Surpassing the Spectacle

Surpassing the Spectacle

Author: Carol Becker

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

Published: 2002

Total Pages: 184

ISBN-13: 9780742509207

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Leading social critic Carol Becker offers a timely analysis of the nature of art and its role in politics and society. Completed just before the September 11, 2001 World Trade Center catastrophe, this book is remarkably prescient of the new concerns that have now become foremost in our thoughts since the attack. Becker raises the question of the place of art and the function of public intellectuals in a society desperately in need of creativity and leadership. Visit our website for sample chapters!


Book Synopsis Surpassing the Spectacle by : Carol Becker

Download or read book Surpassing the Spectacle written by Carol Becker and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2002 with total page 184 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Leading social critic Carol Becker offers a timely analysis of the nature of art and its role in politics and society. Completed just before the September 11, 2001 World Trade Center catastrophe, this book is remarkably prescient of the new concerns that have now become foremost in our thoughts since the attack. Becker raises the question of the place of art and the function of public intellectuals in a society desperately in need of creativity and leadership. Visit our website for sample chapters!


Disposable Futures

Disposable Futures

Author: Henry A. Giroux

Publisher: City Lights Publishers

Published: 2015-06-22

Total Pages: 304

ISBN-13: 0872866599

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"This is a must-read book for anyone ready to transcend fear and imagine a new reality."--Tikkun Disposable Futures makes the case that we have not just become desensitized to violence, but rather, that we are being taught to desire it. From movies and other commercial entertainment to "extreme" weather and acts of terror, authors Brad Evans and Henry Giroux examine how a contemporary politics of spectacle--and disposability--curates what is seen and what is not, what is represented and what is ignored, and ultimately, whose lives matter and whose do not. Disposable Futures explores the connections between a range of contemporary phenomena: mass surveillance, the militarization of police, the impact of violence in film and video games, increasing disparities in wealth, and representations of ISIS and the ongoing terror wars. Throughout, Evans and Giroux champion the significance of public education, social movements and ideas that rebel against the status quo in order render violence intolerable. "Disposable Futures poses, and answers, the pressing question of our times: How is it that in this post-Fascist, post-Cold War era of peace and prosperity we are saddled with more war, violence, inequality and poverty than ever? The neoliberal era, Evans and Giroux brilliantly reveal, is defined by violence, by drone strikes, 'smart' bombs, militarized police, Black lives taken, prison expansion, corporatized education, surveillance, the raw violence of racism, patriarchy, starvation and want. The authors show how the neoliberal regime normalizes violence, renders its victims disposable, commodifies the spectacle of relentless violence and sells it to us as entertainment, and tries to contain cultures of resistance. If you're not afraid of the truth in these dark times, then read this book. It is a beacon of light."--Robin D. G. Kelley, author of Freedom Dreams: The Black Radical Imagination "Disposable Futures confronts a key conundrum of our times: How is it that, given the capacity and abundance of resources to address the critical needs of all, so many are having their futures radically discounted while the privileged few dramatically increase their wealth and power? Brad Evans and Henry Giroux have written a trenchant analysis of the logic of late capitalism that has rendered it normal to dispose of any who do not service the powerful. A searing indictment of the socio-technics of destruction and the decisions of their deployability. Anyone concerned with trying to comprehend these driving dynamics of our time would be well served by taking up this compelling book."--David Theo Goldberg, author of The Threat of Race: Reflections on Racial Neoliberalism "Disposable Futures is an utterly spellbinding analysis of violence in the later 20th and early 21st centuries. It strikes me as a new breed of street-smart intellectualism moving through broad ranging theoretical influences of Adorno, Arendt, Bauman, Deleuze, Foucault, Zizek, Marcuse, and Reich. I especially appreciated a number of things, including: the discussion of representation and how it functions within a broader logics of power; the descriptions and analyses of violence mediating the social field and fracturing it through paralyzing fear and anxiety; the colonization of bodies and pleasures; and the nuanced discussion of how state violence, surveillance, and disposability connect. Big ideas explained using a fresh straightforward voice."--Adrian Parr, author of The Wrath of Capital: Neoliberalism and Climate Change Politics Brad Evans and Henry A. Giroux are internationally renowned educators, authors, and intellectuals. Together, they curate a forum for Truthout.com that explores the theme of "Disposable Futures." Evans is director of histories of violence project at the University of Bristol, United Kingdom. Giroux holds McMaster University Chair for Scholarship in the Public Interest, and is the Paulo Freire Distinguished Scholar in Critical Pedagogy.


Book Synopsis Disposable Futures by : Henry A. Giroux

Download or read book Disposable Futures written by Henry A. Giroux and published by City Lights Publishers. This book was released on 2015-06-22 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "This is a must-read book for anyone ready to transcend fear and imagine a new reality."--Tikkun Disposable Futures makes the case that we have not just become desensitized to violence, but rather, that we are being taught to desire it. From movies and other commercial entertainment to "extreme" weather and acts of terror, authors Brad Evans and Henry Giroux examine how a contemporary politics of spectacle--and disposability--curates what is seen and what is not, what is represented and what is ignored, and ultimately, whose lives matter and whose do not. Disposable Futures explores the connections between a range of contemporary phenomena: mass surveillance, the militarization of police, the impact of violence in film and video games, increasing disparities in wealth, and representations of ISIS and the ongoing terror wars. Throughout, Evans and Giroux champion the significance of public education, social movements and ideas that rebel against the status quo in order render violence intolerable. "Disposable Futures poses, and answers, the pressing question of our times: How is it that in this post-Fascist, post-Cold War era of peace and prosperity we are saddled with more war, violence, inequality and poverty than ever? The neoliberal era, Evans and Giroux brilliantly reveal, is defined by violence, by drone strikes, 'smart' bombs, militarized police, Black lives taken, prison expansion, corporatized education, surveillance, the raw violence of racism, patriarchy, starvation and want. The authors show how the neoliberal regime normalizes violence, renders its victims disposable, commodifies the spectacle of relentless violence and sells it to us as entertainment, and tries to contain cultures of resistance. If you're not afraid of the truth in these dark times, then read this book. It is a beacon of light."--Robin D. G. Kelley, author of Freedom Dreams: The Black Radical Imagination "Disposable Futures confronts a key conundrum of our times: How is it that, given the capacity and abundance of resources to address the critical needs of all, so many are having their futures radically discounted while the privileged few dramatically increase their wealth and power? Brad Evans and Henry Giroux have written a trenchant analysis of the logic of late capitalism that has rendered it normal to dispose of any who do not service the powerful. A searing indictment of the socio-technics of destruction and the decisions of their deployability. Anyone concerned with trying to comprehend these driving dynamics of our time would be well served by taking up this compelling book."--David Theo Goldberg, author of The Threat of Race: Reflections on Racial Neoliberalism "Disposable Futures is an utterly spellbinding analysis of violence in the later 20th and early 21st centuries. It strikes me as a new breed of street-smart intellectualism moving through broad ranging theoretical influences of Adorno, Arendt, Bauman, Deleuze, Foucault, Zizek, Marcuse, and Reich. I especially appreciated a number of things, including: the discussion of representation and how it functions within a broader logics of power; the descriptions and analyses of violence mediating the social field and fracturing it through paralyzing fear and anxiety; the colonization of bodies and pleasures; and the nuanced discussion of how state violence, surveillance, and disposability connect. Big ideas explained using a fresh straightforward voice."--Adrian Parr, author of The Wrath of Capital: Neoliberalism and Climate Change Politics Brad Evans and Henry A. Giroux are internationally renowned educators, authors, and intellectuals. Together, they curate a forum for Truthout.com that explores the theme of "Disposable Futures." Evans is director of histories of violence project at the University of Bristol, United Kingdom. Giroux holds McMaster University Chair for Scholarship in the Public Interest, and is the Paulo Freire Distinguished Scholar in Critical Pedagogy.


Fireworks

Fireworks

Author: Simon Werrett

Publisher: University of Chicago Press

Published: 2010-05

Total Pages: 387

ISBN-13: 0226893774

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Fireworks are synonymous with celebration in the twenty-first century. But pyrotechnics—in the form of rockets, crackers, wheels, and bombs—have exploded in sparks and noise to delight audiences in Europe ever since the Renaissance. Here, Simon Werrett shows that, far from being only a means of entertainment, fireworks helped foster advances in natural philosophy, chemistry, mathematics, and many other branches of the sciences. Fireworks brings to vibrant life the many artful practices of pyrotechnicians, as well as the elegant compositions of the architects, poets, painters, and musicians they inspired. At the same time, it uncovers the dynamic relationships that developed between the many artists and scientists who produced pyrotechnics. In so doing, the book demonstrates the critical role that pyrotechnics played in the development of physics, astronomy, chemistry and physiology, meteorology, and electrical science. Richly illustrated and drawing on a wide range of new sources, Fireworks takes readers back to a world where pyrotechnics were both divine and magical and reveals for the first time their vital contribution to the modernization of European ideas.


Book Synopsis Fireworks by : Simon Werrett

Download or read book Fireworks written by Simon Werrett and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2010-05 with total page 387 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Fireworks are synonymous with celebration in the twenty-first century. But pyrotechnics—in the form of rockets, crackers, wheels, and bombs—have exploded in sparks and noise to delight audiences in Europe ever since the Renaissance. Here, Simon Werrett shows that, far from being only a means of entertainment, fireworks helped foster advances in natural philosophy, chemistry, mathematics, and many other branches of the sciences. Fireworks brings to vibrant life the many artful practices of pyrotechnicians, as well as the elegant compositions of the architects, poets, painters, and musicians they inspired. At the same time, it uncovers the dynamic relationships that developed between the many artists and scientists who produced pyrotechnics. In so doing, the book demonstrates the critical role that pyrotechnics played in the development of physics, astronomy, chemistry and physiology, meteorology, and electrical science. Richly illustrated and drawing on a wide range of new sources, Fireworks takes readers back to a world where pyrotechnics were both divine and magical and reveals for the first time their vital contribution to the modernization of European ideas.


Transgression and the Inexistent

Transgression and the Inexistent

Author: Mehdi Belhaj Kacem

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2014-10-23

Total Pages: 256

ISBN-13: 147252862X

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A contemporary philosopher of Tunisian origin, Mehdi Belhaj Kacem is here published in English for the first time. His new book, Transgression and the Inexistent: A Philosophical Vocabulary, is a comprehensive foray into Kacem's elaborate philosophical system in twenty-seven discreet chapters, each dedicated to a single concept. In each chapter, he explicates a critical re-thinking of ordinary lived experiences - such as desire, irony, play - or traditional philosophical ideas – such as catharsis, mimesis, techne – in light of 'the spirit of nihilism' that marks the contemporary human condition. Kacem gained notoriety in the domain of critical theory amid his controversial break with his mentor and leading contemporary philosopher, Alain Badiou. Transgression and the Inexistent lays out the essential concepts of his philosophical system: it is the most complete and synthetic book of his philosophical work, as well as being one of the most provocative in its claims. As a Francophone author engaging with contemporary world thought, he is able to develop novel philosophical perspectives that reach beyond the Middle East or the Continental, and the East/West binary. This is the book's first publication in any language, constituting a much-awaited first translation of Kacem into English.


Book Synopsis Transgression and the Inexistent by : Mehdi Belhaj Kacem

Download or read book Transgression and the Inexistent written by Mehdi Belhaj Kacem and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2014-10-23 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A contemporary philosopher of Tunisian origin, Mehdi Belhaj Kacem is here published in English for the first time. His new book, Transgression and the Inexistent: A Philosophical Vocabulary, is a comprehensive foray into Kacem's elaborate philosophical system in twenty-seven discreet chapters, each dedicated to a single concept. In each chapter, he explicates a critical re-thinking of ordinary lived experiences - such as desire, irony, play - or traditional philosophical ideas – such as catharsis, mimesis, techne – in light of 'the spirit of nihilism' that marks the contemporary human condition. Kacem gained notoriety in the domain of critical theory amid his controversial break with his mentor and leading contemporary philosopher, Alain Badiou. Transgression and the Inexistent lays out the essential concepts of his philosophical system: it is the most complete and synthetic book of his philosophical work, as well as being one of the most provocative in its claims. As a Francophone author engaging with contemporary world thought, he is able to develop novel philosophical perspectives that reach beyond the Middle East or the Continental, and the East/West binary. This is the book's first publication in any language, constituting a much-awaited first translation of Kacem into English.


New Art Examiner

New Art Examiner

Author:

Publisher:

Published: 2001

Total Pages: 562

ISBN-13:

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The independent voice of the visual arts.


Book Synopsis New Art Examiner by :

Download or read book New Art Examiner written by and published by . This book was released on 2001 with total page 562 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The independent voice of the visual arts.


Land and Mind

Land and Mind

Author: Bsaithi Omar

Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing

Published: 2009-03-26

Total Pages: 205

ISBN-13: 1443806722

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This book is both a study of the work of the Scottish writer, Kenneth White, in thought, travel writing and poetry, and an application of one of White’s main concepts, geopoetics, to Charles Doughty’ Arabia Deserta. It is a largely forgotten fact that Doughty considered all his travels to be leading up to an ars poetica. Omar Bsaïthi’s thesis is that Arabia Deserta is a superb example of geopoetics in action The result of the meeting of White and Doughty orchestrated by Bsaïthi is not only the reinterpretation of an English classic and perhaps a renewal of Arab studies, it is an introduction, via the writings of Kenneth White, to a regrounded field of culture. “In his presentation of geopoetics and intellectual nomadism, Bsaithi draws attention both to the nature of discontent felt in the Western culture and civilization in the postmodern era, and to the possible forms of encounter between figures highly representative of the Western mind, searching for the “ways out”, and other cultural spaces.” —Khalid Hajji, Professor at Mohamed 1rst University, Oujda, Morocoo “It is the merit of Mr Omar Bsaithi’s book to focus on a Franco-Scottish poet to establish an unprecedented correlation with Charles Doughty, author of Travels in Arabia Deserta. By so doing, he applies a method which belongs to Kenneth White’s own geopoetic practice: in a different and a priori foreign cultural context, he reveals similitudes and links through the study of a deeper and more poetic relation to terrestrial space.” —Laurent Margantin, Université de La Réunion


Book Synopsis Land and Mind by : Bsaithi Omar

Download or read book Land and Mind written by Bsaithi Omar and published by Cambridge Scholars Publishing. This book was released on 2009-03-26 with total page 205 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is both a study of the work of the Scottish writer, Kenneth White, in thought, travel writing and poetry, and an application of one of White’s main concepts, geopoetics, to Charles Doughty’ Arabia Deserta. It is a largely forgotten fact that Doughty considered all his travels to be leading up to an ars poetica. Omar Bsaïthi’s thesis is that Arabia Deserta is a superb example of geopoetics in action The result of the meeting of White and Doughty orchestrated by Bsaïthi is not only the reinterpretation of an English classic and perhaps a renewal of Arab studies, it is an introduction, via the writings of Kenneth White, to a regrounded field of culture. “In his presentation of geopoetics and intellectual nomadism, Bsaithi draws attention both to the nature of discontent felt in the Western culture and civilization in the postmodern era, and to the possible forms of encounter between figures highly representative of the Western mind, searching for the “ways out”, and other cultural spaces.” —Khalid Hajji, Professor at Mohamed 1rst University, Oujda, Morocoo “It is the merit of Mr Omar Bsaithi’s book to focus on a Franco-Scottish poet to establish an unprecedented correlation with Charles Doughty, author of Travels in Arabia Deserta. By so doing, he applies a method which belongs to Kenneth White’s own geopoetic practice: in a different and a priori foreign cultural context, he reveals similitudes and links through the study of a deeper and more poetic relation to terrestrial space.” —Laurent Margantin, Université de La Réunion


"Quo Vadis"

Author: Henryk Sienkiewicz

Publisher:

Published: 1898

Total Pages: 450

ISBN-13:

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Book Synopsis "Quo Vadis" by : Henryk Sienkiewicz

Download or read book "Quo Vadis" written by Henryk Sienkiewicz and published by . This book was released on 1898 with total page 450 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:


Sport and Spectacle in the Ancient World

Sport and Spectacle in the Ancient World

Author: Donald G. Kyle

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Published: 2014-12-31

Total Pages: 375

ISBN-13: 1118613562

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The second edition of Sport and Spectacle in the Ancient World updates Donald G. Kyle’s award-winning introduction to this topic, covering the Ancient Near East up to the late Roman Empire. • Challenges traditional scholarship on sport and spectacle in the Ancient World and debunks claims that there were no sports before the ancient Greeks • Explores the cultural exchange of Greek sport and Roman spectacle and how each culture responded to the other’s entertainment • Features a new chapter on sport and spectacle during the Late Roman Empire, including Christian opposition to pagan games and the Roman response • Covers topics including violence, professionalism in sport, class, gender and eroticism, and the relationship of spectacle to political structures


Book Synopsis Sport and Spectacle in the Ancient World by : Donald G. Kyle

Download or read book Sport and Spectacle in the Ancient World written by Donald G. Kyle and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2014-12-31 with total page 375 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The second edition of Sport and Spectacle in the Ancient World updates Donald G. Kyle’s award-winning introduction to this topic, covering the Ancient Near East up to the late Roman Empire. • Challenges traditional scholarship on sport and spectacle in the Ancient World and debunks claims that there were no sports before the ancient Greeks • Explores the cultural exchange of Greek sport and Roman spectacle and how each culture responded to the other’s entertainment • Features a new chapter on sport and spectacle during the Late Roman Empire, including Christian opposition to pagan games and the Roman response • Covers topics including violence, professionalism in sport, class, gender and eroticism, and the relationship of spectacle to political structures


Locating Woolf

Locating Woolf

Author: A. Snaith

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2007-06-07

Total Pages: 218

ISBN-13: 023022301X

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This book offers an in-depth treatment of Woolf's representations of space and place. Eleven essays contribute not only to Woolf studies but also to emergent debates concerning modernism's relations to empire and geography. They offer innovative and interdisciplinary readings on topics such as London's imperial spaces and the gendering of space.


Book Synopsis Locating Woolf by : A. Snaith

Download or read book Locating Woolf written by A. Snaith and published by Springer. This book was released on 2007-06-07 with total page 218 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book offers an in-depth treatment of Woolf's representations of space and place. Eleven essays contribute not only to Woolf studies but also to emergent debates concerning modernism's relations to empire and geography. They offer innovative and interdisciplinary readings on topics such as London's imperial spaces and the gendering of space.


Comments on the Society of the Spectacle

Comments on the Society of the Spectacle

Author: Guy Debord

Publisher: Verso Books

Published: 2020-05-05

Total Pages: 77

ISBN-13: 1789600170

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First published in 1967, Guy Debord's stinging revolutionary critique ofcontemporary society, The Society of the Spectacle has since acquired acult status. Credited by many as being the inspiration for the ideasgenerated by the events of May 1968 in France, Debord's pitiless attackon commodity fetishism and its incrustation in the practices of everydaylife continues to burn brightly in today's age of satellite televisionand the soundbite. In Comments on the Society of the Spectacle, publishedtwenty years later, Debord returned to the themes of his previousanalysis and demonstrated how they were all the more relevant in aperiod when the "integrated spectacle" was dominant. Resolutely refusingto be reconciled to the system, Debord trenchantly slices through thedoxa and mystification offered tip by journalists and pundits to showhow aspects of reality as diverse as terrorism and the environment, theMafia and the media, were caught up in the logic of the spectacularsociety. Pointing the finger clearly at those who benefit from the logicof domination, Debord's Comments convey the revolutionary impulse atthe heart of situationism.


Book Synopsis Comments on the Society of the Spectacle by : Guy Debord

Download or read book Comments on the Society of the Spectacle written by Guy Debord and published by Verso Books. This book was released on 2020-05-05 with total page 77 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: First published in 1967, Guy Debord's stinging revolutionary critique ofcontemporary society, The Society of the Spectacle has since acquired acult status. Credited by many as being the inspiration for the ideasgenerated by the events of May 1968 in France, Debord's pitiless attackon commodity fetishism and its incrustation in the practices of everydaylife continues to burn brightly in today's age of satellite televisionand the soundbite. In Comments on the Society of the Spectacle, publishedtwenty years later, Debord returned to the themes of his previousanalysis and demonstrated how they were all the more relevant in aperiod when the "integrated spectacle" was dominant. Resolutely refusingto be reconciled to the system, Debord trenchantly slices through thedoxa and mystification offered tip by journalists and pundits to showhow aspects of reality as diverse as terrorism and the environment, theMafia and the media, were caught up in the logic of the spectacularsociety. Pointing the finger clearly at those who benefit from the logicof domination, Debord's Comments convey the revolutionary impulse atthe heart of situationism.