Masonic After-Dinner speaking is treated with concern and dismay by many who are called upon to address an audience. It is a sad fact that what should be one of the most attractive features of Lodge after-proceedings can so often become a source of worry to the speaker and of boredom to his audience. Few have the gift of being natural a off-the-cuff speaker and all have to work carefully at preparing and delivering a speech that will give pleasure to audience and speaker alike. Laurence Ager has been a professional speechwriter for many years and has written speeches for brethren covering a wide range of individual requirements. His knowledge and expertise is now available for all to benefit from with the publication of this book. He provides sufficient elementary instruction to enable any mason to rise with some degree of confidence and to speak for the required few minutes without disgrace. Included are many examples of speeches covering a wide variety of masonic occasions which will help the reader to develop his talents and increase his confidence.

Marketers have attracted criticism from advocates of marketing ethics for not giving equal attention to all consumers. In other contexts, other nomenclatures such as "less privileged" or "low-income consumers" are being used to describe consumers. However, a critical view of the scope of the disadvantaged consumers shows that it is beyond having limited income and encapsulates all forms of limitations that prevent full inclusion in marketplace opportunities. Critical Perspectives on Diversity, Equity, and inclusion in Marketing focuses on exploring diversity, equity, and inclusion in marketing as related to individuals, groups, organizations, and societies. It provides insight into consumption practices, diversity, inclusion, limitations, and their theoretical and practical implications. Covering topics such as ethnic identity negotiation, marketing implications, and consumer vulnerability, this premier reference source is an eclectic resource for business leaders and managers, marketers, sociologists, DEI professionals, libraries, students and educators of higher education, researchers, and academicians.

Through the lens of an economist's notion of public goods, David J. O'Brien analyzes the dual problems of declining communities and polarizing conflicts between metropolitan and rural communities. This macro-level institutional approach requires a precise definition of the specific ways in which community-level challenges can negatively affect a larger voting public. The author describes in detail how seemingly intractable community-level problems and inter-community conflicts have been substantially reduced by framing them in terms of the self-interest of a larger polity. Examples include The Federalist Papers, written in defense of the US Constitution, New Deal institutions created during the Great Depression, the post-World War II European Union, and more recent macro-level institutional changes that are assisting, in varying degrees, rural community sustainability in the US, Kenya, Rwanda and Russia. O'Brien's extensive community-level research experience in urban and rural communities that covers multiple historical periods, will appeal to inter-disciplinary social scientists, development specialists and persons looking for a hopeful, practical approach to solving the challenges of globalization.

In the past decades, the world has watched the rise of China as an economic and military power and the emergence of Chinese transnational elites. What may seem like an entirely new phenomenon marks the revival of a trend initiated at the end of the Qing. The redistribution of power, wealth and knowledge among the newly formed elites matured during the Republican period. This volume demonstrates both the difficulty and the value of re-thinking the elites in modern China. It establishes that the study of the dynamic tensions within the elite and among elite groups in this epochal era is within reach if we are prepared to embrace forms of historical inquiry that integrate the abundant and even limitless historical resources, and to engage with the rich repertoire of digital techniques/instruments available and question our previous research paradigms. This renewed approach brings historical research closer to an integrative data-rich history of modern China.

Benevolent Orders, The Sons of Ham, Prince Hall Freemasonry-these and other African American lodges created a social safety net for members across Tennessee. During their heyday between 1865 and 1930, these groups provided members numerous perks, such as sick benefits and assurance of a proper burial, opportunities for socialization and leadership, and an opportunity to work with local churches and schools to create better communities. Many of these groups gradually faded from existence, but left an enduring legacy in the form of the cemeteries these lodges left behind. These Black cemeteries dot the Tennessee landscape, but few know their history or the societies of care they represent. To Care for the Sick and Bury the Dead is the first book-length look at these cemeteries and the lodges that fostered them. This book is a must-have for genealogists, historians, and family members of the people buried in these cemeteries.

Elgar Research Agendas outline the future of research in a given area. Leading scholars are given the space to explore their subject in provocative ways, and map out the potential directions of travel. They are relevant but also visionary. Offering fresh insights into the key emerging issues in the field, including the changing socio-economic contexts brought about by the rise of the millennial generation and the creative class, the Covid-19 pandemic, and a greater emphasis on social responsibility, this forward-looking Research Agenda critically debates and rethinks theories and practices in the property sector. Promoting interdisciplinary approaches to the topic, chapters explore the disruptive changes to the field brought about by technological revolutions, before moving on to reflect upon the meaning of value, risks and investment behaviours, and finally examining the institutional contexts and stakeholders that shape the industry. Leading scholars combine practice with in-depth theoretical discussions, highlighting critical future avenues of research in the field. Real estate, planning and economics scholars will find this to be an important read, particularly with the blend of conceptual and empirical perspectives. Real estate practitioners and businesses will also find the practical guidance and discussion of real-life challenges in the book helpful.

This is an entirely different type of ritual guidance manual, aimed at assisting the officer tot understanding his existing ritual book more fully, and as an aid to learning. It is taken for granted that the Lodge will have adopted one of the standard working rituals, and that the Tyler will be equipped with a copy of the same ritual.

This insightful book explores smaller towns and cities, places in which the majority of people live, highlighting that these more ordinary places have extraordinary geographies. It focuses on the development of an alternative approach to urban studies and theory that foregrounds smaller cities and towns rather than much larger cities and conurbations. Comparative case studies from Australia, Cambodia, India, Korea, the UK and US provide a rich collection of theoretically informed investigations into smaller urban centres that are connected in complex ways to regional, national and international flows of people, goods, ideas and materials. The book further examines policy development and implementation in smaller towns and cities. Chapters analyse core societal challenges, including economic restructuring, urban decline and renewal, and ageing populations. This is a timely and important book for students of human geography, urban studies, planning, and economic geography, particularly those focusing on cities and economic development. It will also appeal to policymakers and planners seeking insights on current debates reframing urban theory to embrace more ordinary towns and cities.

From the top 10 bestselling author of The Cornish Midwife When Scarlett West's useless husband, Luke walks out one day and never returns, she's left to try and make a new life for herself and her four-year-old daughter, Ava. But with debts mounting, there's only one place she can go... Returning home to the village where she grew up, Scarlett starts to slowly rebuild her life. Their cottage is beautiful, Scarlett has a new job and also the support of her family and friends. Maybe this is the second chance she so desperately needs? And then there's Cameron Ellis, Scarlett's gorgeous new boss. Everyone thinks Scarlett and Cameron are perfect for each other, and as Scarlett spends more and more time with him, she begins to think that maybe he could be part of their new future, too. That is until Luke returns, desperate to get his family back.... From Jo Bartlett, the bestselling author of The Cornish Midwives Series, perfect for fans of Jessica Redland, Holly Martin and Christie Barlow. This title was previously published as The Little Village on the Hill

Equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) have become features of organizations as a result of both legal and societal advances as well as neoliberal economic reasoning and considerations. While current research approaches frequently fall short of addressing the challenges faced in EDI research, this benchmark Handbook brings coverage of research methods in EDI up to date, and advances the development of research in the field. Bringing together well-known academics and researchers, this Handbook is a distillation of current and novel research in the field of EDI. Chapters present groundbreaking new research and methodological perspectives on international, regional and national issues, from equal opportunities and gender mainstreaming to managing diversity in legal, political and socio-economic contexts. Alongside this, the authors discuss new analytic directions to advance empirical EDI research. This Handbook will help to shape the present and future EDI discourse. The book is an invaluable addition to the current literature, particularly for students of EDI and researchers working in the fields of human resource management, strategic management and organization, and culture and change management as well as entrepreneurship and marketing. Contributors include: D. Atewologun, C. Baron, I. Bleijenbergh, E.H. Buttner, H.A. Downs, H. Eberherr, D. Foley, K.M. Hannum, E. Henry, J. Hofbauer, R. Hofmann, E.L. Holloway, C.A. Houkamau, M. Janssens, D. Jones, A. Klarsfeld, K. Kreissl, M. Lansu, J. Louvrier, K. Lowe, R. Mahalingam, A.J. Mills, J.H. Mills, S. Mooney, E. Ng, B. Poggio, N. Rumens, I. Ryan, B. Sauer, H.L. Schwartz, C.G. Sibley, A. Striedinger, P. van Arensbergen, I. Wasserman, J. Wergin, P. Zanoni

The Gateways Club, at the heart of 1960s swinging London, was one of the few places where lesbian women could meet openly. This book tells its story, from its rise in the 1950s to its closure in 1985, as a secret world of escape--new clientele often found the club only by following likely members to its anonymous exterior on the Kings Road, Chelsea. Celebrities, straight and gay alike, from Diana Dors to Dusty Springfield, relished its bohemian atmosphere, and the club reached a wider audience when it was featured as a backdrop in the 1968 film "The Killing of Sister George." Included are interviews with 80 of its members, famous and not so famous. Their accounts--humorous, tragic, and erotic--reveal how life has changed during the half century since the Gateways began.

The birth of the world's great megacities is the surest and starkest harbinger of the "urban age" inaugurated in the twentieth century. As the world's urban population achieves majority for the first time in recorded history, theories proliferate on the nature of urban politics, including the shape and quality of urban democracy, the role of urban social and political movements, and the prospects for progressive and emancipatory change from the corridors of powerful states to the routinized rhythms of everyday life. At stake are both the ways in which the rapidly changing urban world is understood and the urban futures being negotiated by the governments and populations struggling to contend with these changes and forge a place in contemporary cities. Transdisciplinary by design, Monstrous Politics first moves historically through Mexico City's turbulent twentieth century, driven centrally by the contentious imbrication of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) and its capital city. Participant observation, expert interviews, and archival materials demonstrate the shifting strategies and alliances of recent decades, provide the reader with a sense of the texture of contemporary political life in the city during a time of unprecedented change, and locate these dynamics within the history and geography of twentieth-century urbanization and political revolution. Substantive ethnographic chapters trace the emergence and decline of the political language of "the right to the city," the establishment and contestation of a "postpolitical" governance regime, and the culmination of a century of urban politics in the processes of "political reform" by which Mexico City finally wrested back significant political autonomy and local democracy from the federal state. A four-fold transection of the revolutionary structure of feeling that pervades the city in this historic moment illustrates the complex and contradictory sentiments, appraisals, and motivations through which contemporary politics are understood and enacted. Drawing on theories of social revolution that embrace complexity, and espousing a methodology that foregrounds the everyday nature of politics, Monstrous Politics develops an understanding of revolutionary urban politics at once contextually nuanced and conceptually expansive, and thus better able to address the realities of politics in the "urban age" even beyond Mexico City.

What would happen if I accepted an invitation to Bible Study from Jehovah's Witnesses? What would attending a Kingdom Hall meeting involve? And if I invited door-knocking Witnesses into my home? This book introduces Jehovah's Witnesses without assuming prior knowledge of the Watch Tower organization. After outlining the Society's origins and history, the book explains their key beliefs and practices by taking the reader through the process of the seeker who makes initial contact with Witnesses, and progresses to take instruction and become a baptized member. The book then explores what is involved in being a Witness - congregational life, lifestyle, rites of passage, their understanding of the Bible and prophetic expectations. It examines the various processes and consequences of leaving the organization, controversies that have arisen in the course of its history, and popular criticisms. Discussion is given to the likelihood of reforms within the organization, such as its stance on blood transfusions, the role of women and new methods of meeting and evangelizing in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Sociologist Jeffrey Guhin spent a year and a half embedded in four high schools in the New York City area - two of them Sunni Muslim and two Evangelical Christian. At first pass, these communities do not seem to have much in common. But under closer inspection Guhin finds several common threads: each school community holds to a conservative approach to gender and sexuality, a hostility towards the theory of evolution, and a deep suspicion of secularism. All possess a double-sided image of America, on the one hand as a place where their children can excel and prosper, and on the other hand as a land of temptations that could lead their children astray. He shows how these school communities use boundaries of politics, gender, and sexuality to distinguish themselves from the secular world, both in school and online. Guhin develops his study of boundaries in the book's first half to show how the school communities teach their children who they are not; the book's second half shows how the communities use "external authorities" to teach their children who they are. These "external authorities" - such as Science, Scripture, and Prayer - are experienced by community members as real powers with the ability to issue commands and coerce action. By offloading agency to these external authorities, leaders in these schools are able to maintain a commitment to religious freedom while simultaneously reproducing their moral commitments in their students. Drawing on extensive classroom observation, community participation, and 143 formal interviews with students, teachers, and staff, this book makes an original contribution to sociology, religious studies, and education.