Transference of orientalist images and identities to the American landscape and its inhabitants, especially in the West—in other words, portrayal of the West as the “Orient”—has been a common aspect of American cultural history. Place names, such as the Jordan River or Pyramid Lake, offer notable examples, but the imagery and its varied meanings are more widespread and significant. Understanding that range and significance, especially to the western part of the continent, means coming to terms with the complicated, nuanced ideas of the Orient and of the North American continent that European Americans brought to the West. Such complexity is what historical geographer Richard Francaviglia unravels in this book. Since the publication of Edward Said’s book, Orientalism, the term has come to signify something one-dimensionally negative. In essence, the orientalist vision was an ethnocentric characterization of the peoples of Asia (and Africa and the “Near East”) as exotic, primitive “others” subject to conquest by the nations of Europe. That now well-established point, which expresses a postcolonial perspective, is critical, but Francaviglia suggest that it overlooks much variation and complexity in the views of historical actors and writers, many of whom thought of western places in terms of an idealized and romanticized Orient. It likewise neglects positive images and interpretations to focus on those of a decadent and ostensibly inferior East. We cannot understand well or fully what the pervasive orientalism found in western cultural history meant, says Francaviglia, if we focus only on its role as an intellectual engine for European imperialism. It did play that role as well in the American West. One only need think about characterizations of American Indians as Bedouins of the Plains destined for displacement by a settled frontier. Other roles for orientalism, though, from romantic to commercial ones, were also widely in play. In Go East, Young Man, Francaviglia explores a broad range of orientalist images deployed in the context of European settlement of the American West, and he unfolds their multiple significances.

Young Mouse, sure he is the strongest animal on the African savannah, goes in search of the elephant, to "break it apart and stomp it to bits."

This book analyzes Buddhist discussions of the Aryan myth and scientific racism and the ways in which this conversation reshaped Buddhism in the United States, and globally. The book traces the development of notions of Aryanism in Buddhism through Buddhist publications from 1899-1957, focusing on this so-called "yellow peril," or historical racist views in the United States of an Asian "other." During this time period in America, the Aryan myth was considered to be scientific fact, and Buddhists were able to capitalize on this idea throughout a global publishing network of books, magazines, and academic work which helped to transform the presentation of Buddhism into the "Aryan religion." Following narratives regarding colonialism and the development of the Aryan myth, Buddhists challenged these dominant tropes: they combined emic discussions about the "Aryan" myth and comparisons of Buddhism and science, in order to disprove colonial tropes of "Western" dominance, and suggest that Buddhism represented a superior tradition in world historical development. The author argues that this presentation of a Buddhist tradition of superiority helped to create space for Buddhism within the American religious landscape. The book will be of interest to academics working on Buddhism, race and religion, and American religious history.

This work analyses the opportunities and barriers for youth entrepreneurship amid systemic change in Central and Eastern Europe. The authors cover different aspects of youth entrepreneurship and its contribution to the debate on youth unemployment in transition economies. The book discusses the wide-spread over-optimism regarding youth entrepreneurship, self-employment, and its impact on economic innovation and job creation, resulting from a disregard of critical contextual features and the characteristics of young entrepreneurs themselves. The authors give due acknowledgment of the importance of both factors and so fully understand the impediments to youth entrepreneurship, especially in a transition context. Most importantly, the book provides the first empirical contribution to youth entrepreneurship in Central and Eastern Europe by offering a representative number of case studies.

LIFE Magazine is the treasured photographic magazine that chronicled the 20th Century. It now lives on at LIFE.com, the largest, most amazing collection of professional photography on the internet. Users can browse, search and view photos of today’s people and events. They have free access to share, print and post images for personal use.

Think about it. Think what you could achieve without women in your life. If all the time you spent on them, you spent on yourself. Think how much money you could save. Think how much aggravation you could avoid. Journeying over from the West Indies to England, Ferdy, Lennie, Dennis and Bernie are all eager to make successes of themselves and take full advantage of what they think The Big Life has to offer. So they pledge to abstain from women for three years. But Mary, Kathy, Zuleika and Sybil have other ideas. They know that man cannot live by bread alone! Will the men stick with their idea of The Big Life, or will Cupid have the final say? The Big Life is a brand new musical, a wonderfully upbeat story of unrequited love and a great comedy all rolled into one. It was produced at the Theatre Royal Stratford East, April 2004.

“The Enchanting Encounter with the East” belongs to cross-cultural studies and focuses on the attempts of European literati to get acquainted with the bizarre realm of the Far East during the Late Middle Ages. It turns out that western intellectuals lured by the marvels and myths of the Far East did a lot of spadework before taking a route that led to unfamiliar oriental realms. On this thorny path, many Eurocentric medieval fantasies had been debunked. The book shows how global connections had surfaced centuries before industrialization. The book falls into the genre of non-fiction history and centers on the recognition of lands and cultures of India, China, and the Mongols by the Latin medieval society. The storyline is based on the original online research and presents authentic arguments based on the author’s engagement with the sources. The readers might enjoy as well as profit from this comprehensive reference that does not require deep background knowledge. The content is provided in clear language and is supplemented with a bibliography and illustrations that will enrich the entire work.

The Eastern Brew is a translation of some selected Urdu short stories written by prominent writers from India and Pakistan. These stories are as varied in their subject matters as they are in the assortment of writers presented in this anthology. The selection is not incidental or impulsive but premeditated and is based on careful consideration. It encapsulates almost fifty years of Urdu short story writing from both sides of the border, representing the vicissitudes of life and times during the years of drastic political and social changes and the struggles and conflicts, psychological or otherwise, of characters living through those tumultuous times. Though it is not possible to collect the works of representative writers of Urdu fiction spanning more than two generations in a short anthology of fifteen stories, an attempt has, nevertheless, been made to bring before the English readers the various threads of human relationships, social, personal, and psychological, that weaved or warped the life of characters in the exciting stories in this collection. The anthology thus provides to the readers of other languages an insight into the changing patterns and concerns of Urdu literary art during a span of two generations and the life and times of people in the subcontinent living through the change.

The 22 essays in this volume discuss contemporary trends in democratization, nationalism, political socialization, authoritarianism, and other topics such as conflicting loyalties in Europe and the US. Since there are seven different countries represented among the authors who have contributed to this volume, they have produced a unique, international, comparative and cross-national research perspective on significant issues in contemporary politics, socialization, and education. This book provides an interesting collection of empirical research findings and scholarly syntheses of quantitative and qualitative research efforts. Major emphasis in these studies is on the impact of socialization forces and political socialization of youth from various sources. Some research studies are quasi-longitudinal, treating different regions in Europe, and emphasizing significant themes such as racism, intolerance, xenophobia, the European Union, and democratic political philosophy and citizenship.

Apartheid's Festival highlights the conflicts and debates that surrounded the 1952 celebration of the 300th anniversary of the landing of Jan Van Riebeeck and the founding of Cape Town, South Africa. Taking place at the height of the apartheid era, the festival was viewed by many as an opportunity for the government to promote its nationalist, separatist agenda in grand fashion. Leslie Witz's fine-grained examination of newspapers, brochures, pamphlets, and advertising materials reveals the expectations of the festival planners as well as how the festival was engineered, historical figures were reconstructed, and the ANC and other anti-apartheid organizations mounted opposition to it. While laying open the darker motives of the apartheid regime, Witz shows that the production of local history is part of a global process forged by the struggle between colonialism and resistance. Readers interested in South Africa, representations of nationalism, and the making of public history will find Apartheid's Festival to be an important study of a society in transition.