A New York Times “Books for Summer Reading” selection Winner of the 2003 National Jewish Book Award for History By the time he died in 1993 at the age of 73, Irving Howe was one of the twentieth century’s most important public thinkers. Deeply passionate, committed to social reform and secular Jewishness, ardently devoted to fiction and poetry, in love with baseball, music, and ballet, Howe wrote with such eloquence and lived with such conviction that his extraordinary work is now part of the canon of American social thought. In the first comprehensive biography of Howe’s life, historian Gerald Sorin brings us close to this man who rose from Jewish immigrant poverty in the 1930s to become one of the most provocative intellectuals of our time. Known most widely for his award-winning book World of Our Fathers, a rich portrayal of the East European Jewish experience in New York, Howe also won acclaim for his prodigious output of illuminating essays on American culture and as an indefatigable promoter of democratic socialism as can be seen in the pages of Dissent, the journal he edited for nearly forty years. Deeply devoted to the ideal of democratic radicalism and true equality, Howe was constantly engaged in a struggle for decency and basic fairness in the face of social injustice. In the century of Auschwitz, the Gulag, and global inter-ethnic mass murder, it was difficult to sustain political certainties and take pride in one's humanity. To have lived a life of conviction and engagement in that era was a notable achievement. Irving Howe lived such a life and Gerald Sorin has done a masterful job of guiding us through it in all its passion and complexity.

In this lively book, Pulitzer prize-winning historian Boorstin, author of the widely acclaimed trilogy The Americans, illuminates our everyday concerns with his reflections on the new meaning of technology for America and of America for technology. He gives us a bold new view of the two kinds of revolution - the political and technological - and shows us how and why they are different, and why technological revolutions are irreversible. We are a center from which radiate forces that converge human experience everywhere. Though people around the world may not love one another any more than they did, yet their ways of life tend to become more and more alike. These same overwhelming forces of technology that homogenize the culture of the human race have disrupted the international community of nations; large and small nations become "equal," but each day the word "nation" grows more meaningless. Ideology, tribalism, nationalism, the crusading spirit in religion, bigotry, censorship, racism, persecution, immigration and emigration restriction, tariffs, and chauvinism do interpose barriers. For reasons which we are only beginning to discover, and which Boorstin explores in this controversial book, these barriers will only be temporary. The converging powers of technology will eventually triumph.

Look, MAN: This book is designed for those who want to feel comfortable being friends and lovers of the women in their life; for men who want long-lasting and secure relationships, and still sexually fulfilling and exciting; and most importantly, for men who want to be loving, sexy and, let's just say it, sweet. Listen, WOMAN: This book will tell to the men in your life what you women of today probably want from your friends, lovers and partners, and how a man can become the one that today's woman seeks and appreciates. “When a Man Loves a Woman was written to show how feminism could either make heterosexual relationships more contentious and confusing, or more exciting and rewarding, depending on how men reacted to it. Today, I am reexamining the issues which I explored in that book and reflecting the more complex realities of the new century. The fundamental question is the same: How can a good man make and keep a deep, meaningful and loving relationship with an emancipated woman?”

More than three decades have passed since Robert Kennedy was assassinated seeking the Democratic nomination for the presidency. During that time, a powerful legend has grown around him, decreeing that he would have quickly ended the Vietnam War, violence in the cities, and racial and social injustice across the land. Millions of Americans continue to believe that legend. Drawing on his striking interpretation of RFK's character, award-winning historian Ronald Steel examines the life against the legend that Kennedy consciously helped create.

A one-man think-tank for the New Left, Paul Goodman wrote over thirty books, most of them before his decade of fame as a social critic in the Sixties. A Paul Goodman Reader that does him justice must be a compendious volume, with excerpts not only from best-sellers like Growing Up Absurd, but also from his landmark books on education, community planning, anarchism, psychotherapy, language theory, and poetics. Samples as well from The Empire City, a comic novel reviewers compared to Don Quixote, prize-winning short stories, and scores of poems that led America's most respected poetry reviewer, Hayden Carruth, to exclaim, "Not one dull page. It's almost unbelievable." Goodman called himself as an old-fashioned man of letters, which meant that all these various disciplines and occasions added up to a single abiding concern for the human plight in perilous times, and for human promise and achieved grandeur, love and hope.

In Another Way of Seeing , Peter Gabel argues that our most fundamental spiritual need as human beings is the desire for authentic mutual recognition. Because we live in a world in which this desire is systematically denied due to the legacy of fear of the other that has been passed on from generation to generation, we exist as what he calls "withdrawn selves," perceiving the other as a threat rather than as the source of our completion as social beings. Calling for a new kind of "spiritual activism" that speaks to this universal interpersonal longing, Gabel shows how we can transform law, politics, public policy, and culture so as to build a new social movement through which we become more fully present to each other - creating a new "parallel universe" existing alongside our socially separated world and reaffirming the social bond that inherently unites us. Addressing subjects as diverse as "The Spiritual Dimension of Social Justice," "Spiritualizing Foreign Policy," and "Patriotism at the Ballpark," this book beautifully illuminates how the blockage of social desire creates and reproduces so much of the harm and suffering in the world - and how recovering our capacity to fully see one another will help us to create a more humane, just, and loving future. "Peter Gabel is one of the grand prophetic voices in our day. He also is a long-distance runner in the struggle for justice. Don't miss this book " - Cornel West, The Class of 1943 Professor, Princeton University, and Professor of Philosophy and Christian Practice, Union Theological Seminary "Peter Gabel has delivered a set of unmatched phenomenological analyses of the profound alienation that pervades everyday life in America in the early 21st century. His insightful descriptions of the way things really are challenge us to open our eyes, minds and hearts to our own and one another's deepest longings, and together, to bring one another back home.... Like a pick axe thrown ahead to anchor us all, to paraphrase one of his most evocative images, Gabel's polemic teaches and inspires us to 'think with our hearts, ' to genuinely and confidently love ourselves and our brothers and sisters on this very planet Earth, to lift ourselves and one another on the strength of our authentic Presence, and to move things forward together. Now." - Rhonda V. Magee, Professor of Law, University of San Francisco "Peter Gabel's essays on law, politics, and foreign and domestic policy urge us to take a step back from our deeply alienated habits of seeing, living and feeling--habits that threaten the destruction of the planet as well as of our social, national and global communal bonds--and to forge a new politics grounded in a recognition of our longing for a genuinely loving and spiritual connection with each other ...to use law as a way to inscribe and act on our responsibilities to care for each other as well as ourselves, politics as a vehicle through which to express our deepest social and spiritual commitments and foreign and domestic policy both as expressions of a forgotten or suppressed, but still realizable, beloved community." - Robin West, Frederick Haas Professor of Law and Philosophy, Georgetown University Law Center "Replete with wise insights that reward readers with Another Way of Seeing toward their pursuit of compassion, community, and a better world, law professor, activist and philosopher Peter Gabel's excellent essay collection elaborates upon the meaning of Martin Luther King Jr.'s expression 'Justice is love correcting that which revolts against love.' No matter what your expertise, Gabel's thoughts are pertinent to fulfillment of your human possibilities." - Ralph Nader, Washington, DC

In his first book of non-fiction, originally published in 1962, Herbert Gold explores some not-so-happy problems confronting people in an age of "mass destruction, mass inertia, mass everything." While acknowledging that we live in a time of utmost global significance-war on an enormous scale was a reality of the twentieth century and continues to threaten, unadulterated evil has exhibited itself in grandiose proportions-Gold tackles issues and problems which are very much of significance to the individual: teaching, writing, love, marriage, divorce, and death. In The Age of Happy Problems, Gold takes the reader through a journey of eclectic characters, situations, and locales. Part I is a selection of essays entitled "American Events." In "The Age of Happy Problems" we are presented with an analysis of the problems facing people in the middle of their lives and careers. "How to Be an Artist's Wife" explores the prospect of being married, and remaining married, to a temperamental and egotistical artist. "Divorce as a Moral Act" describes the termination of marriage as a means for renewal and the chance to start over again the search for love. "The Bachelor's Dilemma" evokes the decisions confronting the male of the "big city." And "A Dog in Brooklyn, A Girl in Detroit: A L"ife Among the Humanities" is a memoir on the paradoxes of teaching in a university. Part II is entitled "American Places." The author examines in this section various American lifestyles. In "Paris: Notes from La Vie de Boheme," Gold describes Americans abroad, why they decide to become expatriates, and how they adapt to their new surroundings. In "Greenwich Village: The Changing Village" he writes about the importance of New York City's symbol of change, experiment and nonconformity. Finally, the author meditates on "Death in Miami Beach," offering a moving account of the relationship between death and the popular Florida city. Gold writes: "How can I total it up? What is the map of the map? Well, to begin with, Plato was wrong. The life of contemplation is not sufficient...and for another thing, Plato was right. He knew that men must learn to come together in the practice of intelligence and moral privilege." Gold's essays, stemming from the author's own humanity, are just as poignant and relevant today as they were when they were first published. The Age of Happy Problems is sure to captivate, but perhaps most of all, make the reader contemplate the importance of these issues for his or her own life.

"There is a huge amount of academic 19th century literature relating to sacred sexuality. However, there are not many books which cover this subject matter for the general reader: this book is one of the few. Goldberg approaches the culturally sensitive issue of the intersection of religion and sex frankly and in some depth. That said, this work has a few problems which need to be kept in mind while reading it. There is not much in the way of apparatus aside from a bibliography: not even the Bible quotes are attributed. Goldberg also invents a number of descriptive passages, particularly in the second section. While these go a long way towards dimensionalizing this material, they include a number of purely speculative details which are not identified as such. Perhaps the best part of this book is the discussion of the evolution of the attitude towards sexuality in Christianity. Goldberg also describes a number of little-known curious cults such as the Russian Skopzi, the mediaeval flagellants, and others. Long out of print, but available used, this book serves as a useful introduction to the subject and sheds light on some little known corners of the subject of sacred sexuality." (Quote from sacred-texts.com) Table of Contents Publisher's Preface; The Erotic Motive In Primitive Religion; Far Away And Long Ago; Primitive Man In Love And Faith; In The Foundry Of The Gods; The Spirit Of Love In God And Man; Love's Hidden Ways; In The Temple Of The Gods; A Day With Baal; A Night With Aphrodite; At A Dionysian Mystery; Twilight With Moloch; The Dance Of The Saktas; In The House Of The Lord; Prologue; Love In The Synagogue; Romance In The Church; Marriage In The Mosque; Longing In The Dark; The Spirit Of Revolt In Religion; Rebels In The Faith; Love The Force Of Rebellion; The Revolt Against Religion; The Revolt Against God; The Revolt A

What is Sociology? presents in concise and provocative form the major ideas of a seminal thinker whose work--spanning more than four decades--is only now gaining the recognition here it has long had in Germany and France. Unlike other post-war sociologists, Norbert Elias has always held the concept of historical development among his central concerns; his dynamic theories of the evolution of modern man have remedied the historical and epistemological shortcomings of structualism and ethno-methodology. What is Sociology? refines the arguments that were first found in Elias' massive work on the civilizing process, in which he formulated his major assertions about the interdependence of the making of modern man and modern society. It is Elias' contention that changes in personality structure--embodied in phenomena ranging from table manners and hygiene habits to rites of punishment and courtly love--inevitably reflect and mould patterns of control generated by new political and social instututions. Elias' rejection of a dichotomy between individual and society, and his use of psychoanalysis, political theory, and social history, help restore a fullness of resource to sociology.

Unlock the powerful truths that shattered ancient beliefs and paved the way for the new and revolutionary religion that became Judaism. This is a unique look at the Torah--the foundation of Jewish existence--and the revolutionary teachings of Moses embedded within it that gave birth to Judaism and influenced the world. Dr. Reuven Hammer presents fourteen radical ideas found in Torah, explains their original intentions, and shows how understanding these "truths" can help you better understand the narrative and laws of Judaism. He shows how when taken together, these value concepts present a picture of human life that is surprisingly modern and relevant to our goals for repairing the world today: * Humanity is one as God is one * Human beings are responsible for their actions and have the choice to do good or evil * Poverty, deprivation, slavery and hatred are evils that must be eradicated * The earth is not ours to destroy * The love of others is a divine command * And much more ...

This book sets forth a new area in the study of extraordinary individuals in religious traditions. It develops the category of “Religious Genius” as an alternative to existing categories, primarily “saint.” It constructs a model by which to appreciate these individuals, suggesting key characteristics such as love, humility, and self-surrender. Religious geniuses transform their traditions and their legacies endure through these very transformations. They also inspire changes across religious boundaries and traditions. The study of religious geniuses in various faith traditions therefore advances interfaith engagement today. The book complements existing, primarily historical, studies of saints by offering a phenomenological approach that seeks to touch the subjectivity of these individuals, and how they have affected the unfolding of their religious traditions.

In this practical, clear-sighted book, Lovenheim presents a simple, down-to-earth plan for women who want to take charge and achieve their personal goals of marriage and family. "An inspirational guide for the career woman who wonders if she has waited too long".--Booklist. As seen on Geraldo and in USA Today.

a homage to Manhattan, with love and rage

Su"ender and catch: give so you can receive, where the giving is your whole self, in a total experience. This is scarcely new on the American scene, and it is ancient knowledge, East and West. The fears of total surrender, the fears of self-revelation and of total abandon, although genuine, are likewise not new. Yet Kurt H. Wolff does attempt something new here, an epistemologi cal essay with the help of this old idea: his subtitle is 'experience and inquiry today'. He tries to formulate an integrated view which incorporates in the theory of total experience not only the accepted component- esthetics, religion, the recent American experience - but also a metaphysics, a phenomenology, a theory of perception, a social philosophy and a methodology of the social sciences, even a philosophy of history and psychopathology. Phenomenology (especially Alfred Schutz), the critical Frankfurt school (especially Adorno and Marcuse), sociology (especially Georg Simmel), and existentialism (especially Camus) are tied in together. It all looks topsy-turvy at first. We have here scraps of a diary, fragments of correspondence, a stray adolescent love letter, notes on notes on field work, and notes and comments on tutorial seminars plus long excerpts from students' essays, a stray paper in a learned journal summarizing the core of the book, comments piled on comments and a web of self-references, literary criticisms, and pieces of poetry, plus a rich scholarly apparatus.

So you've got these fond hopes for blissful love, professional glory, fame, and fortune. But in the back of your mind there's that nagging fear. The man of your dreams will laugh in your face. Your hated office rival will come up with some whizbang marketing idea and get promoted, while you'll be asked to "help out with the phones." Steven Spielberg will buy the rights to your screenplay, spend $40 million producing it, and the critics will savage the film, mercilessly singling out your work for especially contemptuous, poisonous derision. But hey, everybody fails sometime. It's inevitable. So don't fear failure. Embrace it. In Complete And Utter Failure, Neil Steinberg joyfully explores the many fascinating facets of failure, from pointless failure (a brief history of several very dumb attempts to climb Mount Everest) to product failure (Reddi-Bacon, smokeless cigarettes, and Baby Jesus dolls) to institutionalized failure (the horrifying Dickensian spectacle of the National Spelling Bee, in which 8,999,999 children out of 9,000,000 fail in an excruciatingly public and humiliating fashion). This delightful book is filled with surprising and useless arcana--who really invented the telephone, what turned on Isaac Newton--guaranteed to help you annoy people at cocktail parties. Along the way Steinberg meditates on his own myriad miscues and disappointments, beginning with his failure to perform a magic trick in front of the neighborhood kids at age four (he blames Captain Kangaroo). Complete And Utter Failure is a wonderfully literate, witty book that issues a ringing message for our times: If at first you don't succeed, have a scotch and forget about it.

From the "Introduction": European Emperors, Kings, Kaisers and Tsars, and their Churches, forbade contraception, women¿s equality and divorce. Baptismal Certificates and class barriers dictated who could legally marry, attend school or the university, advance socially, and who could not. World War I finally swept them from power, but their dictates frequently remained as law, in a turbulent era of struggle for freedom and democracy, versus resurgent fascism and slavery. Hodann's History contains a clear discussion of these historical developments within the sexual reform and women's rights movements of Weimar Germany and Europe generally, in the early decades of the 1900s. The parallel advance of scientific knowledge on human sexuality is also detailed. Unlike many contemporary works on these subjects, History of Modern Morals is authored by a physician who lived the struggle, was a leader in it, got arrested by the Nazis for it, and intimately worked with other professionals who also had personally suffered for their work in the same social-sexual reform movement. His writings are therefore filled with a strong passion and vitality, and with many personal observations, anecdotes, and clarifying information not found elsewhere. Hodann's History is also unique in that he frequently and positively discusses the work of his contemporary and associate, Wilhelm Reich. This is especially important given their life-positive emphasis upon love and emotion in sexuality, and their distinction between natural-healthy heterosexual genitality versus neurotic and unhealthy sexual expressions. In the modern era of "politically correct" moral equivalence, this essential consideration has been diminished or erased from public discussion.

A dramatic and original biography of a married couple, each violated in different ways but bound together by their suffering, their mutual understanding and love, and a desperate struggle for renewal. These twin biographies are brought to life by an imaginary exchange of letters in which, nevertheless, the events described are completely factual. Dita was an inmate of Auschwitz as a young girl - she and her father were the only surviving members of her Czech-Hungarian family. Ronald, a Londoner, was the victim of a dangerous and unnecessary prefrontal leucotomy, against his will, in the knife-happy days when this operation was common and left a pathetic trail of zombies vegetating in the asylums. To say simply that Ronald 'survived', to become a composer and scholar of international repute, is to gloss over the long and painful path of recovery he describes. Dita trod a parallel path, although the trauma each suffered was of a different nature. Auschwitz does not ever relinquish its victims: it remained a perpetual assassin in the wings, and even Dita's death from cancer, nearly forty years later, was perhaps its final victory. This imaginary correspondence is remarkable for the vivid picture it paints of a living death inside Auschwitz as well as the fearful existence of a patient inside a mental hospital in mid-century Britain. Above all, the intimate letters reveal a deep commitment and compassion between two people, a love-story intertwined with the horrific historical events of our time.