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Showing 1 - 20 of 1847 items
By Tilar J. Mazzeo. 2010
“Who knew that such a tiny bottle housed so many secrets?” —Michael Tonello, author of Bringing Home the BirkinTilar J.…
Mazzeo, author of the New York Times bestseller The Widow Clicquot (an Amazon Best of the Month book in October 2008) returns with a captivating history of the world’s most famous, seductive, and popular perfume: Chanel No. 5. Mazzeo’s sweeping story of the iconic scent (known as “le monstre” in the fragrance industry) stretches from Coco Chanel’s early success to the rise of the seminal fragrance during the 1950s to the confirmation of its bestseller status in today’s crowded perfume market.“Here is the life of one of the 20th century’s most interesting and deeply complicated women, a fascinating cultural history, and the story of an extraordinary perfume.” —Chandler Burr, New York Times scent critic and author of The Perfect ScentBy Tomos Wallbank-Hughes. 2024
America’s Imagined Revolution explores the Reconstruction period after the Civil War to ask narratological, historiographical, and theoretical questions about how…
slave emancipation has (and has not) been theorized as revolution. Reading historical fiction by authors such as George Washington Cable, Albion Tourgée, Charles Chesnutt, Frances Harper, and W. E. B. Du Bois in dialogue with nineteenth-century historical writing—and the era’s legal, political, and print culture—Tomos Wallbank-Hughes excavates an evanescent form of historicist writing sensitive to the revolutionary changes that shaped life in the emancipation-era South.As an aesthetic form, the historical novel of Reconstruction poses questions about revolutionary experience in plantation societies, and in the process challenges critical assumptions about historical time in the nineteenth century: How do authors narrate epochal change that also feels like retrenchment? In what direction does history travel if it does not progress? What narratives of race, class, and region encompass both continued domination and ruptured power? By plumbing the situations that give it form, the historical novel of Reconstruction provides a window into the literary culture of the South’s long nineteenth century in which, rather than a storehouse of tradition, the region became a terrain for interpreting social revolution and uncovering slavery’s revolutionary afterlives.America’s Imagined Revolution offers a new interpretation of the literary and historiographical significance of the Reconstruction period and its relationship to American literary history.By Cynthia Ozick. 2016
In a collection that includes new essays written explicitly for this volume, one of our sharpest and most influential critics…
confronts the past, present, and future of literary culture. If every outlet for book criticism suddenly disappeared — if all we had were reviews that treated books like any other commodity — could the novel survive? In a gauntlet-throwing essay at the start of this brilliant assemblage, Cynthia Ozick stakes the claim that, just as surely as critics require a steady supply of new fiction, novelists need great critics to build a vibrant community on the foundation of literary history. For decades, Ozick herself has been one of our great critics, as these essays so clearly display. She offers models of critical analysis of writers from the mid-twentieth century to today, from Saul Bellow, Bernard Malamud, and Kafka, to William Gass and Martin Amis, all assembled in provocatively named groups: Fanatics, Monsters, Figures, and others. Uncompromising and brimming with insight, these essays are essential reading for anyone facing the future of literature in the digital age.By Pete Dunne, David Sibley, Clay Sutton. 2012
Among the world's most popular birds, hawks can be some of the most difficult birds to identify. They're most often…
seen flying high above and at a distance. In the first edition of Hawks in Flight, Pete Dunne, David Sibley, and Clay Sutton presented a holistic method of hawk identification, using general body shape, the way they move, and the places they are most likely to be seen. The new edition of the book that Roger Tory Peterson called a "landmark" integrates an array of carefully selected photographs, David Sibley's superb illustrations, and a clear, information-packed text and takes raptor identification to a higher level. This edition covers all of the raptors that breed in North America, including those with limited ranges in Florida, the Southwest, and Texas. Picking up where its predecessor ended by including two decades of raptor identification refinement, Hawks in Flight summarizes and places in users&’ hands an identification skill set that used to take years to master. The unique alchemy of Dunne, Sibley, and Sutton—including their collective experience of more than one hundred years watching hawks—make this book a singular achievement and a must-have for anyone interested in hawks.By Jillian Keenan. 2016
A provocative, moving, kinky, and often absurdly funny memoir about Shakespeare, love, obsession, and spankingWhen it came to understanding love,…
a teenage Jillian Keenan had nothing to guide her—until a production of The Tempest sent Shakespeare’s language flowing through her blood for the first time. In Sex with Shakespeare, she tells the story of how the Bard’s plays helped her embrace her unusual sexual identity and find a love story of her own.Four hundred years after Shakespeare’s death, Keenan’s smart and passionate memoir brings new life to his work. With fourteen of his plays as a springboard, she explores the many facets of love and sexuality—from desire and communication to fetish and fantasy. In A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Keenan unmasks Helena as a sexual masochist—like Jillian herself. In Macbeth, she examines criminalized sexual identities and the dark side of “privacy.” The Taming of the Shrew goes inside the secret world of bondage, domination, and sadomasochism, while King Lear exposes the ill-fated king as a possible sexual predator. Moving through the canon, Keenan makes it abundantly clear that literature is a conversation. In Sex with Shakespeare, words are love.As Keenan wanders the world in search of connection, from desert dictatorships to urban islands to disputed territories, Shakespeare goes with her —and provokes complex, surprising, and wildly important conversations about sexuality, consent, and the secrets that simmer beneath our surfaces.Wenngleich der Forschungsstand, wenn es sich um die intendierte Textaussage des Musil’schen Œuvre handelt, durch das Fehlen einer Opinio communis…
gekennzeichnet ist, tritt die vorliegende Studie den Beweis an, dass eine ebensolche freizulegen ist. In Musils Opus magnum laufen die konzeptionellen Fäden zusammen, die bereits in seinem ersten Roman angelegt sind. In seiner trieb-teleologischen Skepsis beschäftigte ihn die Realisierbarkeit eines neuen Menschentypus – eines Mannes ohne Eigenschaften –, dessen Zweck darin bestanden hätte, dem Zueilen auf den großen Weltuntergang etwas von seiner Dynamik zu nehmen und möglichen Großkonflikten so vorzubeugen. Denn die Freud’sche Triebskepsis, die Musil früh zu eigen war, wurde zu seinem treuen weltanschaulichen Begleiter und gewann von Werk zu Werk an geschichtlicher Schärfe.By Chris Lavers. 2009
“Lavers keeps his intellectual detective story passionate and suspenseful.”— Washington Post Book WorldFrom Biblical stories about virgins to adventures with Harry…
Potter, unicorns have enchanted people for millennia. In the endlessly fascinating The Natural History of Unicorns, author Chris Lavers ingeniously traces the legend of this mysterious creature to the real people, places, and animals that have influenced its story.New York Times BestsellerThe remarkable true story of an extraordinary relationship between psychologist Irene M. Pepperberg and Alex, an African…
Grey parrot who proved scientists and accepted wisdom wrong by demonstrating an astonishing ability to communicate and understand complex ideas. "You be good. I love you," were Alex's final words to his owner, research scientist Irene Pepperberg, before his premature death at age thirty-one on September 6, 2007. An African Grey parrot, Alex had a brain the size of a shelled walnut, yet he could add, sound out words, understand concepts like bigger, smaller, more, fewer, and none, and he disproved the widely accepted idea that birds possess no potential for language or anything remotely comparable to human intelligence.Alex & Me is the incredible story of an amazing, irascible parrot and his best friend who stayed together through thick and thin for thirty years—the astonishing, moving, and unforgettable story of a landmark scientific achievement and a beautiful relationship.By Tia Torres. 2019
From one of the most respected figures in the dog rescue community come the harrowing, funny, and inspiring stories of…
nine incredible dogs that shaped her life.Tia Torres, beloved underdog advocate and star of Animal Planet's hit show Pit Bulls & Parolees, chronicles her roller-coaster life in this heartwarming memoir featuring some of her best-loved dogs. With inimitable honesty and characteristic brashness, Tia captures the spirit and heart of these intelligent and loving canines, while carrying us behind the scenes of her TV show, into the heart of post-Katrina New Orleans, onto the soundstages of Hollywood films, and even to the jungles of Sri Lanka.Tia has devoted her life to shattering the stereotype that pit bulls are dangerous, vicious predators. As the top dog at the Villalobos Rescue Center in New Orleans, the largest pit bull rescue in the United States, she and her team have rescued, rehabilitated, and rehomed hundreds of animals that might otherwise have been destroyed. As she puts it, "Most of the stories in this book are about animals (and a few humans) that needed someone to believe in them and a purpose in order to show their true nobility." Each dog Tia writes about here has overcome abuse, trauma, neglect, or just bad luck to become a stalwart, loving companion to Tia and her family. You'll meetDuke, whose intelligence and matinee-idol looks made him a star in movies and music videos; Junkyard Joe, whose single-minded passion for tennis balls was channeled into expertise as a drug-sniffing dog;Bluie, the unswerving protector of Tia's daughter Tania; and a host of other unforgettable canines. My Life Among the Underdogs is above all a love story--one that is sure to grip the heart of anyone who has ever loved a dog.By Katie Sturino. 2016
A delightful and colorful high-fashion romp featuring Toast, the world’s first supermodel dog.She’s graced the pages of the New York…
Times and Us Weekly, and has appeared on Good Morning America and the Today show. She’s starred in designer Karen Walker’s advertising campaign, and pens her own weekly column in PeopleMagazine: Pets. Her jet-setting friends include Karlie Kloss, Reese Witherspoon, Jane Lynch, and, of course, her Internet celebrity dad, The Fat Jew. She has hundreds of thousands of fans following her every move on Instagram. She’s Toast, the puppymill rescue Cavalier King Charles Spaniel whose toothless grin and ever-present tongue have become today’s hottest style sensation.Now, fans can enjoy their favorite fashionista canine in ToastHampton, a collection of divine photographs that capture Toast shaking her auburn fur as she models big-name brands in the tony Hamptons.Whether she’s lounging on the sand, frolicking through a seaside meadow, dipping her paws in the sparkling sea, or striking one of her famous poses, Toast always sports the unique, sophisticated style that has melted fans’ hearts worldwide . . . and keeps them begging for more.By Amy Tan. 2024
A gorgeous, witty account of birding, nature, and the beauty around us that hides in plain sight, written and illustrated…
by the best-selling author of The Joy Luck Club • With a foreword by David Allen Sibley&“Unexpected and spectacular&” —Ann Patchett, best-selling author of These Precious Days"The drawings and essays in this book do a lot more than just describe the birds. They carry a sense of discovery through observation and drawing, suggest the layers of patterns in the natural world, and emphasize a deep personal connection between the watcher and the watched. The birds that inhabit Amy Tan&’s backyard seem a lot like the characters in her novels.&” —David Allen Sibley, from the foreword Tracking the natural beauty that surrounds us, The Backyard Bird Chronicles maps the passage of time through daily entries, thoughtful questions, and beautiful original sketches. With boundless charm and wit, author Amy Tan charts her foray into birding and the natural wonders of the world.In 2016, Amy Tan grew overwhelmed by the state of the world: Hatred and misinformation became a daily presence on social media, and the country felt more divisive than ever. In search of peace, Tan turned toward the natural world just beyond her window and, specifically, the birds visiting her yard. But what began as an attempt to find solace turned into something far greater—an opportunity to savor quiet moments during a volatile time, connect to nature in a meaningful way, and imagine the intricate lives of the birds she admired.By S. J. Perelman. 2024
Gathered for the first time: one of America's great humorists revisits the books and movies from his youth—often with some…
embarrassment—in this complete, 22-piece collectionFrom October 1948 to October 1953, The New Yorker published humorist S. J. Perelman&’s &“Cloudland Revisited&” series: 22 reviews of once-popular books and silent films whose expiration dates had passed. All but forgotten even at the time, they were nonetheless part of Perelman&’s youth and made an indelible mark on him.In the comic genius&’s biting satire they live once again:Gertrude Atherton&’s sensationalist fantasy Black OxenSax Rohmer&’s supervillain blockbuster The Mystery of Dr. Fu-Manchuthe &“underwater&” silent film adaptation of Twenty Thousand Leagues under the SeaEdgar Rice Burrough&’s 1914 novel Tarzan of the Apesand George Barr McCutcheon&’s 1901 historical fantasy novel Graustark—the Game of Thrones of its era—which launched numerous sequels and film adaptations The complete series is collected here for the first time. With self-deprecating humor and frequent embarrassment, Perelman reflects on how rereading and rewatching brings us in contact with how we, like an old book or film, have both changed and remained the same. This paperback includes a tribute to Perelman&’s art by another beloved New Yorker writer, Adam Gopnik.By S. J. Perelman. 2024
A beloved classic returns: S. J. Perelman's own selection of the very best of his hilarious stories and sketchesPulitzer Prize–winning…
author Joshua Cohen (The Netanyahus) reintroduces America's zaniest humorist to a new generation of readersWhen asked about himself the writer Sidney Joseph Perelman once quipped, "before they made him, they broke the mold." Nowhere is S. J. Perelman's one-of-a-kind, madcap sensibility—his gift for wordplay, witticism, spoofery, and sheer nonsense—on better display than in his classic collection Crazy Like a Fox, here restored to print for the first time in decades.In a playful, loving tribute to the funny man, novelist Joshua Cohen—also an erudite wordsmith and punster—introduces Perelman&’s sui generis comic pieces to a new generation of readers, certain to fall in love with the writer whom The New York Times once noted for his ability &“to transform the common cliché or figure of speech into an exploding cigar.&” Included here are such beloved classics as:the Joycean virtuoso performance &“Scenario&”&“A Farewell to Omsk,&” Perelman's hilarious homage to Dostoevskyand &“Farewell, My Lovely Appetizer," his side-splitting send-up of the hardboiled detective fiction of Raymond ChandlerHere is Perelman's own selection of the very best of his inimitable humor, restored to print for the first time in decades.This book examines the work of Sindiwe Magona, one of South Africa’s most prolific and groundbreaking writers, widely recognized for…
highlighting the everyday experiences of women and the domestic side of apartheid. A pioneer among black African women writers, she is equally respected as storyteller, advocate for children’s education, activist for HIV/AIDS awareness, and champion of indigenous languages. In this book, Renée Schatteman contends that Magona’s most important contribution comes through her refusal to choose sides in the contentious debates that have polarized public discourse following apartheid. By straddling two (or more) sides of a controversy and challenging any who do harm to others (and to the nation), regardless of their position, she blurs distinctions that are assumed to be absolute, opens new avenues of understanding, and inspires alternative visions for the future. By occupying the space of paradox, she undermines the closed epistemological structures inherited from apartheid and champions the need for interdependence, truth-telling, and dialogue. Covering her creative production over three decades (which includes novels, autobiographies and biographies, short story collections, children’s books, and literature about HIV/AIDS), this book is an essential read for Magona enthusiasts as well as for researchers of African literature and postcolonial South Africa.The French philosopher-mystic-activist Simone Weil (1909–1943) has drawn both passionate admiration and scornful dismissal since her early death and the…
posthumous publication of her writings. She has also provoked an extraordinary range of literary writing focused on not only her ideas but also her person: novels, nonfiction, and especially poetry. Given the challenges of Weil’s ethic of self-emptying attention, what accounts for her appeal, especially among women writers?This book tells the story of some of Weil’s most dedicated—and at points surprising—literary conversation partners, exploring why writers with varied political and religious commitments have found her thought and life so resonant. Cynthia R. Wallace considers authors who have devoted decades of attention to Weil, such as Adrienne Rich, Annie Dillard, and Mary Gordon, and who have written poetic sequences or book-length verse biographies of Weil, including Maggie Helwig, Stephanie Strickland, Kate Daniels, Sarah Klassen, Anne Carson, and Lorri Neilsen Glenn. She illuminates how writing to, of, and in the tradition of Weil has helped these writers grapple with the linked harms and possibilities of religious belief, self-giving attention, and the kind of moral seriousness required by the ethical and political crises of late modernity. The first book to trace Weil’s influence on Anglophone literature, The Literary Afterlives of Simone Weil provides new ways to understand Weil’s legacy and why her provocative wisdom continues to challenge and inspire writers and readers.By Christopher T. Fan. 2024
After the 1965 Immigration and Nationality Act loosened discriminatory restrictions, people from Northeast Asian countries such as South Korea, Taiwan,…
Japan, and eventually China immigrated to the United States in large numbers. Highly skilled Asian immigrants flocked to professional-managerial occupations, especially in science, technology, engineering, and math. Asian American literature is now overwhelmingly defined by this generation’s children, who often struggled with parental and social expectations that they would pursue lucrative careers on their way to becoming writers.Christopher T. Fan offers a new way to understand Asian American fiction through the lens of the class and race formations that shaped its authors both in the United States and in Northeast Asia. In readings of writers including Ted Chiang, Chang-rae Lee, Ken Liu, Ling Ma, Ruth Ozeki, Kathy Wang, and Charles Yu, he examines how Asian American fiction maps the immigrant narrative of intergenerational conflict onto the “two cultures” conflict between the arts and sciences. Fan argues that the self-consciousness found in these writers’ works is a legacy of Japanese and American modernization projects that emphasized technical and scientific skills in service of rapid industrialization. He considers Asian American writers’ attraction to science fiction, the figure of the engineer and notions of the “postracial,” modernization theory and time travel, and what happens when the dream of a stable professional identity encounters the realities of deprofessionalization and proletarianization. Through a transnational and historical-materialist approach, this groundbreaking book illuminates what makes texts and authors “Asian American.”By Sam C. Tenorio. 2024
Asks how we can better understand a politics of refusalWriting a new story of Black politics, Jump emerges from the…
practice of enslaved Africans jumping overboard off their slavers’ ships. Reading against the narrative that depoliticizes and denigrates the leaps of the enslaved as merely suicidal symptoms of chattel slavery and the Middle Passage, Sam C. Tenorio demonstrates how bringing these jumps to bear on the foundations of Black politics allows us to rethink a politics of refusal.In a period of increasing political mobilization against police brutality and mass incarceration, Jump attends to the layers of confinement that constitute the racial and gendered hierarchies of the antiblack world. Centering radical acts too often relegated to the periphery of Black politics, Tenorio proposes a Black anarchist politics of refusal that helps us to think dissent anew.Tracing iterations of the jump through the carceral wake of the slave ship, Tenorio explores the voyages of the Black Star Line in defiance of the bordered authority of the nation state, the Watts Rebellion of 1965 against the property relation of ghettoization, and Assata Shakur’s abscondence from prison to Cuba. Ultimately, Tenorio argues that considering the jump as a progenitor of Black politics deepens and widens our conceptualization of the Black radical tradition and introduces a paradigm-shifting attention to Black anarchism.By Bill Wasik, Monica Murphy. 2024
A compassionate, sweeping history of the transformation in American attitudes toward animals by the best-selling authors of RabidOver just a…
few decades at the end of the nineteenth century, the United States underwent a moral revolution on behalf of animals. Before the Civil War, animals' suffering had rarely been discussed; horses pulling carriages and carts were routinely beaten in public view, and dogs were pitted against each other for entertainment and gambling. But in 1866, a group of activists began a dramatic campaign to change the nation&’s laws and norms, and by the century&’s end, most Americans had adopted a very different way of thinking and feeling about the animals in their midst.In Our Kindred Creatures, Bill Wasik, editorial director of The New York Times Magazine, and veterinarian Monica Murphy offer a fascinating history of this crusade and the battles it sparked in American life. On the side of reform were such leaders as George Angell, the inspirational head of Massachusetts&’s animal-welfare society and the American publisher of the novel Black Beauty; Henry Bergh, founder of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals; Caroline White of Philadelphia, who fought against medical experiments that used live animals; and many more, including some of the nation&’s earliest veterinarians and conservationists. Caught in the movement&’s crosshairs were transformational figures in their own right: animal impresarios such as P. T. Barnum, industrial meat barons such as Philip D. Armour, and the nation&’s rising medical establishment, all of whom put forward their own, very different sets of modern norms about how animals should be treated.In recounting this remarkable period of moral transition—which, by the turn of the twentieth century, would give birth to the attitudes we hold toward animals today—Wasik and Murphy challenge us to consider the obligations we still have to all our kindred creatures.By Lianke Yan. 2024
Yan Lianke is a world-renowned author of novels, short stories, and essays whose provocative and nuanced writing explores the reality…
of everyday life in contemporary China. In Sound and Silence, Yan compares his literary project to a blind man carrying a flashlight whose role is to help others perceive the darkness that surrounds them. Often described as China’s most censored author, Yan reflects candidly on literary censorship in contemporary China. He outlines the Chinese state’s project of national amnesia that suppresses memories of past crises and social traumas. Although being banned in China is often a selling point in foreign markets, Yan argues that there is no requisite correlation between censorship and literary quality. Among other topics, Yan also examines the impact of American literature on Chinese literature in the 1980s and 1990s. Encapsulating his perspectives on life, writing, and literary history, Sound and Silence includes an introduction by translator Carlos Rojas and an afterword by Yan.By Tommy Tomlinson. 2024
&“Extraordinary...Tomlinson&’s book is a gem.&” —Minneapolis Star Tribune * &“Delightful.&” —Town & Country * &“This book wants to lick your…
face. Let it.&” —Kirkus Reviews From Pulitzer Prize finalist Tommy Tomlinson comes an inside account of the Westminster Dog Show that follows one dog on his quest to become a champion—and explores the bond between dogs and their people.Tommy Tomlinson was watching a dog show on television a few years ago when he had a sudden thought: Are those dogs happy? How about pet dogs—are they happy? Those questions sparked a quest to venture inside the dog-show world, in search of a deeper understanding of the relationship between dogs and humans that has endured for thousands of years. Dogland shares his surprising, entertaining, and moving adventures. Tomlinson spends three years on the road and goes behind the scenes at more than one hundred competitions across the country, from Midwestern fairgrounds to Madison Square Garden. Along the way he is licked, sniffed, and rubbed up against by dogs of nearly every size, shape, and breed. Like a real-life version of the classic mockumentary Best in Show, Dogland follows one champion show dog—a Samoyed named Striker—as well as his handler, Laura King, and his devoted entourage of breeders and owners as he competes in the 2022 Westminster Dog Show. Striker&’s whole career has been leading up to this moment. As Tomlinson writes, picking a top show dog is like drafting an NFL quarterback when they&’re still in elementary school. Now Striker has made it to the Super Bowl. Tomlinson takes readers on the long road to glory, bringing the dog-show circuit to life as he witnesses teams scrambling from town to town in search of championship points and large, colorful ribbons. (Striker and his crew travel in a custom-built RV named after Betty White.) Tomlinson&’s limitless curiosity about people and dogs reaches far beyond the show tents and into the ordinary lives of dogs. We hear from experts who have discovered new insights into how dogs and humans formed their bond—and how that bond has changed over the centuries. We discover the fascinating origins of different dog breeds, learn about the elaborate breed standards that determine an ideal show dog, and consider the health issues that can arise in purebred dogs. We also meet dog lovers who applaud every dog, regardless of breed, simply for being themselves, such as WeRateDogs, the social media phenomenon with millions of followers, all for posts celebrating the day-to-day goofiness in most dog owners&’ lives. Engaging, charming, and insightful, Dogland is an irresistibly appealing read that invites us on a rollicking backstage tour through the rituals, tricks, and wonders of the dog-show world—and reveals what matters most for the happiness of dogs and dog lovers everywhere.