Clark Books

This book is a worthwhile read because it clearly and convincingly documents covert and overt attempts to silence feminist voices on college campuses. The book reveals the presence of Antifeminist Intellectual Harassment in the history of feminist activism, campus politics, and academic sites of power. This unambiguous, engaging text presents a history of the feminist and antifeminist movements and places them within the context of the university. For this valuable insight into academic life, the editors and chapter authors deserve abundant acclaim.

Also available in a hardcover edition, Apocryphal Gospels: An Introduction by Hans-Josef Klauk (Professor of New Testament and Early Christian Literature, University of Chicago), Apocryphal Gospels: An Introduction guides readers through the writings about Jesus Christ that are not included within the Church's canon of scripture. Carefully classifying apocryphal material in helpful ways, Apocryphal Gospels summarizes each gospel in a manner immediately accessible to lay readers, and offers contemplations on the significance of each a bibliography for those looking to learn more. A superb primer for anyone curious about the texts deliberately left out of the New Testament.

This book, unfortunately, went out of print rather quickly. This was probably because of its specialized and intellectually-advanced treatment of an otherwise popular subject: The New Age Movement (NAM). The same thing happened to another valuable Christian book on the NAM by Tom Snyder called "Myth Conceptions: Joseph Campbell and the New Age" (Baker Books, 1995). The target audience for both books was Christian, but most Christians seem to prefer the more popular and less-specialized treatments on the subject. For those Christians, however, who want to exercise their minds with good, critical analysis of some of the principal intellectual influences on the NAM, then there is no better place to begin than with "Apologetics in the New Age," provided that you can find a copy.

After a general introduction to the topic and its importance, Part 1 expounds the thought of some of the primary historical roots (including those within the last century) that influenced the NAM. The first three thinkers (Suzuki, Shankara, and Radhakrishnan) are Eastern whereas the last two (Plotinus and Spinoza) are Western. Suzuki (1870 - 1966) is known for his key role in introducing Zen Buddhism to the West. Shankara (c. 788 - c. 820) and Radhakrishnan (1888 - 1975), on the other hand, were Hindu thinkers. Plotinus (A.D. 205 - 270) was a Greek philosopher whose influence was profound. As our authors point out, Christian theology felt the effects of his work through Augustine and, by way of Proclus, through an unknown monk known as Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite. Pseudo-Dionysius, because he was mistaken as the convert of Paul (Acts 17:34), has had a pervasive influence on medieval works of theology and devotion (mysticism). For further exposition on the thought and influence of Plotinus and Pseudo-Dionysius, see Bernard McGinn's "The Foundations of Mysticism". I must also add, since the authors don't, that Plotinus had a significant influence on Jewish Kabbalah (see Isaiah Tishby's The Wisdom of the Zohar, Volume 1, pg. 237). Kabbalah is highly regarded by occultists (and the NAM in general). Occult orders of the late 19th century such as The Theosophical Society and The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn utilized, with modification, its doctrines. Spinoza (1634 - 1677), a philosopher of Jewish descent, is known for his pantheistic naturalism with its anti-supernatural bias. The authors point out that Einstein said he believed in the God of Spinoza and both thinkers shared the belief that whatever happens in Nature happens by necessity.

Part 2 (Evaluation of New Age Pantheism) opens with Chapter 6 which "summarizes pantheism's common threads" and "ties together similar themes in pantheism and shows how these ideas manifest themselves in the thought of typical New Age advocates" (pg. 13). These themes are fleshed out and analyzed in Chapters 7 - 10. I particularly liked the authors' seven "presumably exhaustive" logical alternatives regarding evil (pgs. 204 - 205). Chapter 11 closes the book with a short review of the arguments and a positive (although too short) presentation of the strength of Christian theism. This chapter points out that one does not have to denigrate rationality to cultivate a sense of divine mystery. This is true, I might add, not only for pantheistic mystics but also theistic (and Christian) mystics.

Another book I recommend reading and critically comparing with this one is "The Mystical Languages of Unsaying" by Michael Sells. This book points out that apophasis (which literally means "speaking away") works as a mode of mystical discourse rather than as a negative theology. He points out that the radical claims of apophatic writers, which have usually been written off as hyperbolic or condemned as pantheistic, are essential to understanding the mystical languages of unsaying. Personally, I think that one of the keys to divine mystery is the doctrine of creation ex nihilo. The relationship between the Infinite and finite involves the paradox of nothingness which is essential to God's transcendence and immanence (not withstanding Moreland's analysis of "nothingness" as used by atheistic scientists to mean "zero energy," see "Scaling the Secular City," pgs. 38 - 41). One of the names that the French mystic Marguerite Porete (burned as a heretic by the Inquisition) attributed to God was "FarNear" (see chapter 84 of her book "The Mirror of Simple Souls"). God is infinitely near and infinitely far away because of the nothingness that ontologically (and epistemologically via ignorance or "unknowing" - see "Mystical Theology" by Pseudo-Dionysius & "The Cloud of Unknowing" by an unknown English mystic) separates and unites us to God. Because God created us out of nothing, there is "nothing" that separates us from God. This "nothing" is not equivalent to space or mere emptiness (The Indian term for zero was sunya which meant empty or blank, but had no connotation of "void" or "nothing", see Dantzig's Number: The Language of Science). My point is that one doesn't have to be a pantheist (all is God) to appreciate some of the profound mysteries that ground Christian theism and can, in a significant way, contribute to a Biblical Christian Mysticism. As a closing note, I recommend replacing, in the Suggested Reading section, Arthur Johnson's "Faith Misguided: Exposing the Dangers of Mysticism" with Winfried Corduan's "Mysticism: An Evangelical Option?" The latter, although at times too critical or shallow in understanding, is at least more sympathetic than Johnson when it comes to acknowledging a mystical element in Biblical Christianity.

I checked Dr. Mickey's textbook out from Tsing-Hua Univ (Taiwan) Library for preparing my MBA thesis regarding the interaction effects. Given the widespread use of the SPSS or SAS, this practical and concise volume is suitable for premiere researchers and veteran practitioners.

Life in the business of music is not all about groupies flocking around. "Are You Famous?: Touring America With Alaska's Fiddling Poet" is the story of Ken Waldman and his times touring the country known as Alaska's Fiddling Poet. A memoir of an accomplished and known musician who doesn't have girls throwing their underwear at him on stage, Highly recommended for personal, academic, and community library collections, "Are You Famous?" is an honest and candid perspective on the music industry from the inside.

The relationship of art to politics has always been an uneasy one, and never more so than in the twentieth century. Governments seek to bend art to their own purposes; artists resist and subvert such efforts. But what happens when artists work on behalf of a political program or idea? Is their art corrupted? Exactly when is art propaganda?

As Toby Clark argues, propaganda appears in many guises, not all of them suspect. Nor is the desire to persuade always at odds with the desire to create works of beauty. What is the relatonship of propaganda to the avant-garde? How do artists use scale and style to create political effects? How do art styles become identified with political systems? Is art tainted or elevated by its political content?

In this wide ranging book, Clark examines work from all points of the globe, from the state propaganda of communism to the public art of democracies, from protest art of the 1960s to the efforts of artists in the nations of modern Africa. Beginning with the classic propaganda art of Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, and Stalin's Soviet Union - each with its own style, motives, and purposes - he then examines how democratic governments have also sponsored propaganda art, especially in wartime, exploring such problamatic issues as the representation of enemies and the commemoration of the dead.

Art created in opposition to ruling ideas and values may also fall under the rubric of propaganda. Since the beginning of the century radical artists have embraced revolutionary, pacifist, feminist, and anticolonial causes. Clark describes the spectrum of competing theories and goals of protest art from Africa to Latin America, from Europe to the United States to China, and uncovers the complex rhetoric, the high beauty, and the ambiguous role of art that dwells in the political realm.
--- from book's back cover

This book can be an inspiration to those of us who aspire to be good potters. It also serves as a collectors guide to the Art Deco pottery that is now so collectable.

I have been waiting for this book for several months; now that I have it in hand, it exceeds my expectations. It is visually AND intellectually stimulating. I have a particular interest in the symbolism of the Islamic garden and Clark not only gives an in depth description of this, but also puts it in context--historic and contemporary. This is also an excellent guide through the component parts of the garden. The chapter on The Prince of Wales' Carpet Garden is fascinating.
As Islamic gardens play such an important role in the history of garden design, this gem should be in every designer's book collection.

Every American should know the story of the brave men and woman of the Lewis and Clark expedition. It is arguably this nation's national epic.

One way of learning the story is through the printed word--the narrative derived from the actual expedition journals or the summarizing of that exciting history. But when the story of the adventures of the Corps of Discovery is mixed with visual imagery of the rivers, mountains, skies, wildlife, and the people that the brave troop encountered, the result is a retelling of the expedition's exploits that is as close as humans can possibly come to traveling in time and being part of the expedition. Art of the Lewis and Clark Trail is much more than a collection of superb imagery created by accomplished artists like Russell, Bodmer, Peale, Haynes, and Bateman. Each reproduction is carefully placed opposite a page of corresponding quotes from expedition journals so that the reader can see as exactly as is possible what Captains Lewis and Clark and their brave team must have seen and experienced.

The west--its peoples, its landscapes, its animal and plant life, and its rivers--may have changed, but this book excels at taking the steps necessary to preserve the west that was. To a great degree it insures that this and future generations of Americans can know about and be astonished by what the Corps of Discovery actually experienced and what they achieved.

Collaboratively compiled by Robert A. Clark and Patrick J. Brunet, An Americana Century 1902-2002 is an impressive bibliography of the over 700 books published in the field of Americana, many of which are quite rare and collectible. The complete bibliographic entries include a physical description of the book, author/editor and title listings, data on reprints, side comments of interest regarding the work's publication, and more. A first-rate reference especially for Americana book collectors, An Americana Century 1902-2002 would make an invaluable and imposing addition to any scholarly or academic library American History reference collection.