Bøger udgivet af Soft Skull Press

For many performance poets, the simple act of writing down the words can kill a poem's spirit and energy. Not so with Daphne Gottlieb. In Why Things Burn, Gottlieb tackles sexuality, lesbian issues, rape, urban life, and a host of other topics with the same power of her live performances.

With a new preface and updated chapters, "White Like Me" is one-part memoir, one-part polemical essay collection. It is a personal examination of the way in which racial privilege shapes the daily lives of white Americans in every realm: employment, education, housing, criminal justice, and elsewhere. Using stories from his own life, Tim Wise demonstrates the ways in which racism not only burdens people of color, but also benefits, in relative terms, those who are "white like him." He discusses how racial privilege can harm whites in the long run and make progressive social change less likely. He explores the ways in which whites can challenge their unjust privileges, and explains in clear and convincing language why it is in the best interest of whites themselves to do so. Using anecdotes instead of stale statistics, Wise weaves a narrative that is at once readable and yet scholarly, analytical and yet accessible.

Scholars, journalists, and publishers have turned their brains inside out in the effort to predict what lies ahead, but who better to comment on the future of the book than those who are driven to write them?The way we absorb information has changed dramatically. Edison's phonograph has been reincarnated as the iPod. Celluloid went digital. But books, for the most part, have remained the same--until now. And while music and movies have undergone an almost Darwinian evolution, the literary world now faces a revolution, a sudden change in the way we buy, produce, and read books.In The Late American Novel, Jeff Martin and C. Max Magee gather some of today's finest writers to consider the sea change that is upon them. Lauren Groff imagines an array of fantastical futures for writers, from poets with groupies to novelists as vending machines. Rivka Galchen writes about the figurative and literal death of paper. Joe Meno expounds upon the idea of a book as a place set permanently aside for the imagination, regardless of format. These and other original essays by Reif Larsen, Benjamin Kunkel, Victoria Patterson, and many more provide a timely and much-needed commentary on this compelling cultural crossroad.

Bearer of an illustrious name and nephew of a President of the Republic, Frédéric Mitterrand is born into the discreet gentility of Paris’ haut bourgeois 16th arrondissement. Raised by an army of surrogates, he spends his summers in Evian and North Africa and his winters on Alpine slopes.But, growing up in a time and environment where such things are not talked about, Frédéric struggles with a difficult secret. Wracked by a fear of abandonment and confused by his sexual urges toward other boys, he reaches out haphazardly for affection — with both comic and catastrophic results.At age 12, in the first of many capricious attempts to find his true identity, he sneaks into an audition for a major motion picture and gets a part. Thus begins a life steeped in celebrity, French cinema, and clandestine romantic liaisons. In later life, Mitterand, a renowned critic, producer, and talk show host, seeks out old friends, servants, and loves, who reveal startlingly unexpected interpretations of his formative years.Mitterrand’s memoir is a Godard film come to life — a Nouvelle Vague Oh the Glory of It All. Now Minister of Culture and Communication, Mitterrand reveals his life as a denizen of the psychological underworld and gay icon in haute société.

"Mesmerizing . . . a vivid world, both familiar and foreign, dark and slyly humorous, makes the book a grim delight" (Publishers Weekly).One family finds themselves forceably dislocated in the midst of chaos, disease, and forced-relocation. Political power seems to be solely in the hands of one Reverend Herman Hooker, an "American Divine" who revels in the peoples' suffering as they are "shifted" (separated from--and then randomly coupled with--one another) by decree every five years. There are up-shifts, down-shifts, and side-shifts, but no attempt to make harmonious pairings. Chaos rages on as parasitic infestations spread and the Reverend rules with an iron fist from his Templex headquarters, spouting platitudes to the ever-moving masses. The final book in the trilogy that began with Motorman and its sequel, The Age of Sinatra, The Pisstown Chaos is a wild end to the cult favorite series.