In a world gone crazy one might wonder if simple acts of civility are worth the trouble. Dressing with dignity, writing letters, and innocent courtship are just some of the lost arts of kindness and integrity that Dr. Mitchell Kalpakgian tries to dig up and dust off, imploring us to regain the honor and worth our society once had. These noble habits of living fill common life with an abundance of simple pleasures that adorn day to day existence. The Lost Arts of Modern Civilization will inspire you to seek out and nourish the simple joys that lift the spirit, rejoice the heart, and enliven the mind.

Long before GPS, Google Earth, and global transit, humans traveled vast distances using only environmental clues and simple instruments. John Huth asks what is lost when modern technology substitutes for our innate capacity to find our way. Encyclopedic in breadth, weaving together astronomy, meteorology, oceanography, and ethnography, The Lost Art of Finding Our Way puts us in the shoes, ships, and sleds of early navigators for whom paying close attention to the environment around them was, quite literally, a matter of life and death. Haunted by the fate of two young kayakers lost in a fog bank off Nantucket, Huth shows us how to navigate using natural phenomena—the way the Vikings used the sunstone to detect polarization of sunlight, and Arab traders learned to sail into the wind, and Pacific Islanders used underwater lightning and “read” waves to guide their explorations. Huth reminds us that we are all navigators capable of learning techniques ranging from the simplest to the most sophisticated skills of direction-finding. Even today, careful observation of the sun and moon, tides and ocean currents, weather and atmospheric effects can be all we need to find our way. Lavishly illustrated with nearly 200 specially prepared drawings, Huth’s compelling account of the cultures of navigation will engross readers in a narrative that is part scientific treatise, part personal travelogue, and part vivid re-creation of navigational history. Seeing through the eyes of past voyagers, we bring our own world into sharper view.

You know of it through song and legend: the golden civilization of Atlantis, which sank into the cold depths of the sea ages ago. But few know the truth about Atlantisor the geological and metaphysical evidences that suggest it really existed. What have scholars unearthed of Atlantiss society and history? How about its mystical and religious beliefs, art and architecture, and its peoples knowledge of science and healing? Is it possible that the tremendous achievements of the Atlanteans were aided by extraterrestrial contact? Shirley Andrews uncovers the living legacy in Atlantis: Insights from a Lost Civilization, a compelling new look at a legendary country once situated on the Atlantic Ridge. The author has traveled extensively to conduct her own comprehensive research, which she synthesizes with the work of hundreds of other Atlantis researchersclassical and modern scholars, scientists, and respected psychics like Edgar Cayce. Survivors of this fabled land have made their mark on cultures all over the world, and their descendants walk the earth today. Learn how the legacy of Atlantis can help us bring our own world into a new age of peace and enlightenment.

Attending Oxford University in the 1840s, Charles Reding, a young student, must decide about his own spiritual commitment.

Gulliver?s Travels by Jonathan Swift is one of the greatest satirical works ever written. Through the misadventures of Lemuel Gulliver, his hopelessly ?modern? protagonist, Swift exposes many of the follies of the English Enlightenment, from its worship of science to its neglect of traditional philosophy and theology. Swift?s satire on the threats posed by the Enlightenment and the embryonic spirit of secular fundamentalism makes Gulliver?s Travels priceless reading for today?s defenders of tradition. This new critical edition, edited by Dutton Kearney of Aquinas College, contains detailed notes to the text and a selection of tradition-oriented essays by some of the finest contemporary Swift scholars. The Ignatius Critical Editions represent a tradition-oriented alternative to popular textbook series such as the Norton Critical Editions or Oxford World Classics, and are designed to concentrate on traditional readings of the Classics of world literature. Whereas many modern critical editions have succumbed to the fads of modernism and post-modernism, this series will concentrate on tradition-oriented criticism of these great works. Edited by acclaimed literary biographer, Joseph Pearce, the Ignatius Critical Editions will ensure that traditional moral readings of the works are given prominence, instead of the feminist, or deconstructionist readings that often proliferate in other series of 'critical editions'. As such, they represent a genuine extension of consumer-choice, enabling educators, students and lovers of good literature to buy editions of classic literary works without having to 'buy into' the ideologies of secular fundamentalism. The series is particularly aimed at tradition-minded literature professors offering them an alternative for their students. The initial list will have about 15 - 20 titles. The goal is to release three books a season, or six in a year.

Pope John Paul II described Dickens’ books as “filled with love for the poor and a sense of social regeneration . . . warm with imagination and humanity. Such true charity permeates Dickens’ novels and ultimately drives the characters either to choose regeneration or risk disintegration. In Great Expectations, Pip—symbolic of the pilgrim convert—gains both improved fortunes and a growth in wisdom, but as he acquires the latter, he must relinquish the former—ending with a wealth of profound goodness, not of worldly goods.That the Dickensian message was a Christian one is unmistakable. Reminiscent of an Augustinian model, one of reflection, conversion, and moral improvement, Pip undergoes an internal change that manifests itself in his profound contrition for his earlier deeds and his equally profound resolution to make amends. As we travel with Pip, we find that Dickens leads us to an acceptance of worldly limitations and an anticipation of final salvation.The exciting new edition of Dickens’s classic novel includes critical essays by some of today’s leading Dickens scholars.

What are two sisters of uncertain fortunes to do when the death of their father exiles their family to live in the countryside of southwestern England? Why, fall in love, of course! Through her deft unraveling of the dramatically different romantic fates of Elinor and Marianne Dashwood, Jane Austen displays her singular mastery of the English language and her equally masterful invention of colorful and realistic characters. The author's appreciation of what it is to be human, grounded in her deeply convicted Christianity, illuminates the tale with special wisdom. In this, her first published novel, we see the sense and sensibility of Miss Austen herself, which combine to form the brilliance that shines forth in all of her works a brilliance enlivened by her remarkable sense of humor and the affectionate kindness that could only be born of a gracious Christian spirit."

With fresh insight into what the great works meant when they were created and why they appeal to us now, here is a vivid tour of painting, sculpture, and architecture, past and present. "Illuminating . . . a notable accomplishment".--The New York Times. Illustrated.