To the Western mind these fearsome warriors-samurai, the masterless ronin, and the assassin ninja-have always been a source of mystery and wonder, combining the idealism of chivalry with military fanaticism. The Ways Of The Samurai digs beneath the myth and reveals a truth even more amazing about the men who practiced a discipline drawn from Zen and Confucian ethics-bushido, the way of the warrior.

    W. Norton changed the way world literature is taught by introducing The Norton Anthology of World Masterpieces, Expanded Edition. Leading the field once again, Norton is proud to publish the anthology for the new century, The Norton Anthology of World Literature, Second Edition. Now published in six paperback volumes (packaged in two attractive slipcases), the new anthology boasts slimmer volumes, thicker paper, a bolder typeface, and dozens of newly included or newly translated works from around the world. The Norton Anthology of World Literature represents continuity as well as change. Like its predecessor, the anthology is a compact library of world literature, offering an astounding forty-three complete longer works, more than fifty prose works, over one hundred lyric poems, and twenty-three plays. More portable, more suitable for period courses, more pleasant to read, and more attuned to current teaching and research trends, The Norton Anthology of World Literature remains the most authoritative, comprehensive, and teachable anthology for the world literature survey.

    Graves believes also that the author of the Odyssey was not the blind and bearded Homer of legend, but the young woman who calls herself Nausica in the story.

    these ancient northern deities gave their names to the very days of our week. Nevertheless, most of us know far more of Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, and the classical deities. Recent researches in archaeology and mythology have added to what was already a fairly consistent picture (largely derived from a twelfth-century Icelandic account) of the principal Scandinavian gods and goddesses. This new study - the first popular treatment of the subject to appear in English for many years - is the work of a scholar who has long specialized in Norse and Germanic mythology. She describes the more familiar gods of war, of fertility, of the sky and the sea and the dead, and also discusses those puzzling figures of Norse mythology - Heimdall, Balder, and Loki. All these deities were worshipped in the Viking Age, and the author has endeavoured to relate their cults to daily life and to see why these pagan beliefs gave way in time to the Christian faith.

    Reveals how the earth's crust shifted in 9600 BCE, dragging Atlantis into the polar zone beneath miles of Antarctic ice. Examines ancient yet highly accurate maps, including the Piri Reis map of 1513, which reveals a pre-glacial Antarctica. Shows how myths of floods and disaster from around the world all point to a common source. In this completely revised and expanded edition of When the Sky Fell, Rand and Rose Flem-Ath show that 12,000 years ago vast areas of Antarctica were free from ice and home to the kingdom of Atlantis, a proposition that also elegantly solves the mysteries of ice ages and mass extinctions, the simultaneous worldwide rise of agriculture, and the source of devastating prehistoric climate change. Expanding upon Charles Hapgood's theory of earth crust displacement, which was championed by Albert Einstein, they examine ancient yet highly accurate world maps, including the Piri Reis map of 1513, and show how the earth's crust shifted in 9600 BCE, dragging Atlantis into the polar zone where it now lies beneath miles of Antarctic ice. From the Cherokee, Haida, and Okanagan of North America to the earliest records of Egypt, Iran, Mexico, and Japan, they reveal that ancient myths of floods, lost island paradises, and visits from advanced godlike peoples from all corners of the globe all point to the same worldwide catastrophe that resulted in Atlantis's demise. The authors explain how the remaining Atlanteans, amid massive earthquakes and epic floods, evacuated and spread throughout the world, resulting in the birth of the first known civilizations. Including rare material from the archives of Charles Hapgood, Albert Einstein, and Dwight D. Eisenhower, the Flem-Aths explain how an earth crust displacement could happen again in the future, perhaps in correspondence with high solar activity. With new scientific, genetic, and linguistic evidence in support of Antarctica as the location of long-lost Atlantis, this updated edition convincingly shows that Atlantis was not swallowed by the sea but was entombed beneath miles of polar ice.The fascinating truth about Atlantis leads to a chilling conclusion about the environmental catastrophe that destroyed it. Now you can find out how the forces that shattered the first great civilization on Earth can happen again, bringing the end of the world to us all.Contents:Memorandum for the President --Adapt, migrate, or die --The wayward sun --Atlantis in Antarctica --The lost island paradise --Aztlan and the polar paradise --Atlantean maps --Embers of humankind --The ring of death --Broken paradigm --Finding Atlantis --City of Atlantis --Why the sky fell --Appendix. A global climatic model for the origins of agriculture and the sequence of pristine civilizations.Previous edition: published as When the sky fell. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1995.,

    For these readers, Malcolm M. Willcock provides a line-by-line commentary that explains the many factual details, mythological allusions, and Homeric conventions that a student or general reader could not be expected to bring to an initial encounter with the Iliad.  The notes, which always relate to particular lines in the text, have as their prime aim the simple, factual explanation of things the inexperienced reader would be unlikely to have at his or her command (What is a hecatomb? Who is Atreus' son?). Second, they enhance an appreciation of the Iliad by illuminating epic style, Homer's methods of composition, the structure of the work, and the characterization of the major heroes. The "Homeric Question," concerning the origin and authorship of the Iliad, is also discussed. Professor Willcock's commentary is based on Richmond Lattimore's translation—regarded by many as the outstanding translation of the present generation—but it may be used profitably with other versions as well. This clearly written commentary, which includes an excellent select bibliography, will make one of the touchstones of Western literature accessible to a wider audience.—from the back cover

    'Welcome to Islam' is a step-by-step guide to help people who have just accepted Islam. It teaches them the absolute basics of Islam that they should learn within their first month of being a Muslim. This work is not another introductory book on Islam but rather a step-by-step instruction manual that allows you to start practicing what you learn immediately. It also contains valuable advice on some common challenges that new Muslims often face.

    

    The Iliad and The Odyssey, with their incomparable tales of the Trojan War, brace Achilles, Ulysses and Penelope, the Cyclops, the beautiful Helen of Troy, and the petulant gods, are familiar to most readers because they are so pervasive. They have fed our imagination for over two and a half millennia, inspiring everyone from Plato to Virgil, Pope to Joyce, Dante to Wolfgang Petersen. In this graceful and sweeping addition to the Books that Change the World Series, Alberto Manguel traces the lineage of the epic poems. He considers their original purpose, either as allegory or record of history, surveys the challenges the pagan poems presented to the early Christian world, and traces their spread after the Reformation. Following Homer through the greatest literature ever created, Manguel’s book above all delights in the poems themselves, the “primordial spring without which there would have been no culture.”

    Cricket and Bollywood. So there are only two kinds of people, who have unconditional fan following in India. That is Film actors and Cricket players. There are millions of Indians, who are huge fan of Cricket and cricketers. The book is all about collection of memoirs of the author in regard with his idols in the game. Book gives inside in to career span of few of the most prolific Indian cricketers in contemporary Cricket and few of greatest in international Cricket. The career path of them is embedded with most splendid performance of these players and interesting anecdotes (few of them are untold). All in all, a full sketch of these players in a very concise and interesting manner. There are chapters on:- Sachin Tendulkar Kapil Dev Kris Srikkanth Javagal Srinath Mohd. Azharruddin Ajay Jadeja Rahul Dravid Viv Richard Wasim Akram Shane Warne Author – Pankaj Agrawal

    Did you ever ask yourself: “Who am I? What am I? Why am I?”You are a mystery.The world about you is a mystery.Now, you can understand!

    With its reverence for all creation, it reflects our current concern for the planet. This introductory guide explains: • what Paganism is • the different Pagan paths • what Pagans do • how to live as a Pagan Paganism is one of the fastest growing spiritual movements in the West today. Pagans are those who worship the ancient pre-Christian Gods of our ancestors and of our lands. Originally, the word 'Pagan' was applied to those who worshipped the Gods of the pagus, which in Latin means 'locality'. Pagan was also used in another sense by Christians - to mean 'country dweller'. 'Heathen', of German origin, is also used by those who worship the Northern European Gods. Heathen means the someone of the heath who worships the Gods of the land. 'Paganism' is not a word that our ancestors would have used and it is seen by some as derogatory. Outside Europe, Pagans often reject it as an example of Western colonialism denigrating their traditional beliefs. In West Africa, the followers of indigenous spirituality refer to their beliefs as African Traditional Religion. In the West, the terms Native Spirituality, Celtic Spirituality, European Traditional Religion, the Elder Faith and the Old Religion are also used to describe the Pagan religions. Pagans have a variety of beliefs, but at their core are three which many would share: 1) The Divine has made itself manifest through many Deities in different places and at different times. No one Deity can express the totality of the Divine. This can be called polytheism - the Gods are many. 2) The Divine is present in Nature and in each one of us. This can be called pantheism - the Divine is everywhere. 3) Goddess and God: The Divine is represented as both female (Goddess) and male (God) while understanding that It is beyond the limitations of gender. 4) A fourth principle that some Pagans would share is called the Pagan Ethic: 'If it harms none, do what you will.'

    These unique temples are not just places of worship, but living museums of architectural wonders, mind-boggling sculptures, graceful dances, colourful crafts and many other cultural activities. More than anything, they are treasure troves of lore and legend, teeming with tales of gods and goddesses, demons and devotees, plants and beasts, the magical and the mysterious – all just waiting to be discovered by you. Join Sudha G. Tilak as she takes you on an unusual journey to the country’s most sacred places, where the lines between fact and faith are blurred and stories come alive!

    AD 55-138) captures the splendour, the squalor, and the sheer energy of everyday Roman life. In The Sixteen Satires he evokes a fascinating world of whores, fortune-tellers, boozy politicians, slick lawyers, shameless sycophants, ageing flirts and downtrodden teachers. A member of the traditional land-owning class that was rapidly seeing power slip into the hands of outsiders, Juvenal also creates savage portraits of decadent aristocrats - male and female - seeking excitement among the lower orders of actors and gladiators, and of the jumped-up sons of newly-rich former slaves. Constantly comparing the corruption of his own generation with its stern and upright forebears, Juvenal's powers of irony and invective make his work a stunningly satirical and bitter denunciation of the degeneracy of Roman society

    H. Auden first published in 1952, and the title work of a collection of poems by Auden, published in 1955. It is Auden's response to the detailed description, or ekphrasis, of the shield borne by the hero Achilles in Homer's epic poem the Iliad.The poem is the title work of The Shield of Achilles, a collection of poems in three parts, published in 1955, containing Auden's poems written from around 1951 through 1954. It begins with the sequence "Bucolics", then miscellaneous poems under the heading "In Sunshine and In Shade", then the sequence Horae Canonicae.It won the U.S. National Book Award for Poetry in 1956.