Civilisations PDF Download

Author: Laurent Binet
Publisher: Arrow
ISBN: 9781529112818
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Author: David R. Montgomery
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 0520933168
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 299

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Book Description
Dirt, soil, call it what you want—it's everywhere we go. It is the root of our existence, supporting our feet, our farms, our cities. This fascinating yet disquieting book finds, however, that we are running out of dirt, and it's no laughing matter. An engaging natural and cultural history of soil that sweeps from ancient civilizations to modern times, Dirt: The Erosion of Civilizations explores the compelling idea that we are—and have long been—using up Earth's soil. Once bare of protective vegetation and exposed to wind and rain, cultivated soils erode bit by bit, slowly enough to be ignored in a single lifetime but fast enough over centuries to limit the lifespan of civilizations. A rich mix of history, archaeology and geology, Dirt traces the role of soil use and abuse in the history of Mesopotamia, Ancient Greece, the Roman Empire, China, European colonialism, Central America, and the American push westward. We see how soil has shaped us and we have shaped soil—as society after society has risen, prospered, and plowed through a natural endowment of fertile dirt. David R. Montgomery sees in the recent rise of organic and no-till farming the hope for a new agricultural revolution that might help us avoid the fate of previous civilizations.

Author: Barbara Michalak-Pikulska
Publisher: Wydawnictwo UJ
ISBN: 832337127X
Category : Foreign Language Study
Languages : en
Pages : 327

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The volume consists of six parts devoted to literature, languages, history, culture, science, religions and philosophy of the Eastern World. Its aim is to portray the present-day state of oriental studies, which are here understood predominantly as philologies of Asia and Africa, but also as a field of study including other, adjacent disciplines of the humanities, not neglecting the history of oriental research. The book’s multidisciplinary content reflects the multi- and often interdisciplinary nature of oriental studies today. Part 1 (Literature) offers new insights into belles-lettres written in Arabic, Hindi, Turkish, Urdu, Persian and Japanese. Part 2 (Linguistics) contains studies on Sanskrit texts (in a stylometric approach), Japanese nominals, Japanese poetry as a linguistic source, Arabic translations of the Bible, Arabic dialect of Morocco, Arabic culinary terms of Persian origin and Turkish vocabulary of the language reform era. Part 3 (History) investigates Napoleon’s campaign in the Middle East, Middle Eastern-Russian relations in the 18th century, the history of Seljuk Empire and the works of a Moroccan historian, Ǧaʿfar Ibn Aḥmad an-Nāṣīrī as-Salawī. Part 4 (Historyof Oriental Studies) deals with the history of oriental studies in Kraków and with the problems of a critical edition of the Quran. Part 5 (Culture and Science) examines the artistic achievements of Egyptian moviemaker Yūsuf Šahīn and possible influence of the Muslim science on medieval Polish scholars. Part 6 (Religion and Philosophy) explores some philosophical concepts of the Confucian ethics and the contribution of Karīma Bint Aḥmad Al-Marwaziyya to preservation and transmission of some religious traditions of Islam.

Author: J. Andrew Kirk
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
ISBN: 1610974425
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 220

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""Samuel Huntington's thesis, which argues that there appear to be aspects of Islam that could be on a collision course with the politics and values of Western societies, has provoked much controversy. The purpose of this study is to offer a particular response to Huntington's thesis by making a comparison between the origins of Islam and Christianity; the two religions that can be said to have shaped, in contrasting ways, the history of the Western world. The early history of each faith continues to have a profound impact on the way in which their respective followers have interpreted the relationship between faith and political life. The book draws significant, critical and creative conclusions from the analysis for contemporary intercultural understanding, and in particular for the debate about the justification of violence for political and religious ends. Andrew Kirk offers a profound analysis of Christianity, Islam, and Western civilisation, providing alternatives to a clash of civilisations. He secures his right to advise others through an honest critique of his own tradition."" Matt Zahniser Scholar-in-Residence at Greenville College, Greenville, IL & Professor Emeritus of Christian Mission at Asbury Theological Seminary, KY ""An eminent missiologist, who has long reflected on Christianity and the West, applies his mind to Islam and the West. The result is a careful analysis of current debates, the identification from a Christian perspective of fundamental issues, and a prophetic call. At the centre is a valuable study of how the origins of the two faiths can determine their views of how religion relates to politics, which leads to an important discussion of the missions of both Muslims and Christians to the West."" Ida Glaser, Academic Director, Centre for Muslim-Christian Studies, Oxford ""In his latest book Civilisations in Conflict? Islam, the West and Christian Faith Andrew Kirk takes on Samuel Huntington's thesis of a clash of civilisations. Kirk takes his reader on a journey into history, showing that contemporary political stances by Muslims and Christians can be better comprehended when some of the choices made in the formative years of both traditions are understood. Rather than simply endorsing Huntington's thesis of an envisioned clash, Kirk focuses on the second and less well-known part of Huntington's thesis: 'the remaking of World Order'. He ends his book with a passionate appeal to the adherents of both Christianity and Islam to safeguard the prophetic core of their traditions. Prophetism, according to Kirk, can function as a critical notion against the development and impact of static and oppressive religious and political ideologies that enhance the probability of a clash of civilisations. Even more, the prophetic core of both religions can contribute significantly to a new - and shared - world order. A book worth reading "" Martha Frederiks Professor of Missiology, World Christianity and Interreligious Dialogue, Utrecht University J. Andrew Kirk has spent much of his life teaching theological subjects in tertiary educational institutions in Argentina and England. He has also taught courses on all six continents. Since retirement he has been involved on a part-time basis with graduate institutes in Eastern Europe and the United Kingdom. He is the author of many books, including What is Mission? Theological Explorations and The Future of Reason, Science and Faith: Following Modernity and Postmodernity. He is married with three children and two grandchildren.

Author: Regis Debray
Publisher: Verso Books
ISBN: 1788734068
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 192

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Book Description
American civilization’s dominance over Europe—and what to do about it In 1900, an American of taste was a European in exile; in 2000, a trendy European is a frustrated American—or one waiting for a visa. Régis Debray explores America’s global cultural ascendancy in this provocative and witty analysis of our contemporary condition. Whereas Europe once foregrounded the importance of time and writing, America is a civilization of spectacle and kinetics, blind to the tragic complexities of human life. A measure of America’s success is how its jargon has been adopted by European languages, but there is much more than that to the States’ infiltration into all aspects of modern life. For Debray, the dominance of American civilization is a historical fait accompli. Yet he envisions a sanctuary for the best of Europe modelled on Vienna at the cusp of the twentieth century, where art and literature flowered in the rich soil of a decaying empire. For decades to come, Europe can still offer a rich cultural seedbed. “Some will call it decadence,” writes Debray, “others liberation. Why not both?”

Author: David Olusoga
Publisher: Profile Books
ISBN: 1782834192
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 303

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Companion to the major new BBC documentary series CIVILISATIONS, presented by Mary Beard, David Olusoga and Simon Schama Oscar Wilde said 'Life imitates Art far more than Art imitates Life.' Was he right? In Civilisations, David Olusoga travels the world to piece together the shared histories that link nations. In Part One, First Contact, we discover what happened to art in the great Age of Discovery, when civilisations encountered each other for the first time. Although undoubtedly a period of conquest and destruction, it was also one of mutual curiosity, global trade and the exchange of ideas. In Part Two, The Cult of Progress, we see how the Industrial Revolution transformed the world, impacting every corner, and every civilisation, from the cotton mills of the Midlands through Napoleon's conquest of Egypt to the decimation of both Native American and Maori populations and the advent of photography in Paris in 1839. Incredible art - both looted and created - relays the key events and their outcomes throughout the world.

Author: Robin Walker
Publisher: Inprint Editions
ISBN: 9781580730457
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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"In twenty two chapters, When We Ruled examines the nature of what we call Black history; critically surveying the often-shoddy documentation of that history. Importantly, it focuses upon African civilization in the Valley of the Nile and analyzes the key historical phases of Ancient Egypt--critical exercises for any professed scholar of African history and vital pieces of Africa's legacy ... When we Ruled is a timely and immensely important work of benefit to scholars and students alike. I am proud to add it to my library, from the Introduction--Runoko Rashidi. Available for the first time in paperback, this edition includes over 100 images, 18 maps, a 15 page chronological table, index, and bibliography. New introduction by Runoko Rashidi for the Black Classic Press edition."--Amazon.com.

Author: Kristian Kristiansen
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1108425410
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 567

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Provides the first global analysis of the relationship between trade and civilisation from the beginning of civilisation until the modern era.

Author: Kerry Bolton
Publisher: Black House Publishing
ISBN: 9781910881965
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 390

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Book Description
Dr. Kerry Bolton surveys the major civilisations of the past. The features that are most celebrated today as the epitome of 'progress' - decadence, self-indulgence, materialism - that make us uniquely 'enlightened', have all been recorded throughout history as the symptoms of a terminally ill civilisation.

Author: Robert Fisk
Publisher: Vintage
ISBN: 0307428710
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 1136

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A sweeping and dramatic history of the last half century of conflict in the Middle East from an award-winning journalist who has covered the region for over forty years, The Great War for Civilisation unflinchingly chronicles the tragedy of the region from the Algerian Civil War to the Iranian Revolution; from the American hostage crisis in Beirut to the Iran-Iraq War; from the 1991 Gulf War to the American invasion of Iraq in 2003. A book of searing drama as well as lucid, incisive analysis, The Great War for Civilisation is a work of major importance for today's world.