Hailed for its searing emotional insights, and for theastonishing originality with which it weaves together personalhistory, cultural essay, and readings of classical texts bySophocles, Ovid, Euripides, and Sappho, The Elusive Embrace is aprofound exploration of the mysteries of identity. It is alsoa meditation in which the author uses his own divided life toinvestigate the "rich conflictedness of things," the double livesall of us lead. Daniel Mendelsohn recalls the deceptively quiet suburb where hegrew up, torn between his mathematician father's pursuit ofscientific truth and the exquisite lies spun by his Orthodox Jewishgrandfather; the streets of manhattan's newest "gay ghetto," where"desire for love" competes with "love of desire;" and the quietmoonlit house where a close friend's small son teaches him themeaning of fatherhood. And, finally, in a neglected Jewishcemetery, the author uncovers a family secret that revealsthe universal need for storytelling, for inventing myths of theself.
Conceived originally as a serious presentation of thedevelopment of philosophy for Catholic seminary students, FrederickCopleston's nine-volume A History Of Philosophy hasjourneyed far beyond the modest purpose of its author to universalacclaim as the best history of philosophy in English.
Both scholarly and diverting, "Imagining Atlantis" has beenhailed as the most important book ever written about the Atlantislegend and its perennial appeal. 46 illustrations. 5 maps.
In an era when the relationship between Islam and the Westseems mainly defined by mistrust and misunderstanding, it isimportant to remember that for centuries Muslim civilization wasthe envy of the world. Lost History fills a significant void and isessential reading for anyone seeking to understand the major theearly Muslims played in influencing modern society. Morgan reveals how early Muslim advancements in science andculture laid the cornerstones of the European Renaissance, theEnlightenment, and modern Western society. As he chronicles theGolden Ages of Islam, beginning in A.D. 570 with the birth ofMuhammad, and resonating today, he introduces scholars like IbnAl-Haytham, Ibn Sina, Al-Tusi, Al-Khwarizmi, and Omar Khayyam,towering figures who revolutionized the mathematics, astronomy, andmedicine of their time and paved the way for Newton, Copernicus,and many others. And he reminds us that inspired leaders fromMuhammad to Suleiman the Magnificent and beyond championedreligious tolerance, encou
This remarkable book combines myth and psychology, the poetryof the Sufis and the wisdom of King Solomon, along with Needleman'ssearching of his own soul and his culture to explain how money canbecome a unique means of self-knowledge. Includes a "user's guide"and discussion section, exclusive to this paperback edition.
Conceived originally as a serious presentation of thedevelopment of philosophy for Catholic seminary students, FrederickCopleston's nine-volume A History Of Philosophy has journeyed farbeyond the modest purpose of its author to universal acclaim as thebest history of philosophy in English. Copleston, an Oxford Jesuit of immense erudition who once tangledwith A.J. Ayer in a fabled debate about the existence of God andthe possibility of metaphysics, knew that seminary students werefed a woefully inadequate diet of theses and proofs, and that theirfamiliarity with most of history's great thinkers was reduced tosimplistic caricatures. Copleston set out to redress thewrong by writing a complete history of Western Philosophy, onecrackling with incident and intellectual excitement - and one thatgives full place to each thinker, presenting his thought in abeautifully rounded manner and showing his links to those who wentbefore and to those who came after him.
Conceived originally as a serious presentation of thedevelopment of philosophy for Catholic seminary students, FrederickCopleston's nine-volume A History Of Philosophy hasjourneyed far beyond the modest purpose of its author to universalacclaim as the best history of philosophy in English.
“Between the earliest and the latest of the works includedhere, we have two hundred and fifty years of vigorous andadventurous philosophizing,” Monroe Beardsley writes in hisIntroduction to this collection. “If the modern period can be onlyvaguely or arbitrarily bounded, it can at least be studied, and wecan ask whether any dominant themes, overall patterns of movement,or notable achievements can be found within it. This question isone that is best asked by the reader after he has read, or readaround in, these works.” This Modern Library Paperback Classic also includes a newly updatedBibliography.
