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This innovative messianic understanding of history would go on to inspire countless critics and even entire schools of academia.   Born into a wealthy German-Jewish family, Benjamin lived much of his life in poverty and exile, and he committed suicide in 1940 while fleeing the Nazis. In his lifetime, he was known only to a small group of intimate friends, notably Gershom Scholem, Bertold Brecht, and Theodor Adorno. His close compatriots had been trying desperately to rescue him at the time of his death. All attempts failed -- but his thought remains crucial to understanding the crises of our present world.   ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. 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Far from a fixed tradition, Latinx literature arises from a kaleidoscope of voices rooted in transhemispheric exchange--from pre-conquest Indigenous storytelling to Spanish colonial chronicles, to the contemporary works shaped by migration, memory, and resistance.  Aldama offers an illuminating overview of the major figures, movements, and themes that have defined Latinx literature across time and place. Rather than attempting a single, all-encompassing narrative, this Very Short Introduction weaves together a layered account that reflects the lived experiences and diverse cultural heritages of authors of Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, Dominican, Central American, and South American descent. Readers encounter a dynamic cast of storytellers--poets, novelists, playwrights, comic creators, and more--each responding to the political and cultural conditions of their moment while shaping new literary terrains. The result is a nuanced understanding of Latinx literature as a dynamic continuum shaped by centuries of cultural exchange, resilience, and transformation.  ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. 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This includes various practical problems that we face in dealing with it in a truthful, effective, and humane way. The picture presented is one that falls in the territory that lies between a consoling optimism and a bleak pessimism about our human ethical predicament.   ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. 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This Very Short Introduction explores why chamber music has become so valued by players, scholars, and audiences. Laura Tunbridge draws out the sociable aspect of music-making, apparent in metaphors of conversation, its presence in domestic spaces, and the ethics of all parts being equal. Through concise and accessible examples, Tunbridge explores the many forms and sizes taken by chamber music ensembles and the impact of music publishing and concert programming on this repertoire. She draws on the patterns of where musicians train and work, driven by economics, politics, and aesthetics. Rather than assuming that this type of music now is primarily about passive consumption, Chamber Music: A Very Short Introduction argues that the relatively small scale of chamber groups has made them mobile and adaptable, and thus particularly well-suited to engaging with and forming communities. 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It is both private and public, silly and serious.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e Drawing on a range of examples from classical times to the present, from Cicero to Virginia Woolf and Greta Gerwig, this Very Short Introduction considers why human beings are drawn to exchanging feelings and ideas via letters and why we continue to be fascinated by them today. Individual chapters address authors that employ letters to talk to absent friends and authors that use letters to think aloud. Jonathan Ellis considers the importance of letter writing manuals, the essay as a type of epistolary writing, and the significance of various sub-genres, including the advice letter and the love letter. The book ends with a previously unpublished email on the continuing importance of letters by graphic novelist Alison Bechdel.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. 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And if our choices are not free, is it legitimate to hold people morally responsible for their actions?\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e In this Very Short Introduction Thomas Pink looks at a range of issues surrounding this fundamental philosophical question and explores free will through the ideas of the Greek and medieval philosophers up to present-day thinkers. Throughout, Pink examines the history, changing culture, and future of free will.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. 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