Join thousands of book lovers
Sign up to our newsletter and receive discounts and inspiration for your next reading experience.
By signing up, you agree to our Privacy Policy.You can, at any time, unsubscribe from our newsletters.
Known for their striking full-body tattoos and severed fingertips, Japan's gangsters comprise a criminal class eighty thousand strong--more than four times the size of the American mafia. Despite their criminal nature, the yakuza are accepted by fellow Japanese to a degree guaranteed to shock most Westerners. Yakuza is the first book to reveal the extraordinary reach of Japan's Mafia. Originally published in 1986, it was so controversial in Japan that it could not be published there for five years. But in the west it has long served as the standard reference on Japanese organized crime and has inspired novels, screenplays, and criminal investigations. This twenty-fifth anniversary edition tells the full story or Japan's remarkable crime syndicates, from their feudal start as bands of medieval outlaws to their emergence as billion-dollar investors in real estate, big business, art, and more.
In this gripping memoir of the AIDS years (1981-1996), Sarah Schulman recalls how much of the rebellious queer culture, cheap rents, and a vibrant downtown arts movement vanished almost overnight to be replaced by gay conservative spokespeople and mainstream consumerism. Schulman takes us back to her Lower East Side and brings it to life, filling these pages with vivid memories of her avant-garde queer friends and dramatically recreating the early years of the AIDS crisis as experienced by a political insider. Interweaving personal reminiscence with cogent analysis, Schulman details her experience as a witness to the loss of a generation's imagination and the consequences of that loss.
Year of the Locust captures in page-turning detail the end of the Ottoman world and a pivotal moment in Palestinian history. In the diaries of Ihsan Hasan al-Turjman (1893-1917), the first ordinary recruit to describe World War I from the Arab side, we follow the misadventures of an Ottoman soldier stationed in Jerusalem. There he occupied himself by dreaming about his future and using family connections to avoid being sent to the Suez. His diaries draw a unique picture of daily life in the besieged city, bringing into sharp focus its communitarian alleys and obliterated neighborhoods, the ongoing political debates, and, most vividly, the voices from its streets-soldiers, peddlers, prostitutes, and vagabonds. Salim Tamari's indispensable introduction places the diary in its local, regional, and imperial contexts while deftly revising conventional wisdom on the disintegration of the Ottoman Empire.
The kea, a crow-sized parrot that lives in the rugged mountains of New Zealand, is considered by some a playful comic and by others a vicious killer. Its true character is a mystery that biologists have debated for more than a century. Judy Diamond and Alan Bond have written a comprehensive account of the kea's contradictory nature, and their conclusions cast new light on the origins of behavioral flexibility and the problem of species survival in human environments everywhere.New Zealand's geological remoteness has made the country home to a bizarre assemblage of plants and animals that are wholly unlike anything found elsewhere. Keas are native only to the South Island, breeding high in the rigorous, unforgiving environment of the Southern Alps. Bold, curious, and ingeniously destructive, keas have a complex social system that includes extensive play behavior. Like coyotes, crows, and humans, keas are "e;open-program"e; animals with an unusual ability to learn and to create new solutions to whatever problems they encounter.Diamond and Bond present the kea's story from historical and contemporary perspectives and include observations from their years of field work. A comparison of the kea's behavior and ecology with that of its closest relative, the kaka of New Zealand's lowland rain forests, yields insights into the origins of the kea's extraordinary adaptability. The authors conclude that the kea's high level of sociality is a key factor in the flexible lifestyle that probably evolved in response to the alpine habitat's unreliable food resources and has allowed the bird to survive the extermination of much of its original ecosystem. But adaptability has its limits, as the authors make clear when describing present-day interactions between keas and humans and the attempts to achieve a peaceful coexistence.
Henri Michaux defies common critical definition. Critics have compared his work to such diverse artists as Kafka, Goya, Swift, Klee, and Beckett. Allen Ginsberg called Michaux "e;genius,"e; and Jorge Luis Borges wrote that Michaux's work "e;is without equal in the literature of our time."e; This anthology contains substantial selections from almost all of Michaux's major works, most never before published in English, and allows readers to explore the haunting verbal and pictorial landscape of a twentieth-century visionary.
Horace Silver is one of the last giants remaining from the incredible flowering and creative extension of bebop music that became known as "e;hard bop"e; in the 1950s. This freewheeling autobiography of the great composer, pianist, and bandleader takes us from his childhood in Norwalk, Connecticut, through his rise to fame as a musician in New York, to his comfortable life "e;after the road"e; in California. During that time, Silver composed an impressive repertoire of tunes that have become standards and recorded a number of classic albums. Well-seasoned with anecdotes about the music, the musicians, and the milieu in which he worked and prospered, Silver's narrative-like his music-is earthy, vernacular, and intimate. His stories resonate with lessons learned from hearing and playing alongside such legends as Art Blakey, Charlie Parker, and Lester Young. His irrepressible sense of humor combined with his distinctive spirituality make his account both entertaining and inspiring. Most importantly, Silver's unique take on the music and the people who play it opens a window onto the creative process of jazz and the social and cultural worlds in which it flourishes.Let's Get to the Nitty Gritty also describes Silver's spiritual awakening in the late 1970s. This transformation found its expression in the electronic and vocal music of the three-part work called The United States of Mind and eventually led the musician to start his own record label, Silveto. Silver details the economic forces that eventually persuaded him to put Silveto to rest and to return to the studios of major jazz recording labels like Columbia, Impulse, and Verve, where he continued expanding his catalogue of new compositions and recordings that are at least as impressive as his earlier work.
"Editors, you're not done when you've read the fourth edition of The Copyeditor's Handbook. Do every single exercise in the comprehensive Workbook. You have to love a workbook that has an exercise with an editor's version of the classic lightbulb joke."--Katharine O'Moore-Klopf, ELS, owner of KOK Edit "The Copyeditor's Workbook is a dream come true for teachers and students, a major expansion on (but including) Amy Einsohn's original exercises. Thorough and (yes) often entertaining, the Workbook offers more than forty strategic drills--most of them new--in print and digital form. Perfect for training meticulous yet insightful copyeditors."--Carol Saller, author of The Subversive Copy Editor "The Workbook triples the number of exercises from the origin Handbook and offers far more scope for classroom settings, solo learning, and informal study groups."--Pm Weizenbaum, 2018 president of the Northwest Editors Guild "I'm really excited about The Copyeditor's Workbook. It fills a gap in editor education and will help students develop that most elusive of skills--editorial judgment. With reminders that often there is no one right answer and exposure to different editing techniques and editor resources, the Workbook is an excellent addition to any copyediting course using The Copyeditor's Handbook."--Erin Brenner, owner of Right Touch Editing and former owner of Copyediting.com
Praise for The Copyeditor's Handbook "Absolutely required for students in publishing programs, the volume will also be valuable for those working with copyeditors and those interested in becoming freelance editors.... Essential."--CHOICE"[A]n indispensable classic."--Technical Communications"Marilyn Schwartz has incisively and thoroughly updated and expanded The Copyeditor's Handbook, adding best-practice advice on editorial ethics, accessibility, digital sources, plain language, ESL, and more. Amy Einsohn would be so pleased! Pair this rigorous yet amiable handbook with The Copyeditor's Workbook for a complete course in manuscript editing."--Carol Saller, author of The Subversive Copy Editor "Marilyn Schwartz has crafted a worthy revision of this revered classic. Much here is new, taking us fully into the twenty-first century. Further thoughts and explication from both Amy Einsohn's posthumous notes and Schwartz's own experience are so skillfully woven in that Einsohn's voice continues to sing through."--Pm Weizenbaum, 2018 president of the Northwest Editors Guild "The Copyeditor's Handbook remains the best guide for copyeditors. Marilyn Schwartz has done a thorough job of addressing the 'tectonic shifts' in editing, using Amy Einsohn's copious notes and her own deep experience. It's as though she read the minds of editing instructors everywhere when we've said, 'I wish Einsohn covered . . .'"--Erin Brenner, owner of Right Touch Editing and former owner of Copyediting.com "The fourth edition does the well-loved Amy Einsohn proud, especially with the new material covering digital editing, helpful software, and indie authors. Editors everywhere will greatly appreciate the editing code of ethics added at the end of chapter 1. Reading this book is the next best thing to having a good mentor."--Katharine O'Moore-Klopf, ELS, owner of KOK EditPraise for The Copyeditor's Workbook"Editors, you're not done when you've read the fourth edition of The Copyeditor's Handbook. Do every single exercise in the comprehensive Workbook. You have to love a workbook that has an exercise with an editor's version of the classic lightbulb joke."--Katharine O'Moore-Klopf, ELS, owner of KOK Edit "The Copyeditor's Workbook is a dream come true for teachers and students, a major expansion on (but including) Amy Einsohn's original exercises. Thorough and (yes) often entertaining, the Workbook offers more than forty strategic drills--most of them new--in print and digital form. Perfect for training meticulous yet insightful copyeditors."--Carol Saller, author of The Subversive Copy Editor "The Workbook triples the number of exercises from the origin Handbook and offers far more scope for classroom settings, solo learning, and informal study groups."--Pm Weizenbaum, 2018 president of the Northwest Editors Guild "I'm really excited about The Copyeditor's Workbook. It fills a gap in editor education and will help students develop that most elusive of skills--editorial judgment. With reminders that often there is no one right answer and exposure to different editing techniques and editor resources, the Workbook is an excellent addition to any copyediting course using The Copyeditor's Handbook."--Erin Brenner, owner of Right Touch Editing and former owner of Copyediting.com
Here, for the first time, is a collection of short speeches by the charismatic doctor and social activist Paul Farmer. One of the most passionate and influential voices for global health equity and social justice, Farmer encourages young people to tackle the greatest challenges of our times. Engaging, often humorous, and always inspiring, these speeches bring to light the brilliance and force of Farmer's vision in a single, accessible volume.A must-read for graduates, students, and everyone seeking to help bend the arc of history toward justice, To Repair the World:* Challenges readers to counter failures of imagination that keep billions of people without access to health care, safe drinking water, decent schools, and other basic human rights; * Champions the power of partnership against global poverty, climate change, and other pressing problems today; * Overturns common assumptions about health disparities around the globe by considering the large-scale social forces that determine who gets sick and who has access to health care;* Discusses how hope, solidarity, faith, and hardbitten analysis have animated Farmer's service to the poor in Haiti, Peru, Rwanda, Russia, and elsewhere;* Leaves the reader with an uplifting vision: that with creativity, passion, teamwork, and determination, the next generations can make the world a safer and more humane place.
Traces the main developments in Greek philosophy during the period which runs from the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC to the end of the Roman Republic (31 BC). This book helps to remove misconceptions.
Recognized as a major figure in postwar American painting, Richard Diebenkorn (1922-1993) was an artist strongly identified with California but whose work is beloved throughout the United States and the rest of the world. This catalogue covers Diebenkorn's career and focuses on the artist's inner life and purposes as revealed in his paintings.
A Chinese Bestiary presents a fascinating pageant of mythical creatures from a unique and enduring cosmography written in ancient China. The Guideways through Mountains and Seas, compiled between the fourth and first centuries B.C.E., contains descriptions of hundreds of fantastic denizens of mountains, rivers, islands, and seas, along with minerals, flora, and medicine. The text also represents a wide range of beliefs held by the ancient Chinese. Richard Strassberg brings the Guideways to life for modern readers by weaving together translations from the work itself with information from other texts and recent archaeological finds to create a lavishly illustrated guide to the imaginative world of early China.
'Fanatic', 'dogmatic', 'fundamentalist' - these are the words most often used in the West to describe the Ayatollah Khomeini. This book challenges that view, arguing that Khomeini and his Islamic movement should be seen as a form of Third World political populism.
Born to a prominent family in Havana but exiled to the United States as a girl, Ana Mendieta (1948-1985) is regarded as one of the most significant artists of the postwar era. This illustrated catalogue presents a series of color stills from each of twenty-one original Super 8 films that have been preserved and digitized for the 2015 exhibition.
"A wide-ranging anthology of ethnopoetry including origin texts, visionary texts, texts about death, texts about events--collected from Africa, the Americas, Asia, Europe and the Ancient Near East, and Oceania."--Provided by publiher.
A museum survey to historicize art made in the United States during the pivotal decade. This book includes installations, paintings, sculptures, drawings, video, sound, and digital art. It offers an overview of art made in the United States between 1989 and 2001, a period bookended by two indelible events: the fall of the Berlin Wall and 9/11.
Arguing that Americans have misconceived the relation between democracy, private property, and the economic order, this book contends that we can achieve a society of real democracy and political equality without sacrificing liberty by extending democratic principles into the economic order.
Features a survey of Marcus Mosiah Garvey and the extraordinary mass movement of black social protest he inspired. This title brings together a wealth of documents - speeches, letters, and newspaper articles to provide a record of the period between the first and second international conventions of the Universal Negro Improvement Association.
Marcus Mosiah Garvey (1887- 1940) led a mass movement of black social protest. This title documents a record the internal structure and political splits of the UNIA, and provides the financial history of Garvey's controversial Black Star Line steamship venture, one of the schemes that led to the financial collapse of his movement.
Offers an account of Igor Stravinsky's life and work. This work includes some early pieces that have come to light, as well as the late compositions, including the "Requiem Canticles" and "The Owl and the Pussycat".
Suitable for the classical scholars, this title explores an aspect of Greek military practice.
Lady Hyegyong's memoirs, which recount the chilling murder of her husband by his father, is one of the best known and most popular classics of Korean literature. From 1795 until 1805 Lady Hyegyong composed this masterpiece, which depicts a court life whose drama and pathos is of Shakespearean proportions.
Brings social scientific understandings to bear on tourism in the postindustrial age, during which the middle class has acquired leisure time for international travel. This title examines notions of authenticity, high and low culture, and the construction of social reality around tourism.
Suitable for fellow conductors, players, students, and professional musicians, and also for those interested in the performance of orchestral music.
Features an argument that ranges from highly theoretical speculations to highly topical problems of modern art and practical hints for the art teacher, and it is most unlikely that I can find a reader who will feel at home on every level of the argument.
Introduces an archaeological approach to the study of media - one that sifts through the evidence to learn how media were written about, used, designed, preserved, and sometimes discarded. This book helps us understand how the media that predate interactive, digital forms were in their time contested, adopted and embedded in the everyday.
Divided into three sections - Vineyard Profiles, Domaine Profiles, and Vintage Assessments, this title considers the leading vineyards and today's top estates, and features detailed maps and a wealth of tasting notes that reflect how the wine develops as it ages.
Nearly half of all Americans will be diagnosed with an invasive cancer-an all-too ordinary aspect of daily life. Through a powerful combination of cultural analysis and memoir, this stunningly original book explores why cancer remains so confounding, despite the billions of dollars spent in the search for a cure. Amidst furious debates over its causes and treatments, scientists generate reams of data-information that ultimately obscures as much as it clarifies. Award-winning anthropologist S. Lochlann Jain deftly unscrambles the high stakes of the resulting confusion. Expertly reading across a range of material that includes history, oncology, law, economics, and literature, Jain explains how a national culture that simultaneously aims to deny, profit from, and cure cancer entraps us in a state of paradox-one that makes the world of cancer virtually impossible to navigate for doctors, patients, caretakers, and policy makers alike. This chronicle, burning with urgency and substance leavened with brio and wit, offers a lucid guide to understanding and navigating the quicksand of uncertainty at the heart of cancer. Malignant vitally shifts the terms of an epic battle we have been losing for decades: the war on cancer.
Sign up to our newsletter and receive discounts and inspiration for your next reading experience.
By signing up, you agree to our Privacy Policy.