Eavesdropping in the novel from Austen to Proust

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Rebecca N. Ferguson

All things must pass. In an understatement of historic proportions, quite a few things have passed since the end of the last millennium. Some of the history-making events include the election of George W. Bush, the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, and wars in Afghanistan and Iraq; spectacular images from probes in outer space, medical advances and debate, and many new scientific discoveries on Earth; a devastating earthquake in Iran and the deadly tsunami in Asia; the downfall of Enron and the comeback of Apple, not to mention the dot.com bubble burst and whatever happened to the budget surplus?. Whew! A new era has taken shape, and The Handy History Answer Book records it. A concise guide to all things historical, Handy History addresses people, times, and events in a wide-ranging and comprehensive manner, complemented by nearly 200 illustrations and, for those who like their history instant, a chronology of major events. Beginning with a section on historical eras, this popular reference source tracks history with obsessive zeal and tight editing. The Handy History Answer Book organizes information in thirteen specific subject sections ranging from politics to war to science to religion. It tackles exploration and settlement, technological advances, legal fireworks, financial and business events, social movements, natural and man-made disasters, medicine and disease, and art and culture. Along the way you’ll meet a cast of thousands, including Socrates (an early advocate of the question-and-answer format) and Plato, Elvis Presley, and Thomas Edison, four guys who’d be real fun together at a dinner party. The Handy History Answer Book is a fingertip, time-traveling guide through the pages of history.

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Christa Wolf

An East German writer, awaiting a call from the hospital where her brother is undergoing brain surgery, instead receives news of a massive nuclear accident at Chernobyl, one thousand miles away. In the space of a single day, in a potent, lyrical stream of thought, the narrator confronts both mortality and life and above all, the import of each moment lived-open, as Wolf reveals, to infinite analysis.

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Anna Marie Sandoval

"Weaving strands of Chicana and Mexicana subjectivities, Toward a Latina Feminism of the Americas explores political and theoretical agendas, particularly those that undermine the patriarchy, across a diverse range of Latina authors." "Anna Sandoval considers resistance to traditional cultural symbols and contemporary efforts to counteract negative representations of womanhood in literature and society." "Offering a new perspective on the oppositional nature of Latina writers, Sandoval emphasizes the ways in which national literatures have privileged male authors, whose viewpoints are generally distinct from that of women - a point of departure rarely acknowledged in postcolonial theory. Applying her observations to the disciplinary, historical, and spatial facets of literary production, Sandoval interrogates the boundaries of the Latina experience. This is a concise yet ambitious comparative approach to the historical and cultural connections (as well as disparities) found in Chicana and Mexicana literature."--Back cover.

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Karen Arms

Our environmental problems are huge, and they require careful attention and action. The twenty-first century will be a crucial time in human history, a time when we must find solutions that allow people on all parts of our planet to live in a clean, healthy environment and have the resources they need for a good life. - p. 5.