Memoir tracing three generations of a Jewish family from the 1800's in Eastern Europe to present-day America. In researching and writing her family history, the author explores the challenges her family faced in the course of emigrating from Europe to America before World War II and assimilating into American culture. Her story deals with themes that are at once personal and universal: being the only girl, feeling like an outsider, struggling with her Jewish identity, assimilating into American culture, coping with the death of a parent, and raising a family of her own.
In The Ten Lost Tribes, Zvi Ben-Dor Benite shows for the first time the extent to which the search for the lost tribes of Israel became, over two millennia, an engine for global exploration and a key mechanism for understanding the world.
Tudor Parfitt examines a myth which is based on one of the world's oldest mysteries - what happened to the lost tribes of Israel? Christians and Jews alike have attached great importance to the legendary fate of these tribes which has had a remarkable impact on their ideologies throughout history. Each tribe of Israel claimed descent from one of the twelve sons of Jacob and the land of Israel was eventually divided up between them. Following a schism which formed after the death of Solomon, ten of the tribes set up an independent northern kingdom, whilst those of Judah and Levi set up a separate southern kingdom. In 721BC the ten northern tribes were ethnically cleansed by the Assyrians and the Bible states they were placed: in Halah and in Habor by the river of Gozan and in the city of Medes. The Bible also foretold that one day they would be reunited with the southern tribes in the final redemption of the people of Israel. Their subsequent history became a tapestry of legend and hearsay. The belief persisted that they had been lost in some remote part of the world and there were countless suggestions and claims as to where.
In this volume, leading historians, critics and theorists review 3,000 years of apocalyptic theory. Tracing the history of millenarianism, they investigate the modern and postmodern debates. (Philosophy)
Science fiction first emerged in the Industrial Age and continued to develop into its current form during the twentieth century. This book analyses the role Jewish writers played in the process of its creation and development. The author provides a comprehensive overview, bridging such seemingly disparate themes and figures as the ghetto legends of the golem and their influence on both Frankenstein and robots, the role of, Jewish authors and publishers in developing the first science fiction magazine in New York in the 1930s, and their later contributions to new and developing medial forms like comics and film. Drawing on the historical context and the positions Jews held in the larger cultural environment, the author illustrates how themes and tropes in science fiction and fantasy relate back to the realities of Jewish life in the face of global anti-Semitism, the struggle to assimilate in America, and the hope that was inspired by the founding of Israel.
No previous work on John Eliot's mission to the Indians has told such a comprehensive and engaging story. Richard Cogley takes a dual approach: he delves deeply into Eliot's theological writings and describes the historical development of Eliot's missionary work. By relating the two, he presents fresh perspectives that challenge widely accepted assessments of the Puritan mission. Cogley incorporates Eliot's eschatology into the history of the mission, takes into account the biographies of the proselytes (the "praying Indians") and the individual histories of the Christian Indian settlements (the "praying towns"), and corrects misperceptions about the mission's role in English expansion. He also addresses other interpretive problems in Eliot's mission, such as why the Puritans postponed their evangelizing mission until 1646, why Indians accepted or rejected the mission, and whether the mission played a role in causing King Philip's War. This book makes signal contributions to New England history, Native American history, and religious studies.
Samuel Hartlib was a key figure in the intellectual revolution of the seventeenth century. Originally from Elbing, in Prussig, Hartlib settled permanently in England from the late 1620s until his death in 1662. His aspirations formed a distinctive and influential strand in English intellectual life during those revolutionary decades. This volume reflects the variety of the theoretical and practical interests of Hartlib's circle and presents them in their continental context. The editors of the volume are all attached to the Hartlib Papers Project at the University of Sheffield, a major collaborative research effort to exploit the largely untapped resources of the surviving Hartlib manuscripts. In an introduction to the volume they explore the background to the Hartlib circle and provide the context in which the essays should be read.
A long-lost manuscript may reveal the past—or destroy the future—in “a wildly imaginative thriller that fans of Dan Brown and Steve Berry will love” (Phillip Margolin, New York Times–bestselling author). Lee Nicholson is ready to take the academic world by storm, having discovered a sonnet she believes was written by William Shakespeare. But when she reads the poem on the air, the words put her life in peril and trigger a violent chase—with stakes that reach far beyond the cloistered walls of academia. Buried in the language of the sonnet, in its allusions and wordplay, are secrets that have been hidden since Elizabethan times, secrets known only to the queen and her trusted doctor, but guessed at by men who seek the crown and others who seek the world. If the riddles are solved, it could explode what historians know of the great Elizabeth I—and release a terrifying pandemic. Lee’s quest for the answers buried in the sonnet keeps her one step ahead of an international hunt—from the police who want her for murder, to a group of men who will stop at nothing to end her quest, to a madman who pursues the answers for destructive reasons of his own. As this intelligent thriller moves back and forth between Tudor England and the present day, Lee begins to piece together the meaning behind Shakespeare’s words, carrying the story to its gasp-out-loud conclusion. “Imaginative plotting and depth of character distinguish this centuries-spanning thriller.” —Publishers Weekly “Will have you on the edge of your seat . . . a roller-coaster ride of a book.” —C. W. Gortner, international-bestselling author of The Last Queen
This fascinating, readable volume is filled with enticing, detailed information about more than 30 different Incan crops that promise to follow the potato's lead and become important contributors to the world's food supply. Some of these overlooked foods offer special advantages for developing nations, such as high nutritional quality and excellent yields. Many are adaptable to areas of the United States. Lost Crops of the Incas includes vivid color photographs of many of the crops and describes the authors' experiences in growing, tasting, and preparing them in different ways. This book is for the gourmet and gourmand alike, as well as gardeners, botanists, farmers, and agricultural specialists in developing countries.
