Un saggio che approfondisce una tematica spesso trascurata dalla ricerca storica e che, dall'antica Roma fino a toccare il XVI secolo, indaga il destino di quegli innocenti, orfani o abbandonati, consegnati alla pubblica carità o alla sorte, e destinati a diventare chierici, schiavi o prostitute. Boswell dimostra che l'abbandono dei bambini ha svolto un ruolo chiave nella pianificazione famigliare e nel controllo demografico e come autorità civili e religiose ne abbiano regolato la pratica. Un lavoro erudito, ma anche denso di umanità che, esaminando varie fonti e testimonianze, tenta di comprendere quali siano state le fasce sociali più colpite dalla tendenza, quali le ragioni e le modalità dell'abbandono, nonché le prospettive di vita che si aprivano ai 'trovatelli'. Uno studio su un fenomeno nascosto ma tristemente radicato nella società occidentale.

Davvero la Chiesa ha sempre condannato l'omosessualità? In questa breve e appassionata conferenza, lo storico John Boswell torna a ribattere alle polemiche suscitate dal suo classico testo 'Cristianesimo, tolleranza, omosessualità' (1980), che aveva inaugurato un modo radicalmente nuovo di guardare al ruolo dei comportamenti omosessuali nello sviluppo delle comunità cristiane. Boswell dimostra come, nei primi mille anni della sua storia, il mondo cattolico non avesse manifestato particolare imbarazzo o intransigenza di fronte all'amore omosessuale, al punto di prevedere una cerimonia, quella della 'fratellanza spirituale', per l'unione tra monaci dello stesso sesso. E sarebbero proprio queste unioni, vero archetipo di amore gay nato all'interno della Chiesa, ad aver ispirato l'amore cortese medievale e, infine, quello che noi chiamiamo amore romantico, svincolato dalla necessità biologica.

David Novak—one of today's most engaging, unconventional, and successful business leaders—lived in thirty-two trailer parks in twenty-three states by the time he reached the seventh grade. He sold encyclopedias door to door, worked as a hotel night clerk, and took a job as a $7,200-a-year advertising copywriter with the hopes of maybe one day becoming a creative director. Instead, he became head of the world's largest restaurant company at the ripe old age of forty-seven.

While David never went to business school, he did learn from the greatest of teachers—experience—and plenty of other very smart people as well: Magic Johnson on the secret to teamwork, Warren Buffett on what he looks for in the companies he buys, John Wooden on ego, and Jack Welch on one thing he'd do over. Now he wants to share with you what he discovered about getting ahead and getting noticed; motivating people and turning businesses around; building winning teams and running a global company of nearly one million people; and always staying true to yourself.

The Education of an Accidental CEO is filled with David Novak's street-smart wisdom:

From his formative years...
• Walking through your anxieties
• Avoiding the poison of stereotypes
• Staying “right-sized”
• Breaking through the clutter

From his years as an ad executive and chief marketing officer ...
• How not to roll over like Fluffy the dog
• Seeing yourself as a brand
• When to pull the plug on the Super Bowl

As the COO of Pepsi Cola and then as president of KFC and Pizza Hut ...
• Why a gold watch can have less value than a floppy rubber chicken
• Knowing when “the answers are in the building”
• Knowing when to do nothing
• What it takes to revitalze a company

And as CEO of Yum! Brands, Inc. ...
• How to “shock the system”
• How to avoid the slow-no's
• Managing two up and two down

David Novak's ideas for building an entire culture around reward and recognition—getting everyone from division presidents to dishwashers to buy into recognizing the achievements of others—is studied by other companies and discussed here in great detail. Whether you are the CEO of a global conglomerate or a budding entrepreneur, there is something here that will help you get where you want to go.


From the Hardcover edition.

Like music, art is a universal language. Although looking at works of art is a pleasurable enough experience, to appreciate them fully requires certain skills and knowledge.' --Carol Strickland, from the introduction to The Annotated Mona Lisa: A Crash Course in Art History from Prehistoric to Post-Modern

* This heavily illustrated crash course in art history is revised and updated.

This second edition of Carol Strickland's The Annotated Mona Lisa: A Crash Course in Art History from Prehistoric to Post-Modern offers an illustrated tutorial of prehistoric to post-modern art from cave paintings to video art installations to digital and Internet media.

* Featuring succinct page-length essays, instructive sidebars, and more than 300 photographs, The Annotated Mona Lisa: A Crash Course in Art History from Prehistoric to Post-Modern takes art history out of the realm of dreary textbooks, demystifies jargon and theory, and makes art accessible-even at a cursory reading.

* From Stonehenge to the Guggenheim and from Holbein to Warhol, more than 25,000 years of art is distilled into five sections covering a little more than 200 pages.

(Book Jacket Status: Not Jacketed)

In 1773, the great Samuel Johnson–then 63–and his young friend and future biographer, James Boswell, traveled together around the coast of Scotland, each writing his own account of the 83-day journey. Published in one volume, the very different travelogues of this unlikely duo provide a fascinating picture not only of the Scottish Highlands but also of the relationship between two men whose fame would be forever entwined.

Johnson's account contains elegant descriptions and analyses of what was then a remote and rugged land. In contrast, the Scottish-born Boswell's journal of the trip focuses on the psychological landscape of his famously gruff and witty companion, and is part of the material he was already collecting for his future Life of Samuel Johnson, the masterly biography that would make his name.

Read together, the two accounts form both a unique classic of travel writing and a revelation of one of the most famous literary friendships.

A book for everyone who's ever cheated just a little bit at golf (I'm only moving the ball to where it should have landed) or gone to a party instead of visiting a sick friend (If I were in the hospital, I wouldn't want a bunch of people bothering me), Rationalizations to Live By offers dozens of perfect rationalizations for behavior that ranges from the selfish, thoughtless, and irresponsible to the boorish, self-destructive, and un-p.c. A group effort by four of the funniest people writing books today, it evokes both nervous laughter (for what we recognize in ourselves) and happy superiority (because we can't believe anyone could do that). For example:
Look how long the French live.
All of this shopping is good for the economy.
This doesn't really count as sex.
I'm earning frequent-flyer miles.
Video games are good for my kid's motor skills.
Picasso didn't do his best work until he was 70.
He'll just spend it on liquor.
I only smoke at parties.
And, of course, the universal: Everybody does it.

Both highly praised and intensely controversial, this brilliant book produces dramatic evidence that at one time the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches not only sanctioned unions between partners of the same sex, but sanctified them--in ceremonies strikingly similar to heterosexual marriage ceremonies.