he time between the conquests of Alexander the Great and the Maccabaean wars is one of the obscurest periods of Jewish history. Yet it is vitally important for our understanding of Judaism in the period up to and including the New Testament era because it was then that the foundations of first-century Judaism were being laid.In his now classic — and encyclopaedic — study/tic/aim and Hellenism, Martin Hengel demonstrated how Greek influence on Judaism at this stage was far greater than has usually been supposed, and painted a fascinating picture of a hitherto unexplored culture. Here, in a much slimmer book, he summarizes the results of that larger volume and in some aspects takes it further. First he outlines the history of Palestine from Alexander's expedition to the death of Antiochus III in 187 BC. He then shows the political, social and cultural features of the Hellenistic world, asking in particular how it was possible for a non-Greek to become accepted in it. Finally, he explores the development of Judaism in the various countries of the Diaspora and in Palestine itself.

Theodor W. Adorno (1903-1969) was a leading figure in the Frankfurt School and one of this century's most demanding intellectuals. His works, always informed by his variant of Critical Theory that he called Negative Dialectics, is notoriously difficult to understand bu has had an enormous impact on philosophy, sociology, musicology, literary criticism, psychology, and the study of culture. In an introductory section, Martin Jay gives a brief, lucid account of Adorno's notion of force-field, and of Adorno's extension of Walter Benjamin's concept of constellation. He distinguishes five impulses in Adorno's thinking: his Marxism, his aesthetic modernism, his mandarin cultural conservatism, his anticipation of deconstructionism, and the self-conscious Jewishness that led him to look for redemption and at the same time to refuse any definition of paradise. Professor Jay devotes the central sections of his book to the major aspects of Adorno's thought--his philosophy, his social theory, and his view of modern culture and aesthetic theory. He has succeeded brilliantly in the task of presenting Adorno's theories in understandable form while remaining true to their unresolved tensions.

Beau, a pianist expat living in London, meets Rufus, an eccentric young lawyer, at the dawn of the internet dating revolution. After a life spent recovering from the disappointment and hurt of loving men in a world that refused to allow it, Beau is determined to keep his expectations low with Rufus. But Rufus comes from a new generation of gay men who believe happiness is as much their right as anyone else's, and what Beau assumed would be just another fling grows into one of the most surprising and defining relationships of his life. A remarkably moving, brilliantly funny love story, Gently Down the Stream is the latest play from acclaimed playwright Martin Sherman. The play reflects the triumphs and heartbreaks of the entire length of the gay rights movement, celebrating and mourning the ghosts of the men and women who led the way for equality, marriage and the right to dream. It received its world premiere at the Public Theatre, New York, on 14 March 2017 in a production starring Tony-award winner Harvey Fierstein.

Book by Hogan, Marty

Mark's extended photo essay on the prostitution district of Bombay is one of the landmarks of color photojournalism. Small half-inch tear at base of spine. Slight scuffing and fading to cover. Interior and photographs are clean and unmarked.

Mark ( Streetwise ) is one of the most popular and highly regarded documentary photographers working today. Her monograph contains, among others, photos of famine victims in Ethiopia, the white ruling-class of Zimbabwe after its government was ousted, and, probably her most famous series, prostitutes along Bombay's Falkland Road. In an interview that forms the book's text, she describes her working process and her commitment to the craft, especially to her subjects. "I photograph people who are the victims of society, because I care about them," she says. Mark's pictures are impressive and shocking--in a word, they are art, though they also raise issues concerning exploitation of human misery. Asked whether she feels she is using her subjects, the photographer discusses the difficulty of knowing "when you can and when you cannot take a picture."p. 13 Mark's photographs emphasize the humanity of her subjects--"I immediately try to make a relationship with the people I'm photographing"--which renders her pictures all the more emotionally engaging to viewers. --Publishers Weekly.

When an unscrupulous doctor implants a fertilized egg in her womb without her knowledge, Beth Danforth discovers that the egg belongs to a comatose Middle Eastern princess

A disgraced journalist is called to cover a mysterious story on an isolated European island. As she investigates, she discovers that children have taken control via weird technology linked to their smartphones and are somehow killing off all adults by their 40th birthdays. Now, she must discover the truth behind the killings while staying on the good side of the children's harsh leader...or she's next. YOU ARE OBSOLETE is a spine-tingling techno thriller that evokes the eerie naturalism of 1970s horror films with a modern deadly digital twist. Written by Mathew Klickstein (Sony Pictures' Against the Dark, Slimed!, Springfield Confidential, Selling Nostalgia) and drawn Evgeniy Bornakov (DESCENDENT).

Orality has been central to the transmission of Sephardic customs, wisdom, and values for centuries. Throughout the Middle Ages, Spanish Jews were known for their linguistic skills, and as translators and storytellers they were the main transmitters of Eastern/Islamic culture to the Christian world. Derived from a distinguished heritage, Judeo-Spanish storytelling has evolved over a five-hundred-year historical journey. Constant contact with the surrounding societies of the past and with modern Israeli influences, making it more universal than other Sephardic oral genres. Told in order to entertain but also to teach, Judeo-Spanish folktales convey timeless wisdom and a colorful depiction of Sephardic communities up to the first half of the twentieth century. King Solomon and the Golden Fish is a selection of fifty-four folktales taken from Matilda Koén-Sarano's collection of stories recorded in Ladino (Judeo-Spanish) and translated by Reginetta Haboucha into fluent and idiomatic English that preserves the flavor and oral nuances of each text. Haboucha provides commentary and annotations to the folktales that enlighten both the academic and the lay reader, making this book at once appealing to scholars and enjoyable for the general public. King Solomon and the Golden Fish is divided into six main thematic sections: Supernatural Tales, Tales of Fate, Tales of the Prophet Elijah, Romantic Tales, Tales of Cleverness and Wisdom, and Jokes and Anecdotes. These folktales remain a powerful link between modern-day Spanish Jews and the Hispano-Jewish legacy?this collection passes along that legacy and provides a source of the customs and values of Sephardic Jews.

Paul Stevens is a bookseller in the marginalized world of used books, a lover of Flaubert and Dickens, young, unsure of himself - until he meets Judith and is drawn into her secret world.

Daniel Thayne, a young Englishman, finds himself trapped in Tokyo. His passport lost, he is working illegally in a ramshackle language school, whose boss refuses to pay his salary. He is in a dead end relationship with Keiko, his cloying Japanese girlfriend, whose apartment is filled with stuffed toys. But his troubles are only beginning. As the hot, stormy weather of the rainy season descends, Keiko's family appear on his doorstep, determined to pressure him into marriage with their daughter by any means. Owners of their own mysterious and threatening 'Company Business' (or is it 'Business Company'?) they set about taking over his life. As Daniel resists, or tries to, he will learn a great deal about Japan - good and bad - and about his own culture.

Praise for Heads In the Sand "A very serious, thoughtful argument that has never been made in such detail or with such care." —Ezra Klein, staff writer at The American Prospect "Matt Yglesias is one of the smartest voices in the blogosphere. He knows a lot about politics, a lot about foreign policy, and, crucially, is unusually shrewd in understanding how they interact. Here's hoping that his new book will introduce him to an even wider audience. Once you discover him, you'll be hooked." —E. J. Dionne, author of Souled Out: Reclaiming Faith and Politics After the Religious Right and Why Americans Hate Politics "Matthew Yglesias is one of a handful of bloggers that I make a point of reading every day. Heads in the Sand is a smart, vital book that urges Democrats to stop evading the foreign-policy debate and to embrace the old principles of international liberalism--to be right and also to win." —Fred Kaplan, author of Daydream Believers: How a Few Grand Ideas Wrecked American Power "Reading foreign policy tomes is seldom included among life's pleasures, but Yglesias has concocted a startling exception. Heads in the Sand is not just a razor-sharp analysis cum narrative of the politics of national security in general and the Iraq war in particular, it's also an enthralling and often very funny piece of writing. Though he administers strong antidotes to the haplessness of his fellow Democrats and liberals, there's more than a spoonful of sugar to help the medicine go down." —Hendrik Hertzberg, Senior Editor, The New Yorker , and author of Politics: Observations and Arguments Fast-rising political commentator Matthew Yglesias reveals the wrong-headed foreign policy stance of conservatives, neocons, and the Republican Party for what it is—aggressive nationalism. Writing with wit, passion, and keen insight, Yglesias reminds us of the rich tradition of liberal internationalism that, developed by Democrats, was used with great success by both Democratic and Republican administrations for more than fifty years. He provides a starting point for politicians, policymakers, pundits, and citizens alike to return America to its role as leader of a peace-loving and cooperative international community.