Altri libri che potrebbero interessarti

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  Free Exercise - Religion the...

  Chris Beneke

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  CONGRESS SHALL MAKE NO LAW RESPECTING AN ESTABLISHMENT OF RELIGION, OR PROHIBITING THE FREE EXERCISE THEREOF. Those words, scratched on parchment in 1789, open the US Constitution's First Amendment. From them, countless interpretations have been drawn. As a consequence, an astonishing variety of activities in modern America—prayer after football games, Bible reading in classrooms, company healthcare policies, the baking of wedding cakes, and Ten Commandment displays around courthouses—have been alternately authorized, prohibited, or modified. 
   
   
   
  In this compelling historical account, Chris Beneke explains how the religion clauses came into existence and how they were woven into American culture. He brings prominent early national figures to life, including George Washington, James Madison, and Thomas Paine, while chronicling the First Amendment's relationship to defining social conditions like slavery, civility, family life, and the free market. 
   
   
   
  Going beyond traditional church-state scholarship, Beneke also demonstrates how white women, African Americans, Roman Catholics, Jews, and nonbelievers widened religious liberty's application and illuminated its boundaries. In doing so he makes a groundbreaking contribution to both constitutional history and the history of American pluralism.

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  Darkest Christmas - December...

  Peter Harmsen

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  December 1942 saw the bloodiest Christmas in the history of mankind. Men were killing each other in greater numbers than ever before. The Holocaust continued, and innocent civilians were murdered by the thousands throughout the evil Nazi empire, even as the perpetrators celebrated the birth of Christ. 
   
   
   
  Millions stationed in far-off lands amid the greatest conflict in human history feared this was their last Christmas in freedom, or their last Christmas alive. At the same time as the slaughter continued unabated, throughout the world there were random acts of kindness. These gestures also straddled religious barriers and sometimes included those of non-Christian faiths. 
   
   
   
  At the same time, Christmas 1942 saw the injunction of "good will to man" distorted in ugly and callous ways. In Berlin, Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels spent time with his family while still buried in feverish fantasies about the Jewish world conspiracy. 
   
   
   
  Christmas 1942 saw the entire range of man's conduct towards his fellow man, reflecting the extremes of behavior, good and bad, that World War II gave rise to. The way the holiday was marked around the world tells a deeper, more universal story of the human condition.

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  Essential Questions

  Ph.D. Jacob Needleman

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  If we had the opportunity to speak to our younger self, what would we say? What wisdom could we give to that younger self about the meaning and purpose of life? What does our experience tell us about why we are here and who we are? This conversation explores these questions and why they may be important to our lives.

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  Herman Melville - A Very Short...

  Maurice S. Lee

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  Best known as the author of Moby-Dick (1851), Herman Melville is one of America's greatest writers. His achievements range from popular novels and experimental fiction to powerful poetry. His works are tragic and funny, impassioned and ironic, obsessed with philosophical seeking and attuned to the details of everyday life. Melville engaged the pressing issues of his day, from economic inequality and the American slavery crisis to the rise of science and the fragility of democracy. He dwelled on timeless questions about loneliness and intimacy, moral and political responsibility, the limits of our knowledge and agency, and the place of human beings within nature and the cosmos.Melville's life was dramatic, and his career improbable. He was born into privilege, fell into poverty as an adolescent, hunted whales and lived with the Tai Pi people of Polynesia, served in the United States Navy, skyrocketed to fame as a novelist, ruined his career by challenging religious, political, sexual, and artistic conventions, reinvented himself as a poet, and died in relative obscurity just as readers began to appreciate his genius. The scope and diversity of Melville's literature reflects an artist of restless ambition. Herman Melville: A Very Short Introduction helps listeners explore the richness of his work.

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  Scent - A Natural History of...

  Elise Vernon Pearlstine

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  A fascinating exploration of the natural history of scent and human perceptions of fragrance from the viewpoint of plant and pollinator 
   
   
   
  Plants have long harnessed the chemical characteristics of aromatic compounds to shape the world around them. Frankincense resin from the genus Boswellia seals injured tissues and protects trees from invading pathogens. Jasmine produces a molecule called linalool that attracts pollinating moths with its flowery scent. Tobacco uses a similarly sweet-smelling compound called benzyl acetone to attract pollinators. Only recently in the evolutionary history of plants, however, have humans learned to co-opt their fragrances to seduce, heal, protect, and alter moods themselves. 
   
   
    
  In this wide-ranging and accessible new book, biologist-turned-perfumer Elise Vernon Pearlstine turns our human-centered perception of fragrance on its head and investigates plants' evolutionary reasons for creating aromatic molecules. Delving into themes of spirituality, wealth, power, addiction, royalty, fantasy, and more, Pearlstine uncovers the natural history of aromatic substances and their intersection with human culture and civilization.

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  EPICURUS and THE PLEASANT LIFE -...

  Haris Dimitriadis

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  Welcome, seekers of truth! 
  This 619-page book intends to reintroduce pleasure as an innate guide to living a healthy and happy life—a simple yet powerful assertion based on empirical data, which stands up to the strictest scrutiny. 
  Along this journey, we will explore evidence throughout the historical evolution of philosophy up to the time of Epicurus, the ancient Greek philosopher who laid the foundations for a philosophy of nature. More specifically, it's the only philosophy that distinguishes pleasure as the inherent human guide to a healthy and happy life. 
  Author Haris Dimitriadis spent 15 years fervently researching the ancient Greek philosopher's teachings, a journey that he believes radically improved his worldview. In this detailed study, the author proposes that fear of pleasure characterizes contemporary society. Dimitriadis writes with open-hearted enthusiasm for his subject and believes that Epicurean philosophy has the power to change lives. With determination and perseverance, you too will find the happiness to which you are entitled. All the "goods" required for happiness are present in the natural world yet regularly overlooked or unappreciated. 
  This book is a labor of love, a vehicle by which to share my personal experience with you. Despite its technocratic nature, it is undeniably a deposition of my soul, brimming with emotion, pleasure, and pain throughout my quest for joy. I am pleased to present an empirically sound, well-documented philosophy of life that serves as a refreshing alternative to the prevailing idealistic culture. 
  And now, the caveat: happiness is indeed a choice. You are privileged to find it out through the lines of this book.

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