In Search of Lost Futures asks how imaginations might be activated through practices of autoethnography, multimodality, and deep interdisciplinarity—each of which has the power to break down methodological silos, cultivate novel research sensibilities, and inspire researchers to question what is known about ethnographic process, representation, reflexivity, audience, and intervention within and beyond the academy. By blurring the boundaries between the past, present, and future; between absence and presence; between the possible and the impossible; and between fantasy and reality, In Search of Lost Futures pushes the boundaries of ethnographic engagement. It reveals how researchers on the cutting edge of the discipline are studying absence and grief and employing street performance, museum exhibit, anticipation, or simulated reality to research and intervene in the possible, the impossible, and the uncertain.

'Lost Futures' casts a detailed look at the wide range of buildings constructed in Britain between 1945 and 1979. Although their bold architectural aspirations reflected the forward-looking social ethos of the postwar era, many of these structures have since been either demolished or altered beyond recognition. In this volume, photographs taken at the time of the buildings' completion are accompanied by expert research examining their design and creation, the ideals they embodied and the reasons for their eventual destruction. 'Lost Futures' covers many buildings, from housing to factories, commercial spaces to power stations, and presents the work of both iconic and lesser-known architects. The author charts the complex reasons that led to the loss of these postwar projects' ambitious futures, and assesses whether some might one day be restored. AUTHOR: British architecture historian and curator Owen Hopkins is the author of several popular architecture books, including 'Reading Architecture: A Visual Lexicon', 'Architectural Styles: A Visual Guide' and 'Mavericks: Breaking the Mould of British Architecture'. His scholarly interests have ranged from Nicholas Hawksmoor's Baroque grandeur to Alison and Peter Smithson's Brutalism, taking in everything in between.

Shortlisted for the Arthur C. Clarke Award and the James Tiptree Jr. Award, this literary science-fiction novel by award-winning author Lisa Tuttle is 'a brilliant exploration of the relationship between quantum mechanics, human choice and alternate worlds' The Oxford Times Sometimes, those roads not taken can come back and haunt you. Clare's unhappy life hasn't gone the way she expected. At the age of thirty-three she's still an accountant, still unmarried and ridden with guilt over the tragic death of her brother. Her obsession with roads not taken drives her into a nervous breakdown, until she comes to realise that she can leave her unsatisfactory "real life" behind and enter alternate realities where things worked out better. But when she explores these other existences, she discovers they are far from the perfect lives she was imagining, and wherever she turns, another Clare usurps her own existence, until she is forced into the ultimate confrontation with madness - and truth . . .

This collection of writings by Mark Fisher, author of the acclaimed Capitalist Realism, argues that we are haunted by futures that failed to happen. Fisher searches for the traces of these lost futures in the work of David Peace, John Le Carré, Christopher Nolan, Joy Division, Burial and many others.

A timely and compelling argument for a revitalized and restructured global politics The future seems increasingly uncertain. Our democracies are failing to prevent financial crises, energy shortages, climate change, and war--so how can we look to the future with confidence? Jan Zielonka argues that it is democracy's shortsightedness that makes politics stumble in our increasingly connected world. With our governments still confined to the borders of nation-states, defending the short-term interests of present-day voters, the consequences for future generations are dire. In this incisive account, Zielonka makes a bold case for a new politics of time and space. He considers how democracy should adjust to the world of high speed, and he questions our everyday experiences as citizens: Is it acceptable for authorities and firms to monitor our whereabouts? Why is the distribution of time and space so unequal? And, most crucially, can we construct a new system of governance that will allow us to plan ahead with certainty?

In the late 1960s the world was faced with impending disaster: the height of the Cold War, the end of oil, and the decline of great cities throughout the world. Out of this crisis came a new generation of thinkers, designers and engineers who hoped to build a better future, influenced by visions of geodesic domes, walking cities, and a meaningful connection with nature. In this brilliant work of cultural history, architect Douglas Murphy traces the lost archeology of the present-day through the works of thinkers and designers such as Buckminster Fuller, the ecological pioneer Stewart Brand, the Archigram architects who envisioned the Plug-In City in the '60s, as well as co-operatives in Vienna, communes in the Californian desert, and protesters on the streets of Paris. In this mind-bending account of the last avant garde, we see not just the source of our current problems but also some powerful alternative futures.

A rollicking exploration of the history and future of our favorite foods When we humans love foods, we love them a lot. In fact, we have often eaten them into extinction, whether it is the megafauna of the Paleolithic world or the passenger pigeon of the last century. In Lost Feast, food expert Lenore Newman sets out to look at the history of the foods we have loved to death and what that means for the culinary paths we choose for the future. Whether it’s chasing down the luscious butter of local Icelandic cattle or looking at the impacts of modern industrialized agriculture on the range of food varieties we can put in our shopping carts, Newman’s bright, intelligent gaze finds insight and humor at every turn. Bracketing the chapters that look at the history of our relationship to specific foods, Lenore enlists her ecologist friend and fellow cook, Dan, in a series of “extinction dinners” designed to recreate meals of the past or to illustrate how we might be eating in the future. Part culinary romp, part environmental wake-up call, Lost Feast makes a critical contribution to our understanding of food security today. You will never look at what’s on your plate in quite the same way again.