Sunday, December 6, 2009

Worlds Wine Markets or Cultural Resistance

World's Wine Markets: Globalization at Work

Author: Kym Anderson

"The World's Wine Markets includes an in-depth look at the growth and impact of New World wine production on the Old World producers, revealing that between 1990 and 2001, the New World's combined share of world wine exports grew from 4 to 18 per cent, or from 10 to 35 per cent when intra-European Union trade is excluded. Original essays, by economists from each of the major wine producing and consuming regions in the world, analyse recent developments and future trends, and conclude that globalization of the industry is set to continue for the forseeable future. Furthermore they argue that with increasing globalization, there is a greater need than ever for systematic analysis of the world's wine markets." This work will appeal to students enrolled in wine marketing and business courses, those studying industrial organization, and economists and other social scientists interested in case studies of globalization at work. As well, wine industry participants interested in understanding the reasons behind the recent dramatic developments in the industry will find this book of great value.



Go to: Food in History or The Cooks Encyclopaedia

Cultural Resistance: A Reader

Author: Stephen Duncomb

From the Diggers seizing St. Georges Hill in 1649 to Hacktivists staging virtual sit-ins in the 21st century, from the retributive fantasies of Robin Hoods to those of gangsta rappers, culture has long been used as a political weapon. This expansive and carefully crafted reader brings together many of the classic texts that help to define culture as a tool of resistance. With illuminating introductions throughout, it presents a range of theoretical and historical writings that have influenced contemporary debate, providing tools for the reader's own interventions. In these pages can be found the work of Karl Marx, Matthew Arnold, Antonio Gramsci, C.L.R. James, Bertolt Brecht, Walter Benjamin, Theodor Adorno, Virginia Woolf, Mikhail Bakhtin, Stuart Hall, Christopher Hill, Janice Radway, Eric Hobsbawm, Abbie Hoffman, Mahatma Gandhi, Dick Hebdige, Hakim Bey, Raymond Williams, Robin Kelley, Tom Frank and more than a dozen others—including a number of new activists/authors published here for the first time.

Cultural Resistance: A Reader will be an invaluable resource for instructors teaching courses in cultural studies, communications and politics. The book is also a tool for cultural activists and political organizers. But most importantly, Cultural Resistance will inspire everyday readers to resist.

Author Biography: Stephen Duncombe teaches the history and politics of media and culture at the Gallatin School of New York University. He is the author of Notes from Underground: Zines and the Politics of Alternative Culture, as well as a life-long political activist, most recently working with the Lower East Side Collective and Reclaim the Streets/New York City.



Table of Contents:
Christopher Hill, "Levellers and True Levellers," from The World Turned Upside Down
Raymond Williams, "Culture," from Keywords
Karl Marx and Frederick Engels, from The German Ideology
Matthew Arnold, from Culture and Anarchy
Antonio Gramsci, from The Prison Notebooks
Walter Benjamin, "The Author as Producer"
Mikhail Bakhtin, from Rabelais and His World
James C. Scott, from Weapons of the Weak
Robin D.G. Kelley, from Race Rebels
Adolph Reed Jr., "Why Is There No Black Political Movement"
Jean Baudrillard, "The Masses: The Implosion of the Social Media"
Hakim Bey, from TAZ: The Temporary Autonomous Zone
Simon Reynolds, from Generation Ecstasy
"Huge Mob Tortures Negro," account of a lynching in 1920
E.J. Hobsbawm, from Primitive Rebels
Robin D.G. Kelley, "OGs in Postindustiral Los Angeles," from Race Rebels
Stuart Cosgrove, 'The Zoot-suit and Style Warfare"
Dick Hebdige, "The Meaning of Mod"
John Clarke, "The Skinheads and the Magical Recovery of Community"
Riot Grrrl, "The Riot Grrrl Is..."
Kathleen Hanna, interview in Punk Planet
Bertold Brecht, "Emphasis on Sport"
Stuart Hall, "Notes on Deconstructing 'the Popular'"
Elaine Goodale Eastman "The Ghost Dance War," from Sister to the Sioux
Mahatma Gandhi, from Hind Swaraj
C.L.R. James, from Beyond a Boundary
Lawrence Levine, "Slave Songs and Slave Consciousness"
George Lipsitz, "Immigration and Assimilation: Rai, Reggae, and Bhangramuffin," from Dangerous Crossroads
Virginia Woolf, from A Room of One's Own
Radicalesbians, "The Woman-Identified Woman"
Jean Railla, A Broom of One's Own, from Bust
Janice A. Radway, from Reading the Romance
John Fiske, "Shopping for Pleasure" from Reading the Popular
Theordor Adorno, "On the Fetish-Character in Music and the Regression of Listening"
Richard Hoggart, from The Uses of Literacy
Malcolm Cowley, from Exile's Return
Thomas Frank, "Why Johnny Can't Dissent"
Abbie Hoffman, from Revolution for the Hell of It
Jerry Rubin, from Do It!
Barbara Epstein, "The Politics of Prefigurative Community"
John Jordan, "The Art of Necessity: The Subversive Imagination of Anti-road Protest and Reclaim the Streets"
Jason Grote, "The God that People Who Do Not Believe in God Believe In: Taking a Bust with Reverend Billy"
Andrew Boyd, "Truth Is A Virus; Meme Warfare and the Billionaires for Bush (or Gore)"
Ricardo Dominguez, 'Electronic Disturbance: An Interview"

Saturday, December 5, 2009

Ever Closer Union or Immigration Questions and Answers

Ever Closer Union: An Introduction to Eruopean Integration

Author: Desmond Dinan

Ever Closer Union clearly explains the complexities of European integration from the 1950s to the present. This new edition retains the familiar three-part structure - history, institutions, and policies - but incorporates expanded coverage of both enlargement issues and constitutional change. New policy and institutional developments are thoroughly explored, and an entirely new chapter examines the decisionmaking dynamics among the Commission, Council, and Parliament. The completely revised chapter on the complicated EU-U.S. relationship includes discussions of the Bush administration's worldview, the broad repercussions of the terrorist attacks in the United States and Spain, and the ongoing fallout from the war in Iraq.



Interesting textbook: Moo Baa La La La or The Cat in the Hat

Immigration Questions and Answers

Author: Carl R Baldwin

Immigration Questions and Answers is a complete introduction to immigration law that will help immigrants become aware of their rights and know when and how to seek legal assistance. If you have a question or problem, this book offers detailed instructions on how to file petitions and applications successfully in order to get an immigration benefit - ranging from asylum, to a green card, to citizenship. Easy-to-understand answers are given to questions about working legally, job discrimination, temporary stays, the visa lottery, access to public benefits, and much more. Taking sharp issue with today's critics of both legal and illegal immigration, the book argues that we in the United States could not be competitive in the new global economy, or staff our hospitals, or care for our children, much less cut sugar cane and harvest apples, without the skill and hard work of men and women from all over the world.

Library Journal

Using a question-and-answer format, this helpful book provides detailed information on many issues facing immigrants, e.g., obtaining a green card, avoiding employment discrimination, and applying for citizenship and political asylum. Written in clear, straightforward language; for the general public.Jose M. Fornes



Table of Contents:
Preface5
1Is Immigration Good for the U.S.?9
2Green Card Defined15
3Obtaining a Short Term Visa21
4Will the I.N.S. Keep You Out?45
5Political Asylum57
6Temporary Protected Status71
7The Visa Lottery77
8Helping Your Spouse Get a Green Card83
9Removing Conditional Residence95
10If You Are Battered99
11If You Are a Widow or Widower103
12Helping Your Child Get a Green Card105
13Visa Processing113
14How Employers Stay Legal117
15Can Your Employer Help You?123
16Labor Certification133
17Fighting Job Discrimination139
18Special Cases and Parole143
19If You Need Public Benefits151
20Ways To Become a Citizen157
Appendix169
Index173

Friday, December 4, 2009

Structures of Memory or Martin Luther King JR and the Civil Rights Movement

Structures of Memory: Understanding Urban Change in Berlin and Beyond

Author: Jennifer A Jordan

“This is an original and fascinating work that will be a welcome addition to the ever-growing conversation on the cultural functions of memorialization, official and vernacular memorial processes, and the relation between remembering and forgetting. Jordan reminds us, as well she should, that what does not gain a place in the landscape is as revealing as what does finally gain the prestige of a public site.”—Edward T. Linenthal, Indiana University



Look this: Trading for a Living or Harvest for Hope

Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Civil Rights Movement: Controversies and Debates

Author: John A Kirk

Combining the latest scholarship with John Kirk's informed commentary, this sourcebook throws a powerful light on the civil rights movement and its most influential leader. Debates that until now have been carried out across a range of books and journals are here brought together for the first time in a clear, helpful volume which introduces readers to key topics, debates and scholars in the field. Essential reading for all those with an interest in the man and the movement.



Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Speeders Guide to Avoiding Tickets or The Middle East and the United States

Speeder's Guide to Avoiding Tickets

Author: James M Eagan

Regardless of your record as a driver, everyone speeds sometimes. You are on the open road, no one around for miles, and so you step on the gas pedal. Then you experience a sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach -- and in your wallet -- when you see a flashing red light in the rearview mirror. Now you can ease on down the road without paying the high price of traffic tickets, inflated insurance premiums and expensive lawyer's fees. Former New York State Trooper James M. Eagan tells you how-with invaluable tips and trade secrets that the police don't want you to know.

  • What makes a cop "tick" -- and how to use it to your advantage
  • What dates and times are safest to step on the gas and when you are most likely to get caught
  • How to avoid talking yourself into tickets
  • What stories and excuses will often work
  • How to spot an unmarked car
  • Clipping the wings off "The Bear in the Air"
  • And much more!

Whether you drive for business or pleasure -- or simply suffer from occasional leadfoot -- you cannot afford to be without this book!



Books about: Unlimited Power or How to Master the Art of Selling

The Middle East and the United States: A Historical and Political Reassessment, Vol. 4

Author: David W Lesch

The fourth edition of the acclaimed The Middle East and the United States brings together scholars and diplomats from the Middle East, Europe, and North America to provide an objective, cross-cultural assessment of US policy toward the Middle East. The new edition has been thoroughly and thoughtfully reorganized, revised, and updated to include five new chapters on topics such as the 2003 war in Iraq and its aftermath, the US promotion of democracy in the region, and recent developments in the Arab-Israeli arena.

Booknews

An explication of Indian communalism directed primarily to a US audience and representing the current state of research on Hindu nationalism. The 12 essays, culled from a seminar collaboration, combine methods in anthropology, history, political science and religious studies to develop the ideas of communal mobilization, and the genealogies of colonialism and conflict among both the Hindu and Muslim populations. Paper edition (unseen), $19.95. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)



Table of Contents:
Preface
Acknowledgments
Note on the Text
Introduction1
1The Ironic Legacy of the King-Crane Commission11
2The "Ambassador for the Arabs": The Locke Mission and the Unmaking of U.S. Development Diplomacy in the Near East, 1952-195329
3U.S. Foreign Policy Toward Iran During the Mussadiq Era51
4Iranian Perceptions of the United States and the Mussadiq Period67
5The Mussadiq Era in Iran, 1951-1953: A Contemporary Diplomat's View79
6National Security Concerns in U.S. Policy Toward Egypt, 1949-195691
7The United States and King Hussein103
8The Jekyll-and-Hyde Origins of the U.S.-Jordanian Strategic Relationship117
9The 1957 American-Syrian Crisis: Globalist Policy in a Regional Reality131
10U.S. Policy and Military Intervention in the 1958 Lebanon Crisis147
11The United States and Nasserist Pan-Arabism167
12The 1967 Arab-Israeli War: U.S. Actions and Arab Perceptions189
13Flawed Strategies and Missed Signals: Crisis Bargaining Between the Superpowers, October 1973209
14The United States and Israel: The Nature of a Special Relationship233
15The U.S.-PLO Relationship: From Dialogue to the White House Lawn249
16The Specifics of the Meaning of Peace in the Middle East265
17Kuwait and the United States: The Reluctant Ally and U.S. Policy Toward the Gulf279
18From "Over the Horizon" to "Into the Backyard": The U.S.-Saudi Relationship and the Gulf War299
19The Invasion of Kuwait and the Gulf War: Dilemmas Facing the Israeli-Iraqi-U.S. Relationship313
20U.S. Input into Iraqi Decisionmaking, 1988-1990325
21The U.S.-GCC Relationship: Is It a Glass Leaking or a Glass Filling?355
22The Soviet Union, the Gulf War, and Its Aftermath: A Case Study in Limited Superpower Cooperation379
23The Soviet Perception of the U.S. Threat403
24New U.S. Policies for a New Middle East?413
25Islamist Perceptions of U.S. Policy in the Middle East419
About the Book439
About the Editor and Contributors441
Index445

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Reconciliation or Fighting Terrorism

Reconciliation: The Ubuntu Theology of Desmond Tutu

Author: Michael Jesse Battl

Reconciliation is Michael Battle's highly original analysis of Bishop Tutu's theology of ubuntu - an African concept recognizing that persons and groups form their identities in relation to one another. This model proved successful in opposing the apartheid racism in South Africa, but it also offers a Christian paradigm for resisting oppression wherever it appears. Drawing on a wide range of primary sources, including Tutu's unpublished speeches and sermons, as well as many secondary sources, Battle portrays the Nobel Peace Prize winner as a theologian who embraces Anglican orthodoxy and who has consistently applied that framework to issues of race in South Africa. Yet Tutu is much more than a conventional theologian. He is, as Battle shows, not only an articulate preacher and at times an unwilling politician, but a genuinely committed theologian whose deepest roots are in prayer and protest.



Table of Contents:
Foreword
Preface
1Introduction: Holding Back a Tide of Violence1
2A Milk-and-Honey Land of Oppression11
3Delicate Networks of Interdependence35
4Filled with the Fullness of God54
5Inspired by Worship and Adoration of God83
6An African Spirituality of Passionate Concern123
7Conclusion: God and a Political Priest154
Notes183
Bibliography217

New interesting textbook: Nasty Bits or The Machu Picchu Guidebook

Fighting Terrorism: How Democracies Can Defeat the International Terrorist Network

Author: Benjamin Netanyahu

The growth of terrorism has been accompanied by a steady escalation in the means of violence, from small arms used to assassinate individuals, to automatic weapons used to mow down groups, to car bombs now capable of bringing down entire buildings, to lethal chemicals that (as in Japan) can threaten entire cities. The very real possibility that terrorist states and organizations may soon acquire horrific weapons of destruction and use them to escalate terrorism beyond our wildest nightmares has not been addressed properly by Western governments. It mus be recognized that barring firm and resolute action by the United States and the West, terrorism in the 1990s will expand dramatically both domestically and internationally. Today's tragedies can either be the harbingers of much greater calamities yet to come or the turning point in which free societies once again mobilize their resources, their ingenuity, and their will to wipe out this evil from our midst. Fighting terrorism is not a "policy option"; it is a necessity for the survival of our democratic society and our freedoms. Showing how this battle can be won is the purpose of this book.

New York Times - Richard Bernstein

Vigorous . . . Mr.Netanyahu's argument, which is soberly and clearly made, cannot be taken lightly.

Washington Post Book World - Peter W. Rodman

Netanyahu has produced a small volume updating the story of international terrorism and his advice on how to defeat it.

Washington Times - Bill Gertz

An excellent primer on the groups, motives and methods of the current terrorist threat.

Detroit News - Berl Faulbaum

. . . makes a strong case that the west has not prepared itself properly for increased domestic and international terrorism.