In 2002, an ancient limestone box called the James Ossuary was trumpeted on the world's front pages as the first material evidence of the existence of Jesus Christ. Today it is exhibit number one in a forgery trial involving millions of dollars worth of high-end, Biblical era relics, some of which literally re-wrote Near Eastern history and which could lead to the incarceration of some very wealthy men and embarrass major international institutions, including the British Museum and Sotheby's. Set in Israel, with its 30,000 archaeological digs crammed with biblical-era artifacts, and full of colorful characters—scholars, evangelicals, detectives, and millionaire collectors—Unholy Business tells the incredibly story of what the Israeli authorities have called "the fraud of the century." It takes readers into the murky world of Holy Land relic dealing, from the back alleys of Jerusalem's Old City to New York's Fifth Avenue, and reveals biblical archaeology as it is pulled apart by religious believers on one side and scientists on the other.

Many of the central results of Classical and Marxian political economy are examples of the self-organization of the capitalist economy as a complex, adaptive system far from equilibrium.An Unholy Trinity explores the relations between contemporary complex systems theory and classical political economy, and applies the methods it develops to the pro

Traveling major highways and secondary roads, walking unpaved paths, the author recites contradictions of the land between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, the Holy Land. Here, religion uneasily confronts politics and democracy, sublime nature undergoes militarization, and hospitality and empathy mix with brutality, hatred and violence. Everything becomes security: not just borders and relations with the neighbors, but also water and archaeological evidence, demography and voting Arabs. Control of holy sites, perception of illegal immigrants, separate highway networks and built-up hilltops are all viewed through the prism of threat and security. Threats proliferate, be they real or imaginary, spontaneous or politically-driven. Whether in Jerusalem, the “city of the world”, or in small towns, tensions are palpable between Israel’s radical Jews and its Arab residents. Even within the Jewish community itself, increasingly nationalistic, animosities between ultra-Orthodox and more secular inhabitants are on the rise. Christians also feel under attack, as do moderate Palestinians from their Islamized brethren. In the occupied West Bank, Palestinian villagers confront radical settlers, often protected by Israeli soldiers, while in the isolated Gaza, Hamas imposes ever stricter rules upon its people. Not surprisingly, the Holy Land has become aplenty with both mental and physical barriers, with walls, checkpoints, no-go and firing zones. Will rage and fear, sorrow and despair eventually trump hope? Although glimmers of hope exist—new water technology, Tel Aviv’s culture of tolerance, more pressures from the international community—the author remains more pessimistic than ever, as reflected in the book’s title.

The realm of Thay is more war-torn than ever—but its surviving citizens are game for one final battle against the evil necromancer Szass Tam The formerly green fields of Thay lie in war-torn ruins and the realm’s formerly living populace is undead. With the mageocracy in exile, masters of no more than their beaten army, they watch from distant shores as Thay continues to descend into chaos. Meanwhile, the brilliant necromancer-turned-King of Thay—the mastermind behind the civil war that drove the ruling council into exile—appears to have gone insane. But rumor soon spreads of a reason behind his erratic behavior: a great magical ritual. As Szass Tam moves forward with his villainous plot, the survivors of the realm must band together to prevent him from destroying not just Thay but the entire world.

There are few more compelling and more tragic issues in the world today than the bitter struggle between Palestinians and Israelis. Their tiny patch of land, desperately crowded and with few resources, has been a focus for so many years of rival claims and counter-claims that it has become almost impossible to make sense of the daily reporting. The best guide to the region is Anton La Guardia�s highly acclaimed Holy Land, Unholy War. More than any other book, Holy Land, Unholy War disentangles myths and realities and gives a brilliantly clear and thoughtful picture of an unhappy place. This new edition is fully revised and updated to late 2006.

America’s Unholy Ghosts examines the DNA of the ideologies that shape our nation, ideologies that are as American as apple pie but that too often justify and perpetuate racist ideas and racial inequalities. MLK challenged us to investigate the “ideational roots of race hate” and Ghosts does just that by examining a philosophical “trinity”—Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, and Adam Smith—whose works collectively helped to institutionalize, imagine, and ingrain racist ideologies into the hearts and minds of the American people. As time passed, America’s racial imagination evolved to form people incapable of recognizing their addiction to racist ideas. Thus, Ghosts comes to a close with the brilliant faith and politics of Martin Luther King, Jr. who sought to write the conscience of the Prophetic Black Church onto American hearts, minds, and laws. If our nation’s racist instincts still haunt our land, so too do our hopes and desires for a faith and politics marked by mercy, justice, and equity—and there is no better guide to that land than the Prophetic Black Church and the one who saw such a land from the mountaintop. .embed-container { position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%; height: 0; overflow: hidden; max-width: 100%; } .embed-container iframe, .embed-container object, .embed-container embed { position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; }

A personal, political, and religious journey from Evangelical Christian faith and conservative politics to solidarity with the poor and advocacy for anti-war, anti-racism, and Palestinian rights After serving for five years as a pastor in a remarkable Black church, Donald Wagner comes to fully understand the original sin of racism. As his journey continues, he encounters another marginalized people—the Palestinians—and witnesses their struggle for justice and equality. Touched by their resilience and fight against injustice, he leaves the pastorate to assume full time work as an advocate for Palestinian political and human rights. The memoir begins in mid-September 1982, with a gut-wrenching day interviewing survivors of the Sabra-Shatila massacre in Lebanon, as they wept and waited for the bodies of family members to be pulled from the rubble. Donald Wagner’s conversation with the local Imam ended with a challenge: “You must return home and tell what you have seen. This is all we ask. Go back and tell the truth.” Glory to God in the Lowest is a metaphor for his counter intuitive journey with the victims of the “chosen people” in the “unholy land,” also called historic Palestine or Israel. The irony of the journey reminds us that God is everywhere especially with the disinherited, the victims of the powerful, including the victims of Israeli oppression. The memoir touches on history and includes political analysis and theological reflection. In it, Donald Wagner describes Israel’s continued colonization and destruction of Palestinian lives and chronicles his involvement in a grassroots movement of resistance that demands justice based on full equality, an end to the Israeli military occupation and settler colonization project, the right of return for Palestinian refugees, and full political rights for the Palestinian people. Filled with stories—some humorous and some shocking—as well as encounters with people of every race, gender, and religious affiliation working below the radar, this book will inspire, challenge, and offer a narrative that envisions a transformed “unholy land,” where justice, liberation, and equality for all is the reality for every citizen.

The prophetic clock is ticking. Lucifer and his army of 'imps' search frantically for the prophetic "Seed of the woman". The memory of God's promise that this seed would rise up and crush the serpent's head stirs them to shadowy demonic activity. Unholy Empire chronicles the duel between God and the fallen angels as both focus their attention on the Seed. The devils watch for any and every sign of the Seed in an all out effort to stop, delay, compromise, or otherwise destroy this impending prophetic nightmare. If they fail they are all doomed. The second book in the "Chronicles of the Host Series", Unholy Empire uncovers the major themes covering the Seed and the people of covenant as well as Lucifer's all-out war against them. It sheds new light on dramatic encounters between Cain and Abel, Moses and Pharaoh, David and Goliath, and others.

From the author of the New York Times bestselling Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, comes Unholy Night, the next evolution in dark historical revisionism. They're an iconic part of history's most celebrated birth. But what do we really know about the Three Kings of the Nativity, besides the fact that they followed a star to Bethlehem bearing strange gifts? The Bible has little to say about this enigmatic trio. But leave it to Seth Grahame-Smith, the brilliant and twisted mind behind Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter and Pride and Prejudice and Zombies to take a little mystery, bend a little history, and weave an epic tale. In Grahame-Smith's telling, the so-called "Three Wise Men" are infamous thieves, led by the dark, murderous Balthazar. After a daring escape from Herod's prison, they stumble upon the famous manger and its newborn king. The last thing Balthazar needs is to be slowed down by young Joseph, Mary and their infant. But when Herod's men begin to slaughter the first born in Judea, he has no choice but to help them escape to Egypt. It's the beginning of an adventure that will see them fight the last magical creatures of the Old Testament; cross paths with biblical figures like Pontius Pilate and John the Baptist; and finally deliver them to Egypt. It may just be the greatest story never told.

Eminent domain entered the awareness of many Americans with the recent U.S. Supreme Court case Kelo v. New London. Across the political spectrum, people were outraged when the Court majority said that a local government may transfer property from one private party to another under the ''public use'' clause of the Constitution, for the sake of ''economic development. Carla T. Main - who in the past, as a lawyer, has represented the condemning authorities in eminent domain cases - examines how property rights in America have come to be so weak, tracing the history of eminent domain from the Revolutionary War to the Kelo case. But the heart of Bulldozed is a story of how eminent domain has affected an American family and the small-town community where they have lived and worked for decades. In the 1940s, Pappy and Isabel Gore established a shrimp processing plant in Freeport, Texas. Three generations of Gores built Western Seafood into a thriving business that stood up to fierce competition and market flux. But Freeport was struggling, and city officials decided that a private yacht marina on the Old Brazos River might save it. They would use eminent domain to take the Gores' waterfront property and hand it over to the developer, an heir of a legendary Texas oil family, in a risky sweetheart deal. For three years, the Gores resisted the taking with every ounce of strength they had. Around them, the fabric of the community unraveled as friends and neighbors took sides. Bulldozed vividly recounts the Gores' fight with city hall, and at the same time ponders larger questions of what property rights mean today and who among us is entitled to hold on to the American Dream.