Skillfully Probing the Attack on Women’s Rights

“Opting-out,” “security moms,” “desperate housewives,” “the new baby fever”—the trend stories of 2006 leave no doubt that American women are still being barraged by the same backlash messages that Susan Faludi brilliantly exposed in her 1991 bestselling book of revelations. Now, the book that reignited the feminist movement is back in a fifteenth anniversary edition, with a new preface by the author that brings backlash consciousness up to date.

When it was first published, Backlash made headlines for puncturing such favorite media myths as the “infertility epidemic” and the “man shortage,” myths that defied statistical realities. These willfully fictitious media campaigns added up to an antifeminist backlash. Whatever progress feminism has recently made, Faludi’s words today seem prophetic. The media still love stories about stay-at-home moms and the “dangers” of women’s career ambitions; the glass ceiling is still low; women are still punished for wanting to succeed; basic reproductive rights are still hanging by a thread. The backlash clearly exists.

With passion and precision, Faludi shows in her new preface how the creators of commercial culture distort feminist concepts to sell products while selling women downstream, how the feminist ethic of economic independence is twisted into the consumer ethic of buying power, and how the feminist quest for self-determination is warped into a self-centered quest for self-improvement. Backlash is a classic of feminism, an alarm bell for women of every generation, reminding us of the dangers that we still face.

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Skillfully Probing the Attack on Women’s Rights

“Opting-out,” “security moms,” “desperate housewives,” “the new baby fever”—the trend stories of 2006 leave no doubt that… Развернуть 

1971: Mao's cultural Revolution is at its peak. Two sons of doctors, sent to 're-education' camps, forced to carry buckets of excrement up and down mountain paths, have only their sense of humour to keep them going. Although the attractive daughter of the local tailor also helps to distract them from the task at hand.

The boys' true re-education starts, however, when they discover a hidden suitcase packed with the great Western novels of the nineteenth century. Their lives are transformed. And not only their lives: after listening to the stories of Balzac, the little seamstress will never be the same again.

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1971: Mao's cultural Revolution is at its peak. Two sons of doctors, sent to 're-education' camps, forced to carry buckets of excrement up and down mountain paths, have only their… Развернуть 

Приглашенные на светский прием гости с нетерпением ждали появления всемирной знаменитости - певицы Косc. Ее чарующий голос заворожил всех. Но прекрасный вечер был неожиданно прерван - в зал ворвались вооруженные террористы. С этого момента для всех участников драматических событий началась другая жизнь, а весь мир сузился до размеров одного зала...

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Приглашенные на светский прием гости с нетерпением ждали появления всемирной знаменитости - певицы Косc. Ее чарующий голос заворожил всех. Но прекрасный вечер был неожиданно… Развернуть 

Эстер Гринвуд получает возможность стажироваться в модном женском журнале в Нью-Йорке. Она уверена: ей под силу покорить этот город и осуществить свою заветную мечту - стать писательницей.

Но за красивым фасадом - показы мод, коктейльные вечеринки, знакомства с интересными людьми - скрываются равнодушие окружающих и проблемы новой, «взрослой», жизни. И очень скоро Эстер понимает, что начинает терять контроль над собой, все больше погружаясь в одиночество и депрессию...

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Эстер Гринвуд получает возможность стажироваться в модном женском журнале в Нью-Йорке. Она уверена: ей под силу покорить этот город и осуществить свою заветную мечту - стать… Развернуть 

«Возлюбленная» – самый знаменитый роман Тони Моррисон, удостоенный Пулитцеровской (1988), а затем и Нобелевской премии (1993). Это удивительная история чернокожей рабыни Сэти, решившейся на страшный поступок – подарить свободу, но забрать жизнь. Роман о том, как трудно порой бывает вырвать из сердца память о прошлом, о сложном выборе, меняющем судьбу, и людях, которые навсегда остаются любимыми.

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«Возлюбленная» – самый знаменитый роман Тони Моррисон, удостоенный Пулитцеровской (1988), а затем и Нобелевской премии (1993). Это удивительная история чернокожей рабыни Сэти,… Развернуть 

Seamus Heaney, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature and considered by many to be the greatest living poet writing in English, has produced a new work that will be one of the most significant literary events of the year. This meditation on fame, blood feuds, and the culture of war, already awarded the Whitbread Prize for poetry and named the Whitbread Book of the Year, addresses some of the most important issues of our world at the turn of the millennium. The trouble is, it was written in the first millennium, more than a thousand years ago: Heaney's latest offering is not a collection of original poems or essays, but a modern English verse translation of that greatest of heroic epics, Beowulf.



Heaney's project is to save Beowulf and what he calls its status as a work of "the greatest imaginative vitality" from the tedium of required English courses in high schools and universities. Because of its arcane language, this gripping and beautifully wrought story is largely impenetrable to modern audiences. What's more, just as Beowulf's language and structure paved the way for modern English and its literary devices, its themes of fame and warrior cultures can tell us a lot about the world we now inhabit, where fame is viewed as perhaps the only thing worth achieving, and intractable ethnic conflicts wreak havoc on humankind. Some things never change -- or, as Heaney puts it, BEOWULF "lives in its own continuous present, equal to our knowledge of reality in the present time."



The tale is simple, and yet complex in its telling. It is composed of three main sections that center on a mortal battle: Beowulf's fight with Grendel the monster in the hall of a Danish king; his underwater battle with Grendel's mother, who is bent on revenge; and, finally, 50 years later, Beowulf's death at the hands of a third monster, a dragon accidentally awakened in Beowulf's own kingdom. Each sequence, narrated by an anonymous speaker who is familiar with the customs and laws of the Scandinavian people who make up the epic's characters, follows a similar pattern. First, there is a suspense-producing buildup in which the monster makes its presence known and begins its rampage; then, Beowulf's arrival on the scene and the ensuing battle to the death; and lastly a taking of stock -- in the first two cases, a celebration of the monster's defeat, and in the final sequence, in which the dragon is killed at the cost of Beowulf's life, a period of mourning. Interwoven with these main tales are many diversionary stories, and a series of pronouncements that define the role of the hero and the ethics of war, friendship, and death.



As in Homer, certain powerful phrases and titles, such as "Hrothgar the ring-giver," recur throughout the epic, lending it a comforting and rhythmic certainty. Heaney has divined an odd and mannered lyricism in the Old English and reproduced it in a fresh and compelling way in our own familiar tongue. In his introduction, Heaney speaks of the respect he had as a child for the plain and solemn voices of his father's Northern Irish relatives and how he wanted his translation "to be speakable by one of those relatives." It is filled with simple and direct turns of phrase, such as the final sentence of a list of the virtues of Shield Sheafson, a Danish warrior-king: "That was one good king."



Heaney's next accomplishment is that he remains faithful to Beowulf's confusing structure without losing the thread of the story. The main narrator often gives way to speeches by his characters, who will tell similar (but unrelated) stories of other great warriors. Through these digressions the setting develops, as do its surrounding ethical framework and dramatizing rituals, lending a deeper symbolic meaning to the archetypal actions of its great hero. Poets and bards occasionally appear to sing of more heroic deeds, and, in another instance of this ancient tale's surprising relevance for modern readers, the speaker arg

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Seamus Heaney, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature and considered by many to be the greatest living poet writing in English, has produced a new work that will be one of the… Развернуть 

“The most important, the most influential, and the most luminous of all the Hindu scriptures.” —R.C. ZAEHNER

Vivid literature, lofty philosophy — the Bhagavad Gita distills the finest in India’s vast and varied culture. • On the morning of battle, facing Armageddon, prince Arjuna loses his nerve and refuses to fight. Krishna knows better: “Your very nature will drive you to fight. Your only choice is what to fight against.” His advice gives an inspiring model of the man or woman of action — the person who aims at goodness in a world of conflict and change. • In this translation, the Gita stands out as a book of choices—direct, practical, universal. The introduction sketches the background of the poem and gives clear, contemporary explanations of the basic ideas of Indian philosophy, karma, reincarnation, yoga, freedom. Separate chapter introductions outline the drama as it unfolds.

“The translation . . . is smooth, eloquent, and reliable . . . (1)would unhesitatingly recommend Easwaran to someone searching for the spirituality of the Gita.” —CHOICE
• Eknath Easwaran, writer, Fulbright scholar, and former professor of English literature, is at home in both English and Sanskrit. He brings to this translation 25 years’ experience of teaching the Gita to an American audience.

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“The most important, the most influential, and the most luminous of all the Hindu scriptures.” —R.C. ZAEHNER

Vivid literature, lofty philosophy — the Bhagavad Gita distills the… Развернуть 

Книга американского журналиста Питера Даффи "Братья Бельские" рассказывает о еврейском партизанском отряде, созданном в белорусских лесах тремя братьями - Тувьей, Асаэлем и Зусем Бельскими. За годы войны еврейские партизаны спасли от гибели более 1200 человек, обреченных на смерть в созданных нацистами гетто. Эта книга - дань памяти трем братьям-героям и первая попытка рассказать об их подвиге.

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Книга американского журналиста Питера Даффи "Братья Бельские" рассказывает о еврейском партизанском отряде, созданном в белорусских лесах тремя братьями - Тувьей, Асаэлем и Зусем… Развернуть