James Russell Perkin's Books

Theology and the Victorian Novel

By: James Russell Perkin

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Theology and the Victorian Novel

By: James Russell Perkin

Religious issues played a prominent role in Victorian England and had a profound influence on the culture of that period. In Theology And The Victorian Novel, J. Russell Perkin shows that even the apparently secular world of the realist novel is shaped by the theological debates of its time. Beginning with a wide-ranging introduction that explains why a theological reading of Victorian fiction is both rewarding and timely, Perkin also addresses religion's return to prominence in the twenty-first century, confounding earlier predictions of its imminent demise. Chapters on William Thackeray, Charlotte Brontë, Charlotte Yonge, Anthony Trollope, George Eliot, and Thomas Hardy are followed by a concluding discussion of Mary Ward and Walter Pater that relates Pater's Marius the Epicurean to postmodern theology and shows how it remains a religious classic for our own time. Informed by extensive knowledge of the religion and culture of the period, Theology And The Victorian Novel significantly alters the way that the Victorian novel should be read.

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Page Count

285

Publisher

McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP

Published Date

ISBN 10

077353606X

ISBN 13

9780773536067

Overcoming Matthew Arnold

Ethics in Culture and Criticism

By: James Walter Caufield

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Overcoming Matthew Arnold

Ethics in Culture and Criticism

By: James Walter Caufield

Opening the way for a reexamination of Matthew Arnold's unique contributions to ethical criticism, James Walter Caufield emphasizes the central role of philosophical pessimism in Arnold's master tropes of "culture" and "conduct." Caufield uses Arnold's ethics as a lens through which to view key literary and cultural movements of the past 150 years, demonstrating that Arnoldian conduct is grounded in a Victorian ethic of "renouncement," a form of altruism that wholly informs both Arnold's poetry and prose and sets him apart from the many nineteenth-century public moralists. Arnold's thought is situated within a cultural and philosophical context that shows the continuing relevance of "renouncement" to much contemporary ethical reflection, from the political kenosis of Giorgio Agamben and the pensiero debole of Gianni Vattimo, to the ethical criticism of Wayne C. Booth and Martha Nussbaum. In refocusing attention on Arnold's place within the broad history of critical and social thought, Caufield returns the poet and critic to his proper place as a founding father of modern cultural criticism.

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Page Count

242

Publisher

Routledge

Published Date

ISBN 10

1317084497

ISBN 13

9781317084495

Otter Skins, Boston Ships and China Goods

The Maritime Fur Trade of the Northwest Coast, 1785-1841

By: James R. Gibson

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Otter Skins, Boston Ships and China Goods

The Maritime Fur Trade of the Northwest Coast, 1785-1841

By: James R. Gibson

James Gibson's thoroughly researched and highly detailed study is the first comprehensive account of the maritime fur trade on the Northwest Coast of North America.

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Page Count

454

Publisher

McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP

Published Date

ISBN 10

0773520287

ISBN 13

9780773520288

The Imperial Cruise

A Secret History of Empire and War

By: James Bradley

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The Imperial Cruise

A Secret History of Empire and War

By: James Bradley

In 1905 President Teddy Roosevelt dispatched Secretary of War William Howard Taft on the largest U.S. diplomatic mission in history to Hawaii, Japan, the Philippines, China, and Korea. Roosevelt's glamorous twenty-one year old daughter Alice served as mistress of the cruise, which included senators and congressmen. On this trip, Taft concluded secret agreements in Roosevelt's name. In 2005, a century later, James Bradley traveled in the wake of Roosevelt's mission and discovered what had transpired in Honolulu, Tokyo, Manila, Beijing and Seoul. In 1905, Roosevelt was bully-confident and made secret agreements that he though would secure America's westward push into the Pacific. Instead, he lit the long fuse on the Asian firecrackers that would singe America's hands for a century.

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Page Count

398

Publisher

Little, Brown

Published Date

ISBN 10

0316039667

ISBN 13

9780316039666

American Pests

The Losing War on Insects from Colonial Times to DDT

By: James E. McWilliams

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American Pests

The Losing War on Insects from Colonial Times to DDT

By: James E. McWilliams

The world of insects is one we only dimly understand. Yet from using arsenic, cobalt, and quicksilver to kill household infiltrators to employing the sophisticated tools of the Orkin Man, Americans have fought to eradicate the "bugs" they have learned to hate. Inspired by the still-revolutionary theories of Rachel Carson's Silent Spring, James E. McWilliams argues for a more harmonious and rational approach to our relationship with insects, one that does not harm our environment and, consequently, ourselves along the way. Beginning with the early techniques of colonial farmers and ending with the modern use of chemical insecticides, McWilliams deftly shows how America's war on insects mirrors its continual struggle with nature, economic development, technology, and federal regulation. He reveals a very American paradox: the men and women who settled and developed this country sought to control the environment and achieve certain economic goals; yet their methods of agricultural expansion undermined their efforts and linked them even closer to the inexorable realities of the insect world. As told from the perspective of the often flamboyant actors in the battle against insects, American Pests is a fascinating investigation into the attitudes, policies, and practices that continue to influence our behavior toward insects. Asking us to question, if not abandon, our reckless (and sometimes futile) attempts at insect control, McWilliams convincingly argues that insects, like people, have an inherent right to exist and that in our attempt to rid ourselves of insects, we compromise the balance of nature.

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Page Count

309

Publisher

Columbia University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0231511361

ISBN 13

9780231511360

Antebellum Natchez

By: D. Clayton James

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Antebellum Natchez

By: D. Clayton James

Antebellum Natchez is most often associated with the grand and romantic aspects of the Old South and its landed gentry. Yet there was, as this book so amply illustrates, another Natchez—the Natchez of ordinary citizens, small businessmen, and free Negroes, and the Natchez under-the-Hill of brawling boatmen, professional gamblers, and bold-faced strumpets. Antebellum Natchez not only takes a critical look at the town’s aristocracy but also examines the depth of its commercial activities and the life of its middle- and lower-class elements. Author D. Clayton James brings the political, economic, and social aspects of antebellum Natchez into perspective and debunks a number of myths and illusions, including the notion that the town was a stronghold of Federalism and Whiggery. Starting with the Natchez Indians and their “Sun God” culture, James traces the development of the town from the native village through the plotting and intrigue of the changing regimes of the French, Spanish, British, and Americans. James makes a perceptive analysis of the aristocrats’ role in restricting the growth of the town, which in 1800 appeared likely to become the largest city in the transmontane region. “The attitudes and behavior of the aristocrats of Natchez during the final three decades of the antebellum period were characterized by escapism and exclusiveness,” says James. “With the aristocrats sullenly withdrawing into their world...Natchez lost forever the opportunity to become a major metropolis, and Mississippi was led to ruin.” Quoting generously from diaries, journals, and other records, the author gives the reader a valuable insight into what life in a Southern town was like before the Civil War. Antebellum Natchez is an important account of the role of Natchez and its colorful figures—John Quitman, Robert Walker, Manuel Gayoso de Lemos, William C. C. Claiborne, and a host of others—in the colonial affairs of the Lower Mississippi Valley and the growth of the Old Southwest.

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Page Count

372

Publisher

LSU Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0807118605

ISBN 13

9780807118603

The Unemployed People's Movement

Leftists, Liberals, and Labor in Georgia, 1929-1941

By: James J. Lorence

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The Unemployed People's Movement

Leftists, Liberals, and Labor in Georgia, 1929-1941

By: James J. Lorence

In Georgia during the Great Depression, jobless workers united with the urban poor, sharecroppers, and tenant farmers. In a collective effort that cut across race and class boundaries, they confronted an unresponsive political and social system and helped shape government policies. James J. Lorence adds significantly to our understanding of this movement, which took place far from the northeastern and midwestern sites we commonly associate with Depression-era labor struggles. Drawing on extensive archival research, including newly accessible records of the Communist Party of the United States, Lorence details interactions between various institutional and grassroots players, including organized labor, the Communist Party, the Socialist Party, liberal activists, and officials at every level of government. He shows, for example, how the Communist Party played a more central role than previously understood in the organization of the unemployed and the advancement of labor and working-class interests in Georgia. Communists gained respect among the jobless, especially African Americans, for their willingness to challenge officials, help negotiate the welfare bureaucracy, and gain access to New Deal social programs. Lorence enhances our understanding of the struggles of the poor and unemployed in a Depression-era southern state. At the same time, we are reminded of their movement's lasting legacy: the shift in popular consciousness that took place as Georgians, "influenced by a new sense of entitlement fostered by the unemployed organizations," began to conceive of new, more-equal relations with the state.

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Page Count

328

Publisher

University of Georgia Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0820338761

ISBN 13

9780820338767

Book's by James Russell Perkin

Theology and the Victorian Novel

Theology and the Victorian Novel

Overcoming Matthew Arnold

Overcoming Matthew Arnold

Otter Skins, Boston Ships and China Goods

Otter Skins, Boston Ships and China Goods

The Imperial Cruise

The Imperial Cruise

American Pests

American Pests

Antebellum Natchez

Antebellum Natchez

The Unemployed People's Movement

The Unemployed People's Movement

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