Cathedral, Forge, and Waterwheel - Technology and Invention in the Middle Ages

A fascinating exploration of how Western Europe, after the chaos of the Dark Ages, rose to lead the world in technology examines how such inventions as the spinning wheel, the flying buttress, and the blast furnace helped create Western culture.

Universe of Stone - A Biography of Chartres Cathedral

Chartres Cathedral, south of Paris, is revered as one of the most beautiful and profound works of art in the Western canon. But what did it mean to those who constructed it in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries-and why was it built at such immense height and with such glorious play of light, in the soaring manner we now call Gothic?In this eminently fascinating work, author Philip Ball makes sense of the visual and emotional power of Chartres and brilliantly explores how its construction-and the creation of other Gothic cathedrals-represented a profound and dramatic shift in the way medieval thinkers perceived their relationship with their world.

The Gothic Enterprise - A Guide to Understanding the Medieval Cathedral

While most books about Gothic cathedrals focus on a particular building or on the cathedrals of a specific region, The Gothic Enterprise considers the idea of the cathedral as a humanly created space. Scott discusses why an impoverished people would commit so many social and personal resources to building something so physically stupendous and what this says about their ideas of the sacred, especially the vital role they ascribed to the divine as a protector against the dangers of everyday life.

Raymond Carver: Comprehensive Research and Study Guide (Bloom's Major Short Story Writers)

Raymond Carver is viewed as a genius within the limits he imposed upon himself whose early work was heavily influenced by Earnest Hemingway. The work of this modern-day author who died at a young age is studied in this volume by some of the most respected critics on the subject. Examined works include "Where I'm Calling From," "Cathedral," "Fever," "The Bridle," and "What We Talk About When We Talk About Love."

A Dog Of Flanders

The story, of English origin, has little tradition of being read in Belgium, but is becoming more known because of the tourists it attracts to Antwerp. There is a small statue of Nello and Patrasche at the Kapellestraat in the Antwerp suburb of Hoboken, and a commemorative plaque in front of the Antwerp Cathedral donated by Toyota. The story is widely read in Japan, and has been adapted into several films and anime.