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Books > Humanities > History > History of specific subjects > Social & cultural history
Prior to the 1870s, Association Football tended to be enjoyed as a
form of exercise at public schools or a game between friends in a
local park. However, with the administrative skills of the likes of
Charles Alcock, Francis Marindin, Arthur Kinnaird and William
McGregor, the game grew to such an extent that it became an
important part in the lives of both players and spectators as the
century reached its end.The history of the early clubs,
international games, as well as the growth of the professional
clubs, are all encompassed in this book, including the likes of
Aston Villa, Manchester United and Liverpool, when they started out
as struggling little clubs.
Leonard Moore has been teaching Black history for twenty-five
years, mostly to white people. Drawing on decades of experience in
the classroom and on college campuses throughout the South, as well
as on his own personal history, Moore illustrates how an
understanding of Black history is necessary for everyone. With
Teaching Black History to White People, which is "part memoir, part
Black history, part pedagogy, and part how-to guide," Moore
delivers an accessible and engaging primer on the Black experience
in America. He poses provocative questions, such as "Why is the
teaching of Black history so controversial?" and "What came first:
slavery or racism?" These questions don't have easy answers, and
Moore insists that embracing discomfort is necessary for engaging
in open and honest conversations about race. Moore includes a
syllabus and other tools for actionable steps that white people can
take to move beyond performative justice and toward racial
reparations, healing, and reconciliation.
While the resonance of Giambattista Vico's hermeneutics for
postcolonialism has long been recognised, a rupture has been
perceived between his intercultural sensibility and the actual
content of his philological investigations, which have often been
criticised as being Eurocentric and philologically spurious. China
is a case in point. In his magnum opus New Science, Vico portrays
China as backward and philosophically primitive compared to Europe.
In this first study dedicated to China in Vico's thought, Daniel
Canaris shows that scholars have been beguiled by Vico's value
judgements of China without considering the function of these value
judgements in his theory of divine providence. This monograph
illustrates that Vico's image of China is best appreciated within
the contemporary theological controversies surrounding the Jesuit
accommodation of Confucianism. Through close examination of Vico's
sources and intellectual context, Canaris argues that by refusing
to consider Confucius as a "filosofo", Vico dismantles the
rationalist premises of the theological accommodation proposed by
the Jesuits and proposes a new functionalist valorisation of
non-Christian religion that anticipates post-colonial critiques of
the Enlightenment.
A "sharp and entertaining" (The Wall Street Journal) exploration of
fashion through the ages that asks what our clothing reveals about
ourselves and our society. Dress codes are as old as clothing
itself. For centuries, clothing has been a wearable status symbol;
fashion, a weapon in struggles for social change; and dress codes,
a way to maintain political control. Merchants dressing like
princes and butchers' wives wearing gem-encrusted crowns were
public enemies in medieval societies structured by social hierarchy
and defined by spectacle. In Tudor England, silk, velvet, and fur
were reserved for the nobility, and ballooning pants called "trunk
hose" could be considered a menace to good order. The
Renaissance-era Florentine patriarch Cosimo de Medici captured the
power of fashion and dress codes when he remarked, "One can make a
gentleman from two yards of red cloth." Dress codes evolved along
with the social and political ideals of the day, but they always
reflected struggles for power and status. In the 1700s, South
Carolina's "Negro Act" made it illegal for Black people to dress
"above their condition." In the 1920s, the bobbed hair and
form-fitting dresses worn by free-spirited flappers were banned in
workplaces throughout the United States, and in the 1940s, the
baggy zoot suits favored by Black and Latino men caused riots in
cities from coast to coast. Even in today's more informal world,
dress codes still determine what we wear, when we wear it--and what
our clothing means. People lose their jobs for wearing braided
hair, long fingernails, large earrings, beards, and tattoos or
refusing to wear a suit and tie or make-up and high heels. In some
cities, wearing sagging pants is a crime. And even when there are
no written rules, implicit dress codes still influence
opportunities and social mobility. Silicon Valley CEOs wear
t-shirts and flip-flops, setting the tone for an entire industry:
women wearing fashionable dresses or high heels face ridicule in
the tech world, and some venture capitalists refuse to invest in
any company run by someone wearing a suit. In Dress Codes, law
professor and cultural critic Richard Thompson Ford presents a
"deeply informative and entertaining" (The New York Times Book
Review) history of the laws of fashion from the middle ages to the
present day, a walk down history's red carpet to uncover and
examine the canons, mores, and customs of clothing--rules that we
often take for granted. After reading Dress Codes, you'll never
think of fashion as superficial again--and getting dressed will
never be the same.
The birth of the world's great megacities is the surest and
starkest harbinger of the "urban age" inaugurated in the twentieth
century. As the world's urban population achieves majority for the
first time in recorded history, theories proliferate on the nature
of urban politics, including the shape and quality of urban
democracy, the role of urban social and political movements, and
the prospects for progressive and emancipatory change from the
corridors of powerful states to the routinized rhythms of everyday
life. At stake are both the ways in which the rapidly changing
urban world is understood and the urban futures being negotiated by
the governments and populations struggling to contend with these
changes and forge a place in contemporary cities. Transdisciplinary
by design, Monstrous Politics first moves historically through
Mexico City's turbulent twentieth century, driven centrally by the
contentious imbrication of the Institutional Revolutionary Party
(PRI) and its capital city. Participant observation, expert
interviews, and archival materials demonstrate the shifting
strategies and alliances of recent decades, provide the reader with
a sense of the texture of contemporary political life in the city
during a time of unprecedented change, and locate these dynamics
within the history and geography of twentieth-century urbanization
and political revolution. Substantive ethnographic chapters trace
the emergence and decline of the political language of "the right
to the city," the establishment and contestation of a
"postpolitical" governance regime, and the culmination of a century
of urban politics in the processes of "political reform" by which
Mexico City finally wrested back significant political autonomy and
local democracy from the federal state. A four-fold transection of
the revolutionary structure of feeling that pervades the city in
this historic moment illustrates the complex and contradictory
sentiments, appraisals, and motivations through which contemporary
politics are understood and enacted. Drawing on theories of social
revolution that embrace complexity, and espousing a methodology
that foregrounds the everyday nature of politics, Monstrous
Politics develops an understanding of revolutionary urban politics
at once contextually nuanced and conceptually expansive, and thus
better able to address the realities of politics in the "urban age"
even beyond Mexico City.
The story of modern Singapore as told through its living heritage
is encapsulated in this handsome book, published to coincide with
the 200th anniversary of Singapore's founding as a city-state.
Today's vibrant, cosmopolitan country developed a singular identity
through the many colourful `ingredients' outlined in this book.
Starting with the founding of modern Singapore by Sir Thomas
Stamford Raffles, we review the many events, people, artefacts,
legends and lifestyles pre- and post-1819 that contributed to make
Singapore the unique city it is today. This is the first book to
encompass all aspects of Singaporean heritage, be it sociological,
environmental or man-made. Historic personages, monuments,
architecture and the arts, cultures and traditions, and flora and
fauna are all covered in their many facets. The book showcases how
much of 1800s and early 1900s Singapore remains today, thereby
presenting a lesser-known side to the city-state - one that is
surprisingly historic and richly evocative, a different face to a
place more often associated with a stark modernity. Insightful,
lively texts by museum director and heritage expert, Kennie Ting,
are accompanied by archival images, contemporary photographs, maps
and more, to present a comprehensive picture of the city-state -
past and present.
The birth of the world's great megacities is the surest and
starkest harbinger of the "urban age" inaugurated in the twentieth
century. As the world's urban population achieves majority for the
first time in recorded history, theories proliferate on the nature
of urban politics, including the shape and quality of urban
democracy, the role of urban social and political movements, and
the prospects for progressive and emancipatory change from the
corridors of powerful states to the routinized rhythms of everyday
life. At stake are both the ways in which the rapidly changing
urban world is understood and the urban futures being negotiated by
the governments and populations struggling to contend with these
changes and forge a place in contemporary cities. Transdisciplinary
by design, Monstrous Politics first moves historically through
Mexico City's turbulent twentieth century, driven centrally by the
contentious imbrication of the Institutional Revolutionary Party
(PRI) and its capital city. Participant observation, expert
interviews, and archival materials demonstrate the shifting
strategies and alliances of recent decades, provide the reader with
a sense of the texture of contemporary political life in the city
during a time of unprecedented change, and locate these dynamics
within the history and geography of twentieth-century urbanization
and political revolution. Substantive ethnographic chapters trace
the emergence and decline of the political language of "the right
to the city," the establishment and contestation of a
"postpolitical" governance regime, and the culmination of a century
of urban politics in the processes of "political reform" by which
Mexico City finally wrested back significant political autonomy and
local democracy from the federal state. A four-fold transection of
the revolutionary structure of feeling that pervades the city in
this historic moment illustrates the complex and contradictory
sentiments, appraisals, and motivations through which contemporary
politics are understood and enacted. Drawing on theories of social
revolution that embrace complexity, and espousing a methodology
that foregrounds the everyday nature of politics, Monstrous
Politics develops an understanding of revolutionary urban politics
at once contextually nuanced and conceptually expansive, and thus
better able to address the realities of politics in the "urban age"
even beyond Mexico City.
Work in the countryside ties you, soul and salary, to the land, but
often those who labour in nature have the least control over what
happens there. Starting with Rebecca Smith's own family history -
foresters in Cumbria, miners in Derbyshire, millworkers in
Nottinghamshire, builders of reservoirs and the Manchester Ship
Canal - Rural is an exploration of our green and pleasant land, and
the people whose labour has shaped it. Beautifully observed, these
are the stories of professions and communities that often go
overlooked. Smith shows the precarity for those whose lives are
entangled in the natural landscape. And she traces how these rural
working-class worlds have changed. As industry has transformed -
mines closing, country estates shrinking, farmers struggling to
make profit on a pint of milk, holiday lets increasing so
relentlessly that local people can no longer live where they were
born - we are led to question the legacy of the countryside in all
our lives. This is a book for anyone who loves and longs for the
countryside, whose family owes something to a bygone trade, or who
is interested in the future of rural Britain.
By 1955 Sally and John Seymour had both seen a number of countries
but practically nothing of their own. As for some years they had
lived in a 34-ton Dutch sailing yacht they decided to dispel their
ignorance of England by travelling round as much of it as they had
time for in this vessel. Sailing Through England is an account of
that voyage. Setting out from Portsmouth the Seymours would
navigate the rivers and canals of East Anglia, the Midlands and the
North, penetrating as far inland as Leeds and Bradford, finally
crossing the country by a canal climbing right over the Pennine
chain to Liverpool and the Irish Sea. Their account is both a vivid
panorama of England's contrasts and a fascinating exploration of a
navigational challenge, and along the way a wealth of real-life
characters are encountered and brilliantly described on the page,
accompanied by Sally Seymour's delightful drawings.
This book examines the role of artists in Egypt during the 2011
revolution, when street art from graffiti to political murals
became ubiquitous facets of revolutionary spaces. Through
interviews, personal testimonies, and accounts of the lived
experience of 25 street artists, the book explores the meaning of
art in revolutionary political contexts, specifically by focusing
on artistic production during 'liminal' moments as the events of
the Egyptian revolution unfolded. The author privileges the
perspective of the actors themselves to examine the ways that
artists reacted to events and conceived of their art as means to
further the goals of the revolution. Based on fieldwork conducted
in the years since 2011, the book provides a narrative of Egyptian
artists' participation in and representations of the revolution,
from hopeful beginnings to the subsequent crackdown and election of
al-Sisi.
Although posterity has generally known Bernardin de Saint-Pierre
for his bestselling Paul et Virginie, his output was encyclopaedic.
Using new sources, this monograph explores the many facets of a
celebrity writer in the Ancien Regime, the Revolution and the early
nineteenth century. Bernardin attracted a readership to whom,
irrespective of age, gender or social situation, he became a guide
to living. He was nominated by Louis XVI to manage the Jardin des
plantes, by Revolutionary bodies to teach at the Ecole normale and
to membership of the Institut. He deplored unquestioning adherence
to Newtonian ideas, materialistic atheism and human misdeeds in
what could be considered proto-ecological terms. He bemoaned
analytical, reductionist approaches: his philosophy placed human
beings at the centre of the universe and stressed the
interconnectedness of cosmic harmony. Bernardin learned enormously
from travel to Eastern Europe and the Indian Ocean. He attacked
slavery, championed a national education system and advocated
justice for authors. Fresh information and interpretation show that
he belonged to neither the philosophe or anti-philosophe camp. A
reformist, he envisioned a regenerated France as a nation of
liberty offering asylum for refugees. This study demonstrates the
range of thought and expression of an incontournable polymath in an
age of transformation.
Shortlisted for the James Cropper Wainwright Prize 2022 for Nature
Writing - Highly Commended Winner for the Richard Jefferies Award
2021 for Best Nature Writing 'A rural, working-class writer in an
all too rarefied field, Chester's work is unusual for depicting the
countryside as it is lived on the economic margins.' The Guardian
'An important portrait of connection to the land beyond ownership
or possession.' Raynor Winn 'It's ever so good. Political,
passionate and personal.' Robert Macfarlane 'Evocative and
inspiring...environmental protest, family, motherhood
and...nature.' Claire Fuller, author of Unsettled Ground, Costa
Novel Award Winner 2021 Nature is everything. It is the place I
come from and the place I got to. It is family. Wherever I am, it
is home and away, an escape, a bolt hole, a reason, a place to
fight for, a consolation, and a way home. As a child growing up in
rural England, Guardian Country Diarist Nicola Chester was
inexorably drawn to the natural landscape surrounding her. Walking,
listening and breathing in the nature around her, she followed the
call of the cuckoo, the song of the nightingale and watched as red
kites, fieldfares and skylarks soared through the endless skies
over the chalk hills of the North Wessex Downs: the ancient land of
Greenham Common which she called home. Nicola bears witness to, and
fights against, the stark political and environmental changes
imposed on the land she loves, whilst raising her family to
appreciate nature and to feel like they belong - core parts of who
Nicola is. From protesting the loss of ancient trees to the
rewilding of Greenham Common, to the gibbet on Gallows Down and
living in the shadow of Highclere Castle (made famous in Downton
Abbey), On Gallows Down shows how one woman made sense of her world
- and found her place in it.
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