A distillation of the historian’s finest writings on modern Indian historical themes. For the past forty years or more, the most influential, respected, and popular scholar of modern Indian history has been Sumit Sarkar. When his first monograph, The Swadeshi Movement in Bengal 1903–1908, appeared in 1973 it soon became obvious that the book represented a paradigm shift within its genre. As Dipesh Chakrabarty put it when the work was republished in 2010: “Very few monographs, if any, have ever rivalled the meticulous research and the thick description that characterized this book, or the lucidity of its exposition and the persuasive power of its overall argument.” Ten years later, Sarkar published Modern India 1885–1947, a textbook for advanced students and teachers. Its synthesis and critique of everything significant that had been written about the period was seen as monumental, lucid, and the fashioning of a new way of looking at colonialism and nationalism. Sarkar, however, changed the face not only of modern Indian history monographs and textbooks, he also radically altered the capacity of the historical essay. As Beethoven stretched the sonata form beyond earlier conceivable limits, Sarkar can be said to have expanded the academic essay. In his hands, the shorter form becomes in miniature both monograph and textbook. The present collection, which reproduces many of Sarkar’s finest writings, shows an intellectually scintillating, skeptical-Marxist mind at its sharpest. “ here we see Sarkar grappling with his intellectual heritage, negotiating his own location within the new Marxist nationalist history of the period. Working within its frame, he pushes at the boundaries, disturbing neat classificatory schemes, resisting false historical comparisons, problematizing categories, and questioning linear narratives. The desire to explore contrary experiences and contradictory pictures is part of his process of questioning.” — Neeladri Bhattacharya

For more than 30 years, Lifetime has aired a broad range of programming, including original movies, sitcoms, dramas and reality shows. As other networks dedicated to women have come and gone, Lifetime continues to thrive in an ever-expanding cable marketplace, exploring such sensitive topics as race, commercialism, eating disorders, rape and domestic violence. This collection of new essays is the first to focus on Lifetime and the programs that helped define the network's brand that appeals to both viewers and advertisers. Series like Project Runway, Girlfriend Intervention and Army Wives are explored in depth. The contributors discuss the network's large opus of original films, as well at its online presence.

Essays on Politics and Society brings together the most significant writings on the topic by the acclaimed Victorian historian, social critic, and essayist Thomas Carlyle. This volume includes some of his most well-known and influential pieces, such as "Characteristics" and "Chartism." In keeping with the Norman and Charlotte Strouse Edition of the Writings of Thomas Carlyle, these essays are accompanied by a thorough historical introduction to the material, extensive notes providing historical and cultural context while expanding on references and allusions, and a textual apparatus that carefully details and explains the editorial decisions made in reconciling the editions of each essay.

‘One of the greatest writers of our time.’ Toni Morrison ‘You Don’t Know Us Negroes adds immeasurably to our understanding of Hurston ... her words make it impossible for readers to consider her anything but one of the intellectual giants of the 20th century.’ The New York Times Book Review

"These recollections of a life-time in the Church and in different universities give rise to a diverse series of anecdotes, which provide, first, some entertaining humor, second, a glimpse into both academic and church life, and third my attempted contributions to Christian theology. Teaching in five British universities, belonging to such church national bodies as fifteen years on the Church of England General Synod, twenty-eight years serving on the Doctrine Commission, and many years on other Church committees, as well as secular national bodies . . . has left a reservoir of diverse memories that some have thought worth sharing. At the beginning there is more about the providence of God and my own mistakes than anything else. These chapters begin with a relatively high ratio of entertainment, but become increasingly theological in the later chapters. Towards the end, my story concerns teaching in America, Korea, and elsewhere. Although the Church of England and British universities often provide a focus, my overseas doctoral graduates assure me that the story would be of international interest. Those who have read one of my twenty books (and three more to come) may also have a special interest in it." From the Preface

Scholarly correspondence can be as insightful as scholarly work itself, as it often documents the motivating forces of its writers’ intellectual ideas while illuminating their lives more clearly. The more complex the authors’ scholarly works and the more troubled the eras in which they lived, the more substantial, and potentially fascinating, their correspondence. This is especially true of the letters between Alfred Schutz (1899–1959) and Eric Voegelin (1901–1985). The scholars lived in incredibly dramatic times and produced profound, complex works that continue to confound academics. The communication between these two giants of the social sciences, as they sent their thoughts to one another, was crucial to the work of both men. A Friendship That Lasted a Lifetime: The Correspondence between Alfred Schutz and Eric Voegelin demonstrates that Schutz and Voegelin shared a remarkable friendship: they first met as students in Vienna in the 1920s and found themselves great partners in discussion; years later they were pushed out of Europe by Nazi pressure and went to work at separate American universities. For twenty years they wrote each other, developing their respective scientific works in that dialogue. The letters bear witness to their friendship during the years they spent in exile in the United States, and they document the men’s tentative attempts at formulating the theories of “lifeworld” and “gnosis” associated with Schutz and Voegelin today. The entire collection of 238 letters was printed in German in 2004, but this edited volume is the first to present their correspondence in English and offers a selection of the most important letters—those that contributed to the thinkers’ theoretical discussions and served as background to their most significant thoughts. Editors Gerhard Wagner and Gilbert Weiss do not analyze Schutz’s and Voegelin’s works in light of the correspondence—rather, they present the collection to create a framework for new interpretations. A Friendship That Lasted a Lifetime takes a unique look at two major social scientists. This volume is a valuable resource in the study of Voegelin’s political philosophy and Alfred Schutz’s contribution to American sociology and marks an important addition to the literature on these remarkable men. Showing how scholarly discourse and the dialogue of everyday life can shed light on one another, the book finally presents this correspondence for an American audience and is not to be missed by scholars of philosophy and sociology.

"Whether we know it or not, whether we want to be or not, we are members of one another." Since 1960, Wendell Berry (b. 1934) has produced one of the most substantial and consistently thematic bodies of work of any modern American writer. In more than fifty books in various genres-novels, short stories, poems, and essays-he has celebrated a life lived in close communion with neighbors and the earth and has addressed many of our most urgent cultural maladies. His collections of essays urge us to think and act responsibly as members of a community-both human and natural. Volumes of his poems seek to wed us to nature and realign our vision with its mysteries. His growing Port William cycle of novels offers us a fictional model for understanding, for compassion, and for living in constant regard for others. Conversations with Wendell Berry gathers for the first time interviews with the writer, ranging from 1973 to 2006, including one never before published. For readers acquainted with Berry's work, this volume offers insights available nowhere else. It reveals succinctly the main currents of his life's work. What emerges is a citizen-writer profoundly affected by cultural crises at home and in the world. Morris Allen Grubbs directs the Preparing Future Faculty Program in the graduate school at University of Kentucky, where he was a student of Berry's. He is editor of Home and Beyond: An Anthology of Kentucky Short Stories. Photograph-Wendell Berry by Pam Spaulding, courtesy CJF