Can you imagine using a toilet to escape from a prison camp? Or how about battling snakes and bombs to help patients in the Philippines? These were everyday events for people during World War II. Experience their triumphs and defeats first-hand as you read about a captured British pilot, an American army nurse, a Japanese kamikaze pilot, and more.

Johann Sebastian Bach – celebrated pipe organist, court composer and master of sacred music – was also a technical pioneer. Working in Germany in the early eighteenth century, he invented new instruments and carried out experiments in tuning, the effects of which are still with us today. Two hundred years later, a number of extraordinary musicians have utilised the music of Bach to thrilling effect through the art of recording, furthering their own virtuosity and reinventing the composer f...

Named a Best Book of the Year by the Washington Post and Los Angeles Times | Named an Essential Read by The New YorkerThis enthralling group portrait brings to life a moment when popular culture became the site of religious strife—strife that set the stage for some of the most salient political and cultural clashes of our day.Circa 1980, tradition and authority are in the ascendant, both in Catholicism (via Pope John Paul II) and ...

The story of a revolution in music and technology, told through a century of recordings of the music of Johann Sebastian BachIn Reinventing Bach, his remarkable second book, Paul Elie tells the electrifying story of how musicians of genius have made Bach's music new in our time, at once restoring Bach as a universally revered composer and revolutionizing the ways that music figures into our lives.As a musician in eighteenth-century Germany, Bach was ...

In May 1904, the residents of Halcyon—a small utopian community on California’s central coast—invited their neighbors to attend the grand opening of the Halcyon Hotel and Sanatorium. As part of the entertainment, guests were encouraged to have their hands X-rayed. For the founders and members of Halcyon, the X-ray was a demonstration of mysterious spiritual forces made practical to human beings.Radiance from Halcyon is the story not only of the community but also of its un...

A graduate of West Point, General Hugh Lenox Scott (1853–1934) belonged to the same regiment as George Armstrong Custer. As a member of the Seventh Cavalry, Scott actually began his career at the Little Big Horn when in 1877 he helped rebury Custer’s fallen soldiers. Yet Scott was no Custer. His lifelong aversion to violence in resolving disputes and abiding respect for American Indians earned him the reputation as one of the most adept peacemakers ever to serve in the U.S. Army. Sign ...

Maybe you are already in Cosmic Consciousness ?Or at least you possess a good percentage of it ?It could be you have it inbred at birth or from spiritual practices like meditation and Yoga.Or you are curious to know a little more about that subject.This book is for you.Here is why: « So when we are meditating and growing in CC, growing in these things, we must intellectually understand also what is going on. Otherwise, someth...

Nation states and communities throughout the world have reached certain decisions about capital punishment: It is the destruction of human life. It is ineffective as a deterrent for crime. It is an instrument the state uses to contain or eliminate its political adversaries. It is a tool of “justice” that disproportionality affects religious, social, and racial minorities. It is a sanction that cannot be fixed if unjustly applied.Yet the United States—along with countries notorious ...

Procrastination, perfectionism, impostor syndrome, and lack of confidence all find their roots in the negative messages we tell ourselves. Turning those negative messages around brings clarity, confidence, encouragement, and possibility. In this guide to turning negative self-talk into unstoppable confidence, Paul Boehnke, a certified life coach and musician, shares a proven process to getting your life on track. He explains how to: • overcome self-doubt to discover self-worth; • recognize...

The story of an innovative program of treatment for AIDS in Africa that succeeded in the face of international development agencies’ “afro pessimism”Until this century, Western governments and foundations framing policies for AIDS relief in Africa maintained that prevention alone was a preferable alternative to prevention-plus-treatment, which would be costly and impractical in Africa, or would benefit only the prosperous and well-connected.Sant'Egidio’...

Directed at a diverse audience of students, legal and public health practitioners, and anyone interested in understanding what human rights-based approaches (HRBAs) to health and development mean and why they matter, Power, Suffering, and the Struggle for Dignity provides a solid foundation for comprehending what a human rights framework implies and the potential for social transformation it entails. Applying a human rights framework to health demands that we think about our own s...

Breaking the Chains of Religious Tradition to Discover Freedom in Christ's RedemptionAt eighteen, Eli Yoder made the courageous decision to leave behind the strict traditions of his Old-Order Amish upbringing. Venturing into the unknown "English" world, he set out on a journey that would challenge everything he had ever believed and ultimately lead him to the life-changing truths of the Bible.In Undeceived, Eli shares his raw and heartfelt story of...