university of california press apr 2012 (4 Ergebnisse)

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - In a fast-paced, accessible yet sweeping synthesis, renowned geologist and published trade author David Montgomery examines human history through the lens of agriculture and how increasing intensification of farming undercut the foundation civilizations around the world whose use of soil outstripped the natural supply. Drawing from archaeology, geology, soil science, and history, Montgomery shows that the life span of civilizations can be determined from the way they treat their land. Dirt is our most under-appreciated yet most essential resource. Soil erodes much more quickly than it forms, but erosion is inevitable and is hastened by our widespread agricultural practices and other abuses. Each year, the world now loses some 24 billion tons of topsoil. Montgomery describes how ancient societies - the Greeks, Romans, Maya, etc. - repeatedly exhausted their land at a pace set by their technological sophistication and hastened their downfall and created populations of refugees. Societies that run out of dirt run out of options to survive, but Montgomery holds out hope that recent interest in no-till and organic agriculture, practices that protect soil and water, will allow farsighted societies to follow a more sustainable path and cling to the ground beneath them.

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - 'The Scottish concrete poet, visual artist, short story writer, aphorist, editor, and 'avant-gardener' Ian Hamilton Finlay is one of the great polymaths of our time. His writings alone would put him in the pantheon of twentieth century poets. Finlay's son Alec, himself a poet, has now given us a selection of his father's writings, beautifully edited and annotated, lavishly illustrated, and with a superb new introduction to the work. I consider this book, long overdue, to be a milestone in publishing. --Marjorie Perloff, author of The Futurist Moment and Unoriginal Genius: Poetry by other means in the 21st Century'Ian Hamilton Finlay was an entirely original, and continuously challenging, voice in the poetry of the English-speaking world over the second half of the twentieth century. This promises to be the first book in which his early verse, his concrete poetry and his distinctive compilations of aphorisms and 'sentences' are all substantially represented.' --Stephen Bann, author of Ways Around Modernism'When I was young and trying to figure out how to think about landscapes and gardens and their cultural histories, no one opened the garden gates wider than Ian Hamilton Finlay in his poetic and sometimes provocative print projects, garden sculptures, concrete poems (sometimes in actual concrete or stone), aphorisms, and other works. Finlay was a loner, a visionary looking backward to think on revolution and paradise, Arcadia and insurrection, and this book put together by his artist son Alec makes that work available for the first time in a long while, and as gorgeously as possible. Alec's long biographical essay is itself a hugely valuable resource for anyone interested in the elder Finlay's works, and then there are the poems, and the pictures.' --Rebecca Solnit, author of Infinite City: A San Francisco Atlas'Only a handful of poets working in the visual tradition in the twentieth century have a profile that shows up in the broader scenes of fine art and modern culture. Among them, Ian Hamilton Finlay is probably the most frequently cited. But the work and thinking of this complex, enigmatic, and sometimes controversial figure is not necessarily well understood. This new volume documenting the many facets of Finlay's work as a poet, sculptor, and thinker across many media and a lifetime of creative activity will make it possible to study and appreciate his work anew. This collection makes a welcome addition to studies in book arts, visual poetry, and conceptual art through the presentation of an artist whose contributions have registered across these fields.' --Johanna Drucker, Breslauer Professor of Bibliographical Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles'While Ian Hamilton Finlay's career is one of complexity, as a creator he was a champion of the simple. Engaging regional melodies, quotidian objects, and native terrain, he took poetry back to its Greek root, 'to make.' This half-century journey--from folk poem to concrete poem to poem-in-the-world--is at all points filled with a vital restlessness.' --Lisa Jarnot, author of Night Scenes'One must never forget that poets are makers, most vividly so in Scotland, where William Dunbar's 'Lament for the Makaris' must still echo with uncanny poignance. Poetry is 'a made thing', as Robert Duncan put it. No poet will ever manage a word, much less a line, without all the resources of that art in timeless history sounding there, as each word finds its place in turn. There is no way to learn simply the intimacy of voice that Finlay has always, bringing one in to his physical person. It is a constant of his art in all its forms.' --Robert Creeley, from the foreword to the 1996 edition of Ian Hamilton Finlay's The Dancers Inherit the Party and Glasgow Beasts, an a Burd.

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - It is estimated that as many as twenty-seven million people are slaves. Kevin Baless disturbing story of slavery today , revised and updated with a new preface, reaches from brick kilns in Pakistan and brothels in Thailand to the offices of multinational corporations. His investigation of conditions in Mauritania, Brazil, Thailand, Pakistan, and India reveals the tragic emergence of a 'New Slavery,' one intricately linked to the global economy. Vivid case studies present actual slaves, slaveholders, and public officials in well-drawn historical, geographical, and cultural contexts. Bales observes the complex economic relationships of modern slavery and points the way to abolishing slavery in todays global economy.

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - For fans of Italian wine, few names command the level of respect accorded to Brunello di Montalcino. Expert wine writer Kerin OKeefe has a deep personal knowledge of Tuscany and its extraordinary wine, and her account is both thoroughly researched and readable. Organized as a guided tour through Montalcinos geography, this essential reference also makes sense of Brunellos complicated history, from its rapid rise to the negative and positive effects of the 2008 grape-blending scandal dubbed 'Brunellogate.' OKeefe also provides in-depth profiles of nearly sixty leading producers of Brunello.