What do we value? Why do we value it? And in a neoliberal age, can morality ever displace money as the primary means of defining value? These are the questions that drove David Foster Wallace, a writer widely credited with changing the face of contemporary fiction and moving it beyond an emotionless postmodern irony. Jeffrey Severs argues in David Foster Wallace's Balancing Books that Wallace was also deeply engaged with the social, political, and economic issues of the twentieth ...

Thomas Pynchon's longest novel to date, Against the Day (2006), excited diverse and energetic opinions when it appeared on bookstore shelves nine years after the critically acclaimed Mason & Dixon. Its wide-ranging plot covers nearly three decades—from the 1893 World's Fair to the years just after World War I—and follows hundreds of characters within its 1085 pages. The book’s eleven essays by established luminaries and emerging voices in the field of Pynchon criticism, address a significa...

Thomas Pynchon’s fiction has been considered masculinist, misogynist, phallocentric, and pornographic: its formal experimentation, irony, and ambiguity have been taken both to complicate such judgments and to be parts of the problem. To the present day, deep critical divisions persist as to whether Pynchon’s representations of women are sexist, feminist, or reflective of a more general misanthropy, whether his writing of sex is boorishly pornographic or effectually transgressive, whether q...

The universe is hungry. For power. For money. For war.And—revenge. Stripping osmium from across the stars, thieves will stop at nothing to fuel the nightmarish industry of Stolen Persons, their souls locked away in chips made of the rarest metal known.Among these thieves is Helum Gauss, the visionary criminal whose empire spans a hundred worlds. But his massive corporation, BeneStar, lost—badly—to Van and the Guild, and Gauss won't take no for an answer.

This study of the 1927–1928 murder trial and appeal of John Winters is an intriguing look at one of the most celebrated cases in Vermont judicial history—the time Clarence Darrow, America’s greatest advocate, appeared for the defendant before the Vermont Supreme Court. It reveals tensions of class, gender, and family, and gives the reader a glimpse of justice in the 1920s. Winters’ Time combines legal history, true crime, a cast of Vermont characters, and America's famous “attorne...

This book presents a deep and encompassing survey of severe weather in all its forms. An Introduction to Severe Storms and Hazardous Weather is an exciting new textbook that allows students to learn the principles of atmospheric science through the drama, exhilaration, and even tragedy of severe weather.Balancing breadth and depth, Jeffrey B. Halverson adeptly combines a short, accessible introduction to the basic principles of meteorology with detailed coverage on large- ...

First published in 1994. Until recently, patients with severe and long-lasting mental disorders were treated primarily through hospitalisation and psychotropic medication. However, now there is a concerted effort to integrate treatment approaches from behavioural and rehabilitation therapies and social skills training.; This book presents an integration of psychological treatment and assessment practices, authored by professionals with established expertise in their subject area. Topics of...

This book deals with the attempts made by the scholars and engineers to address contemporary issues in geotechnical engineering such as characterization of geomaterials, slope stability and tunneling, sustainability in geohazards and some other geotechnical issues that are becoming quite relevant in today's world. With increasing urbanization rates and development of society, advancement in geotechnical technologies is essential to the construction of infrastructures. Geotechnical Investig...

This book is a collection of essays in honor of the life and work of Dr. Lifsa Schachter . The contributors span a broad range of Dr. Schachter's 50-year involvement in Jewish education and scholarship. The three major foci of the volume--Bible, Hebrew, and Jewish education--reflect the three major arenas of her work. Within each of these areas, the essays encompass Dr. Schachter's commitment to thoughtful reflection (theory) and competent and creative implementation (practice). Also inclu...