PlanetHood: The Key to Your Survival and Prosperity by Benjamin B. Ferencz in cooperation with Ken Keyes, Jr. Softcover book published by Vision Books, First Edition

It's 1958. Beatie Bryant has been to London and fallen in love with Ronnie, a young socialist. As she anxiously awaits his arrival to meet her family at their Norfolk farm, her head is swimming with new ideas. Ideas of a bolder, freer world which promise to clash with their rural way of life. Roots is the remarkable centrepiece of Wesker's seminal post-war trilogy. It was first performed in 1959 at the Belgrade Theatre, Coventry, before transferring to the Royal Court. It is the second play in a trilogy comprising Chicken Soup with Barley and I'm Talking About Jerusalem . It went on to transfer to the Duke of York's Theatre in the West End. A true classic, Roots is an affecting portrait of a young woman finding her voice at a time of unprecedented social change. This Modern Classic edition features an introduction by Glenda Leeming.

Who knew that being in the leisure class required so much work? Judith Lee, an entitled descendant of the Korean royal family, has grown quite accustomed to the privileges of the aristocracy. When her parents cut off her finances upon graduation from Yale, Jude learns that her fancy upbringing has left her unprepared to deal with her monstrous debts. That is, until she is introduced to Madame Tartakov, a charismatic Russian émigré who has the solution to Jude's financial woes: two years with Tartakov's like-minded high-society girls as one of Manhattan's most coveted courtesans. But Jude's moral fiber is tested when she discovers that not only is she falling in love outside her clientele, but an illegitimate relative is harboring a grotesque secret, and something catastrophic is hidden in the family archives.

Lies with a Straight Face tells the fascinating story of the precipitous rise and fall of the "ex-gay" conversion industry in a manner that is both enlightening and entertaining. This fast-moving, fact-based book is perfect for those who enjoy the marriage of politics, history and current events. The book features the riveting story of the 1998 Truth in Love ad campaign, where the Religious Right's most prominent organizations joined forces to prove that LGBTQ people could be converted to heterosexuality through prayer and therapy. Their provocative national ad campaign created saturation media coverage, turned "ex-gay" into a household term and sparked innumerable water cooler conversations. In this book, you'll find out the shocking results of the Truth in Love campaign and learn about what happened to their outspoken "ex-gay" poster boys and girls. Lies with a Straight Face also discusses the contemporary con artists in the "ex-gay" industry and offers tangible ways for today's leaders to fight back. Lies with a Straight Face is a sequel published on the twenty-year anniversary of Anything But Straight: Unmasking the Scandals and Lies Behind the Ex-Gay Myth. Nominated for two Lambda Literary Awards, Besen's original book documents the history of conversion "cure" programs from the early 20th Century to 2002. His new book discusses what happened from 2003 up to the present day. "To prevail in our present-day battles, we must learn from our past," said Besen. "Ex-gay conversion programs are a farce that wreck families and destroy lives."

Gornick on V. S. Naipaul, James Baldwin, George Gissing, Randall Jarrell, H. G. Wells, Loren Eiseley, Allen Ginsberg, Hayden Carruth, Saul Bellow, and Philip Roth and the intimate relationship between emotional damage and great literature. Vivian Gornick, one of our finest critics, tackled the theme of love and marriage in her last collection of essays, The End of the Novel of Love , a National Book Critics Circle Award finalist. In this new collection, she turns her attention to another large theme in literature: the struggle for the semblance of inner freedom. Great literature, she believes, is not the record of the achievement, but of the effort. Gornick, who emerged as a major writer during the second-wave feminist movement, came to realize that “ideology alone could not purge one of the pathological self-doubt that seemed every woman's bitter birthright.” Or, as Anton Chekhov put it so memorably: “Others made me a slave, but I must squeeze the slave out of myself, drop by drop.” Perhaps surprisingly, Gornick found particular inspiration for this challenge in the work of male writers—talented, but locked in perpetual rage, self-doubt, or social exile. From these men—who had infinitely more permission to do and be than women had ever known—she learned what it really meant to wrestle with demons. In the essays collected here, she explores the work of V. S. Naipaul, James Baldwin, George Gissing, Randall Jarrell, H. G. Wells, Loren Eiseley, Allen Ginsberg, Hayden Carruth, Saul Bellow, and Philip Roth. Throughout the book, Gornick is at her best: interpreting the intimate interrelationship of emotional damage, social history, and great literature.

When she died, in 2009, Anthony Thwaite described U.A. Fanthorpe as a 'smiling subversive with a voice like bird-song'. An encouraging example to all late developers, this particular bird's voice took its time: she didn't become a poet until she was 45. But these examples of her very earliest work show the latent mastery and the rapid development of the craft that would bring her wide critical acclaim and an affectionate general readership. The mysteries of the trade gradually reveal themselves as rooted in a wide and uncensored range of subject-matter, a life-time's love of words, and an intuitive grasp of the mechanics of form and voice. Recognising her role so late, she was a woman in a hurry; there wasn't time for self-consciousness or grandiose notions of 'vocation'. 'A poet, ' she said, 'is a smuggler. He imports things clandestinely which are not supposed to have got through the customs.' Poetry 'happened to me', she would say. Her job? To listen, to pass it on.

Hermann Sudermann's "The Song of Songs" explores the complexities of love and passion within a historical setting. This enduring work of German literature, presented here in English translation, delves into the intricacies of human relationships and the timeless allure of romance. A compelling example of historical fiction, the novel captures the emotional intensity of its characters as they navigate the challenges of love and desire. Sudermann's prose masterfully portrays the depths of human emotion, making "The Song of Songs" a resonant and engaging read for anyone interested in classic literary fiction. Experience the enduring power of this translated work, a testament to the timeless nature of love stories and the enduring appeal of German literature. Prepare to be captivated by a narrative that explores the universal themes of the heart, meticulously presented for your reading pleasure. This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

Eric W. Vogt is striving to return to the primitive rule of scholarship, which stresses canonicity, esthetic and humanistic values, historical grounding, and adherence to text. Eric W. Vogt’s Critical Introduction places Saint Teresa’s work in the political, historical, and religious context of Golden Age Spain, where faith permeated every aspect of life. He humanizes his subject by stressing her earthiness— for example, her fondness for music and cooking—as well as her political savvy and sincere affection for her fellow nuns. Eric W. Vogt explores the major literary influences on Saint Teresa’s work, including the chivalric novels she so loved as a girl. These, along with the works of Loyola, inspired her use of military images and her notion of life as a form of spiritual warfare against the World. Saint Teresa’s versions a lo divino of profane love poetry evince the influence of Courtly Love on her poetic compositions, in which God and the soul are sometimes depicted as lovers. Among the pious books that Eric W. Vogt examines are Saint Ignatius’s Spiritual Exercises and Thomas A. Kempis’s The Imitation of Christ. He also mentions Jerome’s Letters, Augustine’s Confessions, and a number of other works. Of course, the Bible was also an important influence on Saint Teresa’s writing, and Eric W. Vogt points out in his extensive notes instances of biblical intertextuality. Eric W. Vogt shows clearly that Saint Teresa was an intellectual, in spite of her protests to the contrary. He does succeed in capturing the flow and tone of Saint Teresa’s verse and the passion of her voice. Eric W. Vogt has produced a highly readable translation of Teresa de Avila’s poetry that will be enjoyed by scholars and non-scholars alike'. --Bárbara Mújica (Georgetown University, USA)

Solotaroff was one of the notable intellectuals of his generation, the founder of the New American Review, editor and friend of Philip Roth, and editor-in-chief at HarperCollins. Solotaroff reveals himself here as a thinking man with a big heart and gaping wounds of love that are not disconnected from the contributions he has made to American culture throughout his career. Solotaroff turns back to the earliest pages of his romance with Lynn, remembering his first sighting of her emerging from the water as if from a dream. Yet the image, as he penetrates the intervening layers of sorrow and disappointment, is almost impossibly distant, fragile. First Loves reenacts the blurring of a perfect conception in the mind of a man who would devote his life to precision of thought and word. This opposition, of romantic and intellectual passion, drives the narrative and eventually brings it to crisis. First Loves could be described as a very private feat of honesty from a public intellectual. Solotaroff’s willingness to admit the failures, personal and professional, alongside the triumphs of his career gives a three-dimensional intensity to the emotions on the page. Working with all of the gritty and romantic elements of his storied life, Solotaroff manages to avoid a tone too heroic or honey-dipped; he manages simply to tell the tale.

If he always has the headache, why should you suffer? In the bestselling tradition of Bridget Jones's Diary comes this outrageous, hilarious look at love, marriage, and sex, introducing Anna Shapiro, who believes that surely there must be more to married life.... Tabloid reporter Anna Shapiro can pinpoint the day, three years ago, that she and her husband, Dan, last had great sex. Anna would be grateful if something as ordinary as a mere headache was her husband's excuse; Dan's hypochondriac terrors include brain tumors, tropical diseases, and spontaneous combustion. While she loves her husband, she's not ready to give up on sex at age thirty-seven--so what can she do? It's the perfect time for the distraction of a freelance assignment. But what her editor has in mind is a story on the explosive new feminist manifesto that prescribes no-strings-attached affairs for women. Anna's assignment is to interview three women who've had extramarital affairs purely for sexual pleasure--but she's inclined to take her research a bit further.... Can a woman have an uncomplicated affair purely for sexual pleasure--or do her emotions invariably interfere? Anna's determined to find out. And despite her worries about her middle-aged body, potential research assistants prove to be plentiful. Going where no journalist has gone before, Anna delves into a world she'd never considered until now. What is, after all, the perfect outfit for committing adultery in? Is it truly beyond the pale to pick up a man--no matter how sexy he is--at a funeral? And what can be done about that single horrifying gray hair? The answers are more hilarious than Anna could ever have predicted. But soon Anna finds herself facing the question that she never thought she'd have to answer: Is she willing to give up her marriage and her children for what may be the biggest gamble of her life? A novel for every woman who's ever wondered--and every woman who hasn't-- Neurotica will have you roaring with laughter as it takes you on a wickedly delightful journey of sheer indulgence.

"A heartfelt account of how Rabbi Weinblatt confronts cancer after receiving this devastating diagnosis, this memoir traces his journey from beginning to end. It deals with his emotions, fears, and treatment and offers comfort, encouragement, and inspiration from a Jewish perspective. Using humor and coupling it with the wisdom of Jewish and Biblical sources as reflected in his sermons and other communications and writings, his words are a vehicle for sharing his experience and insights as he battles this disease. As a comforter to others, as well as a recipient of comfort, support, and love from family, friends, and members of his congregation, this book is also a valuable tool for clergy and health care professionals who interact with and counsel individuals in similar situations"--

Have you ever wondered: How it feels to be eponymous? Why some German pigeons were painted blue in the First World War? What connects Rachmaninoff to Chief Sitting Bull? It is 1972. Bernard Robins is in London – American, innocent, uninformed and arrogant – to make his name and fortune as a pianist, composer and conductor. He lives at the Kensington Music Society, a haven for aspiring musicians, including afro-headed violinists, cellists in caftans and coloraturas from Colorado. During his time there, Bernard accidentally encounters his long lost great-uncle, Hermann Heinrich Zweck, a nonagenarian – a once eminent, now forgotten composer, who has known most of the great musical figures of the Twentieth Century and hated almost all of them. Zweck is engaged in a war against stupidity, laziness and cowardice with the entire world, and especially with Bernard and Charles Forsythe – a hapless English musicologist whose only crime, (grievous in Zweck's view) is to be both English and an academic. The romantic relationships the three principals have with strong women, ranging from promiscuity to endless love, change the lives of all concerned. Throughout the novel, Zweck engages in a battle of words with the author in a series of interruptions and monologues. Comically written by an author skilled in both writing and music, Zweck is an accessible and hilarious novel about fame, identity, music and dumplings.

"I had to do something to escape Hitler's clutches," writes Esti Freud. Yet she waits with her then-16-year-old daughter, Sophie in Paris, until German canons can be heard in the distance, before deciding to escape by bicycle across France as Sophie keeps looking back to see whether German tanks will overtake them. Both women survive by sheer miracle and, in their own ways, come to feel a need to keep a personal record of those tumultuous times. In a memoir written at age 79, Esti Freud, daughter-in-law of Sigmund Freud and wife of his oldest son Martin, looks back on her life that began before the 20th century, was lived on three continents, and stretched through two world wars and the Holocaust. Twenty years after her mother's death, daughter Sophie turned to Esti's memoir as a scaffold for this book, expanding it through family letters and archival material. Out of these documents the author has created a fascinating, many-voiced mosaic--the story of a famous family and of a century seen through the eyes of many characters. Indomitable Esti was not an easy person to love. While she establishes herself professionally three times, in three different languages, her troubled family relationships leave her lonely, often deeply unhappy. Sophie confides that Esti died without son or daughter at her side. This work gives an insider's, in-law view of the family Freud, its foundations, and flaws. The relationship between Esti, daughter of a wealthy Vienna attorney and her husband Martin Freud is foreshadowed by the young lovers' fathers. At first meeting Esti, Sigmund told his son the glamorous woman was "too beautiful" for the clan, meaning her splendor belied a lifestyle not conducive to the frugal Freud ways. And Esti's father, on hearing of her love for Martin, expressed regret she was involved with a man who was "not a financially favorable linkage," and that his family was not respectable since patriarch Sigmund was "just another psychiatrist, and one who writes pornography books at that." Thus begins the ill-fated relationship that would rock two families and a generation of children to come. Sophie weaves into the text letters she inherited, including letters from Martin while he was a prisoner of war, and excerpts from her own diary, kept as an adolescent. The resulting mosaic will fascinate--and perhaps disturb--readers interested in Freud and psychoanalysis, as well as those intrigued by relationships and family.

Two tales of love. "Betrothed" portrays a teacher whose love for the sea leads him to the town of Jaffa. Though many pursue him, Rechnitz eschews romantic love for his studies until he can no longer resist. "Edo and Enam" is set after World War II in Jerusalem and considers how love evolves throughout the course of a marriage.

This book also includes, The 4 Stages of Soul Evolution. Books on "ascension" typically focus only on the old control programming that to grow spirituality you need to bow to something or someone. They are filled with religious iconography, dogmatic doctrine and highly simplistic messages involving angels and European saints. Shahram Shiva writes, "It's astonishing to me how people are being continuously programmed for hundreds of years to maintain a subservient mind, which is the antithesis to growth, self-empowerment, self-realization and the real ascension process." The 12 Secret Laws of Self-Realization, 4-Stages of Soul Evolution and all the other chapters in this book are only about 1 thing, to empower you in every way possible: mentally, spiritually, emotionally and physically. This book helps you to grasp and understand what real spiritually and growth are about. It's about you discovering your own power and realizing that the only limit is you and the only height you need to achieve is tapping your own limitless potential in these bodies at first and then well beyond into your future in other types of incarnations. The goal is not and has never been to become like someone else, real or imaginary, or beg someone to give you inner power. You are God. You are the enlightened one and you are the savior of you. If you choose to take charge of your own destiny instead of being a follower. If you like to think and feel your way through life. If you want to find out what's under the surface and discover the real meaning of things instead of being swayed by the mainstream at all times. If you dust your belief system from time to time and reevaluate your likes and dislikes. If you have managed (or seriously trying) to undo your childhood programming. If you're hungry for wisdom and to push yourself higher at all times. Then this book is for you. For individuals who are focused on mental and spiritual growth and breaking personal barriers, there has never been a better time. We're living in an era of accelerated experiences and heightened reality. The holy grail of personal growth, spirituality and yoga is self-realization. For those truly seeking self-empowerment and enlightenment there is no greater mission. Although the phrase self-realization is commonplace in the world of personal and spiritual growth, very few actually understand the process or even desire it. For most growth only means success in business, career or love and spirituality merely suggests bowing to statues, worshiping deities, stress management, breathing exercises and stretching. Real spirituality is not depended on any base religion. This is a key secret teaching in mysticism. Yet all so-called spiritual movements in the world are just an extension of some religion. In the US when people refer to spirituality they mostly mean a form of Christianity. If they mention that they follow yogic or Indian teachings that suggests they have become Hindus and worship their gods. The same is true with Buddhism. I call this process deity swap, which is just a lateral movement in faith. It is the intention and the mission of this book to cut through centuries old haze of disinformation that has existed about the power of real spirituality and to inspire, guide and help you to keep on expanding and ascending.

Jabone is the birth son of Tarius the Black and Arvon, but was raised by four parents. As the son of the Great Leader, he has had a sword in his hand since he was old enough to walk and has listened to his parents and their friends weave great tales of battle and conquest all his life. Across the sea in the land of the Jethrik, the Amalite populations of entire villages are disappearing. A secret group of Amalites are suspected, but no one knows how - or where - they take their prisoners. The Jethrikian king must deal with the problem, but his thoughts lie mostly with his daughter Kasiria. She is the only woman to apply to, and graduate from, the Sword Master's Academy since the rule forbidding women to fight was struck from the books. When Jabone and his friend - young Tarius and Ufalla, the children of Tarius's right hand man, and Jestia, the wayward magic-wielding daughter of the Queen of the Kartik - want to cross the ocean and join the Jethrikian forces to fight their parents' enemies, Tarius forbids it at first. Finally she relents and sends them with her blessings and the gift of her knowledge of the enemy. In a new land, the youths will find love and adventure, and they will learn loyalty, pain, loss, and the truth of battle.

Review "...This (is) a warning to anyone who thinks that anything less than total civil rights for everyone would be ...acceptable..." -- - Mark Shepherd, Author of BLACKROSE Product Description Mickey Derringer is having a hell of a year. A year filled with loss, crushing disappointment, personal tragedy, physical trauma, mental anguish, and constant change. It's also a year of personal triumphs, growth, love and enlightenment. All while she's trying to catch the worst serial killer the city has ever known. A murderer whose modus operandi reopens old wounds and rekindles her worst nightmares. About the Author Selina Rosen has sold several stories to Marion Zimmer Bradley's Fantasy Magazine, two of which were reprinted in anthologies. She has also sold stories to the Iguana Informer, Cosmic Debris, Distant Journeys, Such A Pretty Face, Personal Demons, and a few other magazines and anthologies. Two of her novels, Queen of Denial and Chains of Freedom, were published in 1999 and 2001 by Meisha Merlin Publishing. Meisha Merlin will be publishing Chains of Destruction in May of 2002, Recycled (the sequel to Queen of Denial) in 2003, and Chains of Deliverance (the third and final book in the Chains trilogy) in 2004. She also has several novels, novellas and stories in anthologies that are available through Yard Dog Press, and Yard Dog will be publishing another one of her novels, Hammer Town, in 2002. Ms. Rosen says, "If you're reading this, then you've already bought one of my books. Come to my website and let me know how you like it, or just talk - I really like to talk!!"

Sufi Murshid, Zen Master, Environmental and Peace Activist, Missionary to the Hippie Generation, Founder of the Dances of Universal Peace....Drawn from his own voluminous writings, A Garden of Vision and Initiation allows us to hear Samuel Lewis's story and teaching in his own words, the authentic voice of a spiritual original and pioneer."Here is the story of a mystic, a gardener, a Sufi, a Zen student, a true human being. Samuel Lewis' spiritual practice was deepened through his meetings with Hazrat Inayat Khan, but his teaching, his wisdom, came from his own visionary nature. Garden of Visions and Initiation takes us on the inner and outer journey of this remarkable man, who left us with the gift of the Dances of Universal Peace, and the living grace of a soul who embraced both love and pain in service to God." --Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee, Ph.D., author, Love is a Fire, the Sufis Mystical Journey Home ."The reader of Dr. Neil Douglas-Klotz's sensitively selected and annotated writings of Murshid Samuel Lewis (1876-1971) is taken on the tumultuous spiritual journey of a truly universal being; a voyage propelled throughout his life by the quest for Truth, whether through the teachings of Sufism, Zen Buddhism or any other divinely revealed path. The reader grows with Sufi Sam as he explores with sincerity the inner and outer world, experiences hope and disappointment, and dances through this earthly life with his trademark flashes of spiritual humour and love for all. A collection of writings that will be of particular interest for those westerners who, like Lewis himself, find their path through the teachings of the east." --Muneera Haeri, author of The Chishtis, A Living Light , co-author with Shaykh Fadhlalla Haeri of Sufi Encounters ."Whether you have known Lewis or are new to his work, it is illuminating to experience, in his compelling first person prose, how his determination to rise above the vicissitudes of his early years became fully realized in the form of an extraordinary capacity for healing the world." --W. A. Mathieu, author of The Listening Book and Bridge of Waves ."Sufi Vision and Initiation (1986) was always for me a reference for chronology regarding the life of Sam Lewis. Now comes what could be described as an autobiography par excellence. Sam Lewis wrote in The Lotus and the Universe (1963): "This is not an autobiography, although one may come sometime." This book, Gardens of Vision and Initiation (2020) is as close to an autobiography as we will have. This updated chronology of Lewis's writings, dowsed from the files by the editor, is a labor of love." --Mansur Johnson, author of Murshid: A personal memoir of life with American Sufi Samuel L. Lewis and compiler and editor of Big Tales: All the stories in the 12 volumes of The Sufi Message of Hazrat Inayat Khan."Everytime I remember Sam, I end up laughing at myself. That's pretty good work for a dead-rascal-saint." --Ram Dass, author of Be Here Now and Still Here ."I have no fonder memory of the 60's than the appearance of this strange-looking man, who said things which made me first laugh, then smile, then later pause in a preciation of a spiritual original, a pioneer." --Dr. Jacob Needleman, author of The New Religions and Lost Christianity ."As much of a wonder-filled reading experience it is to dive into this 'map', this description of the territory, I'm sure that Murshid Sam would have encouraged the reader to go out and have some direct experiences, traveling the territory and leaving behind any concepts about it. Gardens of Vision offers us the opportunity to witness what a life of dynamic transformation lived through direct experiences and encounters looks like." --the Rev. Tasnim Hermila Fernandez, co-founder of the International Network for the Dances of Universal Peace.

This hilarious memoir, by Sally Fingerett, tells the tale of a free spirited musician and touring member of the original musical comedy theatre troupe THE FOUR BITCHIN' BABES. Traveling the country for 25 years, performing on over eight hundred stages, Sally, wanted it all--husband, kids, and career, even though she became the designated daughter to a manic-depressive mother. In this heartwarming book, she offers a view from the bridge between living life and creating art from it. In these tales, she shares those everyday moments women experience, as seen through her distinctly funny viewfinder. This "Jewish girl born on Christmas Day," comes from a long line of medicated women. Wild and crazy, genuine and caring, these Medicated Matriarchs handed down to this traveling Gypsy-Singer, their big thighs, their love of family, and their wackadoodle DNA. As a self-proclaimed "student of crazy," Sally compiled a heartwarming collection of forty essays, three family SECRET recipes, and the lyrics to thirty-three of her best loved songs, each following the story they're connected to. ALSO available (sold separately) is the companion double disc anthology CD set of those 33 songs, titled The Mental Yentl, Songs from a Lifelong Student of Crazy.