Kentucky's Mammoth Cave National Park is home to the world's longest cave system, boasting over 365 miles of explored and mapped passageways. Geologists estimate that there could be as many as 600 miles of this vast subterranean world that remain unexplored. In addition to the renowned Mammoth Cave, the park also includes over 50,000 acres of untouched hills, streams, and forests. Almost 70 miles of scenic trails cross the area, and the Green River winds through the landscape. Nearly two million visitors from all over the world come to the park each year to explore and enjoy nature. In 2003, nature photographer Raymond Klass was awarded an artist-in-residence position at the park and was granted special access to the cave and the surrounding wilderness. For nearly three months he lived in the park, taking thousands of photographs of famous cave formations such as Frozen Niagara and the Drapery Room as well as scenery and vistas not often accessible to the general public. Mammoth Cave National Park: Reflections is Klass's unique visual exploration of both the above- and belowground ecosystems within the park. With over 100 dramatic full-color photographs accompanied by Klass's commentary and extracts from his journal entries he kept while living and working in the park, the book is a celebration of this distinctive environment and of the extraordinary diversity of one of our most popular national parks.

On a muggy, late August afternoon in 1936, somewhere along the banks of Greasy Creek, Life found Grace -- walking the dusty mile between work and home in a brand new pair of leather kitten-heeled pumps, blond curls bouncing in the sun. Two weeks later, Lifie Jay Preston and Grace Mollette married, a union that lasted until their deaths fifty-eight years later. There was something about them, their daughter Linda would discover, a kind of radiance and love of living that would mark them in the memories of every person they encountered -- a song that resonates years after their passing. Songs of Life and Grace is their story, told by the daughter whose own life grew out of their loving ministries and Appalachian sensibilities. Linda Scott DeRosier, the celebrated author of Creeker: A Woman's Journey, draws on family letters and lore, interviews, and her own recollections to reach a better understanding of her parents and the families that formed them both. Along the way, she introduces an unforgettable cast of characters: the formidable Grandma Emmy; Uncle Burns, an infamous ladies' man; helpless and simple Aunt Jo; and gentle Pop Pop, who could peel an apple in one long, unbroken spiral.A stirring, honest look at Appalachia and a tribute to the unbreakable bonds of family, Songs of Life and Grace establishes DeRosier as one of the most vital and exciting new voices of the American South.

The literary influence of alchemy and hermeticism in the work of most medieval and early modern authors has been overlooked. Stanton Linden now provides the first comprehensive examination of this influence on English literature from the late Middle Ages through the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.Drawing extensively on alchemical allusions as well as on the practical and theoretical background of the art and its pictorial tradition, Linden demonstrates the pervasiveness of interest in alchemy during this three-hundred-year period. Most writers -- including Langland, Gower, Barclay, Eramus, Sidney, Greene, Lyly, and Shakespeare -- were familiar with alchemy, and references to it appear in a wide range of genres. Yet the purposes it served in literature from Chaucer through Jonson were narrowly satirical.In literature of the seventeenth century, especially in the poetry of Donne, Herbert, Vaughan, and Milton, the functions of alchemy changed. Focusing on Bacon, Donne, Herbert, Vaughan, and Milton -- in addition to Jonson and Butler -- Linden demonstrates the emergence of new attitudes and innovative themes, motifs, images, and ideas.The use of alchemy to suggest spiritual growth and change, purification, regeneration, and millenarian ideas reflected important new emphases in alchemical, medical, and occultist writing. This new tradition did not continue, however, and Butler's return to satire was contextualized in the antagonism of the Royal Society and religious Latitudinarians to philosophical enthusiasm and the occult. Butler, like Shadwell and Swift, expanded the range of satirical victims to include experimental scientists as well as occult charlatans. The literary uses of alchemy thus reveal the changing intellectual milieus of three centuries.

In the late 1980s, the major conservative Christian groups suffered a series of public setbacks. In Hollywood Under Siege: Martin Scorsese, the Religious Right, and the Culture Wars, Thomas R. Lindlof asserts that the Christian right realigned itself and tried to solidify its self-appointed role as moral regulator of the entertainment industry in response to Martin Scorsese's The Last Temptation of Christ. The film, which was banned from release at some theaters and publicly protested at many others, became a tipping point for the American culture wars. At stake was the freedom of artistic expression from government and religious intervention. The Last Temptation of Christ did not simply alienate audiences of the Christian right but incited them. Lindlof chronicles the many setbacks the filmmakers experienced, from production problems to the uproar following the film's release and the launch of a crisis control plan at the studio. Lindlof conducted interviews with major players behind the movie -- including Martin Scorsese, Paul Schrader, Willem Dafoe, Jeffrey Katzenberg, and Michael Ovitz -- and explores the film's effect on the American cultural and political landscape. Combined film study, studio history, and cultural analysis, Hollywood Under Siege closely examines the film that jeopardized and reenergized Martin Scorsese's career and served as flash point for the ongoing ideological conflicts between Hollywood and the religious right.

Touted as an American Eden, Kentucky provides one of the most dramatic social histories of early America.In this collection, ten contributors trace the evolution of Kentucky from First West to Early Republic. The authors tell the stories of the state's remarkable settlers and inhabitants: Indians, African Americans, working-class men and women, wealthy planters and struggling farmers. Eager settlers built defensive forts across the countryside, while women and slaves used revivalism to create new opportunities for themselves in a white, patriarchal society. The world that this diverse group of people made was both a society uniquely Kentuckian and a microcosm of the unfolding American pageant. In the mid-1700s, the trans-Appalachian region gained a reputation for its openness, innocence, and rusticity- fertile ground for an agrarian republic founded on the virtue of the yeoman ideal.By the nineteenth century, writers of history would characterize the state as a breeding ground for an American culture of distinctly Anglo-Saxon origin. Modern historians, however, now emphasize exploring the entire human experience, rather than simply the political history, of the region. An unusual blend of social, economic, political, cultural, and religious history, this volume goes a long way toward answering the question posed by a Virginia clergyman in 1775: "What a buzzel is this amongst people about Kentuck?"

In light of increasing evidence demonstrating the irreparable damage humans have inflicted on the planet, some have adopted a defeatist attitude toward environmental crises. Local Environmental Movements: A Comparative Study of the United States and Japan illustrates how local groups in both Japan and the United States are refusing to surrender the earth to a depleted and polluted fate. Drawing on a series of case studies, a team of scholars from across the world discusses the efforts by grassroots organizations to promote sustainable development that respects the need for environmental protection and cultural preservation.

This book makes a powerful case that film can be as valuable a tool as primary documents for improving our understanding of the causes and consequences of war. Why We Fought: America's Wars in Film and History is a comprehensive look at war films, from depictions of the American Revolution to portrayals of September 11 and its aftermath. The volume contrasts recognized history and historical fiction with the versions appearing on the big screen. The text considers a selection of the pivotal war films of all time, including All Quiet on the Western Front (1930), Sands of Iwo Jima (1949), Apocalypse Now (1979), Platoon (1986), and Saving Private Ryan (1998). Why We Fought reveals how film depictions of the country's wars have shaped our values, politics, and culture, and it offers a unique understanding of American history.

In the years before the Revolutionary War, intrepid frontiersmen with roots in northern Ireland claimed vast tracts of land in Kentucky on which they developed plantations. They settled the land and with their families built enduring stone houses that became the centerpieces of their properties. In Early Stone Houses of Kentucky, author Carolyn Murray-Wooley examines these early frontier homes as well as the people who built and lived in them. What traditions did these settlers call on to provide construction techniques and plans? How do the frontier dwellings of settlers with differing origins compare with these stone houses? Murray-Wooley looks at these and many other questions, exploring the transfer of cultural traditions from northern Ireland to the state of Kentucky. Drawing on extensive field work and genealogical research, Murray-Wooley examines the history of these resourceful settlers and their architectural practices, uses scale drawings and floor plans to illustrate how the houses would have appeared at the time of construction, and compares them to modern photographs. The book includes color plates of more than thirty stone houses, as well as many black and white construction illustrations. Early Stone Houses of Kentucky is a fascinating look at the impact of a little-known community on the architecture and culture of the Bluegrass State.

Rare Wildflowers of Kentucky provides an introduction to Kentucky's signature rare plants with 220 full-color photographs by naturalist and award winning photographer Thomas G. Barnes. The book draws attention to the beauty of Kentucky's old-growth forests, prairies, wetlands, and other habitats while focusing on the state's endangered flora. The authors note that as of this year, 275 plant species in Kentucky are considered endangered or threatened, with more than 50 potential additions to the list. The book includes an overview of ecological communities and the ways in which they are threatened, an explanation of how various plants have become endangered, and suggestions for conservation and preservation. The Bluegrass State's rare wildflowers take center stage with gorgeous color photography and descriptions, organized by habitat. Rare Wildflowers of Kentucky will appeal to any nature lover, and the inclusion of references, a complete list of scientific and common species names, and a list of each plant's endangered status makes the book especially useful to gardeners and to botanists and horticultural professionals.

As an orphan under the care of her selfish aunt who pressures her to convert to Catholicism and enter a loveless marriage, Henrietta learns to live by her wits. Henrietta's story draws attention to the difficulty for women of earning a living in mid-eighteenthcentury England and offers readers strikingly insightful and modern reflections on human nature. Charlotte Lennox was a friend of both Samuel Richardson and Samuel Johnson and was generally admired by many of their contemporaries. A major influence on Jane Austen, Lennox is an innovator in the tradition of English women's fiction. Out of print since the late eighteenth century, Henrietta is now available in an edited and fully annotated modern edition.

In addition to the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat, sports offer a versatile arena for discussion of class, race, gender, sexuality, and other social facets. All-Stars and Movie Stars: Sports in Film and History examines the interplay between sports films and the defining characteristics of the cultures from which they emerge. This important and unique collection will serve scholars of film, popular culture, and American history.

For much of the twentieth century, black Greek-letter organizations (BGLOs) united individuals dedicated to excellence, fostering kinship ties, and uplifting African Americans. Despite the profound influence of BGLOs, many now question the continuing relevance of these groups, arguing that their golden age has passed. Partly because of the influence of hip-hop culture, the image of BGLOs has been unfairly reduced to a stereotype -- a world of hazing and stepping without any real substance. Not only does the general public know very little about these groups, but often the members themselves do not have a deep understanding of their history and culture or of the issues facing their organizations. Gregory S. Parks has assembled an impressive group of contributors to show that the BGLOs' most important work lies ahead. Black Greek-letter Organizations in the Twenty-first Century: Our Fight Has Just Begun provides historical context for the development of BGLOs and explores their service activities as well as their relationships with other prominent African American institutions. The book examines BGLOs' responses to a number of contemporary issues, including non-black membership, homosexuality within membership, and the perception of BGLOs as educated gangs, in order to demonstrate that these organizations can create a positive and enduring future.

Mother Catherine Spalding (1793--1858) was the cofounder and first leader of one of the most significant American religious communities for women -- the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth. Spalding also founded several educational institutions, Louisville's first private hospital, and the first social service agencies for children in Kentucky. In 2003, the Louisville Courier-Journal selected Spalding as the sole woman among the sixteen most important persons in Louisville's history. Pioneer Spirit is the first biography of Spalding, who, from the age of nineteen, served the citizens of the Kentucky frontier. By the time of her death, the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth extended far beyond Bardstown, Kentucky, to over one hundred sisters in sixteen convents. Spalding's legacy of service continues today with more than six hundred members worldwide.

Exploring early hits such as The Twilight Zone and Star Trek, as well as more recent successes such as Battlestar Galactica and Lost, The Essential Science Fiction Television Reader illuminates the history, narrative approaches, and themes of the genre. The book discusses science fiction television from its early years when shows attempted to recreate the allure of science fiction cinema, to its current status as a sophisticated genre with a popularity all its own. J. P. Telotte has assembled a wideranging volume rich in theoretical scholarship yet fully accessible to science fiction fans. The book supplies readers with valuable historical context, analyses of essential science fiction series, and an understanding of the key issues in science fiction television.

Human dependence on technology has increased exponentially over the past several centuries, along with the notion that environmental problems can be solved with scientific applications. The Virtues of Ignorance: Complexity, Sustainability, and the Limits of Knowledge proposes an alternative to this hubristic, shortsighted, and dangerous worldview. The contributors offer profound arguments for the advantages of an ignorance-based worldview. Examining the relationship between the land and the future generations who will depend on it, they propose that, while we cannot improve upon nature, by putting this new perspective to work in our professional and personal lives we can live sustainably on Earth.

After spending a year researching and describing the devastation of mountaintop removal in his bestselling book, Lost Mountain, Erik Reece wanted to contribute something beautiful to the world. Field Work: Modern Poems from Eastern Forests is an anthology of poems about the landscape and ecology of the eastern United States. Field Work brings together a host of nationally recognized modern American poets, plus four classical Chinese poets, who wandered and wrote about an area of southeastern China that is remarkably similar in landscape and ecology to the eastern woodlands of the United States.