Books in the Very Short Introductions series

Elizabeth Bishop has been described as the 'best-loved' poet in English of the second half of the twentieth century. This book explores the published poems at the core of her remarkable canon of verse, along with her letters and other writings, and draws out key themes of the environment, balance, and ideas of love and loss.

Famous for her novel Frankenstein, Mary Shelley was also infamous in her own time for breaking social and literary conventions, and taking a political and philosophical stance advocating for the rights of women. Charlotte Gordon explores the context and key themes in the life and work of this courageous, complicated, and accomplished woman.

John Stuart Mill (1806-73) is widely regarded as the leading liberal philosopher, economist, and political theorist of nineteenth century Britain. This book offers a brief survey of his life and ideas, highlighting the philosophical context for his work, exploring the key themes in his writings, and analysing their lasting influence.

CBT is a form of psychological therapy with a range of approaches that share a common underpinning model of the importance of cognition and behaviour in alleviating psychological distress. This book gives an overview of what CBT is, what it does, when it can be used, and the ways in which the field can adapt to meet future challenges.

Violence is part and parcel of both human history and nature. It is the one thing that all cultures and societies share in common. This book considers violence in the modern world, examining the ideas underpinning it, and the cultural context for violence over the last two centuries. It also asks if we are becoming more or less violent.

This book explains the philosophical and historical concepts that shape current debates about science and religion. It also considers some of the themes and issues that have become more prominent in the past decade, such as science denial, climate change and environmentalism, and religion and public health - including responses to Covid-19.

Fluid mechanics is an important branch of physics concerned with the way in which fluids, such as liquids and gases, behave when in motion and at rest. Starting from the fundamental underlying physical principles, Eric Lauga highlights the role of fluid motion in both the natural and industrial world, and considers future applications.

Proposes a new way of listening to Beethoven by understanding his music as an expression of his entire self, not just the iconic scowl Despite the ups and downs of his personal life and professional career - even in the face of deafness - Beethoven remained remarkably consistent in his most basic convictions about his art. This inner consistency, writes the music historian Mark Evan Bonds, provides the key to understanding the composer''s life and works. Beethoven approached music as he approached life, weighing whatever occupied him from a variety of perspectives: a melodic idea, a musical genre, a word or phrase, a friend, alover, a patron, money, politics, religion. His ability to unlock so many possibilities from each helps explain the emotional breadth and richness of his output as a whole, from the heaven-storming Ninth Symphony to the eccentric Eighth, and from the arcane Great Fugue to the crowd-pleasingWellington''s Victory. Beethoven''s works, Bonds argues, are a series of variations on his life. The iconic scowl so familiar from later images of the composer is but one of many attitudes he could assume and project through his music. The supposedly characteristic furrowed brow and frown, moreover, came only after his time. Discarding tired myths about the composer, Bonds proposes a new way of listening to Beethoven by hearing his music as an expression of his entire self, not just hisscowling self.

Adorno was a German philosopher, and social and cultural theorist whose work is seen as increasingly relevant to understanding the pathologies of contemporary society. This book considers his life and work, from the philosophical tradition he worked from to his explorations of reason and social theory, and critical assessments of modern culture.

This book gives an overview of the main kinds of employment rights and labour laws found in many countries. It evaluates some of the assumptions underpinning contemporary attitudes to such rights and laws in order to measure whether they are warranted. It also considers economic, political, and social justifications for employment rights and laws.

This Very Short Introduction explores the nature of bacteria, their origin, evolution, and relationship to the environment to demonstrate the fundamental role they play in our existence. This new edition examines the symbiotic relationship between the human body and bacteria, including their role in disease, wellness, and evolutionary development.

This Very Short Introduction discusses the central events, machines, and people that feature in established accounts of the history of computing. It then recontextualises them, critically examining received perceptions and providing a fresh look at the nature and development of the modern electronic computer.

Negotiation is essential for peace and international relations, but also for economically efficient trades and bargains in business, and for problem solving skills in workplaces, families and interpersonal interactions. Menkel-Meadow illustrates different models, approaches, and styles of negotiation, which are both conceptual and behavioral.

This book traces the key arguments that have led poststructuralists to challenge traditional theories of language and culture. It draws on examples from across our culture to explain how poststructuralism explores the relationship between human beings, the world, and the practice of making and reproducing meanings.

This Very Short Introduction describes anarchism as a lived set of practices, with a rich historical legacy, and shows how anarchists have inspired and criticised some of our most cherished values, from the ideals of freedom, participatory education, federalism, and climate change, to science fiction.

With the media bringing us constant tales of terrorism and violence, questions regarding the nature of evil are highly topical. Luke Russell explores the philosophical thinking and psychological evidence behind evil, alongside portrayals of fictional villains, considering why people are evil, and how it goes beyond the normal realms of what is bad.