Tahiti has a rich history of oral tradition. Early visitors to the island transcribed recitations of myth, battle address, and land description. Until now their poetic organization has remained unexplored. From a computationally assisted analysis, this book describes early use of meter and parallelism and speculates on manner of composition. It sheds light on a poetic style unanticipated for Polynesia and remarkable among world poetries.

“A terrific biography of a rock innovator that hums with juicy detail and wincing truth. . . . Page after page groans with the folly of the ’60s drug culture, the tragedy of talent toasted before its time, the curse of wealth and the madness of wasted opportunity.”—The Atlanta Journal-Constitution NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY THE LOS ANGELES TIMES • NAMED ONE OF THE FIVE BEST ROCK BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY ROLLING STONE As a singer and songwriter, Gram Parsons stood at the nexus of countless musical crossroads, and he sold his soul to the devil at every one. His intimates and collaborators included Keith Richards, William Burroughs, Marianne Faithfull, Peter Fonda, Roger McGuinn, and Clarence White. Parsons led the Byrds to create the seminal country rock masterpiece Sweetheart of the Rodeo, helped to guide the Rolling Stones beyond the blues in their appreciation of American roots music, and found his musical soul mate in Emmylou Harris. Parsons’ solo albums, GP and Grievous Angel, are now recognized as visionary masterpieces of the transcendental jambalaya of rock, soul, country, gospel, and blues Parsons named “Cosmic American Music.” Parsons had everything—looks, charisma, money, style, the best drugs, the most heartbreaking voice—and threw it all away with both hands, dying of a drug and alcohol overdose at age twenty-six. In this beautifully written, raucous, meticulously researched biography, David N. Meyer gives Parsons’ mythic life its due. From interviews with hundreds of the famous and obscure who knew and worked closely with Parsons–many who have never spoken publicly about him before–Meyer conjures a dazzling panorama of the artist and his era. Praise for Twenty Thousand Roads “Far and away the most thorough biography of Parsons . . . skewers any number of myths surrounding this endlessly mythologized performer.”—Los Angeles Times “The definitive account of Gram Parsons’ life–and early death. From the country-rock pioneer’s wealthy, wildly dysfunctional family through his symbiotic friendship with Keith Richards, Meyer deftly illuminates one of rock’s most elusive figures.”—Rolling Stone “Meticulously researched . . . Though Meyer answers a lot of long-burning questions, he preserves Parsons’ legend as a man of mystery.”—Entertainment Weekly “Meyer gives Parsons a thorough, Peter Guralnick-like treatment.”—New York Post

The nuclear freeze movement grew more quickly than even the most optimistic activists thought possible, as large numbers of Americans became convinced that there was something wrong with United States defense policy and that they could do something about it. This analysis provides the first comprehensive history of the nuclear freeze movement, approaching it from three distinct perspectives. Changes in the politics and policy of nuclear weapons created an opportunity for a dissident movement. Intermediating forces in American politics influenced the situation. The efforts of activists and organizations to build a protest movement and their interaction with American political institutions provide the third perspective. A Winter of Discontent addresses both the broad spectrum of movement activity and the political context surrounding it. The text explores the challenge of the nuclear freeze movement to the content of United States national security policy and the policy making process. By analyzing the freeze, a theoretical framework for understanding the origins, development and potential political influence of other protest movements in the United States can be developed. The book also strives to integrate analysis of peace movements into an understanding of the policy context in which they emerge. This volume is essential for courses in social movements, strategic policy, American politics and political sociology. Antinuclear freeze activists and students of peace studies will also find this work invaluable.

An Applied Treatment of Modern Graphical Methods for Analyzing Categorical DataDiscrete Data Analysis with R: Visualization and Modeling Techniques for Categorical and Count Data presents an applied treatment of modern methods for the analysis of categorical data, both discrete response data and frequency data. It explains how to use graphical meth

The long overdue biography of the Bee Gees, by an acclaimed author.

Offers both a historical overview and an analytical framework for understanding social movements and political protest in American politics.

Live your truth … at what cost? Follow your heart … to where? You do you … but why? Daniel Ford is king of the tour guides. Living his best life, he leads folks around his beloved home of Braxton, where every day is Christmas Day. There’s no question he can’t answer, no fact he doesn’t know … until he stumbles upon an old scroll that could shatter Braxton’s sterling reputation. WHOA. Daniel sets out to prove the scroll wrong. Following a series of clues, he and his friends delve into Braxton’s murky past. As the search heats up, he makes a startling discovery. A lost-long artifact is hidden within his perfect little town. According to legend, it can grant the deepest wish of one’s heart. But is that a good thing? And just how far will he have to go to get his hands on it? The master tour guide is now being led on a tour of his own … and it’s going to take every skill he’s got to survive.

Hong Kong has remained the global metropolis for Asia since its founding in the 1840s following the Opium Wars between Britain and China. David Meyer traces its vibrant history from the arrival of the foreign trading firms, when it was established as one of the leading Asian business centres, to its celebrated handover to China in 1997. Throughout this period, Hong Kong has been prominent as a pivotal meeting place of the Chinese and foreign social networks of capital and as such has been China's window on to the world economy, dominating other financial centers such as Singapore and Tokyo. Looking into the future, the author presents an optimistic view of Hong Kong in the twenty-first century, challenging those who predict its decline under Chinese rule. This accessible and broad-ranging look at the story of Hong Kong's success will interest anyone concerned with its past, present and future.

"Interviews with experienced financiers in global financial centers reveal their strategic network behavior which they employ to access social capital. This enhances their performance. Referrals were used to acquire Interviewees. This methodology provided access to top financiers in the financial centers of London, Zurich, New York, Hong Kong, Singapore, Shanghai, Beijing, and Mumbai. Digitally recorded interviews focused on financiers' network behavior in corporate and investment banking, hedge funds, private equity, venture capital, fund management, real estate investment, insurance, and private banking. Extensive quotes are mechanisms to explain how financiers behave. Social network theory supplies the lens to interpret that behavior. Financiers face a dilemma. They need sophisticated knowledge to perform their jobs but accessing that knowledge demands extensive time. This detracts from their performance. Their networks help resolve that dilemma. Financiers use face-to-face interactions in formal and informal meetings to acquire knowledge resources and build relationships. Alumni ties and organizational memberships constitute components of current networks, but financiers disagree about their usefulness. They devise sophisticated network strategies to initiate a contact. Non-face-to-face and face-to-face mechanisms help build and maintain relationships. In every financial center and sector, trust is the foundation of relationships. Financiers incorporate advances in telecommunications, changes in the workplace, and reconsideration of approaches to long-distance travel into their network behavior. Fintech is an adjunct to financiers' practice. The interviewees play important roles in their respective sectors; therefore, the results reveal the 'best practices' of financiers"--

Born to a wealthy Southern-Gothic family of alcoholics and suicides, Parsons possessed an outsized appetite for self-destruction and a singular genius for the American sound. He led the Byrds to create the first country-rock album, founded the acclaimed Flying Burrito Brothers, and taught the joys of American roots music to Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Emmylou Harris. His second solo album, Grievous Angel, remains a masterpiece of country soul. Before it was released, Parsons, aged 26, - brilliant, glamorous and doomed, died of a heroin overdose. Twenty Thousand Roads paints an unprecedented portrait of the man who brought together country music and rock and roll, dispelling the myths and telling a story even wilder than the mythology. Drawing on profound knowledge of the era's music and hundreds of interviews - many with friends, musical partners and lovers who have never spoken before - author David Meyer creates a compelling biography and a rich history of a crucial period in American style, drugs and rock music. Meticulously researched and masterfully told, Twenty Thousand Roads is a dazzling evocation of an artist, his music and his times.