Robert Brenneman provides a razor-sharp awareness of the Kurds' roots in the Middle East as well as their massive urban migration and the resulting... cultural upheaval. Based on long-term research, this richly layered ethnography takes readers on a journey from the mountains of Ararat, the alleged resting place of Noah's Ark, to urban environments in a megalopolis like Istanbul, Turkey. Brenneman, who lived among the Kurds in both Iraq and Turkey, conducted fieldwork in such places as refugee camps, destroyed mountain villages, and tea gardens in Istanbul. He examines core and changing aspects of Kurdish culture, including human rights, ethnic identity, women's roles, family and community, religious practices, and the transition from oral tradition to literacy. In addition to providing insight into the worldview of the Kurdish people from antiquity to current events, the author points to key lessons that can be drawn from the ongoing dilemmas they face. Titles of related interest from Waveland Press: Azoy, Buzkashi: Game and Power in Afghanistan, Third Edition (ISBN 9781577667209); Jordan, The Making of a Modern Kingdom: Globalization and Change in Saudi Arabia (ISBN 9781577667025); and Omidian, When Bamboo Bloom (ISBN 9781577667001).

We believe we know our bodies intimately—that their material reality is certain and that this certainty leads to an epistemological truth about sex,... gender, and identity. By exploring and giving equal weight to transgendered subjectivities, however, Gayle Salamon upends these certainties. Considering questions of transgendered embodiment via phenomenology (Maurice Merleau-Ponty), psychoanalysis (Sigmund Freud and Paul Ferdinand Schilder), and queer theory, Salamon advances an alternative theory of normative and non-normative gender, proving the value and vitality of trans experience for thinking about embodiment.Salamon suggests that the difference between transgendered and normatively gendered bodies is not, in the end, material. Rather, she argues that the production of gender itself relies on a disjunction between the "felt sense" of the body and an understanding of the body's corporeal contours, and that this process need not be viewed as pathological in nature. Examining the relationship between material and phantasmatic accounts of bodily being, Salamon emphasizes the productive tensions that make the body both present and absent in our consciousness and work to confirm and unsettle gendered certainties. She questions traditional theories that explain how the body comes to be—and comes to be made one's own—and she offers a new framework for thinking about what "counts" as a body. The result is a groundbreaking investigation into the phenomenological life of gender.

This beautifully crafted and solidly researched book explains why and how the United States made its first commitment to Vietnam in the late 1940s. Mark... Atwood Lawrence deftly explores the process by which the Western powers set aside their fierce disagreements over colonialism and extended the Cold War fight into the Third World. Drawing on an unprecedented array of sources from three countries, Lawrence illuminates the background of the U.S. government's decision in 1950 to send military equipment and economic aid to bolster France in its war against revolutionaries. That decision, he argues, marked America's first definitive step toward embroilment in Indochina, the start of a long series of moves that would lead the Johnson administration to commit U.S. combat forces a decade and a half later.Offering a bold new interpretation, the author contends that the U.S. decision can be understood only as the result of complex transatlantic deliberations about colonialism in Southeast Asia in the years between 1944 and 1950. During this time, the book argues, sharp divisions opened within the U.S., French, and British governments over Vietnam and the issue of colonialism more generally. While many liberals wished to accommodate nationalist demands for self-government, others backed the return of French authority in Vietnam. Only after successfully recasting Vietnam as a Cold War conflict between the democratic West and international communism--a lengthy process involving intense international interplay--could the three governments overcome these divisions and join forces to wage war in Vietnam.One of the first scholars to mine the diplomatic materials housed in European archives, Lawrence offers a nuanced triangulation of foreign policy as it developed among French, British, and U.S. diplomats and policymakers. He also brings out the calculations of Vietnamese nationalists who fought bitterly first against the Japanese and then against the French as they sought their nation's independence. Assuming the Burden is an eloquent illustration of how elites, operating outside public scrutiny, make decisions with enormous repercussions for decades to come.

A baffling triptych of murder mysteries by the author of I Am Not Sidney PoitierOgden Walker, deputy sheriff of a small New Mexico town, is on the trail... of an old woman’s murderer. But at the crime scene, his are the only footprints leading up to and away from her door. Something is amiss, and even his mother knows it. As other cases pile up, Ogden gives chase, pursuing flimsy leads for even flimsier reasons. His hunt leads him from the seamier side of Denver to a hippie commune as he seeks the puzzling solution. In Assumption, his follow-up to the wickedly funny I Am Not Sidney Poitier, Percival Everett is in top form as he once again upends our expectations about characters, plot, race, and meaning. A wild ride to the heart of a baffling mystery, Assumption is a literary thriller like no other.

The Assyrians are the last substantial ethnic group in the world to have preserved Aramaic - the language spoken by Jesus and his disciples - as its... native language. To listen to Aramaic is to catch the echoes of biblical Palestine. A minority people with distinctive cultural and religious, as well as linguistic, traditions, the Assyrians have in the modern era come under threat from the twin perils of persecution and assimilation. Though nowadays located mostly in Iran and Syria, this remarkable indigenous race - the easternmost Christians of the Middle East - were at one time numerically strong also in Iran, before falling victim in the early 20th century to Ottoman assault. The rise of Islamic exclusivity - in Iran following the Revolution of 1979, and in recent decades elsewhere in the Middle East - has further diminished the Assyrian communities, driving them from their ancient homelands. Does diaspora offer them rescue, or oblivion? Eden Naby is the foremost scholar in English of the venerable Assyrian heritage. In her much-anticipated and lively book she charts the the community from its identification with the ancient Akkadian and Assyrian empires through to Christian conversion; subsequent religious fragmentation (Nestorians, Chaldeans and Syriacs); genocide in the First World War; and statelessness and dispersal across the globe. This is the first time that the story of the resilient Assyrians has been told in its entirety.

“It’s impossible to think of the Louisiana bayou without conjuring up James Lee Burke’s Dave Robicheaux books” (Chicago Tribune), including this... early masterwork that pits the Cajun police detective against one of the New South’s most twisted and powerful forces. Oil speculator Weldon Sonnier is the patriarch of a troubled family intimately bound to the CIA, the Mob, and the Klan. Now, the murder of a cop and a bizarre assassination attempt pull Robicheaux into the Sonniers’ hellish world of madness, murder, and incest. But Robicheaux has devils of his own— and they may just destroy the tormented investigator and the two people he holds most dear.

Born at the beginning of the twentieth century, Henry Smart lives through the evolution of modern Ireland, and in this extraordinary novel he... brilliantly tells his story. From his own birth and childhood on the streets of Dublin to his role as soldier (and lover) in the Irish Rebellion, Henry recounts his early years of reckless heroism and adventure. At once an epic, a love story, and a portrait of Irish history, A Star Called Henry is a grand picaresque novel brimming with both poignant moments and comic ones, and told in a voice that is both quintessentially Irish and inimitably Roddy Doyle's.

Born at the beginning of the twentieth century, Henry Smart lives through the evolution of modern Ireland, and in this extraordinary novel he... brilliantly tells his story. From his own birth and childhood on the streets of Dublin to his role as soldier (and lover) in the Irish Rebellion, Henry recounts his early years of reckless heroism and adventure.At once an epic, a love story, and a portrait of Irish history, A Star Called Henry is a grand picaresque novel brimming with both poignant moments and comic ones, and told in a voice that is both quintessentially Irish and inimitably Roddy Doyle's. A New York Times, Boston Globe, San Francisco Chronicle, Los Angeles Times, New York Newsday, New York Post, and Independent bestsellerA Star Called Henry--one of only four works of fiction--was chosen by the editor's of The New York Times Book Review as one of the eleven Best Books of the YearNamed one of the Best Books of the Year by the Boston Globe, Entertainment Weekly, Time Out New York, Publishers Weekly, Esquire, Newsday, Miami Herald, Seattle Times, and The Atlanta Journal Constitution An American Library Association Notable BookNominated for Best Fiction of 1999, the New Yorker Book Awards

Stories have the power to change lives. These compelling tales of seven women and one man are a revealing look at the complexity of eating disorders,... the process of psychotherapy, and the healing power of the relationship between therapist and client. Sufferers, their loved ones, and caregivers will benefit from the insights provided by this beautifully written collection.

The String Research Journal (SRJ) is the official juried, string research publication of ASTA and is the world¹s only journal devoted to string playing... research. The SRJ will be published bi-annually. ASTA members also have the option of viewing a PDF of the most current SRJ issue in the members-only section of www.astaweb.com.

With a robust statistical package and eye-catching graphics Stata is fast becoming the statistical program of choice for political scientists. For... speed, versatility, comprehensiveness, and ease-of-use, Stata is hard to beat. It can be a little daunting for beginning students, but no longer. Philip Pollock's accessible introduction to the program offers students a step-by-step tutorial, leading them through descriptive statistics, cross-tabulation analysis, mean comparisons, linear correlation and regression (including dummy variables and interaction effects), and logistic regression--all tailored to political science material. With over 40 carefully crafted exercises and generous use of annotated screenshots, students will be navigating Stata's graphics routines in no time. Ten feature boxes highlight some of Stata's special capabilities while a concluding chapter provides guidance on how to set up a research project, as well as how to use Stata to read raw data. Students will be amazed at what they can do as they work through chapters. Graphics capabilities that allow a user to create effective visual displays ranging from elementary but elegant histograms to sophisticated comparisons of logistic regression curves are a major attraction of Stata and are put to effective use in this one-of-a-kind workbook. Paired with a traditional methods text, this companion volume equips students to analyze real political science research and comes complete with a CD-ROM that includes four customized datasets: two individual-level survey datasets (200 variables from the 2004 National Election Study and 150 variables from the 2002 General Social Survey), and two datasets containing aggregate-level variables on the fifty states and on 114 nations of the world.

This collected volume, edited by Ron Suny and Terry Martin, shows how the Soviet state managed to create a multiethnic empire in its early years, from... the end of the Russian Revolution to the end of World War II. Bringing together the newest research on a wide geographic range, from Russia to Central Asia, this volume is essential reading for students and scholars of Soviet history and politics.