Passage into the modern world left the Russian icon profoundly altered. It fell into new hands, migrated to new homes, and acquired new forms and meanings. Icons were made in the factories of foreign industrialists and destroyed by iconoclasts of the proletariat. Even the icon's traditional functions--whether in the feast days of the church or the pageantry of state power--were susceptible to the transformative forces of modernization. In Alter Icons: The Russian Icon and Modernity, eleven scholars of Russian history, art, literature, cinema, philosophy, and theology track key...

First published in 1880, Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ became a best-seller. The
popular novel spawned an 1899 stage adaptation, reaching audiences of over
10 million, and two highly successful film adaptations. For over a century, it has
become a ubiquitous pop cultural presence, representing a deeply powerful story
and monumental experience for some and a defining work of bad taste and false
piety for others. The first and only collection of essays on this pivotal cultural icon,
Bigger Than "Ben-Hur" addresses Lew Wallace's beloved classic to explore its
polarizing...

First published in 1880, Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ became a best-seller. The
popular novel spawned an 1899 stage adaptation, reaching audiences of over
10 million, and two highly successful film adaptations. For over a century, it has
become a ubiquitous pop cultural presence, representing a deeply powerful story
and monumental experience for some and a defining work of bad taste and false
piety for others. The first and only collection of essays on this pivotal cultural icon,
Bigger Than "Ben-Hur" addresses Lew Wallace's beloved classic to explore its
polarizing...