Resultados de "The Great Courses" en Todas las categorias

Daunted by the "great big books" of the Western canon? Looking for the same pleasures, satisfactions, and insights from books that are shorter, more accessible, and less dependent on classical references and difficult language than tomes such as Moby-Dick and Ulysses?

The scientific theories that were first discovered and made public in the years 1700-1900 are some of the most pivotal in history. Landmark theories of planetary motion, the workings of nature, and the speed of light were all ideas that took the world by storm. Now you can share in that story of discovery in a series of 36 lectures designed to give you a rock-solid understanding of the great discoveries of Newton, Darwin, Franklin, Pasteur, and so many others.

This course offers an overview of the English language that is literary, historical, cultural, political, and scientific in its scope and designed to give you greater insight into the written and spoken word.The lectures provide a thorough understanding of the history of the English language - from its origins as a dialect of the Germanic-speaking peoples through the literary and cultural documents of its 1,500-year span to the state of American speech today.

In the six lectures of Teenage Wastelands: A Guide to Dystopian Young Adult Fiction, award-winning YA author Sherri L. Smith will show you why dystopian stories have become so successful and why they continue to inspire. As you trace the history of dystopian stories and dive into some of YA’s most influential tales of the future, you’ll see why these often dark and challenging works have such a hold on the imagination. From The Giver to The Hunger Games to Orleans, dystopian tales allow us to grapple with hard questions and consider how we want to live—both now and in the future.

The Roman Empire looms large in the history of the Western world. Despite its collapse in the 5th century CE, its legacy continues to influence everything from architecture and politics to literature and religion. Much of this impact was shaped by the rulers who transformed the Roman Republic into one of the most powerful empires the world has ever seen. In the 10 lectures of The Best and Worst of the Roman Emperors, you will meet 10 of the most notable—and notorious—rulers of Rome and assess their legacies.

Not your typical history course, Medicine, Recreation, and the Long History of Cannabis chronicles the history of our world from the colonial period to the present day through cannabis reception, activism, and policy. In 12 lectures led by cannabis history expert Emily Dufton, you will examine the origins of cannabis, following the plant from its emergence in the ancient Hindu Kush foothills to its cultivation on hemp plantations in colonial America.

How did four young men from a faded old seaport in Northern England lead such an epic musical and cultural revolution? Why could the story of the Beatles only have happened in such a charged decade? What remains to be said about this British band that hasn’t been said before? Questions like these lie at the beating heart of these 12 lessons that offer a fresh look at how this celebrated band became one of the most compelling voices against the status quo.

The Art of War, also known as the Sūnzǐ, is a classic Chinese text on competitive strategy. It has influenced modern military and political strategists, East and West, and is considered a major landmark in the history of strategic thought. In these 12 lectures, Professor Wilson leads you in plumbing the depths of the text, understanding its historical context and profile, while grasping its application to contemporary politics, business, sports, and more.

Artist. Public intellectual. Political activist. James Baldwin was all of these and more. Raised in the slums of Depression-era Harlem in New York City, Baldwin would become an author and activist of international renown—one whose legacy has continued long beyond his death in 1987. Who was James Baldwin? How did he become the master of multiple literary genres and a champion for some of the era’s most notable political and social causes? And how is his influence still being felt today?

The Roman gladiator has long been a figure of fascination. Portrayed frequently in fine art and popular culture alike, the gladiator is both a real part of history and a legend of a romanticized past. We know that these men entertained Roman audiences by fighting in dangerous and often deadly games. But who were the gladiators? What were their lives like? And why do they continue to have such a strong hold on our imagination, centuries after the fall of the Roman Empire?

James Krasner, an expert in Victorian literature, takes you on a fascinating journey into the enduring power of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Bram Stoker’s Dracula, and Robert Louis Stevenson’s The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. You’ll learn how these three literary masters structured their novels to offer not only scares but also complex insights into cultural debates that still matter to us today.

Owing to the legacy of slavery, African Americans have faced significant obstacles to obtaining the fundamental rights of freedom and citizenship. The consistent struggle among African Americans to gain their human rights live at the heart of the American experiment in democracy. In the 24 compelling lectures of African American History: From the African Coast to the Civil War, take a penetrating look at the experience of African Americans in the colonial and antebellum eras

Epigenetics is the science of living DNA, charting the chemical pathways that spur DNA into action by turning genes on and off. While the Human Genome Project of the early 2000s was hailed as the key to understanding human heredity and disease, that historic effort was just the beginning. It has taken epigenetics to fill in the picture, explaining how the fixed code of our genome is implemented in countless living processes.

How often do you pop into your local grocery store to grab a few necessary items? Now, how often do you think about how amazing it is that you can do that at a moment’s notice? In truth, we seldom stop to think about all the cultural, commercial, and technological factors that have converged to give us easy access to an incredible range of food and other products, all in one place. As you will discover in The History of Grocery Stores and Food Access in America, we shouldn’t take the neighborhood grocery store for granted.

The year 1776 is undoubtedly iconic for Americans. After all, it is the year of the Declaration of Independence—the paradigm-shifting document that birthed a new vision of government and brought the United States into being. But the groundbreaking events of 1776 went far beyond the American Revolution. The Years That Changed History: 1776 invites you to take a uniquely different look at the events of this famous year, in a brilliant and surprising excavation of world history.

What if your memory suddenly vanished, so that you could no longer summon recollections of anything at all? What if you couldn't even remember yourself-not your name, your school, where you worked, or even the face of the total stranger staring back at you from the mirror? This intriguing series of 24 lectures by an honored researcher and teacher explains not only how the various aspects of your memory operate, but the impact memory has on your daily experience of life.

Charles Darwin's theory of organic evolution-the idea that life on earth is the product of purely natural causes, not the hand of God-set off shock waves that continue to reverberate through Western society, and especially the United States. What makes evolution such a profoundly provocative concept, so convincing to most scientists, yet so socially and politically divisive? These 12 eye-opening lectures are an examination of the varied elements that so often make this science the object of strong sentiments and heated debate.

Whether taken as a book of faith or a cultural artifact, the New Testament is among the most significant writings the world has ever known, its web of meaning relied upon by virtually every major writer in the last 2,000 years. Yet the New Testament is not only one of Western civilization’s most believed books, but also one of its most widely disputed, often maligned, and least clearly understood, with a vast number of people unaware of how it was written and transmitted.

Meditation offers deep and lasting benefits for mental functioning and emotional health, as well as for physical health and well-being. These 24 detailed lectures teach you the principles and techniques of sitting meditation, the related practice of walking meditation, and the highly beneficial use of meditative awareness in many important activities, including eating and driving. You will also learn how to use the skills of meditation in working with thoughts and emotional states.

In the early decades of the 20th century, C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien, and several of their friends and colleagues at Oxford University began meeting together to share and discuss their writing. Some were novelists, poets, philosophers, and scholars, while others were simply there to revel in language, stories, and ideas.