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A breathtaking portrait of Alabama rivers.

From their primal seepages in the Appalachian highlands or along the broad Chunnenuggee Hills, Alabama’s rivers carve through the rocky uplands and down the Fall Line rapids, then ease across the coastal plain to their eventual confluence with the Gulf of Mexico.

Beth Maynor Young’s 155 full-color photographs constitute art through a lens; the colors, the light, and the angles all converge for a tender praise of her subject. Her stunning visuals are supported by tantalizing captions and introductory text from John C. Hall, a master field trip leader. Together, they tell a proud story of the native beauty and complexity of these Alabama watercourses that shepherd fully 20% of the nation’s fresh water to sea.

The intimate close-up of verdant mosses or pebbled beaches pulls one into their space just as surely as does a sweeping scene of a watershed valley or a sparkling sunset over water. We all become eager listeners and observers on this guided “paddle to the Gulf,” drinking in the peace, delight, and beauty offered by the experience. At the end, we know we won’t be the same as before beginning the journey.

In addition to being a celebration of their richness, Headwaters serves as a call to greater stewardship of these riverine resources. Conservation sidebars describe the current efforts in this direction and encourage further study and protection. This book tells us, in glorious color and instructive word, why we’ll always treasure these wonderful rivers.

Taking its title from a poem by Paul Celan that is both elegiac and hopeful, but also playing off the notion of the “hart” walls erected to corral deer for a medieval hunt that was more a slaughter, and evoking the very physiology of the heart itself, this collection of poems explores the possibilities for love and feeling in a world besieged by tragedies in Bosnia, Kosovo, Rwanda, and elsewhere. At times lyrical, at times satirical, and written in a surrealistic style that ranges from the formal to the aphoristic, Heartwall explores the complex and sometimes confounding relationship between the personal and the political, between our individual perceptions and the larger vision they suggest. These are poems that ask forgiveness, offer praise, and carry enough irony never to seek redemption. They are, at heart, love poems. According to the late William Matthews, Jackson's poems tell us “what it means to belong in history. . . . The wonderful amplitude . . . testifies that we can live with such chaos and not lie about it or ignore it: indeed the poems are a demonstration of how we might do such a thing.”

In recent years there has been much controversy concerning Martin Heidegger’s politics, prompted by new research on the nature and extent of his engagement with National Socialism. Examining the political ideas embedded in Heidegger’s larger philosophical oeuvre, James F. Ward moves beyond the narrow preoccupation with Heidegger’s overtly pro-Nazi utterances and activities to show how the central theme of Heidegger’s philosophy—the question of Being—is itself inherently political. 

Ward builds his case on close readings of texts drawn from nearly all of the writings published during Heidegger’s lifetime as well as from lectures, course transcripts, and other materials that appeared posthumously. With subtlety and insight, he uncovers the political content of Heidegger’s thinking on such topics as the temporality of Being, the role of science in the crisis of the West, and the presumed special status and destiny of the German people. In an epilogue, Ward reflects on the implications of Heidegger’s political thinking for postmodern political theory.

How contemporary poetry illuminates the workings—and struggles—of commitment in feminism.

In this lucid and vigorous defense of poetics for feminism, Anna Moser situates the practice of contemporary poetry in an exploratory dialogue with the work of philosophical, critical, and historical thinkers—placing Denise Riley in conversation with Judith Butler, Lyn Hejinian with Hannah Arendt, m. nourbeSe philip with Saidiya Hartman, and Susan Howe with Emily Dickinson. 

Moser’s central theme is these poets’ questioning, agonistic commitment to feminism. What, the book asks, does it mean to be committed? How does such a commitment materialize? What are its consequences? What does it mean not to take for granted an affiliation like “feminist” (or even “woman”), but rather to involve one’s art in probing its historical formations, present conditions, and future trajectories? Moser explores both the risks and possibilities of making art in this equivocal condition. She reveals that the poetry of certain contemporary writers not only unfolds within this space of agonistic commitment, but that, in doing so, it offers an important contribution to feminist thinking. Moser’s book also shows that while form is a constraint that limits these poets’ freedom, it also holds them in a more sustaining sense, allowing something belatedly and imperfectly to be said. 

In dialogue with feminist political theory, philosophy, historiography, and aesthetics, Held by Form reveals poetics as a unique mode of critical practice: one that models relations of care and collectivity, refigures inherited forms in ways that contest their hierarchies of value, and responds with generosity and openness to the complexities of living in gender.

First introduced in the pages of X-Men, Storm is probably the most recognized Black female superhero. She is also one of the most powerful characters in the Marvel Universe, with abilities that allow her to control the weather itself. Yet that power is almost always deployed in the service of White characters, and Storm is rarely treated as an authority figure. 
 
Hero Me Not offers an in-depth look at this fascinating yet often frustrating character through all her manifestations in comics, animation, and films. Chesya Burke examines the coding of Storm as racially “exotic,” an African woman who nonetheless has bright white hair and blue eyes and was portrayed onscreen by biracial actresses Halle Berry and Alexandra Shipp. She shows how Storm, created by White writers and artists, was an amalgam of various Black stereotypes, from the Mammy and the Jezebel to the Magical Negro, resulting in a new stereotype she terms the Negro Spiritual Woman. 
 
With chapters focusing on the history, transmedia representation, and racial politics of Storm, Burke offers a very personal account of what it means to be a Black female comics fan searching popular culture for positive images of powerful women who look like you. 

Stunning underwater photography of the world’s great marine kelp forests and the wildlife they shelter.

Kelp forests, which thrive in cold, nutrient-rich waters, are found along the coasts of every continent except Antarctica. These underwater realms are stunningly beautiful and host entire ecosystems, providing food, shelter, and breeding grounds for an abundance of marine life.

With transcendent photography and compelling accounts from freedivers and storytellers Ross Frylinck and Faine Loubser, this book offers a captivating glimpse into these ocean forests. Dive beneath the midnight sun in the Arctic Circle and watch the northern lights dance over the waters of Shetland, Scotland. In Aotearoa New Zealand, swim with playful sea lions off Rakiura Stewart Island. In South Africa’s Cape Peninsula, cross paths with dusky dolphins, whales, and sharks. Meet an austral sea wolf in the icy Strait of Magellan and learn from kelp harvesters on remote islands in Japan.

Hidden Ocean Forests documents kelp forests around the world, showcasing their rich biodiversity and long-lasting impacts on human culture. These remarkable images and enchanting essays reveal the hidden beauty, significance, and fragility of these submerged wonderlands.

112 full-color artistic photographs of watermills still standing on the North American landscape

The scenic beauty of the watermill is undeniable. The iconic waterwheel has inspired romantics for generations with their warmth and charm. Watermills were once ubiquitous landmarks along brooks, creeks, and rivers across North America. Today, only a scattering of the old watermills grace the countryside, but through these mills, and the turning of their wheels and the whirling of their stones, a small but spectacular part of history lives on.

Through stunningly beautiful images, Historic Watermills of North America: A Visual Preservation presents 112 watermills still standing on the North American landscape. With idealized full-color photographs, Ken Boyd nostalgically hearkens back to a time after European settlement when these structures were the very heart of the communities whose livelihoods they made possible. These mills turned the power of flowing water into mechanical energy to grind corn and wheat into meal and flour, saw timber, loom wool and cotton cloth, and more for the benefit of their operators and communities.

At one time vital to their surrounding regions, most of these surviving mills are in rural areas that have been passed over by modern development. Their designs are as individual as their makers, and their settings are as varied as the landscape. Some have been converted into homes or museums or are part of local tourist attractions. Others have been abandoned but give witness to the significance of their heydays, and others are still in use, doing the same work they have done for generations.

Boyd’s beautifully rendered photographs preserve these extant structures and represent a variety of watermills across the United States and Canada. Each mill photograph is accompanied by a description providing the name of the mill, its location, date of construction, and brief comments highlighting its most noteworthy features. Additional photographs and commentary in the afterword explore the inner workings of watermills.
 

Daniel Hodermarsky's work embraces both the representational and the abstract, reflecting the intricate spaces of both his psyche and shared human experience.

Daniel Hodermarsky was the son of Slovak immigrants who emigrated from Hačava to settle and work in the coal fields of Pennsylvania and later in the auto-manufacturing industries of Ohio. He served in World War II on the Western front and was awarded two presidential citations, two Croix de Guerre, and one combat star. He returned home with severe and persistent post-traumatic stress disorder that left an indelible mark on his life and art.

Throughout his career, Hodermarsky’s work embraced both the representational and the abstract. His early works experimented with new media (such as Dayglo paint) and new styles such as Op Art and performance. In the 1970s and beyond, he engaged landscape—rural, urban, and imaginary—wherein he explored the interplay of terrain (land or water, horizon, and sky). The human figure—Slovak farmers, wounded or dismembered soldiers, and mythical and historical figures—were among his favorite subjects. He was fascinated by how age, human nature, and personality combine to create the physical form. His eclectic themes mirror his own unique complexities and experiences. Later in his career, he focused on abstract works that reflect the intricate spaces of both his psyche and shared human experience.

A deeply spiritual man with a strong religious faith, Hodermarsky’s abstract paintings ask the existential questions that have challenged humankind across millennia. By showing us his own experience of these great mysteries, his art underscores life’s abiding beauty. Over his long career of interpreting the world in which he lived, Hodermarsky invites us to inhabit a realm filled with joy, reverence, and passion.

"The promise of an empty football field is an irresistible force for those who understand and revere the game," Jeff Wilson observes. Drawn by the sense of possibility and nostalgia inherent in every stadium, Wilson traveled the state of Texas to photograph high school stadiums for a photo essay that appeared in Texas Monthly in August 2005. The magazine's readers responded with an outpouring of enthusiasm, and Wilson's photo essay was nominated for a prestigious National Magazine Award.

In Home Field, Wilson creates a unique photo portrait of nearly eighty Texas high school football stadiums, ranging from the bright lights, artificial turf, and seating for thousands at Southlake Carroll to the lone set of bleachers under the wide open sky in Veribest. Shot from the fifty-yard line facing the home stands, these photographs invite us to view each stadium from the same vantage point and experience it as an evocative place that holds a community's collective memories. Accompanying the photographs are reminiscences about the fields from players, coaches, team physicians, athletic directors, sportswriters and announcers, school superintendents, principals and teachers, band directors, maintenance workers, booster club parents, students, and fans. Their stories—whether funny, nostalgic, or poignant—reveal just how important high school football is to Texans and how it creates an unforgettable sense of community and camaraderie.

Sure to bring back memories as soon as you open the book, Home Field captures what football is supposed to be—"simple and pure, like a perfect spiral arcing gracefully across the sky."

By analyzing African and Caribbean texts on their own terms, Horizontal Comparison articulates new forms of transoceanic solidarity.

The fields of comparative literature and Black Atlantic studies have an Africa problem: despite sustained attempts to decenter Western paradigms, they still privilege the United States and Europe as the primary loci of reference. So argues Cajetan Iheka in Horizontal Comparison, which aims to redirect both fields toward a non-hierarchical, South-South orientation focusing on the links between Africa and the Caribbean. 

By analyzing the literary work and real-life trajectories of writers such as Peter Abrahams, Chimamanda Adichie, Maryse Condé, Buchi Emecheta, Jamaica Kincaid, Claude McKay, Dinaw Mengestu, Ferdinand Oyono, Taiye Selasi, and Sam Selvon, Iheka draws our attention to the ways in which African and Caribbean texts inform and mutually constitute each other, bypassing the usual comparisons to Western literary canons. The book challenges not only Western cultural hegemony in the study of global Black writing but also the very methodologies of comparative literary studies, offering fresh insights into reading, trauma, character, and the “worlding” of literature.

Adamshick’s poems are characteristically accessible and navigable. From the political to the erotic and everywhere in between, these poems take us on a sometimes sober, sometimes raunchy ride.