Social groups: religious groups and communities Books

Trade ReviewThere are 80 pages of scholarly notes about the tales, and an extremely helpful Glossary of Hebrew and Yiddish words. * The Living Church *Gabriel's Palace offers tales on such intriguing topics as meditation and spiritual growth, psychic phenomena like clairvoyance and precognition, dreamwork, healing, near-death and out-of-the-body experiences, and potent encounters with angelic and demonic forces. It is impossible to come away from this book without absobring a good deal of Jewish mystical teaching about these subjects, especially since Schwartz's simple but poetic style helps bring the tales to contemporary life. * Gnosis Magazine *150 rabbinic, Kabalistic, Hasidic, and other mystical folktales from the international Jewish tradition....Schwartz delivers another monumental masterpiece that will inform, illuminate, and entertain. Highly recommended. * Library Journal *A wise book. * Sr. Anna M. Denbla, Spalding University *In recent years Howard Schwartz, combining the accumulative skills of scholarship with the lucently pure voice of the storyteller, has become the preeminent Jewish folklorist in America. What the Grimm brothers and Martin Buber gave to the German language, what Italo Calvino gave to the Italian, Schwartz now gives to English: a landmark collection of tales that expands our common patrimony of legend and mystical treasure. Where Gabriel's Palace is uniquely Jewish, however, is in its God-soaked search, under the light of Torah, for the saintly deed. * Cynthia Ozick, author of The Messiah of Stockholm and The Pagan Rabbi and Other Stories *Once in a while, a book appears that is truly important. Gabriel's Palace is just such a volume. Howard Schwartz has gathered the essential tales that reflect the very foundations of Jewish mystical thought. His writing, as always, is beautiful, his research is breathtaking, his contribution is extraordinary. * Arthur Kurzweil, author of From Generation to Generation *Howard Schwartz, the foremost Jewish anthologist, has defined genres through his various collections of tales. In Elijah's Violin, he explored Jewish fairy tales; in Lilith's Cave he examined Jewish tales of the supernatural. Now, in Gabriel's Palace, he has collected mystical tales from a wide range of Jewish sources in the first book of its kind. These brief imaginative stories, written in a fluid oral style by a master storyteller, are truly marvelous and miracle-filled. Through these stories, we see the circle forming, the mystical dance beginning, and we are drawn into the circle to continue the spiritual journey of the Jewish people. * Peninnah Schram, author of Jewish Stories One Generation Tells Another and Tales of Elijah the Prophet *A handsome collection of little known tales, lyrical enough to read at children's bedtime and scholarly enough to be assigned in class. * Alan F. Segal, Professor of Religions, Barnard College, Columbia University *Tales drawn from the long traditions of Jewish mysticism and retold by Schwartz in an incomparably beautiful style for modern readers....The stories have been painstakingly researched, collected, and retold....An excellent gift book, a rare treasure trove. It's fascinatingly appealing and enduring. * St. Louis Post-Dispatch *You don't, of course, have to be Jewish to relish these sharp, clever, instructive anecdotes. * The Washington Post Book World *[Schwartz is ] among the most important literary figures helping to advance [the Jewish mystical tradition]....Artfully retold....An illuminating glimpse into Jewish mystical thought through the ages. * Moment *Schwartz is a spellbinding storyteller, and the stories he has collected here will grip and enchant the reader....Schwartz has collected the key legends of the Jewish mystical tradition....An enlightening introduction....The notes on the stories provide valuable background information and are accessible and illuminating. Schwartz is to be commended for both his insightful research and his clear and compelling use of language....Those who appreciate the power of the tale will want to savor this unusual collection. * The Jerusalem Post *Schwartz retells [these tales] in a poetic prose that captures not only the mystery and the miracles, but the contemporary reader as well....This is the definitive edition of Jewish mystical tales. It represents an enormous undertaking and a fine achievement. Scholars and researchers will find it indispensable. General readers will find it enchanting. * St. Louis Jewish Light *[These] stories are told by a gifted writer and poet to be read and savored, and to provide inspiration for other storytellers....Schwartz has given a new and powerful expression to the ancient voice of the traditional Jewish storyteller, a voice which deserves to be heard * and indeed needs to be heardin our generation.The Sagarin Review (The St. Louis Jewish Literary Journal) *Remarkable....An impressive work to house the various mystical themes and legends of Jewish literature, both sacred and secular....Serves not only as a resource for a particular genre of Jewish literature, but as a welcome stimulus for perceiving the interaction of the divine in everyday life. * Midstream *Gabriel's Palace provides us with an illuminating glimpse into Jewish mystical thought through the ages. * Edward Hoffman, Ph.D., Moment *

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Book SynopsisThis is the first comprehensive history of antisemitism in America. Dinnerstein draws on an extraordinary number of sources and provides a cogently argued yet complex narrative for the history of this prejudice from its roots in Colonial America to the rantings of Henry Ford and present day prejudices.Trade ReviewDinnerstein has delved into a number of differenct disciplines, including theology, psychology and sociology. Equally impressive in scope is his use of original archival sources...following the dearth of Jacob Rader Marcus, Dinnerstien should rightfully inherit his title as the greatest living historian of American Jews. This book will no doubt become a benchmark for future historians. * Patterns of Prejudice *

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Book SynopsisIn this provocative book, Goldberg launches a bold attack on what he calls the "Holocaust cult", challenging Jews to return to a deeper, richer sense of purpose.Trade ReviewAn eloquent, brave call to Jewish covenantal fidelity ... There are ample chapter notes and a full glossary. Goldberg's erudite passion deserves the ear of the masses. * Kirkus Reviews *

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Book SynopsisIslamic ideas about women and their role in society spark considerable debate both in the Western world and in the Islamic world itself. Despite the popular attention surrounding Middle Eastern attitudes toward women, there has been little systematic study of the statements regarding women in the Qur''an. Stowasser fills the void with this study on the women of Islamic sacred history. By telling their stories in Qur''an and interpretation, she introduces Islamic doctrine and its past and present socio-economic and political applications. Stowasser establishes the link between the female figure as cultural symbol, and Islamic self-perceptions from the beginning to the present time.Trade ReviewAn excellent study of women in Islamic scriptures and commentary. A significant contribution to the scholarship. There is no comparable study in terms of either focus or approach, despite the fact that the topic and materials are so fundamental. * John Esposito *

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Book SynopsisThrough the lens of the Inquisition's own records, this study focuses on the crypto-Jewish women of Castile, demonstrating their role in the perpetuation of crypto-Jewish society. It sheds light on the roles of women in the transmission of Jewish traditions and cultures.Trade ReviewMelammed has done a fine job of bringing what should have long been a central topic in converso studies from the periphery of the field to its rightful place. * The Jewish Quarterly Review *The stories of these valiant women contribute profitably to Jewish and general history and to women's studies. * Choice *Table of ContentsIntroduction: The Judaizing Heresy, the Inquistion and the Conversas ; 1. Jews and Conversas: The First Century of Crypto-Judaism ; 2. The Lives of Judaizing Women after 1492 ; 3. Messianic Turmoil Circa 1500 ; 4. Castilian Conversas at Work ; 5. The Lopez - Vilarreal Family: Three Convicted Judaizers (1516 - 1521) ; 6. The Lopez Women's Tachas ; 7. The Inquisition and the Midwife ; 8. The Judaizers of Alcazar at the end of the Sixteenth Century: "Corks Floating on Water" ; Conclusion: Heretics or Daughters of Israel?

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Book SynopsisFrom images of the 19th- and 20th-century stereotypical Jew in literature, this book goes on to explore the unexpected parallels and ironic reversals between a cultural dispensation that had ambivalent responses to Jews and Jews who became exponents of that very tradition.Trade ReviewWhere The Temple of Culture differs markedly from the usual accounts of literary anti-Semitism is that it also explores the response of Jewish individuals (academics, publishers and New York freethinkers) to the manifold discourses which brought together Jews and culture in increasingly odd conjunctions ... Achieves a great deal in a relatively short but remarkably intelligent book ... has, it is to be hoped, changed the terms of debate away from the many heated and fruitless exchanges which have steadfastly ignored the fundamental ambivalences which remain at the heart of Anglo-American culture. * Times Literary Supplement *Table of ContentsAcknowledgements ; Preface ; 1. The Jew in the Museum ; 2. The Temple of Culture and the Market for Letters:The Jew and the Way We Write Now ; 3. The Mania for the Middlebrow: Trilby, the Jew, and the Middlebrow Imaginary ; 4. Henry James and the Discourses of Anti-Semitism ; 5. Henry James among the Jews ; Afterword: Beyond the Battle of the Blooms

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Book SynopsisThe devastating September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon left us stunned, angry, and uncomprehending. As it became clear that these horrifying acts had been committed in the name of Islam, we struggled to understand how religion could be used to justify the slaughter of innocents. The media, the government, and ordinary citizens alike sought answers to questions about Islam and its adherents. Who are the Muslim extremists who perpetrate such deeds? Why do they hate us? What do they hope to achieve? Does Islam really teach that such terrorists are holy warriors who will be rewarded with everlasting bliss? In this level-headed and authoritative book, John L. Esposito, one of the world''s most respected scholars of political Islam, provides answers to these and many other questions that have arisen in the wake of the attacks. He clearly and carefully explains the teachings of Islam--the Quran, the example of the Prophet, Islamic law--about jihad or holy war, the useTrade ReviewThis is a masterly and indispensable guide ... it should be required reading * The Independent *

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Book SynopsisAn excellent Afikoman gift for the teen or young adult at the seder... Diner...writes in a clear style that pulls together that diverse entity known as the American Jewish community.--The Chicago Jewish Star An engaging chronicle of Jewish life in the United States, A New Promised Land reconstructs the multifaceted background and very American adaptations of this religious group, from the arrival of twenty-three Jews in the New World in 1654, through the development of the Orthodox, conservative, and Reform movements, to the ordination of Sally Priesand as the first woman rabbi in the United States. Hasia Diner supplies fascinating details about Jewish religious traditions, holidays, and sacred texts. In addition, she relates the history of the Jewish religious, political, and intellectual institutions in the United States, and addresses some of the biggest issues facing Jewish Americans today, including their increasingly complex relationship with Israel.Trade ReviewBegins in 1654 with the arrival of 23 Jews in New Amsterdam and follows the changes in Jewish-American life up to the present day.... Clear and lively. A host of archival photos and reproductions enhance the presentation. The author does a good job of explaining the basic tenets of Judaism... The glossary, index, chronology, and suggestions for further reading are useful for reports, but the tone of the narrative is conducive to pleasure reading as well. * School Library Journal *Concise overview... informative history... This panoramic view of Jewish American history will interest and inform teen readers and researchers. * Booklist *An excellent Afikoman gift for the teen or young adult at the seder... Photographs and an attractive design invite both perusal and more in-depth reading... Diner...writes in a clear style that pulls together that diverse entity known as the American Jewish community. * The Chicago Jewish Star *Tells the fascinating story of how an ancient faith, despite trials, flourished and was reshaped in a new land... * The Christian Science Monitor *Diner... addresses political and religious change with an unusual combination of clarity and complexity.... A good textbook provides the outlines of a broad history while laying the foundations for more detailed study. Jews in America does both very well. The book incorporates most of the figures, and many of the primary texts, that a student would encounter in a college-level survey of American Jewish history, yet it is neither convoluted nor cluttered. [It]... would also complement and enrich a more general class on American history or American ethnicity. * Religious Studies in Secondary Schools *

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Book SynopsisWhy has Islam spread among Blackamericans but not among white Americans or Hispanics? Thus far, no one has offered a convincing answer to this question. The assumption has been that there is an African connection, but the historical record does not bear this out. In Islam and the Blackamerican, Sherman Jackson offers a trenchant examination of the career of Islam among Blackamericans.Trade ReviewDestined to become a fixture in any course dealing with Islam in America, Jackson's treatment of the subject offers many helpful insights while giving a voice to often-ignored Blackamerican Muslims. ...his work will contribute to the lively and growing debate over the place of Islam in America and the role of Blackamerican Muslims in the contemporary American religious scene. * The Virginia Quarterly Review *No one has ever analyzed the actual dynamics of Blackamerican Muslims with more acute insight, or more palpable good will, than Sherman Jackson. For both black and white Americans, Jackson sets forth a vision of Islam that is at once holistic and pragmatic: a source of inner strength, a builder of human character, and a bridge to salvation. This book is required reading for anyone who has ever pondered how the long span of Muslim history connects to the Blackamerican stake in an ongoing and enabling Islamic identity. * Bruce Lawrence, author of New Faiths, Old Fears: Muslims and Other Asian Immigrants in American Religious Life *No author is better positioned than Sherman Jackson to write Islam and the Blackamerican. A prominent scholar of Islam and major Muslim leader, Jackson draws on his impeccable scholarship and experience, providing a perspective on the past and charting a future course for Blackamerican Muslims. * John L. Esposito, author of What Everyone Needs to Know about Islam *This seminal examination of Blackamerican Islam is an excellent theoretical seating for and analysis of various communities since the beginning of the twentieth century. What makes this text groundbreaking is that it stands the tradition of the only real religion among African Americans is Christianity on its head. For almost all of the 20th century, Black Christian scholars have claimed hegemony over what is said about religion in the black community without mentioning the influences of Islam or even its increasing adherence. Well, Sherman Jackson has forced a new conversation with a skilled and sophisticated investigation from the point of view of a Blackamerican Islamic scholar. Things will never be the same again in the scholarship around black religion. * Aminah Beverly McCloud, author of African American Islam *A must read for anyone interested in an important and challenging interpretation of Islam and African Americans. * James H. Cone, author of Martin & Malcolm & America: A Dream or a Nightmare *Table of ContentsIntroduction 1. Islam and Black Religion 2. The Third Resurrection and the Ghost of Edward Wilmot Blyden 3. Black Orientalism 4. Between Blackamerica, Immigrant Islam, and the Dominant Culture 5. Blackamerican Islam Between Religion, Nationalism, and Spirituality Notes Index

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Book SynopsisThis invaluable introductory guide provides a complete and lively summary of Islam, one of the most worldly of the great religions, in which the quest for spiritual fulfillment is inevitably bound up with political aspirations. Malise Ruthven presents a full overview of the religion in its historical, geographic, and social settings.Trade ReviewThe most fascinating available single volume on Islam.... A gifted writer driven by curiosity.... A pleasure. * Scott L. Malcomson, Voice Literary Supplement (on previous edition) *An exceptionally insightful and thought-provoking introduction to Islam, explaining its basic religious beliefs, practices, and institutions as well as discussing its impact on...Muslim life today. * John L. Esposito, Center for the Study of Islam and Democracy (on previous edition) *What is particularly valuable is its attempt to show the relationships between the formal doctrines of Islam and the ways in which Muslims live in the world. * Albert Hourani *

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Book SynopsisFor over four centuries the Catholic Church enjoyed a religious monopoly in Latin America in which potential rivals were repressed or outlawed. Latin Americans were born Catholic and the only real choice they had was whether to actively practice the faith. Taking advantage of the legal disestablishment of the Catholic Church between the late 1800s and the early 1900s, Pentecostals almost single-handedly built a new pluralist religious economy. By the 1950s, many Latin Americans were free to choose from among the hundreds of available religious products, a dizzying array of religious options that range from the African-Brazilian religion of Umbanda to the New Age group known as the Vegetable Union. R. Andrew Chesnut shows how the development of religious pluralism over the past half-century has radically transformed the spiritual economy of Latin America. In order to thrive in this new religious economy, says Chesnut, Latin American spiritual firms must develop an attractive product and know how to market it to popular consumers. Three religious groups, he demonstrates, have proven to be the most skilled competitors in the new unregulated religious economy. Protestant Pentecostalism, the Catholic Charismatic Renewal, and African diaspora religions such as Brazilian Candomble and Haitian Vodou have emerged as the most profitable religious producers. Chesnut explores the general effects of a free market, such as introduction of consumer taste and product specialization, and shows how they have played out in the Latin American context. He notes, for example, that women make up the majority of the religious consumer market, and explores how the three groups have developed to satisfy women''s tastes and preferences. Moving beyond the Pentecostal boom and the rise and fall of liberation theology, Chesnut provides a fascinating portrait of the Latin American religious landscape.Trade Review"This boldly argued book is the best statement available to date of the political economy model as applied to the study of religious change in Latin America. The author providesa a wealth of data on the emergence and extraordinary growth of pneumacentric (spirit-centered) religions in Latin America. A significant book, with a powerful argument, convincing results, and a range of operational concepts that the author applies very effectively to explain a range of phenomena in a unified and consistent way."-- Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion"This is a bold, meticulous, and highly provocative study of Latin America's free-market religious economy. In identifying a high level of 'consumer demand for spirit-centered religion,' Chesnut has employed a dynamic and controversial model for understanding the reasons behind the rapid growth of Pentecostalism, Catholic Charismatic Renewal, and the religions of the African diaspora in Latin America during recent decades. This is rich, engaging, and important study that should provide grist for scholarly debate for some time to come."--Virginia Garrard-Burnett, Teresa Lozano Long Institute of Latin American Studies, University of Texas, Austin"Andrew Chesnut has written the must-read book on Latin American religion. The theoretical insights and empirical depth of this work are simply astounding. While specifically concerned with Brazil, Mexico and Guatemala, Chesnut's conclusions about the dynamism of charismatic religious movements extend well beyond these geographical confines. Indeed, anyone interested in contemporary religious movements will find this book indispensable."--Anthony Gill, author of Rendering Unto Caesar: The Catholic Church and the State in Latin America"This is a very rare achievement: first rate history combined with an admirable grasp of social science, expressed in stylish prose. The result is a work of very great significance that not only describes, but helps to explain, the remarkable religious changes going on in Latin America."--Rodney Stark, University of WashingtonTable of Contents1.: Introduction: The New Temples of Religious Pluralism 2.: One True Faith: Four Centuries of Religious Monopoly 3.: Cornering the Market: An Anatomy of Pentecostal Success 4.: A Preferential Option for the Spirit: The Catholic Charismatic Renewal 5.: Entreprenurial Spirits: Religions of the African Diaspora 6.: Practical Consumers: The Success of Pneumacentric Religion Among Women 7.: Conclusion: Ex Uno Plura (Out of One: Many)

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Book SynopsisMuslims are neither new nor foreign to the United States. They have been a vital presence in North America since the 16th century. Muslims in America unearths their history, documenting the lives of African, Middle Eastern, South Asian, European, black, white, Hispanic and other Americans who have been followers of Islam. The book begins with the tale of Job Ben Solomon, a 18th century African American Muslim slave, and goes on to chart the stories of sodbusters in North Dakota, African American converts to Islam in the 1920s, Muslim barkeepers in Toledo, the post-1965 wave of professional immigrants from Asia and Africa, and Muslim Americans after 9/11. The book reveals the richness of Sunni, Shi''a, Sufi and other forms of Islamic theology, ethics, and rituals in the United States by illustrating the way Islamic faith has been imagined and practiced in the everyday lives of individuals. Muslims in America recovers the place of Muslims in the larger American story, too. Showing how Muslim American men and women participated in each era of U.S. history, the book explores how they have both shaped and have been shaped by larger historical trends such as the abolition movement, Gilded Age immigration, the Great Migration of African Americans, urbanization, religious revivalism, the feminist movement, and the current war on terror. It also shows how, from the very beginning of American history, Muslim Americans have been at once a part of their local communities, their nation, and the worldwide community of Muslims. The first single-author history of Muslims in America from colonial times to the present, this book fills a huge gap and provides invaluable background on one of the most poorly understood groups in the United States.Trade ReviewCurtis has authored a fine and succinct history that spans centuries...Unmatched for its breadth of sources, this is also one of the few books in the field to cover both immigrant and indigenous (African-American) American Muslims...Photographs, chronology, edited selections from chosen narratives, and a Further Reading Section provide useful jumping-off points for the reader, who will undoubtedly be intrigued by Curtis's compelling little read. * Publishers Weekly *Table of Contents1. Across the Black Atlantic: The First Muslims in North America ; 2. The First American Converts to Islam ; 3. Twentieth-Century Muslim Immigrants: From the Melting Pot to the Cold War ; 4. Religious Awakenings of the Late Twentieth Century ; 5. Muslim Americans after 9/11 ; CHRONOLOGY ; FURTHER READING

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Book SynopsisThis book explores a new model for the production, revision, and reception of Biblical texts as Scripture. Building on recent studies of the oralwritten interface in medieval, Greco-Roman and ancient Near Eastern contexts, David Carr argues that in ancient Israel Biblical texts and other texts emerged as a support for an educational process in which written and oral dimensions were integrally intertwined. The point was not incising and reading texts on parchment or papyrus. The point was to enculturate ancient Israelites -- particularly Israelite elites - by training them to memorize and recite a wide range of traditional literature that was seen as the cultural bedrock of the people: narrative, prophecy, prayer, and wisdom. Generally, mastery was exercised through remarkably exact recall and reproduction of the tradition - whether through oral performance or through production of written performances. Crises like exile, however, could prompt the creation of radically new versions of tTrade ReviewIn Writing on the Tablet of the Heart David Carr draws on a vast range of evidence to explore writing and the socialization of elites in the ancient Near East and the Hellenistic world. This impressive work contributes vitally to breaking down the distinction between literacy and orality which has often clouded discussions of cultural and administrative institutions in the ancient world, and reaches significant conclusions that will have an impact far beyond its core area of Biblical Studies. * John Baines, Professor of Egyptology, University of Oxford *David Carr's Writing on the Tablet of the Heart provides a fresh and highly readable account of the contexts and conditions which progressively shaped ancient Israel's textual heritage as scripture. Carr adroitly employs an impressively broad range of comparative and theoretical perspectives to argue for the centrality of an oral-written textual practice in the educational process of cultural formation and socialization in elite Israelite circles. While this book is must reading for students and scholars of the Hebrew Bible, both in its literary formation and social reception, Carr's reach extends to other cultural fields in which orality and textuality are performatively bound. * Steven D. Fraade, Mark Taper Professor of the History of Judaism, Yale University *David Carr has given us an extremely thorough study of the modes of textual transmission that has far-reaching implications for our study of the Pentateuch and the composition of biblical literature. Using a comparative and anthropological approach, Writing on the Tablet of the Heart breaks new ground in understanding the implications of orality and literacy in the formation of Scripture. This well-written and carefully researched book deserves to be a standard work for anyone interested in the Bible. * William Schniedewind, author of How the Bible Became a Book *[Carr] integrates so many good ideas together into a coherent synthesis that this will become a classic text worth quoting. His arguments are compelling. The author has brought old insights into a comprehensive synthesis and given us new perspectives, or "handles," by which to focus our attention on the greater picture of writing, literacy, scribes, and literary texts in the ancient world. * Catholic Biblical Quarterly *Exceptionally erudite and readable. Biblical scholars will need to seriously consider this well laid out challenge to the generally accepted theories of documentary sources. * Review of Biblical Literature *Table of ContentsPART ONE: EARLY EXAMPLES OF TEXTUALITY AND EDUCATION IN THE NEAR EAST AND MEDITERRANEAN ; PART TWO: TEXTUALITY AND EDUCATION IN THE EASTERN HELLENISTIC WORLD ; APPENDIX: THE RELATION OF THIS STUDY TO EARLIER RESEARCH

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Book SynopsisThis updated version of Islam: The Straight Path includes a new Epilogue by John Esposito in which he addresses the impact 9/11 and its aftermath have had on both the Muslim and non-Muslim world, discussing Islam's relationship to democracy and modernity and focusing more sharply on the origins and growth of extremism and terrorism in the name of Islam. This exceptionally successful survey text introduces the faith, belief, and practice of Islam from its earliest origins up to its contemporary resurgence. Esposito, an internationally renowned expert on Islam, traces the development of this dynamic faith and its impact on world history and politics, discussing the formation of Islamic belief and practice and chronicling the struggle of Muslims to define and adhere to their Islamic way of life. Lucidly written and expansive in scope, Islam:the Straight Path provides a keen insight into one of the world's least understood religions, and is ideally suited for use in courses on Islam, compa

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Book SynopsisThis is the first full account of the transformation of Ottoman Turkish into Modern Turkish. It is based on the author''s knowledge and experience of the language, history, and people of Turkey. The transformation of the Turkish language is probably the most thorough-going piece of linguistic engineering in history. Its prelude came in 1928, when the Arabo-Persian alphabet was outlawed and replaced by the Latin alphabet. It began in earnest in 1930 when Ataturk declared:''Turkish is one of the richest of languages. It needs only to be used with discrimination. The Turkish nation, which is well able to protect its territory and its sublime independence, must also liberate its language from the yoke of foreign languages.''All Arabic and Persian vocabulary was replaced forthwith by words collected from popular speech, resurrected from ancient texts, or coined from native roots and suffixes. The snag - identified by the author as one element in the catastrophic aspect of the reform - was tTrade ReviewReview from previous edition The Turkish Language Reform is a dramatic story, entertainingly written, and not overly long. What is more, it provides a great insight into the practicalities of language planning.... From the moment you read 'A catastrophic success' in the subtitle you know that Lewis's intention is to provide interesting, entertaining reading. The story is a great one ... and well worth the read.' * Journal of Sociolinguistics 5/2, 2001 *Professor Lewis has written a fascinating book and he deserves the gratitude and appreciation of both colleagues and non-specialists alike. Lewis has succeeded in making a demanding task seem particularly easy and even graceful. As a stylist, Lewis is incisive, sometime brutally candid, and almost always witty. The book is sure to remain the last word on the language reform for a long time to come. * Journal of Middle Eastern Studies *Very informative - especially for the nonspecialist - and worthwhile reading ... this book can and must be recommended to anyone interested in the modern Turkish language.' * Anthropological Linguistics *Lewis's book is learned, eloquent, and witty... Particularly effective and entertaining are those passages which he skillfully translates twice -- first in their unadulterated form with their full complement of words of non-Turkic origin, then in their clean-up, "pure" Turkic form.' * Sino-Platonic Papers *Lewis ... writes in a lively and witty style. Absolutely essential for collections supporting Turkish and linguistics departments at all levels... This book is a fascinating description of what can happen when language reform is attempted in an unplanned but enthusiastic fashion.' * Choice *Table of Contents1. Introduction ; 2Ottoman Turkish ; 3. The New Alphabet ; 4. Ataturk and the Language Reform until 1936 ; 5. The Sun-Language Theory and After ; 6. Atay, Atac, Sayili ; 7. Ingredients ; 8. Concoctions ; 9. Technical Terms ; 10. The New Yoke ; 11. The New Turkish ; 12. What Happened to the Language Society ; References ; Index

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Book SynopsisMuslims in the Western Imagination explores the ways in which Muslim men are depicted as monsters throughout history. Monsters help a society delineate who belongs in a social group and who, or what, is excluded. Even when Muslim monsters are symbolic, as in post-9/11 zombie films, they still function to define Muslims as non-human entities. These are not portrayals of Muslim men as malevolent human characters, but rather as creatures that occupy the imagination--non-humans that exhibit their wickedness outwardly on the skin. They populate medieval tales, Renaissance paintings, Shakespearean dramas, Gothic horror novels, and Hollywood films. Through an exhaustive survey of medieval, early modern, and contemporary literature, art, and cinema, Sophia Rose Arjana examines the dehumanizing ways in which Muslim men have been constructed and represented as monsters, and the impact such representations have on perceptions of Muslims. The study is the first to present a Foucauldian genealogy oTrade ReviewArjana succeeds in supplying ample evidence that exposes a long history of the 'monsterization' and vilification of Muslims within the Western European and North American traditions of popular culture. Her concern for how these perpetuate mischaracterization of both Muslims and Islam and result in mistreatment, unfair exclusion, and outright injustice is well grounded and deserves serious attention, with expressed hope for correction. * R. Charles Weller, Religion *Islamophobia is a broad pathology of our times. Pegged to September 11, 2001, it has continued to flourish in the shadow of subsequent wars waged by the US and its allies, throughout the Middle East. While Abu Ghraib became one of the showcases of American horror, Homeland set the mark for thinking about, or imagining, Muslim enemies. Both are highlighted in this, the first genealogy, which is also a semiotics, of Islamophobia. A well-researched, carefully staged book, it illumines how brutal images of monster Muslims have become commonplace, almost reflexive in the long afterlife of the War on Terror. * Bruce Lawrence, Professor of Islamic Studies Emeritus, Duke University *Rigorously historical, and partaking of the best of discursive analysis, this is a remarkable study of the distorted mirror in which the Western imagination has conceived of Muslims. As Arjana demonstrates, this tells me almost nothing about Muslims, and a great deal about the Western imagination. Arjana makes a persuasive case that in order to understand the dehumanizing practices in Guantanamo Bay, Abu Ghraib, Bagram, and elsewhere, we need to cast a much longer critical look at the history of the Western imaginaire about Muslims [as] Monsters. Essential reading for Islamic studies, American studies, and European history. * Omid Safi, Director of Duke Islamic Studies Center, Duke University *In The Satanic Verses, Salman Rushdie wrote this about the power of representation: They describe us . . . that's all. They have the power of description, and we succumb to the pictures they construct. In her exhaustive and often disturbing work, Sophia Arjana catalogues the many ways in which Muslims have been described as monsters. It is a compelling book. * Amir Hussain, Editor, Journal of the American Academy of Religion *Table of ContentsIntroduction: Islam in the Western Imagination ; Chapter 1: The Muslim Monster ; Chapter 2: Medieval Muslim Monsters ; Chapter 3: Turkish Monsters ; Chapter 4: The Monsters of Orientalism ; Chapter 5: Muslim Monsters in the Americas ; Chapter 6: The Monsters of September 11th ; Notes ; Bibliography ; Index

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Book SynopsisIn his controversial 1973 book, Is God a White Racist?, William R. Jones sharply criticized black theologians for their agnostic approach to black suffering, noting that the doctrine of an ominibenevolent God poses very significant problems for a perennially oppressed community. He proposed a humanocentric theism which denies God''s sovereignty over human history and imputes autonomous agency to humans. By rendering humans alone responsible for moral evil, Jones''s theology freed blacks to revolt against the evil of oppression without revolting against God. Sherman Jackson now places Jones''s argument in conversation with the classical schools of Islamic theology. The problem confronting the black community is not simply proving that God exists, says Jackson. The problem, rather, is establishing that God cares. No religious expression that fails to tackle the problem of black suffering can hope to enjoy a durable tenure in the black community. For the Muslim, therefore, it is essentialTrade ReviewJackson's work has added a thought-provoking response by Islamic studies and is long overdue in the debate of Black theodicy. * Black Diaspora Review *It goes without saying that any theological discussion is bound to be academic, yet this is an excellent book and a fascinating read. * ARNet *Jackson's book is a work of theology, and in this dimension it is a skillfully argued plea for Islam as a religion capable of meeting the challenge of black suffering as well as a clear explication of Islamic theodicy. It remarkably succeeds in both the academic register and as a sustained personal plea. * The Azanian Sea *Jackson is a welcome addition to the writings of American Islamic scholars, most of whom are non-idigenous Muslims; such thinkers are not qualified to write from an Islamic-centric perspective about the numourous social, political, and economical ills that plague Muslim African Americans. * Yusef Sala, BEACON *Islam and the Problem of Black Suffering warrants high praise for it's scholarship and deserves the attention of Islamic jurists, imams, religious scholars, and coverts. * Latif A. Tarik, Aerican Public University *Table of ContentsIntroduction ; William R. Jones and Challenge of Black Theodicy ; The Perduring Problem of Blackness: Beyond Ontological Suffering ; Chapter One: The Formative Development of Classical Muslim Theology ; The Arabians and Atheological "Peripheral Vision" ; Muhammad b. Idris al-Shafi'i and the Arabian Versus Arab Regime of Sense ; Traditionalism and Rationalism: The Rhetoric of Transcendence and the False Detente ; Chapter Two: Mu'tazilism and Black Theodicy ; Early Development and Basic Contours of Mu'tazilite Theology ; Relevant Details of Mu'tazilite Theology ; Mu'tazilism and Jones ; Chapter Three: Ash'arism and Black Theodicy ; Early Development and Basic Contours of Ash'arite Theology ; Relevant Details of Ash'arite Theology ; Ash'arism and Jones ; Chapter Four: Maturidism and Black Theodicy ; Early Development and Basic Contours of Maturidite Theology ; Relevant Details of Maturidite Theology ; Maturidism and Jones ; Chapter Five: Traditionalism and Black Theodicy ; Early Development and Basic Contours of Traditionalism ; Relevant Details of Tradtionalist Theology ; Traditionalism and Jones ; Conclusion ; Notes ; Bibliography

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Book SynopsisThe state of Israel was established in 1948 as a Jewish democracy without a legal separation between religion and the state. This state-religion tension has been a central political, social, and moral issue in Israel, resulting in a theocracy-democracy cultural conflict between secular Jews and the fundamentalist ultra-orthodox-Haredi-counter-cultural community in Israel. And one of the major arenas where such conflicts are played out is the media. An expert on the construction of social and moral problems, Nachman Ben-Yehuda examines more than 50 years of media-reported unconventional and deviant behavior by the Haredi community. He finds that not only have they increased over the years, but their most salient feature is violence. This violence is not random or precipitated by some situational emotional rage-it is planned and aims to achieve political goals. Using verbal and non-verbal violence in the forms of curses, intimidations, threats, setting fires, throwing stones, beatings, staging mass violations and more, Haredi activists try to drive Israel towards a more theocratic society. Most of the struggle is focused on feuds around the state-religion status quo and the public arena. Driven by a theological notion that stipulates that all Jews are mutually responsible and accountable to the Almighty, these activists believe that the sins of the few are paid by the many. Making Israel a theocracy will, they believe, reduce the risk of transcendental penalties. Like other democracies, Israel has had to face significant theocratic and secular pressures. The political structure that accommodates these contradicting pressures is effectively a theocratic democracy. Characterized by chronic negotiations, tensions, and accommodations, it is by nature an unstable structure. However, it allows citizens with different worldviews to live under one umbrella of a nation state without tearing the social fabric apart.Trade ReviewTheocratic Democracy is an excellent and deeply researched study of dissident religious subcultures, focusing on Israel's growing communities of ultra-Orthodox Jews. The book is hugely significant for understanding the future of the state of Israel, and of Judaism more generally. It also tells us much about the politics of religion and the nature of religious violence. This is a really impressive achievement. * Philip Jenkins, Edwin Erle Sparks Professor of Humanities, Pennsylvania State University *Table of ContentsPart One: Outlining the Study Prologue 1. Theocratic Democracy and Cultural Conflicts 2. Religion, Politics and Haredim in Israel 3. Methodology: How Information Was Collected 4. The Printed Media: Making News - Constructing Realities Part Two: Haredi Non-Conformity and Deviance 5. Illustrative Events and Affairs 6. Theocratic Underground Groups 7. Themes of Deviance and Unconventionality Part Three: Culture Conflict in the Media 8. Life as It Should Be, The Right of the People Not to Know and Conspiracies of Silence 9. Examining 50 Years of Haredi Deviance Part Four: Discussion and Conclusions 10. Discussion: The Doctrine of Mutual Responsibility, Nonconformity and Deviance vs. Cultural Change and Stability 11. Concluding Summary and some Global Observations

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Book SynopsisIn an increasingly globalized world, there are new economic, strategic, cultural, and political forces at work. The Political Psychology of Globalization: Muslims in the West explores how these shifts and shocks have influenced the way in which Muslim minorities in six western countries form their identities as political actors.Trade Review"At this point in global history, there could not be a more timely discussion of the social, psychological, and political consequences of globalization, cultural change, and identities lived 'in between.' Drawing on the lived experiences of Muslims in Europe and North America, Nesbitt-Larking and Kinnvall develop a sophisticated analysis of changes in modern cultures that place identity, dialogue, and human agency at the center of our understanding of and ambitions for intercultural relations, engaged citizenship, community cohesion, and societal change. I highly recommend this text to all those interested in understanding cultural change today, its politics, and its psychology." --Caroline Howarth, Lecturer, Institute of Social Psychology, The London School of Economics and Political Science "Written in a most engaging style, this book exhibits fine, empirically based scholarship and demonstrates theoretical sophistication and historical sensitivity in attending to one of the most politically volatile issues of our time. The authors' multidisciplinary approach illuminates the interplay among social, political, economic, and psychological forces. They offer us new ways of thinking about citizenship, multiculturalism, and globalization, ultimately pointing to a viable and vibrant politics of engagement." --Molly Andrews, Professor of Sociology and Co-director, Centre for Narrative Research, University of East London "Drawing on a remarkable range of scholarship, the authors address some of the most critical issues facing us today: globalization, identity, and the challenges to Western liberalism posed by sources ranging from fundamentalism and terrorism to ethnocentrism, racism, and religious prejudice. Their analysis of the political psychology of identity among Diaspora and post-Diaspora communities sets a new level of discourse and is essential reading for anyone interested in the integration of Muslim communities into Western society. Their brilliant book will remain a classic text for those interested in how people construct hybrid identities and narratives that help them make sense of a constantly changing political reality." --Kristen R. Monroe, Professor of Political Science and Philosophy, and Director, Interdisciplinary Center for the Scientific Study of Ethics and Morality, University of California, Irvine "Kinnvall and Nesbitt-Larking forge a unique approach to processes of globalization. Comparing identity strategies and citizenship regimes in a context of multiculturalism, they bridge traditional dichotomies of individual and society and of the local and the global." --Bert Klandermans, Professor of Applied Social Psychology, VU University Amsterdam "This book fills an obvious lacuna in the field, and does so with authority and elegance... This study is both theoretically sophisticated and empirically grounded, and is a most timely book for scholars as well as policy makers. Summing up: Highly recommended. All readership levels." -- A. Ahmad, Black Hills State University, CHOICE "This book is an impressive combination of thorough empirical and comparative analysis combined with an inter-disciplinary and innovative theoretical angle. Through a well-defined structure, the authors provide an impressive tour de force of the field, introducing novel empirical material and theory rooted in political psychology. The added value rests on the extent of its comparative scope; its detailed case studies and the close integration between data and theory as well as a compellingly clear writing-style. The book is essential reading for anyone interested in European Muslim politics. It establishes a laudable goal of unshackling cosmopolitanism from its Eurocentric and orientalist origins. Whether this is realistic in terms of feasible practical policy options is open for debate and further work, but the urgency of the issue cannot be denied." -- Ethnic and Racial Studies "The Political Psychology of Globalization systematically analyzes various identity strategies within different citizenship regimes. Anyone interested in the issues of multiculturalism, integration of Muslims in the West, and identity might find this book useful. In addition, this book might be of interest to those seeking to understand the changing concepts of multiculturalism and identity in general." -- Sabina Cehajic-Clancy, PsycCRITIQUESTable of Contents1. Introduction ; PART I: THEORIZING CITIZENSHIP, INTEGRATION AND IDENTITIES IN MULTICULTURAL SETTINGS ; 2. Immigration and Citizenship Regimes in a Globalizing World ; 3. The Political Psychology of Integration and Assimilation ; 4. Dialogism, Multiculturalism, and Cosmopolitical Citizenship ; PART II: IDENTITY CHALLENGES AND IDENTITY CRISES: MUSLIMS IN THE WEST ; 5. The Politics of Retreatism ; 6. The Politics of Essentialism ; 7. The Politics of Engagement ; 8. Conclusion

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Book SynopsisSherman Jackson offers a trenchant examination of the career of Islam among the blacks of America. Jackson notes that no one has offered a convincing explanation of why Islam spread among Blackamericans (a coinage he explains and defends) but not among white Americans or Hispanics. The assumption has been that there is an African connection. In fact, Jackson shows, none of the distinctive features of African Islam appear in the proto-Islamic, black nationalist movements of the early 20th century. Instead, he argues, Islam owes its momentum to the distinctively American phenomenon of Black Religion, a God-centered holy protest against anti-black racism.Islam in Black America begins as part of a communal search for tools with which to combat racism and redefine American blackness. The 1965 repeal of the National Origins Quota System led to a massive influx of foreign Muslims, who soon greatly outnumbered the blacks whom they found here practicing an indigenous form of Islam. Immigrant Muslims would come to exercise a virtual monopoly over the definition of a properly constituted Islamic life in America. For these Muslims, the nemesis was not white supremacy, but the West. In their eyes, the West was not a racial, but a religious and civilizational threat. American blacks soon learned that opposition to the West and opposition to white supremacy were not synonymous. Indeed, says Jackson, one cannot be anti-Western without also being on some level anti-Blackamerican. Like the Black Christians of an earlier era struggling to find their voice in the context of Western Christianity, Black Muslims now began to strive to find their black, American voice in the context of the super-tradition of historical Islam. Jackson argues that Muslim tradition itself contains the resources to reconcile blackness, American-ness, and adherence to Islam. It is essential, he contends, to preserve within Islam the legitimate aspects of Black Religion, in order to avoid what Stephen Carter calls the domestication of religion, whereby religion is rendered incapable of resisting the state and the dominant culture. At the same time, Jackson says, it is essential for Blackamerican Muslims to reject an exclusive focus on the public square and the secular goal of subverting white supremacy (and Arab/immigrant supremacy) and to develop a tradition of personal piety and spirituality attuned to distinctive Blackamerican needs and idiosyncrasies.Trade ReviewDestined to become a fixture in any course dealing with Islam in America, Jackson's treatment of the subject offers many helpful insights while giving a voice to often-ignored Blackamerican Muslims. ...his work will contribute to the lively and growing debate over the place of Islam in America and the role of Blackamerican Muslims in the contemporary American religious scene. * The Virginia Quarterly Review *No one has ever analyzed the actual dynamics of Blackamerican Muslims with more acute insight, or more palpable good will, than Sherman Jackson. For both black and white Americans, Jackson sets forth a vision of Islam that is at once holistic and pragmatic: a source of inner strength, a builder of human character, and a bridge to salvation. This book is required reading for anyone who has ever pondered how the long span of Muslim history connects to the Blackamerican stake in an ongoing and enabling Islamic identity. * Bruce Lawrence, author of New Faiths, Old Fears: Muslims and Other Asian Immigrants in American Religious Life *No author is better positioned than Sherman Jackson to write Islam and the Blackamerican. A prominent scholar of Islam and major Muslim leader, Jackson draws on his impeccable scholarship and experience, providing a perspective on the past and charting a future course for Blackamerican Muslims. * John L. Esposito, author of What Everyone Needs to Know about Islam *This seminal examination of Blackamerican Islam is an excellent theoretical seating for and analysis of various communities since the beginning of the twentieth century. What makes this text groundbreaking is that it stands the tradition of the only real religion among African Americans is Christianity on its head. For almost all of the 20th century, Black Christian scholars have claimed hegemony over what is said about religion in the black community without mentioning the influences of Islam or even its increasing adherence. Well, Sherman Jackson has forced a new conversation with a skilled and sophisticated investigation from the point of view of a Blackamerican Islamic scholar. Things will never be the same again in the scholarship around black religion. * Aminah Beverly McCloud, author of African American Islam *A must read for anyone interested in an important and challenging interpretation of Islam and African Americans. * James H. Cone, author of Martin & Malcolm & America: A Dream or a Nightmare *Table of ContentsIntroduction ; 1. Islam and Black Religion ; 2. The Third Resurrection and the Ghost of Edward Wilmot Blyden ; 3. Black Orientalism ; 4. Between Blackamerica, Immigrant Islam, and the Dominant Culture ; 5. Blackamerican Islam Between Religion, Nationalism, and Spirituality ; Notes ; Index

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Book SynopsisThe treatment and role of women is one of the most discussed and controversial aspects of Islam. In this volume, three respected scholars of Islam survey the situation of women in Islam, focusing on how Muslim views about and experiences of gender are changing in the Western diaspora.Table of ContentsAcknowledgements ; Preface ; 1 Setting the Scene ; 2 Persistent Stereotypes ; 3 Embracing Islam ; 4 Practices of the Faith ; 5 Gender and the Family ; 6 Muslim Women in the Crucible ; 7 Claiming Public Space ; 8 Competing Discourses ; Glossary ; Sources ; Index

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Book SynopsisThe legitimacy of the Zionist project--establishing a Jewish homeland in Palestine--has been questioned since its inception. In recent years, the voices challenging the legitimacy of the State of Israel have become even louder. Chaim Gans examines these doubts and presents an in-depth, evenhanded philosophical analysis of the justice of Zionism.Today, alongside a violent Middle East where many refuse to accept Israel''s existence, there are two academically respectable arguments for the injustice of Zionism. One claim is that the very return of the Jews to Palestine was unjust. The second argument is that Zionism is an exclusivist ethnocultural nationalism out of step with current visions of multicultural nationhood. While many therefore claim that Zionism is in principle an unjust political philosophy, Gans seeks out a more nuanced ground to explain why Zionism, despite its manifest flaws, could in principle be just. Its flaws stem from the current situation, where exigencies have disTrade ReviewThere are an awful lot of books dealing with the politics of Israel/Palestine, written mostly in defense of one side or the other. A Just Zionism, however, presents the first systematic philosophical analysis of the Zionist enterprise as a whole, in each of its historical moments and in all its moral/political aspects. The arguments are meticulously developed, and the book is very carefully constructed. Any reader who is caught up, as I am, in the Israel/Palestine debates will find it intellectually engaging. * Michael Walzer, Professor Emeritus, School of Social Science, Institute for Advanced Study, and author of Just and Unjust Wars *Chaim Gans deals with a very tough topic: the moral justification of Zionism. He presents all positions in the best of light. He is passionate when possible and dispassionate when necessary. A discussion on the moral justification of Zionism would look very different and far better if those involved in the debate would take heed of this engaging book. * Avishai Margalit, Professor, School of Historical Studies, Institute for Advanced Study *Table of ContentsPreface and Acknowledgments ; Introduction ; Chapter 1: Zionism as an Ethno-cultural Nationalism ; Chapter 2: The Jewish Return to the Historical Homeland ; Chapter 3: A Jewish State - Self-Determination and Hegemony ; Chapter 4: Dividing up the Historical Homeland ; Chapter 5: Jewish Hegemony in Immigration and Other Domains ; Conclusion ; Notes ; Index

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Book SynopsisChildren born and raised on the religious fringe are a distinctive yet largely unstudied social phenomenon -they are irreversibly shaped by the experience having been thrust into a radical religious culture by birth. The religious group is all encompassing. It accounts for their family, their school, social networks, and everything that prepares them for their adult life. The inclusion of a second generation of participants raises new concerns and legal issues. Perfect Children examines the ways new religious movements adapt to a second generation, how children are socialized, what happens to these children as they mature, and how their childhoods have affected them.Amanda van Twist conducted over 50 in-depth interviews with individuals born into new religious groups, some of whom have stayed in the group, some of whom have left. She also visited the groups, their schools and homes, and analyzed support websites maintained by those who left the religious groups that raised them. She also attended conferences held by NGOs concerned with the welfare of children in cults. The main groups she studies include the Bruderhof, Scientology, the Family International, the Unification Church, and the International Society for Krishna Consciousness.Children born into new religions often start life as special children believed to be endowed with heightened spiritual capabilities. But as they mature into society at large they acquire other labels. Those who stay in the group are usually labeled as goodies and innovators. Those who leave tend to be labeled as baddies or seen as troubled. Whether they stay or leave, children raised on the religious fringe experience a unique form of segregation in adulthood.Van Twist analyzes group behavior on an organizational/institutional level as well as individual behavior within groups, and how these affect one another. Her study also raises larger questions about religious freedom in the light of the State''s responsibility towards children, and children''s rights against the rights of parents to raise their children within their religion.Trade ReviewThe book overall breaks new ground in an under-researched area... This is a must-read for everyone in the field. * Lukas Pokorny, Religious Studies Review *Perfect Children is an insightful and sometimes disturbing study of youth growing up in new or sectarian religious movements. The author shows us that the experimental project of rearing perfect children comes with a very imperfect road map. With the best of intentions and noblest of spiritual pursuits, the introduction of children into the group changes everything. Amanda van Eck Duymaer van Twist offers us a window into the intimate lives of these offspring, with all the trials, challenges, and choices they face. This work is a unique and vital contribution to the research literature on new religions. * Stuart Wright, Professor of Sociology, Lamar University *This is a very good book. I recommend it not only to scholars of new religious movements for whom it is a must, but also to anyone interested in the dynamics of the socialization of children in minority religions or in nonreligious groups that are on the fringe of society. * Eileen Barker, Sociology of Religion *Table of ContentsPart I: Sects and Their Children ; Introduction ; Chapter 1: Sects, Children, and Society ; Chapter 2: Leadership and Discipline ; Chapter 3: Points of Conflict: The Children of God and the State ; Part II: What Happened?: The Aftermath of Growing Up in a Sectarian Group ; Chapter 4: What Is Perceived as Successful Socialization? ; Chapter 5: The Young Members Who Stay ; Part III: The Young Members Who Leave ; Chapter 6: Support ; Chapter 7: In The Wilderness ; Conclusion ; Notes ; Index

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Book SynopsisThe immigration of Muslims to Europe and the integration of later generations presents many challenges to European societies. Unwanted builds on five years of ethnographic research with a group of fifty-five second-generation Muslim immigrant drug dealers in Frankfurt, Germany to examine the relationship between immigration, social exclusion, and the informal economy. Having spent countless hours with these young men, hanging out in the streets, in cafes or bars and at the local community center, Sandra Bucerius explores the intimate aspects of their, one of the most discriminated and excluded populations in Germany. Bucerius looks at how the young men negotiate their participation in the drug market while still trying to adhere to their cultural and religious obligations and how they struggle to find a place within German society. The young men considered their involvement in the drug trade a response to their exclusion at the same time that it provides a means of forging an identity Trade ReviewThis is one of the most exciting and original ethnographic studies on drug dealing I have read in a long time. It is the German counterpart of classical American studies as Philip Bourgois' In Search of Respect or Elijah Anderson's Code of the Street. The setting is not an American ghetto but a Frankfurt neighborhood in an advanced German welfare state. Bucerius has drawn on her extensive fieldwork in the neighborhood of Bockenheim to present an ethnography that explains the lifestyles and social exclusion of a group of second generation immigrants with a Muslim background that are involved in drug dealing. Her enduring fieldwork in a combination with her theoretical lenses based on Pierre Bourdieu, Mary Douglas and Max Weber offer an explanation why these young men choose to become drug dealers. It is a stunning achievement written with civic involvement, as well with academic detachment and humor. * Godfried Engbersen, Professor of Sociology, Erasmus University Rotterdam *In the tradition of the best urban ethnographies, Unwanted provides an insightful look at the lives of second generation Muslim immigrant young men involved in Frankfurt's drug economy. Sandra Bucerius deftly navigates structure, culture, and agency, grappling with how macro-level forces in German society impact the lives of young men she describes as 'perpetual foreigners,' and how their identity work constructs meaning in the face of marginalization and crime involvement. Unwanted illuminates unique features of the German context, while offering larger lessons for scholars who seek to better understand social exclusion and its impacts. It is an important and timely contribution. * Jody Miller, Professor of Criminal Justice, Rutgers University *Table of ContentsChapter 1: Introduction ; Chapter 2: "I Am a Bockenheimer": Social Exclusion and Local Identification ; Chapter 3: "As Long as You Don't Get Carried Away": On Choosing Lifestyle and Gaining Respect ; Chapter 4: "I'm Not a Dirty Crack Dealer": Purity and Impurity in the Drug Market ; Chapter 5: Muslim Virgin Wanted: In Search of Reasons to Quite Dealing ; Chapter 6: Where to Go from Here? ; Appendix: "Somehow you're a friend even though you're a woman" Some Thoughts on Negotiating Access and Trust ; References

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Book SynopsisDrawing on two years of ethnographic field research among the Navajos, this book explores a controversial Native American ritual and healthcare practice: ceremonial consumption of the psychedelic Peyote cactus in the context of an indigenous postcolonial healing movement called the Native American Church (NAC), which arose in the 19th century in response to the creation of the reservations system and increasing societal ills, including alcoholism. The movement is the locus of cultural conflict with a long history in North America, and stirs very strong and often opposed emotions and moral interpretations. Joseph Calabrese describes the Peyote Ceremony as it is used in family contexts and federally funded clinical programs for Native American patients. He uses an interdisciplinary methodology that he calls clinical ethnography: an approach to research that involves clinically informed and self-reflective immersion in local worlds of suffering, healing, and normality. Calabrese combined Trade ReviewA welcome addition to the literature ... Recommended. * G.R. Campbell, CHOICE *This book is an exceptional shift from earlier works. Calabrese's careful analysis of Navajo Native American Church Peyotists and his acquired respect for their ritual experiences is manifested when he explains in detail how he combines experiential with interpretive learning Calabrese makes a strong argument about the difference between contemporary drug use and the ritual use of peyote in the Native American Church. He investigates and argues with systematic rigor from his extensive clinical experience for the goal of accurately providing new interpretations that are informed by the collective and the personal, drawing attention to the various forms of suffering and healing during both colonial and postcolonial times Calabrese is concerned with how this collision of cultures and peoples came to assume its present form and writes eloquently about how different cultures orient themselves to their land. * Dr. Inés Talamantez, Mescalero Apache tribe, History of Religions *This remarkable 'clinical ethnography' provides a deep, experiential account of the Native American Church, its ritual forms, integration into the multi-generational lives of families, and therapeutic value in countering 'postcolonial disorders' in a Navajo community. The book provides a searing critique of the continued criminalization of the sacramental use of peyote in NAC rituals, demonstrating how the War on Drugs recalls and perpetuates the colonial Inquisition of native peoples associated with the American Indian holocaust. * Byron J Good, Professor of Medical Anthropology, Department of Global Health and Social Medicine, Harvard Medical School, and Department of Anthropology, Harvard University *Joseph D. Calabrese's A Different Medicine: Postcolonial Healing in the Native American Church is an excellent, thought-provoking study of Navajo Native American Church (NAC) members whose ceremonial activities involve ritual peyote use... This text is highly recommended for scholars and students of Indigenous religions, religion in America, religion and healing, and ritual studies. * Nova Religio *In summary this book is an excellent addition to the existing literature on the Native American Church, especially because it tries to acknowledge and circumvent existing cultural prejudices, in order to engender an analysis rooted in mutual respect. This is not only important for the use of a powerful psychedelic substance, but also to bring to light the negative impact of colonialism and to envision a world in which the pain that is still alive among Native Americans can be healed and overcome. * Pieter Stokkink, OPEN Foundation *Table of ContentsAcknowledgments ; Preface: Hard to Swallow: The Challenge of Radical Cultural Differences ; PART 1. Anthropological and Clinical Orientations ; I Introduction: Peyote, Cultural Paradigm Clash, and the Multiplicity of the Normal ; II Expanding Our Conceptualization of the Therapeutic: Toward a Suitable Theoretical Framework for the Study of Cultural Psychiatries ; III Clinical Ethnography: Clinically-Informed Self-Reflective Immersion in Local Worlds of Suffering, Healing and Wellbeing ; PART 2. Cultural and Personal Healing in the Native American Church ; IV The Unfolding Cultural Paradigm Clash: Ritual Peyote Use and the Struggle for Postcolonial Healing in North America ; V Medicine and Spirit: The Dual Nature of Peyote ; VI The Peyote Ceremony: Psychopharmacology, Ritual Process, and Experiences of Healing ; VII Kinship, Socialization, and Ritual in Navajo Peyotist Families ; VIII Postcolonial Hybridity and Ritual Bureaucracy in New Mexico: Participant Observation in a Navajo Peyotist Healer's Clinical Program ; IX Decolonizing Our Understandings of the Normal and the Therapeutic ; References

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Book SynopsisThe Muslim Brotherhood is the oldest and most important international Islamist group. Aside from strong organizations in Egypt, Jordan, Syria—where it provides the main opposition—and its Palestinian offshoot Hamas which rules the Gaza Strip, the Brotherhood has become active in Europe and North America.Trade Review"This is a wide-ranging, pithy, and painstakingly thorough collection, at once gripping and informative. It fills a critical lacuna in Middle East Studies and in the study of Islamist groups in particular, which, although already impressive in the breadth of their literature, remain mostly on the order of hagiographies and eloquent apologetics, more often than not justifying Islamism rather than mining its history and subjecting it to the honest critic s scalpel. Barry Rubin s collection has distinguished itself from the rest quite brilliantly here, supplementing the field with a refreshing dispassionate treatment of the Brotherhoods, and providing specialists, students and the general public with an alternative reading to common platitudes currently dominating the field. What s more, Rubin and the other contributors to this volume did that with alacrity, penetrating attention to detail, scrupulous plumbing of sources, and a pellucid jargon-free style making this collection at once instructive and strikingly accessible." - Franck Salameh, Boston CollegeTable of ContentsComparing Muslim Brotherhoods; B.Rubin The Middle East Yusuf al-Qaradawi: Portrait of the Muslim Brotherhood's Ideological Guide; A.Belén Soage The Muslim Brothers in Egypt; A.Belén Soage & J.Fuentelsaz Franganillo The Muslim Brotherhood in Jordan; H.Escobar The Syrian Muslim Brotherhood; R.Rabil Hamas: The Palestinian Muslim Brotherhood; H.Frisch Europe and the West The Muslim Brotherhood in Europe; L.Vidino The Very Model of a British Muslim Brotherhood; D.Rich The Muslim Brotherhood in France; F.Khosrokhavar The Muslim Brotherhood in Germany; G.Steinberg The Muslim Brotherhood in North America; A.Lapin

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Book SynopsisMICHAEL HVIID JACOBSEN is Associate Professor of Sociology and Director of Studies in the Department of Sociology, Social Work and Organization, Aalborg University, Denmark. He has published widely in the field of everyday life and sociology.

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Book SynopsisLEE BARRON is a Senior Lecturer in Media at Northumbria University. His main research interests are cultural theory, media and popular culture, and he has written extensively on issues of popular culture.Table of ContentsIntroduction Marx and Music Weber and Film Durkheim and Celebrity Simmel and Pop Fashion Adorno and Reality Television Feminism and Sport Semiotics and Tattooing Neoliberalism and Literature Conclusion: Thinking, Watching, Listening and Reading Sociologically.

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Book SynopsisPAUL BOWMAN is Senior Lecturer in Cultural Studies at Cardiff University. His previous books include Interrogating Cultural Studies, Post-Marxism versus Cultural Studies and The Truth of Žižek.

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Book SynopsisIraq's Last Jews is a collection of first-person accounts by Jews about their lives in Iraq's once-vibrant, 2500 year-old Jewish community and about the disappearance of that community in the middle of the 20th century.Trade Review'These stories provide more than just the details of Iraq's former Jewish community; we learn so much about that country's larger history and culture Iraq's Last Jews is without a doubt the most surprising and informative book about that country's culture and history to date.' - The New York Post 'Editors Tamar Morad, Dennis Shasha and Robert Shasha have trimmed the narratives skillfully to present a composite picture of a once-thriving community...The small but significant acts of kindness and heroism that punctuate this tragic tale lend it an air of humanity and hope, as well as the fact that by its mere existence, there is the opportunity to learn from the mistakes of the past and forge a brighter future.' - The Jewish Journal, Boston North 'The moving experiences, insights, and the story of how the Israelis spirited masses out of the country make this a very special volume that needed to be written.' - Jewish Voice and Opinion 'In this fascinating book, the last generation of Iraqi Jews tells their story in their own words. It's a tragic and profoundly moving account. This volume is a must-read for understanding one of the most important and overlooked aspects of the Middle East - the fate of Jews in Arab countries.' David A. Harris, Executive Director, American Jewish Committee 'Iraq's Last Jews is a thoroughly researched, riveting account of the last generation of Iraqi Jews. The editors have identified some of the most remarkable stories about this community, and in doing so have brought to light the rich, sometimes sad, always interesting history of the oldest Jewish diaspora in the world. This book will be of great value to all who care about the history of the Middle East, Iraq in the twentieth century, and the saga of the last Jews of Arab lands.' - David Landau, former editor-in-chief, Ha'aretz 'This important book opens a window onto the fate of the Jewish community of Iraq, which for many years had been obscured by attempts to hide the brutal policies practiced by state governments against the Jews. It is possible now to get a real picture of the suffering of the Babylonian Jewish community as expressed in these authentic testimonies. The appearance of this book in English is a great service to Western readers.' - Nissim Kazzaz, Ben Gurion University, member of the Academic Committee of the Babylonian Jewry Heritage Center, Or-Yehuda and the Association of Jewish Academics from Iraq in Israel '...the volume begins to fulfill its aims for uncovering less-known history, and it elicits some important questions for readers and for publishers.' - Oral History ReviewTable of ContentsIraq, Our Country' An Audacious Plan 'Our Country No More' 'On the Outside'

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Book SynopsisProbes the parameters of Jewish integration in the half century between the founding of the German Empire in 1871 and the early Weimar Republic. This book revises the chronology of anti-Semitism in Germany, showing that Jews only began to experience exclusion from Breslau's social world during World War I.Trade ReviewA pathbreaking book in German-Jewish history. - David Sorkin, author of The Transformation of German Jewry, 1780-1840 ""This sophisticated and original work traces new paths through German-Jewish and general German history in the imperial period. May anglophone historians follow van Rahden's lead."" - William W. Hagen, Social History

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Book SynopsisWinner of the 1992 National Jewish Book Award, this provides insights into Freud's feelings toward his own Judaism. Yerushalmi analyzes Freud's intentions in writing "Moses and Monotheism", presenting the work as Freud's psychoanalytic history of the Jews, Jewdaism and the Jewish psyche.

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Book SynopsisCan a single organization be committed to political activism and charitable good works while simultaneously dispatching suicide bombers to attack civilian targets? This book provides a documented assessment of Hamas, showing the alarming extent to which the group's political and social welfare leaders support terrorism.Trade Review“Levitt provides a thoroughly documented exposure of the organization’s dark side.”—Isabel Kershner, Washington Post“Levitt offers the fullest picture that can be drawn from available sources. His tone is rigorously analytical and nondramatic.”—David Pryce-Jones, Wall Street Journal“[Levitt] draws on intelligence reports and his own experience in the West Bank, naming names and providing figures, to judge that Hamas is less a charitable organisation and more a threat to world peace.”—Times (UK)“Compelling. . . . Levitt’s book is a solid guide to a despicable terrorist organization that is both influential and lethally effective.”—Ari Melber, New York Post“Copiously documented and detailed.”—Caroline Glick, Jerusalem Post“Levitt’s timely and thoroughly researched new book, Hamas . . . goes well beyond [the] tantalizing headlines. It is an important book that will serve the useful function of destroying any illusions readers may have about Hamas.”—Patrick Grady, Toronto Globe and Mail“Levitt has provided a major service. A debate over how to undermine a terrorist organization cannot even begin if one buys into the idea of separate social and political wings. Hamas definitively dispels this myth. More important still, Levitt has shown us that the general idea of such a construct did not originate with Hamas itself. Rather, it was inherited from the group’s predecessor and inspiration: the Muslim Brotherhood. Only by seeing precisely how the Muslim Brotherhood and its more radical offshoots prey upon Western democracies through their mastery of the art of rhetoric and propaganda can we begin to truly understand them—and to confront them. Levitt’s work brings us a bit closer to that goal.”—Glen Feder, Journal of International Security Affairs“Levitt builds a convincing case to demonstrate that while the notion that radical Islamist groups have distinct violent and non-violent wings may be convenient for terrorists and their supporters, it does not hold up to close scrutiny. . . . A solid account of Hamas by one of the world’s most respected experts.”—Stewart Bell, Books in Canada“By coincidence, just as the Anti-Cair and Harris lawsuits were being shut down, Yale University Press released the most detailed study of the Hamas terror group ever offered to readers without a security clearance. The book is Hamas: Politics, Charity, and Terrorism in the Service of Jihad; the author is Matthew Levitt, the chief intelligence officer of the U.S. Department of the Treasury, and one of the world’s leading experts on Hamas.”—David Frum, Canada National Post“The evidence presented by Levitt is well done and provides a very good insight into the foundation and support system of many like organisations. This should be read by scholar and military member alike for a deeper understanding of what and who motivates and supports organisations that condone terror.”—Major Mark Davey, Australian Defence Force Journal“As we search for a new way to understand the Middle East, it is imperative that both Israel and the rest of the world see Hamas for what it really is. For this, Levitt’s book is a superb place to start. . . . As a clarion call for a re-evaluation of our perception of and policy toward Hamas, there is no better book than Hamas, and for that, we should be grateful.”—Yechiel M. Leiter, Azure“This is very much the prosecution case against Hamas . . . and there are rich pickings for prosecution counsel. . . . An indictment of the sinister and alarming aspects of the Hamas agenda. . . . Useful background material for policy-makers and analysts seeking to predict future developments in a highly volatile situation.”—Deaglan de Breadun, Irish TimesA 2007 Top Seller in Politics and Law as compiled by YBP Library ServicesSelected as a 2007 AAUP University Press Book for Public and Secondary School Libraries“Matthew Levitt is undoubtedly one of the world’s foremost experts on Hamas and an outstanding commentator on terrorism in general. I read everything he writes, and I have a very high regard for his work.”—Daniel Benjamin, former member of President Clinton’s National Security Council“In a compelling and authoritative manner, Matthew Levitt masterfully demonstrates that the charitable and social components of Hamas cannot be separated from its true terrorist nature.”—Dennis M. Lormel, former chief, Terrorist Financing Operations Section at the Federal Bureau of Investigation“Far and away the best thing on this subject I’ve ever seen; well-written, careful, professional, fascinating.”—R. James Woolsey, former director of Central Intelligence“After painstaking research, Matthew Levitt, a pre-eminent specialist on Middle Eastern terrorism, dissects Hamas’ international support network. Hamas is a remarkable investigation that must be read both by the specialist and by the public.”—Rohan Gunaratna, author of Inside Al Qaeda: Global Network of Terror

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Book SynopsisExplores the role that Zionism played in the political thought of Winston Churchill. This title traces the development of Churchill's positions toward Zionism from the period leading up to the First World War through his final years as prime minister in the 1950s.Trade Review"'Makovsky's book demonstrates that Churchill's Zionism did not emerge fully formed but developed gradually, shaped by his other concerns and always ruled by his pragmatism... For an honest, but not hostile, explanation of Churchill's stance toward the Jewish world that also sheds much light on his outlook and his conduct as a politician, Michael Makovsky's account can hardly be bettered.' Literary Review 'A solidly constructed book... We are introduced, carefully and respectfully, to a corner of Churchill's mind and political behaviour that undoubtedly deserves exploration.' David Vital, Times Literary Supplement"

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Book SynopsisExplains why Jews did or did not convert to Protestantism. This book humanizes various stories, sets them in the context of Berlin's evolving society, and connects them to the broad sweep of European history.Trade Review"The social and cultural history of Jews in 20th-century Germany is currently one of the hottest areas of academic inquiry and Deborah Hertz is one of its stars. This is confirmed by the lively clarity of her account of conversion and assimiliation in Berlin, How Jews Became Germans."—The Jewish Chronicle * The Jewish Chronicle *"In this very readable book, Hertz continues her probing into Jewish-Christian relationships, particularly in the 18th and early 19th centuries. She describes how Jews at that time might have converted to Christianity for reasons of romance or career, and she tracks the many fascinating twists and turns to this story. For example, Lutheran pietists trained some of their members in Yiddish and rabbinic traditions in order to disrupt synagogue services and engage rabbis in debates for the purpose of Christianizing their congregations. Jews who did convert-famously, siblings Felix and Fanny Mendelssohn-were looked upon unfavorably by their fellow Jews and were never truly accepted in Christian circles either. Berlin is the focal point for this narrative, and Hertz's sketching of this grimy, backward city in the aforementioned centuries is not pleasant. Although the account winds down in the 1830s, 20th-century happenings—namely, the Holocaust—undergird much of the book. . . . Highly recommended for all libraries."—Library Journal * Library Journal *"There is no book more exciting to read than one by an author who believes he or she was born to write it. In such books every line becomes a paragraph, every paragraph a chapter, and the book itself a never-ending story. Deborah Hertz's How Jews Became Germans is such a book. . . . Her deep and sympathetic scrutiny of this unique emotional and controversial transition in the lives of her subjects illumines the human realities in new and moving ways."—Steven Ozment, The Weekly Standard * The Weekly Standard *"An intriguing book. . . . Hertz's book deserves highest praise for its ability to weave individuals' painful personal decisions into the broader fabric of the history of Berlin, the German states, and Central Europe. Because of this approach, this book will interest scholars not only in Jewish studies but also in other fields, including German and Central European history. . . . Hertz has produced a valuable examination of Berlin's vibrant Jewish life and presents readers with another contribution to the ongoing debate about the complicated issues of Jewish conversion and assimilation. Certainly, this study will continue to attract scholarly attention for many years to come."—Barry Jackisch, H-Net Reviews -- Barry Jackisch * H-Net Reviews *"Recommended."—Choice * Choice *"[This] is a major book and will be required reading for anyone interested in the history of German Jewry, for intellectual historians, and for historians of religion in modern Germany. Compellingly written, it is also a pleasure to read and should be as accessible to the lay reader as it is essential to the professional historian. Masterfully, Hertz manages to move with ease between the numerous individual life stories she reconstructs and broader trends in Prussian political, cultural, and religious life in the period under study. The result is a subtle, dynamic study that is truly without peer in the field of German-Jewish Studies."—Jonathan Hess, H-Net Reviews -- Jonathan Hess * H-Net Reviews *"[An] accomplished and memorable study."--Samuel Moyn, Journal of Central European History -- Samuel Moyn * Journal of Central European History *“Deborah Hertz offers an impressive description of the cultural atmosphere and intellectual exchange of converted Jews in Berlin in the Biedermeier age.”—Ulrich Wyrwa, German History -- Ulrich Wyrwa * German History *

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Book SynopsisAn examination of Lenin's genealogical and political connections to East European Jews. It reveals the broad cultural meanings of indisputable evidence that Lenin's maternal grandfather was a Jew. It also examines why and how Lenin's Jewish relatives converted to Christianity, and explains how Lenin's vision of Russian Marxism shaped his identity.Trade Review“[Petrovsky-Shtern is] keenly aware of the way that, in today's Russia, Jews continue to be blamed… he tries to set the record straight by proving that, in the key case of Lenin, there was nothing Jewish about the man.”--Ruth Wisse, JewishIdeasDaily.com -- Ruth Wisse * JewishIdeasDaily.com *“This slim volume is fascinating, as the author skillfully reveals the archival evidence about Lenin’s family origins and describes the fate of the evidence and those who had the temerity to try to reveal it against the wishes of the Soviet leadership, from Stalin to Gorbachev.”—Jewish Book World * Jewish Book World *“Concise and to the point, this book is for anyone interested in Lenin, the formative years of the Soviet Union, and the impact anti-Semitism had, and continues to have, on Russian history.”—Joseph Segre, The Canadian Jewish News -- Joseph Segre * The Canadian Jewish News *“. . . . excellent book, which is written with great wit and energy and is a simply a pleasure to read.”—Michael C. Hickey, H-Judaic, H-Net Reviews -- Michael C. Hickey * H-Judaic, H-Net Reviews *". . . this fascinating interpretive story of the formation, transformation, and independent life of the phantom of a Jewish Lenin makes an important contribution in the field of Russian, Soviet, and post-Soviet studies."—Dina Zisserman-Brodsky, The Russian Review -- Dina Zisserman-Brodsky * The Russian Review *"This slim volume, which can be read in one sitting, debunks the myths and should be the last word on the subject."—Eugene M. Avrutin, Slavic Review -- Eugene M. Avrutin * Slavic Review *

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Book SynopsisProvides a look at historic Persian literature and the topic of love, which is at the heart of Islamic spiritual thought. This title contains extensive Arabic and Persian material, from the Qur'an up through the twelfth century, and draws on more than a thousand pages of new translations.Trade Review“Chittick is arguably the best scholar and translator of Classical Islamic Mysticism (Sufism) the Western World has ever produced. His books are sheer gold. But this latest work is a masterwork studded with unique spiritual gems on love.”—H.R.H. Prince Ghazi bin Muhammad, author of Love in the Holy Qur’an -- H.R.H. Prince Ghazi bin Muhammad“This masterpiece is the finest scholarly study of love in Islam ever produced. Chittick’s brilliant theo-philosophical analysis encompasses all the great Islamic thinkers and offers an urgent message not just for historians of religion, but for all Muslims and for those of every faith tradition.”—Stephen G. Post, Stony Brook University -- Stephen G. Post“Rendering a vast Arabic and Persian repertoire into lucid English allows William Chittick to display how central love is in the Islamic tradition. Persian masters Maybudi and Sam’ânî open worlds of poetic theological reflection, detailing the origin of love, a life of love, and the goal of love.”—David Burrell, University of Notre Dame -- David Burrell“A profound addition to our understanding of Sufism. It will be yet another long-standing contribution in the magnificent career of William Chittick, and another confirmation of his status as one of the very leading scholars of Sufism today.”—Omid Safi, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill -- Omid Safi“The classic Sufi poets of divine and human love—Rumi, Hafez, Attar and others—are by now familiar figures. William Chittick’s book beautifully introduces the earlier Persian (and Arabic) prose writers on love who provide the background for that love-poetry, and whose “theology of love” shaped the popular understanding of Islam through the centuries.”—James W. Morris, Boston College -- James W. MorrisSelected as a Choice Outstanding Academic Title for 2013 in the Religion Category. -- Outstanding Academic Title * Choice *

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Book SynopsisNo image of pre revolutionary Russian Jewish life is more iconic than the fiddler on the roof. At a time of both rising anti-Semitism and burgeoning Jewish nationalism, how and why did Russian music become the gateway to Jewish modernity in music? This book offers a fresh perspective on the emergence of Russian Jewish culture and identity.Trade Review“With this solid, savvy, and satisfying book, Loeffler advances Jewish studies, music history, and Russian studies by shedding new light on the stage of a twentieth-century social and musical drama.”—Mark Slobin, author of Fiddler on the Move: Exploring the Klezmer World -- Mark Slobin“The Jews’ remarkable place in the modern history of music – classical, popular and folk – is well known, but rarely subjected to serious analysis. Loeffler’s sophisticated and deeply researched book casts new light both on the Jewish contribution to music in general and to the emergence of specifically ‘Jewish music’ in the Russian Empire, home to the largest and most vital Jewish community in the world."—Ezra Mendelsohn, The Hebrew University -- Ezra Mendelsohn“James Loeffler’s new book is both fascinating and pathbreaking. This important and original contribution to scholarship must be read by students of music, Russian culture, and Jewish history.”—Leon Botstein, President of Bard College, and Music Director and Conductor of the American Symphony Orchestra and the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra -- Leon Botstein

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Book SynopsisWhat if religions are neither all true nor all nonsense? Alain de Botton’s bold and provocative book argues that we can benefit from the wisdom and power of religion—without having to believe in any of it.He suggests that rather than mocking religion, agnostics and atheists should instead steal from it—because the world’s religions are packed with good ideas on how we might live and arrange our societies. De Botton looks to religion for insights into how to build a sense of community, make relationships last, overcome feelings of envy and inadequacy, inspire travel, get more out of art, and reconnect with the natural world. For too long non-believers have faced a stark choice between swallowing lots of peculiar doctrines or doing away with a range of consoling and beautiful rituals and ideas. Religion for Atheists offers a far more interesting and truly helpful alternative.

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