German Wisdom features a fascinating collection of funny, inspirational, and thought-provoking quotes by some of Germany’s greatest poets, thinkers and philosophers, as well as from contemporary Germans of note. See the world through their eyes as they contemplate life, love, freedom, national identity and many other topics from a distinctly German perspective. A great gift idea for anyone who wishes to know more about their German heritage. “That which does not kill us makes us stronger.” -Friedrich Nietzsche “A Bavarian is a mixture between an Austrian and a human being.” -Otto von Bismarck “Farting is done at night, with all your might.” -Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

An essential history of the modern research university When universities began in the Middle Ages, Pope Gregory IX described them as "wisdom's special workshop." He could not have foreseen how far these institutions would travel and develop. Tracing the eight-hundred-year evolution of the elite research university from its roots in medieval Europe to its remarkable incarnation today, Wisdom's Workshop places this durable institution in sweeping historical perspective. In particular, James Axtell focuses on the ways that the best American universities took on Continental influences, developing into the finest expressions of the modern university and enviable models for kindred institutions worldwide. Despite hand-wringing reports to the contrary, the venerable university continues to renew itself, becoming ever more indispensable to society in the United States and beyond. Born in Europe, the university did not mature in America until the late nineteenth century. Once its heirs proliferated from coast to coast, their national role expanded greatly during World War II and the Cold War. Axtell links the legacies of European universities and Tudor-Stuart Oxbridge to nine colonial and hundreds of pre–Civil War colleges, and delves into how U.S. universities were shaped by Americans who studied in German universities and adapted their discoveries to domestic conditions and goals. The graduate school, the PhD, and the research imperative became and remain the hallmarks of the American university system and higher education institutions around the globe. A rich exploration of the historical lineage of today's research universities, Wisdom's Workshop explains the reasons for their ascendancy in America and their continued international preeminence.

An imaginative reconstruction of the life of the only woman executed in Louisiana's electric chair.A work of alternative history, A Savage Wisdom changes the story of Toni Jo Henry into a redemptive parable-a study in deception and personality transformation.The novel also dramatizes rumors surrounding the young beauty's deathrow dalliance with a handsome young sheriff.In this treatment, Toni Jo escapes the Great Depression and moves toward a world full of promise, only to be dragged into the alluring but dangerous underworld of New Orleans.These maneuvers place the novel in company with In Cold Blood, Truman Capote's book that launched the genre of "faction," fiction based on fact."Here is a powerful, page-turning account of crime and punishment, told in terms of the literary tradition of true crime stories that includes Capote's In Cold Blood and Mailer's The Executioner's Song. Norman German has created a worthy companion to and version of this all-American genre." George Garrett, novelist and poet laureate of Virginia.