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  The Love Of Long Ago & Other...

  Marie Corelli

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  A poignant exploration of love, loss, and the passage of time, imbued with a melancholic beauty that mirrors the author’s own reckoning with mortality and the changing tides of literature. 
  This collection of short stories was released just before Corelli’s death, and is unlike any of her other tales. Corelli was the bestselling queen of Victorian romantic fiction, beloved by the public and Queen Victoria herself… but the Great War (WWI) war changed everyone, Corelli included. 
  Gone are the grand romances filled with passion and heartache. In their place are war-torn lives, dangerous naivety, espionage, and the savage gladness that many women felt at their husbands being called to the front. 
  Written in a fractured post-war society, the tales weave together the threads of a bygone era—a time of grand passions and unshakable ideals—with the stark realities of a modern world grappling with disillusionment and grief. Corelli’s signature lyrical prose takes on a deeper, more introspective tone, as her characters navigate the fragile boundaries between memory and reality, hope and despair. Each tale explores an irresolvable conflict, an impossible situation in which one or both players are incapable of reaching across the divide that seperates them.  
  We find a miner in America, upbraiding a missionary for his naivety; a haunting tune that leads the listener across windswept moors on a barren Scottish island; a wealthy American businesswoman, scorning the patriarchy of an English gent; and a monk, hiding an act of shame that fills his every waking moment, desperately trying to find someone to blame other than himself. 
  The Love of Long Ago is a bittersweet farewell from a literary icon, offering readers a glimpse into the soul of an artist who witnessed the end of an era and the dawn of a new, uncertain age. A timeless meditation on love’s enduring power, this novel is both a tribute to the past and a poignant reflection on the fleeting nature of life itself.

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  Philosophers of Individual...

  Hector Davidson

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  This book consists of the following three titles: 
  - Ayn Rand: Ayn Rand, born Alisa Zinov'yevna Rosenbaum in 1905 in St. Petersburg, Russia, had a formative early life that significantly influenced her later philosophical ideas. Growing up in a middle-class Jewish family, Rand experienced the upheavals of the Russian Revolution and the subsequent rise of Bolshevism. These events deeply affected her worldview and instilled in her a strong opposition to collectivism and authoritarianism. 
  - John Stuart Mill: John Stuart Mill, a British philosopher and political economist, remains one of the most influential thinkers of the 19th century. Born in 1806, Mill was exposed to rigorous intellectual training from an early age, particularly through his father, James Mill, a prominent utilitarian philosopher. This early exposure shaped Mill's understanding of the world, leading him to become a key figure in the development of utilitarianism, a moral theory that evaluates actions based on their ability to promote the greatest happiness for the greatest number of people. 
  - Mary Wollstonecraft: Mary Wollstonecraft was a pioneering British writer and philosopher whose ideas on women’s rights and education laid the foundation for modern feminism. Born on April 27, 1759, in Spitalfields, London, she grew up in a time when society severely restricted women's opportunities. Despite these limitations, Wollstonecraft’s determination, intellect, and relentless pursuit of knowledge allowed her to challenge the status quo and advocate for gender equality. Her life was shaped by personal struggles, societal constraints, and an unwavering belief in the power of education.

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  Manifesto for the Revitalisation...

  Miguel Rebelo

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  The housing crisis in Portugal serves to illustrate a problem that has implications beyond the borders of the country, shedding light on challenges that are faced by major European and global cities. The rise in housing prices, driven by real estate speculation, the growth of tourism and the influx of foreign investment, has made it increasingly challenging for many in the population, especially the middle and lower classes, to access home ownership or renting. 
  The digitalisation of work has opened the possibility for highly qualified professionals to consider where they would like to live, regardless of the physical location of their job. Cities like Lisbon and Porto have become increasingly attractive destinations, offering a good quality of life combined with a range of professional opportunities. Nevertheless, this phenomenon has placed additional strain on the real estate market, leading to rising prices and the displacement of residents to the outskirts. 
  The housing policies that have been adopted thus far have not been as effective as might have been hoped, and in some cases may even have had the opposite effect. It seems that measures such as strict rent control, poorly targeted subsidies and the massive construction of new housing without proper urban and infrastructural planning have not solved the problem, and in some cases may have made it worse. Perhaps it would be beneficial to reconsider these approaches, acknowledging their shortcomings and adapting them to reflect the current situation. 
  It may be worth considering rehabilitating vacant buildings as a viable and sustainable solution. By restoring existing buildings, we can explore ways to increase the supply of affordable housing, revitalise run-down urban areas and preserve historical and cultural heritage to promote more inclusive and sustainable cities.

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  How Ableism Fuels Racism -...

  Lamar Hardwick

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  2024 International Impact Book Award (Religion) 
   
  ★ Publishers Weekly starred review 
   
  "Marshaling fine-grained historical detail and scrupulous analysis, Hardwick persuades."--Publishers Weekly (starred review) 
   
  As a Black autistic pastor and disability scholar, Lamar Hardwick lives at the intersection of disability, race, and religion. Tied to this reality, he heeded the call to write How Ableism Fuels Racism to help Christian communities engage in critical conversations about race by addressing issues of ableism. 
   
  Hardwick believes that ableism--the idea that certain bodies are better than others--and the disability discrimination fueled by this perspective are the root causes of racial bias and injustice in American culture and in the church. Here, he uses historical records, biblical interpretation, and disability studies to examine how ableism in America led to the creation of images, idols, and institutions that perpetuate both disability and racial discrimination. 
   
  He then goes a step further, calling the church into action to address the deep-seated issues of ableism that started it all and offering practical steps to help readers dismantle ableism and racism both in attitude and practice.

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  First Guns The: The History and...

  Editors Charles River

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  The Chinese developed what were later dubbed the “Four Great Inventions of China,” and one of those was none other than gunpowder, which was developed no later than the 9th century and was being used for military purposes by the 11th century. Its use slowly spread through South Asia and the Middle East before making it to Europe in the late 13th century.  
  For a time it was a mere curiosity, but its destructive power and military potential would be realized quickly. The first record of a cannon in Europe comes from a manuscript written in 1326, which has an illustration showing an armored man with what looks like a slow match lighting a vase-shaped object. This crude cannon was called a pot de fer in French and vasi in Italian.  
  While medieval engineers developed new types of cannons and explosives capable of destroying walls and castles, others were making the first handguns possible. European sources first mentioned the widespread use of handgonnes, as they were often called, in the late 14th century, precisely the time when gunpowder became cheaper. These were short metal barrels stuck on the end of wooden hafts that could be tucked under the arm, the powder being lit through a touchhole with the free hand. While they were not terribly accurate and had a shorter range and slower rate of fire than longbows or crossbows, they had the advantage of being better able to punch through armor than longbows and crossbows, and they were simple to make and use.  
  By the late 15th century, handgonners had become a major part of the leading armies, and weapons that relied on gunpowder would remain a staple of warfare throughout the 19th century, paying deadly homage to one of history’s most important inventions. Of course, that would also bring about innovative new military strategies, and some of the first people to think outside of the box would be credited with putting together the makings of the first modern armies. 

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  American Visions - The United...

  Edward L. Ayers

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  A revealing history of the formative period when voices of dissent and innovation defied power and created visions of America still resonant today. 
   
   
   
  The early decades of the nineteenth century saw the expansion of slavery, Native dispossession, and wars with Canada and Mexico. Mass immigration and powerful religious movements sent tremors through American society. But even as the powerful defended the status quo, others defied it: voices from the margins moved the center; eccentric visions altered the accepted wisdom, and acts of empathy questioned self-interest. Edward L. Ayers’s rich history examines the visions that moved Frederick Douglass, Margaret Fuller, the Native American activist William Apess, and others to challenge entrenched practices and beliefs. 
   
   
   
  Through decades of award-winning scholarship on the Civil War, Edward L. Ayers has himself ventured beyond the interpretative status quo to recover the range of possibilities embedded in the past as it was lived. Here he turns that distinctive historical sensibility to a period when bold visionaries and critics built vigorous traditions of dissent and innovation into the foundation of the nation. Those traditions remain alive for us today.

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