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Today the classics of the western canon, written by the proverbial dead white men,” are cannon fodder in the culture…
wars. But in the 1950s and 1960s, they were a pop culture phenomenon. The Great Books of Western Civilization, fifty-four volumes chosen by intellectuals at the University of Chicago, began as an educational movement, and evolved into a successful marketing idea. Why did a million American households buy books by Hippocrates and Nicomachus from door-to-door salesmen? And how and why did the great books fall out of fashion? In A Great Idea at the Time Alex Beam explores the Great Books mania, in an entertaining and strangely poignant portrait of American popular culture on the threshold of the television age. Populated with memorable characters, A Great Idea at the Time will leave readers asking themselves: Have I read Lucretius’s De Rerum Natura lately? If not, why not?By Vladimir Nabokov, Edmund Wilson, Simon Karlinsky. 2001
Tracing in detail two decades of close friendship between Vladimir Nabokov and Edmund Wilson, this collection has been expanded to…
include 59 letters discovered subsequent to the book's original publication in 1979.By Badia Sahar Ahad. 2010
This thought-provoking cultural history explores how psychoanalytic theories shaped the works of important African American literary figures. Badia Sahar Ahad…
details how Nella Larsen, Richard Wright, Jean Toomer, Ralph Ellison, Adrienne Kennedy, and Danzy Senna employed psychoanalytic terms and conceptual models to challenge notions of race and racism in twentieth-century America. Freud Upside Down explores the relationship between these authors and intellectuals and the psychoanalytic movement emerging in the United States over the course of the twentieth century. Examining how psychoanalysis has functioned as a cultural phenomenon within African American literary intellectual communities since the 1920s, Ahad lays out the historiography of the intersections between African American literature and psychoanalysis and considers the creative approaches of African American writers to psychological thought in their work and their personal lives.By Asya C. Sigelman. 2016
Modern scholarship tends to focus on the social, political and economic information that can be gleaned from Pindar's treatment of…
the subject of his victory odes - the athlete who brings immortality to his family and polis. In this book, Asya C. Sigelman offers a new approach to the odes, exploring the fact that Pindar's language and imagery suggest that the athlete's victory is only a weaker version of the poet's immortalizing feat. Examining several central Pindaric images, Sigelman shows that they are fundamentally reflexive, structured as expressions of poetic creativity engaged in a perpetual synthesis of intra-poetic time - of the unity of the past, present and future of the world of Pindar's song. As the book's case studies of several of the odes demonstrate, this synthesis is key to Pindar's notion of immortalization and constitutes the central poetic subject of Pindar's song which underlies and informs its praise of the victorious athlete.By Christina Cox. 2015
The Catholic community of Washington, DC, has grown and changed dramatically since 1939, when Pope Pius XII separated the city…
from the Archdiocese of Baltimore. Catholics in Washington, DC preserves the passion and devotion of Catholics who had Godly visions of making new religious institutions, shrines, schools, hospitals, and churches while continuing to build on their faith. This collection of photographs does more than just highlight the achievements of famous Catholics, such as Archbishop Michael Curley of the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle, Mother Teresa, Pope John Paul II, Pope Benedict XVI, Pres. John Kennedy, and Pope Francis; it illustrates the superb efforts of priests, nuns, missionaries, laypersons, and political figures who have come together with great pride to grow the Catholic Church in the nation's capital.By Bill Mckibben. 1998
Too many people have come to dread the approach of the holidays, a season that should -- and can --…
be the most relaxed, intimate, joyful, and spiritual time of the year. In this book, Bill McKibben offers some suggestions on how to rethink Christmas time, so that our current obsession with present-buying becomes less important than the dozens of other possible traditions and celebrations. Working through their local churches, McKibben and his colleagues found that people were hungry for a more joyful Christmas season. For many, trying to limit the amount of money they spent at Christmas to about a hundred dollars per family, was a real spur to their creativity -- and a real anchor against the relentless onslaught of commercials and catalogs that try to say Christmas is only Christmas if it comes from a store. McKibben shows how the store-bought Christmas developed and how out of tune it is with our current lives; when we're really eager for family fellowship for community involvement, for contact with the natural world, and also for the blessed silence and peace that the season should offer. McKibben shows us how to return to a simpler and more enjoyable holiday.Christmas is too wonderful a celebration to give up on, too precious a time simply to repeat the same empty gestures from year to year. This book will serve as a road map to a Christmas far more joyful than the ones you've known in the past.By John E. Phelan Jr.. 2013
By William H. Willimon, Stanley Hauerwas, Kenneth H. Carter. 2018
Embracing the Wideness contrasts a generous orthodoxy with the culture wars that seek to drive a wedge between Christians with…
deep faith convictions. A generous orthodoxy is possible for The United Methodist Church because scripture supports both a confessing movement and a reconciling movement. In addition to our divergent understandings of holiness in The United Methodist Church, we apparently have two distinct conceptions of church. These two conceptions of church present in American Methodism grew from seeds planted in the earliest practice of British Methodism: A separatist church, which views holiness as a calling that separates us from the world—“come out from among them and be separated” (2 Corinthians 6:17). Here holiness is a quality that distinguishes Christians from the world. An activist church, which understands holiness as a movement for change in an unjust world. The boundaries between church and society are blurred, with the “wheat and tares” growing together (Matthew 13) until God’s final judgment. At times, a denomination is able to hold these two conceptions of church in tension. And at times, as in recent experiences of American Christianity, there is fragmentation and division. The division may finally be the result of clearly articulated values that are not compatible. And the division may also be the result of how leaders do harm to each other. What great things could be accomplished if we rediscovered orthodoxy in service of the healing, instead of dividing, of our bodies—our churches! Such a generous orthodoxy would help us not to become immersed in the emotional processes that pit people against each other. Such a generous orthodoxy would keep us from becoming stuck in cycles of harmful collusion and escalating conflict. Such a generous orthodoxy would know that the source of our capacity to be healed of our schisms is a miracle beyond our human power or goodness or intelligence.By Tereese Svoboda. 2002
This is the first full-length biography of this fascinating woman of arts and letters who was a major force both…
within the literary salons of New York City in the early 20th Century, but also on the streets as a protester of inequality and injustice which was rampant at the time. Author Terese Svoboda, award-winning poet, non-fiction writer, novelist, and videographer, provides a rich and detailed account of the life and world of Lola Ridge, poet, artist, editor, and activist for the cause of women’s rights, workers rights, racial equality and social reform. From her childhood as a newly arrived Irish immigrant in the grim mining towns of New Zealand with her mother who had fled with her infant daughter to Down Under in order to escape one bad marriage only to find herself in another; to her years as a budding poet and artist in Sydney, Australia, which, even in its early days was a socially progressive and influential artistic hub; to her migration to America and the cities of San Francisco, Chicago, and New York, where she joined forces with the literary and artistic world in the years leading up to WWI, and helped start and edit two major journals of the time, Others and Broom, as well as go on to publish several books of poetry. At one time considered one of the most popular poets of her day (in an era when poetry was a top-selling genre and even available for sale at newsstands), she later fell out of critical favor due to her realistic and impassioned verse that looked head on at the major social woes of society--poverty, racism, labor inequality, unequal wealth distribution, and the appalling conditions in which the immigrant population was forced to live in the tenements of New York and elsewhere--subjects deemed ill-suited for a femaie poet. Moreover,her work and appearances alongside the likes of Margaret Sanger, Emma Goldman, Will Durant and other socialists and radicals, and her public outcry in the wake of the Triangle Shirt Waist Factory Fire and the executions of Sacco & Vanzetti put her in the line of fire not only of the police and government, but also the literary pundits who criticized her activism as being excessive and melodramatic. With this lively portrait of the artistic and socially active world (100 years before “occupy Wall Street) Svoboda gives us a veritable who’s who of all the key players in the arts, literature and radical politics of the time, in which Lola Ridge stood front and center, a traialblazer for women, poetry and human rights far ahead of her time. But as Svoboda argues, she was sadly marginalized in later years along with many pioneering and primarily female poets of her day such as Marianne Moore, H.D., and Amy Lowell, who have only recently been recognized for their major contribution to our literature. With spirited prose, impeccable research, insight and wit, Svoboda has restored this vastly undervalued and overlooked author to her rightful place in this country’s literary and social history.By Annie O'Sullivan. 2012
First published as only parts of her life, this book brings together the full life story of the woman known…
as Annie O'Sullivan. Horribly abused at the hand of her father, it is a collection of essays that graphically recount memories of her life as a confused child and young adult as she careened through life without compass, to ultimately, and against all odds, prosper. Culminating in the event that brought a degree of closure to her torture, O'Sullivan brings the reader on an intimate life journey through the eyes of this child’s misunderstanding, will to persevere and desire to seek goodness despite her circumstances.Terrifying, infuriating and uplifting, this book touches not only survivors; but parents, childcare workers and teachers; reminding us of the true vulnerability of children and our collective responsibility to protect them.By Christina Page. 2006
With a new preface by the author. In the tradition of Backlash and The Morning After, and in a political…
climate where Roe v. Wade is in serious jeopardy, a young activist reveals that the Pro-Life Movement’s real agenda is a war on contraception, family planning, and sexual freedom.By Martin Willis. 2016
This book considers scientific performances across two centuries, from the early nineteenth century to the present day. Performances include demonstrations…
of technologies, experiments that look like theatre, theatre that looks like science, tourist representations and natural history film-making. Its key aim is to open debate on how scientific activity, both historical and contemporary, might be understood in the context of performance studies and the imaginative acts required to stage engaging performances. Scientific performances have become increasingly of interest to historians of science, literature and science scholars, and in the field of science studies. As yet, however, no work has sought to examine a range of scientific performances with the aim of interrogating and illuminating the kinds of critical and theoretical practices that might be employed to engage with them. With scientific performance likely to become ever more central to scholarly study in the next few years this volume offer a timely, and early, intervention in the existing debates, and aims, too, to be a touchstone for future work.By Douglas Wolk. 2007
Suddenly, comics are everywhere: a newly matured art form, filling bookshelves with brilliant, innovative work and shaping the ideas and…
images of the rest of contemporary culture. In Reading Comics, critic Douglas Wolk shows us why and how. Wolk illuminates the most dazzling creators of modern comics-from Alan Moore to Alison Bechdel to Chris Ware-and explains their roots, influences, and where they fit into the pantheon of art. As accessible to the hardcore fan as to the curious newcomer, Reading Comics is the first book for people who want to know not just which comics are worth reading, but ways to think and talk and argue about them.What better way to capture the spirit of this glorious season than this offering of a Gaither family Christmas? Gloria…
Gaither's Christmas lyrics quickly become everybody's favorite songs of the season. Here Gloria explores the meaning behind the lyrics and the stories of how they came to be written. And for a real treat, Gloria shares eighteen of her favorite seasonal recipes sure to make your mouth water. In this ideal Christmas celebration, you can almost hear the fire crackling, smell the turkey and cinnamon buns baking-and, just maybe, notice the swish of angel wings.By Theodore Dreiser. 1940
Theodore Dreiser staked his reputation on fearless expression in his fiction, but he never was more outspoken than when writing…
about American politics. Spanning a period in American history from the Progressive Era to the advent of the Cold War, this generous volume collects Dreiser's most important political writings from his journalism, broadsides, speeches, private papers, and long out-of-print nonfiction books. Touching on the Great Depression, the New Deal, and both World Wars as well as Soviet Russia and the persecution of Jews in Nazi Germany, these writings exemplify Dreiser's candor and his penchant for championing the defenseless and railing against corruption. The works also navigate historical terrain with prescient observations on topics such as religion, civil rights, national responsibility, individual ethics, global relations, and censorship that remain relevant to a contemporary audience.By Rice Broocks. 2016
Did Jesus Really Exist? The search for the historical Jesus continues to be headline news. Any speculative theory seems to…
get instant attention as the debate rages about His real identity and the claims made in His name. Did Jesus really exist? Is there real historical evidence that demonstrates that He lived and actually said and did the things the Gospels record? Is there any validity to the speculative claims that the Jesus story was a myth, borrowed from a variety of pagan cultures of the ancient world? In this follow-up to the book God's Not Dead (that inspired the movie), Man, Myth, Messiah looks at the evidence for the historical Jesus and exposes the notions of skeptics that Jesus was a contrived figure of ancient mythology. It also looks at the reliability of the Gospel records as well as the evidence for the resurrection that validates His identity as the promised Messiah. Man, Myth, Messiah will be released concurrent to the God's Not Dead movie sequel, which will cover the same theme.By Michael Youssef. 2009
When individuals feel God telling them to do something that is out of their comfort zone, what is the instinctive…
reaction? To run for the hills? To pretend they didn't hear? To argue? Dr. Michael Youssef explains that God challenges every Christian to fulfill the call He has placed on their lives. Dr. Youssef walks readers through the story of Joshua and leads them to discover how to take on what seems to be impossible, learn from failure, complete the victory, claim their inheritance, and share their story. By the end of this journey they will be inspired to put the lessons of this book into practice and claim the promises that accompany God's calling.By Thomas Gould. 2018
This book discusses the elusive centrality of silence in modern literature and philosophy, focusing on the writing and theory of…
Jean-Luc Nancy and Roland Barthes, the prose of Samuel Beckett, and the poetry of Wallace Stevens. It suggests that silence is best understood according to two categories: apophasis and reticence. Apophasis is associated with theology, and relates to a silence of ineffability and transcendence; reticence is associated with phenomenology, and relates to a silence of listenership and speechlessness. In a series of diverse though interrelated readings, the study examines figures of broken silence and silent voice in the prose of Samuel Beckett, the notion of shared silence in Jean-Luc Nancy and Roland Barthes, and ways in which the poetry of Wallace Stevens mounts lyrical negotiations with forms of unsayability and speechlessness.By John Bevere. 2007
In HONOR'S REWARD, bestselling author John Bevere unveils the power and truth of an often-overlooked principle-the spiritual law of honor.…
Bevere explains that understanding the vital role of this virtue will enable readers to attract blessing both now and for eternity.By Rachel Teubner. 2017
The essay for which The Sacred Wood is primarily remembered is one of the most famous pieces of criticism in…
English: “Tradition and the Individual Talent” helped to re-orientate arguments about the study of literature and its production by redefining the nature of tradition and the artist's relation to it.At a time when the word “traditional” had become a way of damning with faint praise by reference to the past, Eliot reinterpreted the term to mean something entirely different. It is not, he argues, something just “handed down,” but, instead, a prize to be obtained “by great labour,” not least in the making of a huge effort of understanding how the past fits together. Seen thus, Eliot suggests, a literary and artistic tradition “has a simultaneous existence and composes a simultaneous order” – and it is not just past, but present as well. For Eliot, “art never improves,” but only changes, and each part of the tradition is constantly being reinterpreted in light of what is added to the whole. The role of the poet, in Eliot's view, is to subjugate their own personality, and become “a receptacle,” in which “numberless feelings, phrases, images… can unite to form a new compound.” Redefining the issue of poets' relations to the past in this new way is a fine example of creative thinking, and Eliot’s ability to connect existing concepts in new ways was what gave weight to the argument that he advanced: that poets cannot succeed without understanding that they are taking their place on a continuum that stretches back to all their predecessors, and incorporate the ideas, strengths and failings of the entire body of work that those poets represented.