This collection of 8 essays introduces literary and cultural theorists into the domain of operatic textual analysis, long the exclusive preserve of musicologists. The contributors include some of the most distinguished critics of the past 30 years, most of them writing about opera for the first time.

Full of practical strategies and lesson plans, this book is brimming with clear and inspiring ideas for teachers eager to help their students develop an empathic and accurate understanding of history.

With Other Eyes demonstrates how feminist, postcolonial, and antiracist concerns can successfully be incorporated into the study of art.

When archaeologist Blue Eriksen's book Goddess shot to bestsellerdom, no one was more surprised than Blue herself. Now she's studying ancient sites across the world, looking for evidence of the use of hallucinogens in long-dead religions. She believes that one of these substances may prevent or cure drug addiction. Surely that's a good thing—so why is someone trying to kill her? Leeuwarden Associates is the cover name for a deeply secret international organization that facilitates the production, delivery, and sale of illegal drugs worldwide. Leeuwarden considers Blue a threat to their drug empire and sends one of their enforcers to kill her. As she prepares for an isolated dig high in the Peruvian mountains, Blue has no idea that she is being hunted.

James Elkins's How to Use Your Eyes invites us to look at--and maybe to see for the first time--the world around us, with breathtaking results. Here are the common artifacts of life, often misunderstood and largely ignored, brought into striking focus. With the discerning eye of a painter and the zeal of a detective, Elkins explores complicated things like mandalas, the periodic table, or a hieroglyph, remaking the world into a treasure box of observations--eccentric, ordinary, marvelous.

The Swiss ophthalmologist Erika Sutter was born in Basel in 1917. She spent 32 years working in Elim Hospital, founded by the Swiss Mission in an impoverished rural area in North-Eastern South Africa. Together with her African colleague and friend, Selina Maphorogo, she founded the Care Groups, village self-help groups working for better health in their communities. The movement is still active after more than 30 years, and now has around 2,000 members, mostly women, in over 200 villages. Erika Sutter has received numerous international honours and awards for her pioneering work, including the award Woman of the Year in 1984 from the South African newspaper The Star, and an honorary doctorate from the University of Basel. For the creation of this biography, Erika Sutter spent many hours with the author, her friend Gertrud Stiehle, telling the story of her long life vividly, with a sharp eye for social issues, a hint of self-irony, and dry wit. Her account does not ignore events in the wider world. She experienced life on the Swiss-German border during the Second World War, and her years of working in South Africa were those when the apartheid policies of the South African Government were becoming more and more repressive, affecting many aspects of life in the country.

We live in a polarized time. Christians are quick to conceive of themselves either as theologically-minded or worship-minded; either thinking Christians or feeling Christians. The results are damaging: theology without worship is muted, stifled, and cold, and worship without theology is ungrounded, unrooted, and uninformed. This is not the way it was meant to be. Theology (our study and knowledge of God) should always lead to doxology (our worship of Him). Worship should always be rooted in theology. When we study the nature and character of God as revealed in his Word, we are invited to respond in the affectionate, obedient discipleship of worship. How can we keep our theology from being mere head knowledge? How do we give our worship roots that will last? By fixing our eyes on God Himself—the object of our study and the object of our worship. Fix Your Eyes is an invitation to understand core doctrines of the Christian faith and apply them in our daily worship of God. It walks believers through key theological concepts and shows how each can be lived out in daily life.

This book was first projected in 2004, when Author Hannah Fairbairn was teaching interpersonal skills at the Carroll Center for the Blind in Newton, Massachusetts. The experiences of her adult students—and her own experience of sight lost—convinced her that everyone losing vision needs access to good information about the process of adjustment to losing sight and practical ways to use assertive speech. When You Can’t Believe Your Eyes is intended for anyone going through vision loss, their friends, and families. It will inform readers how to get expert professional help, face the trauma of loss, and navigate the world using speech more than sight. Each of the twelve chapters in the book contain many short sections and bullet-point lists, intended to facilitate access to the right information. It begins where you begin—at the doctor’s office or the hospital. Since vision loss takes many forms, there are suggestions for questions you might ask to get a clear diagnosis and the best treatment. Part One also has a description of legal blindness and possible prevention, advice about your job, and tips for life at home. Part Two is about believing in yourself as you deal with the loss, the anger, and the fear before you come up for air and consider training. Parts Three and Four describe using assertive speech and action in all kinds of settings as your independence and confidence increase. Part Five gives detailed information about everything from dating, and caring for babies to senior living, volunteering, and retaining your job. It is hoped that by reading and trying out the suggestions, the reader will recover full confidence, become a positive, assertive communicator, and lead a satisfying life. Because vision loss happens mostly in older years, the book is written with seniors particularly in mind. Professionals will also find it to be a useful resource for their patients.

The result is a dynamic portrayal of the composer, with all the complexities and paradoxes of a real life.

The Eye Book is an essential read for anyone who wears glasses, for parents of children with eye problems, for students considering training in orthoptics or optometry, and for health-care professionals looking for an overview of eye health. It is written in a lively readable style and a glossary is provided for technical and medical terms. The structure and function of the eye and the mechanisms of vision are explained in the initial chapters, with explanatory illustrations. Eye problems, eye diseases and their treatment are examined, and the function of different eye-care professionals is explained. Modern medical techniques are also described, including laser treatment, transplantation of cells, and rejuvenation therapy which may give the possibility of restoring diminished sight. The book is illustrated throughout with helpful figures and explanatory illustrations, including 17 colour plates.