San Antonio College Library

Annotation

"Western history would be unrecognizable had it not been for people who believed in One True God. There would have been wars, but no religious wars. There would have been moral codes, but no Commandments. Had the Jews been polytheists, they would today be only another barely remembered people, less important, but just as extinct as the Babylonians. Had Christians presented Jesus to the Greco-Roman world as "another" God, their faith would long since...

"Why can none of us hear our own recorded voice without wincing? Why is the telephone still full of such spookiness and erotic possibility? Why does the metaphor of ventriloquism, the art of 'seeming to speak where one is not', speak so resonantly to our contemporary technological condition? These are the kinds of question which impel Steven Connor's wide-ranging, restlessly inquisitive history of ventriloquism and the disembodied voice. He tracks...

"This book considers crows, ravens, magpies and their relatives in myth, literature and life. It ranges from the raven sent out by Noah to the corvid deities of the Eskimo, to Daoist legends, Victorian novels and recent films. It will be of interest to anyone who has ever been intrigued, puzzled, annoyed or charmed by these wonderfully intelligent birds."--Jacket.

Employs indigenous oral testimony and critical ethnography to describe the life history of the Navajo community of Rough Rock, Arizona, home of the first American Indian community-controlled school, tracing the town's struggle for language, culture, and education rights.

Beauty is not a myth. According to scientist and psychologist Nancy Etcoff, the pursuit of beauty is neither a cultural construction, an invention of Madison Avenue, nor a backlash against feminism. Survival of the Prettiest, the first in-depth scientific inquiry into the nature of human beauty, posits that beauty is an essential and ineradicable part of human nature, from what makes a face beautiful to the deepest questions about the human condition. Etcoff...

In a natural, cultural, and artistic history of our favorite mood enhancer, the authors show how caffeine was discovered, its early uses, and the unexpected parts it has played in medicine, religion, painting, poetry, learning, and love. 50 halftones & line drawings.

An ingenious cross between a glossary, a dictionary, and an encyclopedia, this book is a unique word book covering every aspect of Native American culture. Entries provide brief definitions, information about language usage, specific references in Native American history, alternate spellings and numerous cross-references to related subjects.