Chasing the Rising Sun is the story of an American musical journey told by a prize-winning writer who traced one song in its many incarnations as it was carried across the world by some of the most famous singers of the twentieth century. Most people know the song "House of the Rising Sun" as 1960s rock by the British Invasion group the Animals, a ballad about a place in New Orleans -- a whorehouse or a prison or gambling joint that's been the ruin of many poor girls or boys. Bob Dylan did a version and Frijid Pink cut a hard-rocking rendition. But that barely scratches the surface; few songs have traveled a journey as intricate as "House of the Rising Sun." The rise of the song in this country and the launch of its world travels can be traced to Georgia Turner, a poor, sixteen-year-old daughter of a miner living in Middlesboro, Kentucky, in 1937 when the young folk-music collector Alan Lomax, on a trip collecting field recordings, captured her voice singing "The Rising Sun Blues." Lomax deposited the song in the Library of Congress and included it in the 1941 book Our Singing Country. In short order, Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, Lead Belly, and Josh White learned the song and each recorded it. From there it began to move to the planet's farthest corners. Today, hundreds of artists have recorded "House of the Rising Sun," and it can be heard in the most diverse of places -- Chinese karaoke bars, Gatorade ads, and as a ring tone on cell phones. Anthony began his search in New Orleans, where he met Eric Burdon of the Animals. He traveled to the Appalachians -- to eastern Kentucky, eastern Tennessee, and western North Carolina -- to scour the mountains for the song's beginnings. He found Homer Callahan, who learned it in the mountains during a corn shucking; he discovered connections to Clarence "Tom" Ashley, who traveled as a performer in a 1920s medicine show. He went to Daisy, Kentucky, to visit the family of the late high-lonesome singer Roscoe Holcomb, and finally back to Bourbon Street to see if there really was a House of the Rising Sun. He interviewed scores of singers who performed the song. Through his own journey he discovered how American traditions survived and prospered -- and how a piece of culture moves through the modern world, propelled by technology and globalization and recorded sound.

What does it mean to call Western society 'secular'? What is 'secularism'? And how should we understand the concept of 'secularism' in international relations, particularly the clash between radical Islam and the West? The Latin term from which the word 'secular' is derived - 'saeculum' - means 'generation' or 'age', and came to mean that which belongs to this life, to the here and now, in this world. It is widely used as a shorthand for the ideology which shapes contemporary society without reference to the divine.However, according to Graeme Smith, 'secularism' represents a great deal more. He offers a radical reappraisal of the notion of secularism and its history, beginning with the Greeks and proceeding to modernity and the contemporary period. The assumption that the West is becoming increasingly secular is often unquestioned. By contrast, Dr Smith discerns a different kind of society: one informed by a historical legacy which makes sense only when it is appreciated that it is religious. Secularism was born of Christianity. Daringly - and very originally - Smith argues that it is impossible to understand the idea of the secular without appreciating that, at root, it is Christian. "A Short History of Secularism" will fundamentally reshape discussions of western culture, religion and politics. It will have strong appeal to students of religion, political philosophy, and the history of ideas.

Reprint of the original, first published in 1867.

Reprint of the original, first published in 1867.

New study of the Christian Topography, a sixth-century illustrated treatise, and its intellectual milieu.

The final volume in the Handbook for Liturgical Studies series, Volume V: Liturgical Time and Space contains the concluding material for an integral study of the liturgy. It opens with a preliminary notion of time and space, before discussing in detail three types of liturgical celebrations on which time and space have a direct and particular bearing. The first of these is the Liturgy of the Hours. This topic is developed in the light of the early Christian tradition until the fourth century and its subsequent forms in both East and West. The second is the Liturgical Year, traditionally called the anni circulas. The development of the Liturgical Year during the first four centuries is reviewed. This is followed by adetaled study of the Byzantine, Roman, and non-Roman Western tradition. It concludes with the theology and spirituality of the Liturgical Year wherein the mystery of Christ as a saving event is made present in time, so that the faithful may lay hold of it through the Word and the sacraments. The theology of liturgical space is drawn from the mutual interaction between the assembled community, which gives meaning to the place of assembly, and the place itself, which upholds and signifies community. Articles and their contributors in Part I: Liturgy of the Hours are Liturgy of the Hours in the First Four Centuries," by Ruben Leikam, OSB; "Liturgy of the Hours in the East," by Robert Taft, SJ; "Liturgy of the Hours in the Roman Rite," by Ruben Leikam, OSB; "Liturgy of the Hours in the Non-Roman West," by Ruben Leikam, OSB; and "Theology of the Liturgy of the Hours," by Robert Taft, SJ Articles and their contributors in Part II: The Liturgical Year are "The Liturgical Year in the East," by Matias Auge, CMF; "The Liturgical Year in the East," by Elena Velkova Velkovska; "The Liturgical Year in the Roman Rite," by Matias Auge, CMF; "The Liturgical Year in the Non-Roman West," by Gabriel Ramis; "The Cult of Mary in East and West," by Ignacio Calabuig, OSM; "The Cult of Saints in East and West," by Philippe Rouillard, OSB; and "Theology of the Liturgical Year," by Matias Auge, CMF Articles and their contributors in Part III:Liturgical Space are "Dedication of the Church in East and West," by Ignacio Calabuig, OSM; "Liturgical Architecture in East and West," by Crispino Valenziano; and "Theology of Liturgical Space," by Cettina Militello. Anscar J. Chupungco, OSB, is the director of the Paul VI Institute of Liturgy in the Philippines and professor of liturgical inculturation at the Pontifical Liturgical Institute in Rome. Among his publications are Liturgies of the Future: The Process and Methods of Inculturation andLiturgical Inculturation: Sacraments, Religiosity, and Catechesis, published by The Liturgical Press. "