In this mindfulness guide for a new generation, the author of A Fool’s Guide to Actual Happiness provides accessible mindfulness teachings that reveal how simple it really is to entirely transform your life. This book’s message is bold and clear: Your life is meditation—every moment and every circumstance can be a place of mindfulness practice and transformation. Your entire life is a path to awakening; nothing is too mundane, nothing is left out. Mark Van Buren excels at communicating in a simple and breezy fashion the nothing-special quality of spiritual practice and how mindfulness helps us make peace with life as it actually is. He leaves the reader feeling empowered, encouraged, and up for the task of living a life of at least just a little bit more freedom and peace.
If this guy can find actual happiness, so can you—and you’ll have fun along the way. A refreshing new voice—without pretense, and with a real gift for clear expression. Let's face it: we all have a motivating drive to become "better." what we have and who we are never seem to be good enough. This feeling that something is wrong or needs to be fixed causes us to continuously run around, chasing after what we feel will finally fulfill us. But what if these very conditions that we are constantly trying to escape from could be used as a way to awaken ourselves—to connect with the peace already within us? A Fool’s Guide to Actual Happiness offers a realistic roadmap for working toward inner peace without needing to be someone you’re not. With humor and refreshing simplicity, Van Buren shows how everything life throws at you, good and bad, can be used as a means to cultivate compassion, wisdom, and loving-kindness. This book allows you to explore who you are—warts and all—and gives you tools to love and accept what you find.
Beginning a meditation practice may seem like a daunting task. Making time to sit and be still, although simple to do, is not easy to take up and maintain, especially in our fast-paced society. In Your Life IS Meditation, Mark Van Buren shows how meditation is not only limited to the seated practice but is actually a new way of being and relating to yourself and your life. It's not a practice you do, but rather one you become. Meditation is the catalyst to relating directly, honestly, and openly to each moment of your life--pleasant or not--and with the stories and reflections in this book, Mark will show you, from his years of Buddhist-inspired practice, how every aspect of your life can be used as fertile soil to cultivate wisdom, compassion, kindness, and most importantly, humor.
Let's face it: we all have a motivating drive to become "better." What we have and who we are never seem to be good enough. This feeling that something is wrong or needs to be fixed causes us to continuously run around, chasing after what we feel will finally fulfill us. But what if these very conditions that we are constantly trying to escape from could be used as a way to awaken ourselves--to connect with the peace already within us? Be Your Shitty Self is a practical guide that will help you uncover and reconnect with your inner peace. Through concepts, exercises, and practical advice, Mark Van Buren explores how meditation and mindfulness can help you realize that who you are is already good enough. No matter how good or bad your life may seem to be, each moment can point you in the direction of peace, compassion, and awakening. Everything you need is already here in this moment. Just as a beautiful lotus flower blooms from the bottom of a murky pond, so too can your true essence shine from the depths of your shitty self.
Faced with organizations that are more dispersed, a workforce that is more diverse and the pressure to reduce costs, CEOs and CFOs are increasingly asking what the return on investment is from training and development programmes. Learning Analytics provides a framework for understanding how to work with learning analytics at an advanced level. It focuses on the questions that training evaluation is intended to answer: is training effective and how can it be improved? It discusses the field of learning analytics, outlining how and why analytics can be useful, and takes the reader through examples of approaches to answering these questions and looks at the valuable role that technology has to play. Even where technological solutions are employed, the HR or learning and development practitioner needs to understand what questions they should be asking of their data to ensure alignment between training and business needs. Learning Analytics enables both senior L&D and HR professionals as well as CEOs and CFOs to see the transformational power that effective analytics has for building a learning organization, and the impacts that this has on performance, talent management, and competitive advantage. It helps learning and development professionals to make the business case for their activities, demonstrating what is truly adding value and where budgets should be spent, and to deliver a credible service to their business by providing metrics based on which sound business decisions can be made.
In The Coming of Democracy, Mark R. Cheathem examines the evolution of presidential campaigning from 1824 to 1840. Addressing the roots of early republic cultural politics―from campaign biographies to songs, political cartoons, and public correspondence between candidates and voters―Cheathem asks the reader to consider why such informal political expressions increased so dramatically during the Jacksonian period. What sounded and looked like mere entertainment, he argues, held important political meaning. The extraordinary voter participation rate―over 80 percent―in the 1840 presidential election indicated that both substantive issues and cultural politics drew Americans into the presidential selection process." -- Publisher's description
The question Americans asked in 1844 was, “Who the hell is James K. Polk?” Polk, of course, was not unknown, but was a highly unlikely presidential candidate given the availability of better-known options. Among the Democrats, this included Martin Van Buren, John C. Calhoun, and James Buchanan. Among the Whigs, Henry Clay was the clear frontrunner. Complicating the election were three other candidates: President John Tyler, a man without a party; Joseph Smith, the self-described prophet of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the first presidential candidate to be assassinated; and James G. Birney, head of the antislavery Liberty ticket. On top of this remarkable cast of characters, the stakes of the election were high as the United States was undergoing a tumultuous political transition. James K. Polk’s ascension to the White House over more notable politicians was a pivotal moment in propelling the United States towards civil war, and the 1844 election expanded the vigorous campaigning that had been growing since 1824. In Who Is James K. Polk?, Mark Cheathem examines the transition from traditional political issues, such as banking and tariffs, to newer ones, like immigration and slavery. The book also captures the Whig and Democratic parties at a mature stage of competition and provides detailed descriptions of campaign tactics used by the candidates, including rallies, music, and political cartoons. Cheathem has written the definitive account of this important election in this volume for the esteemed American Presidential Elections series.
Continuation of Part One. Monroe to Lincoln, each president a chapter. The struggle between Jeffersonianism and Hamiltonianism continues, but slavery warps the debate. Westward expansion, tariffs and free trade vs. government/business collusion. The Great Awakening. John Quincy Adams. Marshall, Clay, and Lincoln. Jackson and Van Buren. And finally, Puritans and Cavaliers dispute once again their deep cultural divide in another great and terrible civil war on a new continent. CONTACT: mark.david.ledbetter@gmail.com
This illuminating overview explains political parties in the early 19th century, comparing and contrasting that era with the modern-day political climate. In this chronological examination of the Democratic Party's origins, award-winning author Mark R. Cheathem traces the development of both the Democratic Party and the second American party system from its roots in the Jeffersonian Republicans in the 1790s to its maturation during Andrew Jackson's presidency in the 1830s. The book explores the concept of politics and its effects on the national government of the early American republic. This historical reference is filled with fascinating facts and anecdotes about 19th-century politics in the United States, most notably how Martin Van Buren acted as the architect of the Democratic Party; what factors contributed to the Democrats' rise to power; and how the Bank War created the second American party system, pitting the Democrats against Whigs. Content features key political writings from the period, portraits and political cartoons of the time, and a helpful chronology detailing influential events.
The Jacksonian period under review in this dictionary served as a transition period for the United States. The growing pains of the republic’s infancy, during which time Americans learned that their nation would survive transitions of political power, gave way to the uncertainty of adolescence. While the United States did not win its second war, the War of 1812, with its mother country, it reaffirmed its independence and experienced significant maturation in many areas following the conflict’s end in 1815. As the second generation of leaders took charge in the 1820s, the United States experienced the challenges of adulthood. The height of those adult years, from 1829 to 1849, is the focus of the Historical Dictionary of the Jacksonian Era and Manifest Destiny. This second edition of Historical Dictionary of the Jacksonian Era and Manifest Destiny contains a chronology, an introduction, appendixes, and an extensive bibliography. The dictionary section has over 200 cross-referenced entries on important personalities, politics, economy, foreign relations, religion, and culture. This book is an excellent access point for students, researchers, and anyone wanting to know more about this era in American history.
It has been widely accepted that few individuals had as great an influence on the church and its theology during the twentieth century as Karl Barth (1886-1968). His legacy continues to be explored and explained, with theologians around the world and from across the ecumenical spectrum vigorously debating the doctrinal ramifications of Barth's insights. What has been less readily accepted is that the Holocaust of the Jews had an equally profound effect, and that it, too, entails far-reaching consequencesfor the church's understanding of itself and its God. In this groundbreaking book, Barth and the Holocaust are brought into deliberate dialogue with one another to show why the church should heed both their voices, and how that might be done.
This A–Z encyclopedia provides a detailed overview of America's 11th president and connects Polk's public and personal life to his historical significance. In 1844, James K. Polk was not a promising presidential nominee—he was not popular, charismatic, or even well known. But by the time he left office in 1849, he had acquired the enormous Oregon Territory by negotiation and had taken by force more than half of Mexico's territory, an area of about 500,000 square miles. Yet Polk's territorial successes inspired the rancorous debate over whether slavery should be allowed in the new territories—a debate that ended in civil war. Modern critics charge that Polk's actions toward Mexico were amoral if not immoral. In this comprehensive examination of Polk's life and career, our 11th president emerges as a complex man and a skillful politician who pursued power relentlessly.
Exploring Lincoln’s Evolving Views of Citizenship At its most basic level, citizenship is about who belongs to a political community, and for Abraham Lincoln in nineteenth-century America, the answer was in flux. The concept of “fellow citizens,” for Lincoln, encompassed different groups at different times. In this first book focused on the topic, Mark E. Steiner analyzes and contextualizes Lincoln’s evolving views about citizenship over the course of his political career. As an Illinois state legislator, Lincoln subscribed to the by-then-outmoded belief that suffrage must be limited to those who met certain obligations to the state. He rejected the adherence to universal white male suffrage that had existed in Illinois since statehood. In 1836 Lincoln called for voting rights to be limited to white people who had served in the militia or paid taxes. Surprisingly, Lincoln did not exclude women, though later he did not advocate giving women the right to vote and did not take women seriously as citizens. The women at his rallies, he believed, served as decoration. For years Lincoln presumed that only white men belonged in the political and civic community, and he saw immigration through this lens. Because Lincoln believed that white male European immigrants had a right to be part of the body politic, he opposed measures to lengthen the time they would have to wait to become a citizen or to be able to vote. Unlike many in the antebellum north, Lincoln rejected xenophobia and nativism. He opposed black citizenship, however, as he made clear in his debates with Stephen Douglas. Lincoln supported Illinois’s draconian Black Laws, which prohibited free black men from voting and serving on juries or in the militia. Further, Lincoln supported sending free black Americans to Africa—the ultimate repudiation and an antithesis of citizenship. Yet, as president, Lincoln came to embrace a broader vision of citizenship for African Americans. Steiner establishes how Lincoln’s meetings at the White House with Frederick Douglass and other black leaders influenced his beliefs about colonization, which he ultimately disavowed, and citizenship for African Americans, which he began to consider. Further, the battlefield success of black Union soldiers revealed to Lincoln that black men were worthy of citizenship. Lincoln publicly called for limited suffrage among black men, including military veterans, in his speech about Reconstruction on April 11, 1865. Ahead of most others of his era, Lincoln showed just before his assassination that he supported rights of citizenship for at least some African Americans.
For more than 100 years, students at the University of Nebraska at Kearney (formerly Kearney State and the Nebraska State Teachers College) have worn the blue and gold of the Antelopes. Within these pages are more than 200 photographs that chronicle the storied history of athletics at the University of Nebraska at Kearney. Legendary coaches such as Fred Fulmer, Charlie Foster, Al Zikmund, and Jerry Hueser are highlighted along with the star athletes they coached, including Pat Panek, Frank Lydic, Larry Snell, Randy Rasmussen, Tom Kropp, and Bart Kofoed. Also appearing in these pages are coach George Van Buren, who, beginning in 1910, helped shape the early sports program, and lesser-known but equally important athletes such as multisport standouts Earl "Irish" Carrig, Ronald "the Farnam Flash" Lewis, and Ray Adams. Besides athletes, coaches, and championship teams, the intense rivalry with Hastings College is highlighted throughout. A Century of Sports at the University of Nebraska at Kearney offers a compelling visual history that will take the Antelope faithful on a journey back to the glory days of the school's athletics.
Though remembered largely by history as Andrew Jackson's nephew, Andrew Jackson Donelson was himself a significant figure in nineteenth-century America: a politician, planter, diplomat, newspaper editor, and vice-presidential candidate. His relationship with his uncle and mentor defined his life, as he struggled to find the political and personal success that he wanted and his uncle thought he deserved. In Old Hickory's Nephew, the first definitive biography of this enigmatic man, Mark R. Cheathem explores both Donelson's political contributions and his complex, tumultuous, and often-overlooked relationship with Andrew Jackson. Born in Sumner County, Tennessee, in 1799, Donelson lost his father only five years later. Andrew Jackson soon became a force in his nephew's life, seeing in his namesake his political protégé. Jackson went so far as to predict that Donelson would one day become president. After attending West Point, Donelson helped establish the Jacksonian wing of the Democratic party and edited a national Democratic newspaper. As a diplomat, he helped bring about the annexation of Texas and, following in his uncle's footsteps, he became the owner of several plantations. On the surface, Donelson was a political and personal success. But few lives are so straightforward. The strong relationship between the uncle and nephew -- defined by the concept of honor that suffused the southern society in which they lived -- quickly frayed when Donelson and his wife defied his uncle during the infamous Peggy Eaton sex scandal of Jackson's first presidential administration. This resulted, Cheathem shows, in a tense relationship, full of distrust and suspicion, between Donelson and Jackson that lasted until the "Hero of New Orleans" died in 1845. Donelson later left the Democratic party in a tiff and joined the American, or Know Nothing, party, which selected him as Millard Fillmore's running mate in 1856. Though Donelson tried to establish himself as his uncle's political successor and legator, his friends and foes alike accused him of trading on his uncle's name to gain political and financial success. The life of Andrew Jackson Donelson illuminates the expectations placed upon young southern men of prominent families as well as the complexities and contradictions in their lives. In this biography, Cheathem awakens interest in a nearly forgotten but nonetheless intriguing figure in American history.
The X's and O's behind the Eagles' most memorable moments In a series that explores the logic-defying comebacks and tough losses, the dramatic interceptions, fumbles, game-winning field goals, and touchdowns that shape a fan's greatest memories of their beloved team, this book does not disappoint as the ultimate collector's item for Eagles fans. It chronicles the most famous moments in Eagles football history, including the fourth-and-26 conversion that stunned the Packers in the 2003 playoffs, Eric Allen's weaving 94-yard dash interception return against the Jets, and what actually happened between Chuck Bednarik and Jim Taylor in the final seconds of the 1960 NFL Championship Game. The descriptions of each play are accompanied with game information and quotes from participants, players, and observers with firsthand accounts.
Stroll through our country’s memorable moments—from George Washington at Mount Vernon to the days of Prohibition, from impeachment hearings to nuclear weapons negotiations—and discover the role that alcohol played in all of them with Mark Will-Weber’s Mint Juleps with Teddy Roosevelt: The Complete History of Presidential Drinking. As America transformed from fledgling nation to world power, one element remained constant: alcohol. The eighteenth century saw the Father of His Country distilling whiskey in his backyard. The nineteenth century witnessed the lavish expenses on wine by the Sage of Monticello, Honest Abe’s inclination toward temperance, and the slurred speech of the first president to be impeached. Fast forward to the twentieth century and acquaint yourself with Woodrow Wilson’s namesake whisky, FDR’s affinity for rum swizzles, and Ike's bathtub gin. What concoctions can be found in the White House today? Visit the first lady’s beehives to find out! In Mint Juleps with Teddy Roosevelt, you’ll learn: • Which Founding Fathers had distilleries in their backyards • The teetotalers versus the car-totalers • Whose expensive tastes in vintages led to bankruptcy • Which commanders in chief preferred whiskey to whisky • The 4 C’s: Cointreau, claret, Campari, and cocktails • The first ladies who heralded the “hair of the dog” and those who vehemently opposed it • The preferred stemware: snifter or stein? • Which presidents and staff members abstained, imbibed, or overindulged during Prohibition • Recipes through the ages: favorites including the Bermuda Rum Swizzle, Missouri Mule, and Obama’s White House Honey Ale So grab a cocktail and turn the pages of Mint Juleps with Teddy Roosevelt for a unique and entertaining look into the liquor cabinets and the beer refrigerators of the White House. Cheers!
Learn how to drink like a Democrat! Organized by president, this fun gift book is full of cocktail recipes, bar tips, and hysterical drinking anecdotes from all Democratic White House administrations. Which Southern man drank Snakebites? How did Jackie-O like her daiquiris? Drinking with the Democrats is the bar guide with a twist that all political buffs will enjoy! (Also check out the companion book, Drinking with the Republicans.)
The National Reform Association (NRA) was an antebellum land reform movement inspired by the shared dream of a future shaped by egalitarian homesteads. Mark A. Lause's Young America argues that it was these working people's interest in equitable access to the country's most obvious asset--land--that led them to advocate a federal homestead act granting land to the landless, state legislation to prohibit the foreclosure of family farms, and antimonopolistic limitations on land ownership. Rooting the movement in contemporary economic structures and social ideology, Young America examines this urban and working-class "agrarianism," demonstrating how the political preoccupations of this movement transformed socialism by drawing its adherents from communitarian preoccupations into political action. The alliance of the NRA's land reformers and radical abolitionists led unprecedented numbers to petition Congress and established the foundations of what became the new Republican Party, promising "Free Soil, Free Labor, Free Men.
This book describes the life of Abraham Lincoln's first vice-president, Hannibal Hamlin. The author describes Hamlin's ancestors and boyhood before tracing his career through the Maine legislature, U.S. House of Representatives, and his course as one of the most powerful senators in the country during the 1850s. Hamlin is most widely known for being the first vice-president to Abraham Lincoln, yet, ironically this position was his most powerless in his sixty years of public service.
The Big 50: Philadelphia Eagles: The Men and Moments that Made the Philadelphia Eagles is an amazing, full-color look at the 50 men and moments that made the Eagles the Eagles. Experienced sportswriter Mark Eckel recounts the living history of the Eagles, counting down from No. 50 to No. 1. Big 50: Eagles brilliantly brings to life the Eagles remarkable story, from Chuck Bednarik to Reggie White and Randall Cunningham to the roller-coaster that was Donovan McNabb and up to today.
Summer, 1942. The Second World War rages on but Britain now faces the Nazi threat with America at its side. In a bombed-out London swarming with gangsters and spies, DCI Frank Merlin continues his battle against rampant wartime crime. A mangled body is found in the Thames just as some items of priceless art go mysteriously missing. What sinister connection links the two? Merlin and his team follow a twisting trail of secrets and lies as they investigate a baffling and deadly puzzle . 'This is to my shame the first Mark Ellis book I've read. If the others evoke a vanished London so impressively, are graced with such complex plots and deep characterisation, and, above all, are written so well I shall have to read them all.' THE TIMES - PICKS OF THE WEEK 'Extraordinarily atmospheric and compelling, DEAD IN THE WATER is a wonderfully intelligent and complex story' CHRIS LLOYD, HWA Gold Crown Award winner. Praise for the DCI Frank Merlin series: 'Masterly . . . compelling . . . one of the most attractive characters to emerge in recent detective-thriller fiction' ANDREW ROBERTS, SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR 'Against the backdrop of Blitz-hit London, this stylish thriller sees Scotland Yard's Frank Merlin investigate a tangled conspiracy' SUNDAY MIRROR
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