German writers, from Luther and Goethe to Heine, Brecht, and Gunter Grass, have had a profound influence on the modern world. This Very Short Introduction presents an engrossing tour of the course of German literature from the late Middle Ages to the present, focussing especially on the last 250 years. Emphasizing the economic and religious context of many masterpieces of Germa...(展开全部)

Introduces Italian literature from the Middle Ages to the present day Discusses themes and issues that have recurred throughout history and which are still important today Covers a wide range of writers and works, including some of the greatest - Dante, Petrarch, Manzoni, Calvino - as well as others who are less well-known Considers the way in which Italian literature has chang...(展开全部)

From popular histories through to reworkings of classical subject matter by contemporary poets, dramatists, and novelists, the classical world and the masterpieces of its literature continue to fascinate readers and audiences in a huge variety of media. In this Very Short Introduction, William Allan explores what the 'classics' are and why they continue to shape our Western con...(展开全部)

The heritage of literature in the French language is rich, varied, and extensive in time and space; appealing both to its immediate public, readers of French, and also to a global audience reached through translations and film adaptations. The first great works of this repertory were written in the twelfth century in northern France, and now, at the beginning of the twenty-firs...(展开全部)

Introduces Italian literature from the Middle Ages to the present day Discusses themes and issues that have recurred throughout history and which are still important today Covers a wide range of writers and works, including some of the greatest - Dante, Petrarch, Manzoni, Calvino - as well as others who are less well-known Considers the way in which Italian literature has chang...(展开全部)

- Introduces in a clear and concise way the most important basic findings and procedures of evolutionary biology - Looks at the evidence for evolution, eg the fossil record, the distribution of species, the similarities and differences between organisms - A section at the end looks at the seemingly difficult problems for the theory of evolution - Explains adaptation and natural...(展开全部)

Exploring the cultural and institutional dimensions of Christianity, and tracing its course over two millennia, Linda Woodhead provides a fresh, lively, and candid portrait of Christianity's past and present. Addressing topics including the competition for power between different forms of Christianity, the churches' use of power, and its struggles with modernity, this new editi...(展开全部)

Documentary film can encompass anything from Robert Flaherty's pioneering ethnography Nanook of the North to Michael Moore's anti-Iraq War polemic Fahrenheit 9/11, from Dziga Vertov's artful Soviet propaganda piece Man with a Movie Camera to Luc Jacquet's heart-tugging wildlife epic March of the Penguins. In this concise, crisply written guide, Patricia Aufderheide takes reader...(展开全部)

In the 1960s, Latin American literature became known worldwide as never before. Writers such as Jorge Luis Borges, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Carlos Fuentes, Pablo Neruda, Octavio Paz, and Mario Vargas Llosa all became part of the general culture of educated readers of English, French, German, and Italian. But few know about the literary tradition from which these writers emerged....(展开全部)