Examines literary responses to the impact of economic and technological globalization in Latin America.Literature and "Interregnum" examines the unraveling of the political forms of modernity through readings of end-of-millennium literary texts by César Aira, Marcelo Cohen, Sergio Chejfec, Diamela Eltit, and Roberto Bolaño. The opening of national spaces to the global capitalist system in the 1980s culminates in the suspension of key principles of modernit...

This book addresses disaster risk reduction (DRR) policies, focusing on reducing the paradox that exists between the compulsory implementation of DRR policies and continuing limitationsThe authors use their knowledge of the ever-evolving threats associated with disasters and their prevention to investigate this famous paradox and propose solutions that will help readers understand and reconsider its existence.The authors also discuss conditionings behind this paradox, helping readers under...

The Marrano Specter pursues the reciprocal influence between Jacques Derrida and Hispanism. On the one hand, Derrida’s work has engendered a robust conversation among philosophers and critics in Spain and Latin America, where his work circulates in excellent translation, and where many of the terms and problems he addresses take on a distinctive meaning: nationalism and cosmopolitanism; spectrality and hauntology; the relation of subjectivity and truth; the university; disciplinarity; inst...

100 Catastrophic Disasters is an astounding compendium of natural and man-made disasters. The range of entries is extraordinary, from the bizarre to the horrific, and from the heartbreaking to the ridiculous.The book includes some of history's most incredible disasters and tells in vivid detail the story of events of people involved, the impact of particular disasters and the destruction and sorrow they left in their wake. From the eruption of Vesuvius and destruction of P...

Is Judaism a religion, a culture, a nationality--or a mixture of all of these? In How Judaism Became a Religion, Leora Batnitzky boldly argues that this question more than any other has driven modern Jewish thought since the eighteenth century. This wide-ranging and lucid introduction tells the story of how Judaism came to be defined as a religion in the modern period--and why Jewish thinkers have fought as well as championed this idea.Ever since the Enlightenment, Jewish ...

Disaster management is a vibrant and growing field, driven by government spending in the wake of terrorist attacks and environmental debacles, as well as private-sector hiring of risk managers and emergency planners. An ever-increasing number of practicing professionals needs a reference that can provide a solid foundation in ALL major phases of supervision – mitigation, preparedness, response, communications, and recovery. As climate change leads to further costly catastrophes and as coun...

"The Library of Babel" is arguably Jorge Luis Borges' best known story--memorialized along with Borges on an Argentine postage stamp. Now, in The Unimaginable Mathematics of Borges' Library of Babel, William Goldbloom Bloch takes readers on a fascinating tour of the mathematical ideas hidden within one of the classic works of modern literature. Written in the vein of Douglas R. Hofstadter's Pulitzer Prize-winning Gödel, Escher, Bach, this original and imaginative book she...

"If you are an amateur weather geek, disaster wonk, or budding student of earth sciences, you will want to read this book." —Seattle TimesIn 2011, there were fourteen natural calamities that each destroyed over a billion dollars’ worth of property in the United States alone. In 2012, Hurricane Sandy ravaged the East Coast and major earthquakes struck in Italy, the Philippines, Iran, and Afghanistan. In the first half of 2013, the awful drumbeat continued—a...

What Would Nietzsche Do? uses the key ideas of more than 80 philosophical thinkers, past and present, to shine new light onto today's everyday problems.Ever wondered if Schopenhauer could fix your broken heart? How Heraclitus might help you if you lost your phone? Given the chance, would Foucault leave the toilet seat up?With sections on Relationships, Self and Identity, How to Live, Art and Aesthetics, and Politics, there is an answer to each of modern life's ques...

End of the Jews: Radical Breaks, Remakes and What Comes Next explores a pattern of crisis followed by a radical break and remake as a persistent phenomenon in Jewish history. The Jewish people have collectively braved many turning points over the past four millennia and, in each instance, did so by making a radical break from past forms of worship, notions of self and nation as well as sense of place in the world. In other words, the Jews have ended numerous times in their history, but not in...

Charles Perrow is famous worldwide for his ideas about normal accidents, the notion that multiple and unexpected failures--catastrophes waiting to happen--are built into our society's complex systems. In The Next Catastrophe, he offers crucial insights into how to make us safer, proposing a bold new way of thinking about disaster preparedness.Perrow argues that rather than laying exclusive emphasis on protecting targets, we should reduce their size to minimize damage and di...

In June 1942, when twelve-year-old Gerta is deported with her parents to the Theresienstadt ghetto – the Nazis' deceptive "model Jewish settlement" – her family helps her cope with the surrounding devastation. Later, alone in Auschwitz, Gerta is determined to survive the unbearable. Her intrepid spirit and keen observation guides her anew through post-war communism to freedom in Canada.