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The Road Years: A Memoir, Continued . . .
By Rick Mercer. 2023
THE INSTANT #1 BESTSELLERRick Mercer is back—again!—with the eagerly awaited sequel to his bestselling memoirAt the end of his memoir…
Talking to Canadians, Rick Mercer was poised to make the biggest leap yet in his extraordinary career. Having overcome a serious lack of promise as a schoolboy and risen through the showbiz ranks—as an aspiring actor, star of a surprisingly successful one-man show about the Meech Lake Accord, co-founder of This Hour Has 22 Minutes, creator and star of the dark-comedy sitcom Made in Canada—he was about to tackle his biggest opportunity yet. The Road Years picks up the story at that exciting point, with the greenlighting of what would become Rick Mercer Report. Plans for the show, of course, included political satire and Rick’s patented rants. But Rick and his partner, Gerald Lunz, were also determined to do something that comedy tends to avoid as too challenging: they would emphasize the positive. Rick would travel from coast to coast to coast in search of everything that’s best about Canada, especially its people. He found a lot to celebrate, naturally, and was rewarded with a huge audience and a run of 15 seasons. The Road Years tells the inside story of that stupendous success. A time when Rick was heading to another town—or military base, sports centre, national park—to try dogsledding, chainsaw carving, and bear tagging; hang from a harness (a lot); ride the “Train of Death;” plus countless other joyous and/or reckless assignments. Added to the mix were encounters with the country’s great. Every living prime minister. Rock and roll royalty from Rush to Randy Bachman. Olympians and Paralympians. A skinny-dipping Bob Rae. And Jann Arden, of course, who gets a chapter to herself. Along the way he even found the time to visit several countries in Africa and co-found and champion the charity Spread the Net, which has gone on to protect the lives of millions. Join the celebration, and revive a wealth of happy memories, with what is Rick Mercer’s funniest, most fascinating book yet.Iran's prison system is a foundational institution of Iranian political modernity. The Incarcerated Modern traces the transformation of Iran from…
a decentralized empire with few imprisoned persons at the turn of the twentieth century into a modern nation-state with over a quarter million prisoners today. In policing the line between "bad criminal" and "good citizen," the carceral system has shaped and reshaped Iranian understandings of citizenship, freedom, and political belonging. Golnar Nikpour explores the interplay between the concrete space of the Iranian prison and the role of prisons in producing new public cultures and political languages in Iran. From prison writings of 1920s leftist prisoners and communiqués of 1950s militant Islamists, to paintings of 1970s revolutionary guerrillas and mapping projects organized by contemporary dissident prisoners, carceral confinement has shaped modern Iranian political movements. Today, mass incarceration is a global phenomenon. The Incarcerated Modern connects Iranian history to transnational carceral histories to illuminate the shared architectures, economies, and techniques of modern punishment.Coming Out as Dalit: A Memoir of Surviving India's Caste System
By Yashica Dutt. 2024
&“…a moving personal story and a useful educational examination of persistent discrimination&”—Kirkus ReviewsFor readers of Caste, the coming-of-age story of…
a Dalit individual that illuminates systemic injustice in India and its growing impact on US society Winner of the Sahitya Akademi Yuva Puruskar, 2020Born into a "formerly untouchable manual-scavenging family in small-town India," Yashica Dutt was taught from a young age to not appear &“Dalit looking.&” Although prejudice against Dalits, who compose 25% of the population, has been illegal since 1950, caste-ism in India is alive and well. Blending her personal history with extensive research and reporting, Dutt provides an incriminating analysis of caste&’s influence in India over everything from entertainment to judicial systems and how this discrimination has carried over to US institutions.Dutt traces how colonial British forces exploited and perpetuated a centuries old caste system, how Gandhi could have been more forceful in combatting prejudice, and the role played by Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, whom Isabel Wilkerson called &“the MLK of India&’s caste issues&” in her book Caste. Alongside her analysis, Dutt interweaves personal stories of learning to speak without a regional accent growing up and desperately using medicinal packs to try to lighten her skin.Published in India in 2019 to acclaim, this expanded edition includes two new chapters covering how the caste system traveled to the US, its history here, and the continuation of bias by South Asian communities in professional sectors. Amid growing conversations about caste discrimination prompting US institutions including Harvard University, Brandeis University, the University of California system, and the NAACP to add caste as a protected category to their policies, Dutt&’s work sheds essential light on the significant influence caste-ism has across many aspects of US society.Raw and affecting, Coming Out as Dalit brings a new audience of readers into a crucial conversation about embracing Dalit identity, offering a way to change the way people think about caste in their own communities and beyond.Learn some amazing truths about sports, science, history, and more with this interactive trivia book asking you to spot the…
lie—perfect for a personal challenge or group game night!Was Cleopatra the last Egyptian pharaoh? Can you really make diamonds out of tequila? Is the platypus actually poisonous? Think you can spot the fake? Get your bullsh*t radar warmed up, because each entry in Spot the Bullsh*t hides one well-crafted fib among a pair of unbelievable truths. And it&’s up to you to figure out what&’s fascinating and what&’s full of sh*t in science, history, pop culture and more. A flip of the page reveals whether you&’re right or wrong as well as more information on the true trivia—and why you might have fallen for the fake fact. Whether you&’re in the mood to learn some fun facts or challenge your friends in a game of trivia, this book has you covered.From Genghis Khan to Tamerlane: The Reawakening of Mongol Asia
By Peter Jackson. 2023
"A masterwork"—William Dalrymple, Financial Times "A landmark publication"—Noel Malcom, The TelegraphAn epic account of how a new world order under…
Tamerlane was born out of the decline of the Mongol Empire By the mid-fourteenth century, the world empire founded by Genghis Khan was in crisis. The Mongol Ilkhanate had ended in Iran and Iraq, China&’s Mongol rulers were threatened by the native Ming, and the Golden Horde and the Central Asian Mongols were prey to internal discord. Into this void moved the warlord Tamerlane, the last major conqueror to emerge from Inner Asia. In this authoritative account, Peter Jackson traces Tamerlane&’s rise to power against the backdrop of the decline of Mongol rule. Jackson argues that Tamerlane, a keen exponent of Mongol custom and tradition, operated in Genghis Khan&’s shadow and took care to draw parallels between himself and his great precursor. But, as a Muslim, Tamerlane drew on Islamic traditions, and his waging of wars in the name of jihad, whether sincere or not, had a more powerful impact than those of any Muslim Mongol ruler before him.I'll Just Be Five More Minutes: And Other Tales from My ADHD Brain
By Emily Farris. 2024
A hilariously-honest, heartwarming essay collection about life, love, and discovering you have ADHD at age 35 Despite being a…
published writer with a family, a gaggle of internet fans, and (most shockingly) a mortgage, Emily Farris could never get her sh*t together. As she saw it, disorganization was one of her countless character flaws—that is until she was diagnosed with ADHD at age 35. Like many girls who go undiagnosed, Emily grew up internalizing criticisms about her impulsivity and lack of follow-through. She held onto that shame as she tried (and often failed) to fit into a world designed for neurotypical brains. I'll Just Be Five More Minutes is a personal essay collection of laugh-out-loud-funny, tear-jerking, and at times cringey true stories of Emily's experiences as a neurodivergent woman. With the newfound knowledge of her ADHD, Emily candidly reexamines her complicated relationships (including one with a celebrity stalker), her money problems, the years she spent unknowingly self-medicating, and her hyperfixations (two words: decorative baskets). A memoir-in-essays both entertaining and enlightening, I'll Just Be Five More Minutes is for people with ADHD, as well as those who know and love them. This is a powerful collection of deeply relatable, wide-ranging stories about a woman's right to control her own body, about overwhelm and oversharing, about drinking too much and sleeping too little, and about being misunderstood by the people closest to you. At its heart, I&’ll Just Be Five More Minutes is about not quite fitting in and not really understanding why—something we&’ve all felt whether we're neurodivergent or not.How Sanctions Work: Iran and the Impact of Economic Warfare
By Narges Bajoghli, Vali Nasr, Djavad Salehi-Isfahani, Ali Vaez. 2024
Sanctions have enormous consequences. Especially when imposed by a country with the economic influence of the United States, sanctions induce…
clear shockwaves in both the economy and political culture of the targeted state, and in the everyday lives of citizens. But do economic sanctions induce the behavioral changes intended? Do sanctions work in the way they should? To answer these questions, the authors of How Sanctions Work highlight Iran, the most sanctioned country in the world. Comprehensive sanctions are meant to induce uprisings or pressures to change the behavior of the ruling establishment, or to weaken its hold on power. But, after four decades, the case of Iran shows the opposite to be true: sanctions strengthened the Iranian state, impoverished its population, increased state repression, and escalated Iran's military posture toward the U.S. and its allies in the region. Instead of offering an 'alternative to war,' sanctions have become a cause of war. Consequently, How Sanctions Work reveals how necessary it is to understand how sanctions really work.The Faculty Lounge: A Cocktail Guide for Academics
By Philipp Stelzel. 2023
Agents of Apocalypse: Epidemic Disease in the Colonial Philippines
By Ken De Bevoise. 1995
As waves of epidemic disease swept the Philippines in the late nineteenth century, some colonial physicians began to fear that…
the indigenous population would be wiped out. Many Filipinos interpreted the contagions as a harbinger of the Biblical Apocalypse. Though the direct forebodings went unfulfilled, Philippine morbidity and mortality rates were the world's highest during the period 1883-1903. In Agents of Apocalypse, Ken De Bevoise shows that those "mourning years" resulted from a conjunction of demographic, economic, technological, cultural, and political processes that had been building for centuries. The story is one of unintended consequences, fraught with tragic irony.De Bevoise uses the Philippine case study to explore the extent to which humans participate in creating their epidemics. Interpreting the archival record with conceptual guidance from the health sciences, he sets tropical disease in a historical framework that views people as interacting with, rather than acting within, their total environment. The complexity of cause-effect and agency-structure relationships is thereby highlighted. Readers from fields as diverse as Spanish, American, and Philippine history, medical anthropology, colonialism, international relations, Asian studies, and ecology will benefit from De Bevoise's insights into the interdynamics of historical processes that connect humans and their diseases.Japan Transformed: Political Change and Economic Restructuring
By Frances Rosenbluth, Michael F. Thies. 2010
With little domestic fanfare and even less attention internationally, Japan has been reinventing itself since the 1990s, dramatically changing its…
political economy, from one managed by regulations to one with a neoliberal orientation. Rebuilding from the economic misfortunes of its recent past, the country retains a formidable economy and its political system is healthier than at any time in its history. Japan Transformed explores the historical, political, and economic forces that led to the country's recent evolution, and looks at the consequences for Japan's citizens and global neighbors. The book examines Japanese history, illustrating the country's multiple transformations over the centuries, and then focuses on the critical and inexorable advance of economic globalization. It describes how global economic integration and urbanization destabilized Japan's postwar policy coalition, undercut the ruling Liberal Democratic Party's ability to buy votes, and paved the way for new electoral rules that emphasized competing visions of the public good. In contrast to the previous system that pitted candidates from the same party against each other, the new rules tether policymaking to the vast swath of voters in the middle of the political spectrum. Regardless of ruling party, Japan's politics, economics, and foreign policy are on a neoliberal path. Japan Transformed combines broad context and comparative analysis to provide an accurate understanding of Japan's past, present, and future.In brute-force struggles for survival, such as the two World Wars, disorganization and divisions within an enemy alliance are to…
one's own advantage. However, most international security politics involve coercive diplomacy and negotiations short of all-out war. Worse Than a Monolith demonstrates that when states are engaged in coercive diplomacy--combining threats and assurances to influence the behavior of real or potential adversaries--divisions, rivalries, and lack of coordination within the opposing camp often make it more difficult to prevent the onset of conflict, to prevent existing conflicts from escalating, and to negotiate the end to those conflicts promptly. Focusing on relations between the Communist and anti-Communist alliances in Asia during the Cold War, Thomas Christensen explores how internal divisions and lack of cohesion in the two alliances complicated and undercut coercive diplomacy by sending confusing signals about strength, resolve, and intent. In the case of the Communist camp, internal mistrust and rivalries catalyzed the movement's aggressiveness in ways that we would not have expected from a more cohesive movement under Moscow's clear control. Reviewing newly available archival material, Christensen examines the instability in relations across the Asian Cold War divide, and sheds new light on the Korean and Vietnam wars. While recognizing clear differences between the Cold War and post-Cold War environments, he investigates how efforts to adjust burden-sharing roles among the United States and its Asian security partners have complicated U.S.-China security relations since the collapse of the Soviet Union.The contemporary world is increasingly defined by dizzying flows of people and ideas. But while Western travel is associated with…
a pioneering spirit of discovery, the dominant image of Muslim mobility is the jihadi who travels not to learn but to destroy. Journeys to the Other Shore challenges these stereotypes by charting the common ways in which Muslim and Western travelers negotiate the dislocation of travel to unfamiliar and strange worlds. In Roxanne Euben's groundbreaking excursion across cultures, geography, history, genre, and genders, travel signifies not only a physical movement across lands and cultures, but also an imaginative journey in which wonder about those who live differently makes it possible to see the world differently. In the book we meet not only Herodotus but also Ibn Battuta, the fourteenth-century Moroccan traveler. Tocqueville's journeys are set against a five-year sojourn in nineteenth-century Paris by the Egyptian writer and translator Rifa'a Rafi' al-Tahtawi, and Montesquieu's novel Persian Letters meets with the memoir of an East African princess, Sayyida Salme. This extraordinary book shows that curiosity about the unknown, the quest to understand foreign cultures, critical distance from one's own world, and the desire to remake the foreign into the familiar are not the monopoly of any single civilization or epoch. Euben demonstrates that the fluidity of identities, cultures, and borders associated with our postcolonial, globalized world has a long history--one shaped not only by Western power but also by an Islamic ethos of travel in search of knowledge.After Colonialism offers a fresh look at the history of colonialism and the changes in knowledge, disciplines, and identities produced…
by the imperial experience. Ranging across disciplines--from history to anthropology to literary studies--and across regions--from India to Palestine to Latin America to Europe--the essays in this volume reexamine colonialism and its aftermath. Leading literary scholars, historians, and anthropologists engage with recent theories and perspectives in their specific studies, showing the centrality of colonialism in the making of the modern world and offering postcolonial reflections on the effects and experience of empire. The contributions cross historical analysis of texts with textual examination of historical records and situate metropolitan cultural practices in engagements with non-metropolitan locations. Interdisciplinarity here means exploring and realigning disciplinary boundaries. Contributors to After Colonialism include Edward Said, Steven Feierman, Joan Dayan, Ruth Phillips, Anthony Pagden, Leonard Blussé, Gauri Viswanathan, Zachary Lockman, Jorge Klor de Alva, Irene Silverblatt, Emily Apter, and Homi Bhabha.The Cat Owner's Survival Guide: Hilarious Advice for a Pawsitive Life with Your Furry Four-Legged Best Friend
By Tatiana Davidova, Sophie Johnson. 2022
A hilarious, fully illustrated book full of tongue-in-cheek advice for surviving life as a cat parent – the perfect gift…
for any cat loverYou have the best cat in the world, it’s true. But there’s no avoiding the fact that, perfect and adorable as they may be, there are certain elements of being a cat owner that you could do without. Those thoughtful “gifts” you find in the kitchen. The scratch-marks on the couch. Their hairballs clogging up your vacuum cleaner.Luckily, this no-nonsense guide is here to teach you all the tricks you’ll ever need to help you navigate life with your furry friend, so you can focus on the positives – like giving them head-scritches and cooing over their little toe beans.With pearls of wisdom like these, you’ll be a pro cat parent in no time:As a cat parent, you will need to work out the golden number of tummy rubs your cat will allow before they turn into an uncontrollable scratch-monsterYour cat may look cute and innocent, but there’s an evil mastermind secretly at work behind all that fluffItems placed on a surface are highly offensive to cats and will be quickly dispatched to the floor, where they belongHop into this uplifting little book, filled with positive affirmations on self-love and empowerment, as told by the internet's beloved…
mushroom frog "Don't forget about the subtle magic that is happening all around you every day" Meet the little frog! With its mushroom cap and endless collection of fabulous footwear, this adorable amphibian is here to be your new best friend. Whether you need an emotional boost, some friendly encouragement or an honest view on the world, the little frog will be your guide. Created by the California-based artist Maybell Eequay, this book is a perfect compassionate gift for yourself or others. Inside you will find:- Over 40 hand-drawn illustrations of the little frog- Beautiful life lessons and empowering reminders that it's okay to be gentle with yourself and to feel your feelings- A humorous, no-nonsense approach to positivityThese illustrations will fill your heart with love for yourself and others, and remind you that it's brave and wonderful of you to exist!From seaweed-wrapped maki rolls to tuna-topped nigiri, dive into this celebration of one of the world's favourite delicaciesThere are few…
foods more recognizble than sushi. Originating in Japan, the iconic fluffy white rice that's topped, wrapped or rolled with beautifully prepared fish and vegetables is an art form as much as it is a meal.This handy pocket guide will give you a taste of the following and much more: Find food for thought with the history of sushi Learn about different kinds of sushi, from the traditional to the modern, and how to eat it Whet your appetite with delicate bites of trivia Discover mouth-watering recipes, allowing you to bring Japan to your very own kitchen Whether you are a curious beginner or a seasoned connoisseur, The Little Book of Sushi will be your handy guide to the bite-sized delicacy which has found favour all over the world.A fully illustrated book of tongue-in-cheek advice for cat parents who struggle to tame their cat's inner beastHaving a cat…
can be such a joy. Little compares to the delight of cuddles on the couch, the sound of gentle purring, or the fun of playtime. But what do you do when your furry friend starts scratching all the furniture, ruining the flower beds, stealing your food and generally wreaking havoc?Luckily, this entertaining guide is here with top tips and tricks to tame your cat when the wild beast comes out, so you can spend more time giving head scritches and less time worrying about the state of your curtains.Become an elite cat parent with these nuggets of wisdom: If you're worried about items crashing to the floor, attach ornaments with string and they won't make such a satisfying "THUNK" noiseCity cats love the daily discipline of being taken for a walk; give it a try and observe the calming effect it has on themInstall a security-grade toilet-paper guard to avoid unsolicited homemade confettiShit Happens So Get Over It: Uplifting Quotes for Bad Days
By Summersdale Publishers. 2023
This little book of uplifting and pithy quotes is the ultimate antidote to all the days that couldn't end quickly…
enoughWhen the shit hits the fan, you don't just need a massive mop. You need some words of wisdom that will keep you going no matter what is thrown your way. You scratched the side of your car: pick up this book. You sent private snaps to your family WhatsApp by mistake: let your tears streak these pages. You delivered a presentation at work with your flies undone and toothpaste on your chin: stiffen that upper lip with every quote you read.By the end of this remarkably astute collection of quotes, you'll have: Enough resilience to make light of the worst scenario Enough willpower to overcome all obstacles And enough quotes under your belt to last you a lifetime! Why waste time wondering if the glass is half full or half empty when you can just get on and drink it!Partnership and Profit in Medieval Islam
By Abraham L. Udovitch. 1970
From the point of view of economic history, the ideal way to study any institution of commercial law would be…
to compare the information contained in legal codes and treatises with the material relating to its application in economic life as manifested by actual contracts, letters, and business records found in archives and other repositories. In the case of the early centuries of the Islamic period, available sources unfortunately preclude such a procedure. Theoretical legal texts exist in abundance, but any corresponding documentary material is for all practical purposes non-extant. In order to determine if the framework in which the trade and commerce of the early Islamic period was carried on--a trade known to have been active and important--we must of necessity rely on legal treatises for most of our information, which trying wherever possible to call upon whatever meager help other literary sources may provide.In the absence of documentary and similar sources, the possibility of investigating the quantitative aspects of trade is all but eliminated. However, in those areas of trade which have been described as qualitative, such as the variety of goods exchanged, the specialization of the merchant class, and the complexity of business methods, legal and other literary sources provide a great deal of valuable information. It is with the institutions of partnership and commenda in the early Islamic period, two of the qualitative components of trade, that Abraham L. Udovitch makes his primary focus in Partnership and Profit in Medieval Islam.China's New Confucianism: Politics and Everyday Life in a Changing Society
By Daniel A. Bell. 2010
What is it like to be a Westerner teaching political philosophy in an officially Marxist state? Why do Chinese sex…
workers sing karaoke with their customers? And why do some Communist Party cadres get promoted if they care for their elderly parents? In this entertaining and illuminating book, one of the few Westerners to teach at a Chinese university draws on his personal experiences to paint an unexpected portrait of a society undergoing faster and more sweeping changes than anywhere else on earth. With a storyteller's eye for detail, Daniel Bell observes the rituals, routines, and tensions of daily life in China. China's New Confucianism makes the case that as the nation retreats from communism, it is embracing a new Confucianism that offers a compelling alternative to Western liberalism. Bell provides an insider's account of Chinese culture and, along the way, debunks a variety of stereotypes. He presents the startling argument that Confucian social hierarchy can actually contribute to economic equality in China. He covers such diverse social topics as sex, sports, and the treatment of domestic workers. He considers the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, wondering whether Chinese overcompetitiveness might be tempered by Confucian civility. And he looks at education in China, showing the ways Confucianism impacts his role as a political theorist and teacher. By examining the challenges that arise as China adapts ancient values to contemporary society, China's New Confucianism enriches the dialogue of possibilities available to this rapidly evolving nation. In a new preface, Bell discusses the challenges of promoting Confucianism in China and the West.