Andrea Victrix presents a dystopian vision of Palma, Mallorca, now named 'Turclub', in the year 2050. The unnamed narrator, who bears a certain resemblance to the author, had placed himself in voluntary cryo-stasis in 1965, fatigued by modern 'civilization' and morality, only to reawaken 85 years later with the physique of a 30-year old. Villalonga sets up an intriguing interplay between the narrator and the eponymous, androgynous Andrea Victrix, so-called Director of Pleasure, in a satirical, sometimes self-ironizing exploration of contemporary issues such as gender and sexuality, consumerism, environmental disaster and the politics of big business. Both of its time and startlingly prescient, Andrea Victrix merits a place amongst the greats of European dystopian fiction.

How does one experience things from the viewpoint of the other sex? It is this question that has led to Vildot's creation of Ruth, the genre-defining story of a sex change told by the protagonist through a series of letters to an anonymous friend. Far from the condemnatory gaze or noise of those who understand life as nothing but outward appearances, Ruth demonstrates the sentimental and intellectual intimacy of a man transitioning into a woman, and describes a profund, touching process in which frustrations, ideas of liberty and changes of identity are interwoven. Without descending into easy morbosity or exhibitions of sensationalist tendencies, Ruth represents Guillem Viladot's indignation at both masculine and feminine sensibilities, while championing diversity of thought, love, liberty, and, most importantly, desire.

The essays that comprise this book mark new territory in the study of sport in the Hispanic world, a key site of cultural experience for the populations of Latin America, the United States and the Iberian Peninsula. The scope of the volume is the exploration of the representation and interaction of sport / text / body in a variety of cultural forms in Latin America, Spain and the chicano population of the USA. As such, it opens a path for further study of an area that is experiencing significant growth in the international academic community. The book consists of 11 chapters by different authors, and an introduction, totalling c.85,000 words. The essays deal with the key sporting practices of the Hispanic world, including boxing, baseball, athletics, Olympic movements and football, approaching them as physical manifestations in their own right and as cultural representations (via media images, poetry, narrative fiction, murals) through the research methodologies of the humanities and social sciences. This book was previously published as a special issue of the International Journal of the History of Sport

The Story of Australia provides a fresh, engaging and comprehensive introduction to Australia's history and geography. An island continent with distinct physical features, Australia is home to the most enduring Indigenous cultures on the planet. In the late eighteenth century newcomers from distant worlds brought great change. Since that time Australia has been shaped by many peoples with competing visions of what the future might hold. This new history of Australia integrates a rich body of scholarship from many disciplines, drawing upon maps, novels, poetry, art, music, diaries and letters, government and scientific reports, newspapers, architecture and the land itself, engaging with Australia in its historical, geographical, national and global contexts. It pays particular attention to women and Indigenous Australians, as well as exploring key themes including invasion/colonisation, land use, urbanisation, war, migration, suburbia and social movements for change. Elegantly written, readers will enjoy Australia's story from its origins to the present as the nation seeks to resolve tensions between Indigenous dispossession, British tradition and multicultural diversity while finding its place in an Asian region and dealing with global challenges like climate change. It is an ideal text for students, academics and general readers with an interest in Australian history, geography, politics and culture.

An interdisciplinary approach, integrating a rich body of scholarship and drawing upon a range of resources including maps, novels, poetry, art, diaries and reports, giving the book a comprehensive nature. Targets the emerging Australian Studies market, whilst also feeding into Indigenous Studies. Goes beyond general histories or specific aspects of the national story, to introduce the history and geography along with politics, cultures, and key socio-political shifts. A fresh engagement with Australia's history and geography, with a focus on mid to late twentieth century, including the impact of social movement and globalisation, environmental issues, gender, race, sexuality and ethnicity, whilst also engaging with broader socio-political issues.

This book explores cities and the intra-regional relational dynamics often overlooked by urban scholars, and it challenges common representations of urban development successes and failures. Gathering leading international scholars from Europe, Australia and North America, it explores the secondary city concept in urban development theory and practice and advances a research agenda that highlights uneven development concerns. By emphasising the subordinate status of secondary cities relative to their dominant neighbours the book raises new questions about regional development in the Global North. It considers alternative relations and development strategies that innovatively reimagine the subordinate status of secondary cities and showcase their full potential.

This is a book about the power of the arts to enhance city images, urban economies and communities. Anchored in academic discussion of the Cultural Industries - what they are, how they have emerged, why they matter and how they should be theorized - the book offers a series of case studies drawn from five countries: Australia, Singapore, Spain, the UK and the US to examine how the arts contribute to sustainable urban regeneration.

The essays that comprise this book mark new territory in the study of sport in the Hispanic world, a key site of cultural experience for the populations of Latin America, the United States and the Iberian Peninsula. The scope of the volume is the exploration of the representation and interaction of sport / text / body in a variety of cultural forms in Latin America, Spain and the chicano population of the USA. As such, it opens a path for further study of an area that is experiencing significant growth in the international academic community. The book consists of 11 chapters by different authors, and an introduction, totalling c.85,000 words. The essays deal with the key sporting practices of the Hispanic world, including boxing, baseball, athletics, Olympic movements and football, approaching them as physical manifestations in their own right and as cultural representations (via media images, poetry, narrative fiction, murals) through the research methodologies of the humanities and social sciences. This book was previously published as a special issue of the International Journal of the History of Sport

This is a book about the power of the arts to enhance city images, urban economies and communities. Anchored in academic discussion of the Cultural Industries - what they are, how they have emerged, why they matter and how they should be theorized - the book offers a series of case studies drawn from five countries: Australia, Singapore, Spain, the UK and the US to examine how the arts contribute to sustainable urban regeneration.

Why Catalans insist on their identity. The tragic fate of the millenary personality of Catalonia has rarely been fully appreciated abroad. Since the early eighteenth century its national voice has been submerged and fractured by a centralist state intent on its arbitrary, unitarian vision of a homogenized Spain. Catalan difference has emerged sporadically in the persons of such irrepressible geniuses as Gaudí, Dalí, Miró and Bigas Luna but, in the configuration of modern Europe, the relentlessinevitability of the unified state has imposed and re-imposed its singular cultural voice. The present volume attempts to equip the English-speaking reader with a fuller understanding of the uniqueness and quality of the culture of Catalonia by providing a comprehensive portfolio of the creative contribution of the nation across a broad spectrum of achievement. Though the artistic wealth of the medieval period is acknowledged appropriately, this study, with its focus on the modern age, privileges excellence not only in the more conventional, academic spheres of history, music, language, literature and the arts but also explores the value of more basic, popular experience inareas such as sport, cinema, festivals, cuisine and the city of Barcelona. DOMINIC KEOWN is Reader in Catalan at the University of Cambridge. CONTRIBUTORS: Elisenda Barbé, Robert Davidson, Alexander Ibarz, Louise Johnson, Dominic Keown, Tess Knighton, Jaume Martí-Olivella, Dorothy Noyes, Montserrat Roser i Puig, Antoni Segura, Miquel Strubell.

Cataclysm in Blue Water is an epic journey filled with intrigue, romance, thievery, murder, and natural disaster over the course of four thousand years. The desperate wish of a half-Eqyptian half-Minoan boy, who crafts a granulated gold starfish pendant in 1886 B.C. to honor his mother, is the heart of this novel. A riveting modern mystery weaves in and out of an ancient mystery. From the royal workshop of King Amenemhet II of the Twelfth Dynasty of Egypt - to the Bronze-Age world of the Minoans and the horrific volcanic eruption of Santorini -to the professor who discovered the ash-covered village known today as Akrotiri -and to our unrelenting modern-day heroine Krista, who uncovers the truth - the reader is swept along an amazing and breathtaking journey. This novel is based on historical and geologic truth. The reader will enjoy a fresh approach to an enduring enigma. While focused on the human drama in the lives of several fascinating ancient characters, the reader is given a ground-zero view of one of the greatest volcanic eruptions of all time. Through the eyes of the nature-loving, sophisticated, and technically-advanced Minoans, who were living in the midst of geologic madness, the reader gets a glimpse of what is likely the birth of the legend of Atlantis.

A practical field guide to the practice of scrum, an agile software project management methodology.