Hammer & Tickle*: A History of Communism Told Through Communist Jokes. 《红旗下的谈笑–政治笑话中的苏联史》 JOKES under communism were not just a welcome contrast to the dreariness of everyday life; they also helped undermine it. For example. “How do you deal with mice in the Kremlin?” “Put up a sign saying ‘collective farm’. Then half the mice will starve and the others will run away.” 苏联的共产主义社会中，政治笑话不仅是民众在无聊生活中找的乐子，它们也帮助民众化解苦难。比如这个：”如何赶跑克里姆林宫里的老鼠？”"在里面放个标牌，写上‘集体农场’四字，不多久大半老鼠会饿死，剩下的都逃之夭夭了。” Ben Lewis has collated some of the best, and best-known, jokes that were told under more than seven decades of communist rule. His work is based on more than 40 previously published collections ranging from underground selections, to those published by anti-communist émigrés, and a large sprinkling that appeared after 1989, once it was safe to air them. Ben Lewis的《红旗下的谈笑》收录并校订了一些优秀的政治笑话，它们在苏联七十多年统治下广为人知。这本书取材来自市面上四十多册的笑话集子，从当时地下流传的选集，到反共移民出版的著作，乃至1989年之后涌现的一大批书（那时候已经可以安全传播这些笑话了）。 Most make you giggle and groan in equal measure. It is worth remembering that in some countries and some eras, being overheard telling or laughing at just one of these jokes could mean you died in a labour camp; there are plenty of jokes about that too. “Who built the White Sea canal [Stalin’s single most murderous slave-labour project]?” “The left bank was built by those who told the jokes, and the right bank by those who listened.” 书中大部分笑话令人笑过之后掩卷叹息。需知在某些国家、某些历史时期，讲笑话者若被有心人偷听或者仅仅无意谈笑之间就意味着你可能招来杀身之祸。书中就收录了许多有关于此的笑话–”是谁建了白海运河（斯大林草菅人命，下令劳改犯修建的一项工事）？”"说笑话的人建了左岸，听笑话的人建了右岸。” But the aim of “Hammer & Tickle” is not just to be amusing and poignant, but also to instruct. The author makes the (to him) rather depressing discovery that most communist-era jokes were just recycled versions of older ones. Take this example, which is told twice in the book: a flock of sheep approaches the Finnish border in a panic, pleading to be allowed entry. “Beria [Stalin’s secret police chief] has ordered the arrest of all elephants,” they explain. “But you’re not elephants,” reply the Finnish border guards in puzzlement. “Yes, but try explaining that to Beria.” That sounds spot-on for the Soviet Union in the 1930s. But it can be traced to a Persian poet in 12th-century Arabia, where it involves a fox running away from a royal ordinance that in theory applies only to donkeys. 但《红旗下的谈笑》一书并非简单陈述这些可笑可叹之事，作者还立意于说教。他发现大部分共产主义时代的笑话都仅仅是过去说法的翻版，这让他很失落。比如这个在书中出现两次的笑话：一群惊慌的羊来到芬兰边界，请求进入对方国境，说：”贝利亚（斯大林的秘密警察头子）下令逮捕所有的大象。”芬兰边防士兵惊道：”可你们不是大象呀！”"没错，不过你得跟贝利亚解释。”这个笑话产生于1930年代的苏联，但可以追根溯源至12世纪一位波斯诗人的著作，它就讲到只针对猴子的忠诚诫令导致狐狸逃亡的故事。 Unfortunately, Mr Lewis is not content to laugh and remember. He wants a “serious comparative study” of the subject. It is tempting to think that he is joking, and that his theoretical elaborations about the true significance of communist-era jokes are a subtle parody of the way that modern literary critics so often miss the point of the texts they write about. It is almost comical to read his po-faced but pointless consideration of whether jokes about Stalin predated Stalin’s own jokes-almost comical, but not quite. 可惜Lewis先生并不满足于记录，他弄巧成拙，想对这些笑话做”严肃的比较学研究”。如果他只是开玩笑那也罢了，大家会以为他这么说只是想假模假样的构建复杂的理论，用来阐述这些笑话的重大意义，借此巧妙地嘲讽当下的某些批评家——他们通常对自己研究的文本一窍不通。然而当他一本正经要考证关于斯大林的笑话是否出现在斯大林之前时，那种不得要领的劲儿让人喷饭，却多少有点无趣。 If Mr Lewis is indeed joking, he pushes it too far. The potted histories of communism he provides as context are leaden and sometimes sloppy. The travelogue of his meetings with jokesters across the Eastern block is fun at first but then becomes dull. In particular, the conceit of linking his research to the ups and downs of his relationship with a tiresomely pro-communist (and humourless) girlfriend from East Germany is jarringly intrusive and self-referential. 如果Lewis先生真是在开玩笑，那他未免矫枉过正了。他阐释笑话，给出的却是模糊乃至粗糙的历史语境。他的旅行见闻讲座，描述了他与来自东欧各个共产主义国家的笑话提供者会面的场景，一开始引人发噱，之后却变得无聊。此外，他还认为自己的研究历程伴随着他与女友感情的起起落落——他说女朋来自东德，是一名支持共产主义的讨厌鬼（并且没有幽默感）——这样的描写与全书非常不协调，并且过于私人化了。 No matter: rather than worrying about whether humour was ultimately a safety-valve for communism or subversive of it, the reader can skip ruthlessly and concentrate on the jokes, and the remarks people have made about them. “Jokes against the Party constitute agitation against the Party,” raged Matvei Shkiriatov, a zealous Stalinist, at a Central Committee Meeting in January 1933. That was echoed by Hitler’s propaganda chief, Josef Goebbels, in 1939, when he wrote: “We will eradicate the political joke.” But they didn’t. 不过没关系，读者没有必要关心这些笑话究竟是不是民众不满共产主义的出气筒或颠覆政权的炮弹，你大可跳过这部分，并专注政治笑话本身及政客对它们的评论。狂热的斯大林主义者Matvei Shkiriatov就在1993年1月的一次中央委员会上盛怒咆哮：”取笑我党就是反党！”1939年，这咆哮在希特勒的宣传部长约瑟夫•戈培尔那儿激起回声，他写道：”要奋力消灭政治笑话。”他最终未能成功。 Many of the jokes told about past Soviet leaders are now told about Vladimir Putin (Stalin appears to him in a dream and says: “I have two bits of advice for you: kill your opponents and paint the Kremlin blue.” Putin asks, “Why blue?”). The world would be a poorer place without the jokes sparked by ridiculous yet ruthless rulers. But Russia would be a lot happier. 如今，许多笑话中的苏联领导人换成了普京（有一个是这么说的：斯大林托梦普京：”我给你两条小小的建议：整死你的对手并把克里姆林宫漆成蓝色。”普京问：”为何是蓝色？”*）这些笑话产生于荒诞而粗暴的社会，世界如果没有了它们将会很无趣，不过现在的俄罗斯人好歹开心许多。

Explore the oddities of the British psyche with this informative and witty illustrated guide. For a nation that loves to laugh at themselves, this is the perfect companion when wandering lonely through the clouds of British behaviour. From small-talk to superiority, from the famous stiff upper lip to hooliganism, from cricket to condiments, and curry to class, this book will take you through the sometimes sarcastic, often poetic, generally polite, never boastful but universally proud realm of all that's British - its culture, its institutions and its people.

New dimensions of understanding and perception of human experience are opened in Beyond Culture. Noted anthropologist Edward Hall helps us to rethink our values in constructive ways. "A fascinating book."--Ashley Montagu.

Congratulations--just by looking at this webpage, you became 25% more patriotic. From Stephen Colbert, the host of television's highest-rated punditry show The Colbert Report , comes the book to fill the other 23¿ hours of your day. I Am America (And So Can You!) contains all of the opinions that Stephen doesn't have time to shoehorn into his nightly broadcast. Dictated directly into a microcassette recorder over a three-day weekend, this book contains Stephen's most deeply held knee-jerk beliefs on The American Family, Race, Religion, Sex, Sports, and many more topics, conveniently arranged in chapter form. Always controversial and outspoken, Stephen addresses why Hollywood is destroying America by inches, why evolution is a fraud, and why the elderly should be harnessed to millstones. You may not agree with everything Stephen says, but at the very least, you'll understand that your differing opinion is wrong. I Am America (And So Can You!) showcases Stephen Colbert at his most eloquent and impassioned. He is an unrelenting fighter for the soul of America , and in this book he fights the good fight for the traditional values that have served this country so well for so long. Please buy this book before you leave the store

時尚／LV；運動／Nike；電腦／IBM……，眼下我們生存的時代，品牌形象代表一切，連小學生也懂得要用名牌。要表現自己的專業、品味、社經地位，就要消費特定的產品，不管你是否真喜歡其品質。獲得消費者的品牌認同，就等於獲利的保證，於是新創的品牌虎視眈眈，欲取市場第一品牌之位而代之。至於沒有顯赫招牌的產品，往往價美物廉還是乏人問津。 知名品牌挾著雄厚的資本、強勢的行銷能力、全球運籌（global logistics）的經營觀念，令其產品席捲全世界。一種產品行銷全球，創造了後現代的國際風格，統一了世人的消費觀，卻斲傷了異文化的豐富性。全球性的公司聲稱要支持文化的多樣性，其實他們所謂的「多元文化主義」只是生產更多的產品，讓消費者有較多的購買選擇。 而在知名品牌風光行銷全球的背後，是許多不為人注意的勞工。他們其中的大多數人無法分享公司的鉅額利潤。當某位大老闆被問到，他付出的薪水是否足以讓員工「維持生活」時，他答道：「這想法聽起來很好，但沒考慮到商業世界的現實狀況。」這些員工只能慶幸自己不是第三世界裡被剝削的女工，做一雙天價的Nike球鞋或一件時尚必須的產品只能賺到幾毛錢。 事實是，消費文化全球化所裨益的對象，侷限在資本家、中心國家，卻造成社會與社會間經濟實力的落差日漸加大，更使得文化的創造力漸趨枯竭。所幸，反動之勢已逐漸醞釀。人們注意到工廠裡被剝削的勞工，也擔憂非主流文化正逐漸消失，因而積極採取反制行動。全球化浪潮在二?世紀末淹沒世界，勢不可擋，但反全球化的能量在新世紀初正蓄勢反撲。 本書作者Naomi Klein被《泰晤士報》譽為「可能是三?五歲以下對世界最據影響力的人士」，她在《No Logo》一書中剖析知名品牌如何征服世界，對此現象提出深刻反思，也分析反全球化的風潮將如何反撲。本書在國外廣受書評家與讀者好評，為身陷品牌意識泥淖的現代人不容錯過的好書。

Full of writing, reports, and recommendations, The Monocle Guide to Better living is original, informative, entertaining, and comprehensive. This is not a book about glitz but rather an upbeat survey of products and ideas built to treasure and last. Monocle is one of the most successful magazines to be developed in the past decade. Armed with an unmistakable sense of aesthetics and journalistic tenacity, its team -- led by editor-in-chief tyler Brûlé --has created an intelligent publication that continually inspires a global readership who are interested in everything from diplomacy to design. For its first-ever book, the editorial team looks at one of their core themes: how to live well. The result is The Monocle Guide to Better living, an original, informative, and entertaining collection of writing, reports, and recommendations. This is not a book about glitz but rather an upbeat survey of products and ideas meant to be treasured and last. Structured into chapters on the city, culture, travel, food, and work, the book also provides answers to some key questions. Which cities offer the best quality of life? How do you build a good school? How do you run a city? Who makes the best coffee? And how do you start your own inspirational business? The Monocle Guide to Better living works as a guide but also includes 10 essays that explore what makes a great city, why craft is desirable, how to run your own hotel, and why culture is good for you. This is not a book about fashion or the next big thing. It's a book about finding enduring values --from a career you want to keep to furniture that will last a lifetime. It's a book designed to stay relevant, loved, and used. An indispensible guidebook to contemporary life, The Monocle Guide to Better living embodies everything that makes the magazine such a success: easy style and journalistic substance.

Today China is a critical player in the global marketplace, but there is still widespread confusion about what really makes the country tick - even the Chinese have difficulty explaining their own "Chineseness" to outsiders. In What Chinese Want, China expert Tom Doctoroff posits that China’s distinguishing traits explain the country in profound ways, including: *Connection to History: For thousands of years, the impulses and conflicts within Chinese civilization have driven its people’s behavior and choices. More than any other nationality, they are driven by their past history as much as by their intense focus on the future. This manifests itself in a profound belief in their country's stability and an intense national pride that often drives business decisions. *A Complex View of Morality: As evidenced by their sticky human rights issues, rampant piracy, and endemic government corruption, the Chinese have a significantly higher tolerance for certain things the West would consider wrong. Doctoroff puts these differences in context so that the reader can understand their nuances and impact on business and international relations. *Family Over the Individual: Whereas in America the individual is a prized source of originality, freewill, and consumer choice, in China the focus is squarely on the family and the larger society. This difference can be seen in the educational system, entrepreneurial activity, and many other key aspects of Chinese society.From the new generation’s embrace of Christmas to the secrecy of industry titans; from the government’s meticulously incremental approach to currency appreciation to the middle class’s fixation with luxury brands, Doctoroff explains the mysteries of modern China for those looking to enter the market in a culturally sensitive and effective way.

Sense And Sensibility Pride and Prejudice Mansfield Park Emma Northanger Abbey Persuasion

When James Bowen found an injured, ginger street cat curled up in the hallway of his sheltered accommodation, he had no idea just how much his life was about to change. James was living hand to mouth on the streets of London and the last thing he needed was a pet. Yet James couldn't resist helping the strikingly intelligent tom cat, whom he quickly christened Bob. He slowly nursed Bob back to health and then sent the cat on his way, imagining he would never see him again. But Bob had other ideas. Soon the two were inseparable and their diverse, comic and occasionally dangerous adventures would transform both their lives, slowly healing the scars of each other's troubled pasts. A Street Cat Named Bob is a moving and uplifting story that will touch the heart of anyone who reads it.

优良的、真正的画册。有文字

A Million Little Pieces is a semi-fictional[1] memoir by James Frey. It tells the story of a 23-year-old alcoholic and drug abuser and how he copes with rehabilitation in a twelve steps-oriented treatment center. While initially promoted as a memoir, it was later discovered that many of the events described in the book never happened. The badly tattered James awakens on an airplane to Chicago, with no recollection of his injuries or of how he ended up on the plane. He is met by his parents at the airport, who take him to a rehabilitation clinic. We find out that James is 23 years old, and has been an alcoholic for ten years, and a crack addict for three. He is also wanted by the police in three different states on several charges. As he checks into the rehab clinic, he is forced to quit his substance abuse, a transition that we find out later probably saves his life, but is also an incredibly agonizing event. As part of this, he is forced to undergo a series of painful root canals, without any anesthesia because of possible negative reactions to the drugs. He copes with the pain by squeezing tennis balls until his nails crack (when challenged on this incident, specifically, during his second Oprah appearance, Frey said that it may have been "more than one" root canal procedure and may or may not have included Novocaine, as he remembers it). The book follows Frey through the painful experiences that lead up to his eventual release from the center, including his participation in the clinic's family program with his parents, despite his strong desire not to. Throughout the novel, Frey speaks of the "Fury" he is fighting, which he sees as the cause of his desire to drink alcohol and use drugs. The "Fury" could be seen as the antagonist of the novel, because he believes that he will not be able to recover until he learns to ignore it or "kill it." Frey meets many interesting people in the clinic, with whom he forms relationships and who play an important role in his life both during and after his time in the clinic. These people include a mafia boss who plays a vital role in his recovery (subject of Frey's subsequent book My Friend Leonard), and a woman drug addict with whom he falls in love, despite strict rules forbidding contact between men and women at the clinic. James finally recovers and never relapses. Frey makes frequent use of this stream of consciousness writing technique, which allows the reader to better understand his version of the events. Frey's unique writing style also involves his capitalizing nouns throughout the book for unclear reasons. Frey also uses heavy repetition of words throughout the text.

Miranda Kerr has written her first book, Treasure Yourself, which is filled with a beautiful collection of thoughts, memories and lessons. Miranda wrote it hoping to educate young girls about self-confidence, inner beauty and acceptance, and to help them on their way to self-improvement.

This bestseller covers a single momentous year during Nins life in Paris, when she met Henry Miller and his wife, June. Closer to what many sexually adventuresome women experience than almost anything Ive ever read....I found it a very erotic book and profoundly liberating (Alice Walker). The source of a major motion picture from Universal. Preface by Rupert Pole; Index.

This is the story of the rise to national power of a desperately poor young man from the Texas Hill Country. The Path to Power reveals in extraordinary detail the genesis of the almost superhuman drive, energy, and ambition that set LBJ apart. It follows him from the Hill Country to New Deal Washington, from his boyhood through the years of the Depression to his debut as Congressman, his heartbreaking defeat in his first race for the Senate, and his attainment, nonetheless, at age 31, of the national power for which he hungered. In this book, we are brought as close as we have ever been to a true perception of political genius and the American political process. Means of Ascent, Book Two of The Years of Lyndon Johnson, was a number one national best seller and, like The Path to Power, received the National Book Critics Circle Award. "Powerful and stirring. A monumental political saga...It's an overwhelming experience to read The Path to Power." -- Christopher Lehmann-Haupt, The New York Times "Stands at the pinnacle of the biographical art." -- Donald Morris, Houston Post "By every measure -- depth of research, brilliance of conception, the seamless flow of the prose -- The Path to Power is a masterpiece of biography." -- Dan Cryer, Newsday "A superb and unique biography...Meticulous in research, grand in scale, this is a major work that will remain a tower of its kind." -- Barbara Tuchman "An awesome achievement! Not only a historical but a literary event...An epic biography...What brings Caro's story -- and it is a story -- to life is his astonishing concern for the humanity of his characters: the plight of a Hill Country family; the reserve of Lady Bird Johnson; the lonely integrity of Sam Rayburn." -- Peter Prescott, Newsweek

Persepolis我在伊朗长大》全系列共四册，在法国推出时大获好评，被译成十多种文字，并获得了包括2004年德国法兰克福书展「最佳漫画奖」等多个漫画书大奖。 《Persepolis: 我在伊朗长大》这套连环图述说了一个伊朗小女孩在伊斯兰革命时期的成长故事。这个小女孩经历了国王被推翻、伊斯兰革命、与伊拉克战争等国家大事。伊朗作者玛嘉·莎塔碧（Marjane Satrapi）述说的正是她本人的成长经验。 作者玛嘉·莎塔碧（Marjane Satrapi）运用简单的线条和黑白对比带出这个震撼人心的故事。大量黑色的运用令画面充满力量。随着主角Marji的成长，大家可以深入地了解伊朗的历史、政治和文化。 本书是《Persepolis我在伊朗长大》系列书之一《面纱》。 与其说这是绘本，莫不如说是多格漫画。黑白的色调，版画般的质感，很有风格。作者玛赞·莎塔碧生于伊朗，后来到欧洲求学并在世界范围内发表漫画作品，她在书中将自己对于伊朗这一神秘而古老国度的个人记忆描绘出来，表达方式是轻松幽默的，画面内涵却涉及成长、亲情、宗教、政治等主题。 ——中华读书报 人们谈起这个伟大的文明古国，总是将她与原教旨主义，狂热主义和恐怖主义联系在一起。我们为一个在伊朗长大的伊朗人，知道这个形象远非真实。 正因为此，创作《Persepolis：我在伊朗长大》对我来说才这么重要。我认为，不应该根据少数几个极端分子的恶劣行为而对整个国家做出评判。我也不希望人们忘记那些为了捍卫自由而在狱中失去生命、在两伊战争中丧生、在各种暴政统治下遭受折磨、或被迫离开亲人和祖国的伊朗人。 人可以原谅，但绝不应该忘记。 ——玛赞·莎塔碧

An epic adventure that began with one simple question: Why does my foot hurt? Isolated by Mexico's deadly Copper Canyons, the blissful Tarahumara Indians of have honed the ability to run hundreds of miles without rest or injury. In a riveting narrative, award-winning journalist and often-injured runner, Chris McDougall sets out to discover their secrets. In the process, he takes his readers from science labs at Harvard to the sun-baked valleys and freezing peaks across North America, where ever-growing numbers of ultra-runners are pushing their bodies to the limit, and, finally, to a climactic race in the Copper Canyons that pits America’s best ultra-runners against the tribe. McDougall’s incredible story will not only engage your mind but inspire your body when you realize that you, indeed all of us, were born to run.