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  Policing Pregnant Bodies - From...

  Kathleen M. Crowther

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  On June 24, 2022, the US Supreme Court overturned the Roe v. Wade decision, asserting that the Constitution did not confer the right to abortion. This ruling, in the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health case, was the culmination of a half-century of pro-life activism promoting the idea that fetuses are people and therefore entitled to the rights and protections that the Constitution guarantees. But it was also the product of a much longer history of archaic ideas about the relationship between pregnant people and the fetuses they carry. 
   
  In Policing Pregnant Bodies: From Ancient Greece to Post-Roe America, historian Kathleen M. Crowther discusses the deeply rooted medical and philosophical ideas that continue to reverberate in the politics of women’s health and reproductive autonomy. From the idea that a detectable heartbeat is a sign of moral personhood to why infant and maternal mortality rates in the United States have risen as abortion restrictions have gained strength, this is a historically informed discussion of the politics of women’s reproductive rights. 
   
  Crowther explains why pro-life concern for fetuses has led not just to laws restricting or banning abortion but also to delaying or denying treatment to women for miscarriages as well as police investigations of miscarriages. She details the failure to implement policies that would actually improve the quality of infant life, such as guaranteed access to medical care, healthy food, safe housing, and paid maternity leave. We must understand the historical roots of these archaic ideas in order to critically engage with the current legal and political debates involving fetal life.

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  Queen Kunti Divine Yogini -...

  Bhaktivedanta Swami

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  Queen Kunti, a tragic and heroic figure, emerges from an explosive era in the history of ancient India. Her teachings are simple and illuminating outpourings revealing the deepest transcendental emotions of the heart and the deepest philosophical and theological penetrations of the intellect. 
   
  Kunti is a major figure in the history of the ancient world. The wife of world emperor Pandu and mother of the warrior Arjuna—to whom Krishna spoke the Bhagavad-gita—she appears again and again in historical epics such as the Mahabharata and Srimad-Bhagavatam. Like other enlightened leaders of her time, her worldview was informed by a thorough understanding of Vedic wisdom literature. Thus she understood that Sri Krishna—Who happened to be her nephew—was none other than the Absolute Truth in person, appearing on earth to establish righteous rule over the planet. 
   
  At the conclusion of the devastating battle of Kurukshetra, Queen Kunti approaches Krishna as He prepares to depart for his home city of Dwaraka. Kunti's spontaneous glorification of Krishna and her description of the spiritual path appear in the First Canto of the Srimad-Bhagavatam. Srila Prabhupada wrote his translation and commentary on the First Canto in 1962—before coming to the West—but in a series of lectures given in the spring of 1973 in Los Angeles, he analyzed Queen Kunti's prayers in significantly greater detail and shed even more light upon them. 
   
  If truth be told from the dawn of creation it has been the female energy which from all life springs, is sustained, and propels us on in our timeless evolutionary journey to self. The powerful positive Shakti of the feminine energy invigorates, inspires, and enhances the finer propensities of life and reveals the subtle secrets of existence via its indivisible healing continence.

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  The Wolf Age - The Vikings the...

  Tore Skeie

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  The first major book on Vikings by a Scandinavian author to be published in English reframes the struggle for a North Sea empire and puts listeners in the mindset of Vikings, providing new insight into their goals, values, and what they chose to live and die for. 
   
   
    
  The Wolf Age takes listeners on a thrilling journey through the bloody shared history of England and Scandinavia, and on across early medieval Europe, from the wild Norwegian fjords to the wealthy cities of Muslim Andalusia. 
   
   
    
  Warfare, plotting, backstabbing, and bribery abound as Tore Skeie skillfully weaves sagas and skaldic poetry with breathless dramatization as he entertainingly brings the world of the Vikings and Anglo-Saxons to vivid life. 
   
   
    
  In the eleventh century, the rulers of the lands surrounding the North Sea are all hungry for power. To get power they need soldiers, to get soldiers they need silver, and to get silver there is no better way than war and plunder. 
   
   
    
  This vicious cycle draws all the lands of the north into a brutal struggle for supremacy and survival that will shatter kingdoms and forge an empire . . .

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  On the Duty of Civil Disobedience

  Henry David Thoreau

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  What does it mean to stand alone against the tide of conformity? Henry David Thoreau's On the Duty of Civil Disobedience is a rallying cry for the individual conscience in a world that often demands silent compliance. Written in 1849, this powerful essay transcends its time, offering an enduring blueprint for resisting injustice through peaceful defiance.
  Thoreau's words are both a philosophical meditation and a practical guide. With piercing clarity and quiet rebellion, he challenges the reader to examine their relationship with authority, urging them to act according to principle rather than convenience. But this is no fiery manifesto—it is a calm, deliberate reflection on the moral duty of each person to refuse complicity in systems of oppression.
  This essay is not just for dreamers or idealists; it speaks to anyone who has ever questioned whether they have the courage to say "no." Thoreau's call resonates with movements for freedom and equality across the ages, from Gandhi to Martin Luther King Jr. It dares us to ask: Are we citizens of the state, or citizens of justice?

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  Flowers Plants Fruits and Trees

  Manly Palmer Hall

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  Flowers were chosen as symbols for many reasons. The great variety of flora made it possible to find some plant or flower which would be a suitable figure for nearly any abstract quality or condition. A plant might be chosen because of some myth connected with its origin, as the stories of Daphne and Narcissus; because of the peculiar environment in which it thrived, as the orchid and the fungus; because of its significant shape, as the passion flower and the Easter lily; because of its brilliance or fragrance, as the verbena and the sweet lavender; because it preserved its form indefinitely, as the everlasting flower; because of unusual characteristics as the sunflower and heliotrope, which have long been sacred because of their affinity for the sun.

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  Parenting That Works - Building...

  PhD Edward R. Christophersen,...

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  Being a parent is probably the most important job many of us will ever have. In this book, clinical psychologist Dr. Edward Christophersen and his colleague, child psychologist Dr. Susan Mortweet, show parents how to raise their child to become the adult we'd all like to be—one who is happy and compassionate, confident but not aggressive, and able to make and keep friends. 
   
   
   
  They point out that from babyhood on through the school years, children learn these qualities by observing and interacting with their parents. In clearly written, easy-to-follow chapters, parents are shown how to model and reward positive behaviors and avoid the need for ineffective, punitive discipline. 
   
   
   
  Two key areas are covered in the book: building one's own skills as a parent, and then building one's child's competencies. Scores of practical examples show parents how to teach their children what is important in life, how to communicate clearly, and how to effectively discipline their child. Special parenting topics such as managing a child's behavior in public, monitoring TV, toys, and games, and handling fallout from divorce are also discussed. Listeners then learn how to build their child's basic skills by teaching him or her how to quickly get over upsets and how to play independently.

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