This book charts the shifting boundaries of Judaism from antiquity to the modern period in order to bring clarity to what scholars mean when they claim that ancient texts or groups are “within Judaism,” as well as exploring how rabbinic Jews, Christians, and Muslims have negotiated and renegotiated what Judaism is and is not in order to form their own identities. Belief in Jesus as the Messiah was seen as part of first-century Judaism, but by the fourth or fifth century, the boundaries had...

INTRODUCTIONAs a geologist, I travel to remote regions of the world. “Eulogies and Dead Horses” is a collection of some of my travel adventures. The stories focus on the beauty that surrounds us during poignant moments when life is in a fragile state. An underlying theme in this book is the presence of Mortality as an almost sentient, omnipotent being. The situations are described with humor and, in some cases, a bit of geological observation as well. Each story is either ...

These are fishing stories told by three authors about what happens when they go fishing. These tales are about places, boats, bars, trucks, dogs and people. The situations occur in Colorado, Montana, Wyoming, Nevada, Idaho and Utah and other fishable parts of the world and include details as to parking camping costs, trails, and other interesting notes. Each story is a personal essay description the fishing trip.Michele Murray is a geologist and writer. She is a professional fly fi...

Blindness by bird excrement, seven husbands murdered by a love-sick demon, a father with the corpses of his sons-in-law interred in the backyard, and a magical fish. These farcical elements make the book of Tobit a striking work of humorous fiction in a long Jewish tradition of storytelling. But it is more than just an entertaining read. We might well laugh, but we cannot laugh too hard, for we also sympathize with the characters’ sincere struggles to understand God’s plan for their lives....

The Horse in My Garage and Other Stories is a hilarious addition to Patrick F. McManus’s existing work in humor. The author weighs in on his childhood, everyday life, and outdoor tales with his typical exaggerated commentary that will elicit a belly laugh from all types of readers.Read about the antics of Patrick’s friends Rancid Crabtree and Retch Sweeney in such stories as “Shaping Up for the Hunt” and “Bear Hunters.” McManus plays off the recent obsession with hoarders i...

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author and host of Netflix’s MeatEater comes “a unique and valuable alternate view of where our food comes from” (Anthony Bourdain).“Revelatory . . . With every chapter, you get a history lesson, a hunting lesson, a nature lesson, and a cooking lesson. . . . Meat Eater offers an overabundance to savor.”—The New York Times Book ReviewMeat Eater chronicles Ste...

This memoir of life in the American desert by the author of The Monkey Wrench Gang is a nature writing classic on par with Rachel Carson's Silent Spring.In Desert Solitaire, Edward Abbey recounts his many escapades, adventures, and epiphanies as an Arches National Park ranger outside Moab, Utah. Brimming with arresting insights, impassioned arguments for wilderness conservation, and a raconteur's wit, it is one of Abbey's most critically ...

This “elegiac tribute to the elusive art and ineffable pleasure of fly-fishing” (Kirkus Reviews) shows us why life’s most valuable lessons—and some of its best experiences—are found while fly-fishing.For John Gierach, “the master of fly-fishing” (Sacramento Bee), fishing is always the answer—even when it’s not clear what the question is. In All Fishermen Are Liars, Gierach travels around North America seeking out quintessential fishing ex...

Hilarious and heartwarming stories of outdoor mishaps and misadventures fromThe New York Times five-time bestselling, beloved humorist, Patrick F. McManus, "a writer who makes people laugh out loud, hard." (The New York Times)McManus's first story collection, gathering twenty-seven witty, cautionary tales about camping, fishing, backpackers, and b...

From the New York Times–bestselling author of Legends of the Fall: "Harrison spins the common chaff of a road trip into gold" ( Tim McNulty, The Seattle Times )."It used to be Cliff and Vivian and now it isn't." With these words, Jim Harrison begins a riotous, moving novel that sends a sixty-something man, divorced and robbed of his farm by a late-blooming real estate shark of an ex-wife...

A hilarious collection of essays dedicated to life in the great outdoors from Field & Stream's acclaimed Sportsman's Life columnist.For nearly a decade, Bill Heavey, an outdoorsman marooned in suburbia, has written the Sportsman's Life column on the back page of Field & Stream, where he does for hunting and fishing what David Feherty does for golf and Lewis Grizzard did for the South. If You Didn't Bring Jerky, What Did I Just Eat? is the...

A lively and lyrical account of one woman’s unlikely apprenticeship on a national-park trail crew and what she discovers about nature, gender, and the value of hard workChristine Byl first encountered the national parks the way most of us do: on vacation. But after she graduated from college, broke and ready for a new challenge, she joined a Glacier National Park trail crew as a seasonal “traildog” maintaining mountain trails for the millions of visitors Glacier dr...