For Beginners

As the most famous “conductor” on the Underground Railroad, escaped slave, Harriet Tubman, earned the nickname “Moses of her People” for leading scores of men, women and children from bondage to freedom in the North. During the Civil War, she worked as a nurse for wounded soldiers, a caretaker of refugee slaves and a spy and scout for Union forces. Late in life she was active in the fight for wome

The works of James Joyce are part of the literary canon worldwide - and the need to have his works broken out into palatable pieces, even for the most avid of fans, is known the world over as well. In JOYCE FOR BEGINNERS, W. Terrence Gordon does just that. With the assistance of Lynsey Hutchinson's humorous illustrations throughout, Gordon successfully captures bits and pieces of Joyce's works and

Originally published by Writers and Readers in 1998 and republished in 2008 by Hampton Roads, this is an iconoclastic, illustrated romp through the life of the Buddha - both a credible exploration of his life and teachings and an entertaining introduction to the philosophy of Buddhism. Many Westerners know about the meditation practices of Buddhism, but few understand the Buddha's philosophical te

The Danish philosopher Soren Kierkegaard was one of the most original thinkers of the 19th Century – and one of the most enigmatic men who ever walked the Earth.Philosophically, Kierkegaard was the “bridge” that led from Hegel to Existentialism.Kierkegaard abhorred Hegel's abstract, Know-it-all idealism that tried to capture reality in a few words. Kierkegaard's attack on social and religious comp

Astronomy for Beginners is a friendly and accessible guide to our universe, our galaxy, our solar system and the planet we call home. Each year as Earth cruises through space a number of amazing and remarkable events occur. For example, like clockwork, we´ll run head-on into asteroid and cometary debris that spreads shooting stars across our skies. On occasion we´ll get to watch the di

Deconstruction is so labyrinthine (and rumored to be fatal) that it's become the monster that murdered philosophy. When Jacques Derrida, the father of deconstruction, uses buzz-words such as “phallogocentrism” and “transcendental signified,” humanities students and aspiring philosophers may get weak in the knees.Following up on the success of DERRIDA FOR BEGINNERS, Jim  Powell's DERRIDA FOR BEGINN

Despite the reshifting of values that has affected every aspect of life in the 21st century, William Shakespeare still stands as the greatest writer the English language has ever produced. Even so, many people have never read him. If you have never read “the Bard”–or if you’ve tried and given up in frustration–you need Shakespeare For Beginners. Author Brandon Toropov opens with

Jacques Lacan is probably the most influential psychoanalyst since Freud (of the roughly 20,000 psychoanalysts in the world, about half are 'Lacanians') yet most people know nothing about him. The 10,000 analysts who use Lacan's ideas work mostly in France, Spain, Italy, and South America. To the rest of the world, including England and America, Lacan is a genius-in-waiting, due to be 'discovered'

“If you would not be forgotten,as soon as you're dead and rotten,either write things worth reading,or do things worth the writing.”– Benjamin Franklin, 1706-1790 Benjamin Franklin would seem to be the teller – and quite arguably the protagonist – of the Great American Success Story. As America's prototypical polymath, he excelled – and even defined – a number of professions including printer, writ

Women's History For Beginners offers a lively, revealing, and provocative overview of this important (and controversial) academic field. Who are the great women of history, and why don't we know more about them? You don't need to be a scholar to notice that men's history dominates everything we learn in school; yet a quick tour of the past reveals dynamic female role models at every turn. This

Jane Austen's novels are classics.  They have never been out of print, and have continuously been turned into countless movies and TV series, yet her works still remain largely misunderstood.  On their surface, Austen's novels all involve characters from provincial communities in rural England, far removed geographically and thematically from greater social movements, war, industry, colonization,

In a combination of witty text and illustrations U.S. CONSTITUTION FOR BEGINNERS take a tongue-in-cheek look at America's most critical legal document. Author and lawyer Steve Bachmann has written a text that touches on the document's history beginning with the Magna Carta. He then traces the events that precipitated its writing, the personalities and motives of the people who create it, and its u

DANTE FOR BEGINNERS takes the reader on a trip starting in hell and ending in heaven. The reader gets a quick introduction to Dante and his times. Next, the reader meets a sweet lass named Beatrice and samples a bit of his other literary offerings, such as the great feast, the Convivio. But then it's on to the big one, the Commedia, and a canto by canto description of the entire work. Characters,

We should not need to prove our experiences, defend our realities, or negotiate basic human rights. But we do. What does sexual orientation mean if the very categories of gender are in question? How do we measure equality when our society's definitions of "male" and "female" leave out much of the population? There is no consensus on what a "real" man or woman is, where one's sex begins and ends,

Marshall McLuhan was one of the most brilliant and original thinkers of the 20th century. He was so far ahead of his time that he predicted the future and offered a critique of human behavior in a media saturated world that is perhaps more valuable in today's Internet age than it was in his own time.McLuhan pioneered the study of Media, unified Art and Science, and warned us about the perils of a

Carl Gustav Jung merged Eastern mysticism with Western psychology, brought scientific respectability to religion, laid the foundation for 'the New Age,' and is second only to Freud in influence and importance in the world of psychoanalysis. Many consider him a genius, but many others disagree.Scholar and clinical psychologist Jon Platania, PhD, presents Jung as a somewhat opportunistic and dissoci

Do you appreciate your forty-hour, five-day workweek? Appreciate having a safe working environment? Unions made this all possible in one way or another. Unions bring value to all sectors of a society. As the champion of people power versus corporate power, unions help to spread the benefits of production throughout a society. Regardless of the state of the economy, there is the timeless struggle o

THE HISTORY OF OPERA FOR BEGINNERS is an illuminating book that starts with the radical assumption that opera is simply music, rather than the highbrow, inaccessible art form that many assume it to be. Not fluent in German or Italian? No worries—author Ron David explains the differences between Italian and German Opera and why you don't have to study a new language to enjoy it.THE HISTORY OF OPERA

Paul Robeson, despite being one of the greatest Renaissance figures in American history, still remains in relative anonymity. An exceptional scholar, lawyer, athlete, stage and screen actor, linguist, singer, and civil rights and political activist, he performed brilliantly in every professional enterprise he undertook. Few humans have achieved his levels of excellence in one field, much less seve

Would there be a Western civilization without the Greek myths?  Would we be able to define our civilization and ourselves without some reference to the grand, violent, and venal doings of those denizens of Mount Olympus? GREEK MYTHOLOGY FOR BEGINNERS presents the pantheon – that immortal collection of rogues and heroes, misfits and tyrants - and the stories about these deities and their dealings w