Historian Wilbert Jenkins sheds light on how former slaves in Charleston, South Carolina, in an attempt to adjust to freedom after the Civil War and gain control over their own lives, battled whites trying to regain control. Using autobiographies, slave narratives, Freedmen's Bureau letters and papers, and many other documents, Jenkins focuses on the freedmen's hopes and aspirations. 30 photos.

"Brilliant. One of those rare books that forces you to ask what the hell you're doing with your life." --George Monbiot, The Guardian **One of Forbes' 13 Best Books for Summer 2017** We've all heard the saying "seize the day." But what does it really mean--and how can we use it to jumpstart our lives? In the age of distraction, carpe diem is more essential than ever, and yet many of us simply don't employ it in our lives. In this thought-provoking and empowering book, cultural writer Roman Krznaric unpacks the history, philosophy, and modern-day applications of "seizing the day" and delivers a rousing call to action for anyone who wants to improve their lives--or our world. Carpe Diem is a far-ranging read, drawing on everything from the neuropsychology of regret to the anthropology of play, from medieval carnival rites to religious conceptions of the afterlife and early Japanese cinema. Offering food for thought as well as inspiring takeaways, the book examines not just the contributions of great thinkers throughout history, but also reveals insights from the lives of great seize-the-day practitioners including nightclub dancers, war photographers, bored housewives, and committed revolutionaries--offering a wide range of solutions to the daunting challenge of leading a meaningful life.

How do we make the most of the time we have? In our harried modern world, Os Guinness calls us to consequential living, restructuring our notion of history as linear and purposeful, not as cyclical or meaningless. We can seek to serve God's intentions for our generation and discern our call for this moment in history.

Existentialism is back Carpe diem – ‘seize the day’ – is one of the oldest pieces of life advice in Western history. But its true spirit has been hijacked by ad men and self-help gurus, reduced to the instant hit of one-click online shopping, or slogans like ‘live in the now’. We need to reclaim it to make sense of our complex, confusing times. The last great expression of carpe diem was in the electrifying existential philosophy of the 1940s. Today it’s an idea that challenges us to confront our mortality and live with greater passion and intention rather than scroll mindlessly on our phones or allow freedom to become a mere choice between brands. In Carpe Diem Regained, Roman Krznaric reinvents existentialism for our age of information and choice overload. An essential and empowering work of contemporary philosophy, the book unveils the surprising ways of seizing the day that humankind has discovered over the centuries, ones we urgently need to revive. Carpe diem is the existentialism for our times.

Calvin Jones has finally gotten his life on the right course. At 45, he has escaped a toxic long-term relationship with the mother of his only child, and he loves his job as a high school English teacher in Washington, D.C. Life is good. But then life turns horribly bad. A routine check-up reveals a cancerous spot on his pancreas. The oncologist offers him chemotherapy in the hope that it will extend his life, but Calvin declines and decides to live the best he can, while he can.

Dreams and visions, prophetic words from God about "dusty souls," speaking in tongues while "in the spirit"—narratives of these and similar events comprise the heart of Every Time I Feel the Spirit. This in-depth study of a Black congregation in Charleston, South Carolina provides a window into the tremendously important yet still largely overlooked world of African American religion as the faith is lived by ordinary believers. For decades, scholars have been preoccupied with the relation between Black Christianity, civil rights, and social activism. Every Time I Feel the Spirit is about black religion as religion. It focuses on the everyday experience of religion in the church, congregants' relationships with God, and the role that God and Satan play in congregants' lives—not only as objects of belief but as actual agents. It explores the concepts of religious experience and religious ritual, while emphasizing the attributions that people make to the operation of spiritual forces and beings in their lives. Through interviews and field work, Nelson uncovers what religious people themselves see as important about their faith while extending and refining sociological understandings of religious ritual and religious experience.

In the story of every great company and career, there is one defining moment when luck and skill collide. This book is about making that moment happen. According to Frans Johansson’s research, successful people and organizations show a common theme. A lucky moment occurs and they take advantage of it to change their fate. Consider how Diane von Furstenberg saw Julie Nixon Eisenhower on TV wearing a matching skirt and top, and created the timeless, elegant wrap-dress. That was a “click moment” of unexpected opportunity. Johansson uses stories from throughout history to illustrate the specific actions we can take to create more click moments, place lots of high-potential bets, open ourselves up to chance encounters, and harness the complex forces of success that follow.

A savvy, uplifting business and life guide for entrepreneurial millennials seeking to find their yay - from the Founder of Matcha Maiden, Match Mylkbar and the Seize the Yay podcast 'One of the hardest workers you're likely to meet. As a big-hearted and generous entrepreneur, we'd be wise to take her advice.' - Emma Isaacs, Business Chicks 'Like a best friend in your pocket... the essential go-to for every human in this modern, fast-paced world.' - Lisa Messenger, Founder & Editor-in-Chief, Collective Hub Kick goals in your business or career and find happiness and fulfilment in the process - Seize The Yay shows you how to do both. There are so many wellness and business titles on the market focusing on success and productivity, but not many which encourage you to break that autopilot circuit of 'busy' and flip the conversation back towards what makes you yay. Entrepreneur and Co-Founder of Matcha Maiden green tea, Sarah started her first business after suffering from a case of complete adrenal exhaustion. As a young lawyer looking for a caffeine-free fix to supplement her serious coffee habit, she ordered ten kilos of tea from Japan by accident. Starting up a side hustle to shift the nine kilos of matcha she didn't need, Matcha Maiden was born. With no background in the area, business experience or investment behind them, Sarah and her partner Nic built Matcha Maiden from scratch, followed by internationally acclaimed plant-based cafe Matcha Mylkbar and, later, the chart-topping Seize the Yay podcast. Here, Sarah shows how it can be done without losing your joy or sense of appreciation for the journey. Sharing practical tips and life advice to help you realize your own career and life dreams while staying grounded and well, Seize The Yay is your one-stop shop for achieving business success. Did somebody say #lifegoals?

SEIZING THE ESSENCE is about the dynamics of Value that form mans concept of reality. Human beings dont just passively experience the things and events that represent this journey through life, they construct them intellectually from the sense of value that is intrinsic to all cognizant individuals.We dont simply enjoy the finer things in life, we aspire to them; and when awed by the experience of great beauty or magnificence, we want to identify with its source.As the created agents of this source, we intellectualize its value by experiencing it as differentiated reality. Making value aware as representational objects in a relational world affirms the absolute value of our uncreated Essence. The author believes that one of the tragedies of our materialistic age is that we have mistaken our differentiated, amoral existence for ultimate reality, with the result that we have lost much of our value-sensibility.With the possible exception of artists and musicians, the mindset of most people today has been shaped by objectivists who insist that man is totally a product of biological and cultural evolution. Although fueled by Darwins Origin of the Species, in truth this ideology is the outcome of a 2000-year battle between Aristotelian empiricism and Platonic idealism that scientists claim to have won only in the last century. In their zeal to renounce religion and spirituality, the objectivists have thrown the baby out with the bathwater. Selfness is today regarded as a myth of dubious origin, and material reality is believed to be primary to ones awareness of it. In SEIZING THE ESSENCE, the author makes the case that the mind/matter duality of Descartes and Kant has not been overcome by Science, that all knowledge is proprietary to the self, and that physical reality is an intellectual construct of Value which is the individuals perspective of Essence. Since traditional logic is relational by fiat, the author bases his cosmology on a principle first postulated by the 15th century logician Nicholas of Cusa which deals with a "not-other" that is the coincidence of all otherness. Instead of trying to describe the ineffable, Cusas theory affords the philosopher a dialectic handle by which to relate finite experience to the Oneness of Essence. This leads logically to a cosmology in which physical existence is a virtual reality created largely by man, who is the cognizant agent of his estranged Essence. Contrary to previous theories of "natures essences", there is but one Essence, and it is the uncreated source of differentiated experience. Starting with the fundamental premise that Essence is absolute and immutable, the book unfolds an ontology whereby value can be understood as the essential link between the autonomous self and its uncreated source. The central message of this book is that, although values drive mankind, it is mans free choices that determine the course of history. Essentialism is a new and original philosophy that embraces the spirituality of Judeo-Christianity and Eastern mysticism, yet is grounded in a metaphysical cosmology that is non-dogmatic, logically plausible, and far more vital to contemporary man. In addition to chapters describing our real world mentality, mans historical search for the stuff of reality, a Cosmology of Essence, and the autonomous self, the author offers "A Modernists Guide to Values" complete with a strategy for achieving an authentic society. Included in the Appendix is an extended glossary of names and special terms that are relevant to the Philosophy of Essence.

How coups happen and why half of them fail. While coups drive a majority of regime changes and are responsible for the overthrow of many democratic governments, there has been very little empirical work on the subject. Seizing Power develops a new theory of coup dynamics and outcomes, drawing on 300 hours of interviews with coup participants and an original dataset of 471 coup attempts worldwide from 1950 to 2000. Naunihal Singh delivers a concise and empirical evaluation, arguing that understanding the dynamics of military factions is essential to predicting the success or failure of coups. Singh draws on an aspect of game theory known as a coordination game to explain coup dynamics. He finds a strong correlation between successful coups and the ability of military actors to project control and the inevitability of success. Examining Ghana’s multiple coups and the 1991 coup attempt in the USSR, Singh shows how military actors project an image of impending victory that is often more powerful than the reality on the ground. In addition, Singh also identifies three distinct types of coup dynamics, each with a different probability of success, based on where within the organization each coup originated: coups from top military officers, coups from the middle ranks, and mutinous coups from low-level soldiers.