'A vital and important book' David Olusoga From an award-winning historian of race, science and empire, a path-breaking and poignant history of extinction as a scientific idea, an imperial legacy and a political choiceAnyone alive today is among a tiny fraction of the once over 90% of species that ever existed are now extinct. How did we come to think of ourselves as survivors in a world where species can vanish forever, or as capable of pushing our planet to the verge of a sixth mass extinction? Extinction, Sadiah Qureshi shows us, is a surprisingly modern concept – and a phenomenon that’s not as natural as we might think. In Europe until the late eighteenth century, species were considered perfect and unchanging creations of God. Then in the age of revolutions, scientists gathered enough fossil evidence to determine that mammoth bones, for example, were not just large elephants but a lost species that once roamed the Earth alongside ancient humans. Extinction went from being regarded as theologically dangerous to pervasive, and even inevitable. Yet Vanished shows us that extinction is more than a scientific idea; it’s a political choice that has led to devasting consequences. Europeans and Americans quickly used the notion that extinction was a natural process to justify persecution and genocide, predicting that nations from Newfoundland’s Beothuk to Aboriginal Australians were doomed to die out from imperial expansion. Exploring the tangled and unnatural histories of extinction and empire, Vanished weaves together pioneering original research and breath-taking storytelling to show us extinction is both an evolutionary process and a human one which illuminates our past, and may alter our future.

From an award-winning and internationally-renowned expert, a wonderfully illuminating journey through the world of manufacturing and its transformational influence on our lives - and the world around us. 'Revelatory.' SUNDAY TIMES 'Fascinating.' FINANCIAL TIMES 'An extraordinarily good read.'PROFESSOR DAVID SPIEGELHALTER, author of The Art of Statistics 'An illuminating and at times mind-boggling exploration of a global choreography that means I won't look at my kettle the same way again.'ZOE LAUGHLIN, presenter of BBC Four's How to Make ***We live in a manufactured world. Unless you are floating naked through space, you are right now in direct contact with multiple manufactured products. How often do we stop to where do the things we buy actually come from? There exists a nearly invisible, awe-inspiring global system of manufacturing that enables virtually every aspect of our existence. The things we surround ourselves with take surprising and often byzantine journeys to reach us - be it the thousands of litres of water needed to make a single pair of jeans or the components of our smartphones travelling over six times around the world to reach us. From mega-factory floors, engineering laboratories and seaports to distribution hubs, supermarkets and our own homes, Tim Minshall traces these journeys to reveal the hidden world of manufacturing. Charting how this world came to be, Your Life is Manufactured reveals the seismic impact manufacturing has had on our lives and the natural world, exploring how it could offer us a path to a truly sustainable, more equitable future. In doing so, Minshall grants us the ability to make better choices for ourselves, our communities and the planet. *** 'This brilliant book shows that manufacturing is foundational to our lives, not only now but also if there is to be any hope for a sustainable future. I learned something new on every page.'PROFESSOR DIANE COYLE, author of Cogs and Monsters 'Reading this book is like being given a personal tour of the world's factories by a real-life Willy Wonka. Brimming with insight, curiosity and wit, Tim is a masterful storyteller of the manufactured world.'DR ANNA PLOSZAJSKI, author of A Scientist's Search for Meaning Through Making

A brilliant, paradigm-shifting global history of how humanity has reshaped the planet, and the planet has shaped human history, over the last 500 years. Ever since innovations in agriculture vastly expanded production of food, our remarkable achievements in reshaping nature have allowed billions of humans to exist and thrive. Yet every technological innovation has also empowered us to exploit each other and the planet with devastating brutality. In this magisterial book, historian Sunil Amrith twins the stories of environment and Empire, genocide and eco-cide, human freedom and planetary costs. His environmental lens provides an essential new way of understanding war as massive reshaping of the earth through global mobilizations of natural resources, including humans; and explains patterns of migration as a consequence of environmental harm. Amrith relates in gorgeous prose, and on the largest canvas, a mind-altering epic—vibrant with stories, characters, and vivid images and rich archival resources.

Hitzewelle in Paris. Nachts liegen die Menschen schlaflos in verschwitzten T-Shirts unter ihren Zinkdächern. Soll man nicht besser die Klimaanlage anschalten? Oder macht das alles noch schlimmer? Und was ist eigentlich mit dem billigen T-Shirt, das über Tausende Kilometer nach Europa geschafft wurde? Der Autor bekommt Panik, will den Temperaturen und seinem schlechten Gewissen entfliehen. Er macht sich auf nach Porquerolles. Doch auch die Insel ist nicht länger unberührt, sondern ein überlaufenes Touristenziel. Im Sommer ist das Wasser knapp. Die ikonische Plage d’Argent wird von den Einheimischen nur noch »Bakterienstrand« genannt – wie in einem Prozess der umgekehrten Alchemie wird aus Schönheit Schmutz, aus Silber Dreck. Nikolaj Schultz’ Erlebnisse und Begegnungen werfen existenzielle Fragen auf: nach der Verantwortung jeder und jedes Einzelnen, nach ethischer und ökologischer Orientierung im Anthropozän. Seine Antworten sind nicht immer tröstend, aber er findet Einsichten und einen Ton, der ihn zur Stimme einer Generation machen könnte.

Lively Capital is an urgent and important collection of essays addressing the reconfigured relations between the life sciences and the market. Exploring the ground where social and cultural anthropology intersect with science and technology studies, prominent scholars investigate the relationship of biotechnology to ethics, governance, and markets, as well as the new legal, social, cultural, and institutional mechanisms emerging to regulate biotechnology. The contributors examine genomics, pharmaceutical marketing, intellectual property, environmental science, clinical trials, patient advocacy, and other such matters as they are playing out in North and South America, Europe, Africa, and Asia. Lively Capital is not only about the commercialization of the life sciences, but their institutional histories, epistemic formations, and systems of valuation. It is also about the lively affects—the emotions and desires—involved when technologies and research impinge on experiences of embodiment, kinship, identity, disability, citizenship, accumulation, and dispossession. At stake in the commodification of the life sciences are opportunities to intervene in and adjudicate matters of health, life, and death.

Ein waghalsiger Roman, der den Bogen von James Baldwins »Giovanni’s Room« zu Fritz Zorns »Mars« und bis hin zu Édouard Louis’ »Im Herzen der Gewalt« spannt. »DÜRRST« – Simon Froehlings zweiter Roman entführt uns nach Athen, Kairo, Edinburgh, Berlin und Zürich, hinein in die Landschaft eines exzessiven, auseinanderbrechenden Lebens. In der paradoxen Realität scheinbarer Freiräume der Besetzer-, Kunst- und Schwulenszene mäandernd erzählt Simon Froehling den Weg einer brutal schmerzhaften Selbstfindung in Bildern von stupender Schönheit.

Book Two in the Magnificent Dune Chronicles--the Bestselling Science Fiction Adventure of All Time Dune Messiah continues the story of Paul Atreides, better known--and feared--as the man christened Muad'Dib. As Emperor of the Known Universe, he possesses more power than a single man was ever meant to wield. Worshipped as a religious icon by the fanatical Fremens, Paul faces the enmity of the political houses he displaced when he assumed the throne--and a conspiracy conducted within his own sphere of influence. And even as House Atreides begins to crumble around him from the machinations of his enemies, the true threat to Paul comes to his lover, Chani, and the unborn heir to his family's dynasty... Includes an introduction by Brian Herbert

Reverend Billy's revival tour across America is the subject of the upcoming Morgan Spurlock film What Would Jesus Buy?, his first movie since the national hit Super Size Me! The book is an inspiring-love-a-lujah!-compendium of the reverend in full flow, from his exhortations from the pulpit to his reflections on why lesbian marriage will save the Spotted Owl. Reverend Billy believes big box brainless consumerism is destroying our culture and our planet. Reverend Billy first began preaching in Times Square and has since been incessantly spreading the word at major retail stores from San Francisco to New York City. He has been regularly featured in the national media, most recently in the New York Times, and was arrested with great panache as he led prayers against consumerism in Disneyland. What Would Jesus Buy? will entertain, convince, convert, and give readers actions they can take to become a member of the Church of Stop Shopping.