The Oxford Handbook of Political Economy

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The Oxford Handbook of Political Economy (Oxford Handbooks of Political Science) by Barry R. Weingast, Donald Wittman (Authors)

Review
This is an impressive book in every dimension. Randall G. Holcombe, Public Choice Spanning all of the major substantive areas and approaches in modern political science, this blockbuster set is a must-have for scholars and students alike. Each volume is crafted by a distinguished set of editors who have assembled critical, comprehensive, essays to survey accumulated knowledge and emerging issues in the study of politics. These volumes will help to shape the discipline for many years to come. Theda Skocpol, Victor S. Thomas Professor of Government and Sociology, and Dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, Harvard University Judging from the editors, contributors, and topics covered, the forthcoming Oxford Handbooks of Political Science will be a landmark series...This is a series that not only university libraries, but more specialized social science and political science libraries, will want to have on their shelves Robert O. Keohane, Professor of International Affairs, Princeton University This extraordinary series offers 'state of the art' assessments that instruct, engage, and provoke. Both synoptic and directive, the fine essays across these superbly edited volumes reflect the ambitions and diversity of political science. No one who is immersed in the discipline's controversies and possibilities should miss the intellectual stimulation and critical appraisal these works so powerfully provide. Ira Katznelson, Ruggles Professor of Political Science and History, Columbia University Under the general editorship of Robert E. Goodin, a large group of intellectually attractive authors has charted the entire field of political science in an unbiased multi-paradigmatic way. Minerva's owl would make a nice logo for this monumental collective work of the Oxford Handbooks: what moves us forward is looking back at what we know. Claus Offe, Professor of Political Science, Hertie School of Governance, Berlin and Institute for Social Science, Humboldt University, Berlin. This volume comprises a thorough and definitive overview, written by the top people in the field, of the research frontier of political economy. It will be required reading for students, and essential reference material for scholars active in the field, for many years to come. Avinash K. Dixit, John J. F. Sherrerd '52 University Professor of Economics, Princeton University A paramount effort coordinated by Robert Goodin for Oxford University Press has produced an impressive set of ten volumes about the state of the discipline, the Oxford Handbook of Political Science, which has become an instant must. Josep Colomer's Weekly Blog The overall quality of writing and analysis is high, and the bibliographies are very valuable...Highly recommended. M. Veseth, Choice, Vol. 44, No. 10 --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Review

"This is an impressive book in every dimension."--Randall G. Holcombe, Public Choice
"The overall quality of writing and analysis is high, and the bibliographies are very valuable...Highly recommended."--Choice
"This volume comprises a thorough and definitive overview, written by the top people in the field, of the research frontier of political economy. It will be required reading for students, and essential reference material for scholars active in the field, for many years to come."--Avinash K. Dixit, John J. F. Sherrerd '52 University Professor of Economics, Princeton University
"The thoughtful essays in the Handbooks are far more than literature reviews. Scholars and students will find them to be a valusable resource for many years to come."--Morris P. Fiorina, Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution and Wendt Family Professor of Political Science, Stanford Univeristy


Product Description
Over its long lifetime, "political economy" has had many different meanings: the science of managing the resources of a nation so as to provide wealth to its inhabitants for Adam Smith; the study of how the ownership of the means of production influenced historical processes for Marx; the study of the inter-relationship between economics and politics for some twentieth-century commentators; and for others, a methodology emphasizing individual rationality (the economic or "public choice" approach) or institutional adaptation (the sociological version). This Handbook views political economy as a grand (if imperfect) synthesis of these various strands, treating political economy as the methodology of economics applied to the analysis of political behavior and institutions.
This Handbook surveys the field of political economy, with fifty-eight chapters ranging from micro to macro, national to international, institutional to behavioral, methodological to substantive. Chapters on social choice, constitutional theory, and public economics are set alongside ones on voters, parties and pressure groups, macroeconomics and politics, capitalism and democracy, and international political economy and international conflict.

About the Author
Barry R. Weingast is Ward C. Krebs Family Professor of Political Science, Stanford University. Donald Wittman is a Professor of Economics at University of California, Santa Cruz.

The Oxford Handbook of Political Institutions

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The Oxford Handbook of Political Institutions (Oxford Handbooks of Political Science) by R. A. W. Rhodes, Sarah A. Binder, Bert A. Rockman (Editors)

Review
The thoughtful essays in the handbooks are far more than literature reviews. Scholars and students will find them to be an invaluable resource for many years to come. Morris P. Fiorina, Senior, Fellow at the Hoover Institution and Wendt Family Professor of Political Science at Stanford University A paramount effort coordinated by Robert Goodin for Oxford University Press has produced an impressive set of ten volumes about the state of the discipline, the Oxford Handbook of Political Science, which has become an instant must. Josep Colomer's Weekly Blog --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Review

"The thoughtful essays in the handbooks are far more than literature reviews. Scholars and students will find them to be an invaluable resource for many years to come."--Morris P. Fiorina, Senior, Fellow at the Hoover Institution and Wendt Family Professor of Political Science at Stanford University
"Spanning all of the major substantive areas and approaches in modern political science, this blockbuster set is a must-have for scholars and students to alike. Each volume is crafted by a distinguished set ofris editors who have assembled critical, comprehensive, essays to survey accumulated knowledge and emerging issues in thee study of politics. These volumes will help to shape the discipline for many years to come."--Theda Skocpol, Victor S. Thomas Professor of Government and Sociology, and Dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, Harvard University


Product Description
The study of political institutions is among the founding pillars of political science. With the rise of the 'new institutionalism', the study of institutions has returned to its place in the sun. This volume provides a comprehensive survey of where we are in the study of political institutions, covering both the traditional concerns of political science with constitutions, federalism and bureaucracy and more recent interest in theory and the constructed nature of institutions. The Oxford Handbook of Political Institutions draws together a galaxy of distinguished contributors drawn from leading universities across the world.

About the Author

R. A. W. Rhodes is Director of the Research School of Social Sciences and Distinguished Professor of Political Science at Australian National University.
Sarah A. Binder is Professor of Political Science at George Washington University.
Bert A. Rockman is Professor of Political Science and Head of the Department at Purdue University.

The Oxford Handbook of Political Theory

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The Oxford Handbook of Political Theory (Oxford Handbooks of Political Science) by John S. Dryzek, Bonnie Honig, Anne Phillips (Editors)

Review
The contributors of these chapters are an impressive array of talants... To read their contributions is to learn of the edd and flow of current debates, discussions and conclusions of political theory understood most broadly... the editors have done great service to political theory with this stock taking and assessment, which is at once thorough, well thought out, systematic, creative and - at time - risk taking. It belongs on the shelves of all philosopher-monarchs. Michael Jackson, University of Sydney Spanning all of the major substantive areas and approaches in modern political science, this blockbuster set is a must-have for scholars and students alike. Each volume is crafted by a distinguished set of editors who have assembled critical, comprehensive, essays to survey accumulated knowledge and emerging issues in the study of politics. These volumes will help to shape the discipline for many years to come. Theda Skocpol, Victor S. Thomas Professor of Government and Sociology, and Dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, Harvard University Judging from the editors, contributors, and topics covered, the forthcoming Oxford Handbooks of Political Science will be a landmark series...This is a series that not only university libraries, but more specialized social science and political science libraries, will want to have on their shelves Robert O. Keohane, Professor of International Affairs, Princeton University This extraordinary series offers 'state of the art' assessments that instruct, engage, and provoke. Both synoptic and directive, the fine essays across these superbly edited volumes reflect the ambitions and diversity of political science. No one who is immersed in the discipline's controversies and possibilities should miss the intellectual stimulation and critical appraisal these works so powerfully provide. Ira Katznelson, Ruggles Professor of Political Science and History, Columbia University Under the general editorship of Robert E. Goodin, a large group of intellectually attractive authors has charted the entire field of political science in an unbiased multi-paradigmatic way. Minerva's owl would make a nice logo for this monumental collective work of the Oxford Handbooks: what moves us forward is looking back at what we know. Claus Offe, Professor of Political Science, Hertie School of Governance, Berlin and Institute for Social Science, Humboldt University, Berlin. This is a unique and impressive set of analyses about scholarship in political theory. It is comprehensive, as we would expect. Beyond that, it is remarkably creative in the way that Dryzek, Honig and Phillips have organized categories, and it includes much overdue reference to scholarship on non-Western and postcolonial thought. Iris Marion Young, Professor of Political Science at the University of Chicago A paramount effort coordinated by Robert Goodin for Oxford University Press has produced an impressive set of ten volumes about the state of the discipline, the Oxford Handbook of Political Science, which has become an instant must. Josep Colomer's Weekly Blog --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Review

"This is a unique and impressive set of analyses about scholarship in political theory. It is comprehensive, as we would expect. Beyond that, it is remarkably creative in the way that Dryzek, Honig and Phillips have organized categories, and it includes much overdue reference to scholarship on non-Western and postcolonial thought."--Iris Marion Young, Late Professor of Political Science at the University of Chicago
"This extraordinary series offers 'state of the art' assessments that instruct, engage, and provoke. Both synoptic and directive, the fine essays across these superbly edited volumes reflect the ambitions and diversity of political science. No one who is immersed in the discipline's controversies and possibilities should miss the intellectual stimulation and critical appraisal these works so powerfully provide."--Ira Katznelson, Ruggles Professor of Political Science and History, Columbia University

The Oxford Handbook of Public Policy

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The Oxford Handbook of Public Policy (The Oxford Handbooks of Political Science) by Michael Moran, Martin Rein, Robert E. Goodin (Editors)
Public policy is the business end of political science. It is where theory meets practice in the pursuit of the public good. Political scientists approach public policy in myriad ways. Some approach the policy process descriptively, asking how the need for public intervention comes to be perceived, a policy response formulated, enacted, implemented, and, all too often, subverted, perverted, altered, or abandoned. Others approach public policy more prescriptively, offering politically-informed suggestions for how normatively valued goals can and should be pursued, either through particular policies or through alternative processes for making policy. Some offer their advice from the Olympian heights of detached academic observers, others as 'engaged scholars' cum advocates, while still others seek to instill more reflective attitudes among policy practitioners themselves toward their own practices. The Oxford Handbook of Public Policy mines all these traditions, using an innovative structure that responds to the very latest scholarship. Its chapters touch upon institutional and historical sources and analytical methods, how policy is made, how it is evaluated and how it is constrained. In these ways, the Handbook shows how the combined wisdom of political science as a whole can be brought to bear on political attempts to improve the human condition.

The Post-American World

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The Post-American World by Fareed Zakaria

Book Description
"This is not a book about the decline of America, but rather about the rise of everyone else." So begins Fareed Zakaria's important new work on the era we are now entering. Following on the success of his best-selling The Future of Freedom, Zakaria describes with equal prescience a world in which the United States will no longer dominate the global economy, orchestrate geopolitics, or overwhelm cultures. He sees the "rise of the rest"—the growth of countries like China, India, Brazil, Russia, and many others—as the great story of our time, and one that will reshape the world. The tallest buildings, biggest dams, largest-selling movies, and most advanced cell phones are all being built outside the United States. This economic growth is producing political confidence, national pride, and potentially international problems. How should the United States understand and thrive in this rapidly changing international climate? What does it mean to live in a truly global era? Zakaria answers these questions with his customary lucidity, insight, and imagination.

ვეფხისტყაოსანი

გადმოიწერეთ

შოთა რუსთაველი
ვეფხისტყაოსანი
1966 წლის გამოცემა

ვეფხისტყაოსანი

გადმოიწერეთ

შოთა რუსთაველი
ვეფხისტყაოსანი

1937 წლის გამოცემა

The Cambridge Companion to Habermas

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The Cambridge Companion to Habermas (Cambridge Companions to Philosophy) by Stephen K. White (Editor)

Review
"...an excellent tool for advanced students of Habermas, and it raises crucial questions that are relevant for anyone concerned with the theoretical and practical problems of democracy...The book clearly shows not only the profound contributions Habermas makes to democratic theory, but also some serious problems in his work and the extent to which his massive theoretical apparatus still needs to be discussed in relation to concrete social and political issues." American Political Science Review "...White has compiled here an excellent set of essays, especially on Habermas's most recent reflections on discource theory." Choice "...a good introduction to the impact of Habermas' theories of democracy, law, social criticism, and ethics for those who are not familiar with Habermas' work, his dense writing style, and the three-century tradition of continental thought upon which he relies...with its select bibliography and straightforward, non-technical articles, this volume should provide a possible point of entry to the variety of English-language debates surrounding Habermas' theories of politics and morality." Christopher F. Zurn, Canadian Philosophical Review "This is a wonderful collection." David A. Freeman, The European Studies Journal

Review
"...an excellent tool for advanced students of Habermas, and it raises crucial questions that are relevant for anyone concerned with the theoretical and practical problems of democracy....The book clearly shows not only the profound contributions Habermas makes to democratic theory, but also some serious problems in his work and the extent to which his massive theoretical apparatus still needs to be discussed in relation to concrete social and political issues." American Political Science Review

"...White has compiled here an excellent set of essays, especially on Habermas's most recent reflections on discource theory." Choice

"...a good introduction to the impact of Habermas' theories of democracy, law, social criticism, and ethics for those who are not familiar with Habermas' work, his dense writing style, and the three-century tradition of continental thought upon which he relies....with its select bibliography and straightforward, non-technical articles, this volume should provide a possible point of entry to the variety of English-language debates surrounding Habermas' theories of politics and morality." Christopher F. Zurn, Canadian Philosophical Review

"This is a wonderful collection." David A. Freeman, The European Studies Journal

Product Description
This volume examines the historical and intellectual contexts out of which Habermas' work emerged, and offers an overview of his main ideas, including those in his most recent publication. Among the topics discussed are: his relationship to Marx and the Frankfurt School of critical theory, his unique contributions to the philosophy of social sciences, the concept of "communicative ethics," and the critique of postmodernism. Particular attention is paid to Habermas' recent work on democratic theory and the constitutional state.

Book Description
In examining the historical and intellectual contexts out of which Habermas' work emerged, this volume offers an overview of his main ideas, including his relationship to Marx and the Frankfurt School of critical theory, as well as his unique contributions to the philosophy of social science.

The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Folktales and Fairy Tales

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The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Folktales and Fairy Tales [Three Volumes] by Donald Haase (Editor)

Review
“Occasionally, a reference work is so good that one wishes for more of it. Haase.has assembled a stellar cast of scholars to provide the first thorough English-language encyclopedia on folk and fairy tales....Nearly 700 signed, alphabetically arranged articles with bibliographies cover major approaches, important authors and scholars, and themes. Especially useful are the geographic essays. With no disciplinary limits, folklorists take their place alongside historians, sociologists, and literary critics. Similary, with no boundaries on media, the set includes motion picture adaptations as well as literary versions. It also covers children's literature. Haase's introduction provides a good summary of the current state of folktale research....Highly recommended. Lower-level undergraduates through faculty/researchers; general readers.”–Choice

“This unique three-volume set is an important addition to folklore and fairy-tale studies as it offers for the first time an encyclopedic introduction to the scholarship of this flourishing field. Global in geographical and cultural scope and covering a broad historical and disciplinary range, it features information about significant individuals and traditions from throughout the world, from antiquity to the present day....Additionally, an extensive bibliography with citations to relevant primary and secondary resources names anthologies, scholarly studies, journal publications, and selected web sites. Rounding out the text are a guide describing the classification systems used in the entries, a guide to related topics, and a helpful index. The set is further enhanced by an informative introduction and interesting illustrations throughout the volumes. Useful to general readers as well as to students and scholars in the literary and social science disciplines; highly recommended for public and academic libraries.”–Library Journal

“Three hefty volumes provide global and multicultural coverall, from antiquity to the present, of the burgeoning field of folktale and fairy-tale studies....A brief introduction highlights the reasons for and description of the increasing interest in folk and fairy tales around the globe....Each entry includes highlighted cross references as well as, when appropriate, a "see also" section plus suggestions for futher reading....The illustrations and photographs are black and white in this helpful resource for college libraries and special collections in large public libraries.”–VOYA

“The Greenwood Encyclopedia truly stands apart with its multicultural scope and its theoretical framework that challenges the received knowledge of the field. Each volume contains a table of contents for the entire work and begins with a complete list of the alphabetically arranged entries. Cross-references, "see also" notes, and an index provide deeper access....I recommend The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Folktales and Fairy Tales for academic and public libraries.”–Reference & User Services Quarterly

“Starred Review Interest in folklore and fairy tales continues to grow, as evidenced by the number of new translations and anthologies being published every year. This scholarly compendium is a well-organized, well-documented introduction to the evolving field of folklore and fairy-tale studies....Meticulously documented and firmly grounded in scholarly research, most articles feature straightforward language and sufficient background material to be accessible to lay readers and novice researchers. This unique and timely resource is highly recommended for large public and academic collections, especially those that support literature or teacher-preparation programs or serve individuals pursuing careers or active in creative endeavors.”–Booklist

“[T]hese three tomes contain a wide ranging scope to studies in folk and fairy tales. Covering tales from the entire globe and with a timefram from antiquity to the present, presenting information useful to a panoply of disciplines and including media telling's of the stories, and emphasizing the new ideas brought forth since 1970, the 670 entries point in any direction you may want to research....The books are well made for a long shelf life. What is most useful is that each of the entries has a further reading bibliography with complete citations, which makes it easy to move onto other titles without having the last volume in hand.”–ARBA Online

“[A]n excellent overview of a tremendously influential literary genre, which is recommended for both public and academic libraries.”–Lawrence Looks at Books

Product Description
Folk and fairy tales exist in all cultures and are at the heart of civilization. The most comprehensive work of its kind, this massive Encyclopedia gives students and general readers a broad, accessible, multicultural survey of folk and fairy tales from around the world. Edited by one of the foremost authorities on the subject, the Encyclopedia draws on the work of numerous expert contributors and covers a broad range of themes and motifs, characters and character types, genres, individuals, national traditions, and other topics. Included are hundreds of alphabetically arranged entries on such subjects as:

African American Tales

Hans Christian Andersen

Cartoons and Comics

Changeling

Childhood and Children

Charles Dickens

Egyptian Tales

Elves

Fable

Nathaniel Hawthorne

Internet

Pigs

Puck

Riddle

Maurice Sendak

Stamps

Virginia Woolf

And many more. Entry topics were chosen in consultation with a nine-member Advisory Board that includes some of the most prominent scholars currently pursuing the study of folk and fairy tales, such as Professor Jack Zipes of the University of Minnesota, whose work has revolutionized research on fairy tales. Entries cite works for further reading, and the Encyclopedia closes with a bibliography of print and electronic resources. Literature students will value this book as an aid to understanding and analyzing folk and fairy tales as literary forms, while social studies students will appreciate the book's examination of the foundations of world cultures. And because many of these tales continue to influence films, television, and popular culture, general readers will welcome the Encyclopedia as a means of understanding the modern world. FEATURES AND BENEFITS:

Covers folk and fairy tales from around the world.

Includes hundreds of alphabetically arranged entries by numerous expert contributors.

Cites print and electronic resources.

Includes entries on genres, themes and motifs, characters and character types, individuals, national traditions, and other topics.

Discusses the presence of folk and fairy tales in literature and popular culture.

Extensively cross-referenced.

Fully illustrated.

Helps literature students analyze and undestand folk and fairy tales as literary forms.

Helps social studies students understand folk and fairy tales as the foundation of cultures around the world.

Fosters a respect for cultural diversity.

The Greenwood Encyclopedia of World Folklore and Folklife is organized into volumes on particular regions, and by culture group within each region. This book has a straight alphabetical organization of entries.

The Greenwood Encyclopedia of World Folklore and Folklife includes substantial entries on particular culture groups. This book includes entries on national folktale and fairy tale traditions, but most of the entries are topical.

The Greenwood Encyclopedia of World Folklore and Folklife covers all types of folklore and folklife. This book is limited to folktales and fairy tales.

The Greenwood Encyclopedia of World Folklore and Folklife includes a smaller number of entries. This book includes a larger number of entries.

The Greenwood Encyclopedia of World Folklore and Folklife does little with the presence of folktales and fairy tales in literature, film, and mass media. This book includes entries on authors and their use of folktales and fairy tales in their works.

The Ancient Messenians

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The Ancient Messenians: Constructions of Ethnicity and Memory by Nino Luraghi

Product Description
Early in the archaic period of Greek history, Messenia was annexed and partially settled by its powerful neighbour, Sparta. Achieving independence in the fourth century BC, the inhabitants of Messenia set about trying to forge an identity for themselves separate from their previous identity as Spartan subjects, refunctionalising or simply erasing their Spartan heritage. Professor Luraghi provides a thorough examination of the history of Messenian identity and consequently addresses a range of questions and issues whose interest and importance have only been widely recognised by ancient historians during the last decade. By a detailed scrutiny of the ancient written sources and the archaeological evidence, the book reconstructs how the Messenians perceived and constructed their own ethnicity at different points in time, by applying to Messenian ethnicity insights developed by anthropologists and early medieval historians.

Book Description
Traces the history of Messenian ethnicity from the archaic period to the Roman Empire. Once Messenia became independent from Sparta, its inhabitants reinvented their past history. Using archaeological and literary evidence, this book investigates the recreation of the past and its implications for the ethnic memory of the Messenians.

About the Author
Nino Luraghi is Professor of the Classics at Harvard University, and has published widely on Greek history and historiography. Recent works include an edited volume entitled The Politics of Ethnicity and the Crisis of the Peloponnesian League (forthcoming) and Helots and their Masters in Laconia and Messenia (co-edited with S. Alcock, 2003).

John Lennon: The Life

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John Lennon: The Life by Philip Norman

From The Washington Post
From The Washington Post's Book World/washingtonpost.com Reviewed by Glenn Frankel When in 1969 three eminent intellectuals were asked to name the "Man of the Decade," broadcaster Alistair Cooke chose John F. Kennedy and novelist Mary McCarthy chose Ho Chi Minh, but anthropologist Desmond Morris opted for John Lennon. It seemed an eccentric choice at the time, but Lennon's stature as a cultural icon has only soared, especially since his murder by a crazed fan in 1980. There are monuments dedicated to him all over the world, from an airport in his hometown of Liverpool to a "tower of light" in Iceland, a graffiti wall in Prague and a chunk of Central Park named Strawberry Fields. As a writer and sly humorist, he has been compared to Lewis Carroll, Edward Lear, James Joyce and Mark Twain, and as an illustrator to James Thurber and Paul Klee. "If he were a painting, I'd hang him in the Metropolitan Museum," said Thomas Hoving, the museum's director. Any biographer who aspires to capture the Beatles' putative leader in all his brilliant and obscene glory has to wrestle with a few basic questions: How did a restless, angry and minimally educated young man from a terminally depressed British seaport rise to lead the foremost pop music group of the 20th century? Was John Lennon truly one of the post-war generation's most creative figures or just a fleeting curiosity? And how can one reconcile the drug-addled, abrasive and gleefully malicious egotist who produced such tripe as "Revolution Number Nine," "Two Virgins" and "The Fly" with the musical genius responsible for "A Day in the Life," "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" and "Strawberry Fields"? For all the hundreds of Beatle books, there have been few biographies of the band's most intriguing and troubled member. Ray Coleman's Lennon: The Definitive Biography is a conscientious but tame account by a British journalist who knew and admired him, while Albert Goldman's The Lives of John Lennon is a vengeful, self-righteous hatchet job that makes no attempt to separate fact from fiction. Now comes Philip Norman. Twenty-eight years ago he produced Shout!, an exuberant and revelatory account of the Beatles' rise and fall. His new book, weighing in at 851 pages, should be his master work. But while it's often powerful and heartfelt, John Lennon: The Life falls short of resolving the deep questions about Lennon's life, loves and work and sheds little light on his proper place in the post-industrial pantheon. Norman recounts what is by now an achingly familiar story, beginning with Lennon's troubled childhood. He was raised by his starchy Aunt Mimi after his father went off to sea and his mother moved in with another man (she later died in a traffic accident). Then came his discovery of rock-and-roll; his tangled partnership with another motherless autodidact, Paul McCartney; the dizzying, stratospheric rise of the Beatles and the chaotic, heady years of Beatlemania -- the drugs, the extravagance and the ego-tripping of a man who decided during one LSD experience that he was Jesus; the group's slow implosion and the endless recriminations. Norman is particularly adept at fleshing out such overlooked side characters as Aunt Mimi and Lennon's wayward father, Freddie, pinpointing their roles in the shaping -- and misshaping -- of his character and creativity. Norman displays the same gift for brisk, what-happened-next narrative that made Shout! a page turner, but there are times when his prose falters: Aunt Mimi's "exterior brusqueness camouflaged a heart of purest gold." When the Beatles first arrived to conquer America in 1964, "fate once again seemed to be working as their press agent." Returning to the United States in 1971, "John unpacked his bags in a country where the generation gap had turned into a blazing abyss." Break out the fire extinguishers! Norman doesn't skimp on showing us the malicious side of "a fellow who seemed to have been born without brakes," as one of his art school teachers put it. Lennon whacked his first wife, Cynthia, across the face in a jealous rage, poured beer over manager Brian Epstein's head and pummeled Bob Wooler, a Liverpool deejay who championed the band, sending him to the hospital. Yet at times, Norman insists, Lennon could be sweet-natured and supportive. Norman's account is most revealing after the band collapses and Lennon tries to navigate life as an ex-Beatle. The author had the cooperation of Lennon's widow, Yoko Ono, and lends a sympathetic ear to her side of the breakup story. As the book makes clear, Ono may have used Lennon to gain fame and fortune, but Lennon used her as a sledgehammer to break up the band he felt was suffocating him. Although her musical gifts were microscopic, he brought her to all of the group's recording sessions, whispered to her constantly in front of the others and insisted that they treat her as their professional peer. "She showed me what it was like to be Elvis Beatle and to be surrounded by sycophants and slaves who were only interested in keeping the situation as it was," Lennon told an interviewer. Still, even Ono suffered his wrath. She says he made her write out a list of everyone she'd ever slept with before they met and regarded every man as "an active and dangerous rival for her affections." Norman notes that "even when he went to the toilet, Yoko went too." And she recalls to Norman her humiliation when Lennon made love to a woman in the coatroom of a party Ono and he attended on the night of Richard Nixon's reelection victory in 1972. The most poignant intimacies come at the end of the book when Lennon's son Sean recalls his father, who was murdered when Sean was 5. "I remember the feel of the stubble on his chin . . . the scar I could see underneath it," he tells Norman. It's Sean, himself a musician, who understands his father's most enduring contribution to pop music: the sense of vulnerability and introspection that lies at the heart of such achingly sad songs as "Help!," "Norwegian Wood," "Girl" and "Julia." "For a man to feel insecure and question himself the way my dad did in songs is a post-modern phenomenon," says Sean. "He invented that."
Copyright 2008, The Washington Post. All Rights Reserved.

Product Description

For more than a quarter century, Philip Norman's internationally bestselling Shout! has been unchallenged as the definitive biography of the Beatles. Now, at last, Norman turns his formidable talent to the Beatle for whom belonging to the world's most beloved pop group was never enough. Drawing on previously untapped sources, and with unprecedented access to all the major characters, here is the comprehensive and most revealing portrait of John Lennon that is ever likely to be published.

This masterly biography takes a fresh and penetrating look at every aspect of Lennon's much-chronicled life, including the songs that have turned him, posthumously, into a near-secular saint. In three years of research, Norman has turned up an extraordinary amount of new information about even the best-known episodes of Lennon folklore—his upbringing by his strict Aunt Mimi; his allegedly wasted school and student days; the evolution of his peerless creative partnership with Paul McCartney; his Beatle-busting love affair with a Japanese performance artist; his forays into painting and literature; his experiments with Transcendental Meditation, primal scream therapy, and drugs. The book's numerous key informants and interviewees include Sir Paul McCartney, Sir George Martin, Sean Lennon—whose moving reminiscence reveals his father as never before—and Yoko Ono, who speaks with sometimes shocking candor about the inner workings of her marriage to John.

Honest and unflinching, as John himself would wish, Norman gives us the whole man in all his endless contradictions—tough and cynical, hilariously funny but also naive, vulnerable and insecure—and reveals how the mother who gave him away as a toddler haunted his mind and his music for the rest of his days.

Historical Dictionary of Sacred Music

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Historical Dictionary of Sacred Music (Historical Dictionaries) by Joseph P. Swain

DESCRIPTION
Nearly all religious traditions have reserved a special place for sacred music. Whether it is music accompanying a ritual or purely for devotional purposes, music composed for entire congregations or for the trained soloist, or music set to holy words or purely instrumental, in some form or another, music is present. In fact, in some traditions the relation between the music and the ritual is so intimate that to distinguish between them would be inaccurate.

The Historical Dictionary of Sacred Music covers the most important aspects of the sacred music of Buddhism, Christianity, Confucianism, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, and other smaller religious groups. It provides useful information on all the significant traditions of this music through the use of a chronology, an introductory essay, a bibliography, appendixes, and hundreds of cross-referenced dictionary entries on major types of music, composers, key religious figures, specialized positions, genres of composition, technical terms, instruments, fundamental documents and sources, significant places, and important musical compositions.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Joseph P. Swain has taught music history and theory at Phillips Academy and Colgate University for more than 25 years. He writes music criticism and critical theory and performs regularly as church organist, violist, and choir director.

Schoenberg

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Schoenberg by Malcolm MacDonald

Product Description
In this completely rewritten and updated edition of his long-indispensable study, Malcolm MacDonald takes advantage of 30 years of recent scholarship, new biographical information, and deeper understanding of Schoenberg's aims and significance to produce a superb guide to Schoenberg's life and work. MacDonald demonstrates the indissoluble links among Schoenberg's musical language (particularly the enigmatic and influential twelve-tone method), his personal character, and his creative ideas, as well as the deep connection between his genius as a teacher and as a revolutionary composer. Exploring newly considered influences on the composer's early life, MacDonald offers a fresh perspective on Schoenberg's creative process and the emotional content of his music. For example, as a previously unsuspected source of childhood trauma, the author points to the Vienna Ringtheater disaster of 1881, in which hundreds of people were burned to death, including Schoenberg's uncle and aunt-whose orphaned children were then adopted by Schoenberg's parents. MacDonald brings such experiences to bear on the music itself, examining virtually every work in the oeuvre to demonstrate its vitality and many-sidedness. A chronology of Schoenberg's life, a work-list, an updated bibliography, and a greatly expanded list of personal allusions and references round out the study, and enhance this new edition.

The Wisdom of Alexander the Great

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The Wisdom of Alexander the Great: Enduring Leadership Lessons From the Man Who Created an Empire by Lance B. Kurke

Review
"...an engaging and interesting book." -- Executive Insider (ExecuNet.com e-newsletter)

Review

"Executive Insider (ExecuNet.com e-newsletter): ""An engaging and interesting book.""

Quality Management Journal: ""This is a well-written, easy-to-read read, and informative book on the processes of leadership."""

Product Description
This neat little book takes 30 key incidents from his illustrious life to teach today's leaders how to be a great leader. Alexander was the incredible leader who became king when he was 20 years old. By 23, he had defeated his nation's greatest enemy, and by age 25, he had conquered 90 per cent of the known world creating an empire sprawling from Greece to India. This book shows mangers that if you can change the way you think about a problem, you can find a creative and successful solution.

Book Description

"Exceptional leaders are the ones who are able to analyze problems, optimize resources, inspire loyalty, and execute strategy. There is no more stunning example in history than Alexander the Great, whose leadership skills were so immense that they still resonate some 2,000 years later.

The Wisdom of Alexander the Great reveals four leadership processes distilled from the life and extraordinary accomplishments of Alexander, King of Macedonia. Readers will learn how he:

* reframed problems in order to meet seemingly insurmountable challenges

* built alliances by using his strength to generate trust and respect, not just fear

* established identity and ""branded"" himself a unifier, thus keeping the home base secure while continuing to expand his empire

* recognized and assimilated the cultures and symbols of different peoples, becoming a powerful and trusted figure everywhere he went

The Wisdom of Alexander the Great relates 34 riveting episodes from Alexander’s expansion through Asia Minor, Egypt, Mesopotamia, the Middle East, the Persian Empire, and India. Each example, tied to a modern-day counterpart, imparts valuable lessons from the timeless legend of one of the greatest leaders in history."

About the Author

Lance B. Kurke (Pittsburgh, PA) is the president of Kurke & Associates, Inc., a consulting firm providing strategic planning, training, leadership development, and executive coaching.

Alexander the Great in his World

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Alexander the Great in his World (Blackwell Ancient Lives) by Carol G. Thomas

Review
"Every generation, and virtually every scholar has given the world a different Alexander - each one the product of the writer's time and cultural conditioning. This book places Alexander squarely in the only meaningful context, his own geographical and mental world." Waldemar Heckel, University of Calgary

“Would serve well as one of several works offered to an undergraduate class … The work is well written and clearly presented.”
Bryn Mawr Classical Review

"Will provide a basic introduction to her subject which some teachers and students may find helpful." Journal of Classics Teaching

“An engaging and persuasive book, which offers a new perspective … .It will maintain the interest of specialists … yet remain accessible to the general reader.” Canadian Journal of History


"Every generation, and virtually every scholar has given the world a different Alexander - each one the product of the writer's time and cultural conditioning. This book places Alexander squarely in the only meaningful context, his own geographical and mental world." Waldemar Heckel, University of Calgary "Would serve well as one of several works offered to an undergraduate class ... The work is well written and clearly presented." Bryn Mawr Classical Review "Will provide a basic introduction to her subject which some teachers and students may find helpful." Journal of Classics Teaching "An engaging and persuasive book, which offers a new perspective ... .It will maintain the interest of specialists ... yet remain accessible to the general reader." Canadian Journal of History

Product Description
Alexander the Great is one of the most celebrated figures of antiquity. In this book, Carol G. Thomas places this powerful figure within the context of his time, place, culture, and ancestry in order to discover what influences shaped his life and career.

The book begins with an exploration of the Macedonia that conditioned the lives of its inhabitants. It also traces such influences on Alexander's life as his royal Argead ancestry, his father, Philip II, and his mother, Olympias. The author examines Alexander's engagement with Greek culture, especially his relationship with Aristotle, and contemplates how other societal factors - especially the highly militarized Macedonian kingdom and the nature of Macedonia's relationship with neighboring states - contributed to his achievement.

What was the significance of these influences on the man who succeeded in conquering most of the known world from the Adriatic Sea to the Indus River? The author focuses on this question in exploring ancient landscapes and resurrecting key figures from antiquity in order to penetrate the motivation, goals, and inner being of Alexander the Great.

Book Description
Alexander the Great is one of the most celebrated figures of antiquity. In this book, Carol G. Thomas places this powerful figure within the context of his time, place, culture, and ancestry in order to discover what influences shaped his life and career. The book begins with an exploration of the Macedonia that conditioned the lives of its inhabitants. It also traces such influences on Alexanderrsquo;s life as his royal Argead ancestry, his father, Philip II, and his mother, Olympias. The author examines Alexanderrsquo;s engagement with Greek culture, especially his relationship with Aristotle, and contemplates how other societal factors ndash; especially the highly militarized Macedonian kingdom and the nature of Macedoniarsquo;s relationship with neighboring states ndash; contributed to his achievement. What was the significance of these influences on the man who succeeded in conquering most of the known world from the Adriatic Sea to the Indus River? The author focuses on this question in exploring ancient landscapes and resurrecting key figures from antiquity in order to penetrate the motivation, goals, and inner being of Alexander the Great.

From the Back Cover
Alexander the Great is one of the most celebrated figures of antiquity. In this book, Carol G. Thomas places this powerful figure within the context of his time, place, culture, and ancestry in order to discover what influences shaped his life and career.

The book begins with an exploration of the Macedonia that conditioned the lives of its inhabitants. It also traces such influences on Alexander’s life as his royal Argead ancestry, his father, Philip II, and his mother, Olympias. The author examines Alexander’s engagement with Greek culture, especially his relationship with Aristotle, and contemplates how other societal factors – especially the highly militarized Macedonian kingdom and the nature of Macedonia’s relationship with neighboring states – contributed to his achievement.

What was the significance of these influences on the man who succeeded in conquering most of the known world from the Adriatic Sea to the Indus River? The author focuses on this question in exploring ancient landscapes and resurrecting key figures from antiquity in order to penetrate the motivation, goals, and inner being of Alexander the Great.

About the Author
Carol G. Thomas is Professor of Greek History at the University of Washington. She is the author of many books on Ancient Greece including The Trojan War (2005), Finding People in Early Greece (2005), and Earliest Civilizations: Ancient Greece and the Near East, 3000-200BC (1982).

A History of English

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A History of English: Volume I: From Proto-Indo-European to Proto-Germanic (A Linguistic History of English) by Donald Ringe (Editor)

Product Description
This book is the first since 1897 to describe the earliest reconstructable stages of the prehistory of English. It outlines the grammar of Proto-Indo-European, considers the changes by which one dialect of that prehistoric language developed into Proto-Germanic, and provides a detailed account of the grammar of Proto-Germanic. The first volume in Don Ringe's A Linguistic History of English will be of central interest to all scholars and students of comparative Indo-European and Germanic linguistics, the history of English, and historical linguists. The next volume will consider the development of Proto-Germanic into Old English. Subsequent volumes will describe the attested history of English from the Old English period to the present.

About the Author

Don Ringe was educated at the University of Kentucky, Oxford, and Yale and has taught Classical studies and linguistics at the university level since 1983. He is Kahn Endowed Term Professor in Linguistics at the University of Pennsylvania and the author of numerous publications on comparative Indo-European linguistics, historical linguistics, and computational cladistics, including On the Chronology of Sound Changes in Tocharian.

New Larousse Encyclopedia Of Mythology

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New Larousse Encyclopedia Of Mythology

by Robert Graves

In his illuminating introduction, Robert Graves discusses the function of myth. He claims that in the first place, it serves to answer the type of awkward questions that children ask, like Who made the world or Who were the first people? The second function of myth is to justify an existing social system and to account for traditional customs and rites.

Graves points out how myths of origin and eventual extinction vary according to the climate and that one finds a warm celestial afterworld in the north or a fresh flowered Elysian Field in Greece. He also deals with the Akan of Ghana and with Egypt and India. His conclusion is that myth is a dramatic shorthand record of stuff like invasions, migrations, dynastic changes, admission of foreign cults and social reforms. For example, when bread was first introduced in Greece, the myth of Demeter and Triptolemus sanctified its use.

The Encyclopedia investigates prehistoric mythology and that of Egypt, Assyro-Babylonia, Phoenicia, Greece, Rome, Persia, India, China, Japan, Oceania and that of the Celts, the Teutons, the Amerindians and Africans. It contains 34 colour plates and hundred of black and white illustrations and it concludes with a further reading list divided under different headings reflecting its chapter contents, plus a thorough index.

The Cambridge Companion to Gothic Fiction

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The Cambridge Companion to Gothic Fiction (Cambridge Companions to Literature) by Jerrold E. Hogle

Review
'... if you want to brush up on your origins and expand your literary knowledge or just want something new to think about [this is] a good place to start.' Bite Me

Review
"Contributors also emphasize that the 'gothic' novel was not strictly English, but that it had many more outreaches. Although some essays include considerable political theorizing, the language does not overwhelm.... Recommended." Choice

Product Description
Fourteen world-class experts on the Gothic provide thorough accounts of this haunting-to-horrifying genre from the 1760s to the end of the twentieth century. Essays explore the connections of Gothic fictions to political and industrial revolutions, the realistic novel, the theater, Romantic and post-Romantic poetry, nationalism and racism from Europe to America, colonized and post-colonial populations, the rise of film, the struggles between "high" and "popular" culture, and changing attitudes towards human identity, life and death, sanity and madness. The volume also includes a chronology and guides to further reading.

Book Description
Fourteen world-class experts on the Gothic provide thorough accounts of this haunting-to-horrifying genre from the 1760s to the end of the twentieth century. Essays explore the connections of Gothic fictions to political and industrial revolutions, the realistic novel, the theater, Romantic and post-Romantic poetry, nationalism and racism from Europe to America, colonized and post-colonial populations, the rise of film, the struggles between 'high' and 'popular' culture, and changing attitudes towards human identity, life and death, sanity and madness. The volume also includes a chronology and guides to further reading.

About the Author
Jerrold E. Hogle is Professor of English and University Distinguished Professor at the University of Arizona. He has published widely in Romantic literature, cultural theory, and the Gothic.

Islamic Philosophy from Its Origin to the Present

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Islamic Philosophy from Its Origin to the Present: Philosophy in the Land of Prophecy (Suny Series in Islam) by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

Product Description
A comprehensive overview of the Islamic philosophical tradition.

From the Back Cover
Islamic Philosophy from Its Origin to the Present offers a comprehensive overview of Islamic philosophy from the ninth century to the present day. As Seyyed Hossein Nasr attests, within this tradition, philosophizing is done in a world in which prophecy is the central reality of life—a reality related not only to the realms of action and ethics but also to the realm of knowledge. Comparisons with Jewish and Christian philosophies highlight the relation between reason and revelation, that is, philosophy and religion.

Nasr presents Islamic philosophy in relation to the Islamic tradition as a whole, but always treats this philosophy as philosophy, not simply as intellectual history. In addition to chapters dealing with the general historical development of Islamic philosophy, several chapters are devoted to later and mostly unknown philosophers. The work also pays particular attention to the Persian tradition.

Nasr stresses that the Islamic tradition is a living tradition with significance for the contemporary Islamic world and its relationship with the West. In providing this seminal introduction to a tradition little-understood in the West, Nasr also shows readers that Islamic philosophy has much to offer the contemporary world as a whole.

"One of the author’s great gifts is to set down the significance of what is fundamentally at issue in philosophical thinking and to show the relevance of that thinking to the human situation across the board. No one else in the field of Islamic philosophy has such a sweeping vision of what that philosophy has been and is all about, nor is there anyone else who can suggest as clearly why this and kindred traditions are utterly central to us as human beings today." — William C. Chittick, author of The Self-Disclosure of God: Principles of Ibn al-Arabi’s Cosmology

About the Author
Seyyed Hossein Nasr is University Professor of Islamic Studies at The George Washington University. He is the author and editor of many books, including Islam: Religion, History, and Civilization.

Medieval Art: A Topical Dictionary

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Medieval Art: A Topical Dictionary by Leslie Ross

From Library Journal
Very similar in size and format, these dictionaries contain well-written alphabetical entries with a helpful system of cross references. Although no illustrations are included, most entries provide a citation to a randomly chosen pictorial example. Ross (art history, Dominican Coll.) covers early Christian and Byzantine topics under the rubric of medieval art. Following up on her Renaissance Art: A Topical Dictionary (Greenwood, 1987), Earls (art history, Univ. of Florida) tackles the 17th-century European style known as baroque. Both authors aim to help readers quickly comprehend the stories depicted and symbols used within the periods treated, not simply to identify artists and place names. Lists of artists and well-researched bibliographies add to the value of these works. Both would be excellent additions to any public, academic, or special art library's reference collection.?Jennifer L.S. Moldwin, Detroit Inst. of Arts Lib.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review
“Since no other recent English-language reference materials limited to the art of the Middle Ages exist, this useful source fills a gap....The introduction consists of three well-written essays on the chronology, themes, and bibliography of the period....college or art reference collections...should include it in their reference sections.”–Choice

“Clearly written...providing subject backgrounds of works of art for art-history students who may need iconographical information...The information that Medieval Art...provide[s] on popular subjects and works of art...will be useful in museum, academic, and large public libraries where art-history material is in demand.”–Booklist/Reference Books Bulletin

Product Description
Designed as a quick-reference source to the topics, symbols, themes, and stories most frequently found in early Christian, western medieval, and Byzantine art, this work describes topics that include names and narratives drawn from the Bible and apocrypha, the lives of saints, and numerous other textual sources. Authors whose works were frequently illustrated or who were influential on the visual arts are treated, as are selected art historical terms and events of significance for the arts. Cross-references alert readers to alternate titles and related topics, and the majority of entries cite a pictorial example. These are keyed to standard texts for easy viewing access. The dictionary begins with Aaron and ends with Zoomorphic Decoration. This dictionary focuses on the medieval period and the distinctive ways in which the subjects and symbols referenced in the work evolved and developed during the Middle Ages, resulting in a unique overview of the evolution, development, popularity, and transformations that took place in medieval artistic iconography. The introduction provides chronological, thematic, and bibliographic surveys to supplement the 500 individual entries; the bibliography directs the readers to more detailed studies. The work also includes names and topics not always found in art reference sources, for example, authors whose works were frequently illustrated, or who were influential on the visual arts, and historical events of significance for the arts.

From the Publisher
Since no other recent English-language reference materials limited to the art of the Middle Ages exist, this useful source fills a gap....The introduction consists of three well-written essays on the chronology, themes, and bibliography of the period....college or art reference collections...should include it in their reference sections.

About the Author
LESLIE ROSS is Professor and Chair of the Art History department at Dominican College of San Rafael.

Post-Impressionism to World War II

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Post-Impressionism to World War II (Blackwell Anthologies in Art History) by Debbie Lewer (Editor)

Review
"This is a neat little collection of textual sources that will prove invaluable to students and teachers of high modernism. Debbie Lewer has done an excellent job in editing an exemplary selection of texts from the familiar to the obscure... This anthology represents the first book to be published as part of a new series: the Blackwell Anthologies in Art History. These books will provide overviews of major periods in art history. If they are all of this consistent quality then this will prove to be an excellent and invaluable series." The Art Book

“Post-Impressionism to World War II is a skillfully selected anthology of texts on art history and theory which will be of great value to undergraduate and graduate students of art history and cultural theory.” Andrew Causey, University of Manchester

“At the heart of Debbie Lewer’s selection of texts lies a powerful sense ofthe way modern art intersected with broader political and cultural debates.This will prove to be an inspiring and enduring resource for students oftwentieth-century art.” David Hopkins, University of Glasgow

“This is an invaluable collection of the texts that set the terms for and responded to the modernist projects of the twentieth century, supported by clear, nuanced editorial essays situating them within a range of critical understandings.” Elizabeth Legge, University of Toronto

"This is a neat little collection of textual sources that will prove invaluable to students and teachers of high modernism. Debbie Lewer has done an excellent job in editing an exemplary selection of texts from the familiar to the obscure... This anthology represents the first book to be published as part of a new series: the Blackwell Anthologies in Art History. These books will provide overviews of major periods in art history. If they are all of this consistent quality then this will prove to be an excellent and invaluable series." The Art Book "Post-Impressionism to World War II is a skillfully selected anthology of texts on art history and theory which will be of great value to undergraduate and graduate students of art history and cultural theory." Andrew Causey, University of Manchester "At the heart of Debbie Lewer's selection of texts lies a powerful sense ofthe way modern art intersected with broader political and cultural debates.This will prove to be an inspiring and enduring resource for students oftwentieth-century art." David Hopkins, University of Glasgow "This is an invaluable collection of the texts that set the terms for and responded to the modernist projects of the twentieth century, supported by clear, nuanced editorial essays situating them within a range of critical understandings." Elizabeth Legge, University of Toronto

Product Description
Post-Impressionism to World War II is an exciting anthology of the best art history writings of the Post-Impressionist period. Several key essays by critics including Benjamin, Greenberg and Bürger knit together primary sources and classic, “canonical” criticism.

• Collects the most important writings on art history from Post-Impressionism to the mid-20th century, covering both canonical and contemporary perspectives
  
• Offers a chronicle of avant-garde practice during an especially creative, if volatile, period of history
  
• Features several key essays by critics including Benjamin, Greenberg and Bürger
  
• Includes recent critical interventions from a range of methodological perspectives – both well-known and less familiar
  
• Organizes material thematically, and features introductory essays to each of the five sections
  
• Provides a valuable, stimulating resource for students and teachers alike and offers new ways to think about and teach this important period in art history.

Book Description
Post-Impressionism to World War II is an exciting anthology of writings by artists, critics, and historians. The texts include primary sources from the 1880s to the eve of war in the late 1930s, knit together by classic analyses from critics such as Benjamin, Greenberg, and Burger. The volume also includes more recent critical interventions from a range of methodological perspectives, both well-known and less familiar. Introductory essays explore the key themes raised by the texts. The result is a vivid chronicle of avant-garde practice in Europe during an especially creative, and volatile, period of history.

From the Back Cover
Post-Impressionism to World War II is an exciting anthology of writings by artists, critics, and historians. The texts include primary sources from the 1880s to the eve of war in the late 1930s, knitted together with classic analyses from critics such as Benjamin, Greenberg, and Bürger. The volume also includes more recent critical interventions from a range of methodological perspectives, both well-known and less familiar. Introductory essays explore the key themes raised by the texts. The result is a vivid chronicle of avant-garde practice in Europe during an especially creative, and volatile, period of history.

About the Author
Debbie Lewer is Lecturer in Art History at the University of Glasgow. She has published essays in Dada Zurich: A Clown’s Game from Nothing (edited by B. Pichon and K. Rihs, 1996) and Printed Matters: Printing, Publishing and Urban Culture in the Modern Period, (edited by M. Gee and T. Kirk, 2000).

The Penguin Historical Atlas of Ancient Greece

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The Penguin Historical Atlas of Ancient Greece by Robert Morkot

Amazon.com Review
This well-illustrated volume is just the thing to have on hand while working your way through the pages of Xenophon, Herodotus, and Thucydides. Robert Morkot traces the growth of Greece from a series of often conflicting city-states, each with its own colonial outposts as far from home as Spain and Tunisia, to loosely knit alliances that waged huge conflicts against the Persian empire--and, as in the case of the Peloponnesian War, against each other. The pages devoted to Alexander the Great, which show how the Greek empire came to extend from southern Egypt to the gates of China are particularly interesting.

Product Description
Charting topics as diverse as Minoan civilization, the Persian Wars, the Golden Age of Athens, and the conquests of Alexander the Great, this volume in Penguin's Atlas series traces the development of a creative and restless people and assesses their impact not only on the ancient world but also on our own attitudes and environment today. Full-color maps and b&w illus.

The Economic History of Byzantium

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The Economic History of Byzantium by Angeliki E. (EDT) Laiou

Product Description

The longevity of the Byzantine state was due largely to the existence of variegated and articulated economic systems. This three-volume study examines the structures and dynamics of the economy and the factors that contributed to its development over time. The first volume addresses the environment, resources, communications, and production techniques. The second volume examines the urban economy; presents case studies of a number of places, including Sardis, Pergamon, Thebes, Athens, and Corinth; and discusses exchange, trade, and market forces. The third volume treats the themes of economic institutions and the state and general traits of the Byzantine economy. This global study of one of the most successful medieval economies will interest historians, economic historians, archaeologists, and art historians, as well as those interested in the Byzantine Empire and the medieval Mediterranean world.

From the Inside Flap
The longevity of the Byzantine state was to a large extent due to the existence of variegated and articulated economic systems. This book examines the structures and dynamics of the economy, and the long-term and short-term factors that contributed to its development over time. Major questions, such as the identification of the determining factors in the structure and evolution of the Byzantine economy, are posed, and the role of the state and its mechanisms as well that of market forces is examined. The interplay of growth and stability was important in the Byzantine economy as in all others, and that, too, forms a subtext to much of the discussion. The Byzantine economy emerges as a complex, differentiated, and flexible one, which was able to meet the needs of the state and the socity for a long time. Significant long-term factors include the climate and the terrain as well as population movements. Questions of technology and its evolution are discussed in various chapters. Among the themes treated in this work are the structures and organization of production in the agrarian and urban economies, investment, credit mechanisms, prices, modes of exchange, domestic and international trade, the production and circulation of coinage, fiscality [fiscal policy], aspects of the law governing economic issues, economic ideology, and the place of the Byzantine economy in the Mediterranean world. Archaeological evidence is heavily relied upon, and there are case studies of a number of cities. This work is synthetic, based on the research of the last few decades, but it also incorporates new and original research. It is hoped that this global study of one of the most successful medieval economies will be a useful tool to historians, economic historians, archaeologists, and art historians. Those who are interested not only in the Byzantine Empire but also in the medieval Mediterranean world as a whole, as well as in pre-industrial economies, will find much useful material in these volumes.

About the Author
Angeliki E. Laiou is Dumbarton Oaks Professor of Byzantine History at Harvard University and a former Director of Dumbarton Oaks.

The Blackwell Companion to Postmodern Theology

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The Blackwell Companion to Postmodern Theology (Blackwell Companions to Religion) by Graham Ward (Editor)

Review
"If you think you know what postmodern theology is, or think you don't know, either way these remarkable essays will change your mind: written by Jews, Christians and atheists; indebted to Plato, the Bible and Augustine; haunted by Heidegger, Levinas, Foucault and Derrida; dealing with jazz, the Shoah, the ecological crisis, the American prison system and many other topics; some long and patient, others short and cryptic, all asking to be read more than once. You may still not know at the end but you will certainly have seen the variety and vitality of what theologians are doing, in these postmodern times, and the zest with which they do it." Fergus Kerr, Blackfriars

"Connecting theology to a variety of disciplines and intellectual traditions, this companion provides an exciting sample of the current work of postmodern theologians. Many of the essays are ground-breaking, as the fields of theology and religious thought move forward into the next century. The polyphony of the volume provides surprising moments of harmony (and discord). This is a valuable sequel to Ward's THEPOSTMODERN GOD, and will be useful in the classroom." Robert Gibbs, University of Toronto

"The essays provide a lofty introduction to contemporary theology. The introductory essay by Ward is as good as it gets on this topic." Choice

"Among the delights of this collection are the essays that dare to reconsider some of the 'bad guys' in the official postmodern story: thus Catherine Pickstock endeavours to rescue Plato from his Nietzschean decriers, by re-reading the Republic through the Laws to offer an account of Plato's politics as liturgical rather than totalitarian; while Jean-Luc Marion even seeks to learn from the much-despised Descartes." Literature & Theology

"a...useful and exciting volume, bringing together the work of religious scholars and theologians across a wide spectrum, creating space for their current work independently from a given theme, showing them sometimes in agreement, sometimes in heated argument with each other." Anglican Theological Review

"A book good libraries should have." Theological Studies

"If you think you know what postmodern theology is, or think you don't know, either way these remarkable essays will change your mind: written by Jews, Christians and atheists; indebted to Plato, the Bible and Augustine; haunted by Heidegger, Levinas, Foucault and Derrida; dealing with jazz, the Shoah, the ecological crisis, the American prison system and many other topics; some long and patient, others short and cryptic, all asking to be read more than once. You may still not know at the end but you will certainly have seen the variety and vitality of what theologians are doing, in these postmodern times, and the zest with which they do it." Fergus Kerr, Blackfriars "Connecting theology to a variety of disciplines and intellectual traditions, this companion provides an exciting sample of the current work of postmodern theologians. Many of the essays are ground-breaking, as the fields of theology and religious thought move forward into the next century. The polyphony of the volume provides surprising moments of harmony (and discord). This is a valuable sequel to Ward's THEPOSTMODERN GOD, and will be useful in the classroom." Robert Gibbs, University of Toronto "The essays provide a lofty introduction to contemporary theology. The introductory essay by Ward is as good as it gets on this topic." Choice "Among the delights of this collection are the essays that dare to reconsider some of the 'bad guys' in the official postmodern story: thus Catherine Pickstock endeavours to rescue Plato from his Nietzschean decriers, by re-reading the Republic through the Laws to offer an account of Plato's politics as liturgical rather than totalitarian; while Jean-Luc Marion even seeks to learn from the much-despised Descartes." Literature & Theology "a...useful and exciting volume, bringing together the work of religious scholars and theologians across a wide spectrum, creating space for their current work independently from a given theme, showing them sometimes in agreement, sometimes in heated argument with each other." Anglican Theological Review "A book good libraries should have." Theological Studies

A Faithful Sea: The Religious Cultures of the Mediterranean

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A Faithful Sea: The Religious Cultures of the Mediterranean, 1200-1700
by Adnan A. Husain

Review
"A beguiling entry into a fascinating history. Subtle analyses, rich case studies, and moving vignettes beckon the reader into a past in which Muslims, Christians, and Jews built their worlds side by side." -- David Nirenberg - Professor of Medieval History, Johns Hopkins University

"An erudite collection of essays examining the religious culture of the Mediterranean Sea." -- Nabil Matar - Professor of English at Florida Institute of Technology, and author of 'In the Lands of the Christians'

"Charts a direction for Mediterranean history that is sure to be influential." -- Thomas Burman - Associate Professor of History, University of Tennessee

"This wide-ranging and scholarly collection of articles embraces the artistic, literary, cultural, economic, and legal historiography of the pre-modern Mediterranean. It advances every subject on which it touches." -- Peregrine Horden - Author of 'The Corrupting Sea: A Study of Mediterranean History'

"A beguiling entry into a fascinating history. Subtle analyses, rich case studies, and moving vignettes beckon the reader into a past in which Muslims, Christians, and Jews built their worlds side by side." -- David Nirenberg - Professor of Medieval History, Johns Hopkins University

"This wide-ranging and scholarly collection of articles embraces the artistic, literary, cultural, economic, and legal historiography of the pre-modern Mediterranean. It advances every subject on which it touches." Peregrine Horden - Author of "The Corrupting Sea: A Study of Mediterranean History"

This wide-ranging and scholarly collection of articles embraces the artistic, literary, cultural, economic, and legal historiography of the pre-modern Mediterranean. It advances every subject on which it touches. -- Peregrine Horden - Author of 'The Corrupting Sea: A Study of Mediterranean History'

Product Description
Contemporary academia relies upon categorization. One can study Africa or Europe; East or West; the Middle Ages or the Early Modern period. In this innovative collection of essays, the Mediterranean is taken as a whole. The birthplace of the three principal monotheistic religions, it is shown to be a distinct cultural space characterized by hybridity, diversity, and cultural dynamism.

About the Author
Adnan A. Husain is Associate Professor and a Queen's National Scholar at Queen's University, Kingston. K.E. Fleming is Director of the Center for European and Mediterranean Studies at New York University, and Associate Director of the Remarque Institute.