This fascinating introduction to Japan's burgeoning beauty culture investigates a wide range of phenomena-aesthetic salons, dieting products, male beauty activities, and beauty language-to find out why Japanese women and men are paying so much attention to their bodies.

The romantic clash between the opinionated Elizabeth and her proud beau, Mr. Darcy, is a splendid performance of civilized sparring. And Jane Austen's radiant wit sparkles as her characters dance a delicate quadrille of flirtation and intrigue, making this book the most superb comedy of manners of Regency England

In this new edition of Nkrumah and the Ghana Revolution, C. L. R. James tells the history of the socialist revolution led by Kwame Nkrumah, the first president and prime minister of Ghana.

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie offers readers a unique definition of feminism for the twenty-first century. Drawing extensively on her own experiences and her deep understanding of the often masked realities of sexual politics, here is one remarkable author’s exploration of what it means to be a woman now—and an of-the-moment rallying cry for why we should all be feminists.

While the drama of the complicated 2017 General election in Kenya unfolded and the clash between the patriarchs dominated the headlines, women were once again relegated to a secondary position in the public conversation.

This book on themes in African land law is one of a pair, the other presenting local case studies. The two books attempt a balanced regional and thematic coverage.

This collection brings together Edward Said's essays on literary and cultural topics from over three decades. As the title essay shows, Said's own exile and the fate of the Palestinians have given form to the questions he has pursued. These essays give an insight into the formation of the critic and the development of an intellectual vocation.

Deep in the Niger Delta, Officer Chike Ameobi deserts the army and sets out on the road to Lagos. He is soon joined by a wayward private, a naive militant, a vulnerable young woman, and a runaway middle-class wife. The shared goals of this unlikely group: freedom and new life.

John Gray draws together the religious, philosophic, and fantastical traditions that question the very idea of human freedom. We flatter ourselves about the nature of free will and yet the most enormous forces—logical, physical, metaphysical—constrain our every action. Many writers and intellectuals have always understood this, but instead of embracing our condition, we battle against it, with everyone from world conquerors to modern scientists dreaming of a "human dominion" almost comically at odds with our true state.

The riveting life story of Paul Rusesabagina - the man whose heroism inspired the film Hotel Rwanda.

Born Jalal ad-Din Mohammed Balkhi in Persia early in the thirteenth century, the poet known as Rumi expressed the deepest feelings of the heart through his poetry. This volume consists of new translations edited by Deepak Chopra to evoke the rich mood and music of Rumi's love poems.

Mary Oliver's perceptive, brilliantly crafted poems about the natural landscape and the fundamental questions of life and death have won high praise from critics and readers alike. "Do you love this world?" she interrupts a poem about peonies to ask the reader. "Do you cherish your humble and silky life?" She makes us see the extraordinary in our everyday lives, how something as common as light can be "an invitation/to happiness,/and that happiness,/when it's done right,/is a kind of holiness,/palpable and redemptive."