Pioneering architectural projects are currently originating in the East Asian countries of China, Japan, the Republic of Korea, and Taiwan. Not only do local conditions and traditions play a role that is just as important as knowledge of global media technologies, social awareness, ecological strategies, as well as artistic practices are also being combined in a new way. This architecture is less interested in iconic objects and spectacular forms, but rather more in a structural rearrangement of society in its spatial dimensions. A social aesthetic is being ushered in whose strategies are more mindful of the world s diminishing resources. The volume introduces more than sixty architectural projects in East Asia. It includes essays on the various relationship between architecture and everyday spatial practice in the individual countries, and is supplemented by graphic and photographic mapping of uniquely Asian phenomena.

ONE OF THE YEAR'S BEST BOOKS The Wall Street Journal • Slate • Kansas City Star • Flavorwire • Policy Mic • Buzzfeed “Necessary Errors is a very good novel, an enviably good one, and to read it is to relive all the anxieties and illusions and grand projects of one’s own youth.”—James Wood, The New Yorker The exquisite debut novel by the author of Overthrow that brilliantly captures the lives and romances of young expatriates in newly democratic Prague It’s October 1990. Jacob Putnam is young and full of ideas. He’s arrived a year too late to witness Czechoslovakia’s revolution, but he still hopes to find its spirit, somehow. He discovers a country at a crossroads between communism and capitalism, and a picturesque city overflowing with a vibrant, searching sense of possibility. As the men and women Jacob meets begin to fall in love with one another, no one turns out to be quite the same as the idea Jacob has of them—including Jacob himself. Necessary Errors is the long-awaited first novel from literary critic and journalist Caleb Crain. Shimmering and expansive, Crain’s prose richly captures the turbulent feelings and discoveries of youth as it stretches toward adulthood—the chance encounters that grow into lasting, unforgettable experiences and the surprises of our first ventures into a foreign world—and the treasure of living in Prague during an era of historic change.

"A Russian emigre who is a sexual adventurer, as well as a former criminal and drug addict, obtains a job as a butler and shares his harsh observations on wealthy New Yorkers" --

The story of two journalists whose entanglement in a French philosopher's death becomes a surreal journey into global conspiracy.

Initially regarded as a cult figure with a strong following amongst sci-fi and horror film fans, Canadian filmmaker David Cronenberg emerged as a major and commercially viable film director with mainstream hits such as A History of Violence (2005) and Eastern Promises (2007). With his unique ability to present imagery that is both disturbing and provocative, Cronenberg creates striking films, noteworthy not just for their cinematic beauty but also for the philosophical questions they raise. The Philosophy of David Cronenberg examines Cronenberg's body of work, from his breakthrough Scanners (1981) through his most recognizable films such as The Fly (1986) and more recent works. Editor Simon Riches and a collaboration of scholars introduce the filmmaker's horrific storylines and psychologically salient themes that reveal his pioneering use of the concept of "body horror," as well as his continued aim to satirize the modern misuse of science and technology. The Philosophy of David Cronenberg also explores the mutation of self, authenticity and the human mind, as well as language and worldviews. While Cronenberg's films have moved from small-market cult classics to mainstream successes, his intriguing visions of humanity and the self endure.

Twenty years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, The Promises of the Past examines the former opposition between Eastern and Western Europe by reinterpreting the history of the Communist Bloc countries through art. Challenging the idea that art history is somehow linear and continuous, this transnational and multigenerational project features works by more than 50 artists, many of them from Central and Eastern Europe, including: Marina Abramovic, Yael Bartana, Dimitrije Basicevic (Mangelos), Tacita Dean, Liam Gillick, Sanja Ivekovic, Július Koller, Jirí Kovanda, Edward Krasinski, David Maljkovic, Marjetica Potrc and Monika Sosnowska. Accompanying an exhibition at the Centre Pompidou in Paris, this publication features previously unpublished archival documentation, as well as historic essays by Slavoj Zizek, Igor Zabel and others.

This classic study of the American working class, originally published in 1973, is now back in print with a new introduction and epilogue by the author. An innovative blend of first-person experience and original scholarship, Aronowitz traces the historical development of the American working class from post-Civil War times and shows why radical movements have failed to overcome the forces that tend to divde groups of workers from one another. The rise of labor unions is analyzed, as well as their decline as a force for social change. Aronowitz’s new introduction situates the book in the context of developments in current scholarship and the epilogue discusses the effects of recent economic and political changes in the American labor movement.