In this collector's edition of Of Absence and Mad People, the reader gets an exploration into all the feelings of fear, abandonment, insecurity, and general darkness that we all have experienced and will experience. The never-ending cycle of emotional complexity. The vast reach into our muscles and tendons that cause us to tremble, collapse, or lie still. These experiences render us immobile or ignite us into fight or flight. As the author says, however, "Sometimes it's about making the ghosts into words."
The New York Times bestseller “A glistening psychological history, faceted largely by the biographies of eight famous leaders . . .” —The Boston Globe “A provocative thesis . . . Ghaemi’s book deserves high marks for original thinking.” —The Washington Post “Provocative, fascinating.” —Salon.com Historians have long puzzled over the apparent mental instability of great and terrible leaders alike: Napoleon, Lincoln, Churchill, Hitler, and others. In A First-Rate Madness, Nassir Ghaemi, director of the Mood Disorders Program at Tufts Medical Center, offers a myth-shattering exploration of the powerful connections between mental illness and leadership and sets forth a controversial, compelling thesis: The very qualities that mark those with mood disorders also make for the best leaders in times of crisis. From the importance of Lincoln's "depressive realism" to the lackluster leadership of exceedingly sane men as Neville Chamberlain, A First-Rate Madness overturns many of our most cherished perceptions about greatness and the mind.
As rich and complex as The Sopranos or The Wire, Mad Men demands a critical look at its narrative and characters as representative of both the period it depicts and of our memories and assumptions of the period. Mad Men, Women, and Children: Essays on Gender and Generation, edited by Heather Marcovitch and Nancy Batty, focuses on women and children, two groups that are not only identified together in this period (women characters in this show are often treated as coddled children and the children look to their parents as models of adult behaviors) but are also two groups who are beginning to gain political and social rights in this period. The connections between the women of Mad Men, early second-wave feminism, and contemporary third-wave feminism and post-feminism invite discussion in nearly every episode. These characters are further contextualized in light of historical figures and events, from the death of Marilyn Monroe and the assassination of Kennedy to the March on Washington and the bohemian counterculture. Moreover, the points of view of the children, who are now adult viewers of Mad Men, bridge the 1960s to the social and cultural concerns of today. Mad Men, Women, and Children presents an examination of these characters and issues in light of 1960s feminist writers such as Betty Friedan and popular writers such as Helen Gurley Brown, of historical events like the Civil Rights Movement and the Women’s Liberation Movement, and as lenses through which to view the sensibilities of the early 1960s.
A missing daughter, her distraught mother. A foreign country. A history of deceit. When Dee's daughter, Corrie, decides to spend her gap year in Argentina, it seems like the perfect solution to their strained relationship. That is, until Corrie goes missing. Facing every mother's worst nightmare, Dee boards a plane from Australia to launch a frantic search. Four years later, Dee returns to Buenos Aires for what she concedes may be the last time. But on this visit, a fresh lead triggers a new search - one where Dee must place her trust in strangers to help her navigate the vibrant but often threatening city. Dee's search for Corrie is overshadowed by the fear that her failings as a mother may have had something to do with Corrie's disappearance. To what extent is Dee to blame? And is this a question that she will ever be able to answer? Traces of Absence is a stirring and thoughtful portrayal of parenthood, guilt, faith and hope. And of the redemptive power of simple human kindness.
The philosophy of psychosis and the psychosis of philosophy: a philosopher draws on his experience of madness. In this book, philosopher and linguist Wouter Kusters examines the philosophy of psychosis—and the psychosis of philosophy. By analyzing the experience of psychosis in philosophical terms, Kusters not only emancipates the experience of the psychotic from medical classification, he also emancipates the philosopher from the narrowness of textbooks and academia, allowing philosophers to engage in real-life praxis, philosophy in vivo. Philosophy and madness—Kusters's preferred, non-medicalized term—coexist, one mirroring the other. Kusters draws on his own experience of madness—two episodes of psychosis, twenty years apart—as well as other first-person narratives of psychosis. Speculating about the maddening effect of certain words and thought, he argues, and demonstrates, that the steady flow of philosophical deliberation may sweep one into a full-blown acute psychotic episode. Indeed, a certain kind of philosophizing may result in confusion, paradoxes, unworldly insights, and circular frozenness reminiscent of madness. Psychosis presents itself to the psychotic as an inescapable truth and reality. Kusters evokes the mad person's philosophical or existential amazement at reality, thinking, time, and space, drawing on classic autobiographical accounts of psychoses by Antonin Artaud, Daniel Schreber, and others, as well as the work of phenomenological psychiatrists and psychologists and such phenomenologists as Edmund Husserl and Maurice Merleau-Ponty. He considers the philosophical mystic and the mystical philosopher, tracing the mad undercurrent in the Husserlian philosophy of time; visits the cloud castles of mystical madness, encountering LSD devotees, philosophers, theologians, and nihilists; and, falling to earth, finds anxiety, emptiness, delusions, and hallucinations. Madness and philosophy proceed and converge toward a single vanishing point.
Unravelling Research is about the ethics and politics of knowledge production in the social sciences at a time when the academy is pressed to contend with the historical inequities associated with established research practices. Written by an impressive range of scholars whose work is shaped by their commitment to social justice, the chapters grapple with different methodologies, geographical locations and communities and cover a wide range of inquiry, including ethnography in Africa, archival research in South America and research with marginalized, racialized, poor, mad, homeless and Indigenous communities in Canada. Each chapter is written from the perspective of researchers who, due to their race, class, sexual/gender identity, ability and geographical location, labour at the margins of their disciplines. By using their own research projects as sites, contributors probe the ethicality of long-established and cutting-edge methodological frameworks to theorize the indivisible relationship between methodology, ethics and politics, elucidating key challenges and dilemmas confronting marginalized researchers and research subjects alike.
Social Representations in the 'Social Arena' presents key theoretical issues and extensive empirical research using different theoretical and methodological approaches to consider the value of social representation theory when social representations are examined in real world contexts. This comprehensive text brings together international experts to explore the relevance of a variety of applications of social representation theory in both institutional and organizational settings, and discusses how social representation theory compares with other constructs of social psychology. Areas covered include: justice leadership health and mental illness intergroup relations identity politics environment and tourism economics. This book will appeal to a range of academic researchers and practitioners from a variety of fields who are concerned with the application of social representation theory to various contexts as a heuristic tool for addressing and understanding relevant societal issues faced with 'social demand'.
“A comprehensive examination of the ways in which [the series] uses American cultural memory . . . to shape . . . characters’ developments and the narrative arc.” —Journal of American Culture From the opening credits that feature a silhouette falling among skyscrapers, Mad Men transcended its role as a series about the Madison Avenue advertising industry to become a modern classic. For seven seasons, Mad Men asked viewers to contemplate the 1960s anew, reassessing the era’s stance on women’s rights, race, war, politics, and family relationships that comprise the American Dream. Set in the mid-twentieth century, the show brought to light how deeply we still are connected to that age. The result is a show that continually asks us to rethink our own families, lives, work, and ethical beliefs as we strive for a better world. In Mad Men: A Cultural History, M. Keith Booker and Bob Batchelor offer an engaging analysis of the series, providing in-depth examinations of its many themes and nostalgic portrayals of the years from Camelot to Vietnam and beyond. Highly regarded cultural scholars and critics, Booker and Batchelor examine the show in its entirety, presenting readers with a deep but accessible exploration of the series, as well as look at its larger meanings and implications. This cultural history perspective reveals Mad Men’s critical importance as a TV series, as well as its role as a tool for helping viewers understand how they are shaped by history and culture. “This homage will appeal to fans and academic readers alike. . . . Recommended.” —Choice “Offers a stimulating point of view on the role of mass communication products as keys to understanding our society.” —Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly
An exploration of the relationship between madness, distress and disability, bringing together leading scholars and activists from Europe, North America, Australia and India.
This book is built on the assumption that very often what seems to be evidence turns out to be “fake news”, while libels and stereotypes that have no foundation in reality are accepted as evidence, thus potentially causing travesties of justice. Examples are drawn here from several prominent and renowned case studies, including OJ Simpson’s trial, and the fiasco of American intervention in Iraq to search for the traces of weapons of mass-destruction, which were not found. The book also explores the history of anti-Semitism, which is replete with false accusations, where evidence was lacking and Jews were nevertheless convicted. It also shows how the Arab-Israeli conflict also demonstrates how unfounded accusations can be sustained by lies, proving that beliefs and prejudices are sometime stronger than hard facts.
