Vida y obra de Benjamin, Adorno, Marcuse, Horkheimer y otros pensadores que definieron el mundo tras la Segunda Guerra Mundial. "Están ustedes alojados en el Gran Hotel Abismo", le dijo un día el filósofo Lukács a Adorno, refiriéndose a todos los miembros de la Escuela de Frankfurt: un hotel equipado con toda clase de lujos, pero colgado sobre un precipicio, sobre el vacío y el absurdo… Este grupo de pensadores alemanes ha tenido una inmensa influencia sobre las ideas y la cultura de las ú...

In 1923, a group of young radical German thinkers and intellectuals came together to at Victoria Alle 7, Frankfurt, determined to explain the workings of the modern world. Among the most prominent members of what became the Frankfurt School were the philosophers Walter Benjamin, Theodor Adorno, Max Horkheimer, and Herbert Marcuse. Not only would they change the way we think, but also the subjects we deem worthy of intellectual investigation.Grand Hotel Abyss combines biogr...

But where do these ideas come from and how have they impacted on the world? In his brilliant history of a dangerous idea, Stuart Jeffries tells a narrative that starts in the early 1970s and continue to today. He tells this history through a riotous gallery that includes, amongst others: David Bowie * the Ipod * Frederic Jameson * the demolition of Pruit-Igoe * Madonna * Post-Fordism * Jeff Koon's 'Rabbit' * Deleuze and Guattari * the Nixon Shock * The Bowery series * Judith Butle...

A Short History of StupidityWe are living, it is often said, in a golden age of stupidity, in which boneheaded, mendacious politicians get elected by voters who've become too mindless to realize their interests are ill served by narcissists, while vapid social media influencers corrupt their no less witless followers with groundless conspiracy theories and eye-wateringly foolish takedowns of scientific expertise. Our time, one might be forgiven for thinkin...

Nesta obra instigante Stuart Jeffries propõe uma viagem corajosa pelas várias faces da estupidez humana, examinando como ideias absurdas, crenças falsas ou comportamentos irracionais se espalham e persistem mesmo frente à evidência. Ele investiga os momentos históricos em que a estupidez coletivamente triunfou, bem como os mecanismos sociais — sistemas de poder, mídia, convenções culturais — que a alimentam. Com estilo acessível e crítica lúcida, Jeffries desafia o leitor a confrontar o pr...

Dall'autore del brillante Grand Hotel Abisso, una nuova storia culturale, filosofica e artistica raccontata con la stessa spigliatezza. La postmodernità è la distruzione creativa che ha ridotto in frammenti il nostro tempo. Ha scardinato il modernismo, con il suo senso della storia, che aveva dominato il mondo occidentale per la maggior parte del XX secolo. Ma sotto la sua superficie scintillante nascondeva uno sporco segreto: era la foglia di fico per un nuovo tipo di capitalismo rapace. ...

Un relato que nos habla como pocos sobre quiénes somos.«Espléndidamente accesible. Jeffries demuestra en estas páginas un conocimiento notable de la cultura posmoderna».Terry Eagleton, The GuardianLa nuestra es una era marcada por la opinió...

We are living, it is often said, in a golden age of stupidity, in which boneheaded, mendacious politicians get elected by voters who've become too mindless to realize their interests are ill served by narcissists, while vapid social media influencers corrupt their no less witless followers with groundless conspiracy theories and eye-wateringly foolish takedowns of scientific expertise. Our time, one might be forgiven for thinking, is one in which the fool's gold of stupidity has become a d...

Post-Modernity is the creative destruction that has shattered our present times into fragments. It dynamited modernism which had dominated the western world for most of the twentieth century. Post-modernism stood for everything modernism rejected: fun, exuberance, irresponsibility. But beneath its glitzy surface, post-modernism had a dirty secret: it was the fig leaf for a rapacious new kind of capitalism. It was also the forcing ground of the "post truth," by means of which western values...

Comprehensive coverage of improvements in cultivation techniques across the potato value chain, from yield modelling to post-harvest storageDetailed review of the main fungal, bacterial and viral diseases affecting potatoesReviews best practices for improving nutrient management in potato cultivation

Mortally wounded in battle when he was only thirty-one, the dashing J. E. B. Stuart, the South's "plumed warrior knight," stands with Stonewall Jackson as one of the Confederacy's most revered martyrs. Union General John Sedgwick called him "the greatest cavalryman ever foaled in America." Jeffry D. Wert, however, offers a more balanced assessment in this comprehensive biography.Wert's narrative portrait of Stuart—audacious and daring in battle, contentious with his staff and subor...