SirReadaLot.org
We Review the Best of the Latest Books
ISSN 1934-6557
December 2009, Issue #128
Contents:
From My Side: Being a Child by
Sylvia C. Chard & Yvonne Kogan (KPress/Gryphon House)
Last Words: A Memoir by George
Carlin with Tony Hendra (Free Press)
Gladiator:
A Questionable Life: A Novel by Luke Lively (Beaufort Books)
Wyatt's Revenge: A Matt Royal
Mystery by H. Terrell Griffin (Oceanview Publishing)
The Hidden Dance by Susan Wooldridge (Allison & Busby)
Our Dark Side: A History of Perversion by Élisabeth Roudinesco, translated by David Macey (Polity)
Arts & Photography / Education / Parenting & Families
From My Side: Being a Child by Sylvia C. Chard &
Yvonne Kogan (KPress/Gryphon House)
Often when we watch children at play, our hearts grow too big for our bodies. Children are the sparkplug in the engine of life, the motivation behind our best deeds, and the evidence for hope in the future. – from the book
From My Side invites readers to consider the viewpoints of children.
Children are never still. They are always acting and reacting, thinking and speaking, anticipating and reflecting. The photographs in From My Side illustrate and explore the experience of children, who learn to make sense of their world by interacting with people, places, and objects they encounter in their homes, in public places, in schools, and in childcare centers. We hear the laughter of children dressed for a festival dance, the coos and gurgles of infants in their mothers' arms, and squeals of delight as children skip rocks in a stream.
Authors are Sylvia C. Chard, professor emeritus of Early Childhood Education at the University of Alberta; and Yvonne Kogan, who has twenty-nine years of experience working as a teacher and administrator, co-owner and principal of the Early Childhood and Lower Elementary departments of Eton School in Mexico City. Chard and Kogan include captions and brief essays to expand on their photographs, but often the pictures speak for themselves.
Readers tag along behind or beside children as they go about the business of bringing beauty and happiness into this fast-spinning, rough world, and get a glimpse at the blueprint for everything good and lasting. In this careful look at children being children – in all the complicated simplicity of those brief years in life's long journey – Chard and Kogan take readers back into their own childhoods and enable readers to recognize, even to name, the childlike qualities we as human beings need to preserve as we grow up.
In From My Side the authors share pictures of children from several countries engaging in various kinds of thinking and physical activity as they make sense of their world and discover what it means to be human. The pictures are the core content of the book. They explain the grouping and ordering of the photographs in the pages of text that introduce each section. These pages offer insights into the way young children engage with their surroundings and to show how one set of pictures leads to the next.
The photographs focus on the ways children interact with people, places and objects in their world. The section headings refer to processes in the cycles of experience and thought. At the beginning of each section, they describe the kinds of thinking the children were engaging in at the time the photographs were taken.
As readers look at the pictures, the authors invite them to read the details, the children's movements, the ways they are using objects or talking with one another and especially to focus on the expressions on the children's faces.
There is holy writ in these pages, a praise song of creation.
Seeing childhood in a variety of times and places, as presented in
this book, we become children again.
And it is only when we adults allow ourselves to recognize the needs of children, to celebrate the child like virtues that give life its sweetness, can we ourselves be fully human. – Ina Hughs, newspaper columnist and author of A Prayer for Children, Storylines, and A Sense of Human, from the foreword
The heartwarming photographs in From My Side beautifully illustrate the lives of children from around the world. This book, filled with hundreds of beautiful, color photographs from many different countries, invites readers to look through a window into the lives of children everywhere. The compelling story of childhood, told here from the child's point of view, will enrich and inspire readers’ work for and with children.
Business & Investing / Management & Leadership / Training / Reference
The Complete Guide to Simulations and Serious Games: How the Most Valuable Content Will be Created in the Age Beyond Gutenberg to Google by Clark Aldrich (Pfeiffer)
Clark Aldrich makes his call to action clear.
The Complete Guide to Simulations and Serious Games
is "nothing less than a manifesto intended to overthrow the
intellectual legacy of civilization to date." Aldrich is signaling
the end of the age of Gutenberg, a time of great learning, no doubt,
but of linear learning – learning ‘how to know’ rather than ‘how to
do’ or ‘how to be’ in a complex, interactive world.
… So why listen to Clark Aldrich? Because he is the Tiger Woods
and Michael Jordan of the serious gaming and simulation world, all
rolled into one. – Jeff Sandefer of Sandefer Capital Partners, from
the foreword
The Complete Guide to Simulations and Serious Games offers an encyclopedic overview and complete lexicon for those who care about the next generation of educational media. The book includes new tools and terms and a style guide to help understand them. Clark Aldrich covers topics such as virtual experiences, games, simulations, educational simulations, social impact games, practiceware, game-based learning/digital game based learning, immersive learning, and serious games. The book presents definitions of more than 600 simulation and game terms, concepts, and constructs.
Organized as a style guide, The Complete Guide to Simulations and Serious Games divides the entries into key topics with introductory essays highlighting essential concepts. Aldrich, acclaimed educational simulation game designer, creates a unified view of capturing skills and knowledge and then shows how to develop them in others, through different uses of computer interfaces, level design, bosses, dynamic systems, game elements, displays, units on maps, skill cones, feedback, assessment strategies, even balanced scorecards and artificial intelligence, just to name a few.
The book balances tactical (what needs to go into a first level
of a sim; what are questions to ask subject matter experts, how
should programs be evaluated; when and how should coaches be used)
to strategic (what is the difference between learning to know,
learning to do, and learning to be; what does situational awareness
look like when developing leadership or stewardship).
Beginning with pure simulation content models – how to record and
model knowledge beyond the linear,
The Complete Guide to Simulations and Serious Games
goes on to discuss how to build interactive environments to turn
that pure simulation model into experiences to be engaged. It is an
opportunity for game designers, a challenge and framework for
corporate, academic, and military educational designers, and a
glimpse into the all-too-possible future for traditional media
publishers, analysts, and researchers. The Appendix discusses
several successful simulation projects, including metrics.
…He's one of the few people who not only see the big picture of
how simulations and gaming will transform education and can walk you
step-by-step through what does and does not work in simulation
design, but he also can create leading-edge games and write
first-rate code.
…He explains why the ‘big skills’ – those that really count, like leadership, negotiation, and stewardship – and the ‘middle skills’ like directing people, probing, and procurement cannot be learned from a book or lecture, but only through simulations, or through the much more difficult school of hard knocks in real life.
… Yes, I've seen firsthand how much more powerful – and engaging
– serious games and simulations can be than books and lectures. By
the end of this book, I'm confident you'll not only have a glimpse
of the future too, but even better, a blueprint for how you can get
started creating that future. – Jeff Sandefer of Sandefer Capital
Partners, from the foreword
Ready to blow your mind? Spend 15 seconds reading Clark Aldrich's
The Complete Guide to Simulations and Serious Games.
Witty, fast-paced, and non-linear – it's Spock meets
Clark Aldrich provides his clear vision of how 'learning to do' will liberate us from our industrial education legacy that has for too long been shaped by outdated, linear, passive instruction. I recommend this book without reservation for anyone interested in the future of learning. – Don Williams, manager, global learning research, Microsoft Corporation
This exhaustive guide to computer gaming and simulation points
the way to a new, more powerful way of learning by doing. It is a
must-read – a must-read and study – for those involved in education
and journalism. – Bill Kovach, former
Aldrich has done it again. He provides an intuitive framework for those interested in (and perhaps overwhelmed by) simulations, games, and virtual worlds. Before you're halfway done with this book you'll be looking with a new perspective and set of competencies for creating interactive experiences. – Denis Saulnier, educational technology director, Harvard Business Publishing
The Complete Guide to Simulations and Serious Games sets the standard as the encyclopedia for serious games and simulations. In this comprehensive volume, Aldrich uses hundreds of examples for this new medium. If you want to stay at the forefront of education, this book is a must-have! – Jerry Bush, program manager, Learning@ Cisco
In the spirit of Webster, Strunk and White, and Tufte, filled with helpful guidance and illustrative case studies, The Complete Guide to Simulations and Serious Games is the definitive ‘go-to’ bookshelf reference. This is the essential reference for not only those directly involved in simulations and serious games, but also for researchers and writers, computer game designers, policy makers, and entrepreneurs. This exciting and groundbreaking work offers designers a new way to see the world, model it, and present it.
Business & Investing / Management & Leadership
Drucker on Leadership:: New Lessons from the Father of Modern Management (Hardcover) edited by William A. Cohen, with a foreword by Frances Hesselbein (Jossey-Bass)
Leadership is the lifting of a man’s vision to higher sights, the raising of a man’s performance to a higher standard, the building of a man’s personality beyond its normal limitations. – Peter Drucker/p>
As we approach what would have been his 100th birthday, the late Peter Drucker's management principles continue to be studied and applied by managers all over the world. Though many seek his lessons on the central element of management – leadership – he in fact wrote relatively little under this actual subject heading.
Now, for the first time, William A. Cohen, a former student of
Drucker's and a leadership expert and author in his own right, in
Drucker on Leadership brings together Drucker's
reflections on leadership, culled from his 40 books and hundreds of
articles. Cohen, President of the
If Drucker (1909-2005), the ‘Father of Modern Management’, were
still alive today, what would he have to say about our financial
crisis? Given that he cautioned the dangers of executive
compensation, predicted the bankruptcy of GM and warned about the
global threats to
In Drucker on Leadership, Cohen explores Drucker's lost leadership lessons – why they are missing, what they are, why they are important, and how to apply them. As Cohen explains, Drucker was ambivalent about leadership for much of his career, making it clear that leadership was not by itself ‘good or desirable.’ While Drucker struggled with the concept of leadership, he was well aware that it had a critical impact on the accomplishment of all projects and human endeavors. Drucker's teachings about leadership have saved many corporations from failure and helped guide others to outstanding success. For instance, Jack Welch, arguably the most acclaimed executive in the last decade credits, Drucker for influencing his own accomplishments.
Many of the leadership concepts revealed in Drucker on Leadership will surprise and perhaps shock Drucker's followers. For example, who would have thought that Drucker taught that ‘leadership is a marketing job’ or that "the best leadership lessons for business or any nonprofit organization come from the military"?
Bill Cohen's
Drucker on Leadership is the best collection of
Peter’s unique insights, deep wisdom, and practical advice I have
ever read. Cohen channels Drucker as only a three-decades-long
colleague and student can. You will find the lessons highly
accessible, immensely enjoyable, and wonderfully fresh. – Jim Kouzes,
coauthor, The Leadership Challenge
Cohen's unique relationship with Peter Drucker, as student and
friend, allows him to extract valuable leadership lessons from
Drucker's writings and teachings on management. Cohen's `labor of
love' provides the essential lessons for leaders straight from the
Father of Modern Management. – Ronald E. Riggio, director, Kravis
Leadership Institute at
Cohen has written with clarity and authority about the major
challenges leaders today. And Cohen, like Drucker, emphasizes
responsibility and integrity in leadership, qualities so desperately
needed today. I strong recommend this book to you. – Joseph A.
Maciariello, Horton Professor of Management, Peter F. Drucker and
For those who aspire to lead – and we need a new generation of
Drucker-like leaders in organizations in every country around the
world – Bill Cohen distills the essential leadership lessons from
the world's greatest management thinker. – Ira A. Jackson, dean and
professor of management, Peter F. Drucker and Masatoshi Ito Graduate
School of Management,
Through a blend of anecdote and analysis, Bill Cohen has given us
great insight into Peter Drucker's thinking on leadership – an
aspect many have misconstrued or overlooked altogether. This is a
new prism through which to view Drucker and, as such, a valuable
contribution to the field. – Rick Wartzman, executive director, The
Drucker Institute
A fresh look at vital lessons from the ‘Father of Modern Management’ – Drucker on Leadership explores Drucker's teachings on leadership. Explaining why there is so little known about Drucker's ideas on leadership, the book is a must-read for students and fans alike looking to lead better in today's world. Written for anyone who values the insights of the man whose name is synonymous with excellence in management, the book offers a deeper understanding of what makes an extraordinary leader. The book is ideal for executives, managers and entrepreneurs at all business levels.
Children’s / Sports & Activities / Arts & Photography
Cupcake Decorating Studio by Jenna Land Free and Leslie Miller, edited by Nancy Waddell (Art Lab Series: Smart Lab)
Cupcake Decorating Studio/span> is an art kit with a book about making art out of cake.
Young readers use the book to show them how to frost, decorate and showcase their cupcake masterpieces. They learn how to use real bakers' tools to make decorating easy.
According to the book, making amazing cupcakes means being part baker, part sculptor, and part painter. But instead of hanging masterpieces on the fridge, this is art kids and their friends can eat. Readers can make their cupcakes from scratch following the recipes included or use a store-bought cake mix; any yellow, white, or chocolate cake batter will work. For each project in this kit, they will need to make 1-2 dozen regular-sized or miniature cupcakes. Both the recipes in the book and cake mixes make about 2 dozen cupcakes.
If readers have ever rolled out Play-Doh snakes or used glitter and glue, they already have some of the skills they need. They can add candies, sprinkles, and gummy worms to make cupcakes look like chocolates, snow, even animals.
The kit includes a froster, 3 frosting tips, a spreader, a stencil holder, 4 stencils, 3 mini cutters, tweezers, a cake comb, and a rolling pin, all in miniature, designed for little hands. Cupcake Decorating Studio explains how to use each of these.
Contents of the book include: Artcakes, The Icing on the Cake, Sugar Cubed, Decorate Like a Pro, Cupcake Cones, Eat Dirt!, Sweet Tooth, Ride the Wave!, Snow Kiddin', Dragon Tails, and Hungry For More?
Tidbits of information include:
- In
- Rumor has it that the ice cream core was created at the 1904
World's Fair in
Some of the tips along the way to help young chefs:
- Baking soda and baking powder are called leavening agents. When they make contact with the wet ingredients (milk, eggs, butter), bubbles form within the dough. This is what makes cupcakes light and fluffy.
- If they want to make pure white frosting, they should use shortening instead of butter or margarine and not use vanilla.
- They can practice using the froster on a sheet of waxed paper or a plate until they get the hang of it. When they are done, they can scoop the frosting back into the tube and use it on the cupcakes.
- To ‘ice’ cupcakes doesn’t mean to put them in the freezer. Both ‘frost’ and ‘ice’ mean the same thing – spread some frosting on a cupcake.
In Cupcake Decorating Studio, authors Jenna Land Free and Leslie Miller whip up a gallery of imaginative cupcakes sprinkled with classic decorating tips, including fondant made easy. This colorful food/art kit looks like a ton of fun.
Education / Special Education / Policy
From Integration to Inclusion::
A History of Special Education in the 20th Century by Margret A.
Winzer (
Since Margret A. Winzer wrote her landmark work The History of
Special Education, much has transpired in this field. Winzer’s new
study
From Integration to Inclusion focuses chiefly on
the significant events of the twentieth and early twenty-first
centuries in the
In this stand-alone volume, Winzer, Professor, Faculty of Education, at the University of Lethbridge, Alberta, juxtaposes the historical study of disability and of special schooling and service provision with reference to broader social systems, protocols, and practices. She documents how prevailing emotional and intellectual climates influence disability and schooling, and also takes into account the social, political, and ideological factors that affect educational theory and practice. Winzer recognizes that reform has been the Zeitgeist of the history of special education. Crucial problems such as defining exceptional conditions and separating them from one another were formulated in contexts organized along moral, theological, legislative, medical, and social dimensions. Many reforms failed for various reasons, which Winzer explains in her study.
From Integration to Inclusion is designed as a comprehensive history of the field focuses on events in the 20th century. The text offers a description, analysis, and audit of the history, highlighting the major paradigms that have both emerged from and shaped special education; by describing the reform movements that have periodically shaken the whole of education, the field of special education, or have applied to discrete groups of exceptionality; and by examining the issues and debates that have arisen within the field of special education in the twentieth century.
In another sense, From Integration to Inclusion is also prospective; it anchors present experiences to the past and details the forces that have led to today's issues and controversies. Many of today's most contentious issues have plagued the field from the outset. But joined to longstanding dilemmas, many issues have acquired a new urgency in the light of current school reform movements. Critical areas include, but are not restricted to, inclusive education for students with disabilities; over- and under-representation in special education; techniques and methods to provide safe and caring schools; new genetic discoveries that are revamping the field of intellectual disabilities; the recent marriage of special education and the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders; the subsequent tendency to label and categorize children with overwhelming detail; the push toward high-stakes testing and accountability; and the stress on science-based methods to both inform current issues and close the gap between research and practice.
Winzer says she hopes that From Integration to Inclusion is persuasive. As a field, special education occupies contested terrain: it is both hailed and condemned. Yet, not only its defenders but also its critics often are unaware of historical developments. North American special educators seem curiously disinterested in the foundations of their field. Historical perspectives, foundational matters, and theoretical stances are often ignored or historical knowledge is learned incidentally and unintentionally. For many researchers and practitioners, the immediate demands of the present tend to occlude a broader historical and philosophical scope. They look more favorably at proposals for practical solutions to immediate problems and prefer to devise studies and collect data on the lived worlds of schools and teachers.
The underlying and inherent structure adopted in From Integration to Inclusion makes the forces that shaped special education explicit by mapping the themes in three core areas: social and philosophical perspectives, patterns of evolution in different areas, and the specific time and space of key events. These areas allow readers to consider the history of special education and the clients served from a number of perspectives and levels. From the first focus, social and philosophical perspectives, themes are viewed in relation to society in general – essentially joined to the structural aspects of society, institutions, and social processes that affected people with exceptionalities and the interdependence of the individual and the social world. The history also examines the philosophical underpinnings of special education – the assumptions and the concepts used in thinking about education, society, and the treatment of people who are exceptional. Another level focuses on individual disability categories as well as the policies and provisions adopted, school interventions, curricula changes, reform movements, and the disciplines that surrounded and supported special education such as psychology and social work.
The second focus rests on the notion that evolution was neither straightforward nor linear. The history of special education cannot be viewed as a historically located sequence nor as a fixed and absolute series of developmental stages; it was more a set of trends. Rather than being an event, transformation was a slow, incremental, and multifaceted process surrounded by conflicts and scattered with the disruptions, contradictions, and tensions that are natural occurrences in an evolutionary pattern.
According to Winzer in From Integration to Inclusion, a number of factors are paramount in the evolutionary pattern. First of all, in the two centuries of progress toward today's philosophy and practice, reform has been the zeitgeist, a dominant theme determining goals and hoped-for outcomes. Quests for reform came from within the profession just as often as from without. Ideas have their historical roots, and natural histories and the field can catalog a long series of reforms constructed in particular eras in response to political rhetoric, social perceptions, and fiscal conditions together with etiological, educational, and pedagogical considerations.
Second, the complex history and cycles of reform in special education show a field that has been characterized by fervent appeals to new philosophies and paradigm shifts and that has always been vulnerable to the caprice of changing fashions, politics, and fads. The landscape has been dotted with zealous reformers who offered innovations and remedies promoted either as being capable of solving certain problems or challenges entirely or as offering new solutions to enduring dilemmas. Often, reform ideals and decision making were based on professional consensus and the popular way; just as often, ideological principles sought to operationalize values founded on the prevailing notions of social justice, rightness, and desirability. Sometimes, reform was erected on personal opinions or impelled by an initial sense of outrage and indignation. Occasionally, the reform reasoning was rooted in prejudice, illogical assumptions, quackery, and, perhaps, downright charlatanism. Rarely did Empirical evidence underlie reform; many efforts floundered because they lacked reliable data. Many calls to reform, restructure, and reinvent centered on specific categories of exceptionality such as oral modes of communication for those who were deaf, Braille for those who were blind and individual psychotherapy for those who were labeled emotionally disturbed.
Finally, careful examination of the evolutionary pattern shows that however fervently those involved hold beliefs about educational innovations, many of those beliefs, although worthwhile in themselves, fail to survive and tend to be temporary. Regularities, which tend to reassert themselves again and again, quash reform agendas. Just as often, it was not that the reform efforts did not work but that they created a spiral of new problems. At the same time, resistance and oppositional cultures counter the function of particular ideologies and even the most compelling proposals.
An earlier volume, The History of Special Education: From Isolation to Integration examined the genesis and development of special education and was set largely in the 18th and 19th centuries. In dealing with early developments, it highlighted institutional openings; the contributions of pioneers; the clients served; and the sociological, pedagogical, and philosophical foundations on which special education was erected. From Integration to Inclusion plays variations of the same themes but examines the huge changes and reforms, as well as the failures and disappointments that characterize the enterprise of special education throughout the 20th century.
Since Winzer wrote her landmark work, much has transpired in this field, which she again has captured in a remarkable display of scholarship in From Integration to Inclusion. This new work brings the history of special education up to date, thoroughly explaining reforms that failed as well as those that succeeded.
Education / Teaching Methods / Special Education
55 Tactics for Implementing RTI in Inclusive Settings
edited by Pam Campbell, Jianjun Wang, Bob Algozzine
(Corwin Press)
As students with disabilities and learning differences are included in general education settings in greater numbers and for longer periods of time, educators – expert and novice alike – are searching for ways to meet these students' needs. While many recognize that a teacher's expertise is often the critical determinant in any student's achievement, they also realize that meeting the increasingly diverse needs of students calls for additional information and support. Response to Intervention (RTI) has emerged as a practice to meet the needs of the ‘most vulnerable, academically unresponsive children’ in schools and school districts.
As schools implement RTI in general education settings, educators need easy access to information about effective teaching and intervention tactics for the diverse learners in their classrooms. 55 Tactics for Implementing RTI in Inclusive Settings provides teachers, regardless of level, experience, or area of specialization, with instructional strategies for students with or without disabilities and across grade levels and content areas.
Drawing from evidenced-based models of instruction, the book is organized around four components of instruction – planning, managing, delivering, and evaluating. In addition to 55 classroom-tested, how-to tactics backed by research, this book includes:
- Accommodations and modifications to adapt tactics to meet individual instructional needs.
- Illustrations showing how to implement tactics within each tier of a three-tier RTI framework.
- Examples from teachers in the field.
- Reproducible worksheets and forms for immediate use.
- References and additional readings.
Authors are Pam Campbell, associate professor in the Department of Special Education at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas; Jianjun (Adam) Wang, senior instructional technology specialist at Williams College; and Bob Algozzine, professor in the Department of Educational Leadership at the University of North Carolina and project co-director of the U.S. Department of Education-supported Behavior and Reading Improvement Center. According to Campbell, Wang and Algozzine in 55 Tactics for Implementing RTI in Inclusive Settings, RTI is ‘a multi-tier prevention model that has at least three tiers or levels of intervention to respond to the increasing needs of students. Primary (Tier I) interventions are designed to address the majority of students' instructional needs. If a student has been identified as needing additional support, RTI directs the use of evidence-based, ‘secondary’ (Tier II) interventions, which are easy to administer to small groups of students and which require limited time and staff involvement. Tertiary (Tier III) intervention is specifically designed and customized instruction that is extended beyond the time allocated for Tiers I and II; in some states, Tier III intervention means the provision of special education services. When using the RTI tiers as the framework for determining the appropriate structure and setting for each student, teachers must design instruction to address the student's current learning phase appropriately. In this way, students can move from Accuracy, to Proficiency, to Maintenance, and finally Generalization of skills.
55 Tactics for Implementing RTI in Inclusive Settings is based on the authors’ fundamental belief that teachers can respond to instructional diversity more effectively when provided with an easily accessible resource of effective tactics. They believe that most effective evidence-based practices (tactics) can be modified to meet the instructional needs of all learners across categories of disability, grade levels, and content areas in the context of RTI. They have eliminated those distinctions while retaining ‘learning differences’ as a marker for providing information teachers need to teach effectively in inclusive settings. They have also added ‘RTI tier accommodations and modifications’ to each tactic to guide teachers in adapting tactics to support RTI practices and meet individual instructional needs across levels and tiers of instruction.
This exceptionally practical book can make a real difference in
every classroom. Educators who follow with intensity the wisdom in
this book and apply the specific tactics will ensure success for all
students. The authors present a healthy attitude toward educators
taking personal responsibility to teach for learning. – Wanda Oden,
Assistant Superintendent,
55 Tactics for Implementing RTI in Inclusive Settings offers research-based tactics that can be used with RTI in inclusive classrooms to boost academic achievement for all students in the inclusive classroom. This valuable guide provides the support teachers need to meet the increasingly diverse needs of today's classrooms and ensure that all students have the opportunity to succeed.
Entertainment / Humor / Biographies & Memoirs
Last Words:: A Memoir by George Carlin with Tony
Hendra (Free Press)
Carlin ... on politics:/p>
I had a left-wing, humanitarian, secular humanist, liberal
inclination on the one hand, which implied positions on myriad
issues. On the other, I had prejudices and angers and hatreds
towards various classes of people. None of which included skin color
or ethnicity or religion. Well – religion, yes. I used to get angry
at blue-collar right-wingers but that passed because I saw that in
the end they were just a different sort of victim.
Carlin ... on values:
The worst thing about groups are their values. Traditional
values, American values, family values, shared values, OUR values.
Just code for white middle-class prejudices and discrimination,
justification for greed and hatred. I believe in giving everyone, as
I encounter them, one at a time the full value of their dignity and
their honor in the world. Whether I'm seen as a celebrity on an
elevator or I'm just George the stranger, I open myself to them and
I take them in and I give them everything I would want myself in
terms of treatment, feeling and consideration. I call that a value.
– from the book
Last Words is the story of the man behind some of the most seminal comedy of the last half century, blending his signature acerbic humor with never-before-told stories from his own life.
In 1993 George Carlin (1937-2008) asked his friend and bestselling author Tony Hendra to help him write his autobiography. For almost fifteen years, in scores of conversations, many of them recorded, the two discussed Carlin's life, times, and evolution as a major artist. When Carlin died at age seventy-one in 2008 with the book still unpublished, Hendra, one of the original editors of National Lampoon magazine and author of the bestselling memoir Father Joe, who began his comedic career with Graham Chapman of Monty Python, set out to assemble the book as his friend would have wanted. Based on hours of taped interviews, drafts, and polished chapters from their sessions, Last Words is Carlin's life story as it has never been told before – the rollicking, wrenching story of Carlin's life from birth – literally – to his final years, as well as a parting gift of laughter to the world of comedy he helped create.
Carlin's journey to stardom began in the rough-and-tumble
neighborhood of
Born in 1937, George Dennis Patrick Carlin was one of the
greatest and most influential stand-up comedians of all time. He
appeared on The Tonight Show more than 130 times, starred in an
unprecedented 14 HBO Specials, hosted the first Saturday Night Live
and penned three New York Times bestselling books. Of the 23 solo
albums recorded by Carlin, 11 were Grammy nominated and he took home
the coveted statue five times including a 2001 Grammy win for Best
Spoken Comedy Album for his reading of his best seller Brain
Droppings. In 2002, Carlin was awarded the Freedom of Speech Award
by the
Carlin is candid about both his career and his personal life throughout the book, addressing his 20-year tax battle with the IRS; a decades-long struggle with cocaine, marijuana, and alcohol; and his run-ins with the law. Carlin also writes intimately about his family life, stemming from his nonexistent relationship with his father, and the inevitable complications that led to with his mother. His 36-year marriage to first-wife, Brenda, is discussed with honesty and vulnerability, and his relationship with their daughter, Kelly, is threaded throughout the book, giving readers a glimpse into what George was like at home as both husband and father.
Last Words also delves into Carlin's work as a
stand-up comedian, and his acting aspirations, in which he offers a
frank account of his talent: "I was devastatingly inept! There were
no Oscars in sight." In the end, the book is a celebration about a
boy from
Last Words is pure, unadulterated Carlin – full of the wit, charm, and mischievous insight that made him one of the most iconic and admired comedians of the past 50 years. The book is an irreverently funny, yet deeply honest, story about George's life, told as only Carlin could, a fitting addition to his long list of accomplishments.
Health, Mind & Body / Psychology & Counseling / Child Psychology
Acceptance & Mindfulness Treatments for Children & Adolescents:: A Practitioner's Guide edited by Laurie A. Greco & Steven C. Hayes (Acceptance and Commitment Therapy Series: Context Press/New Harbinger Publications)
The field of psychology is witnessing the emergence and rapid scientific advancement of ‘third-wave’ behavior therapies: dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT), and mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR). The efficacy of third-wave behavior and cognitive therapies has been demonstrated empirically across a wide range of clinical populations, including adults suffering with chronic pain, anxiety, depression, poly-substance use, thought disorders, and chronic illness. /p>
Though acceptance and mindfulness interventions have proven
enormously effective for adults with stress, anxiety, depression,
and other mental health issues, they have not been fully documented
for use with children and adolescents. And yet they are a natural
fit for children's therapy – the focus on acceptance and mindfulness
builds children's psychological flexibility, and the values
component of these methods helps young people learn to set goals and
take action to achieve them. As acceptance- and mindfulness-based
therapies continue to gain momentum and empirical support within
mainstream psychology, it is important to examine the adaptability
and effectiveness of these approaches for children and adolescents.
Acceptance & Mindfulness Treatments for Children & Adolescents
summarizes the diverse ways in which the third-wave therapies have
been adapted for young people and their families. Chapters summarize
recent empirical advances as well as pragmatic issues related to
acceptance and mindfulness applied to children and adolescents. In
each chapter in the two applied sections, readers are given
practical clinical guidance that shows how to apply these methods.
Acceptance & Mindfulness Treatments for Children & Adolescents
is edited by Steven C. Hayes, Ph.D., University of Nevada Foundation
Professor of Psychology at the
The essays in Acceptance & Mindfulness Treatments for Children & Adolescents offer a much-needed adaptation of these revolutionary techniques for young people and their families, providing a wealth of new approaches to therapists, counselors, and other helping professionals. The chapters show how to modify third-wave behavioral and cognitive therapy methods for the treatment of children and adolescents. This book also considers the early evidence for the adaptability and effectiveness of these methods.
Readers learn how ACT, DBT, MBCT, and MBSR can be used with young people and their families. They discover recent third-wave behavior therapy research. They explore the practice issues that arise when acceptance and mindfulness techniques are used with children and adolescents. And they find out how to put these techniques to work in their own practice.
A timely and impressive compilation of state-of-the-art
approaches for teaching acceptance and mindfulness to younger
populations. – Zindel V. Segal, Ph.D., C. Psych., Morgan Firestone
Chair in Psychotherapy and professor of psychiatry and psychology at
the University of Toronto and author of The Mindful Way Through
Depression
This is an absolutely outstanding book on applications of
acceptance and mindfulness treatments to physical and mental health
problems of children and adolescents. Impressive in its scope and
the quality of the contributors, the book provides a broad,
comprehensive, and cutting-edge examination of acceptance and
mindfulness treatments with children and adolescents.… Overall,
this unique book provides excellent coverage of key issues and will
be an important and valuable resource for today's child health
professionals. This book is a ‘must read’ for professionals in child
health and mental heath who wish to understand and use mindfulness
treatments in clinical research or practice. – Annette M. La Greca,
PhD, ABPP Cooper Fellow and professor of psychology and Pediatrics
at the
For the reader interested in acceptance and mindfulness in
children and adolescents, this book is the definitive work on what
is happening now and what is on the horizon. – Bruce F. Chorpita,
Ph.D., professor of clinical psychology in the Department of
Psychology at the
Greco and Hayes' innovative book on acceptance and mindfulness treatments for children and adolescents is an invaluable new resource for students and faculty. Readers will appreciate the broad coverage and creative applications of acceptance and mindfulness treatments in specialized populations (e.g., anxiety disorders, chronic pain, etc.), and settings (e.g., primary care and schools). This book provides a foundation for practice and research in an important new area. – Dennis Drotar, Ph.D., professor of pediatrics and director of the Center for the Promotion of Adherence and Self-Management in the Division of Behavioral Medicine and Clinical Psychology at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center
Acceptance & Mindfulness Treatments for Children & Adolescents, a resource for clinicians, is the essential guide to using acceptance and mindfulness techniques with children and adolescents. The essays offer a much-needed adaptation of these revolutionary techniques for young people and their families, providing a wealth of new approaches to therapists, counselors, and other helping professionals. Chapters present leading-edge coverage of a range of child problems and contexts and include many rich examples of how these approaches can be developed and tested.
History /
Life as It Is:: Or Matters and Things in General by
J. W. M. Breazeale, with an introduction by Jonathan M. Atkins (The
University of Tennessee Press)
Originally published in 1842, John Will M. reazeale's
Life as It Is is a collection of essays providing
insight on a variety of subjects relating to life in early
At first glance, Breazeale's book appears to be a loose
collection of short essays dealing with a variety of subjects.
However, on closer inspection there is a theme: declining morals, a
common theme of every generation. The first chapters present a
history of
Breazeale was the son of Henry Breazeale, the first clerk of the
Roane County Court between 1802 and 1836. The father had come to
In contrast to the bare outline of his own life history,
Breazeale's 1842 self-published book,
Life as It Is, is a veritable cornucopia of rich
details and descriptions of the life and times in early
According to Dunn Durwood in the foreword, the real value of Breazeale's book, for both Appalachian scholars and students of American social history, lies in the subtle and richly varied attitudes of these early Tennessee pioneers toward their new land and surrounding human and physical environment. The subtext of his innumerable descriptions of battles and other encounters with Native Americans illustrates the authenticity of these attitudes. The constant fear of Indian attack on the frontier, reinforced by all too frequent murders of entire families, comes alive in Breazeale's account less through overt emotion than through telling details and anecdotes. To give just one example, pioneers knew a hunter, or group of white hunters, had been slaughtered when their dogs returned home alone because, under normal circumstances, these faithful hunting companions would never leave their masters alive.
Likewise, in describing the social customs of these pioneers, it is the specific detail Breazeale offers which most interests the modern social historian. Their cooking utensils consisted of a single cast iron pot or oven, and they frequently baked their bread upon long boards, called Johnnycake boards. Spreading the dough on these boards, they held it directly before the open fire until cooked. With few blacksmiths, axes, ploughs, mattocks, and hoes were crudely fashioned by the men themselves or with the help of a more skilled neighbor. Horse collars were fashioned out of corn shucks, and traces were often raw scraps of cow hide. Breazeale interprets this earlier simplicity and lack of material goods as favoring the growth of an honest, industrious citizenry, replete with republican virtues.
Yet what fascinated readers most about
Life as It Is, and gave the book its lasting
reputation, was Breazeale's detailed, if horrible, description of
the psychopathic killers Micajah ‘Big’ Harp and his brother, Wiley
‘Little’ Harp. Moving to
According to the introduction Jonathan M. Atkins, professor of
history at
Life as It Is conveys the sense of uncertainty pioneers faced as they carved their homes out of the Indians' lands. The account shows little sympathy for the Natives. There is no discussion of land speculators' influence on the frontier or of the manipulations they used to gain questionable title to Native lands. Nor does he acknowledge differing interpretations of agreements' terms or white settlers' frequent crossing of accepted boundaries into Indian domains. He recognizes white retaliations and excesses, but in his view the Indians bore chief responsibility for keeping the frontier ‘in a state of half war and half peace’. As a result, Breazeale presents the Natives as ‘uncivilized peoples’ – ‘bloodthirsty, cruel, and perfidious savages’.
Breazeale's depiction of Native Americans offends modern readers,
but it should come as no surprise.
Life as It Is came out only a few years after
Congress passed the Indian Removal Act of 1830, which provided for
the forced migration of the remaining Native peoples in the lands
east of the
Breazeale never mentions Indian removal in Life as It Is. Nevertheless, the book reflects how white southerners in both his and his forbears' generation understood the conflict. White Americans may have instigated much of the violence, but the dehumanization of the enemy – a usual occurrence in wartime – helps to recapture the sense of terror settlers must have felt when they learned about the most recent atrocity. Many of the tales Breazeale recounts are, if true, probably romanticized accounts of simpler events. Still, learned from "the few surviving veterans who are yet lingering amongst us", they show Life as It Is to be an excellent source on how mid-nineteenth-century Tennesseans remembered the wars that dominated the lives of their grandparents.
Throughout his history Breazeale’s main concern is the character
of the people. Breazeale describes his ancestors as the founders of
a uniquely democratic
Following his history of early
For Breazeale, prosperity is the danger. "People of the present day have become extravagant and effeminate, fond of find clothes and rich-living, well-timed music and delicate women". As a result, they had fallen from their forefathers' ‘primeval simplicity, happiness and delight’ and allowed the proliferation of vices that reflected the corruption of their character. Electioneering stood as the greatest vice, but throughout the book Breazeale identifies his fellow countrymen's declining virtue and encourages them to return to their ancestors' honorable ways.
Not surprisingly, the narrative praises the famous men associated with Tennessee's founding, particularly John Sevier, Isaac Shelby, and William Blount, but it also devotes particular attention to lesser-known figures such as the unnamed soldier who saved Adam Sherrell during a battle and James Dearmond, who helped Lieutenant John McClellan escape a surprise attack. The real heroes of Breazeale's story, though, are "the bold, hardy, energetic and chivalrous spirits" who settled the land, fought in the wars, and established the republic. Especially in his chapter on the early inhabitants' manners and customs, Life as It Is intends to show to Breazeale's generation – who if denied modern comforts would, "no doubt, expect soon to be plunged into a state of starvation, famine, and death" – how their forefathers had all they needed to live "in harmony, friendship and brotherly love with each other" despite their primitive conditions.
At heart, Breazeale's warnings present a refrain common to every generation. His history romanticizes the past and reads as a virtue the crude conditions that frontiersmen worked to escape. Meanwhile, his denunciations of electioneering and bemoaning of declining manners and morals reflect his inability to accept what modern Americans grumblingly accept as politics as usual. Life as It Is thus foreshadows those in our own time who long for ‘the good old days,’ as well as the Cassandras who see catastrophe in change. Fortunately for us, Breazeale chose to express his frustrations through his writing.
Historian Jonathan M. Atkins, author of the award-winning Parties, Politics, and the Sectional Conflict in Tennessee, 1832-1861, provides a superb introduction which places Breazeale's political worldview within the context of both republican ideology and the rapid expansion of the state's intense two-party competition between Democrats and Whigs during the three decades prior to the Civil War. Atkins also provides an excellent overarching theme by which the disparate topics covered in Breazeale's chapters finally appear to fit together in a prescient warning for posterity. If the atrocities of the Harps foreshadow a decline in public virtue necessary to sustain a republic, Breazeale's dubious negative examples nevertheless illuminate for the modern reader a fascinatingly detailed account of Tennessee's frontier history as seen through the eyes of one very opinionated contemporary. – Durwood Dunn, from the foreword
Life as It Is is an amazing, insightful and, at
times, chilling collection of essays. A fascinating source, the
volume presents a treasure trove of information, stories, and
memories from early
History /
Virginia: Mapping the
A map is an image. It makes the world more real for us and uses
signs to create an essential sense of place in our imagination. Like
the movies, maps helped create our national identify, and this
encyclopedic series of books aims to make manifest the changing
social order that invented the st1:country-region
w:st="on">
In a sense, the State of
Virginia contains:
- 50 full-color historical maps from the Library of Congress.
- Captions on each map’s origins.
- Essays by Hines on how maps reflect the history, culture, and sensibilities of the state and its residents through time.
- A foreword by Virga describing the library’s collection and the state’s maps.
- A choice selection of modern maps depicting birds-eye-views of towns and cities.
In 1606
IIn 1507, the Waldseemuller map appeared. There Americans are named for the first time. And there we sit, an independent continent with oceans on both sides, six years before Balboa supposedly discovered ‘the other sea.’ There are few maps as mysterious for cartographic scholars as Waldseemuller's masterpiece. Where did all that news come from? It is sufficient to say to the world's visual imagination, "Welcome to us Americans in all our cartographic splendor!"
Virga says in the introduction that throughout his academic life, maps were never offered to him as primary historical documents. When he became a picture editor, he learned, to his amazement, that most book editors are logo-centric, or ‘word people.’ Along with most historians and academics, they make their livelihood working with words and ideas.
The very title of this volume,
Virginia: Mapping the
The Mapping States Through History Series is the first series to
assemble – in full color, state-by-state – an in-depth collection of
rare, historically significant maps of the cities, states, counties,
towns, and events that make up each of
For Virga, general editor of the series as well as co-author of
this volume, this series celebrating each of our states is not about
the delineation of property rights. It is a depiction of the pursuit
of happiness, which is listed as one of our natural rights in the
1776 Declaration of Independence. These books depict what each
succeeding generation in its pursuit of happiness accomplished on
this portion of the earth known as the
Virginia provides a fascinating journey into the
past of the
History / Ancient /
The Landmark Xenophon's Hellenika edited by Robert B. Strassler, translated by John Marincola, with an introduction by David Thomas (Landmark Series: Pantheon Books)
From the editor of the widely praised The Landmark Thucydides and
The Landmark Herodotus, here is
The Landmark Xenophon's Hellenika, the primary
source for the events of the final seven years and aftermath of the
Peloponnesian War.
Hellenika covers the years between 411 and 362 B.C.E., a
particularly dramatic period during which the alliances among
Xenophon was an Athenian who participated in the expedition of Cyrus
the Younger against Cyrus’ brother, the Persian King Artaxerces II.
Later Xenophon joined the Spartan army and hence was exiled from
The editor, Robert B. Strassler, is an unaffiliated scholar who
is chairman of the Aston Magna Foundation for Music and the
Humanities. The translator, John Marincola, is the Leon Golden
Professor of Classics at
This Landmark series exists because general readers, and some scholars, find the ancient texts difficult to follow for a variety of reasons, and it seems that good, clear maps, an Introduction rich in background information, explanatory notes, and appendices on subjects in the text that are particularly difficult for modern readers to understand all prove useful and effective for keeping readers oriented and interested.
Xenophon is not a great historian like either Herodotus or
Thucydides, but he is a good writer with much to say of interest to
anyone curious about the end of the Peloponnesian War and what
followed during the next forty years in
One new feature of The Landmark Xenophon's Hellenika, which for lack of alternate contemporary sources could not be developed for Herodotus or Thucydides, is that Strassler includes significant material from two other historians who were more or less contemporaries of Xenophon and who, in part, wrote about the same events. Thus, if the readers follow a footnote's suggestion to turn to Appendix O (selections from the work of Ephorus as transcribed by Diodorus Siculus in his Histories) or Appendix P (relevant text from papyrus fragments of the Hellenica Oxyrhynchia), they will be able to compare and contrast for themselves diverse accounts of historical events. These comparisons will enrich their understanding of the period, their grasp of the problems faced by historians dealing with these events, and their assessment of the virtues and failings of Xenophon as a historian.
Another unique element of The Landmark Xenophon's Hellenika concerns the difficulties faced when determining the dates and sometimes the sequence in which the events described take place. There are many problems of chronology that readers of Herodotus and Thucydides will encounter, but they are not as central to the main sequence of events that form the heart of those narratives. For Xenophon's period, however, the very interpretation of some elements of the source text provoke and require particular chronological schemes in an attempt to make sense of them. As a result of this chronological muddle, Strassler decided that all dates in The Landmark Xenophon's Hellenika, unless otherwise noted, would be based on a single source, The Cambridge Ancient History. By relying on this one common and easily located source, the volume provides a chronological anchor for general readers who might otherwise despair of mastering the large and often confusing material of the scholarly discussion of fourth-century dates.
First and foremost among the features are the maps. This edition contains forty-eight maps designed to support every episode of the narrative, with each map located amid or adjacent to the text it supports. Those maps that display many labels employ a simple coordinate system to help readers search for a particular site, and with a few exceptions in the interest of clarity, each map displays the names of only those features that appear in the surrounding text. Although a number of maps are single images, most are double and a few are triple, arranged in overlapping format from small scale to large scale.
Side notes are found on the outside page margin at the beginning of the chapters into which the text was divided long ago by Alexandrian scholars. The first line of the side note display the book, chapter, and section number. The second line shows the year in our calendar B.C.E. in which the events described take place and the third line shows in capital letters the location of where the action takes place.
This edition of the Hellenika begins with an excellent and informative Introduction by David Thomas, in which he describes not only the history of the period in which Xenophon lived but what is known of Xenophon himself, his other works, and the earlier histories that we know were available to him (Herodotus and Thucydides) and that may have served, in one respect or another, as models to follow. Thomas also explores what is known of two other fourth-century historians. He then focuses on the Hellenika, its composition, style, and literary devices. Finally he deals with Xenophon as a historian, his virtues and faults, his sources, his attitude toward religion, his obvious biases, his reliability, and his own interpretation of the time in which he lived and wrote.
The volume's twelve Appendices, by a number of scholars, cover a lot of ground, from the standard subjects on ancient Greece – units of currency and distance, elements of land and naval warfare, characteristics of Greek religion – to the more particular discussions of Athenian and Spartan government in Xenophon's life, political leagues in the fourth century, theories on the dates and sequence in which Xenophon composed the various parts of the Hellenika. One appendix is devoted to a biography of Agesilaos, perhaps the most important single figure in The Landmark Xenophon's Hellenika. Another gives brief biographies of other people mentioned in the Hellenika who either played significant roles in the book or, if not, then in the history of the period. These appendices provide a sufficient minimum of explanatory and/or background information to help a general reader understand and relate to the text.
To assist readers who wishes to locate passages or subjects within the text, this edition offers the most thorough and complete Index that can be found in any English translation of the text. There is, in addition, a Glossary of terms and a short Bibliography of both ancient sources and modern works, which is designed for general readers who might wish to read more about Xenophon or his world.
In the Landmark series, editor Strassler has compiled a magnificent body of work. Like the two Landmark editions that precede it, The Landmark Xenophon's Hellenika is the most readable and comprehensive edition available of an essential history. Beautifully illustrated, heavily annotated, and filled with detailed, clear maps, this edition gives readers a new, authoritative, and completely accessible translation, a comprehensive introduction, sixteen appendices written by leading classics scholars, and an extensive timeline/chronology to clarify this otherwise confusing period. The volume considerably improves accessibility by integrating hundreds of maps and extensive timelines, which provides insight into dating problems. The Landmark Xenophon's Hellenika contains a number of illustrations, and these are not just attractive ornaments; but significantly enhance the reader's sense of the historicity of the text. Thomas does a skillful and thorough job of setting Xenophon in his time. All in all, this is a must for any aficionado of ancient history.
History /Ancient / Military
Gladiator:
What wounds will the gladiators bear, who are either barbarians,
or the very dregs of mankind? How do they, who are trained to it,
prefer being wounded to basely avoiding it? How often do they prove
that they consider nothing but giving satisfaction to their masters
or to the people? For when covered with wounds, they send to their
masters to learn their pleasure: if it is their will, they are ready
to lie down and die. What gladiator, of even moderate reputation,
ever gave a sigh? Who ever turned pale? Who ever disgraced himself
either in the actual combat, or even when about to die? Who that had
been defeated ever drew in his neck to avoid the stroke of death? So
great is the force of practice, deliberation, and custom! – st1:City
w:st="on">
Gladiatorial games are an aspect of ancient
From the author of Ancient and Medieval Siege Weapons, Konstantin
Nossov, comes this new study of one of the most popular pastimes of
ancient
Nossov provides readers with a tour of Gladiator customs. At the
beginning of their 800-year existence in the fourth century BC,
gladiatorial games served as a solemn funeral rite to honor
high-born citizens. From the height of their popularity to their
decline, they were the equivalent of a multi-billion dollar industry
– run by entrepreneurs and highly regulated by the government.
Nossov in
Gladiator shows how, with few exceptions, Roman
leaders embraced the spectacle and how over the centuries new events
such as mortal combat with animals and full-scale naval battles were
added to the games.
Using updated research that has never before appeared in English,
Nossov's chapter on the everyday life and social status of
gladiators will surprise many readers. Despite the persistent myth
that Gladiators were treated as expendable refuse by their Roman
handlers, Nossov demonstrates that the reality was much more
nuanced. The professional gladiator pool was comprised primarily of
highly-trained men (and, for a time, women) who volunteered for the
arena. In return for a long-term contract with a local games master,
these athletes would earn an annual salary hundreds of times greater
than an ordinary person. And slaves who were willing to become
gladiators could earn their freedom with as few as four wins. These
athletes lived communal lives together and trained year round for
events that occurred no more than seasonally. As Nossov shows in
Gladiator, being a professional gladiator was not
much different from the lifestyle of a modern professional football
player or boxer.
Gladiator offers the reader an opportunity to get the richest knowledge of the history of this most interesting phenomenon – the history of Roman Arena where, in blood and gold, magnificent performances developed, which devoured enormous sums of money and took away the lives of thousands of human beings and animals. The book is based on a huge amount of ancient sources, as well as the newest findings and research. – Dr, Michael Gorelik
In Gladiator Nossov brings together the newest evidence on gladiators to revise our one-sided view of them. Nossov's detailed, highly readable and comprehensive treatment of this enigmatic yet persistently popular phenomenon in Gladiator will delight and enlighten readers.
Home & Garden / Crafts & Hobbies
Quilter's Favorites – Traditional Pieced & Appliquéd:: A Collection of 21 Timeless Projects for All Skill Levels by the editors of C & T Publishing (Quilter’s Favorites Series, Volume 1: C&T Publishing)
Quilter's Favorites – Traditional Pieced & Appliquéd/span> includes 21 pieced and appliqué quilts for all skill levels, chosen by the editors of C&T Publishing. It is first in a series called Quilter’s Favorites.
The volume includes quilts from Alex Anderson, Peggy J. Barkle, Karen Dugas, Becky Goldsmith at Piece O’Cake Designs, Margrit Hall, Dixie Haywood, Diane McClun and Laura Nownes, Lerlene Nevail, Nancy Odom, Claudia Olson, Gai Perry, Donna Ingram Slusser, Jan Bode Smiley, Pam Stallebrass, Laura Wasilowski, Rebecca Wat, Jean Wells, and Joen Wolfrom.
For this collection the editors gather 21 mostly traditional quilt projects, many of which combine clever takes on some favorite blocks and appliqué motifs with contemporary fabrics and fresh color and piecing combinations. Quilter's Favorites – Traditional Pieced & Appliquéd features a wide variety of techniques and sizes, as well as styles from traditional to contemporary. From easy-fused Log Cabins to more challenging paper-pieced Pineapple variations and everything in between, readers will find a quilt to showcase their stash and suit their style. Some examples include:
- Courthouse Blues
- Winter Flowers
- Goose in the Pond
- Sunshine and Windmills
- Summer Fun
- Jewel Box
- Making Waves
- Birds of a Feather
- Castle Weather
- A-Tisket, A-Tasket
- Splash of Tulips
- Vinnie’s Double Pinwheel
- Autumn Richness
- Pleiades Pineapple
Success is stitches away with the inspiration and instructions readers count on in books from C&T Publishing. Readers will find projects they will love making in Quilter's Favorites – Traditional Pieced & Appliquéd that combines clever takes on favorite blocks and appliqué motifs with fresh, contemporary fabrics.
Home & Garden / Crafts & Hobbies / Beauty & Fashion / History /
The Sunbonnet: An American Icon in
The year was 1929, and the Piney Woods of
It was so humid out this morning that it was already becoming
unbearable, with hours to go before the dinner bell would welcome
her to shade and a meal. A drop of perspiration began to crawl down
the back of Louise's scalp, creepy-itchy as a June bug catching at
your hair. Louise paused in her work, leaned the hoe in the crook of
her arm, and took off her slat bonnet for just a moment, just long
enough to shake out the soft, short layers of her bob. She
immediately put the bonnet back on, retying it smartly under her
chin. As she did, she looked back toward the road. The wagon was
passing by, and the driver, a young man not much older than herself,
was watching her intently.
The young man, in the way of Romantic young men, was busy
deciding that Louise was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen;
in fact, that it was love at first sight. He was already making up
his mind to marry her . . . and one day he would.
At least this is the way I imagine it must have been. Louise was my grandmother, and this story of how my grandfather Loinel saw her working in the field and fell in ‘love at first sight’ was one I grew up hearing. – from the book
The sunbonnet is a garment that has been worn throughout the
period of American nationhood. This humble piece of millinery is
more than just a pioneer accessory; it has played an important role
in the realm of rural American dress for generations. It is
emblematic of the
Pervasive and fashionable throughout westward expansion in the
The Sunbonnet is the first book-length study
focusing on the twentieth century and why this particular
working-dress accessory persisted long after it passed out of
nineteenth-century fashion. Surveying its previous history, Matheson
pursues what the sunbonnet reveals about twentieth-century American
fashion, culture, and ideals, as well as class- and race-related
issues. Detailing materials and methods of sunbonnet construction
and care, she also addresses differences in sunbonnet design.
Enlivening the study's approach are oral histories and primary
source images, such as photographs by Dorothea Lange and sunbonnets
from American collections private and public, including the Costume
Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Texas Fashion
Collection, and the Museum of Texas Tech University. Literary
context fiction and nonfiction also enriches the text.
As told in
The Sunbonnet, readers can enter any
Matheson believes the omission can be traced to prevailing American myth-making and popular ways of viewing our history. For example, images of an American past have been created and shaped by Hollywood film and television, which glorified the John Wayne heroes in their cowboy hats, but confined images of sunbonnet wearers to the likes of Scarlett O'Hara and her sisters laboring in the fields in post-Civil War poverty. The cowboy hat is not inherently more glamorous than the sunbonnet; it simply has had a better public relations team.
Matheson believes the sunbonnet has been overlooked, just as the women who wore sunbonnets have been underrepresented on the pages of history. The Sunbonnet attempts to reclaim a bit of ground for the heroines of the sunbonnet – hardworking women whose lives were delineated not in battles won or lost but in rows of cotton chopped, bushels of vegetables grown and canned, miles of frontier trail traveled, lives of children birthed. By analyzing who wore the sunbonnet, when it was worn, why it was worn, how it was made, what materials were used to construct it, and differences in sunbonnet design, we will begin to see the sunbonnet take shape as an important expression of American fashion history and material culture.
When Matheson began her study, there were at least a few women
still alive in
The Sunbonnet also looks to examples of fiction that describe sunbonnets as a source of information about the bonnets themselves, as well as the ways in which they were perceived. In her research she traveled to look at extant sunbonnets in various collections, in the hope of understanding more about the people who wore sunbonnets through contemplating the garments themselves. The theoretical framework of The Sunbonnet includes the work of Jules David Prown, as she attempt to step back and see what the sunbonnet's form implies about the culture that created it.
In spring 2004 Matheson was able to locate four
How this American icon came to survive in
A pleasure to read... fills in another missing piece in the
puzzle that remains women's collective past. – Laurie Winn Carlson,
author of Seduced by the West
When I was born and raised, in the country, we were outside a whole lot. And my mother had beautiful skin, and she said, "You're going to ruin your skin. And you won't be able to go out in the world from being out in the sunbeams too much."... They'd protect you all right. But they were miserable! – Faye Rusk (1914-2004), From the Oral Histories
Lively, and with a fresh approach, this oral history fills a vacuum. A resource for historians and other scholars in dress, American and women's studies, and popular and material culture, The Sunbonnet should also enjoy wide appeal among collectors, reenactors, and anyone drawn to this American icon.
Literature & Fiction / Religion & Spirituality
A Questionable Life: A Novel by Luke Lively (Beaufort Books)
In
A Questionable Life, author Luke Lively, former
bank executive, introduces protagonist Jack Oliver, a hard-charging,
Jack has always made tough choices and sacrifices to achieve success, but when his mid-sized banking group is bought out by a mega-chain, Jack finds himself knocked from the top rung to the bottom of the ladder. When the stress of the merger lands him in the hospital, he realizes that his wife and kids hate him and his mistress is only interested in the number of zeros in his paycheck.
Even at a young age, Jack had mapped out his future and set his
sights on the ultimate goal: becoming president at PT&G,
Philadelphia Trust & Guaranty, the largest bank in
In A Questionable Life for the first time in over 27 years, Jack, now 45, must confront the aftermath of having devoted nearly every waking hour to work. His personal life is in shambles; he's made difficult choices at the expense of others; he's surrendered his integrity by turning a blind eye to greed, dishonesty, and questionable business practices.
When Jack's long time friend John Helms suggests that Jack needs
a change and offers to introduce him to Benjamin Franklin ‘Benny’
Price, the CEO of Citizens Bank in
But when Jack faces an unexpected health crisis, he realizes that
John is right: he does need a change. Jack reluctantly agrees to
meet Benny for a weekend visit in the mountains of
Left without the success he once craved and the family he undervalued, can Jack, a man whose life has been punctuated by wanting more – more money, more power, more prestige – learn to embrace the concept of a new kind of ‘questionable life’?
From the first page of A Questionable Life, I was hooked! Beneath the compelling story is a treasure chest of wisdom that is brought to life with a message of hope that will touch your heart. – Didiayer Snyder, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition
A Questionable Life is a great read! The story depicts the power of questions in achieving balance in your life. – Gerhard Gschwandtner, Founder/ Publisher, Selling Power Magazine
An eloquent, thought-provoking, and inspirational novel that reads like non-fiction, A Questionable Life has an air of authenticity. Destined to stay with readers after the final page is turned, the book is a triumphant and touching tale about choices and consequences, love and loss, regret and redemption.
Mysteries & Thrillers
Wyatt's Revenge:: A Matt Royal
Mystery by H. Terrell Griffin (Oceanview Publishing)
Sometimes good men do very bad things.o:p>
Wyatt's Revenge is the latest mystery in the Matt
Royal series, written by award-winning novelist H. Terrell Griffin,
a board-certified trial lawyer who practiced law in
On balance, retired trial lawyer turned-beach bum Matt is a pretty laid-back fellow. But when Laurence Wyatt, one of Matt's best friends, is murdered, Matt trades in his easygoing ways for a hard-hitting quest for revenge. Matt knows the Longboat Key police will do their job in investigating. But for Matt, finding Wyatt's killer isn't a job; it's personal. Determined to do whatever it takes to solve Wyatt's murder, Matt takes matters into his own hands and embarks on a clandestine investigation.
Who would've wanted to kill Laurence Wyatt, the once fierce soldier who'd morphed into a gentle professor? The only clue into this senseless act is Wyatt's missing laptop.
Matt finds himself in hot pursuit of a cadre of remorseless criminals and trained killers, but the tables turn and Matt becomes the pursued. Faced with mounting danger, Matt calls for backup from his buddies Jock Algren and Logan Hamilton.
As Matt and his buddies uncover the truth about Wyatt's death one fact at a time, they find an evil larger in scope than anything they ever could have imagined. And danger lurks everywhere – from a fast-paced European city, to the quiet island Matt calls home, and everywhere in between.
Matt Royal would go to the ends of the earth to exact revenge for Wyatt's murder, but one question remains: will he go outside the law?
A rollercoaster of ups and downs takes the reader on the ride of
their lives in this Matt Royal mystery. – Suspense Magazine
Wyatt's Revenge is a hard-hitting, action packed
tale about good versus evil, justice versus revenge, murder and
redemption. Readers can expect the unexpected in this wild and
dangerous ride from Longboat Key to
Mysteries & Thrillers / Mystery
The Hidden Dance by Susan Wooldridge (Allison & Busby)
It is 1933 in The Hidden Dance, a first effort by British actress Susan Wooldridge.
On March first the luxury liner SS Etoile sets sail from
On board the liner is Lily Sutton – a fragile but determined woman who is seeking to escape the brutality of her failed marriage, and begin life anew in the glittering American city.
During the five days at sea, Lily is caught between the world she
leaves behind, with its attendant riches and position in society,
and her new-found love, which has given her the strength and courage
to be herself. Traveling in steerage so as not to attract attention,
Lily is terrified that her flight from
Wooldridge was born in 1952 to the composer John Wooldridge and the actress Margaretta Scott. Her many film, television and theatrical roles have included Daphne Manners in The Jewel in the Crown, and key parts in Kavanagh QC and Poirot to name a few.
The writing is extremely fresh and the story strong and poignant.
– Nell Dunn
This beautifully titled book is as much a quest and a journey as a
dance. Wooldridge's heroine, Lily, like her wonderful creation of
Daphne Manners in Paul Scott's The Jewel in the Crown, starts off as
an apparently conventional, timid, middle-class English girl of the
1930s. By the end she is fearless, strong and wise. A brave and
loving novel – Jane Gardam
The Hidden Dance is a lovely first novel. In Lily we have a character with whom many will be able to identify.
Outdoors & Nature / Environment / Religion & Spirituality
The Tao of Liberation:: Exploring the Ecology of Transformation by Mark Hathaway & Leonardo Boff, with a foreword by Fritjof Capra (Orbis Books)
Today, humanity stands at an historic crossroads. Deepening poverty and accelerating ecological destruction challenge us to act with wisdom and maturity: How can we move toward a future where meaning, hope, and beauty can truly flourish?/p>
Drawing on insights from economics, psychology, science, and spirituality, The Tao of Liberation seeks wisdom – a path toward ever-greater communion, diversity, and creativity for the Earth community. It describes this wisdom using the Chinese word Tao – both a way leading to harmony and the unfolding process of the cosmos itself.
The authors are Mark Hathaway, ecumenical eco-justice activist,
who is an adult educator researching and writing about the
interconnections between ecology, economics, social justice,
spirituality, and cosmology; and Leonardo Boff,
According to Fritjof Capra, author of the Tao of Physics in the foreword, the new economy, which emerged from the information technology revolution of the past three decades, is structured largely around networks of financial flows. This economy is so complex and turbulent that it defies analysis in conventional economic terms. What we really have is an electronically operated global casino. The gamblers in this casino are not obscure speculators but major investment banks, pension funds, multinational corporations, and mutual funds organized for the sake of financial manipulation. The so-called global market, strictly speaking, is not a market at all but a network of machines programmed according to a single value – making money – to the exclusion of all other values.
It has become increasingly clear that global capitalism in its present form is unsustainable – socially, ecologically, and even financially – and needs to be fundamentally redesigned. The process of reshaping globalization has already begun. At the turn of this century, an impressive global coalition of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) formed for this very purpose. This coalition, or global justice movement as it is also called, has organized a series of very successful protests at various meetings of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the G7 and G8, and it has also held several World Social Forum meetings, most of them in Brazil. At these meetings, the NGOs proposed a set of alternative trade policies, including concrete and radical proposals for restructuring the global financial institutions that would profoundly change the nature of globalization.
TTo place the political discourse within a systemic and ecological perspective, the global civil society relies on a network of scholars, research institutes, think tanks, and centers of learning that largely operate outside our leading academic institutions, business organizations, and government agencies. Most of these research institutes are communities of both scholars and activists who are engaged in a variety of projects and campaigns. Among them, there are three clusters of issues that seem to be focal points for the largest and most active grassroots coalitions. One is the challenge of reshaping the governing rules and institutions of globalization; another is the opposition to genetically modified foods and the promotion of sustainable agriculture; and the third is ecological design – a concerted effort to redesign our physical structures, cities, technologies, and industries so as to make them ecologically sustainable.
It seems that this political will has increased significantly in the last few years. One notable sign is Al Gore's film An Inconvenient Truth, which has played a major role in raising ecological awareness. Another important development is the publication of Plan B: Mobilizing to Save Civilization, by Lester Brown, founder of the orldwatch Institute and one of the most authoritative environmental thinkers. The first part of Brown's book is documentation of the fundamental interconnectedness of our major problems. The second part is perhaps the clearest documentation to date that we have the knowledge, the technologies, and the financial means to save civilization and build a sustainable future.
Finally, the political will and leadership for moving toward
sustainability increased with the election of Barack Obama to the
presidency of the
Yet some fundamental questions remain. Why has it taken us so long to recognize the serious threats to the survival of humanity? Why are we so painfully slow to change the perceptions, ideas, lifestyles, and institutions that perpetuate injustice and destroy our planet's capacity to sustain life? How can we accelerate the movement toward social justice and ecological sustainability?
These are the issues at the heart of The Tao of Liberation. The authors – Boff from the global South and Hathaway from the North – have both reflected on questions of theology, justice, and ecology. Their answer to the above-mentioned questions is that the fundamental challenge is much more than disseminating knowledge and changing old habits. All the threats we face, in their view, are symptoms of a deeper cultural and spiritual sickness afflicting humanity. "There is a deep pathology inherent in the system that currently dominates and exploits our world," they assert. To overcome our deep pathology, the authors maintain, will require a fundamental shift in human consciousness. "In a very real way," they write, "we are called to reinvent ourselves as a species." They refer to this process of profound transformation as ‘liberation,’ using the term as it is used in the tradition of liberation theology – both in the personal sense of spiritual realization, or enlightenment, and in the collective sense of a people seeking to free itself from oppression.
As Hathaway and Boff state in the Prologue, The Tao of Liberation is a search for the wisdom needed to effect profound liberatory transformations in our world. Realizing that such wisdom, ultimately, cannot be captured in words, they use the ancient Chinese word Tao (‘the Way’). According to Taoist tradition, spiritual realization is achieved when we act in harmony with nature.
In The Tao of Liberation, the search for the wisdom needed to shift from a society obsessed with unlimited growth and material consumption to a balanced and life-sustaining civilization involves two principal steps. The first step is an understanding of the obstacles that stand in the way of liberating transformation. The second step is the formulation of a ‘cosmology of liberation’.
The multiple and interdependent obstacles are explored by Hathaway and Boff The external ‘systemic’ obstacles are discussed at length; they include the illusion of unlimited growth on a finite planet, excessive corporate power, a parasitic financial system, and a tendency to monopolize knowledge and impose. As the authors explain, these external obstacles are reinforced by oppressive systems of education, manipulative mass media, pervasive consumerism, and artificial environments – especially in urban areas – that isolate us from living nature.
To overcome internalized powerlessness, which may take the form of addiction and greed, denial, psychic numbing, or despair, we need to expand our sense of self, the authors suggest. We need to deepen our capacity for compassion, build community and solidarity, reawaken our sense of belonging to the Earth, and thereby rediscover our ‘ecological self.’ They suggest that we should "reflect on the things that truly delight us, that truly give us pleasure – spending time with friends, walking outdoors, listening to music, or enjoying a simple meal." Most of what truly delights us, they point out, costs little or no money.
HHowever, to fully awaken and reconnect, we also need a new understanding of reality and a new sense of the place of humanity within the cosmos. We need ‘a living and vital cosmology.’
The authors assert that a new understanding of the cosmos is now emerging from modern science, which in many ways recalls earlier aboriginal cosmologies. But unlike most of them, the new scientific worldview envisions an evolving universe and is therefore an ideal conceptual framework for the iberatory transformation we need. To make that case, Hathaway and Boff draw from a reservoir of contemporary thinkers – philosophers, theologians, psychologists, and natural scientists. In the vast array of ideas, models, and theories they discuss, not all are compatible with one another; quite a few are esoteric and definitely outside the scientific mainstream; and at times the authors draw conclusions that go well beyond current science. Nevertheless, they succeed in demonstrating the emergence of a new and coherent scientific understanding of reality.
The authors also argue that the emerging scientific cosmology is compatible with the spiritual dimension of liberation. This sense of oneness with the natural world is borne out by the new conception of life in contemporary science. The awareness of being connected with all of nature is particularly strong in ecology. Thus, ecology seems to be the ideal bridge between science and spirituality. Indeed, Hathaway and Boff advocate an ‘ecological spirituality’ concerned primarily with the future of planet Earth and of humanity as a whole.
They point out that there are unique ecological insights and approaches in each religion, and they encourage us to see this diversity of teachings as a strength rather than a threat. "Each of us must look again into our own spiritual tradition," the authors suggest, "and seek out the insights that move us to reverence for all life, to an ethic of sharing and care, to a vision of the sacred incarnate in the cosmos."
The Tao of Liberation also contains many concrete suggestions of goals, strategies, and policies for effective transformative action to move toward a just and ecologically sustainable society. Two frameworks discussed in detail are bioregionalism, based on the idea of regaining a profound connection with nature at the local level, and the Earth Charter, ‘a truly liberating dream for humanity,’ which names as its first principle the respect and care for the community of life.
The Tao of Liberation is a path-breaking book. It brings together the insights of cosmology, ecology, and spirituality in a fresh and powerful way. With their creative collaboration, Mark Hathaway and Leonardo Boff offer us a remarkable new synthesis which will surely become an enduring classic. – Brian Swimme, Director, Center for the Story of the Universe, California Institute of Integral Studies
Boff and Hathaway present us with a holistic, comprehensive, and integrated path toward the transformation required if the human experience is to have a future in our Earthly Home. – Bill Phipps, International President of the World Conference of Religions for Peace and Chair of Faith and the Common Good
I love this book. Its inspiration lives up to its ambition –
leading the reader through some of the most complex issues of our
age (from globalization and the current recession to climate change
and loss of species) while illuminating a path forward through
religion and spirituality. –
There is no other book that has so carefully identified the new
cosmology of Thomas Berry and Brian Swimme as a liberating context
for a sustainable future. This is a masterful and important work. –
Mary Evelyn Tucker, Forum on Religion and Ecology,
The Tao of Liberation is a monumental contribution toward tackling the global crisis, including analyses that plumb the roots of the crisis and proposals for a fundamental change of direction. The text draws on science, economics, ethics and spirituality, integrating them in a scenario that just might pull us back from the precipice. – David G. Hallman, Advisor to the World Council of Churches Climate Change Programme
Leonardo Boff and Mark Hathaway give birth to a great marriage between liberation theology and creation spirituality. I welcome it – it is very timely – and I welcome the dimensions of ecology, cosmology and feminist philosophy applied astutely to the crisis of western capitalism and culture we are all undergoing at this time as well as the deep ecumenism which is so beautifully and aptly invoked in the use of the great Tao Te Ching throughout the text. – Matthew Fox, author, The Coming of the Cosmic Christ
Global poverty and global ecological destruction represent two of
the most important challenges facing the human community. In
The Tao of Liberation, Mark Hathaway and Leonardo
Boff creatively and movingly explore the inter-connection of these
twin challenges, deftly blending the wisdom of the world's spiritual
traditions and the insights of social science to explore the
structural and cultural features underlying our present
unsustainable behavior. This is a must read for all of those who
seek to understand the critical nexus between the option for the
poor and the option for the Earth. – Stephen Bede Scharper,
Rather than seeing the transition to a sustainable society
primarily in terms of limits and restrictions, Hathaway and Boff
eloquently propose a new and compelling conception of sustainability
as liberation. – Fritjof Capra, author, The Tao of Physics
The Tao of Liberation is a gospel for our time, a path forward. Clear, prophetic and inspiring, it provides hope for our troubled world. The authors present a comprehensive plan synthesizing interdisciplinary resources.
Philosophy / Health, Mind & Body / Self-Help
How Philosophy Can Save Your Life:: 10 Ideas
That Matter Most by
A philosophy club is a health spa for the mind and heart. –
How Philosophy Can Save Your Life urges readers to
discover how great philosophers can help them live a more purposeful
and peaceful, healthier and happier life.
This new book from the bestselling author of Little Big Minds
reveals how the heartbeats of philosophy – clear thinking, quiet
reflection, and good conversation – are essential ingredients in a
well-lived life. In Little Big Minds, McCarty dusted off a seemingly
dry and serious subject – philosophy – and demonstrated how it could
be used in a fun way to teach kids to think critically. Now, in
How Philosophy Can Save Your Life, McCarty brings
the benefits of philosophy to an adult audience and shows how an
exploration of philosophy's big ideas, particularly in the setting
of a philosophy club, can be not only a thought-provoking experience
but a life-changing one.
As a professor of philosophy and a longtime participant in
philosophy circles, McCarty has spent years making philosophy
accessible and illustrating how its core components can enrich
lives. Here she invokes the timeless wisdom of Epicurus, Lao Tzu,
Mary Wollstonecraft, Simone de Beauvoir, the Dalai Lama and others
to illuminate the ideas that are essential to a fulfilling life.
Full of discussion ideas and activities readers can do with a group,
How Philosophy Can Save Your Life is framed around
ten ‘big ideas’ – themes that, according to McCarty, assistant
professor of philosophy at
- Simplicity (philosophers include Epicurus and Charlotte Joko Beck)
- Communication (philosophers include bell hooks and Karl Jaspers)
- Perspective (philosophers include Bertrand Russell and Mary Wollstonecraft)
- Flexibility (philosophers include Plato and Alan Watts)
- Empathy (philosophers include the Dalai Lama and Martin Luther King, Jr.)
- Individuality (philosophers include Jean-Paul Sartre and Elizabeth Spelman)
- Belonging (philosophers include Albert Camus and Rita Manning)
- Serenity (philosophers include Epictetus and Lao Tzu)
- Possibility (philosophers include John Stuart Mill and Simone de Beauvoir)
- Joy (philosophers include Shunryu Suzuki and Jane Addams)
Throughout, McCarty offers meaty discussion questions, fun activities (that can be done as part of a group or on their own) and a variety of reading and listening recommendations. For example:
- To build Communication skills, ‘Get Up and Do’ these
exercises:
- Intentionally engage in conversation with someone whose lifestyle and viewpoint differ from your own.
- Write a letter that matters to you and that you know will make a difference to the recipient.
- When pondering Flexibility, ask and/or discuss:
- How do you pose deadlines and demands on your life unnecessarily?
- What is a firmly held belief that you discarded upon further reflection?
- What are some assumptions that you regret?
- To increase Serenity, ‘Read and Talk’ about:
- Rachel Carson's The Sense of Wonder
- Marcus Aurelius's Meditations
- William Shutkin's A
From music and poetry to documentary and drama, the variety of ‘homework opportunities’ allows readers to approach these big ideas from numerous angles.
...[A] tangible approach to understanding how notions like tolerance, flexibility and perspective can enrich our busy lives. – Publisher's Weekly
"[McCarty] opens up a whole new world to those who have never
explored
philosophy in detail. – Library Journal
How Philosophy Can Save Your Life shows readers how the greatest thinkers of all time can help them live more meaningful and peaceful lives. An accessible guide, the book helps readers awaken their minds, change their lives, and have fun in the process. Whether reflecting alone or sharing the adventure with a club, readers are challenged and engaged.
Philosophy / History / Health, Mind & Body / Psychology & Counseling
Our Dark Side: A History of Perversion by Élisabeth Roudinesco, translated by David Macey (Polity)
Where does perversion begin? Who is perverse? Ever since the word first appeared in the Middle Ages, anyone who delights in evil and in the destruction of the self or others has been described as ‘perverse’. But while the experience of perversion is universal, every era has seen it and dealt with it in its own way.
The history of perversion in the West is told by Élisabeth Roudinesco, Professor of History at the University of Paris VII – Denis Diderot, in Our Dark Side, through a study of great emblematic figures of the perverse – Blackbeard, the mystical saints and the flagellants in the middle ages, the Marquis de Sade in the eighteenth century, the masturbating child, the male homosexual and the hysterical woman nineteenth century, Nazism in the twentieth century, and the complementary figures of the pedophile and the terrorist in the twenty-first.
They are commonly viewed as monstrous and cruel, as something alien to the very nature of being human. And yet, perversion can also attest to creativity and self-transcendence, to the refusal of individuals to submit to the rules and prohibitions that govern human life. Perversion fascinates us precisely because it can be both abject and sublime. Whether they are sublime because they turn to art or mysticism, or abject because they surrender to their murderous impulses, the perverse are part of us because they exhibit something that we always conceal: our own negativity and our dark side.
According to Roudinesco in the introduction to Our Dark Side, many books, including learned dictionaries of sexology, eroticism and pornography have been devoted to the sexual perversions, but there is no history of the perverse. As for the word, structure or term ‘perversion’, it has been studied only by psychoanalysts.
Michel Foucault said in substance that, because of the inverted symmetry between ‘perverse people’ and the exemplary lives of famous men, the lives of the perverse are unnamable: they are infamous, minuscule, anonymous and wretched. These parallel, abnormal lives are not talked about and, as a rule, are mentioned only to be condemned. And when they do acquire a certain notoriety, it is because of the power of their exceptional criminality, which is deemed to be bestial, monstrous or inhuman, and seen as something alien to the very humanity of human beings. Witness the constant reworking of the stories of great perverse criminals, with their terrible nicknames: Gilles de Rais (Bluebeard), George Chapman (Jack the Ripper), Erzebet Bathory (the Bloody Countess) and Peter Kiirten (the Vampire of Düsseldorf).) These creatures have inspired plays, novels, stories and films because of our continued fascination with their strange, half-human, half-animal status.
Our Dark Side enters into both the world of perversion and the parallel lives of the perverse via the universal themes of metaphor and animality, not so much via the epic poems that relate how men were transformed into animals, fountains or plants as by plunging into the nightmare of a never-ending infinite reassignment that reveals, in all its cruelty, what human beings try to disguise.
Our Dark Side is traced in five chapters dealing, successively, with the Middle Ages (Gilles de Rais, the mystical saints and the flagellants), the eighteenth century (the life and work of the Marquis de Sade), the nineteenth century (mental medicine, its descriptions of the sexual perversions, and its obsession with the masturbating child, the homosexual and the hysterical woman), and, finally, the twentieth century that saw, thanks to the rise of Nazism – and especially Rudolf Hoess's Auschwitz confessions, the most abject metamorphosis of perversion.
Be it a delight in evil or a passion for the sovereign good, perversion is the defining characteristic of the human species: the animal world is excluded from it, just as it is excluded from crime. Not only is it a human phenomenon that is present in all cultures; it presupposes the existence of speech, language, art, or even a discourse on art and sex.
While no perversion is thinkable without the establishment of the basic taboos – religious or secular – that govern societies, no human sexual practice is possible without the support of a rhetoric.
Perversion is, according to Our Dark Side, a sexual, political, social, psychic, transhistorical and structural phenomenon that is present in all human societies. And while every culture has its coherent divisions – the prohibition of incest, the definition of madness, terms to describe the monstrous or the abnormal – perversion naturally has its place in that combinatory. But it is also a social necessity; it preserves norms, while ensuring the human species of the permanence of its pleasures and transgressions. What would we do without Sade, Mishima, Jean Genet, Pasolini, Hitchcock, and the many others who have given us the most refined works imaginable? What would we do if we could no longer scapegoat, or in other words pervert, those who agree to translate into strange acts the inadmissible tendencies that haunt us and that we repress?
No matter whether the perverse are sublime because they turn to art, creation or mysticism, or abject because they surrender to their murderous impulses, they are part of us and part of our humanity because they exhibit something that we always conceal: our own negativity and our dark side.
In this provocative, timely, and engaging study of famous
perverse figures, Elisabeth Roudinesco offers us a ‘dark mirror' for
human experience. She persuasively argues that because perversion is
a uniquely human activity, it allows us to gain access to aspects of
the human psyche that are normally hidden from view. By examining
case histories of perversion throughout history, Roudinesco shows
that perverts provide us with a disturbing reflection of the dark
side of the very human societies in which they perform their extreme
acts. – Elissa Marder,
This fascinating book takes us from the question of the origin of
the perverse through its semiotic displacements in Christianity and
libertinism, by way of Freud as a thinker of the dark Enlightenment,
into the emergence of contemporary biocracy and genocide as delight
in evil. Required reading for all studies of the history of
consciousness. – Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak,
This unique study opens up a little-researched part of our history. Where does perversion begin, and who are the perverse? That is the question Roudinesco answers in Our Dark Side, which brings together hitherto distinct approaches by combining an analysis of the notion of perversion not only with portraits of the perverse and an account of the main sexual perversions, but also with a critique of the theories and practices that have been developed, mostly from the nineteenth century onwards, to theorize perversion and to name the perverse.
Professional & Technical / Architecture / Gardening & Horticulture / Landscape / Reference
Shaping the American Landscape: New
Profiles from
the Pioneers of American Landscape Design Project edited by Charles
A. Birnbaum & Stephanie S. Foell (
Shaping the American Landscape explores the lives and work of 151 professionals who quite literally shaped both the land itself and our ideas of what the American landscape means. Although the contributors consider many important figures from the past, the book breaks new ground by including seminal designers who are in their twilight years, and in some cases still professionally active, to provide a look at the modern era of design in action. The roster of profiles extends far beyond landscape architects to encompass professionals in many other fields, including planning, journalism, gardening, and golf course and cemetery design.
Editors are Charles A. Birnbaum, founder and president of The Cultural Landscape Foundation, and Stephanie S. Foell, architectural and landscape historian, who seek not only to bring their subjects' design legacies to light, but also to instill a sense of stewardship for historically meaningful examples of their art.
Why? Because across
Like the previously published Pioneers volumes – which canvassed the work of American landscape centers, many lesser known, and focused on the stewardship of built legacies while showcasing some of the more celebrated figures – this collection surveys the state of the art, asserting that modernists, too can be pioneers – and expanding the idea of landscape history ever further outward. The biographical entries gathered in Shaping the American Landscape cover a greater span of time, both backward to Sir Francis Nicholson, born in 1655, and, probably more controversially, forward, with the inclusion of individuals who are still living. This new volume is particularly notable for incorporating interrelated collateral disciplines, with portraits of earthworks artists (Herbert Bayer), amateur botanists (Henry Shaw), community activists/gardeners (Liz Christy), inventors (John Brooks), cemetery designers (Almerin Hotchkiss), golf course architects (Willie Park Jr.). librarians (Theodora Kimball Hubbard), seeds-men (James Vick) and a host of others.
Shaping the American Landscape is an essential reference for everyone interested in the world around us, and reveals the highlights and hidden gems that are our shared legacy. Organized in an accessible, encyclopedic format, Shaping the American Landscape is a fascinating and indispensable reference work that may also be read simply for the pleasure of discovery, or may be used to identify and visit some of the landscapes described.
Religion & Spirituality / Christianity / Theology
Realism in Religion: A Pragmatist's Perspective by
Robert Cummings Neville (
Religion is basic to the human condition, according to this
philosophy of religion from a pragmatist's perspective. While
pragmatist thinkers have often been cool to religious claims, Robert
Cummings Neville, Professor of Philosophy, Religion, and Theology at
To discover in one's late sixties that one's early instincts were
fruitful is a considerable comfort in the face of the discomforts
of that age. Neville says he began his career in the 1960s when most
philosophers in American and
The chapters in Realism in Religion began as essays for various occasions or publications, but exhibit a strong continuity of theme regarding realism in religion. As explained by Neville in the preface, although most of these essays have been rewritten to provide continuity and minimize repetition, Realism in Religion still is a book of essays from different contexts. Instead of a single treatment of each major theme, as would be appropriate for a monograph, the basic themes recur in different contexts and forms. Each is accessible, as befits a lecture, and cumulatively they provide nuances of detail that would be impossible in a massive treatment with one plot-line. These essays embody a system, which is not a single rational structure but rather an examination of a cluster of related themes from many different angles. Notions such as truth, interpretation, engagement, ultimacy, God, and comparison appear in many different contexts of discussion, each time with a new twist.
Chapter 1 in Realism in Religion explores the contrast between Barthian narrative theology and Tillich's realistic ‘systematic theology’ (a term of contempt for Barth). The attraction of narrative theology is the ease with which it serves the search for religious identity. But because narrative theology cannot be realistic enough, it sacrifices strong justifications to be true.
According to the introduction, the case for the importance of truth in theology, over against the use of religious belief to define identity, is not an easy one to make, although it would seem to be obvious. If the only real things are bare particulars, and general terms refer to our thinking rather than to real things, then theology has little of interest to say about reality.
Chapter 2 explores some of the issues in affirming a realistic theology as true of the world, and discusses why so many liberal theologies that were aware of problems of realistic reference were near misses. It then sketches an approach to theology called ‘symbolic engagement’ that is elaborated in subsequent chapters, and it concludes with the introduction of a conception of metaphysics that shows how religiously important things can be aspects of reality, not merely of language or conceptuality. That conception of metaphysics is developed in many of the later chapters.
The nominalistic view that theology is about our language or
conceptuality rather than its purported real subjects has been
given great precision by Frei and his colleague, also Neville’s
teacher, George Lindbeck, known together with their followers as the
‘Yale School’ of theology. The difficulty with this approach is that
theological claims seem to be incapable of referring to what they
intend, but rather only to the deep structure of the way a community
uses the language of reference. Chapter 3 argues that the vital
contextualism of the
Chapter 4 in Realism in Religion applies and elaborates some of the arguments of the preceding chapters to scriptural understanding, carrying out theology as symbolic engagement with respect to a specific genre of symbols. The theory of reference, distinguishing iconic, indexical, and conventional reference, is expressed more technically than discussions in earlier chapters, and later chapters will add more detail.
If properly realistic, theology attempts to say what is true of religious realities. Theology should not be caught within the symbol systems of one or a few communities, however, because presumably all religious with deep reflective traditions have grappled with the religious realities. To make a case for a religious claim, as chapter 3 argues, requires dealing with alternative claims and their cases. Often the languages of different religions are so incommensurate that it is impossible to tell whether they are talking about the same thing. With its realistic commitments, therefore, theology needs a base in comparative theology to create the global public necessary for making its cases. Chapter 5 explores this in some detail, and later chapters elaborate and illustrate the theory of comparison.
Because the approach to theology advocated in the first five chapters is based on Charles Peirce's pragmatism and other sources that debt needs to be spelled out. Although earlier chapters mention elements of Peirce's theory, chapter 6 lays it out directly, distinguishing issues of meaning, context, and reference in his general theory of interpretation. Of particular note is his theory of indexical reference. By virtue of indexical reference we can understand how concrete symbolic interpretations actually engage the world in fallible, corrigible ways. This is the theoretical heart of ‘theology as symbolic engagement.’ Chapter 7 of Realism in Religion goes on to elaborate a number of the consequences of Peirce's theory for religion and religious inquiry. They amount to a presentation of religious inquiry that is thoroughly empirical, without being reductionistic as in most sciences of religion.
The pragmatic approach to inquiry, including religious or theological inquiry, argues that all knowing is interpretation. Interpretations might be made problematic subsequently, but by and large we live and act within habitual assumptions about the world. Peirce had argued against intuition as a cognition ‘in immediate relation to its object’ (Kant's phrase). Chapter 8 is his youthful technical defense of intuition as ‘fourthness’ in Peirce's philosophy, a point Peirce should have learned from Plato. The intentional character of the religious experience of ultimate realities depends on something like this kind of intuition, which is the ground for experiential realism.
Chapter 9 details a number of close connections and interesting differences between Alfred North Whitehead and pragmatism. However, that the arguments in Realism in Religion are far less dependent on Whitehead's specific metaphysics than those in much of his earlier work. For him, at least, pragmatism is the more enduring and fruitful legacy, it seems. Chapter 12 explicitly argues against Whitehead's theology.
Jonathan Edwards, in the early eighteenth century, introduced notions that became great themes in American theology, including in pragmatism and process theology. These include realism in theological reference, realism in theological knowledge of nature as revealing the ultimate, realism regarding value being resident in things, and aestheticism in experience as the means by which interpreters recognize real value. These are all antinominalist themes, and are explored briefly in chapter 10.
Chapter 11 addresses a specific question with a theology of world religions, namely, how conceptions of God fare when employed cross-culturally. Neville argues that comparison can be fair and still normative, and explore the role of comparative treatments of the problem of the one and the many as one criterion for assessing theologies in comparative perspective. Chapter 12 divides conceptions of God into those of a determinate being and those of God as ground of being. It argues for the latter, and claims that a theology of creation ex nihilo explains this best.
Chapter 13 places the debate between God as a being and God as ground of all being in an early modem historical context, attributing the former view to Leibniz and the latter to Descartes. Because of the close connection between them, some clarity is brought to the debate about whether God is a being with a nature who creates on the basis of that nature, Leibniz' view, or whether God is the ground for all natures, all intelligibility, and all value, which thus depend on the divine creative will. Descartes' hypothesis of the priority of divine will to divine nature is defended, which is not so far from the famous claims on the matter by Duns Scotus, the realist. Chapter 14 pulls together many of the themes of creation ex nihilo to elaborate a theory of time and eternity in reference to human life, with special emphasis on eternity. Contrary to the usual analogy for understanding God, according to which God is like temporal human beings but somewhat above time, it argues with contrarian vigor that temporal human life should be understood on the analogy of the eternal God. We discover who we are only in God.
Realism in Religion provides a philosophical consideration of key religious issues from a pragmatist's perspective.
Religion & Spirituality / Christianity / Theology / Philosophy
Christianity & Western Thought, Volume 3:
Journey to Postmodernity in the Twentieth Century
by Alan G. Padgett, Steve Wilkens (Christianity & Western Thought
Series, Volume 3: IVP Academic)
Colin Brown's Christianity & Western Thought, Volume 1: From the Ancient World to the Age of Enlightenment was widely embraced as a text in philosophy and theology courses around the world. His project was continued with the same spirit, energy and design by Steve Wilkens and Alan Padgett in Volume 2, which explores the main intellectual streams of the nineteenth century.
This, the third and final volume, Christianity & Western Thought, Volume 3: Journey to Postmodernity in the Twentieth Century, also by Wilkens, professor of systematic theology at Luther Seminary in St. Paul, and Padgett, professor of theology and ethics at Azusa Pacific University in Azusa, California, examines philosophers, ideas and movements in the twentieth century and how they have influenced Christian thought.
Along with a loss of faith in reason and science, the twentieth century witnessed a loss of faith in the human self and society as a whole. Two devastating world wars left scant reason for Enlightenment optimism. Commencing with Frege, Husserl and Bergson, Padgett and Wilkens chart the course of twentieth century philosophy on its journey toward postmodernism.
They say that the voyage is not a straight-line affair. Questions of language and meaning in the tradition of Russell and Moore, which reached its apex in Wittgenstein, follow a stream unlike the continental philosophy dominated by Heidegger. This latter stream of continental philosophy comprises a delta of philosophical movements, including phenomenology, hermeneutics, structuralism, Marxism, critical theory and poststruchualism and brings to the fore such thinkers as Foucault, Derrida and Rorty.
Journey to Postmodernity in the Twentieth Century is the continuation of and final volume in the series. The purpose remains the same as before, namely, an overview and introduction to Western thought from a Christian point of view. While Padgett and Wilkens do not cover theology as fully as in previous volumes they remain interested as Christian scholars in the thought of the great philosophers of the twentieth century. What did these women and men believe, and how does their thought engage the Christian worldview? What are the implications of these philosophies for the ongoing task of church mission, worship and scholarship? They make no pretensions to neutrality, but come to twentieth-century philosophy as disciples of Christ Jesus.
Padgett and Wilkens in Journey to Postmodernity in the Twentieth Century look back to the nineteenth century as an era of relative stability and progress, when many people believed in reason, science and the inevitable triumph of the human spirit. The machine age and industrialization gave people hope in the future. Great systems of thought arose to give shape to this optimism. Philosophers such as Nietzsche and Schopenhauer, generally pessimistic concerning the human race, were swimming against the stream in their own day. Today many thinkers look back on them as prophets.
According to Padgett and Wilkens in Journey to Postmodernity in the Twentieth Century, it is always difficult to write about one’s own century, even when it is over. We lack distance and historical perspective. Only the passage of time allows people to reflect upon the past, to discover the essential ingredients of culture, to gain insight into the why and how of events. Still, the longest journey begins with the first step. Padgett and Wilkens say readers must do their best to understand their own century, sure in knowledge that other, later scholars will correct their myopia.
The story of
Journey to Postmodernity in the Twentieth Century
begins in central
Early in the century, analytic philosophers Bertrand Russell and
G. E. Moore at
According to
Journey to Postmodernity in the Twentieth Century,
a similar school of thought was growing in
The continental tradition in the twentieth century tends to circle around Husserl's student Martin Heidegger. Heidegger's early work examined consciousness, as Husserl did, with a special focus on human Being that is conscious. In his central work, Being and Time (1927), he argued that knowledge of reality must begin with an investigation of the knower, that is, of human Being (Dasein in German, roughly meaning human existence in the world). Heidegger was also concerned with meaning, but focused on the meaning of human Being and of the world we live in, rather than simply the meaning of words. Yet Being and Time is pregnant with important insights for hermeneutics. He argued that traditional metaphysics had to be overcome, in order to clear the way for Being to speak. The turn to human Being as the ground of knowledge (as opposed to the stable Cartesian ego), alongside the general concern with the loss of center and loss of self during and after World War I, helped spark the rise of existentialism.
Existentialism was more of an attitude or trend than a specific style or method of philosophy. Building upon the work of Heidegger and other philosophers, existentialists investigated the meaning of human existence. They held (for the most part) that existence and freedom were basic. Human Being cannot be reduced to an object for empirical, scientific inquiry. They rejected the quest for scientific foundations in philosophy and for a rational basis for ethics. Each individual is unique and faces unique situations: only she can discover, for herself, what authentic existence means for her. To rely upon such external authorities for the meaning of our lives is ‘bad faith.’ Existentialism had a tremendous impact on Western culture, and Journey to Postmodernity in the Twentieth Century looks in some detail at its influence on Christian theology.
Existentialism represents a general reaction against reason, science and logical analysis. Following Heidegger, thinkers of this type rejected the pretensions of traditional metaphysics. No universal, scientific, rationalist approach to life can possibly be authentic or address one’s deepest personal needs. This general rejection of Enlightenment rationalism continues to the end of the century and expands to other movements.
Alongside Heidegger a key philosopher of the age was Ludwig Wittgenstein. Through arduous analysis and reflection upon his own earlier work, Wittgenstein changed completely the character of his philosophy with it, the analytic tradition. Meaning comes from use by a speaking community, in the actions of real life. We must pay attention to the way words are actually used in various contexts, in what he called ‘language games.’ By ignoring how language is grounded in many forms of life, philosophers have committed numerous errors. The goal of the philosophy therefore becomes therapeutic, rather than cognitive: we help thinkers overcome the errors that language has led them into. This behavioral, communal approach to meaning was just as detrimental to traditional metaphysics as logical positivism had been. It also served to undermine the logical program of Russell and Frege, and their more abstract, propositional notions of meaning and truth.
As told in
Journey to Postmodernity in the Twentieth Century,
Wittgenstein moved much closer to a kind of pragmatism in the
philosophy of language. Along with the work of the later
Wittgenstein, the philosophy of W. V. Quine and other logical
pragmatists effectively undermined the confident faith in logical
analysis characteristic of early analytic philosophies.
This loss of confidence reaches its acme in the work of the popular
American pragmatist Richard Rorty. Rorty insists that the history of
Western philosophy is a dead end, a quest for objective truth that
is doomed to failure. Enlightenment faith in reason must be rejected
for the ‘bad faith’ it was, and a pluralistic, relativistic and
pragmatic approach to truth and meaning must take its place. Rorty
is the parade example of post-modern analytic philosophy.
Recent French philosophy provides another example of post-modernity. The work of Michel Foucault and Jacques Derrida, sometimes described as ‘poststructuralist,’ exerts a powerful hold over Western intellectuals, especially in the humanities and human sciences. Foucault was primarily a social philosopher and historian. Like Wittgenstein and the logical pragmatists, he insists on the social and cultural foundations of all sciences, worldviews and philosophies. Furthermore, following the influence of Marx and Nietzsche, Foucault sees the hand of power and class behind the domination of a scientific program, a philosophy or a worldview. Such a historicist approach calls into question any notion of ‘truth’ for science, philosophy or theology.
Like Foucault, Derrida learned the questions and concerns of his teachers only to radically undermine their results. Derrida's work in philosophy focuses on language. He emphasizes the great distance that he finds between language and Being or ‘presence.’ Derrida finds Being to be under ‘erasure’ in the text, and the author to be dead – any appeal to some inner authorial intention as a norm for meaning is futile. Thus meaning is endlessly deferred, and difference (as we will see) becomes the leitmotif of Derrida's philosophy.
Clearly, according to Journey to Postmodernity in the Twentieth Century, the story of Western philosophy in the twentieth century is a story of great change. The century began with the attempt to ground philosophy in reason and create a scientific approach to philosophical issues. However, much popular and intellectual culture abandoned faith in the power of reason and science to discover certain truth about reality or to establish human control over it. In both the analytic and the phenomenological traditions, philosophers undermined the rationalism of earlier founders. By the end of the century postmodern philosophies, with their emphasis on the social construction of reality and the relativity of all claims to truth and meaning, dominated many academic disciplines. It does seem as if indeed the center did not hold.
Padgett and Wilkens discuss these movements fully Journey to Postmodernity in the Twentieth Century.
Covering the twentieth century's major figures and movements in
philosophy and theology in one volume is truly a feat! That the
authors have managed to narrate the history of both analytic and
continental varieties of thought in an engaging and lively way is
even more impressive. But what is perhaps most remarkable is how
judicious and measured the authors have been in their appraisals of
the respective figures and movements. The result is a most welcome
achievement. – Bruce Ellis Benson, professor of philosophy and chair
of the philosophy department,
As in the previous volumes, Christianity & Western Thought, Volume 3: Journey to Postmodernity in the Twentieth Century, Padgett and Wilkens prove able guides, assisting readers in understanding the various currents and landscapes along the way. This volume will meet the needs of students, pastors and general readers for a narrative introduction to the developments in Western philosophy in the twentieth century. This volume, when combined with the previous two, completes an authoritative history of Western thought since the birth of Christianity. The volume also stands alone, that is, the material is logical and reasonable even to readers not acquainted with the previous two volumes.
Religion & Spirituality / New Age / Health, Mind & Body /
Self-Help
Way of the Peaceful Warrior: A Book That Changes
Lives, Classic Edition by Dan Millman (H.J. Kramer/
This book is so appealing because it provides an easy access for people to naturally identify, connect and be in touch with the spiritual part of themselves. – Virginia Satir
Way of the Peaceful Warrior has become one of the most beloved spiritual sagas of our time. Shared among friends and families, this multimillion-copy, word-of-mouth bestseller has been translated into more than twenty languages and has inspired men and women of all ages worldwide. For the first time since the book's initial publication in 1980, it is available in a hardcover classic edition to celebrate its milestone 25 years.
As told by the author/narrator in Way of the Peaceful Warrior, despite his success, college student and world-champion athlete Dan Millman is haunted by a feeling that something is missing from his life. Awakened one night by dark dreams, he wanders into an all-night gas station. There he meets an old man named Socrates, and his world is changed forever. Guided by this eccentric old warrior and drawn to an elusive young woman named Joy, Dan begins a spiritual odyssey into realms of light and shadow, romance and mystery. He travels the paths of flesh and spirit, light and darkness, laughter and magic, learning new ways to see the world and live life fully. His journey ultimately leads him toward a final confrontation that will deliver or destroy him.
Thematically, Way of the Peaceful Warrior is the tale of the eternal human quest for the meaning of life is the path of transformation and enlightenment. It uncovers concepts known deep inside but allowed to wake up and be content with this knowledge. There is no need to search, so just be happy now! Love is the only reality of the world, because it is all One – and the only laws are paradox, humor and change.
Millman is a former world-champion athlete, gymnastics coach, martial arts instructor, and college professor. His books have touched millions of readers in thirty languages. He travels worldwide, teaching fresh and realistic ways to live with a peaceful heart and a warrior spirit.
… To this observer, Millman is a bit young, his life too charmed to speak authoritatively about enlightenment and cosmic wisdom, but millions of avid readers disagree. However one takes his professions of sagacity, as narrator as well as author, he has ample skill and showmanship, though one gets the impression that one has heard it all before. – Y.R., AudioFile (refers to the original edition in 1980, whose content has not been modified)
A very unusual book, remarkably wise, provocatively humorous, and hauntingly beautiful. It may even change the lives of many of those who peruse its pages. – Dr. Stanley Krippner, Institute for Humanistic Psychology
A piercing and very lively book. – Ken Dychtwald, Ph.D., author
of Body Mind
It is for me an important work of art and truth. It helped answer inner questions I've been battling for a long time. – Laura Goad, Association for Transpersonal Psychology
After reading Way of the Peaceful Warrior don't tuck it away on a bookshelf to gather dust. Keep it close at hand, and recapture guidance from many of the metaphors sprinkled throughout the story. The secret of happiness, Socrates so aptly points out, is not found in seeking more, but in developing the capacity to enjoy less. – Association for Humanistic Psychology Newsletter
This classic tale, told with heart and humor, speaks to something in each person. Countless readers have been moved to laughter, tears, and moments of illumination as they rediscover life’s larger meaning and purpose. This edition is another opportunity for readers who have not yet done so to follow the peaceful warrior’s path and find out for themselves why Way of the Peaceful Warrior changes lives.
Religion & Spirituality / Occult / Arts & Photography / Biographies & Memoirs
Athanasius Kircher’s Theatre of the World:
The Life
and Work of the Last Man to Search for Universal Knowledge by Joscelyn Godwin (Inner Traditions)
Athanasius Kircher’s Theatre of the World is a major study of both the written and pictorial work of a neglected genius.
Athanasius Kircher (1602-1680) was a Jesuit, linguist,
archaeologist, and exceptional scholar, whose breadth of interest
made him the last true Renaissance man. To Kircher the entire world
was a glorious manifestation of God whose exploration was both a
scientific quest and a religious experience. His works on Egyptology
(he is credited with being the first Egyptologist), music, optics,
magnetism, geology, and comparative religion were the definitive
texts of their time – and yet they represent only a part of his vast
range of knowledge. A Christian Hermeticist in the mold of Marsilio
Ficino and Pico della Mirandola, his work also examined alchemy, the
Kabbalah, and the Egyptian mystery tradition exemplified by Hermes
Trismegistus.
The Hermetic cast of Kircher’s thought, which was foreign to the
concerns of those propelling the Age of Reason, coupled with the
breadth of his interests, caused many of his contributions to be
widely overlooked – an oversight now rectified by Joscelyn Godwin,
musicologist and translator, professor of music at
Kircher was the first to map ocean currents; the first to offer a
comprehensive theory of vulcanism; the first to compile an
encyclopedia on
In May 2002, Godwin says, he was eating breakfast in a
Since there is a long list of recent Kircher literature, Goodwin says he must justify adding another to them. His first principle is to let Kircher speak for himself, both in words and in pictures. Caterina Marrone writes: “It has been said that Kircher could not think except in images, but in fact thinking in images was not a limitation for him, but rather the realization of a forma mentis which he constantly followed.” However, in order for modern people to enjoy this kind of activity, most of them need a helping hand across the gulf of history, culture, religion and erudition that yawns between Kircher's age and ours.
Athanasius Kircher’s Theatre of the World supplies all of the important illustrations of Kircher's works with explanations based, whenever possible, on his own words. It may be a poor substitute for reading the books themselves, but few today have access to these rare volumes and time to read them. And, to be honest, who would want to? Kircher's writing abounds in superfluities, repetitions and sermonizing: that is why his books are so long, and why no one translates them. The illustrations, on the other hand, have a quality of ingenuity and strangeness that are particular to his century, and of singular appeal to ours. More eloquent to our sensibilities than his inflated prose, they cry out to be understood.
That applies especially to the great symbolic frontispieces and the didactic images. There is also a host of lesser illustrations that need little explanation. Some are purely decorative, but even these can open windows on Kircher's world and the attitudes of his contemporaries. What, for example, is one to make of a picture of a unicorn, or a dragon? Kircher knew that the first no longer existed, but was sure that dragons did. The serious consideration of his theories by bodies such as the Royal Society betrays a climate of attitudes far closer to Kircher's than to those of the scientists and philosophers who
eventually turned out to be ‘right’, and who dominate a simplified historiography. Even now, not all of Kircher's errors have been rectified – experts still debate the chronologies of ancient empires, the makeup of the earth's interior, the causes of the tides. The biblical literalism that acted as a straitjacket on Kircher's brilliant mind is, astonishingly, still with us. Participation in Kircher's museum, or theatre, or ecstatic journey – whichever metaphor one prefers – is both an education and a surrealistic adventure, rather like the parallel universe in which he is deemed so ‘cool’.
The plan of
Athanasius Kircher’s Theatre of the World follows
the categories of the Kunst- and Wunderkammer, the ‘chamber of art
and marvels’ that was the precursor of museums: Artificialia (works
of the human hand), here represented by Antiquities; Naturalia
(wonders of nature); Scientifica (devices of human ingenuity); and
Exotica (things from outside
Almost any modern work on archaeology, geology, science,
medicine, or even Egyptian or Chinese history will present some
intriguing fact … with a footnote referencing a work by Athanasius
Kircher (1601-1680). The work of the polymath Jesuit richly rewards
pursuit, and Joscelyn Godwin, a distinguished translator and
professor of music at
Here we have a virtual window into the mind of a 17th century genius. Athanasius Kircher’s Theatre of the World fully and masterfully examines every area of Kircher’s wide field of study and accomplishment. The large volume is magnificently illustrated with the stunning engravings from Kircher’s work.
Sports / Coaching / Psychology
Sport and Character: Reclaiming the Principles of
Sportsmanship by Craig Clifford & Randolph M. Feezell (Human
Kinetics)
In an era when our nightly news is filled with reports of athletes
run amok on the field, on the court, and on the street, and when
cheating by players and coaches has become a part of the daily
discourse, sportsmanship has never been a more timely topic.
Using examples from commonly occurring situations, Sport and Character brings to life what is required in order to be a good sport. Special ‘News Breaks’ incorporated throughout the text present practical examples of sportsmanship drawn from current sport news, including articles about Michael Phelps, Shawn Johnson, Jimmy Rollins, and Nastia Liukin. Inspirational quotes by Phil Jackson, John Wooden, and Mickey Mantle add vitality to this tool for building good athletes and good citizens. Unique ‘Time-Out for Reflection’ questions help readers examine the ethics of their coaching.
Sport and Character is endorsed by the American Sport Education Program (ASEP).
Authors are Craig Clifford, former head varsity men's and women's
tennis coach at
Unlike other books, Sport and Character discusses not only how to teach sportsmanship but also why sportsmanship supports the health and welfare of individuals engaged in competitive play. Clifford and Feezell, both successful coaches and respected teachers and authors on the subject of ethics in sport, begin by offering a framework for thinking about sportsmanship. After reading a discussion of the principles of sportsmanship, readers learn how these principles can penetrate beyond the sport arena to provide guidance for everyday life. With real-life situations that occur both on and off the field, Sport and Character illustrates readers’ unique opportunity to teach and model sportsmanship for their athletes.
Randolph Feezell is, as I see things, quite simply the most
engaging writer in philosophy of sport. His contributions to virtue
ethics, especially regarding the virtue of sportsmanship, should be
read by everyone who is interested in the moral character of
contemporary athletes, coaches, and fans. – Daniel Dombrowski,
Professor of Philosophy,
Sport and Character addresses the key reason
athletic competition is relevant and important – the development of
sound character through competitive sports. This book provides a
good look at the reasons for our national decline in sportsmanship
and ways we can restore time-honored principles dedicated to
character development through athletics. – Tom Osborne, Athletic
Director,
Sport and Character can help those involved in sport tackle the important lessons of sportsmanship. The book revitalizes readers’ ideas of sportsmanship, helping them balance the playful side of sport with the seriousness of competition. And by reminding readers of an alternative view to a win-at-all-costs mentality, the book inspires readers to renew their focus on incorporating lessons of sportsmanship in their coaching.
Travel / Cooking, Food & Wine
My Nepenthe: Bohemian Tales of Food, Family, and
Ultimately, My Nepenthe is a story about food, family, and the culture of place, and how it all unfolds around the table and why that matters.
In 2009 Nepenthe commemorates sixty years of bringing writers, artists, dancers, travelers, actors, and cooks together around the table. Located on the Big Sur cliffs 808 feet above the Pacific Ocean, Nepenthe Restaurant boasts sweeping views of the rugged Santa Lucia Mountains and the wild south coast of Monterey County. Angular mountains plunge into the crashing surf below, and on a clear day there is no limit to the scenery, unspoiled and immense in nature. Opened in 1949 by the Fassett family, the restaurant is nestled among native oak trees and a historic log cabin (now faced by brick) that was once owned by Orson Welles and Rita Hayworth.
Nepenthe has become a cultural icon synonymous with
A lyrical feast written by the owners' granddaughter, Romney Steele, writer, cook, and food stylist, who grew up at the restaurant, My Nepenthe is as much about a family enterprise as it is about the Fassett family and their legacy. It recounts stories about the family's more than sixty-year history on the coast, the arts and architecture, and the colorful people who were the genesis of this legendary restaurant.
My Nepenthe marks the restaurant's vibrant past as a gathering place and noted bohemian haunt, and its foray into the film industry during the shooting of The Sandpiper, featuring Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton. It also explores the lively scene that played out into the '70s, and onward through the current decade where it showcases Nepenthe's unique relationship with Pisoni Vineyards, owned by the renowned winemaker family. My Nepenthe includes more than seventy-five special recipes along with spectacular photography that completes the tale.
Steele – Nani, as she is known to family and friends – opened Café Kevah, an outdoor cafe on the Nepenthe grounds, when she was twenty-six years old. She later served as a pastry chef at Sierra Mar Restaurant at neighboring Post Ranch Inn. As Nepenthe celebrates its 60th anniversary, she delves into her own memories, those of family members, and the restaurant's archives. In the process, she re-creates Nepenthe's years of bringing writers, artists, dancers, travelers, actors, and cooks together around the table.
My Nepenthe readers will enjoy the collection of recipes from the Fassett family, the restaurant, and the cafe, along with the history, anecdotes, archival black-and-white photos, and breathtaking color photography of Sara Remington. Also of interest:
- The art and architecture that made Nepenthe revered around the world.
- The story of Lolly Fassett, Romney's grandmother, and the spirit and strength behind the creation of Nepenthe and its legacy. Nepenthe's Shangri-La atmosphere is the result of Lolly's vision to create ‘an isle of no care.’
- The creative influences of the founders' friends, international artists, and sculptors who contributed their ideas in making Nepenthe fabulous.
- Nepenthe's role as a gathering place and focal point for bohemian America, a place that featured folk dancing, fashion shows, poetry readings, concerts, and the presence of notables including Henry Miller (who used it as his favorite watering hole), Jack Kerouac, Kim Novak, and Steve McQueen.
- Family history including Romney's great-great-grandfather, who founded Carmel, CA, and her uncle Kaffe Fassett, a renowned textile artist.
- A restaurant known for serving uncomplicated fare – grilled steaks, sandwiches, and salads – according to the founders' original vision. Nepenthe is now recognized as a destination among wine enthusiasts.
My Nepenthe also includes special sections about the filming of The Sandpiper (1965), which featured scenes from Nepenthe's terrace, as well as Nepenthe's unique relationship with the renowned Pisoni winemaking family.
A very special book about a very special place. – Michael Pollan,
author of The Omnivore's Dilemma and In Defense of Food
What a world Romney Steele has given us in
My Nepenthe! This personal tale is as tender and
bright as a bite of Nepenthe Cheese Pie and will transport me – and
you – to
Romney Steele grew up in the lively bohemian milieu of Nepenthe
on the
Steele creates a beautiful storybook weaving together stories and
recipes in
My Nepenthe. The book celebrates the magic and
history of place through food and the Fassett family who started
Nepenthe. In the end, this is not the definitive Nepenthe story or
an unbiased account, but the way Steele experienced it. It is her
Nepenthe.
Travel / US / States
New York's Unique and Unexpected Places by Judith Stonehill & Alexandra Stonehill, with a foreword by Ethan Hawke (Universe)
More than forty-seven million visitors come to
New York's Unique and Unexpected Places is written for adventurers and dreamers who want to explore the city’s uncommon, but fascinating, less familiar sites. The book will delight urban enthusiasts, New Yorkers, and the countless tourists determined to discover – and sometimes rediscover – these fifty memorable destinations. Readers experience secluded gardens, idiosyncratic museums, little shops here and there, and the occasional well-known place with distinctive treasures.
New York's Unique and Unexpected Places aims to
coax readers to venture beyond
Readers enjoy the dazzling contrasts within the city: the unfolding perspectives seen from a park in the sky or from the front porch of an eighteenth-century farmhouse; a wildlife refuge, an innovative center for architecture; an extraordinary map collection; small museums dedicated to skyscrapers, finance, sculpture, and fashion; the urban cacophony of melodious songbirds; poetry read aloud, the sounds of jazz, and the chatter of some zoo languages spoken by the city's inhabitants. They observe the river traffic from a waterfront boardwalk or from the lawn of a Victorian cottage; notice the details that give each area a sense of place: the diverse shops, a surprising number of little parks, and the sidewalk choreography that varies from one neighborhood to the next; spend time at places of inspiration: a sculptor's studio, a tranquil chapel, a garden of stones; note the clouds tangled between buildings during the day and the soaring towers illuminated each night.
The fifty places in New York's Unique and Unexpected Places are: Alice Austen House Museum, Staten Island; Biblical Garden at Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine, Upper Manhattan; Bowne & Company Stationers, Lower Manhattan; Brooklyn Flea, Fort Greene, Brooklyn; Campbell Apartment, Midtown Manhattan; Center for Architecture, Greenwich Village; Chapel of the Good Shepherd, Midtown Manhattan; Chinese Scholar's Garden, Staten Island; Dyckman Farmhouse, Upper Manhattan; Economy Candy, Lower East Side; Elevated Acre, Lower Manhattan; Film Forum, South Village; Garden at St. Luke's in the Fields, Greenwich Village; Garden of Stones, Lower Manhattan; Gardens of the Cloisters, Upper Manhattan; Grolier Club, Midtown Manhattan; Greenmarket Farmers Market, Midtown Manhattan; High Line, Greenwich Village/Chelsea; Hispanic Society of America, Upper Manhattan; Hua Mei Bird Garden, Lower East Side; Idlewild Books, Chelsea; Irish Hunger Memorial, Lower Manhattan; Italian American Museum, Little Italy/Chinatown; Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge, Broad Channel, Queens; Japan Society, Midtown Manhattan; Joanne Hendricks Cookbooks, South Village; Little India, Jackson Heights, Queens; Louis Armstrong House Museum, Corona, Queens; Map Room of the New York Public Library, Midtown Manhattan; Merchant's House Museum, East Village; Museum at Eldridge Street, Lower East Side/Chinatown; Museum of American Finance, Lower Manhattan; Museum of Chinese in America, Lower East Side/Chinatown; Museum of the City of New York, Upper Manhattan; Museum at FIT, Chelsea; New York Academy of Medicine, Upper Manhattan; New York City Fire Museum, South Village; New York Transit Museum, Downtown Brooklyn; Nicholas Roerich Museum, Upper Manhattan; Noguchi Museum, Long Island City, Queens; Pageant Print Shop, East Village; Poets House, Lower Manhattan; P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center, Long Island City, Queens; Rubin Museum of Art, Chelsea; Russ & Daughters, Lower East Side; Scandinavia House, Midtown Manhattan; Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Harlem, Upper Manhattan; The Skyscraper Museum, Lower Manhattan; Tender Buttons, Midtown Manhattan; Three Lives & Company, Greenwich Village; and Wave Hill, Riverdale, Bronx.
New York's Unique and Unexpected Places is a
practical guide for local residents or the intrepid travelers who
want to take full advantage of what
Contents this Issue:
From My Side: Being a Child by
Sylvia C. Chard & Yvonne Kogan (KPress/Gryphon House)
Last Words: A Memoir by George
Carlin with Tony Hendra (Free Press)
Gladiator:
A Questionable Life: A Novel by Luke Lively (Beaufort Books)
Wyatt's Revenge: A Matt Royal
Mystery by H. Terrell Griffin (Oceanview Publishing)
The Hidden Dance by Susan Wooldridge (Allison & Busby)
Our Dark Side: A History of Perversion by Élisabeth Roudinesco, translated by David Macey (Polity)