In this family drama, the author brings an old-time America of industrialism and civic duty, of Cub Scouts, Christmas cookies and sexual inhibitions, into brilliant collision with the modern absurdities of brain science, home surveillance, hands-off parenting, and do-it-yourself mental healthcare.
A great American writer's confrontation with a great European critic-a personal and intellectual awakening A hundred years ago, the Viennese satirist Karl Kraus was among the most penetrating and farsighted writers in Europe. In his self-published magazine, Die Fackel, Kraus brilliantly attacked the popular media's manipulation of reality, the dehumanizing machinery of technology and consumer capitalism, and the jingoistic rhetoric of a fading empire. But even though he had a fervent following, which included Franz Kafka and Walter Benjamin, he remained something of a lonely prophet, and few people today are familiar with his work. Luckily, Jonathan Franzen is one of them. In The Kraus Project, Franzen, whose "calm, passionate critical authority" has been praised in The New York Times Book Review, not only presents his definitive new translations of Kraus but annotates them spectacularly, with supplementary notes from the Kraus scholar Paul Reitter and the Austrian author Daniel Kehlmann. Kraus was a notoriously cantankerous and difficult writer, and in Franzen he has found his match: a novelist unafraid to voice unpopular opinions strongly, a critic capable of untangling Kraus's often dense arguments to reveal their relevance to contemporary America. While Kraus is lampooning the iconic German poet and essayist Heinrich Heine and celebrating his own literary hero, the Austrian playwright Johann Nestroy, Franzen is annotating Kraus the way Kraus annotated others, surveying today's cultural and technological landscape with fearsome clarity, and giving us a deeply personal recollection of his first year out of college, when he fell in love with Kraus's work. Painstakingly wrought, strikingly original in form, The Kraus Project is a feast of thought, passion, and literature.
A GREAT AMERICAN WRITER'S CONFRONTATION WITH A GREAT EUROPEAN CRITIC-A PERSONAL AND INTELLECTUAL AWAKENING A hundred years ago, the Viennese satirist Karl Kraus was among the most penetrating and prophetic writers in Europe: a relentless critic of the popular media's manipulation of reality, the dehumanizing machinery of technology and consumerism, and the jingoistic rhetoric of a fading empire. But even though his followers included Franz Kafka and Walter Benjamin, he remained something of a lonely prophet, and few people today are familiar with his work. Thankfully, Jonathan Franzen is one of them. In The Kraus Project, Franzen not only presents his definitive new translations of Kraus but also annotates them spectacularly, with supplementary notes from the Kraus scholar Paul Reitter and the Austrian writer Daniel Kehlmann. Kraus was a notoriously cantankerous and difficult author, and in Franzen he has found his match: a novelist unafraid to voice unpopular opinions strongly, a critic capable of untangling Kraus's often dense arguments to reveal their relevance to contemporary America. Interwoven with Franzen's survey of today's cultural and technological landscape is an intensely personal recollection of the author's first year out of college, when he fell in love with Kraus. Painstakingly wrought, strikingly original in form, The Kraus Project is a feast of thought, passion, and literature.
Universally acclaimed when first published in 1955, The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit captured the mood of a generation. Its title , like Catch-22 and Fahrenheit 451 , has become a part of America's cultural vocabulary. Tom Rath doesn't want anything extraordinary out of life: just a decent home, enough money to support his family, and a career that won't crush his spirit. After returning from World War II, he takes a PR job at a television network. It is inane, dehumanizing work. But when a series of personal crises force him to reexamine his priorities , and take responsibility for his past , he is finally moved to carve out an identity for himself. This is Sloan Wilson's searing indictment of a society that had just begun to lose touch with its citizens. The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit is a classic of American literature and the basis of the award-winning film starring Gregory Peck. "A consequential novel." , Saturday Review
Whether we live in cities, in the suburbs, or in the country, birds are ubituitous features of daily life, so much so that we often take them for granted. But even the casual observer is aware that birds don't fill our skies in the number they once did. That awareness has spawned conservation action that has led to notable successes, including the recovery of some of the nation's most emblematic species, such as the Bald Eagle, Brown Pelican, Whooping Crane, and Peregrine Falcon. Despite this, a third of all American bird species are in trouble - in many cases, they're in imminent danger of extinction. The most authoritative account ever published of the threats these species face, "The American Bird Conservancy Guide to Bird Conservation" will be the definitive book on the subject. The Guide presents for the first time anywhere a classification system and threat analysis for bird habitats in the United States, and the most thorough and scientifically credible assessment of threats to birds published to date, as well as a new list of birds of conservation concern. Filled with beautiful color illustrations and original range maps, the Guide is a timely, important, and inspiring reference for birders and anyone else interested in conserving North America's avian fauna. But this book is far more than another shout of crisis. The Guide also lays out a concrete and achievable plan of long-term action to safeguard our country's rich bird life. Ultimately, it is an argument for hope. Whether you spend your early weekend mornings crouched in silence with binoculars in hand, hoping to check another species off your list, or you've never given much thought to bird conservation, you'll appreciate the visual power and intellectual scope of these pages.
Otto and Sophie Bentwood live childless in a renovated Brooklyn brownstone. The complete works of Goethe line their bookshelf, their stainless-steel kitchen is newly installed, and their Mercedes is parked curbside. But after Sophie is bitten on the hand while trying to feed a half-starved neighborhood cat, a series of small and ominous disasters begin to plague their lives. The fault lines of their marriage are revealed echoing the fractures of society around them, slowly wrenching itself apart. First published in 1970 to wide acclaim, Desperate Characters stands as one of the most dazzling and rigorous examples of the storyteller's craft in postwar American literature a novel that, according to Irving Howe, ranks with "Billy Budd, The Great Gatsby, Miss Lonelyhearts, and Seize the Day."
As the 1950s close down, Peanuts definitively enters its golden age. Linus, who had just learned to speak in the previous volume, becomes downright eloquent and even begins to fend off Lucy's bullying; even so, his security neurosis becomes more pronounced, including a harrowing two-week "Lost Weekend" sequence of blanketlessness. Charlie Brown cascades further down the hill to loserdom, with spectacularly lost kites, humiliating baseball losses (including one where he becomes "the Goat" and is driven from the field in a chorus of BAAAAHs); at least his newly acquired "pencil pal" affords him some comfort. Pig-Pen, Shermy, Violet, and Patty are also around, as is an increasingly Beethoven-fixated Schroeder. But the rising star is undoubtedly Snoopy. He's at the center of the most graphically dynamic and action-packed episodes (the ones in which he attempts to grab Linus's blanket at a dead run). He even tentatively tries to sleep on the crest of his doghouse roof once or twice, with mixed results. And his imitations continue apace, including penguins, anteaters, sea monsters, vultures and (much to her chagrin) Lucy. No wonder the beagle is the cover star of this volume.
College rule (also known as medium ruled paper) is the most common lined paper in use in the United States. It is generally used in middle school through to college and is also popular with adults. This is a good choice for teen or adult notebooks and composition books (known as exercise books outside the US).
The fight is coming to Gillham.That's what Jonathan should be focusing on. Instead, he's picking up Cedric, a mouse shifter who's running from the Beasts and happens to have information on what the Beasts' next step will be.Cedric just wants to save his brother, who's still in the Beasts' hands. He knows he can't do it on his own, which is why he decides to keep the date of the attack on Gillham to himself unless they help him get Archie back. Neither of them had planned on being each other's mate. Jonathan has to choose whether he'll be there for Gillham or for his mate, while Cedric needs to decide what's more important-saving his brother's life, or saving the lives of everyone in Gillham?
For months Jonathan has journeyed through forest and jungle, desert and bog, on a quest to reach the capital city where he will be crowned the King of Dreams. Along the way he has suffered loss and pushed through challenges, transforming from a reluctant boy to a young man who sees the value in protecting the dreamworld from nightmarish Rankers. However, Jonathan's latest discovery, that he can open a secret portal to the nightmare isles, haunts his thoughts. Perhaps he can open this portal and enter the isles covertly, ending the long war before anyone close to him gets hurt...but doing so requires that he commit an act of evil...The long war against the Rankers has affected Jonathan's friends as well. Almost a Ranker himself, Ben continues to act as a double agent against the nightmares, spying on them on Jonathan's behalf, though the toll it is taking on his body and spirit is harsh. In the waking world, they venture across the globe in order to protect the comatose bodies of his closest allies from Rankers. Sneaking past packs of Ranker supporters intent on hunting down those who defy Ranker rule presents its own challenges.In this conclusion to the Jonathan trilogy, friendships will be tested and fears faced as the Liege Master, god of the Rankers, takes the stage. It is time for the young Griffin King to discover who he was destined to be.From darkest night, in dark, the light, the Griffin King shall rise to fight.
