I Ching: The Book of Changes (LITTLE HUMANIST CLASSICS SERIES)

Bandanna Books

Sappho (Little humanist library)

Literature & Fiction

SAPPHO

Ancient & Medieval Literature

This book is not just a story told by one of the world’s greatest storytellers. The real story here is Leo Tolstoy’s stubborn insistence on uncovering what was said and what happened. It wasn’t the first time that Tolstoy stood alone. In writing this book he attacks Christ-centered churches for their one big lie—the claim that the Bible, the whole Bible, is sacred. This claim has led Christians ever since in the wrong direction, and he describes why. The Russian Orthodox Church responded by excommunicating Tolstoy. A hundred years have passed since Tolstoy produced this little book. Christian churches still abound, each basing itself on a truth that denies truth to other churches and sects. Tolstoy did not limit his accusation to the Russian Orthodox Church, though, as a Russian, he naturally focuses on its peculiarities in his preface. Tolstoy's synoptic Gospel was a bombshell when it was written. The book was banned in Russia even before publication; consequently its first edition was printed in Switzerland by an exile Russian press, in an incomplete version. Translations aplenty followed—but in Russia itself, this book was not officially available. Tolstoy himself was not surprised at the book banning. In his study of the Christian tradition, Tolstoy had found that religion was indeed alive, but not in the churches. It was alive in the fields, in the faith of the common people, the serfs and peasants of Russia. And it was for them that Count Leo Tolstoy abandoned writing his great novels to uncover the truth of Jesus’ teaching, as much as may now be known of it from the generally accepted gospel accounts. His method was simple: Throw out the garbage. That meant specifically the parts that have nothing whatsoever to do with Jesus’ teaching—all the miracle stories that had been added to win over the doubtful, all the interpretations of one point of view or another that were added later—especially those of Paul—and any suggestion of a resurrection. One churchly principle that Tolstoy demolished was the idea that most of the books of ‘‘the Bible” had anything to do with Jesus, other than to justify after the fact an old Jewish prophetic tradition namely, Messiahship— that Jesus himself did not consider important. Especially noxious to Tolstoy was the notion that the Bible was sacred, the Word of God. In the course of history, great wrongs have been committed in the name of Christianity, based on one or another passage found in the Bible, a book which, after all, tells the stories of a thousand years of the ethical development of a barbarous people. In Tolstoy’s view this Bible-holiness is simply a perversion. Tolstoy’s uncompromising mind brought him to conclusions not shared by the great majority of his fellows; this in no way distracted him, but rather deepened his commitment toward humanity. Struggling in the same social ferment of injustice in Russia that gave rise to Nihilism, Anarchism, and Communism, Tolstoy and Tolstoyan Christians worked to solve social problems with a religious answer. History took a different turn, but the influence of Tolstoy in the last years of his life was enormous and worldwide. In this translation I have relied throughout on the Soviet Complete Written Works of Tolstoy, Volume 24, published in Moscow during Khrushchev’s Thaw period in 1957 under the auspices of the State Editorial Commission. This book of Tolstoy’s is a great humanist document, in which an uncompromising mind brings freshness to a great human teaching.

The Little Gospel

TOLSTOY, LEO

Religion & Spirituality

Gandhi used his time in prison corresponding with followers. One asked about the ethical questions in the Bhagavad Gita, and Gandhi replied to this, and to other questions. Finally, he put together his comments and analysis of the lessons that Krishna was sharing with Arjuna in a little book, his most concise expression of this Hindu holy book as he understood it. After his autobiography, this may be the closest record of Gandhi's spiritual understanding. A sample chapter is available at www.bandannabooks.com/free/gandhisample.zip. For a different view on the Indian subcontinent, you might like Ghazals of Ghalib, a 19th-century poet who wrote in Persian and Urdu. His ghazals are witty, self-revealing, thoughtful. He lived through the Sepoy Mutiny and the British Raj, asking Queen Victoria to support poetry as the rajahs had done, by direct donation.

Gandhi on the Gita

Politics & Social Sciences

Gandhi, Mohandas K.

Anthropology

The trial of Socrates is one of the most famous of history. He was adjudged to be guilty, and sentenced to death. Though he could easily have escaped from Athens with the help of friends eager to help, he explains in The Crito that it would be opposed to everything he stood for to run away, that he would abide by the decision. This dialogue of Plato, who wrote from the position of an observer at the trial, is the most revealing of the innermost mind of one of the greatest thinkers in human history. His technique during the trial, if representative of his teaching, remains with us today as "the socratic method." On the other hand, we may have Plato to thank for that. Since Socrates himself never wrote anything, or nothing has come down in history as his own writing, we must take Plato's word for it. The Crito is another good example of the Socratic dialogue, leading from one point to another in the pursuit of truth. Teachers should be aware that a Supplement Edition is available as well, with a lot of additional material at www.createspace.com/3677227.

Apology and Crito

PLATO

History & Criticism

New! Compare this edition with six others at http://www.bandannabooks.com/vsghalib.php. Ghalib, a court poet in India during the period of British takeover, excelled in poetry both in Urdu and Persian. Ghazals are a poetry genre with couplets gathered that share a common theme but do not form a narrative sequence. With these two-liners, Ghalib was a master. His subjects range from personal to cosmic, and includes his metaphoric "love affair" with God, in which he protests the neglect or spurning by The Beloved. Ghalib lived by his wits, with cleverness and astuteness. He did not regard himself as a mystic, yet he marvels at the wonders of existence. Ghalib's work gives a sense of the state of India as it came under the British. He himself was not political; Gandhi came to represent that dimension of Indian philosophy with satyagraha. Gandhi's best thought might be seen in Gandhi on the Gita (Bhagavad Gita) (www.createspace.com/4035181).

Ghazals of Ghalib

Ghalib

Blake’s notebooks after his death disclose an unfinished poem titled “The Everlasting Gospel.”    The message of the poem is enduring, and presents a humanist document with few parallels and perhaps no predecessors. Blake’s personality was seen by his contemporaries as part genius, part naïf—just the combination to touch areas of sensibility remote from the rest of us. But in fact good and evil are not at all remote, they are simply removed from our daily considerations. To live with such consciousness, and with such conviction to shout against the platitudes of our lives, may be possible only for such a personality. Blake’s ability to step outside the conventional thinking of his day (and of ours)  gave him a point of view from which he could critically re-evaluate cherished values and expectations of the Christian tradition, such as good and evil.

The Everlasting Gospel: and Other Poems

BLAKE, William

Poetry

For the college bookstore discount, apply to  for the discount code. The original edition of Leaves of Grass had just 95 pages of poetry, and a lengthy introduction. The only titles were “Leaves of Grass” or a marker, indicating a new poem. The original book listed no author, with a small engraving of himself in a loose open shirt and tipped hat, one hand on hip, the other in his pocket (to “loafe” at that time meant to be seen idling stylishly about town). The engraving by Samuel Hollyer was based on a photo by Gabriel Harrison (a common printing conversion by skilled professionals in the pre-digital age). Whitman’s experience as editor of the Brooklyn Eagle observing the American scene and his patroitic bombast of, for example, the “America” essay that opens this book, led him to use the longest breath-line in poetry until Allen Ginsberg and Bob Dylan. This poetic line allowed him to speak as a visionary poet of Biblical stature with remark-able candor, and he continues to stand at the center of American literature a hundred years after his death. Why should we read the first edition, long before the famous Lincoln and Civil War poetry? This edition shows the freshness of Whitman’s creative breakthrough—for the first time he finds/invents an appropriate form, and he gets a handle on his true subject. This book marks his emergence from the wilderness. Whitman himself designed the book and set the type for the first edition. He set no poem titles other than the phrase “Leaves of Grass,” placed at the heads of major sections, and we follow that design. Teachers and serious readers may be interested in the Supplement Edition of Leaves of Grass (www.createspace.com/3675901). This volume contains a wealth of information, critical comments and background on Whitman. Also, a freebie: A Backward Glance over Traveled Roads, in which Whitman remembers how he came to write and publish Leaves of Grass. Download from www.bandannabooks.com/free/whitmanglance.zip

Leaves of Grass (Little Humanist Classics Series, No. 9)

Walt, Whitman

As a young poet, Dante Alighieri was at the center of a new attitude sweeping through Italy and southern France. Poets and artists were awakening from a thousand-year yoke we now call the Middle Ages. Giotto showed the way in art by painting real people in his allegorical scenes; Dante used vernacular or street language to write down his actual feelings. And a new subject drove these and other passionate artists: Love. Who were the poets of Dante’s circle? This edition of Dante and His Circle is based upon an imaginative recreation of a cultural and intellectual ferment at the birth of a national literature. Dante Gabriel Rossetti brought together poetry of the friends and antagonists of Dante—in particular the poems of the flamboyant Guido Cavalcanti, the staid Cino da Pistoia, and the outrageous Cecco Angiolieri, with many others—and including the curious work of the youthful Dante called the Vita Nuova (The New Life, or My Young Life; available separately), which itself is the subject of comments by Dante’s poetic friends. Dante’s putative subject is Beatrice/Love—but the Vita Nuova is really an exercise in poetry: Dante sets the emotional scene for a poem, then he writes the poem, then he explains the poem’s structure, part by part. Dante himself later became uncomfortable with this work of youth, but he did not disown it. This selected edition of Dante and His Circle concentrates on the eternal theme of Love, leaving aside poems relating to the wars and politics of the time. Love as a subject of serious public discussion signaled the emerging Renaissance, not just a rediscovery of the glories of ancient Greece and Rome, but a new sensibility finding—no—building a platform for personal expression and interchange. Besides the Vita Nuova, Rossetti arranged some poetic exchanges between Dante and Guido Cavalcanti. The Vita Nuova is also available as a stand-alone volume (www.createspace.com/3683218). The woman's perspective on love may have best been told by Sappho (www.createspace.com/4185675), who invented lyric poetry — and what we now know as the guitar pick!

Dante and His Circle

BOCCACCIO, GIOVANNI

Angiolieri, Cecco

Cavalcanti, Guido

ROSSETTI

da Pistoia, Cino

di Bondone, Giotto

Guinicelli, Guido

poets, a dozen more

In the CliffsComplete guides, the novel's complete text and a glossary appear side-by-side with coordinating numbered lines to help you understand unusual words and phrasing. You'll also find all the commentary and resources of a standard CliffsNotes for Literature.CliffsComplete The Merchant of Venice offers insight and information into a work that's rich both dramatically and thematically. Every generation since Shakespeare's time has been able to identify with some thematic aspect of the play.Discover what happens to a young merchant who cannot repay a debt to a vindictive money lender; meet the menacing Shylock, one of the most vivid and memorable characters in Shakespeare's works — and save valuable studying time — all at once. Enhance your reading of The Merchant of Venice with these additional features:A summary and insightful commentary for each actBibliography and historical background on the author, William ShakespeareA look at Early Modern English intellect, religion, politics, and societyCoverage of Shakespeare's source and the play's performance historyA character map that graphically illustrates the relationships among the charactersReview questions, a quiz, discussion guide, and activity ideasA Resource Center full of books, articles, films, and Web sitesStreamline your literature study with all-in-one help from CliffsComplete guides!

The Merchant of Venice

Burke, Rachel

Shakespeare., William

Humor & Entertainment

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