Edward R. Murrow was one of America's "most dedicated and eloquent spokesmen. The people of the free world are deeply in his debt. So is broadcast journalism, which, in so many ways, he helped establish and to which he was one of the finest practitioners. He set standards of excellence that remain unsurpassed. His thoughtful spirit of inquiry, his profound insight and his single-minded devotion to quality were without parallel in radio, television or any other medium." -Memorial plaque, CBS Broadcast Center, New York City
It’s in the movies we see. It’s in the news we hear. It's in the stories we tell. Every man is stirred by the heroic. From boyhood, we search for heroes, starting with our fathers. But somewhere along the way, all our heroes disappoint us. And our attempts to be a hero fair no better, leaving us confused and unsure. Yet the heroic longing never leaves us. We want to be that heroic man, but we do not know how. Jesus does. He is the great Hero of all time. And He calls men to follow Him. As we follow, we will quickly realize that the path is surprising. He will first lead us into a place of fear and trembling. He will lead us into death. It is our initiation as men into the new life of the heroic. But the death will be followed by a stunning resurrection. We will find out our true names before Him and be given a heroic quest for His kingdom. And most importantly, we will discover the secret of true greatness, letting our lives go to serve others. In the end, we become most heroic in the silence of His presence. Here we will feel His love, as he remakes us into His heroic image, uniting us to Himself.
The Church of the Righteous Truth stretches ever outward across Alytheia. Jealous defenders of the Goddess’s magic, the Church sees all, controls all: trade, military, the ancient arts of Wielding and Cognation—even life and death. Now, as the Church’s Premiero Irmao prepares to seize yet more power, the Goddess’s light fades darker still... But there is hope. Four forgotten outcasts—Al-Dreban, a young and disillusioned priest; Solatta, a healer haunted by her tragic past; Sentenza, an old colonel left for dead; and Braga, last survivor of his platoon—unknowingly hold the fate of Alytheia in their hands. As each stumbles deeper into a web of conspiracy and betrayal, their destinies will entwine, leading them inexorably toward revolution, sacrifice, and—perhaps—redemption.
Someone snatched his cousin's wife and son. FBI agent Luke Falcon is searching for a kidnapper and sorting out the crime. He's afraid it's the work of a stalker. He's afraid they're already dead. And he'll do anything required to get them back alive ... but he didn't plan on falling in love with the only witness. Later repackaged and republished as a stand-alone title, "Kidnapped" (Carol Stream, Ill. : Tyndale House Publishers, c2008).
Best known for his Buddhist teachings, Thich Nhat Hanh has lived in exile from his native Vietnam since 1966. These remarkable early journals reveal not only an exquisite portrait of the Zen master as a young man, but the emergence of a great poet and literary voice of Vietnam. From his years as a student and teaching assistant at Princeton and Columbia, to his efforts to negotiate peace and a better life for the Vietnamese, Fragrant Palm Leaves offers an elegant and profound glimpse into the heart and mind of one of the world's most beloved spiritual teachers.
Kelly Jacobs has already paid the ultimate price of loving a warrior; she has the folded flag and the grateful thanks of a nation to prove it. Navy SEAL Joe “Bear” Baker can't ask her to accept that risk again—even though he loves her. But the man responsible for her husband's death is back; closer than either of them realize. Kelly is in danger, and Joe may not get there in time. Uncommon Heroes: Welcome to a world where friendships go deep, loyalties stand strong, and uncommon heroes perform the toughest jobs in the world. Dee Henderson's military romance series provides a detailed passage into the world of the military and homeland heroes, and those they love.
One of the main goals of this book is to determine if, in the works of some of the key authors in the history of Italian political philosophy, a notion of “efficacy” can be found. In legal philosophy, “efficacy” is the capacity a norm has to effectively influence citizens’ behavior. The “principle of efficacy” is that according to which an order or rule exists as such when it is followed effectively in practice. Here by “efficacy” I mean the idea that normative phenomena are self-justifying, without reference to extrinsic systems of value (such as “natural law”). The examinations of several texts undertaken here constitute reflections on this theme, without any claim to systematicity. They have been grouped together, roughly in historical order, by their common respect for the contexts within which they reason and reach decisions, which lends them a characteristic flavor of harsh realism that at times relies on a minimalist use of traditional normative categories. The second theme that emerges through the respective chapters (each of which constitutes the text for a lesson in a course for Ph.D. students) is that of the relationship between “equality” and “vulnerability.” Here the idea is to elaborate a concept of “vulnerability” that is not underpinned by what we in Italy call an “anthropology,” that is, a fixed notion of human nature. Instead this concept should be comprehensible and graspable solely on the basis of the recognition of decisions and actions that are merely “efficacious,” that function “for what they are, and what they do.” This recognition doesn’t even need to be explicitly articulated by these authors with any specific, deliberately conscious awareness. The goal is not to identify a precise tradition of thought, one which elaborates a given line of reflection, but rather to highlight certain “themes” that emerge in the texts examined, even as the authors write with and for their own specific, contingent set of motives, which differ from time to time and place to place. These authors include some who are widely known, such as Dante, Machiavelli, and Beccaria. At times they are figures who typify certain key historical episodes, such as the Risorgimento (Giuseppe Mazzini) or Fascism (Cesare Lombroso and Santi Romano), while others reflect certain aspects of a contemporary debate (Pasolini and the “Braibanti affair”). The book is based on lectures given for a 2021 Ph.D. Course at the University of California, Berkeley’s Department of Italian Studies.