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World Englishes: An Introduction (The English Language Series)
by Gunnel Melchers Philip ShawWorld Englishes, Second Edition provides you with an engaging overview of the global variations in vocabulary, grammar, phonology and pragmatics of English as it is used worldwide.It introduces you to the principles of linguistics variation and provides coverage on the roots of English (including Scots), the spread of English, variation of English as a second language, and trends for the future.Thoroughly updated in line with recent research, World Englishes Second Edition also includes: additional material on small native communities, the anglicization of EU agencies and the effects of media exposure full discussion throughout of internet-mediated communication, such as the language used on Facebook and in chat-roooms descriptions of twenty-first century developing varieties such as China English chapters that begin with a 'focus' question and end with a 'discussion' question to encourage you to reflect on what you are learning, chapter by chapter a revised glossary of technical terms that allows you to revise meanings quickly and easily 20 audio examples of speakers of native and non-native English from all five continents, available for you to download from http://www.routledge.com/cw/melchers/ Offering a thorough and detailed descriptive account of all the main varieties of English across the globe, World Englishes, Second Edition provides a balanced discussion of political issues and the socio-linguistics background to the varieties of English spoken and written, face-to-face, on paper and online, in the twenty-first century.Gunnel Melchers is Professor Emerita, Department of English, Stockholm University.Philip Shaw is Professor, Department of English, Stockholm University.
World Englishes: An Introduction (English Language Ser.)
by Gunnel Melchers Philip Shaw Peter SundkvistThe third edition of World Englishes provides an engaging overview of the global variations in vocabulary, grammar, phonology and pragmatics of English as it is used worldwide. This book introduces the principles of linguistic variation and provides coverage on the roots of English, the spread of English, variations of English as a second language and trends for the future. Thoroughly updated throughout in line with recent research, this third edition now also includes: 43 audio examples of speakers of native (17) and of non-native (26) English reflecting the global variety of the language, available to download from www.routledge.com/9781138487659; descriptions of selected twenty-first century developing varieties including Chinese English, Russian English and Vietnamese English; greater linguistic detail on second-language English in many areas; improved and updated descriptions of first-language varieties; a new framework for describing lexical variation; full discussion throughout of English in social media. Offering a thorough and detailed descriptive account of all the main varieties of English across the globe, World Englishes provides a balanced discussion of political issues and the sociolinguistic background to variation in English spoken and written, face-to-face, on paper and online, in the twenty-first century. This book is essential reading for students approaching this topic for the first time.
World Englishes, Global Classrooms: The Future of English Literary and Linguistic Studies
by Kirsten Hemmy Chandrika BalasubramanianThis book provides a critical overview of contemporary world issues in Language and Literary Studies. It offers specific ideas as to how to move away from the traditional literary canon, on the one hand, and traditional native-speaker norms in English language teaching, on the other. It delivers a global perspective of both the growth and the challenges in ELT studies around the world. Following the introduction, the first section of the book contains chapters from international scholars on recognizing and diversifying Englishes in today’s language and translation classrooms. Specifically, the chapters focus on issues such as the cultural hegemony of a monolithic English, English and university pedagogy, English as a gatekeeper, and the role of a reconceived English education in promoting cross-cultural understanding. The second section focuses on the interaction of literature and culture, with specific chapters focusing on decolonizing the traditional literary canon, defining a global text, representing cultural interactions in literary texts, and emerging genres in contemporary English literature. Both sections of the book question the existing boundaries in a post-2020 world, specifically in a non-western world. It is an indispensable resource for scholars in cultural studies, linguistics, and literary studies.
World Englishes in English Language Teaching
by Alex BarattaThis book provides an in-depth exploration of World Englishes and their place in the English as a Foreign Language (EFL) classroom. It opens with a critical assessment of the research to date that includes analysis of competing and complementary terms such as English as an International Language (EIL), Global English, English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) and 'Glocal English'. Here, and throughout the work, the author problematizes the terminologies used to define and describe Englishes, arguing for example for the need to distinguish between Chinglish and China English. The book then turns to an examination of three case study varieties of non-inner circle English: Konglish, Singlish and Indian English; before exploring the results of an original empirical study into language attitudes concerning several varieties of English among language teachers and learners. Finally, sample exercises for the classroom are provided. This book will be of particular interest to language teachers and teacher trainers, and to students and scholars of EFL and applied linguistics more broadly.
World Englishes in the Arab Gulf States (Routledge Studies in World Englishes)
by Kay GallagherKay Gallagher gathers insightful research from across the lower Arabian gulf to uncover the richness and diversity of World Englishes within the contemporary Arab Gulf states. Her volume presents novel research from this emerging nexus of rapid economic, social, and linguistic development.The countries of the lower Arabian Gulf (Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates) have, to varying degrees, harnessed English as an internal working language and as a means to communicate globally. Gulf countries that have not featured much in the WE literature to date are highlighted in this volume, including Bahrain and Kuwait, and the use of English in the emerging colossus of Saudi Arabia is examined. Novel insights from more prominent locations are presented here for the first time, including the use of English to counter negative Islamic stereotypes during the FIFA World Cup 2022 in Qatar, and its role in ensuring safety in a multilingual, high-risk industry in the UAE. New research into the challenges encountered in English-medium higher education in Oman and Kuwait is reported also. The linguistic features of “Gulf English” are explored, and the interplay and tensions between Arabic and English and other languages are addressed. The Englishes of expatriate populations in the Gulf are examined, including the English identity of majority and minority resident transnational groups. The issue of whether a distinctive variety of Gulf English has emerged in this multilingual melting pot, characterized by transience and flux, is debatable, and the establishment of “Gulf English” as an endonormative new variety remains elusive.This book will appeal to those with an interest in World Englishes in general, as well as those who are interested in the roles and varieties of English in use in this globally unique and rapidly evolving context.The six states of the Lower Gulf - Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) - form an economic and political alliance known as the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). The region’s oil-rich economies have attracted millions of migrant workers, both blue-collar and white-collar, from East and West. Transnational workers have brought linguistic diversity along with multiple varieties of English to this traditionally Arabic-speaking region, amplifying an increased internal demand for English, such that English is shifting in the Gulf from a foreign language to a lingua franca.
A World Full of Poems
by DKA gorgeously illustrated introduction to poetry for children, featuring poems about everything from science, sports, and space, to friendship, family, and feelings.This thoughtfully crafted anthology is perfect for children new to verse and for young poetry fans seeking out new favorites. Explore poetry from a diverse selection of contemporary and historical poets, covering a broad range of topics—from personal subjects like emotions and family, to the wonders of the natural environment. Carefully selected works encourage children to see the poetry in everything and to embrace the beauty of their everyday lives.Prompts and activities inspire children to create their own poetry, and devices like rhyme, repetition, and alliteration are introduced and explained in a fun and accessible manner.
World-Games: The Tradition of Anti-Realist Revolt (Routledge Revivals)
by Cristopher NashContemporary readers face a literature that seems to ‘speak for’ them, yet they often struggle to say just how or why. Out of the deluge of works from such writers as Barth, Barthelme, Beckett, Borges, Brooke-Rose, Burroughs, Butor, Calvino, Cortázar, Federman, Fuentes, Le Guin, Márquez, McElroy, Nabokov, O’Brien, Pynchon, Robbe-Grillet, Sanguineti, Sarraute, Sollers, Sukenick, Tolkien, Vonnegut, new words and world-models that demand understanding fill the air. Yet they seem frequently beyond reach because the framework of ideas within which this often brilliant but seemingly bewilderingly disparate flood of discourses might make sense remains largely unexpressed.Beginning with the first concisely concerted assessment in English of the premisses and practice of Realism as viewed by those who feel that there is no choice but to move on, this book (first published in 1987) confronts the vocabulary and rhetoric of current radical theory with the actual procedures of post-war fiction. In a spirit of challenging experiment, it scrutinizes the themes, motifs, and strategies of contemporary narrative and reveals an unsuspected continuity of hitherto concealed premisses and dilemmas built into recent postmodern and poststructuralist thought. As provocative as the literature it regards, it proposes that anti-Realism is no longer merely a ‘movement’ – that it has become a massive and equally conventionalized and problematical tradition living alongside Realism throughout the Western world.
World History: Journeys from Past to Present
by Candice Goucher Linda WaltonWorld History: Journeys from Past to Present uses common themes to present an integrated and comprehensive survey of human history from its origins to the present day. By weaving together thematic and regional perspectives in coherent chronological narratives, Goucher and Walton transform the overwhelming sweep of the human past into a truly global story that is relevant to the contemporary issues of our time. Revised and updated throughout, the second edition of this innovative textbook combines clear chronological progression with thematically focused chapters divided into six parts as follows: PART 1. EMERGENCE (Human origins to 500 CE) PART 2. ORDER (1 CE-1500 CE) PART 3. CONNECTIONS (500-1600 CE) PART 4. BRIDGING WORLDS (1300-1800 CE) PART 5. TRANSFORMING LIVES (1500-1900) PART 6. FORGING A GLOBAL COMMUNITY (1800- Present) The expanded new edition features an impressive full-color design with a host of illustrations, maps and primary source excerpts integrated throughout. Chapter opening timelines supply context for the material ahead, while end of chapter questions and annotated additional resources provide students with the tools for independent study. Each chapter and part boasts introductory and summary essays that guide the reader in comprehending the relevant theme. In addition, the companion website offers a range of resources including an interactive historical timeline, an indispensable study skills section for students, tips for teaching and learning thematically, and PowerPoint slides, lecture material and discussion questions in a password protected area for instructors. This textbook provides a basic introduction for all students of World History, incorporating thematic perspectives that encourage critical thinking, link to globally relevant contemporary issues, and stimulate further study.
World History: From 1500 CE to the Present
by Candice Goucher Linda WaltonWorld History: Journeys from Past to Present uses common themes to present an integrated and comprehensive survey of human history from its origins to the present day. By weaving together thematic and regional perspectives in coherent chronological narratives, Goucher and Walton transform the overwhelming sweep of the human past into a truly global story that is relevant to the contemporary issues of our time. Revised and updated throughout, the second edition of this innovative textbook combines clear chronological progression with thematically focused chapters. In this volume, chapters are divided into three parts as follows: PART 4. BRIDGING WORLDS (1300-1800 CE) PART 5. TRANSFORMING LIVES (1500-1900) PART 6. FORGING A GLOBAL COMMUNITY (1800- Present) The expanded new edition boasts an impressive full-color design with a host of illustrations, maps and primary source excerpts integrated throughout. Chapter opening timelines supply context for the material ahead, while end of chapter questions and annotated additional resources provide students with the tools for independent study. Each chapter and part boasts introductory and summary essays that explain and guide the reader in comprehending the relevant theme. In addition, the companion website offers a range of resources including an interactive historical timeline, an indispensable study skills section for students, tips for teaching and learning thematically, and PowerPoint slides, lecture material and discussion questions in a password protected area for instructors. This textbook provides a basic introduction for all students of World History, while at the same time incorporating the thematic perspectives that encourage critical thinking, link to globally relevant contemporary issues, and stimulate further study. ?
World History: Journeys from Past to Present - VOLUME 1: From Human Origins to 1500 CE
by Candice Goucher Linda WaltonWorld History: Journeys from Past to Present uses common themes to present an integrated and comprehensive survey of human history from its origins to the present day. By weaving together thematic and regional perspectives in coherent chronological narratives, Goucher and Walton transform the overwhelming sweep of the human past into a truly global story that is relevant to the contemporary issues of our time. Revised and updated throughout, the second edition of this innovative textbook combines clear chronological progression with thematically focused chapters. In this volume, chapters are divided into three parts as follows: PART 1. EMERGENCE (Human origins to 500 CE) PART 2. ORDER (1 CE-1500 CE) PART 3. CONNECTIONS (500-1600 CE) The expanded new edition features an impressive full-color design with a host of illustrations, maps and primary source excerpts integrated throughout. Chapter opening timelines supply context for the material ahead, while end of chapter questions and annotated additional resources provide students with the tools for independent study. Each chapter and part boasts introductory and summary essays that guide the reader in comprehending the relevant theme. In addition, the companion website offers a range of resources including an interactive historical timeline, an indispensable study skills section for students, tips for teaching and learning thematically, and PowerPoint slides, lecture material and discussion questions in a password protected area for instructors. This textbook provides a basic introduction for all students of World History, incorporating thematic perspectives that encourage critical thinking, link to globally relevant contemporary issues, and stimulate further study.
World History: Journey Across Time, The Early Ages
by Jackson J. SpielvogelJourney Across Time: The Early Ages is an all-new middle school world history program organized chronologically from the first humans and ancient civilizations to the present. Co-authored by National Geographic and Jackson Spielvogel, Journey Across Times: The Early Ages' engaging narrative and outstanding visuals transport students back in time. As co-author, National Geographic ensures that students understand the influence of geography on historical events. The result is a standards-based program with important geography skills embedded in every lesson. Journey Across Time: The Early Ages is available in a full volume and also as Course 1 (7000 B.C. to A.D. 800) and Course 2 (A.D. 500 to A.D. 1750).
A World History of Chinese Literature
by Yingjin ZhangProviding a broad introduction to the area, A World History of Chinese Literature maps the field of Chinese literature across its various worlds, looking both within – at the world of Chinese literature, its history, linguistic, cultural, local, and regional specificities – and without – at the way Chinese literature has circulated throughout the world. The thematic focus allows for a broad number of key categories, such as authors, genres, genders, regions, as well as innovative explorations of new topics and issues such as inter-arts performativity and transmediation. The sections cover the circulation and reception of China in world literature, as well as the worlds of: Chinese literature across the globe Borders, oceans, and rainforests Comparative literary genres Translingual writers and scholars Gender configurations Translation and transmediation With a focus on the twentieth and twenty-first century, this collection intervenes in current debates on global Chinese literature, Sinophone and Sinoscript studies, and the production and reception of literary works by ethnic Chinese in non-Sinitic languages, as well as Anglophone literature inspired by Chinese literary tradition. It will be of interest to anyone working on or studying Chinese literature, language and culture, as well as world literatures in relation to China.
The World in a Book: Al-Nuwayri and the Islamic Encyclopedic Tradition
by Elias MuhannaShihab al-Din al-Nuwayri was a fourteenth-century Egyptian polymath and the author of one of the greatest encyclopedias of the medieval Islamic world—a thirty-one-volume work entitled The Ultimate Ambition in the Arts of Erudition. A storehouse of knowledge, this enormous book brought together materials on nearly every conceivable subject, from cosmology, zoology, and botany to philosophy, poetry, ethics, statecraft, and history. Composed in Cairo during the golden age of Islamic encyclopedic activity, the Ultimate Ambition was one of hundreds of large-scale compendia, literary anthologies, dictionaries, and chronicles produced at this time—an effort that was instrumental in organizing the archive of medieval Islamic thought.In the first study of this landmark work in a European language, Elias Muhanna explores its structure and contents, sources and influences, and reception and impact in the Islamic world and Europe. He sheds new light on the rise of encyclopedic literature in the learned cities of the Mamluk Empire and situates this intellectual movement alongside other encyclopedic traditions in the ancient, medieval, Renaissance, and Enlightenment periods. He also uncovers al-Nuwayri’s world: a scene of bustling colleges, imperial chanceries, crowded libraries, and religious politics.Based on award-winning scholarship, The World in a Book opens up new areas in the comparative study of encyclopedic production and the transmission of knowledge.
The World in a Grain of Sand: Postcolonial Literature and Radical Universalism
by Nivedita MajumdarRadical universalism vs postcolonial theoryThe World in a Grain of Sand offers a framework for reading literature from the global South that goes against the grain of dominant theories in cultural studies, especially, postcolonial theory. It critiques the valorization of the local in cultural theories typically accompanied by a rejection of universal categories - viewed as Eurocentric projections. But the privileging of the local usually amounts to an exercise in exoticization of the South. The book argues that the rejection of Eurocentric theories can be complemented by embracing another, richer and non-parochial form of universalism. Through readings of texts from India, Sri Lanka, Palestine and Egypt, the book shows that the fine grained engagement with culture, the mapping of ordinary lives not just as objects but subjects of their history, is embedded in much of postcolonial literature in a radical universalism - one that is rooted in local realities, but is able to unearth in them the needs, conflicts and desires that stretch across cultures and time. It is a universalism recognized by Marx and steeped in the spirit of anti-colonialism, but hostile to any whiff of exoticism.
The World in Books: 52 Works of Great Short Nonfiction (Great Short Books)
by Kenneth C. DavisA delightful, inspiring, and idea-rich selection of fifty-two of the best, most important short nonfiction works of all time—from Plato to Michael Pollan and Dante to Joan Didion—chosen by historian, lifelong reader, and bestselling author of Don&’t Know Much About History.From ancient times to the present day, The World in Books offers a wide-ranging historical education through pleasure reading—and a fantastic introduction to some of the most thought-provoking, profound, and interesting nonfiction works of all time. From Sun Tzu&’s The Art of War to bell hooks&’s All About Love, as well as such recent classics as Barbara Ehrenreich&’s Nickel and Dimed and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie&’s We Should All Be Feminists, Davis&’s guide suggests a world of nonfiction books and explains just why they&’re so historically meaningful and culturally relevant today. The perfect guide for the modern-day reader, these fifty-two selections provide an ideal way to explore some of the most enduring, influential books ever published, introducing us anew to world-shaping historical figures, events, and ideas.
The World in Perspective: Meaning and Intentionality
by Min HuangThis book aims to reclaim the significance of meaning within the philosophical thinking that has evolved from Descartes and Locke through Kant, Husserl, and Frege, focusing on intentionality—the mind's directedness toward the reality.The author opens with an epistemological account of analyticity and illustrates the central role of intentionality within it. A transcendentalist view on intentionality is then adopted, in contrast with the prevalent naturalist stance. Addressing key themes in the philosophy of language—truth, representation, propositions, predication, reference, and sense— the book presents a framework for a meaning–intentionality theory, which integrates key insights from Frege, Husserl, Wittgenstein, Dummett, and Davidson.The book will appeal to scholars and graduate students of epistemology, philosophy of language, philosophy of mind, theory of meaning, and theory of intentionality.
The World in Play: Portraits of a Victorian Concept
by Matthew KaiserNineteenth-century Britain was a world in play. The Victorians invented the weekend and built hundreds of parks and playgrounds. In the wake of Darwin, they re-imagined nature as a contest for survival. The playful child became a symbol of the future. A world in play means two things: a world in flux and a world trapped, like Alice in Wonderland, in a ludic microcosm of itself. The book explores the extent to which play (competition, leisure, mischief, luck, festivity, imagination) pervades nineteenth-century literature and culture and forms the foundations of the modern self. Play made the Victorian world cohere and betrayed the illusoriness of that coherence. This is the paradox of modernity. Kaiser gives an account of how certain Victorian misfits—working-class melodramatists of the 1830s, the reclusive Emily Brontë, free spirits Robert Louis Stevenson and John Muir, mischievous Oscar Wilde—struggled to make sense of this new world. In so doing, they discovered the art of modern life.
The World Is a Book, Indeed: Writing, Reading, and Traveling
by Peter LaSalleThe World Is a Book, Indeed chronicles in eleven rich personal essays the ongoing quest of award-winning writer Peter LaSalle to embark on offbeat, often startlingly revelatory literary travel. LaSalle spends a summer roaming the lesser-known quarters of Paris, haunted by the writing of the French surrealists. In Hanoi, he meets for beers with the editors—two military men—of the Army Literature and Arts Magazine while investigating Vietnam’s acknowledged great modern novel, Bao Ninh’s The Sorrow of War. Other pieces find LaSalle on a strange nighttime drive through the streets of sprawling São Paulo in search of landmarks associated with Brazilian modernist poetry, bouncing around Africa to interview writers there when very young, exploring Argentine author Jorge Luis Borges's memorable stay in Texas, and traveling to Istanbul, Lisbon, Tunis, and elsewhere, as he considers major writers amid the settings that produced their works. Deeply felt and replete with insight into literature and life itself, even capable of evoking valid mind leaps in its innovative approaches, this is a collection for readers who love books and want to learn more about the places they originated, presented by a well-traveled guide with an intimate voice and a gift for the essay form.
The World is a Text: Writing, Reading, and Thinking about Visual and Popular Culture (Fourth Edition)
by Jonathan Silverman Dean RaderThis illustrated cultural studies reader directly engages the process of reading and writing about the “texts” one sees in everyday life. Using the lenses of rhetoric, semiotics and cultural studies, students are encouraged to become effective academic writers while gaining deeper insights into such popular culture categories as movies, technology, race, music, ethnicity, television, media, public space, and more.
The World Is Made of Stories
by David R. LoyIn this dynamic and utterly novel presentation, David Loy explores the fascinating proposition that the stories we tell--about what is and is not possible, about ourselves, about right and wrong, life and death, about the world and everything in it--become the very building blocks of our experience and of reality itself. Loy uses an intriguing mixture of quotations from familiar and less-familiar sources and brief stand-alone micro-essays, engaging the reader in challenging and illuminating dialogue. As we come to see that the world is made--in a word--of stories, we come to a richer understanding of that most elusive of Buddhist ideas: shunyata, the "generative emptiness" that is the all-pervading quality inherent to all mental and physical forms in our ever-changing world. Reminiscent of Zen koans and works of sophisticated poetry, this book will reward both a casual read and deep reflection.
The World Is Our Stage: The Global Rhetorical Presidency and the Cold War
by Allison M. PraschA fresh account of the US presidential rhetoric embodied in Cold War international travel. Crowds swarm when US presidents travel abroad, though many never hear their voices. The presidential body, moving from one secured location to another, communicates as much or more to these audiences than the texts of their speeches. In The World is Our Stage, Allison M. Prasch considers how presidential appearances overseas broadcast American superiority during the Cold War. Drawing on extensive archival research, Prasch examines five foundational moments in the development of what she calls the “global rhetorical presidency:” Truman at Potsdam, Eisenhower’s “Goodwill Tours,” Kennedy in West Berlin, Nixon in the People’s Republic of China, and Reagan in Normandy. In each case, Prasch reveals how the president’s physical presence defined the boundaries of the “Free World” and elevated the United States as the central actor in Cold War geopolitics.
The World Is Our Stage: The Global Rhetorical Presidency and the Cold War
by Allison M. PraschA fresh account of the US presidential rhetoric embodied in Cold War international travel. Crowds swarm when US presidents travel abroad, though many never hear their voices. The presidential body, moving from one secured location to another, communicates as much or more to these audiences than the texts of their speeches. In The World is Our Stage, Allison M. Prasch considers how presidential appearances overseas broadcast American superiority during the Cold War. Drawing on extensive archival research, Prasch examines five foundational moments in the development of what she calls the “global rhetorical presidency:” Truman at Potsdam, Eisenhower’s “Goodwill Tours,” Kennedy in West Berlin, Nixon in the People’s Republic of China, and Reagan in Normandy. In each case, Prasch reveals how the president’s physical presence defined the boundaries of the “Free World” and elevated the United States as the central actor in Cold War geopolitics.
The World Is Our Stage: The Global Rhetorical Presidency and the Cold War
by Allison M. PraschA fresh account of the US presidential rhetoric embodied in Cold War international travel. Crowds swarm when US presidents travel abroad, though many never hear their voices. The presidential body, moving from one secured location to another, communicates as much or more to these audiences than the texts of their speeches. In The World is Our Stage, Allison M. Prasch considers how presidential appearances overseas broadcast American superiority during the Cold War. Drawing on extensive archival research, Prasch examines five foundational moments in the development of what she calls the “global rhetorical presidency:” Truman at Potsdam, Eisenhower’s “Goodwill Tours,” Kennedy in West Berlin, Nixon in the People’s Republic of China, and Reagan in Normandy. In each case, Prasch reveals how the president’s physical presence defined the boundaries of the “Free World” and elevated the United States as the central actor in Cold War geopolitics.
The World Is Waiting for You: Graduation Speeches to Live By from Activists, Writers, and Visionaries
by Edited by Tara Grove and Isabel OstrerInspiring commencement speeches from Wynton Marsalis, Toni Morrison, Gloria Steinem, and others: &“The perfect gift for grads-to-be&” (O, The Oprah Magazine). &“The voices of conformity speak so loudly. Don&’t listen to them,&” acclaimed author and award-winning journalist Anna Quindlen cautioned graduates of Grinnell College. Jazz virtuoso and educator Wynton Marsalis advised new Connecticut College alums not to worry about being on time, but rather to be in time—because &“time is actually your friend. He don&’t come back because he never goes away.&” And renowned physician and humanitarian Paul Farmer revealed at the University of Delaware his remarkable discovery—the new disease Empathy Deficit Disorder—and assured the commencers it could be cured. The prescient, fiery feminism of Gloria Steinem sits parallel to that of celebrated writer Ursula K. Le Guin, who asks, &“What if I talked like a woman right here in public?&” Nobel Prize–winning author Toni Morrison sagaciously ponders how people centuries from now will perceive our current times, and Pulitzer Prize–winning author Barbara Kingsolver asks those born into the Age of Irony to &“imagine getting caught with your Optimism hanging out&” and implores us always to act and speak the truth. With eighteen rousing graduation speeches, The World Is Waiting for You speaks to anyone who might take to heart the advice of Planned Parenthood president Cecile Richards—&“life as an activist, troublemaker, or agitator is a tremendous option and one I highly recommend&”—and is the perfect gift for all who are ready to move their tassels to the left.
The World Is What It Is: The Authorized Biography of V. S. Naipaul
by Patrick FrenchV.S. Naipaul's biographer aims not to sit in judgment of the Nobel laureate, but to expose the subject with ruthless clarity to the calm eye of the reader. In this he succeeds admirably. Descendant of poor Brahmins, born in 1932 in Trinidad and educated in Oxford, Naipaul is haunted by matters of race, colonialism and sex. He is, says award-winning author French (Younghusband), both the racist (against those darker than he) and the victim of racial prejudice, tendencies that come through in his novels and in his treatment of friends and lovers. Haunting this biography are Naipaul's women. His wife, Pat, supported him, overlooked his affairs and his visits with prostitutes, and subordinated herself to his genius; Naipaul gave equally little to Margaret, his mistress.