What distinguishes this remarkable narrative from other accounts of personal growth is not just its vivid and intimate picture of West African life, but the fact that its author embarked on his adventure at an age when most men and women are resigned to life in a rocking chair. At age sixty-six, after the break-up of a stormy marriage, Donald Lawder begins a new life as a volunteer teacher for the Peace Corps in the impoverished country of Mali, in...

For more than three decades, Joel and Ethan Coen have produced some of the most unique and thought-provoking works in modern cinema. In broad comedies such as Raising Arizona, violent thrillers like No Country for Old Men, and black comedies such as Fargo, the filmmakers have offered brilliant takes on a variety of film genres. One of the most distinctive features of their movies is their skewed view of America itself. In The Coen Brothers' America,...

"Ever since their father's untimely death five years before, Wyatt Smith and his inseparably close twin sister, Lucy, have scraped by alone on their family's isolated ranch in Box Elder County, Utah. That is until one morning when, just after spotting one of their bulls lying dead in the field, Wyatt is hit in the arm by a hail of gunfire that takes four more cattle with it. The shooter: a fever-eyed, fearsome girl-child with an outdated TEC-9 in...

"For film buffs and literature lovers alike, this is an essential guide to 52 great reads, and the cinema classics they inspired"--

This book looks at the esoteric philosophical influences on six of Cormac McCarthy's novels. The author offers a fresh approach, investigating the relationship between Gnosticism, a system of thought that sees the cosmos as evil and holds that the human spirit must strive for liberation, and the Perennial Philosophy, a study of the common factor in all esoteric religions. She examines the ways these two traditions have influenced McCarthy's later...

"Texas good old boys Doolin and Tubbs take on a pair of copy-cat outlaws--and prove they're not getting older, they're getting deadlier--in their latest, greatest adventure form the bestselling Johnstones... Some say the Wild West is no country for old men. But apparently no one told Eli Doolin and Casey Tubbs. This rowdy pair of cowboys may be a bit long in the tooth but--thanks to the success of their new business venture, the D&T Cattle Company--they're...

Cormac McCarthy s work sounds warnings of impending apocalypse, but it also implies that redemption remains available. Nicholas Monk argues that McCarthy s response to the modern world is more subtle and less laden with despair than many realize, and that his work represents an understanding of the world that transcends the political divisions of right and left, escapes the reductive nature of identity politics, and looks to futures beyond the immediately...

Presents a critical introduction to the fiction and drama of the American author, discussing his novels, plays, characters, language, and the major themes of his work.