This book investigates the relationship of secrecy as a social practice to contemporary media, news cultures and public relations. Drawing on Georg Simmel's theorisation of how secrecy produces a 'second world' alongside the 'obvious world' and creates and reshapes social relations, Anne Cronin argues for close analysis of the PR industry as a powerful vector of secrecy and an examination of its relationship to news cultures. Using case studies and in-depth interviews, as well as recent research in media and cultural studies, sociology, journalism studies and communication studies, the book analyses how PR practices generate a second, shadow world of the media sphere which has a profound impact on the 'obvious world'. It interrogates both the PR industry's and news culture's role in shaping social relations for a digital media landscape, and those initiatives promoting transparency of data and decision-making processes. An insightful, interdisciplinary approach to debates on media and power, this book will appeal to students of public relations, sociology, media studies, cultural studies and communication studies. It will also be of interest to scholars and practitioners working at the intersections of media, social relations and public trust.

Contents:
Introduction 1. The Individual, the Citizen and the Consumer 2. Advertising Knowledges 3. Advertising, Texts and Textual Strategies 4. Branding Vision: Advertising, Time and Privilege 5. Female Visions: Advertising, Women and Narrative 6. Visual Epistemologies and New Consumer Rights

It is commonly accepted that we live in a society increasingly dominated by consumerism, where what we are is expressed by what we buy, and that advertising is one of the primary means through which we absorb these meanings. In this exciting and provocative study, Anne Cronin uses a close analysis of a variety of print advertising to highlight gender's organising function in the contemporary culture of the image and to explore the articulation between the sexed, classed and racialised construction of the consumer which advertising creates and the figure of the citizen produced by contemporary political discourses of identity and belonging across Europe.
This book will be essential reading for all students of consumption, media and the new politics of citizenship.

From Norman invaders, religious wars--and the struggle for independence--the fascinating, turbulent history of a tortured nation and its gifted people

When Shakespeare referred to England as a "jewel set in a silver sea," he could just as well have been speaking of Ireland. Not only has its luminous green landscape been the backdrop for bloody Catholic/Protestant conflict and a devastating famine, Ireland's great voices--like Joyce and Yeats--are now indelibly part of world literature. In "Irish History For Dummies, " readers will not only get a bird's-eye view of key historical events (Ten Turning Points) but, also, a detailed, chapter-by-chapter timeline of Irish history beginning with the first Stone Age farmers to the recent rise and fall of the Celtic tiger economy.

In the informal, friendly "For Dummies" style, the book details historic highs like building an Irish Free State in the 1920s--and devastating lows (including the Troubles in the '60s and '70s), as well as key figures (like MP Charles Parnell and President Eamon de Valera) central to the cause of Irish nationalism. The book also details historic artifacts, offbeat places, and little-known facts key to the life of Ireland past and present.Includes Ten Major Documents--including the Confession of St. Patrick, The Book of Kells, the Proclamation of the Irish Republic, and "Ulysses"Lists Ten Things the Irish Have Given the World--including Irish coffee, U.S. Presidents, the submarine, shorthand writing, and the hypodermic syringeDetails Ten Great Irish Places to Visit--including Cobh, Irish National Stud and Museum, Giants Causeway, and DerryIncludes an online cheat sheet that gives readers a robust and expanded quick reference guide to relevant dates and historical figuresIncludes a Who's Who in Irish History section on dummies.com

With a light-hearted touch, this informative guide sheds light on how this ancient land has survived wars, invasions, uprisings, and emigration to forge a unique nation, renowned the world over for its superb literature, music, and indomitable spirit.

This book argues that we are witnessing the emergence of 'commercial democracy' in which public relations, promotional culture and the media play a new, central role. As the conventional democratic promise of political representation loses traction with the public in many countries, commercial culture steps into this vacuum by offering mirror forms of democracy. Commercial democracy promises representation, voice and agency to the public and in doing so creates new forms of social contract. Based on empirical material, this book examines the Public Relations (PR) produced by corporations and communications produced by charities in an intensely mediatized society. It presents a novel analysis of the shifting significance of brand and reputation. It analyses the ascendancy of commercial speech, PRs' relationship to post-truth politics, and the transformation of cultural intermediaries into 'social brokers'. As PR and promotional culture come to inhabit the realm of the social contract and new forms of politics, 'the public' and the very idea of 'publicity' are transformed.

Providing a detailed account of contemporary outdoor advertising and its relationship with urban space, this book examines what the outdoor advertising industry tells us about the commercial production of urban space, what industry practices reveal about contemporary capitalism, and how ads and billboard structures interface with spaces of the city.

Providing a detailed account of contemporary outdoor advertising and its relationship with urban space, this book examines what the outdoor advertising industry tells us about the commercial production of urban space, what industry practices reveal about contemporary capitalism, and how ads and billboard structures interface with spaces of the city

The field of paleoclimatology relies on physical, chemical, and biological proxies of past climate changes that have been preserved in natural archives such as glacial ice, tree rings, sediments, corals, and speleothems. Paleoclimate archives obtained through field investigations, ocean sediment coring expeditions, ice sheet coring programs, and other projects allow scientists to reconstruct climate change over much of earth's history.

When combined with computer model simulations, paleoclimatic reconstructions are used to test hypotheses about the causes of climatic change, such as greenhouse gases, solar variability, earth's orbital variations, and hydrological, oceanic, and tectonic processes. This book is a comprehensive, state-of-the art synthesis of paleoclimate research covering all geological timescales, emphasizing topics that shed light on modern trends in the earth's climate. Thomas M. Cronin discusses recent discoveries about past periods of global warmth, changes in atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations, abrupt climate and sea-level change, natural temperature variability, and other topics directly relevant to controversies over the causes and impacts of climate change. This text is geared toward advanced undergraduate and graduate students and researchers in geology, geography, biology, glaciology, oceanography, atmospheric sciences, and climate modeling, fields that contribute to paleoclimatology. This volume can also serve as a reference for those requiring a general background on natural climate variability.

This book argues that we are witnessing the emergence of 'commercial democracy' in which public relations, promotional culture and the media play a new, central role. As the conventional democratic promise of political representation loses traction with the public in many countries, commercial culture steps into this vacuum by offering mirror forms of democracy. Commercial democracy promises representation, voice and agency to the public and in doing so creates new forms of social contract. Based on empirical material, this book examines the Public Relations (PR) produced by corporations and communications produced by charities in an intensely mediatized society. It presents a novel analysis of the shifting significance of brand and reputation. It analyses the ascendancy of commercial speech, PRs' relationship to post-truth politics, and the transformation of cultural intermediaries into 'social brokers'. As PR and promotional culture come to inhabit the realm of the social contract and new forms of politics, 'the public' and the very idea of 'publicity' are transformed.

Greenhouse gases, global warming, thinning ozone layers -- understanding the Earth's climatic changes is one of today's most pressing international concerns. How fast has the climate changed? Where and why is it changing? What is the impact of climate change on our ecosystems, coastal regions, glaciers, forests, and lakes, and even on the evolution of our own species?

This introduction to the rapidly emerging field of paleoclimatology explains the patterns and processes in the history of the Earth's climate to answer such essential questions. Using the geologic records of ocean and lake sediment, ice cores, corals, and other natural archives, "Principles of Paleoclimatology" describes the history of the Earth's climate -- the ice age cycles, sea level changes, volcanic activity, changes in atmosphere and solar radiation -- and the resulting, sometimes catastrophic, biotic responses. These paleoclimate records provide a baseline against which we can compare modern climate trends. Designed to give a fundamental background -- including both history and methodology -- to the discipline of paleoclimatology, this book is the first to advance our understanding of how climate change develops, how those changes are detected, and how the climate of the past can shape the climate of the future.

This lexicon is inten ded as a tool to he lp strip aw ay one source of the endem ic miscommunication and friction that now plagues both soldiers and civilians, governm ent and non-government, who plan, coordinate, and execute the complex set of overlapping civil-military activities and tasks th at have come to charact erize armed conflicts and their afterm ath. Collectively known as complex operations1, they demand, but too often lack, a sense of common purpose and m utual understanding be tween a wide array of planne rs and practitioners, all of whom bring with them different organizati onal cultures, world visions, and operational approaches. These disconnects can, and too often do, create conf usion, at tim es with tragic results, both on the ground and among policy-m akers. Part of that confusion stem s from the widely varied vocabulary used by these m any actors. Each organization possesses their own unique terminology, perfectly clear to them, but foggy to others. Even when words look and sound familiar they often have quite different and sometimes alien meanings. Anyone who has attended an acronym and jargon -laced coordination meeting of m ilitary, civilian government, and NGO representatives knows the frustration of trying to interpret what is meant by words that have many different connotations. It is in hopes of lessening this confusion that this lexicon has been compiled.

CONTENTS Introduction A New Situation The National Defense Program Outline Review Key Issues Host Nation Support Theater Missile Defense Technology, Procurement, and Arms Exports Recommendations Appendix A: The Modality of the Security and Defense Capability of Japan: The Outlook for the 21st Century Foreword The World and the Asia-Pacific after the Cold War The End of the Cold War and Qualitative Changes in the Security Environment Multilateral Cooperation Centering on the United States Roles of the United Nations and Other Regimes for Cooperative Security Four Types of Likely Danger Characteristics of the Security Environment in the Asia-Pacific Region Basic Thinking on Japan's Security Policy and Defense Capability Active and Constructive Security Policy Multilateral Security Cooperation Enhancing the Functions of the Japan-U.S. Security Cooperation Relationship Maintenance and Operation of Highly Reliable and Efficient Defense Capability The Modality of Defense Capability in the New Age From the Cold War Defense Strategy to the Multilateral Security Strategy The Role of Defense Capability for Multilateral Security Cooperation The Enhancement of the Japan-U.S. Security Cooperation Relationship Maintenance and Qualitative Improvement of Self-Defense Capability Other Items Pertaining to Defense Conclusion Appendix B: Acronyms

This volume sets out to examine the history of Ireland in the years following the Dail's ratification of independence from Britain in 1922. The different authors in the collection, all experts on different aspects of Irish history from the first half of the twentieth century, focus on a wide range of different themes. Considerations of the decline of Redmondite nationalism, the role of Unionism in the Free State, Party structures and organization, the development of different forms of identity, the nature of economics and the place of the newly independent Ireland within the British Empire are all included. All chapters are either the result of new archival research or else offer a sustained historiographical critique of current thinking.

This volume sets out to examine the history of Ireland in the years following the Dail's ratification of independence from Britain in 1922. The different authors in the collection, all experts on different aspects of Irish history from the first half of the twentieth century, focus on a wide range of different themes. Considerations of the decline of Redmondite nationalism, the role of Unionism in the Free State, Party structures and organisation, the development of different forms of identity, the nature of economics and the place of the newly independent Ireland within the British Empire are all included. All chapters are either the result of new archival research or else offer a sustained historiographical critique of current thinking.

During the Cold War, the US-Japan alliance was at the core of American presence, power and prestige in the Asia-Pacific region. When the Cold War ended, many questioned whether the alliance would continue to serve US and Japanese interests. In the late 1990s the USA and Japan answered that question with a formal reaffirmation of the security treaty and the upgrading of bilateral guidelines for defence co-operation. But the alliance has also faced new challenges: domestic opposition to US bases in Okinawa; Chinese criticism of a stronger US-Japan security relationship; and growing international frustration with Japan's economic policies. The alliance remains crucial to both nations' interests, but the management of bilateral security ties has become far more complex. This is an explanation of the inner workings of the US-Japan alliance. It recommends approaches to sustaining this critical bilateral security relationship. The authors are scholars and practitioners who understand where the alliance came from, how it is managed, and the strategic decisions that will have to be made in the future.

The Midwestern press is probably the best example of the "typical" American press of the Civil War era. Its denizens were not the huge metropolitan dailies of New York and Philadelphia, nor were they the struggling weeklies of the western territories. They did not feel the hard hand of war as the Southern press did in its struggles to obtain enough paper and ink to continue printing. Instead, Midwestern publishers and editors mostly continued on, business as usual, with some disruptions as staff members joined up to fight the war for the Union, or were drafted. Democratic newspapers experienced the most war-related trauma as neither political nor military leaders understood the concept of the loyal opposition and sought to shut down non-Republican newspapers or those that supported peace efforts. Debra Reddin van Tuyll and Mary M. Cronin explore the history of the Midwestern press as it examines the political, social, and economic roles of the press. This work will be useful as a supplemental text in undergraduate or graduate journalism history classes and can be used in history classes that deal with the Civil War or the nineteenth century.

These new essays tell the stories of daring reporters, male and female, sent out by their publishers not to capture the news but to make the news-indeed to achieve star billing-and to capitalize on the Gilded Age public's craze for real-life adventures into the exotic and unknown. They examine the adventure journalism genre through the work of iconic writers such as Mark Twain and Nellie Bly, as well as lesser-known journalistic masters such as Thomas Knox and Eliza Scidmore, who took to the rivers and oceans, mineshafts and mountains, rails and trails of the late nineteenth century, shaping Americans' perceptions of the world and of themselves.

Current trends suggest that the fog of war continues to make strategy an opaque enterprise notwithstanding enormous U.S. investments in high-tech weapons, intelligence capabilities, and homeland defense. This edited volume includes essays originally presented at the IISS Global Strategic Review, which was held in Geneva on September 7-9, 2007.

North Korea possesses nuclear weapons, while Iran is poised to acquire them in the next decade. How the United States and other nations seek to roll back these burgeoning nuclear powers is among the most urgent issues of the day. At stake is regional security in the Persian Gulf and Northeast Asia, America's standing abroad, and prospects for nuclear non-proliferation. This book offers complementary international perspectives on these threats and the peaceful responses to grapple with the Iranian and North Korean nuclear programs. Leading authorities provide balanced analyses-together with new chronologies and maps-that make the volume an invaluable reference for all those interested in understanding options available in dealing with Iran and North Korea. The contributors to this volume offer complementary international perspectives on the critical security issues that stem from the challenges posed by Iran and North Korea. No other work combines the analysis of the two countries and explores the threat posed by each to regional stability and world order. The book examines how and why attempts to curb the nuclear programs and broader political ambitions of each nation have failed. It also examines how each nation, in its own way, has managed to defy the world's preponderant power, the United States, as well as other major powers and the United Nations. And it offers analysis on where the fractured and oscillating relations with these two nettlesome actors are heading and the long-term implications of their current trajectories for nuclear proliferation, deterrence, alliance management, regional security, and world order. Expert, balanced analyses-augmented by new chronologies and maps-make the volume an invaluable reference for all those interested in understanding the options available in dealing with Iran and North Korea.

This timely volume objectively addresses the major issues and questions raised about student aid programs. It examines the realities of student loans and provides a balanced analysis of the present and future prospects for financing higher education.

Educators, guarantee agency administrators, and state and federal officials analyze student indebtedness and the repayment of loans. They evaluate how five other industrialized nations structure grants and education loan programs and address the challenging problem of extending opportunities for higher education to low-income students. The vital need for support in the application process and for debt management counseling in high schools and colleges is discussed, as is innovative private sector support. A necessary resource for everyone concerned with higher education issues.

Most Americans today view freedom of speech as a bedrock of all other liberties, a defining feature of American citizenship. During the nineteenth century, the popular concept of American freedom of speech was still being formed. In An Indispensable Liberty: The Fight for Freedom of Expression in the Nineteenth Century, contributors examine attempts to restrict freedom of speech and the press during and after the Civil War. The nine essays that make up this collection show how, despite judicial, political, and public proclamations of support for freedom of expression, factors like tradition, gender stereotypes, religion, and fear of social unrest often led to narrow judicial and political protection for freedom of expression by people whose views upset the status quo. These views, expressed by abolitionists, suffragists, and labor leaders, challenged rigid cultural mores of the day, and many political and cultural leaders feared that extending freedom of expression to agitators would undermine society. The Civil War intensified questions about the duties and privileges of citizenship. After the war, key conflicts over freedom of expression were triggered by Reconstruction, suffrage, the Comstock Act, and questions about libel. The volume's contributors blend social, cultural, and intellectual history to untangle the complicated strands of nineteenth-century legal thought. By chronicling the development of modern-day notions of free speech, this timely collection offers both a valuable exploration of the First Amendment in nineteenth-century America and a useful perspective on challenges to today's civil liberties.