пятница, 29 августа 2008 г.

Салман Рушди - Дети полуночи


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Роман «Дети полуночи», написанный в 1981 году, принес Салману Рушди – самому знаменитому индийцу, пишущему по-английски, – вместе с престижной Букеровской премией мировую славу (в 1993 году роман был признан лучшим из всех, получивших Букера за 25 лет). Именно «Дети полуночи», а не скандально-знаменитые «Сатанинские стихи» попали в список лучших книг века, составленный газетой «Гардиан». Многоплановое, фантастическое, «магическое» повествование охватывает историю Индии (отчасти и Пакистана) с 1910 по 1976 годы. Политические события, поданные ярко и пристрастно (Индира Ганди, чей образ приобретает в романе апокалиптическую окраску, подала на автора в суд!), не исчерпывают собой прихотливой реальности романа. Трагикомическая и авантюрная судьба Салема Синая, рожденного в полночь индийской независимости, становится аллегорией одной из самых древних и загадочных цивилизаций мира.

Иэн Макьюэн - Искупление


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Иэн Макьюэн Искупление

Иэн Макьюэн - один из "правящего триумвирата" современной британской прозы (наряду с Джулианом Барнсом и Мартином Эмисом), лауреат Букеровской премии за роман "Амстердам".
"Искупление" - это поразительная в своей искренности "хроника утраченного времени", которую ведет девочка-подросток, на свой причудливый и по-детски жестокий лад переоценивая и переосмысливая события "взрослой" жизни. Став свидетелем изнасилования, она трактует его по-своему - и приводит в действие цепочку роковых событий, которая аукнется самым неожиданным образом через много-много лет...

Амос Тутуола - Заколдованные леса


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Амос Тутуола Заколдованные леса

Амос Тутуола родился в июне 1920 года в Абеокуте (Нигерия), в семье фермеров, работающих на какао-плантациях христиан. Благодаря счастливому стечению обстоятельств, сумел получить начальное образование в школе Армии Спасения. Затем он поступил на курсы, готовящие клерков, желая таким образом обеспечить себе гарантию оплаты обучения в английской школе. Но 1939 году был вынужден отказаться от получения дальнейшего образования: после смерти отца ему пришлось содержать семью. В 1942-1945 года Амос Тутуола служил в Королевских ВВС - работал кузнецом. После войны, случайно увидев в журнале рекламу о собирании сказок народа йоруба и зная местный фольклор, принялся писать "Пальмового пьянаря". Опять-таки благодаря счастливому стечению обстоятельств, книга в конце концов была опубликована в 1952 году и со временем была переведена на 15 языков. Однако в собственной стране Тутуола долго не имел признания: его обвиняли в плагиате народного фольклора и литературной безграмотности. Многие годы Амос Тутуола работал рассказчиком историй на нигерийском радио, сотрудничал с университетами, участвовал и в научно-исследовательской работе. Умер писатель 8 июня 1997 года, от гипертонии и диабета. На русском же языке произведения Амоса Тутуолы впервые появились в 1968 году - в рамках серии африканской прозы были изданы романы "Приключения Симби" и "Пернатая ведьма". В 1984 увидела свет книга "Заколдованные леса", в нее вошли романы "Путешествие в город мертвых" (истории о Пальмовом Пьянаре) и "Моя жизнь в лесу духов".

среда, 27 августа 2008 г.

Medieval Narrative: An Introduction


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Medieval Narrative: An Introduction
by Tony Davenport

Review

"Davenport's bold attempt to summarize the enormous subject of 'medieval narrative,' even with all of his qualifications, deserves well earned praise and no small amount of sympathy.... A most welcome, clarifying, and helpful book for those working through medieval narratives seriously for the first time, and it will be a welcome guest at the office of any teacher attempting to do for his or her students what Davenport has accomplished."--Christianity and Literature


Product Description
Medieval Narrative offers students an introduction to the range of narrative genres and strategies of the medieval period and explores the ways in which medieval theories of narrative can be compared with modern day theories. Throughout the text the author draws from a wide range of examples, including Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, the Ancrene Wisse, and continental examples of medieval narrative such as Boccaccio's Il Filostrato.

About the Author

Anthony Davenport has taught Middle English and lectured on aspects of medieval literature for many years. His publications include Chaucer and his English Contemporaries: Prologue and Tale in The Canterbury Tales (Macmillan, 1998) and Chaucer: Complaint and Narrative (D.S. Brewer, 1988).

Niccolo Machiavelli - History of Florence


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History of Florence and of the Affairs of Italy or Florentine Histories by Niccolo Machiavelli (Kindle Edition) by Niccolo Machiavelli

A Companion to Phenomenology and Existentialism


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A Companion to Phenomenology and Existentialism (Blackwell Companions to Philosophy)
by Hubert L. Dreyfus (Editor), Mark A. Wrathall (Editor)

Product Description
A Companion to Phenomenology and Existentialism is a complete guide to two of the dominant movements of philosophy in the twentieth century.

  • Written by a team of leading scholars, including Dagfinn Føllesdal, J. N. Mohanty, Robert Solomon, Jean-Luc Marion
  • Highlights the area of overlap between the two movements
  • Features longer essays discussing each of the main schools of thought, shorter essays introducing prominent themes, and problem-oriented chapters
  • Organised topically, around concepts such as temporality, intentionality, death and nihilism
  • Features essays on unusual subjects, such as medicine, the emotions, artificial intelligence, and environmental philosophy

From the Back Cover
A Companion to Phenomenology and Existentialism is a complete guide to two of the dominant movements of philosophy in the twentieth century. Comprising a series of original essays written by leading scholars, it highlights the approaches, styles, and problems common to the broad range of philosophers included under the banners of phenomenology and existentialism.

The volume features three types of entry: longer essays discussing each of the main schools of thought; shorter essays introducing prominent themes and concepts, such as temporality, death, and nihilism; and problem-oriented chapters discussing important phenomenological and existential approaches to the central questions that have preoccupied each of these traditions. The essays cover both mainstream and less usual topics, such as medicine, the emotions, artificial intelligence, and environmental philosophy.


About the Author
Hubert L. Dreyfus is Professor of Philosophy in the Graduate School at the University of California at Berkeley. His publications include On the Internet (2001), What Computers (Still) Can’t Do (Third Edition, 1992), Being-in-the-World: A Commentary on Division I of Heidegger’s Being and Time (1991), and Mind over Machine: The Power of Human Intuition and Expertise in the Era of the Computer (with Stuart Dreyfus, 1987).

Mark A. Wrathall is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Brigham Young University. He is the editor of Religion after Metaphysics (2003), Heidegger Re-examined (with Hubert L. Dreyfus, 2002), Heidegger, Authenticity, and Modernity (with Jeff Malpas, 2000), Heidegger, Coping, and Cognitive Science (with Jeff Malpas, 2000), and Appropriating Heidegger (with James Falconer, 2000).

Hubert L. Dreyfus and Mark A. Wrathall are also the joint editors of A Companion to Heidegger (Blackwell, 2005).

воскресенье, 24 августа 2008 г.

The Roman Army: A Social and Institutional History


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The Roman Army: A Social and Institutional History
by Pat Southern (Author)

From School Library Journal
Grade 10 Up—This informative, well-researched volume skillfully covers the history of this formidable force from the beginnings of the Roman Empire in the eighth century B.C.E. until its fall in the late fifth century A.D. The broad spectrum of subjects, such as the history, culture, and organization of the army; weapons; morale and discipline; renowned soldiers and battles; and the army, both in peacetime and at war, are arranged thematically. Black-and-white photographs complement the text. An appendix detailing rank structure in the army, a user-friendly glossary, a complete bibliography, and an accurate index round out the package. With its scholarly tone, Southern's work is best suited for Advanced Placement World History students.—Hillary Donitz-Goldstein, formerly of the New York Public Library
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Product Description
Written by a leading authority on Roman military history, this fascinating volume spans over a thousand years as it offers a memorable picture of one of the world's most noted fighting forces, paying special attention to the life of the common soldier.
Southern here illuminates the Roman army's history, culture, and organization, providing fascinating details on topics such as military music, holidays, strategy, the construction of Roman fortresses and forts, the most common battle formations, and the many tools of war, from spears, bows and arrows, swords, and slingshots, to the large catapulta (which fired giant arrows and bolts) and the ballista (which hurled huge stones). Perhaps most interesting are the details Southern provides about everyday life in the Roman army, everything from the soldiers pay (they were paid three times per year, but money was deducted for such items as food, clothing, weapons, the burial club, the pension scheme, and so on) to their often brutal life--if whole units turned and ran, about one-tenth of the men concerned were chosen by lot and clubbed to death and the rest were put on barley rations instead of wheat. Moreover, soldiers who lost weapons or their shields would fight savagely to get them back or would die in the process, rather than suffer the shame that attached to throwing weapons away or running from the battle.
Attractively illustrated, this book offers a fascinating look at the life of the Roman soldier, drawing on everything from Rome's rich historical and archaeological record to soldier's personal correspondence to depictions of military subjects in literature and art.

John Searle (Contemporary Philosophy in Focus)


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John Searle (Contemporary Philosophy in Focus)
by Barry Smith (Editor)

Review
'... this is a detailed and relatively comprehensive introduction to one of the most prominent and diverse figures in contemporary philosophy. It would undoubtedly be of great value to undergraduate, and possibly graduate, students in philosophy or other disciplines who are unfamiliar with Searle's philosophy.' Philosophical Writings

Product Description
From Speech Acts to his most recent studies of consciousness, freedom and rationality, John Searle has been a highly influential figure among contemporary philosophers. This systematic introduction to the entire range of Searle's work begins with the theory of speech acts and proceeds with expositions of his writings on intentionality, consciousness and perception, including, as well, a careful presentation of the so-called Chinese Room argument. Barry Smith is a Julian Park Professor of Philosophy, University at Buffalo and Director of the Institute for Formal Ontology and Medical Information Science in the University of Leipzig. He is the author of Austrian Philosophy (Open Court, 1994) and of some 300 articles on ontology and other branches of philosophy. In 2001 he received the Wolfgang Paul Award of the Alexander on Humboldt Foundation. He is also the editor of The Monist: An International Journal of General Philosophical Inquiry.

Book Description
From his groundbreaking book Speech Acts to his most recent studies of consciousness, freedom and rationality John Searle has been a dominant and highly influential figure amongst contemporary philosophers. This systematic introduction to the full range of Searle's work begins with the theory of speech acts and proceeds with expositions of Searle's writings on intentionality, consciousness and perception, as well as a careful presentation of the so-called Chinese Room argument. This is the only comprehensive introduction to Searle's work.

Download Description
From his groundbreaking book Speech Acts to his most recent studies of consciousness, freedom and rationality John Searle has been a dominant and highly influential figure amongst contemporary philosophers. This systematic introduction to the full range of Searle's work begins with the theory of speech acts and proceeds with expositions of Searle's writings on intentionality, consciousness and perception, as well as a careful presentation of the so-called Chinese Room argument. The volume considers Searle's recent work on social ontology and his views on the nature of law and obligation. It concludes with an appraisal of Searle's spirited defence of truth and scientific method in the face of the criticisms of Derrida and other postmodernists. This is the only comprehensive introduction to Searle's work, and as such it will be of particular value to advanced undergraduates, graduates and professionals in philosophy, psychology, linguistics, cognitive and computer science and literary theory.

Ги Дебор - ОБЩЕСТВО СПЕКТАКЛЯ


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Ги Дебор ОБЩЕСТВО СПЕКТАКЛЯ

«Общество спектакля» Ги Дебора представляет собой работу, в которой осмысливается современное общество. Это общество есть общество спектакля, и в нем все - политика, экономика, искусство - представляют собой не что иное, как увлекательное представление на сцене огромного театра как художественного опосредования социальной жизни.

пятница, 22 августа 2008 г.

The Golden Bough - James George Frazer


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The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion
by James George Frazer

Product Description
First published in 1890, The Golden Bough is a seminal work of modern anthropology. A classic study of the beliefs and institutions of mankind that traces the development and confluence of thought from magic and ritual to modern scientific theory, it has been a source of great influence upon such diverse writers as T.S. Eliot, Wyndham Lewis, and D.H. Lawrence. This edition restores many of the controversial passages expurgated in the 1922 edition that elucidate Frazer's bolder theories, and sets them within the framework of a valuable introduction and notes.

About the Author
Sir J. G. Frazer (1854-1941) was fellow of Trinity, Cambridge, and appointed to the first named Chair of Social Anthropology in Liverpool. Robert Frazer is Directer of Studies in English at Trinity College, Cambridge. He is the author of The Making of `The Golden Bough' and Sir James Frazer and the Literary Imagination, both for MacMillan in 1990)

Cavalry Operations in the Ancient Greek World


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Cavalry Operations in the Ancient Greek World by Robert E. Gaebel

This is a thorough and competent overview of the subject working chronologically from the earliest real evidence of Greek cavalry to the Successors of Alexander the Great, with a chapter on Hannibal for good measure.

My main criticism is that I found the analysis over-dependant on Victor Hanson's unconvincing portrait of the Ancient Greeks as an exceptional culture and Phalanx warfare as an exceptional (and somehow egalitarian) activity, but this was not presented to the same extent as in say Hanson's own book in the Cassell History of Warfare series, and doesn't therefore make the book unuseable if you don't happen to share this view.

On the positive side is the author's very balanced view of the importance of cavalry, which draws out both the effectiveness of cavalry in the earliest era and their continuing limitations even under Alexander and the Successors. He is interested in more than just charging on the battlefield and demonstrates a healthy scepticism about the technological constraints (such as lack of stirrups) which are sometimes held to have impeded cavalry in this period.

I don't think its changed my life, but this is a book well worth buying.


четверг, 21 августа 2008 г.

Facing Death: Epicurus and His Critics


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Facing Death: Epicurus and His Critics by James Warren

Review

"This book is what Epicureans and their critics, both hostile and sympathetic, have been waiting for. It is rare, indeed, to find a work that shows both a solid grasp of ancient texts, their proper philological interpretation and appreciation, and is at the same time clearly cognizant of the contemporary philosophical debates on the issues originally raised by our Greek sources. This is such a book and its publication will prove to be a milestone."--Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews


Product Description
The ancient philosophical school of Epicureanism tried to argue that death is "nothing to us." Were they right? James Warren examines the arguments they offered and evaluates their success, setting them against modern philosophical accounts of how death can be a harm. He also asks whether a life free from all fear of death is an attractive option and what the consequences would be of a full acceptance of the Epicureans' views.

About the Author
James Warren is at Faculty of Classics, University of Cambridge.

Encyclopedia of European Social History from 1350 to 2000


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Encyclopedia of European Social History from 1350 to 2000 by Peter N. Stearns

"Encyclopedia of European social history from 1350 to 2000, 6v"
Charles Scribner's Sons | ISBN / ASIN: 0684805820 | 3000 pages | PDF | 23 Mb

The Encyclopedia of European Social History covers all aspects of European social history from the Renaissance to the present. This six-volume reference includes more than 230 articles, ranging from 5,000 to 10,000 words, on everything from serfdom and the economy, to witchcraft and public health. Some of the thematically-arranged articles include:
Honor and Shame
Prostitution
Schools and Schooling
The World Economy and Colonial Expansion
Clothing and Fashion
Spinsters and Bachelors
Travel and Tourism
The World Wars and the Depression
Birth, Contraception and Abortion
The European Marriage Pattern
Communications, the Media and Propaganda
Ethnicity and National Identity
Church and Society
Fairs and Markets
The Deaf, the Blind and the Retarded
Rural Revolts
The Aristocracy and Gentry
The Welfare State

This reference provides a survey of hundreds of topics. Included are more than 700 photographs, drawings and maps. The sixth volume also includes biographies of prominent European figures and a comprehensive index.

Encyclopedia of Rhetoric


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Encyclopedia of Rhetoric by Thomas O. Sloane (Editor)

From Library Journal
This ambitious new encyclopedia covers rhetoric from all times and places in some 200 signed entries by 120 scholarly contributors from around the world. Bibliographies are appended to each article, and the index and a Synoptic Outline of Contents provide fine access points. Typical articles include "Public Speaking," "Queer Rhetoric," "Synecdoche," and "Science." This work abstracts rhetoric from people, places, and cultures in search of the "principles" of rhetoric, excluding, for example, entries for relevant historical figures. This emphasis on the abstract differentiates it from the Encyclopedia of Rhetoric and Composition (Garland, 1996), which has more than twice as many entries in about the same number of pages and includes, for example, entries for people. Though these two excellent books often duplicate each other, both include information and insights not found in the other. Libraries serving patrons concerned with the art and history of rhetoric should have both. Given the high price of both books, other libraries will have to choose between the practicality of the older one and the more theoretical emphasis of the newer one.APeter Dollard, Alma Coll. Lib., MI
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

"An excellent work of reference, organized systematically and historically comprehensive. All in all, a most useful research tool."--Professor Dr. Claus Uhlig, Philipps-Universitat Marburg, Germany


Product Description
The Encyclopedia of Rhetoric is a comprehensive survey of the latest research--as well as the foundational teachings--in this broad field. Featuring 150 original, signed articles by leading scholars from many different fields of study it brings together knowledge from classics, philosophy, literature, literary theory, cultural studies, speech and communications.
The Encyclopedia surveys basic concepts (speaker, style and audience); elements; genres; terms (fallacies, figures of speech); and the rhetoric of non-Western cultures and cultural movements. It covers rhetoric as the art of proof and persuasion; as the language of public speech and communication; and as a theoretical approach and critical tool used in the study of literature, art, and culture at large, including new forms of communication such as the internet.
The Encyclopedia is the most wide ranging reference work of its kind, combining theory, history, and practice, with a special emphasis on public speaking, performance and communication. Cross-references, bibliographies after each article, and synoptic and topical indexes further enhance the work. Written for students, teachers, scholars and writers the Encyclopedia of Rhetoric is the definitive reference work on this powerful discipline.

About the Author
Thomas O. Sloane is at University of California, Berkeley.

вторник, 19 августа 2008 г.

Christian Philosophy A-Z


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Christian Philosophy A-Z (Philosophy a-Z S.) by Daniel J. Hill, Randal D. Rauser

Review

"An extremely useful resource... essential for any undergraduate or public library." -- Stephen J. Shaw, American Reference Books Annual


Product Description

In this overview of Christian philosophy from Augustine to the present, Christian philosophers (including leaders of the recent revival of Christian analytic philosophy) wrestle with their philosophical beliefs and their faith, questioning whether God exists, how God knows the future, and the relationship between Athens and Jerusalem.


About the Author

Daniel J. Hill is lecturer in philosophy, University of Liverpool. Randal D. Rauser is assistant professor of historical theology, Taylor Seminary, Canada.

Paul de Man - The Rhetoric of Romanticism

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The Rhetoric of Romanticism by Paul de Man

Cynthia Chase author of Decomposing Figures: Rhetorical Readings in the Romantic Tradition
De Mans work made writing about literature difficult, if irresistible, by inciting a tense awareness of the implicit claims or assumptions entailed in every interpretive move or rhetorical gesture.

Cynthia Chase author of Decomposing Figures: Rhetorical Readings in the Romantic Tradition
De Man's work made writing about literature difficult, if irresistible, by inciting a tense awareness of the implicit claims or assumptions entailed in every interpretive move or rhetorical gesture.

Product Description

-- Cynthia Chase, author of Decomposing Figures: Rhetorical Readings in the Romantic Tradition

Barthes: A Very Short Introduction

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Barthes: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions) by Jonathan Culler

Review
`Review from other book by this author It is impossible to imagine a clearer treatment of the subject, or one that is, within the given limits of length, more comprehensive. Culler has always been remarkable for his expository skills, and here he has found exactly the right method and tone for his purposes.' Sir Frank Kermode

Product Description
Roland Barthes was the leading figure of French Structuralism, the theoretical movement of the 1960s which revolutionized the study of literature and culture, as well as history and psychoanalysis. But Barthes was a man who disliked orthodoxies. His shifting positions and theoretical interests make him hard to grasp and assess. This book surveys Barthes' work in clear, accessible prose, highlighting what is most interesting and important in his work today. In particular, the book describes the many projects, which Barthes explored and which helped to change the way we think about a range of cultural phenomena--from literature, fashion, wrestling, and advertising to notions of the self, of history, and of nature.

About the Author

Jonathan Culler is Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Cornell University and a leading figure in the world of literary theory. Praised by Frank Kermode for his 'remarkable expository skills', his publications include seminal works on deconstruction and semiology as well as studies of individual authors. HisVSI Literary Theory is the series bestseller with sales of 40,000 copies to date.

суббота, 16 августа 2008 г.

Form and Good in Plato's Eleatic Dialogues

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Form and Good in Plato's Eleatic Dialogues: The Parmenides, Theatetus, Sophist, and Statesman
by Kenneth Dorter

Product Description
In this innovative analysis, Plato's four eleatic dialogues are treated as a continuous argument. In Kenneth Dorter's view, Plato reconsiders the theory of forms propounded in his earlier dialogues and through an examination of the theory's limitations reaffirms and proves it essential. Contradicted are both those philosophers who argue that Plato espoused his theory of forms uncritically and those who argue that Plato in some sense rejected the theory and moved toward the categorical analysis developed byAristotle. Dorter's reexamination of Plato's insights implies an important new direction for modern philosophical inquiry.

From the Inside Flap
"By restoring metaphysics to its rightful place, Dorter does Platonic scholarship a much-needed service."--Rosamond Kent Sprague, author of Plato's Philosopher King

From the Back Cover
"By restoring metaphysics to its rightful place, Dorter does Platonic scholarship a much-needed service." (Rosamond Kent Sprague, author of Plato's Philosopher King)

About the Author
Kenneth Dorter is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada.


Shadow of the Silk Road


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Shadow of the Silk Road
by Colin Thubron

From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. In his latest absorbing travel epic, Thubron (In Siberia; Mirror to Damascus) follows the course—or at least the general drift—of the ancient network of trade routes that connected central China with the Mediterranean Coast, traversing along the way several former Soviet republics, war-torn Afghanistan, Iran and Turkey. The author travels third-class all the way, in crowded, stifling railroad cars and rattle-trap buses and cars, staying at crummy inns or farmers' houses, subject to shakedowns by border guards and constant harassment—even quarantine—by health officials hunting the SARS virus. Physically, these often monotonously arid, hilly regions of Central Asia tend to go by in a swirl of dun-colored landscapes studded with Buddha shrines in varying states of repair or ruin, but Thubron's poetic eye still teases out gorgeous subtleties in the panorama. Certain themes also color his offbeat encounters with locals—most of them want to get the hell out of Central Asia—but again he susses out the infinite variety of ordinary misery. The conduit by which an entire continent exchanged its commodities, cultures and peoples—Thubron finds traces of Roman legionaries and mummies of Celtic tribesmen in western China—the Silk Road becomes for him an evocative metaphor for the mingling of experiences and influences that is the essence of travel. (July 3)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Bookmarks Magazine
Colin Thubron has spent a lifetime exploring Asia, and he displays his significant regional knowledge and experience in Shadow of the Silk Road. Universally acknowledged as one of our best living travel writers, Thubron brings to this book the astute perception for which he is known and the beautiful prose style he has honed for more than 40 years; what is even more impressive, however, is the incredible sense of enthusiasm he brings both to his journey and to his writing. As Jonathan Yardley wrote in the Washington Post, "Colin Thubron [is an] intrepid, resourceful and immensely talented writer who has made a career out of going to out of the way places and then writing brilliantly about them." Shadow of the Silk Road is Thubron at his best.
Copyright © 2004 Phillips & Nelson Media, Inc.

From AudioFile
Jonathan Keeble gives a superb reading of this captivating account of a 7,000-mile, eight-month journey from Xian, China, to Antioch, Turkey, along the ancient silk route. Traveling by foot, camel, taxi, truck, train, and cart, Thubron sleeps in yurts, mud huts, vermin-infested inns, and six-bunk train compartments as he traces the routeÕs history and encounters its present. Speaking Mandarin, Russian, and English, he talks with a colorful array of locals belonging to many countries, tribes, clans, and religious groups. Keeble captures the conversations vividly and paces the reading so that listeners hear every exhausted step, rail at each bribe-hungry petty bureaucrat, and thrill to the magnificence of the scenery. An amazing adventure, expertly told. R.E.K.Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist
The Silk Road was an ancient trade route between China and the Mediterranean Sea, extending 7,000 miles and linking the Celestial Empire with the Roman one. Marco Polo followed the route on his journey to Cathay. Thurbron, the author of 15 other books, chronicles his trip along the legendary road from China into the mountains of Central Asia, across northern Afghanistan and the plains of Iran, and into Kurdish Turkey. He vividly describes the people he meets, the restaurants he eats in, the hotels in which he stays, and the beauty of the mountains, rivers, deserts, and trees. He talks to policemen, traders, farmers, camel drivers, and a band of pilgrims kneeling in the dunes to pray; he takes pleasure in remembering "food palaces worked by waitresses in crimson and gold-frogged uniforms who were giggling and careless" and an old woman asleep by a holy spring, her head resting on the gnarled trunk of a tree. An illuminating account of a breathtaking journey. George Cohen
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Providence Journal
"Splendid…Sumptuously detailed, elegantly written and riveting...Thubron misses nothing."

New York magazine
"A fantastically descriptive writer, Thubron digs through the history of Central Asia...Perfect for vicarious travelers."

Lorraine Adams, New York Times Book Review
"Moving in a way that’s rare in travel literature...Thubron goes to places most other sojourners can’t."

Jonathan Yardley, Washington Post Book World
"[Thubron is] intrepid, resourceful . . . and immensely talented . . . a splendid book."

Boston Globe
"A sublime travel writer…[Thubron captures] the...lives of ordinary people with lyricism, compassion, and wit."

San Francisco Chronicle
"Thubron has done it all, with sparkling grace . . . He is a brilliant brooder, artful in his melancholy."

Michael Kenney, Boston Globe
"[An] elegant account of a rough two years’ trek.:

Harper's Magazine
"An exhausting journey and a marvelous book."

Timothy Farrington, New York Sun
"Fascinating…Mr. Thubron approaches other’s beliefs with curiosity and respect…[He writes with a seductive facility."

Sunday Oregonian
"An interesting portrait of lands and people not well known or appreciated."

Product Description

Shadow of the Silk Road records a journey along the greatest land route on earth. Out of the heart of China into the mountains of Central Asia, across northern Afghanistan and the plains of Iran and into Kurdish Turkey, Colin Thubron covers some seven thousand miles in eight months. Making his way by local bus, truck, car, donkey cart and camel, he travels from the tomb of the Yellow Emperor, the mythic progenitor of the Chinese people, to the ancient port of Antioch—in perhaps the most difficult and ambitious journey he has undertaken in forty years of travel.

The Silk Road is a huge network of arteries splitting and converging across the breadth of Asia. To travel it is to trace the passage not only of trade and armies but also of ideas, religions and inventions. But alongside this rich and astonishing past, Shadow of the Silk Road is also about Asia today: a continent of upheaval.

One of the trademarks of Colin Thubron's travel writing is the beauty of his prose; another is his gift for talking to people and getting them to talk to him. Shadow of the Silk Road encounters Islamic countries in many forms. It is about changes in China, transformed since the Cultural Revolution. It is about false nationalisms and the world's discontented margins, where the true boundaries are not political borders but the frontiers of tribe, ethnicity, language and religion. It is a magnificent and important account of an ancient world in modern ferment.


About the Author

An award-winning novelist and travel writer, Colin Thubron's books include Among the Russians, In Siberia, and the New York Times bestseller Shadow of the Silk Road. He lives in London.


How Poets See the World


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How Poets See the World: The Art of Description in Contemporary Poetry
by Willard Spiegelman

Review

"Spiegelman's masterly study of the persistence of the descriptive impulse in contemporary poetrydemonstrates how resourcefully poets of various stripes engage themselves and the reader in inventive acts of looking at the visible world. Spiegelman has served his poets, and the art of poetry, well."-Frank J. Kearful, Partial Answers
"How Poets See the World yields fresh insights on every page, touching upon the history of taste, or the sources of styles. As a guide to the work of poets whose difficulty Spiegelman never glosses over, it is indispensable."--Rachel Hadas, Rutgers University
"Masterly.... Spiegelman demonstrates again and again how a superlatively educated, cultivated, sympathetic, earnest, even passionate reader...goes about the joyful business of reading every scripture in the spirit in which it was written.... That How Poets See the World can balance these two imperative, to see by means of and to see the true nature of, is its large and substantial achievement."--Twentieth-Century Literature
"Many critics have explored the relationship between landscape and language, but Spiegelman goes farthest in analyzing the disposition of parts of speech and syntactic arrangements, the sentences that create the effect of description. This attention to language leads Spiegelman to some superb close reading. He understands that poetry is first and foremost an art form, with language as its medium, figuration its inevitable activity.... Reading him, we are observers of an honest, intense encounter with some major contemporary writers. Every poet must wish for such attentiveness, such willingness to learn from the poems themselves how they want to be read."--Bonnie Costello, Literary Imagination
"An important contribution to the literature on what W. J. T Mitchell calls 'picture theory,' that is, the nexus of word and image. Via shrewd analysis on an eclectic range of poetsSpiegelman sometimes seduces but more often startles his reader into an awareness of the vital role description plays in contemporary American poetry.... Spiegelman, whose prose is as eloquent as it is insightful, demonstrates with ample grace that description does indeed make a profound difference when it comes to interpreting a poem.... Essential."--Choice
"This most distinguished and illuminating book on the importance of poetic description is as timely as it is exemplary for what criticism should be. The author brings to bear his profound knowledge of the depths of descriptiveness, as first explored by English romantic poetry, on an acutely chosen group of contemporary poets. A compelling interchapter considers the importance of ekphrasis in the poetry of our time. This beautifully written study is as free of academic jargon as it is knowledgeable of theoretical issues, and fully sensitive to cultural as well as personal formations of poetic perspectives. But its ultimate concern is with the intellectual power and, particularly, the moral mandates of the fundamental aesthetic domain in which poetry is what it is."--John Hollander
"Willard Spiegelman is one of the few literary critics who understands not only how poets see but also how they think, feel, breathe--how they inhabit the world by inhabiting language. He writes with the elegance of the poets he admires most, and How Poets See the World is his best book yet."--James Longenbach, University of Rochester
"Willard Spiegelman's new book is a marvel of speculative energy. Poetry's descriptive task--finding the words that address both the world's textures and the poet's own sensibility, or what this critic calls the 'inconstant constancy' of things--is examined with a provocative eye for the subtle and profound differences among individual poets. For one, syntax is a style; for another, landscape replaces sexuality. Spiegelman provides fresh and compelling readings for a wide range of contemporary poets, and brings to this book a rare moral acumen, genuine sympathies, and a steady grasp of the emotional underpinnings and overtones of a poet's ambitions or of a poem's structure and effect. How Poets See the World is an eye-opening adventure, and sure to become a classic text."--J. D. McClatchy
"Contemporary criticism is abuzz with 'thing theory,' but only Willard Spiegelman has shown us how contemporary poets develop a language of things, at once particular and metaphoric, always faithful to sensation as a source of imagination's renewal. In this brilliant study Spiegelman explains one of the dominant rhetorical modes of our skeptical time and shows how daily attention to the visible world becomes a source of poetic power."--Bonnie Costello, Boston University


Product Description
Although readers of prose fiction sometimes find descriptive passages superfluous or boring, description itself is often the most important aspect of a poem. This book examines how a variety of contemporary poets use description in their work.
Description has been the great burden of poetry. How do poets see the world? How do they look at it? What do they look for? Is description an end in itself, or a means of expressing desire? Ezra Pound demanded that a poem should represent the external world as objectively and directly as possible, and William Butler Yeats, in his introduction to The Oxford Book of Modern Verse (1936), said that he and his generation were rebelling against, inter alia, "irrelevant descriptions of nature" in the work of their predecessors. The poets in this book, however, who are distinct in many ways from one another, all observe the external world of nature or the reflected world of art, and make relevant poems out of their observations.
This study deals with the crisp, elegant work of Charles Tomlinson, the swirling baroque poetry of Amy Clampitt, the metaphysical meditations of Charles Wright from a position in his backyard, the weather reports and landscapes of John Ashbery, and the "new way of looking" that Jorie Graham proposes to explore in her increasingly fragmented poems. All of these poets, plus others (Gary Snyder, Theodore Weiss, Irving Feldman, Richard Howard) who are dealt with more briefly, attend to what Wallace Stevens, in a memorable phrase, calls "the way things look each day." The ordinariness of daily reality is the beginning of the poets' own idiosyncratic, indeed unique, visions and styles.

четверг, 14 августа 2008 г.

The Religion of the Etruscans


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The Religion of the Etruscans by Nancy Thomson de Grummond (Editor), Erika Simon (Editor)

Review
I cannot praise this book sufficiently. . . . The authors are first-rate scholars in the field; they provide up-to-date information, support, and analysis of the topic. The book offers a great deal of new data and new interpretation in an accessible, clear manner. (Helen Nagy, Professor of Art, University of Puget Sound )

Product Description

"I cannot praise this book sufficiently.... The authors are first-rate scholars in the field; they provide up-to-date information, support, and analysis of the topic. The book offers a great deal of new data and new interpretation in an accessible, clear manner."

—Helen Nagy, Professor of Art, University of Puget Sound

Devotion to religion was the distinguishing characteristic of the Etruscan people, the most powerful civilization of Italy in the Archaic period. From a very early date, Etruscan religion spread its influence into Roman society, especially with the practice of divination. The Etruscan priest Spurinna, to give a well-known example, warned Caesar to beware the Ides of March. Yet despite the importance of religion in Etruscan life, there are relatively few modern comprehensive studies of Etruscan religion, and none in English. This volume seeks to fill that deficiency by bringing together essays by leading scholars that collectively provide a state-of-the-art overview of religion in ancient Etruria.

The eight essays in this book cover all of the most important topics in Etruscan religion, including the Etruscan pantheon and the roles of the gods, the roles of priests and divinatory practices, votive rituals, liturgical literature, sacred spaces and temples, and burial and the afterlife. In addition to the essays, the book contains valuable supporting materials, including the first English translation of an Etruscan Brontoscopic Calendar (which guided priests in making divinations), Greek and Latin sources about Etruscan religion (in the original language and English translation), and a glossary. Nearly 150 black and white photographs and drawings illustrate surviving Etruscan artifacts and inscriptions, as well as temple floor plans and reconstructions.



About the Author
NANCY THOMSON DE GRUMMOND is M. Lynette Thompson Professor of Classics at Florida State University.

ERIKA SIMON is Professor Emerita of Classical Archaeology at Würzburg University.

A Companion to Greek and Roman Historiography


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A Companion to Greek and Roman Historiography by John Marincola (Editor)

Review
"All that you ever needed to know about Greek and Roman historians and current academic study thereon." Journal of Classics Teaching “Major work on a major genre … with no rival in English (or any other language) … .An indispensable guide to the subject. Essential.” Choice

Product Description
This two-volume Companion to Greek and Roman Historiography reflects the new directions and interpretations that have arisen in the field of ancient historiography in the past few decades.

  • Comprises a series of cutting edge articles written by recognised scholars
  • Presents broad, chronological treatments of important issues in the writing of history and antiquity
  • These are complemented by chapters on individual genres and sub-genres from the fifth century B.C.E. to the fourth century C.E.
  • Provides a series of interpretative readings on the individual historians
  • Contains essays on the neighbouring genres of tragedy, biography, and epic, among others, and their relationship to history


Book Description
A Companion to Greek and Roman Historiography reflects the new directions and interpretations that have arisen in the field of classical historiography in the past few decades. In a series of cutting-edge articles by authoritative scholars, these volumes communicate the results of recent research, and demonstrate the diversity of approaches towards the past in studies of the ancient world. This two-volume Companion includes five sections. The first presents broad, diachronic treatments of important issues in the writing of history in antiquity. In the second section, the major genres and sub-genres of classical historiography are covered in individual articles. The third section presents readings of individual historians and works, while the fourth section looks at those genres - biography, epic and fiction - on the borders of historiography. The final part explores the transition into late Antiquity.

From the Back Cover
A Companion to Greek and Roman Historiography reflects the new directions and interpretations that have arisen in the field of classical historiography in the past few decades. In a series of cutting-edge articles by authoritative scholars, these volumes communicate the results of recent research, and demonstrate the diversity of approaches towards the past in studies of the ancient world.

This two-volume Companion includes five sections. The first presents broad, diachronic treatments of important issues in the writing of history in antiquity. In the second section, the major genres and sub-genres of classical historiography are covered in individual articles. The third section presents readings of individual historians and works, while the fourth section looks at those genres – biography, epic and fiction – on the borders of historiography. The final part explores the transition into late Antiquity.

About the Author
John Marincola is Professor of Classics at Florida State University. He is the author of Authority and Tradition in Ancient Historiography (1997), Greek Historians (2001) and, with Michael A. Flower, Herodotus: Histories Book IX (2002). He is currently at work on a book on Hellenistic historiography.

среда, 13 августа 2008 г.

Politics, Philosophy, Terror



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Politics, Philosophy, Terror
Essays on the Thought of Hannah Arendt
by Dana Villa


Review
Villa explores the tensions between [Hannah] Arendt's disdain for those who fail to think and her distrust of the contemplative retreat from the world. . . . [A] lucid and illuminating book. . . .
(John Plotz Lingua Franca )

In this splendid collection Villa focuses on Arendt's analysis of totalitarian evil and its relationship to the philosophical tradition.
(Choice )

Review
Dana Villa ... has received international recognition for his Arendt and Heidegger--the finest work in any language concerning the philosophical indebtedness of Arendt to Heidegger. The analyses in this current book are always informative, insightful, and thought-provoking. The writing is forceful and lucid. The book eminently succeeds in showing why Arendt is one of the outstanding political theorists of the twentieth century.
(Richard J. Bernstein, New School for Social Research )

Review
In this splendid collection Villa focuses on Arendt's analysis of totalitarian evil and its relationship to the philosophical tradition.

Product Description

Hannah Arendt's rich and varied political thought is more influential today than ever before, due in part to the collapse of communism and the need for ideas that move beyond the old ideologies of the Cold War. As Dana Villa shows, however, Arendt's thought is often poorly understood, both because of its complexity and because her fame has made it easy for critics to write about what she is reputed to have said rather than what she actually wrote. Villa sets out to change that here, explaining clearly, carefully, and forcefully Arendt's major contributions to our understanding of politics, modernity, and the nature of political evil in our century.

Villa begins by focusing on some of the most controversial aspects of Arendt's political thought. He shows that Arendt's famous idea of the banality of evil--inspired by the trial of Adolf Eichmann--does not, as some have maintained, lessen the guilt of war criminals by suggesting that they are mere cogs in a bureaucratic machine. He examines what she meant when she wrote that terror was the essence of totalitarianism, explaining that she believed Nazi and Soviet terror served above all to reinforce the totalitarian idea that humans are expendable units, subordinate to the all-determining laws of Nature or History. Villa clarifies the personal and philosophical relationship between Arendt and Heidegger, showing how her work drew on his thought while providing a firm repudiation of Heidegger's political idiocy under the Nazis. Less controversially, but as importantly, Villa also engages with Arendt's ideas about the relationship between political thought and political action. He explores her views about the roles of theatricality, philosophical reflection, and public-spiritedness in political life. And he explores what relationship, if any, Arendt saw between totalitarianism and the "great tradition" of Western political thought. Throughout, Villa shows how Arendt's ideas illuminate contemporary debates about the nature of modernity and democracy and how they deepen our understanding of philosophers ranging from Socrates and Plato to Habermas and Leo Strauss.

Direct, lucid, and powerfully argued, this is a much-needed analysis of the central ideas of one of the most influential political theorists of the twentieth century.



Download Description
Hannah Arendt's rich and varied political thought is more influential today than ever before, due in part to the collapse of communism and the need for ideas that move beyond the old ideologies of the Cold War. As Dana Villa shows, however, Arendt's thought is often poorly understood, both because of its complexity and because her fame has made it easy for critics to write about what she is reputed to have said rather than what she actually wrote. Villa sets out to change that here, explaining clearly, carefully, and forcefully Arendt's major contributions to our understanding of politics, modernity, and the nature of political evil in our century.

From the Back Cover

"Dana Villa ... has received international recognition for his Arendt and Heidegger--the finest work in any language concerning the philosophical indebtedness of Arendt to Heidegger. The analyses in this current book are always informative, insightful, and thought-provoking. The writing is forceful and lucid. The book eminently succeeds in showing why Arendt is one of the outstanding political theorists of the twentieth century."--Richard J. Bernstein, New School for Social Research

"In the time-honored tradition of political theorizing, Politics, Philosophy, Terror cuts through a tangle of current disputations in order to clarify and assess particular and pertinent aspects of Hannah Arendt's thinking. Villa's book is also fluidly, even elegantly, written."--Mary G. Dietz, University of Minnesota

The Pocket Guide to the Saints


The Pocket Guide to the Saints
by Richard P. Mcbrien (Author)

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Product Description

This pocket edition of Richard McBrien's Lives of the Saints is the perfect concise, handy reference for scholars, students, and general readers.



About the Author

Richard P. McBrien is Crowley-O'Brien Professor of Theology at the University of Notre Dame. Educated at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, he has also served as president of the Catholic Theological Society of America. A leading authority on Catholicism, he is the bestselling author of Catholicism, Lives of the Popes, and Lives of the Saints, as well as the general editor of The HarperCollins Encyclopedia of Catholicism. Most recently a consultant for ABC News, McBrien offers regular commentary on all the major television networks. He is also a prize-winning syndicated columnist in the Catholic press.


Animal Sacrifice in Ancient Greek Religion, Judaism, and Christianity


Animal Sacrifice in Ancient Greek Religion, Judaism, and Christianity, 100 BC to AD 200 (Oxford Classical Monographs) by Maria-Zoe Petropoulou (Author)

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Product Description
A study of animal sacrifice within Greek paganism, Judaism, and Christianity during the period of their interaction between about 100 BC and AD 200. After a vivid account of the realities of sacrifice in the Greek East and in the Jerusalem Temple (up to AD 70), Maria-Zoe Petropoulou explores the attitudes of early Christians towards this practice. Contrary to other studies in this area, she demonstrates that the process by which Christianity finally separated its own cultic code from the strong tradition of animal sacrifice was a slow and difficult one. Petropoulou places special emphasis on the fact that Christians gave completely new meanings to the term `sacrifice'. She also explores the question why, if animal sacrifice was of prime importance in the eastern Mediterranean at this time, Christians should ultimately have rejected it.

About the Author

Maria-Zoe Petropoulou is a teacher on the International Baccalaureate Program of the Hellenic American Foundation, Athens.

понедельник, 4 августа 2008 г.

A History of German Literature


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A History of German Literature (Hardcover) by Wolfgang Beutin

Product Description
Since the appearance of the first edition in 1979, A History of German Literature has established itself as a classic work and basic reference source for those interested or in contact with German literature.

In this book, the subject of German literature is treated as a phenomenon firmly rooted in the social and political world from which it has risen. Literary works are assessed according to their relation to the human condition. Social forces and their interrelation with the artistic avant-garde are an organizing theme of this history, which traces German literature from its first beginnings in the Middle Ages to the present day. This latest edition has been updated to cover the reunification of Germany, and its consequent events.

Readable and stimulating, A History of German Literature makes the literature of the past as vital and engaging as the works of the present, and will prove a valuable tool.

Language Notes
Text: English (translation)
Original Language: German

About the Author
Wolfgang Beutin is a Lecturer in Early German Literature at the University of Hamburg. Klaus Ehlert is a teacher in the state schools at Bremen. Wolfgang Emmerich is a professor of Modern German Literature at the University of Bremen. Helmut Hoffacker is a teacher at the Old Bremen Gymnasium. Bernd Lutz is the general manager of J. B. Meltzer Verlag. Volker Meid is a freelance academic writer and former professor of German Literature at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. Ralf Schnell is former professor of Modern German literature at Hanover University. Peter Stein is Lecturer in Language and Communication at the University of Luneburg. Inge Stephan is a Professor of Literature at the University of Hamburg.

Hellenistic Philosophy of Mind


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Hellenistic Philosophy of Mind by Julia E. Annas

From Library Journal
This volume represents the eighth installment in the series "Hellenistic Culture and Society." Annas's objective is to place a renewed importance upon the previously underappreciated post-Aristotelian philosophers, mainly the Stoics and Epicureans. The author contends that the enormous variety of medical and scientific advances that were occurring during the Hellenistic Age made the study of philosophy separate from the study of science and medicine, thereby creating the opening for new, original schools of thought to replace the "reduced" Platonic and Aristotelian schools. Annas makes available a wealth of helpful background information condensed in footnotes that will guide the novice philosophy student to a comprehension and appreciation for this mentally strenuous and scholarly work.
- Jacqueline Garlesky, Cambria Cty. Lib., Johnstown, Pa.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Glenn Lesses, Canadian Philosophical Review
"In her systematic examination of Stoic and Epicurean theories of mind, Julia Annas seeks to demonstrate the innovative nature of their views. According to Annas' exactingly lucid book, the Stoic and Epicurean accounts are philosophically worthy and, properly construed, the first genuine theories of mind. . . . Annas carefully and sympathetically attends to the arguments that the Stoics and Epicureans construct, while indicating their defects. As a result, we gain a sense of the enormous attraction of their reasoned, philosophical positions. . . . A model of philosophical scholarship about Hellenistic antiquity."

воскресенье, 3 августа 2008 г.

Исторические корни Волшебной Сказки


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Владимир Пропп

Исторические корни Волшебной Сказки

Морфология "волшебной" сказки


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Владимир Пропп
Морфология "волшебной" сказки



After Aquinas


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After Aquinas: Versions of Thomism by Fergus Kerr

Product Description
This guide to the most interesting work that has recently appeared on Aquinas reflects the revival of interest in his work.

  • Written by one of the foremost Roman Catholic theologians currently writing in English.
  • Offers a guide to the most interesting work that has recently appeared on Aquinas, reflecting the revival of interest in his work.
  • Brings together in one volume, a range of views that have previously only been accessible through different books, articles, and periodicals.
  • Represents a major revisionist treatment of Thomism and its significance, combining useful exposition with original, creative thinking.
  • Offers students, in one volume, all the material necessary for a rounded understanding of Aquinas.

суббота, 2 августа 2008 г.

Rethinking the Mediterranean


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Rethinking the Mediterranean
by W. V. Harris (Editor)


Review

`Review from previous edition The contributors Harris marshalls are a constellation bright enough to guide any historical navigator ... [an] enormously valuable book. ' Felipe Fernandez-Armesto, Times Literary Supplement

Product Description
In this collection of essays, an international group of renowned scholars attempt to establish the theoretical basis for studying the ancient and medieval history of the Mediterranean Sea and the lands around it. In so doing they range far afield to other Mediterraneans, real and imaginary, as distant as Brazil and Japan. Their work is an essential tool for understanding the Mediterranean, pre-modern and modern alike. It speaks to ancient and medieval historians, to archaeologists, anthropologists and all historians with environmental interests, and not least to classicists.

About the Author

W. V. Harris is Shepherd Professor of History at Columbia University.

Romantic Atheism


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Romantic Atheism: Poetry and Freethought, 1780-1830 by Martin Priestman

Review
"Priestman's study adds the obvious but still overlooked and unquestionably important feature of atheism, especially as it gets expressed in the discourse of Romantic poetry. By addressing attacks (both oblique and direct) on conventional religion expressed in Romantic poetry, Priestman presents us with a study that is long overdue." Religion & Literature

"...a very conscientious, diligent, helpful, even moving book. Readers who share his assumptions may consider it definative." North Dakota Quarterly

Product Description
Romantic Atheism explores the links between English Romantic poetry and the first burst of outspoken atheism in Britain, from the 1780s onward. Martin Priestman examines the work of Blake, Coleridge, Wordsworth, Shelley, Byron and Keats in their most intellectually radical periods, as well as a host of less canonical poet-intellectuals and controversialists of the time. Above all, the book conveys the excitement of Romantic atheism, whose dramatic appeals to new developments in politics, science and comparative mythology lent it a protean energy belied by the more recent conception of "loss of faith."

Book Description
Romantic Atheism explores the links between English Romantic poetry and the first burst of outspoken atheism in Britain, from the 1780s onwards. Martin Priestman examines the work of Blake, Coleridge, Wordsworth, Shelley, Byron and Keats in their most intellectually radical periods, and a host of less canonical poet-intellectuals and controversialists of the time. Above all, the book conveys the excitement of Romantic atheism, whose dramatic appeals to new developments in politics, science and comparative mythology lend it a protean energy belied by the more recent conception of 'loss of faith'.

Download Description
Romantic Atheism explores the links between English Romantic poetry and the first burst of outspoken atheism in Britain, from the 1780s onwards. Martin Priestman examines the work of Blake, Coleridge, Wordsworth, Shelley, Byron and Keats in their most intellectually radical periods, establishing the depth of their engagement with such discourses, and in some cases their active participation. Equal attention is given to less canonical writers: such poet-intellectuals as Erasmus Darwin, Sir William Jones, Richard Payne Knight and Anna Laetitia Barbauld, and controversialists including Holbach, Volney, Paine, Priestley, Godwin, Richard Carlile and Eliza Sharples (these last two in particular representing the close links between punishably outspoken atheism and radical working-class politics). Above all, the book conveys the excitement of Romantic atheism, whose dramatic appeals to new developments in politics, science and comparative mythology lend it a protean energy belied by the common and more recent conception of 'loss of faith'.