The Bible is full of instructions for how we ought to behave if we want to be a follower of Jesus, but these often seem to belong to a by-gone age, far removed from our busy twenty-first century lives. Follow Me helps us uncover how Jesus' words are still relevant, and distils the essence of the Gospel message for today, providing practical steps that all of us can take to live the sayings of Jesus.Using true stories to bring us closer to scripture, Ian Black draws connections between what Jesus said and how we live today in all its messiness and complexity. Based on Jesus' words "follow me," he reflects on acts of loving service, the commandment to love, prayer, money, forgiveness, self-sacrifice, mission, and the Eucharist (Communion).

In Enemies and Neighbors, Ian Black, who has spent four decades studying and covering the Middle East, offers a major new history of the Arab-Zionist conflict, told from both sides. Setting the scene at the end of the 19th century, when the first Zionist settlers arrived in the Ottoman-ruled Holy Land, Black draws on a wide range of sources--from declassified documents to oral testimonies to his own vivid-on-the-ground reporting--to illuminate the most polarizing conflict of modern times. Taking the 1917 Balfour Declaration, the British government's fateful promise to favor the establishment of "a national home for the Jewish people" in Palestine, as its first major milestone, the story proceeds through the Arab Rebellion of the late 1930s, the Nazi Holocaust, Israel's independence and the Palestinian Nakba (catastrophe), the watershed of 1967 followed by the Palestinian re-awakening, Israel's settlement project, two Intifadas, the Oslo Accords, and continued negotiations and violence up to today. Combining engaging narrative with political analysis and social and cultural insights, Enemies and Neighbors is both an accessible overview and a fascinating investigation into the deeper truths of a furiously contested history that has preserved Palestinians and Israelis as unequal enemies and neighbors.

Intercessions for Years A, B and C is a collection of prayers to accompany the Church of England Common Worship Lectionary. Wholly relevant to our everyday world, the intercessions do not sidestep the challenges of living faithfully in difficult circumstances; they do seek to inspire our minds and expand our hearts, as we offer up all we have and all we are, to the grace and mercy of God. The prayers are compatible with the traditional pattern of interceding for the Church, political governance and world concerns; the neighbourhood and local community; those who are sick or in special need and the deceased. As the author has drawn primarily on the Gospel for inspiration, the prayers will be relevant however many readings are used in a given service.

This book, first published in 1986, examines a key period in Zionist-Arab relations in the years leading to the Second World War.

ECONOMIST, SUNDAY TIMES, FINANCIAL TIMES AND GUARDIAN BOOKS OF THE YEAR 2017 'Comprehensive and compelling ... A nuanced, landmark study that has deservedly won plaudits from both Palestinian and Israeli historians' Justin Marozzi, The Times A century after Britain's Balfour Declaration promised a Jewish 'national home' in Palestine, veteran Guardian journalist Ian Black has produced a major new history of one of the most polarising conflicts of the modern age. Drawing on a wide range of sources - from declassified documents to oral testimonies and his own decades of reporting - Enemies and Neighbours brings much-needed perspective and balance to the long and unresolved struggle between Arabs and Jews in the Holy Land. Beginning in the final years of Ottoman ruleand the British Mandate period, when Zionist immigration transformed Palestine in the face of mounting Arab opposition, the book re-examines the origins of what was a doomed relationship from the start. It sheds fresh light on critical events such as the Arab rebellion of the 1930s; Israel's independence and the Palestinian catastrophe (Nakba in Arabic) of 1948; the watershed of the 1967 war; two Intifadas; the Oslo Accords and Israel's shift to the right. It traces how - after five decades of occupation, ever-expanding Jewish settlements and the construction of the West Bank 'separation wall' - hopes for a two-state solution have all but disappeared, and explores what the future might hold. Yet Black also goes beyond the most newsworthy events - wars, violence and peace initiatives - to capture thereality of everyday life on the ground in Jerusalem and Hebron, Tel Aviv,Ramallah, Haifa and Gaza, for both sides of an unequal struggle. Lucid, timelyand gripping, Enemies and Neighbours illuminates a bitter conflict that shows no sign of ending - which is why it is so essential that we understand it.

In this work, first published in 1986, the author shows how the Zionists of the late Thirties related to the Arabs of Palestine and of the neighbouring countries, to what extent they perceived the existence of an 'Arab Question', how they defined it and how they dealt with it. The Arab question is as old as the Zionist movement itself. From the moment that Zionists began to immigrate to Ottoman Palestine in the last decades of the nineteenth century, it became apparent that they were not 'returning' to an empty land and that they could expect opposition to their enterprise from the inhabitants of the country they considered theirs. Comprising diplomatic, political, social, economic and cultural history, this book is a close analysis of the spectrum of views and opinions pertaining to Zionist relations with the Arabs.

This wonderful collection of 140 original prayers - published here for the first time -is suitable for anyone who leads prayers in public, or is looking for a resource to enrich private devotions. Covering a wide variety of subjects, the prayers are grouped under broad headings: Through the year; Church and ministry; Pastoral; Community; Government and justice; Home and family life; Food and hospitality, and Devotional. A comprehensive index is provided to guide you quickly to exactly what you need.

One of the events most crucial to the war in the Persian Gulf occurred nearly ten years before it began, when Israel destroyed Iraq's most advanced weapon, the nuclear reactor at Al-Tuweitha, acting on information obtained by Israeli intelligence. Israel's Secret Wars is the first documented, comprehensive history of all three of Israel's intelligence services, from their origins in the 1930s, through Israel's five wars, up to the present, including the Ostrovsky affair. Highly readable and exhaustively researched, it contains the most accurate information available about a shadowy and controversial subject in which myth all too often obscures reality. Using heretofore undisclosed contemporary reports, memoranda, and private diaries, Israel's Secret Wars describes for the first time in print the beginnings of the Israeli-U.S. intelligence relationship; the Israeli-French espionage connection during the Algerian War, which underlay their military alliance in the Suez crisis; the fateful message from a high-level Arab agent that initiated the Yom Kippur war; and many more previously unexamined operations and episodes. Placing every event in its historical context, Black and Morris disentangle the often stormy links between spymasters and politicians in such affairs as the Entebbe raid, Irangate, the Pollard spy scandal, and the Palestinian intifada. Israel's Secret Wars promises to become the standard work on Israeli intelligence for years to come.

A hilarious new book about a boy who refuses to wear clothes, from comedian Michael Ian Black and illustrator Debbi Ridpath Ohi, the team that brought you "I'm Bored," a "New York Times "Notable Children's Book.
Michael Ian Black and Debbie Ridpath Ohi, whose "smart cartoony artwork matches Black's perfect comic timing" ("The New York Times Book Review"), have paired up again to showcase the antics of an adorable little boy who just doesn't want to get dressed.
After his bath, the little boy begins his hilarious dash around the house...in the buff Being naked is great. Running around, sliding down the stairs, eating cookies. Nothing could be better. Unless he had a cape...

A girl, a flamingo, and a worried potato star in the third book in New York Times bestselling author Michael Ian Black and celebrated illustrator Debbie Ridpath Ohi's series about feelings-and why they're good, even when they feel bad. Potato is worried. About everything. Because anything might happen. When he tells his friends, he expects them to comfort him by saying that everything will be okay. Except they don't. Because it might not be, and that's okay too. Still, there's one thing they can promise for sure: no matter what happens...they will always be by his side.

A slightly different slant on the 'slacker' comedy genre directed by 'Friends' star David Schwimmer. Five years ago Dennis (Simon Pegg) was at the altar about to marry Libby (Thandie Newton), his pregnant fiancee. He got cold feet and headed for the hills, and he's been going in circles ever since. When Dennis discovers Libby's now hooked up with high-flying go-getter Whit (Hank Azaria), he realises it's now or never. Assisted by his friend Gordon (Dylan Moran), he decides to enter a marathon to show he's not a quitter but then finds out just how much sweat, strain and pain it takes to run for 26 miles. No one rates his chances, but Dennis knows this is the only way to stop being a running joke.

Get ready for the read of your life. Never before has a single book combined awesome vans, unicorns, Billy Joel, and erotic fiction in such a potent combination. A writing tour de force? Perhaps. A reading experience that will sear itself into your consciousness like a red-hot branding iron? Without question.

Comedian and basic cable superstar Michael Ian Black unleashes the full fury of his astonishing intellect in this collection of short comic essays. "My Custom Van" is a no-holds-barred assault to the funny bone that will literally beat you into submission with hilarity*.

How did he do it? How did he create such a fine anthology? Answer: With love. Michael opened his heart and used the magical power of love to write more than fifty thought-provoking essays like, "Why I Used a Day-Glo Magic Marker to Color My Dick Yellow," and "An Open Letter to the Hair Stylist Who Somehow Convinced Me to Get a Perm When I Was in Sixth Grade."

Maybe you think love is not a substitute for "good writing skills" and "spell check." Bull pucky! When it comes to writing books, love is the most powerful word processor of all.

Sounds pretty great, right? And yet...something is still holding you back from paying the full purchase price of this book. What is it? Perhaps you secretly believe you do not deserve a book this good. Nonsense -- you deserve this book and so much more. In fact, if Michael could have written you all the stars in the sky, that's what he would have done. But he couldn't do that, due to his lack of knowledge in the area of astronomy. So he wrote this book instead.

And this flap copy.

Enjoy.

* Michael Ian Black is not responsible for any actual injuries caused by reading this book.

Being naked is great. Running around, sliding down the stairs, eating cookies... The only thing better than naked? Caped! Being caped is awesome. Flying through the air, fighting evil doers. But eating cookies mostly naked (but also caped)...that is exhausting. Join a little boy on his hilarious run around the house...in the buff!

FINALLY, Michael Ian Black--suburban husband, father, and very famous comedian--ponders the question so many of us ask ourselves: How did I end up here? With deadpan wit and unexpected candor, Michael delivers a darkly funny-because-it's-true take on his childhood, marriage, children, and career.
Here he is--the brilliant mind behind "Stella "and "The State: "NAKED, EXPOSED, A LITTLE CHILLY, AND UNDERSTANDABLY SHRIVELED.

When her husband has an affair, psychiatrist Judy Palmer finds comfort in the tale of patient's wicked revenge. When the pair forms a dangerous bond, she'll find herself going further than she ever dreamed to settle her husband's betrayal.

On the 18th September 2014, a mere 700-and-a-bit years after the Battle of Bannockburn, the struggle for power between Scotland and England will reach another milestone - this time probably without the swords, horses and armour. It is, without question, the most serious subject of the year, but there is a funny side too. Now Ian Black, master of the witty remark, king of the one-liner and enthusiastic unfurler of the Saltire sets his mind to the lighter side of Independence. With more pro-Independence and anti-No-voter jokes and tales than you can shake a stick at, Scotland vs England is the antidote to a very serious year. This book explains that the new Scots currency will be the Dreichma, perfect if our usual weather combines with Greek-style financial meltdown anytime in the future, or possibly the Punt, though apparently all of the punts are in the south-east of England. Mr Black also explains that occasional mutterings of "durty English bastards" north of the border refer not to the great majority of English folk but to the filthy goings-on in Westminster.And there are answers to some of the great questions, like: "What goes 'putt' and what goes 'putt, putt, putt, putt'", to which the answer is: a Scottish golfer and an English golfer on the Old Course at St Andrews. Scotland vs England may not help you make up your mind about which way to vote, but in the serious months ahead when all will seem lost and there will be no escape from politicians, it will be very welcome.

This book presents more friendly city rivalry anecdotes from Ian Black. How much do Mancs hate Scousers? Well, there's not a lot you can compare it to, except of course how much Scousers hate Mancs. Which is rather a lot, as you might gather from this charming little ditty from the Anfield terraces: 'There's only one Dr. Shipman, there's only one Harold Shipman, we owe him our thanks, cos he killed lots of Mancs, we're walking in a Shipman wonderland.' There are diatribes and angry jibes, but, according to Ian Black, the bestselling author of "Weegies vs Edinbuggers", it's just a friendly rivalry, really. Right?

The traditional rivalries run deep between Glasgow's industry-blighted East End and the leafy suburban academia of the West End. The typical West Ender viewpoint is that the East End is full of workshy junkies and your average East Enders knows fine that the West End is populated by jumped-up snobs, but a shared sense of humour means that everything is just hunky-dory. 'Aye right', as we say in Glasgow when we mean: 'No way'.These rivalries are ancient, sometimes vicious, and run as deep at the Styx, but nowadays the main weapon is humour. People in the West are reacting to the suggestion that the Commonwealth Games is being shared by the city: 'Shared is it? Aye, the East End is getting it and we're paying for it'. These are the tall tales, the tantrums and the taradiddles told by both sides. Laugh? You'll probably flit to Edinburgh.

If there's one thing that sets Weegies apart, it's our sense of humour. Come crisis time, we not only laugh in the face of danger, but we spit on its shadow, follow it around, and occasionally set about it. Take John Smeaton, the baggage handler who clobbered the Glasgow Airport terrorists. He showed the kind of heroism, down-to-earth decency and self-deprecating humour that we all aspire to, and it turned him into an instant worldwide icon. Mere houses after he'd banjoed the terrorists the jokes started. Some of them are in here. "This is Glasgow. We'll set about ye." Got the t-shirt yet? Bin Laden's got one. And he's not coming back, at least not on John's shift. As well as paying homage to El Smeato, The Almost Completely Ultimate Weegie Jokebook is a collection of stories, jokes and anecdotes about the things that make us laugh - ourselves mostly. You are either on the Glesca bus or you're not. Welcome aboard.

Mair/Merr hilarious jokes and anecdotes on the eternal struggle that is WEEGIES v EDINBUGGERS Ian Black has been called 'a best selling author' so many times that he is thinking of patenting the phrase and making his fortune that way, but he still wishes that he was Alexander McCall Smith or that nice blonde woman who writes about the wee laddie with the scar and the glasses, as that would mean to hell with poverty and let's throw another pea in the soup. But he still has to work and has now produced MAIR Edinbuggers Vs Weegies/MERR Weegies Vs Edinbuggers. This latest effusion is a completely new collection of anti-Weegie and anti-Edinbugger swedging, hard hits and sneaky bits from the West and East sides, sharp jibes and bludgeoning diatribes, including the slogan from a graffitti-covered wall in Glasgow's West End which avers that 'James Kelman likes fucking Edinburgh' and the one, possibly from Pilton, which claims 'Hugh MacDiarmid took sugar in his porridge'.You may find some reference to Shir Sean and the reason that he chose to support Celtic rather than Hearts or Hibs*, and you will find a list of things that you will never see in Edinburgh, but which have been personally observed by the author in the streets of Glasgow, starting with a Muslim woman in the full chador, Iranian Abaya-style, eyeslit only, pulling said eyeslit down so that she could blow a big bubble with her gum to amuse her toddler. But it is just friendly rivalry really, isn't it? To use the double positive negative, a figure of speech unique to Scotland: Aye, right. * It's because, as the Weegies so artlessly say: "He's a Fenian b******".

When a mind-reading monkey asks his audience to imagine the most spectacular thing in history, the outcome is bound to be zany And sure enough, in this rollicking tale complete with rich illustrations, this simple request evolves into the story of a roller-skating, bubble-blowing purple kangaroo who's searching for his dear friend Senor Ernesto de Pantelones on the moon. Guaranteed to engage the imagination and keep the laughs coming, this playful narrative from Michael Ian Black--comedian, actor, and author of "Chicken Cheeks"--and the bestselling author/ artist of "Chowder "will undoubtedly leave you thinking of nothing BUT the purple kangaroo.