Exploring Top Books of Shelfari

Franny and Zooey, a sister and brother both in their 20s, are the two youngest members of the Glass family, which was a frequent focus of Salinger's writings. The novel takes place over a long weekend in November 1955.

The Brooklyn Follies

by Paul Auster

Nathan Glass has come to Brooklyn to die. Divorced, estranged from his only daughter, the retired life insurance salesman seeks only solitude and anonymity. Then Nathan finds his long-lost nephew, Tom Wood, working in a local bookstore-a far cry from the brilliant academic career he+d begun when Nathan saw him last. Tom+s boss is the charismatic Harry Brightman, whom fate has also brought to the -ancient kingdom... (more)

The End of Utopia: Politics and Culture in an Age of Apathy

The End of Utopia: Politics and Culture in an Age of Apathy

by Russell Jacoby

A sharply critical look at the fate of liberal and leftist political thought and at the death of the utopian ideals that once fueled these politics "In a time when any hope that the world might become more decent is likely to meet with a blank stare or a sneer, Russell Jacoby is an indispensable critic." -Todd Gitlin, author of The Twilight of Common Dreams In The End of Utopia, noted social critic and... (more)

On Violence (Harvest Book)

by Hannah Arendt

An analysis of the nature, causes, and significance of violence in the second half of the twentieth century. Arendt also reexamines the relationship between war, politics, violence, and power. “Incisive, deeply probing, written with clarity and grace, it provides an ideal framework for understanding the turbulence of our times”(Nation). Index.

Representations of the Intellectual: The 1993 Reith Lectures

Representations of the Intellectual: The 1993 Reith Lectures

by Edward W. Said

A new collection of essays by the author of Culture and Imperialism explores the changing role of the intellectual in modern society, drawing on both current events and literary examples to support his arguments.

The Man Without Qualities Vol. 2: Into the Millennium, from the Posthumous Papers

The Man Without Qualities Vol. 2: Into the Millennium, from the Posthumous Papers

by Robert Musil

"Musil belongs in the company of Joyce, Proust, Kafka, and Svevo. . . . (This translation) is a literay and intellectual event of singular importance."--New Republic.

The Two Cultures (Canto)

by C. P. Snow

The notion that our society, its education system and its intellectual life, is characterized by a split between two cultures--the arts or humanities on one hand, and the sciences on the other--has a long history. The reissue of The Two Cultures and its successor piece, A Second Look (in which Snow responded to the controversy four years later) has a new introduction by Stefan Collini, charting the history and... (more)

Mirage: Napoleon's Scientists and the Unveiling of Egypt

Mirage: Napoleon's Scientists and the Unveiling of Egypt

by Nina Burleigh

Little more than two hundred years ago, only the most reckless or eccentric Europeans had dared traverse the unmapped territory of the modern-day Middle East. Its history and peoples were the subject of much myth and speculation—and no region aroused greater interest than Egypt, where reports of mysterious monuments, inscrutable hieroglyphics, rare silks and spices, and rumors of lost magical knowledge tantalized... (more)

Judgement Day: My Years With Ayn Rand

The Last Intellectuals

by Russell Jacoby

"Russell Jacoby's brilliant analysis of our diminished intellectual life is, in itself, a hopeful sign: may he flourish." -Gore Vidal This provocative book chronicles the disappearance of the "public intellectual" in America. For over thirty years, the cultural landscape has been dominated by the generation of Irving Howe, Daniel Bell, and John Kenneth Galbraith; no younger group has arisen to succeed them.... (more)

Natasha's Dance: a Cultural History of RussiaORLANDO (PROFESSOR OF HISTORY, BIRKBECK COLLEGE, UNIVERSI FIGES

Natasha's Dance: a Cultural History of Russia

by ORLANDO (PROFESSOR OF HISTORY, BIRKBECK COLLEGE, UNIVERSI FIGES

Partisans: Marriage, Politics, and Betrayal Among the New York Intellectuals

Partisans: Marriage, Politics, and Betrayal Among the New York Intellectuals

by David Laskin

Combining literary biography with astute reporting and moral insight, David Laskin shows how sex, politics, and art affected relationships among the Partisan Review writers: Mary McCarthy, Edmund Wilson, Philip Rahv, Robert Lowell, Jean Stafford, Elizabeth Hardwick, Hannah Arendt, Allen Tate, Caroline Gordon, and Diana Trilling. It is the women who steal the show with their their groundbreaking work, their... (more)

For the New Intellectual: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand

For the New Intellectual: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand

by Ayn Rand

Ayn Rand challenges the prevalent philosophical doctrines of our time and the "guilt", panic and despair they created. She was the proponent of a new moral philosophy - an ethic of rational self-interest - that stands in sharp opposition to the ethics of altruism and self-sacrifice. The fundamentals of this new morality are set forth in this book. The author also wrote "The Virtue of Selfishness", "Capitalism: the... (more)

Shelfari Book Activity

Tags: intellectuals

The Virtue of Selfishness

by Ayn Rand

Franny and Zooey

by J. D. Salinger

The Brooklyn Follies

by Paul Auster

The End of Utopia: Politics and Culture in an Age of Apathy

by Russell Jacoby

On Violence (Harvest Book)

by Hannah Arendt

Representations of the Intellectual: The 1993 Reith Lectures

by Edward W. Said

The Man Without Qualities Vol. 2: Into the Millennium, from the Posthumous Papers

by Robert Musil

The Two Cultures (Canto)

by C. P. Snow

Mirage: Napoleon's Scientists and the Unveiling of Egypt

by Nina Burleigh

Judgement Day: My Years With Ayn Rand

The Last Intellectuals

by Russell Jacoby

Natasha's Dance: a Cultural History of Russia

by ORLANDO (PROFESSOR OF HISTORY, BIRKBECK COLLEGE, UNIVERSI FIGES

Partisans: Marriage, Politics, and Betrayal Among the New York Intellectuals

by David Laskin

For the New Intellectual: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand

by Ayn Rand