Books published by Lexington Books

By recognizing the pervasive influence that Herodotus's career as an oral performer had on his composition of the Histories, The Audiences of Herodotus: Oral Performance and the Battle Narratives argues that the Histories' versions of the three most important battles in the Persian Wars-the battles of Thermopylae, Salamis, and Plataea-persistently and disproportionately advance the interests, biases, and political agendas of distinct audiences in the mid-fifth century, well before Herodotus assembled his famous work of history as it survives to us. The Salamis and Plataea narratives reflect a mid-century audience of Athenians and their allies; the Thermopylae narrative reflects an Amphictyonic audience gathered at the Pythian Festival. Ian Oliver concludes that, as a participant in a culture of wisdom performance (epideixis), Herodotus originally composed short, ideologically motivated performance pieces that he intended to promote tendentious reinterpretations of these momentous events, then relied on these narratives when he composed his final text: the unitary Histories.

In our modern era of hyperconnectivity, the intricacies of our interpersonal relationships wield a profound influence on our sense of self. Throughout history, Italian literature has served as a rich tapestry reflecting these dynamics, offering poignant glimpses into the interplay of identity, belonging, and the concept of the Other. Alterity and Identity in Italian Literature: Encountering the Other from Dante to the Present embarks on a journey spanning from the Middle Ages to contemporary times, traversing the diverse landscapes of Italian literary tradition. Through a nuanced diachronic lens, this volume explores how Italian authors across centuries have grappled with encounters with the Other. Each essay provides a unique perspective on the dynamic interplay between the Self and the Other through close readings of pivotal texts, including but not limited to Boccaccio's Decameron, Tasso's Jerusalem Delivered, Gadda's Acquainted with Grief, and Ferrante's Neapolitan Novels. From the grand epics of medieval Italy to the nuanced narratives of modern novels, this volume unveils the ways in which Italian literature serves as a mirror reflecting the complexities of human experience. It invites readers to immerse themselves in the timeless echoes of alterity that resonate throughout Italian literary history, offering profound insights into the enduring quest for understanding and identity.

In Crisis Cultures: Narratives of Western Modernity in the Digital Age, Nicholas Manganas argues that crisis should be understood not as a series of isolated events, but as a constitutive state intrinsic to modern Western societies. He explores how this perpetual state of crisis intensifies underlying societal tensions and reshapes cultural and political dynamics. Drawing on a diverse range of case studies, including the Capitol Hill riots in the United States, and analyses from countries such as Spain and Greece, Manganas explores how both digital and traditional media perpetuate crisis narratives that significantly influence contemporary cultural identities and shape political discourses. His analysis also engages with the emotional and temporal aspects of crises, particularly focusing on how digital environments, through their ambient influence, shape and sustain these states of crisis. By reinterpreting the concept of crisis through an interdisciplinary lens that includes historical, political and cultural analysis, the author offers a compelling analysis of its role in shaping the present and futures contours of Western societies.

From the outset, Paul Ricœur's work gives centrality to man's bodily and sensitive nature-his primordial affectivity and fragility-as sources of free action. From Vulnerability to Promise: Perspectives on Ricœur from Women Philosophers explores this dimension and its ethical, political, and conceptual implications, focusing on the embodied dimension of existence, its vulnerability, and its possibilities of attestation and recognition. Edited by Sophie-Jan Arrien and Beatriz Contreras, this book examines the relationships-passivity and activity, mind and body, singularity and sociality, finitude and transcendence-that lie at the heart of Ricœur's philosophical anthropology, revealing its ontological richness and ethical significance. Within this dimension, the ten contributors approach personal human identity in Ricœur's work from multiple perspectives: the narrative dimension of understanding; birth and privacy; freedom and recognition; love and consent; justice and respect in the face of abuse; the vulnerability of our natural environment; our inescapable finitude. These viewpoints are informed by both their vision as women philosophers, empowering their embodied condition in a reflexive way, and the urgency of reflecting on the human condition in order to find continuity between its passionate, affective, and finite forces.

This book traces the material-cultural dynamics of the honeybee and beekeeping from prehistory to the present in the areas that would become Imperial Russia and the Soviet Union. Beekeeping and the cultural meanings around the honeybee and its products have been fundamental to this region's history.

Rorty, Public Reason, and Modernity's Crisis of Critique uses the work of Richard Rorty to discuss modernity's crisis of critique and the powers and limits of public reason to address this crisis. Arguing for a redefinition of philosophy, it elaborates a political epistemology view that defends a post-metaphysical culture.

This book delivers a systematic investigation of Native American princess pageants, exploring when and why they started, how they spread across and within Native American communities, the ways in which these pageants differ from other contests (such as Miss USA), the workings of the pageants themselves, and their socio-cultural costs and benefits.

This book is a comparative analysis of classic texts of the Western canon, with each text grounded on a modernist version of love. As the aesthetic of modernism is still an aesthetic of sublime, romance becomes a tale of beauty and terror.

This book explores the challenges Islamic societies face due to globalization and the internationalization of Western values. Using Pakistani society as an example, it examines the differences between the Islamic value system and moral relativism, and the resulting ideological conflicts that lead to extreme polarization in societies.

This book offers a comprehensive scholarly analysis of the digital adaptation of Indigenous African communication methods, challenging conventional narratives of media development through real life case studies to highlight the resilience and relevance of African cultural expressions in an increasingly interconnected world.

War in the Taiwan Strait is neither imminent nor probable. However, Beijing, Taipei, and Washington each face the "Yizhou Dilemma" that neither action nor inaction would lead to desirable outcomes.

This book examines the representation of terrorists and terrorisms in films, television shows, books, video games, and other popular cultural formats aimed at children and young adults to reveal the messaging that future decision-makers receive via these media.

This book investigates various public aspects of the management, use, and control of social media by police agencies in Canada. This book aims to illustrate the process by which new information technologynamely, social mediaand related changes in communication formats have affected the public face of policing and police work. Schneider argues that police use of social media has altered institutional public police practices in a manner that is consistent with the logic of social media platforms. Policing is changing to include new ways of conditioning the public, cultivating self-promotion, and expanding social control. While each case study presented here focuses on a different social media platform or format, his concern is less with the particular format per se, as these will undoubtedly change, and more with developing suitable analytical and methodological approaches to understanding contemporary policing practices on social media sites.

Assessing the social integration of people with disabilities in an intra-culturally valid yet cross-culturally replicable and comparative manner is a crucial but challenging tasks for policy makers across the EU. Stigma has been shown to interfere with the successful implementation of public policy and hinder the social integration of people with disabilities. Navigating Disability Stigma in Poland's Changing Cultural Landscape: An Ethnographic and Quantitative Exploration of Social Integration in the European Context employs a mixed method research approach to investigate the stigma toward people with disabilities in Poland. Using a novel approach to existing methods in the field of cognitive anthropology, the author develops a quantitative and potentially cross-culturally replicable assessment of this stigma, offering a vital tool for monitoring social integration. This book navigates the evolving cultural landscape of post state-socialist Poland, where the discourse on disability intersect with shifting societal values and tensions surrounding independence versus state care.

Through close readings of literary texts by Camara Laye to Ata Aidoo, via Langston Hughes, Richard Wright, and Ralph Ellison, this book re-evaluates the issue of double consciousness originally raised by W.E.B. DuBois and, in doing so, problematize the role of the intellectuals in relation to their community.

This book examines Saudi women's novels through a genetic structuralist lens, tracing how themes evolve alongside societal changes. It highlights how these narratives reflect Saudi women's experiences within shifting socio-historical contexts in their society, offering profound insights into their collective consciousness and aspirations.

In 1970s California, when many school communities resisted progress, visionary teachers and dynamic students at Sunnyvale High School created a vibrant, multiracial school community where students took on meaningful leadership roles, found common ground, and blazed multiple paths to successful adulthood.

A History of Homebuilders from Early Modern to Modern Times provides a diachronic account of homebuilders' more than 500 years history in the Anglosphere nations of the U.S., Britain, Canada, and Australia.

Andrei Pop argues that Frege's distinction between sense and reference, concept and object, and asserted and unasserted thought provides a superior account of the overlapping categories of fiction and art. This book also tackles case studies in Fregean art history and theory.

Anatomy of Local Government in Bangladesh delves deep into the heart of governance in this vibrant nation, exploring its local government institutions' intricacies, challenges, and evolution. As a foundational layer of governmental hierarchy, these Local Government Institutions (LGIs) are a vital component of field administration, as enshrined in the country's constitution. With an unwavering commitment to a qualitative approach, this comprehensive study takes readers on a journey through the very essence of local government in Bangladesh, focusing on its structure, functions, and the hurdles it confronts. Leveraging an array of secondary data sources, the book unveils the inner workings of LGIs, painting a clear picture of their historical development, present organization, and financial dynamics. The chapters in this book lay bare the patron-client relationship between national and local governments, urging a shift towards greater autonomy and genuine representation of local citizens' needs. The path to democracy, decentralization, and enhanced local administration is illuminated, with insights drawn from foreign donors and citizen activism. This compelling book is a scholarly exploration and a guide for policymakers and activists, offering valuable lessons and suggestions for the future.

This book investigates the complex social, cultural, economic, and legal factors that perpetuate gender-based violence in Sub-Saharan Africa, by exploring the intersecting identities of class, migration, and sexuality.

This book investigates cannabis use among those born between 1954 and 1965. Combining quantitative data and qualitative personal narratives, it explores the ways in which demographic, psychological, and sociological factors drive cannabis use in this cohort's later life.

This book examines Catholic Native American Boarding Schools run by Catholic Sisters between 1847 and 1918. Using previously unexplored archival material, Elisabeth C. Davis examines how Catholic Sisters established authority over their students and the local indigenous community.

This book invokes the relationship between nature and urban contexts as powerful storytellers through a timely contribution to the historical understanding of our mechanisms of production of narratives about nature, therefore breaking new ground for current and future research for locally situated and globally shared environmental concerns.

Addressing issues from slow violence, transcorporeality, food and reproductive justice or agrarianism and employing a wide range of ecolinguistics approaches, this volume brings to the fore a diversity of literary responses by African American, Latinx, Asian American, and American Indian writers to environmental injustices and their impact.

This book, the culmination of the life's work of noted oral historian Fran Leeper Buss, combines interviews, memoir, theory, and analysis to explore the ways in which some women are able to redeem memories of traumatic experiences by going on to become social justice activists.

Reframing India in World History breaks the stereotypical portrayal of India based on misconstrued historical theories. Based on new evidence-based research Lavanya Vemsani brings forward comprehensive understanding of Indian history from the beginnings to the present.

The Abraham Accords: National Security, Regional Order, and Popular Representation is a pioneering effort in discussing and analyzing the Abraham Accords. It draws attention to the multitude of factors that shape Gulf Cooperation Council state postures concerning normalization with Israel.

This book provides a rhetorical analysis of HOPE VI, a federal mixed-income, public housing program. The author addresses the phenomenon of participatory capture that worsened inequality, prompting a reconsideration, rhetorical and otherwise, of what it means to participate in America's cities.

This book explores the collection and documentation of the natural world's development over the course of the nineteenth century into a vast network of scientists who attempted to categorize and understand nature, particularly in the botanically rich Indian Ocean.