In the fight against terrorism, there is a thin line between what is criminal and what is necessary. After discovering through clandestine informants that a group of home grown extremists is attempting to use West Point as a training ground for its future leaders, the army fights back. To do so, the Academy recruits an unlikely heroinea shy but strong-willed female cadet named Casey Sullivan. Throughout the operation, Casey negotiates an ethical minefield between the high standards of the West Point Honor Code, her Christian convictions, and the demands of serving undercover in the morally ambiguous world of intelligence operations. Under the tutelage of Myra Washington (a West Point Tactical Officer), Casey assists the U.S. Intelligence Community and the Israeli Mossad in their race to stop the extremists. The Guardians of Honor series takes the reader on a walk down the moral tightrope between honorable service to the nation and the tragedy of losing ones moral compass for all the right reasons. The fictional series is unique because it is the first to explore the U.S. Military Academy through the eyes of the female cadets and officers serving there, and because the underlying Christian message of hope is a positive one. Guardians of Honor: The Plebes is the first book in this groundbreaking series.

"J.E. Bandy, Jr. has written an engrossing, exciting sequel to Cadet Casey Sullivan's first year at West Point. I highly recommend this book and am anxiously awaiting volume III." --John Raymond, USMA 1964, Attorney at Law. When old enemies form alliances with new and more treacherous adversaries, Casey Sullivan's undercover assignment becomes more complicated and more dangerous in part two of this exciting Christian Thriller. With Casey's help, the United States Military Academy scored a major victory against right-wing extremists attempting to infiltrate West Point during the previous academic year. However, unknown to the academy's leadership, its victory only strengthened the enemy's resolve. In Guardians of Honor: the Yearlings, the US Intelligence Community and the Israeli Mossad become increasingly aware of a larger and deadlier plot against the American homeland, a plot with deep roots and international implications; a plot that Casey learns has a name--Operation Patriot. Once more, Casey finds herself engaged in a delicate dance between her Christian values and operational necessity, and between the high standards of West Point's Honor Code and the murky chasm of moral relativism. Casey gains mentors in unexpected places and on opposite sides of critical ethical issues, edging her closer and closer towards a dark night of the soul. The Guardians of Honor series is a groundbreaking exploration of West Point and the Intelligence Community seen through the eyes of female officers and cadets on the firing line.

A complete introduction to the rich cultural legacy of Rome through the study of Roman art ... It includes a discussion of the relevance of Rome to the modern world, a short historical overview, and descriptions of forty-five works of art in the Roman collection organized in three thematic sections: Power and Authority in Roman Portraiture; Myth, Religion, and the Afterlife; and Daily Life in Ancient Rome. This resource also provides lesson plans and classroom activities."--Publisher website.

2011 Winner of the Phyllis Goodhart Gordan Book Prize of the Renaissance Society of America Naples in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries managed to maintain a distinct social character while under Spanish rule. John A. Marino's study explores how the population of the city of Naples constructed their identity in the face of Spanish domination. As Western Europe’s largest city, early modern Naples was a world unto itself. Its politics were decentralized and its neighborhoods diverse. Clergy, nobles, and commoners struggled to assert political and cultural power. Looking at these three groups, Marino unravels their complex interplay to show how such civic rituals as parades and festival days fostered a unified Neapolitan identity through the assimilation of Aragonese customs, Burgundian models, and Spanish governance. He discusses why the relationship between mythical and religious representations in ritual practices allowed Naples's inhabitants to identify themselves as citizens of an illustrious and powerful sovereignty and explains how this semblance of stability and harmony hid the city's political, cultural, and social fissures. In the process, Marino finds that being and becoming Neapolitan meant manipulating the city's rituals until their original content and meaning were lost. The consequent widening of divisions between rich and poor led Naples's vying castes to turn on one another as the Spanish monarchy weakened. Rich in source material and tightly integrated, this nuanced, synthetic overview of the disciplining of ritual life in early modern Naples digs deep into the construction of Neapolitan identity. Scholars of early modern Italy and of Italian and European history in general will find much to ponder in Marino's keen insights and compelling arguments.

For more than thirty years, Ana Castillo has been mesmerizing and inspiring readers from all over the world with her passionate and fiery poetry and prose. Now the original Xicanista is back to her first literary love, poetry, and to interrogating the social and political upheaval the world has seen over the last decade. Angry and sad, playful and wise, Castillo delves into the bitter side of our world—the environmental crisis, COVID-19, ongoing systemic racism and violence, children in detention camps, and the Trump presidency—and emerges stronger from exploring these troubling affairs of today. Drawings by Castillo created over the past five years are featured throughout the collection and further showcase her connection to her work as both a writer and a visual artist. My Book of the Dead is a remarkable collection that features a poet at the height of her craft.

With a new afterword by the author, this classic analysis of Western liberal capitalist society contends that capitalism—and the culture it creates—harbors the seeds of its own downfall by creating a need among successful people for personal gratification—a need that corrodes the work ethic that led to their success in the first place. With the end of the Cold War and the emergence of a new world order, this provocative manifesto is more relevant than ever.

In World History as the History of Foundations, 3000 BCE to 1500 CE, Michael Borgolte investigates the origins and development of foundations from Antiquity to the end of the Middle Ages. In his survey foundations emerge not as mere legal institutions, but rather as “total social phenomena” which touch upon manifold aspects, including politics, the economy, art and religion of the cultures in which they emerged. Cross-cultural in its approach and the result of decades of research, this work represents by far the most comprehensive account of the history of foundations that has hitherto been published.

Over 25 years ago, Raymond Williams’ Keywords: A Vocabulary of Culture and Society set the standard for how we understand and use the language of culture and society. Now, three luminaries in the field of cultural studies have assembled a volume that builds on and updates Williams’ classic, reflecting the transformation in culture and society since its publication. New Keywords: A Revised Vocabulary of Culture and Society is a state-of-the-art reference for students, teachers and culture vultures everywhere. Assembles a stellar team of internationally renowned and interdisciplinary social thinkers and theorists Showcases 142 signed entries – from art, commodity, and fundamentalism to youth, utopia, the virtual, and the West – that capture the practices, institutions, and debates of contemporary society Builds on and updates Raymond Williams’s classic Keywords: A Vocabulary of Culture and Society, by reflecting the transformation in culture and society over the last 25 years Includes a bibliographic resource to guide research and cross-referencing The book is supported by a website: www.blackwellpublishing.com/newkeywords.