This edited volume explores the democratic dangers posed by a political press that emphasizes electoral competition, strategy, entertainment, and what Jay Rosen calls “savviness”—praising candidates for being politically smart rather than being honest—in its coverage of a political landscape dominated by a looming authoritarian threat. Contributors document how the American and global political press have failed to fulfill their role in elections and demonstrate how authoritarians have use...

Explore the physics behind the world of Star Wars, with engaging topics and accessible information that shows how we’re closer than ever before to creating technology from the galaxy far, far away—perfect for every Star Wars fan!Ever wish you could have your very own lightsaber like Luke Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi? Or that you could fly through space at the speed of light like Han Solo and Poe Dameron?Well, those ideas aren’t as outlandish as you think.

Giving voice to a population too rarely acknowledged, Sweet Tea collects more than sixty life stories from black gay men who were born, raised, and continue to live in the South. E. Patrick Johnson challenges stereotypes of the South as “backward” or “repressive” and offers a window into the ways black gay men negotiate their identities, build community, maintain friendship networks, and find sexual and life partners — often in spaces and activities that appear to be antigay. Ultimately, S...

Thomas Johnson's latest novel launches a gripping two-book dystopian saga: Escape from Apidae.Apidae is a perfect world. This hive society has been engineered with precision and populated by carefully designed citizens known as hive units. Every aspect of life is regulated: ideal health, flawless physiques, uniform appearances, standardized heights, and controlled intellects. Apidae stands for humanity's vision of ultimate superiority....

In this classic fantasy story, Thomas Johnson brings us a sweeping tale of a prince and his valiant quest to restore his land after a deadly attack wipes out half its population.The Royal House of Azarael sends Prince Gabriel on a secret mission to a well-hidden site in the impressive Custelle Range along the western shores of their Continentem, Praespero. While crossing storm-swept seas, his royal vessel falls under a vicious attack. Lord Gabriel esca...

While over the past decade a number of scholars have done significant work on questions of black lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered identities, this volume is the first to collect this groundbreaking work and make black queer studies visible as a developing field of study in the United States. Bringing together essays by established and emergent scholars, this collection assesses the strengths and weaknesses of prior work on race and sexuality and highlights the theoretical and poli...

Steal This University explores the paradox of academic labor. Universities do not exist to generate a profit from capital investment, yet contemporary universities are increasingly using corporations as their model for internal organization. While the media, politicians, business leaders and the general public all seem to share a remarkable consensus that higher education is indispensable to the future of nations and individuals alike, within academia bitter conflicts brew over th...

From Pushcart Prize nominee Danny Johnson comes a powerful, lyrical debut novel that explores race relations, first love, and coming-of-age in North Carolina in the 1950s and '60s. At eight years old, Raeford "Junebug" Hurley has known more than his share of hard lessons. After the sudden death of his parents, he goes to live with his grandparents on a farm surrounded by tobacco fields and lonesome woods. There he meets Fancy Stroud and her twin brother, Lightning, the children of black sh...

From the authors of the bestselling In the Company of Heroes come the thrilling, never-before-heard stories of the Army's elite aviation unit, the most daring and professional helicopter crews in the world.In his first book, Michael Durant told his harrowing tale of being shot down in his Blackhawk over Mogadishu and held captive by a Somali warlord. It was a remarkable account, particularly because Special Operations pilots are notoriously reticent-they don't talk about t...

The life and career of a Poet is often thought of as musing at a desk, or lying in a meadow, or on long journeys to find inspiration for their next masterwork. But more often than not a poet was a part-time profession in subservient submission to their actual, salary-paying job.In this volume we bring together those professionals we engage to bring the full force of the law to bear where we have been wronged, either personally or professionally. Despite the complex morals of such w...

A Sense of Regard, says Laura McCullough, “is an effort to collect the voices of living poets and scholars in thoughtful and considered exfoliation of the current confluence of poetry and race, the difficulties, the nuances, the unexamined, the feared, the questions, and the quarrels across aesthetic camps and biases.”The contributors discuss issues as various as their own diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds. Their essays, which range in style from the personal and lyric...

The novels of the South African writer J. M. Coetzee won him global recognition and the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2003. His work offers substantial pedagogical richness and challenges. Coetzee treats such themes as race, aging, gender, animal rights, power, violence, colonial history and accountability, the silent or silenced other, sympathy, and forgiveness in an allusive and detached prose that avoids obvious answers or easy ethical reassurance.Part 1 of this volume, "Material...