Author: Ruth W. Grant
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 0226306852
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 187
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Book Description
The recent spate of books and articles reflecting on the question of evil might make one forget that the question of just what constitutes goodness is no less urgent or perplexing. Everyone wants to think of him- or herself as good. But what does a good life look like? And how do people become good? Are there multiple, competing possibilities for what counts as a good life, all equally worthy? Or, is there a unified and transcendent conception of the good that should guide our judgment of the possibilities? What does a good life look like when it is guided by God? How is a good life involved with the lives of others? And, finally, how good is good enough? These questions are the focus of In Search of Goodness, the product of a year-long conversation about goodness. The eight essays in this volume challenge the dichotomies that usually govern how goodness has been discussed in the past: altruism versus egoism; reason versus emotion; or moral choice versus moral character. Instead, the contributors seek to expand the terms of the discussion by coming at goodness from a variety of perspectives: psychological, philosophic, literary, religious, and political. In each case, they emphasize the lived realities and particulars of moral phenomena, taking up examples and illustrations from life, literature, and film. From Achilles and Billy Budd, to Oskar Schindler and Shel Silverstein’s The Giving Tree, to Iris Murdoch and the citizens of Flagstaff, Arizona, readers will find a wealth of thought-provoking insights to help them better understand this most basic, but complex, element of human life and happiness.
Author: Laurence Bergreen
Publisher: HarperCollins
ISBN: 0062875388
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 464
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Book Description
“FASCINATING . . . Dramatic and timely.” —New York Times Book Review, Editors' Choice In this grand and thrilling narrative, the acclaimed biographer of Magellan and Columbus reveals the singular adventures of Sir Francis Drake, whose mastery of the seas during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I changed the course of history. “Entrancing . . . Very good indeed.” —Wall Street Journal Before he was secretly dispatched by Queen Elizabeth to circumnavigate the globe, or was called upon to save England from the Spanish Armada, Francis Drake was perhaps the most wanted—and successful—pirate ever to sail. Nicknamed “El Draque” by the Spaniards who placed a bounty on his head, the notorious red-haired, hot-tempered Drake pillaged galleons laden with New World gold and silver, stealing a vast fortune for his queen—and himself. For Elizabeth, Drake made the impossible real, serving as a crucial and brilliantly adaptable instrument of her ambitions to transform England from a third-rate island kingdom into a global imperial power. In 1580, sailing on Elizabeth’s covert orders, Drake became the first captain to circumnavigate the earth successfully. (Ferdinand Magellan had died in his attempt.) Part exploring expedition, part raiding mission, Drake’s audacious around-the-world journey in the Golden Hind reached Patagonia, the Pacific Coast of present-day California and Oregon, the Spice Islands, Java, and Africa. Almost a decade later, Elizabeth called upon Drake again. As the devil-may-care vice admiral of the English fleet, Drake dramatically defeated the once-invincible Spanish Armada, spurring the British Empire’s ascent and permanently wounding its greatest rival. The relationship between Drake and Elizabeth is the missing link in our understanding of the rise of the British Empire, and its importance has not been fully described or appreciated. Framed around Drake’s key voyages as a window into this crucial moment in British history, In Search of a Kingdom is a rousing adventure narrative entwining epic historical themes with intimate passions.
Author: Ramón Lugo
Publisher: Balboa Press
ISBN: 1452522057
Category : Travel
Languages : en
Pages : 124
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Book Description
This unbelievable - yet true - story reminds one of biblical struggles: it echoes the story of Jacob wrestling with the Angel of God. Throughout a long, dark night in the middle of the Atlantic, a lone man in a kayak braves ruthless tropical storm Franklin. Nothing is there to help him: no media, no helicopters, no rescue teams - and yet, his life is spared. The book describes much more than this capturing imagination and awe-inspiring ordeal. In 2005, the author, Ramon Lugo, set off to kayak alone across the Atlantic Ocean from the Chesapeake Bay to Spain. He considered this crossing a means of finding his inner self. He sought to experience times, "when pure courage is needed to let spirit take over." The narrative conveys the raw sense of a seemingly impossible attempt to cross the ocean in a kayak in hurricane season. As we join Ramon David Lugo on his breathtaking odyssey, we get a taste of his unimaginable courage, which is a sister to faith.
Author: William C. Chittick
Publisher: SUNY Press
ISBN: 1438439350
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 415
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Book Description
Renowned scholar William C. Chittick explores the worldview of Islam in a series of essays written over thirty-six years.
Author: Josephine Quinn
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 1400889111
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 365
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Book Description
Who were the ancient Phoenicians, and did they actually exist? The Phoenicians traveled the Mediterranean long before the Greeks and Romans, trading, establishing settlements, and refining the art of navigation. But who these legendary sailors really were has long remained a mystery. In Search of the Phoenicians makes the startling claim that the “Phoenicians” never actually existed. Taking readers from the ancient world to today, this monumental book argues that the notion of these sailors as a coherent people with a shared identity, history, and culture is a product of modern nationalist ideologies—and a notion very much at odds with the ancient sources. Josephine Quinn shows how the belief in this historical mirage has blinded us to the compelling identities and communities these people really constructed for themselves in the ancient Mediterranean, based not on ethnicity or nationhood but on cities, family, colonial ties, and religious practices. She traces how the idea of “being Phoenician” first emerged in support of the imperial ambitions of Carthage and then Rome, and only crystallized as a component of modern national identities in contexts as far-flung as Ireland and Lebanon. In Search of the Phoenicians delves into the ancient literary, epigraphic, numismatic, and artistic evidence for the construction of identities by and for the Phoenicians, ranging from the Levant to the Atlantic, and from the Bronze Age to late antiquity and beyond. A momentous scholarly achievement, this book also explores the prose, poetry, plays, painting, and polemic that have enshrined these fabled seafarers in nationalist histories from sixteenth-century England to twenty-first century Tunisia.
Author: Alfred Cortot
Publisher: Courier Corporation
ISBN: 0486316351
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 273
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Book Description
Profile by a legendary conductor and performer explores the composer's works and concert performances plus his roles as teacher and Polish nationalist, relationships with Liszt and Sand, chronic illness, and tormented, sensitive nature.
Author: James Pritchard
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521827423
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 518
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Book Description
Elusive Empire is the first full account of how during 1670 and 1730 French settlers came to the Americas. It examines how they and thousands of African slaves together with Amerindians constructed settlements and produced and traded commodities for export. Bringing together much new evidence, the author explores how the newly constructed societies and new economies, without precedent in France, interacted with the growing international violence in the Atlantic world in order to present a fresh perspective of the multifarious French colonizing experience in the Americas.
Author: Richard M. Gamble
Publisher: A&C Black
ISBN: 1441162321
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 219
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Book Description
The American history of the 'city on a hill' metaphor from its Puritan beginnings to its role in Reagan's American civil religion and beyond.
Author: P. D. Ouspensky
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
ISBN: 9780156007467
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 426
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Book Description
"The classic exploration of Eastern religious thinking and philosophy"--Cover.
Author: Marty Crump
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 9780226121987
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 340
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Book Description
A "chronicle of Crump's three decades as a field biologist--and as a wife and mother--in South and Central America."--Jacket.
