Author: Edited by Yannis Tzioumakis and Siân Lincoln A low-budget independent film made by a now defunct video company in the late 1980s, Dirty Dancing became a sleeper hit with a huge, primarily young audience. Even twenty-five years on, the film has found millions of devoted fans around the world through TV, video, and DVD releases. In The Time of Our Lives: Dirty Dancing and Popular Culture editors Yannis Tzioumakis and Sian Lincoln bring together leading scholars of film, media, music, culture, theater, dance, and sociology to examine for the first time the global cultural phenomenon of Dirty Dancing. Tzioumakis and Lincoln begin by assessing Dirty Dancing's cultural impact in the decades since its release and introduce contributors in four sections. Essays in Dirty Dancing in Context look at the film from several perspectives, including its production and distribution history, its blending of genres, its treatment of race, and its place in the political and visual culture of the 1980s. In Questions of Reception, contributors examine the many ways that the film has been received since its release, while those in The Production of Nostalgia focus on the film's often critiqued production of an idealized past. Finally, contributors in Beyond the Film examine the celebrated synergies that the film achieved in the high concept film environment of the 1980s, and the final two essays deal with the successful adaptation of the film for the stage. With the enormous cultural impact it has made over the years, Dirty Dancing offers many opportunities for thought-provoking analysis. Fans of the movie and students and scholars of cultural, performance, and film history will appreciate the insight in The Time of Our Lives.

Author: Ergasto Ramón Arango Originally published in 1963. Between 1945 and 1951, Belgium faced a crisis in political leadership when its ruling monarch, King Leopold III, was accused of violating the Belgian Constitution during World War II. The question at hand refers to the uncertainty over whether King Leopold III could return to Belgium as king. This book documents the history of this political crisis, culminating with the abdication of King Leopold and the assumption of the crown by Baudouin, Leopold's son.

Author: Caroline Cox Between 1819 and 1845, as veterans of the Revolutionary War were filing applications to receive pensions for their service, the government was surprised to learn that many of the soldiers were not men, but boys, many of whom were under the age of sixteen, and some even as young as nine. In Boy Soldiers of the American Revolution, Caroline Cox reconstructs the lives and stories of this young subset of early American soldiers, focusing on how these boys came to join the army and what they actually did in service. Giving us a rich and unique glimpse into colonial childhood, Cox traces the evolution of youth in American culture in the late eighteenth century, as the accepted age for children to participate meaningfully in society--not only in the military--was rising dramatically.Drawing creatively on sources, such as diaries, letters, and memoirs, Caroline Cox offers a vivid account of what life was like for these boys both on and off the battlefield, telling the story of a generation of soldiers caught between old and new notions of boyhood.

Author: Joanne Leedom-Ackerman As a fearless poet and prolific essayist and critic, Liu Xiaobo became one of the most important dissident thinkers in the Peoples Republic of China. His nonviolent activism steered the nations prodemocracy currents from Tiananmen Square to support for Tibet and beyond. Liu undertook perhaps his bravest act when he helped draft and gather support for Charter 08, a democratic vision for China that included free elections and the end of the Communist Partys monopoly on power. While imprisoned for inciting subversion of state power, Liu won the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize. He was granted medical parole just weeks before dying of cancer in 2017. The Journey of Liu Xiaobo draws together essays and reflections on the Nelson Mandela of China. The Dalai Lama, artist and activist Ai Weiwei, and a distinguished list of leading Chinese writers and intellectuals, including Zhang Zuhua, the main drafter of Charter 08, and Liu Xia, the wife of Liu Xiaobo, and noted China scholars, journalists, and political leaders from around the globe, including Yu Ying-shih, Perry Link, Andrew J. Nathan, Marco Rubio, and Chris Smith illuminate Lius journey from his youth and student years, through his indispensable activism, and to his defiant last days. Many of the pieces were written immediately after Lius death, adding to the emotions stirred by his loss. Original and powerful, The Journey of Liu Xiaobo combines memory with insightful analysis to evaluate Lius impact on his era, nation, and the cause of human freedom.