Pottery works

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Benjamin E. Schwartz

In Right of Boom, national security specialist Benjamin Schwartz looks at what could happen after a nuclear explosion takes place in the United States, the event that Presidents Obama and Bush, as well as would-be Presidents Mitt Romney and Hillary Clinton, have acknowledged as the greatest single national security threat we face. Hypothesizing an explosion in downtown Washington, D.C., Schwartz maps out the likely ramifications while going deep into history to explore the limited range of options available to a Commander in Chief. Drawing from his experience as an analyst at the Departments of Defense, State, and Energy, Schwartz offers a fully panoramic view of a terrifying reality.

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Dimitri Bogazianos

"In 2010, President Barack Obama signed a law repealing one of the most controversial policies in American criminal justice history: the one hundred to one sentencing disparity between crack cocaine and powder whereby someone convicted of "simply" possessing five grams of crack--the equivalent of a few sugar packets--had been required by law to serve no less than five years in prison. In this highly original work, Dimitri A. Bogazianos draws on various sources to examine the profound consequences of America's reliance on this punishment structure, tracing the rich cultural linkages between America's War on Drugs, and the creative contributions of those directly affected by its destructive effects. Focusing primarily on lyrics that emerged in 1990s New York rap, which critiqued the music industry for being corrupt, unjust, and criminal, Bogazianos shows how many rappers began drawing parallels between the "rap game" and the "crack game." He argues that the symbolism of crack in rap's stance towards its own commercialization represents a moral debate that is far bigger than hip hop culture, highlighting the degree to which crack cocaine--although a drug long in decline--has come to represent the entire paradoxical predicament of punishment in the U.S. today."--

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Roberto Longhi

This book tells the story of Italian Renaissance master Piero della Francesca (1411/13-1492) by focusing on four paintings he created over the span of his career. It also provides the first study of his small-scale devotional paintings, including the exquisite 'Saint Jerome and a Donor'. One of today's most prominent scholars narrates the painting's mysterious history and uncovers new insights gleaned during its recent study and restoration. The author explores the relationship between this painting and other works made by Piero for private devotion, including one of his last and most striking paintings, the magnificent 'Madonna di Senigallia'. New research describes the complex relationships between Piero and his patrons and other contemporaries. This book brims with revelatory details about Piero's work that will intrigue both casual readers and devoted fans of the artist, and will form a gateway to a larger analysis of Piero's overall body of work.0Exhibition: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA (13.1.-30.3.2014).

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Hanns Zischler

"Went to the movies. Wept. Boundless entertainment." So wrote Franz Kafka in one of his diaries, giving but one hint of his little-known passion for the cinema. Kafka aficionados have been left to speculate about which films moved Kafka and how those films might have influenced his writing. Here, the author draws on years of detective work to provide an account of Kafka's moviegoing life.