The Natural


Bernard Malamud - 1952
    In it Malamud, usually appreciated for his unerring portrayals of postwar Jewish life, took on very different material—the story of a superbly gifted "natural" at play in the fields of the old daylight baseball era—and invested it with the hardscrabble poetry, at once grand and altogether believable, that runs through all his best work. Four decades later, Alfred Kazin's comment still holds true: "Malamud has done something which—now that he has done it!—looks as if we have been waiting for it all our lives. He has really raised the whole passion and craziness and fanaticism of baseball as a popular spectacle to its ordained place in mythology."

The Forest People


Colin M. Turnbull - 1961
    Turnbull lived among the Mbuti people for three years as an observer, not a researcher, so he offers a charming and intimate firsthand account of the people and their culture, and especially the individuals and their personalities. The Forest People is a timeless work of academic and humanitarian significance, sure to delight readers as they take a trip into a foreign culture and learn to appreciate the joys of life through the eyes of the Mbuti people.

A Little History of Philosophy


Nigel Warburton - 2011
    These were the concerns of Socrates, who spent his days in the ancient Athenian marketplace asking awkward questions, disconcerting the people he met by showing them how little they genuinely understood. This engaging book introduces the great thinkers in Western philosophy and explores their most compelling ideas about the world and how best to live in it.In forty brief chapters, Nigel Warburton guides us on a chronological tour of the major ideas in the history of philosophy. He provides interesting and often quirky stories of the lives and deaths of thought-provoking philosophers from Socrates, who chose to die by hemlock poisoning rather than live on without the freedom to think for himself, to Peter Singer, who asks the disquieting philosophical and ethical questions that haunt our own times.Warburton not only makes philosophy accessible, he offers inspiration to think, argue, reason, and ask in the tradition of Socrates. A Little History of Philosophy presents the grand sweep of humanity's search for philosophical understanding and invites all to join in the discussion.

A Book of Luminous Things: An International Anthology of Poetry


Czesław Miłosz - 1998
    Miłosz provides a preface to each of these poems, divided into thematic (and often beguiling) sections, such as “Travel,” “History,” and “The Secret of a Thing,” that make the reading as instructional as it is inspirational and remind us how powerfully poetry can touch our minds and hearts. "

Chicken Soup for the Country Soul


Jack Canfield - 1998
    This treasury identifies the common threads that weave the tapestry of the human spirit-the traditions of family and faith at the heart of America. Chicken Soup for the Soul readers will also discover a special treat within its covers; a Country Soul CD. This CD includes a heartfelt rendition of some of country's best-loved performers as well as some of the biggest stars of country music reading their stories from the book. This CD is a first for the Chicken Soup for the Soul series, and is sure to be a hit with readers and country music fans alike.

Poetry Speaks Expanded


Elise Paschen - 2007
    Book and CDs work beautifully together, kindling deeper appreciation for the transmuting power of poetry, a practice of discipline, skill, and magic." - BOOKLIST ..".The prose comes to life when read aloud, especially when you hear James Joyce read it himself." NPR's ALL THINGS CONSIDERED host Jacki Lyden "This tome is a reminder how the human spirit is capable of finding an outlet in oppressive times, how poetry can help explain why we do what we do as a thinking people...Certainly, in our struggle to make sense out of what we do not understand, Poetry Speaks Expanded helps on so many levels." Carol Hoenig, THE HUFFINGTON POST ..".[A] bountiful experience: there is the thrill of discovery and re-discovery as with any good anthology, with an added emphasis on the poets' personalities and growth" John Hammond, SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS "[An] accessible, beautifully executed collection guaranteed to offer poetry fans a memorable reading and listening experience" WORDCANDY.NET ..".[A]s I savored these beautiful poems, it reminded me of French poet Charles Baudelaire who wrote, 'Any man can go without food for two days - but not without poetry.'" - Norm Goldman, BOOKPLEASURES.COM "Light[s] up a reader's eyes." - Frank Wilson, PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER Hear And Read All Of These Poets (And More)244 Poems Included In The Book107 Poems Read By The Poets Themselves On 3 Audio CDs Robert Graves, E. E. Cummings, Walt Whitman, Ezra Pound, William Butler Yeats, Gertrude Stein, Carl Sandburg, James Joyce, William Carlos Williams, Ted Hughes, Robinson Jeffers, Philip Larkin, Wallace Stevens, Louise Bogan, Melvin B. Tolson, Laura (Riding) Jackson, Ogden Nash, W. H. Auden, Louis MacNeice, Allen Ginsberg Theodore Roethke, Elizabeth Bishop, Robert Hayden, Robert Frost, Muriel Rukeyser, Gwendolyn Brooks, Randall Jarrell, Jack Kerouac, John Berryman, Dylan Thomas, Robert Lowell, Robert Browning, Robert Duncan, May Swenson, John Crowe Ransom Poetry Speaks Expanded is a fusion of the poet's words with the poet's voice, including text and recordings of nearly 50 of the greatest poets who ever lived, ranging from Walt Whitman, Robert Frost, James Joyce and T. S. Eliot to Langston Hughes, Jack Kerouac, Sylvia Plath, Ted Hughes and Gwendolyn Brooks. "This book has the potential to draw more readers to poetry than any collection in years."-PUBLISHERS WEEKLY, STARRED REVIEW "Readers and listeners are guaranteed to hear poems in a new way after spending time with this book and CD set."-LIBRARY JOURNAL, STARRED REVIEW "Superb, accessible....A unique and essential purchase"-SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL Poetry--For the first time ever, James Joyce reads "Anna Livia Plurabelle" from Finnegans Wake alongside the original text from the book--T. S. Eliot reading "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock"--Sylvia Plath's anger and raw emotion as she reads "Daddy" and "Lady Lazarus"--Jack Kerouac reading from "MacDougal Street Blues," accompanied by Steve Allen on piano--May Swenson rehearsing "The Watch" prior to a reading--H. D. reading a part of "Helen in Egypt" from a rare recording made shortly before her death--Ted Hughes reading "February 17" during a BBC interview--A never-before-published recording of Alfred, Lord Tennyson reading "The Charge of the Light Brigade"--W. B. Yeats explaining his reading style and why he chooses to read that way--Robert Frost reading "The Road Not Taken" and "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" Essays Written By Today's Most Influential Poets, Including: W. S. Merwin on Robert Graves, Seamus Heaney on W. B. Yeats, Paul Muldoon on James Joyce, Robert Pinsky on William Carlos Williams, Sonia Sanchez on Gwendolyn Brooks, Galway Kinnell on Walt Whitman, Rita Dove on Melvin B. Tolson, Jorie Graham on Elizabeth Bishop and Al Young on Langston Hughes "The most ambitious, innovative poetry project to be published in years."-QUALITY PAPERBACK BOOK CLUB A Book Sense Top-10 Selection

Readings for a History of Anthropological Theory


Paul A. Erickson - 2001
    The readings have broad anthropological appeal, emphasizing cultural anthropology in the North American and European traditions.Thematic coverage begins with nineteenth-century foundations and forerunners, before moving on to the early and mid-twentieth century when anthropology comes of age. The last section looks at numerous late twentieth-century and early twenty-first-centurydevelopments in anthropological theory, including feminist anthropology, postmodernity, medical anthropology, and globalization. "

The Story of My Misfortunes


Pierre Abélard
    Peter Abélard paints an absorbing portrait of monastic and scholastic life in twelfth-century Paris, while also recounting the circumstances and consequences of one of history’s most famous love stories--his doomed romance with Heloise.Considered the founder of the University of Paris, Abélard was instrumental in promoting the use of the dialectical method in Western education. He regarded theology as the "handmaiden" of knowledge and believed that through reason, people could attain a greater knowledge of God. "By doubting," he declared, "we come to inquire, and by inquiry we arrive at truth." Abélard's tendency to leave questions open for discussion made him a target for frequent charges of heresy, and all his works were eventually included in the church's Index of Forbidden Books. Unfortunately, Abélard’s reputation as a philosopher is often overshadowed by his renown as a lover.In addition to its value as a scholarly treatise, The Story of My Misfortunes offers the rare opportunity to observe a legendary romance from the point of view of one of its participants.

Understanding Social Problems


Linda A. Mooney - 1996
    The text progresses from a micro- to macro-level of analysis, focusing first on such problems as illness and health care, drugs and alcohol, and family problems and then broadening to the larger issues of poverty and inequality, population growth, environmental problems, and conflict around the world. The social problem in each chapter is framed in a global as well as U.S. context. In every chapter, the three major theoretical perspectives are applied to the social problem under discussion, and the consequences of the problem, as well as alternative solutions, are explored. Pedagogical features such as The Human Side and Self and Society enable students to grasp how social problems affect the lives of individuals and apply their understanding of social problems to their own lives.

The Rise of the Novel, Updated Edition


Ian P. Watt - 1957
    B. Carnochan accounts for the increasing interest in the English novel, including the contributions that Ian Watt's study made to literary studies: his introduction of sociology and philosophy to traditional criticism.

The Thirteen Books of the Elements, Books 1 - 2


Euclid - 1956
    Covers textual and linguistic matters; mathematical analyses of Euclid's ideas; commentators; refutations, supports, extrapolations, reinterpretations and historical notes. Vol. 1 includes Introduction, Books 1-2: Triangles, rectangles.

The Great Fairy Tale Tradition: From Straparola and Basile to the Brothers Grimm


Jack D. Zipes - 2000
    Each grouping is introduced and annotated by Jack Zipes, the genre's reigning expert. Twenty illustrations accompany the texts. Criticism includes seven important assessments of different aspects of the fairy tale tradition, written by W. G. Waters, Benedetto Croce, Lewis Seifert, Patricia Hannon, Harry Velten, Siegfried Neumann, and Jack Zipes. Brief biographies of the storytellers and a Selected Bibliography are included.

Samuel Beckett: Waiting for Godot/Endgame: A reader's guide to essential criticism


Peter Boxall - 2000
    The guide presents the major debates that surround these works as they develop, from Martin Esslin's early appropriation of the plays as examples of the Theatre of the Absurd, to recent poststructuralist and postcolonial readings by critics such as Steven Connor, Mary Bryden and Declan Kiberd. Throughout, Boxall clarifies and contextualizes critical responses to the plays, and considers the difficult relationship between Beckett and his critics.

The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2008


Dave EggersLaurie Weeks - 2008
    Compiled by Dave Eggers and students of his San Francisco writing center, it is thoroughly "entertaining and thought-provoking reading" (Library Journal).

The Meaning of Shakespeare, Volume 2


Harold Clarke Goddard - 1951
    Goddard takes readers on a tour through the works of William Shakespeare, celebrating his incomparable plays and unsurpassed literary genius.