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The infernal library : on dictators, the books they wrote, and other catastrophes of literacy / by Kalder, Daniel,1974-author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."Since the days of the Roman Empire dictators have written books. But in the twentieth-century despots enjoyed unprecedented print runs to (literally) captive audiences. The titans of the genre--Stalin, Mussolini, and Khomeini among them--produced theoretical works, spiritual manifestos, poetry, memoirs, and even the occasional romance novel and established a literary tradition of boundless tedium that continues to this day. How did the production of literature become central to the running of regimes? What do these books reveal about the dictatorial soul?
Subjects: Dictatorship; Dictators as authors; Revolutionary literature;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Design like nature : biomimicry for a healthy planet / by Clendenan, Megan,1977-; Woolcock, Kim Ryall.;
Includes bibliographical references and index.Did you know that lamps can be powered by glowing bacteria instead of electricity? That gloves designed like gecko feet let people climb straight up glass walls? Or that kids are finding ways to make compostable plastic out of banana peels? Biomimicry, the scientific term for when we learn from and copy nature, is a revolutionary way to look to nature for answers to environmental problems such as climate change.LSC
Subjects: Biomimicry; Technological innovations;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Hard like water : a novel / by Yan, Lianke,1958-author.; Rojas, Carlos,1970-translator.; translation of:Yan, Lianke,1958-Jian ying ru shui.English.;
"Returning to his village invigorated by success in the army, Gao Aijun sees the beautiful Xia Hongmei walking barefoot alongside the railway track in the warm afternoon sun, and is instantly smitten. Hiding their relationship from their spouses, the pair hurl themselves into the struggle to bring revolution to their backwater village. They wait to consummate their relationship until Aijun has managed to dig a literal tunnel of love between their homes, where underneath the village their revolutionary and sexual fervor reaches a boiling point. While the unsuspecting villagers sleep, they sing revolutionary songs and shout Maoist slogans to each other before making earth-moving love. But when their relationship is finally uncovered, the couple finds themselves dangerously at odds with the doctrinaire and self-disciplined ideals of party higher-ups. Will their great revolutionary energy save their skins, or will they too fall victim to the revolution?"--
Subjects: Satirical literature.;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Cuba libre! : Che, Fidel, and the improbable revolution that changed world history / by Perrottet, Tony,author.;
"Historian and travel writer Tony Perrottet chronicles the events of the Cuban Revolution and the figures at the center of the guerrilla uprising: Che Guevara, Fidel Castro, and the scrappy band of rebel men and women who followed them. Most people are familiar with the general timeline of the Cuban Revolution of 1956-1958: It was led by two of the 20th century's most iconic figures, Fidel Castro and Che Guevara; it successfully overthrew the island nation's US-backed dictator; and it quickly went awry under Castro's rule. But less is commonly remembered about the amateur nature of the upstart movement, or the lives of its players. In this wildly entertaining and meticulously researched account, Tony Perrottet unravels the human drama behind history's most improbable revolution: a scruffy handful of self-taught revolutionaries--many of them kids just out of college, literature majors, art students and young lawyers, and including a number of women--defeated 40,000 professional soldiers to overthrow thedictatorship of Fulgencio Batista. Cuba Libre's deep dive into the revolution reveals fascinating details: How did Fidel's highly organized lover Celia Sanchez whip the male guerrillas into shape? Who were the two dozen American volunteers who joined theCuban rebels? How do you make lethal land mines from condensed milk cans -- or, for that matter, cook chorizo à la guerrilla (sausage guerrilla-style)? Cuba Libre is an entertaining look back at a liberation movement that captured the imaginationof the world with its spectacular drama, foolhardy bravery, tragedy, and, sometimes, high comedy--and that set the stage for a buildup of Cold War tension that became a pivotal moment in history"--"A pop-history account of the Cuban Revolution"--
Subjects: Castro, Fidel, 1926-2016.; Guevara, Che, 1928-1967.;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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October : the story of the Russian Revolution / by Miéville, China,author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."Acclaimed fantasy author China Mieville plunges us into the year the world was turned upside down The renowned fantasy and science fiction writer China Mieville has long been inspired by the ideals of the Russian Revolution and here, on the centenary of the revolution, he provides his own distinctive take on its history. In February 1917, in the midst of bloody war, Russia was still an autocratic monarchy: nine months later, it became the first socialist state in world history. How did this unimaginable transformation take place? How was a ravaged and backward country, swept up in a desperately unpopular war, rocked by not one but two revolutions? This is the story of the extraordinary months between those upheavals, in February and October, of the forces and individuals who made 1917 so epochal a year, of their intrigues, negotiations, conflicts and catastrophes. From familiar names like Lenin and Trotsky to their opponents Kornilov and Kerensky; from the byzantine squabbles of urban activists to the remotest villages of a sprawling empire; from the revolutionary railroad Sublime to the ciphers and static of coup by telegram; from grand sweep to forgotten detail. Historians have debated the revolution for a hundred years, its portents and possibilities: the mass of literature can be daunting. But here is a book for those new to the events, told not only in their historical import but in all their passion and drama and strangeness. Because as well as a political event of profound and ongoing consequence, Mieville reveals the Russian Revolution as a breathtaking story"--
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Sensation machines / by Wilson, Adam(Adam Zachary),1982-author.;
"A razor-sharp darkly funny, and deeply human rendering of a future that's nearly upon us. Michael and Wendy Mixner are a Brooklyn-based couple whose marriage is failing in the wake of their daughter's stillbirth. Michael, a Wall Street trader, has secretly lost the couple's life savings. Wendy, a digital marketing strategist, has been hired onto a data-mining project of epic scale, whose mysterious creator has ambitions to reshape America's social and political landscapes. When Michael's best friend is murdered, the evidence leads back to Wendy's client, setting off a dangerous chain of events that will profoundly change the couple--and the country. An endlessly twisty novel of big ideas, Sensation Machines is a brilliantly observed human drama that grapples with greed, automation, universal basic income, revolutionary desires, and a broken justice system. Adam Wilson implicates not only the powerbrokers gaming the system and getting rich at the intersection of Wall Street, Madison Avenue, Silicon Valley, and Capitol Hill, but all of us: each one of us playing our parts, however willingly or unwillingly, in the vast systems that define and control our lives"--
Subjects: Black humor.; Political fiction.; Satirical literature.; Married people;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Square haunting : five lives in London between the wars / by Wade, Francesca,author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."In the early twentieth century, Mecklenburgh Square, a hidden architectural gem in the heart of London, was a radical address. On the outskirts of Bloomsbury known for the eponymous group who "lived in squares, painted in circles, and loved in triangles," the square was home to students, struggling artists, and revolutionaries. In the pivotal era between the two world wars, the lives of five remarkable women intertwined at this one address: modernist poet H. D., detective novelist Dorothy L. Sayers, classicist Jane Harrison, economic historian Eileen Power, and author and publisher Virginia Woolf. In an era when women's freedoms were fast expanding, they each sought a space where they could live, love, and above all work independently."--
Subjects: Biographies.; H. D. (Hilda Doolittle), 1886-1961.; Sayers, Dorothy L. (Dorothy Leigh), 1893-1957.; Harrison, Jane Ellen, 1850-1928.; Power, Eileen, 1889-1940.; Woolf, Virginia, 1882-1941.; Women authors, English; Women authors, English; Women and literature;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Magnificent rebels : the first romantics and the invention of the self / by Wulf, Andrea,author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."From the best-selling author of The Invention of Nature comes an exhilarating story about a remarkable group of young rebels-poets, novelists, philosophers-who, through their epic quarrels, passionate love stories, heartbreaking grief, and radical ideas launched Romanticism onto the world stage, inspiring some of the greatest thinkers of the time. When did we begin to be as self-centered as we are today? At what point did we expect to have the right to determine our own lives? When did we first ask the question, How can I be free? It all began in a quiet university town in Germany in the 1790s, when a group of playwrights, poets, and writers put the self at center stage in their thinking, their writing, and their lives. This brilliant circle included the famous poets Goethe, Schiller, and Novalis; the visionary philosophers Fichte, Schelling, and Hegel; the contentious Schlegel brothers; and, in a wonderful cameo, Alexander von Humboldt. And at the heart of this group was the formidable Caroline Schlegel, who sparked their dazzling conversations about the self, nature, identity, and freedom. The French revolutionaries may have changed the political landscape of Europe, but the young Romantics incited a revolution of the mind that transformed our world forever. We are still empowered by their daring leap into the self, and by their radical notions of the creative potential of the individual, the highest aspirations of art and science, the unity of nature, and the true meaning of freedom. We also still walk the same tightrope between meaningful self-fulfillment and destructive narcissism, between the rights of the individual and our responsibilities toward our community and future generations. At the heart of this inspiring book is the extremely modern tension between the dangers of selfishness and the thrilling possibilities of free will"--
Subjects: Biographies.; Personal narratives.; Authors, German; Romanticism; Self in literature.; Self-realization.;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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