Jay Beck

Tervetuloa Pohjoismaiden suurimpaan verkkokirjakauppaan! Adlibris kannattaa sananvapautta, ja haluamme edistää kirjallisuuden ja tiedon saatavuutta.

Jay Beck has continued writing about the fascinating adventures of political consultant, Mark Young, in his next book, "Casting Stones." Set in Greece during the 1985 elections, the historical novel pits the United States against the Soviet Union in a battle over Greece's future political economic soul. The novel is set in the turbulent times of airline hijackings, terror bombing and assassinations. The Soviet KGB, Greek secret police and terrorists all conspire against Mark Young as he tries to win a national election while simultaneously rescuing the most valuable ancient sculpture ever created. Mark is torn between the turmoil in Greece and a critical situation threatening to end his relationship with his girlfriend, Vicki back in Washington, D. C. All of these diverse threads come together in an unexpected and thrilling conclusion.

The four classic tales in this volume illuminate Leo Tolstoy's radical orientation toward war and commerce, revealing his vision for a sustainable, peaceable world. The feature story, Ivan the Fool, presents an archetypal fool who works hard, cooperates with everyone, and manages to foil every attempt to cause his downfall. In the end, peasant life comes out on top, while the pillars of imperial Russian society topple down. Esarhaddon, King of Assyria explores a king's empathy-based revelation to end all violence; and A Grain as Big as a Hen's Egg playfully looks at the relationship between health, soil, labor, and food economies. Three Questions sums up Tolstoy's highest ideal of serving others in the present moment. Some may critique these stories as being too simplistic or too moralistic. But these tales have stood the test of time precisely because they entertain well while evoking universal truths that lift us above humanity's self-serving impulses. ""A rare gem This small book draws one into the sacred wisdom of the holy fool. Readers will savor kernels of life-giving insight, will find the soul smiling at truths it always knew but had forgotten, and will gain more power for the art of living rightly on this good Earth."" --Cynthia Moe-Lobeda, Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary (GTU) ""Ivan the Fool re-presents the ancient tradition of holy foolery for our postmodern age with tales of transgressive humor that disrupt power, scandalize the elite, and delight the masses. In Ivan's world, you don't have to pay to get in, but it'll cost you your life to get out. Welcome to the upside down."" --Rose Marie Berger, Sojourners magazine ""If Russia at feudalism's dusk had heeded these pointed folktales from her literary son, she might not have had to endure so many impish terrors, from Stalin to Putin. Yet Tolstoy's parables are just as relevant to toxic American militarism and plutocracy right now."" --Ched Myers and Elaine Enns, Bartimaeus Cooperative Ministries Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910) was one of the foremost Russian authors of the nineteenth century, known well for his novel, War and Peace. His ethical writings and short stories, which dealt with anarchist and pacifist themes, had a strong influence on Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. One collection of his tales can be found in Walk in the Light & Twenty-Three Tales. Ted Lewis (Editor) is a restorative justice consultant and trainer for the Center for Restorative Justice & Peacemaking (University of Minnesota). He lives in Duluth, Minnesota, where he runs the Agape Peace Center.

The late 1960s and 1970s are widely recognized as a golden age for American film, as directors like Francis Ford Coppola, George Lucas, and Martin Scorsese expanded the Hollywood model with aesthetically innovative works. As this groundbreaking new study reveals, those filmmakers were blessed with more than just visionary eyes; Designing Sound focuses on how those filmmakers also had keen ears that enabled them to perceive new possibilities for cinematic sound design. Offering detailed case studies of key films and filmmakers, Jay Beck explores how sound design was central to the era’s experimentation with new modes of cinematic storytelling. He demonstrates how sound was key to many directors’ signature aesthetics, from the overlapping dialogue that contributes to Robert Altman’s naturalism to the wordless interludes at the heart of Terrence Malick’s lyricism. Yet the book also examines sound design as a collaborative process, one where certain key directors ceded authority to sound technicians who offered significant creative input. Designing Sound provides readers with a fresh take on a much-studied era in American film, giving a new appreciation of how artistry emerged from a period of rapid industrial and technological change. Filled with rich behind-the-scenes details, the book vividly conveys how sound practices developed by 1970s filmmakers changed the course of American cinema.