Available electronically in an open-access, full-text edition from the Texas A&M University Libraries' Digital Repository athttp://hdl.handle.net/1969.1/146845.Child psychiatrist and psychoanalyst Astrid Berg states in her introduction that “South Africa is a microcosm.” It is a modern nation, yet many of its inhabitants follow ancient traditions. It is a nation with a colonial past marke...

Desperation, duty and desire - the three primary motives for breaking what is the oldest taboo in the Western world, cannibalism. This book investigates all three and presents startling evidence that will challenge cultural and moral perceptions as never before.Throughout history there have been instances of humans who, finding themselves in extremis, are forced to eat companions out of sheer desperation in order to survive. Do we reserve judgement in these circumstances, ...

Now available in paperback: musings, inspirations, and styling tips from the darling of the fashion worldWith influences that range from the sultry beauty of Jane Birkin to the rocker chic of Mick Jagger, it’s no wonder that everything worn by Alexa Chung instantly becomes the latest trend. Already a hugely popular television personality and a muse for Marc Jacobs and Karl Lagerfeld, Chung was also a cohost of the nightly music show Fuse News, covering the...

Authoritative and immediate, this is the classic account of the most powerful of the American Indian tribes. T.R. Fehrenbach traces the Comanches’ rise to power, from their prehistoric origins to their domination of the high plains for more than a century until their demise in the face of Anglo-American expansion.Master horseback riders who lived in teepees and hunted bison, the Comanches were stunning orators, disciplined warriors, and the finest makers of arrows. They lived by a ...

**A New York Times Bestseller“Each interview is a revelation.” —USA Today“As heartwarming as a holiday pumpkin pie and every bit as homey . . . what emerges in these compelling pages is hard-won wisdom and boundless humanity.” —Seattle Post-IntelligencerAs heard on NPR, a wondrous nationwide celebration of our shared humanity**StoryCorps founder and legendary radio producer Dave Isay selects the most memorable stories from StoryCor...

This book of Geisha culture and history features beautiful antique photographs and a wealth of information.Geisha have the odd distinction of being both legendary and real, and this book helps clarify those differences. Myth by nature is monolithic, transcending history and individuals, whereas the reality is a variety of geisha communities in different areas of Japan, Status hierarchies among communities in the same city, and of course differences among individual...

Cannibalism is unquestionably one of the oldest and deepest-seated taboos. Even in an age when almost nothing is sacred, religious, moral and social prohibitions surround the topic. But even as our minds recoil at the mention of actual acts of cannibalism there is some dark fascination with the subject. Appalling crimes of humans eating other humans are blown into major news stories and gory movies: both Hitchcock's Psycho and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre ...

"A gimlet-eyed and often hilarious account of the author's round-the-world reefer safari . . . A surprisingly clear-headed view of potheads worldwide" ( The New Yorker ).In Pot Planet, journalist Brian Preston sets out on a global ganja safari to explore strange new cannabis cultures, to seek out new growers, activists, and other reefer revolutionaries . . . and to boldly get baked with each of them.Presto...

We live in a world obsessed by luxury. Long-distance airlines compete to offer first-class sleeping experiences and hotels recommend exclusive suites where you are never disturbed. Luxury is a rapidly changing global industry that makes the headlines daily in our newspapers and on the internet. More than ever, luxury is a pervasive presence in the cultural and economic life of the West - and increasingly too in the emerging super-economies of Asia and Latin America. Yet luxury is hardly a ...

Ritual is part of what it means to be human. Like sports, music, and drama, ritual defines and enriches culture, putting those who practice it in touch with sources of value and meaning larger than themselves. Ritual is unavoidable, yet it holds a place in modern life that is decidedly ambiguous. What is ritual? What does it do? Is it useful? What are the various kinds of ritual? Is ritual tradition bound and conservative or innovative and transformational? Alongside description of a numbe...

Following on two previous collections— Write It on Your Heart: The Epic World of an Okanagan Storyteller (1989) and Nature Power: In the Spirit of an Okanagan Storyteller (2004)—Talonbooks is pleased to announce the release of this third volume of oral narratives by Okanagan storyteller Harry Robinson.Living by Stories includes a number of classic stories set in the “mythological age” about the trickster/transformer, Coyote, and his efforts to rid the wor...

An investigation of the meanings and iconography of the Stampede: an invented tradition that takes over the city of Calgary for ten days every July. Since 1923, archetypal “Cowboys and Indians” are seen again at the chuckwagon races, on the midway, and throughout Calgary. Each essay in this collection examines a facet of the experience—from the images on advertising posters to the ritual of the annual parade. This study of the Calgary Stampede as a social phenomenon reveals the history and...