What's the difference between an anarchist and an anarcho-syndicalist, a Platonist and a Neo-Platonist? And how modern can Modernism really be if all the famous modernists are dead? To those who've been humiliated by a knowing reference to Wahhabism at a dinner party, caught short by a casual allusion to Orphism at a private view, or flummoxed by a smug mention of post-structuralism by a fellow member of a suburban book group, Isms and Ologies offers hope and enlightenment. Crackpot convictions, perplexing philosophies, tricky tenets, and wacky Weltanschauungs - Isms and Ologies lists them all, and explains their salient features clearly and accessibly. So, if you're genuinely curious to know the crucial characteristics of phenomenology or just want to lend a veneer of intellectual rigour to your small talk, Isms and Ologies could be just the book you are looking for.

Have you ever wondered about the difference between Fundamentalism and Evangelicalism and which influenced the other? Do you know where Post-modernism stops and Post-structuralism begins? Would you like to? From Platonism to New Historicism, humankind is constantly coming up with fresh schools of thought to help explain (or at least describe) the mysterious world around us. Here is the ultimate guide to over 450 of the most significant intellectual terms, movements, and religions that help shape the society we live in. Simply, concisely, and with personality, ‘Isms and ‘Ologies clarifies buzz terms like jihad, often defined as “holy war” but which literally means “striving” ;and illustrates the differences between Conservatism, Paleoconservatism, and Neoconservatism. It explains String Theory (which attempts to unify Quantum Mechanics and Einsteinian Relativity); describes Fauvism (an artistic movement that paved the way for Expressionism and Cubism); defines Locofocoism (an American political ideology named after a “self-lighting cigar)”; and identifies and explores so much more. Helpfully divided into categories–including politics, history, philosophy and the arts, economics, religion, science, and medicine–cross referenced, and thoroughly indexed, ‘Isms and ‘Ologies is a must have for the budding intellectual in everyone.

Have you ever wondered about the difference between Fundamentalism and Evangelicalism and which influenced the other? Do you know where Post-modernism stops and Post-structuralism begins? Would you like to? From Platonism to New Historicism, humankind is constantly coming up with fresh schools of thought to help explain (or at least describe) the mysterious world around us. Here is the ultimate guide to over 450 of the most significant intellectual terms, movements, and religions that help shape the society we live in. Simply, concisely, and with personality, ‘Isms and ‘Ologies clarifies buzz terms like jihad, often defined as “holy war” but which literally means “striving” ;and illustrates the differences between Conservatism, Paleoconservatism, and Neoconservatism. It explains String Theory (which attempts to unify Quantum Mechanics and Einsteinian Relativity); describes Fauvism (an artistic movement that paved the way for Expressionism and Cubism); defines Locofocoism (an American political ideology named after a “self-lighting cigar)”; and identifies and explores so much more. Helpfully divided into categories–including politics, history, philosophy and the arts, economics, religion, science, and medicine–cross referenced, and thoroughly indexed, ‘Isms and ‘Ologies is a must have for the budding intellectual in everyone.

English language dictionary of words ending in -ology, -ity, - ism, etc., connected primarily to the pure sciences and social sciences.

Lexicon of English words used of and about theories, concepts, doctrines, systems, attitudes, practices, states of mind, and branches of science. Focuses on words containing the suffixes -ology, -ism, -ics, -graphy, -metry, -archy, -cide, -philia, -phobia, -mancy, -latry, et al., including derivative forms of these words.

Did you know? • Freemasonry's first American lodge included a young Benjamin Franklin among its members. • The Knights Templar began as impoverished warrior monks then evolved into bankers. • Groom Lake, Dreamland, Homey Airport, Paradise Ranch, The Farm, Watertown Strip, Red Square, “The Box,” are all names for Area 51. An indispensable guide, Cults, Conspiracies, and Secret Societies connects the dots and sets the record straight on a host of greedy gurus and murderous messiahs, crepuscular cabals and suspicious coincidences. Some topics are familiar—the Kennedy assassinations, the Bilderberg Group, the Illuminati, the People's Temple and Heaven's Gate—and some surprising, like Oulipo, a select group of intellectuals who created wild formulas for creating literary masterpieces, and the Chauffeurs, an eighteenth-century society of French home invaders, who set fire to their victims' feet.