Some gifts are obvious, coming wrapped in glittering paper with colourful bows, but others can be easily overlooked when our hearts and minds are preoccupied by the busyness of life. Friendship, acceptance, love, faith…. All the things that make life truly worth living are gifts to be cherished and accepted wholeheartedly.For those struggling in life, in poverty, hardship, or mental-health crises, these gifts can make all the difference. With God’s love, aided by those who offer as...

Oh, I woke up early, before sunriseAnd prepared a simple meal.I hear the Book of Life speak,And this is what it said.In our present digital world of social media, building and maintain strong friendships can be a challenge. We return to friendship when we return to the basics of prayer and meet together face-to-face and place-to-place, caring, sharing and helping each other.The Blessing of Friendship encourages readers to take part in that system; to be...

Imagine a nation with the highest proportion of women legislators in the world. Imagine a country where a democratically elected president is committed to gender equality and poverty reduction, where urban and rural schools are being wired to the Internet, and where the government is committed to becoming a middle-income country by 2020. Imagine that this country is located in the heart of sub-Saharan Africa and that this progress comes in the wake of one of the 20th century's worst genoci...

Our twenty-sixth issue is haunted, alcohol-soaked, possibly delusional, bathed in moonlight, wandering through forests and caverns, and inflamed by all-manner of approaching catastrophes.Featuring new short fiction, poetry, CNF, and translations from Alberto Ortiz De Zarate (translated by Whitni Battle), Darlene Eliot, Nara Vidal (translated by Emyr Humphreys), Luna Sicat-Cleto (translated by Bernard Capinpin), Suzana Stojanović, Siamak Vossoughi, Marshall Moore, Farhad Pirbal (tra...

An expert on developing nations offers "accessible and very sensible analysis" of America's promotion of democracy abroad—and why it often fails ( Publishers Weekly).Oxford economist Paul Collier gives an eye-opening assessment of the corruption and political violence that plague developing nations across Africa, Latin America, and Asia. While many of these governments meet America's standards for democracy, Collier shows that they lack the essential infras...

From Wisconsin to Washington, DC, the claims are made: unions are responsible for budget deficits, and their members are overpaid and enjoy cushy benefits. The only way to save the American economy, pundits claim, is to weaken the labor movement, strip workers of collective bargaining rights, and champion private industry. In "They're Bankrupting Us!": And 20 Other Myths about Unions, labor leader Bill Fletcher Jr. makes sense of this debate as he unpacks the twenty-one myths most...

"A competent, thorough assessment from a veteran expert in the field." — Kirkus ReviewsIncome disparities in our wealthy nation are wider than at any point since the Great Depression. The structure of today's economy has stultified wage growth for half of America's workers—with even worse results at the bottom and for people of color—while bestowing billions on the few at the very top.In this "accessible and inspiring analysis", lifelong ...

How can the poorer countries of the world be helped to help themselves through freer, fairer trade? In this challenging and controversial book Nobel prize-winning economist Joseph E. Stiglitz and his co-author Andrew Charlton address one of the key issues facing world leaders today. They put forward a radical and realistic new model for managing trading relationships between the richest and the poorest countries. Their approach is designed to open up markets in the interests of all and not...

Food aid has become a contentious issue in recent decades, with sharp disagreements over genetically modified crops, agricultural subsidies, and ways of guaranteeing food security in the face of successive global food crises. In Hunger in the Balance, Jennifer Clapp provides a timely and comprehensive account of the contemporary politics of food aid, explaining the origins and outcomes of recent clashes between donor nations—and between donors and recipients....

A vision—and detailed road map to power—for a new party that will champion America’s rational center.From debt ceiling standoffs to single-digit Congress approval ratings, America’s political system has never been more polarized—or paralyzed—than it is today. As best-selling author and public policy expert Charles Wheelan writes, now is the time for a pragmatic Centrist party that will identify and embrace the best Democratic and Republican ideals, moving us forward on the most urg...

In the second edition of his essential book—which incorporates vital new information and new material on immigration, race, gender, and the social crisis following 2008—Michael Zweig warns that by allowing the working class to disappear into categories of "middle class" or "consumers," we also allow those with the dominant power, capitalists, to vanish among the rich. Economic relations then appear as comparisons of income or lifestyle rather than as what they truly are—co...

Africa is poor. If we send it money it will be less poor. It seems perfectly logical, doesn't it? Millions of people in the rich world, moved by images on television and appalled by the miserable conditions endured by so many in other countries, have joined campaigns to persuade their governments to double aid to Africa and help put an end to such shameful inequality.It seems simple. But it isn't. In this book, Jonathan Glennie argues that, along with its many benefits, government ...