Ventura Press is one of Sydney’s leading independent publishers and has become synonymous with high quality titles and internationally respected authors. Our list covers a unique and specific market – books to enhance life. The Ventura mission is to provide boutique, innovative and exciting publishing in Australia and world wide – with particular focus on bringing strong, female Australian voices to the global stage.
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Did you know that kids think that food tastes better when there is a cartoon character associated with it? That's what makes The Food ABC books so clever; they subtly send a message to "eat the rainbow" - think carrots, zucchinis, beans, even mushrooms - without focusing on food at all. The stories teach positive life lessons that are relatable to modern-day kids, from tidying your room and staying off digital devices to self-esteem and the importance of a good night's sleep.
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»Ich sehe die Welt in leuchtenden Farben.« Geboren in Peru, aufgewachsen in Chile, das sie nach dem Militärputsch verlassen musste, schrieb Isabel Allende ihren Bestseller Das Geisterhaus im Exil in Venezuela; seither zählt sie zu den wichtigsten Stimmen in der lateinamerikanischen Literatur. In ihren Romanen, die Leser in aller Welt begeistern, spiegelt sich das bewegte Leben dieser faszinierenden Frau.
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Flickwerk betreibt, wer Notlösungen für reale Probleme findet. Doch wie soll sich der anders verhalten, dem seine Existenzgrundlage genommen ist, der gar nicht oder »kurz« arbeitet? Wie sind ernst gemeinte Vorschläge eines Politikers zu verstehen, den »Tüchtigen und Tätigen« ein doppeltes Stimmrecht zu geben? Volker Braun, der die große Misere in den tagtäglichen Entscheidungen zwischen Erfurt, Kaiserslautern und Venezuela entziffert, teilt uns in Flickwerk 64 Episoden aus der katastrophischen Gegenwart mit, bei denen nicht zu entscheiden ist, ob man über unsere Situation weinen oder lachen soll. Flickwerk vereint in seinen Kurzreportagen die Tradition von Bertolt Brechts Geschichten von Herrn Keuner mit Thomas Bernhards Miniaturen im Stimmenimitator: Es entstellt auf diese Weise unsere Gegenwart zur Kenntlichkeit. Flickwerk belegt erneut die hohe Kunst des Schelmenschriftstellers Volker Braun, unsere Wirklichkeit so zu finden und zu erfinden, daß wir nicht entscheiden können, ob wir die Narren sind oder die Dummen uns vorführen.
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Es ist kein Zufall, daß sowohl in den Industriestaaten als auch in den Ländern der Dritten und der Vierten Welt die Programme und Maßnahmen der Entwicklungspolitik zu den meistumstrittenen Politikelementen zählen. Hier sind, auf beiden Seiten, Situationsdeutungen und Interessen im Spiel, die oft nicht einmal im »eigenen Lager« auf einen gemeinsamen Nenner gebracht werden können. So nimmt es denn auch nicht wunder, wenn in den Erklärungen von Unterentwicklung, die in den vergangenen fünfzehn Jahren vorgelegt worden sind, diese Interpretations- und Interessenkonflikte sich offen abbilden. Klaus Eßer nimmt diese Diskussion auf. Sein Verdienst besteht darin, sowohl die divergierenden Theorien über Industrialisierung, Abhängigkeit und Wachstum als auch die ihnen verbündeten Politikstrategien einer gründlichen Prüfung zu unterziehen und sie mit den Ergebnissen von Fallstudien (über Brasilien, Venezuela, Kolumbien, Peru, die lateinamerikanischen Kleinstaaten) zu konfrontieren. Eßer untersucht die ökonomischen, sozialen und politischen Bedingungen der gegenwärtig in Lateinamerika ablaufenden (teils einheitlichen, teils von Land zu Land unterschiedlichen) Industrialisierungsprozesse, deren Auswirkungen auf die Strukturen dieser Gesellschaften, auf ihr Verhältnis zueinander und zu den Industriestaaten, auf ihr Selbstverständnis und die innergesellschaftlichen Reformansätze.
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Von Argentinien bis Venezuela, von Brasilien bis zur Chicano-Literatur der USA sind in diesem Lexikon etwa 900 lateinamerikanische Schriftstellerpersönlichkeiten in präziser und gebündelter Form dargestellt. Dieser Reichardt hat in jahrzehntelanger Pionierarbeit Daten und Fakten zu den einzelnen Autoren zusammengetragen, die, auf neuesten Stand gebracht, nun in diesem handlichen Band zugänglich sind. Umfassend wie kein anderes europäisches Lexikon bezüglich lateinamerikanischer Literatur, konzentriert sich das nach Ländern und Autoren alphabetisch geordnete Nachschlagewerk auf die wesentlichen Informationen, ohne jedoch auf Gewichtung und Wertung zu verzichten. Von frühen Autoren wie den Peruanern Guamán Poma de Ayala und Garcilaso de la Vega (El Inca), die sich ihrer Verwurzelung in zwei sehr verschiedenartigen Kulturen durchaus bewusst waren, über Literatur-Nobelpreisträger wie Gabriela Mistral, Miguel Angel Asturias oder Ocatvio Paz führt das Lexikon bis in die Gegenwart der lateinamerikanischen Literatur, bis hin zu der Generation der jungen Autoren und Autorinnen der Geburtsjahrgänge 1950 bis 1960. Das Autorenlexikon Lateinamerika gibt allen Lesern, die den Kontinent lateinamerikanischer Literatur für sich entdeckt haben oder zu entdecken beginnen – interessierten Laien wie Wissenschaftlern – schnelle und aufschlussreiche Information über Leben und Werk der Autoren.
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Most scholars believe that China's nationality policy, like that of other socialist states, imitated the Soviet nationality model, a system which has been termed an "affirmative action empire." This book offers two contributions to the literature which run counter to this convention. First, it argues that the People's Republic of China (PRC) and the Soviet Union (USSR) were different; while the PRC was aimed to build an ideal-typical nation-state, the USSR was an open union of nation-states that was only temporarily confined to a physical territory. Second, while scholars who have noted this difference attribute it to contextual factors, such as ethnic structure, geopolitical status, and Russia's intervention into the Chinese Revolution, this book contends that context shaped the Sino-Soviet difference, yet it did not determine it. Rather, there was significant leeway between the implications of the contextual factors, and what the policy-designers ultimately established. This book probes who held agency, and how these individuals bridged this gap.
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Vladimir Putin has been ruling Russia for 25 years. There is no end in sight to his dictatorship. He relies on repression at home and is waging a war of destruction against a neighbouring country. The conflict with the West has long become a systemic conflict between an illiberal-autocratic ideology and liberal-democratic principles. Nothing will change as long as Putin remains in power. Nevertheless, as far as can be ascertained under unfree conditions, the majority of the population seems to be supporting Putin. Does this mean that too many people in Russia do not want democracy or peace? Will everything remain the same after Putin? Or is there a chance that Russia will eventually take a different, more democratic path? Whatever the outcome of the war in Ukraine, Russia is not going to disappear. We will still have to deal with our big neighbour in the east. This makes it all the more important to focus on longer-term developments. As a recognised expert on Russian history and society, the author outlines what the post-Putin era might look like. His in-depth analysis makes it clear that Russia is partly Putin, but Putin is not everything about Russia.
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This book examines how Ireland's relationship with the EU was affected by a succession of crises in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. The financial crisis, the Brexit crisis and the migration crisis were not of equal significance on the island of Ireland. The financial crisis was a huge issue for the Republic but not Northern Ireland, Brexit had a major impact in both polities, the migration and populism issues were less controversial, while foreign policy challenges had a minimal impact. The book provides a summary of the main features of each of the crises to be considered, from both the EU and the Irish perspective. Ireland and the European Union is the first volume of its kind to provide a comprehensive analysis on British-Irish relations in the context of Brexit. It assesses the Withdrawal Agreement and Protocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland, the devolution settlement and the 1998 Agreement, as well as the European dimension to Northern Ireland's peace process. The contributors explore a number of policy areas that are central to the understanding of each of the crises and the impact of each for Ireland. Chapters examine issues such as security, migration and taxation as well as protest politics, political parties, the media, public opinion and the economic impact of each of these crises on Ireland's relationship with the EU.
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The relationship between Germany and Russia is Europe's most important link with the largest country on the continent. But despite Germany's unparalleled knowledge and historical experience, its policymakers struggle to accept that Moscow's efforts to rebalance Europe at the cost of the cohesion of the EU and NATO are an attack on Germany's core interests. This book explains the scale of the challenge facing Germany in managing relations with a changing Russia. It analyses how successive German governments from 1991 to 2014 misread Russian intentions, until Angela Merkel sharply recalibrated German and EU policy towards Moscow. The book also examines what lies behind efforts to revise Merkel's bold policy shift, including attitudes inherited from the GDR and the role of Russian influence channels in Germany.
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This is a study of Britain's presence in China both at its peak, and during its inter-war dissolution in the face of assertive Chinese nationalism and declining British diplomatic support. Using archival materials from China and records in Britain and the United States, the author paints a portrait of the traders, missionaries, businessmen, diplomats and settlers who constituted "Britain-in-China", challenging our understanding of British imperialism there. Bickers argues that the British presence in China was dominated by urban settlers whose primary allegiance lay not with any grand imperial design, but with their own communities and precarious livelihoods. This brought them into conflict not only with the Chinese population, but with the British imperial government. The book also analyzes the formation and maintenance of settler identities, and then investigates how the British state and its allies brought an end to the reign of freelance, settler imperialism on the China coast. At the same time, other British sectors, missionary and business, renegotiated their own relationship with their Chinese markets and the Chinese state and distanced themselves from the settler British.
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Golden Mummies of Egypt presents new insights and a rich perspective on beliefs about the afterlife during an era when Egypt was part of the Greek and Roman worlds (c. 300 BCE-200 CE). This beautifully illustrated book, featuring photography by Julia Thorne, accompanies Manchester Museum's first-ever international touring exhibition. Golden Mummies of Egypt is a visually spectacular exhibition that offers visitors unparalleled access to the museum's outstanding collection of Egyptian and Sudanese objects - one of the largest in the UK.
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In 1660 Charles II was restored to the thrones of England, Scotland and Ireland, but his hold on power was precarious. In particular, Ireland was fundamentally unstable - Catholics formed the majority of the population in a country where Protestantism was the established religion, a state of affairs unique in Europe. It was through the law that the restored Stuart monarchy governed its subjects and its colonial dependencies, and this book examines how Catholics engaged with and experienced English common law primarily through the eyes of Catholic clerics and Gaelic poets. It also examines how Catholics engaged with the Courts and the particular challenges they faced as lawyers. The book draws on an extensive body of primary source materials, including Irish-language poetry and little-used archival material relating to elite Catholic families.
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This book explores what to do with heritage that has been destroyed in conflict. It charts a path through the colonial histories and traumatic wars of Syria and Iraq to examine the projects and responses currently on offer and assess their flaws and limitations, including issues of digital colonialism, technological solutionism, geopolitical manoeuvring, media bias and community exclusion. Drawing on current research into the psychology and neuroscience of trauma and trauma recovery, and taking inspiration from artists and creative thinkers who challenge the status quo, this book envisages gentler, creative and ethically-driven ways to respond to heritage damaged in conflict that recentre people and their hopes, dreams and needs at the heart of these debates.
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Richard Haass and Mitchell Reiss, as autonomous diplomats in the George W. Bush State Department, were able to alter US intervention in Northern Ireland and play critical roles in the post-1998 peace process. Their contributions have not been fully appreciated or understood. The restoration of Northern Ireland's power-sharing government in 2007 was made possible by State Department-led intervention in the peace process. There are few references to Northern Ireland in work examining the foreign policy legacy of the George W. Bush presidency. Moreover, the ability to control US foreign policy towards the region brought one of George W. Bush's Northern Ireland special envoys into direct diplomatic conflict with the most senior actors inside the British government. This book will uncover the extent of this fall-out and provide original accounts on how diplomatic relations between these old allies became so fraught.
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Als Kind im Jerusalem der 40er Jahre erlebt Amos Oz den Hass auf Deutschland als etwas Absolutes, Unverrückbares. Die Deutschen sind Mörder, ihre Sprache, ihre Produkte geächtet, das Wiedergutmachungsabkommen von 1952 noch als Schande verschrien. Und in jedem Pass des jungen Landes steht "Gültig für alle Länder – mit Ausnahme von Deutschland". Doch dann sind da die Bücher, die Literatur, dann liest er und das ganze Land Lenz, Böll, Grass, und ein Wandel vollzieht sich, im Kleinen wie im Großen, in ihm wie im Staate Israel … Amos Oz kombiniert persönliche Erfahrungen mit historisch-politischem Nachdenken. Auf diese Weise liefert er eine beeindruckende Bestandsaufnahme des alles andere als normalen Verhältnisses zweier Nationen. Ein Buch über Deutschland, über Israel, über den mehr als sechzig Jahre währenden Prozess der Verständigung. Und zur gleichen Zeit ein Plädoyer für die brückenschlagende Kraft des Erzählens.
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Seit zehn Jahren beschäftigt sich Martin Waiser mit einem Thema, das in der öffentlichen Meinung, bei den Politikern und bei den Intellektuellen als obsolet gilt: Deutschland. Und er beharrt darauf, daß das Wort Deutschland nicht nur im Wetterbericht Verwendung findet. Für Waiser bezeichnet dieses Wort vielmehr ein Fehlendes, das nicht dadurch einfach zu beseitigen ist, daß man es als geschichtlich notwendig ansieht, als verdientes, zu bejahendes Resultat der Geschichte. Eine solche Auffasssung ist für Waiser gerade unhistorisch - versperrt sie doch von vornherein die Möglichkeiten jedweden historischen Prozesses.
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Interventions on behalf of Armenia and Armenians have come to be identified by scholars and practitioners alike as defining moments in the history of humanitarianism. This book reassesses these claims, critically examining a range of interventions by governments, international and diasporic organizations, and individuals that aimed to 'save Armenians'. Drawing on multidisciplinary perspectives, it traces the evolution of these interventions from the late-nineteenth century to the present day, paying particular attention to the aftermaths of the genocide and the upheavals of the post-Soviet period. The contributions connect diverse places (the Caucasus, Russia, the Middle East, Europe, North America, South America, and Australia) to reveal shifting transnational networks of aid and intervention. Aid to Armenia explores this history, and engages critically with contemporary humanitarian questions facing Armenia, the South Caucasus region and the wider diaspora.
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In Singapore and Malaysia, the inversion of Chinese Underworld traditions has meant that Underworld demons are now amongst the most commonly venerated deities in statue form, channelled through their spirit mediums, tang-ki. The Chinese Underworld and its sub-hells are populated by a bureaucracy drawn from the Buddhist, Taoist and vernacular pantheons. Under the watchful eye of Hell's 'enforcers', the lower echelons of demon soldiers impose post-mortal punishments on the souls of the recently deceased for moral transgressions committed during their prior incarnations. Chinese religion in contemporary Singapore, Malaysia and Taiwan offers an ethnography of contemporary Chinese Underworld traditions, where night-time cemetery rituals assist the souls of the dead, exorcised spirits are imprisoned in Guinness bottles, and malicious foetus ghosts are enlisted to strengthen a temple's spirit army. Understanding the religious divergences between Singapore and Malaysia (and their counterparts in Taiwan) through an analysis of socio-political and historical events, Fabian Graham challenges common assumptions about the nature and scope of Chinese vernacular religious beliefs and practices. Graham's innovative approach to alterity allows the reader to listen to first-person dialogues between the author and channelled Underworld deities. Through its alternative methodological and narrative stance, the book intervenes in debates on the interrelation between sociocultural and spiritual worlds, and promotes the destigmatisation of spirit possession and discarnate phenomena in the future study of mystical and religious traditions.
