Focusing on the southwestern U.S., this book critically examines the contemporary implications of the interpretation, appropriation, commodification, and management of indigenous rock art. Neither archaeological interpretations nor commercial reproductions of rock art operate in a cultural vacuum. Both the motivation to seek out rock art and the specific meanings attached to it are deeply embedded in narratives about Native Americans already created by anthropologists, archaeologists, photographers, novelists, film and television producers, the tourism industry, and New Age discourse. For those interested in rock art as a window into indigenous cultures of the past, our contemporary projections of meanings are of great concern. Applying the tools of critical/cultural studies to both academic and popular discourse, Rogers explores the implications of such projections for rock art studies, contemporary gender dynamics, and the neocolonial relationship between Euro-Americans and Native Americans.

A CHOICE OUTSTANDING ACADEMIC TITLE The earliest rock art - in the Americas as elsewhere - is geometric or abstract. Until Early Rock Art in the American West, however, no book-length study has been devoted to the deep antiquity and amazing range of geometrics and the fascinating questions that arise from their ubiquity and variety. Why did they precede representational marks? What is known about their origins and functions? Why and how did humans begin to make marks, and what does this practice tell us about the early human mind? With some two hundred striking color images and discussions of chronology, dating, sites, and styles, this pioneering investigation of abstract geometrics on stone (as well as bone, ivory, and shell) explores its wide-ranging subject from the perspectives of ethology, evolutionary biology, cognitive archaeology, and the psychology of artmaking. The authors' unique approach instills a greater respect for a largely unknown and underappreciated form of paleoart, suggesting that before humans became Homo symbolicus or even Homo religiosus, they were mark-makers - Homo aestheticus.

"This is a laudable book by a leading and prolific scholar of Carolingian Europe. The author's unbudging determination to stick to the primary sources, her new take on old topics, and her wide coverage of recent scholarship make this a valuable book." - Review in Canadian Journal of History
"This is a major contribution to Carolingian history which will be essential reading for anyone interested in the medieval past. Rosamond McKitterick has also received the 2010 Dr A. H. Heineken Prize for History for her research into the Carolingians." - Publisher's description (Cambridge University Press)

"An inspired mash-up, a work that completely reenergizes the perennial bestseller and makes it accessible to a new generation of students, entrepreneurs, business leaders, artists, seekers, lovers of games and game theory, and anyone else who knows the value of seeking guidance for the future in the teachings of the past." - Publisher's description

"Examples from modern films and television programs, which are more familiar and understandable to contemporary readers, provide a better way to accurately teach Machiavelli's lessons. Indeed, modern media, such as Breaking Bad, The Godfather, The Walking Dead, Charlie Wilson's War, House of Cards, Argo, and The Departed, are replete with illustrations that teach Machiavelli's critical principles, including the need to caress or annihilate, learning “how not to be good,” why it is better to be feared than loved, and how to act as both the lion and the fox." - Publisher's description

"Analyzes the narrative elements of two dozen stage plays, novels, romances, histories, and operas written by such authors as Aristophanes, Menander, Plautus, Ariosto, Machiavelli, Cervantes, Shakespeare, Ben Jonson, William Congreve, John Gay, Henry Fielding, and Washington Irving. He unearths five comic techniques that were used to foster democratic behaviors in antiquity and the Renaissance, then traces the role of these techniques in Tom Paine's Common Sense, Thomas Jefferson's preamble to the Declaration of Independence, George Washington's farewell address, Mercy Otis Warren's federalist history of the Revolution, Frederick Douglass's abolitionist orations, and other key documents that played a pivotal role in the development of the early American Republic.After recovering these lost chapters of our democratic past, Comic Democracies concludes with a draft for the future, using the old methods of comedy to envision a modern democracy rooted in the diversity, ingenuity, and power of popular art." - Publisher's description (Johns Hopkins University Press)

"Provocative approach to both the history of philosophy and to contemporary debates about violence, religion, and politics." & "While remaining cognizant of the historical and cultural context of Machiavelli's writings, Harding develops Machiavelli's accounts of sacrifice, truth, religion, and violence and places them in conversation with those of more contemporary thinkers. Including in-depth discussions of Machiavelli's works The Prince and Discourses on Livy, as well as his Florentine Histories, The Art of War, and other less widely discussed works, Harding interprets Machiavelli as endorsing sacrificial violence that founds or preserves a state, while censuring other forms of violence. This reading clarifies a number of obscure themes in Machiavelli's writings, and demonstrates how similar themes are at work in the thought of recent phenomenologists." - Publisher's description

"Argues that the aggregate of historical and literary ideals that developed about Charlemagne after his death influenced certain aspects of the Normans' approach to ruling, including a program of conversion through 'allurement,' political domination through symbolic architecture and propaganda, and the creation of a sense of the royal forest as an extension of the royal court." - Publisher's description (Penn State University Press)

“Brilliantly crafted to draw leadership lessons from history, this is one of the finest leadership books I have read.”—Doris Kearns Goodwin, bestselling author/historian

"Presenting sketches of individuals like Julius Caesar and Mark Anthony, Adam Smith and David Hume, Charles Baudelaire and Edouard Manet, David Henry Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson, Susan Anthony and Elizabeth Stanton, Sergei Rachmaninoff and Vladimir Horowitz — even Al Capone and Johnny Torrio — the author shows how contrasting as well as comparable personalities, characters and temperaments can support and strengthen each other, and he explores the range of ties that may influence a person during one phase of life or may become the center of one's life altogether.The book examines the peculiar power of the bonds of friendship and provides illuminating details on how major friendships throughout history emerged and developed — or fell apart. Each friendship, and the respective personalities of the pairings or groups, is carefully placed in the context of its historical period. The material is accurate and written in an easy-to-read style." - Publisher's description

"Machiavelli directives for maintaining a secure state are direct and at times brutal, taking the view that the ends justify the means." - Publisher's description

"Niccolò Machiavelli may not have been a cynical realist as he is often portrayed. On the contrary, this book argues that he precociously possessed the characteristics of an impassioned, sometimes misguided idealist, obsessed with the idea of Italian unification, but blinded to the practicalities of attaining that goal. William J. Landon suggests that these characteristics may help to explain his appeal to Italy's «Risorgimento» founders." - Publisher's description

Described by "Velvet Light Trap: A Critical Journal of Film & Television" as a collection that will be of interest to future scholars. FCL holds "Debugging Game History" in eBook and print format.

This book is described as “required reading” by the American Journal of Play, and is available in print and eformat.

"In articulating and upholding Americans' fundamental right to free expression against charges of obscenity, libel, espionage, sedition, or conspiracy during turbulent times, Roe was rarely successful in the courts. But his battles illuminate the evolution of free speech doctrine and practice in an era when it was under heavy assault. His greatest victory, including the 1917 decision by Judge Learned Hand in The Masses Publishing Co. v. Patten, is still influential today." - Publisher's description

"nyder recovers a rich public discourse about black history that took shape in journals, monographs, and textbooks and sprang to life in the pages of the black press, the classrooms of black schools, and annual celebrations of Negro History Week. By lining up the Negro history movement's trajectory with the wider arc of African American history, Snyder changes our understanding of such signal aspects of twentieth-century black life as segregated schools, the Harlem Renaissance, and the emerging modern civil rights movement." - Publisher's description

"Argues that implicit bias has grown into a master narrative of race relations—one with profound, if unintended, negative consequences for law, science, and society." - Publisher's description

Shows in detail how Advaitic (metaphysics) practice/insight decreases physical and emotional tension. Generally recommended by Library Journal, "VERDICT A detailed phenomenological self-study that should interest those intrigued with Hinduism or Buddhism."

"Starts from the premise that mental health clinicians must have their own mindfulness practice before teaching the tenets and techniques of mindfulness to others, including young people. To that end, the book offers readers clear instructions on how to first practice mindfulness in their own lives and then extend their personal practice outward to others."

"Mindfulness allows you to stay present, focus, and be calm with your thoughts and emotions, no matter how stressful life gets"

"Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) is a powerful, evidence-based treatment for depression and other mental health conditions. This groundbreaking professional book provides clinicians with the essential skills they need to deliver MBCT.   In this book, you'll discover the foundations of teaching MBCT, guidance on embodied mindful presence (a focused awareness of experience in the moment), the contemplative dialogue known as inquiry, and other strategies for delivering group-based MBCT."