This collection (the first from the immensely talented Daniel G. Keohane) includes four original stories and a brief introduction to each tale. Plus, here's one more reaon to purchase this title (straight from the author himself): "As with the print edition, 100 percent of all author royalties earned from the sale of this collection are being donated to the New England Multiple Sclerosis Society, in honor of my sister Anne. I figured I already got paid for most of these stories, anyway, so may as well let someone else benefit from them now - aside from you, dear readers.
On April ninth, thousands of people wake from the same dream, visits from angels instructing them to build a biblical ark in their front yard, or the town square or little league field. Anywhere, to prepare for the worst natural disaster to strike the world since the days of Noah. A widowed California high school teacher risks everything to build a boat in the sixty days she is given. A homeless and self-proclaimed prophet of God preaches across Boston's waterfront, unaware that he is not alone in his visions. A young priest is torn between the signs around him and the skepticism of his Church. In the end, only thirty people may board each boat. As the world slowly comes to grips with events unfolding around them, they must weigh their own faith in the exceptional and identical visions of so many people. The skies are clear, without a hint of rain. But if the dreams are true, something terrible is looming on the horizon. ..".a quality work of fiction, written by a professional who knows his stuff. A gripping story about the power of faith. Though it moves slowly and takes time building its tension - and build tension it does - this novel is the mark of an experienced craftsmen. The characters are varied and engaging, prompting genuine sympathy in the reader. His success is that he does what spiritual fiction often fails at: he focuses on the human element, how humans deal and grapple with the difficulty - and demands - of faith." - Kevin Lucia, Shroud Magazine Reviews "I couldn't put this book down. Margaret's Ark is a scary look at what might end the world someday. Dan Keohane, a finalist for the 2009 Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in a First Novel, has taken a different approach to the usual religious apocalypse stories. This is not the Rapture -- this is a natural disaster that will change the world forever. " - Sheri White, Terrorflicks.com
Corey Union's world is about to end. Around every corner lurk the inevitable signs of a coming doomsday. Corey moves his wife and daughter to a new home nestled in the woods but nothing is what it seems in this man's world.
From the Bram Stoker Award-nominated author of "Margaret's Ark" and "Solomon's Grave.".. People hide their secrets in the dark. Sometimes, that same darkness is what will eventually reveal them. Eight months after Saint Gerard's Episcopal Church closes its doors, the building has become the new home of Bill and Seyha Watts. The house, however, has plans for its new occupants. Trapped in a biblical darkness that can be felt, four people stumble through a surreal nightmare where the only escape is through their deepest fears and memories. Cut off from the outside world, they are prisoners of a power they cannot see, struggling to understand what is truth - and what is a lie.
Surveying six decades of scholarship, Recovering International Relations suggests new ethical and methodological foundations for the study of world politics. IR is conceived as a vocation; one that must balance the insights of normative and empirical theory against each other to address a densely populated, heavily armed, and persistently diverse world.
This book is a collection of 91 fundamental quotes and aphorisms of Jose Marti: "Others go to bed with their mistresses; I with my ideas." "A selfish man is a thief." "Peoples are made of hate and of love, and more of hate than love. But love, like the sun that it is, sets afire and melts everything." "Liberty is the essence of life. Whatever is done without it is imperfect." "Life on earth is a hand-to-hand mortal combat... between the law of love and the law of hate.
Who killed Jeffrey Epstein? Two journalists look for answers. A must-read for fans of the Netflix docuseries Filthy Rich. In A Convenient Death, investigative reporters Alana Goodman and Daniel Halper search for the truth of what really happened to Jeffrey Epstein. With access to Epstein's victims and lawyers, to doctors, Wall Street insiders and law enforcement officers, they reveal the dirty secrets and sinister ties that may have driven someone in Epstein’s circle to take matters into their own hands. On the morning of August 10, 2019, Epstein, friend and financier to the rich and powerful, was found unresponsive in his prison cell in lower Manhattan, where he awaited his second trial for sexual predation and other crimes. He was rushed to a local hospital and one hour later pronounced dead by suicide. Across the world, a sinister web of powerful billionaires, celebrities, and politicians, including Bill and Hillary Clinton, had reason to sigh with relief at news of Epstein’s death. Having flown on his private planes and visited his many homes—the sites of so many illicit activities—they had much to lose if their transgressions were ever exposed. And now, Epstein was silenced for good. But cracks in the official story soon emerged. And the questions kept coming: · Why did the surveillance cameras in front of Epstein’s cell stop working that night? · Why was Epstein's cellmate transferred out and never replaced? · Why was a high-profile prisoner so suddenly taken off suicide watch and left unguarded for eight hours? Was Epstein murdered to protect the powerful people who feared what he might reveal? The American public deserves to know the truth. With this book, they can finally understand the facts and decide for themselves.
International institutions, from the International Monetary Fund to the International Olympic Committee, are perceived as bastions of sclerotic mediocrity at best and outright corruption at worst, and this perception is generally not far off the mark. In the wake of the 2008 financial crash, Daniel W. Drezner, like so many others, looked at the smoking ruins of the global economy and wondered why global economic governance structure had failed so spectacularly, and what could be done to reform them in the future. But then a funny thing happened. As he surveyed their actions in the wake of the crash, he realized that the evidence pointed to the exact opposite conclusion: global economic governance had succeeded. In The System Worked, Drezner, a renowned political scientist and international relations expert, contends that despite the massive scale and reverberations of this latest crisis (larger, arguably, than those that precipitated the Great Depression), the global economy has bounced back remarkably well. Examining the major resuscitation efforts by the G-20 IMF, WTO, and other institutions, he shows that, thanks to the efforts of central bankers and other policymakers, the international response was sufficiently coordinated to prevent the crisis from becoming a full-fledged depression. Yet the narrative about the failure of multilateral economic institutions persists, both because the Great Recession affected powerful nations whose governments managed their own economies poorly, and because the most influential policy analysts who write the books and articles on the crisis hail from those nations. Nevertheless, Drezner argues, while it's true that the global economy is still fragile, these institutions survived the "stress test" of the financial crisis, and may have even become more resilient and valuable in the process. Bucking the conventional wisdom about the new "G-Zero World," Drezner rehabilitates the image of the much-maligned international institutions and demolishes some of the most dangerous myths about the financial crisis. The System Worked is a vital contribution to our understanding of an area where the stakes could not be higher.
How did the world come to be organized into sovereign states? Daniel Philpott argues that two historical revolutions in ideas are responsible. First, the Protestant Reformation ended medieval Christendom and brought a system of sovereign states in Europe, culminating at the Peace of Westphalia in 1648. Second, ideas of equality and colonial nationalism brought a sweeping end to colonial empires around 1960, spreading the sovereign states system to the rest of the globe. In both cases, revolutions in ideas about legitimate political authority profoundly altered the "constitution" that establishes basic authority in the international system. Ideas exercised influence first by shaping popular identities, then by exercising social power upon the elites who could bring about new international constitutions. Swaths of early modern Europeans, for instance, arrived at Protestant beliefs, then fought against the temporal powers of the Church on behalf of the sovereignty of secular princes, who could overthrow the formidable remains of a unified medieval Christendom. In the second revolution, colonial nationalists, domestic opponents of empire, and rival superpowers pressured European cabinets to relinquish their colonies in the name of equality and nationalism, resulting in a global system of sovereign states. Bringing new theoretical and historical depth to the study of international relations, Philpott demonstrates that while shifts in military, economic, and other forms of material power cannot be overlooked, only ideas can explain how the world came to be organized into a system of sovereign states.
Every year a staggering number of unidentified shell corporations succeed in hiding perpetrators of terrorist financing, corruption and illegal arms trades, but the degree to which firms flout global identification standards remains unknown. Adopting a unique, experimental methodology, Global Shell Games attempts to unveil the sordid world of anonymous shell corporations. Posing as twenty-one different international consultants, the authors approached nearly 4,000 services in over 180 countries to discover just how easy it is to form an untraceable company. Combining rigorous quantitative analysis, qualitative investigation of responses and lurid news reports, this book makes a significant research contribution to compliance with international law and international crime and terrorism whilst offering a novel, new approach to the field of political science research. Global Shell Games is an invaluable resource for scholars of international relations, and a fascinating, accessible read for anyone interested in learning about worldwide criminal practice in corporate finance.
How can a developing, democratic and predominantly Muslim country like Indonesia manage its foreign relations, while facing a myriad of security concerns and dilemmas in the increasingly complex post-Cold War international politics, without compromising its national interests and sacrificing its independence? Approaching this problem from the vantage point of the Indonesian foreign policy elite, this book explores the elite's perceptions about other states and the manner in which these shape the decision-making process and determine policy outcomes. The combined qualitative and quantitative research strategy draws on a unique series of in-depth interviews with 45 members of the Indonesian foreign policy elite that included the country's (present and/or former) presidents, cabinet ministers, high-ranking military officers, and senior diplomats. Among all state actors, Indonesian relations with the United States and China are the highest concern of the elite. The leaders believe that, in the future, Indonesia will increasingly have to manoeuvre between the two rival powers. While the United States during George W. Bush's presidency was seen as the main security threat to Indonesia, China is considered the main malign factor in the long run with power capabilities that need to be constrained and counter-balanced.
This book analyses the role of institutionalised summits in international governance, adding a fresh perspective to the controversial debate over the value of institutionalised summits for international governance. It argues that the contribution of these summits to negotiating and implementing international agreements on policy change is ambivalent. Based on an innovative theoretical model the books proposes that states strategically select summits with their specific institutional design for advancing their policy preferences. Developing the route to the summit and the route from the summit as precise causal mechanisms, the author argues that these choices explain the ambivalence of summit involvement. With empirically rich case studies on the Group of 7 (G7) and the European Council, the book provides a rare systematic comparison of different summits. The empirical record shows strikingly similar patterns for the G7 and the European Council, but it also points to variation deserving further attention in the study of summits in different institutional environments. It will be of interest to researchers in International Relations, Global Governance, and European Politics, and those interested in global institutions and decision-making.
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