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The story of Jack the Ripper has had continual interest since he stalked the streets of Whitechapel during the Autumn of Terror in 1888. During this time, the murders of the Canonical Five made headlines all over the world while in the modern day, the Ripper story continues to permeate all forms of media on the page, screen, in podcasts, and in fiction. We continue to search for something we will likely never, and perhaps do not even wish to discover: Jack's true name. This book looks at the lasting intrigue of Jack the Ripper and how his story, and the stories of the Canonical Five victims, are brought back to life through modern lenses. As psychological approaches and scientific techniques advance, the Ripper's narrative evolves, opening a more diverse means of storytelling and storytellers. How these storytellers attempt to construct a full tale around the facts, including the burning questions of motive and identity, says more about us than the Ripper.

From March 26, 1985 until April 4, 2003 Jerry Krause was responsible for shaping the Chicago Bulls' roster as vice president of basketball operations. He called the shots and yet, even after six championships, could never shake off the status of the underdog. He conducted 37 trades to win the first championship for the Bulls, was constantly evaluating talent and throughout his tenure remained who he was at heart--a scout. Krause's fate was closely tied to his surroundings, the people he employed and the ones he ignored for certain positions. This book examines Jerry Krause as a basketball scout and executive. Rather than redirecting hate, casting blame or clearing anybody's name, it shows the other side of the story of the Bulls dynasty--one with a sharp focus on roster construction--and the interactions between the team, the staff and the front office. This is a story about making hard decisions and learning how to live with them.

Jane Austen originally wrote for a Regency period audience and would never have predicted the success of her original works. The slew of variations and adaptations of Austen's works in both film and contemporary novels has grown into an industry with a fan-base waiting for more. This collection fills the gap in Austen scholarship between 2000 to the current moment. The authors examine universal and contemporary themes in Austen's literature ranging from classic romance to apocalyptic fiction. Essays cover Austen retellings with a New York City setting, Jane Austen and Islamic culture, and even a plot with zombies. This anthology demonstrates Jane Austen's enduring talent and relevancy.

It may be a popular opinion that sports and ethics are incongruent or contradictory, but contrary to this view, ethical principles in sports are integral for its protection and those involved in the practice. Because of this invalid popular opinion, a new conversation on ethical principles and issues in sports becomes warranted. This new conversation starts here with a philosophical investigation that extends into the areas of epistemology and autonomy in a quest to address ethical issues associated with the use of performance-enhancement drugs (doping) in sports, fair play, equity, and responsibility. Readers are introduced to a new theoretical approach to addressing ethical issues in sports based on arguments advanced on responsible freedom, perspectival knowledge, and self-duty that can be utilized by sports stakeholders (athletes, team doctors, fans, sporting organizations, coaches, etc.) as they strive for success and minimize unfair practices. Thus, important questions are posed concerning respect for others, respect for rules, respect for the game, and respect for self. Also, an investigation into ethics and doping is conducted to unravel whether doping athletes impose undue limitations on their freedom. Thus, the idea of absolute freedom is questioned, and "privileged freedom" is investigated.

In the city of Cairo, certain spaces bear strong historical associations with belly dance, belly dancers, and professional entertainment in general. Azbakiyah, Imad al-Din Street, and Muhammad Ali Street were all staging grounds for innovations in Egyptian belly dance, as well as in Egyptian music, song, and theater, at the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and in the Egyptian popular imagination, these places continue to be linked to entertainment and entertainers. However, research reveals that the ties binding these spaces to entertainment extend much deeper: in some cases, this relationship can be traced back to the Fatimid era. The longstanding associations between belly dance and certain Cairene spaces demand a more in-depth investigation into the nature of this historical interconnection. In this work, the author examines the relationship between belly dance space and belly dancer in the Cairo landscape over the course of the city's history, relying on a theoretical framework informed by Pierre Bourdieu's theory of practice, Michel Foucault's concept of heterotopia, and Mikhail Bakhtin's notion of the carnivalesque. This analysis reveals the mutually constituting relationship between dance, dancers, and the Cairene landscape and explains why and how certain Cairo spaces have retained their centuries-long historical associations with belly dance and its professional practitioners.

Educators aspire to teach skills that will expand the way their students think and act, not just in the classroom but throughout their lives. Centered on fairy tales, this pedagogical resource contains educational theories and classroom techniques contributed by scholars from around the world. Each teaching technique provided uses the familiarity of fairy tales as a non-threatening base to explore complex concepts and practices while encouraging students to examine the origins and assumptions of their own society, to expand their worldviews along with their critical thinking, reading, writing, creative, and expressive skills. This collection of essays is primarily designed for use in post-secondary classes, but it is an invaluable resource for any educator. The book is organized into five parts with two to three essays in each section, each presenting detailed theories and learning goals behind the classroom activities. Practical advice for adapting lessons for various education levels, class lengths, and subjects of coursework is also included. These practices for teaching fairy tales provide a firm foundation for creating lessons that will give students and instructors a greater understanding of our world and the promise of a better future.

Debuting in 2019, Disney+ quickly became one of the most popular streaming services worldwide. With hubs for Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars and National Geographic, Disney+ not only provides "vault" content from these brands but also original films and television programming such as High School Musical: The Musical: The Series, The Mandalorian, The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers, Andor and The Imagineering Story. This collection of essays examines a variety of Disney+ exclusive content, exploring themes such as nostalgia, identity, representation and lived experience. Designed to appeal to both academics and the average Disney fan, it attempts to answer the question of whether its original streaming content is a plus or minus for the "Mouse House."

With a worldwide box office of more than a half-billion dollars, The Purge franchise has become one of the top horror franchises in film history, with many reviewers wowed by the concept of the series and differentiating on the execution. With five films and a TV show (and another film possibly in the works), the series seems unstoppable. The franchise's main concept taps into underlying tensions throughout America. The vast differences between the films are largely due to the ever-changing casts, including actors, writers, and directors, so that each film has its own unique commentary, sometimes getting right at the nerve of social issues that seem to be best discussed in fictional worlds' metaphors and parables. Acclaimed film and television critics and horror scholars such as Dale Bailey, Jason V. Brock, Chesya Burke, Lisa Morton, Katherine A. Troyer, and Kevin J. Wetmore give a wide range of analyses of just what The Purge films are saying about modern-day America and the world. Essays in the collection examine politics, violence, Trump, Freud, class issues, feminism, race, and more.

From Carrie and Rosemary's Baby to Us, Hereditary, and Run, the image of the mentally ill mom as villain looms large in the horror genre. What do these movies communicate about mothers living with mental illness, and how do these depictions affect them? Portraying mentally ill moms as problems to be overcome, often by their own children, perpetuates harmful stereotypes with potential real-world consequences, such as the belief that these women are unfit to bear or raise children. More compassionate representations are needed to lessen the social stigma associated with the mentally ill. Fortunately, some of the contemporary horror films are attempting to achieve that task with critical success. Using case studies from a broad range of films--including the classic, campy, slasher, or prestige--and placing them within their historical context, this work extends conversations about horror and mental illness, such as post-partum depression, bulimia, Munchausen by proxy syndrome, and others. Highlighting the trope of the mentally ill mother as a pervasive image within the genre furthers examination of how these films challenge or reflect existing stereotypes and illustrates how horror can be both a site of oppression and a source for positive transformation.

Are you captivated by detective fiction and mystery stories? Do you enjoy solving puzzles or explaining other people's behavior? Have you ever thought Miss Marple would make a good therapist or Sherlock Holmes an excellent researcher? If so, you probably have already seen the connection between detective fiction and the field of psychology. This book introduces key concepts and theories of psychology through the lens of mystery fiction. It explores the crossroads where detective fiction converges with psychology with clarity and is catered to curious readers from all backgrounds. It includes thought-provoking activities and questions to strengthen readers' deductive reasoning, critical thinking, and psychological insights, and to let their inquisitiveness guide them.

There are a quarter million clinical laboratories in the United States alone but the techs working in those labs are seldom seen and their work is not recognized. This was particularly true during the Covid epidemic since it was those workers who ran the thousands upon thousands of Covid tests, exposed as they were to infection and working many hours of overtime so that patients could have accurate and timely results. Some of those techs speak in these pages about what it was like for them during Covid and about what it is like to work in the clinical lab, learning ever changing technology, staffing three shifts, weekends and holidays, and managing childcare and family life around this demanding job. This book chronicles the unseen work of laboratory technicians, technologists, and aides through the author's experience working in a clinical lab for more than 40 years, a time that saw astounding changes in lab technology, methodology, and testing. Most importantly, this book provides the human story of patients, diseases, and conditions diagnosed and monitored through lab work.

"For more than 200 years, the limerick has been loved for its mordant wit, breathtaking rhymes, swinging rhythm, groaning puns, and ability to paint outrageous mental pictures. This book analyzes the limerick's origin and evolution as the best-known humorous verse form in the English-speaking world. It also examines previous attempts to capture the history of the limerick, including those that used guesswork, presented flawed conclusions and even contradicted each other. Findings are laid out logically and chronologically, so readers can easily follow the thread of every claim."--

In her early 20s, Edna Loftus had the world at her feet. As a showgirl in England and France during the Edwardian Era, she appeared in a number of successful theater productions, regularly graced the pages of contemporary magazines, and was featured on numerous picture postcards. She hobnobbed with royalty and kept company with the creme de la creme of European society. Then fate seemingly turned on Edna. After two unsuccessful marriages (the second ending with her husband being incarcerated in an asylum), she was left alone in California, and her decline into poverty and prostitution became fodder for the newspapers which had once sung her praises. By the time of her death in her early 30s, Edna was "a pathetic figure pointed out as a bit of a curiosity because she once had been famous on two continents." Edna Loftus was very much a product of her times. It was not simply a matter of bad choices on Edna's part which led to her dissolution, but also the institutionalized socio-cultural constructs of patriarchy, classism, and religious intolerance of the Edwardian Era. This biography, the first ever written about Edna, examines how these factors played into her descent from the sparkling footlights of the European theaters to the red lights of San Francisco's infamous Tenderloin District, and, in the end, destroyed her.

Roger Bresnahan began his major league baseball career in 1897 as an 18-year-old pitcher and ended it in 1915 as a catcher; he famously introduced shin guards for the position. He was so widely admired that the Baseball Hall of Fame awarded him a plaque only six years after it opened. He played every position, coached, and managed. He survived a near-fatal accident on the field and, as a first responder, helped save lives during the aftermath of a horrific railroad crash. He was later principal owner and president of the Toledo American Association franchise for eight years. This first-ever biography covers Bresnahan's entire life and playing career as it intersected with American history.

He became a star overnight as surly, sexy, usually shirtless Kovac in Hitchcock's Lifeboat (1944). Handsome and personable, John Hodiak (1914-1955) embraced his heritage as the son of Polish-Ukrainian immigrants, making him a rare Golden Age actor whose true ethnicity (and birth name) were widely known by moviegoers. Starting in radio, Hodiak was brought to Hollywood by MGM, starring in films like A Bell for Adano (1945) and The Harvey Girls (1946). In making Sunday Dinner for a Soldier (1944), he and co-star Anne Baxter fell in love despite divergent backgrounds and wed after a tumultuous courtship. The 1950s saw the breakdown of his marriage but also new professional opportunities, notably Broadway stardom in The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial. Tragically, his death at age 41 cut short an impressive career. This first full-length study of Hodiak's life and work, featuring original interviews with his daughter and others alongside genealogical and archival research, paints a full-bodied portrait of a man who achieved the American dream, only to have it snatched away in the prime of life. The annotated filmography provides synopses, reviews, and critical commentary of his 34 motion pictures, followed by an overview of radio, stage, and television performances.

In 1974, R.B. Fitch of Chapel Hill bought 632 acres in Chatham County, North Carolina, just outside Chapel Hill, with a vision of creating a community, a mix of residential and low-key commercial in the style of the English villages he admired when serving as a U.S. Air Force pilot in the United Kingdom in the 1950s. With his wife Jenny, he began constructing the project and today, 50 years later, Fearrington Village is a major development in the region with some 1,600 houses, a nationally known luxury inn, a five-star restaurant, a bookstore, and a spa, drawing tourists and residents from all over. Fearrington Village was the first Planned Unit Development in Chatham County and one of the first in the state. It has influenced other developments and Fearrington residents have had an effect on the state's economy and politics. The Chapel Hill-Carrboro Business Hall of Fame has called Fearrington Village "an example of an exquisitely planned and executed community." This is the first comprehensive history of the village. It includes excerpts from R.B. Fitch's interviews in 2011 with the Southern Oral History Project at UNC, which are published here for the first time.

The incomprehensible notion of a very large chunk of ice or rock from outer space smashing into the Earth has only become mainstream within the past two centuries. Though early writers imagined the utterly fantastic consequences of comet collisions and speculated on the devastation they might wreak, it was not until the 1980s when scientists finally resolved that dinosaurs were extinguished by an asteroid 66 million years ago. This startling announcement captivated the media and tilted the science fiction world but in reality, history may have been punctuated repeatedly by such events. This book compiles often controversial and historically transforming ideas of asteroid, comet, and planetary impacts with Earth spanning two centuries of popular intrigue. It begins with the first realization of extinctions in fossil records to the new millennium reflected in scores of sci-fi stories, films, and televised science documentaries. The author examines social and geopolitical fears tied to the prospect of a certain cosmic-borne catastrophe. Science, fiction, and speculation are artfully melded through a dozen chapters, followed by an epilogue and appendix profiling many fantastic considerations of civilization's pending impact apocalypse.

On August 3, 1949, the National Basketball Association was born, comprising 17 organizations that ranged geographically from Boston to Denver and culturally from Manhattan to Sheboygan. The league being the result of a merger, there were two different reigning champions vying for NBA supremacy between the George Mikan-led Minneapolis Lakers and the small-town Anderson Packers, with teams from Syracuse, Rochester, New York, Chicago, and Indianapolis all hoping to upset the apple cart enough to take both teams down. This history of the BAA-NBL merger that created the NBA demonstrates that, amid icy executive relations that reflected the league's larger cultural clash between bustling East Coast metropolises and quiet Midwestern towns, the relentless march toward integration sneaking up quicker than expected on the segregated league, and the Second World War still distinctly visible in the rearview mirror and America's involvement in Korea closer than it may have appeared, it was what lay just beyond basketball that mattered. From Tony Lavelli's halftime accordion, Lee Knorek's airport escapades, and Chicago Stags owner John Sbarbaro's Capone-era mob ties to tales of antisemitism, systemic racism, and prisoners of war--with cameos from Jackie Robinson, Chuck Connors, and President Gerald Ford--the book brings back to life, in its totality, the NBA as it was nearly 75 years ago in the year of the merger.

America's National Guard was once considered a ragtag gaggle of pretend soldiers. Beginning in the 1980s the National Guard gradually transformed into today's highly flexible operational force that answers our nation's call for overseas combat deployments as well as domestic emergencies that run the gamut from lifesaving disaster responses to staffing COVID clinics. Brigadier General Paul "Greg" Smith describes his personal journey during these years from a callow cadet to a committed commander leading military forces in response to the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings. Smith gives a humorous, gritty, and sometimes touching glimpse into the inner workings of this unique military organization while offering portraits of the men and women who serve as the minutemen of our age. His reflections on service, duty, and the complexities of command will enlighten anyone who seeks to better understand the challenges of leadership.

This book examines Memphis's symbolic meaning and value as a Negro leagues baseball city during Jim Crow. It locates the main intersections between black professional baseball and the South in the four decades that spanned the modern Negro leagues era and analyzes the racial dynamics in the city through the lens of the Memphis Red Sox, a black-owned and operated organization that stood as a pillar of success. Baseball also provides a way to examine the racial inequalities and issues that pervaded the city in those years. A black-owned stadium served as a forum for political assertion and an arena for real political struggle for blacks in Memphis.

This book examines the key political and military events in Afghanistan from 1978 to August 2021. It covers the Afghan-Soviet war and how that war was followed by an Afghan Civil War that made the country receptive to the rise of the Afghan Taliban. It explains how the Taliban secured control of Afghanistan's government, and permitted Osama bin Laden to reside in the country while he secretly planned an attack on the American mainland. It also covers why Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda terrorists on September 11, 2001, flew hijacked airliners into New York City's World Trade Center and the Pentagon. It describes how American and NATO forces responded by invading Afghanistan to destroy al-Qaeda and to overthrow the Taliban government. The 20-year Afghan-NATO war which followed would lead to American troops suffering 2,488 dead and 20,722 wounded. This book is one of the first to cover this long war written after the war ended in August 2021, giving it a new perspective. It offers an even-handed coverage of the war based on Taliban, American, and British sources.

Over the last decade or more, classical music programming has expanded to an unprecedented extent, now including works by less familiar composers and underappreciated works by familiar names. At the center of this recent trend has been the musical legacy of Florence B. Price, an African American woman originally from Arkansas, later spending her professional career on the south side of Chicago. The rediscovery of Price's manuscripts in an abandoned rural house circa 2009, along with subsequent publishings, major label recordings, and Grammy Awards, has further fueled this new development. This new biography of Price also appraises her career and legacy.

Venturing into the ever-shifting panorama of airborne terrorism, this book immerses the reader in a vivid retelling of pivotal incidents from recent history, while delving into the terrorists' favored methods of attack. These include hijackings, in-flight bombings, and precision missile strikes, as well as the rising peril of cyberattacks aimed at airports and commercial airliners mid-flight. Readers will encounter the controversial TWA Flight 800 disaster and the baffling vanishing act of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370. These events ignited enduring discussions about terrorism and governmental transparency. The book ventures into the unsettling world of the September 11th attacks, where jetliners were transformed into guided missiles. Also witnessed are the chilling tales of "Black Widows"--Chechen female suicide bombers leaving their indelible mark on Russian soil. Also explored are Libyan culpability in the bombings of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, and UTA Flight 772 over the Sahara Desert. The evolution of security measures in air travel is chronicled and an examination is given of emerging biometric technologies along with security protocols relevant to the post-Covid era.

This is the first book-length study of one of the most talented and exciting American playwrights working today. Stephen Adly Guirgis has said that "God is the starting point and the finish line" of his work, and this book identifies him as a playwright with a distinctly Christian sensibility who uses the technique of "inculturation" to translate the gospel for a secular audience. Critics have noted that his plays are peopled with poor, suffering minority figures, but few have also noted that these figures bear a remarkable similarity to the dispossessed with whom Jesus identifies in Matthew 25. Beginning with his early play Den of Thieves and proceeding through each of his dramas, this work examines Guirgis's plays within a biblical context. While noting that Guirgis is a writer of the "post-Christian age" who staunchly resists identification as a "Christian playwright," the book situates him within the tradition of the "drama of ideas" as a powerful writer employing a dialectical method to inculcate the New Testament ethos and transform the theater space into a place of sacrament.

Women used automobiles as soon as they had access to them. Black, Indigenous, and White American women utilized the automobile to improve their quality of life and achieve greater freedom. These women shared unique concerns and common aims as they negotiated their way through a time when advocacy for social change was undergoing a resurgence. The years that brought the automobile to the United States, 1893-1929, also brought increased legal and social restrictions based on racism and gender stereotypes. For women the automobile was a useful tool as they worked to improve their quality of life. The automobile provided a means for Black, Indigenous, and White women to pull away from limitations and work toward greater freedom. Exploring these key issues and more, this book is a history and social exploration of women and the automobile during the early automotive era.

A brave heroine whose quest involves living her true gender. A genderqueer knight who battles the transphobic court to save their prince. Often fearing discovers, the trans hero embarks on adventure, aided by an accepting mentor and other allies, and challenged by transphobic villains and sometimes uncomprehending family members. Ultimately, the trans hero triumphs, finding love, selfhood, and affirmation. This book takes Joseph Campbell's classic pattern of comparative mythology and applies it to trans and non-binary heroes in modern popular media who are traversing multiple worlds. Analyzed are works for the screen such as Steven Universe, The Matrix, The Umbrella Academy, Sense8, and Sandman; print materials such as DC and Marvel comics; and television, fantasy books, and graphic novels from trans and non-binary creators worldwide.

This work recounts the lives and deaths of athletes who departed the world suddenly and without warning during their playing careers. From slugger Ed Delahanty's fatal plunge into the Niagara River in 1903 to the demise of Dwayne Haskins on a dark Florida highway in 2022, their untimely ends shocked and saddened millions of fans. Many died from injuries sustained in the course of competition. Others met their fate in airplane and motor vehicle crashes, by freak accident and through disease, drug overdose, drowning and suicide. Several were victims of cold-blooded murder. Regardless of how or why they perished, Dale Earnhardt, Len Bias, Thurman Munson, Flo Hyman, the Marshall Thundering Herd and all the rest faced the same merciless truth--there would be no next year.

Rescue dogs provide above-and-beyond value to humans at our most vulnerable: when we experience deep depression and severe mental illness; searing trauma and gripping grief; debilitating drug addiction; and of course, strained relationships with our fellow humans. Alternating between memoir and rescue dog owner profiles, this book intimately binds together shelter dogs, mental health and human relationships, exploring the tangible benefits these damaged dogs bring to us damaged humans. The author offers firsthand experience with each of the mental health themes and relationship issues covered herein and discusses how his beloved rescue dog--a battered mutt with an odd name and a heartbreaking backstory--substantially helped him cope with these challenges. Throughout, we find rescue dogs compelling their humans to be better people--to push forward through headwinds, persist despite setbacks, and build self-esteem through the estimable acts of feeding, sheltering and loving an innocent, mistreated being.

In this book, retired university president Alvin J. Schexnider shares the lived experiences that shaped his career and the challenges presented by race. About half of his career was spent at white universities. He details how he navigated those challenges in spite of longstanding policies and practices. He examines how certain events of his youth shaped his views on race including segregation, the execution of a Black man in his hometown, lynching in the South, and the pervasive opposition and violence spawned by the civil rights movement. The second half of his career was spent at historically Black universities (HBCUs) where, as a product of one, he felt a sense of commitment. Schexnider provides a unique lens through which his career evolved from the early days of affirmative action and equal employment opportunity (AA/EEO) to the current era of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI). The book spotlights the continuing role of race in the recruitment, promotion and retention of Black faculty, the challenges to DEI, and its ability to effect change. It contrasts affirmative action and diversity and argues that diversity is more likely to benefit other ethnic groups rather than Blacks based on current trends in higher education. The book concludes with a chapter on the future of HBCUs, a sector of higher education that is currently receiving unprecedented attention but is likely fleeting. This chapter acknowledges the challenges and opportunities HBCUs face and it offers strategies to put them on a sustainable path to secure their future.

Born in Italy in 1891, Andy Varipapa immigrated to the United States in 1903, uneducated and unable to speak English. Equipped with little more than athletic ability, the will to succeed, and a healthy dose of self-confidence, he became bowling's first superstar. In the 1940s and 1950s, Varipapa was the world's most famous bowler. For more than 50 years, he dazzled fans with an array of never-before-seen trick shots in person, on movie screens, and on television. Varipapa was not only a performer but one of the greatest bowlers ever. He won the prestigious BPAA All-Star tournament in 1946, silencing critics who claimed he was just an entertainer. And he did so at age 55, long past most bowlers' retirement age. To prove it was no fluke, he repeated in 1947. Bowling fans recognized the outspoken and brash "Great Varipapa," who once said, "I'm the most skillful, talkative, and controversial bowler who ever lived." Few knew Andy, the kind and loyal family man and friend. Sourced from interviews with family and friends and more than 1,000 secondary sources, this first-ever, biography of Varipapa tells the personal story of bowling's greatest showman and one of its most influential figures.