Bestsellers: A Very Short Introduction

Bestsellers: A Very Short Introduction PDF Author: John (Emeritus Lord Northcliffe Professor of Modern English Literature Sutherland, University College London)
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199214891
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 145

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Book Description
For the last century, the tastes and preferences of readers of fiction have been reflected in the American and British bestseller lists, and this Very Short Introduction takes an engaging look through the lists to reveal what we have been reading - and why.

Bestsellers: A Very Short Introduction

Bestsellers: A Very Short Introduction PDF Author: John (Emeritus Lord Northcliffe Professor of Modern English Literature Sutherland, University College London)
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199214891
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 145

Get Book

Book Description
For the last century, the tastes and preferences of readers of fiction have been reflected in the American and British bestseller lists, and this Very Short Introduction takes an engaging look through the lists to reveal what we have been reading - and why.

Science and Religion: A Very Short Introduction

Science and Religion: A Very Short Introduction PDF Author: Thomas Dixon
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199295514
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 169

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Book Description
The debate between science and religion is never out of the news: emotions run high, fuelled by polemical bestsellers like iThe God Delusion/i and, at the other end of the spectrum, high-profile campaigns to teach 'Intelligent Design' in schools.Yet there is much more to the debate than the clash of these extremes. As Thomas Dixon shows in this balanced and thought-provoking introduction, a whole range of views, subtle arguments, and fascinating perspectives can be taken on this complex and centuries-old subject. He explores not only thekey philosophical questions that underlie the debate, but also highlights the social, political, and ethical contexts that have made 'science and religion' such a fraught and interesting topic in the modern world. Along the way, he examines landmark historical episodes such as the Galileo affair,Charles Darwin's own religious and scientific odyssey, the Scopes 'Monkey Trial' in Tennessee in 1925, and the Dover Area School Board case of 2005, and includes perspectives from non-Christian religions and examples from across the physical, biological, and social sciences.

English Literature: A Very Short Introduction

English Literature: A Very Short Introduction PDF Author: Jonathan Bate
Publisher: OUP Oxford
ISBN: 0191614297
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 192

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Book Description
Sweeping across two millennia and every literary genre, acclaimed scholar and biographer Jonathan Bate provides a dazzling introduction to English Literature. The focus is wide, shifting from the birth of the novel and the brilliance of English comedy to the deep Englishness of landscape poetry and the ethnic diversity of Britain's Nobel literature laureates. It goes on to provide a more in-depth analysis, with close readings from an extraordinary scene in King Lear to a war poem by Carol Ann Duffy, and a series of striking examples of how literary texts change as they are transmitted from writer to reader. The narrative embraces not only the major literary movements such as Romanticism and Modernism, together with the most influential authors including Chaucer, Donne, Johnson, Wordsworth, Austen, Dickens and Woolf, but also little-known stories such as the identity of the first English woman poet to be honoured with a collected edition of her works. Written with the flair and passion for which Jonathan Bate has become renowned, this book is the perfect Very Short Introduction for all readers and students of the incomparable literary heritage of these islands. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.

The Oxford Book of American Short Stories

The Oxford Book of American Short Stories PDF Author: Joyce Carol Oates
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 9780195092622
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 788

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Book Description
This volume offers a survey of American short fiction in 59 tales that combine classic works with 'different, unexpected gems', which invite readers to explore a wealth of important pieces by women and minority writers. Authors include: Amy Tan, Alice Adams, David Leavitt and Tim O'Brien.

Teeth: A Very Short Introduction

Teeth: A Very Short Introduction PDF Author: Peter S. Ungar
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199670595
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 153

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Book Description
Teeth are a vital component of vertebrate anatomy and a fundamental part of the fossil record. It was the evolution of teeth, associated with predation, that drove the evolution of the wide array of fish, amphibians, reptiles, and then mammals. Peter S. Ungar looks at how, without teeth, none of these developments could have occurred.

History: A Very Short Introduction

History: A Very Short Introduction PDF Author: John Arnold
Publisher: Oxford Paperbacks
ISBN: 019285352X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 152

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Book Description
Starting with an examination of how historians work, this "Very Short Introduction" aims to explore history in a general, pithy, and accessible manner, rather than to delve into specific periods.

The Cold War: a Very Short Introduction

The Cold War: a Very Short Introduction PDF Author: Robert J. McMahon
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 0198859546
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 201

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Book Description
Vividly written and based on up-to-date scholarship, this title provides an interpretive overview of the international history of the Cold War.

The American South

The American South PDF Author: Charles Reagan Wilson
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199943516
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 162

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Book Description
"The American South has a dramatic history that has made it a distinctive place on the world stage, one with continuing significance into the twenty-first century. Its early history illuminates the expansion of Europe into the New World, creating a colonial, plantation, slave society that made it different from other parts of the United States but fostered commonalities with other southern places that had similar colonial experiences. The Civil War and civil rights movement are historical events that transformed the South in differing ways and remain part of a vibrant public memory, one that the region's people and outsiders to the region often contest. In the twentieth century, the South's pronounced traditionalism in customs and values was in tension with the forces of modernization that only slowly forced change"--

Philosophy: A Very Short Introduction

Philosophy: A Very Short Introduction PDF Author: Edward Craig
Publisher: OUP Oxford
ISBN: 0191500747
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 144

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Book Description
How ought we to live? What really exists? How do we know? This book introduces important themes in ethics, knowledge, and the self, via readings from Plato, Hume, Descartes, Hegel, Darwin, and Buddhist writers. It emphasizes throughout the point of doing philosophy, explains how different areas of philosophy are related, and explores the contexts in which philosophy was and is done. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.

Astrobiology: A Very Short Introduction

Astrobiology: A Very Short Introduction PDF Author: David C. Catling
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199586454
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 161

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Book Description
Examines the origins of life on Earth and the search for extraterrestrial life, through an understanding of the factors that have allowed life to exist on this planet and the commonalities on others that may enable life elsewhere.