A massive underground sensation, The Big Lebowski has been hailed as the first cult film of the internet age. In this book, 21 fans and scholars address the film's influences—westerns, noir, grail legends, the 1960s, and Fluxus—and its historical connections to the first Iraq war, boomers, slackerdom, surrealism, college culture, and of course bowling. The Year's Work in Lebowski Studies contains neither arid analyses nor lectures for the late-night crowd, but new ways of thinking and writ...

Here, for the first time in more than eighty years, is a detailed study of political Antimasonry on the national, state, and local levels, based on a survey of existing sources. The Antimasonic party, whose avowed goal was the destruction of the Masonic Lodge and other secret societies, was the first influential third party in the United States and introduced the device of the national presidential nominating convention in 1831.Vaughn focuses on the celebrated "Morgan Affair" of 18...

The Life of General Albert Sidney Johnston is a biography of the famous Confederate general.

Schools for All provides the first in-depth study of black education in Southern public schools and universities during the twelve-year Reconstruction period which followed the Civil War. In the antebellum South, the teaching of African Americans was sporadic and usually in contravention to state laws. During the war, Northern religious and philanthropic organizations initiated efforts to educate slaves. The army, and later the Freedmen's Bureau, became actively involved in freed-...

In late 1842, Private William Preston Stapp and about three hundred other citizens of the Republic of Texas took it upon themselves to invade Mexico. They intended to retaliate for a recent Mexican attack on San Antonio and to humiliate President Sam Houston, who had been hesitant to seek revenge. Stapp provides a closely observed, day-by-day narrative of the disastrous adventure later known as the Mier expedition. While his style might be described as "elegantly restrained" in comparison to ...

Albert Sidney Johnston (1803- 1862) , a native of Kentucky, was a general who commanded soldiers for the Texas Army, the American Army, and the Confederate States Army. One of the finest commanders of the 19th century, he was killed during the Civil War at the Battle of Shiloh. The Life of General Albert Sidney Johnston is an incredible chronology of Johnstons life and events in American history. Chapters include the Black Hawk War, the Texan Revolution, the Mexican War, the Mormon Rebellio...

When you are at the end of your proverbial rope, your mind and heart may be filled with questions about how such difficulties fit in with Gods plan for your life. It is during those times that you need straight talk and forward-thinking principles.In The God of How: Understanding How Trials, Transitions, and Triumphs Fit into Gods Plan for Your Life, Dr. Preston Williams II seeks to help you understand Gods involvement in lifes many transitions. Through true-life stories a...

God reveals Himself to us in the Holy Scriptures, and from His Word we can learn about His nature, His character, and His plan for humankind. Yet this spiritual journey takes something more than just reading the words in the Bible and applying our own interpretations—it takes authentic faith and a good deal of help from the Holy Spirit. God’s Unreasonable Reasoning is a captivating spiritual guidebook that can help you understand God’s reasoning in life’s many transitions, and it can chang...

Most of what are referred to as Korean martial art styles are actually derived from Japanese/Okinawan karate systems or find their roots in Chinese boxing. The Korean peninsula has existed as a fragile territory between China and Japan and thus shared many cultural elements from their neighbors. To what degree has the Japanese and Chinese arts influenced those practiced in Korea over the centuries? Can we distinguish any original Korean martial art style?Chapters in this anthology ...

Twelve-year-old David Snod's life is nothing but problems: He can't stop stuttering. He gets bullied constantly. His little sister, Sophia, acts like she's his protector. His teenage brother, Chris, torments him, calling him "Nose." Worst of all, David doesn't have enough money to buy the popular SkyJam basketball shoes.Now the school's bully, Ron-Ron, has created a plan to humiliate David online―unless David can buy a pair of SkyJams. And of course Ron-Ron knows David can't afford...

Hit the lights and jump in the fire, youre about to enter the School of Rock! Todays lecture will be a crash course in brain surgery. This hard and fast lesson is taught by instructors who graduated from the old schoolthey actually paid $5.98 for The $5.98 EP. But back before these philosophy professors cut their hair, they were lieutenants in the Metal Militia. Metallica is the thinking mans metal band and the headbangers CNN. Snobs and music critics have often dismissed Metallica as mind...

This broad-ranging reader collects key biblical, classical, cross-cultural, and contemporary texts on how faith, especially Christianity, has shaped economic life in the past and how it can continue to do so in our emerging global civilization. The readings assembled here -- drawn from historical, theological, and social-theory resources -- provide a massive array of materials unprecedented in a single volume. Drawing from sources as diverse as the Bible, the great philosophers, and today'...