Bruce Springsteens music and performances have provided an emotional outlet for thousands of fans all over the world. Drawing from participant observation, the statements of Springsteen fans, and the life and music of Springsteen, Randalls ethnographic treatment documents the ways in which fans are inspired to create a global cultural community. This community functions as a social network, offering emotional support, spirituality, and the motivation for doing good works. Randall discovers that the sensitivities and values Springsteen instills in his fans are as alive and valid as those experienced by adherents of widely recognized spiritual traditions. Her in-depth examination of the thoughts and actions of these fans reveals that embracing nontraditional spiritual values can engender multifaceted feelings, including trust, hope, and respect for humankind. By acknowledging that a personal spiritual connection can develop outside a sectarian landscape, an appreciation of and tolerance for different belief systems can be cultivated and nourished.

With eloquence, candor, and simplicity, Dane Fowlkes turns the pages of his own story and allows the reader to peek over his shoulder and into his heart. In these spiritual and autobiographical reflections, this celebrated communicator relates carefully chosen experiences from his life as son, father, grandfather, husband, minister, and writer-for the purpose of illustrating the weight of glory in ordinary human experience. "Glory abounds in the ordinary if you know where to look; grace is always present tense." Fowlkes has led anything but a dull existence-from initiation into an African tribe in northern Kenya where he is known as Jilo, a name that means "season of celebration," to living near Gandhi's ashram on the Sabarmati River-yet he has learned to discern and celebrate God's grace in the commonplace. Fowlkes's words reveal the presence of God in the midst of daily life. He embraces difficult questions and garden-variety experiences as equally essential components of our lives, rather than as enemies that seek to destroy us or bore us to tears. "Only those who stumble in the dark fully appreciate the miracle of light." Reflecting Fowlkes's gift for storytelling and his minister's heart, Ordinary Glory will inspire laughter, hope, and transform the way we view the unremarkable moments that fill much of our lives. Turn the pages and rediscover what it means to be thoughtful about grace. See why this newly published writer will be quoted by Americans for generations to come.

Richard Peace unpacks what it means to make a conscious practice of noticing God in daily life. He explores the various ways people experience and recognize God's presence in mystical encounters, ordinary life, our hearts, through other people, through Scripture, nature and the church. God is present in our world. You can encounter him. Here's how.

Grace Lee calls her granddaughter, Judith, with a dying wish…for Judith to travel from Los Angeles to Nashville to come visit her. But there’s a catch. Judith must make the journey by bus. The award-winning novel Finding Grace shares Judith Lee’s transformative, cross-country journey, revealing what truly matters. Each day of Judith’s journey becomes a story on its own, as the people she meets and places she visits along the way challenge her to rethink her life. Finding Grace is about Judith’s transformation back into the real world during this journey as a result of the people she meets on the bus, how she deals with the imminent passing of her grandmother, and how all this changes her life’s future plans. There are tears and laughter throughout, with interesting characters whom readers would recognize from their own lives. Today, more people are reflecting on what is and is not important. Finding Grace provides food for thought on many levels.

In this unique collection, critics, musicians, scholars, and fans describe how they have been moved, shaped, and challenged by Bruce Springsteen's music. These essays examine the big questions at the heart of Springsteen's music, demonstrating the ways his songs have resonated for millions of listeners for nearly five decades.

Bruce Springsteen has been cherished by his fans for decades, from his early days playing high school gymnasiums through globally successful albums and huge stadium shows to solo performances in intimate theaters. As his long and illustrious career has evolved, the legendary devotion of his fans has remained a constant. Springsteen fans have become worthy of study in their own right, with books, memoirs, and even a movie documenting their passion and perspectives. But his fans are not monolithic, and surprisingly little attention has been paid to why so many women from across the world adore The Boss. Mary Climbs In illuminates this once overlooked but increasingly important and multi-faceted conversation about female audiences for Springsteen’s music. Drawing on unique surveys of fans themselves, the study offers insight into women’s experiences in their own voices. Authors Lorraine Mangione and Donna Luff explore the depth of women fans’ connection to Springsteen and the profound ways this connection has shaped their lives. Reflections from fans enliven each page as readers journey through the camaraderie and joy of concerts, the sorrow and confusion of personal loss and suffering, the love and closeness of community, and the search for meaning and for the self. Viewed through a psychological lens, women fans’ relationship with Springsteen is revealed in all its complexity as never before. Mary Climbs In is an important interdisciplinary contribution to the growing field of Springsteen studies and a must-read for any fan.

Discourse on popular music frequently describes artists' recordings and performances as “intimate.” Yet that discourse often stops short of elucidating how a mass-produced commodity such as popular music is able to elicit feelings of intimacy with and among its audience. Through detailed analysis of popular music's composition, performance, production, and promotion, Musical Intimacy examines how intimacy is constructed and perceived in popular music via its affective and technological affordances. From the recording studio to the concert stage, from collective experience to individual listening and perception, this book presents a working understanding of musical intimacy.

Bruce Songs: The Music of Bruce Springsteen, Album-by-Album, Song-by-Song is an authoritative guide coauthored by renowned music scholar Kenneth Womack and music historian Kenneth L. Campbell and offering an in-depth exploration of Bruce Springsteen's musical legacy. Covering Springsteen's entire discography, from Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J. to Only the Strong Survive, this unique book combines historical context, literary analysis, and meticulous research. Unlike any other resource, it provides detailed analyses of each album, essays on their historical significance, and a chronological examination of every studio song. Discover the stories behind the recordings and gain insight into Springsteen's creative process. Rich with contemporary reviews, insider accounts, photographs, and special sections highlighting pivotal moments and key figures, Bruce Songs is an indispensable companion for fans and scholars. It offers an immersive journey through the music of The Boss, making it an essential read for anyone captivated by Springsteen's enduring musical legacy.

Spaces are produced and shaped by discourses and, in turn, produce and shape discourses themselves. ‘Space’ is becoming a significant and complex concept for the encounter between people, cultures, religions, ideologies, politics, between histories and memories, the advantaged and the disadvantaged, the powerful and the weak. As a result, it provides a rich hermeneutical and methodological inventory for mapping interculturality and interreligiosity. This volume looks at space as a critical theory and epistemological tool within cultural studies that fosters the analysis of power structures and the deconstruction of representations of identities within our societies that are shaped by power.

When we think about society and culture, often we think of our own culture – the culture in which we were raised or currently live – as the default. The eleventh edition of The Tapestry of Culture uses anthropological tools to translate the concepts, ideas, and behaviors of other cultures into language recognizable by today’s students. The book’s comparative approach balances the history of ethnography, fieldwork, and anthropological with today’s globalized world, including the impact of climate change, social movements, social media and technology, global health issues, and shifting political landscapes. New to the Eleventh Edition New Chapter 12, “Global Health and Wellness,” examines the historical, political, and cultural issues that shape disease and health including inequalities in access to physical and mental health services, the delivery of health care services, and health intervention strategies New Chapter 11, “Spaces and Places of Creative Expression,” explores how social media and internet technologies play a major role in how contemporary audiences view and understand creativity including music, dance, theater, film, painting and other performance styles Expanded discussion of the cultural construction of gender and sexuality, as well as LGBTQ issues in activism explores gender and sexuality through queer studies and in postcolonial settings (Chapter 7) New discussion of critical race theory highlights its contributions to analyzing multiple forms of racism and discrimination while providing an exploration of the challenges of multiculturalism in contexts of nationality, ethnicity, and political representation (Chapter 14) New discussions of environmental anthropology, political ecology, climate change inequality, social movements, globalization, and transnationalism highlight these contemporary issues as subjects of anthropological inquiry (Chapter 1)