Historie og samfunn

One of Europe's greatest living philosophers, Giorgio Agamben, analyzes the life and work of one of Europe's greatest poets, Friedrich Hölderlin. What does it mean to inhabit a place or a self? What is a habit? And, for human beings, doesn't living mean--first and foremost--inhabiting? Pairing a detailed chronology of German poet Friedrich Hölderlin's years of purported madness with a new examination of texts often considered unreadable, Giorgio Agamben's new book aims to describe and comprehend a life that the poet himself called habitual and inhabited. Hölderlin's life was split neatly in two: his first 36 years, from 1770 to 1806; and the 36 years from 1807 to 1843, which he spent as a madman holed up in the home of Ernst Zimmer, a carpenter. The poet lived the first half of his existence out and about in the broader world, relatively engaged with current events, only to then spend the second half entirely cut off from the outside world. Despite occasional visitors, it was as if a wall separated him from all external events and relationships. For reasons that may well eventually become clear, Hölderlin chose to expunge all character--historical, social, or otherwise--from the actions and gestures of his daily life. According to his earliest biographer, he often stubbornly repeated, "nothing happens to me." Such a life can only be the subject of a chronology--not a biography, much less a clinical or psychological analysis. Nevertheless, this book suggests that this is precisely how Hölderlin offers humanity an entirely other notion of what it means to live. Although we have yet to grasp the political significance of his unprecedented way of life, it now clearly speaks directly to our own.

Zero Gravity is the fifth collection of comic pieces by Woody Allen.

S. Elizabeth curates a sourcebook of more than 200 artworks inspired and informed by the morbid, melancholic and macabre.

For Rupert Russell, the shock of the Trump-Brexit victories was only the latest in a decade full of them: the unstoppable war in Syria, huge migrant flows into Europe, beheadings in Iraq, children caged at the US border. In Price Wars he sets out on an improbable journey to investigate what caused the wave of chaos that consumed the world in the 2010s.Armed with a notebook, flak jacket and pink socks, Russell travels to modern apocalypses across five continents, embedding with separatist soldiers in the trenches of Eastern Ukraine, gangs of street kids battling over garbage in Caracas, the UN bomb disposal squad in Iraq and cattle raiders in Northern Kenya. He traces the origins of these conflicts back to dramatic and mysterious swings in the prices of essential commodities. He meets with commodity speculators who describe the inner workings of these volatile markets, explaining how food prices can spike even in years of abundant harvests, causing bread riots and revolutions. Oil prices can surge on rumours, enriching and emboldening dictators and terrorists alike. These price shocks, and many others across the decade, triggered local disasters that became global catastrophes. It is chaotic prices, Russell learned, fuelled by banks and hedge funds in New York and London, that have toppled regimes and fractured the West.Price Wars is a page-turning chronicle of discovery and a ground-breaking expose of the power of price to devastate the world.

'It's often said that books are compulsory reading, but this book really is compulsory. You cannot understand slavery, or British Empire, without it' Sathnam Sanghera Arguing that the slave trade was at the heart of Britain's economic progress, Eric Williams's landmark 1944 study revealed the connections between capitalism and racism, and has influenced generations of historians ever since.Williams traces the rise and fall of the Atlantic slave trade through the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries to show how it laid the foundations of the Industrial Revolution, and how racism arose as a means of rationalising an economic decision. Most significantly, he showed how slavery was only abolished when it ceased to become financially viable, exploding the myth of emancipation as a mark of Britain's moral progress.'Its thesis is a starting point for a new generation of scholarship' New Yorker

Coming Home to Self is a book about becoming aware. It is written for all members of the adoption triad: adoptees, birth parents, and adoptive parents as well as those who are in relationship with them, including professionals. It explains the influence imprinted upon the nuerological system and, thus, on future functioning. It explains how false beliefs create fear and perpetuate being ruled by the wounded child. It is a book which will help adoptees discover their authentic selves after living without seeing themselves reflected back all their lives.

An illustrated military history in the MEN-AT-ARMS series as well as being the first in a three volume set on the subject of the Spanish army of the Napoleonic Wars. It covers the years from 1793 to 1808 and includes the 1801 War of the Oranges in Portugal and the 1808 Spanish victory at Bailen.

When you think you're safe, when you think you're all alone, That's when he'll come for you... A silent killer stalks the city, targeting those home alone at night, playing a deadly game of cat and mouse with the victims. As panic spreads, Detective Inspector Helen Grace leads the investigation, but is herself a hunted woman, her every step shadowed by a ruthless psychopath bent on revenge. As she tracks the murderer, Grace begins to suspect there is a truly shocking home truth that connects these brutal crimes. But what she will find is something more twisted than she could ever suspect --

"Nick Lavery is an active-duty Green Beret within the United States Army Special Forces. Although injuries sustained in combat resulted in the above-the-knee amputation of his leg-- Nick not only remained in the Army, he returned to his Special Forces Detachment and continues conducting combat operations to this day. Objective Secure is the methodology Nick employed to return to operational status. It is also the methodology he uses today as he continues this unprecedented journey in service to his country. It is a battle tested guide forged by fire--literally." -- page [4] of cover

Citizens opens up a new way of understanding ourselves and shows us what we must do to survive and thrive - as individuals, as organisations, as nations, even as a species.Jon Alexander's consultancy, the New Citizenship Project, hashelped revitalise some of Britain's biggest organisations suchas the Co-op, The Guardian and the National Trust. Here, withthe New York Times bestselling writer Ariane Conrad, he showshow human history has moved from the Subject Story of kingsand empires to the current Consumer Story. Now, he arguescompellingly, it is time to enter the Citizen Story.Because when our institutions treat people as citizens ratherthan consumers, everything changes. Unleashing the powerof everyone equips us to face the challenges of economicinsecurity, climate crisis, public health threats, and polarisation.Citizens is an upbeat handbook, full of insights, clear examplesto follow, and inspiring case studies, from the slums of Kenyato the backstreets of Birmingham. It is the perfect pick-me-up forleaders, founders, elected officials - and citizens everywhere.

'Riveting, provocative, eye-opening . . . One cannot make sense of our modern world without this book' Brian ChristianLinen, Cotton, Silk, Synthetics, Wool: through the stories of these five fabrics, Sofi Thanhauser illuminates the world we inhabit in a startling new way, travelling from China to Cumbria to reveal the craft, labour and industry that create the clothes we wear. From the women who transformed stalks of flax into linen to clothe their families in nineteenth century New England to those who earn their dowries in the cotton-spinning factories of South India today, this book traces the origins of garment-making through time and around the world. Exploring the social, economic and environmental impact of our most personal possessions, Worn looks beyond care labels to show how clothes reveal the truth about what we really care about.'A must-read . . . combines remarkable research with heartfelt care' Clare Hunter

';Full oflively insights and lucid prose' (The Wall Street Journal) an epic, sweeping history of Cuba and its complex ties to the United Statesfrom before the arrival of Columbus to the present daywritten by one of the world's leading historians of Cuba.In 1961, at the height of the Cold War, the United States severed diplomatic relations with Cuba, where a momentous revolution had taken power three years earlier. For more than half a century, the stand-off continuedthrough the tenure of ten American presidents and the fifty-year rule of Fidel Castro. His death in 2016, and the retirement of his brother and successor Ral Castro in 2021, have spurred questions about the country's future. Meanwhile, politics in WashingtonBarack Obama's opening to the island, Donald Trump's reversal of that policy, and the election of Joe Bidenhave made the relationship between the two nations a subject of debate once more. Now, award-winning historian Ada Ferrer delivers an ';important' (The Guardian) and moving chronicle that demands a new reckoning with both the island's past and its relationship with the United States. Spanning more than five centuries, Cuba: An American History provides us with a front-row seat as we witness the evolution of the modern nation, with its dramatic record of conquest and colonization, of slavery and freedom, of independence and revolutions made and unmade. Along the way, Ferrer explores the sometimes surprising, often troubled intimacy between the two countries, documenting not only the influence of the United States on Cuba but also the many ways the island has been a recurring presence in US affairs. This is a story that will give Americans unexpected insights into the history of their own nation and, in so doing, help them imagine a new relationship with Cuba; ';readers will close [this] fascinating book with a sense of hope' (The Economist). Filled with rousing stories and characters, and drawing on more than thirty years of research in Cuba, Spain, and the United Statesas well as the author's own extensive travel to the island over the same periodthis is a stunning and monumental account like no other.

Learn how to create a tranquil outdoor space at home with this practical and inspiring guide!With instructive drawings and step-by-step techniques, Inside Your Japanese Garden walks you through designing and creating your very own Japanese garden. From small projects like benches and gates, to larger undertakings like bridges and mud walls, this book provides a wide variety of ways to enhance the space around your home, no matter the size. Instructions on how to work with stone, mud and bambooas well as a catalogue of the 94 plant varieties used in the gardens shown in the bookround out this complete guide.This book also features 19 gardens that author Sadao Yasumoro has designed and built in Japan, and somelike those at Visvim shop in Tokyo and at Yushima Tenjin in Tokyoare open to the public. From small tsuboniwa courtyard gardens to a large backyard stroll garden with water features, stairs and walls, these real-life inspirations will help spark your own garden plan.These inspirational garden projects include:Tea Garden for an Urban Farmhouse featuring a clay wall with a split-bamboo framework and a stone baseThe Landslide That Became a Garden with a terraced slope, trees, bushes, long grasses and mossA Buddha's Mountain Retreat of Moss and Stone with a vertical-split bamboo fence and a brushwood fenceParadise in an Urban Jungle with a pond, bridge, and lanternsEach garden is beautifully photographed by Hironori Tomino and many have diagrams and drawings to show the essential elements used in the planning and construction.