Great Books

Aldous Huxley's tour de force, Brave New World is a darkly satiric vision of a "utopian" future—where humans are genetically bred and pharmaceutically anesthetized to passively serve a ruling order. A powerful work of speculative fiction that has enthralled and terrified readers for generations, it remains remarkably relevant to this day as both a warning to be heeded as we head into tomorrow and as thought-provoking, satisfying entertainment.

"Community, Identity, Stability" is the motto of Aldous Huxley's utopian World State. Here everyone consumes daily grams of soma, to fight depression, babies are born in laboratories, and the most popular form of entertainment is a "Feelie," a movie that stimulates the senses of sight, hearing, and touch. Though there is no violence and everyone is provided for, Bernard Marx feels something is missing and senses his relationship with a young women has the potential to be much more than the confines of their existence allow. Huxley foreshadowed many of the practices and gadgets we take for granted today--let's hope the sterility and absence of individuality he predicted aren't yet to come.

Katy has always enjoyed life in her small Mennonite community, but she longs to learn more than her school can offer. After getting approval from her elders, Katy starts her sophomore year at the public high school in town, where she meets new friends and encounters perspectives much different than her own. But as Katy begins to find her way in the outside world, her relationships at home become restrained. Can she find a balance between her two worlds?

The astonishing novel Brave New World, originally published in 1932, presents Aldous Huxley's legendary vision of a world of tomorrow utterly transformed. In Huxley's darkly satiric yet chillingly prescient imagining of a "utopian" future, humans are genetically designed and pharmaceutically anesthetized to passively serve a ruling order. A powerful work of speculative fiction that has enthralled and terrified readers for generations, it remains remarkably relevant to this day as both a warning to be heeded and as a thought-provoking yet satisfying entertainment. This deluxe edition also includes the nonfiction work "Brave New World Revisited," "a thought-jabbing, terrifying book" (Chicago Tribune), first published in 1958. It is a fascinating essay in which Huxley compares the modern-day world with his prophetic fantasy envisioned in Brave New World. He scrutinizes threats to humanity such as overpopulation, propaganda, and chemical persuasion, and explains why we have found it virtually impossible to avoid them. With a Foreword by Christopher Hitchens

When the novel Brave New World first appeared in 1932, its shocking analysis of a scientific dictatorship seemed a projection into the remote future. Here, in one of the most important and fascinating books of his career, Aldous Huxley uses his tremendous knowledge of human relations to compare the modern-day world with his prophetic fantasy. He scrutinizes threats to humanity, such as overpopulation, propaganda, and chemical persuasion, and explains why we have found it virtually impossible to avoid them. Brave New World Revisited is a trenchant plea that humankind should educate itself for freedom before it is too late.

A description of a futuristic, controlled community with utopian overtones, Brave New World illustrates the results of failing to establish control over science. In this eerie, provocative novel, the characters are completely subdued and enslaved by a small ruling group that wields the power of science. This concise supplement to Aldous Huxley's Brave New World helps students understand the overall structure of the novel, actions and motivations of the characters, and the social and cultural perspectives of the author.

"Calloway employs lucid prose and captivating examples to remind us that neither Indians nor Colonists were a monolithic group... The result is a more nuanced appreciation for the complexity of cultural relationships in Colonial America... He surveys this complex story with imagination and insight and provides an essential starting point for all those interested in the interaction of Europeans and Indians in early American life." -- David R. Shi, Christian Science MonitorAlthough many Americans consider the establishment of the colonies as the birth of this country, in fact Early America already existed long before the arrival of the Europeans. From coast to coast, Native Americans had created enduring cultures, and the subsequent European invasion remade much of the existing land and culture. In New Worlds for All, Colin Calloway explores the unique and vibrant new cultures that Indians and Europeans forged together in early America. The journey toward this hybrid society kept Europeans' and Indians' lives tightly entwined: living, working, worshiping, traveling, and trading together -- as well as fearing, avoiding, despising, and killing one another. In the West, settlers lived in Indian towns, eating Indian food. In Mohawk Valley, New York, Europeans tattooed their faces; Indians drank tea. And, a unique American identity emerged. "I cannot think of another work that sets out to accomplish what Colin Calloway has achieved. New Worlds for All stands poised to become the most successful synthesis of North American ethnohistory from contact to the early national period." -- Gregory E. Dowd, University of Notre Dame"Colin Calloway's grand synthesis of the experience of Indians and other Americans before 1800 is exceptional in its breadth of vision. Taking as his canvas the entire North American continent -- examining everything from war and disease to trade and sex, from clothes and houses to foods and cures -- he nonetheless never loses sight of the individual, human story, the vivid encounter or striking incident that brings the past to life." -- James H. Merrell, Vassar College

American history has often been influenced by ethnic conflicts, but what we sometimes forget is how central the meetings between various ethnic groups were to the formation of what would become the United States. In New Worlds for All Colin Calloway offers a readable, fascinating account of how the English, French, Dutch, Spanish, and Native Americans came together in a wilderness and went through tumultuous conflicts that eventually created a hybrid society. This conglomerate, which was different from any other on earth, eventually led to the creation of the United States.

No period in British history has more resonance and mystery today than the sixteenth century. New Worlds, Lost Worlds brings the atmosphere and events of this great epoch to life. Exploring the underlying religious motivations for the savage violence and turbulence of the period-from Henry VIII's break with Rome to the overwhelming threat of the Spanish Armada-Susan Brigden investigates the actions and influences of such near-mythical figures as Elizabeth I, Thomas More, Bloody Mary, and Sir Walter Raleigh. Authoritative and accessible, New Worlds, Lost Worlds, the latest in the Penguin History of Britain series, provides a superb introduction to one of the most important, compelling, and intriguing periods in the history of the Western world.

With compelling selections by some of the world's most respected and critically acclaimed writers, THE NEW WORLD READER encourages exploration of the significant global challenges of the 21st century. Students gain a deeper understanding of the topics that affect their lives, such as the challenges and consequences of globalization, global warming, bilingual education, and redefined gender roles. Challenged by such notable contemporary thinkers and writers as Andrew Lam, Ishmael Reed, Moises Naim, Barbara Ehrenreich, Anna Quindlen, Thomas L. Friedman, Octavio Paz, Bill Gates, Al Gore, and Jane Goodall, students develop their reading and critical-thinking skills. A consistent pedagogical apparatus includes brief chapter introductions, author headnotes, and pre-reading questions that offer students a preview of the central theme in each section. Exercise sets follow each essay, providing for deeper writing, reading, and discussion opportunities.

The Antidote to Toxic Christianity In his bestselling book Why Christianity Must Change or Die, Bishop John Shelby Spong described the toxins that are poisoning the Church. Now he offers the antidote, calling Christians everywhere into a new and radical reformation for a new age. Spong looks beyond traditional boundaries to open new avenues and a new vocabulary into the Holy, proposing a Christianity premised upon justice, love, and the rise of a new humanity -- a vision of the power that might be.

Christianity will not be a viable belief system for honest people in the contemporary world, writes John Shelby Spong, until it drops a few outmoded ideas--for instance, belief in a supernatural God who reveals Himself from outside creation. A New Christianity for a New World continues the work begun in Spong's bestselling Why Christianity Must Change or Die, in which the former Episcopalian bishop diagnosed Christianity's major problems. Here, he offers a vision of what authentic Christian belief might look like today, stripped of theism and all its corollaries (doctrines such as the Trinity, the Incarnation, and Atonement). Christians may come to believe that "God is beyond Jesus, but Jesus participated in the Being of God and Jesus is my way into God." Readers inspired by Dietrich Bonhoeffer's tantalizing writings on "religionless Christianity" in Letters and Papers from Prison and by John A.T. Robinson's Honest to God will find much challenge and comfort in Spong's New Christianity, his most mature and most radical book. --Michael Joseph Gross

"More than any other book, this one introduces students to another time and another place, what Karl Barth long ago called "the strange new world of the Bible".---Dennis C. Dualing, Professor of Religion Canisius College, Buffalo, New York.