Set at the beginning of the nineteenth century, when idleness was still looked upon by Russia's serf-owning rural gentry as a plausible and worthy goal, Ivan Goncharov's "Oblomov" follows the travails of an unlikely hero, a young aristocrat incapable...

In this thoughtful and compelling book, leading Spanish literature scholar Noel Valis re-examines the role of Catholicism in the modern Spanish novel. While other studies of fiction and faith have focused largely on religious themes, Sacred Realism v...

If we look to the Bible for historical accounts of ancient life, we make a profound error. So contends Calum Carmichael in this original and incisive reading of some of the Hebrew Bible and New Testament's most famous narratives. Sifting through the...

"Lyric Poetry and Modern Politics" explores the intersection of poetry, national life, and national identity in Poland and Russia, from 1917 to the present. As a corrective to recent trends in criticism, acclaimed translator and critic Clare Cavanagh...

Critics of intelligence tests – writers such as Robert Sternberg, Howard Gardner, and Daniel Goleman – have argued in recent years that these tests neglect important qualities such as emotion, empathy, and interpersonal skills. However, such critique...

Informed by a wealth of information that has come to light in recent years, this engaging biography tells the complete story of the life and musical work of Finnish composer Jean Sibelius (1865-1957). Drawing on Sibelius's own correspondence and diar...

This book is the first to address the history and future of homegrown, mass Chinese Christianity. Drawing on a large collection of fresh sources – including contemporaneous accounts, diaries, memoirs, archival material, and interviews – Lian Xi trace...

King Hussein of Jordan ascended the throne in 1953, at the age of seventeen. He inherited a country that was riven with instability; the entire Middle East was in disarray following the 1948 war and the creation of Israel, and across the region tradi...

The rise and spectacular fall of the friendship between the two great philosophers of the eighteenth century, barely six months after they first met, reverberated on both sides of the Channel. As the relationship between Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Dav...

A true icon of America at a turning point in its history, Gypsy Rose Lee was the first – and only – stripper to become a household name, write novels, and win the adulation of intellectuals, bankers, socialites, and ordinary Americans. Her outrageous...