San Antonio College Library

Eight essays that show, by example, what folklore is and how it can be studied to gain insights into cultural patterns of worldview.

"A work in both aesthetics and ethics, Visions of Virtue in Popular Film proceeds from the interplay of film and philosophy. It examines a group of first-rate popular movies to show how films that wonderfully entertain audiences also contain developed and important conceptions of virtue. By interpreting popular movies from this philosophical viewpoint, the book deepens our aesthetic appreciation of film. At the same time, the analyses of film illustrate...

"Jonathan Spence, our foremost historian of Chinese politics and culture, tells us in his new book how the West has understood China over seven centuries. Ranging from Marco Polo's own depiction of China and the mighty Khan, Kublai, in the 1270s to the China sightings of three twentieth-century writers of acknowledged genius - Kafka, Borges, and Calvino - Spence explores Western thought on China through a remarkable array of expression." "Peopling...

In a democracy, Uncle Sam s icons are of, by, and for everyone. Included in this examination of icons are essays by such scholars as Michael T. Marsden, Earl F. Bargainnier, Edith Mayo, Valerie Carnes, David Skaggs, Fred E.H. Schroeder, Ray Browne, and others. The examined range from symbols of people (George Washington, the Beatles) to places (historic sites, schoolhouses) to things (CB radio, the pinball machine)."

Generations of Western writers-from the Crusades to the present day-have written portraits claiming to depict the life and personality of Muhammad, the founder of Islam. Over the course of thirteen centuries, stubbornly biased and consistently negative representations have persisted, presenting images which bear no resemblance to the noble man familiar to Muslims. Muhammad in Europe traces this consistent tradition of distortion and provides an account...

In a prescient remark made at the turn of the century, U.S. Secretary of State Elihu Root said that establishing "the right sort of relations" with Haiti must await "the psychological moment." Indeed, as Brenda Gayle Plummer notes, much of the Haitian-U.S. relationship has turned on matters of perception. For many in the United States, tales of voodoo, political violence, and stark deprivation have made Haiti appear to be a doomed land, beyond comprehension...

"The study of Egypt as the fount of all wisdom and stronghold of hermetic lore, already strong in antiquity, Hornung (Egyptology, U. of Basel) calls Egyptosophy. Though it was soundly rebuffed by Egyptology, based on conventional science and history, he thinks its continuing impact on western culture"--Publisher's description.

This book examines European artwork of America from the 15th to 20th centuries. An extensive and eclectic selection of artists' works appear here, including works by Jan Mostaert, Lodovico Buti, Carpaccio, Christoph Weiditz, John White, Albert Eckhout, Bonaventura Peeters, Peter Paul Rubens, Jan van Kessel, Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, Toile de Jouy, James Barry, Henri Rousseau, Ferdinand Bellermann, Frederick Catherwood, Frank Buchser, Edgar Degas,...