Their arch-enemy Doctor Doom having seemingly perished, the Fantastic Four plan to free the citizens of his country, Latveria, but they are unaware of the resistance that awaits them.

The role of the media has become a central part of politics and policy in the twenty-first century. That dominance has led many to suggest a trend of 'dumbing down': the privileging of style over content. In this provocative new book, Maarten Hajer takes issue with the 'dumbing down' thesis both on theoretical and empirical grounds. He aims to show how authoritative governance remains possible in crisis driven circumstances and a highly 'mediatized' world. The book elaborates a communicative understanding of authority, which, the author argues, can create a new basis for authoritative governance in a world marked by political and institutional fragmentation. Extending his discourse-analytical framework, Hajer uses both discursive and dramaturgical methods to study policymakers in their struggle for authority. Three detailed case studies-the plans to rebuild Ground Zero, the aftermath of the assassination of Theo Van Gogh, and the recent role of the British Food Standards Agency -provide a wealth of detail of the dynamics of authority in today's mediatized polity and bring out the peculiar role that crises now play. The argument of the book is that in the age of mediatization governance needs to be 'performed'. Hajer describes a genuinely new authoritative governance that breaks with existing interpretations. He demonstrates ways in which the traditional government of standing institutions and notions of network governance can be combined in actively creating relations with a variety of publics.

The paradoxical logic of transparency and mediation Transparency is the metaphor of our time. Whether in government or corporate governance, finance, technology, health or the media – it is ubiquitous today, and there is hardly a current debate that does not call for more transparency. But what does this word actually stand for and what are the consequences for the life of individuals? Can knowledge from the arts, and its play of visibility and invisibility, tell us something about the paradoxical logics of transparency and mediation? This Obscure Thing Called Transparency gathers contributions by international experts who critically assess the promises and perils of transparency today.

The essays published here are revised versions of papers presented in 2008 and 2009 in the section devoted to Israel and the Production and Reception of Authoritative Books in the Persian and Hellenistic Period at the annual meeting of the European Association of Biblical Studies. The various contributors explore what was authoritative for Chronicles and what authoritative might have meant for the Chronicler from different perspectives. The volume includes chapters by Yairah Amit, Joseph Blenkinsopp, David J. Chalcraft, Philip R. Davies, David A. Glatt-Gilad, Louis Jonker, Mark Leuchter, Ingeborg Löwisch, Lynette Mitchell, Steven J. Schweitzer, Amber K. Warhurst, and the two editors, Diana V. Edelman, and Ehud Ben Zvi. This volume will be of particular interest to scholars and students of biblical literature and all who are interested in ancient Israelite historiography, in Chronicles, in the intellectual history of Israel in the Persian/early Hellenistic period, and in issues of biblical proto-canonicity, authority, and criticism.

This unique book offers insight into a new social science concept, authoritative communities. Unlike any other volume, Kline’s work facilitates the continuing dialogue about the needs of children and teens and society’s responsibility to nurture its greatest human capital. The report that led to the development of this volume, Hardwired to Connect, identified a need in today’s children and youth and communicated a solution that society believes is valid.