Other books that might interest you

• 

  Natural - Black Beauty and the...

  Chelsea Mary Elise Johnson

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  How Black women celebrate their natural hair and uproot racialized beauty standards 
   
   
   
  Hair is not simply a biological feature; it's a canvas for expression. Hair can be cut, colored, dyed, covered, gelled, waxed, plucked, lasered, dreadlocked, braided, and relaxed. Yet, its significance extends beyond mere aesthetics. Hair can carry profound moral, spiritual, and cultural connotations, serving as a reflection of one's beliefs, heritage, and even political stance. In Natural, Chelsea Mary Elise Johnson delves into the complex world surrounding Black women's hair, and offers a firsthand look into the kitchens, beauty shops, conventions, and blogs that make up the twenty-first century natural hair movement, the latest evolution in Black beauty politics. 
   
   
   
  Johnson shares her own hair story and amplifies the voices of women across the globe who, after years of chemically relaxing their hair, return to a "natural" style. Johnson describes how many women initially transition to natural hair out of curiosity or as a wellness practice but come to view their choice as political upon confronting personal insecurities and social stigma, both within and outside of the Black community. She also investigates "natural hair entrepreneurs," who use their knowledge to create lucrative and socially transformative haircare ventures.

  Show book

• 

  Confessions of a Southern Beauty...

  Julie Hines Mabus

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  In the late 1960s, Patsy Channing, a stunningly beautiful young woman, was suspended from the venerable Mississippi State College for Women for breach of conduct. The resulting scandal reached all the way to the Columbus courthouse, and the press ate it up. 
   
   
   
  But Patsy's story starts long before that, living with a preoccupied and troubled mother in Memphis, Tennessee. Music becomes her ticket out and a vehicle for the one thing she covets most—a chance to be crowned Miss America. 
   
   
   
  In Confessions of a Southern Beauty Queen, Julie Hines Mabus provides a peek into that world—a world struggling through the civil rights movement, reeling from the death of JFK, and cutting loose with the musical innovations from Memphis and Detroit. Patsy develops a close friendship with a guitarist at Stax Recording Studio, giving her firsthand exposure to the early Memphis Soul Sound. 
   
   
   
  Confessions of a Southern Beauty Queen opens and closes with the end of Patsy's time at Mississippi State College for Women on that fateful spring morning in 1968 when she entered the Columbus courthouse. Patsy's story, marked with tragedy and triumph, mirrors that of a growing and evolving South, where change never comes easy.

  Show book

• 

  GeopOlympics - English version -...

  Kévin Veyssière

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  Why have the Olympic Games always been a geopolitical event in their own right? How did the Olympic Games in Mexico City in 1968, Moscow in 1980 and Barcelona in 1992 reflect international tensions, despite the Olympics' political neutrality? In2024, what are the stakes for France in the Paris Olympics, against the backdrop of the Israeli-Palestinian and Russian-Ukrainian conflicts? Why have new powers such as China, Qatar and Saudi Arabia made the organization of the Games an objective of their influence strategy?
  
  In his fourth book, Kévin Veyssière invites sports fans, geography buffs and the curious to explore the history of our world through the Olympic Games. From Athens in 1896 to Paris in 2024, he unveils the most striking geopolitical backdrops to a theater of 206 nations, where sporting performances and power games come together.

  Show book

• 

  Those About To Die

  Daniel P. Mannix

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  Putting the games in the context of Rome's rise and dramatic fall, Mannix captures all the history, planning, and savage pageantry that went into creating the first spectator sports. 
   
   
   
  The games began in 238 BC as nearly county fair–like entertainment, with trick riding, acrobats, trained animals, chariot racing, and athletic events. The contests then evolved into slave fights thanks to wealthy patricians Marcus and Decimus Brutus, who wanted to give their father an unforgettable funeral by reviving an old tradition. What the brothers wrought, Rome devoured, demanding even greater violence to satisfy the bloodlust of the crowd. Architectural wonders in themselves, massive arenas like Circus Maximus and the Colosseum were built, able to host sea battle reenactments on actual water. Successful gladiators found fame, fortune—and freedom. 
   
   
   
  But as Rome begin to fall in the fifth century, so did the games, devolving into nothing more than pointless massacres. In the end, millions of humans and animals were sacrificed in barbaric displays. What were once ceremonies given in honor of gods met an inglorious fate, yet they still captivate the imagination of people today. 
   
   
   
  Contains mature themes.

  Show book

• 

  In Defense of Christian Patriotism

  Daniel Darling

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  Since when does praying to Jesus, loving America, and saluting the flag make you an extremist? 
  Patriotism isn’t optional for Christians. It’s essential. In Defense of Christian Patriotism explains that God gave us a country, and with it, a duty to love it. So why do cynics act like Christians ought to be burning flags, desacralizing churches, and disdaining our national history?  
  In this deeply-researched walkthrough of political theology and history, Daniel Darling defies the statue-toppling spirit of our age to recover a lost tradition of patriotism. He lays out why Christians should revere flags and civic heroes, that it’s OK to believe in American exceptionalism, and what it really looks like to bring Jesus into politics (spoiler: it’s not theocracy). You may be called a fascist. That’s OK. When insanity is normal, the normal are deemed insane. 
  The Left claims Christian political engagement will produce a “real-life Handmaid’s Tale,” “the Afghan Taliban,” and a “Christo-fascist future.” In fact, the opposite is true. The Salvation Army and the Southern Baptist Convention run the second- and third-biggest disaster relief organizations in the country. Seventy-three percent of American substance abuse treatment programs include spiritual elements. Evangelicals are five times more likely to adopt than the average adult. This is a tradition to be proud of. So why aren’t we? 
  In Defense of Christian Patriotism is Darling’s joyful response to the cynics: stop lecturing the faithful. Instead, equip them. The book is a guide arming ordinary Christian patriots to fight back against the Left's false narrative with an upbeat, robust defense of how Christians make America better. 

  Show book

• 

  Heraclitus - Ancient Philosophy...

  Hector Davidson

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  Heraclitus of Ephesus, a pre-Socratic philosopher who lived in the 6th century BCE, remains one of the most enigmatic figures in the history of Western thought. Known for his cryptic sayings and profound insights into the nature of reality, Heraclitus' ideas have had a lasting influence on philosophy, science, and the arts. His philosophy, often centered around the concept of change, emphasized that everything in existence is in a constant state of flux. This view is encapsulated in one of his most famous quotes: "You cannot step into the same river twice." For Heraclitus, the essence of life and the universe lies in this unceasing transformation, where stability and change are not opposing forces but interconnected aspects of existence. 
  At the core of Heraclitus' thought is his doctrine of "flux", which asserts that everything is in a perpetual state of becoming rather than being. This contrasts sharply with other pre-Socratic philosophers like Parmenides, who held that change was illusory and that true reality was unchanging and eternal. Heraclitus, however, rejected this view and instead argued that change is not only inevitable but also necessary for the very existence of the cosmos. To him, the dynamic interplay between opposing forces—such as life and death, hot and cold, light and dark—was the fundamental structure of reality. These dualities, far from being contradictions, were essential for the creation and maintenance of order in the universe.

  Show book