The Wars for Asia, 1911–1949 shows that the Western treatment of World War II, the Second Sino-Japanese War and the Chinese Civil War as separate events misrepresents their overlapping connections and causes. The Chinese Civil War precipitated a long regional war between China and Japan that went global in 1941 when the Chinese found themselves fighting a civil war within a regional war within an overarching global war. The global war that consumed Western attentions resulted from Japan's peripheral strategy to cut foreign aid to China by attacking Pearl Harbour and Western interests throughout the Pacific in 1941. S. C. M. Paine emphasizes the fears and ambitions of Japan, China and Russia, and the pivotal decisions that set them on a collision course in the 1920s and 1930s. The resulting wars together yielded a viscerally anti-Japanese and unified Communist China, the still-angry rising power of the early twenty-first century.

William Burgwinkle surveys poetry and letters, histories and literary fiction - including Grail romances - to offer a historical survey of attitudes towards same-sex love during the centuries that gave us the Plantagenet court of Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine, courtly love, and Arthurian lore. Burgwinkle illustrates how 'sodomy' becomes a problematic feature of narratives of romance and knighthood. Most texts of the period denounce sodomy and use accusations of sodomitical practice as a way of maintaining a sacrificial climate in which masculine identity is set in opposition to the stigmatised other, for example the foreign, the feminine, and the heretical. What emerges from these readings, however, is that even the most homophobic, masculinist and normative texts of the period demonstrate an inability or unwillingness to separate the sodomitical from the orthodox. These blurred boundaries allow readers to glimpse alternative, even homoerotic, readings.

Why do Americans have such animosity for people who identify with the opposing political party? Jaime E. Settle argues that in the context of increasing partisan polarization among American political elites, the way we communicate on Facebook uniquely facilitates psychological polarization among the American public. Frenemies introduces the END Framework of social media interaction. END refers to a subset of content that circulates in a social media ecosystem: a personalized, quantified blend of politically informative 'expression', 'news', and 'discussion' seamlessly interwoven into a wider variety of socially informative content. Scrolling through the News Feed triggers a cascade of processes that result in negative attitudes about those who disagree with us politically. The inherent features of Facebook, paired with the norms of how people use the site, heighten awareness of political identity, bias the inferences people make about others' political views, and foster stereotyped evaluations of the political out-group.

Kenneth Burke, arguably the most important American literary theorist of the twentieth century, helped define the theoretical terrain for contemporary literary and cultural studies. His perspectives were literary and linguistic, but his influences ranged across history, philosophy, and the social sciences. In this important study, first published in 1996, Robert Wess traces the trajectory of Burke's long career and situates his work in relation to postmodernity. His study is both an examination of contemporary theories of rhetoric, ideology, and the subject, and an explanation of why Burke failed to complete his Motives trilogy. Burke's own critique of the 'isolated unique individual' led him to question the possibility of unique individuation, a strategy which anticipated important elements of postmodern concepts of subjectivity. Robert Wess' study is a judicious exposition of Burke's massive oeuvre, and a crucial intervention in debates on rhetoric and human agency.

Interest in the world of Late Antiquity is currently undergoing a significant revival, and in this provocative book, now reissued in paperback, E. R. Dodds anticipated some of the themes now engaging scholars. There is abundant material for the study of religious experience in late antiquity, and through it Professor Dodds examines, from a sociological and psychological standpoint, the personal religious attitudes and experiences common to pagans and Christians in the period between Marcus Aurelius and Constantine. He looks first at general attitudes to the world and the human condition before turning to specific types of human experience. World-hatred and asceticism, dreams and states of possession, and pagan and Christian mysticism are all discussed. Finally Dodds considers both pagan views of Christianity and Christian views of paganism as they emerge in the literature of the time. Although primarily written for social and religious historians, this study will also appeal to all those interested in the ancient world and its thought.

Complex algebraic curves were developed in the nineteenth century. They have many fascinating properties and crop up in various areas of mathematics, from number theory to theoretical physics, and are the subject of much research. By using only the basic techniques acquired by most undergraduate courses in mathematics, Dr Kirwan introduces the theory, observes the algebraic and topological properties of complex algebraic curves, and shows how they are related to complex analysis. This book grew from a lecture course given by Dr Kirwan at Oxford University and will be an excellent companion for final year undergraduates and graduates who are studying complex algebraic curves.

The study of (special cases of) elliptic curves goes back to Diophantos and Fermat, and today it is still one of the liveliest centres of research in number theory. This book, which is addressed to beginning graduate students, introduces basic theory from a contemporary viewpoint but with an eye to the historical background. The central portion deals with curves over the rationals: the Mordell-Weil finite basis theorem, points of finite order (Nagell-Lutz) etc. The treatment is structured by the local-global standpoint and culminates in the description of the Tate-Shafarevich group as the obstruction to a Hasse principle. In an introductory section the Hasse principle for conics is discussed. The book closes with sections on the theory over finite fields (the 'Riemann hypothesis for function fields') and recently developed uses of elliptic curves for factoring large integers. Prerequisites are kept to a minimum; an acquaintance with the fundamentals of Galois theory is assumed, but no knowledge either of algebraic number theory or algebraic geometry is needed. The p-adic numbers are introduced from scratch, as is the little that is needed on Galois cohomology. Many examples and exercises are included for the reader. For those new to elliptic curves, whether they are graduate students or specialists from other fields, this will be a fine introductory text.

This book provides a modern introduction to the representation theory of finite groups. Now in its second edition, the authors have revised the text and added much new material. The theory is developed in terms of modules, since this is appropriate for more advanced work, but considerable emphasis is placed upon constructing characters. Included here are the character tables of all groups of order less than 32, and all simple groups of order less than 1000. Applications covered include Burnside's paqb theorem, the use of character theory in studying subgroup structure and permutation groups, and how to use representation theory to investigate molecular vibration. Each chapter features a variety of exercises, with full solutions provided at the end of the book. This will be ideal as a course text in representation theory, and in view of the applications, will be of interest to chemists and physicists as well as mathematicians.

Commutative algebra is at the crossroads of algebra, number theory and algebraic geometry. This textbook is affordable and clearly illustrated, and is intended for advanced undergraduate or beginning graduate students with some previous experience of rings and fields. Alongside standard algebraic notions such as generators of modules and the ascending chain condition, the book develops in detail the geometric view of a commutative ring as the ring of functions on a space. The starting point is the Nullstellensatz, which provides a close link between the geometry of a variety V and the algebra of its coordinate ring A=k[V]; however, many of the geometric ideas arising from varieties apply also to fairly general rings. The final chapter relates the material of the book to more advanced topics in commutative algebra and algebraic geometry. It includes an account of some famous 'pathological' examples of Akizuki and Nagata, and a brief but thought-provoking essay on the changing position of abstract algebra in today's world.

Realism and the Novel combines arguments about realism's emergence in the European eighteenth and nineteenth centuries with essays on its persistence throughout the world and into the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Moving away from a diffusionist account of culture – one where the realist novel is understood to have an autonomous national development in the West that then spreads across the globe – Realism and the Novel focuses, instead, on the ways the relationship between center and periphery informs both realism's origins and its continued relevance. At the same time, this collection takes seriously the semi-autonomy of literary form; the realist inheritance is not only an imposition. Rather, in its multiple incarnations, the realist novel has shown itself to be an exceptionally varied and multi-faceted form for representing the disparate social worlds of imperial modernity.
Helps readers understand how national traditions are never entirely autonomous, creating a greater understanding of the interactions between history and literature
Argues that the formal qualities of the novel remain relevant in today's world, even for cultural traditions for whom it might seem an alien form
Exposes readers to a wide range of literary scholars, traditions and styles of argumentation, all in one volume

This book draws on public opinion surveys conducted in Poland during the Solidarity era to examine popular attitudes on fundamental issues of political power and on the dramatic political events of 1980-1982. These surveys, unprecedented for a communist regime, offer a unique portrait of the values and attitudes of a population in a society undergoing profound social, economic and political change. The study focuses on the citizens, who are often overlooked in studies of communist systems. As such, it provides a fresh look at the Solidarity experience from the public's point of view. It details the sources of support and opposition for the regime, the Solidarity leadership, and the policies of each. For example, support for Solidarity declined during 1981, but it remained strong, and there was little popular support for the hardline measures employed by the regime.

Between 1625 and 1640, a distinctive cultural awareness of censorship emerged, which ultimately led the Long Parliament to impose drastic changes in press control. The culture of censorship addressed in this study helps to explain the divergent historical interpretations of Caroline censorship as either draconian or benign. Such contradictions transpire because the Caroline regime and its critics employed similar rhetorical strategies that depended on the language of orthodoxy, order, tradition, and law, but to achieve different ends. Building on her two previous studies on press censorship in Elizabethan and Jacobean England, Cyndia Clegg scrutinizes all aspects of Caroline print culture: book production in London, the universities, and on the Continent; licensing and authorization practices in both the Stationers' Company and among the ecclesiastical licensers; cases before the courts of High Commission and Star Chamber and the Stationers' Company's Court of Assistants; and trade regulation.

This collection brings together twenty-three essays by some of Russia's most astute commentators on film and culture, written during the 1980s and published here in English for the first time. Included are reviews of films such as Little Vera and Taxi Blues, which were critically hailed in the West. Their comments illuminate important aspects of Russian filmmaking during this decade and capture a sense of a society in flux during the waning years of communism, as well as conveying the larger context within which Glasnost cinema and culture developed.
Russian Critics on the Cinema of Glasnost gathers together 23 essays written by some of Russia's most astute commentators of film and culture. Written during the 1980s and published in English for the first time, this collection includes reviews of films such as Little Vera and Taxi Blues, which were critically hailed in the West. Their comments not only illuminate important aspects of Russian filmmaking during this decade: as importantly, they capture a sense of a society in flux during the waning years of Communism, as well as the larger context within which Glasnost cinema and culture developed. This collection provides insight into the successes and shortcomings of Glasnost, as captured in film, for a Western audience.
"Brashinsky and Horton have done it again...the work consists of 23 essays, which are sometimes witty, sometimes trenchant, and always replete with the requisite amount of Eastern European irony...teachers, students, and film buffs will find much of interest here." J. M. Curtis, Choice
"...not only presents the views of Soviet critics on the glasnost movies, it also casts light on film criticism as a type of active and assertive social behavior....a useful tool." Dina Iordanova, Slavic and East European Journal

The past few decades saw the transformation of Hong Kong from a liberal enclave to a revolutionary crucible at China's offshore. The Making of Leaderful Mobilization takes you through the evolution of protests in this restive city, where ordinary citizens gradually emerged as the protagonists of contention in place of social movement organizations. The book presents a theory of mediated threat that illuminates how threat perceptions fueled shifting forms of mobilization - from brokered mobilization where organizations played guiding roles to leaderful mobilization driven by peer collaboration among the masses. Bringing together event analysis, opinion polls, interviews, and social media data, this book provides a thorough and methodical anatomy of Hong Kong's contentious politics. It unveils the processes and mechanisms of collective action that likely prevailed in many contemporary social movements worldwide. Our temporal approach also uncovers the multiple pathways reshaping hybrid regimes, underscoring their resilience and fragility.

What came before 'postmodernism' in historical studies? By thinking through the assumptions, methods and cast of mind of English historians writing between about 1870 and 1970, Michael Bentley reveals the intellectual world of the modernists and offers the first full analysis of English historiography in this crucial period. Modernist historiography set itself the objective of going beyond the colourful narratives of 'whigs' and 'popularizers' in order to establish history as the queen of the humanities and as a rival to the sciences as a vehicle of knowledge. Professor Bentley does not follow those who deride modernism as 'positivist' or 'empiricist' but instead shows how it set in train brilliant new styles of investigation that transformed how historians understood the English past. But he shows how these strengths were eventually outweighed by inherent confusions and misapprehensions that threatened to kill the very subject that the modernists had intended to sustain.

Australia is the last continent to be settled by Europeans, but it also sustains a people and a culture tens of thousands years old. For much of the past 225 years the newcomers have sought to replace the old with the new. This book tells how they imposed themselves on the land, and describes how they brought technology, institutions and ideas to make it their own. The fourth edition incorporates the far-reaching effects of an export and investment boom in the early years of the twenty-first century that lifted Australia to unprecedented prosperity. The sale of minerals and energy enabled the economy to withstand the global financial crisis of 2007–08 but there was no agreement on how the wealth was to be managed and its benefits distributed. The book describes a continuing search for solutions to climate change, the unauthorised arrival of refugees, Indigenous disadvantage and generational change.

This third edition of Mary Fulbrook's much-admired and popular introduction to German history provides a clear and informative guide to the twists and turns of the story of the German lands and peoples from the early middle ages to the present day. Crisply synthesising a vast array of historical material, Fulbrook explores the interrelationships between social, political and cultural factors in the light of scholarly controversies. Since the second edition in 2004, there have been important changes in Germany, Europe and the wider world. This new edition features a significantly expanded chapter on Germany since 1990, encapsulating recent and dramatic developments that have transformed Germany's character and international standing. This single-volume history of Germany offers broad and accessible coverage and provides a useful guide for students, general readers, travellers to Germany and anyone with an interest in German history.

One of the most troubling problems in archaeology is to determine the manner and content of prehistoric thought. A fundamental challenge is to develop the theory, methodology and tools to understand human cognition. Cognitive archaeology as a subject is still in its infancy, and archaeologists are adopting a variety of approaches. One direction has been to develop an 'interpretationist', anti-scientific, literary approach. Another has been to use a linguistic framework and develop a hermeneutic, semiotic approach. A third approach develops a new direction in prehistoric cognitive research which is rooted in the scientific tradition and in an empirical methodology. It draws upon the cognitive, the mathematical and the computer sciences in an attempt to understand what techniques can be used appropriately on archaeological data, and how to implement them efficiently. This is the approach adopted by the contributors to The Ancient Mind. Together, they begin to develop a science of cognitive archaeology.

This is the first book devoted to Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC) as an interdisciplinary subject, covering atomic and molecular physics, laser physics, low temperature physics and astrophysics. It contains 18 authoritative review articles on experimental and theoretical research in BEC and associated phenomena. Bose-Einstein condensation is a phase transition in which a macroscopic number of particles all go into the same quantum state. It has been known for some time that this phenomenon gives rise to superfluidity in liquid helium but recent research has focused on the search for BEC in other condensed matter systems, such as excitons, spin-polarised hydrogen, laser-cooled atoms, high-temperature superconductors and subatomic matter. This unique book gives an in-depth report on progress in this field and suggests promising research topics for the future. It will be of interest to graduate students and research workers in condensed matter, low temperature, atomic and laser physics.