View the Table of Contents.
Read the Prologue.

"Why are beheadings so captivating in society and literature? Losing Our Heads: Beheadings In Literature And Culture tackles a gruesome topic, providing a healthy dose of anthropological, medical, social and literary insight to accounts of beheadings from antiquity to modern times."
--"Bookwatch"

"To read Losing Our Heads is to experience that same "frisson" Regina Janes ascribes to the guillotine--a powerful and seductive and (excuse me) heady combination of gossip and scholarship."
--Kathryn Davis, author of "Versailles"

What is the fascination that decollation holds for us, as individuals and as a culture? Why does the idea make us laugh and the act make us close our eyes? Losing Our Heads explores in both artistic and cultural contexts the role of the chopped-off head. It asks why the practice of decapitation was once so widespread, why it has diminished--but not, as scenes from contemporary Iraq show, completely disappeared--and why we find it so peculiarly repulsive that we use it as a principal marker to separate ourselves from a more abarbarica or aprimitivea past?

Although the topic is grim, Regina Janesas treatment and conclusions are neither grisly nor gruesome, but continuously instructive about the ironies of humanityas cultural nature. Bringing to bear an array of evidence, the book argues that the human ability to create meaning from the body motivates the practice of decapitation, its diminution, the impossibility of its extirpation, and its continuing fascination. Ranging from antiquity to the late nineteenth-century passion for SalomA(c) and John the Baptist, and from the enlightenment topostcolonial Africaas challenge to the severed head as sign of barbarism, Losing Our Heads opens new areas of investigation, enabling readers to understand the shock of decapitation and to see the value in moving past shock to analysis. Written with penetrating wit and featuring striking illustrations, it is sure to captivate anyone interested in his or her head.

View the Table of Contents.
Read the Prologue.

"Why are beheadings so captivating in society and literature? Losing Our Heads: Beheadings In Literature And Culture tackles a gruesome topic, providing a healthy dose of anthropological, medical, social and literary insight to accounts of beheadings from antiquity to modern times."
--"Bookwatch"

"To read Losing Our Heads is to experience that same "frisson" Regina Janes ascribes to the guillotine--a powerful and seductive and (excuse me) heady combination of gossip and scholarship."
--Kathryn Davis, author of "Versailles"

What is the fascination that decollation holds for us, as individuals and as a culture? Why does the idea make us laugh and the act make us close our eyes? Losing Our Heads explores in both artistic and cultural contexts the role of the chopped-off head. It asks why the practice of decapitation was once so widespread, why it has diminished--but not, as scenes from contemporary Iraq show, completely disappeared--and why we find it so peculiarly repulsive that we use it as a principal marker to separate ourselves from a more abarbarica or aprimitivea past?

Although the topic is grim, Regina Janesas treatment and conclusions are neither grisly nor gruesome, but continuously instructive about the ironies of humanityas cultural nature. Bringing to bear an array of evidence, the book argues that the human ability to create meaning from the body motivates the practice of decapitation, its diminution, the impossibility of its extirpation, and its continuing fascination. Ranging from antiquity to the late nineteenth-century passion for SalomA(c) and John the Baptist, and from the enlightenment topostcolonial Africaas challenge to the severed head as sign of barbarism, Losing Our Heads opens new areas of investigation, enabling readers to understand the shock of decapitation and to see the value in moving past shock to analysis. Written with penetrating wit and featuring striking illustrations, it is sure to captivate anyone interested in his or her head.

Gabriel Garcia Marquez in Retrospect gathers fifteen essays by noted scholars in the fields of Latin American literature, politics, and theater. The volume offers broad overviews of the Colombian author's total body of work, along with closer looks at some of his acknowledged masterpieces. The Nobel laureate's cultural contexts and influences, his variety of themes, and his formidable legacy (Hispanic, U.S., world-wide) all come up for consideration. New readings of One Hundred Years of Solitude are further complemented by fresh, stimulating, highly detailed examinations of his later novels (Chronicle of a Death Foretold, The General in His Labyrinth, Of Love and Other Demons) and stories (Strange Pilgrims). Further attention is focused on "Gabo's" labors as journalist and as memoirist (Living to Tell the Tale), and to his sometime relationships with the cinema and the stage. Reactions to his enormous stature on the part of younger writers, including recent signs of backlash, are also given thoughtful scrutiny. Feminist and ecocritical interpretations, plus lively discussions of Gabo's artful use of humor, character's names, and even cuisine, are to be found here as well. In the wake of Garcia Marquez's passing away in 2014, this collection of essays serves as a fitting tribute to one of the world's greatest literary figures of the twentieth century.

This monograph by a distinguished Burke scholar discusses the British statesman's attempts to redefine his native Ireland as an integral part of Britain and, as a by blow, reduce the possibility of revolutionary insurgency a la the French Revolution. A novel use is made of parallel movements and ideas current in British India that fell under Burke's purview.

Written in an easy-to-read, accessible style by teachers with years of classroom experience, Masterwork Studies are guides to the literary works most frequently studied in high school. Presenting ideas that spark imaginations, these books help students to gain background knowledge on great literature useful for papers and exams. The goal of each study is to encourage creative thinking by presenting engaging information about each work and its author. This approach allows students to arrive at sound analyses of their own, based on in-depth studies of popular literature.

Each volume:

-- Illuminates themes and concepts of a classic text

-- Uses clear, conversational language

-- Is an accessible, manageable length from 140 to 170 pages

-- Includes a chronology of the author's life and era

-- Provides an overview of the historical context

-- Offers a summary of its critical reception

-- Lists primary and secondary sources and index