This magnificent volume is the first comprehensive study of the influence of Abstract Expressionism on printmaking.

Comprised of nearly fifty paintings, sculptures and works on paper, The Abstract Impulse highlights artists in such critical movements as Abstract Expressionism, Minimalism, and Op Art. Artists who are included are such canonical figures as Robert Motherwell, Jasper Johns, Helen Frankenthaler, and Robert Mangold among others. This publication, together with its coinciding exhibition, seeks to unveil the pluralistic ways in which abstraction developed after 1950, which will be revealed by the grouping of the works stylistically and thematically into three general sections: gesture, geometry, and introspection.

Michael analyzes the intersections between feminist politics and postmodern aesthetics as demonstrated in recent Anglo-American fiction. While much has been written on various aspects of postmodernism and postmodern fiction and of feminism and feminist fiction, very little attention has been given to the postmodern aesthetic strategies that surface in post-World War II feminist fiction. Feminism and the Postmodern Impulse examines ways in which many widely read and acclaimed novels with feminist impulses engage and transform subversive aesthetic strategies usually associated with postmodern fiction to strengthen their feminist political edge. The author discusses many examples of recent feminist-postmodern fiction, and explores in greater depth Doris Lessing's The Golden Notebook, Marge Piercy's Woman on the Edge of Time, Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale, and Angela Carter's Nights at the Circus. She shows that feminist-postmodern fiction's emphasis on the material historical situation—the link to activist politics and commitment to enacting concrete changes in the world, and thus the need to reach a large reading public—often results in a blending and transformation of postmodern and realist aesthetic forms. Moreover, feminist fiction uses deconstructive strategies not only to disrupt the status quo but also to create a space for reconstruction, particularly of recreating new forms of female subjectivities and feminist aesthetics.

The word Islam means surrender to God. In our secular Western culture, it is difficult to imagine what that means. Among other things, it indicates dependence and predestination. But is this really the case? Isn’t this a superficial presumption? Allah calls on human beings to surrender in freedom to their God (Sura 96). Allah is merciful and forgiving. At the same time, however, Allah is the all-seeing one and the one who humbles. In Islam, free will and predestination have an uneasy relationship with each other—but isn’t this true for every religion?

In this collection of essays, three authors discuss various aspects of the tension between freedom and predestination in Islam from the perspective of Rudolf Steiner’s works. This background enables them to throw sometimes surprising light on the freedom impulse of Islam. It is the authors’ hope that this book may contribute to a more balanced view of Islam today.

This timely book offers interested non-Muslims a rare opportunity to examine a frequently misunderstood aspect of one of the world's fastest growing religions.