Taming the Gods: Religion and Democracy on Three Continents
Author: Ian Buruma File Type: pdf For eight years the president of the United States was a born-again Christian, backed by well-organized evangelicals who often seemed intent on erasing the church-state divide. In Europe, the increasing number of radicalized Muslims is creating widespread fear that Islam is undermining Western-style liberal democracy. And even in polytheistic Asia, the development of democracy has been hindered in some countries, particularly China, by a long history in which religion was tightly linked to the state. Ian Buruma is the first writer to provide a sharp-eyed look at the tensions between religion and politics on three continents. Drawing on many contemporary and historical examples, he argues that the violent passions inspired by religion must be tamed in order to make democracy work. Comparing the United States and Europe, Buruma asks why so many Americans--and so few Europeans--see religion as a help to democracy. Turning to China and Japan, he disputes the notion that only monotheistic religions pose problems for secular politics. Finally, he reconsiders the story of radical Islam in contemporary Europe, from the case of Salman Rushdie to the murder of Theo van Gogh. Sparing no one, Buruma exposes the follies of the current culture war between defenders of Western values and multiculturalists, and explains that the creation of a democratic European Islam is not only possible, but necessary. Presenting a challenge to dogmatic believers and dogmatic secularists alike, Taming the Gods powerfully argues that religion and democracy can be compatible--but only if religious and secular authorities are kept firmly apart.
Author: Joanne Pettitt
File Type: pdf
This study provides a comprehensive analysis of representations of Holocaust perpetrators in literature. Such texts, often rather controversially, seek to undo the myth of pure evil that surrounds the Holocaust and to reconstruct the perpetrator in more human (banal) terms.Following this line of thought, protagonists frequently place emphasis on the contextual or situational factors that led up to the genocide. A significant consequence of this is the impact that it has on the reader, who is thereby drawn into the narrative as a potential perpetrator who could, in similar circumstances, have acted in similar ways. The tensions that this creates, especially in relation to the construction of empathy, constitutes a major focus of this work.Making use of in excess of sixty primary sources, this work explores fictional accounts of Holocaust perpetration as well as Nazi memoirs. It will be of interest to anyone working in the broad areas of Holocaust literature andor perpetrator studies. **Review Joanne Pettitts book is an excellent and highly original contribution to the newly established field of perpetrator studies, in which she takes the innovative approach of tracing textual and ethical patterns in more than 60 primary sources. These range from fiction by such novelists as Edgar Hilsenrath, David Grossman and Jodi Picoult, to fi ctional versions of the fi gure of Adolf Hitler, and analyses of the memoirs of perpetrators themselves, including the autobiography of Rudolf Hoss. By this means, Dr Pettitt carefully draws out signifi cant elements of these texts designs on the reader and the narrative strategies they must adopt in order to represent such a problematic topic. (Prof Sue Vice, University of Sheffield, UK) About the Author Joanne Pettitt is an Assistant Lecturer at the University of Kent, UK, where she teaches on a range of undergraduate modules. Her research interests include, but are not limited to, the following literature of the Holocaust representations of culpability memory discourses and politics, especially relating to memories of genocide comparative genocide studies trauma studies existentialism.
Author: Olga Grushin
File Type: epub
A brilliantly crafted novel about one mans betrayal of his talent, his friends, and his principles-a work of demon energy, startling imagery, and utter originality. At fifty-six, Anatoly Sukhanov has everything a man could want. Nearly twenty-five years ago, he traded his precarious existence as a brilliant underground artist for the perks and comforts of a high-ranking Soviet apparatchik. Once he created art now he censors it. His past is a shadow, repressed to the point of nonexistence. But a series of increasingly bizarre events transforms his perfect world into a nightmare. Buried dreams return to haunt him, his life begins to unravel, new political alignments in the Kremlin threaten to undo him, and little by little, he finds himself losing everything he sold his soul to gain. Told in dream sequences that may be true, in real time that may be nightmares, in shifting time frames and voices, Olga Grushins novel is a highly sophisticated, often surreal exploration of self-dissolution, faithlessness, and transformation.
Author: Paul Thomas Murphy
File Type: epub
A New York Times Notable Book for 2012. From a hunchbacked dwarf to a paranoid poetassassin, a history of Victorian England as seen through the numerous assassination attempts on Queen Victoria.During Queen Victorias 64-year reign, no fewer than eight attempts were made on her life. Murphy follows each would-be assassin and the repercussions of their actions, illuminating daily life in Victorian England, the development of the monarchy under Queen Victoria and the evolution of the attacks in light of evolving social issues and technology.There was Edward Oxford, a bartender who dreamed of becoming an admiral, who was simply shocked when his attempt to shoot the pregnant Queen and Prince consort made him a madman in the worlds eyes. There was hunchbacked John Bean, who dreamed of historical notoriety in a publicized treason trial, and William Hamilton, forever scarred by the ravages of the Irish Potato Famine. Roderick MacLean enabled Victoria to successfully strike insanity pleas from Britains legal process. Most threatening of all were the dynamitards who targeted her Majestys Golden Jubileewho signaled the advent of modern terrorism with their publicly focused attack.From these cloak-and-dagger plots to Victorias brilliant wit and steadfast courage, Shooting Victoria is historical narrative at its most thrilling, complete with astute insight into how these attacks actually revitalized the British crown at a time when monarchy was quickly becoming unpopular abroad. While thrones across Europe toppled, the Queens would-be assassins contributed greatly to the preservation of the monarchy and to the stability that it enjoys today. After all, as Victoria herself noted, It is worth being shot atto see how much one is loved.32 pages of black & white and color illustrations **
Author: Malcolm Todd
File Type: pdf
For many centuries Germanic peoples occupied much of northern and central Europe. From the fourth century onward migrant groups extended their power and influence over much of western Europe and beyond to North Africa. In so doing, they established enduring states in France, Spain, Italy and Britain. This illustrated book makes use of archaeological and literary sources to outline the ethnogenesis and history of the early Germanic peoples. It provides an overview of current knowledge of these peoples, their social structure, settlements, trade, customs, religion, craftsmanship and relations with the Roman Empire. In this second edition, the author incorporates important new archaeological evidence and reports on advances in historical interpretation. In particular, he offers new insights into developments in central and eastern Europe and the implications for our understanding of migration and settlement patterns, ethnicity and identity. Ten new plates have been added featuring significant new sites discovered in recent years. **Review This book delivers on its claim to be an overview of what is currently known about the early Germanic tribes and their impact on the declining classical civilizations. It is a good, up-to-date overview of the Germanic impact on Western civilization. Choice The text is clear and compact, the maps, figures and photographs are apt and profuse, thoroughly efficient work is rounded off with a thoughtful chapter on the treatment of the German past from antiquity to present. History This very readable and most handsomely produced book provides a general introduction to the social structure, trade, customs, religion and craftsmanship of the Germanic peoples in northern Europe until about the end of the Roman Empire. Medium Aevum Book Description For many centuries Germanic peoples occupied much of northern and central Europe. From the fourth century onward, migrant groups extended their power and influence over much of western Europe and beyond to North Africa. In so doing, they established enduring states in France, Spain, Italy, and Britain. This illustrated book makes use of archaeological and literary sources to outline the ethnogenesis and history of the early Germanic peoples. It provides an overview of current knowledge of these peoples, their social structure, settlements, trade, customs, religion, craftsmanship, and relations with the Roman Empire. The second edition incorporates important new archaeological evidence and reports on advances in historical interpretation. In particular, it offers new insights into developments in central and eastern Europe and the implications for our understanding of migration and settlement patterns, ethnicity, and identity. New plates have been added featuring significant sites discovered in recent years.
Author: Stephen Crane
File Type: epub
The Red Badge of Courage (1895) is a vivid psychological account of a young mans experience of fighting in the American Civil War, based on Cranes reading of popular descriptions of battle. The other stories collected in this volume draw on Cranes subsequent experience of war reporting and include `The Open Boat, `The Monster and `The Blue Hotel. This edition is the most generously annotated available of Cranes work, focusing on his place as an experimental writer, his modernist legacy and his social as well as literary revisionism. - The Red Badge of Courage (1895) is a vivid psychological account of a young mans experience of fighting in the American Civil War, based on Cranes reading of popular descriptions of battle. The intensity of its narrative and its naturalistic power earned Crane instant success, and led to his spending most of his brief remaining life war reporting. The other stories collected in this volume draw on this experience `The Open Boat (1898) was inspired by his fifty hour struggle with waves after his ship was sunk during an expedition to Cuba `The Monster (1899) is a bitterly ironic commentary on the ostracization of a doctor for harbouring the servant who was disfigured and lost his sanity rescuing his son. As a rare example of Crane working in a vein of American Gothic, it is particularly striking for its treatment of race and social injustice. `The Blue Hotel traces the events that lead to a murder at a bar in a small Nebraska town. This edition is the most generously annotated edition of Cranes work, exploring it from a fresh critical perspective and focusing on his place as an experimental writer, his modernist legacy and his social as well as literary revisionism. -
Author: Jane Armstrong
File Type: pdf
A gem of a reference book covering everything you could possibly want to know about Shakespeare between two handsome covers. Entries are quite short and range from What did Shakespeare look like?, Shakespeare on Film and lists of compliments, oathes, lovers vows and boys and girls names. There is an entry for each play too, summarising its plot and outlining major characters and themes. Details are given of the debates surrounding Shakespeares identity, the known and fanciful facts of his life, and descriptions of the theatres in which he worked and the acting companies of which he was a member. A wealth of information and insight, both useful and entertainingly trivial, make this miscellany a book to satisfy students, buffs and bluffers alike. **Review `This book is not only an excellent introduction for the novice, but would also make a handsome (and no-doubt well-thumbed) addition to the bookshelf of any Shakespeare enthusiast. * The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, June 2011 * About the Author Jane Armstrong is an experienced publisher and writer who has been associated with the Arden Shakespeare for many years. She is the editor of The Arden Dictionary of Shakespeare Quotations.
Author: Youval Rotman
File Type: pdf
In the Roman and Byzantine Near East, the holy fool emerged in Christianity as a way of describing individuals whose apparent madness allowed them to achieve a higher level of spirituality. Insanity and Sanctity in Byzantium examines how the figure of the mad saint or mystic was used as a means of individual and collective transformation in the period between the birth of Christianity and the rise of Islam. It presents a novel interpretation in revealing the central role that psychology plays in social and historical development. Early Christians looked to figures who embodied extremes of behaviorlike the holy fool, the ascetic, the martyrto redefine their social, cultural, and mental settings by reading new values in abnormal behavior. Comparing such forms of extreme behavior in early Christian, pagan, and Jewish societies, and drawing on theories of relational psychoanalysis, anthropology, and sociology of religion, Youval Rotman explains how the sanctification of figures of extreme behavior makes their abnormality socially and psychologically functional. The sanctification of abnormal mad behavior created a sphere of ambiguity in the ambit of religious experience for early Christians, which brought about a deep psychological shift, necessary for the transition from paganism to Christianity. A developing society leaves porous the border between what is normal and abnormal, between sanity and insanity, in order to use this ambiguity as a means of change. Rotman emphasizes the role of religion in maintaining this ambiguity to effect a social and psychological transformation. **
Author: Almut-Barbara Renger
File Type: pdf
When Oedipus met the Sphinx on the road to Thebes, he did more than answer a riddlehe spawned a myth that, told and retold, would become one of Western cultures central narratives about self-understanding. Identifying the story as a threshold mythin which the hero crosses over into an unknown and dangerous realm where rules and limits are not knownOedipus and the Sphinxoffers a fresh account of this mythic encounter and how it deals with the concepts of liminality and otherness. Almut-Barbara Renger assesses the storys meanings and functions in classical antiquityfrom its presence in ancient vase painting to its absence in Sophocless tragedybefore arriving at two of its major reworkings in European modernity the psychoanalytic theory of Sigmund Freud and the poetics of Jean Cocteau. Through her readings, she highlights the ambiguous status of the Sphinx and reveals Oedipus himself to be a liminal creature, providing key insights into Sophocless portrayal and establishing a theoretical framework that organizes evaluations of the myths reception in the twentieth century. Revealing the narrative of Oedipus and the Sphinx to be the very paradigm of a key transition experienced by all of humankind, Renger situates myth between the competing claims of science and art in an engagement that has important implications for current debates in literary studies, psychoanalytic theory, cultural history, and aesthetics.