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  Evening Guest An - From their...

  Alexander Kuprin

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  Alexander Kuprin was born in Narovchat, Penza in Russia on 7th September 1870. 
  At 3 his Father died and he and mother moved to Moscow. By 10 he was enrolled at the Second Moscow Military High School and there his interest in literature began. The Alexander Military Academy followed and two years later he was a sub-lieutenant and posted to an Infantry Regiment for a further four years. 
  Despite his duties he was a now a keen writer and published his first short story at this time. His military duties also garnered him experiences for his breakthrough work ‘The Duel’.  Leaving the military he left for Kiev to work for local newspapers.  He continued to publish both stories and novels and by 1901 he was in St Petersburg becoming part of a group that included Chekhov, Ivan Bunin, Maxim Gorky and Leonid Andreyev.  
  In the years that followed further controversial works and acclaim followed.  His comments on the regime meant he was also put under secret police surveillance.   
  As World War I erupted, Kuprin opened a military hospital but was then given command of an infantry company in Finland. He was soon discharged on grounds of ill health.  
  The October Revolution saw him praise Lenin, but he warned that the Bolsheviks threatened Russian culture and might cause further widespread suffering to the peasants.  As Civil War raged he took his family to Helsinki and then on to Paris. 
  Exile saw his talents decline further and his succumbing to alcoholism. He became lonely and withdrawn. The family's poverty increased his malaise.   
  In May 1937, the Kuprin’s returned to Moscow.  He now saw his work published but wrote almost nothing new.  In 1938 his health rapidly deteriorated.  Already suffering from a kidney problems and sclerosis, he had now developed cancer of the oesophagus.  
  Alexander Kuprin died on 25th August 1938.

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  Triumphs and Tragedies - A True...

  Karl B. McMillen Jr.

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  Hermosa Beach, California, in the mid-1960s. Sun, surf, and sand castles along The Strand to a soundtrack of “Fun, Fun, Fun.” But the hang-loose life of the locals was soon being drowned out—by a social storm able to turn even the most perfect wave into a brutal riptide.How do you go from planning vacations and evaluating investments to planning prison visits and evaluating defense pleas? How do you watch your surfer-champion sons turn into drug lords? Inmates? How do you watch your entire family die, one by one?Yet never stop fighting.What does it take to look in the mirror and search for the meaning of enabler? Or face that you’re sacrificing your own livelihood for Scotch? To ride a pounding wave of triumphs and tragedies, and paddle back for more? It takes a rare and special person: Karl McMillen.Karl is America’s hard work ethic. The guy Jefferson said will “determine never to be idle.” Babe Ruth’s “person who never gives up.” His story opens with a panorama of early 20th century California; a last-gasp look at the West before it was settled. When “entitlement” meant you were entitled to work your tail off. Karl’s success epitomizes that the cleanest hands in business are the ones that have smeared the most elbow grease. Karl worked and the system worked. He was said to have the “Golden Touch.”But systems break down. As America’s youth got swept into the deep murkiness of drugs, Karl was in over his head, too. He encountered something his work ethic and Golden Touch couldn’t conquer: Addiction. But he fought to apply his talents to this new subject. Gathering data and analyzing treatments, he uncovered so much.Triumphs and Tragedies explores the psychology of addiction through “voices from the street.” It probes the essence of enabling and the value of “rehabs”—uncommon concepts in the ‘60s. It demonstrates how a perfect life can be traded for pain; but how that pain can translate into a strong antidote against one of society’s greatest ills.

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  Menachem Mendel Schneerson -...

  Ezra Glinter

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  The Chabad-Lubavitch movement, one of the world's best-known Hasidic groups, is driven by the belief that we are on the verge of the messianic age. The man most recognized for the movement's success is the seventh and last Lubavitcher rebbe, Menachem Mendel Schneerson (1902–1994), believed by many of his followers to be the Messiah. 
   
   
    
  While hope of redemption has sustained the Jewish people through exile and persecution, it has also upended Jewish society with its apocalyptic and anarchic tendencies. So it is not surprising that Schneerson's messianic fervor made him one of the most controversial rabbinic leaders of the twentieth century. How did he go from being an ordinary rabbi's son in the Russian Empire to achieving status as a mystical sage? How did he revitalize a centuries-old Hasidic movement, construct an outreach empire of unprecedented scope, and earn the admiration and condemnation of political, communal, and religious leaders in America and abroad? 
   
   
    
  Ezra Glinter's deeply researched account is the first biography of Schneerson to combine a nonpartisan view of his life, work, and impact with an insider's understanding of the ideology that drove him and that continues to inspire the Chabad-Lubavitch movement today.

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  My People the Sioux

  Luther Standing Bear

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  "The preparation of this book has not been with any idea of self-glory. It is just a message to the white race; to bring my people before their eyes in a true and authentic manner. The American Indian has been written about by hundreds of authors of white blood or possibly by an Indian of mixed blood who has spent the greater part of his life away from a reservation. These are not in a position to write accurately about the struggles and disappointments of the Indian. Therefore, I trust that in reading the contents of this book the public will come to a better understanding of us. I hope they will become better informed as to our principles, our knowledge, and our ability. It is my desire that all people know the truth about the first Americans and their relations with the United States Government."

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  The Book of Thomas the Contender...

  Thomas the Apostle, Tim Zengerink

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  What does it mean to truly know oneself? How can spiritual wisdom help us overcome the struggles of the material world? 
  The Book of Thomas the Contender is one of the most introspective and thought-provoking texts of early Gnostic mysticism.  
  Attributed to Thomas the Apostle, this profound dialogue between Jesus and Thomas explores the soul’s inner conflict, the pursuit of divine truth, and the path to spiritual awakening. 
  Now available in a clear, modern translation, this edition brings the symbolic richness and philosophical depth of the original text to today’s listener. 
  What you'll discover inside: 
  •	The Struggle for Enlightenment – Teachings on overcoming ignorance, worldly distractions, and inner division 
  •	The Importance of Self-Knowledge – Gnostic wisdom on self-awareness as the key to spiritual transformation 
  •	The Path to Divine Wisdom – Jesus’ guidance on awakening from illusion and attaining true freedom 
  •	A Window into Gnostic Mysticism – Insights into the soul’s journey toward redemption and union with the divine 
  Whether you’re a seeker of truth, a student of ancient spirituality, or someone exploring the inner life, The Book of Thomas the Contender offers a timeless call to know yourself and awaken the divine within. 
  Begin your journey today—and discover a powerful spiritual dialogue that continues to illuminate the path to enlightenment.

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  JRR Tolkien: The True Story of...

  Liam Dale

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  There are some names that just fall off the tongue with the promise of great things, and John Ronald Reuel Tolkien is a perfect example. In his own lifetime this softly spoken, pipe smoking, tweed clad Oxford College Professor, the quintessential Englishman, caused a tremendous stir when he wrote first “The Hobbit” and then “The Lord of the Rings”. But Tolkien could never have guessed the impact his beloved books would continue to have on future generations of listeners, and since Peter Jackson’s wonderful 21st Century movie adaptations filmgoers and even computer gamers as well! Whether JRR would have approved of all this modern technology, is as you are about to discover, debatable. However, the adulation of millions of grateful fans might just have won him over. Most people could tell you that “The Lord of the Rings” was written by JRR Tolkien, but who the man behind the great epic was, few would even be able to hazard a guess. This is due in part to Tolkien’s very private nature and the fact that when he died, he was, quite simply, a pleasantly successful English author, no more, no less. Those who loved his books did so with a passion, but there were also plenty of dissenters. The huge cult status of “The Lord of the Rings” did not fully evolve until some years after Tolkien’s death and therefore there are few publicity pictures of him, and unlike J K Rowling, the world-famous author of the Harry Potter books, JRR Tolkien never became a celebrity. Now, unless your name’s Rip Van Winkle and you’ve been asleep for the last twenty years, even if you’ve never read “The Lord of the Rings” you’ll know it’s all about adventure with a capital “A”, on an incredible journey of discovery. With the people and places that inspired JRR to write such an incredible piece of fiction this will prove to be an equally enlightening pathway to travel, uncovering a real-life character way more complex than Hobbits, Orcs, Elves, Ents, Dwarves and Wizards put together!

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