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Historically the bodies of civilians are the most damaged by the increasing mechanization and derealization of warfare, but this is not reflected in the representation of violence in popular media. In War Without Bodies, author Martin Danahay argues that the media in the United States in particular constructs a “war without bodies” in which neither the corpses of soldiers or civilians are shown. War Without Bodies traces the intertwining of new communications technologies and war from the Crimean War, when Roger Fenton took the first photographs of the British army and William Howard Russell used the telegraph to transmit his dispatches, to the first of three “video wars” in the Gulf region in 1990-91, within the context of a war culture that made the costs of organized violence acceptable to a wider public. New modes of communication have paradoxically not made more war “real” but made it more ubiquitous and at the same time unremarkable as bodies are erased from coverage. Media such as photography and instantaneous video initially seemed to promise more realism but were assimilated into existing conventions that implicitly justified war. These new representations of war were framed in a way that erased the human cost of violence and replaced it with images that defused opposition to warfare.

Analyzing poetry, photographs, video and video games the book illustrates the ways in which war was framed in these different historical contexts. It examines the cultural assumptions that influenced the reception of images of war and discusses how death and damage to bodies was made acceptable to the public. War Without Bodies aims to heighten awareness of how acceptance of war is coded into texts and how active resistance to such hidden messages can help prevent future unnecessary wars.
 

An urgent reality check for America’s blinkered fixation on STEM education.

We live in an era of STEM obsession. Not only do tech companies dominate American enterprise and economic growth while complaining of STEM shortages, but we also need scientific solutions to impending crises. As a society, we have poured enormous resources—including billions of dollars—into cultivating young minds for well-paid STEM careers. Yet despite it all, we are facing a worker exodus, with as many as 70% of STEM graduates opting out of STEM work. Sociologist John D. Skrentny investigates why, and the answer, he shows, is simple: the failure of STEM jobs.

Wasted Education reveals how STEM work drives away bright graduates as a result of  “burn and churn” management practices, lack of job security, constant training for a neverending stream of new—and often socially harmful—technologies, and the exclusion of women, people of color, and older workers. Wasted Education shows that if we have any hope of improving the return on our STEM education investments, we have to change the way we’re treating the workers on whom our future depends.

This is an auto-narrated audiobook version of this book.

An urgent reality check for America’s blinkered fixation on STEM education.

We live in an era of STEM obsession. Not only do tech companies dominate American enterprise and economic growth while complaining of STEM shortages, but we also need scientific solutions to impending crises. As a society, we have poured enormous resources—including billions of dollars—into cultivating young minds for well-paid STEM careers. Yet despite it all, we are facing a worker exodus, with as many as 70% of STEM graduates opting out of STEM work. Sociologist John D. Skrentny investigates why, and the answer, he shows, is simple: the failure of STEM jobs.

Wasted Education reveals how STEM work drives away bright graduates as a result of  “burn and churn” management practices, lack of job security, constant training for a neverending stream of new—and often socially harmful—technologies, and the exclusion of women, people of color, and older workers. Wasted Education shows that if we have any hope of improving the return on our STEM education investments, we have to change the way we’re treating the workers on whom our future depends.

The stories of those without access to broadband services—and an urgent call for their connection.

The average American will spend years of their lives online. For many, the Internet is life, facilitating employment, education, commerce, and connection. But imagine students who only have online access in the early hours of the morning, when the sun is down, and the Internet traffic is low. Imagine living through a pandemic without Internet access because you can’t afford the monthly subscription. Imagine a first responder unable to find a strong enough signal to seek life-saving services. In this eye-opening book, communications scholar Christopher Ali shares such stories—and calls for policymakers, broadband companies, and governments to connect these communities with meaningful, affordable broadband.

It may seem unthinkable that tens of millions of people across the country are unable to access the Internet because of a lack of infrastructure; a computer; affordable broadband subscription options; or training, support, and skills. These people, some who are still using dial-up connections, are part of what is often called “the digital divide.” Where the Wires End brings them into the broadband policy conversation, incorporating interviews, surveys, focus groups, and field visits with individuals, communities, and organizations across the country, from inner-city Pittsburgh to the Hoopa Valley Indian Reservation in California. Ali focuses on the stories of those without access to broadband and those who work to get them attention and connection. He then links these stories to ongoing policy issues, demonstrating how we all benefit from a more empathetic approach to broadband policy that is digitally equitable, inclusive, and ultimately, more successful.

World politics has become highly polarised, and a new world war has become more likely. The United Nations’ 2024 Pact for the Future expressed concerns about ‘the growing risks of a nuclear war which could pose an existential threat to humanity’. Will humanity descend into barbarism, or will we realise the dangers of our global problems, weapons of mass destruction, and climate catastrophe to avoid annihilation and create perpetual world peace?

In World War and World Peace in the Age of Digital Capitalism, Christian Fuchs asks: how do violence and war manifest themselves in global digital capitalism? How do digital capitalism and digital technologies manifest themselves in violence and warfare? What are the prospects for world peace today?

To prevent world war and advance world peace we need a better understanding of war and violence and their contexts and causes. We need to ask what war is, what violence is, what war and peace look like today and how they have changed in the 21st century. This book addresses these urgent questions and provides possible answers.