"Friendship, loss and the everyday populate Packer's canvases, full of disquieting detail." -Adrian Searle, The Guardian Through a uniquely textural style of oil painting that evokes the fluidity of watercolors, Jennifer Packer recasts classical genres in a fresh political and contemporary light while keeping them rooted in a deeply personal context. Combining observation, improvisation and memory, Packer's intimate portraits of friends and family members and flower paintings insist on the particularity of the Black lives she depicts. The title of this volume refers to an ecclesiastical description of the insatiable human quest for divine knowledge; with this in mind, Packer's work urges viewers to understand and appreciate the unique dimensions of Black lives beyond just the physical. Richly illustrated, this volume includes texts by fellow painters Dona Nelson and Lynette Yiadom-Boakye, professors Rizvana Bradley and Christina Sharpe, and an interview between the artist and Serpentine Artistic Director Hans Ulrich Obrist. American painter Jennifer Packer(born 1984) grew up in Philadelphia and received her MFA from Yale University in 2012. She was formerly the Artist-in-Residence at the Studio Museum in Harlem (2012-13) and a Visual Arts Fellow at the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, MA (2014-16). She currently works as an assistant professor of painting at the Rhode Island School of Design. Packer is represented by Sikkema Jenkins & Co in New York City, where the artist lives.

Painting "without color" has long held a fascination for artists. In this striking and original book, the authors explore how and why artists from the 15th century to the present have chosen to paint in black, white, and shades of gray. Sometimes artists used trompe l'oeil monochromatic effects to represent other media, such as sculpture, prints, or photography; others have consciously limited their palette as a means of re-focusing the viewer's attention, while contemporary artists such as Gerhard Richter and Bridget Riley have often found inspiration in pushing black and white to its limits, and in new directions. The authors trace the history of this art form, from the symbolism of sacred images in medieval church ritual - epitomized in Netherlandish painting from the 15th century onwards by Hans Memling and Jan van Eyck - to the modern era and the work of artists such as Josef Albers and Ellsworth Kelly.

The acclaimed debut short story collection that introduced the world to an arresting and unforgettable new voice in fiction, from multi-award winning author ZZ Packer Her impressive range and talent are abundantly evident: Packer dazzles with her command of language, surprising and delighting us with unexpected turns and indelible images, as she takes us into the lives of characters on the periphery, unsure of where they belong. We meet a Brownie troop of black girls who are confronted with a troop of white girls; a young man who goes with his father to the Million Man March and must decide where his allegiance lies; an international group of drifters in Japan, who are starving, unable to find work; a girl in a Baltimore ghetto who has dreams of the larger world she has seen only on the screens in the television store nearby, where the Lithuanian shopkeeper holds out hope for attaining his own American Dream. With penetrating insight, ZZ Packer helps us see the world with a clearer vision. Fresh, versatile, and captivating, Drinking Coffee Elsewhere is a striking and unforgettable collection, sure to stand out among the contemporary canon of fiction.

From one of America’s greatest non-fiction writers, an epic saga of the rise and fall of American power, from Vietnam to Afghanistan, told through the life of one man. **WINNER OF THE LOS ANGELES TIMES BIOGRAPHY PRIZE 2019** **FINALIST FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARDS 2020** Richard Holbrooke was one of the most legendary and complicated figures in recent American history. Brilliant, utterly self-absorbed, and possessed of almost inhuman energy and appetites, he was both admired and detested. From his days as a young adviser in Vietnam to his last efforts to end the war in Afghanistan, Holbrooke embodied the postwar American impulse to take the lead on the global stage. He was the force behind the Dayton Accords that ended the Balkan wars, America's greatest diplomatic achievement in the post-Cold War era. His power lay in an utter belief in himself and his idea of a muscular, generous foreign policy. But his sharp elbows and tireless self-promotion ensured that he never rose to the highest levels in government that he so desperately coveted. Holbrooke’s story is the story of the rise and fall of America during its era of supremacy: its strength, drive, and sense of possibility, as well as its penchant for overreach and heedless self-confidence. Drawing on Holbrooke’s diaries and papers, George Packer’s narrative is both intimate and epic in its revelatory portrait of this extraordinary and deeply flawed man, and the elite spheres of society and government he inhabited. A GUARDIAN, FINANCIAL TIMES, SPECTATOR BOOK OF THE YEAR

Sugar chains (glycans) are often attached to proteins and lipids and have multiple roles in the organization and function of all organisms. "Essentials of Glycobiology" describes their biogenesis and function and offers a useful gateway to the understanding of glycans.

Abdul Zaeef describes growing up in poverty in rural Kandahar province, which he fled for Pakistan after the Russian invasion of 1979. Zaeef joined the jihad in 1983, was seriously wounded in several encounters and met many leading figures of the resistance, including the current Taliban head, Mullah Mohammad Omar. Disgusted by the lawlessness that ensued after the Soviet withdrawal, Zaeef was one among the former mujahidin who were closely involved in the emergence of the Taliban, in 1994. He then details his Taliban career, including negotiations with Ahmed Shah Massoud and role as ambassador to Pakistan during 9/11. In early 2002 Zaeef was handed over to American forces in Islamabad and spent four and a half years in prison in Bagram and Guantanamo before being released without charge. My Life with the Taliban offers insights into the Pashtun village communities that are the Taliban's bedrock and helps to explain what drives men like Zaeef to take up arms against the foreigners who are foolish enough to invade his homeland.

Showcasing the work of an exciting group of contemporary artists, this book reflects the trends shaping art in the United States today.