Europe is a relatively secular part of the world in global terms. Why is this so? And why is the situation in Europe so different from that in the United States? These are the key questions considered in this book; key questions (the theme) clearly articulated in the first chapter.Subsequent chapter[...]
In The Portable Postmodernist, Arthur Asa Berger introduces key concepts written by postmodernism's leading theorists including Lyotard, Baudrillard, and Jameson. This collage of influential writing is followed by Berger's concise, accessible comments. Written for the newcomer, Berger's lucid explan[...]
Arthur Asa Berger elucidates narrative theory and applies it to readers' everyday experiences with popular forms of mass media. This unique book demonstrates how to interpret narratives while presenting the analysis in an accessible manner.[...]
A swimming pond is beautiful all year round, for it lives and changes with the seasons. Plants, animals, and the water make it an experience for young and old. A swimming pond has practical advantages: it is easy to care for and needs no expensive technology or chemicals. The swimming-pond ecosystem[...]
The island of Bali has long been characterized in the West as the last "paradise" on earth, but there is far more to this small Indonesian province. Bali Tourism presents an enlightening ethnographic study of some of the most important icons-for tourists and locals alike-in Balinese culture and soci[...]
A hiker's dream bucket list is embodied in this lavishly illustrated celebration of more than 50,000 miles of America's most iconic trails. Celebrating the forty most important trails in America, this volume takes the reader through forty-nine states and eight national parks. Literally tens of milli[...]
Theorists of "secularization" for two centuries have been saying that religion must inevitably decline in the modern world. But much of the world today is as religious as ever. This volume challenges the belief that the modern world is increasingly secular, showing instead that modernization more of[...]
After an extensive overview, three essays give an objective picture of how relativism and fundamentalism play out in the contemporary world.[...]
An introduction to genre analysis, this highly readable volume presents key concepts in an accessible manner for undergraduate courses in film, TV, media criticism and cultural studies. The texts are representative of horror, science fiction, spy, classic detective, and tough guy detective genres, a[...]
Listen to people in every field and you'll hear a call for more sophisticated leadership - for leaders who can solve more complex problems than the human race has ever faced. But these leaders won't simply come to the fore; we have to develop them, and we must cultivate them as quickly as is humanly[...]
Gaining Influence in Public Relations explores how professionals can increase their influence in practice to help their organizations achieve success. This provocative book explores the largely uncharted territories of power, resistance, dissent, and activism in public relations, arguing that practi[...]
This book features the social literacy of scholarship. Intersectionality, or the consideration of race, class, and gender, is one of the prominent contemporary theoretical contributions made by scholars in the field of women's studies that now broadly extends across the humanities, social sciences, [...]
* Profiles of the recipients of the Knight's Cross and the Close-Combat Clasp of Gold - 98 of the bravest German soldiers of World War II The Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross was principally the highest award given to German fighters to recognise extreme battlefield bravery or successful military[...]
This vivid ethnography of the musical lives of heavy metal, rock, and jazz musicians in Cleveland and Akron, Ohio shows how musicians engage with the world of sound to forge meaningful experiences of music. Unlike most popular music studies, which only provide a scholar's view, this book is based on[...]
Dismissed by critics and academics, condemned by parents and politicians, and fervently embraced by legions of fans, heavy metal music continues to attract and embody cultural conflicts that are central to society. In Running with the Devil, Robert Walser explores how and why heavy metal works, both[...]
During the past three decades, heavy metal music has gone global, becoming a potent source of meaning and identity for fans around the world. In Metal Rules the Globe, ethnographers and some of the foremost authorities in the burgeoning field of metal studies analyze this dramatic expansion of heavy[...]
In The Perils of Uglytown, Harry Berger, Jr., considers a variety of texts and images ranging from those of Thucydides and Plato to those of Shakespeare and Rembrandt. The Introduction explains the key concept of the study, structural misanthropology, a variant on Claude Levi-Strauss's idea of struc[...]
Simply made decorations for home or school are an absorbing way for children to become involved in the celebration of Advent and Christmas. Parents, teachers and children will quickly learn to make crib figures, candles, lanterns, angels, Advent calendars and a variety of Christmas tree decorations.[...]