The End Of Dissatisfaction

Explains why the American cultural obsession with enjoying ourselves actually makes it more difficult to do so.

Examines the gaze in Lacanian film theory.

BOOKER PRIZE WINNER • NATIONAL BESTSELLER • A novel that follows a middle-aged man as he contends with a past he never much thought about—until his closest childhood friends return with a vengeance: one of them from the grave, another maddeningly present. A novel so compelling that it begs to be read in a single setting, The Sense of an Ending has the psychological and emotional depth and sophistication of Henry James at his best, and is a stunning achievement in Julian Barnes's oeuvre. Tony Webster thought he left his past behind as he built a life for himself, and his career has provided him with a secure retirement and an amicable relationship with his ex-wife and daughter, who now has a family of her own. But when he is presented with a mysterious legacy, he is forced to revise his estimation of his own nature and place in the world.

In this book, Lucy Jane Ward argues that although contemporary scholarship tends to divide Agnes Heller's work chronologically in terms of her “Marxist” and subsequent “post-Marxist” periods, a closer reading reveals her work as a continuing engagement both with and against Marx's idea of the human being rich in need.

Despite creating vast inequalities and propping up reactionary world regimes, capitalism has many passionate defenders—but not because of what it withholds from some and gives to others. Capitalism dominates, Todd McGowan argues, because it mimics the structure of our desire while hiding the trauma that the system inflicts upon it. People from all backgrounds enjoy what capitalism provides, but at the same time are told more and better is yet to come. Capitalism traps us through an incomplete satisfaction that compels us after the new, the better, and the more. Capitalism's parasitic relationship to our desires gives it the illusion of corresponding to our natural impulses, which is how capitalism's defenders characterize it. By understanding this psychic strategy, McGowan hopes to divest us of our addiction to capitalist enrichment and help us rediscover enjoyment as we actually experienced it. By locating it in the present, McGowan frees us from our attachment to a better future and the belief that capitalism is an essential outgrowth of human nature. From this perspective, our economic, social, and political worlds open up to real political change. Eloquent and enlivened by examples from film, television, consumer culture, and everyday life, Capitalism and Desire brings a new, psychoanalytically grounded approach to political and social theory.

The Politics of Dissatisfaction: Citizens, Services, and Urban Institutions is destined to be a classic in public administration and public policy; it makes major theoretical and empirical contributions to the literature in both fields. It is a rigorous empirical attempt to assess the public choice view of citizenship and local government. The research upon which this book is based was founded on conversations between two of its authors, W. E. Lyons and David Lowery, during the early 1980s.

In the current economy, companies are expected to turn on a dime in response to changing market needs to stay vibrant. What that means is that companies are constantly reorganizing. Employees are living in a constant state of change. This dynamic in the workplace has affected worker satisfaction, morale, and burnout. This is the first treatment manual to focus on treating job-related issues, whether it's conflict in the workplace, stress, burnout, performance, and more. Divided into two parts, Part One sets the stage with a discussion of the economic climate and how it impacts businesses, how business reacts to it, and how the new business climate affects employees. Part Two lays out the most current research on effectively treating work-related client issues. Individual, group, and organizational interventions are included, along with case examples, practical treatment exercises, checklists, and outlines for treatment. Summarizes how the changing workplace impacts workers Covers effective ways of treating and preventing worker problems Includes case examples of treating common workplace depression, accidents, substance abuse, violence, stress, illness, conflict, and performance Discusses individual, group, and organizational interventions Provides online exercises, checklists, evaluation formats, and outlines for treatment Integrates issues of diversity including race, ethnicity, age, and gender

Set in the future when "firemen" burn books forbidden by the totalitarian "brave new world" regime.