Kirjahaku

An epidemic of violence is sweeping the country: musicians are being murdered onstage in the middle of their sets by members of their audience. Are these random copycat killings, or is something more sinister at work? Has music itself become corrupted in a culture where everything is available, everybody is a 'creative,' and attention spans have dwindled to nothing? With its cast of ambitious bands, yearning fans, and enigmatic killers, Destroy All Monsters tells a haunted and romantic story of overdue endings and unlikely beginnings that will resonate with anybody who’s ever loved rock and roll. Like a classic vinyl single, Destroy All Monsters has two sides, which can be read in either order. At the heart of Side A, “My Dark Ages,” is Xenie, a young woman who is repulsed by the violence of the epidemic but who still finds herself drawn deeper into the mystery. Side B, 'Kill City,' follows an alternate history, featuring familiar characters in surprising roles, and burrows deeper into the methods and motivations of the murderers.

While many current analyses of democracy focus on creating a more civil, respectful debate among competing political viewpoints, this study argues that the existence of structural social inequality requires us to go beyond the realm of political debate. Challenging prominent contemporary theories of democracy, the author draws on John Dewey to bring the work of combating social inequality into the forefront of democratic thought. Dewey's 'pragmatic' principles are deployed to present democracy as a developing concept constantly confronting unique conditions obstructing its growth. Under structurally unequal social conditions, democracy is thereby seen as demanding the overcoming of this inequality; this inequality corrupts even well-organized forums of political debate, and prevents individuals from governing their everyday lives. Dewey's approach shows that the process of fighting social inequality is uniquely democratic, and he avoids current democratic theory's tendency to abstract from this inequality.

Jeff Jackson was fifteen the first time he laid eyes on a beautiful girl that was thirteen. A few months later he asked Helen to "go steady" with him, and she said yes. Neither of them could have known the incredible journey that initial commitment to one another would generate throughout the rest of their lives. After becoming husband and wife while still teenagers, they relocated a few days after their wedding ceremony to the country where he was stationed as a member of the U.S. Army, and welcomed their first child a few months later. Their son was born with health issues that would almost take his life and require them to go on a breath-taking journey that included stops at U.S. Air Force bases scattered throughout the Pacific. The transition back to civilian life led to a spiritual transformation that moved him to become a pastor, serve the disabled, and lead his family to live in Southeast Asia for more than five years. A few years later, he was diagnosed with a terminal illness that generated life-trajectory changes that would eventually include serving refugees in a major Southwestern city, a variety of other health-related challenges, and many opportunities to pass on the truths he learned about life and identity along the way.

Jeff Jackson was fifteen the first time he laid eyes on a beautiful girl that was thirteen. A few months later he asked Helen to "go steady" with him, and she said yes. Neither of them could have known the incredible journey that initial commitment to one another would generate throughout the rest of their lives. After becoming husband and wife while still teenagers, they relocated a few days after their wedding ceremony to the country where he was stationed as a member of the U.S. Army, and welcomed their first child a few months later. Their son was born with health issues that would almost take his life and require them to go on a breath-taking journey that included stops at U.S. Air Force bases scattered throughout the Pacific. The transition back to civilian life led to a spiritual transformation that moved him to become a pastor, serve the disabled, and lead his family to live in Southeast Asia for more than five years. A few years later, he was diagnosed with a terminal illness that generated life-trajectory changes that would eventually include serving refugees in a major Southwestern city, a variety of other health-related challenges, and many opportunities to pass on the truths he learned about life and identity along the way.

* One of the Best Books of 2013. --Slate, Salon, Flavorwire, Largehearted Boy, Vol. 1 Brooklyn, LitReactorMira Corpora is the debut novel from acclaimed playwright Jeff Jackson, an inspired, dreamlike adventure by a distinctive new talent.Literary and inventive, but also fast-paced and gripping, Mira Corpora charts the journey of a young runaway. A coming-of-age story for people who hate coming-of-age stories, featuring a colony of outcast children, teenage oracles, amusement parks haunted by gibbons, mysterious cassette tapes, and a reclusive underground rockstar.With astounding precision, Jackson weaves a moving tale of discovery and self-preservation across a startling, vibrant landscape."To read Jeff Jackson's Mira Corpora is to enter into a trance state. A hypnotic, brutal, and lyric exploration of youth, trauma and the construction of memory, this novel is like nothing I've ever read before and is, unquestionably, one of my favorite books published this year." --Laura van den Berg, Salon