With sex and profanity on television, and X-rated music just a download click away, it’s hard to imagine a time when entertainers were thrown in jail for words they used on stage. But that’s what happened to comedian George Carlin in... Read More

The history of South Africa is largely the story of apartheid-the political subjugation and persecution of the non-white population-which became national policy in 1948, but which had its roots in Holland’s colonial presence. The Dutch... Read More

Janet Frame preferred her solitude to mingling with the literati, but by the time she died in 2004 she had long since secured her reputation as an author of import. Frame was regarded by many as the best New Zealand writer of her... Read More

Death domination and oppression are an old story in North Carolina. Queen Elizabeth authorized Sir Walter Raleigh to colonize the Carolinas in 1584. That began a series of events that have soaked the land with blood and sorrow: the... Read More

Even in the postmodern era, it’s a stretch to call this a novel, but that’s not to say it doesn’t have its pleasures. More a collage of stories, poems, “music reviews,” and sort-of-journalism than a narrative, it falls... Read More

Current bestsellers on Iraqi history reveal a nation steeped in religious frenzy, poverty, and war. The fact that few, if any, Western readers can conceive of a Baghdad beyond the headlines is not the fault of politicians or media,... Read More

First published in 1987, and now released as part of the SUNY Press series “Women in Translation,” this book is a cornerstone of modern Italian feminist literature. Politics and culture are viewed through the life of one woman,... Read More

In 1972, in Montivideo, Uruguay, a young mother and her physician husband are roughly awakened by soldiers at three in the morning. The father is dragged away, and the mother is left to attend to her child. The baby will grow through her... Read More