Fighting Nature

Fighting Nature PDF Author: Peta Tait
Publisher: Sydney University Press
ISBN: 1743324308
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 304

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Book Description
Throughout the 19th century animals were integrated into staged scenarios of confrontation, ranging from lion acts in small cages to large-scale re-enactments of war. Initially presenting a handful of exotic animals, travelling menageries grew to contain multiple species in their thousands. These 19th-century menageries entrenched beliefs about the human right to exploit nature through war-like practices against other animal species. Animal shows became a stimulus for antisocial behaviour as locals taunted animals, caused fights, and even turned into violent mobs. Human societal problems were difficult to separate from issues of cruelty to animals. Apart from reflecting human capacity for fighting and aggression, and the belief in human dominance over nature, these animal performances also echoed cultural fascination with conflict, war and colonial expansion, as the grand spectacles of imperial power reinforced state authority and enhanced public displays of nationhood and nationalistic evocations of colonial empires. Fighting nature is an insightful analysis of the historical legacy of 19th-century colonialism, war, animal acquisition and transportation. This legacy of entrenched beliefs about the human right to exploit other animal species is yet to be defeated. "Peta Tait brings to the book an impressive scholarly command of the documentary material, from which she draws a range of vivid examples and revealing analyses of human–animal confrontation in popular entertainments ... The book is written with verve and clarity, and will be of interest to a wide readership in performance studies and cultural history." Professor Jane R. Goodall, Western Sydney University Peta Tait FAHA is Professor of Theatre and Drama at La Trobe University and Visiting Professor at the University of Wollongong, and author of Wild and dangerous performances: animals, emotions, circus (2012).

Fighting Nature

Fighting Nature PDF Author: Peta Tait
Publisher: Sydney University Press
ISBN: 1743324308
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 304

Get Book Here

Book Description
Throughout the 19th century animals were integrated into staged scenarios of confrontation, ranging from lion acts in small cages to large-scale re-enactments of war. Initially presenting a handful of exotic animals, travelling menageries grew to contain multiple species in their thousands. These 19th-century menageries entrenched beliefs about the human right to exploit nature through war-like practices against other animal species. Animal shows became a stimulus for antisocial behaviour as locals taunted animals, caused fights, and even turned into violent mobs. Human societal problems were difficult to separate from issues of cruelty to animals. Apart from reflecting human capacity for fighting and aggression, and the belief in human dominance over nature, these animal performances also echoed cultural fascination with conflict, war and colonial expansion, as the grand spectacles of imperial power reinforced state authority and enhanced public displays of nationhood and nationalistic evocations of colonial empires. Fighting nature is an insightful analysis of the historical legacy of 19th-century colonialism, war, animal acquisition and transportation. This legacy of entrenched beliefs about the human right to exploit other animal species is yet to be defeated. "Peta Tait brings to the book an impressive scholarly command of the documentary material, from which she draws a range of vivid examples and revealing analyses of human–animal confrontation in popular entertainments ... The book is written with verve and clarity, and will be of interest to a wide readership in performance studies and cultural history." Professor Jane R. Goodall, Western Sydney University Peta Tait FAHA is Professor of Theatre and Drama at La Trobe University and Visiting Professor at the University of Wollongong, and author of Wild and dangerous performances: animals, emotions, circus (2012).

War and Nature

War and Nature PDF Author: Edmund Russell
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521799379
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 340

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Book Description
This 2001 book shows the intersection of chemical warfare and pest control in the twentieth century.

Fighting Means Killing

Fighting Means Killing PDF Author: Jonathan M. Steplyk
Publisher: University Press of Kansas
ISBN: 0700631860
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 304

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Book Description
“War means fighting, and fighting means killing,” Confederate cavalry commander Nathan Bedford Forrest famously declared. The Civil War was fundamentally a matter of Americans killing Americans. This undeniable reality is what Jonathan Steplyk explores in Fighting Means Killing, the first book-length study of Union and Confederate soldiers’ attitudes toward, and experiences of, killing in the Civil War. Drawing upon letters, diaries, and postwar reminiscences, Steplyk examines what soldiers and veterans thought about killing before, during, and after the war. How did these soldiers view sharpshooters? How about hand-to-hand combat? What language did they use to describe killing in combat? What cultural and societal factors influenced their attitudes? And what was the impact of race in battlefield atrocities and bitter clashes between white Confederates and black Federals? These are the questions that Steplyk seeks to answer in Fighting Means Killing, a work that bridges the gap between military and social history—and that shifts the focus on the tragedy of the Civil War from fighting and dying for cause and country to fighting and killing.

The Laws of Human Nature

The Laws of Human Nature PDF Author: Robert Greene
Publisher: Robert Greene
ISBN:
Category : Self-Help
Languages : en
Pages : 73

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Book Description
SUMMARY: This book is If you’ve ever wondered about human behavior, wonder no more. In The Laws of Human Nature, Greene takes a look at 18 laws that reveal who we are and why we do the things we do. Humans are complex beings, but Greene uses these laws to strip human nature down to its bare bones. Every law that he presents is supported by a real-life historical account, with an insightful twist to drive the point home. As you read the book, don’t be surprised if you get the feeling that everyone you know, including yourself, is described in the book! DISCLAIMER: This is an UNOFFICIAL summary and not the original book. It is designed to record all the key points of the original book.

A Force for Nature

A Force for Nature PDF Author: John H. Adams
Publisher: Chronicle Books
ISBN: 0811878759
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 401

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Book Description
The pioneering environmental activist recounts his decades-long fight for our planet through the NDRC—with a foreword by Robert Redford. In 1970, John H. Adams was fed up with the levels of pollution in New York City. How could he raise children in a place where layers of soot covered the windows? Working as a lawyer for the U.S. Attorney’s office, he and fellow lawyers teamed up to form Natural Resources Defense Council, a grassroots environmental advocacy group. Over the years, NDRC has grown into an international powerhouse with 1.2 million members and a staff of scientists and lawyers whose mission is to safeguard the planet. This inspiring memoir tells the story of the NRDC and the environmental movement it sparked.

Why We Fight

Why We Fight PDF Author: David Churchman
Publisher: University Press of America
ISBN: 0761861386
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 335

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Book Description
This book draws on twenty-four academic disciplines to provide a critical analysis of some 100 theories that explain the origins, nature, and management of human conflict. The book treats intellectual, individual, moral, interpersonal, organizational, community, political, and international conflicts. It suggests six criteria for distinguishing good from bad theory and discusses how existing theories may be used and improved.

Bats

Bats PDF Author: Marianne Taylor
Publisher:
ISBN: 1782405577
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 403

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Book Description
This extravagantly illustrated handbook features the work of famed nature photographer Merlin D. Tuttle and in-depth profiles of megabats and microbats.

Fighting for Andean Resources

Fighting for Andean Resources PDF Author: Vladimir R. Gil Ramón
Publisher: University of Arizona Press
ISBN: 0816530718
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 329

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Book Description
Mining investment in Peru has been presented as necessary for national progress; however, it also has brought socioenvironmental costs, left unfulfilled hopes for development, and has become a principal source of confrontation and conflict. Fighting for Andean Resources focuses on the competing agendas for mining benefits and the battles over their impact on proximate communities in the recent expansion of the Peruvian mining frontier. The book complements renewed scrutiny of how globalization nurtures not solely antagonism but also negotiation and participation. Having mastered an intimate knowledge of Peru, Vladimir R. Gil Ramón insightfully documents how social technologies of power are applied through social technical protocols of accountability invoked in defense of nature and vulnerable livelihoods. Although analyses point to improvements in human well-being, a political and technical debate has yet to occur in practice that would define what such improvements would be, the best way to achieve and measure them, and how to integrate dimensions such as sustainability and equity. Many confrontations stem from frustrated expectations, environmental impacts, and the virtual absence of state apparatus in the locations where new projects emerged. This book presents a multifaceted perspective on the processes of representation, the strategies in conflicts and negotiations of development and nature management, and the underlying political actions in sites affected by mining.

Half-Earth: Our Planet's Fight for Life

Half-Earth: Our Planet's Fight for Life PDF Author: Edward O. Wilson
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN: 1631490834
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 256

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Book Description
"An audacious and concrete proposal…Half-Earth completes the 86-year-old Wilson’s valedictory trilogy on the human animal and our place on the planet." —Jedediah Purdy, New Republic In his most urgent book to date, Pulitzer Prize–winning author and world-renowned biologist Edward O. Wilson states that in order to stave off the mass extinction of species, including our own, we must move swiftly to preserve the biodiversity of our planet. In this "visionary blueprint for saving the planet" (Stephen Greenblatt), Half-Earth argues that the situation facing us is too large to be solved piecemeal and proposes a solution commensurate with the magnitude of the problem: dedicate fully half the surface of the Earth to nature. Identifying actual regions of the planet that can still be reclaimed—such as the California redwood forest, the Amazon River basin, and grasslands of the Serengeti, among others—Wilson puts aside the prevailing pessimism of our times and "speaks with a humane eloquence which calls to us all" (Oliver Sacks).

Consider the Platypus

Consider the Platypus PDF Author: Maggie Ryan Sandford
Publisher: Black Dog & Leventhal
ISBN: 0762493631
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 449

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Book Description
*FINALIST FOR THE 2020 GENERAL NONFICTION MINNESOTA BOOK AWARDS* Interested in the origins of the species? Consider the Platypus uses pets such as dogs and cats as well as animal outliers like the axolotl and naked mole rat to wittily tackle mind-bending concepts about how evolution, biology, and genetics work. Consider the Platypus explores the history and features of more than 50 animals to provide insight into our current understanding of evolution. Using Darwin's theory as a springboard, Maggie Ryan Sandford details scientists' initial understanding of the development of creatures and how that has expanded in the wake of genetic sequencing, including the: Peppered Moth, which changed color based on the amount of soot in the London air; California Two-Spotted Octopus, which has the amazing ability to alter its DNA/RNA not over generations but during its lifetime; miniscule tardigrade, which is so hearty it can withstand radiation, lack of water and oxygen, and temperatures as low as -328°F and as high 304 °F; and, of course, the platypus, which has so many disparate features, from a duck's bill to venomous spur to mammary patches, that scientists originally thought it was a hoax. Surprising, witty, and impeccably researched, Sandford describes each animal's significant features and how these have adapted to its environment, such as the zebra finch's beak shape, which was observed by Charles Darwin and is a cornerstone of his Theory of Evolution. With scientifically accurate but charming art by Rodica Prato, Consider the Platypus showcases species as diverse as the sloth, honey bee, cow, brown kiwi, and lungfish, to name a few, to tackle intimidating concepts is a accessible way.