Ernie Lepore and Barry Loewer present a series of papers in which they come to terms with three views that have loomed large in philosophy for several decades: that a theory of meaning for a language is best understood as a theory of truth for that language; that thought and language are best understood together via a theory of interpretation; and that the mental is irreducible to the physical. They aim both to offer critical assessment of the views and to develop them. They show that each of these views remains of great significance for current work in philosophy of language and mind.
Renowned Harvard scholar and New Yorker staff writer Jill Lepore has written a strikingly original, ingeniously conceived, and beautifully crafted history of American ideas about life and death from before the cradle to beyond the grave. How does life begin? What does it mean? What happens when we die? "All anyone can do is ask," Lepore writes. "That's why any history of ideas about life and death has to be, like this book, a history of curiosity." Lepore starts that history with the story of a seventeenth-century Englishman who had the idea that all life begins with an egg, and ends it with an American who, in the 1970s, began freezing the dead. In between, life got longer, the stages of life multiplied, and matters of life and death moved from the library to the laboratory, from the humanities to the sciences. Lately, debates about life and death have determined the course of American politics. Each of these debates has a history. Investigating the surprising origins of the stuff of everyday life--from board games to breast pumps--Lepore argues that the age of discovery, Darwin, and the Space Age turned ideas about life on earth topsy-turvy. "New worlds were found," she writes, and "old paradises were lost." As much a meditation on the present as an excavation of the past, The Mansion of Happiness is delightful, learned, and altogether beguiling.
NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR NPR - Time Magazine - The Washington Post - Entertainment Weekly - The Boston Globe A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK From one of our most accomplished and widely admired historians--a revelatory portrait of Benjamin Franklin's youngest sister, Jane, whose obscurity and poverty were matched only by her brother's fame and wealth but who, like him, was a passionate reader, a gifted writer, and an astonishingly shrewd political commentator. Making use of an astonishing cache of little-studied material, including documents, objects, and portraits only just discovered, Jill Lepore brings Jane Franklin to life in a way that illuminates not only this one extraordinary woman but an entire world.
King Philip's War, the excruciating racial war--colonists against Indians--that erupted in New England in 1675, was, in proportion to population, the bloodiest in American history. Some even argued that the massacres and outrages on both sides were too horrific to "deserve the name of a war."It all began when Philip (called Metacom by his own people), the leader of the Wampanoag Indians, led attacks against English towns in the colony of Plymouth. The war spread quickly, pitting a loose confederation of southeastern Algonquians against a coalition of English colonists. While it raged, colonial armies pursued enemy Indians through the swamps and woods of New England, and Indians attacked English farms and towns from Narragansett Bay to the Connecticut River Valley. Both sides, in fact, had pursued the war seemingly without restraint, killing women and children, torturing captives, and mutilating the dead. The fighting ended after Philip was shot, quartered, and beheaded in August 1676.The war's brutality compelled the colonists to defend themselves against accusations that they had become savages. But Jill Lepore makes clear that it was after the war--and because of it--that the boundaries between cultures, hitherto blurred, turned into rigid ones. King Philip's War became one of the most written-about wars in our history, and Lepore argues that the words strengthened and hardened feelings that, in turn, strengthened and hardened the enmity between Indians and Anglos. She shows how, as late as the nineteenth century, memories of the war were instrumental in justifying Indian removals--and how in our own century that same war has inspired Indian attempts to preserve "Indianness" as fiercely as the early settlers once struggled to preserve their Englishness.Telling the story of what may have been the bitterest of American conflicts, and its reverberations over the centuries, Lepore has enabled us to see how the ways in which we remember past events are as important in their effect on our history as were the events themselves.
What ties Americans to one another? What unifies a nation of citizens with different racial, religious and ethnic backgrounds? These were the dilemmas faced by Americans in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries as they sought ways to bind the newly United States together. In A is for American, award-winning historian Jill Lepore portrays seven men who turned to language to help shape a new nation's character and boundaries. From Noah Webster's attempts to standardize American spelling, to Alexander Graham Bell's use of "Visible Speech" to help teach the deaf to talk, to Sequoyah's development of a Cherokee syllabary as a means of preserving his people's independence, these stories form a compelling portrait of a developing nation's struggles. Lepore brilliantly explores the personalities, work, and influence of these figures, seven men driven by radically different aims and temperaments. Through these superbly told stories, she chronicles the challenges faced by a young country trying to unify its diverse people.
The American experiment rests on three ideas—“these truths”, Jefferson called them—political equality, natural rights and the sovereignty of the people. And it rests, too, “on a dedication to inquiry, fearless and unflinching”, writes Jill Lepore in a ground-breaking investigation into the American past that places truth at the centre of the nation’s history. Telling the story of America, beginning in 1492, These Truths asks whether the course of events has proven the nation’s founding truths or belied them. Finding meaning in contradiction, Lepore weaves American history into a tapestry of faith and hope, of peril and prosperity, of technological progress and moral anguish. This spellbinding chronicle offers an authoritative new history of a great, and greatly troubled, nation.
The American experiment rests on three ideas—“these truths”, Jefferson called them—political equality, natural rights and the sovereignty of the people. And it rests, too, “on a dedication to inquiry, fearless and unflinching”, writes Jill Lepore in a ground-breaking investigation into the American past that places truth at the centre of the nation’s history. Telling the story of America, beginning in 1492, These Truths asks whether the course of events has proven the nation’s founding truths or belied them. Finding meaning in contradiction, Lepore weaves American history into a tapestry of faith and hope, of peril and prosperity, of technological progress and moral anguish. This spellbinding chronicle offers an authoritative new history of a great, and greatly troubled, nation.
Quinn Garland ran away from Honeybells Ranch twenty years ago but now his best friend's getting married. He only plans to stay in Bellbush long enough to see the rice thrown, but his uncle asks him for help over the summer. Catching up with the locals and even a few enemies makes for a long hot summer for Quinn, but meeting newcomer Gerti Gordan feels like a cool breeze.Reopening her grandmother's restaurant wasn't why Gerti came to Bellbush, that happened by accident. All she wanted to do was blend in with the locals, enjoy quiet Sundays with her dog Joe and be left alone. Too bad Quinn didn't know that. Not only did he ruin her Sunday, but he also ruined her Monday.Gerti knew Quinn would only be in Bellbush for the summer, but his arm tattoos and cowboy hat were hard to resist. A few dances and a kiss or twelve later left them both too mesmerized to care that his stay had an expiration date. When the opportunity of a lifetime comes his way, he doesn't think twice about taking it. With everyone's blessing, he puts hundreds of miles between him and Bellbush only to discover miles don't erase memories.
In this provocative book, Matthew Lenoe traces the origins of Stalinist mass culture to newspaper journalism in the late 1920s. In examining the transformation of Soviet newspapers during the New Economic Policy and the First Five Year Plan, Lenoe tells a dramatic story of purges, political intrigues, and social upheaval. Under pressure from the party leadership to mobilize society for the monumental task of industrialization, journalists shaped a master narrative for Soviet history and helped create a Bolshevik identity for millions of new communists. Everyday labor became an epic battle to modernize the USSR, a fight not only against imperialists from outside, but against shirkers and saboteurs within. Soviet newspapermen mobilized party activists by providing them with an identity as warrior heroes battling for socialism. Yet within the framework of propaganda directives, the rank-and-file journalists improvised in ways that ultimately contributed to the creation of a culture. The images and metaphors crafted by Soviet journalists became the core of Stalinist culture in the mid-1930s, and influenced the development of socialist realism.Deeply researched and lucidly written, this book is a major contribution to the literature on Soviet culture and society.
Americans have always put the past to political ends. The Union laid claim to the Revolution--so did the Confederacy. Civil rights leaders said they were the true sons of liberty--so did Southern segregationists. This book tells the story of the centuries-long struggle over the meaning of the nation's founding, including the battle waged by the Tea Party, Glenn Beck, Sarah Palin, and evangelical Christians to "take back America." Jill Lepore, Harvard historian and New Yorker staff writer, offers a careful and concerned look at American history according to the far right, from the "rant heard round the world," which launched the Tea Party, to the Texas School Board's adoption of a social-studies curriculum that teaches that the United States was established as a Christian nation. Along the way, she provides rare insight into the eighteenth-century struggle for independence--a history of the Revolution, from the archives. Lepore traces the roots of the far right's reactionary history to the bicentennial in the 1970s, when no one could agree on what story a divided nation should tell about its unruly beginnings. Behind the Tea Party's Revolution, she argues, lies a nostalgic and even heartbreaking yearning for an imagined past--a time less troubled by ambiguity, strife, and uncertainty--a yearning for an America that never was. The Whites of Their Eyes reveals that the far right has embraced a narrative about America's founding that is not only a fable but is also, finally, a variety of fundamentalism--anti-intellectual, antihistorical, and dangerously antipluralist. In a new afterword, Lepore addresses both the recent shift in Tea Party rhetoric from the Revolution to the Constitution and the diminished role of scholars as political commentators over the last half century of public debate.
In The Story of America, Harvard historian and New Yorker staff writer Jill Lepore investigates American origin stories--from John Smith's account of the founding of Jamestown in 1607 to Barack Obama's 2009 inaugural address--to show how American democracy is bound up with the history of print. Over the centuries, Americans have read and written their way into a political culture of ink and type. Part civics primer, part cultural history, The Story of America excavates the origins of everything from the paper ballot and the Constitution to the I.O.U. and the dictionary. Along the way it presents fresh readings of Benjamin Franklin's Way to Wealth, Thomas Paine's Common Sense, "The Raven" by Edgar Allan Poe, and "Paul Revere's Ride" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, as well as histories of lesser-known genres, including biographies of presidents, novels of immigrants, and accounts of the Depression. From past to present, Lepore argues, Americans have wrestled with the idea of democracy by telling stories. In this thoughtful and provocative book, Lepore offers at once a history of origin stories and a meditation on storytelling itself.
In The Story of America, Harvard historian and New Yorker staff writer Jill Lepore investigates American origin stories--from John Smith's account of the founding of Jamestown in 1607 to Barack Obama's 2009 inaugural address--to show how American democracy is bound up with the history of print. Over the centuries, Americans have read and written their way into a political culture of ink and type. Part civics primer, part cultural history, The Story of America excavates the origins of everything from the paper ballot and the Constitution to the I.O.U. and the dictionary. Along the way it presents fresh readings of Benjamin Franklin's Way to Wealth, Thomas Paine's Common Sense, "The Raven" by Edgar Allan Poe, and "Paul Revere's Ride" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, as well as histories of lesser-known genres, including biographies of presidents, novels of immigrants, and accounts of the Depression. From past to present, Lepore argues, Americans have wrestled with the idea of democracy by telling stories. In this thoughtful and provocative book, Lepore offers at once a history of origin stories and a meditation on storytelling itself.
Based on the gut-wrenching true story of the author's grandfather's childhood, seven-year-old Thomas is thrown into the darkness of captivity. Although the cascading darkness is intent on breaking his spirit, Thomas's resourcefulness and faith keep him alive amidst the direst of conditions. In a forest full of enemies, a ray of hope comes from an unexpected, mysterious source. The long, treacherous journey is far from over, but the HOPE of a new day is on the horizon. First-time author Beth Dukes gives you a front seat into the mind of Thomas and into Appalachian life in the early 1900s. Your heartstrings will be tugged, and the plot twists and turns will keep you glued to the pages as you hope and pray-along with Thomas-for rescue to come.
The second edition of Adapted Aquatics Programming: A Professional Guide-clarifies rationales for adapted aquatics programming, -broadens the scope of and enriches traditional programs for people with disabilities, -guides instructors in improving teaching methods and safety management, and -educates professionals on providing safe and effective adapted aquatics programs. The second edition of Adapted Aquatics Programming: A Professional Guide is packed with new material, including up-to-date information on relevant legislation, guidelines on architectural accessibility, instructional strategies, equipment, safety management, and competitive and recreational aquatics activities.This comprehensive resource is a significant addition to the aquatics literature, providing a practical learning tool for the field. The authors infuse each chapter with specific techniques as well as rationales for adapted aquatics programming. They also provide readers with-best practices in adapted aquatics programming,-a description of the scope of traditional adapted programs with enrichment ideas, -guidance in improving teaching methods and safety management, and-instruction in providing safe and effective adapted aquatics programs. Adapted Aquatics Programming, Second Edition, contains a wealth of references, practical tips, and safety precautions. It includes a number of new features, including photographs and diagrams, life-experience scenarios that provide a reference point for the chapter ahead, and an objectives list for each chapter. It also offers ideas for using equipment and includes information about competitive and recreational aquatics activities.In part I, the authors explore foundational issues of adapted aquatics, including models of collaboration, inclusion, planning, program development, facilities, equipment, and supplies. In part II they lay out instructional strategies and detail how to build safe and effective programs. They also look at the specific needs of program participants and issues related to aquatic fitness and rehabilitation. In part III they provide information on enhancing a program conducting competitive and recreational activities. Founded on action-based research and current thinking, laws, and practices, Adapted Aquatics Programming, Second Edition, offers a practical approach to adapted aquatics, providing much-needed information on adapting the environment, equipment, instructional strategies, skill techniques, and teaching methods for people with disabilities. This text fills the need for a source of current best practices in adapted aquatics programming.
NATIONAL BESTSELLER - Within the origin of one of the world's most iconic superheroes hides a fascinating family story--and a crucial history of feminism in the twentieth-century. "Everything you might want in a page-turner...skeletons in the closet, a believe-it-or-not weirdness in its biographical details, and something else that secretly powers even the most "serious" feminist history--fun." --Entertainment Weekly The Secret History of Wonder Woman is a tour de force of intellectual and cultural history. Wonder Woman, Jill Lepore argues, is the missing link in the history of the struggle for women's rights--a chain of events that begins with the women's suffrage campaigns of the early 1900s and ends with the troubled place of feminism a century later. Lepore, a Harvard historian and New Yorker staff writer, has uncovered an astonishing trove of documents, including the never-before-seen private papers of Wonder Woman's creator, William Moulton Marston. The Marston family story is a tale of drama, intrigue, and irony. In the 1920s, Marston and his wife brought into their home Olive Byrne, the niece of Margaret Sanger, one of the most influential feminists of the twentieth century. Even while celebrating conventional family life in a regular column that Marston and Byrne wrote for Family Circle, they themselves pursued lives of extraordinary nonconformity. Marston, internationally known as an expert on truth--he invented the lie detector test--lived a life of secrets, only to spill them on the pages of Wonder Woman. Includes a new afterword with fresh revelations based on never before seen letters and photographs from the Marston family's papers, and 161 illustrations and 16 pages in full color.
Students do months of research before choosing just the right college, but once theyre on campus, how many of them actually research the professors who are teaching their classes? To optimize your college education you need to find your schools best teachers but how?What Every College Student Should Know is a guide to discovering the best teachers at your school and learning everything you can from them. Here, the unique writing combination of a professor and a student provides you with perspectives from both sides of the equation. You'll learn:What questions to ask in selecting an instructorHow to evaluate professors based on the first class sessionsWhat to look for in a syllabus and grading policiesHow to identify a professors teaching style and how to adapt to itEven the most outgoing students can expect only limited contact with their professors in the classroom, so the authors also provide tactics to take full advantage of meetings outside regular class time, such as: Advice on how to review your exam or paper with your professorWays to build a relationship with a teacher and get invaluable feedback on your workTips on how to get the best recommendations from proffessors
