Annotation. Coverage includes: the teachings of Buddha--and how they have been adapted to different lands and cultures; Buddhism in the West--Christian Buddhists and Zen Judaists; basic Buddhism--the Three Jewels, the Four Noble Truths, the Eightfold Path, and the Five Precepts; meditation, customs, ceremonies, and events; and Buddhist philosophies at home and at work, in relationships, and in the world at large

In this rich and savvy collection of commentaries on the events, people and issues that shape and define our world, Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist and "New York Times" bestselling author Ellen Goodman cuts to the heart of the stories and controversies that helped to define our times. For over twenty-five years, nationally syndicated columnist Ellen Goodman has been training her lens on contemporary American life. A marvelously direct writer with keen insight into what makes the average American tick, laugh and occasionally boil with rage, Goodman takes her measure of the national psyche in a voice that is at once perceptive, witty and deeply humane. "Paper Trail," her first collection in more than ten years, journeys through an era that has been golden in its advances and bleak in its disappointments. In a voice both reasoned and impassioned, she makes sense of the cultural debates that have captured our attention and sometimes become national obsessions. She wrestles with the close-to-the-bone issues of abortion, working mothers and gay marriage, the struggles for civil liberties and equal rights, and the moral complexity of assisted suicide and biotech babies. As she wends through the era of the Clinton scandals and the "amBushing" of America, the dot-com boom and bust, the horrors of September 11 and the War on Terrorism, Goodman pauses to celebrate some of our lost icons, including Jackie Onassis, Princess Diana and Doctor Spock. She reminds us as well of the fleeting fame of such instant celebrities as Elian Gonzalez and Lorena Bobbitt. The lines that separate public and private life dissolve under Goodman's scrutiny as she shows us how Washington politics, SiliconValley technology and the national media culture infiltrate our jobs, relationships and minds. With the trademark clarity that readers count on, she walks us through the dilemmas posed by new technologies that range from cloning to cell phones and makes us laugh at the vagaries of Viagra and Botox and unreality TV. And in a world that sometimes seems to be stuck on fast forward, she holds on to values as timeless as a family Thanksgiving and a summer porch in Maine. Including more than 160 of Ellen Goodman's lively and stylish columns, this timely collection walks us along the paper trail in a voice that is both crystal clear and original.

Acclaimed photographer Elinor Carucci takes on her most challenging and rewarding subject yet: motherhood. When Elinor Carucci gave birth to her twins, she discovered the highs and lows that are part of every new mother’s experience. A noted photographer accustomed to documenting intimate moments, Carucci used her camera to deal with the maelstrom of emotions. She followed her babies as they grew into toddlers, then children, with their own complex relationships. Carucci’s dramatic use of light and shadow and her uncanny ability to capture the freedom with which children express themselves imbue her images with a marvelous clarity. By turns touching, surprising, sensual, joyful, and unflinching, these striking pictures convey moments that are at once personal and universal—a child’s runny nose, a fight between brother and sister, a fast-food meal, a warm embrace, a sleepless night, an ice cream cone. The result, as Francine Prose remarks in her foreword, are images that "seem new, no matter how well we may think we know . . . the experiences and feelings they depict. . . . Nothing, we feel, is left out."

A chilling, fascinating, and nearly forgotten historical figure is resurrected in this riveting work that links the fascism of the last century with the terrorism of our own. Written with vigor and extraordinary access to primary sources in several languages, Icon of Evil is the definitive account of the man who, during World War II, was called "the fuhrer of the Arab world" and whose ugly legacy lives on today. With new and disturbing details, David G. Dalin and John F. Rothmann show how al -Husseini ingratiated himself with his hero, Adolf Hitler, becoming, with his blond hair and blue eyes, an "honorary Aryan" while dreaming of being installed as Nazi leader of the Middle East. Al-Husseini would later recruit more than 100,000 Muslims in Europe to fight in divisions of the Waffen- SS, and obstruct negotiations with the Allies that might have allowed four thousand Jewish children to escape to Palestine. Some believe that al-Husseini even inspired Hitler to implement the Final Solution. At war's end, al-Husseini escaped indictment at Nuremberg and was harbored in France. Icon of Evil chronicles al-Husseini's postwar relationships with such influential Islamic figures as the radical theoretician Sayyid Qutb and Saddam Hussein's powerful uncle General Khairallah Talfah and his crucial mentoring of the young Yasser Ararat. Finally, it provides compelling evidence that al-Husseini's actions and writings serve as inspirations today to the leaders of Hamas, Hezbollah, and other terrorist organizations pledged to destroy Israel and the United States.

Few writers approach the topic of life purpose with the clarity of Dan Millman, whose prior book The Life You Were Born to Live has reached more than a million readers worldwide. In The Four Purposes of Life , Millman distills decades of exploration and experience into a concise map of what we're here to accomplish on our life's journey. This book is for anyone seeking deeper insight into themselves and their lives, but especially for those at a crossroads, facing a challenge or change, when past approaches no longer work. These four purposes -- learning life's lessons, finding your career and calling, discovering your life path, and attending to this arising moment -- will bring your life into sharper focus by revealing: * the value of everyday challenges in relationships, health, work, and money * how to make wiser decisions in career and relationships * our twelve required courses in the school of life * a mysterious system that clarifies your hidden calling * keys to mastering the most important purpose of all The Four Purposes of Life can generate a quantum leap in self-knowledge, insight, and wisdom. The seeds planted will bear fruit for years to come.

"A frank personal account by the Grammy and Academy Award-winning songwriter traces the story of her life in and out of the recording studio, from her formative relationships to her collaborations with some of today's leading composers and music artists,"--NoveList.

An internationally acclaimed psychiatrist and author challenges the fears that prevent men and women from experiencing healthy, joyful, and fulfilling relationships - Are you torn by fear of: love and being loved, letting go, sexual fulfillment, uncertainty, being yourself, failing, death and dying? Dr. Alexander Lowen, world-famous psychoanalyst, will show you how to resolve those fears without changing the characteristics that make you the unique human being you are. Through self-acceptance, self-possession, and self-expression you'll learn how to achieve a harmony between your inner and outer worlds that will lead you to a far richer, happier, and healthier life. Go beyond fear-to freedom!

When Ike Goldman, a seventy-eight-year-old retired law professor at Columbia University, dissuades a much younger woman from jumping off the George Washington Bridge, he never suspects that his selfless action will lead to love. Nor does he suspect that the sensitive and caring woman whom he saved from herself will be accused of murdering her abusive ex-husband. Ike cannot believe that Elizabeth could be capable of such an act, but he has known her for only six weeks and cannot stop the questions that hound him. Was the abuse that Elizabeth suffered during her eight-year marriage enough to drive her to murder? Could Ike's love for her blind him to a dark side of her personality? Does her refuge in her Catholic faith mask a dreadful vengeance? In the swirling thrust and parry of Elizabeth's trial, Ike is forced to examine his hopes, his beliefs, and his love for a woman whose life hangs in the balance.

'She took a final drag at the cigarette, flipped it away, and said, I don't get this line of talk. It's way over my head... Maybe you're waiting for some dream girl to come along in a coach drawn by six white horses, and she'll pick you up and haul you away to the clouds, where it's all milk and honey and springtime all year around. Maybe that's what you're waiting for. That dream girl."' But the dream girl doesn't come. In the meantime Ralph must deal with the yearnings of everyday life and take what's offered. Written in 1954, The Blonde on the Street Corner is full of the passions and desires that are the hallmarks of a David Goodis novel.

John Berger's explorations of the relationships between the individual and society, culture and politics, and experience and expression through the written word, films, photographic collaborations and performances are unmatched in their diversity, ambition and reach. His television series and book "Ways of Seeing" revolutionized the way that art is understood. Now, "Understanding a Photograph" gathers the photography writings of one of the most internationally influential authors of the past 50 years. "Understanding a Photograph" is arranged chronologically, leading the reader on a thought-provoking journey through selected essays from hallmark works such as "About Looking" and "Another Way of Telling," as well as previously uncollected pieces written for exhibitions or catalogues that discuss a wide range of artists--from August Sander to Jitka Hanzlova. This collection of some 25 texts has been carefully selected by novelist and essayist Geoff Dyer, who has also written a critical study of Berger's oeuvre. John Berger (born 1926) is a novelist, poet, screenwriter and critic. He is the author of numerous works of fiction and nonfiction, including "To the Wedding," "About Looking" and "G.," for which he was awarded the Booker Prize. Among his best-known works are the television series and book, "Ways of Seeing." He has received prestigious awards for his writing, including the Petrarca-Preis and a Golden PEN Award.

Making the rich narrative world of Talmud tales fully accessible to modern readers, renowned Talmud scholar Jeffrey L. Rubenstein turns his spotlight on both famous and little-known stories, analyzing the tales in their original contexts, exploring their cultural meanings and literary artistry, and illuminating their relevance. Delving into both rabbinic life (the academy, master-disciple relationships) and Jewish life under Roman and Persian rule (persecution, taxation, marketplaces), Rubenstein explains how storytellers used irony, wordplay, figurative language, and other art forms to communicate their intended messages. Each close reading demonstrates the story’s continuing relevance through the generations into modernity. For example, the story “Showdown in Court,” a confrontation between King Yannai and the Rabbinic judges, provides insights into controversial struggles in U.S. history to balance governmental power; the story of Honi’s seventy-year sleep becomes a window into the indignities of aging. Through the prism of Talmud tales, Rubenstein also offers timeless insights into suffering, beauty, disgust, heroism, humor, love, sex, truth, and falsehood. By connecting twenty-first-century readers to past generations, The Land of Truth helps to bridge the divide between modern Jews and the traditional narrative worlds of their ancestors.

"This book explores the earliest roots of the modern food industry, focusing on the development of the canning industry in the United States. Canning leaders leveraged the power of scientific expertise to create a market for canned food. Before the mid-twentieth century, in order to win consumer trust, canners adopted new technologies, cooperated with federal food regulation, sponsored agricultural and bacteriological research, and standardized food production. All of these moves helped to make canned food a staple of American pantries by the 1940s. As other industries entered the processed food landscape, and environmental and consumer critiques emerged, canners widened their scientific research base to more centrally incorporate marketing, advertising, and political strategy. In their increasing power, industry leaders were less willing to defer to governmental authority and more eager to directly control production and consumption. This study takes up the stories of six particular canned foods--condensed milk, peas, olives, tomatoes, tuna, and Campbell's soup--to understand the tools used by the food industry to build consumer confidence in a new way of eating. This modified diet not only changed the relationship between business and consumers, but also the relationships among Americans, farmers, universities, advertisers, and the natural environment."--Provided by publisher.

"I write with light", Andre Kertesz once said of his work. In one of the medium's longest, most productive careers, he created a vast and lyric narrative that shaped the history of photography. The first proponent of the small-format 35-millimeter camera, Kertesz created stunning images of everyday moments, memories, and scenes. His role in the art world was marked by periods of rapturous acclaim and times of regrettable neglect. In pre-World War II Paris, he was recognized as a pioneer in the medium and a celebrated member of a milieu that included Piet Mondrian, Fernand Leger, and Tristan Tzara. Subsequently, he was known as the inspiration to a generation of photographers, including Man Ray, Brassai, Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, and Berenice Abbott. In later years, however, he endured long periods of obscurity. It was not until the early 1960s that a subsequent generation began to look anew and recognize Kertesz's genius. Through more than sixty years of photographing, he worked without pretense, using the camera to question, to record, and to preserve his relationships to the world and to his art. Collected here are the finest images from his life's work.

“Rarely have more profound changes in American foreign policy been called for than today,” begins Amitai Etzioni in the preface to this book. Yet Etzioni’s concern is not to lay blame for past mistakes but to address the future: What can now be done to improve U.S. relations with the rest of the world? What should American policies be toward recently liberated countries such as Iraq and Afghanistan, or rogue states like North Korea and Iran? When should the United States undertake humanitarian intervention abroad? What must be done to protect America from nuclear terrorism? The author asserts that providing basic security must be the first priority in all foreign policy considerations, even ahead of efforts to democratize. He sets out essential guidelines for a foreign policy that makes sense in the real world, builds on moral principles, and creates the possibility of establishing positive relationships with Muslim nations and all others. Etzioni has considered the issues deeply and for many years. His conclusions fall into no neat categories—neither “liberal” nor “conservative”—for he is guided not by ideology but by empirical evidence and moral deliberation. His proposal rings with the sound of reason, and this important book belongs on the reading list of every concerned leader, policy maker, and voter in America.

Overview: A lively, richly informed argument for the natural superiority of women from the acclaimed author of The Tangled Wing. There is a human genetic fluke that is surprisingly common, due to a change in a key pair of chromosomes. In the normal condition the two look the same, but in this disorder one is malformed and shrunken beyond recognition. The result is a shortened life span, higher mortality at all ages, an inability to reproduce, premature hair loss, and brain defects variously resulting in attention deficit, hyperactivity, conduct disorder, hypersexuality, and an enormous excess of both outward and self-directed aggression. It is called maleness. In Women After All, Melvin Konner traces the arc of evolution to explain the relationships between women and men. With patience and wit he explores the knotty question of whether men are necessary in the biological destiny of the human race. He draws on multiple, colorful examples from the natural world-such as the mating habits of the octopus, black widow, angler fish, and jacana-and argues that maleness in humans is hardly necessary to the survival of the species. In characteristically humorous and engaging prose, Konner sheds light on our biologically different identities, while noting the poignant exceptions that challenge the male/female divide. We meet hunter-gatherers such as those in Botswana, whose culture gave women a prominent place, invented the working mother, and respected women's voices around the fire. Recent human history has upset this balance, as a dense world of war fostered extreme male dominance. But our species has been recovering over the past two centuries, and an unstoppable move toward equality is afoot. It will not be the end of men, but it will be the end of male supremacy and a better, wiser world for women and men alike. Provocative and richly informed, Women After All is bound to be controversial across the sexes

"A revolutionary view of the role of love in sex"

Human-wildlife conflict is a major issue in conservation. As people encroach into natural habitats, and as conservation efforts restore wildlife to areas where they may have been absent for generations, contact between people and wild animals is growing. Some species, even the beautiful and endangered, can have serious impacts on human lives and livelihoods. Tigers kill people, elephants destroy crops and African wild dogs devastate sheep herds left unattended. Historically, people have responded to these threats by killing wildlife wherever possible, and this has led to the endangerment of many species that are difficult neighbours. The urgent need to conserve such species, however, demands coexistence of people and endangered wildlife. This book presents a variety of solutions to human-wildlife conflicts, including novel and traditional farming practices, offsetting the costs of wildlife damage through hunting and tourism, and the development of local and national policies.

There is one irrefutable definition of a leader: someone with followers. Without followers, there is no leader. But people follow a leader in different ways and for different reasons. Leadership is a relationship between leaders and followers. This relationship depends on the qualities of both leaders and followers in a particular context. Someone can be a leader in one context but not in another. In this revised edition of The Leaders We Need and What Makes Us Follow Michael Maccoby with Tim Scudder show how leadership relationships can improve organizations and societies and be developmental for both leaders and followers. The book delves deeply into the dynamics of followership, answering questions such as the following. Why do people follow a leader? Why do we sometimes follow bad leaders? Why do we sometimes turn against leaders we once admired? How have the values of followers been changing? To collaborate more productively, both leaders and followers need to develop their Personality Intelligence. The more complex and interdependent work becomes, the more organizations need people who are engaged in their work. Personality Intelligence as it is described in this book equips us to understand each other, our drives, values, fears, hopes, and dreams. It combines intellectual and emotional intelligence, both head and heart. It is aided by personality assessments, such as the Strength Development Inventory (SDI) that give leaders and followers a shared language that helps in avoiding conflict and developing strengths. Based on the authors' extensive experience, this book provides examples from many different organizations in different countries of how Personality Intelligence has improved relationships at work. Although the myth of the single leader persists, most organizations need a leadership team, including three types of leaders: Strategic, Operational, and Networking. They typically have different personalities, but they are most effective if they develop and practice a leadership philosophy that describes their organizational purpose, the practical values essential to accomplish that purpose, the moral basis for decisions, and the definition of results. Increasingly the Millennial generation who share an Interactive social character want to work at organizations with a purpose and values that improve society. This book is not a quick-fix or a list of steps to success, but it will make you think more deeply about why people will or will not follow you and how you can become the kind of leader your followers need.

Three girls in search of a missing piece of their lives; three girls who will change their worlds to find it . . . 'A sexy, sophisticated page-turner' EVE 'A blockbuster with brains ... the ultimate guilty pleasure' BELLA 'Sheer indulgence' DAILY EXPRESS Laure, seventeen, beautiful and already abandoned twice in her young life. Once by the glamorous mother she can barely remember, a woman who brought shame on the St Lazare family name and fled to America; and then again by a handsome soldier who left her pregnant and alone, facing the wrath of her grandmother. Amelie, caught in a world where she's neither servant nor mistress, trapped between the St Lazare family she's always worked for and the simmering hostility of a country on the verge of meltdown. With a past she knows nothing about and no family of her own, she yearns to find a place that can be home. Melanie, the rock star's daughter who has everything money can buy except the love she craves. A daddy's girl caught in a whirl of damaging relationships, testing those closest to her. In one man she sees the chance to change her life for ever, but at what price? In a story that begins in the relentless heat of a Haitian summer and sweeps through the luxury of America's elite to the colourful chaos of East End London, BITTER CHOCOLATE is a glorious tale of the quest for love, marriage and finding a place to belong.

The New Thought Movement was an enormously popular late nineteenth-century spiritual movement led largely by and for women. Mary Baker Eddy's Christian Science is but one example of the fascinating range of these groups, which advocated a belief in mind over matter and espoused women's spiritual ability to purify the world. This work is the first to uncover the cultural implications of New Thought, embedding it in the intellectual traditions of nineteenth-century America, and illuminating its connections with the self-help and New Age enthusiasms of our own fin-de-siècle. Beryl Satter examines New Thought in all its complexity, presenting along the way a captivating cast of characters. In lively and accessible prose, she introduces the people, the institutions, the texts, and the ideas that comprised the New Thought movement. This fascinating social and intellectual history explores the complex relationships among social reform, alternative religion, medicine, and psychology which persist to this day.