Product Description
Confronts the postmodern's co-optation of the modern by tracing paradoxical elements in the aesthetic of the new--particularly the aesthetic and moral contradictions built into the enthusiasm for the new--in the 'five paradoxes of modernity': the superstition of the new, the religion of the future, the mania for theory, the appeal to mass culture, and the passion for repudiation. ... Read more

Product Description

Product Description
High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! The Plot Against America is a novel by Philip Roth published in 2004. It is an alternate history in which Franklin Delano Roosevelt is defeated in the presidential election of 1940 by Charles Lindbergh. The novel follows the fortunes of the Roth family during the Lindbergh presidency, as antisemitism becomes more accepted in American life and Jewish-American families like the Roths are persecuted on various levels. The narrator and central character in the novel is the young Philip, and the care with which his confusion and terror are rendered makes the novel as much about the mysteries of growing up as about American politics. Roth based his novel on the isolationist ideas espoused by Lindbergh in real life as a spokesman for the America First Committee and his own experiences growing up in Newark, New Jersey. The novel depicts the Weequahic section of Newark which includes Weequahic High School from which Roth graduated. ... Read more

Product Description
Ancient Greeks and Romans often turned to magic to achieve personal goals. Magical rites were seen as a route for direct access to the gods, for material gains as well as for spiritual satisfaction. In this fascinating survey of magical beliefs and practices from the sixth century B.C.E. through late antiquity, Fritz Graf sheds new light on ancient religion. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Great intro to the historical magical studies
In this book, Prof. Graf sets out the basic outlines for the study of magic in the ancient world.This is not an in-depth book (for that, see links below), but it gives the reader enough to begin asking questions.

Basic words for magic and magician are covered as well as the forms of initiation, defixions, and the like.As a brief survey this is not very detailed, but it's probably the best intro to the field that I've seen.The sense of humor livens the book up and even more advanced students will appreciate his history of the study and the controversy over Frazer's approach.

This book is light reading, and it is accessible to a non-specialist.Highly recommended.

After reading this book, people may find the following books helpful:
Magika Hiera: Ancient Greek Magic and Religion
Magic and Magicians in the Greco-Roman World
The Greek Magical Papyri in Translation: Including the Demotic Spells: Texts
Greek and Roman Necromancy
Curse Tablets and Binding Spells from the Ancient World

Magic and religion are related......
What is the difference between religion and magic?Fritz Graf says there is none.Graf a professor of Classics at Princeton University, has been described by his fellows as one of the world's most knowledgeable experts on Ancient Greek religion, and in this book he defends his title in reviewing the Presidendanz material-a collection of ancient texts (papyri) housed in Paris and developed during the Greco-Roman period. Graf also discusses artifacts from Attica and other areas in the Roman empire where thousands of binding tablets and `Voodoo' dolls have been discovered in recent years. Graf suggests the Presidendanz texts are as important for Greco-Roman religion asthe Qumran scrolls for the Jewish religion, and the Nag-Hammadi texts for Gnosticism.

Graf suggests that Frazier, being a good Hellenist (all scholars knew Greek and Latin in those days) got it wrong when he divided magic from religion (pursuit of spiritual knowledge). According to Frazier, while the former seeks to manipulate the Gods, the latter seeks to know their will. Graf says the ancient Greeks did both-using magical techniques such as creating `binding' tablets and using portents for divination. Graf divides the magic-religious practices associated with binding into two categories: 1/ binding" for the purpose of control and 2/ seeking to undo the binding or restrictions placed on a victim by a magician or sorcerer. Graf suggests the practice of exorcism practiced by Christians is an example of the latter kind of magic.

Graf explores external influences affecting the Greco-Roman religion by examining linguistic terms associated with magical-religious practices, and he notes the connections between the words and practices of the early Christians and the `Pagan' Greeks. He suggests the term "magic" has Persian roots, and that both Christianity and the Greco-Roman religion were influenced by practices from the East. Because he reputedly could raise the dead and perform other `miracles' as could many Egyptian and Persian seers,Jesus was considered one of the magi.

Interesting, but not very practical.
This book is interesting from a historical perspective.Those who think Christians didn't ever practice magic really should read it, because it has archaeological proof that Christ and his disciples did create talismans and amulets.Other than the historical reference, this is not of much practical use, since most of the tablets and scrolls they found spells on weren't intact, and you can't exactly find many of the ingredients nowadays.

A Fine Study
This volume presents a good overview of the place of 'magic' in the Greek and Roman worlds. It should be interesting to modern practitioners as well as to students of history and culture.

The book begins by examining themeaning of the term 'magic', especially as related to the term 'religion'.Beginning with the ways of the Magi, and its development through the'mystery cults' and influences from Egypt, Persia and the Graeco-Egyptianpapyri, the author traces the growth and change of the idea of magic inclassical culture.

The book then considers the figure of the magician,and the place of magical arts. It uses interesting classical sources,including a well-documented trial for sorcery of a Roman scholar. Twochapters address the rites if initiation of magicians, and the large bodyof evidence for the use of curse tablets and images.

The book emphasizesmagic as a personal and individual approach to the spiritual, and how thatbrought magicians under suspicion by religious authorities. It discussesthe development of the literary image of the mage.

I found the book to besatisfyingly scholarly, yet well written and engaging. The author shows aquiet humor that helps make this a very good book on a fascinatingtopic.

Ian Corrigan Tredara@ncweb.com ... Read more

Product Description
This digital document is an article from Clinical Psychiatry News, published by International Medical News Group on September 1, 2004. The length of the article is 1352 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: The art of Philip Brubaker.(Visionary Art)
Author: Deeanna Franklin
Publication: Clinical Psychiatry News (Magazine/Journal)
Date: September 1, 2004
Publisher: International Medical News Group
Volume: 32Issue: 9Page: 24(1)

Distributed by Thomson Gale ... Read more

Product Description
Publisher: Chiswick : Press of C. WhittinghamPublication date: 1848Subjects: Sherley, Thomas, Sir, 1564-1630?Sherley, Anthony, Sir, 1565-1635?Sherley, Robert, Sir, 1581?-1628Notes: This is an OCR reprint. There may be numerous typos or missing text. There are no illustrations or indexes.When you buy the General Books edition of this book you get free trial access to Million-Books.com where you can select from more than a million books for free. You can also preview the book there. ... Read more

Product Description
Publisher: Brooklyn-New York : The Writers' Publishing Co.Publication date: 1915Subjects: Working class -- HistoryNotes: This is an OCR reprint. There may be numerous typos or missing text. There are no illustrations or indexes.When you buy the General Books edition of this book you get free trial access to Million-Books.com where you can select from more than a million books for free. You can also preview the book there. ... Read more

Product Description
In his Discourses (1755), Rousseau argues that inequalities of rank, wealth, and power are the inevitable result of the civilizing process.If inequality is intolerable - and Rousseau shows with unparalledled eloquence how it robs us not only of our material but also of our psychological independence - then how can we recover the peaceful self-sufficiency of life in the state of nature?We cannot return to a simpler time, but measuring the costs of progress may help us to imagine alternatives to the corruption and oppressive conformity of modern society. Rousseau's sweeping account of humanity's social and political development epitomizes the innovative boldness of the Englightment, and it is one of the most provocative and influential works of the eighteenth century.This new translation includes all Rousseau's own notes, and Patrick Coleman's introduction builds on recent key scholarship, considering particularly the relationship between political and aesthetic thought. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

Most disappointing publication of any work I've ever read
This publication is unacceptably limited in content.

1)It does not include any of Rousseau's footnotes, which are critical to a more complete understanding his arguments.

2) It does not include the original date of publication.

3) It does not include his Dedication to Geneva.

In the name of Iran
This book was pretext for Karl MARX idea of communism. Rousseau blamed inequality among people due to ownership of property.

Man, Animal -- Manimal!
This essay was Rousseaus's submission to the Academy of Dijon contest, entitled, "Has the progress of the arts and sciences contributed more to the corruption or purification of morals?".

This text is his story about Nature, and Society, and the scandal that happens when people come together, build, divide, dance, sing, and compare themselves with one another. In many ways, it is his answer to the problem of evil.

Natural man is, in many ways, good, because his needs are immediately felt and immediately fulfilled. Social man begins to compete, to hoard, and to use cunning to enslave his fellows, to gain their esteem, take their property, and sometimes their lives.

His picture of the natural man is half what we think of an "animal" and half the "human" that we recognize in ourselves. He shifts his description as the flow of arguement dictates. The habitual provocateur, Rousseau - watch him!

In a way, he is rewriting the Christian "Creation Myth". In his version, evil does not originate at that moment when man eats the fruit of the "Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil" --to "be like God"; it happens when Adam wants a better apple than Eve's got for herself. Before society develops as we know it, Adam would have been fine with just a pear.

A Perfect Example of the 18th Century Enlightenment.
This is a wonderful example of the 18th century enlightenment.In this work, Rousseau states that inequalities of rank, wealth, and power are the inevitable result of the civilizing process, something most of us have found to be very true if unfair.This new translation also includes all of Rousseau's own notes.

I enjoyed this tremendously, and am always amazed that the thought pattern and process is oneof the few things that hasn't changed over the centuries.

Excellent
Excellent discourse. This book discusses some of the rudiments of the history of inequality and how its self supporting and ever existing in human nature. I recommend this book for those readers who either want to increase their knowledge on Jean-Jacques Rousseau or historical development of inequality

(...) ... Read more