"Photographed across four years and four continents, 'The Canary and The Hammer' details our reverence for gold and its role in humanity's ruthless pursuit of progress. Through a mix of image, text and archival material, the third book by British artist Lisa Barnard provides insight into the troubled history of gold and the complex ways it intersects with the global economy. Gold is ubiquitous in modern life; the mineral is concealed at the heart of much of the technology we use and is, most fundamentally, a potent symbol of value, beauty, purity, greed and political power. The Canary and The Hammer strives to connect these disparate stories -- from the mania of the gold rush and the brutal world of modern mining, to the sexual politics of the industry and gold's often dark but indispensable role at the heart of high-tech industry. Prompted by the financial crisis of 2008 and its stark reminder of the global west's determination to accumulate wealth, Barnard sets out to question gold's continued status as economic barometer amidst new intangible forms of technological high--finance. By addressing this through photography, Barnard in turn raises the question of how her chosen medium can respond to such abstract events and concepts. The result is an ambitious project, one sketching a personal journey in which she ultimately tackles the complexity of material representation in these fragmented and troubling times."-- Publisher's website

"Considine's writing style goes onto any subject like a piece of contact paper on furniture, and with about as profound an effect. His biography of the Occidental Petroleum (""Oxy"") sultan--a self-made millionaire who engineered grain deals with Lenin, sold the Hearst art collection to the great unwashed in Gimbels, collected the finest herd of Black Angus Aberdeens in America, and finally turned his attention to oil at the age of fifty-nine--prudently masks all individuality with a thin film of unconvincing hagiography. Dr. Hammer (no relation to the baking-soda company) got waylaid by other interests on the way to a medical career; he was starting pencil factories in the USSR and collecting icons long before America recognized the Red government (or the Soviets recognized the value of their art heritage). He cornered the market on barrel staves just in time for the end of Prohibition, made forays into the grain alcohol, potato alcohol, and both bonded and blended bourbon markets, and found time for public-spirited gestures like buying Campobello to donate it to the U.S. and Canadian governments. Much is made here of Hammer's multimillion-dollar art collection and of his hobnobbings with the great. Not the slightest mention is made of a 1974 disagreement with the IRS about alleged overvaluation of art works Hammer used as charitable donations for tax purposes, or those other nasty allegations about channeling illegal contributions to Nixon's 1972 campaign through Governor Tim Babcock of Montana. The few legal squabbles Considine does mention are of course all due to the greed, malice, or underhandedness of others, and the disastrous slump in Oxy's stock since 1972 is blandly attributed to a tactless remark by the Secretary of Commerce pooh-poohing the huge fertilizer deal being negotiated between Oxy and the Russians. An instructive exercise in bowdlerization." --AbeBooks.com.

The bestselling American mystery writer of all time brings back his world-famous PI Mike Hammer for his biggest--and most dangerous--case. In the midst of a Manhattan snowstorm, Hammer halts the violent robbery of a pair of college sweethearts who have stumbled onto a remarkable archaeological find in the Valley of Elah: the perfectly preserved femur of what may have been the biblical giant Goliath. Hammer postpones his marriage to his faithful girl Friday, Velda, to fight a foe deadlier than the mobsters and KGB agents of his past--Islamic terrorists and Israeli extremists bent upon recovering the relic for their ownagendas. A week before his death, Mickey Spillane entrusted a substantial portion of this manuscript and extensive notes to his frequent collaborator, Max Allan Collins, to complete. The result is a thriller as classic as Spillane's ownI, the Jury, as compelling as Collins'sRoad to Perdition, and as contemporary asThe Da Vinci Code.

This collection launches the second part of a special two volume series of exciting stories taking place in the world of Jeff Lemire (Sweet Tooth, Moon Knight) and Dean Ormston’s (Neil Gaiman's The Sandman, Books of Magick: Life During Wartime) Eisner Award–winning Black Hammer superhero comics. Creators such as Kelly Thompson, Cullen Bunn, Cecil Castellucci, Scott Snyder and many more of comics’ top talents take on some of the greatest heroes and villains of Spiral City! This graphic novel collects Black Hammer: Visions #5-8 and also features a sketchbook section and pinups by Yuko Shimizu, Veronica Fish, Dan Brereton, Annie Wu, Brian Hurtt, and more! Featuring tales of the cult heroes and villains of Spiral City such as the Horseless Rider, Ms. Moonbeam, Cthu-Lou, and Skulldigger!

This publication is made up of a series of photographs taken inside the abandoned Conservative Party headquarters at 32 Smith Square in London. Award-winning artist Lisa Barnard was granted access to the abandoned site in 2009 and documented the building and found objects. This book features previously unseen photos of the interior documenting the dulled shades of corporate blue, stained carpets, peeling paintwork and discarded iconography of past alliances.

An instant #1 New York Times bestseller! Pacific Rim meets The Handmaid's Tale in this blend of Chinese history and mecha science fiction for YA readers. The boys of Huaxia dream of pairing up with girls to pilot Chrysalises, giant transforming robots that can battle the mecha aliens that lurk beyond the Great Wall. It doesn't matter that the girls often die from the mental strain. When 18-year-old Zetian offers herself up as a concubine-pilot, it's to assassinate the ace male pilot responsible for her sister's death. But she gets her vengeance in a way nobody expected—she kills him through the psychic link between pilots and emerges from the cockpit unscathed. She is labeled an Iron Widow, a much-feared and much-silenced kind of female pilot who can sacrifice boys to power up Chrysalises instead.​ To tame her unnerving yet invaluable mental strength, she is paired up with Li Shimin, the strongest and most controversial male pilot in Huaxia​. But now that Zetian has had a taste of power, she will not cower so easily. She will miss no opportunity to leverage their combined might and infamy to survive attempt after attempt on her life, until she can figure out exactly why the pilot system works in its misogynist way—and stop more girls from being sacrificed.

"[This book] comprises images sourced from the darkest recesses of the artist's extensive archive. The project continues Strand's decades-long engagement with the scrapbooks, magazines and photographs that she has drawn together since her mid-teens. In this iteration of Strand's ongoing research and reflection, women and girls are pictured holding, playing with and gazing fondly at snakes. Key to understanding the intention of the imagery is the inclusion of original accompanying text attached to the reverse, revealing stories of the bizarre and the erotic, alongside Myth and Credo."--Publisher's website.