Epic Encounters

Epic Encounters examines how popular culture has shaped the ways Americans define their "interests" in the Middle East. In this innovative book—now brought up-to-date to include 9/11 and the Iraq war—Melani McAlister argues that U.S. foreign policy, while grounded in material and military realities, is also developed in a cultural context. American understandings of the region are framed by narratives that draw on religious belief, news media accounts, and popular culture. This remarkable and pathbreaking book skillfully weaves lively and accessible readings of film, media, and music with a rigorous analysis of U.S. foreign policy, race politics, and religious history. The new chapter, titled "9/11 and After: Snapshots on the Road to Empire," considers and brilliantly analyzes five images that have become iconic: (1) New York City firemen raising the American flag out of the rubble of the World Trade Center, (2) the televised image of Osama bin-Laden, (3) Afghani women in burqas, (4) the statue of Saddam Hussein being toppled in Baghdad, and (5) the hooded and wired prisoner in Abu Ghraib. McAlister's singular achievement is to illuminate the contexts of these five images both at the time they were taken and as they relate to current events, an accomplishment all the more remarkable since—to paraphrase her new preface—we are today struggling to look backward at something that is still rushing ahead.

Examines how popular culture has shaped the ways Americans define their "interests" in the Middle East. Author McAlister argues that U.S. foreign policy, while grounded in material and military realities, is also developed in a cultural context. American understandings of the region are framed by narratives that draw on religious belief, news media accounts, and popular culture. This book skillfully weaves readings of film, media, and music with a rigorous analysis of U.S. foreign policy, race politics, and religious history.--From publisher description.

Wildlife expert and YouTube phenomenon, Coyote Peterson, is back with the sequel to the bestselling Brave Adventures: Wild Animals in a Wild World. Once again, Coyote and his crew voyage to new environments and encounter an even more eclectic ensemble of the planets' animals. From a slimy octopus to elusive tree climbing lizards to nomadic wolverines--this book promises to be another fast-paced, wild experience. Coyote will take readers for a hike through a snake infested island, kayak the ocean to discover a migrating pod of killer whales, and track a pride of lions across the South African savanna! You don't want to miss these never-before-told brave adventures, guaranteed to be a hit with Coyote's 13 million fans as well as animal lovers around the world! Includes over one hundred hand-drawn, black-and-white illustrations throughout.

#1 Bookscan in Juvenile Non-fiction! ─ Be Brave… Stay Wild! Animal Stories for Kids: Coyote Peterson's Brave Adventures: Wild Animals in a Wild World chronicles some of the wildest encounters Coyote Peterson has had over the course of his travels. The stories begin with his first snapping turtle catch as a kid and lead down a trail of incredible moments he and his camera crew have had while filming their Brave Wilderness shows. From a giant alligator that nearly caught Coyote in its bone crushing jaws, to an 800 pound Grizzly Bear that helped him teach the audience what to do and NOT do if you ever encounter one of these enormous predators in the wild, every tale is laced with fast paced action and daring adventure. With the presence of danger often looming for Coyote, each story reminds the reader that animals rule the wild places of this planet, and if we respect them from a safe distance, even the most frightening creatures are more likely to be afraid of us than we should ever be of them. Exciting animal stories for kids of all ages: This collection of short stories aims to give the reader a first-person perspective into some of Coyote’s most harrowing and heartwarming adventures.

The deeds and struggles of Gilgamesh, legendary king of the city-state Uruk in the land of Sumer, have fascinated readers for millennia. They are preserved primarily in the Epic of Gilgamesh, one of the most well-known pieces of Mesopotamian literature. Studying the text draws us into an orbit that is engaging and thrilling, for it is a work of fantasy and legend that addresses some of the very existential issues with which contemporary readers still grapple. We experience the excitement of trying to penetrate the mind-set of another civilization, an ancient one—in this instance, a civilization that ultimately gave rise to our own. The studies gathered here all demonstrate Tzvi Abusch’s approach to ancient literature: to make use of the tools of literary, structural, and critical analysis in service of exploring the personal and psychological dimensions of the narration. The author focuses especially on the encounters between males and females in the story. The essays are not only instructive for understanding the Epic of Gilgamesh, they also serve as exemplary studies of ancient literature with a view to investigating streams of commonality between ancient times and ours

The world's oldest work of literature, the Epic of Gilgamesh recounts the adventures of the semimythical Sumerian king of Uruk and his ultimately futile quest for immortality after the death of his friend and companion, Enkidu, a wildman sent by the gods. Gilgamesh was deified by the Sumerians around 2500 BCE, and his tale as we know it today was codified in cuneiform tablets around 1750 BCE and continued to influence ancient cultures—whether in specific incidents like a world-consuming flood or in its quest structure—into Roman times. The epic was, however, largely forgotten, until the cuneiform tablets were rediscovered in 1872 in the British Museum's collection of recently unearthed Mesopotamian artifacts. In the decades that followed its translation into modern languages, the Epic of Gilgamesh has become a point of reference throughout Western culture. In Gilgamesh among Us, Theodore Ziolkowski explores the surprising legacy of the poem and its hero, as well as the epic’s continuing influence in modern letters and arts. This influence extends from Carl Gustav Jung and Rainer Maria Rilke's early embrace of the epic's significance—"Gilgamesh is tremendous!" Rilke wrote to his publisher's wife after reading it—to its appropriation since World War II in contexts as disparate as operas and paintings, the poetry of Charles Olson and Louis Zukofsky, novels by John Gardner and Philip Roth, and episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation and Xena: Warrior Princess. Ziolkowski sees fascination with Gilgamesh as a reflection of eternal spiritual values—love, friendship, courage, and the fear and acceptance of death. Noted writers, musicians, and artists from Sweden to Spain, from the United States to Australia, have adapted the story in ways that meet the social and artistic trends of the times. The spirit of this capacious hero has absorbed the losses felt in the immediate postwar period and been infused with the excitement and optimism of movements for gay rights, feminism, and environmental consciousness. Gilgamesh is at once a seismograph of shifts in Western history and culture and a testament to the verities and values of the ancient epic.

The first in a line of adventures within the National Geographic Kids Chapters series, Crocodile Encounters will surely prove to be one of the most exciting. Follow along with National Geographic explorer Brady Barr as he crawls into a muddy hole just barely big enough for his shoulders, and comes face to face with thirteen crocodiles! Laugh out loud as you learn how to catch a crocodile using shoe laces and underpants. Read in anticipation to find out what happens when you put a 600-lb crocodile on an airplane in just a flimsy wooden crate. These action-packed stories and more will engage readers and inspire them to go out and explore their own world. Stories include: • "Undercover Croc," in which Brady "becomes a crocodile," by donning a specially-designed protective croc suit, and infiltrates a group of Nile crocodiles in Tanzania. • "Toy Story," in which he uses (and loses) a radio-controlled car with video camera, in a hilarious failed attempt to capture a Nile crocodile in South Africa. • "Deep Dark Den"--in an attempt to relocate a group of crocodiles causing problems to neighboring villagers in Costa Rica, Brady finds himself underground in a deep muddy hole with thirteen angry crocs. • "Croc in a Box," Brady tries to move a giant, troublesome croc from Uganda safely to an American zoo, but discovers the croc is much stronger than the "sturdy wooden box" that has been built to contain him. National Geographic supports K-12 educators with ELA Common Core Resources. Visit www.natgeoed.org/commoncore for more information. Releases simultaneously in Reinforced Library Binding: 978-1-4263-1029-4 , $14.90/$16.95 Can E-book: 978-1-4263-1030-0 , $5.99/$5.99 Can

In Unexplained: Ghostly Encounters, readers in grades 5-9 will take a look at some of the scariest claims of ghostly encounters throughout history. Things go bump in the night, people see things they can't explain, strange figures suddenly appear and then vanish—are they real or imagined? The Unexplained series is designed for readers to be able to flip through until an image catches their interest. Each 32-page book includes spreads that feature a handful of info-packed sentences. Quick tidbits mean the book doesn't have to be read cover to cover, making this series perfect for reluctant readers.