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Alright, Alright, Alright: The Oral History of Richard Linklater's Dazed and Confused
by Melissa MaerzThe definitive oral history of the cult classic Dazed and Confused, featuring behind-the-scenes stories from the cast, crew, and Oscar-nominated director Richard Linklater.Dazed and Confused not only heralded the arrival of filmmaker Richard Linklater, it introduced a cast of unknowns who would become the next generation of movie stars. Embraced as a cultural touchstone, the 1993 film would also make Matthew McConaughey’s famous phrase—alright, alright, alright—ubiquitous. But it started with a simple idea: Linklater thought people might like to watch a movie about high school kids just hanging out and listening to music on the last day of school in 1976. To some, that might not even sound like a movie. But to a few studio executives, it sounded enough like the next American Graffiti to justify the risk. Dazed and Confused underperformed at the box office and seemed destined to disappear. Then something weird happened: Linklater turned out to be right. This wasn’t the kind of movie everybody liked, but it was the kind of movie certain people loved, with an intensity that felt personal. No matter what their high school experience was like, they thought Dazed and Confused was about them.Alright, Alright, Alright is the story of how this iconic film came together and why it worked. Combining behind-the-scenes photos and insights from nearly the entire cast, including Matthew McConaughey, Parker Posey, Ben Affleck, Joey Lauren Adams, and many others, and with full access to Linklater’s Dazed archives, it offers an inside look at how a budding filmmaker and a cast of newcomers made a period piece that would feel timeless for decades to come.
Hofstede Matters (ISSN)
by Sławomir J. Magala Christiane Erten Roger Matthew Bell Marie-Therese Claes Senem Yazici Atila KarabagHofstede Matters offers an updated presentation of the evolving views of academics and teachers who have worked with Hofstede’s research findings since the publication of the first edition of Culture’s Consequences in 1980. The authors reflect on their changing beliefs about the concept of cultural dimensions that led to a radical change in the way cultures were dealt with in business schools across Europe and beyond. Hofstede’s dimensions made "thinking" about culture more accessible overnight by creating a conceptual framework that teachers, students, managers, and consultants could grasp and easily apply in international comparisons. The book shows the man behind the value dimensions framework through the eyes of teachers and academics many of whom dealt with Hofstede personally. Contemporary contributors as well as younger academic fellow researchers evaluate the past paradigms and look behind the scenes to better understand the developments of the more recent ones. Jointly, they try to decide if Hofstede still helps us to overcome uncertainty when confronted with actions undertaken with different values in mind. Did he nudge us in the desirable direction? Offering a unique analysis of the strengths, criticisms, and legacy of Hofstede’s work, this book will appeal to academics and students across disciplines including cross-cultural management, critical management studies, and international management.
Primo Levi's Universe: A Writer's Journey
by Sam MagavernPrimo Levi is best known as a memoirist of Auschwitz, but he was also a scientist, fiction writer, and poet: in short, a Renaissance man. Primo Levi's Universe offers a multi-faceted portrait of the heroic man who turned the concentration camp experience into beautiful yet terrifying literature. Over time, Levi developed an original world-view which he conveyed in his writing. Through careful readings of Levi's works, Sam Magavern finally does justice to his calm rationality, dark poetry, essential beliefs and wit. Levi's art and life are inextricably intertwined, and this book presents them together, allowing each to shed light on the other.
The Mythics #3: Kit and the Nine-Tailed Fox (Mythics #3)
by Lauren MagazinerFrom Case Closed author Lauren Magaziner and award-winning artist Mirelle Ortega comes the third book in the highly illustrated middle grade fantasy series full of action, adventure, friendship, and mythical creatures. It’s been eight weeks since Pairing Day when the Mythics—Kit, Marina, Hailey, Ember, and Pippa—learned that they are the only ones who can save Terrafamiliar. With Golden Jumpsuit tracking their every move, the Mythics are on edge, and now it’s Kit’s turn to find her Mythie. Kit has a hard time relying on others and she always expects the worst to happen. She’s also never had a team like the Mythics to help her.Kit’s search for her mythical familiar leads to surprising secrets about the magic and history of Terrafamiliar. The Mythics realize there are bigger and darker forces at play. With Golden Jumpsuit on their trail again and her followers scattered everywhere, Kit and the Mythics must learn to follow their instincts and lean on each other. Or risk watching Terrafamiliar crumble before their eyes.
Stop People Pleasing: And Find Your Power
by Hailey MageeA viral life coach offers a practical, empathetic, and inspiring guide to breaking people-pleasing patterns that can harm our careers, relationships, physical, and psychic health.For most of Hailey Magee&’s life, people-pleasing came so naturally to her that she didn&’t even have a word for it. When somebody wanted something from her—even a stranger—she gave it, no matter how uncomfortable, exhausted, or resentful she felt inside. People-pleasing, she learned, was a coping mechanism that had kept her physically and emotionally safe in the past, but wreaked havoc on her life in the present—and she was committed to breaking the pattern once and for all. The solution that social media and self-help shelves gave her was to &“Advocate for yourself! Speak up! Set boundaries!&” But after years of ignoring her feelings and needs, Magee needed more than boundaries; she needed to reconnect with the &“self&” who was supposed to be doing the advocating. You can&’t express yourself if you&’re cut off from your feelings. You can&’t fight for your needs if you don&’t know what they are. And you can&’t set boundaries with others until you believe you&’re worthy of more than the bare minimum. Radically reconnecting with herself gave Magee the confidence and self-respect she needed to stand up for herself in her relationships. As she experienced a freedom she never thought possible, she became a certified life coach with the mission of helping others do the same. Stop People Pleasing explains how anyone can break the pattern by learning their own feelings, needs, values, and desires; ending cycles of enmeshment and codependency; overcoming guilt; developing physical and sexual agency; and more. It is a refreshingly nuanced guide, exploring fundamental questions like: -How can I tell when my genuine kindness veers into people-pleasing? -How can I set boundaries while maintaining my empathy and generosity? -When is it appropriate to compromise on my needs, and when is it not? Combining social science, psychology, and hands-on coaching exercises, Stop People Pleasing teaches you how to connect with your own feelings, needs, and dreams; courageously advocate for yourself in your relationships with friends, family, and colleagues; soothe yourself through the growing pains of healing; and dive headfirst into pleasure and play. With fresh insight, heartfelt empathy, and a keen personal understanding of the pitfalls of people-pleasing, Magee helps you say what you need and get what you deserve.
STOP PEOPLE PLEASING And Find Your Power: Stop people-pleasing, get what you need and stand in your power
by Hailey Paige MageeDo you find it hard to say "no" to people? Do you tend to put others first? Do you feel guilty setting boundaries? If the answer to any of these questions is "yes", you may be a people pleaser.People-pleasing is a widespread but misunderstood response to trauma. It can have a huge impact on your mental health, showing up in common psychological conditions including anxiety, co-dependence, and depression. Left unchallenged, people-pleasing habits can lead to chronic discomfort, exhaustion, and resentment.In Stop People Pleasing, certified life coach Hailey Magee offers an action-based approach to breaking the people-pleasing pattern. Drawing on social science, psychological research, and coaching exercises, Magee gives you the practical tools you need to:- Understand the origins of your people-pleasing- Discover your own needs- Set empowered boundaries- Courageously advocate for yourselfWith fresh insight, heartfelt empathy, and a keen personal understanding of the pitfalls of people-pleasing, Magee will help you to break free from the cycle, overcome your guilt, and reconnect with your own feelings, needs, and aspirations.
STOP PEOPLE PLEASING And Find Your Power
by Hailey Paige MageeDo you find it hard to say "no" to people? Do you tend to put others first? Do you feel guilty setting boundaries? If the answer to any of these questions is "yes", you may be a people pleaser.People-pleasing is a widespread but misunderstood response to trauma. It can have a huge impact on your mental health, showing up in common psychological conditions including anxiety, co-dependence, and depression. Left unchallenged, people-pleasing habits can lead to chronic discomfort, exhaustion, and resentment.In Stop People Pleasing, certified life coach Hailey Magee offers an action-based approach to breaking the people-pleasing pattern. Drawing on social science, psychological research, and coaching exercises, Magee gives you the practical tools you need to:- Understand the origins of your people-pleasing- Discover your own needs- Set empowered boundaries- Courageously advocate for yourselfWith fresh insight, heartfelt empathy, and a keen personal understanding of the pitfalls of people-pleasing, Magee will help you to break free from the cycle, overcome your guilt, and reconnect with your own feelings, needs, and aspirations.
Close to Home: A Novel
by Michael MageeWhile growing up in West Belfast, Sean does everything he's supposed to do. He works hard, he studies, and he - mostly - stays out of trouble. The thirty-year conflict is over, he's told, and his future is lit with promise. But when Sean returns home from university, he finds much of the same-the same friends doing the same gear in the same clubs; the same lost brothers and mad fathers; the same closed doors; the same silences. There are no jobs, Sean's degree isn't worth the paper it's written on, and no one will give him the time of day. One night, he assaults a stranger at a party, and everything begins to come undone. Close to Home begins with this sudden act of violence and expands into a startling portrait of working-class Ireland under the long shadow of the Troubles. It's a first novel drawn from life, written with the immediacy of thought. It's about what happens when men get desperate, about the cycles of loss and trauma and secrecy that keep them trapped, and about the struggle to get free.
The New Rakes
by Nikki MagennisThe New Rakes are known for the hot, dirty electro music they play in basement gigs all over the city, but lead singer Kara has ambitions beyond underground success. Fuelled by her sexy performances and the love/hate relationship with her guitarist Tam, the band is poised on the brink of stardom. And when Mike Greene, the charismatic head of a record company, offers The New Rakes a deal, it seems all their hopes are about to be realised.But Kara and Mike have history - and this time he wants more than a professional relationship. Kara is seduced by his glamorous promises and despite the attempts of his manipulative ex-girlfriend, she becomes Mike's lover.As she gets tangled in a web of sex, power and deceit, Kara learns the hard way what success really means. In the end, she may have to choose between the limelight and true love.
Plant Functional Genomics: Methods and Protocols, Volume 1 (Methods in Molecular Biology #2787)
by Fatemeh MaghulyThis detailed book gathers hands-on techniques to characterize, identify, localize, profile, and determine genome functions in plants. Volume 1 opens with a section exploring protocols to advance our understanding of plant genetics and ecology via phenomics, and it continues with chapters on plant genetics, transcriptomics, and proteomics to unravel plant protein structures and functions, bridging proteomics and phosphoproteomics. Written for the highly successful Methods in Molecular Biology series, chapters include introductions to their respective topics, lists of the necessary materials and reagents, step-by-step and readily reproducible laboratory protocols, and tips on troubleshooting and avoiding known pitfalls. Authoritative and comprehensive, Plant Functional Genomics: Methods and Protocols serves as an ideal guide to the immense promise of functional genomics, spanning from fundamental evolutionary studies to practical advancements in crop improvement.
Plant Functional Genomics: Methods and Protocols, Volume 2 (Methods in Molecular Biology #2788)
by Fatemeh MaghulyThis detailed book gathers hands-on techniques to characterize, identify, localize, profile, and determine genome functions in plants. Volume 2 opens with metabolomic methods that uncover chemical intricacies, exploring glycome mixtures, cell wall components, and computational metabolomics, and it continues with sections on plant genome validation, computational approaches and bioinformatic tools, and case studies exploring the biological effects of magnetic fields and the study of cyanobacteria. Written for the highly successful Methods in Molecular Biology series, chapters include introductions to their respective topics, lists of the necessary materials and reagents, step-by-step and readily reproducible laboratory protocols, and tips on troubleshooting and avoiding known pitfalls. Authoritative and comprehensive, Plant Functional Genomics: Methods and Protocols serves as an ideal guide to the immense promise of functional genomics, spanning from fundamental evolutionary studies to practical advancements in crop improvement.
Things to Do
by Elaine MagliaroWith playful prose and vivid art, Things to Do brings to life the small moments and secret joys of a child's day. There are wonders everywhere. In the sky and on the ground—blooming in a flower bed, dangling from a silken thread, buzzing through the summer air—waiting ...waiting to be found. In this thoughtful and ingenious collection of poems, Elaine Magliaro, an elementary school teacher for more than three decades and a school librarian for three years, and illustrator Catia Chien provide a luminous glimpse of the ordinary wonders all around us. Plus, this is the fixed format version, which looks almost identical to the print edition.
The Vinland Sagas: The Norse Discovery of America
by Magnus Magnusson Hermann PalssonOne of the most arresting stories in the history of exploration, these two Icelandic sagas tell of the discovery of America by Norsemen five centuries before Christopher Columbus. Together, the direct, forceful twelfth-century Graenlendinga Saga and the more polished and scholarly Eirik's Saga, written some hundred years later, recount how Eirik the Red founded an Icelandic colony in Greenland and how his son, Leif the Lucky, later sailed south to explore - and if possible exploit - the chance discovery by Bjarni Herjolfsson of an unknown land. In spare and vigorous prose they record Europe's first surprise glimpse of the eastern shores of the North American continent and the natives who inhabited them.
Prom Babies
by Kekla MagoonA compelling, multi-generational novel from the Coretta Scott King and Printz Honor-winning author of How It Went Down, Light It Up, and The Minus-One Club, Prom Babies chronicles the stories of three teen girls who become pregnant on prom night. Eighteen years later, their three babies, now high school seniors, are headed to prom and facing their own set of complicated issues and questions.Mina, Penny, and Sheryl have the typical expectations of prom night in 2005: dresses, dancing, and of course some coming of age moments. None of them plans to get pregnant, but when all three do, they band together as they face decisions that have the power to shape the rest of their lives. In 2024, their three children--Blossom, Amber, and Cole--are high school seniors, gearing up to go to prom and facing some big decisions of their own. As they seek to understand who they are and who they want to be, they grapple with issues that range from consent to virginity, gendered dress codes, and the many patriarchal, heteronormative expectations that still come along with prom. A generation later, will this prom night change lives too?
Microcosms
by Claudio MagrisAmid wars, failed revolutions and the shifting of frontiers, the bit-part players often have the best tales to tell - an astonishing, genre-blurring travelogue from Italian master Claudio Magris.In the tiny borderlands of Istria and Italy, from the forests of Monte Nevoso, to the hidden valleys of the Tyrol, to a Trieste café, Microcosms pieces together a mosaic of stories - comic, tragic, picaresque, nostalgic - from life's minor characters. Their worlds might be small, but they are far from minimalist: in them flashes the great, the meaningful, the unrepeatable significance of every existence.
Out of Oz: The Final Volume in the Wicked Years (Wicked Years #4)
by Gregory Maguire“Maguire’s work is melodic, symphonic, and beautiful; it is dejected and biting and brave. How great that people flock to these magical novels.”—Los Angeles Times Book ReviewBestselling author Gregory Maguire’s remarkable series, The Wicked Years, comes full circle with this, his fourth and final excursion across a darker, richer, more complex landscape of “the magical land of Oz.” Out of Oz brilliantly reimagines L. Frank Baum’s world over the rainbow as wracked with social unrest—placing Glinda the good witch under house arrest and having the cowardly Lion on the lam from the law as the Emerald City prepares to make war on Munchkinland. Even Dorothy makes a triumphant return in Maguire’s magnificent Oz finale—tying up every loose green end of the series he began with his classic Wicked, the basis for the smash hit Broadway musical.
The Pomegranates of Kandahar
by Sarah MaguireSarah Maguire's rich and lyrical poems have been highly praised for the ease with which they ground precise, sensual detail within the wider context of world events. In this remarkable new collection, her poems travel greater distances than ever before. The title poem laments the devastation visited upon Afghanistan following decades of war. Other poems consider the casualties of political unrest: would-be migrants in Tangiers gazing northwards at the longed-for phantasmagoria of 'Europe'; and packs of wolves on the loose in post-Soviet Kazakhstan. But there are intimate poems too, often using scientific vocabularies to offset a personal moment, as in 'Landscape, with Dead Sea' where the erosion of the poet's skin is connected to geological transformations at the earth's core.
Kitchen Chinese: A Novel About Food, Family, and Finding Yourself
by Ann Mah“Ann Mah’s Kitchen Chinese is a delicious debut novel, seasoned with just the right balance of humor and heart, and sprinkled with fascinating cultural tidbits.” —Claire Cook, bestselling author of Must Love DogsKitchen Chinese, Ann Mah’s funny and poignant first novel about a young Chinese-American woman who travels to Beijing to discover food, family, and herself is a delight—complete with mouth-watering descriptions of Asian culinary delicacies, from Peking duck and Mongolian hot pot to the colorful, lesser known Ants in a Tree that will delight foodies everywhere. Reminiscent of Elizabeth Gilbert’s runaway bestseller Eat, Pray, Love, Mah’s tale of clashing cultures, rival siblings, and fine dining is an unforgettable, unexpectedly sensual reading experience—the story of one woman’s search for identity and purpose in an exotic and faraway land.
Funk the Clock: Transgressing Time While Young, Perceptive, and Black
by Rahsaan MahadeoFunk the Clock is about those said to be emblematic of the future yet denied a place in time. Hence, this book is both an invitation and provocation for Black youth to give the finger to the hands of time, while inviting readers to follow their lead.In revealing how time is racialized, how race is temporalized, and how racism takes time, Rahsaan Mahadeo makes clear why conventional sociological theories of time are both empirically and theoretically unsustainable and more importantly, why they need to be funked up/with. Through his study of a youth center in Minneapolis, Mahadeo provides examples of Black youth constructing alternative temporalities that center their lived experiences and ensure their worldviews, tastes, and culture are most relevant and up to date. In their stories exists the potential to stretch the sociological imagination to make the familiar (i.e., time) strange. Funk the Clock forges new directions in the study of race and time by upending what we think we know about time, while centering Black youth as key collaborators in rewriting knowledge as we know it.
Applying Artificial Intelligence in Cybersecurity Analytics and Cyber Threat Detection
by Shilpa Mahajan Mehak Khurana Vania Vieira EstrelaAPPLYING ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IN CYBERSECURITY ANALYTICS AND CYBER THREAT DETECTION Comprehensive resource providing strategic defense mechanisms for malware, handling cybercrime, and identifying loopholes using artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) Applying Artificial Intelligence in Cybersecurity Analytics and Cyber Threat Detection is a comprehensive look at state-of-the-art theory and practical guidelines pertaining to the subject, showcasing recent innovations, emerging trends, and concerns as well as applied challenges encountered, and solutions adopted in the fields of cybersecurity using analytics and machine learning. The text clearly explains theoretical aspects, framework, system architecture, analysis and design, implementation, validation, and tools and techniques of data science and machine learning to detect and prevent cyber threats. Using AI and ML approaches, the book offers strategic defense mechanisms for addressing malware, cybercrime, and system vulnerabilities. It also provides tools and techniques that can be applied by professional analysts to safely analyze, debug, and disassemble any malicious software they encounter. With contributions from qualified authors with significant experience in the field, Applying Artificial Intelligence in Cybersecurity Analytics and Cyber Threat Detection explores topics such as: Cybersecurity tools originating from computational statistics literature and pure mathematics, such as nonparametric probability density estimation, graph-based manifold learning, and topological data analysisApplications of AI to penetration testing, malware, data privacy, intrusion detection system (IDS), and social engineeringHow AI automation addresses various security challenges in daily workflows and how to perform automated analyses to proactively mitigate threatsOffensive technologies grouped together and analyzed at a higher level from both an offensive and defensive standpoint Providing detailed coverage of a rapidly expanding field, Applying Artificial Intelligence in Cybersecurity Analytics and Cyber Threat Detection is an essential resource for a wide variety of researchers, scientists, and professionals involved in fields that intersect with cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, and machine learning.
Krause's Food And The Nutrition Care Process
by L. Kathleen Mahan Sylvia Escott-Stump Janice L. RaymondKrauses Food & the Nutrition Care Process, 13e by Mahan MS RD CDE, L. Kathleen, Escott-Stump MA RD LDN, Sy. Published by Saunders
Marathi Aksharbharati class 10 - Maharashtra Board: मराठी अक्षरभारती इयत्ता दहावी - महाराष्ट्र बोर्ड
by Maharashtra Rajya Pathyapustak Nirmiti Va Abhysakram Sanshodhan Mandal Puneइयत्ता दहावीचे ‘अक्षरभारती' मराठी हे पाठ्यपुस्तक आहे. आपले विचार, भावना, कल्पना लेखनातून अभिव्यक्त करता यायला हव्यात. यासाठी मराठी भाषा चांगल्या प्रकारे शिकून उत्तम प्रकारे वापरता यायला हवी, हे विचारात घेऊन या पाठ्यपुस्तकातील पाठांची, स्वाध्यायांची योजना केलेली आहे. पाठ्यपुस्तकाच्या सुरुवातीला क्षमतांची यादी दिलेली आहे. त्यावरून कोणती भाषिक कौशल्ये आत्मसात करायची आहेत याची तुम्हांला कल्पना येऊ शकेल. या पाठ्यपुस्तकाच्या अंतरंगात डोकावल्यावर तुमच्या लक्षात येईल, की त्यामध्ये विविध साहित्यप्रकारांचा समावेश केलेला आहे. गद्य पाठांमध्ये कथा, ललित, विनोदी शैलीतील पाठ, विज्ञान विषयावरील पाठ इत्यादी प्रकारच्या पाठांचा समावेश केला आहे. तसेच पद्य पाठांमध्ये प्रार्थना, संतवाणी, देशभक्तीपर गीत, निसर्गवर्णनपर कविता इत्यादी काव्यप्रकारांचा समावेश करण्यात आला आहे. पाठ्यपुस्तकाचे सर्वांत महत्त्वाचे वैशिष्ट्य म्हणजे प्रत्येक पाठाखालील स्वाध्यायांचे स्वरूप आणि रचना वैविध्य. हे स्वाध्याय तुम्हांला पाठांचे अंतरंग समजून घेण्यास मदत करतील. तुमची आकलनशक्ती, विचारशक्ती, कल्पनाशक्ती आणि सृजनशीलता विकसित करण्याच्या हेतूने स्वाध्यायांतील कृतींची रचना जाणीवपूर्वक केली आहे. शिक्षकांचे मार्गदर्शन आणि तुमचे स्वयंअध्ययन यांमधून भाषा शिकताना तुम्हांला अभ्यासाचे ओझे वाटणार नाही. पाठांतराचे दडपणही राहणार नाही. दैनंदिन व्यवहारात आपणाला पावलोपावली मराठी भाषेचा वापर करावा लागतो. त्या दृष्टीने तुमची उत्तम तयारी व्हावी, यासाठी या पाठ्यपुस्तकातील उपयोजित लेखनाचा सराव उपयुक्त ठरेल. त्याचबरोबर रोजच्या व्यवहारांमध्ये तुम्हांला तंत्रज्ञानाचाही वापर करायचा आहे. त्यासाठी पाठ्यघटकांशी संबंधित अधिक माहिती मिळवण्यासाठी संकेतस्थळांची यादीही दिलेली आहे. प्रत्येक पाठासंबंधी अधिक माहिती मिळवण्यासाठी अॅपच्या माध्यमातून क्यू. आर. कोडद्वारे उपयुक्त दृकश्राव्य साहित्य आपणांस उपलब्ध होईल. त्याचा तुम्हांला अभ्यासासाठी निश्चितच उपयोग होईल.
Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on Advanced Surface Enhancement: Surface Engineering for Sustainability (Lecture Notes in Mechanical Engineering)
by Niroj Maharjan Wei HeThis book presents the proceedings of the ‘3rd International Conference on Advanced Surface Enhancement’, INCASE 2023. It compiles the papers presented by researchers in surface engineering field at INCASE 2023 conference. The book presents a comprehensive review of the state of the art in surface engineering-related techniques and strategies, with a focus towards sustainability. The main topics include ‘Advanced techniques for surface engineering towards enhanced performance’, ‘Surface and sub-surface characterisation’, ‘Simulation and modelling of surface integrity’, ‘Advanced coating materials design synthesis and industry applications’, and ‘Emerging trends in surface engineering’. The book identifies the gaps between research and manufacturing and promotes sustainable approaches towards development of surface engineering solutions for adoption by industry. The book is useful for researchers, scientists, students, and engineers working in the field of surface engineering.
Book of Queens: The True Story of the Middle Eastern Horsewomen Who Fought the War on Terror
by Pardis MahdaviThe untold story of generations of Middle Eastern freedom fighters—horsewomen who safeguarded an ancient breed of Caspian horse—and their efforts to defend their homelands from the Taliban and others seeking to destroy them."A breathtaking book that revisits nearly one hundred years of Iranian history, highlighting the power and beauty of women who refuse to be subdued.&” ―Alison Hawthorne Deming, author of A Woven WorldBook of Queens reaches back centuries to the Persian Empire and a woman disguised as a man, facing an invading army, protected only by light armor and the stallion she sat astride. Mahdavi draws a thread from past to present: from her fearless Iranian grandmother, who guided survivors of domestic violence to independent mountain colonies in Afghanistan where the women, led by a general named Mina, became their country&’s first line of defense from marauding warlords. To the female warriors who helped train and breed the horses used by US Green Berets when they touched down in October 2001, with a mission but insufficient intelligence on the ground—women whose contributions were then forgotten. Pardis Mahdavi chases the legacy of Caspian horses and the women whose lives are saved by them, drawing on decades of research, newly-discovered diaries, and exclusive military sources. Among those intersecting stories is that of American Louise Firouz, who helped bring the breed back from the brink of extinction, connecting Virginia traders to British royals to the son of the Shah. Firouz&’s life is forever changed when she meets Mahdavi&’s own family, who run an unusual smuggling operation in addition to raising horses in a wild bid for freedom.Book of Queens is an epic tale of hidden women whose communal knowledge was instrumental in saving an animal as ancient as civilization, and who were the genesis of their own liberation.
Salafi-jihadism: The History Of An Idea
by Shiraz MaherNo topic has captured the public imagination of late quite so dramatically as the specter of global jihadism. While much has been said about the way jihadists behave, their ideology remains poorly understood. As the Levant has imploded and millenarian radicals claim to have revived a Caliphate based on the teachings of the Prophet Mohammed, the need for a nuanced and accurate understanding of jihadist beliefs has never been greater. Shiraz Maher charts the intellectual underpinnings of salafi-jihadism from its origins in the mountains of the Hindu Kush to the jihadist insurgencies of the 1990s and the 9/11 wars. What emerges is the story of a pragmatic but resilient warrior doctrine that often struggles - as so many utopian ideologies do - to consolidate the idealism of theory with the reality of practice.