Winner of the Pulitzer prize in 1974 and the culmination of a life's work, The Denial of Death is Ernest Becker's brilliant and impassioned answer to the "why" of human existence. In bold contrast to the predominant Freudian school of thought, Becker tackles the problem of the vital lie — man's refusal to acknowledge his own mortality. In doing so, he sheds new light on the nature of humanity and issues a call to life and its living that still resonates more than twenty years after its writing.

On the afternoon of August 28th 1909 Sigmund Freud visited Coney Islands famous Dreamland amusement park. A hundred years later this, lively and imaginative book examines his legacy in Coney Island. It begins with Norman Kleins reconstruction of his actual visit. However Freuds real impact appears to have come later with the founding of the Coney Island Amateur Psychoanalytic Society. Zoe Beloff conjures up the world of this unique Society, whose forward-thinking attitude flourished from1926 through the early 1970s. The Societys members, most of them working people from a wide variety of cultural backgrounds, wished to participate in one of the great intellectual movements of the 20th century. She explores their activities that included recreating their dreams on film and discusses the role of the societys visionary founder Albert Grass who attempted to rebuild Dreamland according to Freuds theory of dream formation. Aaron Beebe, director of the Coney Island Museum, writes how his institution is reviving the idea of the living museum, that dates back to the early 19th century where art, science, spectacle and speculation coexist under one roof. Amy Herzogs essay, Primal Scenes: Sigmund Freud, Coney Island, and the Staging of Domestic Trauma discusses how Freuds theories can give us a deeper understanding of the publics fascination with some of Coney Islands unique attractions that include Liliputia, Baby Incubators and the World In Wax Musée. The book is lavishly illustrated with 75 full color pictures of never before seen photographs, drawings and documents that shed new light on Coney Islands legendary history. Included with the book is a DVD compilation of nine of the Societys Dream Films .

This hand-drawn prototype for a comic book, appears to have been created by Albert Grass, founder of the Coney Island Amateur Psychoanalytic Society in the 1930 s. It seems possible that he originally intended "The Dreamer" as a comic book hero in the mold of "The Spirit", or even "Superman" with extraordinary powers but this conception quickly changed. By episode three "The Dreamer" looses his ability to fly, landing on the ground with a loud "ouch!". He remains earthbound and the work becomes a more serious investigation into his own psychic life. Many of Albert Grass anxieties speak directly to us today. He suffered the aftereffects of a brutal war. He worried about his neighbors being evicted. He felt the guilt of an artist who feels he should be more deeply engaged in a struggle for social justice. Previously unpublished, this facsimile edition makes available for the first time what appears to be an early attempt to use the language of the comic book to graphically manifest the unconscious.This book is the latest publication from Zoe Beloff s Coney Island Amateur Psychoanalytic archive.

More information to be announced soon on this forthcoming title from Penguin USA.

In a series of richly detailed case studies from Britian, Australia and North America, Tony Bennett investigates how nineteenth- and twentieth-century museums, fairs and exhibitions have organized their collections, and their visitors.

Discussing the historical development of museums alongside that of the fair and the international exhibition, Bennett sheds new light upon the relationship between modern forms of official and popular culture.

Using Foucaltian perspectives The Birth of the Museum explores how the public museum should be understood not just as a place of instruction, but as a reformatory of manners in which a wide range of regulated social routines and performances take place.

This invigorating study enriches and challenges the understanding of the museum, and places it at the centre of modern relations between culture and government.  For students of museum, cultural and sociology studies, this will be an asset to their reading list.

One of the first to plunge underwater with a camera to bring the subaquatic world to the screen, maverick scientific documentary filmmaker Jean Painleve (1902-1989) captured the throes of a male seahorse giving birth, the geometric choreography of crystal formation, and the mating habits of hermaphrodite mollusks. In a lifetime spanning nearly the history of cinema itself, Painleve made over 200 films, including The Seahorse, Freshwater Assassins, The Vampire, and The Love Life of the Octopus. His lyrical and instructive animal behavior films set to avant-garde scores were much admired by Surrealist contemporaries such as Antonin Artaud, Luis Bunuel, and Jean Vigo.Science Is Fiction includes Marina McDougall's historically informative "Hybrid Roots," Brigitte Berg's heavily illustrated biographical essay "Contradictory Forces," art critic Ralph Rugoff's "Fluid Mechanics," a Liberation interview with Painleve, stills from Painleve's most celebrated films laid out in storyboard fashion, and a selection of Painleve's writings appearing for the first time in English. The latter include "Neo-Zoological Drama," a playful romp on the behavior of Turbellaria, or flatworms; "Mysteries and Miracles of Nature," an idiosyncratic catalog of unusual animal behavior; and "Scientific Film," a discussion of science films that pays homage to Painleve's fellow pioneers. The book also includes French film critic Andre Bazin's "Science Film: Accidental Beauty," a review of the 1947 International Association of Science Film festival, organized by Painleve.Copublished with Brico Press.

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Rare and out of print. Propaganda #16 includes: Perry Ferrell, Ministry, Cocteau Twins, Danzig, Psychic TV, Cycle Sluts From Hell, Sonic Youth, Slaughter Shack, The Heretics, Empire Hideous, Prong, Mind Over Four, Spirits Of The Dead, Stars From Mars, Michael Monroe and more. (US/1991)

Rare and out of print. Propaganda #18 includes: Diamanda Galas, Siouxsie, Nirvana, Jesus & Mary Chain, Coil, Swans, The film "Begotten", Pigface, Legendary Pink Dots, Icarus & Angels, Legend Of The Holy Spear, Front Line Assembly, The Salem Witch Trials and more. (US/1992)

In the CONTEMPORARY ARTISTS MONOGRAPHS series a study of artist Dion whose works are sited throughout the world, and often comprise walk-in installations mimicking natural history displays or film sets. They focus on contemporary environmental issues, exploring the relationship of Western art, literature and museology with the natural environment.