When a lanky, unpretentious, incredibly gifted, twenty-three-year-old Texan took Moscow by musical storm in 1958, it launched a sensational career that began at the age of thirteen and was to span over four decades. At the height of the Cold War, this friendly, open-hearted pianist enchanted the hearts of Americans and Russians alike with his playing that was more about "personal communications than exhibitionistic virtuosity." Winning the Soviet-sponsored Tchaikovsky International Piano Competition immediately thrust Van Cliburn into political as well as artistic pressures, attention, adulation, and scrutiny that might have sabotaged any young artist who lacked the confidence and conviction of Van Cliburn.

In a meteoric career that made Van Cliburn a cultural hero tantamount to the Beatles, the facts became stranger than the fiction that abounded about his career that "fizzled a year or two after the Tchaikovsky competition," or about the near loss of an arm, or about his eleven-year retreat into privacy beginning in the late '70s.

The myth that surrounded the name Van Cliburn in the '50s and '60s became legend with his triumphant re-entry in 1987―an event that was to epitomize the poetic nature of Van's entire life. Responding to an invitation to perform for Mikhail and Raisa Gorbachev at a state dinner, Van once again proved that music is indeed the universal language of understandng capable of uniting our diverse cultures. Bounding off the platform after his performance to kiss Nancy Reagan and Raisa Gorbachev, Van responded to Raisa's request for more music by playing the beloved Soviet song, "Moscow Nights"―the same nostalgic song he had learned and performed during his first incredible journey to Moscow in 1958.

As millions of Americans watched on their television screens, the usual staid state dinner dissolved into a moving memory of Van singing along with the Gorbachevs as the whole room dissolved into tears. Russia and America joined hands and hearts in this one historical moment.

"It is impossible to remain unmoved by Gregory's emotional, open memoir of surviving the Boston Marathon bombing in 2013. . . . This is a truly feel-good book that doesn't stint on the challenges that life throws at us."--Publishers Weekly, starred review ***** On April 15, 2013, Rebekah Gregory and her five-year-old son waited at the finish line of the Boston Marathon to support a friend who was running. When the blasts of terrorists' homemade bombs packed with nails and screws went off three feet away, Rebekah's legs took the brunt of the blast, protecting her son from certain death. Eighteen surgeries and sixty-five procedures later, her left leg was amputated. Despite the extraordinary trauma she underwent and the nightmares she continues to have, Rebekah sees it as just another part of her personal journey, a journey that has led her through abuse, mistakes, and pain and into the arms of Jesus. This stirring memoir tells the story of her recovery, including her triumphant return to Boston two years later to run part of the race, and explores the peace we experience when we learn to trust God with every part of our lives--the good, the bad, and even the terrifying. Readers will be moved by the joyous way Rebekah is determined to live her life, seeing every obstacle as part of how God forms us into the people we are meant to be. Readers will also find comfort in the message that it's not what they can or can't do that makes the difference, but rather what God, in his mercy, does through them despite it all. Life is hard, but with God all things are possible.

Sa'adyah Gaon was an outstanding tenth-century Jewish thinker-a prominent rabbi, philosopher, and exegete. He was a pioneer in the fields in which he toiled, and was an inspiration and basis for later Jewish writing in all these areas. The last major English-language study of his work was published in 1921, long before Genizah research changed the understanding of the time in which he lived. Robert Brody's masterly work, covering Sa'adyah's biography and his main areas of creativity in an accessible way, is therefore a much-needed reassessment of an outstanding figure. The opening chapter, on the geonic period that formed the background to Sa'adyah's life (a period on which there are few works in English), is followed by an overview that brings out the revolutionary aspects of his work and the characteristic features of his writings. Subsequent chapters consider his philosophical works; his Bible commentaries; his pioneering linguistic work; his poetry; his halakhic activity (including an examination of his use of the Palestinian Talmud compared to that of the Babylonian Talmud); and his activity as a polemicist, notably against the Karaites. An Epilogue sums up his importance in medieval Jewish culture. Particularly valuable features of the book are the copious quotations from Sa'adyah's works, which facilitate familiarity with his style as well as his ideas; the clarity in presenting complex and difficult concepts; the constant assessment of his relationship to his predecessors in his various fields of study and his own unique contributions to each field; and the contextualization of his contribution within the political, cultural, and religious climate of his times so that both revolutionary and conservative elements in his thought can be identified and evaluated.

From his time as Captain of England's cricket team to his pioneering work as Bishop of Liverpool, David Sheppard led a remarkable life. Now his story is told in full for the first time in this fascinating and insightful biography. Batting for the Poor draws on the papers left by Sheppard in the Liverpool Central Library as well as other archival material and more than 150 interviews conducted by Andrew Bradstock, all brought together to create a picture of a diligent and passionate man who helped break down divisions and turn Liverpool's fortunes around. Batting for the Poor is a vivid, entertaining biography that will be enjoyed by cricket fans, those interested in twentieth century history or the history of Liverpool and those interested in man that inspired so many as the Bishop of Liverpool. You will discover the story of an exceptional leader, and learn about the history of some of the divisions and struggles in the second half of the twentieth century that still impact society and culture in England today.

Edith Maryon (1872-1924) was a trained sculptor who worked alongside Rudolf Steiner to create the unique sculpture of Christ (the 'Representative of Humanity') at the Goetheanum in Dornach, Switzerland. One of Steiner's closest collaborators, she was a highly-valued colleague and esoteric pupil. As one of his dearest friends, Maryon kept a busy and detailed correspondence with Rudolf Steiner, in which he confided freely about his personal situation, his lack of true colleagues, difficulties with lecture tours, and the embattled public standing of anthroposophy. Almost invariably, these letters emphasized Steiner's longing for the Dornach studio and their shared work on the Christ statue. Maryon's early death, aged 52 - following fifteen months of illness - shook Rudolf Steiner to the core. He was to die himself less than a year later. With this book, the author's central aim is to illuminate the spiritual signature of Edith Maryon's relationship with Rudolf Steiner and their mutual work in anthroposophy and on the sculpture of Christ. Building on Rex Raab's (1993) biography, Peter Selg's moving study features dozens of photos and facsimiles of letters, utilizing previously unpublished sources from Edith Maryon's and Ita Wegman's literary estates and the Rudolf Steiner Archive in Dornach. -- The most essential and intrinsic quality of her soul ... was not a particular branch of human endeavour, not even art; the most salient of her soul tendencies, her soul intentions, was the striving for spirituality...' - Rudolf Steiner

The Timeless Legacy: His Holiness the Dalai Lama is a celebration, a journey and show of reverence to His Holiness the Dalai Lama who celebrates his 80th birthday on July 6, 2015. The book traces HH the Dalai Lama's journey visually through hundreds of photographs set alongside 80 questions that encapsulate his 80 years. Each exquisite picture tells a million stories, and the questions are an eclectic mix of deep insights, observations, and a tete-e-tete with His Holiness unveiling an endearing and mischievous child hidden behind the spiritual leader. The book traces a journey of trust, belief, friendship, struggle, and compassion through its beautiful visuals and dialogue.

The founder and president of the Mothers' Union, one of the first and largest women's organisations, Mary Sumner (1828-1921) was an influential educator and a force to be reckoned with in the Church of England of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Using the analytical tools of the sociologist Pierre Bourdieu, Sue Anderson-Faithful locates Mary Sumner's life and thought against social and religious networks in which she was restricted by gender yet privileged by class and proximity to distinguished individuals. This dichotomy is key to understanding the achievements of a woman who both replicated and shaped Victorian attitudes to women's roles in society. To Mary Sumner mission and education meant the propagation of religious knowledge through progressive pedagogy. Her activism was intended to promote social reform at home and nurture the growth of the British Empire with mothers wielding their political power as educators of future citizens. The symbiotic relationship between Church and State concentrated power in the hands of a ruling class with which Mary Sumner identified and which she supported. In her view the legitimacy of national and imperial rule was intertwined with the moral force of Anglicanism. Sue Anderson-Faithful interprets Mary Sumner's lifelong work in the light of these relationships, contrasting her assertion of personal agency and an empowering discourse of motherhood with her simultaneous reinforcement of patriarchy and class privilege.

Bishop John Shelby Spong, author of Jesus for the Non-Religious, Why Christianity Must Change or Die, Sins of Scripture, and many other books, is known for his controversial ideas and fighting for minority rights. In Eternal Life: A New Vision, a remarkable spiritual journey about his lifelong struggle with the questions of God and death, he reveals how he came to a new conviction about eternal life. God, says spong, is ultimately one, and each of us is part of that oneness. We do not live on after death as children who have been rewarded with heaven or punished with hell but as part of the life and being of God, sharing in God's eternity, which is beyond the barriers of time and space. spong argues that the discovery of the eternal can be found within each of us if we go deeply into ourselves, transcend our limits and become fully human. By seeking God within, by living each day to its fullest, we will come to understand how we live eternally.

Always compelling and controversial, Spong, the leading Christian liberal and pioneer for human rights, wrestles with the question that all of us will ultimately face. In his final book, Spong takes us beyond religion and even beyond Christianity until he arrives at the affirmation that the fully realized human life empties into and participates in the eternity of God. The pathway into God turns out to be both a pathway into ourselves and a doorway into eternal life. To Job's question "If a man (or a woman) dies, will he (or she) live again?" he gives his answer as a ringing yes

She won our hearts when she told us she was out to change the world. But Ann Kiemel Anderson discovered that success can be addictive, and soon she found that the world had changed her. Ann's first book in five years, Seduced By Success chronicles two major battles in her life: combating an addiction to the praise of others and overcoming an addiction to pain medication for a chronic illness. Drug-free for the last two years, Ann now shares heart-to-heart with her readers, saying, "I no longer want power and glory. God has given me a second chance to be used by Him. With quiet joy, I prepare to write something beautiful for God."

An inspiring collection of testimonies from people of different cultures and faiths encountering Jesus. Jesus promised that he would draw people to himself from every tribe and nation. In this collection of thirteen testimonies, Naomi Reed encourages us to see that the good news of the gospel is still powerful as people are continuing to fall in love with Jesus all over the world. From such varied worldviews as Islam, Buddhism and atheism, Naomi has unearthed encouraging stories of Jesus meeting people and transforming them. Emerging from these pages is a beautiful picture of our Saviour who calls people to himself in a very personal and individual way, changing lives forever. God is visibly at work in the world. From the flat dry towns of Uganda, an airport in Singapore, a hospital in Alice Springs, the Amazon jungle, a bare hillside in the former Soviet Union to a bombed-out town in Northern Iraq, Finding Faith encourages us all to see that Jesus is passionately drawing people to himself.

Polarized debates about 'Islam' and 'the West' are now so ubiquitous that it is easy to forget how damaging they can be. The vast majority of Muslims do not wish to see Islam used as a divisive force within the largely secular societies in which they live. How then can Muslim stereotyping be challenged? Mona Siddiqui is one of the foremost Western authorities on the reconciliation of 21st-century life and Islamic custom. In this new and searching book, she applies a uniquely probing intelligence to crucial issues of faith and identity (such as wearing the veil) within society at large. While speaking from within a particular tradition, she touches on matters of universal concern. Who are we? How do we cope with growing older? What kind of world will we leave to our children? Placing her rich personal journey in a wider context, the author is able to explore love and sex, multiculturalism and diversity, and ageing and death through the prism of her experience as both a Muslim and a modern woman. Her book shows why she is one of the most vital thinkers of our age.

Georges and Pauline Vanier were the parents of Jean Vanier, the co-founder of the L'Arche communities. They lived an intensely spiritual life, influenced mainly by the Carmelite tradition. Mercy Within Mercy is the warmly-told story of their life together through World War Two and the second half of the 20th Century, drawing on many letters and journals by Georges and Pauline themselves and those closest to them. An incredible thirst for God can be seen in the lives of this couple, who were always striving in spite of (and through) human imperfection. The excerpts from letters and journals in this volume show a rare example of the contemplative life and struggles in prayer of an active and prominent married couple. The Vanier story is unique in that it forms a direct link back to the spiritual teaching that includes St. Therese and the Carmelite tradition in its emphasis on simplicity, trust in God's love, and self-abandonment to the mercy of God. After Pauline's death in 1991, an investigation began into the possible introduction of their cause for beatification as a married couple.

Billy Graham has gone home. He preached to more people in live audiences that anyone else in history. But his lifelong message, his passion for the gospel, and his compassion for people still echo in Hear My Heart. This intimate work - a compilation of articles that spans Billy's ministry from 1955 to today - invites you to hear in his own words the things that made his heart beat faster. The biblical convictions he abided by. The reasons and regrets behind some of his decisions. And the wisdom he gained in his ninety-plus years on this earth. Hear My Heart also presents stirring tributes about Billy and his legacy from those who knew him best - including members of his family, his friends, and his co-labourers in ministry - and features a special afterword by Rick Warren about Graham's lasting influence in his life. These are Billy's final words to us all, as if we were sitting with him on the front porch of his mountain cabin having a cup of coffee. This is his legacy - the personal exhortations he left our generation and the next as the most-needed reminders for our time.

HarperCollins is proud to present its incredible range of best-loved, essential classics. Confessions describes Saint Augustine's conversion to Christianity and is the basis for his reputation as one of Christianity's most influential thinkers.

In Your Eyes I See My Words, Volume 2 contains Pope Francis's homilies and speeches spanning from 2005 to 2008. Continuing what began in the first volume of this three-volume publication, Volume 2 shows Archbishop Bergoglio's growth as a pastor and a theologian/scholar in the midst of his people. At the same time, it shows him emerging as an international voice calling for changes in the way the Church carries out its ministry and its educational task on behalf of children, youth, adults, and church ministers. In his homilies from Christmas, Easter, and especially in his response to the tragic fire and deaths of 194 people at the nightclub Republica Cromanon, we see Bergoglio speak passionately to his parishioners, challenging them with equal portions of tenderness and righteous anger. Perhaps uniquely, we also watch as his audiences, prominence, and influence grow globally, foreshadowing who he will become in 2013 when he is elected Pope. On the larger national and international scale, Bergoglio addresses various conferences, such as the Argentina Press Association and the Episcopal Conference of Argentina of which he was elected President in 2005 and served the maximum possible term of six years. We see and read as his work takes him outside his country to Rome (2007) at the Pontifical Commission for Latin America; to Brasil (2007), where his presentation on the Crisis of Civilization and Culture at the Fifth CELAM Conference ends up shaping much of the Aparecida Conclusions; and finally, to Quebec (2008) as he speaks at the Forty-Ninth International Eucharistic Congress. All told, In Your Eyes I See My Words, Volume 2 is a glimpse into a period of time in which Archbishop Bergoglio grows immensely in thought, reflection, and action, laying the groundwork for the mature, thoughtful, and beloved Pope Francis he has come to be known as around the world.

'A lyrical, fascinating, important book. More than just a family story, it is an essay on belonging, denying, pretending, self-deception and, at least for the main characters, survival.' Literary Review 'Simon May's remarkable How to Be a Refugee is a memoir of family secrets with a ruminative twist, one that's more interested in what we keep from ourselves than the ones we conceal from others.' Irish Times The most familiar fate of Jews living in Hitler's Germany is either emigration or deportation to concentration camps. But there was another, much rarer, side to Jewish life at that time: denial of your origin to the point where you manage to erase almost all consciousness of it. You refuse to believe that you are Jewish. How to Be a Refugee is Simon May's gripping account of how three sisters - his mother and his two aunts - grappled with what they felt to be a lethal heritage. Their very different trajectories included conversion to Catholicism, marriage into the German aristocracy, securing 'Aryan' status with high-ranking help from inside Hitler's regime, and engagement to a card-carrying Nazi. Even after his mother fled to London from Nazi Germany and Hitler had been defeated, her instinct for self-concealment didn't abate. Following the early death of his father, also a German Jewish refugee, May was raised a Catholic and forbidden to identify as Jewish or German or British. In the face of these banned inheritances, May embarks on a quest to uncover the lives of the three sisters as well as the secrets of a grandfather he never knew. His haunting story forcefully illuminates questions of belonging and home - questions that continue to press in on us today.