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Ideological beliefs have long attracted the attention of social psychologists, who have investigated their genesis as well as their influence on a host of social phenomena. Conservatism, from the Motivated Social Cognition framework, stems from epistemic and existential needs of the individual, and notably the fear of death. However, Terror Management Theory proposes a view of conservatism and its contrary, liberalism, as equivalent cultural worldviews, equally fit to fulfill such needs. In the present contribution, results are presented from five studies, which test the contrasting hypotheses derived from these two perspectives. A new perspective is considered that accounts for these and previous findings.

In a democracy, journalists are expected to safeguard the public interest and to provide truth and accountability to citizens. The media should not function as a megaphone for someone else's agenda. It is meant to have an active place in society. But the career span of an investigative reporter is relatively short, and maintaining the freedom from censorship, in Sean Holman's case at least, means going it alone as a freelancer. Unfortunately, the rise and fall of Public Eye demonstrates that independent investigative journalism is not a sustainable practice in Canada. Times Colonist reporter Lindsay Kines shares Holman's convictions regarding the media's watchdog function. To do good investigative reporting a journalist needs at least three to four months to focus on a story. But that is not good business – a lesson that Holman learned the hard way after receiving only $500 for his 2004 Jack Webster Award-winning five-month investigation into what became known as the Doug Walls affair.

Animal death is a complex, uncomfortable, depressing, motivating and sensitive topic. For those scholars participating in Human-Animal Studies, it is – accompanied by the concept of 'life' – the ground upon which their studies commence, whether those studies are historical, archaeological, social, philosophical, or cultural. It is a tough subject to face, but as this volume demonstrates, one at the heart of human–animal relations and human–animal studies scholarship.

In this illuminating collection of oral-history style interviews, Casey Jarman talks to a funeral industry watchdog about the (often shady) history of the death trade; he hears how songwriter David Bazan lost his faith while trying to hold on to his family; he learns about cartoonist Art Spiegelman using his college LSD trips to explain death to his children; and he gets to know his own grandparents, posthumously. These are stories of loss, rebuilding, wonder, and wild speculation featuring everyone from philosophers to former death row wardens and hospice volunteers. In these moving, enlightening, and often funny conversations, the end is only the beginning.

"In the fall of 2017, the acclaimed writer and musician Vivek Shraya began receiving vivid and disturbing transphobic hate mail from a stranger. Celebrated artist Ness Lee brings these letters and Shraya's responses to them to startling life in "Death Threat", a comic book that, by its existence, becomes a compelling act of resistance. Using satire and surrealism, "Death Threat" is an unflinching portrayal of violent harassment from the perspective of both the perpetrator and the target, illustrating the dangers of online accessibility, and the ease with which vitriolic hatred can be spread digitally."--

This essay aims to give an overview of Hong Kong queer media productions by presenting specific media representations that speak to local queer sensibilities and sexual politics. I investigate the nature of a localized queer nonchalance that cultivates an environment readable as both tolerant and limiting of queer desires, as well as resistant of the rumors of a broader cultural death. One of the case studies includes, to use Helen Hok-Sze Leung's term, "do-it-yourself" queer cultural projects that focus on reaching out to LGBT communities rather than to a wider mainstream public reception. Another example involves gender-crossing performances and cultural productions from mainstream media icons in popular culture. Finally, I discuss gossip magazine coverage of queer celebrity rumors. I locate my concerns in questioning whether mass-media practices can perversely normalize same-sex sexuality in our everyday lives.

Evans reviews The Death of Kings: Royal Deaths in Medieval England by Michael Evans.

Introduction: Necro-geopolitics and death-making / Caroline Alphin and François Debrix -- Not a state of exception : weak state killing as a mode of neoliberal governmentality / Caroline Alphin -- Political incompetence and death-making : an outline of unsuitable governance / Alexander D. Barder -- On the loss of death : necropolitics in the study of genocide / Benjamin Meiches -- The violent management of peace and beauty in Rio de Janeiro / Francine Rossone de Paula -- The necro-geopolitics of Danish welfare and the horror of responsibility / Gitte du Plessis -- "Death in this country is normal" : quiet deaths in the Global South / Jessica Auchter -- Cinematic encounters and frontiers of precarity / Sam Okoth Opondo and Michael J. Shapiro -- The kill zone : choreographies of life at the limits of a death-world / Ali H. Musleh -- Specters of schmaltz : aesthetics, death, and the haunting of communist kitsch / Stephen Michael Christian and Brent J. Steele -- The Earth's dying body : on the necro-economy of planetary collapse / Mauro J. Caraccioli.

"We are like an admirable, wandering Numancia, who prefers to die gradually than to admit defeat" (translated from Alfonso Guerra's documentary, Exilio). Uttered during the fall of the Republican government during the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939), Spanish author Luis Araquistáin's ominous phrase not only speaks to the slow death of Republican hopes while in exile, but also hearkens back to a small town in the north of Spain that existed in the second century AD. Famed for its resistance to the advancing Roman armies, Numantia fell in 133 BC to Scipio Aemilianus who led the forces of the Roman Empire against the city and besieged it for eight months. Yet, even as late as the twentieth century in Spain, people could still hear references being made to this small town; the preservation of the memory of Numantia is largely due to the work of Miguel de Cervantes, who in the 1580s penned El cerco de Numancia (or simply, La destrucción de Numancia), a play based on the events of 133 BC. After Cervantes came multiple playwrights, poets, and even politicians who reinterpreted the play in various forms to communicate distinct messages. One of the most unique moments in the life of Cervantes' El cerco de Numancia came during the Spanish Civil War; during this clash between visions of the future of Spain, both Republican forces and the Nacionales of Franco utilized the image of Numantia to motivate their constituents and sway others to their cause.

Death is the inevitable fate of every single person on earth. How do we accept the inevitability of our own death? How do we live our lives with meaning? Will money lead us to happiness? Satish Modi examines these questions is a moving, powerful, thought-provoking work based on his own reflections as well as the experiences of people from all walks of life. The result is a fascinating book that teaches us that whoever we are and whatever our aspirations in this life, it is important for each and every one of us to accept our own passing. In doing so we can free ourselves to live as well and fu