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Anthropology of Religion: The Basics
Anthropology of Religion: The Basics is an accessible and engaging introductory text organized around key issues that all anthropologists of religion face. This book uses a wide range of historical and ethnographic examples to address not only what is studied by anthropologists of religion, but how such studies are approached. It addresses questions such as:
- How do human agents interact with gods and spirits?
- What is the nature of doing religious ethnography?
- Can the immaterial be embodied in the body, language and material objects?
- What is the role of ritual, time, and place in religion?
- Why is charisma important for religious movements?
- How do global processes interact with religions?
With international case studies from a range of religious traditions, suggestions for further reading, and inventive reflection boxes, Anthropology of Religion: The Basics is an essential read for students approaching the subject for the first time.
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Chunky: The Best Bits from Acorn Antiques to Kitty and more
‘Absolutely perfect. All Christmas presents sorted. No notes.’ Sarra Manning
Published to celebrate the much-missed Victoria Wood’s 70th birthday, this stunning hardback edition of Chunky contains the very best of Wood’s sketches and shows, including those never seen on TV, as well as:
NEW introduction from Celia Imrie, star of many of Victoria Wood’s shows
Additions and annotations from Wood’s acclaimed official biographer, Jasper Rees.
‘I was very proud to be part of her gang.’ Celia Imrie
‘There was none like her before and there’s been none like her since – she was unique.’ Dawn French
‘She is on a par with Alan Bennett.’ Clive James
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Thunderclap: From the Sunday Times bestselling author of On Chapel Sands
‘One of the most captivating books I have ever read … A wonderful read (or a great present) for anyone who loves stories and art’ Nina Stibbe, author of Love, Nina
A beautifully illustrated new memoir of a life in art, a father and daughter, and what a shared love of a painting can come to mean.
‘We see with everything that we are’
On the morning of 12 October 1654, a gunpowder explosion devastated the Dutch city of Delft. The thunderclap was heard over seventy miles away. Among the fatalities was the painter Carel Fabritius, dead at thirty-two, leaving only his haunting masterpiece The Goldfinch and barely a dozen known paintings. The explosion that killed him also buried his reputation, along with answers to the mysteries of his life and career.
What happened to Fabritius before and after this disaster is just one of the discoveries in a book that explores the relationship between art and life, interweaving the lives of Laura Cumming, her Scottish painter father, who also died too young, and the great artists of the Dutch Golden Age.
This is a book about what a picture may come to mean: how it can enter your life and change your thinking in a thunderclap. Beautifully illustrated in full colour, this is the perfect Christmas gift for art lovers.
‘A book that often borders on the sublime’ Sunday Times
‘No one writes art like Laura Cumming’ Philip Hoare
‘I will never look at any painting in the same way again’ Polly Morland
‘Superb … this book taught me to see anew’ Daily Telegraph
‘Her pages stay with you long after you finish’ Simon Schama
‘Brilliant … rush out and buy it’ Edmund de Waal, author of The Hare with Amber EyesRead more
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Star Wars Timelines: From the Time Before the High Republic to the Fall of the First Order
Chart the history of Star Wars in this stunning guide, from the time before the High Republic to the end of the First Order.
An indispensable companion for all Star Wars fans, this premium quality book displays visual timelines that chronologically map key events, characters, and developments, and mark their significance.
Track crucial conflicts across the years that affect the galaxy in profound ways. Follow the Skywalker lightsaber as it passes through the generations and witness the evolution of the iconic TIE fighter across different eras. Trace the movement of the Death Star plans over the years and uncover multiple branching timelines that break down important battles.
See essential events at a glance arranged by era and drill down into details to discover major and minor events, key dates, and fascinating insights all chronologically arranged. Pore over intricate timelines on nearly every page.
Soar into Star Wars Timelines to explore:
• Chronological approach divides Star Wars history into seven eras:
Early History, The High Republic, The Fall of the Jedi, The Reign of the Empire, The Age of Rebellion, The New Republic, and The Rise of the First OrderA must-have addition to the library of all fans of Star Wars, Star Wars Timelines is sure to thrill.
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Pandora’s Box: The Greed, Lust, and Lies That Broke Television
From The Sopranos to streaming: the scandalous behind-the-screens story of the TV revolution by the author of the cult film classic Easy Riders, Raging Bulls.
The revolution has been televized. From The Sopranos to Stranger Things, the shows we watch – and the ways we watch them – have been transformed over the past fifty years. Out of the bland wasteland of ‘play-it-safe’ broadcasting came astonishing stories of sex, violence, and corruption shown first on cable, and then by way of streaming. Today, the power of viewers to select what they want and when they want it is greater than ever before. In short, we are living in a new golden age of television, but golden ages don’t last forever. Revolutions have a habit of eating their own, and the era of ‘peak TV’ may have an unhappy ending.
Pandora’s Box is a major new account of the small screen from cultural critic Peter Biskind. Through exclusive, candid and colourful interviews with writers, showrunners, directors and actors, Biskind brings us face to face with the people whose creations we encounter every day on our sofas, and reveals the dynamic interplay of art, commerce and technology. We follow executives down the corridors of power and see how their money and guile cultivate, then crush creativity; we witness the making – and unmaking – of TVs biggest hits. There has never been a more exciting time in entertainment history, and Peter Biskind, the ideal insider guide, captures it all.
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The Plot: The Political Assassination of Boris Johnson
‘A riveting read that skips along at pace. Illuminating and concerning, it lifts the lid on the tawdry world of Westminster powerbroking’ Tim Shipman, The Times
The explosive behind-the-scenes account of the plot to bring down Boris Johnson
YOU THINK YOU LIVE IN A WORLD WHERE THE ELECTED ARE CHOSEN BY THE PEOPLE.
THINK AGAIN.
When Boris Johnson came to power in 2019, he did so with the largest Conservative majority since Margaret Thatcher. Rewriting the political map, he united a party and shattered Labour’s fabled red wall. And yet, just three years later, he was ousted by the same members who had once greeted his leadership so rapturously.
What had gone so wrong?
The Plot is the seismic, fly-on-the-wall account of how the saviour of the Conservative Party became a pariah. Told with unparalleled access, from multiple inside sources talking with astonishing candour, it reveals the shocking truth about powerful forces operating behind the scenes in the heart of Westminster and those who became the architects of a Prime Minister’s downfall.
This is the story of a damning trail of treachery and deceit fuelled by an obsessive pursuit of power, which threatens to topple the very fabric of our democracy.
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The 5 Giants of Advertising
The history of advertising is detailed here through five of the world’s most influential figures in the field. Albert Davis Lasker, who changed the consumer habits of the American public with his campaigns for Palmolive, Kotex and Lucky Strike. Leo Burnett, who gave life to mythical characters such as the Marlboro man and the Green Giant. Marcel Bleustein-Blanchet, the Frenchman who earned a place at the side of the American giants. David Ogilvy, who brought British style to American advertising. And finally, Bill Bernbach, who invented a new style of advertising, inspiring unique and creative work for clients such as Levy’s bread and Polaroid film. This book profiles these pioneers and illustrates the campaigns that made them authorities in the advertising world. Although The 5 Giants Of Advertising focuses primarily on these men, it also includes many others who created, animated and reformed this profession. This book is a tribute to all these great talents who have made history with their contributions to the advertising industry.Read more
£18.90The 5 Giants of Advertising
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Influenced: The Impact of Social Media on Our Perception
Unpacks and pulls the curtain back on what happens to our brains and our behaviors each time we addictively engage social media and the influencers we encounter there.
Individuals seeking to widen their tribes of friends, fans, and followers have an abundance of resources for building their digital footprints and social media popularity. All of this seems well and good from the perspective of revenue, exposure, and perhaps ego-building, but what is the impact of this on the human brain and our behavior? Is anyone paying attention to the lurking side effects of the social media influencer revolution?
As “Dr. Brian” Boxer Wachler―one of the world’s most esteemed authorities on human perception―reveals in Influenced: The Impact of Social Media on Our Perception, we are oblivious to the mental evolution that is already in process. Science is proving that our addictive reliance upon social media and its influencers is having a demonstrable impact on how we think, feel, and perceive everything around us― and even how we react to stimuli. One might think that a “Like” is nothing more than a split-second tap on a device. However, brain scans tell a different story. Our brains literally light up with every buzz, ding, alert, and ring in anticipation of how our network is responding to us. As we tap away at our devices, we anxiously seek the approval of others―often people we don’t know.
Influenced unpacks what happens to our brains and our behaviors each time we click “Like”; follow an influencer; consume a video; share or reshare an article; post or repost a photograph; write a comment; pile on a trend;; just scroll for new content; and why do we keep coming back for more. Dr. Boxer Wachler includes his own social and medical findings and highlights them with interviews with top influencers, the latest studies, and pop-culture anecdotes.
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Islam and Anarchism: Relationships and Resonances
Discourse around Muslims and Islam all too often lapses into a false dichotomy of Orientalist and fundamentalist tropes. A popular reimagining of Islam is urgently needed. Yet it is a perhaps unexpected political philosophical tradition that has the most to offer in this pursuit: anarchism. Islam and Anarchism is a highly original and interdisciplinary work, which simultaneously disrupts two commonly held beliefs – that Islam is necessarily authoritarian and capitalist; and that anarchism is necessarily anti-religious and anti-spiritual. Deeply rooted in key Islamic concepts and textual sources, and drawing on radical Indigenous, Islamic anarchistic and social movement discourses, Abdou proposes ‘Anarcha-Islam’. Constructing a decolonial, non-authoritarian and non-capitalist Islamic anarchism, Islam and Anarchism philosophically and theologically challenges the classist, sexist, racist, ageist, queerphobic and ableist inequalities in both post- and neo-colonial societies like Egypt, and settler-colonial societies such as Canada and the USA.Read more
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Learning Places: The Afterlives of Area Studies (Asia-Pacific: Culture, Politics, and Society)
Under globalization, the project of area studies and its relationship to the fields of cultural, ethnic, and gender studies has grown more complex and more in need of the rigorous reexamination that this volume and its distinguished contributors undertake. In the aftermath of World War II, area studies were created in large part to supply information on potential enemies of the United States. The essays in Learning Places argue, however, that the post–Cold War era has seen these programs largely degenerate into little more than public relations firms for the areas they research.
A tremendous amount of money flows—particularly within the sphere of East Asian studies, the contributors claim—from foreign agencies and governments to U.S. universities to underwrite courses on their histories and societies. In the process, this volume argues, such funds have gone beyond support to the wholesale subsidization of students in graduate programs, threatening the very integrity of research agendas. Native authority has been elevated to a position of primacy; Asian-born academics are presumed to be definitive commentators in Asian studies, for example. Area studies, the contributors believe, has outlived the original reason for its construction. The essays in this volume examine particular topics such as the development of cultural studies and hyphenated studies (such as African-American, Asian-American, Mexican-American) in the context of the failure of area studies, the corporatization of the contemporary university, the prehistory of postcolonial discourse, and the problematic impact of unformulated political goals on international activism.
Learning Places points to the necessity, the difficulty, and the possibility in higher education of breaking free from an entrenched Cold War narrative and making the study of a specific area part of the agenda of education generally. The book will appeal to all whose research has a local component, as well as to those interested in the future course of higher education generally.Contributors. Paul A. Bové, Rey Chow, Bruce Cummings, James A. Fujii, Harry Harootunian, Masao Miyoshi, Tetsuo Najita, Richard H. Okada, Benita Parry, Moss Roberts, Bernard S. Silberman, Stefan Tanaka, Rob Wilson, Sylvia Yanagisako, Mitsuhiro Yoshimoto
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The Star Wars Archives. 1999–2005. 40th Ed.
From the moment Star Wars burst onto the screen in 1977, audiences have been in equal parts fascinated and appalled by the half-man/half-machine hybrid Darth Vader. In 1999, creator George Lucas began the story of how Anakin Skywalker grew up to train as a Jedi under Obi-Wan Kenobi, found love with the Queen of Naboo, Padmé Amidala, before turning to the dark side of his nature and becoming more machine than man.
After driving the development of nascent digital technology, George Lucas perceived how he could create new creatures and new worlds on a grander scale than ever before. He created the first digital blockbuster, and met fierce resistance when he pushed for widespread digital cameras, sets, characters, and projection – all of which are now used throughout the industry. He essentially popularized the modern way of making movies.
Made with the full cooperation of George Lucas and Lucasfilm, this second volume covers the making of the prequel trilogy ― Episode I The Phantom Menace, Episode II Attack of the Clones, and Episode III Revenge of the Sith ― and features exclusive interviews with Lucas and his collaborators. The book is profusely illustrated with script pages, production documents, concept art, storyboards, on-set photography, stills, and posters.
About the series
TASCHEN is 40! Since we started our work as cultural archaeologists in 1980, TASCHEN has become synonymous with accessible publishing, helping bookworms around the world curate their own library of art, anthropology, and aphrodisia at an unbeatable price. Today we celebrate 40 years of incredible books by staying true to our company credo. The 40 series presents new editions of some of the stars of our program―now more compact, friendly in price, and still realized with the same commitment to impeccable production.
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£18.30£23.80The Star Wars Archives. 1999–2005. 40th Ed.
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Everyday Life in Victorian London
Everyday Life in Victorian London explores the daily lives of adults and children, aristocracy and middle classes, working poor and the ‘submerged tenth’ underclass. It shows the different faces of London, with its many extremes and contrasts – by day and by night; busy and peaceful; ugly and beautiful; safe and dangerous. It looks at the River Thames and its importance; the City, West and East Ends; at work, leisure, health, hospitals, education, food, clothes, housing, shops and markets, transport and infrastructure, public services, crime, the police and prisons, immigrant communities, and important events such as the Great Exhibition of 1851 and Queen Victoria’s golden and diamond jubilees. Daily life in the capital will be explored at three levels – above ground (views from hot air balloons), at ground level, and below ground (the sewage system, the underground railway and cemeteries). A central theme is the rapid growth in population throughout the century due to immigration from the countryside and abroad, and the resulting expansion into ‘The Monster City’. The final chapter describes London at the end of the century with improved transport, a newly embanked Thames, a sewage system, housing for the poor, public buildings, hospitals and prisons – a transformed capital of a great empire and the embryo of the London we know today.Read more
£18.20£21.80Everyday Life in Victorian London
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Female Masculinities and the Gender Wars: The Politics of Sex
“Thoughtful and often moving.” Gaby Hinsliff, The Guardian
Female Masculinities and the Gender Wars provides important theoretical background and context to the ‘gender wars’ or ‘TERF wars’ – the fracture at the forefront of the LGBTQ international conversation. Using queer and female masculinities as a lens, Finn Mackay investigates the current generational shift that is refusing the previous assumed fixity of sex, gender and sexual identity. Transgender and trans rights movements are currently experiencing political backlash from within certain lesbian and lesbian feminist groups, resulting in a situation in which these two minority communities are frequently pitted against one another or perceived as diametrically opposed.
Uniquely, Finn Mackay approaches this debate through the context of female masculinity, butch and transmasculine lesbian masculinities. There has been increasing interest in the study of masculinity, influenced by a popular discourse around so-called ‘toxic masculinity’, the rise of men’s rights activism and theory and critical work on Trump’s America and the MeToo movement.
An increasingly important topic in political science and sociological academia, this book aims to break new ground in the discussion of the politics of gender and identity.
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Online Radio: a Guide for Broadcasters and Listeners
Online Radio is the quickest growing broadcast medium with over 110,000 stations being freely audible around the world. This book explores how radio developed and how the birth of digital made digital transmission via the internet a viable way for new radio broadcasters to get traction. The book identifies some of the pioneers who made online radio possible, despite the strenuous efforts of the established stations to suppress all new media.A technical chapter on digital technology explains radio waves, bands and then how audio could be sliced to make it easier to transmit digitally. The needs to get an online radio station on the air are explored with a look at the essential studio equipment, and a hard look at business plans. Funding online radio is discussed and various new forms of revenue that are already revolutionising the medium.
Of interest to anyone in the media, this book is about the FUTURE of broadcasting, which looks certain to include
ONLINE RADIORead more
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A Social History of the Media
The first three editions of this bestselling book have established A Social History of the Media as a classic, providing a masterful overview of communication media and of the social and cultural contexts within which they emerged and evolved over time.This fourth edition has been revised and updated throughout to reflect the latest developments in the field. Additionally, an expanded introduction explores the wide range of secondary literature and theory that inform the study of media history today, and a new eighth chapter surveys the revolutionary media developments of the twenty-first century, including in particular the rise of social and participatory media and the penetration of these technologies into every sphere of social and private life.
Avoiding technological determinism and rejecting assumptions of straightforward evolutionary progress, this book brings out the rich and varied histories of communication media. In an age of fast-paced media developments, a thorough understanding of media history is more important than ever, and this text will continue to be the first choice for students and scholars across the world.
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Nationalized Politics: Evaluating Electoral Politics Across Time
In the United States, politics has become increasingly nationalized in recent years as voter decision-making is now driven by partisan or national political forces rather than the attributes of individual candidates. Indeed, voters now seem more concerned with which of the two national parties will be in power across all levels of government as opposed to which candidate will represent them individually. The phenomenon has now reached levels unseen since the nineteenth century, when the party ballot was in use and voters were generally unable to select among individual candidates.Nationalized Politics asks and answers the question, “how has nationalization influenced elections across different political eras?” Jamie L. Carson, Joel Sievert, and Ryan D. Williamson look at historical variation in nationalization through an analysis of congressional elections from 1840 to 2020. By examining roughly 180 years of elections, the authors leverage considerable differences in electoral competition, electoral rules, nationalization, polarization, and partisan advantage via the incumbency advantage. Moreover, Carson, Sievert, and Williamson employ a unique survey design to capture citizen attitudes toward the nationalization of politics to further consider the question of how nationalization is currently shaping politics. Providing a comprehensive history of US congressional elections, Nationalized Politics illustrates the roots of the current electoral landscape in the US.
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The Politics of Time: Imagining African Becomings (Critical South)
As we enter the third decade of the twenty-first century, the world is undergoing a major historical shift: Africa, and the Global South more generally, is increasingly becoming a principal theatre in which the future of the planet plays itself out. But not only this: Africa is at the same time emerging as one of the great laboratories for novel forms of social, economic, political, intellectual, cultural, and artistic life. Often arising in unexpected places, these new forms of life materialize in practices that draw deeply from collective memory while simultaneously assuming distinctly contemporary, even futuristic, guises.
In November 2017, the second session of the Ateliers de la pensée – Workshops of Thought – was held in Dakar, Senegal. Fifty African and diasporic intellectuals and artists participated and their debates unfolded along numerous thematic lines, approached from the standpoints of many different disciplines. This volume is the result of that encounter. Among the many topics discussed were the concurrence and entanglement of multiple temporalities, the politics of life in the Anthropocene, the project of decolonization, and the preservation and transmission of different ways of knowing. At a time when the world is haunted by the specter of its own end, the contributors to this volume ask whether one can, by taking Africa as a point of departure, seize hold of other options for the future – not only for Africa, but for the world.
The Politics of Time and its companion volume, To Write the Africa World, will be indispensable works for anyone interested in Africa – its past, present, and future – and in the new forms of critical thought emerging from Africa and the Global South.
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The Logic of Scientific Discovery (Routledge Classics)
Described by the philosopher A.J. Ayer as a work of ‘great originality and power’, this book revolutionized contemporary thinking on science and knowledge. Ideas such as the now legendary doctrine of ‘falsificationism’ electrified the scientific community, influencing even working scientists, as well as post-war philosophy. This astonishing work ranks alongside The Open Society and Its Enemies as one of Popper’s most enduring books and contains insights and arguments that demand to be read to this day.
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Love Saves the Day: A History Of American Dance Music Culture, 1970–1979
Opening with David Mancuso’s seminal “Love Saves the Day” Valentine’s party, Tim Lawrence tells the definitive story of American dance music culture in the 1970s—from its subterranean roots in NoHo and Hell’s Kitchen to its gaudy blossoming in midtown Manhattan to its wildfire transmission through America’s suburbs and urban hotspots such as Chicago, Boston, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Newark, and Miami.Tales of nocturnal journeys, radical music making, and polymorphous sexuality flow through the arteries of Love Saves the Day like hot liquid vinyl. They are interspersed with a detailed examination of the era’s most powerful djs, the venues in which they played, and the records they loved to spin—as well as the labels, musicians, vocalists, producers, remixers, party promoters, journalists, and dance crowds that fueled dance music’s tireless engine.
Love Saves the Day includes material from over three hundred original interviews with the scene’s most influential players, including David Mancuso, Nicky Siano, Tom Moulton, Loleatta Holloway, Giorgio Moroder, Francis Grasso, Frankie Knuckles, and Earl Young. It incorporates more than twenty special dj discographies—listing the favorite records of the most important spinners of the disco decade—and a more general discography cataloging some six hundred releases. Love Saves the Day also contains a unique collection of more than seventy rare photos.
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Making Movies Without Losing Money: Practical Lessons in Film Finance
This book is about the practical realities of the film market today and how to make a film while minimizing financial risk. Film is a risky investment and securing that investment is a huge challenge. The best way to get investors is to do everything possible to make the film without losing money.
Featuring interviews with film industry veterans – sales agents, producers, distributors, directors, film investors, film authors and accountants – Daniel Harlow explores some of the biggest obstacles to making a commercially successful film and offers best practice advice on making a good film, that will also be a commercial success. The book explores key topics such as smart financing, casting to add value, understanding the film supply chain, the importance of genre, picking the right producer, negotiating pre-sales and much more. By learning how to break even, this book provides invaluable insight into the film industry that will help filmmakers build a real, continuing career.
A vital resource for filmmakers serious about sustaining a career in the 21st century film industry.
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The Disney Book New Edition: A Celebration of the World of Disney: Centenary Edition
Celebrate more than 100 years of magical Disney storytelling.
The ideal gift for Disney, animation, and movie fans! From Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs to Wish, Mary Poppins to The Little Mermaid, Disneyland to Tokyo DisneySea, and fireworks to fan clubs, explore the captivating worlds and creations of Disney and Pixar.
Now including more than 50 new pages and updated with ten more years of magic for Disney’s special 100th anniversary, The Disney Book: New Edition features groundbreaking and record-breaking creations―including Encanto, Moana, and Turning Red―and explores theme parks, experiences, memorabilia, and more.
Marvel at beautiful art and artefacts from The Walt Disney Company’s vast historical collections, and discover live-action and animated movie-making, enchanting parks, and fascinating collectibles. Follow Disney’s history using the timeline, and delve into the incredible archives.
Perfect for fans who want to know all about the magical worlds of Disney.
© 2023 Disney
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Everyone Here Spoke Sign Language: Hereditary Deafness in Martha’s Vineyard: Hereditary Deafness on Martha’s Vineyard
From the seventeenth century to the early years of the twentieth, the population of Martha’s Vineyard manifested an extremely high rate of profound hereditary deafness. In stark contrast to the experience of most Deaf people in our own society, the Vineyarders who were born Deaf were so thoroughly integrated into the daily life of the community that they were not seen―and did not see themselves―as handicapped or as a group apart. Deaf people were included in all aspects of life, such as town politics, jobs, church affairs, and social life. How was this possible?
On the Vineyard, hearing and Deaf islanders alike grew up speaking sign language. This unique sociolinguistic adaptation meant that the usual barriers to communication between the hearing and the Deaf, which so isolate many Deaf people today, did not exist.
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Insider’s Guide to Cloud Computing, An
Many cloud computing initiatives flat-out fail; others limp along, functioning tolerably without ever delivering what they promised. An Insider’s Guide to Cloud Computing reveals why and shows how to do better. Cloud pioneer and long-time CTO David Linthicum explodes the industry’s secrets and presents practical ways to optimize cloud for value and performance.
Linthicum takes a hard look at aggressively marketed technologies such as cloud-based AI, containers, no-code, serverless computing, and multicloud. He illuminates what works, what absolutely does not work, and how to manage the difficult cost-complexity tradeoffs presented by many offerings. You’ll learn why some workloads and datasets still don’t belong on the cloud, and even discover “game changer” technology that has actually been undersold.
Linthicum’s seen it all: the tricks providers play to make their numbers at customers’ expense…realities whispered about in conference rooms and spilled over drinks at conferences…facts and techniques you simply must know to deliver value-optimized solutions.
An Insider’s Guide to Cloud Computing is for every technical and business decision-maker responsible for evaluating, planning, implementing, operating, or optimizing cloud systems. It offers exceptional value to professionals ranging from solution architects to cloud engineers, CTOs to enterprise consultants, or those just getting started on their cloud computing journey.
- What cloud providers don’t tell you about their storage and compute services
- Cloud-based artificial intelligence and machine learning: What are you actually paying for?
- Containers, Kubernetes, and cloud-native development: truth versus hype
- Multicloud: Which approaches actually save you money?
- Real-world cloud security: beyond silos, black boxes, and out-of-control complexity
- Cloud computing, carbon footprints, and sustainability: reality versus fiction
- The crucial role of talent: how to identify, find, and keep the skills you need
- How cloud computing is changing―and how to prepare for what’s coming
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£17.70£21.80Insider’s Guide to Cloud Computing, An
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Central Asia: A New History from the Imperial Conquests to the Present
A major history of Central Asia and how it has been shaped by modern world events
Central Asia is often seen as a remote and inaccessible land on the peripheries of modern history. Encompassing Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, and the Xinjiang province of China, it in fact stands at the crossroads of world events. Adeeb Khalid provides the first comprehensive history of Central Asia from the mid-eighteenth century to today, shedding light on the historical forces that have shaped the region under imperial and Communist rule.
Predominantly Muslim with both nomadic and settled populations, the peoples of Central Asia came under Russian and Chinese rule after the 1700s. Khalid shows how foreign conquest knit Central Asians into global exchanges of goods and ideas and forged greater connections to the wider world. He explores how the Qing and Tsarist empires dealt with ethnic heterogeneity, and compares Soviet and Chinese Communist attempts at managing national and cultural difference. He highlights the deep interconnections between the “Russian” and “Chinese” parts of Central Asia that endure to this day, and demonstrates how Xinjiang remains an integral part of Central Asia despite its fraught and traumatic relationship with contemporary China.
The essential history of one of the most diverse and culturally vibrant regions on the planet, this panoramic book reveals how Central Asia has been profoundly shaped by the forces of modernity, from colonialism and social revolution to nationalism, state-led modernization, and social engineering.
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Platforms, Power, and Politics: An Introduction to Political Communication in the Digital Age
Political communication has fundamentally transformed as digital technologies have become increasingly important in everyday life. Technology platforms have become powerful political instruments for world leaders, campaigns, social movements, journalists, and non-governmental organizations. Moreover, they are essential to how people communicate about politics, encounter and share political information, and take action to pursue their political goals.
This is the first textbook to center digital platforms in understanding political communication. With global examples beyond the context of Western democracies, the text reveals how digital technologies such as social media and search engines are increasingly shaping political communication in countries around the world. It shows how the core processes of political communication are being reshaped by platforms, from how elections are contested to how issues make it onto policymaking agendas. Topics covered include public opinion, journalism, strategic communication, political parties, social movements, governance, disinformation, propaganda, populism, race, ethnicity, and democratic backsliding.
Full of lively examples and pedagogical features, Platforms, Power, and Politics offers an exciting and innovative new approach to political communication. It is essential reading for students of political communication and an important resource for scholars, journalists, and policymakers.
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The Dean of Shandong: Confessions of a Minor Bureaucrat at a Chinese University
An inside view of Chinese academia and what it reveals about China’s political system
On January 1, 2017, Daniel Bell was appointed dean of the School of Political Science and Public Administration at Shandong University―the first foreign dean of a political science faculty in mainland China’s history. In The Dean of Shandong, Bell chronicles his experiences as what he calls “a minor bureaucrat,” offering an inside account of the workings of Chinese academia and what they reveal about China’s political system. It wasn’t all smooth sailing―Bell wryly recounts sporadic bungles and misunderstandings―but Bell’s post as dean provides a unique vantage point on China today.
Bell, neither a Chinese citizen nor a member of the Chinese Communist Party, was appointed as dean because of his scholarly work on Confucianism―but soon found himself coping with a variety of issues having little to do with scholarship or Confucius. These include the importance of hair color and the prevalence of hair-dyeing among university administrators, both male and female; Shandong’s drinking culture, with endless toasts at every shared meal; and some unintended consequences of an intensely competitive academic meritocracy. As dean, he also confronts weightier matters: the role at the university of the Party secretary, the national anticorruption campaign and its effect on academia (Bell asks provocatively, “What’s wrong with corruption?”), and formal and informal modes of censorship. Considering both the revival of Confucianism in China over the last three decades and what he calls “the Communist comeback” since 2008, Bell predicts that China’s political future is likely to be determined by both Confucianism and Communism.
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Badvertising: Polluting our Minds and Fuelling Climate Chaos
**An Independent Book of the Month**
‘Why do we allow adverts that actively promote our own destruction? Halting climate catastrophe is hard enough without ads selling things that pollute more. With Badvertising, Simms and Murray have done the world an urgent favour. Funny and readable, it will make us all see advertising in a very different way’ Dr Chris van Tulleken, doctor, broadcaster and author of Ultra-Processed People
‘Hugely timely and important … Grapples with advertising’s role in enabling climate crimes – and sets out why and how we need to stop the industry’s complicity in its tracks, for the sake of a liveable future’ Caroline Lucas MP
‘Simms and Murray are clear-headed guides. Learn the history, be enraged at the tactics, and join the struggle for a less polluted public sphere’ Sam Knights, writer, actor and activist
‘A much-needed book whose time has come. The continued advertising of high-carbon products at a time of climate crisis is a form of insanity The authors are absolutely right’ Bill McGuire, Professor Emeritus of Earth Sciences, University College London
‘This book was a watershed moment for me. Since it can’t have an advertising campaign, we all need to tell our friends about it’ Jeremy Vine, broadcaster and journalist
Advertising is selling us a dream, a lifestyle. It promises us fulfilment and tells us where to buy it – from international flights to a vast array of goods we consume like there is no tomorrow. The truth is, if advertising succeeds in keeping us on our current trajectory, there may not be a tomorrow.
In Badvertising, Andrew Simms and Leo Murray raise the alarm on an industry that is making us both unhealthy and unhappy, and that is driving the planet to the precipice of environmental collapse in the process.
What is the psychological impact of being barraged by literally thousands of advertisements a day? How does the commercialisation of our public spaces weaken our sense of belonging? How are car manufacturers, airlines and oil companies lobbying to weaken climate action? Examining the devastating impact of advertising on our minds and on the planet, Badvertising also crucially explores what we can do to change things for the better.
Andrew Simms was called a ‘master at joined-up progressive thinking’ by New Scientist magazine. He co-authored the original Green New Deal, came up with Earth Overshoot Day, and jointly proposed the Fossil Fuel Non- Proliferation Treaty. He is the author of several books including Ecological Debt, Tescopoly, Cancel the Apocalypse and Economics: A Crash Course. He co-directs the New Weather Institute, is Assistant Director of Scientists for Global Responsibility, coordinates the Rapid Transition Alliance and is a Research Fellow at the University of Sussex.
Leo Murray co-founded climate action charity Possible, where he is currently Director of Innovation, as well as noughties direct action pressure group Plane Stupid and pioneering solar rail enterprise Riding Sunbeams. Murray is also the creator of the Frequent Flyer Levy and the brains behind the Trump Baby blimp which rose to global fame during Donald Trump’s US presidency.
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The Political Economy of Southeast Asia: Politics and Uneven Development under Hyperglobalisation (Studies in the Political Economy of Public Policy)
‘This is not only the best collection of essays on the political economy of Southeast Asia, but also, as a singular achievement of the “Murdoch School”, one of the rarest of books that demonstrates how knowledge production travels across generations, institutions and time periods, thereby continually enriching itself. No course on Southeast Asia can afford to miss it as its core text.’ (Professor Amitav Acharya, American University, USA)‘This book – the fourth in a path-breaking series – demonstrates why a critical political economy approach is more crucial than ever for understanding Southeast Asia’s transformation. Across a wide range of topics, the book explains how capitalist development and globalisation are reshaping the societies, economies and politics of a diverse group of countries, casting light on the deep sources of economic and social power in the region. This is a book that every student of Southeast Asia needs to read.’ (Professor Edward Aspinall, Australian National University, Australia)
‘This book does what a work on political economy should do: challenge existing paradigms in order to gain a deeper understanding of the processes of social transformation. This volume is distinctive in three ways. First, it eschews methodological nationalism and focuses on how the interaction of national, regional, and global forces are shaping and reshaping systems of governance, mass politics, economies, labor-capital relations, migration, and gender relations across the region. Second, it is a bold effort to show how the “Murdoch School,” which focuses on the dynamic synergy of internal class relations and global capitalism, provides a better explanatory framework for understanding social change in Southeast Asia than the rival “developmental state” and “historical institutionalist” approaches. Third, alongside established luminaries in the field, it showcases the younger generation of political economists doing pathbreaking work on different dimensions of the political economy of the region.’ (Walden Bello, State University of New York at Binghamton, USA, and Former Member of the Philippines’ House of Representatives)
‘This very timely fourth edition explores Southeast Asia’s political economy within the context of hyperglobalisation and China’s pronounced social-structural impacts on international politics, finance and economics over the past decade and a half. The volume successfully adopts a cross-cutting thematic approach, while also conveying the diversity and divergences among the Southeast Asian states and economies. This will be an important resource for scholars of International Relations and Comparative Politics, who need to take an interest in a dynamic and increasingly significant part of Asia.’ (Professor Evelyn Goh, Australian National University, Australia)
“This ambitious collection takes a consistent theoretical approach and applies it to a thematic, comparative analysis across Southeast Asia. The yield is impressive: the social, political and economic forces constituting the current conjuncture are not simply invoked, they are thoroughly identified and explained. By posing the deceptively simple questions of what is happening and why, the authors demonstrate the reciprocal relation between theory-building and empirical inquiry, providing a model of engaged scholarship with global resonance. Bravo!’ (Professor Tania Li, University of Toronto, Canada)
‘Counteracting the spaceless and flattened geography of much literature on uneven development, this book delivers a forensic examination of the unevenness of geographical development in Southeast Asia and the relations of force shaping capital, state, nature and civil society. This is the most compelling theoretical and empirical political economy book available on Southeast Asia.’ (Professor Adam David Morton, U
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China Hands: Nine Decades of Adventure, Espionage, and Diplomacy in Asia
James Lilley’s life and family have been entwined with China’s fate since his father moved to the country to work for Standard Oil in 1916. Lilley spent much of his childhood in China and after a Yale professor took him aside and suggested a career in intelligence, it became clear that he would spend his adult life returning to China again and again. Lilley served for twenty-five years in the CIA in Laos, Tokyo, Hong Kong, and Taiwan before moving to the State Department in the early 1980s to begin a distinguished career as the U.S.’s top-ranking diplomat in Taiwan, ambassador to South Korea, and finally, ambassador to China. From helping Laotian insurgent forces assist the American efforts in Vietnam to his posting in Beijing during the Tiananmen Square crackdown, he was in a remarkable number of crucial places during challenging times as he spent his life tending to America’s interests in Asia. In China Hands, he includes three generations of stories from an American family in the Far East, all of them absorbing, some of them exciting, and one, the loss of Lilley’s much loved and admired brother, Frank, unremittingly tragic. China Hands is a fascinating memoir of America in Asia, Asia itself, and one especially capable American’s personal history.Read more
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Politics: The Basics
Now in its fifth edition, Politics: The Basics explores the systems, movements and issues at the cutting edge of modern politics. A highly successful introduction to the world of politics, it offers clear and concise coverage of a range of issues and addresses fundamental questions such as:
• Why does politics matter?
• Why obey the state?
• What are the key approaches to power?
• How are political decisions made?
• What are the current issues affecting governments worldwide?
Accessible in style and topical in content, the fifth edition has been fully restructured to reflect core issues, systems and movements that are at the centre of modern politics and international relations. Assuming no prior knowledge in politics, it is ideal reading for anyone approaching the study of politics for the first time.
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£17.30£19.00Politics: The Basics
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Resistance: The Underground War in Europe, 1939-1945
*WINNER OF THE WOLFSON HISTORY PRIZE 2023*
*A NEW YORKER BOOK OF THE YEAR*‘The best book about the subject I have ever read’ Max Hastings, Sunday Times
A sweeping history of occupation and resistance in war-torn Europe, from the acclaimed author of The Eagle Unbowed
Across the whole of Nazi-ruled Europe the experience of occupation was sharply varied. Some countries – such as Denmark – were within tight limits allowed to run themselves. Others – such as France – were constrained not only by military occupation but by open collaboration. In a historical moment when Nazi victory seemed permanent and irreversible, the question ‘why resist?’ was therefore augmented by ‘who was the enemy?’.
Resistance is an extraordinarily powerful, humane and haunting account of how and why all across Nazi-occupied Europe some people decided to resist the Third Reich. This could range from open partisan warfare in the occupied Soviet Union to dangerous acts of defiance in the Netherlands or Norway. Some of these resistance movements were entirely home-grown, others supported by the Allies.
Like no other book, Resistance shows the reader just how difficult such actions were. How could small bands of individuals undertake tasks which could lead not just to their own deaths but those of their families and their entire communities?
Filled with powerful and often little-known stories, Halik Kochanski’s major new book is a fascinating examination of the convoluted challenges faced by those prepared to resist the Germans, ordinary people who carried out exceptional acts of defiance and resistance.
‘A superb, myth-busting survey of the many ways in which the subjugated peoples of Europe tried to fight back’ Saul David, Daily Telegraph
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£17.10£19.00Resistance: The Underground War in Europe, 1939-1945
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BrainScripts for Sales Success: 21 Hidden Principles of Consumer Psychology for Winning New Customers (BUSINESS BOOKS)
The newest, most successful strategies for landing the sale―based on the latest discoveries in neuroscience and consumer psychology
BrainScripts for Sales Success explains consumer psychology to teach you how to personalize and enhance an approach and use basic, primal responses that are subtle but extremely effective.
You’ll learn how to use the powerful emotion of fear to convince stubborn prospects, make prospective customers successfully demonstrate the product inside their heads before they spend a penny to buy it, use speaking patterns that build desire for the product or service, and much more.
“A masterpiece! This is one of those rare books that I wish wouldn’t get published. This gem will become the new sales bible.”
Dr. Joe Vitale, author of Hypnotic Writing and There’s A Customer Born Every Minute“Read it and sell more―it’s just that simple.”
Roger Dawson, author of Secrets of Power Negotiating“Puts you light years ahead of your competition. Read it… before your competition does.”
Dr. Tony Alessandra, author The Platinum Rule for Sales Mastery“Gives you an almost unfair advantage―yet it’s all perfectly legal!”
Richard Bayan, author of Words That Sell“Take all of the text books ever written about persuasion, influence, marketing, and salesmanship. Strip away the nonsense. What do you get? BrainScripts. It’s a mistake not to read this book.”
Mark Joyner, founder and CEO of Simpleology“Can you imagine the power in your sales presentation when you understand your prospects better than they know themselves?”
Patricia Fripp, CSP, CPAE, Sales Presentation Skills Expert“It’s like looking into a crystal ball of human behavior.”
Thomas A. Freese, author of Secrets of Question Based Selling“The material in BrainScripts is so powerful it should require a license for use.”
Art Sobczak, author of Smart Calling―Eliminate the Fear, Failure, and Rejection from Cold Calling“BrainScripts shows in detail how beliefs become established, how they affect behavior and, most importantly, how business owners can ethically tap into them to help their companies grow and prosper.”
Robert Dilts, Founder NLP University“BrainScripts gives you actual scripts to help get your sales message across without setting off your prospects’ ‘What’s the catch?’ alarm.”
Tom “Big Al” Schreiter, author of How To Get Instant Trust, Belief, Influence, and Rapport!“BrainScripts is the definitive advantage in sales strategy. Read it and win… or pray your competitors do not.”
MJ DeMarco, author of The Millionaire Fastlane“BrainScripts takes sales psychology to a new level. Drew’s practical and easy-to-use tips will also take you to the next level.”
Kerry Johnson, MBA, Ph.D.;America’s Sales Psychologist“BrainScripts brings you face-to-face with the prospect’s intimate evaluation procedures so you can turn them into sales motivations and close the deal!”
René Gnam, author of René Gnam’s Direct Mail Workshop“Drew Eric Whitman has swung open the vault to generating buyers en mass. BrainScripts just might be the best investment of your business life and selling career.”
Spike Humer, author of The 10 Day TurnaroundRead more
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Islam and the Problem of Black Suffering
In his controversial 1973 book, Is God a White Racist?, William R. Jones sharply criticized black theologians for their agnostic approach to black suffering, noting that the doctrine of an ominibenevolent God poses very significant problems for a perennially oppressed community. He proposed a “humanocentric theism” which denies God’s sovereignty over human history and imputes autonomous agency to humans. By rendering humans alone responsible for moral evil, Jones’s theology freed blacks to revolt against the evil of oppression without revolting against God. Sherman Jackson now places Jones’s argument in conversation with the classical schools of Islamic theology. The problem confronting the black community is not simply proving that God exists, says Jackson. The problem, rather, is establishing that God cares. No religious expression that fails to tackle the problem of black suffering can hope to enjoy a durable tenure in the black community. For the Muslim, therefore, it is essential to find a Quranic/Islamic grounding for the protest-oriented agenda of black religion. That is the task Jackson undertakes in this pathbreaking work. Jackson’s previous book, Islam and the Blackamerican (OUP 2006) laid the groundwork for this ambitious project. Its sequel, Islam and the Problem of Black Suffering, solidifies Jackson’s reputation as the foremost theologian of the black American Islamic movement.Read more
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Arrows of Desire: Films of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger
Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger formed one of the greatest creative partnerships in the history of British cinema – The Archers. Their films were often controversial – Churchill tried to suppress the release of “The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp”. Later, “The Red Shoes” and “The Tales of Hoffman” startled and enchanted cinema audiences with their use of colour, form amd music. However, in the last ten years the magic, poetry and passion of their work has been acknowledged around the world and they are firmly in the pantheon of film masters. This book is a comprehensive analysis of their films and is a useful guide to their work.Read more
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Emeric Pressburger: Life and Death of a Screenwriter: The Life and Death of a Screenwriter
A Hungarian Jew who lived and worked in half a dozen European countries before arriving in Britain in 1935, Pressburger’s reputation rests on the series of strikingly original films he made in collaboration with Michael Powell under the banner of The Archers. The Red Shoes, A Matter of Life and Death, Black Narcissus and The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp all bear the unique credit ‘Written, Produced and Directed by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger’.
Frequently controversial, always experimental, The Archers suffered a long period of neglect before being rediscovered by such prominent admirers as Martin Scorsese, Derek Jarman and Francis Ford Coppola.
Written by his grandson, and containing extracts from private diaries and correspondence, this biography defends the notion of film as a collaborative art and illuminates the adventurous life and work of the film-maker who brought continental grace, with and style to British cinema.
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Immediacy, Or The Style of Too Late Capitalism
Why speed, flow, and direct expression now dominate cultural styleContemporary cultural style boosts transparency and instantaneity. These are values absorbed from our current economic conditions of “disintermediation”: cutting out the middleman. Like Uber, but for art. Immediacy names this style to make sense of what we lose when the contradictions of twenty-first-century capitalism demand that aesthetics negate mediation. Surging realness as an aesthetic program synchs with the economic imperative to intensify circulation when production stagnates. “Flow” is the ultimate twenty-first-century buzzword, but speedy circulation grinds art down to the nub. And the bad news is that political turmoil and social challenges require more mediation. Collective will, inspiring ideas, and deliberate construction are the only way out, but our dominant style forgoes them. Considering original streaming TV, popular literature, artworld trends, and academic theories, Immediacy explains the recent obsession with immersion and today’s intolerance of representation, and points to alternative forms in photography, TV, novels, and constructive theory that prioritize distance, impersonality, and big ideas instead.
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Athena to Barbie: Bodies, Archetypes, and Women’s Search for Self
Athena to Barbie explores the vexed nature of being a woman. It maps the four corners of impossible choice a female faces because of the female body–her body as spiritual space (Mary), as political space (Athena), as erotic space (Venus), and as materialist space (Barbie). The book tracks the difficulty women face in understanding themselves as someone who has, but is not only, a body. The question of identity is particularly fraught and complicated when it comes to women–because the ability to bear children is a double-edged sword. Across time (including right now), having a womb has shaped how women are viewed and treated in negative ways, and women’s childbearing abilities have been used to stereotype, oppress, and constrain them. Pregnancy is powerful, but the possibility of pregnancy comes with impossible pressures and choices. This book takes on the task of reconciliation–how women can understand themselves in light of their bodies–through an intense dive into history, art, literature, theology, and, particularly, philosophy.
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The Book of Horror: The Anatomy of Fear in Film
‘… the definitive guide to what properly messes us up.’ ― SFX Magazine
‘Glasby anatomises horror’s scare tactics with keen, lucid clarity across 34 carefully selected main films – classic and pleasingly obscure. 4 Stars.’ ― Total FilmThe Book of Horror introduces you to the scariest movies ever made and examines what makes them so frightening.
Horror movies have never been more critically or commercially successful, but there’s only one metric that matters: are they scary? Back in the silent era, viewers thrilled at Frankenstein and Dracula. Today, the monsters may have changed, but the instinct remains the same: to seek out the unspeakable, ride the adrenaline rush and play out our fears in the safety of the cinema.
The Book of Horror focuses on the most frightening films of the post-war era – from Psycho (1960) to It Chapter Two (2019) – examining exactly how they scare us across a series of key categories. Each chapter explores a seminal horror film in depth, charting its scariest moments with infographics and identifying the related works you need to see.
Including references to more than 100 classic and contemporary horror films from around the globe, and striking illustrations from Barney Bodoano, this is a rich and compelling guide to the scariest films ever made.
The films:
Psycho (1960), The Innocents (1961), The Haunting (1963), Don’t Look Now (1973), The Exorcist (1973), The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974), Who Can Kill a Child? (1976), Suspiria (1977), Halloween (1978), The Shining (1980), The Entity (1982), Angst (1983), Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (1990), Ring (1998), The Blair Witch Project (1999), The Others (2001), The Eye (2002), Ju-On: The Grudge (2002), Shutter (2004), The Descent (2005), Wolf Creek (2005), The Orphanage (2007), [Rec] (2007), The Strangers (2008), Lake Mungo (2008), Martyrs (2008), The Innkeepers (2011), Banshee Chapter (2013), Oculus (2013), The Babadook (2014), It Follows (2015), Terrified (2017), Hereditary (2018), It Chapter Two (2019)Read more
£16.80£19.00The Book of Horror: The Anatomy of Fear in Film
£16.80£19.00