intellectual life

A history of the Song dynasty, examining why it has been compared to the European Renaissance and covering the reshaping of tradition and adaptation of Confucian precepts by scholar-officials, whose rationalist approach led to many inventions and dynamic cultural transformations.

"Meet the artists, writers, and architects of the Middle Ages who created ... works that are still celebrated today. From DaVinci's inventions and Brunelleschi's cathedrals to Chaucer's epic poems, read about the lasting influence of some of the[se individuals]"--Provided by publisher.

"Explores the literature of the Harlem Renaissance, reviewing classic works in the context of the history, society, and culture of its time"--Provided by publisher.

A survey of the literature of the United States, from prehistoric cave narratives to the radical movements of the sixties and the experimentation of the eighties.

A unique and compelling portrait of William F. Buckley as the champion of conservative ideas in an age of liberal dominance, taking on the smartest adversaries he could find while singlehandedly reinventing the role of public intellectual in the network television era.

Argues that the United States is a country filled with philosophy and intellect rather than being anti-intellectual and covers past and present thinkers who have broadened thought and thinking in the country.

Explores the history of William Shakespeare's First Folio.

"[Presents] journalist Sasha Abramsky's elegy to the vanished intellectual world of his grandparents, Chimen and Miriam, and their vast library of socialist literature and Jewish history. A rare book dealer and self-educated polymath who would go on to teach at Oxford and consult for Sotheby's, Chimen Abramsky drew great writers and thinkers like Isaiah Berlin and Eric Hobsbawm to his north London home; his library grew from his abiding passion for books and his search for an enduring ideology. The books, documents, and manuscripts that covered every shelf at 5 Hillway were testaments to Chimen's quest -- from the Jewish orthodoxy of his boyhood, to the Communism of his youth, to the liberalism of his mature years."--Provided by publisher.

When Shakespeare died in 1616, no one, including the playwright, thought that his writings would last, that he was a genius, or that he would be celebrated as the greatest author in the history of the English language. Seven years after his death, copies of his plays and manuscripts were gathered, edited, and thirty-six of them were published in a book format. This massive book was called the the First Folio, and was only intended as a memorial, but it later became one of the most important books ever published and became a coveted prize among collectors, many of whom would do almost anything to obtain a copy.

Poet Maya Angelou chronicles her early life, focusing on her childhood in 1930s rural Arkansas, including her rape at the age of five, her subsequent years of muteness, and the strength she gained from her grandmother and Mrs. Bertha Flowers, a respected African-American woman in her town.