Mark Twain's literary works have intrigued and inspired readers from the late 1860s to the present. His varied experiences as a journeyman printer, river boat pilot, prospector, journalist, novelist, humorist, businessman, and world traveller, combined with his incredible imagination and astonishing creativity, enabled him to devise some of American literature's most memorable characters and engaging stories. Twain had a complicated relationship with Christianity. He strove to understand, ...

A nuanced portrait of a great historical figure considered everything from a "God-haunted man" to a "stalwart nonbeliever"What did faith mean to Winston Churchill?Churchill was far from transparent about his religious beliefs and never regularly attended church services as an adult, even considering himself "not a pillar of the church but a buttress," in the sense that he supported it "from the outside." But Gary Scott Smith assembles pieces of Churchill's life and...

Does heaven exist? If so, what is it like? And how does one get in? Throughout history, painters, poets, philosophers, pastors, and many ordinary people have pondered these questions. Perhaps no other topic captures the popular imagination quite like heaven. Gary Scott Smith examines how Americans from the Puritans to the present have imagined heaven. He argues that whether Americans have perceived heaven as reality or fantasy, as God's home or a human invention, as a source of inspiration...

Picture your hands raised in a victory pose. No one but you enjoying your moment your victory lap your knockout your achievement your crowning gloryyour EVEREST! From wherever you stand right now Summit Strategies can help you reach your own personal summit. Through riveting accounts of lessons learned on the worlds most perilous mountains Gary Scott offers sure-footed wisdom that will guide you step by step until you are prepared to take on any life challenge.

An in-depth account of the Civil War people and events that left their mark on the city at the heart of the Union, shaping its historic legacy.When the first shots of the Civil War were fired in 1861, Washington, DC, was a small, essentially Southern city. The capital rapidly transformed as it prepared for invasion—army camps sprung up in Foggy Bottom, the Navy Yard on Anacostia was a beehive of activity, and even the Capitol was pressed into service as a barracks....

Newspaper columnist Daniel Caruso has a wife he loves deeply, a daughter who means everything to him, and an obsessive secret life that threatens it all. At a conference in Seattle, he meets Stephen Hart, a handsome firefighter, and the two spend a passionate night together. Awakening alone and deeply conflicted the next morning, Daniel resigns himself once again to the hollow, tainted pleasures of his dual existence. His encounter with Hart, though, is far more than a one-night stand: it ...

"""Baseball Joe"" Matson's great ambition is to become a professional baseball pitcher. The Baseball Joe series follows his career as he seeks to attain his goal. In this volume, Joe follows the wishes of his parents and attends college, and seeks to join the Yale University varsity baseball nine. Much to his disappointment, he finds that he cannot immediately do so, due to a Yale rule barring Freshmen from placement on the varsity. We follow his college adventures through his first and se...

Still living out of the back of his Ford pickup truck in the Pacific Northwest, Tony Caruso is hired to find his old Navy buddy, missing for a week in the Puget Sound area of Washington. Tony is on the case for less than a day when someone blows up a forest service building, killing a man, and attracting the attention of FBI special agent Bob McCallum, Tony's old nemesis, who was now in charge of the Seattle office. Curious as usual, Tony goes to the fire site with his bomb-sniffing giant ...

When Tony Caruso is hired to go undercover for the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service, he has no idea that his life will change forever in the remote mountains of Oregon. He is tasked to track down an Asian ring of smugglers who are killing black bears for gallbladders and shooting elk and deer in velvet for their antlers. He narrowly escapes with his life, but follows the smugglers to Portland. Eventually, he ends up in the southern Cascades in the mushroom fields, where he must fight not on...

What Happens When You Immerse Your Life in the Words of Jesus?“Jesus’ words can replace stress with peace, sadness with joy, confusion with guidance, and fear with faith. That’s why Jesus Speaks will not only change your day, but it can also change your life, your relationships, and your eternity!”—Christine Caine, best-selling author of Undaunted“I’m certain readers…will grow in their intimate relationship with the Father as they focus on Jesus’ word...

A charismatic psychopath is poised to win the presidency. Only one man can stop him—his identical twin, the brother he framed for the brutal murder of their parents twenty-five years ago.When Richard Zumwalt slaughtered his wealthy St. Louis family, he stole not just their fortune … but his twin Henry’s entire life. Branded a killer and locked away, Henry vanished into the system. But now he’s back, living under a new name, and ready to expose the truth.As Richard’s politic...

★★★ Discover the true miracle of Lazarus being raised from the dead ★★★Lazarus is an amazing story.A man rose from the dead! You just don’t get any more awesome than that, right! So that’s it then. That’s what we are supposed to learn from his resurrection, right? Not exactly.Jesus performed lots of miracles. John said it best when he said that there would not be room in the whole world to describe all that he did.It’s easy to look ...