Benjamin Britten (1913–76) changed the course of English music with highly original works such as his opera Peter Grimes. While his music is performed more widely than those of any other English composer, his international success did not prevent him from continuing to draw inspiration from his native land. In this engaging biography, the author creates a portrait of a great artist, exploring his wide-ranging compositions in detail and discussing the many contradictions that pervaded Britten's fascinating life and career.
The wit and wisdom of Benjamin Disraeli, British statesman and twice Prime Minister of the United Kingdom – with a new foreword by Lord Lexden. Disraeli was one of the least orthodox of Prime Ministers. He was an adventurer who fought his way to ‘the top of the greasy pole’ in a blaze of controversy, and became Queen Victoria’s favourite statesman. He was a novelist and a wit as well as politician. He was a brilliant orator. Like Byron he was both a romantic and a cynic. His aphorisms have become part of the discourse of political life. This collection is based on his novels, letters and speeches. He was never dull, but he was fundamentally serious behind the firework display, and he had a lasting influence on the course of party history. Seen by some of the founder of ‘one-nation’ conservatism, Disraeli is today one of the most co-opted political figures of history. For those seeking clarity on Disraeli’s views, this collection will confound and surprise.
The Arcades Project, Walter Benjamin’s unfinished masterpiece, is a brilliant but maddening book. Benjamin’s Arcades: an unGuided Tour looks for the method behind the madness, carefully reconstructing the intellectual and political context of the work and unpacking its numerous analogies, metaphors and conceptual gambits. Written by three literary scholars and one historian, this text is both a reading companion and a vigorous interpretation of one of the most important humanistic texts of the twentieth century.Benjamin’s Arcades is composed of 16 entries and a specially designed 'convoluted' index. Some of the entries confront Benjamin with a different reading of his own historical sources (Blanqui, Marx, Giedion), others look intensively at key themes, obsessions, and images (the gambler, commodity fetishism, the Angel of History, magic). Throughout there is discussion of the relationship of Benjamin’s work to current and past debate on topics such as modernity, Judaism, fascism, and psychoanalysis. Benjamin’s Arcades opens up Benjamin’s texts to a variety of interdisciplinary perspectives and will be an essential text for those seeking to better understand this extraordinary work.
A biography examining the life of Benjamin Franklin and his leadership as a statesman, scientist, inventor, and printer. Written in graphic-novel format.
Written initially to guide his son, Benjamin Franklin's autobiography is a lively, spellbinding account of his unique and eventful life, now a classic of world literature that is sure to inspire and delight readers everywhere. Few men could compare to Benjamin Franklin. Virtually self-taught, he excelled as an athlete, a man of letters, a printer, a scientist, a wit, an inventor, an editor, and a writer, and he was probably the most successful diplomat in American history. David Hume hailed him as the first great philosopher and great man of letters in the New World.
Chronicles the founding father's life and his multiple careers as a shopkeeper, writer, inventor, media baron, scientist, diplomat, business strategist, and political leader, while showing how his faith in the wisdom of the common citizen helped forge an American national identity based on the virtues of its middle class. Reprint. 150,000 first printing.
Six months after America declared her independence, Congress dispatched Benjamin Franklin to France to solicit aid and arms for the upcoming fight. He was seventy years old, possessed of the most rudimentary French and had no diplomatic training. But this most remarkable of envoys was also among the most famous men in the world. During his eight years in Paris he charmed the French, outwitted the British spies and stirred a passion for a republic in those who lived under an absolute monarchy. Stacy Schiff tells a tale of international intrigue and from it emerges an intimate portrait of a brilliant man, as well as a sense of the fragility and improvisation of his country's bid for independence.
"The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin" is one of the most important and influential works in American history. It tells the story of Franklin's life from his humble beginnings to his emergence as a leading figure in the American colonies. In the process, it creates a portrait of Franklin as the quintessential American. Because of the book, Franklin became a role model for future generations of Americans, who hoped to emulate his rags to riches story. "The Autobiography" has also become one of the central works not just for understanding Franklin but for understanding America. Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) was a man of many roles-printer, author, philosopher, scientist, inventor, diplomat, and politician to name only a few. He lived a wide and varied life and found himself at the center of virtually every major event involving America during the second half of the eighteenth century. He was so successful as a businessman that he was able to retire at the age of 42. He proved equally adept at science, and his experiments in electricity made him the most famous American in the colonies. Politics and diplomacy occupied him for most of the latter half of his life.
This book utilizes previously ignored or little known sources to provide new insights into how one of the most famous Jewish converts was viewed by the Jewish community he ignored and by the larger Christian world that would not accept him. Although Benjamin Disraeli was baptized prior to his thirteenth birthday, he could not escape his origins. Labeled as a 'Jew Scamp' by his detractors when he entered the political arena, he exploited his background to demonstrate the nobility of his ancient race and the superiority of his ancestral origins over those of his opponents. Rather than deny his roots, he chose to make them an integral part of his mystique. Though Disraeli's support of Jewish causes was problematic, his growing prominence attracted the attention of Anglo-Jewry who needed a hero to validate their own Englishness. Gradually, in spite of his baptism, they accepted him as a true representative of their faith and culture. Ultimately, a diverse group used and abused his achievements for their own purposes both during and especially after his lifetime. Zionists, Victorian racists, mid-twentieth century Nazis, Jewish apologists, and present day hate-mongers found abundant material in his novels to support their causes. This book shows how a myth can take on a life of its own in the collective memory of the Jewish people, as well as in the thought processes of a variety of anti-Semitic groups. Its fresh approach to the life and lore of a colorful Victorian figure also raises the issue of ethnic identity and minority acceptance in our pluralistic society.
This book utilizes previously ignored or little known sources to provide new insights into how one of the most famous Jewish converts was viewed by the Jewish community he ignored and by the larger Christian world that would not accept him. Although Benjamin Disraeli was baptized prior to his thirteenth birthday, he could not escape his origins. Labeled as a 'Jew Scamp' by his detractors when he entered the political arena, he exploited his background to demonstrate the nobility of his ancient race and the superiority of his ancestral origins over those of his opponents. Rather than deny his roots, he chose to make them an integral part of his mystique. Though Disraeli's support of Jewish causes was problematic, his growing prominence attracted the attention of Anglo-Jewry who needed a hero to validate their own Englishness. Gradually, in spite of his baptism, they accepted him as a true representative of their faith and culture. Ultimately, a diverse group used and abused his achievements for their own purposes both during and especially after his lifetime. Zionists, Victorian racists, mid-twentieth century Nazis, Jewish apologists, and present day hate-mongers found abundant material in his novels to support their causes. This book shows how a myth can take on a life of its own in the collective memory of the Jewish people, as well as in the thought processes of a variety of anti-Semitic groups. Its fresh approach to the life and lore of a colorful Victorian figure also raises the issue of ethnic identity and minority acceptance in our pluralistic society.
Benjamin B. Warfield and Right Reason offers a study of Princeton Theologian Benjamin B. Warfield's view of apologetics and the role of reason in religious belief. In order to understand Warfield's view of "right reason," the book explores the intellectual development of Princeton Theological Seminary, Warfield's debate with Abraham Kuyper over the need for apologetics, and the manner in which Cornelius VanTil attempted to adopt the best from both Warfield and Kuyper. The first chapter examines the influence of Scottish Common Sense Philosophy on Princeton Theological Seminary. This chapter focuses on Charles Hodge and his affirmation that reason can be used to know God. The second chapter concentrates on Warfield and his continuation of the Princeton approach to apologetics. The third chapter considers the challenge raised by Abraham Kuyper and looks at Warfield's response. The final chapter discusses Cornelius VanTil and his attempt to take what he saw as best from Warfield and Kuyper while avoiding potential problems in each. The theme of this book is Warfield's affirmation that the redemptive claims of Christianity must be established by first arguing that there is a God and a need for special revelation. Warfield's approach to apologetics contains the potential to establish the foundation for a natural theology, especially with respect to the existence and nature of God.
This book honors the classical guitarist Benjamin Verdery, Professor at the Yale School of Music. It contains personal reflections from his friends and colleagues which illustrate several aspects of Professor Verdery: his influence on his peers, his students, and the classical guitar world; features of his musical career; and characteristics of his personality. In addition, there is an extensive essay by Professor Verdery himself in which he presents his thoughts and ideas on such musical endeavors as performing, composing, arranging, teaching, and recording. Rounding out the book are listings of his compositions, a discography, online video and audio files, recital programs, publications, and related websites.
The early nineteenth century was a time of great change as the United States transitioned from the colonial era to the industrial age. Benjamin Wright's engineering career spanned the better part of that time from 1790 to 1840.In Benjamin Wright: Father of American Civil Engineering, Steven M. Pennington chronicles Wright's life and varied career from country surveyor to his early work on America's railroads. After surveying the Mohawk River for navigation improvements and supervising the engineering of the Erie Canal project, he then went on to contribute to such projects as the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal near Philadelphia, and the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal near Washington, DC. From the capital city, Wright advanced his engineering practice as America grew and viewed its manifest expansion to the West.Throughout his life and work, Wright's personal connections, politically, socially, and technically, were far reaching. Wright understood the mechanics and connectivity of how politics and economics demonstrated themselves. He worked with leaders across the business and engineering communities to make a lasting social, economic, and historical contribution.Benjamin Wright understood the necessity to establish an organization of practicing engineers to stimulate technical, business, ethical, and professional attitudes. In 1839, he participated in organizational meetings of what would become the American Society of Civil Engineers which, in 1970, designated him the "Father of American Civil Engineering.
This unconventional biography of Benjamin Franklin, the great American Renaissance man, explores examples of Franklin's diverse genius and accomplishments in different fields. Among the topics explored are Franklin's views on women's issues, such as disapproving of impractical hoopskirts, supporting their education, and suggesting insurance for widows and spinsters. It describes his love of a good hoax, contributions to ballooning while an ambassador in France, experiments with the famous kite, and advances in heating houses. His work with money is also covered, including methods of printing money to confuse counterfeiters, a revolutionary way of making a print of a real leaf, and his updated portrait on the present $100 bill. Franklin's role as head of a commission to examine (and debunk) mesmerism is addressed. No stranger to controversy, Franklin headed the first successful attempt to unify the colonies to create a country. This work shows that Franklin is more responsible than any other for the founding of the United States--and also that he was a leading cause of the French Revolution, providing the French with an example of a successful rebellion, lessons on how to shift power from the king, and ideas about erecting a constitutional government (in addition, he weakened the French royal treasury by extracting loans and gifts to support America).
At the conclusion of World War II, war crimes tribunals were carried out at Nuremberg, Germany. Justice was meted out for major war criminals, and Benjamin Ferencz was chief prosecutor for what the Associated Press said was the largest murder trial in history. This biography of the last living Nuremberg prosecutor traces his life from early childhood growing up as an immigrant in Hell's Kitchen in New York City, to Harvard Law School, to the U.S. Army and Patton's Judge Advocate War Crimes Investigation Section, to the Nuremberg Tribunals and beyond. His life has been spent working toward the goal of world peace through law, not war, including the successful formation of the International Criminal Court, in which Ferencz played a key role.
In Benjamin's Library, Jane O. Newman offers, for the first time in any language, a reading of Walter Benjamin's notoriously opaque work, Origin of the German Tragic Drama that systematically attends to its place in discussions of the Baroque in Benjamin's day. Taking into account the literary and cultural contexts of Benjamin's work, Newman recovers Benjamin's relationship to the ideologically loaded readings of the literature and political theory of the seventeenth-century Baroque that abounded in Germany during the political and economic crises of the Weimar years. To date, the significance of the Baroque for Origin of the German Tragic Drama has been glossed over by students of Benjamin, most of whom have neither read it in this context nor engaged with the often incongruous debates about the period that filled both academic and popular texts in the years leading up to and following World War I. Armed with extraordinary historical, bibliographical, philological, and orthographic research, Newman shows the extent to which Benjamin participated in these debates by reconstructing the literal and figurative history of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century books that Benjamin analyzes and the literary, art historical and art theoretical, and political theological discussions of the Baroque with which he was familiar. In so doing, she challenges the exceptionalist, even hagiographic, approaches that have become common in Benjamin studies. The result is a deeply learned book that will infuse much-needed life into the study of one of the most influential thinkers of the twentieth century.
