Penn State University Press: 456 books
An Interpretive Guide to Operatic Arias
A Handbook for Singers, Coaches, Teachers, and Students
Language: English
Release Date: October 22, 1990
A premier singer and master teacher here tells other singers how to get the most from 151 famous arias selected for their popularity or their greatness from 66 operas, ranging in time and style from Christopher Gluck to Carlisle Floyd, from Mozart to Menotti. “The most memorable thrills in an opera...
Sentiments of a British-American Woman
Esther DeBerdt Reed and the American Revolution
Language: English
Release Date: January 4, 2018
At the time of her death in 1780, British-born Esther DeBerdt Reed—a name few know today—was one of the most politically important women in Revolutionary America. Her treatise “The Sentiments of an American Woman” articulated the aspirations of female patriots, and the Ladies Association of...
The Profane, the Civil, and the Godly
The Reformation of Manners in Orthodox New England, 1679–1749
Language: English
Release Date: December 15, 1993
In this prize-winning study of the sacred and profane in Puritan New England, Richard P. Gildrie seeks to understand not only the fears, aspirations, and moral theories of Puritan reformers but also the customs and attitudes they sought to transform. Topics include tavern mores, family order, witchcraft,...
The Salem Belle
A Tale of 1692
Language: English
Release Date: January 7, 2016
The Salem Belle is a historical novel, a tale of vengeance and superstition set against the Salem witchcraft tragedy of 1692. Rejected by the beautiful Mary—“the Salem belle”—the bitter Trellison accuses her of witchcraft, mistakenly thinking himself motivated by religious faith. She is quickly...
Serious Nonsense
Groundhog Lodges, Versammlinge, and Pennsylvania German Heritage
Language: English
Release Date: April 20, 2016
Versammlinge—community events filled with songs, performances, speeches, and skits that celebrate Pennsylvania German heritage and culture—are held entirely in the Pennsylvania German Deitsch language. Some, the “groundhog lodges,” feature a ceremony honoring the groundhog, while others do...
by Samantha Baskind
Language: English
Release Date: February 15, 2018
Language: English
Release Date: February 15, 2018
On the eve of Passover, April 19, 1943, Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto staged a now legendary revolt against their Nazi oppressors. Since that day, the deprivation and despair of life in the ghetto and the dramatic uprising of its inhabitants have captured the American cultural imagination. The Warsaw...
The Other American Moderns
Matsura, Ishigaki, Noda, Hayakawa
Language: English
Release Date: July 14, 2017
In The Other American Moderns, ShiPu Wang analyzes the works of four early twentieth-century American artists who engaged with the concept of “Americanness”: Frank Matsura, Eitarō Ishigaki, Hideo Noda, and Miki Hayakawa. In so doing, he recasts notions of minority artists’ contributions to...
Staging Ground
An American Theater and Its Ghosts
Language: English
Release Date: June 13, 2014
In this poignant and personal history of one of America’s oldest theaters, Leslie Stainton captures the story not just of an extraordinary building but of a nation’s tumultuous struggle to invent itself. Built in 1852 and in use ever since, the Fulton Theatre in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, is uniquely...
Status, Power, and Identity in Early Modern France
The Rohan Family, 1550–1715
Language: English
Release Date: April 21, 2015
In Status, Power, and Identity in Early Modern France, Jonathan Dewald explores European aristocratic society by looking closely at one of its most prominent families. The Rohan were rich, powerful, and respected, but Dewald shows that there were also weaknesses in their apparently secure position...
Antebellum American Culture
An Interpretive Anthology
Language: English
Release Date: January 3, 1997
First published in 1979, this volume offers students and teachers a unique view of American history prior to the Civil War. Distinguished historian David Brion Davis has chosen a diverse array of primary sources that show the actual concerns, hopes, fears, and understandings of ordinary antebellum...
Ernest Hemingway
A New Life
Language: English
Release Date: August 3, 2016
To many, the life of Ernest Hemingway has taken on mythic proportions. From his romantic entanglements to his legendary bravado, the elements of Papa’s persona have fascinated readers, turning Hemingway into such an outsized figure that it is almost impossible to imagine him as a real person. James...
Matters of Spirit
J. G. Fichte and the Technological Imagination
Language: English
Release Date: May 11, 2010
This book offers a radically new interpretation of the entire philosophy of J. G. Fichte by showing the impact of nineteenth-century psychological techniques and technologies on the formation of his theory of the imagination—the very centerpiece of his philosophical system. By situating Fichte’s...
by Paul Youngquist
Language: English
Release Date: October 22, 1990
Language: English
Release Date: October 22, 1990
This book offers the first systematic study of madness and its significance for the poetry of William Blake. Blake's reputation as an artist was long clouded by suspicions of madness. Although the great victory of his modern critics has been to see his work clearly, unobstructed by this prejudice,...
by Alex Nava
Language: English
Release Date: July 12, 2013
Language: English
Release Date: July 12, 2013
In Wonder and Exile in the New World, Alex Nava explores the border regions between wonder and exile, particularly in relation to the New World. It traces the preoccupation with the concept of wonder in the history of the Americas, beginning with the first European encounters, goes on to investigate...