Apologies to Thucydides: Understanding History as Culture and Vice Versa By Marshall David Sahlins
2004 | 320 Pages | ISBN: 0226734005 | PDF | 28 MB
Thucydides' classic work on the history of the Peloponnesian War is the root of Western conceptions of history-including the idea that Western history is the foundation of everyone else's. Here, Marshall Sahlins takes on Thucydides and the conceptions of history he wrought with a groundbreaking new book that shows what a difference an anthropological concept of culture can make to the writing of history.Sahlins begins by confronting Thucydides' account of the Peloponnesian War with an analogous "Polynesian War," the fight for the domination of the Fiji Islands (1843-55) between a great sea power (like Athens) and a great land power (like Sparta). Sahlins draws parallels between the conflicts with an eye to their respective systems of power and sovereignty as well as to Thucydides' alternation between individual (Pericles, Themistocles) and collective (the Athenians, the Spartans) actors in the making of history. Characteristic of most histories ever written, this alternation between the agency of "Great Men" and collective entities leads Sahlins to a series of incisive analyses ranging in subject matter from Bobby Thomson's "shot heard round the world" for the 1951 Giants to the history-making of Napoleon and certain divine kings to the brouhaha over Elián Gonzalez. Finally, again departing from Thucydides, Sahlins considers the relationship between cultural order and historical contingency through the recounting of a certain royal assassination that changed the course of Fijian history, a story of fratricide and war worthy of Shakespeare.In this most convincing presentation yet of his influential theory of culture, Sahlins experiments with techniques for mixing rich narrative with cultural explication in the hope of doing justice at once to the actions of persons and the customs of people. And he demonstrates the necessity of taking culture into account in the creation of history-with apologies to Thucydides, who too often did not.

Anselm of Canterbury and the Desire for the Word By Eileen C. Sweeney
2012 | 403 Pages | ISBN: 0813219582 | PDF | 4 MB
Sweeney's study offers a comprehensive picture of Anselm's thought and its development, from the early, intimate, monastically based meditations to the later, public, proto-scholastic disputations

Auma Obama, "And Then Life Happens: A Memoir"
English | 2013 | ISBN: 125003132X | EPUB | pages: 352 | 2.4 mb
A moving account by Auma Obama about her life in Africa and Europe, and her relationship with her brother, Barack Obama.

Judi Dench, "And Furthermore"
English | 2012 | ISBN: 1250002141, 0312659067 | EPUB | pages: 288 | 2.0 mb
"I can hardly believe that it is more than half a century since I first stepped on to the stage of the Old Vic Theatre and into a way of life that has brought me the most rewarding professional relationships and friendships. I cannot imagine now ever doing anything else with my life except acting..." - Judi Dench

Ancient Africa - 2 Books in 1: African Mythology and Ancient African Kingdoms (Easy History) by Jim Barrow
English | 2022 | ISBN: N/A | ASIN: B08ZLNPNYR | 215 pages | EPUB | 0.72 Mb
The Lesser Known Side of Ancient Africa: Dive Deep Into Africa's Rich History and Thrilling Mythology & Explore How the World as We Know it Today Was Influenced By Ancient African Kingdoms and Civilizations

Analog Days: The Invention and Impact of the Moog Synthesizer by Trevor Pinch, Frank Trocco
English | October 30, 2002 | ISBN: 0674008898, 0674016173 | True EPUB/PDF | 384 pages | 8/2.2 MB
Though ubiquitous today, available as a single microchip and found in any electronic device requiring sound, the synthesizer when it first appeared was truly revolutionary. Something radically new-an extraordinary rarity in musical culture-it was an instrument that used a genuinely new source of sound: electronics. How this came to be-how an engineering student at Cornell and an avant-garde musician working out of a storefront in California set this revolution in motion-is the story told for the first time in Analog Days, a book that explores the invention of the synthesizer and its impact on popular culture.

An Introduction to Qualitative Research Synthesis: Managing the Information Explosion in Social Science Research By Claire Howell Major, Maggi Savin-Baden
2010 | 200 Pages | ISBN: 0415562856 | PDF | 2 MB
Providing a comprehensive guide for understanding, interpreting and synthesizing qualitative studies, An Introduction to Qualitative Research Synthesis shows how data can be collated together effectively to summarise existing bodies of knowledge and to create a more complete picture of findings across different studies The authors describe qualitative research synthesis and argue for its use, describing the process of data analysis, synthesis and interpretation and provide specific details and examples of how the approach works in practice. This accessible book: fully explains the qualitative research synthesis approach; provides advice and examples of findings; describes the process of establishing credibility in the research process; provides annotated examples of the work in process; references published examples of the approach across a wide variety of fields. Helping researchers to understand, make meaning and synthesize a wide variety of datasets, this book is broad in scope yet practical in approach. It will be beneficial to those working in social science disciplines, including researchers, teachers, students and policy makers, especially those interested in methods of synthesis such as meta-ethnography, qualitative meta-analysis, qualitative meta-synthesis, interpretive synthesis, narrative synthesis, and qualitative systematic review.

Ray A Grasse, "An Infinity of Gods: Conversations with an Unconventional Mystic, The Teachings of Shelly Trimmer"
English | 2017 | ISBN: 1548220043 | PDF | pages: 256 | 6.6 mb
'An Infinity of Gods' is a fascinating look at a little-known mystic and spiritual teacher, Shelly Trimmer (1917-1996), a disciple of Paramahansa Yogananda (Autobiography of a Yogi). Based primarily on transcripts of conversations between Shelly and Ray Grasse during the late 1970s and early 1980s, Grasse's book offers a glimpse into the wide-ranging thoughts and insights of this unusual teacher. Among the topics covered are meditation, magic, karma, future science, astrology, psychic phenomena, sex, relationships, enlightenment and God. Written in clear and easy-to-understand language, this compelling selection offers a thought-provoking look into the life and mind of a true American original."Rule number one in the spiritual search: the best masters are the ones you never hear of and can hardly find. Ray Grasse's absorbing portrait of Shelly Trimmer proves yet again that this is true."-Richard Smoley, author of 'How God Became God: What Scholars Are Really Saying about God and the Bible.'

An Indiana Christmas By Bryan Furuness (editor)
2020 | 242 Pages | ISBN: 0253050286 | PDF | 18 MB
Imagine a moonlit railroad track, a rural road and barn covered with just a dusting of snow, a hound dog asleep by the woodstove, and a Red Ryder BB gun hidden behind the tinseled tree―all the makings of an unforgettable Indiana Christmas. In An Indiana Christmas, editor Bryan Furuness brings together timeless short stories, poems, plays, and letters to help you get into the holiday spirit. Lose yourself in classics like "In God We Trust: All Others Pay Cash" by Jean Shepherd, which inspired the beloved movie A Christmas Story, and "A Feel in the Christmas Air" by James Whitcomb Riley, along with more recent literary works like "The Myth of the Perfect Christmas Photo Family" by Kelsey Timmerman and "While Mortals Sleep" by famed Indiana writer Kurt Vonnegut. To achieve the perfect combination of Christmas nostalgia and cheer, Furuness has curated Hoosier stories that allow you to experience an idyllic holiday gathering in "Indiana Winter" by Susan Neville, feel the excitement of a child on Christmas Eve with "Earthbound" by Barbara Shoup, and face the loneliness of a drifter on Christmas night in "Howard Garfield, Balladeer" by Edward Porter. The collection even offers the chance to read a Christmas war dispatch from the late, great Hoosier journalist Ernie Pyle. Heartfelt and unique, An Indiana Christmas paints a picture of what Hoosiers truly hold dear. Family, love, giving, hope, and faith shine through these poignant stories, which are sure to put you in good spirits for the holidays.

An Analysis of Frederick Jackson Turner's The Significance of the Frontier in American History By Joanna Dee Das, Joseph Tendler
2017 | 106 Pages | ISBN: 1912302780 | PDF | 4 MB
Frederick Jackson Turner's 1893 essay on the history of the United States remains one of the most famous and influential works in the American canon. That is a testament to Turner's powers of creative synthesis; in a few short pages, he succeeded in redefining the way in which whole generations of Americans understood the manner in which their country was shaped, and their own character moulded, by the frontier experience. It is largely thanks to Turner's influence that the idea of America as the home of a sturdily independent people - one prepared, ultimately, to obtain justice for themselves if they could not find it elsewhere - was born. The impact of these ideas can still be felt today: in many Americans' suspicion of "big government," in their attachment to guns - even in Star Trek's vision of space as "the final frontier." Turner's thesis may now be criticised as limited (in its exclusion of women) and over-stated (in its focus on the western frontier). That it redefined an issue in a highly impactful way - and that it did so exceptionally eloquently - cannot be doubted.