18 Great eBooks (eBook Compilation)

material included:

1. Freedom from Fear: The American People in Depression and War, 1929-1945 (Oxford History of the United States) by
David M. Kennedy 1999

Between 1929 and 1945, two great travails were visited upon the American people: the Great Depression and World War II. Freedom From Fear tells the story of how Americans endured, and eventually prevailed, in the face of those unprecedented calamities.
The Depression was both a disaster and an opportunity. As David Kennedy vividly demonstrates, the economic crisis of the 1930s was far more than a simple reaction to the alleged excesses of the 1920s. For more than a century before 1929, America's unbridled industrial revolution had gyrated through repeated boom and bust cycles, wastefully consuming capital and inflicting untold misery on city and countryside alike. Nor was the fabled prosperity of the 1920s as uniformly shared as legend portrays. Countless Americans, especially if they were farmers, African Americans, or recent immigrants, eked out thread bare lives on the margins of national life. For them, the Depression was but another of the ordeals of fear and insecurity with which they were sadly familiar.
Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal wrung from the trauma of the 1930s a lasting legacy of economic and social reform, including the Social Security Act, new banking and financial laws, regulatory legislation, and new opportunities for organized labor. Taken together, those reforms gave a measure of security to millions of Americans who had never had much of it, and with it a fresh sense of having a stake in their country.
Freedom From Fear tells the story of the New Deal's achievements, without slighting its shortcomings, contradictions, and failures. It is a story rich in drama and peopled with unforgettable personalities, including the incandescent but enigmatic figure of Roosevelt himself.
Even as the New Deal was coping with the Depression, a still more fearsome menace was developing abroad--Hitler's thirst for war in Europe, coupled with the imperial ambitions of Japan in Asia. The same generation of Americans who battled the Depression eventually had to shoulder arms in another conflict that wreaked world wide destruction, ushered in the nuclear age, and forever changed their own way of life and their country's relationship to the rest of the world. Freedom From Fear explains how the nation agonized over its role in World War II, how it fought the war, why the United States won, and why the consequences of victory were sometimes sweet, sometimes ironic. In a compelling narrative, Kennedy analyzes the determinants of American strategy, the painful choices faced by commanders and statesmen, and the agonies inflicted on the millions of ordinary Americans who were compelled to swallow their fears and face battle as best they could.
Freedom From Fear is a comprehensive and colorful account of the most convulsive period in American history, excepting only the Civil War--a period that formed the crucible in which modern America was formed.
The Oxford History of the United States
The Atlantic Monthly has praised The Oxford History of the United States as "the most distinguished series in American historical scholarship," a series that "synthesizes a generation's worth of historical inquiry and knowledge into one literally state-of-the-art book. Who touches these books touches a profession."
Conceived under the general editorship of one of the leading American historians of our time, C. Vann Woodward, The Oxford History of the United States blends social, political, economic, cultural, diplomatic, and military history into coherent and vividly written narrative. Previous volumes are Robert Middlekauff's The Glorious Cause: The American Revolution; James M. McPherson's Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era (which won a Pulitzer Prize and was a New York Times Best Seller); and James T. Patterson's Grand Expectations: The United States 1945-1974 (which won a Bancroft Prize).

2. Encyclopedia of Modern U.S. Military Weapons: The Army Times Navy Times Air Force Times - by Timothy M. Laur 1995

An accessible encyclopedia of military weapons represents a collaboration with The Army, Navy, and Air Force Times, and covers each weapon system, its evolution, development, and combat experience.

3. The Encyclopedia of World History, 6 Ed - by Peter N. Stearns 2001

Stearns is provost and professor of history at George Mason University and editor of Encyclopedia of European Social History [RBB My 15 01], among other works. His present effort is a major revision of a classic reference book edited by William Langer that has been around since 1883. The monograph was last published in 1972, so it was in substantial need of revision. This task has taken Stearns and a panel of prominent scholars 10 years to complete.
This book is intended for students, scholars, and amateur historians. It contains more than 20,000 entries covering prehistory through the year 2000. Examples of the currency of this work are the coverage on the 2000 presidential elections and the attack on the USS Cole. Coverage of Western European history has been reduced to make way for additional material on Africa, South Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East. In addition, coverage of traditional historical fields like national histories has been updated, and new historical fields such as women's history, social and cultural history, technology, and international government have been added.
Content is divided into broad time periods, from "Prehistoric" to "Contemporary." Each section starts off with a global survey. This is followed by regional divisions within which individual countries or cultures are treated. By and large, information for each region and country is presented chronologically, although there are also some narrative overviews. The extensive table of contents and index are essential tools for finding one's way.

4. Uncle Sam Wants You: World War I and the Making of the Modern American Citizen - by Christopher Capozzola 2008

In April 1917, the United States embarked on World War I--with little history of conscription, an army smaller than Romania's, and a political culture that saw little role for the federal government other than delivering the mail. Uncle Sam Wants You tells the gripping story of the American homefront in World War I, revealing how the tensions of mass mobilization led to a significant increase in power in Washington.
Christopher Capozzola shows how, in the absence of a strong federal government, Americans at first mobilized society by stressing duty, obligation, and responsibility over rights and freedoms. In clubs, schools, churches, and workplaces, Americans governed each other. But the heated temper of war quickly unleashed coercion on an unprecedented scale, making wartime America the scene of some of the nation's most serious political violence, including notorious episodes of outright mob violence. To solve this problem, Americans turned over increasing amounts of power to state institutions. In the end, whether they were some of the four million men drafted under the Selective Service Act or the tens of millions of homefront volunteers--or counted themselves among the thousands of conscientious objectors, anti-war radicals, or German enemy aliens--Americans of the World War I era created a new American state, and new ways of being American citizens.
Based on a rich array of sources that capture the voices of both political leaders and ordinary Americans, Uncle Sam Wants You offers a vivid and provocative new interpretation of American political history

5. Encyclopedia of Science and Religion - by Wentzel Van Huyssteen 2003

This encyclopedia, intended for "a wide readership from high-school students to independent researchers and academics," deals with all aspects of the conflict and dialogue between science and religion. The list of scholars who have contributed is impressive, and the project had as a consultant and contributor Ian Barbour, physicist, theologian, and well-known author on the interplay of science and religion. The editorial point of view is that the formal consideration of the relationship between science and religion has become a new academic field of study. The troublesome potential of new technologies has brought questions into the public arena as well.
The 400-plus alphabetically arranged entries range from broad essays on topics such as Biotechnology, Causation, and Sociobiology to shorter pieces on terms such as Cybernetics, Eco-feminism, and entropy. There are also 20 biographies of important figures in the dialogue between science and religion, from Aristotle to Stephen Jay Gould. The fore matter includes an alphabetical list of all articles as well as a synoptic outline, which enables one to see all of the articles related to, for example, physical sciences or Chinese religions. The historical and contemporary relationships between the realm of science and the major religious groups--Judaism, Islam, Christian traditions, Chinese religions, Buddhism, and Hinduism--are treated individually. Major scientific and academic fields are examined in the context of the encyclopedia's focus. Close to 70 articles on the physical sciences, for example, include entries on all the major arenas of the field: chemistry, particle physics, quantum physics, etc., each providing an overview of early research, contemporary developments and lessons, or applications to religious thought. All of the articles are signed and have bibliographies, some extensive. In addition, a nine-page annotated bibliography serves as a guide for further reading (and collection development) in various topics such as the human sciences and religion. A detailed index makes the wealth of material even more accessible.
The History of Science and Religion in the Western Tradition: An Encyclopedia (Garland, 2000) covers much of the same ground. Both are reference works of very high quality with scholarly contributors, several of them in common. But the approach of the earlier work is to treat fewer topics in broader essays. Some of the treatments are more substantial in the Garland work: medicine is covered in seven pages as opposed to two and a half. The Macmillan work does have a more global scope, including non-Western religions or belief systems. The references and bibliography of the set under review are much more up-to-date

6. Vitamins & Minerals Laminate Reference Chart (Quickstudy: Health) BY Jill E. Winland-Brown, Lynne Dunphy, Nina Waasdorp-Nolte 2001

I am thankful for this well-formatted list. Although it does not include all important details, it does provide a brief "at-a-glance" reference for the vitamin and mineral sources along with their deficiency and toxicity symptoms, suggested dosages, therapeutic recommendations,and even a few drug interaction alerts. It is a bi-fold, four page chart, with more lists than I expected. It is definitely worth the cost.
However, an ERROR is under the POTASSIUM deficiency sympotoms. It states DECREASED blood pressure and it should be ELEVATED BLOOD PRESSURE. This is incredibly important! Often a person with hypertension has a sodium/potassium imbalance. However, instead of the doctor trying potassium therapy on the patient, the doctor will prescribe a blood pressure medication which also acts as a diuretic, further depleting the patient of more potassium and making the problem worse. The human body, with it's original diet consisting of potassium enriched foods and very little sodium, was designed to retain the sodium and to eliminate the potassium. With our canned and proccessed foods, humans now consume far too much sodium and this imbalance is very common.

7. Hallucinogenic Plants - BY Richard Evans Schultes 1976

What are hallucinogenic plants? How do they affect mind and body? Who uses them - and why?

In his search for food, early man tried all kinds of plants. Some nourished him, some, he found, cured his ills, and some killed him. A few, to his surprise, had strange effects on his mind and body, seeming to carry him into other worlds. We call these plants hallucinogens, because they distort the senses and usually produce hallucinations - experiences that depart from reality. Although most hallucinations are visual, they may also involve the senses of hearing, touch, smell, or taste - and occasionally several senses simultaneously are involved. The actual causes of such hallucinations are chemical substances in the plants. These substances are true narcotics.

Contrary to popular opinion, not all narcotics are dangerous and addictive. Strictly and etymologicolly speaking, a narcotic is any substance that has a depressive effect, whether slight or great, on the central nervous system.

This unique Golden Guide surveys the role of psychoactive plants in primitive and civilized societies from early times to the present. The first nontechnical guide to both the cultural significance and physiological effects of hallucinogens, “Hallucinogenic Plants” will fascinate general readers and students of anthropology and history as well as botanists and other specialists.
All of the wild and cultivated species considered are illustrated in brilliant full color.

8. The Supersymmetric World: The Beginnings of the Theory - by Gordon L. Kane, Mikhail A. Shifman 2001

The story of the discovery of supersymmetry is a fascinating one, unlike that of any other major development in the history of science. This engaging book presents a view of the process, mainly in the words of people who participated. It combines anecdotal descriptions and personal reminiscences with more technical accounts of the trailblazers, covering the birth of the theory and its first years - the origin of the idea, four-dimensional field theory realization, and supergravity. The eyewitnesses convey to us the drama of one of the deepest discoveries in theoretical physics in the 20th century. This book will be equally interesting and useful to young researchers in high energy physics and to mature scholars - physicists and historians of science.

9. The Great Escape: 10 Secrets To Loving Your Life And Living Your Dreams - by Geoff Thompson 2001

If you feel imprisoned in your job, a relationship or even worse if you feel trapped in your life then this book - the sequel to The Elephant and the Twig by bestselling author Geoff Thompson - is definitely for you.

It offers the ten secrets to loving your life and living your dreams and helps you make the Great Escape from where you are to where you would love to be.

You can be anything, you can do anything and you can go anywhere. You are a creator with the magic to create whatever you want from your short stay on this spinning planet, but there is a process that must be observed and a path to follow; this book unveils the secrets to both.

But be careful, don't pick up this book unless you are ready to succeed, because once you have read the 10 secrets there will be nothing standing between you and your wildest dreams.

10. LSD Psychotherapy - by Stanislav Grof M.D. 2001

"I know of no work that so well incorporates the findings of Freud, Jung, and Rank..." -- Joseph Campbell, author of The Hero with a Thousand Faces, The Masks of God, and Myths We Live By

"One of the most creative and brillant phenomenologies and methodologies of the deeper psychodynamic processes that I know of..." -- Jean Houston, Ph.D. The Foundation for Mind Research

Stanislav Grof's book "LSD Psychotherapy" is definitely not a light read. Its divided into 9 main sections, and also includes an epilogue, index, two appendices, and an extensive bibliography. Weighing in at over 350 pages, it's Grof's history of LSD therapy, a discussion of the circumstances/therapeutic paradigms under which LSD has been used, and most importantly, a collection of practical wisdom gleaned from the "more than three thousand sessions over the years" which Dr. Grof personally supervised.

Although a book of this size and scope is obviously written for clinicians, it's nevertheless an interesting and informative read to the layperson. Dr. Grof's writing is erudite, informative, and flows surprisingly well (especially when one considers that English is actually not his native language. He was born in Czechoslovakia). He has very practical information regarding the set/setting required for this type of therapy, and lays down a clear outline of how a session should go, and what a subject (or sitter) is likely to encounter.

Two points he stressed repeatedly:
-- an LSD session is a transformational and decidedly internal experience. The goal isn't to see pretty colors or watch Disney cartoons in the palm of your hand; it's to undergo a great deal of introspection and apply what you learn from it.
-- LSD isn't always a lot of fun, nor is it supposed to be. He spends a lot of time discussing difficult experiences, and explaining how they hold the most potential for personal growth in a subject.

All in all, if you're interested in psychedelics, this book is a great read from a man who has devoted his life to researching these areas. If you like this book, I also recommend Myron Stolaroff's "The Secret Chief" (another primer on hallucinogenic psychotherapy) and Rick Strassman's "DMT: The Spirit Molecule".

About the Author
“ Stanislav Grof, M.D. began his research into the psychotherapeutic uses of LSD in 1960 at the Psychiatric Research Institute in Prague, Czechoslovakia. He is the founding president of the International Transpersonal Association, and has taught and lectured in academic and workshop settings worldwide. Dr. Grof is the author of numerous other books, the latest of which is Psychology of the Future: Lessons from Modern Consciousness Research.

11. Madness: a Brief History - by Roy Porter 2003

Looking back on his confinement to Bethlem, Restoration playwright Nathaniel Lee declared: "They called me mad, and I called them mad, and damn them, they outvoted me." As Roy Porter shows in Madness: A Brief History, thinking about who qualifies as insane, what causes mental illness, and how such illness should be treated has varied wildly throughout recorded history, sometimes veering dangerously close to the arbitrariness Lee describes and often encompassing cures considerably worse than the illness itself.

Drawing upon eyewitness accounts of doctors, writers, artists, and the mad themselves, Roy Porter tells the story of our changing notions of insanity and of the treatments for mental illness that have been employed from antiquity to the present day. Beginning with 5,000-year-old skulls with tiny holes bored in them (to allow demons to escape), through conceptions of madness as an acute phase in the trial of souls, as an imbalance of "the humors," as the "divine fury" of creative genius, or as the malfunctioning of brain chemistry, Porter shows the many ways madness has been perceived and misperceived in every historical period. He takes us on a fascinating round of treatments, ranging from exorcism and therapeutic terror--including immersion in a tub of eels--to the first asylums, shock therapy, the birth of psychoanalysis, and the current use of psychotropic drugs.
Throughout, Madness: A Brief History offers a balanced view, showing both the humane attempts to help the insane as well as the ridiculous and often cruel misunderstanding that have bedeviled our efforts to heal the mind of its myriad afflictions.

Insanity as a social construct over the centuries
This review is from: Madness: A Brief History (Hardcover)
Roy Porter died way too young. His books on medical history are a must-read for those who enjoy learning, and need to know how medical and scientific changes came about. I am one person who really feels that understand medical and social history is the only way that we can avoid the mistakes of the past, and work towards making the future as equitable in treatment and understanding towards those with mental illness as we can.
Porter's book is small and a quick read. He doesn't dash through, but this is not a textbook. Nor does it cover every possible scientific and social input on what 'makes' madness and what different centuries did to deal with those with mental conditions. If the reader is looking for a first look into the history of mental illness, he cannot go wrong with reading this concisely written book. It will not answer all the questions...in fact, it raises more questions. But Porter not only gives enough information and color to this particular problem, he also gives a wonderful bibliography/reference to refer to if the reader wishes to read about any particular time or problem. I did go looking for several of his recommended books, and I have not been disappointed yet.
It is of great interest that I read about the early 18th century, when so many of the great philosophers impacted the view with which scientists and physicians (and family too) viewed mental illness. Porter emphasizes that the great humanitarian changes made in the care of those mentally ill occurred then...but in spite of obvious success with providing homes and medical care and even jobs to these unfortunates, the fact that this 'care' did not provide a cure and unfortunately, the input of Darwin's idea of 'survival of the fittest' as promoted by his cousin, caused these asylums to deteriorate into the snake pits of the movies. Since genetics is raising some of the same questions and answer given by the eugenists from 1870 to past WWII ... it is paramount that students and medical personnel be trained in this medical history.

12. Bioterrorism and Infectious Agents: A New Dilemma for the 21st Century - by I.W Fong & Ken Alibek 2005

This volume in the series Emerging Infectious Diseases of the 21st Century provides the most up-to-date and comprehensive information available on bioterrorism agents such as:

Anthrax, smallpox, plague, and SARS
Vaccine development
New anti-viral drug development
Treatment and protection
Threat analysis and response
Biological and chemical agents

Compiled by two of the leading experts in the field, Bioterrorism and Infectious Agents provides the specialist and trainee in microbiology, infectious disease, infection control, and epidemiology with a concise, timely, and authoritative review of some of the most problematic infections of the new century. This volume will foster a better understanding of the issues and new ideas for preventing and controlling infectious diseases.

13. The Power of Israel in the United States - by James Petras 2006

This book is a chapter-by-chapter analysis and documentation of the power of Israel via the Israeli, Jewish or Pro-Zionist Lobby on US Middle East policy. It raises serious questions as to the primary beneficiary of US policy, and its destructive results for the United States. The extraordinary extent of US political, economic, military and diplomatic support for the state of Israel is explored, along with the means whereby such support is generated and consolidated. Contending that Zionist power in America ensured unconditional US backing for Israeli colonization of Palestine and its massive uprooting of Palestinians, it views the interests of Israel rather than those of Big Oil as the primary cause of the disastrous US wars against Iraq and threats of war against Iran and Syria. It demonstrates and condemns US imitation of Israeli practice as it relates to conduct of the war on terrorism and torture. It sheds light on the AIPAC spying scandal and other Israeli espionage against America; the fraudulent and complicit role of America's academic "terrorist experts" in furthering criminal government policies, and the orchestration of the Danish cartoons to foment antipathy between Muslims and the West. It questions the inability in America to sustain or even formulate a discourse related to the subject of Israeli influence on the United States. It calls for a review of American Mideast policy with a view to reclaiming US independence of action based upon enlightened self-interest and progressive principles.

14. Target Iraq: What the News Media Didn't Tell You- by Norman Solomon,Reese Erlich,,Howard Zinn,Sean Penn 2003

Deftly separating truth from propaganda, Target Iraq is a hard-hitting expose of the harsh realities and consequences of the pending war and the media's failure to present the full spectrum of issues to the public. Target Iraq will figure prominently in the national debate about the war against Iraq. Included are appendices by the Institute for Public Accuracy and FAIR -- Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting -- that provide a line-by line analysis of Bush's key October speech to Congress, the UN Security Council resolution, and other related speeches and documents.

The authors point out the media dosen't cover the hundred thousand civillian deaths in the first gulf war; dosen't refer to the destruction of Iraq's water and sewage treatment systems and just about all the rest of Iraq's civillian infrastructure by the bombings...

Erlich has a section devoted to wheather this coming war is about oil. He notes that the U.S. would greatly prefer to get its hands directly on Iraqi oil: a post-Saddam Iraqi government would probably privitize the industry into the hands of U.S. companies and adopt the oil policies the U.S. likes at OPEC. He quotes an article from the British press apparently sourced from British Petroleum that Ahmad Chalabi, head of the INC met with officials from three American oil companies and promised to divide Iraq's oil resources between them as a reward for the U.S. toppling Saddam. Not that they wouldn't want to do business w/Saddam...Dick Cheney as head of Haliburton advocated lifting sanctions on Iraq before he became the VP canidate. Haliburton stands to get huge reconstruction contracts for Iraq's oil industry after the war.

Solomon points out how the U.S. got security council authorization in the last war. Yemen lost 70 million dollars in aid in late 1990 for vetoing a U.S. rough draft resolution and other rotating security council members were threatened w/a similar fate. Similarly in late 2002 Mauritius withdrew its UN ambassador after he opposed a U.S. rough draft, not willing to risk a cut-off of U.S. aid.

Seth Ackerman of FAIR has a section on media treatment of the U.S. using inspections to spy and scout targets for bombing.

Appendix 2 is an analyses by Institute for Public accuracy experts of George W. Bush's speech in Cincinanti on October 7th. They respond to the president's pieties about stopping evil dictators from terrorising the world by pointing to the U.S. funding of Suharto's bloody rule and occupation of East Timor, the U.S. support for perpetrators of aggression like Morroco, Turkey and Israel and its own invastion of Panamma in contravention of UN resoultions and its refusal to pay billions in reparations to Nicaragua as called for by the World Court for its support of the terrorist contras. Others point out that the U.S. authorized the sending to Iraq of the seed stock of Iraq and many other lethal biological agents in the 80's when Saddam really was dangerous.

The experts like Phyllis Bennis, Francis Boyle, Mahajan, Glen Ragwala and James Jennings point out how resolution 1441 calls for the Iraq to grant access to stuff it has never been required to give accounting of before like possible unmanned aerial veichles, their parts and paperwork related to them as well as all Ballistic missle parts and records instead of just missles with a range of over 150 KM. It required Iraq to turn over all materials and records related to its chemical manufactuers even those unrelated to WMD within thirty days, a very impossible task to create 100 percent accounting for, giving the U.S. the opportunity to declare Iraq in material breach. It called for the inspectors to bring any equipment into Iraq that they wished obviously including devices that could be used for spying and the power to declare unspecified areas "exclusion zones"...The inspectors have the right to demand any Iraqi citizen and their families be taken out of the country for questioning about SAddam's WMD. Many are going to likely take this route for they want to get out of Iraq and will exagerate Saddam's threat, telling the U.S. what it wants to hear so they can get prestige. 1441 implies the continuation of U.S. policy through the UN of refusing to lift the sanctions once Saddam fully accounts for his WMD as called for in resolution 687, thus giving the Iraqi regime a heavy incentive to continue not to completely cooperate

15. Sacred Mushroom Key to the Door of Eternity - by A. Puharich 1974

I was surprised when I heared about this book. It was surprising because it involves psychadelic mushrooms, a Dutch artist channling an ancient Egyptian priest and a doctor taking the whole thing seriously. The story revolves a doctor who is trying to understand why a soft spoken man falls into trances when he touches an scarab dating back to ancient Egypt. The doctor is also trying to figure out why the man writes and speaks the ancient language in that trane. The doctor makes some interesting finds trying to enravel the strange "trances". One of the finds is the first medically recognized hallucinagenic mushroom, once thought to never actually exist. The book explores paranormal esp through tests under a controlled environment. It becomes an addictive read, I became facinated with the scientific questioning of paranormal events. It adds a level of intrigue not found in most subjects. Is this story a fraud or is there something to actually consider about the paranormal. I found it to be facinating, totally engaiging for the imagination.

16. Narratives of a New Order Cistercian Historical Writing in England - by Elizabeth Freeman 2007

The origins of the Cistercian monastic order are currently under intense scrutiny and revision, as scholars identify how the written word was used to ?invent? a unified corporate identity. Here Elizabeth Freeman examines the classic genre for inventing a past - the history, chronicle, and annal - and argues that historical narratives of the English Cistercians helped define the characteristics of both the new Cistercian monastic order and also the new orders of twelfth- and thirteenth-century England. She shows how Aelred of Rievaulx?s Relatio de standardo and Genealogia regum Anglorum articulated new senses of Englishness, and demonstrates through attention to library holdings that this focus on national self-definition continued throughout the twelfth century. The Fundacio abbathie de Kyrkestall shifts focus to local history and exploits Cistercian tropes of land-use in order to resolve the communal insecurity that characterized the Cistercians in around 1200. The Narratione de fundatione Fontanis monasterii features another method of reconciling the nostalgic quest for continuity with the intellectual recognition of change - it separates historical ?fact? from ?meaning? and imbues events with rich allegorical significance. Finally, Ralph of Coggeshall?s Chronicon Anglicanum indicates the multiple strategies Cistercian historians employed in order to turn the disparate and contradictory events of the past into a comprehensible and meaningful narrative.

17. Yeats and Alchemy (S U N Y Series in Western Esoteric Traditions) by William T. Gorski 1996

This book traces the development of alchemical discourse in the work of W. B. Yeats. His early essays and Golden Dawn transcripts demonstrate that for the poet, the alchemist was both artist and initiate. Gorski considers the themes of transformation, apocalypse, and futurity in relation to Yeats' alchemical representations of the 1890s. He uncovers Yeats' postmodern trajectory--to reconstitute the body, history, and material contingency which Yeats' original Symbolist aesthetic sought to transcend for "a world made wholly of essences."

Yeats and Alchemy bridges the resistant discourses of hermeticism and poststructuralism in alchemy's reclaiming of the culturally discarded value, in its theorizing of construction and deconstruction, and in its siting of the Other within the subject. Discussions of previously unpublished Yeats journals theorize on the Body's place and potential in spiritual transformation. Gorski also highlights the role Yeats assigned to alchemy in marriage and in his turbulent partnership with Maud Gonne.

18. Rapture, Revelation, and the End Times: Exploring the Left Behind Series - by Bruce David Forbes, Jeanne Halgren Kilde 2004

An indispensable exploration of the runaway bestselling series! From Left Behind to Glorious Appearing, the books in the Left Behind series have sold over 60,000,000 copies worldwide and their popularity continues to grow. What makes the books about the apocalypse so popular? What is it about the end times that fascinates millions around the globe? And what does the Bible really say about the end of the world? In Rapture, Revelation, and the End Times, six experts gather to answer these provocative questions and more, guiding readers through the different Christian millennialist views and how they developed. They explore the historical, biblical, social and political issues raised by the Left Behind series' religious perspective, present broad questions that curious readers might ask, and encourage us to reflect on the issues the series raises. An entertaining and informative book for fans as well as skeptics, this is a top-notch resource you won't want to be without!Rapture, Revelation, and the End Times answers some of the most often-asked questions about this fascinating series of books: * How popular are the Left Behind books . . . and why? * What does the Bible say about the end times? * How did Left Behind's particular vision of the end times develop? * When do Christians think the end times will happen? * How are other religions treated in the Left Behind series? * What social and political messages appear in the Left Behind books? This MUST-HAVE book also includes a READER'S GUIDE with: * Reader's Group Discussion Questions* Full Glossary of Religious Terms * Suggestions For Further Reading from a Variety of PerspectivesThis book has not been approved, licensed, or sponsored by any of the writers, publishers, or distributors of the books in the Left Behind series nor by any person or entity involved in the creation, production, or distribution of any media based on the series.