The Idea of Decline in Western History
The Idea of Decline in Western History

Author: Arthur Herman

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2010-06-15

Total Pages: 652

ISBN-13: 1451603134

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Historian Arthur Herman traces the roots of declinism and shows how major thinkers, past and present, have contributed to its development as a coherent ideology of cultural pessimism. From Nazism to the Sixties counterculture, from Britain's Fabian socialists to America's multiculturalists, and from Dracula and Freud to Robert Bly and Madonna, this work examines the idea of decline in Western history and sets out to explain how the conviction of civilization's inevitable end has become a fixed part of the modern Western imagination. Through a series of biographical portraits spanning the 19th and 20th centuries, the author traces the roots of declinism and aims to show how major thinkers of the past and present, including Nietzsche, DuBois, Sartre, and Foucault, have contributed to its development as a coherent ideology of cultural pessimism.

Love
Love

Author: Carter Lindberg

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Published: 2008-04-30

Total Pages: 208

ISBN-13: 0470695773

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3,000 years of ideas about the nature of love in Western culture are brought together in this concise history. By blending the works of many scholars and examining the significant lives, works, and movements associated with love, Love: A Brief History Through Western Christianity traces the evolution and impact of this timeless topic. Takes the reader on a lightning but enlightening journey through 3,000 years of the idea of love Examines the influential movements, people, and work that have helped shape our notion of love in Western culture, written by a key figure in religious history Tackles the historical and religious concept in Western society, and our efforts to apply ideas of love to social concerns Explores diverse periods and examples – from the theological and philosophical texts of figures such as Augustine, Luther, and Feuerbach to intellectual movements like Romanticism and tragic historic figures such as Abelard and Heloise Contributes valuable insights into one of history’s most inexhaustible and timeless topics, spanning biblical views of love including monasticism and pietism, romantic notions of love, through to today’s liberal religion and concept of love as self-fulfillment.

A Concise Survey of Western Civilization
A Concise Survey of Western Civilization

Author: Brian A. Pavlac

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

Published: 2011-01-16

Total Pages: 273

ISBN-13: 1442207833

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This engaging text offers a brief, readable description of our common Western heritage as it began in the first human societies and developed in ancient Greece and Rome, then through the Middle Ages. Providing a tightly focused narrative and interpretive structure, Brian A. Pavlac covers the basic historical information that all educated adults should know. His joined terms "supremacies and diversities" develop major themes of conflict and creativity throughout history. The text is also informed by five other topical themes: technological innovation, migration and conquest, political and economic decision-making, church and state, and disputes about the meaning of life. Written with flair, this easily accessible yet deeply knowledgeable text provides all the essentials for a course on Western civilization.

Journey to the West (2018 Edition - PDF)
Journey to the West (2018 Edition - PDF)

Author: Wu Cheng'en

Publisher: Asiapac Books Pte Ltd

Published: 2018-08-14

Total Pages: 177

ISBN-13: 9812298894

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The bestselling Journey to the West comic book by artist Chang Boon Kiat is now back in a brand new fully coloured edition. Journey to the West is one of the greatest classics in Chinese literature. It tells the epic tale of the monk Xuanzang who journeys to the West in search of the Buddhist sutras with his disciples, Sun Wukong, Sandy and Pigsy. Along the way, Xuanzang's life was threatened by the diabolical White Bone Spirit, the menacing Red Child and his fearsome parents and, a host of evil spirits who sought to devour Xuanzang's flesh to attain immortality. Bear witness to the formidable Sun Wukong's (Monkey God) prowess as he takes them on, using his Fiery Eyes, Golden Cudgel, Somersault Cloud, and quick wits! Be prepared for a galloping read that will leave you breathless!

Medieval Misogyny and the Invention of Western Romantic Love
Medieval Misogyny and the Invention of Western Romantic Love

Author: R. Howard Bloch

Publisher: University of Chicago Press

Published: 2009-02-15

Total Pages: 308

ISBN-13: 0226059901

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Until now the advent of Western romantic love has been seen as a liberation from—or antidote to—ten centuries of misogyny. In this major contribution to gender studies, R. Howard Bloch demonstrates how similar the ubiquitous antifeminism of medieval times and the romantic idealization of woman actually are. Through analyses of a broad range of patristic and medieval texts, Bloch explores the Christian construction of gender in which the flesh is feminized, the feminine is aestheticized, and aesthetics are condemned in theological terms. Tracing the underlying theme of virginity from the Church Fathers to the courtly poets, Bloch establishes the continuity between early Christian antifeminism and the idealization of woman that emerged in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. In conclusion he explains the likely social, economic, and legal causes for the seeming inversion of the terms of misogyny into those of an idealizing tradition of love that exists alongside its earlier avatar until the current era. This startling study will be of great value to students of medieval literature as well as to historians of culture and gender.

A History of Western Society Since 1300
A History of Western Society Since 1300

Author: Merry E. Wiesner-Hanks

Publisher: Macmillan Higher Education

Published: 2019-10-15

Total Pages: 2349

ISBN-13: 1319218466

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Praised by instructors and students alike for its readability and attention to everyday life, the thirteenth edition of A History of Western Society includes a greater variety of tools to engage todays students and save instructors time. This edition features an enhanced primary source program, a question-driven narrative, five chapters devoted to the lives of ordinary people that make the past real and relevant, and the best and latest scholarship throughout. Available for free when packaged with the print book, the popular digital assignment options for this text bring skill building and assessment to a highly effective level. The active learning options come in LaunchPad , which combines an accessible e-book with LearningCurve, an adaptive and automatically graded learning tool that—when assigned—helps ensure students read the book; the complete companion reader with quizzes on each source; and many other study and assessment tools. For instructors who want the easiest and most affordable way to ensure students come to class prepared, Achieve Read & Practice pairs LearningCurve adaptive quizzing and our mobile, accessible Value Edition e-book, in one easy-to-use product.

Forgotten History of the Western People
Forgotten History of the Western People

Author: Mike Gascoigne

Publisher: Anno Mudi Books

Published: 2002

Total Pages: 245

ISBN-13: 9780954392208

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This book examines some of the very earliest histories, beginning with the Babylonian ten kings before the flood, the story of Gilgamesh, and the foundation of Troy. The claims of the Greek philosopher Euhemerus are considered, that all the gods were deified kings. The story continues with the destruction of Troy, the flight of Aeneas to Italy and the arrival of his great-grandson Brutus in Britain. The early Irish and Scottish histories are also considered, together with the arrival of Christianity in these islands during the first century and the building of the first church at Glastonbury. Finally, all the histories agree that, just as the world had a beginning, so also it will have an end. The Chapters are: 1. Creation and the Flood. 2. The Early Post-Flood World. 3. Dubious Histories. 4. From Dardanus to the Welsh Kings. 5. Anglo-Saxon Genealogies. 6. History of Ireland and Scotland. 7. Early Christianity in the British Isles. 8. The End of the World. ix + 245 pages, including 314 footnotes, Bibliography with 87 references, and Index. Mike Gascoigne is a freelance technical author with a background in chemical engineering. He dumped history at the age of 14 because he thought it was boring, but took it up again later in life when he realised that it all started somewhere and we didn't just emerge from an amorphous stone age, bronze age and iron age. Mike Gascoigne, BSc, MS, CEng, MIChemE, MISTC.