Books published by Pennsylvania State University Press

A collection of essays by leading feminist writers from Austria, Germany and Switzerland that represent the range of feminist critique ongoing within this important area of continental philosophy. The introduction puts the essays in context and shows what makes their contribution distinctive.

A philosophical examination of the challenge all humans face in "embracing" their humanity despite the persistent temptation to escape from it. The author argues that Kierkegaard's interpretation of this predicament is still relevant by comparing his ideas with those of Cavell and Nussbaum.

This work looks at the appeal of Niagara Falls to the Americans as an icon of progress and technology. It was in the mid-1800s, when engineers "conquered" the Falls, that it captured the American imagination, and the transformation emerged as both a national shame and a symbol of modern America.

An assessment of sovereignty as status and power, which also scrutinises what precisely constitutes a sovereign state. The concept of sovereignty and the role it may have in the "new world order" is also examined in this discussion.

This text describes the methods of the Castro regime's programme to change Cuban cultural attitudes to women, youth, sports and labour through coercive and non-coercive means, and how they were, generally, unsuccessful.

Focuses on Mormonism as a case study of how unpopular new religions may survive and even flourish in spite of unrelenting opposition. Examines early patriarchal blessings bestowed upon early converts to Mormonism from 1834-1845, and their function as a commitment mechanism for converts.

An English translation of a sixteenth-century Spanish manuscript, by an Inca Jesuit, about Inca religion and the spread of Christianity in colonial Peru. Includes an introductory essay.

In the Middle Ages, textual amulets were thought to protect the bearer against enemies, to heal afflictions caused by demonic invasions, and to bring the wearer good fortune. Offering an analysis of many surviving textual amulets, this book provides a study of this once-common means of harnessing the magical power of words.

This overview of the Oxford Movement highlights five key areas in which the movement affected English society more broadly - politics, religion and theology, friendship, society, and missions. The thematic approach illuminatesthe wider political, social, and cultural impact of the movement.

In "Prayer, Magic, and the Stars in the Ancient and Late Antique World", a distinguished array of scholars explores the many ways in which people in the ancient world sought to gain access to-or, in some cases, to bind or escape from-the divine powers of heaven and earth.

Provides a unique account of Cold War history during the Khrushchev era by one who witnessed it firsthand - Sergei, his only surviving son, in whom he often confided. In this book, Sergei tells the story of how the Cold War happened in reality from the Russian side, not from the American side.

Explores the role of private art collections in the cultural, social, and political life of early eighteenth-century Paris. Examines how two principal groups of collectors, each associated with a different political faction, amassed different types of treasures and used them to establish social identities and compete for distinction.

Explores the relationship between art and religion after the iconoclasm of the Dutch Reformation. Reassesses Dutch realism and its pictorial strategies in relation to the religious and political diversity of the Dutch cities.

Brings together historians, philosophers, critics, postcolonial theorists, and curators to ask how contemporary global art is conceptualized. Issues discussed include globalism and globalization, internationalism and nationality, empire and capitalism.

Brings together the disciplines of art, music, and history to explore the importance of the past to conceptions of the present in the central Middle Ages.

Examines the nexus of learned culture and architecture in the 1730s to 1750s, including major building projects in Rome undertaken by the popes.

Extends formalism to facture and situates the materiality of Titian's later works within the late sixteenth-century interest in embodiment and violence rather than within the Renaissance ideals of classicizing beauty and perfection.

A series of linked essays that considers different aspects of Matisse's life and work, revealing how the artist worked against many of the main tenets of modernism.

Argues that Viennese Jewish modernism is explicable as an aesthetic reconfiguration of Jewish tradition in response to multifaceted crises of memory, identity and language. Examines the works of Hugo von Hofmannsthal (1874-1929), Arthur Schnitzler (1862-1931), Richard Beer-Hofmann (1866-1945) and Sigmund Freud (1856-1939).

A general study of palace painting in Trecento and Quattrocento Italy. Argues for the pivotal role of early secular painting in early-modern art and theory.

Examines 58 letters written by Katerina Lemmel, a wealthy Nuremberg widow, who in 1516 entered the abbey of Maria Mai in south Germany, and rebuilt the monastery using her own resources and the donations she solicited from relatives.