One of Canada's hippest, smartest cultural critics takes on the West's defining value. We live in a world increasingly dominated by the fake, the prepackaged, the artificial: fast food, scripted reality TV shows, Facebook "friends," and fraudulent memoirs. But people everywhere are demanding the exact opposite, heralding "authenticity" as the cure for isolated individualism and shallow consumerism. Restaurants promote the authenticity of their cuisine, while condo developers promote authentic loft living and book reviewers regularly praise the authenticity of a new writer's voice. International bestselling author Andrew Potter brilliantly unpacks our modern obsession with authenticity. In this perceptive and thought-provoking blend of pop culture, history, and philosophy, he finds that far from serving as a refuge from modern living, the search for authenticity often creates the very problems it's meant to solve.
A Winnipeg Free Press Top Read of 2021 What if David Bowie really was holding the fabric of the universe together? The death of David Bowie in January 2016 was a bad start to a year that got a lot worse: war in Syria, the Zika virus, terrorist attacks in Brussels and Nice, the Brexit vote—and the election of Donald Trump. The end-of-year wraps declared 2016 “the worst … ever.” Four even more troubling years later, the question of our apocalypse had devolved into a tired social media cliché. But when COVID-19 hit, journalist and professor of public policy Andrew Potter started to wonder: what if The End isn’t one big event, but a long series of smaller ones? In On Decline, Potter surveys the current problems and likely future of Western civilization (spoiler: it’s not great). Economic stagnation and the slowing of scientific innovation. Falling birth rates and environmental degradation. The devastating effects of cultural nostalgia and the havoc wreaked by social media on public discourse. Most acutely, the various failures of Western governments in their responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. If the legacy of the Enlightenment and its virtues—reason, logic, science, evidence—has run its course, how and why has it happened? And where do we go from here?
Is mere willpower enough to overcome your addictive and destructive lifestyle? In this new, heart-inspiring and challenging book, Andrew Potter points the way to genuine freedom and liberating joy through the power of God's Holy Spirit found only in a vital relationship with Jesus Christ. Here, you will not find all the typical trite platitudes and self-help formulas of an arm-chair theorist normally associated with those in our day, seeking to address hard life issues such as addiction. Instead, you'll find the depth of insight that can only come from someone who knows first-hand both the bondage of addiction and the liberating freedom of redemption in Christ. Here, you'll find true hope for lasting change.
I wrote my story as a testament to the one true Father the Almighty. As well after finishing it, something has stayed on my heart to dedicate it to an old coworker of a job long past; her name is Laura. At night she and I worked together as bakers. She asked me, “How do I know there is a God?” If she reads this book, she’ll know what I know, and that is, in my opinion, it is true that the Lord lives. The first time she asked me, I don’t believe I gave her a concrete answer. I know my book spells it out from the first word to the last, because this is his work, I’m his work, so this is our story. Ever since I found the importance of prayer, I’ve asked my Father to use me as an instrument to help others. This is a prayer I have prayed and will continue to pray every day of my life. I’ve always wanted to help the many, as well as my coworker Laura. So, Laura, if you read this book, I hope you really receive the message that the Lord is real because this is a message to all from my Father, that he is real.
With the popularity of Michael Moore, Adbusters magazine and Naomi Klein’s No Logo, it’s hard to ignore the growing tide of resistance to our corporate-controlled world. But do these vocal opponents of the status quo offer us a real political alternative? In this lively blend of pop culture, history and philosophical analysis, Joseph Heath and Andrew Potter argue that this countercultural opposition to "the system" has not only been unproductive but has helped to create the very consumer society that radicals oppose. This thought-provoking book will enrage and entertain today’s countercultural rebels and their opponents on the political right.
Even before she emerged from the cot in her nursery, Beatrix Potter was up against it. With her prodigious memory she recalled being placed 'under the tyranny of a cross old nurse' who introduced her to 'witches, fairies and the creed of the terrible John Calvin'. More sadness followed. She had no siblings of her own age and was brought up, virtually, in isolation. She also had a love affair that ended tragically. She was afflicted by two most unpleasant illnesses one of which affected her for the remainder of her life and she found herself often at odds with her mother. Yet, she grew up to become one of the most original of children's authors and illustrators whose books are as popular today as they were when they were first published, almost a century ago.??How did her sheltered upbringing, her tense relationship with her parents and, critically, her chronic and debilitating illnesses, determine the development of her personality and her evolution as a writer? Andrew Norman, in this concise and insightful biography, seeks to answer these questions and to uncover the source of the inspiration that gave birth to a series of remarkable children's books, including the most famous of all The Tale of Peter Rabbit.??Andrew Norman quotes extensively from Beatrix Potter's fluent and revealing letters, and traces the strong influences exerted by?her family and by her love of animals and the countryside. As he describes her reaction to her childhood illness, he shows how she escaped from the pain and sorrow of the world by creating for herself another world one to which only she had access.??As featured in the Western Daily Press, Cumberland News, Workington Times & Star, News & Star (Carlisle) and Farnham Herald.
Savor each story as a part of a larger story of God's grace and love for each one of us in Slices of an Abundant Life. Poignantly narrated from an authentic voice that is peppered with joy and struggles, Mark Kuraya narrates for us the unique encounters God has brought into his life. Readers will be moved to examine their own lives for a taste of God's abundance. Like Mark, learn to be grateful for God's faithfulness to bring us through every circumstance we face. Seasoned with truth, humor, and love, Slices of an Abundant Life will make you hungry for more!
An insightful biography of the pioneering conservationist, illustrator, prolific author, and creator of Peter Rabbit and other legendary tales. Beatrix Potter was born curious, with an imagination and a love of natural science and animals that would serve her well. When her self-published and self-illustrated first book, The Tale of Peter Rabbit, was picked up by an enterprising publisher, Beatrix’s modest “bunny book” would become a phenomenon. After more than a century, Beatrix Potter endures as one of the most cherished children’s book authors in literary history. But what were the sources of inspiration that gave birth to her beloved anthropomorphic characters and enduring cautionary tales? Through extensive research, personal letters, and photographs, this concise and intimate biography reveals Beatrix’s privileged yet restrictive Victorian childhood; her volatile relationship with her mother; a tragic love affair with her editor; her sometimes debilitating depression and illnesses; her life and career beyond Peter Rabbit; and her liberation as a passionate, driven, trailblazing, and simply original creative spirit.
Blake's examination of the Potter phenomenon raises serious questions about the condition of the publishing industry, filmmaking, and the ways in which the Potter consumer campaign has changed ideas about literature and reading.
Given the popular and scholarly interest in the First World War it is surprising how little contemporary literary work is available. This five-volume reset edition aims to redress this balance, making available an extensive collection of newly-edited short stories, novels and plays from 1914–19.
With the popularity of Michael Moore, Adbusters magazineand Naomi Klein's No Logo, it's hard to ignore the growing tide ofresistance to our corporatecontrolled world. But do these vocal opponents of thestatus quo offer us a real political alternative? In this lively blend of pop culture, history and philosophicalanalysis, Joseph Heath and Andrew Potter argue that this counterculturalopposition to "the system" has not only been unproductive but hashelped to create the very consumer society that radicals oppose. Thisthought-provoking book will enrage and entertain today's counterculturalrebels and their opponents on the political right.
Early Modern Drama in Performance is a collection of essays in honor of Lois Potter, the distinguished author of five monographs, including most recently The Life of William Shakespeare (2012), and numerous articles, edited collections, and editions. This collection’s emphasis on Shakespearean and early modern drama reflects the area for which Potter is most widely known, as a performance critic, editor, and literary scholar. The essays by a diverse group of scholars who have been influenced by Potter address recurring themes in her work: Shakespeare and non-Shakespearean early modern drama, performance history and theatre practice, theatrical performance across cultures, play reviewing, and playreading. What unifies them most, though, is that they carry on the spirit of Potter’s work: her ability to meet a text, a performance, or a historical period on its own terms, to give scrupulous attention to specific details and elegantly show how these details generate larger meaning, and to recover and preserve the fleeting and the ephemeral.
Given the popular and scholarly interest in the First World War it is surprising how little contemporary literary work is available. This five-volume reset edition aims to redress this balance, making available an extensive collection of newly-edited short stories, novels and plays from 1914–19.
Thank you for visiting our website. Would you like to provide feedback on how we could improve your experience?
This site does not use any third party cookies with one exception — it uses cookies from Google to deliver its services and to analyze traffic.Learn More.