For information on and to subscribe to Ari's FREE e-mail newsletter, click on the button below.

More about Ari Cowan:
Facebook	Pax Principia Blog
DoPeace	Compassionate Action Network

This site is best viewed using
the Firefox web browser.
You may download your free copy by clicking on the button above.

Resources:
Reading and Viewing

Click to return to the Resource main page

Recommended Reading

Ari Cowan's work has been influenced by a variety of written works. The list below is a sampling and are recommended.

If you would like to purchase books: If you would like to have a copy of a featured book, you may purchase it directly from this page from Amazon.com. A portion of your purchase goes to support Ari's work. To make your purchase, just click on the book cover illustration and follow the simple instructions.

The Birth and Death of Meaning: An Interdisciplinary Perspective on the Problem of Man by Ernest Becker, PhD

In this work, Becker examines what makes people act the way they do. Becker’s thinking is instrumental to the development of the PAR Model.

The Denial of Death by Ernest Becker, PhD

Winner of the 1974 Pulitzer price. The author explores the “why” of human existence. In contrast to the Freudian school of thought, the author confronts the problem of the vital lie - humanity’s refusal to acknowledge mortality. The roots of violence are found in this denial.

Escape from Evil by Ernest Becker, PhD

Becker’s further examination of the human condition. He explores inequality, immortality and the fear of death, the basic dynamics of human evil, the nature of social evil, and heroism — themes central to understanding violence.

Nonviolent Soldier of Islam: Badshah Khan, A Man to Match His Mountains by Eknath Easwaran

A contemporary of Gandhi, Abdul Ghaffar Khan led a nonviolent Muslim revolution, fighting the British with passive resistance and noncooperation. A remarkable story.

Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison by Michel Foucault

In this seminal work, Foucault suggests that such vaunted reforms as the abolition of torture and the emergence of the modern penitentiary have merely shifted the focus of punishment from the prisoner's body to his soul. His research shows us how horrifying both poles of this shift are.

Violence: Reflections on a National Epidemic by James Gilligan, PhD

Drawing on firsthand experience as a prison psychiatrist, his own family history, and literature, Gilligan unveils the motives of men who commit horrifying crimes, men who will not only kill others but destroy themselves rather than suffer a loss of self-respect.

Recommended Viewing

If you would like to purchase videos: If you would like to have a copy of a featured video, you may purchase it directly from this page from Amazon.com. A portion of your purchase goes to support Ari's work. To make your purchase, just click on the video cover illustration and follow the simple instructions.

Gandhi

Widescreen Two-Disc Special Edition • Rated: PG • Run time: 3 hours, 8 minutes • Directed by Richard Attenborough • Screenplay by John Briley • Cast: Ben Kingsley, Rohini Hattangadi, Roshan Seth, Om Puri, Saeed Jaffrey, Alyque Padamsee, Amrish Puri, Martin Sheen, Ian Charleson, Edward Fox, Geraldine James, John Gielgud, Trevor Howard, John Mills • Widescreen format

Gandhi is a biography that covers 55 years in the life of Mohandas Karamchand (Mahatma) Gandhi, the great Indian political and spiritual leader. Producer-director Attenborough has created an epic that is dramatically impeccable, visually stunning, and emotionally engaging.

A Passage to India
Rated: PG • Run time: 2 hours, 44 minutes • Directed by David Lean • Screenplay by Santha Rama Rau and David Lean from the novel by E. M. Forster • Cast: Judy Davis, Victor Banerjee, Peggy Ashcroft, James Fox, Alec Guinness, Nigel Havers • Widescreen format

This adaptation of E.M. Forster's mysterious tale of British racism in colonial India turned out to be master director David Lean's final film. Subtle and grand at the same time, Lean's adaptation is faithful to the book, rendering its blend of the mystical and the all-too human with exquisite precision. A Passage to India received two Academy Awards® — Peggy Ashcroft for Best Actress and Maurice Jarre for Best Music, Original Score.

Flags of Our Fathers
Rated: R • Run time: 2 hours, 12 minutes • Directed by Clint Eastwood • Screenplay by Paul Haggis from the book by John Bradley • Cast: Ryan Phillippe, Jesse Bradford, Adam Beach, John Benjamin Hickey, John Slattery. Widescreen format.

Along with Letters From Iwo Jima (see the listing to the right), this is a brilliant exploration of war and its consequences, thoughtfully and beautifully rendered to the screen by Academy Award® recipient Clint Eastwood. Deeply moving and insightful. The "R" rating is for graphic and violent war scenes and adult language.

Letters From Iwo Jima
Two-Disc Special Edition
Rated: R • Run time: 2 hours, 20 minutes • Directed by Clint Eastwood • Screenplay by Iris Yamashita • Cast: Ken Watanabe, Kazunari Ninomiya, Tsuyoshi Ihara, Ryo Kase, Shido Nakamura. Widescreen format.

The second in the two film series by director Clint Eastwood. This films tells the story of war during the battle of Iwo Jima from the perspective of the Japanese soldiers defending the island. Combined with Flags of Our Fathers, viewers get a rare look into both sides of war. The "R" rating is for graphic and violent war scenes and adult language.

Resources: Reading and Viewing

Recommended Reading

Recommended Viewing

Resources:
Reading and Viewing