The region known as the Brilliant East is an immense and ancient land encompassing vast empires, wild unsettled plains, unsurpassed civilizations, and the ravaged battlefields of gods. Amazing sights greet travelers, from the impenetrable Wind Wall protecting Cathay against nomadic raiders, to the great flying cities of Sikkim, to the eerie purple sky above the shunned Plateau of Leng. Dreadful forces threaten the region. The worst of them are the ancient god Yig, who dwells with his serpentine followers among the flooded ruins of the Sunken Lands, and the Void-maddened denizens of otherworldly Leng. Celestial dragons soar through the clouds and advise emperors, while irrepressible Monkey works his mischief among kings and commoners alike.
Southlands includes everything you need to run a thrilling Pathfinder roleplaying game campaign of high adventure in a pulp fantasy setting"--Page 4 of cover.
“We are not worth more, they are not worth less.” This is the mantra of S. Brian Willson and the theme that runs throughout his compelling psycho-historical memoir. Willson’s story begins in small-town, rural America, where he grew up as a “Commie-hating, baseball-loving Baptist,” moves through life-changing experiences in Viet Nam, Nicaragua and elsewhere, and culminates with his commitment to a localized, sustainable lifestyle. In telling his story, Willson provides numerous examples of the types of personal, risk-taking, nonviolent actions he and others have taken in attempts to educate and effect political change: tax refusal—which requires simplification of one’s lifestyle; fasting—done publicly in strategic political and/or therapeutic spiritual contexts; and obstruction tactics—strategically placing one’s body in the way of “business as usual.” It was such actions that thrust Brian Willson into the public eye in the mid-’80s, first as a participant in a high-profile, water-only “Veterans Fast for Life” against the Contra war being waged by his government in Nicaragua. Then, on a fateful day in September 1987, the world watched in horror as Willson was run over by a U.S. government munitions train during a nonviolent blocking action in which he expected to be removed from the tracks and arrested. Losing his legs only strengthened Willson’s identity with millions of unnamed victims of U.S. policy around the world. He provides details of his travels to countries in Latin America and the Middle East and bears witness to the harm done to poor people as well as to the environment by the steamroller of U.S. imperialism. These heart-rending accounts are offered side by side with inspirational stories of nonviolent struggle and the survival of resilient communities Willson’s expanding consciousness also uncovers injustices within his own country, including insights gained through his study and service within the U.S. criminal justice system and personal experiences addressing racial injustices. He discusses coming to terms with his identity as a Viet Nam veteran and the subsequent service he provides to others as director of a veterans outreach center in New England. He draws much inspiration from friends he encounters along the way as he finds himself continually drawn to the path leading to a simpler life that seeks to “do no harm.&rdquo Throughout his personal journey Willson struggles with the question, “Why was it so easy for me, a ’good’ man, to follow orders to travel 9,000 miles from home to participate in killing people who clearly were not a threat to me or any of my fellow citizens?” He eventually comes to the realization that the “American Way of Life” is AWOL from humanity, and that the only way to recover our humanity is by changing our consciousness, one individual at a time, while striving for collective cultural changes toward “less and local.” Thus, Willson offers up his personal story as a metaphorical map for anyone who feels the need to be liberated from the American Way of Life—a guidebook for anyone called by conscience to question continued obedience to vertical power structures while longing to reconnect with the human archetypes of cooperation, equity, mutual respect and empathy.
American Conservatism: History, Theory, and Practice from Brian R. Farmer is a history of conservatism in the United States that illuminates the odyssey of American conservatism beginning with the Pilgrims and Puritans of the early colonial period and proceeding through the Revolutionary era, the Antebellum period, the Age of Laissez-Faire, Post-Depression Conservatism, the Reagan Era, and concluding with the ideologies and policies of the George W. Bush Administration, arguably the most ideologically driven conservative administration in American history. Conservatism in general and the multiple facets of conservatism are defined, and the political socialization process that produces and perpetuates political ideologies in general and conservatism in particular are presented, to lay the groundwork for the rich history of American people, policies, and events that have surrounded those conservative ideologies that follows. Farmer provides a tool for those interested in American Politics in general and American conservatism in particular with a tool that helps explain the historical development of American ideological conservatism, both in a theoretical sense, and in a policy sense, and thus draws a connection between the American past and what must be considered an exceptional conservative American administration, even by American standards, under George W. Bush. Farmer illustrates that the basic ideological underpinnings that have driven the Bush administration that have generally been viewed by Europeans as exceptional, have been present in American politics since its earliest colonial beginnings with the Puritans and been carried forward by the ideological descendants of the Puritans from that time through the present. In essence, the form of American conservative exceptionalism exhibited during the Bush administration was present in American politics from the very beginning and has continued through the present, albeit in a more extreme form since the traditional ideological conservatives currently dominate all three branches of the American government and the terror attacks of 9/11 allowed them to garner popular support for their exceptional programs.
This book does not offer any miracles, although it does offer a better opportunity for someone to get results, for one who is prepared to get out of the victim role and take a positive step into seeing what they can do for themselves. By reading this book, you will realise the significance of continuous learning. And that’s how philosophy tries to discover the nature of truth and knowledge, to find what is of basic value and importance in life. This is about the relationships between humanity and nature and between the individual and the society.
This book explores the challenge posed by the immersion of 15 million Muslims in Western democracies and the few, but volatile, terrorists present within the larger body of believers. The fact that immersion in Western culture is insufficient to stem the tide of extremism is discussed, along with the factors that contribute to the growth of radical Islam, such as the presence of charismatic, authoritarian leadership, educational options that downplay critical thinking, and colonialism. Hope that radical Islam can be kept to a minimum in Western societies is provided by the Islamic concept of Ijtihad, through which Muslims reinterpret their own religion. Just as mainstream Mormons have dispensed with polygamy and Christians with witch-hunting, Muslims in Western societies have the potential to minimize the growth of radicalism. Instructors considering this book for use in a course may request an examination copy here.
In the perspective-altering tradition of Malcolm Gladwell’s The Tipping Point and Nassim Nicholas Taleb’s The Black Swan comes a provocative challenge to how we think our world works—and why small, chance events can divert our lives and change everything, by social scientist and Atlantic writer Brian Klaas. If you could rewind your life to the very beginning and then press play, would everything turn out the same? Or could making an accidental phone call or missing an exit off the highway change not just your life, but history itself? And would you remain blind to the radically different possible world you unknowingly left behind? In Fluke, myth-shattering social scientist Brian Klaas dives deeply into the phenomenon of random chance and the chaos it can sow, taking aim at most people’s neat and tidy storybook version of reality. The book’s argument is that we willfully ignore a bewildering truth: but for a few small changes, our lives—and our societies—could be radically different. Offering an entirely new lens, Fluke explores how our world really works, driven by strange interactions and apparently random events. How did one couple’s vacation cause 100,000 people to die? Does our decision to hit the snooze button in the morning radically alter the trajectory of our lives? And has the evolution of humans been inevitable, or are we simply the product of a series of freak accidents? Drawing on social science, chaos theory, history, evolutionary biology, and philosophy, Klaas provides a brilliantly fresh look at why things happen—all while providing mind-bending lessons on how we can live smarter, be happier, and lead more fulfilling lives.
I have often thought how wonderful it would have been if any of my grandparents, not to mention my great grandparents, had jotted down some of their thoughts, experiences and accumulated wisdom on paper for me to read, irrespective of how trivial or mind-blowing they may have been. I could have gleamed a glimpse as to who they were and how they thought, even though they died long before I was born in most cases. I really feel the void of not having known them. This book is an attempt to correct that omission and is written for the benefit of my kin still to come.
New Book Cracks Code — The Secret Behind Our Perceptions Finally Revealed. . . and More! Is it okay to fantasize during sex? When should you follow your intuition and gut feelings? How do the most successful salespeople and marketers magnetically attract more customers and business? Why do we gravitate to products endorsed by celebrities? Why do some people pay $100 for a cup of “cat poop coffee”? Why are some athletes perpetual winners and others losers? Why do some people see Jesus on a Cheeto? Exploring the brain’s ability to interpret and make sense of the world, Dr. Brian Boxer Wachler describes how your perception can be reality or fantasy and how to separate the two, which is the basis of improving your Perceptual Intelligence (PI). With concrete science-based examples, and case studies, Dr. Brian (as he’s known to his patients) explains why our senses do not always match reality and how understanding this can improve decision-making in your life. Fine-tuning your PI elevates your game so you can have what you want in life: better job, better relationships, better sex, more success, more happiness. Without the information in this book you will have a hard time achieving these things because you will keep repeating the same patterns. By reading Perceptual Intelligence you elevate potential success in every area in your life. And there is an amazing chapter on sex! Do get it now!
With increasing school mandates and pressure to perform well on standardized tests, writing instruction has shifted to more accountability, taking the focus away from the writer. In his engaging book, When Writers Drive the Workshop: Honoring Young Voices and Bold Choices , author Brian Kissel asks teachers to go back to the roots of the writing workshop and let the students lead the conference. What happens when students, not tests, determine what they learned through reflection and self-evaluation?In When Writers Drive the Workshop, you'll find practical ideas, guiding beliefs, FAQs, and Digital Diversions to help visualize digital possibilities in the classroom. Written in an engaging, teacher-to-teacher style, this book focuses on four key components of writing workshop: Student-led conferring sessions where the teachers are the listenersThe Author's Chair-, where students set the agenda and gather feedbackStructured reflection time for students to set goals and expectations for themselvesMini lessons that allow for detours based on students' needs, not teacher or curricula goalsAll students have the powerful, shared need to be heard; when they choose their writing topics, they can see their lives unfold on the page. Teachers are educated by the bold choices of these young voices.
For many people, the world of politics is defined by ideologies. The average voter rarely takes time to research a policy issue, thoroughly relying instead on a set of beliefs set forth by his or her chosen political organization to make important decisions. These publicly promoted ideologies play an important role in international as well as domestic political development, yet many adherents to a particular belief may have a poor understanding of competing ideologies. From right wing to the far left, this text dissects eight prominent political ideologies: traditional conservatism, classic liberalism, libertarianism, conservative extremism, contemporary liberalism, communism, dependency theory and Islamism. In plain terms it describes the basic doctrine and inherent contradictions of each creed along with its particular relevance to today's political landscape. An in-depth discussion of the political socialization processes that form and perpetuate ideologies is also included. Instructors considering this book for use in a course may request an examination copy here.
This volume considers the rise of a new mode of creating, spreading, and encountering moral claims and ideas as they are expressed within spectacles. Brian M. Lowe explains how spectacles emerge when we are saturated with mediated representations—including pictures, texts, and videos—and exposed to television and movies and the myriad stories they tell us. The question of which moral issues gain our attention and which are neglected increasingly relates to how societal concerns are supported—or obscured—by spectacles. This project explores how this new form of moral understanding came to be. Through a series of case studies, including the use of radio and comic books; the crafting of Russian national identity through art; television and film; the evolution of human rights law through film and journalism; and the promotion of animal rights campaigns, this book unveils some of the ways in which our spectacular environment shapes moral understanding, and is in turn shaped by spectacle.
That Broader Definition of Liberty synthesizes a political theory of the New Deal from the writings of Franklin Roosevelt, Eleanor Roosevelt, Henry Wallace, and Thurman Arnold. The resultant theory highlights the need for the public accountability of private economic power, arguing that when the private economic realm is unable to adequately guarantee the rights of citizens, the state must intervene to protect those rights. The New Deal created a new American social contract that accorded our right to the pursuit of happiness a status equal to liberty, and grounded both in an expansive idea of security as the necessary precondition for the exercise of either. This was connected to a theory of the common good that privileged the consumer as the central category while simultaneously working to limit the worst excesses of consumption-oriented individualism. This theory of ends was supplemented by a theory of practice that focused on ways to institutionalize progressive politics in a conservative institutional context.Brian Stipelman, drawing upon a mixture of history, American political development, and political theory, offers a comprehensive theory of the New Deal, covering both the ends it hoped to achieve and the means it used to achieve them.
Color coded terror alerts, invasion, drone war, rampant surveillance: all manifestations of the type of new power Brian Massumi theorizes in Ontopower. Through an in-depth examination of the War on Terror and the culture of crisis, Massumi identifies the emergence of preemption, which he characterizes as the operative logic of our time. Security threats, regardless of the existence of credible intelligence, are now felt into reality. Whereas nations once waited for a clear and present danger to emerge before using force, a threat's felt reality now demands launching a preemptive strike. Power refocuses on what may emerge, as that potential presents itself to feeling. This affective logic of potential washes back from the war front to become the dominant mode of power on the home front as well. This is ontopower—the mode of power embodying the logic of preemption across the full spectrum of force, from the “hard” (military intervention) to the "soft" (surveillance). With Ontopower, Massumi provides an original theory of power that explains not only current practices of war but the culture of insecurity permeating our contemporary neoliberal condition.
Counter Jihad provides a sweeping account of America's military campaigns in the Islamic world and fills a gaping void in our understanding of the War on Terror.
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.