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Modern Isonomy: Democratic Participation and Human Rights Protection as a System of Equal Rights
by Gerald StourzhUntil the eighteenth century, Western societies were hierarchical ones. Since then, they have transformed themselves into societies dominated by two features: participatory democracy and the protection of human rights. In Modern Isonomy, distinguished political theorist Gerald Stourzh unites these ideas as “isonomy.” The ideal, Stourzh argues, is a state, and indeed a world, in which individual rights, including the right to participate in politics equally, are clearly defined and possessed by all. Stourzh begins with ancient Greek thought contrasting isonomy—which is associated with the rule of the many—with “gradated societies,” oligarchies, and monarchies. He then discusses the American experiment with the development of representative democracy as well as the French Revolution, which proclaimed that all people are born and remain free and with equal rights. But progress on the creation and protection of rights for all has been uneven. Stourzh discusses specifically the equalization of slaves, peasants, women, Jews, and indigenous people. He demonstrates how deeply intertwined the protection of equal rights is with the development of democracy and gives particular attention to the development of constitutional adjudication, notably the constitutional complaint of individuals. He also discusses the international protection human rights. Timely and thought-provoking, Modern Isonomy is an erudite exploration of political and human rights.
Regulation vs. Litigation: Perspectives from Economics and Law (National Bureau of Economic Research Conference Report)
by Daniel P. KesslerThe efficacy of various political institutions is the subject of intense debate between proponents of broad legislative standards enforced through litigation and those who prefer regulation by administrative agencies. This book explores the trade-offs between litigation and regulation, the circumstances in which one approach may outperform the other, and the principles that affect the choice between addressing particular economic activities with one system or the other. Combining theoretical analysis with empirical investigation in a range of industries, including public health, financial markets, medical care, and workplace safety, Regulation versus Litigation sheds light on the costs and benefits of two important instruments of economic policy.
Literature Incorporated: The Cultural Unconscious of the Business Corporation, 1650–1850
by John O'BrienLong before Citizens United and modern debates over corporations as people, such organizations already stood between the public and private as both vehicles for commerce and imaginative constructs based on groups of individuals. In this book, John O’Brien explores how this relationship played out in economics and literature, two fields that gained prominence in the same era. Examining British and American essays, poems, novels, and stories from the seventeenth through the nineteenth centuries, O’Brien pursues the idea of incorporation as a trope discernible in a wide range of texts. Key authors include John Locke, Eliza Haywood, Harriet Martineau, and Edgar Allan Poe, and each chapter is oriented around a type of corporation reflected in their works, such as insurance companies or banks. In exploring issues such as whether sentimental interest is the same as economic interest, these works bear witness to capitalism’s effect on history and human labor, desire, and memory. This period’s imaginative writing, O’Brien argues, is where the unconscious of that process left its mark. By revealing the intricate ties between literary models and economic concepts, Literature Incorporated shows us how the business corporation has shaped our understanding of our social world and ourselves.
The Continent of Lies
by James MorrowA dystopian tale about mass-entertainment-turned-toxic from the award-winning author of Towing Jehovah—perfect for Philip K. Dick fans. Cutting-edge virtual reality has emerged as a popular, albeit controversial, source of amusement. Devouring a cephapple or &“dreambean&” allows the eater to become the primary player in a preprogrammed narrative: love story, historical spectacle, horror thriller—this medium encompasses all genres. Our protagonist, Quinjin, is a professional dreambean critic, rating the hallucinogenic adventures hidden within these remarkable fruits. But something has gone terribly wrong. An anonymous &“dreamweaver&” has created a cephapple that, by transporting its users to the core of an inescapable nightmare, drives them stark raving mad—just the sort of ammunition the anti-dreambean movement needs to get the technology banned. Quinjin is hired to find the source of the poison and eradicate it. But the reviewer&’s heroic quest becomes highly personal when the person he most cares about—his teenage daughter—eats the forbidden fruit and lapses into a coma. Dark and satiric, The Continent of Lies is a bravura demonstration of the bold originality that has won James Morrow two Nebula Awards, two World Fantasy Awards, and the Prix Utopia.
The Cases of Susan Dare
by Mignon G. EberhartA mystery author finds her knowledge of murder put to practical useInside the lovely head of Susan Dare, grisly murder lurks. A mystery author who makes her living providing tidy solutions to imaginary crimes, Dare is enjoying a much-needed vacation when the mood at her host&’s house turns sour. Ugly secrets lurk in the Frame family&’s past, and jealousy stirs beneath the surface of their tranquil country estate. Dare makes plans to leave before her hosts turn on each other, but she is too late. On the morning of her departure, a gunshot echoes through the fog. Only a beautiful author with a head full of murder mysteries can pinpoint the killer. In this handful of elegant, classic stories, Mignon Eberhart&’s amateur detective proves her worth time and time again. Decades before Murder, She Wrote, Eberhart realized that those who write mysteries can solve them too.
The Spy Who Read Latin: A Jeffery Rand Collection
by Edward D. HochIn the thick of the Cold War, a British spy will do anything to keep the peaceFather Howard steps off the plane in Albania, relieved to be out of China at last, but knowing that until he reaches Paris, he is not safe from the Communists. As he makes his way across the tarmac, two bullets strike him in the back of the head. The missionary is no more. The incident prompts an unprecedented meeting between C. Jeffery Rand, fixer for the British secret service, and his counterpart inside Soviet Russia. Seeking an ally to fight a common enemy, Russia enlists Rand&’s help in its clash against the Chinese. Rand will do all he can to avenge the murdered priest—but how much can he trust the Soviet agent?In these stories, Rand lives with the daily threat of betrayal. He knows two things are true: There is no honor among spies, and the safest agent is the one who trusts no one.
Silver: A Novel
by Hilma WolitzerSilver revisits Paulette and Howard, the couple introduced in In the Flesh, and a marriage, once miraculously mended, faces its end againPaulette has decided to leave her husband. As the twenty-fifth anniversary of their hasty marriage nears, the thought of another year sleeping alongside Howard feels suffocating. Though they were happy years ago, he has always resented her for trapping him with her pregnancy, forcing him—as he sees it—into married life and the end of his youthful fun. They have both been unfaithful, and the wounds of their past indiscretions have never fully healed. And so she&’s made the decision to leave him—but her plans are derailed when Howard suffers a sudden heart attack. Thrown into action by Howard&’s fragile health, Paulette must decide whose survival is more important. He may not live through her desertion, but can she give up her determination for a new beginning? In Silver, Hilma Wolitzer delivers a sensitive, thought-provoking, and startlingly frank novel of old ties and the yearning to start again.
Posterity: Inventing Tradition from Petrarch to Gramsci
by Rocco RubiniReading a range of Italian works, Rubini considers the active transmittal of traditions through generations of writers and thinkers. Rocco Rubini studies the motives and literary forms in the making of a “tradition,” not understood narrowly, as the conservative, stubborn preservation of received conventions, values, and institutions, but instead as the deliberate effort on the part of writers to transmit a reformulated past across generations. Leveraging Italian thinkers from Petrarch to Gramsci, with stops at prominent humanists in between—including Giambattista Vico, Carlo Goldoni, Francesco De Sanctis, and Benedetto Croce—Rubini gives us an innovative lens through which to view an Italian intellectual tradition that is at once premodern and modern, a legacy that does not depend on a date or a single masterpiece, but instead requires the reader to parse an expanse of writings to uncover deeper transhistorical continuities that span six hundred years. Whether reading work from the fourteenth century, or from the 1930s, Rubini elucidates the interplay of creation and the reception underlying the enactment of tradition, the practice of retrieving and conserving, and the revivification of shared themes and intentions that connect thinkers across time. Building on his award-winning book, The Other Renaissance, this will prove a valuable contribution for intellectual historians, literary scholars, and those invested in the continuing humanist legacy.
The Requirements of the Sufi Path: A Defense of the Mystical Tradition (Library of Arabic Literature #103)
by Ibn KhaldūnSufism through the eyes of a legal scholarIn The Requirements of the Sufi Path, the renowned North African historian and jurist Ibn Khaldūn applies his analytical powers to Sufism, which he deems a bona fide form of Islamic piety. Ibn Khaldūn is widely known for his groundbreaking work as a sociologist and historian, in particular for the Muqaddimah, the introduction to his massive universal history. In The Requirements of the Sufi Path, he writes from the perspective of an Islamic jurist and legal scholar. He characterizes Sufism and the stages along the Sufi path and takes up the question of the need for a guide along that path. In doing so, he relies on the works of influential Sufi scholars, including al-Qushayrī, al-Ghazālī, and Ibn al-Khaṭīb. Even as Ibn Khaldūn warns of the extremes to which some Sufis go—including practicing magic—his work is essentially a legal opinion, a fatwa, asserting the inherent validity of the Sufi path.The Requirements of the Sufi Path incorporates the wisdom of three of Sufism’s greatest voices as well as Ibn Khaldūn’s own insights, acquired through his intellectual encounters with Sufism and his broad legal expertise. All this he brings to bear on the debate over Sufi practices in a remarkable work of synthesis and analysis.An English-only edition.
The Finger: A Handbook
by Angus TrumbleFROM THE AUTHOR OF A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE SMILE, A COMPLETE INDEX OF THE DIGIT In this collision between art and science, history and pop culture, the acclaimed art historian Angus Trumble examines the finger from every possible angle. His inquiries into its representation in art take us from Buddhist statues in Kyoto to the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, from cave art to Picasso's Guernica, from Van Dyck's and Rubens's winning ways with gloves to the longstanding French taste for tapering digits. But Trumble also asks intriguing questions about the finger in general: How do fingers work, and why do most of us have five on each hand? Why do we bite our nails? This witty, odd, and fascinating book is filled with diverse anecdotes about the silent language of gesture, the game of love, the spinning of balls, superstitions relating to the severed fingers of thieves, and systems of computation that were used on wharves and in shops, markets, granaries, and warehouses throughout the ancient Roman world. Side by side with historical discussions of rings and gloves and nail polish are meditations on the finger's essential role in writing, speech, sports, crime, law, sex, worhsip, memory, scratching politely at eighteenth-century French doors (instead of crudely knocking), or merely satisfying an itch—and, of course, in the eponymous show of contempt.
Guardian Angel: Life and Death Adventures with Pararescue, the World's Most Powerful Commando Rescue Force
by William F. Sine&“A fabulous read, filled with heroism, history, and hi-jinks, as author William F. Sine recounts his life as an Air Force Pararescue Jumper&” (Readers&’ Favorite). US Air Force Pararescue is the most skillful and capable rescue force in the world, taking on some of the most dangerous rescue missions imaginable. PJs (short for para-jumpers), are members of an elite unit whose commando skills are so wide-reaching they often seem like something out of science fiction. They routinely tackle perilous operations that are beyond the capabilities of other rescue organizations, and sometimes dare the seemingly impossible. Since their inception in 1947, PJs have saved more than thirty thousand lives. They can pluck near-frozen climbers off jagged mountaintops and recover shot-down jet pilots stranded deep in hostile territory. In the dead of night, the PJs parachute into ominous, black, twenty-foot-tall waves to save distressed seamen, and they brave the cruelest and most desolate deserts to recover victims. US Air Force pararescuemen have played a prominent role in every armed conflict since the Korean War, rescuing thousands of soldiers from behind enemy lines. Guardian Angel provides a rare glimpse at a PJ&’s mind-blowing adventures. You follow Sgt. Sine&’s trek across exotic lands and share his encounters with mysterious cultures. Learn what it takes to lower from a helicopter onto the slippery decks of storm-tossed ships to rescue dying sailors. Feel what it&’s like to be caught in the middle of a bomb blast so powerful that it tears high-rise buildings in half, and flattens armored vehicles hundreds of yards away. Soar high above towering jungle trees and experience the danger of swinging on a slim cable below a helicopter, while performing a mid-air rescue of a pilot, dangling from his chute a hundred feet above a mountain slope. Go to war in Afghanistan and parachute onto a nocturnal battlefield, surrounded by land mines, to help a mortally wounded soldier. This is a deadly serious business: When things go wrong, they can go terribly wrong. Aircraft crash into mountainsides, killing all onboard, while some PJs live through horrendous helicopter crashes only to struggle with freezing temperatures, snapped limbs and torn flesh in a desperate fight for survival. This book presents true stories of uncommon courage told from the perspective of the actual men in the arena. PJs belong to an exclusive brotherhood and forge unbreakable bonds of loyalty, commitment, and sacrifice. They do these things for their country, to protect their brothers in arms, and to honor their motto: &“That Others May Live.&”
The Hour of the Innocents
by Robert Paston1968. Vietnam. Social turmoil. Drugs. Music. Four young musicians are determined to escape a ravaged industrial landscape by playing rock and roll...and they play it with a passion and brilliance that contrasts with their poverty. Music is the only hope they have. Set against a fleeting age when music seemed about to change the world, Robert Paston's The Hour of the Innocents tells the story of the band known as The Innocents and captures the true drama of the late 1960s—not the glitter of famous names, but the yearning of the heartland guitarists and drummers who believed … and the lovers, friends, and lives crushed along the way.
Barefoot in the Head: A European Fantasia
by Brian W. AldissA new savior emerges from a drugged-out dystopia in &“the most ambitious psychedelic sci-fi novel of the era&” from the Science Fiction Grand Master (Conceptual Fiction). The earth is recovering from the Acid Head War, in which hallucinogenic chemicals were the primary weapon. Many humans are now suffering from delusions and are unable to tell the real from the imaginary. When a man named Colin Charteris tries to make sense of the drugged-out world, he is taken as the new messiah. As he descends into paranoid visions, he begins to believe this himself.
Emily Post's Manners in a Digital World: Living Well Online
by Daniel Post SenningThe great-great-grandson of Emily Post carries on her well-mannered tradition with netiquette rules for social media, online dating, work, and more. For generations of Americans, the Emily Post Institute is the authoritative source on how to behave with confidence and tact. Manners in a Digital World is its up-to-the-minute, straight-talking guide that tackles how we should act when using a digital device or when online. As communication technologies change, our smartphones and tablets become even more essential to our daily lives, and the most polished and appropriate ways to use them often remain unclear. As anyone who has mistakenly forwarded an email knows, there are many pitfalls, too. This essential guide discusses topics such as: · Why you need a healthy digital diet that includes texts, emails, and calls · How to appropriately handle a breakup announcement on social media · What makes for the best—and the worst—online comment · How to maintain privacy and security for online profiles and accounts, essential for everything from banking to online dating · How parents and children can establish digital house rules · The appropriate, low-maintenance ways to separate personal and professional selves onlineEmily Post&’s Manners in a Digital World is for technophiles and technophobes alike—it&’s for anyone who wants to navigate today&’s communication environment with emotional intelligence.
Darling Jenny: Wyoming (The Americana Series #50)
by Janet DaileyThe New York Times–bestselling author continues her beloved Americana series with a brokenhearted young woman finding passion on the Great Plains. Discover romance across America with Janet Dailey&’s classic series featuring a love story set in each of the fifty states. Growing up on a farm in the green expanse of Minnesota, Jenny Glenn dreamed of life in the big city. But her hopes of making it in Minneapolis are dashed after she falls in love with her boss, a rakish lawyer who betrays her. Now she&’s left city life behind to stay with her sister, Sheila, in Jackson, Wyoming. Still nursing her own broken heart, Jenny worries that the dangerously handsome Logan Taylor has designs on Sheila that will only end in the same kind of misery. But the more Jenny tries to ward off the rugged suitor, the harder she falls for him herself! And when she realizes who his attentions are truly for, Jenny will find a second chance at love as breathtaking and wild as the Great Plains of Wyoming.
The Oxford Gambit (The Peter Marlow Mysteries #3)
by Joseph HoneBored and broke, Marlow quits retirement to search for a mole within MI6It&’s springtime in Scotland, and an aging spy is tending to his bees. Smoke rises from his bellows as he looks in on the colony for the first time since winter. When his wife goes to check on him, the bellows are still smoking but her husband has disappeared. He may be dead, he may be kidnapped—or he may have gone over to the other side. To locate the missing beekeeper, the secret service turns to Peter Marlow, a veteran agent who is finding retirement no substitute for life in the field. He soon discovers a byzantine Russian conspiracy, of which the vanished spy is either the architect or the victim, operating deep within British intelligence. In the shadows of this secretive government agency, there are more pressing dangers than the sting of a frightened honeybee. The Oxford Gambit is the third book in the Peter Marlow Mystery series, which also includes The Sixth Directorate and The Valley of the Fox.
Jury Double (The Vince Cardozo Mysteries #4)
by Edward StewartNYPD homicide cop Vince Cardozo must unmask a cunning killer in bestselling author Edward Stewart&’s powerhouse tale of crime and punishmentWhen it comes to the dark side of humanity, Vince Cardozo has already seen plenty. But his encounter with cult leader Corey Lyle will challenge even Cardozo. Lyle stands accused of a brutal terrorist bombing and the murder of a Manhattan power couple. His trial transfixes the city—but nothing about the case is what it seems. While the prosecution and defense duel, an explosive secret lurks in the jury box: One juror is not the person she claims to be. Now Cardozo must race against the clock to prevent a terrible miscarriage of justice . . . and save a woman from a cold-blooded killer.In Jury Double, master storyteller Edward Stewart unleashes his most engaging thriller yet—an irresistible tale of deception, passion, and justice.
For Mike's Sake: Washington (The Americana Series #47)
by Janet DaileyThe New York Times–bestselling author&’s Americana series transports you to the rainy streets of Seattle, where a divorced mom finds new love—with her ex. Discover romance across America with Janet Dailey&’s classic series featuring a love story set in each of the fifty states. Since her divorce was final, Maggie Rafferty has lived for one man only: her ten-year-old son, Mike. A spunky kid who&’s just old enough to protest his mother&’s kisses, he&’s processing the divorce by focusing on Little League. No amount of Seattle rain will keep Maggie from being at every practice—but it&’s not just Mike she&’s excited to see. Mike&’s coach, the handsome and kind Tom Darby is the sort of man Maggie could imagine a future with. But just as she feels ready to explore romance again, Mike&’s father returns—reviving old feelings Maggie thought were buried forever.
Extreme Magic: Eight Stories and a Novella
by Hortense CalisherThe recognition of failure and success is the theme of these eight short stories and the title novella from three-time National Book Award finalist Hortense CalisherExtreme Magic is Hortense Calisher&’s third collection of shorter works, after In the Absence of Angels (1951) and Tale for the Mirror (1962). Follow a drifting husband as he returns home and finds middle age in &“A Christmas Carillon.&” Listen with a daughter as she overhears a painful argument between her parents in &“The Gulf Between.&” Travel with a broken man as he heals after a tragic loss in &“Extreme Magic.&” Once again, Calisher captivates with her expressionistic prose and intricate characters.
The Sane Society (Psicologia Y Psicoan Ser.)
by Erich FrommA New York Times bestseller about overcoming the profound ills of modern society by a legendary social psychologist, the author of Escape from Freedom. One of Fromm&’s main interests was to analyze social systems and their impact on the mental health of the individual. In this study, he reaches further and asks: &“Can a society be sick?&” He finds that it can, arguing that Western culture is immersed in a &“pathology of normalcy&” that affects the mental health of individuals. In The Sane Society, Fromm examines the alienating effects of modern capitalism, and discusses historical and contemporary alternatives, particularly communitarian systems. Finally, he presents new ideas for a re-organization of economics, politics, and culture that would support the individual&’s mental health and our profound human needs for love and freedom. This ebook features an illustrated biography of Erich Fromm including rare images and never-before-seen documents from the author&’s estate.
Journal from Ellipsia: A Novel
by Hortense CalisherA humorous satire and loving tribute to science fiction that delves into the tenuous relationship between science and the humanities by asking, What does it mean to be human?A genderless alien from Ellipsia, a planet whose inhabitants have no concept of individuality, comes to Earth on an intergalactic exchange program to learn how to become human. To live here, the traveler must study and understand our inclinations for seeing people as distinct beings—the nature of gender, and at the heart of identity, the word I. At once funny and serious, Journal from Ellipsia offers a starkly objective view on our own humanity.
Machiavelli on Liberty & Conflict
by David Johnston, Nadia Urbinati, and Camila Vergara Nadia Urbinati Camila VergaraMore than five hundred years after Machiavelli wrote The Prince, his landmark treatise on the pragmatic application of power remains a pivot point for debates on political thought. While scholars continue to investigate interpretations of The Prince in different contexts throughout history, from the Renaissance to the Risorgimento and Italian unification, other fruitful lines of research explore how Machiavelli’s ideas about power and leadership can further our understanding of contemporary political circumstances. With Machiavelli on Liberty and Conflict, David Johnston, Nadia Urbinati, and Camila Vergara have brought together the most recent research on The Prince, with contributions from many of the leading scholars of Machiavelli, including Quentin Skinner, Harvey Mansfield, Erica Benner, John McCormick, and Giovanni Giorgini. Organized into four sections, the book focuses first on Machiavelli’s place in the history of political thought: Is he the last of the ancients or the creator of a new, distinctly modern conception of politics? And what might the answer to this question reveal about the impact of these disparate traditions on the founding of modern political philosophy? The second section contrasts current understandings of Machiavelli’s view of virtues in The Prince. The relationship between political leaders, popular power, and liberty is another perennial problem in studies of Machiavelli, and the third section develops several claims about that relationship. Finally, the fourth section explores the legacy of Machiavelli within the republican tradition of political thought and his relevance to enduring political issues.
The Wind Chill Factor
by Thomas GiffordA man is endangered by his family&’s long-ago Nazi ties in this &“riveting&” thriller by a New York Times–bestselling author (Rolling Stone). His marriage destroyed by drinking, John Cooper returns to Cambridge, Massachusetts, trying to recapture the joy he felt as an undergraduate in Harvard University&’s sacred halls. He is just beginning to piece his life together when he gets a telegram calling him home to Minnesota. The message comes from Buenos Aires, and with Cooper&’s family history, that can mean only one thing: The Nazis are staging a comeback. To John and his brother, their grandfather was a kind, distinguished old man. But to the American people, he was the worst kind of traitor. An industrialist who spent the 1930s in business with Fascists, he became infamous as &“America&’s Number One Nazi.&” When Hitler&’s old lieutenants decide to get together a Fourth Reich, the Coopers are the first family they call. John hasn&’t even made it to Minnesota when the first attempt on his life comes—a message that if he isn&’t ready to honor his family legacy, he will die for it.
Paradise Man
by Jerome CharynA stylish killer makes the mistake of befriending a godThough he doesn&’t know mink from sable, Sidney Holden is the most important employee at Aladdin Furs. He is a bumper, a well-dressed killer who collects the debts that cannot be paid, and Aladdin would be nothing without him. After all, fur is murder. As Cuban refugees flood the United States, the New York criminal class is rocked by the appearance of a Santería sect that hails a young girl as the newest incarnation of Changó, their bloodthirsty thunder god. But after a routine hit, Holden finds the girl cowering under the kitchen table—a divine witness to a double murder. Unable to kill her, he takes her with him, sparking an all-out turf war so vicious that Holden will be happy to have any god on his side.
Through the Hidden Door
by Rosemary WellsAvoiding a group of bullies, Barney Pennimen and his friend Snowy discover a cave with an amazing secretBarney Penniman is afraid of his eighth grade friends at boarding school. Since they&’re the nastiest guys at school, Barney is safe from being teased, but the gang&’s bullying finally pushes Barney too far, and he finds himself alone. Then Snowy Cobb, an elf-like, ostracized younger boy, makes a sudden appearance in Barney&’s life. And when Snowy finds a mysterious bone on campus, the boys try to determine its origins. Their investigation leads them to a deep, dark, sandy-bottomed cave, and what they discover beneath the sand will test their beliefs—and everything they hold dear. This adventure story was the runner-up for an Edgar Award. This ebook features an illustrated biography of Rosemary Wells including rare images from the author&’s collection.