Download or read book Nart Sagas from the Caucasus written by John Colarusso and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2002-11-10 with total page 568 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Nart sagas are a series of tales originating from the North Caucasus, forming the basic mythology of the tribes in the area. In ninety-two straightforward tales populated by extraordinary characters and exploits, by giants who humble haughty Narts, by horses and sorceresses, these myths bring these cultures to life in a powerful epos. In these colorful tales, women, not least the beautiful temptress Satanaya, the mother of all Narts, are not only fertility figures but also pillars of authority and wisdom. In one variation on a recurring theme, a shepherd, overcome with passion on observing Satanaya bathing alone, shoots a "bolt of lust" that strikes a rock -- a rock that gives birth to the Achilles-like Sawseruquo, or Sosruquo. With steely skin but tender knees, Sawseruquo is a man the Narts come to love and hate. Despite a tragic history, the Circassians, Abazas, Abkhaz, and Ubykhs have retained the Nart sagas as a living tradition. The memory of their elaborate warrior culture, so richly expressed by these tales, helped them resist Tsarist imperialism in the nineteenth century, Stalinist suppression in the twentieth, and has bolstered their ongoing cultural journey into the post-Soviet future. Because these peoples were at the crossroads of Eurasia for millennia, their myths exhibit striking parallels with the lore of ancient India, classical Greece, and pagan Scandinavia. The Nart sagas may also have formed a crucial component of the Arthurian cycle. Notes after each tale reveal these parallels; an appendix offers extensive linguistic commentary.
Download or read book The Legend of King A oka written by John S. Strong and published by Motilal Banarsidass Publ.. This book was released on 1989 with total page 362 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This first English translation of the Asokavadana text, the Sanskrit version of the legend of King Asoka, first written in the second century A.D. Emperor of India during the third century B.C. and one of the most important rulers in the history of Buddhism. Asoka has hitherto been studied in the West primarily from his edicts and rock inscriptions in many parts of the Indian subcontinent. Through an extensive critical essay and a fluid translation, John Strong examines the importance of the Asoka of the legends for our overall understanding of Buddhism. Professor Strong contrasts the text with the Pali traditions about Kind Asoka and discusses the Buddhist view of kingship, the relationship of the state and the Buddhist community, the king s role in relating his kingdom to the person of the Buddha, and the connection between merit making, cosmology, and Buddhist doctrine. An appendix provides summaries of other stories about Asoka.
Download or read book Crying for a Dream written by Richard Erdoes and published by Bear. This book was released on 2001-12-01 with total page 128 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A powerful collection of text and full-color photographs that offers an intimate glimpse of Native American life. • Includes rare photos and firsthand accounts of the sun dance, sacred pipe, yuwipi, and vision quest ceremonies. • By internationally recognized ethnographer Richard Erdoes, author of Lame Deer: Seeker of Visions and Gift of Power. How do you go about knowing a people? In this phenomenal combination of landscape, ceremony, individual portrait, and prose, Richard Erdoes brings forth the lesser seen world of the Native American experience and vision. With the aid of firsthand accounts collected during three decades of personal interactions with indigenous tribes, Erdoes chronicles the traditional rites, individual lives, and historical persecution of North America's indigenous peoples. The images and words of Crying for a Dream represent Erdoes' finest work. His focus on the natural and sacred world of North America's indigenous peoples includes elements of the Sioux ceremonial cycle and portraits of native peoples from the plains, mesas, and deserts. The sun dance, sacred pipe, yuwipi, and vision quest are described by the author and his subjects and are illustrated with more than 70 photographs.
Download or read book The Martian Chronicles written by Ray Bradbury and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2012-04-17 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The tranquility of Mars is disrupted by humans who want to conquer space, colonize the planet, and escape a doomed Earth.
Download or read book Reach Finding Strength Spirit and Personal Power written by Laila Ali and published by . This book was released on 2017-03-31 with total page 200 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Combining a gripping personal story with practical advice on such subjects as diet, training, family, romance, and much more, Laila Ali shows readers of all ages and backgrounds how to transform the demons of self-doubt and stagnation into positive, winning energy. Since her professional debut three years ago, Laila Ali has set the world of women's boxing on fire. The daughter of the world's most famous boxer, she has more than come into her won, winning ten straight fights with breathtaking confidence and poise - including a bout with Jacqui Frazier that was the most highly publicized female boxing event ever. But Laila's journey to success was not without struggle. In this revealing book, she describes - with striking humility and a streetwise wisdom beyond her years - how she made many mistakes along the way, but eventually managed to overcome every obstacle that life threw at her. In fifteen straight-talking, hard-hitting "rounds," Laila offers her dynamic formula for physical, emotional, and mental power, and demonstrates how to sidestep feelings of self-pity and defeatism. Some of the life experiences that Laila recounts are ones many young people face, while others are related to her unique circumstances. Born with a proverbial silver spoon in her mouth, she never felt comfortable, as a child, in her parents' mansion - surrounded by maids, celebrity visitors, and hangers-on - and longed for a "normal" existence. As an adolescent, she became increasingly drawn into negative behavior. But after she found herself, at age sixteen, in juvenile hall, Laila realized it was time to make a change in her life. She resolved to become a responsible, financially independent adult, and soon achieved her long-time dream of owning her own manicure business. Ultimately, however, she would find success in another arena: professional boxing. Revised and updated in 2017.
Download or read book Tigers of the Snow written by Jonathan Neale and published by Macmillan. This book was released on 2002-06-29 with total page 378 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: After spending almost a year in Nepal and India, Neale presents the true story of tragedy and survival on one of the world's most dangerous mountains and illuminates the gripping history of the Sherpa. 16-page photo insert.
Download or read book The Conflict of the Ages Teacher Edition I The Scientific History of Origins written by Michael J. Findley and published by Findley Family Video Publications. This book was released on with total page 324 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Teacher Edition includes complete student text, review questions, vocabulary, and answer keys. The Conflict of the Ages is a Multi-Part exploration of History, Science and ancient Literature. This first installment covers the concepts of God, time, Creation, physics, cosmology, and specifics about each day of Creation. We make comparisons with ancient sources to see where they agree with the Scriptural account. We reference classic and modern scientific views, exposing errors, preconceptions, presuppositions and falsehoods taught as fact by the mainstream scientific community. God is the first witness and the Bible the first eyewitness account of beginnings and origins.Other ancient documents contain at least some truths and parallel accounts.
Download or read book Democracy and Education written by John Dewey and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 1916 with total page 456 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: . Renewal of Life by Transmission. The most notable distinction between living and inanimate things is that the former maintain themselves by renewal. A stone when struck resists. If its resistance is greater than the force of the blow struck, it remains outwardly unchanged. Otherwise, it is shattered into smaller bits. Never does the stone attempt to react in such a way that it may maintain itself against the blow, much less so as to render the blow a contributing factor to its own continued action. While the living thing may easily be crushed by superior force, it none the less tries to turn the energies which act upon it into means of its own further existence. If it cannot do so, it does not just split into smaller pieces (at least in the higher forms of life), but loses its identity as a living thing. As long as it endures, it struggles to use surrounding energies in its own behalf. It uses light, air, moisture, and the material of soil. To say that it uses them is to say that it turns them into means of its own conservation. As long as it is growing, the energy it expends in thus turning the environment to account is more than compensated for by the return it gets: it grows. Understanding the word "control" in this sense, it may be said that a living being is one that subjugates and controls for its own continued activity the energies that would otherwise use it up. Life is a self-renewing process through action upon the environment.
Download or read book The Book of Legends Sefer Ha Aggadah written by Hayyim Nahman Bialik and published by National Geographic Books. This book was released on 1992-11-10 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The first complete English translation of the Hebrew classic Sefer Ha-Aggadah brings to the English-speaking world the greatest and best-loved anthology of classical Rabbinic literature ever compiled. First published in Odessa in 1908-11, it was recognized immediately as a masterwork in its own right, and reprinted numerous times in Israel. The Hebrew poet Hayim Nahman Bialik and the renowned editor Yehoshua Hana Ravnitzky, the architects of this masterful compendium, selected hundreds of texts from the Talmud and midrashic literature and arranged them thematically, in order to provide their contemporaries with easy access to the national literary heritage of the Jewish people -- the texts of Rabbinic Judaism that remain at the heart of Jewish literacy today. Bialik and Ravnitzky chose Aggadah -- the non-legal portions of the Talmud and Midrash -- for their anthology. Loosely translated as "legends", Aggadah includes the genres of biblical exegesis, stories about biblical characters, the lives of the Talmudic era sages and their contemporary history, parables, proverbs, and folklore. A captivating melange of wisdom and piety, fantasy and satire, Aggadah is the expressive medium of the Jewish creative genius. The arrangement of this compendium reflects the theological concerns of the Rabbinic sages: the role of Israel and the nations; God, good and evil; human relations; the world of nature; and the art of healing. Here, the reader who wants to explore traditional Jewish views on a particular subject is treated to a selection of relevant texts at his fingertips but will soon become immersed in a way of thinking, exploring, and questioning that is the hallmark of Jewish inquiry. "Whatever the imagination can invent is found in the Aggadah," wrote the historian Leopold Zunz, "its purpose always being to teach man the ways of God." The Book of Legends/Sefer Ha-Aggadah, now available in william Braude's superbly annotated translation, enables modern Jews to experience firsthand the richness and excitement of their cultural inheritance.
Download or read book The Advocate written by and published by . This book was released on 2002-11-12 with total page 112 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Advocate is a lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) monthly newsmagazine. Established in 1967, it is the oldest continuing LGBT publication in the United States.
Download or read book Lectures on the Sacred Poetry of the Hebrews written by Robert Lowth and published by . This book was released on 1829 with total page 490 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book When the Elephants Dance written by Tess Uriza Holthe and published by Crown. This book was released on 2002-03-26 with total page 549 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Papa explains the war like this: ‘When the elephants dance, the chickens must be careful.’ The great beasts, as they circle one another, shaking the trees and trumpeting loudly, are the Amerikanos and the Japanese as they fight. And our Philippine Islands? We are the small chickens.” Once in a great while comes a storyteller who can illuminate worlds large and small, in ways both magical and true to life. When the Elephants Dance is set in the waning days of World War II, as the Japanese and the Americans engage in a fierce battle for possession of the Philippine Islands. Through the eyes of three narrators, thirteen-year-old Alejandro Karangalan, his spirited older sister Isabelle, and Domingo, a passionate guerilla commander, we see how ordinary people find hope for survival where none seems to exist. While the Karangalan family and their neighbors huddle together for survival in the cellar of a house, they tell magical stories to one another based on Filipino myth that transport the listeners from the chaos of the war around them and give them new resolve to continue fighting. Outside the safety of their refuge the war rages on—fiery bombs torch the countryside, Japanese soldiers round up and interrogate innocent people, and from the hills guerilla fighters wage a desperate campaign against the enemy. Inside the cellar, these men, women, and children put their hopes and dreams on hold as they wait out the war. This stunning debut novel celebrates with richness and depth the spirit of the Filipino people and their fascinating story and marks the introduction of an author who will join the ranks of writers such as Arundhati Roy, Manil Suri, and Amy Tan.
Download or read book J R R Tolkien written by Tom Shippey and published by HMH. This book was released on 2014-02-21 with total page 389 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The definitive Tolkien companion—an indispensable guide to The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and more, from the author of The Road to Middle-earth. This “highly erudite celebration and exploration of Tolkien’s works [is] enormous fun,” declared the Houston Chronicle, and Tom Shippey, a prominent medievalist and scholar of fantasy, “deepens your understanding” without “making you forget your initial, purely instinctive response to Middle-earth and hobbits.” In a clear and accessible style, Shippey offers a new approach to Tolkien, to fantasy, and to the importance of language in literature. He breaks down The Lord of the Rings as a linguistic feast for the senses and as a response to the human instinct for myth. Elsewhere, he examines The Hobbit’s counterintuitive relationship to the heroic world of Middle-earth; demonstrates the significance of The Silmarillion to Tolkien’s canon; and takes an illuminating look at lesser-known works in connection with Tolkien’s life. Furthermore, he ties all these strands together in a continuing tradition that traces its roots back through Grimms’ Fairy Tales to Beowulf. “Shippey’s commentary is the best so far in elucidating Tolkien’s lovely myth,” wrote Harper’s Magazine. J.R.R. Tolkien: Author of the Century is “a triumph” (Chicago Sun-Times) that not only gives readers a deeper understanding of Tolkien and his work, but also serves as an entertaining introduction to some of the most influential novels ever written.
Download or read book Her Stories written by Virginia Hamilton and published by Scholastic Inc.. This book was released on 1995 with total page 140 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Nineteen stories focus on the magical lore and wondrous imaginings of African American women.
Download or read book Creative Forecasting written by and published by . This book was released on 2003 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Bush At War written by Bob Woodward and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2012-12-25 with total page 483 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With his unmatched investigative skill, Bob Woodward tells the behind-the-scenes story of how President George W. Bush and his top national security advisers led the nation to war. Extensive quotations from the secret deliberations of the National Security Council and firsthand revelations of the private thoughts, concerns and fears of the president and his war cabinet, make BUSH AT WAR an unprecedented chronicle of a modern presidency in a time of grave crisis. Based on interviews with more than a hundred sources and four hours of exclusive interviews with the president, BUSH AT WAR reveals Bush's sweeping, almost grandiose vision for remaking the world. Woodward's virtual wiretap into the White House Situation Room reveals a stunning group portrait of an untested president and his advisers, three of whom might themselves have made it to the presidency. In BUSH AT WAR, Bob Woodward once again delivers a reporting tour de force.
Download or read book The Boys in the Boat Movie Tie In written by Daniel James Brown and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2023-12-05 with total page 433 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The inspiration for the Major Motion Picture Directed by George Clooney—exclusively in theaters December 25, 2023! The #1 New York Times bestselling true story about the American rowing triumph of the 1936 Olympics in Berlin—from the author of Facing the Mountain For readers of Unbroken, out of the depths of the Depression comes an irresistible story about beating the odds and finding hope in the most desperate of times—the improbable, intimate account of how nine working-class boys from the American West showed the world at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin what true grit really meant. It was an unlikely quest from the start. With a team composed of the sons of loggers, shipyard workers, and farmers, the University of Washington’s eight-oar crew team was never expected to defeat the elite teams of the East Coast and Great Britain, yet they did, going on to shock the world by defeating the German team rowing for Adolf Hitler. The emotional heart of the tale lies with Joe Rantz, a teenager without family or prospects, who rows not only to regain his shattered self-regard but also to find a real place for himself in the world. Drawing on the boys’ own journals and vivid memories of a once-in-a-lifetime shared dream, Brown has created an unforgettable portrait of an era, a celebration of a remarkable achievement, and a chronicle of one extraordinary young man’s personal quest.