Ruth Harris

"Determined to donate almost everything she owns before her life of grace and privilege ends, wealthy widow Cornelia Cunningham's plan hits a snag when an ambitious and ingratiating young man arrives to claim his alleged inheritance ... an inclusive and hysterical portrait of the trials of class, family, legacy, race, and the power of a good story"--Back cover.

Prizewinning historian Ruth Harris offers the first in-depth history of both sides in the 1894 Dreyfus Affair, showing how complex interlocking influences--tensions within the military, the clashing demands of justice and nationalism, and a tangled web of friendships and family connections--shaped both the coalition working to free Jewish officer Alfred Dreyfus and the formidable alliances seeking to protect the reputation of the army that had convicted him.

Inspired by a conference entitled: Gender, religion, poverty and revolution, held at oxford on July 9, 2004, to honor Olwen Hufton.

Guru to the World traces Vivekananda’s transformation from son of a Calcutta-based attorney into saffron-robed ascetic. At the 1893 World Parliament of Religions in Chicago, he fascinated audiences with teachings from Hinduism, Western esoteric spirituality, physics, and the sciences of the mind, in the process advocating a more inclusive conception of religion and expounding the evils of colonialism. Vivekananda won many disciples, most prominently the Irish activist Margaret Noble, who disseminated his ideas in the face of much disdain for the wisdom of a “subject race.” At home, he challenged the notion that religion was antithetical to nationalist goals, arguing that Hinduism was intimately connected with Indian identity. -Publisher