This compelling spiritual classic about an Anglo-Saxon sorcerer and mystic “deserves a spot on our bookshelves along with Carlos Castaneda” (Time Out)Charged with the difficult task of converting the ‘heathens’ of Anglo-Saxon England to Christianity, Christian scribe Wat Brand begins to doubt his mission when he learns more about the pagan ways of his neighbors. Guided by a shaman named Wulf, Brand is introduced to a world unlike anything he has ever known...

In The Real Middle-Earth, explore the magically enchanting early-English civilization on which Tolkien based his world of The Lord of the Rings.Tolkien readily admitted that the concept of Middle-earth was not his own invention. An Old English term for the Dark Age world, it was always assumed that the importance of magic in this world existed only in Tolkien’s works; now Professor Brian Bates reveals the vivid truth about this historical culture....

J.R.R. Tolkien claimed that he based the land of Middle Earth on a real place. The Real Middle Earth brings alive, for the first time, the very real civilization in which those who lived had a vision of life animated by beings beyond the material world.Magic was real to these people and they believed their universe was held together by an interlaced web of golden threads visible only to wizards. At its center was Middle Earth, a place peopled by humans, but...

Wordsworth’s process of revision, his organization of poetic volumes and his supplementary writings are often seen as distinct from his poetic composition. Bates asserts that an analysis of these supplementary writings and paratexts are necessary to a full understanding of Wordsworth’s poetry.

This book explores how different people have dealt with the issues related to getting on with their mothers. Psychotherapist Alyce-Faye Cleese interviewed a wide range of people to get an in-depth understanding of the different questions that arise in our relationships with our mother. From a New York taxi driver to her former husband John Cleese, and a computer consultant to General Colin Powell, the interviews show a remarkable similarity between the problems different people have with t...

Charles E. Robinson, Professor Emeritus of English at The University of Delaware, definitively transformed study of the novel Frankenstein with his foundational volume The Frankenstein Notebooks and, in nineteenth century studies more broadly, brought heightened attention to the nuances of writing and editing. Frankenstein and STEAM consolidates the generative legacy of his later work on the novel's broad relation to topics in science, technology, engineering, ar...

This essential collection on maternal and child health focuses on the rites of giving birth from a cross-cultural perspective. The distinguished list of contributors describe the many customs surrounding birth through infancy, highlighting a wide range of variation in practices across cultures. They discuss attitudes and techniques in childbirth, the interaction between human evolutionary form and birthing procedures, the influence of societal factors that differentiate Western from non-We...

Nessie was pondering his long sojourn at Loch Ness. He had seen many historical events unfold over the centuries and witness thousands of tourists and visitors from all over the world eager to catch a glimpse of the legend 'Nessie'. But in all that time Nessie had never left the loch , never been on a vacation in all those many many wind swept, interesting and turbulent years.

The newly hybridized Mirai seeks to bring her newfound salvation in Leng to her home world. Space marines Bea and Joe find themselves with incredible new powers to take to the front lines. Students make an amazing discovery on an alien asteroid but are forced to leave one of their own behind. Chydi must find their own path, no matter the wishes of their admiral father. A richly storied comet returns on its 1,000-year orbit, bringing both hope and doom.Explore the fringes of the kno...

Written by a team of leading international scholars, this Companion is designed to illuminate Shakespeare's works through discussion of the key topics of Shakespeare studies. Twenty-one essays provide lively and authoritative approaches to recent scholarship and criticism for readers keen to expand their knowledge and appreciation of Shakespeare. The book contains stimulating chapters on traditional topics such as Shakespeare's biography and the transmission of his texts. Individual readin...

Discover the wild warriors who fought the Roman army with swords and spears while collecting human heads! If this bloodthirsty book isn't nasty enough for you, you must be a cut-throat Celt yourself!

National Book Critics Circle Award FinalistIn this stunning volume of epic breadth, Michael Schmidt connects the lives and works of more than 300 poets over the last 700 years--spanning distant shores from Scotland to Australia to the Caribbean, all sharing the English language.Schmidt reveals how each poet has transformed "a common language of poetry" into the rustic rhythms and elegiac ballads, love sonnets, and experimental postmodern verse that make up our lyrical canon...