Oxford University Press's
Academic Insights for the Thinking World
by Gary Hart In my most recent book published by Oxford University Press, The Shield and the Cloak : The Security of the Commons, I endeavored to make two points: first, that security in the 21st century would be a much more encompassing concept than in the 20th century, Cold War years; and second, that […]
And the winner of the poetry contest is… “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” by T.S. Eliot! Walt Whitman’s “Song of Myself” came in second. David Lehman, editor of The Oxford Book of American Poetry, will be on NPR’s Morning Edition tomorrow to discuss the book and, presumably, the contest.
Time Magazine chose Kerry Emanuel for the “Time 100: People Who Shape Our World” feature that hits newsstands today. Emanuel will surely take issue with being called “the man who saw Katrina coming,” but such conclusions are inevitable for the man who published a paper in Nature last summer just before Katrina pointing to the […]
by John-Peter Pham Spurred on no doubt by The Da Vinci Code hoopla, Dan Brown’s fans continue to push his less intricately crafted Angels & Demons to the top of the bestseller lists. A “prequel” to The Da Vinci Code, Angels & Demons chronicles Harvard “symbologist” Robert Langdon’s first foray into the world of the […]
With the world-wide release of The DaVinci Code movie fast approaching, as a service to our readers, we post Bart Ehrman’s list of the 10 historical errors contained in the book. 1. Jesus’ life was decidedly not “recorded by thousands of followers across the land.” He didn’t even have thousands of followers, let alone literate […]
by Anatoly Liberman Martin Chuzzlewit spent some time in America and, following the lead of his creator, Charles Dickens, formed a most unfavorable impression of the country. Soon after his arrival, he met the editors of the Watertoast Gazette, who were sure that Queen Victoria “[would] shake in her royal shoes” when she opened the […]
The discovery of the Gospel of Judas has created quite a stir at OUP. Bart Ehrman, whose book on Peter, Paul and Mary Magdalene was just released, wrote significant sections for both of the best-selling books (1, 2) brought out by National Geographic on the subject. Now, Philip Jenkins has written an essay at Beliefnet […]
by Steven Lubet Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney (D. Ga.) might not be your idea of a model legislator, but she may have the makings of a poker player. She is obviously willing to try a high-stakes bluff. Rather than immediately apologize for hitting a Capitol Police security officer, McKinney launched a caustic campaign to discredit the […]
At least that’s what Sony’s movie website says once you click through to it. Judging from the proliferation of websites and other promotional vehicles saturating the internet and television with DaVinciana, its probably more accurate to say that Sony is loaded, or will be by the time the cash registers stop ringing. Bookstores are cashing […]
by Don Ritchie It is richly ironic that during the same week the Pulitzer Prize for investigative reporting was awarded to Susan Schmidt, James V. Grimaldi, and R. Jeffrey Smith of the Washington Post, for their coverage of the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal, news reports also revealed that the FBI has been seeking to comb […]
Roger Gottlieb, author of A Greener Faith: Religious Environmentalism and Our Planet’s Future, was interviewed by The American Prospect this week. Gottlieb argues that in recent years religious groups have begun to recognize the moral obbligation of preserving God’s creation and taken up a host of environmental causes. How do you respond (or how would […]
by David Brion Davis I’m concerned with the erosion of interest in history — the view expressed by even some leading teachers and intellectuals that we should “let bygones be bygones,” “free” ourselves from the boring and oppressive past, and concentrate on a fresh and better future. I’m passionately committed to the cause that distinguishes […]
The shape of the word weather has changed little since it was first attested in the year 795. In Old English, it had d in place of th; the rest, if we ignore its present day spelling with ea, is the same. But its range of application has narrowed down to “condition of the atmosphere,” while at that time it also meant “air; sky; breeze; storm.”
Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame, With conquering limbs astride from land to land; Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command The air-bridged harbor […]
Updating yesterday’s announcement that David Oshinsky won the 2006 Pulitzer Prize in history for Polio: An American Story, here is today’s NYTimes piece on the “Letters, Drama and Music” winners: HISTORY: ‘Polio: An American Story,’ by David M. Oshinsky Mr. Oshinsky, 61, is George Littlefield professor of history at the University of Texas at Austin. […]
The Pulitzer Prizes for 2006 were just announced and Oxford has won its second straight Letters and Drama Prize for History! Congratulations to this year’s winner, David Oshinsky, author of Polio: An American Story!