Публицистика: прочее
Различные книги в жанре Публицистика: прочееPower and Society in the GDR, 1961-1979
The communist German Democratic Republic, founded in 1949 in the Soviet-occupied zone of post-war Germany is, for many people, epitomized by the Berlin Wall; Soviet tanks and surveillance by the secret security police, the Stasi, appear to be central. But is this really all there is to the GDR¹s history? How did people come to terms with their situation and make new lives behind the Wall? When the social history of the GDR in the 1960s and 1970s is explored, new patterns become evident. A fragile stability emerged in a period characterized by 'consumer socialism', international recognition and détente. Growing participation in the micro-structures of power, and conformity to the unwritten rules of an increasingly predictable system, suggest increasing accommodation to dominant norms and conceptions of socialist 'normality'. By exploring the ways in which lower-level functionaries and people at the grass roots contributed to the formation and transformation of the GDR from industry and agriculture, through popular sport and cultural life, to the passage of generations and varieties of social experience the contributors collectively develop a more complex approach to the history of East Germany.
A European Memory?
An examination of the role of history and memory is vital in order to better understand why the grand design of a United Europe—with a common foreign policy and market yet enough diversity to allow for cultural and social differences—was overwhelmingly turned down by its citizens. The authors argue that this rejection of the European constitution was to a certain extent a challenge to the current historical grounding used for further integration and further demonstrates the lack of understanding by European bureaucrats of the historical complexity and divisiveness of Europe’s past. A critical European history is therefore urgently needed to confront and re-imagine Europe, not as a harmonious continent but as the outcome of violent and bloody conflicts, both within Europe as well as with its Others. As the authors show, these dark shadows of Europe’s past must be integrated, and the fact that memories of Europe are contested must be accepted if any new attempts at a United Europe are to be successful.
Between Prague Spring and French May
Abandoning the usual Cold War–oriented narrative of postwar European protest and opposition movements, this volume offers an innovative, interdisciplinary, and comprehensive perspective on two decades of protest and social upheaval in postwar Europe. It examines the mutual influences and interactions among dissenters in Western Europe, the Warsaw Pact countries, and the nonaligned European countries, and shows how ideological and political developments in the East and West were interconnected through official state or party channels as well as a variety of private and clandestine contacts. Focusing on issues arising from the cross-cultural transfer of ideas, the adjustments to institutional and political frameworks, and the role of the media in staging protest, the volume examines the romanticized attitude of Western activists to violent liberation movements in the Third World and the idolization of imprisoned RAF members as martyrs among left-wing circles across Western Europe.
Gender Politics in the Expanding European Union
In May 2004, after bringing their legislation into accordance with EU regulations, ten more countries joined the European Union. The contributors to this volume assess the impact of this historical development on gender relations in the new and old EU member states. Instead of focusing on either western or eastern Europe, this book investigates the similarities and differences in diverse parts of Europe. Although initially limited, gender equality was part of the original framework of the European Union, an organization often more open than national governments to feminist demands, as this volume illustrates with case studies from eastern and western Europe. The enlargement process thus provides some important policy instruments for increasing equality between men and women.
Border Interrogations
Under the current cartographies of globalism, where frontiers mutate, vacillate, and mark the contiguity of discourse, questioning the Spanish border seems a particularly urgent task. The volume engages a wide spectrum of ambivalent regions—subjects that currently are, or have been seen in the past, as spaces of negotiation and contestation. However, they converge in their perception of the “Spanish” nation-space as a historical and ideological construct that is perpetually going through transformations and reformations. This volume advocates the position that intellectual responsibility must lead us to engage openly in the issues underlying current social and political tensions.
Flying a Red Kite
55th anniversary edition of great Canadian writer Hugh Hood’s first short story collection Hood was celebrated at the 2015 IFOA with a reading by the Montreal Story Tellers group he helped found Hood’s writings present a view of modern Canadian life that elevates everyday lives Stories deal with characters and situations where ordinary life embodies religious, philosophical, and allegorical themes Based on the original 1962 Ryerson Press edition Author co-founded the legendary Montreal Story Tellers group and was awarded the Order of Canada in 1988
Wind on the Waves
Wind on the Waves is a collection of fifty-two stories that embody the beauty, mystery, and allure of Oregon’s magnificent coast. Written by award-winning author and poet Kim Stafford, these wonderfully written vignettes celebrate the people, towns, wildlife, culture, and natural beauty of one of America’s most rugged, beautiful, and enchanting coast lines. Wind on the Waves evokes the feelings of wonder and joy, the miracle of existence, the significance of humanity—and its insignificance compared to the power of the sea. Being open to the world is a gift—one which Kim Stafford has shared so well. These words from one of Oregon’s most influential writers are the song of life sung on the stage of the shore, and the wind, and the waves.
Dead Flowers
An anonymous writer stays up late into the night penning personal and inappropriate letters to a local public official. A new father and cook at a Montreal café chronicles the tyrannical rise of a new manager. An eccentric young student, in trying to carve out a space for herself, deals an existential blow to her roommate. Dead Flowers is a collection of stories featuring characters who have become estranged from the trajectory of their lives, yet must grapple with youth, love, isolation, drugs, friendship and the changing of seasons. These are stories of peripheral tragedies, moral ambivalence and compromise, chance and how we are shaped by what finds us.
Refugees Welcome?
The arrival in 2015 and 2016 of over one million asylum seekers and refugees in Germany had major social consequences and gave rise to extensive debates about the nature of cultural diversity and collective life. This volume examines the responses and implications of what was widely seen as the most significant and contested social change since German reunification in 1990. It combines in-depth studies based on anthropological fieldwork with analyses of the longer trajectories of migration and social change. Its original conclusions have significance not only for Germany but also for the understanding of diversity and difference more widely.
The Complete Short Stories of Mark Twain
This comprehensive collection of Twain’s short stories showcases his immense talent, humor, and wit. Considered to be the greatest American humorist of all time, Mark Twain was born in 1835 and was raised in Hannibal, Missouri, where many of his most well-known stories take place. Twain led an adventurous life: working as a type setter for his brother’s newspaper as a young man, then as a riverboat pilot on the Mississippi river, followed by a stint as a miner in Nevada and California, and then finally as a journalist and writer, where he found success and fame. These experiences would form the basis of many of his most famous tales, such as “The Celebrated Jumping Frog from Calaveras County,” the first story to bring him national attention and fame and was based on a tale he heard while mining in California. While Twain may be best known for his accomplishments as a novelist, this collection of short stories spanning his lengthy and prolific career showcases his brilliant ability to create fascinating characters, his expert plotting, and his unrivaled wit and humor. This edition includes a biographical afterword.