Books about Iconoclasts from Amazon.com

No organization can survive without iconoclasts -- innovators who single-handedly upturn conventional wisdom and manage to achieve what so many others deem impossible.



Though indispensable, true iconoclasts are few and far between. In Iconoclast, neuroscientist Gregory Berns explains why. He explores the constraints the human brain places on innovative thinking, including fear of failure, the urge to conform, and the tendency to interpret sensory information in familiar ways.



Through vivid accounts of successful innovators ranging from glass artist Dale Chihuly to physicist Richard Feynman to country/rock trio the Dixie Chicks, Berns reveals the inner workings of the iconoclast's mind with remarkable clarity. Each engaging chapter goes on to describe practical actions we can each take to understand and unleash our own potential to think differently -- such as seeking out new environments, novel experiences, and first-time acquaintances.



Packed with engaging stories, science-based insights, potent practices, and examples from a startling array of disciplines, this engaging book will help you understand how iconoclasts think and equip you to begin thinking more like an iconoclast yourself..
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The greatest cultural accomplishments in history have never been the result of the brainstorms of marketing men, corporate focus groups, or any homogenized methods; they have always happened organically. More often than not, these manifestations have been the result of a few like-minded people coming together to create something new and original for no other purpose than a common love of doing it. In the 1990s, a loose-knit group of American artists and creators, many just out of their teens, began their careers in just such a way. Influenced by the popular underground youth subcultures of the day, such as skateboarding, graffiti, street fashion, and independent music, artists like Shepard Fairey, Mark Gonzales, Spike Jonze, Margaret Kilgallen, Mike Mills, Barry McGee, Phil Frost, Chris Johanson, Harmony Korine, and Ed Templeton began to create art that reflected the lifestyles they led. Many had no formal training and almost no conception of the inner workings of the art world. They learned their crafts through practice, trial and error, and good old-fashioned innovation. Not since the Beat Generation have we seen a group of creative individuals with such a unified aesthetic sense and varied cultural facets. The world of art has been greatly affected by their accomplishments as have the worlds of fashion, music, literature, film, and, ironically, athletics. Beautiful Losers is a retrospective celebration of this spirit, with hundreds of artworks by over two dozen artists, from precursors like Jean-Michel Basquiat, Keith Haring, and Larry Clark, to more recent adherents Ryan McGinniss, KAWS, and Geoff McFetridge. Work in all conceivable mediums is included, plus reproductions of reams of ephemera. The accompanying essays are contributed by a half-dozen writers who have championed these beautiful losers from the start. This paperback reprint includes more pages, more images, an exhibition checklist, installation shots from a variety of exhibitions, and an interview with Beautiful Losers advocate, Agnes B..
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The Dutch Revolt has long been hailed as the triumph of political freedom over monarchical tyranny. In 1781, John Adams observed that the American Revolution was its "transcript." Known for its many protagonists--King Philip II, the Duke of Alba, the counts of Egmont and Hornes, radical Calvinists, obstreperous townspeople, and William of Orange--the Dutch Revolt brought into relief conflicts among civic freedoms, religious dissent, representative institutions, and royal authority. Drawing on a vast array of sources-including archival documents, political and religious pamphlets, ballads, chronicles and letters, and a rich store of popular prints-Peter Arnade gives us a new history of the core years of the revolt between 1566 and 1585, showing how the act of rebellion forged a political identity through ritual, symbol, and public action.

In Beggars, Iconoclasts, and Civic Patriots, Arnade focuses on the political culture that took shape during the Revolt, a culture that itself fueled decades of turmoil. He sees the pulse of the Revolt in its public dramatization-the acts, words, and cultural representations that were its "daily bread and popular voice." The violent wave of radical iconoclasm that swept the southern Netherlands in 1566 is the book's pivot, setting the stage for the Duke of Alba's brutal effort to restore the authority of the Spanish crown. Arnade details the sieges and violent sacks of Dutch cities by the Army of Flanders, and the response of Dutch rebels, who touted defiant cities as the seats and guarantors of unassailable rights and freedoms. This civic patriotism hailed William of Orange as father of the fatherland, his apotheosis hearkening back to late medieval princely ritual even as it invoked new republican imagery..
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Italian author Wilcock (1919-78) wrote many fascinating works -- including poetry, short fiction, novels, literary criticism, drama in verse and prose, and cultural journalism -- but this outstanding translation is the first to appear in English. Using short, encyclopaedic/biographical entries, Wilcock profiles people who are definitely iconoclasts. They tear down traditional beliefs and scientific notions on many different topics, from utopias to biology, offering a riveting array of ideas. Some real people with iconoclastic bents are included along with some bizarre fictional characters..
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This study of the films of Oshima Nagisa is both an essential introduction to the work of a major postwar director of Japanese cinema and a theoretical exploration of strategies of filmic style. For almost forty years, Oshima has produced provocative films that have received wide distribution and international acclaim. Formally innovative as well as socially daring, they provide a running commentary, direct and indirect, on the cultural and political tensions of postwar Japan.
Best known today for his controversial films In the Realm of the Senses and The Empire of Passion, Oshima engages issues of sexuality and power, domination and identity, which Maureen Turim explores in relation to psychoanalytic and postmodern theory. The films' complex representation of women in Japanese society receives detailed and careful scrutiny, as does their political engagement with the Japanese student movement, postwar anti-American sentiments, and critiques of Stalinist tendencies of the Left. Turim also considers Oshima's surprising comedies, his experimentation with Brechtian and avant-garde theatricality as well as reflexive textuality, and his essayist documentaries in this look at an artist's gifted and vital attempt to put his will on film..
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Fishery agency mismanagement, coupled with natural trends working against salmon, has brought Northwest salmon runs to historic lows. Charged by law to protect salmon, yet promote salmon harvest, fishery agencies do not even count how many Columbia Basin salmon are caught and killed for consumption, or measure the cost-effectiveness of salmon hatcheries.

The most basic biological facts about salmon are politicized, as fishery officials misrepresent the effects of dams on salmon to extract federal funding from the Bonneville Power Administration. The result? A $3 billion program focused on fine-tuning fish passage at mainstem Columbia and Snake River dams that fails to recover salmon, because there is no evidence that those dams are a limiting factor in salmon recovery. Packed with hundreds of specific citations to the most recent scientific papers and reports, The Great Salmon Hoax is a valuable resource for anyone wanting to understand how salmon recovery efforts have gone awry, and how we can craft a rational, scientific program for salmon recovery that will bring significant numbers of salmon back to the Pacific Northwest..
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Charles Bukowski disliked academics, as this academic and readable book points out from page one onward of its introduction, "Charles Bukowski vs. American Ways." Begun before Bukowski died in 1994, Charles Bukowski: Autobiographer, Gender Critic, Iconoclast was the first doctoral dissertation on his prose and poetry up to that date, and it is offered now for fans and academics alike-no more need for black-market sales.

Chapter One, "Placing Bukowski," introduces Bukowski's amazing life and career and relates his work to influential predecessors (primarily Ernest Hemingway and John Fante) and four contemporaries (Raymond Carver, Kurt Vonnegut, Frederick Exley, and Hunter Thompson).

Chapter Two, "Bukowski Among the Autobiographers," pursues Bukowski's comprehensive autobiographical project. Harnessing Timothy Dow Adams' concept of "strategic lying," the chapter follows Bukowski's thinly veiled personae through three stages-first through the attention-getting "Dirty Old Man," then responding to the attention and (re)defining himself, finally culminating in "Henry Chinaski," the hero of Bukowski's five autobiographical novels.

Chapter Three, "Problems of Masculinity: At 'Home,' at Work, at Play," tackles the knee-jerk assessment of Bukowski as just a sexist "Dirty Old Man." Michael Kaufman's "triad of men's violence" (against women, other men, and themselves) explains the general Bukowski persona as a complicated gender construct. Bukowski's Bildungsroman, Ham on Rye, shows Chinaski as victim, practitioner, and critic of male violence, with the last role figuring into his other work too.

Chapter Four, "Bukowski vs. 'Institution Art,'" classifies this challenging author as both populist and avant-garde. As general postmodern phenomenon, he blends the democratic accessibility of populist writing with the adventurous gesturing of the avant-garde, and the result is direct, daring, truthful, and funny.

The book's conclusion, "Summing Up: Giving Bukowski His Due," predicts that Bukowski will be read far into the 21st century. Buy his books before you buy this one..
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The highly acclaimed, modern autobiographical account of Jack Haas’ journey from the claustrophobic city, to the primitive wilderness of coastal British Columbia, California, and Alaska, and into the uncharted regions of the soul. During his recent ten years of exploring the wild west coast of North America, Jack Haas wandered amidst the towering forests and the crashing surf, meeting an amazing cast of eccentrics, mystics, and misfits, and all the while continuing on his own internal voyage- a journey that would lead him into remarkable wilderness experiences, alchemical transformations, and spiritual awakenings. In this contemporary autobiography, Jack Haas passionately describes the importance of our connection with the wilderness. He shows us that the ancient axiom which stated we must be 'In the world, but not of it', is no longer true. Now, Haas implores us, we must be 'In, and Of' this world, this life, and this flesh. This is a true tale of adventure, misadventure, wonder, struggle, mysticism, and miracles. It is a journey into rare experiences, and it is a journey home. If you love a good read, you won't be let down by this prose masterpiece. Nominated for a BC Book Prize, and a Pulitzer Prize..
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