Bodies

Bodies PDF Author: Gillian Bennett
Publisher: Univ. Press of Mississippi
ISBN: 160473065X
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 330

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Book Description
Because they are so often told as news, contemporary legends force us to reevaluate life as we know it. They confront us with macabre, fantastic, horrific, or hilarious characters and events that seem to come straight out of myths and folktales, but are presented as present day events. The difficulty is that it is not at all easy to decide whether these often disturbing stories should be treated as reliable or dismissed as fantasy. The legends explored in this book are some of the most bizarre, gruesome, and politically sensitive stories in the contemporary legend canon. At any moment a body may be invaded by noxious creatures, deliberately infected with deadly disease, or raided to provide donor organs for sick foreigners. These are "winter's tales," the stuff of nightmares. In this book Gillian Bennett traces the cultural history of six legends, well-known in Europe and America from medieval times to the present day. Appearing in broadsides, ballads, myths, ancient and modern legends, novels, plays, films, television shows, and stories told in the oral tradition, these legends are not just silly tales which can be dismissed as trivial and untrue. They reveal much about the concerns and fears of everyday life and demonstrate the limits of knowledge and power in the modern world.

Bodies

Bodies PDF Author: Gillian Bennett
Publisher: Univ. Press of Mississippi
ISBN: 160473065X
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 330

Get Book Here

Book Description
Because they are so often told as news, contemporary legends force us to reevaluate life as we know it. They confront us with macabre, fantastic, horrific, or hilarious characters and events that seem to come straight out of myths and folktales, but are presented as present day events. The difficulty is that it is not at all easy to decide whether these often disturbing stories should be treated as reliable or dismissed as fantasy. The legends explored in this book are some of the most bizarre, gruesome, and politically sensitive stories in the contemporary legend canon. At any moment a body may be invaded by noxious creatures, deliberately infected with deadly disease, or raided to provide donor organs for sick foreigners. These are "winter's tales," the stuff of nightmares. In this book Gillian Bennett traces the cultural history of six legends, well-known in Europe and America from medieval times to the present day. Appearing in broadsides, ballads, myths, ancient and modern legends, novels, plays, films, television shows, and stories told in the oral tradition, these legends are not just silly tales which can be dismissed as trivial and untrue. They reveal much about the concerns and fears of everyday life and demonstrate the limits of knowledge and power in the modern world.

Too Good to Be True: The Colossal Book of Urban Legends

Too Good to Be True: The Colossal Book of Urban Legends PDF Author: Jan Harold Brunvand
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN: 0393104168
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 485

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Book Description
"If you enjoy these too-good-to-be-true tales, Brunvand's new book will give you hours of pleasure."—Chicago Tribune A fabulously entertaining book from the ultimate authority on those almost believable tales that always happen to a "friend of a friend." Alligators in the sewers? A pet in the microwave? A tragic misunderstanding of the function of cruise control? No, it didn't really happen to your friend's sister's neighbor: it's an urban legend. And no matter how savvy you think you are, you are sure to find in this collection of over 200 tales at least one story you would have sworn was true. Jan Harold Brunvand has been collecting and studying this modern folklore for over twenty years. In Too Good to Be True he captures the best stories in their best retellings, along with their latest variations and examples of how the stories have changed as they move from person to person and place to place. To help you find your favorite, Brunvand has arranged the tales thematically. "Bringing Up Baby" is full of episodes of child-rearing gone wrong, including the grisly tale of the drugged out baby-sitter who mistakes the kid for a turkey. "Funny Business" showcases stories of infamous lapses in customer service, such as the story of the shockingly expensive chocolate chip cookie recipe. And "The Criminal Mind" features both brilliant --if they were real --scams, as well as the purported antics of the less mentally gifted. Whether you want to become an expert debunker or just have plenty of laughs, this book will surprise and entertain you. Illustrated throughout. "Informative and entertaining.... Brunvand has collected more than 200 of the most-repeated and best-known examples of modern folk-myth."—Tampa Tribune "[N]ot only an entertaining anthology, but an excellent introduction to the study of folklore itself."—Publishers Weekly "A fun read... . All the classics are here from the killer upstairs to the Kentucky Fried Rat."—New City "Resonant stories that express our hidden anxieties ... make us laugh, [or] arouse our fascinated horror."—San Francisco Chronicle Book Review "Informative and entertaining... . Brunvand has collected more than 200 of the most-repeated and best-known examples of modern folk-myth."—Tampa Tribune "[N]ot only an entertaining anthology, but an excellent introduction to the study of folklore itself."—Publishers Weekly

The Hamlet Fire

The Hamlet Fire PDF Author: Bryant Simon
Publisher: The New Press
ISBN: 1620972395
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 253

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Book Description
"Captivating and brilliantly conceived. . . [The Hamlet Fire] will provide readers with insights into our current national politics." —The Washington Post A "gifted writer" (Chicago Tribune) uses a long forgotten factory fire in small-town North Carolina to show how cut-rate food and labor have become the new American norm For decades, the small, quiet town of Hamlet, North Carolina, thrived thanks to the railroad. But by the 1970s, it had become a postindustrial backwater, a magnet for businesses searching for cheap labor with little or almost no official oversight. One of these businesses was Imperial Food Products. The company paid its workers a dollar above the minimum wage to stand in pools of freezing water for hours on end, scraping gobs of fat off frozen chicken breasts before they got dipped in batter and fried into golden brown nuggets and tenders. If a worker complained about the heat or the cold or missed a shift to take care of their children or went to the bathroom too often they were fired. But they kept coming back to work because Hamlet was a place where jobs were scarce. Then, on the morning of September 3, 1991, the day after Labor Day, this factory that had never been inspected burst into flame. Twenty-five people—many of whom were black women with children, living on their own—perished that day behind the plant’s locked and bolted doors. Eighty years after the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire, industrial disasters were supposed to have been a thing of the past. After spending several years talking to local residents, state officials, and survivors of the fire, award-winning historian Bryant Simon has written a vivid, potent, and disturbing social autopsy of this town, this factory, and this time that shows how cheap labor, cheap government, and cheap food came together in a way that was bound for tragedy.

Code of Federal Regulations

Code of Federal Regulations PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Administrative law
Languages : en
Pages : 1098

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Book Description


Legends

Legends PDF Author: Charles Bronson
Publisher: Mirage Publishing
ISBN: 9781902578224
Category : Criminals
Languages : en
Pages : 342

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Book Description
Charles Bronson, classified as the most dangerous prisoner in the UK penal system, reveals who's who in this A-Z guide of the underworld and beyond. It contains many characters with unusual names who influenced Bronson's life and leave little to the imagination: The Wizard, Semtex Man and Pie Man.

The Code of Federal Regulations of the United States of America

The Code of Federal Regulations of the United States of America PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Administrative law
Languages : en
Pages : 1092

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Book Description
The Code of Federal Regulations is the codification of the general and permanent rules published in the Federal Register by the executive departments and agencies of the Federal Government.

Tales, Rumors, and Gossip

Tales, Rumors, and Gossip PDF Author: Gail de Vos
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 0313069875
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 426

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Book Description
Explore the stories and themes that capture the imagination of young people today. A sampling of tales is organized into broad subject areas, such as contaminated food, threats to children, and satanic legends, and the tales are analyzed according to function, structure, and international variants. De Vos also discusses film and literary adaptions and offers suggestions for adapting tales for the junior high and high school curriculum. Explore the stories and themes that capture the imagination of young people today. After a fascinating overview and discussion of contemporary legends (commonly referred to as modern urban legends and often told as true), de Vos examines them in their relationship to rumors and gossip, ostension (acting out the legends), the role of the media in formulation and dissemination, and related tales (e.g., literary horror tales). A sampling of tales is organized into broad subject areas, such as contaminated food, threats to children, and satanic legends, and the legends are analyzed according to function, structure, and international variants. De Vos discusses some of the literary and visual adaptations in popular culture and offers suggestions for adapting tales for the junior high and high school curriculum. A fascinating professional book, this is a great resource to use with young adults.

Thursday Legends (Bob Skinner series, Book 10)

Thursday Legends (Bob Skinner series, Book 10) PDF Author: Quintin Jardine
Publisher: Headline
ISBN: 0755353633
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 275

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Book Description
Old scores are settled in blood... A brutal and apparently motiveless murder leads Skinner to suspect his own friends of treachery in Thursday Legends, the gripping crime novel of retribution and ultimate justice from acclaimed writer Quintin Jardine. Perfect for fans of Ian Rankin and Peter Robinson. 'This gritty, fast-paced mystery will pin even the most squeamish readers to the page' - Publishers Weekly For Deputy Chief Constable Bob Skinner, the Thursday night football game at the local gym has long been an unbroken ritual. With each match the players are a little older, a little slower, but as fiercely competitive as a gang of teenagers. Until the savagely mutilated body of a former player is found, and suddenly the Thursday Legends have more to worry about than aching backs and dodgy knees. Former Head of Special Branch Alec Smith made plenty of enemies during his long career - and there is no shortage of suspects. But as Skinner's investigation gathers pace, everything keeps pointing to the Legends themselves. Is someone targeting this disparate group of colleagues and friends in some bizarre scheme of retribution? Or is the murderer one of them? Either way, the hunt for the killer is going to come uncomfortably close to home... What readers are saying about Thursday Legends: 'Superb plotting, excellent, believable three-dimensional characterisation and a detective who's just tougher, scarier and more ingenious than the rest - and a flawed family man to boot' 'From the first page till the last it is a very hard book to put down' 'Five stars'

Monthly Weather Review

Monthly Weather Review PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Meteorology
Languages : en
Pages : 1212

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Book Description


The Global Grapevine

The Global Grapevine PDF Author: Gary Alan Fine
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199750459
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 268

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Book Description
Far from mere idle tales, rumors are a valuable window into our anxieties and fears. Rumors let us talk as a community about some very inflammatory issues--issues that may be embarrassing or disturbing to discuss-allowing us to act as if we are talking about real events, not personal beliefs. We can air our hidden fears and desires without claiming these attitudes as our own. In The Global Grapevine, two leading authorities on rumor, folklore, and urban legend--Gary Alan Fine and Bill Ellis--shed light on what contemporary rumors can tell us about the fears and pressures of globalization. In particular, they examine four major themes that emerge over and over again: rumors about terrorism, about immigration, about international trade, and about tourism. The authors analyze how various rumors underscore American reactions to perceived global threats, show how we interpret our changing world, and highlight fears, fantasies, and cherished beliefs about our place in the world. Along the way the book examines a wide variety of rumors-that the Israelis were behind 9-11, the President knew of the attack in advance, tourists wake up in foreign countries with their kidneys stolen, foreign workers urinate in vats of beer destined to be shipped to America. These rumors, the authors argue, reflect our anxieties and fears about contact with foreign cultures-whether we believe foreign competition to be poisoning the domestic economy or that foreign immigration to be eroding American values. Rumors are the visible tip of a vast iceberg of hidden anxieties. Illuminating the most widely circulated rumors in America in recent years, The Global Grapevine offers an invaluable portrait of what these tales reveal about contemporary society.