Banking on Words
¥188.35
In this provocative look at one of the most important events of our time, renowned scholar Arjun Appadurai argues that the economic collapse of 2008-while indeed spurred on by greed, ignorance, weak regulation, and irresponsible risk-taking-was, ultimately, a failure of language. To prove this sophisticated point, he takes us into the world of derivative finance, which has become the core of contemporary trading and the primary target of blame for the collapse and all our subsequent woes. With incisive argumentation, he analyzes this challengingly technical world, drawing on thinkers such as J. L. Austin, Marcel Mauss, and Max Weber as theoretical guides to showcase the ways language-and particular failures in it-paved the way for ruin.?Appadurai moves in four steps through his analysis. In the first, he highlights the importance of derivatives in contemporary finance, isolating them as the core technical innovation that markets have produced. In the second, he shows that derivatives are essentially written contracts about the future prices of assets-they are, crucially, a promise. Drawing on Mauss's The Gift and Austin's theories on linguistic performatives, Appadurai, in his third step, shows how the derivative exploits the linguistic power of the promise through the special form that money takes in finance as the most abstract form of commodity value. Finally, he pinpoints one crucial feature of derivatives (as seen in the housing market especially): that they can make promises that other promises will be broken. He then details how this feature spread contagiously through the market, snowballing into the systemic liquidity crisis that we are all too familiar with now.With his characteristic clarity, Appadurai explains one of the most complicated-and yet absolutely central-aspects of our modern economy. He makes the critical link we have long needed to make: between the numerical force of money and the linguistic force of what we say we will do with it.?
School Principal
¥188.35
When we think about school principals, most of us imagine a figure of vague, yet intimidating authority-for an elementary school student, being sent to the principal's office is roughly on par with a trip to Orwell's Room 101. But with School Principal, Dan C. Lortie aims to change that. Much as he did for teachers with his groundbreaking book Schoolteacher, Lortie offers here an intensive and detailed look at principals, painting a compelling portrait of what they do, how they do it, and why.Lortie begins with a brief history of the job before turning to the daily work of a principal. These men and women, he finds, stand at the center of a constellation of competing interests around and within the school. School district officials, teachers, parents, and students all have needs and demands that frequently clash, and it is the principal's job to manage these conflicting expectations to best serve the public. Unsurprisingly then, Lortie records his subjects' professional dissatisfactions, but he also vividly depicts the pleasures of their work and the pride they take in their accomplishments. Finally, School Principal offers a glimpse of the future with an analysis of current issues and trends in education, including the increasing presence of women in the role and the effects of widespread testing mandated by the government.Lortie's scope is both broad and deep, offering an eminently useful range of perspectives on his subject. From the day-to-day toil to the long-term course of an entire career, from finding out just what goes on inside that office to mapping out the larger social and organizational context of the job, School Principal is a truly comprehensive account of a little-understood profession.
Demands of the Day
¥188.35
Demands of the Day asks about the logical standards and forms that should guide ethical and experimental anthropology in the twenty-first century. Anthropologists Paul Rabinow and Anthony Stavrianakis do so by taking up Max Weber's notion of the "e;demands of the day."e; Just as the demand of the day for anthropology decades ago consisted of thinking about fieldwork, today, they argue, the demand is to examine what happens after, how the experiences of fieldwork are gathered, curated, narrated, and ultimately made available for an anthropological practice that moves beyond mere ethnographic de*ion.?Rabinow and Stavrianakis draw on experiences from an innovative set of anthropological experiments that investigated how and whether the human and biological sciences could be brought into a mutually enriching relationship. Conceptualizing the anthropological and philosophic ramifications of these inquiries, they offer a bold challenge to contemporary anthropology to undertake a more rigorous examination of its own practices, blind spots, and capacities, in order to meet the demands of our day.
Childhood and Other Neighborhoods
¥188.35
In Stuart Dybek's Chicago, wonder lurks in unexpected places-in garbage-strewn alleys, gloomy basement apartments, abandoned rooms at the top of rickety stairs periodically rumbled by passing el trains. Transformed through the wide eyes of Dybek's adolescent heroes, these grimy urban backwaters become exotic landscapes of fear-filled possibility, of dreams not yet turned to nightmares. Chronicling what happens when Old World faith meets the dark side of the American dream, Dybek's poignant stories of coming of age in Chicago alternately appall, amaze, and just simply entertain.
Political Theory of The Federalist
¥188.35
In The Political Theory of"e;The Federalist,"e; David F. Epstein offers a guide to the fundamental principles of American government as they were understood by the framers of the Constitution. Epstein here demonstrates the remarkable depth and clarity of The Federalist's argument, reveals its specifically political (not merely economic) view of human nature, and describes how and why the American regime combines liberal and republican values."e;While it is a model of scholarly care and clarity, this study deserves an audience outside the academy. . . . David F. Epstein's book is a fine demonstration of just how much a close reading can accomplish, free of any flights of theory or fancy references."e;-New Republic"e;Epstein's strength lies in two aspects of his own approach. One is that he reads the text with uncommon closeness and sensitivity; the other is an extensive knowledge of the European political thought which itself forms an indispensable background to the minds of the authors."e;-Times Literary Supplement
Darkness Visible
¥188.35
One of the best books ever written on one of humanity's greatest epics, W. R. Johnson's classic study of Vergil's Aeneid challenges centuries of received wisdom. Johnson rejects the political and historical reading of the epic as a record of the glorious prehistory of Rome and instead foregrounds Vergil's enigmatic style and questioning of the heroic myths.With an approach to the text that is both grounded in scholarship and intensely personal, and in a style both rhetorically elegant and passionate, Johnson offers readings of specific passages that are nuanced and suggestive as he focuses on the "e;somber and nourishing fictions"e; in Vergil's poem. A timeless work of scholarship, Darkness Visible will enthrall classicists as well as students and scholars of the history of criticism-specifically the way in which politics influence modern readings of the classics-and of poetry and literature.
Collaborator
¥188.35
On February 6, 1945, Robert Brasillach was executed for treason by a French firing squad. He was a writer of some distinction-a prolific novelist and a keen literary critic. He was also a dedicated anti-Semite, an acerbic opponent of French democracy, and editor in chief of the fascist weekly Je Suis Partout, in whose pages he regularly printed wartime denunciations of Jews and resistance activists.Was Brasillach in fact guilty of treasonWas he condemned for his denunciations of the resistance, or singled out as a suspected homosexualWas it right that he was executed when others, who were directly responsible for the murder of thousands, were set freeKaplan's meticulous reconstruction of Brasillach's life and trial skirts none of these ethical subtleties: a detective story, a cautionary tale, and a meditation on the disturbing workings of justice and memory, The Collaborator will stand as the definitive account of Brasillach's crime and punishment.A National Book Award FinalistA National Book Critics Circle Award Finalist"e;A well-researched and vivid account."e;-John Weightman, New York Review of Books"e;A gripping reconstruction of [Brasillach's] trial."e;-The New Yorker"e;Readers of this disturbing book will want to find moral touchstones of their own. They're going to need them. This is one of the few works on Nazism that forces us to experience how complex the situation really was, and answers won't come easily."e;-Daniel Blue, San Francisco Chronicle Book Review"e;The Collaborator is one of the best-written, most absorbing pieces of literary history in years."e;-David A. Bell, New York Times Book Review"e;Alice Kaplan's clear-headed study of the case of Robert Brasillach in France has a good deal of current-day relevance. . . . Kaplan's fine book . . . shows that the passage of time illuminates different understandings, and she leaves it to us to reflect on which understanding is better."e;-Richard Bernstein, The New York Times
Agrarian Revolt in a Mexican Village
¥188.35
Agrarian Revolt in a Mexican Village deals with a Tarascan Indian village in southwestern Mexico which, between 1920 and 1926, played a precedent-setting role in agrarian reform. As he describes forty years in the history of this small pueblo, Paul Friedrich raises general questions about local politics and agrarian reform that are basic to our understanding of radical change in peasant societies around the world. Of particular interest is his detailed study of the colorful, violent, and psychologically complex leader, Primo Tapia, whose biography bears on the theoretical issues of the "e;political middleman"e; and the relation between individual motivation and socioeconomic change. Friedrich's evidence includes massive interviewing, personal letters, observations as an anthropological participant (e.g., in fiesta ritual), analysis of the politics and other village culture during 1955-56, comparison with other Tarascan villages, historical and prehistoric background materials, and research in legal and government agrarian archives.
Response to Industrialism, 1885-1914
¥188.35
In this new edition, Samuel P. Hays expands the scope of his pioneering account of the ways in which Americans reacted to industrialism during its early years from 1885 to 1914. Hays now deepens his coverage of cultural transformations in a study well known for its concise treatment of political and economic movements.Hays draws on the vast knowledge of America's urban and social history that has been developed over the last thirty-eight years to make the second edition an unusually well-rounded study. He enhances the original coverage of politics, labor, and business with new accounts of the growth of cities, the rise of modern values, cultural conflicts with Native Americans and foreign nations, and changing roles for women, African-Americans, education, religion, medicine, law, and leisure. The result is a tightly woven portrait of America in transition that underscores the effects of impersonal market forces and greater personal freedom on individuals and chronicles such changes as the rise of social inequality, shifting power, in the legal system, the expansion of the federal government, and the formation of the Populist, Progressive, and Socialist parties.
Power of the Between
¥188.35
It is the anthropologist's fate to always be between things: countries, languages, cultures, even realities. But rather than lament this, anthropologist Paul Stoller here celebrates the creative power of the between, showing how it can transform us, changing our conceptions of who we are, what we know, and how we live in the world.Beginning with his early days with the Peace Corps in Africa and culminating with a recent bout with cancer, The Power of the Between is an evocative account of the circuitous path Stoller's life has taken, offering a fascinating depiction of how a career is shaped over decades of reading and research. Stoller imparts his accumulated wisdom not through grandiose pronouncements but by drawing on his gift for storytelling. Tales of his apprenticeship to a sorcerer in Niger, his studies with Claude Lvi-Strauss in Paris, and his friendships with West African street vendors in New York City accompany philosophical reflections on love, memory, power, courage, health, and illness.Graced with Stoller's trademark humor and narrative elegance, The Power of the Between is both the story of a distinguished career and a profound meditation on coming to terms with the impermanence of all things.
Napló 1935-1946 I-II.
¥190.15
Napló 1935-1946 I-II.
In the Home of the Famous Dead
¥192.08
In the Home of the Famous Dead will appeal to newcomers as well as to avid followers of Jo McDougall's long career and complex work, providing valuable insights to the development of a poet's signature, inimitable style. This collection presents work known for its sparse, compact language; surprising metaphor; humor; irony; idiomatic speech; and a stoic, sadly earned wisdom concerning death and loss. In McDougall's world, folks making do with what they have take the stage to speak of, in the words of one critic, "e;the tangled mysteries of their faltering lives."e; Her work has been described as having "e;excruciating honesty"e; (Gerald Stern), giving voice to the "e;ineffable emotions of plain people"e; (Judith Kitchen). Miller Williams notes that the work has "e;cleanness and clarity . . . in all the funk and smell of humanity."e; This is the poetry of midwestern plains and southern botttomlands, of waitresses and professors, farmers and bankers, the disadvantaged and privileged alike. Often beginning in the personal and expanding to the universal, this poet takes note of the phenomenological world with a mixture of joy, despair, and awe, providing a haunting look at the cosmic irony of our existence. McDougall's style is indescribable, yet wholly accessible. As Kelly Cherry notes, "e;Call it magic, call it art; either way [Jo McDougall's work] is something like a miracle."e;
Star of the Morning: The Extraordinary Life of Lady Hester Stanhope (Text Only)
¥192.67
The dramatic story of Lady Hester Stanhope – a wilful beauty turned bohemian adventurer – who left England as a young woman, unashamedly enjoyed a string of lovers and established her own exotic fiefdom in the Lebanese mountains where she died in 1839. Ambitious, daring and uncompromising, Lady Hester Stanhope was never cut out for a conventional life. Born into an illustrious political dynasty, she played society hostess for her uncle, William Pitt the Younger. After his death, she struck out for unchartered territory, setting sail with her lover for the Mediterranean and Constantinople – turning her back on England, as events would transpire, forever. It was in the Middle East, however, that she found her destiny. As the greatest female traveller of her age, she was the first western woman to cross the Syrian desert, where she was hailed by the Bedouin as their ‘Star of the Morning’. From her labyrinthine fortress in the mountains of Lebanon, where she established what amounted to her own fiefdom, she exerted a canny influence over the region's devious politics. Hers was a life of adventure and intrigue – yet in the years following her death her remarkable story has been largely dismissed, reworked by the Victorians into a cautionary tale for young women with wayward tendencies. This captivating biography, drawing on fresh research from three continents, resurrects Hester as the complex, courageous and fearless woman she was, bringing to life her hidden loves, friendships and ambitions. More than a mere traveller, here was a woman whose aspirations led her straight to the heart of the shadowy race for influence between the great powers of the nineteenth century – a world of shifting alliances, double agents, romance, intrigue and murder. Above all, Lady Hester Stanhope was a woman driven by her desire to make a mark on the world, whose search for love and spiritual meaning in a war-torn Middle East provide an illuminating and moving parallel for our time.
Warriors: Dawn of the Clans 3-Book Collection
¥194.15
This collection contains the first three books in the thrilling prequel arc in Erin Hunter's #1 nationally bestselling Warriors series! Discover how the warrior Clans came to be.Dawn of the Clans #1: The Sun Trail: Long before Firestar left his kittypet home to join ThunderClan, a band of cats from the mountains set off on a dangerous journey in search of a new home.Dawn of the Clans #2: Thunder Rising: The mountain cats from the Tribe of Rushing Water followed the sun trail to a new territory, convinced that in a land with more prey, their lives would be free from strife. But while no cat has gone hungry, tensions are rising.Dawn of the Clans #3: The First Battle: The rivalry between Gray Wing and Clear Sky has driven a bitter wedge between all of the forest cats. As Thunder and Gray Wing struggle to find a peaceful path for the future, tensions are growing—and soon more blood will be shed.
Baseball Card Adventures: 4-Book Grand Slam Collection
¥196.24
Twelve-year-old Joe Stoshack is an average kid with two amazing talents: getting his hands on rare baseball cards, and traveling through time to meet the famous players they depict. Sports buffs and fans of authors like Tim Green and Jon Scieszka will love this imaginative series.Together for the first time, this collection includes:Honus & Me, featuring Honus Wagner, the greatest shortstop ever, from the turn of the century. Honus Wagner’s baseball card is the rarest and most expensive of all; one specimen sold for $2.8 million in 2007. Jackie & Me, featuring Jackie Robinson, the first African-American player in Major League Baseball, six-time All-Star, and recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Congressional Gold Medal. Babe & Me, featuring Babe Ruth, all-time great batter and seven-time World Series champion, who set records that still stand today. Shoeless Joe & Me, featuring Shoeless Joe Jackson, who was banned from baseball in the prime of his career and whose involvement in the Black Sox Scandal is still disputed.
True Blood: Eats, Drinks, and Bites from Bon Temps
¥200.03
True Blood, HBO's blockbuster paranormal drama, enthralls a diverse audience of 13 million viewers (and counting). Menus at the now famous Fangtasia and Merlotte's Bar and Grill play a key role in the series, providing sustenance for its human characters, evoking memories of a bygone life for its vampires, and serving as a powerful symbol for the desires and carnal needs the characters harbor. It's no wonder so many fans revel in at home parties inspired by the food on the series! With recipes from unforgettable scenes, each entertainingly introduced by True Blood's most compelling characters, these 85 authentic bayou country recipes and 150 plus photos from the series give fans a big taste of Bon Temps.
Art of Sanjay's Super Team
¥200.03
In the new short film from Pixar Animation Studios, Sanjay's Super Team, accomplished artist Sanjay Patel uses his own experience to tell the story of a young, 1st generation Indian boy whose love for western pop culture comes into conflict with his father's traditions. This art-filled peek behind the curtain of this groundbreaking film is sure to excite Sanjay's legion of fans, and thrill animation lovers around the world.Copyright 2015 Disney Enterprises, Inc. and Pixar. All rights reserved.
Imagination Illustrated - The Jim Henson Journal
¥200.03
Jim Henson's iconic puppet characters, fantastic worlds, and warm humor have delighted millions of people of all ages. His incredibly diverse body of work, from the Muppets to the world of The Dark Crystal, reveals his charm and genius to fans old and new. Compiled directly from The Jim Henson Company archives, Imagination Illustrated adapts the diary that Jim faithfully kept throughout his career, supplementing it with a trove of little-seen visual material, including rare sketches, personal and production photographs, storyboards, doodles, and much more. Throughout, archivist Karen Falk delves into the behind-the-scenes details of Henson's life and artistic process. Sure to delight anyone who has enjoyed Henson's creationsseeing early drawings of Kermit and Rowlf is like smiling over childhood photos of dear friendsthis lovely book celebrates Jim's life and his magic.
Homeland Revealed
¥200.03
An American soldier presumed killed in Iraq returns home ten years after disappearing. This is the premise of the award-winning and highly addictive Homeland. Known for its heart-pumping plot and phenomenal acting, Homeland has garnered multiple Emmys, fabulous reviews, and legions of devoted fans. This richly visual book unpacks the complex show, delving into favorite characters, conspiracy theories, and behind-the-scenes detail, while also exploring how real covert operations inspire and inform the show. Hundreds of photos capturing the intense onscreen action complement veteran writer Matt Hurwitz's narrative as he weaves in and out of the past three seasons using interviews with the creators, cast, and crew. An engrossing read in a deluxe hardcover package, Homeland Revealed is the ultimate gift for any fan of the series.Homeland TM 2014 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Artwork 2014 Showtime Networks, Inc. A CBS Company. All Rights Reserved.
Star Wars: Women of the Galaxy
¥200.03
Star Wars: Women of the Galaxy
Boy Who Loved Batman - A Memoir
¥200.03
Is any superhero cooler than Batman? He s a crime-fighting vigilante with a tragic past, a lawless attitude, and a seemingly endless supply of high-tech gadgetry. In this fully illustrated memoir, author Michael Uslan recalls his journey from early childhood fandom through to the decades he spent on a caped crusade of his own: to bring Batman to the silver screen as the dark, serious character he was at heart. Uslan's story traces his path from the wilds of New Jersey to the limelight of Hollywood, following his work as Executive Producer on every Batman film from Tim Burton s 1989 re-envisioning to 2012's The Dark Knight Rises. Through it all, he helped to create one of the most successful pop culture franchises of all time.