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As an artist, David Bowie is widely considered a ""chameleon,"" shedding one persona to create a new one and thus staying popular, relevant and compelling. In reality, Bowie is able to work with the resources around him to create something new, causing many to see him as a sort of lone artist rather than a collaborator in the creation of his own celebrity. Since mid-career, Bowie has presented himself as a figure in darkness, progressively more hidden. He requires an audience for his continued...

They say everyone today wants to be a celebrity. Certainly, we're all happy to watch them. From reality television and talent shows to tabloid splashes and gossip magazines, the road to modern fame is littered with the hopeful, the misguided, and, occasionally, the downright cynical. It's often a tale of rags to riches and then back to rags again. So why can't we stop looking? And who exactly buys the T-shirt, wears the perfume, visits the salon? In this witty and insightful tour of the underbe...

Wissenschaftliche und bildungspolitische Diskurse sind seit geraumer Zeit durch Gegensätzlichkeiten gekennzeichnet, die sich im Spannungsfeld einer zunehmenden Standardisierung und Destandardisierung bewegen. Diese, insbesondere die Bildungssysteme und -institutionen kennzeichnenden Dynamiken sind eingebettet in eine zunehmende Pluralisierung individueller Bildungsbiographien. Der vorliegende Sammelband fragt nach den Auswirkungen dieser Prozesse auf die Reproduktion und Transformation sozialer...

Science is a defining feature of the modern world, and popular science is where most of us make sense of that fact. Understanding Popular Science provides a framework to help understand the development of popular science and current debates about it. In a lively and accessible style, Peter Broks shows how popular science has been invented, redefined and fought over. From early-nineteenth century radical science to twenty-first century government initiatives, he examines popular science as an are...

In November 2007, Gotham Books unleashed The Truth about Chuck Norris upon the world and changed publishing forever. Containing 400 farcical facts about pop culture icon Chuck Norris, the book burned through thirteen printings, roundhouse kicked the New York Times bestseller list, and left readers delighted (and a little bit terrified).... Now Ian Spector has returned to his voluminous vault to bring readers 200 new Chuck Norris facts alongside 200 facts about his longtime antagonist Mr. T, in...

The whole world is talking about globalisation and there are so many versions of it that one might as well not talk about it at all. The word has permeated all areas of the public sphere and can have negative or positive connotations, depending on the context of relevant discourse. In education, globalisation is associated with mobility of staff and students, with internationalization of degrees, course content, research, and with global career opportunities for university graduates. High number...

Popular media has become a common means by which students understand both the present and the past. Consequently, more teachers are using various forms of popular culture as pedagogical tools in the history classroom. Among the many materials available to teachers in the digital age are public-domain films produced throughout the twentieth century. These include studio-made newsreels, government-produced war propaganda, corporate-sponsored cartoons, and public health shorts that show teens every...

Near the end of his life, Confederate soldier Berry Benson wrote a passage that many reenactors now consider the clearest evocation of what they do: Who knows but again the old flags, ragged and torn, snapping in the wind, may face each other and flutter, pursuing and pursued, while the cries of victory fill a summer day? And after the battle, then the slain and wounded will arise and all will meet together under the two flags, all sound and well, and there will be talking and laughter and cheer...

Islam in the Post-Secular Society: Religion, Secularity and the Antagonism of Recalcitrant Faith critically examines the unique challenges facing Muslims in Europe and North America. From the philosophical perspective of the Frankfurt School's Critical Theory, this book attempts not only to diagnose the current problems stemming from a marginalization of Islam in the secular West, but also to offer a proposal for a Habermasian discourse between the religious and the secular. By highlighting hi...

Across fiction, journalism, ethnography, and history, William T. Vollmann's oeuvre-which includes a "prostitution trilogy," a septology (Seven Dreams) about encounters between first North Americans and European colonists, and a more than three-thousand-page philosophical treatise on violence-is ambitious as it is dazzling. Conversations with William T. Vollmann collects twenty-nine interviews, from early press coverage in Britain where his career first took flight, to in-depth visits to his writ...

This book bridges the gap between risk assessment and fire safety engineering like few other resources. As all required knowledge for Probability and Statistics for Fire Engineering is included in the preliminary chapters, the book is suitable for teaching Fire Engineering components in a wide range of engineering courses for senior graduates and for postgraduate students of Fire Engineering. It will also serve as a comprehensive reference for professionals. This book describes the theory and th...

The "CSI Effect" is an oft-discussed phenomenon when it comes to juries and the expectations of students entering crime scene investigation or the forensic disciplines. Forensic Awareness by Offenders in Cases of Sexual Homicide explores whether or not this so-called effect translates to offenders and what strategies they might employ to avoid being caught. About the Forensic Studies for Criminal Justice Series: The Forensic Studies for Criminal Justice series consists of short-format content...

This book defines the key ideas, scholarly debates, and research activities that have contributed to the formation of the international and interdisciplinary field of Metal Studies. Drawing on insights from a wide range of disciplines including popular music, cultural studies, sociology, anthropology, philosophy, and ethics, this volume offers new and innovative research on metal musicology, global/local scenes studies, fandom, gender and metal identity, metal media, and commerce. Offering a wid...