Written using Donn Pearce's own experiences of working on a Florida chain gang, Cool Hand Luke is the classic tale of a quiet hero who refused to conform. Forced into a chain gang after a controversial career in the army, Lucas Jackson's outsized feats range from bizarre acts of gluttony and gambling - betting a fellow inmate he can eat 50 eggs - to harrowing escape attempts. Luke's acts of defiance and his refusal to 'git his mind right' soon make him a legend among his fellow convicts - a symbol of hope in a cruel regime designed to break a man's body and spirit. The original rebel, Luke's anti-hero personality makes him one of the seminal non-conformists - born to lose, but full of dignity. Cool Hand Luke was turned into a film in 1967, the year after its initial publication, starring Paul Newman. The screenplay, scripted by Donn Pearce himself, was nominated for an Academy Award.

"An impressive novel . . . the most brutal and authentic account of a road gang that we have had."--New York Times Out of his experiences working on a chain gang, Donn Pearce created Cool Hand Luke, the larger-than-life war hero--Good Guy Number One--turned drunkard, vandal, and convict. A blasphemer and "pretty evil feller" who "could work the hardest, eat the mostest, and tell the biggest lies." Luke's outsized feats of gambling and gluttony--he bets Society Red, a college man from Boston, that he can eat fifty eggs--and his harrowing escapes and recaptures are recounted by Dragline, who followed Luke in his last, fatal escape attempt and who basks in Luke's reflected glory. To the convicts left behind on the chain gang, Luke has become the hope of freedom and defiance that they dare not act upon themselves. Luke's refusal to "git his mind right" and submit to the sadistic discipline of the Walking Boss becomes part of their mythology of survival.

This volume introduces the concept of Islamist extremist 'master narratives' and offers a method for identifying and analyzing them. Drawing on rhetorical and narrative theories, the chapters examine thirteen master narratives and explain how extremists use them to solidify their base, recruit new members, and motivate actions.

Situated at the disciplinary boundary between prehistory and history, this book presents a new synthesis of Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age Greece, from the rise and fall of Mycenaean civilization to the emergence of city-states in the Archaic period. These centuries saw the growth and decline of varied political systems and the development of networks across local, regional, and Mediterranean scales. As a groundbreaking study of landscape, interaction, and sociopolitical change, Societies in Transition in Early Greece systematically bridges the divide between the Mycenaean period and the Archaic Greek world to shed new light on an often-overlooked period of world history. “This book reconfigures our understanding of early Greece on a regional level, beyond Mycenaean 'palaces' and across temporal boundaries. Alex Knodell's sophisticated arguments enable a fresh reading of the emergence of early Greek polities, revealing the microregions that put to the test overarching 'Mediterranean' models. His detailed study makes a convincing return to a comparative framework, integrating a 'small world' network and its trajectory with the larger picture of ancient complex societies.” SARAH MORRIS, Steinmetz Professor of Classical Archaeology and Material Culture, University of California, Los Angeles “A comprehensive, thoughtful treatment of the time period before the crystallization of the ancient Greek city states.” WILLIAM A. PARKINSON, Curator and Professor, The Field Museum and University of Illinois at Chicago “An important and must-read account. The strength of this book lies in its close analysis of the important different regional characteristics and evolutionary trajectories of Greece as it transforms into the Archaic and, later, the Classical world.” DAVID B. SMALL, author Ancient Greece: Social Structure and Evolution.

The book explores what we know about eighth-century Judah from multiple angles, including a survey of what we know about Judah's neighbors, the land and its cities, daily life and material culture, religious beliefs and practices, and early forms of what are now biblical texts.