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      • Trusted Partner
        July 2021

        The World of the North

        Between Ragnarok and welfare utopia: A cultural-historical deconstruction

        by Bernd Henningsen

        — Analysis of how we view Europe's North and how this image emerged — An outsider's perspective on Nordic societies and their self image — Serves as an introduction into Northern European culture and society Our image of Northern Europe has been shaped by projections and desires in the long history of encounters: berserkers and war atrocities, bad weather, beautiful nature, stable political systems, social welfare, equality and prosperity, peacefulness, low corruption, hygge and Bullerby – all this is part of the Nordic narrative. But what about the religious, linguistic and ethnic homogeneity, what about the muchvaunted Nordic cooperation? How do politics "work" in the North? Why are Northern Europeans the happiest people?

      • Trusted Partner
      • Trusted Partner

        Earth’s Epic: How Far is 4.6 Billion Years

        by Miao Desui

        Earth’s Epic: How Far is 4.6 Billion Years is a new book from Professor Miao Desui, an internationally renowned paleontologist and science writer. He has written many popular science works with good sales and reputation, and has won dozens of honors. In Earth’s Epic, he explains earth science to teenagers for the first time.   In Earth’s Epic: How Far is 4.6 Billion Years, the author tells about the history of earth’s evolution, secrets in rocks, crustal movement, life evolution history recorded by fossils, earth minerals using popular and poetic language, showing readers the epic scene of earth’s evolution. As a popular science book, the Earth’s Epic is characterized by the concept of general education. In the book, Professor Miao Desui uses straightforward language, builds a scientific and rigorous knowledge system with multiple humane philosophies interwoven within the text, eliminates the barriers between science and liberal arts, and integrates geography, biology, history, physics, chemistry, literature, and other multiple disciplines. The book transmits the spirit of science, inspires interdisciplinary thinking, and enables readers of all ages to read and obtain knowledge from it.   Since published, Earth’s Epic has repeatedly appeared on the authoritative lists of the industry and won the Best China Books of 2021. It has been recommended by multiple media, such as China Book Review, China Publishing Today, China Reading Weekly, China Science Daily, China Press Publication Radio Film and Television Journal, and We Love Science. Besides, Shen Shuzhong, academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences; Chen Qifan, vice chairman of the China Science Writers Association; and Zhou Shangyi, professor of the Faculty of Geographical Science of Beijing Normal University, and many other experts have also given it high praise.

      • Trusted Partner
        Humanities & Social Sciences
        July 2006

        Democracy in Scandinavia

        Consensual, majoritarian or mixed?

        by David Arter, Bill Jones

        This book is about the distinctive features of Scandinavian democracy, the state of Scandinavian democracy and the classification of the Scandinavian democracies. It breaks new ground in challenging the established status of the Scandinavian countries as 'consensus model democracies'. The book poses three main questions. First, what are the distinctive features of the five Scandinavian political systems when compared with the Westminster model of democracy? Next, how well does the evidence from recent commissions suggest that Scandinavian democracy is working in practice? Finally, is Scandinavian democracy consensual, majoritarian or mixed? The nature of legislative-executive relations is explored, with a particular focus on the role of the parliamentary opposition and its involvement in policy-making. The central conclusion is that all the Nordic states are majoritarian democracies, albeit with varying amounts of consensual legislative behaviour. ;

      • Trusted Partner
        Humanities & Social Sciences
        May 2016

        Scandinavian politics today

        by David Arter, Bill Jones

      • Trusted Partner

        THE POLITICS OF HATE – A Piercing Insight into American Politics

        by HUGO N. GERSTL

        America is being systematically destroyed – not by terrorists from without, but by vested interests from within! It’s being destroyed by politicians, talk show hosts, media moguls, and populist rabble rousers who seek to preserve their “territory” at any cost – by obstructing the passage of beneficial laws, by scandalous lies and accusations, by negative campaigning, and by gratuitous insults. These “saviors” pose absolutely no constructive ideas of their own to resolve the morass in which our country now finds itself. The politicians think no further than getting themselves elected or re-elected. The lure of $100,000 in lecture fees is a powerful aphrodisiac. The lure of power is an even greater aphrodisiac. Politicians, fearmongers, “talking heads,” and captains of industry revel in their fame, their glory, and their self-styled wisdom when the country is in greater debt than any other nation in history, and when we are more and more quickly slipping toward becoming a third world nation each year. If the public starts putting two and two together, the answer should come out “four.” But so far, the “average” American can still be led to believe that 2+2 equals whatever number the spin masters want to make it. What is even worse, more than 40% of Americans are buying into the politics of fear, dissension, and abuse without stopping for even a moment to consider exactly what these political hatemongers are offering in exchange for turning one faction out and securing the benefits of power for themselves. But regardless of political infighting or outfighting, what we are doing is akin to two fleas fighting over who owns the dog. We don’t seem to realize that we have run out of time and money; that we no longer have the luxury of political gamesmanship and needless, stupid bickering. While this timely book points the finger at who’s to blame, it also goes one step further and tells how America, the most powerful nation on earth, can take back control of its destiny and cure its own disease!   HUGO N. GERSTL earned a degree in political science and history at UCLA, then went on to graduate from the UCLA School of Law. He turned down an invitation to run for Congress on the Republican ticket as it meant running against his friend and fellow-lawyer, Leon Panetta, who was just finishing his first term in Congress. Gerstl has been a nationally known trial lawyer for forty-six years and remains eternally optimistic about the resilience of the American people. An English eBook Edition was published in fall 2012 by Samuel Wachtman's Sons  INC., C.A. 454 pages, 15x22.5cm

      • Trusted Partner
        Fiction
        January 2009

        Library of Chinese Classics :The Romance of West Chamber

        by Wang Shifu

        The "West Chamber" of Wang Shih-fu in the Yuan Dynasty was a masterpiece of Chinese classical opera and a masterpiece of Chinese literature. The theme of the drama is the love story of the young scholar Zhang Huan and the late Ying-Ying, the daughter of the 19-year-old Cui Xianguo. The whole play is divided into five (screen) twenty (field). The first Zhang Ying and Ying Ying in the temple at first sight. The second to write Zaibing siege filled homes, Zhangsheng rescue, Mrs. Cui allow her daughter Yingying with Zhangsheng wife, then eat their own words. The third one to write a pair of lover Acacia sponge. The fourth the first Valentine's tryst Valentine's Day; the second letter of Mrs. Choi to Changsheng Beijing exam, the high school after the wedding; the third Valentine's leave, Zhang went to Beijing to attend the meeting; the fourth fold of the lover dream phase Will be done. The fifth to write a couple reunion. In short, "The Romance of the West Chamber" wrote the contradiction between love and family honor. The result was that Zhang Sheng would try high school, winning the honor and winning the love.

      • Trusted Partner
        Literature & Literary Studies
        March 2024

        Approaches to emotion in Middle English literature

        by Carolyne Larrington

        Over the last twenty-five years, the 'history of emotion' field has become one of the most dynamic and productive areas for humanities research. This designation, and the marked leadership of historians in the field, has had the unlooked-for consequence of sidelining literature - in particular secular literature - as evidence-source and object of emotion study. Secular literature, whether fable, novel, fantasy or romance, has been understood as prone to exaggeration, hyperbole, and thus as an unreliable indicator of the emotions of the past. The aim of this book is to decentre history of emotion research and asks new questions, ones that can be answered by literary scholars, using literary texts as sources: how do literary texts understand and depict emotion and, crucially, how do they generate emotion in their audiences - those who read them or hear them read or performed?

      • Trusted Partner
        Politics & government
        January 2013

        Scandinavian politics today

        by David Arter

      • Trusted Partner

        Ogham and The Wood Wide Web

        by Wendy Trevennor

        Like the Norse runes, the ogham is a system designed to help practitioners learn and remember them and their meanings. Where the Norse runes had the three Rune Poems, each version with a verse for each stave, ogham is set out in three ancient Briartharogams, word-lists, which are reproduced at the end of this book. These lists contain many kennings, little puns to add meaning, which often confuse rather than enlighten.

      • Trusted Partner
        Teaching, Language & Reference
        August 2011

        A history of English spelling

        by D. G. Scragg

        This book provides an outline history of English spelling from the Anglo-Saxon' adoption of the Roman alphabet to the present day. It shows the respective influences on modern usage of native French and Latin orthographies and attempts a definition of the manner in which spelling stabilised. A final chapter traces changing notions of correctness in spelling during the last four centuries, and also gives a summary of the principle movements for its reform in favour of a more consistent and phonetic system of notion. Students in higher education specialising in English or linguistics and also those studying other languages at an advanced level should find this a useful book. The general reader with an interest in the history of his language or the question of spelling will find it most readable ;

      • Trusted Partner

        Celebration of Life: Secrets of Evolution

        by Miao Desui

        What is life? Different people have different views. In the book Celebration of Life: Secrets of Evolution, Professor Miao Desui presents to readers epic and magnificent scenes of life evolution using rigorous, lucid, and poetic language. The book contains topics and contents including the origin of life, biological inheritance and variation, evidence of biological evolution, adaptability to the environment of living things, and other hot spots like genes, bacteria, and viruses. It not only reveals the true connotation of life, but also could make people marvel at the magnificence of the world.

      • Trusted Partner
        Literature & Literary Studies
        July 2018

        European Erotic Romance

        by Victor Skretkowicz, J. B. Lethbridge

      • Trusted Partner
        Literature & Literary Studies
        August 2023

        Poison on the early modern English stage

        Plants, paints and potions

        by Lisa Hopkins, Bill Angus

        Many early modern plays use poison, most famously Hamlet, where the murder of Old Hamlet showcases the range of issues poison mobilises. Its orchard setting is one of a number of sinister uses of plants which comment on both the loss of horticultural knowledge resulting from the Dissolution of the Monasteries and also the many new arrivals in English gardens through travel, trade, and attempts at colonisation. The fact that Old Hamlet was asleep reflects unease about soporifics troubling the distinction between sleep and death; pouring poison into the ear smuggles in the contemporary fear of informers; and it is difficult to prove. This book explores poisoning in early modern plays, the legal and epistemological issues it raises, and the cultural work it performs, which includes questions related to race, religion, nationality, gender, and humans' relationship to the environment.

      • Trusted Partner
        Humanities & Social Sciences
        January 2019

        These Englands

        A conversation on national identity

        by Arthur Aughey

        The term 'conversation' is one of today's jargon terms. This book explores in depth what conversation means in national terms. Its premise is that to be English is to participate in a conversation about the country's history, politics, culture and society. The conversation changes, of course, but there is also continuity which illustrates a distinct tradition. It is a conversation, the book argues, which requires the plural notion of these Englands rather than the singularity of this England. Englishness, then, is the tone, register and idiom of it subject matters, its anxieties and certainties, differences and commonalities. The book explores the English conversation through historical, political, literary and popular voices and tries to identify the character of contemporary Englishness.

      • Trusted Partner
        Society & culture: general

        A TIME OF WOLVES: GERMANY AND THE GERMANS 1945 - 1955

        by Harald Jähner

        A dance among the ruins: Harald Jähner’s major new portrait of Germany’s post-war societyCountless former soldiers drift through the towns and cities; countless children grow up without a father. The old order has been destroyed and although the streets seem eerily empty, the traditional annual street carnivals are soon back in full swing, jazz can be heard among the ruins, intellectuals rekindle a culture of discussion and debate.Harald Jähner’s book is the first history of Germany’s national mentality in the immediate post-war period. It focusses on the German people in all their diversity: the “re-educators” Alfred Döblin and Rudolf Herrnstadt, who tried in two different zones of occupation to win the trust of their fellow Germans; Beate Uhse, owner of a mail order company for “marital hygiene”, who questioned the old moral code governing what was deemed proper; the many nameless black market traders, pockets stuffed with Lucky Strike cigarettes; stylish housewives sitting at kidney-shaped coffee tables that were to become emblematic for a freer and affordable world. Using major political developments as a backdrop, this book weaves a series of life stories into a nuanced panorama that makes the monumental changes affecting the nation tangible for its readers. 1945 to 1955 was a raw, wild decade poised between two eras, portrayed here as a period that proved decisive for Germany’s future development – and one starkly different to how most Germans imagine it today.

      • Trusted Partner
        Literature & Literary Studies
        January 2013

        The English manor c.1200–c.1500

        by Mark Bailey

        Provides a comprehensive introduction and essential guide to one of the most important institutions in medieval England and to its substantial archive. This is the first book to offer a detailed explanation of the form, structure and evolution of the manor and its records. Offers translations of, and commentaries upon, each category of document to illustrate their main features. Examples of each category of record are provided in translation, followed by shorter extracts selected to illustrate interesting, commonly occurring, or complex features. A valuable source of reference for undergraduates wishing to understand the sources which underpin the majority of research on the medieval economy and society.

      • Trusted Partner
        Literature & Literary Studies
        March 2023

        Sleep and its spaces in Middle English literature

        Emotions, ethics, dreams

        by Megan Leitch

        Middle English literature is intimately concerned with sleep and the spaces in which it takes place. In the medieval English imagination, sleep is an embodied and culturally determined act. It is both performed and interpreted by characters and contemporaries, subject to a particular habitus and understood through particular hermeneutic lenses. While illuminating the intersecting medical and moral discourses by which it is shaped, sleep also sheds light on subjects in favour of which it has hitherto been overlooked: what sleep can enable (dreams and dream poetry) or what it can stand in for or supersede (desire and sex). This book argues that sleep mediates thematic concerns and questions in ways that have ethical, affective and oneiric implications. At the same time, it offers important contributions to understanding different Middle English genres: romance, dream vision, drama and fabliau.

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