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Christopher Dawson (1889-1970) has been widely praised asone of the most important Catholic historians of the twentiethcentury. Commended by T. S. Eliot, Arnold Toynbee, and many others forhis sophisticated approach to history, Dawson integrated aprovidential vision with traditional historical analysis. Many of hisworks focused on the important relationship between religion andculture. This volume is the first edited collection of Dawson's worksto appear in several decades. It includes the full text of TheHistoric Reality of Christian Culture (1960) and features selectionsfrom numerous works, including The Making of Europe (1932), TheJudgment of the Nations (1943), and Medieval Essays (1959).

Dawson believed that the modern era challenged traditional ways ofliving through its denigration of historical memory. He emphasized theneed to understand the role religious values had played in theformation of culture, especially Western culture, and their continuinginfluence in world affairs. He sought to reconnect Europe's materialwealth and economic power with the fundamental religious values thatonce had formed the core of European identity.

This book provides a comprehensive introduction to the development ofDawson's thinking on questions that remain of contemporaryimportance. It illustrates Dawson's approach in defining "Christianculture," its likelihood in the present era, and its adaptability tonon-Western and pluralist societies. The collection also providesinsight on issues ranging from the "new evangelization" and the futureof modern liberalism to the "clash of civilizations" that is emergingas the newest challenge in the post-Communist world.

Christianity and European Culture will be of interest to students andscholars of history, historiography, theology, and the history ofideas. It is intended also for those interested in Dawson himself, orin twentieth-century Catholic intellectual history. ... Read more

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Christianity and Culture Explained
Christopher Dawson (1889-1870) was a Roman Catholic author and historian.He, along with a number of fellow coverts, created a Renaissance of English Catholic scholarship.

This book contains the full text of Dawson's 1960 work, "The Historic Reality of Christian Culture," as well as several essays touching on the general theme of Christianity and European culture."The Historic Reality of Christian Culture" is an important work explaining why one can speak of a Christian culture.As Dawson notes, no one would describe Arabic culture without a mention of Islam, but when it comes to Europe, culture is discussed as if Christianity wasn't a significant factor.

The essays in this work are excellent.In particular, I liked the essay "The Classical Tradition and Christianity."The merging of Christianity and Classical Culture was one of the most momentous facts in world history. In "The Secularization of Western Culture," Dawson draws attention to the neglected figure of Tommaso Campanella, whom he regards as the forerunner of modern revolutionary socialism.

There is one other collection of essays by Dawson that I'm aware of: DYNAMICS OF WORLD HISTORY.It is a bit lengthier and contains some of the same essays, as well as essays on a broader range of topics.In addition, after this work was published, Catholic University Press started publishing Dawson's Collected Works.

Backwards Into The Future; Preserving Our Christian Culture.
Dawson was one of the great historians of western, christian culture. He also brought a knowledge of sociology and psychology to the study of the basis for our classic western civilization. His thesis is quite simple, a culture is a reflection of the ethics and beliefs of the people who formthe base society. While western culture is much more "diverse"than many contemporary academics wish to admit, the foundation of our art,literature, law, (as well as religion), all lie in our Christian experienceand world view. One of Dawson's more prescient points is the correlationbetween a religious foundation for our civilization and the seperation ofsame which has recently led to a deterioration of the basic values andmores that have given the western world all that we hold dear. Whilewritten several decades ago, many of Dawson's observations prove to bealmost prophetic. If you are a fan of the "permanent things", orare at all concerned with the question of how to restore our way of life,you will want to read this book. ... Read more

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How do we explain the fact that certain ideas, at certain moments in time, can have earthshaking effects? Or that some cultures have left an indelible mark while others have not? Why did Jesus, rather than Mani the Mesopotamian or the Eastern god Mithra, take hold among masses of people? Why did Karl Marx instead of Pierre Proudhon or Auguste Comte leave his mark on the century? Behind these questions lies the matter of the human need to conserve, hand down, and transmit cultural meanings -the study of the means of transmission and of the long evolutionary history of media.
In a departure, Régis Debray redefines communication as the inescapable conditioning of civilization´s meanings and messages by their technologies of transmission and lays the groundwork for a science of the transmission of cultural forms -in a word, mediology.
Transmitting Culture examines the difference between communication and transmission and argues that ideas and their legacies should be rethought not in terms of "communication" from sender to receiver but of "mediation" by the vectors and messengers of meaning. Transmitting Culture stresses the technologies and institutions long overlooked by philosophy and the human sciences in the study of symbols and signs throughout the history of civilizations. Ranging widely from the history of religion and the printing press to the French and industrial revolutions, from the role and place of authority to scientific inquiry, Transmitting Culture establishes a new approach to the cultural history of communication. ... Read more

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An insightful reading
For those interested in understanding cultural processes, Regis Debray's Cultural Transmission is a must-read. This underestimated book begins with the question why the Christian faith, and not any other among the Eastern religious movements that competed for converts in Roman times, became the dominant religion of the Western world in the aftermath of pagan Rome. Debray asks a similar question regarding the different destinies of Anarchism and Marxism, the two revolutionary movements of the industrial era. However, Debray's historical concerns rest more on the side of an anthropological history of religion. He notes how the parallelism between the angelic cult of the early faith and the organizational patterns of the early Church contributed to its historical survival. The book ends with a critical appraisal of the theoretical fashions of our epoch. Along the journey Marshall McLuhan encounters Walter Benjamin in an original, remarkable, insightful, and ironic account of how culture is transmitted from one generation to the next. If you have not discovered them yet, Cultural Transmission will let you to the works of André Leroi-Gourhan and Bernard Stiegler.Contrary to the contemporary view that has language and discourse as the dominant entities by which social organization and cultural transmission happen, mediology - the discipline that aims at challenging the dominant theoretical view of culture - focuses on how the means of cultural transmission (e.g., rituals, books, films, Internet web sites, etc.) modify the cultural meanings that are being transmitted. The main argument of this book is aimed at formulating a critique of the ubiquitous theory of discourse that has become the trademark of poststructuralist circles. Debray argues that discourse is always predicated on the technological and organizational means that make it possible its transmission. More important, mediology is aware and critical of both the determinism and the cultural optimism that have been typical of much of the Anglo-Saxon tradition regarding technology. Following André Leroi-Gourhan, Debray sees technology as mediating between the human mind (e.g., ideas, language, etc.) and the human body (e.g., behavioral reflexes, cultural skills, etc.). From this perspective Debray examines a gamut of contemporary and influential theoretical positions about culture. Debray is particularly critical of the sociological theories of Pierre Bourdieu. Debray also argues against cognitive theories based on a narrow biological interpretation of human cognition. This book represents an encompassing and stimulating contribution to the understanding of culture. ... Read more

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Vanities of the Eye investigates the cultural history of the senses in early modern Europe, a time in which the nature and reliability of human vision was the focus of much debate. In medicine, art theory, science, religion, and philosophy, sight came to be characterized as uncertain or paradoxical--mental images no longer resembled the external world. Was seeing really believing?

Stuart Clark explores the controversial debates of the time--from the fantasies and hallucinations of melancholia, to the illusions of magic, art, demonic deceptions, and witchcraft. The truth and function of religious images and the authenticity of miracles and visions were also questioned with new vigor, affecting such contemporary works as Macbeth-- a play deeply concerned with the dangers of visual illusion. Clark also contends that there was a close connection between these debates and the ways in which philosophers such as Descartes and Hobbes developed new theories on the relationship between the real and virtual.

Original, highly accessible, and a major contribution to our understanding of European culture, Vanities of the Eye will be of great interest to a wide range of historians and anyone interested in the true nature of seeing. ... Read more

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The continuing headlong increase in cross-border legal issues of all kinds raises a host of new issues for private law even as it reconfigures the old issues, both in theory and in practice. In an effort to identify trends and consolidate what we’ve learned in this important area, outstanding legal scholars from nine European countries (plus Australia) convened at the University of Helsinki in August 2006. This volume reproduces, in definitive English texts, twenty-two of the papers presented at that conference.

The issues addressed cluster around four basic questions:

• To what extent does the multiculturalism of the European Union hamper the development of common private law rules?
• Which rules that are specific for a particular state/region/culture need to be preserved?
• To what extent can localism be met with variations in the application of common provisions?
• What problems for the common rules are posed by the fact that they are to be implemented in a multilingual society?

While overarching concerns such as social justice, harmonization, culture, and diversity pervade all the essays, such crucial practical considerations as legal translation and regulation of advertising are not neglected. The book will be welcomed by academics in the various fields of private law everywhere, and will also be of uncommon interest to practitioners in commercial and company law and to policymakers in many areas of government regulation. The conference was organized by the PriME (Private Law in a Multicultural and Multilingual European Society) research project at the Department of Private Law and the Institute of International Economic Law (KATTI) at the University of Helsinki.

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This study provides an analysis of comparative gender differences in the EU. It addresses a range of issues from employment and households to culture, sexuality, male violence, the state, migration and women's movements. ... Read more

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Uncle Tom’s Cabin broke publishing records and made Harriet Beecher Stowe in her time one of the world’s most famous authors. The book was a bestseller in Britain and was translated into some forty languages. Yet today Stowe tends to be seen wholly in the context of American literary history. Transatlantic Stowe: Harriet Beecher Stowe and European Culture is the first book to consider multiple aspects of Stowe’s career in an international context. The groundbreaking essays of Transatlantic Stowe examine the author’s literary and literal forays in Europe and the ways in which intellectual and cultural exchanges between the Old and New Worlds shaped her work. It was a crucial moment in the transatlantic discourse, a turning of the tide, and Stowe was among the first American novelists to be lionized in Europe---and pirated by publishers---in the same way that European writers had been treated in America.Blending historical and cultural criticism and drawing on fresh primary material from London and Paris, Transatlantic Stowe includes essays exploring Stowe’s relationship with European writers and the influence of her European travels on her work, especially the controversial travel narrative Sunny Memories of Foreign Lands and her “Italian novel” Agnes of Sorrento.Interdisciplinary and itself transatlantic, the collection discusses visual art and material culture as well as literature and politics and includes contributions from Britain, Ireland, and the United States. Together these essays offer new interpretations of Stowe’s most popular novel as well as new readings of her many other works, illuminate the myriad connections between Stowe and European writers, and thus rewrite literary history by returning Stowe to the larger political, historical, and literary contexts of nineteenth-century Europe. ... Read more

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Recommended for college library literary studies shelves.
Edited by English professors Denise Kohn, and Emily B. Todd, and English university lecturer Sarah Meer, Transatlantic Stowe: Harriet Beecher Stowe and European Culture is an anthology of scholarly essays by learned authors concerning the literary writings of Harriet Beecher Stow, perhaps best known for her novel "Uncle Tom's Cabin". Transatlantic Stowe particularly focuses upon Stowe's personal and literary ventures into Europe, drawing upon source material from London and Paris as well as Stowe's own writings. Essays include "'Uncle Tom's Cabin' and the Irish National Tale", "Stowe, Gaskell, and the Woman Reformer", "Stowe and Religious Iconography", and much more. An extensive list of works cited and an index round out this in-depth intellectual contemplation of the broad-reaching repercussions of Stowe's literature, which was wildly and internationally popular in Stowe's heyday, to the extent of being pirated by publishers. Recommended for college library literary studies shelves. ... Read more

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Stars and Masculinities in Spanish Cinema focuses on the careers of ten contemporary Spanish film stars, including Antonio Banderas, Javier Bardem, and Eduardo Noriega. Set in the double context of new approaches to Star Studies and current debates around masculinity, this is a key contribution to the growing fields of Spanish Cultural and Film Studies. ... Read more

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Inventing the Jew follows the evolution of stereotypes of Jews from the level of traditional Romanian and other Central-East European cultures (their legends, fairy tales, ballads, carols, anecdotes, superstitions, and iconographic representations) to that of “high” cultures (including literature, essays, journalism, and sociopolitical writings), showing how motifs specific to “folkloric antisemitism” migrated to “intellectual antisemitism.” This comparative perspective also highlights how the images of Jews have differed from that of other “strangers” such as Hungarians, Germans, Roma, Turks, Armenians, and Greeks. The gap between the conception of the “imaginary Jew” and the “real Jew” is a cultural distance that differs over time and place, here seen through the lens of cultural anthropology.

Stereotypes of the “generic Jew” were not exclusively negative, and are described in five chapters depicting physical, occupational, moral and intellectual, mythical and magical, and religious portraits of “the Jew.”

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picture of the "imaginary Jew" in Romanian and other Central and Eastern European cultures
Oisteanu draws on an impressive body of sources revealing perceptions of Jews in legends, fairy tales, ballads, carols, anecdotes, superstitions, and iconographic representations and compares those to representations by journalists, poets, politicians, and scholars. He presents a picture of the "imaginary Jew" in Romanian and other Central and Eastern European cultures in five portraits, each of them constituting a chapter (the physical portrait of Jews, images of the occupation of Jews, the moral and intellectual portrait of Jews, the mythical and magical portrait and the religious portrait of Jews).

Oisteanu shows how well-known intellectuals and politicians in Romania in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries used antisemitic images. Here, the comprehensive index of names at the end of the book proves to be very valuable. On the other hand, Oi¸steanu gives examples of antiantisemites
who criticized and challenged negative and stereotypical images of Jews, including civil and clerical authorities. In 1792, for example, the government of Transylvania (as part of the Habsburg Empire) appealed to the bishops to fight the belief in and accusation of Jews as ritual murderers. The clergy often played an ambivalent role. For example, the publication of "Arguments against the Jews upon their Law and Customs" in 1803 under the patronage of the Metropolitan Bishop of Moldavia contributed to the outbreak of pogroms in Bucharest and Jassy in the same year. However, the new Bishop of Moldavia, Veniamin Costachi, gave refuge to the Jews in his church and challenged the pogromists. The important role of antiantisemites becomes evident in comparison to the pogrom of 1903 in Kishiney, the capital of Bessarabia and part of the Tsarist Empire at the time. The allegation of ritual murder was endorsed by the bishop, and the Tsarist military did not intervene against the pogromists, resulting in a high number of casualties. Unfortunately, some members of the clergy still endorse antisemitic views. In the 1990s, the theological work Teologia luptatoare ("Bellicose Theology") from the 1930s, which includes blatant antisemitic conspiracy theories and demonization of Jews, was republished under the patronage of the Metropolitan Church of Husi with the imprimatur of His Excellency Eftimie.
Inventing the Jew shows through many details that antisemitic perceptions
of Jews in Romania are deeply embedded in European culture, with some Central-Eastern European, Christian-Orthodox, Romanian, Moldavian, Transylvanian, Wallachian, or other regional particularities. Oisteanu refers to the late process of modernization and the Orthodox Church (in contrast to the Catholic and Protestant Churches) as being influential in developing specific forms of antisemitic stereotypes. In the late nineteenth and the twentieth centuries, antisemitism seems to have been more religious in Romania and in Eastern and Central Europe than in Western Europe. Many stereotypes still reverberate today in parts of the Rumanian society, particularly in right-wing magazines and political parties such as the Partidul Romania Mare (Greater Romania Party). They are present in popular beliefs, among contemporary intellectuals, and among the clergy. A more detailed review can be found at [...]
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Offering a comprehensive introduction to European geography, this timely text is as authoritative as it is richly nuanced and engaging. The authors analyze the ongoing process of integration that is giving new meaning to the idea of being European, while also delineating the important subregional differences that exist among the continent's people and places. Coverage encompasses the entire region: its physical setting and environment; population and migration; work and leisure; language and religion; and political organization. Particular attention is given to the historic evolution and contemporary features of the urban environments in which the majority of Europeans live their daily lives. Combining vivid description,up-to-date information, and cogent analysis, the text is illustrated with 200 photographs and over 45 maps.
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would by from again
books in wonderful condition got here quick was a little mix up were i was sent two for the price of one lol but got my shipping back (for the return of the extra book ) and a couple of dollars for my trouble

Excellent Textbook - but it *is* a textbook!
I bought this textbook to get a more comprehensive look at European Geography, and was not disappointed. Europe, of course, has an enormous volume of recorded history, so it is quite a challenge to sort through and select only the most relevant points for a regional textbook. I believe that the authors do a nice job of explaining key points to someone who is not very familiar with European history (i.e. they do not go into tremendous depth, but outline major points in history and particularly migration trends). As such, I think this book is quite appropriate for college undergraduates who often do not have a solid background in basic European history. More importantly, though, the book addresses contemporary issues facing Europe as a whole, such as the development of the European Union, the rapidly aging population, and ongoing concerns over immigration.

My complaints about the book are minimal. (1) It is definitely a textbook, in that it is written like a textbook. (i.e. Don't expect it to be a gripping page-turner.) I found some chapters to be dry reading. However, I have a deep interest in geography, which served as my motivation to keep going. (2) The pictures and maps in the paperback I bought are in black and white, which is a terrible shame. The maps are difficult to read, and the grayscale versions of the pictures do not do a good job of depicting what the authors are trying to show. I would gladly spend the extra money for a color version.

Overall, I definitely recommend this textbook. Ostergren and Rice are masters of their subject, and the depth of their knowledge about the region is excellent. I learned a lot! ... Read more

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Medieval Holy Women in the Christian Tradition offers the first wide-ranging study of the remarkable women who contributed to the efflorescence of female piety and visionary experience in Europe between 1100 and 1500. This volume offers essays by prominent scholars in the field which extend the boundaries of our previous knowledge and understanding of medieval holy women. While some essays provide new perspectives on the familiar names of the unofficial canon of mulieres sanctae, many others bring into the spotlight women less familiar now, but influential in their own time and richly deserving of scholarly attention. The five general essays establish a context for understanding the issues affecting female religious witness in the later Middle Ages. The geographical arrangement of the volume allows the reader to develop an awareness of the particular cultural and religious forces in seven different regions and to recognize how these influenced the writing and reception of the holy women of that area. Seventeen major figures have essays devoted exclusively to each of them; in addition, the survey chapters on each region introduce the reader to many more. The extensive bibliographies which follow each chapter encourage further reading and study ... Read more

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This book fills a huge and long-standing gap in the scholarly literature available for teaching the Second Reich. This highly-illustrated book provides a lively introduction to the principal movements in German high culture between 1871 and 1918, in the context of imperial society and politics. Matthew Jefferies reveals that Germany's "Imperial culture" was every bit as fascinating as the much better known"Weimar culture"of the 1920s and argues that much of what came later has origins in the imperial period. Filling a significant gap in the current literature, this study will appeal to students of both German History and German Studies.
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Fascinating
I found this a fascinating and highly original book. It certainly offers something different from the existing literature on the second empire. My only criticism would be that there are insufficient illustrations, and none in color. ... Read more

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In this unique book Brian Horowitz, Sizeler Family Chair Professor at Tulane University, articulates what is hidden in plain view: namely that many Jews in late-tsarist Russia were in love with its culture. Although they despised its government, large numbers of Jews eagerly joined Russian culture as members of the Russian cultural elite and participants in a distinct Russian-Jewish intelligentsia. Examining a broad range of figures and ideas at the heart of Jewish life during the revolutionary era at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries, Brian Horowitz casts radically new portraits of such central intellectuals as Shimon Ansky, Simon Dubnov, Vladimir Jabotinsky, Lev Shestov, Nikolai Berdyaev, and Mikhail Gershenzon, while reviving for the reader such forgotten heroes as Shimon Frug, Lev Levanda, Leib Jaffe, and Mikhail Morgulis. In the book Horowitz treats a broad panorama of subjects, encompassing legal studies, Jewish historiography, Jewish literature, Russian-Jewish relations, liberal politics, and Zionism. ... Read more

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This lavishly illustrated book features gripping stories of powerful empires, competing cultures and huge personalities, and shows how the glories of the Mediterranean's past have helped make Europe, and the World, what it is today. ... Read more

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Great book with many photographs of rare paintings
This is a very good book especially for growing ages and minds. The paintings reproduced here are great and show history as it happened. This book is not for some higher research in History. But in terms of art and culture and philosohy , it covers very well a very wide period of human development and interaction betweeneast and west. ... Read more

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Examining the technological and cultural influences of Europe upon Moghul India in the 16th and 17th centuries, this book employs a variety of sources to counter the assertion that Indian society was historically resistant to change. ... Read more