Since the mid-1980s, Taiwan and mainland China have witnessed a sustained resurgence of academic and intellectual interest in ruxue—“Confucianism”—variously conceived as a form of culture, an ideology, a system of learning, and a tradition of normative values. This discourse has led to a proliferation of contending conceptions of ruxue, as well as proposals for rejuvenating it to make it a vital cultural and psycho-spiritual resource in the modern world. This study aims to show how ruxue has been conceived in order to assess the achievements of this enterprise; to identify which aspects of ru thought and values academics find viable, and why; to highlight the dynamics involved in the ongoing cross-fertilization between academics in China and Taiwan; and to examine the relationship between these activities and cultural nationalism. Four key arguments are developed. First, the process of intellectual cross-fertilization and rivalry between scholars has served to sustain academic interest in ruxue. Second, contrary to conventional wisdom, party-state support in the PRC does not underpin the continuing academic discourse on ruxue. Third, cultural nationalism, rather than state nationalism, better explains the nature of this activity. Fourth, academic discourse on ruxue provides little evidence of robust philosophical creativity.

From one of Granta's Best of Young British Novelists comes The Orchard of Lost Souls, a stunning novel illuminating Somalia's tragic civil war. It is 1987 and Hargeisa waits. Whispers of revolution travel on the dry winds, but still the dictatorship remains secure. Soon, through the eyes of three women, we will see Somalia fall. Nine-year-old Deqo has left the vast refugee camp where she was born, lured to the city by the promise of her first pair of shoes. Kawsar, a solitary widow, is trapped in her little house with its garden clawed from the desert, confined to her bed after a savage beating in the local police station. Filsan, a young female soldier, has moved from Mogadishu to suppress the rebellion growing in the north. As the country is unraveled by a civil war that will shock the world, the fates of these three women are twisted irrevocably together. Nadifa Mohamed was born in Hargeisa and was exiled before the outbreak of war. In The Orchard of Lost Souls, she returns to Hargeisa in her imagination. Intimate, frank, brimming with beauty and fierce love, this novel is an unforgettable account of ordinary lives lived in extraordinary times.

Sam Postlethwaite was a Confederate soldier buried in an unmarked grave in Rhode Island. Beginning with nothing more than a handful of dirt, author Les Rolston's innocent curiosity about this mysterious soldier's grave became a journey of thousands of miles that eventually led him to the soldier's family. The result is this factual account of Postlethwaite's odyssey and the author's determined efforts to learn his story. Other important facets of this affecting historical account are the experiences of Postlethwaite's fourteen-year-old brother, who found glory with Stonewall Jackson in the Shenandoah Valley; and a boy from a prominent Rhode Island family who was emotionally ruined by the Civil War. Both their families, embittered by war, were destined to merge through a Civil War romance and marriage. This book is a tribute to all of the people, Northerners and Southerners, who joined together to choose forgiveness and understanding over bitterness and hatred.

The professor and historian delivers a major critique of how political and financial attacks on the academy are undermining our system of higher education. Making a provocative foray into the public debates over higher education, acclaimed historian Ellen Schrecker argues that the American university is under attack from two fronts. On the one hand, outside pressure groups have staged massive challenges to academic freedom, beginning in the 1960s with attacks on faculty who opposed the Vietnam War, and resurfacing more recently with well-funded campaigns against Middle Eastern Studies scholars. Connecting these dots, Schrecker reveals a distinct pattern of efforts to undermine the legitimacy of any scholarly study that threatens the status quo. At the same time, Schrecker deftly chronicles the erosion of university budgets and the encroachment of private-sector influence into academic life. From the dwindling numbers of full-time faculty to the collapse of library budgets, The Lost Soul of Higher Education depicts a system increasingly beholden to corporate America and starved of the resources it needs to educate the new generation of citizens. A sharp riposte to the conservative critics of the academy by the leading historian of the McCarthy-era witch hunts, The Lost Soul of Higher Education, reveals a system in peril—and defends the vital role of higher education in our democracy.

“I start my story. Which, if I do say so myself, is a fine story for a Sunday drive. It’s a love story, at least up to the point that it gets tangled up in death and lies.” And so begins Father Hoven’s journey back to St. Jude and back to the memory of a time when he was “right out of the seminary and ready to set the world straight.” The young priest, however, could hardly be prepared for residents of the Minnesota community who harbored in the midst of their devout natures a host of dark secrets and earthy desires. Father Hoven tells of his early days in their company, speaking alternately with the sweetness of youthful ambitions and the ironic wisdom of old age. His is one of the most delightful voices in American fiction today.

GHOSTS HAUNT LAKEWOOD LANDS AND BLAYLOCK’S MANSION. WHO ARE THEY? WHY ARE THEY THERE? Straight out of a fairy tale or thriller movie, Blaylock's Mansion leaps into stunning view as one traverses a gentle curve in the road. Surrounded by spellbinding gardens and majestic trees, the 16,000-square-foot Tudor-Revival style architecture deep in the harsh, spectacular mountains of southeastern British Columbia captures the eye and the imagination. Selwyn G. Blaylock learned all about harsh and spectacular things. In 1899 the young metallurgist graduated from Quebec's McGill University and ventured to Trail, B.C. During the next three decades his meteoric rise to President of Consolidated Mining and Smelting (later known as Cominco) had tremendous impact around the world. Yet Blaylock was to pay a price in several ways. His life carried the great weight of expectation and demand, blended with responsibility and accountability. Some might suggest guilt. The controversial death of union organizer Ginger Goodwin remains linked to Blaylock, as does his role in ‘the bomb’ dropped on Japan. Many believed Selwyn to be a haunted man. Blaylock was not the only unique, larger-than-real-life character to live in the mansion or on the large property known as Lakewood. A number of fascinating characters also resided there before and after him. Some of them never left. From First Nation hunters, Hudson Bay Company workers, two mayors, freemasons, and a Civil War hero to a smooth-talking, high-rolling con man from California, veteran Canadian writer Charlie Hodge brings to life a variety of real and fictional characters and their common denominator in Lost Souls of Lakewood - The History and Mystery of Blaylock’s Mansion It features several spellbinding tales within the main story, each one worthy of its own novel. Lost Souls of Lakewood is a must read for anyone with an interest in history, mystery or ghosts.

Los Angeles has grown from a scattered collection of towns and villages to one of the largest megacities in the world. The editors of THE CITY have assembled a variety of essays examining the built environment and human dynamics of this extraordinary modern city, emphasizing the dramatic changes that have occurred since 1960. 58 illustrations.