The Educator And The Oligarch: A Teacher Challenges The Gates Foundation. Anthony Cody

Can a teacher challenge the wealthiest man in the world? Anthony Cody, who spent 24 years working in the high poverty schools of Oak­land, California, has done so here. Education reform is the top do­mestic priority for the Gates Foundation, and this philanthropic organ­ization has poured billions of dollars into reshaping American schools. This money has paid for research, advocacy, and a whole non-profit industry aligned with the Gates agenda. According to Cody, their chosen path of data-driven reform, centered on high stakes tests, educational technology and market-based competition between schools, threatens great harm to public education.

Orwell Award

In Search of Sir Thomas Browne: The Life and Afterlife of the Seventeenth Century's Most Inquiring Mind. Hugh Aldersey-Williams

In Search of Sir Thomas Browne is more than just a biography―it is a cabinet of wonders and an argument that Browne, standing at the very gates of modern science, remains an inquiring mind for our own time. As Stephen Greenblatt has written, Browne is "unnervingly one of our most adventurous contemporaries."

“[F]ascinating…. [A] cleverly constructed and amusing book, on a subject deserving of fresh attention.” (Wall Street Journal)

“A triumph. With humour, humility and intelligent generosity, Aldersey-Williams brings Sir Thomas Browne splendidly to life, urns and all.” (Financial Times (UK))

PEN Literary Awards Longlists

Trashed. Candida Brady

Jeremy Irons sets out to discover the extent and effects of the global waste problem, as he travels around the world to beautiful destinations tainted by pollution. This is a meticulous, brave investigative journey that takes Irons (and us) from skepticism to sorrow and from horror to hope.

Cannes Film Festival Nomination
Tokyo International Film Festival Award

War & Peace 1614-1714

La Capella Reial de Catalunya & Le Concert des Nations, Jordi Savall
 
Lully, Handel, Charpentier, Scheidt, Biber, Schein, Cabanilles, Dumanoir, Rosenmüller, Jenkins, Cererols, Blow: this double SACD-book gathers the who’s-who of European music, to mention but a few, of the 17th and the beginning of the 18th centuries. Deeply affected by the Thirty Years War as well as the War of Spanish Succession, the finest music inspired by this turmoil is vividly performed by Jordi Savall and his ensembles. The set ends with a fantastic and complete performance of Handel’s 'Jubilate Deo'; and, as you have come to expect from Alia Vox, the booklet is lavishly documented.

International Classical Music Awards – Best collection

Piotr Tchaikovsky: Iolanta

Olesya Golovneva, Alexander Vinogradov, Andrei Bondarenko, Dmytro Popov, Vladislav Sulimsky, John Heuzenroeder, Marc-Olivier Oetterli, Dalia Schaechter, Justyna Samborska,
Choir of the Cologne Opera – Gürzenich Orchestra of Cologne
Dmitrij Kitajenko

Die Uraufführungen von Jolanthe und Der Nussknacker fanden am 18. Dezember 1892 im St. Petersburger Mariinski-Theater statt. „Die Ausführung beider“, schrieb der Komponist tags darauf an seinen Bruder Anatoly, „war großartig, und die des Balletts wohl zu großartig – der Glanz ermüdete die Augen.“ Gustav Mahler dirigierte bereits am 3. Januar 1893 in Hamburg die erste Aufführung des Operneinakters außerhalb Russlands und brachte Jolanthe am 22. März 1900 auch als Wiener Erstaufführung zu Gehör.

International Classical Music Awards – Opera winner

American School Reform: What Works, What Fails, and Why. Joseph P. McDonald

Dissecting twenty years of educational politics in our nation’s largest cities, American School Reform offers one of the clearest assessments of school reform as it has played out in our recent history. Joseph P. McDonald and his colleagues evaluate the half-billion-dollar Annenberg Challenge—launched in 1994—alongside other large-scale reform efforts that have taken place in New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, and the San Francisco Bay Area. They look deeply at what school reform really is, how it works, how it fails, and what differences it can make nonetheless.

the PROSE Awards.  Winner, Education Practice

The Public School Advantage: Why Public Schools Outperform Private Schools. Christopher A. Lubienski and Sarah Theule Lubienski

Nearly the whole of America’s partisan politics centers on a single question: Can markets solve our social problems? And for years this question has played out ferociously in the debates about how we should educate our children. From the growth of vouchers and charter schools to the implementation of No Child Left Behind, policy makers have increasingly turned to market-based models to help improve our schools, believing that private institutions—because they are competitively driven—are better than public ones. With The Public School Advantage, Christopher A. and Sarah Theule Lubienski offer powerful evidence to undercut this belief, showing that public schools in fact outperform private ones

the PROSE Awards.  Winner, Education Theory

How Should We Live? A Practical Approach to Everyday Morality. John Kekes

Nearly the whole of America’s partisan politics centers on a single question: Can markets solve our social problems? And for years this question has played out ferociously in the debates about how we should educate our children. From the growth of vouchers and charter schools to the implementation of No Child Left Behind, policy makers have increasingly turned to market-based models to help improve our schools, believing that private institutions—because they are competitively driven—are better than public ones. With The Public School Advantage, Christopher A. and Sarah Theule Lubienski offer powerful evidence to undercut this belief, showing that public schools in fact outperform private ones

the PROSE Awards. Honorable Mention, Philosophy

ZHOU, Long / CHEN, Yi: Symphony, "Humen 1839", ZHOU, Long: The Rhyme of Taigu / The Enlightened

New Zealand Symphony, Darrell Ang

Widely regarded as one of China’s leading composers, Pulitzer Prize-winning Zhou Long writes music which is consistently compelling. The Rhyme of Taigu revives the spirit of Chinese court music from the Tang dynasty (618–907 AD), drawing on traditional percussion instru­ments. Symphony ‘Humen 1839’, co-composed with Chen Yi, vividly commemorates the public burning of over 1000 tonnes of opium, an event that was to lead to the First Opium War between Great Britain and China.

Grammy Nominee

Shostakovich - Under Stalin's Shadow

Boston Symphony Orchestra, Andris Nelsons
    
'Nelsons’s masterful grasp of the architecture of the work (particularly the epic 20-minute first movement, which al­most feels like a symphony in its own right here), the slow-burn climaxes and the searing brass-playing all make their mark, but there’s something quite special going on here which transcends the technical side of things.'

Grammy Nominee
Presto Discs of the Year

Век амбиций. Богатство, истина и вера в новом Китае. Эван Ознос

Книга, в 2015 году вошедшая в шорт-лист Пулитцеровской премии, показывает жизнь Китая на протяжении восьми лет, с 2006-го по 2013-й, глазами пекинского корреспондента The New Yorker. В лучших традициях журнала происходящее очень часто приобретает форму анекдота — книга и начинается с того, как население целой деревни коллективно заболело полицейским сериалом "Хантер". Но Ознос использует эту сцену не как метафору сплоченности китайского общества, напротив, он пытается показать зарождение индивидуальности. У него безликая масса, которую мы воображаем, услышав слово "Китай", распадается на миллион интересностей и отдельностей. Можно считать такой взгляд несовершенством оптики, будто бы Ознос совсем не способен увидеть картину целиком. Все исторические события распадаются у него на истории-анекдоты, у каждой истории есть главный герой. Но оптика у него как раз самая человеческая, ведь и мы смотрим так же, да Ознос и не специалист по Китаю и, судя по всему, не очень его понимает. Именно поэтому вот эта тысяча живых лиц на страницах "Века амбиций" куда интереснее попытки примерить на китайскую цивилизацию американские представления о правах и свободах.

Не ради прибыли. Зачем демократии нужны гуманитарные науки. Марта Нуссбаум

В этой небольшой и яркой книге выдающийся философ Марта Нуссбаум обосновывает важность гуманитарных наук и искусств для всех уровней образования и развенчивает представление о том, что образование, прежде всего, являет собой инструмент экономического роста. М.Нуссбаум утверждает, что экономический рост не всегда ведет к улучшению качества жизни, а пренебрежение искусством и гуманитарными науками неизбежно снижает качество жизни граждан и ставит под угрозу процветание демократических государств. Книга содержит "призыв к действию", план, который предполагает, что модель образования, подтачивающего устои демократии, будет заменена моделью, способствующей ее развитию.

One of The Age's (Brenda Walker) Best Books of the Year, Martha C. Nussbaum, Recipient of the Prince of Asturias Award for Social Sciences

Seymour: An Introduction. Ethan Hawke

Meet Seymour Bernstein: a virtuoso pianist, veteran New Yorker, and true original who gave up a successful concert career to teach music. In this wonderfully warm, witty, and intimate tribute from his friend, Ethan Hawke, Seymour shares unforgettable stories from his remarkable life and eye-opening words of wisdom, as well as insightful reflections on art, creativity, and the search for fulfillment. Both a "poignant guide to life" (Indiewire) and an engaging exploration on the dedication, perseverance, and fortitude essential to creating both art and a rewarding life, SEYMOUR: AN INTRODUCTION will leave you uplifted and inspired.

Heartland Film 2015  Truly Moving Picture Award
Toronto International Film Festival 3d Place

Best of Enemies. Morgan Neville

In the summer of 1968 television news changed forever. Dead last in the ratings, ABC hired two towering public intellectuals to debate each other during the Democratic and Republican national conventions. William F. Buckley Jr. was a leading light of the new conservative movement. A Democrat and cousin to Jackie Onassis, Gore Vidal was a leftist novelist and polemicist. Armed with deep-seated distrust and enmity, Vidal and Buckley believed each other's political ideologies were dangerous for America. Like rounds in a heavyweight battle, they pummeled out policy and personal insult - their explosive exchanges devolving into vitriolic name-calling. Live and unscripted, they kept viewers riveted. Ratings for ABC News skyrocketed, and a new era in public discourse was born.

Camden International Film Festival Audience Award

Mozart: The Weber Sisters

Sabine Devieilhe, Raphaël Pichon, Pygmalion
  
The Weber Sisters is rooted in Mozart’s life story and includes music inspired by Aloysia, Konstanze and Josepha Weber, three soprano sisters whom Mozart first met in the German city of Mannheim in 1777, when he was 21. Though he initially fell in love with Aloysia, who went on to become a celebrated diva, it was Konstanze who became his wife; she outlived him by nearly 50 years and did much to sustain and build his reputation after his death. The programme comprises songs, operatic and concert arias and orchestral numbers, and Sabine Devieilhe’s interpretations are typified by beauty of tone, a penetrating sense of drama and a scrupulous respect for the score and the text. Three of the highlights are: the concert aria ‘Popoli di Tessaglia’ – written for Aloysia – which rises to spectacular heights (specifically, the G two-and-a-half octaves above middle C); the sublime ‘Et incarnatus est’ from the C minor Mass – premiered in Salzburg by Konstanze, and ‘Der Hölle Rache’, written for Josepha as the second fireworks-filled aria of the Queen of the Night in Die Zauberflöte, a role that has brought triumphs for Sabine Devieilhe at the opera houses of Lyon and Paris. Her colleagues on this album are the Ensemble Pygmalion, the keyboard player Arnaud de Pasquale and the conductor Raphaël Pichon.

Grands Prix de l’Académie Charles Cros

Over the sea. Edith Canat de Chizy

Edith Canat de Chizy was born in 1950. She studied archaeology and philosophy at the Sorbonne University and music at the Paris Conservatoire. Her compositions have received numerous prizes and accolades and she is the first female composer to be a member of the Institute de France. Her favourite and most successful compositions are those using string instruments and choir. All of her works have an engaging contemporary sound and explore the relationship between the past and the present. She is heavily influenced by the music of Purcell and Britten

Grands Prix de l’Académie Charles Cros le Prix du Président de la République

If the Oceans Were Ink: An Unlikely Friendship and a Journey to the Heart of the Qur­an. Carla Power

The eye-opening story of how American Carla Powers and her long­time friend Sheikh Mohammad Akram Nadwi found a way to confront ugly stereotypes and persistent misperceptions that were cleaving their communities. Carla Power writes for TIME and was a foreign correspondent for Newsweek. Her writing has appeared in Vogue, Glamour, The New York Times Magazine, and Foreign Policy.

“Their yearlong debates on issues ranging from the veiling of women to calls for fatwas challenged their own understandings of religion, culture, politics, and friendship and offer powerful new insights into Is­lam.” ― Booklist

2015 National Book Award Finalist

Everyday Utopias: The Conceptual Life of Promising Spaces. Davina Cooper

Everyday utopias enact conventional activities in unusual ways. In­stead of dreaming about a better world, participants seek to create it. As such, their activities provide vibrant and stimulating contexts for considering the terms of social life, of how we live together and are governed. Weaving conceptual theorizing together with social analys­is, Davina Cooper examines utopian projects as seemingly diverse as a feminist bathhouse, state equality initiatives, community trading net­works, and a democratic school where students and staff collaborate in governing. She draws from firsthand observations and interviews with participants to argue that utopian projects have the potential to revitalize progressive politics through the ways their innovative prac­tices incite us to rethink mainstream concepts including property, mar­kets, care, touch, and equality.

Charles Taylor Book Award

The Destruction of the Medieval Chinese Aristocracy. Nicolas Tackett

The complete disappearance by the tenth century of the medieval Chinese aristocracy, the “great clans” that had dominated China for centuries, has long perplexed historians. In this book, Nicolas Tackett resolves the enigma of their disappearance by using new, digital methodologies to analyze a dazzling array of sources. He systematic­ally exploits the thousands of funerary biographies excavated in re­cent decades—most of them never before examined by scholars—while taking full advantage of the explanatory power of Geographic In­formation System (GIS) and social network analysis. Tackett supple­ments these analyses with an extensive use of anecdotes culled from epitaphs, prose literature, and poetry, bringing to life the women and men of a millennium ago.

The Destruction of the Medieval Chinese Aristocracy demonstrates that the great Tang aristocratic families were far more successful than previously believed in adapting to the social, economic, and institu­tional transformations of the seventh and eighth centuries. Their polit­ical influence collapsed only after a large proportion of them were physically eliminated during the three decades of extreme violence that followed Huang Chao’s sack of the capital cities in 880 CE.

James Breasted Prize

Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison Of Belief - The HBO Special

Tom Cruise (Actor), John Travolta (Actor), Alex Gibney (Director, Producer, Writer)

The highly-anticipated and critically-acclaimed documentary "Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison Of Belief" is a look inside the controversial religion from Academy Award-winner Alex Gibney.  The film profiles eight former members of the Church of Scientology, exploring the psychological impact of blind faith, how the church attracts new followers and keeps hold of its A-list celebrity devotees.


Winner of three 2015 Emmy Awards