Winner of the 1990 Foundations of Political Theory Section of the American Political Science Association "First Book Award"Now available in paperback with a new preface by the author, this award-winning book breaks new ground by challenging traditional concepts of community in political theory. William Corlett brings the diverse (and sometimes contradictory) work of Foucault and Derrida to bear on the thought of Pocock, Burke, Lincoln, and McIntyre, among others, to move beyond the...

Bellingford is a sleepy village set amid gently rolling countryside. Whatever scandals may occur there, they always take place behind closed doors and carefully laundered lace curtains. In short, Bellingford is a typical English village. That is until the news breaks that the Hall House has been sold at last and the rumour starts that the new occupants are to be 'two gentlemen, sharing'. With the arrival of Rich and Bless - newly in love and eager for domesticity - the scene is set for may...

A motiveless kidnapping and a solo flight to the dark side of the moon are juxtaposed in William Corlett's extraordinary novel. At first the narratives seem unrelated until the reader sees the dramatic parallels in the two situations, which give the book its force and relevance. The story begins with the kidnapping. A boy is taken from his Scottish boarding school but there seems to be no reason behind the kidnapping: no ransom, no threats, just a note saying WE HAVE GOT YOUR BOY. MAY SOCI...

NOW Christopher Metcalfe returns to his family home in Kent after the death of his standoffish father. Sorting through a box of memorabilia from his days at boarding school, Chris finds himself confronted by a photograph and a face that has haunted him for thirty years.THEN At gloomy Blandford House, a fifteen-year old Chris endures the dull lessons, rigid schedules, and thrashing by the older prefects. And then a most extraordinary thing happens: he is seduced by the charismatic S...

Now. Christopher Metcalfe returns to his family home in Kent after the death of his father. Sorting through a box of memorabilia from his days at public school, Chris is suddenly confronted by the face that has haunted him for thirty years.Then, as a callow fifth former enduring the excesses of a school system designed to run an Empire that no longer existed, a most extraordinary thing happened amid the thrashings, and cross-country runs: he was seduced by Stephen Walker, a prefect...

There seems to be magic in the air the minute that William, Mary, and Alice Constant arrive at Golden House to stay with their uncle and aunt during the Christmas Holidays. There is something special about the rundown Golden House that their uncle is trying to renovate into a hotel and as they explore, they begin to unravel its secrets. They discover a hidden room, reached by steps up the chimney. Here they meet the magician Stephen Tyler, a 16th-century alchemist who has been transported ...

William, Mary and Alice Constant have come to spend Christmas with their uncle as their parents are working abroad. Little by little, they discover that things in this remote old house are not quite what they seem. There are powerful forces at work, calling to the children from across the centuries; forces that pull them up the hidden steps in the chimney to the secret room where the magician lives.

It is deep autumn and William, Mary and Alice Constant have returned to Golden House for the half-term holidays. At once they are thrown into the most crucial and desperate adventure of all. Matthew Morden is on the point of discovering for himself the art of time travel and his evil influence is permeating the whole valley. Now the future of the valley depends on the children reaching the Magician in his own time. The time has come for a final confrontation; the last great battle is about...

Why we are so fascinated with sex and sexuality—from the preeminent philosopher of the 20th century.Michel Foucault offers an iconoclastic exploration of why we feel compelled to continually analyze and discuss sex, and of the social and mental mechanisms of power that cause us to direct the questions of what we are to what our sexuality is.

In Dworkin’s master work, the central thesis is that all areas of value depend on one another. This is one, big thing that the hedgehog knows, in contrast to the fox, who knows many little things. Dworkin’s understanding of the relationship—between ethics, morality, and political morality—is significantly revised and also greatly elaborated. He argues that “dignity” is the essential core of living well and that a satisfactory account of dignity would, in turn, point to two principles. The ...

In Malaise of Modernity, Charles Taylor focuses on the key modern concept of self-fulfillment, often attacked as the central support of what Christopher Lasch has called the culture of narcissism. To Taylor, self-fulfillment, although often expressed in self-centered ways, isn't necessarily a rejection of traditional values and social commitment; it also reflects something authentic and valuable in modern culture. Only by distinguishing what is good in this modern striving from what is soc...

In Bodies That Matter, renowned theorist and philosopher Judith Butler argues that theories of gender need to return to the most material dimension of sex and sexuality: the body. Butler offers a brilliant reworking of the body, examining how the power of heterosexual hegemony forms the "matter" of bodies, sex, and gender. Butler argues that power operates to constrain sex from the start, delimiting what counts as a viable sex. She clarifies the notion of "performativity" introduced in Gen...