Keane Origins

Pick your favourite Roy Keane moment. The header against Juventus? The tunnel clash with Patrick Vieira? The bone-crunching challenge on Marc Overmars at Lansdowne Road? All worthy choices that complement his aggressive, combative warrior persona. But that was Version 2.0. Keane: Origins delves into the inexplicable story of what came before. Focusing on the period between 1988 and 1993, charting Keane's journey from an economically-ravaged Cork to a spectacular three-season spell under Brian Clough at Nottingham Forest via a memorable stint on a government-funded training scheme and brief spell in the League of Ireland. With contributions from former team-mates, coaches and those who knew him best, Keane: Origins examines a largely over-looked, under-appreciated and unheralded time in the legendary midfielder's career that set him on the path to immortality.

John Keane's The Life and Death of Democracy will inspire and shock its readers. Presenting the first grand history of democracy for well over a century, it poses along the way some tough and timely questions: can we really be sure that democracy had its origins in ancient Greece? How did democratic ideals and institutions come to have the shape they do today? Given all the recent fanfare about democracy promotion, why are many people now gripped by the feeling that a bad moon is rising over all the world's democracies? Do they indeed have a future? Or is perhaps democracy fated to melt away, along with our polar ice caps? The work of one of Britain's leading political writers, this is no mere antiquarian history. Stylishly written, this superb book confronts its readers with an entirely fresh and irreverent look at the past, present and future of democracy. It unearths the beginnings of such precious institutions and ideals as government by public assembly, votes for women, the secret ballot, trial by jury and press freedom. It tracks the changing, hotly disputed meanings of democracy and describes quite a few of the extraordinary characters, many of them long forgotten, who dedicated their lives to building or defending democracy. And it explains why democracy is still potentially the best form of government on earth -- and why democracies everywhere are sleepwalking their way into deep trouble.

Contains excerpt of the next Cars origins series.

An account of the origins of violence, its consequences, its uses, and the relationship between violence and democracy.

Through detailed analysis of films such as The Towering Inferno, Independence Day, Titanic and The Day After Tomorrow, this book looks at the ways in which disaster movies can be read in relation to both contextual considerations and the increasing commercial demands of contemporary Hollywood. Featuring new material on cinematic representations of disaster in the wake of 9/11 and how we might regard disaster movies in light of recent natural disasters, the volume explores the continual reworking of this previously undervalued genre.

First Published in 2011. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

This book explores the drama of John B. Keane and focuses on his best-known play, The Field, in an examination of the cultural and psychological resonances present in his work. From the changing social, political, and economic contexts of the play’s genesis, to present-day austerity and malaise, The Field remains a popular and relevant piece of theatre, and in this publication possible motivations behind such popularity and relevance are posited. Unconscious resonant processes of identification at play within The Field are explored through the application of psychological and post-colonial filters, and the analysis of Keane’s representations of gender, both masculine and feminine, with strong reference to socio-historical contexts throughout. By doing so, further ways of re-reading Keane’s works are suggested, thereby encouraging a re-appraisal of an often critically overlooked Irish playwright. The examination of the concept of ‘resonance’, which is at the core of this book, provides a unique insight into Keane’s drama and how it interacts with the public at large. Through the modes of analysis of The Field employed in this work, further methods of reading Keane’s other dramas are suggested, and thus, this book is essential reading for anyone with an interest in Keane, Irish drama, or for that matter, the field of Irish studies itself.

In a time of global political ferment, established ideas are coming under renewed scrutiny. Chief among them is one of the dominant notions of our era: that we should entrust markets with many of the tasks previously carried out by government. In this wide-ranging book, Max Rashbrooke goes beyond anecdote and partisanship, delving deep into the latest research about the sweeping changes made to the public services that shape our collective lives. What he unearths is startling: it challenges established thinking on the effectiveness of market-based reforms and charts a new form of ‘deep’ democracy for the twenty-first century. Refreshing and far-sighted, this stimulating book offers New Zealanders a new way of thinking about government and how it can navigate the turbulent world ahead. The market is often not the solution to our problems. Markets have often been the problem. Max Rashbrooke makes the convincing case for models of government that work better, as well as those to be more wary of. Greater democracy can bring with it greater equality - but, Rashbrooke warns, democracy itself is imperilled by our current levels of inequality. Fast paced, globally informed and wittily written. – Professor Danny Dorling, Oxford University This book provides a wide range of excellent evidence-based arguments that help counter the oft-dominant small-government ideology of our times. Its defence of democracy, government and voter competence is a story that needs to be told more. – Laura O'Connell Rapira, Director of ActionStation