Books published by publisher Oxford Clarendon Press

Time and Commodity Culture is a detailed and theoretically sophisticated account of the cultural systems of postmodernity. Through a series of four linked essays on postmodern theory, tourism, gift exchange and commodity exchange, and the social organization of memory, it explores some of the implications of the commodification of culture for the contemporary and postmodern world.

This is the first complete biography of one of the most brilliant fifteenth-century monarchs, Alfonso V of Aragon. Ryder traces Alfonso's life from his childhood in the chivalric world of Castile to the newly-acquired states of Aragon and his subsequent accession to the Aragonese throne. In addition to being a shrewd politician, Alfonso is revealed to have been an accomplished diplomat, acutely aware of the power of commerce, and one of the greatest patrons of the early Renaissance. He brought humanism to life in Southern Italy and made his court the most brilliant in Europe. Offering not only an insightful look at Alfonso's life but a vivid portrait of political and cultural life during his reign, this volume will hold special appeal for scholars and students of early modern European history, fifteenth-century Italian and Spanish history, and Renaissance studies.

Time and Commodity Culture is a detailed and theoretically sophisticated account of the cultural systems of postmodernity. Through a series of four linked essays on postmodern theory, tourism, gift exchange and commodity exchange, and the social organization of memory, it explores some of the implications of the commodification of culture for the contemporary and postmodern world.

Those wishing to know the nature of madness, wrote Voltaire, should observe their dreams. This is an important new analysis of the problematic relationship between dreams and madness that preoccupied nineteenth-century French writers, thinkers, and doctors. Tony James shows how doctors (such as Esquirol, Lélut, and Janet), thinkers (including Maine de Biran and Taine), and writers (Balzac, Nerval, Baudelaire, Victor Hugo, and Rimbaud) grappled in very different ways with the problems raised by the so-called "phenomena of sleep" and particularly the question: might dreams be a source of creativity?

A remarkable feature of the period since 1970 has been the patterns of rapid and turbulent change in financing behavior and financial structure in many advanced countries. This book explores, in theoretical and empirical terms, the nature of the relationships between the underlying phenomena--levels and changes in debt, vulnerability to default in the corporate and household sectors, and systematic risk in the financial sector. The book focuses on the generality of this phenomena--whether similar patterns are observable in certain countries, as well as in the international capital markets themselves. Emphasis is placed to the importance of the nature and evolution of financial structure to the genesis of instability. Given the international scope of the analysis, the work is germane to the study of the development of financial systems in all advanced countries, as well as the euromarkets.

As Master of the Revels, Sir Henry Herbert was responsible for licensing and censoring plays from 1623 to 1642 and again from 1660 to 1673. This completely new edition of his records includes many documents previously unavailable. A comprehensive introduction offers a new biography of Sir Henry, an account of the strange and complicated history of his private papers, and the fullest description available of his activities as Master of the Revels. The edition will be an essential reference work for literary scholars and theater historians.

This is a history of the Kenyan city of Mombasa and its surrounding settlements from the mid-nineteenth century to the height of colonial rule in the 1930s. Justin Willis sets out to place the island and town of Mombasa in its African context, incorporating the findings of recent historical and anthropological research. Willis examines the institutions and social networks which simultaneously united and divided the people of the region before the colonial period, demonstrating both their interdependence and the creation of distinct population categories. This is a radical re-interpretation of the history of Mombasa and its hinterland, based on thorough archival research. It offers valuable insights into the nature of ethnic identity, and makes an important contribution to the growing body of scholarly work on the African city.

Those wishing to know the nature of madness, wrote Voltaire, should observe their dreams. This is an important new analysis of the problematic relationship between dreams and madness that preoccupied nineteenth-century French writers, thinkers, and doctors. Tony James shows how doctors (such as Esquirol, Lélut, and Janet), thinkers (including Maine de Biran and Taine), and writers (Balzac, Nerval, Baudelaire, Victor Hugo, and Rimbaud) grappled in very different ways with the problems raised by the so-called "phenomena of sleep" and particularly the question: might dreams be a source of creativity?