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  "Harry – yer a wizard" -...

  Marion Gymnich, Hanne Birk,...

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  J. K. Rowling's "Harry Potter" series (1997–2007) has turned into a global phenomenon and her Potterverse is still expanding. The contributions in this volume provide a range of inter- and transdisciplinary approaches to various dimensions of this multifacetted universe. The introductory article focuses on different forms of world building in the novels, the translations, the film series and the fandom. Part I examines various potential sources for Rowling's series in folklore, the Arthurian legend and Gothic literature. Further articles focus on parallels between the "Harry Potter" series and Celtic Druidism, the impact Victorian notions of gender roles have had on the representation of the Gaunt family, the reception of (medieval and Early Modern) history in the series and the influence of Christian concepts on the world view expressed in the novels. Part II focuses on a range of prominent political and social themes in the series, including conspiracy, persecution and terror, racism as well as the role of economic, social and cultural capital. Other articles explore the concept of a Magical Criminal Law and its consequences as well as the significance of secrets and forbidden places. The articles in Part III go beyond the novels by taking the stage play "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child", the movie "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them", Pottermore and fan fiction into account. Main topics in this part include trauma theory/PTSD, queerbaiting, a 'post'-colonial analysis of the representation of Native Americans in Rowling's "History of Magic in North America" and the depiction of violence, incest and rape in fan fictions. The concluding article highlights the diversification of the Potterverse and analyses strategies informing its ongoing expansion.

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  Get People to Do What You Want -...

  Gregory Hartley, Maryann Karinch

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  A former Army interrogator shares his secrets for getting exactly what you want out of anyone, anytime.In business, school, romance, or your neighborhood, it is valuable to know what attracts people, what repels them, and what makes them tick. Choosing the right approach will enable you to influence people to do what you want in professional and social situations. The authors include updated case studies—some pulled from the headlines—of how this technique has worked to create both good news and bad news. Most importantly and all new, they tell you how to identify and guard against manipulation so you remain in control of your choices and options.In Get People to Do What You Want, you’ll learn about:One-on-one interactionGroup dynamicsThe projection of leadershipInstinctual trust and mistrust of othersGet People to Do What You Want is the perfect, modern complement to Dale Carnegie’s 1937 classic work on the topic, How to Win Friends and Influence People. Think of these books as the Old and New Testaments of persuasion.

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  Homo Deus - A Brief History of...

  Yuval Noah Harari

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  Official U.S. edition with full color illustrations throughout. 
  NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER  
  Yuval Noah Harari, author of the critically-acclaimed New York Times bestseller and international phenomenon Sapiens, returns with an equally original, compelling, and provocative book, turning his focus toward humanity’s future, and our quest to upgrade humans into gods. 
  Over the past century humankind has managed to do the impossible and rein in famine, plague, and war. This may seem hard to accept, but, as Harari explains in his trademark style—thorough, yet riveting—famine, plague and war have been transformed from incomprehensible and uncontrollable forces of nature into manageable challenges. For the first time ever, more people die from eating too much than from eating too little; more people die from old age than from infectious diseases; and more people commit suicide than are killed by soldiers, terrorists and criminals put together. The average American is a thousand times more likely to die from binging at McDonalds than from being blown up by Al Qaeda. 
  What then will replace famine, plague, and war at the top of the human agenda? As the self-made gods of planet earth, what destinies will we set ourselves, and which quests will we undertake? Homo Deus explores the projects, dreams and nightmares that will shape the twenty-first century—from overcoming death to creating artificial life. It asks the fundamental questions: Where do we go from here? And how will we protect this fragile world from our own destructive powers? This is the next stage of evolution. This is Homo Deus. 
  With the same insight and clarity that made Sapiens an international hit and a New York Times bestseller, Harari maps out our future.

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  The Boy Who Loved the Moon

  Thérèse Corfiatis

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  The Boy Who Loved the Moon is an exploration of a mother’s love. It is a love that transcends what most experience, because the respites from reality are so fleeting. Thérèse Corfiatis’s narrative poem, though acting as a chronicle of her son’s journey from birth, is in reality a mother’s travail. This is a defining journey where the issues and values that confront a parent with a child who is different shape the person and in doing so measure the dimensions of love. The simplicity of this narrative in verse belies the emotional anguish that underlies the journey. When reading these poems, the heart bleeds a little but is quickly healed because the author gives you permission to experience her love.

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  No Go World - How Fear Is...

  Ruben Andersson

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  War-torn deserts, jihadist killings, trucks weighted down with contraband and migrants—from the Afghan-Pakistan borderlands to the Sahara, images of danger depict a new world disorder on the global margins. With vivid detail, Ruben Andersson traverses this terrain to provide a startling new understanding of what is happening in remote “danger zones.” Instead of buying into apocalyptic visions, Andersson takes aim at how Western states and international organizations conduct military, aid, and border interventions in a dangerously myopic fashion, further disconnecting the world’s rich and poor. Using drones, proxy forces, border reinforcement, and outsourced aid, risk-obsessed powers are helping to remap the world into zones of insecurity and danger. The result is a vision of chaos crashing into fortified borders, with national and global politics riven by fear. Andersson contends that we must reconnect and snap out of this dangerous spiral, which affects us whether we live in Texas or Timbuktu. Only by developing a new cartography of hope can we move beyond the political geography of fear that haunts us.

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  Essays and Reviews - 1959–2002

  Bernard Williams

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  Bernard Williams was one of the most important philosophers of the past fifty years, but he was also a distinguished critic and essayist with an elegant style and a rare ability to communicate complex ideas to a wide public. This is the first collection of Williams's popular essays and reviews. Williams writes about a broad range of subjects, from philosophy to science, the humanities, economics, feminism, and pornography. 
  Included are reviews of major books such as John Rawls’s Theory of Justice, Richard Rorty’s Consequences of Pragmatism, and Martha Nussbaum’s Therapy of Desire. But many of these essays extend beyond philosophy, providing an intellectual tour through the past half century, from C. S. Lewis to Noam Chomsky. No matter the subject, readers see a first-class mind grappling with landmark books in "real time," before critical consensus had formed and ossified.

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