Washington University Books

The book does an excellent job of explaining why and how we have a social net in Canada. The content is suitable for a university level course but the read is still enjoyable.

Worth the time.

This is the most beautiful book that has ever been written. I cried as I read it. My tears over it's beauty and poetry could fill the ocean (probably the Indian Ocean, because the Atlantic might be too big of a stretch.) I foresee a Nobel Prize for literature in its future. Even the cover of this book makes me tremble with delight. The buxom beauty is drawn with such classical perfection that I sigh with pleasure as i look upon her lily-white breast. Her story is told with such passion, such fervor, my palms filled with sweat merely holding this sacred book. I plead with all the world to read this novel! Oh, beauty, thy name is Emily Donelson

A very interesting book about the US relations with Portugal from Kennedy to Ford administrations.

"Epiphany in the Modern Novel" is a thoroughgoing literary study of the first order, replete with convincing arguments carefully and eloquently argued, quiet and balanced in tone and yet instilled with a legion of inspired insights. To the best of my knowledge, it's also quite innovative; other scholars had noted the novelist James Joyce's appropriation of the term "epiphany," of course, but Beja, while indeed making Joyce's articulation of this concept the core of his study, goes further and fully demonstrates its very real (but varying) significance for other modern novelists and its role in their novels, both as technique and theme. Much of the later work I've read on this subject (by Ashton Nichols and Robert Langbaum) in fact seems to trace back to this seminal book, making it a key source in this line of inquiry.

Unlike the later studies though, which for the most part focus on poetry, Beja here is very much intent on just what his helpfully straightforward title suggests, the modern novel. He's very much aware of the poetry connection, of course, and outlines this relationship succinctly in the first chapter (noting Wordsworth's importance in this regard), which traces the prehistory of the concept from Saint Paul's experience on the road to Damascus and Saint Augustine's conversion all the way to the Romantic poets of the 18th and 19th centuries and then earlier novelists like Henry James, Joseph Conrad, and (lest ye doubt) Marcel Proust. The bulk of the book though consists of four chapters, each one extensively treating one specific novelist and his or her novels in great detail: James Joyce, Virginia Woolf, Thomas Wolfe, and William Faulkner. In the process, 20th century developments in psychology and philosophy, especially as these relate to the nature and subjective perception of time or the qualities and characteristics of aesthetic appreciation, are explored to the degree that they influence this phenomenon. For anyone interested in the philosophy of Henri Bergson, he figures prominently in these discussions, though others like William James, G.E. Moore, and D.T. Suzuki pop up as well.

These are complex matters definitely, but Beja writes in wonderfully clear and understandable prose, bringing a self-assured erudition to bear on the subject and, unlike so many literary critics nowadays, writing in order to be understood rather than to impress his peers. For anyone who takes modern literature seriously, for anyone who suspects it is (or can be) profoundly spiritual though not necessarily religious, for anyone who sees it as a possible (if less than perfect) key to meaning and significance in this mixed-up, modern, crazy world, this book's definitely for you. Highly recommended--reading this fine study is almost an epiphany in its own right.

In The Ernest Becker Reader, the modern dean of Becker scholars--Daniel Liechty--has assembled a wide variety of Becker's writings for those interested in his interdisciplinary approach to the humanities.

The reader contains writings ranging from Becker's psychosocial interpretations of mental health, his ideas about alienation, his `mature' writings about death denial as an interpretative organizing principle, and finally some of his intriguing short essays such as "Toward the Merger of Animal and Human Studies" and "The Spectrum of Loneliness." The last, in particular, is worth careful study. From this essay, we read: "...I think this level of awareness [Becker's idea of loneliness] might have something in it of a destiny for man, that at his highest point of personal liberation from the constraints of others and of culture, he comes face to face with the problem of the meaning of all of life. And, having come to this, that he can find no secure answer or hope, but only a yearning that has in it elements of both love and despair. Perhaps it is only at this point that one can speak of an authentic religious consciousness for our time..."

There are so many titillating ideas in all of Becker's work but his latter works, in particular, suggest the man may have come up with some revolutionary approaches to unifying the humanities had he lived just a few years past his death at age 49. Regarding his early passing, this volume contains Sam Keen's thoughtful interview with Becker just before the man's death. Here we have a frank discussion of his life's work in review and what it means in the face of his own imminent death (from cancer).

As always, Liechty has shown special care and consideration in selecting and editing Becker's works. Anyone interested in The Denial of Death, The Birth and Death of Meaning, or Escape from Evil will be happy to go deeper into Becker's thought processes and interpretive technique. There are many outstanding pointers left throughout this work begging for the attention of the next generation of scholars.

delving into the successes brought on by the most eminent enterpreneurial minorities, daniel chirot and anthony reid compile interesting accounts of the hardships faced by the chinese and jews settling in foreign communities. consequently, the editors offer a book which is more than a tedious and detailed narrative; rather, chirot and reid give a rich, sensitive and sympathetic blend of history and personal stories, portraying these "outsiders" with the respect they richly deserve.

If you're interested to evaluate economic rationalism or free markets from a moral and ethical point of view, this is the book for you. While the author is a professor in philosophy, he starts the first third of the book talking about economics. And I have to say it's a very excellent presentation and straight to the point. In fact, one of the most understandable presentations I've read about the basics of economics.

The rest of the book evaluates economic rationalism and free-market-ism from various philosophical perspectives: utilitarian, deservingness, social darwinism, voluntary exchange, economic democracy, maximization of liberty and conservativism.

The one thing I absolutely loved about this book was that it was very easy to read. I've read a lot of economics and a bit of philosophy. Though my knowledge of these subjects may not be as much as others, I didn't really have any trouble following this book because the author has a wonderful gift of making things easy to understand and his arguments easy to follow.

This is a great account of the Hidatsa Indians. Washington Matthews was able to preserve part of the Hidatsa language.

What an amazing find this book was! The authors artfully unveil the little-known world of drag clubs in the Fourties - and let me tell you it's NOTHING like the drag world today. Full of artists who sang for themselves (no lip-sync here!) and took their art form very seriously, it really opens up your perspective on what it must have been like to be a gay person in that era. You get both a feel for the times and a perspective that makes you appreciate today.

Told as a series of short biographies of people and places of the day, it is very readable, accessible, and educational at the same time.

I highly recommend this book, and hope the authors are working on a sequel that covers the next era in Seattle's rich history!

I was floored by this book. It is diary of a group of men traveling to the yukon in search of gold. I was amazed at the things that they went through. In our relatively easy modren life, It is good to read about what extremes people would go through in the old days. To say that they had a rough journey would be an understatement. I would recommend this to anyone who wants to get a feel for what it must have been like to ber part of the gold rush in the Yukon territory.