Long known as one of the greatest chess masters of the nineteenth century, William Steinitz had a rich and elevated career and life, which can now be known as well. From Steinitz's own writings and the fruits of extensive first-time-ever research by the author, a fascinating portrayal emerges of the life and genius of a man widely known as the "Bohemian Caesar" quite apart from his chess dominance. Lengthy annotations for the 15 selected games are provided by modern grandmaster Andy Soltis, often augmented by Steinitz's own observations. Three additional games are also included. Each game is illustrated.
Until around the latter part of the 20th century, Mormonism has been presented in scholarly reconstructions as a religion that has not changed significantly from its beginnings, whose presently-held beliefs existed as a central core of doctrine at the church's founding in 1830. The author argues, instead, that the development of Mormonism has been primarily due to external events, popular, cultural, philosophical, religious and scientific, and that these influences have led to the emergence of several streams of thought that are actually in opposition to the early beliefs of the church. Mormonism can be seen as a reflection of the development of American society and culture from the early 1800s to the present. The major aim of this work is to establish a proper chronology for the development of Mormon thought, specifically in its concept of the nature of God.
Argues that higher education needs to abandon the "culture wars" if it hopes to address the major crises of the century.Arts of Living presents a social history of the humanities and a proposal for the future that places creativity at the heart of higher education. Engaging with the debate launched by Allan Bloom, Harold Bloom, Bill Readings, John Guillory, and others, Kurt Spellmeyer argues that higher education needs to abandon the "culture wars" if it hopes to address the major crises of the century: globalization, the degradation of the environment, the widening chasm between rich and poor, and the clash of cultures.
One hundred twenty-five years ago, Philotheos Bryennios discovered the text of the Didache in an eleventh-century manuscript version. In 1883 he edited the manuscript for publication, and its special fascination for scholars remains undiminished. One of the oldest extracanonical Christian documents, the Didache's origins can be traced to the first century. It is apparently a catechism, intended to provide basic instruction in the Christian lifestyle and worship for persons preparing for baptism. The Didache exhibits fascinating echoes of Jesus' teaching in its Matthean form, along with rare glimpses into the life of an early Christian community--its values, its observance of the Eucharist, its leaders, and the character of its hope. Niederwimmer's wonderful commentary is a model of clarity and learning and a splendid addition to this premier commentary series.
In Shakespeare's Medieval Craft, Kurt A. Schreyer explores the relationship between Shakespeare's plays and a tradition of late medieval English biblical drama known as mystery plays. Scholars of English theater have long debated Shakespeare's connection to the mystery play tradition, but Schreyer provides new perspective on the subject by focusing on the Chester Banns, a sixteenth-century proclamation announcing the annual performance of that city's cycle of mystery plays. Through close study of the Banns, Schreyer demonstrates the central importance of medieval stage objects—as vital and direct agents and not merely as precursors—to the Shakespearean stage. As Schreyer shows, the Chester Banns serve as a paradigm for how Shakespeare's theater might have reflected on and incorporated the mystery play tradition, yet distinguished itself from it. For instance, he demonstrates that certain material features of Shakespeare's stage—including the ass's head of A Midsummer Night's Dream, the theatrical space of Purgatory in Hamlet, and the knocking at the gate in the Porter scene of Macbeth—were in fact remnants of the earlier mysteries transformed to meet the exigencies of the commercial London playhouses. Schreyer argues that the ongoing agency of supposedly superseded theatrical objects and practices reveal how the mystery plays shaped dramatic production long after their demise. At the same time, these medieval traditions help to reposition Shakespeare as more than a writer of plays; he was a play-wright, a dramatic artisan who forged new theatrical works by fitting poetry to the material remnants of an older dramatic tradition.
While many comparative analysts see parliamentary government as essential for stable democracy, this volume argues that the American presidential system that separates and diffuses power can provide new perspectives for those building democratic institutions in Latin America, Eastern Europe, and the new republics of the former Soviet Union. The authors recognize risks of rigidity, gridlock, and excessive centralization in presidential institutions. But they also emphasize the unexpected levels of legislative productivity during periods of divided government, the dramatic reversal of declining popularity by Presidents Reagan and Clinton, and the importance of direct appeals by presidents to the nation. After examining the American presidential system, the authors focus on the de-facto separation of powers in European parliaments and presidentialism in France, Latin America, and Eastern Europe. Both trends in European parliamentary systems and the dramatic changes within French presidential institutions suggest that scholars should temper broad generalizations about presidential or parliamentary government.
Grand Central Terminal, one of New York City's preeminent buildings, stands as a magnificent Beaux-Arts monument to America's Railway Age, and it remains a vital part of city life today. Completed in 1913 after ten years of construction, the terminal became the city's most important transportation hub, linking long-distance and commuter trains to New York's network of subways, elevated trains, and streetcars. Its soaring Grand Concourse still offers passengers a majestic gateway to the wonders beyond 42nd Street. In Grand Central Terminal, Kurt C. Schlichting traces the history of this spectacular building, detailing the colorful personalities, bitter conflicts, and Herculean feats of engineering that lie behind its construction. Schlichting begins with Cornelius Vanderbilt-"The Commodore"-whose railroad empire demanded an appropriately palatial passenger terminal in the heart of New York City. Completed in 1871, the first Grand Central was the largest rail facility in the world and yet-cramped and overburdened-soon proved thoroughly inadequate for the needs of this rapidly expanding city. William Wilgus, chief engineer of the New York Central Railroad, conceived of a new Grand Central Terminal, one that would fully meet the needs of the New York Central line. Grand Central became a monument to the creativity and daring of a remarkable age. The terminal's construction proved to be a massive undertaking. Before construction could begin, more than 3 million cubic yards of rock and earth had to be removed and some 200 buildings demolished. Manhattan's exorbitant real estate prices necessitated a vast, two-story underground train yard, which in turn required a new, smoke-free electrified rail system. The project consumed nearly 30,000 tons of steel, three times more than that in the Eiffel Tower, and two power plants were built. The terminal building alone cost 43 million in 1913, the equivalent of nearly 750 million today. Some of these costs were offset by an ambitious redevelopment project on property above the New York Central's underground tracks. Schlichting writes about the economic and cultural impact of the terminal on midtown Manhattan, from building of the Biltmore and Waldorf-Astoria Hotels to the transformation of Park Avenue. Schlichting concludes with an account of the New York Central's decline; the public outcry that prevented Grand Central's new owner, Penn Central, from following through with its 1969 plan to demolish or drastically alter the terminal; the rise of Metro-North Railroad; and the meticulous 1990s restoration project that returned Grand Central Terminal to its original splendor. More than a history of a train station, this book is the story of a city and an age as reflected in a building aptly described as a secular cathedral.
The idea that capitalism grew out of Puritan values, as unlikely as it seems, has aroused much interest among economic historians. First proposed by Max Weber, the hypothesis gained wide acceptance through the writings of R.H. Tawney. In this bold and hard-hitting essay, Samuelsson cuts through the controversy and convincingly challenges Weber's hypothesis and many of Tawney's theories. His vigorous reassessment of the spirit and ethics of both capitalism and Puritanism effectively dismantles the notion of any functional relationship between Christianity and capitalism. First published in Sweden in 1957, Samuelsson's essay was translated into English in 1961 and had an immediate impact on scholarly debates in the English-speaking world. His work will be of special interest to students of religious history, economics, and political science.
Based on John Gay's eighteenth century Beggar's Opera, The Threepenny Opera, first staged in 1928 at the Theater am Schiffbauerdamm in Berlin, is a vicious satire on the bourgeois capitalist society of the Weimar Republic, but set in a mock-Victorian Soho. With Kurt Weill's unforgettable music - one of the earliest and most successful attempts to introduce jazz to the theatre - it became a popular hit throughout the western world.Published in Methuen Drama's Modern Classics series, this edition features extensive notes and commentary including an introduction to the play, Brecht's own notes on the play, a full appendix of textual variants, a note by composer Kurt Weill, a transcript of a discussion about the play between Brecht and a theatre director, plus editorial notes on the genesis of the play.
Clear that thicket, dozer cricket.Ants that sift, sort and lift.Big bug rig, watch it dig.Lifting, sorting, digging, and hauling are dirty jobs, but someone's got to do them. So when a construction worker throws away a half-eaten sandwich, a crew of bugs gets to work clearing the area of debris. With a simple text and up-close illustrations, readers will see how bugs and trucks have much in common--that an ant is just like a forklift or a cricket can act as a bulldozer. Kids will be fascinated by Kurt Cyrus's innovative and bold artwork showing each bug's unique way of getting the job done!
A definitive introduction to New Testament textual criticism, this book includes a comparison of the major editions of the New Testament, detailed description and analysis of the manuscripts of the Greek New Testament, and discussion on the value of the early versions. This second edition contains two new supplementary essays as well as revised plates, tables, and charts.
You may already know that Belgium is the most boring country on planet Earth, but do you know why? Or what makes the Mark 44, Model O Lazy Dog Missile Cluster, the sexiest piece of military hardware on wheels? Or how LSD edged out all contenders as the Platonic Ideal of illicit drugs?From cities to sitcoms, from scotch to soda, from English monarchs to French movies, The Real Thing is a compendium of the quintessential, providing definitive answers to some of the most compelling questions of our time: What confection out-cholesterols the competition? Why is The Country Club the country club? Which Charlie Chan proved the least scrutable? Author Kurt Andersen's pithy pronouncements sparkle with wit, sophistication, and a healthy dose of skeptical good humor as he strips world culture of accumulated hype and accepted wisdom, laying bare the sine qua nons and the ne plus ultras in a sassy series of satirical essays that give credit where credit is due while simultaneously foreclosing on the bogus, the ersatz, the would-be, and the has-been. The Real Thing is the real thing. These days, that's really something.
Although finding a way to feel at home in the world is ultimately the life's work of us all, rarely has the search ranged as far or found as precise and moving an expression as it does in An Inside Passage. Winner of the 2008 River Teeth Literary Nonfiction Prize, Kurt Caswell's narrative chronicles his travels in the rugged mountain forests of Japan's Shiretoko National Park, on a vision quest in Death Valley, and to the sacred waters of the Ganges River. Whether contemplating a great blue heron as it rests riverside at the onset of a storm, reflecting on a beloved student's untimely death, walking through the Navajo reservation, or receiving the blessing of a Hindu priest, Caswell unerringly finds the moment of truth. His journey also takes us across the landscape of his marriage, both its initial sweetness and its eventual failure. The ensuing inner dislocation echoes a larger estrangement that makes more poignant Caswell's quest to find a place he can call home.
Intelligence, motivation, personality, learning, stimulation, behaviour and attitude are just some of the categories that map the terrain of `psychological reality'. These are the concepts which, among others, underpin theoretical and empirical work in modern psychology - and yet these concepts have only recently taken on their contemporary meanings. This fascinating work is a persuasive explanation of how modern psychology found its language. Kurt Danziger develops an account that goes beyond the taken-for-granted quality of psychological discourse to offer a profound and broad-ranging analysis of the recent evolution of the concepts and categories on which it depends. Danziger explores this process and shows how its consequences depend on cultural contexts and the history of an emergent discipline.
Intelligence, motivation, personality, learning, stimulation, behaviour and attitude are just some of the categories that map the terrain of `psychological reality'. These are the concepts which, among others, underpin theoretical and empirical work in modern psychology - and yet these concepts have only recently taken on their contemporary meanings. This fascinating work is a persuasive explanation of how modern psychology found its language. Kurt Danziger develops an account that goes beyond the taken-for-granted quality of psychological discourse to offer a profound and broad-ranging analysis of the recent evolution of the concepts and categories on which it depends. Danziger explores this process and shows how its consequences depend on cultural contexts and the history of an emergent discipline.
Foreign policy makers and international relations scholars have become increasingly interested in the relationship between democracy and war. In this book, the author argues that the international relations of democratic states are best understood in the context of the interaction of democratic and international politics. Elections are an essential institution of democratic states, while war is a defining element of international politics. This book examines the interaction of these two elemental phenomena. All state leaders must deal simultaneously with internal and external pressures. The conjunction of domestic electoral pressures and international pressures for war presents an acute form of this dilemma. Those who support increasing democratic influence on foreign policy have argued that this influence would make states more peaceful, while others have asserted that it would make foreign policy more volatile. The author shows that democratic publics have been vulnerable to excessive enthusiasm for war, but that this enthusiasm is tempered in an electoral environment by the ability of politically legitimate antiwar leaders to increase the domestic costs of going to war. Democratic leaders may have an electoral incentive to seek out international conflict, but they also have a strong motivation not to allow such conflicts to escalate to war when elections are imminent. The author also argues that the transparency of electoral politics in a democracy can lead to changes in the behavior of other states. Electoral institutions serve as an effective commitment mechanism for democratic states, and other states want to avoid contributing to the favorable electoral prospects of hawkish candidates. The author supports his argument with both structured case studies and analysis of the aggregate experience of all the democratic states over the past two centuries. He shows that despite variation in public attitudes toward international conflict, democratic states have engaged in significantly fewer wars in the period leading up to elections than in other parts of their electoral cycles.
THE NEW AMERICAN COMMENTARY is for the minister or Bible student who wants to understand and expound the Scriptures. Notable features include: * commentary based on THE NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION; * the NIV text printed in the body of the commentary; * sound scholarly methodology that reflects capable research in the original languages; * interpretation that emphasizes the theological unity of each book and of Scripture as a whole; * readable and applicable exposition.
The author of Executive Values: A Christian Approach to Organizational Leadership sets forth a biblically based, empirically proven framework that will help believers find significance in their daily work; balance in their family life; and improved physical, mental, and spiritual health.
Can we learn socially and academically valuable concepts and skills from video games? How can we best teach the ''gamer generation?'' This accessible book describes how educators and curriculum designers can harness the participatory nature of digital media and play. The author presents a comprehensive model of games and learning that integrates analysis of games, games cultures, and educational game design. Building on over 10 years of research, Kurt Squire tells the story of the emerging field of immersive digitally mediated learning environments (or games) and outlines the future of education.
