The Seductions of Biography is an important volume which sheds new light on a flourishing literary form, the biography. In postmodern culture, new methods and intentions emerge, as well as new obstacles, towards our understanding of biography as a genre. This book provides a thorough exploration of this genre, from a wide range of postmodern perspectives. The Seductions of Biography brings together a number of essays which reflect in culturally critical as well as autobiographical terms on current themes and practices of contemporary biography. Issues addressed by these essays focus on the postmodern dilemma itself--as new voices from excluded communities make themselves heard in biographical works, the decentralization of new issues, such as gender, ethnicity, and sexuality, becomes problematic. Contributors question the responsibilities a biographer has, both to the subject and the public, and consider also questions of morality and taste; for example, is it fair to use private tapings made by your subject's analyst? And how much do we really need to know about Eleanor Roosevelt's sex life? The impact of sexuality on our reading of public figures is addressed, as well as other issues which explore the popular and provocative nature of biography. Interdisciplinary and wide-ranging in scope, The Seductions of Biography will appeal to biographers, historians, cultural critics, and the vast population of avid biography readers. Contributors: Kwame Anthony Appiah, Clark Blaise, Marilyn L. Brownstein, Blanche Wiesen Cook, John D'Emilio, Jeffrey Louis Decker, Michael Eric Dyson, Diana Fuss, Marjorie Garber, Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Hayden Herrera, Maurice Isserman, Barbara Johnson, William S. McFeely, Diane Wood Middlebrook, Richard J. Powell, Phyllis Rose, Doris Sommer, Marita Sturken, Sherley Anne Williams, Jean Fagan Yellin

Following completion of the U.S. air base in Natal, Brazil, in 1942, U.S. airmen departing for North Africa during World War II communicated with Brazilian mechanics with a thumbs-up before starting their engines. This sign soon replaced the Brazilian tradition of touching the earlobe to indicate agreement, friendship, and all that was positive and good—yet another indication of the Americanization of Brazil under way during this period. In this translation of O Imperialismo Sedutor, Antonio Pedro Tota considers both the Good Neighbor Policy and broader cultural influences to argue against simplistic theories of U.S. cultural imperialism and exploitation. He shows that Brazilians actively interpreted, negotiated, and reconfigured U.S. culture in a process of cultural recombination. The market, he argues, was far more important in determining the nature of this cultural exchange than state-directed propaganda efforts because Brazil already was primed to adopt and disseminate American culture within the framework of its own rapidly expanding market for mass culture. By examining the motives and strategies behind rising U.S. influence and its relationship to a simultaneous process of cultural and political centralization in Brazil, Tota shows that these processes were not contradictory, but rather mutually reinforcing. The Seduction of Brazil brings greater sophistication to both Brazilian and American understanding of the forces at play during this period, and should appeal to historians as well as students of Latin America, culture, and communications.

Shay Devereaux had been alone, angry and bereft of hope—until a deathbed plea had sent him into the arms of Jenny Pennington, the one woman who could resurrect him, heart and soul! Though the war had scarred her in places deep and secret, Jenny had refused to let it break her. Then, suddenly, Shay Devereaux rode into her life and her womanhood awakened, for this heaven-sent man without a past had brought her a future—filled with unimaginable love!

She Was Like Forbidden Fruit That's what Grant Ashton thought of the beautiful single mom he had no business being involved with. For Anna Sheridan deserved a perfect life…one his family's history would never allow him to give her. As the eldest son of a wicked man, wasn't he destined to be forever alone? Anna had never felt raising her late sister's illegitimate son was a sacrifice. Denying herself true pleasure was another story. She'd never felt anything as powerful as the need to be possessed by Grant…and she would not agree to let him walk away, sacrificing their happiness for the sake of his unforgiving birthright.

No other place on earth is as full both of promise and of dread as the city; it is at once alienating and exciting. These concentrations of people have not, however, come about as the result of vast immutable, impersonal forces, but because of human choices. The worsening or betterment of urban life will also be the result of choices. Our choices. That cities display and represent the personal desires of their inhabitants is central to Joseph Rykwert’s argument in The Seduction of Place. Insisting that they are the physical constructs of communities, he travels through history to trace their roots in ancient times and outlines current attempts and future possibilities to improve the metropolis. Rykwert includes a broad range of urban landscapes: 18th-and 19th-century Paris and London, the current sprawl of Mexico City and Cairo, planned cities like Brasilia, and, finally, New York, the world capital. Always opinionated and often controversial, Rykwert assesses how and why urban projects from the past succeeded or failed and what lessons can be drawn from them for the future. Ultimately, The Seduction of Place is a deeply felt and powerfully reasoned call for a commitment by every citizen to the creation of a more humane place to live.

BLAZE Red-hot reads from Temptation! THE SEDUCTION… For weeks, Derek Buchanan has been trying to tell gorgeous leggy pal Sydney Travers that he loves her. And he's planning on seducing her…. But even Derek's surprised when one night the softhearted veterinarian turns to him for comfort—and they have the most incredible sex! Three times! THE SECRET… Sydney is shocked—Derek is her best friend, the buddy who's held her hand through a string of disastrous blind dates. Making love was a huge mistake. Now Derek knows all her fantasies and secrets…except the one about wanting a baby on her own. No strings, no commitment. And Sydney has a feeling Derek's going to have a lot more than seduction on his mind when he discovers she's expecting….

When black women were brought from Africa to the New World as slave laborers, their value was determined by their ability to work as well as their potential to bear children, who by law would become the enslaved property of the mother's master. In Laboring Women: Reproduction and Gender in New World Slavery, Jennifer L. Morgan examines for the first time how African women's labor in both senses became intertwined in the English colonies. Beginning with the ideological foundations of racial slavery in early modern Europe, Laboring Women traverses the Atlantic, exploring the social and cultural lives of women in West Africa, slaveowners' expectations for reproductive labor, and women's lives as workers and mothers under colonial slavery. Challenging conventional wisdom, Morgan reveals how expectations regarding gender and reproduction were central to racial ideologies, the organization of slave labor, and the nature of slave community and resistance. Taking into consideration the heritage of Africans prior to enslavement and the cultural logic of values and practices recreated under the duress of slavery, she examines how women's gender identity was defined by their shared experiences as agricultural laborers and mothers, and shows how, given these distinctions, their situation differed considerably from that of enslaved men. Telling her story through the arc of African women's actual lives—from West Africa, to the experience of the Middle Passage, to life on the plantations—she offers a thoughtful look at the ways women's reproductive experience shaped their roles in communities and helped them resist some of the more egregious effects of slave life. Presenting a highly original, theoretically grounded view of reproduction and labor as the twin pillars of female exploitation in slavery, Laboring Women is a distinctive contribution to the literature of slavery and the history of women.

“We both know that night was hot as hell…” But can she handle the heat…knowing that it can’t last? Chicago-based food critic Parker Jones is in serious trouble. She’s reviewing one of Las Vegas’s hottest barbeque joints—and the hottest thing in the place is the restaurant’s mouthwatering sex-on-a-stick owner. Her only choice? To hide why she’s really there. Not exactly her finest moment. But NFL-quarterback-turned-restaurateur Hugh Matteson might prove too delicious to resist… Only, Parker certainly didn’t anticipate the explosive sexual chemistry between them. It’s intense. Sizzling. And satisfying the way that food can never be. So naturally, Parker does what any rational, commitment-phobic grown woman does. She bails. Parker should have known better. Hugh’s entire professional career has been about not giving up—even after his last serious relationship imploded publicly. And he’s definitely not about to let Parker disappear if he has anything to say about it. Because this thing between them is hotter than a Carolina Reaper. His quick grin, that lightning bolt of lust whenever he touches her—oh, Parker could fall for this guy, and hard. But when you’re cooking with a fire this hot, it’s only a matter of time before someone gets burned… Harlequin DARE publishes sexy romances featuring powerful alpha heroes and bold, fearless heroines exploring their deepest fantasies. Four new Harlequin DARE titles are available each month, wherever ebooks are sold!