Neon Wasteland


Book Description

This path-breaking book examines the lives of five topless dancers in the economically devastated "rust belt" of upstate New York. With insight and empathy, Susan Dewey shows how these women negotiate their lives as parents, employees, and family members while working in a profession widely regarded as incompatible with motherhood and fidelity. Neither disparaging nor romanticizing her subjects, Dewey investigates the complicated dynamic of performance, resilience, economic need, and emotional vulnerability that comprises the life of a stripper. An accessibly written text that uses academic theories and methods to make sense of feminized labor, Neon Wasteland shows that sex work is part of the learned process by which some women come to believe that their self-esteem, material worth, and possibilities for life improvement are invested in their bodies.




Neon Dynasty


Book Description

In a world ravaged by environmental neglect, Jax, a resourceful scavenger, embarks on a desperate quest to find the Kaminari Battery – a legendary power source rumored to exist in the mythical city of Shinka no Miyako. Accompanied by Kai, a scholar yearning for knowledge, they venture into the Forbidden Forest, a realm guarded by vengeful spirits. There, they discover a hidden entrance leading them to a breathtaking metropolis unlike anything they've ever seen. Shinka no Miyako, the City of Harmony, stands as a testament to a bygone era where technology and nature coexisted in perfect balance. However, their arrival awakens a malevolent entity, a manifestation of discord that seeks to exploit the city's forgotten power for its own destructive ends. Guided by the wisdom of ancient guardians – the kami – Jax and Kai must prove themselves worthy by facing the Trials of Harmony. These trials test their understanding of flow, growth, and cooperation, forcing them to confront not just their physical limitations, but also the deep-seated imbalance within their own world. As they delve deeper into the city, they uncover the secrets of the Chamber of Resonance, a repository of forgotten knowledge that holds the key to saving both Neo-Tokyo and Shinka no Miyako. Witnessing the consequences of both unchecked technology and the neglect of nature, Jax and Kai must choose their path. Will they succumb to the allure of absolute power, or can they forge a new way forward, one built on harmony and a deep respect for the delicate balance between humanity and the natural world? This is a story of adventure, self-discovery, and the importance of ecological balance. It explores themes of environmental responsibility, the power of cooperation, and the consequences of unchecked ambition. Join Jax and Kai on their thrilling quest as they unlock the secrets of a lost civilization and fight to restore harmony to a world teetering on the brink of destruction.





Book Description




The Neon Jungle


Book Description

The Varaki family run the local grocery store, but tragedy hits the family hard. The sudden death of the matriarch of the clan is followed by the favourite son's death in Korea. The teenage daughter falls in with a bad crowd and there's also the other son, Walter, who has been dipping into the till to fund his escape from Doris, his sharp-tongued wife. Then there are the villains ... When their lives intersect the action builds to a bloody and explosive conclusion ...




The Cambridge Companion to Comics


Book Description

Interweaving history and theory, this book unpacks the complexity of comics, covering formal, critical and institutional dimensions.




The Lonely Quest


Book Description

Today the United States is a country divided along lines of gender, economic inequality, educational level, and political affiliation. Democrats typically select a different range of matters of serious public concern compared to Republicans. Many Americans describe difficulty in coming to terms with the demands placed on them in their work, communities, and personal lives and achieving satisfaction. The institutional crises that pervade our politics, economy, educational systems, and communities have inspired a contemporary crisis: a widespread inability for many to live as integrated, effective selves in the twenty-first century United States. Drawing on a wide range of historical and contemporary research, The Lonely Quest explores the dilemma of constructing the self in the U.S. today.




A Regional Geography of the United States and Canada


Book Description

Now in a thoroughly revised and updated edition, this text offers a comprehensive examination of North America’s physical and human geography, weaving in the key themes of environment and sustainability throughout. The authors explore the challenges each region faces, such as water shortages, climate change, increased migration and diversity, urbanization, and continued economic changes. The book also highlights the positive actions that Americans and Canadians are taking to move toward a more sustainable future. New features in the second edition include sections on population, immigration and diversity, and urban trends. Each chapter also features a case study that examines a national park (representing natural and cultural heritage), how the region is coping with climate change, how geospatial technologies are applied to environmental challenges, iconic images and/or cultural festivals, urban sustainability best practices, and global connections and networks. Designed for ease of teaching and learning, the book features full-color photographs and maps throughout; chapter highlights; lists of key terms, places, and major cities for each chapter; discussion questions; and a glossary.




Sex Trafficking, Human Rights, and Social Justice


Book Description

The recognition of women’s human rights to migrate and work as sex workers is disregarded and dismissed by anti-trafficking discourses of rescue in the latest United Nation’s definition of trafficking. This volume explores the life experiences, agency, and human rights of trafficked women in order to shed light on the complicated processes in which anti-trafficking, human rights and social justice are intersected. In these articles, the authors critically analyze not only the conflation of trafficking with sex work in international and national discourses and its effects on migrant women, but also the global anti-trafficking policy and the root causes for the undocumented migration and employment. Featuring case studies on eleven countries including the US, Iran, Denmark, Paris, Hong Kong, and south east Asia and offering perspectives from transnational migrant population, the contributors rearticulate the trafficking discourses away from the state control of immigration and the global policing of borders, and reassert the social justice and the needs, agency, and human rights of migrant and working communities. This book will be of interest to students and scholars of politics, gender studies, human rights, migration, sociology and anthropology.




Limit


Book Description

Perfect for fans of Neal Stephenson and Peter F. Hamilton, an epic science-fiction novel from Germany's most successful thriller writer. The first space elevator connects the Earth to the Moon, prompting a breathless race between the Americans and Chinese to get to the Moon's helium-3 - the rare element that promises to solve all the world's energy problems. In Shanghai, cyber-detective Owen Jericho has been hired to find Yoyo, a missing girl, but what started as a routine investigation soon develops into a nightmarish hunt. There's a crazed assassin hot on his heels, all because Yoyo accidentally stumbled onto a secret society called Hydra - and now it's not just her life at risk. Following the Hydra trail takes Jericho and Yoyo round the world and finally to the Gaia, the Moon's very first hotel, where a billionaire entrepreneur is entertaining some of the world's richest and most influential men and women But the secret society that is Hydra has its own plans for the Earth - and the Moon. And nothing and no one will be allowed to stand in its way.




Sex Work and Human Dignity


Book Description

The notion of human dignity is frequently, yet enigmatically, invoked in legal and political debates on sex work, where many people use it without much elaboration on exactly what they mean by it. Sex Work and Human Dignity: Law, Politics and Discourse sheds light on this enigma, by exploring how dignity-based discourses are used by those who write and talk about prostitution and also what role these discourses may play in shaping wider cultural understandings of sex work and sex workers. The book draws on political discourse theory and is international in its scope, with analysis of legal cases, textual sources, and empirical data gathered through interviews with activists from several different countries in the Global North and South. The book traces how the concept of dignity is used in a range of legal and political discourses on sex work and ultimately asks to what extent dignity-based discourses help to advance, or hinder, sex workers’ social inclusion. This book will appeal to students and researchers interested in sex work and feminism, as well as those who study human dignity. Its interdisciplinary nature means it will appeal to those working in a range of disciplines, including law, sociology, philosophy, and political theory.