When the Civil War ended, many disenchanted Southerners poured into Central Texas, toting guns and grudges. Shots of whiskey loosened tempers and soon bullets were flying. Within a few years, the Lone Star State had become the nation’s murder capitol. The small town of Stephenville, where 139 people were hauled to prison between crimes 1864 to 1891, dealt with Comanche warriors, restless outlaws, crime rings, and the ruthless vigilante group known as “The Mob.” Sins of the Pioneers: Crimes & Scandals of a Small Texas Town explores Stephenville’s emergence from wild frontier to bustling village. Studded with shocking tales—sometimes humorous, sometimes poignant—it tells of crooks, bigamists, prostitutes, saloon brawlers, and mysterious murderers. James Pylant chronicles John Gilbreath, the intimidating, determined sheriff who bent rules to jail criminals—including his own kinfolks; Julia Williamson, Stephenville's hell-raising madam; armless Jack Hollis and his jail escape; accused horse-thief Jennie Sadler; schemer Gordon Bradshaw’s “accidental” shooting of his wealthy bride; lovely teenaged axe murderess May Bruce; and Annie Cooper, who risked exposing her shady past to rescue a troubled girl. “Author Pylant creates an enlightening portrait of the routine and not-so-routine criminality and scandals, surgically exposing the underbelly of Stephenville's raunchy and racy and sometimes perilous past.” —Bob Alexander, author of Riding Lucifer’s Line "meticulously researched . . . riveting." —Bill Neal, author of Sex, Murder and the Unwritten Law "Sins of the Pioneers is every bit as salacious as its title suggests." —The Midwest Review

You could call them one-sentence sermons or one-sentence solutions. Use them to spice up your speeches, sermons, church bulletins--anywhere a quick word of wit or wisdom is needed.

Here at last is the comprehensive collection you've been searching for to minister effectively to your children during worship. Drawn from every book of the New Testament, The Giant Book Of Children's Sermons -- Matthew To Revelation contains five full years worth of material you can share with your young disciples. Each of the 260 talks teach children God's Word through the use of common objects that illustrate an important concept in the scriptures. The messages come from Wesley Runk, a pastor and master communicator with kids who has written over 30 best-selling collections of children's sermons and object lessons. Runk uses a warm and often humorous approach to take on even the tough topics of the New Testament -- and the analogies he creates with the use of such simple objects as bananas, clocks, puzzles, and funnels add visual focus for the kids and help them grasp the point on a level suitable for their age. Now, whether you are preaching from the Gospels, Acts, the letters of Paul, the general Epistles, or even Revelation, you are sure to find an appropriate related talk for the children. And with convenient features like scripture and object indexes for quickly locating material as well as a CD with text files that lets you easily adapt the messages to your specific circumstances, The Giant Book Of Children's Sermons may be the last children's collection you ever need!

This begins with a close examination of the intellectual production of Christian missionaries to the Middle Kingdom in the 16th and 17th centuries and the creation of Sinology. The critique describes the problem of Chinese cosmogonies, Confucian thought, moral improvement and non Deistic teaching to the first Western scholars to reach China. It then goes on to discuss the disaster of overarching 'development' theories on China and the misappropriation of Chinese events by Marxists and non Marxists alike.

In the postwar years, Italy underwent a far-reaching process of industrialization that transformed the country into a leading industrial power. Throughout most of this period, the Italian Communist Party (PCI) remained a powerful force in local government and civil society. However, as Stephen Gundle observes, the PCI was increasingly faced with challenges posed by modernization, particularly by mass communication, commercial cultural industries, and consumerism. Between Hollywood and Moscow is an analysis of the PCI’s attempts to cope with these problems in an effort to maintain its organization and subculture. Gundle focuses on the theme of cultural policy, examining how the PCI’s political strategies incorporated cultural policies and activities that were intended to respond to the Americanization of daily life in Italy. In formulating this policy, Gundle contends, the Italian Communists were torn between loyalty to the alternative values generated by the Communist tradition and adaptation to the dominant influences of Italian modernization. This equilibrium eventually faltered because the attractive aspects of Americanization and pop culture proved more influential than the PCI’s intellectual and political traditions. The first analysis in English of the cultural policies and activities of the PCI, this book will appeal to readers with an interest in modern Italy, the European left, political science, and media studies.

Reprint of the original, first published in 1881.

Until recently little has been known about Evagrius of Pontus. His work on the eight evil thoughts was widely influential in the development of the idea of the Seven Deadly Sins in the Western Spiritual tradition. But those who followed him, from Cassian to Augustine, were more concerned with attributing guilt, and thought in a forensic way. This was very unlike the thought of Evagrius who concerned himself with questions about how to deal with evil thoughts and temptations in a healing way. Each chapter deals with one of the Thoughts, giving the contemporary background, the biblical and theological background, the teaching of Evagrius and what came after, and its relevance for us today.