Two sisters explore, in essay and fiction, the common experiences and frustrations of growing up in a small town, and the mystical worlds that provide an escape from the ordinary. Stroll through our haunted forests; learn exactly what seems so odd about a new neighbor; strive against repression and receive blessings; discover sanctuary in the most unlikely places; allow a bluesman to heal you with his music and a touch of his magical hands; find suggestions for a cure (we hope) for current societal ills. Above all, enjoy, and may every one of the "what ifs?" inspired by these pages be answered

Here is a revisitation--part tribute, part update--of Stephen Birmingham's much-loved Real Lace. James P. MacGuire, a member of one of Birmingham's Irish Families, creates his own entertaining portrait of life among the Irish Rich, further detailing and filling out this engrossing portion of America's social history. Real Lace Revisited chronicles the religious, financial and social evolution of the First Irish Families’ world, its rise, peak, decline, fall, and, in some cases, transformative rebirth. Rather than a memoir, however, the book reads as an informed historical, non-fiction account of the upper-class Irish world as it grew and changed. Real Lace Revisited is always accessible and highly readable, enlivened by MacGuire’s gift for storytelling, encyclopedic knowledge, and often humorous insight into the families concerned.

Playing and Reality Revisited is the first volume of a new IPA series dedicated to the greatest writings of psychoanalysis. More than forty years after its publication, Donald W. Winnicott's Playing and Reality is still a source of inspiration for numerous psychoanalysts. The authors have invited some of the most eminent specialists of Winnicott's thinking to write on the most significant themes that the author discovered and highlighted brillantly in his book. They show how such concepts as transitional object and phenomena, the use of an object, and mirroring, remain essential today, and explore the way in which Winnicott conceived playing, creativity, cultural experience and adolescence, demonstrating their contemporary relevance. This book is both an homage to Winnicott and a fascinating extension of his work.

In this new entry in Twayne's World Authors Series, David O'Connell provides an exceptionally well written, jargon-free introduction to Mauriac, a thoroughly updated rendition of Maxwell Smith's well received Francois Mauriac (1970). Drawing on a trove of primary source material that has become available in the interim, O'Connell focuses on the people and events influencing Mauriac's personal life and how these were manifested in his writings. Organizing his material partly chronologically and partly by genre, O'Connell surveys the writer's major accomplishments and occasional failings; he sheds much needed light on such developments as the spiritual crisis Mauriac underwent in 1927-30 and the writer's shift from supporter of right-wing causes to leading spokesman for the Resistance during World War II. Observing that Mauriac's "influence at home and abroad was enormous during his lifetime" and that "since his death, no 'Catholic writer' of comparable stature has emerged to replace him", O'Connell underscores Mauriac's enduring place in world literature. Readers seeking a first-rate guide to this cardinal writer need look no further than Francois Mauriac Revisited.

This book investigates the impact of the dissolution of the monasteries on women religious and examines their survival in the following decades, showing how, despite the state's official proscription of vocation living, religious vocation options for women continued in less formal ways. McShane explores the experiences of Irish women who travelled to the Continent in pursuit of formal religious vocational formation, covering both those accommodated in English and European continental convents' and those in the Irish convents established in Spanish Flanders and the Iberian Peninsula. Further, this book discusses the revival of religious establishments for women in Ireland from 1629 and outlines the links between these new convents and the Irish foundations abroad. Overall, this study provides a rich picture of Irish women religious during a period of unprecedented change and upheaval.

This volume presents recent archaeological and ethnohistorical research on the encampments, trails, and support structures of the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. These sites illuminate the daily lives of soldiers, officers, and camp followers away from the more well-known military campaigns and battles. The research featured here includes previously unpublished findings from the winter encampments at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, as well as work from sites in Redding, Connecticut, and Morristown, New Jersey. Topics range from excavations of a special dining cabin constructed for General George Washington to ballistic analysis of a target range established by General von Steuben. Contributors use experimental archaeology to learn how soldiers constructed their log hut quarters, and they reconstruct Rochambeau’s marching route through Connecticut on his way to help Washington defeat the British at Yorktown. They also describe the underrecognized roles of African descendants, Native peoples, and women who lived and worked at the camps. Showing how archaeology can contribute insights into the American Revolution beyond what historical records convey, this volume calls for protection of and further research into non-conflict sites that were crucial to this formative struggle in the history of the United States. Contributors: Cosimo Sgarlata | Joseph Balicki | Joseph R. Blondino | Douglas Campana | Wade P. Catts | Daniel Cruson | Mathew Grubel | Mary Harper | Diane Hassan | David G. Orr | Julia Steele | Laurie Weinstein

Both Dylan and Cohen have been a presence on the music and poetry landscape spanning six decades. This book begins with a discussion of their contemporary importance, and how they have sustained their enduring appeal as performers and recording artists. The authors argue that both Dylan and Cohen shared early aspirations that mirrored the Beat Generation. They sought to achieve the fame of Dylan Thomas, who proved a bohemian poet could thrive outside the academy, and to live his life of unconditional social irresponsibility. While Dylan's and Cohen's fame fluctuated over the decades, it was sustained by self-consciously adopted personas used to distance themselves from their public selves. This separation of self requires an exploration of the artists' relation to religion as an avenue to find and preserve inner identity. The relationship between their lyrics and poetry is explored in the context of Federico García Lorca's concept of the poetry of inspiration and the emotional depths of 'duende.' Such ideas draw upon the dislocation of the mind and the liberation of the senses that so struck Dylan and Cohen when they first read the poetry and letters of Arthur Rimbaud and Lorca. The authors show that performance and the poetry are integral, and the 'duende,' or passion, of the delivery, is inseparable from the lyric or poetry, and common to Dylan, Cohen and the Beat Generation.