A Kaleidoscope of China is an advanced Chinese-language textbook that gives students a greater command of Chinese while deepening their understanding of... the social and cultural issues facing China today. Geared to the unique needs of students with two or more years of instruction in modern Chinese, this book features a stimulating selection of articles and essays from major newspapers and periodicals in China, offering a revealing look at contemporary Chinese society. Topics include: buying a home versus having a child; consumer exports to America; depression; online dating; cell phones; empty-nest syndrome; fast food; the Virginia Tech massacre; medicine; the 2008 Sichuan earthquake; and global warming. Every selection is accompanied by a vocabulary list, exercises, and grammar notes. No other Chinese-language textbook so effectively helps advanced students expand their language skills while immersing them in what is truly a kaleidoscope of today's China.Teaches advanced Chinese while providing a window into contemporary China Features selections from actual Chinese newspapers and periodicals Includes vocabulary lists, exercises, and grammar notes Ideal for students with two or more years of instruction in modern Chinese

Widely regarded as the greatest of the Mughal emperors, Jalal ad-Din Akbar (1542-1603) was a formidable military tactician and popular demagogue.... Ascending to the throne at the age of thirteen, he ruled for half a century, expanded the Mughal empire, and left behind a legacy to rival his infamous ancestor Chinggis Khan. This lucid biography provides glimpses into Akbar's daily life and highlights his contribution to new methods of imperial control.

A landmark collection of essays on the intersections of visual art, cultural studies, and environmental history in America.Issues of ecology—both as... they appear in the works of nature writers and in the works of literary writers for whom place and the land are central issues—have long been of interest to literary critics, and have given rise over the last two decades to the now firmly established field of ecocriticism. The essays in this volume, written by art historians and literary critics, seek to bring the study of American art into the expanding discourse of ecocriticism.A Keener Perceptionoffers a series of case studies on topics ranging from John White's watercolors of the Carolina landscape executed during Sir Walter Raleigh's 1585 Roanoke expedition to photographs by environmental activist Eliot Porter. Rather than merely resurrect past instances of ecologically attuned art, this volume features essays that resituate many canonical figures, such as Thomas Eakins, Aaron Douglas, and Isamu Noguchi, in an ecocritical light by which they have yet to be viewed. Studying such artists and artworks through an ecocritical lens not only provides a better understanding of these works and the American landscape, but also brings a new interpretive paradigm to the field of art history—a field that many of these critics believe would do well to embrace environmental concerns as a vital area of research.In highlighting the work of scholars who bring ecological agendas to their study of American art, as well as providing models for literary scholars who might like to better incorporate the visual arts into their own scholarship and teaching,A Keener Perceptionis truly a landmark collection—timely, consequential, and controversial.

Peter Malanczuk has again revised and updated this best-selling student textbook. This new edition continues to provide comprehensive and authoritative... coverage of all the key topics in international law, from diplomatic immunity to the United Nations. New to the eighth edition: * full updating and revision of all the chapters to include the very latest developments* a new, dedicated on-line resource centre for students and lecturers alike. Features include: sample material; relevant links; material not available in the printed version; discussion questions; and author feedback* a companion volume - Key Documents in International Law - will be available for use in conjunction with the eighth edition. Extensively cross referenced with the eighth edition, it will provide access to many of the primary treaties, conventions, protocols, agreements, and acts.

First published in 1970, A Modern Introduction to International Law rapidly established itself as the most widely used and successful textbook in its... field. It covers a variety of topics from diplomatic immunity to the UN and from recognition of government to war crimes. This new edition has been completely revised and updated by Peter Malanczuk to take account of many recent developments and includes new chapters on human rights, the environment and the economy.

When he was 4 years old, spurred by insatiable curiosity and the beat of a marching drum, Wole Soyinka slipped silently through the gate of his parents'... yard and followed a police band to a distant village. This was his first journey beyond Aké, Nigeria, and reading his account is akin to witnessing a child's epiphany: The parsonage wall had vanished forever but it no longer mattered. Those token bits and pieces of Aké which had entered our home on occasions, or which gave off hints of their nature in those Sunday encounters at church, were beginning to emerge in their proper shapes and sizes. He returned, perched upon the handlebars of a policeman's bicycle, "markedly different from whatever I was before the march." The reader's horizons feel similarly expanded after finishing this astonishing book. Nobel laureate Soyinka is a prolific playwright, poet, novelist, and critic, but seems to have found his purest voice as an autobiographer. Aké: The Years of Childhood is a memoir of stunning beauty, humor, and perception--a lyrical account of one boy's attempt to grasp the often irrational and hypocritical world of adults that equally repels and seduces him. Soyinka elevates brief anecdotes into history lessons, conversations into morality plays, memories into awakenings. Various cultures, religions, and languages mingled freely in the Aké of his youth, fostering endless contradictions and personalized hybrids, particularly when it comes to religion. Christian teachings, the wisdom of the ogboni, or ruling elders, and the power of ancestral spirits--who alternately terrify and inspire him--all carried equal metaphysical weight. Surrounded by such a collage, he notes that "God had a habit of either not answering one's prayers at all, or answering them in a way that was not straightforward." In writing from a child's perspective, Soyinka expresses youthful idealism and unfiltered honesty while escaping the adult snares of cynicism and intolerance. His stinging indictment of colonialism takes on added power owing to the elegance of his attack. He also spears Nigeria's increasing Westernization, its movement toward modernity and materialism, as he describes his beloved village markets deteriorating from a "procession of magicians" to rows of "fantasy stores lit by neon and batteries of coloured bulbs" where the "blare of motor-horns compete with a high-decibel outpouring of rock and funk and punk and other thunk-thunk from lands of instant-culture heroes." The book closes with an 11-year-old Soyinka preparing to enroll in a government college, declaring it "time to commence the mental shifts for admittance to yet another irrational world of adults and their discipline." Aké is an eloquent testament to the wisdom of youth. --Shawn Carkonen

Willa Cather's classic "My Antonia" is the story of the daughter of an immigrant family that sets out to farm the untamed prairie land of Nebraska in... the late 19th century. Told to us from the perspective of the adoring Jim Burden, an orphan who comes to live at his grandparent's neighboring farm. "My Antonia" is an enduring American classic rich with the spirit that brought so many immigrants to this land in search of a better life and of the beautiful imagery of the midwestern plains. First published in 1918, Will Cather saw "My Antonia" as the best book that she had ever written and it is easy to see why, for it is nothing short of a masterpiece.

A discourse on the languages of Native Americans encountered by the early settlers written by Roger Williams, who was forced to leave Massachusetts and... established Rhode Island. This early linguistic treatise gives rare insight into the early contact between Europeans and Native Americans.

Written in 1643 at a time of great turmoil between Native Americans and the English settlers, A Key into the Language of America is a study of American... Indian life, religion, and language. Written by an advocate of Native American rights and treatment, the book presents a number of ideas that seem anti-English and bring to light the prejudices held by the pilgrims. The book was the first study of Native American language written in English, and the commentary on Indian ways of life make it a worthwhile read. Roger Williams (c. 1603-1683) was the founder of Rhode Island and an outspoken pioneer who fought for Native American rights in New England in the 17th century.

Written to give lay Catholics a better understanding of the Eucharist, this book is recognized as a modern spiritual classic. In remarkably clear and... straightforward language, it takes the reader step-by-step into the deepest mysteries of the Eucharist — a religiously exhilirating journey into the heart of the Christian faith. Beautifully designed and printed, the Zaccheus Press edition of A Key to the Doctrine of the Eucharist is the first authorized edition to be published in over 50 years. It features a new introduction by Aidan Nichols. The preface is by Peter Kreeft.

A rare collection of 22 studies demonstrating the effectiveness of the situational approach to crime prevention. Clarke authoritatively reviews the... state-of-the-art of this rapidly growing new perspective. "...a superb collection of case studies that goes to the heart of what policing is all about. " - Professor Herman Goldstein.

Akhenaten, also known as Amenhotep IV, was king of Egypt during the Eighteenth Dynasty and reigned from 1375 to 1358 B.C. E. Called the "religious... revolutionary," he is the earliest known creator of a new religion. The cult he founded broke with Egypt's traditional polytheism and focused its worship on a single deity, the sun god Aten. Erik Hornung, one of the world's preeminent Egyptologists, here offers a concise and accessible account of Akhenaten and his religion of light.Hornung begins with a discussion of the nineteenth-century scholars who laid the foundation for our knowledge of Akhenaten's period and extends to the most recent archaeological finds. He emphasizes that Akhenaten's monotheistic theology represented the first attempt in history to explain the entire natural and human world on the basis of a single principle. "Akhenaten made light the absolute reference point," Hornung writes, "and it is astonishing how clearly and consistently he pursued this concept." Hornung also addresses such topics as the origins of the new religion; pro-found changes in beliefs regarding the afterlife; and the new Egyptian capital at Akhetaten which was devoted to the service of Aten, his prophet Akhenaten, and the latter's family.

Egypt's eighteenth dynasty, a period of empire building, was also for a short time the focus of a religious revolution. Now called the Amarna Period... (1353-1322 BCE), after the site of an innovative capital city that was the center of the new religion, it included the reigns of the heretic Pharaoh Akhenaten and his presumed son, the boy king Tutankhamun.Three Penn Egyptologists examine the concept of royal power and demonstrate how Akhenaten established, projected, and maintained his vision of it. They investigate how and why this unique pharaoh made fundamental changes in the social contract between himself and his subjects on one side, and between his new solar god, the Aten, and himself on the other. The authors also look at the radical religion, politics, and art, he introduced to Egypt as well as at the consequences of his actions after his death, including how his successors, most notably, Tutankhamun, Egypt's most famous pharaoh, dealt with the restoration of traditional ways. Why did this reversal take place? Could a youth effect such changes without significant help?In concise and readable form, this generously illustrated volume takes a fresh approach to a most fascinating period in Egyptian history. It deals with such topics as the evolution of Akhenaten's ideology and the concepts surrounding the foundation, construction, and use of his innovative city and its unique palaces, temples, and houses. Egypt's empire, the role of its women, its relations with other nations of the ancient world, and the remarkable place both Akhenaten and Tutankhmun hold in history are also among other issues discussed. An epilogue recaps how Amarna's modern discovery helped solve the mysteries surrounding this city, its unique founder, and the aftermath of his revolution.