Stross' novel follows several generations of the Macx family through the rapidly transforming, Internet-enabled global economy of the early twenty-first century to the human and transhuman populated worlds of the outer solar system a half century later. The saga begins with Macx patriarch Manfred, a freelance "venture altruist," giving away patentable high-tech ideas in exchange for endless handouts while looking forward to the day when nanotech-programmed smart matter surpasses humanity in intelligence and productivity.
Embroideries and Patterns of Nineteenth Century Vienna from the Nowotny Collection
Embroideries and Patterns from 19th Century Vienna is the first book devoted entirely to the petit-point of nineteenth century Vienna. Raffaella Serena surveys samplers motifs and decorative patterns such as garlands, flowers, animals and landscapes. The most significant patterns of the Nowotny collections are integrated with other examples drawn from different sources in order to a give a more rounded and complete historical and stylistic account of the period under consideration.
Aboriginal inhabitants in parts of Idaho, Washington, and Oregon, the Nez Perce faced dramatic changes to their peaceful and secure way of life after they welcomed members of the Lewis and Clark Expedition in 1805 and 1806. In the middle of the 19th century, the U.S. government pressured Nez Perce leaders to sign away a vast majority of their original 13-million-acre territory. Today, the Nez Perce manage their own government, operate local businesses. They are important contributors to Native organizations in the Northwest. Read about these dynamic people of North America, how they shaped life in the Northwest, and how their legacy continues in the 21st century.
Ilinca Zarifopol-Johnston's critical biography of the Romanian-born French philosopher E. M. Cioran focuses on his crucial formative years as a mystical revolutionary attracted to right-wing nationalist politics in interwar Romania, his writings of this period, and his self-imposed exile to France in 1937. This move led to his transformation into one of the most famous French moralists of the 20th century. As an enthusiast of the anti-rationalist philosophies widely popular in Europe during the first decades of the 20th century, Cioran became an advocate of the fascistic Iron Guard.
Franz Kafka is among the most intriguing and influential writers of the last century. During his lifetime he worked as a civil servant and published only a handful of short stories, the best known being The Transformation. His other three novels, published after his death, helped to found his reputation as a uniquely perceptive interpreter of the twentieth century. Discussing both Kafka's crisis-ridden life and the subtleties of his art, Ritchie Robertson provides an intriguing and accessible look at the life of this fascinating author.
