Illicit flirtations

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A.E. Elmore

"While it has long been determined that Abraham Lincoln's writings were influenced by the King James Bible. until now no full-length study has shown the precise ways in which the Gettysburg Address uses its specific language. Refuting the view that the address was crafted with traditional classical references, this revealing investigation provides a new way to think about the speech and the man who wrote it. A.E. Elmore offers chapter-andverse evidence from the Bible, as well as specific examples from the Episcopal Book of Common Prayer, to illustrate how Lincoln borrowed from these sources to imbue his speech with meanings that would resonate with his listeners. He cites every significant word and phrase - conceived, brought forth, struggled, remaining, consecrate, dedicate, hallow, devotion, new birth, to name a few - borrowed by Lincoln from these two religious texts for use in his dedication of the Gettysburg National Cemetery." "Elmore demonstrates how Lincoln transformed the lovely old language of the Bible and the Book of Common Prayer into something as close to perfection as any public speech has ever achieved. He further reveals how Lincoln used and transformed the language of his political enemies to promote his antislavery agenda and to advance the gospel of equality, borrowing for example his controversial "proposition that all men are created equal" in nearly equal parts from John C. Calhoun and the Declaration of Independence." "Lincoln's Gettysburg Address focuses on a number of overlooked themes and ideas, such as the importance of literary allusion and the general public's knowledge of the Bible in the age of Lincoln. It provides fresh answers to old questions and poses new ones. No one who reads this highly engaging study will ever think about Lincoln or the Gettysburg Address in the same way again."--Jacket.

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Grigore Pop-Eleches

"The wave of neoliberal economic reforms in the developing world since the 1980s has been regarded as the result of both severe economic crises and policy pressures from global financial institutions such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Using comparative evidence from the initiation and implementation of IMF programs in Latin America and Eastern Europe, From Economic Crisis to Reform shows that economic crises do not necessarily persuade governments to adopt IMF-style economic policies. Instead, ideology, interests, and institutions, at both the international and domestic levels, mediate responses to such crises." "Grigore Pop-Eleches explains that the IMF's response to economic crises reflects the changing priorities of large IMF member countries. He argues that the IMF gives greater attention and favorable treatment to economic crises when they occur in economically or politically important countries. The book also shows how during the neoliberal consensus of the 1990s, economic crises triggered IMF-style reforms from governments across the ideological spectrum and how these reforms were broadly compatible with democratic politics. By contrast, during the Latin American debt crisis, the contentious politics of IMF programs reflected the ideological rivalries of the Cold War. Economic crises triggered ideologically divergent domestic policy responses and democracy was often at odds with economic adjustment. The author demonstrates that an economic crisis triggers neoliberal economic reforms only when the government and the IMF agree about the roots and severity of the crisis."--BOOK JACKET.

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The Oath Of Office: “I, Jimmy Carter, do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States. So help me God.” “For myself and for our nation, I want to thank my predecessor for all he has done to heal our land. “In this outward and physical ceremony we attest once again to the inner and spiritual strength of our nation. As my high school teacher. Miss Julia Coleman, used to say. ‘We must adjust to changing times and still hold to unchanging principles.’ Here before me is a Bible used in the inauguration of our first President in 1789, and I have just taken the oath of office on the Bible my mother gave me just a few years ago, opened to a timeless admonition from the ancient prophet Micah: ‘He hath showed thee. O man, what is good: and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?’ “This inauguration ceremony marks a new beginning, a new dedication within our government and a new spirit among us all. A President may sense and proclaim that new spirit, but only a people can provide it. Two centuries ago our nation’s birth was a milestone in the long quest for freedom. But the bold and brilliant dream which excited the founders of this nation still awaits its consummation. I have no new dream to set forth today, but rather urge a fresh faith in the old dream. Ours was the first society openly to define itself in terms of both spirituality and human liberty. It is that unique self-definition which has given us an exceptional appeal...” ~ Jimmy Carter. Alex Haley contributed to "A New Spirit, A New Commitment, A New America" by writing the chapter: "From Boyhood On A Red-Dirt Farm To The Governorship of Georgia."

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Frank W. Brevik

"The Tempest and New World-Utopian Politics is a post-1989 interpretation of the play that reaches new conclusions about how to teach about its setting, Caliban, and its many still neglected New World dimensions. Through close textual readings, the book problematizes how an unstable and aporic setting at the same time enables and invalidates recent discursively over-invested Virginian interpretations and refutes the by now institutionally orthodox view that Caliban is a character of credible New World origin. The book calls for a utopian understanding of the play's vacuum of power and interprets pastoral, anarchic, and Americanist tensions through a presentist, post-1989 lens"--