Böcker i Norton Library (Paperback)-serien

Roy Medvedev demonstrates, in engrossing and sharp detail, how the vast gulf between Marxist-Leninist principles and official Soviet attitudes and procedures turned vital theory into hollow dogma. Focusing on the rigidities of official ideology, he makes brilliantly clear the ways in which an excessively centralized and cumbersome bureaucratic structure was disastrous for the economic, intellectual, and moral development of Soviet society-keeping it dangerously insular in an era of increasing internationalism.

As a general background, the first two chapters of the book discuss characteristics of Malay rural society, especially in the coastal area, in Kelantan; the main features of Malay marine fishing; and the particular situation of the fisheries in Kelantan and Trengganu. The body of the book then deals with what is in effect an historical case study in economic anthropology, a community of peasant fishermen analyzed in detail. Finally, Professor Firth gives an account on a comparative basis of recent developments in the same community, to bring out some of the underlying social and economic forces that have been at work during the past generation.

What did it mean for Germany, and the world, to have William II on the throne for the First World War? In The Kaiser and His Times, Michael Balfour analyzes the social, constitutional, and economic forces at work in imperial Germany, and sets the complex and disputed character of the Kaiser, who occupied such a central position in the three decades before 1918, in the context of his family background and the history of Germany.

This Norton Critical Edition, edited by one of the pre-eminent scholars in the field, gathers together research on this Greek tragedy, bringing Medea to life for a contemporary audience.

This volume includes eight tales in new translations by David Magarshack: The Singers, Bezhin Meadow, Mumu, Assya, First Love, Knock...Knock...Knock..., Living Relics, Clara Milich.

From 1879 to 1883, before he turned to writing plays, Shaw wrote five novels. An Unsocial Socialist, the last written, concerns the activities of one Sidney Trefusis, a rich Marxist whom women find completely exasperating, or irresistible, or both, and who has definite ideas about reforming personal and political relationships. Shaw develops a plot that overturns the pieties of the middle class-including the expectations of the novel-reader-and in so doing suggests some new structures for both society and literature.

An anthology unlike any other, The Ring of Words assembles lyrics of the most famous art songs of Europe with literal line-by-line English translations printed on the facing pages. The editor-translator, a renowned music scholar and critic, has contributed an introductory essay on the relationship between lyrics and music, as well as notes on each poet and on the composer or composers who set each poem to music.Here are over three hundred poems by such writers as Heine, Goethe, Ibsen, Villon, Verlaine, D'Annunzio, and Pushkin. Among the composers represented are Schubert, Wolf, Brahms, Beethoven, Liszt, Ravel, and Tchaikovsky; a brief critical evaluation of each song is included, with notes on textual variations or omissions. The Ring of Words brings together a repertory of songs well known to every collector of recordings and everyone who attends concerts and recitals. It is a valuable reference work for students and teachers of singing.

Although Dr. Bukofzer's main field of study was medieval and Renaissance music, he made important contributions in other areas too, such as a monograph on Javanese music, and an edition of the complete works of John Dunstable. His Music in the Baroque Era (Norton, 1947) is the standard work on that period.The studies in the present volume mainly deal with fifteenth-century music, exploring many compositions whose historical and musical importance have not hitherto been fully understood. Some of the papers treat early English music, others discuss various aspects of Renaissance music, the emergence of choral polyphony, dance music, and the problem of the cyclic Mass. Dr. Bukofzer's scholarly research has enlarged both our understanding of an pleasure in this music, and reveals it as an expression of the very same creative spirit that produced the great cathedrals, paintings, and sculptures of the period. Gustave Reese has called these studies "a major contribution by one of the greatest authorities on medieval and Renaissance music."

Setting out to examine the world context within which American foreign policy must function, Mr. Kennan faces the hard facts of Soviet expansion, the ambiguous and often chaotic forces in the non-communist world, and the enormous difficulty of maintaining a posture of dignity and restraint in our foreign affairs. He warns against the dangers of relying on rigid military solutions, of over-estimating the capacities of the United Nations and other international peace-keeping institutions, and, in general, of looking at international life as a mechanistic rather than an organic process. It is in the inner development of our national life that he believes we can find solutions to our external problems, for American foreign policy will take its shape from the goals of American society.