This is a heart- and soul-felt story, capturing nuance, humor, and joy -- guided by the Light and promise of God, ritual, nation, family and proud heritage that links generations worldwide to the common human experience of hope in the shadow of adversity.
When Columbus arrived on the shores of Hispaniola, a rich and complex civilization already existed that forms the core of American cultural history. Exploring ancient southeastern Indian sites from the metropolis of Cahokia (near present-day St. Louis), ancient capital of the American heartland, to the Island stronghold of Calos, king of the Florida Calusa, Mallory O'Connor examines the significance of these prehistoric cultures. Bringing together scholarship from classics in architecture, archaeology, and iconography, she discusses twenty sites of Mississippian culture, describing the religious patterns of the inhabitants and the sophisticated art works that supported their sacred practices. She also addresses the controversial topic of repatriation of Indian artifacts and the continuing problem of archeological "looting" of Indian sites and ceremonial centers. Lavishly illustrated with maps, site plans, and photographs of the ruins of ancient ceremonial centers along with sculpture, ceramics and other artifacts, Lost Cities of the Ancient Southeast captures the timeless beauty and technical sophistication of the art and architecture of pre-Columbian America.
A visual journey, through time, along the St. Johns River "Indispensable for anyone seeking to explore Florida beyond the brochures."--Herbert L. Hiller, author of Highway A1A: Florida at the Edge "If you are looking for an elegant way to navigate up the St. Johns River without leaving your armchair, allow me to recommend spending time with this book. It is beautifully illustrated and a wonderful read."--John Delaney, president, University of North Florida The mighty St. Johns River flows from its headwaters near Lake Okeechobee north through central Florida to Jacksonville. Its watershed covers an area nearly the size of New Hampshire. The river and its tributaries have been part of the cultural landscape of the peninsula for thousands of years. From the Native Americans who first settled along its banks to the French, Spanish, British, and American settlers who followed, it has been a source of food, water, transportation, industry, agriculture, and recreation.
In the mid-1800s, three immigrant families--Irish, Japanese, and Mexican--settle along the American River in Northern California. A century later, only one family remains. Owen McPhalan's Mockingbird Valley Ranch is still a thriving family business in 1959. But when his wife, Marian, leaves Mockingbird to follow her dream of becoming a successful artist, she ignites a firestorm that impacts the descendants of all three families. As artists, musicians, writers, and politicians inherit their immigrant parents' hopes, they are torn apart by ambition, prejudice, and deception while struggling through the turbulent 1960s. From the concert halls of Europe to Kyoto's ancient avenues, and Manhattan's artist's lofts to San Francisco's North Beach, they each learn the price they must pay in order to realize their dreams. But just as the river is drawn to the sea, they eventually find themselves pulled back to the place that forged the original link between their destinies--a place called Mockingbird.
This is a true story about a girl who was born on Thanksgiving Day in 1936 to two French Canadian parents. Throughout her life, she experienced mental, emotional and physical distress caused by her father's disease of alcoholism. Neither parent understood the dynamics of alcoholism and the consequences of an alcoholic's behavior on the entire family. Revealing her ancestors' genetic predisposition to alcoholism helps to understand how every generation can inherit the disease.
BECAUSE I BELIEVED IN ME (MY EGYPTIAN FANTASY CAME TRUE) is a love story of Egypt and Egyptians. An ordinary American woman traveled to Cairo alone to teach and had the greatest adventure of her life. She went there to enable young Egyptians to become more fluent in English, but she became a student again herself. She learned to become an Egyptian woman and to survive successfully in a culture so different from hers. What she learned, experienced, and enjoyed in the Land of the Pharoahs is captured in her own words and emotions. She shares her many exciting adventures, her interesting but sometimes difficult daily life, her incredible teaching experience, and her students and her many friendships formed there plus her new and profound insights and understanding of Islam-once an extremely unfamiliar faith to her-and its true meaning. The reader will hopefully share her passion for a country that has now become like her second home and for its people who have become like her family.
I've Never Loved Him More is one wife’s story of what it means to live out her vows, “in sickness and in health.” As her husband’s caregiver in his struggle with Alzheimer’s, this story takes the reader through discovery, acceptance, adjustment, and battle against the ravages of what is often seen as a soul-crushing disease. Armed with faith, humor, and a history of spiritual victories, Candy demonstrates how she is loving her way through the mind-maze that would steal her husband of four decades. Displaying peace under pressure, she never pretends to have the answers as she navigates unfamiliar waters while also dealing with her own health issues, financial uncertainty, and more. She finds strength in her faith, family, friends, and the kindness of strangers. She engages Scripture, prayer, and spiritual support to combat this disease, weapons which can inspire others who are fighting chronic illnesses. Far from depressing, this is a worthwhile, helpful read for anyone struggling with anything.
After not walking down the aisle (as she assumed she would) in her twenties and then hoping it would happen in her thirties, Tonia DeCosimo found herself single at age forty and couldn’t help but ask herself, “Whose fault is this anyway?”
