59 big ideas you really need to know is the ultimate guide to the most important ideas in history. In a series of 50 accessible and lucidly written essays, Ben Dupre probes some of the most significant ideas in politics, philosophy, religion, economics, science and the art. Some of these are unimpeachable (liberry, reason); others mind-numbing (The Big Bang, chaos); a few mysterious (fate, surrealism) or downright despicable(fascism, racism). What they have in common is that they all matter and have left a deep impression on human civilization. Demystifying and entertaining, 59 big ideas you really need to know is the perfect introduction to some of the most influential ideas ever conceived form a writer with a real gift for popularizing often complex and challenging concepts.

In a series of 50 accessible and lucidly written essays, Ben Dupre introduces and explains the problems of knowledge, consciousness, identify, ethics, belief, justice, language, meaning and aesthetics that have engaged the attention of thinkers from the era of the ancient Greeks to the present day. Demystifying and entertaining, 59 big ideas you really need to know is the perfect introduction to some of the most influential ideas ever conceived form a writer with a real gift for popularizing often complex and challenging concepts.

Here’s a delightful collection of American riddles and puzzles, illustrated with wonderfully quirky cartoons. 101 American English Riddles will amuse you for hours- while giving insight into American idioms and humor. Harry Collis has arranged 101 riddles into nine sections based on the type of riddle, including: • Riddles with words with more than one meaning • Riddles that trick you • Riddles that use numbers and logic • Riddles that use idioms • And more! And he has turned them over to illustrator Joe Kohl, whose eye-grabbing cartoons gives you clues to the answers-or lead you astray! You’ll find help everywhere you need it, including explanations of wordplays, idioms and culture. Where helpful, there are also dialogues or narratives that show how the language in the riddle is used in everyday American English.

Here’s a delightful collection of American superstitions, wonderfully illustrated with whimsical cartoons. 101 American Superstitions will amuse you for hours- while giving insight into American customs, belief and humor. Harry Collis has arranged 101 superstitions into the following nine lighthearted sections: • Body language • Love and Marriage • Food for Thought • I’ve Got Your Number • Be careful! • Lots of Luck • Win or Lose • Special Days • And Many More. Each superstition is accompanied by an explanation and then is used in a real-life context-either in a dialogue or in a narrative- to show how these beliefs and behaviors fit into everyday life.

Here’s a delightful collection of American superstitions, wonderfully illustrated with quickly cartoons. 101 American Superstitions will amuse you for hours- while giving insight into age-old traditions as well as .American habits of more recent origin. Harry Collis has arranged 101 superstitions into the following eight lighthearted sections: Those special occasions • Courtship and Marriage • Body Language • Enjoy! • All in the family • Let’s Have Fun • Red Letter Days • Icons of America Each custom is accompanied by an explanation of its origin and then illustrated by a real-life context- either in a dialogue or a narrative- to show how the behavior fits into everyday life and is alluded to in conversational American English speech.

The Editor- Gary Gutting presents a comprehensive but non-systematic treatment of some highlights of Foucault's life and thought. The book begins with a brief biography to set the social and political stage. It then considers Foucault's thoughts on literature, in particular the avant-garde scene, his philosophical and historical work and the reception he received from the historical community, his treatment of knowledge and power in modern society, and his thoughts on sexuality.

This is a historical account of feminism that looks at the roots of feminism, voting rights, and the liberation of the sixties, and analyzes the current situation of women across Europe, in the United States, and elsewhere in the world, particularly the Third World countries. Walters examines the difficulties and inequities that women still face, more than forty years after the "new wave" of 1960s feminism--difficulties, particularly, in combining domesticity, motherhood and work outside the home. How much have women's lives really changed? In the West, women still come up against the "glass ceiling" at work, with most earning considerably less than their male counterparts. What are we to make of the now commonplace insistence that feminism deprives men of their rights and dignities? And how does one tackle the issue of female emancipation in different cultural and economic environments--in, for example, Islam, Hinduism, the Middle East, Africa, and the Indian sub-continent?

Ideology is one of the most controversial terms in the political vocabulary, exciting both revulsion and inspiration. This book examines the reasons for those views, and explains why ideologies deserve respect as a major form of political thinking. It investigates the centrality of ideology both as a political phenomenon and as an organizing framework of political thought and action. It explores the changing understandings of ideology as a concept, and the arguments of the main ideologies. By employing the latest insights from a range of disciplines, the reader is introduced to the vitality and force of a crucial resource at the disposal of societies, through which sense and purpose is assigned to the political world.

This Introduction explores the origins of capitalism and questions whether it did indeed originate in Europe. It examines a distinctive stage in the development of capitalism that began in the 1980s, in order to understand where we are now and how capitalism has evolved since. The book discusses the crisis tendencies of capitalism--including the S.E. Asian banking crisis, the collapse of the Russian economy, and the 1997-1998 global financial crisis--asking whether capitalism is doomed to fail. In the end, the author ruminates on a possible alternative to capitalism, discussing socialism, communal and cooperative experiments, and alternatives proposed by environmentalists.

Poststructuralism changes the way we understand the relations between human beings, their culture, and the world. Following a brief account of the historical relationship between structuralism and poststructuralism, this Very Short Introduction traces the key arguments that have led poststructuralists to challenge traditional theories of language and culture. While the author discusses such well-known figures as Barthes, Foucault, Derrida, and Lacan, she also draws pertinent examples from literature, art, film, and popular culture, unfolding the poststructuralist account of what it means to be a human being.