Arranged Companions

Although commonly associated with patriarchal oppression, arranged marriages have adapted over the centuries to changing cultural norms and the lived experiences of men and women. In Arranged Companions, historian Weijing Lu chronicles how marital behaviors during the early and High Qing (mid-seventeenth through mid-nineteenth centuries) were informed by rich and complex traditions and mediated by the historical conditions of the period, during which marital affection was celebrated as a basic ingredient of an ideal marriage. Lu finds public representation and private communication of marital affection in personal records, including poetry, biographies, letters, and memoirs. During this unique historical moment, ideals of marital companionship and love came to fruition while social changes also created new tensions for couples and extended families. Offering surprising revelations about conjugal relations during this time of change, Arranged Companions raises provocative questions about the cultural construction of intimacy and the meaning of a “happy marriage.”

Although commonly associated with patriarchal oppression, arranged marriages have adapted over the centuries to changing cultural norms and the lived experiences of men and women. In Arranged Companions, historian Weijing Lu chronicles how marital behaviors during the early and High Qing (mid-seventeenth through mid-nineteenth centuries) were informed by rich and complex traditions and mediated by the historical conditions of the period, during which marital affection was celebrated as a basic ingredient of an ideal marriage. Lu finds public representation and private communication of marital affection in personal records, including poetry, biographies, letters, and memoirs. During this unique historical moment, ideals of marital companionship and love came to fruition while social changes also created new tensions for couples and extended families. Offering surprising revelations about conjugal relations during this time of change, Arranged Companions raises provocative questions about the cultural construction of intimacy and the meaning of a "happy marriage."

As the second main source of the true religion of Islam, hadith has a history full of ups and downs as far as the manner of its transmittal and the periods of its compilation and publication are concerned. Those who are acquainted with Islamic history have all acknowledged that from the time of transmittal up to now, hadith as been associated with many desirable as well as undesirable events, and its compilation and publication in some periods have had both faithful advocates and stern adversaries. For this reason, learning the “history of hadith” – though a piece of knowledge outside the different branches of the science of hadith – is essential for all those who want to benefit from the Sunnah and the corpus of hadith especially in view of the fact that the beginning of hadith compilation and its mechanism have not been the same for the proponents of the various Islamic schools of thought, each of them having a different opinion whose outcome may adversely affect the credibility and status of the existing traditions (ahadith). The present book, which has been written as a textbook in the tertiary level of Islamic studies, endeavors to present the general subjects relevant to hadith and its history as well as to acquaint the students of this field with the Sunni hadith collections and the Four Books (Kutub al-Arba‘ah) of the Shi‘ah in a simple and easy-to-understand approach.

"Homes of the London Poor" is both a personal recollection and a social study by Octavia Hill. When Hill began her work, the model dwelling movement had been in existence for twenty years, royal and select committees had sat to examine the problems of urban well-being, and the first of many tranches of legislation aimed at improving working class housing had been passed. From Hill's point of view these had all failed the poorest members of the working class, the unskilled labourers. She found that their landlords routinely ignored their obligations towards their tenants, and that the tenants were too ignorant and oppressed to better themselves. She tried to find new homes for her charges, but there was a severe shortage of available property, and Hill decided that her only solution was to become a landlord herself. In consequence of her diligent work and prudent management, by 1874 she had 15 housing schemes with around 3,000 tenants. Hill's system was based on closely managing not only the buildings but the tenants. She maintained close personal contact with all her tenants, and was strongly opposed to impersonal bureaucratic organizations and to governmental intervention in housing.

Containing all the degrees of the Order conferred in a Master’s Lodge, as written by Captain William Morgan. All the degrees conferred in the Royal Arch, Chapter, and Grand Encampment of Knights Tcmplars, Knights of the Red Cross, of the Christian Mark, and of the Holy Sepulchre. Also, the eleven ineffable degrees conferred in the Lodge of Perfection; and the still higher degrees of Prince of Jerusalem, Knights of the East and West, Venerable Grand Masters of Symbolic Lodges, Knights and Adepts of the Eagle or Sun, Princes of the Royal Secret, Sovereign Inspector-General, etc. Revised and corrected to correspond with the most approved forms and ceremonies in the various Lodges of Freemasons throughout the United States.