Facing surgery to remove a brain tumor, former Sacramento City Councilman Steve Cohn wrote this memoir chronicling his life's story, from his grandfather's daring escape from the Russian Army in Ukraine during World War I and Cohn's childhood growing up in mid-century Missouri, to his adult life in Northern California, where he raised a family and began a long career as an attorney for the nation's most progressive electric utility and a civic leader for "America's Most Livable City." Cohn was one of the longest serving City Council members in the history of Sacramento, dating back to the California Capital's founding during the Gold Rush in 1849. Cohn's memoir shines a light on how local politics was played, for better or worse, during some of the Capital's most controversial battles over the last 25 years, including the saga of the Sacramento Kings NBA basketball team and the building of a new Downtown arena. Cohn's memoir also tells the inside story of some of the Council's toughest decisions to change the City's development pattern from its post-war suburban, automobile-oriented past to a more sustainable vision of Sacramento as "America's Most Livable City."

In July 1947, fresh out of college and long before he would win the Pulitzer Prize and become known as one of America's finest historians, Stanley Karnow boarded a freighter bound for France, planning to stay for the summer. He stayed for ten years, first as a student and later as a correspondent for Time magazine. By the time he left, Karnow knew Paris so intimately that his French colleagues dubbed him "le plus parisien des Américains" --the most Parisian American. Now, Karnow returns to the France of his youth, perceptively and wittily illuminating a time and place like none other. Karnow came to France at a time when the French were striving to return to the life they had enjoyed before the devastation of World War II. Yet even during food shortages, political upheavals, and the struggle to come to terms with a world in which France was no longer the mighty power it had been, Paris remained a city of style, passion, and romance. Paris in the Fifties transports us to Latin Quarter cafés and basement jazz clubs, to unheated apartments and glorious ballrooms. We meet such prominent political figures as Charles de Gaulle and Pierre Mendès-France, as well as Communist hacks and the demagogic tax rebel Pierre Poujade. We get to know illustrious intellectuals, among them Jean-Paul Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir, Albert Camus, and André Malraux, and visit the glittering salons where aristocrats with exquisite manners mingled with trendy novelists, poets, critics, artists, composers, playwrights, and actors. We meet Christian Dior, who taught Karnow the secrets of haute couture, and Prince Curnonsky, France's leading gourmet, who taught the young reporter to appreciate the complexities of haute cuisine. Karnow takes us to marathon murder trials in musty courtrooms, accompanies a group of tipsy wine connoisseurs on a tour of the Beaujolais vineyards, and recalls the famous automobile race at Le Mans when a catastrophic accident killed more than eighty spectators. Back in Paris, Karnow hung out with visiting celebrities like Ernest Hemingway, Orson Welles, and Audrey Hepburn, and in Paris in the Fifties we meet them too. A veteran reporter and historian, Karnow has written a vivid and delightful history of a charmed decade in the greatest city in the world.

Stanley Fish is an equal opportunity antagonist. A theorist who has taken on theorists, an academician who has riled the academy, a legal scholar and political pundit who has ruffled feathers left and right, Fish here turns with customary gusto to the trouble with principle. Specifically, Fish has a quarrel with neutral principles. The trouble? They operate by sacrificing everything people care about to their own purity. And they are deployed with equal highmindedness and equally absurd results by liberals and conservatives alike. In this bracing book, Fish argues that there is no realm of higher order impartiality--no neutral or fair territory on which to stake a claim--and that those who invoke one are always making a rhetorical and political gesture. In the end, it is history and context, the very substance against which a purportedly abstract principle defines itself, that determines a principle's content and power. In the course of making this argument, Fish takes up questions about academic freedom and hate speech, affirmative action and multiculturalism, the boundaries between church and state, and much more. Sparing no one, he shows how our notions of intellectual and religious liberty--cherished by those at both ends of the political spectrum--are artifacts of the very partisan politics they supposedly transcend. The Trouble with Principle offers a provocative challenge to the debates of our day that no intellectually honest citizen can afford to ignore.

This remarkable collection excerpts and reproduces some of China's most significant and eclectic literary works created between the founding of the Ming Dynasty in 1368 through the era of China under Mao Zedong, which ended with his death in 1976. Expertly rendered into English by noted China expert Sidney Shapiro, these classic works are noted for their unique prose and subtle characterizations which at once dispel the notion of China as outside and mysterious. Instead, we are drawn into the strangeness of a distant land and different culture, where human qualities seem remarkably familiar. This journey through the world of Chinese literature is framed according to four distinct "Feudal Fiction" is represented by "Outlaws of the Marsh", the great picaresque classic novel. "War and Revolution" reflects the uprising of an outraged people against domestic oppression and foreign invasion. "Transition" graphically describes China's intellectual ferment and ethical conflicts in an era of revolution, while "Satiric Verse" gives a glimpse of the bitter, sardonic prose of the twentieth century. This work is an ideal introduction to China's finest fiction and its vivid illumination of Chinese history.

A history of American involvement in the Vietnam War, including a discussion of the antiwar movement in the United States.

In 1941, his first full season, Pete Reiser became the youngest batting champion in history, winning the NL title with a .343 average, and led the league in runs, doubles, triples, total bases, and slugging average. By July of 1942, the popular Brooklyn outfielder was flirting with .400 and was easily baseball's fastest rising star. But a jarring collision with the outfield wall in St. Louis sent his season into a tailspin. After spending the next three years in the Army, he would come back to lead the league in stolen bases, battling dizziness and headaches throughout the season. Ten more collisions with the outfield wall--each adding a shoulder separation, muscle tear, fracture, contusion, or concussion to his long list of injuries--would make him a frequent visitor to the disabled list and keep Reiser from ever again playing a full season. This biography provides the full story on Reiser, with special emphasis given to the highlights of Reiser's playing days and the factors that kept him from fulfilling his enormous potential. In addition, the author discusses the broader situation of major league baseball, including Jackie Robinson's entrance on the National League scene, league-jumping and the subsequent blackballing of players, and the conditions under which big leaguers of the era lived, worked, and played.

"Jewish vegan and vegetarian movements have become increasingly prominent in recent decades, as more Jews adopt plant-based lifestyles. In this book, scholars, rabbis, and activists explore the history of veganism and vegetarianism among Jews and present compelling new directions in Jewish thought, ethics, and foodways. Jewish Veganism and Vegetarianism asks how Judaism, broadly considered, has inspired people to eschew animal products and how those choices have enriched and defined Jewishness. It offers opportunities to meditate on what makes Jewish veganism and vegetarianism particularly Jewish and to pursue the intellectual, religious, and historical roots of those movements. It also tests their boundaries, examines connections to other movements, and calls attention to divisions among Jewish vegans and vegetarians and to the resistance they have faced. In part one, "Studies," authors present Jewish veganism and vegetarianism in historical, literary, and sociological context: from the time of the Talmud until the present, in North America, Europe, and Israel, and among rabbis, chefs, artists, activists, punks, and farmers. Part two, "New Directions," is focused on contemporary currents in Jewish vegan and vegetarian thought. The authors represent the cultural, theological, and ideological diversity among Jews invested in such conversations and introduce prominent debates within their movements. As a whole, the volume presents a wide-ranging survey of the place of veganism and vegetarianism in Judaism past and present"--

This book's provocative treatment is a welcome contribution to an understanding of the origins of socialist and Zionist thought. This is a compact, lucid study of a notable thinker of the nineteenth century whose insight reached into the twentieth. This intellectual biography is for students of modern Jewish history and European history who have long been interested in this enigmatic figure. Avineri provides a subtle and interesting interpretation.

This great Rav's final gift to his beloved In the last few years of his long, distinguished, and productive life, Rabbi Shimon Schwab, the famed and beloved spiritual leader of Khal Adath Jeshurun in Washington Heights, NY, taught Siddur to his congregants. He was officially "retired," but his mind and conscience never rested. Always a great thinker and teacher, he turned his attention to the Siddur, and drew his congregants along with him. A lifetime of learning, thought, piety, and perspective were poured into these stimulating and inspiring lectures. Rabbi Schwab was a product of two the Franfurt-am-Main of Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch and the Lithuanian Yeshivah. He absorbed both, blended both, molded them with his great intellect, profound faith, vibrant heart, and charismatic personality. He was a rabbi in Nazi Germany until it became impossible for him to function. He was called to serve the German kehillah in Baltimore during an era when rabbis in America were expected to accommodate themselves to the times, but he did the opposite. He forced the times to accommodate themselves to the Torah -- and became a heroic figure in the American rabbinate. After a long and successful career in Baltimore, he joined Rabbi Joseph Breuer in the rabbinate of Khal Adath Jeshurun. History has come a full circle, as the scion of Frankfurt became the Rav of Khal Adath Jeshurun in New York, the successor of the famed Frankfurt kehillah. He became the moral voice of American Orthodoxy, eloquently demanding integrity and idealism -- and succeeding because he made the same demands of himself. He always went upward, and drew his listeners after him.

Jewish cultures existing in the Western world during the last two centuries have been and continue to be read as hyphenated phenomena within a specific national context, such as German-Jewish or American-Jewish culture. Yet to what extent do such nationalized constructs of Jewish culture and identity still dominate Jewish self-expressions, and the discourses about them, in the rapidly globalizing world of the twenty-first century? In a world in which Diaspora societies have begun to reshape themselves as part of a super- or nonnational identity, what has happened to a cosmopolitan Jewish identity? In a post-Zionist world, where one of the newest and most substantial Diaspora communities is that of Israelis, in the new globalized culture, is "being Jewish" suddenly something that can reach beyond the older models of Diasporic integration or nationalism? Which new paradigms of Jewish self-location, within the evolving and conflicting global discourses, about the nation, race, Genocides, anti-Semitism, colonialism and postcolonialism, gender and sexual identities does the globalization of Jewish cultures open up? To what extent might transnational notions of Jewishness, such as European-Jewish identity, create new discursive margins and centers? Is there a possibility that a "virtual makom (Jewish space)" might constitute itself? Recent studies on cosmopolitanism cite the Jewish experience as a key to the very notion of the movement of people for good or for ill as well as for the resurgence of modern nationalism. These theories reflect newer models of postcolonialism and transnationalism in regard to global Jewish cultures. " This book was originally published as a special issue of the European Review of History.

Maps provide information on recent history, religion, the media, health care, arms deals, drugs, refugees, and more

From Library Journal Harwood, author of The Dresser , led the production for BBC-TV of a 13-hour history of the theater. His book is a by-product of that venture. An extremely attractive, well-illustrated volume, it sets forth in dazzlingly rapid fashion the highlights of theater history from tribal rite to A Chorus Line , making the argument that theater grew and changed by answering the immediate needs of its audience. The book is accurate as far as it goes, and the argument is sound, but it is not a piece of serious scholarship. It is intended for a popular audience. If the book lacks weight, it can certainly be recommended as an introduction to theater history. Wickham's substantial, short theater history is written by a major scholar and is the result of years of reading, thinking, and teaching about theater. It surveys world drama from its origins in dance and ritual through the advent of television and places special emphasis on the role of actors and audiences in shaping that history. The text is detailed, thoughtful, and subtle; the generous illustrations are well chosen; each section contains a useful comparative chronology; the bibliography is very selective, but good. This is a serious text that has a lavish quality. Unlike Harwood's book, it is suited to the serious student or scholar of theater. Recommended. Thomas E. Luddy, English Dept., Salem State Coll., Mass. Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.

As dismissal and disdain of Jews speak through the art of some leading twentieth-century poets, so the poetry of Rodger Kamenetz artfully answers, framing in subtle terms the questions that haunt our culture-about the voices through which culture speaks, about the identity of poet and poetry, about the capacity of art to harm and to heal. Whether subjecting the anti-Semitic verses of T. S. Eliot to a literary trial; conjuring the eloquence with which "Allen Ginsberg forgives Ezra Pound on Behalf of the Jews"; or drawing upon personal history, the Torah, and Jewish mysticism to explore the tangled relations of Jewish identity and modern literature, Kamenetz's poems attest to the inexorable power of language.

"Borderline Citizen is part travelogue, part memoir, part reportage, and part exploration of the unique shards of international territory cut from their "motherlands," as well as people whose sense of patriotism or nationalism has been strengthened or cut adrift by circumstance and history"--

""A lively set of insights on the sports world as a whole makes Counsel in the Crease a highly recommended pick indeed." - Internet Bookwatch "Swados's Buffalo love seeps from every page...The book covers everything a Sabres fan could desire...It's all here...Written with wit, warmth, and an often surprising level of honesty, the book is a success for hockey freaks and even those with just moderate interest in the game...for a long-time Sabres fan, Counsel in the Crease is damn near un-missable, offering some of the juiciest views of the franchise's backroom dealings a fan will ever see." - Buffalo Spree "...an in-depth, detailed look at the Sabres' franchise through the eyes and ears of Swados....pro-Buffalo, pro-Sabres, pro-Knox group, a man who spills his blue and gold blood all over these pages. He takes the reader into the board rooms, into the locker rooms, into negotiations, everywhere but in the faceoff circles and the corners of the rink...This is the definitive history - or at least one version - of the first 35 years of the Sabres' franchise, told as oral history, by a man who was there. Many of the principals from the first 30 years of the franchise have taken these conversations and negotiations to their graves; Bob Swados has made sure the history will survive...this is a fascinating read for those who want to hear one man's version of what happened in the board rooms and behind the scenes." ." - The Buffalo News "[Swados] uses an obsession with detail in a sophisticated way to reveal the complexity behind his subject....fans of [the Buffalo Sabres] will thoroughly enjoy Swados's insider views of the Sabres and its various owners. General hockey fans will be enlightened by Swados's insights into the sport's various financial and legal imbroglios." - Publishers Weekly

"Drawn largely from keynote addresses presented at conferences all over the world, and informed by the experience of writing the Oxford History of Western Music, this book considers the perennial, insoluble yet unevadable problems that musical scholarship must address, among them: musical ontology, musical representation, the determination of musical meaning, the objectives of musical historiography, the ethics of musical performance and criticism, musical periodization, the question of aesthetic autonomy, the social impact of art and the need to control it, the proper source of that control, the relationship of art (and art scholarship) to its temporal and geographical environments, the desirability of historical performance practices, the value and purpose of musical analysis, the origin and value of musical traditions, the purposes and effects of the social dissemination of music. As suggested by the subtitle, the thrust is consistently anti-essentialist. Meaning and value are at all times seen in relational terms, as aspects of social transaction"--

"Richard Falk has been working within and studying the Israel/Palestine conflict for several decades, and in Palestine's Horizon, he looks closely at these transformations, offering a close analysis of one of the most controversial issues of our times. Falk explores the intricacies and interconnections within the history and politics of Israel and Palestine, while delving into the complicated relationships the conflict has created within the global community. He refutes the notion that the Palestinian struggle is a lost cause and offers new tactics and possibilities for change. He also puts the ongoing conflict in context, reflecting on the legacy of Edward Said and drawing on the importance of his ideas as a humanist model for peace that is mindful of the formidable difficulties that come with achieving a solution to the long struggle. One of the most established and authoritative voices on the conflict, Falk now presents his most sustained and focused historical overview to date"--Publisher's website.

At the dawn of the 1980s, there was one serious name in horror and exploitation film criticism: Bill Landis. While other magazines were concerned with behind-the-scenes information, tributes, and SFX tutorials, Landis' Sleazoid Express was one part film journal and one part anthropological study, seriously critiquing the grindhouse movies that played the theaters of 42nd Street while also documenting the dying subculture that had grown up around them. Profiled in Film Comment and Rolling Stone for his pioneering work, Landis' over-the-top "Mr. Sleazoid" persona and double-life as an adult film star masked the pain behind the excess: a child genius whose intellect alienated him from his peers; a sexual abuse survivor who numbed his trauma with drugs; a consummate outcast who only felt at home among other outcasts. After settling into life as a husband, father, and author in the 90s, it seemed that Landis had turned a corner-but the ghosts of Times Square were never far behind him. Dead at the age of 49 on the eve of what should have been a successful comeback, his legacy has nominally been forgotten, most of his work lost, and his memory relegated to a footnote in journalism history. Now, award-winning author and journalist Preston Fassel (Our Lady of the Inferno; Fangoria magazine; The Daily Grindhouse) pieces together the full story of his life for the first time, from his turbulent childhood, to his meteoric rise in the New York vice scene, to his tragic demise on the streets of Chicago. Featuring exclusive interviews with Kurt Loder (MTV; Rolling Stone), Michael J. Weldon (Psychotronic Video), Art Ettinger (Ultra Violent Magazine), Carl Abrahamsson, Mike McPadden (Heavy Metal Movies; Teen Movie Hell), and others, plus excerpts from Landis' unpublished autobiographical novella Last Exit in Manattan and a reprint of Landis' seminal Fangoria interview with Andy Milligan, Landis at last pulls back the curtain on one of genre writing's most influential-yet unknown-figures. In that lost, damned, golden age called the 80s, there was a movie star named Bobby Spector and a writer named Mr. Sleazoid. Most importantly, there was a man named Bill Landis. This is his story.

This scholarly account of the various ways in which space is configured by power, and in which space becomes a resource for power, combines insights from social theory, politics, history and geography.

Twenty years ago, Ayatollah Khomeini called for the assassination of Salman Rushdie--and writers around the world instinctively rallied to Rushdie's defense. Today, according to writer Paul Berman, "Rushdie has metastasized into an entire social class"--an ever-growing group of sharp-tongued critics of Islamist extremism, especially critics from Muslim backgrounds, who survive only because of pseudonyms and police protection. And yet, instead of being applauded, the Rushdies of today (people like Ayan Hirsi Ali and Ibn Warraq) often find themselves dismissed as "strident" or as no better than fundamentalist themselves, and contrasted unfavorably with representatives of the Islamist movement who falsely claim to be "moderates." How did this happen? In THE FLIGHT OF THE INTELLECTUALS, Berman--"one of America's leading public intellectuals" ( Foreign Affairs )--conducts a searing examination into the intellectual atmosphere of the moment and shows how some of the West's best thinkers and journalists have fumbled badly in their efforts to grapple with Islamist ideas and violence. Berman's investigation of the history and nature of the Islamist movement includes some surprising revelations. In examining Hassan al-Banna, the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood, he shows the rise of an immense and often violent worldview, elements of which survives today in the brigades of al-Qaeda and Hamas. Berman also unearths the shocking story of al-Banna's associate, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, who collaborated personally with Adolf Hitler to incite Arab support of the Nazis' North African campaign. Echoes of the Grand Mufti's Nazified Islam can be heard among the followers of al-Banna even today. In a gripping and stylish narrative Berman also shows the legacy of these political traditions, most importantly by focusing on a single philosopher, who happens to be Hassan al-Banna's grandson, Oxford professor Tariq Ramadan--a figure widely celebrated in the West as a "moderate" despite his troubling ties to the Islamist movement. Looking closely into what Ramadan has actually written and said, Berman contrasts the reality of Ramadan with his image in the press. In doing so, THE FLIGHT OF THE INTELLECTUALS sheds light on a number of modern issues--on the massively reinvigorated anti-Semitism of our own time, on a newly fashionable turn against women's rights, and on the difficulties we have in discussing terrorism--and presents a stunning commentary about the modern media's peculiar inability to detect and analyze some of the most dangerous ideas in contemporary society.