From a "gifted storyteller" who delivers "always enjoyable, often hysterical stories" (New York Times Book Review) comes a meditation on the American... Dream and its discontents. In his most ambitious collection yet, Steve Almond offers a comic and forlorn portrait of these United States: our lust for fame, our racial tensions, the toll of perpetual war, and the pursuit of romantic happiness.In the exuberant title story, a hapless would-be actor, desperate to escape the drudgery of his existence, lands the role of a lifetime. In "Donkey Greedy, Donkey Gets Punched," reprinted in Best American Short Stories, a psychoanalyst with a secret gambling addiction squares off over the poker table against a damaged ex-patient. In "First Date Back," a young woman becomes the target of a traumatized soldier's misguided hopes for love. And "A Dream of Sleep," the collection's final story, presents a grief-stricken refugee who tends the graves of a forgotten cemetery, only to have his fragile peace shattered by an unwelcome visitor.Each of these thirteen stories is an urgent investigation of America's soul, its particular suffering, its injustices, its possibilities for redemption. With deft sleight of hand, Almond, "a writer who knows us as well as we know ourselves" (Houston Chronicle), leavens his disappointment and outrage with a persistent hope for the men and women who inhabit his worlds. God Bless America offers us an astonishing vision of our collective fate, rendered in Almond's signature style of "precise strokes . . . with metaphors so original and spot-on that they read like epiphanies" (San Francisco Chronicle).

Vonnegut's satirical voice has been likened to a 20th c. counterpart of Mark Twain. Don't miss the ascerbic wit from the award-winning author of... "Slaughterhouse 5" & "Cat's Cradle." BEST PRICE on the market. Will mail out within 12 hrs. of payment confirmation.

The first part of the book addresses the epistemological concerns, focusing on arguments for and against the claim that theism is rationally... justifiable. These include discussion of cosmological arguments, the ontological argument, the argument from design, and the moral argument for God's existence. Metaphysical questions about God’s nature, in particular God’s knowledge and power, and the nature of religious experience constitute the second part of the book. Epistemological and metaphysical questions are shown to be related since, if the concept of a God perfect in wisdom, power, and goodness is incoherent, it cannot be reasonable to believe that God exists. Throughout his discussion Wood draws on the most recent writings in the field as well as classic arguments and offers readers a clear, balanced, and incisive analysis of the core philosophical arguments for the existence of God. The book equips readers with the necessary understanding of issues in natural theology that will enable them to tackle more specialized and complex questions in the philosophy of religion.

I have traveled far and wide, far beyond the simple parish I envisioned as a young man. My obligation of service has led me into diverse yet... interrelated roles: college teacher, theologian, president of a great university, counselor to four popes and six presidents. Excuse the list, but once called to public service, I have held fourteen presidential appointments over the years, dealing with the social issues of our times, including civil rights, peaceful uses of atomic energy, campus unrest, amnesty for Vietnam offenders, Third World development, and immigration reform. But deep beneath it all, wherever I have been, whatever I have done, I have always and everywhere considered myself essentially a priest. —from the Preface "Father Hesburgh should be on almost everyone’s list of the most influential figures in American higher education over the past few decades. In these fascinating memoirs, he chronicles the transformation of Notre Dame from a somewhat mediocre midwestern university into a major national teaching and research institution. As president of Notre Dame for 35 years, he used that position as a platform to argue the truly critical issues not only within the academy, but outside as well. The chapters on his involvement with the Civil Rights movement and criticism of early Vatican policy on academic freedom at Catholic universities are most compelling. Recommended for all readers, especially in these days of seeming cynicism and doubt." —Library Journal "William F. Buckley might disagree, but the former university president is clear on the three most important things in life." —_New York Magazine_ "Father Hesburgh says that each one of us can do something effective in the cause of a better world. God, Country, Notre Dame itself embodies an obvious refutation of the apathetic notion that 'in the modern world one person cannot make a difference'." —Commonweal "The temptation is to subtitle this book, 'Adventures of Superpriest.' If Father Hesburgh made it all up, it would still be a wonderful story, a compendium of what-ifs . . . its warmth and humanity are infectious, and most readers will not have the nerve to fight off the pleasure of going along." —Chicago Tribune

Theologians and ethicists reflect on the most serious crisis of our time. The magnitude of the problem of environmental degradation and climate change... requires a complete rethinking and reorienting of our way of being in the world. Responding to the environmental crisis requires not only a conversion of the will but even more fundamentally a transformation of the imagination that is, the capacity to think of other ways of being, thinking, and acting in the world. These essays, by a distinguished group of Catholic scholars, assess the gravity of the situation and offer resources from the biblical and theological traditions for the necessary mobilization of will and the conversion of our imaginations.

A classic work of female psychology that uses seven archetypcal goddesses as a way of describing behavior patterns and personality traits is being... introduced to the next generation of readers with a new introduction by the author. Psychoanalyst Jean Bolen's career soared in the early 1980s when Goddesses in Everywoman was published. Thousands of women readers became fascinated with identifying their own inner goddesses and using these archetypes to guide themselves to greater self–esteem, creativity, and happiness. Bolen's radical idea was that just as women used to be unconscious of the powerful effects that cultural stereotypes had on them, they were also unconscious of powerful archetypal forces within them that influence what they do and how they feel, and which account for major differences among them. Bolen believes that an understanding of these inner patterns and their interrelationships offers reassuring, true–to–life alternatives that take women far beyond such restrictive dichotomies as masculine/feminine, mother/lover, careerist/housewife. And she demonstrates in this book how understanding them can provide the key to self–knowledge and wholeness. Dr. Bolen introduced these patterns in the guise of seven archetypal goddesses, or personality types, with whom all women could identify, from the autonomous Artemis and the cool Athena to the nurturing Demeter and the creative Aphrodite, and explains how to decide which to cultivate and which to overcome, and how to tap the power of these enduring archetypes to become a better "heroine" in one's own life story.

"The first general treatment of women in the ancient world to reflect the critical insights of modern feminism. Though much debated, its position as the... basic textbook on women's history in Greece and Rome has hardly been challenged."--Mary Beard, Times Literary Supplement. Illustrations.

Goddesses often are labeled as one-dimensional forces of nature or fertility. In examining a number of goddesses whose primary role is sovereignty, this... volume reveals the rich diversity of goddess traditions. Drawn from a variety of cultural and historical settings, the goddesses described here include Inanna of ancient Sumer; Oshun of Nigeria; and Cihuacoatl of pre-historical America.

Explore a truly astonishing range of interests, philosophies, religions, and cultures -- from alchemy to angels, Buddhism to Hinduism, myth to magic.... The distinguished authors bring a wealth of knowledge, visionary thinking, and accessible writing to each intriguing subject in these lavishly illustrated, large-format paperback books.

An old woman lives still among the broken slopes of the mountains in the land of the Tarahumara Indians. No one knows exactly where. She is sometimes... seen standing along the highway near El Paso, hauling wood near Oaxaca, or even hitching a ride on a semi rig. She is the bone woman, the gatherer, La Loba. She collects bones, especially those of wolves. When she has collected enough bones to make a whole wolf, she sings over the skeleton, and it begins to grow flesh and fur. She sings some more and the wolf becomes strong; then it breathes. La Loba keeps singing and soon the wolf leaps up and runs off while the desert world trembles. And when a ray of the sun, or the moon, strikes it at just the right time and place, it turns into a woman, a laughing woman, who you may see running toward the horizon. In La Loba's cycle of death and rebirth and her metamorphosis from crone to life-giving mother to laughing maiden, we catch just one glimpse of the timeless allure and mystery of the Goddess. From the fertile earth mothers of the ancient world to the modern revival of interest in Wicca, or witchcraft, images and tales of the Female Divine have flourished and waned, intimidated, comforted, and inspired women and men from time immemorial. In Goddess, authors David Leeming and Jake Page gather some 75 of the most potent and meaningful of these tales in an extraordinarily rich and readable introduction to this divine figure as she has emerged from prehistory to the present. Told as a biography, we follow Goddess from her first Ice Age appearances as the all-encompassing, all-giving, and all-taking Earth, to her re-emergence as a powerful force in the myths of modern religion, psychology, and science. In tales of the Changing Woman of the Navajos and of Hera, Pandora, Eve, and Lilith, we see her traduced and sublimated by rising, and then, dominant, patriarchical cultures and civilizations, but never totally suppressed. In familiar and unfamiliar myths, Goddess comes alive, pulsing with her own energy, irrepressible behind her many cultural masks. She can be the Universe itself, the source of all being, the holy Virgin, the Earth-Mother nurturer, the madly hysterical destroyer, the femme fatale, or the consort or mother of God. She is presented here not as myth, but as a true archetype, a potential being who exists in all of us, a force who long preceded her male counterpart as an appropriate metaphor for the Great Mystery of existence. As compelling as any novel, Goddess is also a journey into the human heart. Observing Goddess over the centuries--worshipped, belittled, denied, rediscovered--we gain new insight into the changing role of women, our continuing development as a species, and our deepest concerns about ourselves, our world, and the human destiny.

Goddess of the Americas is a brilliant study and an impassioned, unorthodox celebration of the Virgin of Guadalupe: mother goddess, patron saint of... Mexico, protector of the downtrodden, who made her first appearance on American soil in 1531. Through a variety of forms?original essays, historical writings, fiction, drama, and poetry?the illustrious contributors to this volume examine the impact this potent deity has had on the people and culture of Mexico, and her influence beyond that country, in Latin America, North America, and Europe. An unprecedented contribution to the literature of the Americas, Goddess of the Americas is an invigorating investigation, an idiosyncratic adoration, and a profound recognition of our need for the sacred, unwavering love of the mother goddess. Francisco Alarcon * Luis Alfaro * Gloria Anzaldua * Ronnie Burk * Rosario Castellanos * Ana Castillo * Denise Chavez * Sandra Cisneros * Felipe Ehrenberg * Clarissa Pinkola Estes * Rosario Ferre * Francisco Goldman * Guillermo Gomez-Pe?a * F. Gonzalez-Crussi * Nancy Mairs * Ruben Martinez * Pat Mora * Cherrie Moraga * Octavio Paz * Elena Poniatowska * Margaret Randall * Jeanette Rodriguez * Luis Rodriguez * Richard Rodriguez * Miriam Sagan * Luisah Teish * Liliana Valenzuela

Worshipped by her fans, denounced by her enemies, and forever shadowed by controversy and scandal, the novelist and philosopher Ayn Rand was a powerful... thinker whose views on government and markets shaped the conservative movement from its earliest days. Drawing on unprecedented access to Rand's private papers and the original, unedited versions of Rand's journals, Jennifer Burns offers a groundbreaking reassessment of this key cultural figure, examining her life, her ideas, and her impact on conservative political thought. Goddess of the Market follows Rand from her childhood in Russia through her meteoric rise from struggling Hollywood screenwriter to bestselling novelist, including the writing of her wildly successful The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged. Burns highlights the two facets of Rand's work that make her a perennial draw for those on the right: her promotion of capitalism, and her defense of limited government. Both sprang from her early, bitter experience of life under Communism, and became among the most deeply enduring of her messages, attracting a diverse audience of college students and intellectuals, business people and Republican Party activists, libertarians and conservatives. The book also traces the development of Rand's Objectivist philosophy and her relationship with Nathaniel Branden, her closest intellectual partner, with whom she had an explosive falling out in 1968.One of the Denver Post's Great Reads of 2009One of Bloomberg News's Top Nonfiction Books of 2009"Excellent."--Time magazine "A terrific book--a serious consideration of Rand's ideas, and her role in the conservative movement of the past three quarters of a century."--The American Thinker"A wonderful book: beautifully written, completely balanced, extensively researched. The match between author and subject is so perfect that one might believe that the author was chosen by the gods to write this book. She has sympathy and affection for her subject but treats her as a human being, with no attempt to cover up the foibles."--Mises Economics Blog

Current discussion of Islam in America tends toward two polar extremes. On one hand is the notion that Christianity is superior to Islam and that... Muslims are warmongers. On the other is the notion that all religions basically say the same thing and are peaceable. Theologian and critically acclaimed author Lee Camp argues that both these extremes are wrong. He introduces Christian and Islamic views on war and peacemaking and examines Christian and non-Christian terrorism to help readers confront their own prejudices. Camp shatters misconceptions about religious violence, arguing that American Christians often opt for an ethic that has more in common with the story of Muhammad than with the story of Jesus. This book shows readers how to respond faithfully and intelligently to Muslims in today's world as well as to the New Atheists who suppose that all religion is inherently violent. It provides balanced teaching on war and peacemaking, offering hope for reconciliation in a post-9/11 world.

Is God in the business of entertainment, matchmaking, time management, blood sacrifice, or medicine? If you listen to some messages both inside and... outside the church today, you might think so. But in God Does Not . . ., several theologians challenge these and other widespread misconceptions of how God works in the world.A follow-up to the popular God Is Not . . ., this book is both accessible and provocative. In the end, we are left not with a negation of what God does, but an affirmation of a God who does all things well and often far exceeds what our human imaginations can fathom.

Equal parts cultural history and memoir, God, Dr. Buzzard, and the Bolito Man recounts a traditional way of life that is threatened by change, with... stories that speak to our deepest notions of family, community, and a connection to one’s homeland.Cornelia Walker Bailey models herself after the African griot, the tribal storytellers who keep the history of their people. Bailey’s people are the Geechee, whose cultural identity has been largely preserved due to the relative isolation of Sapelo, a barrier island off the coast of Georgia. In this rich account, Bailey captures the experience of growing up in an island community that counted the spirits of its departed among its members, relied on pride and ingenuity in the face of hardship, and taught her firsthand how best to reap the bounty of the marshes, woods and ocean that surrounded her. The power of this memoir to evoke the life of Sapelo Island is remarkable, and the history it preserves is invaluable.