Shakespeare in the Present is a stunning collection of essays by Terence Hawkes, which engage with, explain, and explore 'presentism'. Presentism is a critical manoeuvre which uses relevant aspects of the contemporary as a crucial trigger for its investigations. It deliberately begins with the material present and lets that set the interrogative agenda. This book suggests ways in which its principles may be applied to aspects of Shakespeare's plays.
Quirky Quotations: More Than 500 Fascinating, Quotable Comments and the Stories Behind Them
Most reference questions dealing with quotations are either of the who-said-what or of the what-can-I-use-in-my-speech genre. Although this volume might be used in these ways, the lack of an index makes it more of a browsing volume. The author ( The Cat's Pajamas: A Fabulous Fictionary of Familiar Phrases , Fawcett: Ballantine, 1988; Curious Customs: The Stories Behind 296 Popular American Rituals , Harmony: Crown, 1988) deliberately omits the most quoted (Shakespeare, Wilde, Shaw, Mencken, Ecclesiastes) to concentrate on the less well known or off the wall.
Highlighting the key events, ideas, and individuals that have shaped modern Europe, this fresh and lively book provides a succinct history of the continent from the Enlightenment to the present. Drawing on the enduring theme of revolution, David S. Mason explores the causes and consequences of revolution: political, economic, and scientific; the development of human rights; and issues of European identity and integration. He deliberately avoids a detailed chronology of every country and time period by emphasizing the most crucial events in shaping contemporary Europe.
When not one but three different extremely rare diseases kill several patients at a New York hospital, forensic pathologist Jack Stapleton suspects it's more than just coincidence. He thinks there's a connection between the appearance of the mysterious microbes responsible for the deaths and the HMO that owns the hospital--the same HMO that once destroyed his flourishing medical practice. Is Americare deliberately killing off its sickest patients--those who cost the most money to treat? Or is there an even more sinister motive behind the strange goings-on at Manhattan General, not to mention the attempts on Jack's life?
An evil, living creature called The Sponge appears to be an ordinary kitchen sponge, but thrives on human bad luck, which it deliberately causes and then sucks up while refusing to do the dishes.
