58,196 results in 0.07 seconds

The abuse of evil: the corruption of politics and religion since 9/11

Bernstein, Richard J.
Since 9/11 politicians, preachers, conservatives and the media are all speaking about evil. In the past the discourse about evil in our religious, philosophic and literary traditions has provoked thinking, questioning and inquiry. But today the appeal to evil is being used as a political tool to obscure complex issues, block serious thinking and stifle public discussion and debate. We are now confronting a clash of mentalities, not a clash of civilizations. One mentality is drawn to absolutes, moral certainties, and simplistic dichotomies of good and evil. The other seriously questions an appeal to absolutes in politics and criticizes the simplistic division of the world into the forces of evil and the forces of good. In The Abuse of Evil Bernstein challenges the claim that without an appeal to absolutes, we lack the grounds for acting decisively in fighting our enemies. The post 9/11 abuse of evil corrupts both democratic politics and religion. The stakes are high in this clash of mentalities in shaping how we think and act in the world today - and in the future. -- Publisher description.
Polity Press 2005 145 pages

The Fillmore East: recollections of rock theater

Kostelanetz, Richard
For three short years, from 1968 to 1971, New York's Fillmore East, housed in an abandoned second run movie house on New York's Lower East Side, was the greatest rock palace in the world. The best acts played there; it had its own resident light show presenting some of the most exciting visual images ever seen; and it was managed by the imaginative Bill Graham, who specialized in introducing the audience to new acts. Fans came from around the world and across the neighborhood; one dedicated audience member, then-twenty-eight-year-old performance artist and writer Richard Kostelanetz, attended religiously, keeping notes on the performances, interviewing the musicians, and documenting the shows. Now, he has pulled together these documents, along with original program notes and memories of other regulars, to produce the complete history of the theater. Photographer Raeanne Rubenstein, who got her start as a teenage news photographer, has opened her files to provide many never-before-seen performance photos of the greatest acts. This is a must-have for those who were there and all those who wish they could have been!
Schirmer Books 1995 212 pages

The miracle of language

Lederer, Richard
Master verbalist Richard Lederer, America's "Wizard of Idiom" (Denver Post), presents a love letter to the most glorious of human achievements... Welcome to Richard Lederer's beguiling celebration of language -- of our ability to utter, write, and receive words. No purists need stop here. Mr. Lederer is no linguistic sheriff organizing posses to hunt down and string up language offenders. Instead, join him "In Praise of English," and discover why the tongue described in Shakespeare's day as "of small reatch" has become the most widely spoken language in history: English never rejects a word because of race, creed, or national origin. Did you know that jukebox comes from Gullah and canoe from Haitian Creole? Many of our greatest writers have invented words and bequeathed new expressions to our eveyday conversations. Can you imagine making up almost ten percent of our written vocabulary? Scholars now know that William Shakespeare did just that! He also points out the pitfalls and pratfalls of English. If a man mans a station, what does a woman do? In the "The Department of Redundancy Department," "Is English Prejudiced?" and other essays, Richard Lederer urges us not to abandon that which makes us human: the capacity to distinguish, discriminate, compare, and evaluate.
Pockets Books 1991 254 pages

She made me laugh: my friend Nora Ephron

Cohen, Richard M.
“A very personal remembrance of Nora Ephron’s life and loves, and her ups and downs” ( USA TODAY ) by her long-time and dear friend Richard Cohen in a hilarious, blunt, raucous, and poignant recollection of their decades-long friendship. Nora Ephron (1941–2012) was a phenomenal personality, journalist, essayist, novelist, playwright, Oscar-nominated screenwriter, and movie director ( Sleepless in Seattle ; You’ve Got Mail ; When Harry Met Sally ; Heartburn ; Julie & Julia ). She wrote a slew of bestsellers ( I Feel Bad About My Neck: And Other Thoughts on Being a Woman ; I Remember Nothing: And Other Reflections ; Scribble, Scribble: Notes on the Media ; Crazy Salad : Some Things About Women ). She was celebrated by Hollywood, embraced by literary New York, and adored by legions of fans throughout the world. Award-winning journalist Richard Cohen, wrote this about She Made Me Laugh : “I call this book a third-person memoir. It is about my closest friend, Nora Ephron, and the lives we lived together and how her life got to be bigger until, finally, she wrote her last work, the play, Lucky Guy , about a newspaper columnist dying of cancer while she herself was dying of cancer. I have interviewed many of her other friends—Mike Nichols, Tom Hanks, Steven Spielberg, Meryl Streep, Arianna Huffington—but the book is not a name-dropping star turn, but an attempt to capture a remarkable woman who meant so much to so many other women.” With “the nuanced perspective of a confidant” ( The Washington Post ), She Made Me Laugh “is a fine tribute to a fascinating woman” ( Houston Chronicle ): “Nora would be pleased” ( People , “Book of the Week”).
Simon & Schuster 2016-09 299 pages

The world: a brief introduction

Haass, Richard
"This book is designed to provide readers with the background and building blocks they need in order to answer for themselves the critical questions about what is taking place around the world and why. It explains what makes each region of the world tick, the many challenges globalization presents, and the most influential countries, events, and ideas. Its aim is to help readers become more informed, discerning citizens, better able to arrive at sound, independent judgments and less vulnerable to being misled"--
Penguin Press 2020 378 pages

GNU Emacs Manual

Richard Stallman
This tutorial is an elementary introduction to teach non-programmers how to customize their work environment; it can also be used as an introduction to programming basics. It includes numerous exercises and sample programs; the author also walks you through the actual source code of several GNU Emacs commands. A handy reference appendix is included. Emacs Lisp is a simple, complete, and powerful programming language. It is the building block of GNU Emacs, which is an integrated development environment with special features for scanning and parsing text as well as for handling multiple files, buffers, displays, windows, and sub-processors. This text will show you: * how to set variables and write function definitions * How to use "if" and "let" * How to write "while" loops and recursive loops * How to search for a word or expression * How to customize GNU Emacs for yourself, even when it is shared on a network. * How to debug programs * and much more. This revised third edition covers new features included in GNU Emacs version 21, while remaining compatible with earlier versions.
Free Software Foundation 1993 392 pages

The magic book

Caveney, Mike,Steinmeyer, Jim,Jay, Ricky
Magic has enchanted humankind for millennia, evoking terror, laughter, shock, and amazement. Once persecuted as heretics and sorcerers, magicians have always been conduits to a parallel universe of limitless possibility—whether invoking spirits, reading minds, or inverting the laws of nature by sleight of hand. Long before science fiction, virtual realities, video games, and the Internet, the craft of magic was the most powerful fantasy world man had ever known. As the pioneers of special effects throughout history, magicians have never ceased to mystify us by making the impossible possible. This book celebrates more than 500 years of the stunning visual culture of the world’s greatest magicians. Featuring more than 750 rarely seen vintage posters, photographs, handbills, and engravings as well as paintings by Hieronymus Bosch and Bruegel among others, The Magic Book traces the history of magic as a performing art from the 1400s to the 1950s. Combining sensational images with incisive text, the book explores the evolution of the magicians’ craft, from medieval street performers to the brilliant stage magicians who gave rise to cinematic special effects; from the 19th century’s golden age of magic to groundbreaking daredevils like Houdini and the early 20th century’s vaudevillians. About the series TASCHEN is 40! Since we started our work as cultural archaeologists in 1980, TASCHEN has become synonymous with accessible publishing, helping bookworms around the world curate their own library of art, anthropology, and aphrodisia at an unbeatable price. Today we celebrate 40 years of incredible books by staying true to our company credo. The 40 series presents new editions of some of the stars of our program—now more compact, friendly in price, and still realized with the same commitment to impeccable production.
Taschen 2021 512 pages

The Night of the Ripper

Robert Bloch
The author of Psycho takes on the famous unsolved slayings of Jack the Ripper! Robert Bloch gave us fiction's most famous knife-wielding maniac in Psycho's Norman Bates, and in The Night of the Ripper (1984), this master of horror fiction offers his own unique take on history's most infamous unsolved murder case. Whitechapel, 1888. A madman stalks the foggy streets, murdering prostitutes in acts of unimaginable horror and brutality. Two men - Frederick Abberline of the Metropolitan Police and Mark Robinson, a young American doctor - are determined to find the killer, but the list of suspects is a long one. With the help of a supporting cast of characters that includes Oscar Wilde, George Bernard Shaw, Arthur Conan Doyle, and the Elephant Man, the two sleuths must solve the puzzle before it's too late and the Ripper strikes again! "Might be Bloch's best book yet . . . the sort of book that just grabs you and makes you read it." - Peter Straub "May well nudge out Psycho as Bloch's most popular novel." - Washington Post "A must for mystery and horror fans." - Fantasy Review
Valancourt Books 2024-12-03 208 pages

The Riddle of the Sands

Robert Childers
The Riddle of the Sands is a novel that "owes a lot to the wonderful adventure novels of writers like Rider Haggard, that were a staple of Victorian Britain"; perhaps more significantly, it was a spy novel that "established a formula that included a mass of verifiable detail, which gave authenticity to the story - the same ploy that would be used so well by John Buchan, Ian Fleming, John le Carré and many others." Ken Follett called it "the first modern thriller.
CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform 2017-02-15 290 pages

Mediterranean winter: a journey through history

Kaplan, Robert D.
Mediterranean Winter is a lyrical account of Robert Kaplan's journey in the off season around the Mediterranean, retracing the footsteps of his youth. A beautifully written meditation on the golden age of travel and the pleasures of history, it takes us from Tunisia, once proud Carthage, rival to Rome, through Sicily, up the Dalmatian coast and into Greece. Mediterranean Winter is alive with the spirits of the past, from Hadrian and Homer to Hannibal and Ibn Khaldun, and closes with a fascinating pilgrimage to Patrick Leigh Fermor, whom Kaplan visits in his hideaway on the Aegean.
Arrow Books 2006 254 pages

Star trek: the complete unauthorized history

Greenberger, Robert
An unauthorized history of Star Trek TV shows and films, celebrating its enduring popularity and devoted fans. Star Trek: The Complete Unauthorized History is a loving and candid review of the fifty-year franchise, a story as full of plot twists as its hundreds of episodes and films. Greenberger, author of over a dozen Star Trek novels and short stories, tells this fascinating tale as only an expert and longtime fan could. He examines the behind-the-scenes saga--from the struggles of Star Trek' s enthusiastic creator, Gene Roddenberry, to realize his vision on the small screen, to the franchise's latest cinematic reinvention from J. J. Abrams--as well as the devoted fans who support its continued growth. Featuring sidebars by such Star Trek authorities as Michael and Denise Okuda, as well as contributions from well-known fans, including astronauts Thomas D. Jones and Mario Runco Jr., Star Trek: The Complete Unauthorized History captures the long and bumpy road to Star Trek becoming an international, groundbreaking phenomenon. Greenberger explores the many ways in which Star Trek has earned its enduring place in pop culture, evidenced by myriad comic books, audio dramas, software, board games, short stories, novels, Saturday Night Live sketches, elaborate fan productions, and well-known catch phrases. More than two hundred photographs illustrate the book.
Voyageur 2015-10-26 256 pages

Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism A Study of Brainwashing in China

Robert Jay Lifton
2014 Reprint of 1961 Edition. Full facsimile of the original edition, not reproduced with Optical Recognition Software. Lifton's research for the book began in 1953 with a series of interviews with American servicemen who had been held captive during the Korean War. In addition to interviews with 25 Americans, Lifton also interviewed 15 Chinese who had fled their homeland after having been subjected to indoctrination in Chinese universities. From these interviews, which in some cases occurred regularly for over a year, Lifton identified the tactics used by Chinese communists to cause drastic shifts in one's opinions and personality and "brainwash" American soldiers into making demonstrably false assertions. This work has become a classic text in the field and continues to serve as a fundamental guide in the debriefing of former cult members. Lifton's famous eight criteria for thought control are: Milieu Control. This involves the control of information and communication both within the environment and, ultimately, within the individual, resulting in a significant degree of isolation from society at large. Mystical Manipulation. There is manipulation of experiences that appear spontaneous but in fact were planned and orchestrated by the group or its leaders in order to demonstrate divine authority or spiritual advancement or some special gift or talent that will then allow the leader to reinterpret events, scripture, and experiences as he or she wishes. Demand for Purity. The world is viewed as black and white and the members are constantly exhorted to conform to the ideology of the group and strive for perfection. The induction of guilt and/or shame is a powerful control device used here. Confession. Sins, as defined by the group, are to be confessed either to a personal monitor or publicly to the group. There is no confidentiality; members' "sins," "attitudes," and "faults" are discussed and exploited by the leaders. Sacred Science. The group's doctrine or ideology is considered to be the ultimate Truth, beyond all questioning or dispute. Truth is not to be found outside the group. The leader, as the spokesperson for God or for all humanity, is likewise above criticism. Loading the Language. The group interprets or uses words and phrases in new ways so that often the outside world does not understand. This jargon consists of thought-terminating clichés, which serve to alter members' thought processes to conform to the group's way of thinking. Doctrine over person. Member's personal experiences are subordinated to the sacred science and any contrary experiences must be denied or reinterpreted to fit the ideology of the group. Dispensing of existence. The group has the prerogative to decide who has the right to exist and who does not. This is usually not literal but means that those in the outside world are not saved, unenlightened, unconscious and they must be converted to the group's ideology. If they do not join the group or are critical of the group, then they must be rejected by the members. Thus, the outside world loses all credibility. In conjunction, should any member leave the group, he or she must be rejected also.
Martino Fine Books 2014-07-24 522 pages

Robert Frank London

Robert Frank photographer
"War is over; the heroic French population reaffirms superiority. Love, Paris, and Flowers ... but London was black, white, and gray, the elegance, the style, all present in front of always changing fog. Then I met a man from Wales talking about the Miners and I had read How Green Was My Valley . This became my only try to make a 'Story.'" --Robert Frank This magnificent edition of London/Wales --a reprint of the 2007 Steidl edition that included never-before-seen photographs, expanding on Scalo's first edition of 2003--juxtaposes Frank's images of the elegant world of London money with the grimy working-class world of postwar Wales. It brings together two distinct bodies of work, and reveals a significant documentary precedent for The Americans. It also offers an important view of Frank's development, demonstrating an early interest in social commentary, in the narrative potential of photographic sequencing, and innovative use of the expressionistic qualities of the medium.
Steidl 2017 126 pages

Dudes, the school is haunted!

Stine, R. L.
Hilarious series of wacky stories from a US boarding school where naughty pranks and mischief rate much more highly than education. From bestselling US author, R.L. Stine. Welcome to Rotten School, founded 100 years ago by I. B. Rotten as a boarding school where students would grow and succeed intellectually, morally and physically as they prepared for a productive and happy future. However, today our standards are a little less rigorous - we are simply happy if the students are still alive at the end of each day! We think rivalry is healthy for our pupils, thus, Rotten School is divided into two warring groups: Bernie Bridges and his friends in Rotten House vs. Sherman Oaks and his friends in Nyce House. Joe Sweety is the worst kind of bully - big, mean and always ready to use his fists. Chipmunk is the shiest, clumsiest kid at Rotten School. When Chipmunk is paired with Joe on the class trip, Chipmunk spills his apple juice, barfs and pulls down Joe's trousers. Joe beats up poor Chipmunk and Bernie decides to haunt Joe to get his own back, with spooky messages on the computer, green protoplasm in his room and a body-wrap in an eerie cocoon. Will Bernie's payback work? Will it scare Joe into being nice for once?
HarperCollins Children's 2007 126 pages