And the Loser is: A History of Oscar Oversights

2nd Edition

Aubrey Malone

February 2020 / ISBN: 978-1-62273-914-1
Availability: In stock
384pp. ¦ $41 £31 €35

In this updated edition of Aubrey Malone’s ground-breaking study of the unsung heroes and heroines of the Oscar ceremonies, he delves further into the circumstances surrounding many of the films either ignored or undervalued by the Academy from the 1920s up to the embarrassing gaffe of 2017 which saw La La Land wrongly announced as Best Picture instead of Moonlight. In a book which doubles as an unofficial history of Hollywood, he writes about all the great stars who never won an Oscar and, more poignantly, the tragedies that often befell winners as the law of diminishing returns set in. People like Susan Hayward, Rod Steiger, Vivien Leigh and many others never recaptured the magic after winning the golden statue. Instead of a foretaste of better things, for many of them it was the beginning of the end. In the case of some winners, like Gig Young, the decline resulted in a horrific murder/suicide some years down the road. The book also studies concepts like sympathy Oscars, consolation Oscars, Life Achievement Awards that are often AMPAS apologies for Oscar bypasses, and the number of relationships and marriages that broke down after Oscar wins. It also looks at those near-perennial bridesmaids at the Oscar wedding who were repeatedly passed over, often on spurious grounds. This intricate, highly detailed book also looks at the effect of the blacklist on the awarding of Oscars, and the various prejudices that saw many people excluded from the winner’s enclosure when they richly deserved to be there.

Cinematic Women, From Objecthood to Heroism: Essays on Female Gender Representation on Western Screens and in TV Productions

Edited by Lisa V Mazey, Indiana University of Pennsylvania

December 2019 / ISBN: 978-1-62273-777-2
Availability: In stock
161pp. ¦ $43 £32 €36

Women have fulfilled film roles that exhibit their historically subservient or sexualised positions in society, among others. Over the decades, the gender identity of women has fluctuated to include powerful women, emotionally strong women, lesbian women, and even neurologically atypical women. These identities reflect the change in societal norms and what is now acknowledged as more likely and more mainstream. The evolution of society’s views of women can be mapped through these roles; from 1950’s America where women were depicted as the counterpart to male characters and their masculinity either as a threat or support to the patriarchal norms; to more recent times, where these norms have been questioned, challenged, deconstructed and reconstructed to include women in a more equitable balance. The fight for equal access, equal pay and equal standing still exists in all walks of life and different cultures requiring continued scrutiny of the norms that made that fight necessary. The essays offer a unique vantage of the changing culture and conversations that allowed, encouraged, and praised an evolution of women’s roles. They strive to represent the issues faced by women, from the early heyday of Hollywood through to films as recent as 2007; examining depictions of the masculine gaze, mental and physical oppression, the mother figure, as well as how these roles may develop in the future. The book contains valuable material for film students at an undergraduate or post-graduate level, as well as scholars from a range of disciplines including cultural studies, media studies, film studies and women’s and gender studies.

Philosophy’s Treason

Studies in Philosophy and Translation

Edited by David Morgan Spitzer, Harrisburg Area Community College

January 2020 / ISBN: 978-1-62273-506-8
Availability: In stock
216pp. ¦ $60 £45 €51

Philosophy’s Treason: Studies in Philosophy and Translation gathers contributions from an international group of scholars at different stages of their careers, bringing together diverse perspectives on translation and philosophy. The volume’s six chapters primarily look towards translation from philosophic perspectives, often taking up issues central to Translation Studies and pursuing them along philosophic lines. By way of historical, logical, and personal reflection, several chapters address broad topics of translation, such as the entanglements of culture, ideology, politics, and history in the translation of philosophic works, the position of Translation Studies within current academic humanities, untranslatability within philosophic texts, and the ways philosophic reflection can enrich thinking on translation. Two more narrowly focused chapters work closely on specific philosophers and their texts to identify important implications for translation in philosophy. In a final “critical postscript” the volume takes a reflexive turn as its own chapters provide starting points for thinking about philosophy and translation in terms of periperformativity. From philosophers critically engaged with translation this volume offers distinct perspectives on a growing field of research on the interdisciplinarity and relationality of Translation Studies and Philosophy. Ranging from historical reflections on the overlap of translation and philosophy to philosophic investigation of questions central to translation to close-readings of translation within important philosophic texts, Philosophy’s Treason serves as a useful guide and model to educators in Translation Studies wishing to illustrate a variety of approaches to topics related to philosophy and translation.

Indigenous People and the Christian Faith: A New Way Forward

Edited by William H. U. Anderson, Concordia University of Edmonton in Alberta and Charles Muskego, Concordia University of Edmonton in Alberta

October 2019 / ISBN: 978-1-62273-816-8
Availability: In stock
300pp. ¦ $62 £47 €53

Indigenous People and the Christian Faith: A New Way Forward provides detailed historical, cultural and theological background and analysis to a very delicate and pressing subject facing many people around the world. The book is “glocal”: both local and global, as represented by international scholars. Every continent is represented by both Indigenous and non-indigenous people who desire to make a difference with the delicate problematics and relationships. The history of Indigenous people around the world is inextricably linked with Christianity and Colonialism. The book is completely interdisciplinary by employing historians, literary critics, biblical scholars and theologians, sociologists, philosophers and ordained engineers. The Literary Intent of the book, without presuming nor claiming too much for itself, is to provide practical thinking that will help all people move past the pain and dysfunction of the past, toward mutual understanding, communication, and practical actions in the present and future.

Blues in the 21st Century: Myth, Self-Expression and Trans-Culturalism

Edited by Douglas Mark Ponton, University of Catania, Italy and Uwe Zagratzki, University of Szczecin, Poland

March 2020 / ISBN: 978-1-62273-634-8
Availability: In stock
226pp. ¦ $49 £37 €42

The book is the fruit of Douglas Mark Ponton’s and co-editor Uwe Zagratzki’s enduring interest in the Blues as a musical and cultural phenomenon and source of personal inspiration. Continuing in the tradition of Blues studies established by the likes of Samuel Charters and Paul Oliver, the authors hope to contribute to the revitalisation of the field through a multi-disciplinary approach designed to explore this constantly evolving social phenomenon in all its heterogeneity. Focusing either on particular artists (Lightnin’ Hopkins, Robert Johnson), or specific texts (Langston Hughes’ Weary Blues and Backlash Blues, Jimi Hendrix’s Machine Gun), the book tackles issues ranging from authenticity and musicology in Blues performance to the Blues in diaspora, while also applying techniques of linguistic analysis to the corpora of Blues texts. While some chapters focus on the Blues as a quintessentially American phenomenon, linked to a specific social context, others see it in its current evolutions, as the bearer of vital cultural attitudes into the digital age. This multidisciplinary volume will appeal to a broad range of scholars operating in a number of different academic disciplines, including Musicology, Linguistics, Sociology, History, Ethnomusicology, Literature, Economics and Cultural Studies. It will also interest educators across the Humanities, and could be used to exemplify the application to data of specific analytical methodologies, and as a general introduction to the field of Blues studies.