Conspiracy Theory in Film, Television, and Politics
Author: Gordon B. Arnold File Type: pdf Since the assassination of John F. Kennedy, motion pictures and television productions-some based on historical fact and conjecture, others clearly fanciful-have embraced the idea that conspiracies shape many events, hide others, and generally dictate much of the course of modern life, often to the disadvantage of the average person. As a result, conspiracy theories have developed into a potent undercurrent in American politics. By the 1990s, it was not unusual to find conspiracies used as explanations for a wide range of political events that would otherwise seem to have quite ordinary explanations. Thus, a vast right-wing conspiracy was suggested as the source of Bill Clintons troubles, just as conspiracy-like machinations of the liberal media were used to explain why the picture of world events did not coincide with conservative views. And this is to say nothing of the bitter arguments that still erupt over varying explanations for the attacks of 911. Regardless of a persons opinion about such claims, what these and many other examples clearly show is that conspiracy-theory explanations have penetrated mainstream American thought. Here, author Gordon Arnold examines the evolution of this cultural climate in the United States. Conspiracy Theory in Film, Television, and Politics examines the intersection of various film and television productions in the context of unfolding political developments. The chapters follow this story chronologically, showing how screen media have both reflected and shaped the cultural milieu in which traumatic events and political controversies have been interpreted with increasing cynicism. The work also reviews the original contexts in which film, television, and political manifestations of conspiracy ideas first appeared. **Review Conspiracy Theory in Film, Television and Politics provides a strong historical overview of conspiracy theory offering examples and explanations of how conspiracy theory explanations have penetrated mainstream American thought. From the evolution of social and political events nurturing popular ideas of various conspiracy theories to how conspiracies were interpreted in film, TV and politics, this is an excellent in-depth survey suitable for any college-level library strong in social issues. - The Midwest Book Review Arnold targets less-experienced readers interested in the phenomenon of conspiracyor, more precisely, conspiracy theoryas approached from the angle of the liberal arts. He places seeming conspiracies in the context of the histories of the social and political cultures that harbor them or invoke them as explanations of otherwise inexplicable events. Thus, the book is neither political nor mass media history, but rather a synthesis of how a society under stress that often has its origins in an external source (e.g., Soviet expansionism during the Cold War) explains an apparent loss of military superiority Recommended. Lower-division undergraduates and general readers. - Choice About the Author Gordon B. Arnold is Professor of Liberal Arts at Montserrat College of Art in Beverly, Massachusetts, where he teaches courses in film, media, and sociology.
Author: Samuel P. Huntington
File Type: pdf
The classic study of post-Cold War international relations, more relevant than ever in the post-911 world, with a new foreword by Zbigniew Brzezinski. Since its initial publication, The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order has become a classic work of international relations and one of the most influential books ever written about foreign affairs. An insightful and powerful analysis of the forces driving global politics, it is as indispensable to our understanding of American foreign policy today as the day it was published. As former National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski says in his new foreword to the book, it has earned a place on the shelf of only about a dozen or so truly enduring works that provide the quintessential insights necessary for a broad understanding of world affairs in our time. Samuel Huntington explains how clashes between civilizations are the greatest threat to world peace but also how an international order based on civilizations is the best safeguard against war. Events since the publication of the book have proved the wisdom of that analysis. The 911 attacks and wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have demonstrated the threat of civilizations but have also shown how vital international cross-civilization cooperation is to restoring peace. As ideological distinctions among nations have been replaced by cultural differences, world politics has been reconfigured. Across the globe, new conflictsand new cooperationhave replaced the old order of the Cold War era. The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order explains how the population explosion in Muslim countries and the economic rise of East Asia are changing global politics. These developments challenge Western dominance, promote opposition to supposedly universal Western ideals, and intensify intercivilization conflict over such issues as nuclear proliferation, immigration, human rights, and democracy. The Muslim population surge has led to many small wars throughout Eurasia, and the rise of China could lead to a global war of civilizations. Huntington offers a strategy for the West to preserve its unique culture and emphasizes the need for people everywhere to learn to coexist in a complex, multipolar, muliticivilizational world.From Library JournalThis book attracted attention because of its thesis that the clashes of civilizations are the greatest threat to world peace. However, Huntingtons work is important here for his second chapter on the nature and study of civilizations (with its excellent bibliographic sources), and his last chapter on the future of the West and other core civilizations. 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. ReviewThe Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order has become one of the most influential books of the new wartime era.Patrick Healy, The Boston Globe
Author: Giacomo Puccini
File Type: pdf
-- Engaging Commentary and Analysis about the composer, the opera and its characters.-- Story Narrative with Music Highlight Examples-- A complete Libretto (newly translated) that incorporates Music Highlight Examples-- A Discography-- A Videography-- A Dictionary of Opera and Musical TermsEach Opera Classics Library edition is a comprehensive guide and complete analysis and evaluation of a specific opera each is a unique encyclopedia that integrates important and pertinent information about each timeless classic. The objective of Opera Classics Library is to unlock operas mysteries for the general audience, and enlighten and educate. Understanding and knowledge are the master keys to enhance enjoyment and appreciation of this great art form. Puccinis La Boheme remains a treasured sentimental favorite of opera-goers worldwide. Certainly, the critic Harold Schoenberg had La Boheme in mind when he commented, While the basis of Verdis operas is a battle cry, the basis of Puccinis operas is a mating call. La Boheme is about youthful aspiration and tender love. Its poignant story and Puccinis soul-searching music emphasize how tragedy and grief can elevate humanity to consciousness, awareness, and maturity.
Author: Bernard Mellor
File Type: pdf
font face=Segoe UI, serif size=2The text of Edward the Second is that of the authors own edition of 1629 of Egypts Favorite it is that of the posthumous edition of 1631, the sole extant version. Descriptions of extant manuscript and printed versions of Edward the Second are given in the Commentary, onfontspan Segoe UI, serif smallpages 280-2.spanfont face=Segoe UI, serif size=2fontfont face=Segoe UI, serif size=2I have emendated or supplied the punctuation where in the original the meaning is otherwise obscure or the flow of the verse hindered. Abbreviations are given their full forms Ks (Kings), Pr (Prince), wch (which), wth (with), ye (the), qd. (quoth), upo (upon), who (whom), the (then or them), & (and), and so on. Capital letters I have retained but modernized the use of both upper andfontspan Segoe UI, serif smalllower-case u and v, i and j . Misprints and misnumbered stanzas are corrected.spanfont face=Segoe UI, serif size=2fontfont face=Segoe UI, serif size=2For the few instances where in Edward the Second I have preferred a reading from another version or where I have supplied one myself, the reasons are adduced in the notes.fontfont face=Segoe UI, serif size=2fontfont face=Segoe UI, serif size=2Variant readings from other versions of Edward the Second I have given in the notes only if they seem of particular significance, or if they are massive.fontfont face=Segoe UI, serif size=2fontfont face=Segoe UI, serif size=2The sententice or exempla of the early rhetoricians, first culled by English monks from the Greek and Roman writers and then added to from the literature of France, Italy, and Spain through the grammars, phrase books, and translations, took a brief but richly popular placefontspan Segoe UI, serif smallunder the stimulus of Lyly and the Euphuists among the stylistic ornaments of sixteenth-century and early seventeenth-century literature. Huberts works abound in these sententice, in particular the historical piece and I have preserved the sententia-marks liberally employed at the beginnings of lines of verse in the 1629 edition of Edward the Second.span
Author: Román Álvarez
File Type: pdf
During the latter half of this century, particular attention has been paid to translating. The progress and change of perspective in this field of knowledge have been spectacular, moving from a scientific and prescriptive vision of translation to a descriptive one, which, in turn, has given way to the interaction between translation and culture. The starting point of this book is the idea that language is not neutral and that, insofar as language is the translators tool, the act of translating is not neutral either. Translation shapes the way in which a given society receives a work, an author, a literature, or a culture therefore it is necessary to locate the subversive aspects of translations in the larger framework of social interaction. Translating can never be neutral, as it is charged with ideology and games of power.
Author: Moya Lloyd
File Type: pdf
10 essays give the first sustained evaluation of Judith Butlers alleged ethical turn Judith Butler is best known for Gender Trouble (1990), the book that introduced the idea of gender performativity. However, with the publication of Giving an Account of Oneself in 2005, it appeared that her work had taken a different turn away from considerations of sex, gender, sexuality and politics, and towards ethics. Bringing together a group of internationally renowned theorists, the volume asks has there been an ethical turn in Butlers work or is the increasing emphasis on ethics the culmination of ideas in her earlier work? How do ethics relate to politics in her work, and how do they connect to her increasing concern with violence, war and conflict? Butler and Ethics will break new ground in scholarship on Butler and will also advance on-going debates about materiality and the body, biopolitics, affect theory, precariousness and subjectification. **
Author: V. S. Naipaul
File Type: epub
In 1960 the government of Trinidad invited V. S. Naipaul to revisit his native country and record his impressions. In this classic of modern travel writing he has created a deft and remarkably prescient portrait of Trinidad and four adjacent Caribbean societiescountries haunted by the legacies of slavery and colonialism and so thoroughly defined by the norms of Empire that they can scarcely believe that the Empire is ending.In The Middle Passage, Naipaul watches a Trinidadian movie audience greeting Humphrey Bogarts appearance with cries of That is man! He ventures into a Trinidad slum so insalubrious that the locals call it the Gaza Strip. He follows a racially charged election campaign in British Guiana (now Guyana) and marvels at the Gallic pretension of Martinique society, which maintains the fiction that its roads are extensions of Frances routes nationales. And throughout he relates the ghastly episodes of the regions colonial past and shows how they continue to inform its language, politics, and values. The result is a work of novelistic vividness and dazzling perspicacity that displays Naipaul at the peak of his powers.**
Author: A. White
File Type: pdf
Referencing key contemporary debates on issues like surveillance, identity, the global financial crisis, the digital divide and Internet politics, Andrew White provides a critical intervention in discussions on the impact of the proliferation of digital media technologies on politics, the economy and social practices. **Review White has provided a ground-breaking examination of the implications of digital media for the fundamental workings of society. Its international perspective makes this new classic required reading for any serious student of media in the age of global and digital communication. - John Pavlik, Rutgers, USA In his new book, Andrew White takes the birds eye view of digital media. He carefully guides us through the theoretical minefields opened up by the networked world identity politics, the distinction between privatepublic, the democratic state, economics, surveillance, and other key concepts. White appears a reliable guide who knows how to strike a balance between complexity and elucidation, between argument and exposition, between summary and probe. I am confident this book will be very useful for students and faculty alike. It addresses poignant issues in a clear voice. - Jose van Dijck, University of Amsterdam, and author of The Culture of Connectivity (2013) Overall this book is an engaging contribution to the growing literature on the intersection of the public and private within an ever-changing digital landscape. Whites summaries of the often complex debates are always accessible, while his use of case studies gives these debates the real world context they might otherwise lack.- Maxine Montaigne, LSE Review of Books, 2014 About the Author Andrew White is Associate Professor and Faculty Director of Research at the University of Nottinghams China campus. He has published numerous articles on digital media, creative industries and Northern Irish politics in many journals, including First Monday, International Journal of Cultural Policy and Irish Political Studies.
Author: Roberto G. de Almeida
File Type: pdf
What are the landmarks of the cognitive revolution? What are the core topics of modern cognitive science? Where is cognitive science heading? These and other questions are addressed in this volume by leading cognitive scientists as they examine the work of one of cognitive sciences most influential and polemical figures Jerry Fodor. Contributions by Noam Chomsky, Tom Bever, Merrill Garrett, Massimo Piattelli-Palmarini, Zenon Pylyshyn, Janet Fodor, C. Randy Gallistel, Ernie Lepore, Mary C. Potter, Lila R. Gleitman, and others, put in perspective Fodors contribution to cognitive science by focusing on three main themes the nature of concepts, the modularity of language and vision, and the language of thought. On Modules, Concepts, and Language Cognitive Science at Its Core is a one-of-a-kind series of essays on cognitive science and on Fodor. In this volume, Chomsky contrasts, for the first time, his view of modularity with that of Fodors Bever--one of the pioneers of modern psycholinguistics--discusses the nature of consciousness in particular with respect to language perception Garrett--another of the pioneers of psycholinguistics--reassesses his view of modularity in language production Pylyshyn--one of the leading figures of the modern symbolic, computational view of the mind--presents his view of the connection between visual perception and conceptual attainment Gallistel--one of the most prominent cognitive neuroscientists--presents a proposal on what the biological bases of the computational theory of mind might be. Massimo Piattelli-Palmarini discusses Fodors views on conceptual nativism, stemming from the epic debate between Chomsky and Piaget, which Piattelli-Palmarini organized. These and many other key figures of cognitive science are brought together, for the first time, constituting the most up-to-date critical view of some of cognitive sciences most polemical topics and its prospects as the science of the mind. This volume is aimed at students and advanced researchers in core areas of cognitive science and is bound to become one of the classics in the field. **
Author: Simone de Beauvoir
File Type: pdf
Revelatory insights into the early life and thought of the preeminent French feminist philosopher Dating from her years as a philosophy student at the Sorbonne, this is the 1926-27 diary of the teenager who would become the famous French philosopher, author, and feminist, Simone de Beauvoir. Written years before her first meeting with Jean-Paul Sartre, these diaries reveal previously unknown details about her life and offer critical insights into her early philosophy and literary works. Presented here for the first time in translation and fully annotated, the diary is completed by essays from Barbara Klaw and Margaret A. Simons that address its philosophical, historical and literary significance. The volume represents an invaluable resource for tracing the development of Beauvoirs independent thinking and influence on the world. **