《战争与沉迷》内容简介：二战期间，一小队被称为“轰炸机黑手党”的乌托邦式的空军战略家试图通过精确轰炸赢得大战，在充分研究了全新技术设备诺登投弹瞄准器后，他们认定在白天实施只针对敌方特定重要基础设施的轰炸会起作用。然而事与愿违，数次行动失败后，战局失控。随后军方高层下令更换指挥官，新指挥官李梅实施了与前任指挥官汉塞尔截然相反的区域轰炸战略，在凝固汽油弹的帮助下，李梅共轰炸了日本的67座城市，但由于轰炸造成的伤亡惨重，李梅的行为引起极 大争议。 这是一个关于理想主义、实用主义、技术创新和不可估量的战争代价的故事。在书中，格拉德威尔肯定了李梅的贡献，其方式虽然粗暴，但缩短了战争持续的时间，在某种程度上可谓避免了更大的代价，让所有人更快地重新拥有和平与繁荣。以汉塞尔为代表的“轰炸机黑手党”虽未获得成功，但格拉德威尔用大量篇幅描述并称赞了其对梦想、创新和科技的坚持，将其视为道德典范。没有坚持，原则便没有意义。汉塞尔是一个典型的堂吉诃德式人物，他的行为生动地给读者展示出好的意图为何事与愿违。格拉德威尔引出的是一个道德判断与事实判断的哲学问题，考验的是道德与人性。 《眨眼之间（全新修订中文版）》内容简介：有人听一对夫妇交谈15分钟，就能预测他们未来会不会离婚 有人在网球与球拍接触之前，就能断定这次发球是不是双误 有人在掀掉盖布的一刻，就能辨识一尊古代雕像的真假 生活中的决策，无论好坏，我们到底是如何做成的？为什么有些人的决策能力令人称绝，而其他人却错误频出？ 我们身处的社会笃信这样一种观念：在面对重大问题时，只有尽可能多地汇集信息，尽可能多地花时间思考，我们才能得到更好的结果。在孩提时期，我们就被反复灌输“欲速则不达”“三思而后行”“人不可貌相”等理念。 但在《眨眼之间》中，格拉德威尔通过“闪电约会”“二战秘密破译”等若干有趣的心理学案例，打破你对“决策”这件事的固有认知：那些一拍脑袋做出的决定或是脱口而出的想法，反而更加精准和深刻，我们在眨眼之间做出的决策，比三思而后行或许更具大师水准。在许多情形下，瞬间决断和 一印象反而是我们理解世界的更好途径。 读完《眨眼之间》，你将有柳暗花明之感，学会运用直觉思维，不管识人还是做事，都能在眨眼之间做出成功决策。 《逆转：弱者如何反败为胜（全新修订中文版）》内容简介：3000年前，巨人歌利亚与牧童大卫在以拉山谷展开决斗，在巨大力量悬殊之下，大卫战胜了歌利亚。在外人看来，大卫的胜利是不可思议的…… 《逆转》一书从《圣经》故事开始，讲述了多个真实的案例：班级规模导致的不同教育结果、印象派画家的崛起、儿童白血病治疗的突破、谋杀和复仇的高昂代价、黑人民权运动的成就……所有这些都在证明，我们误读了弱者和巨人之间的战争，低估了那些看似是劣势的东西的发展空间。困境和痛苦之中，常常蕴含着巨大的力量，弱者在颠覆局面时，可以找到自身的优势。 这是一本描述普通人如何面对巨人的书。这里的“巨人”指的是各种强大的对手，包括*、勇士、掌权者，也包括工作困境、学业困惑、身体的缺陷等人生的不幸和苦恼。在书中，格拉德威尔颠覆了自己的写作习惯，开始关注弱者，通过深层次的心理学分析，来重塑我们对强弱的看法。从3大视角指引弱者发挥聪明才智，重新思考弱点的真正内涵，从而以弱胜强，获得成功。 《大开眼界（全新修订中文版）》内容简介：航班上，坐在你身边的那些不同职业、不同经历的人，他们脑子里在想什么？他们眼中的世界是什么样子？他们的成功故事里隐藏着哪些有趣的细节和独到的经验？ 他可能是一名烤箱销售员，刚凭优秀口才创下业绩新高； 他可能是一名基金经理，刚发现一种新型交易策略； 他可能是一位小说作家，刚出版了一本畅销书； 他可能是一名人事主管，刚总结出一套精准的识人方法。 只站在自己的视角，面前一直是一种风景；换上另一个人的眼睛，看到的世界将大不相同。有时候，我们从周围的“天才型小人物”而非触不可及的伟人身上能获得更多启发。 在《大开眼界》里，通过19双锐利的眼睛，用19种新奇的角度，发现世界运行的19个秘密。 《异类：不一样的成功启示录》内容简介：·为什么英超球员大多出生在9—11月？ ·为什么比尔·盖茨和乔布斯都出生在1955年？ ·为什么纽约律师事务所的开创者都是犹太人后裔？ ·为什么20世纪90年代大韩航空空难频发？ ·为什么中国人普遍擅长数学？ …… 成功不是随机事件，天才的成功并非仅仅源于个人努力，出生日期、家庭背景、族裔传统、文化差异……都在帮助特定领域的“异类”走向成功。如果没有这些优势，即便智商超过爱因斯坦，也只能做一份平庸的工作。 《异类》带给我们关于成功的不一样的9大启示，帮助我们追溯成功的根源，发现更深刻的成功契机，找到成功背后“不可思议”的必然性。 《引爆点（第五版）》内容简介：为什么突然间人们都在玩同一款游戏，看同一部剧，穿同一款球鞋？ “传染性”不只用于形容疾病，任何一种产品、思想、信息和行为都具有传染效力，可以像病毒一样暴发式传播。量变达到临界水平而迎来质变的戏剧性时刻，就是一个“引爆点”。 看似偶然的流行现象，其实有章可循。在《引爆点》中，格拉德威尔剖析了时尚风潮、商业广告、吸烟现象、儿童电视节目等社会流行潮，将“流行”抽丝剥茧，总结为三个黄金法则：个别人物法则、附着力因素法则、环境威力法则。“引爆点”这个词，也因为本书成了商业世界的常用词语。 我们周围的世界看上去似乎雷打不动，但只要你找到那个点，轻轻一触，它就有可能倾斜。用好《引爆点》的流行三法则，你也可以制造一场流行。 《陌生人效应》内容简介：张伯伦两次面见希特勒，都错误解读了后者的“意图”，间接导致第二次世界大战的爆发。 庞氏骗局一开始就为人所怀疑，但人们为何没有一查到底，而是付出了惨痛的“社交成本”呢？ 面部的FACS 系统表明，肌肉并非总能按照内心的想法表达，所以只看“表情”你很难判断对方的“情绪”。 法官在判决的时候如何才能公正，是否应该尽可能少地了解与案件无关的“偏见信息”？ 人的一生中，除了血缘和宗族关系，绝大部分“社交关系”都是与陌生人建立起来的。从进化角度而言，在与陌生人初次接触时，人们都会产生一种“天然感觉”——是放松还是谨慎，敌对还是友好。 但研究表明，这种印象并不准确，甚至是危险的！ 因此，如何聪明地处理与陌生人的关系，成为每个人一生中必须掌握的技能。 格拉德威尔在这本书中提出了3 大原则，12 个“陌生人效应”。用十余个真实案例，告诉我们如何吸取人际关系的普遍教训。无论是在亲密关系、工作关系、商务关系、谈判关系中，做个清醒决策的聪明人。

套装包括：《燃烧的蜂鸟》《法医秦明：天谴者》《法医秦明.遗忘者》《法医秦明.玩偶》《尸语者》《法医秦明：无声的证词》《法医秦明. 第十一根手指《法医秦明.清道夫》《法医秦明.幸存者》《守夜者》《守夜者.2黑暗潜能》《守夜者.3，生死盲点》《守夜者.4，天演》《逝者证言》《逝者之书》《法医徐祸》

中华人民共和国住房和城乡建设部公告第661号关于发布国家标准《冶金矿山选矿厂工艺设计规范》的公告现批准《冶金矿山选矿厂工艺设计规范》为国家标准，编号为GB50612-2010，自2011年2月1日起实施。其中，第11.3.1(5)、13.3.3条（款）为强制性条文，必须严格执行。本规范由我部标准定额研究所组织中国计划出版社出版发行。

石油化工工艺装置布置设计规范根据国家发展和改革委员会办公厅《2008年行业标准计划》（发改办工业[2008]1242号）的要求，规范编制组经广泛调查研究，认真总结实践经验，参考有关国际标准和国外先进标准，并在广泛征求意见的基础上，修订本规范。本规范共分7章。本规范的主要技术内容是：石油化工工艺装置中常用设备、管廊、建筑物、构筑物及通道的布置设计要求。本规范是在SH3011-2000《石油化工工艺装置布置设计通则》的基础上修订而成，修订的主要内容是：规范名称更改为《石油化工工艺装置布置设计规范》；增加第2章"规范性引用文件"；第3章"一般规定"中增加"围堰内排水设施的要求"，并对有关内容进行了局部修改和补充；原第3章"主管廊和常用设备的布置"更改为第4章"管廊的布置"和第5章"常用设备的布置"，并对有关内容进行了局部修改和补充；原第4章"建筑物、构筑物及通道的布置"更改为第6章"建筑物和构筑物的布置"和第7章"通道的布置"，并对控制室、机柜间、变配电所、化验室、办公室等布置在装置内时，提出了要求和限制；对大型石油化工装置的设备、建筑物区占地面积由10000m2扩大到20000m2提出要求，并应采取必要的安全措施。

　　According to the requirements specified in the Plan for Developing Professional Standards in 2008（Document Number：[2008]No. 1242）issued by the General Administration Office of National Development and Reform Commission9 this Guideline is revised by its development team based on wide and intensive investigations and studies made， practices summarized， comments requested as well as references to international codes and advanced foreign standards. 　　The Guideline comprises 6 chapters and 2 appendixes. 　　The main technical contents in this Guideline include material selection for design of equipment and piping in units processing acid crude oils. 　　This Guideline is an integration of and a revision to the Material Selection Guideline for Design of Major Equipment in Key Units Processing Sour Crude Oil（SH/T 3096 - 2001） and the Material Selection Guideline for Design of Major Piping in Key Units Processing Sour Crude Oil（SH/T 3129 - 2002）. Major technical contents revised include： 　　-SH/T 3096 - 2001and SH/T 3129 - 2002 were integrated to form the Material Selection Guideline for Design of Equipment and Piping in Units Processing Acid Crude Oils（SH/T 3129 - 2012） ; 　　-The List of Materials Recommended for Major Equipment in Fluid Catalytic Cracking Unitis deleted， and the List of Materials Recommended for Major Equipment and Piping in Hydrofining Unit is added; 　　-The Figure A. 4： Susceptibility of Caustic Cracking in Carbon Steel， Table A. 5： Annual High Temperature Oxidation Corrosion Rate of Metal Materials and Table B： Cross Reference for Common Metal Materials were added; 　　China Petrochemical Corporation（Sinopec Group）is in responsible for the administration of this Guideline， Sinopec Technical Center for Static Equipment Design and Engineering is responsible for its routine management， and Sinopec Luoyang Petrochemical Engineering Corporation is tasked for the interpretation of specific technical contents. If any comments and recommendations are proposed in implementation of this Guideline， please send your comments and recommendations to the routine management organization and chief development organization.

现有团队的定位与公司的需要脱节？团队积累的技能和经验，并不符合公司的需求方向？某些部门和团队的工作变成“过家家”，员工很忙，部门空转，但实际上并没有创造很大价值？…… VUCA时代，企业经营管理需要更为务实有效率，围绕客户需求敏捷反应、创造价值。面对这类挑战，华东理工大学教授、赋能管理与企业学习专家高松反思传统培训，全新著作《赋能业务》，揭秘了未来企业学习的全新理念与方法论——赋能业务。 在《赋能业务》中，作者详述了赋能业务的全景图、学习体系、6大升维、7大应用场景、学习3支柱；用亲自操盘的实战案例，着重解析了构建赋能业务方法金三角——赋能于人、赋能客户、赋能组织；贴心给出了赋能业务项目实战中的关键，如项目设计的ICIDE模型、评估赋能业务成效的方法等……帮我们更加深地理解并掌握赋能业务，而为企业带来长久动能和业绩成效。

《梦断灵山：妙语读西游》 现代眼光，读者视角，妙语解读神仙妖魔世界的人情世故。 《从山贼到水寇：水浒传的前世今生》 破解《水浒传》成书之谜，注重细节、引人入胜的研究佳作。 《名士派：世说新语的世界》 串起散落于《世说新语》的片段、感受消逝于历史的名士风流。 《探骊：从写情回目解味红楼梦》 以扎实的文本细读，为你打开一个欣赏《红楼梦》文学世界的窗口。 《史记八讲》 讲解《史记》相关趣味冷知识，生动剖析秦汉重大事件、风云人物。 《梨园识小录》 讲述经典京剧名伶与余音绕梁的唱段，感怀中华传统戏曲艺术之美。 《明人范：生活的艺术》 从吃穿住行、文化娱乐等角度，展示明代人的极致生活美学。 《寻幽殊未歇：从古典诗文到现代学人》 充满人文艺术气息的学术随笔集，同时具有趣味性、可读性。 《儒林外史人物论》 深度剖析《儒林外史》人物，解构吴敬梓在刻画人性方面的成就。 《志怪于常：山海经博物漫笔》 结合生动形象的山海经图，构建中国特色博物学世界。 《所思不远：清代诗词家生平品述》 以名作史料为颜料的清代诗文浮世绘，是对先贤历程的追摩路径。 《沈周六记》 一本尝试打破学科壁垒，兼顾学术与通俗、美术与文学的小书。

套装包括：《散落星河的记忆1:迷失》《散落星河的记忆2:窃梦》《散落星河的记忆3:化蝶》《散落星河的记忆4:璀璨》《云中歌（套装）》《大漠谣（套装）》《曾许诺：套装》《长相思套装（全三册）》《那片星空，那片海》《散落星河的记忆》《那些回不去的年少时光》《美的时光》《半暖时光》

Why did America invade IraqWhy do nations choose to fight certain wars and not othersHow do we bring ourselves to believe that the sacrifice of our troops is acceptableFor most, the answers to these questions are tied to struggles for power or resources and the machinations of particular interest groups. Philip Smith argues that this realist answer to the age-old "why war?" question is insufficient. Instead, Smith suggests that every war has its roots in the ways we tell and interpret stories.Comprised of case studies of the War in Iraq, the Gulf War, and the Suez Crisis, Why Wardecodes the cultural logic of the narratives that justify military action. Each nation, Smith argues, makes use of binary codes-good and evil, sacred and profane, rational and irrational, to name a few. These codes, in the hands of political leaders, activists, and the media, are deployed within four different types of narratives-mundane, tragic, romantic, or apocalyptic. With this cultural system, Smith is able to radically recast our "war stories" and show how nations can have vastly different understandings of crises as each identifies the relevant protagonists and antagonists, objects of struggle, and threats and dangers.The large-scale sacrifice of human lives necessary in modern war, according to Smith, requires an apocalyptic vision of world events. In the case of the War in Iraq, for example, he argues that the United States and Britain replicated a narrative of impending global doom from the Gulf War. But in their apocalyptic account they mistakenly made the now seemingly toothless Saddam Hussein once again a symbol of evil by writing him into the story alongside al Qaeda, resulting in the war's contestation in the United States, Britain, and abroad.Offering an innovative approach to understanding how major wars are packaged, sold, and understood, Why Warwill be applauded by anyone with an interest in military history, political science, cultural studies, and communication.

For far too long humans have been ignoring nature. As the most dominant, overproducing, overconsuming, big-brained, big-footed, arrogant, and invasive species ever known, we are wrecking the planet at an unprecedented rate. And while science is important to our understanding of the impact we have on our environment, it alone does not hold the answers to the current crisis, nor does it get people to act. In Ignoring Nature No More, Marc Bekoff and a host of renowned contributors argue that we need a new mind-set about nature, one that centers on empathy, compassion, and being proactive.?This collection of diverse essays is the first book devoted to compassionate conservation, a growing global movement that translates discussions and concerns about the well-being of individuals, species, populations, and ecosystems into action. Written by leading scholars in a host of disciplines, including biology, psychology, sociology, social work, economics, political science, and philosophy, as well as by locals doing fieldwork in their own countries, the essays combine the most creative aspects of the current science of animal conservation with analyses of important psychological and sociocultural issues that encourage or vex stewardship. The contributors tackle topics including the costs and benefits of conservation, behavioral biology, media coverage of animal welfare, conservation psychology, and scales of conservation from the local to the global. Taken together, the essays make a strong case for why we must replace our habits of domination and exploitation with compassionate conservation if we are to make the world a better place for nonhuman and human animals alike.

From Galileo, who used the hollow stalks of grass to demonstrate the idea that peripherally located construction materials provide most of the resistance to bending forces, to Leonardo da Vinci, whose illustrations of the parachute are alleged to be based on his study of the dandelion's pappus and the maple tree's samara, many of our greatest physicists, mathematicians, and engineers have learned much from studying plants.?A symbiotic relationship between botany and the fields of physics, mathematics, engineering, and chemistry continues today, as is revealed in Plant Physics. The result of a long-term collaboration between plant evolutionary biologist Karl J. Niklas and physicist Hanns-Christof Spatz, Plant Physics presents a detailed account of the principles of classical physics, evolutionary theory, and plant biology in order to explain the complex interrelationships among plant form, function, environment, and evolutionary history. Covering a wide range of topics-from the development and evolution of the basic plant body and the ecology of aquatic unicellular plants to mathematical treatments of light attenuation through tree canopies and the movement of water through plants' roots, stems, and leaves-Plant Physics is destined to inspire students and professionals alike to traverse disciplinary membranes.

For Dante and Petrarch, posthumous love was a powerful conviction. Like many of their contemporaries, both poets envisioned their encounters with their beloved in heaven-Dante with Beatrice, Petrarch with Laura. But as Ramie Targoff reveals in this elegant study, English love poetry of the Renaissance brought a startling reversal of this tradition: human love became definitively mortal. Exploring the boundaries that Renaissance English poets drew between earthly and heavenly existence, Targoff seeks to understand this shift and its consequences for English poetry.?Targoff shows that medieval notions of the somewhat flexible boundaries between love in this world and in the next were hardened by Protestant reformers, who envisioned a total break between the two. Tracing the narrative of this rupture, she focuses on central episodes in poetic history in which poets developed rich and compelling compensations for the lack of posthumous love-from Thomas Wyatt's translations of Petrarch's love sonnets and the Elizabethan sonnet series of Shakespeare and Spencer to the?carpe diem?poems of the seventeenth century. Targoff's centerpiece is?Romeo and Juliet, where she considers how Shakespeare's reworking of the Italian story stripped away any expectation that the doomed teenagers would reunite in heaven. Casting new light on these familiar works of poetry and drama, this book ultimately demonstrates that the negation of posthumous love brought forth a new mode of poetics that derived its emotional and aesthetic power from its insistence upon love's mortal limits.

Rudolf Raff is recognized as a pioneer in evolutionary developmental biology. In their 1983 book, Embryos, Genes, and Evolution, Raff and co-author Thomas Kaufman proposed a synthesis of developmental and evolutionary biology. In The Shape of Life, Raff analyzes the rise of this new experimental discipline and lays out new research questions, hypotheses, and approaches to guide its development.Raff uses the evolution of animal body plans to exemplify the interplay between developmental mechanisms and evolutionary patterns. Animal body plans emerged half a billion years ago. Evolution within these body plans during this span of time has resulted in the tremendous diversity of living animal forms.Raff argues for an integrated approach to the study of the intertwined roles of development and evolution involving phylogenetic, comparative, and functional biology. This new synthesis will interest not only scientists working in these areas, but also paleontologists, zoologists, morphologists, molecular biologists, and geneticists.

When we think of sites of animal research that symbolize modernity, the first places that come to mind are grand research institutes in cities and near universities that house the latest in equipment and technologies, not the surroundings of the bird's nest, the octopus's garden in the sea, or the parts of inland lakes in which freshwater plankton reside. Yet during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, a group of zoologists began establishing novel, indeed modern ways of studying nature, propagating what present-day ecologists describe as place-based research.Raf De Bont's Stations in the Field focuses on the early history of biological field stations and the role these played in the rise of zoological place-based research. Beginning in the 1870s, a growing number of biological field stations were founded-first in Europe and later elsewhere around the world-and thousands of zoologists received their training and performed their research at these sites. Through case studies, De Bont examines the material and social context in which field stations arose, the actual research that was produced in these places, the scientific claims that were developed there, and the rhetorical strategies that were deployed to convince others that these claims made sense. From the life of parasitic invertebrates in northern France and freshwater plankton in Schleswig-Holstein, to migratory birds in East Prussia and pest insects in Belgium, De Bont's book is fascinating tour through the history of studying nature in nature.

Work is changing. Speed and flexibility are more in demand than ever before thanks to an accelerating knowledge economy and sophisticated communication networks. These changes have forced a mass rethinking of the way we coordinate, collaborate, and communicate. Instead of projects coming to established teams, teams are increasingly converging around projects. These "e;all-edge adhocracies"e; are highly collaborative and mostly temporary, their edge coming from the ability to form links both inside and outside an organization. These nimble groups come together around a specific task, recruiting personnel, assigning roles, and establishing objectives. When the work is done they disband their members and take their skills to the next project.Spinuzzi offers for the first time a comprehensive framework for understanding how these new groups function and thrive. His rigorous analysis tackles both the pros and cons of this evolving workflow and is based in case studies of real all-edge adhocracies at work. His provocative results will challenge our long-held assumptions about how we should be doing work.

Ground-breaking when first published in 1945, Black Metropolis remains a landmark study of race and urban life. Few studies since have been able to match its scope and magnitude, offering one of the most comprehensive looks at black life in America. Based on research conducted by Works Progress Administration field workers, it is a sweeping historical and sociological account of the people of Chicago's South Side from the 1840s through the 1930s. Its findings offer a comprehensive analysis of black migration, settlement, community structure, and black-white race relations in the first half of the twentieth century. It offers a dizzying and dynamic world filled with captivating people and startling revelations.A new foreword from sociologist Mary Pattillo places the study in modern context, updating the story with the current state of black communities in Chicago and the larger United States and exploring what this means for the future. As the country continues to struggle with race and our treatment of black lives, Black Metropolis continues to be a powerful contribution to the conversation.

Almost any economist will agree that education plays a key role in determining a country's economic growth and standard of living, but what we know about education policy in developing countries is remarkably incomplete and scattered over decades and across publications.?Education Policy in Developing Countries?rights this wrong, taking stock of twenty years of research to assess what we actually know-and what we still need to learn-about effective education policy in the places that need it the most.Surveying many aspects of education-from administrative structures to the availability of health care to parent and student incentives-the contributors synthesize an impressive diversity of data, paying special attention to the gross imbalances in educational achievement that still exist between developed and developing countries. They draw out clear implications for governmental policy at a variety of levels, conscious of economic realities such as budget constraints, and point to crucial areas where future research is needed. Offering a wealth of insights into one of the best investments a nation can make,?Education Policy in Developing Countries?is an essential contribution to this most urgent field.?

Poetry is often said to resist translation, its integration of form and meaning rendering even the best translations problematic. Elizabeth Marie Young disagrees, and with?Translation as Muse, she uses the work of the celebrated Roman poet Catullus to mount a powerful argument that translation can be an engine of poetic invention.Catullus has long been admired as a poet, but his efforts as a translator have been largely ignored. Young reveals how essential translation is to his work: many poems by Catullus that we tend to label as lyric originals were in fact shaped by Roman translation practices entirely different from our own. By rereading Catullus through the lens of translation, Young exposes new layers of ingenuity in Latin poetry even as she illuminates the idiosyncrasies of Roman translation practice, reconfigures our understanding of translation history, and questions basic assumptions about lyric poetry itself.

In this unflinching look at the experience of suffering and one of its greatest manifestations-torture-J.M. Bernstein critiques the repressions of traditional moral theory, showing that our morals are not immutable ideals but fragile constructions that depend on our experience of suffering itself. Morals, Bernstein argues, not only guide our conduct but also express the depth of mutual dependence that we share as vulnerable and injurable individuals. Beginning with the attempts to abolish torture in the eighteenth century, and then sensitively examining what is suffered in torture and related transgressions, such as rape, Bernstein elaborates a powerful new conception of moral injury. Crucially, he shows, moral injury always involves an injury to the status of an individual as a person-it is a violent assault against his or her dignity. Elaborating on this critical element of moral injury, he demonstrates that the mutual recognitions of trust form the invisible substance of our moral lives, that dignity is a fragile social possession, and that the perspective of ourselves as potential victims is an ineliminable feature of everyday moral experience.?

In Dante and the Limits of the Law, Justin Steinberg offers the first comprehensive study of the legal structure crucial to Dante's Divine Comedy. Steinberg reveals how Dante imagines an afterlife dominated by elaborate laws, hierarchical jurisdictions, and rationalized punishments and rewards. Steinberg makes the compelling case that Dante deliberately exploits this highly-structured legal system to explore the phenomenon of exceptions to it, introducing Dante to crucial current debates about literature's relation to law, exceptionality, and sovereignty. ?Examining how Dante probes the limits of the law in this juridical otherworld, Steinberg argues that exceptions were vital to the medieval legal order and that Dante's otherworld represents an ideal "e;system of exception."e; Yet Dante saw this system as threatened on earth by the dual crises of church and Empire-the abuses and overreaching of the popes and the absence of an effective Holy Roman Emperor. In his imagination of the afterlife, Steinberg shows, Dante seeks to address this gap between the universal validity of Roman law and the lack of a sovereign power to enforce it. Exploring the institutional role of disgrace, the entwined phenomena of judicial discretion and artistic freedom, medieval ideas about privilege and immunity, and the place of judgment in the poem, this is an elegantly argued book that persuasively brings to life Dante's sense of justice.

Secularism is usually thought to contain the project of self-deification, in which humans attack God's authority in order to take his place, freed from all constraints. Julie E. Cooper overturns this conception through an incisive analysis of the early modern justifications for secular politics. While she agrees that secularism is a means of empowerment, she argues that we have misunderstood the sources of secular empowerment and the kinds of strength to which it aspires.Contemporary understandings of secularism, Cooper contends, have been shaped by a limited understanding of it as a shift from vulnerability to power. But the works of the foundational thinkers of secularism tell a different story. Analyzing the writings of Hobbes, Spinoza, and Rousseau at the moment of secularity's inception, she shows that all three understood that acknowledging one's limitations was a condition of successful self-rule. And while all three invited humans to collectively build and sustain a political world, their invitations did not amount to self-deification. Cooper establishes that secular politics as originally conceived does not require a choice between power and vulnerability. Rather, it challenges us-today as then-to reconcile them both as essential components of our humanity.