Showing results by author "The Great Courses" in All Categories

In 36 thought-provoking lectures, you'll explore enlightening teachings that have inspired the world and that continue to speak to life's most important questions. Throughout, you'll benefit from Father Koterski's ecumenical perspective, as he presents these teachings within the Jewish and Christian traditions and compares the varying versions of these texts. What do these writings have to say about the great philosophical problems people seek to understand? You'll find out as you contend with the literal and figurative meanings behind some of the Bible's most essential books and parts (as well as some that many of us overlook).

Best-selling books have played a critical role in influencing the tastes and purchasing habits of American readers for more than 100 years. But there is more to America's great best-selling books than the sales figures they rake in. American bestsellers also offer us ways to appreciate and understand particular periods of American culture.In this series of 24 lectures you'll enjoy a pointed look at key best-selling works and their places within the greater fabric of American cultural history.

These 24 inspiring lectures introduce you to the sages who, as a group, represent the "missing page" of the history of philosophy. Although their names are sometimes familiar to us, as in the case of Cicero and Plutarch, their philosophy is not. Studying these thinkers offers some surprising ways to think about philosophy. This course offers ample opportunity to hear, in their own words, the philosophers' prescriptions for healthier living.

In Tibet: History, Culture, and Religion, Professor Constance Kassor, will show you the real, multi-dimensional Tibet and its people who live on the “Roof of the World,” the highest and largest plateau on Earth. In 24 fascinating lectures, you will learn how Tibet’s history was shaped by kings and kingdoms, power struggles, religion, traditions, wars, peace, and the lifestyles that developed in response to living on the world’s highest plateau.

Our understanding of the American West has moved far beyond pop culture in recent years. The legendary people and events we associate with the Wild West - the last stand at the Alamo, the Battle of Little Bighorn, the exploits of Calamity Jane, the hardships of the Oregon Trail - are even more fascinating once the historical realities have been separated from the myths.

Modern history is filled with terrible crimes, baffling hoaxes, and seedy scandals. The infamous Jack the Ripper slayings. The alleged survival of Anastasia Romanov, the youngest daughter of the murdered Tsar. Seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong's public fall from grace. The Chicago Tylenol poisonings and the copycat crimes that followed.

Daunted by the "great big books" of the Western canon? Looking for the same pleasures, satisfactions, and insights from books that are shorter, more accessible, and less dependent on classical references and difficult language than tomes such as Moby-Dick and Ulysses?

Keeping relationships healthy and flourishing can be tough. That’s where Love in Your Golden Years can help. Taught by James O. Pawelski and Suzann Pileggi Pawelski and rooted in positive psychology, these six lessons will dispel common myths around relationships while using empirical research and science-backed skills to help you better understand, build, and maintain connections. While the primary focus is on marriage and romantic relationships, you’ll find that much of the insight James and Suzie offer can be applied to other important relationships in your life as well.

These 36 intellectually challenging yet remarkably clear lectures take you on an intellectual journey to explore the questions of divine existence, not from the standpoint of theology, but as an issue of epistemology, the classic branch of philosophy that concerns itself with knowledge theory: how we can know things and how we can know we know them.If you enjoy wrapping your mind around questions for which every potential answer triggers a new set of questions and issues, you will find this course particularly enjoyable, regardless of whether you define yourself as a believer, an atheist, or an agnostic.

Get an authoritative guide to this extraordinary work in 24 thought-provoking and enlightening lectures, divided into three parts: the historical and intellectual background of the Apocalypse; a close reading of John's text, focusing on the meaning of its images; and the wide-ranging impact of the book on Christian and Western history. Throughout these lectures, Professor Koester focuses on what John actually wrote. what his situation tells us about his meaning, how that meaning can be applied to our own lives, and how contemporary biblical scholars relate Revelation to the modern world.

The major texts of Western culture are a gateway to wisdom that can widen your views on self and society in enduring ways. And now you can examine its most important works - whether drama, poetry, or narrative - in this series of 64 penetrating lectures that reveal astonishing common ground.

In the 12 rewarding lectures of Written Communications: Being Heard and Understood, Professor Allison Friederichs, associate teaching professor and the associate dean for academic affairs at the University of Denver, University College, will share the secrets to sharpening your written, oral, and interpersonal communications skills.

Shakespeare's works are some of the greatest achievements of the human mind and spirit. And yet, for far too many of us, they remain a closed book. Why? Professor Saccio is well suited in these 16 lectures to bring you back into Shakespeare's world and tune you into what he calls "Shakespeare's wavelength." As you hear him effortlessly deliver heretofore impenetrable language with the proper meter, emphasis, intonation, and emotion, you'll experience the pleasure that comes with true mastery.

What are your beliefs about money management? What are your emotions about it? If someone asked you about your short- and long-term money goals, what would you say? Questions like these are essential for anyone building a money-management plan, but they’re less about the line-by-line details of taxes and investment holdings and more about your approach to saving money and spending it—and preparing for the future.

The Great Courses has produced thousands of lectures that have introduced millions of lifelong learners to some of the biggest and most fascinating ideas that humans have ever thought. Now, enjoy 36 lectures specially curated from some of our most popular courses and get an interesting learning experience across a wide range of disciplines.

To truly understand the United States of America, you must explore its literary tradition. Now, in this grand collection of 84 fascinating lectures, you'll get the chance to finally become familiar with America's true literary masterpieces (some you may already be familiar with, others you have yet to discover). Professor Weinstein has crafted these lectures to explain why some works become classics while others do not, why some "immortal" works fade from our attention completely, and even why some contemporary works now being ignored or snubbed by critics may be considered immortal one day.

These 12 lectures answer questions about a high-stakes, ever-evolving area of the American legal system. Recreating a traditional law school course in corporate law, Professor Geis guides you through the foundations of corporate law, the history of corporations, the problems that can plague corporations (including insider trading and bribery), and more. In clear, accessible language, Law School for Everyone: Corporate Law introduces you to the inner workings of corporate law.

If you were ever a teenage girl - or if you’ve even known a teenage girl - you may know it’s a difficult time, often riddled with insecurities, anxiety, and depression. And while adolescent boys often face similar emotions, research shows that females are more likely to be predisposed to depression. Over the course of 10 lessons, Dr. Karen Bluth offers a solution: self-compassion. She explores why self-compassion is a good thing - a resource that people can learn, put in their toolbox, and use whenever they have a challenging day or even a challenging moment.

The history of colonial America is a story of extraordinary scope, with Europeans, Africans, and the native peoples of North America interacting in a drama of settlement and conflict that lasted nearly three centuries. Go back in time and relive this epic story in 36 spellbinding lectures. While concentrating on British North America, Professor Allison also covers developments in the colonial outposts of Spain, France, the Netherlands, and the all-important British possessions in the West Indies, which were the source of the most lucrative crop in the New World - sugar - and the reason for the enormous growth in the slave trade.

What is the connection between individual freedom and social and political authority? Are human beings fundamentally equal or unequal? In 16 in-depth lectures, Professor Dalton puts the key theories of power formulated by several of history's greatest minds within your reach. These lectures trace two distinct schools of political theory, idealism and realism, from their roots in ancient India and Greece through history and, ultimately, to their impact on the 20th century.