‘Fascinating...I’ll never look at a rose in quite the same way again.’ Adrian Tinniswood The rose is bursting with meaning. Over the centuries it has come to represent love and sensuality, deceit, death and the mystical unknown. Today the rose enjoys unrivalled popularity across the globe, ever present at life’s seminal moments. Grown in the Middle East two thousand years ago for its pleasing scent and medicinal properties, it has become one of the most adored flowers across cultures, no longer selected by nature, but by us. The rose is well-versed at enchanting human hearts. From Shakespeare’s sonnets to Bulgaria’s Rose Valley to the thriving rose trade in Africa and the Far East, via museums, high fashion, Victorian England and Belle Epoque France, we meet an astonishing array of species and hybrids of remarkably different provenance. This is the story of a hardy, thorny flower and how, by beauty and charm, it came to seduce the world.
What makes a dog special? Is it their breed? Is it their color? Could it be their personality? Or maybe it's what they love to do? Maybe it's time to ask our four-legged friends, and see what they have to say for themselves. In his next children's picture book, "A Dog By Any Other Name is Not the Same," author J.G. Piper takes a look at what makes each dog unique. Each dog is a different breed, lives in a different place, and offers a different perspective. They tell their stories in captivating rhyme and rhythm, and every page is stunningly illustrated by internationally-known artist, Linda Apple. Readers of all ages will discover what our furry storytellers have to say about their place in the world. And as you get to know each dog, you'll find a way to celebrate your own unique presence in life.
Have you ever wondered . . . . . . what a worldview is, and why it's so important? . . . how liberal and conservative Christians both claim the Bible as their foundation? . . . why different worldviews attempt to solve the same problems in different ways? . . . how two people who formally espouse different worldviews can agree on so many issues? . . . why secularism is just as religious as Christianity? . . . why secularism has its own mythology? . . . why secularists want to silence Christianity in America's legislatures, courts, schools, and churches? . . . why education is nearly always offered as a solution to society's ills (and why it won't work)? . . . how to formulate positions on contemporary issues not directly mentioned in the Bible? . . . why Christians are often ineffective at influencing culture? Abernathy answers these questions (and many more) by examining the relationship between ideas and their real-world consequences. This foundational relationship is key to understanding secularism, to understanding why its attempts to solve society's problems produce disastrous real-world consequences, and how its ideas infiltrate the biblical principles of even the most committed Christians. Abernathy sifts through the deceptive language of secular orthodoxy and shows how secularism by any other name still has tragic real-world consequences. Ideologies such as humanism, postmodernism, and liberal Christianity are exposed as repackaged havens of a failed worldview. Seemingly well-intentioned notions such as progressive education, pacifist foreign policy, tolerance, and wealth redistribution are debunked as deceptive myths peddled by an impoverished faith. By Any Other Name shatters the secular barrier erected to exclude Christianity from the marketplace of ideas and lays the groundwork for engaging a culture contaminated by secular mythology.
Winner, 2019 Saul Viener Book Prize, given by the American Jewish Historical Society A groundbreaking history of the practice of Jewish name changing in the 20th century, showcasing just how much is in a name Our thinking about Jewish name changing tends to focus on clichés: ambitious movie stars who adopted glamorous new names or insensitive Ellis Island officials who changed immigrants’ names for them. But as Kirsten Fermaglich elegantly reveals, the real story is much more profound. Scratching below the surface, Fermaglich examines previously unexplored name change petitions to upend the clichés, revealing that in twentieth-century New York City, Jewish name changing was actually a broad-based and voluntary behavior: thousands of ordinary Jewish men, women, and children legally changed their names in order to respond to an upsurge of antisemitism. Rather than trying to escape their heritage or “pass” as non-Jewish, most name-changers remained active members of the Jewish community. While name changing allowed Jewish families to avoid antisemitism and achieve white middle-class status, the practice also created pain within families and became a stigmatized, forgotten aspect of American Jewish culture. This first history of name changing in the United States offers a previously unexplored window into American Jewish life throughout the twentieth century. A Rosenberg by Any Other Name demonstrates how historical debates about immigration, antisemitism and race, class mobility, gender and family, the boundaries of the Jewish community, and the power of government are reshaped when name changing becomes part of the conversation. Mining court documents, oral histories, archival records, and contemporary literature, Fermaglich argues convincingly that name changing had a lasting impact on American Jewish culture. Ordinary Jews were forced to consider changing their names as they saw their friends, family, classmates, co-workers, and neighbors do so. Jewish communal leaders and civil rights activists needed to consider name changers as part of the Jewish community, making name changing a pivotal part of early civil rights legislation. And Jewish artists created critical portraits of name changers that lasted for decades in American Jewish culture. This book ends with the disturbing realization that the prosperity Jews found by changing their names is not as accessible for the Chinese, Latino, and Muslim immigrants who wish to exercise that right today.
Six degrees of separation just got a whole lot smaller in this humorous collection of eighteen, amusing short stories. As we return to Tanglewood town and reconnect with the ladies whose daily lives we glimpsed into last time. Where funny, intertwining tales follow on from our previous visit, but take place a couple of months down the line. We start with Jane, who's got herself a new boyfriend. But will Leo turn out to be one dog too many to handle? And we end it with the 'Cougar' who opens up her own dating club. But will she find a cub to keep her warm at night? Love, laughter and life are what it's all about.
In a place called Tanglewood town. There are eighteen, amusing short stories that focus on women who share a humorous attitude which varies in both age and circumstance. We start with Jane, whose live-in boyfriend is named Jason and he wants a pet. But is there room in her world for two dogs? And we end with a widow, who becomes a ‘Cougar’ when she gets involved with a much younger man. But will everyone else approve of this budding relationship? Join these women and others, for a hilarious glimpse into their daily lives. As funny and intertwining tales unfold into a truly delightful collection that reveals just how they cope with the little issues of life. . . ‘Farcical, frothy and fun,’ Tanglewood Times
This nonfiction book has been faithfully adapted for young readers from the #1 New York Times bestselling memoir Marley & Me by John Grogan! Marley, a lovable Labrador retriever, is always getting himself into trouble. Some may say he is the world's worst dog. But those who know and love Marley understand that nothing can stop his loyalty, exuberance, and passion—not even the Grogans' screen door! How this big, rambunctious dog becomes the heart of the Grogan family is the story of Marley.
An Ant Measured an Ant—Five Feet Six Inches is a story of two genius ants that can read and speak human language, who are well versed in all the branches of human knowledge. By virtue of the law of accident, the author and the ants run into each other and develop a lasting friendship. In the course of their interactions, the ants tell him how, by a twist of fate, they got their potential back that the ant species had lost in the dark of history. They turned the act of fate into a conscious act. In their own words, ‘what we are today is the consequential effect of the activated buffered code aided by the consequential effect of our own conscious efforts. It’s not the brain size or mass ratio but how you use your intelligence and what role nature has played in determining your potentials or putting a buffer between you and your potential at a later date, owing to non-use or misuse. This, the ants claim, will become the very cause of the fall of mankind. The known history of ants thus will become the future of mankind. The author is convinced that the very causes that buffered ants’ potentials once upon a time will block human potentials too, unless, of course, humans realize this predicament in the offing before it is too late. This novel, in a sense, is a wake-up call.
