Author: Fabian Graham
Publisher: Manchester University Press
ISBN: 1526140594
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 236
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Book Description
In Singapore and Malaysia, the inversion of Chinese Underworld traditions has meant that Underworld demons are now amongst the most commonly venerated deities in statue form, channelled through their spirit mediums, tang-ki. The Chinese Underworld and its sub-hells are populated by a bureaucracy drawn from the Buddhist, Taoist and vernacular pantheons. Under the watchful eye of Hell’s ‘enforcers’, the lower echelons of demon soldiers impose post-mortal punishments on the souls of the recently deceased for moral transgressions committed during their prior incarnations. Voices from the Underworld offers an ethnography of contemporary Chinese Underworld traditions, where night-time cemetery rituals assist the souls of the dead, exorcised spirits are imprisoned in Guinness bottles, and malicious foetus ghosts are enlisted to strengthen a temple’s spirit army. Understanding the religious divergences between Singapore and Malaysia through an analysis of socio-political and historical events, Fabian Graham challenges common assumptions on the nature and scope of Chinese vernacular religious beliefs and practices. Graham’s innovative approach to alterity allows the reader to listen to first-person dialogues between the author and channelled Underworld deities. Through its alternative methodological and narrative stance, the book intervenes in debates on the interrelation between sociocultural and spiritual worlds, and promotes the de-stigmatisation of spirit possession and discarnate phenomena in the future study of mystical and religious traditions.
Author: Ivy Anderson
Publisher: Heyday.ORIM
ISBN: 1597143766
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 304
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Book Description
The collected memoirs of a 1913 San Francisco sex worker, their effect on society at the time, and where they fit in today’s world. In 1913 the San Francisco Bulletin published a serialized, ghostwritten memoir of a prostitute who went by Alice Smith. “A Voice from the Underworld” detailed Alice's humble Midwestern upbringing and her struggle to find aboveboard work, and candidly related the harrowing events she endured after entering “the life.” While prostitute narratives had been published before, never had they been as frank in their discussion of the underworld, including topics such as abortion, police corruption, and the unwritten laws of the brothel. Throughout the series, Alice strongly criticized the society that failed her and so many other women, but, just as acutely, she longed to be welcomed back from the margins. The response to Alice's story was unprecedented: four thousand letters poured into the Bulletin, many of which were written by other prostitutes ready to share their own stories; and it inspired what may have been the first sex worker rights protest in modern history. An introduction contextualizes “A Voice from the Underworld” amid Progressive Era sensationalistic journalism and shifting ideas of gender roles, and reveals themes in Alice's story that extend to issues facing sex workers today. Winner of the California Historical Society Book Award “Essential reading for anyone interested in the rich history of sexual commerce in the United States.”—Gretchen Soderlund, author of Sex Trafficking, Scandal, and the Transformation of Journalism, 1885-1917 “Not only for Bay Area history buffs, Alice will enlighten all readers to early shifts in gender roles and societal correlations today.”—Cassie Duggan, Literary Hub
Author: Charlotte Greig
Publisher: Arcturus Publishing
ISBN: 1848586884
Category : True Crime
Languages : en
Pages : 351
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Book Description
Thinking big and thinking bad, fifty of the world's most notorious criminal masterminds have lied, cheated, murdered and swindled their way onto the pages of this book. Many of these miscreants had the brains and charisma to be successful in legitimate walks of life, yet they chose to take a different path - a path that perhaps got them richer more quickly, certainly in the cases of mobster Al Capone, robber Ronnie Biggs and drug baron Howard Marks, but which ultimately was to lead to their downfall. The impetus to cross the moral boundary into criminal territory is not provided just by a desire for great wealth, however, as this compelling narrative reveals. Consider the motivation of spies such as the Cambridge Four, terrorists such as Osama bin Laden and Carlos the Jackal and outlaws such as Bonnie and Clyde. The aims of such individuals transcend the merely material. Their criminality is driven by a need to exert power and then experience the thrill the exerting of this power brings in its wake. Criminal Masterminds provides a fascinating insight into the careers and character flaws of the most audacious reprobates that have come to the attention of the world's lawmakers. It will entertain, astound and sometimes shock you. It might even give you ideas...
Author: Maningning C. Miclat
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Chinese
Languages : en
Pages : 276
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Book Description
Author: E A Rappaport
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780978939373
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 326
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Book Description
Minaras, a master elementalist, was killed in battle against a half-dragon, but his voice keeps Halia awake at night. At first she thinks it must be a hallucination, but when Xarun hears the pleas as well, they embark on a quest to assist their friend in the netherworld. Along the way, they enlist the aid of a necromancer whom Halia and her companions had seemingly murdered during a graveyard raid. Meanwhile, Inar, whose brother was killed by the necromancer, will stop at nothing to get his revenge.
Author: Kenneth Millard
Publisher: Edinburgh University Press
ISBN: 0748629548
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 200
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Book Description
This book explores the ways in which a range of recent American novelists have handled the genre of the 'coming-of-age' novel, or the Bildungsroman. Novels of this genre characteristically dramatise the vicissitudes of growing up and the trials and tribulations of young adulthood, often presented through depictions of immediate family relationships and other social structures. This book considers a variety of different American cultures (in terms of race, class and gender) and a range of contemporary coming-of-age novels, so that aesthetic judgements about the fiction might be made in the context of the social history that fiction represents. A series of questions are asked:* Does the coming-of-age moment in these novels coincide with an interpretation of the 'fall' of America?* What kind of national commentary does it therefore facilitate?* Is the Bildungsroman a quintessentially American genre?* What can it usefully tell us about contemporary American culture? Although the focus is on the conte
Author: Frank Lucius Packard
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Dale, Jimmie (Fictitious character)
Languages : en
Pages : 354
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Book Description
Author: Frank Lucius Packard
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 648
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Book Description
Author: Marco Zoppas
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 147665073X
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 195
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Book Description
Beyond revolutionizing rock and roll, Bob Dylan became a preacher on stage in the late 1970s, won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2016, opened a series of exhibits of his paintings, wrote three books, worked as a film director, and performed as an actor. Despite his decades in the public eye and vast range of artistic achievements, he remains an enigmatic figure. This book contains original interviews with 13 leading Dylanologists about why Dylan has remained such a compelling and important artist to the present day. Topics discussed are diverse, including his music, his time in cinema and his comparisons to Stanley Kubrick, his spiritual wisdom, and his award-winning poetry.
Author: I. A. Noah
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781541065703
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 130
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Book Description
Irene had lost her grandmother just a couple of days after she got married to the man she loved. Being the woman who had raised Irene, Jessica, Irene's grandmother couldn't easily let go of her granddaughter. Then, her ghost started to haunt her granddaughter, Irene, all in the name of love. For love sake, Pete had to save his wife from the visiting spirit of Jessica at all costs. To do so, he had to undergo through an unprepared journey. "Will Pete ever return back to me?" That was the echoing voice she heard in her head days and nights...
