The Party Line

An elderly man reflects back to 1971 when, as an adventurous youth of seventeen years, he discovered a realm of unconscious, extrasensory communication—revealing a world filled with gods! The youth explores an aethereal realm inhabited by a monster, a ghost, dragons locked in eternal conflict, a phoenix, spiritual teachers, and perhaps a goddess or two. In a series of ill-planned probes into the nether world, the youth manages to ensnare his dear friend in an ongoing conflict of voices coalescing into ever more powerful forces—leading to his friend’s tragic demise. His friend’s ghost demands vengeance. Should he avenge his friend’s death? If so, how can he kill a monster that is the creation of the hateful, unconscious thoughts of millions of sentient beings? Through sustained meditations on the logic of scientific proof, including examination of fundamental evidence for quantum theory, the youth becomes convinced that all is consciousness—no material world exists. Perhaps with sheer will he could choose from the many possible worlds one that does not include his friend’s death? But he soon realizes that just as there are laws of the physical world there are also inexorable forces in the conscious domain. He finds that he must meet the monster of his suffering on its own terms.

An enthralling novel of individual bravery versus silent, collective complicity, set in a vividly drawn farming community in 1970s New Zealand. The Baxters do not know their place. On the first of June every year, sharemilkers load their trucks with their families, pets and possessions and crawl along the highways towards new farms, new lives. They’re inching towards that ultimate dream — buying their own land. Fenward’s always been lucky with its sharemilkers: grateful, grafting folk who understand what’s expected of them. Until now, when grief-stricken Ian Baxter and his precocious daughter, Gabrielle, arrive. Nickie Walker is enchanted by the glamour and worldliness of Gabrielle. Nickie's mother finds herself in the crossfire of a moral battle she dreads to confront. Each has a story to share. This is a coming-of-age story for two young girls who hold a mirror up to the place and people they love. It’s a coming-of-age story, too, for a community forced to stare back at the image of a damaged soul. The question is: who will blink first?

This book examines the exercise of power in the Stalinist music world as well as the ways in which composers and ordinary people responded to it. It presents a comparative inquiry into the relationship between music and politics in the German Democratic Republic and Poland from the aftermath of World War II through Stalin's death in 1953, concluding with the slow process of de-Stalinization in the mid-to late-1950s. The author explores how the Communist parties in both countries expressed their attitudes to music of all kinds, and how composers, performers, and audiences cooperated with, resisted, and negotiated these suggestions and demands. Based on a deep analysis of the archival and contemporary published sources on state, party, and professional organizations concerned with musical life, Tompkins argues that music, as a significant part of cultural production in these countries, played a key role in instituting and maintaining the regimes of East Central Europe. As part of the Stalinist project to create and control a new socialist identity at the personal as well as collective level, the ruling parties in East Germany and Poland sought to saturate public space through the production of music. Politically effective ideas and symbols were introduced that furthered their attempts to, in the parlance of the day, "engineer the human soul." Music also helped the Communist parties establish legitimacy. Extensive state support for musical life encouraged musical elites and audiences to accept the dominant position and political missions of these regimes. Party leaders invested considerable resources in the attempt to create an authorized musical language that would secure and maintain hegemony over the cultural and wider social worlds. The responses of composers and audiences ran the gamut from enthusiasm to suspicion, but indifference was not an option.

The gripping story of the emergence of a powerful new force in American politics Sara Miles's How to Hack the Party Line is the first book to explain the political significance of the high-technology industry, and to show the birth of a relationship between the new millionaires of the Information Age and power-hungry Washington insiders that will shape the politics of the twenty-first century. Packed with exclusive, behind-the-scenes reporting, How to Hack a Party Line chronicles a high-stakes experiment: the creation of Silicon Valley's first political machine. The book explores the often contradictory forces behind Silicon Valley's political awakening -- a mixture of naive libertarian sentiment, northern California social attitudes, aggressive business instincts, and a raw desire for power. Simultaneously it looks at centrist "new Democrats" who have left behind the labor coalitions of the industrial economy and are seeking a new identity in the values proclaimed by high-tech capitalists: growth, globalism, efficiency, and innovation. How to Hack the Party Line combines a colorful, character-rich narrative with serious reporting and political analysis. It asks what values prosper when high-tech business becomes the metaphor for society? And how, in the twenty-first century, will democracy respond?

The first in-depth, authoritative discussion of the role of the press in China and the way the Chinese government uses the media to shape public opinion China's 1.3 billion population may make the country the world's largest, but the vast majority of Chinese share remarkably similar views on these and a wide array of other issues, thanks to the unified message they get from tightly controlled state-run media. Official views are formed at the top in organizations like the Xinhua News Agency and China Central Television and allowed to trickle down to regional and local media, giving the appearance of many voices with a single message that is reinforced at every level. As a result, the Chinese are remarkably like-minded on a wide range of issues both domestic and foreign. Takes readers beyond China's economic miracle to show how the nation's massive state-run media complex not only influences public opinion but creates it Explores an array of issues, from Tibet and Taiwan to the environment and US trade relations, as seen through the lens of the Xinhua News Agency Tells the story of the official Xinhua News Agency along with its history and reporting over the years, as the foundation for telling the story

A great gift for new and experienced crocheters alike, Crochet Stitch Dictionary offers 200 stitches with detailed written, charted, and photographed instructions. With colorful and eye-catching "candy-box" sampler pages that start every section, this essential book presents hundreds of stitches organized in 10 color-coded sections: - Basic stitches - Fans & Shells - Bobbles & Clusters - Spike stitches - Post stitches - Mesh & Filet - Cable stitches - Tunisian stitches, and more! Each stitch pattern shows a large finished swatch in actual size, along with step-by-step photo instructions that clearly explain where the yarn goes each step of the way. Crochet Stitch Dictionary offers excellent useful instruction and inspiration for all crocheters.