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Career Break Compass: Navigating Your Path to a Balanced Life Through Intentional Time Off
by Laura NguyenCareer Break Compass is your essential guide to a purposeful pause or sabbatical, designed to help you recharge and reignite your career.&“A sweeping and empathetic call for people to teach themselves how to relax.&” — Kirkus Reviews Are you overwhelmed by the relentless demands of your job, parenthood, and life? Craving a chance to pause, reflect, and grow? Career Break Compass is your indispensable guide to navigating the transformative journey of a sabbatical. Authored by a recovering workaholic, this book is designed to help: • Overachievers and workaholics manage stress, conquer burnout, and find renewal. • Mid-career professionals plan and take meaningful breaks, exploring new directions. • Anyone looking to maximize time away to return to their career refreshed and unstoppable. • Those seeking to rediscover life's richness beyond their job and align their work with their core values. The transformative benefits of taking a sabbatical extend beyond mere rest. You'll gain strategies to shed chronic pressure, propel your career, explore hidden passions, and craft a purpose-driven existence. Take the first bold step towards the most crucial journey of your career—back to your authentic self. Break free from burnout, embrace your sabbatical, and transform your life. MORE PRAISE FOR CAREER BREAK COMPASS: &“For those grappling with burnout and the uncertainties of recovery, this compass emerges as an indispensable guide, offering strategic insights that navigate the journey toward renewal and a purpose-driven future." —Dr. Tamara Beckford, Burnout Prevention Expert, and CEO of UR Caring Docs "Laura&’s carefully thought-out strategies for taking an intentional break. . . offers actionable and sustainable practices that will recharge you—at home and in the office." —Fran Hauser, Author, Keynote Speaker, Leading Career Expert, and Former Fortune 500 Media Executive "Laura Nguyen offers smart, take-you-by-the-hand guidance to pause, recharge, reevaluate and, ultimately, reemerge to work that is aligned with your strengths and values. This is the map you need when contemplating what&’s next!&” —Becky Vollmer, author of You Are Not Stuck: How Soul-Guided Choices Transform Fear into Freedom
Cuentos clásicos de la India: Cómo Ganesha obtuvo su cabeza de elefante y otros relatos
by Vatsala Sperling Harish Johari• Comparte cuentos clásicos de la India, incluidas historias extraídas del Mahabharata, el Ramayana y los Puranas, traducidas por los autores• Ilustrado con pinturas luminosas a todo color en estilo tradicional indio preparado de acuerdo con el canon hindú tradicionalCon esta colección ilustrada a todo color de cuentos clásicos de la India, aprenderás sobre los dioses, diosas y héroes juguetones, leales, fuertes, amorosos y sabios de la India. Descubrirás cómo la deidad Ganesha, el removedor de obstáculos, obtuvo su cabeza de elefante, cómo la diosa Parvati ganó el corazón del gran dios Shiva y cómo la diosa Ganga vino a la tierra desde el cielo en la forma del río sagrado Ganges. Descubrirás de qué modo la infancia de Krishna como superhéroe y niño travieso lo preparó para cumplir su destino como avatar del dios Vishnu. De dos cuentos extraídos del Ramayana, aprenderás sobre el príncipe Ram y su victoria sobre el rey demonio de diez cabezas Ravana y cómo el dios mono Hanuman movió una montaña medicinal para salvar al hermano de Ram. En dos historias de la famosa epopeya del Mahabharata, descubrirás cómo Karna se convirtió en el mejor arquero del mundo para ayudar al bien a triunfar sobre el mal y cómo Arjuna luchó compasivamente contra sus propios primos para traer la paz al reino de Hastinapur.Las ilustraciones resplandecientes, ejecutadas en acuarelas transparentes y pinturas al temple, están realizadas con un método centenario tradicional de la India. Ricamente detalladas, dan vida al colorido elenco de personajes (humanos, dioses y demonios por igual) y permiten al lector sumergirse en el mundo místico de la antigua India.
A Queer History of Flamenco: Diversions, Transitions, and Returns in Flamenco Dance (1808–2018)
by Fernando López RodríguezA Queer History of Flamenco offers a groundbreaking exploration of flamenco through the lenses of queer theory and cultural studies. Previous histories have provided a largely distorted image about why, where, and how people have done flamenco—as well as who has performed flamenco. Yet feminists, transvestites, butches, femmes, the Spanish Roma, disabled people, guiris, and “incomprehensible” artists have been determined to do things differently without giving up their flamenco status. In this skillful translation of his book Historia queer del flamenco, Fernando López Rodríguez draws on diverse archival materials as well as his own lived experience and artistic practice, unearthing queer flamenco histories, voices, and perspectives that were previously unknown, avoided, or purposely hidden. Tracing flamenco’s development from its birth up to the contemporary era, the book places flamenco within significant historical periods such as the Spanish Civil War, Franco’s dictatorship, the transition to democracy, and the economic crisis of 2008, up to contemporary performances of the late 2010s. In taking a queer approach to History, the author abandons antiquated debates about purities and impurities; anecdotes about the lives of artists that are completely detached from their processes of creation; and myths about geniuses who seem to make art alone and completely detached from their collaborators and the historical, social, economic and artistic moment in which they lived. A Queer History of Flamenco is not only about the present and the queerness of people living, performing, or creating in it, but also about flamenco’s past in which so many queer artists and practices and their lives have remained unearthed and unaddressed.
Playthrough Poetics: Gameplay as Research Method
by Milena DroumevaGame streamers and live commentators are producing increasingly comprehensive analyses of gameplay, yet scholarship still tends to flatten the experiential media of video games into text for close reading. By shifting focus toward the immersiveness of video games, Playthrough Poetics makes the case for gameplay as a necessary, alternate method. Contributors to this volume engage widely with the activity of play through autoethnographies, meta-analyses of self-broadcasting, new procedural methods like gamespace soundwalking, as well as the affective aspects of games research. In doing so, they model new possibilities for academic players and gamers alike. Rigorous scholarship meets cultural practice in this innovative, multi-modal edited collection that includes video essays and offers transcripts of the playthroughs themselves. Readers (and viewers) will come away with a toolkit of models, case studies, and conceptual frameworks for analyzing video games through gameplay. This volume is a fresh return to the joy of play: the poetics of games as contemporary forms of storytelling and interactivity. With contributions from Ashlee Bird, Brandon Blackburn, Milena Droumeva, Kishonna Gray, Robyn Hope, Ben Scholl, Maria Sommers, Ashlyn Sparrow, Christine Tran, and Aaron Trammell.
Pro .NET Memory Management: For Better Code, Performance, and Scalability
by Konrad Kokosa Christophe Nasarre Kevin GosseUnderstand .NET memory management internal workings, pitfalls, and techniques in order to effectively avoid a wide range of performance and scalability problems in your software. Despite automatic memory management in .NET, there are many advantages to be found in understanding how .NET memory works and how you can best write software that interacts with it efficiently and effectively. This book is your comprehensive guide to writing better software by understanding and working with memory management in .NET, from Framework up to .NET 8. Thoroughly vetted by the .NET Team at Microsoft, this book contains valuable troubleshooting scenarios designed to help diagnose challenging memory problems. You will also benefit from a multitude of .NET memory management “rules” to live by that introduce methods for writing memory-aware code and the means for avoiding common, destructive pitfalls. What You'll Learn Understand the theoretical underpinnings of automatic memory management Take a deep dive into every aspect of .NET memory management, including detailed coverage of garbage collection (GC) implementation, that would otherwise take years of experience to acquire Get practical advice on how this knowledge can be applied in real-world software development Use practical knowledge of tools related to .NET memory management to diagnose various memory-related issues Explore various aspects of advanced memory management, including use of Span and Memory types Who This Book Is For .NET developers, solution architects, and performance engineers
Proceedings of the Annual Congress of the Asia-Pacific Society for Artificial Organs: APSAO: Making Breakthrough via Multidisciplinary Approach (Lecture Notes in Bioengineering)
by Mohd Jamil Mohamed Mokhtarudin Azam Ahmad Bakir Andrew Stephens Nadiah SulaimanThis book presents the proceedings of the Annual Congress of the Asia-Pacific Society for Artificial Organs (APSAO) 2023, which focuses on multidisciplinary advances and innovations in the cardiovascular, respiratory, and renal support systems. This collection of articles covers three main themes that are closely related to advances in artificial organs: (i) digital health and numerical simulation (ii) Design, development, evaluation and clinical translation and (iii) Biomaterials and tissue engineering. The conference showcased speakers from different countries in the Asia-Pacific region presenting their cutting-edge research on the designs, development, and evaluation of the cardiovascular, respiratory, and renal support systems. In addition, the readers are expected to gain an insightful view on the current needs for artificial organs research and development, as well as the steps needed for successful translation from concept into clinical practices. Specifically, the book willdeliberate the key challenges associated with the design and development of artificial organs, their clinical translation as well as patient management in the Asia-Pacific region, particularly in the low- and middle-income countries.
Transatlantic Finance in the Age of Revolutions: Hope, Baring, and the Financing of the Sale and Purchase of Louisiana
by Mark Edward HayThis book explains how Amsterdam financiers played a much more important role in financing the Louisiana Cession than they are credited for. Drawing on hitherto overlooked Dutch archival sources, alongside American, French and British archival sources, this book shows that in 1803 the international financial order was not yet centered on London, but that the financing of the Louisiana Cession initiated a shift of this order from Dutch to British firms, which would become more apparent after the Napoleonic Wars. This book examines the strategies and operations of the two main banking houses, Hope & Co. of Amsterdam and Francis Baring & Co. of London, involved in financing the cession of this territory from France to the United States. This book advances the scholarship not just on the Louisiana Cession, but also on international finance, the financial “sinews” of state power, Great Power diplomacy, the Atlantic Revolutions, and the Napoleonic Wars. It will be of interest to researchers and advanced students in all of these fields, at the intersection of history, politics, and economics.
Frontiers of Dynamic Games: Proceedings of the International Conference “Game Theory and Applications” 2022 (Trends in Mathematics)
by Leon A. Petrosyan Vladimir Mazalov Nikolay A. ZenkevichThis book collects a selection of the articles presented at the virtual conference “Game Theory and Applications”, organized in St. Petersburg in the summer of 2022. The articles in this collection cover all the main applications of game theory, interpolating mathematical methods with economics, biology, sociology, mobile systems, and social networks. Scholars in the field will find this to be a valuable contribution.
Embedded Behavioral Health in the Military: A Guide for Behavioral Health Officers and Leaders (Military Behavioral Health Series)
by Amy M. Thrasher Larry C. James William O’DonohueThis book focuses on the strategy of embedded behavioral health (EBH), a model developed for the military to provide services in proximity to where service members live and work. It applies to both garrison and deployed individuals so that wherever combat units are located there are organic behavioral health resources available. The book provides an understanding of the importance of EBH programs, and their crucial role in promoting early prevention and intervention opportunities. The goal is to shift behavioral care so that the right resources are available in the right place at the right time. As such, this book serves as an invaluable guide to these vital programs.
Ranaviruses: Emerging Pathogens of Ectothermic Vertebrates
by Matthew J. Gray V. Gregory ChincharThis is a open access book. Ranaviruses, double-stranded DNA viruses (family Iridoviridae) that cause systemic, life-threatening disease in a variety of amphibians, reptiles and fish, have contributed to mass die-offs of both wild and captive populations around the globe. These viruses are emerging and increasingly responsible for population declines of ectothermic vertebrates. Because amphibians, reptiles, and freshwater turtles are suitable hosts and among the most imperiled vertebrate taxa in the world, ranaviruses can have significant impacts on biodiversity and ecosystem function. Additionally, many fish that are raised in aquaculture facilities and traded internationally are suitable hosts; thus, the potential economic impact of ranaviruses is significant. Ranaviruses also serve as a model for understanding viral replication and gene function among large double-stranded DNA viruses, e.g., poxviruses, asfarvirus, and ascoviruses. Lastly, study of the host immune response to ranaviral disease and the identification of viral immune evasion genes that negatively regulate host immune functions provide insight into which specific immune elements are most important in protecting host species against severe disease. The effort to produce a 2nd edition of our earlier work grew out of a recent meeting (1st Global Amphibian and Reptile Disease Conference) held in August 2022. Given the continued research in ranaviruses and ranaviral disease since the first edition, this new book updates the latest information on ranaviruses and provides guidance on how to monitor and manage ranaviruses in cold-blooded vertebrate populations.
Wake Up, Nat & Darcy (Puck Struck #1)
by Kate CochraneEx-lovers. Ex-rivals. New cohosts. Oh, puck.Cut from the U.S. women&’s hockey team right before her third chance at gold, Natalie Carpenter is scrambling for a plan that&’ll help her avoid moving back home. The answer: a guest hosting gig on Wake Up, USA&’s winter games coverage. Her co-host: Darcy LaCroix, Nat&’s ex-girlfriend, one-time college teammate turned adversary.Since leaving Team Canada, Darcy has worked hard to make a name in broadcasting. If her big break requires sharing screen time with the former cocky freshman who turned her world upside down, so be it. At this point, there&’s nothing between them except history.But audiences disagree. #PuckingHotties is trending hard, and Nat and Darcy agree to lean into it...for ratings, obviously. It&’s not like Nat can forget the way Darcy broke her heart or their bitter team rivalry.Between working, traveling together, and that irresistible spark, it&’s getting hard to separate what&’s real and what&’s for the camera. Because somewhere underneath everything that went wrong is the sneaking suspicion that nothing will ever feel quite this right again.
Never Lead Alone: 10 Shifts from Leadership to Teamship
by Keith FerrazziELEVATE LEADERSHIP TO TEAMSHIP.In today’s volatile, fast-paced, and decentralized business environment, even the most talented leaders can’t succeed alone—they need to mobilize the full potential of the team.The world’s highest-performing organizations understand they need more than leadership to win—they need teamship. Teamship is a profound shift from today’s hierarchical model to sharing the load among a team that elevates one another and the organization to achieve exponential results.Based on more than twenty years of research with more than three thousand teams, world-renowned coach and bestselling author Keith Ferrazzi has cracked the code on what defines the top 15 percent of teams. In Never Lead Alone, Ferrazzi brings to life what is expected of teammates in teamship’s new agile, inclusive, innovative, and challenge culture. Teamship combines:Co-elevation behaviors—the teammates’ commitment to pushing one another higher in aligned pursuit of the mission, andtwenty-first-century collaboration processes, practices, and tools to transform team performance.Through rigorous data, dozens of high-return practices, and vivid case studies you will learn:the 10 critical shifts to teamship, including peer-to-peer accountability, personal trust, shared feedback, team resilience, and adopting agile ways of working;how to agree on a new high-performance, high-integrity team social contract; andapproaches to leveraging collaborative technology and AI.Never Lead Alone is an essential step-by-step road map for every teammate and all leaders on their team’s journey from average to extraordinary.
April Storm: A Novel
by Leila Meacham“Leila Meacham is a gift to readers everywhere.”—Adriana TrigianiA seemingly perfect suburban housewife is being pursued by a private detective . . . and hunted by a murderer in this riveting, much-anticipated posthumous novel from the beloved author of Roses and Dragonfly.Kathryn Walker enjoys an enviable life. Her husband is an accomplished doctor, her children are bright and successful, and she devotes herself to charity work that uplifts her Suburban Colorado community. Settling into a new year, her life couldn’t be better. . .Until April.For Kathryn, April has always rained trouble—but this time may be even stormier than the fraught past she’s trying to overcome. Already distraught over the child she miscarried in this same cursed month many years ago, the emotionally fragile woman isn’t ready to consider the overwhelming evidence that someone may be trying to take her husband—and her life.Featuring the complex characters and powerful storytelling that are the beloved hallmarks of Leila Meacham’s novels beginning with her breakout debut Roses, April Storm is a page-turning triumph that caps a remarkable literary career.
Open Minded: A Novel
by Chloe SeagerChloe Seager creates a fun yet thought-provoking novel about two very different women, Holly and Fliss, who are grappling with drastic changes in their relationships after Holly’s boyfriend wants to “open” their relationship and Fliss’s boyfriend wants to “close” theirs.After nine years of dating, Holly is sure her boyfriend Will is going to propose. But instead of popping the question, he shocks her by suggesting they open their relationship to date other people.For the last three years, Fliss and her boyfriend Ash have been in a happily open relationship. But now that they’re turning thirty, he wants to close it, throwing Fliss’s whole ethos of living life on her terms rather than society’s expectations into question.When Fliss overhears Holly crying in the toilets during her first date in nine years, they decide to ditch their dates and have dinner together. They strike up an instant friendship with Fliss agreeing to teach Holly everything she knows about being in an open relationship, while Holly, who’s been with one person for almost a decade, can help Fliss try monogamy.Fliss is willing to give up dating other people if it means staying with Ash, and Holly is willing to try anything if it means she gets her happy ending with Will. But perhaps both Fliss and Holly will learn that there’s no one size fits all when it comes to relationships . . .
Shy Creatures: A Novel
by Clare Chambers"A beautiful story of unfolding secrets and unforeseen consequences, filled with moments that are somehow restrained and astute and gorgeously written all at the same time."—Holly Gramazio, bestselling author of The HusbandsAn alluring literary mystery full of secrets and lies, when an art teacher at a psychiatric hospital in 1960s England finds her life turned upside down by the arrival of a mysterious patient who has spent decades living in complete isolation with his elderly aunts in a decrepit Victorian house. Perfect for fans of Ann Patchett, Barbara Kingsolver, and Tessa Hadley.In all failed relationships there is a tipping point. It goes unnoticed at the time but can later be identified as the beginning of the decline. For Helen it was the weekend that the Hidden Man came to Westbury Park…The London suburb of Croydon,1964: Helen Hansford is unmarried and in her thirties. Something of a disappointment to her middle-class parents, she’s an art therapist at the Westbury Park psychiatric hospital, where she has been having a rebellious love affair with her colleague Gil, a dashing but married doctor.One spring afternoon they receive a call about a disturbance at a derelict, vine-covered Victorian house a few miles up the road. There the police find a mute, thirty-seven-year-old man called William Tapping, his hair and beard down to his waist. It appears he lives in the old house with his elderly, frail aunt, who expires as soon as she’s admitted to the hospital. No one knows why William has been shut away for decades, unseen by neighbors, with only his two now-deceased aunts for company. Westbury Park becomes his refuge.When it emerges that William is not only sane but a talented artist, Helen comes to see him as something of a personal project. But as she tries to solve the puzzle of the Hidden Man’s past, Helen’s own carefully constructed life of secrets begins to unravel...A gorgeously written and life-affirming novel about life’s delicate layers of experience and connection, Shy Creatures reveals all the different ways we can be confined...and liberated.
Leigh Howard and the Ghosts of Simmons-Pierce Manor: Leigh Howard y el misterio de la mansión Simmons-Pierce / (Spanish edition)
by Shawn M. WarnerThe #1 Amazon Charts Bestseller, Top Ranked book in the world, and TikTok Famous with millions of views, Leigh Howard and the Ghosts of Simmons-Pierce Manor by USA Today bestselling author Shawn M. Warner.Leigh's life has been ripped apart.Orphaned, she goes to live with incredibly wealthy relatives she never knew she had. Struggling to fit into her new world, she can't let go of her grief. When the police tell her the investigation into her parents' murder has hit a brick wall, she knows the only way she will ever know peace is to solve the mystery herself. With new family and friends, which includes a ghost with multiple personality issues, Leigh risks everything to find her answers.Join Leigh on her adventure through the brutal world of organized crime and betrayal.
She's Always Hungry: Stories
by Eliza ClarkFrom Eliza Clark, the author of the brilliant novels Boy Parts and Penance and one of Granta’s Best Young British Novelists, comes a fierce, visionary and darkly comic story collection.A woman welcomes a parasite into her body.A teenager longs for perfect skin. A scientist tends to fragile alien flora. A young man takes the night into his own hands. Unsettling, revelatory, and laced with her signature dark humor, Eliza Clark’s debut short story collection plumbs the depths of that most basic human feeling: hunger.
In Want of a Suspect (A Lizzie & Darcy Mystery)
by Tirzah PriceThe first book in a thrilling mystery duology that follows Lizzie Bennet and Mr. Darcy from the acclaimed Jane Austen Murder Mystery series!It is a truth universally acknowledged, that London’s first female solicitor in possession of the details of a deadly crime, must be in want of a suspect.The tenacious Lizzie Bennet has earned her place at Longbourn, her father’s law firm. Her work keeps her busy, but luckily it gives her plenty of reasons to consult (and steal occasional kisses) with Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy, a stern but secretly softhearted solicitor at Pemberley.Lizzie is hired to investigate a deadly warehouse fire and to find the mysterious woman who was spotted at the scene moments before the flames took hold. But when the case leads to the sitting room of a woman Darcy once proposed marriage to, the delicate balance between personal and professional in their relationship is threatened.Questions of the future are cast aside when the prime suspect is murdered and Lizzie’s own life is threatened. As the body count rises and their suspicions about what was really going on in the warehouse grow, the pressure is on for Lizzie and Darcy to uncover the truth.Classic characters with an enthralling twist—Lizzie and Darcy, as introduced in the hit novel Pride and Premeditation, are back for more suspense, danger, and romance!
Black Gold
by Laura Obuobi"Obuobi pens an origin story that’s at once earthly and impressively cosmic, an ethereal children’s debut that centers a Black child’s beginnings." —Publishers Weekly (starred review) "Lyrical, empowering, and inspiring. An affirmation of the miracle each individual is.” —Yamile Saied Méndez, author of Where Are You From? and What Will You Be?This lyrical picture book is a joyous, poetic, celebration of Black children and a reminder of the Universe’s unconditional love in stunning verse and captivating collage. Perfect for fans of Sulwe!When the Universe decides to create a child, she draws from the earth—rich, dark, and full of everything that gives life, including eyes like black star sapphires and full lips to speak the truth. With help from the Sun and the Moon, they create a child of the Universe: beautiful, powerful, and boundless with the brilliance of Black Gold. Laura Obuobi’s empowering, whimsical text and London Ladd’s lustrous, captivating illustrations will inspire children to love themselves exactly as they are.A Bank Street College of Education’s Children’s Book Committee’s Best Children’s Books of the Year (2023)A Bank Street Books Best Children's Book of the Year for ages 5-9 in Family/School/Community Fiction and noted for outstanding merit (2023)
I'll Love You Till the Crocodiles Smile (I'll Love You Till)
by Kathryn CristaldiFrom the team that brought you I’ll Love You Till the Cows Come Home comes another funny and sweet lyrical lullaby, celebrating boundless family love. I’ll Love You Till the Crocodiles Smile is a cozy bedtime read-aloud guaranteed to have both you and your little one smiling.Tender and gently humorous, this story of unconditional love will become a household favorite to be read over and over.I will love you till forever and forever and more, till my love shakes the jungle with a lion-size ROAR, as night blankets the forest near a soothing waterfall and the chimpanzees sleep in trees, two hundred feet tall….I’ll Love You Till the Crocodiles Smile is perfect for giving, whether it be for a baby shower, birthday, or Valentine’s Day. The story stands beautifully on its own or can be paired with its companion story, I’ll Love You Till the Cows Come Home, which ALA Booklist described as a bedtime read-aloud that is “both hilarious and comforting."
The Dog Who Followed the Moon
by James NorburyFrom the international bestselling author and illustrator of Big Panda and Tiny Dragon and The Cat Who Taught Zen comes a beautifully illustrated adult fable of a lost young puppy, the old wolf who rescues her, and their journey to follow the moon—with meditations on friendship, connection, and sacrifice.Deep in the mountain forests, a young pup named Amaya wanders lost and alone, until an aging wolf rescues her from a terrifying encounter with his vicious pack. To try and reunite Amaya with her parents, the unlikely pair embark on a journey to follow the moon.Eerie woods, forgotten cities, and other obstacles await Amaya and the Wolf on their adventure. As they make their way through the wilderness, the two learn profound lessons about love, sacrifice, and the importance of embracing change.Featuring stunning artwork from bestselling author and illustrator James Norbury, The Dog Who Followed the Moon is a moving, poignant reflection on love and loss, grief and growth.
The Detroit Genre: Race, Dispossession, and Resilience in American Literature and Film, 1967-2023
by Vincent HaddadDetroit has an essential relationship to genre in American literature and popular culture. The contemporary formations of the suburban sitcom, the post-apocalyptic genre, the sci-fi dystopia, crime fiction, the superhero genre, and contemporary horror would not exist in the way they do today without the aesthetic material and racial history of Detroit. When DC Comics wanted to compete with Marvel and market “socially relevant” comics, especially ones dealing with issues of race, they swapped Gotham and Metropolis for Detroit. What about vampires concerned with de-industrialization, heritage conservation, and impending water wars? Must be Detroit. A story about a half-man, half-robot wrestling with what it means to be human by fighting crime? Improbably, Detroit has two. Author Vincent Haddad’s The Detroit Genre provides the first comprehensive literary and cultural investigation of the representations of Detroit in popular and literary culture. The book first establishes the concept of the “Detroit genre” that emerged in late 1960s and traces the tropes of this white-centric narrative genre in popular culture, touching on key texts including Blue Collar, Robocop, The Crow, It Follows, and Barbarian. The second part shows how Black writers, including Alice Randall, adrienne maree brown, Stephen Mack Jones, and Angela Flournoy, reclaimed and revised the Detroit genre by un-fixing Detroit narratives of dispossession, criminality, and industrial and social failure through formal experimentations on genre itself. Where Detroit has typically been painted in the news as one of three things—the center of the automotive industry; crime-ridden and in ruins; or as a “blank canvas” with limitless potential of entrepreneurship—Vincent Haddad shows that the Detroit genre in literature and film can be far more powerful than news media in narrating Black dispossession as a pragmatic, even liberal consensus. The texts studied here condition forgetfulness about Detroit’s history or expose it to a full reckoning, direct attention toward or away from the city’s agents of injustice, fetishize resilience or model resistance, and foreclose or imagine a future of Black liberation. Appealing to scholars of popular literature, media, race, and American studies, The Detroit Genre is an accessible and engaging study of the city’s influence on a wide array of genres in pop culture.
The Best of All Possible Worlds: A Life of Leibniz in Seven Pivotal Days
by Michael KempeA biography of the polymath Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz told through seven critical days spanning his life and revealing his contributions to our modern world. Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646–1716) was the Benjamin Franklin of Europe, a “universal genius” who ranged across many fields and made breakthroughs in most of them. Leibniz invented calculus (independently from Isaac Newton), conceptualized the modern computer, and developed the famous thesis that the existing world is the best that God could have created. In The Best of All Possible Worlds, historian and Leibniz expert Michael Kempe takes us on a journey into the mind and inventions of a man whose contributions are perhaps without parallel in human history. Structured around seven crucial days in Leibniz’s life, Kempe’s account allows us to observe him in the act of thinking and creating, and gives us a deeper understanding of his broad-reaching intellectual endeavors. On October 29, 1675, we find him in Paris, diligently working from his bed amid a sea of notes, and committing the integral symbol—the basis of his calculus—to paper. On April 17, 1703, Leibniz is in Berlin, writing a letter reporting that a Jesuit priest living in China has discovered how to use Leibniz’s binary number system to decipher an ancient Chinese system of writing. One day in August 1714, Leibniz enjoys a Viennese coffee while drawing new connections among ontology and biology and mathematics. The Best of All Possible Worlds transports us to an age defined by rational optimism and a belief in progress, and will endure as one of the few authoritative accounts of Leibniz’s life available in English.
Ingenious: A Biography of Benjamin Franklin, Scientist
by Richard MunsonThe dramatic story of an ingenious man who explained nature and created a country. Benjamin Franklin was one of the preeminent scientists of his time. Driven by curiosity, he conducted cutting-edge research on electricity, heat, ocean currents, weather patterns, chemical bonds, and plants. But today, Franklin is remembered more for his political prowess and diplomatic achievements than his scientific creativity. In this incisive and rich account of Benjamin Franklin’s life and career, Richard Munson recovers this vital part of Franklin’s story, reveals his modern relevance, and offers a compelling portrait of a shrewd experimenter, clever innovator, and visionary physicist whose fame opened doors to negotiate French support and funding for American independence. Munson’s riveting narrative explores how science underpins Franklin’s entire story—from tradesman to inventor to nation-founder—and argues that Franklin’s political life cannot be understood without giving proper credit to his scientific accomplishments.
The Abandoners: On Mothers and Monsters
by Begoña Gómez UrzaizAn incisive collection about motherhood and creative life through the lens of mothers—in history, literature, and pop culture—who have abandoned their children. What kind of mother abandons her child? During the pandemic, trapped at home with young children and struggling to find creative space to write, journalist Begoña Gómez Urzaiz became fixated on artistic women who overcame both society’s condemnation and their own maternal guilt to leave their children—at will or due to economic or other circumstances. The Abandoners is sharp, at times slyly humorous, and always deeply empathetic. Using famous examples such as Ingrid Bergman, Muriel Spark, Doris Lessing, and Maria Montessori as well as fictional ones like Anna Karenina and the many roles of Meryl Streep, and interrogating modern trends like “momfluencers,” Gómez Urzaiz reveals what our judgement of these women tells us about our judgement of all women.