The Annenbergs

The Annenbergs
Author: John E. Cooney
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Total Pages: 456
Release: 1982
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN:

"This is the colorful and dramatic biography of two of America's most controversial entrepreneurs: Moses Louis Annenberg, 'the racing wire king, ' who built his fortune in racketeering, invested it in publishing, and lost much of it in the biggest tax evasion case in United States history; and his son, Walter, launcher of TV Guide and Seventeen magazines and former ambassador to Great Britain."--Jacket.

Sex Museums

Sex Museums
Author: Jennifer Tyburczy
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Total Pages: 313
Release: 2016-01-11
Genre: Art
ISBN: 022631524X

Museums have lengthy history, going back to the Renaissance Cabinets of Curiosity, and they are indices of changing fashions of perception insofar as the categories museum curators use to classify objects change over time. The major focus of Tyburczy s study is sexuality on display, which sets up, in turn, her investigation of the effects of museum display on the history of sexuality. Historical context for the museum is one of her themes (and how categories of normacly and perversity change over time), with another themes being the work of sex museums n redefining what sex means in the modern public sphere; she also folds in consideration of the pleasures and dangers of exhibiting marginalized sexual subjects (women, nonwhite races, LGBT individuals, and the like); last, she explores the paradox of asserting (as she does) that all museums are sex museums bodies move around and toward objects on display, they reshape the typical dances of museum-goers along with their preconscious motivations in visiting a museum. She proposes that explicit display or restagings of sexual artifacts provides new ways for approaching and understanding issues of desire, sexual identity, and sexual practices as they intersect with the history of the modern museum and with sexual history during the past two centuries. Her fieldwork sites are: the Leather Archives & Museum in Chicago, the Museum of Sex in New York, the World Erotic Art Museum in Miami Beach, and El Museo del Sexo in Mexico City. Such institutions allow Tyburczy to show how alternative sexuality (inclusive of kink, fetish, and sadomasochistic cultures) and slavery dangerously crisscross on the surface of objects. There are plenty of cases here, in short, to keep the casual reader titillated and the erudite reader surprised."

I Have a Dog

I Have a Dog
Author: Charlotte Lance
Publisher: Allen & Unwin
Total Pages: 36
Release: 2014-05-01
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 1743317816

I have a dog. An inconvenient dog. When I wake up, my dog is inconvenient. When I'm getting dressed, my dog is inconvenient. And when I'm making tunnels, my dog is SUPER inconvenient. But sometimes, an inconvenient dog can be big and warm and cuddly. Sometimes, an inconvenient dog can be the most comforting friend in the whole wide world.

Siena

Siena
Author: Jane Tylus
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Total Pages: 266
Release: 2015-05-15
Genre: History
ISBN: 022620782X

"Siena: City of Secrets" is a charming, intimate portrait of this most secretive of cities, often overlooked by travelers to Italy. Part cultural history and intellectual memoir, part travelogue and guide book, Tylus writes with a novelist s flair, taking the reader on a quest of discovery through the well- and not-so-well-travelled roads and alleys of the ancient city. Today, Siena can appear on the surface standoffish, a bit static, and very old-fashioned, especially when compared to its larger, flashier cousins Roma and Firenze. But first impressions wear away as we learn from Tylus that Siena was, over the long view, an innovator among the cities of Italy: the first to pave its streets and main plaza (1298), the first to publicly fund its university (1321), the first to employ the promissory note (1720), the first to ban automobile traffic from its city center (1965), and much else. We also hear about Siena s great artistic and architectural past, hidden behind centuries of over painting and rebuilding, and about its resident apocryphal and not-so-apocryphal Saints. And about the distinctive characters of its different neighborhoods ( contrade ), exemplified in the highly competitive horserace that takes place annually in the city and that serves as both a dividing and a uniting force for the Sienese. Throughout we are guided by the assuring voice of a seasoned scholar with a gift for spinning a good story and with an eye for the telling detail, whether we are traveling Siena s modern highways or digging through ancient Etruscan tombs; or shadowing the path walked by medieval pilgrims; or tracking the city s financial history from its beginnings as the once-great center for commerce in the sixteenth century to its near collapse in January 2013; or celebrating literary giants Dante and Calvino or giants of the arena, Siena s Series A soccer team. A useful and entertaining guide for students of Italian culture (Tylus has written discursive, reader-friendly endnotes and included a full bibliography in the back matter), the book will also appeal to the traveler and tourist (virtual or otherwise) interested in learning more about this ancient, mysterious, reclusive citydespite itself."

Plankton

Plankton
Author: Christian Sardet
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Total Pages: 223
Release: 2015-06-05
Genre: Nature
ISBN: 022618871X

A sequence of elaborate close-up photographs of a diverse range of plankton organisms displays their phosphorescent beauty and translucent colors against contrasting black backgrounds while offering historical and scientific discussions for each depicted species. --Publisher's description.

The Dead Ladies Project

The Dead Ladies Project
Author: Jessa Crispin
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Total Pages: 249
Release: 2015-09-22
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 022627845X

When Jessa Crispin was thirty, she left Chicago and took off for Berlin. Half a decade later, she's still on the road, in search not so much of a home as of understanding.Fascinated by exile, Crispin travels an itinerary of of places that have drawn writers who needed to break free from their origins and start afresh.She reflects on Maud Gonne fomenting revolution, on Nora Barnacl, Rebecca West, Margaret Anderson and Jean Rhys.

The Dare

The Dare
Author: Harley Laroux
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2023-10-31
Genre:
ISBN:

Jessica Martin is not a nice girl. As Prom Queen and Captain of the cheer squad, she'd ruled her school mercilessly, looking down her nose at everyone she deemed unworthy. The most unworthy of them all? The "freak," Manson Reed: her favorite victim. But a lot changes after high school. A freak like him never should have ended up at the same Halloween party as her. He never should have been able to beat her at a game of Drink or Dare. He never should have been able to humiliate her in front of everyone. Losing the game means taking the dare: a dare to serve Manson for the entire night as his slave. It's a dare that Jessica's pride - and curiosity - won't allow her to refuse. What ensues is a dark game of pleasure and pain, fear and desire. Is it only a game? Only revenge? Only a dare? Or is it something more? The Dare is an 18+ erotic romance novella and a prequel to the Losers Duet. Reader discretion is strongly advised. This book contains graphic sexual scenes, intense scenes of BDSM, and strong language. A full content note can be found in the front matter of the book.

Elephant Don

Elephant Don
Author: Caitlin O'Connell
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Total Pages: 272
Release: 2015-04-06
Genre: Nature
ISBN: 022610611X

Elephant male are often portrayed as aggressive loners, who shape the world around them by brute force. But they can also be gentle and playful giants, even empathic. "Uncertain Throne "brings Entourage from LA to Mushara, showing how the lives of male elephants is really one of time with a posse, entourages of mixed ages, with all of the social dynamics groups of men in other species experience. The story follows that of Greg, and a band of his friends, with days at the water hole, evenings spent defending turf, and searching out mates. "Uncertain Throne "is Greg's story, but it is every bit as much a story about O'Connell, who, like Jane Goodall and others who inspire her, has dedicated herself to learning about elephants, and in turn sharing what she has learned with those of us who aren't enamored of sleeping on elevated wooden platforms in Namibia that keep lions out of reach but are scalable by a wide array of other visitors--snakes included. "An Uncertain Throne "tracks Greg and his group of males for a decade, starting in 2004. In a series of short chapters, starting in the present but winding back through previous field seasons, O Connell narrates and aims to understand the vicissitudes of male friendship, power struggles, and play. She captures for readers the incredible repertoire of elephant behavior, communication included. Greg it at times a tyrant, and at others a benevolent dictator. And he possesses what it takes to stay at the top, even as the environment and landscape morph around him with the dynamics of wet and dry years. Life for male elephants is uncertain, and full of tragedy and triumph alike. And this gives us all a sense of what it's like to walk in their company."

How Dogs Work

How Dogs Work
Author: Raymond Coppinger
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Total Pages: 264
Release: 2015-10-22
Genre: Pets
ISBN: 022632270X

An “entertaining and informative” look at the evolutionary biology that explains canine behavior, with photos included (Lynette Hart, author of The Perfect Puppy). What actually drives dogs to do the things they do? What’s going on in their fur-covered heads as they look at us with their big, expressive eyes? Biologist Raymond Coppinger and cognitive scientist Mark Feinstein know something about these questions, and this is their guide to understanding your dog and its behavior. Approaching dogs as a biological species rather than just as pets, Coppinger and Feinstein distill decades of research and field experiments to explain in simple terms the evolutionary foundations underlying dog behaviors. They examine the central importance of the shape of dogs: how their physical body (including the genes and the brain) affects behavior, how shape interacts with the environment as animals grow, and how all of this has developed over time. Shape, they tell us, is what makes a champion sled dog or a Border collie that can successfully herd sheep. Other chapters explore such mysteries as why dogs play; whether dogs have minds, and if so what kinds of things they might know; why dogs bark; how dogs feed and forage; and the influence of the early relationship between mother and pup. Going far beyond the cozy lap dog, Coppinger and Feinstein are equally fascinated by what we can learn from the adaptations of dogs, wolves, coyotes, jackals, dingoes, and even pumas in the wild, as well as the behavior of working animals like guarding and herding dogs. Isn’t it time we knew more about who Fido and Trixie really are? How Dogs Work provides some keys to unlocking the origins of many of our dogs’ most common, most puzzling, and most endearing behaviors.

Difficult Reputations

Difficult Reputations
Author: Gary Alan Fine
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Total Pages: 290
Release: 2001-02-15
Genre: Art
ISBN: 9780226249407

We take reputations for granted. Believing in the bad and the good natures of our notorious or illustrious forebears is part of our shared national heritage. Yet we are largely ignorant of how such reputations came to be, who was instrumental in creating them, and why. Even less have we considered how villains, just as much as heroes, have helped our society define its values. Presenting essays on America's most reviled traitor, its worst president, and its most controversial literary ingénue (Benedict Arnold, Warren G. Harding, and Lolita), among others, sociologist Gary Alan Fine analyzes negative, contested, and subcultural reputations. Difficult Reputations offers eight compelling historical case studies as well as a theoretical introduction situating the complex roles in culture and history that negative reputations play. Arguing the need for understanding real conditions that lead to proposed interpretations, as well as how reputations are given meaning over time, this book marks an important contribution to the sociologies of culture and knowledge.