Boost your scientific and analytic capabilities in no time at all by discovering how to build real-world applications with NumPy About This Book Optimize your Python *s with powerful NumPy modules Explore the vast opportunities to build outstanding scientific/ analytical modules by yourself Packed with rich examples to help you master NumPy arrays and universal functions Who This Book Is For If you are an experienced Python developer who intends to drive your numerical and scientific applications with NumPy, this book is for you. Prior experience or knowledge of working with the Python language is required. What You Will Learn Manipulate the key attributes and universal functions of NumPy Utilize matrix and mathematical computation using linear algebra modules Implement regression and curve fitting for models Perform time frequency / spectral density analysis using the Fourier Transform modules Collate with the distutils and setuptools modules used by other Python libraries Establish Cython with NumPy arrays Write extension modules for NumPy code using the C API Build sophisticated data structures using NumPy array with libraries such as Panda and Scikits In Detail In today’s world of science and technology, it’s all about speed and flexibility. When it comes to scientific computing, NumPy tops the list. NumPy gives you both the speed and high productivity you need. This book will walk you through NumPy using clear, step-by-step examples and just the right amount of theory. We will guide you through wider applications of NumPy in scientific computing and will then focus on the fundamentals of NumPy, including array objects, functions, and matrices, each of them explained with practical examples. You will then learn about different NumPy modules while performing mathematical operations such as calculating the Fourier Transform; solving linear systems of equations, interpolation, extrapolation, regression, and curve fitting; and evaluating integrals and derivatives. We will also introduce you to using Cython with NumPy arrays and writing extension modules for NumPy code using the C API. This book will give you exposure to the vast NumPy library and help you build efficient, high-speed programs using a wide range of mathematical features. Style and approach This quick guide will help you get to grips with the nitty-gritties of NumPy using with practical programming examples. Each topic is explained in both theoretical and practical ways with hands-on examples providing you efficient way of learning and adequate knowledge to support your professional work.

Transform your Raspberry Pi into a multi-purpose web server that supports your entire multimedia world with this practical and accessible tutorial! About This Book Host websites, games, and even stream HD videos with the impressive power of Raspberry Pi 2 Get to grips with embedded programming by turning your Pi into the cloud server that can be used to power Internet of Things projects Make the Raspberry Pi 2 the center of your latest tech experiments and discover how it can manage and host resources Who This Book Is For Seeking inspiration for some new tech projectsWant to get more from your Raspberry PiThis book has been created especially for you! What You Will Learn Host your Raspberry Pi as a web server using the minimum power resources Connect your Pi to the Internet and perform network benchmarking Explore the cross-platform features of the Pi as you run Python, Node.JS, ASP.NET, and PHP all in one place Share files over the Internet using your Pi as a file server Turn your Pi into a game server, host and engage into playing Enjoy live HD video streaming and exclusive real-time text overlays In Detail There’s no end to what you can do with a Raspberry Pi – it makes a huge range of tech projects possible. This book shows you how to transform it into a multipurpose web server, able to store and manage resources that lets you build some truly innovative and impressive computing creations. You’ll learn how to use your Raspberry Pi 2 to host a website using a range of different languages, host a game server, store files, and run everything from a media center to a cloud network. If you want to take control of your technological world, start building your own server and find out what’s possible with the Raspberry Pi microcomputer. Begin by getting your Pi set up – follow each step as the book shows you how to prepare a network and configure the additional features that you’ll need to build your projects. Once you’ve done this you’ll dig a little deeper and set up your pi as a file server, making sure it’s built for speed using a range of different tools, including Python, Node.js and ASP.NET. Following this the book shows you how to extend your server to allow you to host games, and stream live HD video before customizing it even further to create a fully-fledged media center. It doesn’t stop there however – the book then dives into the exciting world of the Internet of Things (IoT). You’ll learn how to install Windows IoT onto your Raspberry Pi, the operating system that’s driving embedded software projects all around the world. Once you’ve done this you’ll be ready to explore IoT further, as the book shows you how to use your device to host a cloud network that can form the basis of a wider IoT project. Style and approach Packed with plenty of practical examples that walk you through a number of Raspberry Pi projects, this book is an accessible journey into embedded computing and Internet of Things.

Build and manage networks in OpenStack using Neutron About This Book Deploy an all-in-one cloud based on OpenStack Liberty (2015.2) using RDO Learn the fundamentals of the Neutron API including networks, subnets, and ports, and how to manage these resources in the cloud Build simple virtual network infrastructures in the cloud Who This Book Is For The book is for those who are new to OpenStack and Neutron who want to learn the cloud networking fundamentals and get started with OpenStack networking. Prior networking experience along with a virtual or physical server is recommended to follow along with the concepts demonstrated in the book. What You Will Learn Install the latest Liberty (2015.2) release of OpenStack using RDO in VirtualBox Discover the basics of the Neutron API, including networks, subnets, and ports Interact with Neutron using the CLI and Horizon dashboard Create networks and subnets that provide connectivity to instances Implement software routers that connect networks and provide network address translation Secure instances using Neutron's security group functionality In Detail The OpenStack Networking API offers users the ability to create and manage both basic and complex network architectures that blend the virtual and physical network infrastructure. This book kicks off by describing various components of Openstack Neutron and installing Ubuntu OpenStack based on Canonical's process. Further on, you will use various methods to interface with Neutron to create and manage network resources. You will also get to grips with the relationship between ports, networks, and subnets through diagrams and explanations, and see how the logical components are implemented via plugins and agents. Moving forward, you will learn how virtual switches are implemented and how to build Neutron routers. You will also configure networks, subnets, and routers to provide connectivity to instances using simple examples. At the end, you will configure and manage security groups, and will observe how these rules translate to iptables rules on the host machines. By the end of the book, you will be able to build basic network architectures using Neutron networks and routers in no time. Style and approach An easy-to-follow guide that covers the networking features of OpenStack and the core Neutron API components providing a solid foundation to deploy networks and instances.

Get up and running with ReactJS by developing five cutting-edge and responsive projects About This Book Create pragmatic real-world applications while learning React and its modern developer tools Build sustainable user interfaces by transforming data into components of UI Learn how to generate reusable ReactJS components effectively Who This Book Is For If you are a web developer and wish to learn ReactJS from scratch, then this book is tailor-made for you. Good understanding of Java*, HTML, and CSS is expected. What You Will Learn Create, reuse, and compose React components using JSX Share data between various React components and techniques for data flow within a React app Handle user interactions with the help of event handlers and dynamic components Set up and use various next generation ES2015/ES6 features with React Understand the performance and immutability features of React using React add-ons Learn the techniques of Animation in React Use data stores to store model-related data and information Create a flux-based React application by using Reflux library In Detail ReactJS is an open-source JavaScript library that brings the power of reactive programming to web applications and sites. It aims to address the challenges encountered in developing single-page applications, and is intended to help developers build large, easily scalable and changing web apps. Starting with a project on Open Library API, you will be introduced to React and JSX before moving on to learning about the life cycle of a React component. In the second project, building a multi-step wizard form, you will learn about composite dynamic components and perform DOM actions. You will also learn about building a fast search engine by exploring server-side rendering in the third project on a search engine application. Next, you will build a simple frontpage for an e-commerce app in the fourth project by using data models and React add-ons. In the final project you will develop a complete social media tracker by using the flux way of defining React apps and know about the best practices and use cases with the help of ES6 and redux. By the end of this book, you will not only have a good understanding of ReactJS but will also have built your very own responsive frontend applications from scratch. Style and approach An easy-to-follow program to learn ReactJS with the help of real world projects. Each topic is explained within the context of a project and provides plenty of tips and tricks for using ReactJS.

Start building amazing projects with the Raspberry Pi right out of the box About This Book Explore the vast range of opportunities provided by Raspberry Pi and other hardware components such as a webcam, the Pi camera, and sensors Get hands-on experience with coding, networking, and hardware with the Raspberry Pi platform Learn through ample screenshots that offer a play-by-play account of how to implement Raspberry-Pi-based real-life projects Who This Book Is For What's the best way to learn how to use your Raspberry PiBy example! If you want something exciting to do whilst getting to grips with what your Pi can offer, this is the book for you. With both simple and complex projects, you'll create a wide variety of cool toys and functions with your Raspberry Pi - all with minimal coding experience necessary. What You Will Learn Set up your Raspberry Pi and get it ready for some interesting real-life projects Work with images, videos, webcams, and the Pi camera and create amazing time-lapse videos Explore the amazing world of Minecraft Pi Get to know how to use PiGlow for GPIO programming Interface your Pi with Grove Sensors and implement IoT applications Build your own cluster with Raspberry Pi Understand the networking and network programming fundamentals In Detail Want to put your Raspberry Pi through its paces right out of the boxThis tutorial guide is designed to get you learning all the tricks of the Raspberry Pi through building complete, hands-on hardware projects. Speed through the basics and then dive right in to development! Discover that you can do almost anything with your Raspberry Pi with a taste of almost everything. Get started with Pi Gaming as you learn how to set up Minecraft, and then program your own game with the help of Pygame. Turn the Pi into your own home security system with complete guidance on setting up a webcam spy camera and OpenCV computer vision for image recognition capabilities. Get to grips with GPIO programming to make a Pi-based glowing LED system, build a complete functioning motion tracker, and more. Finally, get ready to tackle projects that push your Pi to its limits. Construct a complete Internet of Things home automation system with the Raspberry Pi to control your house via Twitter; turn your Pi into a super-computer through linking multiple boards into a cluster and then add in advanced network capabilities for super speedy processing! Style and approach This step-by-step guide to building Raspberry-Pi-based projects is explained in a conversational and easy-to-follow style. Each topic is explained sequentially in the process of creating real-life projects, and detailed explanations of the basic and advanced features of various Python libraries are also included.

Improve the performance of your PHP application to ensure the application users aren't left waiting About This Book · Make the optimum use of PHP coding to improve your programming productivity · Leverage the potential of PHP for server-side programming, memory management, and object-oriented programming · Packed with real-life examples to help the readers implement concepts as they learn Who This Book Is For This book is for those who have basic experience in PHP programming. If you are developing performance-critical applications, then this book is for you. What You Will Learn · Setup high performance development and production environment for PHP 7 · Discover new OOP features in PHP 7 to achieve high performance · Improve your PHP applications' performance · Attain improved database performance · Benchmark PHP applications to optimize them · Write quality code by learning to improve code reusability, simplicity, and expressiveness · Get rid of the bottlenecks in your PHP 7 applications by writing PHP code optimally · Tackle issues related to web applications, such as high user dependency and large datasets In Detail PHP is a great language for building web applications. It is essentially a server-side *ing language that is also used for general-purpose programming. PHP 7 is the latest version, providing major backward-compatibility breaks and focusing on high performance and speed. This fast-paced introduction to PHP 7 will improve your productivity and coding skills. The concepts covered will allow you, as a PHP programmer, to improve the performance standards of your applications. We will introduce you to the new features in PHP 7 and then will run through the concepts of object-oriented programming (OOP) in PHP 7. Next, we will shed some light on how to improve your PHP 7 applications' performance and database performance. Through this book, you will be able to improve the performance of your programs using the various benchmarking tools discussed. At the end, the book discusses some best practices in PHP programming to help you improve the quality of your code. Style and approach The book is a step-by-step guide to improve the quality of your code in PHP through real-time examples. The book takes a practical approach to improving the quality of your code.

Simplify and automate server administration tasks with PowerCLI About This Book Automate VMware’s VSphere environment by learning the essentials of PowerCLI Impress your peers by developing *s to perform administration tasks Discover the intricate workings of PowerCLI through simple and real-life examples Who This Book Is For PowerCLI Essentials is focused toward virtualization professionals and system administrators who want to discover and learn about the automation techniques associated with PowerCLI for complex virtual environments. What You Will Learn Download and install PowerCLI and its basics as well as the basics of PowerShell Enchance your scritping experience Build longer *s and simpler reports Relate a task in VMware administration to a PowerCLI * Discover methods to acquire and change information remotely Set up orchestrator to manage your workflow In Detail Have you ever wished you could automatically get a report with all the relevant information about your VMware environments in exactly the format you wantOr that you could automate a crucial task that needs to be performed on a regular basisPowerful Command Line Interface (PowerCLI) *s do all these things and much more for VMware environments. PowerCLI is a command-line interface tool used to automate VMware vSphere environments. It is used to handle complicated administration tasks through use of various cmdlets and *s, which are designed to handle certain aspects of VSphere servers and to help you manage them. This book will show you the intricacies of PowerCLI through real-life examples so that you can discover the art of PowerCLI *ing. At the start, you will be taught to download and install PowerCLI and will learn about the different versions of it. Moving further, you will be introduced to the GUI of PowerCLI and will find out how to develop single line *s to duplicate running tasks, produce simple reports, and simplify administration. Next, you will learn about the methods available to get information remotely. Towards the end, you will be taught to set up orchestrator and build workflows in PowerShell with update manager and SRM *s. Style and approach Each and every topic in this book is explained in a very easy-to-follow fashion with real-life, simple examples so you’ll get an idea not only about working with PowerCLI, but will also get an idea about *ing.

Build real-world applications for the Apple Watch platform using the WatchKit framework and Swift 2.0 About This Book Find out how to download and install the Xcode development tools before learning about Xcode playgrounds and the Swift programming language Discover everything you need to know about the WatchKit platform architecture, its classes, as well its limitations This book introduces you to the very latest mobile platform with hands-on instructions so you can build your very own Apple Watch apps Who This Book Is For This book is for developers who are interested in creating amazing apps for the Apple Watch platform. Readers are expected to have no prior experience of programming. What You Will Learn Navigate within the WatchKit interface using the page-based, modal, and hierarchical navigation techniques Work with context menus to allow your users to interact with the Apple Watch and respond to their actions to perform a task Use the MapKit framework to display a map within the WatchKit interface to track the user's current location Build effective user interfaces for the WatchKit platform and integrate iCloud capabilities to synchronize data between the iOS app and the WatchKit UI Design your apps for the Apple Watch platform by adhering to the set of User Interface design guidelines set out by Apple Reinforce image caching to display animations within the Apple Watch user interface Explore WatchKit tables, which allow your users to purchase groceries and pay for them using Apple Pay Analyze the new layout system to ensure that your Apple Watch apps work with various screen sizes In Detail Wearable are the next wave of mobile technology and with the release of Apple’s WatchKit SDK, a whole new world of exciting development possibilities has opened up. Apple Watch App Development introduces you to the architecture and possibilities of the Apple Watch platform, as well as an in-depth look at how to work with Xcode playgrounds. Benefit from a rapid introduction to the Swift programming language so you can quickly begin developing apps with the WatchKit framework and the Xcode Development IDE. Get to grips with advanced topics such as notifications, glances, iCloud, Apple pay, closures, tuples, protocols, delegates, concurrency, and using Swift Playgrounds, with each concept is backed up with example code that demonstrates how to properly execute it. Finally, discover how to package and deploy your Watch application to the Apple AppStore. By the end of this book, you will have a good understanding of how to develop apps for the Apple Watch platform, and synchronize data using iCloud between the wearable and the iOS device. Style and approach This book takes a step-by-step approach to developing applications for the Apple Watch using the Swift programming language and the WatchKit UI. Each topic is explained in a conversational and easy-to-follow style.

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. ?

A leading scholar in early twentieth-century India, Sir Jadunath Sarkar (1870-1958) was knighted in 1929 and became the first Indian historian to gain honorary membership in the American Historical Association. By the end of his lifetime, however, he had been marginalized by the Indian history establishment, as postcolonial historians embraced alternative approaches in the name of democracy and anti-colonialism. The Calling of History examines Sarkar's career-and poignant obsolescence-as a way into larger questions about the discipline of history and its public life.Through close readings of more than twelve hundred letters to and from Sarkar along with other archival documents, Dipesh Chakrabarty demonstrates that historians in colonial India formulated the basic concepts and practices of the field via vigorous-and at times bitter and hurtful-debates in the public sphere. He furthermore shows that because of its non-technical nature, the discipline as a whole remains susceptible to pressure from both the public and the academy even today. Methodological debates and the changing reputations of scholars like Sarkar, he argues, must therefore be understood within the specific contexts in which particular histories are written.Insightful and with far-reaching implications for all historians, The Calling of History offers a valuable look at the double life of history and how tensions between its public and private sides played out in a major scholar's career.

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.

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.

Fairy tales are supposed to be magical, surprising, and exhilarating, an enchanting counterpoint to everyday life that nonetheless helps us understand and deal with the anxieties of that life. Today, however, fairy tales are far from marvelous-in the hands of Hollywood, they have been stripped of their power, offering little but formulaic narratives and tame surprises.?If we want to rediscover the power of fairy tales-as Armando Maggi thinks we should-we need to discover a new mythic lens, a new way of approaching and understanding, and thus re-creating, the transformative potential of these stories. In Preserving the Spell, Maggi argues that the first step is to understand the history of the various traditions of oral and written narrative that together created the fairy tales we know today. He begins his exploration with the ur-text of European fairy tales, Giambattista Basile's The Tale of Tales, then traces its path through later Italian, French, English, and German traditions, with particular emphasis on the Grimm Brothers' adaptations of the tales, which are included in the first-ever English translation in an appendix. Carrying his story into the twentieth century, Maggi mounts a powerful argument for freeing fairy tales from their bland contemporary forms, and reinvigorating our belief that we still can find new, powerfully transformative ways of telling these stories.

The Critique of Pure Reason-Kant's First Critique-is one of the most studied texts in intellectual history, but as Alfredo Ferrarin points out in this radically original book, most of that study has focused only on very select parts. Likewise, Kant's oeuvre as a whole has been compartmentalized, the three Critiques held in rigid isolation from one another. Working against the standard reading of Kant that such compartmentalization has produced,?The Powers of Pure Reason?explores forgotten parts of the First Critique in order to find an exciting, new, and ultimately central set of concerns by which to read all of Kant's works. ?Ferrarin blows the dust off of two egregiously overlooked sections of the First Critique-the Transcendental Dialectic and the Doctrine of Method. There he discovers what he argues is the Critique's greatest achievement: a conception of the unity of reason and an exploration of the powers it has to reach beyond itself and legislate over the world. With this in mind, Ferrarin dismantles the common vision of Kant as a philosopher writing separately on epistemology, ethics, and aesthetics and natural teleology, showing that the three Critiques are united by this underlying theme: the autonomy and teleology of reason, its power and ends. The result is a refreshing new view of Kant, and of reason itself.

At the heart of The Republic of Love are the voices of three musicians-queer nightclub star Zeki Muren, arabesk originator Orhan Gencebay, and pop diva Sezen Aksu-who collectively have dominated mass media in Turkey since the early 1950s. Their fame and ubiquity have made them national icons-but, Martin Stokes here contends, they do not represent the official version of Turkish identity propagated by anthems or flags; instead they evoke a much more intimate and ambivalent conception of Turkishness.Using these three singers as a lens, Stokes examines Turkey's repressive politics and civil violence as well as its uncommonly vibrant public life in which music, art, literature, sports, and journalism have flourished. However, Stokes's primary concern is how Mren, Gencebay, and Aksu's music and careers can be understood in light of theories of cultural intimacy. In particular, he considers their contributions to the development of a Turkish concept of love, analyzing the ways these singers explore the private matters of intimacy, affection, and sentiment on the public stage.

Life is one of our most basic concepts, and yet when examined directly it proves remarkably contradictory and elusive, encompassing both the broadest and the most specific phenomena. We can see this uncertainty about life in our habit of approaching it as something at once scientific and mystical, in the return of vitalisms of all types, and in the pervasive politicization of life. In short, life seems everywhere at stake and yet is nowhere the same.In After Life, Eugene Thacker clears the ground for a new philosophy of life by recovering the twists and turns in its philosophical history. Beginning with Aristotle's originary formulation of a philosophy of life, Thacker examines the influence of Aristotle's ideas in medieval and early modern thought, leading him to the work of Immanuel Kant, who notes the inherently contradictory nature of "life in itself." Along the way, Thacker shows how early modern philosophy's engagement with the problem of life affects thinkers such as Gilles Deleuze, Georges Bataille, and Alain Badiou, as well as contemporary developments in the "speculative turn" in philosophy.At a time when life is categorized, measured, and exploited in a variety of ways, After Life invites us to delve deeper into the contours and contradictions of the age-old question, "what is life?"

Evolutionary maternal effects occur whenever a mother's phenotypic traits directly affect her offspring's phenotype, independent of the offspring's genotype. Some of the phenotypic traits that result in maternal effects have a genetic basis, whereas others are environmentally determined. For example, the size of a litter produced by a mammalian mother-a trait with a strong genetic basis-can affect the growth rate of her offspring, while a mother's dominance rank-an environmentally determined trait-can affect the dominance rank of her offspring. The first volume published on the subject in more than a decade, Maternal Effects in Mammals reflects advances in genomic, ecological, and behavioral research, as well new understandings of the evolutionary interplay between mothers and their offspring. Dario Maestripieri and Jill M. Mateo bring together a learned group of contributors to synthesize the vast literature on a range of species, highlight evolutionary processes that were previously overlooked, and propose new avenues of research. Maternal Effects in Mammals will serve as the most comprehensive compendium on and stimulus for interdisciplinary treatments of mammalian maternal effects.

The dark shadows and offscreen space that force us to imagine violence we cannot see. The real slaughter of animals spliced with the fictional killing of men. The missing countershot from the murder victim's point of view. Such images, or absent images, Karla Oeler contends, distill how the murder scene challenges and changes film.?Reexamining works by such filmmakers as Renoir, Hitchcock, Kubrick, Jarmusch, and Eisenstein, Oeler traces the murder scene's intricate connections to the great breakthroughs in the theory and practice of montage and the formulation of the rules and syntax of Hollywood genre. She argues that murder plays such a central role in film because it mirrors, on multiple levels, the act of cinematic representation. Death and murder at once eradicate life and call attention to its former existence, just as cinema conveys both the reality and the absence of the objects it depicts. But murder shares with cinema not only this interplay between presence and absence, movement and stillness: unlike death, killing entails the deliberate reduction of a singular subject to a disposable object. Like cinema, it involves a crucial choice about what to cut and what to keep.

Girls abused in London and torsos of black boys found in the Thames; African boys disappearing from school and child traffic in Africa; child sacrifice and Brazilian Pentecostal exorcism. Unrelated events are swiftly connected in an uncanny work of prestidigitation, including hitech digital images of torsos and forensic drawings of abused children. Les correspondances symboliques, Baudelaire would say, or contiguous magic, in Frazer’s more prosaic de*ion. It all could make sense, if we believe in our fears, suspicions, gossip, and prejudices. Furthermore, this incredible work of prestidigitation was engineered by two respectable institutions, known for their enlightened search of truth: the BBC and Scotland Yard. But where was the evidence that all these things were connectedThe “exorcism scandal” bewitched the media in Britain for the whole month of June, until some dissenting voices started to talk about a “racist witch hunt.” 5 By then, however, a population of hundreds of thousands of Africans, in particular Pentecostal Africans, was already under suspicion. “What if some of that was true?” some people still may ask. In fact, shortly before completing this introduction, the local London newspaper Evening Standard published a two-page report on an African church in the United Kingdom, with the title “Miracles and claims of baby-snatching,” mixing rumors of child trafficking, sorcery, syncretism, and extreme wealth. 6 That is how sorcery works: not by fully demonstrating its power, but by opening a possible doubt; one is never fully sure it is not true.

As our world becomes increasingly urbanized, an understanding of the context, mechanisms, and consequences of city and suburban environments becomes more critical. Without a sense of what open spaces such as parks and gardens contribute, it's difficult to argue for their creation and maintenance: in the face of schools needing resources, roads and sewers needing maintenance, and people suffering at the hands of others, why should cities and counties spend scarce dollars planting trees and preserving parksIn Constructed Climates, ecologist William G. Wilson demonstrates the value of urban green. Focusing specifically on the role of vegetation and trees, Wilson shows the costs and benefits reaped from urban open spaces, from cooler temperatures to better quality ground water-and why it all matters. While Constructed Climates is a work of science, it does not ignore the social component. Wilson looks at low-income areas that have poor vegetation, and shows how enhancing these areas through the planting of community gardens and trees can alleviate social ills. This book will be essential reading for environmentalists and anyone making decisions for the nature and well-being of our cities and citizens.

What did it mean to be a man in medieval EnglandMost would answer this question by alluding to the power and status men enjoyed in a patriarchal society, or they might refer to iconic images of chivalrous knights. While these popular ideas do have their roots in the history of the aristocracy, the experience of ordinary men was far more complicated. Marshalling a wide array of colorful evidence-including legal records, letters, medical sources, and the literature of the period-Derek G. Neal here plumbs the social and cultural significance of masculinity during the generations born between the Black Death and the Protestant Reformation. He discovers that social relations between men, founded on the ideals of honesty and self-restraint, were at least as important as their domination and control of women in defining their identities. By carefully exploring the social, physical, and psychological aspects of masculinity, The Masculine Self in Late Medieval England offers a uniquely comprehensive account of the exterior and interior lives of medieval men.