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According to the research of initiate Rudolf Steiner, humanity is in a continual process of transformation and evolution. Modern consciousness, based primarily on sensory perception and abstract logic, differs considerably from the consciousness of ancient human beings. Steiner tells us that the ancients saw human beings as microcosms, or concentrations, of cosmic laws and activities. The loss of such knowledge has led to an existential quest for meaning and even the cul-de-sac we know as atheism.

In our zeal to embrace the wonders of the electronic age, are we sacrificing our literary culture? Renowned critic Sven Birkerts believes the answer is an alarming yes. In The Gutenberg Elegies, he explores the impact of technology on the experience of reading. Drawing on his own passionate, lifelong love of books, Birkerts examines how literature intimately shapes and nourishes the inner life. What does it mean to "hear" a book on audiotape or decipher its words in electronic form on a laptop screen? Can the world created by Henry James exist in an era defined by the work of Bill Gates?

This book provides an introduction to Africa -- covering its physical attributes, history, social structure, and culture. It emphasizes norms, values, and historical experience as the key variables that define who the people are, rather than labeling them as "tribes." Describes the main traditional cultural forms and institutions found in Africa. Explores the geography and demography of the African continent.

This powerful study immerses the reader in the world of homelessness and drug addiction in the contemporary United States. For over a decade Philippe Bourgois and Jeff Schonberg followed a social network of two dozen heroin injectors and crack smokers on the streets of San Francisco, accompanying them as they scrambled to generate income through burglary, panhandling, recycling, and day labor. Righteous Dopefiend interweaves stunning black-and-white photographs with vivid dialogue, detailed field notes, and critical theoretical analysis.

In this book, a make-believe cocaine museum becomes a vantage point from which to assess the lives of Afro-Colombian gold miners drawn into the dangerous world of cocaine production in the rain forest of Colombia's Pacific Coast. Although modeled on the famous Gold Museum in Colombia's central bank, the Banco de la República, Taussig's museum is also a parody aimed at the museum's failure to acknowledge the African slaves who mined the country's wealth for almost four hundred years.

This is a pioneering work on "karayuki-san," impoverished Japanese women sent abroad to work as prostitutes from the 1860s to the 1920s. The narrative follows the life of one such prostitute, Osaki, who is persuaded as a child of ten to accept cleaning work in Sandakan, North Borneo, and then forced to work as a prostitute in a Japanese brothel, one of the many such brothels that were established throughout Asia in conjunction with the expansion of Japanese business interests.

Professor Drout continues to explore humanity's intimate association with language, here delving into the finer points of grammar. The intricacies of grammar, in fact, should not be relegated to the realm of fussy "guardians of the language," but are rather essential clues all can employ to communicate more exactly. In such a light, this course forms an invaluable guide for everyone from all fields of interest.

Wheaton College professor Michael Drout addresses the foundation of language and its connectin to specific portions of the brain. The components of language are explained in easy-to-understand terms and the progression of language from Germanic to Modern English is fully illustrated. Finally, Drout examines the future not only of language, but of all the world's languages.

This is a frontline report from the trenches of American education. It chronicles a fifth grade class and its remarkable teacher.