Ever since the 1981 publication of her stunning debut, Housekeeping, Marilynne Robinson has built a sterling reputation as a writer of sharp, subtly moving prose, not only as a major American novelist (her second novel, Gilead, was awarded the Pulitzer Prize) but also a rigorous thinker and incisive essayist. Her compelling and demanding collection The Death of Adam—in which she reflected on her Presbyterian upbringing, investigated the roots of Midwestern abolitionism, and mounted a memorable defense of Calvinism—is respected as a classic of the genre, praised by Doris Lessing as “a useful antidote to the increasingly crude and slogan-loving culture we inhabit.” In When I Was a Child I Read Books she returns to and expands upon the themes which have preoccupied her work with renewed vigor.In “Austerity as Ideology,” she tackles the global debt crisis, and the charged political and social political climate in this country that makes finding a solution to our financial troubles so challengin. In “Open Thy Hand Wide” she searches out the deeply embedded role of generosity in Christian faith. And in “When I Was a Child,” one of her most personal essays to date, an account of her childhood in Idaho becomes an exploration of individualism and the myth of the American West. Clear-eyed and forceful as ever, Robinson demonstrates once again why she is regarded as one of our essential writers.

Product Description: In this ambitious book, acclaimed writer Marilynne Robinson applies her astute intellect to some of the most vexing topics in the history of human thought—science, religion, and consciousness. Crafted with the same care and insight as her award-winning novels, Absence of Mind challenges postmodern atheists who crusade against religion under the banner of science...read more

Product Description: WINNER OF THE ORANGE PRIZE 2009A 2008 NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALISTWINNER OF THE LOS ANGELES TIMES BOOK PRIZEA New York Times Bestseller A Washington Post Best Book of the Year A Los Angeles Times Best Book of the Year A San Francisco Chronicle Best Book of the YearHailed as "incandescent," "magnificent," and "a literary miracle" (Entertainment Weekly), hundreds of thousands of readers were enthralled by Marilynne Robinson's Gilead...read more

A selection of writings by one of the leading figures in the Protestant Reformation offers excerpts from his sermons, commentaries, tracts, and letters that address such topics as his belief in universal education for both boys and girls, the sanctity and freedom of individual conscience, and his theology of the 'elect.' Original. 15,000 first printing.

Product Description: A New York Times Bestseller In 1956, toward the end of Reverend John Ames's life, he begins a letter to his young son, an account of himself and his forebears. Ames is the son of an Iowan preacher and the grandson of a minister who, as a young man in Maine, saw a vision of Christ bound in chains and came west to Kansas to fight for abolition...read more

Ten essays explore a range of social, political, religious, and cultural issues of the present day, sharing the author's thoughts on Darwinism, McGuffey readers, and the religious right. Reprint.

Ruth, a young girl struggling to overcome haunting family memories in a town which will not ler her forget, gradually grows close to Sylvie, the sister of her dead mother

Product Description: At the time when Robinson wrote this book, the largest known source of radioactive contamination of the world's environment was a government-owned nuclear plant called Sellafield, not far from Wordsworth's cottage in the Lakes District; one child in sixty was dying from leukemia in the village closest to the plant...read more