics of jealousy and sexual property, the sociology of prostitution, and illegitimacy. He had an early interest in structural-functional analysis, which resulted in his famous and controversial article on stratification, co-authored with Wilbert Moore, and his equally famous presidential address to the American Sociological Association in 1959.David Heer's biography of Kingsley Davis is based on material contained in the Kingsley Davis Archive at the Hoover Institution Library at Stanford University, the Kingsley Davis graduate file at Harvard University, the interview of Kingsley Davis by Jean van der Tak in Demographic Destinies (1990), and David Heer's personal relationship with Kingsley Davis. The book also contains thirty of the most important writings by Kingsley Davis. These were chosen, in part, for the number of citations received in the Cumulative Social Science Citation Index, and in part to ensure that readers would be able to assess the continuity of Kingsley Davis's ideas at all stages of his career."