When Marshall McLuhan first coined the phrases "global village" and "the medium is the message" in 1964, no-one could have predicted today's information-dependent planet. No-one, that is, except for a handful of science fiction writers and Marshall McLuhan. Understanding Media was written twenty years before the PC revolution and thirty years before the rise of the Internet.

Yet McLuhan's insights into our engagement with a variety of media led to a complete rethinking of our entire society. ...

This updated, second edition of the Handbook of Political Islam covers a range of political actors that use Islam to advance their cause. While they share the ultimate vision of establishing a political system governed by Islam, their tactics and methods can be very different. Capturing this diversity, this volume also sheds light on some of the less-known experiences from South East Asia to North Africa.

Drawing on expertise from some of the top scholars in the world, the chapters examine th...

When one defines "order" as a sorting of priorities, it becomes beautifully clear as to what Foucault is doing here. With virtuoso showmanship, he weaves an intensely complex history of thought. He dips into literature, art, economics and even biology in The Order of Things, possibly one of the most significant, yet most overlooked, works of the twentieth century.

Eclipsed by his later work on power and discourse, nonetheless it was The Order of Things that established Foucault's reputation a...

Clinical Chemistry is a comprehensive textbook covering the area of medical science variously known as chemical pathology, clinical chemistry, medical biochemistry and clinical biochemistry. The biochemical processes and physiological interrelationships, of tissues, organs and molecules are discussed in the context of disease processes and related to the diagnosis, monitoring, and management of disease. Also included are analytical processes, such as immunoassay, and how these relate to clini...

Strategic Management for Tourism, Hospitality and Events is the must-have text for students approaching this subject for the first time. It introduces students to fundamental strategic management principles in a tourism, hospitality and events context and brings theory to life by integrating a host of industry-based case studies and examples throughout. This fourth edition has been fully revised and updated to reflect the major changes in strategic direction for these industries due to the mo...

Why do people study religion? How have they studied it in the past? How do we study religion today? Is the academic study of religion the same as religious education? These and many other questions are addressed in this engaging introduction to the discipline of religious studies. Topics include:Definitions of religionPerspectives in the study and teaching of religionHow religion began to be studied: Traditional perspectives—philosophical and theologicalHow people experience religion: Persp...

Hebdige's Subculture: The Meaning of Style is so important: complex and remarkably lucid, it's the first book dealing with punk to offer intellectual content. Hebdige [...] is concerned with the UK's postwar, music-centred, white working-class subcultures, from teddy boys to mods and rockers to skinheads and punks.' - Rolling Stone With enviable precision and wit Hebdige has addressed himself to a complex topic - the meanings behind the fashionable exteriors of working-class youth subcultures...

In this fully revised fourth edition, this book treats globalization from several vantage points, showing how these help grasp the nature of globalization both in the past and today.

One of the most important texts of modern times, Herbert Marcuse's analysis and image of a one-dimensional man in a one-dimensional society has shaped many young radicals' way of seeing and experiencing life. Published in 1964, it fast became an ideological bible for the emergent New Left. As Douglas Kellner notes in his introduction, Marcuse's greatest work was a 'damning indictment of contemporary Western societies, capitalist and communist.' Yet it also expressed the hopes of a radical phi...

Governments these days often boast about the efficiency of their electronic systems. Information communication technologies (ICTs) apparently allow public service to become cheaper, faster and more democratic. E-government has become another buzzword, the shining future of the public realm.

Critics claim, however, that ICTs’ potential for democratic renewal is hampered by ancient assumptions of how governments should function. But which viewpoint is nearer the truth?In this original and ins...