Leo Damrosch

In October 1656 James Nayler, a prominent Quaker leader - second only to George Fox in the nascent movement - rode into Bristol surrounded by followers singing hosannas in deliberate imitation of Jesus' entry into Jerusalem. In Leo Damrosch's trenchant reading this incident and the extraordinary outrage it ignited shed new light on Cromwell's England and on religious thought and spirituality in a turbulent period. Damrosch gives a clear picture of the origins and early development of the Quaker movement, elucidating the intellectual foundations of Quaker theology. A number of central issues come into sharp relief, including gender symbolism and the role of women, belief in miraculous cures, and - particularly in relation to the meaning of the entry into Bristol - "signs of the indwelling spirit." Damrosch's account of the trial and savage punishment of Nayler for blasphemy exposes the politics of the Puritan response, the limits to Cromwellian religious liberalism. The Sorrows of the Quaker Jesus is at once a study of antinomian religious thought, of an exemplary individualist movement that suddenly found itself obliged to impose order, and of the ways in which religious and political ideas become intertwined in a period of crisis. It is also a vivid portrait of a fascinating man.

Enter a world of sin, scandal, and the most forbidden pleasures. Enter the seductive world of award-winning author Sharon Page, whose new novel will take your breath away with a tantalizing blend of Regency romance and erotic thrills. It is London's most secretive gentlemen's club--a place where no well-bred lady would dare to be seen. But Lady Jane Beaumont has no choice. Her friend Del has vanished, and Jane must enter into a dangerous charade to find her. Now, within the gilded walls of this erotic lair, Jane awaits the lover she has procured for the evening. But the man who enters her bedchamber is no stranger. He is Del's brother and London's most notorious rake--a man on a rescue mission of his own. Christian is intrigued by the innocent beauty who clearly does not belong in the notorious brothel. And as the two seek out the damning secrets of the club . . . as Christian initiates Jane into the ways of true sensual pleasure, she knows she has entered the most dangerous place of all--where the price of temptation could be her heart. . . .From the Paperback edition.

A new collection includes early poems, excerpts from Pope's translation of the "Iliad," selected prose works, and letters to such contemporaries as John Gay and Jonathan Swift.