John Owens – författare

First published in 1986. This book analyses, at an introductory level, the four main and competing political interpretations of the cause of unemployment and the future of paid work – social democracy, free market liberalism, the disciplinary state, and utopian socialism. Considered together these four interpretations are highly revealing – and challenging. They raise considerable doubts about the viability or desirability of policies design to ‘get the jobless back to work’. Keane and Owens’ central argument is that the post-war policy of full male employment, as well as its politic, economic and social preconditions, are not repeatable, Starting with Keynes and Beveridge, they explain how and why full employment welfare states developed in Britain and the US, and how they had in turn been replaced by the ‘strong state, free market’ programmes of Thatcher and Reagan. By focusing on an issue which was, and still is, at the heart of political debate, the book provides a lucid and approachable guide to four key strands of political thought it Britain and the US. It will be an ideal introductory text for students of politics, sociology and economics.

First published in 1986. This book analyses, at an introductory level, the four main and competing political interpretations of the cause of unemployment and the future of paid work – social democracy, free market liberalism, the disciplinary state, and utopian socialism. Considered together these four interpretations are highly revealing – and challenging. They raise considerable doubts about the viability or desirability of policies design to ‘get the jobless back to work’. Keane and Owens’ central argument is that the post-war policy of full male employment, as well as its politic, economic and social preconditions, are not repeatable, Starting with Keynes and Beveridge, they explain how and why full employment welfare states developed in Britain and the US, and how they had in turn been replaced by the ‘strong state, free market’ programmes of Thatcher and Reagan. By focusing on an issue which was, and still is, at the heart of political debate, the book provides a lucid and approachable guide to four key strands of political thought it Britain and the US. It will be an ideal introductory text for students of politics, sociology and economics.

Believing that humanity would be better off if it simply dropped its traditional religious and metaphysical beliefs, Richard Rorty proposes an alternative approach, drawn from the American pragmatist tradition, where things get their significance against a background of broad human interests, and knowledge is regarded as part of the active pursuit of a better world. Rorty, Religion, and Metaphysics argues that while Rorty’s case is clearly and robustly made, it is fundamentally challenged by the phenomenon of human recognition, the relationship that arises between people when they talk to one another. John Owens demonstrates that recognition, so central to human life, cannot be accommodated within Rorty’s proposals, given that it precisely attributes a reality to others that goes beyond anything a pragmatist framework can offer. It follows that there is more to human interaction than can be explained by Rorty’s pragmatism.

A wordless picture-book journey through the Boundary Waters, canoeing and camping with a family as they encounter the northwoods wilderness in all its spectacular beautyIt's a place of wordless wonder: the wilderness of the Boundary Waters on the Minnesota–Canada border. Travel its vast distances, canoe its streams and glacial lakes, take shelter from rain under a rocky outcropping (or in your tent), camp in its vaulting forests as stars embroider the darkening sky. Is this your first visit? Or is it already your favorite destination? Come along-join a family of three as their journey unfolds, picture by picture, marking the changing light as the day passes, the stillness before the gathering storm, the shining waters everywhere, rushing here, quietly pooling there, beckoning us ever onward into nature’s infinite wildness one summer up north.

A picture-book journey through the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in winter, snowshoeing the frozen lakes and silent forest with family, encountering the wonders of northern wildlife in the cold season  In winter the Boundary Waters, way up north in Minnesota, is not the same place you canoed last summer-but still it beckons and welcomes you. Grab a pack, strap on snowshoes, make a path (Oh! they take some getting used to!), and venture out across the frozen lakes and through the snowy woods. The vast wintery world here is so still and quiet, you might think you’re all alone-but no! Who made these tracks? A deer? A hare? A fox? And far off there’s a musher, making tracks with his sled dogs.It’s a magical place. The bright sun brilliant on the snow, the sparkling silence-wait, is that a wolf calling? Try to answer! And when the dark descends, the stars and pine trees holding up the night, your nose gets cold and it’s back to camp, to your warm winter tent, where Father feeds the stove with wood you gathered, Mother snuggles into her big sleeping bag, and you curl up in the fire’s glow and know that in your dreams and memories you will return again and again to this one winter up north. A wintery adventure that unfolds in pictures, John Owens’s delightful book gives readers a chance to discover-or rediscover-another season full of wonder in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.

A family canoes through the northern wilderness as it awakens to the warming season in this wordless picture-book journey through the Boundary WatersAs spring stirs the world of the Boundary Waters and wildlife awakens, let’s venture out, too. Paddle the canoe into warmer days as winter melts away. Mama bears come out of hibernation, and fox kits poke their curious noses out of their dens. Birds return from their southern journeys, flirting and calling, flying overhead, gathering grasses and sticks for their nests. As we cut through cold water under the bluest of skies, fish surface and jump, turtles sun themselves on a log, and a loon makes her melancholy call. When we pull up to portage across an island and stop to camp on its shore, the majestic pines offer shelter from the sharp, chilly wind while other trees bud with new leaves and wildflowers raise their colorful petals to the soft spring light. Nature is wild here, so night in the woods might be scary, but the family is warm and safe, pulling together like the animal families all around to greet the dawning season while the waters gather and rush. Moving with confident grace, this charming wordless picture book with its detailed, colored-pencil illustrations invites you to join this canoeing and camping family on their journey through the natural splendors of the Boundary Waters as they experience the cycle of life in the wild.