- Table View
- List View
Whistle: A Novel
by Linwood Barclay“Terrific.”— Stephen King on WhistleNew York Times bestselling author Linwood Barclay enters new territory with a supernatural chiller in which a woman and her young son move to a small town looking for a fresh start, only to be haunted by disturbing events and strange visions when they find a mysterious train set in a storage shed.Evil has a one track mind....Annie Blunt has had an unimaginably terrible year. First, her husband was killed in a tragic hit-and-run accident, then one of the children’s books she’s built her writing and illustrating career on ignited a major scandal. Desperate for a fresh start, she moves with her son Charlie to a charming small town in upstate New York where they can begin to heal.But Annie’s year is about to get worse.Bored and lonely in their isolated new surroundings, Charlie is thrilled when he finds a forgotten train set in a locked shed on their property. Annie is glad to see Charlie happy, but there’s something unsettling about his new toy. Strange sounds wake Annie in the night—she could swear she hears a train, but there isn’t an active track for miles—and bizarre things begin happening in the neighborhood. Worse, Annie can’t seem to stop drawing a disturbing new character that has no place in a children’s book.Grief can do strange things to the mind, but Annie is beginning to think she’s walked out of one nightmare straight into another, only this one is far more terrifying…
Sins of Survivors: A Carter Brothers Novel (Blair Underwood Presents #1)
by Blair Underwood Joe McCleanHarlem Shuffle meets The Godfather in this fierce and dazzling crime family saga presented by award-winning actor and producer Blair Underwood and written by filmmaker Joe McClean, set in the Black Bottom neighborhood of Detroit in the dark and dangerous days of the 1930s. In 1908 Alabama, precocious young Benjamin Carter brings deadly consequences down upon his father’s head when he dares to use a white drinking fountain instead of the "colored" one.With his fierce and protective older brother Jasper, Ben escapes Alabama, joining the Great Migration to Black Bottom, Detroit’s flourishing Black neighborhood. There, the brothers rise from the ashes to become kingpins of this new community, owning businesses, playing politics, and diving into Detroit's violent criminal underbelly.\Through their wit and grit, Ben and Jasper establish the Carter dynasty, securing a prosperous future for their families. But heavy are the heads that wear the crowns. Seeing their children come of age, young men and women fueled by ambitions of their own, the brothers clash over which direction to steer the Carter empire.With the scent of brotherly discontent, competing Detroit power players will use every advantage—and weakness—to bring the family to its knees.In Sins of Survivors, Hollywood legend Blair Underwood and Joe McClean have created a scorching crime saga featuring a dynamic cast of characters—a thrilling and cinematic story about family and what it means for a Black community to not just survive, but thrive.
Courtroom Drama: A Novel
by Neely Tubati AlexanderLegally Blonde and Jury Duty meet The Real Housewives in this high-stakes courtroom love story—a sexy and sweet but heartfelt novel about friendship, romance, and reality television from the acclaimed author of Love Buzz and In a Not So Perfect World.Sydney Parks thinks she might be the first person in the world to look forward to serving jury duty. When Margot Kitsch, an OG cast member of the hit reality show Authentic Moms of Malibu is arrested after the untimely death of her cast member husband, Joe, Sydney knows being selected for the jury is the most interesting thing that ever happened to her. However, it doesn’t take long for Sydney to realize that being part of a sequestered jury in a high-profile case is not at all what legal dramas had led her to expect—especially when she learns that her childhood best friend, Damon, whom she hasn't seen in ten years, is also a jury member.As the trial wears on, Sydney realizes there's a lot more to the case than she first thought. And there's also a lot more to Damon—she soon finds herself falling under his spell despite the court’s instructions not to fraternize. His tendency to break the rules and find adventure is hard to resist in their otherwise dull juror's world. But getting close to Damon also means having to face the complicated reasons their friendship abruptly ended just when they were on the precipice of something more.With all the drama in and out of the courtroom, how is Sydney supposed to ignore the fraught history between them? How is she supposed to avoid him when he’s sitting next to her in the jury box every day with his broad shoulders and intoxicating smell? And how is she supposed to ensure Margot gets a fair trial if her unfinished business with Damon causes the mistrial of the century?
In Case You Read This
by Edward UnderhillFrom acclaimed author Edward Underhill comes a trans rom-com about serendipity, chance encounter, and the ultimate missed connection. This joyful celebration of queer love and found family is perfect for fans of Becky Albertalli, Emery Lee, and Julian Winters.Arden isn’t excited about moving. Los Angeles was an easy place to fit in and find a supportive queer community. But Winifred, Michigan? That sounds like a much more difficult place to exist.Pasadena, California, is the perfect city for Gabe’s reinvention. Everyone knew everything about him in small-town Shelby, Illinois. Gabe, who wants to be out and proud, can’t wait to relocate.When Arden and Gabe randomly meet in the lobby of a motel in Nebraska, it feels like fate. Both are trans, but more importantly, both are huge fans of the band Damaged Pixie Dream Boi. Clearly, the universe is trying to tell them something. Right?But after an incredible evening of hanging out, the pair part ways only knowing the other’s first name. And as both boys struggle to adjust to their new homes, their thoughts keep being drawn back to their time together. Is one perfect night enough to bring Arden and Gabe back to each other, or will the boys need some help to find each other again?
The Front Runner: The Life of Steve Prefontaine
by Brendan O'MearaOn the 50th anniversary of American Track and Field icon Steve Prefontaine’s tragic death comes an essential reappraisal of his life and legacy, a powerful work of narrative history exploring the forces and psychology that made Prefontaine great and separating the man from the myths. In the fifty years since his tragic death in a car crash, Steve Prefontaine has towered over American distance running. One of the most recognizable and charismatic figures to ever run competitively in the United States, Prefontaine has endured as a source of inspiration and fascination—a talent who presaged the American running boom of the late 1970s and helped put Nike on the map as the brand’s first celebrity-athlete face.Now on the anniversary of his untimely death, author Brendan O’Meara, host of the Creative Nonfiction podcast, offers a fresh, definitive retelling of Prefontaine’s life, revisiting one of the most enigmatic figures in American sports with a twenty-first-century lens. Through over a hundred and fifty original interviews with family, friends, teammates, and competitors, this long-overdue reappraisal of Prefontaine—the first such exhaustive treatment in almost thirty years—provides never-before-told stories about the unique talent, innovative mental strength, and personal struggles that shaped Prefontaine on and off the track. Bringing new depth to an athlete long eclipsed by his brash, aggressive running style and the heartbreak of his death at twenty-four, O’Meara finds the man inside the myth, scrutinizing a legacy that has shaped American sports culture for decades.What emerges is a singular portrait of a distinctly American talent, a story written in the pines and firs of the Pacific Northwest back when running was more blue-collar love than corporate pursuit—the story of a runner whose short life casts a long, fast shadow.
Abigail and Alexa Save the Wedding: A Novel
by Lian DolanEveryone loves—and hates—a big fancy wedding! From the author of Lost and Found in Paris and The Marriage Sabbatical comes a champagne-sparkling summer read about two very different women planning their children’s wedding in glamorous Montecito, California.You’re invited...to a delightful modern comedy of manners about two moms, the best-laid plans, and one very memorable wedding.Penelope and Chase make a lovely couple. She’s a bubbly Southern California girl with killer work ethic. Chase is smart and charming and has political aspirations. They’re planning a spectacular California wedding, wrapped in peonies and thousands of little white lights, soaked in custom cocktails and romantic hashtags. Everyone’s excited about Penny and Chase’s wedding—except their mothers.The Mother of the Bride, suave Greek-born Alexa Diamandis, doesn’t understand why any woman would get married. Ever! Raised in Athens and now perfectly situated in sun-splashed Montecito, California, she raised Penny as single mother by choice, supported by Lord Simon Fox, her old college friend who just happens to be an English aristocrat, and a wealthy circle of lady friends who call themselves the Merry Widows.The Mother of the Groom, Abigail Blakeman, is a garden club stalwart firmly planted in coastal Connecticut. She thinks the whole enterprise would be so much easier if the wedding was at their golf club. Especially because the Blakeman’s fortunes have taken a turn for the worse—not that you would ever know it by looking at Abigail. Keeping up appearances is exhausting, but it is everything. But when a sudden twist of fate calls them into action, these two very different women are forced to take over the wedding planning. Despite their differences, Alexa and Abigail charge in to save the day. How far will two moms go to make their children’s dream wedding a reality?
Hardly Creatures: Poems
by Rob Macaisa Colgate"Dazzling. . . . An extraordinary document in care, mutual aid, and access."—Claudia Rankine An imaginative and unforgettable debut poetry collection about the joys and complexities of the disability community from 2024 Ruth Lilly fellow Rob Macaisa Colgate. Brilliant and innovative, Rob Macaisa Colgate’s debut poetry collection, Hardly Creatures, takes the form—visually and metaphorically—of an accessible art museum. Through nine sections that act as gallery rooms, the book shepherds the reader through the radiance and mess of the disability community. At the heart of the collection is an exploration and recognition of access intimacy. Marked with universal access symbols to guide the way, poems mimic sensory rooms, tactile replicas, benches for resting, and more; “the body of a poem” itself is reimagined through formal experimentation, as abecedarians are scrambled out of order and sestinas are pressurized into new sequences. These poems also play with pop culture allusions, social media posts, and the infinite possibilities within queer love and deep friendships. With lyrical clarity and attention to language, Hardly Creatures reaches out and offers inventive, heartfelt insights for all readers, and celebrates the disability community through the lens of a visionary new voice in poetry.
Raj Khosla: The Authorized Biography
by Amborish Roychoudhury Uma Kapur Anita Khosla KapurThe 1940s witnessed the scripting of an origin story that would go down in the books. A young man was signed on by Guru Dutt as assistant director after eager assurances of his competency in Hindi, a white lie that was soon unmasked. This was Raj Khosla, an aspiring playback singer, eager to get a foot in the door any which way. In a plot twist he would have approved of, he became instead a filmmaker who made a habit of hits, routinely setting the box office on fire. He made taut thrillers (C.I.D.), family dramas (Do Raaste), timeless romances (Do Badan) and action spectacles (Dostana). Few filmmakers have demonstrated such versatility and command over their craft. He was behind some of Hindi cinema's most enduring soundtracks, from 'Lag ja gale' to 'Jhumka gira re' to 'Jaane kya baat hai'. Yet, Raj's legacy remains confined to the odd footnote. Through interviews with family, friends and coworkers - including Asha Bhosle, Waheeda Rehman, Mumtaz, Asha Parekh, Sharmila Tagore, Dharmendra, Manoj Kumar, Prem Chopra, Bindu, Mahesh Bhatt and Aamir Khan - this biography addresses this glaring gap in the history of Bollywood. Examining Raj Khosla's work, it reveals a director and a man who was as talented and sensitive as he was flawed. The result is a tender treatment that lays bare a caring employer, a Napoleon fanboy, a maudlin soul who wore his heart on his sleeve, a passionate lover of music, and a man who transformed Hindi cinema.
Lone Pine
by Siddhartha MenonThe last sky of yesterdaythe first of todaytrees jagging into what light there is.No telling which is whichwithout captions. No labelssuffice for skies in transit.Call the night that fell between thema day.Rooted in landscapes and listening, Siddhartha Menon's Lone Pine is a vivid meditation on topography, time and the shifting nature of identity. The poems move with grace and intensity, carrying the reader from stillness to revelation, from the immediate to the far-flung.In 'Settings', the quiet residence of trees and ceaseless motion of the river offer more than scenery – they embody questions of belonging, conflict and nature's flawed and unyielding beauty. With 'Stirrings', the focus turns inward, tracing the currents of human connection, the ebb and flow of relationships, and the pulse of time moving through us. 'Bearings' asks what it means to see and to turn away, to bear witness to violence, personal and planetary, or to find meaning in silence. In these poems, Menon stands at the threshold: observer, participant, seeker of truth. With language both tender and unflinching, Lone Pine offers no easy answers, but an invitation to watch and listen. It nudges us to navigate the world - its rough contours, its shadows and its light - and to discover the shape of our own place within it.
Holmes and Moriarty
by Gareth RubinThis immersive, clever, and twisty Sherlock Holmes mystery adventure by the author of the acclaimed novel Turnglass pairs Holmes and Watson with two very unlikely allies—Moriarty and his trusted second, Moran—to solve a sinister plot that could threaten the very existence of the human race as we know it. Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson have been hired by theater actor George Reynolds to find out why the audience who comes to see him perform onstage every night are the same people—only wearing different disguises each time. Is something sinister going on and, if so, what? Meanwhile, Holmes&’s archenemy, Professor James Moriarty, is having problems of his own. Implicated in a rival gang leader&’s murder, Moriarty and his second, Moran, must go on the run from the police as they try to find out who&’s behind the frame-up. But their investigation puts them in the way of Holmes and Watson and it&’s not long before all four realize they&’re being targeted by the same person. With million of lives on the line, Holmes and Moriarty must form an uneasy alliance in order to unmask the true villain.For fans of Anthony Horowitz's The House of Silk and Moriarty, this is the first Sherlock Holmes book endorsed by the Conan Doyle Estate in over a decade.
Thirsty Ground
by Kimber St. LawrenceThey call it Tsimmaon. Thirsty Ground. It&’s been thirteen decades since Tsimmaon left the Arid Planet in search of water, carrying only 1 percent of the human race in a bid to keep the species alive. There&’s no one thirstier on that space ark than the young recruits eager to earn their spot on the elite Hydroseeker League and find the next water source. Seventeen-year-old Conway 12-1, the strongest moto-rover rider among his cadre, is just weeks from Hydroseeker initiation. Until one failed mission changes everything. Left for dead on the fabled Arid Planet with a life-altering injury, Conway is taken in by the citizens of Mayanah, a community no one knew had survived the Dry Death. But these people have a secret: Their water is deadly if you don&’t follow its rules. Mayanah&’s beautiful young sovereign Selah is the key to safe water and, Conway realizes, to the survival of his spacenation. If he can bring this revelation back home, he might still have a shot at being a Hydroseeker. He just needs to convince himself that betraying Selah is worth it, which gets harder the closer they become . . . and the more he learns about his own people.Kimber St. Lawrence conjures an exhilarating world in this moving postapocalyptic sci-fi novel. Featuring cinematic action and a love against all odds, Thirsty Ground will leave readers breathless.
From Root to Rain: Hidden Stories of Nature’s Science
by Sneha VerghesePlants that look like stones.The cell and its self-destructing zones. Clocks in our bodies that tick without pause. Seeds that catch on like claws. Dung beetles that are very choosy about. . .poop. Bacteria with team spirit, working in a group. Birds that behave like bats. ARE THESE REALLY FACTS?Find out about all these and more in this thrilling collection of 25 captivating stories that takes you up in the sky, under the sea, over hills, through jungles and across the world in a way you never thought possible. Introducing keen young readers to fascinating science in the environment around them, these tales simplify complex concepts into easy-to-follow ideas, while answering questions, explaining scientific phenomena and sparking curiosity to explore the secret world of Nature. Gear up for an exhilarating adventure of discovery!
From Sea to Sky: Hidden Stories of Nature’s Science
by Sneha VergheseTrees with 'ears'. Mosquitoes that are saviours. Octopuses that operate tools and hoard rubble. A bird that pretends its way out of trouble. Butterflies that leave ants in a daze. A creature that can survive nuking, toxins and even outer space. Birds obsessed with blue. IS ALL THIS REALLY TRUE? Find out all about these and more in this exciting collection of 25 fascinating stories that takes you up into the sky, under the oceans, over mountains, through forests and across the world in a way you never imagined. Introducing eager young readers to amazing science in the environment around them, these tales break down complex concepts into easy-to-follow ideas, while answering questions, explaining scientific phenomena and sparking curiosity to explore the secret world of Nature.Get set for a roller-coaster ride of thrilling discoveries!
The Knight and the Moth (The Stonewater Kingdom)
by Rachel GilligFrom NYT bestselling author Rachel Gillig comes the next big romantasy sensation, a gothic, mist-cloaked tale of a young prophetess forced on an impossible quest with the one knight whose future is beyond her sight. Perfect for fans of Jennifer L. Armentrout and Leigh Bardugo. Sybil Delling has spent nine years dreaming of having no dreams at all. Like the other foundling girls who traded a decade of service for a home in the great cathedral, Sybil is a Diviner. In her dreams she receives visions from six unearthly figures known as Omens. From them, she can predict terrible things before they occur, and lords and common folk alike travel across the kingdom of Traum&’s windswept moors to learn their futures by her dreams. Just as she and her sister Diviners near the end of their service, a mysterious knight arrives at the cathedral. Rude, heretical, and devilishly handsome, the knight Rodrick has no respect for Sybil's visions. But when Sybil's fellow Diviners begin to vanish one by one, she has no choice but to seek his help in finding them. For the world outside the cathedral&’s cloister is wrought with peril. Only the gods have the answers she is seeking, and as much as she'd rather avoid Rodrick's dark eyes and sharp tongue, only a heretic can defeat a god.
Casting Flowers: A Step-by-Step Guide to Creating Beautiful Botanical Art
by Rachel DeinArtist Rachel Dein introduces readers to botanical bas-relief, an innovative and exciting technique developed by the author, one that anyone—gardener, parent, weekend crafter, or artist—can try at home in every season. Casting Flowers introduces botanical bas-relief as a rewarding method that encourages even the most basic beginners to revel in the ability to record a plant's texture, pattern, and delicacy in fine detail, creating compositions as small as a single stem or as complex as a field of wildflowers. All it takes is clay, flower, plants, and plaster. Artists can leave a finished piece bare and elegant, or experiment with painting on its surface, bringing the plants to life in color. From small plaster tiles featuring a single flower portrait to large panels that suggest an entire garden full of blooms, botanical castings reflect every artist&’s desire to capture the ephemeral in nature. A meditative activity that encourages artists to explore their gardens and natural spaces for materials, botanical bas-relief teaches readers how to track the progress of the seasons, immortalizing the plants at the moment when they are most alive. With accessible instructions, stunning photography of the process from start to finish, and insights into the artist's own garden, readers will discover: ·Step-by-step guidance on the tools and equipment needed to set up a simple workspace ·What plants work best in botanical casts, and which to avoid ·How to arrange flowers and stems to make well-balanced artistic compositions ·Tips on creating unique pieces of artwork as mementos of a season or records of special occasions
The Ambition Trap: How to Stop Chasing and Start Living
by Amina AlTai"This is the book I wish I had when I was starting out and even when I was knee-deep thinking success was the be-all and end-all." MARIA SHRIVERThe anti-hustle guide to getting what you want - without burning outIf you ever feel like your ambition comes at the cost of feeling exhausted - that no matter how hard you work, or what you achieve, it's never quite enough - welcome to the ambition trap.Most of us think being ambitious means doing everything in our power to get ahead. But this approach doesn't work: it's bad for our health and makes it impossible to have the happiness and success we want.Drawing on her work with Fortune 500 leaders, Olympic gold medallists and start-up founders, leadership coach Amina AlTai guides you to achieve more of what really matters. In doing so, she shares a new way to break the cycle of overwork and create the greatest, most joy-filled work of your life.Her method is not about being complacent or giving up on your dreams. It's about anchoring your ambition to your purpose. She explains actionable strategies for aligning your work with your deepest 'why', setting a sustainable pace of growth, nourishing yourself in the long-term pursuit of your goals, and allowing contentment to lead the way.Follow Amina's advice and you'll live your life with greater meaning and fulfilment.
Mental Models: How understanding the mind can transform the way you work and learn
by Jim Heal Rebekah BerlinWhat if you could unlock the science of effective thinking and harness your mental processes for greater success at work and in life? Join two experts in the field of applied cognitive science as they reveal the hidden mechanisms behind our thoughts and actions.Beginning with the fundamental question of what makes some individuals excel in areas where others falter, this book explores how our mental frameworks - shaped by experience, knowledge, and the intricate workings of the mind - directly impact our effectiveness in everyday situations. From delivering a compelling presentation to leading a team through a challenging project, our cognitive models dictate our outcomes more than we realize.Drawing on the latest research in cognition and learning, Dr. Jim Heal and Dr. Rebekah Berlin provide a roadmap for refining the mental models that shape our daily decisions. Along the way, we'll explore essential concepts of the mind like effective learning processes, the structure of memory, and how to manage cognitive load. With each chapter, you'll gain practical strategies to enhance your thinking, improve your communication and better understand the complexities of human interaction.Whether you're an educator, a manager, or a leader, Mental Models will equip you with the tools to elevate your effectiveness and unlock new opportunities for growth. Step beyond conventional wisdom and discover how a deeper understanding of your mind can transform your life.
BTS - The Ultimate Fan Book: Experience the K-Pop Phenomenon! (The Ultimate Fan Book)
by Malcolm CroftExperience the K-Pop phenomenon of BTS in this best-selling fanbook - FULLY UPDATED!BTS are much more than just a group of seven talented individuals, they are a band acclaimed for their record-smashing, barrier-breaking, trend-setting dance-pop and hip-hop tunes and personal philosophies. Featuring brand new content and sensational new photos, BTS: The Ultimate Fan Book includes everything you need to know about Jin, Suga, J-Hope, RM, Jimin, V and Jungkook, as well as the BTS ARMY.A celebration of the K-Pop phenomenon, exploring in stunning technicolour detail the group's origins, members and super rise to success, this Ultimate Fan Book is beautifully accompanied by photographs showcasing the band's kaleidoscope of personalities and passions that have made them famous. BTS are more than just a boy band - they are a way of life.
Cultural Heritage, Community Engagement and Sustainable Tourism: Case Studies from Archaeological Sites in the Global South (Contemporary Geographies of Leisure, Tourism and Mobility)
by Steven Mithen Mubariz Ahmed Rabbani Maria RabbaniThis timely and innovative book critically explores how cultural heritage in the Global South can be used to mobilise community engagement and promote sustainable tourism at archaeological sites.Whilst the volume covers theoretical issues, it primarily offers insight into how both small and large projects within low- and middle-income countries start, plan and develop. It describes what factors lead some projects to succeed, some to fail and most to have elements of both. Core to this investigation, each specifically commissioned chapter considers the challenges of developing collaboration and joint ownership between multiple stakeholders, ranging from local communities to national governments. In addition, the book considers how the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic were managed, with lessons for future events of such magnitude. In summary, this significant volume recognises the value of developing collaborative partnerships between academics, NGOs and local communities, to achieve community engagement within archaeological research and support sustainable development by developing appropriate forms of tourism at archaeological sites. It provides essential reading for those interested in tourism, heritage studies, archaeology, geography, tourism studies and cultural studies.The Open Access version of this book, available at http://www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons [Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC BY-NC-ND)] 4.0 license.
Hope and Asylum: Everyday Life, Precarity and Social Change (Studies in Migration and Diaspora)
by Jesper Andreasson Marcus Herz Philip Lalander Torun ElsrudThis book applies perspectives of hope to understand the precariousness, suffering, and agency of people seeking asylum. With attention to the restrictions and austerity politics that have characterised public policy following the significant rise in asylum applications in 2015, it draws on longitudinal ethnographic fieldwork in the Swedish asylum context, together with data collected in other European countries, to explore how the circumstances of those navigating asylum processes evolve and connect to their notions of hope and the future. Departing from the ambiguities and fragility surrounding hope in the asylum context, Hope and Asylum analyses people’s lived experiences and their navigation of uncertainty and precariousness during the migration process. While hope can provide individuals with support and empowerment, it can also cause pain and be exploited by authorities to control and disempower. The book argues that critically scrutinising current asylum regimes and exposing the enduring emotional and embodied scars they inflict through the bureaucratic violence of welfare states is essential for mobilising efforts toward social justice and human rights. Demonstrating the importance of hope and related concepts to our understanding of daily life experiences, social interaction, and precariousness within the asylum context, it will appeal to scholars across the social sciences with interests in migration and diaspora, immigration policy, refugee studies, and asylum regimes.Book: The Open Access version of this book, available at http://www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons [Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND)] 4.0 license.
Managing Public Pension Plans: Decisions, Challenges, and Reforms (Routledge Public Budgeting and Finance)
by Gang Chen Trang Hoang Carol EbdonThis book provides an in-depth explanation of public pension plan management and the decision-making processes surrounding pension policies within state and local governments in the United States. It addresses the intricate balance between securing retirement benefits for public employees and ensuring the fiscal sustainability of pension systems and their sponsoring governments. The book begins with an introduction to the purpose and significance of public pension systems, establishing a foundation for understanding key pension decisions. Using a logic model framework, the authors assess how environmental factors, stakeholders, and legal constraints shape decisions in pension management. The book identifies five core goals for public pension management — benefit sufficiency, cost affordability, funding sustainability, asset management efficiency, and governance quality — emphasizing the relationships among these objectives.Detailed chapters cover investment policies, actuarial processes, and the design of benefits and contributions, explaining the financial and actuarial bases necessary for sound pension decisions. Pension reform efforts, including the transition from defined benefit plans to defined contribution, cash-balance, and hybrid plans, are examined in depth, highlighting the reasons for reforms and analyzing their impacts on the employees and employers. The book concludes with ten takeaways for effective pension plan management and addresses emerging challenges such as fiscal pressures, inflation, and changing demographics. With practical implications grounded in research, this book serves as an essential resource for pension board members, pension system administrators, government officials, legislators and their staff, professionals, researchers, and students involved in public pension plan management.
Emerging Feminist Peace from Below and Disaster Recovery: A Quilted Ethnography (Routledge Advances in Feminist Peace Research)
by Marjaana Jauhola Shyam GadhaviThis book offers a critical contribution to feminist peace and disaster research by challenging the successful disaster recovery narrative of the Kachchh 2001 earthquake in Gujarat, India.Engaging in a feminist intersectional analysis of complex cascades of violence, the book uses a theoretical and methodological approach to studying cascades of violence of populist post-disaster recovery, communal violence, and urban development - each with implications for intersectional social divisions, ecology, and thus, everyday peace. The book follows the mundane everyday and life-historical trajectories of the residents of the temporary shelter neighbourhood in Bhuj, drawing attention to an emerging feminist peace from below through silent resistance, care, and solidarity. It demonstrates that the impacts of disaster populism in the name of being "pro-poor" do not impact the marginalised segments of the society and disaster-affected communities, even within the same neighbourhood of the dispossessed, in the same ways. Combining underexplored newspaper and project documentation archives, the speeches of Narendra Modi delivered in Kachchh, and urban life historical ethnography, the book offers a rich analysis of gendered and intersectional experiences of how dispossession and mundane violence are embedded in the earthquake recovery – and how international humanitarian aid and urban disaster recovery are entangled with complex cascades of violence.This book will be of much interest to students of feminist theory, peace studies, post-disaster recovery, and South Asian politics.The Open Access version of this book, available at www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) 4.0 license.
Divided Media: Politics and Mediated Movements in India
by Suruchi MazumdarThis book addresses the complex relationship between India’s evolving, emerging media landscape, the political and economic interests of diverse media actors, and movements opposing contentious issues such as market-based economic reforms and religious nationalism.Through the complexities of mainstream news media and emerging digital culture in the eastern city of Kolkata, this book foregrounds regional and linguistic variations in the studies of media, movements, and politics in India. By focusing on popular movements against agricultural land acquisition in the state of West Bengal, in 2006 and 2007, and contemporary citizen-led activisms, this book captures the tension between mainstream media’s political and commercial logic, movements and digital activisms questioning dominant development and religious nationalist agenda, and the possibilities of political diversity and democratic participation. Situating the study in a multi-hybrid digital space that intimately integrates the old and new media, this book draws on critical, thematic analysis of newspaper coverage, digital qualitative studies of techno-commercial features such as hashtags and viral videos, and extensive interviews. This book proposes the theoretical concept of a hybrid partisan system, and argues that heterogeneity –– the complex, dynamic interaction of commercially-run media’s political alliances, the commercial logic, and hybrid professional norms –– remains consequential for movement visibilities, but contributes to deep ambiguities and commonalities in core issues such as industrialization in a developing economy.This book would be relevant to scholars of journalism, political communication, media systems, and mediated activisms in communication studies, sociology, political science, and South Asian studies.
The Routledge Handbook of Social Justice in Technical and Professional Communication (Routledge Handbooks in Communication Studies)
by Laura Gonzales Miriam F. Williams Natasha N. Jones Angela M. HaasThis handbook interrogates and illustrates contemporary approaches to technical and professional communication (TPC) by focusing on emerging issues in the field. Using a social justice-centered approach, the handbook provides a view of the current state of the discipline and highlights emerging directions and perspectives that will influence the trajectory of the field in the coming years. It is divided into five interrelated parts: Disciplinarity Pedagogy Practice Social Change Intersections: Cultures and Communities Acknowledging that TPC is always embedded and participating in specific power structures, The Routledge Handbook of Social Justice in Technical and Professional Communication offers readers a way forward, a future imagined and re-imagined, and presents scholarship that is progress-in-process for TPC. Providing frameworks and strategies for embracing a social justice-driven approach, this handbook will be of interest to scholars, teachers, administrators, community leaders, and workplace and industry practitioners in the field of TPC.
The Journey from Psychoanalysis to Group Analysis: Further Papers of Malcolm Pines (World Library of Mental Health)
by Malcolm PinesThe Journey from Psychoanalysis to Group Analysis presents a selection of papers from Malcolm Pines’s long career, documenting his profound contribution to group analysis and its applications.John Schlapobersky, editor, is a well-established author who organised the collection in: History; Development of Method; Metapsychology/Neurology; Final Papers. The compilation distils the life’s work of a pioneer in many fields - psychiatrist, psychoanalyst, group analyst, editor and author. Pines’s writing encompasses psychoanalytic and group analytic theory, developmental psychology, neuroscience, ethology, social science, language theory and mythology. He seeks their integration in the crucible of group analysis.The book will become an essential text in psychotherapy and therapeutic communities - of value to students and readers in psychoanalysis and psychotherapy, politics, social and neurological sciences, humanities and language theory.