No Alternative

"Simultaneously brutal and funny, caustic and caring, 'No Alternative' is a sacrament to be shared by all the survivors who grew up at the tail end of the fragmenting century." -Jack O'Connell, author of "The Resurrectionist" "No Alternative" is a coming-of-age drama that drills a hole into the world of suburban American teenagers in the early '90s. Thomas Harrison is determined to start his own alternative band, an obsession that blinds him to what's either the mental collapse, or the eruption of musical genius, of his little sister, Bridget. Bridget boldly rejects her brother's music, and the music of an entire generation of slackers, by taking on the persona of a gangsta' rapper named "Bri Da B." "No Alternative" probes the lives of rebellious kids who transition into adulthood via the distortion pedals of their lives in an era when the "Sex, Drugs & Rock 'n' Roll" ethos was amended to include "Suicide" in its phrase. "No Alternative" is now a major motion picture starring Michaela Cavazos, Conor Proft, Chloe Levine, Kathryn Erbe and Harry Hamlin. This updated edition of the novel includes a Foreword by Harry Hamlin and an Afterword by William Dickerson, which explores the making of the film.

Great Britain in the 1970s appeared to be in terminal decline—ungovernable, an economic train wreck, and rapidly headed for global irrelevance. Three decades later, it is the richest and most influential country in Europe, and Margaret Thatcher is the reason. The preternaturally determined Thatcher rose from nothing, seized control of Britain’s Conservative party, and took a sledgehammer to the nation’s postwar socialist consensus. She proved that socialism could be reversed, inspiring a global free-market revolution. Simultaneously exploiting every politically useful aspect of her femininity and defying every conventional expectation of women in power, Thatcher crushed her enemies with a calculated ruthlessness that stunned the British public and without doubt caused immense collateral damage. Ultimately, however, Claire Berlinski agrees with Thatcher: There was no alternative. Berlinski explains what Thatcher did, why it matters, and how she got away with it in this vivid and immensely readable portrait of one of the towering figures of the twentieth century.

The author, Shmuel Shimshoni, born in Montreal Canada and now living in Israel, has created a number of imaginative essays, some bordering on fictionalized reality.We find David, a timid clerk looking for the host. His cell phone indicates an incoming call that happens to be from the elusive host. The voice notifies him, I won't be joining you for the Sabbath retreat. Therefore it's up to you to take things in hand and organize a program.With no alternative, our central figure somehow finds a way to become the leader of thirteen other men who were likewise invited to attend this event in total ignorance of what to expect.Throughout the story a fine strand connects all fourteen total strangers. They all have something to contribute; as between courses during their meals, each one tells of an event in his life that unwittingly relates to the other participants.But before they even get to eat their first meal they are introduced to a discourse based upon a little known religious ruling about how guests are supposed to conduct themselves, especially when the host is absent.All the seemingly disconnected guests share something in common. But it is not till the very end of the day that they learn what it is, as a most completely unexpected secret is revealed.

Recent anthropological scholarship on “new midwifery” centers on how professional midwives in various countries are helping women reconnect with “nature,” teaching them to trust in their bodies, respecting women’s “choices,” and fighting for women’s right to birth as naturally as possible. In No Alternative, Rosalynn A. Vega uses ethnographic accounts of natural birth practices in Mexico to complicate these narratives about new midwifery and illuminate larger questions of female empowerment, citizenship, and the commodification of indigenous culture, by showing how alternative birth actually reinscribes traditional racial and gender hierarchies. Vega contrasts the vastly different birthing experiences of upper-class and indigenous Mexican women. Upper-class women often travel to birthing centers to be delivered by professional midwives whose methods are adopted from and represented as indigenous culture, while indigenous women from those same cultures are often forced by lack of resources to use government hospitals regardless of their preferred birthing method. Vega demonstrates that women’s empowerment, having a “choice,” is a privilege of those capable of paying for private medical services—albeit a dubious privilege, as it puts the burden of correctly producing future members of society on women’s shoulders. Vega’s research thus also reveals the limits of citizenship in a neoliberal world, as indigeneity becomes an object of consumption within a transnational racialized economy.

Grunge. Flannel. Generation X. In 1993, Seattle was the capital of the world, Nirvana was king, and slackers were everywhere. When the Red Hot organization, a group of activists dedicated to raising money and awareness of AIDS, released their third compilation CD featuring the biggest bands of the era--Soundgarden, Smashing Pumpkins, Beastie Boys, The Breeders, Nirvana and more it quickly became the touchstone of a generation. Rolling Stone called No Alternative a "jaw-dropping compilation of musical gems." This book takes a look back at what happened to the bands involved with No Alternative. It includes new interviews with the musicians and others behind the record, and chronicles the downfall of an industry, the taming of a devastating illness, and the arrival of another global pandemic. It's about growing up, saying goodbye, and proving once more that you can't go home again (even if that's where you left all of your CDs).

Nancy Abelmann is Harry E. Preble Professor and associate vice chancellor for research (humanities, arts, and related fields) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Jung-Ah Choi is an adjunct faculty member at Fairleigh Dickinson University. So Jin Park is a research fellow at the institute for Social Development Studies at Yonsei University. --Book Jacket.

An analysis of the ways in which capitalism has presented itself as the only realistic political-economic system.