The Book of the Knight Zifar (or Cifar), Spain's first novel of chivalry, is the tale of a virtuous but unfortunate knight who has fallen from grace and must seek redemption through suffering and good deeds. Because of a curse that repeatedly deprives him of that most important of knightly accoutrements -- his horse -- Zifar and his family must flee their native India and wander through distant lands seeking to regain their rank and fortune. A series of mishaps divides the family, and the novel follows their separate adventures -- alternatively heroic, comic, and miraculous -- until at length they are reunited and their honor restored. The anonymous author of Zifar based his early fourteenth-century novel on the medieval story of the life of St. Eustacius, but onto this trunk he grafted a surprising variety of narrative types: Oriental tales of romance and magic, biblical stories, moralizing fables popular since the Middle Ages, including several from Aesop, and instructions in the rules of proper knightly conduct. Humor in the form of puns, jokes, and old proverbs also runs through the novel. In particular, the foolish/wise Knave offers a comic contrast to the heroic Knight, whom he must continually rescue through the application of common sense.Zifar was to have an important influence on later Spanish literature, and perhaps on Cervantes' great tale of a knight and his squire, Don Quixote. All those with an interest in Spanish literature and medieval life will be grateful for Mr. Nelson's excellent translation, which brings to life this extraordinary early novel.

Beginning with a consideration of Malory's ingenious chronology, this study shows that Malory achieved thematic and structural unity by selecting from the great mass of Arthurian legend three narrative strands -- the intrigues of Lancelot and Guinevere, the Grail quest, and the feud between the houses of Lot and Pellinore -- using these to illustrate a single theme -- the rise, flowering, and downfall of an ideal civilization. This selection and use of diverse materials, Charles Moorman asserts, indicates clearly that Malory set to work with a preconceived plan and that he did achieve his purpose, to write the "haole book of Kyng Arthur."

Don Juan Manuel, nephew of King Alfonso X, The Wise, knew well the appeal of exempla (moralized tales), which he believed should entertain if they were to provide ways and means for solving life's problems. His fourteenth-century book, known as El Conde lucanor, is considered by many to be the purest Spanish prose before the immortal Don Quixote of Cervantes written two centuries later. He found inspiration for his tales in classical and eastern literatures, Spanish history, and folklore. His stories are not translations, but are his retelling of some of the best stories in existence. The translation succeeds in making the author speak as clearly to the modern reader as to readers of his own time.

On March 6, 1933, Franklin D. Roosevelt, less than forty-eight hours after becoming president, ordered the suspension of all banking facilities in the United States. How the nation had reached such a desperate situation and how it responded to the banking "holiday" are examined in this book, the first full-length study of the crisis. Although the 1920s had witnessed a wave of bank failures, the situation worsened after the 1929 stock market crash, and by the winter of 1932-1933, complete banking collapse threatened much of the nation. President Hoover's stopgap measures proved totally inadequate, the author shows, and by March 4, the day of Roosevelt's inauguration, thirty-four states had declared banking moratoriums. Of special interest in this study is Ms. Kennedy's examination of relations between Herbert Hoover and Franklin D. Roosevelt.

In the brilliant world of Vienna at the turn of the century four men -- Karl Renner, Otto Bauer, Max Adler, and Friedrich Adler -- sought to develop political and economic resolutions to the racial and cultural tensions that were beginning to strain the bonds of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. In this highly original study of these Austro-Marxists, Mark E. Blum uses the insights of depth psychology to trace the roots of their political philosophy in their family and social backgrounds. The Austro-Marxists 1890--1918 is the first book to offer a systematic examination of the thought and milieu of these four thinkers. The only major work on the subject in English, it is a significant contribution to the history of European socialism and, in particular, to the development of Marxist thought outside Russia.

In July 1863 New York City experienced widespread rioting unparalleled in the history of the nation. Here for the first time is a scholarly analysis of the Draft Riots, dealing with motives and with the reasons for the recurring civil disorders in nineteenth-century New York: the appalling living conditions, the corruption of the civic government, and the geographical and economic factors that led up to the social upheaval.

Strategic studies as a field of civilian scholarship has developed along distinctive lines in the United States since World War II. The rapid proliferation and increasing sophistication of weapons technology have required constant revision of strategic theory, while the shifting political climate, both internationally and in the United States, has had an equally powerful impact.One of the field's leading theorists now examines the history and development of American strategic studies, the varied roles assumed by civilian strategists, and their relationship with those charged with developing and carrying out American military and diplomatic policy. This provocative book clearly demonstrates the importance of a sound strategic theory if America is to survive in an age of high arms technology and increased world tensions.

The darters are a fascinating group of colorful and diminutive freshwater fish whose beauty rivals that of the tropical reef fishes. Native only to North America, the darters occur widely, especially in the United States, but are little known to the general public, largely because of their small size -- few exceed six inches and some measure a mere one inch at maturity.This book is the first comprehensive guide to the darters, covering all named and several undescribed forms -- 140 species in all. Each species account includes a synoptic description to aid in separation of similar species and subspecies, a range map, and discussion of the species' distribution, natural heritage, abundance, and scientific name. An illustrated key and glossary will further assist scientists, students, fishermen, and aquarium specialists in identifying darter species.Central to this volume is the series of 144 handsome color photographs illustrating nearly all known darter species and several subspecies. Most of the specimens shown were caught by the authors at sites throughout the United States, Canada, and Mexico, and photographed by them on site using a recently developed technique that captures the full brilliance of the living fish.Because of their importance as indicators of environmental quality, the darters are receiving increasing attention today from scientists and naturalists. Public interest was focused recently on the plight of the snail darter, but many other darter species are either threatened or endangered, and others face an uncertain future as human activities continue to degrade our waterways. All those with an interest in preserving the natural heritage of our rivers and streams will find this comprehensive guide to the darters an invaluable tool.

The Aloineae, a tribe of several hundred species of succulent plants of the lily family, are ideal subjects for the study of karotypes and chromosome irregularities. This book brings together the major findings of a half-century of study of the Aloineae, with regard to polyploidy, aneuploidy, deletions, duplications, inversions, and translocations in the group.The possible evolutionary effects of ecological relationships, natural hybridization, and morphological changes during growth are also assessed. Illustrations include maps, diagrams, photographs, photomicrographs, and electron micrographs.

The Allegheny frontier, comprising the mountainous area of present-day West Virginia and bordering states, is studied here in a broad context of frontier history and national development. The region was significant in the great American westward movement, but Otis K. Rice seeks also to call attention to the impact of the frontier experience upon the later history of the Allegheny Highlands. He sees a relationship between its prolonged frontier experience and the problems of Appalachia in the twentieth century.Through an intensive study of the social, economic, and political developments in pioneer West Virginia, Rice shows that during the period 1730--1830 some of the most significant features of West Virginia life and thought were established. There also appeared evidences of arrested development, which contrasted sharply with the expansiveness, ebullience, and optimism commonly associated with the American frontier. In this period customs, manners, and folkways associated with the conquest of the wilderness to root and became characteristic of the mountainous region well into the twentieth century. During this pioneer period, problems also took root that continue to be associated with the region, such as poverty, poor infrastructure, lack of economic development, and problematic education.Since the West Virginia frontier played an important role in the westward thrust of migration through the Alleghenies, Rice also provides some account of the role of West Virginia in the French and Indian War, eighteenth-century land speculations, the Revolutionary War, and national events after the establishment of the federal government in 1789.

For over two generations economist Richard T. Ely popularized a wide spectrum of significant liberal social principles and mirrored many of the dilemmas, frustrations, and successes of the academician as a reformer. He was the originator of many ideas that agitated American reform circles in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and unlike most professors of his time, he frequently engaged in the public controversies that raged around the crucial social issues of the day. Through the use of Ely's vast published writings and his large collection of personal papers, Benjamin G. Rader shows him to have been the most provocative spokesman in America of the New Economics which was an important stimulus to the reform efforts in the late nineteenth century. The New Economics inaugurated the institutional economics of the twentieth century and influenced such men as John R. Commons, Thorstein Veblen, Wesley C. Mitchell, and later John K. Galbraith.Ely's influence on higher education, Rader concludes, was inestimable. His ideas embodied the antecedents of modern welfare economics, but he was also an important figure in promoting the then-new disciplines of political economy, sociology, agricultural economics, and land economics.

One hundred twenty years ago, the Independent Order of Good Templars was the world's largest, most militant, and most evangelical organization hostile to alcoholic drink. Standing in the forefront of the international temperance movement, it was recognized worldwide as a potent social and moral force.Temperance and Racism restores the Templars, now an almost forgotten footnote in American and British social history, to a position of prominence within the temperance movement. The group's ideology of universal membership made it unique among fraternal organizations in the late nineteenth century and led to pioneering efforts on behalf of equal rights for women.Its policy toward African Americans was more ambiguous. Though a great many white Templars, especially those in Great Britain, rejected the extreme racism prevalent in the late nineteenth century, members in the American South did not. The decision to allow state lodges to rule on their membership eligibility led to the great schism of 1876-87. The break was mended only after British leaders compromised their ideals of universal brotherhood and sisterhood for the sake of the organization's international unity. Drawing on previously unused primary sources, David Fahey reveals much about racial attitudes and behavior in the late nineteenth century on both sides of the Mason-Dixon line, and on both sides of the Atlantic.

Rossell Hope Robbins collaborated with Carleton Brown in the publishing of the Index of Middle English Verse in 1943. With John L. Cutler, associate professor of English in the University of Kentucky, he has now compiled a supplement to the Index incorporating those texts published since 1943. At the same time, the two have completely revised the Index by including in the Supplement texts previously neglected. The number of entries has been increased to 6,000, and more than half of the 4,500 original entries have been revised. In addition to this basic revision, the appendices of the Index have been corrected and enlarged, especially the listing and locating of privately held manuscripts. Cross references have been inserted abundantly to facilitate easy use of the combined works. Additionally, reference has been made to related specialized studies.The large number of new entries is attributable not only to prolonged manuscript research but also to a broadening of the original criteria for the inclusion of poems. Rather than cutting off entries at 1500, which the authors felt impaired the usefulness of the original Index, Robbins and Cutler included genres that had not concluded but continued into the sixteenth century, as well as poems with uncertain dates they felt would be important for scholars. The Supplement overcomes these barriers by including the so-called Scottish Chaucerians, the late fifteenth and early sixteenth century manuscripts such as the "Tudor songbooks," verse items of only two lines, and tombstone and church bras epitaphs.

Exhibiting a clear, straightforward style, his many works are marked by a comprehensiveness and a catholicity of view. There is hardly an element of southern thought or society, hardly a major movement of any kind or an event of any significance that has escaped his penetrating thought and discerning analysis.This volume of Eaton's selected writings forms a rich and provocative mosaic of southern life from the years of Thomas Jefferson to the close of the Civil War. These selections, perceptively edited by Albert D. Kinvan, 'show the wide range of Eaton's interests, including the impact of slavery, the influence of religion, and the art of politics, and they demonstrate the depth of his insight into the civilization of the Old South.

First published in 1957, this classic work on the political situation in Southeast Asia at the start of the Vietnam War includes a supplement covering events up to mid-1958. An introductory chapter describes the general political and economic characteristics of this important region lying south of Communist China and east of neutralist India. Individual chapters are devoted to Indonesia, the Philippines, Indochina, Thailand, Malaya, and Burma. The concluding chapters analyze the international relations of Southeast Asia and describe American foreign policy in the area.

In 1967, South West Africa -- which was controlled by the Republic of South Africa -- was the only remaining mandated territory from the old League of Nations that had not either gained its independence or come under trusteeship of the United Nations. The sparsely populated region became a center of international controversy and protest as it had come to be a symbol of colonialism and racism.In this study, Faye Carroll traces the twenty-year dispute between South Africa and the United Nations, carefully examining the legal, political, and moral issues involved. She also provides an introduction to the economic, political, and social conditions within South West Africa at the time.