Product Description: Theodor W. Adorno's long-awaited but never finished Beethoven: The Philosophy of Music was published in Germany only in 1993, nearly a quarter of a century after the author's death in 1969. These important and illuminating notes and texts - which remain in fragmented form - were described by Adorno as a "diary of his experiences of Beethoven"...read more (view table of contents, read Amazon.com's description)

This volume, comprised of lectures given by Adorno towards the end of his life, provides a valuable introduction to his historical and conceptual engagement with sociology.

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Letters illuminate the friendship between Strauss and Mahler and discuss their views on music and composition

Product Description: This book provides a valuable insight into the work and life of Norber Elias - one of the most important social thinkers of the twentieth century. It includes an extended interview with Elias and an autobiographical account which demonstrates the connection between the development of his theories and life experience...read more

The nature of time, and how various societies describe and measure the passage of time, has long been one of the most fascinating areas of social history and philosophy. In this essay Norbert Elias argues that what we call "time" is neither an innate feature of the human mind, nor an immanent characteristic of non-human nature. Rather it is an achievement of human synthesis which can be understood only in connection with certain processes of social development. He shows how attitudes to time have differed from early societies to modern by taking examples from a wide range of societies at every level of development and relating time to the move from "involvement" to "detachment": the laborious construction of the European calendar over thousands of years serves as a model of the fruitfulness of the developmental approach to sociology which Norbert Elias has always advocated. This work is aimed at specialists and students in sociology, psychology, philosophy, and history.

In the first contemporary single-volume survey of the three arts of Venice—painting, sculpture, and architecture—Norbert Huse and Wolfgang Wolters offer an important counterbalance to the traditional orientation toward painting as the city's preeminent art by focusing on architecture as the essential Venetian art. They begin their study in 1460, when Venice was one of the key powers of Italy, and end with the death of Tintoretto in 1594, a period of waning international power. In the process, they define the distinctly Venetian terms by which the city and its culture should be understood. With over three hundred illustrations and an exhaustive bibliography, this volume makes an impressive contribution to art historical scholarship."The historical aspect of this book is splendid, but where it excels is in its fearless and thought-provoking critical judgements. . . . it will lead both beginners and experts to new joys."—David Ekserdjian, Times Literary Supplement

Product Description: A work intended for medieval historians and those interested in social history, the history of the family and women's movements.