This volume of the Peacebuilding Compared Project examines the sources of the armed conflict and coup in the Solomon Islands before and after the turn of the millennium. The Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands (RAMSI) has been an intensive peacekeeping operation, concentrating on building 'core pillars' of the modern state. It did not take adequate notice of a variety of shadow sources of power in the Solomon Islands, for example logging and business interests, that continue to undermine the state's democratic foundations. At first RAMSI's statebuilding was neither very responsive to local voices nor to root causes of the conflict, but it slowly changed tack to a more responsive form of peacebuilding. The craft of peace as learned in the Solomon Islands is about enabling spaces for dialogue that define where the mission should pull back to allow local actors to expand the horizons of their peacebuilding ambition.

The first novel in New York Times bestselling author Anne Bishop's Tir Alainn Trilogy. The youngest in a long line of witches, Ari senses that things are changing—changing for the worse. For generations, her kin have tended the Old Places, keeping the land safe and fertile. But with the Summer Moon, the mood of her neighbors has soured. And Ari is no longer safe. The Fae have long ignored what occurs in the mortal world, passing through on their shadowy roads only long enough to amuse themselves. But the roads are slowly disappearing, leaving the Fae Clans isolated and alone. Where harmony between the spiritual and the natural has always reigned, a dissonant chord now rings in the ears of both Fae and mortal. And when murmurs of a witch-hunt hum through the town, some begin to wonder if the different omens are notes in the same tune. And all they have to guide them is a passing reference to something called the Pillars of the World...

"[A] vivid world...The strong setting and engaging characters will have readers eager for the second installment."—Publishers Weekly

At the birth of the United States, African Americans were excluded from the newly-formed Republic and its churches, which saw them as savage rather than citizen and as heathen rather than Christian. Denied civil access to the basic rights granted to others, African Americans have developed their own sacred traditions and their own civil discourses. As part of this effort, African American intellectuals offered interpretations of the Bible which were radically different and often fundamentally oppositional to those of many of their white counterparts. By imagining a freedom unconstrained, their work charted a broader and, perhaps, a more genuinely American identity. In Pillars of Cloud and Fire, Herbert Robinson Marbury offers a comprehensive survey of African American biblical interpretation. Each chapter in this compelling volume moves chronologically, from the antebellum period and the Civil War through to the Harlem Renaissance, the civil rights movement, the black power movement, and the Obama era, to offer a historical context for the interpretative activity of that time and to analyze its effect in transforming black social reality. For African American thinkers such as Absalom Jones, David Walker, Zora Neale Hurston, Frances E. W. Harper, Adam Clayton Powell, and Martin Luther King, Jr., the exodus story became the language-world through which freedom both in its sacred resonance and its civil formation found expression. This tradition, Marbury argues, has much to teach us in a world where fundamentalisms have become synonymous with “authentic” religious expression and American identity. For African American biblical interpreters, to be American and to be Christian was always to be open and oriented toward freedom.

Seeking to silence the inhuman voices in her head, young Lauren triggers a series of events that forces her to participate in a vengeful quest, pitting Richard Rahl and his wife Kahlan against a relentless demonic force.

#1 New York Times Bestseller Oprah's Book Club Selection The “extraordinary . . . monumental masterpiece” (Booklist) that changed the course of Ken Follett’s already phenomenal career—and begins where its prequel, The Evening and the Morning, ended. “Follett risks all and comes out a clear winner,” extolled Publishers Weekly on the release of The Pillars of the Earth. A departure for the bestselling thriller writer, the historical epic stunned readers and critics alike with its ambitious scope and gripping humanity. Today, it stands as a testament to Follett’s unassailable command of the written word and to his universal appeal. The Pillars of the Earth tells the story of Philip, prior of Kingsbridge, a devout and resourceful monk driven to build the greatest Gothic cathedral the world has known . . . of Tom, the mason who becomes his architect—a man divided in his soul . . . of the beautiful, elusive Lady Aliena, haunted by a secret shame . . . and of a struggle between good and evil that will turn church against state and brother against brother. A spellbinding epic tale of ambition, anarchy, and absolute power set against the sprawling medieval canvas of twelfth-century England, this is Ken Follett’s historical masterpiece.

For centuries, Requiem's people have languished in chains, slaves to the seraphim, unable to become dragons like in the days of old. Now they fly again. They follow Meliora the Merciful, a dragon of silver and light, once a princess of seraphim and now a savior of slaves. They rise up against the seraphim, their cruel masters, demi-gods in chariots of fire. A nation of dragons, half a million strong, they seek to flee the desert of their enslavement, to fly north, to cross the sea . . . to find the mythical land of Requiem. Yet as Meliora leads her slaves out from captivity, the cruel King Ishtafel, mightiest of the seraphim, pursues with an army of light. His goal is no longer to enslave the children of Requiem. He seeks but one thing--to slay them all. With shimmering scales, with raining blood, with shrieking dragonfire . . . Requiem's exodus begins. ____________ THE REQUIEM SERIES: Requiem: Dawn of Dragons Book 1: Requiem's Song Book 2: Requiem's Hope Book 3: Requiem's Prayer Requiem: Song of Dragons Book 1: Blood of Requiem Book 2: Tears of Requiem Book 3: Light of Requiem Requiem: Dragonlore Book 1: A Dawn of Dragonfire Book 2: A Day of Dragon Blood Book 3: A Night of Dragon Wings Requiem: The Dragon War Book 1: A Legacy of Light Book 2: A Birthright of Blood Book 3: A Memory of Fire Requiem: Requiem for Dragons Book 1: Dragons Lost Book 2: Dragons Reborn Book 3: Dragons Rising Requiem: Flame of Requiem Book 1: Forged in Dragonfire Book 2: Crown of Dragonfire Book 3: Pillars of Dragonfire Requiem: Dragonfire Rain Book 1: Blood of Dragons Book 2: Rage of Dragons Book 3: Flight of Dragons

Pillars Of The Earth is stepping stones in a journey through life as a collection of poetry capturing the rush and emotions cultivating life’s challenges of the heart sheltering strength through time.

The Shattered Pillars is the second book of Bear's The Eternal Sky trilogy and the sequel to Range of Ghosts. Set in a world drawn from our own great Asian Steppes, this saga of magic, politics and war sets Re-Temur, the exiled heir to the great Khagan and his friend Sarmarkar, a Wizard of Tsarepheth, against dark forces determined to conquer all the great Empires along the Celedon Road. Elizabeth Bear is an astonishing writer, whose prose draws you into strange and wonderful worlds, and makes you care deeply about the people and the stories she tells. The world of The Eternal Sky is broadly and deeply created—her award-nominated novella, "Bone and Jewel Creatures" is also set there. The Eternal Sky Trilogy #1 Range of Ghosts #2 Shattered Pillars #3 Steles of the Sky At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Book description: Ben is an investigative reporter whose new assignment plunges him into the bizarre world of a wealthy 2,000-year-old cult in Florence, Italy. Its grand mission seduces Ben into believing he can find fulfillment by leading its seven hundred members in a great cause—thwarting the seventh incarnation of Dispater and so averting the terrible prophesy. But millennia of enforced inbreeding have destabilized the cult members. So Ben must deal with deception at every level—even by those he trusts. In the end Ben acquires immense power, and through his consuming obsession almost becomes the very thing he seeks to destroy.