Worship of this ancient mythical god has produced distorted political and social systems. This is the foundation of today's values and worldview among general populations of the so-called civilized world. Tradition (slow cultural conditioning) and the use of modern social engineering manufactured the world we have today. A world controlled by a few small powerful groups in the area of religion, politics and commerce. In the hands of unscrupulous people, fear and greed have been sown and cultivated individually and nationally, for wealth and power of their particular limited group rather than for the common good. This book amply illustrates the political, social, commercial and theological mess that we have inherited as a consequence. The exclusivity of the three main stream religions, Judaism, Christianity and Islam has brought the world to the brink of disaster. The only solution to this is through a particular style of Education already in use worldwide. Early intervention is vital. This book does not destroy faith, it encourages and focuses it as a rational, experiential recognition of the individual and collective human spirit. The collective consciousness must be harnessed for the Herculean task of saving humanity from the fate of self inflicted annihilation.

In this provocative, wide-ranging book, Against the Grain, Richard Manning offers a dramatically revisionist view of recent human evolution, beginning with the vast increase in brain size that set us apart from our primate relatives and brought an accompanying increase in our need for nourishment. For 290,000 years, we managed to meet that need as hunter-gatherers, a state in which Manning believes we were at our most human: at our smartest, strongest, most sensually alive. But our reliance on food made a secure supply deeply attractive, and eventually we embarked upon the agricultural experiment that has been the history of our past 10,000 years. The evolutionary road is littered with failed experiments, however, and Manning suggests that agriculture as we have practiced it runs against both our grain and nature's. Drawing on the work of anthropologists, biologists, archaeologists, and philosophers, along with his own travels, he argues that not only our ecological ills-overpopulation, erosion, pollution-but our social and emotional malaise are rooted in the devil's bargain we made in our not-so-distant past. And he offers personal, achievable ways we might re-contour the path we have taken to resurrect what is most sustainable and sustaining in our own nature and the planet's.

Dirt, soil, call it what you want—it's everywhere we go. It is the root of our existence, supporting our feet, our farms, our cities. This fascinating yet disquieting book finds, however, that we are running out of dirt, and it's no laughing matter. An engaging natural and cultural history of soil that sweeps from ancient civilizations to modern times, Dirt: The Erosion of Civilizations explores the compelling idea that we are—and have long been—using up Earth's soil. Once bare of protective vegetation and exposed to wind and rain, cultivated soils erode bit by bit, slowly enough to be ignored in a single lifetime but fast enough over centuries to limit the lifespan of civilizations. A rich mix of history, archaeology and geology, Dirt traces the role of soil use and abuse in the history of Mesopotamia, Ancient Greece, the Roman Empire, China, European colonialism, Central America, and the American push westward. We see how soil has shaped us and we have shaped soil—as society after society has risen, prospered, and plowed through a natural endowment of fertile dirt. David R. Montgomery sees in the recent rise of organic and no-till farming the hope for a new agricultural revolution that might help us avoid the fate of previous civilizations.

This book covers a unique, yet virtually ignored episode in Irish history—the efforts by intellectuals to influence and shape in a radical way the policies and direction of a major political party. Between 1932 and 1934, Michael Tierney and James Hogan, both university academics, exploited the opportunity offered by the formation of the Blueshirts and Fine Gael to promote their views for an alternative social, economic and political order. This order was inspired by Catholic social teachings, in particular those enunciated by Pope Pius XI in his encyclical Quadragesimo Anno, issued in 1931. In it the pontiff had advocated a social system which sought to reconcile the conflicting interests of capital and labour by essentially giving representation to the various economic interests in society by organising them according to their vocational groupings. With ideas rooted in contemporary Catholic social and political philosophy, especially Catholic corporatism or vocationalism, Tierney and Hogan intended that Fine Gael become the vehicle for the promotion of their ideas. In effect, they virtually hijacked the objectives of the party. Under their influence and that of others, including Eoin O’Duffy and Ernest Blythe, Fine Gael adopted corporate principles and began the process of formulating policies to give practical expression to them. Among those the party produced was a detailed labour policy. The advocates of corporatism, though always a tiny minority within the party, enjoyed a disproportionate influence. They contributed, however, to divisions within Fine Gael during a turbulent period in Irish politics. Moreover, the party’s opponents in Fianna Fail and the labour movement successfully characterised it as advocating fascism. Their ultimate failure has obscured the significance of the achievement of Hogan, Tierney and their allies. They transformed Fine Gael into a political party with a radical and distinct ideological programme and succeeded in giving Irish politics, for a brief period in the 1930s, a new dimension and vibrancy.

Download Gaian Angels, Book 1: The Weavers Awake for FREE We scour the heavens in search of visitors, but what if they’re already here amongst us—just waiting for their awakening? And what if…you’re one of them? War is tearing Aden apart. The Human Beings must use their cunning more than ever, but how can they fight their oppressors when they’re committed to never taking a life? If they let their weaknesses get the better of them, it could mean their downfall. Geb returns to the Source and unveils for us the Higher Spheres—the realm of the Akashas…and their own divinity. Still in search of Arcadia’s soul, Azulàn is reincarnated on Earth in an alternative version of History, exploring unknown fragments of man’s past that throw light on future events. Guillaume, in the present, comes up against the passive aggression of the psychiatric machine that threatens to crush him under its wheels…just at the moment when the clouds of the Apocalypse are starting to mass! Every Warrior of Light must one day walk through the valley of the shadow… This ‘journey of investigation’ pushes the boundaries of reality to embrace a universal, ecological spirituality. Much more than a warning about the wasteland that the human race is preparing for its own future, the Gaian Angels Cycle is a new answer to the eternal question: what is the meaning of life? The second book in the trilogy takes you twice as far as the first, on every level. More action, more suspense, more mysteries and more revelations… If you liked book 1, you’ll love book 2! Suitable for readers ages 16 and up. Categories: Novel in English, science fiction series, SF, adventures, supernatural, fantasy, testimony, diary, time travel. Themes: lost civilizations, legend of Atlantis, philosophers Plato and Socrates, Greek mythology, secrets of the ancient Mayas and the Egyptians, another life of Jesus Christ, alchemy and philosophers' stone, Amerindian Hopi prophecies, ecology and environment, social criticism, bipolar disorders, hidden truth, psychiatry, hospital or asylum, guardians of Gaia, indigo children, past lives, reincarnation, shadow and light, revelation. Related authors: René Barjavel (The Ice People), Paulo Coelho (The Pilgrimage), Dan Millman (Way of the Peaceful Warrior), David Mitchell (Cloud Atlas), Louis Pauwels et Jacques Bergier (The Dawn of Magic)…

Expertly authored by the co-editor of the best-selling text Cultural Criminology Unleashed, this book re-examines criminology in a global context. Wide-ranging and up-to-date, it covers the topics of colonialism and post-colonialism, genocide, state control, the impact of September 11th and the post-9/11 world. Exploring the relationship between a modern discipline and modernity, it reworks the history and composition of criminology in light of September 11th and the prevalence of genocide in modernity. Analizing statistics, anthropology and the everyday assumptions of criminology's history, this text addresses the political and scholarly grip on the territorial state and the absence of a global criminology. Rejecting the prevalent belief that September 11th and the responses it evoked were exceptions that either destroyed or revealed the absence of global legal order, the author argues that, in fact, they confirm the nature of the world order of modernity. A compelling and topical volume, this is a must read for anyone interested or studying in the areas of criminology and criminal justice.

This is a book about how to read visual images: from fine art to photography, film, television and new media. It explores how meaning is communicated by the wide variety of texts that inhabit our increasingly visual world. But, rather than simply providing set meanings to individual images, Visual Culture teaches readers how to interpret visual texts with their own eyes. While the first part of the book takes readers through differing theoretical approaches to visual analysis, the second part shifts to a medium-based analysis, connected by an underlying theme about the complex relationship between visual culture and reality. Howells and Negreiros draw together seemingly diverse methodologies, while ultimately arguing for a polysemic approach to visual analysis. The third edition of this popular book contains over fifty illustrations, for the first time in colour. Included in the revised text is a new section on images of power, fear and seduction, a new segment on video games, as well as fresh material on taste and judgement. This timely edition also offers a glossary and suggestions for further reading. Written in a clear, lively and engaging style, Visual Culture continues to be an ideal introduction for students taking courses in visual culture and communications in a range of disciplines, including media and cultural studies, sociology, and art and design.

A bold reassessment of what caused the Late Bronze Age collapse In 1177 B.C., marauding groups known only as the "Sea Peoples" invaded Egypt. The pharaoh's army and navy managed to defeat them, but the victory so weakened Egypt that it soon slid into decline, as did most of the surrounding civilizations. After centuries of brilliance, the civilized world of the Bronze Age came to an abrupt and cataclysmic end. Kingdoms fell like dominoes over the course of just a few decades. No more Minoans or Mycenaeans. No more Trojans, Hittites, or Babylonians. The thriving economy and cultures of the late second millennium B.C., which had stretched from Greece to Egypt and Mesopotamia, suddenly ceased to exist, along with writing systems, technology, and monumental architecture. But the Sea Peoples alone could not have caused such widespread breakdown. How did it happen? In this major new account of the causes of this "First Dark Ages," Eric Cline tells the gripping story of how the end was brought about by multiple interconnected failures, ranging from invasion and revolt to earthquakes, drought, and the cutting of international trade routes. Bringing to life the vibrant multicultural world of these great civilizations, he draws a sweeping panorama of the empires and globalized peoples of the Late Bronze Age and shows that it was their very interdependence that hastened their dramatic collapse and ushered in a dark age that lasted centuries. A compelling combination of narrative and the latest scholarship, 1177 B.C. sheds new light on the complex ties that gave rise to, and ultimately destroyed, the flourishing civilizations of the Late Bronze Age—and that set the stage for the emergence of classical Greece.