It seems impossible: a small island in the North Atlantic, colonized by Rome, then pillaged for hundreds of years by marauding neighbors, becomes the dominant world power in the nineteenth century. E
A journey into the mystery behind why the forbidden fruit became an apple. How did the apple, unmentioned by the Bible, become the dominant symbol of temptation, sin, and the Fall? Temptation Transformed pursues this mystery across art and religious history, uncovering where, when, and why the forbidden fruit became an apple Azzan Yadin-Israel reveals that Eden's fruit, once thought to be a fig or a grape, first appears as an apple in twelfth-century French art. He then traces this image back to its source in medieval storytelling. Though scholars often blame theologians for the apple, accounts of the Fall written in commonly spoken languages--French, German, and English--influenced a broader audience than cloistered Latin commentators. Azzan Yadin-Israel shows that, over time, the words for "fruit" in these languages narrowed until an apple in the Garden became self-evident. A wide-ranging study of early Christian thought, Renaissance art, and medieval languages, Temptation Transfor
Find out how this English singer-songwriter and actor who constantly reinvented his look and sound became one of the most influential musicians of the twentieth century.David Bowie, born David Robert
Words are essential to our everyday lives. An average person spends his or her day enveloped in conversations, e-mails, phone calls, text messages, directions, headlines, and more. But how often do w
AN ECONOMIST BOOK OF THE YEARThe Secret Life of Words is a wide-ranging account of the transplanted, stolen, bastardized words we've come to know as the English languag. It's a history of English as
The English Language is spoken by more than a billion people throughout the world. But where did English come from? And how has it evolved into the language used today?In How English Became English Si
While there have been many books on the history of globalization to date, most have stressed economics and politics. Cultural globalization, of which the emergence of English as the world's first glob
While there have been many books on the history of globalization to date, most have stressed economics and politics. Cultural globalization, of which the emergence of English as the world's first glob
Over 350,000 intrepid English men, women, and childrenmigrated to America in the seventeenth century, leaving behind their homelandfor an uncertain future on distant shores. Whether they settled in Ja
In the 1600s, over 350,000 intrepid English men, women, and children migrated to America, leaving behind their homeland for an uncertain future. Whether they settled in Jamestown, Salem, or Barbados,
While eighteenth-century efforts to standardize the English language have long been studied--from Samuel Johnson's Dictionary to grammar and elocution books of the period--less well-known are the era'
It seems impossible: a small island in the North Atlantic, colonized by Rome, then pillaged for hundreds of years by marauding neighbors, becomes the dominant world power in the nineteenth century. In
The fascinating story of how the English language has developed over the last 15 centuries Illustrating the compelling history of how the relatively obscure dialects spoken by tribes from what are now
