The author draws upon the methodologies of theater and cultural studies to examine the construction of "the Orient" on the Parisian stage during the nineteenth century, the period of France's first imperial expansions into North Africa and the Middle East. As an increasingly large segment of the French population moved into contact with the Middle East and North Africa as soldiers, colonial administrators, settlers, and merchants, the balance between fantasy and immediacy in Orientalized drama shifted. The domestic melodrama gave way to elaborately staged military spectacles based on current events. Performed before working-class audiences, many of whose members were to be called up for military service, these spectacles bore explicit political and imperial agendas. Mining rich archival resources of play-texts, censorship reports, critical reviews, and contemporary writings on performance practice, this book reveals the complex processes by which the institutions of popular culture helped shape nineteenth-century notions of race, ethnicity, and nationality.

"If there is one thing that people agree about concerning the massive, leaderless, spontaneous protests that have spread across the globe over the past decade, it's that they were failures. Simply put, the protesters could not organize; nor could they formulate clear demands or bring about change. In the Street argues that in seeking to find the reasons behind these alleged "failures," we are asking the wrong questions. It argues that when our analysis of such eventsis confined by a framework of success and failure, we blind ourselves to the working reality of democratic politics, namely the on-the-ground efforts of political actors who, in becoming "political friends," demonstrate, if for a fleeting moment, that another way of being together is possible. Thebook develops an alternative conceptualization of democratic action through a close reading of Antonio Negri, Jürgen Habermas, and Jacques Rancière and the global protests of 1968 that inspired these political theorists and their work." (ed.).

Davidson provides a reevaluation of prevailing views on the effects of the French Revolution, and particularly on the role of women. Arguing against the idea that women were forced from the public realm of political discussion, Davidson demonstrates how women remained highly visible and active.

Son of the Orient Seas: An Autobiography by Armando A. de la Cruz, Ph.D. Son of the Orient Seas provides a telegraphic history of the Philippines and brings light to the oppressive Japanese occupation of the Philippines in World War II. The author shares his own childhood experiences during such times of upheaval as well as his struggle to achieve a decent early education. Perseverance wins him a world-class education and an academic profession that most have only dreamed of. Complete with charming tales of a personal “love boat” meeting, long distance courtship and lucid memories of strange dreams, de la Cruz provides a window into the life of his hard-working and determined immigrant family. Though written as a tangible legacy for his family and friends, Son of the Orient Seas offers interesting, amusing and even heart-warming stories of one remarkable man’s life.