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Who owns the past and the objects that physically connect us to history? And who has the right to decide this ownership, particularly when the objects are sacred or, in the case of skeletal remains, human? Is it the museums that care for the objects or the communities whose ancestors made them? These questions are at the heart of Plundered Skulls and Stolen Spirits, an unflinching insider account by a leading curator who has spent years learning how to balance these controversial considerations.

Five decades ago, Native American leaders launched a crusade to force museums to return their sacred objects and allow them to rebury their kin. Today, hundreds of tribes use the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act to help them recover their looted heritage from museums across the country. As senior curator of anthropology at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science, Chip Colwell has navigated firsthand the questions of how to weigh the religious freedom of Native Americans against the academic freedom of scientists and whether the emptying of museum shelves elevates human rights or destroys a common heritage. This book offers his personal account of the process of repatriation, following the trail of four objects as they were created, collected, and ultimately returned to their sources: a sculpture that is a living god, the scalp of a massacre victim, a ceremonial blanket, and a skeleton from a tribe considered by some to be extinct. These specific stories reveal a dramatic process that involves not merely obeying the law, but negotiating the blurry lines between identity and morality, spirituality and politics.

Things, like people, have biographies. Repatriation, Colwell argues, is a difficult but vitally important way for museums and tribes to acknowledge that fact—and heal the wounds of the past while creating a respectful approach to caring for these rich artifacts of history.
 

Producing Bollywood offers an unprecedented look inside the social and professional worlds of the Mumbai-based Hindi film industry and explains how it became "Bollywood," the global film phenomenon and potent symbol of India as a rising economic powerhouse. In this rich and entertaining ethnography Tejaswini Ganti examines the changes in Hindi film production from the 1990s until 2010, locating them in Hindi filmmakers' efforts to accrue symbolic capital, social respectability, and professional distinction, and to manage the commercial uncertainties of filmmaking. These efforts have been enabled by the neoliberal restructuring of the Indian state and economy since 1991. This restructuring has dramatically altered the country's media landscape, which quickly expanded to include satellite television and multiplex theaters. Ganti contends that the Hindi film industry's metamorphosis into Bollywood would not have been possible without the rise of neoliberal economic ideals in India. By describing dramatic transformations in the Hindi film industry's production culture, daily practices, and filmmaking ideologies during a decade of tremendous social and economic change in India, Ganti offers valuable new insights into the effects of neoliberalism on cultural production in a postcolonial setting.

J.B. Hunt Transport hit the national business scene as a trucking company led by a dynamic founder known for his boundless optimism, untamed vision, and salesmanship. The company has since transformed into a multi-billion-dollar business by balancing business savvy and execution with an enduring entrepreneurial spirit—a rare feat in any industry.

J.B. Hunt’s triumphs and struggles provide a fascinating case study of how business theory, leadership, culture, and organizational best-practices have combined to create one of the most successful companies in American history. Kirk Thompson, with more than forty years of experience inside the company, gives a CEO’s account of the company’s evolution, while Matt Waller connects the leadership decisions to business theories that are transferrable to other leaders and industries.

Purple on the Inside is more than a corporate history or business management primer. It’s a practical case study that illustrates what Seth Godin described in Purple Cow, his best-selling book that considers what characteristics make for a remarkable business. It’s the story of leaders and team members who tap into their founder’s spirit for innovation while maintaining the focus and high level of performance needed to grow. It’s a story about developing partnerships, technologies, and expertise that others can’t easily duplicate. And it’s a story of overcoming disheartening setbacks and cultivating the purple cows that have allowed J.B. Hunt Transport to do what many experts said was impossible—stand out from its competition in an industry full of brown cows.