Twenty years ago, very few music scholars examined Broadway musicals. If musicologists were a bit slow to approach the musical theater reper-toire (and they were), theorists and analysts arrived—and are only now arriving—more than fashionably late to the party. We hope that this vol-ume loudly announces that we are here.Music theorists care about musical theater. We kn…
How We Use Stories and Why That Matters guides the reader through the tangled undergrowth of communication and cultural expression towards a new understanding of the role of group-mediating stories at global and digital scale. It argues that media and networked systems perform and bind group identities, creating bordered fictions within which economic and political activities are made meaningfu…
Our best science tells us wonderful things. The cold and dark skies of our universe were not so long ago in their entirety in a state of unimaginably high energy and temperature. The detritus that exploded from it congealed into stars, planets, and galaxies. These systems of celestial masses are in turn held together by a curvature of the geometry of space and time itself. On a most minute scal…
Discover the amazing inventions throughout history that have shaped the world as we know it. This stunning visual guide explores and explains the greatest inventions, ideas, and discoveries throughout the ages, and introduces their inventors. From fire, stone tools, and the wheel to ploughs and paper, discover the first inventions that shaped societies and grew mighty civilizations and empir…
Pack up your bags for a round the world trip! You’ll take in natural wonders far and wide as this spectacular visual encyclopedia leads the exciting exploration of Earth and beyond.?? From the tallest snowy peak of Mount Everest to the deep, dark waters of the Mariana Trench, you’ll see it all in stunning color images that bring the world to life. Feel the heat in the African desert,…
Presents detailed coverage of the deities, legendary heroes and heroines, important animals, objects, and places that make up the mythic lore of the many peoples of North America.
The African continent is home to a fascinating and strong tradition of myth, due in part to the long history of human habitation in Africa; the diversity of its geography, flora, and fauna; and the variety of its cultural beliefs. African Mythology A to Z, Second Edition is a readable reference to the deities, places, events, animals, beliefs, and other subjects that appear in the myths of vari…
Plagues in World History provides a concise, comparative world history of catastrophic infectious diseases, including plague, smallpox, tuberculosis, cholera, influenza, and AIDS. Geographically, these diseases have spread across the entire globe; temporally, they stretch from the sixth century to the present. John Aberth considers not only the varied impact that disease has had upon human hist…
Uncertainty and interconnecting crises are no longer exceptional. In almost everypart of the world, living with water crises is an everyday reality for many. Yet,water supply sustains a functioning society, and as such any threat to it must becountered head-on. Frontline water suppliers, routinely forced to respond andadapt so they can deliver water in the face of all challenges, have found tha…
This book critically examines assumptions about age, women, and gender. Amidst all the attention that has been granted to difference and inequality, however uneven and unsatisfactory in terms of class and caste, race and ethnicity, sexuality and gender, disability, religion, and nation, questions of age and its importance for feminism have been less well defined. Drawing on recent literature on…