Plexus Publishing Ltd.
Plexus are publishers of high quality, illustrated non-fiction books, specialising in biography, popular culture, movies, music and gift books. Contact: sandra@plexusbooks.com
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Promoted Content
Humanities & Social SciencesMarch 2017Air empire
British imperial civil aviation, 1919–39
by Gordon Pirie, Andrew Thompson, John M. MacKenzie
Air empire is a fresh study of civil aviation as a tool of late British imperialism. The first pioneering flights across the British empire in 1919-20 were flag-waving adventures that recreated an era of plucky British maritime exploration and conquest. Britain's development of international air routes and services was approved, organised and celebrated largely in London; there was some resistance in and beyond the subordinate colonies and dominions. Negotiating the financing and geopolitics of regular commercial air service delayed its inception until the 1930s. Technological, managerial and logistical problems also meant that Britain was slow into the air and slow in the air. Propaganda concealed underperformance and criticism. The study uses archival sources, biographies, industry magazines and newspapers to chronicle the disputed progress toward air empire. The rhetoric behind imperial air service offers a glimpse of late imperial hopes, fears, attitudes and style. Empire air service had emotional appeal and symbolic value, but disappointed in practice.
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Humanities & Social SciencesMarch 2017Air power and colonial control
by David Omissi
Air policing was used in many colonial possessions, but its most effective incidence occurred in the crescent of territory from north-eastern Africa, through South-West Arabia, to North West Frontier of India. This book talks about air policing and its role in offering a cheaper means of 'pacification' in the inter-war years. It illuminates the potentialities and limitations of the new aerial technology, and makes important contributions to the history of colonial resistance and its suppression. Air policing was employed in the campaign against Mohammed bin Abdulla Hassan and his Dervish following in Somaliland in early 1920. The book discusses the relationships between air control and the survival of Royal Air Force in Iraq and between air power and indirect imperialism in the Hashemite kingdoms. It discusses Hugh Trenchard's plans to substitute air for naval or coastal forces, and assesses the extent to which barriers of climate and geography continued to limit the exercise of air power. Indigenous responses include being terrified at the mere sight of aircraft to the successful adaptation to air power, which was hardly foreseen by either the opponents or the supporters of air policing. The book examines the ethical debates which were a continuous undercurrent to the stream of argument about repressive air power methods from a political and operational perspective. It compares air policing as practised by other European powers by highlighting the Rif war in Morocco, the Druze revolt in Syria, and Italy's war of reconquest in Libya.
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Humanities & Social SciencesNovember 2009Air empire
British imperial civil aviation, 1919–39
by Gordon Pirie, Andrew Thompson, John Mackenzie
Air empire is a fresh study of civil aviation as a tool of late British imperialism. The first pioneering flights across the British empire in 1919-20 were flag-waving adventures that recreated an era of plucky British maritime exploration and conquest. Britain's development of international air routes and services was approved, organised and celebrated largely in London; there was some resistance in and beyond the subordinate colonies and dominions. Negotiating the financing and geopolitics of regular commercial air service delayed its inception until the 1930s. Technological, managerial and logistical problems also meant that Britain was slow into the air and slow in the air. Propaganda concealed underperformance and criticism. The study uses archival sources, biographies, industry magazines and newspapers to chronicle the disputed progress toward air empire. The rhetoric behind imperial air service offers a glimpse of late imperial hopes, fears, attitudes and style. Empire air service had emotional appeal and symbolic value, but disappointed in practice. ;
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Biography & True StoriesNovember 2024Walking in the dark
James Baldwin, my father and I
by Douglas Field
A moving exploration of the life and work of the celebrated American writer, blending biography and memoir with literary criticism. Since James Baldwin's death in 1987, his writing - including The Fire Next Time, one of the manifestoes of the Civil Rights Movement, and Giovanni's Room, a pioneering work of gay fiction - has only grown in relevance. Douglas Field was introduced to Baldwin's essays and novels by his father, who witnessed the writer's debate with William F. Buckley at Cambridge University in 1965. In Walking in the dark, he embarks on a journey to unravel his life-long fascination and to understand why Baldwin continues to enthral us decades after his death. Tracing Baldwin's footsteps in France, the US and Switzerland, and digging into archives, Field paints an intimate portrait of the writer's life and influence. At the same time, he offers a poignant account of coming to terms with his father's Alzheimer's disease. Interweaving Baldwin's writings on family, illness, memory and place, Walking in the dark is an eloquent testament to the enduring power of great literature to illuminate our paths.
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Humanities & Social SciencesJune 2021Feeling the strain
A cultural history of stress in twentieth-century Britain
by Jill Kirby
Examining the popular discourse of nerves and stress, this book provides a historical account of how ordinary Britons understood, explained and coped with the pressures and strains of daily life during the twentieth century. It traces the popular, vernacular discourse of stress, illuminating not just how stress was known, but the ways in which that knowledge was produced. Taking a cultural approach, the book focuses on contemporary popular understandings, revealing continuity of ideas about work, mental health, status, gender and individual weakness, as well as the changing socio-economic contexts that enabled stress to become a ubiquitous condition of everyday life by the end of the century. With accounts from sufferers, families and colleagues it also offers insight into self-help literature, the meanings of work and changing dynamics of domestic life, delivering a complementary perspective to medical histories of stress.
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Political ideologiesMay 2017Neoliberal power and public management reforms
by Professor Peter Triantafillou. Series edited by Mark Haugaard
This book examines the links between major contemporary public sector reforms and neoliberal thinking. The key contribution of the book is to enhance our understanding of contemporary neoliberalism as it plays out in the public administration and to provide a critical analysis of generally overlooked aspects of administrative power. The book examines the quest for accountability, credibility and evidence in the public sector. It asks whether this quest may be understood in terms of neoliberal thinking and, if so, how? The book makes the argument that while current administrative reforms are informed by several distinct political rationalities, they evolve above all around a particular form of neoliberalism: constructivist neoliberalism. The book analyses the dangers of the kinds of administrative power seeking to invoke the self-steering capacities of society and administration itself.
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Humanities & Social SciencesFebruary 2017Cultures and caricatures of British imperial aviation
Passengers, pilots, publicity
by Gordon Pirie, Andrew Thompson, John M. MacKenzie
The new activity of trans-continental civil flying in the 1930s is a useful vantage point for viewing the extension of British imperial attitudes and practices. Cultures and caricatures of British imperial aviation examines the experiences of those (mostly men) who flew solo or with a companion (racing or for leisure), who were airline passengers (doing colonial administration, business or research), or who flew as civilian air and ground crews. For airborne elites, flying was a modern and often enviable way of managing, using and experiencing empire. On the ground, aviation was a device for asserting old empire: adventure and modernity were accompanied by supremacism. At the time, however, British civil imperial flying was presented romantically in books, magazines and exhibitions. Eighty years on, imperial flying is still remembered, reproduced and re-enacted in caricature.
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Des Poissons plein le Mer
by Dr. Bella Galil
Des Poissons plein le Mer – Un Guide Pratique de Gastronomie Marine - par le Dr. Bella Galil Ce guide allie une description concise et une connaissance biologique de base des espèces de poissons et fruits de mer les plus populaires, ainsi que des anecdotes historiques et petits secrets culinaires. Chaque espèce est accompagnée d’un dessin scientifique précis et de ses noms dans les différentes langues des pays méditerranéens. Dr. Galil, spécialiste en biologie marine à l’Institut National d’Océanographie de Haïfa, Israël,. mène depuis près de vingt ans des recherches sur la faune marine en Méditerranée. Dans le cadre de ses recherches, l’auteur a été aménée à plonger dans l’océan Pacifique, Atlantique et l’océan Indien, et a décrit de nombreuses nouvelles espèces dans divers publications scientifiques. Lors de ses voyages, Dr; Galil a également recueilli auprès de pêcheurs ou collègues une collection de recettes, qu’elle a d’ailleurs essayé dans sa propre cuisine et décrit dans son livre. Bien qu’écrit dans un style courant, ce livre ne compromet nullement l’exactitude scientifique, et fournit au lecteur tout ce qui est utile de savoir sur les poissons comestibles et les fruits de mer ordinairement trouvés près des côtes méditerranéennes. Des Poissons plein la Mer est certainement un régale pour les amoureux de poissons et fruits de mer, mais aussi un guide de ressources inestimables pour les cuisiniers amateurs ou professionnels. Ce livre comprend plus de 120 espèces différentes, toutes illustrées en détail. Ce titre initialement publié en noir et blanc (avec la possibilité d’ajouter de 16 à 32 illustrations en couleur) a déjà rapporté un franc succés à notre société et je suis sûre qu’il en sera de même pour votre compagnie. Si la possibilité de publier une édition en français de cet ouvrage, ou un projet de co-édition vous intéresse, c’est avec plaisir que nous vous ferons parvenir un supplément d’information et/ou un exemplaire de l’original hébreu, accompagné de la traduction en anglais de passages choisis
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April 2009Toys and Folk Arts
by Song Peixian & Dan Ni
This volume has two parts: the first part introduces 55 kinds of Chinese toys; the second introduces 23 kinds of folk arts.
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Humanities & Social SciencesJune 2023
Border images, border narratives
The political aesthetics of boundaries and crossings
by Johan Schimanski, Jopi Nyman
This interdisciplinary volume explores the role of images and narratives in different borderscapes. Written by experienced scholars in the field, Border images, border narratives provides fresh insight into how borders, borderscapes, and migration are imagined and narrated in public and private spheres. Offering new ways to approach the political aesthetics of the border and its ambiguities, this volume makes a valuable contribution to the methodological renewal of border studies and presents ways of discussing cultural representations of borders and related processes. Influenced by the thinking of philosopher Jacques Rancière, this timely volume argues that narrated and mediated images of borders and borderscapes are central to the political process, as they contribute to the public negotiation of borders and address issues such as the in/visiblity of migrants and the formation of alternative borderscapes. The contributions analyse narratives and images in literary texts, political and popular imagery, surveillance data, border art, and documentaries, as well as problems related to borderland identities, migration, and trauma. The case studies provide a highly comparative range of geographical contexts ranging from Northern Europe and Britain, via Mediterranean and Mexican-USA borderlands, to Chinese borderlands from the perspectives of critical theory, literary studies, social anthropology, media studies, and political geography.
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Humanities & Social SciencesApril 2025Beyond the Pale and Highland Line
The Irish and Scottish Gaelic world
by Simon Egan
This book offers important new insights into the history and culture of the Gaelic-speaking world from the mid-fifteenth century through to the reign of James VI and I. Throughout this period, the reach of the English and Scottish crowns within these western regions was limited. The initiative lay with local communities and royal power was contingent upon negotiating with well-established and largely autonomous aristocratic lineages. Moreover, events within this western world could exert a powerful, often unpredictable, influence upon the affairs of the wider archipelago. Using a series of case studies, this collection examines the evolving relationship between Ireland and Scotland in rich detail. It demonstrates how this world interacted with the encroaching English and Scottish states and underlines the importance of paying closer attention to this neglected area of Irish and British history.
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Technology, Engineering & AgricultureDecember 2018Air Pollution
Sources, Impacts and Controls
by Pallavi Saxena, Naik Vaishali, Amit Awasthi, Sangeeta Bansal, Monojit Chakraborty, Naveen Chandra, Arti Choudhary, Manisha Gaur, Vineet Goswami, Tarun Kumar Gupta, Harpreet Kaur, Priyanka Kulshrestha, Amit Kumar, Ruchi Kumari, Chinmay Mallick, Renu Masiwal, Vandana Maurya, Neha Mishra, Naik Vaishali, Prashant Rajput, Anuradha Shukla, Gyanesh Kumar Singh, Ravi Prakash Singh, Ruchi Singh, Saumya Singh, Saurabh Sonwani, Shani Tiwari
Air pollution has become a major global issue due to rapid industrialization, human population growth and increasing urbanization. The various sources of atmospheric pollutants, both those created by human activity and those from natural physical and biological processes, have become the focus of much scientific research and analysis. An understanding of how these many pollutants are affecting air quality is essential in order to design strategies to mitigate them. Written by a team of international experts, this book aims to provide a broad overview of the issues surrounding air pollution and how to control and monitor pollution levels. Beginning with a brief background on the subject, the book moves on to discuss global emissions, with an emphasis on megacities and their effects. Possible pollution control measures and methods of air pollution measurement and modelling are also explored. The book ends with descriptions of the various indices used for assessing air quality with a focus on human health impacts, and a discussion on policy making to control air pollution. The book will be useful to students of environmental science and atmospheric science, as well as environmental consultants and researchers interested in air quality . Key Features: Comprehensive introduction to the primary causes of air pollution today with an emphasis on growing urban populations and megacities Discusses both anthropogenic and biogenic emissions and their effects on human health and the environment Gives an overview of indices used today for assessing air quality and describes current methods for air pollution monitoring and modelling Discusses new technologies for mitigating the effects of air pollution and policy making for implementation of controls
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The ArtsSeptember 2020Science in performance
Theatre and the politics of engagement
by Simon Parry
This electronic version has been made available under a Creative Commons (BY-NC-ND) open access license. This book is about science in theatre and performance. It explores how theatre and performance engage with emerging scientific themes from artificial intelligence to genetics and climate change. The book covers a wide range of performance forms from Broadway musicals to educational theatre, from Somali drama to grime videos. It features work by pioneering companies including Gob Squad, Headlong Theatre and Theatre of Debate as well as offering fresh analysis of global blockbusters such as Wicked and Urinetown. The book offers detailed description and analysis of theatre and performance practices as well as broader commentary on the politics of theatre as public engagement with science. Science in performance is essential reading for researchers, students and practitioners working between science and the arts within fields such as theatre and performance studies, science communication, interdisciplinary arts and health humanities.
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July 2016The Last Love
by Can Xue
This novel by Can Xue presents a whole range of characters with strong personality, such as Joe, Maria, Vincent, Lisa, Reagan and Ida. They are full of vitality and are accordingly unsatisfied with their present status. They actively explore unknown field of life and firmly embark on the journey of spiritual exploration. The novel focuses the complicated and intertwining relationship between husbands, wives and lovers to uncover the hidden inner desire of each character. Boiling wild nature and advanced civilization collide with each other before they finally become one unity. For the readers, entering the world of these characters is like entering their own inner world.
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Humanities & Social SciencesJuly 2021The bonds of family
Slavery, commerce and culture in the British Atlantic world
by Katie Donington
Moving between Britain and Jamaica The bonds of family reconstructs the world of commerce, consumption and cultivation sustained through an extended engagement with the business of slavery. Transatlantic slavery was both shaping of and shaped by the dynamic networks of family that established Britain's Caribbean empire. Tracing the activities of a single extended family - the Hibberts - this book explores how slavery impacted on the social, cultural, economic and political landscape of Britain. It is a history of trade, colonisation, enrichment and the tangled web of relations that gave meaning to the transatlantic world. The Hibberts's trans-generational story imbricates the personal and the political, the private and the public, the local and the global. It is both the intimate narrative of a family and an analytical frame through which to explore Britain's history and legacies of slavery.
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Humanities & Social SciencesFebruary 2023Politics, performance and popular culture
Theatre and society in nineteenth-century Britain
by Peter Yeandle, Katherine Newey, Jeffrey Richards
This collection brings together studies of popular performance and politics across the nineteenth century, offering a fresh perspective from an archivally grounded research base. It works with the concept that politics is performative and performance is political. The book is organised into three parts in dialogue regarding specific approaches to popular performance and politics. Part I offers a series of conceptual studies using popular culture as an analytical category for social and political history. Part II explores the ways that performance represents and constructs contemporary ideologies of race, nation and empire. Part III investigates the performance techniques of specific politicians - including Robert Peel, Keir Hardie and Henry Hyndman - and analyses the performative elements of collective movements.
