An indifferent student with few real friends, PJ Barnes accidentally gains possession of his English teacher's personal journal and at the same time becomes involved with some drug dealers, but when his mother is in a car accident that lands her in the hospital, his already complicated life starts to spin out of control.

An Incredible True Story of Awakening In Caught Between Heaven & Earth, Nancy van Alphen takes us on her unexpected spiritual journey that changed her from agnostic to believer. A humorous peak into her childhood, during which she had but a mere smattering of religion, paints the picture of an ordinary girl living an ordinary life. As a teen she concluded God was unprovable and never looked back—until God decided He wasn't content being a mere possibility. Alone one night, Nancy happened upon a video of a young man given little time to live. Heartfelt compassion morphed into anger as she raised her fists and railed about suffering to a God in whom she didn't really believe. To her utter amazement, God responded. Thus begins her journey in which she traverses a surreal chasm between doubt and belief, caught between Heaven and Earth, as she struggles to understand messages she was given about suffering, reincarnation—including her own—and humanity's true identity. With a sprinkling of light-hearted family anecdotes, Nancy recalls her progressively more profound experiences within the context of earthly reality. Interactions with God, Jesus and angels chip away at her agnosticism, until one day something so amazing happens it obliterates all traces of doubt. Between scenes, Nancy looks at various religious traditions and present day near-death experiences, uncovering information supporting what she was told by Divine source, helping her round out her new picture of reality. Her conclusion presents four habits of LOVE by which to live to foster evolution of one’s soul, as well as the spiritual evolution of humanity. Praise for Caught Between Heaven & Earth: "I am proud of Nancy for her courage in sharing her story with us that we might find light in it! It is valuable that she is open and sharing of her reproachment to God. Nancy went in as an agnostic and exited as a full-on believer. Kudos to Nancy for her persistence in continuing the work, in having courage and resilience, and in doing it in a world too often filled with darkness. What a lesson for the rest of us!" - Dr. Doris Eliana Cohen, PhD Repetition and Dreaming on Both Sides of the Brain "Nancy van Alphen takes you by the hand and ushers you into her mind and then into her heart where you experience her intimate and breathtaking journey from agnosticism to spirituality. Her authentic report begins with angels at her door. That day marked the beginning of her transformation which she describes in honest detail. Hers is a journey similar in its mystical nature to that which I and countless others have experienced in this time of rising awareness. The truths that unfold to Nancy in surprising, even astonishing ways will resonate in the heart of experiencers and non-experiencers alike." - Emily Rodavich Mystical Interludes and Mystical Interludes II

What can we learn about Van Morrison’s life and work as a songwriter through his songs? This book looks closely at the lyrics and music from a selection of his songs. Some are very well-known - ‘Brown Eyed Girl’, ‘Cleaning Windows’ and ‘The Healing Game’. Others are less familiar. Through these songs the book offers insights into some of the most important ideas that the songwriter has explored across his five-decade plus career, starting from the Them period and extending through his solo albums. These readings show how thinking about Morrison’s use of place provides a specific lens that contributes to a greater understanding of his art. The songs are organized into chapters that reflect many of the important places in Morrison’s work as he ventured professionally and imaginatively away from the places of his upbringing towards a wider musical world. These places are in city streetscapes and country landscapes – in home places of streets and ditches, in the enclosed spaces of rooms, in the expansive reaches of the natural world, in indeterminate and specific foreign lands. A picture emerges of the journey that Van Morrison details through his songs, one that sees him first wandering as a boy through his East Belfast haunts, and then venturing out to a wider world away from this local place.

This book-length study of an eminent, distinguished and influential poet and contemporary woman of letters integrates analysis and a honed interpretation of the near-total gamut of the oeuvre to-date of Professor Fiona Sampson. The study includes biographical insight and synthesizes its rigorous discussions of the dominant rubric of Professor Sampson’s poetic métier, her prose in different genres, and the literary practices of over a decades-long and much-lauded literary career. This critical work finds and displays incisive and fruitful ways by which the oeuvre in question crosses boundaries in literary writing and practices with fertile results and evidences those cross-currents in a manner that indicates the trajectory of a sensibility or structure of feeling, one which though highly intelligent and self-aware is also deeply empathic. A lucid, coherent and compelling reading of Sampson’s main works makes this book a scintillating study and a much needed contribution to the current work being done on major contemporary poets and writers and, in particular, contemporary women figures, in the British and international literary scenes.

A unique collection detailing the customs, traditions, and folklore of the Sisseton-Wahpeton Dakota at the turn of the twentieth century, with descriptions of tribal organization, ceremonies that marked the individual's passage from birth to death, and material culture

A “brilliant and provocative” (The New Yorker) celebration of Melville’s masterpiece—from the bestselling author of In the Heart of the Sea, Valiant Ambition, and In the Hurricane's Eye One of the greatest American novels finds its perfect contemporary champion in Why Read Moby-Dick?, Nathaniel Philbrick’s enlightening and entertaining tour through Melville’s classic. As he did in his National Book Award–winning bestseller In the Heart of the Sea, Philbrick brings a sailor’s eye and an adventurer’s passion to unfolding the story behind an epic American journey. He skillfully navigates Melville’s world and illuminates the book’s humor and unforgettable characters—finding the thread that binds Ishmael and Ahab to our own time and, indeed, to all times. An ideal match between author and subject, Why Read Moby-Dick? will start conversations, inspire arguments, and make a powerful case that this classic tale waits to be discovered anew. “Gracefully written [with an] infectious enthusiasm…”—New York Times Book Review

It was one of the pivotal times of the twentieth century--during George Bush's presidency, an extraordinary series of international events took place that materially changed the face of the world. Now, former President Bush and his national security advisor, Brent Scowcroft, tell the story of those tumultuous years. Here are behind-the-scenes accounts of critical meetings in the White House and of summit conferences in Europe and the United States, interspersed with excerpts from Mr. Bush's diary. We are given fresh and intriguing views of world leaders such as Mikhail Gorbachev, Boris Yeltsin, Margaret Thatcher, Helmut Kohl, and François Mitterrand--and witness the importance of personal relationships in diplomacy. There is the dramatic description of how President Bush put together the alliance against Saddam Hussein in the Gulf War. There are the intensive diplomatic exchanges with Beijing following the events of Tiananmen Square, and the intricate negotiations leading up to German reunification. And there is the sometimes poignant, sometimes grim portrayal of Gorbachev's final years in power. A World Transformed is not simply a record of accomplishment; Bush and Scowcroft candidly recount how the major players sometimes disagreed over issues, and analyze what mistakes were made. This is a landmark book on the conduct of American foreign policy--and how that policy is crucial to the peace of the world. It is a fascinating inside look at great events that deepens our understanding of today's global issues.