Develop games for iOS and Android using Cocos2d with the aid of over 70 step-by-step recipesAbout This BookLearn to efficiently use Cocos2d to develop cross-platform games, and have them work on iOS as well as AndroidGet acquainted with industry-wide professional tools such as Glyph Designer, Texture Packer, and Physics Editor, as well as using the Swift/ Sprite builder implementation of Cocos2dUse the easy-to-follow recipes to develop as well as deploy games to the Playstore and the App StoreWho This Book Is ForThis book is for intermediate game developers and especially the ones who are generally curious to find out what’s new in Cocos2d v 3.3.What You Will LearnBuild custom sprites with custom animations for the gameBuild interactivity into your game by adding gestures and touch interactionsUnderstand AI enemy programming and path finding to make games more excitingAdd physics to your game to make it more lively and interactiveGet familiar with the Swift and Sprite builder implementations along with Objective-C programmingPerform hassle-free deployment of games built in iOS onto AndroidAdd effects and particle systems to make the game more colorfulIn DetailCocos2d is the world’s leading game development framework for developing iOS games. With the introduction of Swift and Spritebuilder, it has become easier than ever to develop the games of your dreams without much effort. With Cocos2d, you can also deploy the game on Android, thereby maximizing profit and reducing development and porting costs.The book starts off with a detailed look at how to implement sprites and animations into your game to make it livelier. You will then learn to add scenes to the game such as the gameplay scene and options scene and create menus and buttons in these scenes, as well as creating transitions between them. From there on, you will get an understanding of how to program user interactions such as tapping, holding, and swiping. You’ll then add accelerometer inputs and physics to the scene, and make objects respond back to the inputs. A game is practically incomplete without audio being added, so this will be covered next.The next section will include ways to add Artificial Intelligence to enemies in the game, allowing them to patrol, chase, and shoot in a projectile manner. You will then learn to use NSUserDefault to save and load game progress, and create and access files using JSON, Plist, and XML files for custom storage and retrieval of data. Then you will learn to add dynamic lighting to your game and will use industry-wide tools such as Texture Packer, Glyph Designer, Physics Editor, Particle Designer, and Sprite Illuminator to create more visually appealing and performance-optimized games.Towards the end of the book, we dive into Apple’s latest programming language—Swift, highlighting the major differences between Objective C and Swift. The book culminates with taking your existing game developed for iOS and porting it to Android, showing you how to install the Android Xcode plugin as well.Style and approachThe book is written in an extremely lucid and step-by-step manner; it can be understood easily by anyone. The topics included are broken down into individual chapters so you can refer to the specific chapter to get answers on the subject you are interested in.

Create fully-featured and highly functional iOS apps by writing tests firstAbout This BookLearn test-driven principles to help you build apps with fewer bugs and better designsBecome more efficient while working with Swift to move on to your next project faster!Learn how to incorporate all of the principles of test-driven development (TDD) in to your daily programming workflowWho This Book Is ForIf debugging iOS apps is a nerve-racking task for you and you are looking for a fix, this book is for you.What You Will LearnImplement TDD in swift application developmentGet to know the fundamentals, life cycle, and benefits of TDDExplore the tools and frameworks to effectively use TDDDevelop models and controllers driven by testsConstruct the network layer using stubsUse functional tests to ensure the app works as plannedAutomate and streamline the building, analysing, testing, and archiving of your iOS appsIn DetailTest-driven development (TDD) is a proven way to find software bugs early. Writing tests before your code improves the structure and maintainability of your app.Test-driven iOS Development with Swift will help you understand the process of TDD and how it impacts your applications written in Swift. Through practical, real-world examples, you’ll start seeing how to implement TDD in context. We will begin with an overview of your TDD workflow and then deep-dive into unit testing concepts and code cycles. We will showcase the workings of functional tests, which will help you improve the user interface. Finally, you will learn about automating deployments and continuous integration to run an environment.Style and approachThis is an easy-to-follow example-driven tutorial, packed with lots of tips and tricks that explore TDD bit-by-bit in the process of making an iOS application.

Learn the fundamentals of Cython to extend the legacy of your applicationsAbout This BookLearn how to extend C applications with pure Python codeGet more from Python – you’ll not only learn Cython, you’ll also unlock a greater understanding of how to harness PythonPacked with tips and tricks that make Cython look easy, dive into this accessible programming guide and find out what happens when you bring C and Python together!Who This Book Is ForThis book is for developers who are familiar with the basics of C and Python programming and wish to learn Cython programming to extend their applications.What You Will LearnReuse Python logging in CMake an IRC bot out of your C applicationExtend an application so you have a web server for rest callsPractice Cython against your C++ codeDiscover tricks to work with Python ConfigParser in CCreate Python bindings for native librariesFind out about threading and concurrency related to GILExpand Terminal Multiplexer Tmux with CythonIn DetailCython is a hybrid programming language used to write C extensions for Python language. Combining the practicality of Python and speed and ease of the C language it’s an exciting language worth learning if you want to build fast applications with ease.This new edition of Learning Cython Programming shows you how to get started, taking you through the fundamentals so you can begin to experience its unique powers.You’ll find out how to get set up, before exploring the relationship between Python and Cython. You’ll also look at debugging Cython, before moving on to C++ constructs, Caveat on C++ usage, Python threading and GIL in Cython. Finally, you’ll learn object initialization and compile time, and gain a deeper insight into Python 3, which will help you not only become a confident Cython developer, but a much more fluent Python developer too.Style and approachThis practical and a fast-paced guide gives you all the information you need to start programming using Cython.

Over 40 practical recipes to get your hands dirty with the powerful Cisco UCS and overcome various challenges About This Book Master the skills of minimizing cost, enabling your business to work faster by reducing cycle times for reporting and improving overall revenue Work through hands-on recipes for efficient deployment approaches, see computing techniques, and explore new operational models with UCS Render a better work-flow management, ensure effective monitoring, and learn new deployment paradigms for the operational infrastructure with the help of this book Who This Book Is For This book is for competent system/network or storage administrators who are working with Cisco UCS, but now want to learn new ways to compute UCS. What You Will Learn Familiarize yourself with information on the latest information on memory management practices, virtualization architectures, and the specific technical advantages of UCS Get a concrete understanding of integrating processes and techniques to ensure effective convergence of LAN/SAN Get to know the best practices of Cisco UCS, EMC Storage, and VMware vSphere Master migrating data from other band servers or Blade to Cisco UCS Comprehend how to replicate and back up UCS to remote sites UCS Assimilate innovative techniques to deploy UCS to leverage its full potential Gather information on installing and configuring automatic and manual Pinning Discover ways to integrate a system in Cisco UCS In Detail Cisco Unified Computing System (UCS) is a data center server platform that is used for computing, deploying, and storing resources in data center environments. This cookbook aims to teach you about various tasks you can implement to improve your existing method of configuring and deploying UCS. You will start by learning how to upgrade your firmware on Brocade and Cisco Fibre Channel Switch and will move on to enhance your knowledge of LAN connectivity. We will then discuss how to configure Windows 2008 and 2012 local boot in Cisco UCS. Next, you will learn how to install the operating system on Cisco UCS and use Cisco UCS Power Calculator to calculate the UCS consumption. Finally, we’ll take a look at backup solutions. By the end of the book, you will know several ways to build and compute in data center environment using Cisco UCS. Style and approach This guide explains every task in a conversational and easy-to-follow style. You can open this book up to the task you want to learn and will be able to perform that task by the end of the recipe.

Over 35 recipes to design and implement uniquely styled maps using the Mapbox platform About This Book Design and develop beautifully styled maps using TileMill, MapBox Studio, and CartoCSS Get to grips with the mapbox.js and Leaflet to create visually stunning web and mobile applications An easy-to-follow, quick reference guide to integrate powerful APIs and services like Foursquare, Fusion Tables, Geoserver, and CartoDB to populate your maps Who This Book Is For If you are a web developer seeking for GIS expertise on how to create, style, and publish interactive and unique styled maps, then this book is for you. Basic knowledge of programming and java*s is assumed. What You Will Learn Get accustomed to the MapBox Editor to visually style your maps Learn everything about CartoCSS, and how it will help you fine tune your styled maps Use MapBox Studio and Tilemill to generate your own tiles and vector maps Publish your maps using a variety of technologies like node.js, PHP, and Geoserver Integrate with third party APIs and services to populate your maps with public or private data Create many different map visualization styles like choropleth and heat maps, add interactivity, and even learn how to animate data over time Work with many different data formats and external services to create robust maps Learn to use MapBox GL to create a mobile application In Detail Maps are an essential element in today’s location aware applications. Right from displaying earth surface information to creating thematic maps displaying plethora of information, most of the developers lack the necessary knowledge to create customizable maps with combination of various tools and libraries. The MapBox platform is one such platform which offers all the tools and API required to create and publish a totally customizable map. Starting with building your first map with the online MapBox Editor, we will take you all the way to building advanced web and mobile applications with totally customizable map styles. Through the course of chapters we’ll learn CartoCSS styling language and understand the various components of MapBox platform and their corresponding JavaScript API. In the initial few chapters we will dive deeper into the TileMill and MapBox Studio components of MapBox and use them to generate custom styled map tiles and vector maps. Furthermore, we will publish these custom maps using PHP, node.js and third party tools like Geoserver. We’ll also learn to create different visualizations and map styles like a choropleth map, a heat map and add user interactivity using a UFTGrid. Moving on, we dive into advanced concepts and focus on integration with third party services like Foursquare, Google FusionTables, CartoDB, and Torque to help you populate and even animate your maps. In the final chapter we’ll learn to use the Mapbox SDK to create and publish interactive maps for the iOS platform. By the end of this book, you will learn about MapBox GL and how to create a fully functional, location-aware mobile app, using the maps styles created in the recipes. Style and approach An easy-to-use recipe driven book that will not just serve code samples, but also explains all the theory and concepts required to fully understand each recipe.

Master Drupal 8’s new Twig templating engine to create fun and fast websites with simple steps to help you move from concept to completion About This Book Create beautiful responsive Drupal 8 websites using Twig Quickly master theme administration, custom block layouts, views, and the Twig template structure A step-by-step guide to the most common approaches in web design Who This Book Is For This book is intended for front-end developers, designers, and anyone who is generally interested in learning all the new features of Drupal 8 theming. Discover what has changed from Drupal 7 to Drupal 8 and immerse yourself in the new Twig PHP templating engine. Familiarity with HTML5, CSS3, JavaScript, and the Drupal Admin interface would be helpful. Prior experience with setting up and configuring a standalone development environment is required as we will be working with PHP and MySQL. What You Will Learn Navigate the Drupal 8 Admin interface Build custom block layouts with reusable and fieldable blocks Create subthemes based on the Bartik and Classy base themes Construct a responsive theme with Twitter Bootstrap Work with the new Twig PHP templating engine Configure Drupal for Twig debugging Enable preprocessing of Twig variables Develop a theme from scratch following a step-by-step project outline In Detail Drupal 8 is an open source content management system and powerful framework that helps deliver great websites to individuals and organizations, including non-profits, commercial, and government around the globe. This new release has been built on top of object-oriented PHP and includes more than a handful of improvements such as a better user experience, cleaner HTML5 markup, a new templating engine called Twig, multilingual capabilities, new configuration management, and effortless content authoring. Drupal 8 will quickly become the new standard for deploying content to both the web and mobile applications. However, with so many new changes, it can quickly become overwhelming knowing where to start and how to quickly. Starting from the bottom up, we will install, set up, and configure Drupal 8. We’ll navigate the Admin interface so you can learn how to work with core themes and create new custom block layouts. Walk through a real-world project to create a Twig theme from concept to completion while adopting best practices to implement CSS frameworks and JavaScript libraries. We will see just how quick and easy it is to create beautiful, responsive Drupal 8 websites while avoiding the common mistakes that many front-end developers make. Style and approach Drupal 8 Theming with Twig is intended for front-end developers, designers, and anyone who is generally interested in learning all the new features of Drupal 8 theming. Discover what has changed from Drupal 7 to Drupal 8 and immerse yourself in the new Twig PHP templating engine. Familiarity with HTML5, CSS3, JavaScript, and the Drupal Admin interface would be helpful. Prior experience with setting up and configuring a standalone development environment is required as we will be working with PHP and MySQL.

Develop the skills required to create compelling, maintainable, and robust iOS and OS X apps with Swift About This Book Write expressive, understandable, and maintainable Swift 2 code with this hands-on tutorial Unveil the complex underpinnings of Swift to turn your app ideas into reality This book is packed with real-life examples to help you implement concepts as you learn Who This Book Is For If you are looking to build iOS or OS X apps using the most modern technology, this book is ideal for you. You will find this book especially useful if you are new to programming or if you are yet to develop for iOS or OS X. No prior programming exposure is required. What You Will Learn Form a solid understanding of the Swift 2 language Get to know the practical aspects of how a computer program actually works Understand the paradigms used by Apple’s frameworks so you are not intimidated by them Utilize the vast resources written in Objective-C to better inform your Swift programming Develop a basic portfolio of Swift code by learning the critical concepts Experience both object-oriented and functional programming Get to know the new coding techniques made available by Swift 2 Discover resources to ensure you never stop becoming a better developer In Detail Swift is Apple’s new programming language and the future of iOS and OS X app development. It is a high-performance language that feels like a modern *ing language. On the surface, Swift is easy to jump into, but it has complex underpinnings that are critical to becoming proficient at turning an idea into reality. This book is an approachable, step-by-step introduction into programming with Swift for everyone. It begins by giving you an overview of the key features through practical examples and progresses to more advanced topics that help differentiate the proficient developers from the mediocre ones. It covers important concepts such as Variables, Optionals, Closures, Generics, and Memory Management. Mixed in with those concepts, it also helps you learn the art of programming such as maintainability, useful design patterns, and resources to further your knowledge. This all culminates in writing a basic iOS app that will get you well on your way to turning your own app ideas into reality. Style and approach This is an approachable, step-by-step guide to programming in Swift 2. Each topic is separated into compressible sections that are full of practical examples and easy-to-understand explanations. Each section builds on the previous topics so you can develop a proficient and comprehensive understanding of app development in Swift 2.

Your one-stop guide for building, configuring, maintaining, and deploying one of the world's fastest growing OSes About This Book Understand the features of CoreOS and learn to administrate and secure a CoreOS environment Develop, test, and deploy cloud services and applications more quickly and efficiently inside lightweight containers using CoreOS This is a complete tutorial on CoreOS, which is the preferred OS for cloud computing as it contains components that facilitate cloud management Who This Book Is For This book is for cloud or enterprise administrators and application developers who would like to gain knowledge about CoreOS to deploy a cloud application or micro-services on a cluster of cloud servers. It is also aimed at administrators with basic networking experience. You do not need to have any knowledge of CoreOS. What You Will Learn Understand the benefits of CoreOS as a cloud orchestration platform Learn about lightweight containers and various container frameworks such as Docker and RKT in CoreOS Manage services and containers across cluster using Fleet and systemd Set up a CoreOS environment using Vagrant Create and manage CoreOS clusters Discover the service parameters using etcd Find out about chaining services running on the cluster using Flannel / Rudder and Weave Create a virtual tenant network and service chaining using OVS In Detail CoreOS is an open source operating system developed upon the Linux kernel. The rise of CoreOS is directly related to the rise of Docker (a Linux container management system). It is a minimal operating system layer and takes a different approach to automating the deployment of containers. The major difference between CoreOS and other Linux distributions is that CoreOS was designed to deploy hundreds of servers. CoreOS immensely helps the users to create systems, which are easy to scale and manage, making life easier for all, be it developer, QA, or deployer. This book is all about setting up, deploying, and using CoreOS to manage clusters and clouds. It will help you understand what CoreOS is and its benefits as a cloud orchestration platform. First, we’ll show you how to set up a simple CoreOS instance with single node in the cluster and how to run a Docker container inside the CoreOS instance. Next, you’ll be introduced to Fleet and systemd, and will deploy and distribute Docker services across different nodes in cluster using Fleet. Later, you’ll be briefed about running services in a cluster with constraints, publishing the services already running on the cluster to new services, and making your services interact with each other. We conclude by teaching you about advanced container networking. By the end of the book, you will know the salient features of CoreOS and will be able to deploy, administrate, and secure a CoreOS environment. Style and approach This practical guide covers the basics and advanced topics related to CoreOS and lightweight containers. The topics are covered in an easy-to-follow manner with each feature explained in detail, beginning with a brief overview and followed by an explanation of its corresponding configuration files.

Get unstuck and start stacking! About This Book Easily fix the nagging problems that commonly plague OpenStack and become the go-to person in your organization Get better equipped to troubleshoot and solve common problems in performance, availability, and automation that confront production-ready OpenStack environments Save time and decrease frustration by solving significant issues that arise from OpenStack deployments pertaining to storage and networking Who This Book Is For You will need a basic understanding of OpenStack, Linux, and Cloud computing. If you have an understanding of Linux, this book will help you leverage that knowledge in the world of OpenStack, giving you confidence to tackle most issues that may arise. What You Will Learn Diagnose and remediate authentication and authorization problems in Keystone Fix common issues with images served through Glance Master the art of troubleshooting Neutron networking Navigate and overcome problems with Nova Troubleshoot and resolve Cinder block storage issues Identify and correct Swift object storage problems Isolate and fix issues caused by Heat orchestration Leverage Ceilometer and other metering and monitoring tools for effective troubleshooting In Detail OpenStack is a collection of software projects that work together to provide a cloud fabric. OpenStack is one of the fastest growing open source projects in history that unlocks cloud computing for everyone. With OpenStack, you are able to create public or private clouds on your own hardware. The flexibility and control afforded by OpenStack puts the cloud within reach of anyone willing to learn this technology. Starting with an introduction to OpenStack troubleshooting tools, we’ll walk through each OpenStack service and how you can quickly diagnose, troubleshoot, and correct problems in your OpenStack. Understanding the various projects and how they interact is essential for anyone attempting to troubleshoot an OpenStack cloud. We will start by explaining each of the major components and the dependencies between them, and move on to show you how to identify and utilize an effective set of OpenStack troubleshooting tools and fix common Keystone problems. Next, we will expose you to common errors and problems you may encounter when using the OpenStack Block Storage service (Cinder). We will then examine Heat, the OpenStack Orchestration Service, where you will learn how to trace errors, determine their root cause, and effectively correct the issue. Finally, you will get to know the best practices to architect your OpenStack cloud in order to achieve optimal performance, availability, and reliability. Style and approach This is straight-to-the point guide to fixing your OpenStack cluster. Common problems are identified and suggestions to resolve these problems are presented in a simple, easy-to-understand manner.

The Stone Soup Experiment is a remarkable story of cultural difference, of in-groups, out-groups, and how quickly and strongly the lines between them are drawn. It is also a story about simulation and reality, and how quickly the lines between them can be dismantled.?In a compulsively readable account, Deborah Downing Wilson details a ten-week project in which forty university students were split into two different simulated cultures: the carefree Stoners, and the market-driven Traders. Through their eyes we are granted intimate access to the very foundations of human society: how group identities are formed and what happens when opposing ones come into contact.?The experience of the Stoners and Traders is a profound testament to human sociality. Even in the form of simulation, even as a game, the participants found themselves quickly-and with real conviction-bound to the ideologies and practices of their in-group. The Stoners enjoyed their days lounging, chatting, and making crafts, while the Traders-through a complex market of playing cards-competed for the highest bankrolls. When they came into contact, misunderstanding, competition, and even manipulation prevailed, to the point that each group became so convinced of its own superiority that even after the simulation's end the students could not reconcile. Throughout her riveting narrative, Downing Wilson interweaves fascinating discussions on the importance of play, emotions, and intergroup interaction in the formation and maintenance of group identities, as well as on the dynamic social processes at work when different cultural groups interact. A fascinating account of social experimentation, the book paints a vivid portrait of our deepest social tendencies and the powers they have over how we make friends and enemies alike.?

The University of Iowa is a leading light in the writing world. In addition to the Iowa Writers' Workshop for poets and fiction writers, it houses the prestigious Nonfiction Writing Program (NWP), which was the first full-time masters-granting program in this genre in the United States. Over the past three decades the NWP has produced some of the most influential nonfiction writers in the country.I'll Tell You Mine is an extraordinary anthology, a book rooted in Iowa's successful program that goes beyond mere celebration to present some of the best nonfiction writing of the past thirty years. Eighteen pieces produced by Iowa graduates exemplify the development of both the program and the field of nonfiction writing. Each is accompanied by commentary from the author on a challenging issue presented by the story and the writing process, including drafting, workshopping, revising, and listening to (or sometimes ignoring) advice. The essays are put into broader context by a prologue from Robert Atwan, founding editor of the Best American Essays?series, who details the rise of nonfiction as a literary genre since the New Journalism of the 1960s.Creative nonfiction is the fastest-growing writing concentration in the country, with more than one hundred and fifty programs in the United States. I'll Tell You Mine shows why Iowa's leads the way. Its insider's view of the Iowa program experience and its wealth of groundbreaking nonfiction writing will entertain readers and inspire writers of all kinds.

As the economies of China, India, and other Asian nations continue to grow, these countries are seeking greater control over the rules that govern international trade. Setting the rules carries with it the power to establish advantage, so it's no surprise that everyone wants a seat at the table-or that negotiations over rules often result in stalemates at meeting of the World Trade Organization.Nowhere is the conflict over rule setting more evident than in the simmering "e;standards wars"e; over the rules that define quality and enable the adjudication of disputes.?In Global Rivalries, Amy A. Quark explores the questions of how rules are made, who makes them, and how they are enforced, using the lens of cotton-a simple commodity that has become a poignant symbol of both the crisis of Western rule making power and the potential for powerful new rivals to supplant it. Quark traces the strategies for influencing rule making processes employed not only by national governments but also by transnational corporations, fiber scientists, and trade associations from around the globe. Quark analyzes the efficacy of their approaches and the implications for more marginal actors in the cotton trade, including producers in West Africa.By placing the current contest within the historical development of the global capitalist system, Global Rivalries highlights a fascinating interaction of politics and economics.

For centuries, people have been thinking and writing-and fiercely debating-about the meaning of marriage. Just a hundred years ago, Progressive era reformers embraced marriage not as a time-honored repository for conservative values, but as a tool for social change.In Until Choice Do Us Part, Clare Virginia Eby offers a new account of marriage as it appeared in fiction, journalism, legal decisions, scholarly work, and private correspondence at the turn into the twentieth century. She begins with reformers like sexologist Havelock Ellis, anthropologist Elsie Clews Parsons, and feminist Charlotte Perkins Gilman, who argued that spouses should be "e;class equals"e; joined by private affection, not public sanction. ?Then Eby guides us through the stories of three literary couples-Upton and Meta Fuller Sinclair, Theodore and Sara White Dreiser, and Neith Boyce and Hutchins Hapgood-who sought to reform marriage in their lives and in their writings, with mixed results. With this focus on the intimate side of married life, Eby views a historical moment that changed the nature of American marriage-and that continues to shape marital norms today.

Diversity these days is a hallowed American value, widely shared and honored. That's a remarkable change from the Civil Rights era-but does this public commitment to diversity constitute a civil rights victoryWhat does diversity mean in contemporary America, and what are the effects of efforts to support it?Ellen Berrey digs deep into those questions in The Enigma of Diversity. Drawing on six years of fieldwork and historical sources dating back to the 1950s and making extensive use of three case studies from widely varying arenas-housing redevelopment in Chicago's Rogers Park neighborhood, affirmative action in the University of Michigan's admissions program, and the workings of the human resources department at a Fortune 500 company-Berrey explores the complicated, contradictory, and even troubling meanings and uses of diversity as it is invoked by different groups for different, often symbolic ends. In each case, diversity affirms inclusiveness, especially in the most coveted jobs and colleges, yet it resists fundamental change in the practices and cultures that are the foundation of social inequality. Berrey shows how this has led racial progress itself to be reimagined, transformed from a legal fight for fundamental rights to a celebration of the competitive advantages afforded by cultural differences.Powerfully argued and surprising in its conclusions, The Enigma of Diversity reveals the true cost of the public embrace of diversity: the taming of demands for racial justice.

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.

During the eighteenth century, some of the most popular British poetry showed a responsiveness to animals that anticipated the later language of animal rights. Such poems were widely cited in later years by legislators advocating animal welfare laws like Martin's Act of 1822, which provided protections for livestock. In The Animal Claim, Tobias Menely links this poetics of sensibility with Enlightenment political philosophy, the rise of the humanitarian public, and the fate of sentimentality, as well as longstanding theoretical questions about voice as a medium of communication. ?In the Restoration and eighteenth century, philosophers emphasized the role of sympathy in collective life and began regarding the passionate expression humans share with animals, rather than the spoken or written word, as the elemental medium of community. Menely shows how poetry came to represent this creaturely voice and, by virtue of this advocacy, facilitated the development of a viable discourse of animal rights in the emerging public sphere. Placing sensibility in dialogue with classical and early-modern antecedents as well as contemporary animal studies, The Animal Claim uncovers crucial connections between eighteenth-century poetry; theories of communication; and post-absolutist, rights-based politics. ?

In Man Is by Nature a Political Animal, Peter K. Hatemi and Rose McDermott bring together a diverse group of contributors to examine the ways in which evolutionary theory and biological research are increasingly informing analyses of political behavior. Focusing on the theoretical, methodological, and empirical frameworks of a variety of biological approaches to political attitudes and preferences, the authors consider a wide range of topics, including the comparative basis of political behavior, the utility of formal modeling informed by evolutionary theory, the genetic bases of attitudes and behaviors, psychophysiological methods and research, and the wealth of insight generated by recent research on the human brain. Through this approach, the book reveals the biological bases of many previously unexplained variances within the extant models of political behavior.?The diversity of methods discussed and variety of issues examined here will make this book of great interest to students and scholars seeking a comprehensive overview of this emerging approach to the study of politics and behavior.

"e;It is the nature of war to increase the executive at the expense of the legislative authority,"e; wrote Alexander Hamilton in the Federalist Papers. The balance of power between Congress and the president has been a powerful thread throughout American political thought since the time of the Founding Fathers. And yet, for all that has been written on the topic, we still lack a solid empirical or theoretical justification for Hamilton's proposition.?For the first time, William G. Howell, Saul P. Jackman, and Jon C. Rogowski systematically analyze the question. Congress, they show, is more likely to defer to the president's policy preferences when political debates center on national rather than local considerations. Thus, World War II and the post-9/11 wars in Afghanistan and Iraq significantly augmented presidential power, allowing the president to enact foreign and domestic policies that would have been unattainable in times of peace. But, contrary to popular belief, there are also times when war has little effect on a president's influence in Congress. The Vietnam and Gulf Wars, for instance, did not nationalize our politics nearly so much, and presidential influence expanded only moderately.?Built on groundbreaking research, The Wartime President offers one of the most significant works ever written on the wartime powers presidents wield at home.

Today, the moving image is ubiquitous in global contemporary art. The first book to tell the story of the postwar expanded cinema that inspired this omnipresence,?Between the Black Box and the White Cube?travels back to the 1950s and 1960s, when the rise of television caused movie theaters to lose their monopoly over the moving image, leading cinema to be installed directly alongside other forms of modern art.?Explaining that the postwar expanded cinema was a response to both developments, Andrew V. Uroskie argues that, rather than a formal or technological innovation, the key change for artists involved a displacement of the moving image from the familiarity of the cinematic theater to original spaces and contexts. He shows how newly available, inexpensive film and video technology enabled artists such as Nam June Paik, Robert Whitman, Stan VanDerBeek, Robert Breer, and especially Andy Warhol to become filmmakers. Through their efforts to explore a fresh way of experiencing the moving image, these artists sought to reimagine the nature and possibilities of art in a post-cinematic age and helped to develop a novel space between the "e;black box"e; of the movie theater and the "e;white cube"e; of the art gallery. Packed with over one hundred illustrations,?Between the Black Box and the White Cube?is a compelling look at a seminal moment in the cultural life of the moving image and its emergence in contemporary art.

Stories abound about the lengths to which middle- and upper-middle-class parents will go to ensure a spot for their child at a prestigious university. From the Suzuki method to calculus-based physics, from AP tests all the way back to early-learning Kumon courses, students are increasingly pushed to excel with that Harvard or Yale acceptance letter held tantalizingly in front of them. And nowhere is this drive more apparent than in our elite secondary schools. In Class Warfare, Lois Weis, Kristin Cipollone, and Heather Jenkins go inside the ivy-yearning halls of three such schools to offer a day-to-day, week-by-week look at this remarkable drive toward college admissions and one of its most salient purposes: to determine class.Drawing on deep and sustained contact with students, parents, teachers, and administrators at three iconic secondary schools in the United States, the authors unveil a formidable process of class positioning at the heart of the college admissions process. They detail the ways students and parents exploit every opportunity and employ every bit of cultural, social, and economic capital they can in order to gain admission into a "e;Most Competitive"e; or "e;Highly Competitive Plus"e; university. Moreover, they show how admissions into these schools-with their attendant rankings-are used to lock in or improve class standing for the next generation. It's a story of class warfare within a given class, the substrata of which-whether economically, racially, or socially determined-are fiercely negotiated through the college admissions process.In a historic moment marked by deep economic uncertainty, anxieties over socioeconomic standing are at their highest. Class, as this book shows, must be won, and the collateral damage of this aggressive pursuit may just be education itself, flattened into a mere victory banner. ?

Modern theory needs a history lesson. Neither Marx nor Nietzsche first gave us theory-Hegel did. To support this contention, Andrew Cole's The Birth of Theory presents a refreshingly clear and lively account of the origins and legacy of Hegel's dialectic as theory. Cole explains how Hegel boldly broke from modern philosophy when he adopted medieval dialectical habits of thought to fashion his own dialectic. While his contemporaries rejected premodern dialectic as outdated dogma, Hegel embraced both its emphasis on language as thought and its fascination with the categories of identity and difference, creating what we now recognize as theory, distinct from systematic philosophy. Not content merely to change philosophy, Hegel also used this dialectic to expose the persistent archaism of modern life itself, Cole shows, establishing a method of social analysis that has influenced everyone from Marx and the nineteenth-century Hegelians, to Nietzsche and Bakhtin, all the way to Deleuze and Jameson.?By uncovering these theoretical filiations across time, The Birth of Theory will not only change the way we read Hegel, but also the way we think about the histories of theory. With chapters that powerfully reanimate the overly familiar topics of ideology, commodity fetishism, and political economy, along with a groundbreaking reinterpretation of Hegel's famous master/slave dialectic, The Birth of Theory places the disciplines of philosophy, literature, and history in conversation with one another in an unprecedented way. Daring to reconcile the sworn enemies of Hegelianism and Deleuzianism, this timely book will revitalize dialectics for the twenty-first century.