David Foster Wallace’s Infinite Jest raised expectations of what a novel might do. As he understood fiction to aim at what it means to be human, so he hoped his work might relieve the loneliness of human suffering. In that light, The Fact of the Cage shows how Wallace’s masterpiece dramatizes the condition of encagement and how it comes to be met by "Abiding" and through inter-relational acts of speaking and hearing, touching, and facing. Revealing Wallace’s theology of a "boneless Christ," The Fact of the Cage wagers that reading such a novel as Infinite Jest makes available to readers the redemption glimpsed in its pages, that reading fiction has ethical and religious significance—in short, that reading Infinite Jest makes one better. As such, Plank’s work takes steps to defend the ethics of fiction, the vital relation between religion and literature, and why one just might read at all.

Keeping place: When a Misfit is kidnapped, Elspeth is compelled to join the growing rebellion against the Council, but while her extraordinary mental powers could topple the corrupt authoritarian regime she is more concerned about destroying the remaining Beforetime weapon machines.When Elspeth and others undertake a dangerous journey to rescue a powerful psychic and find an enormous book trove, the fate of the Obernewtyn colony hangs in the balance.

In the 1980s, a new type of central character emerged in contemporary Chinese films - angry and alienated youth. Filmmakers treated youth as a separate category and showed them in urban situations behaving in unconventional and socially rebellious ways. Young Rebels in Contemporary Chinese Cinema looks for evidence in films that exemplify this trend.

Why Women Rebel presents a global analysis of the extent to which women are engaged in armed, organized rebellions, and why they choose to join such rebellions. Henshaw has collected and analyzed data on women’s participation in over 70 post-Cold War rebel groups. The book provides a theoretical analysis drawing upon both mainstream literature in the social sciences and critical, feminist inquiry on women and political violence to offer a new gendered theory on why women rebel. The book reveals that women are active in over half of all rebel groups sampled and that, while the majority of rebel groups have women serving in support roles away from direct combat, approximately a third of these groups employ women in the conduct of armed attacks, and just over a quarter have women in a leadership capacity. Henshaw reaffirms the idea that women are more likely to be engaged in left-wing political organizations, but does suggest that more conservative or traditional movements may also successfully incorporate women by appealing to concerns about community rights. Addressing several gaps in the current literature on this topic, this book will be of interest to academics in the fields of political science, international relations, security studies, and gender and women’s studies.

Keen investigates why conflicts are so prevalent and so intractable, even when one side has much greater military resources. He asks who benefits from wars-- whether economically, politically, or psychologically-- and argues that in order to bring them successfully to an end we need to understand the complex vested interests on all sides.

During the civil rights era, Mississippi was caught in the hateful embrace of a white caste system that enforced segregation. Rather than troubling the Closed Society, state news media, on the whole, marched in lockstep or, worse, promoted the continued subservience of blacks. Surprisingly, challenges from Mississippi's college basketball courts questioned segregation's validity and its gentleman's agreement that prevented college teams in the Magnolia State from playing against integrated foes. Mississippi State University stood at the forefront of this battle for equality in the state with the school's successful college basketball program. From 1959 through 1963, the Maroons won four Southeastern Conference basketball championships and created a dynasty in the South's preeminent college athletic conference. However, in all four title-winning seasons, the press feverishly debated the merits of a National Collegiate Athletic Association appearance for the Maroons, culminating in Mississippi State University's participation in the integrated 1963 NCAA Championship. Full Court Press examines news articles, editorials, and columns published in Mississippi's newspapers during the eight-year existence of the gentleman's agreement that barred black participation, the challenges posed by Mississippi State University, and the subsequent integration of college basketball. While the majority of reporters opposed any effort to integrate, a segment of sports journalists, led by the charismatic Jimmie McDowell of the Jackson State Times, emerged as bold advocates for equality. Full Court Presshighlights an ideological metamorphosis within the press during the civil rights movement. The media, which had long minimized the struggle of blacks, slowly transformed into an industry that considered the plight of black Mississippians on equal footing with whites.

From Syrian civilians locked in iron cages to veterans joining peaceful indigenous water protectors at the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation, from Sri Lanka to Iraq and from Yemen to the United States, human beings have been used as shields for protection, coercion, or deterrence. Over the past decade, human shields have also appeared with increasing frequency in antinuclear struggles, civil and environmental protests, and even computer games. The phenomenon, however, is by no means a new one. Describing the use of human shields in key historical and contemporary moments across the globe, Neve Gordon and Nicola Perugini demonstrate how the increasing weaponization of human beings has made the position of civilians trapped in theaters of violence more precarious and their lives more expendable. They show how the law facilitates the use of lethal violence against vulnerable people while portraying it as humane, but they also reveal how people can and do use their own vulnerability to resist violence and denounce forms of dehumanization. Ultimately, Human Shields unsettles our common ethical assumptions about violence and the law and urges us to imagine entirely new forms of humane politics.

Epic fantasy romance from the New York Times bestselling author of the Elemental Witch quartet. Branna ta Cattia is the Raven, a high priestess who has come to Numia to defeat its tyrant. It's a journey made on the strength of her prophetic dreams, visions of ancient rituals, sacred spells, and of a handsome stranger destined to help her.

Gunpowder magic, steam-power, adventure, and intrigue... Carrtog, landless third son of Tsingallik and warrior trained in the use of powder magic, intends to make his way as a mercenary for hire. On his travels north, he and his personal guardsman stumble upon the royal christening of an expansion to Cragmor's burgeoning railway -- in this case a gift from the King as a sign of goodwill to the conquered north of old. When the gathered populace prove they are not there to be pacified, Carrtog isn't about to standby and do nothing. Cloaks sweep back, swords and pistols are drawn. Luckily for Carrtog, charging in might be his best chance of earning a name. But then the trap springs around the royal party and Carrtog realizes his eagerness may lead to his demise. Worse, if he manages to survive the ensorcelled contraption and rescue the King from the depths of the rebellious north, he might find that holding the King's favor could prove more dangerous than any duel against a combat magician in the haze of battlefield smoke. He'll need more than a little wit and inventiveness to survive this uprising.

A post-apocalyptic future of never-ending winters and permanent darkness. Nadia Comani has never seen the sunrise or a real blade of grass. A matter of fact, she’s never been outside Calcane City’s walls and domes where the world is dark and cold and covered with ice and snow. But despite that, Nadia has everything she could ever want: power, privilege, a loving family and most importantly warmth. But when her family refuses to compromise their values to serve the city’s corrupt elite, everything changes. Nadia is cast down from her pedestal of power onto the trash heap of the lower classes. No longer guaranteed a life of ease, Nadia faces a future of servitude. Branded as powerless and deviant, will Nadia muster the strength to save herself and what remains of her family? Get the entire first season (six episodes): "After The Darkness: Omnibus"