Award-winning photographer Steve Mattheis and biologist Katherine Gura invite you to enter the domain of the Great Gray Owl. With sections devoted to the four seasons, this book provides a thorough natural history of one of the most enigmatic raptors in North America. Mattheis' striking photographs span the gamut from whimsical to artistic to scientific, while Gura's in-depth knowledge of this species comes to the forefront in her accessible narrative. Phantom of the North is a visual treat and compelling read for bird-lovers and anyone interested in wildlife and natural history.

At a time when Chinese policy makers appear to be rethinking China's historically close alliance relationship with North Korea, this volume gathers a diverse collection of original essays by some of China's leading experts on North Korea and China's North Korea policy.

Viewed from afar, North Korea may appear bizarre, or positively irrational. But as Nicholas Eberstadt demonstrates in this meticulously researched volume, there is a grim coherence to North Korea's political economy, and a ruthless logic undergirding it--one that unreservedly subordinates economic welfare to augmentation of political power. Thus, paradoxically, even as official policies and practices consign the DPRK economy to a perilous realm between crisis and catastrophe, the country's leadership maintains unchallenged domestic control and has actually managed to increase its international influence.Through painstaking collection of hard-to-uncover data and careful analysis, Eberstadt provides a quantitative tableau of North Korea's terrible failure in its economic race against South Korea; its stubborn adherence to policies all but guaranteed to stifle growth and undermine economic performance; and the longstanding official effort to ignore, or mitigate, pressures for economic reform.Eberstadt is skeptical of optimistic accounts from South Korea and elsewhere suggesting that the North Korean leadership is interested in resolving the current nuclear impasse, and getting on with the business of reform and development. So long as Pyongyang's rulers entertain the ambition of reunifying the Korean peninsula on its own terms, Eberstadt argues, economic reforms worthy of the name will be subversive of state authority--and vigilantly resisted by Pyongyang's rulers. This authoritative volume has received widespread attention from Asian specialists, well as those concerned with nuclear proliferation and world peace, and international relations professionals in general.

All life forms on earth are complementary to each other; the existence and survival of one depend on the existence of another, and vice versa. However, no life forms are more dependent on others than human beings. Humans’ very survival is conditioned by the existence of the natural environment and the living things within it. One aspect of this interaction is the central and inescapable role played by human culture in defining the human-nature relationship. This book emphasises that environmental conservation is a matter of moral and cultural ethics. It stresses the fact that existing environmental conservation methods need to accommodate traditional environmental knowledge and practices of different indigenous cultures in order to re-build and restore the bond between humans and nature.

CHAPTER 1: Conventional Planned Economy 1. Framework of a Planned Economy 2. Taean Work System & Unified and Detailed Planning 3. System for Distribution of Food Rations and Other Necessities CHAPTER 2: Planned Economy after the Economic Crisis 1. Contraction and Weakening of the Planned Economy 2. Generalization of Direct Control by the Supreme Leader 3. Collapse of the Ration Distribution System CHAPTER 3: Development of North Korea’s Market ization 1. Conceptual Framework 2. Economic Crisis of the 1990s and the Arduous March 3. After the July 1 Economic Management Improvement Measures 4. Since the Latter Half of the 2000s: Between Restriction and Tolerance of Markets CHAPTER 4: Development, Status, and Structure of North Korea’s Marketization 1. Foreign Dependency of Marketization 2. Rise of Monopolies and Oligopolies & Wealth Disparity due to Collusion Between Government and Businesses 3. Prolonged Marketization and Its Establishment 4. Evaluation of Marketization CHAPTER 5: Characteristics of North Korea’s Dual Economic Structure 1. Dual Economic Structure with Ambiguous Boundaries 2. Coexistence of the Planned and Market Economies 3. Supplementary and Conflicting Relations Between the Planned and Market Economies 4. The North Korean Government’s Dilemma CHAPTER 6: Future of North Korea’s Dual Economic Structure 1. Elements that Spread and Restrain Marketization in North Korea 2. Future Prospects for Marketization in North Korea

This book investigates how the emergence of the Arctic as a new geopolitical arena affects and reshapes the area known as the North Atlantic: Greenland, Iceland, the Faroe Islands and coastal Norway. The relationship between the center of the former Danish empire and its subordinates have rested on (varying degrees of) asymmetric power relations, that are intertwined with political as well as emotional bonds. With climate change a whole new reality is emerging in the Arctic and sub-Arctic areas. Power is moving north, and new connections and partnerships are being developed. As the North Atlantic countries share a history as being part of a Danish empire, some of the hierarchies and mindsets inherited from the past still affect the present. This calls for an in-depth understanding of the cultural history of the North Atlantic as well as current relations. What narratives make up the foundation for contemporary cooperation? How are historical relations and narratives being reinterpreted today? How do postcolonial relations affect decision-making concerning natural resources? How do North Atlantic communities envision the future? A team of historians, literary theorists, art historians, ethno - graphers and culture and communication scholars with profound insight into the histories, languages and cultures of the North Atlantic have collaborated on this study of the North Atlantic countries as an emerging new center in the North. Foundations that made this publication possible: Carlsberg Foundation