Every society has its ideals, and its myths. In Naked America, author Michael A. Smith examines many of the nation's original ideals, and presents compelling information indicating most of them have been transformed into myths. For example, many regularly describe the United States as the land of economic opportunity, yet 20 percent of American households earn half of all income, and own more than half of all the nation's assets. Education is touted as the road to success, although only one-third of high school graduates achieve a postsecondary education degree. Two-thirds of future jobs in what has become essentially a service economy are projected to be low- or very low-paying. In the world's self-proclaimed "greatest democracy," pessimism about government is widespread and only 35 percent of registered voters vote regularly. Although more than 80 percent of Americans profess to be practicing Christians, New Testament ethics appear overwhelmed by mindless materialism, pervasive marketplace fraud, a high crime rate, constant ideological bickering, and cultural kitsch. To rectify this situation and turn America's ideals into reality, the author proposes many wide-ranging social, economic, and political reforms.
Kitty Carpenter and Matt Dillard renovate an abandoned barn on his farm and turn it into an Old West revival saloon, complete with bar, restaurant and "gambling room" on the first floor, and hotel rooms, bathhouse and massage parlor upstairs. On the street out front, saloon members compete in rubber bullet gunfight tournaments! The saloon becomes more controversial when sex workers rent hotel rooms. However, Kitty, a former elite escort and lawyer, exploits legal loopholes to stymie law enforcement. She augments these efforts with favors, bribery and blackmail. Privately, Kitty and her female wait staff divert millions into an investment fund.In the beginning, Matt, a local war hero, is Kitty's lover and unwitting business partner. However, his second floor experiences change their relationship.Other colorful saloon characters include Festus, the janitor; Doc, who treats injured drunks and gunfighters; Jamie, a computer/Internet expert; Reilly, head bartender; Pika, the masseuse; and, Cadence, wedding reception coordinator.The saloon is popular among its 300 members, but protests by the anti-gun lobby, and those opposed to gambling and prostitution reach an explosion point. Will the saloon survive, or does Kitty have an innovative, profitable exit plan?
The author recounts his marriage to Susan Smith, the reasons for the breakdown of their relationship, and the impact on his life of her murder of their two young children
This book was published on the occasion of a major twenty-five year retrospective exhibition at the International Museum of Photography at George Eastman House. It brings together for the first time in one volume a broad and varied selection of Smiths prodigious work. The large number of reproductions trace the growth of his distinctive and life-affirming vision in photographs of the land, cities, and people. A foreword by Marianne Fulton, Senior Curator at the International Museum of Photography at George Eastman House places Smiths work in an historical context, and an insightful essay by John Bratnober probes the connection between the photographs and the life of the artist. A complete chronology and bibliography are included. The high production standards combined with the beauty of the photographs insure that this high-quality publication will stand as one of the finest monographs ever produced. Every detail of production was supervised by the photographer. Included are 24 fold-outs for reproduction of the large-scale 8x20-inch contact prints.
During an artillery barrage at the Civil War battle of Antietam in 1862, a young colonel lost his leg. More than 150 years later, he lost the same leg in a traffic accident on the Washington, D.C. Beltway!Diane Kowalski, a research scientist, examines tissue from the anonymous victim's severed leg. She discovers a genetic mutation that could make regeneration possible — and increase longevity. Diane and Jack O'Sullivan, a private investigator, follow clues that lead them to Thomas Winthrop, founder of a leading genetics research laboratory. They learn that Winthrop has developed a gene therapy to extend his natural “gifts” to humanity. However, Winthrop's “family” opposes his plan, arguing that it would lead to overpopulation, economic chaos, famine and war.Lightning's Child is a novel about the latest advances in biotechnology that one day may allow the human species to control its evolutionary destiny. It's also a lighthearted and entertaining story about its colorful characters, as they struggle to achieve purpose, fulfillment and love in their lives.
This perfect gift book for fans of Downton Abbey will take them behind the scenes of the Grand Dame who brings the Dowager Countess to life. No one does glamour, severity, girlish charm or tight-lipped witticism better than Dame Maggie Smith. Michael Coveney's biography shines a light on the life and career of a truly remarkable performer, one whose stage and screen career spans six decades. From her days as a West End star of comedy and revue, Dame Maggie's path would cross with those of the greatest actors, playwrights and directors of the era. Whether stealing scenes from Richard Burton, answering back to Laurence Olivier, or playing opposite Judi Dench in Breath of Life, her career can be seen as a 'Who's Who' of British theatre. Her film and television career has been just as starry. From the title character in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie and the meddling chaperone in A Room With a View to the Harry Potter films in which she played Minerva McGonagall (as she put it 'Miss Jean Brodie in a wizard's hat') and the Best Exotic Marigold Hotel films in which she played the wise Muriel Donnelly, Smith has thrilled, engaged and made audiences laugh. As Violet Crawley, the formidable Dowager Countess of Downton Abbey she conquered millions more. Paradoxically she remains an enigmatic figure, rarely appearing in public. Michael Coveney's absorbing biography, written with the actress's blessing and drawing on personal archives, as well as interviews with immediate family and close friends, is a portrait of one of the greatest actors of our time.
An Introduction to Political Geography continues to provide a broad-based introduction to contemporary political geography for students following undergraduate degree courses in geography and related subjects. The text explores the full breadth of contemporary political geography, covering not only traditional concerns such as the state, geopolitics, electoral geography and nationalism; but also increasing important areas at the cutting-edge of political geography research including globalization, the geographies of regulation and governance, geographies of policy formulation and delivery, and themes at the intersection of political and cultural geography, including the politics of place consumption, landscapes of power, citizenship, identity politics and geographies of mobilization and resistance. This second edition builds on the strengths of the first. The main changes and enhancements are: four new chapters on: political geographies of globalization, geographies of empire, political geography and the environment and geopolitics and critical geopolitics significant updating and revision of the existing chapters to discuss key developments, drawing on recent academic contributions and political events new case studies, drawing on an increasing number of international and global examples additional boxes for key concepts and an enlarged glossary. As with the first edition, extensive use is made of case study examples, illustrations, explanatory boxes, guides to further reading and a glossary of key terms to present the material in an easily accessible manner. Through employment of these techniques this book introduces students to contributions from a range of social and political theories in the context of empirical case study examples. By providing a basic introduction to such concepts and pointing to pathways into more specialist material, this book serves both as a core text for first- and second- year courses in political geography, and as a resource alongside supplementary textbooks for more specialist third year courses.
Shapiro seeks to bring recognition to forms of political expression that have existed on the margins of the nationhood practices of states and the complicit nation-sustaining conceits of social science.
Between 1600 and 1800 around 4,000 Catholic women left England for a life of exile in the convents of France, Flanders, Portugal and America. These closed communities offered religious contemplation and safety, but also provided an environment of concentrated female intellectualism. The nuns’ writings from this time form a unique resource.
For the past seventy years the discipline of film studies has widely invoked the term national cinema. Such a concept suggests a unified identity with distinct cultural narratives. As the current debate over the meaning of nation and nationalism has made thoughtful readers question the term, its application to the field of film studies has become the subject of recent interrogation. In The Myth of an Irish Cinema, Michael Patrick Gillespie presents a groundbreaking challenge to the traditional view of filmmaking, contesting the existence of an Irish national cinema. Given the social, economic, and cultural complexity of contemporary Irish identity, Gillespie argues, filmmakers can no longer present Irishness as a monolithic entity. The book is arranged thematically, with chapters exploring cinematic representation of the middle class, urban life, rural life, religion, and politics. Offering close readings of Irish-themed films, Gillespie identifies a variety of interpretative approaches based on the diverse elements that define national character. Covering a wide range of films, from John Ford’s The Quiet Man and Kirk Jones’s Waking Ned Devine to Bob Quinn’s controversial Budawanny and The Bishop’s Story, The Myth of an Irish Cinema signals a paradigm shift in the field of film studies and promises to reinvigorate dialogue on the subject of national cinema.
Servitization and Physical Asset Management, third edition, was developed to provide a structured source of guidance and reference information on the business opportunities linked to servitization and the management of physical assets. A growing trend in the global economy, servitization focuses on the actual deliverables of an asset from the perspective of the customer: electricity instead of the power plant, thrust instead of the engine, mobility instead of a plane or a car. The book offers high-level overviews of how to servitized and manage assets from a variety of perspectives, reviewing nearly 1,500 books, magazine articles, papers and presentations and websites. Written by Michael J. Provost, Ph.D., and a subject matter expert in modeling, simulation, analysis and condition monitoring, Servitization and Physical Asset Management, third edition, is an invaluable reference to those considering providing asset management services for the products they design and manufacture. It is also meant to support middle management wishing to know what needs to be done to look after the assets they are responsible for and who to approach for help, and academics doing research in this field. Michael Provost, is a British engineer with a doctoral degree in thermal power from Cranfield University.
This final compilation from James Lees-Milne's celebrated diaries covers the last fourteen years of his life, when he was living on the Duke of Beaufort's Badminton estate. Old age and infirmity have not dimmed his sharpness, literary skill or interest in the world around him, and his reflection on people, places and experiences are as vivid as ever. A tour of the Cotsworlds makes him ruefully aware of the yuppy trends of the Thatcher era, while he predicts that the New Labour victory will bring 'a descent into American-style vulgarity and yob culture'. Witty, waspish, poignant and candid, James Lees-Milne's last diaries contain as much to delight as the first, and confirm his reputation as one of the great commentators of his times.
A deep and timely account of how American newspapers were produced and distributed on paper. Winner of the Best Book in Canadian Business History by the Canadian Business History Association Popular assessments of printed newspapers have become so grim that some have taken to calling them “dead tree media” as a way of invoking the medium’s imminent demise. There is a literal truth hidden in this dismissive expression: printed newspapers really are material goods made from trees. And, throughout the twentieth century, the overwhelming majority of trees cut down in the service of printing newspapers in the United States came from Canada. In Dead Tree Media, Michael Stamm reveals the international history of the commodity chains connecting Canadian trees and US readers. Drawing on newly available corporate documents and research in archives across North America, Stamm offers a sophisticated rethinking of the material history of the printed newspaper. Tracing its industrial production from the forest to the newsstand, he provides an account of the obscure and often hidden labor involved in this manufacturing process by showing how it was driven by not only publishers and journalists but also lumberjacks, paper mill workers, policymakers, chemists, and urban and regional planners. Stamm describes the 1911 shift in tariff policy that gave US publishers duty-free access to Canadian newsprint, providing a tremendous boost to Canadian paper manufacturers and a significant subsidy to American newspaper publishers. He also explains how Canada attracted massive American foreign investment in paper mills around the same time that US publishers were able to gain greater access to Canada’s vast spruce forests. Focusing particularly on the Chicago Tribune, Stamm provides a new history of the rise and fall of both the mass circulation printed newspaper and the particular kind of corporation in the newspaper business that had shaped many aspects of the cultural, political, and even physical landscape of North America. For those seeking to understand the travails of the contemporary newspaper business, Dead Tree Media is essential reading.
The Production of Political Television (1977) is a study of the organization and methods of production of political television that covers not only news broadcasts and current affairs programmes but all programmes involved with the policy making process in Britain. It examines the procedures by which producers put their programmes together, and analyses the impact of external institutions on the programme-making process.
This volume of collected essays provides a wide-ranging survey of the state of radio and television, especially the idea of public service broadcasting, and of news, current affairs and documentary programming in America, Australia, the UK and the rest of western Europe. Among the key issues it addresses are the 'dumbing down' of TV news, the infotainment factor in current affairs shows and the disappearance of the documentary. Using contemporary cases and examples - from the row over the scheduling of News at Ten in the UK to the creation of ABC News Online in Australia -- the essays link the performance of radio and television at the turn of the millennium with the processes of deregulation, liberalisation and digitalisation which have been evident since the 1980s. Working from a much needed and original comparative approach which encompasses complex and well-established public broadcasting in the USA as well as emerging and vulnerable participatory radio stations in El Salvador, the book sets a variety of experiences of factual radio and television programming within wider political and cultural contexts. It offers analyses of not only the 'problems' associated with news, current affairs and documentary broadcasting in an era of a declining public service ethos and the apparent triumph of the market, however. The essays also explore the potential of alternative radio and television, new forms of communication, such as the internet, and changing practices among journalists and programme makers, as well as the resilience of public broadcasting and the powers of the public to ensure that the media remain relevant and accountable. A companion text to the bestselling Sex, Lies and Democracy: The Press and the Public, this volume presents a multi-faceted approach to the tumultuous present and the uncertain future of news, current affairs and documentary in radio and television.
Winner of the Political Studies Association WJM MacKenzie Prize for best book of 2014 The Politics of English Nationhood supplies the first comprehensive overview of the evidence, research and major arguments relating to the revival of Englishness, exploring its varied, and often overlooked, political ramifications and dimensions. It examines the difficulties which the major political parties have encountered in dealing with 'the English question' against the backdrop of the diminishing hold of established ideas of British government and national identity in the final years of the last century. And it explores a range of factors—including insecurities generated by economic change, Euroscepticism, and a growing sense of cultural anxiety — which helped make the renewal of Englishness appealing and imperative, prior to the introduction of devolution by the first Blair government, a policy which also gave this process a further impetus. The book therefore provides a powerful challenge to the two established orthodoxies in this area. These either maintain that the English are dispositionally unable to assert their own nationhood outside the framework of the British state, or point to the supposed resurgence of a resentful and reactive sense of English nationalism. This volume instead demonstrates that a renewed, resonant and internally divided sense of English nationhood is apparent across the lines of class, geography, age, and ethnicity. And it identifies several distinct strands of national identity that have emerged in this period, contrasting the appearance of populist and resentful forms of English nationalism with an embedded and deeply rooted sense of conservative Englishness and attempts to reconstruct a more liberal and civic idea of a multicultural England. This volume also includes a wide-ranging analysis of the culturally rooted revival of Englishness, drawing out the political dimensions and implications of this re-emerging form of national consciousness.
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