Language and Litterature

Available for the first time in English, an intimate look into the private lives and spiritual experiences of 30 nuns and laywomen practicing under pioneering female Zen master Sozen Nagasawa Roshi in World War II-era Japan. Born in 1888, Sozen Nagasawa Roshi was a pioneer of women´s monastic Zen practice in Japan. With a profound wish to become a nun from a young age, she persevered through the

“Ann Druyan has unearthed a treasure. It is a treasure of reason, compassion, and scientific awe. It should be the next book you read.” —Sam Harris, author of The End of Faith “A stunningly valuable legacy left to all of us by a great human being. I miss him so.”  —Kurt Vonnegut Carl Sagan's prophetic vision of the tragic resurgence of fundamentalism and the hope-

Named a Best Book of the Year by The Washington Post and NPR “We come to see in FDR the magisterial, central figure in the greatest and richest political tapestry of our nation´s entire history” —Nigel Hamilton, Boston Globe “Meticulously researched and authoritative” —Douglas Brinkley, The Washington Post “A workmanlike addition to the literature on Roosevelt.”&

Candid, shocking, and unforgettable, Broken is a haunting and clear-eyed tale that offers hope for all those wrestling with addiction Unlike some popular memoirs that have fictionalized and romanticized the degradations of drug addiction, Broken is a true-life tale of recovery that stuns and inspires with virtually every page. The eldest son of journalist Bill Moyers, William Cope Moyers relates

Drawn from the work of StoryCorps, the largest and most ambitious oral history project in American history, this tapestry--as heard on NPR--shares hard-won wisdom and boundless humanity ("Seattle Post-Intelligencer").

In the early 1950s, Kerouac became fascinated with Buddhism, an interest that would have an impact on his ideas of spirituality. As a compendium of the teachings of the Buddha, "Wake Up" is a profound meditation on the nature of life, desire, and suffering.

The author of the acclaimed bestseller "Second Nature" turns his sharp insight to the craft of building, as he recounts the process of designing and constructing a small one-room structure on his rural Connecticut property.

The New York Times bestselling memoir of pilgrimage and self-discovery by Sue Monk Kidd, the author of The Secret Life of Bees and The Book of Longings, and her daughter, Ann Kidd Taylor Sue Monk Kidd has touched the hearts of millions of readers with her beloved novels and acclaimed nonfiction. Now, in this wise and engrossing dual memoir, she and her daughter, Ann, chr

With eye-opening statistics, original data, and vivid portraits of people who live alone, renowned sociologist Eric Klinenberg upends conventional wisdom to deliver the definitive take on how the rise of going solo is transforming the American experience. Klinenberg shows that most single dwellers—whether in their twenties or eighties—are deeply engaged in social and civic life. There

From beloved Zen teacher Norman Fischer, a collection of essays spanning a life of inquiry into Zen practice, relationship, social engagement, and spiritual creativity. "Looking backwards at a life lived, walking forward into more life to live built on all that, trying not to be too much influenced by what's already been said and done, not to be held to a point of view or an identity previously

The Heroine´s Journey describes contemporary woman´s search for wholeness in a society where she has been defined according to masculine values. Drawing on cultural myths and fairy tales, ancient symbols and goddesses, and the dreams of contemporary women, Murdock illustrates the need for—and the reality of—feminine values in Western culture. This special anniversary edition, with a ne

Gesar of Ling is well known in Tibetan history, literature, and folklore. But, for Buddhist practitioners, he is an enlightened tantric protector and deity—an emanation of Padmasambhava. Engaging in Gesar practice is meant to generate positive circumstances and increase one´s experiences and realization in Buddhist practice. Gesar of Ling is widely known as the hero of Tibet´s national oral

There are many forms of liberation—some that exist at the mercy of circumstance and others that can never be taken away. In this stirring and timely collection of stories, essays, poems, and letters, Jarvis Jay Masters explores the meaning of true freedom on his road to inner peace through Buddhist practice. He reveals his life as a young African American man surrounded by violence, his enta

This sweeping collection of new translations paints a brilliant picture of the development of Ch´an (Zen) Buddhism, China´s most radical philosophical and meditative tradition. In this landmark anthology of some two dozen translations, celebrated translator David Hinton shows how Ch'an (Japanese: Zen)—too long considered a perplexing school of Chinese Buddhism—was in truth a Buddhist-

Considered a "Christian Socrates" by one critic and a "hieroglyph stylist" by another, Cyprian Norwid was more unanimously recognized, however, as one of the most vital figures in Polish letters whose verse is as idiosyncratic as it is profound. Traveling against the currents of the philosophy of his day, Norwid was a historicist with deep insight into the codes and ripples in the society around h

Winner of the 2012 National Translation Award “What Sinan [Antoon] has done with In the Presence of Absence is a kind of miraculous work of dedication and love. Reading this volume is sheer enjoyment and sublimity.” —Saadi Yousef “There are two maps of Palestine that politicians will never manage to forfeit: the one kept in the memories of Palestinian refugees, and tha