Books published by Wayne State University Press

Traces the legacy of Krzysztof Kieslowski in films made after his death using his scripts or ideas and in the work of other filmmakers. This title diverges from the typical analysis of Kieslowski's work to focus on his legacy in films made after his death, including those based on his scripts and ideas and those made entirely by other filmmakers.

Assesses contemporary gospel music as the genre enters the twenty-first century. Suitable for Scholars of music and African American cultural studies, this work offers a comprehensive picture of the history and future of contemporary gospel music. It also includes interviews with contemporary gospel artists, allowing them to explain why they rap.

On January 17, 1920, the Eighteenth Amendment took effect in the United States, prohibiting the manufacture, sale, use, or importation of alcoholic beverages except for scientific and medicinal purposes. Church and business leaders, temperance advocates, and state and national officials predicted that a tranquil new era was about to begin-an era when prisons would be empty, police forces could be drastically cut, and workers would be more productive, spending time with their families rather than in saloons.As Rumrunning and the Roaring Twenties illustrates, peace and tranquillity and abstinence never arrived. The Prohibition experiment failed dismally in the United States, and nowhere worse than in Michigan. The state's close proximity and easy access to Canada, where large amounts of liquor were manufactured, made it a major center for the smuggling and sale of illegal alcohol. Although federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies attempted to stop the flow of liquor into Michigan and its widespread sale and use in blind pigs, joints, speakeasies, and exclusive clubs and restaurants, an astounding seventy-five percent of all illegal liquor brought into the United Stateswas transported across the Detroit River from Canada, especially the thirty-mile stretch from Lake Erie to the St. Clair River. In fact, the city's two major industries during most of the 1920s were the manufacture of automobiles and the distribution of Canadian liquor.Using police and court records, newspaper accounts, and interviews with those who lived during the time, Philip P. Mason has constructed a fascinating history of life in Michigan during Prohibition. He regales readers with stories of the bungled efforts by officials at every level to control the smuggling and sale of illegal alcohol. Most entertaining are the hundreds of photos capturing the essence of the era: the creative smuggling efforts undertaken by citizens of all walks of life-the poor, middle class, and affluent, upstanding citizens and organized criminals and gang members.The smugglers concocted both practical and ingenious methods to transport liquor into the state. Boats of all sizes were used, from small rowboats to powerful river crafts that could easily outrun police boats. Jalopies, trucks, airplanes, and railroad freight cars also carried large amounts of alcohol across the border. Clever smugglers rigged electronically controlled torpedoes to cross the river, laid pipes underwater and pumped alcohol into a bottling facility in Detroit, and concealed contraband in every conceivable device-hot water bottles, chest protectors, false breasts, hollowed out eggs and loaves of bread, picnic baskets, shopping bags, and baby carriages.By 1928 Prohibition was so obviously flawed and controversial that it became a major issue in the presidential campaign. In 1933, with the support of President Franklin Roosevelt, Michigan's governor William Comstock, and other leaders, the Twenty-first Amendment was passed, repealing Prohibition. Michigan was the first state to ratify the amendment on April 10, 1933, and soon the Detroit River was returned to pleasure boats and fishing and commercial vessels whose holds no longer carried illegal liquor.

Presents an examination of young survivors of the Holocaust and their role in the creation of the state of Israel. This book argues that Zionism was successful in filling a positive function for young displaced persons in the aftermath of the Holocaust. It is suitable for scholars of Jewish studies, European history, and Israel studies.

Describes life from a female perspective on the excavation site of Dura-Europos, the site of many remarkable archaeological finds.

A social, cultural, historical, and institutional analysis of the classic original series, The Fugitive.

Originally published in Warsaw in 1913, this memoir offers a panoramic description of the author's experiences growing up in Kamieniec Litewski, a Polish shtetl connected with many important events in the history of nineteenth-century Eastern European Jewry. It also presents an important document of Jewish life during a fascinating era.

Chester Himes and John A Williams met in 1961, as Himes was on the cusp of transcontinental celebrity and Williams, sixteen years his junior, was just beginning his writing career. This is a collection of correspondence between these two friends, presenting nearly three decades worth of letters about their lives and loves.

Thestory of the Gibsons, a working-class family from El Paso, Texas, that is struggling to survive the desertion of their father. It is an account of a young man forced to measure memory and love against reason and reality. It is also an illuminating look at the surreal lives of America's homeless and a tribute to the strength of faith and family.

Orality has been central to the transmission of Sephardic customs, wisdom, and values for centuries. This is a selection of 54 folktales from Matilda Koen-Sarano's collection of stories recorded in Ladino (Judeo-Spanish) and translated by Reginetta Haboucha into fluent and idiomatic English that preserves the flavour and oral nuances of each text.

Filmmaker John Sayles has tackled issues ranging from race and sexuality to the abuses of capitalism and American culture. This collection offers coverage of Sayles's craft and content, with a variety of critical methods to explore the scope of his work. The essays give an understanding of his individual films and of his place in American cinema.

Pointing to an early instance in Hebrew literary history, this work takes its title from a biblical episode in which a daughter seizes control of a paternal spiritual legacy and makes it her own.

While Israel is a small country, it has a diverse and continually changing society. As a result, since the 1960s Israeli anthropology has been a fertile ground for researchers. This collection introduces readers to the diverse field of social anthropology in Israel, pointing to both its rich history and promising future.