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In a Not So Perfect World: A Novel
by Neely Tubati-Alexander“Tubati Alexander is a writer to watch!” —Emily GiffinOne of Good Morning America's 15 books to read heading into spring and a SheReads and Zibby Mag Most Anticipated Book of the YearThe author of Love Buzz follows her acclaimed first novel with a delightful Caribbean-set romp about an ambitious designer of apocalyptic video games with a strategy for (almost) everything who discovers what happens when her best-laid plans go off course . . .Sloane Cooper is up for her dream job as a designer for a top video game company. During the interview, though, she somehow promises the all-male panel that she’ll remain single and fully dedicated to the work. It’s actually fine—after her last boyfriend cheated on her, she vowed to focus on her career anyway.Enter Charlie, aka Hot Neighbor Guy, a near-stranger who shocks her with the offer of an all-inclusive trip to a Turks and Caicos resort. The catch? Charlie originally planned the trip with his ex, and asks Sloane to pose as his new girlfriend to make his old flame come running back. Against her better judgment, Sloane says yes; she can use the time away to develop a game design that will dazzle the Catapult team and get her a job offer.Despite sparks flying in paradise, the trip can’t lead to more. As their connection deepens, Sloane is reminded that she can’t fall for Charlie and get knocked off her professional path. Besides, he’s trying to win back his true love.Can Sloane figure out a way to move past heartbreak, land the job of her dreams, and avoid catching feelings? The zombie apocalypse would be easier to solve—at least she’s prepared for that.
On Her Own: A Novel
by Lihi LapidA moving, page-turning story of two families in crisis and the unexpected places from which love can grow.?"The true mystery Lapid seeks to unveil is one of the most burning questions of our time: What does it mean to be a woman in today’s world? On Her Own is a book you will want all the women in your life to read." —Ayelet Gundar-Goshen, award-winning author of Waking LionsNina, a teenage runaway, wakes up in the unfamiliar stairwell of a Tel Aviv apartment in a torn minidress. As her memory starts to resurface—the abusive older man she’s running away from, the crime she witnessed—she knows one thing: she needs to find a place to hide.When one of the building’s tenants, Carmela, a lonely old widow suffering from memory loss, mistakes Nina for her granddaughter she hasn’t seen in years, Nina jumps at the opportunity for a safe haven. Soon, the two strangers become each other’s lifeline as Nina settles into the apartment with sweet, reassuring Carmela.Meanwhile, Irina, a Russian immigrant, is living a parent’s worst nightmare: her only daughter has gone missing. She knows Nina got involved with the wrong men and will do anything to find her. Across the ocean, Itamar feels that something is happening to his mom, Carmela. The guilt over having left Israel for his pursuit of the American dream stirs childhood memories in him and a longing for the family that once was complete.Set between the eve of Passover and Israel’s Independence Day, On Her Own is a tense and immersive psychological read about two families looking for redemption and the transformative bonds between strangers.Translated from the Hebrew by Sondra Silverston.
A Poetry Handbook: A Prose Guide to Understanding and Writing Poetry
by Mary Oliver“Mary Oliver would probably never admit to anything so grandiose as an effort to connect the conscious mind and the heart (that’s what she says poetry can do), but that is exactly what she accomplishes in this stunning little handbook.”—Los Angeles Times From the beloved and acclaimed poet, an ultimate guide to writing and understanding poetry. With passion and wit, Mary Oliver skillfully imparts expertise from her long, celebrated career as a disguised poet. She walks readers through exactly how a poem is built, from meter and rhyme, to form and diction, to sound and sense, drawing on poems by Robert Frost, Elizabeth Bishop, and others. This handbook is an invaluable glimpse into Oliver’s prolific mind—a must-have for all poetry-lovers.
The World Divided by Piper
by Caela CarterFrom the critically acclaimed author of the ALA Notable and Charlotte Huck Honor Book Forever, or a Long, Long Time comes the story of Piper Franklin, the girl who is way too busy to grow up . . . until she has to. Perfect for fans of Alyson Gerber and Rebecca Stead. Piper Franklin has big plans. First, she’ll win the Academic Decathlon with her best friend, Tallulah. Then, she’ll finish her life’s work: Metaphorical Math. And in the meantime, she and Tallulah will maintain their secret, El Jardin Muerto. Nothing can stop Piper . . . except for puberty.Piper was diagnosed with early-onset puberty, and she’s been taking blockers to keep it at bay since she was six years old. But now her doctor thinks it’s time for her treatment to end, and Piper’s eyes are opened to a completely new world.Piper sees the issues that her older sister and her mom struggle with and gets a very clear picture of her own future—one that she’s not sure she likes. Will a changing body change all of Piper’s plans? And why does she have to grow up in the first place? Or does she?
Sing Your Name Out Loud / iCanta tu nombre! (Spanish edition): 15 pasos para vivir tus sueños
by Jason DeruloEn su cautivante e inspirador primer libro, el legendario compositor y cantante Jason Derulo comparte sus 15 reglas para alcanzar el éxito en todo y nos invita —en particular a los artistas y creadores— a iniciar el camino hacia la grandeza. En 2009, un chico de 18 años, hijo de inmigrantes haitianos irrumpió en las listas del Billboard con la canción “Whatcha Say”, que de inmediato ocupó el primer lugar, con su sorprendente gancho, una frase que se convertiría en una de las más pegajosas de la historia de la música pop: su propio nombre, cantado a toda voz. Desafiando todas las probabilidades, Jason Derulo se plantó una y otra vez, éxito tras éxito, como uno de los cantantes, bailarines e intérpretes más trabajadores del mundo y como una fuerza arriesgada de la naturaleza. Esta es la extraordinaria historia del ascenso de Derulo, contada mediante los valiosos principios que lo guiaron e impulsaron hacia la excelencia artística. El compromiso de Derulo con su sueño y su dedicación para realizarlo es materia de leyenda: levantarse a las 4 de la mañana para alcanzar autobuses por Miami y poder asistir a las escuelas de artes escénicas con una beca, apuntarse en los concursos locales de canto en el centro comercial los fines de semana y escribir cientos de canciones sin siquiera haber visto el interior de un estudio de grabación. Pero fue durante su reinvención en 2020, después de convertirse en uno de los creadores más seguidos en Titok, cuando descubrió que sus reglas personales para el autodominio y el éxito aplican en cualquier lugar, para cualquier persona y ante cualquier circunstancia. In his page-turning and inspiring first book, legendary songwriter and recording artist Jason Derulo shares his 15 rules for finding success in any pursuit, and invites everyone—especially artists and creators—to start on their path to greatness.In 2009, an 18-year-old son of Haitian immigrants burst onto Billboard music charts with the instant #1 song, “Whatcha Say,” which sampled a surprising hook and opened with what would prove to be one of the catchiest lines in pop music history – the artist’s own name, sung out loud. Defying every possible odd, Jason Derulo cemented himself again and again, hit after hit, as one of the hardest working singers, dancers, and performers in the world and a risk-taking force of nature.This is the remarkable story of Derulo's come up, told through the valuable principles that guided and propelled him toward artistic excellence. Waking at 4am to catch buses across Miami so he could attend performing arts schools on scholarship, entering himself into local singing competitions at the mall on the weekends, and penning hundreds of songs before he ever saw the inside of a recording studio, Derulo’s commitment to his dream – and dedication to seeing it come true – is the stuff of legend. But it was during his reinvention in 2020, after becoming one of the most followed creators on TikTok, that he realized his personal rules for self-mastery and success are applicable anywhere, for anyone, under any circumstance. “Now,” he writes, “It’s your turn.”Sing Your Name Out Loud: 15 Rules for Living Your Dream takes readers into the mind of one of the most consistent, dominating, and versatile artists alive. Derulo reflects, in his own words, on the defining moments of his career thus far, most notably the wins and losses that strengthened his signature style of creative pursuit and offers his fifteen rules for turning goals into reality – where numbers mean everything, obstacles are opportunities, closed doors are meant to be opened, failure is inevitable, and good lighting is non-negotiable.
Rainbow Black: A Novel
by Maggie Thrash“I've loved Maggie Thrash's work for years, and Rainbow Black is going to set so many new hearts aflame—murder, intrigue, queer love, dark humor AND satanic panic? Welcome to the Maggie Thrash Fan Club, world!”—Emma Straub, New York Times bestselling author of This Time TomorrowFor readers of Donna Tartt and Ottessa Moshfegh comes a brilliant, deliriously entertaining novel from the acclaimed author of Honor Girl. Rainbow Black is part murder mystery, part gay international fugitive love story—set against the ’90s Satanic Panic and spanning 20 years in the life of a young woman pulled into its undertow.Lacey Bond is a 13-year-old girl in New Hampshire growing up in the tranquility of her hippie parents’ rural daycare center. Then the Satanic Panic hits. It’s the summer of 1990 when Lacey ’s parents are handcuffed, flung into the county jail, and faced with a torrent of jaw-dropping accusations as part of a mass hysteria sweeping the nation. When a horrific murder brings Lacey to the breaking point, she makes a ruthless choice that will haunt her for decades. As an adult, Lacey mimes a normal life as the law clerk of an illustrious judge. She has a beautiful girlfriend, a measure of security, and the world has mostly forgotten about her. But after a tiny misstep spirals into an uncontrolled legal disaster, the hysteria threatens to begin all over again. Rainbow Black is an addictive, searing, high-octane triumph, an imaginative tour de force about one woman’s tireless desire to be free.
Nearly All the Men in Lagos Are Mad: Stories
by Damilare KukuThe anti-rom-com debut collection that took Nigeria by storm, featuring twelve “bewitching and revelatory” (The New York Times) and “ridiculously entertaining” (Booklist starred review) stories about the perils and pitfalls of dating men in Lagos, from a rising star of Nollywood“Sharply observational, funny and profound, this book is dynamic sociological satire that is as universal as it is specific.” —Bolu Babalola, author of Reese's Book Club pick and national bestseller Honey and Spice*INCLUDES A NEVER-BEFORE-SEEN SNEAK PEEK OF DAMILARE KUKU'S FORTHCOMING NOVEL*One night, you will calmly put a knife to your husband's private part and promise to cut it off. It will scare him so much that the next day, he will call his family members for a meeting in the house. He will not call your family members, but you will not care. You won’t need them. In this remarkable short story collection, Damilare Kuku takes us deep into the heart of modern Lagos, Nigeria’s largest city, and the lives of a collection of audacious women who cope with romantic difficulties by brilliantly turning the tables on the men who wrong them.One hardworking married woman calmly threatens sharp-edged revenge on her lazy, hypocritical husband. Another skillfully protects her own business interests by shielding her pastor-husband from allegations of cheating that may or may not be true. A group of wealthy wives deceived by their husbands join forces in a WhatsApp support group called the Virtuous Wives Guild. And a discerning dater fed up with Nigerian men makes a vow to date only oyibos before discovering that white men can act just as badly.A bestseller in Damilare Kuku’s native Nigeria, Nearly All the Men in Lagos Are Mad is a raunchy, satisfying, and outrageous read steeped in the chaos and allure of sub-Saharan Africa’s largest city. It’s also a love letter to Nigerian women: the women in these stories may be confronted at every turn with liars, scammers, and cheaters in their quests for love, but they always figure out how to come out victorious.
The Best Way to Bury Your Husband: A Novel
by Alexia CasaleA dark comedy about four women coming together to heal the damage their husbands have done––and hide their bodies once they&’ve killed themWhen Sally kills her husband with a cast-iron skillet, she&’s more fearful of losing her kids than of disposing of a fresh corpse. That just wouldn&’t be fair—not after twenty years of marriage to a truly terrible man. But Sally isn&’t the only woman in town reaching the brink. Soon, Sally finds herself leading an extremely unusual self-help group, and among them there are four bodies to hide. Can they all figure out the perfect way to bury their husbands . . . and get away with it?First to join is former nurse, Ruth, who met her husband as a single mom. Now her son is grown and her husband&’s violence builds by the day until an attack on the stairs leads to a fatal accident—for him. A few doors down, Samira&’s last straw comes when she discovers her husband is planning a campaign of violence against her eldest daughter, who has just come out. Janey, Sally&’s best friend, has just had her first child at forty-two. Sleep-deprived Janey needs a hero to slay the monster in the fairy tales she whispers to her daughter each night . . . and as her husband&’s violence escalates, it might just be her.Together, fueled by righteous anger but tempered by a moral core, the four women must help each other work out a plan to get rid of their husbands for good. Along the way, Sally, Ruth, Samira and Janey rediscover old joys and embark on new passions in work, education, and life. Friendship and laughter really are the best medicine—and so is getting away with murder.
The Black Box: Writing the Race
by Henry Louis Gates&“Henry Louis Gates is a national treasure. Here, he returns with an intellectual and at times deeply personal meditation on the hard-fought evolution and the very meaning of African American identity, calling upon our country to transcend its manufactured divisions.&” — Isabel Wilkerson, author of The Warmth of Other Suns and CasteA magnificent, foundational reckoning with how Black Americans have used the written word to define and redefine themselves, in resistance to the lies of racism and often in heated disagreement with each other, over the course of the country&’s history.Distilled over many years from Henry Louis Gates, Jr.&’s legendary Harvard introductory course in African American Studies, The Black Box: Writing the Race, is the story of Black self-definition in America through the prism of the writers who have led the way. From Phillis Wheatley and Frederick Douglass, W.E.B. Du Bois and Booker T. Washington, to Zora Neale Hurston and Richard Wright, James Baldwin and Toni Morrison—these writers used words to create a livable world—a "home" —for Black people destined to live out their lives in a bitterly racist society.It is a book grounded in the beautiful irony that a community formed legally and conceptually by its oppressors to justify brutal sub-human bondage, transformed itself through the word into a community whose foundational definition was based on overcoming one of history&’s most pernicious lies. This collective act of resistance and transcendence is at the heart of its self-definition as a "community." Out of that contested ground has flowered a resilient, creative, powerful, diverse culture formed by people who have often disagreed markedly about what it means to be "Black," and about how best to shape a usable past out of the materials at hand to call into being a more just and equitable future. This is the epic story of how, through essays and speeches, novels, plays, and poems, a long line of creative thinkers has unveiled the contours of—and resisted confinement in—the "black box" inside which this "nation within a nation" has been assigned, willy nilly, from the nation&’s founding through to today. This is a book that records the compelling saga of the creation of a people.
The War of the Givens: The Silvers Book Three (The Silvers Series #3)
by Daniel PriceX-Men meets Blake Crouch in the explosive conclusion to Daniel Price&’s genre-bending Silvers trilogy about six extraordinary people whose fates become intertwined on an Earth far different from our own...one that is headed for utter destruction.It's been two years since the world collapsed in a sheet of light, obliterating everything on Earth...but not quite everyone. Saved from the apocalypse by three mysterious beings, sisters Hannah and Amanda Given were marked with silver bracelets, along with four other survivors from their native world, and transported to an entirely different Earth, a place where the fabric of time is manipulated by common household appliances. Afflicted with time-bending powers they never wanted, and on the run from unexpected new enemies, &“the Silvers&” embarked on a dangerous journey for survival across an alien America—a hunt for answers that bound the group like family while revealing the gravely sinister intentions of their so-called saviors. But their new Earth is about to suffer the same fate as the old one and the Silvers have only ten weeks to prevent it. Their one hope is to find the remaining survivors of their home world—a quest that will take them from Mexico to England to a radically changed Japan—to gain more allies for the final confrontation with the godlike beings who first brought them to this Earth. Failure will mean death for billions of people. But victory may come at a cost the Silvers can&’t afford.
The Bodybuilder's Meal Prep Cookbook: 64 Make-Ahead Recipes and 8 Macro-Friendly Meal Plans
by Erin SternWith 64 delicious recipes and 8 weekly meal prep plans, this is the cookbook every bodybuilder needs!Every bodybuilder knows it can be difficult to plan weekly meals, cook every night, and also stick to your macros. Meal prep can make the task a whole lot easier, but it can also seem overwhelming if you don't know where to start. Now, two-time Ms. Figure Olympia and fitness trainer and coach Erin Stern makes it's simple, with 64 absolutely delicious recipe and 8 weekly prep plans, you'll never get bored with eating the same meals every week, and you'll also get to enjoy amazing recipes that actually taste good and help you reach your training goals. Each weekly prep plan includes eight recipes along with detailed prep plans that help you prepare meals for the upcoming week that will keep you satisfied and on track.Here's what's inside:8 weekly step-by-step prep plans with detailed shopping lists. Each plan targets a unique training goal, whether you're looking to build muscle, lean down, or just maintain. 64 delicious recipes for breakfasts, sides, salads, entrees, snacks, and even desserts. Helpful tips for sticking to your plans, shopping smart, and modifying the plans to meet your personal goals.
Animals A Visual Encyclopedia
by DKSee the animal kingdom up close and personal in this ultimate reference book for children.Filled with more than 700 photographs, habitat maps, and illustrations, Animals A Children's Encyclopedia helps children and parents learn about the rich variety of animal life on our planet.Meet the deadliest, largest, friendliest, fastest and downright strangest animals known to man, and discover what they look like, where they live, what they do, what they eat and what life is like for their young. From the latest research to recent numbers on populations, this book gives you all the information you need about animals on land, in water, and in the air.This animal encyclopedia for children offers:- An introduction to the animal kingdom through photographs of hundreds of animals accompanied by informative text.- A new and updated edition of a popular title in the Children&’s Encyclopedia series, which has sold millions of copies worldwide.- A global scope of information, covering all key habitats and continents from around the world.At a time in history when climate change and habitat loss are profoundly affecting animals, this book helps educate children about all the creatures in the world that are at risk of vanishing forever.From the same series as the New Children's Encyclopedia and DK children's encyclopedias of Science, Art, and Geography (among others), this updated animal encyclopedia is full of valuable reference information for children, parents, and educators. Learn all about the world one subject at a time!If you like Animals A Children&’s Encyclopedia then why not complete the collection? Part of popular New Children&’s Encyclopedia series, avid readers can enjoy Legends and Sacred Stories, Art, Myths, and Ocean A Children&’s Encyclopedia.
Grow Shade Garden: Essential Know-how and Expert Advice for Gardening Success (DK Grow)
by Zia AllawayDiscover how to assess, grow, and maintain a shady garden.Ideal for first-time gardeners, Grow Shade Garden contains everything you need to create a flourishing garden full of color, texture, and scent in a shady space. Learn how to grow and care for various shade-loving plants with tips on selecting the right site and varieties. Once you understand different types of shade and have assessed your space, select the best plants for your garden with the help of handy directories that profile different shrubs, perennials, bulbs, and trees and provide key growing information. Projects on tree planting, container displays, and creating a fernery also get you started on planting techniques and ideas to make the most of a shaded space.Whether you are an avid gardener or want to create an easy-to-maintain garden, this book can guide you and answer important questions like how plants react to shade. And How do I check my soil and climate? With this book, you can find: -Fuss-free guide to designing, creating, and maintaining a garden, ideal for first-time gardeners-Detailed profiles on shade-loving plants and practical projects accompanying advice on how to assess, design, and maintain your shady space-Helpful tips on how to care for your garden to maintain it for longer- including Essential tools, Pruning tips, and clearing mossy paths and patios-Images and descriptions of issues that your garden may face and ways you can solve this Packed with practical, jargon-free know-how, this easy-to-use guide has everything you need to know to help your garden Grow. This useful guide contains images, facts, and information to help you grow a garden that suits your lifestyle. Grow Lawns is part of a series with GROW Houseplants, GROW Compost, GROW Herbs, and GROW Trees.
Little Crosses: A Novel
by Sabrina ReevesA daughter examines her complicated relationship with a charismatic, narcissistic mother who now lives with alcohol-related dementia. When Cassie Wolfe brings her mother, Nina, to the Albuquerque Presbyterian Hospital to be detoxed, the doctors ask her to write a profile of the patient. But how can she fit Nina into a Word document? The last two years have left Cassie stunned, unable to reconcile the shell of a woman lying in the hospital bed with the force of nature that was her mother. Cassie's memories of Nina span decades and landscapes, from a farmhouse in Massachusetts to the streets of New York and the mountains of New Mexico. Nina was a charismatic iconoclast—an architect and builder who could wield a circular saw as easily as discuss politics art. But as Cassie comes to realize, Nina's brilliant constructions were only possible when she walled off whole sides of herself. Hiding is not unique to Nina—Cassie knows AA is full of just such intelligent, hilarious, powerful women. And when her critical gaze turns to her own life and how she’s raising her two daughters, she sees her mother's influence everywhere. In the end, Nina's devastating descent threatens to pull the family under, and Cassie's constant action is propelled by grief until she realizes that all that remains is to let it go.
Entrepreneurship: A Contemporary & Global Approach
by David Deakins Jonathan M. ScottThis popular and well received standard text on Entrepreneurship has been completely revised and updated for the second edition. The text retains the favourably reviewed features of the first edition which include the importance of context, diversity and differing international entrepreneurial practice, yet is underpinned by coverage and application of relevant theory. In particular, the text now contains important and entirely new sections on entrepreneurship in the face of multiple global crises, evidence on entrepreneurial resilience, new case study material on examples of international entrepreneurship from developing countries including a new section on Entrepreneurship in Sub-Saharan Africa, new case material on ‘clean technology’ entrepreneurship and on green finance, and a new chapter on Indigenous Entrepreneurship. All chapters have been completely updated to reflect increased diversity and the place of Entrepreneurship in the context of multiple global crises. The text retains the pedagogic features of the first edition which are consistent throughout the text and include learning outcomes, boxed case studies with discussion questions, policy and practical issues, summaries of each chapter, recommended reading and suggested assignments. The text is complemented by online support material for tutors.
Entrepreneurship: A Contemporary & Global Approach
by David Deakins Jonathan M. ScottThis popular and well received standard text on Entrepreneurship has been completely revised and updated for the second edition. The text retains the favourably reviewed features of the first edition which include the importance of context, diversity and differing international entrepreneurial practice, yet is underpinned by coverage and application of relevant theory. In particular, the text now contains important and entirely new sections on entrepreneurship in the face of multiple global crises, evidence on entrepreneurial resilience, new case study material on examples of international entrepreneurship from developing countries including a new section on Entrepreneurship in Sub-Saharan Africa, new case material on ‘clean technology’ entrepreneurship and on green finance, and a new chapter on Indigenous Entrepreneurship. All chapters have been completely updated to reflect increased diversity and the place of Entrepreneurship in the context of multiple global crises. The text retains the pedagogic features of the first edition which are consistent throughout the text and include learning outcomes, boxed case studies with discussion questions, policy and practical issues, summaries of each chapter, recommended reading and suggested assignments. The text is complemented by online support material for tutors.
Criminological Theory: Context and Consequences
by J. Robert Lilly Francis T. Cullen Richard A. BallOffering a rich introduction to how scholars analyze crime, Criminological Theory: Context and Consequences moves readers beyond a commonsense knowledge of crime to a deeper understanding of the importance of theory in shaping crime control policies. The Eighth Edition of this clear, accessible, and thoroughly revised text covers traditional and contemporary theory within a larger sociological and historical context. The latest edition includes new sources that assess the empirical status of the major theories, a new chapter on Black Criminology, and expanded coverage of important perspectives, such as the explanation of white-collar crime and the relationship of immigration and crime. Included with this title: LMS Cartridge: Import this title′s instructor resources into your school′s learning management system (LMS) and save time. Don′t use an LMS? You can still access all of the same online resources for this title via the password-protected Instructor Resource Site. Learn more.
Criminological Theory: Context and Consequences
by J. Robert Lilly Francis T. Cullen Richard A. BallOffering a rich introduction to how scholars analyze crime, Criminological Theory: Context and Consequences moves readers beyond a commonsense knowledge of crime to a deeper understanding of the importance of theory in shaping crime control policies. The Eighth Edition of this clear, accessible, and thoroughly revised text covers traditional and contemporary theory within a larger sociological and historical context. The latest edition includes new sources that assess the empirical status of the major theories, a new chapter on Black Criminology, and expanded coverage of important perspectives, such as the explanation of white-collar crime and the relationship of immigration and crime. Included with this title: LMS Cartridge: Import this title′s instructor resources into your school′s learning management system (LMS) and save time. Don′t use an LMS? You can still access all of the same online resources for this title via the password-protected Instructor Resource Site. Learn more.
Death by Laughter: Female Hysteria and Early Cinema (Film and Culture Series)
by Maggie HennefeldCan you really die from laughing too hard? Between 1870 and 1920, hundreds of women suffered such a fate—or so a slew of sensationalist obituaries would have us believe. How could laughter be fatal, and what do these reports of women’s risible deaths tell us about the politics of female joy?Maggie Hennefeld reveals the forgotten histories of “hysterical laughter,” exploring how women’s amusement has been theorized and demonized, suppressed and exploited. In nineteenth-century medicine and culture, hysteria was an ailment that afflicted unruly women on the cusp of emotional or nervous breakdown. Cinema, Hennefeld argues, made it possible for women to laugh outrageously as never before, with irreversible social and political consequences. As female enjoyment became a surefire promise of profitability, alarmist tales of women laughing themselves to death epitomized the tension between subversive pleasure and its violent repression.Hennefeld traces the social politics of women’s laughter from the heyday of nineteenth-century sentimentalism to the collective euphoria of early film spectatorship, traversing contagious dancing outbreaks, hysteria photography, madwomen’s cackling, cinematic close-ups, and screenings of slapstick movies in mental asylums. Placing little-known silent films and an archive of remarkable, often unusual texts in conversation with affect theory, comedy studies, and feminist film theory, this book makes a timely case for the power of hysterical laughter to change the world.
The Fox Spirit, the Stone Maiden, and Other Transgender Histories from Late Imperial China
by Matthew H. SommerIn imperial China, people moved away from the gender they were assigned at birth in different ways and for many reasons. Eunuchs, boy actresses, and clergy left behind normative gender roles defined by family and procreation. “Stone maidens”—women deemed physically incapable of vaginal intercourse—might depart from families or marriages to become Buddhist or Daoist nuns. Anatomical males who presented as women sometimes took a conventionally female occupation such as midwife, faith healer, or even medium to a fox spirit. Yet they were often punished harshly for the crime of “masquerading in women’s attire,” suspected of sexual predation, even when they had lived peacefully in their communities for many years.Exploring these histories and many more, this book is a groundbreaking study of transgender lives and practices in late imperial China. Through close readings of court cases, as well as Ming and Qing fiction and nineteenth-century newspaper accounts, Matthew H. Sommer examines the social, legal, and cultural histories of gender crossing. He considers a range of transgender experiences, illuminating how certain forms of gender transgression were sanctioned in particular social contexts and penalized in others. Sommer scrutinizes the ways Qing legal authorities and literati writers represented and understood gender-nonconforming people and practices, contrasting official ideology with popular mentalities. An unprecedented account of China’s transgender histories, this book also sheds new light on a range of themes in Ming and Qing law, religion, medicine, literature, and culture.
The China Firm: American Elites and the Making of British Colonial Society (A Nancy Bernkopf Tucker and Warren I. Cohen Book on American–East Asian Relations)
by Thomas LarkinWhat roles did Americans play in the expanding global empires of the nineteenth century? Thomas M. Larkin examines the Hong Kong–based Augustine Heard & Company, the most prominent American trading firm in treaty-port China, to explore the ways American elites at once made and were made by British colonial society. Following the Heard brothers throughout their firm’s rise and decline, The China Firm reveals how nineteenth-century China’s American elite adapted to colonial culture, helped entrench social and racial hierarchies, and exploited the British imperial project for their own profit as they became increasingly invested in its political affairs and commercial networks.Through the central narrative of Augustine Heard & Co., Larkin disentangles the ties that bound the United States to China and the British Empire in the nineteenth century. Drawing on a vast range of archival material from Hong Kong, China, Boston, and London, he weaves the local and the global together to trace how Americans gained acceptance into and contributed to the making of colonial societies and world-spanning empires. Uncovering the transimperial lives of these American traders and the complex ways extraimperial communities interacted with British colonialism, The China Firm makes a vital contribution to global histories of nineteenth-century Asia and provides an alternative narrative of British empire.
Podcast Journalism: The Promise and Perils of Audio Reporting
by David DowlingPodcasting’s stratospheric rise has inspired a new breed of audio reporting. Offering immersive storytelling for a binge-listening audience as well as reaching previously underserved communities, podcasts have become journalism’s most rapidly growing digital genre, buoying a beleaguered news industry. Yet many concerns have been raised about this new medium, such as the potential for disinformation, the influence of sponsors on content, the dominance of a few publishers and platforms, and at-times questionable adherence to journalistic principles.David O. Dowling critically examines how podcasting and its evolving conventions are transforming reporting—and even reshaping journalism’s core functions and identity. He considers podcast reporting’s most influential achievements as well as its most consequential ethical and journalistic shortcomings, emphasizing the reciprocal influences between podcasting and traditional and digital journalism. Podcasting, both as a medium and a business, has benefited from the blurring of boundaries separating news from entertainment, editorial from advertising, and neutrality from subjectivity. The same qualities and forces that have allowed podcasting to bypass the limitations of traditional categories, expand the space of social and political discourse, and provide openings for marginalized voices have also permitted corporations to extend their reach and far-right firebrands to increase their influence. Equally attentive to the medium’s strengths and flaws, this is a vital book for all readers interested in how podcasting has changed journalism.
When Mountain Lions Are Neighbors: People and Wildlife Working It Out in California (With a New Preface)
by Beth PrattNow updated with a new preface: a full-color celebration of coexistence with California's iconic wildlife.Wildness beats in the heart of California's urban areas, and across the state Californians are taking action to recast wildlife as an integral part of our everyday lives. In Los Angeles, residents rallied to build one of the largest wildlife crossings in the world because of the plight of one lonely mountain lion named P-22. Porpoises cavort in San Francisco Bay again because of a grassroots effort to clean up a waterway that was once a toxic mess. Yosemite's park staff and millions of visitors have mobilized to keep its famed bears wild. And after a near century-long absence, Californians are welcoming wolves back to the state, inspired by the remarkable journey of the wolf OR-7. When Mountain Lions Are Neighbors explores this evolving dynamic between humans and animals. Now updated with a new preface, these inspiring stories celebrate a new model for wildlife conservation: coexistence.
The Tree Doctor: A Novel
by Marie Mutsuki MockettA startling, erotic novel about the need to balance care for others with care for one’s selfWhen the unnamed narrator of Marie Mutsuki Mockett’s stirring second novel returns to Carmel, California, to care for her mother, she finds herself stranded at the outset of the disease. With her husband and children back in Hong Kong, and her Japanese mother steadily declining in a care facility two hours away, she becomes preoccupied with her mother’s garden—convinced it contains a kind of visual puzzle—and the dormant cherry tree within it.Caught between tending to an unwell parent and the weight of obligation to her distant daughters and husband, she becomes isolated and unmoored. She soon starts a torrid affair with an arborist who is equally fascinated by her mother’s garden, and together they embark on reviving it. Increasingly engrossed by the garden, and by the awakening of her own body, she comes to see her mother's illness as part of a natural order in which things are perpetually living and dying, consuming and being consumed. All the while, she struggles to teach (remotely) Lady Murasaki’s eleventh-century novel, The Tale of Genji, which turns out to resonate eerily with the conditions of contemporary society in the grip of a pandemic.The Tree Doctor is a powerful, beautifully written novel full of bodily pleasure, intense observation of nature, and a profound reckoning with the passage of time both within ourselves and in the world we inhabit.
Illiberal America: A History
by Steven HahnIf your reaction to the January 6, 2021, insurrection at the Capitol was to think, 'That’s not us,' think again: in Illiberal America, a Pulitzer Prize–winning historian uncovers a powerful illiberalism as deep seated in the American past as the founding ideals. A storm of illiberalism, building in the United States for years, unleashed its destructive force in the Capitol insurrection of January 6, 2021. The attack on American democracy and images of mob violence led many to recoil, thinking “That’s not us.” But now we must think again, for Steven Hahn shows in his startling new history that illiberalism has deep roots in our past. To those who believe that the ideals announced in the Declaration of Independence set us apart as a nation, Hahn shows that Americans have long been animated by competing values, equally deep-seated, in which the illiberal will of the community overrides individual rights, and often protects itself by excluding perceived threats, whether on grounds of race, religion, gender, economic status, or ideology. Driven by popular movements and implemented through courts and legislation, illiberalism is part of the American bedrock. The United States was born a republic of loosely connected states and localities that demanded control of their domestic institutions, including slavery. As white settlement expanded west and immigration exploded in eastern cities, the democracy of the 1830s fueled expulsions of Blacks, Native Americans, Catholics, Mormons, and abolitionists. After the Civil War, southern states denied new constitutional guarantees of civil rights and enforced racial exclusions in everyday life. Illiberalism was modernized during the Progressive movement through advocates of eugenics who aimed to reduce the numbers of racial and ethnic minorities as well as the poor. The turmoil of the 1960s enabled George Wallace to tap local fears of unrest and build support outside the South, a politics adopted by Richard Nixon in 1968. Today, with illiberalism shaping elections and policy debates over guns, education, and abortion, it is urgent to understand its long history, and how that history bears on the present crisis.