| A Personal Note to the Reader | |
| The Riddle of Creation: A Prologue | |
| Worlds Without Beginning | |
| The Dazzled vision of the Hindus | p. 4 |
| The Indifference of Confucius | p. 9 |
| The Silence of the Buddha | p. 59 |
| The Homeric Scriptures of the Greeks | p. 26 |
| A Creator-God | |
| The Intimate God of Moses | p. 38 |
| The Birth of Theology | p. 46 |
| The Innovative God of Saint Augustine | p. 55 |
| The Uncreated Koran | p. 63 |
| Book One: Creator Man | |
| The Power of Stone | |
| The Mystery of Megaliths | p. 74 |
| Castles of Eternity | p. 79 |
| Temples of Commnunity | p. 90 |
| Orders for Survival | p. 101 |
| Artificial Stone: A Roman Revolution | p. 107 |
| Dome of the World | p. 118 |
| The Great Church | p. 127 |
| A Road Not Taken: The Japanese Triumph of Wood | p. 136 |
| The Magic of Images | |
| The Awe of Images | p. 148 |
| Human Hieroglyphs | p. 153 |
| The Athletic Ideal | p. 164 |
| For Family, Empire - and History | p. 175 |
| The Healing Image | p. 183 |
| "Satan's Handiwork" | p. 193 |
| The Immortal Word | |
| Dionysus the Twice-Born | p. 202 |
| The Birth of the Spectator: From Ritual to Drama | p. 206 |
| The Mirror of Comedy | p. 214 |
| The Arts of Prose and Persuasion | p. 220 |
| Book Two: Re-Creating the World | |
| Otherworldly Elements | |
| The Consoling Past | p. 234 |
| The Music of the Word | p. 238 |
| An Architecture of Light | p. 246 |
| Adventures in Death | p. 255 |
| The Human Comedy: A Composite Work | |
| Escaping the Plague | p. 266 |
| Joys of Pilgrimage | p. 276 |
| "In the Land of Booze and Bibbers" | p. 288 |
| Adventures in Madness | p. 298 |
| The Spectator Reborn | p. 308 |
| The Freedom to Choose | p. 320 |
| Sagas of Ancient Empire | p. 333 |
| New-World Epics | p. 342 |
| A Mosaic of Novels | p. 353 |
| In Love with the Public | p. 364 |
| From Craftsman to Artist | |
| Archetypes Brought to Life | p. 380 |
| Roman Afterlives | p. 384 |
| The Mysteries of Light: From a Walk to a Window | p. 391 |
| Sovereign of the Visible World | p. 398 |
| "Divine Michelangelo" | p. 407 |
| The Painted Word: The Inward Path of Tao | p. 419 |
| Composing for the Community | |
| A Protestant Music | p. 428 |
| The Music of Instruments: From Court to Concert | p. 439 |
| New Worlds for the Orchestra | p. 452 |
| The Music of Risorgimento | p. 465 |
| A Germanic Union of the Arts | p. 476 |
| The Ephemeral Art of the Dance | p. 486 |
| The Music of Innovation | p. 500 |
| Conjuring With Time and Space | |
| The Painted Moment | p. 512 |
| The Power of Light: "The Pencil of Nature" | p. 524 |
| The Rise of the Skyscraper | p. 536 |
| Book Three: Creating the Self | |
| The Vanguard Word | |
| Inventing the Essay | p. 556 |
| The Art of Being Truthful: Confessions | p. 567 |
| The Arts of Seeming Truthful: Autobiography | p. 577 |
| Intimate Biography | p. 585 |
| The Heroic Self | p. 598 |
| Songs of the Self | p. 613 |
| In a Dry Season | p. 628 |
| The Wilderness Within | |
| An American at Sea | p. 642 |
| Sagas of the Russian Soul | p. 658 |
| Journey to the Interior | p. 672 |
| The Garden of Involuntary Memory | p. 684 |
| The Filigreed Self | p. 697 |
| "I Too Am Here!" | p. 715 |
| Vistas from a Restless Self | p. 727 |
| Epilogue: Mysteries of a Public Art | p. 739 |
| Some Reference Notes | p. 751 |
| Acknowledgments | p. 779 |
| Index | p. 783 |
| Table of Contents provided by Blackwell. All Rights Reserved. |