Mixing outlaw humor, SF adventure, and cutting social criticism, Shirley draws upon his entire arsenal of narrative and commentary. The title essay, “New Taboos” is his prescription for a radical revisioning of America. A new novella, A State of Imprisonment, is a horrifying and grimly hilarious look at the privatization of the prison industry. “Why We Need Forty Years of Hell,” Shirley’s 2011 TEDx address, presents his proudly contrarian view of the near future. Also featured is our Outspoken Interview showcasing the author’s transgressive sensibility, deep humanity, and mordant wit.
"Like an urban Dian Fossey, Wednesday Martin decodes the primate social behaviors of Upper East Side mothers in a brilliantly original and witty memoir about her adventures assimilating into that most secretive and elite tribe. After marrying a man from the Upper East Side and moving to the neighborhood, Wednesday Martin struggled to fit in. Drawing on her background in anthropology and primatology, she tried looking at her new world through that lens, and suddenly things fell into place. She understood the other mothers' snobbiness at school drop-off when she compared them to olive baboons. Her obsessional quest for a Hermes Birkin handbag made sense when she realized other females wielded them to establish dominance in their troop. And so she analyzed tribal migration patterns; display rituals; physical adornment, mutilation, and mating practices; extra-pair copulation; and more. Her conclusions are smart, thought-provoking, and hilariously unexpected. Every city has its Upper East Side, and in Wednesday's memoir, readers everywhere will recognize the strange cultural codes of powerful social hierarchies and the compelling desire to climb them. They will also see that Upper East Side mothers want the same things for their children that all mothers want--safety, happiness, and success--and not even sky-high penthouses and chauffeured SUVs can protect this ecologically released tribe from the universal experiences of anxiety and loss. When Wednesday's life turns upside down, she learns how deep the bonds of female friendship really are. Intelligent, funny, and heartfelt, Primates of Park Avenue lifts a veil on a secret, elite world within a world--the exotic, fascinating, and strangely familiar culture of privileged Manhattan motherhood"--
"Roger Axtell is an internationalist Emily Post." --The New Yorker International business and leisure travel etiquette expert Roger Axtell's bestselling Do's and Taboos books have helped hundreds of thousands of business travelers and tourists avoid the missteps and misunderstandings the world traveler can encounter. In Essential Do's and Taboos, Axtell shares the wisdom he has compiled over a lifetime of international experience. Whether you need to know the best time of year to set up a business meeting in Germany or why the O.K. sign is not O.K. in Brazil, you'll find practical, fascinating, culture-savvy, up-to-date advice to help you steer clear of faux pas and face the world with confidence. Essential Do's and Taboos features: * Information on customs, protocol, etiquette, hand gestures, and body language * Fresh advice regarding Internet business and communication options * Country-specific chapters on eleven popular locations--from old favorites like England, France, Japan, and Germany to hot tourist destinations and emerging economies like India, China, Russia, and Mexico * Guidance on hosting international visitors * Important tips on using English around the world * Special do's and taboos for women traveling abroad
This volume examines the concept of taboos and tabooism and a dozen powerful ones in our society and suggests the control they exert on our everyday lives.
An interesting resource for learning about the cultural differences and characteristics of people across the globe, this encyclopedia covers the "do's" and "don'ts" of a breadth of countries and major ethnic groups. Readers of this one-volume reference will gain useful knowledge of what travelers should and shouldn't do when in countries outside of the United States. After a general introduction, approximately 100 alphabetically arranged entries cover topics such as greeting and meeting, appearance and dress, table manners, body language, social situations and hospitality, verbal communications, business etiquette, religious etiquette, gift-giving, and even "netiquette" regarding social media. Sidebars and images throughout make the text more accessible and engaging, and additional readings at the end of each entry as well as the bibliography offer opportunities for further research on the subject. The content also directly supports the National Geography Standards and the AP Human Geography curriculum for high school students as they learn about the cultural differences and characteristics of people in major ethnic groups across the globe.
This collection of essays covers the related areas of aesthetics and politics, both in the field of theatre and in everyday life. Each contributor seeks to illustrate how drama subverts the foundations of the accepted models of perception and how it mediates on its own conventions.
What Women Need to Know to Succeed in International Business From meeting protocol and sexual harassment to dining and gift giving, the rules for conducting business abroad can be dramatically different from those at home--and they can also vary from country to country. But with this indispensable resource, you'll have everything you need to successfully interact with your business counterparts, whether you're doing business in Caracas, Calcutta, or Copenhagen. Bestselling author Roger Axtell combines his 30 years of experience working abroad with the advice of three cross-cultural consultants to provide you with guidance and specific advice on: * Survival --Knowing the culture, protocol, safety, and staying healthy * Cultural differences --A country-by-country listing of the rules for proper dress, speech, table manners, etc. * Climbing the career ladder --Resources listing the best schools, courses, and language training, advice on finding mentors, and more * Personal issues --Dating rules in different cultures, balancing an international career and family life, dealing with harassment and discrimination
What are the origins of table manners? What are the politics of cannibalism? Why is the left hand thought to be sinister? These apparently unrelated questions all hinge on the fundamental notion of taboo. Far from being peripheral leftovers from distant times and places, taboos are a crucial part of any society, determing how people must and must not behave. Yet the topic has rarely been discussed in any comprehensive way in recent years, as though the word itself has become taboo in our efforts to dispel the myth of the irrationality of supposedly primitive cultures
