Mcfarland: 2486 books
Through an Unlocked Door
In Walks Murder
Language: English
Release Date: January 25, 2018
“We never lock our doors.” This is an often-heard remark expressing a commonplace American attitude or belief that, despite whatever danger might prevail in public spaces, life inside our own homes remains (or at least should remain) safe, carefree, normal. This book covers 13 high-profile...
The Book of Gladness / Le Livre de Leesce
A 14th Century Defense of Women, in English and French, by Jehan Le Fevre
Language: English
Release Date: October 11, 2013
The Book of Gladness (ca. 1380) contains one of the most powerful, original, and influential pro-feminine voices of the late Middle Ages. In a spirited riposte to the misogynist tradition, Le Fèvre (with the help of Gladness, his lady-persona) boldly reinterprets the Bible while questioning ancient...
Genre-Busting Dark Comedies of the 1970s
Twelve American Films
Language: English
Release Date: March 9, 2016
This examination of dark comedies of the 1970s focuses on films which concealed black humor behind a misleading genre label. All That Jazz (1979) is a musical...about death—hardly Fred and Ginger territory. This masking goes beyond misnomer to a breaking of formula that director Robert Altman called...
The Quick, the Dead and the Revived
The Many Lives of the Western Film
Language: English
Release Date: June 22, 2016
For well more than a century, Western films have embodied the United States’ most fundamental doctrine—expansionism—and depicted, in a uniquely American way, the archetypal battle between good and evil. Westerns also depict a country defined and re-defined by complex crises. World War II transformed...
by Nathan Vernon Madison
Language: English
Release Date: February 18, 2013
Language: English
Release Date: February 18, 2013
In this thorough history, the author demonstrates, via the popular literature (primarily pulp magazines and comic books) of the 1920s to about 1960, that the stories therein drew their definitions of heroism and villainy from an overarching, nativist fear of outsiders that had existed before World...
by David Persuitte
Language: English
Release Date: July 27, 2010
Language: English
Release Date: July 27, 2010
Just as a growing interest in millennialism at the turn of this century has rejuvenated religious debate and questions concerning the fate of the world, so did Mormonism develop from millennial enthusiasm early in the nineteenth century. Joseph Smith, the founder of Mormonism, and a provocative, even...
The Victorian Bookshelf
An Introduction to 61 Essential Novels
Language: English
Release Date: April 27, 2016
This introductory guide to the canon of Victorian literature covers 61 novels by authors from Jane Austen to Emile Zola. Brief critical essays describe what each book is about and argue for its cultural, historical and literary importance. Literary canons remain a subject of debate but critics, readers...
Talking Animals in Children's Fiction
A Critical Study
Language: English
Release Date: March 7, 2015
Talking-animal tales have conveyed anticruelty messages since the 18th-century beginnings of children’s literature. Yet only in the modern period have animal characters become true subjects rather than objects of human neglect or benevolence. Modern fantasies reflect the shift from animal welfare...
Chivalry in Westeros
The Knightly Code of A Song of Ice and Fire
Language: English
Release Date: February 20, 2018
George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire has sparked a renewed interest in things medieval. The pseudo-historical world of Westeros delights casual fans while offering a rich new perspective for medievalists and scholars. This study explores how Martin crafts a chivalric code that intersects...
Corruption and American Cities
Essays and Case Studies in Ethical Accountability
Language: English
Release Date: September 2, 2016
Corruption is a chronic public concern affecting America’s cities. Greed, ethical lapses and lack of accountability have drained untold millions in tax dollars. Corrupt practices range from embezzlement, graft, bribery, kickbacks, extortion, nepotism and patronage to the misuse of funds, vehicles,...
Thomas Abthorpe Cooper
Father of the American Stage, 1775-1849
Language: English
Release Date: March 19, 2015
This is the biography of Thomas Abthorpe Cooper, the first star of the American stage. Cooper was the chief transitional figure between the British and American stage and contributed greatly to the development of American theatre. For the 30 years after 1797, Cooper performed in the major cities and...
Before Salem
Witch Hunting in the Connecticut River Valley, 1647-1663
Language: English
Release Date: May 15, 2017
Decades before the Salem Witch trials, 11 people were hanged as witches in the Connecticut River Valley. The advent of witch hunting in New England was directly influenced by the English Civil War and the witch trials in England led by Matthew Hopkins, who pioneered “techniques” for examining...
by Paul Kane
Language: English
Release Date: May 7, 2015
Language: English
Release Date: May 7, 2015
Best-selling horror novelist Clive Barker’s 1987 film Hellraiser has become an undisputed horror classic, spawning a movie franchise that to date includes eight films. Exploring not only the cinematic interpretations of the Hellraiser mythos but also its intrusion into other artistic and cultural...
by Yuwu Song
Language: English
Release Date: January 10, 2014
Language: English
Release Date: January 10, 2014
This biographical dictionary is an indispensable research tool for information about the prominent persons of the past seven decades in China. The book documents nearly 600 Chinese individuals who contributed, for better or worse, to the development of Chinese life and culture since the founding of...