Author: Frances Osborn Robb File Type: pdf Shot in Alabama by Frances Osborn Robb is a visual and textual narrative of Alabamas photographic history from 1839 to 1941. It describes the phenomenon of photography as practiced in Alabama as a major cultural force, paying close attention to the particular contexts from which each image emerges and the fragments of microhistory that each image documents. Presented chronologicallyfrom the very first photograph ever taken in the state to the appearance of cameras as commonplace possessions in mid-twentieth-century householdsRobb draws into sharp relief the eras of daguerreotypes, Civil War photography, photographic portraiture at the end of the nineteenth century, urban and rural photography in the early twentieth century, WPA photography during the Great Depression, postcards and tourist photography, and preWorld War II illustrated books and art photographs. Robb also examines a wide spectrum of vernacular photography Alabama-made photographs of everyday people and places, the photographs that fill dresser drawers and shoeboxes, a vast array of unusual images against which Alabamas more typical iconography can be measured. She also chronicles the work of hundreds of photographersblack and white, amateur and professional, women and mensome little-known outside their communities, some of them the mediums most important practitioners. Who Shot Alabama? is an accompanying appendix that includes 1,400 photographers by name, working dates, and locationa resource that will help countless individuals, families, and archives identify the specific Alabama photographers whose names appear on family photographs or those in institutional collections. Shot in Alabama is an insightful document of photography as both a communicator and creator of social, cultural, economic, and visual history. It highlights the very personal worlds rendered by individual photographs as well as the larger panorama of Alabama history as seen through the photographs collectively. A landmark work of research, curation, and scholarship, it fills the void of published history on Alabama photography and is an invaluable resource for historians, archivists, librarians, collectors, hobbyists, and readers with an interest in Alabama history or historic photography. Shot in Alabama is a book that all Alabamians will want on their coffee tables. **

Author: Leszek Kolakowski File Type: pdf [An] important essay by a philosopher who more convincingly than any other I can think of demonstrates the continuing significance of his vocation in the life of our culture.Karsten Harries, The New York Times Book Review With The Presence of Myth, Kolakowski demonstrates that no matter how hard man strives for purely rational thought, there has always been-and always will be-a reservoir of mythical images that lend being and consciousness a specifically human meaning. Kolakowski undertakes a philosophy of culture which extends to all realms of human intercourseintellectual, artistic, scientific, and emotional. . . . [His] book has real significance for today, and may well become a classic in the philosophy of culture.Anglican Theological Review **Language Notes Text English, Polish (translation) About the Author Leszek Kolakowski (1927-2009) was professor of philosophy at the University of Warsaw until the Polish political crisis of March 1968 when he was formally expelled. Hethen moved to universities inNorth America and the United Kingdom.From 1981 to 1994 he was a professor in the Committee on Social Thought andthe department of philosophy at the University of Chicago. He is best known for his critical analyses of Marxist thought, especially his three-volume history, Main Currents of Marxism (1976). In his later work, he increasingly focused on philosophical and religious questions. He was the author of numerous books.

Author: Seraphim Seferiades File Type: pdf This volume of cutting-edge research comparatively analyzes violent protest and rioting, furthering our understanding of this increasingly prevalent form of claim making. Hank Johnston and Seraphim Seferiades bring together internationally recognized experts in the field of protest studies and contentious politics to analyze the causes and trajectories of violence as a protest tactic. Crossnational comparisons from North America, Britain, France, Germany, Greece, Iran, Thailand, and elsewhere contribute to the volumes theoretical elaboration, while several case studies add depth to the discussion. This title will be of key importance to scholars across the social sciences, including sociology, political science, geography and criminology. Johnston and Seferiadess exciting book is a significant contribution to the study of rioting and violent protest in the contemporary neoliberal state. **

Author: Marie-Eve Reny File Type: pdf In Authoritarian Containment, Marie-Eve Reny examines why local public security bureaus tolerate unregistered Protestant churches in urban China--an officially atheist country where religious practice is controlled by the state--when the central government considers them illegal. She argues that local states tolerate these churches to contain the underground practice of Protestantism. Containment necessitates a bargain between informal religious organizations and the state. Even though they are not regulated, unregistered churches are allowed to operate conditionally, so long as church leaders keep a low profile, share information as needed with local authorities, and agree that the state will not grant them formal institutional recognition. Reny also considers authoritarian regimes other than China that employ a similar strategy to control informal religious communities. She focuses on two Middle East cases-President Sadats control of the Muslim Brotherhood in 1970s Egypt and the Jordanian monarchys containment of jihadi Salafists after 2006. By reducing the incentives for local religious leaders to politicize and inducing such leaders to willingly provide inside information, governments can avoid the heavy hand of coercion and forceful co-optation. Based on extensive fieldwork, Authoritarian Containment offers insight into the way authoritarian regimes neutralize underground religious leaders and discourage opposition to the state.**ReviewBetween violent repression and generous co-optation lies a fascinating gray area of state-society interactions in authoritarian regimes. Nobody has charted these everyday interactions more intimately or impressively than Marie-Eve Reny does in Authoritarian Containment. Whether one wants to learn more about the politics of religion in China specifically, or how dictatorships manage unwelcome pluralism more generally, this book delivers. -Dan Slater, Professor of Political Science and Director of the Weiser Center for Emerging Democracies (WCED), University of MichiganWhy do autocratic states actors tolerate informal religious organizations? Why do Chinas local governments tolerate informal Protestant churches? Based on thorough fieldwork, Marie-Eve Reny proposes an answer both simple and profound. The conditional and bounded toleration of informal religious institutions is a rational choice to contain them and undermine their threat against the regime. This fascinating study makes a major contribution to the studies of religion and politics, and authoritarian regime resilience. -Juan Wang, McGill UniversityMarie-Eve Reny forces us to rethink the nature of state-society relations in authoritarian regimes. The literature on authoritarianism has typically focused on the ways in which autocratic actors either coopt, or repress autonomous civil society activity. Through an analysis of Chinese state policies towards unregistered Protestant house churches, Reny by contrast shows that authoritarian regimes may also adopt a strategy of containment. Drawing on extensive interviews and observation, Reny offers us a fresh and unparalleled view of the subtle and informal workings of contemporary authoritarian rule. -Lucan Ahmad Way, Professor of Political Science, University of Toronto About the Author Marie-Eve Reny is Assistant professor in the Department of Political Science at Universite de Montreal since June 2013. Her work primarily centers on the comparative study of authoritarian regimes, with a special interest for China.