Why does nothing make sense? How can there be a “climate emergency” when the climate has not changed noticeably during my lifetime? How can we fight a “War on Drugs” for fifty years and the drug problem gets worse? How can we fight a “War on Terror” for two decades yet there’s more terror than ever? How could there be a worldwide “pandemic” when there were no excess deaths anywhere in 2020? Why is the answer to every problem more power and control for governments yet they never solve the problems? Why is it that the real power doesn’t seem to be in elected governments at all? Every government in the world seems to be taking its marching orders from the World Economic Forum? What the Hell Is Going On? What’s the connection between all these things? Is it all just an accident? These events seem to be planned, but even if they aren’t, it doesn’t matter. Like pregnancy, planned or unplanned, the result is the same. Whether by accident or conspiracy, we are on the road to totalitarian slavery. It’s not hard to understand. But it’s hard to believe. It is unbelievable. You have to see the evidence to believe it. That what this book is about—evidence. Donald Lee pulls together evidence from a dozen disciplines to “connect the dots” on a web of fraud that is leading inexorably to a one-world totalitarian tyranny. That’s the path we’re on. But we can still get on a different path. We’re in World War III. It’s a 5th generation war so it doesn’t even seem like war. At its root it is a spiritual war—and spiritual wars are fought within. “My favorite line from the book is: ‘In this spiritual war, our strategy is love, our tactic is forgiveness, our weapon is non-violent, non-cooperation.’ I couldn’t agree more.” Karen Kan, M.D. In What the Hell Is Going On?, spiritual author Donald Lee takes you on a journey of unfolding enlightenment. He shows you how: To perceive differently so you can perceive what is really going on. The Marxist “Philosophy of Death” has slowly marched through the institutions and culture of the Western world. The tactics of communist subversion have overwhelmed our society and nobody noticed. Mass formation psychosis has blinded people to reality, making them immune to reason and common sense in every fraud. We still have the structure of democracy in the Western world, but all governance is really functioning as a dictatorship—the Policy Hierarchy. The central bank digital currencies about to be unleashed on the world will trap everyone in the iron grip of a greater slavery than the world has ever known—and from which there will be no escape. The time to escape is NOW. It is already late. If we delay much longer, all hope will be lost. YOU must act NOW. To turn back the totalitarianism and bring a new rebirth of freedom. Turning back to democracy means turning back to God, means exposing the lies and uncovering the truth, particularly the truth of who you really are—an eternal child of God, a being of Light and Love. “You will be surprised, maybe horrified, but you won't emerge with the same set of conclusions you went in with.” Christopher A. Shaw, Ph.D. This might be the most important book you read this decade! Buy it now.

In this little booklet, you’ll find a simple yet relatively unknown process you can use to make definite and rapid spiritual progress. You’ll find no theology, no dogma, no rules—just three simple steps to help you become the person you want to be—and God intended you to be. If you have attended workshops and retreats, read spiritual books, gone on pilgrimages, and sat for hours in prayer and meditation, yet still feel like you’re spiritually spinning your wheels, this simple method might be the thing that finally gives you some traction. This method transcends religion. It doesn’t matter which religion you follow or if you’ve no religion at all. 1. The first step is to set spiritual goals. We set goals in every other aspect of our lives. Why not with our spirit? But it’s not quite the same. Setting spiritual goals is a little different. 2. The second step is connecting to the Divine within. This might seem strange to you. Maybe you thought “God” was something outside of you. But there are some simple and direct ways to connect to that “divine within,” whatever name you choose to give it. 3. The third step is to practice. Just like learning to play a musical instrument—or learning any skill—you have to practice. This book gives you some guidance on how to do that. In the end, the Band Director can give you a musical instrument and some instruction, but the instrument is in your hands. It’s up to you to become whatever you choose to be. But you might want to consider the bigger vision that God has for you. You are meant to be far more than you imagine! On your spiritual journey, you can choose to progress or regress, to move slowly or quickly, to pause and plateau or rush forward with wild abandon. Our destination is God. Why tarry? Why not choose the fast track of spiritual growth? This booklet is about how to change yourself for the better. You can be the person you desire to be. You can be a saint. In fact, that is your destiny. You are here for that. God has put the desire into your heart. He is calling to you. Forge ahead, timid pilgrim—the Promised Land awaits!

For readers of such crusading works of nonfiction as Katherine Boo’s Beyond the Beautiful Forevers and Tracy Kidder’s Mountains Beyond Mountains comes a powerful and captivating examination of two entwined global crises: environmental destruction and human trafficking—and an inspiring, bold plan for how we can solve them. A leading expert on modern-day slavery, Kevin Bales has traveled to some of the world’s most dangerous places documenting and battling human trafficking. In the course of his reporting, Bales began to notice a pattern emerging: Where slavery existed, so did massive, unchecked environmental destruction. But why? Bales set off to find the answer in a fascinating and moving journey that took him into the lives of modern-day slaves and along a supply chain that leads directly to the cellphones in our pockets. What he discovered is that even as it destroys individuals, families, and communities, new forms of slavery that proliferate in the world’s lawless zones also pose a grave threat to the environment. Simply put, modern-day slavery is destroying the planet. The product of seven years of travel and research, Blood and Earth brings us dramatic stories from the world’s most beautiful and tragic places, the environmental and human-rights hotspots where this crisis is concentrated. But it also tells the stories of some of the most common products we all consume—from computers to shrimp to jewelry—whose origins are found in these same places. Blood and Earth calls on us to recognize the grievous harm we have done to one another, put an end to it, and recommit to repairing the world. This is a clear-eyed and inspiring book that suggests how we can begin the work of healing humanity and the planet we share. Praise for Blood and Earth “A heart-wrenching narrative . . . Weaving together interviews, history, and statistics, the author shines a light on how the poverty, chaos, wars, and government corruption create the perfect storm where slavery flourishes and environmental destruction follows. . . . A clear-eyed account of man’s inhumanity to man and Earth. Read it to get informed, and then take action.”—Kirkus Reviews (starred review) “[An] exposé of the global economy’s ‘deadly dance’ between slavery and environmental disaster . . . Based on extensive travels through eastern Congo’s mineral mines, Bangladeshi fisheries, Ghanian gold mines, and Brazilian forests, Bales reveals the appalling truth in graphic detail. . . . Readers will be deeply disturbed to learn how the links connecting slavery, environmental issues, and modern convenience are forged.”—Publishers Weekly “This well-researched and vivid book studies the connection between slavery and environmental destruction, and what it will take to end both.”—Shelf Awareness (starred review) “This is a remarkable book, demonstrating once more the deep links between the ongoing degradation of the planet and the ongoing degradation of its most vulnerable people. It’s a bracing reminder that a mentality that allows throwaway people also allows a throwaway earth.”—Bill McKibben, author of Eaarth: Making a Life on a Tough New Planet

In The Slaves' War, the acclaimed historian Andrew Ward delivers an unprecedented vision of the nation's bloodiest conflict. Woven together from hundreds of interviews, diaries, letters, and memoirs, here is a groundbreaking and poignant narrative of the CivilWar as seen from not only battlefields, capitals, and camps, but from slave quarters, kitchens, roadsides, and fields as well. Speaking in a quintessentially American language, body servants, army cooks, runaways, and gravediggers bring the war to life. From slaves' theories about the causes of the CivilWar to their frank assessments of such major figures as Lincoln, Davis, Lee, and Grant; from their searing memories of the carnage of battle to their often startling attitudes toward masters and liberators alike; and from their initial jubilation at the Yankee invasion of the South to the crushing disappointment of freedom's promise unfulfilled, The Slaves' War is a transformative and engrossing chronicle of America's Second Revolution.

A freed slave's daring assertion of the evils of slavery Born in present-day Ghana, Quobna Ottobah Cugoano was kidnapped at the age of thirteen and sold into slavery by his fellow Africans in 1770; he worked in the brutal plantation chain gangs of the West Indies before being freed in England. His Thoughts and Sentiments on the Evil of Slavery is the most direct criticism of slavery by a writer of African descent. Cugoano refutes pro-slavery arguments of the day, including slavery's supposed divine sanction; the belief that Africans gladly sold their own families into slavery; that Africans were especially suited to its rigors; and that West Indian slaves led better lives than European serfs. Exploiting his dual identity as both an African and a British citizen, Cugoano daringly asserted that all those under slavery's yoke had a moral obligation to rebel, while at the same time he appealed to white England's better self. For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • NAACP IMAGE AWARD WINNER • A dramatic expansion of a groundbreaking work of journalism, The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story offers a profoundly revealing vision of the American past and present. “[A] groundbreaking compendium . . . bracing and urgent . . . This collection is an extraordinary update to an ongoing project of vital truth-telling.”—Esquire NOW AN EMMY-NOMINATED HULU ORIGINAL DOCUSERIES • FINALIST FOR THE KIRKUS PRIZE • ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: The Washington Post, NPR, Esquire, Marie Claire, Electric Lit, Ms. magazine, Kirkus Reviews, Booklist In late August 1619, a ship arrived in the British colony of Virginia bearing a cargo of twenty to thirty enslaved people from Africa. Their arrival led to the barbaric and unprecedented system of American chattel slavery that would last for the next 250 years. This is sometimes referred to as the country’s original sin, but it is more than that: It is the source of so much that still defines the United States. The New York Times Magazine’s award-winning 1619 Project issue reframed our understanding of American history by placing slavery and its continuing legacy at the center of our national narrative. This book substantially expands on that work, weaving together eighteen essays that explore the legacy of slavery in present-day America with thirty-six poems and works of fiction that illuminate key moments of oppression, struggle, and resistance. The essays show how the inheritance of 1619 reaches into every part of contemporary American society, from politics, music, diet, traffic, and citizenship to capitalism, religion, and our democracy itself. This book that speaks directly to our current moment, contextualizing the systems of race and caste within which we operate today. It reveals long-glossed-over truths around our nation’s founding and construction—and the way that the legacy of slavery did not end with emancipation, but continues to shape contemporary American life. Featuring contributions from: Leslie Alexander • Michelle Alexander • Carol Anderson • Joshua Bennett • Reginald Dwayne Betts • Jamelle Bouie • Anthea Butler • Matthew Desmond • Rita Dove • Camille T. Dungy • Cornelius Eady • Eve L. Ewing • Nikky Finney • Vievee Francis • Yaa Gyasi • Forrest Hamer • Terrance Hayes • Kimberly Annece Henderson • Jeneen Interlandi • Honorée Fanonne Jeffers • Barry Jenkins • Tyehimba Jess • Martha S. Jones • Robert Jones, Jr. • A. Van Jordan • Ibram X. Kendi • Eddie Kendricks • Yusef Komunyakaa • Kevin M. Kruse • Kiese Laymon • Trymaine Lee • Jasmine Mans • Terry McMillan • Tiya Miles • Wesley Morris • Khalil Gibran Muhammad • Lynn Nottage • ZZ Packer • Gregory Pardlo • Darryl Pinckney • Claudia Rankine • Jason Reynolds • Dorothy Roberts • Sonia Sanchez • Tim Seibles • Evie Shockley • Clint Smith • Danez Smith • Patricia Smith • Tracy K. Smith • Bryan Stevenson • Nafissa Thompson-Spires • Natasha Trethewey • Linda Villarosa • Jesmyn Ward

" Freedom as Marronage" deepens our understanding of political freedom not only by situating slavery as freedom s opposite condition, but also by investigating the experiential significance of the equally important liminal and transitional social space "between" slavery and freedom. Roberts examines a specific form of flight from slavery"marronage"that was fundamental to the experience of Haitian slavery, but is integral to understanding the Haitian Revolution and has widespread application to European, New World, and black Diasporic societies. He pays close attention to the experience of the process by which people emerge "from "slavery "to "freedom, contending that freedom as marronage presents a useful conceptual device for those interested in understanding both normative ideals of political freedom and the origin of those ideals. Roberts investigates the dual anti-colonial and anti-slavery Haitian Revolution (1791-1804) and especially the ideas of German-Jewish thinker Hannah Arendt, Irish political theorist Philip Pettit, American fugitive-turned ex-slave Frederick Douglass, and the Martinican philosopher Edouard Glissant in developing a theory of freedom that offers a compelling interpretive lens to understand the quandaries of slavery, freedom, and political language that still confront us today."