This collection of satirical poems homes in on the inconsistencies and downright perversities of what passes in our culture as "Holy Writ." Turning to satire, with its long and distinguished record of exposing folly and bringing enlightenment through humor, the author leaves no doubt that primitive religion posing as eternal truth is just the sort of folly that satire is meant to correct.
He lets his poetic imagination roam widely, as he takes on the roles of Eve, Noah, Sarah, Jonah, David, Mary, Jesus, Judas, and even the biblical Jehovah Himself, ("I never apologize, never explain."). We also hear from priests, televangelists, and faith healers, as well as some sensible contemporaries, commenting on what it means to live a life of reason.
At the conclusion to the introduction, the author says: "Intelligent and well-meaning people have argued for centuries against the fatal attraction of foolishness, but their efforts have been largely unproductive, partly because many people seem impervious to rational discussion. So perhaps satire is our most effective way of lighting candles in the darkness and communicating effectively to those who are immune to reason. That is, at any rate, the hope, and the rationale, of this book."
In this age of suicide bombers and resurgent fundamentalism, we need these lighted candles like never before.

In celebration of Charles Darwin's bicentennial and the 150th anniversary of the publication of The Origin of Species, Indiana University Press is publishing a new paperback edition of Darwin's Ark, a collection of Philip Appleman's poems on Darwinian themes, stunningly illustrated by internationally known printmaker Rudy Pozzatti.

Philosophical, witty, poignant, deeply intellectual, and lyrical, Appleman's poetry is always clear and powerful. All of the poems reflect Appleman's perception of the "overwhelming sanity" of Darwin's thought together with a visceral sensation of wholeness of the connectedness of humans and nature, of the present with the past, of joy and sorrow, life and death. Pozzatti's varied illustrations represent his responses to the poems, providing a mini Darwin bestiary and much more."

As much as anyone in the modern era, Charles Darwin changed the course of human thought. The impact on Western civilization of his seminal work has been broad and deep: not only the biological sciences but also social thought, philosophy, ethics, religion, and literature have all been shaped and reshaped by evolutionary concepts. Here, in what Paul Moody (writing in Victorian Studies) has called "a masterly condensation," is a classic edition of Darwin's The Origin of Species . It retains all of the substance of the original book, but only the essential elements of its profuse detail. Philip Appleman, the editor of Darwin, a Norton Critical Edition ("the best Darwin anthology on the market," according to Stephen Jay Gould), has cut deftly to the essence of Darwin's classic, losing none of the continuity or flavor of the original and making available an edition that modern readers will not find overpowering. This revision includes a new introduction by Professor Appleman that perceptively traces Darwin's influence on the world of ideas as well as three additional chapters from Darwin's work.

Philip Appleman-award-winning poet, novelist, scholar, editor, social critic, and Darwin expert-turns his hand to humorous and sometimes irreverent verse in this, his eighth book of poetry. Appleman's poetry, exquisitely formed, is a delightful and accomplished romp through such lofty themes as sex, religion, and aging that gleefully skewers established thinking. X. J. Kennedy writes in the foreword: "Appleman is a master of the sonnet, the terse rhymed epigram, and even that fiendishly ingenious form, the double dactyl. To watch him sling words is to be richly regaled." from A Simple Explanation for Everything When Puritans filled all New England with dread, Hunting down women whose thoughts they abhorred, They strung up the witches until they were dead. Why did they kill? They killed for the Lord.