David Sherman – författare

Major original Star Wars adventure set against the backdrop of the Clone Wars and telling the tale of Anakin Skywalker's rise to full Jedi Knight status. Somewhere between Star Wars: Attack of the Clones and Star Wars: Episode III, Anakin Skywalker graduates from Jedi Padawan (apprentice) to Jedi Knight status. This book tells how that happens. A planet that is a crucial communications centre is taken by the Separatists, and the Republic decides to back a guerrilla fighting group called Freedom's Sons in taking it back. A detachment of clone troopers led by Jedi Knight Nejaa Halcyon and Jedi Padawan Anakin Skywalker is sent out to help the Freedom's Sons. Little does Anakin know that the volatile situation on this occupied planet will prove to be his own personal Jedi Trial, and that if he emerges victorious, he will have won the coveted titled of full Jedi Knight, student no longer but Jedi in his own right. This is the Anakin who learns how great his powers can be and how huge is his real potential.

Taking its title from Faulkner's epochal modernist novel, David Sherman's study traces the myriad ways death and its effect on the living defined modernist fiction and verse in England, Ireland, and the U.S. A focus on the disturbing but recurring image of the corpse allows Sherman to consider a range of texts marked by their sense of mortal fragility. Wilfred Owen's war poetry and Virginia Woolf's early novel Jacob's Room illustrate an incipient anxiety over new governmental techniques for efficiently managing the burial of the dead during World War I. Joyce's Ulysses and As I Lay Dying offer opportunities to consider narratives organized by the problem of an unburied corpse. Eliot's The Waste Land and Djuna Barnes's novel Nightwood, which Eliot edited, demonstrate how modernist writers often respond to death and the loss of corporality with erotic encounters at the moment mortality is most threatened. Two poems by William Carlos Williams and Wallace Stevens, in the monograph's concluding section, provide emblems for competing attitudes toward the disposal of the dead in the first half of the twentieth century. Enriched by insights from psychology, anthropology, and philosophy, In a Strange Room presents a richly textured transatlantic study of a defining aspect of modernist literature and culture.

Literary modernism emerged as death, stripped in the developing world of traditional meanings and practices, became strange. The sea-change over the first part of the twentieth century in how people died and tended corpses-the modernization of death-was a crucial context in which modernist writers developed their new novelistic and poetic techniques. They sought ways to renovate mortal obligations in an age of the obsolescence of the dead.For many years, the flesh-and-blood body has been a central protagonist in literary scholarship--the body in pain, the body as spectacle and performance, embodiments of social identity--but the body in its mortality, as corpse, has not received sustained critical attention. Filling this gap, In a Strange Room investigates modernism''s preoccupation with corpses, death rituals, and the ethical demands the dead make on the living who survive them.Informed by insights from psychology, anthropology, political theory, and philosophy, David Sherman shows how modernist aesthetics sought to re-animate the complex meanings and values of dead bodies during an era of their efficient, medical administration and hygienic disposal. The modernist imagination reckoned with the processes by which the modern corpse became a secularized object increasingly subject to scientific inquiry, governmental regulation, specialized medical technologies, and new forms of market exchange. Chapters explore representations of state power over the war dead in Virginia Woolf and Wilfred Owen, the narrative problem of the unburied corpse in As I Lay Dying and Ulysses, mortal obligation as erotic desire in Eliot''s The Waste Land and Djuna Barnes''s Nightwood, and mortuary pedagogies embedded in elegies by Wallace Stevens and William Carlos Williams.Gathering examples from fiction, poetry, and the visual arts, In a Strange Room considers the changing relationship between aesthetics and mortality during the first half of the twentieth century. New attitudes toward dying and dead bodies demanded modernism''s strange, bracing ways of representing ethics at the limits of life.

With its down and dirty depiction of warfare written by men who know what it’s like to be under fire, the Starfist saga is a runaway success across America. Now, in the explosive new Starfist adventure, packed with fierce action and danger, Marines at war in future space find themselves pitted against a faceless, insatiable foe bent on destroying them. And that’s just for starters.How bad is the upcoming mission facing the battle-hardened Marines of 34th Fleet Initial Strike Team (FIST), the military’s unofficial alien first-contact force? Bad enough to make the brass take the unprecedented step of issuing 34th FIST replacements for combat losses before the Marines even leave their home base.In response to a series of unexplained deaths on a lonely outpost on the frontiers of human space, 34th FIST has been dispatched to investigate–and eradicate– the problem. Beyond that, the information available to Gunnery Sergeant Charlie Bass and his men is meager even by Marine standards. No one knows what awaits them, for the newly colonized world remains largely unexplored. That means 34th FIST can expect creatures they have never seen, or even heard of, much less trained for. It could be Skink acid shooters, could be anything, for the barren station has several secrets–all of them deadly.But the last thing these Marines expect to find is themselves in the middle of an invasion and a mysterious war–with none other than 34th FIST as Enemy #1. Whatever happens, they’ll deal with it, because they’re Marines, determined to be ready . . . and to give worse than they get.From the Hardcover edition.

Combat, betrayal, and murder at the edge of human space . . . Deployed to assist the oligarchs of Wanderjahr in putting down a rebellion that threatens the planet''s political and economic stability, the Marines must fight two wars at the same time . . . one against the resourceful, well-led guerrillas and another with the entrenched police bureaucracy.But who is the real enemy and who can be trusted? On Wanderjahr, nothing is as it seems--not even the animal life--and everyone has his own agenda. Inexorably, the Marines of the 34th FIST are drawn deeper and deeper into the politics of a world where murder, terror, and betrayal are the accepted methods of government . . . and everyone is ripe for an old-fashioned butt-kickin''.

"Marines, we have just become a low-tech deep recon patrol . . ."Stranded in a hellish alien desert, stripped of their strategic systems, quick reaction force, and supporting arms, and carrying only a day''s water ration, Marine Staff Sergeant Charlie Bass and his seven-man team faced a grim future seventy-five light-years from home. The only thing between his Marines and safety was eighty-five miles of uncharted, waterless terrain and two thousand bloodthirsty savages with state-of-the-art weapons in their hands and murder on their minds. But the enemy didn''t reckon on the warrior cunning of Marines'' Marine Charlie Bass and the courage of the few good men who would follow him anywhere--even to death. . . "HARD TO PUT DOWN . . . Any book written by Cragg and Sherman is bound to be addictive, and this is the first in what promises to be a great adventure series. FIRST TO FIGHT is rousing, rugged, and just plain fun."--Ralph Peters, New York Times bestselling author of Red ArmyFrom the Paperback edition.

Six agents have died hideously trying to penetrate the crime families behind a vast empire of pleasure and debauchery--Now it''s up to the Marines to break the circle.Most people will visit Havanagas only in their dreams, for few can afford the exclusive resort planet that recreates ancient worlds and caters to every taste. Witches are burned at the stake in medieval towns while riotous hordes fill Rome''s Coliseum to watch gladiators battle. Even the basest of human lusts are satiated by deadly sex acts and a thriving slave trade.The crime bosses'' control of Havanagas and its people is brutally effective. Now three Marines from Co. L''s 3rd Platoon--masquerading as discharged military buddies on holiday--are going in to break the kingpins'' bloody stranglehold. From bordellos and rebellious enclaves to the very pit of the Coliseum filled with deadly beasts, Corporal Pasquin and Lance Corporals Claypoole and Dean face certain death with only their wits and skills as weapons. But they''re Marines, built to survive. . . .From the Paperback edition.

"Marines ain''t supposed to sit. We''re supposed to kill."After the resource-rich planet Diamunde is seized by the armed forces of industrialist Marston St. Cyr, the Confederation Marines face their most desperate battles yet against the mechanized forces of the bloody usurper. Promised a walkover by military planners, instead the Marines must run a gauntlet of steel, with weaponry three hundred years out of date.For the Confederation''s invasion army to seize the planet, the Marine FISTs first have to secure a planethead against St. Cyr''s much larger forces which are equipped with superior weapons. Together with their outgunned comrades, the Marines of 34th FIST must do the impossible--or die . . .From the Paperback edition.

Through three centuries of interstellar travel, intelligent alien life- forms had never been encountered . . . until now.When a scientific team exploring an obscure planet fails to make its regular communications check, the Marines of third platoon are sent to investigate. They prepare for a routine rescue operation, but what they find on Society 437 is a horror beyond description. Only a handful of ragtag pirates who were in the wrong place at the very worst time have survived, and there is little trace of the scientists.What happened to the scientists? Why have the pirates been spared?  Gunnery Sergeant Bass and the men of third platoon are about to find out, and the answer carries a terrifying implication for the Marines--and the entire human race.From the Paperback edition.

A terrifying secret, an evil coterie of ruthless masterminds, a murderous battle of cunning and deadly skill--it''s time to send in the Marines!After the Confederation makes a shocking discovery on an alien world, a nefarious band of opportunists from the highest echelons of power plot to steal the vast riches for themselves. Along with the ability to crush any resistance, these moguls possess spacecraft, unlimited resources, and a deadly arsenal of cutting-edge weapons.The only one without a price tag is the Confederation president. Now she is sending Gunnery Sergeant Bass, the men of third platoon, and a single special agent to expose the shadowy figures behind the corruption. And so, on an obscure planet, home to unimaginable treasure and an unsettling species, the toughest fighters in Human Space confront their fiercest battle. For there will be no losers in this war, only the triumphant, the dead, and the vanished . . .From the Paperback edition.

The diabolic armies appear invincible–but they haven’t met the Marines.The Dark Prince’s power to summon demons has made his forces second to none, and ensured his place as one of the invasion’s leaders. Not content to merely seize his father’s throne, the renegade royal dreams of world conquest–and with his army and his black arts, there is little to stop him.So unexpected, so well planned is the invasion of the free port New Bally that out of hundreds in the city, only two escape capture. Haft and Spinner will need all their courage and cunning to retrieve their weapons from their enemy-held ship, cross the open meadows surrounding the city walls, and escape into the forest beyond–where they hope to regroup and drive back the invaders. Luckily, Haft and Spinner are no ordinary men. They are Marines . . .From the Paperback edition.

The Marines were told it was a simple peasant rebellion–but the mission proved to be far deadlier. . . .Gunny Charlie Bass isn’t the only Marine mystified by the order sending the entire 34th to put down a few seditious serfs on planet Kingdom. Rumors swirl of a deadly alien invasion. But few believe that such sentient beings exist. Except Gunny Bass and the Marines of the 3rd platoon, who once fought enemy aliens called Skinks–fierce, fanatical fighters with hideous weapons who attack for no other reason but to kill.Then, while slogging through Kingdom’s fetid swamps, the Marines are attacked by awesome unseen weapons that could destroy half a platoon with one shot. Clearly they are facing no normal enemy. And if their adversaries are Skinks, one FIST isn’t enough. Third platoon’s orders are to penetrate deeper into the bloody jungle hell–and find out what happens when a few good men bite the bullet. . . .From the Paperback edition.

A few good Marines beat the fierce, fanatical aliens once before. But that was a skirmish–not a full-scale invasion.The truth is out. No longer are the Skinks just a horrible secret haunting the Marines of Company L. Now the aliens are all-too-real invaders whose savage attacks have devastated planet Kingdom, a world of squabbling religions where the men of the 34th FIST confront a desperate situation. Cities that haven’t already been reduced to rubble are under siege, while starving refugees roam the land. And still the Skinks come, rising from stinking primordial swamps to slake their thirst for slaughter, armed with an uncanny ability to locate the enemy and with weapons so deadly that a single blast can drop a warplane or a decimate a squad.It’s painfully evident that 34th FIST is no match for these near-invincible killers, which is why third platoon’s been ordered to whip the citizens of Kingdom into fighting shape. With their backs to the wall and time running out, there’s only one way the Marines can turn these timid, quarrelsome men into warriors: Take the battle to the enemy. It’s a brilliant strategy, sure to succeed–if it doesn’t get them killed first. . . .From the Paperback edition.

Ruthless and seemingly indestructible, the dark army didn’t count on the few, the proud, the Marines.The Dark Prince’s vast armies have destroyed nation after nation with the aid of powerful demon magic. Their total victory would be swift and certain except for two things: Haft and Spinner, a pair of soldiers trained in the art of warfare through the teachings of a magically transported Marine Gunnery Sergeant.The Dark Prince’s orders are swift and simple: find them. Haft and Spinner, along with scores of soldiers and refugees, are determined to form an army and defeat the invaders. Outnumbered and outgunned, they must uncover and kill the enemy before the enemy kills them. Haft and Spinner have already accomplished great feats. But to achieve the impossible will require a few strokes of genius and a few good men. Fortunately, these Marines have both. . . .

The hugely popular Starfist saga featuring Marines at war in outer space is the only military science fiction series written by real combat vets: David Sherman and Dan Cragg. Now comes the explosive hardcover debut of this series–packed with hell-torn action and blazing adventure.In their fiercest combat yet, the hard-charging Marines of 34th Fleet Initial Strike Team (FIST) have finally won their battle against a full-scale alien invasion of planet Kingdom. But victory over these savage enemies comes at a terrible price, especially for the Marines of Company L’s decimated third platoon. The leader these men would follow into hell itself–Gunnery Sergeant Charlie Bass–was consumed in a fiery ambush that obliterated everything but his dog tags and a few scraps of DNA.On planet Kingdom, citizens try to return to some semblance of normalcy as the military conducts patrols to search out and destroy any remaining alien Skinks. The old government of squabbling religious leaders has been replaced by a ruthless new regime. All power rests with Dominic de Tomas, a depraved despot who will stoop to any means to achieve his vile ends. His reign of terror bodes ill for the fragile planet still reeling from the chaos of war.In a cave in some forgotten Kingdom backwater, several humans slowly regain consciousness. Their minds have been probed repeatedly . . . by whom and for what reason they cannot say, for they’ve been stripped of all memories of themselves and their past lives. In time wounds will heal, but who knows if they will ever fully recover.For now, finding food and water takes precedence. And so these half-dead outcasts begin a journey into the unknown–in search of civilization, in search of themselves. And one survivor’s journey will take him to places of overwhelming danger, where his identity will be revealed to the shock of all.

Only a miracle can save them now.Luckily, they have one: the Marines.Like an invincible tidal wave of evil, the Dark Prince’s conquering armies roar across the land, leaving death and destruction in their wake. So far Marines Haft and Spinner have managed to stay one step ahead of the invaders, picking up hundreds of refugees and soldiers as they struggle to reach their salvation at the edge of the sea. Against all odds, they’ve even managed to inflict some damage on the vastly superior forces.Yet for every enemy soldier killed, ten more appear in his place, and the Dark Prince’s demon magic ensures their weapons are brutally effective. The outlook is not promising for the ragged band of rebels, pursued by bloodthirsty troops, hounded by bandits, and forced across a desert where death awaits all trespassers. As the noose tightens and the Dark Prince prepares the final coup de grace, it may look like Haft and Spinner and their embattled crew are finished. But these Marines have only just begun to fight.

An exciting new special-ops adventure from the battle-tested vets who created the popular Starfist seriesJorge Lavager, charismatic leader of the mysterious Union of Margelan, ferociously guards an agricultural research facility on the planet Atlas. What that facility conceals will prove whether Lavager is an idealist seeking to unify Atlas under a banner of freedom and prosperity–or a tyrant aiming to control all of Human Space.The Marines of Fourth Force Recon’s second platoon are dispatched to Atlas to uncover the truth. They will have to sneak past state-of-the-art surveillance equipment barring unlawful entry to the planet and land in a desolate area miles from their target. And if they discover lethal new weapons instead of legitimate research, the thirty-six Marines are to seize the compound–guarded by merciless, armed-to-the-teeth soldiers–and destroy it. But what the recon team finds on Atlas sets off a chain of events that will force some hard decisions on the Marines . . . and end in a deadly surprise.From the Paperback edition.

Packed with hard-core action written by battle-savvy combat veterans, the explosive Starfist series has become hugely popular across America. Now the saga of the courageous Marines continues in Flashfire, as the 34th Fleet Initial Strike Team (FIST) ventures to the edge of Human Space to fight a number of enemies . . . some on their own side.Tensions erupt between the Confederation and several frontier worlds when civilians are shot dead at an army base on the planet Ravenette. Enraged, the Ravenette government and nine neighboring planets form a coalition, and their first act of secession is to overrun Ravenette’s Confederation garrison. With the armed forces of ten worlds seizing the brutal upper hand, the embattled troops need help–now–and they need it bad.Enter the Marines of the 34th FIST. As the nearest ready-to-deploy unit, the team is sent to Ravenette with orders to hold the line until reinforcements arrive. The upcoming operation promises to be no picnic, for while sophisticates may ridicule the backward ways of the uncouth frontier folk, no one scoffs at their fighting ability.Charlie Bass doesn’t mince words for his men in Company L’s third platoon. Two army divisions–perhaps thirty thousand soldiers–are being overwhelmed, and somebody expects a thousand Marines to save the day. As pompous Confederation generals wreak even more havoc than the enemy, there are those who call the mission suicide . . . but not the Marines. Of course it sounds hopeless, but for Marines like Charlie Bass and the rest of the 34th FIST, accomplishing the impossible comes with the territory.From the Hardcover edition.

A BOLD NEW CONTINGENT–FORCE RECON–JOINS THE EXPLOSIVE STARFIST SPACE EPIC OF MARINES AT WAR.A Confederation army is besieged on the planet Ravenette, cut off by and facing destruction at the hands of a dozen Secessionist Coalition worlds arrayed against it. The outnumbered and outgunned forces cling precariously to their foothold, dubbed “Bataan” by the desperate men in their fighting bunkers. Reinforcements are on the way, but will they arrive in time? And even if they do, can they match the well-led, highly motivated enemy determined to destroy them in battle?But the Confederation commander holds a wild card, an elite force armed only with what they carry on their backs and in their heads: a small detachment of Marines who lightly go where others fear to tread, the Fourth Force Recon Company. For anyone else this mission would be suicide, but for these Marines, it’s just another day in the maelstrom.From the Paperback edition.

Combat vets David Sherman and Dan Cragg know firsthand the courage, sacrifice, and hell of war–and their experiences have made the popular Starfist novels thrill rides of the highest order. Now the explosive action continues on the remote planet Ravenette, where the Marines of the Confederation’s 34th Fleet Initial Strike Team (FIST) find themselves up against a full-fledged rebellion–and a lethally loose cannon of a commanding officer. Desperate to thwart unrelenting aliens and their quest to obliterate humankind, The Confederation has beefed up its defenses. But to the citizens on the outer edges of Human Space around Ravenette–unaware that a deadly enemy even exists–the government’s move seems oppressive, and ten planets have responded with a war of secession.In touch-and-go battles with the seceding planets, the 34th FIST has emerged battered but unbowed, refusing to give up . . . even while under the command of a fanatical general. The enemy determined to strike, a new mission must be carried out, though the troops will likely return in body bags.Should Ensign Charlie Bass and his Marines somehow survive the nightmarishly difficult amphibious landing, they can expect to be outmanned, outgunned, and out-armored in a fierce duel against fresh soldiers. But like any Marine worth his salt, Bass knows there’s only one way to go when facing impossible odds: on the offense with all guns firing. There’s no other choice–because if life was easy, there’d be no need to send in the Marines.From the Hardcover edition.

Swift, silent, and deadly–they strike where no one else dares.Fear is the fastest-growing crop on Haulover, a newly colonized planet where someone–or something–is destroying isolated farmhouses. The unseen enemy strikes without warning, then disappears, leaving no stone standing, no trace of families or farm animals. When the Confederation receives a desperate plea for help, it’s time to send in the Marines. Impossible missions are a matter of course for Fourth Force Recon’s second platoon squads, and the situation at Haulover–with no witnesses and few clues–is no exception. But this assignment turns out to be even tougher and bloodier than usual because the devastation is a ploy–to lure the nine Marines into a trap, and to force them to bust the Confederation’s terrible secret wide open. And as for the Skinks lying in ambush on Haulover, they have no idea what trouble is . . . until they go up against a few good Marines.From the Paperback edition.

Planet Haulover has been invaded by Skinks. Until now, the aliens'' existence has been hushed up. But Force Recon''s shocking report leaves the Confederation no choice but to mount a military campaign against these alien predators bent on human destruction. Meanwhile, back home, the Confederation''s president is being denounced as a warmonger out to exterminate "harmless" aliens. If she loses the upcoming elections, the Confederation will have a lot more Skinks to worry about than the ones on Haulover.Newly promoted Lieutenant Charlie Bass and his third platoon have more pressing concerns, such as staying alive. But what would be a suicide mission for most—whether it''s raiding a hidden Skinks base or destroying the enemy''s most lethal weapons during a desperate firefight—is just another job for the Thirty-fourth FIST.

It may be the twenty-fifth century, but the Marines are still looking for a few good men.The Confederation has finally disclosed the existence of Skinks, fierce aliens bent on wiping out humankind. While the rest of the universe grapples with the news, the Skink-savvy Marines of the Confederation’s Thirty-fourth Fleet Initial Strike Team (FIST) have their own worries: they’ve just learned they can’t transfer out of the unit. Who else has the skills to fight the Skinks on their home turf when the time comes? Morale isn’t improved by a report of Skinks on the uncolonized world of Ishtar—which means that FIST must turn around and head right back into the jaws of hell with no downtime. But none of that matters to Lieutenant Charlie Bass and the third platoon of Company L. They’re Marines, they’re the best, and they’ve got a job to do.

Distilling the available knowledge on ethanol-induced liver damage and directly complementing the available bio-medical literature, Ethanol and the Liver covers pathogenic and clinical aspects of alcoholic liver disease. Providing broader coverage of the subject than any available monograph, the editors and their panel of experts relate basic science to pathogenesis and treatment modalities and explore future developments. Coverage includes:Histopathology-fatty liver, alcoholic hepatitis, and cirrhosis Ethanol metabolism and its consequences Mechanisms in the pathogenesis of ALD, including genetics, immunology, and insulin-like growth factors Extrahepatic effects of ALD and the role of alcohol in potentiating liver damage due to other etiologies Interaction of alcohol with viral hepatitis Epidemiology, diagnosis, and treatment Management strategies, including transplantationThe vast amount of knowledge and expertise gathered in this book make it an unparalleled resource.

Distilling the available knowledge on ethanol-induced liver damage and directly complementing the available bio-medical literature, Ethanol and the Liver covers pathogenic and clinical aspects of alcoholic liver disease. Providing broader coverage of the subject than any available monograph, the editors and their panel of experts relate basic science to pathogenesis and treatment modalities and explore future developments. Coverage includes:Histopathology-fatty liver, alcoholic hepatitis, and cirrhosis Ethanol metabolism and its consequences Mechanisms in the pathogenesis of ALD, including genetics, immunology, and insulin-like growth factors Extrahepatic effects of ALD and the role of alcohol in potentiating liver damage due to other etiologies Interaction of alcohol with viral hepatitis Epidemiology, diagnosis, and treatment Management strategies, including transplantationThe vast amount of knowledge and expertise gathered in this book make it an unparalleled resource.

The Blackwell Guide to Continental Philosophy is an accessible but sophisticated introduction to the most important figures in Continental philosophy in the last 200 years. Presents a definitive introduction to the core figures and topics of continental philosophy.Contains newly commissioned essays, all of which are written by internationally distinguished scholars.Provides a solid foundation for further study.Subjects include Hegel, Schopenhauer, Kierkegaard, Marx and Marxism, Nietzsche, Husserl and Phenomenology, Heidegger, Sartre, critical theory, Habermas, Gadamer, Foucault, Derrida, postmodernism, and French feminism.

The Blackwell Guide to Continental Philosophy is an accessible but sophisticated introduction to the most important figures in Continental philosophy in the last 200 years. Presents a definitive introduction to the core figures and topics of continental philosophy.Contains newly commissioned essays, all of which are written by internationally distinguished scholars.Provides a solid foundation for further study.Subjects include Hegel, Schopenhauer, Kierkegaard, Marx and Marxism, Nietzsche, Husserl and Phenomenology, Heidegger, Sartre, critical theory, Habermas, Gadamer, Foucault, Derrida, postmodernism, and French feminism.

Presents a new translation with commentary of chapter IV ("Self-Consciousness") of Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit.Offering a new translation of the famous chapter IV ("Self-Consciousness") of Phenomenology of Spirit, this book reflects the far-reaching insights of contemporary Hegelian scholarship. Included is extensive commentary as well as a review of its reception by such important twentieth-century thinkers as Kojeve, Heidegger, Sartre, Gadamer, Bataille, Deleuze, Lacan, and Habermas.Interest in Hegel has historically centered around the Phenomenology of Spirit. In particular chapter IV, including Hegel's celebrated "master-slave dialectic," has influenced philosophers, political theorists, social psychologists, cultural anthropologists, and literary theorists alike. Hegel began this chapter with an influential discussion of the nature of human "desire," and then described a hypothetical encounter between two pre-social human beings who engage in a life-and-death struggle for recognition. Out of this struggle that gave rise to self-identity, emerged such forms of consciousness as master and slave, stoicism, skepticism, and what Hegel referred to as "the unhappy consciousness," which he took to be paradigmatic of early Christianity. These forms of consciousness, in turn, are transcended by other, more comprehensive, forms of consciousness that ultimately come to reflect the highest elaborations of societal life. The impetus for these dynamic changes comes from the dialectical contradictions that inhere within our most basic conceptions of personhood.

Antonio Negri is known in the English-speaking world primarily through his collaborations with Michael Hardt; Empire , Multitude, and Commonwealth have become some of the most widely discussed political works of recent times. Here, Reading Negri unravels the ideas and life of the man whose work has become a rallying point for students, workers, and intellectuals opposing capitalist globalization. It also delves into many of the thinker's other writings, such as his novel readings of Machiavelli, Descartes, and Spinoza -- revolutionary reinterpretations of the central texts of Marx -- and his works of contemporary political analysis. Whereas most critical accounts of Negri focus only on his collaborations with Hardt, this insightful collection of essays presents readers with a fuller picture of his thoughts, one that does justice to his ability to use the great texts of the philosophical tradition to illuminate the present. This collection contains essays from scholars representing a broad spectrum of disciplines and interests, and offers both criticism of and positive commentary on Negri's work.