Scan down a list of essential works in any introduction to anthropology course and you are likely to see Marcel Mauss' masterpiece, The Gift. With this new translation, Mauss' classic essay is returned to its original context, published alongside the works that framed its first publication in the 1923-24 issue of L'Ann e Sociologique. With a critical foreword by Bill Maurer and a new introduction by translator Jane Guyer, this expanded edition is certain to become the standard English version of the essay--a gift that keeps on giving.

Included alongside the Essay on the Gift are Mauss' memorial accounts of the work of mile Durkheim and his colleagues who were lost during World War I, as well as his scholarly reviews of influential contemporaries such as Franz Boas, J. G. Frazer, Bronislaw Malinowski, and others. Read in the context of these additional pieces, the Essay on the Gift is revealed as a complementary whole, a gesture of both personal and political generosity: Mauss' honor for his fallen colleagues; his aspiration for modern society's recuperation of the gift as a mode of repair; and his own careful, yet critical, reading of his intellectual milieu. The result sets the scene for a whole new generation of readers to study this essay alongside pieces that exhibit the erudition, political commitment, and generous collegial exchange that first nourished the essay into life.

A study of six prominent postwar politicians in the United Kingdom.

Making the Weather is the story of six postwar politicians, all of whom exerted an outsized influence on the political life of the United Kingdom--an influence greater than that of most prime ministers. Vernon Bogdanor's cast includes three from the political Left--Aneurin Nye Bevan, Roy Jenkins, and Tony Benn--and three from the Right--Enoch Powell, Keith Joseph, and Nigel Farage. Each study is a fascinating analysis examining how these men achieved such prominence and influence and how, though very different figures in many ways, they came to dominate the political landscape, often for years.

Each of the six made fundamental contributions to the debate about Britain's future and to the vibrancy of British democracy. From immigration to Europe, from the National Health Service to devolution, the issues and causes that brought these men to prominence are still relevant.

A travelogue revealing the hidden stories of Naples.

In recent years Naples has become, for better or worse, the new destination in Italy. While many of its more unusual features are on display for all to see, the stories behind them remain largely hidden. In Marius Kociejowski's portrait of this baffling city, the serpent can be many things: Vesuvius, the mafia-like Camorra, the outlying Phlegrean Fields (which, geologically speaking, constitute the second most dangerous area on the planet). It is all these things that have, at one time or another, put paid to the higher aspirations of Neapolitans themselves. Naples is simultaneously the city of light, sometimes blindingly so, and the city of darkness, although often the stuff of cliché. The boundary that separates death from life is porous in the extreme: the dead inhabit the world of the living and vice versa. The Serpent Coiled in Naples is a travelogue, a meditation on mortality, and much else besides.

A refreshing approach to the life and work of Austrian writer Stefan Zweig.

In the Future of Yesterday delves into Stefan Zweig's considerable contribution to world literature, rooted in the Austro-Jewish tradition. His privileged social background saw him embrace European culture and cosmopolitanism. A world traveler from the outset he liked to uproot himself, but whether he stayed in London, New York or, eventually, in Brazil, his literary baggage continued to contain the flair of fin de siècle Vienna.

This biography re-examines Zweig's influential time in England and offers new insights into his final years in the United States and Brazil. It discusses some of his prolific literary output in relation to his life and explores his political views on Europe, Zionism, and the world order in greater depth than previous appraisals of Zweig's life.

The book also considers the many contradictions in Zweig's views and attitudes, which included an initial, and surprising, leniency towards fascism. Most importantly though, In the Future of Yesterday presents Zweig as a towering figure of a form of writing that was bursting with life and that was written in the knowledge that there can only be a future if we remain conscious of the past. In that sense, Zweig is a writer for our time.

A memoir that combines political and economic commentary with personal and national history.

Mohammad Tarbush was born in British Mandate Palestine. As an infant, he and his family were forced to evacuate their village together with its entire population, after the Zionist victory that led to the establishment of the State of Israel. Then as landless refugees in the West Bank, the family sank into poverty. When, as a teenager, Tarbush left home one day under the pretext of visiting relatives in Jordan, he in fact set off on a year-long hitchhiking journey to Europe, where he would eventually become a highly successful international banker and a key behind-the-scenes promoter of the Palestinian cause. In My Palestine, Mohammad Tarbush combines poignant personal memoir with incisive political and economic commentary on the tumultuous events that shaped the history of Israel, Palestine, and the modern Middle East.

A deep look into Charles de Gaulle's personality and upbringing and how these factors influenced the creation of the Fifth Republic in France.

Charles de Gaulle, savior of France's honor in 1940 and founder of the Fifth Republic, was a man and leader of deep contradictions. A conservative and a Catholic from a monarchist family, he restored democracy on his return to France in 1944, bringing the Communists into his government. An imperialist, he oversaw the final stages of France's withdrawal from its last colonies in the 1960s. As a soldier, he spent much of his career in opposition to France's military establishment. Yet, as Julian Jackson shows in De Gaulle, it was precisely because of these contradictions that he was able to reconcile so many of the conflicting strands in French politics. In 1958, in response to a coup by the French military in Algeria, De Gaulle introduced a new political system, the Fifth Republic, ushering in a period of stability that has been held to the present day.

A fascinating history of Finland from prehistoric times to the twenty-first century.

The modern nation of Finland is the heir to centuries of history, as a wilderness at the edge of early Europe, a borderland of the Swedish empire, and a Grand Duchy of tsarist Russia. And, as Jonathan Clements's vivid, concise volume shows, it is a tale paved with oddities and excitements galore: from prehistoric reindeer herders to medieval barons, Christian martyrs to Viking queens, and, in the twentieth century, the war heroes who held off the Soviet Union against impossible odds.

Offering accounts of public artworks, literary giants, legends, folktales, and famous figures, Clements provides an indispensable portrait of this fascinating nation.

This updated edition includes expanded coverage on the Second World War, as well as new sections on Finns in America and Russia, the centenary of the republic, and Finland's battle with COVID-19, right up to its historic application to join NATO.

A man who shares his name with a famous singer must grapple with his identity, purpose, and love.

The Leonard Cohen at the center of Leonard Cohen: A Novel is an everyman, a would-be artist, a would-be lover, a would-be tragic figure, yet a man haunted by the greatness of his namesake. He struggles to compete. He struggles to be more than a punchline in his own mind. He struggles, in particular, to write one song as great as the least of the great Leonard Cohen's songs.

At the center of Leonard's life is Daphne. In their meeting on a Greek island, a contemporary fable of Daphne and Apollo plays out. But even with Daphne, Leonard is shadowed by the other Leonard Cohen, whom he fears is the real Apollo. The ancient myth haunts the fated lovers, and the nobody Leonard Cohen's life becomes at once a mystery, a miracle, and a myth on its own terms.

Once upon a time, Apollo fell hard for Daphne, who turned herself into a laurel tree. No less a fate awaits the protagonists of this slender yet universal novel, where art, love, and fame all fatefully intertwine.

New and selected writings by one of the United Kingdom's leading contemporary historians.

As one of Britain's foremost constitutional experts and contemporary historians, Peter Hennessy has spent his professional life unpicking the arcane world of Whitehall and Westminster. He began his career as a journalist for the Times, the Economist, and the Financial Times, developing a network of insider contacts who helped him shine a light on some of the dustiest corners of the British establishment. As a journalist, prize-winning contemporary historian, and political commentator, he has chronicled the workings of the British state with wit, affection, and a healthy sense of the absurd over a five-decade career. Now a crossbench peer, he has, in his own words, moved in with his exhibits. Hennessy is also a stalwart of BBC election night coverage and a regular commentator on BBC Radio 4, bringing a historical and constitutional perspective on current events.

In this new volume, he brings together selected journalism, unpublished lectures, and new writing alongside personal recollections and reflections on his time observing postwar Britain, how it is governed, and those who do the governing. He reflects on the making and unmaking of prime ministers from Attlee to Truss, life in the House of Lords, and the changing constitutional landscape in the wake of Brexit and amid uncertainty about the future of the Union. Interspersed with lectures, journalism, and new pieces, Hennessy also looks back at a fascinating career, reflecting on his own experiences as a young green graduate navigating the hard-nosed world of Fleet Street in the 1970s, bringing to life a cast of characters from a world now largely gone. He revisits his time as a public historian, academic, and crossbench peer with a levity reflected in his belief that history is gossip with footnotes.

Haile Selassie I, the last emperor of Ethiopia, was as brilliant as he was formidable. An early proponent of African unity and independence who claimed to be a descendant of King Solomon, he fought with the Allies against the Axis powers during World War II and was a messianic figure for the Jamaican Rastafarians. But the final years of his empire saw turmoil and revolution, and he was ultimately overthrown and assassinated in a communist coup.

Written by Asfa-Wossen Asserate, Haile Selassie's grandnephew, this is the first major biography of this final king of kings. Asserate, who spent his childhood and adolescence in Ethiopia before fleeing the revolution of 1974, knew Selassie personally and gained intimate insights into life at the imperial court. Introducing him as a reformer and an autocrat whose personal history--with all of its upheavals, promises, and horrors--reflects in many ways the history of the twentieth century itself, Asserate uses his own experiences and painstaking research in family and public archives to achieve a colorful and even-handed portrait of the emperor.

A poetic and historical travelogue of Syracuse, Sicily.

Twenty-five hundred years ago, the city of Syracuse on the eastern coast of Sicily was, for the Ancient Greeks, one of the centers of the classical world. It was in Syracuse that Aeschylus premiered his plays, and to Syracuse that Plato would visit from Athens, where the tyrant Dionysius bought Euripides's lyre at auction, and the languishing nymph Arethusa hid in the papyrus grove.

Living in the city, the poet Joachim Sartorius learned that this history and myth is still present today. At Sartorius's side, we walk with nymphs and cyclops through the old town of Ortigia and meet the people of the city: its notables, police officers, artists, and barbers.

Unraveling the depths of Sicilian history and bringing the juxtaposition, superimposition, and commingling of cultures, styles, and attitudes to life, Sartorius shows a city of ancient luminosity, bringing us, through the baroque, to the contemporary world.

A journey through the history of the English garden.
Garden design in England was entirely reinvented during the 18th-century. The strictly symmetrical gardens of the French Baroque were replaced by artificial landscapes which soon became almost indistinguishable from natural scenery. What continues to govern our notions of a beautiful landscape, even today, is the ideal image of Nature conceived by 18th-century English landscape gardeners. This journey through the history of the English garden introduces us to twelve of the most important, original and beautiful parks in Britain, all of which can be visited today. On the way, we learn how the new landscape garden was born of the spirit of political opposition.

A history of the last century of tensions in the Middle East.

Until the First World War, the Ottoman Empire had dominated the Middle East for four centuries. Its collapse, coupled with the subsequent clash of European imperial policies, unleashed a surge of political feelings among the people of the Middle East as they vied for national self-determination. Over the century that followed, the region has become almost synonymous with unrest and conflict.
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An accessible survey of the last century, Contested Lands tells the story of what happened in the Middle East and what it means today. T. G. Fraser analyzes the fault lines of the tension, including the damage brought by imperialism, the creation of the State of Israel, competition between secular rulers and emerging democratic and theocratic forces, and the rise of Arab Nationalism in the face of fraying regional alliances and the Islamic revival. Fraser offers a close look at how the events of the twenty-first century--the tragedy of 9/11, the Arab Spring, and Syria's civil war--have combined with complex social and economic changes to transform the region. Untangling the history of the Middle East, this book offers a detailed and insightful picture of the region and why its heritage remains important today.

A well-known novelist and journalist from the coastal city of Jableh, Samar Yazbek witnessed the beginning four months of the uprising first-hand and actively participated in a variety of public actions and budding social movements. Throughout this period she kept a diary of personal reflections on, and observations of, this historic time. Because of the outspoken views she published in print and online, Yazbek quickly attracted the attention and fury of the regime, vicious rumours started to spread about her disloyalty to the homeland and the Alawite community to which she belongs. The lyrical narrative describes her struggle to protect herself and her young daughter, even as her activism propels her into a horrifying labyrinth of insecurity after she is forced into living on the run and detained multiple times, excluded from the Alawite community and renounced by her family, her hometown and even her childhood friends. With rare empathy and journalistic prowess Samar Yazbek compiled oral testimonies from ordinary Syrians all over the country. Filled with snapshots of exhilarating hope and horrifying atrocities, she offers us a wholly unique perspective on the Syrian uprising. Hers is a modest yet powerful testament to the strength and commitment of countless unnamed Syrians who have united to fight for their freedom. These diaries will inspire all those who read them, and challenge the world to look anew at the trials and tribulations of the Syrian uprising.

Have you ever wanted to find out more about reptiles? What about illustrating your own book? Well, if your answer to either of these questions is yes, then this might just be the book for you. Inside, you'll find interesting introductions to a variety of different areas of reptile life, along with quick facts, questions you can answer and, at the end, a pop quiz where you can test the knowledge of reptiles which you can gained by reading this book. So far, this may seem like any other book of facts, but unlike almost every other such book, you are allowed to draw in this one. In fact, you are actively encouraged to do so Through this, you will become the illustrator of your very own encyclopaedia chapter all about reptiles.

This Draw Your Own Encyclopaedia book from Pictish Beast Publications is designed to encourage children to learn about the world around them, and to learn how to search for information on the internet and from books, all while having a little bit of fun

The first biography in a decade of Afghan resistance leader Ahmad Shah Massoud.

When the Soviets invaded Afghanistan in 1979, the forces of resistance were disparate. Many groups were caught up in fighting each other and competing for Western arms. The exception were those commanded by Ahmad Shah Massoud, the military strategist and political operator who solidified the resistance and undermined the Russian occupation, leading resistance members to a series of defensive victories.

Sandy Gall followed Massoud during Soviet incursions and reported on the war in Afghanistan, and he draws on this first-hand experience in his biography of this charismatic guerrilla commander. Afghan Napoleon includes excerpts from the surviving volumes of Massoud's prolific diaries--many translated into English for the first time--which detail crucial moments in his personal life and during his time in the resistance. Born into a liberalizing Afghanistan in the 1960s, Massoud ardently opposed communism, and he rose to prominence by coordinating the defense of the Panjsher Valley against Soviet offensives. Despite being under-equipped and outnumbered, he orchestrated a series of victories over the Russians. Massoud's assassination in 2001, just two days before the attack on the Twin Towers, is believed to have been ordered by Osama bin Laden. Despite the ultimate frustration of Massoud's attempts to build political consensus, he is recognized today as a national hero.

This is the first volume in the Practical Statistics for Biologists Workbooks series. It provides biologists with an easy-to-follow introduction to conducting statistical analysis in R. It does this through a series of practical exercises based on easy-to-follow flow diagrams that show biologists exactly how to do a variety of key tasks.

These include: 1. Importing data sets and preparing them for analysis; 2. Creating graphs from them; 3. Assessing and transforming their distributions; 4. Using statistics to compare data between groups; 5. Conducting correlations and regressions.

Together, these represent the key tasks biologists need to be able to carry out to start analysing their data using R. This means it provides the perfect practical introduction for any biologist interested in learning how to use R to do statistics.

This book is also well-suited to act as a course text for those who wish to teach introductory statistics courses using R to undergraduate, masters or postgraduate students in any biological field. This is because it not only provides a practical guide suitable for accompanying the teaching of statistical theory, it also provides off-the-shelf exercises, complete with suitable data sets, that can be used as the basis for practical classes.

An accessible biography of Otto von Bismarck, Germany's first chancellor.

Otto von Bismarck (1815-1898) has gone down in history as the Iron Chancellor, a reactionary and militarist whose 1871 unification of Germany put Europe on a path of disaster leading up to World War I. But, as this new edition of his accessible biography shows, the real Bismarck was a far more complex character.

A leading historian of nineteenth- and twentieth-century history, Volker Ullrich demonstrates that Bismarck--the Founder of the Reich--was, in fact, an opponent of liberal German nationalism. After the wars of 1866 and 1870, Bismarck spent the rest of his career working to preserve peace in Europe and to protect the empire he had created. Despite his reputation as an enemy of socialism, he introduced comprehensive health and unemployment insurance for German workers, and he was concerned with maintaining stability and harmony far beyond Germany's newly unified borders. Comprehensive and balanced, Bismarck shows us the value of looking anew at this monumental figure's role in European history.

An in-depth exploration of Ukraine through encounters with the many different people who live there.

Will someone pay for the spilled blood? No. Nobody. Mikhail Bulgakov composed this ominous and prophetic phrase in Kiev amid the turmoil of the Russian civil war. Since then, Ukrainian borders have shifted constantly, and its people have suffered numerous military foreign interventions. Ukraine has only existed as an independent state since 1991, and what exactly it was before then is controversial among its people as well as its European neighbors.

In Black Earth: A Journey through the Ukraine, journalist and celebrated travel writer Jens Mühling takes readers across the country amid the ousting of former president Viktor Yanukovych and the Russian annexation of Crimea. Mühling delves deep into daily life in Ukraine, narrating his encounters with Ukrainian nationalists and old communists, Crimean Tatars and Cossacks, smugglers, and soldiers. Black Earth connects all these stories to convey an unconventional and unfiltered view of Ukraine, a country at the crossroads of Europe and Asia and the center of countless conflicts.

In this paperback edition, a new preface is included that takes into account recent developments up to the 2022 war between Russia and Ukraine.

Winston Churchill (1874-1965, KG 1953) Conservative politician, Prime Minister 1940-5 and 1951-5. Perhaps the most determined and inspirational war leader in Britain's history, it was during that darkest summer of 1940 that Churchill's astonishing oratory seemed to rally the nation, from his opening statement to the House of Commons on May 13th that he had 'nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat'. Each successive crisis produced phrases that have resounded ever since, from the danger of invasion after the evacuation of troops from Dunkirk ('their finest hour') to the Battle of Britain (his tribute to the 'Few'). However, he lost the general election in June 1945. But he returned to Downing Street in 1951, finally retiring in 1955.