Essential Reads from Combined Academic Publishers Spring/Summer 2022 Animal Revolution
Automation Is a Myth
Animals are staging a revolu�on—they’re just not telling us. From radioac�ve boar invading towns to jellyfish disarming ba�leships, this book threads together news accounts and more in a powerful and �mely work of crea�ve, specula�ve nonfic�on that imagines a revolu�on s�rring and asks how humans can be a part of it.
For some, automa�on will usher in a labor-free utopia; for others, it signals a disastrous age-tocome. Munn moves from machine minders in China to warehouse pickers in the United States to explore the ways that new technologies do (and don't) reconfigure labor. Combining this rich array of human stories with insights from media and cultural studies, Munn points to a more nuanced, localized, and racialized understanding of the "future of work."
Ron Broglio Illustrations by Marina Zurkow
The animals are staging a revolu�on and we didn't even realise? A fantas�c book, with beau�ful yet intriguing illustra�ons, talking about just how far nature will go to fight back against the human takeover of earth. A reminder that we (as humans) remain part of something expanding wider than our socie�es. A definite must read. UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA PRESS
Luke Munn
Automa�on is a Myth starts by de-bunking the myths that machines will replace us all in the workplace one day. Munn explains the nuances of machine capability and work replacement, ul�mately building a fantas�c array of human stories and insights into the future of work. STANFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS March 2022 184pp 9781503631427 £16.99 PB
April 2022 25 b&w illus. 160pp 9781517912444 £16.99 PB
Charged
China in the World
A History of Batteries and Lessons for a Clean Energy Future James Morton Turner
Culture, Politics, and World Vision Ban Wang Shows how ancient visions persist even as China has adopted and revised the Western na�on-state form. Wang traces the shi�ing concept of the Chinese state from the late nineteenth century to the present, showing how the Confucian no�on of �anxia—“all under heaven”—influences China’s dedica�on to contribu�ng to and exchanging with a common world.
Unpacks the history of ba�eries to explore why solving “the ba�ery problem” is cri�cal to a clean energy transi�on. At a �me when climate ac�vists focus on what a clean energy future will create, considering the history of ba�eries offers a sharp reminder of what building a clean energy future will consume—lithium, graphite, nickel, and other specialized materials. It's becoming obvious to us all just how necessary green energy is going to become. With our increasing reliance on technology, and the ba�eries it uses, this is an excellent star�ng place for understanding how we can solve this issue the ba�ery issue the world over.
There are many misconcep�ons about China; Ban Wang traces the evolu�on of modern China from the late nineteenth century to the present, presen�ng the Chinese worldview as one looking toward an equal world. DUKE UNIVERSITY PRESS
UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON PRESS
Series: Sinotheory
May 2022 12 b&w illus. 9780295750248 £26.99 HB
March 2022 3 illus. 232pp 9781478010845 £19.99 PB
Denial
Discovering Fiction
How We Hide, Ignore, and Explain Away Problems Jared Del Rosso
Yan Lianke Translated by Carlos Rojas A�er emerging as one of the most important writers in the world, eminent Chinese novelist Lianke offers insights into his views on literature and realism, the major works that inspired him, and his theories of wri�ng. Revealing and instruc�ve, this book gives readers an unprecedented look into the mind and art of a literary giant.
In a highly readable style that draws on examples from current events, poli�cs, and pop culture, Del Rosso builds a fascina�ng typology of the forms and meanings of denial, exploring the behavior of those who refuse to acknowledge their ac�ons, and what it means to live in a society where such lying, fraud, and corrup�on is commonplace. In an age of "fake news", this book shines a light on how people across the world, o�en get so caught up in it, even when it's harmful to us. Denial illustrates how we so o�en miss the truths right in front of us and how we, as a people, are o�en so willing to get caught up in our denial of these truths. NEW YORK UNIVERSITY PRESS July 2022 320pp 9781479828968 £20.99 HB
This new book from Yan Lianke, one of China’s most popular novelists and best known in English transla�on, outlines his theories on the nature of realism in literature and on wri�ng. Discovering Fic�on also provides a cap�va�ng insight into the workings of a brilliant mind and novelist. DUKE UNIVERSITY PRESS Series: Sinotheory June 2022 160pp 9781478018308 £17.99 PB
In Case of Emergency
My Life as an Artificial Creative Intelligence
How Technologies Mediate Crisis and Normalize Inequality Elizabeth Ellcessor
A Speculative Fiction Mark Amerika
A much-needed look at the growth of emergency media and its impact on our lives. The first book to develop a typology of emergency media, this book opens a muchneeded conversa�on around the larger cultural meanings of “emergency,” and what an ethical and care-based approach to emergency could entail. This book looks at how we interact with different kinds of media during an emergency, but what's more important, how this media deems something as an "emergency". Ellcessor highlights that there is a hierarchy for help, based on discriminatory assump�ons, which leads to inequality within the system. An eye-opening read.
My Life as an Ar�ficial Crea�ve Intelligence is an improvisa�onal call-and-response wri�ng performance conducted by a language ar�st and an AI language model and is arranged as a series of intellectual provoca�ons that inves�gate the crea�ve process across the human-nonhuman spectrum. Mark Amerika has created an AI version of himself which has co-wri�en his book with him. Tes�ng the limits and capacity of humans and AI for crea�vity, this is a really exci�ng reflec�on on what we know to be crea�vity and what it means to be crea�ve, human or otherwise. STANFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS Series: Sensing Media: Aesthe�cs, Philosophy, and Cultures of Media
NEW YORK UNIVERSITY
May 2022 264pp 9781503631700 £19.99 PB
March 2022 11 b&w illus. 240pp 9781479811632 £20.99 PB
Staging Democracy
The Life Worth Living
Shows how some na�onal leaders' seeming popularity rests on local economic compacts. Draws on long-term research in rural communi�es and company towns, analyzing how local poli�cal and business leaders, seeking favor from incumbent poli�cians, used salaries, benefits, and public infrastructure to pressure ci�zens to par�cipate in command performances.
During the past century, Supreme Court Jus�ce Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. argued that the United States can forcibly sterilize intellectually disabled women and philosopher Peter Singer argued for the right of parents to euthanize certain cogni�vely disabled infants. The Life Worth Living explores how and why such arguments persist by inves�ga�ng the exclusion of and discrimina�on against disabled people across the history of Western moral philosophy.
Political Performance in Ukraine, Russia, and Beyond Jessica Pisano
Disability, Pain, and Morality Joel Michael Reynolds
Looks at the way that theatrics and poli�cs align in order for poli�cians, much like Pu�n, to use their stage to pressurize ci�zens. Studying both democracies and authoritarian regimes, this book explores a phenomenon that has become increasingly relevant to our lives.
Joel Michael Reynolds is the perfect guide to take us through debates surrounding disability and moral philosophy, debates based on unjust assump�ons made millennia ago. A great star�ng point for anyone wan�ng to learn more about this subject.
CORNELL UNIVERSITY PRESS
UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA PRESS
Series: NIU Series in Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies
May 2022 5 b&w illus. 216pp 9781517907785 £17.99 PB
July 2022 252pp 9781501764202 £18.99 PB
The Racial Contract
Western Self-Contempt
This 25th anniversary edi�on of The Racial Contract puts classic Western social contract theory, deadpan, to extraordinary radical use. With a sweeping look at the European expansionism and racism of the last five hundred years, Charles W. Mills shows how the society we live in is a con�nuing white supremacist state.
Western Self-Contempt travels through civiliza�ons since an�quity, examining major poli�cal events and literature of ancient Greece, Rome, France, Britain, and the United States, to study evidence of cultural self-hatred and its cyclical recurrence.
Charles W. Mills Foreword by Tommie Shelby
As the 25th anniversary of this book’s publica�on comes around, it is important that we con�nue to do the work. This book has proved �me and �me again to be a great resource. If you haven't already read it, there's no be�er �me than now.
Oikophobia in the Decline of Civilizations Benedict Beckeld
An absolutely fascina�ng read which analyses why people in the West so o�en find themselves in a culture cri�cal of itself and leading to self-rejec�on. The philosopher Peter Singer coined the term Oikophobia to describe this Western Self-Contempt; this book is sure to become the subject of debate going forward. CORNELL UNIVERSITY PRESS
CORNELL UNIVERSITY PRESS
May 2022 264pp 9781501763182 £24.99 HB
April 2022 216pp 9781501764288 £18.99 PB
BOOKS STOCKED AT MARSTON BOOK SERVICES
trade.orders@marston.co.uk | Tel: +44 (0)1235 465500 www.combinedacademic.co.uk