A Spiritual Bloomsbury is an exploration of how three English writers—Edward Carpenter, E.M. Forster, and Christopher Isherwood—sought to come to terms with their homosexuality by engagement with Hinduism. Copley reveals how these writers came to terms with their inner conflicts and were led in the direction of Hinduism by friendship or the influence of gurus. Tackling the themes of the guru-disciple relationship, their quarrel with Christianity, relationships with their mothers and the problematic feminine, the tensions between sexuality and society, and the attraction of Hindu mysticism; this fascinating work seeks to reveal whether Hinduism offered the answers and fulfillment these writers ultimately sought. Also included is a diary narrating Copley's quest to track down Carpenter's and Isherwood's Vendantism and Forster's Krishna cult on a journey to India.

Saint among Savages tells the remarkable story of St. Isaac Jogues, a French Jesuit who was killed by Mohawks while serving as a missionary in New France. Coming from a upper middle class life in Orleans, he knew from an early age that he wanted to be a priest and serve abroad as a missionary to risk his life in order to save souls. Along with several others, collectively known as the North American Martyrs, he followed his dreams and met death in the American wilderness. Living with the Huron people in what is now Ontario, he was captured by Mohawk warriors and tortured and held captive for over a year. He escaped back to France with help from the Dutch in New York, and remarkably insisted on going back to New France, even though he knew what he might be facing. Besides Jogues' life there is also a lot of material about the lives and customs of the Native American peoples who lived along the St. Lawrence River.

"The late nineteenth-century fin de siècle has proved an enduringly fascinating moment in literary and cultural history. It is associated with the emergence of intriguing figures -- such as the 'new woman' and 'uranian'; with contradictory impulses -- of decadence and decay on the one hand, and of experiment and renewal, on the other; as well as with unprecedented intercultural exchange, especially between Britain and France. The 22 newly-commissioned essays collected here re-examine some of the key concepts taken to define the fin de siècle, while also introducing hitherto overlooked cultural phenomena into the frame, such as the importance of humanitarianism. The impact of recent research in material culture is explored, particularly how the history of the book and the history of performance culture is changing our understanding of this period. A wide range of cultural activities is discussed -- from participation in avant-garde theatre to interior decoration and from the writing of poetry to political and religious activism. Together, the essays provide new scholarly insights into British fin de siècle and enrich our understanding of this complex period, while paying particular attention to the importance of regionalism."--