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Mark Twain / by Chernow, Ron,author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."Born Samuel Langhorne Clemens in 1835, under Halley's Comet, the rambunctious Twain was an early teller of tall tales. He left his home in Missouri at an early age, piloted steamboats on the Mississippi, and arrived in the Nevada Territory during the silver-mining boom. Before long, he had accepted a job at the local newspaper, where he barged into vigorous discourse and debate, hoaxes and hijinks. After moving to San Francisco, he published stories that attracted national attention for their brashness and humor, writing under a pen name soon to be immortalized. Chernow draws a richly nuanced portrait of the man who shamelessly sought fame and fortune and crafted his celebrity persona with meticulous care. Twain eventually settled with his wife and three daughters in Hartford, where he wrote some of his most well-known works, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Life on the Mississippi, and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, earning him further acclaim. He threw himself into American politics, emerging as the nation's most notable pundit. While his talents as a writer and speaker flourished, his madcap business ventures eventually forced him into bankruptcy; to economize, Twain and his family spent nine eventful years in exile in Europe. He suffered the death of his wife and two daughters, and the last stage of his life was marked by heartache, political crusades, and eccentric behavior that sometimes obscured darker forces at play. Drawing on Twain's bountiful archives, including his fifty notebooks, thousands of letters, and hundreds of unpublished manuscripts, Chernow masterfully captures a man whose career reflected the country's westward expansion, industrialization, and foreign wars. No other white author of his generation grappled so fully with the legacy of slavery after the Civil War or showed such keen interest in African American culture. Today, more than one hundred years after his death, Twain's writing continues to be read, debated, and quoted"--
Subjects: Biographies.; Twain, Mark, 1835-1910.; Authors, American; Humorists, American;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Age of anger : a history of the present / by Mishra, Pankaj,author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."One of our most important public intellectuals reveals the hidden history of our current global crisis. How can we explain the origins of the great wave of paranoid hatreds that seem inescapable in our close-knit world--from American 'shooters' and ISIS to Trump, from a rise in vengeful nationalism across the world to racism and misogyny on social media? In Age of Anger, Pankaj Mishra answers our bewilderment by casting his gaze back to the eighteenth century, before leading us to the present. He shows that as the world became modern those who were unable to fulfill its promises--freedom, stability and prosperity--were increasingly susceptible to demagogues. The many who came late to this new world or were left, or pushed, behind, reacted in horrifyingly similar ways: intense hatred of invented enemies, attempts to re-create an imaginary golden age, and self-empowerment through spectacular violence. It was from among the ranks of the disaffected that the militants of the 19th century arose--angry young men who became cultural nationalists in Germany, messianic revolutionaries in Russia, bellicose chauvinists in Italy, and anarchist terrorists internationally. Today, just as then, the wider embrace of mass politics, technology, and the pursuit of wealth and individualism has cast many more billions adrift in a literally demoralized world, uprooted from tradition but still far from modernity--with the same terrible results. Making startling connections and comparisons, Age of Anger is a book of immense urgency and profound argument. It is a history of our present predicament unlike any other"--
Subjects: Anger; Civilization, Modern.; Civilization, Western.; Nationalism; Religion and politics; Social change; Terrorism; World politics; World politics; Youth;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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And don't f&%k it up : an oral history of RuPaul's drag race (the first ten years) / by Fernandez, Maria Elena,author.;
"The four-time winner of the Emmy for outstanding reality series, RuPaul's Drag Race never set out to win over conventional America or climb the ladder of mainstream pop culture success. Its first season was classic counterculture, developed and filmed while President G.W. Bush was in office but launched at a time when Obama fever was at a national high. Over thirteen years and about 160 drag queen contestants later, everything from its language and style has seeped into the culture, cementing its place in herstory, one tuck at a time. With viewers everywhere from the halls of Congress to Wall Street, from big cities to small towns, Drag Race has become a worldwide phenomenon. Told over its first ten years, encompassing the show's first 14 seasons, And Don't F&%k It Up tells a cultural history through the stories of the people who lived it: the creators of the show, the contestants, the crew, the judges, and even some key (famous) fans. It begins with RuPaul's 34-year friendship and business relationship with World of Wonder Productions, the entertainment company that helped launch him into superstardom, and later talked him into giving a drag reality show a chance. From there, it traces the evolution of the show--and its queens--through a decade of gag-worthy seasons, serving up all kinds of behind-the-scenes realness, from Ongina's decision to reveal her HIV+ status to the story behind Asia O'Hara's butterfly finale fiasco. With a history as shady and funny as it is dramatic and inspiring, RuPaul's Drag Race is a mirror reflecting the cultural and political mores of our time. Its meteoric rise to becoming a once-in-a-generation success story is explored here as never before, in intimate, exuberant, unfettered detail"--
Subjects: RuPaul, 1960-; RuPaul's drag race (Television program : 2009- ); Drag queens; Television personalities; Talent shows (Television programs);
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Glory : a novel / by Bulawayo, NoViolet,author.;
"An explosive novel about the chaos of revolution, Glory centres around the unexpected fall of Old Horse, a long-serving leader of a fictional African country, and the drama that follows for an unruly nation of animals on the path to true liberation. Inspired by the unexpected fall by coup, in November 2017, of Robert Mugabe--Zimbabwe's president who took office in 1980 and ... never left--Bulawayo's bold, vividly imagined novel shows a country imploding, narrated by a chorus of animal voices who unveil the ruthlessness and cold strategy required to uphold the illusion of absolute power, and to overthrow it completely. As with her debut novel We Need New Names, Bulawayo's fierce voice and lucid imagery immerses us in the daily life of a traumatized nation, revealing the dazzling life force and irrepressible wit that lies barely concealed beneath the surface of seemingly bleak circumstances. At the center of this tumult is Destiny, who has returned to the motherland from American to bear witness to revolution--and, unwittingly, narrate the secret history and the potential legacy of the women who have quietly pulled the strings in this country. The animal kingdom--its connection to our primal responses and resonance in the mythology, folktales, and fairytales that define cultures the world over--unmasks the surreality of contemporary global politics to help us understand our world more clearly, even as Bulwayo plucks us right out of it. Glory is a blockbuster, an exhilarating ride, and crystalizes a turning point in history with the texture and nuance that only the greatest of fiction can"--
Subjects: Bildungsromans.; Animal fiction.; Novels.; Revolutions;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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A savage order : how the world's deadliest countries can forge a path to security / by Kleinfeld, Rachel,author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."The most violent places in the world today are not at war. More people have died in Mexico in recent years than in Iraq and Afghanistan combined. These parts of the world are instead buckling under a maelstrom of gangs, organized crime, political conflict, corruption, and state brutality. Such devastating violence can feel hopeless, yet some places-from Colombia to the Republic of Georgia-have been able to recover. In this powerfully argued and urgent book, Rachel Kleinfeld examines why some democracies, including our own, are crippled by extreme violence and how they can regain security. Drawing on fifteen years of study and firsthand field research-interviewing generals, former guerrillas, activists, politicians, mobsters, and law enforcement in countries around the world-Kleinfeld tells the stories of societies that successfully fought seemingly ingrained violence and offers penetrating conclusions about what must be done to build governments that are able to protect the lives of their citizens"--
Subjects: Human security; Internal security; National security; Violence; Violence;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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On fire : the burning case for a green new deal / by Klein, Naomi,author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."For more than twenty years, Naomi Klein has been the foremost chronicler of the economic war waged on both people and planet--and the champion of a sweeping environmental agenda with stability and justice at its center. In lucid dispatches from the frontlines--from the ghostly Great Barrier Reef, to the annual smoke-choked skies of the Pacific Northwest, to post-hurricane Puerto Rico, to a Vatican attempting an unprecedented "ecological conversion"--she has penned surging, indispensable lectures and essays for a wide public, with prescient, clarifying information about the future that awaits us and our children if we stick our heads in the sand. They show Klein at her most thoughtful, tracing the evolution of the climate crisis as the key issue of our time, not only as an immediate political challenge but as a spiritual and imaginative one too. Delving into topics ranging from the clash between ecological time and our culture of "perpetual now," to the soaring history of humans' ability to change rapidly in the face of grave threat, to rising white supremacy and fortressed borders as a form of "climate barbarism," this is a rousing call to action for a planet on the brink. Above all, she underscores how we can still rise to the existential challenge of the crisis if we are willing to transform our systems that are producing it, making clear how the battle for a greener world is indistinguishable from the fight for our lives. On Fire is a critical book: it captures the burning urgency of this moment, the fiery energy of a rising movement demanding change now, and lays out an inspiring vision for a sustainable future."--
Subjects: Human ecology.; Climatic changes.; Social change.; Sustainable living.; Environmental justice.; Environmental policy.; Political culture.;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Bodied [videorecording] / by Dumbfoundead,1986-actor.; Eminem,1972-film producer.; Kahn, Joseph,1972-film director.; Larsen, Alex(Screenwriter),screenwriter.; Long, Jackie,1981-actor.; Uphold, Rory,actor.; Worthy, Calum,actor.; Gravitas Ventures (Firm),publisher.;
Calum Worthy, Jackie Long, Rory Uphold, Walter Perez, Jonathan "Dumbfoundead" Park.A biting satire set in the world of competitive battle rap, BODIED is the story of Adam Merkin, a progressive grad student who becomes an accidental battle rapper after encountering Behn Grymm, a respected icon in the merciless sub-culture of poetic personal insults. As Adam makes his politically-incorrect climb up the ranks, he risks alienating his father, a renowned writer and tenured professor at Adam's university, along with his skeptical girlfriend Maya, and all of his academic friends. His success breeds outrage however; Adam soon faces growing backlash on campus and comes to understand the importance (and cost) of free speech.Canadian Home Video Rating: 18A.Ontario Film Rating: 18A.MPAA rating: R.DVD ; widescreen presentation ; 5.1, 2.0 surround.
Subjects: Comedy films.; Feature films.; Video recordings for the hearing impaired.; Contests; Graduate students; Lyric writing (Popular music); Rap (Music);
For private home use only.
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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On nostalgia / by Berry, David(David M.),1984-author.;
Includes bibliographical references."From Mad Men to MAGA: how nostalgia came to be and why we are so eager to indulge it. A remake of Home Alone, the incessant anniversarizing of past events, the trendiness of the "artisanal," the fervor for Friends, the return of the LP, and more: nostalgia is all the rage. From movies to politics, this ceaseless looking backward is one of the most potent forces of our era. On Nostalgia is a panoramic cultural history of nostalgia, exploring how a force that started as a psychological diagnosis of soldiers fighting far from home has become a quintessentially modern condition. Drawing on everything from the modern science of memory to the romantic ideals of advertising, and traversing cultural movements from futurism to fascism to Facebook, cultural critic David Berry examines how the relentless search for self and overwhelming presence of mass media stokes the fires of nostalgia, making it as inescapable as it is hard to pin down. Holding fast against the pull of the past while trying to understand what makes the fundamental impossibility of return so appealing, On Nostalgia explores what it means to remember, how the universal yearning is used by us and against us, and it considers a future where the past is more readily available and easier to lose track of than it ever has been"--
Subjects: Nostalgia.;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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No more nice girls : gender, power, and why it's time to stop playing by the rules / by McKeon, Lauren,author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."In the age of girl bosses, Beyoncé, and Black Widow, we like to tell our little girls they can be anything they want when they grow up, except they'll have to work twice as hard, be told to "play nice," and face countless double standards that curb their personal, political, and economic power. Today, long after the rise of girl power in the 90s, the failed promise of a female president, and the ubiquity of feminist-branded everything, women are still a surprisingly, depressingly long way from gender and racial equality. It's worth asking: Why do we keep trying to win a game we were never meant to play in the first place? Award-winning journalist and author Lauren McKeon examines the varied ways in which our institutions are designed to keep women and other marginalized genders at a disadvantage and shows us why we need more than parity, visible diversity, and lone female CEOs to change this power game. She uncovers new models of power-- ones the patriarchy doesn't get to define-- by talking to lawyers insisting on gender-neutral change rooms in courthouses, programmers creating apps to track the breakdown of men and women being quoted in the news media, educators illustrating tampon packaging with pictures of black bodies, mixed martial artists teaching young girls self-empowerment, entrepreneurs prioritizing trauma-informed office cultures, and many other women doing power differently. As the toxic, divisive, and hyper-masculine style of leadership gains ground, threatening democracy here and abroad, McKeon underscores why it's time to stop playing by the rules of a rigged game. No More Nice Girls charts a hopeful and potent path forward for how to disrupt the standard (very male) vision of power, ditch convention, and build a more equitable world for everyone."--
Subjects: Equality.; Feminism.; Power (Social sciences); Sex discrimination against women.; Social control.; Women; Women's rights.;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Prairie edge : a novel / by Kerr, Conor,author.;
"The Giller Prize-longlisted author of Avenue of Champions returns with a frenetic, propulsive crime thriller that doubles as a sharp critique of modern activism and challenges readers to consider what "Land Back" might really look like. Meet Isidore "Ezzy" Desjarlais and Grey Ginther: two distant Métis cousins making the most of Grey's uncle's old trailer, passing their days playing endless games of cribbage and cracking cans of cheap beer in between. Grey, once a passionate advocate for change, has been hardened and turned cynical by an activist culture she thinks has turned performative and lazy. One night, though, she has a revelation, and enlists Ezzy, who is hopelessly devoted to her but eager to avoid the authorities after a life in and out of the group home system and jail, for a bold yet dangerous political mission: capture a herd of bison from a national park and set them free in downtown Edmonton, disrupting the churn of settler routine. But as Grey becomes increasingly single-minded in her newfound calling, their act of protest puts the pair and those close to them in peril, with devastating and sometimes fatal consequences. For readers drawn to the electric storytelling of Morgan Talty and the taut register of Stephen Graham Jones, Conor Kerr's Prairie Edge is at once a gripping, darkly funny caper and a raw reckoning with the wounds that persist across generations."--
Subjects: Thrillers (Fiction); Psychological fiction.; Social problem fiction.; Novels.; American bison; Bison; Cousins; Métis; Political activists;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Results 201 to 210 of 261 | « previous |