Best of
Academic

1976

Linear Algebra and Its Applications


Gilbert Strang - 1976
    While the mathematics is there, the effort is not all concentrated on proofs. Strang's emphasis is on understanding. He explains concepts, rather than deduces. This book is written in an informal and personal style and teaches real mathematics. The gears change in Chapter 2 as students reach the introduction of vector spaces. Throughout the book, the theory is motivated and reinforced by genuine applications, allowing pure mathematicians to teach applied mathematics.

Peasants Into Frenchmen: The Modernization of Rural France, 1870-1914


Eugen Weber - 1976
    For a hundred years and more after the Revolution, millions of peasants lived on as if in a timeless world, their existence little different from that of the generations before them.The author of this lively, often witty, and always provocative work traces how France underwent a veritable crisis of civilization in the early years of the French Republic as traditional attitudes and practices crumbled under the forces of modernization. Local roads and railways were the decisive factors, bringing hitherto remote and inaccessible regions into easy contact with markets and major centers of the modern world. The products of industry rendered many peasant skills useless, and the expanding school system taught not only the language of the dominant culture but its values as well, among them patriotism. By 1914, France had finally become La Patrie in fact as it had so long been in name.

Philosophical Hermeneutics


Hans-Georg Gadamer - 1976
    Gadamer applies hermeneutical analysis to Heidegger and Husserl's phenomenology, an approach that proves critical and instructive.

Elementary Number Theory


David M. Burton - 1976
    It reveals the attraction that has drawn leading mathematicians and amateurs alike to number theory over the course of history.

The Accursed Share: An Essay on General Economy, Volume II: The History of Eroticism and Volume III: Sovereignty


Georges Bataille - 1976
    In the second and third volumes, The History of Eroticism and Sovereignty, Bataille explores the same paradox of utility from an anthropological and an ethical perspective, respectively. The History of Eroticism analyzes the fears and fascination, the prohibitions and transgressions attached to the realm of eroticism as so many expressions of the "uselessness" of erotic life.

Perception and Misperception in International Politics


Robert Jervis - 1976
    The New York Times called it, in an article published nearly ten years after the book's appearance, the seminal statement of principles underlying political psychology.The perspective established by Jervis remains an important counterpoint to structural explanations of international politics, and from it has developed a large literature on the psychology of leaders and the problems of decision making under conditions of incomplete information, stress, and cognitive bias.Jervis begins by describing the process of perception (for example, how decision makers learn from history) and then explores common forms of misperception (such as overestimating one's influence). Finally, he tests his ideas through a number of important events in international relations from nineteenth- and twentieth-century European history.In a contemporary application of Jervis's ideas, some argue that Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait in 1990 in part because he misread the signals of American leaders with regard to the independence of Kuwait. Also, leaders of the United States and Iraq in the run-up to the most recent Gulf War might have been operating under cognitive biases that made them value certain kinds of information more than others, whether or not the information was true. Jervis proved that, once a leader believed something, that perception would influence the way the leader perceived all other relevant information.

Social Learning Theory


Albert Bandura - 1976
    An exploration of contemporary advances in social learning theory with special emphasis on the important roles played by cognitive, vicarious, and self-regulatory processes.

Foundations of Christian Faith: An Introduction to the Idea of Christianity


Karl Rahner - 1976
    This remarkably comprehensive volume gives a page by page explanation of Rahner’s great summary Foundations of Christian Faith. With an excellent introduction and helpful indices, this book is an indispensable addition to every theological library.

Choose Life: A Dialogue


Arnold Joseph Toynbee - 1976
    This epic, multi-volume work offered a grand synthesis of world history from the global perspective of the rise and fall of civilizations, rather than concentrating on the history of nation-states or of ethnic groups. For Time magazine Toynbee was 'an international sage' and certainly in the same bracket as 'Einstein, Schweitzer or Bertrand Russell'. Daisaku Ikeda is a figure of global stature, the spiritual leader of a worldwide lay Buddhist organisation devoted to the promotion of education, culture and peace. Between 1971 and 1974 Toynbee and Ikeda discussed many of the vital issues which confronted their societies in the early 1970s, all of which remain current and significant. Indeed, topics such as the problems of pollution, dwindling natural resources, conflict and war, the role of religion, and population growth, are even more pressing than they were thirty years ago. In this volume - which still reads as freshly as it did when it was first published, and which is now reissued for a new generation of readers - the inspiring challenge issued by both men is framed as follows: will humankind choose to salvage its destiny by a revolution in thinking and morals? Or will disaster ensue if it pursues its present course towards self-destruction and the despoliation of the environment? While recognising that our survival is threatened by the imbalance between human immaturity and technological achievement, the optimistic message of this classic Dialogue is that man-made evils have a man-made cure.

Symbolic Exchange and Death


Jean Baudrillard - 1976
    This major work, appearing in English for the first time, occupies a central place in the rethinking of the humanities and social sciences around the idea of postmodernism.It leads the reader on an exhilarating tour encompassing the end of Marxism, the enchantment of fashion, symbolism about sex and the body, and the relations between economic exchange and death. Most significantly, the book represents Baudrillard's fullest elaboration of the concept of the three orders of the simulacra, defining the historical passage from production to reproduction to simulation.A classic in its field, Symbolic Exc

Neuropsychological Assessment


Muriel Deutsch Lezak - 1976
    Drawing on their diverse interests, they provide authoritative, broad-based, and in-depth coverage of current research and clinical practice in neuropsychology. They have not, however, changed the book's overall organization. The first eight chapters present the knowledge base for understanding the principles and practice of patient-oriented, hypothesis-testing neuropsychological assessment. The last 12 chapters review nearly all tests and assessment techniques discussed in previous editions plus many new ones and recent revisions of older tests. The extent of the updating is apparent from the fact that approximately half of the more than 7,000 references cited appeared since the last edition was published.Many new topics relevant to current assessment practices have been added to the 4th edition. The chapter on examination procedures, for example, now contains sections on cognitive functioning in pain and PTSD patients. The chapter on brain disorders includes new material on electrical/lighting injuries, migraine, Alzheimer's disease and other dementing disorders, and both medical and psychological treatments. The discussion of assessment procedures has been updated throughout to cover recently published test batteries used in general neuropsychological assessment (e.g., mental abilities, memory), newly developed batteries for specific issues (e.g., frontal lobe evaluation), and recent research on older neuropsychological assessment batteries. The fully revised chapter on assessing response bias describes and evaluates more than 60 tests, test combinations, and other measures for detecting questionable effort within the context of forensic neuropsychological assessment.

Physical Examination of the Spine and Extremities


Stanley Hoppenfeld - 1976
    Useful to students and clinicians, this text covers the process of physical examination of the spine and extremities.

The History of Sexuality, Volume 1: An Introduction


Michel Foucault - 1976
    Michel Foucault offers an iconoclastic exploration of why we feel compelled to continually analyze and discuss sex, and of the social and mental mechanisms of power that cause us to direct the questions of what we are to what our sexuality is.

Man and Nature: The Spiritual Crisis in Modern Man


Seyyed Hossein Nasr - 1976
    This is a spiritual tour de force which explores the relationship between Man and Nature as found in Taoism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Christianity and Islam, particularly its Sufi dimension.

The Treasures of Darkness: A History of Mesopotamian Religion


Thorkild Jacobsen - 1976
    It will undoubtedly remain for a long time a classic in its field.”—Religious Studies Review“The Treasures of Darkness is the culmination of a lifetime’s work, an attempt to summarize and recreate the spiritual life of Ancient Mesopotamia. Jacobsen has succeeded brilliantly. . . . His vast experience shows through every page of this unique book, through the vivid, new translations resulting from years of careful research. Everyone interested in early Mesopotamia, whether specialist, student, or complete layman, should read this book. . . . It is, quite simply, authoritative, based on a vast experience of the ancient Mesopotamian mind, and very well written in the bargain.”—Brian M. Fagan, History“Professor Jacobsen is an authority on Sumerian life and society, but he is above all a philologist of rare sensibility. The Treasures of Darkness is almost entirely devoted to textual evidence, the more gritty sources of archaeological knowledge being seldom mentioned. He introduces many new translations which are much finer than previous versions. . . . Simply to read this poetry and the author’s sympathetic commentary is a pleasure and a revelation. Professor Jacobsen accepts the premise that all religion springs from man’s experience of a power not of this world, a mysterious ‘Wholly Other.’ This numinous power cannot be described in terms of worldly experience but only in allusive ‘metaphors’ that serve as a means of communication in religious teaching and thought. . . . As a literary work combining sensibility, imagination and scholarship, this book is near perfection.”—Jacquetta Hawkes, The London Sunday Times“A fascinating book. The general reader cannot fail to admire the translated passages of Sumerian poetry with which it abounds, especially those illustrating the Dumuzi-Inanna cycle of courtship, wedding and lament for the god’s untimely death. Many of these (though not all) are new even to the specialist and will repay close study.”—B.O.R. Gurney, Times Literary Supplement

Character Sketches, Volume 1


Institute in Basic Life Principles - 1976
    Job remarked, 'But ask now the beasts, and they shall teach thee; and the fowls of the air, and they shall tell thee: Or speak to the earth, and it shall teach thee: and the fishes of the sea shall declare unto thee' (Job 12:7-8). Each section of this Character Sketches volume begins with a captivating read-aloud nature story that introduces the character quality being taught and continues with interesting facts on the featured animal's characteristics and physical features. This is followed by a story from Scripture that illustrates the character quality, along with background information on the individual or situation in the story, which is then summed up in a character sketch. Generously illustrated with stunning lifelike watercolor and pencil drawings, this oversized book (9 1/4 by 12 1/4) will be treasured and enjoyed for generations. The series is designed to be a tool that fathers can use to teach their children basic concepts of Scripture that are illustrated in the world of nature. Since publication in 1976, hundreds of thousands have enjoyed the gripping stories and beautiful illustrations that the volumes contain. In Character Sketches, Volume I, you will learn about animals such as the Great Horned Owl and how it demonstrates loyalty, and the Raccoon and how it displays initiative. You will also discover from Scripture how people like Daniel showed decisiveness and Stephen exhibited determination.

Redating the New Testament


John A.T. Robinson - 1976
    

Volcanoes


Peter Francis - 1976
    Featuring excellent illustrations, the text includes a new chapter on volcanic hazards, which looks at complexscientific and sociological issues surrounding risk mitigation. In addition, it provides updated information on new eruptions, research findings, and planetary studies while preserving the strengths of the first edition-accessibility, clarity, and wit. Volcanoes, 2/e is ideal for undergraduatecourses in geology, earth science, geography, environmental science and planetary science.

Lighten Our Darkness


Douglas John Hall - 1976
    Monge In this great classic, Douglas John Hall analyzes the inadequacies and dangers of the officially optimistic society of North America and its officially optimistic religion. He then appeals to the thin tradition of Luther and Kierkegaard within Christian history as a way into the darkness of our time. He eloquently appeals to this theology of the cross as not only pointing toward a new image of human nature for Christians today but also affording us a glimmer of true light. Students, laypersons, clergy, and many others will find here a gripping critique of modern Western culture and a way toward genuine Christian faith in challenging times. Mind-shaking and spirit-shaking. -- John C. Bennett One of the best and most constructive theological critiques of culture and religion to come along in a good while. -- Larry Rasmussen I believe this is an important book. I know that it is stimulating and provocative--almost maddeningly so. . . .Thoughtful Christians need to reckon with the ideas contained in this book. -- Edgar M. Carlson, The Lutheran Quarterly Douglas John Hall, one of the most respected of North American theologians, is Professor Emeritus of Theology at McGill University, Montreal. Among his many books is the trilogy Christian Theology in a North American Context, which consists of Thinking the Faith, Professing the Faith, and Confessing the Faith. His popular Why Christian? For Those on the Edge of Faith was published in 1998.

Differential Geometry of Curves and Surfaces


Manfredo P. Do Carmo - 1976
    This volume covers local as well as global differential geometry of curves and surfaces.

Return to the Center


Bede Griffiths - 1976
    154 paged-paperback "Return to the Center" by Bede Griffiths.

Megastructure: Urban Futures Of The Recent Past


Reyner Banham - 1976
    

The Elements of Real Analysis


Robert G. Bartle - 1976
    The algebraic and order properties of the real number system are presented in a simpler fashion than in the previous edition.

A Companion To Beethoven's Piano Sonatas (Signature S.)


Donald Francis Tovey - 1976
    This book contains a summary of the author's analytical approach before each sonata is dealt with in detail.

A Literature of Their Own: British Women Novelists From Brontë to Lessing


Elaine Showalter - 1976
    Showalter is one of the few scholars who can make her readers rush to their bookshelves to refute her point, or simply to experience again Jane Eyre, The Mill on the Floss, or the bitterly illuminating stories of Katherine Mansfield. Her chief innovation is to place the works of famous women writers beside those of the minor or forgotten, building a continuity of influence and inspiration as well as a more complete picture of the social conditions in which women's books have been produced. She has added a new introduction recounting, with justifiable pleasure, how daring and controversial her study seemed when it first appeared in 1977 (and how many enemies it made her). In an afterword, she touches on more recent developments in the women's novel in Britain, including the influence of the dazzling Angela Carter. --Regina Marler

Rymes of Robyn Hood


R.B. Dobson - 1976
    In recent years historians and literary critics have begun to study the legend of Robin Hood, taking as their starting point the earliest known ballads from the 14th century and beyond. Thirteen of the surviving ballad texts are reproduced in this volume, with accompanying commentary and an additional selection of related poems and play extracts. Together they illustrate the development of the Robin Hood myth from his medieval portrayal as a common criminal to the romantic idealization of pre-industrial merry England in the nostalgia of the 19th century.

Hollywood Costume Design


David Chierichetti - 1976
    Here is every motion picture studio- MGM, Paramount, Warner Brothers, Fox, RKO, Columbia, Universal, United Artists and the independents-the men who ran them, he stars who describe in their own words what is was like to work for the great Hollywood dream machine.

Eleanor Marx: A Biography


Yvonne Kapp - 1976
    She was the only one to be born, live, love, work and die in England and to become a public figure in her own right. Yvonne Kapp, in this highly acclaimed biography, brilliantly succeeds in capturing Eleanor's spirit, from a lively child, opining on the world's affairs, to the new woman, aspiring to the stage, earning her living as a free intellectual, and helping to lead England's unskilled workers at the height of the new unionism; being always more than, yet at the same time inescapably, Marx's daughter. So inevitably--and fortunately--Eleanor's biography is also an unrivalled biography of the Marx house-hold in Victorian London, of the Marx circle, and especially of Frederick Engels, the family's extraordinary mentor.

Essential Dictionary of Music: Definitions, Composers, Theory, Instrument & Vocal Ranges : The Most Practical and Useful Music Dictionary for Students ... (The Essential Dictionary Series)


Lindsey C. Harnsberger - 1976
    This pocket-sized reference book includes a broad range of important information, from basic principles of theory and concise biographies of composers to pronunciations of foreign terms and ranges of instruments and voices. The Essential Dictionary of Music is an easy-to-use reference covering every major aspect of music. Over 330 pages.

The Early Mesoamerican Village: Archaeological Research Strategy for an Endangered Species


Kent V. Flannery - 1976
    Starting from the activity area, and moving through the house, barrio, village, and region to the interregional level, this book questions and probes archeological methods, presuppositions, and attitudes.

Celebrating The Duke: And Louis, Bessie, Billie, Bird, Carmen, Miles, Dizzy And Other Heroes


Ralph J. Gleason - 1976
    It is a fitting memorial to an outstanding critic and writer."--Jazz Journal Celebrating the Duke offers readers a perceptive, panoramic survey of jazz as revealed, in illuminating detail, through the lives and music of its heroes and heroines, including Bessie Smith, Louis Armstrong, Jimmie Lunceford, Lester Young, Charlie Parker, Albert Ayler, Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, and a rich cache of writings on "America's greatest composer," the Duke himself.Foreword by Studs TerkelNew introduction by Ira Gitler

Chambers Murray Latin-English Dictionary


William Smith - 1976
    First published in 1933, the Chambers Murray Latin-English Dictionary is the standard reference text for all advanced students of Latin.

The Art & Imagination of W.E.B. DuBois


Arnold Rampersad - 1976
    

The Role of the Father in Child Development


Michael E. Lamb - 1976
    Under the auspices of editor Michael Lamb, this guide offers a single-source reference for the most recent findings and beliefs related to fathers and fatherhood.This new and thoroughly updated edition provides the latest material on such topics as:The development of father-child relationships Gay fathers The effects of divorce on fathers and children Fathers in violent and neglectful families Cross-cultural issues of fatherhood Fathers in nonindustrialized cultures The Role of the Father in Child Development, Fourth Edition helps mental health professionals bridge scientific theories to application and practice that teach fathers how to positively influence their children's development.

The Joyless Economy: The Psychology of Human Satisfaction


Tibor Scitovsky - 1976
    Within a few years, however, this apparently paradoxical claim was gaining wide acceptance. Scitovsky's ground-breaking book was the first to apply theories of behaviorist psychology to questions of consumer behavior and to do so in clear, non-technical language. Setting out to analyze the failures of our consumerist lifestyle, Scitovsky concluded that people's need for stimulation is so vital that it can lead to violence if not satisfied by novelty--whether in challenging work, art, fashion, gadgets, late-model cars, or scandal. Though much of the book stands as a record of American post-war prosperity and its accompanying problems, the revised edition also takes into account recent social and economic changes. A new preface and a foreword by economist Robert Frank introduce some of the issues created by those changes and two revised chapters develop them, discussing among others the assimilation of counter-cultural ideas throughout American society, especially ideas concerning quality of life. Scitovsky draws fascinating connections between the new elite of college-educated consumers and the emergence of a growing underclass plagued by drugs and violence, perceptively tracing the reactions of these disparate groups to the problems of leisure and boredom. In the wake of the so-called decade of greed and amidst calls for a kindler, gentler society, The Joyless Economy seems more timely than ever.

Theories of Vision from Al-kindi to Kepler


David C. Lindberg - 1976
    Yet the full import of Kepler's arguments can be grasped only when they are viewed against the background of ancient, medieval, and Renaissance visual theory. David C. Lindberg provides this background, and in doing so he fills the gap in historical scholarship and constructs a model for tracing the development of scientific ideas. David C. Lindberg is professor and chairman of the department of the history of science at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.

History of Indian Buddhism


Etienne Lamotte - 1976
    E. Lamotte's most brilliant contribution to the field of Buddhist exegesis. The work contains a vivid, vigorous and fully-detailed description of early Buddhism and its teachings, the material organization of the Community, the formation and further developments of the writings, the conciliar traditions, the evolution of Buddhist sculpture and architecture, the origins of the sects, the Buddhist dialects and the constitution of the legends, and sets them in the historical background in which buddhist doctrines originated and expanded in India and in the neighbouring countries. Using the material evidence provided by Indian epigraphy and archaeological remains on the one hand, and taking into account the data supplied by Western (Latin and Greek) and Far Eastern (Tibetan and Chinese) sources on the other, Msgr. E. Lamotte has succeeded in producing a lucid and basic book that is unanimously considered as a classic of contemporary Buddhist studies. After thirty years, the work has retained all its value, but, in order to meet the requirements of recent Buddhist scholarship, the History of Indian Buddhism has been supplemented with an additional bibliography, an index of technical terms and revised geographical maps.

Character Text for Beginning Chinese


John DeFrancis - 1976
    In this parallel character version of Beginning Chinese, dialogues, pronunciation drills, sentence-building exercises, substitution drills and memorization exercises correspond to the same lessons Beginning Chinese offers in English and in pinyin romanization of Mandarin.

Foundations Of Finan


Eugene F. Fama - 1976
    

Winners & Losers: Battles, Retreats, Gains, Losses, and Ruins from the Vietnam War


Gloria Emerson - 1976
    From soldiers on the battlefield to protesters on the home front, Emerson chronicles the war s impact on ordinary lives with characteristic insight and brilliance. Today, as we approach the fiftieth anniversary of the Gulf of Tonkin incident, much of the physical and emotional damage from that conflict the empty political rhetoric, the mounting casualties, and the troubled homecomings of shell-shocked soldiers is once again part of the American experience. Winners and Losers remains a potent reminder of the danger of blindly applied American power, and its poignant truths are the legacy of a remarkable journalist."

Culture and Practical Reason


Marshall Sahlins - 1976
    He demonstrates that symbols enter all phases of social life: those which we tend to regard as strictly pragmatic, or based on concerns with material need or advantage, as well as those which we tend to view as purely symbolic, such as ideology, ritual, myth, moral codes, and the like. . . ."—Robert McKinley, Reviews in Anthropology

Teachings from the American Earth: Indian Religion and Philosophy


Dennis Tedlock - 1976
    The first part of the book emphasizes the practical and includes Isaac Tens's "Career of the Medicine Man". The second section concentrates on the theoretical and contains Benjamin Lee Whorf's "American Indian Model of the Universe" and chapters on Indian metaphysics, among other things. In addition to an introductory essay on the Indian's stance towards reality, the editors have contributed chapters entitled "The Clown's Way" and "An American Indian View of Death".

The Politics of Cultural Nationalism in South India


Marguerite Ross Barnett - 1976
    By exploring the history of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam party, the author provides a new perspective on political identity. In so doing, she challenges the interpretation of cultural nationalism as a product of atavistic and primordial forces that poses an inherent threat to the integrity of territorially defined nation-states and thus to the progress of modernization.The founding of the DMK party in 1949, the author shows, was a turning point in the political history of Tamil Nadu, South India, because it ushered in the era of Tamil cultural nationalism. In the hands of the DMK, Tamil nationalism became an ideology of mass mobilization and thus shaped the articulation of political demands for a generation. The author analyzes the social, political, and economic factors that gave rise to cultural nationalism; the interplay between cultural nationalist leaders; and the role of cultural nationalism in a heterogeneous nation-state.Originally published in 1976.The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These paperback editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

Psychophysics: Method, Theory, And Application


George A. Gescheider - 1976
    This book introduces students to the fundamentals of classical and modern psychophysics.

Myth, Literature and the African World


Wole Soyinka - 1976
    The ways in which the African world perceives itself as a cultural entity, and the differences between its essential unity of experience and literary form and the sense of division pervading Western literature, are just some of the issues addressed. The centrality of ritual gives drama a prominent place in Soyinka's discussion, but he deals in equally illuminating ways with contemporary poetry and fiction. Above all, the fascinating insights in this book serve to highlight the importance of African criticism in addition to the literary and cultural achievements which are the subject of its penetrating analysis.

A Future for Astyanax: Character and Desire in Literature


Leo Bersani - 1976
    

Education And Culture In The Barbarian West From The Sixth Through Eighth Century


Pierre Riché - 1976
    The material covers intellectual education and church and monastic schools before the time of the universities.

Frontier Orbitals and Organic Chemical Reactions


Ian Fleming - 1976
    Assuming the reader is familiar with the concept of molecular orbital as a linear combination of atomic orbitals the book is presented in a simple style, without mathematics making it accessible to readers of all levels.

Movies and Methods: Vol. II


Bill Nichols - 1976
    Now there is again ferment in the field. Movies and Methods, Volume II, captures the developments that have given history and genre studies imaginative new models and indicates how feminist, structuralist, and psychoanalytic approaches to film have achieved fresh, valuable insights. In his thoughtful introduction, Nichols provides a context for the paradoxes that confront film studies today. He shows how shared methods and approaches continue to stimulate much of the best writing about film, points to common problems most critics and theorists have tried to resolve, and describes the internal contraditions that have restricted the usefulness of post-structuralism. Mini-introductions place each essay in a larger context and suggest its linkages with other essays in the volume. A great variety of approaches and methods characterize film writing today, and the final part conveys their diversity—from statistical style analysis to phenomenology and from gay criticisms to neoformalism. This concluding part also shows how the rigorous use of a broad range of approaches has helped remove post-structuralist criticism from its position of dominance through most of the seventies and early eighties. The writings collected in this volume exhibit not only a strong sense of personal engagement but als a persistent awareness of the social importance of the cinema in our culture. Movies and Methods, Volume II, will prove as invaluable to the serious student of cinema as its predecessor; it will be an essential reference work for years to come.

Guide to the Coastal Marine Fishes of Californa #4065


Daniel J. Miller - 1976
    

Rediscoveries in Art: Some Aspects of Taste, Fashion and Collecting in England and France


Francis Haskell - 1976
    

Reform and Revolution in China: The 1911 Revolution in Hunan and Hubei


Joseph W. Esherick - 1976
    

Spiritus Mundi: Essays on Literature, Myth, and Society


Northrop Frye - 1976
    The essays in Spiritus Mundi--the title comes from one of Yeat's best known poems, "The Second Coming," and refers to the book that was supposedly the source of Yeat's apocalyptic vision of a "great beast, slouching toward Bethlehem"--are arranges in three groups of four essays each. The first four are about the "contexts of literature," the second are about the "mythological universe," and the last are studies of four of the great visionary or myth-making poets who have been enduring sources of interest for Frye: Milton, Blake, Yeats, and Wallace Stevens.The volume is full of agreeable surprises: a delightful piece on charms and riddles is followed by an illuminating essay on Shakespearean romance. Like most of the other essays in the book, these two are compressed and elegant expositions of ideas that in the hands of a lesser writer would have required a book. In another selection Frye rescues Spengler from neglect and argues for the inclusion of The Decline of the West among the major imaginative books produced by the Western world. Elsewhere he advances the case for placing Copernicus in a pantheon composed primarily of literary figures. OF particular interest are several essays in which Frye comments personally and reflectively on the influence he has had on the study of literature and the reactions elicited by his work. In "The Renaissance of Books" he dissents from the opinion of the McLuhanites that the written word is showing signs of obsolescence and argues that books are "the technological instrument that makes democracy possible."As the dozen essays collected here amply attest, Northrop Frye continues to be the most perceptive and most persuasive exponent of the power of mythological imagination--or as he himself calls it, "the mythological habit of mind"--written in English.

Mekhilta de-Rabbi Ishmael, 2-volume set


Jacob Z. Lauterbach - 1976
    It contains commentary on a large part of the Book of Exodus (chapters 12 to 23) and represents the two main modes of interpretation: the halakhah (legal doctrine), and the aggadah (moral and religious teachings). The work also contains allusions to historical events and ancient legends not found elsewhere.A new introduction by noted scholar David Stern highlights the work, now published in a convenient two-volume set. It retains the original text from the JPS 1933 edition, reset in a modern, readable typeface, with Hebrew and English on facing pages and the original indexes.This classic work is widely recognized as a model of meticulous and thorough scholarship. Its translation is accurate, straightforward, and usable by scholars, students, and lay readers. Out of print for many years, it will be heralded as an important reissue that should belong to every rabbi, rabbinical school, and Jewish Studies professor, and will be an important addition to synagogue libraries and public libraries with Judaica collections.

The German Nation and Martin Luther


A.G. Dickens - 1976