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Literature & Literary StudiesJuly 2023In the company of wolves
Werewolves, wolves and wild children
by Sam George, Bill Hughes
In the company of wolves presents further research from the Open Graves, Open Minds Project. It connects together innovative research from a variety of perspectives on the cultural significance of wolves, wild children and werewolves as portrayed in different media and genres. We begin with the wolf itself as it has been interpreted as a cultural symbol and how it figures in contemporary debates about wilderness and nature. Alongside this, we consider eighteenth-century debates about wild children - often thought to have been raised by wolves and other animals - and their role in key questions about the origins of language and society. The collection continues with essays on werewolves and other shapeshifters as depicted in folk tales, literature, film and TV, concluding with the transition from animal to human in contemporary art, poetry and fashion.
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Humanities & Social SciencesJanuary 2018Noble society
Five lives from twelfth-century Germany
by Jonathan R. Lyon
This book provides scholars and students alike with a set of texts that can deepen their understanding of the culture and society of the twelfth-century German kingdom. The sources translated here bring to life the activities of five noblemen and noblewomen from Rome to the Baltic coast and from the Rhine River to the Alpine valleys of Austria. To read these five sources together is to appreciate how interconnected political, military, economic, religious and spiritual interests could be for some of the leading members of medieval German society-and for the authors who wrote about them. Whether fighting for the emperor in Italy, bringing Christianity to pagans in what is today northern Poland, or founding, reforming and governing monastic communities in the heartland of the German kingdom, the subjects of these texts call attention to some of the many ways that noble life shaped the world of central medieval Europe.
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Humanities & Social SciencesJune 2011Democratic Participation and Civil Society in the European Union
by Dawid Friedrich, Emil Kirchner, Thomas Christiansen
Can the participation of civil society organisations democratise policy making in the European Union? This book challenges the widespread optimism about civil society participation in European governance and offers a nuanced and realistic evaluation of its democratic potential. Friedrich argues that the participation of these groups is only of democratic value if participatory patterns are democratised through appropriate institutional means. This book systematically brings together insights from normative democratic theory with an empirical evaluation of concrete policy-processes. It demonstrates that the participation of civil society organisation cannot be conceived as a panacea for the European Union's democratic deficit, because the participatory pattern of EU policy-making violates the key democratic value of political equality. This book will be of interest to all of those concerned about the future of European democracy, those studying and teaching European politics, the European Union, international relations and democratic theory. ;
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Literature & Literary StudiesJanuary 2014Court and civic society in the Burgundian Low Countries c.1420–1530
by Andrew Brown, Graeme Small
This volume is the first ever attempt to unite and translate some of the key texts which informed Johan Huizinga's famous study of the Burgundian court, The Waning of the Middle Ages, a work which has never gone out of print. It combines these texts with sources that Huizinga did not consider, those that illuminate the wider civic world that the Burgundian court inhabited and the dynamic interaction between court and city. Through these sources, and an introduction offering new perspectives on recent historiography, the book tests whether Huizinga's controversial vision of the period still stands. Covering subjects including ceremonial events, such as the spectacles and gargantuan banquets that made the Burgundian dukes the talk of Europe, the workings of the court, and jousting, archery and rhetoric competitions, the book will appeal to students of late medieval and early modern Europe and to those with wider interests in court culture, ritual and ceremony.
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2019History of the Throw-Away Society
The drawback of consumption
by Wolfgang König
Sooner or later everything is thrown away. In the consumer society, however, usable and serviceable products that may be as good as new are also thrown away. Such behaviour is the result of a long-term process that has developed over a period of one-and-a-half centuries. The change was led by the USA, and the Federal Republic of Germany followed. It started at the turn of the last century with personal hygiene: articles such as toilet paper, sanitary towels, nappies and paper handkerchiefs. After the Second World War, a large number of other disposable articles were soon added, such as paper cups and plastic dishes, nylon stockings and pens, razor blades, beverage cans and much more besides. Wolfgang König shows how business and consumers have together made throwing things away perfectly normal – and discusses how the throwaway society may be overcome.
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Humanities & Social SciencesJanuary 2013Crime, Law and Society in the Later Middle Ages
by Anthony Musson, Edward Powell
This book provides an accessible collection of translated legal sources through which the exploits of criminals and developments in the English criminal justice system (c.1215-1485) can be studied. Drawing on the wealth of archival material and an array of contemporary literary texts, it guides readers towards an understanding of prevailing notions of law and justice and expectations of the law and legal institutions. Tensions are shown emerging between theoretical ideals of justice and the practical realities of administering the law during an era profoundly affected by periodic bouts of war, political in-fighting, social dislocation and economic disaster. Introductions and notes provide both the specific and wider legal, social and political contexts in addition to offering an overview of the existing secondary literature and historiographical trends. This collection affords a valuable insight into the character of medieval governance as well as revealing the complex nexus of interests, attitudes and relationships prevailing in society during the later Middle Ages.
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Humanities & Social SciencesApril 2018The Conservative Party and the nation
by Arthur Aughey, Richard Hayton
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Humanities & Social SciencesDecember 2003Health, disease and society in Europe, 1500–1800
A source book
by Isobel McLean
Considers how the body was viewed by the medical profession from the Renaissance to the Enlightenment, and challenges established ideas in the field of medical history. Examines the provision of medical care in context and how it was shaped by the social, religious, political and cultural concerns of the age. Arranged thematically and with brief but scholarly introductions, the selection of documents includes contemporary sources, recent research in the field and classical writings. Written in an accessible style by an Open University lecturer. Companion volume to The Healing Arts: Health, Disease and Society in Europe 1500-1800. ;
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Humanities & Social SciencesMay 2004Health, disease and society in Europe, 1800–1930
A source book
by Deborah Brunton, Isobel McLean
During the nineteenth century, the provision of medical care underwent a radical transformation. In 1800, the body was still understood in terms of humours and fluids, and treatment was provided by a wide range of individuals, some of whom had little or no formal training. Institutions were marginal to the medical enterprise, and governments took almost no part in providing medical services. By 1930, however, a recognisably modern medicine had begun to emerge across Europe. New understandings of human physiology had resulted in the new science of surgical therapy; hospitals had become centres for care, research and training; and the newly organised medical professions increasingly sought to regulate medical practice. In most countries, the state had accepted responsibility for public health and the provision of basic welfare services. This volume provides readers with unrivalled access to a comprehensive range of sources on these major themes. Extracts from contemporary writings vividly illustrate key aspects of medical thought and practice, while a selection of classic historical research and up-to-date work in the field helps further our understanding of medical history. Thematically arranged, these sources are assembled to complement the essays in the companion volume, Medicine Transformed: Health, Disease and Society in Europe, 1800-1930. In addition, brief scholarly introductions make the sources accessible to both the specialist and the general reader. ;
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Business, Economics & LawApril 1905The Acquisitive Society
by R.H. Tawney
This 1926 survey, written by a distinguished social and economic historian, examines the role of religion in the rise of capitalism. Arguing that material acquisitiveness is morally wrong and a corrupting social influence, the author draws upon his profound knowledge of labor and politics to show how concentrated wealth distorts economic policies. Colorful but credible, this study offers a timeless vision of alternative means toward a just economic, social, and intellectual order.
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Humanities & Social SciencesJuly 2010Using Europe: territorial party strategies in a multi-level system
by Eve Hepburn
This book explores how regional political parties use Europe to advance their territorial projects in times of rapid state restructuring. It examines the ways in which decentralization and supranational integration have encouraged regional parties to pursue their strategies across multiple territorial levels. This book constitutes the first attempt to unravel the complexities of how nationalist and statewide parties manoeuvre around the twin issues of European integration and decentralization, and exploit the shifting linkages within multi-level political systems. In a detailed comparative examination of three cases - Scotland, Bavaria and Sardinia - over a thirty-year period, the book explores how integration has altered the nature of territorial party competition and identifies the limits of Europe for territorial projects. In addressing these issues, this work moves beyond present scholarship on multi-level governance to explain the diversity of regional responses to Europe. By providing important new insights and empirical research on the conduct of territorial party politics, and an innovative model of territorial mobilization in Europe, this book will be of great interest to students and scholars of comparative politics, European studies, regionalism and federalism, political parties and devolution. ;
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Humanities & Social SciencesMay 2024Land and labour
The Potters’ Emigration Society, 1844-51
by Martin Crawford
Land and labour provides the first full-length history of the Potters' Emigration Society, the controversial trade union scheme designed to solve the problems of surplus labour by changing workers into farmers on land acquired in frontier Wisconsin. The book is based on intensive research into British and American newspapers, passenger lists, census, manuscript, and genealogical sources. After tracing the scheme's industrial origins and founding in the Potteries, it examines the migration and settlement process, expansion to other trades and areas, and finally the circumstances that led to its demise in 1851. Despite the Society's failure, the history offers unique insight into working-class dreams of landed independence in the American West and into the complex and contingent character of nineteenth-century emigration.
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Humanities & Social SciencesSeptember 2021Populism in Europe
Lessons from Umberto Bossi's Northern League
by Davide Vampa, Daniele Albertazzi
Populism in Europe offers a detailed and systematic analysis of the ideology, electoral and governmental performances, organisational model, type of leadership and member activism of the Northern League under its founder, Umberto Bossi (1991-2012). Based on a wealth of original research, the book identifies the Northern League's consistent and coherent ideology, its strong leadership and its ability to create communities of loyal partisan activists as key ingredients of its success. Through their in-depth analysis, Albertazzi and Vampa show that the League has much to teach us about how populists can achieve durability and rootedness and how parties of all kinds can still benefit from a committed and dedicated membership today.
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Humanities & Social SciencesNovember 2020British civic society at the end of empire
by Anna Bocking-Welch, Andrew Thompson
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Humanities & Social SciencesSeptember 2021Counter-terrorism and civil society
by Scott N. Romaniuk, Emeka Thaddues Njoku
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Humanities & Social SciencesMarch 2017Science and society in southern Africa
by Saul Dubow
This collection, dealing with case studies drawn from South Africa, Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Mauritius, examines the relationship between scientific claims and practices, and the exercise of colonial power. It challenges conventional views that portray science as a detached mode of reasoning with the capacity to confer benefits in a more or less even-handed manner. That science has the potential to further the collective good is not fundamentally at issue, but science can also be seen as complicit in processes of colonial domination. Not only did science assist in bolstering aspects of colonial power and exploitation, it also possessed a significant ideological component: it offered a means of legitimating colonial authority by counter-poising Western rationality to native superstition and it served to enhance the self-image of colonial or settler elites in important respects. This innovative volume ranges broadly through topics such as statistics, medicine, eugenics, agriculture, entomology and botany.
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Humanities & Social SciencesJuly 2011Europeanising Party Politics
Comparative perspectives on Central and Eastern Europe
by Paul Lewis, Radoslaw Markowski
The book is a comparative, empirically based study of party politics in contemporary Central and Eastern Europe that seeks to define the impact of European Union membership in this area. The question of Europeanisation has been intensively debated over recent years, but no firm conclusion has been reached. This collection of rigorously comparative contributions directs attention to a number of key areas in the attempt to isolate cases where Europe has made a difference. Successive chapters examine how new parties are managed by the state and the ways in which parties colonise the state itself, the role of transnational cooperation and the influence pan-European parties have on national organisations. The book goes on to consider patterns of party-oriented participation in the new democracies and dimensions of electoral turnout, dimensions of inter-party competition and identification of the specific features of post-communist party politics, examination of the key case of the extreme right and the conditions under which it tends to emerge, detailed analysis of the quality of political representation in the new democratic context, and discussion of how EU constraints are likely to undermine the prospects of stable party linkages. A conclusion seeks to establish how far Europe and EU policy has succeeded in influencing Central and East European developments. ;
