Publisher: ibidem
Shekhovtsov’s essays delve into practices of Russian political warfare designed to advance Moscow’s objectives in European countries and certain African states.
Brilliantly original novelist and cultural critic Lynne Tillman became one of nearly 53 million Americans who care for a sick family member when her mother developed an unusual and little understood condition called Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus. Instantly, Tillman's independent and spirited mother went from someone she knew to someone else, a woman entirely dependent on her children—an eleven-year process through which her mother underwent many surgeries and some misdiagnoses, while the family navigated consultations and confrontations with doctors, adjusting to the complexity of her cognitive issues, including memory loss. With her notoriously exquisite writing style and reputation as a "rich noticer of strange things" (Colm Toíbín), Tillman describes, without flinching, the unexpected, heartbreaking, and frustrating years of caring for a sick parent. Mothercare is both a cautionary tale and sympathetic guidance for anyone who suddenly becomes a caregiver, responsible for the life of another—a parent, loved or not, or a friend. This story may be helpful, informative, consoling, or upsetting, but it never fails to underscore how impossible it is to get the job done completely right.Show book
Joy Unspeakable focuses on the aspects of the Black church that point beyond particular congregational gatherings toward a mystical and communal spirituality not within the exclusive domain of any denomination. This mystical aspect of the black church is deeply implicated in the wellbeing of African American people but is not the focus of their intentional reflection. Moreover, its traditions are deeply ensconced within the historical memory of the wider society and can be found in Coltrane's riffs, Malcolm's exhortations, the social activism of the Black Lives Matter Movement and the presidency of Barack Hussein Obama. The research in this book—through oral histories, church records, and written accounts—details not only ways in which contemplative experience is built into African American collective worship but also the legacy of African monasticism, a history of spiritual exemplars, and unique meditative worship practices. A groundbreaking work in its original edition, Joy Unspeakable now appears in a new, revised edition to address the effects of this contemplative tradition on activism and politics and to speak to a new generation of readers and scholars.Show book
Brain injuries can result in highly specific and surprising changes in behavior that have revealed to us how the mind works.The brain is the most complicated object in the known universe. After spending millennia trying to understand our ever-changing world, the brain is now turning its capacities for reasoning, remembering, and understanding inward, as it tries to understand itself.The biggest breakthroughs in neuroscience have come mostly by accident. These accidents didn't happen in research labs. They happened on railway job sites, in showers, on bicycles, in cars or were the result of infections from uncommon diseases.When an individual suffers brain damage as the result of an accident or illness, the negative effects can be profound—life altering and lifelong—yet the insights offered by the effects of these injuries have been revolutionary for neuroscientists. Through an examination of landmark cases of traumatic brain injury, Dr. Lorin J. Elias explains how each case has expanded our understanding of the mind.Show book
Two great streams of Northern immigration met on the shores of Britain during the ninth, tenth, and eleventh centuries. The Norsemen from the deep fiords of Western Norway, fishing and raiding along the coasts, pushed out their adventurous boats into the Atlantic, and in the dawn of Northern history we find them already settled in the Orkney and Shetland Isles, whence they raided and settled southward to Caithness, Fife, and Northumbria on the east, and to the Hebrides, Galloway, and Man on the western coast. Fresh impetus was given to this outward movement by the changes of policy introduced by Harald Fairhair, first king of Norway (872–933). Through him a nobler type of emigrant succeeded the casual wanderer, and great lords and kings’ sons came over to consolidate the settlements begun by humbler agencies. Iceland was at the same time peopled by a similar stock. The Dane, contemporaneously with the Norseman, came by a different route. Though he seems to have been the first to invade Northumbria (if Ragnar and his sons were really Danes), his movement was chiefly round the southern shores of England, passing over by way of the Danish and Netherland coast up the English Channel, and round to the west. Both streams met in Ireland, where a sharp and lengthened contest was fought out between the two nations, and where both took deep root, building cities and absorbing much of the commerce of the country.The Viking was at first simply a bold adventurer, but a mixture of trading and raiding became a settled practice with large numbers of Norsemen, who, when work at home was slack and the harvest was sown or reaped, filled up the time by pirate inroads on their own or neighboring lands. Hardy sailors and fearless fighters they were; and life would have seemed too tame had it meant a continuous course of peaceful farming or fishing. New possessions and new conquests were the salt of life.Show book
We don't often think about the act of knowing, but if we do, the question of what we know and how we know it becomes murky indeed. Longing to Know is a book about knowing: knowing how we know things, knowing how we know people, and knowing how we know God. This book is for those who are considering Christianity for the first time, as well as Christians who are struggling with issues related to truth, certainty, and doubt. As such, it is a wonderful resource for evangelists, pastors, and counselors. This unique look at the questions of knowing is both entertaining and approachable. Questions for reflection make it ideal for students of philosophy and all those wrestling with the questions of knowledge.Show book
North America is full of natural wonders, but few inspire as much awe as Niagara Falls, the continent’s most famous waterfalls. Comprised of three separate waterfalls (Horseshoe Falls, American Falls, and Bridal Veil Falls), Niagara’s falls can boast of the fastest flow rate in the world, dropping 6 million cubic feet of water every minute from as high as 185 feet. Situated on the border between the United States and Canada, Niagara Falls is not just a prime tourist spot but a source of hydroelectric power that attracted scientists like Nikola Tesla who hoped to harness the waterfalls’ energy. In fact, Niagara Falls is so powerful that it is eroding the ground under it, to the extent that it will cease to exist in about 50,000 years. Even for those who have never seen it, the Grand Canyon is perhaps the most appreciated and remarkable feature of the American landscape. Indeed, the Grand Canyon has been amazing Americans since explorers first started venturing into the area in the mid-19th century. On one expedition, May Humphreys Stacey wrote in his journal of "a wonderful canyon four thousand feet deep. Everyone (in the party) admitted that he never before saw anything to match or equal this astonishing natural curiosity." Cut through by the Colorado River over the course of millions of years, the Grand Canyon is a popular destination spot that attracts millions of tourists annually, and what they come to see can be found nowhere else on the planet. The United States is full of natural wonders, but few remain unspoiled by man as much as Yosemite National Park, a 750,000 square acre park near the Sierra Nevada mountain range. Despite being inhabited by people for nearly 3,000 years, the relatively remote spot helped ensure that even as America expanded west, the Yosemite area avoided being settled or exploited like so many other areas on the frontier.Show book
