Author: Henri Lefebvre File Type: pdf

Author: Roger Henry File Type: pdf Imagine how distorted our understanding of ancient history would be if the chronological framework around which it was built had several extra centuries added. What if the backbone of Egyptian dynasties contained duplicates? The Synchronized Chronology resolves the structural problems of Egyptian chronology and then outlines the correct history of the Middle East and Mediterranean time of Abraham and his wandering into the Empire of Alexander the Great. Recognizing some overlapping of dates and names in Manethos List of Kings, frees history to place pharaohs and dynasties where archaeology supports their existence. This resolves a myriad of discrepancies and unlikely assumptions that historians have been forced to swallow, and neatly opens the way to synchronizing Egyptian dynasties with Biblical chronology.About the AuthorIncurably piqued by the contradictions identified by Immanuel Velikovsky in his much-loved Ages in Chaos, and dissatisfied with the explanations given by Peter James in Centuries of Darkness, Roger Henry felt compelled to make public his own discoveries in the course of 25 years of research into the nagging discrepancies between the findings of archaeology and the assertions of history. Henrys writings have been published in several California newspapers. This is his first book.

Author: David M. Friedman File Type: epub Setting out to make intellectual and emotional sense of a mans relationship with his defining organ, David Friedman moves from highbrow to lowbrow in this lighthearted but substantive cultural history. Successively viewed as a life source, a symbol of a sacred covenant with God, an emblem of shame, an instrument of domination, a mere prop for the pharmaceutical companies, and finally, as simply a means of penetration-the penis has always been at the core of Western mans (and womans) cultural evolution. With such luminaries as Leonardo da Vinci, Sigmund Freud, Walt Whitman, and Norman Mailer marking their territory on the subject, A Mind of Its Own is an intelligent and often hilarious account of mans complicated bond with his closest friend.**Amazon.com ReviewDavid M. Friedmans A Mind of Its Own is a cultural examination of the penis, from ancient Sumer to the present. Friedman convincingly suggests that humankinds various and contradictory attitudes toward the penis have been instrumental in mapping the course of both Western civilization and world history. Friedman begins with pagan attitudes ancient Greeks considered the penis a measure of a mans proximity to divine power, while the Romans, whose generals were known to promote soldiers based on penis size, saw it as an indicator of earthly strength. Thanks to the spread of Christianity, the sacred staff became the demon rod--a fearful manifestation of the devil. Theology gave way, grudgingly, to science. In the Renaissance, anatomical discoveries allowed for the possibility that this agent of death was, in fact, only a blameless instrument of reproduction. Subsequent chapters discuss the peniss role as a racial yardstick its defining role in human personality as asserted by Freud its politicization and finally, through the likes of Viagra, its objectification as a thing ... impervious to religious teachings, psychological insights, racial stereotypes and feminist criticism. Friedmans study of what he calls the symbolic muscle is filled with fascinating side trips (castration cults, ancient graffiti, the anti-masturbation semen-retention movement, aphrodisiacs through the ages, and, to modern eyes, risible medical practices with the likes of monkey glands), as well as a rich cast of characters (Leonardo da Vinci, John Kellogg of cornflake fame, Kate Millet, Clarence Thomas, and Walt Whitman). The book is informal, but well researched (and documented), entertaining but not cute, wide-ranging but not sketchy, and simultaneously irreverent and respectful. --H. OBillovitchFrom Publishers WeeklyOver time, the penis has been deified, demonized, secularized, racialized, psychoanalyzed, politicized and, finally, medicalized, declares freelance journalist Friedman in a serious yet entertaining book that weaves together an enormous amount of material. In the Greek and Roman worlds, statues of figures with erections were commonplace, he observes, though by the Christian era, the penis had become a source of evil and weakness. Doctors and scientists from da Vinci onward deflat[ed] the religious rhetoric and scrutinized the male organ sometimes with untoward results, as when American semen science led to the creation of antimasturbation products such as Graham crackers. Western mans fear of the African phallus undergirded colonialism and slavery, and resonates to this day, Friedman argues, as was evident in the case of Clarence Thomas. If some of Freuds case histories might be questioned, Friedman notes how the psychoanalytic interpretation enduringly places the penis and associated anxieties at the fulcrum of society. The rise of feminism put the penis in its place, as The Hite Report pointed out the limits of conventional intercourse in moving women to orgasm, and as Andrea Dworkin exposed penile pathology though the author concludes that male sexuality arises more out of evolutionary strategy than misogyny. His final and liveliest chapter concerns the medicalization of the penis, culminating in Viagra. Even though Friedman quotes a (female) sex therapist on the limits of such drugs, he concludes optimistically that the erection industry has performed a paradigm shift, allowing man to impose his will below his belt. The book has a few gaps -- theres little about the gay penis -- but it should reign as the seminal treatment of this topic (and inspire many more puns). 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Author: Franco Moretti File Type: epub The bourgeois ... Not so long ago, this notion seemed indispensable to social analysis these days, one might go years without hearing it mentioned. Capitalism is more powerful than ever, but its human embodiment seems to have vanished. I am a member of the bourgeois class, feel myself to be such, and have been brought up on its opinions and ideals, wrote Max Weber, in 1895. Who could repeat these words today? Bourgeois opinions and idealswhat are they? Thus begins Franco Morettis study of the bourgeois in modern European literaturea major new analysis of the once-dominant culture and its literary decline and fall. Morettis gallery of individual portraits is entwined with the analysis of specific keywordsuseful and earnest, efficiency, influence, comfort, robaand of the formal mutations of the medium of prose. From the working master of the opening chapter, through the seriousness of nineteenth-century novels, the conservative hegemony of Victorian Britain, the national malformations of the Southern and Eastern periphery, and the radical self-critique of Ibsens twelve-play cycle, the book charts the vicissitudes of bourgeois culture, exploring the causes for its historical weakness, and for its current irrelevance. **