More than a century passed after Johann Sebastian Bach's death in 1750 before his music found an audience in the United States. Volume Five in the Bach Perspectives series tracks the composer's reputation in America from obscure artist to a cultural mainstay whose music has spread to all parts of the country.Barbara Owen surveys Bach's early reception in America. Matthew Dirst focuses on John Sullivan Dwight's role in advocating Bach's work. Michael Broyles considers Bach'...

We successfully completed Thanksgiving, but now we’re trapped in the dead zone between roast turkey and roasting chestnuts. When our first December issue arrives, we’ll kick off holiday celebrations anew, though, with more great novels and short stories.But in the meantime, we have an original crime story by the always-masterful Elizabeth Elwood (thanks to Acquiring editor Michael Bracken), a Early Christman treat by Mark Thielman (thanks to Acquiring Editor Barb Goffman), a myster...

The Land of the Divided: American Civil War Collection is a compelling anthology that intricately weaves the diverse literary styles and reflective narratives of the Civil War era. Through poignant short stories, essays, and narrative accounts, the collection captures the tumultuous landscape of a nation in conflict. From heart-wrenching battlefield scenes to intimate portrayals of homefront struggles, each piece conveys the enduring complexity and the profound human experience of the war....

Life itself as well as the entire human economy depends on goods and services provided by earth's natural systems. The processes of cleansing, recycling, and renewal, along with goods such as seafood, forage, and timber, are worth many trillions of dollars annually, and nothing could live without them. Yet growing human impacts on the environment are profoundly disrupting the functioning of natural systems and imperiling the delivery of these services.Nature's Services brings toget...

Multiple Paths to Knowledge in International Relations provides a uniquely valuable view of current approaches and findings in conflict studies. This volume showcases work informed by four powerful research tools: rational choice theory and game theory; simulation, experimentation, and artificial intelligence; quantitative studies; and case studies. Each research method is introduced and evaluated for its specific potential, including both strengths and weaknesses. Throughout, the...

Imagine if you will a life free from pornography. A bulletproof life filled with purity and the virtue God intended for you to have. A life filled with His presence, joy, and splendor of God. Visualize yourself free from the addictive vices of sin. Envision the pleasure of knowing God out of a pure heart and mind. Before his deliverance from pornography he heard countless stories of miraculous turnarounds of desperate circumstances. He was skeptical and sure it wasnt true. He was equally s...

“He’s taking holidays enough. I guess he can give us one,” said Moses Ayer, signing his name laboriously uphill. “One licking more likely,” said Lewis Hoyt. He grinned as he took the big smooth-faced chip from Moses and added his signature. “Here, Molly, it’s your turn. Remember, you want to leave room for all the others that can possibly squeeze on.” “If I couldn’t write smaller than that I wouldn’t sign,” retorted Molly Royce over his shoulder. “He’s got to stand treat and that’s all the...

In 1897 four young ladies of London society are sent to a secluded institute, run by psychoanalyst Doctor Rhodes, to cure their female hysteria. Solitary confinement, bodily restraints, sensory deprivation, immaculately tailored uniforms and the liberal use of vaginal massagers are the strange and secretive methods employed by the doctor, who views the behavioural restrictions and the strict Victorian morality of his society as the root cause of his patients’ problems. The four ladies and ...

"The Chimes" is Charles Dickens 1844 novella that concerns the disillusionment of Toby "Trotty" Veck, a poor working-class man. When Trotty has lost his faith in Humanity and believes that his poverty is the result of his unworthiness he is visited on New Year's Eve by spirits to help restore his faith and show him that nobody is born evil, but rather that crime and poverty are things created by man.

The water coming out of your tap is four billion years old and might have been slurped by a Tyrannosaurus Rex. We will always have exactly as much water on Earth as we have ever had. Water cannot be destroyed, and it can always be made clean enough for drinking again. In fact, water can be made so clean that it actually becomes toxic.As Charles Fishman brings vibrantly to life in this delightful narrative excursion, water runs our world in a host of awe-inspiring ways, which is bot...

Charles Bukowski examines cats and his childhood in You Get So Alone at Times, a book of poetry that reveals his tender side. The iconic tortured artist/everyman delves into his youth to analyze its repercussions.“The Walt Whitman of Los Angeles.”—Joyce Carol Oates“He brought everybody down to earth, even the angels.”—Leonard Cohen, songwriter"well, that's just the way it is..."sometimes when everything seems at

Do you want to listen to A Christmas Carol? If so then keep reading…A Christmas Carol is a novella by Charles Dickens, first published in London by Chapman & Hall on 19 December 1843. The novella met with instant success and critical acclaim. Carol tells the story of a bitter old miser named Ebenezer Scrooge and his transformation into a gentler, kindlier man after visitations by the ghost of his former business partner Jacob Marley and the Ghosts of Christmases Past, Present and Ye...