Melville House Publishing

“One of the greatest thinkers of our age" (The Guardian) presents a new way of living—one modeled on nature’s design instead of capitalism''s—for fans of Guns, Germs, and Steel and Doughnut EconomicsIt has often been said that it is easier to imagine the end of the world than it is to imagine the end of capitalism—and yet that is what the historical moment urgently calls for. As climate chaos, inequality, and social fragmentation intensify, humanity faces an imminent choice: continue with a system built on extraction and endless growth, or reimagine civilization itself. Incremental policy improvements are no longer enough—we need a deep transformation of our current civilization to continue to survive.  In Ecocivilization, leading thinker Jeremy Lent offers that reimagination, grounded in proven design principles of ecosystems and in humankind''s evolved inclination toward justice, mutuality, and dignity.What unfolds is a robust framework incorporating Lent’s own expertise, and the lived experiences of those on the ground already putting ecological civilization’s core tenets into practice—justice, mutuality, diversity, and symbiosis. From the global economy to universal housing and income, from infrastructure to agriculture, every major aspect of our society could be redesigned to work together as a coherent whole, setting the conditions for all people to flourish. Ecocivilization shows how this future on a regenerated Earth is not only desirable, but entirely feasible.

WHO’S ALLOWED TO PROTEST? is the essential guide for understanding why some political voices are amplified, others are silenced, and how the fight over “who’s too elite” to dissent will determine our democratic fates.Why do charges of “privilege” haunt every new protest wave? In this electrifying blend of short history and manifesto, Columbia University professor Bruce Robbins picks apart the insult that demonstrators are merely elite status-seekers—and shows why the same complaints surfaced against Vietnam-era marchers, Iraq War protesters, and, most recently, the Gaza encampments that shook campuses nationwide.Robbins spars with contemporary critics, like David Brooks and Musa al-Gharbi, who insist that campus activists are secretly angling for elite credentials. Along the way, he recounts his own run-ins with university discipline boards and offers a reckoning with what it really costs—financially, socially, and personally—to stand against abuses of power.

"[An] exquisite balance between contentment and foreboding, tranquility and chaos." —Vogue In this gripping tale of contemporary Russia, a young filmmaker and her friends run afoul of a government that ruthlessly oppresses artists who dare to satirize the regime . . .When Maya, a young Russian filmmaker, makes a low-budget horror movie with her friends, it seems like a promising start to a career in indie film. Little does she know that her jokey lo-fi film will soon attract the attention of the autocratic censors at the highest levels of the Russian police state.What follows is a propulsive narrative of an artist being crushed by state power, and the choices that one makes within a system where free expression is literally illegal. Written with the undeniable voice of a emigre from Putin''s Russia, The Undead is a tense, piercing story that serves as a parable, and a warning, about political oppression.

In September of 1890, the academic year begins at the Carlisle School, a military-style boarding school for Indians in Pennsylvania, founded and run by Captain Richard Henry Pratt. Pratt considers himself a champion of Native Americans. His motto, ''To save the man, we must kill the Indian,'' is severely enforced in both classroom and dormitory: Speak only English, forget your own language and customs, learn to be white. As the young students navigate surviving the school, they begin to hear rumours of a ''ghost dance'' amongst the tribes of the west - a ceremonial dance aimed at restoring the Native People to power, and running the invaders off their land. As the hope and promise of the ghost dance sweeps across the Great Plains, cynical newspapers seize upon the story to whip up panic among local whites. The US government responds by deploying troops onto lands that had been granted to the Indians. It is an act that seems certain to end in slaughter. As news of these developments reaches Carlisle, each student, no matter what their tribe, must make a choice: to follow the white man''s path, or be true to their own way of life...''(A) powerful and sincere depiction of Native American history''

Renowned culture critic Ron Rosenbaum discovered not only the world-changing music of early Bob Dylan, but the man himself in the 1960s, when Rosenbaum was a young journalist living in Greenwich Village and working for the legendary alt-newspaper, The Village Voice. Rosenbaum, in fact, lived around the corner from Dylan, and shared mutual friends. It was the time, and the place, where an essential idea of Dylan''s character was formed - that of the whip-smart, angry, too-cool-for-school icon, a kind of James Dean in denim. The raspy voice, not to mention the brilliantly cutting lyricism, only somehow added to his cultural dangerousness. Dylan has had many changes of character since then, and throughout, Dylan would tell people, ''I''m not that person anymore,'' whatever previous character he was asked about. In a probing and personal literary appreciation, Rosenbaum deep-dives into Dylan''s lyrics and writings and his infrequent interviews (including Rosenbaum''s own 10-day interview of Dylan in 1978) from throughout his career. What sparked the various conversions and adaptations? And what precisely did Dylan''s Jewishness, his mysticism, and his visits with psychics have to do with it all? As Dylan continues to tour the world nonstop with his band and continues to compose new songs, while refusing to play old songs the same way, Rosenbaum offers a moving and involving portrait of an icon who may have been more constant than it appeared.

When Jude Doyle began his transition in the summer of 2020, he had a very public career as a feminist-winning awards from women''s organizations, writing for women''s magazines, publishing books on ''women''s issues.'' Then, after a decade in the movement, he had to walk out in front of the public and tell them he had never been a woman at all. Doyle offers a seldom-heard and much-needed transmasculine perspective on feminist subjects, drawing together strands of intersectional feminist theory and queer and trans politics to show that all their struggles are the same struggle: The fight for bodily sovereignty against a patriarchy that is always eager to hollow us out and use us to further its own agenda. DILF offers a strong rebuke to trans-exclusionary feminisms that seek to drive a wedge between gender-marginalized communities. Using interviews, critical analysis, and Doyle''s own personal experience, DILF proves that feminism is a vital and necessary tool for understanding the politics of the body, whoever you are.

From ancient times to the modern world, the idea of the Faustian bargain - the exchange of one''s soul in return for untold riches and power - has exerted a magnetic pull upon our collective imaginations. Scholar Ed Simon takes us on a historical tour of the Faustian bargain, from biblical themes to the Charlie Daniels Band, and illustrates how the instinct for sacrificing our principles in exchange for power models all kinds of social ills, from colonialism to nuclear warfare, and even social media, climate change, and AI. In doing so, Simon conveys just how much the Faustian bargain shows us about power and evil... and about ourselves.

When a famous conceptual artist''s installation project suddenly vanishes, the sinister aftershocks radiate outwards through twelve people who were involved in the project, changing all of their lives, and launching them on a crazy-quilt trajectory that will end with them all together at one final, apocalyptic bacchanal. Mixing illusion and reality, simulacra and replicants, sound artists and death artists, performers and filmmakers and gallerists and journalists, We Live Here Now ranges across the world of weapons dealers and international shipping to the galleries and studios on the cutting edge of hyper-contemporary art. Rose''s characters are, as one of the puts it, in search of ''a gateway to the Un, the Ex, the Outer, the Under, the Anti, the Non, the Other Place, the Not,'' and it is those mysterious Other Places where C. D. Rose weaves his surreal magic. We Live Here Now spins a dazzling web that conveys, with eerie precision, the sheer strangeness of what it is like to be alive today.

Peck and Al have a good thing going. The two brothers own a bar and a hardware store and make a comfortable living. They also launder money for a criminal organization. Everything is perfectly fine until Peck begins to suspect that his brother is going to betray him to the local District Attorney. Things get even more complicated between them when Al''s hard drive with millions of dollars in Crypto goes missing - Peck was the only other person with access. What starts out as a family squabble turns into an international battle between competing crime organizations, moving from small town New England to San Francisco to Mexico. Along the way the brothers encounter betrayal, double-dealing, kidnapping, and ultimately, revenge.

Award-winning journalist John Beck recounts China''s persecution of Uyghurs, ethnic Kazakhs and other predominantly Muslim minorities in Xinjiang and its relentless pursuit of the few who escaped beyond its borders. Through intertwined literary narratives combined with snippets of original source material, including official directives and speeches, he pieces together the individual stories of what consecutive American administrations have described as genocide. The narrative moves from China to Kazakhstan, Turkey and the US, incorporating the tensions, discrimination, and occasional violence that characterised life in Xinjiang for decades. Then the dismantling of rights and escalating repression under President Xi Jinping that quickly accelerated into a crackdown of unprecedented scope and brutality. We follow 4 characters: a Kazakh writer and an Uyghur nurse who survived re-education camps before ultimately escaping abroad, a human rights advocate involved in securing their release and, an inadvertent exile spied on by Chinese authorities as his family back home was used as leverage against him. In their stories, the book explores identity, dehumanization, and censorship, the force of literature in dark times, and an all-pervasive apparatus of repression able to exist within miles of the White House.

Set in the 1880s, the story follows Ovid Vesper, a former Union soldier who has been having enigmatic visions after an explosion at the Battle of Antietam. As he travels across the country following those visions, he finds himself in stranger and increasingly more dangerous encounters with other worlds hidden in the spaces of his own. Ovid brings his steady calm and compassion as he helps the people of a broken country, rapidly changing but still reeling and wounded from its Civil War two decades earlier. He assists with matters of all sorts, from odd jobs around the house, to guiding children back to their own universe, to hunting down unnatural creatures that stalk the night - all the while seeking his own personal resolution and peace from his visions and the war that changed his life. This epic journey across the American West with Ovid and a surprising cast of characters blends elements of the classic Western with historical fantasy in a way like no other.

In 2012, the far right Golden Dawn were building a significant street presence in Greece. Over the previous decade they had grown from a tiny group of neofascist brawlers to a formidable vigilante force responsible for multiples murders, street fights and shootings. Golden Dawn became a significant parliamentary presence and used it as a platform to escalate their terror campaigns against migrants and leftist across the country. They also became an inspiration for far right groups across Europe and the Americas. Strickland first arrived in Greece in 2015 to cover the European refugee crisis, eventually moving there in 2017. With an eye for journalistic detail that recalls Orwell''s reportage in Spain, Strickland traces the antecedents of Golden Dawn to the dark years of Nazi occupation and subsequent military dictatorship and looks at the post 2008 economic crisis that emboldened the far right. You Can Kill Each Other After I Leave provides an intimate portrait of the stories of migrants and activists resisting the growth of the far-right, as well as a vivid and shrewd analysis of the evolving political landscape in Greece and Europe.

The evidence from the investigation includes grand jury testimony from 55 witnesses, interviews by Smith''s criminal investigators with over 250 people, photographs, information from electronic devices and online records - including Trump''s social media account - and more. ''Our work rested upon the fundamental value of our democracy that we exist as ''a government of laws, and not of men...'' Simply put: the Department of Justice''s guiding mandate, which my Office strove to uphold, is that power, politics, influence, status, wealth, fear, and favour should not impede justice under the law... My Office had one north star: to follow the facts and law wherever they led. Nothing more and nothing less... But for Mr. Trump''s election and imminent return to the Presidency, the Office assessed that the admissible evidence was sufficient to obtain and sustain a conviction at trial.'' - From Jack Smith''s Cover Letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland

Can we ever really change the past, or the future? What truth do we owe our families? What truth do we owe ourselves? In FLUX, a brilliant debut in the vein of William Gibson''s Neuromancer and Ling Ma''s Severance, Jinwoo Chong introduces us to three characters - Bo, Brandon and Blue - who are tortured by these questions as their lives spin out of control. After 8-year-old Bo loses his mother in a tragic accident, his white father, attempting to hold their lives together, begins to gradually retreat from the family. 28-year-old Brandon loses his job at a legacy magazine publisher and is offered a new position. Confused to find himself in an apartment he does not recognize, and an office he sometimes cannot remember leaving, he comes to suspect that something far more sinister is happening behind the walls. 48-year-old Blue participates in a television expose of Flux, a failed bioelectric tech start-up whose fraudulent activity eventually claimed the lives of three people and nearly killed him. Blue, who can only speak with the aid of cybernetic implants, stalks his old manager while holding his estranged family at arms-length. Intertwined with the saga of a once-iconic 80s detective show, Raider, whose star has fallen after decades of concealed abuse, the lives of Bo, Brandon and Blue intersect with each other, to the extent that it becomes clear that their lives are more interconnected and interdependent than the reader could have ever imagined.

James Earl Carter Jr. came from a background of farming and military service to forge an unlikely political career, first as governor of Georgia, and then as the 39th president of the United States. The interviews collected here - four of them never published in book form before - span the arc of Carter''s long career as a politician, a public servant, and a citizen diplomat. They range from an early joust with conservative commentator William F. Buckley Jr. to his final interview, a moving joint conversation with his wife Rosalynn on the occasion of their 75th wedding anniversary.. and, of course, including the notorious 1976 Playboy interview wherein Carter remarked that he had ''committed adultery in my heart many times.'' The result is a fascinating look into the mind and soul of one of our most admirable and principled presidents ever.

In September of 1890, the academic year begins at the Carlisle school - a military-style boarding school for Indians run by Captain Richard Henry Pratt. Pratt''s motto, ''Kill the Indian, Save the Man'' is enforced in the classroom as well as the dorm rooms: speak English, forget your own language and customs, learn to be white. While the students navigate survival, they hear rumours of a sweeping tribal lands reservations in the west - the ''ghost dance,'' whereby desperate Native Americans engaged in frenzied dancing and chanting hoping it will cause the buffalo to return, the Indian dead to rise, and the white people to disappear. Local whites panic, and the government sends in troops to keep the reservations under control. When legendary medicine man Sitting Bull is killed by native police working for the government troops, each Carlisle resident is faced with the question: Whose side are you on? And what will you risk to gain your freedom?