In today's uncertain world, storms will arise that test your faith in a loving heavenly Father. At times, the winds and waves of the world's deceptions will roll in and seek to erode your confidence in God. Without a firm foundation in the truth of God's Word, you may be tempted to go off course and accept less than God's best for you. However, when you hear Jesus' words, receive them, and put them into practice, you will construct a life the torrents cannot shake, "because it was well built" (Luke 6:48). The Purple Book will help you understand foundational truths that God wants you to hear on topics such as sin, salvation, spiritual gifts, prayer, worship, generosity, and evangelism. It will show you how the Bible is "God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness" (2 Timothy 3:16). It will help you understand that the faith you hold has true power to change lives and transform nations. It will give you a solid foundation the enemy cannot dismantle—and a heart shaped by knowledge of God's Word.

The Brothers of St. Joseph in 2020 are celebrating the 200th anniversary of their founding. They grew out of a religious revival following the French Revolution, but their noteworthy contributions to religious schools in northwest France have been overlooked, and their leaders have gone unheralded. Brother Andre Mottais was responsible for their early growth, and Brother Vincent Pieau made a name for the Brothers in their American foundations, chiefly at Notre Dame. Overshadowed by the Holy Cross priests who joined ranks with the Brothers in 1837, the Brothers of St. Joseph nevertheless must be remembered as significant to the Roman Catholic Church in post-revolutionary France.

Charleston, South Carolina, today enjoys a reputation as a destination city for cultural and heritage tourism. In A Golden Haze of Memory, Stephanie E. Yuhl looks back to the crucial period between 1920 and 1940, when local leaders developed Charleston's trademark image as "America's Most Historic City." Eager to assert the national value of their regional cultural traditions and to situate Charleston as a bulwark against the chaos of modern America, these descendants of old-line families downplayed Confederate associations and emphasized the city's colonial and early national prominence. They created a vibrant network of individual artists, literary figures, and organizations--such as the all-white Society for the Preservation of Negro Spirituals--that nurtured architectural preservation, art, literature, and tourism while appropriating African American folk culture. In the process, they translated their selective and idiosyncratic personal, familial, and class memories into a collective identity for the city. The Charleston this group built, Yuhl argues, presented a sanitized yet highly marketable version of the American past. Their efforts invited attention and praise from outsiders while protecting social hierarchies and preserving the political and economic power of whites. Through the example of this colorful southern city, Yuhl posits a larger critique about the use of heritage and demonstrates how something as intangible as the recalled past can be transformed into real political, economic, and social power.

The Pulitzer Prize– and National Book Award–winning novel is now a new, boldly reimagined film from producers Oprah Winfrey and Steven Spielberg, starring Taraji P. Henson, Danielle Brooks, and Fantasia Barrino. A PBS Great American Read Top 100 Pick Celie has grown up poor in rural Georgia, despised by the society around her and abused by her own family. She strives to protect her sister, Nettie, from a similar fate, and while Nettie escapes to a new life as a missionary in Africa, Celie is left behind without her best friend and confidante, married off to an older suitor, and sentenced to a life alone with a harsh and brutal husband. In an attempt to transcend a life that often seems too much to bear, Celie begins writing letters directly to God. The letters, spanning 20 years, record a journey of self-discovery and empowerment guided by the light of a few strong women. She meets Shug Avery, her husband’s mistress and a jazz singer with a zest for life, and her stepson’s wife, Sofia, who challenges her to fight for independence. And though the many letters from Celie’s sister are hidden by her husband, Nettie’s unwavering support will prove to be the most breathtaking of all. The Color Purple has sold more than five million copies, inspired an Academy Award-nominated film starring Oprah Winfrey and directed by Steven Spielberg, and been adapted into a Tony-winning Broadway musical. Lauded as a literary masterpiece, this is the groundbreaking novel that placed Walker “in the company of Faulkner” (The Nation), and remains a wrenching—yet intensely uplifting—experience for new generations of readers. This ebook features a new introduction written by the author on the 25th anniversary of publication, and an illustrated biography of Alice Walker including rare photos from the author’s personal collection. The Color Purple is the 1st book in the Color Purple Collection, which also includes The Temple of My Familiar and Possessing the Secret of Joy.

In the eighth and ninth centuries, three Byzantine empresses—Irene, Euphrosyne, and Theodora—changed history. Their combined efforts restored the veneration of icons, saving Byzantium from a purely symbolic and decorative art and ensuring its influence for centuries to come. In this exhilarating and highly entertaining account, one of the foremost historians of the medieval period tells the story of how these fascinating women exercised imperial sovereignty with consummate skill and sometimes ruthless tactics. Though they gained access to the all-pervasive authority of the Byzantine ruling dynasty through marriage, all three continued to wear the imperial purple and wield tremendous power as widows. From Constantinople, their own Queen City, the empresses undermined competitors and governed like men. They conducted diplomacy across the known world, negotiating with the likes of Charlemagne, Roman popes, and the great Arab caliph Harun al Rashid. Vehemently rejecting the ban on holy images instituted by their male relatives, Irene and Theodora used craft and power to reverse the official iconoclasm and restore icons to their place of adoration in the Eastern Church. In so doing, they profoundly altered the course of history. The art—and not only the art—of Byzantium, of Islam, and of the West would have been very different without them. As Judith Herrin traces the surviving evidence, she evokes the complex and deeply religious world of Constantinople in the aftermath of Arab conquest. She brings to life its monuments and palaces, its court ceremonies and rituals, the role of eunuchs (the "third sex"), bride shows, and the influence of warring monks and patriarchs. Based on new research and written for a general audience, Women in Purple reshapes our understanding of an empire that lasted a thousand years and splashes fresh light on the relationship of women to power.

A classic KJV Bible that looks and feels like the majestic heritage it comes from, with design details including elegant drop caps, line-matched text, and traditional covers.

For more than thirty-five years, The Insider's Guide to the Colleges has been the favorite resource of high school students across the country because it is the only comprehensive college reference researched and written by students for students. In interviews with hundreds of peers on campuses from New York to Hawaii and Florida to Alaska, our writers have sought out the inside scoop at every school on everything from the nightlife and professors to the newest dorms and wildest student organizations. In addition to the in-depth profiles of college life, this 37th edition has been revised and updated to include: * Essential statistics for every school, from acceptance rates to the most popular majors * A "College Finder" to help students zero in on the perfect school * Insider's packing list detailing what every college student really needs to bring * FYI sections with student opinions and outrageous off-the-cuff advice. The Insider's Guide to the Colleges cuts through the piles of brochures to get to the things that matter most to students, and by staying on top of trends and attitudes it delivers the straight talk students and parents need to choose the school that's the best fit.

The inspiration for the new film adaptation of the Tony-winning Broadway musical Alice Walker’s iconic modern classic, and winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award A powerful cultural touchstone of modern literature, The Color Purple depicts the lives of African American women in early twentieth-century rural Georgia. Separated as girls, sisters Celie and Nettie sustain their loyalty to and hope in each other across time, distance, and silence. Through a series of letters spanning twenty years, first from Celie to God, then the sisters to each other despite the unknown, the novel draws readers into its rich and memorable portrayals of Celie, Nettie, Shug Avery and Sofia and their experience. The Color Purple broke the silence around domestic and sexual abuse, narrating the lives of women through their pain and struggle, companionship and growth, resilience and bravery. Deeply compassionate and beautifully imagined, Alice Walker's epic carries readers on a spirit-affirming journey toward redemption and love.