Translators bear a heavy responsibility. When Jerome translated the Greek logos into the Latin verbum in the Vulgate Bible, he set Western theology and philosophy on an errant path for well over a millennium. But we should not be too harsh on old Jerome; even the brilliant Erasmus flailed in the face of the polysemic Greek word when he attempted a L…
Ever since Fidel Castro assumed power in Cuba in 1959, Americans have obsessed about the nation ninety miles south of the Florida Keys. America's fixation on the tropical socialist republic has only grown over the years, fueled in part by successive waves of Cuban immigration and Castro's larger-than-life persona. Cubans are now a major ethnic group in Florida, and the exile community is so pow…
The Portuguese explorer Francisco Newton was one of thefirst naturalists todedicate almost one decade to the study of the outstanding diversity of the Gulf ofGuinea oceanic islands. The collections he made, in what was largely unexploredterritory for science, allowed the description of dozens of new species and began toreveal intriguing biogeographic patterns. Gazing at the species he was colle…
It is generally agreed that during the 3rd millennium BC (Chalcolithic) and the 2nd millennium BC (Bronze Age) complex transformations of the social dynamics within the diverse communities inhabiting the different regions of Europe occurred. This book intends to revisit such consensus by highlighting how researchers explain these transformations a…
When it came out in 1997, Hayao Miyazaki’s Mononokehime ( Princess Mononoke ) was a new kind of anime fi lm. It broke long- standing Japanese box offi ce records that had been set by Hollywood fi lms, and in becoming a blockbuster- sized hit Mononokehime demonstrated the commercial power of anime in Japan. 1 F u r t h e r , Mononokehime became the fi rst…
This lively and accessible book focuses on the philosophy and argument of Plato's writings, drawing the reader into Plato's way of doing philosophy and the general themes of his thinking. It discusses Plato's style of writing: his use of the dialogue form, his use of what we today call fiction, and his philosophical transformation of myths. It also looks at his discussions of love and philosoph…
The tradition of ancient philosophy is a long, rich and varied one, in which the notes of discussion and argument constantly resound. This book introduces ancient debates, engaging us with the ancient developments of their themes. Moving away from the presentation of ancient philosophy as a succession of great thinkers, the book gives readers a sense of the freshness and liveliness of ancient p…
Four minutes into Gillian Armstrong’s last major fi lm, Women He’s Undressed (2015), costume designer Orry-Kelly delivers an unin-terrupted monologue describing the early days in his friendship with Archie Leach/Cary Grant in the years when they fi rst arrived in New York City, before either became famous. Kelly delivers the monologue while seated in a red rowboat on the …
Debates about the aging process go back into ancient societies. Philosophers suchas Aristotle, Cicero, and Seneca pondered questions about the life-course and theways that human nature develops into advanced age. Age(ing) is often regardedin relation with ‘old’ age, as the stage in life that is most commonly associatedwith derogatory stereotypes of decay. Andrew W. Achenbaum explains that R…
ccording to the statistics provided by Confederation of Danish Industries, 4 bil-lion people around the globe live on less than US$ 2 per day. The low-income market constitutes the majority of the consumers in the countries from Sub-Sa-haran Africa and Asia, and covers parts of Latin America, Eastern Europe and the Caribbean region. Despite the fact that 2.86 billion or 83 % of the Asian …