Razia dreams of getting an education, but in her small village in Afghanistan, girls haven’t been allowed to attend school for many years. When a new girls’ school opens in the village, a determined Razia must convince her father and oldest brother that educating her would be best for her, their family and their community.

With all the chaos in our world today, how can we possibly hope for peace? Moved to action by the events of 9-11-01 and America's subsequent war on terrorism, Ray Madaghiele bicycled 3,369 miles in 70 days from Phoenix, Arizona to Ground Zero, New York City, to share an inspiring message along the way and honor all the heroes who demonstrated such compassion and exemplary character in the aftermath of the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Pieces of a magnificent puzzle will be revealed mile by mile as the author shares his struggles, triumphs, and insights discovered along the route through heartland America. Ray of Hope for Peace is the first book to present practical solutions for creating unshakable peace of mind and peace in the world by applying proven universal scientific and spiritual principles in an easy-to-understand, conversational, and entertaining way. This wonderfully uplifting book will stimulate your mind and warm your heart as you join the author on this extraordinary journey. It will renew and revtalize your own hope for peace, and inspire you to share that hope with others. Book jacket.

At turns surprising, funny, and gut-wrenching, this is the hopeful story of the ordinary yet extraordinary people who have figured out how to build lasting peace in their communities The word "peacebuilding" evokes a story we've all heard over and over: violence breaks out, foreign nations are scandalized, peacekeepers and million-dollar donors come rushing in, warring parties sign a peace agreement and, sadly, within months the situation is back to where it started--sometimes worse. But what strategies have worked to build lasting peace in conflict zones, particularly for ordinary citizens on the ground? And why should other ordinary citizens, thousands of miles away, care? In The Frontlines of Peace, Séverine Autesserre, award-winning researcher and peacebuilder, examines the well-intentioned but inherently flawed peace industry. With examples drawn from across the globe, she reveals that peace can grow in the most unlikely circumstances. Contrary to what most politicians preach, building peace doesn't require billions in aid or massive international interventions. Real, lasting peace requires giving power to local citizens. Now including teaching and book club discussion guides, The Frontlines of Peace tells the stories of the ordinary yet extraordinary individuals and organizations that are confronting violence in their communities effectively. One thing is clear: successful examples of peacebuilding around the world, in countries at war or at peace, have involved innovative grassroots initiatives led by local people, at times supported by foreigners, often employing methods shunned by the international elite. By narrating success stories of this kind, Autesserre shows the radical changes we must take in our approach if we hope to build lasting peace around us--whether we live in Congo, the United States, or elsewhere.

Written with the sweep of an epic novel and grounded in extensive research into contemporary documents, Savage Peace is a striking portrait of American democracy under stress. It is the surprising story of America in the year 1919. In the aftermath of an unprecedented worldwide war and a flu pandemic, Americans began the year full of hope, expecting to reap the benefits of peace. But instead, the fear of terrorism filled their days. Bolshevism was the new menace, and the federal government, utilizing a vast network of domestic spies, began to watch anyone deemed suspicious. A young lawyer named J. Edgar Hoover headed a brand-new intelligence division of the Bureau of Investigation (later to become the FBI). Bombs exploded on the doorstep of the attorney general's home in Washington, D.C., and thirty-six parcels containing bombs were discovered at post offices across the country. Poet and journalist Carl Sandburg, recently returned from abroad with a trunk full of Bolshevik literature, was detained in New York, his trunk seized. A twenty-one-year-old Russian girl living in New York was sentenced to fifteen years in prison for protesting U.S. intervention in Arctic Russia, where thousands of American soldiers remained after the Armistice, ostensibly to guard supplies but in reality to join a British force meant to be a warning to the new Bolshevik government. In 1919, wartime legislation intended to curb criticism of the government was extended and even strengthened. Labor strife was a daily occurrence. And decorated African-American soldiers, returning home to claim the democracy for which they had risked their lives, were badly disappointed. Lynchings continued, race riots would erupt in twenty-six cities before the year ended, and secret agents from the government's "Negro Subversion" unit routinely shadowed outspoken African-Americans. Adding a vivid human drama to the greater historical narrative, Savage Peace brings 1919 alive through the people who played a major role in making the year so remarkable. Among them are William Monroe Trotter, who tried to put democracy for African-Americans on the agenda at the Paris peace talks; Supreme Court associate justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., who struggled to find a balance between free speech and legitimate government restrictions for reasons of national security, producing a memorable decision for the future of free speech in America; and journalist Ray Stannard Baker, confidant of President Woodrow Wilson, who watched carefully as Wilson's idealism crumbled and wrote the best accounts we have of the president's frustration and disappointment. Weaving together the stories of a panoramic cast of characters, from Albert Einstein to Helen Keller, Ann Hagedorn brilliantly illuminates America at a pivotal moment.

The purpose of the book is to bring the word of God into the believers life on a daily basis in and up lifting form, a daily devotional to give them hope from the word of God, The Holy Bible. To survive in today's world. Words to exhort and comfort not to condemn. Words to help you stay on the right path daily to bring us to Gods expected end. Jer 29:11 11 For I know the thoughts and plans that I have for you, says the Lord, thoughts and plans for welfare and peace and not for evil, to give you hope in your final outcome. AMP Let God be your guide to your expected end.

"Vanessa is a superb storyteller." --ReShonda Tate Billingsley "I absolutely love Vanessa's unique writing style. She is one of a kind." --Mary Monroe, New York Times bestselling author Teen sisters Sahara and Crystal Nichols are acting up, and their risqué behavior is more than their mother can handle. Enter the girls' 75-year-old churchgoing grandmother, Ma Ray, who takes charge of the young women. She's determined to turn their lives around--and knows more about being a bad girl than either sister bargained for. And when they learn of their grandmother's former rebel antics, which were wild enough to rival their own, they begin to appreciate her present-day passion for leading a more productive life--via family, love, and faith. . . "There are enough tears, hugs, and lessons learned to appease readers, young and adult, who like a good dose of faith with their fiction." --Publishers Weekly

“Do I have life ‘more abundant’?” That’s a question millions of Christians have asked down through the ages. Dan Stone asked that question during a time of spiritual frustration in his own life and God answered by showing Dan he had been living only a part of the gospel message. Dan’s search led him to discover the truth of “Christ in you” as “the rest of the gospel” that most Christians overlook. Readers who are hungry for a deeper experience with God will resonate with Dan’s discovery of “the rest of the gospel,” which is indeed rest for everyone who is willing to finally let go and let God.

What you are about to read is testimony from a family and a testament to family. Ray of Hope: A Family Remembers is about family, hope, and, at its heart, a love story between mother and son. After Kathie¿s son Raymond, the middle of five children, died of melanoma cancer at the age of thirty-six, she was devastated. Shortly after, Ray began communicating with her through automatic handwriting¿an uneasy transition for some but a natural one for Kathie, a seasoned teacher of meditation and metaphysics. Through his automatic handwriting, Ray often spoke of his joyous life on ¿the other side¿¿studying, traveling many universes, using his ability to be in multiple places simultaneously¿but mostly he spoke of his love of and communication with his family. Ray of Hope: A Family Remembers is also about a parent and a family coping with the loss of a loved one and their unique way of grieving, according to their belief systems and support networks. Ray¿s hopeful message that life continues after death encourages us to know, appreciate, and celebrate family. Because life transcends our existence in this world and extends beyond our senses, we can continue to connect, communicate, and carry on our relationships. And, as Ray says, ¿It is wonderful!¿

Gifted, list-making teen Jacob joins Ray, a PR-exec and wannabe Shaman with a mysterious past on a road trip of truly Biblical proportions that ends in Hope - the one in Maine, not the Rambo film one! Ray, the hopelessly likeable title character, picks up a collection of oddities, including the gifted boy, a stuffed bear, some kind of Israeli military pin with another man's name on it and a basket-bearing hitchhiker as he travels across the US in search of the boy's father... or perhaps something else altogether.