This Is The Rat Speaking

Author of Aliened American: A Biography of William Howard Day, 18251900; Legendary Locals of Harrisburg; and Biography of an Antislavery City: Antislavery Advocates, Abolitionists, and Underground Railroad Activists The demise of the so-called Jim Crow laws in 1964 and 1965 and the victory of the civil rights movement rang hollow in the ears of most African Americans. While segregation was practiced in many places of the South, systemic forms of racism permeated northern society. As distrust pervaded African American communities after 1966, the maligned Black Panther Party filled the void, especially among baby boomers who moved the African American liberation movement further to the left. During this difficult time, when the country was torn apart by issues of race and poverty, as well as the escalation of the Vietnam War, unrest seemed to prevail at a myriad of colleges and universities across the United States where newly formed Afro-American societies and black student unions pressed for pedagogical change suited to the liberation doctrine coming from the black left. Spring 1969 was a particularly explosive semester as African American students occupied administrative buildings and common areas at both historically black and predominantly white colleges on the East Coast. In This Is the Rat Speaking, author Todd M. Mealy reconstructs the May 22, 1969, black student uprising at Franklin and Marshall College. Using Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, and Franklin and Marshall College as his setting, Mealy revisits the role and influence of the Black Panthers and delves into how activism for black studies curriculum emerged within the black power movement of the 1960s. Based on oral history testimony, investigation reports, and judicial records, Mealy provokes discussion from different perspectives.

Emmy was a good girl. At least she tried very hard to be good. She did her homework without being told. She ate all her vegetables, even the slimy ones. And she never talked back to her nanny, Miss Barmy, although it was almost impossible to keep quiet, some days. She really was a little too good. Which is why she liked to sit by the Rat. The Rat was not good at all . . . Hilarious, inventive, and irresistably rodent-friendly, Emmy and the Incredible Shrinking Rat is a fantastic first novel from acclaimed picture book author Lynne Jonell.

From the world-famous author of THE NAME OF THE ROSE, an illuminating and humorous study on the pleasures and pitfalls of translation. 'Translation is always a shift, not between two languages but between two cultures. A translator must take into account rules that are not strictly linguistic but, broadly speaking, cultural.' Umberto Eco is of the world's most brilliant and entertaining writers on literature and language. In this accessible and dazzling study, he turns his eye on the subject of translations and the problems the differences between cultures can cause. The book is full of little gems about mistranslations and misunderstandings.For example when you put 'Studies in the logic of Charles Sanders Peirce' through an internet translation machine, it becomes 'Studies in the logic of the Charles of sandpaper grinding machines Peirce'. In Italian 'ratto' has no connotation of 'contemptible person' but denotes speed ('you dirty rat' could take on a whole new meaning!) What could be a weighty subject is never dull, fired by Eco's immense wit and erudition, providing an entertaining read that illuminates the process of negotiation that all translators must make.

In his inimitable New York voice, Pulitzer Prize winner Jimmy Breslin gives us a look through the keyhole at the people and places that define the Mafia—characters like John Gotti, Sammy "the Bull" Gravano, Anthony "Gaspipe" Casso (named for his weapon of choice), and Jimmy "the Clam" Eppolito—interwoven with the remarkable true-crime saga of the good rat himself, Burt Kaplan of Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, the star witness in the recent trial of two NYPD detectives indicted for carrying out eight gangland executions. Through these unforgettable real-life and long-forgotten Mafia stories, Jimmy Breslin captures the moments in which the mob was made and broken.

"Tells the darkly humorous story of the French colonial state's failed efforts to impose its vision of modernity upon the colonial city of Hanoi, Vietnam. This book offers a case study in the history of imperialism, highlighting the racialized economic inequalities of empire, colonization as a form of modernization, and industrial capitalism's creation of a radical power differential between "the West and the rest." On a deeper level, The Great Hanoi Rat Hunt will engage the contradictions unique to the French Third Republic's colonial "civilizing mission," the development of Vietnamese resistance to French rule, the history of disease, and aspects of environmental history"--

The acclaimed author’s first collection of stories “Gayl Jones’s work represents a watershed in American literature. From a literary standpoint, her form is impeccable . . . and as a Black woman writer, her truth-telling, filled with beauty, tragedy, humor, and incisiveness, is unmatched.” —Imani Perry Gayl Jones has been described as one of the great literary writers of the 20th century and was recently a finalist for both the Pulitzer Prize and The National Book Award. This collection of short fiction was her third book, originally edited and published by Toni Morrison in 1977, and is reissued now alongside her second collection, BUTTER, in paperback for the first time. The collection contains twelve provocative tales that explore the emotional and mental terrain of a diverse cast of characters, from the innocent to the insane. In each, Jones displays her unflinching ability to dive into the most treacherous of psyches and circumstances: the title story examines the identity and relationship conundrums of a black man who can pass for white, earning him the name “White Rat” as an infant; “The Women” follows a girl whose mother brings a line of female lovers to live in their home; “Jevata” details eighteen-year-old Freddy’s relationship with the fifty-year-old title character; “The Coke Factory” tracks the thoughts of a mentally handicapped adolescent abandoned by his mother; and “Asylum” focuses on a woman having a nervous breakdown, trying to protect her dignity and her private parts as she enters an institution. In uncompromising prose, and dialect that veers from northern, educated tongues to down-home southern colloquialisms, Jones illuminates lives that society ignores, moving them to center stage.

You probably didn't know some rats speak King James English. Well, Eliot does, anyway. That's because he wants to be a priest. He first heard King James English when he attended Mass with Mommy at the Episcopal Church. Mommy's rat boys are the only rats allowed at church. They're overall well behaved, except when Horace sneaks off to potty under the organ or Erasmus eats more than one wafer at Eucharist. Luther will sit quietly, like he is supposed to, but he is listening closely to any scripture he can possibly use to pass judgment on Horace. Josiah is the only one that sometimes must be removed to the nursery, such as the time he ended up falling into the wine chalice. The boys aren't even sure how other rats live. All they know is that they live in Texas, they love their mommy, and they have an Aunt Anne who enjoys getting letters from them.

The Rat Prince by Bridget Hodder is a funny and magical retelling of the Cinderella story from the point of view of one of her footmen, a rat! Before Cinderella's stepmother and stepsisters moved into Lancastyr Manor she was known as the beautiful Lady Rose de Lancaster. Then her stepmother forced her to become a kitchen maid and renamed her. At first the rats of the manor figure her for a lack-wit and take pity on her by bringing her food and a special family heirloom. But when Cinderella's stepmother finds a way to prevent her from attending the ball, the rats join forces to help her. The night of the ball is filled with magic and secrets-not least of all who Lady Rose will choose as her Prince Charming. A Margaret Ferguson Book

This World Fantasy Award winner in the vein of Animal Farm delves into a lab worthy of a mad Nazi scientist—but run by a brilliantly sadistic rodent. In the annals of American literature, there has never been a character quite like Doctor Rat, PhD. From one of the most indispensable storytellers in speculative fiction, this biting satire introduces a narrator of learned charm and humor, and a twisted logic that is absolutely chilling. Doctor Rat is a credit to his species. A survivor of the most refined scientific experiments, now removed from the maze, he has become a valued and productive member of the academic community. When he must administer a lethal dose, he comforts his fellow rats with his compassionate slogan: “Death is freedom.” But everything changes when animals worldwide begin to rebel, refusing to accept their proper places in the natural order of things: as test subjects, pets, or food. And only Doctor Rat has the courage to defend mankind from the ungrateful animal kingdom. Hailed by the Los Angeles Times as “dazzlingly original” and “occasionally quite beautiful,” Doctor Rat is a sly and stylish indictment of fanaticism in mice and men. “A truly imaginative impresario . . . [Doctor Rat] teases your conscience with educated wit and versatile improvisation, not to mention the casual flick of the tail about to be cut off.” —Kirkus Reviews