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Itineraries in Conflict: Israelis, Palestinians, and the Political Lives of Tourism
by Rebecca L. SteinIn Itineraries in Conflict, Rebecca L. Stein argues that through tourist practices--acts of cultural consumption, routes and imaginary voyages to neighboring Arab countries, culinary desires--Israeli citizens are negotiating Israel's changing place in the contemporary Middle East. Drawing on ethnographic and archival research conducted throughout the last decade, Stein analyzes the divergent meanings that Jewish and Palestinian citizens of Israel have attached to tourist cultures, and she considers their resonance with histories of travel in Israel, its Occupied Territories, and pre-1948 Palestine. Stein argues that tourism's cultural performances, spaces, souvenirs, and maps have provided Israelis in varying social locations with a set of malleable tools to contend with the political changes of the last decade: the rise and fall of a Middle East Peace Process (the Oslo Process), globalization and neoliberal reform, and a second Palestinian uprising in 2000. Combining vivid ethnographic detail, postcolonial theory, and readings of Israeli and Palestinian popular texts, Stein considers a broad range of Israeli leisure cultures of the Oslo period with a focus on the Jewish desires for Arab things, landscapes, and people that regional diplomacy catalyzed. Moving beyond conventional accounts, she situates tourism within a broader field of "discrepant mobility," foregrounding the relationship between histories of mobility and immobility, leisure and exile, consumption and militarism. She contends that the study of Israeli tourism must open into broader interrogations of the Israeli occupation, the history of Palestinian dispossession, and Israel's future in the Arab Middle East. Itineraries in Conflict is both a cultural history of the Oslo process and a call to fellow scholars to rethink the contours of the Arab-Israeli conflict by considering the politics of popular culture in everyday Israeli and Palestinian lives.
Itō Hirobumi - Japan's First Prime Minister and Father of the Meiji Constitution: Japan's First Prime Minister And Father Of The Meiji Constitution (Routledge Studies in the Modern History of Asia)
by Takii KazuhiroThe brilliant and influential statesman, Itō Hirobumi (1841-1909), and the first prime minister of Japan’s modern state, has been poorly understood. This biography attempts to set the record straight about Itō’s thought and vision for Japan’s modernisation based on research in primary sources. It outlines Itō’s life: the son of a poor farmer, he showed exceptional talent as a boy and was sent to study in Europe and the United States. He returned home convinced that Western civilisation was the only viable path for Japan. Following the Meiji Restoration of 1868, Itō became a powerful intellectual and political force behind reforms of Japanese laws and institutions aimed to shape a modern government based on informed leadership and a knowledeable populace. Among his many achievements were the establishment of Japan’s first constitution—the Meiji Constitution of 1889, and the founding in 1900 of a new type of constitutional party, the Rikken Seiyukai (Friends of Constitutional Government), which, reformulated after 1945, became the Liberal Democratic Party that has dominated Japanese politics in the postwar period. Concerning Itō’s role as Japanese Resident-General in Korea from 1905, the author argues that Itō’s aim, not understood by either the Japanese home government or Koreans themselves, was not to colonize Korea. He was determined to modernise Korea and consolidate further constitutional reforms in Japan. This aim was not shared by others, and Itō resigned in 1909. He was assassinated the same year in Manchuria by a Korean nationalist. The Japanese language edition of this book is a bestseller in Japan, and it received the Suntory Prize for Social Sciences and Humanities, one of Japan's most prestigious publishing awards.
It’s All About Jesus!: Faith as an Oppositional Collegiate Subculture
by Peter M. Magolda Kelsey Ebben GrossWhat is it like to be a collegian involved in a Christian organization on a public college campus? What roles do Christian organizations play in the lives of college students enrolled in a public college? What are evangelical student organizations’ political agendas, and how do they mobilize members to advance these agendas? What is the optimal equilibrium between the secular and the sacred within public higher education? What constitutes safe space for evangelical students, and who should provide this space? This book presents a two-year ethnographic study of a collegiate evangelical student organization at a public university, authored by two “non-evangelicals.” The authors provide a glimpse into the lives of college students who join evangelical student organizations and who subscribe to an evangelical way of life during their college years. They offer empirically derived insights as to how students’ participation in a homogeneous evangelical student organization enhances their satisfaction of their collegiate experience and helps them develop important life lessons and skills. Ironically, while Christian students represent the religious majority on the campus under study, Christian organizations on this campus mobilize members by capitalizing on members’ shared sense of marginalization, and position themselves as cultural outsiders. This evangelical student organization serves as a safe space for students to express their faith within the larger secular university setting.The narratives and interpretations aim not only to enrich understanding of a particular student organization but more importantly to spark intellectual discourse about the value of faith-based organizations within public higher education. The role of religion in public higher education, student involvement in the co-curriculum, and peer education are three examples of critical issues in higher education for which this idiosyncratic case study offers broad understanding. It’s All About Jesus! targets multiple audiences – both sacred and secular. For readers unfamiliar with evangelical collegiate organizations and the students they serve, the authors hope the narratives make the unfamiliar familiar and the dubious obvious. For evangelicals, the authors hope that the thickly described narratives not only make the familiar, familiar and the obvious, obvious, but also uncover the tacit meaning embedded in these familiar, but seldom examined subculture rituals.The authors hope this book spurs discussion on topics such as campus power and politics, how organizations interact with the secular world around them, and how members can improve their organizations. Additionally, this text urges secular readers in student affairs to consider the many benefits, as well as liabilities, of “parachurches” as co-curricular learning sites on campus.Lastly, given that the authors lay bare their methodology, their use of theory, and the tensions between their perspectives and those of the participants, this book will serve as a compelling case study for courses on qualitative research within religion studies, anthropology, sociology, and cultural studies fields.
It’s All about the Land: Collected Talks and Interviews on Indigenous Resurgence
by Taiaiake AlfredIlluminating the First Nations struggles against the Canadian state, It’s All about the Land exposes how racism underpins and shapes Indigenous-settler relationships. Renowned Kahnawà:ke Mohawk activist and scholar Taiaiake Alfred explains how the Canadian government’s reconciliation agenda is a new form of colonization that is guaranteed to fail. Bringing together Alfred’s speeches and interviews from over the past two decades, the book shows that Indigenous peoples across the world face a stark choice: reconnect with their authentic cultures and values or continue following a slow road to annihilation. Rooted in ancestral spirit, knowledge, and law, It’s All about the Land presents a passionate argument for Indigenous Resurgence as the pathway toward justice for Indigenous peoples.
It’s Always Been Ours: Reclaiming the Story of Black Women’s Bodies
by Jessica WilsonReclaim ownership of your health, rewrite the narrative surrounding body image and restore your right to healing, safety and self-love.For too long Black women have been left out of discussions about body image, food, health and wellness. By bringing the bodies of Black women centre stage, eating disorder specialist Jessica Wilson asks us to reimagine the ways we think about, discuss and tend to our bodies.This book is a call for body liberation now. It&’s Always Been Ours pushes back against some of the unhealthy ideals within the wellness movement. Seamlessly blending stories of clients, friends and celebrities, Jessica reveals how a fixation on thin, white women negatively impacts how Black women exist within our bodies. Jessica urges us to reject a diet culture that disproportionately harms Black women. She offers, instead, a politics of body liberation that prioritizes Black women&’s physical and psychological needs.With just the right mix of wit, levity and wisdom, Jessica shows us how a radical reimagining of body narratives is a prerequisite to wellbeing for everyone. It&’s Always Been Ours is a love letter that celebrates Black women&’s bodies and shows us a radical and essential path forward to rediscovering vulnerability and joy.
It’s Always Possible: Transforming One of the Largest Prisons in the World
by Kiran BediLocated in India's capital, New Delhi, is Tihar, one of the largest prisons in the world. Within the prison complex of over 200 acres are housed over 9,700 inmates - men, women, adolescents, children; both Indians and foreigners.
It’s Not You, It’s the Workplace: Women’s Conflict at Work and the Bias that Built it
by Alton B. Harris Andrea S. KramerWhy is it that many women believe that working with other women is harder than working with men? A clue: it's not because women actually are harder to work with.After decades of working to help women to succeed at work, Andie Kramer and Al Harris noticed the same thing over and over again: Women's relationships with other women are causing conflict in the workplace and this is hindering careers across the board.Their research demonstrates that at the root of these clashes lie stereotypes, toxic assumptions and societal expectations about how women should behave. Through extensive research and hundreds of interviews, Andie and Al have identified the most fraught scenarios of women working for, working with, supervising, and collaborating with other women. It's Not You, It's the Workplace provides practical, immediately usable techniques that will allow women to develop strong networks that will foster their career success and organizations to structure their policies and practices - unlocking the potential of women in team situations. The companies that succeed in the future will be those where bias no longer blocks women's career satisfaction or advancement to leadership.
It’s a Small World: International Deaf Spaces and Encounters
by Michele Friedner Annelies KustersIt's a Small World explores the fascinating and, at times, controversial concept of DEAF-SAME ("I am deaf, you are deaf, and so we are the same") and its influence on deaf spaces locally and globally. The editors and contributors focus on national and international encounters (e.g., conferences, sporting events, arts festivals, camps) and the role of political/economic power structures on deaf lives and the creation of deaf worlds. They also consider important questions about how deaf people negotiate DEAF-SAME and deaf difference, with particular attention to relations between deaf people in the global South (countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, with access to fewer resources than other countries) and the global North (countries in Europe, along with Canada, the US, Australia, and several other nations with access to and often control of resources). Editors Michele Friedner and Annelies Kusters and their contributors represent a variety of academic and professional fields, from anthropology and linguistics to cultural and religious studies. Each chapter in this original volume highlights a new perspective on the multiple intersections that occur between nationalities, cultures, languages, religions, races, genders, and identities. The text is organized into five sections--Gatherings, Language, Projects, Networks, and Visions. Taken all together, the 23 chapters in this book provide an understanding of how sameness and difference are powerful yet contested categories in deaf worlds.
Ivan Illich: An Intellectual Journey (Ivan Illich #2)
by David CayleyIn the eighteen years since Ivan Illich’s death, David Cayley has been reflecting on the meaning of his friend and teacher’s life and work. Now, in Ivan Illich: An Intellectual Journey, he presents Illich’s body of thought, locating it in its own time and retrieving its relevance for ours.Ivan Illich (1926–2002) was a revolutionary figure in the Roman Catholic Church and in the wider field of cultural criticism that began to take shape in the 1960s. His advocacy of a new, de-clericalized church and his opposition to American missionary programs in Latin America, which he saw as reactionary and imperialist, brought him into conflict with the Vatican and led him to withdraw from direct service to the church in 1969. His institutional critiques of the 1970s, from Deschooling Society to Medical Nemesis, promoted what he called institutional or cultural revolution. The last twenty years of his life were occupied with developing his theory of modernity as an extension of church history. Ranging over every phase of Illich’s career and meditating on each of his books, Cayley finds Illich to be as relevant today as ever and more likely to be understood, now that the many convergent crises he foresaw are in full public view and the church that rejected him is paralyzed in its “folkloric” shell.Not a conventional biography, though attentive to how Illich lived, Cayley’s book is “continuing a conversation” with Illich that will engage anyone who is interested in theology, philosophy, history, and the Catholic Church.
Ivan Illich: An Intellectual Journey (Ivan Illich: 21st-Century Perspectives #2)
by David CayleyIn the eighteen years since Ivan Illich’s death, David Cayley has been reflecting on the meaning of his friend and teacher’s life and work. Now, in Ivan Illich: An Intellectual Journey, he presents Illich’s body of thought, locating it in its own time and retrieving its relevance for ours.Ivan Illich (1926–2002) was a revolutionary figure in the Roman Catholic Church and in the wider field of cultural criticism that began to take shape in the 1960s. His advocacy of a new, de-clericalized church and his opposition to American missionary programs in Latin America, which he saw as reactionary and imperialist, brought him into conflict with the Vatican and led him to withdraw from direct service to the church in 1969. His institutional critiques of the 1970s, from Deschooling Society to Medical Nemesis, promoted what he called institutional or cultural revolution. The last twenty years of his life were occupied with developing his theory of modernity as an extension of church history. Ranging over every phase of Illich’s career and meditating on each of his books, Cayley finds Illich to be as relevant today as ever and more likely to be understood, now that the many convergent crises he foresaw are in full public view and the church that rejected him is paralyzed in its "folkloric" shell.Not a conventional biography, though attentive to how Illich lived, Cayley’s book is "continuing a conversation" with Illich that will engage anyone who is interested in theology, philosophy, history, and the Catholic Church.
Iwígara: American Indian Ethnobotanical Traditions and Science
by Enrique SalmónTap into Thousands of Years of Plant Knowledge The belief that all life-forms are interconnected and share the same breath—known in the Rarámuri tribe as iwígara—has resulted in a treasury of knowledge about the natural world, passed down for millennia by native cultures. Ethnobotanist Enrique Salmón builds on this concept of connection and highlights 80 plants revered by North America&’s indigenous peoples. Salmón teaches us the ways plants are used as food and medicine, the details of their identification and harvest, their important health benefits, plus their role in traditional stories and myths. Discover in these pages how the timeless wisdom of iwígara can enhance your own kinship with the natural world.
Izquierdas e izquierdismo
by Octavio Rodríguez AraujoEn una primera mirada a las izquierdas parecería que se encuentran apagadas o silenciadas, sin embargo, se han presentado acontecimientos que les dan una nueva posibilidad de curso. La mayoría de ellas tienen una visión común: oponerse a la globalización neoliberal. Lograr una reflexión de lo que han sido y son las izquierdas es la intención de este libro.
Izzy: A Biography of I. F. Stone
by Robert C. CottrellThis is the classic story of the life and times of I. F. “Izzy” Stone. Robert Cottrell weaves together material from interviews, letters, archival materials, and government documents, and Stone’s own writings to tell the tale of one of the most significant journalists, intellectuals, and political mavericks of the twentieth century. The story of I. F. Stone is the tale of the American left over the course of his lifetime, of liberal and radical ideals which carried such weight throughout the twentieth century, and of journalism of the politically committed variety. Now available in a handsome new Rutgers University Press Classic edition, it is an examination of the life and career of a gregarious yet frequently grumpy loner who became his nation’s foremost radical commentator provides a window through which to examine American radicalism, left-wing journalism, and the evolution of key strands of Western intellectual thought in the twentieth century.
Iñupiat of the Sii: Historical Ethnography and Arctic Challenges
by Wanni W. Anderson Douglas D. AndersonIñupiat of the Sii is a firsthand account of Wanni and Douglas Anderson’s lived experiences during eight field seasons of archaeological and ethnographic research in Selawik, Alaska, from 1968 to 1994. This study traces the Selawik village’s history, compares Selawikers' past and current lifeways, studies the interfacing of the traditional with the modern, and explores how specific events in the Selawik past continued to shape their lives. This fascinating book records, preserves, and contributes to the knowledge of the history and cultural lifeways of the Siilaviŋmiut people using contextual and ethnographic writing styles that apply community-based, lived-experience, and sense-of-place approaches. The authors, who have remained in contact with Selawikers since the original research period, center Iñupiaq elders’ and local Iñupiaq historians’ continued commitments to historical knowledge about the past, their ancestors, and their vast repertoire of traditional cultural and environmental knowledge. They portray the particularity of Iñupiaq life as it was lived, sensed, and felt by Selawikers themselves and as experienced by researchers. Quoted observations, conversations, and comments eloquently acknowledge Iñupiaq insiders’ narrative voices. Providing one of only a few ethnographic reviews of an Alaska Native village, Iñupiat of the Sii will appeal to general readers interested in learning about Iñupiaq lifeways and the experiences of anthropologists in the field. It will also be useful to instructors teaching college-level students how anthropological field research should be conducted, analyzed, and reported.
I’m Sure I Speak For Many Others…: Unpublished letters to the BBC
by Colin Shindler'Dear Mr. Adam, I am writing on behalf of the Central Watch and Social Problems Committee of the Mothers' Union to ask whether you have a programme in mind on the moral issue of venereal disease.''Sir, Where are the B.B.C's censors? We do not care for the language that was inflicted on us Tuesday night in "The Battle of Britain". Don't retort, 'You need not listen if you don't want to'. We did not know it was coming.''Dear Mr. Frost, Let me start by saying how much I enjoy your programme & that I was among those many who felt almost that they had lost a blowsy old friend when dear & vulgar, but nonetheless thought-provoking and funny TW3 went off the air.'For anyone who regularly feels tempted to put pen to paper, I'm Sure I Speak For Many Others is an alternative history of the BBC, from its triumphant broadcast of the coronation in 1953, to that Tynan moment, the controversial That Was The Week That Was, and the groundbreaking Grange Hill.Stretching across over forty years of programming, these never before seen letters represent the joy, the fury and the wit of the nation.
J. Arthur Rank and the British Film Industry (Cinema and Society)
by Geoffrey MacnabPresiding over the "golden era" of the British Film Industry from the mid to late 1940s, J. Arthur Rank financed movies such as Oliver Twist, The Red Shoes, Brief Encounter, Caesar and Cleopatra and Black Narcissus. Never before, and never since, has the industry risen to such heights. J. Arthur Rank charts every aspect of the robust film culture that Rank helped to create. Having started out with relatively little knowledge of the cinema, Rank's sponsorship was to bring about astounding progress within the industry, and by establishing an organization comparable in size to any of the major Hollywood studios, Rank briefly managed to reconcile and consolidate the competing demands of "art" and "business" - an achievement very much absent from today's diminished and fragmented film industry. Macnab goes on to explain the eventual collapse of the Rank experiment amidst the economic and political maelstrom of post-war Britain, highlighting the problems still facing the industry today. By meshing archival research with interviews with Rank's contemporaries and members of his family, this definitive study firmly restores Rank to his rightful place at the hub of British film history.
J. Frank Dobie
by Steven L. Davis\The first Texas-based writer to gain national attention, J. Frank Dobie proved that authentic writing springs easily from the native soil of Texas and the Southwest. In best-selling books such as Tales of Old-Time Texas, Coronado's Children, and The Longhorns, Dobie captured the Southwest's folk history, which was quickly disappearing as the United States became ever more urbanized and industrial. Renowned as "Mr. Texas," Dobie paradoxically has almost disappeared from view-a casualty of changing tastes in literature and shifts in social and political attitudes since the 1960s. In this lively biography, Steven L. Davis takes a fresh look at a J. Frank Dobie whose "liberated mind" set him on an intellectual journey that culminated in Dobie becoming a political liberal who fought for labor, free speech, and civil rights well before these causes became acceptable to most Anglo Texans. Tracing the full arc of Dobie's life (1888-1964), Davis shows how Dobie's insistence on "free-range thinking" led him to such radical actions as calling for the complete integration of the University of Texas during the 1940s, as well as taking on governors, senators, and the FBI (which secretly investigated him) as Texas's leading dissenter during the McCarthy era.
J. G. Ballard's "Crash" (Palgrave Science Fiction and Fantasy: A New Canon)
by Paul March-RussellJ.G. Ballard's Crash (1973) remains a byword for transgression in literature: declared 'too disgusting for words' upon publication. The basis for David Cronenberg's equally provocative film, Crash has been regarded variously as the apotheosis of New Wave science fiction, the ur-source for postmodernism, a transhumanist manifesto, and a pornographic masterpiece in the tradition of Sade and Bataille. This revisionist account, based on previously unexplored archive material, shatters the myths that have accrued around this tantalising work whilst also revealing why it continues to inspire writers, artists, musicians and filmmakers in the 21st century. The book vividly reconstructs how Ballard came to write Crash, the cultural landscape in which it was written, the effect of its reception, and the toll it took on its author. New perspectives reveal how Crash reworks surrealist anthropology, evolutionary theory, and pornographic imagery in order to expose a society addicted to the abuse of power, the silencing of others, and its own environmental destruction. As Ballard later admitted, he 'must have been mad' to write Crash.
J. Krishnamurti: Educator for Peace (Peacemakers)
by Meenakshi ThapanTeacher, thinker, writer, and speaker, J. Krishnamurti (1895–1986) was an Indian educationist, spiritual leader, and key figure in world philosophy. He raised significant questions about the state of the world, about our tendency to remain passive, conditioned, and in a state of overwhelming confusion about how we relate to the world. Through talks and writings spread over many decades and geographical locations, he articulated an unconditioned, reflective approach which emphasised self-inquiry. This volume provides an understanding of Krishnamurti’s views on the human predicament in a disintegrating world, marked by conflict, divisions, wars, and climate change. It also examines his educational thought and its enormous potential for change. Krishnamurti argued that our minds are so conditioned that we are unable to look, listen, or learn without our prior knowledge that foregrounds the role of memory and time. He highlighted the need to work with young children, with a special focus on the school as the centrepiece of his perception for psychological development and educational excellence. It is within an educational setting that Krishnamurti hoped that the seeds for individual and social change will be catalysed. An introspective look at the life and legacy of an eminent twentieth century thinker, this volume will be of great interest to students and researchers of philosophy, education, religion and spirituality, South Asia studies, modern history, and the social sciences.
J. R. R. Tolkien's "The Hobbit": Realizing History Through Fantasy: A Critical Companion (Palgrave Science Fiction and Fantasy: A New Canon)
by Robert T. Tally Jr.This book is a critical introduction to J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit, but it also advances an argument about the novel in the context of Tolkien’s larger literary and philosophical project. Notwithstanding its canonical place in the fantasy genre, The Hobbit is ultimately a historical novel. It does not refer directly to any “real” historical events, but it both enacts and conceptualizes history in a way that makes it real. Drawing on Marxist literary criticism and narrative theory, this book examines the form and content of Tolkien’s work, demonstrating how the heroic romance is simultaneously employed and subverted by Tolkien in his tale of an unlikely hero, “quite a little fellow in a wide world,” who nonetheless makes history. First-time readers of Tolkien, as well as established scholars and fans, will enjoy this engaging and accessible study of The Hobbit.
J.M. Robertson: Rationalist and Literary Critic (Routledge Revivals)
by Odin DekkersPublished in 1998, J. M. Robertson: Rationalist and Literary Critic is a study of the life of one of the most erudite and prolific critics of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The Scotsman John MacKinnon Robertson (1856-1933), rationalist and enemy of religion to the core, published over one hundred books and thousands of articles in fields as diverse as sociology, economics, history, anthropology, biblical criticism and literary criticism. This once widely known (and feared!) author was all too quickly forgotten after his death and his work is now seldom read. The aim of this book is to demonstrate that Robertson’s writings and in particular his acute and powerful literary criticism – much respected by T. S. Eliot – have not lost their relevance for late twentieth century readers. Moreover, through the examinations of Robertson’s work in its contextual framework, this study provides a wide-ranging perspective on the late-Victorian literary scene, which perhaps present-day literary historians have not given the detailed attention it deserves.
J.S. Mill (Routledge Revivals)
by Alan RyanFirst published in 1974. As logician, economist, political theorist, practical politician and active champion of social freedom, John Stuart Mill is a figure of continuing importance. In this book the author does full justice to the range of Mill’s achievements, providing an introductory guide to his most important and best known writings including Autobiography, A System of Logic, Utilitarianism, Liberty, and The Subjugation of Women. In their treatment of his works, the author seeks to emphasise Mill’s approach to those issues — education, the conflict between social order and individual freedom, the unresolved state of the social sciences, rights and duties of citizens in a democratic state — which remain most alive to us today. At the same time Mill is seen as part of his own age, responding to the anxieties that beset his contemporaries. This book will be of interest to students of politics and philosophy.
JAY-Z: Made in America
by Michael Dyson"Dyson's incisive analysis of JAY-Z's brilliance not only offers a brief history of hip-hop's critical place in American culture, but also hints at how we can best move forward." —Questlove <P><P>JAY-Z: Made in America is the fruit of Michael Eric Dyson’s decade of teaching the work of one of the greatest poets this nation has produced, as gifted a wordsmith as Walt Whitman, Robert Frost and Rita Dove. But as a rapper, he’s sometimes not given the credit he deserves for just how great an artist he’s been for so long. <P><P>This book wrestles with the biggest themes of JAY-Z's career, including hustling, and it recognizes the way that he’s always weaved politics into his music, making important statements about race, criminal justice, black wealth and social injustice. As he enters his fifties, and to mark his thirty years as a recording artist, this is the perfect time to take a look at JAY-Z’s career and his role in making this nation what it is today. In many ways, this is JAY-Z’s America as much as it’s Pelosi’s America, or Trump’s America, or Martin Luther King’s America. JAY-Z has given this country a language to think with and words to live by. <P><P>Featuring a Foreword by Pharrell <P><P><b> A New York Times Bestseller </b>
JELL-O Girls: A Family History
by Allie RowbottomA "gorgeous" (New York Times) memoir that braids the evolution of one of America's most iconic branding campaigns with the stirring tales of the women who lived behind its facade - told by the inheritor of their stories. <P><P>In 1899, Allie Rowbottom's great-great-great-uncle bought the patent to Jell-O from its inventor for $450. The sale would turn out to be one of the most profitable business deals in American history, and the generations that followed enjoyed immense privilege - but they were also haunted by suicides, cancer, alcoholism, and mysterious ailments. More than 100 years after that deal was struck, Allie's mother Mary was diagnosed with the same incurable cancer, a disease that had also claimed her own mother's life. <P><P>Determined to combat what she had come to consider the "Jell-O curse" and her looming mortality, Mary began obsessively researching her family's past, determined to understand the origins of her illness and the impact on her life of Jell-O and the traditional American values the company championed. Before she died in 2015, Mary began to send Allie boxes of her research and notes, in the hope that her daughter might write what she could not. JELL-O GIRLS is the liberation of that story. <P><P>A gripping examination of the dark side of an iconic American product and a moving portrait of the women who lived in the shadow of its fractured fortune, JELL-O GIRLS is a family history, a feminist history, and a story of motherhood, love and loss. In crystalline prose Rowbottom considers the roots of trauma not only in her own family, but in the American psyche as well, ultimately weaving a story that is deeply personal, as well as deeply connected to the collective female experience.
JEWels: Teasing Out the Poetry in Jewish Humor and Storytelling
by Peninnah SchramJEWels is the first of its kind: the living tradition of Jewish stories and jokes transformed into poems, recording and reflecting Jewish experience from ancient times through the present day. In this novel hybrid—jokes and stories boiled down to their essence in short poems—Jewish witticism is preserved side by side with evocative storytelling and deepened with running commentary and questions for discussion. Illuminated here are jewels from journeys, from the Old Country, from Torah, shaped by the Holocaust, in glimpses of Jewish American lives, in Jewish foods, in conversations with God, and on the meaning of life. Jewish comedians (Lenny Bruce, Jackie Mason) appear alongside writers and musicians (Elie Wiesel, Sholem Aleichem, Itzhak Perlman) and Hasidic rabbis (the Baal Shem Tov, Rabbi Nachman of Breslov), yet most of the tellers are ordinary Jews. In this cacophony of ongoing dialogue, storytellers, rabbis, poets, and scholars chime in with interpretations, quips, and related stories and life experiences. In JEWels each of us can see our own reflection.