While serving as a tribune in Rome's legions in Old Judea during the first century AD, Novemus Opimius Validus was mortally wounded. But he was then touched by the healing hand of Jesus Christ himself. After that momentous occasion, his life forever changed. Validus witnesses Christ's fabled and momentous Sermon on the Mount and becomes a secret Christian, embarking on an astounding journey that puts him in close proximity to other monumental historical figures, including Christ's devoted apostle, Peter. He encounters the young and demented Emperor Gaius Caligula, his unlikely successor and uncle; the stuttering, physically crippled, and oft-ridiculed but kindly Emperor Claudius; and Claudius's lifelong friend, the illustrious King Herod Agrippa. From the lowly depths of the gladiatorial arena to the grand halls of the Roman Senate and later to the Roman Emperor's chair, Validus changes the path of Roman history, making a distinct connection between faith and empire. In this second installment of a four-part series, author C. Martinez Landrau offers a fascinating look at what ancient Rome might have been like had a man destined to become its greatest emperor also been one of Christianity's first Roman converts, albeit secretly ...

Charlestown is a fictional story about the plight of Boston Taxi Cab drivers in the early 1980's and their struggle to form a Union as their answer to achieving better earnings and working conditions. Harry Sharpstone, Union organizer, is dispatched by the Teamster's Union of Chicago to orchestrate this union organization. Conflict, coalitions and struggle result. Is resolve achieved? Typically, Management and Unions never achieve permanent resolve, just a temporary platform for a truce. The coalitions are the Taxi Cab owners and Taxi Medallion owners who are frequently from Charlestown and the North End and are supported by the enforcement of local Mafia types associated with known racketeer Raymond Patriarca of Providence Mafia fame. Since the issuance of these valuable Taxi Medallions is controlled by Boston Chief of Police Bratton he may be lending favor to the owners. The other faction is the Taxi Cab Drivers. They are supported by the efforts of the Teamsters which is ruled by James Hoffa, State Senate President Billy Bulger, who is known to favor the struggle of the blue collar worker, and Billy's brother, Whitey Bulger, the suspected leader of the Winter Hill Gang and rackets in South Boston. When these two factions clash over the power struggle between the Taxi Cab Medallion owners and the Taxi Cab Drivers the situation ranges from intense to combustible. Local political and social culture creates a distinct Boston flavor as the story twists, turns and unfolds Relax and enjoy for as long you can. You may find yourself sliding to the edge of your seat not sure of how you got there.

Though much has already been written on religious freedom in the United States, these treatments have come mostly from historians, legal scholars, and advocates, with relatively little attention from rhetorical critics. In The Rhetoric of Religious Freedom in the United States, fifteen scholars from this field address the variety of forms that free, public religiosity may assume, and which rhetorical techniques are operative in a public square populated by a diversity of religious-political actors. Together they consider the arguments, evidences, and strategies defining what religious freedom means and who is entitled to claim it in the contemporary United States.

This book gives a comprehensive overview of modern hydrogenation methods used in organic synthesis. In clearly structured chapters, the authors cover the catalysts, scope and limitations of their application, and the techniques for hydrogenation of carbon-carbon, carbon-heteroatom and heteroatom-heteroatom multiple bonds.

This text proposes a new way to consider theatre and performance that claims a special relationship to reality, truth and authenticity. It documents innovations in devising and staging theatre and performance that takes reality as its subject, cultural shifts that have generated theatre of the real, some of its problems and some possibilities.

The purpose of this book is to offer higher education leaders, scholars, consultants, and observers a full range of strategy tools that can be applied to the higher education industry. This is accomplished by a) introducing new concepts and tools to give a comprehensive view of strategy making in higher education, beyond strategic planning, b) demonstrating the value of the concepts and tools through description and application for different types of institutions (universities, community colleges, for-profit colleges, etc.) and at different levels within institutions (institutional, college, department, etc.), and c) providing guidance on the appropriate uses of the various tools. The last point is especially important, as applying business- like principles to higher education often receives heavy criticism. The book helps readers decipher the appropriate uses of different strategy tools to the higher education industry, but the book also points out dangers and weaknesses. All of this is done within today's context of political, economic, demographic, and global realities.

Culture, Class and Politics in Modern Appalachia takes stock of the field of Appalachian studies as it explores issues still at the center of its scholarship: culture, industrialization, the labor movement, and twentieth-century economic and political failure and their social impact. A new generation of scholars continues the work of Appalachian studies' pioneers, exploring the diversity and complexity of the region and its people. Labor migrations from around the world transformed the region during its critical period of economic growth. Collective struggles over occupational health and safety, the environment, equal rights, and civil rights challenged longstanding stereotypes. Investigations of political and economic power and the role of social actors and social movements in Appalachian history add to the foundational work that demonstrates a dynamic and diverse region.

The future of European Monetary Union (EMU) stands as one of the most important economic issues of the era. The author argues that in the event of macroeconomic shocks, rather than acting as a cohesive force, EMU could give rise to disunity. As EMU is not an optimal currency area, asymmetric shocks affecting each country differently could be critical to its future. The success of EMU depends upon the ability of institutions in the EU to satisfy the monetary and fiscal policy demands of sufficient numbers of national constituents, interest groups, and multinational corporations. This book employs principles from public choice to analyze the EU institutions that participate in the monetary policy making process of EMU and assesses whether they have the mechanisms to cope with asymmetric macroeconomic shocks. In particular, it examines the European Council, Council of Ministers, European Commission, European Parliament and the European Central Bank. This book provides an invaluable critique of the EMU plan and will be of interest to scholars of European economics, macroeconomics and public choice.

Beyond Christianity draws on rich ethnographic work in a Religious Science church in Oakland, California, to illuminate the ways a group of African Americans has adapted a religion typically thought of as white to fit their needs and circumstances.

This predominantly African American congregation is an anomalous phenomenon for both Religious Science and African American religious studies. It stands at the intersection of New Thought doctrine, characterized by personal empowerment teachings, and a culturally familiar liturgical style reminiscent of Black Pentecostals and Black Spiritualists. This group challenges oversimplified concepts of the Black church experience and broadens the concept of Black religion outside the boundaries of Christianity--raising questions about what it means to be an African American congregation, and about the nature of blackness itself. Beyond Christianity adds a new dimension to the scholarship on Black religion.

The behavior of fiscal authorities and its interplay with budgetary institutions is a recent and increasingly important area of economic research, heightened by the move to single currency in Europe. This volume provides a systematic analysis of issues including the determinants of fiscal retrenchment strategies, the role of numerical and procedural rules, the composition of the adjustment, the (dis)similarity of fiscal behavior across countries, the interactions between fiscal and monetary authorities, and the long run factors shaping fiscal behavior and sustainability.

Significant progress has been made in the study of three-dimensional quantitative structure-activity relationships (3D QSAR) since the first publication by Richard Cramer in 1988 and the first volume in the series, 3D QSAR in Drug Design. Theory, Methods and Applications, published in 1993. The aim of that early book was to contribute to the understanding and the further application of CoMFA and related approaches and to facilitate the appropriate use of these methods. Since then, hundreds of papers have appeared using the quickly developing techniques of both 3D QSAR and computational sciences to study a broad variety of biological problems. Again the editor(s) felt that the time had come to solicit reviews on published and new viewpoints to document the state of the art of 3D QSAR in its broadest definition and to provide visions of where new techniques will emerge or new appli- tions may be found. The intention is not only to highlight new ideas but also to show the shortcomings, inaccuracies, and abuses of the methods. We hope this book will enable others to separate trivial from visionary approaches and me-too methodology from in- vative techniques. These concerns guided our choice of contributors. To our delight, our call for papers elicited a great many manuscripts.

Documentary theatre is a form of theatre created from the verbatim use of interviews, photographs and historical proceedings. This book brings together essays, interviews and performance texts, many published here for the first time, which describe and analyse documentary theatre around the world: both its history and its proliferation since 9/11.

This book assesses how EU economies have fared in their project of economic and monetary union. Drawing on data for all fifteen member countries, it takes the Spanish economy as a point of departure to compare their gains and losses. It also considers the implications for the welfare state, enlargement towards Eastern Europe and the political integration of Europe.

Novemus Opimius Validus was mortally wounded while serving as a tribune in Rome's legions in Old Judea during the first century AD-and was then touched by the healing hand of Jesus Christ himself. After that momentous occasion, his life forever changed; his inspirational story is one of undying faith, indomitable perseverance, and courage unlike any other ever told.

Validus witnessed Christ's fabled and momentous Sermon on the Mount and became a secret Christian, embarking on an astounding journey that puts him in close proximity to other monumental historical figures, including Christ's devoted apostle, Peter. He encounters the young and demented Emperor Gaius Caligula, his unlikely successor and uncle; the stuttering, physically crippled, and oft ridiculed but kindly Emperor Claudius; and Claudius's lifelong friend, the illustrious King Herod Agrippa.

From the lowly depths of the gladiatorial arena to the grand halls of the Roman Senate and later to the Roman Emperor's chair, Validus changes the path of Roman history, making a distinct connection between faith and empire.

"VALIDVS" is the first installment in a classic four part series. With this novel author C. Martinez Landrau offers a fascinating, alternative look at what ancient Rome might have been like had a man destined to become its greatest emperor also been one of Christianity's first Roman coverts - albeit secretly...