'ONE NIGHT, NEW YORK transports the reader to the glitter and the danger of old New York. A page-turner with style.' ERIN KELLY 'ENTHRALLING' THE TIMES, BEST NEW HISTORICAL FICTION A THRILLING DEBUT NOVEL OF CORRUPTION AND MURDER, SET IN THE NIGHTCLUBS, TENEMENTS AND SKYSCRAPERS OF 1930s NEW YORK - FROM THE WINNER OF THE VIRAGO/THE POOL NEW CRIME WRITER AWARD. At the top of the Empire State Building on a freezing December night, two women hold their breath. Frances and Agnes are waiting for the man who has wronged them. They plan to seek the ultimate revenge. Set over the course of a single night, One Night, New York is a detective story, a romance and a coming-of-age tale. It is also a story of old New York, of bohemian Greenwich Village between the wars, of floozies and artists and addicts, of a city that sucked in creatives and immigrants alike, lighting up the world, while all around America burned amid the heat of the Great Depression. 'An atmospheric portrait of a city in the grip of the Great Depression as well as a compelling crime story' GUARDIAN 'Thompson's impressive debut delivers a beautifully detailed and multifaceted account of Jazz Age New York' IRISH TIMES 'An assured debut so evocative you can almost smell the bathtub gin wafting off the pages' RED MAGAZINE

The most crucial attribute of a believer and of those seeking the highest levels of spirituality, is that of having the best etiquette's and manners which have the effect of being kind, generous, compassionate, fair, truthful, honest, trustworthy, reliable, caring, considerate of others and ultimately practically benefiting, helping and serving humanity at large.The aim of model Islamic etiquette and manners is to benefit other human beings; by not subjecting them to any kind of stress, trouble, mischief or harm. Good morals and etiquette automatically benefit others even without positively striving to do so. This book is based upon highlighting this true teaching of Islam that is often forgotten and one which makes Islam a truly social welfare orientated, compassionate and caring faith. Moreover it highlights the many cases by which although a specific practice may not seem to be benefiting or serving others, but in reality it benefits others through many dimensions that may not be apparent, such as excelling in virtuous deeds which on the surface may only benefit the performer.The main focus of the book is upon consciously and proactively serving those in need, be they of any colour, creed or religion. In fact Islam admonishes those who fail to see and address the needs of the poor, weak, elderly, oppressed, orphans, widows, refugees, travelers and prisoners. Islam does not differentiate between Muslims or non-Muslims in this regard but treats it as it should be; a humanitarian issue which should be dealt with humanely without any prejudices or hatred surfacing or dictating the course of assistance, help or aid.All possible means of serving humanity have been highlighted by citing the example of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) and that of pious members of the Muslim community; thereby directing the attention of modern-day Muslims to this crucial and forgotten asset of Islam.

Equipping Christians to understand and befriend Muslims

Tens of millions of Muslims live in the West. As a group they are ethnically diverse, culturally rich, and often wonderfully passionate about life and faith.

Unfortunately, as Christians we often segregate our lives from Muslims. We may be fearful, or--worse--inherently suspicious of them. But what we have to share with Muslims is magnificent and potentially life-changing, and we live in a day of unprecedented opportunities to interact with Muslims from around the world. This book will help you build open-hearted friendships with Muslims.

For readers with zero knowledge about Islam and no existing relationships with Muslims, don't worry; this book is for you. This fascinating introduction to Islam covers demography, theology, culture, politics, justice, and other aspects of Islamic identity, and includes stories and examples. Reaching Muslims is something we can all do, and it begins with friendship.

The basis of Chinese religious culture, and with that many aspects of daily life, was the threat and fear of demonic attacks. These were inherently violent and could only be counteracted by violence as well - even if this reactive violence was masked by euphemisms such as execution, expulsion, exorcisms and so on. At the same time, violence was a crucial dimension of the maintenance of norms and values, for instance in sworn agreements or in beliefs about underworld punishment. Violence was also an essential aspect of expressing respect through sacrificial gifts of meat (and in an earlier stage of Chinese culture also human flesh) and through a culture of auto-mutilation and ritual suicide. At the same time, conventional indigenous terms for violence such as bao were not used for most of these practices since they were not experienced as such, but rather justified as positive uses of physical force.

What was the relationship between government and religion in Middle Eastern history? In a world of caliphs, sultans, and judges, who exercised political and religious authority? In this book, Ali Humayun Akhtar investigates debates about leadership that involved ruling circles and scholars of jurisprudence and theology. At the heart of this story is a medieval rivalry between three caliphates: the Umayyads of Cordoba, the Fatimids of Cairo, and the Abbasids of Baghdad. In a fascinating revival of Late Antique Hellenism, Aristotelian and Platonic notions of wisdom became a key component of how these caliphs debated their authority as political leaders. By tracing how these political debates impacted the theological and jurisprudential scholars and their own conception of communal guidance, Akhtar offers a new picture of premodern political authority and the connections between Western and Islamic civilizations. It will be of use to students and specialists of the premodern and modern Middle East.

It has been shown time and again that even though all citizens may be accorded equal standing in the constitution of a liberal democracy, such a legal provision hardly guarantees state protections against discrimination and political exclusion. More specifically, why do we find pervasive gender-based discrimination, exclusion, and violence in India when the Indian Constitution supports an inclusive democracy committed to gender and caste equality? In Gendered Citizenship, Natasha Behl offers an examination of Indian citizenship that weaves together an analysis of sexual violence law with an in-depth ethnography of the Sikh community to explore the contradictory nature of Indian democracy-which gravely affects its institutions and puts its citizens at risk. Through a situated analysis of citizenship, Behl upends longstanding academic assumptions about democracy, citizenship, religion, and gender. This analysis reveals that religious spaces and practices can be sites for renegotiating democratic participation, but also uncovers how some women engage in religious community in unexpected ways to link gender equality and religious freedom as shared goals. Gendered Citizenship is a groundbreaking inquiry that explains why the promise of democratic equality remains unrealized, and identifies potential spaces and practices that can create more egalitarian relations.

Laugh aloud even as you look at life anew with these stories from the bestselling author of "Who Ordered This Truckload of Dung?"
In 108 brief stories with titles like "The Bad Elephant," "Girlfriend Power," and "The Happiness License," Ajahn Brahm offers up more timeless wisdom that will speak to people from all walks of life. Drawing from his own experiences, stories shared by his students, and old chestnuts that he delivers with a fresh twist, Ajahn Brahm shows he knows his way around the humorous parable, delighting even as he surprises us with unexpected depth and inspiration.

If justice is an intrinsic value in Islam, why have women been treated as second-class citizens in Islamic legal tradition? Today, the idea of gender equality, inherent to contemporary conceptions of justice, presents a challenge to established, patriarchal interpretations of Shari'a. In thought-provoking discussions with six influential Muslim intellectuals - Abdullahi An-Na'im, Amina Wadud, Asma Lamrabet, Khaled Abou El Fadl, Mohsen Kadivar and Sedigheh Vasmaghi - Ziba Mir-Hosseini explores how egalitarian gender laws might be constructed from within the Islamic legal framework.

1. Chicken Soup for the Soul has always been a part of the Christian community. With a new contemporary cover design, a new interior layout, and up-to-date stories, this book will have fresh appeal to Christian parents.
2. Chicken Soup has been very successful in the Christian and parenting markets. Their Christian titles have sold more than 3.7 million in aggregate and their titles to read with kids have sold 2.6 million copies in aggregate.
3. Books represent a new thematic experience, even for readers of past books, as Chicken Soup has tightened the content, and books contain only relevant stories. Out-of-date stories were eliminated. 4. Each book contains 101 stories recompiled from dozens of past Chicken Soup titles.
5. "Our 101 Best Stories" collection is an efficient way for new readers to obtain books covering Chicken Soup's most popular topics.
6. Every book has a warm and moving foreword from Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen explaining the company's rebirth and its return to 101 stories per book.
7. Chicken Soup for the Soul earned the Guinness World Record for having the most books on the New York Times bestseller list at one time.
8. Last year, "USA Today" named Chicken Soup for the Soul #5 on it list of 25 books that left a legacy over the past quarter century.
With 101 great stories and poems, this book is created for Christian parents to read and enjoy themselves or to share with their children. All of the selected stories are appropriate for children and are about raising Christian kids twelve and under. Parent will enjoy reading these heartfelt, inspiring, and often humorous stories about the ups and downs of daily life in today's contemporary Christian families, written by other Christian parents.

The first Chicken Soup for the Soul book was published in 1993, and became a publishing industry sensation, ultimately selling eight million copies. Since then, more than 150 Chicken Soup titles have been published, selling more than 100 million copies.

Chicken Soup for the Soul has won dozens of awards over the past 15 years, and its founders, Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen have become celebrity motivational speakers and authors.

What ways of distinguishing right and wrong are encouraged within biblical writings? How did various bibical authors offer different yet complementary motivations for promoting ethical action and discouraging unethical behavior? The Ethical Vision of the Bible equips readers with an interest in deepening their understanding of biblical ethics to listen carefully to the variety of ethical emphases found within the Bible itself. Focusing especially on Torah (the Law), Proverbs, the Prophets, the Gospels and Paul, this book enables the reader to trace key ethical patterns as they develop from the flow of thought of these biblical texts in their own contexts. Frequent summary overviews, suggestions for further reading, and reflection questions at the end of every chapter make The Ethical Vision of the Bible ideal for students and others.

New England pastor Jonathan Edwards encourages Christians struggling through the imperfections of life here on earth to experience the perfect love of God in communion with the Holy Spirit.

Given the intense political scrutiny of Islam and Muslims, which often centres on gendered concerns, Islam and Gender: Major Issues and Debates is an accessible and comprehensive introduction to the key topics, problems and debates in this engaging subject. Split into three parts, this book places the discussion in its historical context, provides up-to-date case studies and delves into contemporary debate on the subject. This book includes discussion of the following important topics: Marriage and divorce Interpretations of the Qur'an and Sunna Male and female sexuality and sexual diversity Classical Islamic thought on masculinity and femininity Gender and hadith Polygamy and inheritance Adultery and sexual violence Veiling, female circumcision and crimes of honour Lived religiosities Gender justice in Islam. Islam and Gender is essential reading for students in religious studies, Islamic studies and gender studies, as well as those in related fields, such as cultural studies, politics, area studies, sociology, anthropology and history.

Ada Rapoport-Albert has been a key player in the profound transformation of the history of hasidism that has taken shape since the 1970s. She has never lacked the courage to question conventional wisdom, but neither has she overturned it lightly. The essays in this volume show the erudition and creativity of her contribution to rewriting the master-narrative of hasidic history. Thanks to her we now know that eighteenth-century hasidism evolved in a context of intense spirituality rather than political, social, economic, or religious crisis. It did not represent the movement's 'classic period' and was not a project of democratization, ameliorating the hierarchical structuring of religion and spirituality. Eighteenth-century hasidism is more accurately described as the formative and creative prelude to the mature movement of the nineteenth century: initially neither institutionalized nor centralized, it developed through a process of differentiation from traditional ascetic-mystical hasidism. Its elite leaders only became conscious of a distinctive group identity after the Ba'al Shem Tov's death, and they subsequently spent the period from the late eighteenth to the early nineteenth century experimenting with various forms of doctrine, literature, organization, leadership, and transfer of authority. Somewhat surprisingly there was no attempt to introduce any revision of women's status and role; in the examination of this area of hasidism Rapoport-Albert's contribution has been singularly revealing. Her work has emphasized that, contrary to hasidism's thrust towards spiritualization of the physical, the movement persisted in identifying women with an irredeemable materiality: women could never escape their inherent sexuality and attain the spiritual heights. Gender hierarchy therefore persisted and, formally speaking, for the first 150 years or so of hasidism's existence women were not counted as members of the group. Twentieth-century Habad hasidim responded to modernist feminism by re-evaluating the role of women, but just as Habad appropriated modern rhetorical strategies to defend tradition, so it adopted certain feminist postulates in order to create a counter-feminism that would empower women without destabilizing traditional gender roles. The essays in this volume are a fitting statement of Professor Rapoport-Albert's importance to the study of hasidism, to Jewish studies as a whole, and to the academic scrutiny of religion. Written over a period of forty years, they have been updated for this volume with regard to significant detail and to take account of important works of scholarship written after they were originally published.

Living under settler colonialism and patriarchal oppressions, Palestinian women in Israel are expected to operate even the most intimate aspects of their lives according to what some call "The Plan," which dictates everything from clothing, marriage, religion, and sex to how children are born and raised. In Defying "The Plan," Kim Jezabel Zinngrebe draws from a series of moving interviews to reveal that despite various forms of intertwined oppressions by both the Israeli state and Palestinian society, Palestinian women show defiance by the quotidian choices they make in their own intimate lives under occupation, which, Zinngrebe argues, cannot be perceived as a mere corollary but constitute a pivotal and contested terrain of the struggle between settler and colonized. Defying "The Plan" explores such issues as the segregation of sexual education in Palestine; the politics of dress, menstruation, and tattoos; and the roles of class, feminism, and race. Importantly, she highlights the intersectional experiences of women typically excluded from existing accounts, such as Black Palestinian women, women with disabilities, unmarried and divorced women, Bedouin women, and LGBTQI women. The stories gathered in Defying "The Plan" trace and unpack settler colonial power at the level of the intimate and native women's various practices of defiance.

Originally published in 1997 "A wonderful balance of detail and clarity with excellent introductory essays on the Indus Valley civilization, the Vedic Period, the Upanishads, and devotional Hinduism," Religious Studies Review; Choice Outstanding Academic Book selling over 10,000 copies, and now revised and expanded to two volumes (Volume I: Major Deities and Social Structures) Herewith an outstanding introduction to the development of the religion of Hinduism from earliest times. While historical tradition is explored from as far back as pre-Aryan times in the fascinating ancient civilization that existed in India a few thousand years BCE, later expressions of religion and philosophy that informed early Hindu tradition are gleaned from its sacred texts. The author examines how present beliefs and practices have been informed by past traditions, and the resulting accommodation in Hinduism today. The book serves as an introduction to the two strands of theism and philosophical thought that emerged from early scriptures as they are expressed independently in Hinduism as well as in those traditions where they are woven together to create new religious movements. No prior knowledge of Hinduism is required. Contents include: The Indus Valley Civilization; The Vedic Period; Vedanta; The Advaita Vedanta of Sankara; Influential Theories (Samkhya and Yoga); Devotional Hinduism; The Bhagavad Gita; Songs of the Poets; The theistic philosophy of Ramanuja; The devotional theism of Caitanya; Unity and diversity.

When thinking of intrepid travelers from past centuries, we don't usually put Muslim women at the top of the list. And yet, the stunning firsthand accounts in this collection completely upend preconceived notions of who was exploring the world. Editors Siobhan Lambert-Hurley, Daniel Majchrowicz, and Sunil Sharma recover, translate, annotate, and provide historical and cultural context for the 17th- to 20th-century writings of Muslim women travelers in ten different languages. Queens and captives, pilgrims and provocateurs, these women are diverse. Their connection to Islam is wide-ranging as well, from the devout to those who distanced themselves from religion. What unites these adventurers is a concern for other women they encounter, their willingness to record their experiences, and the constant thoughts they cast homeward even as they traveled a world that was not always prepared to welcome them. Perfect for readers interested in gender, Islam, travel writing, and global history, Three Centuries of Travel Writing by Muslim Women provides invaluable insight into how these daring women experienced the world-in their own voices.